A Rattling Monster

Chapter 5: First Blood

Fear me innocent animals, for the Destructor has arrived. And by Destructor I mean me, the great me. Now I just need to find a weak prey. Let's summarize all the weak animals one can find in a forest. You have a squirrel, rabbit, some small insects, a large wide variety of birds and rodent. Yes, as a rat I can be considered as a rodent but I am me and they are they, the difference is intelligence. Now the big threat. The weakest could be a fox; I don't think I can beat a fox. After you have owls and eagles, other types of birds. They can kill me and I won't even know what hit me. Large predators like wolves or bears, maybe some panther or cougar. They are all extremely bad for me at the moment.

Can I sneak into a forest? Now that I can clearly see my fur, I confirm, it's brown. Maybe a little darker than just brown but not totally black. So, on the ground, I can be mistaken for dirt but I still stand out on leaves. It looks like it's spring or summer because I don't see red or brown leaves, or a lot of leaves on the ground either. A little disadvantage but not that big of a deal. The trees block enough of the sun inside to make me less visible. I can definitely go unnoticed, unless I am directly in front of a predator.

Ok now that I have a plan, how do I kill something? First, let's test if I can climb on a tree. Can't be that hard. Look there is a 3-meter-tall oak, that will be my test subject. Not a single animal in sight, no angry bird looking for a prey. Go. I must reach that branch. That was hard. I think I took 20 seconds just for climbing half the tree. That is absolutely not efficient. But the good point is I can do it. Just not in a rush.

Now for the descent. Don't fall. Don't fall. Finally, the ground. I missed you. I took me twice the time. I can't be careless because I can really die from falling. So a special jump attack from a tree is probably too risky. I can't run after my prey because I don't know where the dens are. Just by thinking about running after a rabbit to finally end up meeting wolves make me shudder.

Not a good thinking. So I have to either insta-kill my prey or to immobilize it. For that, I need weapons and traps. The problem is, what can a rat achieve in both? For a trap, the simplest of it would be to dig a hole and hide it under leaves. But, to dig a hole that will takes hours, a day even, especially with those claws and not some hands.

Next, for the weapon, I guess using a stick and turn it into a spear. For that, what is the best, my claws or my teeth? Too bad I am not a beaver. I try with my claws on some random woods but it's is not precise enough. I can only try with my teeth. Bwargh, argh, disgusting. The taste of wood is horrible. How can the beaver bear it? But, in the end, I manage to produce a weird looking spear. I think it is enough to pierce through the skin of a rabbit, with enough force behind it of course.

Now that I have improved myself, I need some test subjects. And for that, I need to enter that forest. Destiny, here I come, brave, audacious, and then some.

(If someone were walking in that part of the forest, he could have noticed a strange brown rat carrying a weird stick. Even if he had reported it to a competent organization, all he would have received in return would have been being ridiculed and joked about. I mean, a rat carrying a stick, who would believe such a thing?)

I have been walking for an hour now and I noticed nothing. I have killed 1 fly and 3 scarabs but there is no change in the System and I don't know if I get any experience from them. I didn't eat them, I mean first I am full, or at least I don't feel I am hungry. Now that I think about it, I don't feel tired except during effort, I don't feel hunger or thirst. So I am a real player character, that's an excellent point. No need to rest, sleep or any basic actions. Or maybe that's a side effect of the curse? No. No way. Think positively. I really need to get rid of th...

Rustle rustle

What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere. I can't believe my eyes; I must be dreaming. A cute little rabbit. Walking alone in a forest. And eating something, I can't really see. Not that I care that much but if it takes him a couple of minutes to eat that would be excellent. Now how do I proceed?

Rushing with my spear? No, he will outrun me. Waiting in an ambush? And how do I know where he will be going. My special attack from a tree? I guess if I only throw my spear, maybe I can kill him. But I only got one chance. Well, it's better than no chance at all. Now which tree branch will be the best? Since my accuracy should be near 0%, I will take the lowest.

Now the hard part, how do I climb with my spear? If the Rat God hears me, please your humble and devoted subject need assistance. No answer? Rat God, hello? At least I tried. I just hope I didn't mess up his name. I would have offended two gods. Can I climb with only 3 claws and one holding the stick, Let's do it. No . Pain . No .. finished. That was hard. But strangely better than I expected. I am really strong, for a rat. Guess that lich flesh was good. If only I could see my attributes. System?

"Attributes:

Name:???

???

???

???

HP:40.5/40.5

???

???"

Yeah, still disappointing. But even with a broken thing, I still gain 40 HP so I forgive you System. Now, let's hunt. My nice little rabbit, you will be the first victim of the new me. Slow and steady, he is still eating. Poor fool. I place the spear vertically above him. 1,2,3, throw. Bullseye. Right in the neck or head, near that area. I am not an expert in rabbit anatomy. But I have gained 0,5 HP, and since I didn't eat it, that means I level up. Still, the level up of a rat would have only given me 1 HP. Thank you unknown lich for your body. I hope you will find peace in whatever place your dark and tortured soul is.

So the experience is not the only thing I can hope for, I can still eat the carcass and gain more power. I just need to

Big Rustle really big rustle

A wolf. Yeah, why not. Just casually walk by, eat the prey that I killed and leave like a king. Can you at least leave an arm or a leg? Of course, while he is still here I won't make a sound. I am not stupid, even if he cannot see me above him, if he catches my scent I am in big trouble. But who would watch above him?

(The wolf began to walk toward the dead rabbit and stop nearby, clearly perturbed by the wood stick planted inside it. I mean to him, it's quite unexpected. Normally, the body should have been torn apart and the organs inside would have been eaten but not here. The only thing out of the ordinary was the spear. He had already seen this type of thing in the bodies of his fellow wolves or even stuck on the skin of a bear. But they were big, some were even bigger than the wolf itself. This is so small, why is it that small? Of course, that only makes him puzzled and soon he began to remove that annoying tree branch with his maw and take with him the rabbit, gaining an unexpected free meal.)

Finally, he is leaving. But he took with him the entire body, there is nothing left for me, besides the blood on the ground. And my poor spear, you can see the mark of the wolf fangs. HE DESTROYED IT. Vengeance. Death. Death to all wolves. But first, let's leave in the opposite direction of the wolf. I need to be stronger, to have a bigger spear, to make traps maybe. And the most important of all, to gain more levels. Because, I don't think that even if I manage to hit a wolf in the eye, he will die. And after that, he will hunt me, kill me, devour me, and bye bye the rat. Now, time to make a new spear, a better one, here a good branch, Blargh, that taste is even more disgusting the second time, how is it even possible?