3 A Rat is Born

The rat opened its new eyes for the first time. It looked around to see a dark, gloomy tunnel; a tunnel apart of a sewer underneath a large kingdom. This tunnel was dark and it stank of waste and rotting flesh. It's covered by a green haze limiting vision, adding to the awful mood of death and rot. The walls were made of stone bricks with a dip in the middle of the floor to let sewage run through. The sewers were huge and created like a large maze, it would confuse anyone but the most skilled explorer. The inhabitants of this labyrinth of disgust and waste were somehow naturally able to understand and memorize these winding passage ways.

The rat was left to fend for itself just like its previous life, but this time slightly wiser. It began searching for food, and like last time it found a partially eaten meal. This happened obviously because of the luck stat, but the rat was too dull to figure that out so it just went about its business. The first thing the rat did was observe its body through the skill [Vitality Check]. Before anything, it had to understand its health and biological make up. Of course that's a little complex for the rat, it really just wanted to know if it had any major weaknesses. It had the obvious stuff like heart, stomach, neck, and groin and just a weak body. Then it noticed something, it wasn't weak.

The rat instinctively knew its species was at the bottom of the food chain, but when looking at its body it appeared to be overflowing with power: It's tight, dense muscle, sharp, jagged teeth, blade-like claws, a surprisingly tough tail, etc. These abnormalities made the rat double and triple check, but every time was the same. Then it realized something, it was dark. These tunnels which were untouched by the light of day were dark and gloomy which activated its Unique Skill [Shadow Strength]. These tunnels were always dark, and therefore it would always be at an increased strength.

The rat immediately wanted to test its new abilities and began to walk, in search of prey. Fate led it to a Small Spider, a venomous eight legged insect monster. The venom was weak and only caused slight paralysis, but was enough to give it a fighting edge. The rat saw this and used [Stealth] to slowly sneak up upon this spider. Normally the enhanced eyesight of the spider would allow it to see the rat coming, but because of [Shadow Strength] the abilities of [Stealth] also rose. The rat got within a meter's distance and then looked at it with [Vitality Check] which told the rat that there was a weak spot on the left side of the spider from a recent battle. The rat proceeded to deactivate [Stealth] and then activated [Body Strengthening]. Power swelled up in its muscles and with extreme power, leapt at the spider; the sudden burst of speed was almost too much for the rat to react to. Almost. It opened it's maw in preparation of the soon to come impact, and when it got close enough, crushed down with horrifying force. The enhanced force came not only from [Body Strengthening] and [Shadow Strength], but also from the skill [Bite] which hardened and sharpened the user's teeth. The sudden attack startled the spider and made it jump and attempt to flee, however, the rat was already latched on and began using [Scratch] to chip away at the spider's health. The normally low damage was enhanced by [Shadow Strength] and [Body Strengthening], and a few lucky blows to some already deep wounds. The spider couldn't turn its body to fight the rat and slowly died to the constant barrage of attacks.

The rat noticed the death of its poor victim and let go. Immediately it began to feel lethargic and tired, quickly taking note of its rapidly depleting St. It quickly deactivated [Body Strengthening] and felt that its body began to rest. Then suddenly a blue screen popped up.

[Congratulations, you have met the XP requirement and leveled up!]

[Your level is now 2!]

[You have gained 2 Sp and 10 Ap!]

[Skills: Shadow Strength, Body Strengthening, Vitality Check, Stealth, Bite, Scratch have all leveled up]

[All stats have been restored!]

[Status:]

Name: N/A

Race: Monster Rat

Gender: Male

Age: 1 hour

Level: 2

Hp: 60/60

St: 85/85

Mp: 5/5

Str: 5

Dex: 5

Agi: 5

Wis: 5

Int: 5

Cha: 5

Con: 5

Mnt: 5

Lck: 15

Skills: Burrow, Scratch 2, Bite 2, Glare, Vital Check 2, Stealth 2, Body Strengthening 2, Shadow Strength 2

Accomplishments: Genocide

SP: 2

AP: 10