Tormacc hadn’t been sure what to expect when he activated the ritual. He hadn’t even been sure it would work. The message from his past self was limited in length, so there was a lot of information missing. From the message, it sounded like people weren’t allowed to bring things in with them when they entered The Tower, and this included augments to their physical body or magic power they had previously accumulated. Essence was the only form of energy allowed in the tower. But his people had thought up an ingenious solution to get around that.

From birth, his body had been conditioned and guided to grow in a certain way to activate a ritual. If that ritual had been activated outside The Tower, he would have lost it on entry. But because it was dormant in his body, The Tower instead recognized it as just another part of him, which it was, so when his body reformed in The Tower the components for the ritual came with it. And because it was activated in the tower and drew on Essence, it was part of The Tower’s system.

Coming out of the ritual, Tormacc marveled at the strength flowing through him. Now that the ritual was over, he was still a little sore, but he also felt like he had endless vitality, his heart pumping supercharged blood to his muscles. He wasn’t sure exactly how much strength he had gained, but it was clearly substantial. At the very least it was enough to follow the second part of the instructions in the message from his past self.

The ritual activating was only the first part of the plan, but it was integral for the rest to work. The message hadn’t contained a lot of information, but if he was reading between the lines correctly, the beginning stages of The Tower were often deadly. Not for him of course, as he had received specialized combat training. Even if those memories were gone his body remembered. But The Tower was designed to go above and beyond what normal people were capable of, and that meant even for him he would need additional power, power he could only gain from investing Essence into his Fate Wheel.

Essence was extremely valuable, but that was even more true early on, and the reason for that lay in the sections of his Fate Wheel he had revealed after lighting up the Starter Kit section. There were two sections beyond that: Ability Boost and Beginner’s Gift. If the message from his past self was correct, Ability Boost was able to double the effectiveness of any one of his other abilities third tier and below, while Beginner’s Gift was a one-time activated ability that could double the Essence in his Fate Wheel. But there was a catch, as it could only be used before he had unlocked a tier four ability, and only in the starting zone.

The message from his former self dictated that he combine these two abilities to their maximum effect, meaning he would first use Ability Boost making it target Beginner’s Gift, so instead of the Essence in his Fate Wheel doubling, Beginner’s Gift would quadruple it.

Tormacc guessed that normally Beginner’s Gift was almost useless, with it barely refunding the twenty Essence it cost to unlock it. The reason lay in the fact that most people had to invest all the Essence they earned into their Fate Wheel to ensure their safety. The most efficient way to farm Essence was to kill things, but if you weren’t strong enough to kill things, you needed to invest your Essence to grow stronger, leaving you with little left over to use Beginner’s Gift on.

The Essence he had gained from the ritual was valuable, but it paled in comparison to what his physical power up was worth. Thirty-seven Essence might seem like a lot, but the ability to safely farm Essence was worth far more. If he was able to safely farm Essence to save for when he activated Ability Boost and Beginner’s Gift he would be getting four times the Essence he normally should. He had the feeling that power was everything in The Tower, and with this plan he should have a head start on his competition.

It took him an hour to fully recover from the pins and needle he felt after the ritual finished and another hour or so of him testing the limits of his new power to feel comfortable leaving his starting cave. The information in the Starter Kit said that his starting area was a safe zone, but that would change as soon as he left. There was no retreating if he suffered a serious injury. But he wasn’t worried about retreating. If he needed to retreat he wasn’t worthy of the name Tormacc.

After a final check of his supplies he finally ventured out of his starting area. He had been worried about the light, but the glowing moss didn’t seem to be limited to his starting cave, although the tunnel he was in had a lot less of it, severely limiting the range of his vision. As he walked down the tunnel, he could feel his anticipation for battle growing. He had been raised for this, and even though he didn’t remember all of his training, he could still feel it in his bones. There was something feral in the back of his head, begging for release. But he had also been taught patience, so he continued his slow measured pace down the tunnel, eyes constantly searching for anything out of place.

It was his ears that caught the first sign of an enemy. The clack of claws on stone and low grunts could be heard from ahead in the tunnel, the sound echoing around him in the otherwise quiet space. Muting his footsteps, Tormacc softly crept forwards, straining his ears to parse out the sounds coming from up ahead. As he approached a bend in the tunnel the sounds got louder, the harsh screeched sounding like metal on stone. As he reached the bend in the tunnel, he slowly inched his way forward, each step revealing more of what lay around the bend.

The bend was gradual, and when he finally got a clear line of sight on the creature in the tunnel ahead of him there was very little stopping it from seeing him too. Luckily it was distracted, focusing on digging up and eating a dark red crystal that was buried in the cave walls. The creature was mole-like, although vastly larger than he thought it should be. On all fours its back would be about level with his chest, and if it reared up on its hind legs it would be taller than him. And watching the way its claws scraped away at the stone walls to get at the red crystal made him sure he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of its blows. Anything that could rend stone could just as easily rend his flesh.

Tormacc paused for a second, analyzing the situation. Then his instincts kicked in and he was speeding down the tunnel, slowly at first to maintain the element of surprise, but as he closed in he threw off all attempts at stealth, charging ahead full-throttle. By the time the giant mole heard him over the sound of its claws it was too late, Tormacc was already in the air, and with a beautifully executed leaping kick sent his booted foot straight into the mole’s head, its brains splashing out on the tunnel wall with a wet squelch.

