Gazing directly at it, made me certain that the beast was in fact a rat. If a rat got crossed with a weasel and further mutated by radioactive waste that is. I suddenly had an idea and quickly pulled up my skill list.

  {Identify: Lv 1}

  {Allows the user to gain insight on any object, creature, or place they desire. Information given is determined by Intelligence}

  Using {Identify} on the rat worked exactly like I thought it would. {Nuvarno Rat: Lv 2}, “Huh, so that’s your name.” I tried to get more info out of the pop-up and once I did began to thoroughly study it

  {Nuvarno Rat: Lv 2}

  {A species of rodent found only in the Nuvarno Crypt. These horrid pests are known for their slimy gray skin, beady black eyes, and large teeth coated with poison. They use their vicious bite to injure and poison their prey.}

  “Huh, that's neat, I guess my intelligence is high enough for me to get its full description” As I was busy contemplating on how important Intelligence was to gain info from {Identify}. I didn’t notice the rat getting closer to me until it was mere inches from my face.

  “Hey there buddy, you're not gonna hurt me are you.” All of a sudden it lunged at me, trying to bite my face off. “Shit!!!” I panicked and tried to move backwards only to get flung up into the air. My body (that being my head) started spinning wildly and I began to get rapidly disoriented. All the while, the goddamn rat kept jumping to try to eat me.

  {Float has risen to level 2}

  My spinning began to subside and I finally managed to stabilize myself in the air. It was then that the rat decided, would be the perfect time to bite me. {You have received 1 physical damage} “Ow, fuck off already!” Feeling more than a little pissed at this stupid rat and slightly fearing for my life. I desperately try to think of a way to kill this rat or at least scare it away. Wait, don't I have perfect skill for this.

  {Mana Bolt: Lv 1}

  {Allows the user to unleash a blast of potent mana at their enemies. Potency and size of mana bolts is determined by Arcane and Intelligence.}

  Inwardly grinning, I angle myself to face the rat still trying to take a bite out of me. I glared at it and quickly activated {Mana Bolt}. A strange sensation coursed through my body and a glowing purple bolt was shot out of my open mouth. {You have inflicted 3 magical damage to Nuvarno Rat} “Nice!!” I managed to hit the rat dead on. Checking my resources, it seems that a single {Mana Bolt} only uses 2 mana.”Okay, I can fire off four more before I run dry.” Before I could resume my attack again, the rat’s body started glowing a shade of blue and then it did something unexpected. It jumped higher than ever before and managed to bite me straight on my philtrum.

  {You have taken 2 physical damage}

  That hit sobered me up really quickly and reminded me that this is not a game and if I were to get hit like that one more time, I might actually die. Quickly checking my HP, I’m alarmed at how low it got with me only having {2/5 HP remaining}. Not wanting to give the rat the initiative. I fire off another {Mana Bolt} only for the rat to dodge it.

  Inwardly cursing this pest, I try again at firing a bolt, only for the rat to jump away from me and once more dodge it. “Damn it!” I internally cursed at the rat. I knew I needed to be smarter here and use my brain to actually kill this thing, suddenly I had a genius idea. I used {Float} and maneuvered myself straight up above the rat. I faced it and as swiftly as possible shot a {Mana Bolt}. Only for the fucking rat to jump back and dodge it entirely “Does this rat have ultra instinct or something!?”

  I was down to my last {Mana Bolt} so I knew I had to make this one count “Okay time to try something risky.” I use {Float} to get closer to the rat. Its beady eyes were watching me, seemingly aware I was trying something yet too stupid to figure out what. Once I got close enough to the rat it finally reacted, It began snarling at me and was getting ready to lunge at me.

  I just stood there silently, fully immersed in watching the rat and anticipating its movements. When it finally did lunge, it took everything in me not to prematurely fire a {Mana Bolt}. Wanting to make this the killing blow I waited until the rat was mere inches in front of my face before I released my final {Mana Bolt}. The bolt hit the rat dead on and it was blasted several meters away. Afterwards I got a notification that soothed my worries immensely.

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  {You have inflicted 3 magical damage to Nuvarno Rat}

  {Nuvarno Rat: Lv 2 has been slain}

  {You have gained 2 Exp}

  {Mana Bolt has risen to level 2}

  “No level up though, that’s kinda annoying.” I floated over to the corpse of the rat to admire my handiwork a little bit. The rat looks thoroughly disfigured now, with its entire upper jaw blown clean off from my {Mana Bolt}. “Damn, I need to level up that skill quickly.” Just as I was about to start surveying the cave, or crypt actually going off of the status of the {Nuvarno Rat}. I heard a distant pitter-patter of numerous small feet and what sounded like squeaking.

