James appeared in a forest with a flash of light.

Around him stood large oak-looking trees. What was odd was that they seemed to all stand on a set of gnarled roots that, instead of digging into the ground, separated out on the ground floor, creating dense spiderwebs of dark brown roots against a dark green and black dirt landscape.

“The Fog Forests.”

James recalled what the tower claimed this floor to be.

Far off in the distance, James saw a large sandstorm-like fog cloud, in front were three goblins scurrying as if their lives depended on it.

If they weren’t terrifying rouge midgets, James didn’t know what goblins could be. The most renowned thieves and mischief monsters after all were goblins.

‘

Though more intelligent than what most people give them credit for, it doesn’t surpass that of children, even the Warlock Priest Goblin he met in his previous run of The Tower was only as smart as a well-educated teenager.

Yet they all had a kleptomaniac trait, the shine of silver and gold drew them faster than dragons, which too existed and were all-motherfuckingly-powerful, as well as guarded a SHIT TON of loot.

James’s mind rumbled with self-made-for-comedy. Which was all that was left after living three centuries.

He had made his life’s purpose to be the stealthiest, greediest, goblin in his previous life, eventually stealing the Creation-Level Artifact, The Hourglass of Time.

James did what no one else would do… run towards the fog.

What a badass! James thought for a second of what others might think of him.

With amazingly light and floaty steps, James seemed to run on clouds across the terrifying terrain.

The two goblins soon noticed James approaching them.

“HUM ‘N” One screamed with a vicious smile.

The other looked and too then smiled, as it almost tripped over a large root, stumbling and barely not face-planting, with its face still pointed in James’s direction.

“GET EM’ !” The goblin on the right screamed.

The two goblins slightly changed their direction and stumbled on their way over to James.

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These two are naturally hostile? Seems like they have the ‘lucky’ trait though. James noticed how their bodies would barely function in moving across the floor, even though falling, they still were able to get out of the fog's way, just barely each time.

James in his combat armor leaped across the floor’s roots before kicking one of the goblins in the face.

The Goblin was sent flying into a tree splintering the tree trunk and sending wooden shrapnel flying.

“AHHHH” The other goblin screamed before raising a rusty iron dagger and slashing it at James.

James straight up grabbed the knife mid-swing with his gloves, the rusty dagger was incapable of piercing his combat armor.

Fucking OP bitches! James chuckled evilly in his head, thinking of how much chaos he was going to cause this time around.

James had naturally heard of the stories of the soldiers, with them becoming an impeccable tight-knit group, eventually even forming a militaristic empire. Their actually trained armies were practically unscathed all the way until the tenth floor. Only when magic was involved did their prowess decrease considerably.

Grabbing the throat of the goblin with the dagger with his other hand, he squeezed hard, simply snapping the neck of the goblin.

The one that was kicked into a tree had long been dead. The armor he had was far heavier than one would expect. A metal boot is simply a deadly weapon now.

James thought of the various combat methods he learned in his past life.

___________________________

[ THE GOD OF TARTARUS HAS NOTICED YOU, GAIN AWARENESS +1 ]

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A small simple screen with a line of text appeared in front of James’s view.

With a simple ignorance willed forth, the screen dissipated into nothingness.

So they’ve come to watch the little monkey dance to their delight. Well, I’m a very good dancer.

James thought to himself with a chuckle.

The wall of fog was a foot in front of him creeping ever close.

To the depths, I go.

James danced deep into the fog, his figure masked by a thick constant cloud, his vision only capable of seeing a foot away. However, James did something odd, he closed his eyes.

The dance he was doing previously was like a flamingo trancing across clouds, leaping from mountain-peak to mountain-peak. However, he suddenly became like a panther, prowling and seeking within the dark hidden.

*Creek* A wooden twisting sound echoed in the foggy forest.

James simply punched out with his left hand to his direct left.

*CRAHHH!* A monstrous creature sounded out.

Wooden Sprinlings.

He immediately thought of the tall thin wooden-root humanoids with vine-like hands licking and grasping at the air constantly.

Like a prowling panther, James struck with a fierce ferocity, with claw-like hand motions he tore through thin tree-looking creatures with wooden-root-tentacles which acted like graspers. Only by relying on his hearing, James could vaguely make a sonar-like effect with his technique to get an understanding of the situation.

There were only three Wooden Springlings in the area, and James quickly defeated them all using his well-practiced martial arts. Being a deity thief meant he had to have learned from many areas to get to many areas. He was similarly known for his expansive knowledge that often delved into the arcane and mysterious realms, however, that too was entitled only to a small number of the public Ascenders. A non-magic yet still a magical scholar at a mage school was his main identity, an odd case for sure.

Now that James looked back on his public occupation, he found it quite hilarious.

Time to test my ability. With this, I should be able to find the boss, and possibly… something better.

James emptied his mind quickly and reached out, with his palm facing out, James felt the shadows. In this environment, the Shadows were enriched in mass, they were so present and clear to him, that he had a momentarily suffocating feeling.

This fog… is actually made of condensed "light-filled" shadows… they’re in one of their primal enriched states!

At that moment James knew two things.

One, he accidently found one the most optimal states for one of his two new predominant elements, Shadow and Time. In the first room of the “tutorial”, The Shadow Affinity he gained from the book’s powers and the Statues blessing seemed to thrum alive at this moment and its power was shown in the world around James.

Which led to two… which also was that there was a lot of f*cking Primed Charged Light-filled Shadow, which is the light fog around him, and he has a new incredibly talented affinity with a new Creator-made Shadow Ability to test it out.

This is gonna be fun. James grinned savagely.