A/N: All dialogue from the system will now be put I brackets [].
After a few minutes, Zane gathered up his things and went through the door into the boss room. Inside the room was a man with the head of a rat or maybe it was a rat that looked like a man. The more he studied it, the more he realized that it was a large rat that was standing on two its hind legs and was wearing armor and holding a sword and shield.
The creature looked at him as he entered the room but there was no feralness in its eyes. It was studying him and Zane felt a little uncomfortable. All the other rats that he had met in this place were wild and feral, no intelligence to be seen. This one was obviously intelligent and was calmly observing him.
Zane returned the favor and studied his opponent. The sword it had at its waist was a short sword like his and the shield was a small round buckler. It was wearing a leather tunic, softer than what he was wearing. It also had a leather helmet on its head. It's tail slowly swished behind it. The text above its head said 'Ratman; Health 200/200'.
Zane was surprised at how many more hit points this Ratman had than any of the other rats. Of course, he never saw how many hit points the first boss had, but they couldn't have been much considering how fast he killed it.
The Ratman didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack him, so Zane carefully took off his pack, setting it on the ground without taking his eyes off his opponent. He then stood tall, his hands tightening on his weapons.
The Ratman's gaze became intense and its legs shifted underneath it as it settled into a fighting stance. It walked toward Zane at a steady pace.
Zane had to admit he was a little nervous. All of the rats before this one had been wild and attacked without hesitation, not analyzing their opponent. This Ratman had shown control and even honor. It had allowed him to prepare. This was an opponent he needed to take seriously.
He advanced with his shield and sword at the ready. Once they were a few feet apart, the Ratman struck, its sword shooting forward. Zane blocked the blade with his shield, angling the blade away from him. The Ratman turned, it's shield at the ready for any counter. It didn't stop its sword, allowing the momentum to swing around and up, chopping from above.
Zane deflected this strike and the next few. He finally struck back, stabbing low at the Ratman's abdomen. The Ratman blocked it. He then slashed up across the chest, his blade sliding off the Ratman's shield. He had to bring his shield to block a thrust from his opponent. He noticed that while this Ratman was faster than the other rats, it still was slow.
He set his feet and after blocking the next attack, he lunged forward, swinging his sword. The Ratman raised his shield and blocked the attack, but Zane was already attacking again, increasing the speed of his attacks. The rat managed to block two more attacks before Zane was able to thrust his sword into the shield arm of his opponent. The Ratman squealed and dropped his shield.
Zane didn't let up his attacks. The rat began to move backwards, trying to parry the attacks coming his way with his sword. Zane increased the speed of his attacks again and was able to knock the rat's sword aside and thrust his sword into his chest several times. He jumped backwards, holding his shield in front of him. He waited for the rat to follow, but it just stared at him until it crumpled to the floor.
Zane took a deep breath as he watched the +100 xp float above the dead body. Soon the body disappeared, leaving another Stone and a small pouch. The edge of his vision began to flash, indicating what he hoped was another level up.
He grabbed the two items off the ground and ran back to his backpack. He was hoping that there would be another fountain before the next floor of the dungeon. That would be a much better place to look over his gains.
He quickly went down the stairs and found that the next room was indeed a fountain room. He went over by the fountain, the kitten jumping to get a drink. He sat down on the floor, retrieving his water bottle, and said "message."
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
"Stats."
Name: Zane Mangold
Age: 21
Race: Human
Class: Unassigned
Level: 4
Exp: 10/800
Strength: 41(+2)
Dexterity: 86(+2)
Intelligence: 46(+2)
Wisdom: 24(+2)
Constitution: 77(+2)
Health: 910/910
Mana: 485/485
Zane looked at his stats and thought about the fight. That Ratman had been faster and tougher than any other opponent he had met so far, but yet it didn't even present a challenge. He had been hopeful at the beginning of the encounter, but was proven wrong. These are supposed to be beginner level encounters. If he had started at a true level one, with the stats of everybody else of this world, these creatures would have been much harder to defeat. He felt like he was playing chess against a 10-Year-Old.
This left a bad taste in his mouth. He always enjoyed the challenge and didn't like games that let you breeze through everything. He had to admit that going through a game and being overpowered by the end was satisfying, but starting overpowered was boring.
Zane's sighed, reminding himself that he was here and this is the way it is. Stressing over the fact that everything was too easy so far wouldn't help him. He just had to remind himself not to get used to it, so that when an opponent that could match him showed up, he didn't get beaten down. He had to take each encounter seriously, as a mistake could literally cost him his life.
He pulled out the two rewards from his inventory. The pouch contained 20 of the penny coins that he already had. It puts that back into his inventory. He noticed a little counter that said 20 CP. The stone once again had the word crush carved into it. He crushed it and words appeared before him.
[Your weapon training skill has received a 25% increase.]
Awesome. "Skills."
Skills
Martial arts (basic) 4%, Weapon training (basic) 35%, Parkour (Intermediate) 2%, Cooking (basic) 1%, Monster Identification (basic) 3%, Life sense (basic) 2%, Summon Truck-Kun (Basic, restricted) 1%.
He was glad to see that his skills were going up. It didn't surprise him that his weapon training was now the highest, they'll receiving the extra percentage in his skill was a surprise.
He once again hoped that the next floor would be more of a challenge. He really wasn't enjoying this right now. He took a long drink from his water bottle and laid down on the floor, trying to relax. He felt the kitten jumped down onto his chest and settled down on its haunches. He began to stroke her fur with his hand and it began to purr.