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2024-10-29 19:42:56[Quest]
[Defeat the Demon Wolf]
[You have successfully defeated the demon wolf.]
[Quest Rewards]
[You have gained a level and received 1 gold.]
Caleb wasn't sure what to feel as he looked at the messages hovering over him. He didn't know how long he had been out, but it must have been a couple hours at least, as night had already fallen in the time he had been unconscious. Honestly, he was lucky that nothing else had shown up while he was out cold. Then it would be really over for him.
"System. Explain," he said as he stood up to investigate the corpse.
[What is your query?]
He could feel the veins in his head pulsating as he said, "Everything. You've barely explained anything since I arrived here. Start from the very beginning."
[Since the beginning of time, angels and demons have waged war...]
"I don't mean that." The last thing he needed was for the system to relegate the entire prologue of the video game to him. "I mean, explain why I'm here and how to use the system."
[The user was selected based on a set of criteria.]
"What does that mean?" Caleb said as he prodded the corpse.
[It means that the user was deemed suitable to cross into this world. However, upon further analysis, it was confirmed that the user was mistakenly brought here.]
Caleb froze. "Excuse me?"
[The user was not meant to be brought here.]
"Are you kidding me? Then what did you say I was supposed to be here?" he said as he waved his paws at the system. "You know what. Never mind. Just send me back!"
[That is currently not possible. The user has already been integrated into the new world.]
"This is some sick joke," he muttered to himself.
While it was true that he had fantasized several times in the past about going to another world, he didn't really mean it. At least in his fantasies, he was overpowered and had a harem. He was currently neither powerful nor would it be possible for him to build a harem. No girl would want a rat as a lover. If he did encounter one, then he would be highly concerned.
[If that is what the user wishes, then the system will help.]
"How will you do that exactly?" he asked dryly.
[The system was specifically designed as a consolation for the user for their circumstances. With the power of the system, the user can become more powerful than the heroes and build a harem if the user wishes.]
He felt slightly better after hearing that, but he wasn't completely satisfied. "I don't know about the last part. I don't want to date a bunch of demon rats just because I am one now."
[The user can obtain a humanoid form if the user's level is high enough.]
"Why didn't you say that before? What level do I need to be?" he asked as he jumped up and down.
[The user would need to at least reach level 25.]
Caleb grimaced as he checked his stats. "That's going to be difficult."
[Caleb Gonzales]
[Level 2]
[Species: Demon Rat]
[Strength: 2]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Stamina: 2]
[Endurance: 3]
[Dexterity: 5]
[Mana: 7]
What a joke. He leveled up, but his stats didn't change in the slightest. Then what was the point of leveling up? Fortunately, he didn't stay angry, as he saw there was actually more information if he scrolled down, saying he had available stat points he could use. Available skills were also listed on the bottom, and he scanned the very short list.
[Skills]
[Fireball]
[Level 1]
[Create a ball of fire that can be launched at enemies.]
Well, he wasn't sure what he was expecting to be on the list other than [Fireball]. He couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing that running and hiding weren't counted as skills. Caleb didn't miss how [Fireball] was still only at level one despite having used it twice to the point of collapsing. The description also left much to be desired.
Speaking of which, Caleb recalled something the system mentioned earlier and said, "System, you mentioned something about past lives. Explain."
[The user's soul was scanned for its history. Older souls will have many past lives, while younger souls may not have lived a previous life yet. The system was granted permission to use that information and integrate it into the user's current life.]
"So you're saying that I was a mage in a previous life? That's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie," he said.
[However, it's also the reason why you should have been disqualified. The user's current form is the result of the same soul occupying the same space and time.]
Wait, are you saying I'm here?" And wasn't that a doozy.
[Correct. Another version of the user already exists as a 'hero'. Therefore, the user was integrated into this world as a demon rat.]
He was still trying to wrap his mind around how there were two of him. Honestly, it was beginning to feel like a sci fi movie instead of a fantasy w******l. It better not end up like those stories about doppelgängers where only one of them could live because there was no way he would be able to take on his other self in his current state.
[The user will not have to worry about that. Since the user has been modified to a different species, there will be no problems with both coexisting.]
Hooray for small mercies. "Okay, is there anything else you haven't forgotten to tell me? I don't want there to be any more surprises. For example, how to use my past lives. I would have preferred they just sent me back instead."
