Ch 12. Muck Rats

It seemed like there was a full pack of them down there, muck rats. Not very strong but they were much smarter than slimes and mud-men, capable of using rudimentary tools and organized themselves in basic tribes.

Speaking with the others, I tried to convince them it was a good idea to attack.  I was confident about my new powers and wanted to test it out in more active combat while gathering as much experience as possible. We were fairly new, but we'd eventually face monsters like these and these types were much more valuable than what we had been hunting previously, not to mention there looked to be only about a dozen muck-rats, not totally overwhelming given their small stature. Even without me this shouldn't be exceptionally dangerous.  

I would lead the charge in, with the two front-liners Art and Sebast backing me up, while we'd let the archers try out their primary weapons in battle for a change. We didn't need to aim for cores on these, so scoring body-hits with arrows was enough to kill. 

We crept as close as possible, through the tall grass. The guard rat seemed to sense something, letting out a shrill cry before two arrows shot him through, the signal for me to start. 

I burst out from the grass with a speed akin to some of the best sprinters, pumping my arms with my sword drawn in one hand, the two brothers falling behind as I rushed the rats. The overgrown bipedal rats scurried, letting out panicked cries as they dropping the roots and insects they had been foraging just seconds ago. I managed to kill one, running it through with my sword, before a whizzing sound rushed past my face.

Rocks. They were hurling rocks at me, with a speed that was surprising given their small frame. It seems some of them had fashioned rudimentary slings out of reeds and leather scraps, they tried to spread out as best as they could before scrambling for rocks to load their slings. I guarded my face while rocks hurled at me, most landing against my leather armor harmlessly but the ones that struck my hand hurt badly, feeling my fingers smashed by the fist sized projectiles. Had I not enhanced my constitution it may have even broken them. I focused in on the nearest rat, covering the distance quickly and ripping through its body in one swing. The movement helping me avoid the latest round of projectiles, as the rats chattered hideously in frustration. 

I could hear Sebast and Art arrive with a yell behind me, charging in and impaling two of the rats that had focused on me while friendly arrows fell another two. Seeing their lines broken so easily, the rats panicked fiercely. Abandoning their ineffectual slings while they fled, jumping to all fours as they tried to run. We killed as many as we could, being faster on two than they were on fours. Muck rats were smart, but they weren't particularly strong or fast, and they cried out in terror as we and hunted them now with relative ease. 

Killing the last one bathed me in light and congratulatory music. 

"Congratulations on reaching level three." The now familiar voice resounding in my head. 

"Mmm." I replied, mentally agreeing. Taking out my hand-mirror from learned habit. 

Seeing the meteoric gains in adventurer and swordsman I could tell the class level rose much faster than my general level, it was also easier to see that these rats gave better experience than mud-men or slimes. 

"Say System, we were talking about some things last time before we got cut off. Something about your followers being in trouble and me needing help... not that I'm agreeing to anything, but what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Yes, we would like for you to help them but it's much too early for that. Most of what I do in fact is coordinating our Goddess' followers. When I'm not here that's what I'm doing, actually. When you hadn't leveled up for so long, I'll have you know I did try looking for you... but the human kingdoms are a bit difficult for us and we really had no leads. When the time comes I can have them get in touch with you."

"So, I take it when you're not here, you can't see what I'm doing?" This was good information to have. 

"Mn that's the case, we wouldn't be in this situation otherwise."

It seems he truly had a time limit every time I leveled.

"System, you're here to help me... give me recommendations. What should I spend my points in?" 

"Why I would love to council you on this! That is... for certain privacy reasons I can't see your status by default, I need you to share that information... *ahem*, that is... could you describe it to me?"

His abilities were more limited than I first assumed. System had claimed previously that he was what allowed my special status to exist, but hearing all of his limitations I now seriously doubted that. The system probably exists independent of him otherwise wouldn't he have more control? He's just a sentience added on.

"I have multiple classes to choose from, what are the benefits of each?" I explained each one to him and heard his thoughts, roughly lining up with my guesses as to what each class provided. He did let me know some interesting information, the first skills were always passive abilities that lined up with the nature of the class. Alchemy for example provided Identification, allowing me to passively understand the nature of the things around me and how to use the natural environment for benefit. I would also receive additional skills every ten levels in a class. System, recommended I get to level ten in Adventurer first, seeming that there was a useful skill for me there.  From the way he spoke of each class, he seemed under the impression I could only choose one at a time, oblivious to my actual situation. Likewise it seemed the attributes received for each general level were always a standard five points each time, making it abundantly clear something was amiss. 

It had to do with my memories, I somehow knew instinctually. The summoning, the persona from another world, the flashes of memories. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to die when that happened. The other me would take over, the one who knew exactly what was going on. Somehow by living I broke the limits of the system that he brought with him.