4 Status awarded

Jack stood with his back facing the black shadow as he slowly turned his head and looked at it. It was translucent, and every time it moved it showed it's shape which was exactly like the green kobold just wearing a dark uniform.

If Jack stood still it vanished from his sight. When he moved his muscles just a bit, it would realign itself behind him to be in the perfect position for a backstab or neck slice.

As it could not get any closer to him because of all the spears pointed at it, Jack breathed out joyfully. He was not sure until the last second if the creature could jump over the spears or what kind of monster it was.

As he turned the creature followed his movements around the spear fence, and as long he didn't turn his back towards the opening it was utterly harmless. It just followed his turning back and forth. It brandished its blade which was too short to hurt Jack.

Jack wondered why doesn't it hit the spears or come around and he came to a conclusion. The creature is not real. It doesn't have any intelligence. It has a poorly scripted artificial intelligence at most.

Its primary purpose was just a swift attack after the green one was dead. It had no clue what to do once new factors came into play. It could not pass obstacles or remove them.

Jack started to doubt this was a dream, but as much as he questioned it, he could not bring himself to acknowledge something like this is possible.

His new deduction was that he has schizophrenia and that his work as a programmer on various games brought these creatures and this space to life.

For now, he could only go along with it and hope he somehow momentarily escapes so he could seek help as soon as possible.

Looking at the creature from the corner of his eye, he knew he could not face it directly, so he turned around the spear in his hand and tried to flick it behind him over his shoulder. It was an awkward movement, and the first spear missed it by a couple of centimeters and also the power he could exert with such a move was probably far from enough to pierce it.

He pulled up another spear out from the ground and this time tried to throw it behind him under his arm. It had a bit more power, but the direction was even harder to control. It hit the creature in the chest but the effect war very disappointing as it bounced off of it.

Jack looked at it. Then looked at the spears and sighed. He sat down in the circle surrounded by spears and started thinking about how to increase the power of his throw.

After a couple of minutes, he took off his swimming briefs. His purpose was not to scare the creature with sodomy though. He cut the small fabric into bands using his dagger. Then he tied two spears with two bands as tightly as he could. He used another two bands to attach the dagger to the end of the spear.

He used the second spear to increase his range and the dagger to improve the sharpness of the spear. He lifted his makeshift long spear, and it was flimsy. He could only hope the swimwear will be more robust than the shadow kobolds skin.

He pointed it behind him and slowly extended it towards the shadow kobolds neck. It showed no reaction. It was still shimmering in and out of existence in a rhythm which solely depended on the rotation of Jack's body.

The spear was coming at an angle from Jack's hip towards its neck, and it was almost touching it. The distance was perfect for a stab. Jack gently moved the spear forward, so the spear was about 40 centimeters from the shadow kobold's neck, concentrated all his power into his hand and shoved it backward with all he had.

By the time the bands on the dagger broke the creatures neck was penetrated and the dagger reached its spine. It collapsed after a few movements.

Jack was nervously awaiting his new opponent, but nothing happened after a long while. He went out of his spear circle and still everything was quiet with no movements anywhere.

He picked up all the spears, daggers and the shadow kobold's blade. Jack brought them back to the room and threw them in just in case he would have to repeat this battle again. He also took off the black uniform from the shadow kobold and tossed it inside the room. After removing the outfit, it looked identical to the green one.

With a spear in one hand and a dagger in the other Jack looked at the trees and the cliff in the distance. He was naked, but he had no other choice. The smell of the green kobold was overwhelmingly pungent. He almost puked everytime he got near it, so he didn't want to get near its grey cloth which covered its privates. The shadow kobold was not far from the same disgusting odor either.

So he ventured forward naked passing through the shrubbery, underneath the trees and reaching the cliff. There he found the entrance to another room.

It was dark inside as if no light from this space could pass into it. Jack poked with inside with his spear, and it went in and out without problems.

He did not walk in right away or even tried if he could but went a full circle around the whole cliff passing in front of the first rooms opening and back to the second room.

The whole thing felt like an artificial zoo enclosure or an intricate arena.

He had no other choice left but to pass through the second door.

Jack held his spear tightly and took a step forward. What awaited him was an identical room to the first one with another exit on the other side of it.

Suddenly a floating message flashed in front of his eyes. Floating in the air was a huge message. Congratulations for passing Level 1 in all caps.

After approximately 30 seconds it changed to Status awarded.