James and Ignatius agreed to the contract as it was amended. Zita sat between them shuffling the papers back and forth between them and explaining the changes that were made. Ignatius had to be call back to the table several times as he was having a hard time accepting the final deal. However, he finally realized he had no choice if he would meet the deadline. With everything signed, Zita was all smiles and wished James the best of luck in his future endeavours and advised Ignatius that her services were always available and that he would get a bill soon. This made Ignatius even grumpier. Once all the details were complete, Rocko asked James to place his hand inside the Avatar standing in front of him. It was that of a tiger person, well built, but in a lean, athletic way. This form was called the hybrid form, and the only equipment was a loincloth.

James reached out, but paused it just over the head of the Avatar. His mind kept returning to the contract he signed with Ignatius. There was something missing from it, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He tried to review the details of the contract in his head, but they were muddled and shuffled out of order.

"You need to place your hand on the Avatar, Mr. Gleason," Zita said in an authoritative voice.

James shook his head and placed his hand into the Avatar and his vision blurred before going completely black. After a few seconds, his surroundings started to appear before him. Everything was without colour, but he could see that he was standing in a stone hallway. To his right was a large wooden door with a strange red glowing symbol and behind him was a set of stairs leading down.

"Where am I now? James asked.

"You stand outside a safe room," a familiar voice said behind him.

James spun around, claws out and in a low crouch. Sitting on the floor was Rocko. "What are you doing here? I thought you were only available during that avatar creation thing."

Rocko shook his head, "No. I am with you until the challenge is over or until you die. It would be difficult for me to impart my knowledge on the world around you if I was only with you at the start."

James eased up his stance and nodded to the gargoyle, "I guess. What can you tell me about that saferoom?"

"I can not tell you anything about that safe room; I can only provide general information or information from previous challenges.

"Can you tell me what a safe room is?"

"Safe rooms are placed in dungeons to give champions a respite during their journey. Here, they can not be attacked, not even by another champion. Also, they recover faster in this room than outside of it. However, you may only enter a safe room once. After that it is sealed off to you until you re-enter the dungeon."

"So don't go in there until I have to. Got it. What about the stairs?"

"Do they not have stairs where you come from?" Rocko asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Yes, but what can you tell me about those stairs? Do you know where they go?" James asked, a little exasperated.

"No, I don't know where they go any more than you do. And I could not give you any information if I did. I thought we went over this." Rocko asked, his voice showing some minor concern.

"You're right. I am just a little on edge. Should I go down the stairs?"

Rocko blinked a couple of times, "I can not give you advice as much as you would wish I could."

James looked around at the hallway and then glanced back at the stairs, "Based on previous challenges, does the placement of the safe room mean something?"

"Yes, safe rooms are usually found at the midpoint of a dungeon, before one journey to the next level, or right before the end, where the strongest challenge is located."

"Right. So this room is here because it is just before the next level. If we move back into this level, we should be heading for the exit."

James looked down at his claws and flexed them a couple of times. The feeling of the claws was strange. He could feel the power at the end of his fingertips. On impulse, he ran a nail down his arm. He could feel it scratching along the fur. Yes, fur, not skin. But it didn't penetrate. He pressed harder and harder, but all he could feel was pressure, and even then, it was not much.

"I can't scratch myself," James remarked in surprise.

"You cannot injure yourself with your claws," Rocko commented. "Your damage immunity prevents it, as they are not magical or made of silver."

James took a deep breath and exhaled. This was too much. First, he died, then his soul got hijacked, and now he was in a strange body in some fantasy game like the world. This whole situation was seriously fucked up. Taking a second breath, he noticed the smell of decay. James used his nose to sniff the air. The smell of decay became more substantial from the hallway leading away from the stairs. "Time to go," he muttered as he moved stealthily down the hall.

The area was a maze. Some branches ran right and left, and James could smell decay down all of them. He could hear grunts and growls every once in a while, but he wasn't sure from where they were coming. James hadn't walked very far, only about two intersections. This one was the third, and he could distinctly hear metal on metal and metal on stone coming from a side hallway. It wasn't a lot, but intermittent. Pausing to listen for any other noise, he was glad for his Darkvision.

Moving carefully down the branch towards the noise, he made sure to take his time. Looking back, he noticed that Rocko was following along behind him. James pointed at Rocko, pointed at his eyes, and then pointed down the hall.

Rocko shook his head, "No, I can not be your scout. Nor need you to worry about the sounds I make, as a guide, only you can see or hear me."

James frowned. He had hoped that the guide would be more helpful, especially if he got into trouble, but that was not meant to be. Continuing to move forward, James was able to make out a room around a bend. It looked like there were two skeletons inside the room, both wearing chainmail, a small shield and wielding a long sword. James had never seen walking skeletons before and couldn't do anything but just stare like a slack-jawed yokel. Fortunately, the skeletons didn't notice as they just wandered around the room in no particular pattern.

Clearing his head with a shake, James waited until the nearest skeleton had its back turned away from him and then moved in to attack.

