《Arcane Regeneration》


 Chapter 1

    Noah was walking home. His name wasn''t actually Noah. It was Jkmnop, pronounced as Noel. First of all, it was a girl''s name, and second of all, it was a very bad joke. His parents were nice people and had calmed down a lot in the last few years, but they used to be batshit crazy when he was born. And now he was stuck with that name. He had tried changing it a few times, but his mother always made those puppy dog eyes at him and said that it was a special name for a special boy, and she loved it, and she loved him, and started tearing up, so he hadn''t. So his friends called him Noah. He also had trouble finding a job in the past, because most people thought his job applications were a joke.


    It was after midnight, in the middle of winter, and there was no one else, besides him, out on the streets. Thankfully there was no snow, and the air wasn''t so cold, as to be uncomfortable to breathe. Noah was coming back from the movie theatre. He was not really interested in watching that particular movie, but he and his friends had nothing better to do that day. The movie was passable, made infinitely better by inappropriate jokes and weird sounds. Good thing there was no one else in the movie theatre, besides them.


    One of his friends with a car offered to give Noah a drive home, but between the mountain of junk food before the movie, the huge popcorn, and coca-cola combo, and the candy that he snuck inside, he was feeling bloated. The 10 to 15 minutes of walking from the theatre to his home, would take care of, at least some of the self-hatred, he would be feeling tomorrow, so Noah decided to take a stroll. He was walking through the park, almost home, enjoying the cold winter night, his stomach, filled to the brim, applying pressure to his diaphragm and making it hard to breathe - the usual.


    To get home, Noah had to go through the parking lot, next to his building and an old electric transformer. It was one of those squat, square buildings, he knew were related to electricity, but had no idea what was inside and how it worked. Noah knew he wasn''t supposed to mess around it, and on rare occasions, when he could actually hear the power buzzing inside, he would steer away from it. This was not one of those times, and just like hundreds of times before, Noah passed a few meters away from the transformer.


    Then, just as he was passing by, there was a bright light, the unmistakable sound of massive amounts of electricity discharging, and pain. For a moment, Noah became super aware of his surroundings and felt his mind accelerate. He understood that he was being electrocuted, and all the horrible implications of that. He knew what electricity did to the human body. Electrical burns were a nightmare. They weren''t that visible on the outside,but what they did to the body on the inside was horrible. Muscle tissue and ligaments were destroyed, internal organs fried. Even if he survived, Noah would be a cripple for life. That horrible realization was coursing through his mind, as electricity was coursing through his body.


    But there was also something else, something powerful, something vast, something ancient washing over his body. It somehow didn''t feel bad or painful, but Noah was being electrocuted right now, so maybe that overshadowed it. Then came another blinding flash, and Noah was falling. He instinctually tried to find his footing, but in his electrocuted, partially paralyzed and possibly dying state all he managed to do, was to kick off the ground, that was also falling, and float mid-air.


    A split second later there was a huge crash, following which, Noah met the ground again. He fell back first, and after his back, his head was also introduced to the ground. There was the sound of an egg shattering on concrete and a warm, wet feeling spread from his head to his neck and upper back. At the same time, a profound coldness gripped his body.


    As the understanding, that he was dying, dawned on him, a bunch of messages appeared in front of his eyes, the last one red and blinking, ending with the words


    Do you accept?


    Noah felt rage coming to life in his chest. It was burning at the unfairness of what was happening to him, at the pain and his powerlessness. No, he did not accept this. In an attempt to spite whatever power or fate had done this to him, he raged and tried to dismiss the window, showing whoever it was his defiance. But as his consciousness was fading, his limbs contracting from the electrical damage, and the cold, spreading in his bones, some of the words registered in his mind and a ray of hope shone through the darkness, descending on his mind.


    Just as he was angrily trying to dismiss it just a moment ago, Noah now frantically tried to accept the red blinking message. And just as it was hard to dismiss before, it was easy to accept now. Then darkness claimed him.


    .


    .


    .


    Noah was power. He was a being of pure energy in human form. He could feel his heart beating, slow and steady. With each beat life, warmth and power spread out. Noah was one with the blood flowing through his body. He could feel himself being pumped out of his heart, racing through his arteries, slowing down as they became smaller and smaller, saturating his muscles and organs with power, and then sluggishly flowing through his veins back to the heart. He was everywhere and everything in his body at once, he was life, he was power.


    Then the moment ended and Noah opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground, looking up. It must have been only moments from him hitting the ground to him waking up because there was still a cloud of dust floating through the air. As he was lying on the ground, he realized something wasn''t right. Above him, instead of the clear winter sky and the twinkling stars was a cave ceiling - rough and uneven.


    Noah sat up and felt a few drops of something roll down his back. He felt the back of his head and his hand came back wet with warm blood, although there was no wound anymore. Turning around and saw a puddle of blood, mixed with a clear fluid where his head had been. He remembered the sound of a shattered egg and realized he probably cracked open his head and the clear liquid was spinal fluid. Touching his head again to make sure, he again found no wound.


    Noah looked at his arms and legs, opening and closing his fists. The memory of electricity burning through his body was still fresh in his mind, it had happened moments ago after all. The smell of burned flesh was in the air, confirming the experience was real. The feeling of his muscles painfully contracting and his joints locking up in the moments after he hit the floor, with his head cracked open, death creeping in, would haunt him forever.


    Now though, he felt great, better than ever actually. His body felt new and improved, rejuvenated, and he was only in his mid 20''s. Also, he felt strong, like the time he actually stuck with going to the gym for almost two years, but more, much more. And he was willing to bet he could do a perfect split, he could feel it, and he definitely couldn''t do that 5 minutes ago. Something definitely happened to him. Remembering the messages from before, they appeared in front of his eyes again.


    You have entered the Lost City dungeon complex.


    You have entered `The Descent` dungeon.


    Clear the fifth layer to exit the dungeon.


    You are level 1. You have 1 skill point.


    Choose a path.


    Path of the Crafter. Your level limit is equal to the highest leveled item you have created. Gain experience from crafting related actions.


    Path of the Farmer. Your level limit is equal to the highest level plant/animal you have grown/raised. Gain experience from farming-related actions.


    Path of the Hunter. Your level limit is equal to the highest leveled monster you have killed. Gain experience from killing monsters.


    You have killed Dark Rat Matriarch LV.3


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat Chambermaid LV.2


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat Youngling LV.0


    There were hundreds if not thousands of kill notifications.


    Due to the amount of enemies killed Path of the Hunter chosen automatically. +2 skill points


    You have 3 skill points.


    Choose your traits. You have 5 Trait points.


    Noah stopped reading. What the hell was a dungeon complex? And he was stuck in a dungeon right now? Monsters? Traits? Skills? He had read his fair share of fantasy and was familiar with the transported to another world genre and RPG systems. It was kind of cliche actually, ending up in a dungeon. Still, it was hard to believe it actually happened to him. It was far more likely, that something hit him in the head, and he was now hallucinating while bleeding out on the ground. Let''s be honest, he loved those type of stories, so it actually made sense. And he did actually crack his head open.


    But what if it was real. The pain he experienced sure felt real. The blood on the back of his head also felt real. Noah, in the admittedly short time he had been here, hadn''t noticed any of the logical inconsistencies of dreams, and probably hallucinations, although he hadn''t done any hallucinogens, so there was no way to know. His train of thought was also quite clear and consistent. So it was best to treat everything as real, and take things seriously. Which meant finding out if there was any immediate danger.


    From his sitting position, Noah could see that he was still next to the electric transformer, where the incident began, but after about five meters in all directions the paved road ended and cave floor began. He was in a long corridor, maybe 50 meters on one side, and hundreds on the other, both ending with sharp bends. Noah noticed there was no light source whatsoever, and yet it wasn''t dark. The cave wasn''t as bright as day, but there was ambient light enough to see clearly.


    ''That''s just a dungeon thing I guess... I hope''


    For now, all Noah could do was not think about it and pray to some higher power, the lights stayed on. Anyway there was nothing else in the corridor except him, and he couldn''t hear anything threatening either, so he got back to the notifications.


    You have chosen Arcane essence as your first Trait.


    Arcane Essense(Unique)-You were bathed in the primal pool, from which everything originated. Your life and your magical essences have merged with pure, primal arcane to form arcane essence. The origin of all magic runs through you, or maybe it is you, only time will tell. The vItality and wisdom stats have merged in the arcane essence stat. Your mana pool has merged into your health pool, creating the arcane essence pool. Skills that require mana or health will now use the new combined pool instead. Regeneration has increased tenfold. Arcane essence has changed and energized your body making it stronger.


    This message was a rich red color, compared to the black text of the other messages. It also was hinting at some quite ridiculous things. And, although Noah could feel the arcane essence coursing through him, and it was indeed powerful, primal pool and origin of all magic it certainly was not. There was mention of time, so maybe in the future, it would be, but he would have to stay alive to actually find out.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Squashing the image of himself manipulating primal forces and breaking the laws of reality, Noah moved on. The mention of stats and pools did catch his attention, and a window opened up, but Noah ignored it because something else demanded his attention-a blinking red message. His brain had been conditioned to link blinking red lights with time-sensitive or life-threatening matters so he focused on it.


    Arcane Incorporation


    A large amount ofmonster essence has been released into your surroundings in a very short amount of time. The arcane essence in you is resonating with the monster essence. It is possible to incorporate a portion of it, merging it into your arcane essence pool and permanently increasing it. From now on killing monsters will increase your HP pool. The amount increased depends on the level of the slain monster compared to your current level.


    Noah realized the message wasn''t blinking, but fading in and out of existence, and the fading in part was getting shorter and less frequent. He had made up his mind to take things seriously which meant carefully thinking through big decisions like his Traits, which seemed important and were limited, but time was running out. The Trait sounded great, gave the possibility for limitless growth, and since his life was his mana, and the magical inclination his previous Trait suggested, meant he would be spending it, more of it was a good thing. Mind made up to just take the risk, Noah accepted the Trait....and nothing happened. He tried again, getting the same result.


    The text right now was in his faded out phase and was barely visible. Come to think of it, it had been that way for quite some time. Noah, who after being denied, realized he really, really wanted the Trait was doing the mental equivalent of repeatedly and violently pressing the accept button with his finger, with increasing amounts of force and frequency, and then slamming it with his mental fist.


    "Come on you Stupid, FUCKING, PIECE OF SHIIIIIT!", Noah screamed at the window


    The message finally, and barely faded back into existence and he got the notification.


    You have chosen Arcane Incorporation as your second Trait.


    But Noad did not register the message. Large amounts of red mist started drifting around him, rising around the edges of his walkway and spreading in the cave tunnel. Then, red lightning surged out of his very being, spreading through the cloud-like blood vessels in a body, until it reached every last bit of mist. Then the jagged blades of lightning started retracting, dragging the mist with them inside of Noah. There weren''t any messages, but he felt energized, stronger in a way, more alive.


    You have chosen Arcane Incorporation as your second Trait.


    Arcane incorporation- Your arcane essence has resonated with monster essence and can incorporate it into your HP pool when you kill a monster. You gain 0.1 HP for every monster at 1 level above and 1 level below your current level. Incorporation scales by a fraction of 10 every additional level above or below your current level. 2 level above your own +1 HP, 3 levels above +10 HP and so on. 2 levels below your own +0.01 HP, 3 levels below +0.001 HP and so on. The maximum possible amount of health gained is 10 and the Trait only works when killing enemies on your own.


    '' 0.1 HP? Well, every little bit helps I guess. It would be too overpowered if it gave more. Wait how much health do I even have. If I have like 1000, this will be bullshit.


    Again the status window appeared and this time Noah looked at it.


    Status


    Name: Jkmnop(Noel)


    Noah felt like screaming. He got dragged to who knows where got electrocuted, cracked open his head and then pretty much came back from the dead, they, whoever that maybe, could at least change his name.


    Name: Noah


    "Well at least one good thing came out of this" Noah said to himself. "Thank you" he sarcastically said to the empty air.


    A feeling that came down to an amused "You''re welcome" floated up in his mind. The disturbing part was, the feeling was foreign, and definitely didn''t come from him.


    "What? Hello? Who is this?", Noah hesitantly asked.


    He got another amused feeling, which didn''t help and freaked him out even more. Looking around, Noah couldn''t see a source, and he was skeptical a low leveled rat was hiding behind the corner messing with him via telepathy. Was it the system, it did change his name after all. He got a positive feeling.


    ''Ok, the system is talking to me, and probably reading my mind, which is definitely not disturbing at all.'' Noah thought and got back amusement.


    ''So how about you help me out or something?'', Noah sent the systems way, but this time got a negative feeling.


    ''Okay, whatever...''


    Level 1


    Arcane essence-20


    Strenght-20


    Dexterity-20


    Endurance-20


    Intellect-20


    HP:343.6/343.6( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)


    Stamina:200/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    Unspent points: 10


    All his stats were at 20 and he had 10 unspent points. The unspent points had to be from becoming level 1. Noah probably had 10 points in all stats at the begging but wisdom and vitality merged into arcane essence and then strengthened his body, bringing the other stats to 20. Was intellect part of the body. Why was it strengthened too? The other stats made sense, intellect not so much. A question for another day, since he had no way to figure it out right now.


    Judging from how his stamina scaled with endurance and assuming HP scaled the same way with arcane essence Arcane incorporation had given him almost 150 HP, which was a massive boost to his original 200. No wonder he felt great after since that was practically his life force.


    Noah lifted his clothes and was quite surprised. Before, he was kind of not out of shape, but not actually in shape. Now he was at, what had to be, peak human physical performance. All the fat from his body was gone, his muscles were clearly visible below his skin and now, that he looked closer, all scars and other imperfections were gone. His muscles were strong and lithe, clearly optimized for movement and endurance. At least he wouldn''t have to worry about his soft, untrained and easily tired body.


    Noah got up. He felt powerful and flexible, but that was just a feeling and had to be confirmed. After actually doing a split without a problem and almost ripping his jeans while doing it, he did some push-ups. Before he could do maybe 30 before totally exhausting himself. Now he did 70, without even breaking a sweat, his breathing and heart rate unchanged. That was definitely peak physical performance.


    Stamina:191/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    Noah was getting excited over his new body, his thoughts going back to the origin of all magic part ofArcane essence when he saw the puddle of blood and spinal fluid on the ground.


    ''Shit''


    He wasn''t safe here. He was in a dungeon, full of monsters, and his life was in danger. He remembered all the kill notifications. Now that he thought about it, his piece of walkway must have fallen on top of a dark rat nest and killed everything in it. Why he was given experience for the kills was a mystery, but he technically applied some force to the slab of earth, so he wasn''t going to complain. The vast majority of kills were baby rats at LVL 0, but there were still hundreds of level 1''s, dozens of LVL 2''s and 10 lvl3 matriarchs. Even if these were normal rats, if such a large swarm attacked him, Noah would die, and he had a feeling these weren''t exactly normal rats.


