At twenty-five, Alex was the sum of all failures: a mountain of debt, a dead-end job that bled him dry, and a soul long since abandoned.
He had just been fired — not for making a mistake, but for exposing one.
Eighteen hours of nonstop work. And this is my reward.
He stopped, staring into a puddle that reflected the jaundiced glow of the lamppost.
His face wasn't there anymore — just a distorted shape, blurry and lifeless.
"Why?" he whispered.
"I tried… I tried harder than anyone. I endured, obeyed, swallowed every humiliation. But I never had a say in anything. Just once… I want to hold my own fate in my hands."
It wasn't a prayer.
It was a challenge hurled at the unseen power that had ruled his life.
Alex turned into a narrow alley, toward the decaying apartment he called home.
But before he could reach the rusted door — fate answered.
No screeching brakes. No warning.
Only a blinding flash of light and the roar of an engine.
A truck.
A crash.
The end.
The pain didn't register.
What truly broke him was the realization —
Even death wasn't his choice.
Even the end was meaningless.
His consciousness shattered like glass, fragments scattering into the void — but the one thing that remained, the one ember that refused to die, was his desperate wish for control.
Then, a voice spoke.
It didn't echo in his ears — it resonated in his soul.
"You wished to decide your own fate."
"Very well."
"You shall receive a tool to defy destiny itself. But from now on, every choice demands a price — paid in blood and survival."
A storm of energy tore through him — raw, primal, cosmic.
It didn't bless him. It reconstructed him.
It forced him into a new shape.
⸻
Pain. Filth. Stench.
Those were the first sensations when Alex awoke.
The air was thick, foul, sticky — the stench of rot, waste, and death.
He tried to breathe, to move — but what pressed against the ground wasn't a hand.
It was a claw.
Tiny. Rough. Animal.
He froze.
He moved again — on four legs.
And then the horror came.
He tried to scream — to unleash his fury, his despair, his denial.
But the sound that came out was—
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The world loomed gigantic around him, dripping with filth and shadow.
Alex realized the unthinkable.
He had become a sewer rat.
A creature of garbage and darkness.
A being meant to hide, to scavenge, to die unseen.
Death had been mercy.
Rebirth was damnation.
He curled into a damp corner, trembling, broken.
If he could still cry, the tears would have vanished into the grime.
And then — a flicker of green light illuminated the darkness before him.
Floating text appeared in midair, glowing faintly like a digital ghost.
[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[The Evolution Essence — Ready for Deployment]
Alex stared blankly.
No joy. No confusion. Just a cold, hollow calm.
He had asked for the right to decide — and this was the answer.
A translucent interface appeared:
STATS
Name: Low-Grade Sewer Rat (Alex)
Level: 1 (0/10 EXP)
Evolution Points (EV): 0
Skills:
• Enhanced Smell (Passive, F-Grade)
• Simple Digging (Active, F-Grade)
Then came a notification — not an offer, but a decree:
[INITIAL QUEST: SURVIVE]
Objective: Survive for 1 hour in the sewer maze.
Reward: 10 Evolution Points (EV) — requirement for Level 1 Evolution.
Failure: Permanent Soul Erasure.
There was no going back.
Alex had demanded the right to choose — and now, he would pay for it.
He swallowed his disgust and forged it into resolve.
He would rise from this pit.
He would evolve.
The tiny rat steadied itself, sniffing the fetid air.
A spark ignited in its crimson eyes — cold, determined, unyielding.
"Squeak…"
57 minutes and 45 seconds remaining.
The disgust hadn't faded, but the hunger had evolved into physical torment — a gnawing agony tearing at Alex's tiny rat stomach.
[Status: Severely Hungry]
The notification chimed like a death knell, reminding him that if he didn't act soon, his third death would come — not from battle, but from human arrogance.
Alex forced himself to move.
His four trembling legs slipped against the slick, slimy floor of the sewer.
He loathed the stench, loathed the pitiful creature he had become — but reason whispered a single command:
Survive. No matter what.
