It was obvious the moment I arrived what my target was. Rodents could be spotted scurrying in and out of burrows dug deep into the ground. Although the holes were quite large, the animals which belonged to them seemed much smaller. If a rat on earth was about the size of a...a rat on earth? Then River Rats were around the size of a large house cat. Only much more, mm, terrifying looking.

Their fingers and claws seemed to jut out, and their visage had no resemblance to the occasionally cute creature that he was used to. Instead, it was a face twisted by malice. They held their mouths open, baring their fangs at each other as they passed by. Their loud hissing invoked the same reaction as listening to a dentist's drill. I couldn't help but shiver as I carefully watched them.

The advice of the receptionist came to mind. Rather than risk my life here defeating low level rats, perhaps I should considering allocating some of my skill points. I opened my menu and took a look through the skills section.

It seemed as though you paid a certain amount of points to unlock a 'class.' After, you would get a few skills unlocked and have the ability to unlock more skills within the class by paying additional points. Some things would have prerequisite skills, other's didn't. The higher up the tree you went, the more stingy the requirements would get. Fully maxing out previous skills, having a certain amount of points in the tree, even level requirements became common place the further up the tree you looked.

What was also interesting was a class that I seemed to already have unlocked, called 'Human.' It was filled with a large variety of skills. There were things like crafting professions, lockpicking, slave contracting, and a whole ton of other skills. Their maximum point totals seemed to go way higher than the skills I had seen for other classes, so it seemed like if you wanted to work in one of these professions you had to accumulate a lot of experience and invest all of your points into them.

That begged the question then, how did people max these skills out if you got experience from fighting monsters? Wouldn't you not be able to level up properly unless you put points into an actual class? Well, I suppose you could just kill sixty-five million three-hundred forty-thousand two-hundred eighty-five River Rats and avoid ever fighting any higher level creatures...

Putting aside the 'Human' class, there were a lot of other classes to unlock. Guardian, Paladin, Necromancer...

“AH!” A sharp pain pierced my foot. The warm sensation of blood gradually escaping my body is unmistakable. I couldn't help but fall backwards, hitting the ground with a large thud. The status screen which I had just been reading now instead obscures my vision. “Gah, stupid screen!” I shout as I attempt to close it. A second wave of pain shoots out of another point in my foot. “Mmgh!” A mixture of hand waving and eyes darting around finally remove the status screen and lets me see clearly.

It is of no surprise that the source of pain is a rat clinging to my boot. At first I kick at it with my other foot, but the rat refuses to release its grip and bites down harder. Not wanting to endure any longer, I reach for the sword which scrapes across the ground, still attached at the hip.

Sword in hand, I stab at the rat, holding back a considerable amount to not accidentally stab my own foot. The rat screeches in pain as the tip of the blade enters its back. This cut seemed not enough though, as it refused to release my foot. I managed to bring myself into a standing position, the rat's body pinned underneath my foot. It's rear legs clawing at the air while its tail lashed back and forth like a miniature whip. I took care to avoid its tail as I raised up the sword for another blow. This time I stabbed downwards towards the head. The rat lets out a final blood curdling scream before going completely still.

It's fangs, still entrenched in my flesh, did not let go even in death. I gripped its head as though I were about to split an orange and pulled it off. Despite the painful hole dug into me, I realized I was oddly calm. Maybe all that reading I used to do managed to desensitize me for a world like this. As I stared at the corpse of the rat within my hands, a message popped up. It looked like I had the option to receive some items from killing the rat. Only two things appeared to be available, rat meat, and, XP! To say I was excited was an understatement. After receiving both of them in a quantity of one each, I was surprised to see that the corpse of the rat still remained. Perhaps there were more items somehow?

Before I investigated any further, I quickly surveyed my immediate surroundings. It would be foolish to get ambushed by another rat while digging through the system's screens. In fact, just to be safe, I'll move further away from the river. I slowly walked a short distance toward the direction where I had first arrived, the pain in my foot aggravating my movement. Feeling safe, I took off my boot and inspected my condition. There were definitely two bloody pooled indentations in my foot that weren't there before. I don't think this is enough to kill me, but, being able to move around is probably important. It would be best if I could patch this up somehow...

