Mature Content Warning: A little foul language, but not much else.

Author's Notes: I decided to go ahead and try posting this chapter to see how it is received. If you see any issues please let me know. Reviews are welcome. :)

The loud ringing of a church bell echoed through the air. The sounds of soft laughter and joyous voices wove together with the ringing of the bell to create a festive atmosphere. It was a beautiful day in the town of Victory Station. Scott could not help but smile as he watched the people stroll through the market place.

Even after spending the last few days in town doing odd-jobs and trying his best to scrape up enough Fayth to live on for a while, he had not completely acclimated to the nature of the world. Wherever he looked there was some vibrant an exciting thing to see.

A girl with cat ears walked by, a basket of laundry clutched in her hands. A man twice as tall as any man Scott had ever seen sat at a table outside of the nearby tavern. He challenged all comers to a game of arm wrestling. The loser paid for the next round of drinks. He had not lost once, but people kept trying to best him.

The alien atmosphere of the place was both unnerving and soothing to the man. Everything was so vibrant, so alive, here. He thought that the best part of it all was the background music. It was definitely top-tier. He had heard some of the same songs repeated, but he had never once wanted to find a mute button.

Whoever, or whatever, had decided to suffuse the world with beautiful sounds had obviously been a master composer. On more than one occasion he had sung along to the music. It was usually instrumental. He had to make up his own words, but the songs were still lovely.

Scott smiled softly when a group of children ran by, their laughter was infectious and he could not help but laugh as well. He had never in his life known this sort of general contentment. Was this what the world had been like before the modern day haze of life had taken over? Back on Earth, everyone seemed to be in a hurry to do the exact same thing every day. Here, he could see that people actively enjoyed their lives.

He could not help but envy these people, just a little. They had grown up in a world where nearly anything was possible. That had to do wonders for your outlook on the future.

--

Chapter 3: Grass Rat Hustle

--

The town square was alive with people early in the morning, just as it had been for days. Victory Station was a town filled with friendly and energetic people. As the main stop-over point between the kingdoms of Arnette and Eizen, Victory Station had grown from a small fort town into a true town over time.

You could find many of the services usually reserved for larger cities in Victory Station. Scott could not afford any of those services except for the inn. The issue of money was a concern for the man. He had scouted the local weapons and item shops over the course of the last few days. The prices were quite exorbitant for the average homeless drifter, which Scott happened to be at the moment.

The cost of simple leather armor that increased defense by a paltry five points was over two thousand Fayth. Unenchanted cloth armor was a bit cheaper, but it increased defense by merely two points and would still cost twelve hundred Fayth.

Neerdles inn granted a single cot in the middle of the common hall for thirty Fayth per night. Their private rooms were over two hundred per night. Given that sort of price scale, he could afford to sleep on a cot for nearly a month and a half at the same cost as cheap cloth armor.

From what he had learned, the minimum wage that most people in town would expect from a job was around two hundred Fayth per week, slightly more if they worked more than five days out of that week. At the moment, Scott was not even earning minimum wage despite all of the delivery jobs that he had taken. He was not far from it, but he was barely scraping by as it was.

That monetary concern was what had brought him to the job board today. He needed to try his hand at something that would pay a little more and hopefully provide experience. The delivery jobs had only provided experience points after he completed several of them. Doing work for Mid had apparently counted the same as doing six or seven package runs in town. Even as things stood, he was still two points away from gaining that first precious level.

Scott looked over the board. Slime hunting was still available, but he was a little leery of actually going after the slime monsters yet. He had heard that they were primarily located in the mountain forest about a half day’s walk from town.

That was a long distance to travel with no supplies and a pitifully low level. He might get lucky and find a few along the way. They did stray from the forest, but they only appeared in large numbers in the area referred to as Slime Forest.

“Wait, what’s this?” Scott thought. There was a message listing a need for an exterminator. Scott snatched the job up quickly.

Quest!

Exterminate the rascally rabbits!

A local farmer, John Haskill, has offered a bounty on all rabbits. Bring him any part of a rabbit, such as the pelt or whiskers, and he will pay you for your trouble!

Difficulty: Easy

Reward: 20 Fayth per rabbit slain

Requirements: 0/40 rabbit parts.

Time: 1 week

Success: Slay up to forty rabbits and bring their dropped loot to Farmer John.

