At the second floor, we encounter a new enemy. They are like tailless squirrels, but they climb along the ceiling, and jump at us from above. And it isn't long before we are on the third floor, where we meet yet another enemy, a smallish hog-type. It has a flat, squarish head with 4 tusks protruding from it and a kind of mane.

After taking care of the first stray one with a quick stab in its stomach, Jorgen informs me "For monsters, you have generally 5 types of attacks. In order of danger, they are strikes, charges, grabs, projectiles and traps. For chargers, the only thing you have to do is evade or deflect them, then cut at a weak point. Their most annoying trait is that they disrupt the formation of the party, but we don't really deal with that, since we're only two down here. And see here" He uses his sword to point at some think hairs by the beast's neck. "This one has some kind of hard neck hair, so you'll be much better off aiming for the stomach in this case. Charge monster often have some sort of neck protection. Then, you decide whether to stab at it directly from the side or from the opposite direction of the charge, the advantages with the first being..."

Jorgen goes on a long, long rant about all manner of tips and tricks regarding charging monsters according to their hide, armor, horns and tusks, speed etc. and any exceptions to his tips are quickly added too. It truly gives of the air of someone who has been doing this for longer than I have even lived. And that's with the time of both my lives combined.

After his lecture, I ask a question there has been bugging me. "Is there only one type of monster per level?"

"Generally yes" Jorgen says "Mostly there is only one type of ressource and one monster on each level, but sometimes, a monster from a lower level will move up to a higher one and you will encounter unexpected opponents every so often, so always stay on your guard. Complacency is truly the biggest killer of all hunters".

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Lessons such as those quickly became the norm. Each day consisted of dungeon in the morning, followed by a spar or some special training, and then training the basics till exhaustion.

During dungeon training I learn to deal with all of the major types of monster attacks apart from grabs, since none of those are at this dungeon. Seems they are fairly rare to begin with though. I am taught about strikers primarily using some bug-men with long, spiky limbs. They are poisonous, but the force is minimal, not even enough to piercy my skin, so I can learn without fear.

For projectiles there were two. A flying owl-like creature that seems to shoot sharp feathers and some outlandish small creature I can best describe as a short, fat shrimp that shoots tiny spikes at incredible speeds.

For traps I have only really seen the traps themselves and not the monsters, since those don't engage directly with humans if they can help it, and they're the only type to do so, so most don't even bother hunting them. I am introduced to some webs. They are nigh invisible, and they apparently aim around head-height to clog up a human's breathing and asphyxiate you... Incredibly scary.

The other type was some caltrop-looking things that actually got me, since my feet hadn't been whipped. Luckily my self-healing took care of the poison, which was pretty weak all things considered. My poor shoe still has a hole in it, and Jorgen whipped my feet for months after, though.

Special training consisted of whenever Jorgen got bright ideas, though I think their purpose was mainly to torture me. It sounded like he rarely thought his ideas would work, but he subjected me to all manner of treatments. Wanted to see if I built up resistance to poisons, fire and crushing. Each projects that lasted months. The answers were yes, yes and no.

In such a manner, four years pass. My skin is tough as leather, my swings are deadly, and I know the monster well enough to take on several of them on alone. I am also faster. Some days I really wanted to give in, to say no more, to run away, but what kept me going was that one day, I will wipe smug grin off Jorgen's face and pay him back in kind for all he has done to me.

I was having such thoughts while one day, a guest I had completely forgotten was scheduled to arrive, came to our little house. Jorgen runs up and kisses her. It was Hannah.