The first time a book flew off the shelf and slammed into the back of James’s head, he chalked it up to the unexpected. The second time, he kicked himself for not noticing. By the fifth time, he suspected there was something more going on.

  “Do these things have some kind of super stealth?” the hero snapped, rubbing the back of his head. They never did a lot of damage, and they were killed easily, but damn did they hurt! And the repeated sneak attacks were fraying on his nerves. No matter how alert he stayed, the second his attention wavered, a book would strike.

  Desiree thought the whole thing was hilarious. She was the only one so far who hadn’t been thwacked in the head by a book, and she loudly attributed that to her own cleverness — and not, perhaps, the height difference, which could be making her invisible to the books before the struck.

  Virgil scowled and rubbed his shoulder. “It is a clever trap,” he agreed. “And we still have quite some ways to go before we reach the librarian.”

  Not for the first time, James considered his fireball spell. Surely the rows of books would be as flammable as the tall grass outside?

  Inara paused before the next turn. She’d been acting as the party’s scout, and she held up a hand to let them know that there were goblins around the bend.

  James grimaced. Fighting goblins in the library felt different. Wrong, somehow. Most of them were sitting around tables with books open like they were studying. The creatures couldn’t read, so it was definitely pretend, but there was something in the way they jostled each other before the fights that made them seem a little more human.

  He shook it off and readied his magic and his axe. Inara and Virgil had confirmed multiple times that the dungeon creatures were no more than mana constructs. They were designed to look and act like living things, but they were no more than simulacrum.

  That in mind, killing them was not a matter of mercy — it was a matter of efficiency. And every gamer, even the most casual, knew the easiest way to win a fight was to start with range.

  “Fireball,” James whispered. A sphere of animated fire whooshed to life in his palm and burst forth. It landed perfectly in the center of the study table, where it exploded, dealing damage to all five goblins at once.

  Your party has entered combat!

  Since James initiated with a ranged attack, he got the first turn. He rushed forward with his axe. With his strength as high as it was, he could now cleave through two goblins with one blow.

  The higher they climbed through the library, however, the stronger the goblins became. What used to be an overwhelming mass of easy kills has shifted into smaller, more difficult battles. The goblins even looked different: taller, more muscular, and the mages wore glasses.

  That last detail seemed a bit on the nose, and maybe a little reductive, but James bit his tongue. The others wouldn’t get it.

  Even with the higher difficulty, Inara, Desiree and Virgil blew through the rest of the goblins like a well-oiled machine. The goblins didn’t even get a chance to counterstrike before they perished, and the experience came pouring through.

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  Defeated level 15 goblin! +1000 EXP

  …

  Defeated level 15 goblin! +1000 EXP

  The party continued their gruesome path through the library halls until they reached, at last, a set of double doors more ornate than any other in the building.

  “Alright,” James called out as he brought the team to a halt. “Before we go in there, everyone make sure your stats are where you want them.”

  He’d leveled up three times against the library goblins, which gave him thirty stat points to allocate. He’d gotten in the habit of distributing them by tens, and he didn’t see a reason to change that. He was tempted to keep dumping his stats into agility, wisdom and intelligence, but he had to admit that he was using his axe far more often than his fireball. His constitution was also lagging pretty far behind everything else, and going up against a boss was strong motivation to increase his health pool. Decisions made, he confirmed the changes and looked it over.

  Name: James

  Race: Human

  Class: Hero

  Level: 25

  HP: 300/300

  MP: 710/710

  EXP: 5,200/49,500

  Stat Points Available: 0

  STR: 60

  AGI: 80

  INT: 71

  WIS: 70

  CON: 50

  Skill Points Available: 4

  Skills: Meditation 1, Mana Bolt 2, Vital Pulse 1, Fireball 2, Immobile 1, Dip 1, Dive 1, Dodge 2, Duck 1

  Fire Affinity: 8

  Earth Affinity: 2

  Infernal Affinity: 37

  It was incredibly satisfying to watch those numbers go up, and even more so to feel the changes in his body. With an agility of 80, James finally had a noticeable window of movement during the enemy turn, and he was quick enough to use his dodge skills more often than not. He also felt like he could put a parkour master to shame, and once they were outside of a life and death battle, he intended to put that to the test. There was a much greater awareness of his body than he’d ever experienced before. He always knew exactly where he was, and he could control his movements like a dancer.

  Now, the hardest part: deciding where those skill points should go. For the same reason he wasn’t focusing on Intelligence anymore, it would be a waste to spend those points on any of his magic attacks. His dodge skills could use some upgrading, but for the moment they were working well enough.

  What about Vital Pulse? It was a good enough spell when it came to healing himself, but it had some serious restrictions as far as healing anyone else. He sifted through a few options.

  Mend

  Because bleeding all over the floor isn’t a strategy. Patch your allies up and get them back in the fight.

  Rejuvenate

  Channel a burst of clean, restorative magic straight into your teammate’s bad decisions. Works wonders on wounds and morale alike.

  Group Heal

  Blanket your party in light, warmth, and the faint smell of smug satisfaction.

  All of those sounded good. Mend was probably too similar to Vital Pulse, but Rejuvenate sounded like it could be channeled at range, and Group Heal would work on everyone at once.

  They were all good options, but he hesitated. Desiree was more suited to the role of a healer. Especially with her Holy affinity, James suspected she’d have even stronger healing options. In that case, it would be a waste of a skill for him to double up.

  When he was doing his stats, James had upgraded his Strength because he was using his axe more often. By the same logic, maybe he should get an axe related skill? So far, none of his skills worked toward that, and it showed. He got some insight in how to wield the enormous weapon through his connection with the somewhat sentient axe, but ultimately he was just lifting a heavy sharp thing and then letting gravity do the work.

  With that in mind, James scoured the list until he found the one.

  Battle Axe

  Two hands, one purpose: make whatever’s in front of you regret existing. Heavy, loud, and deeply satisfying to swing.

  Straightforward and to the point. Just like his axe.

  That sold it for him. He was going to focus on combat. And hey, the best defense was a good offense, right? Nobody would even need healing if he killed things fast enough.

  James selected the skill and upgraded it to level 2. This was going to be fun.