Failure: Give up the quest, or allow one week to pass.

Scott nearly laughed aloud! He could make eight hundred Fayth doing such a simple job! He knew that he could kill rabbits. They kicked the crap out of him, but he could take them down. They also would be able to give him a bit of experience. This was the perfect first hunting quest for the man.

“Behold the fearless rabbit slayer!” Scott’s somewhat deranged laughter caught the attention of several people walking by. More than one mother pulled their small child close and bid them not to gaze upon the strange and obviously troubled man.

After he calmed down, he decided to check his quest status. His grin reappeared. The whiskers and pelt that he had acquired a few days earlier were counted toward quest completion.

The only thing about the quest that bothered him was the fact that the rabbit parts were worth more than slime cores. Did farmer John hate rabbits that much, or were slime cores just not worth anything? It made no sense that a slightly harder to acquire substance would be worth less than something common like a rabbit’s pelt.

Scott walked swiftly toward the town gates. He had some hunting to do. Along the way he passed several people who seemed to be travelers. They paid him no mind, but he noticed their clothing and gear. They were wearing items that would probably bankrupt a small business owner. Were they advanced adventurers or traveling nobility? He could not be sure, but he envied them their equipment.

Once he left the gates, the background music changed from a whimsical musical score to a more adventurous tune. He bobbed his head along to the sound for a moment, before heading off into the grassland near the town. If his previous experience was an indicator, he would not need to track down the rabbits. The rabbits would come to him.

Off-road adventuring was not much different than traveling on the road, at least not at first. However, it did not take long before he ran across his first monster encounter. The creature seemingly popped up out of nowhere. Had it been hiding in the tall grass, or had it magically appeared? He did not know. Given the nature of this world, it could be either one of those answers.

A wild grass rat appears!

The background music changed to a familiar sounding battle score while Scott assessed the situation. The grass rat was a peculiar little creature. It was a rat the size of a small dog, but its most notable feature was not its size. It was the grass skirt that it was wearing. Why would a rat wear a skirt?

Scott wasted no time in idle speculation as he knew that he had to act quickly. He had never faced this type of rodent before in this world and did not want to experience any surprises.

The rat lunged forward, but it had no chance. Scott immediately thrust his hand out and exclaimed, “Freeze!”

He felt a powerful surge of energy flow up and out of his body. A sphere of roiling blue and white energy formed in front of his palm. In the time that it took him to insta-cast his ice spell the rat had covered half the distance between them. It was not enough, not nearly enough.

A cone of freezing cold magical energy radiated outward from the man’s outstretched palm. The rat chittered loudly in pain and a bright red number six appeared above its head.

Scott ran toward the rat while it tried to shake off the bitter cold. He kicked out strongly and the rat flew back like a hapless soccer ball. The number twelve wafted upward from the tiny beast and it screamed out in agony before dissolving into motes of light.

Victory!

You have slain a wild grass rat!

+1 EXP

+1 Fayth

+1 Ability Points

Items(s) Acquired:

1 Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat [Rare]

“Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat? It’s rare?” Scott stared at the message screen for a moment then could not help but laugh. That was hilarious to him for some reason. He had already gained a rare item, it seemed.

He chose to call up his inventory screen and take a look at his loot.

Grass Skirt of the Aggro-Rat [Rare]

A crudely made skirt of grass that is worn by the grass rats living in the grasslands near Victory Station. This skirt is considered a sacred object to these aggressive rodents.

+1 Defense

+1 Agility

Value: 30 Fayth

“Oh, that will do nicely. Free armor that increases defense and agility? Oh, hell yes.” Sure, it was pathetically low-tier for a rare item. Still, it was better than nothing and it had cost him only a little of his time and mana.

Scott equipped the thing over his pants then shook his hips experimentally. “Sexy.”

Suddenly, an ominous sensation crept along his spine. His body shivered involuntarily.

Your blasphemy has been noticed...

“What? Blasphemy?” Scott blinked. He was momentarily confused until the background music changed into a hardcore battle sound track. It was similar to the one from before, but this time there was a much more dangerous edge to it.

Three grass rats suddenly lunged out of the grass. One flew toward Scott like a demented rocket while another flanked him. Strangely, the third grass rat stood up on its hind legs and began to shake its little rodent booty in a bizarre dancing motion. Its little grass skirt swayed in time to a rhythm that only it understood.

