Kenny opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was no longer in the room Ayla was in. He now stood in a cobblestoned room that resembled something like a medieval era dining room. Torches and chandeliers hanging above the tables were lit and lined the walls to bring light to the room. The fireplace placed on the backwall sent out a nice wave of heat keeping the room warm.

Judging by the way the tables looked they hadn’t been used in quite some time, which made sense since it had been a couple of days since anyone should have been here. He was more interested that the torches, fireplace, and candles were still alive and danced with the flames attached to them. They showed no sign of ever going out nor looking like they would any time soon.

Kenny took a moment to collect himself. He tried to remember what he was told about the Trial Grounds. From what he remembered there were several different areas he needed to go through in order to find his triggers as well as to get to the final boss of this Trial. He would need to fight monsters and the respected bosses of the areas in order to move on to the next part.

He was told there would be surprises and loot laying around as he moved, but he wasn’t confident in finding any, any time soon since the others had a head start. His main concern was trying to figure out if there were any monsters still around to fight so he could gain experience to level as well as figuring out what his triggers would take the form of.

“No point in wasting time with trying to solve a puzzle I have no clues on,” Kenny muttered as he looked to the only double doors in the room. Strengthening his resolve, Kenny made his way towards the door and prepared himself.

He placed both hands on the door and slowly opened it while peeking out the crack. The area outside of this room was almost like the one he was in. Cobblestone decorated the floor and walls with torches lining the walls. This time they were spaced out further, allowing small, shadowy areas in between. The only other difference he took note of was the area outside was the hallway wide enough that could accommodate groups of people.

He stepped out and made his way to the middle of the hallway and stretched his arms out. The width was wide enough he could swing his arms without any issues and be able to jump around once or twice left or right without colliding with the walls. He believed this was taken into consideration for groups of people that had several front line fighters working together.

Nodding his head with appreciation for the room he had, Kenny gripped the straps of the pack that looped around his shoulders and rested on his back before looked behind him and turning around to look at the other end of the hall. He wasn’t sure which way he needed or wanted to go so he closed his eyes and tried to see if he felt anything.

Ayla vaguely mentioned that he would know when he was near a trigger but never explained how he would. He hoped that when he was told that he would feel just feel it during that lecture she gave him, that he would get a teaser for it right at the start. However, when he didn’t feel anything, he sighed, contemplating on whether the information was true or not, and just started walking towards the direction he was facing.

He wasn’t sure if it was the right way, but he also understood he couldn’t waste time trying to deduct which was the right way. If he needed to backtrack then he would, but he also wanted to go at this without any feelings of being rushed. Rushing would lead to making mistakes and he couldn’t afford to make any of those.

As he walked he made sure to pay attention to the area he was approaching, his sides, and if he could, behind him. Since he was by himself he needed to make sure nothing was going to attack him from the rear and sides just as much as the front.

After walking around for over ten minutes and not finding anything, Kenny started to think that all of the monsters in this first part of the Trial Grounds were all dead and no new ones were created. He wasn’t sure if any new monsters revived for others to fight, but from the looks of it…

As Kenny turned back around to face the front after checking his rear, a shadow the length of his entire leg, not including the appendage hanging behind it, and as tall as a medium sized dog, jumped right for his face. It’s arms and, what he was barely able to make out in time, claws extended.

Kenny brought his hands and forearms up just in time to block the attack to his face before a sheering pain raked down both forearms. In a quick motion, he kicked the creature as hard as he could to move it away from him as it fell to the ground, giving him enough space to inspect the wounds he believed were there.

To his surprise, the claw marked wound he had thought would be gushing a lot of blood, had ended up being really thin lines. Like someone had lightly scratched down them with their badly trimmed nails. He was confused by what he saw because the pain that was throbbing told him another story. His mind quickly went back to what Ayla had said about the Endurance stat.

If his Endurance stat affected both his Stamina and helped with negating damage then maybe it lessened the wounds created from the attacks as well. While he was happy with that he still had one major complaint. “God damn that hurts. Why doesn’t the pain also get negated?”

He didn’t have much time to make more complaints as he heard not one, but two hisses thrown at his direction. He looked at where the noises came from and saw two messy short haired rats hissing at him. Before anyone made any moves a notification appeared before him.

[Grey Haired Colony Rat. Level- 1. Stat Talent – Agility.]

“Monsters have Stat Talents too?” Kenny whined as the notification disappeared. He slowly took his pack off and tossed it off to the side.

He didn’t have any more time to complain as the two Grey Rats made their move again. Much like the notification had stated, the speed at which they ran with and the swift changes in direction showed they had a talent in agility.

