The rat Advances

The rat decided to go out on an excursion.

It had seen the wild animals in combat, and a desire grew in it.

The rat knew that it had to do more. That it was different from the other rats.

Remembering his past, the rat remembered when he was a child. He had been scavenging for scraps of human food, always relying on the trash of humans for sustenance.

This isn't what the rat wanted.

The rat grew up at one of the lowest rungs of society. Just a standard rat. The only thing possibly lower would be a meager insect.

After meeting Alaric, the rat now differentiated itself. He had seen fishing, and had eaten food that other rats could only dream of.

The rat was slowly but surely advancing towards an understanding of human society.

The rat wanted more. The rat had now seen magical beasts. Growing up in the city, the only thing the rat was able to see was the occasional washed up mage shuffling through the slums. The magic of those washed up mages was nothing compared to what he saw from magical beasts.

The rat had even gone as far as killing one himself.

Seeing the opportunity to assist Alaric, the rat burrowed into the monkey to kill it.

Something about it felt right. The rat felt at home while in combat. This went beyond standard fighting for survival. The rat enjoyed it regardless of the value it had towards it's continuous survival.

Taking enjoyment is another characteristic that brought the rat closer to being human.

Seeing the four headed wolf fight the monkey group, the rat desperately wanted to join in. But they were too weak. Basic rat intelligence could only take one so far.

To put it in the perspective of a human, no matter how smart you were, you would get blown out of the water in a fight if the other person had a tank or advanced tools of war, and they somewhat competently knew how to use them.

Of course, the optimal course of action was to have a balanced set of intelligence and weaponry. If one was using weaponry too advanced for their intellect, they wouldn't get good value out of it, and would be at risk of being injured.

On the other hand, if you gave a genius a primitive weapon such as a rock, they would be able to get the maximum value out of it, but they would be wasting their potential on a sub-par weapon.

The rat now needed the weaponry. It had already reached its weak body's capacity of weaponry.

The rat wanted more. It needed a weapon.

Wanting to indulge in a battle environment, the rat set out to see the wreckage of the battlefield. The rat ran along the river, using its slight vision in the dark in order to find his way between the two forests.

The rat eventually reached the wreckage of the battlefield.

There were four bodies on the battlefield.

The first two bodies were of the dead junior monkeys. Their corpses were burnt to a crisp, black flesh resting on charred bones. They were destroyed by the beams produced by the wolf.

Scanning the battlefield, the surrounding trees were subject to a similar fate. They were blackened and withered, in a horrible condition.

The other two bodies were the bodies of the wolf and the elder fleshmonkey.

Surprisingly, both of them were still alive.

Observing the scene from afar, the rat could hear faint panting from the wolf, and shallow laughter from the monkey.

The wolf was close to death. It had been heavily afflicted by the flesh manipulation of the fleshmonkeys. It was missing two of its legs, and two of the heads were deceased. Only the one on top of the back and the main head remained. The two side heads had been mangled, turning into twisted fleshy masses by the monkeys.

The back half of the body of the wolf was modified as well. It had strange growths reaching out, and it no longer had any skin on it.

It was clear that the wolf was on its last breaths.

The monkey was in a similarly poor position. It had been partially burnt, the dark red fur singed to a crisp. The monkey yet had life in it.

The ability to heal itself was a massive benefit that the monkey had. It had potential to live.

The rat observed, and understood the consequences of battle. The rat had yet to experience defeat, so seeing it firsthand like this increased its comprehension of battle.

Despite having this desire for battle, the rat lacked actual experience. The only reason it had capped out its battle potential was because the battle potential of a skinny rat with one eye was extremely limited.

Sensing no danger, the rat approached the monkey. He had no interest in the wolf. The rat didn't want to associate with people who lost.

The rat eventually came before the monkey. The size difference was evident. The monkey was eight feet tall, where the rat was barely eight inches long. The monkey at this moment was resting against a tree in concentration. They were healing their wounds meticulously through magic.

The monkeys eyes wear closed. The rat wanted it to acknowledge him.

HSSSSSSSSSS

The rat attempted to make a noise that would bring attention to the monkey.

The monkey opened its eyes and glared at the rat.

The rat glared back. At this moment, they were equal in power due to the injuries of the monkey. The monkey could likely not even stand up.

The monkey laboriously put its hand on the ground, and beckoned the rat.

The rat obliged, going onto the palm of the hand of the monkey.

The monkey slowly brought the rat to its eye level.

Suddenly, the monkey took its other hand to its face.

It took its forefinger and thumb, and reached onto its face. It placed one finger above its eye, one finger below.

SHOOOM

With one smooth motion, the monkey cracked into its face, and ripped out the eye.

OOOOEEEEEEEEEEE

The monkey let out a shriek as it did so.

The monkey then gripped the eye, hiding it under its fist.

After a second of concentration, the monkey opened its fist, revealing a tiny eye. It had shrunken the eye.

The rat understood. It jumped off of the monkeys hand, and onto the ground. It then took a small stick in the forest, and punctured its eye, ripping it out.

Climbing back up the monkey, it took the eye, and placed it inside.

With one last effort, the monkey used its energy to fuse the eye to the rat.

The monkey then let out its last bit of life, dying against the tree.

The rat was no longer blind to the world in the world.