    But the thing bugging him was, there was no rat patriarch, nor any combat-related variants. Maybe there weren''t such variants on this layer at all, but it was safer to operate on the premise that there were. So where were they, and were they coming back, was now a pressing question in the back of Noah''s mind. Either way, wandering around without having chosen his traits and skills was probably a worse idea than staying here, so he wasn''t moving until he made his choice and had some way to defend himself or escape.


    Hopefully, the surge of arcane that brought him here and the huge crash afterward, had scared all the rats away. Noah also knew rats were wary of food that killed their brethren. He wasn''t sure if it also applied to places where large amounts of them died, but hopefully, the other monsters would sense all of the dead and stay away.


    Just to check things out, Noah went to the edge of his piece of paved walkway and saw that a wave of blood had splashed outwards from beneath and onto the cave floor. This close, he realized he could smell blood, raw meat and sewage. It was quite nasty. The falling piece of earth and pavement must have fit perfectly in the rat nest, crushing everything in it to paste and splashing it out of the edge.


    Just as Noah was about to go back to the center and pick his traits, he saw movement to his left. There was something trying to crawl out of the edge between road and cave floor. Looking closer it was a blood-covered rat with the back end of its body crushed.


    Noah once saw a bunch of rats next to a garbage bin, that were big enough to fight cats one on one. This one was bigger, pushing the size limits of normal Earth rats. While looking at it a Lv.1floated above it and disappeared as soon as Noah acknowledged the message.


    ''That is a level 1 rat? Shit! How big are the level 2''s and 3''s then? I might be screwed...''


    He was debating going and stomping on the rat to put it out of its misery when the monster noticed him. It was out of the crack, and now turned to Noah, and started dragging itself towards him with his front paws, one of which was mangled. It was leaving a noticeable trail of blood behind it and was about to die any moment, so Noah wasn''t alarmed. He should have been.


    The rat screeched at him, a barely noticeable white glow swirled around its teeth and paws, and it pushed off with its front legs. The mangled one shattered, sending it off course, but the rat still shot out like a bullet, grazing his thigh and taking a chunk of meat with it. Noah grunted from the pain, too shocked to even scream and clutched his leg. There was a hole in his jeans and he could feel blood running down his leg.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    Turning around, Noah saw the rat lying in an expanding puddle of blood, a few meters behind him. He quickly limped back and put his back against the electric transformer wall. Dropping his jeans, he saw a chunk of skin and muscle missing from his thigh. The good news was, the wound had already stopped bleeding.


    HP:334.9/343.7( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)


    Noah had gained 0.1 HP, and his current health was steadily ticking back up. In the 10 seconds, he stared at his HP going up his wound had visibly healed and was starting to close up. He kept looking back and forth between his status and his wound, and after about a minute and a half, the wound was gone.


    HP:343.7/343.7( 2% per min / 6.8 HP per min)


    That half-dead, crippled, level one rat had almost killed him. The monster had aimed at Noah''s throat, but his leg shattered, changing its trajectory. If it hadn''t and the rat ripped that piece of meat out of his neck, instead of his leg, Noah was doubtful about his survival. Taking a deep breath, he got up and quickly, and as quietly as he could, ran around the edge of the paved road, looking for more rats crawling out, but thankfully there were none.


    Getting back to the transformer wall Noah, understanding the severity of his situation took a deep breath to calm down and opened his Traits menu.

 Chapter 2

    With a thought, Noah brought up his Trait choices. On top were a few related to his arcane essence.


    Arcane essence manipulation - allows you to freely manipulate your arcane essence.


    Arcane essence affinity - Increases the damage and effectiveness of all arcane essence related actions by 100%


    Arcane essence combat mastery - allows the creation of a unique combat art. All moves related to it are more refined. Perfecting your combat art is easier.


    Arcane essence fighting - increases the damage you deal with arcane essence related actions by 100%


    There were also manipulation and affinity versions for every element he could think of, and then some. There were also mana and stamina manipulation, all kinds of weapon combat masteries and their fighting versions. There were rune theory, magical circles, and incantations theory, and on the physical side of things breathing, cultivation and aura control techniques.


    There were also enhancements to the effectiveness of stats, skill cost reduction, regeneration boosts and more, and more, and more. The stat enhancements were interesting. There were four types. Increasing one stats effectiveness by 300%, two stats by 175%, three stats by 125% and four stats by 100%. Also, there were, as far as Noah could tell, all possible combinations of the six stats available.


    He only had three free slots and way too many good traits to chose from. Noah got a general feeling of how the Traits worked and what they did. When he asked the system if he could just learn them, without spending a point, he got a big ''Nope''.


    He also found out, the system was quite helpful, sending him affirmative or negative feelings when he wondered if the traits would work or synergize in certain ways. It turned out, ask and you shall be answered, was valid in this situation.


    Getting all four types of stat enhancement could increase a stats effectiveness by 800%, a second stat by 500%, a third by 225% and a fourth by 100%. That would be a huge increase to someone''s stats, but they wouldn''t have the means to utilize them if they picked all four.


    Also, although Arcane essence was created by merging the vitality and wisdom stats, it wouldn''t be affected by their enhancement traits. When Noah asked the system if he could get an enhancement Trait for the stat, it pretty much laughed in his face.


    There was a synergy between his fighting and affinity traits. Usually, the fighting Traits affected physical combat and affinities magical, but in his case, they both related to his arcane essence, as opposed to weapons or the elements.


    The breathing, cultivation and aura control techniques would allow a person, to strengthen his body, better utilize and enhance skills and in the future, with better control, even produce supernatural and magical effects. But they were made to work with a normal human body, and his had been changed. That meant, the effects for him would be reduced, and the techniques harder to use.


    HisArcane essence Trait already did some of that, like strengthening his body. Also, Noah could feel small charges of electricity building and discharging in his arcane essence as it flowed. That would further mess with the breathing, cultivation and aura control techniques.


    And on top of all thatArcane essence manipulation used the same metaphysical tools but in the opposite way. That meant physical Traits unrelated to his arcane essence were out of the question.


    The situation was similar with rune theory, magical circles, and incantations theory. They were designed to work with mana and his arcane essence had different characteristics. For one it was much more volatile and unstable, making it almost impossible to form and hold the required shapes of circles and runes, or to be affected by incantations.


    So, the arcane essence related traits were his top priority, but there were four of them to his three free slots. Now that Noah thought about it, there were way too many traits that worked off of each other and synergized together and only 5 trait slots. There had to be a way to get more traits later on. He questioned the system and received a " You''ll have to find out yourself " kind of feeling, laced with amusement.


    "Ok, I''ll take that as probably" Also the system might be alive, but he was already close to an existential crisis, so that was a question for another time.


    As he was scrolling down something caught his eye.Mana sacrifice health regen.It differed quite a lot from other traits. The name was strange, compared to the precise and often cool sounding names of other Traits, and the description sounded like it was written by a child. Also, it seemed overpowered and broken, but it was badly optimized.


    If Noah had to guess the system''s little brother created it and the system was too nice to remove it, but it was ok since nobody would pick the Trait anyway. Noah got an affirmative feeling from the system, laced with resignation.


    "You have a little brother? NO! WAIT! I don''t want an answer to that question. I don''t want to think about it right now." Thankfully the system remained silent.


    Anyway, what the Mana sacrifice health regendid was regenerate 0.25% of max health per second for every 100 mana points in your maximum mana pool. The cost was 3 times your current level and was taken in ticks every second. The health regen was gradual throughout the second.


    The problem was the trait couldn''t be turned off and activated for the full one-second cost, even if you took a single point of damage. The regeneration also ended when max HP was reached, and the extra HP was lost. It could also be triggered multiple times per second. In theory, if you had 10 000 Hp and MP you would regenerate 2 500 HP per second, but the user could end up out of mana in a couple of seconds if he suffered consecutive light damage.


    So this Trait wasn''t useful to anyone. Warriors wouldn''t have the mana pool and mages wouldn''t risk going out of mana for an inefficient heal. But Noah wasn''t anyone. His HP and MP pools were merged and the large regen would cover the cost. As his HP pool grew larger, the regeneration would increase exponentially. His Arcane essence, Arcane incorporation, and Mana sacrifice health regen made a really mean combo.


    The problem was right now the cost would outpace the regeneration. His HP pool was too small. At level oneMana sacrifice health regenwould cost 3 HP per second and would regenerate 0.75% of his 343.6 HP pool, which was 2.57 HP per second. If he took the Trait and got hurt he would, worst-case scenario die in about 15 minutes, best case scenario hover between 0.1and 3.1 HP which was as good as dead. If Noah put his 10 unspent stat points in Arcane essence he would go to 443.3 HP, which would bump his regen up to 4.43 HP per second.


    But that meant for the foreseeable future spending all his stat points in Arcane essence. He would be barely outpacing the cost for the next few levels until the exponential part of the regen kicked in. That would leave his other stats underdeveloped. On top of that, he wasn''t getting those stat enhancements anytime soon.


    Noah wanted the trait, he wanted to be able to regenerate his whole health pool in a manner of seconds, and since his MP merged into his HP, have an endless mana pool, but he also wanted to survive this cave. Any second now a horde of rats could come out behind the bend of the tunnel and swarm him. He was forced to make important, potentially life-altering choices, that required days, weeks, even months of meticulous planning and theorycrafting in minutes, and he hadn''t even gotten to the skills yet.


    Noah thought about opening the skill menu but hesitated. Whatever he decided to do there was one Trait that he needed for sure and he selected it, hoping it would narrow down his choices somehow.


    You have chosen Arcane essence manipulationas your third trait.


    Arcane essence manipulation-allows you to freely manipulate your arcane essence.


    Even before taking the trait, he could feel the arcane essence inside of him. Noah even felt, that if he left his mind drift, he could submerge his consciousness in it. That was nothing, compared to what he felt now. It was similar to the experience he had while lying on the ground after he took the Arcane essence Trait.


    But now, Noah also had control. It was like a new limb he hadn''t used before - a little awkward but it was his. He knew how to move it and just needed practice. The arcane essence was concentrated in his blood saturating the rest of his body, as it circulated. However, the circulation was inefficient and because of that his body right now was operating at about 75% capacity. He knew how to fix it, but that involved some drastic actions, and Noah wanted to select his other Traits and skills, before undertaking it.


    More importantly, he felt that his essence was constrained to his body. He could manipulate it freely inside of him, but getting it outside was not happening. Noah got the feeling that in the future with a bigger pool and improved manipulation it would be possible, but at this moment it was a big no-no. Which meant the same for magic.


    While going through the options he got the feeling magic skill needed mana manipulation to work reliably. So mages needed both mana manipulation and an elemental manipulation trait to make full use of an element. His arcane essence manipulation did both which was good but spells needed to be cast outside of the body if you wanted to not blow up, which meant no magic for now. That meant he was going the melee fighter route.


    Noah realized he would probably end up getting the Mana sacrifice health regenTrait, but he needed to check the skills first. If there weren''t any skills fueled by mana or health he could use in this situation, he might have to depend on traits alone to survive.


    The skill menu opened in front of him. There were thousands of skills- dozens of weapons with dozens of specific skills each. Then there were bolts, balls, arrows, breaths, armors, novas and many more spells for each element. Noah noticed a flight and blink spells and promised himself to get them as soon as he could.


    For now, he ignored everything that included external mana manipulation, which was every spell available. Physical skills cost stamina and required stamina manipulation to execute properly, which like the breathing, cultivation and aura control techniques, interfered with his Aracne essence and Arcane essence manipulation. So he ignored them as well. There was a noticeable absence of red text, so no arcane essence related skills.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Noah was starting to lose hope. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach and his chest felt heavy. He was about to give up, and go back to the traits when the word sacrifice flashed in front of his eyes.


    Sacrificial strike - An attack sacrificing a portion of your health that deals damage based on the amount sacrificed.


    Sacrificial nova - An attack sacrificing a portion of your health that deals damage to everyone around you. Damage is based on the amount sacrificed.


    The skills were hidden away, and it seemed like they did not fit in with the rest. But it felt like a ray of shining light and hope for him. He could work with that. The skills were probably optimized for relatively small amounts of HP sacrificed and would be used either as an execute or a last resort. They would be devastated if he could overcharge them, and if not, he could always spam the hell out of them. But right now he didn''t have the HP or the regen to make them work like that. Still, it was better than nothing. And even more, hidden away, there was another set of skills.


    Sacrificial strenght - sacrifice health for a short boost to your strength.


    Sacrificial dexterity - sacrifice health for a short boost to your dexterity.


    Sacrificial endurance - sacrifice health for a short boost to your endurance.


    Sacrificial intellect - sacrifice health for a short boost to your intelect.


    The boost lasted only for a second, but there was no cooldown time and no limit on the sacrificed amount. There were pros and cons - Noah would have less actual skills and a large amount of his regen would be used up to fuel his stats. On the other hand, he would be able to change his stats on the go and adapt to the situation and his enemy.


    He tried figuiring out if the sacrificial stats would scale with the stat enhancement traits. After a short silince he got an unsure negative and a second later, another feeling which boiled down to "definitely not" from the system.


    "You didn''t know? How is that even possible? Did you change it just for me?" There was no answer.


    "Fine! I wasn''t getting the stat enhancements any time soon, anyway."


    Noah had a better idea of what to do now. He had something to work with. His eyes focused on the dead rat, that could have killed him, lying on the floor, and after a deep breath, he added 10 points to the Arcane essence stat.


    Arcane essence-30


    HP:443.7/443.7(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min)


    You have chosen Mana sacrifice health regen as your 4th trait.


    Mana sacrifice health regen - For every 100 mana in your mana pool you regenerate 0.25% HP per second. Can not be turned off. Activates whenever you take any damage. The healing stops when you reach max HP. Any additional health is lost. Costs 3 times your current level in mana per second. The full one-second cost is paid at the begging, regardless of the amount healed. Can be triggered multiple times per second.


    The childish explanation, which was about 10 times longer and much more confusing, was replaced by his shorter and more to the point interpretation of the Trait. The system sent him a "you''re welcome" type of feeling. Now it was starting to talk to him on it''s own. This wasn''t disturbing at all. No need for panic!


    Only the last Trait was left now, and it had to be Arcane essence combat mastery. Noah knew nothing about fighting and was more likely to hurt himself while punching or kicking, than whatever he was trying to hit. He also knew nothing about weapons, but he was highly unlikely to find one around here. Unless the monsters dropped items. He sent the question towards the system and got a negative in return. Sadly, there would be no epic loot. Anyway, the trait would give him an elementary understanding of fighting and combat to start him on his martial way.


