Chapter 2. Kill* For the next few seconds, we were at a standstill. The goblin licked its wound a little as I stood up, firmly gripping one of my swords. I still thought of this as a game, but that blood was slowly waking me up. I had stopped fighting long ago, memories that I had locked away, times I never wished to remember. But my life was on the line here, I would not let a bad memory kill me. I suppressed my fear and started to look at the situation from a broader perspective, thinking of the goblin as not a monster but just another person. It was pretty fragile, I wasn't even focused when I was swinging my swords. That light touch was enough to make it bleed, so the only thing needed here was a little patience and caution. Patience so that it once again jumps in, giving me an opportunity to strike and be cautious of something that I did not expect. It once again started to run towards me, jumping after reaching near. I raised my sword and stretched my arms, the sword pointing to its heart. I was careful, but the thing that happened next was not predictable. The small claws that it had extended right when my sword pierced its heart. The claws were aimed at my throat but due to being cautious, I was able to shift my body at the last second. But they still hit me, piercing my shoulders. I wanted to scream, almost did, the only thing stopping me was the possibility of other goblins being in the surroundings. The goblin fell as the sword inside it and the claws in its shoulder slid out. I walked away from the goblin wondering was it really dead when the system confirmed that yes, it was dead. [Killed a Goblin. Experience gained] [Bonus experience for being in a Trial Tower] I felt something gathering in me and the pain reduce by quite a bit. Then another screen popped up but this one said something different. [Level Up] 'Level up? Why don't you just show me a status panel now? And this 'system' did. ----------- [Status] Name: Ray Species: Human(F) Bloodline: None General Skills: None Primary Class: Trainee Strength: 11 Agility: 11 Endurance: 12 Vitality: 10 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Perception: 15 Bonus point remaining: 2 ----------- I Survived. I sat down and tried to distract myself from the pain, it was not as strong as it was before I leveled up, but it was still there. Appearing in a goddamn forest and having to kill something before I can even register or comprehend my surroundings, was quite dreadful, to be honest. Breathing out I tried to move a little but the pain wouldn't let me. Seeing that doing anything else would also hurt I focused on the messages other than the leveling up one before my eyes. "That was a goblin? Thought they were supposed to be green and with weapons, not grey and with claws behaving like rabid dogs," I said out loud. Looks like not all stories and myths were correct, who knows dragons might just be what a harmless foot-long lizard is called. I saw the bonus points and after putting some thought into it, vitality was now at twelve. "Never want to experience that pain again nor do I want to die because of bleeding." Well if vitality was the thing that I was thinking of. 'Perception' was oddly high and a few other stats also were higher than the rest. Focusing on a single stat did not explain what it did, so I had to figure it out later as I kept on adding more points to each one. Once I was able to move, I tore my shirt and covered the wound with it. I had tried to use the cleanest part of the shirt, so it should be fine. I got up and saw the dead goblin, it dawned on me, that I had killed something. I had never killed anything, cooking meat didn't feel the same as this as the animal was already dead. The goblin was something that I had killed with my own hands, its blood still coating the sword. But after realizing that, I didn't feel any different from before, it kind of felt liberating. Like I had been freed from a shackle that had bound me for centuries. [Kill enough monsters to reach level 15 and find the door to reach the first floor] '15? What level am I now?' I concentrated on the Primary class part and it expanded. ----------- [Primary Class: Trainee] Level: 1 Skills: None ----------- I was still level 1, so 14 more to go. I didn't think it would be as easy as killing 14 goblins because if this really functioned like a game, which it was till this moment, every level up would require more 'experience.' I had to find food, water, and shelter, so I got up and walked toward the dead goblin. If the theme continued, there should be some 'drops' but looks like that was too hopeful. But looking at it carefully did provide me with something else. [Learned 'Observe'] Now the general skills section had a skill, Observe lvl 1. I thought about using the skill and then focused on the goblin. A small box saying goblin appeared before me and then disappeared when I stopped. It did not show much. This meant that I could get skills from doing simple actions, so while I searched for food or water throughout the forest I tried to gain different skills. Running around, climbing trees, jumping, throwing, I tried everything but no new skill was learned. Maybe there were some special requirements to gain skills that I had to figure out and complete. I decided to not use both swords from now because even though using them both at the same time looked cool, dividing my attention like that was not something that I could handle, at least for now. I needed something that would allow me to use more of my strength.