Logan’s skin erupted in flames, granting him enough speed to step back and around the corner. The rat barely missed him as it flew out of the hallway. It landed a few metres to his right, its body sliding across the floor as its claws left deep grooves in the stone. They were also made out of crystal, the blades sparkling like diamonds in the torchlight.

Pulling out his sword, Logan glanced at Deon. The man was slowly coming awake. He looked around with bleary eyes but was still dazed and wouldn’t be up for a while yet. The first part of this fight would be all on Logan, his heart racing at the thought of trying to fight this creature.

“There’s a monster!” Logan shouted, his voice echoing down the hallway.

He heard a lot of movement through the walls. The rest of the group should run out with their swords in the next few seconds, but that still wasn’t fast enough. The only person who could help him in the short term was Deon. Logan glanced at the man and found him in a panic, grasping around for his sword like a blind man searching for his glasses.

The rat pounced at Logan, forcing him to refocus before it was too late. He had gained a little combat experience when he butchered the knights, but that didn’t help much in this scenario. Dealing with a wild animal was completely different from a sword fight against an armoured skeleton.

Still, that didn’t delay Logan from swinging his sword at the flying rat. The blade smashed down on its forehead before it could sink its claws into him. Its jaw snapped shut, and its head was thrown down from the sheer force of the blow. Still, its momentum was too great, carrying the beast straight into his chest like a sack of bricks.

Its claws sunk into his sides with a wet squelch. Logan screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, the icy cold blades sliding between his ribs and staying there. The bones didn’t break from its attack, but the feeling of ten little knives stabbing into his lungs was nothing to be happy about.

Winded and in agony, Logan gasped for air with a wheezing breath. He coughed up some bloody spittle a moment later. Still reeling from the impact, he dropped his sword and grabbed onto the scruff of the rat’s neck. It was also dazed from getting smacked in the face, giving him more than enough time to get a hold of the bastard.

The needle-like hairs stabbed into Logan’s skin, but the pain only made him put in more effort as he ripped the beast off him and tossed it aside. Chunks of flesh came with it from his chest. With a bang, the rat flew through the air and smashed into the nearby cavern wall.

Logan hoped that the impact would stun it. His strength was enough to make the rat bounce off the wall, but by the time he stood up and healed from his injuries, it was already charging at him with a rabid gleam in its eye. That was also when he noticed the injury on its head.

Or rather, the lack thereof.

His blood ran cold at the sight of the uninjured rat. The crystal fur had protected it from getting cut by his sword, making Logan wonder how the hell they were supposed to kill it if even he couldn’t leave a scratch. That was also how he realised this fight would be much worse than his battle with the skeletons.

Thankfully, Deon was finally coming to help. He charged at the rat from the side and slashed out with his sword. The blade cut into its shoulder at first, but as the weapon streaked along its side, the thicker part of its coat managed to force the edge out.

Logan had hoped it would at least stumble or even fall, but the injury didn’t seem to slow the monster down at all. It scampered straight for him with foam dripping from the corner of his fang-laden mouth. Deon’s attack had left only a tiny line of red beneath its neck. The cut was nothing more than a surface wound on its skin, not a drop of blood leaking out of the hole.

Taking the time to grab his sword, Logan crouched down, pointed the tip of the blade at the rat, and braced himself for the impact. It charged straight into the point like he expected. He almost smiled when the sword bit into its chest, but his expression turned to one of horror as the rat bit down and shattered the steel into pieces.

It also didn’t slow down in its charge, slamming into him and bowling him over.

Logan gathered himself as quickly as he could, but he was too slow. The rat was on him before he knew it. He raised his arms to protect his face, the rat clawing and scratching him like crazy. The pain was so overwhelming that his mind went blank.

The rat gave up when it noticed that Logan was recovering faster than it could injure him, choosing instead to bite down on his arm. It tried to pull it away so that it could get at his neck and face, but the flames burned it so badly that it screeched and stood up on its hind legs.

Still rearing away in shock, Logan used that chance to tackle the rat while it was unbalanced. He swiftly flipped it onto its back and did his best to pin it to the ground. Earlier, he had noticed that its belly was less protected than its back, the crystal layer so thin that it may as well not exist.

It was likely the only place they could injure it besides its eyes and mouth, but the odds of that happening were close to nothing. No one had experience wielding a sword, so when Logan got the chance to pin the rat down, he tried his best to hold it in place.

“Quickly,” Logan shouted, people approaching him from every direction. “Stab it!”

A few of them moved, coming over and thrusting their swords at the rat. One or two managed to get some deep wounds into its underbelly, but the beast was trying its hardest to wriggle free of his grasp. The flames covering Logan were burning its flesh. It constantly screeched in agony, clawing at his chest and stomach while it tried to bite his face.