    You have chosen Arcane essence combat mastery as your 5th trait.


    Arcane essence combat arts-allows for the creation of a unique combat art. All moves related to it are more refined. Perfecting your combat art is easier.


    You have no more trait points.


    The trait came with a questioning feeling of hand to hand, short sword, long sword, spear, dagger and all kinds of other possibilities. Noah wasn''t getting a waepon any time soon, so he chose hand to hand combat. Besides, he got the feeling he could incorporate weapons later, but he would have to learn the basics on his own.


    A rudimentary understanding of punches and kicks, basic footwork and defense, flowed in his mind. Of course, he lacked the muscle memory and reflexes honed in battle to properly apply his newfound knowledge, but it was better than nothing.


    Looking at the dead rat again, Noah thought back to their fight, if you could call it that. The monster had shot out like an arrow, even with a crushed backside and one mangled front leg. Rats back on Earth were fast and mobile, and these were super rats, so they would be even faster. Even with his increased stats and enhanced body, he wasn''t sure, he''d be able to hit them.


    His skill choices would need to increase his reaction speed and reflexes, make sure the hits he landed counted and give him an alternative if he couldn''t actually land a hit. So Noah took the skills, which in his opinion met the requirements.


    You have chosen Sacrificial dexterity as your first skill.


    Sacrificial dexterity - sacrifice health for a short boost to your dexterity.


    You have chosen Sacrificial strenght as your second skill.


    Sacrificial strenght - sacrifice health for a short boost to your strenght.


    You have chosen Sacrificicial nova as your third skill.


    Sacrificicial nova - An attack sacrifising a portion of your health that deals damage to everyone around you. Damage is based on the amount sacrificed.


    You have no more skill points.


    There were no skill levels. Also Noah could''t actually use the skills. He was given all the information and the tools to make them work but had to figuire out the last steps himself.


    ''Really now? You couldn''t just pour all the knowledge in my head?'' Noah wondered at the system and got back a ''Life is hard, deal with it'' type of fealing.


    With that taken care of, Noah could either improve his circulation withArcane essence manipulationor try and make his skills work. The former would be much more beneficial and have an immediate impact, while the latter would require trial and error and probably end up costing him a lot of HP. The choice was abvious but he was scared since it would require him to...


    Noah''s head darted to the side, his eyes going wide. He, at some pointed, had ended up sitting on the ground with his back to the wall. Now he jumped up and clumsily took a fighting stance. There was a rat just out of the bend on the shorter side of the tunnel. What had gotten Noah''s attention was the sound of tiny feet scuttling on the cave floor and quiet squeaks.


    The sudden movement startled the rat, making it jump up, turning in the air to face the other way and running behind the corner. Noah hesitated, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, frantically looking around. Was it gone or just hiding behind the bend. Should he run or stay here. Maybe go after it? Was it a trap? Were these rats smart enough for something like that?


    The rat came back out. It was hesitantly moving forward, frantically sniffing the air before every step, squeaking quietly. It stopped just out ofthe corner. Now that Noah got a better look at it, he saw it was about as big as the other one. A Lv.1 floated above its head confirming it. Its fur was dark, almost blending with the cave floor, but its lighter-colored paws and nose stood out.


    Noah couldn''t decide what to do. He still din''t have working skills, wasn''t at full power and the rats were dangerous. Then another rat came out, and another, and another. In no time there were about twenty rats, just out of the corner, sniffing the air, squeaking and looking at him. They were all the same size and all had a Lv.1floating above their heads.


    Noah started slowly moving backward, away from the rats, not taking his eyes off of them. Thankfully they hadn''t started moving forward yet. They were restless and constantly sniffing the air. His theory about the dead rats might be correct after all. Still he didn''t dare turn around and run.


    He had gone maybe twenty meters away from the paved road, putting him at an about 80-meter distance to the rats, making them hard to make out. Then a group of cat sized rats came out of the corner. Noah couldn''t see their levels, probably too far away, but they were clearly higher level than the rest.


    Noah increased his pace, one hand on the cave wall to balance himself, still going backward, not daring to show his back. More and more rats were coming out now, most of them level one, but there were bigger ones mixed in too.


    There was now quite some distance between Noah and the swarm. He was about halfway to the other side of the tunnel, when a visible wave went through the monsters and an even bigger rat came out. It shoved its way through to the front, sniffed the air. Noah''s muscles tensed up. He felt cold sweat running down his back and his instincts screaming at him to run.


    The rat loudly screeched and the swarm flowed forward like a wave, covering distance in record time. For a second Noah''s mind couldn''t pick between running and just shutting down, but then his instincts finaly kicked in. He ran with everything he had. At some point, there was a cacophany of screeches and squeaks, but Noah kept running.


    When he was at the bend at the end of the tunnel, he risked a look backward. He couldn''t see clearly, but it looked like the swarm had stopped just before the former nest. The floor and even walls were covered with rats all the way to the other end of the tunnel.


    At that moment a dog sized monster came out of the bend and looked directly at Noah. He could feel the hatred and bloodlust in the rats gaze. All of the squeals and screeches so far, Noah could attribute to a rat, considering they were much larger and magic was involved.The sound that came out of, what had to be the rat patriarch''s mouth was something else entirely. It was monstrous and promised suffering and death.


    Noah rounded the corner and started running with everything he had.

 Chapter 3

    Noah stopped at a T-shaped intersection after sprinting for about 15 minutes straight. He had taken random turns whenever he had the choice in the hopes of losing the swarm. He hadn''t seen if they moved over the dead nest after the patriarch''s ungodly screech, too busy running away at the time. Thankfully they hadn''t caught up, but they still might be hunting him right now.


    Remembering he had a status now, Noah checked it.


    HP:443.7/443.7(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.65 per sec


    Stamina:53.9/200(0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    ''So about twenty minutes of sprinting before I run out of steam, thirty after I''m done with Arcane essence manipulation''


    His stamina was running a little low, but he wasn''t feeling that tired or even sweating, which was strange considering he had his winter jacket still on. He was also wearing his winter boots. Thankfully he decided to put them on instead of his sneakers. The latter probably wouldn''t have lasted long here.


    Out of habit Noah tried to push his glasses up his nose and realized they were gone. He hadn''t noticed before that, because he could see perfectly fine. Actually his vision was even better now than it was back on Earth with glasses on. He saw the rat patriarch and could somewhat make out individual rats in the swarm from hundreds of meters away.


    ''The rest of my body got improved, it is logical my eyes got the same treatment'' he thought.


    Noah sat down. The T-shaped intersection was a good place to rest. The tunnels on all three sides stretched for hundreds of meters straight, so nothing was sneaking up on him here. And with three sides there was less of a chance to pincer him in, although going back the way he came here from, was a last resort.


    After seeing the patriarch and his swarm Noah was ready for drastic measures, which meant improving his arcane essence flow. It would give him an immediate and massive overall improvement, and he had to do it at some point to progress. It would also help with making his skills work. What had gotten him so scared, was that it involved stopping his heart and circulating the arcane essence himself.


    Noah looked inward and submerged himself in his bloodstream. For all intents and purposes, his blood was now arcane essence and his body wasn''t quite normal after the change. It still worked like it was though and that is where the inefficiency came from.


    The arcane essence was pulsing through his arteries in time with the beats of his heart, the flow through the veins was sluggish, and there were large amounts of blood just sitting in the spleen, skin, and liver. What he needed was a smooth flow, throughout his body and all of his essence actually circulating.


    ''I''ve been here less than an hour and I''m about to stop my own heart. How the hell did it come to this?''


    "I need you to be very clear with me System! This isn''t going to kill me, RIGHT?" The system laughed and sent him an image of Shia Labeouf screaming "JUST DO IT!".


    "That''s a meme! Are you meeming at me? How do you even now that? Are you going through my head?" He got back an apologetic feeling and then an excited ''MEMES'' one.


    Noah shook his head, ignored the system for the sake of sanity, and got back to work. He had a layer full of killer rats to deal with and a heart to stop.


    He focused inwards, feeling the arcane essence and then submerging himself in it. The first thing Noah focused on was the blood just sitting in the reservoir organs, mainly the spleen, liver, and skin and slowly adding it to the general flow.


    Then he started working on his veins, from the periphery to the heart, increasing and smoothing out the flow. When he got close to the heart, Noah let the inertia and pressure from behind carry the essence, for now staying away from the vital organ.


    After that, he started working on the arteries, slowly smoothing the pulsations in the smaller ones, and working his away to the bigger arteries. He was getting closer and closer to the hearth and at the same time increasing the flow in the capillaries and dilating previously constricted ones to support the increased circulation speed and volume.


    Noah had been focusing inward, his whole attention on his heart and circulation, but now his concentration started waning. His consciousness emerged from his arcane essence and into the outside world, only to register scratching and squealing.


    Noah looked down and to the left and saw a rat sluggishly struggling out of the wall, not even three meters away from him. He was still manipulating his circulation, most of his mental faculties on it, so it took him a few seconds to realize what was happening. But when he did he jumped up and shifted his attention to the threat at hand.


    That turned out to be a big mistake. When he let go of his arcane essence all hell broke loose inside his body. Without his control, the flow in his veins stagnated back to its previous pace. The pressure from the increased amounts of blood too much for the less elastic vein walls to handle and the flow in them stopping.


    The capillaries he had started opening, now constricted again, trapping the arterial blood in the vessels. With his heart sending a few big beats before the blood flow from the veins stopped and the pressure in the smaller arteries skyrocketing, they just burst open.


    HP:156.9/443.7(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.65 per sec


    Noah''s everything was in excruciating pain, his head spinning and his vision darkening. He tried to grab the wall to stabilize himself but in the end, met the ground face first.


    He just lied there for a few seconds, until his regeneration fixed the worst of the damage. Groaning, he got on his hands and knees. The rat was still trying to get free and Noah moved towards it. Even with his brain scrambled, he realized what had to be done.


    Shakily, using the wall for support, Noah got up, now standing above the rat. Punching it, while on all fours would be easier, but he was unwilling to put his head and neck so close to the monster.


    It finally noticed him and started madly clawing the ground, trying to get out. A familiar white glow drifted around its front legs.


    Noah''s eyes grew wide. He unsteadily lifted his right foot and stomped on the rat''s head. His current condition, combined with the realization he was about to crush a living being''s head led to him missing the mark.


    Still, Noah managed to graze the monster and interrupt the skill. The rat woozily lifted its head in his direction. It screeched at him, its black eyes turning a reddish hue, its fur standing up and its nails extending.


    Noah looked at the rat and his own foot still next to it. The white glow appeared again, this time around its teeth and it bit down. He tried to pull away, but the monster was faster than him this time. Thankfully it only managed to tear a chunk of boot, leaving him unharmed.


    His leg in the air, Noah screamed "HNGHT".What came out of his throat was a cross between a whine and a pained moan. Nevertheless, it got the job done and his heel met the rat''s head.


    A stomp like that would have certainly killed a rat back on Earth, but when Noah lifted his boot this one was still alive. It was considerably flattened and barely moving but still clinging to life.


    Managing a real scream this time, Noah brought his foot down again. There was an audible ''crunch'' and this time he got a notification.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    The whole thing, from noticing the rat to finally killing it had taken less than 20 seconds, most of which Noah spend recovering on the floor after losing control of his arcane essence. To his muddled brain, it felt much longer.


    He got a feeling from Arcane essence combat masterythat told him everything wrong he had done during the fight, which was, well, everything. He hadn''t realized that helping him improve his fighting included that, but it was welcome nonetheless.


    Noah stomped on the rat again to make sure it was dead and then sat on the ground next to the crushed body.


    HP:193.8/443.8(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min ) Total HP regen 1.65 per sec


    He just sat there for a minute, recovering from the damage, until his head finally cleared.


    During that time Noah saw that the front of his jacket was covered in blood and realized he had bled from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. There was also a wet feeling both on the front and back of his pants, which turned out to also be blood. All in all, he had bled from all possible orifices.


    He looked around, checking all three tunnels for enemies. He had neglected his surroundings when he submerged himself in the arcane essence and suffered the consequences.


    Still, the rat hadn''t snuck on him, it had literally popped out of the wall. Noah grabbed the dead monster and pulled. After being flattened it wasn''t stuck anymore and came out easily. He threw the body to the side and stuck his hand in the wall.


    The hole was just big enough to fit a single rat inside and there were no other exits. After rummaging around to make sure and confirming it, Noah took his hand out.


    "Did it just spawn in the hole?" Noah asked, but got no answer from the system. After a brief pause, he asked another question "Do monsters spawn in this world?" This time he got back a positive feeling.


    "What about the baby rats then? Do they just spawn around the matriarchs? Maybe when a matriarch and a patriarch are in the same place baby rats just start popping into existence."


    The system laughed at him and sent a series of feelings. In the end, Noah understood that monsters could both spawn and multiply naturally. With further prodding, he was relieved to find out monsters rarely spawned more than one at a time.


    The important part was that the rat he just fought, most likely spawned in the hole. For a second there, Noah was scared of a system of secret passages running through the walls that the rats were using for ambushes.


    HP:443.8/443.8(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min ) Total HP regen 1.65 per sec


    With his HP restored and all the damage healed, Noah got back toArcane essence manipulation. This time though he didn''t fully submerge his consciousness. He went through the same steps as before but slower, at the same time paying attention to his surroundings. Luck had saved his life consecutively in a very short amount of time and he was scared of running out.


    Noah got to the point where he got interrupted before. The only part he wasn''t in control right now was the immediate area around the heart. As the central organ of the circulatory system and its close relation to blood, Noah felt he had some control over his heart through Arcane essence manipulation.Enough to do what he had to.


    He felt it was best to do it fast, like ripping a band-aid off. Noah took a deep breath and went for it. He mentally grabbed his heart and squeezed, forcing it to a standstill. At the same time, he took control of the arcane essence in it and completed his circulation.


    His heart kept trying to restart, but Noah didn''t let it. There was a slight problem when his brain registered his heart had stopped and initiated the "Guess I''ll just die" protocol but aborted it soon after when circulation continued uninterrupted.


    Noah jerked up and looked around. The last part had required his full attention and he lost awareness of his surroundings again. Thankfully there wasn''t a swarm of rats rushing at him.


    He got up. He had stayed in one place for too long. He had thought about leaving after the fight but fixing his arcane essence circulation needed to be done as soon as possible.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Speaking of, Noah was getting used to the feeling of controlling his own blood flow. It was requiring less and less attention from him by the second and would soon become second nature to him.


    He picked a tunnel and started walking. At first, staying alert and keeping up his manipulation took all of his concentration, but as time passed the latter required less and less of it.


