New skill acquired: Running (Common)
James pushed the screen away from his vision and ran even harder. He needed to make a plan quickly. The end of the tunnel where James first arrived in this world was fast approaching. If he didn’t come up with something soon, he would be mauled by the swarm of rats chasing him in the very near future.
Speaking of the rats, James glanced behind him and found that he couldn’t see any. They were undoubtedly still chasing him; the din of scratching and chattering from the pitch-black passage was ever following him, but they were now outside his scope of vision provided by his Dark Vision skill. That meant James was gaining ground away from them.
He only had a few options, most of which were to face the little monsters head-on. The only weapons James currently had were a pocket knife and his own body. His backpack mostly contained useless papers and electronics that wouldn’t turn on. As he sprinted down the tunnel, James looked around, hoping to find something to help him against the rat swarm close behind. There was only stone as far as his eyes could see. Some smaller rocks were sprinkled here and there, but nothing that would turn this situation around. James quickly formed what he thought was a decent plan. He thought it would give him the best chance of survival in the current circumstances.
In one swift motion, James slung his backpack off his back. While still running, he unzipped the main compartment of his bag. He flipped the pack over and dumped all the loose papers and his laptop onto the floor. Thankfully, James kept the phone, jerky, and water bottle in another pocket of his bag, so this maneuver didn’t cause him to lose his only source of sustenance and communication, should he ever escape this hellhole.
Chancing another look back, James checked to ensure the rats were still far behind him. As he ran down the passage, James scooped up any loose rocks around the size of his fist and put them in his backpack. It slowed him down, but with his lead on the rodents and his 16 in agility, James had no problem staying ahead of the pack. Perhaps the running skill also helped, but James had no time to read its description and determine its effect.
This continued for ten more minutes until James finally saw the break in the darkness. The crack in the cave's roof that let in the tiniest sliver of sunlight signified the tunnel's end. James now had a backpack full of rocks and was starting to work up a sweat from the constant exertion. He kept his knife in his pocket and grabbed a rock in each hand. With a bag of stones ready and at his disposal and the sunlight allowing for a slightly more extended field of view down the tunnel, James readied himself. This wouldn’t be a pretty fight, even if his plan went off without a hitch.
Like always, he heard the little monsters before he saw them. The racket a dozen or so rats made was incomparable to what he had experienced until now. And thanks to the small confines of the tunnel, their scratches and squeals echoed down the corridor and reached James’ ears long before they came into sight.
James started throwing rocks with as much force as he could muster while maintaining some semblance of accuracy, trying to predict the Big Rats' positions using their sound. The first seemed to have missed, but James soon heard them impact flesh instead of stone. The rats let out even more shrieks as they began to get pelted with rocks. By the time they entered James’ field of view, he had emptied half the rocks from his backpack.
Now only twenty feet away, James knew the fight would soon turn into a melee. He got two more quick throws out, one connected with a rat and made a loud crack as bones were broken and flesh battered. However, the remaining rats that were undamaged by the stones, perhaps seven of them, looked absolutely enraged. Some of them actually had foam coming out of their mouths as they snarled at James.
The sight of so many giant rats, all of which wanted to kill him, sent a shiver down James’ spine. There was nowhere left to run. If he wanted to survive, James would have to fight tooth and nail to make it happen.
He tossed the backpack to the side and pulled out his pocket knife, whipping the blade out smoothly. He kept a rock in his left hand, intending to use it to bash the rats' skulls. James charged at the oncoming horde, not letting the rats back him straight into a corner. If they wanted his blood, they would have to earn it.
What ensued could only be called pure chaos. James slashed or smashed every rodent that came into sight. He made sure to protect his neck and other vital areas when he could, but still received multiple bites and scratches. Every time he felt teeth sink into his skin or claws slash at him, James retaliated with his own slash or a rock smashing into the head of the offending Big Rat.
At one point, a Big Rat jumped onto James’ back, shredding his t-shirt and back as it dug in with its claws while its jaws tried to find purchase on his neck. James had to smash his back into a wall to get the thing off him. He then quickly cracked its head with his trusty rock, then returned his focus to the melee.
It continued like this for a few minutes, just a never-ending storm of stabbing, smashing, being bitten and slashed, and even more smashing. James found the rock to be a very effective weapon against the rats. A single powerful blow to any of them would break bone. Whether it was a skull, leg, or rib, it all helped weaken the pack and gave James that much more of a chance of surviving the battle.
Eventually, there were no more rats jumping to attack James. Some of them were still breathing but had such severe injuries that even standing seemed impossible for them. James went around and finished off those few remaining rats. Then, he finally stopped and simply breathed.
His whole world had briefly become a sea of death as he unflinchingly tore apart every Big Rat that came into his sight. James’ arms now had many more bites in them. His cheek had a long scratch from being clawed by a wild jump one of the rats had attempted. His legs had cuts all over from being clawed or bitten. The cuffs of his pants were shredded by all the slashes from the rats’ claws. Perhaps it was due to the adrenaline, but James barely felt any pain at all.
