Glimmering red eyes? Check.

Dark, musty cellar? Check.

And of course:

—————————————————————————————————————

WARNING:

Combat Detected. Entity is engaging in combat.

—————————————————————————————————————

At least I’d managed to turn off Tutorial Tips in the menu, so I didn’t need to see the Combat notification warn me that death was probably permanent. Even so, I was worried. I had decent stats for my level, but I didn’t really know how leveled up the world around me was. I had some indicators to use, such as the fact that Baldric seemed incredibly weak and had some level of susceptibility to mind magic. But then again, Baldric was a Summon, and he may well have been Summoned from some place that was far, far weaker than Excelsia. Additionally, even though Isekai Hero told me that this was a “Wine-Addled” rat, it was still a rat from Aastor’s manor. Perhaps the magic surrounding the Manor had made the rat incredibly strong? I couldn’t see it’s level or any of it’s stats either, so I didn’t quite know how to feel about that.

Isekai Hero had been remarkably unhelpful about the combat changes that had been thrust upon me recently. The patch notes had told me that the System update was primarily done to help rebalance Classes and Combat, and streamline the Isekai Hero experience. First of all, “experience” really made it sound like I had a choice in the entire matter. I did not. Secondly, I didn’t know what the newly balanced Isekai Hero stat breakdown was, but the old System had been rather simple. Hopefully, balancing had only involved tweaking variables and not fundamentally altering the entire System.

Isekai Hero used to be comprised of two important numbers: Level and Stats. Level was next to useless, basically just a measure of lived experience. I had started at Level 1 as a Holy Warrior, and had the combined Stats of twenty men. As far as I could tell, the main reason for Levels to exist had been to have some kind of Progression metric. The new level growth attribute was an interesting addition to the system, one that would hopefully help me grind myself back to peak condition a lot quicker. Of course, I was starting at far, far lower stats than I had last time, so the grind would still be a problem.

Stats in Isekai Hero were basically just single numbers that indicated competency. CHA, INT, WIL and WIS for Mental stats and STR, VIT and DEX for Physical stats. Isekai Hero basically estimated the potential someone had in each area, and assigned a number to that potential, which meant that the number wasn’t always a perfect measure. For example, someone with hidden powers or a secret bloodline that could only awaken once at the turn of the century could have a STR score of 999 but also be extraordinarily weak most of the time. It was, in a word, the ceiling of someone’s ability at a given point in time. Training or magic could increase the Stats, as could, say, having access to a magical System that controlled your life and gave you free Stat points for random tasks. Not that anyone had that kind of OP ability, right?

Problematically, it was hard to give a baseline value for people since different worlds had different baselines for their occupants. On Grimmar, the resident amphibious population had a DEX of 30, which enabled them to be extremely agile and extremely fast swimmers. Their STR, however, had only been 20, which made them weaker than the land dwelling tribes of the planet. Of course, 30 and 20 had both been pitiful in comparison to my attributes at the time.

At the time.

My best estimate was that the most average, normal, “I farm for a living, walk for exercise and am fairly literate” would have rounded stats of 15 for everything. To me, that was the baseline. Why human? Well, okay, sure, I could try and figure out the baseline for a many tentacled Eldritch monstrosity or for, say, Elves, but that wouldn’t help me. Even through all of the changes I’d been through, I was still human. At least, I was pretty sure I was. I didn’t want to think about the alternative.

On top of that, the Stats were basically just direct, head-to-head numbers. My highest stat when I was a Holy Warrior was STR, at the insane value of 131. It had started at 99, to be fair, but I had trained a LOT to get it up to 131. My instructor on the first world I ever visited had been an old, wily instructor with a STR of 45 and a DEX of 40. He’d managed to beat me pretty soundly the first few times we fought, simply because of the gap in skill and technique and because I didn’t know how to hold a sword. So even though Stats were an important part of the equation, sometimes they weren’t enough. You could pretty easily get your behind whupped by someone theoretically weaker because they knew something you didn’t. On Excelsia, given the way that Sparks were used as conduits for magic, I imagined that was even more true.

Class based Stats…that was new to me, however. Best guess? Everyone had some base Intuition, but I could grow and improve mine through the System, a lot more directly than most others. Even though I was in some level of physical danger, I couldn’t wait to get to bed. Not out of laziness! I just needed to allot all my new stat points before falling asleep, and then, hopefully, I’d be a changed man tomorrow.

One thing that clearly hadn’t changed was the divide between Skills and Abilities. Skills were learned attributes, like haggling or swordfighting. Given that I’d used my Haggling skill to humiliate DreAn without activating or calling anything to mind, they seemed to still work as passives. And Abilities, like class Abilities, were innate and often secret. Active or Passive, but generally unique to a class or a person or bestowed because of some happenstance. Skills were basically more pedestrian and always working. Abilities were special, but often came with tradeoffs.

Often, but not always. As You Command really didn’t have any significant penalties unless I failed a task, which hadn’t happened yet. And, since checking out the Cellar was technically an Employer Assigned task…well, I could definitely feel the effect of the 100% increase to all my Stats. It didn’t even need to be Activated specifically, since the Condition that enabled it was already true.

As the eyes glittered before me, I had a sudden instinct.

“Baldric DUCK!”

The man, thankfully, didn’t try to question me. Maybe he couldn’t? I really needed to see if any of the Tutorial pages had a section on Understaff. As Baldric threw himself to the floor, the Wine-Addled Rat leaped out of it’s hiding place, careening through the air in exactly the same spot that Baldric had been just moments ago. As he panted from the exertion, a notification popped up on the side. I’d have to deal with that later.

