As I sit on the floor next to a wall to me, I start thinking of happier times.

Wake up early in the morning when the birds start singing and the sun stings my eyes. With the help of the castle maids I get help with taking my morning bath and getting dressed. Then while I am still tired, it is time for breakfast together with mommy and daddy. And after breakfast I take school lessons until its time for lunch.

"Ahh~" I happily sigh while smiling with my eyes closed. Do not take me back to reality yet...

I spend several minutes in this blissful state until Carrot walks up to me and pokes my knees. What is it now I wonder? I open my eyes and see Carrot doing its usual tilting with its head.

"Carrot, what is it?" I ask my minion. Carrot then points at the rat corpse which has started to... Dissolve? Wait, my food! I desperately try to stand up but fall flat on my face and can only watch as the dead rat disappear into nothingness.

"D- Dammit!" I cry out in frustration. I then look at the charred stunted pig man corpse. It still looks intact... Well, beggars can't be choosers. Right? I clumsily climb up from the floor. Damn it. Sitting still for such a long time made me feel stiff!

Unsheathing my steel knife I look at the two legged pig. Where should I even start cutting in order to get the best bits? I move next to the corpse and sit down on my knees, and do not know where to even start.

"Think, think Biali!" I say feeling frustrated at my ineptness. This makes me wish I was born a hunter in this life! Calm down, and think logically! What do the cooks usually serve back home at the castle? Sure a lot of names with legs and flanks on them. Honey glazed wild hog leg in red wine sauce for example. Logically, I shall cut off a leg and take it with me!

With a gulp I grab the leg of the corpse with my left hand, and then firmly holds my knife with my right hand. Just remember what Arbri said Biali... Then I start sawing off the leg with my knife. Disgusting sounds are made as it cuts through muscle, cartilage and finally the snapping of bone as I force the knife through the leg.

"Eww. Eww!" I whine to myself as the leg separates from the corpse. Blood can be seen slowly flowing out of its now exposed blood vessels. I think I will drain it before I let Carrot carry it. Do not want to permanently stain my plushie minion with blood.

Butchery Lv. 1 skill acquired.

Effect: Each level allows for more butchery products to be acquired from a corpse.

"Almost more gross than caving in heads!" I continue complaining as I hold the now severed leg upside down. After a little while the blood stopped flowing out, and I cleaned off the remaining blood before handing it over to Carrot.

As for that piggy I saw running away squealing earlier? I hope it didn't run to get help. Speaking of which, I need to get moving! I quickly sheathe my now bloodied knife and start sneaking away with Carrot from the three way junction. I do not plan to follow after that pig man, because that detour will not be helpful at all in getting out.

Carrot and me now skulk along the wall in the hallway. Far behind me do I hear the sounds of grunting and squealing echoing again. Looks like the friends it brought along lost interest in chasing us there. Just stay there and do not bother me...

Eventually the racket dies down as we come to the entrance of a bigger room. What I can see when I peek out from the door frame is that room is oval shaped and got a very tall ceiling where you can see the sky through large rectangular holes. The whole room itself is littered with pillars twice as wide as me and some of them are broken off at various heights. At some points can large stone blocks be found which are blocking off line of sight between various pillars.

What I found most interesting in the room was a rope which hung down from the top of one of the pillars that went all the way up to the top of the sky holes. I then start smiling.

"I think I found a way out, teehee~" I could not contain my excitement at the thought of finally getting outside! With great motivation I now grip my wooden branch harder in my right hand, and peeks around the door frame more to find out what I am going against.

When I peek to the left I find what looks like several dungeon rats eating a dead stunted pig man. Then when I look to the right I can only see what looks like a rundown wooden shack. Figuring it was best to leave the rats alone I carefully start sneaking my way towards the shack.

Updated skill(s)

Stealth Lv. 1 → Stealth Lv. 2

I am getting the hang of this stealth thing, the rats are not suspecting anything! On my way to the shack I carefully peek out from the pillars before I go to the next. I found it becoming routine the more I did it. Practice makes perfect, just like how my teachers told me.

Once I arrived to the shack I clumsily climbed my way up on top of it together with Carrot. I think the noise I made woke up a dungeon rat inside it, which then ran out of it panicked towards the rest of the rats. Eventually I climbed on top of the shack and tried figuring out how to get to that rope.

