The awkward silence was broken by a man who probably had a higher sociability than the average person present. In a suit and tie, perhaps a banker or a salesman, he was well-groomed and spoke with the ease of those who know how to convince with their words:
“Hello, I know we’ve been through some tough times, but I have to tell you that I’m glad to see you: for a moment I thought I was going to be all alone for I don’t know how many trials. My name is Louis Le Gall. Apparently, I’m a Level 2 Archer now.”
The casualness of the man, probably thirty years old and well-presented, eased the tension somewhat. Jules, torn by curiosity, dared to ask him a question immediately:
“You are an Archer? I didn't see that among the available classes.”
“Really? It was offered to me as a variant of the Scout. I suppose it's because I had built a bow to hunt rabbits... A very good idea, by the way: up close they were formidable. And what's your name?”
“Me? My name is Jules Dupont and I'm... a level 2 warrior?”
“Congratulations on getting through it.”
Then others, encouraged, joined the discussion, presenting their names and classes, to the point that our Dupont could no longer remember half of them.
He had still remembered a few names better than the others. Louis Le Gall, of course, since through his initiative he was beginning to become the informal leader of their group. That of another warrior, David Zimmermann, because he had much more of a warrior's build than he himself. He had also remembered Luc Bernard, another warrior who was downright a thick brute who had rightly received the "barbarian" class variant and a sinister axe. As for the other men, he hardly remembered anything but their first or last name, or even just their class.
He also remembered the identity of a few women. Marie Dupond, mainly because her last name was very similar to his, who had opted for the Scout class. Jade Blanc, because her name was easy to remember and she had long, flaming red hair that she tried to braid after untangling branches and leaves that had gotten stuck in it: to face future trials, she tried to have a more practical hairstyle. She had chosen the "warrior" class but, thin and rather frail, she hardly had the profile. He had also remembered the name Françoise Dubois because her special "priestess" class, a variant of healer, had come with a beautiful white dress that must not have been very practical if she needed to run.
Listing the information on his smartphone, Le Gall summarized:
“So, there are twenty-eight of us. Eleven warriors including three variants of the class, a barbarian, a warrior-mage and a weapons master. Four tanks including a paladin variant. Three scouts including an archer, myself, five mages and five healers including two variants, a priestess and a druid. Apparently, we come from pretty much everywhere in France, but strictly from France. Rather curious: is the power of the Tower limited to our borders? Some regions are not represented and we were all in points very far from each other at the time of our abduction…”
He didn’t dare mention that whatever these places were, they had all been attacked by monsters before they were thrown here. No one wanted to think about it, but in what state would they find their homes?
“Well,” grumbled Bernard the Barbarian, “talking is all well and good, but maybe we should ask ourselves what we do now!”
As if in response to his complaint, a window appeared in front of each prisoner. They were visible only to them, but from the way each other squinted into the air, they guessed that they were all confronted with the same vision.
TOWER of TRIALS
Floor 2
Quest rank "F"
"Goblin Hunt"
Success Condition: Form groups of six people maximum. You will then be teleported to your hunting grounds. Kill 100 Goblins or collect 1200 points within the group.
Rule: 10 "Points" per goblin killed, 1 "Point" for participation. If one of your allies dies, the "Points" will be divided among the survivors. If you kill one of your allies, you will recover all of their "Points" plus an equivalent bonus. The number of "Points" collected by each will not be disclosed.
Reward: The "Points" will be converted into Gold Pieces, or "Gold".
Hint 1: The mission could last several days. You will probably have to hunt and stock up on water. Be careful when moving away from your camp…
Hint 2: Gold will allow you to buy equipment and other bonuses in the Tower store. It is better to have a lot of it to survive the following trials…
Failure: Death
There was a hubbub of animated exchanges. Although they found themselves among perfect strangers, their mutual troubles in the face of the new ordeal removed this barrier and encouraged discussion.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“Well,” Le Gall said, “it really looks like some kind of video game... Goblins now? As for the distribution of the groups, I have a proposal...”
Using the strengths and weaknesses of the different classes, he proposed the composition of the five groups as follows:
First group, a tank, two warriors, the barbarian, a magician and a healer. Six people.
Second group, a tank, two warriors, the warrior-mage, a magician and a healer. Six people.
Third group, the paladin, two warriors, a magician and a healer. Five people.
Fourth group, a scout, a tank, the weapons master, a magician and the priestess. Five people.
Fifth group, a scout, a tank, two warriors, an archer (so Le Gall), a magician and a druid. Six people.
Some of the people present approved of the plan, but others opposed it. Some criticized Le Gall for having put himself in a group of six rather than five, but the most vehement voice was that of Bernard:
“Why do you think you're the leader? I say we should elect the leader! We're in a democracy, right?”
