Since overcoming his latest mental barrier, things had been going well for Kaden. He ate the rat, nasty as it was, and continued exploring the tunnels, searching for the source of the warmth.

It turned out to be close by, and he arrived within a small chamber with several holes in the walls. It was from those holes that the breeze blew, but it wasn’t the only thing within the chamber. In one of the corners, a large collection of fur was gathered in a circle.

Like a nest. An assumption that was further strengthened by the rat sitting on top of it. Kaden thought it likely to be the dead rat’s mate. They shared the exact same appearance, although this one was much smaller, at only about a third of the size. And, as it turned out, also equally weaker.

Seeing the claws in his hands, it charged him immediately. And just as quickly, it was put to rest. Sure, Kaden felt sorry for the creature as he stabbed it to death with the very claws of it’s own mate, but it was something he had to do.

He approached the nest with the chime as his backdrop. Peering inside, he came face to face with eight tiny little baby rats. Or was it pups? He wasn’t sure that they were called, and it really didn’t matter.

One of them turned around to face him, looking up, beady eyes staring vacantly as it tilted it’s tiny head. It was cute. It still got a spike through its head. It was dead.

With the first one gone, the others reacted and began to squeak and cry, aimlessly darting around inside of the collection of fur. Their little bodies were clumsy, and they tumbled over each other as they struggled. Most of them were dealt with before they could get far, but one had managed to crawl out of the nest and run off, it’s tiny body scurrying across the ground as it tried to get away.

He chased it down and snatched it into his hand with a firm grip, squeezing until it burst, blood squirting out of it’s eyes. All of them taken care of without a problem.

Maybe if they would have been able to survive without their parents, he would have let them live. But they were just baby rats, still dependent on others for food. He thought it better for them to die a quick death by his hand, than die a lonely death of starvation.

And as a plus, he also got an extra source of experience. A win for everyone. Well, mostly him. But that was the important part.

He didn’t waste a scrap, eating every last bit. All of it was fuel for his growth, the growth he needed to survive so that he would never end up like them.

At some point, curled up on the cold rocks on the ground, his thoughts a scrambled mess, he had come to realize something. He had seen the truth of the world. And with that, it was like a shackle on his mind had cracked, broken, freed him from his moral burdens. He felt all the better for it. It wasn’t that they didn’t still affect him, they did, but he saw past it all, past the guilt, past the suffering.

The myriad of notifications got him to level six, and he was all too ready to unceremoniously dump the two points into strength, but that wasn’t all he got this time.

─ Experience Criteria Met!

─ Level increased from 5 to 6.

─ Species Reward: 2 Stat Points

─ Class Reward: +2 Strength +1 Agility +1 Vitality

─ Skill Selection Available!

─ Select a skill from the available options.

─ Slayer Class Skills

─ Active [ Burst of Speed (Common) ]

─ Move with a burst of speed, trading increased cost to stamina consumption, for a moderate increase to the speed of your footwork.

─ Active [ Hidden Strength (Common) ]

─ Summon hidden strength, draining health for a moderate increase to your strength.

─ General Skills

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─ Passive [ Nimble Footwork (Basic) ]

─ Your agility and balance are honed, allowing you to move with fluid precision. Minimal increase to all aspects of movement.

So occupied with everything else, he had almost completely forgotten about the class. The extra points were a welcome surprise. He decided to hold onto the two stats points for the time being, wanting to select a skill first.

He read over the information, not quite sure where to begin. These were the exact kind of choices he hated to make. A bunch of variables to consider, all with unknown factors that he needed to make a proper judgment.

Once again, he was left surprised by the system and its functions. A skill was definitely something he desperately needed, but he was unaware it was even coming.

It had appeared now, one level after he selected a class. Was it tied to that? And was he going to get more? If that was the case, when? Every level?

All the considerations made his head hurt, and he wished someone was there to explain all of it to him. How easy that would make everything.

There weren’t many options to pick from, but none of them were outright bad, they actually all seemed rather good. If it was an option, he would’ve happily taken all of them.

But, if he had to pick one to discard, it was the Hidden Strength skill. It was by no means bad, but strength was already his main focus so he didn’t need a quick boost. The cost of draining health also wasn’t particularly tempting at the stage he was at.

That left him picking between Burst of Speed and Nimble Footwork. In his mind, the second one of those seemed very useful, no cost attached and permanently active. A little boost he didn’t have to worry about or keep track of to use.

It was just unfortunate that the effect was only minimal, which was unlikely to help him win any battles. As for Burst of Speed, the effect was moderate, and from his little knowledge of the system and a dictionary, that was much more. He could potentially use the skill to catch his opponents off guard, and take them down before they had a chance to adapt.

Unable to come up with any better arguments, he nodded to himself and confirmed his selection.

─ New Active Skill Learned: [ Burst of Speed (Common) ]

─ Description: Move with a burst of speed, trading increased cost to stamina consumption, for a moderate increase to the speed of your footwork.

With that taken care of, he took to testing out his new skill to see how it worked. After a quick look at his status screen to ensure his stamina was full, he focused his thoughts on the skill, and without any trouble, felt it activate.

It was a strange feeling, a cool rush of energy spreading from his skull and down through his bones, filling his legs. The number on the screen began to drain rapidly, halfway gone after just a few seconds.

Spotting the number, he released the skill and the energy vanished instantly. He hadn’t even moved yet, but it was already draining his stamina so quick. What was it going to do when he did?

He waited for it to recover, and tried again, this time moving in a small jog before he activated the skill, feeling his legs instantly speed up and carry him forward in what was almost a disorientating change of speed. He let it stay activated for three steps before deactivating it once more.

Taking a look at the number, an annoyance seemed to fill his very eyes.

About a third, huh?

Three steps, just three simple steps had cost him a third of stamina in one go. By his metrics, the skill was very expensive, and not something to be used lightly.

With a bit of sadness, he allocated his two remaining stat points to endurance. It was a necessary sacrifice. If he wanted to use the skill, he needed more stamina badly.

But, it wasn’t all bad. With a powerful move like that in his arsenal, he was bound to level up even faster. The two points he had lost would be quickly made up for through leveling. It was a worthy sacrifice.

He could already picture himself using it against the goblins, appearing right in front of them before they had time to ready their weapons.

Happy with his decision, he played around with the skill a bit more, getting increasingly familiar with the feeling and movement. It wasn’t long before he discovered that he could partly control the strength of the flow of energy as it moved through him. It took a lot of concentration, and he wasn’t able to affect it much, but he could tweak it in both directions.

It was like there was a valve attached to the source of the energy, and when he tightened it, the outpour of energy lessened, slowing the flow. With that, the speed boost lowered, but so did the draining of his stamina. The reverse was true too, though at a modest 10% boost to the flow, his speed increased about as expected, but the draining of his stamina nearly doubled.

It was… definitely not something that he could use. At least not with the stamina he had now. Still, things were looking up. With the class rewards and now a skill, he was starting to progress much faster. He called up his status window with a grin, taking a good look at all the stats. It was about time to deal with the goblins. He had already come up with a plan.

─ Status

─ Kaden (Solid Skeleton)

─ Level 6 Slayer (Rare)

─ Health: 26/26 ─ Stamina: 13/26 ─ Mana: 8/8

─ Experience: 397/2800

─ Stats

─ Strength: 17 ─ Agility: 10 ─ Vitality: 6 ─ Endurance: 6 ─ Mana Core: 4 ─ Mana Flow: 4

─ Free Stat Points: 0

─ Unique Abilities

─ Bone Essence Absorption