I woke up to the sound of my roommate's alarm going off.

That cunt has once again left it in the living room. Sure enough, soon enough footsteps were heard and the alarm was stopped. I heard the bed above me creak as another of my roommates James woke up and went to the living room.

From there a beeping sound of the microwave was heard.

I stayed in bed for what felt like an eternity. Grieving at the prospect of the new day before me. Then It was silent. No sound of microwave neither my thoughts. I was.

Then a metal colliding with the floor was heard. Now out of my reverie I went to the living room.

It was half part living room the other part was kitchen with table and all the necessary utensils. From there came the sound of a spoon hitting the floor.

There I already saw James, David and Bram already eating their breakfast. By the looks of it also trying to keep the headache from yesterday in check.

Bottles of alcohol were strewn across the floor. While in the living room the small coffee table was missing a leg and got scribbles on it like some other furniture.

Bram picked up the spoon from the ground before continuing with his cereal." What're you up to today Nick?" he said.

"I'm going to work as I said yesterday, before you went ahead and threw a party, because you all have a free day today."

"Oh, come on don't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself." David said while going for some juice from the fridge. The moment he opened it he realized that it was ransacked thanks to yesterday's party and went to get water instead.

"No I didn't. I would prefer to get more than 4 hours of sleep."

"Well with this attitude it's no wonder you didn't enjoy yourself. I for example thoroughly enjoyed myself with Jean." James said sipping on some coffee.

I started boiling myself some water for tea. I reached for a shelf and when I opened it I noticed that one of my three tea boxes was gone. Someone certainly took home some nice souvenirs.

"That must have been a quickie. I saw you here the whole time just on the couch." David said.

"That's because we did It in the bathroom and over the sink."

"Thanks man I wanted to brush my teeth today. I guess today's not the day." I said while pouring myself the tea.

"Not like the taste of jizz in the morning?"

"Do you? You talk a lot about it, you must like how that word feels in your mouth." Hearing that he stood up from the table. It was the only thing keeping us apart.

"Hey, hey. Chill out both of you. No one has good mood today. There's no need to escalate the situation more." Bram said as he held James by the shoulder all the while looking at me.

The rest of the breakfast was mostly in silence other than some small talk at the end.

I arrived to work five minutes late. I checked in and wore my uniform.

I worked at a local fast food restaurant. My job was to stir the fries and prepare them. At least there was no need to interact with the customers. That's such a drag and waste of mental energy.

After my shift was done at 3 o'clock, I took some of the leftovers and fed a dog that comes around.

He looks like a sort of a hunting dog. But he's calm and likes to be pet.

I watched him come towards me and while he was eating I pet him. After he was done with everything I had for him he laid on the ground. One week ago I dropped him off at the animal adoption centre. The next day he was back here.

"Okay, Max I have to go." I said and went out of the Alley. That when I saw her. Mia.

*

[What are you zoned out for boy? We've got rats to kill.]

Nick woke up from his daydream at the sound of Telno talking to him. He looked around the cavern he got himself into.

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When he got to the water he realized he won't be able to escape by land as the rats saw him. Fortunately the system guided him to a pool of water with underground passages.

"Okay can you then get me up to date with everything related to you the system."

[Now we're talking.]

[Right there are minor attributes. Below the body is weapon prowess as you can imagine it, it tells you how good you're with weapons. You can imagine the mind and body being the main branches.]

[Below the Weapon prowess is improvised weapon. It's a skill that indicates how good you are with inconvenient weapons. The percentage after it indicates how your mastery of the skill is]

[As for Affinities it directly affects your compatibility with mana and different kinds of it. And Fire is an element you can use. It's also a skill, so It can be mastered.]

"Then why does it have zero after it?"

[Don't worry it's not because you're stupid.]

"Thanks for the reassurance."

[No problem. After all I'm here for it. It's because most beings start off unawakened.]

"Then what about the Bronze thing? Am I somehow ranked like some kind of gacha summon?"

[You can take it that way. The Bronze refers to your race and basically it also tells you the limits. For your race they are 20 in both Mind and Body. A well balanced if I may say.]

"Okay that should be all. Now about the skill?"

[Yeah. You can go and click to receive the reward. You'll then see a myriad of skills.]

Nick did as Telno told him. It took him to what looked like a universe with stars all around. Each star representing one skill.

