Kenny hunched over and placed his hands on his knees as he gasped for air after defeating his tenth Grey Haired Colony Rat after killing off the first two. It had been a couple of hours already after he had left the starting room of the Trial Grounds, and he was starting to notice a few patterns of this area.

The first thing he noticed was the Grey Haired Colony Rats traveled in packs of two. He hadn’t come across them where they were by themselves or in more numbers. That was fine for him since it helped him get used to his current limits and get a better feel for his Agility and Strength Stats.

What he had learned so far about the two stats was they were a bit more than what he had originally thought. For example, his Agility Stat was more than just how fast he moved. He noticed that thanks to the two point increase in it, that his reflexes were slightly better. His reaction time on when to dodge and when to strike had improved. He was still slower than the rats he fought, but the small amount of extra movements was enough for him to gain better positioning to block and strike when the rats jumped at him.

That was another thing he noticed. While the rats ran across the floor their speed was much faster than his. However, once they were in the air they couldn’t gain any more speed than the amount they gain from pushing off the ground. That was how and why he was able to react just barely in time to defend himself or land a blow.

Another thing Agility seemed to effect, at least he was starting to believe it did, was his attack speed. He had noticed a slight increase to how fast he threw a punch, but the amount he had gained wasn’t enough for him to truly know. He made a mental note to keep an eye on this in the future as he increased his Agility Stat.

As for his Strength stat, it was more than just how powerful of a strike he could land. It seemed that increasing his Strength gave him an easier time to pick up and throw heavier objects, or in this case creatures. He noticed this when he went and grabbed one of the rats trying to run away by the tail and he lobbed it over his head and slammed it on the ground. While doing this he had to be careful because he had almost slammed the monster against the back of his head because he wasn’t careful, but he felt it as he attempted. The weight of the monster was slightly lighter than usual.

He had also noticed a difference when he was walking around and carrying the Beginner Fighter’s Pack. The pack felt slightly lighter than before he had leveled up and added the extra point into the stat.

There wasn’t a noticeable difference in his Vitality stat other than increased health, but he made a note to make sure to pay more attention when he increased it more. The same with his Willpower. He still didn’t know what that stat was about nor its purpose, but he still kept an eye out to see if he could spot anything as he moved around and fought.

Endurance on the other hand was definitely noticeable. After his three-point increase and the extra point he had placed in it, he had seen less damage being done to him by the current monsters he was fighting. They were still able to whittle his health down each time he made a mistake, or when they took him by surprise, but the wounds left were smaller and the damage dealt was small too. That didn’t do anything to stop the pain from coming when he did get hit, but he chalked that up to him having to condition his mind to adjust.

The other thing he noticed while thinking about his stats was level ups. He had just killed ten more rats and had finally leveled up once more. It looked like the number of monsters needed to kill for a level up was increasing.

He remembered back in school they had talked about this. About the factors involved when it came to gaining experience to level. Those factors were the number of people in the group, your level versus the monster’s level, and the increased amount of experienced needed with each level.

He grimaced as he thought about it. If it took him to kill ten of these level one Grey Haired Colony Rats just to go from level two to three and he was doing this by himself…how many would he have had to kill if he were in a group?

He shook his head, clearing it as he decided not to try to do the math on that. Instead, he opened his status and placed his Free Stat points where he believed they would be helpful. After making his decision and accepting his choice he looked at his new growth.

 Stats

Health Points – 107/140

Mana Points – 100/100

Stamina Points – 94/240

Strength – 16 (+2)

Agility – 14 (+1)

Endurance – 20 (+4)

Vitality – 14

Intelligence – 10

Wisdom – 10

Perception – 10

Willpower – 20

Free Stat Points Available: 0

Free Skill Points Available: 12

 

Not adding the extra stats his equipment gave him, his Endurance was now tied with his Willpower Stat. He didn’t add any extra stat points into it since it had reached twenty and decided to give that extra one to his strength so he would be able to hit harder, carry more, and throw things easier without issue.

Even though he didn’t really know what the Willpower Stat was for he still wanted to make sure it was getting some love so in case it was something important it wouldn’t feel betrayed for being the highest when he had awakened.

As for the rest, he placed a single point in each of the same stats as last time. Agility and Vitality. As for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception, he just allowed them to grow naturally since he really didn’t have any use for them for now.

