Research

(Split this chapter up as it got too long. Enjoy!)

<<<Research 1>>>

As Jay approached the oblivious soap rat, he realized he couldn’t really make use of his necromancer class since there were no corpses around - only rotting wood and swamp grass.

“Damn… I guess I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way…” he pursed his lips as he equipped his one-damage butcher knife.

Next, he prepared himself mentally as he gripped his knife tightly. It would be his first monster kill, and already he could feel some adrenaline building.

Hiding behind the grass before his sneak-attack, he felt like an assassin hunting his prey - yet he was simply a person covered in slimy shit, holding a cooking knife in the middle of a swamp. He looked more like a homeless person looking for dinner.

Jay used [analyze], one of his class utility skills, as he gazed at the rat with predator-like eyes.

< [Soap Rat Level 1] >

[Type - Beast, Poison, Pack]

[10 HP]

<[Skills]>

[Slippery] (Passive)

- The rat uses swamp slime to its advantage

- Crowd control skills have no effect

[Bite]

- 1 damage (Pierce)

[Claw]

- Bleed

- 2 flat damage over 3 seconds (Can stack 2 times)

[Poison Resist] (Passive)

- 80% Poison Resistance

<[Description]>

[While the name suggests it may be clean, it is the furthest thing from it.]

The rat was large, about the size of a pig, yet with a slender body and a long tail. A slimy sheen of black fur covered it completely.

On the front of its body, a lumpy, muscular head stuck out, complete with jaws large enough to fit a human head in between.

Trying his best to be stealthy - as well as a level 2 Necromancer can be - he was sneaking closer through the grasses.

Thankfully, the rat appeared to be distracted as it was gnawing on something - a piece of the rotting black wood.

Jay pitied the rat, but pushed all thoughts aside as he wiped the grime off his cooking knife and held it in a reverse grip.

Kill or be killed, he thought to himself.

While Jay could have just left, returning to a mundane life was as good as being dead; this rat’s death would be a necessary stepping stone on his path.

The rat bobbed its head down for another bite and Jay acted, dashing out of cover and pouncing at the rat while stabbing down as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, his prey reacted in time with a skittish movement.

Jay’s knife left a deep gash on its ribs as it turned to its side and hissed - a damage number appeared above it.

[-1]

The rodent hopped back and then used its momentum to plant its paws in the ground and leap, pouncing at Jay’s right hand.

Jay pulled his wrist back and slashed at the rat’s face, leaving another gash along its snout.

[-1]

*Riiiii!!~*

The rat screeched in anger as it leaped at Jay again, slashing back at him with its own knife-like claws.

Jay braced himself as he raised his arms up into a boxer stance, protecting his vital areas.

The rat’s claws scraped down his arms, taking flesh with it; blood immediately flowed.

Jay dropped the knife from the pain as his arms were turning red.

[You are bleeding]

[0.7 damage per second for 3 seconds]

[You are bleeding]

[0.7 damage per second for 3 seconds]

“Grrah! A double bleed,” he gritted his teeth from the pain.

The rat was too close, so Jay kicked and stomped at its head a few times, forcing it to back up.

Jay realized he needed to be a bit more tactical if he didn’t want to take more damage.

He ground his teeth as he gripped the knife firmly, preparing for the rats’ next attack.

[Stress Response] (Passive) activated. +5% melee damage.

“Come,” Jay taunted it.

The rat lunged and snapped its jaws, but Jay already stepped back and stabbed at the rats’ head.

“Take this bitch!”

Planting the knife right onto the rat’s head, it didn’t penetrate the skull, but thankfully still did damage.

[-2]

A critical hit; dealing double damage.

Unfortunately, Jay’s damage was not high enough to factor in the extra 5% melee damage.

*Riii-Riiiiiii!!~*

Aggravated, the rat was suddenly went savage.

It continued its attack, and instead of backing up, it kept jumping forward with a snap; its survival instincts had kicked in.

Its head was still numb, and it didn’t retreat as an intelligent creature would have. Finally, it found its target, sinking its teeth into Jay’s leg.

“GRRH! ~” Jay clenched his teeth, stopping himself from roaring in pain.