The mole collapsed, dead. His surprise attack a success, Tormacc took a second to confirm the mole was indeed dead before checking for more enemies. After thirty seconds of silence he relaxed, shoulders visibly dropping. He had been slightly worried he wouldn’t be able to kill the mole in one hit, but his fears were unfounded. It was good to know he was strong enough to easily kill things, or at least giant moles. It might be different if he faced something with natural armor. No matter how much he had been enhanced by the ritual he was still Humen. His body might be stronger than it should be, but he was still susceptible to all the dangers that flesh was heir to. A strong offense was his best bet until he got some armor or defensive skills.

Bending down, Tormacc took a closer look at the creature he just killed. Running his fingers through its soft fur, he could feel the muscle underneath. He did not want to get anywhere near those claws. Testing them with his finger they were mostly blunt, but the rock wall of the tunnel could attest to the strength the giant mole could exert. He had a feeling he knew how to skin animals, and sure enough letting his subconscious take over allowed him to skin the creature, creating a hide to use to store some of its fat he sliced off to eat later. He didn’t want to put the meat directly into his pack since it would be impossible to get the smell out. In the meantime he chewed a bit raw. It wasn’t a bad taste, but if he was going to eat it later, he should really cook it. Eating meat raw only worked if it was fresh.

He felt bad letting the rest of the mole go to waste, but he had limited bag space, and he couldn’t afford to be hindered by carting around extra body parts he didn’t need. Instead, he turned his attention to the dark red crystal the mole had been eating. Now that he looked closer, there appeared to be flecks of red peppering the normal cave walls. There was also a suspicious amount of luminescent moss around the red crystal deposit, making him think there might be a correlation there. The moss didn’t seem have any energy source he could see, and if the mole was interested in the crystal, maybe the moss was too. But without proper tools he was unable to efficiently chip the crystal, and licking it didn’t produce any noticeable results, so he decided to leave it be. Even if it was valuable, he still had the same transportation issue as the corpse.

Moving on, Tormacc continued down the tunnel, keeping his guard up but also more relaxed now that he knew what he was up against. Of course, there could be other types of enemies too, but the moles he was confident in dealing with.

The tunnel extended for a while before ending in a large cavern, one that was large enough to be poorly lit from the moss. Pausing at the entrance, Tormacc slowed down his breathing and focused on his hearing. At first, he heard nothing, but as he tuned out his other senses he caught the sound of dripping water. He wasn’t positive, but if he had to guess it sounded like water dripping into a pool rather than on a hard surface like rock. If that was the case it would be good news as he needed to secure a water source, the water flask he got in the care package not coming filled.

He didn’t hear anything else, but he still moved stealthily as he crept his way along the edge of the cavern. Once he was in it, the space didn’t seem that wide. But it was long, and the roof disappeared above him, creating the feeling of a space larger than it actually was. It was nerve-wracking being out in the open like this. He had very little knowledge of his surroundings. He knew he could beat one of those mole things, but two? Three? What if there were twenty of them? The only thing that kept him grounded was that he was in some sort of starting zone, and as such, there shouldn’t be anything impossible to deal with. Or at least he hoped so.

As the dripping got louder, the previously empty cavern started to be dotted with stalactites and stalagmites. The floor also started to slightly slope downwards, another thing that pointed to there being a pool of water at the end of the cavern. There was also more moss on this side of the cavern, the stalactites generally having some near the top. Tormacc still hadn’t spotted any openings in the cavern other than the one he entered by, so he had no choice but to advance. An advance which was stopped short when he heard another sound join the dripping water.

It was a pseudo dripping sound, but as opposed to the regular drip of what he presumed was a natural water source, this was irregular, and if he had to guess, came from a creature of some sort lapping water from a pool. Tormacc stopped briefly before continuing. He didn’t like confronting whatever was in front of him in an open cavern, but his only other choice would be retreating back where he came from. A warrior knows when to retreat, but to retreat without fighting would bring shame to his name.

After continuing his stealthy advance, he finally entered vision range of the pool of water. It was smaller than he thought it would be, barely a body length wide and less than two long. It was being fed by a slow but steady drip from a giant stalactite above it. In front of the pool was another mole, similar to the one he fought before. It was hunched over the pool drinking and hadn’t noticed him yet.

Knowing the best time to ambush it was when it was still distracted, Tormacc crept forward another few paces before breaking his stealth and charging, dagger at the ready for a quick kill. This mole seemed to be more aware than the other one, and it noticed him much faster than its deceased comrade did, quickly turning and confronting him. But by the time it turned, Tormacc was already bearing down on it.

It should have been a swift strike followed by a clean kill. Instead, the mole’s beady black eyes changed to a glowing red, the same color as the crystal the previous mole was eating, before the giant mole lunged, moving faster than his eyes could follow, and suddenly Tormacc was flying. His brief flight ended with him crashing into the cavern wall, and he could hear the snap as his right arm bent as an odd angle, the dagger in his right hand falling to the ground with a piercing clang.