What appeared in front of me, was something the size of a softball.
… what the kind of rabbit is this?

The body is round, with the hands and feet can’t be seen inside the hairy ball.
It approaches the piece of cactus while strangely rubbing its long ear that’s dragging on the ground.
Its round tail also swings left and right af if to match the movements.

It seems to be asleep while hiding under the sand, and the sweet fragrant of the cactus seems to wake it up.
Well, considering it’s such a harmless monster, getting to eat such a plant is pretty rare.
Because the plant is fully covered with the thorn, there’s no way such a small body will be able to tear it.
Does it usually hide beside a cactus while other monster ate and tear the plant?
For such a creature, its caution level is way too light.

For the time being, let’s confirm its status.

Race：Palmtop Ball Rabbit

Status：Normal

Lv　：2/5

HP　：4/4

MP　：3/3

Attack：1

Defense：2

Magic：2

Speed：2

Rank：F-

Characteristic Skill：

〖Hiding:Lv1〗

Resistance Skill：

〖Hunger Resistance:Lv4〗

Normal Skill：

〖Dig:Lv1〗〖Light:Lv1〗

〖Playing Dead:Lv1〗

t.i.tle Skill：

〖Idol of the Desert:Lv1〗〖Kin Eater:Lv1〗

[T.N: the kanji “玉兎”  translates to “Tamausagi”, tama directly meaning ball, but the kanji for the tama is also the one for jade, meaning Jade Rabbit is also plausible. However, as much as I want to call it Jade Rabbit, there’s none of the characteristic of jade at all for this rabbit. It is round like a ball though, so yeah. I’ll stick with ball for now.]

Uwa… its been a long time since I last seen this kind of status.
How was it possible for it to be living in the desert that looks like the demon’s lair?

You can dig a hole even without the〖Dig〗skill.
〖Light〗is pretty useless as a mean to attack.
There’s no use in〖Playing Dead〗, as they’ll just pick you up to eat.

Well, it’s that huh.
Such a small thing will never be able to fill the stomach.

It brings its face close the contents of the cactus that has dropped on the ground, and begins to eat by licking it.
This guy too, it seems to have〖Hunger Resistance〗.
Not to mention even raising it to Lv4, it seems to have suffered a considerable amount of starvation to live.

The Lv won’t go up if you don’t fight, so it’s pretty hard when you’re at the bottom of the food chain.
It’s the same when I was just born into this world too, If I chose to run instead of fighting the dark worm, it’s possible that I might still be an egg by now.
When it’s like that, I would probably keep on increasing my〖Hunger Resistance〗just like this rabbit.

… However, its Lv still goes up.
Just what did this fellow beat?
It seems like it had some kind of unpleasant skill, did this fellow eat its own kind after losing to starvation?

… It got a cute appearance, but it seems like it has gone through its own share of trouble.
Well, it can’t be helped once you’re desperate right?

Although I do felt like eating right now, I really felt guilty when I see its face…
Not to mention seeing its round belly, would you be able to do it?

Does it has low caution level, or does it went crazy because of the empty stomach, but it seems like it haven’t noticed me at all who’s standing behind it.
It’s possible that it’s been living quite well till now.

After stuffing its cheek full, it starts swallowing the cactus, finally exhaling a satisfied breath.
Finally after filling its stomach it finally felt my presence, and with a slight shiver, it looks back towards me.
My eyes matched with the Ball Rabbit.

“Hepuu!?”

The Ball Rabbit raises a small cry, as it digs up a hole and hides itself under the sand.
Digging a hole… or rather, it just covered its body with sand. The b.u.t.t is completely out.
I have no idea how many  times I ask this, but how the heck is this kid able to survive?

After observing the swelling pile of sand for a while, I began to walk in the opposite direction.
I have no intention of doing anything to that Ball Rabbit.
How to say it, it’s the feeling of wanting it to work hard and survive. If such a monster pile up the experience one at a time, it will evolve someday.
I really want to see the evolution system sometime.

However, the feeling of wanting to devour it that should be growing inside me somehow doesn’t happen.
It somehow triggered my desire to protect it instead.
No, but, is it because it’s small?
I feel like I would be able to jump at it without reserve if it’s bigger.

