11 The Challenge
"Take this!" Katsuya shouted.
With great force, he shoved his dagger into the walking shadow's chest.
It turned into a cloud of dust, then slowly disappeared.
[Leveled up]
[Quest Complete: Defeat a monster]
"Shadow monsters, they're pretty difficult to handle."
A giant screen came into view, containing a list.
{You will be able to change your class every 10 levels.
Please Choose a Class.
1. Fighter - Your 'Atk' stat will rise at a higher rate than the other stats upon leveling up. You will gain the skill "Attack Double"
2. Tank - Your 'Hp' stat will rise at a higher rate than the other stats upon leveling up. You will gain the skill 'Harden'
3. Mage - Your 'Mp' stat will rise at a higher rate than the other stats upon leveling up. You will gain the skill "Low Mp Regeneration"
4. Assassin - Your Speed will rise + 5 upon leveling up. You gain the skill "Speed Boost"
5. Summoner - You gain the ability to summon creatures that are created out of your Mp.
6. Archer - You will gain the following skills: Night Vision, Far Sight, Time Slow.
7. Unspecialized - Upon leveling up, your stats will increase depending on the effort put in.}
To Katsuya, 'Fighter' seemed like a good choice but he wasn't sure how he felt about his 'Atk' stat rising at a higher rate than his other ones.
After lots of hard thinking, he decided on what he wanted.
"All of these seem like good choices but I'm gonna go with unspecialized."
[Your class is now set as "Unspecialized"]
Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps came from further on in the tunnel,coming closer and closer.
Katsuya gripped his dagger as he stood cautiously, ready to fight.
There was now a creature walking towards him. It had skin so dark, it looked just like a shadow as it almost blended in with the darkness around.
If it wasn't for the sound of its footsteps echoing in the cave, Katsuya probably wouldn't have noticed it.
"Monster, activate"
[You have activated a skill 'Monster']
The shadow rushed forward and began swinging its arms through the air.
Without hesitation, Katsuya swung the dagger forward, stabbing into its stomach.
(Shadow: Hp: 0/42)
The creature turned into a puffy cloud of dust and slowly disappeared.
[Exp up]
Katsuya began coughing as he moved his hand through the air, trying to clear it.
"I'm lucky these things don't live in my house. If they did, I would have to clean all the time."
A question shot across his thoughts. He remembered that in the description of his 'Monster skill, it said the cost of activation was one year off his life-span.
"Is it really okay to use that skill? What if I drop dead?I mean, I don't even know how long my life-span is to begin with."
Sora, Katsuya's A.I spoke, replying to his question.
"I cannot say if it is okay or not. That is for you, Katsuya to decide. Your total life-span is One-hundred-eight years."
Katsuya knew that human life-spans were not that long but felt somewhat spooked hearing how many years he had left.
"I probably shouldn't worry. I'm only sixteen so I still have lots of time left."
He then continued his walking.
Thump!
Katsuya fell on his back, he had bumped his head against something hard but what?. He sat up, rubbing his head.
"Ow, what the he-"
His eyes widened as he looked up only to see a tall dark-skinned creature standing directly in front of him. It was another shadow creature, but what made it stand out was its height. Katsuya jumped to his feet and quickly took steps back.
Now that he was on his feet, he realized how tall the creature truly was. It stood almost three times the height of him and had long knife-like claws.
(Shadow: Hp: 300)
Katsuya gripped his dagger as the monster suddenly began running towards him.
"Monster, activate!"
The shadow quickly swung its claws through the air. Katsuya jumped to the side as he shoved the tip of the blade into the creature's leg.
He quickly yanked it out as the creature swung its claw across his chest.
(Katsuya: Hp: 18/39)
His shirt was torn and he was pushed back as if a truck had hit him. Katsuya laid on the floor, holding his chest as it felt like a sword haircut him open.
He reached his hand out and grabbed his dagger off the floor, before standing back up.
"This one is definitely stronger than the rock spirit I fought. I probably won't last another strike. That means I'll have to end this fast. It's all or nothing."
He squeezed his blade tightly, then swung it forwards as he let it go.
It shot through the air then pierced into the shadows forehead.
"Now's my chance." Katsuya thought to himself as he sprinted forward.
He took a big leap and flew through the air, slamming his foot into the creature's chest. He yanked his dagger out as his kick pushed the creature back.
(Shadow: Hp: 51/300)
As Katsuya landed back on his feet, he sprinted towards the creature once more.
The shadow leaned forward, reaching out its hand, trying to grab him.
"Not today."