In the end, he won. James was panting hard, and his heart was pounding, but he felt a smile break out on his face. He survived, and thanks to these rats, he would become even stronger. There was some primal instinct deep inside James that was profoundly proud that he had single-handedly dispatched the whole group of monsters. While he had yet to check all the notifications that built up during the battle, James could feel that he was stronger than before.
James's eyes continued to dart around for a few more moments, trying to find any remaining enemies, but all was still. He only heard his own panting breaths and heart hammering in his chest. James flopped onto a clean spot on the floor as all the tension finally left his body.
Finally, James pulled up all the notifications that he had ignored during the fight.
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 2) x2
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 3) x6
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 4) x4
You have killed a Big Rat (Level 5)
You gain 215 experience.
Level Up! Level 2 🠊 3
5 status points available
5 Mana gained
New title: Butcher I
New skill: Thrown Weapon Mastery (Common)
New skill: Pain Resistance (Uncommon)
Your proficiency with Thrown Weapon Mastery has increased 1 🠊 3
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Your proficiency with Pain Resistance has increased 1 🠊 2
Your proficiency with Unyielding Composure has increased 3 🠊 4
Your proficiency with Small Blade Mastery has increased 3 🠊 5
Your proficiency with Running has increased 1 🠊 3
A lot of notifications piled up from that fight. It took James a full minute just to read through all of them. At least he could confirm one thing after that: The best way to level skills was through combat. That meant James would need to continue risking his life if he wanted to get stronger, but strangely, that didn’t frighten him.
This single battle netted James an entire level and brought him over halfway to the next one. He also gained two new skills, many skill levels in multiple skills, and a title. Frankly, the amount of progress he made in that fight was almost unbelievable, but James wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he didn't dwell on it.
Next, he pulled up the description of the three skills and the title he had yet to inspect.
Running (Level 3)
Rarity: Common
Description: This skill increases the user's running speed by a minor amount per level. It will also decrease fatigue generated through running by a minor amount per level.
Thrown Weapon Mastery (Level 3)
Rarity: Common
Description: This skill will increase the speed and accuracy of thrown weapons by a minor amount per skill level.
Pain Resistance (Level 2)
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: This skill will reduce the pain the user feels from injuries by a moderate amount per level.
Butcher I
Rarity: Common
Stats: +1 Strength, +1 Endurance
Description: Gained by defeating 10 enemies in a single battle
As the adrenaline started to wear off, James felt pain radiating through his entire body. Despite his new Pain Resistance skill, it was still severe. Several deep bites on his arms and legs were bleeding profusely, and the scratches along James' back stung every time they touched the tattered remains of his shirt.
He gingerly pulled the shirt off, trying to keep his movements slow to avoid agitating his wounds. James ripped strips off his shirt and wrapped them around the more severe wounds. It wasn’t the most sanitary solution, but it would surely be better than leaving the wounds open and bleeding. Next, James found his backpack and pulled out the jerky and water. He needed a drink after all that fighting. After eating a few strips of meat and drinking nearly half the water bottle, he put the provisions away.
After spending a few moments just catching his breath, James got back to work. There were 13 Big Rat corpses, all with cores that could provide James with more stats. He thought on the new title he had acquired as he cut open the monsters to find their cores. Butcher I implied that this was only the first in a series. This was his first real title, and James felt some pride at the accomplishment. Core Assimilation was a fluke, and he still didn’t understand how he acquired it. Its description was also far different than the new title, which simply detailed how he acquired it.
James finished collecting the cores and piled them together. One by one, he put each core into his mouth and let them dissolve into that warm energy that began to course throughout his body.
Surprisingly, after the sixth core, he felt his more minor wounds slowly begin to close; a warm, itchy feeling spread over every little cut and scape he had accumulated. It seemed this energy that coursed through his body was more than simply a stat gain. After eating all thirteen cores, only the two largest injuries remained—a deep bite on his left calf and a long gash down his right bicep. The rest of the wounds were closed, and the skin was now bright red and sensitive to the touch, like a freshly healed wound.
Monster core consumed (x13).
3 Endurance gained
2 Agility gained.
You have learned a new skill from consuming a monster core: Enhanced Smell (Common)
Suddenly, every scent within the passage was amplified. The most overpowering smell was blood, both James’ own and the rats. There was also a slightly fainter musky scent coming from the rats. It was all so overpowering that James had to sit back down for a moment as his head spun. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the scents, willing them to lessen. It took a few moments, but the stench began to subside. It wasn’t that James had weakened his sense of smell; instead, he pushed through the scent of blood and musk to other, less powerful scents. There was a faint smell of earth, and James also detected the lingering scent of his deodorant. Both were far more pleasant than blood and rat.
