The Stupid Rabbit That Loved Courting Death and the Expensive Book

Bang! "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! Damn rabbit, get back here!"

Stepped on by the Stupid Rabbit again and left with a mouthful of grass, Parr sprang up, his little face red with fury. Forget whether he was empty-handed or not—he drew the Black Short Sword and chased after the Stupid Rabbit, sending it scurrying all over the ground. He swore he would tear it to pieces to vent his hatred! "Hahaha..."

John, watching the show, laughed heartlessly. He had known this scene would happen. Why? Because he had gone through the same thing back then. The person who had guided him onto the Path of the Knight had once sat nearby, laughing as he clumsily chased Stupid Rabbits.

It was a fine tradition! It could not end with John. Perhaps Parr would do the same someday when he guided Knight Apprentices!

Huff... huff...

In the end, Parr still failed to catch the Stupid Rabbit. The rabbit was far too nimble, dodging every one of Parr's lunges. Now, after evading him, it did not even run away. It simply stood a short distance off, glaring at Parr with its red eyes, no longer even eating grass.

That was also a trait of the Stupid Rabbit species: teasing predators. Not for any reason other than fun—for the thrill of hovering on the brink of life and death.

"You damn rabbit!"

Once he had caught his breath, Parr wanted to continue, but John stood up and called to him.

"Little one, stop wasting time. We need to get going. If you want to catch Stupid Rabbits, wait until we rest tonight!"

With that, John dusted off his backside, turned, and left. He drew the Dark Knight One-Handed Sword and continued clearing the way.

"I..."

Shooting the Stupid Rabbit a resentful glare, Parr unwillingly grabbed his large and small packs and followed John, who had already gone far ahead.

From that day on, Stupid Rabbits left an indelible impression on Parr's heart, eventually creating a being known as the Stupid Rabbit Terminator.

"I swear! Once I catch Stupid Rabbits, I'll recreate every rabbit dish I remember from my past life and spread them to every corner of the continent."

"Little one, how did catching Stupid Rabbits feel?"

While traveling that afternoon, John brought up the very subject he should not have mentioned. Could Parr possibly give him a pleasant look? Parr simply turned his head in annoyance, too lazy to respond.

"Hahaha..."

Glancing back at Parr, John laughed heartlessly again. Once more, he understood how his own guide on the Path of the Knight had felt.

"..."

Parr rolled his eyes, but inwardly, he was reflecting on his earlier attempts to catch Stupid Rabbits.

Stupid Rabbits are too nimble. Every change in direction comes so suddenly that I can't react with my current reflexes. This really is a way to train reaction speed! Whoever came up with this method was damn well a genius...

They did not speak for the rest of the journey. One large and one small figure moved through the Deep Forest, encountering no foolish beasts along the way. That was hardly strange. They had only entered the forest today, and this area was still within the hunting grounds of Haystack Village's hunting party. To the beasts here, humans were the most, most, most unprovokable beings around. Other than Stupid Rabbits, what animal would dare come courting death?

Thus, another half day passed. At dusk, John looked at the sky, then at their surroundings. After reaching a flat grassy clearing in the woods, he stopped.

"We'll rest here tonight!"

"Alright!"

Parr immediately dropped the weight on his body—his two packs—then narrowed his eyes and scanned the area. To see clearly in the dimming light, he even activated his Bright Eyes Talent.

"Found one!"

Stupid Rabbits truly were the most common small animals in the wild. After scanning the area, Parr spotted one in a patch of grass not far away. Rubbing his hands together, he quietly approached it.

Parr now felt as though he were taking on a challenge game. The challenge was to catch a Stupid Rabbit bare-handed. After spending the whole afternoon devising a strategy, Parr could hardly wait to try it. He was so absorbed that he had forgotten all about food and rest.

"Quite energetic."

John watched Parr's back and shook his head with a smile. Then, instead of paying attention to Parr's pitiful state as before, he began setting up their campsite for the night.

It was simple. In this relatively safe wilderness, no special precautions were needed. All they needed was a fire.

Swish! Swish!

John first examined the nearby trees. Then he instantly drew the Dark Knight One-Handed Sword and swung it twice through the air. Thin Red Battle Qi shot out, severing several tree trunks of suitable size.

After sheathing his sword and picking up the trunks, John casually snapped them apart. Thick Red Battle Qi appeared around his hands, and with a light shake, he extravagantly used Battle Qi to dry the firewood they would need that night.

"The Deep Forest really is nice! Durable Hardwood is everywhere. No need to worry about firewood for the night."

John sighed, then lit the fire and sat beside it. Red Battle Qi rose from his body. His strength had already reached Advanced Bronze. All he had to do now was work hard to break through to Peak Bronze, condense the Battle Qi within his body, and then find a way to advance to Silver.

The Stupid Rabbit's long ears are bait. I can't keep focusing on its ears—I have to grab its body...

Having settled on a strategy, Parr, who had already approached the Stupid Rabbit, lunged again. This time, his target was its body.

