The moment the notification appeared before him, Riley collapsed to the ground, panting hard.
[Item Drop: Great White Fang(Uncommon)
Another tab appeared above the rat boss' body, and a thick, yellow fang about twice larger than the others appeared in the air, before falling to the ground.
However, Riley was too tired to even glance at it.
He simply made a mental note to pick it up later.
He stared up at the sky, chest rising and falling in sharp bursts.
His limbs were shaking slightly, and his daggers—still slick with blood—were loosely clenched in his trembling hands.
"I came… way too close," He muttered under his breath, voice hoarse.
But contrary to his words, his lips were curled into an excited smile.
He had known it would be dangerous—boss-level monsters always were—but still… somehow, he'd underestimated it.
The speed, the aggression, the last-ditch spike storm that could have easily shredded him, but fortunately, he had been fully prepared.
A chill ran down his spine at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn't been.
He slowly looked down at the wound on his shoulder, which was still bleeding slowly.
He was lucky the rat boss' spikes didn't have any poisonous effect, or else the injury would have been a lot more dire.
Suddenly, another notification appeared, flickering gently in front of him.
[Stealth skill level up!]
[Stealth now level 2!]
[Description: Temporarily boosts Agility by 50% for 15 seconds and masks the user's presence. Deals 20 points of damage to target + 100% of user's mana to target. Cost: 15 Magic Points. Cool-down: 3 seconds.]
Riley blinked, then a grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Well, that's a surprise," He muttered.
He hadn't expected Stealth to level up this early, but when he thought about it more, it wasn't all that shocking.
He had been spamming it nearly every cooldown since he first got it. Each fight, each ambush, each close dodge—it all added up.
The mana cost had gone up—fifteen MP now instead of ten—but the benefits outweighed it. Five more seconds of active time was huge. And the base damage had gone up by five points, too. That kind of increase could easily turn the tide in another boss fight.
He tapped his fingers against his knee absently, still seated on the ground.
Of course, there was another way to upgrade skills—using skill points. But he was holding onto those.
He had two now, and they were far too valuable to throw away on low-tier early game abilities.
Instead, he planned on saving them for later… for something greater.
Riley exhaled slowly, then shifted his gaze toward the motionless body of the Great Spiked Rat.
Its massive corpse lay sprawled on the grass, dark blood slowly pooling beneath it.
The long spikes along its back still jutted into the air like a row of spears, glistening faintly in the moonlight.
Its white-furred patch had been stained red, and its eyes—once full of fury—were now dim and lifeless.
Riley's eyes twinkled.
"…Time to eat."
He slowly got to his feet and walked toward the monster's corpse, each step crunching softly against the ground.
His stomach gave a low rumble—whether from hunger or anticipation, he couldn't tell.
He stopped just short of the body, gaze lingering on the long, jagged spikes that still protruded from its back and limbs.
They were metallic brown, sharp enough to skewer a boar, and definitely not something you'd want inside your stomach.
He hesitated briefly.
Then shrugged.
"Not like it matters."
He slowly opened his mouth, and the effect of his talent took place instantly.
His mouth widened greatly, and bit by bit, the body of the boss rat rapidly got sucked into his mouth.
Flesh. Bone. Muscle. Even the spikes which previously unnerved him.
All of it vanished into the abyss within him.
The body disappeared entirely in under ten seconds, leaving no trace except for a few drops of blood.
Only Riley stood there, lips smeared with red, his expression neutral and unbeknownst to him, his eyes glowed faintly.
'That felt nice.' He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, feeling the hunger within him calm a bit.
Then the system chimed again, this time with a flurry of notifications that made his pulse jump.
[You have devoured: Great Spiked Rat]
[Acquired: Strength +3.4, Agility +4.4, Endurance +2.6, Vitality +2.6, Mana +2.2, Skill: Spike Shot(E-rank)]
Riley's brows shot up. His gaze dropped to the last tab, eyes shining.
"A skill… finally."
His breath hitched slightly. The stat gains were already absurd—but a skill? From the very first boss? That was something else.
He hadn't expected it, not this early in the game. Sure, he'd hoped for it, but monsters only had a small chance of granting skills when consumed.
And it wasn't just any skill, either—it was E-rank.