    At some point Noah started shadow boxing, trying to internalize the correct way of hitting things and build up muscle memory. Even before, he knew that proper punches and kicks required you to put your weight behind them and rotate your body a certain way. Now he was actually doing it, or more accurately, trying to.


    Coming out of the bend at the end of the tunnel, Noah noticed a rat''s ass sticking out of the wall. What got his attention was the fleshy, pink tail contrasting with the cave floor.


    Taking five big steps he lifted his foot high and stomped on the monster. There was a quiet squeak that Noah''s second stomp silenced. It was much less mentally challenging, attacking something that wasn''t trying to actively murder you or struggling and screeching at you.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    This time Arcane essence combat mastery had a little bit less bad things to say.


    Noah again pulled the body out and shoved his hand inside the hole in the wall. He still wasn''t convinced there weren''t secret passages full of rats inside the walls.


    Again his hand ended up in a small hole with no other exits or entrances. The insides of the hole were covered with an oily, slimy and sticky substance. Noah felt a shiver go down his spine at the feeling and almost pulled his hand away, but in the end, he persisted in his search for the elusive wall rat brotherhood.


    When he was finally satisfied he removed his hand from the hole, and found it all covered in a black substance. Looking at it for a few seconds he made his mind and took a sniff.


    What followed was the strongest gag reflex he''d ever felt in his life. He was dry heaving on the floor for the next 30 seconds, while wiping his hand on the wall. The stench was so bad, he''d almost lost control over his circulation.


    Noah shambled away, putting distance between himself and the pit of liquid evil. He wanted to erase the smell out of his memories but knew it would haunt him in his darkest nightmares. The interesting and miraculous thing was it didn''t smell from a distance and only up close.


    It took him some time, but Noah put the circulation of his arcane essence under control. It had been thrown into chaos the moment he smelled that vile substance.


    With that taken care of, he got back to walking and shadow boxing.


    He encountered 3 more rats, two of them woozily crawling out of a wall and the third with his head in a hole. He took care of all 3 without problems, just stomping them to death. He checked the first two holes, finding nothing again. When he pulled the third rat Noah saw black sludge on its snout and walked away without sticking his hand in.


    He was getting over his initial aversion to killing another living being. Keeping up his arcane essence flowing required almost no focus now and he felt a noticeable improvement in his strikes thanks to Arcane essence combat mastery. That combined with the continued success was giving Noah confidence.


    At some point, he started experimenting with Sacrificial nova since it would be most useful out of his skills right now. To make it work he had to take a chunk of health away from his pool, energize it so it was volatile and damaging and then make it explode out.


    The skill came with a simplified version of a manipulation trait to make it work. It was useless to Noah, since arcane essence was totally different, compared to ordinary health, but Arcane essence manipulation did a much better job anyway. Thanks to that the first part came naturally to Noah.


    The second part as it turned out was useless to him. When he tried it, he ended up with a lesser version of his arcane essence. He went over it a few times to make sure he was doing everything right, and he was. The feeling he was getting from the skill told him the lesser arcane essence he ended up, was even better than intended.


    It made sense since Arcane essence was much more potent than normal health. That meant the sacrificial skills would be more powerful when he used them compared to other people.


    Noah decided to just skip the second step and use his arcane essence directly. He thought about trying to energize it even further using Arcane essence manipulationinstead of the skill but remembered what happened when he lost control of his circulation and gave up for now.


    The third part was giving him problems. He had started by sacrificing small amounts of HP, between five and ten, to get a better feeling of the first part and while experimenting on the second. Trying to explode it out, though just wasn''t happening, the power just harmlessly dissipating


    He tried increasing the amount of HP sacrificed, going up by 1 or 2 points each time until finally feeling a reaction at 20 HP. Power gathered in the center of his chest and pulsed, before dissipating again.


    HP:353.4/444.1(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.66 per sec


    At this point he was down almost a quarter of his HP and with 20 or maybe even more HP per try, it would quickly get dangerously low if he continued.


    ''Good thing my regeneration is so high. I''ll just wait a minute until I''m topped off and get back to it.'' Noah thought as he walked but noticed something different.


    He had been following a tunnel for some time and now it opened up to what seemed like a bigger room. He slowed down allowing his Hp to regenerate. It was the first time he encountered something like that, so Noah moved as silently as possible, carefully going forward.


    He was about to enter the room when a rat rounded the corner. It was aLV.1 and they both froze in front of each other. Noah had just stepped forward with his left leg and was in a perfect position to just kick the rat with his right like a football.


    And he did just that. The poor monster was too slow to react, shooting out like a cannonball, hitting the opposite wall and bouncing back to the middle of the room. Noah followed and just as the rat was getting up he kicked him again with similar results.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    Getting some feedback from Arcane essence combat masteryNoah stood victorious over his foe.


    His victory lasted only a second thought, because to his right stood another three rats, all LV.1.They were staring at him frozen and uncomprehending what just happened.


    Noah decided to use his newfound strategy and took two big steps towards the new threat. The first rat was introduced to his right foot, shooting at the wall and bouncing off of it.


    The wall wasn''t directly behind it this time, so the rat didn''t bounce back towards Noah, but forward and sideways ending up at the other side of the room.


    His buddy, who was now on the outside of his right leg got spared for now. His other buddy though, which was to the back and left wasn''t so lucky. Using the build-up momentum Noah continued his movement and swung his left leg. Rat and boot met, but they were not meant to be together, and the cruel fate, or in this case, the laws of physics, sent the monster on a collision course with the wall.


    Noah didn''t get to follow them and finish the job, because the third rat, the one next to his right foot, bit his calf and then climbed up. The bite ripped a hole in his jeans and removed a patch of skin, but the pain was tolerable.


    The problem was the rat going up his leg. It was quite fast too, getting past his thigh and about to go up the torso when Noah slapped it away.


    It bounced off the ground and landed a few meters away, the familiar now white glow swirling around his teeth and paws.


    Noah knew what was coming and tried to evade. The problem was he tried to duck and dodge to the side at the same time and ended up falling on the floor on his side.


    In the end, it got the job done, since the rat sailed through the air above him, but put him in quite the uncomfortable position, in a room with three murder rats, no less.


    In the process of getting up, currently on all fours, Noah felt an impact on his butt, which was now occupying the space his head had been in just a second ago. It was accompanied by sharp pain and the feeling of something, clearly one of the rats, going up his back towards his neck and head.


    There was a second impact on his ribs, this time coupled with the sound of his jacket ripping. This rat also climbed up and went for his head.


    Noah, now with two monsters in close proximity to his neck, just rolled and squirmed on the ground, while trying to slap them off. He did manage to keep them away from his head but couldn''t get them off.


    At some point the third rat joined in too, climbing over his leg. With three of them, it was harder to protect himself and one managed to get to his neck. It bit him but only managed to tear a part of his collar away.


    Noah was getting frantic. The rats were crawling all over him, his heart was hammering in his chest, his body suddenly felt weak and his vision blurred.


    Right now he was on his back, with two rats on his chest and one on his crotch. Noah reached for the Sacrificial nova skill and tried sacrificing 200 HP, in the hope that the sheer amount of health would make the skill work and do enough damage to just kill the rats.


    He was met with a resistance pushing against him, not letting him sacrifice the amount he wanted. In the end, he ended up giving up 120 HP to the skill and the energy started building in his chest.


    The volatile nature of his essence worked in his favor and combined with his need and terror the skill required just a little push to explode.


    A crimson sphere of raging power expanded from the center of his chest. One of the rats on his chest was a little to the left of the skill origin point and shot out to the side impacting the wall with crushing force.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    The monster on his crotch was farther away from the center of the explosion, which quickly lost power as it traveled and was just pushed off of him.


    The third rat that was right above the center of the nova was launched straight up, hitting the ceiling and falling back down, still alive. It must have been the one he did not kick in the beginning.


    Noah tried slapping it as it fell towards him but ended up hitting nothing. With his vision blurred and spinning, his depth perception wasn''t working properly.


    He did manage to catch it by the tail on the second try and slam the rat in the ground.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    Noah got up to a sitting position, his heart beating erratically. The last rat was by the wall on the other end of the room, facing his way. His vision was still blurred but he picked a reddish hue lighting up.


    Out of options, Noah just threw the dead rat, he was still holding by the tail, with all the strength he had. He actually managed to hit the other monster and a blessed message popped in his mind.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    He just collapsed backwards.

 Chapter 4

    Noah was lying on the ground exhausted after the fight. All hell had broken loose when he had stumbled and ended up on the ground. It hammered home the fact that a single, small mistake could cost him his life. Arcane essence combat mastery flooded his mind with a mistake list so long, it gave him a headache.


    HP: 69.9/444.5(3% per min / 13.3 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.66 per sec


    Noah was shocked to find his HP so low. He had been laying on the ground for almost 30 seconds now. That would put his HP at the end of the fight at around 20. How it had gotten so low, was a mystery to him.


    Although the rats had been all over him, they hadn''t actually managed to reach his head or neck and the thick padding on his jacket made it physically impossible for the monsters with their small mouths to inflict serious damage on his torso.


    He did get a few wounds on his legs, but they were not the monster''s main goal. Even with these wounds, there was nothing that could explain his health loss. He did sacrifice 120 Hp, but what about the other close to 300 missing health.


    His heart still hadn''t calmed down and was beating erratically, clearly out of rhythm. His heart was beating. His...heart...was beating.


    '' Oh. Ooooohhh! I lost control of my arcane essence flow again. That explains the health loss. And the weakness, and the blurred vision. Good thing I didn''t collapse like last time, that would have been the death of me...literally''


    Noah also realized he had tried to sacrifice more health to his nova skill than he had at the time. Without the skill or his arcane essence resisting, he would have killed himself. He wasn''t willing to experiment to find out which of the two or maybe both had saved him, though.


    Sitting up, Noah groaned and got to work on his circulation while looking at the room he was in. It was a circular room with four tunnels leading out - the one he came from, another one just next to it and two more tunnels on the wall to the left, a few meters apart from each other.


    Sitting in the center he could see down all four paths, which were decently long, the shortest being at least 50 meters before making a turn. All in all, it was a good spot to rest and train.


    Noah decided he wasn''t leaving the room until he was sure about not losing control of his arcane essence flow. He also needed to figure out the Sacrificial nova skill and a way to feel his Hp levels.


    So far he had kept moving, afraid of the rat patriarch, but now he was willing to risk staying in one place. By the time he stopped his heart again, his HP had regenerated and Noah got up.


    He started going through the Arcane essence combat mastery report, trying to fix his mistakes. At the same time, he both focused on his circulation and let it run on autopilot in the background.


    It was counterintuitive, but he felt it would help him improve. He tried locking it in place while at the same time not thinking about it.


    It was different from what he did before but he felt it internalize nevertheless, and the circulation at some point just clicked for the lack of a better word.


    With that taken care of Noah moved on to Sacrificial nova. Thinking for a second, he decided to just replicate what he did during the fight.


    Sacrificing 120 HP, Noah felt the power build-up in the center of his chest and explode in a bright red sphere, that disappointingly extended a little over his head and just past his crotch.


    Now that there weren''t rats crawling over him, he could analyze what happened. The skill exploding was mainly due to the volatile nature of his arcane essence and not him doing it.


    Executing the skill properly would add to its power and extend the pitiful range. He could even still manipulate it, while in his chest and further strengthen it.


    With the nova fading, Noah felt his arcane essence while it regenerated. He would use the downtime from his skill training and missing health to get a feeling for his HP levels.


    When his regeneration did its job he did the whole thing again, this time working together with his arcane essence and getting better results.


    He kept doing that, again and again, improving with each new attempt and during the time his health regenerated he further increased his senses in relation to his resource pool and it''s nature.


    All the while, his body was automatically moving through the forms and lessons imprinted to him by Arcane essence combat mastery. He was focusing on moves that would help him in the current situation, fighting really small and agile enemies.


    At some point when he felt quickly improving Sacrificial novaany further was impossible, he started using less health, managing to trigger the skill with only 20 HP but to a significantly reduced effect.


    After that, he went from 120 all the way up to 300 HP sacrificed. Higher amounts of HP used burdened his body, 300 HP leaving him weakened for a few seconds.


    The large amounts sacrificed allowed him to further his understanding of arcane essence, and now he could feel the state of his HP to a decent extent.


    All in all, it had taken him probably several hours to get to this point. During that time Noah found out there were actually two spawning holes in the room he hadn''t noticed.


    Seven rats had spawned from the holes in his time here so far. The monsters'' heads just popped out of the holes at random times, struggling to get out and squealing weakly. It looked like the spawning itself left them dazed immediately after. Noah had taken care of them easily, but the first rat had given him quite a scare.


    At one point during the training, Noah had noticed a lone rat down one of the tunnels. When he saw the monster, he had pretended to run away, but when he lost sight of it, he had quickly returned and prepared to ambush it as it came out. He had been waiting just to the side of the tunnel''s entrance and when the rat finally showed itself, after about 30 seconds, it had been mercilessly kicked to death.


    Now with his training goals met Noah was debating remaining here and working on his other two skills or moving on. He had been staying in one place for quite some time and it was a sort of crossroads, although there hadn''t been much traffic so far.


    Just then he noticed movement in one of the tunnels, which turned out to be two rats coming towards him. He quickly got out of their view and thought about running away, but in the end, he stayed and prepared to ambush them just as he had done before. If after his training he couldn''t handle two rats, that he ambushed nonetheless, that would be a problem.


    This time he had to wait a lot less and what came out of the tunnel wasn''t what Noah expected. The rats had been too far away for their levels to show and he had moved away before getting the chance to look at them more carefully. With the long tunnels, and without a point of reference, it was hard to tell how big things were.


    So when a cat-sized rat came out of the tunnel, it was quite a shock to Noah. He kicked it with all he had nevertheless but didn''t get the usual outcome. For one the monster was larger and heavier, and even though surprised by his presence, it managed to react, leaning to the side, so the hit couldn''t deliver its full power. The rat ended up tumbling on the ground and skidding on its side, instead of the expected result of getting launched into the wall with crushing force.


    That was bad, but there was a bigger problem demanding Noah''s attention. Just inside the tunnel, there was another one and it was ready to pounce, familiar white light swirling around paws and teeth. He turned towards it and just fell chest first, exposing his neck and face to the monster.


    Surprised or not, it took the chance, shifting its position and getting ready to go for the vital area, so generously presented to it. What it got was a 200 HP Sacrificial nova to the face. The rat was at such an angle to the skill origin point that it was both crushed in the ground and pushed away, its claws scratching the floor.


    Noah used the momentum of his falling body to launch forward, going after the rat and kicking it into the tunnel''s sidewall. The monster bounced back screeching but had no chance to recover. Noah was over it and knelt down, his knees squeezing from the sides, his ass landing on the rat''s backside, pushing it down, his fists raining on its head.


