Huh. I guess that’s me. It’s weird having yourself boiled down to a bunch of numbers and short snippets…

Well, that’s not totally fair. This is what the game recognizes/supports in me. The snippets next to my skills gives some context that I wasn’t aware of. First, apparently the Combat Proficiency skill is a crutch. The less I need to use it, the more it can do to aid me. Frankly, It makes sense. I assume it just enhances my own abilities, so the more I give it to work with, the more it can do to enhance. But, if I’m always relying on it, then I’m just a shitty meat puppet… and I don’t like the sound of that. It did give me some useful insights about stance and basic attacks that I think I can practice, if I ever have the time and energy to do so.

And then, the Energetic Attack... I don’t know how I feel about destroying a living thing’s… spirit? Whatever that means. Maybe I’m actually using my soul to attack the soul of something else? That might explain why my hand got all weird and numb when it happened. Though, a quick test of my hand reveals that the problem solved itself. It didn’t really bother me after the rat died either… so maybe when something dies their Energy stops outside their bodies as well? Or did I beat its incursion?

I need to experiment.

Which brings me to the rat that still isn’t dead.

I… do I really want to do this?

I mean, I’m literally taking advantage of a monster, that admittedly tried to kill me first… but that’s all it did. It was trying to kill and eat me. What if this is worse? It’s like: there’s dying, but then there’s also having your soul destroyed… and dying. I’d have to say that the latter is at least an order of magnitude worse than the former.

On the other hand, it probably isn’t sentient, and humans used to do experiments all the time on rats that ended with their deaths…

I…

I think I have to. Sorry rat. At least you’ll get to fight back?

A short search reveals the one rat that hasn’t begun to cool in the evening chill, and I can see the slight movement of shallow breathing. It’s going to die slowly if I don’t deal with it… ugh, I hope I’m making this out to be worse than it is.

I kneel next to the rat and place my hands on it. Gathering Energy in my hands, I focus on activating the Energetic Attack Skill. The Energy pooling in my hands takes on a murderous dark red hue and a small amount of pushing sees it disappear into the rat. Small tendrils of the same kind of angry dark Energy as before flow into my hands from the rat, but the red Energy there quickly converges on it and destroys it. In less than a minute, my Energy is nearly at half and the rat’s counter attack stops.

[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Energetic Attack +1 (2)]

[Congratulations! Giant Rat Defeated! +10 Power (60); +5 fragments]

Huh? That’s new… and sure enough, looking at my Energy-scape, there are small remnants of the encroaching, dark Energy from the rat. They've formed into little things that kinda look like rocks. I try sending Energy to them, but instead of anything interesting happening, the fragments just get pushed around. I can push them into random shapes, but it’s mostly like sweeping a pile of dirt without anywhere to dump it. It's unclear what it’s useful for, though.

But proof of concept is there, I get something extra for my effort. I could probably use this to debuff enemies in the middle of a fight as long as I can get into contact with them… and considering how much harder it made things for me, I can only assume something without Energy training would be hard pressed to deal with it without killing me.

And that would be a lot harder with creeping numbness.

Good.

…

I really hope I didn’t crush that thing’s soul and steal the remains. That would be a bit much.

I briefly check around the cave, piling all the rats up in a corner, and simultaneously making sure there’s nothing else waiting to try and kill me. Fortunately, I seem to be alone. The sun is pretty much gone, and like clockwork, the cold sets in. If I was outside, I would probably die. As it stands, I only feel uncomfortable… which will get worse if I try to sleep and let my body temperature drop…

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

However, the dropping temperature isn’t the only point of interest. The massive, celestial rings I saw earlier are actually what caused the sunset. I mean, they’re probably ring shaped, I can’t tell for certain, but it’s as though the planet I’m on is headed through a tunnel with the star on the outside. Small lights, like stars, cover the interior of these weird sky circles. Even with them, the darkness is almost absolute. The night must have fallen really fast, because before the fight it had been like noon, and now? It's the dead of night.

I’m… going to give my eyes the chance to adjust before I go back in. I don’t want any more ambushes.