In Apocalypse, skills were ranked like similarly to talents, except they started from F-rank and went up all the way to SS-rank.
However, he wondered if there were SSS-ranked skills, similarly to how he had an SSS-ranked talent.
The only person with an SS-rank skill in his past life was Terry, the man revered as the strongest hero of humanity.
The difference between each rank was massive. F-rank skills were everywhere, and one might even find them in random shops.
But from C-rank skills upwards? They were harder to find, stronger by default, and often had unique effects or combos.
"Spike Shot," He whispered, and a new window opened before him.
[Spike Shot (Level 1)]
[Rank: E]
[Conjure a thin metallic brown spike and shoot it. Deals 50 points of damage to opponents. Cost: 5 Magic Points. Cool-down: 2 seconds]
His eyes gleamed.
'This was the same skill it used against me.' He thought.
Fifty base damage from level one. That wasn't just good—it was amazing.
Most early offensive skills barely broke thirty at level one, and this was practically double that.
The best part? He now had a ranged option.
As an assassin, he only had his stealth skill and his daggers, which were only useful at close range.
Having something like this gave him flexibility, so he didn't have to limit himself.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
With Stealth upgraded and now Spike Shot in his arsenal, his combat flow had just taken a leap.
He could open with a stealth strike, retreat with agility, then pepper his enemies from afar. That was a proper assassin loop—not just brute force, but real tactical edge.
"And I'm just level three…"
He glanced at his stat screen again, and his smile widened.
[Player ID: A Random]
[Level: 3(10/300)]
[Profession: Assassin]
[Class: Apprentice Assassin]
[Talent: Gluttony (SSS)]
[H/P: 80/110
[M/P: 111/136
[Magic Damage: 13.6
[Physical Damage: 14.1
[Magic Resistance: 13.6
[Physical Resistance: 7.8
[Attributes: Strength: 14.1; Agility: 24.9; Vitality: 11; Mana: 13.6; Endurance: 7.8]
[Skills]
—Stealth(level 2)
[Rank: F]
[Description: Temporarily boosts Agility by 50% for 15 seconds and masks the user's presence. Deals 20 points of damage to target + 100% of user's mana to target. Cost: 15 Magic Points. Cool-down: 3 seconds.]
—Spike Shot (Level 1)
[Rank: E]
[Description: Conjure a thin metallic brown spike and shoot it. Deals 50 points of damage to opponents. Cost: 5 Magic Points. Cool-down: 2 seconds]
[Attribute Points Available: 4]
[Skill Points Available: 2]
[Equipment: Basic Cloth Shirt, Basic Leather Pants, Basic Daggers(common)]
His stats had taken a massive leap, nearly across the board. Agility was now over 24 points, and strength had even reached 14 points.
Though his H/P and M/P were a bit reduced due to the boss' fight, he barely tired.
At this rate, he'd be able to take on mid-tier zones before most players even got their profession quest.
Grrr!
Suddenly, his stomach rumbled again.
Riley frowned, clutching his stomach with one hand.
The grasses around him suddenly rustled, and four more spiked rats suddenly jumped out of it.
Shriek!
They shrieked at him in annoyance, baring their fangs at him.
'Ohh…' Riley thought, staring at the tab floating above one of them.
[Spiked Rat]
[Level: 3]
[H/P: 50]
He then glanced back at the quest tab given to him by Burus, a strange glint flashing across his eyes.
[Quest: Kill 10 Spiked Rats]
[Rank: D]
[Description: Kill 10 Spiked Rats on Burus' Farm]
[Progress: 6/10]
[Reward: 1 Gold Coin from the farmer]
'So just four remaining.' Riley thought, turning his attention back to the rats surrounding him. 'Let me complete this quest once and for all.'
Screee!
The rats screamed, suddenly charging at him from all four directions.
But despite the horde of rats charging at him, Riley barely moved, and his lips curled up slightly.
With how much he had grown, the speed of low-level monsters like these weren't a threat to him anymore.
'Spike shot!' He thought, stretching a hand towards one of the rats.
Swoosh!
A long, sharp brown spike immediately protruded out of his palm, shooting towards the monster at terrifying speed.
—50!
Spurt!
The spike stabbed through the head of the rat within seconds, and the monster immediately dropped dead to the ground, blood oozing out of the gaping hole on its head.