He was almost falling over as his leg was being shaken and teared open; the rat was desperately trying to remove a piece of flesh.

[1] [1] [1]

“Fucker!”

Losing 3 health all at once, Jay’s adrenaline kicked in and he began madly stabbing back at the rat’s head.

Responding to his own survival instinct, his vision was going red while stabbing the rat like a maniac.

[-1][-1][-1]

“GRRRH!”

He made barbaric growling noises as he attacked, and the knife was now completely red after finding purchase in rat flesh.

The rat seemed to shake its head a little less while its health dropped, and was loosening its grip.

Jay grabbed its fur to stab it more effectively, but only got his hand covered in slime, yet he continued to stab and slash in a mad frenzy.

The kitchen knife waved and bended as it traced paths across the rats’ flesh, but despite the abuse, it didn’t break.

“Just die you fucker!” Jay yelled through clenched jaw; the pain was returning after his adrenaline slowed down.

[-1][-1][-1]

[15 Exp]

The rat had died, but Jay continued to assault its corpse. He wasn’t keeping track of the rat’s health. All he knew at that moment was he needed to stab to survive.

He stabbed more and more than a pool of blood formed in the mud.

Slowly, he slowed down as his energy dwindled and he soon realized the rat had already died.

“Finally…” he huffed, trying to catch his breath. He shook the rat’s head off his leg and sat down on its corpse.

Next, Jay checked his arms for damage, but found them completely healed up.

“Huh, I guess my HP went down instead of me taking actual damage?… Though I feel a strange sense of weakness after losing all those health points…”

Jay checked his half-gnawed leg, which still had an open wound, but before he could do anything, it instantaneously healed while his HP drained; he confirmed his theory.

Still panting, he took a few deep breaths in and his breathing returned to normal; a sense of accomplishment grew in him.

“Tough rat” smiled, patting the rat’s back as he showed it some respect.

“You sure wanted to keep your life, huh?” he shook the slime off his hand. “.. slippery little bastard.”

With a fresh corpse available, a smile grew on Jay’s face as it was finally time to practise his necromancy.

Stepping off the make-shift chair and holding out a hand over the corpse, Jay chanted his spell.

“Arise…”

Again, Jay felt a little light-headed as green glowing necrotic mana materialized from his hand and spread around the creature.

Jay didn’t realize his mana had a luminescence before, since it was daytime last time he tried anything, but he quite liked the soft green glow.

Jay smiled expectantly as the green glowing light reflected in eyes; something felt right about this and wrong at the same time.

***

In the depths of the stink-rat marsh, a necromancer stood before a glowing cloud of sickly dark-green dancing mana, but suddenly the light disappeared.

As the mana suddenly penetrated the creature, it cut a magical moment short. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into a corpse.

The body started to spasm as dark energies twisted its insides around; its mouth chattered and foam.

Jay’s eyes bulged, realizing what the rat corpse was about to do.

“No! Not again, never again!” He turned, desperately running in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, there was a log sticking out of the marsh, and he immediately took shelter behind it.

~Pooowfh! ~

All Jay heard was a muffled explosion followed by a light-rain from the other side of the log.

The corpse exploded, sending little bits of flesh everywhere.

Jay sighed behind the log. He waited an extra moment after the rain-noise stopped, in case there was a mist of red.

Thankfully, it doesn’t stink as much this time… though compared to the swamp I’m not sure it would matter anyway, he shrugged as he peeked his head over the log.

Viscera, organs, intestines, black fur, unidentifiable flesh, and everywhere else a yellowish fatty residue splattered.

It temporarily changed this part of the marsh from black-gray to a deep crimson red; for a moment, it was probably the only part of the marsh that wasn’t black.

The green mana forcefully expelled all the flesh from the rat corpse, leaving only the bones behind, but the bones were in just as much danger.

As it seeped into the bones, they rattled; cartilage popped and snapped as other bones began sticking to each other and floating; a new solid dark-green cartilage was forming at the joints while they melded into new bones.

A humanoid body assembled with a curved hunchback - however, this time it was slightly bigger, about the same height as the soap rat.

