October 22nd, 2023
4:40 AM EST
Alastar
So. Vajra said, mentally connected with Alastar. Where do you think there could be beasts in your world?
“You said that beasts are the mutated versions of our animals, right?” Alastar asked, starting to walk down the halls of the museum. “So, there would have to be some place that has a lot of animals. For better or worse, that means not the museum, because it’s well protected against pests.”
I see. You protected your artifacts from harm. That is praiseworthy. The fox seemed curious about everything. Poking it’s nose at taxidermy and other artifacts, and wagging it’s bushy tail almost like a dog.
“It wasn’t my job in particular, but I think your right.” As he walked he got deeper and deeper. He didn’t pay as hard attention to the artifacts as he moved, just lightly glancing at the taxidermy models every once and a while. “In any case, around the city there are a few places with a lot of animals. The park, the zoo, the aquarium…” He took his knife out of its sheath and stalked to a gate that covered one of the museum entrances.
I take it we aren’t going to those places? Vajra asked, sounding slightly weary due to Alastar’s own caution.
“Well in my culture it’s traditional to start out fighting rats in a basement.” He said with a wicked grin. “And have I got the place to find rats.” Using one of the keys left behind by the security guards, Alastar opened the gate and closed it behind him, walking deep into the tunnels. The beginning was just a long walk through the tunnel that connected the special entrance to the actual station, but it didn’t take too long for him to reach the subway station.
This doesn’t look like a basement. Vajra said, simply walking under the turnstile and into the station. Alastar followed, using his MetroCard to get through the turnstile, and watched the magical fox. There wasn’t anyone in the station. No guard, attendant, passenger, or homeless guy. I do smell rats through. Vajra jumped down into the tracks.
“Careful.” Alastar said, frowning. “I don’t know if the trains are still running, and even if they have them grounded due to the emergency the third rail is still dangerous.”
Third rail?
“The clunky looking one running along the tracks. That’s the third rail, it’s electrified. It’s how they power the trains.” Alastar walked down to the end of the station and climbed down the stairs that maintenance members used. “Come on, we can stay off the tracks mostly just in case.” He said, waving his fox over.
There are definitely beasts down here. So you should be careful as well. The traits may not look the way you expect, being heavily mutated.
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Alastar said, frowning as he began to walk down the tracks with his knife in hand. As he walked he tried to concentrate on the gray vision that you can get in really low light situations. He was sure he could spot the rats if he concentrated hard enough.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
There was a skittering sound. It’s there! Vajra projected, pointing like a dog. Alastar compiled and jumped forward, swinging his knife.
He missed. “Well that’s harder than it looks.” Alastar muttered to himself, brushing himself off. Slowly he scanned the area and tried to find the rat, or another one. Finally with the tinge of vision he saw movement and swung his knife again, trying to stab into the little beast. As he did though he was suddenly distracted, a new notification appeared in his vision.
> New Skill Discovered!
>
> Name: Night Vision
>
> Type: Vision
>
> Rank: F
>
> Rarity: Common
>
> Description: Your eyes are like those of an animal, and when in low light conditions you can see further and more detail. Night Vision is monochromatic.
Brushing the skill notification away he looked around, able to see a lot further and with a lot more intricacy. “Well, that was useful, but couldn’t it have waited for me to finish fighting that thing before it escaped?”
> System Request
>
> Would you like to set notifications to not show up during combat?
>
> Y/N
“Yes. Thank you.” Alastar said, brushing the new notification off as well. He wasn’t certain why every litrpg book he read had to have this be a section. Shouldn’t it be default to set notifications as not showing up during combat. You would think that a system that was presumably neigh on all powerful would have figured that out by now. With a sigh he shook his head and got back on task.
You done spiraling? Vajra asked, padding up and nuzzling against his leg.
“Yeah, I am.” He said with more confidence than he really had. “Lets get back to hunting.”
Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any subway trains running at the moment, at least not on this line. And Alastar spent minutes that turned into hours tracking down and cornering the little rats. They seemed bigger than normal subway rats, but he wasn’t sure if he had just gotten used to the uptown rats. Or even if he was just confused by being closer to the rats than normal.
Still, he managed to kill one without too much trouble. He cornered it in a nook and then slammed his knife in, severing its head from its spine. “Poor little guy.” He muttered, feeling bad for having to kill the little rat.
It has to be done. Vajra sent.
Alastar nodded and kept going. He dismissed the notification, and mentally instructed it to hold the notification back until he killed his 5th normal rat. The next one was a bit more difficult. He tried to slash at it in the middle of the tracks but all he managed to do was hit it with the flat of his blade. It was knocked away, and only through luck did he get the kill when it launched and landed with its head in the middle of the third rail’s protected section.
The third was killed without as much trouble, as he managed to grab the rat before cutting it’s head off. It was messy, sure, but it got the job done. Alastar tried to ignore Vajra behind him… cleaning up after all his kills.
The fourth was a lot harder. It kept escaping over onto other tracks, and Alastar had to jump over the annoying little barriers and between the beams that held the subway tunnel up. Finally he got it by throwing his knife in anger, which managed to catch the rat as it dashed over the tracks.
Finally he was onto his fifth kill. He’d been walking for a long time and he saw the light of the next station in the distance. Having gone back and forth between the two stations had made his job easier, so he kept to it, searching for that last rat that he needed to kill.
He found it, and he began to stalk it, but it darted into a hole in a maintenance door. With a sigh Alastar stared at the door, considering what to do.
Open the door. I smell something strong in there. Strong and tasty.
“I don’t have a key Vajra. And I never learned to pick a lock.”