Scott did his best to dodge the incoming rodent missile, but the rat flanking him caught him in the thigh. The man cried out in pain as razor sharp teeth tore through his miniscule defense to draw blood. A red number two appeared over his head.

He danced with the rats for a few brief seconds while trying to avoid another attack. However, his distraction proved to be a severe downfall. The dancing rat stopped dancing.

The third grass rat has called for a friend!

.... Four more grass rats appear!

“Shit!” exclaimed Scott. He took a hard hit to his thigh once more, and lost three more hit points. Out of desperation he leapt back with all his might. Mid-leap he prepped his freeze spell.

“Freeze!” He unleashed his freezing spell and caught all seven rats in its icy grip. Immediately he kicked and stomped at the closest rodents in the hope of finishing them off. He needed to get away from the things, but they would overwhelm him anyway if he left it like this.

He managed to kill one of them and a brilliant light erupted around him! A victorious fanfare occurred and a screen popped up to tell him that he had gained a level. He could not bother to look at it at the moment. The rats had nearly shaken off the effect of the spell.

There was a five percent chance to slow, and up to a forty percent chance to freeze an opponent if they are weak to ice. However, he noticed that either the slow effect was not accounted for properly or it was something else entirely. Whatever he hit with that spell would at least slow down for a few brief seconds. He chose it over Flash and Burn due to its nature as a cone shaped area of effect spell, and that very slow down effect.

Scott cast his spell once more after fending off a leaping rat, and caught five of the remaining six rats in its cone of influence. Four of the rats died outright, but to his horror the sixth rat had started to dance.

That dance was a problem for the man. The rat was a good thirty feet away. He might be able to make it in time to disrupt its dance, but if he did not get there in time he would be right back where he started and with less health than before!

He did the only thing that a brave adventurer such as himself could do in this situation. He screwed up his courage, fixed his resolve, and then bravely ran away at all possible speed.

Scott only managed six steps before the dance ended. This time five rats appeared.

The terrified sorcerer ran for his life as first six, and then a few seconds later ten, rats gave chase. The damned dancing rat continued to dance even while the man fled as fast as he could go. By the time he came up to the road, there were twenty rats nipping at his heels.

Unable to do anything but desperately flee, he was surprised by the sudden appearance of a familiar town guard. The guard lept in front of Scott and roared out an impressive shout that echoed throughout the countryside. The sorcerer fell back onto his ass, and the rats were bowled over as well.

You have been stricken with a feeling of absolute terror!

You are stunned and paralyzed with fear for thirty seconds.

Scott’s body was already in panic mode, but not his mind threatened to shut down with the unholy fear coursing through his body and soul.

The guard put his hand on Scott’s shoulder and exclaimed, “Courage, lad!”

A vibrant red light flared outward from the man’s hand to encompass Scott completely. The fear effect was washed away and he could literally feel his health and mana being restored.

“Can you stand? If so, finish these rats off before they can get their bearings!”

Scott took a quick breath then lept to his feet. The rats were tightly packed in a sick display of solidarity. Most were lying on their back with their feet up in the air while their little paws clutched feebly at nothing.

“Freeze!” shouted Scott. He unleashed his magical attack twice in succession, easily killing most of the rats. A few were just outside the range of the spell so he rushed forward and cast it once more. He finished up the rats that were left by using a few swift kicks and downward stomps to their helpless rodent bodies.

“Back to the road, lad. Do it quickly and take that damned skirt off!” barked the guard.

Scott quickly complied. Now that he had time to think, he realized exactly what the blasphemy from before had to be. The rats did not like it when he put on that skirt.

“Ye, fool. What were you thinking wearing that thing out in the grasslands?”

Scott shook his head. “I didn’t know it would cause the rats to go crazy.”

The older man sighed. “Yes, I guess it can’t be helped. You aren’t from around here. You’re lucky that I was heading home for the day, though.”

“Don’t I know it! Thank you!”

The guard laughed. “It’s fine. Though, you should be careful. It’s bad enough that you did something so foolish, but to bring a score of aggressive beasts right to the town? That’s a pretty serious crime, you know.”

“Shit!” exclaimed Scott. Was he going to be arrested?