Luckily, he had managed to get one arm in the way before it actually did. Logan could handle getting scratched in most places, but his instincts would make him flinch if he got bitten on the face. That left him to take a lot of punishment while its soft white belly turned black from the flames. A few people also managed to make it bleed, some light wounds appearing here and there.

Most, however, found their swords bouncing off the rat’s fur. They were simply too weak to even injure its exposed stomach. If it wasn’t for the fire or healing provided by the egg, Logan was sure it would have killed a few people before the rest managed to get away. The rat was just too sturdy and aggressive.

Suddenly, the rat let out a strangled gasp and went still. An overwhelming surge of life force confirmed its death. Logan stared at its corpse, a bell ringing somewhere in the cavern. He wearily glanced around before giving up and rolling off the rat.

People ran over while he was still healing. There was a chorus of shocked murmurs. Amelia audibly gasped while Stephanie swayed on her feet, fainting at the sight of him. Luckily, James managed to grab her a moment before she hit her head on the floor.

Logan wasn’t surprised at their reactions. While the flames hadn’t damaged his robes, the rat certainly had. The white fabric was completely shredded above the belt. That included the skin underneath. With his intestines hanging out and strands of muscle pulled up off his chest, he was surprised that only Stephanie fainted. It was a disgusting sight that was no less traumatic for him since he was the one experiencing it, but thanks to the painting and the previous tribulation with the egg, he could now handle it without going insane.

It also helped that he was in shock. After the first two injuries, he stopped feeling anything at all. It was very bizarre. Logan felt like he was looking down at himself from the ceiling while simultaneously feeling trapped in his body, his skin dripping with sweat and his heart thundering in his chest once he cut off the golden power flowing from the egg.

“Jesus Christ,” Janet’s husband said, his blasphemy earning him a smack on the back of the head from the woman in question.

“You okay?” Amelia said, handing him two revival potions.

Logan had left them beside his makeshift bed. After all, sleeping with eleven vials in his pockets was uncomfortable.

Logan drank one and found that was all he needed to sate the egg’s hunger for life force. He could keep the rest on credit for the next fight because he would certainly need all the help he could get if this was how it would usually go.

Logan pocketed the other potion and nodded. “Yeah. Hurt like hell for a few seconds, but then I kind of stopped feeling anything.”

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“Sure, buddy,” James said, his eyes full of concern rather than his usual hollow stare. “We have food now, so how about you sleep in my room while we clean and cure the rat for breakfast tomorrow?”

“No, I’m fine. Really. I’ll help Ron butcher the rat, and you can all go back to sleep. Its hide is pretty tough so you might need my help.”

Ron cleared his throat. “You killed it, son. Only fair that I do the rest. We’ll need you come morning. Get all the sleep you need, alright? The same goes for the rest of you. Betty and I will handle the rest.”

Ron and Betty were the final two members of Deon’s group. Unlike Janet’s husband, Ron was into hunting and even owned a cabin in the woods. If anyone among them could skin and clean the rat, it was him. Still, Logan felt he should be around in case something went wrong.

“Are you sure?” Amelia asked.

“Don’t worry about it, dear,” Betty replied, her tone warm and gentle. “We don’t sleep much anyway. And besides, I always help old Ronny when he brings in a new catch. Do you think he cooks or cleans anything around the house?”

“I do most of the work.”

“I know, dear.” She said, gently patting him on the shoulder.

No one seemed convinced, but they all eventually moved back to their rooms despite the general unease caused by being attacked in the middle of the night. There was no need to hang around. Skinning a giant rat didn’t require the help of nine people. Still, not many would be able to sleep after being attacked like that. The best they could hope for was to lay down and rest their weary bodies.

After using his flames to boil some water so that they had dry salt to use for the food, Logan walked over to his makeshift bed. He immediately noticed that the circlet was gone from his neck. Picking up the robes he had used for a blanket and pillow, the golden chain dropped out of the fabric and bounced across the floor. He shrugged, realising it must’ve fallen off his neck while asleep.

Not thinking about it anymore, Logan went to Tom and James’ room and laid a robe on one of the sleeping mats. It was a hard sheet of some terribly rough material, but it was still softer than solid rock.

Better than nothing.

Laying down and closing his eyes, Logan focused on the stream of life force that came from the rat. It felt like being submerged in a hot bath at the peak of winter. Falling asleep wouldn’t be a problem. At least under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be.

Logan was exhausted, but he could still feel the phantom pain of his injuries. That was why he was awake long enough to notice a burning sensation in his spine. It didn’t hurt so much as it was uncomfortable. He was prepared to shrug it off as a side effect of absorbing a lot of life force when something strange happened.

