Alf sprawled on a patch of matted leaves, trying to figure out how to change the name on his stats page.

Name: Jane

Level: 1

Class: —

Health: 100/100

Stamina: 52/100

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 0/400

ST: 10

DX: 10

CN: 10

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.9, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.7%)

“Watch out!”

Alf turned to follow Blix’s eyes, but something slammed into him, sending him tumbling as needle-sharp teeth ripped and snapped their way towards his neck.

He grabbed the thrashing, torpedo-shaped monster and tore it from his chest, but before he could regain his feet, it scrabbled up his right arm, clawing and biting a bloody path toward his throat.

A blur smashed into the monster, knocking Alf back onto the ground. Blix hit the giant rat again, a grapefruit-sized rock clasped like a hammerstone in her hand. The rat let out a hissing roar and lunged, but Alf punched and grabbed and regripped as the ball of liquid fury twisted and snapped and ripped his fingers to shreds.

He flung it away from him with a twisting motion that spun him onto his knees, but the rat landed catlike on its feet and streaked towards Blix who was sitting less than ten feet away.

Alf lunged, trying to put himself between the monster and his friend, but it scrabbled over his outstretched hands even as he rolled and grabbed it by the tail. A jolt passed through his arms, dragging him slowly across the ground. He tried to scoot onto his knees, but it was all he could do to hold on. Just when it seemed like the beast’s tail would break, the monster whipped around like a snake and went for his face.

He popped to his feet, but it was clawing up his arm. Still gripping it by the tail, he snapped the rat like a whip, swinging it like he was trying to drive an inside pitch in a line drive over third base. It ripped free of his shoulder as Alf spun in a tight circle, faster and faster to keep the pointy end of the monster as far as possible from his body.

“Keep spinning,” Blix called out. “Slam its head into a tree.”

The world blurred as he drifted closer and closer to edge of the clearing. The rat’s head clipped the trunk of a massive tree. He spun even faster. He could do this. As long as he didn’t slow down, the rat wouldn’t be able to attack.

Then a flash of blinding light sent him reeling. He barely managed to release the tail before he crashed into the ground.

“Alf!” Blix cried. “Get up!”

Congratulations! You have learned the skill:

Grappling 1: (Effective Level: 1, Basis: 2ST+DX). You may now use hand-to-hand wrestling techniques to 3% greater advantage.

Dismissing the dialog with a thought, Alf climbed dizzily to his feet and turned to face the enraged rat. It was approaching more cautiously now, hissing and screaming its rage to every predator within a hundred yards.

“Heads up!”

His walking stick hit him in the chest, but somehow he managed to get a hand around it right as the rat charged. Gripping the stick like his little league Louisville Slugger, he stepped into the low fast ball, swinging for the fences. The weighted end connected just behind the rat’s shoulders, sending it tumbling just outside the third base line. It was only an infield foul, but at least it kept him alive.

Not waiting for the windup, he charged the rat and swung again. This time his bat connected with its head. Growls and demonic hisses filled the clearing as he swung again and again, but the foul thing wouldn’t die.

“Look out!” Blix cried out behind him. “There’s another one!”

Alf turned just in time to see another rat torpedoing through the weeds. He barely had time to set his set his feet before he swung.

Crack! His walking stick vibrated with a satisfying jolt as the new rat arced through the air, its limp body rotating in a slow clockwise motion. A dialog popped up, blocking his vision.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Darat.

Reward: 75 EXP

Congratulations! You have learned the skill:

Faire du Canne 1: (Effective Skill: 1, Basis: DX+ST). You may now fight with a weighted cane to 3% greater effect.

He dismissed the dialog and turned back to his original opponent which was moving away from him at a hobble.

“Um, Alf?” Blix called out in a hushed voice. “Something’s coming. Something big.”

Turning reluctantly away from the battered rat, he jogged over to Blix and followed the direction of her gaze. At first he didn’t see anything but trees. Then a shadow of moment caught his eye. A few seconds later he caught sight of another shadow, but this time it was forty yards to his right.

“Whatever they are, they’re huge,” he whispered. “And I couldn’t even kill the first rat.” He picked her up and carried her to an adolescent oak with branches that reached all the way to the ground.

A flash of silver and white showed through the trees not more than twenty yards away. Another larger and darker shadow to the left. Another to the right.

“Blix?”

He boosted her as high into the branches as he could reach before a chorus of chest-vibrating growls sounded all around them. It was a pack of giant wolves.

* * *

Name: Jane

Level: 1

Class: —

Health: 20/100

Stamina: 46/100

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 75/400

ST: 10

DX: 10

CN: 10

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 1: (Effective Skill: 1, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 3%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 3%)

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.9, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.7%)