Chapter 1: Game Over

  The last thing he remembered was the electric jolt.

  One second, Hiro was slipping on the Apple Vision Pro, his neural chip synced to full capacity. A legendary dungeon event had just dropped in MythRaiders: Eternal Delve, and he wasn't about to miss it. Lights flared, system prompts shimmered in his view, and the buzz of virtual immersion crawled up his spine.

  Then-darkness.

  Not the usual loading screen.

  Not respawn.

  Just... void.

  Suddenly, a faint white glow emerged in front of him. A massive screen blinked into existence.

  > [SYSTEM INITIALIZING...] [ERROR: USER NEURAL LINK FAILURE] [FATAL ELECTRIC SHOCK DETECTED] [BRAIN SIGNAL: TERMINATED]

  > [YOU HAVE DIED.]

  > [TRANSMIGRATION INITIATED.] [WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF KAER'THAL.] [RACE: RAT - INFANT.]

  "WHAT?!" he screamed-but it came out as a squeaky, pitiful squeak.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Tiny limbs flailed in panic. He was lying on a bed of damp straw. His nose twitched uncontrollably. Fur. Whiskers. A tail.

  He was a rat.

  The screen didn't go away.

  > [CLASS: NONE. LVL: 1. TITLE: THE UNFORTUNATE.]

  "System!" he cried. "This has to be a bug! A rat?! I'm gonna isekai YOU if you don't fix this!"

  > [ERROR. SYSTEM INTERPRETS THREAT. CALCULATING DEFENSE PARAMETERS...]

  > [...]

  > [SYSTEM APOLOGIZES. TRANSMIGRATION ERROR. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A HERO. ALLOCATION MISROUTED TO SUBSPECIES.]

  "Fix it!"

  > [UNABLE TO COMPLY. ONLY PATH FORWARD: EVOLVE. SURVIVE. ASCEND.]

  His new rodent heart thumped in his chest. He could still see the neon faint of his old HUD, faded but flickering. He was in a new world. But not as a warrior, not as a knight, not even as a peasant.

  He was a squeaky, furless, pink-footed newborn rat.

  ---