Marrow was not sure why he had dropped the dead rat in front of Borgar. It just had felt right at the time. But he did wonder if he should have chewed on it, just in case. But then again, there were plenty of rats laying around so he might as well chew on those first.

He walked over to the pile of rats, grabbed one with a cracked skull, and pushed it in his jaw, grinding his teeth, back and forth. It did not take long for the voice to speak up.

“Do you want to try to absorb [Dungeon Rat] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.”

Since Marrow still had no idea what the message was saying he just kept on chewing, waiting for the message to show up again. He had noticed in the past that the message would show up three times before the voice would say something about a default and then stopped talking. Stopped talking until he would chew on something else, that is.

It was oddly comforting for Marrow, that there were these constants in his life – you chewed on something, and you got a message. If you kept on chewing, you got it twice more. And then it would stop. Marrow had also tried chewing other stuff, like dirt, pieces of wood, his fingers bones… none of it had triggered any voice. So Marrow had figured that it had to be something moving, or perhaps something that would squish and squirt when you bit it.

When he had fought the rats, he had used his hand to squish and squirt in the bodies of what he now knew to be rats. But nothing had happened. Which meant that the message was connected to chewing, not the act of making liquids squirt out of bodies.

Next, Marrow grabbed a leg of one of the rats, that somehow had been ripped off a body during the fight. Marrow started chewing on it and could feel a tiny bit of liquid drip down his bony chin, but no message came up. None. Marrow kept grinding his teeth because he was stubborn. But in this case, stubbornness did not change anything. By the time, Marrow finally gave up, there was not much left of the leg apart from chipped and cracked bone and some sinew.

Which meant… Marrow was not really sure what that meant. But there was something.

Perhaps he just had to keep on chewing the heads of things.

He grabbed the next rat and noticed a few oddly colored pieces of… something on the body of the rat. Somewhat irritated, he tossed the pieces behind him, before stuffing the head of the rat into his jaws.

And then, something unexpected happened. Not in terms of the rat, or the voice, or even Marrow himself. No, suddenly he heard a gasp and then screams behind him.

Someone else might have gotten scared, or at least worried, but Marrow just got curious. Rat in the jaw, he swiveled his head around by 180 degrees and took a look at what was going on. He saw Gamul on his knees, next to Borgar, both secreting that liquid from their eyes, and shouting: “Yes, Yes, Yes!”

Catlyn and Ikarius, meanwhile, were jumping around in oddly jerking movements. And then they grabbed each other. For a moment, Marrow thought that there were going to fight, but it turned out that they were just holding each other for no discernable reason.

Not that Marrow was confused. To be confused one had to have expectations or some prior notion of certain things… which Marrow was utterly lacking. But Marrow realized that he liked discovering patterns. And Marrow had no idea what the pattern was.

Because trial and error had given him some insights in the past, Marrow decided to follow that strategy. He started dancing around and shouted “yes, yes, yes,” just like he had heard Borgar and Gamul do. He had no idea how to secrete the fluid, but he grabbed some of what had squished out of the rats and put it around his eyes.

Of course, he never stopped chewing, because why would he?

Shortly after, the voice said its usual message:

“Do you want to try to absorb [Dungeon Rat] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.”

And this time, in contrast to all the previous times, Marrow just happened to say “yes”. Not because he meant it, or because he knew that this was going to do. It… just happened. Call it luck, or call it fate, or perhaps just the superiority of the age-old strategy of trial and error.

“Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Dungeon Rat]. Attempt: Failed!”

Marrow stood still for a moment, absorbing the fact that he had heard a new message. Not that he knew what the new message had said either. But it felt as if he had achieved something. Which made Marrow feel oddly content.

And then he started chewing again, and moving around, spreading his arms and legs in semi-random directions, just as he had seen Catlyn and Ikarius do, and he kept on saying “yes”.

But there was a problem.

Even though he had heard only one message for the rat he was currently chewing on, there were no additional messages. And this greatly disturbed Marrow. He was basically trading one new message for two old messages. And even though he valued that new message more than the old messages… he wondered if he perhaps could have both.

Marrow took a new rat head and started chewing. And reassuringly, the usual message came up. Marrow made sure to not move at all, so not to trigger the second message. He just kept on chewing. Once the second message had come up, he started his new routine, and it led, just as before to the new message.

But, unlike before, it said:

“Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Dungeon Rat]. Attempt: Success!”

