'Am I going to die like this again? No wait, wasn't there a resurrection skill?'
My sight darkened, as if the power had gone off. When I finally opened my eyes again I was in a pile of destroyed of skeleton soldiers, hundreds of broken bones all around me.
'Am I the only one who has resurrected?'
I had been conscious for a while now, but no other skeletons showed any sign of reviving.
I just stayed in the same spot with a blank look
'Should I do something, this world sees really rough but I'm sure I can handle it let's go explore some more and see if i can find anything'
I looked around and noticed that some equipment from the dead skeletons were still intact. Scavenging around I acquired a small dagger, shield and broken helmet. Energized from having worn some equipment, I suddenly felt like a player in a fantasy game.
'So where to next?'
I was in high spirits, I thought of raising my level, wearing the best equipment and becoming a great warrior. But then it sunk in, a lowly level 1 skeleton soldier can never become a hero.
Walking for a long time in the dark I realized I was in a complex underground tunnel system with many branching caves. The only sign of life were the occasional rats, but they could spot me from far and would scare easily.
'I have to kill something to determine whether my level can actually go up. Still, could a level 1 skeleton soldier even catch a monster, maybe not?
After about an hour of wandering around I had a good grasp of my environment and the structure of nearby caves. There seemed to be no big, terrifying monsters just the occasional rats and liquid like slimes in the area. In RPG's, the slime is often a beginner monster with high physical damage resistance and since my only offense was the small dagger I scavenged previously, I decided to give up on hunting slimes for now. My only option was going after those rats but the problem was that they were too fast.
'If I catch them using a trap would my experience still go up?'
It seemed like creating traps and attracting the rats to it might be my only option. The cave had very little in the way of vegetation, but there was some moss in hard to reach places, previously I had witnessed them eating some on several occasions. I went around the cave gathering moss and carefully picked out a cave which was a dead end. After spreading the moss around inconspicuously, I sat down against the wall motionless, appearing like any other dead skeleton, waiting for my chance. One hour, two hours, on a few occasions the rats would come to the entrance attracted by the smell of the moss, but they were hesitant to enter knowing it was a dead end. 'Are the rats too cautious..?'
These rats were bigger than mice, but smaller than puppies. They wouldn't be hard to kill if they came within reach of my dagger, but therein lay the difficulty. Exercising patience, I remained motionless playing the part of the dead skeleton.
'Finally it's coming'
But there was a problem, four of them were approaching at the same time. Perhaps emboldened by their safety in numbers, they approached the moss cautiously. I stealthily readied my hand holding the dagger.
'Wait, I don't have muscles so how can I move?' Just as the rats were nearing, my mind was filled with unnecessary thoughts. Still approaching carefully, the lead rat came before me and began to sniff me, maybe I smelled of moss or perhaps they were just ensuring their safety. I planned to catch as many as possible so I stayed motionless like a dead skeleton.
Squeak! Squeak!
The rats talked among themselves, confirming it was safe, the other three also rushed towards the moss.
Rattle!
The moment I had been waiting for finally arrived. I stabbed the closest rat with my dagger and threw the shield in my left hand to pin down the other three. Although I had been quick, the rats' reaction speed was beyond my expectation. I had caught one but the other three had nimbly sidestepped my shield.
[+11 experience points]
[Acquired knowledge of Grave Rodents]
The two messages appeared instantly before my eyes and I could see the status of the remaining three rats in the corner.
!!!
Status: Normal
Type: Grave Rodent
Rank: F-
Level: 2/5
HP: 7/7
MP: 1/1
Attack: 1
Defense: 1
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 1
* Unique Skills
N/A
!!!