This will definitely work... Ow!

But Parr failed again. This time, the Stupid Rabbit leaped directly into the air and viciously kicked Parr in the forehead. Then it flipped over, landed in a patch of grass nearby, and went back to eating.

"Damn it! How is that even possible?"

Parr clutched his reddened forehead and crouched down. After recovering for a long while, he stood again and slowly approached the Stupid Rabbit. Defeated time and again, he fought time and again.

By the time John called Parr over for dinner, Parr looked even more miserable than he had at noon. He concluded, "I can't lunge at it anymore. That's the wrong path. Stupid Rabbits can not only jump straight—they can damn well jump diagonally too. Before it leaps, I have no way of guessing which direction it'll go. So what should I do?"

By the time they finished dinner, it was already dark. After a tiring day, both Parr's Stamina and Mental Power were depleted. He did not want to waste Mental Energy Points replenishing his Mental Power just to battle Stupid Rabbits again, so he could only sit obediently before the fire and stare blankly at the flames.

Including my past life, this should be my first time spending the night outdoors, right? Thinking about it now, my past life was such a failure. I clearly dreamed of seeing all parts of the world, but because of school, all the money I earned went toward tuition. Even my internet expenses were covered by my good brother...

After lamenting the miserable life of his past self, Parr came back to his senses and saw John beside him, writing rapidly.

The pen resembled a fountain pen from Parr's past life, and looked quite exquisite and ornate.

The book—or rather, the paper—was expensive white paper.

"Uncle John, can you read?"

Parr leaned over to take a look, only for John to use the pen to push him back by the forehead.

"Of course I can read. When adventurers travel outside, if they can't read, someone might sell them off and they'd still be helping count the money!" John said as he put away the paper and pen.

"So mysterious."

Parr grumbled inwardly, then grabbed the large pack beside him and rummaged through it. He pulled out a brown-covered book: the Beast Slaughter Manual that Old Man Rottus had hidden beneath the tree in the courtyard.

"Uncle John, could you teach me? There are so many words in here that I don't recognize."

Parr was telling the truth. Although Old Man Jack had begun teaching him the writing of the Wind Wolf Kingdom when Parr was six, he had only taught common everyday words. There were far too many characters in Old Man Rottus's Beast Slaughter Manual that Parr did not know.

"Oh?"

John's gaze was drawn to the Beast Slaughter Manual in Parr's hands. He took it and flipped through it, then a pained expression appeared on his face.

"What a waste, what a waste! Using such rare parchment to record this kind of content—it's such a waste!"

John's chest-beating anguish piqued Parr's curiosity.

"Uncle John, what's wrong...?"

Sighing, John closed the book and ran his hand over its cover before tossing it back to Parr.

"Little one, this book of yours is worth quite a bit! I can't identify the material used for the cover, but the white Book Pages inside are made from the small patch of softest hide on the belly of a White Yak calf. That's why they feel so white, supple, and smooth. This sort of parchment is only produced in the central region of the Ember Lion Kingdom. It's extremely expensive, and you can barely find it on the market in our Wind Wolf Kingdom."

"Is it really that impressive?" Parr listened with a vague sense that it was incredible, though he did not quite understand why.

Seeing that Parr still had not realized how precious the book was, John thought for a moment and put it another way.

"Little one, let me put it this way: one sheet of this parchment costs one Wind Wolf Gold Coin on the market. Count how many pages this book has yourself. Even if its value has dropped a little because it has writing on it, if you run into someone who specifically collects books of all kinds, it could be worth even more."

Hiss...

"One page costs one Wind Wolf Gold Coin!"

Parr sucked in a sharp breath. Though he lived in a small village where there was little to spend money on and had no accurate concept of wealth, he still understood the importance of Wind Wolf Gold Coins. One Wind Wolf Gold Coin was enough to cover a common villager's expenses for an entire year—perhaps even with some left over.

One Wind Wolf Gold Coin was equal to ten Wind Wolf Silver Coins, and one Wind Wolf Silver Coin was equal to one hundred Wind Wolf Copper Coins.

In a town, one Wind Wolf Copper Coin could buy a loaf of Black Bread, enough for one adult's meal.

Coming back to his senses, Parr immediately flipped to the last page. The book had page numbers, and there were one hundred and eleven pages in total.

"Money... it's all money... so much money..."

After calculating the answer, Parr's large eyes instantly turned into the shape of gold coins. His past life had been difficult, leaving him with a particular obsession with money.

"Hahaha."

John was amused by Parr's appearance. A hundred gold coins were nothing much to a Bronze-level Knight like him. Leaving aside his adventuring income, he received as many as fifty gold coins from the Church each year. Adding the bounties for killing cultists, he could earn nearly two hundred gold coins a year.

But...

John touched the letter in his chest pocket, his gaze dimming. He earned a lot, but he spent a lot too. After adventuring for so many years, he had not saved much money. In other words, he too was poor.

Sigh...

This volume is a transition, about the protagonist beginning to learn about this world.