Date: October 15, 2011
Location: Queens Public Library
Lloyd Nipple respected libraries. In the Wizarding World, knowledge was quite literally power; a misplaced syllable in a book could liquefy your lungs, and the restricted section of the Hogwarts library screamed if you touched the wrong spine. Libraries were cathedrals of danger and dignity.
The Queens Public Library, however, was mostly a cathedral of sticky keyboards and teenagers using the free Wi-Fi to watch videos of cats falling off furniture.
Lloyd stood before the information desk, wearing his interaction face, a mask of polite condescension.
"I require your local histories," Lloyd said to the librarian, a woman named Gladys who looked like she had been carved from a block of granite and boredom.
"Specifically, records regarding unexplained fauna, sewer maintenance irregularities, and perhaps a list of local cryptids."
Gladys blinked slowly behind her bifocals. "Folklore is in the 398s. Local history is in the reference section. You can't check those out without a card."
"I do not wish to remove them," Lloyd assured her. "I merely wish to consult them. I am a... specialist."
"Uh-huh. Computers are over there if you want to Google Bigfoot." She pointed a knobby finger toward a row of beige monitors.
Lloyd eyed the computers with deep suspicion. He understood the theory of Muggle technology....electricity, circuits, binary, but his magic reacted poorly to it. Electronics had a tendency to fizzle and die in his presence, a side effect of his mana field being roughly as subtle as a brick through a window.
"I prefer paper," Lloyd said stiffly. "Paper does not crash."
He spent the next four hours in a corner of the reference section, surrounded by stacks of newspapers and dusty bound volumes of The New York Times.
Subject 42 was currently asleep in his inner coat pocket, his rhythmic snoring muffled by the thick wool, Lloyd was grateful.
If the Niffler saw the vending machine in the lobby, there would be a diplomatic incident.
Lloyd flipped through a binder of clippings from 2008.
HARLEM TERROR: GREEN BEAST SIGHTED
STARK INDUSTRIES WEAPONS FOUND IN HELL'S KITCHEN
GATOR IN THE SEWER? SANITATION WORKERS REPORT GLOWING EYES
Lloyd paused at the last one. He tapped the page.
"Glowing eyes," he muttered. "Bioluminescence. Or..... Simply magic."
He read the article, Sanitation workers in Sewer 1 near the industrial district had reported "large, aggressive rodents" and "strange sludge" that burned through boots.
The city had dismissed it as a chemical spill.
Lloyd smiled, the city saw pollution but a Magizoologist saw a habitat.
"System," he whispered.
The blue screen flickered, slightly transparent against the library shelving.
> [Research Success]
> You have identified a potential Hunting Ground
> Location: Queens/Industrial District Sewer Junction
> Threat Level: Low to Moderate
> Likely Targets: Mutated Vermin
> XP Gain: Minimal, but honest work
"Honest work," Lloyd scoffed. "I am a scholar, I should be studying Dragons, not hunting rats."
But beggars, as the Muggles said, could not be choosers and Lloyd Nipple was currently a beggar with a very hungry Niffler.
He closed the binder,he had his target.
Time: 11:45 PM
Location: Industrial District, Sewer Access Point 4B
The glamour of this Universe did not extend to its plumbing. Lloyd stood before a rusted grate in a dark alleyway. The smell was atrocious, a mix of rotting garbage, standing water, and something acrid and chemical.
"Well," Lloyd said, adjusting his collar. "Into the belly of the beast."
He tapped the padlock on the grate. He didn't have a wand, but simple telekinesis was manageable if the object was small. He focused his will on the tumblers.
Click
The lock sprang open. Lloyd pulled the grate aside, the hinges screaming in protest.
"42, you are on point," Lloyd whispered, patting his pocket.
The Niffler poked his head out, sniffed the air, and immediately recoiled, sneezing. He chattered an explicit complaint about the working conditions.
"I know it smells," Lloyd whispered back. "But think of the treasure. People drop things in drains, Rings, Coins, Gold teeth."
The Niffler's ears perked up at "gold." He scrambled out of the pocket and dropped into the darkness below.
Lloyd followed, descending the iron ladder with grim determination.
The sewer tunnel was wide, cylindrical, and slick with moisture. A thin stream of water trickled down the center. Lloyd snapped his fingers, and a small ball of white light, a Lumos orb hovered above his shoulder. It was weak, flickering like a dying bulb, but it was enough.
They walked for twenty minutes. Lloyd kept his senses extended, feeling for the hum of life. The System remained silent. The only sound was the drip of water and the scuffling of the Niffler's claws on the concrete.
Then, Lloyd felt it.
A vibration, a low, thrumming heat that wasn't natural.
"Halt," Lloyd commanded softly.
Subject 42 froze, nose twitching.
Ahead of them, the tunnel widened into a junction. In the center of the junction was a pile of debris, trash, driftwood, and plastic bottles.