“You have gained the new skill [A Rat’s Bite] from absorbing the brain of a [Dungeon Rat]”

“Similar skill detected: [Crushing Bite]. Would you like to merge skills?”

Marrow kept on chewing, waiting to see if there was anything else. And then, for the off chance that there was some connection, he started his new routine again.

And, lo and behold, he got another message.

“[Crushing Bite] and [A Rat’s Bite] merged and got upgraded to [Devastating Bite]”

-------------------------------------------

“What is he doing?” Catlyn asked the others, but they looked as flabbergasted as she. “Why is he moving like that? Some type of spasms? I did not think skeletons could have them…”

“I think it is a ritual. See how he is painting blood on his face? Together with the strange movements and him repeatedly saying “yes”, I think that is a pretty strong indication,” Gamul slowly said.

“I don’t care. Guys we totally lucked out! I still cannot believe it. Gemstones! We are rich!” Borgar shouted. “Yes!”

“I am just as happy as you are, Borgar, but I think if it is a ritual that is important because that means that Marrow can use magic!” Gamul said.

“Is that why we cannot see his class?” Borgar asked. “I knew that there was something off about that skeleton.”

“I am not sure,” Gamul responded. “From what I know, hiding one’s class is a fairly standard ability once one reaches higher levels… so perhaps Marrow is a high-leveled skeleton? The way he defeated all those rats just with his fists and bite, certainly was impressive.”

“That might be it,” Borgar agreed. “From the moment I saw him the first time, I got this dangerous vibe from him. That is why I have been nervous around him all this time.”

“Hah, nice try,” Ikarius snorted. “You get nervous the moment bones are involved.”

“That is true,” Catlyn giggled. “I remember when you were bragging to that tavern wench about your bulge, and she mentioned that she liked a good boner… you immediately-.”

“Catlyn! Shut up! It was not like that at all!” Borgar was clearly flustered. “I was talking about my sword, not my bulge!”

“Oh yes, now I recall. Sorry. You were bragging about how big your sword was, that is right. And she mentioned that she had a sheath and that she also liked bones, err boners, in there.”

“Catlyn!”

“Guys! Let’s be serious now. We are still trapped in a dungeon. We can joke another time,” Gamul interjected. “Otherwise we might be boned.”

Ikarus bent over, laughing at the deadpan comment, and Catlyn first started giggling and then began to snort, which she was wont to do if she found something hilarious.

Even Borgar had to chuckle at Catlyn’s desperate attempt at reigning in her grunting. “Alright, guys, you got me there… yeah, I get nervous around bones. Especially those that move around.”

He shot a glare at Marrow, who had been totally oblivious to everything that had been going on.

“It is just unnatural, you know?”

“We are just messing with you, Borgar. You are fine,” Ikarius appeased him. “But seriously now, let’s at least explore where we are. If there are giant rats, then there should be a food source somewhere, right? And since the levels of the dungeon we have seen so far have been almost empty of creatures, maybe there is some connection to some deeper levels!”

“That is an excellent thought,” Gamul said. “I bet there is a tunnel or some type of hole that the rats have been using. I cannot imagine that they would run up those circular stairs to eat some slimes.”

“And how about treasure? The gemstones were just loot-drops. Granted, fortunate ones, especially for [Dungeon Rats], but there might be an actual treasure down here. What do you think?” Catlyn excitedly added.

“Well, there might be. But us finding gemstones as loot drops is not actually that far-fetched, I think. Remember, loot-drops are a function of the difficulty of an opponent, and the time it has been since that type of creature has been slain in the dungeon. And we are one of the first teams in hundreds of years to come down here, I bet,” Ikarius said.

“What is a function?” Catlyn asked, slightly confused.

“Seriously? What the heck do they teach you in mage school?” Ikarius asked incredulously.

-------------------------------------------

Marrow stood stock-still, contemplating the messages. But since he did not understand most of it, he simply went back to what he had been doing – chewing rats. But, in contrast to before, every bite he was taking felt… stronger, more powerful. It was not really that Marrow cared one way or another, but he noticed. Marrow was good at noticing things.

And because he liked discovering patterns, he decided to experiment a bit more on how to get messages. He chewed on a new rat and, one after another, moved around, spread rat-fluids around his eyes, and said ‘yes’. And after the tenth rat, he had discovered that the trigger was to say ‘yes’. And he did not have to do it all the time, but just when the voice said something.

That was useful information.

