Chapter: 17

Looking around, it dawned on him that he had to jump down the other side, and seeing no logs to get down, he decided he would walk along the log looking for a pond to jump in. He didn’t want to risk a sprained ankle and being surrounded by monsters.

Pausing for a moment, he first took in the view.

The marsh went on for as far as he could see. Although it was humid, thick dark clouds hung overhead, placing the whole landscape in shadows.

Thankfully, he spotted movement nearby.

Approaching slowly, he walked along the log, then slid himself off the side on his belly till he fell onto the ground.

He didn’t have the luxury of jumping into a pond as that would have alerted the rats, so he decided to take the risk.

Happily, he didn’t take any damage, though his chest was covered in decaying wood and moss – not that it mattered at this point. He was filthy.

Jay walked into some nearby swamp-grass and crouched.

He blended in almost seamlessly since he was practically covered in half of the swamp by now. He pulled out his cooking knife and made his way to where he saw the movement.

Stealthily sneaking through the waist-high reeds and swamp grasses, he approached the source of the movement.

Through the swaying reeds, Jay finally saw it – his first monster. His first victim.


Chapter 5: Research

***Author here. This is a 5,100-word chapter. Normally they’re about 1,200 words, so get comfortable and expect a long read for this one. Thanks! – Aero182***

As Jay approached the oblivious soap rat, he realised he couldn’t really make use of his necromancer class since there were no corpses around – only rotting wood and swamp grass.

“I guess I’ll have to do this the old fashioned way…” smiling slightly as he equipped his 1 damage cooking knife.

Squinting, he clenched his jaw a little as he held his knife as he prepared himself mentally.

He imagined he was like an assassin hunting his prey, thinking of himself as being much cooler than what he actually was – a person covered in slimy shit, holding a cooking knife in the middle of a swamp, about to ambush a fat rat.

He looked more like a homeless person looking for dinner.

“Inspect” he thought, gazing at the rat with predator-like eyes.

<[Soap Rat Level 1]>

[10 HP]

<[Skills]>

[Slippery] (Passive)

– The rat uses swamp slime to its advantage.