It pained him to admit it, but as he watched the two rats circle him with such movements, he could really tell his Agility was low. Something he might need to correct a bit later. However, even though he knew his Agility was lower than these creatures, he found his reaction time to be his saving grace, as well as his Endurance.

He was able to block just in time as one of the Grey Rats leaped at him. He brought his hands up to guard his face right in time as the jaws of the first rat went to bite. As it chomped down on his wrist, pain swiftly flooded his mind. He didn’t have time to wallow in the pain as he heard the other swiftly approaching from behind.

Not sure if he could time it right, Kenny swung his body around with the Grey Rat still attached to his wrist. He was in luck as the Grey Rat still biting him slammed into the other Grey Rat. The collision sent the second Grey Rat flying against the wall. The first Grey Rat went to bite down harder, but felt its body go up into the air before swiftly being slammed down into the ground.

It’s jaws opened enough for Kenny to get his wrist free from the filthy vermin. He didn’t waste any time as he slammed his unharmed fist against the creature still on the ground. While he could feel his other wrist still throbbing, Kenny clenched his teeth and used it to strike the monster. He sent a flurry of strikes at different parts of the monster’s body. Kenny could tell his precision wasn’t the best, but it didn’t matter since he wasn’t trying to throw anything at the creature from far away. Since he was so close, every strike of his fist landed.

 The second Grey Rat, recovering from the collision quickly got to its feet and then darted towards Kenny. Kenny stopped attacking the Grey Rat he had pinned down and moved away just in time to dodge a leap attack by the creature. As Kenny moved, the Grey Rat that was attacked struggled to get back to its feet and limped away from him.

“Oh no you don’t!” Kenny shouted as he tried to go after it. He came to a halt as he heard the scurrying feet of the other rat. He turned around just in time to see the monster leaping right at him. Kenny dropped to a knee as fast as he could and then tried to land an uppercut against the creature’s body. However, he wasn’t fast enough as the monster dodged it and scratched at his neck.

Kenny felt a slicing pain erupt on his neck and went to place a hand on it. After he moved his hand to get a good look at the massive amount of blood he felt would be soaking his hand, he was shocked to see that there was barely any. Trying to make his brain understand that his body was slightly more durable than the pain was letting on, he quickly looked for the monster.

When he couldn’t find it, he tried to make his mind remember the attack pattern the monster was doing. When he had an idea of where the monster was, he readied himself. He listened for the footsteps and heard them coming in hot and fast. He tried to figure out how far the monster was by the sound of the steps and decided to trust his gut.

When he believed the timing was right, Kenny spun his body around with a leg up in a spinning wheel kick motion. To his surprise the counter attack landed as his heel dug into the ribcage of the monster. As he felt the weight against his heel, he tried to adjust the trajectory to make the monster land on the ground in front of him. However, due to what he believed was his lacking in his Strength Stats, he was only able to change its course slightly.

Another thing I will need to consider. Kenny thought as he took this opportunity to leap at it and start throwing his fists against it. The creature flailed its four stubby legs around in a desperate attempt to get Kenny away, but failed as he pressed on with each motion of his arms. After what felt like forever, he finally received the notification he was waiting for.

 [Congratulations! You have defeated Grey Haired Colony Rat. Experience earned.]

Kenny gasped for air as he pushed himself up away from the creature. While he was happy to finally kill his first monster, he knew he couldn’t let his guard down. There was still one more Grey Rat around. As he looked around he found the creature not too far away glaring and hissing at him with so much intensity.

Slowly, Kenny made his way over to it. His breathing was ragged, and his body was wracked with pain. He didn’t let that bother him because he knew the creature he was making his way to was also in bad shape. He could see it was favoring its back left leg and was breathing weirdly. He wasn’t sure, but Kenny felt this monster was on its last leg.

That didn’t deter the monster as it let out a battle squeak and ran, hobbled really, towards him. When the monster reached a certain amount of distance, Kenny took a step back with his right leg, bent his knees a bit, and then swung his right leg as hard as he could. His foot connected with the monster’s face causing it to fall limp and slide on its side.

Kenny let out a pained filled grunt as he felt his foot throb from the impact. As he tried to rub the area that stung he made a mental note that maybe the shoes he was wearing wasn’t meant for kicking. He needed to find replacements so he could kick without fear of pain occupying most of his attention.

Overall, his first encounter with monsters ended much better than he had thought it would. He learn what he was currently capable of as well as where he needed to improve upon. Something he guessed the Tower agreed on since he received a second screen along with the one notifying him of his victory.

[Congratulations! You have defeated Grey Haired Colony Rat. Experienced earned.]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! You have reached level 2! 5 Free Stat Points are available. 6 free Skill Points are available!]