I open up my inventory to see if there were any potions or bandages capable of healing. It seems I did. Despite Quin's lecture around interfering with this world or manipulating things, she deemed it acceptable to give me starting equipment, and five health potions. After using one of them, I feel the odd sensation of my body rapidly regenerating. Flesh stretched together and filled the hole which the rats had made. After moving my foot around a little bit, everything seemed in working condition, almost as if I hadn't been hurt at all before.

Health potions seemed really handy. Although since I had only been given five and don't know how expensive they are or difficult to make, it would probably be best to avoid using them unless absolutely necessary. Besides the four health potions, I see some other items Quin had given me on top of the one unit of rat meat and... fifty experience. The single xp drop had turned into fifty upon arriving inside of my inventory. So it looked like at least that code worked. My personal xp, on the other hand, remained the same. After hovering over the XP, I was able to consume the entire stack of xp. Looks like my own XP went up to fifty and the xp disappeared from my inventory. That works to, a promising sign. I'll kill a few more rats, go back to town, and be good to- huh?

My status had changed. I now had the Necromancer class unlocked. With it, came the initial skill Raise Dead. “Ahhh!” I shouted in frustration. Must have hit the buttons to unlock it when that rat attacked me. Some of the other classes had sounded way more interesting or powerful, so I was a bit disappointed.

“Well, I don't plan on having to be here much anyway.” I muttered aloud. My job is to quickly fix whatever issues this system has and then bail out. I don't remember seeing any necromancer-looking people while walking through town, but then again, since its a beginner town everyone practically wears the same gear so it would be hard to differentiate. I took a look at the skill description. It seemed like you just needed the corpse of something to revive, and then you target it with the skill and it creates a minion for you. I exited the menu and peered towards the rat's corpse. It was still there and hadn't yet disappeared, I wonder if this was a result of me being a Necromancer?

Will I get an undead rat, or will some generic creature be summoned instead? Let's find out. “Raise Dead!” The rat's corpse began to glow for a moment. Flesh seems to stitch itself back together wherever it had been cut during our battle. Its jaw opened and closed repeatedly, sinking its fangs into the air. After a few seconds, it began to stand up. I readied my sword, unsure of whether it would be friend or foe.

The rat slowly turns toward me as its body seized. It emits a loud hiss as it bares its teeth and trembles as though it were about to launch itself towards me. As I take take one step forward while preparing to stab, the rat stops. Its body freezes. The rat's posture calms down and, although I am not entirely certain, its eyes change color. Both of which now seem to be staring at me. We both look at each other for a while, neither moving a muscle. I finally relax my sword, and it shows no hint of reaction. At the very least, it did not seem to hold any visible malice towards me anymore.

To test out whether this was truly my minion, I thought it best to try and give it some commands. “Move here.” I spoke firmly, my finger pointing towards a spot a few feet in front of me. The rat quickly scurried over to the location where I directed it to. “Roll onto your back.” The rat makes a light pomf sound as it falls into the grass and twists its body, exposing its plump belly towards the sky as it looks back towards me. I couldn't help but smile. “This confirms it. You are definitely my minion.” A slight wiggle of the tail is the only reaction I get.

“Alright. Sorry to ask you this, but we're going to have to hunt some more of your friends. Let's get going, uh...” that's right, this rat didn't have a name yet. My gut instinct is to call him “rat,” but I realize how stupid that would be. “Let's see, what to name you..” Big Rat. Undead Rat. Chubby Rat. Oh god, why can't I ever come up with names? It's a good thing I wasn't given a choice in creating my own appearance in this world, it might have been months before I finally finished. Think Zero, think! “Eeehhh,” I thought aloud. The animal waited patiently before me. “I got it! From now on, I'll call you Tewy.”

Tewy's tail shook excitedly in response. “Lets go.” He rolled himself upright and began to follow me. As we search for a new target, I manage to spot a lone rat resting upon a rock a short distance away. “Alright Tewy, time to prove yourself. Go kill that rat.” Tewy gave a silent nod before moving. From my vantage point I could see him slowly creeping up through the grass, inching closer and closer towards his target.

