As the three Big Rats came close enough to be seen through James’ Dark Vision skill, he noticed that the furthest one back was noticeably larger. If he were to guess, James would assume it was a higher level than the other two.
They fanned out, with the two smaller rodents on either side of James and the larger one in the center. James readied himself as best he could, angling his body so that his left leg was leading, and kept the pocket knife in his right hand.
The smaller two rats leaped at him together. James jumped backward a couple of feet to dodge the attacks, then struck out with his knife on the rightmost Big Rat. His blade sunk into the snout of the monster, and it reared up in pain.
Your proficiency with Small Blade Mastery has increased. Level 1 🠊 2
The notifications distracted James momentarily, and with his knife still lodged in its snout, the Big Rat broke free from his grasp.
“Shit!” James muttered as he took another step back. Those notifications were a massive distraction during combat! What better to break your concentration than a blue box appearing out of nowhere right in front of your face?
With the momentary distraction caused by the notification, the leftmost Big Rat took advantage and leaped once again. This time, James wasn’t prepared and could only bring his left arm up to block a bite that seemed aimed at his throat. The Big Rat bit down on his forearm, and James felt its teeth sink into his skin.
He hissed from the pain but retaliated by punching the Big Rat in its eye using his free arm. The monster quickly released his forearm, and James tried to stomp on it, but it quickly scurried back behind the largest of the three Big Rats, which was sitting back watching the fight from a few feet away.
James found it quite challenging to adjust to fighting such small opponents. His experience was always against humans of similar size to him. Fighting these dog-sized rats required changing how James fought. He couldn’t use most of his standard kicks or punches, and grappling with a Big Rat would surely lead to the others swarming him. James was forced into mostly using rudimentary stomps, soccer kicks, and hammer fist attacks. But James was quite adaptable, so he would make it work.
His focus returned to the Big Rat with his pocket knife lodged in its snout. It was a short distance away, sitting on its hindquarters as it pawed at its snout with its front paws. James took a measured step forward and let out a vicious kick. He punted that rat so far that it left his 10-foot range from the Dark Vision skill.
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 1)
5 Experience gained.
New Skill Acquired: Unarmed Mastery (Common)
This time, James immediately pushed the screens out of his vision with a quick thought. That was a mistake that he wouldn’t make twice. Luckily, it seemed that kick was enough to kill the oversized rodent. Now, there were only two Big Rats left. The one James punched in the eye just a few moments prior, and the biggest of the three, which seemed to be preparing to strike now that one of its smaller brethren was dead.
The larger of the rats darted forward, preparing to set its jaws into James’ left leg. This rat was noticeably faster than its smaller comrades, furthering James' idea that it was at a higher level. James pivoted his left leg back, but the Big Rat snagged onto his jeans with its bite.
James nearly lost his balance and toppled over but steadied himself with his other leg before delivering a powerful punch to the monster's face. It let go of his jeans, and James followed the punch with a powerful stomp. It connected with the Big Rat's neck, and a loud crack sounded out.
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 2)
10 Experience gained.
Your proficiency with Unarmed Combat has increased. Level 1 🠊 2
Your proficiency with Unyeilding Composure has increased. Level 1 🠊 2
The remaining Big Rat looked far less confident now that its two allies were dead. Before James could attack it, the rat turned tail and hurried back the way it came.
Before addressing any of the skills that he just had just gained during the recent fights, James looked over the wound in his left forearm. It wasn’t too deep and didn’t hamper his ability to use his left hand, thankfully, but James would need to stop the bleeding. He could only hope he didn’t get some otherworldly infection or that the Big Rats didn’t have rabies or something similar.
James tore his left sleeve off his shirt and used it to wrap the bite tightly. As he did so, he walked towards the direction of the Big Rat that he kicked away. That rat still had his knife lodged in its snout, and James wanted to retrieve it before doing anything else. He pulled the knife out of the rat with some effort and wiped the blood off using its fur.
Now that the rats were either dead or retreating, James had time to breathe. He pulled up the two skills that he had just acquired.
Small Blade Mastery (Level 2)
Rarity: Common
Description: This skill increases the user's effectiveness with small-bladed weapons. It will increase the speed and technique of attacks by a minor amount per skill level.
Unarmed Combat Mastery (Level 2)
Rarity: Common
Description: This skill increases the user’s effectiveness in unarmed combat. It will increase attacks' speed, power, and technique by a minor amount per skill level.
Although both were designated as common skills, they both seemed quite practical. Just by fighting more enemies, James could increase his combat prowess. That didn’t even include what leveling up or consuming a monster core could do. Speaking of monster cores, James looked back towards the three corpses of Big Rats that remained from both of his fights.
