They pushed deeper beneath the blanketed shadows of the trees, Ricky

  once again darting through the brush, a tiny vanguard, Mud pulled up

  his glowing stats screen.

  The level had

  granted him five new points to distribute among his six primary

  attributes. He didn’t think too long on the process his plan was

  simple, intelligence and stamina.

  Intelligence seemed

  to be a given, it expanded his mana pool, ensuring he could

  eventually use far higher tier summons, while simultaneously boosting

  his elemental potency. As for Stamina… he could feel the reason for

  that screaming its way through his exhausted limbs.

  He carefully

  adjusted the sliders, taking one final look at his updated profile

  before committing.

  [Mud (Level 2)]

  [Strength] 11

   [Constitution]

  18

   [Intelligence]

  26

   [Agility] 7

   [Speed] 8

   [Stamina] 10

  Satisfied, he tapped accept.

  The effect was instantaneous. A warm, electric tingle jolted through

  the entirety of his body. Legs that had moments ago felt dead and

  wooden came back to some form of life, and his mana bar grew by

  twenty points.

  “Wow, stat poi...”

  Mud was cut off as Ricky came screaming back through the

  undergrowth. The rat scrambled up his torso with practiced ease, a

  habit he was beginning to find both endearing and painful, and he

  promptly nipped Mud hard on the earlobe.

  “Ouch! Dammit, Ricky!” Mud hissed, clapping a pudgy hand over

  his now stinging ear. “What was that for?”

  The rat ignored his protests entirely, his whiskers twitching with

  anxious energy as he chittered a rapid-fire warning.

  “I think hes found something,” Mud said, eyeing the rat, who

  looked back with a smug, satisfied expression.

  Layhla nodded, dropping into a feline, predatory crouch.

  “Hold on. I have a new skill I want to try out.” Mud felt an

  unusual surge of confidence. He plucked Ricky from his shoulder and

  gently set him back on the mossy floor. “Can you watch my back for

  a second? I’m going to be temporarily out of commission”

  “Out of commission?” Layhla paused, her brow furrowed in

  confusion. “What are you…”

  Mud didn’t wait to explain. He pulled up his menu and selected

  [Eagle Eyes], locking the target on his small furry

  friend.

  The sensation was slightly terrifying. It felt like the

  moment of his death against the boar, his soul seemed to shatter,

  fragmenting into a thousand shards of light as he was ripped from his

  own skin. For a heartbeat, he was a ghost, viewing the world as an

  invisible blur in the canopy, looking down at his own slumped shell

  and Layhla’s perturbed face.

  Then, the world accelerated. He was sucked downward, a cosmic weight

  slamming his consciousness into Ricky’s tiny, compact form.

  The world of a rat was nothing like he had expected.

  The world became a streaking blur of emerald and earth. At this

  height, the weeds and ferns transformed into a towering canopy of

  their own, a forest within a forest, looming like ancient oaks over

  his nimble, compact form. His vision sharpened, suddenly he was

  seeing movements and textures he would have missed in his human body.

  It was his nose that truly shocked him, though, The air was no longer

  just ‘air’, it was a chaotic, overlapping tapestry of scents that

  nearly overwhelmed his senses.

  He wasn’t directly controlling Ricky. It felt more like riding

  along behind his eyes, a passenger in an energetic, furry mind. Yet,

  there was a tether, A quiet, wordless line of communication that

  allowed him to nudge the rat toward whatever caught his interest.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  , Mud thought, and Ricky obeyed.

  The rat took him toward the source of his distress, and the distance

  was shorter than Mud had anticipated.

  The dense forest broke abruptly, opening into a small, deceptively

  peaceful clearing centered around a sun-dappled pond. Near the

  water’s edge, four Imps were huddled together. They looked both

  ridiculous and dangerous at the same time, their gangly, stick-thin

  arms plunging into the water as they attempted to nab the passing

  fish.

  Mud warned Ricky to stay out of the open area. He guided the rat in

  a slow, silent circuit of the clearing’s perimeter, keeping to the

  thickest underbrush. A plan forming in his mind as he tried to burn

  every detail of the clearing to his memory.

  Satisfied, Mud severed the connection. The transition was violent;

  his soul was yanked backward as if fired through a cannon, his

  consciousness screaming across the forest floor until it slammed back

  into his own heavy, sweaty body.

  For a moment, the world felt awkward and slow. Mud’s soul

  struggled to re-calibrate, the transition from Ricky’s agility to

  his own massive frame felt like being plunged into a pool of tar. He

  ran his fingers through a set of simple stretches to make sure

  everything was working properly before gingerly hauling himself to

  his feet.

  “Four Imps. There’s a clearing just ahead,” he said, his voice

  raspy.

  Layhla was sitting nearby, her back against a tree in a state of

  tense relaxation. Her short sword was already drawn, resting across

  her lap like a coiled snake.

  “Should be simple enough,” she said, with her usual air of

  self-confidence. “Well, let’s get it done, then.”

  Mud nodded. With a silent thank you to Ricky who had served him so

  well, he dismissed the little rat and brought out Sludge. As the

  translucent, gray mass materialized on the forest floor, Layhla’s

  face twisted in a look of pure disgust.

  “Why can’t we just stick with the rodent?” she muttered,

  glaring at the pulsating goo. “At least he’s been somewhat useful

  so far.”

  “Hey… Sludge has feelings, too.” Mud stepped over and patted

  the top of the slime’s head. The contact made a disgusting, wet

  plop that echoed through the quiet woods. “He gets offended easily…

  I think.”

  He didn’t sound particularly convincing, even to himself.

  Layhla grunted, her jaw tightening as if she were fighting the urge

  to actually smile at the absurdity. She looked from the slime to Mud,

  waiting.

