They reappeared standing side by side in a room that looked just like Steven’s Floor 0 starting area, with the Red Eye glowing ominously between them. Steven even noticed puddles and moss littering the floor, which was the same stony ground as all his floors. Within a few seconds the eye stopped glowing, and Garth splashed through a puddle into the first corridor. Steven followed, though stepping over the puddles, and they both stopped at the corner where the hallway turned.

“We’re going to practice fighting these monsters. They’re pretty weak, but numerous.” Garth said as he glanced around the corner. The hems of his black robe dripped water from the puddles he had stepped in. “We need to establish effective teamwork before attempting our tribulations.”

Steven had not known Garth for more than a few hours, but during that time he’d never heard the man speak that way. It wasn’t long ago that Garth was confined to a wheelchair with a raspy voice and weak body. Steven was honestly surprised they’d be on a dungeon floor this soon. If it were this easy to recover from withering, why were there so many people in the church? And that sea?

Maybe Garth was just more serious now.

“Are they close enough to notice us from here?” Asked Steven.

“No, but it's a good habit to always perform adequate surveillance before initiating an encounter.” Garth stepped out from behind the corner and stood in the hallway that fed into the new room. Steven scooted up and took Garth’s place to glance around the corner.

There were more monsters in that room than all his previous dungeon floors combined. He could see three groups of five little frog men. Each group hopped in a circle, and all three groups were rotating around the center of the room. He heard the rhythmic plops of small frog feet hitting stone ground.

Each little frog thing hopped on both feet and stood no more than two to three feet high. They wore only loincloths and carried short sticks. Steven wasn’t sure if they threw the sticks or used them to stab. He cast identify.

Minor Toadolyte (Javelin)

Mana 30

Strength - 2

Dexterity - 4

Endurance - 2

Intelligence - 2

Wisdom - 2

Mimicries - 2

Unable to absorb

“Ugh, crap,” mumbled Steven through clenched teeth. The strange little things had mimicries he could use, but he was unable to absorb them.

“What’s the matter?” Garth looked at him, “and what are you doing?”

Steven dismissed the skill and stood up straight, turning to face Garth, “What do you mean? I was looking at them. I’m not able to use my main ability on them.”

“Your eyes were white. Only for a second, when I looked at you.” Garth stared unblinking at Steven’s face.

“I cast identify,” spat Steven. He felt a bit unnerved by the attention, frustrated at his inability to absorb the monsters, and honestly a bit bored by just standing next to a stone corner. He was a little more harsh in his reply than he had intended.

Steven took a step to the side and placed his forehead against the chilled stone. He focused on the hard cold pressure and tried to collect himself. After several seconds he turned to Garth.

“Sorry, hey, just. Let me go fight them. All of them. You watch me, and come up with a plan on how we can work together as a team,” said Steven. He turned without waiting for a reply and jogged into the room with the toadolytes.

He knew the monsters couldn’t hurt him. Each one was about as strong as the third skeleton he killed. The sticks they carried were sharpened, but Steven doubted they were sharper than the shortsword he’d tested his endurance against.

He focused on his left arm and cast Mimic Growth: Heater Shield. On his right hand he cast Mimic Growth: Shortsword. Both growths burst into life when the first toad noticed his approach. Steven heard a singular loud croak and the rhythmic beat of toad feet stopped.

The closest group of toadolytes charged at him and only the sound of feet hitting the stone floor could be heard. Steven was expecting some sort of battle cry, but was roused from his thoughts when the entire group leaped at him with sticks pointed straight at his chest.

He planted his feet and reached across his body with his shield arm. A split second later he swung it back to the other side with all his might, deflecting the blows. He felt a series of five thunks against the shield, and as the shield cleared his line of sight he didn’t see any of the toads. He looked quickly to the side of the room and saw a heap of gore with a few of the sticks pointing out.

He looked confusingly at the pile until he felt a dull poke in his side, like a child was trying to get his attention. With his attention pulled back to the current situation, he saw a toad with his stick fully extended repeatedly jabbing it into his side. He slashed downward and the shortsword ripped through the monster’s head. He watched as it crumpled into a wet heap.

