Ashley was talking to her mom on the phone, while I was preparing myself mentally. I had decided that after this floor, I would try to go to the gym to get some exercise. Anything that could improve my odds of surviving. However I couldn't wait to enter Floor 2. If I waited any longer, Brad could become a serious problem.
After I finished upgrading the house, I used my laptop to hack into Brad's phone. I was able to do this by sending him a malicious link, and thankfully his stupid ass clicked on it. So I now had access to his messages, and I saw some texts where he was bragging about his new powers.
He had indeed received a combat gift. It was the ability to increase his speed. While not too scary, if I couldn't hit him I was going to lose the fight. If I left him to grow, he would add more and more points to his agility.
So I had to go into the Tower and hope I got a skill that would help me in combat. If not, I would have to just catch him by surprise. I told Ashley goodbye, and that I would be back in a bit. I went into my room, and laid down. I then thought in my mind of entering the Tower, and a screen appeared before me.
[Floor 1]
[Floor 2]
[...]
[Pick one.]
I of course chose floor two, as all the other options were greyed out, except floor 1 which was available to select. It seemed Floor 1 was available to select, but it wouldn't give the first clear reward anymore. So what use was it?
"Oh right, the gold coins and the shop." I said, remembering that I hadn't used them yet.
I quickly opened the shop and began to browse items. There were many expensive items, but I couldn't afford anything decent with my money. So instead I focused on other things, like noting any items I thought were useful.
[Random Skill - 100g]
[You can get a random skill, but each time you buy it, the price will increase five times.]
I immediately bought the random skill. There was no reason not to, and it was the only thing I could afford that could help me clear the floor.
[Magic Armor (Common Rank) skill learned.]
[Magic Armor (Common Rank)][Level 1 0/1000]
[Coats the user in a layer of magical armor, capable of reducing damage taken from attacks or spells.]
[Random Skill - 500g]
I just used the rest of my gold, but I had a sneaking suspicion that killing creatures gave gold, which was why I could repeat floors. I was confused by the rank attached to this skill, when my Genius skill was not ranked.
However I would consider it at a later time, but for now I needed to clear floor 2. So I selected to enter Floor 2. After which my vision went black, and the next moment I found myself in what looked like a forest. I looked around for my apparent enemies, but I couldn't find anything. I decided to activate my new skill.
"Magic Armor."
[-20 MP]
I didn't know where the enemies were, so I activated my Magic Armor just in case. I then began to look around carefully, trying to discover what my enemies were, when I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.
It was an instinctual move, but after I threw myself forward I saw a white under belly pass over my head. After rolling slightly, I stood up and saw the enemies for the first time.
Standing seven feet away from me was a large grey wolf, eyeing me like I was dinner.
"I... Really hate how everything in this dungeon is trying to eat me." I grumbled.
I stood up, looking around while keeping my main focus on the wolf, for a weapon. It was the biggest oversight of my current situation, as I didn't have a weapon to use. I really needed to prepare better for the future.
Unfortunately the wolf wasn't going to give me time to find a weapon, as if lunged at me when I had glanced away.
I saw the wolf coming at me this time, it's speed still very fast, but I was able to move to the side a little dodging it's claws from a fatal hit to my throat.
But it didn't dodge it completely.
[Magic Armor blocks 5 DMG.]
[-15 HP]
"Ugh!" I was holding my collar. There were three slashes now, leaking fresh blood.
It seemed that while I was looking down on the wolf, for being an animal, it was always treating this like a fight to the death. I had been taking this whole Tower as a game, but it wasn't one. The pain in my shoulder was a very effective reminded of that.
The only thing I really had to my benefit was that I had opposable thumbs. However that wasn't very useful, in a fight against a wolf. What else did I have...
The advantage humans had was that we could use tools and think of traps.
So I did the most logical thing.
I turned and ran into the forest. I was weaving between trees, as I knew I couldn't outrun the wolf, but I had the advantage that I wasn't as big as it was. So I was able to squeeze through small gaps between trees, slide under logs, and loop around clusters of trees.
However after three minutes of running, while I was feeling pretty good so far, I suddenly felt a burning sensation on my back.
[Magic Armor blocks 5 DMG.]
[-15 HP]
[Magic Armor has broken.]
"Shit! Magic Armor!"
[-20 MP]
'Status!'
