Quill collapsed to the ground with his back against the wall next to the two piles of dust that were once the spawners. First things first, he opened up his status screen and went right to quests.
Congratulations! You have completed the quest “Even more Rats!”
Accept reward?
Quill couldn’t have been more relieved at seeing the completed quest because he was almost terrified that the system decided to put a bunch of rat spawners all over this dungeon just to fuck with him. He quickly accepted the rewards and a small wooden crate materialized in front of him
He quickly threw open the crate and snatched both a health potion, mana potion and stamina potion. Chugging all three as fast as he could and feeling instant relief. Would it have made sense to hold onto them now that all the threats had been taken care of? Sure, but he felt so miserable he was past the point of caring.
Chugging all three gave him a similar experience to when you are so used to a certain pain or uncomfort being there that you don’t really notice it anymore until it actually disappears and you are just left with that feeling of “How on earth did I function?”
The healing potion brought relief to all the physical pain, the stamina potion made his body have more energy, making him realize just how much he was running on fumes and the mana potion actually brought with some more clarity. They all seemed to act like a cooling liquid on an overheating machine, easing the fire and heat from his overstrained body and mind.
That said, no amount of potions could have helped ease the mental exhaustion he was feeling from just about everything that had happened. Or if there was one he didn’t have it but it would certainly prove useful. He really needed to sleep.
“I’d love to let you sleep sweetie, but I think you have a few other things you need to take care of first and foremost. Like how about checking those level up notifications you got flashing at you. Hm?” Her voice held clear anticipation and she was probably right about that so he clicked the level up notifications to see what he got.
You have leveled up to level 23
You have leveled up to level 24
Congratulations on reaching level 24! In order to reach level 25 and being able to choose your next class progression you must first pass the requirements given to you below
Kill a single cursed sin without outside help. 0/1
“What the actual fuck!” how was that fair to him in the slightest! There was no possible way he would be able to kill one of those things! Just… What the actual fuck!!” His voice echoed through the entire station as he continued to spout obscenities.
“Huh. Yeah, even I am kind of left scratching my head over that. Guess the system really wants you to start killing those things.”
“Could you maybe have a little more anger or disbelief in your voice! How the fuck am I suppose to kill one of those things without any kind of help!”
“Well it says without outside help. Technically I am inside help so you can still rely on me!”
Quill let out a groan “No offense but I am not sure how much help you will be in this matter outside of the energy manifestations.”
“Don’t worry about it. I get you are kinda freaking out cause under normal circumstances, there is no way a G rank would ever be able to kill a cursed sin no matter how weak they may be.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Quill grumbled
“However! You are hardly in normal circumstances. It will be a tough thing for you to accomplish, sure, but I also have full confidence in your ability to kill one with enough strategy. Which is also my way of saying to not try to fight one of those things head on.”
He sat and contemplated her words for a moment and decided that he wouldn’t get anywhere without taking that nap first. He really needed to sleep even if it was just a mental reset.
“I think you are forgetting something really really important.”
He rubbed his eyes wishing nothing more than to find a place to sleep but indulged her anyways “And what is that.”
“The 120 days worth of food and water.”
The instant he heard that his mouth instantly started to water at the sudden realization that he wasn’t going to have to eat shitty junk food anymore!
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
He quickly looked inside the crate, ignoring the other potions and reached for what he assumed was the storage ring that looked like nothing more than a small gold band. Since there was no food inside the crate he could only assume the ring had it somehow given it was apparently a “storage.” Upon picking it up he got a system screen flashing in front of him.
System made storage ring.
perfect quality.
Small capacity.
Unbound.
Would you like to bind this ring to you?
Quill quickly accepted the prompt as he put the ring on and stared at it, realizing he had no idea how to actually access the storage. So he tried to focus on the ring itself and sure enough he could suddenly see inside it while also still being able to see his surroundings. It was a little disorienting to say the least.
He also seriously questioned the word “small” when it told him the ring had small capacity. Seriously! This much space was huge! He couldn’t give an exact estimate but he would have to say it was the length of a whole football field. The height was probably equal to that as well.
And right smack dab in the center of the whole thing were several crates with the label of “Food” in them sitting next to several clay jugs with the label of “water”. If he could cry tears of joy he would.
“You can cry tears of joy though. I’ve seen it.”
