In a tower, one could see a man sitting in the center.
His eyes dug inside the new pages of a book that was deemed too dangerous.
Yes, it was the sacrificial Tome.
William was looking at the book too frantically, his eyes wide in shock. He was currently not on the front cover, not the first page but actually… the second.
'I can't believe this is even real…' he smacked his head in frustration while he looked at the 3 lines on the second page.
======
+3 strength - 0.90 Vitality (30-minute duration and 10-minute cooldown)
Thorn Punch- 1.5 Vitality (10-minute duration and 5-minute cooldown
Weakness locater sense- 2 Vitality (1-hour duration and 2-hour cooldown)
======
William knew while looking at these options, the book was not like any he had seen before.
He knew this because of the strange bond he had with the book now.
It felt disgustingly alive, a feeling one shouldn't get from a fucking book. But William had no choice, the wave was 1 minute away from him and the tower.
All this time, even his hologram was on, with the countdown of the wave showing the brightest.
'What do I do now? These are too expensive… 1 vitality for +3 in strength is too much. I have 3 points in vitality. If I were to live for 80 years, divide it by 3 and… 26 years and something lost in one go? This is too ridiculous. Does Vitality even regenerate?'
All these questions were making him panic and frustrated, William didn't want to make such a big sacrifice of health from the go. He wanted to live and that too a very long life.
Even the 80 average years sounded to be too less for him before.
[The 1st wave has commenced!]
[Survive the wave in order to survive and be rewarded.]
William gave the messages and looked toward the fog.
He got out of the tower with the ominous book in his hand not knowing what to do with it.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The only thing he knew about the book was how he could just click on these options and the sacrifice would take place and he would get what he was owed.
He looked to the right and then the left not knowing from where something would come out of.
Suddenly, he saw some movement in front of him, he stiffened but had relief that the monster was not coming from the other side.
He kept looking at the fog and the next second, a silhouette came out of it in a hurry and stopped.
William tilted his head, his eyes telling enough that he was confused or not shocked enough.
"A rat?"
There was a small creature in front of him and was the sole thing other than him inside that plain.
The creature looked to be very small, with the size of William's foot. From afar, William couldn't even tell if the thing was looking at him.
William moved his arm instantly in order to scan the creature. The hologram changed and the information for the creature came in front of them.'
——
Poison rat
Level 1
A creature with the weakest defense, but beware, it can spit poison that can corrode the skin.
——
SWUEEAA!!
William's eyes widened as he saw the rat first make a very high-pitched noise and then it came running toward him.
He didn't know rats could scream this loud but soon, his mind came back to the present where the problem was itself running toward him.
William closed off his brain that was telling him to just jump in freak out and run above the tower and readied his book. This was by far the easiest outcome out of the many that he had thought about.
The creature came running on its four legs with two of its teeth pointing at William.
The creature jumped just a few feet away from William surprising him yet he was already ready to go anytime and the attack from his side was pretty much loaded up already.
While the book moved toward the rat, the trajectory couldn't have been better as it was already fixed to hit the rat right at its small body.
William saw the rat's mouth gurgle with some substance, the rat was close enough to him to see but the rat had no chance of actually spitting anything.
SMACK!
The rat went flying toward the right where the book's trajectory hit had made it move.
William looked at the creature fly and fly until it went inside the fog again at a fast pace.
He had placed a whole lot of strength in that attack instinctively.
"…" William couldn't say anything as he watched the fog intently.
He didn't know if the rat had any ability left to walk anymore but knowing the pest rats in his house on Earth, he knew that they were like cockroaches. That even survives getting flushed in a toilet.
Deep in his heart, William wanted the rat to come back. He felt alive in that dangerous situation. He craved it more than ever. William was smiling even though he didn't know about it.
From the fog, the creature came back, it didn't limp or anything and its whole focus was on William.
"Damn… its too persistent." William said in a frustrated voice yet his face said otherwise.
The rat came running again while it gave that same high-pitched squeak. William could look at drops of some greenish goo felling from its mouth while it traveled fast.
The ground started steaming with that gooe-thick liquid.
'Heh… dumb creature. Take this!'
SMACK!
The rat had jumped again, its mouth this time foaming with that green thick liquid yet William didn't give it time and smacked the shit out of the creatures again.
Only this time, he smacked the creature on the ground right in front of him.
The next second, as if everything was already planned enough by William.
He smacked the heavy book on the ground squishing the rat this time completely.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!