Chapter 004: Lightning-Roasted Rabbit
Sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, casting dappled spots of light across the forest.
A herbivorous mutant beast, resembling a rabbit, was warily nibbling on grass. Every few bites, it would perk up its long ears and nervously scan its surroundings.
From inside the wooden cabin, Yan Cang watched from afar and quietly activated the "Great Fate Art."
In response, the cry of an eagle pierced the sky.
"Screech—!"
The rabbit on the ground was so startled it kicked its legs wildly and bolted off at an astonishing speed, completely ignoring where it was going.
"Thud!"
It slammed headfirst into a tree trunk, collapsed stiffly on the spot, and passed out.
"That must have hurt so much..."
Witnessing the entire scene, Yan Cang couldn't help but wince.
Then he looked up at the clear blue sky, where the bird was now just a tiny speck in the distance.
Clearly, that eagle had just been passing by.
He smiled quietly and walked forward.
Before he even got close, a notification tone rang out:
[Successfully killed a Long-tailed Rabbit. Earned 1 Faction Point.]
"So it's called a Long-tailed Rabbit."
Yan Cang picked up the rabbit by its ears and gave it a heft.
Aside from being larger and having a longer tail, it wasn't much different from rabbits on Earth.
As a teenager who had just finished the college entrance exams and had never personally handled an animal before, he felt both curious and a bit at a loss.
Before the transmigration, he had been thinking about eating a big meal after the exams, only to be thrown straight into another world.
Starving until now, just the thought of roasted rabbit meat made him swallow his saliva.
Unfortunately, there was still a long way to go from prey to food.
Luckily, the Fate Net existed.
As Yan Cang walked back, he immersed his consciousness into the forum.
Countless guide posts automatically gathered before his eyes.
He opened one titled "Complete Tutorial on Field Dressing Prey" and quickly scanned the key points:
Use sharp stone flakes instead of knives, line with leaves to avoid mess, bleed it first, then skin it, gut it and remove the innards...
"The skinning step—turns out the blade should face outward to avoid piercing the fur into the meat!"
He muttered as he read the tutorial.
Then, clumsily but earnestly, he followed each step step by step.
Bleeding, skinning, cleaning the innards...
His movements were awkward, and the rabbit skin was cut up messily, but at least it was done.
After spending over half an hour, a skewer of cleaned rabbit meat was finally mounted on a stick.
Yan Cang looked at his work, feeling a strong sense of accomplishment.
Next came starting a fire.
But it was precisely at this step that he got stuck.
He repeatedly tried the fire-by-friction method according to the guide, rubbing until his palms were raw, but not a single flame appeared.
"Is it really this hard?"
Yan Cang stared at the stick in his hand, then looked up at the clear sky.
As he gazed, his eyes suddenly lit up.
The next second, he threw away the stick and stood up.
He didn't chant any strange incantations; he simply silently activated the "Great Fate Art."
The Threads of Fate were quietly plucked.
Under the subtle arrangement of fate, the atmospheric electric charges tens of thousands of meters above underwent a delicate change.
The next moment—
A dazzling bolt of lightning suddenly struck a large tree dozens of meters away.
"Boom!!!"
A thunderclap from a clear sky.
The tree instantly smoked and burst into flames.
"Finally... I've started a fire!"
Yan Cang was overjoyed. He carefully took the tinder and successfully lit a campfire.
Then, it dawned on him:
If he had used his Talent to slightly adjust the success rate of Fire by Friction earlier, he wouldn't have had to go to such extremes.
"Using lightning strikes costs a lot!"
"That was a bit wasteful..."
Looking at the flames before him, he realized this.
But then he thought again—behind him stood an Energy Pool supported by a billion people. This consumption was nothing but a drop in the bucket.
Indeed, after all the fuss just now, the online count on the Fate Net had already surpassed one billion.
A massive amount of energy was continuously pouring in.
It could truly be called an Energy Pool now.
With that, he let go of his regret.
In front of the fire,
Yan Cang roasted the rabbit meat, his thirst growing stronger.
"So thirsty!"
