“It seems we have company little rat.” The giant Silver said.

I’m curious who it might be.

“You. Are…what?” A broken voice, a dull voice could be heard. It sent shivers down my spine.

“A…giant? Color…gray? Silver? Horns…codex…scan…insufficient data.” This…is definitely a living being. Why is its voice so dull then?

“You seem to know our language. You’re definitely not from this world, I can tell that much. The question is…what do you want?”

“Codex…scans…knowledge…harness…the…ELEMENTS!”

*Heeek* that scared me. Something flashed behind me. I ran behind Silver and looked at the place the flash happened.

It’s…a butterfly? It's colorful. Blue, yellow,green,red and purple. The red and purple parts have a darker hue than the others, though.

“Rat demon…bloodline…mutated…impure…tainted.” It’s talking about me? Weird ass butterfly if you ask me. I am going out of this dungeon. Silver can deal with this guy.

“Little butterfly, what do you want to know? I can fulfill you 1 wish, since you’re not from this world after all. You look like a [Five Phases Butterfly], that’s true…but…the energy fluctuations are wrong! The [Five Phases Butterfly] harnesses the most basic elements of fire,earth,wind,water and lightning! You however have a holy energy in your body instead of the earth element!” yeah yeah…I don’t get it. I don’t care. Just going to take my leave then. Okay?

“wish…?” Wait what…? He gets a wish?! The hell you damn giant want me to “ora ora” you to the moon? You are good friends with my rat clan then you should give me a wish and not to that damn butterfly!

I stared angrily at Silver until he noticed.

“hmm? You still haven’t gone away?” Nope. Want my wish.

“I feel dissatisfied. I want a wish as well.” I said while pouting.1

“No. Now go away.” …You’re so dead when I come back here with end-game skills and gear.

“Why?”

“You’re irritating. It’s because I already fulfilled your wish. You wanted to know the way out of this dungeon, right? I told you. Now go away.” Alright…I shall come back.

And so…I, the rat with no sense of direction finally found my way out of the damn dungeon. But before I came out I found a high level [Blood Mole] and used it to vent out my pent up anger.

Due to that and not letting it die. I feel sorry for it. A few of my skills leveled up.

[Name: Xiao Lan] [Race: Aquafang Rat(variation)] [Level:15] [Title: Dungeon Explorer(main),Rat of Mischief(secondary)]

HP: 230/230

MP: 84/84

Mental Status : Calm

Strength: 25

Agility: 25

Lifespan: 45

Vitality: 120

Intelligence:42

Wisdom:14

[Sonic Boom lv.3] became [Sonic Boom lv.4] – range increase and shredding power increased.

[Tainted Touch lv.1] became [Tainted Touch lv.2] – less HP usage,longer duration (duration : 10s)

Pretty good ,huh?

I directly left the dungeon and finally saw the sky again. I kneeled and started…kissing? The ground.

I felt…pleased.

Also. My skills.

Active skills [Sharp Fangs lv.1??/100(in the process of evolution) ] [Sonic Boom lv.4 0/400] [Rat Demon Sense Lv.2] [Appraisal lv.3] [Corruption Magic Lv.1]

Passive skills: [Cold Resistance Lv.1] [Wind Resistance Lv.1] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Night Vision Lv.4] [Poison Resistance Lv.3] [Water Affinity - Law of Absolute Zero] [Demon Language]

Toggle skills: none

Spell book : Corruption

Rank 1 : [Tainted Touch lv.2]

I suffered enough! Now’s the time to strike back! I shall build my own army.

But firstly. I need to find suitable candidates. My army is going to prioritize quality over quantity.

Goblins seem like a good starting point to be honest.

Let’s find some high level goblins.

If I remember correctly…it should be in the west!

Where is the west again? Can’t see the sun…canopy blocking the way. Moss? None? What the hell how did I not notice this before? This forest sure is weird~…

Let’s go this way then and hope I find some goblins with potential.

1 week has passed. At least I think it has.

I’ve lost track of time. I’ve been following this weird black goblin for who knows how long. He has golden colored eyes and black skin. He’s using a sharpened stone spear instead of a club like the other goblins.

I’ve found my first subordinate! That’s what I thought…But this guy!! This guy has two fucking female goblins following him around. And they aren’t [Lesser Goblins] but the adult versions, [Goblin].

I used appraisal on the black goblin and found out it’s stats.

[Name : Ro] [Race : Lesser Goblin (variation)][Level: 10][Title : Outcast]

HP: 150/150

MP: awakening

Mental Status : drowsy

Strength: 20

Agility: 40

Lifespan: 25

Vitality: 50

Intelligence: 70

Wisdom: 10

His agility and intelligence is higher than mine. What does MP awakening mean? Does it mean that he can’t use spells until it awakens?

Good thing it is a lesser goblin. That just means that I need to get rid of those two horny adult ones.

I can deal with them easily if they were one on one. But it’s three on one. And I can’t hurt the black one.

I could sneak attack one of the goblins with [Sonic Boom] and one shot it. But what about the black goblin? It would run away while the other one starts searching for the attacker.

I need a better plan. I’m at a disadvantage when it comes to making traps because of my body.

…

I know! Since I can understand their language now I can spy on them and find out their plans and secrets, and then..hehe…use that against them.