    The rat tried struggling out, but had suffered hit after hit and was clearly disoriented, offering a feeble resistance. Noah kept punching while keeping his eyes on the tunnel entrance waiting for the other one to show up. It did, just as a notification resounded in Noah''s mind.


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    You have reached level 2


    The other rat was glaring at Noah, who was kneeling on the ground with its dead brethren between his legs. Noah was also looking at the rat, but not all of his attention was on the monster. The moment he leveled up, his HP had started going down. The cost of Mana sacrifice health regenhad gone up and was currently outpacing the regeneration.


    The drain wasn''t that big, and Noah had about 3 minutes before running out of HP, but he wasn''t ready to risk it. In a fight, every single point mattered and he quickly allocated the 10 free points to the Arcane essence stat.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Name: Noah


    Level 2


    Arcane essence-40


    Strenght-20


    Dexterity-20


    Endurance-20


    Intellect-20


    HP: 240.6/545.4(4% per min / 21.8 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.17 per sec


    It was just in time too, the rat activating its skills and jumping at him.


    Noah was still kneeling on the ground. When he saw the skill light, he had grabbed the dead rat''s fur and had focused to the absolute maximum. Now with the other monster flying through the air towards his neck, he lifted his hands, using the dead rat''s body as a shield to protect his face and throat, and braced for impact.


    The hit that came felt like a truck, and almost went straight through his improvised defense. Noah''s back bent backward almost making him topple over, but he managed to hold his ground in the end.


    An additional weight could be felt in his hands, and he slammed them down, crushing the living rat between the floor and his dead brethren''s corpse. Noah heard a pained squeal and could feel it reverberating through the dead body.


    He looked down and saw a pair of hind legs sticking out of his fleshy shield that started kicking, and shredded the front of his jacket, almost rending his throat.


    Noah quickly grabbed a leg in each hand and got up, the rat hanging down, squirming and clawing uselessly at the ground it couldn''t reach. The monster tried to bend its body and bite at his hands, but before it could get to them Noah slammed it in the nearest wall and then the floor. He did that two more times before getting the notification.


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    Arcane essence combat masteryhad surprisingly little to say this time and Noah got up and went back to the middle of the room to monitor the other tunnels. Something sneaking up on him right now would be less than ideal.


    He started shadow boxing again, making use of the time it took for his HP to regenerate. There had been quite an improvement between his last two fights, and Noah was even more motivated to train now.


    He felt his development was quite drastic, unnatural even, and he had his Arcane essence to thank for that. With all the arcane essence related traits and skills working together the results were multiplied many times over. Noah wasn''t complaining, of course, quite the opposite in fact. He was stuck in a really shitty situation and he would take every advantage he could get his hands on.


    He thought about his experiences so far. He had been here for at least ten hours, probably more. He had covered quite the distance, more than fifteen kilometers for sure at this point, from the nest he arrived at initially, and there wasn''t a change in the environment whatsoever.


    ''Is that all there is to this layer, an endless maze of tunnels full of rats? Are there more nests with their own patriarchs?''


    There were a lot of questions that started swirling in his head. He was thankful for it, but why hadn''t he seen other level 2''s until now. When he thought about it Noah had mostly spawn killed level 1 rats up to this point. Was that normal or were the rats hiding and not moving around, because of his explosive arrival here. Or maybe there was some other reason.


    Anyway, the presence of a patriarch, matriarchs, chambermaids and now scouts, suggested some form of hierarchy and organization. Scouts usually moved in front of or reported to, a larger force.


    Realizing that, Noah picked one of the tunnels he hadn''t come from and not the one the scouts came from and moved on.


    He thought about trying to make his other skills work but gave up when he couldn''t make them activate with 5HP sacrificed, not confident enough to walk around with missing health. His regeneration had actually gotten slower after he leveled up, the exponential part still not kicking in.


    He wondered if he would have been better off with a trait different than Mana sacrifice health regen, but came to the conclusion that wouldn''t have been the case.


    His offense would have been better, but without regeneration, Noah would have been far more reluctant to jump into battle. Also instead of hours to get Sacrificial nova to its current state, it would have taken him days. Also, he would have been far more conservative with the amounts sacrificed during fights.


    Noah got to another T-shaped intersection, and when he made sure there was nothing dangerous coming for him in any of the tunnels, he sacrificed 50 HP. But there wasn''t a nova exploding out of his chest this time. He was trying to figure out his sacrificial stat skills, and from his previous training had figured out bigger amounts sacrificed made it easier in the begging. Still, 50 HP was all he was willing to offer right now, or he would have gone for more.


    Anyway, the first step was actually the same as his nova skill, just sacrificing the health. The second was more tricky and this time he couldn''t just rely on his arcane essence''s properties. Noah had to manipulate the energy in such a way, as to turn it into fuel, that would give his body stats.


    Arcane essence was drastically different from ordinary health, but at this point, he had gotten increasingly familiar with it, and Arcane essence manipulation gave him far more control than the actual skill intended. Thanks to that he got very close to pulling it off on the first try but ultimately failed.


    Getting so close, and the experience fresh in his mind he just gave up 50 more HP and tried again. There were specific instructions on how to get both strength and dexterity that were quite counterintuitive and Noah failed miserably again when he tried getting the latter stat.


    Still, the experience gave him an idea and he risked another 50 HP, while the feeling was still fresh. This time instead of a specific stat he just tried to get stats. Any stats. All stats. What he got was a primordial soup of stats with four flavors, two within his grasp, and the other two beyond him.


    The soup was all mashed together and he couldn''t do the last step which was spreading them through his body but he could somewhat mess with the strength and dexterity part. He did exactly that getting a better feeling for them until the stat soup dissipated harmlessly. After the fact, Noah realized he had done something very stupid and was fortunate to not have exploded.


    Now with 150 Hp missing Noah got back to training withArcane essence combat mastery while feeling his regeneration and the general flow of essence in his body.


    He had debated just going down one of the tunnels and regenerating his HP on the move, but it turned out he had made a better choice by staying at the intersection. With about 90 HP still missing, a swarm emerged down the same path he had eyed earlier.


    It consisted of, by the looks of it three level 2''s, and about a dozen level 1''s. The bigger rats were the center of the swarm, one moving in the front, the other two behind him, and the small ones in a circle around them. Noah didn''t like his chances against a group this big, especially without the element of surprise.


    He sprinted down the tunnel the rats couldn''t see, which coincidentally was the other tunnel he hadn''t come from, so he wasn''t backtracking.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t fast enough and when he got to the bend, which was sadly only one way, and looked behind him he saw the swarm coming after him and quickly catching up.


    ''Screw it, my ambush strategy has a perfect success rate so far. I am definitely not outrunning them, but with the element of surprise I might actually get through this''


    Noah put his back on the wall and waited. Just now when he sacrificed HP for the sacrificial skills, he got the feeling that with more points in the Arcane essence stat and a bigger pool, he could sacrifice more health than before without getting negative side effects.


    He heard the rats getting near, their claws scratching the ground and squealing to each other from time to time. He focused and braced himself, he had to do this perfectly.


    Just as the swarm was about to round the corner, he jumped out, landing right in the middle of it and crouching down. The rats'' first reaction was to scatter, but with their target just sitting there doing nothing they rushed him.


    So far the largest amount of HP Noah had used for a Sacrificial nova was 300. Now he used 400 and pushed it to the maximum of his ability. The sphere of angry red energy exploded out, sending both big and small rats flying, most of them hitting a wall, some just shooting down the tunnel.


    You have killed Dark Rat Lv.1


    .


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat Lv.1


    He hadn''t counted the exact number of level 1 rats, nor did he count the number of messages, but Noah was sure he had gotten all of them. He had been crouching almost exactly between the rear level 2 rats when the nova exploded, and when the monsters bounced of the walls, they landed right in front of him. The third one was somewhere behind him.


    Noah felt weakened, but it wasn''t anything he couldn''t manage. The two monsters in front of him were starting to recover from the shock, so he fought through the weakness and grabbed them by the base of the tails. The appendages were gross and scaly, and touching them caused a shiver to run down his spine. Noah felt himself on reflex almost let go but stopped himself.


    Standing up with a squirming rat in each hand, he turned around and saw the last monster trying to get on its feet. Noah rushed forward and started slamming it with his improvised weapons.


    All three started screeching and squealing, but he was relentless. Soon he got a kill message but wasn''t completely sure which one of the three had died. It made sense that it was the one on the ground that died, and the fact that the two he was holding were still screeching, and it wasn''t, confirmed it. At that point, Noah just started slamming the ones in his hands in the ground.


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    Noah dropped the dead rats on the ground, moved away from the carnage and sat down exhausted.

 Chapter 5

    HP: 111.6/546.0(4% per min / 21.8 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.18 per sec


    Noah was resting with his back on the wall, the exhaustion from the huge sacrifice and then swinging around the rats, that were surprisingly heavy, still present. Despite that, he was on high alert, constantly monitoring the tunnel for threats.


    He still hadn''t gotten used to the smell, and the sight, of blood and gore, so he tried to ignore the corpses next to him. Nevertheless, they might keep away other rats, while his HP regenerated. It was just as likely to attract and enrage them, but Noah had no way to test his theory reliably.


    His time here hadn''t been kind to his clothes at all, and they had suffered immensely. They were covered in splatters of blood, the front of his jacket was ripped with padding sticking out all over, his jeans had multiple holes in them and even his right boot had a big chunk missing near the heel. At the current pace, he would be running around naked in a few days.


    The exhaustion he was feeling finally abated, and he got up. His HP was far from full and would take about 5 minutes to regenerate. Noah wanted some other way to deal with the rats than just kicking them and started working with Arcane essence combat mastery to figure it out.


    For the small level 1 rats, kicking was the only viable option while on the ground, so Noah tried coming up with moves, that would be harder to dodge or would keep them away.


    But his real goal was to come up with a way to defend himself from their jumping attacks. He figured out a few guard stances that would flow into dodges, punches, and slaps. The moves would have to be tested in a real combat situation to say for sure, but right now, they looked promising.


    Noah kept it up, internalizing the moves until his Hp recovered. He really wanted to stay in one place and train, but his current location was less than ideal. Besides, the rats might trap him if he stayed still for too long.


    He started moving again, keeping up the shadow boxing on autopilot and sacrificing 50 HP. He could spare that much but would wait to regenerate before sacrificing any more.


    Anyway, Noah was training the sacrificial stat skills again. Last time he had gotten a good grasp of strength and dexterity and now tried to get just them, instead of the whole primordial soup, but in the end, came up short. Still, he was getting close, so he didn''t get discouraged and patiently waited for his HP to come back.


    When a rat''s head popped out of the wall in the distance Noah smiled and rushed forward. Instead of stomping it, he grabbed the monster by the scruff of the neck and pulled it out.


    Throwing it on the ground in front of him Noah took one of his new stances. The rat was dazed and just ran at his legs, but he swept him back with his foot.


    After a couple of failed attempts, it finally got serious and activated its abilities. He was waiting just for that and braced himself. Noah was so confident, only because of his Sacrificial nova. If he missed the rat, he was prepared to instantly explode 100 HP, which would most likely send it flying back, even with the monster using its skills.


    The rat jumped, hurtling towards his neck and Noah weaved to the side. The oversized rodent passed harmlessly through the space his throat had occupied a second ago and landed on the floor a few meters back.


    Noah turned around lightning fast and took a stance, ready for the rat''s next actions. It did not immediately jump at him again, but rather rushed him on the ground. He kept it at bay until the skill light lit up once more, and he again dodged the flying attack.


    This kept repeating, Noah testing his moves and adapting to the rat''s movements and tactics, limited as they were. Even before, he had noticed a pause between skill usage and now he put numbers to his observations.


    In the beginning, the rat used his skills roughly every ten seconds, but the delay started getting longer as the fight went on. During all this time he had kept his eyes open for any other threats, which there were none of, but at this point felt like he was pushing his luck.


    Noah had gotten a good grasp on the monster''s movements and decided to try and slap it midair, before finishing it off and moving on. He took his stance, left hand ready to protect his neck, right hand ready to backhand the rat as it was coming in.


    He was ready to launch a Sacrificial nova if he missed, but everything went according to plan. Noah managed to hit the monster quite hard, sending it into the wall and then landing on the floor back first.


    With all the kicks it took during the skill recovery periods, albeit individually weak, Noah almost expected the rat to just die then and there.


    However, it did not. It flipped over, its eyes lighting in a red hue, its fur standing up and its nails extending. He had seen the skill several times and classified it as some sort of berserker ability, making the rats faster stronger and more ferocious.


    Nevertheless, he hadn''t fought an enraged rat in a real battle so far. They had been either stuck in walls, or Noah managed to finish them off before they could do anything.


    Now the monster rushed him, dodging the previously effective kicks, forcing him to jump back. That gave Noah a chance to try his more tricky and deceptive moves for just such foes.


    Some of the techniques worked, others didn''t, Noah steadily moving backwards under the rat''s relentless rush. After less than ten seconds of delay, which before the enrage was close to twenty, the monster activated its skills and went for his throat.


    Noah, almost unconsciously, sacrificed 200 HP for a nova, that exploded out of his chest. At the same time, his training so far automatically kicked in and he managed to punch the rat mid-air. The strike and skill landed at the same time, killing the rat before it even hit the floor.


    Nevertheless, the reduced skill cooldown was an unpleasant surprise, and now he was missing 200 HP again. To think everything had gone so well up to that point.


    Anyway, Noah was constantly faced with the choice of moving on with missing HP or staying and waiting for his regeneration to do its job. He had no idea what the correct choice was and it was starting to stress him out.


    Still, he was afraid of rounding a corner and stumbling into a bunch of rats with a third of his life missing. So far he had always been the aggressor or at the very least, both parties were equally surprised by the situation. Getting ambushed was not on his to-do list, and in the end, he stayed put.


    Noah started feeling a little down. Even if losing 200 HP seemed like not that big of a deal, he had felt in control of the battle, and by the end, confident in his skills and observations and it had all changed in a single moment.


    It was something he understood, that he was in a hostile environment and the unexpected was the norm. But his subconscious had relaxed during the fight and then had been thrown into disarray. That combined with the recurring choice he had no answer to broke his mental floodgates.


    So far he hadn''t thought much about his situation, intentionally staying away from the topic. With all the Trait and Skill choices, training and fighting his mind had been constantly occupied. Now it came crashing down on him and he slid down the wall and sat on the ground.


    His situation hit him like an emotional truck. During the initial shock, the fact he wasn''t on Earth anymore hadn''t registered, not really. Now Noah realized that even if he got out of this dungeon his family and friends and the world he knew, wouldn''t be waiting for him.