The last part to move into place was the massive soap rat skull; it was still gleaming with blood and body fluids as it found its home at the top of the creature.

The skull didn’t morph into the same humanoid-shaped head that it did before, as it seemed like the rat skull was sufficient for its purposes, yet two small horns still formed at the top of the skull.

Jay analyzed it while it was self-constructing.

It appeared to have a much smaller amount of the dark-green material making up the skeleton and filling in the missing gaps, causing Jay to wonder why it was slightly bigger, too.

Hmm… perhaps it was smaller before because there were fewer bones to form it?

After it self-constructed and stood on its own left, Jay received a strange notification.

[Chimera Research - 1%]

“Chimera?” Jay was confused. “I’ve only heard stories of such creatures.. I thought they were myths? hmm…”

He raised a brow, but soon an evil grin appeared on Jay’s face as he realized something.

“So I’ll be able to make an absolute abomination with tentacles, stingers, antlers, and scales?” Anticipation rose in Jay’s heart like a fire as he thought about the stories that would come from the creatures he would create some day.

Grinning alone in the black marsh, he truly seemed like a psychopath.

“But why did I get this research? Hmm…”

Jay inspected the creature.

< [Feeble Creature Level 1] >

[Type - Undead, Skeletal, Servant]

[10 HP]

[Damage]

- 1 (Pierce)

<[Skills]>

[Fetid Claws]

- bleed - 2 flat damage over 3 seconds (Can stack 2 times)

[Undeath] (Passive)

- immune to cold, poison, blood, hunger, stress, fear, pain.

<[Description]>

[An abomination, its existence spits in the face of life and death. Execute with extreme prejudice.]

Hmm, pretty similar to before… Jay thought; nothing stood out to him.

Unfortunately, analysis gave him no clues why he gained chimera research, but as he continued reading, he was more curious about the description.

“... Execute with extreme prejudice? Hmm… I suppose it makes sense.” Jay shrugged, “anything that messes with life and death is probably something you don’t want to mess around with,”

But what does that say about me?

He didn’t want to be a necromancer, but this was his lot in life - but he couldn’t stop himself from thinking further about a few things.

Why did I get a class without touching a mana conduit anyway… do they even know they’ve been lying to us? What if they do know? Hmm… Jay shook his head, looking around the swamp.

If they know they’ve been lying to us, then they certainly wouldn’t let me live… So I need to survive. For now, I will focus on what’s in front of me. I can’t stay weak or I will get no answers.

After reassuring himself, he decided on some ground rules about summoning.

I won’t raise a human corpse, that’s where I draw the line… unless it’s an emergency or they were utter scum, then maybe I won’t feel as if I’m an abomination… yeah.. no one is forcing me to be evil after all. he nodded looking, at his new companion and noting a particular one of its skills.

[Fetid Claws]

- bleed - 2 flat damage over 3 seconds (Can stack 2 times)

“Seems like you have the same skills as the rat.. Well, except for the [Slippery] passive since you have no slimy fur, but I’m not complaining.” Jay smiled at his minion.

Before he planned his next steps, he looted the remains of the corpse.

[Fur scraps] x 3

[Marsh bones] x 2

[Soap Rat teeth] x 3

“Hmm, I probably can’t do much with these. Maybe I can sell them to that fat merchant… What was his name again? B- something? Eh, I’ll just examine him next time I see him.” he added them to his bag.

All he remembered was his smoking, his mustache, and his large bellowing laugh, though this wasn’t very specific information.

Most merchants and nobles were overweight in this world; They did not frown obesity upon at all. Instead, it was among gold and jewelry as a sign of luxury and success. What it symbolized was attractive to many people, though it wasn’t for everyone, of course.

As Jay added them to his bag, he looked over the marsh bones. He wondered why there were bones left over after he raised the creature to undeath - but it was clear these didn’t come from the rat.

The blackened bones were slimy and damp. Evidently, they have been decaying here for years and had chew marks on them.

Jay realized the rat was eating these bones, and they were not some decaying black wood, as he initially thought.

Even bones are not immune to the black stain of the marsh… Hmm… chimera research… Perhaps some of these bones combined with my summoning? Jay thought as he looked at his skeleton.

