"These damn rats again!" grumbled the old man as he smashed the head of a rat trying to steal meat from his storage.
He tossed the dead rat into the trash can, wiped his hands, and stepped outside. Three black cats were lounging on his doorstep, lazily grooming themselves. The moment he tried to pick them up, they hissed in protest.
"Pests have been unusually active lately. I wonder what's stirring them up…" He clicked his tongue and shook his head, adjusting the cats in his arms.
Behind the storage area was a small hole, just wide enough for a child to squeeze through. Darkness pooled inside, and the stench of feces wafted out, making him grimace. He pinched his nose and nudged the cats toward it.
"You three are worth one hundred Echoes. Time to earn it. Get to work!"
That hole had been there since the day he bought the shop. He'd often considered sealing it, but the previous owner had warned him against it. According to the old man, some kind of creature lived down there. It brought an awful smell, yes—but also luck. The hole, he'd said, was its passage in and out.
"Seal it up," the old owner had warned, "and you'll curse yourself with misfortune for the rest of your days."
The old man sighed, set the area back in order, and returned to his work. The rhythmic sound of his knife chopping meat filled the dimly lit room, the red light overhead casting long shadows across the walls.
Unseen by him, a pair of glowing green eyes emerged from the darkness, watching silently from behind the hanging slabs of meat.
...
In the pitch-black hole leading to the sewers, the cats darted forward, hissing as a cacophony of countless scuttling feet echoed behind them through the darkness. The eerie grind of tiny teeth mingled with the cats' snarls, reverberating through the narrow, damp tunnels.
"Why?"
A voice broke through the din, quiet yet heavy with frustration.
From the shadows, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared, trailing the swarm of rats. The figure halted abruptly, staring down at the murky water pooling along the sewer walls.
"Why am I a rat? Why me? A rat?! What the heck!"
The rat, once a man named Light, shook his head in disbelief. Of all the things he could have been reincarnated as, this was the cruelest joke. A goblin? That would've been tolerable. A dog? He could've managed. Even waking up as a woman wouldn't have been so bad. But a rat? No way.
Even if you gave him a trillion dollars, he wouldn't choose this, no matter what.
As far as he could remember, he hadn't done anything terrible enough to deserve divine punishment. He'd been a decent guy—or at least, he thought so.
"My life… my precious life… I didn't even get a girlfriend yet!"
Light collapsed onto the grimy sewer floor, his tiny claws scraping against the slimy surface. Hopelessness gripped him. How was he supposed to live like this? He was just a rat, scurrying through a filthy sewer.
He sighed deeply, but instantly regretted it, gagging as the stench seared his nostrils.
"What am I even supposed to do now? Should I… just end it?" he muttered, gazing up at the damp ceiling with lifeless eyes. "If I die again, will I get another chance? Or is this it?"
After a long moment of silence, Light made a decision: he would end it. There was no motivation to live like this. What could he possibly achieve in this body? Eat garbage? Nibble cheese in some dark corner? It was a pitiful existence.
But just as he was about to close his eyes and leap into the murky water, a glowing light began to form in the darkness. A moment later, glowing text materialized like a holographic screen.
[Congratulations!]
[You have become the first-ever Ratkin to exist in this world.
I am the System that will guide you from now on.
Note: I am not a sentient being, so please refrain from talking to me. I am simply designed to assist you in achieving your goals.
The System currently has three main functions available:
1. Energy Source: The System can gather Energy from various sources such as artifacts, items, gems, stones, corpses, and more. This Energy can be used to buy and upgrade buildings, among other things.
2. Buildings and Units: The System can create structures to train Ratkin in various professions such as Ratkin Warrior, Ratkin Warlock, Ratkin Thinker, and more.
Note: Buildings and units consume Energy.
3. Condense: Energy can be condensed into Energy Cores, which can be used for magic, technology, and other applications.
Important Notes:
- Buildings are usable only by Ratkin.
- By birthing more Ratkin, you can grow a powerful army and establish a stronghold.
- There are also many hidden functions within the System. The user must explore them independently, as they can only be unlocked under certain conditions.
If you have any questions, click below:
(More Information)]
Light bolted upright, staring at the glowing words in disbelief and amazement. This felt like something straight out of a novel or manga. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he'd end up in one himself.
The sudden appearance of the system gave him just enough motivation to reconsider ending it all. With a swipe of his tiny paw, he opened the holographic screen and clicked on the (More Information) option.
His first question was obvious: Would he keep the system if he died again? Would he be reincarnated as a new race? Maybe reincarnation would offer something better—a dragon, perhaps, or even a god?
But the answers dashed his hopes. If he died again, the system explained, he would enter the normal reincarnation cycle. He'd lose all memories of his past life and receive no special abilities or systems in his next.
Light let out a long sigh, his whiskers twitching with frustration.
"...Alright. I guess living as a rat isn't that bad. Maybe I'm just being overly dramatic," he muttered, trying to convince himself.
Despite his words, he knew he couldn't lie to himself. He had once been human. How was he supposed to live like this? Eating trash? Scavenging for scraps? The thought made him shudder.
For now, he resolved to endure. If nothing else, he needed to figure out where he was and what kind of world he had ended up in before making any drastic decisions.