A few feet away, Tewy made his move. He leapt onto the resting rat and landed on top of it, aiming its fangs towards the back of the neck. Tewy managed to make a shallow wound, but was knocked off as both rolled off of the rock and into the grass. I quickly drew closer to keep a closer eye on the battle. Seeing both of them fighting each other, one thing became immediately clear. It's basically impossible to tell which one is Tewy. Maybe it was just because they are both local to the area, but their appearance was virtually identical. Only once I spotted the blood dripping from the neck could I tell which one was mine.

Despite the injury it had sustained, it seemed as though the other rat was stronger. At some point in the battle it managed to gain the upper hand in position and had it's fangs threatening to pierce Tewy's skull. Unsure of what would happen to him if he were to die, I tried to swing at the rat. It was already to late... is what I wish I could have said. I'm not sure why I didn't think it through. When both rats are overlapping each other so much, such an outcome could be expected. In my attempt to save Tewy, I had used to much strength and the swing went cleanly through the rat and then had enough power to kill Tewy as well.

“Oh god!” I dropped to my knees. “No Tewy, it was an accident!” Sweat drips down my face. Despite our short time together, he was the first companion I had made in this world. “Wait.. Raise Dead!” I targeted Tewy's body with the same skill which had first created him. Bites and scratches from the other rat, the deep cut I had caused, all regenerated just as it had the first time. This time though, Tewy did not strike a dangerous pose against me. Instead, he sat up on his hind paws and looked at the rat next to him, and then me, questioningly. “Tewy, is that you?” His tail began to wiggle like a worm. Seeing it move around like that again made me happy. “I'm sorry Tewy. It looks like one on ones are a no go for you.” I sat down on the nearby grass and picked him up and stroked his fur. He was definitely heavy.

It might be that maybe he got unlucky during the fight, but more than likely he is weaker than a normal rat. So that means whatever I summon will be at best able to hold off the same creature rather than outright beating it. “Tewy, if something starts coming for me, jump out of my arms.” Hopefully he understood such a command. I opened the menu and looked through the class tree. It looked like the Raise Dead skill had a bunch of levels in it, so maybe he's only weaker due to me still being low level. I still had some points left over, but didn't want to put them into things without taking the time to read through some more.

After accepting all the items I had just gotten, I now had two pieces of rat meat and one-hundred xp in my inventory. I closed the inventory without using it as using it now versus later made no difference. “Two rat kills, one hundred experience. Makes sense,” I thought aloud.

“Alright Tewy,” I placed him back on the ground. “Let's find three more and then we'll head back. This time I'll go into the fight first, but rely on you to help me find more. Can you do that?” Tewy stood still for a moment before taking off. I chased after him before finding him stopped. A short distance away was a group of three rats. “Looks like you took the number quite seriously,” I chuckled. “Alright, do your best to keep them distracted and I'll finish them off.” With that said, I charged forward. The rats had no trouble spotting me, and seemed to split up. Two of them were heading for me while one of them seemed to start to run away. I briefly saw Tewy dashing towards the runner's direction before returning my focus to the two before me.

Just like the first rat, they seemed very fond of attacking my feet. Both immediately charged, quickly closing the distance between us. As the one in front reaches me, I deliver a swift kick, punting the rat a short distance away. Its friend manages to grab hold of my leg, causing me to stumble backwards. I violently shake, but the rat holds on. Perhaps realizing its claws are unable to pierce my armor, it readies its fangs for a bite. I use my sword however to quickly jab at it, sinking the tip into its eye before it jumps off. The rat screeched as it ran back and forth, patting its eye with its hands.

Tewy seemed to arrive with his target chasing him. It looks like he managed to land a few scratches to obtain his opponent's ire, while leaving himself uninjured. As if to focus their animosity towards him, he attempts to bite the injured rat while it was distracted, who barely avoids in time. Now two rats seems to chase after Tewy who continues to run around in circles.

“Ah!” I gave out a slight yelp as I felt what could be described as a pinch on my ankle. The rat which I had kicked away managed to sneak up on me as I watched Tewy. Thankfully, the armor managed to prevent it from piercing my skin. Using my other leg, in one swift stomp I knocked it down, pinning it underfoot. With my weight atop it, the rat had nowhere to run as I raised my sword and thrust downwards towards its neck, nearly severing the head completely. One down, two to go.

