...?

...!?

The rat, confused and in an unknown darkness, stared at its [Status] screen. The creature saw the glowing blue panel in its mind that represented its growth, and while it didn't understand all the messages before the darkness came, it did see that everything on its [Status] was reset. The small rodent didn't understand much, but it did come to one very important revelation over its life: its [Status] was important. To the rat, this revelation—despite it being a fairly obvious—was one of its proudest moments. It realized that the [Status] was something that the rat knew was a representation of itself and a thing that let it grow.

This was probably the most complex thing that the rat had ever come to realize, but it was still decently impressive for a creature that had its [Intelligence] in the single digits for its entire life.

With this knowledge in mind, it saw its [Status], and it saw it reset to how it was when it was born. All its hard work, all its six levels, all of it was gone. Now, all that was left was a blank state. For a while, it raged inside of the womb, its fetal fury being let loose in a series of twitching kicks that startled its mother, but eventually, its rage left it out of steam and tired. Before it took a nap, it decided it would probably be best if it invested all of its points now. It may not have known where it was, but it did know that not spending its points now would be foolish decision.

Who cared if saving those points up would let it adapt to future unknown situations, all the rat cared about was its new-found weakness.

Taking two [Ability Points], it put both [AP] into [Luck]. Most would think this a foolish and rash decision, but the rat had always placed quite a few points into [Luck]. Why break what wasn't broken—even if it was broken, just like the rat's neck during that unlucky flood. Things would probably work themselves out anyway... Which they would. [Luck] did affect luck after all. Though, they might not. It was pure luck. For the last three points, however, it placed them in [Strength].

After that, it took a look at its two [Skill Points]. Focusing on the stat, a massive skill board popped into existence. This page had nothing but an infinite number of skills, all of which organized into four groups: [Body Skills], [Mind Skills], [Magic Skills], and [Weapon Skills]. In all honesty, the rat never thought that [Weapon Skills] were any good. It was just a bunch of things that it had no knowledge of. It never even took one since they all looked so useless. Instead, the rat flicked through the other three pages. The first skill it saw was one it remembered from its past life.

[Plague Bearer] [Requirements: Live in a particularly filthy place/exist as a creature naturally capable of spreading disease/be cursed by a god to spread disease, 2 SP.] [Primary effect: Spread diseases that have varying lethality and infectivity rates. Effect scales with CON, INT, LCK, and Skill Level.] [Passive]

No. [Plague Bearer] wasn't that great of a skill. It was a deterrent that made other creatures want to get away from you, and it backfired with sapient life quite a lot. They would often hunt down creatures with this skill because of the danger it posed to their civilizations, so it was detrimental to creatures who lived in close enough proximity to people. The rat pushed this [Skill] aside simply because it didn't offer any benefits that it could see. Any creature, no matter how basic nor complex, would agree. No bonuses to combat, no utility really, not a single improvement to any aspect of the creature. Finally, the [SP] cost was truly horrendous in comparison to the effects. This was truly a trash [Skill].

Moving past any [Skills] that weren't in the [Body Skills] section, it scanned through the list. [Magic]? What's that? [Weapons]? What are those? [Mind]? Wuzzat? Pushing past all the useless skills that the rat remembered from its past life, it found a useful one that it was quite fond of.

[Stealth] [Requirements: AGI 2/DEX 2/AGI 1 and DEX 1, 1 SP.] [Primary effect: Increases difficulty in detecting {assigned entity}: suppresses vibrations caused by {assigned entity}, suppresses smells caused by {assigned entity}, lowers noticeability via sight. Current effects requires a WIS of 5.5 to detect or a perception based skill of a level higher than 5.5. Effects scale with DEX, AGI, and Skill Level.] [Active. 15 ST upon activation, 5 ST per second per meters moved per second while moving.]

The rat also remembered that awful [Stamina] cost. That single use of the skill would take up its entire stamina meter, so it was really more of an emergency activation sort of thing. On that note, however, it was still useful. The rat doesn't really get all those numbers or words or stuff, it only really gets the "sneaky" part, and in the end, that was good enough for it. Purchased!

