Attempting to still his breath, Auron waited, silently wishing the Algae would stop their relentless glow, but also he feared not having a line of sight on the approaching monsters.

As the clicking intensified the first mutated looking creature slowly crawled out followed by two of its companions. These were the same rat's Zander previously wrecked with his barrier whirlwind. Auron could tell they were surely the same creatures because they seemed to have not healed any of the damage done by the wind attacks.

Clicking, limping, and dragging their broken limbs they approached the water. Auron begged and pleaded internally for some way to hide his presence further from the creatures. His prayers were answered by an odd twinge in his core. Two streams of power weakly connected as he felt what he now knew to be mana tingle out of his body. These streams of power seemed to be fueled by external sources. One he felt a string of energy come from deep below, and the other strangely enough from the ceiling of the room he was in. Two pieces of Auron's being channeled these sources of power greedily. After several seconds that felt like hours, a dark purple haze shrouded out around himself.

 

 

The haze that flowed out of his skin terrified Auron, but its use was clear when the rats seemed to stop searching for him and turned their attention to the water before them. Knowing his mp regained the same five points as the ability Auron was confident he could hold out until the rats left.

His slowly shrinking bar dampened those hopes as the decrease made him realize he could not recover mana while actively using an ability. Auron did some quick math to determine he should have close to twenty min of the ability use until it drained all hundred points of his mana.

Alone with his thoughts, Auron waited as the rats drank. The feeling of pushing out the ability felt very forced and uncomfortable the longer he held it was as if he held on to something slippery with his mind. He hopped the activation and use would become easier with time. The rats all seemed to have their attention on the water, and other surroundings as they all quenched their seemingly endless thirst. One of the rats even oddly scratched at the stone floor as if it searched for something beneath it. The scraping sound made Auron incredibly uncomfortable. 

Auron's eyes drifted up to the stone ceiling during his wait hoping he could glimpse whatever fueled the acquisition of his new power. In the soft blue light, he could make out what looked like speckled dark gemstones spread out randomly. Confused by the discovery he moved his eyes back to the mutated creatures and continued to wait.

Ten minutes that felt like an eternity passed before they scrambled their way over to where Auron entered the cavern. Most likely following the scent from when he and Zander first walked through. As their clicking claws finally became so distant they disappeared, Auron released the skill and all of the tension he was holding simultaneously. His head was now slightly throbbing with the beginnings of a headache. Auron spared a glance at his mana bar showing it was hovering around two-thirds of the total now slowly recovering.

As Auron rubbed his head, he now understood how Zander must have felt dealing with mana deprivation. A noise coming from the system surprises him as he moves forward.*Bing*

 

 

Intrigued by the message he eased himself out of the water. With the chilled air, and goosebumps on his flesh he began to shiver slightly from the cool water.

 

Seeing that the Class listing was underlined and blinking Auron focused his attention on that.

 

Attempting to focus on the second listed class did nothing so he put his attention toward the word Rogue.

 

 

Auron put his fist out and brought it back in toward his waist in a silent celebration as he accepted the class.

 

 

Unbidden his stat screen activated displaying the improvements.

Auron tried to change the settings of the screen with a thought. He did not want to see everything each time he made a change or leveled up preferring to only focus on the changes.

 

 

Auron wondered about the color system he had now seen mentioned frequently. Thinking back he knew green was associated with wind or healing, but the others he did not have enough information to know for sure. Placing a hand on his sternum he knew there was some sort of connection from mana to an area inside his chest, but even concentrating for a few moments did nothing to help him understand it.

Noises coming from the opening in the cave interrupted his thought process. Where the rats had scampered down several minutes ago something was coming back. Judging by the uneven rhythm of scraping and ticking Auron was able to determine that only one of the creatures was heading back.

Reaching inward, and sparing a glance at his recovering mana bar, he activated his stealth skill and hurried over to the side of the opening the skill dissipating as he took a step forward. Silently cursing the ability he walked as quietly as he could toward the doorway.

The most damaged of the rats pulled itself slowly forward leaving a trail of blood lending clues to the path it had come just as Auron managed to get out of its way. As it crossed into the room it raised its head and let a series of clicks out of its mouth, moving its head back and forth.

Fearing his discovery Auron looked around using inspection to aid his search. He sent a silent plea to Zander, but no response came. A few paces from him the skill picked something up.

 

 

A few rocks lay scattered on the ground. Slowly moving over to them he grasped one that had a pointed edge and faced toward the rat.

Activating inspection he felt mana flow to his eyes and was somewhat surprised by the changes in his skill.

 

 

Along with the new information regarding the rat's injuries, the creature now also had faint glowing red spots on several parts of its body. The red glowing spots seemed to indicate where it was already injured. One of the strongest glowing spots was on the back of its head. Auron knew what that must mean remembering his newly obtained skill.

After a quick internal argument about the morality of killing this creature, the scars on his right arm from his previous interaction, and the rat slowly turning toward his location were all the justification he needed. Auron wrapped his sweaty hands around his makeshift weapon, leaped forward, and slammed it down into the base of the monster's skull his back-stab ability doubled the damage done on impact.

