The Underground - Year 830
"If you're not gonna pay, get out!"
A tubby middle aged man grabbed me by the scruff of my ragged clothes and tossed me out the door of a decrepit slum.
I landed with a thud on the cold stone floor, clutching at my only possession, a pouch with a measly few coins.
Living in this world for eight years, I knew the day would come where I have to fend for myself.
Most kids in my position live on the streets here anyways.
After all, this is the world of AOT, I don't expect anything to get better.
Yes, I was reincarnated into the Attack on Titan.
But what makes matters even worse was that I was born in the underground.
A place with no sunlight, thugs walk around casually and crime is rife.
At least I'm safe from the invasion in the year 845 right?
That's presuming I make it that far into the future.
People in the underground are simply seen as a scourge.
A life so meaningless that if you somehow managed to make it to the surface, you wouldn't even be considered a citizen; a being who doesn't exist in the eyes of society.
Anyways, now that I'm officially homeless, I'm really starting to contemplate the predicament I've been transmigrated into.
"What are you staring at kid! Get out already!"
***
"My legs ache so much."
I've been walking for hours, navigating sketchy pillars and alleyways one after another.
Everytime I enter a potential spot, it's either occupied already by children or controlled by the street thugs.
But at last I've found a spot to sleep for the night.
It's in the gap between two houses in the slums.
"I guess this suspicious looking spot should do for now… AAH! What is that thing?!"
Squeak Squeak
A massive rat was scurrying around, baring its two front teeth at me.
"How is it so big?!"
Searching around in a panic, I picked up the first thing I could find on the ground.
Fortunately a sharp pebble was lying around so I threw it at the rat.
Thwack!
The stone hurtled into the rat's head, it let out a squeal, squirmed around in agony for a while, then shuddered before ceasing to move.
[ Ding! First blood Achievement Unlocked!
— Reward:
('Reckoning Online' System) ]
{Activating Status Panel 0%…. 50%….. 100%!}
[ + 10 XP ]
"!!! A System?!"
After eight grueling years in this dump, I actually got the coveted transmigrator cheat.
Without sparing a moment, I called out 'system' in my mind and just like magic, a translucent blue panel gleamed in front of my eyes.
In addition to that, it wasn't just any generic status panel , it was one I am extremely familiar with from my previous life.
[ Lucian Edelhart]
HP: 5/5
SP: 5/5
Class: Vagrant
Level 1 -> 2
Skills: (None)
XP: 10/50
Attribute Points:
Vigor: 1
Focus : 1
Endurance: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
]
"This really is the same user interface from Reckoning online!"
Reckoning Online, the game I played in my previous life.
I poured hours upon hours grinding on Reckoning.
It was a cliché yet enticing open world RPG, where you invade dungeons, fight bosses and level up your character.
And like many other online games it included a competitive PVP scene. In fact, I even made it to the top one hundred players at one point.
But my glory was short lived, the countless sleepless days and poor eating habits quickly accumulated.
My desire to maintain my position in the top one hundred on the leaderboard caused me to neglect my health.
Long consecutive hours of playing and suddenly standing up is not a good idea apparently.
My body slammed into my desk and contorted in a pitiful way.
Paralysed from the neck down, I died a slow death.
Sigh… Just remembering it makes me frustrated, I should've taken more breaks.
To make matters worse my lasts words were really , "Gotta delete... search history."
After I spoke those sacred words, the next thing I remembered, was waking up, staring at an unfamiliar woman with hands far smaller than I expected.
I tried to speak but what came out were incoherent gargles.
My first thoughts were ' is this a dream?'
But reality settled in quickly and I pieced together from the little I could gather as an infant about this world.
My mother told me random stories here and there about how I was in an underground slum, above me were walls protecting humanity from the titans.
Tales above ground of a survey corps who perform reconnaissance missions, returning with lost limbs, the royal family living in the city above, the fanatic church and their religion. All of these horror stories that coalesced into one conclusion.
I reincarnated into none other than the wretched world of Attack On Titan.
Had I been born a nobleman in the inner walls, the shock would've been lessened.
But I was born as a peasant at the very bottom of the social ladder.
I'm merely but an extra born to a single mother in the slums.
Shortly after my birth my mother was too sick to work, so she used the little money she had, to rent a cheap house in the slums from a sketchy man.
Sadly after eight years, my mother in this world died to a work related illness.
I locked myself in the house for a couple of weeks in grief but with no rent money the owner eventually decided to kick me out.
Looking at the bright side I got a status panel now.
Currently my class is vagrant which has no skills at all.
There's only one option for me to choose in terms of my class.
'Reckoning' had a complicated class system where the skills you chose dictated your class.
Characters start off as the vagrant class and as the player levels up, several pathways on the skill tree unlocks.
For example my main class in the game 'Thief', the initial skills required were : [Quickstep], [Backstab] and [Conceal]
But in order to unlock skills in the first place, I need XP.
In the game, hostile monsters gave XP.
But this is no longer a game, there's no hostile monsters from 'Reckoning' roaming in this world.
But with the rat event, it seems the system registers any living being that poses a reasonable threat like the rat as monsters?
