Jack took some more time to familiarize himself with the menu. He'd even broken down the three leather boots and rolls of paper that Truck-kun had tossed him, giving him a small supply of leather and paper. Because if that truck-headed bastard was going to toss those things at him as some kind of running joke, he might as well get some use out of it. This was what people nowadays call a "pro-gamer move".

At first, he tried wearing the boots, but found that they were too small and were all left-footed, so breaking them down into leather was a better choice. He also tried breaking down the hospital gown---thinking that might provide him with some extra materials---but that gave him nothing. Perhaps items from the previous world are unable to be processed for some reason.

After a while, Jack was starting to feel hungry, so he decided to go scavenge some food. After a bit of exploring, he found some red berries on a bush nearby.

At first, he was hesitant in eating them, thinking that they might be poisonous. He tried storing them first and then accessing the menu to see if he could learn more information about it. All the menu told him was that those were "Red Berries" and nothing else, which was honestly not a lot of information to go on. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to leave them in storage for now until he could find a better food source.

He'd also picked up some flowers along the way and stored them in his inventory. He made sure to collect flowers of different kinds to see what the menu has to say about them. All it really showed him were vague descriptive names like "Red Flower", "White Flower", and "Blue Flower". If two or more flowers are of similar color, it would simply label them as "Blue Flower 01", "Blue Flower 02", etc.

Jack was getting frustrated at how little help the menu had provided him. He'd thought a fantasy world like this would have more creative names for everyday objects like flowers. It's almost as if he was in a video game that hadn't finished alpha-testing.

After some more walking, he finally came across a small river. It was a great find for him as he was getting incredibly thirsty. He was so thirsty, in fact, that he didn't even take a moment to make sure the water was clean enough before taking a drink. The water was incredibly refreshing, which made him drink even more of it. He suspected that he'll probably get some kind of waterborne illness by drinking unpurified water, but he didn't care. He was just that thirsty.

As he drank from the river, he spotted something moving from the corner of his eye. At a couple of meters away from him, along the riverside, there was...a rabbit.

It was a fairly small rabbit with a grayish-brown coat that was seen drinking from the river. Jack's eyes were fixated at that rabbit for a rather uncomfortable amount of time. He stared at it without even blinking---similar to that of a madman---because in his mind, that rabbit represent only one thing: food.

Jack's hunger had now pushed his mind pass the breaking point. He could honestly feel himself going just a teeny tiny bit insane. He didn't even realize that he was starting to drool as he stared daggers at that rabbit. He could already imagine how delicious its plump juicy meat is going to taste once he roasts it over a fire. In his head, nothing else matters at the moment other than to catch that rabbit and have it for dinner.

Suddenly, the rabbit tensed up for a while. It's as though it had noticed Jack watching it with his predatory eyes. The rabbit stared at Jack and Jack stared back. They eyed each other for a brief tense moment until, all of a sudden, the rabbit leapt away. As it made its escape, Jack chased after it with all the energy and ferocity he could muster.

"Hey, come back here, you little-" Jack yelled, pursuing the rabbit in a mad dash as he swung his stone axe repeatedly to try to whack it. "Stay still, goddamn it! I want your meat! Give me your meat, you son of a beach! I want it!"

But no matter how fast he ran or how quickly he swung his axe, he couldn't seem to land a single hit. Jack may be fast, but the rabbit was just a little bit faster. As the rabbit leapt, it zigzagged nimbly through the grassy field as Jack gave chase, yelling and shouting with raw unadulterated desperation. No matter what he did, he just couldn't seem to catch that little bastard.

Eventually, the rabbit found itself a burrow and leapt inside it to hide, evading Jack's capture. Jack reached his hand deep inside the burrow to try to grab it, but ultimately failed to do so.

"No! No! NO!!! Come back here with my meat! Come back! Goddamn it!" Jack roared in frustration.

He tried clawing at the dirt around the burrow, digging himself deeper inside. Then he tried using the stone axe to dig even deeper. But even after all that digging, he still couldn't find a trace of that rabbit. Eventually, he gave up the search. He didn't have the energy anymore. He's simply too exhausted.

