Before it could notice me, I run away in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

I’m literally a burned corpse right now, there is no way that I will fight something that sounds like that!

I continued to wander in the tunnels until I found a huge metal door.

“What is the chance that this is the exit?”

I pushed the door(thank god it didn’t need to pull it), with my shoulders trying not to touch it with my hand.

Behind the door was, indeed, a way out. The bad news was that it was a metal leader going horizontally up.

“… My fucking luck...”

Even If I could climb that thing there is surely something covering that shit up. Who knows what that thing turns into if I touch it? At least I will remember where it is for now. Maybe in the future, I will get my hands back and I will be able to grab things again or find a material that stays solid when I touch it.

Yeah, I hope. Sigh, this is getting ridiculous.

To get used to it, got on my two hind legs and tried to walk. Because of my ‘condition’ I needed to make my back lent forward so that I could see in front of me. The feeling of walking was like when you are in those ice-skate boots. Only that one of the blades was shorter, making it completely unbalanced.

While I was ‘walking’ I noticed something on the ground.

It was a group of rats eating trash.

“… I could use a snack.”

I speed up a little bit, before getting on all four and jumping on one of them.

The one targeted didn’t show any resistance and I swallowed it whole.

Ugh, I can feel it… Ugh!

If not for the pleasant sensation, I would have thrown up right there.

*****

[Unknow material found]

[Analysing on the external server.]

*****

The rest of the rats run away in the same direction, so I decided to follow them. While I was at it I attacked the slowest one eating it in two bites.

I followed them to tourn where I met something unexpected.

From a side tunnel, a mass of bodies emerged. It was a mass of rats, crawling on each other, creating a ball of fur easily being 30 centimeters thick.

“What the hell is that? [Appraisal].”

____________________________________________________________________

Name: none

Race: Rattenkönig

LV: 5/35

HP:124/124

MP: 60/60

STR: 30

VIT: 40

SPD: 20

MRES: 10

Skill PT: 30

Physical attributes: [Dark Vision] [High Smell] [Shared Mind] [Golden Tail] [Collective Mind]

Skills: [Gross Eater; LV: 5] [Danger Detection; LV:4] [Infected Claws; LV:3] [Infected Bite; LV: 4] [Rat Command; LV: 3] [Poison Resistance; LV: 6] [Sickness Resistance; LV:5]

Titles: [Lucky Bastard] [Unnatural Evolution] [One that is Many] [King of Higher Sewers]

___________________________________________________________________

Rattenkönig? How do you even pronounce that? It reminds me of German.

“Show race description.”

___________________________________________________________________

[Rattenkönig]

Treat level: E

Description: Also called The Rat King, this abomination was discovered and named by a famous hero in the past. This beast is one of the few exceptions of the rule of evolution. When an old or a strong rat is dying, the youngsters around it will surround it and make a knot with their tail, with the dying rat at the top, transporting it around the sewers for food. By an unknown mean the dying rat will recuperate and fuse with the youngsters, shearing their minds with each other, becoming one organism. After they fully develop, they surround themselves with other rats to make something like an armor. The longer they are alive the more rats they can absorb into its mass, becoming sometimes as big as a Skywhale.

Most compatible magic: none.

____________________________________________________________________

So, this thing is essentially a carriage of rats, with a super rat in the middle. Neat. Thank god that I am not afraid of rats.

I took some steps backward, hoping that it won’t attack me.

Even if it was weaker than me, I didn’t dare to attack it. The main reason was that my body was a wretch. My blades were broken, and I wasn’t too confident in my fighting abilities, even with our state’s differences.

The mass of bodies stayed motionless till it started to move with great speed.

As a signal, I got in my fours and started to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

Damn, the states weren’t lying, this thing is as fast as I am!

I jumped over garbage piles and the likes, but the ratball just went through them, like nothing.

I took a turn only to arrive at a dead end. From behind hearing it getting closer.

Shit, what the hell should I do now?

I turned around and raised my arm to summon a familiar.

“[Familiar Summon]!”