    The initial messages hadn''t said anything about how he came here. It had to do something to do with the arcane probably... maybe...


    "Do you know how I got here?" Noah asked aloud. After a brief pause, the system gave him an unsure feeling.


    "Do you at least now if I can go back?" he asked hopefully, but got another unsure feeling.


    "Are there at least humans outside?" he asked dejectedly after a while. Noah got the feeling the system was hesitant about telling him, but in the end, he got a positive answer.


    "They aren''t cannibals or something else equally horrible, are they?" The answer this time was less clear with notes of '' Can''t tell you'', ''Restricted'' and ''Rules''.


    "For the sake of my sanity, I''ll take that as a ''No'' and assume the people outside are perfectly fine human beings and very friendly to strangers."


    Noah was looking for some kind of motivation or future goal to get him through his current situation. His energy had drained and his will to move had become nonexistent the moment he sat down. Also, the fact that he was in a seemingly endless maze of tunnels full of monster rats, wasn''t helping right now.


    There was at least something somewhat positive in the situation and that was the presence of humans outside. Someone out there might know of a way for him to get home, however unlikely it was when even the system didn''t know.


    Noah had suffered from depression before and knew he was prone to such episodes. He had been very careful of the early signs back on Earth and knew he was slipping right now. He had to do something before it got worse.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Come on, just get up. Just for a second. You can sit back down if you don''t feel like moving, but just get up."


    It was a way to motivate himself he had found recently, which was surprisingly effective. It worked this time too, Noah slowly pushing himself off the ground.


    His HP had actually recovered and the report from Arcane essence combat mastery was still in the back of his mind. Motivating himself in a similar way, he started going through it, the movements calming his mind.


    It was having an effect, energy and will power slowly coming back to him. After he was done, he moved onto the sacrificial skills, sacrificing 50 HP.


    This time he succeeded in getting a mix of only dexterity and strength, instead of all the stats. The success lifted his spirits even though he couldn''t separate them and ended up just spreading them as they were through his body.


    What followed was one of the most uncomfortable and strange feeling seconds of his life so far. His efficiency with the skill was terrible and he got only a few points of stats, otherwise, the experience would have been even more disturbing.


    When he spread the energy through his body some parts got stronger while others got faster. it was confusing when one limb was suddenly stronger or faster than the other, but it was much worse when individual muscles were involved.


    The second passed and his body got back to normal. During that time he had gotten a much better understanding of the stats, their nature and how they affected the body. He was getting close to executing the skills properly and that made him feel better.


    Noah started walking. It had been a gamble, pushing himself so hard and could have just as well tipped him further into depression. Still, the situation had required drastic measures and it had worked in the end.


    As he was walking Noah started thinking about his current enemies and what he knew about them. Level 1''s had skills and were pushing the size limits, but aside from that, they weren''t that different from Earth rats.


    Level 2''s were a different story - bigger, tougher, stronger, faster, smarter. He had noticed the level 2 scout leading the two warriors in the last swarm, showing at least some organization and tactics. Of course, it could have been a coincidence, but he had to be prepared for the worst possible situation.


    Noah hadn''t fought them but he had seen, what he assumed to be level 3''s and the level 4 patriarch. If the trend continued, a swarm led by a level 3 or even worse a patriarch might use tactics against him, not to mention the impact their power alone would have on the battle.


    He needed a new plan, different than just rushing in and exploding most of his health in a Sacrificial nova, hoping for the best. At least he knew he could fight a rat one on one without problems now.


    Noah reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up to a bigger room. As he was approaching he heard a cacophony of sounds only dozens of rats together could produce. It was almost enough to make him flee the scene immediately, but the squeals and screeches were aggressive and threatening, almost like a fight was about to erupt, which intrigued him.


    He slowly inched forward along the wall, trying to get a look inside the room without exposing himself. A level 1 rat entered his view and then another, but they didn''t notice him, their attention focused on the other side of the room. Noah could hear the squealing of other rats from that side and moved back, changing walls and again moving forward to confirm it.


    A similar scene played out on that side too and he moved forward to see more. A bunch of rat asses were sticking out of the wall, three of them, judging by the size, belonging to level 2''s. In front of them was a defensive line of level 1''s screeching at the other side of the room.


    His current position against the tunnel''s wall made him visible to only one side of the room. It was at that point that his advance was noticed by one of the lookouts. It screeched his way, shifting the others'' attention to him and causing the level 2''s to start moving out.


    There was an immediate reaction from the other side that Noah couldn''t see but could clearly hear, and then all hell broke loose.


    His first instinct was to turn around and run away at top speed but the rats shifted their attention from him to the other swarm and rushed forward. The two groups, which seemed equal in terms of numbers, met just in front of his tunnel and smashed together.


    The smaller rats were in the front line, biting and scratching each other, skill light swirling around their teeth, while the bigger ones, three on each side, stayed back, monitoring each other.


    From time to time they rushed forward either trying to bite an unlucky level 1, leaving terrible injuries if successful, or trying to prevent their counterparts from doing the same.


    Noah, whose existence had been quickly forgotten, was standing in his tunnel unsure of what to do. This was a perfect opportunity to escape, but a little voice inside his head was telling him he needed to fight and kill if he wanted to survive this whole thing.


    He realized that he actually wanted to join the fight, which was strange, considering his depressive episode earlier. There was a part of him, that back on earth had yearned for excitement, adventure, and magic and was rejoicing right now. It had gotten stronger and stronger with each fight and success he had with his skills. Noah just hadn''t realized it was there before.


    By this point, the fight was nearing its climax. Most of the smaller rats were badly hurt, and the bigger ones engaged each other more and more often.


    Suddenly all three level 2 rats on the left side activated their skills and jumped towards the other side''s farthest level 2, hitting it and then rolling away on the ground. The other two big rats jumped into the fray, forming a squirming, biting and screeching mess.


    With their leaders suddenly gone, the fighting between the level 1''s momentarily stopped, the monsters confusedly looking around. His enemies were hurt and distracted and Noah saw his chance. He could wait until the level 2''s took care of each other but he wanted a real fight to improve himself.


    He jumped amidst the smaller rats and cast a 100 HP Sacrificial nova. He made sure to position himself in such a way as to not send any of them flying the level 2''s way.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    .


    .


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    Noah didn''t have time to check the messages, moving on and charging at the rat mound before they realized something was wrong.


    He fell chest first on top of the monsters, sacrificing 300 HP that exploded in a red sphere of power out of his chest.


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    He quickly positioned himself back towards the room only to see a bunch of small rats getting up, looking at him and some even coming his way.


    Noah, on his knees, started punching the ball of flesh in front of him.


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    Before he could take care of the other two a screech came out of his punching bag and it was like a wave went through the level 1 rats standing on the sidelines. There were around ten of them, most activating their enrage skill, while three prepared their jump and bite combo.


    Noah was standing up and moving back when the first jumped, flying at his belly. He backhanded it with his right hand, killing it. The slap flowed into a sideways dodge and the second rat was hit with a right elbow as it was passing by. The strike turned into another backhand that took care of the third rat.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark RatLV.1


    By this point, one of the level 2''s had wobbled over behind the level 1''s, while another in a clearly worse condition was dragging itself in the same direction. The two were screeching and squealing, albeit the second one much more weakly. Their smaller brethren even though enraged were apparently, still susceptible to commands and were lurching between the two.


    Noah moved forward, kicking the dragger into the other rats, grabbing a dead body in each hand and using them as projectiles. The last two bodies were grabbed to be used as shields.


    The kicked rat, now deceased, and the other two bodies he flung, crashed into their brethren killing some and forcing the only remaining level 2 to dodge out of the way.


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    Noah was upon them, kicking one of the four still living level 1''s and killing it. The other three rushed him while the big one jumped back and started enraging. Noah realized an enraged level 2 might be trouble and threw one of his flesh shields his way.


    The rat just took the hit to the face and continued, while the small ones activated skills. He jumped back and put the other dead monster in front of his neck and face feeling three distinct impacts a moment later.


    Noah thought it was a good thing they always went for the neck and was proven wrong a second later. What felt like a battering ram, impacted his stomach, pushing him back, making him stumble. He managed to keep his balance, but when he looked down his brown eyes met a pair of black beady eyes shining with a red hue.


    Noah felt the remaining three small rats crawl over the corpse in his grasp and onto his hand while the big one crawled up and opened its mouth in preparation.


    He jammed his left wrist in the open orifice and started wildly spinning his right arm until all three interlopers were thrown off.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    The big rat on his chest was quite surprised to get his mouth stuffed but bit down nonetheless, severing tendons and grinding bones. Noah pushed through the pain and located the remaining level 1 throwing his remaining meat shield at it.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    With only the level 2 left, Noah grabbed it by the skin on its back and pulled. The rat let a pained screech but didn''t let go of his wrist, which did even more damage.


    The monster was having trouble with his bones but at this rate, it would get through eventually, separating Noah''s hand from the rest of his body.


    He could just use a Sacrificial nova but was confident in dealing with the situation without wasting HP. He knelt down, putting his arm and the rat on the floor, pressing on it with his knee to stop it from moving and just started punching it.


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    The third punch did the job and Noah got his hand back. Getting up he surveyed the battlefield with rats thrown all over the place.


    HP: 131.6/549.8(4% per min / 21.98 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.23 per sec


    When he looked at his hands, amidst the blood, he saw traces of a black oily substance on them and felt nauseated when he realized what he was looking at. He looked at the monsters around the room and many of them had the black sludge around their mouths. He hadn''t thought exactly what the substance was before, but now an idea came into his mind.


    ''Why would they stick their heads in the holes and why would they fight over it? Are they eating the stuff?''


    Just the idea alone, of eating the vile-smelling sludge made him gag. He tried asking the system and got no answer, but there was no other explanation. Whatever they were doing, it was clearly valuable enough to them to even fight over. Also, there seemed to be different factions among the monster population, which meant he wasn''t the whole layer''s sole target.


    Just then another thought came to his mind and with it a terrible realization. He had overlooked a very important fact that had grave implications for the future.


    "Wait a minute, what am I going to eat...?"

 Chapter 6

    "Wait a minute, what am I going to eat...?"


    With all that was happening, Noah had forgotten about food completely. Admittedly it wasn''t the most pressing matter, compared to everything else he''d been through, and he hadn''t felt any pangs of hunger so far. Which, on second thought was strange, considering all the running around and fighting he had been doing.


    Noah remembered that the Arcane essence Trait changed his body and focused inward trying to glean its new needs but couldn''t figure anything out.


    "Do I still need food to survive? What about water?" Noah asked, hoping the system would find it appropriate to help him out.


    ''Yes and yes'' was the answer he got.


    "Well, that doesn''t help at all. Do I need less food and water to survive, compared to normal people?" he tried again, hoping for something more useful.


    ''Yes''


    "Oh come on! Couldn''t you at least tell me how much less?" Noah exclaimed in an exasperated voice.


    The system sent him an annoyed feeling and a message that came down to ''Figure it out yourself '' and then went quiet.


    "That still leaves the question of what I am going to eat or drink." In his time wandering the layer so far, Noah hadn''t seen anything edible or drinkable whatsoever.


    "Well, not exactly."


    He looked at his hands and focused on the drops of black sludge on them. "OH hell no, I ain''t eating that!" Just the thought alone made him want to throw up.


    His eyes moved to his injury. His left wrist had been badly chewed by the rat and wasn''t a sight for the faint of heart. It looked extremely painful and probably should have been, but wasn''t, only comparable to hitting your shin on an edge real hard.


    Anyway, the monster''s teeth had done significant damage and had severed all tendons, nerves, and vessels, crushing some of the smaller wrist bones and Noah couldn''t move or feel his hand below the injury.


    Now, in front of his eyes, the bones started popping and growing back to their original shape, the tendons and nerves snaking forward, searching for their severed parts and snapping taut when they had found them.


    All in all, Noah had regenerated slightly more than 200 HP before the injury was completely healed, even though it had only done around 40.


    Noah also realized that he had, almost without thinking, stopped the blood flow to the severed vessels and rerouted it to keep his circulation in order. His Arcane essence manipulation had certainly come a long way since the initial incidents.


    With battles no longer a problem, his only concern was if he could keep it up... during...


    " Hey, umm, what about sleep?" he asked again uncertainly.


    The system sighted in his head but still answered him in the end.


    ''Same''


    ''Shit!! Damn it, I''ll think about bodily needs when I actually have any. Now that I think about it I haven''t had to use the toilet either... Screw it, it might be days or a week before any of this becomes a problem, maybe even more. I can''t do anything about it right now, anyway.''


    With his problems ignored and left for future him to deal with, Noah took in his surroundings. He was in a big rectangular-ish room around 10 by 5 meters with four tunnels going out of the corners and the one he had come from on one of the long sides.


    On the two shorter sides were Noah now realized, the feeding holes. These were a little bit bigger and wider, allowing for multiple rats to eat at the same time, but not big enough for a level 3 to stick its head inside.


    So with five escape routes, good visibility and a good chance of a constant stream of moderately large groups of level 1''s and 2''s Noah decided to stay and train here.


    <hr>


    Noah was currently fighting six level 2 rats. He had seen the group from afar but had been pretty confident about taking them on.


    He had been in the room training, for quite some time at this point and had made significant progress. It had taken him just one more try before finally separating strength from dexterity and executing the sacrificial stat skills properly. After that, it had come naturally to him and he could currently use them at about 60% efficiency rate.


    Also, Noah had been correct about the constant stream of enemies, bringing with them combat experience and increasing his HP


    HP: 533.8/561.4(4% per min / 22.07 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.38 per sec


    It was actually surprising he hadn''t leveled up yet, but admittedly he didn''t know how the system worked, not for a lack of asking mind you, and there was no experience bar.


    He had fought twelve groups of rats up to now, this one being the thirteenth. No level 3''s had shown up so far and this was also the biggest number of level 2''s he had fought at the same time.


    Some of the notable encounters included a small swarm walking in while he was fighting another group, both under ten rats, but they didn''t attack immediately.


    Instead, the newcomers just observed from the sidelines, waiting for an opportune moment and jumped in when he was almost finished with the first group. Noah had been conserving his resources, had his guard up and was ready for it, taking care of them as well.


    At one point a group of 15 had appeared, three level 2''s among them, but ended up surprisingly easy to deal with. He had ambushed them out of the entrance, sowing chaos and death, and then escaped down the nearest tunnel.


    The rats actually ignored him and proceeded to feed, on the same side nonetheless, and were caught completely unaware when he jumped out with his resources restored a minute later.


    There was a similar encounter, but with two dozen rats, five of which level 2''s. Some of the rats pursued him when he escaped, making it even easier to take them out. The rest tried setting up an ambush, that ultimately failed, Noah growing suspicious as there were no sounds whatsoever coming from the room.