The last part he had mumbled to himself as he turned his attention back to the corpse because it was seriously dumb of them to change his species instead of just sending him back. He couldn't see how the system thought that would be the best course of action. He would gladly sue if he could for his poor treatment, but he doubted that would fly with them.
[That is currently not possible. The user has already been integrated into the new world. The user will have to level up before it is possible to return to his world.]
His head snapped back to the system. "Hold on. You didn't mention the last part before. Why do I have to level up to leave? Couldn't you just put me back?"
[When the user was brought here, resources were used. In order to return the user, a greater quantity of resources would need to be used. As such, the user must gather them in order to successfully return.]
"What level do I have to be at in order to return?" he asked.
[In order to return permanently, the user must reach level 100.]
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Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race Chapter 7: Recruiting Followers
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Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race Chapter 8: Asserting Dominance
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Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race Chapter 9: Forming a Rat Demon Army
Caleb was hesitant to let go. It could be a trick, and the larger demon rat was just waiting for him to release it. He didn't want to take the chance and continued to sink his teeth. It was only after a message stating he had completed the quest popped up that he dared to relax. Removing his teeth from the corpse, he noticed that they had gathered a crowd.A legion of demon rats were staring at him, and the sight unnerved him. He felt as if they were ready to pounce on him at any given moment. Karen also let go of the corpse and joined his side, making him feel slightly better about it, but they wouldn't be able to do much with just the two of them. Even if they were slightly stronger, the others had the advantage in numbers.For now, it seemed like they weren't going to do anything to them, so he took the opportunity to look over the message he had received for defeating the demon rat. If he was lucky, he would have leveled up, so he was getting more stat points to improve his stats.
Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race Chapter 10: Building Rat Demon Army
Caleb took his words back after trying to organize his newly formed rat demon army to obey his commands. While the skills he had obtained certainly helped him quite a bit, it wasn't that simple to get them to do what he wanted. Their intelligence was simply too low. Just looking at their stats made him grimace, as they might as well be regular rats. They wouldn't make very good meat shields."Karen, you really are the only one I can count on," Caleb said as he faced his companion, who was helping deal with some rats causing trouble.As if hearing him call her, she looked back at him as her whiskers twitched. He waved his paw at her to let her know he didn't need her right away. She returned to what she was doing as he considered what he needed to do to build his rat demon army properly. Obviously, he needed to increase their intelligence enough so they could understand other commands other than attack and eat.Unfortunately, he had no way to do it. They couldn't exactly attack other de
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Latest Chapter
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Author's Note 2
Hello, I just wanted to inform everyone here who had been following Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race that I'm going to be rewriting/editing it for eBook, paperback, etc.I figured that since this work was never marked complete when it was supposd to back in January, I might as well post another author's note here.I will try to keep everyone up to date on when the first book will be released here on my currently updating stories and on F******k.If anyone's interested in beta reading for me, please contact me through F******k since I have no idea how to contact anyone on here.I'm also thinking about redoing the covers again.
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Author's Note
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along for so long. Caleb's story has ended, which means I currently don't have any stories being written on the platform at this moment.I feel like my writing style has changed since I first started writing on Meganovel, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. We shall see how much more it changes.Anyway, there are several things that I want to let you know.I'm a bit sad that Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race didn't get as much love as my other stories, but there could be many factors that could have contributed to it. Maybe in the future I'll do a rewrite or remake of it since I still like the idea.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.As for a new story, I'm still debating on what story I want to do. My plan is to have at least one ex
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Chapter 190: A New Beginning
"Have you heard? They say a new demon king has appeared," someone whispered in the streets."How can that be? Wasn't the demon king killed before they could become the demon king?" another whispered."Well, the demons are acting differently compared to after the previous demon kings died," a person said.Caleb pulled down his hood even more as he passed by the gossiping crowd. He had only stepped away from the castle to catch his breath. It had been months since he had returned to this world, and he had so much work to catch up on that it wasn't even a joke. So much had happened that it felt surreal. There were still plenty of demons defying him.They still couldn't believe he was the new demon king. Caleb could understand why. He hadn't become the demon king the proper way, so it was natural that they were suspicious of his claims despite all the support he received. Even with support, there were some who simply didn't care. Bringing the demons together was a difficult job.He didn't