Or rather, when you think about something absolutely delicious, it should be the fat one.
I could also raise it like a farmer.
I should serve the gross looking monster to the Ball Rabbit, until it became totally fat…but somehow, I don’t know if I would be able to eat it once I become more attached to the fatty one.

After I walked a few more steps, I heard a rustling sounds from the back.
Oi oi, be patience will you?
It’s only been five seconds from when I turned my back.

Rustle, rustle rustle, rustle rustle rustle.

… this, it’s not the sound of a rabbit huh?

I turned around.
A scorpion the size of a medium-sized dog can be seen approaching the Ball Rabbit.
Although I though how it suddenly appeared, when I trace where it moved, I was able to confirm that there’s a hollow in the sand.
Does this guy also digs a hole to hide itself? How careless can you be, me?

For now, shall I confirm the monster’s status?

【〖Baby Scorpion〗:Rank E+ Monster】
【Hiding by covering its body in the sand, it’s an a.s.sa.s.sin of the desert who aims for the careless prey by stabbing them with poison stinger.】
【Though it evolved into a smaller body after evolution, it excels at aiming at the weak spot  after being able to hide it’s body from powerful enemy】

E rank huh, so it should be around the same as the Gray Wolf.
Or rather, yeah. The strong one hiding aiming for the week, could you not do it now?
What a timing.
[T.N: The second paragraph is not really that accurate. That’s my best guess]

You should have just leave.
Or rather, if I don’t get involved, it could have been a funny story.

Me in particular, have no intention of eating the scorpion.
The surface seems hard, I’m not really into eating bug-like thing, and there’s the poison too.

Because I already had the Ball Rabbit, I don’t want to eat the scorpion.
Yet, is it presumptuous of me to interfere with the desperate hunting of other creatures?

However, before I noticed it, my body involuntarily moved.
I bend my body and approaches, abruptly swing down my arm. A small sound escalated,
My claw easily goes through the back of the sh.e.l.l and sticks to the sand, fixing the scorpion in place.
The hand and feet of the scorpion trembled without power, and stopped before long.

【Because the rank difference is too much, the experience value can’t be obtained.】

…ooh, first time I’m seeing this kind of message.
Despite beating such a low rank, I’m B rank after all. Is there such a thing too?
Although I had thought that the obtainable experience value would be low, were they reduced with the rank difference?

However, I can neither turn it into experience value nor turn it into food, this is literally a useless killing.
Just like when I throw the vase turtle down the cliff, there’s a slight sense of guilt.

Although I might get affected by the poison status, should I endure and eat it? If lucky I might resist it.
Lets at least do a proper burial.

As I finished the Baby Scorpion, the Ball Rabbit which crawls out of the sand pile to run away stops moving, quietly staring at me.

“Pefu’”

The Ball Rabbit approaches me while dragging its ear which hung down restlessly.
It seems to have recognized that I had helped it.

Since traveling alone is lonely, should I take it with  me since it’s special?
No, however, I don’t have any confidence that I can protect this fellow…

If I took it, I will protect it.
However, not just my action will be largely limited, its going to be hard if it died after I became attached to it.
These two point is really critical.
Not to mention there’s〖Dragon Scale powder〗too.

…However if I leave it, it will probably be eaten for real this time.

While I’m worried about what I should do, I remember the skill of the Ball Rabbit, 〖Dig〗.
If the Ball Rabbit evolves, won’t it be possible for it to dig underground to set up the base?

If that is the case, one of the difficult point of making underground base has been removed.
If I raise the Lv of the Ball Rabbit and evolve it, it should be satisfied of the help that allows it to live in this desert.
In return, I will have the evolved moon rabbit dig my base.

If this goes well, before the effect of〖Dragon Scale Powder〗take place, we should be able to cleanly go the separate ways after benefiting each other.

…If the  sign of sickness starts to appear, we will separate in the middle, but I don’t know what will happen if I don’t try it.
Thinking about the people who had been affected by the〖Dragon Scale powder〗so far, I think that the effect should be considerably slow…. It might be my desire to investigate this.

I have only used the〖Plague breath〗once, all the time during my journey.
This time I won’t use it even once.
Although I don’t want to keep on having this unpleasant feeling, I want to avoid it at all cost.