[All familiars been destroyed.]

“And now you are telling me that!”

The creature finally appeared in front of me. The middle part of it opened up revealing a white rat, sitting there looking at me with its small eyes.

“… Your majesty.”

I let out a small chuckle, probably my last.

As if it understood me the rat let out a squeal and the pile of rat started to move at a slower speed. It might want to play with me, or it wanted to give me time to pray.

Ok, brain or what rest of it, think! There is a pissed furball in front of you that wants to eat you. You have no knives, no monsters to summon, no mobs to fight for you, and your hands are made out of broken blades that turn things into various things when you touch…them…

With newfound courage, I stud up and launched myself in a weird kind of sprint.

The rats might be as fast as I was, but the surprise made them slow to react, allowing me to cut one of them with my blade and I jumped back before they could do anything.

The cut wasn’t too deep, but the skin around the wound became grey and in a matter of seconds, the rat became a stone statue falling on the ground.

Their comrade's sudden demise disoriented them, allowing me to attack the white one in the middle.

The Fur-king must have sensed the attack because it covered itself with its subjects to hid.

So, I was right, that little thing is the main brain of the band.

I cut some rats, turning them into stones, and retreated. While I did that, I noticed that the ones I killed immediately did not petrify.

Is this mean that if I kill something [Midas’s Touch] It won’t be affected by it? I wonder if this works on fruits to…

I continued this dance, chopping some of the rats before it decided to retaliate. When I pierced one, the one next to it jumped on my arm and bite in it. I managed to chop it off before it could do anything else, but another one separated from the rest and started to chew on my leg blade.

“Shit, it’s starting to catch up! I need to get out of here!”

I jumped again but this time I jumped over it and I dashed into the water. It was deeper than I thought, reaching my neck.

If I remember correctly rats can’t swim so by this, I can get OH, FUCK THEY CAN!

The ball of fur jumped after me in the water and chased me with their little leg.

Oh, this was a bad idea!

I pedaled with all my might with my broken blades, screaming insults at the gods and everyone.

While I was making an idiot of myself in a pool that my feet could reach the bottom, I felt the water turning sticky around my arms.

“Oh, shit I forgot!”

I pedaled, even more, creating more stick fluid behind me.

I reached the shore and started to run.

I turned around and I saw that the majority of the rats got stuck in that substance, yet the ball managed to reach the shore and continued to chase me.

“Come on, give it up already! I am not even comestible!”

I continued to run when I heard a squealing noise from behind.

Boom!

The ball of rats that were a few centimeters behind me exploded, sending these little fellows everywhere. Even on me.

I tried to shake them off me, but these rodents buried their fangs into me, not letting go. Four of them even voluntarily touched my blades, turning themselves into stone to pin me down. To make matters worst, those that missed me, have now climbed on me, adding to the mass of bodies on me.

I fell on my stomach, my ghost-body floating above it.

Where the rat-plosion happened, a strange sight appeared. Six rats were making a circle each facing in a different direction. In the middle of the circle was the white rat sitting on what looked like a ball made out of golden earthworms.

The Rat king let out a squeal and the rat circle started to move in my motionless body.

“Oh, no, you don’t!”

I propelled myself in the direction of the rat. It didn’t seem to notice even when I was in front of it. Weird.

I tried to touch the rat but my hand just when through it.

Without thinking I shouted one of my skills, pouring as much mana as I could.

“[Slave Mark!]”

A blue light started to surround the white rodent and me with it.

[Slave Mark installed.]

[Slave added to the list.]

[Do you wish to activate the mark?]

“Yes!”

[Mark activated]

[Due to the nature of the target Rattenkönig have been added to [Familiar Summon]]

The light slowly faded away.

The white rat that I just touched now had a hand mark on its small belly.

“Call them off!”

Obeying my order, the rat let out a squeak. The rats which were pinning me down for a second now returned to the rat king, reforming the furball from before.

I glided back to my body, and I got up.

“…Good boy. Now come here I wish to try out something.”

The mass of rodents came in front of me and made an opening so that I could see a white one.

