Jace shook his head. Although that decision was tempting, pouring Soul Points into one stat for the sake of desperation was obviously a bad idea.
Nobody could withdraw their Soul Points. Once it was invested, the Soul would forever seal that inside.
'Then if I do level up…what should I really focus on?'
STR, representing strength, is the main source of a Climber's power. It screams it in the name if it wasn't clear enough.
Strength boosts physical power, but at the same time, tightens the integrity of the Climber's body. The Soul was even kind enough for every Soul Point spent in STR, two points were additionally added into the HP stat.
'Truly kind, Soul, I wonder what other surprises you have in store for me.'
END, representing endurance, is the overall vitality and resistance of the Climber. It increases HP by ten points for every Soul Point. Basically, the more Soul Points the stat had, the far the Climber was from dying.
AGL, representing agility, is the dexterity and speed rating of a Climber. The higher the stat was, the faster the body could move. Jace would imagine a Climber with sky-rocketing AGL could cross between floors in seconds.
INT, representing intellect, is the capacity and potency of magic. That stat was mainly focused for spell-casters, like Heather and Brita. Useless for someone like Jace. It also increases the MP by ten points for every Soul Point.
'Well, I don't see myself finding any Skill that possess high volumes of mana. My (Wide Slash) has been accompanying me fine so far.'
And lastly, WIS, representing wisdom, is the sixth sense for Climbers. High-level wisdom has greater perception than any other average Climber. Like a wild beast, they could detect anomalies that could have been invisible to the normal eye. The Soul, with its kind nature, also added two points into MP for every Soul Point spent in WIS.
Maybe this is what Dorin had specialized in, judging from the instances where she helped the squad through unknown territory. Jace had first assumed she was mainly investing in AGL.
Just as he thought of her, Dorin popped beside him, her curly red hair swaying across her ears.
"What are you looking at?" she asked.
In Dorin's perspective, Jace had been pondering about nothing. The Soul was completely invisible to other Climbers, only showing the blue window to its user.
Jace dismissed the Soul. "I'm thinking of dropping some Soul Points into my AGL, so the least I can do is catch up with you guys."
"That's adorable."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"No, I'm not," she snorted. "It's good to see that you're determined, Jace, because Climbers of your level would've left our squad."
"Because you guys are crazy."
"I guess, yeah."
Then their squad finally made it to the front. The Portkeeper stood firmly, holding a blue window at his palm, and waited for their admission.
"To the ninth floor," Heather said, handing the Portkeeper a slip of paper.
The man read it, gliding his eyes along the lines then gestured for them to proceed.
Instead of a pedestal of crystalized glass, it was a magical circle, an artificial port designed to send Climbers through the Tower.
Jace and his squad stepped inside the runic symbols, carefully making sure they weren't spilling outside.
The Portkeeper pulled his blue window into view. He ran his fingers through the complicated matrix of letters and symbols that none of them would translate.
A few seconds later, the runes around them began to glow and hum like how they'd ascend the Tower. Instead, the sound was a little bit more high-pitched.
The Soul echoed into their ears.
[Soul detected.]
[Beginning ascent.]
Jace mustered some courage back into his body. It was awkward looking back at the other Climbers as they waited their turn.
[Process successful.]
[Climber Jace has ascended to the 9th floor, Whispering Woods.]
***
After the shimmering lights cleared, the familiar permeating smell of soil first caught his nose.
They were back on the ninth floor, the same place where he had obtained (Blessing of Starch).
'Seriously…do they think I can't handle the tenth floor? We're back to where we started?'
At least the sun was still out, the only upside about the Whispering Woods. Monsters felt more mild, compared to the ones the squad had encountered at night.
At night, Whispering Woods was a whole different floor.
Jace and his squad ventured further into the dense and dark forest, where every tree looked the same as the last. It was always advised to bring a source of light whenever night had come, which they were already prepared for.
Heather took the front, bearing a sigil sword with runic engravings along the blade.
