---

Rain grinned in her head at this message, detailing the increased stealth capabilities she had gained. Yes, even more useful.

She was hungry, and it was seeping into her limbs as she searched for prey. And she was in luck!

A Rat was perched on something dead, unsuspecting of Rain.

Perfect. Perfect.

Concentrating, Rain willed herself to be silent, using Muffle II to get close.

Once she was near, she launched herself onto the rat's neck, biting deep and jerking hard while she was latched on, focusing on releasing as much venom in as short of time as she could manage.

---

Assuming the rat was unable to shake her off:

Once the rat was finally dead, Rain filled herself from it's corpse. All this conflict in such a short time had left her....

Hungry. Hungry for blood.

Leaving her stealth "passive", Rain began stalking for a lonesome goblin.....

They deserved to suffer for the annoyances they kept causing her.

@Zeroth

Allowing her instincts to take over, Mei found her movements to be surprisingly fluid. Be it over the stony paths, under the rocky crags, and through dirty tunnels and crevices, she was able to manuever though them with utmost to ease.

However, Mei focus was suddenly disturbed by a familiar scent and the sound of footsteps approaching her from behind. It was a dire rat Mei was acquainted with, at least in appearance. They came from the same litter; it would be correct to refer to her as Mei's sister. Mei was certain that she was alone when she had left the den; her sister being able to catch up just showed off how quick she actually was. Mei had little interest in her for now, but her speed could come in handy later on.

Running side by side, Mei remained quiet and continued the hunt for their mother.

---

Everything happened so quickly, but given the situation, Mei's optionns were limited. The moment her mother had been bitten by the massive lizard, driven by her instincts, she immediately sprung into action.

"No. Don't. We just have to run away!" Mei thought to herself, but unfortunately, her body failed to listen.

Lunging forward and foaming by the mouth, she let out a feral hiss before bearing both her fangs and claws at her mother's assailant.

"Stop! I said stop!" Her screams echoed inside her head as her body continued to move by itself.

@Guy0fV4lor @Zeroth

While his plan didn't work, apparently mana orbs didn't work as balls which could move faster when perfectly thrown while running, the results were much better then Danny expected. He felt a little guilty about killing the Goblin, but they were the first to attack and he did have more pressing matters.

Both another Goblin and a slime showed up and he didn't even have the energy to levitate anymore. Sure he could try and grab the mana crystal his first attacker dropped but he doubted that he would get away in time to avoid the brother. Luckily for him the slime solved that for him, though it also knowing projectile attacks didn't help his chances much.

While he desperately and panicking reached out for the dropped crystal, while keeping an eye on the potential new danger he accidentally grabbed the herb. Confused about why he didn't absorb the energy automatically he though it was because he was all out of mana and stuffed what he thought to be a crystal into his "mouth".

@Zeroth@Jobst

As Asteria caught up to her sister, she slowed down so she was able to run alongside her sibling in the search of their mother. Most of the cave’s terrain seemed to be hard stone, but in some places, the exposed soft earth underneath had made it possible for someone – probably the Dire rats – to make tunnels and burrows. One such path eventually led them to a spacious chamber, where their Mother feasted on a clutch of eggs. The sight made Asteria salivate and her own teeth ache to bite into something more substantial and she would have obeyed the instinct to devour if it weren’t for the sudden appearance of a lizard.

This new and unexpected opponent attacked their Mother, and although she managed to bite back and shake off the lizard, the large black Dire rat limped backwards, her body convulsing from the lizard’s paralyzing poison, a skill Asteria now remembered them having from the time when she got to choose her own species before her rebirth.

During the short moment her body had frozen in surprise, her sister had already attacked the aggressor, and her sibling seemed furious if a tad uncoordinated in her attacks. Confident that the two of them could take down the lizard as long as they avoided its fangs, Asteria forced herself to move and dashed swiftly to the side, careful to avoid running into her sister-ally and doing her best to stay away from the lizard’s front side. With her running dash, she was lucky enough to position herself by their opponent’s hind leg. From there, Asteria jumped, intending to pin down the lizard by landing on its back and aiming to bite into its soft and vulnerable throat!

The first two attempts to open a game menu were failures, but even those failures were interesting. The fact that a system message had appeared meant something in and of itself and let him know he was on the right track. And the fact he had no access meant there was something to access. The quick burst of pain that came with each attempted was worrying though and indicated that he was trying something that he probably shouldn’t.

Nonetheless he had to keep trying after this small amount of progress.

His next two attempts were far more successful, albeit a little underwhelming. The inventory screen showed nothing, which was to be expected since he wasn’t carrying anything; that screen would probably be useless unless you were too lazy to check what was in your pockets, but it proved that some menus could be accessed.

The status menu was similarly devoid of information right now, but possibly it could be used to give a diagnosis if something was wrong? Maybe it would give a list of injuries if you were hurt or let you know if you caught a disease or were poisoned.

