Chapter 23: Leveling Up

Rubbing my chin methodically, I looked at the rat corpses. What should I do with them? I couldn’t resurrect them since I was at max capacity for creatures I could reanimate. In a level or so I might be able to do one. But until them it would be impossible. Saving them wasn’t really an option since I would be getting more soon and these corpses would go to waste. That was something I did not want to happen.

After thinking for a few minutes, I finally decided to just let Viola eat them. This way not only would the corpses be out of my way, but Viola had a small chance of gaining some of their characteristics. The more I fed her, the higher the chance was. Turning towards my barat, I mentally told her what I decided. With a fluid leap, she jumped from my shoulder and landed beside the corpses. After a few minutes of munching and slurping, the corpses were gone and Viola was full. No matter how many times I saw it, I would still be surprised with how much stuff my barat could fit inside her.

Taking a seat on the ground, I made Viola stand watch as I meditated. This fight had taken quite a bit of mana from me and I wanted it all back before I ventured on. If I didn’t have all my mana, I would probably end up regretting it. Fifteen minutes later and my mana bar was completely filled.

Pushing myself off the ground, I continued down the sewers with Viola at my side. Over the next three hours I ended up killing a good bit of enemies and going down various pathways. Every time the path I was on branched, I went left. This way when I needed to head back, I would just keep on going right. I learned this little trick from a documentary I had seen when I was young.

During this time, Viola had learned two new wind spells. One was wind blade while the other was wind arrow. These were the only wind spells I knew so that was all I could help her with. When I was training some of my other skills, she would be able to experiment and find other wind spells to use.

Although I killed a lot of enemies, the only ones that I had seen were giant rats and berserkers. I was positive that there were more types of rats than these. I guess I just hadn’t seen them yet. I only met berserker rats periodically, and when I met them they were always leading a pack of giant rats. I don’t why they did this, but it made it all the more harder to kill them. It did help me get used to my spear though.

Viola and I were now both level nine thanks to the rats. Even though the berserkers were hard to fight, they gave me a ton of experience. Without them, it would have taken me way longer to level up. Thanks to the amount of time we fought together, Viola’s and I’s teamwork couldn’t help but improve. While she distracted the small fries, I would deal with the stronger ones. Whoever finished up first would then be able to help the other one. By utilizing this strategy the battles went by a little easier.

Patting Viola on the head, I moved on to my status.

Status WindowNameColm MarythouAge: 16Race: HumanLevel: 9Gender: MaleTitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead ProphetHealth: 160/180Mana: 190/190Stamina: 140/180~Strength: 10[15]Agility: 23[3]Vitality: 8[1]Dexterity: 9Intelligence:25[3]Wisdom:25Luck:0~SkillsMana Affinity, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, ConcentrationUnallocated Points: 0

Since I had leveled up twice, I had gotten ten points to allocate. I ended up putting them in agility so I could dodge the giant rats’ attacks easier. Normally I would’ve put them in wisdom, but I was tired of getting bitten every time I fought. Thanks to this boost, I could now dodge attacks from giant rats quite easily. The berserkers however were totally different. To be able to dodge their attacks I would have to use my concentration skill until I had increased my agility by a lot more.

Another thing that I had learned in this time period was utilizing my spear to its fullest potential. Whenever I pierced an enemy with my spear, darkness would flow from the tip and irritate the wound I had just made. This would then cause my opponent to receive ongoing damage until the wound was fixed. And since my opponent was usually stuck battling me, they would have no time to fix their wound causing them to take damage as they tried to avoid my attacks.

 I also learned a new strategy that I could employ in battle by accident. I had been trying to make a wind blade on my spear so my mana was surrounding the outside of it. After I dodged a particularly quick attack, my concentration on the spell slipped, causing my mana to seep into the spear. The moment my mana my mana did this, a bolt of darkness shot out from the tip. Once I finished up my battle, I poured mana inside of my spear to see if I could replicate what had happened in battle.

I could.

Thanks to this accident, I could now launch dark bolts from my spear. This was really useful in battle since I didn’t have to convert the mana into the darkness element. All I had to do was pour my mana in the spear, and a dark bolt would come flying out. It was that simple.

My tupa supply was also running low. Whenever I fought a berserker rat, I was forced to use at least one. The reason for this was because they were just so powerful. I had tried fighting one without injuring it with a tupa and I had almost died. I was not going to try that again until I was way stronger.

Due to the amount of rats I was killing, the amount of corpses I had kept on piling up. Viola dutifully ate them all even when it forced her stomach to bulge. Although she felt a little sick at the time, it had been worth it in the end. Thanks to the corpses she had eaten, Viola was now more muscular than she had been before. If I had to be honest, I would say that she used to be on the skinny side.

Not anymore.