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 189: Resolving Matters
Caleb didn't like the sound of that. Why was the fake laughing? It was obviously at the end of its rope. There was no way it could stand a chance against all of them. Something wasn't right. As the smoke cleared, his face curled in disgust at the sight, and he wasn't the only one. He could feel Grace lean towards him as if trying to hide from the sight.The fake could barely be called alive. Its body was fraying at the seams, and the skin was peeling off. The fact that it was still standing was unreal. It was really a gruesome sight that would have made him sick if it had been the him from before he showed up in this world. He was a bit unnerved and worried about what the fake would do next."It looks like it's my loss. I had really hoped to get rid of you, but it looks like I'll just have to wait for another opportunity to arise. You got lucky," the fake said.Just as those words left the fake's deformed mouth, bats swarmed around it. None of them could see what was happening, but th
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 188: Return
"Do you think the human will really return with our new demon king?" Lisa asked as she leaned back against the wall. "He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it before.""Who can say?" Takisha said as she brushed her hair back. "We can only wait for the results.""It's not like he would make a good demon king anyway," Ruth said with a huff."Are you going to try to kill him if he returns?" Mildred asked."Of course not," she snapped before she muttered the next part to herself. "It's not like you'll let me.""Shouldn't you be more honest with yourself? He actually grew on you," Lisa said with a smirk.Ruth hissed. "You're one to talk. You think the same."Lisa scowled, but she didn't argue against it. She wasn't the only one feeling some attachment. Well, it wasn't exactly an attachment. Takisha and Mildred barely knew much about him. They had only known each other briefly. However, that didn't diminish their interest in him. It was the only reason why they weren't eager to kill him off
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 187: Escape
Caleb's body moved to shield her. He grunted as he felt the bullet strike his side. Fortunately, it didn't hit anything vital, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Grace was screaming his name and rushing to his side as the fake waved the gun around with a bored expression on its face. Caleb pressed a hand to the injury and felt blood coat his hand."I guess that didn't work out. Let's try again," the fake said as they raised their gun again.Suddenly, the duo found themselves falling through the air before hitting the ground hard. Caleb wheezed as he landed on his injured side. He rolled onto his back to relieve the pressure and catch his breath. Grace was quickly at his side, casting her healing magic on him again. He could feel the telltale signs of her magic working before it stopped."What? Oh, no," Grace muttered as she cast again.This time, the effect was even shorter. Caleb could still feel his injury bleeding out. For some reason, her healing magic wasn't working properly
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 186: Brawl
It was silent as Caleb and the fake Grace stared at each other. The real Grace glanced between the two of them, wondering what she was supposed to do. This was beyond anything she had expected when the system assigned the quest. She had thought it was a strangely easy task at first, but she quickly realized it wasn't as simple as she first thought.At first, she couldn't go herself. When she saw the restriction, she had thought she had misread it. However, the words didn't change, no matter how much she looked at them. The system had really told her that she couldn't go personally, even though it said she had to find him and convince him to come back. Luckily, she was able to convince the four demon women to go.Grace had been worried that they wouldn't listen, but they strangely went along with her request. When she had asked why, they all gave a different response. In the end, they all wanted the same thing, which was to have him back. That was good enough for her. With their help,
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 185: Catching Up
Caleb grunted as they reappeared in a different location and crashed into the ground. Apparently, Grace had teleported them away from the danger. Unfortunately, she hadn't done a good job at it, which was why he was currently in pain. Ignoring the pain and getting to his feet, he took a look at their surroundings. He didn't recognize where they were.Looking back at Grace, he said, "I have so many questions that I have no idea where to begin.""You asked how I got here, well, I got a little help from the system," she said.He frowned. "The system helped you?""It assigned me a quest to find you and convince you to return," Grace said."I see," he said.Even though the system did say it would help him return home, it didn't say it wouldn't get someone
- Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race
Chapter 184: Trap
As they sat in the car, Caleb couldn't stop feeling uneasy about the whole thing. This was probably the first time he had ever gotten in the car without someone who wasn't family. It felt odd, and he didn't know what to do about the atmosphere. Caleb wanted to break the silence, but he didn't know what to talk about. He obviously couldn't bring up the other world.There were several reasons why that simply wouldn't work. One was that this fake Grace wouldn't know about it. At least he didn't think she did. She would just think he was crazy, which led to the second reason. Even if she did know about it, they weren't alone in the car. Talking about the other world in front of others was just not the smart thing to do.Caleb kept glancing at Grace out of the corner of his eye, but she didn't even look in his direction. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, with a blank expression on her fac
