The Gods are Always Wtaching

Training For Survival

The cave in front of Adam got wider until it was about 7 meters wide.

Thankfully, some light was coming from the the holes in the roof.

He thought about throwing the torch he had just bought, as it would make it easier for the monsters to notice him in the darkness. But he decided against it as the flame lit everything around him in a 10 meters radius.

He kept walking slowly, going deeper and deeper inside the cave.

Once he was about 60 steps away from where Salma and Layla were, spider webs covered the walls, the holes in the roof and part of the way in front of Adam.

To keep going, he sometimes had to bend his back, jump over a spider web, move next to one wall or the other.

After that, he found a big wall in front of him with no openings.

He got closer and noticed that it wasn't a wall.

He put his hand on it.

It was made of soft material, but there were many layers, making it very thick.

It was a wall made of spider webs.

'Is this how they keep intruders from coming in?'

Adam put his Old Assassin's Dagger back in his Storage. He put his torch on the ground.

The torch was an item that costed 5 Gold coins. It's flame would not die except if the user wanted it to. It could be used for 3 hours. If the user puts the fire out, it became no more than a wooden stick.

Adam raised both his hands towards the wall and put his palms on it.

He closed his eyes and tried feeling if there was a presence beyond the wall. He felt the slight wind that came with his "First Pioneer" title, but he wasn't about to go into a Hidden Location when the Dungeon was already E rank.

He couldn't feel anything beyond the thick spider web wall.

"Unused stat points" Adam whispered.

Since he whispered, the System made a screen appear in front of Adam, instead of answering  vocally.

[ 9 Unused Stat Points.]

He closed his eyes and put his palms on the thick wall once again.

"Add 5 points to Sense."

[ 5 unused stat points have been allocated to the Sense stat.]

[ Sense 38---->43.]

For a second, he could feel beyond the wall. But his concentration was broken when.

[ Your Sense Stat has reached 40.]

[ You have been awarded a Skill due to your high Sense Stat.]

[ A Skill is being chosen by the System.]

[ Individuality of the user has been taken into consideration.]

[ You have been awarded the Skill "Extended Earshot".]

Adam wasn't happy that his concentration had been broken, but once he read that he had obtained a new Skill, he felt ecstatic.

'So you can gain Skills by raising your stats?'

"Information about Extended Earshot?" Adam whispered.

[ Passive Skill: Extended Earshot [F]

  The detainer of the Skill will have his earshot extended. The distance over which the detainer can hear sounds is increased by a factor of 1,5. Therefore, the higher the Sense stat, the more                  effective the Skill is. Extended Earshot only increases the distance over which the detainer hear sounds, not the range of those sounds. ]

'That's an interesting one. But...'

" Only increases the distance not the range?" Adam whispered.

[ The user can hear sounds coming from further away. Sounds that came from closeby, and yet          were not heard before, still won't be.]

"So I might hear someone calling me from further away than before, but I still won't be able to hear the sound of an insect crawling, even if it was closeby?"

[That is correct.]

'Alright. But... how come I didn't get a Skill when my Strength Stat reached 40? Is it different for each Stat? Oh wait there was that..'

"What do you mean by individuality of the user?" Adam whispered.

[ Every user is different. Your Skill has been chosen based on your actions, personnality and              fighting style. Many things depend on the individual. Very little things are set in stone. The                moment a Skill is developped or awarded also depends on the user. ]

"So the reason why I got a Skill at 40 Sense also depends on that?"

[ That is correct. Others can be awarded different Skills at different times.]

'Alright. Let's get back to it.'

Just when Adam closed his eyes,

"Rch-Rch-Rch-Rch-Rch..."

Adam could faintly hear a sound. It came from beyond the thick wall.

He put his palms against the wall, and focused his attention on it's other side.

He could faintly feel the presence of something there. The sounds made him more sure of it.

He focused on those sounds for five full minutes.

[ You have gained 1 Sense Point.]

He paid it no mind and kept focusing on his different senses.

