'This is bad, very bad.' It was understandable as to why Damian was calling the situation "bad."

Three dog-sized rats, with a leader as big as two dogs on top of each other, with their hairs standing like needles glaring at you all the while circling you, wasn't a situation you would consider good. Would you?

If someone said yes, Damian was ready to have a blood bath with him or her. Standing in the middle of the circling monsters, naked and holding a dry stick, he was having a hard time thinking clearly.

*Squeak*

Letting out a low squeak, the leader came to a halt, followed by its companions.

Damian knew he didn't have much time left. Once the rats were done sizing up the intruder, they would attack him.

'Ok, calm down Damian. Look at the situation more carefully.' Taking deep breaths, Damian barely kept his calm, running his eyes around.

'They have circled me from all four directions. The tree behind me is protecting my back from the rats...' Suddenly Damian's eyes flashed with realisation.

'Tree, rats, and an unknown intruderThat's it, it might work.' With a clear goal in mind, Damian did a squat, putting all his weight on the muscles of his leg.

*Squeak!*

The rats, surprised by the sudden moment of their intruder, backed off, observing him carefully. At no further moment, they stepped forward, this time more aggressive than before.

*Squeeeak!*

Receiving the signal from the leader, all the rats including the leader, lunged at Damian.

'Now!' Damian pushed his body upwards with all the strength his feet could muster. Flying meters above the ground, his hands quickly grabbed a branch of the tree.

*Slam! Slam!*

The rats' heads were slammed against the tree or another rat. Before they could come out of their trance...

Damian let go of the branch and jumped on a rat beneath him.

"Waaaahhh!"

Before the bearer of the fall or the other rats could react, Damian started slamming his foot on the rat, all the while screaming loudly.

*Squeeeak!*

The rat yelped in agony as it tried to drop the human on it, but Damian wasn't about to give it a chance. As if the feet weren't enough, he began slamming the dry stick on the poor rat's head.

*Squeeeeak! *

The rat's yelps of pain were intensified as it looked around at its companions. The companions, however, had no intention of rescuing their comrades from the insane human. In fact, they backed off.

Their hesitation gave Damian the time he needed to put an end to the poor fellow's suffering.

«You have killed a 'Wild rat'.»

«5 Experience earned!»

«5 Class experience earned!»

«0.5 Spirit collected.»

«Congratulations! On your first kill.»

«'Quest: First Kill' complete!»

«Rewards have been added to your Inventory.»

Damian ignored the system messages and continued slamming on the poor rat, screaming even louder than before.

*Squeeeeeak!*

The leader squeaked loudly. Its hair stood on end like needles, as It fixed its gaze on Damian, who was making his way forward.

It would be incorrect to say Damian was unafraid. He was terrified, but he knew that if he let his fear overcome him, it would be the end of him. That's why, instead of backing down, he kept moving forward... "Waaaaaaahhhh!"

Screaming loudly, he started beating the stick on the tree.

Seeing the insane human, the wild rats hesitantly retreating backwards, but the leader persisted.

Damian took full advantage of the fleeing wild rodents. Grabbing a hold of the carcass beneath him, he lifted it up, and started slamming it on the ground, all the while screaming incoherently.

The wild rats couldn't take it any longer and fled in various directions. When the leader was left alone, it looked at its running companions and then at Damian before running into the forest.

Even after the monsters were gone, Damian continued his actions.

*Cough! Cough!*

Damian couldn't continue forever. Minutes later, his body collapsed on the ground, as coughing fits escaped his mouth. The screams had made his throat dry and itchy.

"Ahhh!"

Putting an end to his coughs was the pained scream that escaped Damian's mouth, as he held his bleading legs, twitching around in pain.

'I overstimated myself. I am still the same.' Looking at the needles like hairs struck in his legs, Damian still couldn't believe that not only did they look like needles, but they were as hard as needles.

Damian had a straightforward plan. Rats were cowards by nature and he planned to exploit this fact. When the rats attacked him, he would jump up, grab a branch, and hang in midair.