[Status]
Name: Alexander Kingsley
Gift: Technomancy
Health: 70/100
Mana: 60/100
STR: 15
CON: 10
AGI: 10
DEX: 10
INT: 10
CHR: 4
LCK: 1
AP: 0
Skills: Genius, Magic Armor
////
I quickly climbed a thick tree with small branches, and looked down at the wolf that was eyeing me from the ground.
"Ugh, fuck! This wolf won't leave me the fuck alone! LET ME GO ASSHOLE I DON'T EVEN TASTE GOOD!"
I shouted down, frustrated about my predicament.
I had chosen this tree because the branches were too small to support the wolf's weight, so I was relatively safe for a moment, but I couldn't let this go on.
I started brainstorming again. I started by breaking off branches that I could. I didn't know yet what I was going to do, but I figured gathering them now wouldn't hurt. I took off my shirt, and set it aside. It had some blood on it, and I didn't want it to get too wet, as I had a few ideas to use it as a torch.
I looked down, and saw the wolf was just laying on the ground, resting.
"Motherfucker isn't even taking me seriously... Well, I guess it really doesn't have a reason to. It is better than me in every physical aspect... But what can I do? There are just trees and I don't have any tools.. Wait a second.. I remember seeing something on a survival show a while ago, where someone made rope using dried tree bark..."
I then used my fingernails to peel off tree bark. I first licked off all the sap, as I knew it was edible and had some nutrient, even though it wasn't much. I then laid it out, letting it dry and gathering more. When I had finished taking off al the bark near the branch I was sitting on, I then moved to my next task.
I took off my shoes, and removed the shoelaces. I then, in a fit of pettiness, I threw my shoe at the wolf that was resting below.
[1 damage dealt.]
The wolf furiously looked up at me.
"EAT SHIT!" I shouted.
I then looked up, and wrapped my shoelace around a branch. I then pull hard on each end, and began sawing away at the branch. It was not too big, otherwise I was afraid my shoelace wouldn't last long enough. It was thick enough, that I could use it as a spear, but not too thick that it would be awkward to use.
****
It was an hour before I finally got the branch off the tree, but when I did I just barely managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. Next I carefully removed all the little branches coming out of the stick I just got, and smoothed the sides down by rubbing it on the tree.
I stole a glance at the wolf, but it was sleeping now.
"I'll make you regret looking down on humans."
I swore, in my heart.
I then worked on making my spear, late into the night.
****
I slowly crept down the tree I was hiding in all afternoon, being careful to make as little sound as possible, and getting closer to the sleeping wolf.
I held my spear in my hand, and my bark rope in my other hand. The rope I created, I made into a makeshift lasso, which would work but not for long or under too much tension.
I measured the distance, and tensed my whole body taut, like a spring. I then pushed myself off the tree, and held my spear out, aiming for the wolf's neck.
But have you heard of animal instinct? I guess it was real. As the wolf suddenly opened it's eyes, and moved it's neck just in time. Instead my spear bore right into it's rib cage, causing the wolf to howl in pain and toss it's body around violently.
"WHELP!"
The wolf tossed it's head back, and I took the opportunity to wrap my lasso around the wolf's snout. I pulled hard once it was around the wolf's nose, and shut it's mouth completely. I then grabbed the spear, and used the two in tandem to hold onto the wolf's body as it thrashed around.
It tried everything to shake me off, but when it realized that by moving it was hurting itself more with the spear imbedded into it's side, it began to try and claw at me. I quickly let go of the spear, and jumped straight onto the wolf's back, wrapping my free hand around the wolf's neck.
I began to apply pressure, just trying to force the wolf to panic more, which worked. The wolf began to try to slam to against the ground, a tree, anything.
But I held on. I held on so tightly, waiting for the wolf to tire itself out, or until it ran out of air. It became a mad struggle, and whoever lasted the longest won.
I felt the force of the wolf slam me against a tree, breaking my collar bone, and shooting a surge of pain through the slashes I had on my back.
I felt the wolf slowing down, but I didn't let it go. If I let go, and it caught it's breath, I didn't have the strength to fight it again. As if scripted, the wolf immediately began to settle down, and lose it's strength. I just kept my pressure on it's throat, opting to let go of the lasso now, and join my hands to squeeze the wolf's throat in a bear hug.
I winced in pain, as my collar bone was hurting terribly, but I pressed through the pain to clinch my arms even harder. It wasn't until the wolf stopped moving, that I loosened one hand, and grabbed the spear on the side.
