James continued to sneak down the hallway that led away from the first encounter. The hallway was non-descript, and the stone was cold and smooth to touch. While examining a section of the wall, James here a soft click followed by two distinct hissing sounds. Before he could do anything, he felt two gentle jabs at his back. Turning towards the attack, James crouched, ready to pounce. But all he found were two darts lying on the ground at his feet.

"Physical immunity for the win." he chuckled. Bending down to pick up the darts, he noticed some guck on the ends of them. "Shit, poison." Brushing at his hand across his back, he tried to look over his shoulder to see if there was any wound, but he could not see or feel anything. Rocko just sat watching him, a small smile playing across his otherwise stoic expression as James kept spinning around, trying to see his back.

"You have something to say?" James challenged.

Rocko just shook his head and continued to observe as James crouched down and tried to look for the pressure plate that triggered the trap. Even with his Darkvision, he had difficulty noticing where the plate was. Giving up, he moved on, but this time, spending more time checking the floor.

The next room was empty and had three ways leading out from it. Trying to be careful, James moved to the left and headed up a few steps that led to another room. This one had three skeletons inside, just standing around. These three did not have armour but did have a long sword and shield. Watching them for a while, he noticed that they did not seem to be moving very often. James finally decided to see if he could lure one of the skeletons out from the room. He waited until one of the skeletons was close to the hallway and threw some loose stones at it. The stones harmlessly bounced off the shield, but it gained its attention and the attention of the next nearest skeleton. James kept an eye on both skeletons as they moved towards him. Neither had seemed to have noticed him, as they were still looking for what attracted their attention in the first place. The second skeleton stopped at the doorway as the first one continued into the hall and to the top of the steps.

James waited for a minute or two before both skeletons turned around and started to head back to the room. Once the second one had moved out of sight, James threw some more stones at the back of the first skeleton. The rocks had the desired effect as the skeleton turned around and moved down the stairs towards the room James was hiding in. When the skeleton stepped into the room, James pounced, slamming both claws into the skeleton's side and down the creature's sword arm. The impact was jarring for both parties, but James didn't relent. In a fury of blows and claws, he attacked the skeleton intending to take it down before it could get an attack in. That was wishful thinking considering the level difference, but he was able to dodge the first two attacks the skeleton took at James. The next several hits still felt like a pool noodle, and James chuckled at the idea. Of course, he was still a professional soldier and allowing such thoughts to distract him was inappropriate. It must be due to his low Willpower, he thought.

The skeleton finally collapsed after about three minutes. James thought that was faster than the first two skeletons he fought, but that may have been because they were not wearing armour. Crouching near the door, he looked at his notifications.

**********

Dexterity +1

Luck +1

Back Attack +1

Dodge +2

Stealth +1

***********

Moving forward again, James used his stealth to get close to the other room with the two skeletons in it. James smiled; this was still remarkable progress. He noticed that things seemed to go better when he only had one skeleton to focus on instead of fighting two at a time, especially when one of them would stun him now and again.

The following skeleton was easily lured from the room and back to the room where James fought the previous skeleton. Again, he attacked from the shadows, and he noticed that the damage he did was substantially more than when he was only fighting face to face. That Back Attack skill packed a punch, even at level 2. James continued to work on these skills and dodge as much as he could, but he found that dodging caused his stamina to drop quickly. Attacking with his claws didn't seem to drain him nearly as much, but dodging took a toll. So James started pacing himself, dodging the shield slams to avoid being stunned but ignoring the attacks otherwise. They didn't hurt him anyway, and the experience he was gaining for using his combat skills in this new body really helped him get his footing. The body was much more agile than he was used to, and he had more flexibility than his old body, but the strength was a fraction of what he had before.

When the second skeleton fell to the floor, James moved to the back of the room. Once there, he sat down again and checked his notifications.

**********

Strength +1

Agility +1

Endurance +1

Back Attack +1

Dodge +1

Melee - Unarmed +1

***********

James realized that his Melee skill was at the max; he would need to put another point into Intelligence if he wanted it to increase. Which he did, considering it was his primary mode of damage.

