It's dark. Very dark. Then again he had just been swallowed whole. If he had a copper for everytime that he’d been swallowed by a boss monster. He’d have two copper. It’s not a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

The insides of a gator were of course very smelly and gooey. Then again he probably shouldn’0t be thinking too hard about this. He was directly behind the gator’s ultimate defence, it’s scales! Or was it skin? Either way he passed it.

Too bad when the Gator closed its mouth it broke his copperspear. Turning it into splinters. But was that a bad thing? So wiggling around he eventually got his hands on a piece of his spear. Not with the pointy end, but beggars can’t be choosers. Raking his spear around he was happy to see a damage notification pop up.

Marlow, Risky uses a shattered copperspear fragment and deals 18.75 (15+25% for title Legend) to Chomps, The Swampy Hazard.

You have caused Internal I to, Chomps, The Swampy Hazard. It will take 25 points of damage per minute while this effect remains.

Delighted by this new found prospect, Marlow wiggled deeper into the beast. Repeating the same process as earlier. Wiggled was the best word of choice since it felt like he was in an enclosed sleeping bag.

Whatever he was doing it was for sure making Chomps mad. That or he’d moved onto phase two of his boss fight. If so, he didn't want to lose any more rats. Then he would have to go find another town which would take up even more time, which he had a limited amount of.

He didn’t know how long he was in there hacking and slashing but eventually the movement stopped. The world went still. Sounds of combat were silenced. Then Chomps began to sink.

You have killed Chomps, The Swampy Hazard level 1 raid boss. Epic feat completed +10 to every stat except for karmic luck. Experience gained 88,000 (88,000+10% from title Risky) For defeating a raid boss thirty three levels above you receive a boost to health modifier (Now 35 per point of constitution instead of 10) and a mystery gift. (Choose how you want your experience to be divided amongst your creatures and you)

Eighty eight thousand experience points to divide up! He could raise a level one character to level seven in an instant! Or eighty eight characters to level two! Or any combination in between! But was that a wise choice?

Wait a minute he was still in Chomps! Who was dead, underwater! Sinking! Wurming his way to what he believed was the month he found it blocked, by a box. Pushing on it the box popped free letting water into the belly. Swimming out Marlow followed the buoyant cube to the surface.

Grabbing hold of the floating packet he maked his way towards Buttercup and Opal. Coming ashore he dragged the box behind him. Dry heaving he waited for his breath to return.

Lapping water drifted from water as his rats came closer to be rewarded from their epic battle. He looked at the nearest rat, who had begun sniffing his hand. A soft chuckle came from his lips as he registered the new information.

“Level seven, all of that and you're now level seven! HAHA! Oh what about you? You're seven! And your level seven! HAHA! OH THERE YOU ARE GWANER! What level are you? Level nine! That’s Amazing!” Marlow soon devolved into fits of giggles. Having to stop several times to catch his breath.

This was great! In one fight he brought his colony of rats from level one to level seven. If he could find another raid boss, he could easily be on par with Thunderdome or even greater.

Whipping he mukky water from his face he looked out at the lake. Lumps floated breaking the even surface. Heart already breaking he counted anyways eventually coming to a number he didn’t want to say aloud. The soft winning he heard wasn’t from the bugs in the swamp but rather from his surviving rats. Turning his attention he began treating the most common injuries he could find. Tearing his clothes to makeshift bandages.

Perhaps he could find a different, less risky way to safely level his colony in peace. Without losing the majority of his rats. A method that would draw anyone’s attention.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Animal Handler has reached level two! Cleaning, Grooming, and treating wounds are now 10% more effective than normal.

Tired of the system alerting him he set his notifications to be read when he pulled them up. Sometimes the system could be a little overwhelming at times. He wanted to be here doing this, he just wanted to be with his family. Sure he liked this world, but if he could enjoy it with the people he cared about that would make it even better!