“Though you did still turn out as the same creature, a small skeletal humanoid. I guess I need to keep researching the skill.” He nodded slowly, looking at his minion.

After the fight, Jay opened his status to check his health.

< [Necromancer level 2] >

[Race - Human]

HP: 43/48

MP: 34/39

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 25

Vitality: 15

Energy: 24/30

Exp: 15/150

<[Skills]>

[Raise Feeble Creature level 1]

[Stress Response] (Passive)

[Running level 1] (Passive)

“Hmm, not too banged up,” Jay turned to his new minion after checking his health.

“At least you can protect me from now on.” He nodded.

The creature moved over to stand in front of Jay, as if waiting for orders; its green glowing eyes gazing at him with expectation.

Jay, gazing at the surrounding marshland, looked for a new target.

This will be easy now that I have a summon.

Jay took out rations from his bag and had some of his bondtussle root with a snack.

Mm, probably too early to treat myself, but I should keep my energy up, he thought, getting a familiar notification after eating it.

[Mana Regen buff 1%]

- lasts for 1 hour (s).

After a brief break, he was ready again.

Keen eyes squinting over the marshland grass, he scouted his surroundings.

He stood on a rotting log as he peered over the surrounding waist-high grass. There was a thick, humid breeze - but for just a moment it paused.

The grass stopped swaying in response - all except for a shifting patch nearby, which seemed to get closer.

“Perhaps it smelled my food?” Jay gazed.

Looking at his creature, he wondered if he should name it for the sake of practicality. “Prepare to fight… Don?”

The creature, now called ‘Don’, looked confused for a while - perhaps even angry as its new name had no thought put into it.

It seemed disappointed as it lowered its head before turning around and assuming a fighting stance.

Having similar stats to the soap rats, Don had one primary advantage to tip the scales in its favor: Don was a bi-ped - it walked on two legs.

Sure enough, another pig-sized soap rat came to investigate the clearing, cautiously parting the grasses as it glared at Jay and Don.

Jay analyzed it.

[Soap Rat Level 1]

“Weak.” Jay said with a smug grin.

Jay spat on the ground as he stared at the rat, provoking it to attack.

“Come on, do something,” he said tiredly.

The rat slowly took a few steps forward, hissing aggressively as the rest of its body slipped through and exited the grasses.

<<<Research 2>>>

Don dashed, pouncing at the rat, immediately responding to the rat’s threats against its master.

Before the rat could respond, Don’s teeth were already sinking into its flesh, tearing backwards and forwards with zero hesitation.

“Fuck…” Jay was practically speechless. He didn’t expect the skeleton to move so fast and strike so viciously.

Don shook its skull from side to side to rend the flesh as blood flowed, while its bone claws were just as damaging, slashing at the same time and digging them into its flesh.

The surprise attack startled the unprepared rat; the skeleton went from standing still to charging at sprinting speed in an instant; it was just too fast.

*Riiiiiii!!!~*

The rat was immediately in agony; its adrenaline hadn’t even kicked in to dull the senses.

Conversely, Don didn’t make any sound as it continued its attack with savage brutality.

Jay gasped as he subconsciously took a step back, being shocked at how savagely Don was fighting.

The rat tried to shake Don off but only made its pain greater; Don ripped a chunk of flesh out of its shoulder, causing it to writhe in pain.

Flung away, Don left with a chunk of flesh still in its mouth; a prize of sorts.

Jay entered the fight, stepping forward and stabbing at the rat while it was writhing in pain - after all the damage the skeleton did, the rat died after suffering only 1 damage from Jay.

[15 Exp]

It completely surprised Jay.

“Wow, you did 9 damage? You absolute savage,” he grinned, praising Don.

Jay didn’t see the damage numbers since it was his skeletons doing the damage, but all the claw attacks stacked a dangerous bleed debuff on the rat.

Next, Jay gathered the loot from the soap-rat corpse.

[Fur scraps] x 2

[Soap Rat Teeth] x 3

Easiest kill ever, Jay smiled. I barely had to do anything. I wonder if I could just let the skeleton do all the work. He scratched his chin.