He shoved the dagger, stabbing into the middle of its palm.
Katsuya weaved to the side and slammed his fist into its lower torso.
(Shadow: Hp: 0/300)
The creature turned into a cloud of smoke that slowly disappeared.
The sound of metal came from his dagger hitting the ground.
[Leveled up]
"Monster, deactivate."
[Your skill 'Monster' has deactivated]
Katsuya walked over to his dagger then picked it up.
"I'm getting good at this. Some monsters are still too strong for me to handle."
He then sat down in exhaustion, against the wall of the tunnel.
"Stat, check."
( Katsuya: Class: Unspecialized
Level: 4
Hp: 99
Intelligence: 117
Mp: 52
Atk: 21
Speed: 18
Endurance: 87)
There was a dramatic chance in his stats. They had risen almost four times as much as they were before.
['Sora' has added new quests]
[Quests:
1. Defeat 4 opponents. 0/4 | Prize: Level capacity + 4
2. Harvest an Item from a monster | Prize: Level Capacity + 1}
"I better get moving now."
---------------------------------
Twenty minutes later...Katsuya had arrived at another area in the cave.
Bright blue crystals hung from the roof and there were walls made up of rocks. There were small berry plants that stuck out of the rock hard floor. Small puddles of glowing blue water were everywhere. Up ahead was a pair of giant red doors.
He continued walking as he looked around in amazement.
The air was ice cold as if it were snowing. Katsuya was able to see the fog from his breath.
He wondered if it was safe to go any further, in fear of getting hypothermia.
"No, it's all or nothing. I have to keep going." He thought to himself.
A crackling sound came from behind. It was a small sound and it did not catch his attention. He took steps as the crackling sound grew louder.
The noise stopped and the sound of loud slow footsteps caught his attention. He quickly turned around, only to see walking ice.
There were five humanoid creatures, made of ice.
It was a type of monster called an "Ice Statue"
They were found in dungeons ranked from D to A.
"Here we go again."
Katsuya gripped his dagger as he let out a sigh.
He swung his dagger forward and released it. The dagger shot through the air and stabbed into one of the creature's chest.
(Ice Statue: Hp: 0/89)
The statue's body suddenly shattered.
Katsuay's face turned surprised as he did not expect to kill it so easily.
"I guess my throwing power got stronger. Good thing I used to practice knife throwing or it probably wouldn't have been that accurate."
Due to their slow speed, the creatures were still some distance away.
Katsuya began walking forward as he spoke.
"Monster, activate."
[Your skill 'Monster' has been activated]
No less than six minutes had passed as Katsuya finished off the last monster by stabbing his dagger into it.
[Quest Complete]
[Level Capacity +4]
[Leveled up]
"Aha...I finally finished...and I leveled up. I really am getting good at this."
(Katsuya: Class: Unspecialized
Level: 5
Hp: 134
Intelligence: 117
Mp: 74
Atk: 44
Speed: 19
Endurance: 99)
He looked at his stats in amazement.
"I guess it was the right choice to choose the unspecialized class. If i didn't then my stats probably wouldn't have increased this much."
[New Quest: Survive
Prize: New Skill]
Katsuya wondered as to what it had meant.
"Survive? What does it mean by that?"
The area around him darkened, like a cloud covering the sun. He immediately felt the presence of another being as he slowly turned around.
Standing directly in front of him was a humanoid creature made of Ice, an Ice statue.
(Ice Statue: Hp: 750)
It swung its arm, striking Katsuya in the chest.
(Katsuya: Hp: 0/134)
He was instantly killed and his body rolled across the floor before his face landed in a puddle of water.
The creature slowly turned around and began walking away.
(Katsuya: Hp: 134/134)
Katsuya lifted his face out of the water. His arms felt were no more than noodles as he held himself up, heavily panting.
"I'm pretty sureI just died."
[Quest Complete: Survive}
[New skill learned: Adapt]
Katsuya was confused in all areas as he stared at his reflection from the puddle of water. It then occurred to him what had happened.
"Talk about luck. If this puddle of water wasn't here, I would've stayed dead."
He slowly stood up as he looked at the Ice statue that was walking away.
"Is that supposed to be a mini boss. Either way, I have to kill it to get past those doors."
The Ice Statue stood in front of the pair of giant red doors.
"But...Am I ready to fight a monster that strong. I did instantly kill me. If I had time to block I would just barely survive one of it's attacks. Surviving two strikes is out of the question. How could I win?"
He then looked around at all the puddles of water and immediately cme up with an idea.
"Will this work?"