After he had accepted his changes, he felt a sudden change happen within his body. It wasn’t a huge thing, but it wasn’t exactly subtle either. He felt the muscles on his arms, legs, and solar plex tightened slightly before relaxing and growing a bit. The soreness he had felt after the fight had increased when this happened, but after it was done everything went away like he had been given a nice thorough massage.

The next thing he felt change was his mind. He didn’t feel smarter than he was earlier, but he felt more…clear. Like a fog had slightly lifted in his mind and he was able to think more calculative…hm…maybe that wasn’t the right word. Maybe slightly more strategically when it came to fighting?

Speaking of a fog being lifted, there was a slight pressure around his eyes when the other things were happening that made him blink a few times until it was gone. After his sixth blink, he felt like everything around shifted. Not shifted in the sense that the ground, walls, objects, and ceiling had moved. More like the color, the details, and the information his sight was giving him had become…clearer.

He was surprised by this. He wondered what had happened that would cause this sudden change in his body when he thought about his stats. The notable changes that he could link everything to was his Endurance reaching twenty and his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception reaching ten.

Endurance reaching twenty must have been what caused his muscles to tighten and the soreness in them to disappear. His clearer mind as well as his thoughts on being more strategic with his moves was probably due to both his Intelligence and Wisdom reaching ten. And as for how his sight perceived things in a more colorful and slightly crisper way…that definitely had to be his Perception reaching ten. While he had another stat reach level twenty, he didn’t think it had anything to do with these changes.

He knew he was grasping at straws trying to gain some sort of understanding, but he felt he was on the right track with this. No, he was confident that he was on the right track. Having this happen when those stats reached their current numbers couldn’t have been a coincidence. And because of that he was able to confirm that those stats were also just more than what he originally thought.

He was excited about this new discovery. What also made him excited was he was now able to see the crooks and hidden spots in the shadows a little better. He had spotted one and went to check it out, but as he approached it, he frowned. It was empty. Nothing was hiding inside of the open spot.

He remembered in one of his classes a teacher talked about hidden spots, nooks, and crannies, slightly miscolored patches, and more being areas where hidden loot was. During his time walking around and in between fights he came across rooms that looked to house random loot due to the wooden chests sitting in the middle of the room as well as the random boxes that sat on shelves and the ground, but like this spot they were all empty. Nothing in them for him to plunder and make use for himself.

Kenny let out a sigh of disappointment. He then stretched his arms and legs so he could get a better feel for how they felt after the sudden minor changes. Once he confirmed he was good to go he continued to make his way forward.

The path he was on wasn’t a straight shot. He had times where he had to turn left or right due to the path or had to make a choice on which way he should go. He had made some bad choices where he was led to a dead end, but he was able to turn back around and find a path that kept going.

The same was happening now. He made his choices while he fought more monsters. He could feel the level difference start to take effect as the Grey Haired Colony Rats started becoming easier to fight despite their Stat Talent. That was something he had noticed as well. The Stat Talents of the Grey Haired Colony Rats he kept fight stayed the same. It never changed from Agility.

Another thing he came to learn after leveling to three and placing his Free Stats was he had finally either caught up or had become a point ahead of these creatures in Agility. Realizing this made him wonder how the others who had to fight these creatures in groups was able to handle them if their Agility Stat at level one was roughly around fourteen to fifteen. It must have been annoying to the ones who had low Agility Stats.

The last thing he also started to understand was after battle loot. After the first two creatures were killed, he looked around to see if anything had dropped and to his disappointment nothing did. It was later when he was looking at his Status and Stats where he found a small section that said Tower Credits. There he had eight Tower Credits just sitting there like it was no big deal. After his next two kills it increased to sixteen Tower Credits. And now after killing a total of twelve Grey Haired Colony Rats he was sitting at forty-eight Tower Credits.

What were these Tower Credits and what function did they have? From what he remembered back in school they were the currency of the Tower. He wasn’t sure what he could get with how much he had earned so far since there was no store he had come across yet, but he knew the currency rates when exchanging them for money was impressive. When they said you could make a fortune in the Tower, they meant the ratio of how much you could get from just a single Tower Credit was more than most exchange rates on Earth.