He felt a presence about 15 meters beyond the wall. He could hear the sounds of it's footsteps.

'...6...7....8...8. It had 8 legs that hit the ground periodically.'

Thinking this, he let out a smile.

He kept focusing more and more.

[You have gained 1 Sense Point.]

He was now able to tell it's size.

'Judging by the point on the ground where the legs hit, two legs on the opposite sides of it's body are about three meters away. Since a spider's leg is longer but skinnier than it's main body, I guess it's main body would be like a meter while the legs are  longer than that.' He was a bit frightened by the size of the creature.

'It's much bigger than a Goblin, but their ranks are the same, if this is a Mutated Spider at least. If they're the same rank, they're strength should be about the same. '

That's when he thought of something.

Something he sould have asked the System long ago.

"What's the rank of a Hobgoblin?"

[ Not all Hobgoblins are the same. But those in The Goblin Chief's Domain were [E-] in rank.]

"Oh right, how about the Goblin Chief?"

[The Goblin Chief's rank was approximately D-. As it was a Boss Monster located in a Hidden Location, it's strength is harder to describe in term of ranks. Your victory over it shows why.]

"How about the Spider Queen?"

[That information is locked. You can only ask information about monsters you have defeated.]

'Okay whatever.'

Adam was convinced that he could take on the spider on the other side of the wall.

'Should I burn down the wall using the torch? Probably not. It stopped intruders from coming in, but it also stops spiders from coming out. Let's try making a small hole on the side.'

He moved towards the right extremity of the wall, took his dagger out of the Storage and tried cutting a hole in the wall.

To his suprise, he couldn't cut the spider webs. There was no tension in them. It felt like moving a knife inside a bucket of sand. The webs weren't even sticky or hard. But the wall was still about 5 meters thick.

'So am gonna have to burn it down then. Before that, let's check where the wind is guiding me towards.'

He closed his eyes once more to focus on his body's sensations.

He felt a very light wind guiding him away from the wall. He took his torch back into his hand and  kept following the wind, therefore going back on the route he had taken.

Then, it guided him towards the wall on his right. There was a hole perfectly covered with spider webs.

He had completely missed it before even though his torch was lighting up the whole place. It was basically hiding in plain sight.

He could easily burn the webs if he wanted to.

He stopped right in front of it.

'What would I do without this Title? Let's hope this leads to some useful treasure.'

It was indeed an incredible Title. A Title only awarded to those who found a Hidden Location in their first Dungeon.

The hole was pretty big. Salma could go in there with no problem while the others would have to bend down.

He thought about going back to Salma and Layla.

The girls were training, but that didn't mean they would enter a Dungeon again. All they wanted to do was survive. So they wouldn't need the First Pioneer Title.

Even Adam wasn't sure if he was going to enter a Dungeon ever again after this one. All he could think about was making it out of there with the sisters.

In the end, he decided to go back to them and let them decide for themselves. He put his torch down in front of the hidden hole so as to mark it down.

'The wind does not repeat itself right?'

Indeed, his Title would lead him to a Hidden Location or Hidden Artefact, but if he let go of the opportunity, that was it. The wind does not guide the adventurer towards the same location or treasure twice.

He was gone for about one hour.

Adam was still a bit far from the sisters.

Just when he was about to call out to them so as not to startle them, Salma shouted his name.

"Adam! You came back!"

Adam was startled. Not only was he far, but he was also in the dark.

Even Layla didn't notice Adam until about thirty seconds later.

A screen appeared in front of the three of them.

[Many Gods are watching the character Salma closely.]

"Character?" Layla asked.

"Yeah. To them we're basically acting inside a movie. Salma, how did you know I was there?"

"Dunno. I felt it I guess. Anyway, I've been training hard you know. I gained 3 Strength Points, 2 Agility Points 1 Vigor & endurance and 8 Sense Points!"

"I really don't understand this. I've been training hard and I gained 2 Stength Points, 5 Agility Points and 3 Vigor & Endurance. Why did you get 14 points in total and me only 10? I probably trained harder too. You spent a bunch of time looking at the ceiling and in Adam's direction."