He looked up and saw the remaining toad monsters charging straight at him. He ran from monster to monster delivering a slash to the head of each little toad, his shield completely forgotten. The monsters didn’t even try to evade his attacks. Unsatisfied, Steven kicked the final toad and it soared through the air to burst against the stone wall.

He dismissed his growths in a cloud of red dust and sulked back to where Garth was standing in the hallway. Garth’s mouth hung slightly open and he held a short rod in his left hand.

“I can’t get stronger here,” Steven said as he sat down on a dry spot in the hallway. He ran his hands through his hair and started picking at the wet goop he found on his clothes.

“This is Floor 5! It took me hours to take one down when I first came here, and I have a ranged spell.” Garth spluttered. He sat down on the opposite side of the hallway. “And you’re stuck on Floor 1?”

“That thing is like five times stronger than these, man.” It was a bit of an exaggeration. Steven knew the Skeletal Blend’s strength was five times greater, but the dexterity was only double. “And it’s huge.”

“How do you know that?” Garth asked, again peering over the top of his glasses.

“I cast identify. Just like on these.” Steven shrugged. He pulled a wet chunk of toad out of his hair and flicked it back into it's room.

“And how long do you think it took to defeat that room just now?” Garth continued with his questioning.

Steven felt like he was being interrogated. It didn’t help his already foul mood. He had to get stronger and progress his floor, and he had just discovered that he couldn’t absorb monsters here. Just one or two absorptions would give him the confidence he needed to take on the challenge boss.

“I dunno, a minute? They have much lower stats than me.” Steven said and inwardly groaned. He forgot that he was supposed to be only level 3. He closed his eyes and cycled his breathing.

Garth didn’t acknowledge Steven’s goof. “Nine seconds.”

That pulled Steven out of his rumination. “What?”

“You gained 225 mana in nine seconds. At level 3. And you’re complaining about being unable to get stronger.” Garth stood and began pacing back and forth. He folded his arms across his chest and rested his chin in a hand, completely lost in thought.

Steven previously forgot this guy was a thinker, and a tutor class. He had been so wrapped up in being able to get stronger and move on that he didn’t realize his story wouldn’t hold. He held his tongue though, wanting to see what conclusions Garth came to.

Garth finally stopped pacing and turned to Steven.

“If I didn’t have my perception tied to intelligence, I wouldn’t have been able to clearly see what you did. As it was, I was hard pressed to follow you easily. Scout type classes have identify. Conjurers can conjure weapons and beasts to assist them. You’re obviously not the Conjurer rare quality class. At level 3, you would only have 8 extra attributes, and that wouldn’t explain the speed you moved, especially when considering a Conjurer would put his points into intelligence.”

“Alright Sherlock, get on with it.” Steven cajoled. The guy was quite long winded when he put his thinking cap on.

“You’re a special class, Conjurer type. Your attributes are tied to the conjurations.” Garth finished and pushed his glasses up. He looked triumphant.

Steven burst into a fit of laughter, the sound echoing down the hallways.

“Oh… man… I… needed… that.” Steven wheezed between laughs. When he was finally able to control himself, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Half right. But you’re close. I was afraid you wouldn’t help if you knew. I don’t have levels. I can only increase my attributes through absorbing monsters.”

“And you can conjure the weapons you absorb,” added Garth, connecting the dots on his own. “Come on, let’s reset. I’m going to have to teach you.”

He led the way for Steven back to the Red Eye and tapped on it with his implant. Steven saw a dungeon screen appear that notified him a party member was resetting the floor. In ten seconds, the world turned black again, and the floor reset.

Garth walked off toward the toadolytes before Steven even got his bearings back.

“Even if you can’t increase your level or attributes here, you can still get stronger. You just need combat training and experience.” He stopped at the corner and pointed into the room with the toadolytes. “Go again, slower, and with no weapons.”