I reached to it with one of my arm blades and I touched it gently without cutting it.

“…”

…Nothing.

Then I touched one of the other rats. It immediately turned to stone, falling on the dusty ground with a poof.

It seems like I can’t turn things if I have made them into my slaves. This is good to known…

“And the next thing is…”

Slash!

[25 Exp received]

[Due to [Harvest] 20 Exp received]

[Level 3 reached.]

*****

After I killed the king, I dragged it corpse to the side of a passage. Using the power of my front blades (Finally useful!) I made a small hole in the wall. This resulted in a nice sand bed and a lot of mud.

I sat in the middle of the sandpile starting to dissect the rat king.

“Sigh, I have fallen incredibly low.”

Newer in my time in this world have I felt so bad. Even in my old life, I had at least a bed and good food. Now all I have got left is a sand hole and a knot of rats.

I took the rat king and I started to cut and eat them. With each bite, a warm feeling started to spree dower my body, yet it was now accompanied by a sound.

Crick!

The broken blades have grown back a little, looking sharper.

Am I healing?

I looked at my skull. The hole that was a moment there now was completely sealed.

Oh, neat then let's try to change back to human!

“[Body Physic Manipulation]!]

My body started to twitch a little and it began to change.

The burned parts fell off revealing the muscles behind it. The on the skull eye sockets appeared. And more muscle connected to it.

Then it stopped.

Seriously? Do you leave me like this?

…At least I don’t need to keep my head out of my body.

I went back inside, letting out a sigh when I confirmed that I could see, and continuing eating.

I saved the strange gold knot for last.

“What is this thing? [Appraisal]!”

____________________________________________________________________

Rattenkönig Knot:

Description: The bond that kept the king together. When the rats fuse together, their tails become a knot that acts as a secondary mana core. Nobles appreciate its color and mages use it as a substitute for the monster core.

____________________________________________________________________

So this is valuable, I should keep it for a safeguard.

I put the golden knot next to me when I noticed the rats in front of my hole. They followed ever since I killed their king.

Why are they following me? Did I become their king? Well, at least this will allow me to conduct some experiments and give me food.

I marked two rats and I ordered them to fight between each other. When one of them survived I took the winner with me, marked another on, and made it fight with another one.

I continued doing this until the wished result showed itself.

The rat leveled up, proving that friendly fire between contracted beings is possible.

To further satisfy my curiosity I marked more rats and made one of them kill the others will they stud there helpless.

The result was surprising.

The rat that fought leveled up faster than the one that didn’t. This means that sneak attacks or kills that don’t require that much physical movement bring far less Exp.

To evade any false result, I tested this on other rats and they showed the same thing.

With this information, I might be able to find a method to level up faster or train my familiars.

[Skill [Alchemy] reached level: 6]

Nice

Then there is only one more experiment to do.

I turned to one of the rat statues that I made. By closer inspecting it I noticed something strange. The teeth and the inside of the mouth weren’t petrified.

I blanked the statue on my blade lifted it up as high as I could then dropped it on the floor. On the front of my hidey-hole. I repeated this procedure until I heard the sound wished for.

Crack!

The statue finally cracked revealing its content.

It was red meat.

I touched the meat with one of my blades waiting for it to turn to stone. Yet it stayed like that.

As I suspected, an object or person can only be changed once by my skill. This means that I can kill my prey with my blades, I only need to crack them like coconuts!

I took a bite, then I started to eat. When I was done, I looked at the rats who were looking at me with dead eyes.

“…I’m hungry. “

*****

At a carriage that is approaching the city with great speed.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Definitely. We need to get there as soon as possible.”

“Look, I believe you. Your predictions were always right, even in the most unexpected situations. But this, ‘a being worse than a demon lord’ is a little bit hard to believe. We are talking about a town that is famous for its monster barrier.”

“I know, but just trust me on this one. In a week something horrible will happen to this town.”

“Sigh, fine we are with you. We own you this much, Do you at least what this thing is called?”