Adam had a stunned expression.

'14points in one hour? 8points in Sense Stat? Is this the difference in talent? Or is it because Salma is younger? Or..because they're girls?'

[ A Certain Evil in laughing at your expression.]

The suprise element faded very fast, and his eyes became shiny. He was truly happy about their progress.

"When I trained for an hour, I was training to hold that greatsword in my hands. I had gained like 7 Strength Points. It's incredible how many points you gained!! But...how come your repartition is so weird? Anyway progreds is progress. This is great!! We might actually make it out of here!" Adam said excitedly.

"Di...did you doubt we would make it out of here alive? We trusted you with our lives and you're not even sure we're going to survive?" Layla.

"Well am not sure about anything. Let's try our best though!" Adam was truly excited.

"Yes! Yes! Let's!" Salma said jumping up and down.

Layla shook her head.

"Anyways what did you find?" She asked Adam.

They all sat down.

He told them about the spider web wall, the spider on the other side of it, the Skill he obtained by raising his stats and the wind that guided him to what must have been a Hidden Location

"...I was about to enter. But then I realized that if you two enter first you might get a Title. Those are pretty helpful. Although it'll be one about adventuring and looking for stuff. I got one myself, although it was pretty random.  You can too if you want to." Adam said.

"Let's go there then." Layla said.

"Are you sure? Do you think you'll enter a Dungeon ever again after this one?" Adam asked.

"Well it's not like we entered this one by choice." She said as she put her hand on her sister's head."Salma, what do you think?"

"Let's go, let's go!" Salma said happily.

"Okay haha. So, what do we need to do?" Layla looked at Adam.

"Um, just enter there I guess. Before there will be any monsters, you'll be asked if you want to enter the Hidden Location. Say yes and then I guess we can just come back here." Adam said rubbing his chin.

"Sounds simple enough." Layla said as she got up.

Adam got in front and they followed him.

After walking for a bit, they found themselves in total darkness.

Adam's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, plus his high Sense Stat helped.

Layla couldn't see anything. Her hands were trembling but she kept going.

Salma grabbed her sister's trembling hand and said " Don't worry! It's safe here."

"How do you know that? I can't see anything." Layla said as she held her sister's hand tightly.

"Well...Am not sure. But I know it's safe."

A bit later, they arrived at the tunnel.

Adam took the torch and handed it to Layla.

She took it in her hands.

"So? What now?" Salma asked.

"We just have to burn it and go in, right?" Layla asked with an unsure voice.

"Yep, probably." Adam aswered

"PROBABLY?"

"Well yes, I don't know everything so there is a certain risk. Anyways I'll be right next to you so don't worry."

"No, I will worry. You keep talking like you're super strong. In truth you have no idea what you're doing and you're probably not even that strong." Layla shouted.

'She's right, I mean she is putting her life on the line.'

"Ummm. It is true that I don't really know much...." Adam looked around for something.

Not finding anything, he punched the wall opposite to the tunnel with all his strength.

The part of the wall that he hit was full of crack. After hitting it some more, a big rock fell down to the ground.

"Alright you can stop. You're pretty strong let's just..."Layla said but she was interrupted.

"No, that's not what this is about." Adam brought the big front in front of her and Salma. It was as big as a two car tires put one next to the other. "Don't be scared okay?" Adam asked before putting his palm on the rock. One second later, it was turned to dust.

The two girls stepped back. "What the hell was that?" Layla asked.

"So cooool..." Salma said.

"It's a Skill. Anyway I can pretty much do the same to monsters. So as long as am next to you, one touch is all I need to protect you from them." Adam said triumphantly.

"Woow! A hero! Hero! Hero!" Salma was jumping around with her arms raised.

"Alright I get it. Just...just make sure you protect Salma." Salma said before lowering the torch towards the spider webs that closed the small tunnel.

"Sure! That's why am here hahaha." Adam answered with a big smile.

Once the fire touched the spider webs, it spread towards the inside of the tunnel.

