***

[Heat Affinity: Minor resistance to fire and heat-based damage]

[Heat Gaze: Able to shoot a beam of heat for a short distance with your eyes]

[Warmth Draw: Recover a very small amount of mana when near active flames or sources of heat]

***

’Heat Affinity is pretty decent against other Mages, especially low-leveled ones, but I don’t find much use for it against non-magic users.

’Heat Gaze... It’s actually a rare offensive Innate Skill. I don’t remember, but I don’t think I have gotten one like that. It definitely has plenty of uses...

’Warmth Draw... That’s pretty good, but it only works near active flames and sources of heat. Does it work if I use my own Fireball and use it to recover my mana? I don’t think so.’

He scratched his chin in thought.

And then lastly, he checked out the Earthman class’s Innate Skills.

***

[Earthen Grip: Your spells have a small chance to briefly slow targets]

[Stone Skin: Gain a slight passive boost to physical defense]

[Grounded Flow: While standing on natural ground, your mana regeneration is slightly improved]

***

’Earthen Grip is an alright skill, nothing amazing, but nothing bad either.

’Stone Skin is pretty good. Doesn’t hurt to have some extra defense, but once again, only a ’slight’ increase.

’Grounded Flow is the best one out of those three.’

Fang Raon thought to himself.

However.

He didn’t really feel like any of those Innate Skills were for him, and his gaze lingered at the direction of the Candlelighter class.

There was one Innate Skill that he would really want, and it was Heat Gaze, as it gave him attack power that he needed.

’It’s an Innate Skill that I can also use without Magic Grimoire. I can use it as a trump card, as nobody can expect me to suddenly shoot a beam of fire from my eyes.’

He came to a decision.

With a quick tap, he chose the "Candlelighter" class.

[Choose your Innate Skill]

And he chose "Heat Gaze" as his Innate Skill.

[You have received 100 stat points. Please allocate them wisely!]

’I should go for a lot of mana, right?’

Fang Raon thought, and he looked at all the available attributes, and there were only few of them that he really needed.

’Alright, let’s do this...’

He started allocating the hundred stat points.

[Stamina: 3 → 15] 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

[Attack: 0 → 0]

[Defense: 4 → 20]

[Speed: 3 → 15]

[Vitality: 7 → 30]

[Mana: 13 → 50]

And then, Fang Raon pressed the confirmation button, and he felt his stomach feel warm like hot soup on a cold day.

He could feel it... The little changes in his body... that would make huge differences in the outcome for the battle ahead.

"Interface..."

***

[Name: Fang Raon]

[Class: Candlelighter]

[Level: 2]

[Next Level: 0%]

[Coins: 0]

[Health: 300/300]

[Stamina: 15]

[Attack: 0]

[Defense: 20]

[Speed: 15]

[Vitality: 30]

[Mana: 50]

[=SKILLS=]

[Fireball Lv. 1 - Mastery: 0%]

[Earth Wall Lv. 1 - Mastery: 0%]

[Heat Gaze - Innate Skill]

***

"Nice."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"Are you done? What class did you choose?"

Anna asked curiously.

"Candlelighter."

Fang Raon said.

"...Candlelighter. I haven’t heard about that class. It must be a special one because you leveled up in quite a special way."

Anna said.

"Really?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Yes. The three classes decided on how you acted during that specific level, and now, you burned a hundred Angry Rats alive.

"That’s like... a really rare thing, and that’s why you must’ve earned a special class. What were the other two classes?"

Anna asked.

"Earthman and Rat-Slaying Mage."

"Earthman is not a special class. It is quite a common one. Rat-Slaying Mage is kind of rare. It is possible to get that if you happen to grind for the level by killing only Angry Rats."

She said.

"I see."

Fang Raon nodded.

"What Innate Skill did you choose?"

Anna asked.

With a smile on his face, Fang Raon turned to look at her, and at that moment, his eyes started burning with scarlet-red flames.

"Heat Gaze!"

"Whoah!"

Anna’s jaw dropped in amazement, and as Fang Raon closed his eyes, the burning stopped, and his eyes returned back to normal.

"Wow, that felt weird."

He rubbed his eyes, and he had a slightly hard time adjusting back to his normal vision, as while he used Heat Gaze, everything turned red and yellow.

