It took hours for my lungs to stop burning and for the swelling in my eyes to go down. The rats that scurried through all those varieties of perfume had truly blended them into something nasty, and with the stench of the beast’s natural musk and the odor of death and decay in the room, it almost did me in. Part of my mind tells me that I need to go back in there and search the place somehow, but another part of it just laughs maniacally at that one.

As my vision slowly cleared, I blurrily looked up at the multiple windows that I’d spawned from that one event.

Congratulations, you have achieved level 6!

You gain 14 HP, 8 MP, 4 SP!

You have been awarded 35 CP!

Congratulations, you have achieved level 7!

You gain 14 HP, 8 MP, 4 SP!

You have been awarded 40 CP!

Congratulations, you have achieved level 8!

You gain 14 HP, 8 MP, 4 SP!

You have been awarded 45 CP!

Congratulations, you have unlocked the Rat Slayer achievement.

You will now do 2x damage to all rats.

Your total Bristlebane Rat kills is: 100

You need 900 more to unlock the Advanced Rat Slayer achievement.

Congratulations, you have slain the Rat Champion!

You need 3 more Rat Champion kills to unlock the Elevator Access.

You need 4 more Goblin Champion kills to unlock the Elevator Access.

You gain +100 Valor, +100 Might.

You gain +25% Experience from all Race: Rat in the future.

You gain a New Skill: Familiarity (Rat) (1)

Congratulations, you have unlocked the First Champion Slayer achievement!

You will now do 1.5x damage to all Champion Ranked monsters.

Warning: You are under the Status: Damaged Sense of Smell (68:22:11)

Holy crap! That was a lot of stuff that happened! Three levels, 42 HP, and 120 CP! Too bad the leveling messages are all mingled together; I can’t tell what might have gave them to me. I slew countless little rats, three large ones, the one I was thinking of as the “Boss Rat” – though it seems it’s probably called a “Rat Champion” instead – and somewhere in that mess of killing I’d achieved the next rank of “Rat Slayer”, and I got an achievement for “First Champion Slayer”.

Lots of things had changed, and all from that one fight!

“Stats! Skills!”

DING! DING!

Name: Bloody HellTitles: The WitnessAge: 17Level: 8CP: 130STR: 9SYI: 8WIL: 7DEX: 10MYS: 8PRE: 7CON: 14SPR: 4LUC: 11HP: 116MP: 72SP: 36PD: 1DR: 0MR: 0SE: 8

Witness Protection -- ????

Witness Liquidation -- ???

Witness Reconstitution -- ??? (Current death today: 0)Spiritual Manipulation – Allows the user to manipulate the energy of the spirit realm when the conditions are right to do so. (12)Club Use – Proficiency (8)Harvesting (Animal) (3)—Allows the user to attempt to harvest meat and other goods from an animal. The higher the skill, the higher quality animal products that can be harvested.Familiarities (Rat) (1) – Due to prolonged exposure with the rat species, you now have a chance to try and understand their behavior patterns and habits with more accuracy.

I didn’t even need to think about what I was wanting to do with my CP. Instantly, I dumped all I could into CON so that I’d heal faster and gain more life each level. It seemed to me that it’d be hard to find anything better to put them into if survival was your main goal in life. When I had finished, I’d spent 119 cheat points and raised my CON all the way up to 20! It was now over twice as high as any other stat of mine!

Name: Bloody HellTitles: The WitnessAge: 17Level: 8CP: 11STR: 9SYI: 8WIL: 7DEX: 10MYS: 8PRE: 7CON: 20SPR: 4LUC: 11HP: 116MP: 72SP: 36PD: 1DR: 0MR: 0SE: 8

Witness Protection -- ????

Witness Liquidation -- ???

Witness Reconstitution -- ??? (Current death today: 0)Spiritual Manipulation – Allows the user to manipulate the energy of the spirit realm when the conditions are right to do so. (12)Club Use – Proficiency (8)Harvesting (Animal) (3)—Allows the user to attempt to harvest meat and other goods from an animal. The higher the skill, the higher quality animal products that can be harvested.Familiarities (Rat) (1) – Due to prolonged exposure with the rat species, you now have a chance to try and understand their behavior patterns and habits with more accuracy.