Honestly, the view is worth appreciating for a while longer anyway. In this long, horrifying day, I’ve seen almost nothing pleasant, and certainly not beautiful. But here? Now? This is beautiful. Those rings don’t look natural, they have a structure that could only have been purposely designed. But even construction, at that scale, can only fill a person with awe…

In the valley below, the monster camp is immediately noticeable, with multiple fires around the hastily erected barricades. They must expect some kind of attack, but I doubt there are enough people left to mount a serious assault, and I firmly believe no one will try. Hundreds of monsters versus a rag tag army? Not likely. Maybe if we were stronger.. Much stronger… Then something could be done. Looking at the few dots of light that litter the plains, I can’t help but feel that what we have left isn’t enough.

I guess we all have to get stronger then. Grow into a species that can stand against the tides of murderous monsters. Maybe then we can start to put things back together…

It isn't quite hopeless. The cave interior has taken on a ghostly glow in the starlight, and I can dimly make out some of the shapes of rocks and the pile of rats. It’ll have to be enough, I can’t stay outside for long. As I move to sit down, I hear a light, almost imperceptible skittering. Like something hard clicking against another hard thing.

It doesn’t take long to spot the source, crawling out of the hole in the back of the cave.

The creature before me is long and thin, like a snake, but covered on all sides with small, flowing, cillia-like appendages. It’s only about a meter long, with a 4 pronged claw on its tail and a large eye that takes up most of what could be considered its face, and seems to glow with reflected light.

Its body is likely ideal for surviving in caves, but it creeps the hell out of me. Something about ‘too many moving parts’ messes with my head. This state of affairs made its decision to move towards me all the more alarming. For every inch it flowed towards me I backed up three.

It can’t be that much of a threat, right? It’s small and ropey, I could easily beat it to death… I think? So why… can’t I stop… moving bac-

My back hits the stone wall of the cave, nowhere left to run. I freeze. The eyeball thing continues its inexorable approach, raising my anxiety to extreme levels.

Do I kill it? Is it hostile? Being disgusting isn’t a reason something should die, but everything I’ve run into so far has tried to kill me, so isn’t it fair to assume this will too?

Either way, my senseless deliberations comes to an abrupt end when it touches my shoe. Letting loose a scream that a small child would be embarrassed to have created, I kick wildly with my foot and run from the cave, back into the hopeless cold.

The mountain was chilly during the day, but now that night has fallen, it is truly inhospitable. Looking down the mountain, seeing the fires and crude fortifications from the camp of monsters, I know nothing awaits me down there but death, but I can’t stay outside in this cold or the end is the same. I’m already beginning to shiver uncontrollably again. I can’t go back down there. Not yet.

... No time to waste. I turn and cautiously approach the cave entrance again, the promise of shelter from the enduring wind too sweet to refuse just because an alien creature is in there too.

I don’t immediately see the creature… perhaps it went somewhere else? Yeah, I was probably just in its way or something. It didn’t care about me… certainly not as food or anything. Regardless, I keep an eye out as I sit down. The cave floor isn’t comfortable or warm, but I don’t feel like I’ll die immediately here.

…

I really wish I had some blankets. Glancing at the pile of dead rats in the corner, I briefly consider using them as blankets or a pillow, but such hopes are dashed when I get a whiff of their stench. Absolutely not. It smells like something vomited, ate the vomit, shit it out, and then died in the result… Which might be a fair assessment, considering I threw up on one of them. Even if I had a knife, they would be difficult to turn into something usable, not that I know the first thing about butchering giant rats. Or butchering anything really…

Maybe another time. I huddle up as best I can in a groove of the cave wall, hoping the stone will reflect my trivial body heat production back to me and make my stay more bearable.

Just survive.

[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic secondary skill: Cold Resistance (Passive). Learn? (y/n) Cost: 50]

Not even a question.

[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Cold Resistance (Passive). Cold Resistance: 1]

(10)

The relief is subdued, but certainly noticeable despite being tempered by the last of my Power going towards its acquisition. Relishing my unexpectedly increased comfort, I barely even notice my eyes close.