I wonder how much XP I could get from a titan?
***
Clink!
A half empty bottle dropped to the floor removing me from my thoughts.
"W-What are you doing in the next to my house you dirty little pest." A drunkard thug barely slurred out.
'… so this is his house.'
In order to survive situations like these, the most optimal solution is to be polite and leave as quickly as possible.
" Sorry, I'll leave right away, I just got kicked out of my home, I don't know this was your house."
This should work right?
Frowning, he began walking towards me with an unbalanced gait and a malicious grin.
"Haha, that's fine but you think I can't hear your coins rattling in that little pouch of yours? I think I deserve a payment for you squatting near my house."
"…"
He stretched out his hand trying to grasp me by the collar.
Smack!
I slapped his hand away before he could grab me.
As expected, he didn't take that action very kindly, his face crumpled up and he yelled with vitriol.
"Brat! Do you have any idea what you've just done?"
His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a glistening object.
Sweat trickled down my face.
"Hey look behind you!"
The idiot actually turned to where I pointed.
In that instance, I grabbed dust off the ground and launched it into his face, then swiftly darted off in the opposite direction into a road.
But suddenly I stopped.
I bumped into someone it seems.
My neck slowly cranked upwards, my eyes slowly tracing up the looming figure.
A tall man. He donned a long trench coat, a bowler hat and had a long face with piercing eyes.
"Whats going on? A little boy trying to fight a grown man?"
Can't you see me running away…
"Hey you! Is that kid yours?! Hand him over."
The man's sharp gaze briefly glanced at me, then at the thug.
After a momentary pause he muttered "I knew this was a good place to find him some practise." Whilst nudging a small figure beside him.
It was a short kid of a similar stature to me.
He was also grasping a knife.
Seriously, what's with you criminals?! Starting your kid so young!
Have I seen them before? These guys look awfully familiar…
The little kid stepped forward, lunging towards the drunken man.
Thwack!
He struck at his face, his fist jolting his head back and catapulting a tooth out of his mouth.
"Gah! What are you doing you brat!" The man yelled as he clutched his mouth.
He retaliated with a sloppy punch back at the kid.
Despite the size discrepancy, his strike was deftly parried and swiftly counterattacked, knocking him off his feet.
Damp thuds echoed as the kid punched the downed opponent.
"Levi. That's enough."
…Wait, what?! Did I hear correctly? Levi?!
Levi recognising his action as a cue to finish up, also left the scene before I could even process anything.
"Is that really the Levi I remember from the anime?!"
Then that must be Kenny Ackerman?
Should I follow them and try to get acquianted with Levi?
Is that really worth it? Everyone close to Levi is cursed and ends up dead after all.
Yeah, I should probably leave.
The last thing I want is to get close with them at all.
Kenny Ackerman ends up working for the Reiss family and Levi gets scouted by Erwin.
My goal is survival, not fighting titans.
I'll leave that to Eren Jaegar.
Anyways, before that alcoholic interrupted me, I was in the midst of farming XP.
Focusing on levelling up enough to scare thugs and becoming rich is all I need.
And when the main story goes down I'll be hiding somewhere laughing to myself as
the rumbling goes down.
…
Two days later
[+10 XP]
[+10 XP]
[+10 XP]
[+10 XP]
"Finally… the last rat is dead."
[ Level 2 Unlocked!
+1 Stat Point
+1 Skill
[ Select one skill from list below]
Two days of chasing and killing rats has gotten me completely tired and hungry.
But it was all worth it.
As expected, the same base skills choice as Reckoning.
I selected Quickstep and then put my one stat point into the vigour attribute.
[Name : Lucian Edelhart
HP: 10:10
SP: 5/5
Class: Vagrant
Level :2
Exp: 50/100
Attribute Points:
Vigor: 2
Focus : 1
Endurance: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1]
When I had pressed accept on the Vigor upgrade, a smooth cooling sensation radiated around my body, my once frail arms slightly plumped up, my skin texture smoothed and my hunger had been somewhat satiated for what felt like the first, in a very long time.
After levelling my vigour I selected the quickstep skill.
In the game quickstep was extremely useful.
Allowing you to traverse the map with speed.
If I can utilise Quickstep correctly, snatching food from an unsuspecting vendor should be a breeze.
I called out 'Quickstep' in my mind and I felt an almost instinctual like ability imprinted into my muscles.
I took a deep breath and leaned down slightly.
Swish!
In a blur, my figure dashed forward, my feet skidded across the floor seamlessly as I delicately regained my balance.
"Woah… That was way better than I expected!"
Woosh!
Woosh!
Woosh!
I darted around testing out my new skill.
"I was expecting for it to be fast but not this fast. With this speed I can easily snatch food without anyone noticing."
But suddenly, my mind became groggy and my limbs drooped involuntarily.
"Huh… what happened? Why am I so tired."
I checked my status panel and noticed my SP (Skill Points) had dropped to zero.
"Is this what it feels like to be drained of SP? I can barely even move!"
In the game SP was recovered by sleep or potions.
I guess I should hold off from doing anything until tommorow then.