He assumed the monsters contained a core somewhere in their bodies, but where exactly was unknown. James moved to the first rat that he killed. It already had multiple stab wounds in its stomach and chest areas, so He figured that would be the best to start with. James maneuvered the corpse until it was lying on its back. He took a breath and held it, preparing for the stench of whatever lay within the body.
Using his knife, James slit open the rat from its chest to the end of the belly. There was nothing unexpected at first glance, only some guts, organs, and rib bones. With his vision skill's limited ability, it was somewhat difficult to see in greater detail, but James felt the details were slightly easier to make out when he squinted and focused his vision.
Your proficiency with Dark Vision has increased. Level 1 🠊 3
‘Huh, did the skill level twice because I tried focusing my vision?’ James wondered. He let the idle thought go and looked back at the rat’s innards. It was now slightly easier to ascertain the minutiae of the rat’s internal organs. Using the blade to poke around its insides, James eventually came across a small, pearl-like orb nestled next to the animal's heart.
With minimal effort, he pried the orb free and examined it. The orb had a diameter about the size of a’ pinky nail and let off a faint silver glow. James pulled up the description of his title once more, trying to figure out what to do with what he assumed to be the monster’s core.
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Description: This one-of-a-kind title will allow the user to consume the cores of monsters. The user will gain a small portion of that monster’s power upon consumption. There is a slight chance for the user to acquire skills the monster uses.
So if James ate this orb, he would get stronger? He gave it a sniff. It smelled faintly of blood, which wasn’t surprising given where it was located until now. With a shrug, James popped it into his mouth and swallowed. The core began to dissolve into a warm liquid as soon as it touched his tongue. As it went down his throat, the warm feeling slowly spread throughout his whole body until-
Monster Core consumed, 1 endurance gained.
James didn’t feel much different. Perhaps slightly less weary from the fights? He assumed a stat increase of 1 endurance wouldn’t show any significant changes in his body. Nevertheless, James went through the same motions twice more, ending up with two more cores. There was no discernable difference between the core of the level one Big Rat and the level two. James put both in his mouth and once again felt the warm feeling spread throughout his body. It felt even more exaggerated this time, perhaps due to swallowing two cores simultaneously.
Monster Core consumed, 1 endurance gained.
Monster Core consumed, 1 agility gained.
Having increased his endurance by two and agility by one and gained a few new skills, James decided to look at his status page again.
Name: James Costello
Age: 20 years
Race: Human
Status: Injured (Minor)
Titles: Core Assimilation (Unique)
Level: 1 (20 / 50 Experience)
Strength: 13
Endurance: 15
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 10
Mana: 20
Stat Points: 0
Skills: Unyielding Composure (Uncommon) Lvl. 2, Dark Vision (Common) Level 3, Small Blade Mastery (Common) Level 2, Unarmed Mastery (Common) Level 2
Just looking at his Status page excited James. In this world, there was a quantifiable way to gain strength. Even though he was still level one, he already had a skill that allowed him to see in complete darkness, a skill to keep calm under pressure, and two fighting skills. What other skills could James get? In his original world, he was close to the peak of fitness. The constant working out and sparring practice kept him at the top of his game, but here, he could surpass the limits of what a normal human could do.
That didn’t even include the possibility of magic. There was a mana stat on James’ status, and while he didn’t have a way to use magic currently, that was absolutely something he wanted to try. The possibilities in this new world seemed endless, as he wasn’t eaten by rats before finding a way out of this cave.
With that final thought, James cooled his growing excitement. He needed to focus on escaping from this cave alive, then he could daydream about this new world and his ever-growing strength. The thought of returning to his world hadn’t even crossed his mind. James' strongest connection to that place was his grandfather, who unfortunately no longer lived. Sure, James had some superficial friends at college, but none that made him want to find a way to cross dimensions or planets or whatever to return there.
Your proficiency with Unyeilding Composure has increased. Level 2 🠊 3
James was quite fond of this Unyeilding Composure skill. Without it, he would likely still be trying to wrap his head around the system, stats, and the monsters that seem to want nothing but to rip him apart. Thankfully, it seemed to calm his racing thoughts and help him focus on what he needed to do.
James returned his thoughts to more critical survival tasks and finding the surface. He glanced at the corpses of the Big Rats, thinking he might butcher them for a meal sometime down the line, but he found that the rats' bodies were now smoking.
James took a few cautious steps back and watched. Within a minute, the rats went from perfectly fine to smoking to melting away. By the end of the process, there wasn’t anything left. Not even a puddle of goop from the melted bodies. It was like the stone absorbed them.
