Chapter 19: [Arc 1] Chapter 13: Title Rush!

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak," - rats x(uncountable)

Geh. That's a lot of rats. With this many, they could even fell that Rexus boss.

When looking down from the cliff that my home lies on, I can see the tunnel has turned into a river of rats. There are two possibilities for this phenomenon:

The first one is that the rats are migrating.

And B is that they are searching for the intruder that's praying on them, a.k.a., me.

I'm hoping it's the former one, but with my luck, probably not. Hmm, my luck is the best amongst all the creatures I've appraised you say? Then why was I born in a freaking dungeon?!

But yeah, it's not a good idea to go hunting today. With this many rats patrolling, to the point where there are rats in the tunnel with my home, it's time to go shut-in for a while.

---

The rat-rivers has stopped at least, but now the rats are patrolling in groups of 5 or more. They even have the [Cooperation] skill the raptors have, what gives? Why do you monsters use skill points? That's my exclusive right.

... I overdid it big time. Even rats would start being cautious when so many of their brethren are killed. Doesn't that mean that I'm some kind of serial killer while the rats are police forces? Eh, whatever. The other side is just rats.

Even if I say so, having so many rats after me ain't the happiest thought. I got [MP Reinforcement (Small)] to LV20 already, and [Concentration] should go up on its own. I have nothing else to do here, so let's pack shop, and go further up the dungeon.

In that case, goodbye, home nr.2. You were way more comfortable than home nr.1. Thank you very much!

---

I've been traveling across the ceiling to escape the rat patrols, but I've reached the end of the bridges. The place is an intersection between two tunnels, with the south, east and west tunnels leading back to the rat-area, and the north-tunnel being my way to freedom. The bridges have stopped right before the north tunnel, meaning I need to crawl on the floor from now on.

And as a final challenge to me from this rat hole is a group of rats just below me. 5 of them, the lowest amount these groups work with. If I go down now, they'll see me and call on their friends.

There is no way I can survive when the rat army comes. In that case, let's eliminate them without being spotted.

The tunnel is one of the darker ones. The rats may have invested in [Cooperation], but that doesn't give them [Night Vision] as the cave rats have. That gives me a chance.

The rats have divided their group so that each rat covers one area of the tunnel, with one rat stationed in east, west, south, and north, while the last one is patrolling the tunnel so that no place is overlooked. The patrol-rat is currently in the east tunnel, so let's aim at the south-rat for now.

These guys are probably looking for intruders coming from the north-tunnel, so an attack from the south-side will be unexpected for them.

But, how should I take out that rat? Eh, let's just use the capture web plan. Just need to move to right above the south-rat, and, there is no one looking over here? Good. Capture web, GO!

*Swipe!*

I got it! Faster than it could react, the south-rat was trapped in my web and hauled up to me. Then, before it can make a noise,

*Chomp*

Bleagh. The taste is still awful. Thanks to [Paralyze Resistance], I don't get numbed by biting the rat at all, unlike with the first rat I killed in this area. Having the smell of the corpse around would be bad, so I placed it into the inventory the second it died.

Now, time to move towards the middle of the intersection. 

"Squeak? Squeak!" - Patrol rat

The rats have noticed the disappearance of the south rat now. Too bad for them that I'm already in position.

Due to the patrol rat's cry, the remaining three rats are heading towards the south-tunnel where the killed rat disappeared. Meanwhile, I waited for the east and west rat, who were the closest ones to the intersection, pass before aiming at the north rat. As the rat arrived at where I was waiting, at the end of the bridge, I threw down another capture web and, just as the south rat, pulled it up and introduced it to my [Poison Bite].

"Squeak?!" - remaining rat

 

One of the rats noticed the second disappearance almost immediately and noticed the others. They're confused as hell by now. Kukuku.

Next on the kill-list is, probably gonna volunteer itself any moment. I the meanwhile, let's secure the cord, aaaand...

"Squeak! Sque, squeak!" - rat (leader?)

"Sque!" - rat

Oh, they are on the move. The rat giving orders, is he the leader? The leader rat is telling something to one of the rats. Too bad [Language Adaptation] doesn't work on monster language. Ah, the rat giving orders are running away to the south tunnel. He must be a messenger for the rest of the rat army. Too bad for him I've got a special order for him. Let's see, and, GO!

