Chapter 23 – Fancy Meeting You Here II (Patreon)

Luke dropped a throwing knife into his hand. He used his [Lacerate] and [Barrage] skills in quick succession, then let the knife fly.

The blades doubled up to 4, each of them copying the [Lacerate] effect without–and this was the important part–costing any more stamina than it would for a single throwing knife.

He smirked darkly beneath his deep cowl.

Even accounting for the stamina cost of using [Barrage], Luke found that he came ahead by a good margin on stamina usage. The offensive skill hungrily devoured his ammo. Being resource efficient was incredibly useful.

While it took mana to restore those throwing daggers, [Barrage] let him deal a burst of high damage. He could wait to recover his mana when he was out of battle.

The first of the gigant rats shrieked in its high-pitched voice and collapsed as four lacerating daggers opened its hide. A faucet of crimson poured out.

Luke was already moving, his shadow-enhanced senses tracking the other two as they swept around to the sides.

Gigant rats were a whole other level compared to the giant rats. When they were in proximity to each other, they cooperated almost like people.

He wasn’t sure what they used for communication, but whatever they did, it worked. They lacked human tenacity and often fell back into overly aggressive attack patterns. Despite that, they were far more challenging than simply scaling up a single gigant rat fight.

Skidding to his knees under a fallen timber the size of his entire torso, Luke twisted and drew both his falchion and longsword. The first gigant rat leapt over the beam with ease and right onto Luke’s extended blades.

He ripped them out to the sides. Thanks to his superior Dexterity, he got the hell out of there before the gory pile collapsed on him.

Its allies removed, the level 12 gigant rat was easily dispatched.

Luke shook his head in wonderment. Only a few hours ago, he was fighting for his life against a gigant rat and a pair of giant rat bodyguards.

Now he was taking three of them at once.

They weren’t without their troubles, but he was quickly getting a hang of his new powers. The dual wielding skill was an amazing boon and one that Luke was more than adept at handling. It felt completely natural to him as well, as if it had always been a part of him.

What was even more interesting was what he found he could do with his shadow control powers.

Grinning to himself in the lightless depths, Luke lifted a hand and clenched his fist.

Shadows gathered and congealed into somehow darker pools beneath each of the rat corpses. The bodies slowly sank into the darkness until they simply vanished.

The room he fought the rats in was large and had a faint reek of distant sewage. There was an uncomfortable dampness in the air that Luke hoped meant he was close to the forest below the bridge.

As much as he enjoyed having a playground for his shadows, he was tired of the labyrinthine tunnels and countless rats. Even if the gigant rats were significantly more challenging, they only had that one charging ability.

With his improved speed, he was easily able to get out of the way before they could even get close enough to touch him. And like a kid with a new toy, the gigant rats did nothing else but charge if he let them.

Luke wanted out. He wanted to see the sky again and get a better look at the stars of this new universe. Maybe there would be some structures other than those ruins.

Being surrounded by darkness was excellent for developing his bloodline, but he needed to adapt to different environments and circumstances. Additionally, he wanted to test himself against more types of monsters.

The Company Shop would be opening up any day now. He looked forward to getting some new items that were class specific.

While the stuff the Company handed out in the beginning wasn’t that strong, they were well made and designed to a standard well beyond anything Earth was capable of. It was possible someone had figured out how to unlock a Profession already in order to craft some items, but Luke sure hadn’t.

Maybe it’ll have some fresh food? Luke thought with stomach-grumbling desperation. Truthfully, he’d settle for some kind of food that wasn’t yet another slab of bloody meat. He was even willing to dig into a hot cup of instant ramen, the sort of stuff he lived off of for most of his college years.

This room was among the largest he’d seen so far, with a ceiling that vanished into impenetrable darkness high above. Even his shadow senses couldn’t reach that far.

There were limitations on the distance unless he narrowed his focus. He had already scanned the rafters looking for bats or other threats like those trapper slimes. The disgusting creatures he had met on the floor above.

Shaped like a lump of melted black wax attached to the ceiling, they waited for prey to pass beneath them before they unfolded like a sloppy umbrella and descended on them.

Luke’s reflexes had saved him from being encased in their stretchy, slimy hide.

Once he knew what to look for, they were easy enough to kill. Even easier than the giant rats had been, except they were often higher level. The highest he killed was 16, netting him a predictable 16 LP.

So far everything suggested that every 5 levels monsters not only grew more dangerous, but also offered more experience and LP as well.

The experience claim was hard to substantiate. There was nothing that told him precisely how much experience he gained. That was largely judged by how many gigant rats he needed to kill compared to the trapper slimes.

Even that was spoiled by the near-certainty that every level required more Experience.

Luke glanced over his notifications, then sauntered over to the pools of fading darkness where only a few items remained. There were no bodies to loot, no smoke to foul up his breathing (he didn’t even want to imagine how bad that was for him to breathe in), and best of all, no gore and blood stains to tell people he had been here.

You have defeated [Gigant Rat - Level 12]. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 8 LP obtained.

You have defeated [Gigant Rat - Level 12]. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 8 LP obtained.

You have defeated [Gigant Rat - Level 14]. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 8 LP obtained.

Level Up! Your [Thief] Class has reached Level 12.

