Success! And a bit of a scare...

"This guy over here is a very docile undead dwarf lesser rat; it lost the will to get its data back to the system and respawn as its original self – a dwarf lesser rat - so it will not attack you, and it will not try to escape even if you leave the door wide open. It's a perfect first target as it requires only talking... undead rats aren't the brightest, you see..."

The blond-haired priest tapped on the closest door and leaned into Zorey, whispering conspicuously.

"Just don't think that it will be the standard from now on. This training is only supposed to get you used to communicating with the undead and get used to using the skills on actual creatures. Understand? Good, I'm going them. I will call you when it's time time to finish for the day."

"Okay..."

Gael pushed open the latch locking the door, and opened it, encouragingly pushing the black-haired boy inside and gently pushing the door close.

"Hmm?"

The black-haired boy looked over his shoulder at the door and then back, where he spotted a small rodent-like monster with mangled fur lying peacefully curled up on the hay.

[Race: Undead (undead dwarf lesser rat)

Rank: F

Level: 1

HP: 7 MP: 1

ATK: 3 MAT: 2

DEF: 1 MDF: 1

SPD: 3 LUC: 2

Skills: (Low level Appraisal skill necessary for viewing)]

Just as it was with the Gael's Grave Hound, the creature's Status Window showed up in Zorey's vision without him having to say or do anything except for looking at the monster.

"Lesser prayer."

*haaaa~*

Zorey cast, and the undead rat and area in the one-foot-radius form. It was basked in a warm glow.

The notification about failed Skill didn't pop up, which meant it should be successful, but it also didn't create the -whoosh – sound that was typical for the black fog getting erased.

"...scree... (I know what you are here for.) ...scree... (I just want to stay like this.) ...screen... (...so go away...)."

"Oh...!"

The undead dwarf lesser rat moved, and its screeching resounded in the small room basked in the cold blue light – but at the same time, the meaning of its noises was conveyed straight into Zorey's head, stirring him away with how different it felt to anything he experienced until that point.

"Hey, why would you want to stay like this?"

Zorey figured out there was no reason to talk any different than normal, so he just casually asked the undead creature.

"...scree... (I lost a territorial fight with another rat.) ...scree... (I was supposed to be the strongest, but I lost.) ...scree... (So I just want to stay like this where I can no longer lose because there is no one to fight.)."

The undead rat said, curling up even more snuggly.

"Huh? Are you stupid? If you gave up, then you have already lost. The longer you stay here as an undead, the worse that defeat gets. Not to mention that you lose on every potential fight that you could have fought and won as a dwarf lesser rat if you were alive!"

Zorey gasped, taken aback by the rat's views, and gave it a piece of his honest mind.

"Scree...?! (HUH?! Wait, hold up!) Skree! (You're right! I need to respawn as soon as possible!)"

Proving that rats lose the majority of their intelligence upon becoming corrupted into undead, the rat jumped right back at its feet, screeching urgently with not a trace of its previous defeatism in sight.

"Okay. Appease undead!"

*HAAA~*

*crack*

Zorey nodded with a satisfied smile and used the Skill – as the intense light illuminated the cell, a white spectral image of a dwarf lesser rat rose up from the undead rat as if it was a butterfly breaking free out of its chrysalis.

"Scree! (Hehe! You will see, I will win every fight!) Scree! (I will even take you on if you get in my way!)."

The spectral rat screeched, and the meaning of its words got projected directly into Zorey's word before its image started crumbling into tiny particles looking oddly similar to 0 and 1 numbers, and all floated up.

*whoosh*

*TA-DING*

[You have successfully appeased the undead (undead dwarf lesser rat)]

[EXP points granted]

Once the last number was gone, the light of the Skill faded, and notifications popped up in Zorey's vision upper left corner just as the remains of the undead crumbled into an inconspicuous pile of dust.