  “So, um,” Mud said, clearing his throat and straightening his

  clothing. “I have a plan. And if we play it right, this fight

  should be quick and painless.”

  ***

  Taking a deep, shaky breath, Mud stepped out from the safety of the

  trees. He walked alone into the center of the clearing, the sound of

  his heartbeat hammering in his ears. Near the pond, the four Imps

  were still huddled together, unsuccessfully flailing at the water and

  occasionally smacking one another in a frantic struggle to claim what

  they considered the best fishing spot.

  “Excuse me,” Mud called out, his voice wavering. “I’m going

  to need you guys to take a quick break. I’ve been trying to reach

  you about your car’s extended warranty.”

  The effect was instantaneous. All four Imps jumped, their gangly

  bodies snapping to attention as four sets of beady, hateful eyes

  locked onto him. The one in front, apparently the leader, cackled, a

  high pitched grating sound that made Mud’s skin crawl. He gestured

  excitedly toward Mud, his sharp teeth bared.

  “Food!” The creature laughed, his spindly arms waving. “Big

  food! Many a meats!”

  “What the hell did I get myself into?” Mud mumbled to himself,

  his stomach rolling. The Imps began to stalk toward him, their mouths

  watering at the prospect of the grand feast he represented.

  Gradually, their pace increased. They broke into a sloppy,

  disjointed run, a blur of spindly limbs and bobbing heads.

  Suddenly, they just stopped.

  It was as if they had run dead into an invisible wall. Their feet

  stayed rooted to the earth while their momentum carried the rest of

  their bodies forward, nearly sending them face first into the dirt.

  They hissed in confusion, tugging at their legs, only to find the

  ground beneath them had turned into a thick, murky sheet of

  translucent gray.

  “You know,” Mud said, a small, sly smile ghosting across his

  face as he watched them struggle against the rubbery, suffocating

  grip. “It’s incredibly rude to stand on a man’s backpack.

  you’re going to get it all dirty.”

  Mud raised a single finger, pointing it directly at the trapped

  monsters, and pulled an invisible trigger.

  From the treeline, Layhla exploded. Every muscle in her frame worked

  in perfect, lethal tandem to propel her across the clearing like a

  discharged bullet. She was a blur of steel and motion, closing the

  gap before the Imps could even process the shift in the air.

  Her blade sheared through the first Imp, traveling from waist to

  shoulder in one clean arc. She didn’t slow down; she simply shoved

  the bifurcated torso aside and let her sword dart forward, a striking

  viper. It pierced the throat of the second creature, a spray of blood

  painting the terrified faces of the remaining monsters.

  “No! No! We big sorry!” the leader shrieked, his spindly legs

  flailing against Sludge’s rubbery grip. His apology was cut short

  as his head simply vanished in a fountain of gore.

  The final Imp didn’t even try to fight. It just collapsed into the

  slime wailing in terror as Layhla’s sword leveled off, aimed

  directly for its chest.

  “Layhla, wait!” Mud shouted, his voice urgent.

  His fingers flew across his HUD, his eyes scanning the bestiary

  entry he had ripped open in a panic.

  [Forest Imp] Type:Forest Dweller. Behavior:

  possesses a deep, innate

  attunement to the forest they inhabit. Danger Level:Low.

  Capture Requirement: Forge a pact.

  Layhla froze, her blade

  resting lightly against the final Imp’s chest. She glared at Mud in

  confusion, but she didn’t finish the stroke. She just waited.

  Mud didn’t go for the survivor first. He moved to the fallen

  leader, his heart racing as he opened the loot window. The underlings

  had yielded nothing but gold, but the leader’s inventory shimmered

  with two very distinct icons: [Staff of Embers][Heart

  of the forest]

  He claimed the staff first. As his fingers closed around the

  weathered wood, he felt an immediate, strange hum and a searing

  warmth that seemed to radiate from the grain itself.

   [New

  Skill Unlocked: Fire Bolt]

   [Sludge

  has reached Level 2!]

  “The

  leader has the core you were looking for,” Mud said, “I’ll let

  you loot it, but can I deal with the last one?”

  She shrugged and sheathed her sword in one fluid motion, leaving the

  survivor pinned and helpless in Sludge’s rubbery grip.

  “Do you want to live?” Mud asked, looming over the ugly little

  creature.

  “Oh, yes yes!” The Imp tried to nod, but it’s head was stuck

  in the slime. “Me want to live big time. Very big!”

  “I’ll make a deal with you, then.” Mud reached into his pack

  and pulled out a fresh cheese biscuit. He broke off a piece, the

  aroma of cheddar and warm dough wafted through the clearing, and held

  it to the Imp’s mouth. “If you join me, I’ll keep you fed with

  food like this. And, more importantly, you won’t end up like your

  friends over there.”

  The Imp’s eyes darted to the headless corpse of its leader. It let

  out a shaky, rattling breath. “You a big, tough deal-maker guy,”

  the creature whispered, its spindly frame trembling. “Me thinks…

  okay.”

  A blinding flash of light swallowed the clearing. When it faded, the

  Imp was gone.

  [New

  Summon Unlocked: Forest Imp (LV. 2)]

  Mud

  turned back toward Layhla, his face split by a triumphant grin, but

  the smile died instantly. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

  Looming over her was a massive owl, its form unnaturally large and

  draped in dark feathers. It stood over her like a titan, its piercing

  yellow eyes locked onto her. As it spread its wings, two enormous,

  circular patterns on the underside of its feathers seemed to pulse

  like hypnotic eyes.

  Layhla stood transfixed, her gaze glassy and vacant. Slowly, her

  head drooped, and her knees buckled as she collapsed silently into

  the long grass of the clearing.