Night in Elyndra fell fast.
Too fast.
The forest shifted with the setting sun. The emerald glow faded to a deeper hue—still lit, but stranger.
The trees breathed softly in the dark, their bark shimmering faintly with bioluminescent veins. Fireflies drifted between branches like falling stars, and the moss under my boots pulsed with a heartbeat rhythm I didn't understand.
But none of it mattered.
Because I was starving.
Not just hungry. No, this was the kind of starvation that made my body feel like it was devouring itself from the inside out.
My stomach had been growling for hours, but now it was making sounds—full-throated gurgles and angry moans like a trapped beast.
I pressed a hand to it. "Hey. Stop that."
GROOOUUHHHHHHH.
"Okay, you're not helping my stealth score right now."
BRUUHHHRRGHHHH.
I sighed. "I just killed a dragon, and now I'm going to die because I forgot to pack a granola bar."
Welcome to the first rule of survival: you can't shoot hunger.
But maybe you could hunt it.
So I started walking, eyes sharp in the night thanks to whatever stats I'd unlocked. My night vision was insane.
I could see the textures of leaves fifty feet away, count insects crawling under bark, even spot the glowing trails left by small forest creatures that had passed hours before.
The problem was, I didn't know what was edible and what would explode in my stomach and kill me.
I walked past a tree with drooping purple fruit. It looked tasty.
Ping.
[WARNING: "Whimroot Fruit" – Status: High Toxicity]
Symptoms: Hallucinations, vomiting, minor time displacement.
I stepped back quickly. "No thank you. I already live in a hallucination."
Then a flicker of motion. A small, almost cute silhouette nibbling on something near the base of a glowing fern.
I crouched slowly, eyes narrowing.
A bunny.
Its ears twitched like radar dishes. Its fur was snow-white with streaks of shimmering blue. It looked like a creature straight out of a children's fantasy book.
A ping appeared in my HUD.
[Frost-Tuft Hare]
Level: 3
HP: 25
Speed: Extremely High
Agility: Ridiculous
Catch Rate: 1.7% (Without trap or magic)]
Note: This bunny once outran a storm.
"Oh come on," I whispered.
It turned its big glowing eyes toward me. I froze.
Then—it bolted.
"NO—!"
I lunged.
The bunny launched into the air like a bullet wrapped in fluff, bouncing off a tree trunk, kicking off a rock, and sprinting into the brush like it had rocket boosters under its feet.
"I JUST WANT TO EAT YOU!" I yelled, crashing after it.
What followed was less a hunt and more a slapstick performance. I ran face-first into a branch. Slid on moss. Dove and missed. The bunny taunted me with zigzags, backflips, and at one point, ran in a perfect circle around me just to make a point.
"This is humiliating!" I shouted, as it bounced away with the grace of an elite gymnast.
But I didn't give up.
No.
FPS skills weren't just for shooting. They were for reading. Movement. Patterns. Flow.
I narrowed my eyes, adjusting my footing, tracking the rhythm of its turns, the way it used the terrain.
The next time it launched off a rock—I was already moving.
I threw my body into the air, twisted mid-flight, and tackled it out of the sky.
POOF.
We landed in a roll of fluff and limbs. The bunny let out a tiny indignant squeak. I held it up triumphantly.
"Yes!!"
It kicked once, then went still—disgruntled, but clearly done. My HUD pinged.
[Frost-Tuft Hare – Captured]
EXP: +35
Meat Quality: Excellent]
I stood, proudly holding the magical fluff monster in my arms like a victorious lunatic.
"I have conquered nature."
I found a small clearing near a rock formation and began gathering wood. Or what I thought was wood.
Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. I'd seen survival YouTubers start fires with twigs and confidence, but right now all I had was a dagger, some moss, and whatever the hell these glowing blue sticks were.
I piled them in a cone, struck two rocks together, and hoped for the best.
Click. Scratch. Snap.
Nothing.
Try again.
Nothing.
"Please, just light. I'm not asking for magic, I'm asking for fire."
A spark.
It landed.
The moss sizzled.
Then—flame.
It was blue and flickering and probably toxic, but it was fire, and I didn't care. I laughed, crouching next to it like a wild woman. I held my hands out to the warmth.
Then realized: "...How do I cook a bunny?"
As if answering, my HUD blinked again.
[New System Tutorial Unlocked: Basic Field Cooking – Small Game]
Step 1: Skin the creature (Try not to cry during this part.)
Step 2: Remove non-edible parts (Again, do not cry.)
Step 3: Roast over steady fire (Do not burn yourself or the bunny.)
Step 4: Seasoning not available. Deal with it.
I looked at the bunny. It looked at me.
I sighed. "This feels personal."
But I did it. With shaky hands and muttered apologies, I prepped the meat as best I could. The system even gave me a faint outline in my vision, guiding the process like a cooking game mini-quest.
I skewered the cleaned meat on a sharpened stick and held it over the fire.
The smell hit almost immediately.
Warm. Savory. Slightly sweet.
My stomach made a noise like a demon being exorcised.
GRRROOOOUUUUUURRRRGHHHHHH.
"Yes, I know," I snapped at it. "Dinner's on the way."
The meat browned quickly under the magic-blue flames. The fat dripped and sizzled. My hands trembled as I turned it slowly, keeping the heat even. My entire world became that flame, that scent, that single stick of food.
I waited. Turned. Waited more.
Then—at last—it was done.
I let it cool for a second, then took a bite.
Silence.
The forest went quiet.
My body shuddered.
Tears filled my eyes.
"Oh my god," I whispered, voice cracking.
Another bite. Hot. Tender. Actual flavor despite no seasoning. My brain fired fireworks. My stomach wept. My soul ascended.
"It tastes good," I said softly—then sniffled, barely able to speak through the flood of emotion.
"It… it tastes so good."
And I cried.