In any case, he had discovered something interest. Being bolstered by his success, and already forgetting the pain he experience earlier, Jacob decided to continue. “Open… character screen?” Maybe this would be as lacklustre as the others, but Jacob was hoping to see a full character profile with a list of skills and hopefully an experience bar. If he could prove that experience was actually a thing in this world he would be a little more on board with Mourningstar’s idea.

The result was a little bit more than Jacob expected.

“ARGH!”

A sudden explosion of pain sent his head spinning. Jacob clutched his head and bent double in the air, the fluttering of his wings slowing down as he began to sink towards the ground. His vision blurred and he felt sick to his stomach as images from the moment of his death extending backwards though his entire life to the moment he was born flashed through his mind in an overload of information.

And then he was back in that white expanse. He heard the Demon King’s voice again as he relived the events of one week ago in real time, all leading up to the moment he selected his new species and was thrown headlong into this new, terrifying world.

He came to his senses as the vision, memory, whatever it was ended and he felt himself being shoved aside by the Wisp. Thrown off balance and unable to regain it Jacob began to sink even faster as his wings started to falter; it was only Digbie grabbing his arm and pulling him into the crevice that saved him from a long drop.

It took him a moment to remember where he was or what he was just doing. Between the rush of old memories and the throbbing pain in his head it was hard to focus but after a moment it all began to come back. He stayed there for a while, sitting on his hands and knees and waiting for the pulsing pain in his head to fade even a little bit; it might just be his imagination but it did seem to be getting better slightly. “Open… open status screen.”

You have an extreme migraine.

Great, as if he didn’t know that already. But at least he was able to prove that the status menu worked the way he expected.

Turning around so that he was sitting normally, Jacob positioned himself so that he could face out of the crevice. He could hear Digbie nearby, though through his blurry vision all he could see of the Goblin was a vague green outline against the dull brown backdrop of the cave wall. The duelling Wisps outside were a little easier to see, two bright points of light whirling around in the air as one tried to fly away and the other chased after it; he had to look away after a moment though, as staring too long at the dancing lights set his already unsettled stomach heaving.

Something needed to be done about this migraine; he couldn’t afford to be this helpless when everything seemed to want to kill them. It was possible a healing spell might work, though the description suggested something like this was beyond its power, but he was completely out of MP to even try and he had used up all of the mana crystals nearby over the past week. Diverting his eyes downward Jacob began to scan the floor of the cave far below, blinking rapidly to try and get his eyes to focus even if it made his head spin even faster.

Jacob hadn’t really explored very far out of his crevice yet and sure enough, near the base of the cavern wall he could make out a small point of light that may just be a small cluster of mana crystals. Shimmying himself over to the edge of the crevice Jacob carefully moved out into the open air and let himself fall, using his wings to slow his descent to a safe speed. He still hit the ground with a thump, landing hard on his knees and skinning them. However, he had managed to land right next to the mana crystals he had seen from above. Reaching out Jacob snapped off a piece of the cluster, squeezing it in his hand until it crumbled and he absorbed its energy.

You have used a Mana Crystal. MP is fully restored.

With his mana restored he already began to feel a little better and now he could try and do something about this pain. Jacob placed his hands on either side of his head and cast Minor Heal, his hands glowing briefly with the magical energy which was then dispersed as it was released into his body. As expected it did nothing to alleviate the pain or the nausea he was feeling, the only change being the slight stinging pain in his knees disappearing as the abrasions were healed.

Undeterred Jacob tried again, this time taking it slower and trying to focus the healing energies to go where he wanted it to. It wasn’t hard to focus on the pain when it was the only thing he could feel; hopefully all it required in order to direct the healing spell to fix a specific problem was willpower as that was all he could really muster at the moment. Jacob burned through the rest of his mana with no success.

Come on, this migraine was basically a status condition right? It was like he was inflicted with confusion or something. Surely if he could heal injuries he could cure status effects right? He was sure from its description that the healing spell worked by speeding up the body’s natural healing process; it didn’t actually heal anything itself, that was why it didn’t work on tumours and just made them grow faster instead. Couldn’t he use it to make this migraine burn itself out faster or something?

Well, if he could he had a stack of mana crystals and hopefully enough time to figure it out.

As Asura drew himself back from his latest attack a sudden presence on his body made him blink for a moment. A dire rat just landed on him and was starting to attack him. "Cheeky bastard." He growled out, his tone low and agitated. He obviously wasn't afraid of the rat so he reciprocated by "melting" down into a kind of thick puddle. Surging up he made to clap around the rats head as hard as he could.

Hit or miss there'd be a loud wet clap and he'd pull himself back together to send another attack at the dire rat. He wouldn't even bother trying to dodge its attacks, melee against melee he needed the rat close. It was faster than him but it had no safe angles to attack from. Every time it'd go in for a bite or scratch he'd lunge in that direction to slam into its face.

