Another World Story

Day Twenty: Days Passed

After a day and a half, John and the rabbit were finally able to dig upwards. The time it took them just to move from a single place to another made John wonder how long the rabbit dragged his severely injured body before. Although the rabbit took some rest, the rabbit was still digging fast, and they still took a day and a half just to get to the area near where John was found unconscious based on the rabbit.

John looked around the area, he could still see scorch marks around the patches of dirt and grass, but the area near the trees was surprisingly unharmed. He asked the rabbit why that was and got the same confused and judging look from the rabbit, before it answered.

"Those are Sagra trees," it said, pointing to the trees with slight scorch marks before continuing, "They are said to be the most resilient trees in this forest, their vitality surpassed even the monsters near the deepest area where we once were."

John raised a brow hearing those words, although he had read before that there are trees like the sequoia, that can grow to unimaginable heights and size. These Sagra trees, on the other hand, were quite smaller. He couldn't imagine such a tree possessing such terrifying vitality.

"Though..." the rabbit dragged as it picked up a branch and lit it up using magic, "they are also highly combustible."

John then remembered it was from these trees that he got those exploding twigs. But...

"If they are highly combustible, why didn't they explode or lit up when they were hit by flames?" he asked. Because, as far as he could remember, the moment he slammed the fire-stone-starter together on those twigs, they immediately lit up and exploded like firecrackers.

The rabbit looked at him, and made way to a Sagra tree to its left. As it caressed the bark of the tree, it replied, "Though it is highly combustible, it is also fire-resistant." It then pointed at the bark, "The bark that covers the tree is the one that protects it from the fire. Though they possess high vitality, they can't compare to a Potus Tree. Those are the trees that produce the potus fruits, known to all as the fruit that can give endless stamina to the ones that consume it. Tho, those are mostly exaggerations, but if you consume a LOT of it, that's a different story." Saying so, the rabbit walked away, leading to a vibrant part of the forest.

John absorbed this information and committed it to his memory. Who knows, perhaps he may have a use for them. Though those potus fruits would surely be helpful for him.

Following the rabbit, John looked around the area and if he found something he didn't know, he would ask the rabbit. The rabbit, like a tour guide, continued to hop towards a certain direction as it answered his questions.

John didn't know which part of the forest they were as the way he came to this area was mostly running for his life and not remembering where he was going.

Days passed as they moved forward, inching ever closer to the exit of the forest.

As they moved, John and the rabbit didn't forget the beings that were following them. Even if they didn't detect or hear any signs of them, they didn't forget to be vigilant around their surroundings, not like it would help much if those monsters appeared, but it wouldn't be bad as well, as there were beasts near the area they moved as well.

A week passed and John and the rabbit didn't encounter any enemies, mostly wandering herbivores and some rabbits that John pointed to and asked questions. Those rabbits, though, ran away the moment he got near them. He was confused and looked at the rabbit, and saw a smirking expression on its face. John was even more confused.

"Aren't they your kind?" he asked.

The rabbit just walked along and ignored him.

Seeing the rabbit's reaction, John didn't probe further and followed along, and when he found other rabbits, he just ignored them, though he didn't ignore the fruits they left behind when they ran away. Those are potus fruits! The fruit of Stamina! Many people back in his world would've paid thousands just to get the fruit.

Along the way, the rabbit didn't forget to teach John some of the flora and fauna they saw. Though, about those rabbits, the rabbit didn't even mention them. The rabbit also made him practice how to control and conjure magic from time to time. Mostly he just listened, looked, and learned. He wasn't allowed to conjure magic yet, as those monsters might detect him and might come after them.

One night.

As John began to undress and clean himself in the small lake that the rabbit had found.

Chaotic sounds of beasts and birds echoed from the front, more accurately to the top of the waterfalls where a cliff is. John was no cat and most definitely not an eagle to see from such a distance and darkness. But he was certain that there was something about those beasts and birds' noises. They were chasing after something. Or, someone...

Realizing that, John quickly ran towards the cave he found, and informed the rabbit about the noise. The lake was a distant away from the lake, so the rabbit wasn't able to hear the noises of the beasts and nocturnal birds.

"Are we going to take a look?" The rabbit asked him.

John almost blurted to stay away from there, but as his thought wandered back to the one being chased to be another person, a human, or something else, he faltered, and said something else.

"Can we get away if those beasts jumped down from the cliff?"

Although he would rather fight to the death than die without fighting, he wasn't a battle maniac or crazy enough to fight those beasts without gaining anything from them, aside from perhaps, experiences. But the system was still useless to him somewhat, so he didn't want to court death fighting a bunch of beasts.

Seeing his expression, the rabbit nodded its head, "We could. The cliff is high enough to prevent them from jumping from it, I don't know about the birds though, but I could just shoot them down using magic. For now, we need to know what they are chasing. It might be another human, or a sentient person. They could be a faster lead out of this forest."

John nodded his head, and followed the rabbit towards the cliff. And upon arriving there, he was stunned.

"Just how many are they?" he asked.

"Gulp..." the rabbit swallowed, "I don't know, but there sure are a lot of them..."

The cliff that was once empty, aside from the trees and rocks and waterfall, was now teeming with beasts and birds that circled around it. John was sure he could make out a figure of a person back at the edge of the cliff.

"There's a person," he said.

"And most likely, injured." The rabbit added, "Those beasts wouldn't chase someone down if they weren't drawn to them."

"I can't see the whole picture, but I think that person is going to jump from there..." John said, his voice tinged with seriousness as he looked at the figure above. "Do you have any magic that could save them?" he added.

"I don't know," the rabbit admitted. "My strong suit is earth magic. If I used that, she'd die."

"What if you make it so that they could slide down on your magic?" John inquired. If that could be done, they could rescue the person.

"It wouldn't work, there's little time, plus those beasts would follow if they slid down. That would be dooming us as well," the rabbit said.

John wore a grim expression, not thinking that far ahead. He stared at the figure above, thinking of a way to save them, when...

*SPLASH!*

A loud splashing sound was heard, and a column of water erupted, drenching both him and the rabbit.

John was stunned, and quickly looked above, seeing that the figure standing there had vanished. John immediately dove underwater, forgetting that it was dark out, preventing him from seeing anything. Realizing this, he swam up and looked at the rabbit. The rabbit pointed in a direction and John swam towards it. Seeing signs of bubbles. John dove down. The water around this area of the lake was deep enough to hinder him. But John persisted.

He dove downward, seeing no signs of the person, he looked around, and finally... he saw it.