Denizens of the Labyrinth

Jazmel walked through the gate and landed on the path that led up to the outpost; he sighed. He hadn’t been back for a while now and he was hoping for rest and a complete resupply of all his potions and some food too; he was thinking of deep diving into the labyrinth, and he needed to be prepared to travel alone for a while.

He walked up the causeway and when he reached his gates; there were two men standing barring his way with spears crossing.

“Who are you and how did you get to this outpost?” one called out to him; he was shocked because they didn’t know him but also he didn’t know who they were either.

“Are you with the black wing faction?” he asked, his hand slowly going to the sword at his belt.

“We are, we are guarding the gate; Katie has us in shifts guarding and defending the area around here. she has called it our training.” One said to him.

“Don’t tell him that! He is a stranger!” the other hissed.

“State your business!” the other said, spear still crossed but eyes glaring at Jazmel.

“I am returning to the faction.” He said still caught off guard that he was having to explain what he was doing, outside HIS own faction.

“All faction members are inside though.” The wary guard said, and Jazmel looked confused.

“The faction leader has been missing and everyone is diving back into the labyrinth to try and find him.” the other said and the wary one hissed at him again. Jazmel was more worried now, time seemed to be different in the fountain trials, last time he had been gone mere seconds, but now it seemed longer.

“How long has the faction leader been missing?” he asked, and the wary guard studied him.

“Four days, as of this morning.” Jazmel winced and cursed quietly.

“Call Katie here, she will want to see me.” He said and the guards looked at him but didn’t want to move.

“Why would she want to see you?” the wary one said but was interjected by AI who appeared at the gate in a blinding flash and an alarm sounded.

“Faction leader! Welcome home!! We have missed you!” the guards stood to attention quickly and Jazmel simply walked through the open gates and didn’t even look back to admonish them.

As he walked through the courtyard, there were much more faces he hadn’t seen before, and he realised they must be the people they had freed from slavery. They were sparring, some were doing chores here and there and others were clutching spears as they were standing on the wall guarding it or going off to hunt. Katie and Mary had turned them into a makeshift militia, and he simply smiled to see them busy.

As he walked around the sparring square he was rushed by Sadé, Katie, Mary and all the others. He shrugged off the words and beckoned them all to follow him into the main chamber; it made sense to tell them now about his plot.

As they were heading in, Baek, Tango and Gelth the burly man from the demonic castle gate. He waved them over and beckoned for them to follow too.

“AI can you call all retainers to come here to the chamber hall quickly, I would rather tell the one time and not have to repeat it to others too.” AI disappeared and he turned to sit in the main seat in the chamber hall.

“Where have you been then?” Katie asked and he smiled at her before beginning. The others who had been made retainers all came and he looked at them all; awaiting his return and he smiled a little; his heart heavy with the worry from his friends now.

“I am not sure why I took so long to come here; but I probably need to explain something. I gained a plot a while back, something secret. I was tasked with opening a fountain and I thought it was a singular trial gate but when I did open it, it gave me a plot and told me to open all the fountains.” He explained.

“When?” Baek asked, composed, and focused.

“When we first fought the yeti’s in that fjord. When we jumped into the gate, I was brought to the trial and after completing it, I had been brought to the next gate in seconds as if no time had passed.” He explained and Baek simply nodded, conceding.

Jazmel took the time to tell them about the first time and what he had been rewarded, and then he told them about the second time and explained what he had fought and how he had awoken Paldane who had been hibernating inside the egg. As he said that, Paldane seemed to wake up and yawning it stretched out its little body and using its tiny claws to clutch his shoulder it yawned and puffed out smoke.

“Is that?” Timone asked and he nodded with a smile.

“I have a dragon for a companion now.” He offered and they shook their heads; a few did.

“Every time I am not with you, you get something great!” Katie moaned and he laughed at her words.

“Well I wanted to tell you about the fountains because I don’t know when I am going to get pulled into one next and I don’t know if the time will be longer or shorter. But it’s better that you know it though.” He explained and they all murmured in agreement.

“But being outside for as long as I have been has made me realise that I have lots to do here, we are working hard; but we need to work harder so here are what we will do.” He said and they all watched.

He had been looking over the faction leader system screen and he realised that he could see everyone’s level and their tier. Nothing more, but it was enough for him to be able to select specific tasks for those at specific levels.

Everyone who was a ranker, he tasked them to either tier up via tribulation or to push for it. He watched as they all got the notification; he could see what the system was offering them, a boost of stats to use as they would as well as exp to boost their level.

He sent another task to Katie and Mary specifically to train up the lower ranked members who were staying at the outpost; they needed to tier up too but for now he sent them all the task to hunt around the outpost and build their own reserves of stats.

Separately he sent another task to everyone and bid them dive into the labyrinth in groups of no larger than two and three, explaining that the need to build strength and resilience outside of the group made sense. They began to band together, and he watched as Elai and Serafina linked arms and headed out straight away, he motioned for Timone to go with them, and she nodded and followed behind them. Gelth was already heading out, but Patton and Gilmore asked to go with him, he agreed, and they left for the gate too. Katie and Bannerman were training the freed slaves and they continued. So all that was left was Baek, Tango and Sadé.