Now that they were in agreement Orchid relaxed just a little. She was still on a hunt, but it was nice to have a non-goblin ally on her side. While she didn't trust this lizard, it wasn't as if she trusted the goblins either. This was just the easier way to handle things. Flourishing her stick the two would go further into the cave to hunt. Soon Orchid came across strange flying creatures. They looked like glowing balls of magic and fairies. She debated trying to hunt some, but she didn't think they had much meat on them. Maybe if she could catch three or four in a net, it might be worth it, but otherwise she wasn't going to waste time nor energy trying to take one down.

Still with so many creatures here, perhaps there was more monsters or animals nearby she could hunt. Raising her rock to throw on command, Orchid looked down to her partner. "See anything good? Those fairies are too stringy for my taste." Part of Orchid also regretted not taking up baseball as a kid. Sure she was good at it, but she never joined the team. Maybe if she did she'd be more confident with her pitch and swings.

@Lucius Cypher@Zeroth- Hunting with Orchid

---

Your negotiations have earned a skill!

Skill Gain: Charisma I
Like other charismatic skills, your personality is almost a magical charm unto itself. You’ll have greater luck convincing others to go along with your suggestions, but only within their own natural reasoning. This skill may not work on those with stronger Wills.

Ash's eyes widened slightly at the message in front of her. What in the world...? Huh, curious. That was odd. Some sort of informational hologram? What was it called...a HUD or something? Like in some fancy sci-fi novels, but a more fantasy version of it? And this was some sort of system message...? Even more curiously, was the 'skill' she had received. 'Charisma'. How quaint. She had been doing a lot of talking since she had come here. So...would she learn new skills by attempting new things? Practice makes perfect as they say. Either way, this was an interesting turn of events. She'd have to experiment and test the limits of this.

For now though -

"Dire rat," Ash hissed quietly as the large rodent dashed through the rocks, obviously on the hunt as well. "I can ambush and try to paralyze it so you can finish it off." She could probably handle the rat herself, but it'd be a good idea to have Orchid at least watch her back in case anything happened. Without waiting for much of a confirmation from the goblin, the Lizard darted forwards, hopefully getting ahead of the rat as darted behind some rocks a little ways up, hoping to cut the rodent off.

She was already filling her gullet with as much poison as she could force herself to hold. Upon seeing the rat, she'd lob several quick shots at it. Smaller than they normally would be, but faster.

---

@Zeroth@Duthguy
The fact that the wisp was creative enough to use its magic in a way Jason had yet to see before, combined also with the realization that the wisp just killed a goblin all on its own perplexed Jason.

Could that wisp be another hero?

Suddenly, another goblin showed up; looking for revenge… Only to immediately get rekt by Jason, turns out they weren’t so tough after all. Rolling toward the the two goblin corpses, he began to call out the wisp ”Hey wisp, do you spe-” his sentence was cut short as a VERY interesting notification appeared:

LEVEL UP!

Your experiences have culminated into new power. You have earned Skill Points to be distributed as you please.

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Physical Damage Resistance I (1.0)
Warcry I (1.2)
Stone Shot I (1.7)
<UNUSABLE> Swift Swimmer (0.1) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Aqua Sphere (0.5) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Rock Spire (0.7) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Tremor Sense (0.5) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Alert (0.1) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Limited Shapeshift (0.3) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Smash (0.3) <UNUSABLE>

This was unlike any notification Jason had ever seen before, causing him to immediately forget about the wisp. Stopping for a few moments to read all of this new information, he noted that he had more skills then he previously thought. Apparently, the only skills that he COULD use, were those that had at least 1.0 points. Right now Jason had 5 skill points to spend on ANY of the skills listed.

Figuring out HOW to use these skill points was a different matter entirely. Could it be voice activated? ”Uhhh… A l l o c a te 3 points to skill: [Rock Spire],” he said in a low, unassured tone ”... aaand allocate 2 points to skill: [Tremor Sense]...”

His mind snapping back to the situation at hand, Jason knew he had to quickly secure his kill before scavengers showed up. Looking over his next meal, Jason dropped all but one of his rocks, and began to remove the goblin’s head by repeatedly bashing the stone into the dead goblin’s throat. As soon as the head came off, Jason immediately attached himself in its stead, using his body to create enough suction to procure whatever there was left for blood in the body.

The blood font running dry, Jason knew it was time to move. Beginning to digest the blood, and sucking up the head, he quickly discovered his movement was greatly impeded. Moving as stealthily as a slime ever could, Jason made his way back to the tunnel he and Rain had begun digging, and upon arrival, made sure that nothing had decided to intrude upon his territory.

