I instantly begin to panic, desperately trying to get my bearings while mentally swatting the boxes away as I try to look through the all encompassing darkness.

It takes a minute to realize I currently don't have eyeballs. Feeling desperation I push my body to grow them back before searching my surroundings for potential threats. Thankfully nothing is around and I take a few deep breaths to help calm my nerves.

Sadly the memory and emotions- the feeling of pure joy- that I felt in that dream were immediately and violently ruined by the panic attack. Gods, adventurers, and dungeons; I can chalk most of that dream up to the event's of the past day. Days? I'm not actually sure how long I've been here, which may explain why I was exhausted.

I take a few more deep breaths; despite the rude awakening I DO feel better overall. Emotions are a weird thing; even if it was a dream I felt positive and happy, which is such a contrast to how I felt before I fell asleep. Does the brain release serotonin and other chemicals while you're asleep? Does science even matter in a place with magic? I feel like my emotions were flipped on their head, but I'll take it.

And speaking of "taking it", I shift my focus to the windows that woke me up- and the ones I was attempting to ignore.

You have successfully deceived opponents while Disguised!

—

Your attack against a [Common Rat] was a success! Force damage has decreased its health by two points! [08/10]

Your Disguise has aided in ambushing a stronger opponent!

+1 damage to attack! [07/10]

Skill: Disguise +1 [4]

–

Your attack against a [Common Rat] was a success! Force damage has decreased its health by three points! [04/10]

–

Your attack against a [Common Rat] was a success! Piercing damage has decreased its health by two points! [02/10]

–

You have been Attacked by a [Common Rat] for one slashing damage. [6/7]

You have been Attacked by a [Common Rat] for one slashing damage. [5/7]

You have been Attacked by a [Common Rat] for one slashing damage. [4/7]

–

Your attack against a [Common Rat] was a Critical success! Piercing damage has inflicted excessive damage of ∞ points, decreasing its health to zero. [00/10]

–

Congratulations-You have defeated a stronger opponent!

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

You have gained [One] leveling point in addition to [One] Victory Point!

Your health has been reset and all injuries healed!

'"Infinite damage" from a "Critical hit"? I guess it makes sense considering I pierced its heart.'

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

'... I pierced its heart. I killed it. '

I sit there for a minute, letting the thought sink in. A night of sleep and a good dream shouldn't be enough to make that thought acceptable… but here I am. In a place filled with creatures that want to fight– that are driven to fight. And I'm one of them.

'Is this right? Am I OK with this?'

'… I don't think it's right, per se. But that doesn't change the fact I'm here. And it doesn't change the fact I did it. And…' my thoughts go back to the other Mimics demise 'I probably will have to do it again.'

I don't want to kill things, but I'm not going to let myself be killed either. Even if I can stop myself from such… opportunistic tendencies, I'll eventually have to fight to defend myself. And if I do, it'll probably be another fight to the death.'

"... wait" I shout out loud upon the realization "that rat barely scratched me and almost took half my life? WTF!"

Visually scrolling through the alerts I confirm it; there must be some kind of "Minimum damage" in effect. So each time it scratched me it did one point of damage, even if it didn't seem that bad.

'Does that mean if a spider poisons you when it bites you, you'll get two points of damage minimum? So that rat I saw would've died from five bites, period? That seems- dangerous. Things here may be more dangerous than I thought.'

Swallowing a gulp of air with the realization, it makes those Stat points even more important. Speaking of points, I throw both into Constitution, bringing it to [06] and raising my health to [07]. That seems like such a measly increase, but that point could be the difference between life and death.

My next decision is what to do with the rat in my Gluttonous Gut. I doubt its got a useful Skill and I'm not hungry, but after… what I did, I worry about how easy it was to get through its skin. Which is probably as easy as it got through my own.

Actually, there's an idea! I don't know if they exist in this world, but a simple option:

Iron Pill Bug + Rat = Armadillo!

I opt to Absorb the rat without opening the Gut menu, instead just opening the Mimic Modification Menu and confirm Rat as a new Form option. I direct it to create a new option combining the two species as I mentally envision an Armadillo.

As it creates the new entry I find the results are slightly different than what I expected.

6: Armored Rat

* Appearance: An Iron backed rodent that can fold into a protective sphere.

* Size: 10 inches long

* Texture: Wrought Iron

* – Damage Resistance +1

* Attack Method: Firelight

* Display Information:

* – Description: "An Iron backed rat."

* – Detailed Description: "A rat with iron armor capable of folding into a ball. It is capable of performing a fire attack.

* – Identify Spell: Juvenile Mimi

I can't help but wonder if "Armored Rodents" already exist in this world or if it's just refusing to let me use "Armadillo". The "Firelight" fire attack seems to have replaced Explosion from the Iron Pill Bug. On the plus side its got "damage resistance" instead of "force resistance".

I'm still annoyed by the Identify Spell notation, but there's nothing I can do about it. One thing I can fix is the size, raising it from ten inches to twenty inches long, the rat having just shy of doubling max weight.

After inflating from the pit shape I shift my form to the updated "Giant Armored Rat", instantly flexing my fingers. It's so nice to have hands again!

It's weird losing the spherical view though; it's like losing an eye. Or six. I literally lost six eyes. I can see near 180 degrees due to eye placement, but there' still a big gap above and in front- plus terrible debt perception. Strangely after looking in any direction for a moment I can form a perfect mental picture of the area which will help noticing movement in the dark.

Flexing I take a look at my own body, finding dark Iron in place of the expected pink and gray skin with the underside of my body matching that of a black furred rat. The shell is different though, looking like scalemail or pangolin scales as opposed to overlapping layers of an Armadillo. I must say I make a striking figure.

There's one last thing to figure out: opening my mouth I flex around my lips and tongue, attempting to figure out how to use the Firelight ability. Unlike the Iron Pill Bug, which has two chemicals it sprays from its rear, I can't feel any type of organ to facilitate the ability. I hack, hiss and gargle trying to figure out how to activate it the way my body is "telling" me to, but nothing happens; it's like something fundamental is missing.

After spending a minute trying to figure it out I give up; the armor bonus and movement speed increase are good enough improvements to stick to the form as I continue down the hallway.