I faced a black, gaping maw in the ground.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. My voice was NOT quavering.

Don’t worry, Paol. Dungeons have an effluvium flowing through them, an essence of mana. The heavier the flow, the more powerful the dungeon. My senses tell me that this is a very minor dungeon and you should be able to handle it easily.

Walking around hole, I could see that some old stone steps led down into the darkness. I pointed down with the sword.

“How am I supposed to see down there?” I argued.

Veritas lit up.

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?” I grumbled.

Faint glimmers of laughter danced in my head. With a sigh, I cautiously made my way down the steps. After about twenty stairs, I found myself in a tight passageway, just barely wide enough for two average sized people to walk down side-by-side. It would be difficult to make a full swing with my long sword in this space.

My weapon shifted in my hand, and suddenly I held a short sword.

I walked for thirty or forty feet to come upon a simple square room perhaps ten feet by ten feet. Glaring at me from the middle of the room was a twisted little creature with dark green skin. He wore leather armor that looked worn but serviceable, and he held a short sword in each hand. Pointed ears jutted out from the sides of his head, and his eyes were half-closed against the brightness of Veritas’s glow. With a snort through the slits that must have served as his nostrils, he leapt forward with a scream.

I barely had time to perform a quick Analyze on him before blocking a blow that would have cut into my collarbone if I hadn’t defended myself.

Goblin. Level 3.

The goblin was much smaller than the orcs I had previously fought, but it was also much faster. Its dual-wielded swords flashed out at me, and at first it was all I could do to parry its blows. After an exchange of six or seven strikes, the goblin back-pedaled and glared at me.

Sweat stained my brow and rolled down my back. I could feel my fear weakening me. This thing was too much for me! I had barely kept myself alive. I had to flee!

Attack! You can do this!

I took a deep breath, and the ugly thing attacked again. Once again I defended myself. It seemed...easier this time. I realized that it had performed the exact same pattern of blows as it had during its first attack.

It attacked again, and its actions were identical.

The fourth time it attacked, I blocked the first blow, slid to the side, and struck it on the side of its head. The edge of my blade cut deep into its cheek, and the force of my swing snapped its head to the side, causing it to stumble and fall to one knee.

You hit goblin for 13 damage.

It seemed dazed, and before it could recover I lifted Veritas and swept her down like a scythe.

Yout hit goblin for 12 damage.

Goblin has died! You gain 500 exp!

Your Swords skill has increased to level 3.

Wow. That had actually been pretty easy!

“It attacks the same way every time,” I said.

Lower level monsters often do. Their patterns are predictable, so once you know the pattern, defeating it becomes almost rote. Higher level monsters have patterns as well, but their patterns are more complex. Sometimes they have multiple patterns, and they will shift from pattern to pattern, making them difficult to predict. Fighting groups of monsters becomes even more complex. If they are low level, their patterns may be simplistic on an individual basis, but each monster in the group affects those around it, changing what they do.

“Are there any monsters with no patterns?”

Extremely high level monsters can be wildly unpredictable. By the time you are fighting them, your skills will have to be advanced enough that you can adjust to their tactics even as they are adjusting to yours. At that point, it’s not a matter of pattern so much as it is a combination of tactics, strategy, skills, levels, ingenuity, and luck.

She paused.

People have no set patterns either. In that way, people are similar to high level monsters.

Something about the way she said that made me shiver.

I knelt to examine the goblin’s corpse in case it had anything I might want to use, but the body seemed to waver in my sight before collapsing into nothingness, leaving behind something small in its place.

“What the hell?”

Dungeon monsters are not like the orcs you fought earlier. They are created by the dungeon for the sole purpose of challenging you and then granting you loot if you are able to defeat them.

I found five copper coins on the floor.

“That’s it? Five copper?”

It was only a level 3 goblin. What did you expect? Dragonscale mail?

A little disgruntled, I dropped the coins into the Bag of Holding.

Three doors led out from the room, one on each side of the room, excluding where I had entered. I examined each door in turn, but nothing distinguished one from the other. A little unsure but feeling more confident after my success against the goblin, I opened the door to the right and continued deeper into the dungeon.

The passageway dead-ended in a room with another level 3 goblin. It attacked in exactly the same manner as the last, and I dispatched it easily. It granted me 500 more experience.

Congratulations! You are now Level 4! You have 3 attributes and 6 skill points to distribute. Choose wisely as your decisions are irreversible.

Since I had come to a dead end, I turned back to the room in which I had killed the first goblin. I glanced at my Status sheet, thinking about what to do with my points when it occurred to me that some expert advice would come in handy.

“Veritas, I just leveled up. What should I do with my points?” I asked.

Well, it depends how you want to grow. Do you want to be a warrior? Or is magic more to your liking? Perhaps you prefer the speed and stealth of a thief? And, of course, you can make yourself into a combination of all of those things.

“Magic? That seemed really powerful back at the castle when…” I paused as I considered what to call the man in brown when it suddenly occurred to me that the sword might know.

“Wait. Who was the man who saved me? Do you know his name?”

This time, her voice seemed reluctant.

If he didn’t want to give it to you, that information is not mine to share.

I clenched my teeth in frustration. She knew!

“Why? Why can’t I know? Why wouldn’t he tell me who he was? Why wouldn’t he tell me who I was? Do you know who I was?”

I was shouting at this point.

I won’t tell you who he was because he didn’t want you to know. I can’t tell you who you were because I don’t know that myself. Actually, in all of my experience, you are unique. You have no memories, and I have no idea why someone who respawns should have amnesia. In fact, your ability to respawn at all is shocking.

I was confused.

“I don’t understand.”

Not everyone respawns, you know. Those orcs you killed at Spiral Castle are dead and will never be in this world again.

“But...he didn’t seem that surprised that I resurrected. Why do you find it surprising?”

She sounded perturbed this time.

It just...shouldn’t be. I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you for now.

I heard a finality in her tone this time and knew that she wasn’t going to budge.

“All right then, let’s get back to my level. I’m level 4 now and I have 3 attribute points and 6 skill points to use. What are your thoughts?”

What are your attributes right now?

I told her.

Constitution of 16? What did you do? Place all of your previous level up attribute points into it?

She seemed incredulous.

“Uh, well, yes actually. I didn’t want to die again.”

Well, at the moment you know no magic and are simply trying to survive. You will need to rely on your physical talents, so it would probably behoove you to increase strength and agility. The first will let you hit harder, and the second will help you to dodge attacks.

I thought about that and put 2 points into Strength and 1 point into Agility which gave me a Strength of 12 and an Agility of 13. I blinked. Veritas felt lighter now. Easier to swing. I hopped and skipped. I felt faster.

Levelling up was amazing.

“What about my skill points?” I asked eagerly.

How are your skills coming along? If they are advancing at a satisfactory speed, you should probably hold onto those points for now. Raising skills gets increasingly more difficult at higher levels, so saving skill points can be an enormous boon later, assuming you survive until then. The caveat is that any points you have not distributed will disappear if you die.

She had confirmed my earlier suspicions about skill advancement. I hesitated and decided not to use any of the skill points. Though I didn’t like the idea of losing them, I was willing to take the risk for the moment.

By this time I had gone through the original room and across to the door on the opposite side. Again--dead end and a level 3 goblin. I dispatched it quickly. Five hundred experience points wealthier, I returned to the central room and turned to the last of the three doors.

When I opened it, a chill draft past me, making me shiver. That hadn’t happened with either of the other two doors. I guessed that this direction would lead to more than just a level 3 goblin. Holding Veritas before me to light the way, I trudged deeper into the dungeon.