The human in front of Raphelia vanished into the portal, teleporting back to the tower from which he came. She sighed as she rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. So that’s him, huh?

She turned her head toward the trees behind her throne. “Dea, you can come out now.”

A small, green, humanoid creature appeared from behind the trees and waddled around her throne to kneel before her. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“I’m sorry, but as your Squire it is my duty to follow our set of customs.”

Raphelia studied Dea’s radiant green skin which seemed to pulse and fluctuate. It was as if she was a being made of pure energy. “Well, what do you think of him?”

Dea stood up. “To be completely honest, Your Highness. I am not too impressed.”

“I feel the same way.” Raphelia said. “I don’t see why Amina chose him.”

“Perhaps he was the best option given the circumstances.”

Raphelia stood up from her throne. “That’s a possibility. Do you think he’ll be able to do it?”

Dea looked up at her Warden. “What do you mean?”

“The Shadow Tower...”

“It’s hard to say, Your Highness. I would wager that between both towers, he’s the best bet we have.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Raphelia said. “Besides, we have no other choice now, do we? Wait for him at the first haven and take him to the Shadow Tower so he can see it for himself.”

Dea bowed. “Yes. Your Highness.”

“What a position we find ourselves in.” Raphelia said, as she made her way around her throne to return to the Temple of Gods. “It’s all quite ironic, don’t you think, Dea?”

Dea followed behind. “What do you mean?”

“Normally, it’s the humans who rely on us for survival.” Raphelia said. “Yet here we are, entrusting everything into the hands of one human. A human that has no idea what’s at stake.”

***

With a flash of light, Alex found himself back in the familiar place he’d expected to land in when he left the second floor. Behind him, the portal that spat him out disappeared, leaving him no way back to the place he’d come from. He surveyed the vast forest that surrounded him, and a shiver ran down his spine as old memories returned to him. He hated this place. This was the third floor, the dominion of Spiderwings; nightmarish creatures that one hoped they’d never come across.

Spiderwings were, as the name implied, giant winged spiders with the ability to fly. Something about them always triggered a deep-seated, primal fear within Alex. There was nothing like winged spiders chasing you from the skies to remind you just how vulnerable you are. He shuddered at the thought of having to see them again.

Luckily for Alex, there didn’t appear to be any around him at this moment. There were no humans around either. He wondered if Wayne and Rebecca had spawned nearby. Even if they had, Rebecca wouldn’t have sat around waiting for him, that’s for sure. But Alex didn’t mind. He’d already saved them once, and he couldn’t afford to hold their hands through every floor. There were far stronger allies waiting for him further up the tower.

He pulled out the contract to read it once more.

Raphelia’s Contract

Conditions: Clear the Shadow Tower

Reward: Nature Forms Augmentation

Alex’s eyes sprang open. The Shadow Tower? What the hell is that, some kind of secret tower? In the seven years it took him to climb to the top last time around, he’d not once heard of a Shadow Tower. If something like that had existed, surely, he would’ve known about it. But then again, he’d had no idea his alliance would be betrayed and fall apart. Could this tower have played a role in what happened in the previous timeline?

He willed the contract to close and the screen disappeared from his sight. He’d had so many questions before this, and that list of questions just grew even more. It’s not like he could just appear before Raphelia and ask her to explain what all this was about. To come face to face with a Warden was rare, but Raphelia had said that they would talk again soon. As far as he knew, this was the only time a Warden had said that to a human. I guess I’ll have to wait until I see her again.

There was no time to dwell on that now. He’d just been given one of the rarest unlocks in the tower: a rare class. He opened the class description, almost salivating with excitement.

Class: Nature Spirit Fighter

Description: Nature Spirit Fighters gain access to the spirit energy of various beings and forces of nature. The spirit energy of each being is manifested in a Form. Through mastery of these Forms, Nature Spirit Fighters gain a set of tools that enable them to tackle a wide variety of situations.

Alex had never heard of the Nature Spirit Fighter before, but he already knew one thing; it was an augmentation, one of two possible kinds of unique classes. Augmentations were classes that weren’t completely new, rather they were an expansion of a previous class. This one appeared to give him an increase in adaptability. It was likely that each form he’d unlock would give its own exclusive set of skills related to that form.

The idea of unlocking different forms each with their own skills was an exciting prospect, but it would come with a price. He would no longer learn pure Spirit Fighter skills. Instead, he’d learn new skills related to the new forms. Still, it was a price he was willing to pay.

I have to see these new skills for myself.