The man laughed at the sorcerer. “Don’t be too worried about it. If I had not known that you were new to the area I’d haul you in for this, but I’ll let it go this time.”

“Thank you. I am sorry to be so much trouble.”

The guard laughed again. “It’s fine. In the future though, you should remember that even if you don’t get someone hurt by dragging monsters to the road there’s a pretty hefty fine.”

“How hefty?”

“Hmm, well... grass rats are pretty weak. Given the number you would have probably owed around two or three thousand Fayth, about ten times that amount if they had actually injured someone.”

“Yeesh! I’ll keep that in mind.”

“It’s not a problem if you need the help and no one gets hurt. The fine is to keep random hunters and adventurers from dragging the town guard into dealing with their messes. Consider the fine as payment for services rendered by the town.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good, good. I’d avoid the grasslands for a while. The rats don’t forgive easily.”

Scott sighed. “Great. I need to find some rabbits for a job I took on.”

The guard looked at Scott curiously. “If you want rabbits, why are you hunting rats?”

“There aren’t any rabbits in the grassland?”

“No, not around here. The rats run anything else out if they can. Try the fields to the south, or the woods down the road apiece.”

Scott considered his suggestion. He had run across two rabbits on the road while coming to town. They would probably be somewhat common in the woods. “OK, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Also, a bit of advice. Go eat something before heading out. You look like death warmed over.”

The sorcerer nodded at that. His wounds had been healed by the power of courage, but he was still shaking. That had been an incredibly close call. He would have to pay more attention to things in the future. After parting ways with his savior, Scott decided to check the results of the battle.

He had been forced to ignore the various status windows, so he had lost out on learning what he had gained from the fight. However, he could guess by checking his status and inventory.

He had gained three more of those supposedly rare grass skirts. There were around twenty-one rat pelts, twenty-four rat tails, and three rat eyes. He also had a single rat fang. All told, he had earned thirty-two Fayth as well.

“As insanely dangerous as that was, I earned more in the last few minutes than I normally earned in a day of package delivery.”

He checked his status:

Name: ScottClass: SorcererRace: HumanAge: 18Level: 2EXP: 45Next: 15Ability Points: 42Health: 13[13]Mana: 18[34]Attack: 6[30]Defense: 5[21]Strength: 6[6]Agility: 4[4]Accuracy: 5[5]Intellect: 12[12]Luck: 6[6]

Scott was absurdly pleased with the outcome. While his health and mana had not increased much, his attack and defense had increased greatly. At this rate, he would be beyond the power of those grass rats sometime soon. He idly wondered if his defense could become strong enough to completely ignore enemy attacks.

The unarmed combat skill drastically improved his attack and defense. If he had tried to fight an opponent without a weapon, and without the skill boost, he would only be able to use his base attack and defense. Of course, the trade-off was the fact that knuckle and boot weapons were the weakest class of weapon.

Claw weapons were rated to be similar to daggers, though. They were still low-end damage dealers, and the shortest threat range among all weapons, but with training an unarmed fighter could easily be on the same level as a swordsman or other weapon wielder. An unarmed fighter might even have higher attack and defense than an equivalent weapon wielder if they developed great strength and agility.

Scott remembered what Mid had said about awakening his skill tree at level two. He checked his skill menu and noticed that his two skills had the word ‘Upgrade’ next to them now. He was eager to check that out, but opted to return to town first. The grassland still gave off an ominous vibe and he did not want to get caught unaware by another rat hoard.

He jogged back to town as quickly as he could. Neerdles was on the south-side of town, in a low-rent district. The place seemed nice enough, but Scott did not appreciate the fact that he had to share a room with thirty or so other men. Instead of heading to the inn, he opted to find a nice empty corner of town near the wall.

Scott will his skill menu open then clicked on the sorcery upgrade option. A screen opened up showing him one option, and several grey colored lines extending outward from it only to disappear into darkness. The one available option was, Skill-up.

“Ten ability points? Hmm...” He closed the sorcery menu and opened the unarmed combat menu. His option was almost exactly the same in that skill as well. The only difference was the way that the grey lines were arranged before they went off into the darkness.

Both skills required him to expend ten ability points to perform a skill-up, whatever that meant. “Might as well try it.”

