Tower

Pat.

Pat.

Pat.

Leif's footsteps softly sounded as he walked through the halls cautiously, peeking around every corner before working his way down to the next one. After about twenty minutes of sneaking his way through the hallways, he heard an inhuman shriek and froze in his tracks. Up ahead there was a bend in the hallway.

Leif pressed his back into the wall and slowly shuffled his way toward the turn in the hall. Right before the turn, he stopped. He could hear loud gushing and ripping sounds from around the corner.

Leif slowly moved his head and peaked around the corner to see a disgusting looking creature, about four feet tall, with its face down rummaging through a dead large toothy rodent. The beast had bloody-ash colored skin that looked extremely dry, scaly even. It had long, leathery ears and around, oversized head. Its long, curvy tail had a spike at the end and it had two large talons at its feet that looked monstrously sharp.

Leif shuddered and pulled his head back from around the corner.

Should I turn around and try one of the other tunnels? Or maybe wait for it to leave? No, too risky. It might head toward me and then I would lose the ability to sneak attack it. There's probably no way for me to make it through this floor if I never fight. I'm going to have to get some experience if I want to make it out of this place alive.

Leif solidified his resolve. He was going to kill this monster.

Leif held his dagger in his hand tightly and peered around the corner once again.

The monster was still occupied, ripping the flesh off the dead carcass, about twenty steps in front of him.

Leif exhaled slowly.

Alright, let's do this.

Leif edged his way around the corner and stealthily made his way toward the monster. As he approached the monster's exposed back he wrinkled his nose.

This thing smells horrible.

Leif wasn't sure if it was the monster or the corpse below it, but whatever it was it made him nauseous.

He took one more step and was within stabbing distance of the monster. Leif raised the knife high above his head and swung it down with all the strength he could muster.

SHOOK!

"So tough!" Leif shouted out loud, frantically.

The tip of the blade had barely managed to pierce the creatures back, causing a small narrow cut.

SHREEK!

The monster flung around and swiped its claws toward Leif's c.h.e.s.t. Instinctively, Leif dodged backward, but he wasn't fast enough. The claws ripped through his c.h.e.s.t, rending the flesh from his body. Leif was sent tumbling backward in agony, the dagger flew from his hand. The monster didn't give Leif a moment to assess the damage before it pounced on top of him. Leif rolled to the right as the monster landed. The talons on the monsters foot caught Leif's arm as he rolled away and ripped open huge gash. Leif heaved himself to his feet quickly and jumped backward, preparing for the monster's next assault.

Leif surveyed the ground around him searching for the dropped dagger. It was about ten steps away from him to the right. The monster was about five steps away to his left.

Leif made a split second decision and ran for his weapon.

Eight steps away.

The monster leaped toward Leif, swinging its claws ferociously. Leif dove forward and, by a hairs width, managed to escape the onslaught of razor-sharp claws.

Five steps.

Leif conjured every ounce of willpower in his body and bolted for the dagger.

The monster had missed him and crashed into the wall of the hall, but had recovered fast and was already gaining on him.

Two steps.

The monster lunged forward with its talons out in front of its body ready to rip anything in front of it to shreds.

One step.

Leif threw himself at the dagger on the ground. He snatched the blade up in his hands and rolled over to see the monster in the air above him bearing its teeth, coming down for the kill. Leif plunged the dagger into the belly of the monster as it fell on top of him driving the dagger even farther inside the beast's gut. Leif rolled backward and kicked the monster off of him sending it flying down the hall.

The monster hit the ground and wreathed in pain. It struggled to get up as blood pooled on the ground below it.

Why won't this thing f.u.c.k.i.n.g die?!

Leif wasn't in too good of shape himself. He had multiple scratches, holes, and tears all over his body. His blood had stained most of the hall they had been fighting in and he was starting to feel light headed.

I have to end this now.

With his last ounce of strength, Leif lunged forward at the monster and it followed suit. Right before they clashed Leif gathered every last drop of anima in his body to his palm. The monster swung its claws at him and Leif threw his dagger up to block the attack. He managed to stop the attack for a few moments before the monster overpowered him, but a few moments were all that he needed. Leif thrust his palm into the wounded stomach of the monster and let loose a surge of electricity.

ZAP!

Smoke rose from the stunned beast's gut, a look of astonishment came over its ugly face before it keeled over and hit the ground.

