Where... am I...

I slowly opened my eyes again, and found myself lying on a field of yellow grass.

A wind breeze went over me, making me close my eyes instinctively until it passed.

I reopened them after a few seconds to survey my surroundings.

This place...

"A ...grassland...?

-UGH!"

My head hurts like crazy!?

I caught my breath slowly again as that feeling subsided.

...I-In any case...I need to find... the way... ...home...

When my headache had settled down, I looked around actively for clues to where I had been transported to.

There were no signs of intelligent life around me.

That was a good sign, since there weren't going to be an immediate threat to my life. I wasn't well equipped to fight a monster. I would be effectively useless without a weapon, no... even with a weapon.

That said...The wilderness? Was I in the wilderness?

...Say, isn't the starting requirements of this world a little too harsh, Rululu?!

There were plant types and trees I could not recognize around me. It should be pretty safe to assume I've been transported to another world, since I'm pretty confident there were no records of such odd-looking plant species on Earth.

I've read almost everything about wildlife in under a year since I'd been bored out of my mind back in my apartment.

"Appraisal! ... ...View! Menu! Open Menu! Status! Status Window! ...Uhh..."

Expending my knowledge of terms used in novels, I gave up. It didn't seem like random guessing would work. Even so, I didn't even know if there were prerequisites to skill activations after all.

...My 8th Grader Syndrome is acting up...

In any case, looks like it's true that I had no abilities at all. Not even something to see the information of things around me in detail... This world's difficulty is literally at Nightmare isn't it... Haaah... I don't really want to experiment on what kind of plants are edible through trial-and-error... my body isn't the best hardware in the world...

Now would be a good time for something like an appraisal skill to show up... come on...

Cursing in my heart that Rululu had seemingly no way of coming in contact with me any time soon, I began to look for a high ground. Scaling up the highest rock I could find around me, I looked around the plains.

There's one building there... but it looks like it's going to be a long journey...maybe 2 days... I'd need to secure a source of water first.I'll find some damp soil around me for now, and... I should start moving in between the trees. The ones that look healthier should have some abundant supply of water, which means there's a river of some sorts nearby.

But inside the woods huh...

Honestly, I don't really want to. It's already looking pretty dangerous.

The unknown made me contemplate about my decision for abit, before I decided.

Not like I have a choice, I'm going to die of thirst pretty soon if I stay here.

Cursing at the inconvenience, I began to approach the sea of trees carefully. Along the way, I had crafted a makeshift bag made of leaves and twigs and collected fruits and plants that seemed edible.

There were no animals nor insects around, which made me a little more comfortable but slightly uneasy.

It wasn't normal for a thriving forest like this to have no inhabitants.

Strange... Is this place not an inhabitable terrain...?

I began to raise my level of caution as night began to fall.

I said so as I chewed off a a piece of a yellow fruit. It was shaped like a pear but it tasted like a mix of Star Anise and apples. Although it contained little water content, the burst of flavors when I bit into it kept me awake. The sweet, bitter, salty and sour taste of the fruit was an interesting experience for my tastebuds.

...At least this world has something going for it...

Contemplating within my mind, I took another bite off the fruit. A satisfying crunch could be heard as I ventured deeper into the forest.

Before I knew it, the suns had set. It was getting dark. I was halfway through the journey.

There were 4 suns in this world, but they were just slightly overlapped with each other so it didn't make too much of a difference.

Time to make camp then...

...

Not that I don't want to, I can't cut down trees without a sharp and durable object to hack them down, nor do I have the strength to do it...

There was a cave near me, but the fact that there were no typical monsters nor animals patrolling their residences still haunted my mind. As I peeked into the cave, it looked like it went downwards.

Going into that place for shelter might protect me from external threats, but I didn't want to randomly walk into a designated dungeon, if there were any of those cliches. I have literally zero battle potential, going in without any prior knowledge is tantamount to suicide.

...I have no choice, I'll just circle around the back of this huge rock on the surface and rest there with a little bit of caution. That way I have an escape route in case something went awry in the middle of the night.

