Kaiser of the New World

The rat, which had been scurrying across the icy floor, instantly stopped moving, making Kai grin wildly.

While the second aspect of his Innate Ability might have been completely nullified, he could still use the first aspect of it.

Clearing his throat, Kai looked back at the rat and thought for a moment on what to do. A few moments later, he had decided.

Even though fourteen sleeps had passed, Umbra still had not woken up, which Kai was a little upset about.

If she had woken up by now, Kai would have sent her to explore the surrounding areas of his cell. While he could have just had Cecilia do it, she had to make sure that she didn't get caught down here, so it was a bit too risky.

But since they were in the bottom of the castle, which would presumably be damp and dreary, it seemed entirely possible that there would be a rat roaming around.

"Come here."

The rat, unable to disobey, instantly started making its way over to Kai. He could tell by the way that the rodents body was trembling that it was scared, but that just made Kai smile softly.

Once the rat had entered his cell, Kai held out his hand as a marker for the rodent. The rat approached Kai's hand before lying down, almost as if it was bowing.

"Hey little guy..."

Kai reached out and softly petted the rat, making it flinch in response. But he didn't stop.

To be honest, Kai was in awe of how clean the rat was. The rats he had seen above ground were all dirty and disgusting, but this one was spotless. Even its fur felt nice to touch.

Kai then picked up the rat and held it up to his face, looking the rat in its black eyes.

"Nod your head if you can understand me."

The rat was frozen in fear after Kai lifted it up, making him think he was wasting his time.

At least, he had thought that until the rat slowly nodded its head.

Creatures really are smart in the Multiverse.

"Alright then." Kai said as he softly lowered the rat back onto the ground beside him. "I'm going to make you a deal."

The rat, seemingly a little calmer, looked up at Kai, making him smile again. This rodent really was a little cutie, he couldn't understand why people hated them.

Actually, if all rats were like the ones above ground, he could definitely understand why people hated them.

"I will give you lots of food, every day, as long as you do a little exploring and tell me what you see."

It wasn't a loss on Kai's part. He wasn't going to give the rat any of his stir-fry, he was going to give the rat the moldy bread he got given every sleep. If the rat wanted, it could also have the broth that came along with the bread. Kai wasn't that fond of it anyway.

As for how the rat was meant to describe what it had seen even though Kai's Telepathy was locked away, he was sure the rodent would be able to figure something out, it was a smart little thing.

The rat's eyes lit up in response to the proposition, making Kai smile again. He reached out and started petting the rodent again, his smile growing when the rat leaned into the touch.

And like that, Kai had secured his very own secret spy with only bits of moldy bread as an offer. Well, that, and a little threat, considering he had used his Innate Ability to stop it from running away in the first place.

After a couple of minutes, Kai began to realise that the rat was shivering. It must have not meant to have spent this much time down here, it had probably just gotten lost or something.

But Kai saw this as an oppurtunity to further increase his proficiency of Soul Flame.

Keeping his hand on the rodent, Kai took a deep breath and attempted to coat the rat in the green flames.

It took much more control to do, considering that the flames had the innate ability to burn anything that wasn't Kai, but he managed after about five minutes.

It was slightly difficult to do, as Kai had never done it before, but it took much less time considering that rat's body was much smaller than Kai's own.

The rat panicked for a moment before recognising the flames were keeping it warm and not actually burning it.

Letting out a few squeaks, the rat laid down beside Kai's leg, closing its eyes in the process.

"Hmm... I should probably name you."

Racking his brain, Kai went through his memory for any sort of name that would suit a rat.

And there was one very obvious answer.

"Remy, your name is Remy."

Remy squeaked softly, its tail wagging like that of a dog, making Kai sigh.

What was up with the animals around him acting like dogs. Even though it was understandable that Umbra acted like one, considering that she was a wolf, but this was a rat.

It wasn't like it was the end of the world though, so Kai let the matter drop there.

After that, Kai set up his own flames and got back to Statshifting. It was good training, the fact he had to keep his own and Remy's flames constantly lit while Statshifting at the same time, it kept his mind active, kept him awake.

He wasn't sure how far his gains would go in these remaining sixteen sleeps, but he was sure that they would most definitely be worth the effort, especially all the work he was putting into Statshifting.

Hours passed like that, him Statshifting and Remy sleeping. Even though he had told the rat that it would have to go exploring, there was no rush. It was helping with Kai's training just by being there, so there was no harm.

After a couple of hours, Kai heard the familiar footsteps and clanging of armour that indicated dinner. He let his flames die out as Remy hid behind his back, not wanting to get spotted.

The guard delivering the meal didn't say anything, as always, they just pushed the tray through the bars of ice and walked away, leaving Kai to his own machinations.

Once they were gone, Remy came out and looked at the tray before looking back at Kai with beady eyes.

Kai simply smiled in response.

"It's all yours."

Kai watched as Remy pounced onto the food, eating it without hesitation. He was also a little surprised when he saw the rodent start drinking the broth, but Kai wasn't going to be having that anyway, so who cared?

More hours passed. Kai continued to Statshift as Remy fell asleep again after eating.

Kai was slowly starting to see more gains, a couple of seconds getting knocked off with each flame ignited, while there would be small increases in his Statshifting each time.

Then, he was snapped out of his Statshifting frenzy by the familair sound of someone else's footsteps, only this time he didn't have to let his flames die out.

"Hey Cecilia."

Cecilia smiled softly as she stood in front of Kai's cell. She slowly kneeled down and pushed the tray in between two of the bars of ice with a single hand.

"Hello, Sir. I see that you are keeping warm- Ahh!"

After letting go of the tray, Cecilia caught sight of the rat and practically launched herself backwards, falling onto the ice behind her.

Remy jumped awake at the promotion, only to see a terrified girl pointing at them.

"S-Sir... There is a rat beside you."

Kai grinned as he picked Remy up.

"I know. This is Remy, they're going to act as my spy in exchange for some bread."

Cecilia stared at him blankly.

"B-but it's a rat..."

Kai placed Remy back down before saying:

"A very smart rat. Watch this, Remy, do a spin."

Remy let out a small squeak before spinning around in a circle. They then climbed up on Kai's shin and stood on its hind legs, striking a pose as it looked at Cecilia.

Cecilia fell silent as she stared at the rat, but Kai knew she still felt a little uncomfortable about the rat.

Sighing, Kai picked up Remy and brought the rat to his face, looking his new partner in crime in their eyes.

"Alright buddy, now is your time to shine. I want you to go explore, go find something that could be of use. If you do, I'll make sure that you're properly fed."

Remy looked back into Kai's eyes, determined to make his guardian angel and food provider proud. They let out a resolute squeak before jumping out of Kai's palm and running out of the cell, out of sight.

Sighing, Cecilia composed herself and crawled over to the cell. It was only then that Kai noticed she was acting kind of off.

Like the fact she was deathly pale, and kind of sweating. Was she sick or something?

"Are you okay?" Kai frowned as he asked.

Cecilia opened her mouth and responded instantly.

"I'm fine, it's just..."

Kai then noticed that this whole time, she had kept one hand behind her back, making him think she was hiding something.

But before he could ask, Cecilia pulled her hand from behind her back and revealed what she had been hiding.

In her hand was a small cupcake, with a singular lit candle in it.

Kai looked down at it, before looking back up at Cecilia and noticing the slight blush on her cheeks.

"I... uh... I know its late, but you missed your birthday while under the hex. So... Happy belated birthday."