"Af if! I will get really strong so that Vernlily will be proud of having a husband like me – I'm not going to lose to a dwarf lesser rat!"

Zorey scoffed at the pile of dust and declared proudly before turning away.

"Teacher! I did...! It...?"

The black-haired boy opened the door and cheered out, stopping in place upon the realization that Gael was no longer in the basement.

"...umm... teacher...?"

Zorey hesitated and called out a bit louder, thinking that there was a chance that the blond-haired priest was trying to play hide-and-seek, but the only thing that responded to him was silence.

"...wait... when he said that it could take around a week... did... did he mean this whole basement...?!"

Having dozed off while Gael was explaining the hands-on part of the training made, Zorey came to a completely wrong conclusion as he looked over at two nearly two dozen doors with different amounts of black mist sipping through.

"...huh... that one felt too easy, so that must be it... Whew...! I almost made a fool out of myself claiming that I finished the task...!"

The black-haired boy breathed out, feeling his face getting hot at the thought of the embarrassment that he barely missed.

...only empowering the mistaken train of thought...

"I see. Since I can see the malice already, localizing the next weakest undead is part of the training so that I would become able to properly measure the strength of my opponent and not try to bite more than I can chew. Teacher thinks way more ahead than I do...!"

Zorey nodded to himself, in his misunderstanding gaining a new level of respect towards Gael.

The boy took a deep breath and began inspecting the black mist sipping through each and every door... except the last one, where the amount was obviously way above his current capabilities.

"..."

After a few minutes, Zorey approached the sixth door on the left side, putting his index finger to his mouth and squinting his eyes before wagging his finger at it and nodding his head – making a decision.

*thunk*

He pulled open the latch and opened the door, entering the small cell just like the one the undead dwarf lesser rat was in, ready for the talk with the next monster...

[Race: Undead (Rotten Fang Wolf)

Rank: E

Level: 19

HP: 250 MP: 25

ATK: 51 MAT: 10

DEF: 20 MDF: 18

SPD: 30 LUC: 15

Skills: (Low level Appraisal skill necessary for viewing)]

"GRRRRR!"

"!!!"

*WHAM* *THUNK*

The moment Zorey's brain registered the stats of the monster whose Status window popped up in the upung priest's face and his survival instinct kicked in. The disturbed Rotten Fang Wolf started to get up from the hay, and its low growl filled the small room, but the black-haired boy was already shutting the door and pushing the latch to lock it.

"Mistake! I made a mistake! That definitely wasn't something on my level!"

Zorey, feeling his heart beating so fast as if it was about to burst out of his chest, leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it while gasping to himself.

That definitely was a valuable lesson – despite not being one that Gael actually intended, but Zorey was not aware of that fact.

"Again. This time more carefully."

After a minute or so, the black-haired boy managed to calm down and talked himself into getting up and inspecting the black mist.

"...what in the world... am I really that bad? It really looks like this is the one with the weakest malice!"

After a quarter of an hour passed, the black-haired boy slouched, crossing his arms and tilting his head in disbelief, once again ending before the door to the rank E Rotten Fang Wolf.

"..."

Zorey leaned in, finding a crack in the door and catching a glimpse of the beast that laid back down.

[To check the monster's Status again, use the command – Check Status - ]

Upon seeing it for the second time, instead of Status Window just popping up in his face, a notification showed up in the upper left corner of his vision.

It was definitely useful because despite being translucent, having a large blue window obstructing one's field of vision in the middle of an encounter would be distracting even in the best scenario.

"Lesser prayer."

*haaaa~*

*Bu-dum...*

[Skill failed]

[EXP points granted]

He wasn't sure if it would even be possible from behind the door, but his Skill did activate – it failed, though.

"..."

The Rotten Fang Wolf that laid back down raised its head and looked at the door but didn't make any aggressive sounds.

Zorey kept trying out the spell with no effect a couple more times until he ran out of MP and had to wait until it regenerated a bit.