CHAPTER 2 — The Rabbit Who Could Control Space?
Cold seeped into my fur, curling around my tiny limbs like an unwelcome embrace. For a while, I lay there in the snow, stunned by the way my body felt— small, weightless, frighteningly fragile. My breath came in rapid little bursts I couldn't control. I tried to slow it down, calm myself like a human would, but fear pulsed in this new form like a biological command.
My heart simply refused to slow. It pounded furiously, too fast for comfort but just fast enough to keep me alive. My thoughts racing as I tried remembering what exactly was happening.
This wasn't a dream right? But then I remembered the figure of light, the cryptic words I didn't understand. Did they do this? because this wasn't some hallucination brought on by the crane crush, this wasn't the afterlife. I was alive.... and I was a rabbit.
A small, snow-white, goddamned rabbit surrounded by towering trees and cold wind.
My vision was wrong. My hearing was wrong. Everything felt wrong.
I forced myself upright. The movements didn't feel natural at all. My hind legs had an absurd spring to them—too powerful—and when I shifted my weight forward I nearly toppled over, as if my body expected an entirely different balance point.
A chime echoed lightly in my skull.
[Status Updated]
Name: Kyree
Species: Snowbound Hare
Level: 1
Physique: 2
Spirit: 2
Mana: 2
Perception: 2
Magic: None
I blinked hard—if rabbits could blink the same way humans did.
"Two?" I squeaked, the sound embarrassingly tiny. "Everything is just two?"
Not exactly the heroic start one hopes for after reincarnation. That's what this was right? I've read a few of those books or saw some anime that had a similar idea. You die on earth and reborn in another world with swords and magic...
And if that was me now, I wondered what my goal or quest was. I didn't want to be a 'Hero' and go slay a 'Demon king'. I was a rabbit for fucks sake.
Another chime.
[First Quest: Survive 24 Hours]
Reward: +1 Physique
Shit... I forgot about that.
I let out a shaky breath. As a human, it would've been a sigh. As a rabbit, it came out like a sharp puff through my nose that sent snow scattering.
"Great," I muttered. "Really setting the bar high, aren't we."
The wind shifted, brushing through my fur, sending a shiver down my spine. My fur was thick enough to blend into the snow, but not thick enough to fight off the winter air. Every gust reminded me just how vulnerable I was. A human could bundle up. A rabbit? Not so much.
I needed shelter, then I could figure out my next move. I looked around but all I saw was white. Hmmm, I don't know where I am, but it looks like a forest...
But before I could move in search for a cave or burrow—
As if interrupting my thoughts, the system answered.
Ding~
A soft window blinked into my mind.
[System Menu Unlocked: Stats, Quest, Fate's Roulette]
Three tabs were shone. I really wanted to understand what the hell was happening... I'd already seen my weak stats, I know what the quest is... but the last one?
I mentally think of the last tab and the text on window changed.
Fate's Roulette—
Spin Cost: 10 Points per spin
Warning: Rewards or penalties may occur.
"A roulette wheel," I squeaked out. "Of course."
The god, or whatever the figure of light was, didn't give me a clean, stable skill tree. No. That would be to easy. I got a literal gambling feature.
I checked my stats again. Spirit: 2.
I didn't even have enough for one spin. Or so I thought—
Ding~
You received a reward of First Spin: Free — 'Good Luck'
Alright so I had 1 free spin... that was good but I wasn't sure if this would actually help... with barely any reason not to I thought about spinning the wheel.
But I was freezing. All alone, a helpless little rabbit, lost in unknown lands. I had no weapons, no tools, no idea how this world worked.
And—most important of all—I was tired of living afraid to make choices.
"Fine, fuck it" I whispered. "Let's play the game. What's the worse that can happen. I'm already a rabbit, spin the wheel."
Something clicked.
The world dimmed around me. A massive spectral wheel appeared, hovering weightlessly in front of me. It seemed as if the system windows that used to just float there had changed into something more... something real. It spun too fast to see the symbols engraved on it—circles, runes, abstract patterns that meant nothing to me.