[Skill: [Stealth] has been purchased.]

Now, the rat would only have to spend its last [SP], and then, it could get some shut eye. For some reason, it was really, really tired, but even it's primitive mind could understand that polishing off its status takes precedence over nap time.

Impatient, it flipped through skill after skill, trying to find something that seemed even slightly useful, not caring really what it was or how it worked. Finally, it encountered something that it deemed worthy.

[Body Strengthening] [Requirements: STR 4, 1 SP.] [Primary effect: Multiplies STR of {assigned entity} by 1.4. Effects scale with STR and Skill Level.] [Active. 15 ST upon activation, 5 ST per second while active.]

Now this skill, unlike [Stealth] wasn't very complex at all. It was just a [Stamina] cost to become stronger. The rat didn't think much past that point as it purchased the [Skill] and fell into a deep slumber.

[Skill: [Body Strengthening] has been purchased.]

[Due to reincarnation, {assigned entity} will be granted a Unique Skill.]

[Processing Unique Skill creation...]

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Analyzing skills and attributes of {assigned entity}…]

[Analyzed.]

[Constructing Unique Skill...]

[Constructed.]

[Initializing Unique Skill: Shadow Strengthening for {assigned entity}…]

[Initialized.]

[Installing Unique Skill: Shadow Strengthening in {assigned entity}…]

[Installed.]

[Shadow Strengthening] [Primary effect: Adds 1.8 to STR, CON, AGI, and DEX. Effects scale with Skill Level, STR, CON, AGI, and DEX.] [Passive. Only active while in the shadows.]

[Adjusting Status...]

[Adjustment finished.]

----------------------------------------

Hmm? Mmm. Waking up, the rat felt good. Everything was still black, but it suddenly felt very well rested. Then the world started to change. Everything around the rat started shifting, convulsing and pulsing. Slowly but surely, the rat began passing through the tight and narrow tunnel it found itself in. It twisted and turned to find the best way to progress while it was pushed by those squishy walls. It could hear things outside: yelps of pain, splashes of water, and an assortment of other noises that seemed muffled in the canals the rat found itself in.

The world changed as its head was squeezed, and the warm, wet feeling it became accustomed to was taken away. A freezing cold was the first thing the rat felt, soon followed by the scent of waste and rot as its nose turned on. Eventually, the rat was fully passed, and as it got up, it saw a larger rat scampering away. Immediately, based off of its instincts, it new that the rat that had just ran away was its mother. Looking around for the rest of its litter like its brain was programmed to, the rat saw past the blurriness to see that it was alone. It must've been the last to pass, and the mother just hadn't realized it was done with the joys of labor.

Sniffing the air, the rat followed its limited knowledge that told it to find food. The rat wasn't sure of what just happened, all it did know was that it was hungry, and it was the only one around that would get it food.

Now, unlike mundane rats, monster rats were unique. Many mundane rats would treat their young to one hell of a luxury experience—feeding, cuddling, grooming. Monster rats, however, would leave their children to fend for themselves, not caring whether they live or die. This habit leads to a very low offspring mortality rate, but the ones that do survive have a high survivability. This can be seen as cruel and cold, but it's just what the genetic programming of their DNA tells them to do.

Sniffing along and pushing past the sickening scents of flowing waste and general rot, the rat looked for food. It would eat anything it could find: scraps, animals, monsters, half rotten food, completely rotten food. The rat wasn’t picky.

In its search, the rat’s [Age] ticked up to one hour at some point, and by the time the critter’s stomach was having hunger pains, its age reached two hours and a half. Some point in between the pain and the beginnings of desperation, the rat caught a whiff of something that could be food.

Running across the slick sewer floor, the rat weaved between clumps of foul smelling substances and came to a sliding stop once it’s target was in sight. Ducking into the rodent-equivalent of a crouch, the rat watched the creature warily. It stood in a wide open chamber, its black carapace blending in with the background. The only sign that it was there was the yellow rings on its eight legs as well as those blood-red eyes.

It lie in wait in its nest of webs, the white threads standing out against the surroundings.