I’d considered spending a few points to raise my Harvesting (Animal) skill since it was still so low, but I decided not to. From what one of the other descriptions read, I needed at least 3 more Champion Rat kills to “open Elevator Access”. Since I’d already experienced first hand that the game had no-access areas, logic was telling me that I probably wouldn’t be able to get the elevators to work so I could leave this floor. Most than likely, I was going to have plenty of chances to raise my harvesting skill before I got out of here.

One added benefit to spending all those points in CON: I was feeling much better than before, even though the lingering Stink-That-Was seemed glued to my body. And, my HP had recovered in the last few hours, from where I’d almost used broken door splinters to anal probe myself as I scooted up the steps earlier while trying to get to the fresh air.

Once I was feeling up to it again (and since Little Bud was complaining of being exposed to the glaring sunlight once more), I finally swiped a hand to close all the windows and staggered up to my feet and down the steps. The perfume odor on the Rat Champion was just as strong as it was on me, but the beast also had a retched musky smell to it that once again made my eyes start burning and swelling all over again. Apparently the larger beast just didn’t have the properties of a porcupine and a rat, but also some trait of something similar to a skunk as well.

I wanted to try to skin it and see if my harvesting skill could give me anything useful like its fur, but the stench was just too much for me right now, and I didn’t trust my skill level either. Practice first on all the little ones and then I can come back to this thing later. For now, I ignored it and worked my way on down and steps and into the goblin’s room. From in there I tore open one of the Maxi-bandages and taped it somewhat loosely over my face. I doubt anyone had ever intended for a Maxi to be used as an air filter, but that’s what I needed it for right now!

Once I was satisfied that the pad was in place, I went back down to the rat’s lair. I didn’t even bother to check to see if anything was living in there; after the odor I’d experience and all the dings that I’d heard, I was certain the room was empty now. Even with the maxi-filter on, the odor in here was still enough to make me feel light headed fairly quickly, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay in here long. My first order of business was to work myself past the fumes and open every window I possibly could. If this place aired out for a few days, I might be able to search it better later!

Figuring that was good enough for now, I turned and started to rush back to the doorway when I saw two things that caught my attention. The first was a body that seemed to be wearing a pair of overalls like the janitorial staff normally wore, and it had a large belt with a massive bunch of keys hanging on a key ring on it. I made certain to undo that belt and grab it, key ring, and all. The other thing I saw was a massive leather bound book that was about twice the height and width of anything a student would use for a textbook, and about three times as thick. It was massive! Larger than any encyclopedia or dictionary that I’d ever seen before, so I also grabbed it up and then I high-tailed it out of there.

A few moments later, I was back on the rooftop once more indulging in the fresh air again. I took several long minutes to let my eyes stop watering and for the burning in my lungs to ease up, and then I opened the book I found.

DUMPT! DUMPT! DUMPT!

You do not have the Mysticism sufficient enough to use that!

That stupid no-no sound went off once again, and a message box popped up telling me I couldn’t use the book now. And it also gave me another important hint about what all the stats represented! MYS was probably Mysticism! And since my MP went up by the same amount that I had in MYS each level, it probably represented my Mana Points. The two was probably linked much like CON and HP was. SP and SPR were probably linked as well, but I’m still not certain what those are. I was thinking SP might’ve been Stamina Points, but I don’t see how SPR could relate to stamina. Perhaps Sprinting and Speed Points?

Ah, who the heck knows! I’ll learn in time. After all, I’m “The Witness.”

I belted the janitor’s belt around my waist, tucked the book under my left arm, and grabbed up my makeshift club. Thanks to the keys I’d found, I was going to give myself one more reward this evening, as long as I didn’t bounce into any more monsters between here and my destination. And luckily (or perhaps everything had fled the stench wafting down the hallway), the short trip past the rat’s room and to the teacher’s lounge on this hall was clear of any trouble.

Gratefully, I fumbled with the keys for a few moments until I could get the door unlocked, and then I pushed it on opened – just to see a startled young lady holding a mop shakily in her hands on the other side of it and staring back at me!