    During all of that, he had used the Sacrificial stat skills multiple times, getting more familiar with them and his body, better at using what he had. His movements had become more agile and accurate, his strikes, stronger and more explosive, to the point of one-shotting level 1''s in the correct circumstances.


    Back to the fight at hand, there was something different about the current group. Noah had noticed it from the start, when instead of them just rushing in and attacking him, just two of the monsters, scouts Noah assumed, slowly walked in.


    The rats looked tense and on high alert, surveying the room and him, before giving a signal and the other four following in. The fight that followed was much more strategic than usual, the monsters trying to pincer him, skills were used more scarcely, but with a bigger impact.


    It was all due to the sixth rat, that one staying back and directing the others, joining in at the most opportune times, making the most effective attacks and being the biggest threat as a whole.


    On his end, Noah was maneuvering around them, positioning himself in such ways, so the monsters would get in each others'' way and trying to disrupt their formation as a whole.


    He had used the same clearly telegraphed maneuver three times already, and when he used it again the rats took appropriate countermeasures. This, of course, was what Noah was aiming for, sacrificing 40 HP for strength and dexterity each, increasing them both by around 25 points.


    He changed direction mid-motion, made barely possible with his increased stats, bypassing the other monsters and rushing at the leader.


    His enemies were not prepared for that, the rest ended up in a heap when they tried to replicate his maneuver and the lead rat was caught in an unfavorable position. It received five strong punches to the head, flattening it, but not enough to be lethal.


    Noah grabbed the rat by the hind legs and used the tried and tested method of smacking its brethren with it. The others, suddenly left without a leader, couldn''t adjust to the situation fast enough and perished soon after.


    You have killed Dark Rat Leader LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have reached level 3


    Name: Noah


    Level 3


    Arcane essence-50


    Strenght-20


    Dexterity-20


    Endurance-20


    Intellect-20


    HP: 568.8/662(5% per min / 33.10 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.48 per sec


    Noah immediately added his 10 free points to Arcane essence and stoped the HP drain from the increased cost of Mana sacrifice health regen. Now that he was level 3 Arcane Incorporation would give him only 0.01 HP for every level 1 rat slain and those were the majority of his kills so far.


    The Leader type was new, multiplying the danger instead of just adding to it. Multiple leaders in a big swarm might be trouble, not to mention their higher-leveled variants.


    Noah wanted to increase his HP above 700 before picking a fight with a level 3. The problem was, they wouldn''t be alone. It was hard to tell what a battle like that would be, a larger swarm of level 1 and 2''s or a smaller one of just level 2''s. They might even move in elite squads of just level 3''s.


    Noah felt that the reason he hadn''t met any stronger monsters yet was himself or more specifically his explosive arrival. In the first few hours, he had barely met any rats at all, with the frequency of the encounters and the strength of the rats steadily increasing. In fact, more than half of the fights in the current room had taken place during the last third of his time here.


    Anyway, the last fight had been challenging but at the same time satisfying. It clearly showed Noah''s astounding progress, which he had his three Arcane essence related Traits to thank for. Their compounding and multiplicative effects giving him a fighting chance.


    The corpses in the room were quite literally mounting up at this point and Noah had taken to throwing them near the walls, as to not get in the way. The dead bodies had formed a few mounds near every wall by now, although they weren''t as big as they should have been, considering the numbers so far.


    Noah had a theory the monsters were dissolving or the dungeon was reabsorbing them, but wasn''t about to go and dig through the corpses to find out.


    He had just finished throwing his latest victims on one such mound on the wall with the tunnel he originally had come from when from that same shaft a swarm of rats came out.


    This particular group consisted of six smaller rats and three bigger ones. The only difference was the small ones were slightly bigger than a level 2 and the bigger ones were dog-sized and had to be at least level 3.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The moment the rats entered the room one of them, probably a scout, gave an ear-splitting screech, turned around and rushed back the way they had come from.


    Noah felt something was wrong the moment he laid his eyes on the new enemies, his instincts screaming. He dive-roled in the direction of the nearest tunnel and then jumped inside it. During his roll, he glimpsed with his peripheral vision a faint white glow and now heard impacts and nails skidding on the rock floor.


    Just as he was rising up there were two consecutive impacts on the sidewall of the tunnel behind him and he ducked again. Two bodies flew through the air above him, landing on the floor in front of him, leaving him face to face with the level 3''s.


    Noah stood up and rushed the rats. Their brethren were behind him and would enter the tunnel any moment now. He used a similar tactic to the monsters, jumping at the wall and pushing off it to get over them.


    The oversized rodents reacted with angry screeches and rushed after him. They were soon joined by the smaller ones, making Noah''s attempts to keep them at bay exceedingly harder.


    The level 2''s were slightly more, well, everything than the ones he had fought so far but they weren''t the problem. It was the level 3''s sheer strength on top of directing their smaller brethren.


    The rats weren''t bunching up enough for Noah to justify the usage of Sacrificial nova. He''d have to get all of them and hard to do that. Also, they were covering each other too well and Noah couldn''t use Sacrificial strength and Sacrificial dexterity effectively.


    He was still missing HP from the last battle, but that would change soon and he''d have to do something to not to his regeneration. For now, he was keeping the rats away with kicks and sweeps, while also throwing punches at the level 3''s, since they were that big.


    In an unexpected maneuver, the monsters managed to change sides with Noah and started pushing him back towards the big room. They were constantly putting pressure on him but had already missed several opportunities to push harder and weren''t even using skills.


    Finally, just before forcing him back in the room, the rats managed to outmaneuver him and one of the level 3''s took a big bite out of his lower right calf. There was a distinct snapping sound and Noah lost strength in his heel and foot.


    With his Achilles tendon severed Noah''s chances fell drastically, but the swarm just kept pushing him back without pressing their advantage. Noah had his suspicions before but now was sure the rats weren''t trying to kill him, but just stall and keep him there.


    He soon realized he was shepherded towards the same tunnel he and the rats had come from. Trying to veer off course elicited a strong reaction from the rats, which came down to angry screeching and doubling their efforts until he was back on track.


    A plan started formulating in Noah''s head at that point. He entered the tunnel the monsters were pushing him towards, waiting for his HP to regenerate and his leg and tendon to recover. He had noticed the rats bunching up whenever he diverged off course and now saw his chance.


    When he was ready, he turned around sharply and started running down the tunnel. The rats squealed behind him and followed, but didn''t bother attacking him since he was going the way they wanted him to.


    Then with another sudden turn, Noah rushed back, throwing the rat formation into disarray and then using the wall to kick off and fly over them.


    At that point, the monsters were all tangled together and Noah turned yet again, coming face to face with the now bunched up rodents, kneeling and leaning a little over them.


    What followed was a 500 HP Sacrificial nova that drained him, but he had no time to be weak right now. The rats were crushed into the ground and ended up even more tangled up.


    As the nova was exploding and expanding Noah had reached out and had grabbed the head of a level 3 that was sticking out of the pile. He had to move fast now. With the rat head in his hands, he moved forward stepping on its back and sacrificing 100 HP to Sacrificial strength.


    Noah hadn''t tried sacrificing 100 HP to a single stat before, the biggest amount being 50. Now he felt he had almost screwed himself over as the increased strength nearly tore his muscles and broke his bones.


    He was holding the level 3 rat''s head in his hands and stepping on its back. He then pulled and twisted with all of his strength. There was a satisfying crack and he felt the skull separate from the spine, killing the rat on the spot.


    You have killed Avenger Rat Warrior LV.3


    Noah let go as soon as the message appeared, even though he could have ripped the head off completely. Those were theatrics he didn''t have the time for now.


    He still had more than half a second of herculean strength and focused on the other level 3. It was lying two steps away with its rear end towards him and the smaller rats strewn around and on top of it.


    Noah literally didn''t have the time to get to its head and repeat his previous action, and on top of that the monster was now getting up.


    He rushed to the rat and stomped its back, producing a painful popping sound and a squeal from the rodent that was now pinned to the floor.


    With time running out he just grabbed it by the rear end and tail and folded it in half, producing a sharp crack and a screech. It had been harder to pull off than the head maneuver, what with the bigger and tougher vertebrae, and he had barely managed it before Sacrificial strength dissipated.


    After Noah snapped its spine the rat''s back half went limp, while the front end was spasming and clawing at the floor. He grabbed the body to use as a shield, the monster still screeching, and went around stomping and kicking the smaller rats.


    Now that the warriors were gone, the level 2''s couldn''t pressure him without attacking for real. They still tried using the same tactic as before but failed miserably. He saw them struggling with their instincts and apparent orders, to the point of activating and then canceling their skills multiple times.


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    With only three left, they finally had enough and started enraging. Noah had noticed a drawback to the skill, which was that it required about a second of standing still to take effect. He suspected there were even more negative effects since the rats only used it as a last resort.


    During the fight, his meat shield had gone progressively limper and quieter and was now just sporadically spasming. With the remaining level 2''s conveniently lined up and standing still while their skill took effect, Noah slammed them with the warrior in his hands.


    You have killed Avenger Rat Warrior LV.3


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    You have killed Avenger Rat LV.2


    HP: 103.6/662.8(5% per min / 33.10 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.49 per sec


    Noah was feeling the aftereffects of sacrificing 600 HP in the span of 1 second, but that wasn''t all. He had gone through two challenging fights back to back, especially the second one, draining his stamina. Most draining of all were the two stunts he pulled with the level 3''s, while under the effect of Sacrificial strength.


    Stamina:43/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    Stamina might become a problem going forward and force his next skill choice to be Sacrificial endurance. Noah was thinking about picking it anyway but at that point, he might not have a choice. If he''d be able to satisfy his increased stamina needs with the skill and his regeneration, was another question.


    He gave himself ten seconds to catch his breath, after which he slit his wrists on one of the warriors'' teeth. Getting up Noah started walking towards the feeding room, leaving behind drops of his blood.


    "Can monsters evolve and level up under stressful conditions or strong emotions?" Noah urgently asked and the system immediately gave him an answer.


    ''Yes''


    "And can the followers or underlings of said monsters evolve together with them?" he followed up with another question and got the same answer again


    "Shit"


    Noah walked through the big cavern and into the tunnel he had jumped in initially. There was already some of his blood in there from when his calf got bitten and now he sprayed some on the floor and the walls further in. He was using his Arcane essence manipulation to keep the wounds open and release a reasonable amount of blood.


    Noah didn''t know how good a rat''s sense of smell was and it was even harder to tell now with the levels and the scout variants, but he hoped his pursuers would take the bait and go down the bloody tunnel.


    It was a good thing the arcane essence dissipated almost immediately after leaving his body, or he would have been more reluctant to leave so much of his blood lying around.


    When his wounds closed and he made sure no more blood was dripping from him, he rushed down the tunnel on the opposite side.


    After the fight was done, he had looked closer at the new rats. Their eyes had the red hue even when not enraged, and the fur around them looked like they had cried tears of blood. That, combined with the name, and the fact they had clearly been after him, tipped him off and then the system confirmed it.


    The patriarch from the nest he had squashed when arriving had evolved and his whole swarm had followed. Now they were actively searching for him, but not to kill him, not immediately at least.


    When the group had seen him, the scout had rushed back while the rest had tried to stall him and even push him back where they came from. But why? There was only one explanation Noah could think of.


    The evolved patriarch wanted to deal with him himself and he might already be on his way, thanks to that scout.


    Noah''s goal when he left that trail of blood down the tunnel was to confuse and misdirect his pursuers and throw them off his trail.


    This new development changed his situation completely. Now he knew for sure he was being hunted and his pursuers were even stronger than expected.


    Level one Dark Rats had turned into level two Avenger Rats and the level 2''s had evolved into level 3''s. That meant the rat patriarch was now at least level 5.


    Noah hadn''t gotten any Skill or Trait points so far but was willing to bet, something happened at level 5, even though the system remained silent on the topic. That made his pursuer even more dangerous with a possible extra Skill or Trait.


    That meant no more staying in one place for training and moving even with missing health. Noah was even willing to descend into the second layer and risk the stronger monsters that weren''t actively hunting him but had no idea how to do that.


    For now his plan included getting as far away as possible from the feeding room and hoping his misdirection worked.

 Chapter 7

    It had been many hours since his flight began and Noah hadn''t stopped ever since. At this point, everything was starting to blend together in an endless series of fights and tunnels. All the while had been alternating between a jog and a fast walk to keep his stamina at reasonable levels.


    Stamina:128/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    When he met a group of rats, which was surprisingly often at this point, he jumped into battle with far more ferocity than before, trying to end the battle quickly and move on.


    HP: 632.3/679.4(5% per min / 33.29 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.53 per sec


    His combat style had been forced to evolve and adapt to the new pace and had improved quite a bit. Noah had tried ignoring or just scaring away the monsters when possible, but they always pursued him, forcing him to fight.


    For some time now, he had been fighting almost constantly. Since the rats had a hard time landing any significant hits on him at this point, he was being liberal with his skill use and it showed.


    Sacrificial strength and Sacrificial dexterity were up to 85% efficiency and his control had improved drastically. When at full health he constantly sacrificed small amounts, between 1 and 2 HP, hovering around 99% and having 1 extra stat point at all times, that usually went to dexterity.


    He had also increased his understanding of the stats and how they worked thanks to the constant shifts in their amount. Dexterity made his moves smoother, more accurate and efficient, increasing his reaction speed and reflexes and making him generally faster. It also improved his senses, but, the higher the dexterity the less impact his strikes had, lacking weight behind them.


    Strength, on the other hand, was more straightforward, increasing his physical power and making his moves more explosive. At higher amounts, his strikes became increasingly devastating but less efficient and accurate.


    All in all, the stats balanced each other out. You needed both strength and dexterity but at different ratios, depending on your goals and needs.


    With the breakneck pace and constant battles, the speed of his circulation had steadily increased and at this point, it took only seconds for a full cycle to be completed. Noah noticed that in crucial moments during a fight, the flow towards certain limbs or areas would increase. The capillaries would open up and the circulation would loop around, increasing the amount running through that particular spot.


    He realized it was actually his doing on an instinctual level. After he found out, he started controlling it consciously and saw a huge improvement to his performance. He was able to increase the strength of his strikes or improve his reactions and dodges and with the increased circulation speed the effect was instant.


    With the faster flow and the total amount of Arcane essence rising, the electrical charges building inside it became stronger and more pronounced. Noah had made another breakthrough in his understanding and now realized that thanks to the electrocution his arcane essence was attuned to the lightning element and exhibited similar properties.


    That discovery was crucial in the improvement of Sacrificial nova. Noah was executing a bastardized version of the skill due to his unique situation, and exploding pure arcane essence, instead of altered and enriched health. Relying on the former''s unique properties was much more beneficial than trying to change it, which actually weakened it.