I placed my foot on the spear, and pulled hard, snapping the spear in half. I then grabbed the spear, and began stabbing the wolf in the throat. It twitched the first time, but from the lack of oxygen getting to it's brain, it couldn't work up the strength to fight back.
My victory was secured.
It was a few more stabs before I finally received a string of messages.
[Floor 2, complete!]
[Level up!]
[Wooden Chest rewarded.]
[50 gold acquired.]
[Would you like to progress to Floor 3?]
"No, not yet."
[User is being sent back.]
With a sudden change of scenery, I was back in my new house. I was laying quietly in my bed before I left, so I rolled over and checked the time on my phone that I left on my bedside drawer.
It was late into the night, almost 4 AM, so I quietly made my way out of my room and to the kitchen. While I was tired, I was hungry and thirsty more than anything.
"I should get a mini-fridge for my room, for when I come back from the tower." I thought randomly. An offhanded comment to no one.
I made my way to the sink, too lazy to grab a cup, and turned on the faucet. I then drank directly from the faucet, for a good two minutes.
"Pwaaaahhhhh!" I took a deep breath, and shut the water off. I wiped the water that was dripping down my chin, and took a moment to ground myself to reality.
Going into the tower, risking my life, was almost like a hyper realistic dream sometimes. If it weren't for the tangible benefits such as my gift, I wouldn't believe that it actually happened. I went and sat on the couch, which was extremely comfortable, and sat in a daze for a long time.
I wasn't thinking of anything complicated, I was simply thinking about some good memories. Hoping to reduce my stress a little. I was thinking of the time Ashely had first gone to school, and she was having a hard time accepting that I was not going to stay with her there.
I laughed remembering how she was crying so hard, with snot coming down her nose, and the frantic looks of the teachers trying to calm her down. I remembered the look of pure joy when I went to pick her up after I finished work.
It was like I had come back to life, and she was just seeing me for the first time.
I took a deep breath, and brought myself back to my living room.
As much as I loved the sweet memories, I needed the strength to protect what was important to me. Remembering I had work to do, I opened my inventory.
Clicking on the familiar wooden chest, and opening it when it appeared in front of me.
[Lightning Rune skill learned.]
[Rare Lottery Ticket acquired.]
[Thunder Rune]
[The use is able to place a trap rune, that will trigger a lightning blast to shoot out when an enemy triggers the rune. Requirements for trigger can be changed.]
[Common Lottery Ticket]
[When torn, the ticket can grant anything from skills, or items ranging from Common Rank to Magic Rank.]
I clicked on a little question mark next to the word rare, and I got an explanation of rarities for items. The rarities went like this.
[Common Rank]
[Uncommon Rank]
[Magic Rank]
[Rare Rank]
[Ultra Rare Rank]
[Epic Rank]
[Legendary Rank]
[Mythic Rank]
[Divine Rank]
[Godly Rank]
It also gave different skills, that had ranks, different from the skills I got from the chests, which confused me until an explanation from the system appeared. It explained that the skills I had were general skills, but the skills gained from other sources had Ranks as well, the same as items but their function was different.
Common skills were, just that common, but they could be levelled up. Meaning a common skill could be as useful as a low levelled Epic skill. I honestly didn't know what I would rather have, an item or a skill. I also inferred some of this information from the difference between how my Magic Armor worked, compared to my Genius skill, since my Genius skill just gave me a static effect, and was not one capable of growth.
I couldn't become MORE of a genius. It almost felt like I would rather not gain skills from the chests, but perhaps there were some skills out there that were incredibly useful. I wouldn't know until later, since I had no way of knowing for now.
I instead decided to just tear open the ticket, and see what I got.
[Common Lottery Ticket used.]
[...]
[Beginner Telekinesis (Magic Rank) skill learned.]
[Beginner Telekinesis (Magic Rank)][Level 1 0/1000]
[Can lift small objects. Uses mana to move objects. Cannot lift objects weighing more than 10 lbs.]
I was fairly happy with it, but it's worth might be better than it seemed. In my opinion it was already decent, but perhaps it would be better with the increase of levels. I then went to my status, and put my AP into my Intelligence, which was responsible for my mana capacity along with improving my efficiency with mana. This translate to better efficiency, allowing for more potent magic.
Meaning more damage.
I hadn't played video games since I was in college, but I knew more damage was always good. With everything sorted out, I decided to stretch a little, before going to bed.
It had been a really long day, and I was in much need of a good night's sleep. Tomorrow was also the day I would handle Brad. So I headed to bed.