By then, the rats' heads would have been smashed on the tree or on another rat. He would use that opportunity to jump down on one of the smaller rats, slam his feet on its body, and scream loudly to scare the rest of the rats.

Everything went as planned, but he overestimated himself and underestimated the rats. Not only did they not flee the first time, but the hairs on their bodies were actually tough, as Damian discovered the fact, the hard way.

And that brought Damian to now, turning around on the ground, all naked with his bleading legs.

"Ahhhh!"

A scream escaped Damian's mouth as he yanked the last hair from his leg.

'Message! Message! Message!' Damian kept repeating the word in his head as he opened the system bar to his right.

-----//-----

[ ‹Quest› ‹Inventory³› «Messages» ]

>----

«You have killed a 'Wild rat'.»

«5 Experience earned!»

«5 class experience earned!»

«0.5 Spirit collected.»

«Congratulations!...»

-----//-----

Damian read every message but couldn't find anything that would help him recover.

'Please, please, let there be a health potion in the invitory.' Praying to all god he knew of, Damian opened the Inventory, which had previously been greyed out.

-----//-----

[ ‹Quest› «Inventory³» ‹Messages› ]

>----

‹Black T-shirt X1›

‹Black loosers X1›

‹Black athletic shoe X2›

-----//-----

"Damn it all!" Damian screamed at the top of his lungs, which elicited yet another pair of cough.

*Phew!*

"Calm down, Damian, calm down. Screaming like this will have no effect." Damian barely completed the sentence through his gritting teeth as he made his way to the dead rat.

Holding back his disgust at seeing the body with a squashed head and body, he turned the corpse around, trying to see if there was something under it.

But Damian was out of luck; this wasn't your typical RPG world, or the dead monster would have dropped some loot.

"Ahh!!"

Another painful yelp left his mouth as Damian looked behind him at his feet. Dragging on the ground, they were filled with large and small holes, fresh blood flowing out of them. As he gazed at the pool of blood beneath his legs, Damian felt whatever blood remained in his body run dry.

Damian had never seen so much blood in his life, and never in his wildest dreams had he imagined his first time being his own.

'Is this the end?...' Negative thoughts started filling Damian's mind as he couldn't see a way out of the situation.

*Squeak!*

The broken dam of Damian's negative emotions were clogged by the pained yelp of a creature he had ignored.

Turning his head Damian locked his eyes with the smallest of the Wild rats. Its brown hairs were dyed red from the blood oozing from the fresh bites and cuts as it lay motionless on the ground. The immobile body screamed that it didn't have much time left. Its eyes, however...

Even on death's door, the creature's eyes shone with the same radiance they had when attacked from all sides. They radiated determination and a refusal to accept the inevitable.

'We are in the same position physically, but so different spiritually. I'm not sure what's going through your head, or if anything is going through your head at all, but I know...' Damian chuckled as his right hand searched for and grabbed the wooden stick. While his left hand propelled him forward...

"You are a warrior." Damian's hand gave one more pull, dragging him inches away from the nearly dead Wild rodent.

"Give me a chance to live, and be a warrior, just like you." Damian wasn't sure if he could survive with so much of his blood lost, and even if he did, he wouldn't be in any condition to walk, and he was sure that Wild rat weren't the only monsters in the forest. That's why...

"Now, all my hopes are on you..." He had no choice but to kill the Wild rat. If he did, he would gain five more experience points and level up. Maybe levelling up will heal his wounds? Damian didn't know, but he was willing to bet everything at the smallest chance to live rather than give up.

Raising the stick high in the air, Damian's dark black eyes locked with the dull grey ones of the Wild rat. The eyes were tired and dull, but they shone with the bright brilliance of determination and unyieldingness.

"Brave." With a quick motion Damian struck the stick down extinguishing the last glint of life from the dull eyes.

«You have killed a 'Wild rat'.»

«5 Experience...»