**********

Intelligence +1

**********

James also checked the battle log and noticed that his Back Attack was doing more than double his regular damage. He would have to figure out how to use that attack more often.

With the notifications taken care of, he moved to loot the two skeletons before continuing into the other room with the last skeleton. Now that he had more stamina, better combat skills and even better luck, James felt confident that the previous skeleton did not pose a threat. And he was correct. James was sure that it was only a couple of minutes before the skeleton fell, and he was pleased to note that it had a coin purse as well. Now that he had a bit of time, he looked at the three-coin purses before checking his notifications, as one of them felt heavier than the others. Inside the pouch of the last skeleton, he found a small red potion.

"Let me guess, a healing potion," James said, showing the potion to Rocko.

"I have no way to confirm that assumption. And I don't think your Analyze skill is high enough to find out."

James checked his notification now that the battle was over.

**********

Dexterity +1

***********

"Only the one attribute saw an increase. I guess I am slowing down now that the attributes are getting over ten." James mused.

"As you increase your Attributes and Skills, you will notice that they take longer and longer to increase. Most Champions rarely see an attribute over forty."

"You would think that Intelligence would have to be their highest attribute, considering their skill can't be above that attribute."

"Please remember that your skills should only be at about a 2 or 3. It is unheard of to be 4 or 5 after only a few battles. Also, there are a couple of Advantages which can allow you to increase your skill level over your Intelligence Attribute, but those are mostly tied to classes."

"Something I will get to check out soon," James said as he noticed the flashing notification, "Ha, got another level."

"Excellent. So far, your avatar selection has proven very successful."

James opened up his Attribute screen and added a point in Intelligence.

**********

Intelligence +1

**********

Once he was done that, he checked his Status screen.

* Attributes Modified by form shown as [ ]:

Name: James Gleason Race: Weretiger (Hybrid) Class: Specialization: Level: 3 XP to next level: 30.00% Armour Rating: 6 Age: 42 Health: 150 Unarmed Damage: 17 [16] Stamina: 45 Claw Damage: 20 Mana: 70 Bite Damage: 18 Attributes: Unspent Attribute Pts: 3 Strength 12 [11] Agility 16 [14] Dexterity 12 [10] Endurance 6 Willpower 4 [5] Intelligence 7 [8] Charm 4 [5] Luck 8 Skills: Unspent Skill Pts: 2 Analyze 1 Back Attack 3 Dodge 4 Melee – Unarmed 5 Stealth 5 Unspent Advantage Pts 0

James didn't have anything to compare, so he had to take Rocko's word for it. Taking this time, he tried to analyze the items that the skeletons dropped, even going back to the previous room to check their items. At that point, he realized that he had been working on his combat skills, and he wasn't giving enough attention to his non-combat skills.

***********

Rusted Iron Shield

Quality: Very Poor

Armour Rating: 6

Damage Range: ?

Accuracy: ?

Crit Chance: ?

Durability: ?

Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Special: One-handed

***********

***********

Iron Sword

Quality: Poor

Damage Range: ?

Accuracy: ?

Crit Chance: ?

Durability: ?

Damage Type: Slashing

Special: One or two-handed

***********

***********

Leather Pouch

Quality: Poor

Durability: ?

Special: Container, ?

***********

***********

Leather Belt

Quality: Poor

Durability: ?

Special: Nothing

***********

***********

Small Wooden Shield

Quality: Poor

Armour Rating: 3

Durability: ?

Special: One-handed

***********

He was pleased to note that his Analyze skill had increased by 2 points after analyzing all the items.

**********

Analyze +1

**********

"I guess analyzing the same types of items repeatedly doesn't help improve the skill."

"That is correct. You need new items and things of better quality."

"Why would quality matter?" James asked, but Rocko just shrugged.

James moved down the hall as carefully as he could, but he had no skills in detecting traps and had already set off two of them by the time he reached the next room. Fortunately, they were mechanical traps and didn't hurt him. One was a spike trap that lifted him in the air a few inches before coming to a stop, and the second was a blade that moved out from the wall and tried to slice him in half. Something broke inside the mechanism when the blade hit him, and the blade was stuck protruding from the wall.

