Rat's Den (2)

Elior had the crossbow in his arms as they entered the cave. Shin was equipped with a long sword, though he had no prior real-life fighting experience, his stances were firm. He played enough VR games to handle a class 0 dungeon. Besides, he was not by himself.

Lyra had no weapons equipped other than the strings on her ten fingers. She should be from a higher world. Only lower world participants got the chance to choose four weapons as the Trial bonus while others only got one. Elior made a mental note to ask about that later.

"Rats, rats, where are you?" Shin sang as they moved.

"Stop that," Lyra said from behind.

"Why? You do not want the rats to appear?"

Elior suddenly stood by in his lead. "Incoming, more than a dozen. Get ready," he said, aiming the crossbow at the front.

Over a dozen gigantic rats came squeaking their way towards the trespassers. Most of their height varies from two-three feet with ugly fat bodies. They brought an awful reek with them as well, making the three of them squint their nose.

Elior was in the front, motioned the crossbow and aimed at the incoming rats. Fearing the arrows might be damaged after a few times, he imbued an inconsiderable amount of mana into it. Smoke like aura infused into the arrow as Elior shot one after another at the rats.

In a blink of an eye, he killed half a dozen rats while the others did not want to be left alone, joined the assault as well. The orange clothed elf, Lyra motioned her fingers skilfully as a thin string shot out from her arms. She caught a couple of rats by the neck with the string and pulled. The neck of the two rats severed instantly, buzzing in greyish red blood.

It appeared the elf had quite the strength in her physic as well. Even though her strings were infused with mana, they still needed a good amount of muscle power behind them to sever the neck of the rats.

While Shin finished his first target, as well. He was playing with a sword; even though he had experienced this type of thing in the game, it appeared too real to him. So he moved in cautious steps, with a firm grip on the sword.

Elior didn't shoot further, leaving the few remaining rats to Lyra and Shin. It did not take them long to finish the few rats that were left. Elior went to collect the arrows back as a few transparent notifications came in front of him, which he put no mind.

[Big rat level 3 died. You have gained 8 karma.]

[Big rat level 4 died. You have gained 11 karma.]

[Big rat level 3 died. You have . . .]

[ . . .]

[Your skill in archery levelled up to Level 3.]

[Congratulations! You have learned the skill Imbue arrow level 1.]

[You have levelled up. You have reached level 5.]

[You have gained 1 free stat point from levelling.]

Now he had 3 free stat points counting the previous two he had not invested yet. Elior was contemplating where to put it. After the tussle with the wolves, he learned his physical conditions—be it muscle power, balance or agility were all terrible. But he was still sceptical in investing numbers in agility or dexterity.

He could train the physical conditions easily where the mental attributes were harder to grow—making him think twice before investing.

Even though 3 points seemed a little number, it would still be a waste to put it in any physical attribute. Elior left the 3 points on that thought—thinking he would invest it according to his needs. Though, there should be nothing in the trial that could make him waste the points.

"Ahh! I levelled up," Shin said. "Huh, I only get 1 point for levelling. These people are stingy as hell."

"So what do you expect," Lyra glared at Shin. "Be transcendent, killing a few weak rats?"

"No; Not that. At least the number should be a bit higher. In the game, we would get 10 free stat points for each level."

"This is not a game, Shin," Elior said, walking forwards towards the two of them. "You have to remember that."

Shin thought for a moment and nodded. "Ooh, Elior, where should I invest these stat points? Is it the same as the games?"

"Pretty much, but there were differences as well," Elior said. He thought for a moment to spill out something that would help Shin understand a few stuff and cause no suspicions as well. "For example, you could train your body and mind to gain points as well, though it would be slower than the stat points from levelling. As for each of the attributes, you should check their details in the Status Window. Remember, different paths need differing attributes but every path requires a specific amount of mana."

"Then, intelligence it is," Shin said as he invested the single free stat point into intelligence. He was delighted to find that mana had increased by 10 after he increased his intelligence. Then Shin's expression darkened, remembering he did not even know how to use mana in the first place. He cried out, "Brother, I can't wield mana."

"Shut up, you idiot," Lyra mocked. "You should have thought that before investing the point. Besides, it's only one point."

Shin calmed down his cry after being mocked by the little elf. "Brother, Elior, how did you become so adept in using mana? Could you use it even before the trial?"

Elior sniffed. Shin and Lyra, both were looking at him, waiting for him to answer. "Mana comes naturally to me. Maybe because I'm a genius.

"Don't worry about it as far as I know you would need a couple of days to a couple of weeks to learn the basics of mana wielding."

"That is if you're talented," the orange clothed Elf corrected. "If not, it would take months."

"How long did it take for you?" Shin asked Lyra.

In response, the Elf said proudly, puffing her chest a bit, "I could sense mana in only after meditating for a couple of hours, but discharge took me four or five days to learn."

"So you are a genius," Shin sighed. "Brother Elior is a genius as well. Let's see how far I can go." Then recalled he knew almost nothing about how to go into this. "How should I start?"

"This is not a good time to try now. You could try later after we finish the rats," Elior said. "The first step is to sense the mana and visualisations. I'll tell you more later.

"Let's move now."

Shin and the Elf nodded as the three of them moved further into the dungeon.

. . .

"I found two more tokens," Shin said as he collected the token quickly. Two Rats were beside him were about to attack when an arrow pierced its eye.

"This is taking too long," Elior said, shooting at the eye of a rat.

It had already been over an hour since they entered the dungeon, yet they hadn't even finished a fourth of the rats. They came across a few dozen rats in succession as they moved deeper into the cave. Still, the number was low. If they go at this pace, it would be dawn before they cleared the dungeons.

Shin played his sword in the head of the other rat, stealing its life in one slice. "I levelled up again," Shin said. "Isn't this too easy?"

"How about we make it more difficult, then?" Elior smiled.

"What do you plan?" Lyra asked, finishing last of her target.

"I have a good plan in mind that would make our job faster and more efficient." Elior smiled mysteriously. "But . . ."

"But?" Shin and Lyra asked at the same time.

"But we needed a bait."

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