*Swish*

*Splat*

"Squeak?!" - rats

Bull's eye! I hit the messenger rat with my special capture web. Unlike the regular variant which is a portable spider web, this one is made like my cloaks, in the colors of the dungeon floor and without the cord, I use to drag the prey up to the bridge.

The messenger rat is now glued to the ground, not able to move as well as being hidden from view for those without proper perception skills. 

Then now, the remaining rats are, going to look after the captured one. Just as planned. If their messenger just disappeared like that, they would try to look for him there. Good thing they aren't that clever. Well, since the messenger is making a real noise due to being captured, the remaining two are gonna focus on saving the messenger instead of running for their own lives.

Huh, doesn't this mean that I'm the bad guy here? ... Damn rats. Okay, that does it. It's massacre time! I was gonna do that from the start anyway, but still!

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Now that the remaining two rats have converged around the captured rat, trying to peel off the special camouflage web (good luck with that, seriously), the time is ready for my coolest move to burst out!

While dangling from a cord attached to the bridge, I lowered myself into position, half the height of the tunnel. Now then, ready, aim, aaaandd, [Cutting Thread]!

*SWISH!* *thud* *thud*

Eeeehhhh...? Both of the rats were decapitated in one blow? ... this has to be related to all these System Messages that's been coming up this whole time. In the beginning, I ignored them because I was too busy with the rats, but now I'm worried that the system has crashed. 

*thud*

Perfect landing! Anyway, I gotta finish off the trapped rat before I leave the area. Therefore, say hello to [Poison Bite], messenger rat.

*Chomp*

SEE! Now another one came up. This isn't normal, right? The system didn't crash, right? G-guess I should just stick to the schedule, which is to run away!

---

Phew, finally out of the rat area. Now then, the current problem is about all those system messages. What did they say?

Ehm, the last one was about leveling up, I think. About damn time, I must say. Then there was something about titles? And two of them at the same time?! What was the name again? Something-slayer? That's it, [Monster Slayer] and [Beast Slayer]! I get the [Monster Slayer], I haven't done anything else in my whole life. Then is the [Beast Slayer] because of my rat-genocide then? Probably.

And before that was... [Thread User]? That's a title I can live with. But why didn't I get it before then? And I got a skill along with the title. Did that happen before? [Spider Thread] disappeared into the new skill, ehm, [Thread Synthesis] was it? Is it a stronger skill or something? I need to look at that afterward.

Then next is, [Concentration]. It reached LV30. That's good, but what was all that about a new skill? And derivative one, was it? Then, this [parallel thinking], or whatever it was called, was locked until I reached LV30 with [Concentration]? Guessing from the name, it's a skill that lets you think about several things at a time. Isn't that pretty lame for a skill? 

No, wait. That could be something I need. I'm holding up with the monster battles for now, but only because I have time to make a strategy and traps beforehand. If I suddenly went up against a monster without any thinking time, then I'll be killed in five seconds, max. With this skill though, I would be able to ease the limits of how much I could move without being thrown off by [Magic Sense].

Yeah, let's take this one. It's a little lame, but it was the same for [Concentration], and without it, I wouldn't even be able to stay sane.

But before that, didn't I get something more? Some [Serial Killer] title? I hope nobody sees that title, or else I'm gonna be distrusted big time. I mean, it was just some rats. The monster type even, not the cuddly mice type. And I got two skills out of it. Isn't that wicked? Ehm, [Hidden Strike] disappeared into one of them I think. And the other one was something Shadow-ish? Eh, I have the skill list available, why do I need to try to remember every single detail?

Elements! I've suddenly gained two elements! Why didn't I remember that? This is big news! One of them is a lesser poison type Element. Oh yeah, I got it with a [Poison User] title. It was accompanied by the [Poison Synthesis] skill. Who ordered all this poison? Not me, but I wish I was.

The other element is [Shadow Element]. This is the one I gained with that [Serial Killer] title thingy. Shadows, huh. Not so sure if it's anything good in having it to be honest. The poison Element is usable since poison is practically my middle name at this point, but shadows..., yup no clue about this one. Maybe it could work with [Stealth], but I'm not sure.

Some of the new skills are at a higher level than they should be. I'm talking about [Surprise Attack] and [Thread Synthesis]. They are respectively LV3 and 4, while I should have obtained them at LV1 each. Must be this integration business. It added the proficiency that the lesser skills had to the new and improved ones. The sad part is that an LV18 and LV27 boost just added 3 and 4 levels to the new skills. Are these new guys that difficult to level up? I know [Stealth] is like that, but come on...