[Skill: Enhanced Smell (F-Grade)] activated automatically — far too effectively.
It flooded his senses with an overwhelming storm of odors: the metallic tang of dried blood, the pungent stench of mold, the musk of predators… and somewhere among them, the faint scent of fresh meat.
Alex crouched behind a rusted trash can, his small body pressed into the shadow.
Then he saw it.
Another sewer rat — slightly larger than him — gnawing on a cracked bone.
Its ribs showed beneath greasy fur, eyes bloodshot and feral.
"I'm Level 1, and so is it. That means a 50% chance of survival…
But I still have a human mind."
The human inside him whispered of fairness, of reason, of honor in battle.
But the rat instinct screamed louder:
Attack from behind! Bite the throat! Survive!
For a single second, Alex hesitated — man and beast warring within him.
Then he remembered the voice from the void:
"You will have tools to fight… but you must choose how to use them."
He activated [Skill: Simple Digging (F-Grade)], but not to dig.
Instead, he raked his claws across the rusted metal.
Screech! Screech! Clang!
The piercing sound sliced through the tunnel, echoing like steel against bone.
The other rat flinched, startled — its eyes widened, its movements faltered.
This was his moment.
[Action: Attack]
Alex lunged from the darkness — not head-on like a warrior, but low, fast, and unpredictable.
The rival rat spun, baring its jagged teeth—
CHOMP!
Alex didn't aim for the head. He sank his fangs deep into the hind leg.
Cripple the leg, and it can't escape.
That's the weakest point.
The larger rat shrieked, thrashing wildly.
It tried to claw him away, but with one leg useless, it slipped — splashing into the filthy water.
Alex didn't hesitate.
He was no longer human. He was a predator.
He climbed the writhing body and bit into the back of the neck — deep, precise, merciless.
Blood spurted hot and metallic, splattering across his muzzle.
The rival rat convulsed once, then went still.
[Enemy Defeated: Low-Grade Sewer Rat]
[EXP +10]
A wave of warmth rippled through Alex's small body.
Muscles tightened. Vision sharpened. Reflexes quickened.
The sensation was intoxicating — proof that he was growing stronger.
[Level Up!]
[Low-Grade Sewer Rat (Alex) — Level 2 (0/20 EXP)]
He released the corpse, staring blankly at the blood, the lifeless eyes, and the monster reflected in their surface.
"I did it. I killed. Not to protect anyone… but to survive."
"I've become a monster."
The nausea returned — faint, fleeting — but it vanished almost instantly, devoured by hunger and the System's cold whisper.
[Status Updated: Severe Hunger → Moderate Hunger]
[Automatic Nutrition Absorbed from Corpse]
He knew what he had to do.
He forced his human conscience aside and let instinct take over.
His jaws tore through flesh, devouring the warm, iron-tasting meat — revolting, yet exhilarating.
Each bite pumped life into his trembling body.
"I am Alex. But the human Alex is dead."
"I am Alex, the rat that will evolve. Emotion is a burden."
When the feeding ended, he stood amid silence and rot.
Half of the mission was complete.
[48 minutes and 5 seconds remaining in Survival Mission]
He turned away from the corpse and continued forward, every movement careful — not with fear, but with the cold precision of a born predator.
Then the System flickered again, glowing faintly in the darkness.
[EMERGENCY QUEST]
Objective: Eliminate 3 Mutated Cockroaches (F-Grade)
Reward: +5 Evolution Points (EV) and 1 Primary Evolution Path Choice
Location: East — 50 meters away — near the Residual Magic Zone
Evolution Path Choice.
Those words made his pulse quicken.
He would not remain a sewer rat forever.
Alex lifted his head and sniffed the air.
To the east, a faint, eerie light shimmered — the glow of evolutionary hope, laced with the shadow of lurking danger.
He began to move.
Not as a man.
Not as prey.
But as a creature reborn — cold-blooded, determined, unstoppable.