I had a brief mental debate on if I should go into the basement yet or not. Ash was outside, and Floof was with her, so I’d likely hear if anything approached. On top of that, it was the middle of the day.

  It wasn’t a sure thing that monsters wouldn’t attack in daylight, and it would do nothing to the invading forces on the planet, or at least most of them. The reality was that the majority of the scariest things prowled at night, not because they were scared of the sun, but because darkness provided cover.

  That wasn't universal, of course. There were plenty of creatures weakened by sunlight. And there could even be a few already on the planet.

  Hell, that would almost be a best-case scenario if any of the invading forces were hurt by sunlight in any way. This planet had enough myths about vampires that if they were one of the groups attacking, almost any Human already knew how to fight them off. It might even be a bloodbath in our favor.

  Finally, my refusal to leave anyone behind pushed me to open the door and take the first step onto the dark stairway. If there were anyone still alive in the basement, I needed to get down there now, my hatred of rats be damned.

  “Norm, it’s Adam! Are you down there?” I called again, not expecting an answer. The rats already knew I was here, so I lost nothing by trying.

  Focusing slightly on the energy in the sword, I caused it to flare out from the mana orbs. It wasn’t nearly as bright as a flashlight, but it did give me some light. And that was enough to show me the floor of the basement was now alive.

  These were not rats from Earth. That much was clear. For one thing, they were dark black, and far too big for anything that would be this far away from sewers. For another, they were growling, and I had never heard a normal rat growl.

  The floor moved as one mass, starting to ascend the stairs. At the same time, a gnawing sound told me they had gone to work on the supports. They wanted a fight.

  I was willing to give it to them, despite knowing I was about to wade into a swarm of biting teeth and scratching claws. The thought sent a shiver down my spine, making me wish I had access to some of the more powerful mana orbs in the sword.

  As good as I was with the runic blade, a sword just wasn’t a fireball.

  I lowered my body and swung in a flat line, cutting into the mass of rats and hitting as many as possible, even as the staircase started to wobble violently. Just how sharp were their damn teeth? They worked fast.

  Several of the creatures were knocked into the air from the force of my swing, and with that even more differences from normal rats became apparent. They had six legs each, there were scales on their undersides, and their tails seemed to intertwine with each other.

  At least that last part meant it would be easier to handle them as a group. The little comfort which that thought had brought was quickly removed as the staircase toppled over. I swung one last time mid-fall, killing several of the monsters before the hard crash onto the cement below.

  I twisted, making sure my shoulder hit first, absorbing most of the force of the fall. Nothing in it cracked, as far as I could tell. That small favor was repaid by the universe covering me in the rats the moment they realized I was prone.

  Pulling in a burst of mana from the sword, I threw myself from the ground back up to my feet. My muscles burned from the mana overload. I had drawn too much, too fast for my current levels, but being covered in vermin was just one of those things that drove a primal terror into me.

  Luckily, I responded to fear with fight and not flight. This hadn’t always been the case, but I had a very long life behind me of learning that the second option rarely worked out for the better.

  I kicked the rats off my legs as they tried climbing me, swinging my sword over and over as I did so. More rats died from their bodies crashing into the walls with loud crunching sounds than were cut by my actual swings.

  But that mattered little. The important part was that, slowly, the number of rats in the room started to dwindle.

  By the time it was over, I wasn’t sure my jeans counted as ‘pants’ anymore. I was bleeding from dozens of small punctures where the monsters had managed to bite through my clothing. Worse yet, between the spiders, slugs, and rats, I was covered in enough monster remains to fill an alchemist’s workshop. Dangerous or not, a dip in that new river was in my immediate future.

  I took a quick peek at the System notification before looking around the basement.

  __________

  Enemy Defeated

  Reptilian Ratking Spawn [2 Experience]

  The Reptilian Ratking Spawn is the result of an egg-hatching event. They quickly swarm together with all of their newborn siblings, spreading out into the world, capturing everything they find for their progenitor. The swarm has little in the way of survival skills, and will constantly thin itself until only the strongest survive. Those survivors will begin to grow rapidly into true Reptilian Rats, spreading the territory of their Reptilian Ratking and, in turn, increasing the dominion of the Reptilian Ratgod.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  Further Information Locked.

  __________

  Somehow, I had killed enough rats for another two levels. With how much my body still hurt from the mana draw earlier, it was time to stop sitting on some of those attribute points. I’d keep five in reserve for now, in case I needed to rapidly apply them for a class choice. But everything past that I’d start investing.