Having settled my plans for the night, I gathered some leaves and twigs and used it as a blanket from the cold. I slowly drifted off lightly...

I CALLED IT! DID I SERIOUSLY JINXED MYSELF?!

i was awoken by a series of violent trembling of the earth. I'm pretty sure they're nocturnal at this point. This just guaranteed why I was feeling uneasy earlier.

Slapping myself a few times to refresh myself, I tried to scale the cave rock with much effort, and looked in the horizon.

NOCTURNAL DINOSAURS?! GIVE ME A BREAK!

There was a horde of reptilian-looking creatures charging towards my direction. They were crushing all the trees in the way, making quick work of the landscape.

Legs... they have 6 legs... what's that creature?! Hold on, my direction...?

It's headed over here. Wait, it wasn't a bear or something? That's... bigger.

...Strange, I must have been seeing things. It's just one of those, isn't it... one of those delusions that featured a gigantic creature that looks ravenous... the kind that has saliva splattering all over when you look at it closely...

The kind that looks carnivorous at first glance, and... nope. It's still there.

...

Ahahaha... it seems I'm going a little mental from not taking my medicine.

T-This isn't a joke... they aren't stopping! Why are they headed this way?!

That sphere collecting in its mouth since a while ago looks pretty dangerous doesn't it?! Looks like something from N*ruto?!

I cursed myself for making that one reference even at a time like this.

At that moment, the sphere released from one of the creature's mouth flew towards me with an incredible velocity. A wind breeze blew past me, creating a small crater in the rock I was resting against earlier.

"Wh-!?"

It wasn't a wind breeze, it was a powerful gale of wind. The pressure blew my weak frame away without any resistance.

The aftereffects were tremendous against me. I was blown away sideways and fell face down on the ground. The grass was tickling my bleeding nose.

I was having a small concussion from that sudden impact.

"Kuhh!!!"

I coughed out a spurt of blood, which was clotted inside of my throat. Some parts of my spit and the plants that I had consumed earlier came out as well.

A-a compressed ball of air!? Let alone the size of that creature, that ability is beyond dangerous! How is it doing that?

Was there an alternate lung sac within that massive frame that worked on producing that effect, similar to how dragons were depicted in fantasy stories? ...

-Wait this isn't the time for that, I got to get away! ...SOMEHOW!

GRAaaAAa!!!

The monsters' roars echoed in the forest, and I covered my ears quickly.

There was a chance that that was a kind of attack as well that deafened its victims. As long as I did not understand the physiology behind their bodies, I can't underestimate anything they are doing.

That's right, White, don't panic. It's the same as usual. Try to think rationally. Think properly.

Calm. Calm. Calm.

"Huu... haah... huuu...

My vision was blurred by a trickling path of blood coming out from my forehead. It went past my left eye, and as if sucking in the color of the blood like dye, my eyes started to turn a little red.

I must have hit my head on something sharp when I got blown away.

"... Alright, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."

My mind began to process slightly faster as I prepped myself up continuously.

"Fuuuu... haaahhhh..."

Inhaling and exhaling a few more times, I was finally a little more clear-headed.

Now then...

Now that monsters were closing in on my position, I could notice some in the sky as well. They looked like blue pterodactyls with two pairs of wings on its spiked back, although it was just speculation as its body color was obscured under the darkness of the night. Does two pair of wings increase flight speed?

Nevertheless, these things are nocturnal. They should have unparalleled night vision while hunting like this, which means I should be able to blind them temporarily with something incredibly flashy, like my smartphone.

My... smartphone... ...yeah right...

I had dropped it out of my pocket during the buglary fiasco before. I had already realized that only things that I had carried with me nearby were transported to this world at the very beginning.

I was left with a set of house keys, an MP3 player, an earpiece connected to the music player, my wallet with a bunch of name cards and $10 bank notes, and a few pieces of grape-flavored rock candy.

Nothing seems to be useful in this situation.

