Upon entering the first floor, Alex looked out onto the horizon to find a sight he hadn’t seen in a long time. A bright, blood-red sun shone brightly down on the entirety of the first floor, creating a haze of red that lingered in the air. Primitive huts made out of pointed wooden logs were sprawled all around him. Goblin huts. No wonder, the first floor was the dominion of goblins, after all.

Looks like I spawned in the middle of a goblin village, Alex thought.

He was given the option of spawning in a communal beginner area or a random location somewhere on the first floor. He’d chosen the random spawn and he’d spawned right in the monsters’ home. Luckily for him, the village appeared to be empty. The goblins were most likely out hunting, but they wouldn’t be gone for too long. Map, Alex concentrated on the word and a digital map of the first floor appeared before him. He looked over it, trying to decipher the exact location he had spawned in.

Floors were a lot larger than they appeared to be from outside the tower. An average floor was often the size of a modern city. Larger floors could be as vast as a small country. Somewhere on the floor would be one or multiple portals which would lead to the next floor. This was often the case, but there was some variation depending on the dominion. Some dominions would require a certain condition to be met before the portal would appear.

A simple floor like the first one had several portals spaced out around it. Unfortunately, these portals didn’t appear directly on the map, so you couldn’t just roam around until one popped up. A fog of war covered up most of the map, leaving only a certain portion visible; the parts that you’d traveled to. Luckily, there were often numerous landmarks that could be used to help find your way around.

Alex searched the map for a nearby landmark and spotted a large spire to the east of his current location. If I remember correctly, there was a portal just north of that spire. I guess I’ll head that way.

During his first trek through the tower, he had spent three days on the first floor. The sheer size of the floor had overwhelmed him, and he’d had no idea where he was going. He could blitz his way through the first few floors this time around, letting himself catch up in experience points later. The later floors would be a different story, however.

As he made his way east through the haze of red, he opened his Skills page.

Skills Mastery Level Spirit Punch Beginner Pulse Dash Beginner Talents Mastery Level - -

He read the descriptions of the two starter skills he’d received.

Spirit Punch

Concentrate your spirit energy into your fist to unleash a powerful punch.

Pulse Dash

Shoot your spirit energy in a pulse behind you to perform a lightning-quick dash

Perfect, Alex thought with a satisfied smile. One for damage and one for a boost in mobility when I need it. I’ll be sure to test them both out as soon as possible. Now let’s see my inventory.

He activated and looked within his Basic Inventory Ring and saw that he had a sleeping bag and a few nutrition pills, the standard fare that all beginner rings came with. The Basic Inventory Ring could hold a small room’s worth of items. That sounded like a lot to a beginner but the amount of loot one would get on the climb up would fill it up quickly. He’d need to upgrade it as soon as possible.

Alex looked down at his body as he walked and noticed that he had shrunk in muscle mass compared to before. He was no longer the powerful knight that could don the heaviest gear the tower had to offer. Instead, he’d gone back to being a toned and lightly muscled young man. His muscles were barely visible behind the basic black shirt and black pants that he had spawned with. A far cry from the bulking armor he carried before. But that was to be expected of someone starting over.

As he continued eastward, a small river caught his attention. The river, much like everything else in the first dominion, was tinted red. Unlike in the real world where the sun rose and fell consistently, the red sun within this dominion always remained in the same spot, perpetually glowing everything red. No one was sure why this was so, but it was believed that it helped with the goblins’ eyesight. But that was just a theory.

Alex headed over to the river and peered inside. He found a more youthful face than he had remembered looking back at him, the difference in age immediately apparent. His short black hair and brown eyes were the same, but he had a more youthful glow about him. A glow that had previously disappeared as he’d ascended the tower.

It’s a strange thing to go back in time.

A rustling sound came from the bushes near the river. Alex swerved his head to see a small orange-skinned goblin staring at him. Its beady eyes glistened with delight as it unsheathed its sword. Alex looked at the status screen above the goblin’s head.