A squiggly line appeared in front of his face. Logan waved his hand as his eyes refocused, the squiggles becoming a line of coherent text.

[You have slain a Mortal at the second step, Reanimated Skeleton.]

[You have slain a Mortal at the third step, Reanimated Skeleton.]

[You have slain a Mortal at the second step, Reanimated Skeleton.]

…

“What the hell?” Logan whispered.

Line after line flashed in front of his face. He counted them all up, and it totalled the amount of skeletons he had slain earlier in the day.

James opened his eyes and glanced at him.

“Can you see this?” Logan asked, pointing at the floating text. The rest of the lines disappeared as the last one came into existence.

[You have slain a Common Mortal at the fourth step, Giant Ore Rat.]

The name had changed. Unlike the Reanimated Skeletons, a Giant Ore Rat appeared to be of a higher standard. Not only was it at the fourth step rather than the second or third, but it was also assigned a rarity. Logan could only assume that it was either stronger than an unrated monster or there were simply fewer of them in existence.

He went with the former since the Giant Ore Rat was inhumanly strong.

“Tell me I’m not going insane right now?”

Tom groaned and sat up. “Can you shut the hell up? I’m trying to sleep, man.”

“You seriously can’t see this?”

“No,” James said, shaking his head.

Tom just glared at him.

Logan focused on the screen to make sure it was really there. He waved his hand through it and felt nothing, but the act made a new notification appear.

[Congratulations! You have successfully refined your life force enough to enter into the first stage of the Body Tempering realm.]

[As you have absorbed enough energy to ignite your lifeline, the System has now recognised you as an Enlightened Being, granting you access to its numerous benefits. Greater rewards will be distributed to those who perform above racial and local standards.]

“Never mind,” Logan said, laying back down. “I must have imagined it.”

Tom grunted and went back to sleep straightaway, but James continued to watch him for a few seconds before closing his eyes as well. Logan would tell everyone tomorrow. For now, he needed to understand what the hell was going on with this System so that they didn’t think he had gone crazy. Or maybe he had gone nuts and was hallucinating this all to cope with going into shock?

Willing something to happen as he waved his hand, the strange text disappeared, a relatively bare status sheet taking its place.

Status

Name: Logan Gates

Race: Human [Mortal]

Cultivation

Realm: Body Tempering - Early (1/12)

Logan realised that most of the information was obvious. His name and race were all known to him, and he was clearly a mortal. Of course, the meaning was most likely different from how he knew it. As it was attached to his race, he could only assume that it was the same kind of ‘mortal’ as the skeletons and Giant Ore Rat.

As for the cultivation section, things became more confusing. Logan was in the first stage of the Body Tempering realm. That could only be due to the life force gained from killing the Giant Ore rat, pushing him over an invisible threshold. The warmth he had felt in his spine was likely a side-effect of it igniting.

The System made his advancement out to be a big deal, but Logan had no idea why. He felt exactly the same as he had five minutes ago. Even when he clenched his fist or did some push-ups, he failed to notice any kind of major improvements. Perhaps the effects would only become apparent when he reached a higher stage?

Logan focused and commanded the System with his mind. It was getting easier and easier, allowing him to close the Status with just a thought. A new notification appeared again to fill up the empty space.

[The Status sheet is a simple means of establishing a universal naming scheme for standard cultivation methods. This helps everyone to keep track of their progress and remain informed of what is happening to their mind, body, and spirit.]

Logan stopped reading as his mind began to wander. If the System hadn’t told him about it, he might not have noticed anything until he reached the third or fourth step. He could easily see how things would get confusing at that point. Some people would claim to be at the first step while crushing those at the fifth, others would forget what stage they had reached, and many con artists would sell fake treasures that did absolutely nothing.

Why yes, this is a ground-up dragon’s horn. Snort a line of the stuff and your training will be twice as effective for an hour! A baggie will only cost you- It looks and smells like cocaine? Ah, yes, that’s just a coincidence, sir. No need to overthink things. After all, how many different kinds of scents could there be? Do you really believe that every flower has a unique fragrance?

Shaking his head, Logan wondered if he really was going insane. His body felt oddly numb and his skin was clammy. He stopped his meandering thoughts and looked back at the text. Most of the phantom pain was gone now, so he had no need to daydream like that.

[The System also provides essential resources and education to all who desire it. Even the Status sheet is interactive, allowing users to inspect the different words to learn more about the tenets of cultivation. As such, you can freely alter the style of your Status sheet, but you cannot change the official names of anything unless you are the technique’s creator.]

Logan had no idea what it was talking about. What knowledge and education? Was he missing something, or had he simply not unlocked what it was talking about? Opening up his Status again with just a thought, Logan stared at his current realm for a few seconds before something popped up.