Everything was set. Luckily, once I left the confounds of the Scrapyard, the Gray Rats didn’t give chase; otherwise, I’d be a dead man. Once they dispersed, I snuck back into the Scrapyard and set things in motion as carefully as I could. I stepped lightly as I moved back to the place where the Alpha Rat had died; watching the shadows of the scrap piles for any sign of movement. and aimed the pistol into the hole that it had crawled out of. The gun roared, and a bullet ricocheted around the pile.

Rats began emerging out of their hiding places, chittering. This time their numbers neared twenty. The largest of the group approached slowly; baring its teeth as it stepped through the dust, and I reloaded my pistol and racked another round. I stepped back; feigning as if I were going to retreat so that I didn’t startle the horde too soon. I aimed my pistol carefully as I backed up another step. I took a deep breath and fired. Thankfully, my aim was true, as the rat’s head exploded in a red splatter. The rats charged forward, and I retreated.

If this works….

I sprinted as hard as I could, glancing back every now and then to make sure they were still behind me. If I saw that they were slowing down, I slowed down and fired another bullet into their group. I led them through the same path that I had retreated through before, and once I got to the narrowest part of the section, I slowed down to catch my breath and allow the bulk of the horde to catch up in the chase. The largest rat left led the charge, and once it rounded the corner, I took off in a sprint again, lowering my body to go a little faster as I made a mad dash through the narrow corridor that would lead to the open front face of the Scrapyard, running side to side as I aimed toward my targets.

Twang. Twang. Twang.

I run straight through the braided copper tripwires I had set in place beforehand. The tripwires were attached on one side to a railroad spike to hold them to the ground, and to a separate piece of metal in the piles above that held up shelves of iron that I climbed to get to. Had I judged them too strong for my plan, I spent the time to whittle them down with my hacksaw — something that netted me 3% in both Strength and Endurance, for my trouble. The slight pressure from my sprint through them was enough to dislodge these shelves, as the iron slid down and crushed the pursuing rats. Several pings on my PID let me know that whatever power was judging me was pleased with what I had just done.

There were three that had made it through the trap; the largest one who had been leading the pack, who was about three-quarters the size of a grayhound, and two poodle-sized rats. I pointed my pistol forward once more, as these three spread out to make a semi-circle around me. I back up toward the line between the tundra and the Scrapyard, and the small one to my right bounds forward. I fired the pistol, and the first shot sank into the dust. As did the second. By the third, the creature is upon me. I leaped through the air and clamped its teeth into my wrist. I pressed the pistol to the creature’s chest and pulled the trigger. A large hole exploded out from its chest as its body fell to the ground.

The other two were on me already as well. One pulled me down by the wrist, while the largest slammed its head into my stomach. I doubled over, and it went for my throat. In the struggle, the pistol fell from my grasp, as their teeth and claws ripped and tore through flesh and cloth. I drew my knife and tucked my left wrist into the sleeve of my jacket as the smaller rat tried to, and lashed out like a man possessed. Stabbing. Slashing. Anything I could think of to get it off of me.

Blood flowed over me through the rat’s torn-out throat, and punctured skull, as it collapsed onto me, dead. I pushed its body off of me and grabbed the scruff of the one trying to get to my arm tucked into my sleeve. I yanked it off and slammed it into the ground before driving the point of my knife through its eye and pinning it to the ground.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“See,” I spoke through gritted teeth as I rolled back over onto my back and stared at the swirling cerulean skies, “I’m...I’m not pathetic.”

Indeed. Well done. Now, grit your teeth. I will impart to you a gift that I had while living.

As he spoke, the PID exploded in notifications, and soon, my entire body felt as if it were on fire as if a pulse of electricity shot through me. This feeling persisted for a good ten minutes as I writhed on the ground.

“What the hell did you do?”

I have imparted to you a skill that your body can handle right now.

“What skill? It won’t kill me?”

No. It won’t kill you. It’s called Low-Grade Regeneration. As you grow stronger, this, too, will naturally grow stronger.

“What does it do?”

For now, as long as a wound isn’t fatal, it will heal at an improved rate compared to the natural healing abilities of a human.

I took a deep breath as the adrenaline ran out and the wind tickled the countless bites and scratches across my body.

“How long will it take for this to heal completely?”

Three days.

Good enough. I was attacked by a dog at one point back in Porterville when a neighboring encampment sent it at me. It took me nearly half a year to stop feeling the pain from it. I hissed as I pulled the PID out of my jacket, and checked to see the notifications:

Task:

Trapper I has been completed 10/10 things killed using traps. 30% Mastery to Trap Making, 10% Mastery to Agility, and 5% Mastery to Perception Added.

Trapper II has been activated 10/20 things killed with traps

Task:

Grit I has been completed: 15/15 attacks were taken. 25% Mastery to Endurance added.

Grit II has been completed. 30/30 attacks took. 50% Mastery to Endurance added.

Grit III has been activated 18/60 attacks took.

I suppose it counted all of the scratches and bites as individual attacks.

[Skill – Low-Grade Regeneration has been added by an unknown force]

HIDDEN TASK COMPLETE

Trap Master I

Kill 20 things with the use of a single trap

50% Mastery to Trap Making added. 25% to Intelligence added, 15% Mastery to Agility added.

[Trap Making Mastery increased by 20%, Pistol Mastery increased by 15%, Agility Mastery increased by 10%, Endurance increased by 10%]

[Trap Making rank increased from F- to F]

[Job: Scrapyard Hunt Completed 200 dollars have been deposited into your account. All stat masteries increased by 1%]

[Gray Rat added to Bestiary]

That’s...quite a lot to take in.

Now drink their heart blood.

“Do I have to…”

Yes. You do.

I pulled the knife out of the creature’s eye and opened their chests. It tasted like garbage water washing down my throat, and I got a total of 1.5% increase in mastery for Anima Manipulation for that disgusting draught. Was not worth it.