Rue thought he had gotten over death. At least to some degree. Turned out, he had not.

  “Please be seated,” Uln smiled.

  Three Tall-rats walked forward, passing by Rue and his companion. His eye followed those daggers they wield as they pulled three unimpressive dinner chairs. Uln himself was seated on a slightly larger chair. The chair’s back encompassed his lithe figure and slightly reclined under his weight.

  [Corroded Throne] [Mystical] [Novice-Piece]—For the Blight rats, a nest is a home. A Blight nest needs a proper home where a throne exists. It needs a center of blight, a center of an encompassing poison as a beating heart of the Blight nest. Those who sit upon the Corroded Throne shall feed their life force into it and spread their Authorities. The Corroded Throne allow property of Blight and Acid to take over and claim an area that shall grow as the King-rat grows stronger. Corroded Throne will only grow in an environment befitting Blight Rat for a home should be comfy.

  So it was like a flag to declare sovereignty? That was at least what Rue thought of as he read over its description. He tried to understand it, but the sight of two mounds of corpses stacked atop each other drew his attention.

  The face of a woman, so mangled that her nose was bitten off and her eye socket bled with green acid. And…

  No, no need to think about them. There was nothing more Rue could do for them.

  Instead, he shall focus on this negotiation.

  “My apologies,” Uln bowed, laying his right hand across his left chest. The rat put down his sword, and Rue could see its green ring glowing bright jade in a circle. “But, surely you understand the necessity after reading what this throne does.”

  The rat lifted his head toward Rue. It smiled, snout sniffing the permeated taste of blood.

  “I had my theory,” Rue merely said. “But, surely, you know that you need to move that.” He pointed at the throne.

  “Yes, I’m willing to lose my progress since the throne was newly planted. The chance to inspect the barrier the System will summon is something I can’t pass on. You’re wise to bring it up to me, human.”

  “How can we work with you if you… did this.” Ein spoke, voice shaken. His eyes glinted under his long bowl-cut hair.

  “You farm animals and stacked their bodies in a freezer, do you not? For us, Blight Rat, we will get more use out of deads if we let their bodies rot.”

  Ein was about to argue, but Rue cut him off.

  “How so?”

  The young man gape at Rue for this, but Rue did not care. He was genuinely curious.

  “Tell me what you see when you check my status?”

  [Blight Rats, Arch Noble-rat—Level 30]

  “Can you tell what the difference is with humans?”

  “I can’t see your class,” Rue deduced.

  “Precisely, James Lisbon! We, the Blight Rat, were born from a Rift, a fracturing of space that spawned a dimension dungeon inside. Originally, we’re a mere monster. As time passes no one was able to close our Rift, and we expanded to planetary. Beings such as us did not have normal classes like you did. You could say the concept of ‘Class’ is tied to our evolution.”

  “What about Authorities?”

  “We share the same Authorities. Well, two of them. The Authority of Blight and the Authority of Acid. As such, our abilities and lifestyle depend on the mix of the two. The System granted us plenty of advantages. Like, for example, this.” Uln lifted his sword. “This was made by our Acidsmith. Normal beings such as yourself share different Authorities. But can you imagine us? A being that shares only two Authorities? Of course, we advance further in the usage of our ability, and not just ability. So does our Technology.”

  Rift…

  In the future, Rue also had to face plenty of rifts when the last World started, Roh had said so.

  “How does one close a rift?”

  “Find the Rift Core and destroy it. The Rift core can come in the form of one of the Rift’s denizens that holds the Rift's own power, and usually at least one stage ahead of the Rift’s rank. This is important. A Brittle being would be able to handle hundreds to thousands of Null-beings such as ourselves. And you don’t want to leave it open for long because the Rift’s denizens will invade, and these monster will create their own dungeon all across worlds if left unchecked. Just like us, blight rats and we eventually evolve enough to increase our Mind Stat beyond ten.”

  “Hold on a second… Was your mind stat below that?”

  “A monster starts from a negative Mind Stat. It was thanks to my ancestor who evolved all the way to Forged beings and conceived as many children as possible to increase our stat to now close to ten upon birth.”

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  “Then you’re no longer a monster,” Rue concluded, tapping his chin.

  Uln’s iridescent eyes widened at this, and he let a short chirp that probably meant as a chuckle. “Indeed, we defy odds and evolve as a species. Well, you will barely see such a thing happen anymore since the Adventurers guild across the Universe has become so powerful. Rift closing is one of the most popular quests for adventurers after all, wheter its from the system or kingdoms.”

  It was truly curious.

  Did humans start out the same way? Wait, actually, he got proper class, so did this mean that humans were created by the System from the get-go?

  “This is an interesting conversation,” a gravelly voice spoke up. Fruer crossed his arms across his bulky chest and, with his ashen eyes, held the Noble-rat gaze. Rue had almost forgotten Fruer and Ein were there. “It’s one that I would love to converse with you about in a proper manner over dinner and drinks. But, maybe we could have such a talk after we finalize this alliance?”

  “Ah,” The small silver mustache above Uln’s nose twitched. “Of course. That would be preferable. Now, the three of you. Let's lay the groundwork here. I will move my nest just beyond this place, and you will guarantee that you will plant the System tree here, and I shall be allowed to experiment upon the barrier.”