...Do they hunt each other too though? They're still a distance away from me, so I'm not sure if they're cooperating with each other or trying to chase one another down... I should think of a way for them to turn against each other so I don't have to do all the work...?

I'll keep this in mind... For now, I need to change positions. Although it might just be a coincidence that they're headed this way, I need to play it safe. My life could end with another hit. Be it their enormous frames or those spheres of wind pressure.

The sounds of destruction continued through the night. The trees falling created thunderous vibrations on the ground.

I began to run. Rationally.

While running away in a different direction instead of a straight line in retreat away from the cave, I continued to pick up the sounds that gave away their relative position.

The indiscriminate bullets that were flying around the forest had stopped shooting in my direction after taking a turn. Looks like they were just being herded towards me for some reason...

The trees were probably enough cover under the night to escape.

It isn't over yet.

Having an aerial view of the place, those bird creatures should have been able to see me from the get go!

I can't... keep running...

Lack of exercise is seriously taking a toll on my body right now.

I didn't even have the strength to have an inner monologue any longer; Losing my pacing while running breathlessly had taken up all the stamina I had.

"Hahh...hahh, Hahh... Hahh.."

I had hurt my ankle while running this much... It looks like, this is as far as I can run.

I looked for a suitable tree to hide myself out of view.

The bird screeching is getting closer.

I saw a similar looking cave about 50 meters away from me, beckoning me to dive into it for protection. But it looked like a convenient trap...

...

My survival instincts, they've never failed me.

I'm weak, but like a rabbit, there are times when you can perceive danger even in a seemingly safe spot.

This instinct is telling me it still knows my location, this tree isn't enough to hide from it.

That is... a final desperate move then...

Using the last ounce of my stamina, I made a beeline towards the entrance of the cave. I was still a few meters away from it, but a closer look showed that it seemed to spiral downwards like the other one. Were these two entrances connected then? Was this the exit? Or was this the entrance?

The screeching was getting dangerously close. The 3 pterodactyls were within sight already, it noticed me, I'm not going to make it!

-Alright, modern world item. You're uppp!!!

As a last ditch effort, I unplugged the earpiece from my MP3 player while running.

Playing a random song and setting it to the loudest volume possible, I threw it towards the monsters in the air.

The pterodactyls appeared confused momentarily and slowed down drastically, as one of it descended from the skies and tried to consume it.

IT TOOK THE BAIT, THANK GOD! Goodbye music player, your sacrifice will not be in vain!!!

Laughing inwardly at my first round of victory in this world, I increased my speed.

Taking this small gap of diverted attention, I pounced into the darkness of the cave entrance and fell flat on my face again.

When the flying creatures had came to, it was already too late. I had already entered the small gap into the cave.

The pterodactyls stopped chasing me because of the small entrance, they couldn't continue chasing. They turned directions and left after circling around the sky a few times.

... ...

I heaved a sigh of relief.

"That... *pants* was really... *pants* close..."

That was seriously close. Looks like part of my theory was right...

Barring the land reptiles aside which stopped right in front of the other cave, and just appeared to be drawn to something, the bird creatures were probably reactive to sound.

With a glance, I could tell that it didn't have eyes. I suppose it picked up my location by mimicking the behavior of a bat somewhat, so I turned it into a double-edged sword by 'blinding' it temporarily with a loud sound. Though I was really lucky I could hold out with these legs.

It did not come to a surprise that things went somewhat according to my plan because of my cowardly nature.

Call me not a coward, but a cautious coward instead. Hmm... doesn't seem to make too much of a difference does it?

...Let's go with me being like a 'Rabbit'. Yeah.

When the coast was clear, I lost all of my tension.

My mind wandered strangely as I began to feel my heavy eyelids closing on their own. I was struggling to stay awake, but it was all for naught. I would soon plunge into a deep sleep as my weak physical condition caught up to me.

The spare reserves of whatever little amount of stamina that I had was drained from me very quickly, as I collapsed unconscious inside the cave.

...A group of goblins began to come out from the shadows...