Jay checked his blade after the attack. It had dulled, and the point had already chipped off.

Hmm, I hope the fur scraps sell well; I’ll need a better knife eventually, and I can’t keep relying on the butcher shop’s funds, he thought.

Don gazed back at Jay with its hollow green eyes as waited for its next orders; suddenly it swallowed the flesh still in its jaws as if it were a natural reflex.

Jay looked puzzled, as the flesh left slid into Don’s empty skull and popped out of its skeletal body and landed on the ground nearby.

Don noticed nothing unusual, acting like nothing happened.

“Heh, you’re weird,” Jay chuckled before he stood up on the log again and began looking for more movement in the marsh.

Failing to see anything, he began walking in the direction the last rat had come from.

It took a few minutes of trudging through the squelching swamp, but soon the duo came to a small clearing within the reeds and grasses.

At the edge of a clearing, a dirty, homeless-looking person and a waist-high hunchback humanoid creature with a huge rat skull peered in from the grasses.

Alone in the middle of the clearing was a slightly fatter rat sprawled across a log, trying to sunbake in whatever light made it through the thick clouds overhead.

It had already noticed the intruders and lazily surveyed the duo.

The rat seemed to be an alpha in these parts of the marsh, having its own little territory market out. The rat assumed they would move on like most other creatures did, so it only continued to watch.

Compared to the other rats, it seemed like an older warrior; one who survived many battles.

As Jay and Don exited the clearing, it lazily stretched and jumped down from its log, as if this was just another exercise.

Jay squinted, examining the confident soap rat.

< [Soap Rat Level 3] >

[16 HP]

<[Skills]>

[Bite]

- 3 pierce damage

[Claw]

- Bleed - 4 flat damage over 4 seconds (Can stack 3 times)

Jay ignored the other info and skills, such as [Slippery], along with the rat’s description since they were the same as the level one soap rat.

Hmm, sixteen hit points, so it gets about three more health per level? Jay guessed.

“It looks like the bite and claws are stronger too; this will be a harder fight, Don.” Jay said, knowing they will have to be more tactical, “Wait till it attacks, then we strike back.”

After getting closer to each other, the three of them each went into their own combat stances.

“Oh?” Jay raised a brow as the rat didn’t strike.

The marsh was silent except for a breeze as each party waited for the other to strike first; unfortunately, the rat seemed to know a basic strategy.

“Circle around behind it,” Jay commanded.

The rat tried to back up as it switched focus between Jay and Don, who tried encircling it.

Realizing its predicament, it pounced on Don. It hoped to kill the smaller one quickly so it could 1 vs. 1 the larger enemy: Jay.

The rat bit down onto Don’s collar bone and shook its head, immobilizing Don’s right arm.

Don took no notice of the pain as it happily bit back at the rat’s neck and started rhythmically clawing it and shaking his head in return.

“Big mistake!” Jay smiled as he stabbed down on the rat’s back.

[-2]

Another critical hit; Jay felt like he was getting used to the feeling of backstabbing.

Since Jay was so low level, the critical hit seemed like nothing, but he was happy with the proceeding notification.

[Dagger Proficiency Level 1 - Acquired]

< [Dagger Proficiency Level 1] >

[+2% damage when using daggers]

[+2% speed when using daggers]

[- Can backstab for double damage]

Jay wasted no time enjoying the upgrade as he continued to stab at the rat’s back and ribs to kill it faster; he wanted to slay it before it destroyed his skeleton.

[-2][-2][-2]

The rat just continued to bite Don with more aggression, and Don’s HP depleted quickly. However, it still clawed at the rat with the same intensity; the undead didn’t feel any pain after all.

Before dying, Don stacked one last bleed debuff on it before turning back into a pile of bones.

[-2]

The rat died to a backstab from Jay before it could even attack him.

[40 Exp]

Damn, my skeleton… Jay pursed his lips.

Jay looked towards the log-throne, checking for any more enemies before turning to the bones and the level 3 soap rat corpse.

Looting the corpse, he got 5 more fur scraps and 3 rat teeth. Next, he placed the corpse over Don’s bone pile, then held out his hand.

“Arise” his eyes glistened green as his glowing mana appeared again.