James' claws raked down the back of the skeleton armour. Several chain mail links went flying, but the attack hurt James' fingers. The swipe of his second claw went for the skeleton's neck and hit hard enough to cause the creature to stagger to the side. Although it wasn't enough to knock the undead creature down, it was enough to prevent it from turning around right away. James continued hitting the skeleton while it was getting its footing again. As it turned around, it swung its sword. James was quickly able to duck under the swing and continued to attack with both fist and claw. It was hard to tell which was doing more damage, the first or the claw, but neither seemed very effective. The backswing of the skeleton caught James as he tried to back step. Although the skeleton hit with full force, it felt like being struck by a pool noodle. James noticed the impact, but it did nothing to him. He saw the second skeleton charging towards him with its shield raised at that point. He didn't even bother to dodge as he knew it wouldn't hurt. Imagine his surprise when the resulting impact knocked him back a few feet and stunned him.

"What the hell?" James groaned as he shook his head to clear it. He now had two skeletons hitting him with pool noodles.

"Even though you can not be damaged, you can still suffer from status effects," Rocko stated as he moved further into the room, looking at the floor tiles, unconcerned with the fighting around him.

James went back to fighting the skeletons. It took several minutes to destroy the first one, but he could try out some combat moves that he had learned with the Seals. Although things didn't translate well to using claws, he was surprised by how much was still relevant, especially the placement of his feet, the shifting of his body weight and the different methods for breaking bones. When he only had the one skeleton to deal with, he paused for a few minutes to allow for himself to get his wind back. Fighting took a lot of energy that this body did not seem to have. All the while, the skeleton was beating on him with its sword. Getting back into the battle, he paced himself and focused on trying to dodge the sword attacks and anticipating the skeleton's actions. Pacing himself had mixed results, but most of the skeleton's attacks landed, regardless of what he tried to do. With the last skeleton finally dead, he bent over and gasped for air. His new body was unused to this kind of workout.

He leaned back and tried to stretch out a pinched muscle in his back with a groan, "That was not what I expected. If I did not have the immunity to physical damage, I would be dead." That idea was very sobering.

Rocko looked over at him, "Yes, many times over. As your guide, I need to tell you about the notifications you have been getting."

"What notifications?" James asked.

"There should be a small green box in the bottom corner of your vision. After that fight, it should be flashing."

James looked where he was instructed and saw the flashing green box in the lower right corner. "Wonder why I didn't notice it before?"

"When you are in a dungeon, all notifications are suppressed. The only reason it appeared now is that you levelled. Of course, you can access your notifications at any time."

James moved over to the wall and sat down, "When I was in high school, I joined a D&D club for a semester. That was a long time ago, but I remember some of it. This challenge thing sounds an awful lot like that game. Especially with levels, spells and those attributes that I saw."

Rocko moved over to sit beside James before answering him, "I don't know about this club you joined or about that game. I can tell you that the gods have deemed that the challenge needed some quantifiable variables; it is this way that they can determine the attributes for people and place values on their skills and advantages."

"Seems arbitrary"

Rocko shrugged, "If you wish, I can assist you with your notifications. With your permission, I can help you sort through their mess and bring your attention to the important ones."

James nodded and looked around the room, "Make it happen."

Rocko blinked for a moment but then just made the necessary changes, "These first few notifications are referred to as a battle log. It will show the damage you did and the damage you took. As you can see, the skeletons were hitting you, but they were doing no damage. A couple of stun attacks also registered, and you can see that you were stunned for 3 seconds each time."

"Is there a way to reduce the stun time?" James asked.

"Not be hit?" Rocko replied, "Barring that, you can try to increase your Endurance significantly. There is also an Advantage that you can take that will reduce the duration of the stun."

James looked down at Rocko, "Was that humour?" he asked with a smile.

Rocko just shrugged, "When you killed the second skeleton, the battle was over, and you were then given a report of changes to your Avatar. You can see the changes on this screen."

A new screen appeared in front of James.

Strength +1

Agility +1

Dexterity +1

Luck +1

Melee - Unarmed +1

Stealth +1

"Wow, that is a lot of improvements. Is this typical for a single fight?" James asked, excited by the improvements

"No," Rocko stated, "The only reason I can see that would allow for this kind of improvement is that you were fighting significantly stronger creatures than you are."

"Obviously not, if I won," James smirked.

"Your immunity to physical damage, notwithstanding; you should be dead."

James shrugged, "Three hundred points well spent."

"Indeed," Rocko muttered before continuing. "The next notification is also rather important."

A new screen appeared before James.

You have the opportunity to learn a new skill.

Do you wish to learn DODGE?

YES NO

James looked at this, "Is there a reason I would not want to take this skill?"

Rocko nodded, "Yes. It would help if you remembered that you are only allowed a specific number of skills equal to your Intelligence, and you cannot have a rank higher than your Intelligence. That is a limit of 4 right now because your hybrid form gives you a penalty to Intelligence."