"Have you noticed that when a non-magical weapon hits me, they seem to lose much of the kinetic force?" James asked Rocko.

Rocko had continued to walk behind James, "What is kinetic force? Is that a type of magic where you come from?"

"No, it is energy. The energy used to move an arrow through the air is transferred to the object struck by the arrow. That is why the arrow sinks into the target. That energy is used to penetrate the target. But when I am hit by a non-magical weapon, the energy used to move the sword should also push me back if it is not going through my skin. But instead, the energy is lost. Even though it can't penetrate my skin, if a club hits me, it should still break my bones. How do you account for that?"

"Magic," Rocko said and just left it at that.

James laughed at the response. It was the same when he talked to some people about flight or space travel. How was it possible; simple, science. He was amused to see that the same effect happened here. When people didn't understand how something worked, but it was evident that it did, they just chalked it up to magic.

Moving forward, James rounded a corner with continued care. Before moving his body past the corner, he noticed a smell of decay was more potent than before. Several humanoids walked around on their hands and feet in the next room. The faces were distorted, and they grunted as they moved. James crouched down and studied them for a moment. He had no idea what they were, but they seemed feral. When he moved to get a closer look, he noticed that Rocko was sitting in front of him, blocking his path.

James looked down at his small friend and realized something was up. Although Rocko had some severe limitations on what he could say, he was pretty good at working around those limitations by using body language. James tried to run several questions through his head to see if there was a way he could ask Rocko was the creatures were without asking what the creatures were. Finally, he gave up and asked Rocko something more directly. In a quiet voice, "Rocko, you are supposed to help me with things that would be considered common knowledge, right?"

"Correct," Rocko agreed.

"Would those creatures be considered common knowledge?" James continued in a quiet voice.

Rocko turned his head and looked at the creatures in the other room, pausing for a full minute before turning back to James, "In general, yes, but not specifically."

"Let's move back so you can explain," James said, leading back past the two traps and into the room where he fought the lone skeleton.

Rocko stood at the doorway and looked up at James, " An example of what I mean is that I could tell you that the creatures you fought were skeletons, but I would not be able to tell you what type of skeletons they were.

"Okay, that helps. Not with the skeletons, because that was obvious. But what can you tell me about those creatures."

"Ghouls, I can not be more specific than that," Rocko replied, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"Can you tell me what is special about ghouls?" James asked carefully

"Ghouls are very dangerous undead. Most have Ghoul Touch, which can paralyze you for about a few seconds. Their claws attacks may also have Disease. Some Ghouls also have a breath weapon which can cause nausea and vomiting. Lastly, they are pack creatures, which feast on any living flesh and can go into a frenzy at the smell of blood. Previous encounters with Champions have shown that they are easily dealt with at a distance, either with magic or ranged weapons." Rocko concluded his lengthy statement, and his shoulders seemed to sag a bit.

James knelt in front of Rocko, "I know it is hard to be a guide and appreciate your effort to keep me... Informed. Thank you."

Rocko gave James a sad smile, "It is difficult since I cannot offer information unless asked directly, and I can not offer any advice at all."

James nodded, "Okay, then before I engage any creature, I will ask you to provide me with all common knowledge about the creature. If I was from this world and saw it, what would I know about it? Are you able to do that without me asking you each time?"

Rocko thought about it, "I think so." Rocko then opened his mouth to say something more but shook his head and shut his mouth.

James scrutinized Rocko, "Rocko, is there a way I can analyze a creature as I do with items."

Rocko's grin was broader than his face, and James got a full view of his dozens of sharp teeth, "Why, yes, there is James. There is a skill called Inspect."

"Does it work the same as Analyze, where I just have to focus on the creature to get the information?" James asked, returning the grin.

"Why, yes, that is correct."

James looked at the skeleton and tried to analyze it. He felt something stir, but it didn't quite work itself out. He then turned his gaze to Rocko and tried the same thing. Suddenly a notification in the lower right corner of his vision. Rocko just grinned again and held perfectly still so that James could focus.

