Enoch didn’t have a tracking skill yet, but his Perception 3 attribute multiplied his normal senses by four. More than enough to follow the gremlins’ trail, even if they were crafty little buggers.

The path followed a stony ravine covered in moss, lit by colorful flowers, choked by an unending series of traps. Huge logs tied to trees, snares, nets, pits, and, worst of all, spiked pole whips.

He opted for a harder, yet safer, walk in the dense forest beside the ravine. The minutes stretched to a sluggish hour. The chat complained of boredom until a fairy landed on Choo Choo.

Enoch acted on reflex, swung hard. The fairy dodged, his artifact didn’t. Propelled by the quarterstaff, the animated core hit a nearby tree, bounced at a weird angle, disappeared in the dark vegetation. “Sorry,” mumbled Enoch, ashamed of his visceral pleasure.

A magical bolt exploded on his chest. [-26 Health]. He was in trouble. Hadn’t put any points in Agility. This monster was at least level four, blessed with a crazy high Dodge. He shouldn’t’ve started that fight. Dying on the first day of the final. At level one. To a fairy. Definitely not an option. He ran.

The little devil spouted sparkles all over the place. The forest came alive. Vines and twigs grasped at Enoch, draining slivers of Health and chunks of Stamina. No point in running, he wouldn’t make it.

The chat found the situation hilarious.

“Mighty Enoch, slayer of cute gremlins, natural pray of the fairies.”

“The commentator is right. The train wreck is at least entertaining to watch.”

“You should have told me you liked playing with fairies, I would have bought you some.” Tag | Dad.

What was up with that damn commentator. Was the girl even on his side. It seemed she was roasting him nonstop. He faced the common camera angle for the stream, behind his shoulder, gave a disapproving look, then smiled wickedly.

Enoch discarded his quarterstaff, fished for his dagger, held it tight against his chest. Slid in the ravine. Timed his step with an eye out for the fairy. Caught a magical bolt in the buttock. [-33 Health]. Held his breath, paused, jumped straight at his objective.

Whoosh. The world spun, the hidden net’s cords bit in his flesh. Crunch. The fairy half exploded, caught between the net and his butt.

A catchy tune played as a swirl of yellow pixels spiraled around him. Level up. Enoch grinned. Take that OP fairy. He started working on the cords with his dagger, spotted a weird, uneven propeller from the corner of his eye. His quarterstaff came at him, illuminated by purple light.

“Nooooooo.”

The hard wood caught him on the head, deformed by the tight net. [-8 Health]. Plausible deniability. Choo Choo had swung at the fairy. Enoch knew in his heart that he was the real target. Dully noted artifact, there would be plenty more occasions for “accidents”.

He managed to get free and fell eight feet. The seconds ticked as Enoch laid on his back, half-wet from the humid moss. The chat erupted.

“Choo Choo ogre train.”

“That’s not how you capture fairies.” Tip | 8$

“Looked like the fairy ended up being the butt of the joke.” Tag | dad.

Enoch recovered his stick, gave a mossy stone to Choo Choo.

“See, even you can sneak without any skill,” said Enoch.

“Hidden under the moss. I see. Very funny,” said the artifact.

The damn thing had an attitude. Why, oh why, didn’t he have a silent personality.

They both hid in a cranny under a collapsed rock. Enoch concentrated until the default Rest skill activated. It would heal up his damage at twice the normal rate, which was abyssal without an upgrade – 2% per minute by default doubled to 4% with Rest.

He used the downtime to manage his new level. Lights and pixels brought him from the hole to his obsidian moon. He immediately walked to the Scout node.

Scout 1 | Class | Rarity 2

Scout are renown for their Perception, Mobility and Martial prowess. Often used for exploration and to counter Stealth based class.

Mobility 1 | +2 Perception against Stealth

Three carrion notes rang as the class node lit up in neon yellow. His whole body toned up, his fingers and toes widened to a stronger grip. Finally.

Now for his next options. Each new level gave three points to spend on the Skill Sphere. One already gone to the Scout class. He’d try to balance the next two. Short term survivability vs. long-term optimization. At this level of play, you couldn’t focus on a perfect build. Well, you could, but you’d die early to more effective players.

His Luck 1 attribute improved his vision in the Sphere. It let him see two nodes down the available paths. He could go to a third node in Endurance. It led to a three-pronged fork, + 40 Health, + 40 stamina and Toughness. The last choice was a Skill, it let players ignore small amounts of damage. A great choice to farm hordes of weak monsters.