Just as he started to plan his next move, his body suddenly began to twitch uncontrollably.
[Undergoing Evolution… (1%)]
A sudden, excruciating pain surged through Light's body, robbing him of even the ability to scream. His eyes widened in terror as his limbs convulsed violently. The pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced, like his skin was being torn off and his organs twisted to the brink of rupture.
'It hurts… Damn it!'
Light's mind reeled from the agony.
His body was evolving. Slowly but surely, he began to grow. Coarse hair burst from his skin in uneven patches, accompanied by the sickening crack of bones rearranging and stretching. His limbs lengthened, muscles bulging and contorting as they adapted to the changes.
In the dark tunnels, every rat froze, as if sensing something. One by one, they turned their heads toward the direction where Light was undergoing his transformation.
[(99%)]
Light had no idea how much time had passed. He lay sprawled on the cold ground, utterly exhausted, his mind barely clinging to consciousness. Every fiber of his body felt shredded. He couldn't move. His limbs were numb, too drained to respond, and each breath came shallow and ragged.
Eventually, the pain began to fade, leaving behind only a lingering ache—a cruel reminder of what he had just endured.
"Damn it! At least warn me before pulling something like that!"
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay calm as he wiped sweat from his fur-covered forehead.
"I feel like crap…" he muttered, shaking his head weakly.
After a moment, he managed to sit up, his muscles trembling from the strain. A faint glow appeared at the edge of his vision—a status screen. Curious, he reached out and tapped it, revealing his profile.
[Name: Light
Race: Progenitor of Ratkin
Title: The First Ratkin, The Ancestor of Ratkin
Rank: Rank 1 (1/100%)
Class: (none)
Energy: 0
Skills & Abilities:
- Night Vision (Evolved)
- Extendable Claws
- Battle Instinct
- Plague Body
- Giant Strength
- King Aura
Ratkin (Population): 1
Buildings: 0]
Next to the stats was an image of his new form: a towering humanoid rat with glowing purple eyes, razor-sharp white teeth, and sleek, snow-white fur. The creature looked both intimidating and, strangely, regal.
"This is… me?" Light murmured, staring at the screen in disbelief. His gaze lingered on the polished fur and the commanding aura radiating from his reflection.
"Why do I look… so handsome? And kind of… charming?" he muttered, his rat-like features twisting in bewilderment.
Even as the thought unsettled him, a faint glimmer of pride shone in his eyes.
His attention shifted to his abilities. As the ancestor of all Ratkin, it made sense that he would be granted such powerful traits. With a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, Light dismissed the screen and stood up.
Now towering over the ordinary rats by at least a hundredfold, he was a giant among them.
The sewers echoed with the sound of frantic scurrying. All around him, rats darted back and forth, their beady eyes flickering in the gloom. From his elevated perch, Light spotted a commotion up ahead—a cluster of rats locked in battle with three pitch-black cats that had wandered into their territory.
He stretched his newly evolved limbs, and a series of satisfying cracks echoed from his joints. But his moment of relief was short-lived; his stomach growled viciously, a reminder of the toll evolution had taken. He was starving.
He grimaced and glanced toward the cats. "I don't want to eat cats, but…" His stomach growled again, louder this time. He didn't have much of a choice.
To the starving rats, the cats weren't intruders—they were food, another source of desperately needed sustenance.
The cats moved like shadows, nearly invisible in the darkness, their black fur blending perfectly with the sewer walls. But Light's evolved night vision allowed him to see them. The other rats had adapted too, but they couldn't match the cats' speed, precision, or feral cunning.
"Alright, let's get this over with," Light muttered, steeling himself.
He dashed into the chaos, shouldering his way through the swarm of rodents until he reached the center of the clash. In one fluid motion, he lashed out with a powerful kick, sending one of the cats tumbling across the stone floor.
"Meow!"
A system notification blinked before him:
[Based on your level, you can now view the status of enemies.]
[Black Ferlin
Gender: Male
Race: Cat
Rank: Unranked
Energy: 1]
"Unranked, huh? Shouldn't be too hard..." Light clenched his fists, sizing up the cats.
The system had embedded knowledge directly into his mind after his evolution—rank and class determined strength, and even a single rank difference could mean a world of disparity.
"Sorry, cat…"
With that, Light's claws extended, sharp and gleaming. His body moved instinctively, merging into the shadows. In an instant, he appeared behind one of the cats, driving his claws deep into its body before flinging the lifeless form at another.
His movements were fluid, precise, and unnervingly silent. It felt natural, as if he had fought like this all his life. The Battle Instinct skill, passive by nature, seemed to guide him effortlessly, shaping a combat style that was swift, calculated, and deadly, almost like that of a seasoned assassin.
The final cat's wide eyes gleamed with terror as it watched its companions fall. It turned to flee, bolting toward the nearest shadowed tunnel. But before it could escape, its head was already separated from its body, rolling to a silent stop across the wet stone floor.
"M-meow…"
[You have gained +3 Energy.]
Light stood amidst the carnage, panting slightly. His first real battle had gone far better than expected. Relief swept over him, chased quickly by an odd, unexpected sense of satisfaction.
"Beating a cat feels... kinda good," he muttered, then immediately cringed. "No, wait... that sounds terrible."