Magic and skills defy our current understanding. How the Tower grants us this power is also unknown. Our best theory is it changes our ability to interact with the nature of the world in the same way it changes our bodies and minds.

Davies - Head of Climber Academy

Everyone was taught that the first skill the Tower would grant was "scan". The core skill that enabled all climbers to use the power of the Tower to get basic information about people and items. Simple in concept it was viewed as the skill that all future skills are built upon.

So it was a little surprising when that was not the first skill I received.

Skill unlocked: Let Your Sword Do the Talking

Description: After killing 1,000 enemies who speak the same language you are able to speak and the language like a native.

Language acquired: Orcish - Tamerish

I obtained the skill after killing the 1,000th orc. I did not realize that I had obtained the skill at the time. Instead I thought I finally had a mental breakdown. One second I was cutting down another orc in a mass of orcs and witches. The next they were cursing me. Most surprising of all was the profanity they used.

“Spawn of heretics!” I mean I guess. How could be sure what gods really existed when a giant tower could appear out of nowhere?

“Eat fire you plant eater!” Now that I think about it, the orcs only ever carried the crappy jerky. I guess they were not a big fan of the leafy greens.

“Your father’s seed was weaker than your mother’s thighs!” What does that even mean? I tried to puzzle it out but it was just a little too strange to fully understand.

Soon enough I had worked through the remaining orcs and witches. While the witches made things more interesting they were a poor match for me. Once I knew their language I found that each witch would grunt ‘Fireball’ before launching the spell. I just had to keep mobile and dodge in a different direction after the spell was cast.

As I made my way toward the end of the valley I found that I had nearly completed the challenge.

1st Floor

Goal: Defeat all remaining enemies

1,000/1,000 Normal Enemies - Orcs

100/100 Sub-Boss Enemies - Orc Witches

0/1 Boss Enemy

Time limit: None

I had finally reached level 13 as well.

Name: Miki Meadows

Age: 29

Race: Human - Earth

Level: 13

Exp: 3,580/16,000 to next level

HP: 185/185 HP Regen 1.54/min

Stamina: 203/203 Stamina Regen 1.69/min

MP: 128/128 MP Regen 1.06/min

Strength: 27

Agility: 30

Endurance: 31

Intelligence: 31

Wisdom: 21

Luck: 43

I was now almost three times stronger than the average human. The increased stats made me feel like I was invincible but also made me wonder how powerful the final boss was. It didn’t take a genius to realize the boss is probably a warrior or chief of the orcs. As much as I wanted to assume that the boss would be easy after all my stat gains, I had a feeling the Tower was not going to make it a fair fight.

I let my Heath and Stamina restore to their full amount before I slowly made my way toward the end of the valley. As the walls of the surrounding mountains came closer I found myself outside a large tent that could probably house a family of five. In front of the tent sat an orc that was indistinguishable from all the regular orcs I had defeated.

“Greetings human,” said the orc. “Come sit with me before we fight.”

“You know I am here to kill you and you expect me to trust you?” I asked. I had not ever talked to any of the other orcs, but I trusted my skill to translate my speech.

“Hah! Trust is not needed. I am a true warrior and will not use any underhanded techniques. Better to be cut down without defense, than to not fight in honorable combat.”

I didn’t know if I could trust him but he was the first orc that did not attack me outright. I moved closer towards him and noticed he was sitting on a cushion and that there was another cushion 15 feet away. I sat down on the cushion wearily. I knew he was likely the last orc but I would not let myself fall into a trap.

“You don’t seem concerned about fighting me.”.

“I can smell the death of you,” said the orc. “How many of my kind did you kill?”

“A thousand fighters like you and a hundred witches.”

“No, not like me. They fought with passion and believed their natural talents were enough. Before coming to this valley I had slaughtered at least the same number of warriors as you. That is likely why the warriors were here, to kill me in retaliation for the deaths of their family. It is a circle, where violences leads to more violence.”

“Yet you do not shy away from the violence?”

“Life is struggle. Fighting is the physical manifestation of that struggle and as such is the highest embodiment of life.”

“And that is all?” Was this some weird orc culture at play?

“Well that and I like killing,” he said smiling and showing all his sharp teeth. “I have spent many days here resting and strengthening my body. Are you ready to fight? I want a good fight and will wait if you need to recover before we begin.”

I shook my head and rose to my feet. Drawing one of the better ax-swords I had acquired I squared off against the orc. He stood and drew his own ax-sword.

Before I could take the initiative, he stepped forward with such speed that I realized he outstripped me in pure speed. Leveraging my knowledge I took a step back while thrusting my blade forward so he would likely crash into my blade while chasing my body. To my surprise he used his weapon to subtly move my blade and close the distance.

As we clashed again and again, it became clear to me that not only was he faster and stronger than me but his fighting technique was far better than most who graduated from the Academy. If not for the fact that I had spent the last half of my time at the Academy constantly fighting against the old man, I would have been screwed.

Davies was level 14. No matter how strong the orc was, there was no way that the difference in stats was as great as the difference between Davies and me before the Tower.

When you don’t have strength, use speed.

When you don’t have speed, use technique.

When you don’t have technique, use cunning.

As the orc once more rushed towards me, I dropped my ax-sword and thrusted the palm of my hand toward him.

“Fireball!”

He looked surprised for a fraction of a second before his body gilded diagonally out of the direction of my hand. Of course no fire ball erupted from that hand even though the motion was very similar to what the witches did whenever they shot a fireball. Instead my other hand whipped forward and a dagger crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye striking him in the throat.

Before he could retaliate I raced forward with my other dagger which managed to push his blade out of the way just enough that I could grab the dagger in his throat and pull it out at a rough angle.

While he had much better technique than the orcs I had previously fought, he still succumbed to trickery and deceit. As blood quickly poured from his neck and throat he punched forward with his unarmed hand and hit me solidly in my outstretched forearm.

There was a snap, then pain exploded up the arm and raced to my brain. The pain was more severe than anything I had ever experienced. My thoughts went wild and I lost complete focus on the fight as my brain screamed at me that my arm was critically damaged. I quickly pulled up my health status.

HP: 71/185* HP Regen 1.54/min

*Status broken right forearm- unknown bones. Arm not usable until fully healed. Estimated time remaining 3 days.

I grabbed my arm and cradled it against my body as I screamed out in pain. After several minutes of screaming the pain began to numb as my health regeneration started to heal the damage.

One glancing hit reduced my health by such a large amount.

I looked over at that dead orc. If any of his attacks had landed I would have been killed. No wonder he was the boss. He likely had at least double my strength and agility stats.

Enemy defeated. 500 exp awarded.

Floor cleared! Proceed through the portal for rewards!