Alex looked at the status screens above the three goblins. They were goblin soldiers, same as the one he fought previously. A tangible excitement filled within him as the monsters readied themselves for combat.

This time, he made the first move. Alex activated Pulse Dash and his body zipped toward the right-most goblin. The creature’s eyes widened in disbelief, unable to comprehend how quickly Alex had just closed the distance. He hit the goblin with a Spirit Punch, smashing it into the spire and cracking the building. Four more quick punches finished it off.

The other two goblins screeched with rage. They had barely moved, and their supposed prey had already killed an ally. They let out a cry and ran at Alex, their swords at the ready.

Alex steadied himself, waited for the perfect timing, then jumped over the two goblins, and grabbed their heads and smashed them into one another. They stumbled back from the blow and held their heads as Alex landed gently on the ground.

He smiled with delight, relishing the fluidity with which his body moved. Turns out I don’t have to smash everything I see. I can hurt my enemies in different ways when I’m unarmed.

A sharp sting in his left arm cut his inner celebrations short. He looked down and saw an arrow lodged into his bicep. From where? Goblin soldiers didn’t use ranged weapons. He looked up and saw a goblin with a bow on the balcony of the spire, about 15 meters high. It was nocking another arrow. The status screen above it read differently from the goblin soldiers.

Goblin Archer HP: 30

The archer was physically weaker than the soldiers, but it would still be a problem if left alone. He’d have to deal with it quick. The goblin soldiers hissed at him as they composed themselves. But they could wait.

Alex pulled the arrow out of his arm, turned toward the spire, and activated Pulse Dash. The boost of speed allowed him to quickly scale up the spire using nothing but his feet. He reached the balcony and placed his hand on the railing. On the other side, a knocked arrow aimed straight at his eyes greeted him.

He grabbed the bow, aimed it away from his face, then pulled on it. The goblin archer held its grip, unwilling to let go of the weapon. Alex yanked the bow toward his body, bringing the archer close. He then grabbed the goblin by the arm and hurled it over the railing. The goblin archer plummeted to the ground with a loud thud. That definitely did some damage.

Hanging on to the railing, Alex swerved his body around, took aim at his target, then launched off the spire balcony and landed directly onto the chest of the goblin archer below, planting his feet firmly into it. The archer let out a brief squeal as it died from the impact.

Before the remaining two goblin soldiers could react, Alex ran at them and hit one of them with a Spirit Punch, killing it on contact. A flurry of punches finished the final goblin. The battle was over.

That was three goblin soldiers and one goblin archer dead. And the only damage he had taken was an arrow to the arm from a surprise attack. Alex smiled. Not bad at all. I still got it.

A prompt appeared before him.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2!

Strength +1, Stamina +1, Agility +2, Spirit +2

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Skill Unlocked: Spirit Blast

You have unlocked a Talent Slot!

Woaw! Alex thought. That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with the skill. He opened and read the description of his new skill.

Spirit Blast

Concentrate your spirit energy into the palms of your hands to let out a powerful blast of energy.

Interesting. Judging by the wording, this ability was a kind of explosive energy blast. He’d be sure to test it out the next chance he got.

Next was the Talent Slot. Talents were naturally unlocked through leveling up and progressing up the tower. These talents were limited, however, requiring a Talent Slot in order to be equipped. Without a Talent Slot to equip them, they’d go to waste. This made Talent Slots one of the most valuable commodities in the world. With a slot now available, Alex looked at the talents he could equip.

Unarmed Combat

Increases your proficiency in unarmed combat. (+10% damage from non-weapon attacks)

Spirit Channeling

Increases your ability to channel spirit energy. (+8% spirit energy regeneration rate.)

Alex could sense that he’d drained a good portion of his spirit energy in the last fight, even though he couldn’t see the actual number. He’d used Spirit Punch and Pulse Dash twice each, and he could definitely feel that his pool of available energy had shrunk. But he also felt it replenishing slowly. This made him want to equip Spirit Channeling. It would certainly be more fun if he could spam his skills, but he didn’t really need it right now. Talents wouldn’t disappear, so he could unlock it at another time when he had a Talent Slot available. On the other hand, doing more damage would let him ascend more quickly, and hitting even harder would be more fun than spamming abilities.

He equipped Unarmed Combat then opened his stats to review what had changed.

Stats

Level: 2

Rank: Apprentice

Strength: 16

Stamina: 12

Agility: 18

Resilience: 8

Spirit: 19

Skills Mastery Level Description Spirit Punch Beginner Concentrate your spirit energy into your fist to unleash a powerful punch. Pulse Dash Beginner Shoot your spirit energy in a pulse behind you to perform a lightning-quick dash. Spirit Blast Beginner Concentrate your spirit energy into the palms of your hands to let out a powerful blast of energy.       Talents Mastery Level Description Unarmed Combat Beginner Increases your proficiency in unarmed combat. [+10%] damage from non-weapon attacks.

This was a good start; one mobility skill and two damaging skills with a talent to boost their damage. There was a lot left to learn but he was in a good position to surge through the first three floors and reach the first Haven.

With no more goblins around Alex set his sights to the second-floor portal which was just up ahead.