Chapter 27: Resting

After thinking for a few minutes, I finally came up with a decision. I would try an alliance at first and if that didn’t work, then I would kill them. I would at least give them a chance. But if they resisted, I wouldn’t spare a single one. I wasn’t that worried about killing them all since I could just bring them back with necromancy. And if I did that, my level would surely rise quickly. Not only would my zombies be loyal to me, but I would be able to use them against the boss. It was a win-win situation.

The rats were a different case however. There was going to be no alliance with them. I was going to slaughter them all and I was going to enjoy it. Now I wasn’t a bloodthirsty person, but I hated rats with a passion. I had almost died to one of them after all. I don’t think I would ever forget the sense of helplessness I had then. I never wanted to feel that way again. So I needed to become stronger. I needed to become the strongest on this planet.

After I told the vampire my decision we talked for the next ten minutes before I fell asleep. Although the vampire had healed my life threatening wounds, he told me that only time would heal my other ones. The next few days passed by in a blur of darkness, dreams, and nightmares. I would occasionally wake up in cold sweat thanks to the formidable rat invading my dreams. Whenever I closed my eyes I would see it. The glistening fangs, my blood seeping out of my body, the helplessness I felt.

As I struggled to sleep, the vampire occasionally brought me food. The food ranged from some type of stew to a mysterious type of meat. I was hungry so I just ate without asking questions. As he fed me I couldn’t help but grow closer to him. Even though he only did this because he needed me alive, I was still touched.

Viola was also by my side too. I don’t when she got here, but I was glad she was okay. I don’t think my heart could’ve taken it if she died. She was my greatest creation after all. As I wandered around in my mind, I briefly noted that it had probably been a week since I got here. This meant that it would be harder to level up since I would no longer have double experience from my enemies. I would need to try harder if I wanted to escape this dungeon.

Finally, after several days of resting, I was feeling better. My body was still sore, but it was manageable. The places that were the hardest to move was the leg that got broken and the area around my left wrist. I had no idea how Simon, which was the vampire’s name, had fixed these two injuries, but I was glad nonetheless. But even though he had healed the injuries, his healing wasn’t perfect. I now possessed a scar on both my left wrist and in the middle of my chest. The reason I had a scar on my hand was because the rat had managed to bit it off. Thankfully he didn’t eat it so Simon could reconnect it. But since the injury was so damaging, he could only heal it enough to leave a scar. The scar on my chest was just too big to heal all at once.

To be honest I didn’t know how I felt about these new scars. It wasn’t even because of how they looked. Every time I saw one of them I was reminded of my weakness and what the rat had done to me. Anger surged throughout my body as I thought of how close I was to dying. How close I was to being eaten.

Shaking my head I focused on my goal of becoming stronger. The first thing I was going to do after I achieved my goal was kill that formidable rat. He was not going to get away scot free after what he had done to me. If it wasn’t for Simon I would be dead, inside some random rat’s stomach. When I met this wretched rat, I wouldn’t just kill him. No, he would suffer. Everything that I was forced to endure, he would receive. If I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

Once I was finished examining my scarred body, I looked at my skills. Several of them had leveled up when I had been running for my life. I had also gained new ones thanks to how strenuous the chase had been. This was what my magic skills looked like.

Air MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 7Exp: 25%Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them.

Earth MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 9Exp: 5%Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.

Electric ShockSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 35%Effect: Allows the user to launch an electrical attack that has a chance of paralysis.

Mana Affinity SkillSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UniqueSkill Level: 8Exp: 83%Effects: Any skill using mana cost 8% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.

My air magic was now level seven thanks to all of the wind arrows I had launched. Since they were hard to see, it was quite helpful in stopping the rats from catching up to me. My earth magic was still my highest level magic skill at level nine. The reason it was so high was thanks to all of the earth magic traps I had set when I was running.

Although my electric shock was only level five, it was high enough. Thanks to the new level I was able to launch electrical bolts through the air. No longer did I have to touch my enemies to electrocute them. One thing I noticed however was that my attack was more powerful if I touched the enemies directly. I guess launching the attack through the air made it lose some of its power.

Thanks to my use of these magic skills, my mana affinity skill was almost level nine. Because of all the electrified wind arrows I made, my mana affinity experience bar couldn’t do anything but go up. This is what my other skills looked like.

NecromancySkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: RareSkill Level: 5Exp: 20%Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse’s characteristics.

MeditationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 50%Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.

Enhanced VisionSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 7Exp: 70%Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. You are now able to see well at night.

ConcentrationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 6Exp: 40%Effects: This skill allows you to perceive more information at a quicker pace when you are focusing on something.

My necromancy and my meditation skill were still level five. Since I never had the opportunity to use them, their level stayed the same. I would have the opportunity to use them in the future, so I wasn’t that worried.

My enhanced vision managed to get a good amount of experience thanks to how much I was using my eyes during the chase. My eyes were always scanning my surroundings, looking for a gap to squeeze in. If I hadn’t been able to see well in the sewers, I probably would’ve stumbled on something and got myself killed. But since I could, I managed to escape from most of the rats.

The skill that leveled up the most however was concentration. Even though I got a throbbing headache, I was forced to utilize this skill to escape. Without this skill, I would have never been able to launch so many spells and flee at the same time. Diverting your concentration to two different things was extremely challenging. But thanks to my skill, it was manageable. I also notice that when I concentrated I understood more information at a quicker pace. If I got chased by the rats again, I was positive that I would find a way to lose them faster than I did before.

Normally these would be the last of my skills, but I managed to gain some new ones when was fleeing. They were stealth and pain resistance.

StealthSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: CommonSkill Level: 1Exp: 80%Effect: Allows the user to avoid detection.

Pain ResistanceSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: RareSkill Level: 5Exp: 57%Effect: Allows the user to withstand more pain than they normally would.

I had gained stealth by hiding from the multitude of rats that were chasing me. I was only able to utilize this skill for a short amount of time before I was forced to deal with the formidable rat. The final skill I had was pain resistance. I had got this skill when I was forced to go through utter hell with the formidable rat. I went through so much pain that my level in pan resistance grew all the way to level five. Even though I hated the torture I had to go through, I was thankful for the skill.

Once all of my skills were looked at, I glanced at my status.

Status WindowNameColm MarythouAge: 16Race: HumanLevel: 10Gender: MaleTitlesThe Peerless Descender, Undead ProphetHealth: 190/190Mana: 200/200Stamina: 190/190~Strength: 10[15]Agility: 23[3]Vitality: 8[1]Dexterity: 9Intelligence:25Wisdom:25Luck:0~SkillsMana Affinity, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Necromancy, Meditation, Enhanced Vision, Electric Shock, Concentration, Stealth, Pain ResistanceUnallocated Points: 5

I was now level ten thanks to all of the rats I had killed with my spells and earthen traps. My vitality sadly went down to nine because of my fur cloaks destruction. It was a shame, I really liked that cloak. Now that I had gained a level, I had five points that I could allocate. The question was where. As I was resting, I had been thinking about a lot things. Where to put my points was one of the things I had thought about.

Agility and intelligence would be my two main stats that I would put points in from now on. Although vitality would give me more health, putting points into agility would help me get hit less often. Dexterity would only be useful if I used a bow or a similar weapon. But since I used a spear, dexterity would not be used to its fullest capabilities. As for luck….I was just not putting points into it. A higher chance of criticals and loot would be nice, but as of right now, it seemed like a waste of points.

Wisdom raised my mana regeneration by a small amount and was really useful for magicians. But thanks to my meditation skill, it wasn’t really necessary. Now if I put a huge chunk of points into wisdom, then it would be a different story. But since I didn’t have that many points to spare, wisdom would have to be put on hold.

Strength would allow me to kill my enemies quicker, but it was more useful for melee oriented people. Although I used a spear in battle, I was more proficient in using magic. These were the reasons I decided to choose Intelligence and Agility to focus in.

Intelligence would raise my magic powers while agility would make me faster in battle. Most of my skills needed magic, so putting points into intelligence was a must. And the more points I put into intelligence, the bigger my mana pool would become. Agility was necessary for when my enemies got closer. I could cast spells while easily avoiding attacks from my enemies. This was the way I wanted to go.

I placed my five points into intelligence which brought it up to thirty points. The moment I did this, my mana increased by ten points. Now I would be able to cast more spells.

After I checked everything, I sat up and turned to Viola. It was time to see why the bats never came to my rescue.