Your proficiency with Enhanced Smell has increased: Level 1 🠊 2
Now that he could focus again, James took care of one final task. Assigning his new stat points. He decided to put all five into endurance, bringing the stat up to 24. He reasoned that if endurance increased the overall toughness of his body, like in most RPGs, he would receive far fewer injuries in situations like this one.
While he still didn’t know exactly what each stat affected, having rapidly gained so much endurance, James could feel that his body was sturdier than before. In addition, his stamina, which was running low after the fight, felt completely refreshed, as if he could run a marathon.
The Big Rats soon began to smoke and dissolve again, and the smell they made was horrid. It was a combination of burnt flesh and sulfur. James practically ran down the tunnel until the smell finally lessened. His pace through the remainder of the passage was far quicker than the first time around.
Within a few minutes, he arrived at the spot where he had dumped the contents of his backpack. James decided to pick up some of the loose papers. They could come in handy either for taking notes or as tinder for a fire. He also kept the laptop's battery but ditched the rest of the computer. He didn’t need it weighing him down, especially if it didn’t work.
James planned to disassemble the battery and try to start a fire using its components. He would need to find something flammable before he could put that plan into action, and he also needed to get some food to cook.
A few minutes later, James smelt the familiar scent of rats. It was the two level 3 Big Rats that he killed previously, but he hadn’t removed the cores from them due to being interrupted by an angry horde of rats. This confirmed to James that as long as their core remained in their bodies, they wouldn’t dissolve.
He decided not to butcher these rats for meat. There would be more in the future, and James wanted to keep moving. So James quickly removed the cores and popped them in his mouth. He didn’t gain any stats or skills. James supposed that the more cores he ate, the less chance he had of gaining stat points.
This new sense of smell was like an early warning system. It alerted James twice of incoming rats long before they came into sight. Both times, only a single rat appeared.
You killed a Big Rat (Level 2) x2
20 experience gained
Your proficiency with Enhanced Smell has increased: Level 2 🠊 3
Your proficiency with Dark Vision has increased: Level 3 🠊 4
***
Thirty minutes later, James finally had a change of scenery. The first thing that alerted him to this new change was a light. Ahead, the tunnel seemed to end, and a blue glow radiated out from the exit. James ran ahead, so excited to leave the cramped tunnel that he momentarily forwent any sense of caution. Luckily, no vicious beast awaited him.
It was a large cavern, at least a few hundred feet long and a similar width. Pillars ran from the floor to the ceiling at sporadic intervals, but James' sight couldn’t pierce the darkness shrouding the chamber's ceiling. The blue lights that first drew him were giant mushrooms. They had pale stalks and were topped by light blue, glowing caps with white dots speckled throughout. The smallest fungi were as tall as James, and the largest had to be around 20 feet tall.
James looked out across the expanse and felt he finally had a good chance of survival. ‘Thank god, there’s water!’ About fifty feet away was a large pool of water. Its surface reflected the mushroom glow, giving it an ethereal luminescence. However, something else caught his eye before James could make his way over to the pond—a giant rat. Not a dog-sized rat like the previous ones he had fought, it had to be at least 6 feet long, not including the tail, and was tall enough to reach James’ stomach while still on all fours.
The rat sat on the pond's bank, snout in the water. It hadn’t seen James yet, and he wanted to keep it that way. James wasn’t confident in beating that monster in a face-to-face fight. If he wanted to kill it, James would need a good plan. He wasn’t even sure if sneaking up would work on it. It would smell James long before he ever got close to it.
‘Of course, I can’t just have a minute to rest.’ Ever since James arrived in this cave, it has been just one thing after the other. It was starting to fray his nerves, the constant battles, always being on high alert, not knowing what would appear before him. And now a humungous rat that probably weighed twice that of James stood between him and the only water source around.
He decided to avoid the rat and the pond for now. James scanned the area. As far as he could see, there were no other rodents nearby. Walking along the perimeter of the cavern, James came across a few more tunnels like the one he started in. There was a heavy scent of rat coming from each offshoot, so James didn’t stray down any of those tunnels.
Your proficiency with Enhanced Smell has increased: Level 3 🠊 4
A few minutes later, James picked up a new smell from a small opening. The scent of rats was still present, but James also detected something new: a faint scent of leather and rust. The hole in the wall was relatively tiny, so James needed to crawl on his stomach to enter it, but once he poked his head into the nook, James was met with a happy surprise.
In a corner sat a pile of leather equipment. At a glance, James could see a chest piece, a pair of bracers, and a worn pair of boots. Next to the armor was a long steel dagger with a blade around a foot long.
‘Fuck yes! This is what I needed!’ James was ecstatic with the find. He was woefully underequipped to fight monsters, and this finding would hopefully give him the advantage he needed to survive.
He was so transfixed on the equipment that he almost didn’t see the Big Rat lying next to it, but the rodent had certainly seen him.