Sprinting to the log-throne and jumping over it, he took a moment to rest as he waited for the explosion and bloody rain to clear.

[Chimera Research - 2%]

“Sweet, one percent closer to shocking the world,” Jay joked to himself.

Sadly, Jay had grown used to talking to himself, as he had been alone for the last few years.

His father, Frank, was setting up another butchery in a nearby village, while his mother had died shortly after he was born; he ran the butcher shop alone.

Frank left for another city, promising to return after his second business was up and running - though this resulted in Jay being alone, his only communication with the local hunters and customers; most of the time it was empty small talk or price haggling.

Jay didn’t plan to be a butcher forever, though. He always aspired to be an adventurer.

Whenever one entered his shop, he always asked for information - though, to his annoyance, they never gave him any tips or anything. It was like they were all trying to keep it a secret.

Jay merely assumed it was for his own protection; to stop him from doing something foolish and trying to hunt monsters without a class.

At first he grew sad thinking about his previous situation, but he came to accept it, and eventually embraced it; it was a part of him, and his bleak past only made his future seem brighter.

While he still didn’t have anyone to talk to, he still had things to say, and now his skeletons would be there to listen - whether or not they liked it.

As Don re-constructed, two more rats entered the clearing.

Jay patiently hid behind the log as he resurrected his minion; thankfully the rats both just looked curiously at the floating bones, and foolishly they let their enemy assemble.

Jay wasn’t worried, as the rats were only level one. Once Don was alive again, he sent it to kill one rat as he went for the other.

The rats hissed as they realized there were enemies present - one appearing from behind a log and the other freshly assembled.

Jay was confident in fighting rats now, and he waited for it to attack first.

As it lunged, Jay side-stepped and stabbed at its neck.

*Riiii!~*

The rat screeched as Jay continued to stab at it, not giving the rat a chance to attack again.

He showed no mercy and didn’t stop for a second - all that mattered was doing damage before it could fight back.

The rat clawed at Jay once, causing a bleed debuff just before life left its eyes.

[15 Exp]

Jay looked over at Don’s fight.

The rat was bleeding all over the place as Don was preparing another attack.

Before the rat could do anything, it died, succumbing to its loss of blood.

[15 Exp]

Hmm I must be close to leveling up, thought Jay, checking his experience

[Exp: 110/150]

About three more… Jay nodded, a little tired.

So far, he had only killed four monsters, and it was no simple task.

He appreciated the hard work that went into being an adventurer, realizing it must require perseverance and discipline to get results.

Jay looked across his other stats and found that his energy level was dwindling; it was 24/30 before the last three fights, but now it was a measly 12/30.

Deciding to take a moment to rest, he quickly looted the two dead rats, gaining four more fur scraps and six more teeth - however, this time, he gained something unusual.

[Stink-rat Tail]

“A tail?” Jay raised a brow as he checked the corpse. There was still a tail on the rat he looted it from.

Hmm, I guess it’s a sort of loot which doesn’t relate to the corpse? Weird… I’ll check the tail out later.

There was still a lot Jay didn’t know about adventuring, his class, or the system - but for now all he could do was just guess and go along with it while he waited for training at the association.

Walking over to the same log that the level three rat was relaxing on, Jay gave orders to Don before sitting down in a cross-legged position.

“Protect me.” he ordered.

Don entered a fighting stance and began circling around Jay, peering around the small clearing as it patrolled.

Jay mimicked the mana-craft trainer as he closed his eyes and began thinking about the advice he committed to memory, though he was also guessing and filling in the parts with his best guess.

Jay also kept in mind that some of it was like that fortune-telling ‘carrot-card reading nonsense’. (Yes, carrot-card. Jay never paid them enough attention to be corrected.)

He recalled the words of the teacher.

Imagine a mana rope flowing from the gentle river of mana. Pull it into your mind, make it a part of you, he thought, coaching himself.

Jay tried to open his mind, and soon enough, he sensed a strange feeling around his head: the ambient mana.

‘Fuzzy’ was the only way he could describe it; he attempted to form it into a rope, but his effort was in vain.

