The Joker, The Trickster, And The Magician

With nothing left to do in that godforsaken floor, the trickster headed back to the exit which led to the upper floors and climbed the stairs after one glance at the bloody and dark hallway.

He didn't remain here for too long but it was a good beginning, or so he thought. The only issue is the lack of strong monsters, there were only weaklings like the short and ugly goblins which can be killed by teenagers.

The stairs were half-destroyed with some traces of blood.

'How come there's blood? Did some people escape before that Darkness Beast arrive?'

The Trickster carefully inspected the blood and discovered that it was rather fresh. He could guess whose blood it is after pondering for a bit. There's only one missing person who may have escaped this floor. It was the scarred woman who was in a bad state.

She was heavily sedated and in the brink of death, although he helped her, he didn't think she'll escape this fast. Nevertheless, having such a strong-willed person escape from this hellhole made him rather excited.

Perhaps in their meeting, she'll give a pleasant surprise.

Very soon, he arrived on the upper floor. Its state was even worse and the entrance was completely blocked. Although he wanted to escape this place, he wasn't in a rush. He wished to encounter powerful monsters so he can feel the thrill of the battle once again.

The only time he truly felt alive was when he fought the hobgoblin. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to properly kill it and had to resort to trickery, a bit fitting as he was the Trickster but he also wanted to brawl with the monster until one of them falls.

As he continued climbing the stairs, the man noticed a few strange spots which seemed to be frozen.

'Ice? In this place? The temperate is rather high so it gotta be a monster!'

A huge grin plastered itself on his unusually pale skin, he climbed the rest of the stairs until he arrived at the next floor. Fortunately, it wasn't blocked, so, with a dagger in his hand and soundless steps, he entered the hallway.

The place was eerie as any other and it lacked any signs of blood. There was countless rubbles and cracked walls but the absence of corpses and blood was a strange occurrence.

'Hmm…'

Rather than recklessly advancing, he studied the area without missing a single inch. He remained silent and tried to listen to any strange sounds but could hear naught but absolute silence.

'Did no monsters appear on this floor? Maybe… maybe not. Either there are no monsters or there's a strong predator that chased the all the rest. Let's investigate for now.'

With a slow yet steady pace, the man walked forward. There was enough illumination to see the hallway but he couldn't help but feel uneasy as if he entered a forbidden place.

'This feeling… disgusting.'

He spat on the ground as he noticed his heartbeat which was accelerating. This foreign and uncomfortable feeling wasn't something he welcomed. It wasn't fear but something else, something different.

The Trickster put down his knife and retrieved his loaded rifle, raised it to the front and readied himself. His pace greatly decreased but he felt safer like this.

Ten or so minutes later, he arrived at an intersection, just like the one in the floor he was in the beginning. There was an unscathed vending machine, a sofa and a couple of chairs.

'Ah! F.u.c.k it.'

Without a care in the world, he put down his gun and used some of his past experience to build traps that would alert him if someone or something approached this place.

When everything was set, he laid on the sofa and closed his eyes, falling asleep soon after. Whatever was on this floor, it wasn't a monster.

Wolfram had a few guesses but needed to confirm them with his own eyes. It just so happens this floor is clear, more or less, and there's a peaceful place to sleep so he grasped this opportunity.

He was mentally tired and needed some rest. Only a few hours later did he wake up, energetic and in a good mood. The 'thing' he was feeling earlier was gone, which made him grin from ear to ear. He gulped a whole water bottle and ate a few protein bars.

As he sat on the sofa and looked around in boredom, Wolfram lit up a cigarette and started thinking about all that happened.

'I remember an earthquake… but the timing was almost perfect. I blacked out right after and woke up to find the place filled with corpses and monsters. Goblins and Hobgoblins and…'

He retrieved the black card which showed his status and examined it

'And this 'Card System'… apparently, it's different from what the soldiers got. They also leveled up quite fast, I assumed it took them two to three kills to gain one level. I killed a whole bunch yet I'm still Lv1. Skills are earned by performing the necessary actions. There are ones that are easily obtained if you've got previous experience in them. But do I get a skill for every action I do or is it specific?'

He got up and started doing push-ups. His physique was enhanced so he was able to complete a hundred push-ups in no time.

Just as he suspected, a red card appeared in front of his eye.

*[Push-Up] Lv1 acquired! +0.1 Card Points.

*[Push-up]: Push-ups will consume less Stamina.*

*[Trickster Auxiliary]: Complete 1,000 Push-ups in one hour : +0.5 Card Points.*

Wolfram smiled, pleased with the result. He then switched to squats then sit-ups.

*[Squat] Lv1 Acquired! +0.09 Card Points.*

*[Trickster Auxiliary]: Complete 500 Squats in one hour : +0.3 Card Points.*

*[Sit-up] Lv1 Acquired! +0.1 Card Points.*

*[Trickster Auxiliary]: Complete 1,000 Sit-ups in one hour : +0.4 Card Points.*

As he was in no rush whatsoever, Wolfram spent the next four hours completing these tasks. He had to rest for half an hour as doing a thousand push-ups was exhausting despite his strong physique. Nevertheless, he was able to finish them and received the much-wanted rewards.

In total, he got 1.49 Card Points, a big amount which can greatly increase one of his stats. For now, the Trickster didn't use them but stored them and experimented a bit more, wanting to acquire more skills.

Unfortunately, these seemed the only sport-related skills he could get for now. Simple actions such as breathing or walking obviously didn't get him skills.

Due to the low ceiling, he couldn't attempt jumping but there were many things he could do…

In the end, he only obtained one more skill and leveled up [Run].

His new skill was called [Training] which is like a whole category which has all the previously mentioned skills. Unlike the others, it didn't give him any CP, it's actually a Skill tree