"Damn, how can I increase my Intelligence then?"

"As luck would have it, you also levelled. This means you are now level two and have some extra points to spend. You gain three attribute points and one skill point."

"Alright, then I should spend a point in Intelligence to gain the skill dodge, right?"

"I am sorry, James, but as I said before, I cannot advise you. I can only provide you with information." Rocko seemed saddened by the statement.

"Okay, then is there a way I can raise my Intelligence and not lose the opportunity to gain the Dodge skill?"

"Yes, just minimize the notification, and it will continue to be there until you answer the question. Then go into your Attributes and spend a point towards Intelligence."

"How do I do that?"

"Just concentration on your Attributes, that should bring them up, and you will have the chance to increase them."

James did that, and a new window appeared.

***********

Attributes (Unspent points: 3)

Strength 11 [10] +

Agility 15 [13] +

Dexterity 10 [8] +

Endurance 5 +

Willpower 4 [5] +

Intelligence 4 [5] +

Charm 4 [5] +

Luck 7 +

**********

"Just contrate on the plus sign next to the Attribute you wish you increase."

Intelligence +1

"Okay, that is done, so now I just have to pull up the notification about adding the Dodge skill and select Yes." James did that and smiled when he pulled up his skills and saw the display.

Unspent Skill Points 1 Analyze 1 Back Attack 1 Dodge 1 Melee - Unarmed 4 Stealth 4

"How long can I hold onto unspent points?"

"For as long as you like."

"Should I hold onto the points?"

Rocko went to speak but paused. "I cannot advise you, one way or the other."

James sighed, "Is there an advantage to holding onto the points?"

Rocko considered the question, "I am not able to answer that question because I don't know what would be considered an advantage or not. I can say that the vast majority of Champions hold onto their unspent points until level 5. Then they spend their acquired points while only keeping a few in reserve. At level 16, they stop spending points again until level 20."

"What is special about levels 5 and 20?"

"That is the level at which you get your class and specialized class."

James nodded and called up his status screen.

* Unmodified Attributes are shown as [ ]:

Name: James Gleason Race: Weretiger (Hybrid) Class: Specialization: Level: 2 XP to next level: 0.00% Armour Rating: 5 Age: 42 Health: 125 Unarmed Damage: 15 [14] Stamina: 35 Claw Damage: 18 Mana: 60 Bite Damage: 16 Attributes: Unspent Attribute Pts: 2 Strength 11 [10] Agility 15 [13] Dexterity 10 [8] Endurance 5 Willpower 4 [5] Intelligence 5 [6] Charm 4 [5] Luck 7 Skills: Unspent Skill Pts: 1 Analyze 1 Back Attack 1 Dodge 1 Melee – Unarmed 4 Stealth 4 Unspent Advantage Pts 0

James got up and brushed off his tail and the hair on his ass, "Time to go. Now that I know what to expect, the next contact should go smoother."

Rocko walked over to the second exit and sat down, facing James.

James paused and looked at the miniature gargoyle, "Am I missing something?"

Rocko shrugged, "I am not permitted to give advice."

"You've said that before."

"Repetition helps with memorization."

James looked around the room, looking for something he may have missed. There wasn't much to see as the room was pretty bare. There are two skeletons with their sword, shield and chainmail. There was also some dust and loose stone on the floor. Looking back at the skeletons, James realized what he had forgotten. "Loot."

"Oh, what I would give for a bag of holding," James wished.

"It would not do you any good. You have magic immunity, and you would not be able to interact with the item. You would need to carry anything you want to take with you."

"They have bags of holding here?"

"Dimensional Storage Containers are not rare."

The swords looked decent, but he was doing a fair bit of damage with just his claws, and they were not magical, so he decided to leave them. It was the same with the shields; it was not worth it for him to take since he fought with both hands. The last items were the suits of chainmail. They had seen better days and looked rather heavy, not something he wanted to get bogged down carrying. While checking out the armour, he noticed that each skeleton had a belt, and there were two items on the belts. The first was a dagger in a sheath, and the second was a small pouch. James grabbed one of the belts and kept one dagger and both pouches. Checking the pouches, he found them to contain some coins, specifically a few gold coins, some silver coins, and copper coins. The coins were about the size of dimes, tiny, really.

"Is there a skill that allows you to determine the value or information on items?" James asked Rocko.

"Yes, you require the skill Analyze."

"I have that." James looked at the dagger and concentrated on it for a moment.

A small screen opened up before him.

Name: Rusted Iron Dagger Quality: Very Poor Damage Range: ? Accuracy: ? Crit Chance: ? Damage Type: Piercing Durability ? Special: One-handed, Small, Light

"Well, that was rather anticlimactic."

"That's what she said," Rocko muttered.

"What?" James turned to the gargoyle.

"I said, that's what level 1 is," Rocko said louder

James just stared at the gargoyle and then headed towards the exit. This time, the gargoyle moved to the side and followed James out.