Alex closed the level up prompt with great enthusiasm. The boost in stats was much appreciated, but he swept them away to focus on the other goodies he’d unlocked. With a Talent Slot now available, he could equip one of his talents. He opened his list of talents and compared them.

Spirit Channeling

Increases your ability to channel spirit energy. (+8% spirit energy regeneration rate)

Tiger’s Heart

Increases your total Tiger Energy and regeneration rate. (+20 Tiger Energy, +5% regeneration rate)

Spirit energy was the key resource that the Nature Spirit Fighter class was based on. Though each form would have their own energy pool, they also pulled from and depleted the base spirit energy of the user. In a way, spirit energy was like a well of water, and each form was a bucket that was independent from the others. But the buckets could only be replenished from the well.

The Spirit Channeling talent would increase his overall regeneration rate, the rate at which the well would replenish itself. The Tiger’s Heart talent would only increase his ability to use Tiger Form skills. In other words, it only increased the size and replenishing rate for the tiger bucket. Based on his previous battle, Alex felt that his tiger energy fell too quickly, so he decided he should focus on that. He equipped the Tiger’s Heart talent to his talent slot.

He then turned his attention to the skill point he had unlocked. Skill points were valuable points that could be used to increase the Mastery Level of a skill. There were a total of seven stages of mastery for every skill. New skills always began at the Beginner stage, then could be increased in the following order: Adept, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster. With each increase in mastery, skills would jump up in power exponentially.

Skills would also level up through persistent use, but that took a long time, especially at the later stages. By using skill points, you could jump a whole stage. To jump from Beginner to Adept only cost one skill point. Each consecutive stage would cost an additional skill point. Jumping from Adept to Intermediate cost two, jumping from Intermediate to Advanced cost three, and so on.

Alex looked at his list of skills. He had three skills that he could use in base form and one he could only use in Tiger Form, and they were all at the Beginner stage. He could increase his mastery of one of them an entire stage with the single skill point that he had. He took a moment to ponder the decision.

Hmmmm. Which should I upgrade? Pulse Dash is serving me well as a utility skill for now, so I don’t think I need to upgrade it. I want to do more damage with a single blow, so maybe I should focus on Spirit Punch or Tiger Fist. But which one do I pick? Which is stronger?

Ultimately, he decided to save his skill point for now. He wanted to test the strength of both abilities first before investing a skill point into them. Once he saw which was stronger, he’d know which to upgrade.

Satisfied with his decision, Alex continued walking through the dense forest in search of a new test subject. It didn’t take long for him to find another Baby Spiderwing. Just like the previous one, this one was busy creating a web.

While still in his base form, Alex approached it from behind and delivered a Spirit Punch straight into the monster’s back. Its HP dropped by 26. Before the spiderwing could react, Alex activated Tiger Form and struck it with a Tiger Fist. This time he did 32 damage.

That settles it, then. Tiger Fist it is.

The spiderwing shot a blast of sludge at Alex but he dodged it easily and finished it off with another strike.

With no other enemy in sight he took a moment to use his skill point on the Tiger Fist skill. He then opened up his Skill page to have a look.

Skills Mastery Level

Description

Spirit Punch

Beginner Concentrate your spirit energy into your fist to unleash a powerful punch. Pulse Dash

Beginner Shoot your spirit energy in a pulse behind you to perform a lightning-quick dash. Spirit Blast

Beginner Concentrate your spirit energy into the palms of your hands to let out a powerful blast of energy. Tiger Form

Tiger Fist

Adept Channel Tiger Energy into your first, enveloping them with energy in the shape of a biting tiger Talents Mastery Level

Description

Unarmed Combat

Beginner Increases your proficiency in unarmed combat. [+10%] damage from non-weapon attacks. Tiger's Heart

Beginner Increases total Tiger Energy and regeneration rate. [+20] Tiger Energy and [+5%] regeneration rate.

Not bad at all. I’m building up a solid arsenal of abilities.