Such a long day had left Jason quite fatigued, and with the cave getting darker, he needed to secure an area to rest. Dropping the head (now nearly a skull) in the back of his tunnel, he began making a stash of stone ammunition within the tunnel. After gathering 15 rocks for ammunition, Jason then went to work using other rocks to conceal the entrance to his new abode (with him inside).

Now feeling reasonably safe, Jason moved to the back of his ‘room’ and once again sucked up the head (without trying to digest it). In a final attempt to learn one more skill before calling it a day, Jason once again sent his energy through the earth around him until he finally fell asleep.

@Zeroth

Ed couldn't see and hear anything. Hell, he didn't have any coherent thoughts running in his mind...but instincts were another thing. He was cold and hungry. His small and feeble body moved automatically to seek and locate his mother's warmth. It did not take long for the dire rat pup to locate his mother. Her warm body alleviated the strange cold the pup felt before. His hunger was sated by suckling upon one of his mother's teats. He was not alone, his siblings also wished to sate their hunger. The others had to struggle and squirm around before they managed to reach a teat. Ed was lucky to be near his mother, and did not need to contend with his siblings for his mother's warmth and milk. The very first days spent reincarnated were spent in the company of his 'mother' and 'siblings'. A couple of days pass by with little issue. They fed and were warmed when she was there, and squirmed about in the nest when she wasn't. The feeling when she was away was bad. Even worse than the cold. Ed hated that feeling.

Ed's senses were developed enough for him to see and hear properly. His mother had black fur that almost seemed blue and was very large in his perception. He looks around the nest and sees his siblings. Their fur varied from blue, brown, and some grays. Ed had seemed to have inherited his from his mother...kind of. He knew that his mother kept them in the nest for their own protection, but the outside sounds were just so intriguing. Even more so to a young dire rat that was very curious about his surroundings. Ed wanted to see what was outside of the nest and one day he would be able to do that. A few more days pass and Ed feels that he has mastered the fundamentals regarding how to walk and maybe even how to run. He was proud enough to say that he even knew how to jump better than majority of his siblings, maybe even almost as good as his mother!

He had waited for the time had come for everyone to sleep. He had barely managed to sneak past everyone without waking them. It was now or never, his mother and his siblings were sleeping and the time had come for him to see the world outside of the nest for the first time. Even in the short amount of time he was alive, he could easily conclude that he outside was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Even more beautiful than the first time he seen his baby sister. He froze in place. Rather than seeing a dire rat like himself in his memory, he was in a large white room with bright lights with a small hairless ape like being in the arms of a larger and older female of the same species that was laying on a bed. Beside her was a larger male, with a wide grin directed at both the female and the small one, before grinning at Ed. He spoke to him. "Don't be shy, Edward. Come say 'Hi' to your baby sister."

It was then memories flooded back. Not like a gentle trickle, but a flood of memories crashing back into his mind.
His family, his life, his death, and the deal he made were all instantaneously forced back into his mind. The pain was excruciating.

@Guy0fV4lor @Zeroth

Ir was only after he ate the herb and the system messages about him being low on hp changed into one about having eaten a healing herb that Danny calmed down enough to realize his mistake. With a considerable amount of effort he managed to touch the mana crystal the goblin dropped and thus recharge his mp. Just as he was about to levitate to safety the slime seemingly asked him something. ”Hey wisp, do you spe-”

while he was confused both the fact that the slime talked and suddenly focused on something else, he wondered if it was normal behavior. At least until he heard something about skill points. Curious he followed the slime until it disappeared into a hole in the wall. Having no intention of giving up his maneuverability by going after it he decided to kill time by seeing if he could talk. Since he had no idea of what to say he decided to go with something random. "B.. bananah, ring, dinnur." Okay it wasn't easy and his pronunciation wasn't great but it was a start.

Orchid followed the rats directions and tailed the rat with the lizard. She readied her rock to throw it; she was used to throwing rocks as a kid, and this reminded her of rat hunting as a youth. She still wished she had a gun. As the lizard spat acid or whatever at the rat Orchid tracked the rat with her eyes and waited for the rat to jump. This was how to catch small vermin; lead them. Right as the rat would land, Orchid’s Stone should be flying right towards the rays head/body.

Rats weren’t something Orchid ate but at this point she was desperate for any sort of meat. If she had to, she’s take a bite out of this rat herself. After throwing the rock Orchid charged with her stick ready to finish off the rat.

@Rune_Alchemist@Zeroth

Ardur The Pixie

Targets incoming >>>> Taking A Chance /// week 2 // Dusk?

Ardur found a safe spot on the ceiling. Dangling seemingly helplessly from a stalactite. He still found it slightly surprising that he could grip onto these rocks so well with his feet. Hanging like a bat from his old world he scanned the cave floor below. The pixie could see a few other creatures skittering here and there. Obviously still reeling from the goblin ambush from earlier.