The day was starting to come to an end. The sun was setting, emitting a warm orange glow at the horizon. Jack was getting unbearably hungry and the only food available to him were some berries and flowers that he'd harvested before. At this point, he was almost certain that if he doesn't eat anything for tonight, he might die of starvation.

I could either eat the berries and risk getting poisoned or I'll most likely die from starvation later, Jack thought to himself. Either way, I'm screwed. Well, I might as well take the risk.

Jack held one of the berries in his hands and bit into it. It had a sour and bitter flavor and was overall not very pleasant to eat. However, compared to not eating anything at all, it certainly wasn't that bad. He ate a couple handfuls of it, just enough to keep his hunger in check.

It was only until an hour or so later that he realized he'd made a grave mistake. Jack was starting to feel very sick. He felt a combination of intense nausea and probably one of the worst stomachaches in his life. He simultaneously wanted to throw up and take a dump at the same time. It was a horrendous experience and he was almost certain that the berries he ate had something to do with it.

After what was probably hours of vomiting and bowel movement, Jack collapsed to the ground. The sun had long since set and the darkness of night was now taking over. With the night comes a chilling wind that made the surrounding area bitterly cold.

In the back of his mind, Jack knew he probably should have made a campfire or a bedroll to keep himself warm. However, he was simply too exhausted to do so. He lacked the energy to even stand. He felt sick and weak. He felt like he was nearly dead. Perhaps he was dead---yet again. At this point, his muddled mind could hardly tell the difference anymore.

As the night went on, Jack shivered uncontrollably as he tried to curl himself up to keep warm. He was simultaneously too tired to stay awake and too cold to fall asleep. And whenever he did manage to sleep, it didn't take long until the freezing wind jolted him back into wakefulness. It was a cruel miserable cycle of anguish that he was forced to endure for the entire night.

As the night went on, Jack thought about his previous life. He thought about his family, his friends, and Claire. He wondered how their lives are going right now. He wondered what kind of funeral was held in his passing and what kind of eulogy was spoken that day. He thought about how his death had played out and that Claire was probably blaming herself for his death as she was the one who motivated him to rush to the office. If he could, he'd tell her not to blame herself and that it was actually his own fault for not watching out for incoming traffic.

But he can't. He knew he can't. He was living a different life now. They are literally worlds apart. He was never going to see any of them ever again. He felt true loneliness for the first time and that sense of loneliness hurts more than all of the things that had happened to him today combined. That sense of bitter loneliness was practically eating away at his soul.

As he laid there on the dirt ground---hungry, tired, cold, and lonely---he finally let himself cry. He cried and cried and cried...until he finally stopped crying and went into a deep slumber.

Soon, daybreak had occurred, giving the sky a brilliant light of the morning sun. Using whatever little energy he had left, Jack got up from the ground in order to observe the sunrise and immerse himself in its magnificent beauty.

To be honest, Jack still felt like crap. However, at the same time, he also felt a sense of rejuvenation and renewal. He had endured so much on just the first day in this new world and yet he still got it in him to keep trudging on. He didn't want to give up that easily. He wanted to keep living and he's going to do whatever it takes to live his life, no matter what obstacles lies ahead.

Jack took a deep breath before shouting loudly at the sky. "TRUCK YOU!!! Hey, Truck-kun, you think you can knock me down?! Well, guess what, I got back up! Look at me now! I've survived! I have survived the first day in this new world! Hah! In your face, Truck-kun!" He paused for a moment before continuing. "And I'm going to survive every single day afterwards! And not just survive, but thrive! I'm going to thrive in this world! I'm going to live my life and I'm going to live it to the fullest! I am going to show you just how much of a badass I can truly be! JUST...YOU...WAIT!!!"

That speech was so intense that he was almost out of breath trying to deliver it. Just then, Jack sensed something coming towards him. Before it was able to hit him, he reached out his hand and caught it just in time. It was another flying boot message.

Another one of these again? Jack thought. This is starting to get old. Good thing I'm smart enough to catch it this time. Ha! In your face, you mothertrucker!

He opened up the message to read it.

Go ahead and give it your best shot. I'll be watching, it said.

Jack smiled confidently upon reading it, for he knew he was more than ready to take on the challenge.