I coughed and heaved, chocking on a bug that had flown in my mouth as I yawned; even in another world, insects were annoying as hell. Ears twitched and the heads of dozens of Carbuncles turned in my direction. Still on top of the hill, I flattened myself to the ground while telling myself I was one with the shadows, forgetting that willing something, even strongly, doesn't actually make it a reality. I held my breath as they searched for the cause of the noise. The last thing I wanted was hundreds of lazer beams shot at me. Moments later, the bunnies returned to munching grass placidly or hoping around aimlessly and I could breathe again.

Dawn was breaking, offering a better view of the warren. I had spent the night awake keeping watch, although aside from glowing horns and the small area they illuminated, I hadn't seen much. But now, I could observe half-a-dozen large holes burrowing into the earth, no doubt entrances to their lair which had been dug beneath the remnants of a colossal tree.

The short yet very wide dead thing was lying on it’s side, mostly uprooted. As far as trees went, this one was odd-looking to say the least, with corkscrew branches and porous, pockmarked bark that reminded me of pumice stones. It wasn’t alive but was not decaying, as if bugs and fungi didn’t want anything to do with it.

Besides keeping tabs on the local fauna, another thing I did during my boring stakeout was think of my next steps carefully. Right now I had two options. The first was that I could keep going on my travels, crawling far away from this place. I was very tempted as not only was there a lot of these Carbuncles but I had seen multiple of them over level 20 in the group. There was also a different type that I hadn't seen before. Those bunnies were smaller, had no armor on their backs and most perplexing, they had a gemstone on their foreheads instead of the usual horns. I came to the conclusion from studying them all night that these were females.

Just like earth, genders were both similar yet different in some aspects. It made me wonder if the skills I acquired from one gender differed from the other. If it did, I would have to “milk” both of them to get all racial skills and traits.

These questions lead to option 2. I could stay here and fight, gain more skills and level both them and myself up. I needed just one more kill to achieve the latter, which would both make me stronger for this world and get me walking again. And I also needed to test out some theories I had concerning the forensics skill. In the end, I opted to stay.

I spotted a group of 5 carbuncles clumped together and a bit further away from the main pack. They’d do. I mentally aimed my Aero spell, willing it to land in the middle of the group then activated it.

Winds coming from seemingly nowhere rose up in a circle around them spinning faster and faster. They were buffeted by it and were starting to get cut but then something happened. The jewel of the one female in the group shone bright and a bubble of energy exploded outwardly from her. The bubble destroyed the whirlwind I had summoned and kept expanding until it surrounded the group. The energy of the defensive shield swirled and rippled.

Then it was like I had kicked a hornet’s nest. Threatened by my attack, all females across the warren created shields while the males took aggressive stances, head swiveling in every direction. Individual shields grew until it touched others, at which point they melded together. Soon, the entire warren was under one impenetrable forcefield.

Shit. I didn't know they could do that. Whatever that energy was, it was similar to the male’s beams which for some reason they were now firing at random spots. They either were scared and took shots hoping to get lucky or they were trying to scare me into revealing my location. Whatever the case may be, I didn't like were this was going.

I stayed there a few tense minutes to see if they’d drop the shield but it became clear that it wouldn’t happen anytime soon and I was getting too nervous. I inched backwards, making the least amount of movement possible, ready to use my fly spell to escape just in case. I could use it a few times now, although those beams looked like they made pretty good anti-air guns…

Once it was safe, I returned to my hideout, grumbling about never getting my damn legs back as I did.

“HERE, BUNNY BUNNY BUNNY,” I screamed at the top of my lungs before ducking back into the hole I dug out a bit further away from the warren, behind the hillock which itself was made up of the dirt from the Carbuncle’s tunnels. I peered through the bushes I put in front of the hole to give me cover. A dozen Carbuncles emerged from both sides of the hill, their amazing hearing having picked up my voice. I figured one of their possible reactions would be to investigate the source. They converged back together and headed in my general direction.

Bad idea. One moment the bunnies were running down the fields of grass then the next, a bunch of them fell, or more accurately, were pushed by those behind into the open pit I had spent the last few days digging.

Let me tell ya, digging and transporting earth somewhere else while paralyzed was a bitch. Then there was the matter of placing the previously collected horns and talons upright so that it would impale those not paying attention to their footing. The deathly screeching and the status message I received told me my plan had worked.

BATLLE LOG Total enemies defeated: 3 - [3 x Carbuncles]

Total experience points received: 1500 exp LEVEL UP

Level increased: 7->8

Level points received [1 per level]: 1

Attributes points received [2 per level]: 2

Legs received [2 per level], I thought, almost yelling out of happiness as my body quivered. I felt a tingle in my back then heard my spine pop back into place. My body was healed and I could finaly feel my toes again. My goddamn beautiful toes. I wiggled them gleefully, swearing that I would massage them lovingly in the future. You don’t know how wonderful your legs and feet are until you've lost them. I wouldn't take them for granted again.