He clicked on skill-up and a window popped up asking if he was sure that he wanted to select the skill-up option. He clicked, ‘Yes.’

Congratulations!

Your unarmed combat mastery has been upgraded! You have mastered the basics of unarmed combat!

Your attack and defense will increase by five points when you fight unarmed.

Your attack, defense, hit points, strength, agility, and accuracy will now have an additional permanent +1 level-up modifier.

You are now capable of developing your physical traits.

You are now capable of learning basic unarmed combat techniques!

“Now that’s what daddy’s talking about!” Scott felt an absurd joy race through his body. Level-up modifiers for stats meant that he would always gain at least that many points for those stats when he gains a level! There was a chance, however slight, that he might have gotten no increased stats in some attributes when he leveled up before.

He checked the unarmed combat skill selection once more then grinned. The grey colored lines had turned bright yellow.

There were several option boxes available now. He could upgrade his attributes using ability points; even add in another modifier for his level. “Hmm, no special abilities, huh?”

The new boxes had lines leading away from them that probably led to other interesting abilities or skills. He would probably have to activate those options first if he wanted to increase his abilities further.

“Better do a skill-up for sorcery before anything else.” He could earn more ability points, but he did not want to risk his level-up bonus by not activating those first!

After clicking on the skill-up option for sorcery he was given a similar bonus for his intelligence and mana that he had gained for his other stats with unarmed combat. He also had the ability to upgrade those stats and to develop his spells.

“Interesting, I only have four attribute increasing options, but I have a several spells that I can learn.” His three current spells were shown, but they were grayed out. He checked the information for them and learned that he could upgrade those spells after he had reinforced them four times. Once he had mastered the spell, he could improve it. That was good news.

“This is cool, but so weird. I don’t know if this world is real or a game, but it is definitely fun.” In a modern game he would probably have skill levels and need to use a skill a billion times to increase it by a small margin. This old school system allowed him to fight whatever he wanted to improve himself by will alone.

He rubbed his chin. He had twenty-two points left. Each of the new spells on the first-tier required forty ability points. He could not learn them. He could increase his mana or intelligence but at the moment he preferred to shore up his weakness. Scott returned to the unarmed combat screen.

“Let’s see what we get...” He clicked on the upgrade for his health and then confirmed the action. Ten ability points disappeared from his life and his health increased by five points. The option remained available, but now it would cost twenty-five points to upgrade it again.

So, that was how it worked. He could directly upgrade his stats, but they would require more ability points each time. That little nugget of detail about this world might prove to be quite tedious unless he could gain more than one point per opponent. He could not upgrade his health again at the moment, but he could upgrade his agility. Increasing that attribute through the option only raised it by one point. However, his defense increased by four points because he was unarmed. “Sweet!”

Scott could do nothing more with his skills at the moment, but he knew that he would be visiting that screen often. He considered his options for the moment and decided that his best path forward would be to heavily grind his physical attributes for now. When his basic spells were mastered he would focus on developing his magic more. It might be a mistake, but he did not like the idea of being so fragile.

His new life in this world was not one of sedentary gaming, or forced participation. He literally lived or died by his decisions and the likelihood that he could keep hoping for someone to save him from his own stupidity was small. He loved the idea of learning magic. It was one of his secret dreams.

However, he wanted to be able to survive in this world. Supposedly, he could not permanently die. That did not mean that he wanted to test that theory. Fighting monsters might seem like a bizarre game-like experience, but the pain was real. His body could be injured. It was not like he was actually a game character in that regard.

If he was attacked and the attack was strong enough, his body showed damage. The grass rats had torn large gashes in his body. It was not exactly equivalent, however. If it was a percentage equivalent then a man who took three hit points of damage when he only had ten hit points would look like he had been beaten severely.

He was not really certain how that worked to be honest. He just wanted to avoid having his health hit zero. As far as he could tell, health seemed like a damage mitigation function, but he hoped that he never discovered the truth. There were many mysteries to this world.

Sure, he would be able to completely heal after a day or two of rest, or after the application of healing abilities. That did not mean that he could not feel fear and the pain was certainly real.

Whether or not this place was a game, he could not say. All he knew was that he could literally do whatever he wanted. He had a fresh start. He would make the most of the hand he had dealt for himself, and see just where this new life would take him.