Chapter 14: Level Five
Simon rushed back down to join the fight again, delaying only long enough to take down the same gear he’d brought the previous time. His second fight went almost as well as the first and he succeeded at knocking a few of the knight’s teeth loose before his head was struck from his shoulders. So he went down a second, and a third, and a fourth time. This wasn’t about finishing the level, or even about beating the skeleton at this point. This was about improvement. Simon could feel the movements becoming more natural and his reflexes speeding up with every bout he had with the unholy warrior.
After a while, Simon lost count of the number of times he’d fought and died to the grim skeletal warrior and he was only able to reconstruct it afterward when he took a break and reviewed his character sheet after a fight where he had come within an inch of finally shattering that nightmare warrior’s vertebrae.
Name: Simon Jackoby
Level: 4
Deaths: 23
Experience Points: -8265
Skills: Archery [Poor], Armor (light) [Below Average], Athletics [Poor], Cook [Very Poor], Craft [Very Poor], Deception [Very Poor], Escape [Very Poor], Investigate [Very Poor], Maces [Poor], Ride [Very Poor], Search [Very Poor], Sneak [Poor], Spears [Very Poor], Spell Casting [None], Steal [Very Poor], Swimming [Very Poor], and Swords [Average].
He’d died eight times. He was pretty sure. Eight more deaths, but his experience points had only dropped another four thousand. “That means if I'm losing a thousand experience points a death, I’m gaining more than I lose with every level now, right?” he asked himself before taking another mouthful of cheese. In the end it didn’t really matter. He couldn’t actually spend the experience on anything. It was just a gauge of progress. It was also likely one more way that Helades thought of to twist the knife, he thought grimly. It didn’t matter. On either this attempt or the next one, Simon was sure he’d defeat the knight and be one step closer to shoving the whole thing in her face.
Simon stood up and stretched before he started gearing up again. He had a good feeling that this time was going to be it. He was going to take that asshole’s head and show him how it felt to die for once.