Marrow then noticed that the others had gone away. For a moment, he was glad, because at times they had been talking almost too much. But on the other hand… since he had met them, he had learned many new things, incomparably more than during his centuries in a closet. So, Marrow felt a bit distraught at the thought of not seeing or experiencing as many new things, which made him realize that he wanted to move around with the group.

After all, Marrow was sometimes timid, mostly oblivious, but almost always curious.

Now that Marrow focused for a moment, he could easily hear them further down the left hallway. They were not exactly quiet, ever. And because he had excellent hearing, he could also recognize a tapping noise, just like those dungeon rats had made, only bigger. Much bigger. And it was to the left as well.

Which just proved Marrow’s point - being with the group brought new experiences.

Marrow moved quickly, almost eagerly, forward. He passed various rooms on both sides of the corridor, some with solid wood or metal doors, other with bars that allowed him to see what was beyond – mostly empty rooms, apart from some pieces of wood, that once had been attached to the wall, and some rusty iron chain hanging from metal rings set into the stonewall.

And there, after a bend in the corridor, he could make out the light of Catlyn. Approaching that light from the same direction as Marrow, was a huge furry shape, about the height of Marrow’s chest, but substantially longer. And, quite distracting for Marrow, a really long, pink tail.

And Marrow suddenly felt the almost irresistible urge to step on that tail. He hastened forward, and right before the creature was ready to pounce on the oblivious heroes, he came close enough. And so he jumped with both feet onto the tail, curious about what would happen.

Immediately, a frightening squeal thundered through the narrow space, petrifying the adventurers and delighting Marrow.

“A rat queen!” Ikarius shouted in alarm.

“We are so screwed,” Borgar whined while grabbing his claymore to prepare for a fight for his life.

“Oh no, oh no, it is huge!” Catlyn almost whimpered, while backing away from the terrifying creature.

Gamul, meanwhile, grimly grasped his hammer and stepped closer to the gigantic rat. “My friends,” he said solemnly. “It has been an honor.”

But then, something unexpected happened. The rat queen whipped its head around to attack something behind it, and that something turned out to be Marrow. But if the rat queen thought that this was going to be an easy fight, it was going to be quickly disabused of that idea.

Marrow had seen the head of the rat turn toward him and did the only thing he could think of. He attacked. When the gigantic teeth threatened to grab and crush his ribcage, he did a [Forceful Punch] right at its nose. This made the rat recoil for a moment, enough time for Marrow to reach its body and climb on it. And then the rat went bonkers. It threw itself from side to side and tried to shake its assailant. And it might have succeeded if it had not been for two reasons. Marrow was stubborn and held on to the rat’s fur no matter the shaking and Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarius used the momentary distraction to get in hits of their own.

Eventually, the rat queen focused her beady eyes on the adventurers in front of its body and rushed forward, faster than their eyes could follow. It grabbed the arm of Borgar before he had time to react, and it surely would have ended quite badly for him if Marrow had not chosen the moment to utilize his new [Devastating Bite].

Thick as the hide of the rat queen was, it proved no obstacle for Marrow. Granted, his teeth were not the sharpest and not ideally suited for biting through fur and thick skin, but Marrow made up for that with unbridled enthusiasm. And some disgust - too much hair after all.

The rat queen screeched in pain as Marrow dug his teeth in and tore out a fair-sized chunk of flesh. And then it released a cloud of noxious green gas, that billowed up around her.

“Watch out guys, it is the first stage boss attack!” Ikarius shouted. “Move back!”

Gamul tried to retreat, but the rat queen jumped forward and barreled into his body. Involuntarily, he gasped for air and breathed in the poison gas, which immediately caused a coughing fit.

“Gamul!” Catlyn screamed. She had been standing a few feet further back, petrified of the gigantic rodent, that seemed to overwhelm her party so easily.

Borgar held his breath and slashed his claymore at full force into the side of the rat queen, causing her to shriek again and turn toward him. Which did the trick of sparing Gamul for now, but at the cost of the rat queen focusing her full attention on Borgar. And as big as Borgar was, he was no match for the humongous rat.

The rat queen jumped forward and chomped down on his arm again, ignoring his futile one-armed slashes with the claymore, which hardly even caused bleeding wounds in her side. Soon he was out of air and desperately needed to take a breath. With the rat holding on to his arm, there was no way to escape, though, and the toxic mix entered his lungs.

Using the distraction, Ikarius darted forward and grabbed the foot of Gamul, pulling him out of the poisonous area. With trembling hands, he took a bottle filled with a reddish liquid from his belt and poured it down the throat of the pale and unresponsive dwarf. Within seconds, Gamul started coughing, and a healthier color returned to his clammy skin.

