Etson College - 4:33 PM

I took in the scene unfolding in the courtyard.

People who had been milling around in front of the library began to scatter. They would have already been shaken up by the arrival of the Medallion and the subsequent explosion it caused in the library, but even as monsters started coming from unobserved buildings and alleys, they remained frozen like deer in headlights. One of the security officers broke off as a group of quadrupedal enemies ran towards them, and the others seemed to slip free of their paralysis, chasing after them.

“Time to get to work,” I said to myself as I deftly jumped out of the second story window. The glass crunched under my feet as I landed. Aside from a slight shock that resonated through my body, I was fine. “Come and get some, you stupid mobs!”

There was only one type of mob around the courtyard, an army of Trats. I sighed at the name, as I always did. A Trat was what you got when you combined a rodent of unusual size with a toad. The quadrupedal enemies were fast on their long, rat-like legs, and the tail they sported made it hard to unbalance them. Their dark, hairless skin was covered in a mucus that would paralyze you if your Constitution was too low and made them a real menace to anyone without a weapon. The main tactic of the Trat was to ensnare you with its long tongue, and then nonconsensually cuddle you until you were safe to eat.

Some of them had their attention focused on me, but a few had gone after the throng of people, looking to feast on the stragglers. They wouldn’t have been this bold if it weren’t for their superior numbers and the presence of an Alpha Trat, a bigger version that led the pack. I cracked my knuckles. It was time to correct that.

I ran forward on what felt like new legs towards the bigger enemy, my previous fatigue removed by the wonderful stat boosts I had just received. Three tongues lashed out behind me, but I ignored them in favor of going after the Alpha, which was part of the group chasing the humans. The increased speed caused me to stumble as I got used to it, but I caught up with the group halfway across the courtyard. I’m not sure where the people were fleeing to, but they sure were booking it.

Unsheathing my knife, I lunged at the Trat that was closest to me. It tried to skid to a stop as it heard me coming behind it, but I stabbed the weapon deep into its spine and continued to run, tearing into its bone and flesh like it was paper. My 20 Strength made it easy. Trats had Strength and Dexterity scores above the average human, but they were lacking in the Constitution department. That’s what you get for relying on toxic skin to not get eaten.

The Trat collapsed to the ground, but I kept a tight grip on my knife so that it wouldn’t go with it. A quick glance backwards showed that I had five of them trailing me, but they wouldn’t be catching up if I kept running at this speed. Ahead, the crowd of people continued to panic as the Alpha had grabbed the leg of one of the men in the back of the pack. He screamed in terror as he hit the ground, clawing the grass but doing nothing more than pulling up chunks of the yard. The tongue whipped backwards, pulling the man off of the ground as he flew backwards.

I gritted my teeth. Originally, I had wanted to get used to my physical stats since I had spent so much time in my last run at the pinnacle of the system. My skills as a Warmind were ones that I had cultivated over many of those runs, and I had full faith in my abilities there. But a life was in danger, so even if there was time to run up there and stab, this wasn’t the time to hold back. I threw my knife.

One of the things that the Warminds I spoke to always complained about were the initial telekinetic abilities: Push, Pull, Lift. Like there was something inherently wrong with only having three actions, that you were being artificially limited in the scope of control you got. Of course, more actions became unlocked as you leveled up these three skills, four if you counted my Shield, but they never seemed to care about that. They thought it was too restricted.

I understood where they came from. They were also dead wrong; what it offered was plenty.

The knife flew faster than I could run as I Pushed it towards the Alpha Trat. It was opening its maw wide for its prey, and I could clearly see the saliva dripping from its mouth. I deliberately aimed between the beast’s four legs, and time seemed to slow as I gave it my full focus regardless of the enemies around me. Once the knife reached the Alpha’s throat, I stopped Pushing and switched my efforts to Lift on the sharp tip of the knife’s blade.

It pierced the Trat’s skin up to the cross guard, causing the monster to scream around its tongue, which unraveled from the man’s leg. He wasn’t out of the woods yet—he was prone—but at least he could get to his feet now. As for the Trat, I wasn’t done.

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I stopped Lifting and began Pulling.

I stopped Pulling and began Lifting.

Pull, Lift, Pull, Lift.

I used my telekinetic powers to saw open the oversized toad rat from throat to stomach. Blood and gore fell as my serrated knife did the work that I needed it to do. The air filled with the fetid, unearthly stench of the Trat’s innards as they slopped onto the ground. I managed to Pull my knife one more time before the Alpha Trat collapsed, and it was covered in red blood when its grip slapped safely into my palm.

