‘Ding’ You have entered the Enchantress's Tower.

  He stood in what he would have expected to be the entryway of a Victorian mansion, old and dilapidated and abandoned looking of course. Complete with coatings of dust and visible cobwebs.

  There were three doors on a wall directly in front of the great stone door he'd entered through. He'd been surprised to find opening the door an easy endeavor. The three doors ahead were the same shape and size, but were hewn from different materials, and had gems of different colors fitted into their knobs.

  A red gem was fitted into a door of black stone right in the middle. A green gem was fitted into a wooden door to the left, and a white gem was fitted into a grey metal door to the right.

  The implications were obvious even to Rafe who had never entered a tower before.

  “Colour coded challenges? White seems to be… not the best choice. Green seems too plant themed. Red though? Warning, blood, danger, violence! Red is perfect.”

  He didn't debate with himself too much. If the colour dictated the kind of challenge he'd do, he really didn't want to get a puzzle or some thing like that as a challenge. A physical challenge was more up his alley. Besides, he needed to get his body up to speed with what his mind had experienced in two different simulations.

  He touched the hilt of his sheathed practice sword. He really would have loved to get in there and get to swinging his sword around.

  He had to be careful about the damn sword mastery skill though, so he held himself back.

  “First, I'll work on my unarmed combat skill and Skyholm's Fighting Proficiency.”

  He pushed the stone hewn door forward.

  ‘Ding’ Side Quest received. (Only three side quests can be active simultaneously).

  Objective: Kill more than twenty five gargoyles.

  Reward: Quest points. Credits.

  Rafe went to sigh at the annoying prompt but then something unexpected happened.

  First Tower floor entered.

  Room one objectives:1) Survive (Leave the room with your life.)

  2)Struggle (Defeat ten gargoyles.)

  3)Dominate (Defeat twenty gargoyles.)

  Hidden objectives: Find the false wall and the treasure it protects.

  “Huh…”

  That had come from his quest screen, and he couldn't make sense of it in the beginning.

  “Is the…Does the quest system offer guidance in dungeons? Is it a special feature?” he wondered out loud.

  Then he shrugged. It meant little to him either way. He read through the main objectives. Survive seemed like a weak objective, and in that same vein so did the second objective. So the dominate was the best way to clear the room. The best way meant the best rewards.

  Towers did not provide rewards this early though, unless one did not make it far enough up.

  That made sense. He knew from experience adventuring that sometimes you didn't have to deal with every single monster in a dungeon. Simply sneaking through and going straight for the boss worked at times.

  He already had a quest telling him to defeat twenty five monsters though, so he felt the main objectives of the room were pretty useless. The side objective though. Now that was different.

  Stone cracked in front of him and a monster nestled atop a pedestal started to stir. All around it more monsters woke. Their eyes searched as they rose. They searched until they found him, standing unbothered by the door to the large arena sized room. Going after them felt like it would be too much hudtle, so Rafe waited.

  The quest system might have thought telling him to defeat twenty-five was a burden he would rue, but Rafe had always planned to leave nothing alive.

  He cracked his knuckles as the first gargoyle charged forward amid an explosion of rocks. He took a stance. It reached him. He met its attempted shoulder tackle with an attempted punch.

  His hands were soft. The flesh around his knuckles was grazed right off and his hand was pushed back as the gargoyles shoulder continued ever forward. He couldn't be sure, but his hand seemed to have bounced off a flickering fiery forcefield.

  Magic? He questioned internally but it felt wrong somehow. He had been n able to see mana with his new racial ability. That was its only advantage over Liam's, and yet he hadn't seen any mana from that forcefield.

  The gargoyle's shoulder impacted his belly and forced all the air out of his lungs even as it carried him off the ground. A second gargoyle was already approaching.

  “Shit!” Rafe said once he had enough breath to speak again.

  The fight was going to be a little more difficult than he had expected. How was this the first room of the first floor of a five floor tower? Twenty or so more rooms like this would be impossible.

  Rafe grinned. He fisted both his hands in preparation. Then he started flailing against the gargoyle, raining punches infused with his heavy blow skill. It was fast becoming a favourite of his, with or without his sword.