Speaking of which he could see the big one walking off and muttering something as he went. "So strange" he thought while hanging from his perch. "Come to think of it. If this is a game it should have some sort of heads up display or something. It would be super useful to figure out how much mana I had available and if I could see like a health bar or something on others." Ardur paused for a moment while considering his next move. "I really should have played more fantasy games while I was still alive." this time he spoke aloud as he eventually let go and began to glide toward the big goblin.

Gliding from stalactite to stalactite, Ardur was extremely careful with where he placed himself until he was close enough to the big goblin so that he wasn't shouting at him. The pixie was fully aware that this was dangerous but he was curious and wanted to talk to the big guy. He was obviously a threat and a speed bump in their path, but think of what might happen if he was an ally. The least he wanted was for the thing to let them pass with the threat of dwindling numbers.

Ardur is no fighter and barley would he consider himself a lover. So maybe just maybe he could work some diplomacy. Having a strong friend this early would definitely be something. Besides if nothing came out of this he at least knew that combined, himself and the others stood a chance against the beast. Tt least he was able to get to him before he got back to the fire and while he was alone.

Finding a perch above the large goblin Ardur stopped and hesitated for just a moment. He had an escape plan and could duck into cover nearby if the goblin didn't want to talk. However the subtle fear of what could happen made him freeze up for just a moment before he called out to the beast, "Hey big guy, the suns getting real low. Do you have a name?" Ardur spoke but kept himself hidden as he clung to the stone surface with both hands and feet. He hoped his voice would echo a little and make him harder to detect.

@Zeroth

@Jobst
As Xiao charged forward, it was the lizard’s turn to be ambushed. It had been focused on Mother and didn’t realize the other two rats were even there until Xiao’s flurry of claws and gnashing teeth came flying at it. Mother’s bite had taken a chunk out of its snout, and now Xiao Mei drew blood from one of its beady black eyes as the reptile scuttled back in the enclosed space, hissing and thrashing. With the dark purple fluid hindering its breathing and its sight, the lizard couldn’t see or react in time when Xiao Mei’s sister suddenly circled around and sprang on it from behind. The other rat’s jaws came down on the back of its throat, right under the scales of its head. Again the lizard hissed and began to shake from side to side, but Asteria only held on all the tighter, as much choking the other monster down as much as bleeding it.

In a matter of moments that seemed to last an eternity, the lizard succumbed to the three rats’ fangs and fell, its tail twitching. It turned its own snout, with a strangled, shrill cry, towards the clutch of eggs. It strained with all it had left, touching just one of the leathery shells with its blood soaked face and leaving a purple stain.

Then it died.

@SilverPaw
As Asteria’s sister charged forward, it was the lizard’s turn to be ambushed. It had been focused on Mother and didn’t realize the other two rats were even there until the flurry of claws and gnashing teeth came flying at it. Mother’s bite had taken a chunk out of its snout, and now Xiao Mei drew blood from one of its beady black eyes as the reptile scuttled back in the enclosed space, hissing and thrashing. With the dark purple fluid hindering its breathing and its sight, the lizard couldn’t see or react in time when Asteria suddenly circled around and sprang on it from behind. The other rat’s jaws came down on the back of its throat, right under the scales of its head. Again the lizard hissed and began to shake from side to side, but Asteria only held on all the tighter, as much choking the other monster down as much as bleeding it.

In a matter of moments that seemed to last an eternity, the lizard succumbed to the three rats’ fangs and fell, its tail twitching. It turned its own snout, with a strangled, shrill cry, towards the clutch of eggs. It strained with all it had left, touching just one of the leathery shells with its blood soaked face and leaving a purple stain.

Then it died.

@Lucius Cypher
When Orchid and Ash had made their plan, they acted with a combination of natural hunger and intent to kill. As Ash fired three smaller, quicker shots of poison, only one hit the mark--but oddly, though it didn’t seem to burn the rat as badly as usual, the creature almost immediately began to look more sickly, its features twisting in pain and drool beginning to drip from its mouth as it heaved. Its movements slowed, and then Orchid took aim and let fly.

The poisoned beast was hit head on by the blunt side of the rock, causing a splatter of blood to paint the rocks. It convulsed and kicked on the ground from a mixture of pain and the venom coursing through its body, and the goblin girl closed in to skewer it through the belly with her stick. It screeched, vomiting blood with one last convulsion, and then was still.

Now came the part where Orchid would probably wonder if she could eat something that had just been dosed full of poison.

@Duthguy
It seemed, for now, that Danny was safe. As the cave grew darker with the coming of night, many monsters seemed to be heading for nests and hideaways to sleep in some form of safety. As he had already shown he could eat the Healing Herbs, he might not need to hunt. He could remember seeing more of these green things near that large pool of water elsewhere in the cave; if other monsters were gone now then he could probably safely gather a few of them. However, had he noticed that they were dwindling compared to the last week?