Having returned from his talk with Raphelia, Alex found that his mind and body had been reinvigorated. He anticipated that he’d crash from exhaustion immediately upon arriving on the third floor, but he was filled with vitality instead.

He activated Tiger Form, the only nature form he had available at this time. Instantly, a fearsome orange aura surrounded him, and he felt a rush of power surge through his body. It was as if a rampaging river of fire was flowing through his veins, filling him with a burning vigor. Alex reveled in the raw power emanating from his body.

He noticed a small orange bar had appeared in the corner of his eye. Is that a resource bar?

Now that he was in Tiger Form, his original Spirit Fighter skills had been locked out and he couldn’t use them, but he had gained access to the Tiger Fist skill instead. He activated it and a large concentration of orange energy surrounded his fist. The energy held the shape of a tiger’s face, its mouth open around his fist with the fangs flared outward. The orange bar dropped slightly, and he deactivated the Tiger Form.

I see. So, this form has its own resource bar. Activating the form or using any of its abilities drains the bar. It’s likely that each form will have its own resource bar.

Alex excitement rose as he cracked a smile. It was time to test these new powers out.

Unsure of where exactly on the third floor he was, he picked a path and started walking. The forest that surrounded this floor was incredibly dense and covered in an array of spider webs which glistened sharply in the bright sun. Some areas were heavily wrapped in webs which acted almost like a canopy between the trees above. These webs weren’t just for decoration, however, as they sparkled with an incredible brightness when the sun hit them at a certain angle, virtually blinding any human below. They were also incredibly sticky, so getting stuck in a web was often a death sentence for rookie climbers.

The spiderwings would also lay traps with their webs, closing off entire paths and restricting their prey’s movement. Once they had their victim in their sights, they’d plummet from the skies in a lethal ambush. They were intelligent creatures, even going so far as to retreat and heal upon taking significant damage. And since most classes couldn’t chase a flying opponent, they’d have wasted their time and energy fighting a spiderwing with no reward to show for it.

But there was a trick when fighting these monsters: Destroy the wings. Without wings, they were slow and easy targets to hit.

As much as he hated the idea of it, Alex would have to fight at least a few of them before he’d find a portal out of here. But there was good news. This would be the final floor of this run. Once he’d enter a portal, he’d be transported to the first haven where he could finally get some rest and return to the real world. He was almost there.

Soon after he started walking, he ran into his first monster. A giant, black spiderwing crawled slowly on a thick tree trunk, weaving its web around the tree. He’d need to be careful. If he touched the web, he’d be spider food. He checked the monster’s status screen.

Baby Spiderwing HP: 72

Alex chuckled in a mix of amusement and fear. That’s just a baby, huh? The monster was easily the same size as him, its legs even longer than his as they grasped the tree trunk. Thankfully, its wings were still small. It was unlikely that this one could fly yet.

Let’s get this over with. Alex thought, as he prepared for battle.

He activated Tiger Form and an orange aura enveloped around him, bringing a deep, satisfying sense of power with it. He ran in and struck the spiderwing with a Tiger Fist. The tiger’s fangs which extended just past his fist released a formidable rush of energy as they cut into the monster.

Black blood squirted out of the spiderwing and Alex leaped back away from the tree in disgust. His earlier lunch of nutrition pills tried to erupt from his mouth, but he fought them back down. This was why he hated the third floor so much. Creepy mutant spiders that shot out disgusting sludge when they attacked and burst out blood when pierced. He hated everything about spiderwings and his weak stomach made him want to vomit every time they did something gross. And everything they did was gross.

The spider dropped from the tree trunk and landed on the ground. It took aim with its mouth and shot out a gray stream of sludge at Alex. He dodged the blast of sludge, but he couldn’t avoid the putrid scent, and his stomach twisted as he caught a whiff.

That attack was normally green and toxic, but since this one was still a baby, it hadn’t yet developed the ability to generate toxic sludge. Alex checked its status screen once more.

Baby Spiderwing HP: 40/72

Two more hits should do it.

With Tiger Form still active, he charged at the monster. Another stream of sludge came his way but he jumped over it and landed on the spider’s back. Two swipes from each fist covered with tiger teeth ripped the spider open. Alex leaped away as the blood squirted out from the monster before it died and disappeared into the ground.

Pure joy quickly replaced the disgust within Alex. These tiger powers are awesome! There was something so satisfying about ripping his opponents open with the strength of a tiger’s bite.

A screen appeared before him.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 3!

Strength +2, Stamina +2, Agility +1, Resilience +1, Spirit +1

Talent Unlocked: Tiger’s Heart

You have unlocked a Talent Slot!

You have unlocked a Skill Point!