Now that he had two enemies, Tewy seemed only able to continue to run away. Even so, it was obvious to me that both of the rats had begun to slow down a bit. The one I had first fought more so. “Tewy, bring them both over here!” After a moment's delay, he changed his course and started heading towards me. The change in direction was so sharp he nearly collided into his pursuers, which both took advantage of this and clawed his sides. As Tewy slipped through my legs, the two rats came within striking distance.

“Yaah!” I slashed at the less injured one, who nimbly avoided the blow at the last moment. Tewy pounces on the heavily injured rat and gives it a strong bite. It does its best to shake Tewy off, but its sluggish movements allow him to continue to attack without concern. My opponent dives towards me, but with sword in hand I continue to swing, desperately trying to land a blow. Finally, a deep wound appears, gushing with blood from its back as it starts to screech in agony. But the wound does little to deter it, as it leaps up from the ground. It extends its paws wide as it aims for my face. Instinctively, I swat it away with my hand as though I were swatting a bug. The gauntlet protects me from any serious damage as the rat soars backwards through the air. It lands with a small thud. As it begins to pick itself back up, I rush forward and land one final thrust. Flesh splits apart as the blade's edge cleaves through it's body. With one last gurgled scream, the rat goes silent.

Tewy ran up to me, tail wagging. It seemed as though we were both finished. Blood flowed from the multitude of injuries which he had sustained. He sure was in the habit of getting hurt. I thought about using one of my health potions for a moment, but hesitated.

“There must be some skill to heal your minions... otherwise, it would either mean that the Necromancer's summons are supposed to be super temporary or they should be dying and then raised again after every battle.” I opened up the skill tree and looked through what was available. There was one notable skill called “Blood of the Undead.” It provided summons with a passive amount of regeneration, which amplified when they were resting. Perfect.

I allocated one skill point towards it. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but the blood which trickled from his claw-shaped wounds already began to slow. I looked back towards my inventory and status. Five River Rats tracked towards my hunt. Fifty experience towards my next level. five pieces of rat meat and two-hundred fifty experience in my invent- hmm? Doesn't that make my total three hundred? Do rats give sixty experience each? No, that can't be. It was always in increments in fifty. Oh, maybe one of the rats was a higher level and gave a hundred xp?

I thought back to the implementation of the experience formula. There was a table that I wrote down that had the experience values based on monster level written out for reference, and I don't think one-hundred xp was ever possible. Fifty is definitely correct though for level one monsters. “Hmm, there might be some bug with the item drop system or something then. It might be doubling up somehow in certain cases, going to have to check that out. Kind of bad, but doubling items isn't the worst possible thing. And it probably existed before this experience issue.” I thought aloud. “Alright Tewy, lets head back to Fortra. I have some work to take care of there.”

We headed south back towards the town. With all the walking and fighting we had done today, it was a few hours time total, definitely deep within the afternoon and steadily approaching evening. While on our way back, Tewy seemed to be very explorative. He seemed to enjoy running around through the grass and inspecting things. Occasionally sniffing some vegetation or doing some shallow digging in a random spot. I wondered if this was because his kind typically stuck to nearby rivers and never ventured further.

Gradually, Fortra came into view. The familiar figures from earlier today seemed to still be standing watch at the eastern entrance. As we got closer, I couldn't help but wave to them just to certify that I was friendly and approaching. One of the guards waved back. Spotting the makings of a dirt path, forged by countless traveler's footsteps, I left the large grass which we had been wading through and continued moving towards the entrance. Tewy, who had been once again investigating something which caught his interest and was a short distance away, quickly sped up to catch up to me. He leapt out from between the large strands of grass, his small paws pattering across the dirt as he runs to catch up to me. “What a curious rat,” I thought to myself.

The guards seem to yell something, which I miss, lost in my own thoughts. “What?” I shout back. One of the guards raises a bow and notches an arrow, pointing it towards me. “Hhuh?” Is all I manage to croak out. My feet start to tremble as I instinctively raise both my hands in the air. He loosens the arrow, it's skinny form whizzes by me as I try to avoid its path. The moment it flies past me, I hear a small squeak, and turn to find Tewy, pierced with an arrow.