Rue pulled the large metal sheet off the hole from inside the silver box, Finally back in fighting condition, Now that she was in proper condition she would be able to survive easily.

Then it hit her, She would be able to become a hunter.

All the slaves and scrappers would talk about was hunters. Noble, powerful and skilled. There were always rumours of Hunters entering into the heap and doing deals with the local 'lords' for various things, Usually to find specific items that were once lost in the pits of this hellscape.

As an escaped slave herself, Rue idolised those who followed the path of a Hunter or that of a Mercenary.

If Hunters were Noble, powerful and skilled then Mercenaries were Royal, Omnipotent and Masters of their crafts.

Their craft was to kill oversized monsters to feed people and take materials from their corpses.

They were paragons of the species who survived in the other lands.

People would fantasise about becoming one of them, But ultimately becoming a mercenary is utterly unknown, Most hunters just hunt with the ideal of becoming one of these Elite people.

Slowly moving down the tower of scrap, keeping to whatever shadows and gaps that granted cover possible.

After 2 hours Rue managed to get to the bottom of the tower, Not so much that Rue was slow but more she was being as careful as possible and collecting several items of interest.

The sump-cats purred gently in the afternoon sun, Content on whatever poor bastard they found that day.

Rustle rustle One of the sump cat's ears perked up and lazily rotated into the direction where the rustling of some scrap.

The Cat waited a moment, then opened its eyes, She hadn't noticed when her packmates had left and they certainly wouldn't leave without her.

These were what the Sump cat was thinking before Rue restrained the power of Reverence and removed its head.

Rue sighed before crawling over to the lone female Sump cat, These creatures wouldn't pose a threat to Rue until they came in numbers beyond the 15 mark, minimum.

Though that is not to say they cannot kill Rue given a chance, Then the next danger is the danger of another creature finding Rue mid fight with one of them.

On another note, 'restraining' her mana bullets doesn't reduce the cost but it stops the mana blast from occurring, thus preventing a deal of the noise produced.

Of course this also makes the bullets kill less things but checks and balances.

Rue pulled the cats into a refuge within one of the larger mounds, While Rue became damn near blind in these darkened halls and tunnels of jagged metal, it offered enough protection that this was a mute point in Rue's experience.

At least it would work for a day once the sump-cats were cooked, distinctive smells being what they were.

Pulling out the hot plate and infusing some mana, around 10 points, a phantasmal fire sprung into existence, the light from this was used to dress and butcher the 7 Sump cats Rue found.

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Bundling the excess furs together and tying it to her pack, then shifting the 'fatty' cuts of meats onto the hotplate, the Illusionary flame cooked the feline flesh to a point where Rue was happy and sure the toxins either were in different cuts or were cooked enough to avoid any major poisoning, she ate, flavour of the gamey, hard and flavourless flesh set to Her mind working at several questions that had accumulated in her mind while making her way through the sumps.

First of which, How did she understand the system?

'The only reason I can speak a language at all is because of that shitty old man forcing the older slaves to teach us, so how can I read?'

Rue then looked down at her hand, which itself was remarkable for the sole fact that she had lost it a day ago. Then what was held in that hand, a middling chunk of well cooked Sump cat, barely holding itself to the bone it was attached to.

'Why did I cook the Sump cat like this? I mean it does taste better than charred and with those... tubey bits still inside and the terrible smelling brown paste, yuck, But how did I know to do that again?'

As she though these things the dully shining interface in her vision gave her a thought.

'What if the system is what is making all of these things happen? Thinking back to it even as I left the silver box I found it inside I remember thinking about how to lift the metal panel I made to cover it and then a though burst into my head or snuck into my head.'

Then the damning thing.

'Is the system changing my mind on things?' the internal monologue of Rue said.

Advisory: the system is able to upload and download information packets into the User to improve skill levels However since the user is currently not in said network the system only provides additional support to the User to both improve the user's skill in certain tasks or to assist with a task in a certain way: example, lifting a panel of metal without making excess noise.

This assistance can be disabled if inconvenient to user.

Y/N

Notice: Can also make the assistance less subtle in its intrusion to allow differentiation:

Also: System is currently actively monitoring though processes and providing translation for written works within the system for user, Purely convenience for system, refusal to change.

And again Rue was confused about her understanding until the last paragraph was read.

sigh

'To stop or not I wonder? I mean it isn't as if it is hurting my chances at survival nor is it changing me as a person, I... think.'

Sighing again Rue decided to sleep, then think about all of these weird questions.

In the meantime, the sump was as its true nature allowed, savage and uncertain.