“Run!” I yelled at the prone man, who watched me with wide, terror-filled eyes. My shout seemed to snap him out of his paralysis, and he scrambled to his feet, resuming his terrified flight.

My feet had never stopped even though my mind was, literally, focused on something else. I jumped the corpse of the Alpha to go after the third Trat chasing the humans. It looked up at me, fear evident in its yellow, toad-like eyes. Without its Alpha and its pack too far behind to catch me, it was nothing more than a coward. It jerked back as I landed in front of it, but I lunged forward and sank my knife directly into the top of its skull. The mucus coating its body made my hand numb, but it was hardly a problem for someone with my Constitution.

One more jump put me on the other side of the newly deceased Trat, my knife pulled effortlessly from its brain, and I turned. Winding up, I kicked it towards the pack that was chasing after me. The corpse’s bones cracked from my efforts as it sailed through the air, but it was going to fall short of the lead Trat by a few feet. So, I reached out with my mind and Pushed.

The approaching monster had slowed when it saw the incoming corpse missile and would have dodged if it weren’t for my Push. The corpse slammed into the Trat, knocking it to the ground with a vicious crunch. It wouldn’t die, not from that, but I could see its front legs broken at unnatural angles. It was out of the fight, at least.

I turned my attention to the other four that had been chasing me. The two in the back started to slow, no doubt considering withdrawing to save their own skin. The two in the front continued to barrel towards me. I ran to meet them.

The lead Trat lowered its head to the ground and shot out its tongue. It wrapped around my leg. Before it had a chance to pull, I dove forward and stabbed my knife into its tongue. It roared in pain as it tried to retract, but only succeeded in slicing its tongue in half as the blade remained immobile.

I tumbled the rest of the way to the beast and wrapped my arms around its neck. The numb feeling returned as the mucus easily soaked through my shirt, but I ignored it. I began choking the monster. The Trat on this one’s heels lunged at me, jaws wide and ready, but I shifted so that my prey and I fell to the ground. I lifted my leg and kicked my second assailant in the throat, crushing its windpipe and sending it falling to the ground.

The other two finally decided that enough was enough. With terrified yelps, they turned tail and ran. Still crushing the neck of the one I held firm, I recalled my knife and threw it at one of the fleeing enemies. I Pushed it into the monster’s flank, and it fell to the ground. I alternated between Pull and Push as I continuously stabbed the beast in its rear. Eventually, it stopped moving altogether. One had escaped, but I wasn’t worried about a single Trat. Somebody else should be able to handle that.

I snapped the neck of the Trat, eliciting one last squeal, and stood up. My shirt felt gross. I felt gross. I really should have thought this through before I decided to reacquaint myself with my low stat points. Sighing, I ripped my shirt from my body and used the dry side to remove any lingering mucus. At least I was ripped now, I guess. I walked over to the whimpering, disabled Trat and put my foot on its head. The beast scrambled, but it knew its fate. Its skull crushed easily under my boot. I wiped my shoe on the grass as the notification filled my vision.

[[Victory!]]

You have defeated x1 Alpha Trat. +5 points.

You have defeated x6 Trats. +12 points.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the carnage around me. The Alpha had a chance to drop something on defeat, but it looked like my first actual fight in the run was points-only. I shrugged, but it wasn’t that big a deal. These first waves of random mobs were panic inducing to the general populace, sure, but they weren’t as bad as the things that would come after the tutorials. At least the crowd of humans didn’t suffer any casualties. I had no idea where they were now, but they were safer than being out in the open like they would have been at the system’s start if not for my efforts.

Pulling the five empty potion vials from my inventory, I collected the mucus of the Alpha Trat and sealed them up tight. They might not work on me or anyone who had a Constitution score over ten, but that didn’t mean they were useless. I thought about drinking one of my Mental Health potions to fill up my MP for one extra vial but thought better of it. MP would tick up slowly over time, but who knows when I’d need a potion?

“I’m not a hoarder,” I told myself. “I’m just being practical.”

Taking in a deep breath, I nodded. I wiped off the blood and gore from my knife on a patch of grass that wasn’t already covered in the stuff. As an item that came out of a Wondrous Kit, it worked like a charm. Despite the abuse I had just put it through, it was still in pristine condition. It would take a lot to break this knife, though it would be overshadowed very quickly. It wasn’t meant for combat so it didn’t come with any of the stats a combat weapon would impart. That was okay for now since it handled random mobs like these, no problem.

I sheathed my blade and looked up to the sky. There were still about two hours of sunlight left, which gave me plenty of time to grind before I reached my next destination.

Shirtless and still partially covered in bloody mucus, I headed west. It was time to hunt more prey.