After treating the last of the injured rats. He remembered why he dove back into the murky water. It was sunset when he finally found his flute. Starting a fire he attempted to dry off his instrument.

In the morning he would make his way to Ardania and talk to Benson. Benson always had good advice. Wait, why could he just send a letter to Benson? Then the guards wouldn’t get involved!

Wait no, there was no mailing system outside of the city. Humanity had just defeated the Wolfmen and were now reaching out into the wild. So setting up a mail system wouldn’t be too high on the to do list. Unless they pulled a pony express.

Taking his flute away from the fire Marlow blew in it. Getting nothing until he blew more air into it. Blowing out the few dry crumbs of dirt out of it. Getting alright mellowed. He’d have to go buy a new one, but this one still would function.

The trek to the capital of humidity was much like his trek to swamp village. Riding, exploring, wandering, but always making his way back to the most explored place on his mini map. Speaking of his mini map it sort of looked like the letter p. With one end of the line being Ardania and the other Warwood. While the o bit held the path to Thunderdome and that swamp village.

Just another fun thing to think about while crossing this dessert. It was funny. Ardiana was so big each of its gates leading out of the city led to a different biome. Which explained how he could be fending off bunny attacks from one side and scorpions from another.

Then again when you went further into a biome you began to see more versions of that creature using the environment to its advantage. Like how lizards or rock monsters would gain fire-like abilities when near volcanoes or in deserts. Or Bears and elks getting ice-like moves when in cold or frigid places.

Was that what his Mutate skill was doing? Speeding up the process for creatures to gain environmental aspects? That would explain the murky mutation some of his rats got from the village. So did they gain some sort of water and earth affinity from being in a swamp for so long?

That would also explain the mist wolves he met when he first came into this world. They had just been there for so long that their bodies eventually developed some aspects of their environment.

Looking around, Marlow frowned. His rats were showing signs of heat exhaustion. The reward from Chomps was an alligator skin flask that could hold an unlimited amount of fluids which would over time convert said liquid to drinkable water. This item alone was helping him cross the desert with his numerous colony of rats. Now the flask was all dried up. He could only hope that their forced movement could get them to the city and hopefully the sewer.

He didn’t want to know how the flask worked but only hoped that it could convert the less desirable substances into clean drinking water. Any rats who couldn’t keep up were brought to the cart to rest. At some point Marlow found himself jogging along as the cart began to pile higher.

Thankfully the city was in sight, the only problem being how to get inside. It was broad daylight and they were in a desert. If the guards hadn’t spotted him yet. They must be blinded by the sand’s reflective sheen.

It was at that moment an idea was cobbled together. It wasn’t a grand scheme like Sherlock Holmes or some sudden elaborate plan. But it should at least get him past the gates. Which was just fine by him.

“Good morning, Guards! I am looking to sell these fine intact rat pellets! Do you by chance know of any vendor willing to take in such a prophet?”

“Stop it right there, son.” Well shoot, everything was already falling apart. Marlow thought as one of the guards took a few steps closer.

“How did you find so many rats out in the desert? Is there an oasis out there or something?”

“Oh… you want to know where I found them? Well you see despite the desert looking too wide it only takes a day to cross it. So I found a town where you see. I then kill all the rats by poisoning their sewer system. Then I tried selling the dead rats to them, but they refused. So now I’m here to see if anyone here is willing to buy them.”

“How did you get them all onto the cart like that?”

“Oh well… I tried their tails together… It was a very grim task. I even have a few in my pocket, what to see?” Marlow said, grabbing a few limp rats from his over encumbered pants.

“Egh! Ew! Gross no! Please put them back! Just go on through.”

“I’ll be back sir. I’ve been making piles of them since they can all fit on my cart.”

Well that was a success! Even better then he’d plan! Now if he could find a sewer gate he could drop his rats off there then go get the next wait hoard! It took him ten trips back and forth but eventually all of his rats were in the city! Now to find Benson, that should be too hard.