Lazarus crept towards the corners of the cave. He was hoping to find a rat that was both alone and defenseless. It took him a while, but he managed to find one that was asleep in a small alcove near the ceiling of the cave.

He slowly sneaked towards the rat trying not to wake it. As soon as he neared it, he smashed down at it with interlocking fists. He killed it cleanly, but unfortunately he made a lot of noise. With a sinking feeling of dread, he turned to find furious red eyes glaring at him from around the tunnel.

Lazarus backed away as the rats advanced as a horde towards him. The cave rats latched onto him and started biting. He tried grabbing a rat and throwing it off, but the rat came back and continued to take chunks out of him. He remembered unlocking a skill called Ruin that was supposed to have a decay effect. He tried to use it on one of the rats he threw off and it didn't come back. Encouraged, Lazarus continued to use the skill. He developed a headache that got much worse, but he didn't stop until he had no more rats on him. He looked at the rats that were lying still on the floor and noticed that sections around their middles were rotting. He guessed that the decay effect must spread from his touch. Lazarus, cringing at the splattered gore, proceeded to go around to the 20 rats and stomp on their heads.

Lazarus knew that in a world like this one. He’d have to become used to blood and gore. Speaking of blood and gore, he looked down at himself and noticed that despite the torn work out shirt and sweatpants he had no injuries. Looking closer he realized that there was scar tissue that was very slowly healing. He tried to activate Restoration and he watched as the scar tissue quickly disappeared. He felt a wave of euphoria flow through him, calming down his mind and soothing his body. He moved on to check his notifications from the battle.

Lazarus Gallows Health 186/260 1% per min Survivor 9 Mana 23/110 Class 2 Stamina 222/260 490 lbs 6'5" Stats* Resistances* Titles Perks* Skills*

Lazarus seemed to have gained much in that short battle. He gained 8 levels. He guessed that leveling up in this world was no easy feat if 20 level 25 Cave rats didn't get him more levels. He was glad that notifications didn't go off in battle like many other games he'd played or it would have broken him out of his focus. He first went to check his available stats.

*80 available stats* Strength 29 Intelligence 11 Constitution 30 Willpower 20 Endurance 26 Luck 49 Dexterity 19 Charisma 14

Lazarus chose to distribute stats according to possible perksand his strengths. He distributed 24 Endurance, 20 Constitution, 10 Strength, 6 Dexterity, 14 Intelligence, 5 Willpower, and 1 Luck. This led to his stats looking like this.

Strength 39 Intelligence 25 Constitution 50 Willpower 25 Endurance 50 Luck 50 Dexterity 25 Charisma 14

Lazarus hoped that 50 in each stat was the next perk unlock point and when he opened the perk menu, he was correct.

You’ve unlocked(Choose 3):

Forceful(Strength over 25)- Grants General Skill: Musculature

Resistant(Constitution over 50)- Gain and level Resistances 100% faster

Vigorous(Endurance over 25)- Grants General Skill: Vigor

Unflagging(Endurance over 50)- Recover Health and stamina 200% faster

Nimble(Dexterity over 25)- Grants General Skill: Acrobatics

Smart(Intelligence over 25)- Grants General Skill: Learning

Stubborn(Willpower over 25)- Grants General Skill: Meditation

Baffling(Luck over 25)- Grants General Skill: Daredevil

Rigged(Luck over 50)- Doubles chance of fortunate encounters

Lazarus chose Rigged, Resistant, and Unflagging. He made his pick based off of immediate survival. He knew that some of the skills might be good, but the chance to directly increase his combat power in these uncertain tunnels was something he couldn't do without and as much as he hated it, he knew that luck was integral to him keeping his life. He checked his status.

Lazarus Gallows Health 500/500 3% Survivor 9 Mana 250/250 1% Class 2 Stamina 500/500 3% 690 lbs 6'6" Stats Resistances* Titles Perks Skills*

Based off of his height and weight, when he left his screens he'd be experiencing some serious pain. Seeing that he had to check his resistances and skills first he tried to open both simultaneously. It worked.

Resistances Pain Tier 1 Level 2 Survivor Class Skills Active Passive Ruin Tier 1: Level 3 Survivor's Body Tier 1: Level 2 Restoration Tier 1: Level 2 The Art Of Survival Tier 1: Level 2 Survivor's Stand Tier 1: Level 2 General Skills Identify Tier 1: Level 1 Ascetic Tier 1: Level 1

Lazarus wondered when he'd ended up using Survivor's Stand. If he thought back to the fight he distinctly remembered the bites prior to his initial resistance to be far more painful than directly after when he began fighting back instead. Even if he'd unconsiously activated it, it didn't explain The Art Of Survival. Survivor's Body he could understand because it was basically him regenerating. For the first time he wondered what the hell the art of survival is. Is it a set of moves? If so then he didn't know them. He pondered and eventually he realized that the art of survival wasn't any fancy martial art, but his instincts to stay alive. During the battle, he'd activated Ruin based off of instinct. Essentially, the higher he got that skill the more accurate his instincts would become along with the higher the damage bonus would be. With that thought he finalized his status.

Instantly, burning pain came as his body went snap, crackle, pop. Lazarus gritted his teeth until they broke. His body hardened and then cracked as he grew. He instinctually activated Restoration. Instantly, a soothing warmth broke through his pain induced haze. His body settling into recognizeable form again. He exhaled and coughed a glob of black blood. Now that he was settled into his new skin. He tried to look at this new form. As he glanced down at himself he realized that he was indeed a little taller than before. He stomped and his foot made a large dent in the rocky floor. Grinning at his new found power and ready to face the world, He set out from his alcove.

Lazarus chose his course towards the incline of the tunnel. He was hoping to reach the surface and find civilization. On his way up the incline, he encountered numerous Cave Rats. He punched them, activating Ruin simultaneously. The rats landed off to the sides of the tunnel, slowly rotting away from the death mana spreading through their bodies. As Lazaeus passed through he noticed that the incline was getting steeper. Excited that he was close to the surface, he rushed through the rats, knocking them aside as he stormed through the tunnels.

Lazarus came upon the entrance to the tunnel. It opened up to a pine forest. The trees towered up into the sky. The ground was full of underbrush and had a variety of wildlife milling about. He even saw a squirrel up in the treetops. However, before he entered in the unknown he caught up to his notifications.

He had leveled up once and distributed all ten points to Strength, leaving him with 49 Strength. The points were distributed and he went on to check the new skill that had appeared with his new level.

Unlocked Class Skill:

Passive: Awareness- Know yourself and your surroundings up to 1 meter. Improves with skill level.

Once he became aware of this skill, his perception suddenly opened up. He could see his heart beating inside him. He saw blood rushing through vessels. Lazarus even saw the maggots living in the dirt up to a meter below him. It was very disconcerting because it wasn't necessary to focus on things, he just knew what was there? After several minutes getting accustomed to his new skill. He prepared to leave his cave. He finalized his stats and watched in complete fascination and a little pain as he visibly watched his shoulders expand and his hands get a little larger. It wasn't as noticeable as previous changes due to his increased stats, but it was more than years at the gym had got him.

Lazarus finally stepped out of the cave and into his new world.