you make a living by being patient, by slowly working up the scale of what you can achieve until you are killing Tefusangs. Also, think about it in a roleplaying/reality way: You\'re killing rats with a sword or axe? Sometimes you will have punctured the rat\'s hide too many times for it to be valuable for Old Harny to make armour out of it, sometimes the eye\'s might be unsuitable for making potions and sometimes you cut off the tail and don\'t want to fish for it in the thick diseased muck flowing in the sewer.
Rats are not the only source of income. They are however the first source of income. I went to the dungeons to kill thugs before the wipe, I\'ll have to do the same rat-slaying as you. Just deal with it until you can buy a pickaxe or are strong enough to kill other creatures.
Xirius