“Only its nickname. ‘The Beast of Palanda’.”

*****

At an unknown location, in a dark room, a group of masked people sitting at a roundtable.

“Did you hear the news? The prince’s little project will be finished soon. With the king’s support, the worker's speed has multiplied, even some of us started to help him. If this continues a new guild will be made that is terrible for our affairs.”

“You tell me. I received a letter this morning that there will be an investigation. An investigation! That idiot lord has betrayed us!”

“To be fair, he never was truly one of us. We just only used each other for-profit and that’s all.”

“We don’t care! We need a solution right now before our whole organization falls to pieces!”

“I say we kill him and the prince!”

“Are you stupid? If we do that, the eyes of the entire kingdom will be fixed on us. If we going to do that, we need to do it in a way that won't affect us.”

“We could still use those idiots no?”

“Are you talking about the trashes who are planning to kill him? Yeah right, a group of famished, badly equipped people attacks them, and some magical way they manage to kill the prince who massacred a demon in board daylight? They will suspect it for sure.”

“…I have an idea. May, do you still have those barrels of oil with you?”

“Yeah, I still couldn’t sell those. Talk about a waste of money…”

“We could use those barrels to make an ‘accident’ that has sadly take their lives, leaving only burned carcasses.”

“…’ A bunch of bandits attacked the prince, causing a huge explosion killing everyone.’ Hmmm, I like it. Do we have enough oil? Where do we use it?”

“Don’t worry about that I have a perfect plan for that.”

“You? I thought you- No, never mind that. Let get on with it and let’s get our businesses back on running!”

“To peace!”

*****

In one of the rooms of the duke’s mansion:

“Come one, work with me here!”

The person sitting in front of the book took out another piece of paper and started to write on it.

“I have been living on the streets for years, I have survived those boring lessons! I will be damned if I can’t decipher a book!”

Knock! Knock!

“Madam Belda, the prince wishes to talk to you. He says it is urgent.”

“Ugh, fine I will be there! And you! -“ she pointed to the book.”- Wait here. When I return, I will have the best code decipher device I can find.”

The Witch, Belda threw away the paper and stormed out the room.

When she left the words on the book started to form multiple lines of texts.

____________________________________________________________________

[…Idiot.]

[Extensive decoding detected.]

[Threat to user’s privacy detected.]

[Commencing lockdown procedures…]

[Sending location to external server]

[Sending analysis results to external server]

[Sending password to external server]

[Disconnecting from external server]

[…Lockdown complete.]

[All information is locked till the password is written.]

____________________________________________________________________

*****

[…]

[…External system disconnected.]

[Message received.]

[Location confirmed.]

[Uploading password, analysis, and location to the user’s mind…]

[… Upload complete]

[Information is now accessible in Mind Palace.]

[Title: [Cursed Book Owner] became inactive.]

____________________________________________________________________

Name: Desmond ˙(Temporary,)

Race: Stranded Spirit

Age: 16

Job: Alchemist

LV: 1/30

HP: 550/560

MP: 540/540

STR: 30

VIT: 0

SPD: 20

MRES: 30

Skill PT: 510

Physical attributes: [Dark Vision] [Transparent Body] [Flight] [Intangibility] [Fragmented]

Skills: [Alchemy: LV:5] [Deal Making, LV:3] [Wish Granting, LV:2] [Mapping, LV:1] [ Appraisal,LV:2] [Mind Palace, LV:1] [Slave Mark, LV:1] [Familiar Summon, LV:5] [Chained Possession, LV: 1] [Lesser Telekinesis, LV:1]

Passive skills: [Herbology; LV:1] [Sweet Talk, Lv:5] [Speed Healing, LV:1] [Mass Absorption, LV:1] [Midas’s touch]

Resistances: [Poison] [Fire]

Curses: [Iophobia] [Holy Burn]

Unique Skills: [Body Physic Manipulation] [Harvest]

Titles: [Broken Soul] [Novice Summoner] [Heretic] [Cursed Book Owner] [Revenge Driven]

____________________________________________________________________