Chapter 4

'Well, what's one more weird thing today?' he thought philosophically as he trudged along.

He had been walking for the least fifteen minutes and he was hoping that the 'dungeon' wasn't too far away. Just a minute or two ago, he had received a notification that his effort had granted him an extra point of STA.

Issei paused as the blue path veered off into a wall, for some strange reason. He inspected it and noticed that a blue square was on the wall, so he stepped up to examine it.

[Warning!]

You are about to enter the dungeon [Nest of the Ratlord] (LV4)

Once entered, you must clear the dungeon in order to leave.

Do you wish to enter?

Y/N

"Rats…" Issei said with a grimace. He didn't like the little buggers, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. He hit the 'Y' button.

Almost at once, the box vanished, along with a doorway-shaped segment of the wall it had been on, revealing steps leading down into the darkness.

"Eerie…" Issei whispered, before squaring his shoulders and walking down the stairs. Fortunately for him, as he walked, fiery torches lit the stairway every few meters. Behind him, Issei heard the sound of stone grinding as the entrance was sealed behind him.

At length, he reached the bottom of the stairs, in a circular room made of roughly hewn stone. Lying in the centre was a skeletal body wearing rags, slumped over a wooden chest.

"Ah. Starter kit." the Sekiryūtei nodded. Standard fare for early parts of most RPG games these days was to give the main character basic weapons if they were unarmed or basic armour if they were armed.

He wasn't planning on using the [Boosted Gear] until the dungeon boss as he didn't really know what would happen once the he used up the time limit on the consecutive boosts. No, it was best to use it as a trump card for the moment…or at least until he have evolved it from being a [Twice Critical].

Walking over to the skeleton, Issei clapped his hand before offering a prayer to the skeleton before gently removing it from the chest and opening it up.

Inside was a single bronze sword, complete with a leather sheath.

"Bronze? Really?!" Issei tsukkomi'd. As he (reluctantly) picked it up, a message appeared.

You have acquired [Bronze Short Sword]!

Do you wish to equip this item? Y/N

Hitting the 'Y' button, Issei blinked when the blade seemed to teleport into his right hand. He wondered if there was any way to view its stats.

[For information on this weapon, please open the Equipment menu]

Bemused, he did so.

Right Hand: Bronze Short Sword

Left Hand: (Empty)

Head: (Empty)

Body (Layer 1): Ordinary Red T-Shirt

Body (Layer 2): Kuō Academy Uniform

Arms: (Empty)

Legs: Kuō Academy Trousers

Feet: White Running Shoes

"Err…oops…" he said, looking down at his clothes. He'd accidentally worn his school outfit today. Force of habit, he supposed. Issei dismissed that and touched the only weapon he was equipped with.

[Bronze Short Sword]

A short sword forged from bronze, it bears no makers mark and is of average quality. It seems to be taken directly from the Bronze Age.

Short Sword

Slashing Damage: S+10

Piercing Damage: S+5

So basically, it was an ordinary starter weapon. Other than the fact it was from about 700 B.C.

Swinging it experimentally, Issei was surprised that it wasn't heavy, considering it was a western-style sword. Shrugging, he noticed that a door had appeared opposite the staircase…with another blue box floating in front of it.

[Nest of the Ratlord #1]

In order to confront the Dungeon Boss, you must defeat all of his minions and pull two levers that open the way to his chamber.

OK…that sounded relatively easy.

He cautiously entered the main part of the dungeon and was immediately confronted by one of the enemies. It was a rat the size of a ten-year-old child…standing upright on its rear legs. It wore rags and had a club made of wood in one hand.

Ratman Slave LV3

[Scumbiter]

It shrieked in fury as it spotted him and charged forwards with its weapon raised to strike.

"Crap!" Issei dodged to the side to avoid the strike of the club, then struck out with his own weapon, the blade severing the demi-human's tail in a spurt of blood, eliciting yet another shriek, this time of pain, from the ratman.

It whirled at him, a mix of pain, fear and rage in its eyes as it attacked him once again. Issei smacked the club away and ran the ratman through its chest with his sword. The thing choked, shuddered, then died.

You have defeated a [Ratman Slave]! You earn 50 EXP!

Do you wish to loot the body? Y/N

Hitting 'Y', Issei watched as a list was made on a blue screen in front of him.

Filthy Robe X1

Filthy Loincloth X1

Splintered Club X1

¥200

All of it completely useless barring the money. Looks like he couldn't depend on getting useful drops from the slaves. This prompted yet another screen to pop up.

Do you wish to sell these items for 50? Y/N

"Hell yeah!" Issei muttered and pressed the appropriate button.

Ratman Minions Dispatched: 1/30

He wondered, as he continued on in, if it was his [Gamer's Mind] that was stopping him from freaking out over the fact that he had just taken his first life. Very likely, it was.

Issei discovered, on his little sojourn through the rat nest, that the slave he had killed had been one of the better equipped members of the slaves. The majority of the rest were clad in loincloths and wielded flint knives, for crying out loud. Those he kept, mostly because he liked the look of them.

"Keeeee!" a slave shrieked as it charged him, knife bared, only to have its head separated from its shoulders by a well-placed strike of Issei's blade.

"Shut up, damn it." Issei spat.

You have slain a Ratman Slave! You Receive 50 EXP!

Ratman Minions Dispatched: 17/30

You have levelled up! LV4-LV5!

You have 5 Attribute points to spend!

You have sold your drops for 500

"Nice." Issei grinned. He opened his menu and spent the points. Usually, he would save them, but he was a bit too weak to hoard points like that. Choosing to up his STR and DEX by three and two respectively, he immediately felt stronger once he closed the window.

He spotted a lever ahead of him, a crude one made of wood and wrapped in rags. Very gingerly, he pulled it down until it clicked into place and retracted into the wall.

"That's one down." the Sekiryūtei muttered as he turned and walked back the way he had come. The nest would be better described as a warren, one with numerous corridors leading to sub-chambers dug through stone and rock. He had been scratching an 'X' next to the tunnels he had gone down because there were so damn many of them.

Moving up the main passage, he made a mark on one side of another side junction before entering it. Eventually, he came to a room which had an altogether different breed of enemies for him. Unlike the Ratman slaves, these were not weedy specimens, but healthy and muscled. They wore armour, albeit not a lot of it, over their smocks; copper spaulders, vambraces, leather brigandines and the occasional open helm. They carried copper swords as well.

Clanrat LV4

[Cheesethief]

This…would be harder than the seventeen slaves he had killed.

With a shriek of anger, one Clanrat spotted him, drawing the attention of the other four present. They rushed him en-masse, brandishing their swords threateningly.