Chapter 16: Rabbit Who Courts Death and Expensive Books

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bang!

“Bah! Rabbit, stop right there!”

Parr was once again being stepped on by the rabbit. His face was red with anger. He no longer cared about catching the rabbit barehanded. He pulled out his black sword and chased after the rabbit, swearing that he would tear it apart to relieve the hatred in his heart!

“Hahaha.”

John, who was watching, laughed out loud. He knew that Parr would put on a good show. He knew this would happen because he had gone through the same thing in the past. His teacher had also watched him chase after the rabbit clumsily before. This was a good tradition! But it would not end here with Parr. Perhaps, Parr would do the same when he takes his own apprentice in the future!

Whoosh!

In the end, Parr did not manage to catch the rabbit. It was too agile and dodged Parr’s pounce every time. Currently, it does not bother to run anymore. It just stood not far away and stared at Parr, no longer bothering to eat. This was also a unique characteristic of the rabbit. It teased its predator for no other reason than to enjoy the pleasure of the moment between life and death.

“You d*mn rabbit!”

After catching his breath, Parr wanted to continue, but John stood up and stopped him.

“Little boy, don’t waste time. We should go. If you want to catch the rabbit, we’ll talk about how to do it when you rest tonight properly!”

After saying this, John turned to leave. He pulled out his sword and continued to lead the way.

“I…”

Parr glared hatefully at the rabbit. Though unwilling to give up, Parr grabbed his packages and followed John. The rabbit had left an indelible impression in Parr’s heart from that moment onwards. It made Parr determined to become a rabbit exterminator. 

‘I swear! When I catch the rabbit, I will recreate all the rabbit dishes from my previous life and spread it to every corner of the continent.’

…

“Little boy, how does it feel to catch the rabbit?”

When they were on their way, John asked about this. Parr could not be bothered to answer. He merely turned his head in annoyance.

“Hahaha.”

Turning his head to look at Parr, John once again laughed unethically. He could not understand what his teacher must have felt in the past. 

“…”

Parr rolled his eyes. He was thinking about what would happen when he finally caught the rabbit.

“The rabbit is too agile. Every time it changes directions, I get caught off guard. I can’t even prevent it from stepping on my head with my current reaction speed. This is indeed a method to train my reaction speed! The person who thought of this method is a genius…”

After that, they did not say anything anymore. The two of them shuttled through the deep forest. On the way, they did not encounter any wild beasts. However, this was not strange. Since they had just entered the forest today, this area was still the territory of the Haystack Village hunting team. In the eyes of the wild beasts here, humans were the most untouchable existence. Other than the rabbit, no other animals dared to come and seek death!

Half a day passed. In the evening, John looked at the sky and the surrounding environment. He walked to a flat grassland in the forest and stopped.

“We’ll rest here for today!”

“Okay!”

Parr directly threw down the packages he was carrying. Then, he narrowed his eyes and looked around. He activated his Bright Eyes Talent to see in the already dim environment.

“Found it!”

The rabbit was indeed the most common small animal in the wild. Parr scanned his surroundings and found one in the bushes not far away. He rubbed his hands together and quietly approached it.

Ever since he failed in catching the rabbit previously, Parr had been thinking about future catching strategies for the whole afternoon. He could not wait any longer. He would not even eat nor sleep until his mission was accomplished!

“You’re in good spirits.”

John looked at Parr’s back and shook his head with a smile. He didn’t bother to watch Parr attempt to catch the rabbit anymore. Instead, he began to set up the campsite for tonight. In this kind of low-risk wilderness, there was no need to take precautions. All he needed to do was to set up a fire.

Whoosh!

John first observed the surrounding trees. Then, he drew out his sword and waved it in the air twice. A thin red Battle Qi shot out and cut off a few tree trunks of suitable size.

He sheathed his sword and picked up the tree trunks before casually breaking them. A thick red Battle Qi appeared on his hands. With a slight shake, he used his Battle Qi to dry the firewood that he would use tonight.

“This place is much better compared to the deep forest! Over there, fire-resistant hardwoods are everywhere. Right now, I don’t have to worry about them, however.”

John sighed. After lighting the bonfire, he sat by its side, his body emitting a red Battle Qi. His strength had already reached Advanced Bronze-level. What he needed to do now was to break through to Peak Bronze-level and then condense the Battle Qi in his body. After that, he needed to think of a way to break through to Silver-level.

…

“The rabbit’s long ears are bait. I can’t just focus on its ears. I have to grab its body.”

