“It’s good that you’re short and stout. You have a low center of balance,” Garth said, reading through the notes he’d taken as he watched Steven fight through the toadolyte room for the seventh time.

Steven palmed his face, he wasn’t fond of being described like a teapot. Other than the unfortunate jab on his physique, Garth was a veritable treasure trove of information. The tutor class page contained snippets of ways for him to improve. All Garth had to do was figure out Steven’s fighting style.

That proved to be rather difficult though.

Steven didn’t even have a fundamental knowledge of fighting. He knew to keep his hands up and his knees bent, but that was as far as things went at the start. Garth had told him that he had good combat instinct, so Steven took a bit of pride from that comment.

He’d listened intently when Garth had explained some early techniques that were found in the Brawler class of his tutor page. Afterwards he had attempted to implement those techniques against the small toad men, but it was hard to punch waist high monsters.

The training had gone on for hours. Steven would go in and fight while Garth watched from the hallway. Then after the encounter, Garth lectured on what could be improved or what was done wrong. They would then reset the floor and repeat. Steven loved every minute of it.

Both men gained enough mana for several levels, Garth assured when he said he had gained a new ability at level 15. Other than notes and lectures, Garth hadn’t raised a finger. Steven had no idea what kind of abilities the other man actually used.

Steven opened his status menu to check on his mana. He had a little under 2000, which was more than enough to cast several mimicries and growths. That amount of mana also powered up his absorption considerably.

“Hey, do you think we could go fight something a bit more human sized?” Steven asked as they walked back to the Red Eye to reset the room. “And maybe a little bit stronger?”

“Hmm. I’ve been thinking about that. I think we can move over to Floor 7. I had some werewolf type creatures in there, individually in rooms,” Garth said when they returned to the eye. He rested his hand on the red statue, seemingly lost in thought. “Yes. We go do that for a bit. Then we can go take care of our problems,” he said after a moment.

Garth flipped his hand over and tapped his implant against the eye. He then focused on something midair that Steven couldn’t see. Steven got the notification that a party member had initiated transport.

A few moments later they were standing on the edge of a floating dock. Steven became immediately disoriented by the ebb of the water and grabbed at the nearest post to keep his balance.

“Ah, yes. I probably should have warned you. This is the only floor I’ve come across that wasn’t grey stone,” said Garth.

Steven cast his eyes around to take in as much of the surroundings as he could. It turned out that he wasn’t standing on a dock at all, but rather a floating platform. He could see other floating platforms. They all were close to fifty feet in diameter and square. Connecting the platforms were rickety wooden rope bridges. Everything he could see was covered in a thin layer of slime, the shimmering full moon above reflected off every surface.

It was the first time since he’d died that he’d experienced nighttime. The moon was bright and it gave enough light to see, but Steven was hesitant to fight in this amount of light. He was concerned he would lose his footing on the slick wooden floor.

Garth seemed to have no qualms about the wet wood and immediately set off to cross the first wooden rope bridge. Steven heard every step. It sounded like someone banging pieces of wood together. Then realization struck and he smiled. It sounded exactly like his mother walking around in the kitchen before leaving for work. Garth was wearing heels.

Steven skipped precariously across the bridge to stand next to Garth on the next platform, his excitement overpowering the caution needed for the slick wood.

“You got some hose to go with those heels?” Steven asked, barely able to get the words out without a chuckle.

“What? No. I’m wearing pants. Same as you,” Garth replied quickly. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Be quick. We’re on the platform with the werewolf.”

“Lycanthrope,” said Steven. He had already cast identify and was currently examining the monster’s attributes.

Young Lycanthrope (Human)

Mana 45

Strength - 7

Dexterity - 6

Endurance - 5

Intelligence - 3

Wisdom - 3

Mimicries - 3

Unable to absorb

Steven could feel his blood pumping as his heart beat a little harder and faster. A tingling sensation ran down his arms and legs as his adrenaline increased. If these were the things he’d be able to absorb in early floors, his attributes are going to look monstrous before long. The abilities he’d gain would be just as awesome as the attributes. He couldn’t wait.

The lycanthrope looked just like the werewolves from most popular culture media he’d seen. They were human sized, bipedal, and covered with fur. The specimen that Steven watched pace slowly around the far end of the floating platform had a light brown fur covering its whole body. Its arms reached down to its knees and ended in long claws that replaced its fingernails.