  He thought it would be neat if he could get an ability like iron skin or the like to prevent the now free bleeding he was suffering from having a soft skin. He shrugged it off as he continued to rain punches on the gargoyle.

  He grabbed one of its wings and tore it off with a last minute application of the strength augmentation of heavy blow. They plummeted from the sky. He hit one of its shoulders so it was holding him less tightly and when he judged the timing right, he squirmed out of its grip and tried to jump away from the impact center.

  He was mid-air when the first gargoyle died with an explosive crash. Flying shrapnel gave him more than a few bruises and wounds.

  He did not get a chance to land as the second gargoyle tackled him before his feet could touch the ground.

  “Great…” he gritted out. “Seems…like I'll have to fight in the air for a while.”

  Three more gargoyles had already finished their moulting and we're coming after him and his current opponent. Rafe wondered what Noid would think seeing him fight like a savage. What would Liam think? He was basically brawling without any grace whatsoever. And his attacks seemed to hurt him more than they did his enemies.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Maybe I did develop some bad habits with the whole resurrection thing?” he thought to himself.

  ‘Ding’ You have defeated ‘gargoyle guardian’, level 25.

  ‘Ding’ You have defeated 'gargoyle guardian', level 27.

  ****

  ‘Ding’ You have defeated ‘gargoyle guardian', level 29.

  He was only left with one monster at this point, having killed around thirty two of them already.

  It was bigger than its breathren and more black than slate grey. It also held what looked like a mace in one hand. It hadn't attacked him immediately, instead studying him with hot red eyes that looked like a heated metal at a Smith's forge.

  He must have been a sight, what with his looking like a victim of a run away truck. He felt like it too. He wanted to temper his body for real, but no one had told him it would be this painful.

  He could handle pain, but he didn't think he was going to be completing anymore rooms in the state he was in. He had to rest for a while at least.

  The gargoyle charged, and this time Rafe had his sword out. It was still sheathed but he felt more comfortable holding it than not. Besides, it would have been pretty hard cutting these stone monster's weird fiery forcefield without using any insights. His fighting style was easy to counter. Their extreme defense had almost countered him. Almost. He had had to resort to using the boost his blessing gave him when he held a sword.

  The sheathed blade could act as a blunt tool. It was light but that was where his heavy blow came into the equation.

  His breath was heavy, his stamina well below a quarter by now, his health probably in the reds with all the blood he'd lost. Still, he crossed weapons with the monster, trying to use his sword techniques even with his blade sheathed.

  He needed his body to get used to these movements and soon. It also needed to become his Puppeteer's Rubber body.

  He hit the towering stone creature on the knee once he entered its guard. The knee cracked in a burst of stone. His soul cried out in agony. He had abused the heavy blow skill, and it was still a basic skill. It couldn't be used for over two hours straight of fighting. It was getting overloaded.

  He had abused a lot of other skills too. His unarmed combat skill came to mind. And his new dash. He jumped with casual grace as the monster whirled around with its mace clenched in a rigidly lifted arm. It had intended to just swat him away with the momentum of its turn.

  Too bad he'd faced brutes before. And some of those brutes were human. They were way more intelligent. This stone monster was predictable.

  He infused another heavy blow as he descended, crushing one of its shoulders. It transferred its mace to the other hand with practiced ease and it was swinging before he even landed. He tried to use his parry skill. Maybe he succeeded as the attack didn't touch him but he was still sent flying. The difference in strength was nothing to scoff at.

  He cursed as he rushed to his feet. It was already there, swinging downward. He blocked and angled himself to be pushed into its guard. Only his skill refused to respond when he tried to hit it from close range.

  “Shit!” he said even as he gritted his teeth in a bid to prepare.

  He was not ready. With a whoosh, the air was forced from his lungs. Half his chest caved in from the kick straight to his chest. He was in the air, flailing, not feeling half his body.

  He landed in a pile of stones that might have been a gargoyle once. The monster was already charging toward him. In a moment of inspiration, after he realised he could not get up in time, he lifted what should have once been part of a gargoyle's torso and threw it.