“I am going into the labyrinth on my own. I need to tier up and I am not coming back till I am master.” Tango uttered, Jazmel nodded; understanding the man’s want for strength, especially as he was pursuing it too. They hugged and Tango left, stating that he would write Jazmel often.

“While we have the floor. I must leave.” Baek told Jazmel and he looked at him suddenly worried, but Baek shook his head.

“Nothing has happened, all retainers of the black dragon have been summoned. I will return, I just must attend this meeting.” He explained but Jazmel was still feeling unnerved, he had grown accustomed to the strength of this mentor and master in knowledge of the labyrinth.

“Why are you being summoned?” Sadé asked him.

“I think the black dragon will try for the 100th floor.” Baek said, not batting an eyelid.

“I see.” Jazmel said and Baek bowed quickly before heading out of the chamber hall and leaving Sadé with Jazmel alone.

“Well that was strange. But we can hold on until he returns right?” she said, and he smiled.

“Yes we can.” He said and she nodded.

“I need to replenish my potions, but I need to look for some things first, I need to enter the labyrinth again. I have to do it soon, but I just remembered a reward I got from that first gate.” He explained and she nodded coming over to the chair to watch him, AI appeared and whistled as he pulled the merge token from his ring.

“A merge token allows you to merge two skills into one. It’s a good option for a seeker as they still do not have the ability to sunder their skills yet.” AI explained and Jazmel nodded, understanding what was being said.

DING!

MERGE TOKEN HAS BEEN FOUND

…

WILL YOU USE IT?

…

Y/N?

Jazmel accepted mentally and the system chimed.

WHICH SKILLS WILL YOU MERGE?

Jazmel selected the only two he felt like he hadn’t been using effectively and the system pulled them from the slots on his system screen.

WILL YOU MERGE THESE TWO?

Y/N

After accepting, he watched as blade wrath and whirlwind swirled around each other and started spinning. Once they spun till he couldn’t see the words of either of them a quick flash of light his system screen and then the system popped up with another window.

DING!

YOUR SKILL MERGE WAS A SUCCESS!!

…

BLADE WRATH AND WHIRLWIND HAVE MERGED

…

YOUR NEW SKILL IS SWORD MAELSTROM (TIER I)

CONGRATULATIONS!

He looked at his stats screen and nodded at the changes.

Name: Jazmel

Level: 60

Species: Human

Rank: Seeker tier III

Class: Sword Scion

Health: 650/2100

Stamina: 367/1540

Mana: 112/1480

STR:87(+5) PER:85

VIT:80 END:80(+3)

INT:92 WIL:81

AGL:83 DEX:83

Trait: HEART OF THE SWORD (BORN TRAIT)

Skills:

Cleave (tier I)

Fall of the black raven (tier I)

Sword Maelstrom (tier I)

NONE

Title(s):

FIEND BANE (ACTIVE)

GLARE OF THE DRAKE (ACTIVE)

SERPENT SLAYER

DEMON SLAYER

Unused Stat points: 0

45X PLATINUM COINS

82X WHITE GOLD COINS

27X GOLD COINS

Item(s):

TIER II 2X COLD IRON ORE

TIER I 1X GREATER GRAVE IRON ORE

2/3 PIECES OF THE PLAQUE

TIER II BRANCH OF A TREE

TIER II SEED OF MIRETE

DWARVEN COIN

5X TIER II HEALTH POTIONS

2X TIER II STAMINA POTIONS

4X TIER II MANA POTIONS

TIER II ARMOUR OF THE STEADFAST

TIER III SABRE OF THE DEADENING

TIER II SHORT SWORD

TIER II FROST SHARD x13

TIER II BRUXA CORE

TIER II GLACIAL HERB X3 SACK

TIER II GLACIAL FRUIT

TIER II ARCTIC SPICE

TIER II FREEZING FRUIT

TIER I FRIGID HERB

TIER III DEMONIC CLEAVER

TIER III BLOODY SABRE

NIGHT DRAGON

LEVEL 1

PARTY:

5/5

BAEK LVL 113

He sighed, he was ready to tier up and he had nothing in his items that he could use for his tribulation. He needed to go shopping.

“Is Colin here?” he asked and Sadé shook her head.

“You just missed him, by a day.” She told him and silently, he cursed.

“We need to enter the labyrinth; I need to go shopping and sell some things.” He said and she simply shrugged, ready to go.

He quickly skimmed his screen and then when he saw that the Mana essence was flowing well he called up AI.

“I am going into the labyrinth, and I don’t know how soon I will return, but I do not want you to wait for any massive changes while I am away. Is there any way you can contact me while I am away?” he asked, and AI bobbed in the air as if nodding.

“I can send you missives through the system if you want, but you will need to upgrade the faction system before I can do that.” AI explained and as soon as it was done, a new notification popped up.

WILL YOU UPGRADE YOUR FACTION SYSTEM SCREEN?

IT WILL COST 3000 MANA ESSENCE?

Y/N?

He accepted and felt the system blur before changing before his eyes, the screen expanded and he could see much more, he could see the limits of his resources and also the map that was being filled in live by the hunting of the militia around the outpost. Some had even taken to diving into the waters behind. This was a powerful addition.

“Any upgrades you think will help us in the long run, you must message me even while I am away. I will respond as soon as I am able to.” He bid and AI bobbed in the air again, at that he turned and walked out of the chamber hall and headed towards the gate outside of the outpost walls, with Sadé.