I was in the air, falling. Déjà vu. Hundreds of thoughts ran through my mind during those couple moments. I was all too familiar with the sensations my body was experiencing. The weightlessness. The weird lurch in my stomach. The rush of air past my body. I was going to die for a second time in such a short amount of time. While I got transmigrated as a cat the first time, who was to say I wouldn't die for real this time?

The world spun around me, a blur of shadowy pipes and glistening stone. My past life came flashing in from of my eyes again. My family, my friends and everything else back in a world I might never see again. And now, just as I was beginning to get used to my new feline body, it seemed it was all about to end a second time.

My thoughts came to an abrupt halt as my body smacked down. Breath rushed out of my mouth and I was devoid of air for a couple moments before consciousness finally came to be. I had blacked out for a second because of the impact. But as my senses slowly returned, I realized that I wasn't dead. I was very much alive. Instead of smacking down on the hard floor, I had landed on something softer. And whatever I had hit, cried out below me.

I quickly distanced myself from whatever it was. My heart pounded in my tiny chest. As I moved, I felt a stab of pain in my hurt leg. But that was the least of my worries right now. Because there, where I had landed, was a rat. But not just any rat - this was a monstrosity, as big as the ones that terrorize New York subway commuters. I didn't know my exact scale in this new body, but the creature in front of me was probably a little bigger than me.

As I dry heaved to catch my breath, its cries stopped. It opened its red eyes and looked at me. If looks could fill, I would have died for the second time that day. Its sides were full of scratch marks, and they looked like a cat’s. Maybe mine. The blood flowing from them wasn’t dried, so maybe it got them recently?

The rat’s whiskers twitched, and it bared its yellow teeth, a low growl escaping its throat. How the hell did it growl? Rats weren’t supposed to growl, were they? This one clearly didn’t get the memo. I hissed instinctively, surprised by the sound coming from my own throat. I mean, I’m a cat. A rat should know its hierarchy in the food chain. And this bastard was baring its teeth in front of me? The rat paused as if sizing me up. I mean, sure, it was bigger than me in size, and I was a scrawny kitten with a bad leg, but that didn’t mean it could underestimate an apex predator. My faraway relatives rule the jungles.

It lunged.

The movement was so sudden that I almost died as its teeth snapped the empty air where my neck was a moment ago. But the dodge quick dodge was too much for my hurt leg. It screamed in pain, but the adrenaline pushed me forward. I hissed and swiped my front claws, catching the rat on its snout. It squealed and jumped back. A large claw mark crossed its nose and was dripping with blood.

The bastard growled again, its red eyes now filled with a mixture of pain and rage. I moved to attack again, but it kept its distance. It was using its front paws to wipe the blood off its nose. The sight of its own blood seemed to enrage it further, and I could see it preparing for another attack.

I was a small and injured kitten in an unfamiliar territory right now, but my brain was that of a human. And even if I was small, cats were known for thein instincts and agility. I had use all these things to my advantage. As the rat moved its paw to again wipe its now, I saw my opening and attacked. A claw caught the rat on its head and it whimpered. It staggered back and tried to run away.

I wasn’t going to let it escape. It ran after it, attacking its back with my claws. A few meters later, it stopped, its body all bloody now.

It was whimpering, taking long breaths. Its earlier hate-filled eyes were now full of terror. I felt a mix of triumph and horror at what I had done. This wasn't a game; this was real life-or-death combat. But before I could dwell on it, my instincts took over once more. I made a final strike on its neck, taking away the light from its eyes. It was dead.

I lied down. I was breathing heavily as I tried to process everything that had just happened. A chime sounded.

You have killed a Level 1 Venomous Rat. Earned 1 XP.

Uh-oh.

I had my doubts. But seeing was believing. I mean, who would’ve thought that the whole transmigration thing was real? Sure, I’d read books about it and laughed at the ridiculousness of getting some weird system in another world and becoming overpowered in a week. But now? Now I had a notification in front of my eyes telling me that I just killed something. A Venomous Rat, apparently. And it was a Level 1.

My mind raced, trying to make sense of it. This has to be a game-like system, right? The world runs on some kind of game logic? Stats, levels, skills, abilities, etcetera, etcetera. It seemed likely. But what if it was just me? There was no way to tell. Maybe I was the only one who had a system in this world, a strange anomaly in the fabric of reality. I was no stranger to the concept, but understanding it in theory and experiencing it firsthand? Two very different things.

I looked down at the lifeless body of the rat. The blood dripping from its neck was still fresh, its once-hate-filled eyes now staring blankly into nothing. I had killed it, earned XP, and it felt disturbingly… normal. This wasn’t a game, but I couldn’t shake the idea that something beyond my understanding was at play here. The system might be my only advantage in this dangerous world, but was it mine alone? Or was everyone governed by it?

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I’m not a human anymore.