He hadn't had a drink in hours, and now with the fire baking him...
He felt like his throat was about to smoke.
And water sources were also crucial!
After thinking it over, he had no choice but to use the Great Fate Art again to obtain the information he needed.
Instantly, several water sources and their locations surfaced in his mind:
There were juicy tree fruits, water-storing giant trees, and a crystal-clear stream.
"The first two are a bit far; the last one is the closest."
"Only one or two kilometers away. I can go!"
Yan Cang made up his mind.
This way, he could drink water, wash his hands, and dispose of the rabbit's entrails and scraps of skin to avoid attracting wild beasts.
Perfect!
But before setting out, he needed to set up protection for both himself and the rabbit meat.
Otherwise, he might encounter danger on the way, or the unattended rabbit meat could be snatched by wild animals.
As for this problem, it naturally had to be solved with his all-purpose Talent.
After pondering for a while, Yan Cang used the Great Fate Art to design a protective ability.
He directly named it Fate Protection.
When danger approaches, it automatically triggers deflection, and it might even erase the source of the danger outright.
The arrangements of fate are just that domineering.
Maintaining Fate Protection under normal circumstances consumed very little energy.
Only when real danger descended, requiring deflection or erasure of the source, would it consume a large amount.
But with his current energy reserves, ordinary dangers were hardly a concern.
"This way, even if I don't go out, I can keep Fate Protection active at all times!"
Yan Cang's eyes lit up.
With this, his personal safety was completely guaranteed.
He no longer had to worry about being ambushed or poisoned!
He was very satisfied with this.
Following the plan, he applied Fate Protection to himself and the rabbit meat.
Then, he set the rabbit meat to roast over the fire and found a naturally concave stone.
With a stone basin in one hand and the rabbit skin scraps wrapped in leaves in the other, Yan Cang headed toward the stream.
Guided by fate,
the journey was smooth, without incident.
Soon, he reached the stream. He first tossed the scraps far away, then crouched down to wash his hands.
The clear stream water instantly quenched most of his thirst.
"Refreshing!"
Yan Cang took several hearty gulps and filled the entire stone basin with water.
Considering the risk of drinking raw water, he picked up a few more clean pebbles.
He planned to use the stone-boiling water method to boil it before drinking.
Remembering that the rabbit meat was still roasting,
Yan Cang didn't linger and immediately returned the same way.
The journey was uneventful, though a bit slower because he was carrying a stone basin filled with water.
When he got back to the wooden hut,
the campfire was still blazing, and the rabbit meat was perfectly fine.
Yan Cang hurried over and took down the roasted rabbit.
One side was already browned and glistening, with oil sizzling and a rich aroma hitting his nose.
He couldn't wait, used leaves to insulate his hands, tore off a piece, blew on it to cool it, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"It's still hot... but it smells amazing!"
"Delicious!"
Starving as he was, it naturally tasted great.
He tore off several more pieces and wolfed them down.
His hunger finally subsided a bit.
He then placed the rabbit back over the fire to roast the other side, which wasn't fully cooked yet.
At the same time, he tossed a few pebbles into the flames.
A few minutes later, he used a branch to fish them out.
He dropped the blackened pebbles into the stone basin, and the clear water soon came to a boil.
The water turned a bit murky, but at least it was safe and sanitary.
Soon after, the rabbit meat was fully roasted.
Before eating, Yan Cang visualized the whole roasted rabbit in his mind and posted it in the comments section of that guide post:
[Successfully ate meat! Thanks, master! [Image]]
After that,
he wrapped his hands in leaves for insulation, grabbed the rabbit leg, and took a big bite.
"Chomp, chomp—"
The rabbit meat vanished quickly, leaving only a pile of bones.
He then picked up the stone basin, took a few sips of warm water, patted his slightly bulging stomach, and let out a satisfied burp.
"Burp~"
The sunset dyed the sky red, and the evening breeze began to pick up.
The crackling campfire, the warmth of a full stomach—the tension that had gripped him all day finally eased.
The first day in the Trial Ground had reached dusk.
But the night was still long.