Given no time to react to its attacker the Sonic rat simply convulsed once and died immediately the back of its skull, and the rock Auron used both obliterated.

 

 

Auron, having closed his eyes missed the quick death of the creature, but when he opened them he did not miss the sight of all of the blood. Not only the view but also the smell of iron and unwashed fur overwhelmed him. He bent over and emptied the contents of his stomach. The sight of partially digested algae only encouraged him to heave until there was nothing left.

Crawling away from the body and his mess Auron wrapped his arms around his knees and wept. Silently cursing this new world, cursing the bloodthirsty creature, and cursing himself for what he had done. He almost wished that the dungeon madness had caused the kill, but he knew that this time he was fully to blame.

Sometime later Auron was able to come to terms with the kill. In these situations of kill or be killed he needed to not break down every time his hand was forced. Standing up he brushed himself off smearing blood on his torn pants. When he approached the rat corpse he was surprised to find that it seemed to be dissolving into the cave floor. Watching it for a few moments he revisited the emotions swirling through him. The creature was bloodthirsty yes, but was its nature cause for it to be murdered. Was he just there for treasure or gaining levels by ripping the life away from another living breathing thing? Auron pondered this as the creature slowly melted into the floor.

Eventually, the only remnants left of the Rat were its head and cloudy eyes staring forward at nothing, but even that looked like it would be gone shortly. In the midst of where the body once was there were a few items. Surprised that there was more than one Auron uses inspect on the items, wary to touch the things that spawned from the corpse.

 

 

Jackpot Auron thought as he wondered why the tail was listed as “edible?”

Amused at the systems attempted joke, he picked up the bracers and gemstone. Reluctantly he also picked up the Rattail. Putting the stone into his pocket where he was keeping the other one he put the Rattail into his opposite pocket. A real survivalist would keep anything that could help Auron thought while smiling grimly.

Taking a few steps back toward the stream he raised the bracers to the light given off by the algae. They seemed to be simple leather bands that would cover the length of his wrist to his forearm. Seeing a few bits of the red fur clinging to the yellow leather made Auron lose his smile. He reluctantly slid the bracers on knowing he needed every possible edge.

Taking a few test karate chops through the air he was satisfied with the fit. Auron contemplated fighting the other two rats that went up toward the entrance. Without the help of Zander, it would be risky. Their injuries would most likely make them easier to take out. Pulling up a simplified version of his status screen he looked at it while he decided.

 

 

With the bracers canceling out his durability deficit he adds five points into his health and five into his mana. Not wanting to spend the points recklessly he left it at that while he wished for this world's version of master Roshi to train him.

Auron ran his hand down his face. The bile in his stomach started to rise as he thought about the prospect of killing again, but he had already decided he would do what was needed to survive. Steeling his nerves he swallowed hard and began his ascent toward the entrance of the dungeon now feeling slightly more confident with his increased health and mana reserves.

Just as the light was beginning to fade from the room now a ways behind him, a stream of light could be seen from the entrance. Creeping his way up toward the light Auron realized he was at a disadvantage. While he was getting closer to the light from outside he was unable to see anything else. The rats did not need light and seemed to use some sort of echolocation. Remembering his new spell he concentrated and activated stealth. After a moment of nothing happening and Auron struggling to activate the ability the mist from before flowed out and surrounded him. He noted that the ability was slightly easier likely due to his new class, but some aspects of it still felt off.

Taking a step forward interrupted the ability and the mist dissipated just as reluctantly as it came. He still could not activate the ability while moving, possibly something to do with not meeting the full requirements for learning it. Auron then realized he forgot to bring a rock or something to use as a weapon and silently cursed himself. Taking a pause in his ascent he tried to come up with a plan. A smile crept up his face as a very risky and untested idea popped into his mind.

Auron caught up to the rats just as they were reaching the opening of the dungeon where he had his first fight the two sniffing at where the body must have been before it dissolved.

As quickly as he could Auron ran forward and leaped over them. His heart thundering from adrenaline and fear as he slides and the ground just past them now laying level with the heads of the creatures. Rolling over on to his stomach he thrust both of his hands forward and pictured in his mind how destructive wind could be. The wrath of a storm and its power filled his every thought as he concentrated and pulled green mana from its source his chest to his palms.

Auron's hands filled with green energy as the rats both let out twin screeches devastating Auron's ears and health bar. Quickly ticking down toward 70% his blinking health bar, and profusely bleeding ears almost took his attention away from the magic he was casting. Auron didn't think about the danger, or the pain he just opened his mouth and roared right back at them his voice cracking from the sheer emotion carried in his yell. Auron activated wind blast for the first time in both hands and the rats flipped back toward the declining ground behind them. The sheer force of the wind gave each rat all the momentum they would need to somersault full speed down the slope.

If the monsters were not injured previously they may have survived, but with their already devastated bodies, they had no chance of surviving the mad descent. Unfortunately for Auron, he forgot any, and all physics lessons he should have remembered for this magical maneuver specifically Newton's third law. For the action of blasting the rats down the tunnel had a very and equal and opposite reaction.