'Must be nice being an adept at swordplay and spellcasting. Must be nice, indeed.'
Jace and Dorin flanked behind them as Brita walked a little short between. And for Klav, he obviously sat in the back of the formation. After all, he was the hardest shell of the party to pierce.
They were searching for monsters to kill, to gain experience and empower their soul.
Even if the ninth floor was long cleared of monsters by the First Generation of Climbers, there would always be strays left behind. The Gatekeeper was dead but gnawing evil continued to thrive until they were ultimately dissolved.
Jace watched the front of their surroundings as he recalled the information his squad talked about.
According to the history of Climbers, humanity has already cleared fifty-nine floors. The First Generation are the strongest Climbers in existence, then following the Second, and then the Third.
Jace and his squad are the Third Generation of Climbers, tasked to clear the next thirty floors.
The Second are close to fulfilling their duty, figuring out they're just one floor away from sixty.
'I wonder what powers they're discovering up there. And I wonder…if they would even think about the Climbers below them.'
He quickly shook away his thoughts. There wasn't any reason to be concerned about other Climbers. His priority was the present.
His time mattered now.
"Hold," Heather stopped them. "Dorin, what do you feel?"
Dorin squinted her eyes, feeling her hand along the overgrown roots.
"Somethings coming…" she said. "Wolves—no, it's too heavy. Boars. Savage Boars, a stampede of them. They knew we're here."
"Spread out!" Heather shouted to his squad. "They'll be easier to kill if we don't group!"
His squad followed his command. Except for Brita, due to her incapability to close-combat against monsters. Instead, she flanked behind Heather, holding her magical staff in unease.
Jace readied his silver sword, gripping it tightly. He opened his Soul, keeping the other half of his attention to trembling ground.
[HP: 112/112]
[MP: 11/20]
'Good to see my mana regenerated. I have a few (Wide Slash) uses before I deplete. This shouldn't be much trouble.'
The Savage Boars came trampling into their view. It could have been around twenty of them, twice more when the squad first encountered their kind.
They had dark, striped fur, plastered with coarse dirt, and tusks the size of a human forearm. Their limbs defied all laws of vascularity, simply rippling with profound rage for the human race. It had the chance to vent that feeling directly onto the squad in front of them.
'I guess one of them called the family, because I don't remember seeing you all before.'
Heather hovered his hand over his sigil sword, covering it in a veil of bright flames. He flourished it, flinging a few dramatic embers onto the grass for the oncoming horde.
'Show off.'
Then the Savage Boars came, crashing into the squad like a violent wave.
Heather fought off the first few, successfully defending Brita beside him as they both casted spells in retaliation.
Bolts of fire shot from Heather's fingers as he aimed at the drifting boars.
Brita swung her staff, blasting a repulse of magic in front of her if any of them dared to come close.
Klav chopped down his great-axe with sheer joy, it was almost disturbing. He didn't seem to care how hard these boars were ramming their tusks into him. With the boar's thick blood coating his great-axe, there shouldn't be any worry on how he would turn out.
But for Jace, he wished it was that easy.
He ran forward to the nearest boar charging at him. Before they would collide, he sidestepped away from the line of impact, spinning his body and drew back his silver sword.
He tensed the muscles in his arm.
[Skill Activate: Wide Slash]
He quickly regained his ground, sparing a short glance at the stumbling boar.
It was writhing in agony, profusely bleeding out its abdomen, sliced open by his silver sword and Skill. Then as it laid motionless, the monster's body dissolved into a sparkling mist.
[You have slain Savage Boar. You have gained experience.]
Then another boar charged from the rear, aiming to impale him with its tusk.
Jace quickly dashed away, swerving around the wild monster instead of becoming another one of its victims.
As much as he hated to admit it, the Soul rewarding him with experience always gave him a brief moment of genuine happiness. Of course, that feeling was cut short.
He was still surrounded by Savage Boars waiting to eat him and his squad alive.