She wasn’t buff per se, but she was definitely ripped. Whenever she flexed I could see her muscles try to burst through her skin. She was also now a lot stronger because of it. Her claws could tear through flesh as easily as I could tear through paper. Once she flew in the air, she was virtually untouchable. It was quite amazing to say the least.

Muscle wasn’t the only thing she gained however. She was now able to go into some sort of berserk mode. When she went into it, a crimson haze would begin to surround her body. Her body would then begin to grow larger and larger until she was around half my size. Once she was finished growing, she would attack and try to kill anything that stood in her way. The only reason she didn’t attack me while she was in this form was because of our necromancy connection. Thanks to this, she always knew that I wasn’t an enemy.

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The only problem with this transformation was that she became less cautious and more reckless. Although she dealt more damage, she would also receive more wounds. If she fought a more intelligent enemy while she was in this mode, they would be able to use her rage to their advantage. Because of this, I told her to only use this mode when she absolutely had to.

Seeing her use this mode made several opinions spring into mind. Since she had gotten this skill from the rats she had killed, I could only assume the berserker rats had this skill also. Although I had never seen them use it, I would still need to be careful. The berserker rats were already big and powerful and if they used this skill while fighting me, I would not be coming out of that battle unharmed.

Thanks to all of the battles I had been fighting, my skills had naturally been improving. Because of all the air spells I had been using, my air magic had grown to level 7. And because I needed to restore all of the mana I had used from these spells, my meditation skill was now level 5. The more I explored the sewers, the darker it had become. And since I had been dodging enemy attacks in this darkness, my enhanced vision skill had grown to level 7 and I could now see fully in the dark. Because of this, it was harder for my enemies to sneak up on me.

Last but no least my concentration skill was now level 5. I had been forced to rely on this skill when I was fighting the berserker rats which helped it gain experience. One thing I noticed was that casting spells became easier if I utilized the concentration skill. However if I used it too much, I would get a splitting headache and I would be unable to use the skill for a few minutes. But other than that, this skill was pretty helpful.

After I reviewed all of my skills, I looked at all of the loot I had received.

Basic Health Potion

Description: A vial of red liquid used to heal wounds.

Effect: Recovers 40 hp.

Basic Mana Potion

Description: A vial of blue liquid used to restore mana. 

Effect: Recovers 40 mana

Steel Dagger

Description: A sharp dagger made of steel.

Effect: +1 Dexterity

 Damage: 10-15

Durability: 40/40

Fur Cloak

Description: A cloak made from the fur of some unknown animal.

Effect: +2 Vitality

Durability: 40/40

I had managed to gather two health potions and one mana potion from the corpses of the rats. This was good since I had eaten most of my red tupas and needed some way to restore my health quickly. The mana potion was useful if I was ever in a pinch and I didn’t have enough mana left to cast any spells. These vials were packed in my belt alongside my tupas.

I had also gotten a steel dagger and a fur cloak. Since my steel spear was way better than the dagger I had just received, I probably wouldn’t be using it. I did however stuff it in my belt in case I needed it. If my spear was ever out of my reach and I needed a weapon, I could just reached into my belt and grab my dagger. It would do less damage, but it was better than being weaponless.

My most favorite loot I received was the fur cloak. Not because of the stats, but because of how comfortable it felt. Since I had lost my jacket, I was forced to embrace the cold as I traveled through the sewers. But now I could put on this cloak and be absolutely fine. If I had to guess, I would say that the fur was from some type of wolf. It extended all the way to the back of my knees and it had a hood on the top. So whenever a chilling breeze swept through the sewers, I could just toss on the hood and I would be fine.

Thankfully the cloak was a dull brown so it blended in with my surroundings. I don’t know what I would’ve done if the cloak was white since my enemies would be able to notice me quite easily because of it.

One thing I really liked about the cloak I had on was the fur that was on the inside. It was amazing. When I fought the rats I would need to make sure they didn’t bite my cloak since I wanted it to last as long as it could.

After examining over everything, I began to head back the way I came. I was a little bit exhausted and I wanted to rest before I ventured out again. I was able to walk five minutes without interruption when I suddenly felt a chill down my spine. Turning around slowly, my eyes widened in horror as I looked at what was in front of me.

A berserker rat.

Shit, I wouldn’t have enough time to hit it with a tupa before I fought it. But it should be fine since there was only one…..However I spoke to soon. One after another began to appear from the darkness. One…..Two……Three…. How many of these fuckers were there? As I tried to slowly back away, I heard Viola hiss at something behind me, forcing me to stop. Turning around quickly, my face quickly paled in horror.

There were more!? Not only that, they were blocking my way out. Scanning my surroundings, I looked for a way to escape anxiously. Sadly, there was no escape route in sight. Just walls and rats.

Fuck.

How the hell was I supposed to get out of this predicament?

AN: Thanks for reading!