However, there were some rules and restrictions when exchanging Tower Credits for the planet’s money. He wasn’t sure what they were, but his teachers did say that one would learn when they became an actual Tower Ascender. So, in other words, he’d find out after the Trial Grounds. Just another thing to look forward to.

Kenny came to a halt as he turned the corner of the path he was walking. He stopped because the hallway was different than the ones he had been navigating through. The path had the way he was coming from and further down at the end was a left turn. However, in the middle of the hallway on his left was another path. Across from that was a wooden double door.

This wooden double door was different from all the single doors he came across. Not to mention it was closed too. He had his suspicions on what was behind those doors, but he wasn’t sure if what he was thinking was right. He only had one thing to do and that was go through them to see if he was right.

Kenny pressed against one of the doors as slowly and cautiously as he could. When there was a crack big enough for him to peek his head in, he did. He was able to scan the room without any issues or attracting any creatures to race toward him.

Inside the room there was a mixture of a dining hall, a kitchen, an area to lay stuff down, and a few bathrooms. The kitchen area was pressed up against the left wall where several bricked open stoves, a long counter, a couple of massive sinks, and a few pots and pans were. In the middle of the room were three long tables where leftover food was still sitting there. On the right side of the room was a wide-open space and spread out evenly across the wall were open doors where he was able to see a toilet in clear view in some of them.

He was surprised that the room was this big. He was taken aback slightly as well due to all the food on the tables. He had thought this room was a boss room or something similar, but due to how cozy it all looked it was probably a safe zone for everyone to relax, eat, and rest up.

The room looked and felt so inviting, Kenny decided to hop in to take a break. He could feel his tired body aching to rest for a moment that he gave in and decided he deserved some rest.

While it had only been a couple of hours since he arrived at the Trial Grounds, he had to keep a few things in mind. He was currently going at this solo. Because of that his body was always on edge having to be the scout, the tank, and the attacker. He hadn’t rested yet in case the monsters had some sort of patrol, but luckily, he hadn’t come across that yet.

The other thing he had to remember was he hadn’t really eaten anything. The last meal he attempted to have he failed to eat since his stepmother and siblings ruined his appetite. He could feel his stomach growl as the smell of all the food wafted in his direction. While it all smelled good, he wasn’t going to eat any of that.

For one, it had been a couple of days since everyone started. He didn’t know when the last group of people were here last which meant, while it all seemed fresh, some of the food could be bad or spoiled.

The second thing was, he wasn’t someone who would eat some random stranger’s leftovers. He didn’t know who had touched it and if the warnings his teachers gave him and his fellow classmates were true, then there was a chance someone left some kind of trap in the food hoping to thin the competition.

After taking a few cautious steps inside, Kenny’s attention was suddenly focused on the door he had left open. It had slammed shut with a loud thud. A sinking feeling suddenly formed in the shape of a knot as he stared at it.

That knot grew and deepened as he heard a few squeaks echoed inside the room. He turned around and saw four Grey Haired Colony Rats emerging from a cluster of food that sat in the middle of the three tables like they had just woken up from some food coma. The middle table had the two rats while the outside tables had a single one on them.

The creatures locked eyes with Kenny as they remained still. After a few seconds had passed, probably trying to process what they were seeing, they finally let out a loud threatening squeak and started to get ready to sprint at him. However, before they could make their move, a fifth creature saw an opportunity and jumped from one of the boards going across the ceiling and on top of one of the two rats on the middle table.

Kenny watched as the table snapped in half from the force and the food and remaining rat shot into the air and scattered about on their way back down. As the three uncaught rats scurried about in the room, Kenny kept his eyes on the newcomer.

It was a four-legged creature with short, bright orange hair. It had two elongated teeth that protruded from its mouth full of small razor-sharp ones. He had noticed the two teeth as the creature sank them right into the Grey Rat’s throat and then ripped out a chunk of its flesh. Blood swam out as the rat kicked and bucked as hard as it could, failing at each attempt as more blood gushed out and the paw of its killer pressed down more.

It was right then Kenny realized what was going on. He groaned mentally as he realized that he was fooled into thinking this was a safe room when really it was in fact a boss room. Or rather, a mid-boss.

[Mid-Area Boss. Feral Orange Feline. Level – 3. Stat Talent – Agility.]