Killing the rat should've felt like a triumph.
Instead, it haunted me.
Its death was messy. Loud. More panic than strategy. The way its eyes glazed over—that flicker of life vanishing in an instant—stuck with me. Back on Earth, I'd never even been in a fight. Never broken a bone. Never seen anything die in front of me.
Now, I was sitting next to a corpse, gripping a bloody pipe in the dark.
The copper coin the system awarded me sat in my palm, wet with slime. It didn't seem like a fair trade for taking a life. Even if it was just a monster.
But the system didn't care how I felt.
> [EXP: 10/100]
I needed ninety more to level. And rats were only the beginning.
---
I spent the next few hours creeping through the tunnels, senses high, magic primed. I killed two more sewer rats and almost died fighting a third that jumped from above. My spells were getting easier to cast. My grip on the pipe steadier.
Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger was watching me. The tunnels seemed to breathe. Each time I turned a corner, the air shifted, as if I were being led somewhere.
By the time I climbed out of the sewers, my clothes were ripped, my hands were bloodied, and I smelled like death. I'd earned a total of 40 EXP and 5 copper coins.
Not enough.
But I was still alive. That counted for something.
---
Back on the surface, Arinvale was painted gold by the setting sun. Towers glowed in the light, casting long shadows over the slums. People bustled around, oblivious to the filth just beneath their feet.
I found Mira in her usual spot by the fire barrel.
She took one look at me and smirked.
"You didn't die."
"Barely," I muttered, sinking to the ground. "You ever try killing a rat the size of a housecat in a flooded corridor while standing in your own fear?"
She chuckled and handed me a stale crust of bread.
I took it without hesitation.
"You smell like the dead," she said. "But there's something different in your eyes."
"I leveled up," I lied.
She snorted. "You'd be glowing if you did. But that spark in you's brighter. You've tasted blood. It changes you."
I didn't argue. She was right. I had changed.
Somewhere deep inside me, the fear had begun to curdle into something else.
Not confidence.
Resolve.
---
That night, I didn't sleep. I sat near the barrel, staring into the flames, watching the shadows dance on the alley walls.
And that's when he appeared.
Not Mira. Not another rat. Him.
The first rival.
He stepped out of the dark with quiet arrogance, wearing black leather armor and a cloak trimmed with red. His face was sharp, his eyes like frozen steel. He moved with the kind of grace that said I've killed before—and didn't lose sleep over it.
"You're the reborn?" he asked, voice smooth but sharp.
I stood slowly, pipe in hand.
"Who's asking?"
He smiled faintly. "Name's Kael. You're making a mess of the grind zones."
"I didn't realize this sewer had a membership fee."
He laughed once. It didn't reach his eyes.
"The Guild is watching you, you know. You've got something. Something they don't like."
"And you do?"
He stepped closer, the air around him thick with pressure. Not magical—just intense.
"I don't care what you are," he said. "But if you get in my way, I'll kill you."
I didn't move. "Noted."
Kael leaned in, close enough that I could see the faint scar along his jaw.
"Keep your head down, commoner," he whispered. "Or I'll take it off."
Then he vanished into the shadows.
---
I didn't see Mira again for a few days. Word was spreading about a rogue slum mage who lit up the tunnels. That was me.
I hit the sewers harder, desperate to grow stronger. I crafted a better weapon—stitched leather straps onto a broken guard's baton I scavenged from a corpse. I even found a discarded cloth armor set in an abandoned tunnel and enchanted it with a Weak Fortification Rune.
Progress came slowly.
Each fight still felt like a gamble. But I wasn't losing anymore.
And then it happened.
---
[LEVEL UP!]
Level: 2 → 3
+5 HP | +3 MP | +1 to All Attributes
New Skill Unlocked: Arcane Pulse (Lv. 1)
---
I stood in the glow of the screen, panting after killing a group of rats.
I was stronger now. I could feel it. My muscles were firmer. My senses sharper. Magic didn't just respond to me anymore—it obeyed.
I clenched my fist and cast Arcane Pulse.
Blue light exploded outward, pushing sludge and air away in a small shockwave. It was weak, but it felt incredible. It was mine.
This world didn't care who I'd been before.
But now?
Now it was starting to notice me.
---
Back in the streets, I found something waiting for me.
Or rather, someone.
She leaned against the alley wall, arms crossed, eyes watching me with a strange kind of amusement.
She wore a mage's cloak—dark blue with silver trim—and held a staff carved with crystal glyphs. Her black hair was tied back in a single braid, and her skin was as pale as frost.
"Not bad," she said as I approached. "For a nobody."
I raised an eyebrow. "Do all mages stalk sewer trash, or am I just lucky?"
She smirked. "You're being watched. Not just by the Guild. By something older."
I blinked. "Who are you?"
"Lira," she said. "Advanced student of the Arcanum. And if you're smart, you'll stop using magic where people can see."
"Why?"
She tilted her head, curious. "Because what you're doing? You shouldn't be able to do it."
I hesitated. "And yet, here I am."
Lira stepped forward and poked my chest with her staff.
"You're not marked. You have no class crest. No mage lineage. And yet you cast Arcane Pulse like it's nothing." She smiled. "That scares people."
"I'm not trying to scare anyone."
"Doesn't matter," she said. "You will."
She turned, walking away—but paused.
"By the way," she added, not turning around, "Kael's not the only one keeping tabs on you. The world's watching."
Then she disappeared into the crowd.
---
I stood alone in the alley, heart pounding.
Something had changed.
I wasn't just fighting rats anymore.
I was becoming something else.
And I had a feeling… the system hadn't even begun to show me what it truly was.