Chapter 1

In the city, life goes on.

A bright, bustling place that never seems to stop moving. In a back alley, in a dark corner a boy sleeps. On a sheet of cardboard under a pile of trash he laid there as his breathing grew ragged, he knows he's dying.

He lays there shivering as the rats surround his weak body. Yet against expectations he's happy. Because he's surrounded by his family, friends and companions.

The rats.

When nobody was there fore him the rats were. After running away from his prostitute mother and her drunken boyfriend he lived on the streets and the rats were there beside him. He never knew human love but he thought that it couldn't be much different than this.

So laying there in the garbage covered in filth, he smiled thankful for the family god gave him. His vision was getting darker and he could feel the warmth leave his body, so as he took on last breath he mouthed 'thank you' and closed his eyes as he slowly exhaled and just like that he died.

As the last traces of warmth left his body the rats closed in and dug in tearing apart his body until there was nothing left but a mess of blood and bones.

In the city, life goes on

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The boy's sole wandered through the darkness of the abyss looking for something to latch onto. Even though he didn't have a body he felt cold, colder than he ever felt while sleeping on the streets.

So he searched and he searched and he searched for something to take him away from this pitch black nothingness that trapped him.

*ting*

A blue glowing screen flashed before him.

[you have been granted the chance to be reborn with a system]

[do you accept]

[yes\no]

Even though the boy couldn't read he was so happy, after such a long time of searching he finally found some light. The boy tried to embrace the light and make it a part of him, he never wanted to let go.

[user has accepted]

[please wait while the system links with your soul]

[. . .]

[system linked]

[you will now be reborn in a random body]

[ERROR]

[new info obtained]

[you have been deemed as having an unreliable amount of knowledge]

[system will imprint the knowledge onto user's soul]

[imprinting knowledge. . .]

Suddenly a burst of pain ran through the boy. It was hot searing pain like a fire was burning his very soul.Then just as quick as it had started it was over.

*ding*[knowledge imprinted]

'Ugh... what was that, that felt horrible' the boy thought. 'wait a second, my mind feels a lot clearer than normal, and what are all these things running through my head? huh, knowledge imprinted? Wait a second, I CAN READ?!?!'

[Now choosing random body and skills to be reborn with]

'Oh, I'm being reborn huh. I hope I get better parents this time around. What does it mean skills?'

[skills chosen]

[bite, slash,

[additional skill granted: appraisal]

'Huh, what kind of skills are these?

[species: rat]

??? 'I'm a RAT?! This is amazing!!'

[body found]

[reincarnation in progress]

And just like that, the screen disappeared and the never-ending darkness came back. But this time it wasn't cold, instead, it had a soft heat that seemed comforting and the pitch-black darkness that seemed to go on forever now gave a more constricting sensation, like a warm hug.

although he wondered what happened to the blue screen he was to focused on the warmth around him to properly think of anything else. So there he stayed, oblivious to the changes happening to him and his body.

The before formless entity started to take shape. He was now just a ball of flesh and muscle but gradually arms, legs and a head could be seen taking shape along with a long tail wrapping around the whole body. He felt other presences around him

After what felt like weeks his body had seemed to take its final shape. The warm, comfortable pressure of the darkness on his body had seemed to reach its climax. Suddenly the darkness convulsed and pushed him forward.

'Hmm, what's that?' A tiny light appeared in front of the boy. Struggling to move forward he tried reaching out to the light. He didn't know why but his body told him to move, to move forward that light.

Another convulsion pushed him forward, getting him closer to the light. He struggled as hard as he could and with one final push he went into the light and left the darkness behind.