[Warning! Due to not being fully awakened you cannot use your Skill Points. Acquired Skill Points will accumulate and remain unusable for Improvement Nodes until you have fully awakened!]

Kenny dropped to his knees then shifted to sit down. He hung his head back and took in as much air as he could. He stared at the ceiling as he smiled and let the hair that had gotten loose from the tie dangle freely.

He didn’t say anything. He just basked in the silence and smiled. Words could not express how he felt right then. This was the life he had dreamed about. Fighting monsters and pushing himself.

Did he hurt? Yes, very much so if the pain that pulsed throughout his body indicated anything. Did that pain show physically though? Not to the extent that he felt. He had some cuts that either could heal on their own or he could heal with a potion. At least he was told in school he could heal with a potion. Should he waste a potion on them though? Probably not. He would have to take a look at his stats, and it depend on his health pool.

After calming his breathing enough and feeling less hurt, Kenny pulled up his Stats to see how he was looking. Something else he needed to get a better understanding on was how much his current stats raised each level before adding his Free Stat Points.

 Stats

Health Points – 73/110

Mana Points – 90/90

Stamina Points – 50/200

Strength – 11 (+2)

Agility – 10 (+1)

Endurance – 16 (+4)

Vitality – 11

Intelligence – 9

Wisdom – 9

Perception – 9

Willpower – 17

Free Stat Points Available: 5

Free Skill Points: 6

 After looking it over he was able to determine that his Strength, Agility, and Willpower each received two points upon leveling up. As for his Vitality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Perception and Endurance they each received one points. Well, technically he received three points in total for his Endurance, but that was due to his Stat Talent in the Stat. However, it looked like his base gain was one without that boost.

That was good to know. Now he had the tough decision of trying to figure out where to allocate everything. He let his thoughts go back to the fight as he tried to think about what he felt he needed to improve on. While his lowest stats Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception were the only ones under ten, he didn’t really feel the need to raise them.

He believed that his build was going to be more of a front-line tank or fighter and didn’t feel he would have a lot of need for the magical stats. At least, that’s how he felt for now. He still needed to awaken his other two Skill Trees and see what he would get. However, he still felt that it would be weird to get some sort of magic after awakening an immunity type ability. The chances were also low, or so he was told back in school.

That left his Strength, Agility, Vitality, Endurance, and Willpower. Strength was definitely something needed to give him that extra power when he struck enemies. That was something even a child could understand.

He was given a painful wakeup call after seeing how fast those two creatures were compared to him. Even if Agility were tied to how fast someone moved as well as how easily they were able to adjust their movements, he felt that it could also help him to react faster. While Agility wasn’t the highest priority when it came to a tank, as a frontline melee fighter, it would come in handy.

Vitality was a no brainer. If he were going to fight in the front then he was going to need more health so he wouldn’t die too quickly when a surprise attack landed. Endurance was the real MVP in this fight and gave him the chance to keep taking hits while trying to land his own.

He could do without the pain that didn’t match the resulting wounds, but maybe he could get used to it after getting hit more…hopefully. Maybe it was something he needed to condition. Like how the old school fighters used to strike wooden boards to help their fists and shins get stronger and get used to the pain when training.

Perception was something he wasn’t entirely sure about yet. He didn’t understand what it was useful for. For now he would let that level up the normal way until he got more information. The same could be said about Willpower. Even in his classes the teachers had no idea what the Stat was about. The only thing they could agree upon about it was that it had to do with guts. Whatever that meant. However, since it was his highest Stat he didn’t want to rule it out. It must have a purpose.

After careful consideration he decided to use his five Free Stat Points in Strength, Agility, Endurance, Vitality, and Willpower. Each one receiving one. After he made his choice and accepted the changes he looked at his stats once more.

 Stats

Health Points – 78/120

Mana Points – 90/90

Stamina Points – 60/210

Strength – 12 (+2)

Agility – 11 (+1)

Endurance – 17 (+4)

Vitality – 12

Intelligence – 9

Wisdom – 9

Perception – 9

Willpower – 17

Free Stat Points Available: 0

Free Skill Points: 6

After looking at his stats once more, he felt a smile as he realized it felt good to be able to make his own decisions that didn’t relate to anyone else. He was no longer responsible for anyone else, but himself and that made him…strangely happy.

Getting back up and shaking off the nonexistent dust, Kenny made his way to his pack. He slipped it on and then got ready to push forward. As much as he was happy with the new changes, he still had stuff he needed to do. Since he came across monsters here, that meant there were more roaming around. Gaining levels was one of his highest priorities, but it wasn’t the only one. He needed to find new gear, the triggers to awaken his Power Skill Tree and Support Skill Tree, and make it to the final boss fight.