**** Theodore's POV ****
After our training and a bit more talking, Hailey went to her own home, to talk with her parents. After she left, my order for clothes arrived. Putting on the new clothes, which were of higher quality than I had bought before, I felt good again. I prepared myself mentally, and then opened my system. I chose the Easy difficulty, and was transported inside a familiar cave.
The difference though was that the cave was now much more open, and there were different tunnels leading out. The tunnels had torches hung in the walls, however they were still ominous looking, regardless of the light. I equipped my gear, and walked to grab a torch.
[Monsters will be spawned in 10 seconds.]
[9]
...
As it counted down, I thought about how much better my life was. I also thought about a certain girl I had just met, and a smile came to my face. I hoped she would meet me again, we had exchanged numbers so I was thinking of messaging her as soon as I came out of the dungeon.
'No, I WILL message her when I come out, but first I will need to focus on surviving this dungeon.'
[3]
[2]
[1]
I watched with bated breath for the monsters to materialize, however I didn't see anything, which made me worry. The monsters seemed to have spawned in random positions or all together maybe, but they definitely spawned somewhere else.
This made more sense when I thought about it, with increasing difficulty the likelihood of defeating them in head-on confrontations were low. As I readied myself to explore the tunnel I was in, I heard a low shuffling of footsteps. I looked in the direction of the sound, and I saw a Goblin heading towards me. I put the torch back in place, and brought my shield up. I got into a lower stance and prepared to fight.
The Goblin ran at me, seemingly underestimating me. I guess I never got to test the intelligence, or lack of, from the first goblin since it was berserk. I caught the Goblin's club with my shield, and stabbed out at its unprotected body at the same time.
*Squelch*
My sword stab was met with resistance, however it was only the resistance of flesh versus steel. The Goblin had been stabbed in the heart. It stood stunned, before it finally went limp and weighed down on my sword. I pushed the creature off my sword, with my shield.
'The training definitely paid off. Even with my heart pounding in my chest, I am able to make sound decisions in battle now.'
After I replayed the battle in my mind, I remembered my system, and I checked for an item.
[Novice Leather Boots (Grey) obtained.]
That's good, the boots offered a .01 increase to my strength, bringing me to almost having the strength of one and a half men. I then set out to find more goblins. I began my hunt.
—---
[Broken Club (Trash) obtained.]
[Dirty Loincloth (Trash) obtained.]
[Small Pouch (Grey) obtained.]
[Copper Ore obtained.]
[Watering Can be obtained.]
[Broken Dagger (Trash) obtained.]
[Iron Necklace (Trash) obtained.]
I guess not all drops would be useful, but at least I wish I wouldn't get their dirty loincloth. What was I realistically going to do with that thing?
[Whetstone (Grey) obtained.]
I brushed away the system message as I pulled out my sword from the final Goblin in the dungeon. The goblins were too easy at this level. I simply relied on using my shield to block, and stabbing out at their defenseless torsos when I did. They had no tactics or strategies, which made hunting them much easier. I still felt a little guilty, because I had to wonder where these creatures came from. Were they just mindless projections created to facilitate growth, or were they taken from somewhere else. Perhaps they even had families...
As my mind went to darker places, I was transported back to my new home. I was in my bedroom that I was in before I went into the dungeon, and I took a look at myself in the mirror. I was very different than I was a couple days ago. I was still not muscular, but now I definitely saw some improvements. I opened my status to look at the numerical values.
[Stats
Strength: 1.0 (+0.4)
Agility: 1
Intellect: 3.0 (+0.1)
Charisma: 1
]
The Body Restoration potion had brought my physical Stats to the average adult male, but my Intellect remained higher than the average person. I was still unsure of the true value of Intellect, however for now I only felt as though I were a little smarter than most people.
I admired my average looks for a little longer before ordering some food. I was only in the dungeon for two hours, but I had been tense the whole time. I took a short break to relax myself again, before heading back into the dungeon. I selected Easy, again, and cleared it. I received only Trash, but I was gaining valuable fighting experience. I repeated this process, when on my tenth clear I received a notification.
[10 dungeons cleared! Absorbed enough energy to upgrade System to Level 2. Personal Levelling feature unlocked, Class feature unlocked, and Skills feature unlocked. Access to Level 2 Shop has been acquired.]
[Stats have been expanded.]
[Skill Creation Ticket obtained.]