Hunting, Let's Try This Again

Seriously, 2 arrows and not even close to the fuzzy creature. Now I'm mad, this rabbit should just thank its lucky stars that I don't know any spells, because if I did I would fry the little fluffy beast with a fireball so fast! Him and his damn bush he keeps munching on.

Time to murder this two-tailed fuzzy bastard! Nocking another arrow, I took aim once again, steadying my aim as much as possible. I let another the arrow loose... Miss! I refuse to let this bunny win, I nocked and fired again... Miss, miss, miss... damn.

I checked my quiver noticed I was already down 6 arrows and none of them had come within 5 feet of the rabbit. I did get a small win, on the 6th arrow the beast actually looked up where the arrow landed. It turned its head towards me, gave me a good look, then went right back to its meal with its tails twitching in the air above it.

I know I hadn't used a bow in years, but I was never this bad. And the target wasn't even moving, something was off about this. I started just focusing on the rabbit...

<Two-tailed rabbit (lvl: 2): HP 25>

So, its called a two-tailed rabbit. Not super original but it is descriptive. It's health was only 25, even though it was one level above me I should still be able to take it down. That is if I can hit it.

Practice makes perfect, so I knocked another arrow, held my breath, and took extra careful aim. And I released the arrow and my breath in the same instant. The arrow looked to fly true, making a straight line towards the rabbit. The arrow did finally fly true, it struck the rabbit in its left thigh.

<You attack Two-Tailed Rabbit, dealing 13 damage>

The two-tailed rabbit made a pained cry and started towards me. Due to the arrow being lodged in its thigh, it was struggling towards me. Its eyes turning red in fury. I hurriedly knocked another arrow and fired! I missed; the rabbit was now only 10 yards away from me. I pulled and knocked another arrow, holding my breath I aimed and waited. When the rabbit reached 6 yards from me I released. Again, the arrow struck true, this time striking the rabbit in its head.

<You attack Two-Tailed Rabbit, dealing 26 critical damage>

*Ding <You have slain a two-tailed rabbit, 25 experience gained>

Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought. Took 9 arrows just to kill a level 2 rabbit. Granted I missed 7 times and only hit it twice. Thankfully it wasn't aggressive, if it had been I would have been set upon long before I was able to even damage it. Now I could have hit it with my sword or daggers, but I would be guaranteed to take some damage. Overall I was extremely lucky this was the creature I ran into. I picked up the rabbit and placed it in my inventory. Then I walked around and picked up all my arrows, luckily after 30 minutes spent looking I found all of them and none were broken. Either my luck stat was working overtime, or someone was looking over me.

Before moving on I went and checked out the leafy bush that the rabbit was so interested in. Bending down and looking closely I noticed that it appeared to be a normal bush with green leaves but then I received a notification.

*Ding* <You have found: Leaves of the Illiel plant. The leaves hold an abundance of life essence, you feel that this plant is beneficial if consumed>

*Ding* <15% increase to Herbalism skill>

*Ding* <1% increase to Biology skill>

Illiel plant, and its leaves have an abundance of life essence. Sounds to me like I just found a plant that can help me heal. I started to harvest the leaves. At first when I just pulled the leaves off the plant they withered away within seconds.

*Ding* <You have failed to harvest Illiel leaves>

I tried by gently pulling but again they withered.

*Ding* <You have failed to harvest Illiel leaves>

Damn, what was I doing wrong? Studying the plant more closely I noticed that all the veins of the leaf glowed slightly and ran down part of the stem, the veins connecting and becoming larger the closer they got to the main plant. I noticed at one part of the stem there were only two vein structures, it reminded me of a human circulatory system. I felt like this was the right place to pinch the stem and gently pull.

*Ding* <You have successfully harvested Illiel leaf x1>

*Ding* <5% increase to Herbalism skill>

Success! I spent the next 15 minutes harvesting. even after learning the trick I still only had about a 50% chance at successfully harvesting a leaf. At the end of it I didn't leave the bush bare, this would kill the plant which I may need more of it later, but I did manage to gain another 15 leaves which gave me a total of 16 leaves.

Once I was finished hunting for the day I would need to experiment with them. Maybe I could make a type of health potion with the water in the pond. I thought about trying one right then and there just to make sure it was a healing plant but decided against it, I knew it wouldn't hurt me and if it was a healing herb I couldn't waste it at this moment.

Looked up at the sky I noticed that it had to be around noon, well I think it was around then. I didn't even know if this planet had a 24-hour day/night cycle. It was strange how much there was that I didn't know about my new world. Pushing these thoughts out of my mind I went back to hunting. I decided against checking my notifications, waiting until I returned to the clearing.

Throughout the rest of my hunting trip I was able to down 2 more two-tailed rabbits, with one requiring me to finish him off with my dagger because it got too close. Luckily they weren't very strong, and the fight ended with me only receiving a few bruises and losing 10 health. Which I happily noted refilled itself over the next minute or so. I also noticed a black fox in the distance and was able to take him down before he got close, I did have to hit him with 5 arrows though. I did break 4 arrows while hunting but I was able to save the arrow heads and most of the feathers. I would have to try and make some new arrows eventually.

I was also able to harvest another 20 Illiel leaves from around the forest. I couldn't find any other types of useful plants, I tried not to stray far from the clearing. Oddly I didn't come across any other water sources, but no animals went near the clearing. There weren't even any markings near the water, I would need to look into this mystery if I got the chance.

Before it got to late picked up a fallen sticks and branches, sometimes I had to chop them with the axe so I could put them in my inventory. And I must say having this inventory is a lifesaver. I didn't really notice any weight change when adding stuff in. Until I learned magic, this was my favorite thing about this world so far.

I made my way back to the clearing with my gains from the hunt, my first steps on the road of adventure and eventual revenge taken. Now it's time to go through all my loot and notifications!