"You really got an offensive Innate Skill? Whoah, that’ll be extremely helpful, but be careful with it, as it usually drains a lot of mana."

Anna said.

"Got it. I now have 50 stat points on the Mana Attribute, so I can handle more. I’ll be cautious with it though."

Fang Raon said.

"Great! Now, shall we go finish off the quest? King Angry Rat is not far from here. I can already smell its stench."

Anna said with a disgusted look.

"What should I know about the King Angry Rat?"

Fang Raon questioned.

"It’s not like the other Angry Rats. It stands on two feet, walks straight like a human, and carries a brown staff. It has a couple magical spells.

"Rat Summon—with that spell, it can summon tiny rat minions. Way smaller than Angry Rats, but they can be annoying to deal with.

"Sewer Breath Blast—with the staff, it can cast a powerful blast of sewer-scented breath. If you get directly hit by it, you might be knocked out instantly.

"Cry For Help—it is usually the King Angry Rat’s final move to call every Angry Rat for its aid, but since we have killed all of them already, we don’t have to worry about that.

"King Angry Rat doesn’t have phases."

Anna said.

"How’s King Angry Rat’s close-quarters combat skill?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Decent."

She said.

"Will it be a problem for you?"

Fang Raon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Heh~ Not at all. With Read as my ally, I can handle most of its attacks. I can deal with it from close range."

Anna said with a giggle and with great confidence.

"Alright, then. Let’s get going."

Fang Raon summoned his brown Magic Grimoire and turned to the "Earth Wall" page.

With the sword and shield in hand, Anna took the lead and led them down the smelly sewer tunnel.

It was quiet. Like in a horror movie. It would usually be crowded with Angry Rats, but they were now nothing but burning corpses.

And at last.

They arrived at double doors. It had some scratch marks. It had two door handles, just like in any other ordinary door.

"Let’s do it!"

Anna smashed through the door, and instantly, a wave of nauseating stench attacked her nose and Fang Raon’s.

They were stunned momentarily, but they quickly shrugged it off and entered the room together.

There they saw it—King Angry Rat—sitting on its own throne made of shredded newspapers and cardboard boxes.

It lifted its head. A face of a rat. Its brown body was tall, lean, and muscular, standing well over six feet.

Like a human, really, but without a doubt, it was still part of the Angry Rat race, even though it had evolved a little bit.

’If all the Angry Rats evolve like the King Angry Rat, won’t the First City be completely overrun by them?’

Fang Raon had a horrifying thought.

Then, King Angry Rat stood up from its "throne" and looked at the two humans with a menacing red glare.

It was well aware that all of its children were dead. Because of these two. So, it was in a quite angry mood.

"SCREEEEEEEECH~!"

The sound echoed loudly throughout the sewers, and it even echoed out of the sewer entrance under the bridge.

There were some locals around the bridge, and when they heard it, they quickly scattered away like a flock of birds.

"Assist me, brother. I will attack it!"

Anna shouted, and then, her leg muscles propelled her forward with immense force, and her heavy sword moved as fast as if she were just a swinging branch.

In that moment.

King Angry Rat pointed its staff towards the young woman, and green, smelly gas gathered around the tip of the staff.

"Sewer Blast Breath!"

Anna gasped, and she quickly lifted her shield and rooted her feet on the ground like a mighty oak.

And then.

Sewer Breath Blast exploded from the staff and smashed straight into the shield, trying to break through.

Even though the Sewer Breath Blast didn’t hit her, she already felt lightheaded and disgusted because of the smell.

"BROTHER!"

She screamed for help.

"HEAT GAZE!"

Fang Raon’s eyes started burning with beautiful scarlet-red flames, and they shot out in the form of a heat beam.

The flame beam landed on King Angry Rat’s hand, which was holding the staff, and it burned a hole through the hand!

"SCREEEEECH!"

King Angry Rat had to let go of the staff, and it looked at the burning hole in its hand with a look of anger.

Sewer Breath Blast got canceled.

"Thanks, brother!"

Anna smiled, and she followed up with her own attack, and her sword smashed into the King Angry Rat and sent it flying through the air.

King Angry Rat smashed through its makeshift throne and crashed into the wall with a loud thud.

[King Angry Rat - HP: 77%]