As the tunnel was dark, they could see the flame travel towards the inside of it.

It kept going for about 15steps.

"What the hell. This wasn't just a wall, the whole tunnel was filled with webs." Layla said with a suprised look. She continued while waving her hand in front of her face."Should we just come back later once the burnt smell is gone?"

"Sure. Let's do that. If the fire alarmed some monsters, it would be hard to fight in there." Adam stepped back towards the entrance of the cave, where they had arrived after entering the Dungeon.

They went back to the entrance of the cave.

"Am getting a bit hungry." Salma  said.

"Should we continue training like before?" Layla asked.

"Umm am not sure. I think the way you gain Stat Points is different for each individual. Even though we kind of did the same training, the result was completely different. The weirdest thing is for Salma's Sense Stat to go up by that much from training with a sword, although it probably has to do with her looking into the darkness and trying to figure out what was there. And then there's the fact that you only gained 2 Strength Stats by holding the weapon when you gained 5 in Agility. Maybe we should train what we're naturally good at." Adam said as he looked at the sky, through the holes in the ceiling.

"What are you naturally good at?" Salma asked.

"Nothing. Or maybe am kind of good at everything? My strength is at 43 but I trained it for a while. My agility is at 27 and Sense is at 45 now. I never really trained Agility. For the Sense Stat well, I used up my points on it. Maybe am an all rounder?" Adam answered.

"And what's that?" Salma had curious eyes.

"It means that while some people are very very good at specific things, I am a bit good at everything. It's like how you have a scientist who's an expert in a  specific field, and normal scientists who know about a lot of different things. Ummm..." Adam scratched his head as he didn't find a better example.

"It's like how I am better at quizzes, but you're way better at naming animals. I always lose when the question is about animals." Layla explained to her sister.

"Ohh that makes sense. You should have explained it like that Adam." Salma continued "So I should train my Sense Stat while Layla should train her Agility."

"Yup, that's it." Layla answered.

"Hey Kayla, how do I train my Sense Stat?" Salma asked.

"Kayla?" Adam was confused.

"That's how she calls the System." Layla explained to him.

"What? It says I should meditate and focus on my senses or something. That's so boring. No way, am not doing that." Salma said pounting.

"Is that so? Then let's train together. I'll train my Stealth Stat and you train your Sense Stat. We're playing peek-a-boo in the dark." Adam said jokingly.

"Yeeey! Let's do it."

"What? What about me?" Layla asked feeling left out.

"I think you should sprint from one end to the other. If you go towards the wall, you'll find obstacles on the way where you have to bend down, jump, go to the right and all that. From the wall to the where we appeared. Here take the torch. Ask the System if you have a question about anything." Adam handed her the torch and went deeper towards the wall with Salma.

"For real?" Layla muttered.

She was left alone.

'Good thing I wore baggy pants and a tank top today. I guess .' Layla thought.

She then got ready by putting her dark blonde hair into a ponytail and stretched her legs a bit.

'This feels like sports class. I guess it's exactly the same really.'

She started running as fast as she could while holding the torch in her hand.

Meanwhile, Salma was sitting on the ground in the darkness. Her eyes were closed and she looked very focused. She loved playing games and especially loved winning.

Adam was about 7 meters away from her. He was barefoot as he had put his Old Assassin's Boots inside his Storage in order to make the challenge fair, but also because he wanted to raise his Stealth Stat so items were not going to help him do that. He also didn't have his Dark Cloak on.

He slowly and stealthily made his way towards Salma.

His goal was to touch the top of her head.

Salma was focusing on every tiny information her senses could give her.

Her goal was to point towards Adam as soon as she was sure he was in a certain direction.

[ The Majority of Evil Spirits want to see blood.]

[ The Gods and Angels are pleased to see young cubs playing togerther.]

[ A Certain Evil is bored of the situation.]

[ "The Fox Who Blesses Men" is cheering on the character Salma. ]

["The Everlasting Winter" is closely following the progress of the character Layla.]