At most, he could nudge it to be like the swaying grasses on the marsh. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t get it in the first ten minutes, so he kept concentrating and changed his approach.

“A deep well, at the bottom of the mana river, sucking in and draining all ambient mana…” he whispered with closed eyes.

This seemed to work better as his thought-visualization gave it stronger shape; he felt the mana coalescing and moving and forming a slightly more dense spot.

Jay concentrated and continued, imagining the bottom of the well moving into his body.

Suddenly, he felt full - not full in the stomach sense, but more like he was full of energy, a warmth over his skin. Maintaining his composure, he continued to channel the ambient mana into his body.

The extra energy made his forehead sweat as he rocked back and forward.

[Energy: 18/30]

Checking his energy, it slightly disappointed him as it took great concentration, and it wasn’t even close to being full after an entire hour.

Hmm, so about one-hundred pushups is equivalent to one energy and meditating for one hour gives six energy; one per ten minutes.

Using this, Jay calculated how much longer he needed to meditate to get to full energy - though he decided to only get to 29/30 energy in case some sort of accident happened; he had no clue what would happen if someone meditated while their energy was full - would they pop like a balloon? Would they lose their ability to manipulate mana altogether? It was not a risk he would take, so Jay meditated for the next hour and 50 minutes.

***

As Jay was meditating, another soap rat attacked - though Don easily killed it, and Jay could stay in his meditation state - though now with a slight smile.

[15 Exp]

Jay saw the fresh corpse after his meditation and was pleased with Don as he wasted no time looting it.

Only two more rats now, he smiled, anticipating his next level up.

Jay jumped down from the log, looting the fresh corpse for another two fur scraps and three teeth, then made his way through the marsh.

Approaching another clearing, he noticed a lot of movement this time.

Crouching, he cautiously crept towards it as the clearing came into sight.

There were five level one soap rats.

Doing some quick calculations and planning, Jay actually thought he could beat them.

They would take out two rats quickly before they could respond, leaving only 3vs2.

Jay knew he could tank some damage from 2 of the rats while Don killed another, resulting in a 2vs2 which they would easily win without taking much more damage at all.

Jay realized he would need to go on the defensive, and after plotting, he quickly implemented it.

Jumping at the closest rat, backstabbing it 3 times before it could retaliate.

[-2] [-2] [-2]

The rat spun around, biting into his calf muscle as he continued to stab behind its neck area.

[1]

Thankfully, it counted as a backstab even though he wasn’t directly behind it, or perhaps the neck was simply a critical hit location.

Either way, it made no difference as he continued his brutal sneak attack.

[-2]

Don had jumped at another rat and showed no mercy as it was biting, clawing and rending flesh.

The other three rats jumped back and hissed while their kin died, startled by the sneak attack.

They didn’t respond at first due to shock, but soon attacked, coming to the defense of their brothers.

Jay was almost fighting three rats at once, but he ignored the other two as he finished the rat he was working on with one last stab.

[-2]

[15 Exp]

[15 Exp]

Don killed its first rat around the same time and worked on the second.

As Jay fought the two rats, he suddenly leveled up - but he ignored the notifications. The wound on his leg instantly disappeared, but Jay didn’t even notice as the two rats pounced at him.

Jay fought tactically to preserve his energy and health; as they lunged, he dodged backwards, and either stabbed their necks or slashed their faces apart.

All he had to do was wait for his skeleton.

Both rats lost three health each before their frustration grew and rushed Jay.

They charged at him at the same time with a snap.

Jay jumped back before slamming his heel down onto one rat, using it as a step. He jumped on it and dashed behind the other one, plunging his knife into its ribs.

*Riiiii!!!~*

The rat screeched from the pain as Jay pulled out his knife. Its liver was no more.

The other rat was temporarily groggy after having a heel crash into its head, so it was still turning around by now.

Not giving the rat any chances, Jay continued to stab.

[-2] [-2]

The rat only had three health left before its mate could jump and claw at Jay, finally doing some damage.

[You are bleeding]

[0.7 health per second for 3 seconds]

[Stress Response Activated]

Accepting the pain, Jay kept stabbing like a madman

[-2] [-2]

The rat died miserably under the brutal shanking.

