Monsters in the Dark

Daniel walked into the maze. It was still made out of stone, except that the walls went higher than the eye could see. With Daniel's improved vision, he could see the area 15 feet in front of himself.

He thought about taking out a light, but decided against it, as he would then be a beacon for creatures to attack.

He continued walking without any problems, until he came upon a split in the path. He decided to go left because there was no better reason to go right. Making his decision, he moved on.

This happened two more times, and he chose left again. Just when he was wondering if the Tower sent him to an empty maize, he heard a slight noise. It sounded like someone was dragging something across the ground.

Daniel squinted his eyes, trying to see what was making the noise. He gripped his light saber tightly, ready to activate it at anytime.

Finally, he saw what was making the noise. About 15 feet ahead, was a monster out of nightmares. Standing around 7 feet tall, was a grey slender monster. Its arms were so long that they dragged on the floor behind it. The face of the monster had two tiny black eyes, while the rest of its face was filled by its gaping mouth. It was filled with hundreds of razor sharp teeth, while its tongue snaked out of its mouth.

The monster walked slowly, seeming to have no purpose to its travel.

Daniel observed the creature, trying to determine his next action. He attempted to feel its aura, and was able to sense that it was around the strength of an Awakened 3rd Level Life.

Slowly and quietly, Daniel picked up a small rock from the ground. Taking aim, he threw the rock a bit past the monster. He was hoping to see its reaction to stimulus.

The rock hit the ground, and before it could even bounce, the monster snapped its incredibly long arm like a whip at the rock, bombarding the ground with a powerful strike.

Seeing its reaction, Daniel picked up another rock, and threw it a couple of feet in front of himself. The monsters arm once again whipped out, hitting the spot where the rock landed.

However, before it could bring its arm back to its body, Daniel activated his light saber, and jumped into action. He cut through the monsters arm, with a quick slash, causing black blood to spray from the severed arm.

The monster made a high pitched screeching noise, as it charged towards Daniel.

Keeping his calm, Daniel utilized his flash step to dodge the monsters frantic arm attacks. Waiting for his opportunity, the monster finally overextended on one its attacks. Daniel didn't miss it. He lunged in with a stab aimed directly for the creatures chest. The light saber stabbed into its body. Daniel didn't stop the attack, as his arms exerted an upwards force, causing his energy blade to slice vertically through the monsters head.

When the monster fell to the floor dead, he quickly approached the body and had his Nano-Cells absorb its energy. Once the body had shriveled into skin and bones, he hastily left the area.

The monster's screams were sure to draw attention, and he was not confident he would survive if he were to be surrounded by a large group of those things.

Thankfully, he completed the battle in a swift manor, and left the area before more could arrive.

While Daniel walked he converted the energy he absorbed into Reality Energy. He then had his Nano-Cells absorb it, increasing his strength. He was able to add 0.5 to each of his stats, bringing the three to 10.6. He would need to reach 20.1 and gain an affinity for an element if he wanted to become a Level 1 Life Form.

Hopefully, he could run into more monsters, so that he could increase his strength further. Of course, it would have to be a reasonable amount for him to feel safe enough to attack.

As he walked, the path opened up into a large room. It was filled with metal chains hanging from the ceiling. Spread throughout the room were the grey nightmare creatures. It seemed that, although they were standing, they were actually sleeping. The biggest problem that Daniel now faced, was crossing the room.

He could see the exit to the room, leading back into the maze, but it was on the opposite end. To get there he would have to maneuver through the chains, without waking up the monsters. Unfortunately, the chains were hanging so close together, that it was impossible to pass through the room without bumping into them. It seemed like he only had one option. Fight his way through.

He counted a total of 7 monsters. They were equally spread out in the room, each owning its own area. Daniel knew that there would be no tricking his way out of this one. It was going to be a tough fight.

Daniel flash stepped into the room, slicing through the chains with his light saber as he moved. The last thing he wanted, was a way for these monsters to find his location, through the noise of the chains. It was better to take them out of play. Daniel had realized before that these monsters are almost completely blind. They hunt by sound.

As chains started to clatter to the floor, the monsters woke up. They directly charged towards the noise, swinging their arms wildly through the air.

Daniel dodged an incoming attack, and countered by slicing partly through one of the monsters arms. He didn't manage to sever it, but the small amount of Reality Energy in the blade caused the arm to slowly disappear. This must have been horribly painful for the monster, because it started to screech and lash out wildly.

The monsters wild strikes managed to clip Daniels leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

Angered that the monster managed to hurt him, he jumped up and started to go on the attack. He was done dodging, it was time to kill.

Daniel started to go through his sword moves. Each wave of his blade would cause a screech of pain to echo out. He started to maneuver through the arms, each step he took his sword would strike out, inflicting damage.

Eventually, he lost his sense of self, as he became the sword. The sword was no longer just a weapon, it was apart of his body. Each movement could be an attack, as their were no forms when you were a sword.

Eventually, the screeching stopped. The room returned to silence, as Daniel now stood alone. With the light saber raised out in front of himself, Daniel had his eyes closed. He stood like that for a period of time. Eventually, his eyes opened.

He turned off his light saber, and started to collect the energy from the seven dead monsters strewn across the room. It was a horrific scene, as there were limbs and body parts scattered everywhere.

As he finished, Daniel could not help but smile. The inspiration finally came! He was now an official swordsman. During battle he obtained the first stage in weapon understanding, 'one with the weapon'.

His combat power increased dramatically, as every single movement could now be used as a sword attack. His sword now felt like a third arm.

Daniel, had the Nano-Cells convert the absorbed energy into Reality Energy. His cells cheered in joy as they grew stronger. His three stats now sat at 11.3 each.

Although he absorbed more monsters this time, it takes more energy for each improvement along the path of cultivation. He'll eventually have to find stronger monsters, if he wants to keep up his incredibly fast improvement speed.

Daniel walked through the exit, leaving the room.

He had four tasks to complete, and a bunch of monsters to slay.