'Looks like those are interested in Salma and Layla. Hopefully they can get a challenge like the one I had received.' Adam thought for a second.

That instant was more than enough for Salma to point at her right and scream "You're there!"

"I only lost focus for a second!" He too started taking the game seriously.

"Your fault! I won 3 times and lost 6 times for now."

They kept training for a while.

Many times, Layla passed them while she was sprinting. She only stopped a couple of times when she was really exhausted.

Adam noticed that her endurance regenerated itself much faster than his did. He remembered than when he was training for the challenge he had received, he slept a lot between training sessions.

They only stopped after 5 hours of training and resting, they got together at the entrance of the cave where it was full of light.

They never went all out like Adam did during the challenge, which was why they could train more instead of collapsing to the ground like he did.

Layla had been alternating between lots of running and a bit of strength training by moving the Iron Mace around.

Adam and Salma though, only played peek-a-boo. They never got tired.

Just as Adam and Salma asked Layla about her progress,

Layla said out loud "Stats.  Compare them to intial stats. Give access to Salma and Adam."

A screen appeared in front of each one of them.

[      Stats: Strength: 9(+5)

                  Agility: 26(+17)

                  Sense: 6(+1)

                  Vigor & Endurance: 25(+15)

                  Unused stat points: 26(+26)

]

She had a proud expression. One full of nobility, not arrogance. She was proud of her hardwork that showed it's fruits.

"That...that's amazing." Adam was stunned at the growth she showed.

In only a couple of hours, her Agility increased enough to rival his.

He had realized that she had been running faster and faster everytime she went past them but who would have thought. Although her Strength and Sense Stats were very low compared to Adam's.

"Hahaa! Of course! Layla is awesome." Salma said, jumping up and down and raising her sister's arm.

"Hahahahaa, sure. How about you two? Salma you start." Layla answered.

"Alriiight. Kayla show them how much my stats improved since i've been here." Salma was puffing her chest out and held her head high.

[      Stats: Strength: 4(+3)

                  Agility: 5(+2)

                  Sense: 49(+39)

                  Vigor & Endurance: 3(+1)

                  MagicAffinity: 15(+5)

                  Mana: 10(+0)

                  Unused stat points: 26(+26)

]

"What....?" Layla muttered with her mouth wide open with suprise.

"Did you...did we...what is...how did you...?" Adam couldn't even formulate a complete sentence.

"Peek-a-boo was so fun especially when I got better and better. Did you know Layla? At one point I began winning way more than Adam was!!" She was very excited.

"Magic? What the hell? Salma you're too amazing..." Layla was still shocked.

"Mana? I don't even have that... So that's what talent looks like?" Adam was in a daze too.

"Hahaaa I know right?! Praise me more!" Salma couldn't be happier at their suprised faces.

'Individuality huh? She didn't develop the Stealth Stat. Plus Magic Affinity started directly at 10. Not only that but she got a Mana Stat? It's too unbalanced, but that shows she has great potential. She should mainly focus on Agility apart from where she's naturally gifted.' Adam was deep in thought and couldn't hear the other two calling out his name.

Finally, Layla shook his arm. Only then did he wake up.

"Haha I suprised him so much he got confused." Salma was giggling.

"It's your turn." Layla said.

"Yeah, System show them my stats since I got here."

[      Stats: Strength: 43(+0)

                  Agility: 27(+0)

                  Sense: 45(+2)

                  Vigor & Endurance: 28(+0)

                  Magic Affinity: 12(+2)

                  Stealth: 35(+24)

                  Unused stat points: 4(-5)

]

"Only Stealth increased but that's what you wanted right?" Layla asked.

"Yes, although now Salma's Sense stat is higher than mine..." Adam answered.

"Hahaa I'll become the peek-a-boo world champion!!" Salma shouted.

"This isn't a competition. We all got stronger, and we need to be strong if we want to survive. Stop acting like children."Layla scolded them.

Adam was reminded that Layla was older than him.

"All right, let's go into that tunnel now." She walked away as she said that. Layla completely took the role of the leader.