And sitting atop the pile was a rat but it wasn't a normal rat. It was the size of a corgi. Its fur was patchy, revealing skin that pulsed with faint, sickly green veins. Its eyes glowed with a radioactive light ☢️. It was gnawing on something that looked suspiciously like a discarded Stark Industries battery casing.
> [Target Identified]
> Species: Gamma-Rot (Mutated Rattus Norvegicus)
> Level: 3
> Abilities: Toxic Bite, Frenzy
> Weakness: Fire, Bright Light
"Disgusting," Lloyd observed. "And fascinating. It's metabolizing the leakage from the battery."
The rat stopped chewing and turned its glowing eyes toward Lloyd. It hissed, a sound like steam escaping a pipe.
Two more rats crawled out from the debris. Then three more.
"Six against one," Lloyd noted, backing up slowly. "Or rather, six against one and a mole."
The lead rat shrieked and lunged.
It was fast,unnaturally so. It covered the ten feet between them in a second, jaws snapping for Lloyd's ankle.
Lloyd didn't panic, he may not have the mana for a shield, but he had a Niffler.
"42! The battery!" Lloyd shouted.
He kicked out, not at the rat, but at a piece of loose pipe on the ground, sending it skittering noisily to the left.
The lead rat flinched, distracted by the sound.
In that split second, Subject 42 acted. The Niffler didn't care about the rats. The Niffler cared that the Alpha rat was sitting on a shiny metal casing.
Subject 42 torpedoed past Lloyd, a black blur of greed. He slammed into the Alpha Rat, not biting, but grabbing.
He snatched the Stark battery casing from under the rat's nose and stuffed it into his pouch in one fluid motion. The Alpha Rat shrieked in confusion as its dinner was gone.
"Now!" Lloyd focused his meager mana.
He didn't cast a fire as Fire were more consuming so he just cast a Cantrip of Spark. He snapped his fingers, creating a burst of sparks directly in front of the rats sensitive, light-adapted eyes.
Flash
The rats squealed, blinded.
"Physics," Lloyd grunted, pulling a glass bottle from his coat, the ammonia he had bought earlier and hurled it at the cluster of rats.
The bottle shattered against the concrete and the fumes exploded outward.
For a creature with a nose sensitive enough to smell cheese from a mile away, a cloud of pure ammonia was practically a chemical weapon.
The rats went into a frenzy, clawing at their own snouts, rolling in the water to escape the smell. They scattered, running blindly back into the pipes, shrieking in pain.
Only the Alpha Rat remained, disoriented, blinking its glowing eyes, shaking its head.
It snarled at Lloyd, preparing to pounce again.
Lloyd stood his ground. He had barely 5 mana points left but he raised his hand, palm open.
"I do not have time for this," Lloyd said coldly.
He used Depulso, not a full banishing charm, just a shove.
He aimed not at the rat, but at the loose brick directly above the rat's head in the crumbling ceiling.
The brick dislodged and gravity did the rest.
Thud
The brick struck the Alpha Rat squarely on the cranium. The creature twitched once and went still and silence returned to the sewer.
Lloyd exhaled, leaning against the damp wall. His head throbbed. Using magic without a wand was like trying to perform surgery with a sledgehammer, exhausting and imprecise.
Subject 42 waddled over, looking very pleased with himself as he patted his pouch.
"Good work," Lloyd told the Niffler. "You distracted them and I... dropped a rock on them. We are a legendary team."
The blue window appeared, brighter this time.
> [Combat Encounter Won]
> Enemies Defeated: Gamma-Rot Alpha (Level 3)
> XP Gained: 60
> Current XP: 100/100
> LEVEL UP!
> You are now Level 2
> Mana Capacity Increased: 15 -> 25
> New Feature Unlocked: [The Cosmic Shop - Tier 1]
Lloyd's lips curled into a smile. The headache faded slightly as his mana pool expanded, a rush of cool energy filling his veins.
It wasn't much, he was still barely stronger than a first-year student, but it was progress.
He walked over to the unconscious rat.
"System, can this be harvested?"
> [Material Detected]
> Gamma-Gland: Can be used in alchemical brews to induce mutation or instability.
> Value: 50 Shop Coins.
"Harvest it," Lloyd ordered. "And let's get out of here, I smell like a chemical spill."
He climbed back up the ladder, the Niffler secure in his pocket, the first hunt complete. He was dirty, he was tired, and he was standing in a back alley in Queens but as he looked up at the night sky, where Stark Tower gleamed like a beacon in the distance, Lloyd Nipple felt the first stirrings of real power.
He had unlocked the Shop, and if video games which his muggleborn friends from his world brought had taught him anything, that was where the fun began.
Authors Note:-
Well Rat hunting 🐀.
I love subject 42.
Do you guys ,if then support with power stones and collections.