Alex closed the window and took off once again. He wasn’t sure where he was or where he was going, but he had to keep moving. He needed to find a portal somewhere, but he had no idea where they were located on this floor. The spiderwing dominion was somewhere between a small to medium-sized floor, but everything looked the same. There were few landmarks to help you distinguish one area from another. As he walked, Alex checked his map periodically to see if any marker looked familiar, but he didn’t have any luck. That didn’t surprise him. The first time around he’d rushed through this floor just to get away from the spiderwings, and he hadn’t taken the time to soak up his surroundings.

He was making up for it now. He’d walked for hours, killing around twenty Baby Spiderwings along the way. That was much more than he ever wanted to encounter, but he couldn’t exactly avoid them. He was near a nest of some kind, and if he let one escape, they could alert the others and he’d be swarmed by spiderwings.

As far as Alex was concerned, there was only one saving grace for this floor; one reason to ever come here. And that was the Golden Spider Egg, a rare drop that sold at an exceptionally high price. Since the tower had only existed for three years in this timeline, it was unlikely that anyone had learned the trick to farming the rare egg. But Alex remembered the trick, and he could abuse it to make some good money early on.

A buzz of sound echoed from above. Alex looked up and the reflection of amplified light from the spider webs overhead blinded him.

Crap! I’m in trouble.

Knowing what was coming, Alex forced his eyes open as a shadowy figure swooped in from above. He used Pulse Dash and darted forward. A hairy leg brushed up along his back mid-stride, and he felt his skin crawl. Barely escaping the ambush, he turned around and caught a glimpse of his enemy.

Queen Spiderwing HP: 110

Yep. I thought so.

The enormous spiderwing before him was definitely a Queen. The elaborate orange pattern detailed along its purple body distinguished the Queen Spiderwing from the others. Well, that and the giant wingspan that seemed to rival an airplane. No other spiderwing could match it for size.

The spiderwing soared again, rising above the trees and webs that covered the sky. Alex squinted, trying to maintain his vision as he stared upward. But it was no use, and he leveled his gaze with the ground once again. It was worse than staring straight at the sun, and his eyes couldn’t handle it. But the enemy would dive at him once again, and he had to be prepared.

Alex rushed over to a nearby tree. and waited until he heard the buzzing sound of fluttering wings. A few seconds later, the sound heightened as the enemy came from above and behind him. He twisted his neck, and upon seeing a dark figure approach from the peripheral of his vision, he activated Pulse Dash to scale up the tree. The spiderwing swooped in, missing him by inches.

With the enemy directly below him, Alex used Pulse Dash once again to kick off the tree and land on top of it. The spiderwing pulled upward and Alex’s body jerked side to side as the enemy tried to shake him off. Without hesitation, Alex activated Tiger Form and Tiger Fist. He swiped both hands in an X motion, ripping both wings off the monster. The spiderwing screeched as it, along with Alex, plummeted to the ground.

Alex waited for the perfect moment and kicked off from the spider just before it hit the ground. The spiderwing crashed into the dirt and he landed gently beside it. He checked its HP.

Queen Spiderwing HP: 57

That’s a lot of fall damage.

Alex rushed in and drove two Tiger Fists into the spiderwing, finishing it off. The monster disappeared, and an item dropped over its location.

Spiderwing Silk

Grade: Uncommon

Quality: Excellent

Satisfied with the drop, Alex placed it inside his inventory ring. Spiderwing Silk was a material that could be used to craft equipment. He could sell it off or have someone craft some light armor with it for a reduced price. Overall, it was some solid loot.

But there was more to be thrilled about than just the loot. The appearance of the Queen Spiderwing brought some additional good news. With its sighting, Alex knew for sure that there was a portal nearby. This was because Queen Spiderwings always set their traps near portals. After all, where better to stage an ambush than near the item that your prey is looking for?

Alex spent the next few hours in search of the portal, cursing his old self for not taking the time out to memorize the layout or portal locations of this floor. Along the way he killed any spiderwings that he came across. He’d farmed around five or six of them when he received a notification that he had leveled up.

He checked the level up prompt and his eyes lit up when he saw what he’d unlocked.

No way…