Leif looked over the dead monster's body breathing heavily, he had won. He didn't dare try to move, it was a miracle he hadn't passed out yet due to blood-loss and drying out all his anima. As he gazed down at the corpse he noticed a multicolored smoke oozing from it.

Whoosh!

The rainbow-colored smoke shot straight into him and the TowerCard markings on his c.h.e.s.t began to emit a bright white glow.

Leif felt a surge of power course through his body. He felt stronger, faster, more aware, and less tired from his fight. The white light coming from the symbols on his c.h.e.s.t faded away until the symbols went back to normal.

What was that?

Leif held his hand to his c.h.e.s.t and called his TowerCard.

Name: Leif Ryner

Level: 4

Age: 17

Weight: 170lbs

Height: 5'11"

Gender: Male

HP:3/40

AP:1/44

(9) unused ability points!

VIT:6 END:8

AGI:8 STR:7

DEX:7 INT:4

WIS:2 RES:5

DEF:6 LUC:7

Active Skills: Lightning Bolt (fires a bolt of lightning with the size depending on the amount of anime injected)

Passive Skills: Focus (able to gather anima faster and with more precision)

MONSTERS DISCOVERED:

Imp - Imps have greyish-red, extremely tough skin. The skin is rough and scaly to the touch. Imp's stand about four feet tall. They have long rounded ears and an oversized head. It has a scorpion-like tail with a stinger at the end. They have two large talons on each of their feet that they use to rip their prey open. At the end of their short arms are long, razor-sharp claws. They rarely travel in groups. (Levels range from 1-12)

Killed:1

Giant Scarver - ???

FEATS:

Tower-Walker - Survived your first encounter with a monster and killed it. (gain +1 to all stats when equipped)

So that's why I feel so much stronger! I leveled up a few times! Almost all my stats have increased by at least a little bit and I have nine ability points I can use to make myself even stronger. I'm not sure what to do with them right now, so I'll just save them for later. It also tells me the monsters I've seen and killed. That thing was an Imp and it must have been a pretty high level to make me level up three times. This Tower-Walker feats perk is also pretty good, I'll equip it. I also got a new passive skill which should help me be even more efficient with anima. With the amount of anima I can use now, I'll have to test the lightning bolt out again whenever I recover because I might be able to use it to its full extent now. More importantly, I gotta figure out how to recover or I might die.

Leif slowly sat down on the ground and pulled his satchel into his l.a.p. He took out some bandages, a few hunks of meat, and the gourd of water. After bandaging himself up, Leif ate meat, gulped down water, and rested for a few hours. Little by little, he started feeling better and his bleeding stopped.

Leif checked his HP and it had risen to up to 15/40.

Leif looked inside his satchel once more for something else that could help him. His eyes landed on the two mysterious potions, so he decided to pull them out.

One of the bottles contained a red syrupy liquid and the other, a blue syrupy liquid.

He pried the cork out of red bottle and brought it to his nose. It smelled like lemonade.

Weird. I wonder what will happen if I drink it. I'll never know what it does if I don't drink it!

Leif brought the red potion to his mouth and took a sip. It actually did taste like lemonade. Suddenly, a surge of warmth engulfed his body and all his wounds felt like they were on fire. With the pain in his injuries increasing, Leif clenched the gash on his arm and wreathed in agony.

After a few minutes the pain gradually subsided then disappeared all together.

The pain is all gone? Before I drank the red potion my body ached and throbbed everywhere, but now that's all gone.

Leif let go of his arm and pulled the bloodied bandage off.

Underneath the bandage there was no wound. It was like he had never been hurt at all.

Leif checked his HP again and discovered it was completely full. He was in perfect condition.

This potion is amazing! If the red one heals HP then the blue one must restore anima right?

Leif took a sip of the blue potion and he could feel his anima concentration getting stronger.

After a few moments, Leif confirmed that his anima was at max as well. He was now back in perfect shape and stronger than ever.

I better see if there's anything I can scavenge off of this monster before I continue on.

Leif looked over the monster and didn't find anything too useful.

He used his knife to cut a few slabs of meat off the monster and cut the claws off of the monster for potential future use.

The meat could be cooked up and eaten once he ran out of food. It might not be very good, but at least I'll have food. The claws could be fashioned into a weapon, since they were a lot sharper than his current weapon, if he could find the right materials to do it.

Leif packed all his stuff up into his satchel and continued on, more confident than before. He had survived his first encounter with a monster.