Figuring out his magic, figuring out how to fight, learning how to use items, how to speak, seeing the system messages...it seemed there was a lot to do in this new world. But ultimately it would be up to Danny to decide what he wanted to do...

@ReusableSword
“Huh?” Rattleskull turned this way and that, looking for the source of the voice. It didn’t seem he had seen Ardur yet...but he didn’t seem entirely unaware of his surroundings either. “Who dat? Come out wheres I can see yous!” Pulling the stone celt from his belt of vines, the hairy creature gave it a flourish. “My name’s Rattleskull! I’m da biggest and da strongest around here! Ya better not be tryin’ to be funny with me if’n ya know what’s good for yous!”

As it continued to darken in the cave, the light of the bonfire began to grow brighter. It sounded like Crispy was yelling at other goblins to throw the wood they had collected earlier into it…

@Old Amsterdam
Rain’s sneak attack was a success, but perhaps more importantly, so was her method. The Fanged Lizards in the rest of the cave didn’t usually hang on to prey--they would bite to inflict the first dose, then move away to see if it took effect. Less chance for them to be struck by wild flailing of whatever they attacked, less chance for the strategy to backfire if the poison was resisted. But not only did Rain take those risks to pump more venom into her adversary, she also shook her head violently back and forth. Dogs in her old world had done this for a reason, even with their toys.

The rat’s neck gave way with a snap.

By the time she let go, the creature would have been suffocated even if its bones hadn’t broken or the venom hadn’t paralyzed it. But as it was its limbs had been frozen, its vertebrae snapped, and ultimately its heart stopped.

But though she ate well, Rain did not intend to cut her hunt short here. Now she was on the hunt for Goblins…

But it didn’t seem she would have much luck finding any of them that were by themselves right now. With night falling and the cave growing darker every moment, most creatures were heading for shelter. The goblins were marching in groups of anywhere from two to four back towards Crispy’s bonfire, which seemed to be growing bigger and brighter.

@Rune_Alchemist
When Orchid and Ash had made their plan, they acted with a combination of natural hunger and intent to kill. As Ash fired three smaller, quicker shots of poison, only one hit the mark--but oddly, though it didn’t seem to burn the rat as badly as usual, the creature almost immediately began to look more sickly, its features twisting in pain and drool beginning to drip from its mouth as it heaved. Its movements slowed, and then Orchid took aim and let fly.

The poisoned beast was hit head on by the blunt side of the rock, causing a splatter of blood to paint the rocks. It convulsed and kicked on the ground from a mixture of pain and the venom coursing through its body, and the goblin girl closed in to skewer it through the belly with her stick. It screeched, vomiting blood with one last convulsion, and then was still.

Ash’s strategy had paid off extremely well, though whether because of luck or because her attempt with changing the properties of her Poison Spit had some kind of unknown side effect was up for debate. But the question was, would her ally be able to share a meal if it was full of poison? Was there some way to clean the corpse?

Also:

LEVEL UP!

Your experiences have culminated into new power. You have earned Skill Points to be distributed as you please.

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Stun Fang (1.0)
Poison Spit (1.5)
Overwork I (1.0)
Alchemy I (1.6)
Charisma I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE> Muffle (0.5) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Crafting (0.3) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Alert (0.3) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Venom Shot (0.3) <UNUSABLE>

@Kazemitsu
As the rat’s fangs tore a piece out of Asura’s body, he felt more pain than usual--not as much as Jason’s Stone Shot, but more significant than other attacks he had taken. Did he remember what the Demon King’s information had said about the Dire Rats having much stronger jaws and sharper fangs, and that the beast type monsters usually specialized in raw physical attributes?

He clapped the rat on either side of its head, forcing the creature off of him. It lunged again shortly afterward and he met it with a slam of his own. They exchanged attacks, but it seemed Asura came off the worst for it as far as damage. Would his HP hold out?

In the next exchange, the Dire Rat proved it was just the slightest bit faster than him as well--when he lunged to counter it, it changed direction rapidly and attacked from another angle. Then a fourth exchange, and although Asura caught it this time, he received an answer to his question.

WARNING! Your HP is low!

The rat steeled itself once more, but it looked like it had taken one blow too many as well. A bit dazed from constantly being slammed headfirst, the rat was slower to start this time, but its fangs dripped with saliva as they threatened to tear Asura’s new life away--would this exchange kill it? Even if it did, would the rat still kill him? Kill or be killed! This was it!

If Asura had a buttocks, he might have clenched it. Deep in his heart he screamed!

You have learned a new Skill!
Smash I: A Physical Skill that consumes Stamina instead of MP. One blunt type attack deals increased damage!

A sudden red crackle of energy passed over Asura’s body like electricity dispersing over water. His body slammed into the Dire Rat, completely shattering those sharp teeth before crushing the skull behind them. The rodent was thrown to the earth hard enough to bounce--and then lay still.