  “Shit.” I immediately used {Float} to try and find a way out of here. After a couple seconds of frantic searching, I found a small crevice in one of the walls so I immediately tried squeezing inside of it. Thankfully, it was big enough for me but not too large as to reveal my location. I waited with bated breath for a few minutes until I finally saw some movements.

  And what I saw absolutely terrified me. Dozens of rats came streaming into the mouth of the cave and started running around the place, a few even got close to my hiding spot which spooked me a bit but luckily none of the rats were smart enough to look up at the walls. While the rats are a problem, I felt confident that I could take them on once my mana regenerated to full, no what truly petrified me was a single rat in the middle of the horde. It was gargantuan with fur the color of ash and incisors so large, I had no doubt that getting bitten by those things would result in an instant death for me. Naturally I used {Identify} on it.

  {Identify has risen to level 2}

  {Alpha Nuvarno Rat: Lv 6}

  {The apex of the Nuvarno Rat species. An Alpha Nuvarno Rat is what happens when a Nuvarno Rat is allowed to feast and grow in power. Possessing thick fur resistant to most blunt attacks, jaws that can crush bone, and even potent venom hidden in those fangs. This beast is a force to be reckoned with. However its most dangerous weapon is not its physique but its intellect, due to surviving for long it has become quite cunning and has been known to employ pack tactics to hunt down its prey.}

  Reading the status, thoroughly established that I would be screwed if I were to fight this thing, with each line only serving to emphasize the point even more. “Okay, I guess attacking these guys is not an option.” Knowing that making even the slightest moves might put me in danger, I wisely stay in place and try very hard to be inconspicuous.

  “Don’t pay any attention to me, I'm just a piece of wall, la de da de da…”

  {Congratulations, you have gained the [Hiding] skill}

  “Nice, at least I'm benefitting somewhat from this ordeal.” Having just received confirmation that I'm hidden, I feel more confident to resume my earlier status examinations. Starting with my new skill.

  {Hiding: Lv 1}

  {Allows the user to conceal their presence when remaining stationary, Effectiveness of Hiding is determined by Dexterity}

  “Hmm, I might need to put more points into Dex if I want to use that effectively.” I thought, glancing back at the rats to see what they’re doing and yep they’re just loitering about. Feeling secure, I move on to the other skills and mutations.

  {Float: Lv 2}

  {Allows the user to float in the air by channeling nearby ambient mana, speed and maneuverability of Float is determined by Intelligence and Arcane}

  {Undead: You are a creature born from deathly mana. Grants resistance to most basic poisons, toxins, and hexes, Grants increased mana and health regeneration in areas with large quantities of death mana. The user is more susceptible to Divine mana and light of any kind. The Vitality Attribute is replaced by Toughness}

  Hmm, so basically I’m stronger in areas with lots of Death affinity mana, I'm resistant to most poisons, and I'm weak to Divine and Light mana. “That’s actually quite a fantastic mutation.” I was a bit worried when first reading the name of the mutation, cause I thought might come with some nasty drawback or heavy restriction like having to eat brains, having to avoid sunlight or something odd like that but other than being weak to two mana types and not having the {Vitality} attribute. It seems very beneficial.

  After the examination, I look back at the rats and to my delight, they seem to be leaving the cave. I watch with glee as they start to stream out of the cave with only the {Alpha Nuvarno Rat} being the last one to leave. I can’t seem to see the corpse of the rat I killed, only traces of blood. “Did they actually eat their own kind, that’s disgusting.” Just as the alpha was about to leave it suddenly did something unexpected. It turned around and looked straight at me.

  Our eyes met and I froze instantly. I waited with bated breath for it to do something, to lunge at me, to call back its pack and gang up on me, anything really. Yet nothing happened and we both simply stared at each other, with neither of us moving a muscle. It was almost as if we can both tell that the first to move would be the trigger to the proverbial explosion.

  {Hiding has risen to level 2}

  The notification almost made me lose focus but thankfully I steadied my nerves and kept my gaze directly at {Alpha Nuvarno Rat}. After what felt like an eternity, it simply snorted at me and walked off. I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I couldn’t help but feel relieved that I made it out of that alive but more than anything I couldn’t help but feel insulted. It was the Alpha’s eyes that deeply angered me, that look of contempt and pity. Guided by something deep within my soul, I made a declaration “You looked at me as if I was trash, not even worthy to be seen as prey. I’ll make sure you regret that decision for the rest of your short life.” It was on this day that the path of {Karz the Eternal} truly began.