…And so night fell and I was spying on the goblins.

“Ro…you’re mother. She died right?” One of the females asked the black goblin.

“Hm.” Ro nodded.

“You’re not sad?” The other female added.

“Why should I be sad? She’s in a better place now. She won’t be abused by father…no,that man ever again!” Ro said.

“You’re the only one that has a human mother. You were discriminated because of that. Other children don’t like you. Is this why you ran?”

“No. also I just wanted to ask you this. Why are you following me?”

“Your mother was my friend.” Lies. But a good lie. Bonus points for that female. Negative points for the other one though, who brings up their dead mother in such a conversation?

“Really?” Whoa, whoa, whoa there. Shouldn’t you, like,have a higher intelligence than me? Why are you so naïve then?

“Absolutely!” The female goblin said while puffing her chest out and slamming it.

“Good, you can stay.” You know. I changed my mind I want the girl as my subordinate. I’m killing the other one though. Black guy can stay as a servant.

“1..2…maximum power [SONIC BOOM]!” Her head was blown up. Looks so tasty. The other two are petrified. They are mine!2

“Hm…hm…My name is Little Blue. I am here to tell you that you’re under my wing now. Thank you for listening. Let me rewrite your memories then.” Rewriting memories, a new function I found out. It’s part of the [Corruption Magic] skill. I only found out about it after using appraisal on the skill. I didn’t even think about using appraisal on skills.

I came up close to the female and casually rewrote her memories. The cost was only 40% of my HP. Not a lot. I can always regenerate after eating. I mean…I’m a demon after all! Next is…Ro!

Ro…you little fella. Thank you for giving me such a good subordinate. Let’s see…what should I do with your memories? Should I make you into a slave of the female or a servant? Let’s make you into her little boy toy!

Alright now that that is over. I need a base.

…

This place seems good!3

I’m going to eat the other corpse before the other two awaken.

Fuu…health was at 46 after rewriting the memories. After eating the corpse it was on 150.

Around 65%.

Those two still haven’t woke up.

I should probably wake them up. Hehe…subordinates huh. Step 1 in my plan is complete. Step 2. Begins now.

…After around half an hour they woke up.

I spoke first.

“You’re finally awake! No slacking off. Gather some wood for the fire. Ro you stay here with me I need help with something.”

“Yes master.” It worked!!! Haha. Honestly I was kind of nervous that it would fail. I’m relieved that it worked now.

“Ro…you. Do you know magic?” I asked.

“Master…my mother taught me dark magic before she died. She said that I have potential.” I knew it. Is that why he is black?

Must be.

“What kind of dark magic? Necromancy? Soul magic?” I asked. These two are the only type of dark magic I know of.

“Corruption magic.” Aha…wait what?

“Could you repeat that. I think I didn’t hear right.”

“Corruption magic. I know a few spells as well. Mostly decay type though. I can make a body age much faster for a huge price though. I can infect minds as well.”

Aha…should I kill him? I will learn all the spells he knows then kill him.

Sounds like a good plan.

“Teach me the spells.” I ordered. He couldn’t refuse and started teaching me the spells. The female goblin, I found out her name is Uso, came back. I told her to make this place our base camp. Any lesser demons that enter this place are either be killed or become our slaves.

Another week has passed and I finally learned the first spell. [Withering lv.1]

I used appraisal on it and was pleasantly surprised.

[Withering lv.1] – range 10 meters. Has the power to speed up the aging of things. The speed of aging can’t be controlled until the skill becomes lv.3. Speed multiplier 2x. cost : 10 HP/s

It could be useful in some situations. Torture mostly.

Now’s the time to learn the other spell as well.

“Ro. Next spell. You have 1 day to teach the formula for it.” I decided to only learn the formula of the spell and then master the spell on my own. Ro can go and die after that. Don’t care if he has potential. The female has even more potential for my own uses.

“Yes master.” Good boy.

“Master! We’ve got trouble!” What now?

“What is it Uso? Some lesser demons again?” I asked. Can’t she see that I’m in the middle of learning.

“No. Three two-star demons have entered our territory. The lesser bug demons have reported that one of them is a [Goblin].”

“A goblin? You can deal with it on your own. I’ll take care of the other one.”

“Yes master. As you command.” Damn…so bothersome. I need some guards.

This…could be trouble.

“Uso…this is a [Hobgoblin]…am I right?” I asked my subordinate. I already knew the answer. But I had to confirm.

“T-That’s right.” Don’t be so discouraged! We still have my [Withering lv.1] skill. I will use 3 skill points to level it up to lv.3.

[Withering lv.1] became [Withering lv.3] – speed multiplier 10x. Range : 20m Cost: 10 HP/s., control is possible.

My plan is ready.

The [Hobgoblin] the first evolution of the [Goblin]. The [Lesser Goblin] could be called a stage of life and not and evolution. But the [Hobgoblin] can be only achieved when one has earned enough experience.

They are smarter,stronger and quicker than normal goblins.

My plan is this.

First. Wound the [Hobgoblin] and then smear some poisonous paste Uso made into the wound.

Second. Use [Withering] to accelerate the poisoning. With that. The [Hobgoblin] will be paralyzed for 10 seconds. Enough time for me to kill it.

While all that is happening , Uso will fight the other goblin.

Good plan isn’t it?