LEVEL UP!

Your experiences have culminated into new power. You have earned Skill Points to be distributed as you please.

Unspent Skill Points:
5

Current Skills:
Physical Damage Resistance I (1.66)
Overwork I (1.0)
Blunt Resistance I (1.05)
Limited Shapeshift I (1.05)
Smash I (1.0)
<UNUSABLE> Pierce Resist (1.0, Regeneration Required) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Earth Resist (0.6) <UNUSABLE>
<UNUSABLE> Magic Resist (0.8) <UNUSABLE>

@Guy0fV4lor

Skill Gain: Rock Spire I
A basic Earth-aligned spell. It deals more damage than most level one spells for the same MP cost, but requires that solid earth be within the user’s range of sight or perception. An earthen spike is created beneath the targeted area, object, or creature. Does Piercing and Earth Magic damage.

Jason had quite the productive day. He had gathered materials, made friends, defeated enemies, grown in power and skill, and even built himself a temporary shelter. After sucking so much Goblin blood his green body had become more of a purple color, but as he digested it that would soon return to normal. With night falling across the cave most other creatures seemed to be following his example and seeking shelter, so he was probably safe for the most part from any other hunting creatures.

However, as a certain Wisp hovered outside his mini-cave, the light the creature produced made it a little hard to sleep. And it was making noise…

"B.. bananah, ring, dinnur."

@Searat
As Edward struggled with his returning memories, the headache soon subsided but now he was left with all of this baggage to sort through. At least, for the moment, that moment of vulnerability hadn’t gotten him in any trouble. If he had collapsed like that when there were monsters out hunting, it could have been bad. As it was now, though, most monsters had begun to retire for the night. But this was the moment he had waited for, to explore and to search! Where would he go first? Those odd blue crystals on the walls had been mostly used up over the past little while it seemed, but there were still a few rare clusters here and there. The pool of water, and all the green plants around it (though it looked like these too had been heavily picked through) seemed pretty much deserted at this time. The distant light that was presumably the cave’s entrance, however, had disappeared almost completely. The only thing left was the goblins’ bonfire, but even before his memories had come back it was very clear that place was dangerous.

What he did was up to him...there was still a whole cave to explore, after all…

@Bishop
Lorek’s first few days were spent experimenting in every way he could think of, and although many of them were abject failures, a few at least showed him the limits of his capabilities. His Lesser Force was very weak, not suitable for attacking outright, and his Mana Orb was a simple attack that moved in a straight line. He could only use it twice, however, before he ran out of MP and had to use one of the crystals.

But that too became a problem. Over the week, Lorek had used so many crystals he was starting to notice that there were almost none near where he made his home anymore. And unfortunately for him, by the time he realized that he would need to find a new area with more resources, the goblin miners and other creatures seemed to have been using the Mana Crystals to absolute exhaustion. Only a few rare clusters existed now, standing out all the more starkly in the pitch black cave now that night had fallen.

And thanks to his experiments for the day, Lorek was once again out of MP. He had been neglecting to get food for himself too, so he was practically starving and felt too weak to even levitate higher than his default height. The pool seemed relatively uninhabited at this time so he could probably get some of those green plants to eat...but those too were starting to look pretty thin…

@King Cosmos
Jacob couldn’t be sure his attempts to specifically target his migraine with Minor Heal were working, but after three attempts he ran out of MP and had to use a crystal to restore it. Before he ran out again, however, his head had stopped hurting and he couldn’t hear that odd screeching sound anymore. Whether this was because he actually had healed the migraine, or it had just worn off on its own, wasn’t quite clear.

But now, where were his friends? What had they been doing? And when had the cave grown so dark? Not to mention, the crystals he kind of depended on seemed to have been heavily depleted...only a few rare clusters stood out now, and only because their pulses were easily noticeable even from across the cave due to how pitch black the night had become.

@Lucius Cypher@Zeroth- Hunting with Orchid

---

Ash would have grimaced as most of the volleys had missed - only one of her smaller globs of venom hitting. As soon as one did hit though...well, the plan had worked well. Almost too well. The rat immediately began to heave, drool pouring from its mouth as it's body looked noticeably more sickly in an instant. The smaller globs didn't burn as much as it seemed...but perhaps their smaller nature had a stronger concentration of venom? Since it wasn't spread out everywhere over the surface, that could certainly be it. The same way area pressure worked.

She'd need to do more testing.

Either way, Orchid quickly closed the distance, tossing a rock right into the rats head causing a splatter of blood to coat the rocks behind it. The rat twitched and convulsed pathetically, the pain and venom ravaging its body mercilessly until Orchid skewered its belly with her makeshift spear. With one last screech, the rat was dead and at least, her meal secured for the evening.