Goblin Soldier HP: 40

The goblin let out a nasty growl, readied its sword, and started charged straight at Alex.

Looks like it’s time for my first fight. Alex entered into a fighting stance.

The goblin swung its sword wildly at Alex but he sidestepped the blade and delivered a quick punch to the goblins face, knocking it to the floor.

The sensation of striking with his fists felt strange to him, having gotten so accustomed to swinging bulky weapons. I guess I gotta get used to punching things.

The goblin quickly got up and charged again, thrusting a sword straight at Alex. Once again, he dodged easily, and in one fluid motion, delivered a kick to the goblin’s back, knocking it to the ground.

He could feel the enhanced sense of bodily control he’d gotten from becoming a Spirit Fighter. Every movement felt precise. Every physical hit had a satisfying weight behind it. With mastery of spirit energy, even basic blows from a Spirit Fighter did good damage. He checked the goblin’s status.

Goblin Soldier HP: 12

This is fun, but I’m going to have to get used to this style of fighting, Alex thought. As a Knight, I would match their blows with my own. But that’s not how a Spirit Fighter does it. I need to master the art of fluid combat; evading and counter attacking rather than direct defense. It’ll be strange to get used to at first, but it’ll be much more effective with this class.

The goblin slowly climbed to its feet, visibly weaker than before. This time Alex didn’t wait. He lunged at the goblin and activated Spirit Punch. His fist made contact with the goblin and he felt a satisfying rush as the spirit energy dispersed from his fist and into his foe. The goblin shrieked as it slammed into the ground. With its HP hitting zero, the goblin quickly disappeared, and a sword dropped at its location.

Alex walked over and analyzed the item.

Short Bronze Sword

Grade: Common

Quality: Poor

He activated his inventory ring and placed the sword inside. It wasn’t a particularly useful drop, but it could still be sold for some money later. The real reward was discovering what he could do as a Spirit Fighter.

Alex smiled, having enjoyed the brief fight. Goblins made for good test subjects for his new class and skills. They were small and weak, and they lacked the ability to think in any real capacity. He’d get plenty of opportunities to test out the intricacies of his new abilities. With that thought in the back of his mind, he continued on his way eastward toward the spire which wasn’t too far away.

The first few dominions were relatively small and could be cleared fairly quickly by someone who knew what they were doing. That would change drastically the further up one goes. While lower floors could be climbed solo, the higher floors would require a well-balanced team to even survive, let alone ascend. Luckily for Alex, he knew exactly which people he needed to recruit.

That would all come in time, however. For now, he wanted to focus on learning the details of his own class. The dream team he was planning to build was still a long way away. He needed to focus on the present moment.

Let’s have a look at those stat descriptions, he thought. The descriptions of each of his stats popped up.

Strength - How hard you hit and what kind of equipment you can carry.

Stamina - How much physical exertion your body can withstand.

Agility - How quickly you can move; your ability to evade attacks.

Resilience - How much damage you can take.

Spirit - Your ability to channel and use spirit energy. (Unique to Spirit Fighters)

He’d seen the first four stats in the past, but the Spirit stat was new. He didn’t have it last time when he was a Knight.

The Spirit stat was obviously related to his skills. He’d noticed that a source of energy from within depleted slightly when he had used Spirit Punch on the goblin. It’s likely that spirit energy was a resource he could draw on to use his abilities, like how Mages use mana to cast spells. The Spirit stat would probably affect the total amount of spirit energy he had to perform his abilities.

“I’ll be sure to spend stat points on it in the future,” he told himself.

A couple hundred paces later and he’d already reached the spire. He heard the familiar sound of goblin noises. Sure enough. a trio of goblins appeared from behind the spire with their weapons drawn. They looked pleased to see a human.

Alex smirked. Three on one, huh? Let’s see exactly what these new abilities can do.