While it was strange, it wasn’t any stranger than being abducted by a menacing dark cloud, a status screen that quantified James’ abilities, and dog-sized rats. So James didn’t question it too much.
James journeyed down the tunnel since nothing else kept him in that spot. While he walked down the underground passage, James thought about his food and water supplies. He had only been in this new world for around two hours. He had yet to eat any of the beef jerky he had and only drank a small sip from his bottle of water. James wasn’t sure what caused the dissolving of the rat corpses so he couldn’t rely on them or other monsters he’d find as a food source. If he didn’t find water he was doubly screwed, James presumed the water bottle would only last him a day.
The human body could survive a few days without water or food. But if James was to continue encountering monsters that he had to fight as he journeyed through this passage, surviving without any sustenance wouldn’t be ideal. That, of course, didn’t include the introduction of stats. Endurance might improve James' metabolism to the point that he would require less food and water to function, but he couldn’t rely on that hypothetical.
James decided that with the next Big Rat he encountered, he would try to dress the rat’s corpse before taking the core out. However, it would all be pointless if he couldn’t find a way to start a fire to cook the meat.
After ten more minutes of walking, James heard more scurrying from farther down the passage. He pulled his knife out of his pocket and opened it. Now that Dark Vision was at level three, he could see about fifteen feet ahead of himself. James readied himself and waited for the rats that were about to appear.
Two giant rats appeared before James. They were even larger than the level two Big Rat that had appeared before. If the previous rats were to be designated by height, the Level One rats were almost halfway up his shin, the Level Two rats were at the midpoint of his shin, and these most recent rats were over halfway up his shin. James briefly wondered what a Level 10 rat would look like. Husky sized? Maybe tiger sized?
Before either rat could move to attack, James struck with a speed previously unknown to him. Perhaps it was due to the increased agility and skills or the adrenaline pumping through his body from the life or death battle, but James felt faster than ever. With a slash, he cut across the rightmost Big Rat's face. It left a gash that went from its snout to the left eye, blinding it in that same eye.
James pivoted so the now injured Big Rat was between him and the other rat. He kicked it into the uninjured rat, and they were both sent sprawling. The rat that had its eye slashed struggled to right itself after taking two heavy blows, but the other quickly got back on its feet and warily circled James.
James tried to bait the healthy rat into attacking by charging the injured one and leaving himself open, and it worked. He stepped toward the injured Big Rat and moved as if to stab at it. At the same time, the other rat jumped up at James, which was precisely what he wanted. Spinning his body around, James let the back of his fist collide with the midair rat. He felt the increased weight of the larger rat when his fist connected, but it didn’t stop it from being sent crashing into the wall closest to them.
James then spun back around to stab the injured Big Rat.
With a quick stab in its neck, he considered it finished and turned to face the remaining rat. It was already back on its feet, but it let out a loud, high-pitched cry this time instead of lunging at him. It was so loud that James had to halt his attacks and cover his ears. That cry likely sounded out down the tunnel for miles. Using this momentary pause to its advantage, the Big Rat charged at James and bit down on his leg. It couldn’t tear through his jeans but still bit down hard enough that James would have a bruise for days.
With the rat’s shirek over and the pain of being bit in the leg waking James from the temporary stupor it had put him in, he went back on the offensive. With one hand, James grabbed the rat by the neck and forced it to the ground, and with the other, he stabbed the rodent in its side multiple times.
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 3) x2
30 Experience gained.
Level Up! Level 1 🠊 2
You gain 5 Mana.
You gain 5 free status points.
Your proficiency with Small Blade Mastery has increased. Level 2 🠊 3
James was worried about the minor injuries he was slowly accumulating. While the bite on his leg didn’t seem like anything that would affect his mobility, these little injuries were building. After enough of them, he could find himself in some serious trouble.
Before doing anything else, James opened his status and allocated 3 points to agility, bringing it to 16. And 2 points to strength, bringing it to 15. James felt a familiar warmth spread through his body. It was the same feeling as when he ate the monster's cores earlier. After this allocation of points, James felt the effects of the increased stats. His body felt stronger and lighter. If he were to break into a run, he would be noticeably faster than before he increased his agility.
James was about to start cleaning the Big Rat corpses but paused when he heard a noise beyond his sight. While he was getting used to the sound of rat claws hitting stone, this was amplified many times louder. James wasn’t sure how many rats were coming down the tunnel, but he was sure it would be far more than he could handle now.
Without hesitating, James grabbed the closest body of a dead Big Rat, hurled it toward the oncoming horde of rodents, hoping to stun them for a moment, and began running as fast as he could back down the tunnel. James chanced a glance back and saw a horrifying sight: at least ten Big Rats were behind him.
He started running even faster.