Honesty isn't always the answer...

"Grr... (I... wha... you... you can't be serious...) Grr! (You're lying!)"

The wolf growled, shaking its head as if someone had poured a bucket of water on it.

"Is that so?! Then what is this then?!"

Zorey clenched the piece of monster flesh and asked, feeling his heartbeat getting faster again.

*thunk* *plap* *WHAM* *THUNK*

With his free hand, he pulled on the latch, opening the door just enough to throw in the meat, and then hurriedly shut the door and pushed the latch close.

"!!!"

As the meat fell to the floor in front of the undead, splattering its juices around, the Rotten Fang Wolf backed off from it with its tail tucked between its legs, acting all scared.

"Go on! You wanted a chunk of that human's flesh, and here you are!"

The boy confronted the monster in an annoyed voice.

"..."

The undead wolf looked at the door before focusing back on the chunk of meat.

The creature approached the ingredient slowly as if it was some sort of trap and nervously pushed on it with its nose.

*plap*

"...!"

The pushed piece of monster flesh flipped and let out a juicy sound, causing the monster to flinch and back off.

"Grr... (No... no way...) Grrr? (You... did it...?)"

The Rotten Fang Wolf snarled in disbelief, once again glancing towards the door behind which the black-haired boy observed him holding his breath in anticipation, crossing his fingers and hoping for the best.

"Of course! Go on, have a taste of the human you resent so much!"

Zorey scoffed and challenged the monster.

"..."

*chomp*

The wolf stared intently at the piece of flesh in front of it and... bit into it with its blackish fangs.

"Grrhh...! (Ha... Ahahaha...!)"

The wolf trembled, and its growl was conveyed as laughter in Zorey's head

"Grrrhhh...! (Everything I bit into after turning into this form tasted like dust, but this...!) Grrrh! (This tastes like vengeance!)"

The wolf growled, with its tail raising proudly as it threw its head up, happily chomping on the flesh of a Wild Horned Rabbit, thinking it was human flesh.

"GRRRRHHH! (AHAHAHAHAHAHA! SERVES YOUR RIGHT!)"

The wolf, high on the sweet taste of revenge, howled with the piece of meat blocking its mouth.

"Appease, undead!"

*HAAA~*

Zorey flinched and activated his Skill in a hurry – and to his wild joy, the Rotten Fang Wolf stopped moving as if becoming a stone.

*crack*

The next moment a spectral figure of a Stone Fang Wolf broke through the hardened flesh, floating in midair, and filled basked the cell with warm light.

"Grrrr! (Pup, thanks to you, I can return to my pack with no shame!) Grrr! (Thank you!)"

The white figure growled and broke into hundreds and thousands of zero-and-one-like symbols that floated up in a beautiful spectacle.

*whoosh*

*TA-DING*

[You have successfully appeased the undead (Rotten Fang Wolf]

[EXP points granted]

*TA-DING*

[You leveled up!]

[Level 1 → Level 4]

[All base stats incressed]

[Your skills have leveled up]

*TA-DING*

[You have accomplished a major achievement – defeating a monster 10 or more levels higher than the player]

[You received a title – Challenger - (+50% EXP for defeating creatures of a higher level than the player]

"!!!"

As the undead monster's carcass has turned into dust – oddly enough including the piece of meat it bit into – a series of notifications and pings made Zorey's head spin.

"Wait...! It was level 19, but it only got me to level 4?! Gah! The teacher said that appeasing undead gives a lot less experience points than defeating them by other means, but isn't this too much of a dropoff?!"

The amazing feeling didn't last too long as the reality settled in and caused the boy to gasp in disbelief.

The title was a nice thing, sure. Amazing even – but the realization of how long it will take him to level up by only appeasing the undead, similar to the undead dwarf lesser rat, made him really grumpy.

[Race: Undead (undead dwarf lesser rat)

Rank: F

Level: 4

HP: 12 MP: 2

ATK: 4 MAT: 2

DEF: 3 MDF: 2

SPD: 8 LUC: 4

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

"Lesser prayer."

*haaaa~*

His mood didn't improve even after he approached the door that had the next lowest amount of malice sipping through and succeeding in activating the Skill to the monster within the cell on the first try.