As happy as I was, the enemy were still around so I remained focused on them. Turns out it wasn't necessary. I was quickly forgotten as the ones who hadn't been caught in my trap had stopped their advance to stare at their fallen comrades. They hopped around the hole and some teetered on the edge as if deciding whether to jump in or not. They did that for a while before giving up and running back home. One thing I learned from all those national geographic videos I watched growing up was that the animal kingdom was ruthless. Creatures trying to survive don't have time to waste on injured members of their group. I was hoping for that.

Once the coast was clear, I jumped out of my hiding hole and simply stood proudly on my own two legs, basking in the moment. I then headed to the pit, moonwalking a portion of the way there. I did end up putting my level point in MP again, raising my cap to 350, and put my status points in Smarts, raising it to 11, making my magic a touch more powerful and easier to cast.

There were five Carbuncles in the pit when I got there. Three had died on impact, spike in skulls and bellies. One female was barely conscious, leaking too much blood. It wouldn't last long.

Fortunately, the last male was only impaled through an armpit. He was still alive but exhausted, trying to free himself. Perfect. I went around the hole and jumped down in a spot I had left devoid of spikes then headed over to the struggling bunny, looting the now four corpses as I did. I tried orgasmo on one of the dead rabbits to see if it would still work. As I figured, the subject of the spell needed to be alive for it to work.

Reaching the impaled Carbuncle, I quickly grabbed it by the horn with one hand then used Swipe with the other aiming at the base of it. It broke off with a loud crack. Hopefully, that would be enough to stop it from calling for help like the young one who had attacked me did.

I seized the Carbuncle by the throat, chocking it just enough to keep it exhausted with lack of oxygen but not enough to kill it. I then lifted it off the spike and cast fly, heading back to my hiding spot.

I wrapped the enemy in a makeshift straight-jacket I had sewn together, stopping its movement. I also made a muzzle to prevent it from screaming or biting. I then cast Orgasmo. The resulting tasting earned me a nifty new skill.

Learned spell Mana beam (lv 1)

Earth affinity leveled up. Earth magic cast power and resistance increased by 2%

“Hell yes,” I said with a fist pump. I was right, evolved forms of the same species have more skills. And who knows, I might find rare species variants that offer even more. Lastly, I finally understood what that beam they shot at me was made of. It was concentrated mana.

I checked the spell and it seemed very handy. It allowed me to hurl a fast traveling destructive beam at my enemies. Best part, I could change how strong it was by consciously controlling how much mana I poured into it. The gathered energy could be held indefinitely in my hand until release which means I could prepare the spell in advance but there was a caveat. I couldn't return the energy. Once built up it had to be shot out at some point.

I tested it out by pumping 1MP into my hand then ten, slowly increasing until I reached 100MP. By then my hand was glowing a faint blue, just like the Carbuncle’s horns. There was some discomfort as I felt a slight burning and tingling sensation in my palm. It made sense with the amount of energy coursing through my limb.

I wondered what would happen if I poured all of my MP it in, so I did. The discomfort and light generated by it increased in intensity, now making my hand hurt and illuminating my hideout. I wouldn’t be able to hold on for huge amounts of power for long. Also, I’d have to be careful using this skill at night or in stealth situations if I wanted to remain concealed.

I exited my hiding spot for a moment, aimed at the mountain in the distance, the very same one I had left days before, then with my right palm facing towards it, I let her rip. A column of raw energy about a meter long and the width of a small tree trunk shot out. My hand immediately felt normal again. I wanted to see if the shot would lose steam and fall to the ground or fizzle out but it just kept going far beyond what I could track even with my enhanced sight. Well I’ll be a Carbun’s uncle, seems like I now had a long distance magic sniper rifle.

I returned to my hostage to run more tests. During the following days, I tried all sorts of ideas which gave me valuable info.

Each “milking” after the initial one reduces the potency of fluids recovered. By the third consecutive one it wasn't worth the mana expenditure necessary to cast Orgasmo. Besides, at that point, it bordered on torture for the victim, orgasm wise. I never liked animal cruelty.

I found that milking every 6 hours for the first day, every 8 hours second day, then alternating between those two cycles was the optimal pattern in fluid recovery. It netted me the most exp for spell levels and affinities, while reducing wasted mana.

By the end of my trials, I managed to raise my earth affinity to 4% and mana beam to level 3. The power-up was nice but by then, I was getting stir crazy. I returned to the hill overlooking the warren, settling into a good vantage point then poured energy in both my hands. I had tried various hand poses for releasing the beams and the best one had been making a gun with my fingers as it made aiming more natural. I sighted up two female Carbuncles, inhaled then fired. I landed a hit on both, making their head explode. A moment later, shields went up and males where seeking the intruders but I was already gone. Thus began my hit-and-run guerrilla tactic to whittle down the rabbit population.