  I moved Spirit up to five in order to better deal with any mana burns or backlashes. The sword would still be far more powerful than I was for a while, but this would mitigate some of the pain involved with drawing on it. Strength got three points, Perception got two. Constitution got the last ten to make sure Ash continued to get the full benefit from Gift of Growth, and to leave some extra for myself.

  Immediately, I both regretted and became thankful for boosting Perception. In the corner of the basement was a small, magical tear in the world. I audibly sighed as I looked at it.

  The good news was that I likely knew where our neighbors were. The bad news was that I had just found our first dungeon.

  It wasn’t something I was ready to fight my way through yet. Instead, I pulled in a bit more mana from the sword, and used that to power my jump, going from the ground to the ledge of the door that used to be the top of a staircase. Pulling myself up, I quickly made my way out of the house back to Ash.

  She looked at me and immediately took two steps backward. “Dad, what the hell happened? I got more of the level notifications.”

  “Vermin infestation. Did you put everything into constitution?” I wasn’t worried that she hadn’t, but I thought it best to make sure. Any fears about me could have distracted her.

  “I did. Did you find Norm?” There was more to the question that she left unsaid.

  “Yes and no. He’s alive. There was a dungeon entrance in the basement. It’s probably connected to all the houses nearby. Time tends to flow a bit strangely between the outside and inside of them, so I suspect all of our neighbors are still alive inside,” I explained.

  For whatever reason, time usually flowed more slowly in a dungeon. Since they were created by the System as a way to push people on integrated worlds to new heights, it made some sense. They needed bait for people to be willing to come inside after all.

  Well, at least they did for the sane ones. There were a surprising number of people out there in the multiverse who were willing to train for the sake of training. Some of these people were powerful beyond what could easily be conceived, the rest of them, the majority who tried that path, just wound up dead.

  “What does that mean? Are we going to get them? We can’t just leave them in there dad!” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me while she spoke. Did she really think I was going to leave them behind?

  “Of course we are going to save them. But that’s the thing. I actually mean we this time. But we aren’t ready for it yet either. That’s where time being slower in there is going to work to our favor. They should be safe, for another week or two at a minimum. We aren’t going to wait that long, though. I want them rescued before the first world rankings come out,” I answered.

  Her stare lessened, but the look of confusion on her face had grown. I hadn’t mentioned the ranks to her before, and I wasn’t sure now was the time to explain either.

  Before she could open her mouth, I continued. “I’ll explain everything that is likely going to happen to us over the next month, as soon as we find a place to bunker down for the rest of the day. I want to get some sleep before everything gets worse, and I want us in something with four walls and no dungeon before I do that. But first, we are raiding our house for some supplies.”

  “Is our house even safe? You just said everything was full of vermin.” Her look of confusion had stayed firmly affixed to her face.

  “We don’t have a basement. Plus, we weren’t home when the dungeon started growing. I doubt there are any of them inside. But no, that doesn’t mean it’s safe at all. Still, I want a change of clothes and to grab some food. I’m gonna risk a quick jump in that new river before we find somewhere to rest,” I answered.

  What I didn’t say was that she needed to eat, and I knew we had plenty of prepackaged protein bars. We had always kept them on hand for when she just needed to eat something, but hated the idea of food. This was a common side effect of a lot of her treatments. And even if her constitution boost had brought the color back to her cheeks, it would only be a temporary fix, a stopgap until we found some true healing for her.

  “Dad, do you smell gas?” Ash asked as we neared our house.

  I did, and I knew exactly why. I had never turned the stove off when the spiders attacked. There was no way the gas lines had lasted long enough to fill the house to an explosive level had they? I had no idea how much that actually took.

  ‘I do, stay back by the street with Floof until I air this out a bit,” I said, worried. I really didn’t need a giant explosion drawing everything nearby to us. Hell, I didn’t need our house exploding, period.

  The first few days after they gained their class had passed in relative silence, compared to that horrible night, and the following day after the integration message. The brothers had continued their careful exploration of the village, gathering supplies and building up their small underground shelter. With only a few more scattered frogs, no real challenge had presented itself.

  The mystery of what had happened to the villagers continued, with neither of them speaking of it. Debates over what to do next continued. That lasted until a new message from that strange voice hit both of them one morning.

  __________

  Days remaining until global rankings are revealed: 1

  __________

  “The voice is back,” Adam said, his mouth going dry. He hated it. It was the reason the rest of their family was gone.

  “What do you think it means?” his brother asked, sounding just as nervous as Adam felt.

  “Is it some kind of game?” Had he lost his parents to a damned game?

  “I don’t know, but I think we need to make plans to move on from this village. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

  —Memories of Adam Miller before he found Earth