After confirming the strategy, Parr, already close to the rabbit, pounced again. This time, his target was the rabbit’s body.

“It will definitely work… Ouch!”

However, Parr failed again. This time, the rabbit jumped up and gave Parr’s head a fierce kick. Then, it turned around and landed in the grass not far away, continuing to eat.

“Oh my goodness! How can this be?”

Parr held his head in his hands and squatted on the ground. After a long time, he stood up and slowly approached the rabbit once again. Yet, he continued to be defeated.

In the end, when John called Parr to eat, Parr was in a worse state than he was in the afternoon.

“I can’t pounce anymore. It is a wrong move. Rabbits can jump not only straight but also sideways. I can’t even guess which way it will jump. So, what should I do?”

…

After dinner, it was already dark. Having been exhausted for the whole day, Parr did not want to waste his Spiritual Energy Points to replenish his Spirit Points to catch the rabbit again. He could only sit in front of the bonfire and stare blankly.

“If I count my past life, this should be my first time sleeping in the wilderness! Thinking about it, I was such a failure in my past life! My dream was to travel around the world, but I had to go to school. I paid my tuition fees with all the money I earned. Even my brother funded the money I spent on the Internet.”

As he lamented his miserable past life, Parr returned to his senses and saw John writing furiously beside him. The pen he used looked very exquisite and gorgeous. The book he wrote was made of expensive white paper.

“Uncle John, you can read?”

Parr stretched his head to take a look, but John held the pen against Parr’s forehead and pushed him back.

“Of course, I can read. We, adventurers, travel around the world, don’t we? If we couldn’t read, someone would be bound to cheat you out of your money!” John said as he put away the pen and paper.

“So mysterious.”

Parr secretly complained. Then, he grabbed the big package next to him and rummaged through it. He took out a brown book from it. The beast slaughtering manual was hidden under the tree in the yard by Rotes.

“Uncle John, can you teach me? I can’t read many words.”

Parr was telling the truth. Although Old Jack had taught Parr the language of the Wind Wolf Kingdom since he was six years old, he only knew about certain basic words. There were plenty of words that Parr could not read in the beast slaughtering manual.

“Oh?”

John’s gaze was attracted by the manual in Parr’s hand. He took it and flipped through. Then, a pained expression appeared on his face.

“What a waste! He actually used such rare leather paper to record this kind of content!”

John’s pained expression caused Parr to be curious.

“Uncle John, what are you…”

Sigh!

John sighed, closed the book, and examined it. Then, he threw the book back to Parr.

“Little boy, this book of yours is worth quite a lot! I can’t tell what the material used for the book is, but the pages inside are made from the softest piece of leather taken from a white furry calf. That is why it has such a white, pliable, and smooth feel. This kind of leather paper is only produced in the central area of the Ember Lion Kingdom. It is a costly leather paper and cannot be found on any market within our Wind Wolf Kingdom.”

“It’s that special?” Parr didn’t quite understand.

Seeing that Parr didn’t realize how precious this book was, John thought for a moment and changed his way of explaining.

“Little boy, let’s put it this way! A piece of leather paper like this is worth one Wind Wolf gold coin on the market. You can count how many pages this book has. Even if the value of the contents has decreased a little, a book collector would still pay a high price for it.”

“One page of paper is worth one Wind Wolf gold coin!”

Parr sucked in a breath of cold air. Although he never needed to spend much money in the village and did not have an accurate concept of money, he knew the importance of a Wind Wolf gold coin. It was equivalent to the annual expenditure of an ordinary villager! 

One Wind Wolf gold coin was equivalent to ten Wind Wolf silver coins, and one Wind Wolf silver coin was equal to a hundred Wind Wolf bronze coins. One Wind Wolf bronze coin could be exchanged for a loaf of black bread in the town, which was the amount of an adult’s meal.

After returning to his senses, Parr directly flipped to the book’s last page. According to the page number, this book has 111 pages.

“This is so much money…”

After calculating, Parr’s mind was filled with thoughts of richness. He had lived a difficult life previously, and he had a particular obsession with money.

“Hahaha.”

John was amused. A hundred gold coins were nothing to a Bronze-level knight like him. Due to all the risks he took in putting his life on the line, he received as much as 50 gold coins from the church every year. In addition to the bounty he received from killing cultists, he could earn up to 200 gold coins within a year.

However…

John touched the letter in his arms, and his eyes dimmed. He had earned a lot but spent a lot too. He had taken risks for many years but had not saved any money. In other words, he was a poor man.

Alas…