    So, to improve and strengthen the skill, he tried taking advantage of that lightning attunement. Noah had started spinning and compressing the sacrificed essence before releasing it in an attempt to build up a charge, that would shock those hit by the nova.


    One unexpected side effect was that the spinning continued while the nova was expanding, dealing more damage since the enemies were impacted by a larger amount of energy.


    The spin had an additional effect - depending on the direction it would crush enemies into the ground or push them back and even launch them in the air. This effect was less pronounced on the sides but it was still enough to rattle the rats.


    And yet, the skill was being held back. Noah''s arcane essence was bound to his body and in normal circumstances was impossible to get it out. Due to that fact, he had realized most of the energy in the nova was used up for exiting his body and further expanding, making the efficiency terrible.


    That all changed with the next battle, his first encounter with a regular level 3. He had been jogging, his stamina sufficiently regenerated to allow it. As Noah neared the end of his tunnel and a T-intersection, he heard the squeaks and screeches of a swarm coming from the left.


    By this point, he had gotten used to fighting, his skills had grown significantly and he had been in similar situations many times already. The best strategy so far was to just round the corner and rush the enemy. There was the possibility of them being Avenger Rats but the sounds were getting closer fast, and in the end they would see him either way.


    So with the element of surprise on his side, he jumped out the corner and came face to face with a swarm of several dozen, led by four level 3''s.


    The smallest and most numerous rats were in the front, followed by level 2''s and the leader formation in the back. Noah reached the first line and exploded a 50 HP Sacrificial nova.


    The emphasis wasn''t on the damage but the spin. By this point, he knew what to expect from his improved skill and the level 1''s were thrown up and into the other rats'' midst.


    Moving in on them he released another nova this time a 250 HP one intending to take care of the level 1''s and 2''s, rattle the other four rats and crush them into the ground.


    He had spun and compressed the sacrifice and it was brimming with energy and lightning. As the nova was exploding, a charge that had built up in the essence circulating his body arced and connected with the expanding sphere.


    In the next moment, all of the electricity in his bloodstream discharged in a thick arc connected to the nova, causing it to massively expand, laying total waste to the swarm, killing everything except the level 3''s that were left in a story state.


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat LV.1


    You have killed Dark Rat Scout LV.2


    .


    You have killed Dark Rat Warrior LV.2


    You have killed Dark Rat Leader LV.2


    Noah quickly finished the survivors, noting the new variations, before getting back to Sacrificial nova and trying to understand what happened.


    You have killed Dark Rat Tracker LV.3


    You have killed Dark Rat Elite Warrior LV.3


    You have killed Dark Rat Elite Warrior LV.3


    You have killed Dark Rat Commander LV.3


    HP: 338.7/682.9(5% per min / 34.14 HP per min) Total HP regen 1.81 per sec


    He kept going while trying to figure out what had happened. The nova hadn''t been simply overcharged, the change was more fundamental. It was as if the skill was released from the chains holding it back.


    Instead of mulling it over, the best course of action was to just replicate the damn thing. And Noah did just that when his health got back to reasonable levels. Even with his curiosity and excitement about the new development he wasn''t about to leave himself vulnerable.


    Instead of 200 he sacrificed just 50 HP, again arcing an electrical charge to the expanding nova and again getting wildly improved results. This time he wasn''t caught off guard and was paying attention.


    The lightning connected the arcane essence inside his body with the one in the skill, outside of it. That not only increased the damage potential but eliminated the resistance the nova met for not being inside of him. It even gave him limited control of the expanding sphere allowing him to continuously strengthen the spin even outside.


    All in all, the power of the skill had increased 3 times, or from a different perspective, the cost was reduced 3 times.


    Moving on from that point become much easier thanks to Sacrificial nova being a lot more useful and powerful. At some point, Noah realized the name had changed to Arcane essence nova and now had the same red colour as his Traits.


    He had essentially changed and improved the skill, tailoring it to his special circumstances and making it his own. After realizing that was possible, he tried doing the same for Sacrificial strength and Sacrificial dexterity,  but no amount of spinning, compressing, charging and zapping the energy at any step of the process had an effect.


    After that first encounter with the level 3 Dark Rats, they started appearing more and more often. At this point, Noah was using Arcane essence nova constantly, since even at 15 to 20 HP, it was still powerful enough to momentarily throw the big rats off balance, not to mention the level 1''s. Soon there was at least one level 3 in every group he fought.


    At some point, he reached a T-shaped intersection were a group consisting of more than a hundred level 2''s and 3''s surprised him. Usually the bigger the swarm, the more squeaks, and screeches could be heard. This particular one had been moving in total silence, tricking Noah into thinking it was a much smaller group.


    Running wasn''t a viable option, since he didn''t have the speed or stamina to lose them and at the current rate he would meet another swarm almost immediately. This was actually the first group in a while, where he couldn''t just rush in, sow chaos and blitz the rats without giving them a chance to react.


    Noah had no choice but to fight a prolonged defensive battle. There seemed to be enough leaders and commanders in the swarm for them to be wary of him. At this point he was practically covered in rat blood and reeked of death.


    His clothes had suffered significantly in his non-stop dash. The rats sometimes managing a bite on his shins or just clawing them while getting kicked, resulted in his jeans currently being knee length. His jacket was ripped under the armpits and down the back, the padding gone in most places but still had some use. Most unfortunate was the imminent demise of his boot, the one damaged in the beginning. The other one was holding strong, but he couldn''t run around with only one shoe.


    Anyway, the fight started with Noah trying to stop the swarm from surrounding him, sweeping them back, trying to slap away the jumpers instead of dodging and using the walls to get over those that managed to go past him. He optimized his circulation for speed, focusing on the legs.


    In the beginning, it was mainly the smaller rats that attacked him, the larger ones staying back only occasionally flying at him if they found the moment opportune. The jump skills of the level 3''s were much more impactful and harder to stop, what with them being the size of dogs.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The battle was progressing, Noah using Arcane essence nova and the sacrificial stat skills more sparingly, trying to conserve resources. Even doing that his HP was decreasing, his stamina was steadily draining and yet he hadn''t killed a single rat.


    HP: 511.7/696.1(5% per min / 34.80 HP per min) Total HP regen 2.02 per sec


    Stamina:113/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    He realized his enemies were rotating, never staying close to him for long. He hadn''t noticed sooner since there were so many of the monsters and they all looked the same.


    From that point onward, Noah changed his fighting style. Instead of slapping or punching the monsters away he tried to strike them down and follow up with more attacks and Arcane essence novas.


    His damage started building up and the level 2''s were starting to look ragged and hurt. When the first rat finally died, the level 3''s took a more active role in the fight. With the stronger monsters joining in, the rodents started putting increasingly more pressure on Noah.


    Their fighting style differed quite a lot from their smaller brethren. Much of the differences came from the increased size, weight and strength, but also the fact their claws were large enough to inflict significant damage.


    It was good they hadn''t started using their jumping skills en masse since it was quite difficult to knock them down.


    The fight was starting to settle down again when the large rats rushed him like a living wave. There were probably 40 of them and still more than 50 smaller rats alive.


    Noah rolled forward releasing a 100 HP nova with a backward spin, strengthening it and manipulating it to the best of his abilities. The first few lines were lifted up and dumped on the heads of those behind.


    Next followed two consecutive 50 HP Arcane essence novas, one with a left and the other with a right spin. A big part of the rats was left rattled, disoriented and tangled as they were thrown around.


    Then he was amongst them, stomping and kicking, with a rat in each hand to use both as shields and weapons. He was pushing the circulation of his arcane essence faster and faster now, trying to get the most out of it and making any adjustments take even less time to take full effect.


    Noah was constantly moving, never staying in one spot with rats jumping all over the place. A level 3 activated his jump combo right next to him and he acted accordingly but the rat instead of jumping at his throat raked and then bit his leg.


    Another one jumped at him normally, not using a skill, then spun around and over Noah''s strike midair and whacked him with its white glowing tail. The hit landed oh his side, almost folding him over.


    The level 3''s had different skills from their smaller brethren and even from each other. They started using skills with increasing frequency, pushing their advantage. Noah had gotten used to the smaller rats'' skills and dealing with them. He knew what to expect from them and how to handle it. Now with the new skills, he was thrown off balance and the monsters were taking advantage of that.


    At that point, most of the level 2''s started enraging and Noah could do nothing about it since the others were covering them. His HP was running low and with the rats managing to land so many hits it was too dangerous to rush in for an arcane essence nova. Noah wasn''t even sure if he could since the level 3''s became extra aggressive and reckless when he tried pushing the attack.


    With his flesh shields starting to fall apart, he discarded them grabbing two new bodies and falling back in a defensive stance, preparing to stall the fight. The rats were just as disheveled as he was but lacked his regeneration and he would take full advantage of that fact.


    It turned out the enrage of the level 2''s was in his favor. The frenzied monsters lost some of their disciplines and weren''t even trying to rotate anymore, rushing and pressuring him hard, but also slowly dying to Noah''s strikes. The level 3''s were forced into action lest they lose all their smaller brethren and the advantage, which made them sloppy and more vulnerable.


    As the fight was progressing and the rats were taking the advantage again, Noah felt his regeneration spike. At this point, he could easily feel his relative health at all times and extremely accurately at that, wasn''t checking the numbers and hadn''t realized.


    HP: 276.8/700(5% per min / 35 HP per min) Total HP regen 3.83 per sec


    Stamina:48/200 (0.2% per sec / 0.4 per sec)


    His stamina was concerningly low and he couldn''t feel it like his HP but with the increased regeneration his health started steadily ticking upward. Half of the rats were still alive but that became the turning point of the fight as he could now support the cost of novas and sacrificial stats.


    Before the 700 milestone the rats had managed to land just enough hits to keep his HP down. They were still dying but it was slow and his stamina was running out. Now Noah regenerated enough for a weak nova or a small stat boost every few seconds, which was sufficient to put the rats on the back foot and keep them there. The less living rats remained, the more aggressive Noah became and the fight soon came to an end.


    Left in a field of carnage, battered but rapidly healing, he had a choice to make. He had two options- right, where the huge swarm had come from and left, where they were heading. A group this big and strong was probably either coming from or returning to a nest. The monsters looked fresh so coming from, was the more likely scenario. Following that line of thought, there was the possibility of them going to fight a similarly sized opposing group.


    Going back towards the avenger rats wasn''t an option, the earliest split in the path an hour back, and Noah had some bad memories from the last nest he was at. In the end he took the left tunnel and started walking.


    So far during his stay in the layer, most of the monsters had come from the front. There was, of course, the occasional group that appeared behind him, and in his crossroads training sessions, rats were coming from everywhere.


    Now however fresh groups of rats were constantly coming up behind him. Thankfully they were on the smaller side and easily dealt with, but his suspicions of walking towards a big battle were getting more and more likely. Nevertheless, this was probably the least dangerous of his three options and Noah was hoping for a split somewhere along the way.


    While walking, another problem reared its head - he was starting to feel thirsty. So far he had seen just two sources of fluids on this layer, himself and the rats.


    "When in doubt ask the system. Can I drink my own blood? Is it going to kill me?"


    Noah was sure that wasn''t the case but played it safe nonetheless. The entity or whatever it was didn''t deign him with an answer, but he was almost certain he heard a sigh.


    "Well I am like almost sure you wouldn''t let me die sooooo..."


    After a short debate with himself he just went for it and sucked some of his blood from a cut he''d gotten in the last battle. That had no effect whatsoever, the blood just going through his stomach and rejoining the circulation with the rest of the arcane essence. At this point in time, Noah wasn''t thirsty enough to go for the rats and dropped the issue.


    In the end, his hopes did not come true and he started hearing a rat cacophony behind the next corner. Noah took a peek around the bend to asses the situation and his prospects.


    He did not expect to look down a short five-meter tunnel with another turn at its end. The cacophony grew louder as he was walking forward for another peek.


    Before his eyes, a large cavern opened up filled with hundreds if not thousands of rats and right in front of him was a patriarch in a tight group of level 3''s. Above his head floated a LV.4 confirming his earlier suspicions about the power scale. It was sticking out from the rest, quite literaly, as it was as big as a large dog.


    Luckily they weren''t paying attention to the back, more pressing matters inside the room demanding their focus. In front of the patriarch''s group were rows and rows of level 2''s and 3''s with the ordinary Dark Rats running between. And on the other side of the room in front of a similar opening in the wall another patriarch with his own swarm.


    The atmosphere in the room was tense and the situation was about to erupt at any moment. Both swarms were huge, but Noah had done a number on his side''s supply of fighters and it was visibly smaller.


    He had been looking at the swarms for probably thirty seconds at this point, only his eye poking around the corner, trying to not alert the rats. The sheer amount of monsters was stunning and he couldn''t look away, his guard slowly dropping.


    The hood of Noah''s jacket was currently the least damaged part of his attire and together with the collar made it hard to pinpoint his neck accurately from the back. He heard a screech from behind and then something sailed by the side of his head.


    "Shit!"


    The arcane essence circulating in his right ear disappeared, followed by a sharp pain. He managed to catch the flow before it started bleeding, but still ended stumbling out of the corner and into the room cursing.


    All eyes focused on him, the patriarch and his level 3 bodyguards turning and a small group of level 1''s, led by a single level 2 coming out of the tunnel behind him.


    If the tension in the room could be felt before, you could cut it with a knife now. The situation was so ridiculous and at the same time so dangerous, that Noah did the only thing that came to his mind.


    "Hey there fellows! Nice day we''re having!" he said in a cheerful voice. "I see you have something going on so I''ll just take my leave." The system just started laughing in his head.


    It was the straw that broke the camels back and all hell broke loose. With all the rats in the room looking at him, the other side, which had the advantage even before that, came down on their unsuspecting opponents like an avalanche.


    The patriarch on Noah''s side screeched at him and rushed forward with his bodyguards, eliciting a loud curse from him.


    "FUUUUUUUCK"


    Noah who could think of nothing else to do jumped forward and cast a 400 HP Arcane essence nova pushing the spin to the max and launching the patriarch and most of his guards in the middle of the melee and leaving the other side''s leader to deal with them.


    "YOUUU" He finished his curse while flipping them off.


    He also totally annihilated the cursed group responsible for the whole thing but that didn''t even register in his mind.


    Noah thought about rushing through the room to the opposite side but found it unlikely for the other patriarch to allow it or let him go, even if he managed to get through. So with that, he turned around and vacated the premise post haste.


    Turning the corner of the short tunnel, touching his slowly regrowing ear, what awaited him, was a group of Avenger Rats rushing towards him from the other side.


    "OH COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK! "