Stat points earned: +4 Strength, +6 Dexterity, +2 Perception, +2 Vitality, +2 Free Points.

Level Up! Your [Human (G-Grade)] Race has reached Level 6.

Stat points earned: +1 All Stats, +1 Fate, +1 Free Point.

The invigorating warmth from leveling up felt refreshingly good.

Luke didn’t even need to think about where to put the free points anymore. He was currently bringing his MP and SP up to snuff, considering how much he used them for both his bloodline and his class skills.

It was unfortunate that they didn’t all use mana or all use stamina, because it forced him to split his free points to keep both vital resources up. If only Thief naturally earned a point in either Wisdom or Endurance, he’d have a little less trouble pushing his vital resources higher.

So far, all of his class skills used exclusively stamina, while his bloodline used mana. It meant he drained stamina faster than his mana, but his bloodline abilities seemed less efficient than those from his class.

Gaining 6 points of Dexterity per Thief level was nothing to scoff at though. And those 2 points of Vitality every level were growing his HP decently well, especially combined with the titles boosting that stat.

Status

Name: Luke Solus

Race: Human (G-Grade - Level 6)

Class: Thief (Level 12)

Profession: N/A

Vital Resources

Health Points (HP): 202/320

Mana Points (MP): 112/180

Stamina Points (SP): 100/190

Stats

Strength: 45

Dexterity: 72 (+2)

Endurance: 19

Fortitude: 12 (+2)

Vitality: 32

Perception: 30

Willpower: 18

Wisdom: 18

Arcane: 13

Fate: 29

Free Points: 0

Another level down, 3 more to go, Luke thought.

His Dexterity was going up by leaps and bounds now. Every Thief level gave him double the stats of Rogue, as well as some much needed Vitality.

Getting that evolution wasn’t just a linear increase in power. For every level he gained over somebody still on their starter class, Luke was widening the gap further and further.

Despite his speed, he wasn’t able to engage with these higher level threats without taking some wounds. Mostly they were minor things that, with enough rest, would go away on their own.

His health potions were gone. He still held out hope every time he looted a monster that it would drop one. So far, he only got more valuable-looking loot, but nothing that didn’t seem appropriate.

Until now.

Luke knelt down and picked up the small dagger. It was wickedly serrated and had a small golden rat skull for a pommel.

“And what are you?” he wondered aloud.

Item: [Ratking’s Ire (Uncommon)]

(Weapon)

A serrated blade made from an unknown white alloyed metal. Balanced perfectly, this blade is small enough to throw but serviceable as a main weapon in a pinch. Lost in the sewers of Mitrasal by its original owner, it has taken on some of the properties from the fabled Ratking of Mitrasal.

Enchantment: Applies a stacking [Poison] affliction when the blade is exposed to a creature’s blood.

Enchantment: Automatically returns to the hand of its wielder after an allotment of time.

Grinning maniacally, Luke turned the dagger around in his gloved hands.

Now he had access to two types of afflictions. Poison wouldn’t immediately trigger, but it practically served as a follow-up to [Lacerate’s] bleed debuff.

Poison wasn’t really his thing, but if he could use this as a throwing weapon and get it to come back to him, his throwing knives just lost a lot of utility. At the very least, they’d be good as backups or simply additional fire.

That all depends on how fast this new dagger returns to me, Luke thought, eyeing the weapon closely.

It was also uncommon-rarity, making it stronger than his throwing knives, even if he disregarded the awesome enchantments.

Tossing the dagger up and down in his hand and catching it smoothly, Luke crouched down and picked up its accompanying sheath.

Unlike the dagger’s sinister appearance, the sheath was a plain black affair, if a little worse for wear. It had the standard rivets and clips that made it a snap to attach to his belt.

He doubted he would have found it at all without his [Treasure Hunter] skill. The items he gained, even the simple animal meat and hides, were a higher rarity than he ever saw before he gained the skill.

I feel like I’m collecting weapons at this point, he thought to himself as he gathered up the remaining loot from the monsters. Nothing special, some rat teeth and pieces of hardened hide, neither of which he could really see any use in since he didn’t have a profession.

Maybe later, he thought as he stuffed them into his pockets, which were beginning to grow alarmingly full.

Eventually, he’d need to sort out his inventory, such as it was, and determine what he was going to keep and what he was going to toss. He had hoped the Company Store would be opened by now, but it was still closed.

Which brought him to mind of the assessment leaderboard he had stumbled on while poking around at the System.

[Assessment Rankings]

Time Remaining: 28 days, 1h:10m:30s

[Current Points: 301]

344. Tom Kenny

345. Lowell Archie

346. Elsa Heida

347. Ramon Mullen

348. *Luke Solus*

349. Bernice Todd

350. Toby Dalton

351. Jane Vega

352. Lorraine Howe

Luke had found the rankings entirely by accident while looking for how much LP he had gained since his status didn’t show it.

It didn’t tell him how many people were in the assessment test, nor what their points were, but it did show the 4 people below and above him in the rankings. And since it showed his LP, he could extrapolate a rough guess as to how far behind he was.

Even though he had done almost nothing but fighting monsters down here for a while, he was stillincredibly far behind.

“Time to pick up the pace,” he said to the darkness.