  “What about our safety?” Fruer said.

  “My clan will not hunt any human from your side, but any humans from a different group will be free for us to hunt.”

  “No! We cannot take this!” Ein snapped. The young man jerked up, his chair almost falling back. His hands clenched upon the edge of the table.

  Rue reached up, clutching Ein’s back, and yanked him down to his knees. Ein winced, then his eyes bored to Rue and Fruer.

  “Calm down,” Rue said. He motioned to the Dozen Tall-Rats around them, and more joined as the loose Tall-Rat began to appear from the Arbeau’s interior.

  Peeking at one rat whose canister was exposed to Rue’s gaze, he almost grimaced when he saw that it was half-full.

  Did they have El-rats still? How much force Uln’s clan still had?

  “We’re a creature of peace,” Fruer said. “Your deal is hard to accept.”

  “What’s this? I have not even offered you my reward in the form of equipment and a future promise, and you already refuse? You seem not to fully realise that the world you live in is no longer so narrow. Once you’re in the Last World, you will make hard choices such as this one, Commander.”

  “I’d like to add to that requirement of yours,” Fruer said.

  “Go on.”

  “If our force found a group of humans… we will be allowed to escort them to Arbeau, and they will be part of us. And of course, none of the blight Rats will be allowed to harm them.”

  “Oh? Interesting? You’re making this a race for resources.”

  “They’re not a resource for us,” Ein growled.

  “I beg to differ, a body is a resource. Always is.”

  “So are you agreeing to this?” Rue asked.

  “Of course. What can a bunch of level one new Integrators do to outsource my Rats?”

  Rue had thought so, too. But this at least gave them a chance. There was still another thing, however.

  “I also like to add that none of the Blight Rats will be allowed to hunt the Monster the System spawns.”

  “Ah, yes, experience is valuable. Sure, it's not a problem. Our goal here is to ride out the System planet-bound combination after all. We have no interest in this fight of yours.”

  “Everything decided then?” Fruer asked. “Or do you have anything else?”

  “Ah! I like to offer the three of you something. As proof of our… friendship. Yes.” Uln clapped his hand, and a tall rat dropped three rings, neatly laying them above the table.

  It was a green, almost bulky thing, with a snake coiling around it, a pearl that looked like a deep jade eye.

  [Acid Ring] [Uncommon] [Well-Piece]—Acid was the lifeline of Blight Rats. With acid, they can conquer, with acid, they can innovate, with acid, they can evolve. The method of storing acid and calling upon their power had been sought after for many millennia, until a magic system designed around the acid canister was finally designed by Skarra, the Acid Professor.

  “These rings will allow Acid to be stored and paired especially well with acid based weapon. For example…” Uln opened his arm, and one of the rats put a used Vermin Dagger in his hand. The Acid Ring shone bright green, and the weapon instantly glowed with a similar shine, like a sudden firelight. “Like this way. You have obtained plenty of daggers; this will be a nice further gift, don’t you think? For the class and future equipment, we could talk later. Now, my rats and I will take our leave.”

  He stood with both hands behind his back and offered them one last smile before walking away with the rest of his rats. The throne, which looked like an everyday dining seat, melted away into Arbeau’s grasses, sending a hiss of smoke up.

  Rue and the other watched as their figure slowly faded away.

  “I’m planting it now,” Rue said, standing up, rolling his shoulder.

  The stench of death still bore down on him, and he walked further from the center pitch to find a more peaceful area.

  “Now?” Ein called, catching up to him.

  “No point in waiting, is there?”

  Rue knelt, palm laid across the grassy field.

  [Plant System Seed?]

  [Yes/No]

  [Yes]

  The golden seed pushed out of his palm, piercing the ground as if it cut through water. A bud rose, a golden frail bud.

  Rue had thought it would stay that way for a couple moment, until a rumbling followed suit.

  The pitch shook. He almost lost his balance if not for Ein steadying his back.

  “The hell?” Ein shouted over the splitting earth.

  “Back up, both of you!” Fruer shouted.

  As they backed up, the earth cracked below them. Thick golden branch lurched up like a snake and bit down into the earth again. The bud had grown larger, its golden skin had taken the texture of wood, and branches jutted out with golden leaves covering their ends.

  The tree’s trunk enlarged, causing more rumble and cries to follow through Arbeau as humans began taking shelter inside again. But, Rue stayed still, and the wonder kept growing until the tree’s trunk rose, ascending Arbeau’s top.

  In front of him was a golden tree with a double door across its trunk.

  [System Tree] [Legendary] [God-Piece]—born out of the necessity of Integration, the System has deemed it necessary to extend power through the Lesser Library in the form of a tree to bear fruit of power.

  “What are you seeing?” Rue asked Ein, who was still staring with wide eyes and breath like a small list in the cold night.

  “First Stage of Tutorial starting… eat the System fruit to join.”

  As he had expected, now it truly started. But, just when Rue thought he knew what to expect, another Prompt invaded his vision.

  [Golden Fruit] [Legendary] [God-Piece]—A fruit that should only be plucked and eaten when it's necessary. Golden Fruit will grant one unimaginable power at the cost of the System-tree life.

  [Quest Complete]

  [The Guard’s Duty]

  [Protect helpless ones from certain death (100/100)]

  [Reward: Frontier Guard Plate]

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