He tried looking at one of the stars which opened up system description and a silhouette of a person doing the described skill. Each time it changed and a different person would be doing the skill.

[ Charged Fist

Common

- Mana cost: based upon the time of charging

- Mastery allows you to charge your fists

up to 500% increased damage on the next punch.]

A simple effective punch, but that wasn't what Nick was looking for. It for sure was powerful, but to truly realise that power it needed mastery and strength. A dagger is still better in case a skill fails.

"Hey system, you there? For how long can I stay here?"

[For how long you want, but be aware that 5 seconds here is 1 second outside.]

He started looking through the skills one by one, but found out that it was taking too long to find something he would like.

"Can you help me find some skills?"

[Sure. Just say what they should do and I'll check.]

After a while they made a selection of skills. With the system making most of the selection. All that was left was for him to choose.

[ Three Flashes

Common

-Mana cost: medium

Performs three quick stabs with a dagger or any other short bladed weapon. Mastery allows you to stab at the speeds of 300%.]

[ Knife throw

Common

-Mana cost: low

This is no circus trick. Maybe.

Increased precision. Speed of the thrown knife is increased by 200%.]

Thrown knife ga

[ No smell

Common

-Mana cost: low

Tired of stinking and making those around you uncomfortable.

Allows you to mask the smell on you.]

"Hmm, all of them look quite powerful and useful. But if I get close to some rat and use Three flashes I'll get a quick kill, but I'll have to run once again to clean myself from the blood.

Knife throw will get rid of that problem, but if I don't manage to kill or even hit the rat I'll lose my dagger. As for No smell that will take care of the problem with having to run after a successful kill."

Nick sighed at the different choices.

"What do you think? What should I choose?"

[All have strengths and weaknesses pick whichever.]

"Thanks for nothing. That certainly helped me with my choice."

[It's as you said your choice, you jerk.]

"You're right."

He said before picking one of the skills. The knowledge automatically transferred to his brain.

*

A pair of rats was seen crawling inside the tunnel. Searching for the invader that escaped their clutches. Their actions, a direct indicator of the king that's above them.

They crawled past a dead end tunnel. The rat in the front saw something from the corner of its eye.

As it turned its head, it saw its companion pierced through the neck. It screeched, but before it could do anything else it met the same fate.

[Haha, I still can't believe you'd pick No smell.] Telno said and started giggling once again.[What are you afraid of stinking to women?]

"As if that's my main concern now. Can you cut it out if I'm trying to sneak? It's making it difficult."

[I'll try, but no promises.]

Nick rushed through the tunnels, checking every red dot on the map. All the while, his new secondary attribute, Sneak making it more easy to bypass the rats.

He was inside the Dungeon for 10 hours killing rats one by one left and right. Stopping only once every two hours to recover mana. The loot was starting to become cumbersome. He had loot in all of his pockets. Money mostly, but also some bandages, rations dropped and some rat parts.

"What can I do about the loot. Is there something that'll make carrying it better?"

[Just wait and see. You'll get it soon.]

"Get what?"

[That it's a good exercise for your body.]

Nick snickered at that and continued to move on until he saw the rats converging on the map only in one tunnel. Seeing that he panicked, thinking that they had caught his trail.

In the end nothing of that sort happened the rats simply stayed in one tunnel. Counting them there was about hundred of them there.

Nick took some time to rest while the rats dispersed, but they did not. They stayed in the same place.

He sneaked through the tunnels, peaked behind the wall and saw a gathering of the rats. In the middle of it stood a bigger rat.

[ Wild Rat King

Weakness: underbelly and behind the head

-A natural leader of Wild Rats.

-Excels in buffing his underlings and giving them a state of berserk if threatened.]

Nick ducked his head behind the wall, afraid of being seen. He paced around the nearby tunnels thing about how to take them on.

He tried making some noise, but instead of drawing only one rat away from the group. The whole group came to check it out.

Having no choice he just paced around the tunnels until he gave up and sat down against one of the walls.

"So, what now? Do I just wait until the time finishes or what?"

[Yeah, you could do that. Maybe try training your skills in the meantime.]

He placed his head on the wall when suddenly he felt a slight wet feeling. He saw that from the wall, water was trickling down showing no signs of stopping.

"This could work."

[I advise you not to.]

"I'll do it."