  The monster swatted it out of the air as it continued its charge. But Rafe had found a new answer. He threw as he squirmed backward, trying to slow the monster down. It bought him a second or two when he hit the monster's head.

  He got to his feet but the monster was already an inch in front of him and swinging. He lifted his blade, then decided he was not ready at the last second. He pointed his sword to a random spot away, then tapped both his movement technique and skill to escape. He was in one spot one moment, and tens of metres away the next.

  The monster was confused for an instance, its stone hewn head turning around mechanically.

  He took the seconds the monster was searching for him to throw up. It was only blood. The system was ringing in his head. He ignored it for now, studying his body himself. With the injuries he saw, there was no hope he'd be doing the next room for at least a year.

  He unsheathed his sword. He had to take things seriously if he wanted to end this fast. He felt the difference immediately, the extra statistics his blessing offered augmenting his rapidly deteriorating body.

  He moved even as the monster finally spotted him. He didn't bother changing the sword's shape much. It felt much better holding a sword. More natural. The monster could not keep up with his speed.

  The Dash skill had turned out to be a huge stamina sink. Now he had less than ten percent stamina and his Heavy Blow skill was out of commission for a while. He only had his techniques and his Puppeteer's Rubber body to carry the day. The gargoyle, while nearly indestructible was only a level…

  ‘Ding’ You have defeated ‘Arch gargoyle guardian', level 35.

  “Level thirty five, huh? No wonder the spike in difficulty was quite something.”

  And the little fiery forcefield that he definitely wasn't imagining was definitely a more important factor in that last fight.

  He collapsed right next to the pile of rubble. Half his chest was not working. The last time he'd been in a situation like this, he’d resigned himself to dying. He had been saved by the trial ending. This time there was nothing to save him. Nothing he could see.

  ‘Ding’ Your skill Aeon's Sword Mastery has reached level 762.

  “Argh…” Rafe groaned in consternation.

  Your skill Dash has reached level 2.

  Your skill Dash has reached level 3.

  ….

  Your skill Dash has reached level 7.

  Your skill Unarmed combat has reached level 9.

  At least his newest skills had gained some levels too.

  Your skill Aeon Warrior's trance (epic) has reached level 122.

  Another groan escaped him.

  Your skill Parry has reached level 209.

  Rafe frowned. Two full levels for parry was no joke.

  Your skill Skyholm's fighting proficiency (rare) has reached level 20.

  Six levels for one of his slowest rising skills. A successful outing if he'd ever seen one. And then the most valuable party.

  Your skill Heavy blow has reached level 221.

  ….

  Your skill Heavy blow has reached level 232.

  Twelve levels in a single fight. It was kind of sad his Puppeteer's Rubber body had not leveled at all, but he hadn't used it much in any case. And it wasn't a basic skill. It was hard to convince himself of his last point when an epic skill had gained a level though, and Skyholm's Fighting Proficiency had gained a whooping six levels.

  He had been focusing on it though. On it and unarmed combat for most of the beginning of the fight. Rafe stared at his screen, waiting for the next message he knew he should be receiving. He had felt the essence flow into him during the battle. Every enemy he killed fed him experience and yet.

  He had not gotten enough experience to gain a level. A basic class, fighting enemies more than twenty levels above his own. Rafe blanched. Had he underestimated the effect his soul injury would affect his leveling speed?

  He dismissed the screen with a stupefied expression on his face. He had not gained a level. Somehow that information was more important than the fact that he had only one working lung right now. He was about to give in to his despair when another ‘ding’ notified him of more news from his friendly neighborhood system.

  It was not the stat screen though. It was the quest system.

  Side quest completed.

  Reward: 10 Quest Points. 1 E-grade credit.

  He now had a grand total of twenty quest points. Too bad he had no idea what even they did. And the E-grade credit? It was curious. He had only received one, so why did it feel like a fortune compared to his hundred or so credits already in the system?

  Room objective completed.

  Reward: F-grade healing potion (1), F-grade Stamina potion (2).

  “Oh? That's new.”