The wheel looked like a blob of light as it spun faster than I could see.
Eventually after a minute the spin started to slow.
Slower.
Slower.
My heart hammered.
Then—
Ding~
[Reward Granted: Space Magic]
My breath stopped. Space magic?
Before I could process it, agony speared through my skull.
White exploded across my vision. As a cold pressure filled my mind like someone was forcing ice water into cracks that didn't exist before. My head felt like it was splitting open, like my brain was being reshaped, re-wired, re-filled with information that didn't belong.
I couldn't even scream, my mental focus was so overwhelmed with pain that I couldn't even breath.
I collapsed into the snow.
My legs convulsed, and I felt my teeth chattered. I still couldn't breathe. I lay there trying to withstand the pain and to remember hoe to breath when—
Concepts—impossible, alien concepts—jammed into my mind.
Dimensional compression. Spatial folding. Anchors and nodes. Quantum echoes. Pocket creation. Coordinate imprinting.
Each idea slammed into me with the weight of an avalanche.
Then—
nothing.
Stillness.
For a long time, I lay motionless in the snow. My breath shallow. My heart a weak flutter.
A small white shape curled awkwardly on its side, almost indistinguishable from the frosted ground.
Only after what felt like an eternity, when my whiskers twitched did life return.
One twitch. Then another. Then my ears flicked back to awareness.
I gasped, shoving myself upright, chest heaving.
"What… what the hell was that!?!"
Everything hurt. But beneath the throbbing pain, something else stirred.
A sensation.
It was faint, and subtle. But I felt... electric?
I could feel space.
Not see it. Not touch it. But sense its shape, like pressure in the air or the weight of silence in a room.
The snow — frozen, soft — pressed on the fabric of reality. The trees — tall, ancient — were fixed points, stabilizing the threads around them. The wind itself tugged lightly at invisible seams.
It was like being handed a new sense entirely.
Another notification appeared.
[Magic Unlocked: Space]
[Current Mana: 2/2]
Spell Knowledge: - Spatial Move (Cost: 1 Mana) - Teleport (Cost: 10 Mana) - Spatial Storage (Cost: 1 Mana/unit) - Pocket Room (Cost: 25 Mana) -
Move? Teleportation? Storage? An entire room outside space?
My rabbit eyes widened.
Then reality hit me.
"Costs… ten mana…? I have TWO! What's the point of bass skills if I can't use them!"
The universe had officially handed me a Ferrari with no gas tank.
Still… I wanted to test something.
Gingerly, I focused on the new sense. On the threads, the subtle tension in the air. I imagined a ripple—like the one the system had forced on me earlier. A Move through space.
I felt my mana leave my body as a single pulse, gentle and small, spread out from me.
The world shivered.
A wave expanded outward from me. It wasn't visible, but I felt it, the way you feel water moving past your fingers. As it rolled across the snow, information came with it.
A hollow log about ten feet away. A buried stone boulder. The contour of the ground beneath the snow, and a dip where something large once rested. A small patch of ice under the surface.
The pulse spread out about 30 feet (9m).
Everything within the pulse came into focus inside my mind—like echolocation?... but sharper.
The ripple faded after a few seconds.
A notification blinked:
[Mana: 1 (2)]
As expected 'Spatial Move" cost a single mana... "That… is incredible," I whispered.
It wasn't combat magic. I wasn't throwing fireballs or summoning lightning, like in the cool anime I watched. But in a world where I was a tiny, fragile rabbit, and food to almost everything…
Knowledge was power.
Space magic gave me that.
A stupid thought crawled into my brain.
What if I keep it active? Like a bubble… a field around me that never turns off. I'd always know what's around me. Always sense danger. Always be a step ahead…
I hesitated.
Then immediately ignored my own hesitation.
"Okay… a field."
I closed my eyes, this time I focused on the feeling of my mana, and pushed outward gently, imagining the pulse expanding but never stopping. Kind of like an 'active radar'.