“Figure of speech. I am too tired to actually cry. Now how do I get these things out of my ring” He decided to focus on one of the crates and somehow instinctively knew that he just needed to will it out of his ring so he did so.
A crate, a little larger than the one he had been given to him, plopped down right in front of him, almost crushing his toes in the process. He was going to need to work on taking things out of the ring carefully. Assuming that was even possible.
With bated breath he opened the crate and revealed fruit. A whole lot of fruit! Quill snatched up an orange and quickly peeled it. Surprised at how easily he could do it with just his fingers. Those stats in his body really were making a difference!
Once peeled he pulled a slice off and popped it in his mouth and almost let out a moan of ecstasy. Just to see what would happen he decided to turn on his enhanced sense of taste and damn near had an orgasm.
The way the oranges just exploded in his mouth was like a taste of heaven. Especially after having nothing but salty chips or overly processed sugary treats. But what he really needed right now was some freaking meat!
He quickly started taking out all the boxes so he could examine their contents. Maybe this is what people meant when they said “Like a kid at Christmas.” This was the most fun he had in a long time!
“I feel like the implications of those thoughts are incredibly depressing.”
“Shush. Let me enjoy this.” He finally took stock of everything he had. There was meat but most of it was just stuff like jerky which he certainly wasn’t complaining about. Maybe he could make a stew of some of them. A stew sounded pretty heavenly actually.
He did hold some worry though. A lot of the food he had was perishable. Some would likely go bad in a couple of days if he didn’t eat them quickly and that wasn’t something he wanted but he also didn’t think he could eat all that would go bad.
“I just examined the ring for you, your welcome by the way. I wouldn’t worry about things going bad. At least in the ring. Seems to have some kind of time dilation. Anything in there will have time move at a much slower rate. Practically at a stand still if I were to hazard a guess. Though if you want specifics, I am too lazy to assess them.”
Quill took that in with amazement. He felt like the reward for all the bullshit he had gone through was really lack luster but this ring and the food almost made up for it…. Almost.
Either way, he grabbed an apple and a couple pieces of beef jerky before putting all the crates back into his ring simply by willing it to do so. This ring was certainly going to become convenient.
He quickly and happily ate all of the food he had taken out. Enjoying every bite like it was his last. Though perhaps such a statement wasn’t too far off the money given how dangerous everything had been.
After eating everything, he felt like now was a good time to find a place to sleep. He remembered there was a break room door by the kiosk so that seemed as good a place as any to settle in for some sleep.
He got up and started to walk down the tunnels halls, not bothering to check on the platforms that had the cursed sins. The very idea that he had to kill one in order to get his “Rank up” irked him to no end and he just didn’t want to have anything to do with them at the moment.
As he got close to the rat's golden throne, an idea suddenly struck him and he placed his hand gently on it and willed it into his ring. Sure enough the whole throne disappeared and when he checked the ring, it was sitting right there next to his crates of food and jugs of water.
“Nice. I’ll have to go back to that station I was staying in before and loot all the armor I left in the break room.”
“You mean all that useless junk?”
“Another man's junk is another man's treasure.”
“No Quill. Pretty sure that stuff was just junk.”
“Agree to disagree” He retorted and just for good measure threw the rat kings body into his ring as well. Then, realizing he didn’t actually need to carry the heavy crossbow, threw that inside as well.
He quickly made his way down the stairs and hopped over the pay gate before suddenly deciding if he could take that with him also and tapped it with his hand but sadly nothing.
“Please tell me this is the start of you becoming a kleptomaniac??”
“Don’t you mean ‘please tell me this is Not the start of you becoming a kleptomaniac?’”
“I know what I said. Seeing you steal everything is bound to be a source of entertainment.”
He sighed and headed over to the trap door. Kicking it closed before dropping the golden throne on top of it with a very loud and resounding thud. The funny thing was, had the rat king just placed his oversized chair on top of the trap door, Quill highly doubted he would have been able to get inside the grand station. But maybe it was just too heavy to move.
Now that he made sure he wasn’t going to get invaded during his nap, he walked over to the large kiosk on the wall and smashed a window open before hopping in. Ignoring everything else he made his way to the door only to realize the keys he had were in his backpack which blew up.
With a sigh he then went and found a nice spot on the floor inside the kiosk that looked comfortable and promptly fell asleep. Probably the best sleep he ever had too.