Let's appraise the new skills just to be sure what they can do:

Yep, kinda the same. The only difference is that one makes poisons and the other threads. But using MP for the creation of threads could be a good way in lowering my SP consumption. This 'ingredient'-stuff looks interesting. This must be for human use, by using poisonous substances and silk to create with these skills. I wonder what kind of stuff I'm able to create. First off, [Poison Synthesis]!

Okay, Demonic Poison is just my regular poison. I'm able to make it into spheres of poison now without needing to use my 'teeth', so that's a plus in my book. I could use this as drop bombs in the river area, if not those damn dinos crushed all the bridges!

The Weak Poison is as the name says, weak poison. I need a pool amount of it to dish out any real damage even to the rats, if they didn't drown due to the amount. This one must have come with the skill itself, but I don't think I will be able to use it that much.

Yeah, I was afraid of this. You probably need items to use the [Thread Synthesis] skill usually. Good thing that [Spider Thread] still lives in this skill, so I won't need anything special then. Talk about a close call. Losing my threads because I got the [Thread User] title wouldn't be funny.

Speaking of funny, what's up with this skill? [Hidden Strike] got integrated into it, but this one sounds weaker.

Hm? Isn't this the same as [Hidden Strike]? Gaining a boost when attacking an unsuspecting opponent? Or, is this skill not restricted to just attacks? It says "when taking an opponent by surprise". Like, when you are really surprising someone or when you are scaring someone? Maybe a detective could use it to bust the criminal all of a sudden? Not that I have any more use for the skill than from before.

The next on the list are my favorites: the Elements!

Just as the [Lesser Water Element] that I appraised some time ago. The difference between the skills is that [Lesser Poison Element] gives an [Small] amount boost, while [Shadow Element] gives a [Normal] boost. Don't know the difference between those two, but [Normal] sounds better than [Small] at least.

Now, for the last part, no, the BEST part! I wanted to look at this first, but I'm a man that knows to save the best for last! Come on, skill shop!

Yup, yup, there it iiiooooi! What's this?! This isn't a bargain, it's a burglary or close to it! The discount is 13 skill points?! 

...is this cause I have [Stealth]? I guess I haven't gone too close on exactly what these "classes" are yet. When I first got [Appraisal], I checked almost everything in my status page, but left Main Class and Sub Class for later. When I did investigate those two, this is what I found out:

To summarize, the Main Class is what you really can do, while the Sub Classes are your second talent is. And the third one. And the fourth. And fifth. Having 4 Sub Classes, is that a jack-of-all or a talented bastard?

And if the classes are clashing, then the power-up you get from them gets negated. A magician class might be able to work with a battler class, barely. But I doubt a priest class could work well with a necromancer class.

The Assassin class is probably a thief-type class, specializing in sneaking and killing with surprise attacks. But why am I playing the guess-game when I can just appraise the class? [Appraisal] banzai!

...that's a lot. And that title, is that the one that gave me [Shadow Element]? Must be. And three or more Assassin-related skills, why is that a requirement? Won't you get the skills after you have the class... nah. Probably there because you need some skills, as in ability, with assassinations before you can obtain the class. From what the description tells me, this skill is an enhanced version of thief-classes.

Then there is the biggest mystery here: what is [Presence Concealment]? I don't have such a high skill for me. Or, is this a skill that becomes [Stealth] after getting it to LV50 or more? Probably. That would explain why the class got such a massive discount. If I am overqualified for the class, then I would get a discount like that... right?

I can agree that I'm practically an assassin already. But should I take this class then? Skvalv told me about this stuff, that you can have one Main Class and several Sub Classes, but you have to keep those classes for the rest of your life.

But yeah, Assassin sounds like the closest to my current battle style. And even with it, I can still obtain Sub Classes of other genres like a magician class. And right now, every helpful skill is necessary in case I meet something crazy down here like that dino. The rats can have a boss ordering them for example. No way that will let me go if it gets its claws on me.

Mmmm, what a dilemma. On one side, I could get this obviously suspicious class-thingy, while on the other side, there's simple skills such as that Parallel-whatchamacallit. But... "Assassin" rings out to my chuunibyou-infected soul... Argh! Whatever!

FINE! Take my points already, and just be finished with this!!

I did it this time! Hopes this doesn't strike back at me... 

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