When he opened it, a familiar screen appeared before him.

You have the opportunity to learn a new skill.

**********

Do you wish to learn INSPECT?

YES NO

**********

James chuckled as he concentrated on YES. Looking at Rocko, he tried the inspect skill.

***********

Name: Rocko

Race: Gargoyle

Level: ?

***********

"It just gave me your name and race," James stated.

"Yes, that is information you already know about me. I think that my level is too high for you to get anything of real value."

James wanted to ask what level Rocko was but felt that he would share if Rocko wanted him to know. Looking at the skeleton, he tried the inspect skill again.

***********

Name: ?

Race: Skeleton ?

Level: ?

***********

"Well, since we are not going back that way," James said, pointing in the direction of the ghouls, "We may as well check out some of those other hallways. Maybe we can get a few more levels. Also, I am hoping to find some food. I have no idea how long it has been since I last eat."

Rocko nodded and followed James again on foot, nearly walking into him when James stopped and turned around. "Rocko, you have wings. Why do you walk?"

Rocko groaned, and a slight shudder went through him, "I can't."

"Can I ask why?"

"The bones in my left-wing are deformed. I can't fly." The gargoyle looked dejected but met James' eyes. "I am taking this gig as a guide to help pay for my healing. They say it will take more than just breaking the wing and healing it again. Because I was born this way, the wing would heal back with the deformity. It requires a more powerful version of the healing spell, and not many people know it, and even fewer are willing to cast it, not without a large payout. So, here I am."

James looked down at his friend, "Can we touch each other?"

Rocko took a step back, "Excuse me?"

James just smiled, "What I mean to say, is can I carry you?"

Rocko shook his head, "No, I am not light, I am made of stone, and besides, you need to be focusing on yourself, not me."

James just nodded; he had dealt with a squad of tough-as-nails men who would instead drag themselves through a pig farm than admit that they needed help, "Well, if you change your mind, let me know. The offer is there."

"Thank you, James, that is kind of you." but Rocko continued to walk.

The following passages ended in a dead-end with a skeleton watching over the room. Although the skeleton was not dangerous for him, the one on one fight allowed him to focus more on improving his fighting skills. At the end of the fight, he did get one of his favourite screens.

**********

Endurance +1

Dodge +1

***********

James frowned when he noticed that there was no flashing notification. He saw that he was at 70% to his next level by checking his stats sheet. James was not sure why he was not getting as much XP as before, but at least he was so close to the next level. After grabbing the coins from the skeleton and using his Analysis and Inspect skills, he made his way down some more empty hallways. He was almost about to step down on a stone when he shifted his foot and nearly fell over himself trying to avoid it.

"Are you okay?" Rocko asked from behind him.

"Ya," James stood up and dusted himself off. He decided to get down on his hands and knees and looked at the stone carefully. Something had seemed off when he was about to step on the stone, but he didn't understand what. Suddenly he saw it. The stone was a little higher than the rest. It was a pressure plate. And with that realization, a notification started flashing at the bottom of his vision.

When he opened it, a familiar screen appeared before him.

You have the opportunity to learn a new skill.

**********

Do you wish to learn DETECT TRAPS?

YES NO

**********

James smiled and looked over at Rocko, "I just learned to detect traps." And with that, he also put a point into Intelligence from his unspent points.

**********

Intelligence +1

**********

"Unbelievable. Three new skills in as many hours. Unheard of!" Rocko grumbled. James was not sure if he was upset or impressed. But he also noticed another notification.

**********

Luck +1

**********

James just chuckled and kept that discovery to himself for the time being. Getting back on his feet, he turned down the hallway and called back to his friend, "Watch your step; there's a trap there."

"Haha," Rocko mock laughed, "Your looks only exceed your wit."

"Was that humour again? I swear you are becoming funnier with each passing hour." James called back. As much fun as it was, James really should have been watching out where he was stepping because when he stepped down next, he heard another click. All James had time to mutter was, "Shit," before a gas cloud enveloped his head.