His panicked eyes, darted around, before focusing on the comforting sight of Ikarius standing next to him, and Catlyn attempting to cast one of her spells.

“Where is Borgar?” he asked in a raspy voice.

Ikarius hesitated for a moment and then said. “In there!” pointing at the billowing clouds of green gas that covered the hallway from top to bottom. The gas had gotten even denser right after Ikarius had pulled out Gamul, presumably because the rat queen had used its second area of affect boss-attack.

Which meant… that the rat had still felt threatened. But why? Because of Marrow?

-------------------------------------------

Marrow was happily chomping into the body of the rat. It was slow going, but he was making progress digging a substantial hole, which filled continuously with copious amounts of blood. Of course, the rat was not holding still, but Marrow had found that biting off a bit of skin on various places allowed his [Forceful Punches] to dig into the flesh of the monster. And, if he just slightly curved his fingerbones right after impact, it allowed him to grab hold of the rat’s skin from the inside and outside – given his unlimited stamina, that constituted a pretty good handhold unless the rat shook him violently enough to tear off its own skin.

The rat had responded by releasing vast amounts of poisonous gas, twice, and even completely healed itself once. But the fact of the matter was that poisonous gas did not really bother Marrow – after all, he did not breathe. And curing your body if the hands of the attacker are inside of said body… does not really accomplish much, apart from making the handhold even better. It just made the process slower, as Marrow had to re-dig the hole, which he happily did.

Borgar and Gamul had chosen to lay down in front of the rat, which Marrow found curious. But perhaps that was something else that Marrow simply did not understand. He had started to notice that there were many things he did not know about.

After the rat realized that its gas did not do anything, it tried to slam its body into the wall or even jump up to the ceiling. And while that jolted Marrow around quite a bit, and even started to cause hairline fractures in some of his bones, Marrow did not feel pain, and hence saw no reason not to continue doing what he did – hold on and chomp.

Eventually, the rat started slowing down, its movements becoming sluggish and its head drooping. And then, perhaps five minutes or maybe ten minutes after the start of the fight, the rat queen collapsed.

As the last spark of life left the beady eyes of the rat, the voice spoke up in Marrow’s head.

[Level up: Level 3; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]

[Level up: Level 4; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]

[Level up: Level 5; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]

At first, Marrow did not quite know what to do. Was it telling him something? Did he have to do something? He had heard a similar message before, but only once. So he responded with the tried and true “Yes”.

“You have eight free characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them on Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence?”

“-”.

“You have eight free characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them on Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence?”

“Yes.”

“-“.

“-“.

Since nothing else happened, Marrow started climbing off the back of the giant rat.

Just when he reached the ground, the voice spoke up again.

“You have defeated a level 1 boss. For defeating a monster that is more than 20 levels higher than you are, while not possessing a class, you gain a special reward. You may choose between the following: a smaller version of the boss as a loyal [Magical Pet]; an evolution to a [Greater Skeleton]; the class of [Skeleton Knight]; five extra levels.”

Since he did not know any other way, Marrow again responded as always.

“Yes.”

“-“.

Marrow was a bit confused, twice now, answering “yes” had not led to any further message.

And then the voice repeated.

“You have defeated a level 1 boss. For defeating a monster that is more than 20 levels higher than you are, you gain a special reward. You may choose between the following: a smaller version of the boss as a loyal [Magical Pet]; an evolution to a [Greater Skeleton]; the class of [Skeleton Knight]; five extra levels.”

“Yes.”

“-“

And, for the first time, the system changed its message. Perhaps it needed a decision. Or perhaps it felt pity. Whatever the reason was, the voice repeated the message and added: “Do you want the loyal [Magical Pet]?”

And this time, when Marrow said “yes” a chiming sound reverberated through the hallway and a small rat appeared close to Marrow. Small compared to the rat queen that is. At about the size of a large dog, it was humongous for a rat.

Marrow could barely make out the rat in the green fog. He was a bit puzzled on where the rat suddenly had come from, or what that chiming noise had meant, but he did not question either one. The fact that he felt some type of connection to the rat made him happy, though, because, somehow, he knew exactly where the rat was despite the billowing green gas.

And even better, he knew that he could partially control the rat. So he commanded the rat to stand still. He moved toward it, opened his jaws impossibly wide, and chomped down on its skull. [Devastating Bite] crushed the head of the unresisting rat and Marrow contently chewed its brain.