"Wow..." I can just say to what I find out is in the middle of the room. What looks like a small village is there which is lit up well by torches. Among the huts walk more of those pig men calmly in the "streets". Looks like I will either have to be sneaky like a rogue, or make a spectacular escape.

I now notice that the rat which I previously scared off brought along its friends over here. They look very hungry still and their bodies are covered with blood. Why can't anything work in my favor for once?

But wait! I could use the rats as a distraction while I make my break towards the rope. Just have to power my [Lesser dark bolt] differently so all it does is cause pain without hurting them too much... How do I even do that? Won't know until I try!

"[Lesser dark bolt]" I chant while I imagine myself rearranging the components of the spell in a way that its killing power is significantly lowered in exchange for lasting a very long time. It is like forcing someone to eat their soup with a teaspoon instead of a normal spoon essentially. I bite my lower lip as I do my best to cast this modified variant. As if something clicked inside my head, I then snapped my fingers and unleashed the bolt towards my first victim.

Hit the dungeon rat for 4 damage!

Dungeon rat is now engulfed by phantom fire!

Dungeon rat is now enraged!

The dark bolt still hurt the rat but now the poor rat think its insides are on fire. The noises it make echoes throughout the entire room. I now start to hear grunting and sound of movement coming from the village. Looks like it worked, but not good enough. Now sing rats~

In quick succession I afflict the rest of the rats with my newly concocted spell. The noises they all made hurt my ears, so now is the time get out of here! I grab Carrot which still holds onto the leg for dear life and jump diagonally from the shack onto a stone block between two pillars.

The cacophony of screams behind me and the commotion of footsteps in front of me make my heart beat faster. I hide on top of the block before I jump onto the block on the opposite side of me. As I land I nearly slip but I managed to keep myself upright, the experience made my heart skip a beat.

As I continued jumping on top of blocks and hiding as needed I started to hear sounds of fighting. The dumb pig men must had thought it was a great idea to mess with a big group of enraged rats. The sounds of pained squealing and squeaking echoes throughout the room now as well.

"Maybe the plan worked too well..." I mutter to myself as I finally can see the rope nearly within reach. The rope leading up to my freedom is now just one stone block jump away, but before I think of jumping I hear more deeper pitched sounds of a pigs grunting.

What I can see from my hiding spot is a pig man as big as an adult coming out of its hut. On its back it got what looks like a bow and on its hip it got a rusty dagger. Is it just a regular pig man?

Querying shell database...

Closest match: Pig man chieftain

Well, I was almost right. That pig man looks dangerous... As if its annoyed that the rest of its pack are not coming back from the fight it lets out a dissatisfied grunt before it start heading in my direction. Remember Biali, stay hidden. You do not have to fight this!

Updated skill(s)

Stealth Lv. 2 → Stealth Lv. 3

I make myself even more invisible to the pig man which passes by me in the stone block corridor beneath me. I keep my breath the whole time until I no longer can hear the footsteps anymore.

"Damn, that felt like an eternity..." I quietly talk to myself before I get up and ready myself to jump. With a decisive sprint followed by a leap I get over to the next stone block where the rope resides on. Before grabbing onto the rope I check if anyone is coming over or is watching. I bite my lower lip harder and order Carrot to hold onto shoulders. Carrot is still holding onto that leg, but now its squeezed between us.

I hold my wooden branch in my mouth as I grab onto the rope. Damn, it tastes disgusting, eww! The first few climbs up on the rope felt tiring on my arms and legs. But I just bite on my branch harder. Now or never Biali!

During the climb I felt how my heart raced and as if time itself slowed down for me. When I was almost all the way up I felt a breeze and then heard the sound of something metallic hitting the ceiling next to me. Irritated grunting could be heard from down below. Damn it! I got spotted by that chieftain!

With all my remaining energy I furiously climb up and as soon as I pulled myself over the ceiling edge I feel how my nightgown gets hit between my legs. The sound of ripping fabric is heard as something passes through and then beyond it into the sky. I hear enraged squealing from below as I catch my breath.

"Never... Again..." I mutter as I lie feeling half dead on the sand upside. Then exhaustion quickly catches up with me, and my eye lids feel incredibly heavy...