After the rats came far enough out of the nest for Mitch to easily catch them, he rushed forward. With his speed, the rats stood no chance.
He swooped all of them up and dropped them into the pit. Mitch had even lined the walls and ground of the pit with rough stone slabs he had carved out.
The rats tried escaping in various ways after being dropped in. Some tried to dig out but couldn't because of the rocks. Others tried climbing, but Mitch had placed the slabs with a slight slant towards the middle, making climbing a nightmare.
Eventually, they tired themselves out.
Mitch was observing them all this time, looking for the most intelligent one. One of the rats had caught his eye very quickly.
It had looked around its new enclosure and swiftly tried all methods of escape it could think of. After realizing the futility in trying further, it had just lain down on the ground.
This rat was special; it had already adapted to the situation without any form of outside stimulus.
Mitch reached his hand into the pit and grabbed ahold of the rat that piqued his interest. He then brought it over to an isolated area he had cleared out.
The ground was bare, and Mitch had arranged a few trees he felled using his superhuman strength into a square.
He took his plate of food with him and sat down, only then releasing his hold on the rat.
Although frightened, it did not attempt to run away. It knew very well that the big monster was something that could kill it if they so pleased.
It rolled up into a ball while still keeping its eyes on Mitch, waiting to see what the situation led to.
Mitch nodded inwardly and opened the rat's stats.
[Name: - (Brown Rat)]
[Power System: Devouring—Body Strengthening (2%)]
[Mutations: Locked]
[Faith: - ]
As opposed to Madeline, the rat had quite the bare window.
He prodded the ant a few times to gauge its reaction, but it wouldn't budge.
Seeing no progress, he took a piece of apple and placed it in front of the specimen.
There was finally a reaction. It followed the apple piece with its eyes and started making its way over after Mitch had placed the morsel down.
It sniffed the piece a few times, trying to detect if there was anything wrong, but found nothing. Eventually, it just decided to eat it.
The piece of apple disappeared quickly, vanishing into the rat's stomach. After finishing, it looked back up at Mitch with anticipation in its eyes.
Mitch grabbed the rat and placed it back at the beginning. In the process of doing so, he also identified its gender and sighed in relief when he noticed it was a female.
He then took another apple piece and placed it at the exact same spot as before. But this time he said something too.
"Hailey."
The rat had no idea what that was supposed to mean but still made its way towards the sweet, succulent piece of apple.
Mitch repeated the process a few times, putting the apple piece further and further away every time.
Eventually, he didn't even place a treat at the end, just calling for the rat. Of course, Mitch gave her a treat if she came to him.
"How would a rat praying to you work? She doesn't even know what you're saying, just that you are calling for her."
"Just be patient, and you will see me work my magic."
He had already approximated how much Hailey could eat before she became full. According to his guess, he had adjusted the treats to appropriate amounts, hoping to finish the taming process in one try.
When he noticed the rat coming to him every time he called for her, Mitch moved on to the next step.
He called her name and waited. After she arrived, he didn't give any pieces of apple. Instead, he put some light weight on her back and said, "Beg."
Hailey still did not understand what her feeder was saying, but the slight pressure applied on her back forced her to lie down in order to not feel uncomfortable.
The moment she did, Mitch gave her another treat. The process continued for a few more times before Hailey would lie down without him needing to say anything.
"Nope… doesn't seem to work, Mitch. We are not gaining any points from this."
But all he did was nod his head.
Mitch had expected this problem to present itself. Hailey couldn't understand him. She also didn't know that Mitch was a Khad that needed praying to.
Without that piece of information, her "prayer" had nothing anchoring it to him.
He had to adopt another approach.
"Hailey. Praise Lord Mitch."
Mitch followed up his usual command with a statement at the end. He was about to ask Katherine for any changes when she burst out screaming.
"How the hell did that work!? Hey, Mitch. I think you might be a rat whisperer. Although it was just for an instant, Hailey's prayer was received. Do it a few times so I can calculate how much a rat's prayer is worth."
And that Mitch did. He kept repeating those words until Hailey stopped moving. There was nothing wrong with her, though; she had just eaten too much.
Seeing no further response, Mitch got up and started making another ground cage. But not before observing her stats again.
[Name: Hailey (Brown Rat)]
[Power System: Devouring—Body Strengthening (3%)]
[Mutations: Locked]
[Faith: Believer]
Although there were a few changes, her becoming a believer was the most important.
"Does that mean she prays to me sometimes?"
"Yep, that's exactly it. By the way, I'm done if you want to know the numbers. Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?"
Mitch thought about it for a while and decided that there was no need to spoil such a happy occasion.
"The good news."
"Well, the good news is that rats indeed are able to generate Mynt at a consistent rate. If trained more, Hailey might very well become a second Madeline."
"That is very good news. Now, what is the bad news?"
"The bad news is that you would need fifty thousand rats without any progress in Devouring to generate just one Mynt per year."
Katherine was prepared for Mitch screaming at her, to tell her that it was doomed, and all that in between. But he remained completely calm.
"That increases with their mental faculty, right? Don't worry—I have a plan. For now, let's just celebrate the progress we've achieved. At the very least, it's a start."