And he flexed his muscles as if to emphasize that he was ready to rearrange the face of the first person who contradicted him. Jules stayed away from these debates and watched Le Gall painfully explain that he didn't think he was a leader but that he was presenting an egalitarian strategy for all. He then justified each group composition according to the strengths and weaknesses of the skills present and the equipment possessed. Faced with the apparent accuracy of his reasoning, even the barbarian ended up capitulating.
“But you're not the leader for all that! We'll discuss it again after this ordeal.”
“No problem... Let's try to come back alive first to talk about it again.”
There was then much more discussion about who would go on which team, for positions that weren't unique, like warriors, magicians, and half of the healers.
When they had all assembled in separate groups, Jules found himself in the third group. He noted with instinctive chagrin that it was the only group without a woman. In contrast, the second group was almost exclusively made up of women, with the exception of the warrior-mage, whose name he remembered for the occasion: Arthur Lailu. The first and last groups each had a woman, in order: a healer and a scout. Finally, the fourth group included Marie Dupont and Françoise Dubois.
Focusing on socializing with his own group, he tried to retain the participants. The other warrior was named Pierre Normand and did not stand out from the crowd, no more than he himself in any case. The paladin, whom they instinctively assimilated to the group leader by the particularity of his class, was named Camille Lafayette. Finally, the mage was Diego Lafargue and the healer Martin Leroy. At first glance, none of the four men seemed to have an unpleasant personality or one likely to endanger their mission.
While a member of each group validated the composition of the group on a System window, the others approved their participation on a verification window. The first group to have finished this formality disappeared abruptly, as if quickly erased from reality in the middle of a shower of blue sparks rising from the ground.
Then, it was their turn.
In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in a forest quite similar to the one on the first level. By a recently acquired reflex, everyone looked down, fearing to see a bloodthirsty rabbit emerge from the grass.
“So, what does a Goblin look like?”
The question, asked by Lafargue, made sense: depending on the work of fiction, the representation of a Goblin could vary. No one answered at the time and Lafayette broke the silence:
“We’ll see when we find one. The best thing would be to find it before it finds us. If the wererabbits on the first floor were formidable, they wouldn’t be a threat to our group. So, we can assume that the Goblins will be more formidable.”
So, they agreed to set up an ambush in the shelter of thick bushes. The task of hiding was not as easy for a group as for an individual, but they managed it by hiding each in his corner all around a small clearing.
Their wait was not long and a Goblin quickly appeared, perhaps pushed by the System to their ambush. The creature strangely resembled the standards of contemporary fantasy: a small greenish being, pustular and with large ears. It was dressed in ragged clothes and brandished a small wooden lance.
“Now!”
Following the paladin's order, the group emerged simultaneously from the bushes, cutting off any possibility of escape for the monster. Surprised, it let out high-pitched and threatening cries, turning on all sides while pointing its spear. The Humans hesitated. Jules tried to observe the information concerning the Goblin but it was not possible:
"Observation" Skill Failed:
The Hidden Trait "Just a Goblin" has canceled your attempt.
The Goblin will be immune to further scrying for 1 Hour.
Realizing that escape was not possible, the monster rushed at Jules, probably chosen at random among the attackers. Unless it had detected his use of skill? The spear rose towards him as he lowered his sword in an attempt at defense that was more instinctive than thoughtful.
You inflicted 11 points of damage
You received 8 points of damage
Immediately, the Goblin perished under the hail of clumsy blows from the entire group. The melee was quick but confused. Not at all used to fighting together, the fighters nearly eviscerated each other between allies. Pierre's sword even pierced the arm of the paladin who screamed in pain. The damage was not greater because the healer used his power to close the wound.
Gazing at the creature's corpse, the budding adventurers thought in silence... Well, except for the paladin's cries, which only stopped when he could thank the healer for his work.
Goblin Level 1 defeated:
Jules Dupont
Combat XP: 1
Participation XP: 1
Points earned: 1
Total points: 1
They found out that they had all gained 2 XP and 1 Point, except for Leroy who had apparently delivered the killing blow with his staff. He had received 3 XP and 10 Points. When he had healed Lafayette of just two health points, he had also received 1 XP.
“On the other hand,” he said to Jules, “I'm sorry but I only have two Energy points left. My ‘Magical Healing (F)’ skill only allows me to heal one life point for every five Energy points.”
Okay, the healers were useless for now, except to stop the bleeding. Using his own "First Aid" skill, he mysteriously managed to use another part of his clothes to bandage the wound caused by the monster on his stomach, well below his armor. Still, he was convinced that this armor had somehow minimized his injury, as absurd as it seemed.
But the world itself had become absurd. His companions debated whether or not they were murderers, since the creature they had killed seemed intelligent enough to wear clothes and use a weapon. Some argued that they were the ones who had attacked, others assured that it was just a monster, similar to those that attacked Earth, and that it would not have hesitated to kill them if it had surprised them.
Just then another Goblin casually entered the clearing, stopping short at the sight of the men with bloody weapons and the corpse of its comrade.