"Hmm..." Ash quickly scurried over, taking a claw to its hide and cutting into the meat of the rat, studying it intently for a few seconds and tasting it. "Well...it seems I've made a slight err in judgement." She scoffed at her own short shortsightedness. Of course there was a chance it'd get poisoned and ruin the meat, meaning Orchid likely wouldn't be able too. With night seeming to be falling, they needed to hurry.

"It seems I accidentally poisoned this meat. Ugh, getting used to this hideous form and abilities is going to be annoying." She briefly glanced over to Orchid. "Eating it would likely be bad for your health..." She turned her head back to the Rat, taking a large bite of the meat and wolfing it down. "If you need I can help you hunt another unless you want this...but I wouldn't recommend it." She was a lizard after all, and she didn't likely need to eat as much as Orchid.

...Hmm, poisoned meat might make for a good trap.

Asura remembered that the dire rats had the highest physically damaging stat. He was banking on his physical damage resistance and high hit points to hold out under its assault. He knew his damage wasn't as high but the rats hit points and defenses weren't as high as his. It was sort of a mutual exchange, two high stat creatures picking away at each other.

After an exchange it backed off then came again, but it was faster than him. Those teeth hurt a a good bit damn it! He kind of wondered why it even attacked him in the first place honestly. Without a mind he probably just turned into a literal puddle of liquid. Or was he like poro's in a game he played before that were like literal jelly. He didn't want to experiment with his own demise.

Another exchange and something clicked. An odd red energy crackled over him and his next attack was more powerful. By a lot. Enough to crush the rats fangs, then its skull. It bounced and laid still, lifeless. "Yay... He garbled out as he consumed two herbs within his body. These system messages were interesting and now he had a level up "screen". "Call up hit points? He said, curious to see if he could see his own life force. Maybe he could somehow get a permanent viewed lifebar.

But he had five skill points to play with now and some abilities that could prove to be useful. "Uh...allocate two skill points to Physical Damage Resistance. Allocate two skill points to Magic Resist. Allocate one skill point to Smash. He said, unsure if this would work or not.

---

Rain hissed in satisfaction, her maw dripping with blood from her kill. Quick, simple, effective. Exactly how she wanted to work in this new world.

No mistakes. She couldn't afford to make them.

But... Goblins weren't an option now. They were gathering in droves, going to the bonfire with that bastard Crispy.

She shook her head, flinging rat blood around, before she headed back towards where the slime had been. What was his name?

Ah, she wasn't even entirely sure where he was. Maybe....

Ah yes, here it was but there was an intruder there, as well. Speaking? Maybe. It wasn't very good, if it was.

For now she would wait and watch from the shadows, the darkness her shroud. Either it was yet another like her group, or it was a target, an aberration. And maybe something would entice her into action.

For now, though, she was growing sleepy while she waited. Maybe she could level up her venom in the morning, like her stealth.

@Guy0fV4lor @Zeroth

With his mind working and him not being under attack Danny couldn't help but think about the fact that the amount of Mana Crystals seemed to drop quickly. Wondering if the same applied to the healing herbs he decided to check. Thinking back he remembered a patch of them growing near the water and flew there as fast as he could, while keeping an eye out for and avoiding any monsters still out.

When he arrived his fears were confirmed, there weren't that many herb left. Combined with the decreasing amount of Mana crystals that really wasn't good for his goal of living as long as possible. He quickly went over some options, he could spend all night gathering as many herb and crystals as he could and hide them in a nest, but even if he didn't have to fight, the herbs would eventually rot and he would basically be stuk near it. Making small caches all over the cave also wasn't an option, due to the risk of others finding them. That only left one option as far as he knew. He would have to leave the cave, but he had no idea how strong the monsters outside were.

@Zeroth
Ed took some time to gather his bearings and even more time to convince himself that this was not some sort of messed up lucid dream. Realizing that you had died and made a deal with what was essentialy the devil of this world and becoming one of his candidates to become one of his 'heroes' was, and still is, a very difficult pill to swallow; but now was not the time to deal with it. Ed would soon have to come to terms with this 'reincarnation' thing, but for now he was thoroughly curious regarding the environment he was in. The blue crystals he had seen growing on of the walls was a particular curiosity. The small body of water with some plants was also piqued his interest, but not as much as strange and almost magical blue crystals that grow on cave walls.

Doing his best to not catch any critter's attention, Ed sneaks a tad bit closer to a small cluster of them a little ways off the nest; trying to analyze or even identify what kind of crystal it was from his location. It seemed a lighter color than compared to lapis lazuli and it also seemed to produce a...glow of some sort. The fact that the crystal produced light, even in this lesser degree, fascinated him greatly. 'This is absolutely amazing...this kind of thing could never occur naturally back on Earth.' Ed thinks to himself as he keeps a steady but careful pace, wanting a closer inspection of the crystals.