"Scree! (Open the door! I want to get out and eat the food!)"

The much livelier undead rat than the one that Zorey appeased first squeezed urgently, scratching on the door in the futile attempt to break free.

"Sure! (I was kept as a pet, but when I got my way into the pantry and had my fill, my owner killed me while I was too full to move!) Scree! (But as I am now, I will be able to eat however much I want!)."

"..."

This undead was particularly chatty and made Zorey frown.

"Try eating a bit of the hay that's in the back."

"Scree? (Eh...? Why...?)"

Zorey breathed out and commanded.

"Just try it. It's not like you will get full just from a bite, right?"

The boy scoffed and pointed out.

"..."

The rat stopped scratching on the door and pitter-patter towards the stack of hay that was in every cell as a bed for the undead.

*crunch* *munch* *crunch*

"...screen...? (...eh...?)"

The sound of the rat's teeth chomping on the dry hay was followed by a shocked squeak.

"How does it taste to you?"

"...screee...? (It tastes like dust... why...?)."

The boy asked, and the undead rat screeched in shock.

"Undead don't have a sense of taste, you know? If you want to actually enjoy the food, you have to respawn as a proper living thing."

Zorey expliend in a strict voice.

"SCREE! (I WANT TO RESPAWN!) SCREE! (PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!)"

...and the undead rat started freaking out and screeching like crazy while throwing itself against the door and scratching it wildly, breaking almost all of its tiny, fragile claws in desperation.

"Get ready then. Appease undead."

*haaaa~*

*Bu-dum...*

[Skill failed]

[EXP points granted]

The boy declared and experienced the Appease undead failing for the first time.

"Sure! (Come on! I want to respawn!) Scree! (I want to eat tasty food again!)."

The undead rat screeched in desperation, getting more and more restless.

"Calm down! Appease undead!"

*HAAA~*

*crack*

The cell became illuminated by the warm light, and once again, a white spectral image of a dwarf lesser rat rose up from the undead rat.

"Scree! (Tasty food, here I come!)."

The spectral rat screeched excitedly as, just like the two previous undead, it turned into tiny 0 and 1 particles that floated up and disappeared.

*whoosh*

*TA-DING*

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

[EXP points granted]

The information popped up to the black-haired boy just as the earthly remains of the restless rat turned into dust.

"If I want to earn money to buy the ring for Vernlily, I will have to increase my level..."

Zorey furrowed his brows and grumbled, glaring around at all the remaining cells hosting the undead.

*creak*

"Kiddo, that should do it for today. Come back up!"

"!!!"

But just as the black-haired boy was about to move on to the next door, Gael's voice resounded from the spiral staircase and caused him to flinch in shock.

Already?! The time was up?!

But if things would go that way, then there was no way he could possibly finish appeasing all the undead in the basement within a week! His progress was just too slow...!

"..."

The boy thought to himself, clenching his fists.

"Kiddo?"

"Okay, I'll go up there right away, teacher!"

He wanted to stay behind and at least begin to work on the next undead, but his teacher started sounding worried, so Zorey called back and walked toward the exit.

"How was it, were you able to deal with it already, mister prodigy?"

Upon seeing the boy drag his feet up the staircase, the blond-haired man asked gently.

"...no... it's a lot harder than I imagined... But I will do it, I swear!"

Zorey shook his head and admitted before straightening his back and declaring with a fiery look in his eyes.

"That's the spirit! The best thing you can do is not give up and use your head! Try to figure out what would be the best move in your current position, and go for it! The situation is completely different with named undead, but standard ones are a lot easier to reason with than you expect. It's best not to overthink it. Sometimes it's best to take things slowly and steadily and use your Skills until they level up. Things get easier with a higher level."

Gael advised while tousling Zorey's hair.

"...easier with a higher level... Ah...! I understand, teacher! I will do my best to level up!"

"That's the spirit! Now, let's go eat – you must be starving!"

The boy furrowed his brows before suddenly perking up and gasping with a bright smile which in turn made his teacher smile back with a satisfied expression.

...and neither of them realized that they spoke about completely different things...