A toxic spider. An arachnid that’s generally considered to be on the weaker side. It’s large compared to regular spiders, but it’s still only the size of a human’s foot. Its webs are more of a nuisance than an actual worry, and their only way of inflicting any real damage is their bite. While that is actually deadly to the average Joe, anyone who encounters them will most likely be a trained professional with a [Status] capable of handling the toxins, and if they’re any good at all, they would’ve brought items to help them out.

The rat, however, neither has a [Status] capable of handling the toxins, nor had it brought any items such as potions, venom and poison resistant gear, or medicine of any kind. All the rat had was the fur on its back, a couple useful skills capable of draining its [ST] in one go, and some dumb luck. Emphasis on the dumb.

Hungry, the rat focused on its "prey" and started approaching under the guise of [Stealth]. Stalking ever closer, the rat then activated [Body Strengthening], pouncing at the spider. Then, it heard an unfortunate notice.

[Warning: Unable to activate Skill: [Body Strengthening] due to lack of ST.]

… Ah. The rat had a sudden realization. Both of the new [Skills] it had used fifteen [ST] each, and it only had fifteen [ST] to begin with. It had wanted to use both skills in tandem, pouncing from the shadows with enhanced strength. Any creature in its paws would've done the same. If it was an intelligent being, however, it would've realized that the activation cost for the two [Skills] were both equivalent to the maximum [SP] the rat had. Now, normally the rat would've realized its mistake, and maybe, just maybe, it would've not made that mistake. However, due to its previous—and current—impatience, it never even paid attention to the cost: only the effects.

A different note to focus on was its already strengthened strength. In the sewers, there was no light, only shadows, and therefore, [Shadow Strengthening] was in a constant state of activation. The effect from the [Unique Skill] was actually more powerful than [Body Strengthening], and it had failed to include the ability in its calculations due to it falling unconscious before the prompt could register in its mind. These circumstances led to the rat being launched at its enemy at high speeds, tearing through the webs the spider had set up and created.

In the moments it took for the rat to reach the startled spider, it first registered the warning message with sadness, confusion, and recollection. Then, it was followed by more confusion without the realization of why it was moving faster than its instinctual predictions and calculations could have predicted. In that moment of confusion, it smashed right into the spider, its nose bending at an awkward angle. Its eyes squinted and shut at the force that reverberated through its and the spider's body.

Cracks spider-webbed through its carapace, and the spider screeched in pain and shock. The rat, despite the its own pain, saw the chance to get more attacks in, but when it went to move, it found it couldn't. It was stuck, dangling in place, the sticky, rope-like strings all bonding together to hang the rat in the air. The spider soon recovered from the rush, and it saw its assailant trapped in its torn-up home.

The rat struggled in its silk-formed prison, twisting and turning, trying to use whatever strength it had, but the more it twisted and turned, the more it wrapped itself up. The rat watched, helpless, as the spider inched closer and closer, creeping as fast as its legs could carry it. Once the rat could only see the spider, its previously small body now like that of a titan, it flailed around in a panic. One of its claws caught on the web, and there was a ripping noise.

… Web. Sharp thing. Rip... Freedom? With another jerk of its paw, more of webs were ripped apart, the sharpness and strength of the rat's claws tearing past the resistance of the webs.

Using all of its legs while the spider was still approaching, it tore through the webs, and once it was free, the spider finally reached it. In a flash, one of the spider's wickedly sharp legs came down at the rat. The rodent dove out of the way, but it got caught up in more webs and the dagger-like leg grazed its side. Whipping around, the rat ripped apart the webs and ran at the arachnid. In a burst of power, it leapt at the spider again, but this time it was ready. When the rat reached the spider, despite the arachnid's best attempt to move out of the way, it crunched down with its opened maw. Its front teeth carved into the exoskeleton, and in one jerk, the rat ripped a hunk of the spider off.

Like a damaged damn, fluid started erupting out from the spider's abdomen. Fleshy bits on the inside tried clamping down to shut the wound, but it was far too large for the muscles to close up. In a final death rattle, it screeched in pain, and the light faded from its eyes as its twitching body collapsed.

[Due to requirements met, {assigned entity}'s Level increased by 1.]