The reality of it hit me hard. This wasn’t just some weird fever dream. I was in another world, and it seemed to run on a whole distinct set of rules. I wasn’t even at the top of the food chain anymore. Here, I was vulnerable.

But the system… a system meant progress, didn’t it? In all those stories, leveling up meant getting stronger. Maybe I wasn’t doomed to stay this weak. Maybe there was a chance for me to survive. But it also meant that there were things out there that were stronger than this rat. Bigger, nastier things.

Why a kitten? Why couldn’t god, if it exists, transmigrate me into something overpowered? Like a dragon? Or a Level 100 Lich?

“Meow.”

I sighed. These thoughts won’t help me. I need to get out of this goddamned sewer for now. But before that, I needed to know about the system. It was my only other weapon, apart from my claws. How do I access it? Maybe it was just like in those novels?

“Meow.”

I meant to say Status there. Guess the system didn’t discriminate between species as a window popped up in front of my eyes. More like it knew when I meant to access it. The window hovered where my eyes went.

Name: Unnamed

Species: Feline

Level: 0

XP: 8/10

Class: None

Job: None

Health 18/24 Stamina 15/34 Mana 0/20

Strength 2 Dexterity 4 Constitution 2 Wisdom 1 Charisma 5

Free Points: 0

Skills: [None]

Seeing the window pop up in front of me sent a jolt of excitement and dread through my tiny, malnourished kitten body. I scanned the basic stats, which weren’t that different from the RPGs I had played as a human.

Oh, no. I’m not even Level 1. I stared at the numbers. These were even worse than I expected.

Two strength? I muttered—no, meowed—under my breath. One wisdom? And don’t even get me started on zero mana. I’m literally as fragile as a kitten. And why is it calling me Unnamed? My name’s Jack. I mean I was Jack on Earth.

I swatted at the status window, half expecting it to disappear like in a video game. It didn’t. It followed my gaze as I looked away, mocking me with its tiny numbers.

“Meow.”

I said Status again, and the window vanished. But my thoughts lingered on the stats. They weren’t great. But then I remembered that killing the rat gave me 1 XP. And I needed just 2 more to achieve my first level. Killing the rat wasn’t hard, but it was already hurt beforehand and was further hurt from my full-body drop on it. Maybe defeating a perfectly fine venomous rat won’t be so easy.

The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off, and the pain in my hind leg crept back in. I winced and limped a little, realizing that while the rat had been a threat, there could be more down here. Bigger ones, smarter ones. I needed a plan. And first on that plan was survival. Which meant finding a way out of these godforsaken sewers.

As I limped forward, deeper into the labyrinth of stone and foul water, my surroundings got worse. While everything was clean earlier, this was now taking a turn for the worse. The stone walls were coated in slimy moss and overhead, murky water dripped from pipes with an unsettling plop, plop. The foul air managed to smell even fouler. There were places with puddles of wastewater. I tried to maneuver around them but still had to get my feet dirty, not like they were clean.

My new feline senses were both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I could see much better in the dim light than I ever could as a human. My whiskers twitched, sensing changes in the air currents and helping me navigate the narrow pathways. But on the other hand, the smell was almost overwhelming. Every disgusting odor was amplified, making me want to gag with each breath.

As I moved, I couldn't help but wonder about the world above. What kind of place was it? Was it similar to Earth, or completely alien? Would I find humans up there? Or something completely fantastical like orcs or dragons? The uncertainty was both terrifying and exciting.

Sometime later, something caught my eye. A few feet ahead, scattered across the walkway, were several more rats. I counted three of them. But fortunately, these were dead. They died of scratch marks similar to the one I had killed before. Maybe the kitten whose body I took over was the one to kill them. That would explain the XP being eight too.

Seeing that these rats were lying dead here meant there might have been more of them around. I cautiously moved on from the rats. My senses stretched as much as possible. And then I saw it, another ladder. And it led up to a manhole that wasn’t covered. Joy filled my body as my tail wagged unconsciously. I rushed to it, forgetting the pain in my leg. The prospect of escape, of finally leaving this stinking underground, gave me a burst of energy I didn't know I had.

I soon reached it. Once I reached it, I jumped with all the strength I could muster. My claws caught onto the lowest step and I pulled myself up. The climb up was far faster than the last time, but I still moved carefully. Don’t wanna fall a third time.

Each rung of the ladder was a step closer to freedom. I could feel a faint breeze coming from above. Once on top of the stairs, I put one of my paws up to get hold of the ground above. Once I was sure of my grip, I put the other paw alongside it. Then, with my upper body strength, I pulled myself up.

The transition from the dark, damp sewer to the world above was jarring. Light flooded my sensitive eyes, making me blink rapidly.

Emerging from the sewer felt like coming out of a bad dream. It was only then I realized that I was still in a nightmare. Because in front of me were …two rats.