Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, I am teleported onto a stone platform in the middle of a forest. The forest is pretty similar to the one I was just in. The only really noticeable difference was that the trees were all a good bit taller and thicker. Even picking at them with my nails, the bark feels stronger than the typical trees I’m used to.

Welcome to floor 2: Goblins Forest

This forest is home to the goblin race. While weak individually, goblins are well known for their numbers and engineering prowess. The exits to this floor can be found within the center of goblin cities. Remember, you can teleport back to floor 1 at any time from any entrance to floor 2.

Well, if magic was real, I guess it wasn’t too much of a leap to believe goblins would be real too. Did that mean other fantasy races were a thing as well? Would I one day have the chance to go toe to toe with a dragon? That sounded both exciting and terrifying.

I looked around for a few seconds, trying to get an idea of where I wanted to go first. There wasn’t any indicator of what to do other than to find a goblin city and reach the exit, so I just picked a direction and started walking. Every hundred feet or so I would hit a tree with a mana bolt so I didn’t lose track of the way back to the entrance. It was just long enough that I felt my mana fully regenerate between shots. I spotted some deer wandering around, actually quite a lot more than were on the first floor. They were in groups of 3 to 4 instead of the 1 or 2 that I remembered seeing on the first floor.

Eventually, I started hearing something in the distance. It sounded like loud thuds, which I assumed must have been somebody fighting against a goblin. I picked up the pace and start jogging over, stopping when I saw that it was not a goblin fighting another person, but rather two goblins fighting one another.

I ducked behind a tree so I wouldn't be seen. Honestly it was a miracle I hadn’t already been seen. I hadn’t been making any effort to sneak up on the two short green creatures, but neither of them seemed to be particularly mindful of their surroundings.

I peeked around the tree, wanting to get a good look at the two. Both wore some simple looking leather armor, and each of them held a wooden club that they were using to fight one another. The closer I looked, the less it seemed like this was an actual sparring match and more of an actual fight. They were aiming for one another's head, and the speed of the strikes made it seem like a solid hit would do quite a number on whoever it hit. I couldn’t say for sure how heavy those clubs were, but they couldn’t be too heavy considering the goblins small frames.

I take a deep breath in, and decide to test the waters a bit. I would try and make some kind of noise to get their attention, and see how they reacted. If they attacked me, I’d fight back. If not... well then I don’t really know where I’d go from there.

I spot a branch on the floor, so I pick it up, step out from behind the tree, and snap it in half over my knee. The loud sound of the branch breaking made both of the goblins stop, and their heads instantly snapped to look over at me. All three of us were frozen in place for a moment.

They didn’t seem to be doing anything. Maybe they weren’t hostile-

They both start rushing at me, faster than I would have anticipated they could. I hastily cast a mana bolt their way, but in my panic I hadn’t aimed it very well. It hits a tree way off to the goblins left, leaving a mark. I manage to shoot two more mana bolts at them before they get to me. One of them hits the armor of the closest goblin, leaving a burnt circle in the spot it hit and slowing it down a bit from the impact. The other bolt managed to hit the other goblin directly in the face, and I watch in a mix of disgust as the hit seems to rip off a part of its cheek, leaving it’s teeth exposed through the wound.

I don’t have time to feel bad, as the nearest goblin swings its club straight for my side. I can’t dodge in time, so I bring my arm around to block the attack. It hurts, bad. It does block the attack from hitting my ribcage, which would have likely been worse than the bad bruise that this hit would likely cause. I think about casting a point blank bolt of mana at the monster, but instead let my instincts take over and bring a fist down on its head.

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The goblin immediately collapses to the ground, dazed. At that point, I deliver a bolt of mana to its head, killing it instantly. I look back towards the other goblin, only to realize it had died from the first mana bolt that had hit it.

That had felt... too easy. Should killing be that easy? My guess was that thanks to my stats from the S+ tier pioneer title that I just had higher stats than were usual for having just entered floor 2.

I open my status screen, and see that a notification has popped up on the side of it.