For half a second… it worked.
The world around me became vivid, layered in shapes and pressure zones. Every object within several feet lit up in my mind. It was incredible, exactly how I wanted it to work, perfect. This would be useful.
Then the pain hit.
A splitting, tearing sensation exploded behind my eyes. My skull felt like it was cracking open from the inside. My breath hitched. My legs folded beneath me.
Instantly, my mana plummeted.
[Mana: 1 → 0] Warning: Attempted persistent spatial perception exceeded current capacity. Further attempts may cause permanent damage.
I collapsed again, this time face-first into the snow.
Cold rushed up around me, numbing the agony.
I gasped for air, but nothing came. For several seconds, I was trapped in a silent, white-blinded haze. I couldn't move. Couldn't think. All I felt was the brutal pressure crushing my mind.
Then the light dimmed. The pain dulled. The world slowly slid back into focus.
My tail twitched first. Then my whiskers fluttered as my ears lifted weakly.
Finally, I pushed myself upright, trembling.
"That was… really stupid," I croaked.
The system chimed again.
Recommend: Allow mana to recover naturally before attempting advanced magic. Mana regenerates slowly based on Spirit. Current Spirit: 2
Fantastic. A slow rege with my near-useless stats. And a magic type requiring massive mana investment.
But…
I wasn't helpless.
I looked around, my ears swiveling automatically, as I adjusted to the way I could hear. Snow drifted down in soft flakes. The trees loomed tall and silent. The wind ruffled my fur and made me shiver.
I needed shelter. Now. Enough playing around.
My ripple earlier had shown me a few options. The hollow log was closest—and safest. A burrow would be ideal, but I had no idea how to dig one yet, and I wasn't sure I had the stamina.
I hopped awkwardly toward the log. My body still didn't move the way I wanted it to. My hind legs were too strong, my front legs too weak. But I made progress.
Each hop felt like a tiny victory.
By the time I reached the log, my heart was racing again—not from fear, but exertion. Even simple movement was difficult like this. I wasn't sure if it was due to my only 2 Physique or if it was me still adapting to the body of a rabbit.
The entrance was small. I hesitated, sniffing cautiously. It was dry, with no scent of predators. It was simply an old, rotted tree. Safe enough for now.
I squeezed in.
Warmth hit me immediately—relative warmth, anyway. The wind couldn't reach me here. Snow didn't fall inside. The dark interior felt like a pocket of peace in an overwhelmingly large world.
I curled up instinctively, letting my body heat gather around me.
For a moment, I let myself rest.
Then a notification blinked.
[Quest Reminder: Survive 24 Hours] Time Remaining: 23h 41m
I snorted."As if I needed the reminder."
Another window appeared—unexpected. This one was different, instead of the simple system text this felt more like a message, like someone was speaking to me through the system.
"You have free will in this world. Following the quests or ignoring them, up to you. You can evolve or remain as you are. Live as a wild beast, or seek higher forms and power. In this world you have no'Fate' or 'Grand Order'. You can simply... Choose your own path. I wish you the best of luck in whatever path you decide to walk."
I stared at the message.
Free will.... My own path...
Something I never had in my old life.
My mother made all my choices, before her death. My bullies never listened to me. My boss forced me into a situation where I died.
But here…
For the first time…
No one would choose for me.
I let out a slow breath, letting the thought settle inside me like a seed.
"Fine," I whispered. "If this world is really mine… then I'm going to live however I want."
I felt something shift in me when I spoke. It was like something had finally awakened.
_______________________
Outside, the wind howled softly across the snow.
Inside the hollow log, a tiny white rabbit curled up and closed his eyes—not in defeat, but in determination.
Tomorrow, he would learn more. Tomorrow, he would test his magic again. Tomorrow, he would decide what kind of life he wanted to build. And eventually one day this little bunny would change the world...
But first…
He needed sleep.
And for the first time in eighteen years, to Kyree, sleep didn't feel like surrender. It felt like preparation.