The fourth node in Perception unlocked Survey and Analyse. Both great Skills, especially Analyse. It gave vital information on the selected target. Helped decide went to fight and went to flee. Great synergy with Mobility.

Enoch could delay it for a few levels. The low-level monsters were obvious enough even without a Skill.

The Scout node had opened three paths. One +1 Mobility that led to Dash. One +1 Strength to +1 Agility. One +1 Intellect to Cartographer. The Skill could be amazing for easy money while you explored, but it was useless at this point. Not fast enough.

Enoch pondered for a while. Glanced at the chat. No great insights there.

“We love you no matter what you choose, son.” Tag | Mom.

Damn it, mom. She enjoyed trolling him in public way too much. He picked +1 Mobility and continued to Dash. His body slowly morphed to the perfect human form, optimised for movement. His body fat melted some, his arms and legs lengthened, his bones started to hollow out.

Mobility 2 | Attribute | Rarity 3

20% improved Speed

Speed 2 | Jump 2 | Climb 2 | Swim 2

Dash 1 | Skill | Rarity 2

10x Speed for a short burst.

Duration 2 seconds | Refresh 10 seconds

Cost 10 Stamina

He could have gone for Strength and Agility, but one point in each attribute would have made a marginal difference in the upcoming fights. Better to bolt it quick if it turned sour.

The next two nodes after Dash were + 40 Stamina and +1 Mobility. Nothing unusual so far and still no hidden path. Time to move to his little friend.

He navigated his menu, saw the new screen for Choo Choo, focused on the Skill Sphere icon and vanished. Enoch rematerialized on the tiny ball of polished metal. Only one point per level for the artifact. His own Luck didn’t work here, only one available node at the end of each path. These account bound artifacts were a new feature. He was totally blind here. He had to come up with something. No need for misplaced anxiety, other contestants were in the same boat. He went to +1 Animate Object. He liked the spell so far and the little core had enough mana to manage the stronger version.

Animate Object 2 | Spell | Rarity 4

Invests an object with the caster’s mana. The object flies around on its own and follows mental commands.

Duration 30 minutes | Refresh 1 minute

Cost 25 Mana | Capacity 20 pounds x1

The next path led to a Telekinesis spell instead of another level of Animated Object. Part of the fun. He’d probably try the +1 Intellect next level, see what it’d unlock.

Good enough for now. He concentrated, transitioned to the game world.

Back to the narrow cranny under the big boulder covered in moss. Wet. Humid.

As per tradition, the chat roasted him on his skill choice. Haters wished they were in the Continental Final themselves. Too bad, this was his time. He’d live by his choices.

“The commentator is right again. He should have gone with +1 Endurance.”

“Should have gone for Strength. He’s going to get crushed by the weakest mobs.”

“I would have – “

Pass. He closed the window. Waited for a while. Watched his health slowly recover. Watched Choo hover into his personal space. At least the AI had caught on with the concept of stealth and kept silent.

“No one is coming, Master. The chat says they had no alarm on the net trap at this level. Furthermore, everyone agrees, it’s boring,” said the golem core.

Enoch sighed. What was up with the demoralization? Not very jolly of the little bugger. He bit his lip. Couldn’t say aloud that he was ignoring the chat. It would hurt his viewership. “Wait, you can read the chat?”

“Yes, they say –”

Enoch whispered with intent, “Stay silent when we hide, I need to recover health. Tell you what, go find a bigger rock, and stay quiet.”

Choo Choo dropped his payload carefully and picked a bigger stone, just laying there. Right, finding a rock wasn’t too hard out here. So much for the distraction.

He had to entertain the chat somehow. He surveyed his surrounding, twigs, fallen leaves, river stones. Time to stretch his comfort zone. He took a twig and stuck it into the moss of Choo’s stone.

“But –” protested the core.

Enoch didn’t give him a chance to object, he stuck another twig, and another. Made a smiley face. Adorned it with fallen leave. Pushed the core around and spun it like a spinning top. The decorations flew away. He started again with a new pattern. Looked at the chat.

“What am I watching?”

“Came for the mobs trains, daring stunts and weird builds. Got a first-grade art class.”

“Lord of the dorks.” Tag | Little bro.

Ok ok, he had to risk something. [88/120 Health]. It would have to do.