[15 Exp]

One more rat to kill.

Looking across the clearing, Don was half-way through the second rat; the skeleton’s teeth holding onto another chunk of flesh.

Jay played it safe as he toyed with his last rat, tactically dodging as he waited for Don.

The rat seemed to get frustrated as its eyes were blood-shot from anger, but it could do nothing.

[15 Exp]

Don finally eliminated its rat and came over to slay the last rat attacking its master.

It took only a few seconds, and after another savage skeleton assault, the last rat was dead, riddled with knife holes and scratches. Anyone would feel sorry for it.

[15 Exp]

Jay kept his guard up as he looked around, holding his knife in a reverse grip as he panted, sweat covering his arms. He was mentally still in fight-mode.

It seemed there weren’t any enemies nearby, so he slowly lowered his guard and got his breathing under control.

Checking the clearing, it had a few decaying logs around it along with a few piles of reeds and grasses that seemed to be dried out; it was a nest or a bed for the rats. Probably both.

Relaxing for a moment, Jay checked his notifications as a grin appeared on his face.

With another level up, he gained five attribute points, but he was more surprised to find that he had one skill point.

“Awesome,” he nodded, “since I only have one skill, I may as well upgrade it. As for the attribute points, I’ll dump them into vitality so I can take more hits.”

Jay checked his stats after his spending spree.

< [Necromancer level 3] >

[Race: Human]

HP: 52/58

MP: 35/39

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 25

Vitality: 20

Energy: 26/30

Exp: 20/375

<[Skills]>

[Raise Feeble Creature level 2]

[Stress Response] (Passive)

[Running level 1] (Passive)

“Hmm…”

Opening the feeble creature skill, he found more detailed information about what the upgrade actually did.

< [Raise Feeble Creature level 2] >

- Imbue a skeleton with necrotic energy, raising it to fight for you.

- Must be cast on a small corpse or nothing will happen.

[HP: 15]

[Damage: 1-2]

[1/2 Raised]

[5 mana+3/level of creature]

Jay was simply ecstatic.

“I can have two now? That’s so overpowered,” he chuckled.

Immediately, Jay put his new skill to use as he walked to another corpse, holding his hand over it and casting his upgraded spell.

“Arise,” he said, before running over to a nearby decaying trunk.

He was happy with the skill even though each creature upgraded a little, having five additional health and the possibility of one extra damage, but he didn’t mind as there were two of them now.

“I’ll be able to relax while my minions kill everything. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to stroll through a war zone looting corpses as the battle rages on around me.” he let out a gleeful smile.

“Heh, imagine having to actually do stuff to level up?” Jay chuckled to himself.

Don looked at Jay in confusion, probably not understanding what laughter was. It then glanced at the new minion.

“Oh, right?” Jay said with a devilish smile as he prepared to name his new creature.

“Let me make introductions! Don... this is... Don. You’re both named Don,” Jay laughed maniacally, “Don-Don!”

He continued to laugh, uncaring if anything heard him in the depths of the stink-rat marsh.

He thought this was a joke that transcended the cosmic plane, even touching on the ranks of being a godlike joke, yet he was the only one laughing, alone in a swamp, still covered in mud, blood, and shit.

Anyone who saw him would think he was a psychopath. Clearly, Jay had been a loner for too long.

After taking far too long to calm down because of a poor joke, he planned his next steps.

Ok. I’ll hit level 4 and then leave this shithole. Perhaps head back to town and buy a dagger, then depending on the time, I’ll make my way to wolf’s quarry... It’s not set in stone, but planning is better than no plan at all, he nodded. Anyway, I’ll see how it plays out.

With a spring in his step, he looted the five rat corpses for [Fur Scraps] x 10

[Rat Teeth] x 15

I might need a jar for all these teeth, ugh, this is disgusting… he thought, seeing some of the blackened teeth were slimy and smelly too. He really didn’t want to put them in his bag, but loot was loot.

Oh well. I’ll just get it over with. Time waits for no one.

Looking around, he spotted another clearing, and began to slowly creep towards it.

With two deadly skeletons, he was now like a ghost of death, carving a path of blood across the marshlands.