*You have slain Goblin scout (level 3) X2. Bonus experience for winning a fight while outnumbered. Bonus experience for fighting enemies of a higher level.*

*You have reached level 2.*

I looked at my stats, seeing that they had indeed increased. My body was now at 28, mind at 33, and spirit at 28. For a moment I had thought that it was too much. I should only be getting 5 in my mind stat and 3 in my other stats when adding up the points I got from my race and my class. That’s when I remembered that my titles gave me a 30% bonus to all my stats. Once more, I’d like to say I am grateful for these kick ass titles making my life easier.

I crouch down and start inspecting the two goblins. Now that I was up close, I could see that they both had different designs on the shoulder of their armor. Were these supposed to be ranks in a goblin army or something? One of them was red, while the other was a purple color. The armor was far too small for any human, so I didn’t even bother taking those, but I did grab one of the clubs. That would at least ensure I had a decent option for when a goblin got in close again.

I should probably stick close to the entrance so I don’t get lost. Even with the markers on the trees, I don’t want to risk not being able to find those if it got dark. I don’t know if there is a day and night cycle here, but I am going to work under the assumption that there is.

After getting back to the entrance, I stop for a moment. My arm is aching, so it’s probably a good idea to go to one of the healers and see just how effective their healing was. Worst case scenario, I hang back at the camp for a bit to let it heal, and be more careful next time I came up here.

As soon as both of my feet were on the platform, a prompt appeared before me.

Teleport back up to floor 1? You will be brought to the point you exited at.

After confirming that I wanted to teleport back, I suddenly found myself once more in the staircase. After walking up it, I saw the fire still burning, and a large group of people surrounding it. The group was larger than it had been when I’d left it before.

One of the first people to spot me was Jeremy, who quickly jogged over.

“You’re back! That was quick. Did something happen?”

“Yeah, I fought a couple of goblins. I’m fine though, I just wanted to get my arm healed. I got bruised by one of them when they hit my arm with a club.”

We walked over to the main group, and while we did I rolled up my robe sleeve to show my arm. It wasn’t exactly pretty. I hadn’t looked at it until now, but most of my forearm was covered with a bruise. It didn’t hurt unless I touched it, and when I did my nerve endings punished me heavily with a stinging pain.

Jeremy hovered his hand just over the injury, not quite touching it. His hand glowed for a brief moment, and a feeling like water running down my arm was present as the bruise slowly faded.

“So, what else did you see besides the goblins?” Jeremy asked. Several others around us also quieted down to listen.

“Well, not much. The trees were bigger, and that’s about it. I didn’t really do much actual exploring since I didn’t want to get lost. I was going to go back after taking a moment to rest, but I also wanted to try something else before going. Also, when did so many people show up here?”

“Oh, they showed up not long after you left. We figured the more the merrier since surviving is definitely going to be a group effort.”

“How many are there?”

“About three dozen of us so far.” He looks around for a moment before leaning in and whispering so quietly that I could barely hear it. “Besides those of us that were already a group, nobody has a pioneer title over C tier, with most of them having a D tier title. We haven’t told them yet that our stats are so much higher than theirs, so don’t bring it up.”

I nod silently, not saying anything. Jeremy continues, giving some of the information I’d been wondering about.

“The people with D tier titles only have 30 days in the tutorial. The C tiers have 60 days, and while we can’t yet confirm it for sure yet we assume that each tier higher gives 30 additional days.”

“Has anybody else shown interest in going to the next floor?”

“Yes. A lot of them actually. People are forming groups to go down. If you want I can introduce you to them and you can join one.”

“No, I don’t think I’ll need that.” I say, which surprises Jeremy.

“What? Why not?”

“After fighting those two goblins, I got extra experience because I was fighting them alone. I’m going to be honest, given my higher stats I think it would just be most effective for me to just fight alone.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you at least want a healer to come with you?”

“I’m sure. I saw how weak the goblins are, and I doubt any will prove to be able to do any fatal damage to me, especially as my level gets higher and higher.”

“If you say so man. Just, please don’t die.” He says. “I guess I’ll see you whenever you come back for more healing.”

“Oh, I’m not leaving quite yet. I still had one more thing I wanted to do before I head back to the second floor.”

“What is that?”

“I am going to see if I can improve my mana bolt spell.”