The wonderful thing about rats, they multiply at a very fast pace. The bad thing about rats, their numbers.
I was lucky with the first mouse because that was near the entrance of the sewer, but after that, I didn’t find a single rat that was alone. I still managed to kill them, and the damage they gave me was only one HP, but even that was painful for me in my condition and given how many there were of them.
But, was it possible for me to die to rats?
Was it not possible for me to kill a few rats?
I killed all of the ones I came across. They all still gave me only ten EXP each, but the mana crystals from them were a blessing. Too bad the inventory was locked, so they would be just stored in there, and I wouldn’t be able to use them until level ten.
But that wasn’t what I was happy about. I was happy because after four hours of constant hunting, I finally killed the last mouse on my quota. And very close at that as well.
[You have killed a mutated infected mouse]
[You have gained 10 EXP]
[You have gained an F rank mana crystal]
[You have leveled up]
[You have received 5 APs]
[You have reached level 5]
[A full heal will be granted as a reward from the system]
I felt power returning to me as all the injuries on my body disappeared. The only problem that didn’t disappear was my torn clothes, but I doubted anyone would notice that, given I smelled like a hundred-year-old dead rat.
I didn’t invest the final two stat points because I wanted to awaken mana in a peaceful atmosphere. Not here in the middle of danger. Thought I doubted I needed to worry about rats now. I was strong enough to kill them effortlessly, and with my stamina that high, even their attacks weren’t doing much damage.
If they weren’t millions in numbers, I wouldn’t take any damage at all.
Without further ado, I returned and made my way back to the sewer entrance. As I came out of the sewer, which was on the end side of the town, so not much population here, I saw that the sun was not as powerful as at noon, so I guessed the time was a little less than five pm.
There was no indication of darkness anytime soon, so I headed to the closest hut and knocked on it. A woman opened the door, and as soon as she did, her face scrunched in disgust.
“Hello.” I said as she blocked her nose and tried to close the door, but I put my feet in there and said, “Please don’t worry. I’m not here to harm you. Allow me to just use your bathroom to quickly rinse myself, and I will be out of your hair.”
“No!” She said. Of course, she would say that, so I smiled and lightly patted her on her neck, knocking her out. Thanks to the world of martial arts, I knew a little something about acupoints.
It looked like she was alone at home, so I put her down on the small mattress in her room and made my way to the bathroom. The house of these poor people would smell for a few days, but it wouldn’t be that bad.
I took a bath for almost half an hour, washing myself again and again. Since there was no soap, there wasn’t much effect on me, but at least my lie that I fell into a sewer was more plausible now.
I exited the bathroom and made my way back to the woman’s room. I took some clothes from the chest that I suspected belonged to her husband. I donned them and left her house, making a reminder for returning to pay for this service she so kindly provided.
I left her house and made my way to my own. Ready to offer an excuse and on the way, I muddied my current clothes a little as well because they were too clean for me to have fallen in a sewer.
“Oh, you’re home, Jack.” Rayla greeted me with a smile, but then her face changed as she smelled me and saw the condition of ‘my’ clothes.
“What happened to you, Jack?” She asked with a frown marring her face.
“I was exploring the town, but I accidentally fell into the sewer,” I replied.
“Oh no,” she reacted as if a strategy had happened, “Were you all right down there? There are monsters in the sewer.” She said worriedly while checking me for wounds, ignoring my smell.
“Yeah. I just fell and hurriedly came out.” I replied, keeping up the lie that I knew about the sewer situation. It seemed like whatever it was, everyone was aware of it, and it didn’t make any sense for me not to know.
“Haa… You seem fine, luckily. Let us get you in the bath, though. You stink.” She said, relieved that I was safe, and brought me to the bathroom for the second time today.
“Where did you get these clothes, though? I don’t remember buying them for you.” She said as she took off my clothes and checked.
“I don’t know. They were in the chest.” I replied.
“Oh, then these must be Lucas’s.” She rationalized and added, “But I would have to throw them anyway. I doubt the stench would go away.”
Once she put the clothes in the corner of the bathroom, she turned to me once again and was stunned. Instead of the scrawny build I had, my body was now very well defined, given that I was a peak athlete with my stats.
“What… what happened to you, sweetie?!” But I wasn’t expecting a worried reaction as she came close and began to examine my mouth and ears, “Did falling in the sewer do this to you?”
“No, mother. I fell into the sewer because of this. I left the library and was just walking around the town,” I began to explain, which garnered her attention, and she turned to my face and hurriedly asked, “And then what?”
“I was suddenly struck by pain and tried to stand against the wall. Only the wooden block on the wall broke, and I fell into the sewer. However, the pain was gone by the time I fell, so as soon as I came to, I climbed out hurriedly.” I should be ashamed because I lied through my teeth, but that was the only rational way, or at least close to it, to tell my tale.
“Oh, god lord. My son had a natural awakening.” With the wonder on her face when she said that, I would assume that that was good news.
“Yes,” I replied with a smile.
“Hahahaha.” She began to laugh, happy with whatever it was, and hugged me, pressing her giant chest against my own, separated by just her top blouse.
“But…” She let go of me. An awkward look on her face, which I assumed was a bad thing, but that was a bust when she said, “We should really get you clean.”
“Sure,” I replied and stepped into the small foot-deep pool behind me. Rayla came in and began to scrub me. If I took half an hour before, she took almost an hour until finally she said, “You don’t smell bad now.”
Another way of saying I still didn’t smell good. And even after an hour of washing, she wasn’t wet, so I could at least feast on her chest in my low spirits.
After the bath, as much as I would have liked to play with Rayla, I needed to awaken whatever power this world had. Given that I obtained a mana crystal from the sewer rat, there was a good chance the natural power of this world was mana.
It was a good guess, but it could have just been the system’s appropriate reward. It doesn’t necessarily have to be mana, or it was just a variant of mana. Anything was possible, and only one way to find out.
‘Put one stat point into intelligence.’ I instructed the system.
[Would you like to invest 1 stat point in Intelligence stat?]
[This step would cause the assimilation of the natural power of your current world]
[Would you like to proceed?]
It wasn’t a dangerous procedure, and in the worst case, my lie about a lot of pain from earlier would become reality.
But unlike Ki, which, when awakened, caused me a lot of pain because of its erratic nature, mana is very soft and serene, so it was good if it was mana.
The system would only ask me about this step just once because I would have assimilated whatever power this world had with this one step, so there was no need to ask again and again.
Let me know if you spot any mistakes.