A dexterity score of 28 was decent. Not amazing, but decent. Or rather, it was potentially decent, since the Stat only told me my maximal capability at any given time. With a 28, I could probably sprint faster than an ordinary athlete if I tried or was motivated. With minimal training, I could probably fight a well-trained, well-practiced martial artist and hold my own. Probably even win.

But my DEX stat wasn’t 28. It was 56! Now, that was a genuinely insane score. I could quite literally see every twitch in the rat’s fur and musculature, see it gearing up to jump and bite Baldric again. It’s reactions and reflexes were playing out in near slow-motion for me. I could intuit it’s next move, I could see the tensing of it’s tiny legs. And, since my DEX affected my own twitch reaction times as well-

KERRASSSHHH!

I didn’t know what bottle of wine I’d grabbed, but it now lay shattered over the rat’s twitching body. Shards of glass stuck in it’s damp, blood-matted fur as it breathed it’s last. If the bleeding didn’t kill it, alcohol poisoning surely would.

The sense of accomplishment I felt was odd, since, well…it was a rat. A large one, to be sure, probably two or three times the size of a normal rat. But still…a rat! I think it stemmed from the fact that I hadn’t actually had a chance to engage in any combat myself, hadn’t had the opportunity to use these Stats in a fair fight. I mean, I still needed to take care of DreAn, and I also didn’t want to be forced to fight. But a small part of me relished the actual combat itself, even if I chafed under forced orders.

“Mr. Blanc!!” Baldric’s anguished cries broke my self-satisfied reverie. “MR BLANC HELP!!”

What on Excelsia could he need help with? I killed the thing, and being made to fight a rat in a cellar was a pretty standard “First Combat” deal. If there was glass sticking out of him…well, Fay was clearly well-versed in medicine.

Oh. Nevermind.

More rats. A lot more rats. A swarm, one might say, that was crawling all over Baldric. Their beady red eyes were….glowing. Yep, definitely glowing. The kind of glow that indicated that some kind of magic was at play.

My INT was, after being doubled, 46. That put me on par with any master magician. My mental acuity was more or less as sharp as any naturally talented research prodigy’s. Much like with Business at Hand, however, buffs from As You Command felt like they’d been grafted onto me. My brain was working at incredible speed, but it didn’t feel normal. It felt like I was hopped up on tonnes of caffeine. Still, working through the situation made one thing clear: Rats didn’t behave like this. And yes, they were rats. The System had identified Fay as a Drakul even though I hadn’t known that about her, and had identified the first one as “Wine-Addled” even though that was a Status Effect that I hadn’t perceived consciously. Glowing red eyes and swarm like behavior was most likely indicative of something. Probably someone, actually. Someone magical who was in charge of this entire thing.

Priorities:

Kill enough rats to find the “Rat Chief”. Kill (Or Tame!) the “Rat Chief”. Save Baldric.

Look, Baldric is important. Of course he’s important! But….if I could talk to a creature that controls Rats and convince/coerce it work for me…well, that was going to be so much more useful.

I lunged towards Baldric, grabbing him by the cuff. With a STR of 15, I likely wouldn’t have been able to do anything but get him off his feet, but with a boosted STR of 30? Hefting Baldric felt like lifting up a particularly thick sack of flour, and the rat swarm simply streamed off him, chittering angrily as their target was suddenly freed from the whims of gravity and fear. Baldric was still cowering, trying to shake the rats off his body, so I turned and threw him behind me, placing myself between the rats and Baldric.

See? I won’t just let him die! Unless it helps accomplish priorities 1 and 2 more easily. Then, all bets are off.

The swarm was acting as a unit, which made sense. Controlling what….two dozen? Three dozen? Controlling that many rats at once was likely hard to do on an individual level. If the Rat Chief was a Rat, it was likely not smart enough have that kind of fine tuned control anyway.

As the swarm rushed towards me, I felt a sudden longing for a weapon of some kind. I really, really needed to find a weapon or make one. Still, for the moment, my feet would do. The swarm didn’t seem to differentiate between Baldric and me, simply bum-rushing whoever was closest. Since that lucky opportunity fell to me, the swarm was…well, swarming, around my feet, trying to clamber up my trousers.

Hey! These are new!

Rats: They bite. They chew. They’re persistent.

They’re also very, very light and very, very puntable. As the sea of black and red advanced towards me, I began to kick. It was crude, but effective, and tiny black bodies began to fly across the cellar space, only to get up and start rushing towards me again. I could probably have kept that up for hours…But Dinner needed to be served!

“BALDRIC!” I roared out, still kicking rats.

The cowering man had apparently gotten over his musophobia, and simply squeaked at me. “A-Aye Mr. Blanc, good show sir, keep them away from me!”

“SOMETHING SHARP!”

“I…what?”

“FIND. SOMETHING. SHARP!”

I heard him scramble behind me, rushing away from the rats. And, hopefully, towards a knife or something of the sort. Anything that would hopefully put the rats down more permanently.

The swarm didn’t stop, ceaselessly trying over and over again. My legs weren’t tired, and I hadn’t yet let any of them past, but it was only a matter of time. I didn’t particularly want a stream of rats to head out of the cellar, and…well, combat! It was an easy encounter. Okay, yes, some of them had managed to chew through my trousers a little and my shoes were scuffed and a few of the rats had clearly realized that snapping at my ankles was a good strategy, but for the most part, this wasn’t dangerous. Just annoying.

“Sharp incoming!” Baldric shouted out from the other side of the cellar.

“Wh-WHAT?”

“CATCH!”

Why would you not just hand it to me? The momentary distraction was enough for at least one rat to break through, which really only just spurred the others on even more. Dammit Baldric! And moreover, did nobody tell you not to throw knives at others?

As the blade clattered to the ground, I took a closer look at it.

“BALDRIC!?”

“YES MR. BLANC?”

THIS IS A CORKSCREW!!”

“IT’S SHARP!”