“Pfft, same thing,” scoffed Garth. He stood relaxed, arms and ankles crossed, leaning up against the posts on the edge of the platform. “Well, not really. But anyway, no weapons yet. Remember slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Control the pace and the space.”

Before meeting Garth, Steven had just been doing whatever he could do to defeat the monsters. Never had he stopped and thought about controlling the space and the pace of the battle. His enhanced attributes allowed him a bit of leeway when it came to seeing and reacting to what was being used against him. Now that he’d gained a slightly better understanding of fighting, he just needed to implement what he learned until it was automatic.

Now was the perfect time for that. The monster in front of him wasn’t a particular threat in attributes, but if he didn’t keep control there is no doubt he would be left with a few small gashes.

Steven walked forward and clapped his hands together to gain the lycanthrope’s attention. It stopped its pacing and sniffed at the air, turned to see Steven standing nearby, and let out a loud howl as it dropped to all fours to charge at him.

Steven smirked and fell into a fighting pose. The monsters always yelled and charged, but it always made him a little nervous. He supposed that is what battle cries were intended to do.

The lycanthrope neared and raised itself back to its feet. It pulled its right arm back to slash at Steven. Such a largely telegraphed attack would be easy for him to duck under, but he decided to try to block and counter. He stepped diagonally forward and to the left, entering the lycanthrope’s space but off the line of attack, and raised his left arm to shield the side of his head.

He felt the lycanthrope’s forearm thunk against his block, and he extended his arm to wrap around the arm of the monster, trapping it to his side. He lowered his stance even more to pull the monster off balance, preparing to twist and throw the thing to the ground, and felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. He had been watching the monster’s arms for a slash and completely forgot about its mouth which had latched on him. The grinding of teeth against the bone in his shoulder made his knees weak, and he fought to keep upright.

He heard laughter coming from behind, as the lycanthrope snarled and slammed its free hand into his back. He grunted in pain when he felt the claws dig slightly in, just underneath his shoulder blade. He grit his teeth as the lycanthrope took complete control of the battle.

His right arm was relatively free, other than the shoulder being crushed in the jaws of the monster, and was preparing to cast Mimic Growth: Shortsword on his hand when he felt two thunks in his shoulder. He yelped as the lycanthrope tore its fangs free.

Wasting no time, he released the arm and spun counterclockwise to dislodge the claws embedded in his back. He continued the spin, dropping to his knee, and threw an absorption powered punch at the monster’s abdomen.

The lycanthrope’s midsection exploded from the force of the punch. Steven watched in glee as the head, shoulders, and chest spun through the air and off the platform trailing a line of blood and intestine. The remains were out of sight before he heard the splash.

“That was very cinematic,” said Steven. He stood and craned his head to inspect the wounds on his shoulder. They were long gashes, but only deep where the monster’s teeth had been grinding on bone. Thankfully, Steven couldn’t see any bone while the blood gushed from the holes.

“What did you do?” He asked, seeing Garth approach with his rod held in his hand.

“Light shot to the eyes. You didn’t get to see the additional effect though,” Garth replied, pulling the flap of his satchel open and sliding the rod inside. The rod was a simple four foot long length of metal, and it slid right in without any problems.

Steven pointed at the bag and covered his mouth with his other hand. “A witch!”

“You were almost killed by a werewolf, and you’re making jokes,” said Garth, shaking his head. “Speaking of which, you can’t wrestle a werewolf. That would work on a person, but werewolves are inclined to bite. As you just discovered.”

Steven began walking back towards the Red Eye. He wanted to reset before he lost too much blood. He shrugged and looked back over his shoulder to see that Garth was following. “I’m learning. I was too focused on the claws and forgot about the mouth. As for the jokes. It’s a coping mechanism.”

Steven stopped on the bridge to turn and completely face Garth. “Honestly, I’m terrified. This place scares me, and I’m already dead anyway. But for some reason, I have this urge to get stronger. I want to get stronger to get the boon and see if it will send me back home.” He looked down through the slats of the bridge at the water. “But mostly, I want to get stronger now so I don’t get hurt later.”

He turned and continued towards the Red Eye. “And I can’t get stronger until I get stronger. Then when I’m stronger I can beat that Skeletal Blend thing, and keep moving forward, towards that boon.” A few moments later he stood by the statue waiting for Garth, who was several steps behind him.

Steven winced when Garth caught up and gripped his injured shoulder.

“When we beat it,” said Garth, “after you help me. I think it's time I told you my story. You’ll have to listen while you train.” He tapped on the Red Eye and reset the floor.