Denizens of the Labyrinth

Mary walked him towards the gate that would take him inside the labyrinth, and he shook with anxiety. He was going in alone and all he had was a sword and a satchel. He was unprepared. But he knew what to do, he just needed to find a store or something and begin preparing. He was not too worried in truth; he knew he would have to start at the very beginning and that was not unnerving to him. He had a lot to do.

“Think before you act!” She yelled at him. “Think about your options before you make a move, and always be aware of your surroundings.” She taught him as they walked forward, towards the first gate into the labyrinth.

There were many such gates around the world, which allowed entry into the labyrinth, and this was one such as the others. Jazmel hadn’t seen any before, but he had seen pictures and videos of them online and also from Tango who shared old memories of labyrinth dives.

“If you get into trouble, send word. I will try and get to #you but be careful above all.” She continued. She felt motherly as she told him these things. But he kept that to himself. He had never known of his mother and Tango had not told him anything either. Just that she left him in his safe keeping and so he continued to look for him.

“NEVER tell anyone your stats or ask someone there’s! It is rude, but also personal. People will know how to deal with you better if they have an idea of your stats.” She said and this one felt sensible. He was a reserved type of person anyway, something he learned from Tango. The less you say the more you can learn.

They had reached the gate. The gate was ten feet tall and a swirling maelstrom of ocean blue. It was steady but looking into it made Jazmel feel sick. “You will get used to that.” She laughed and shocking him. She hugged him. “I will look for Tango too. If I find anything, I will send word.” She said into his ear and then let him go.

“Be great.” She told him and then turned from him, walking back.

That was a goodbye and he smiled, turning too. He walked through the gate. His world warped and he found himself inside the maelstrom, which was surprisingly peaceful. His mind buffed him, it felt like someone plugged something into his skull. The pain was quick and sharp, but then gone within moments. He was reeling but he recovered quickly.

DENIZEN OF THE LABYRINTH RETURNED.

CALCULATING

CALCULATING

…

CONGRATULATIONS ON RETURNING, REWARD + STATS POINTS

Returning? He thought to himself.

He thought of the system and felt it linger at the recesses of his mind. But not knowing how to force it into his view, he willed it forward. The status screen appeared before him, and he smiled at his achievement. A pop like the sound of a burst bubble was heard in his head and a screen popped into his mind eye. It was a blue screen board with yellow gold bordering, and the lettering was white.

Name: Jazmel

Level: 3

Species: Human

Rank: Seeker

Health: 40/40

Stamina: 40/40

Mana: 45/45

STR:11 PER:11

VIT:10 END:12

INT:11 WIL:11

AGL:12 DEX:10

Skills:

Sword sense (tier I)

EMPTY SLOT

EMPTY SLOT

Title(s):

EMPTY SLOT

EMPTY SLOT

Unused Stat points: 5

“OK. So, this is the system then.” He said to himself and looking over his stats he smiled. He was even and balanced already but he kept to the lessons that Mary had said to him. Using the five points he had he bumped his skills up closer to a balance.

The system acted on his will, and he watched as his unused points disappeared into stats, he felt his body change slowly, almost as if it were readjusting. Imbued with strength and something else, something new and unnerving, but also natural. He willed his status screen back up in sight and looked.

STAT POINTS USED.

His system window now read.

Name: Jazmel

Level: 3

Species: Human

Rank: Seeker

Health: 70/70

Stamina: 55/55

Mana: 60/60

STR:12 PER:12

VIT:12 END:12

INT:12 WIL:12

AGL:14 DEX:13

Skills:

Sword sense (tier I)

EMPTY SLOT

EMPTY SLOT

Title(s):

EMPTY SLOT

EMPTY SLOT

Unused Stat points: 0

CONGRATULATIONS ON PASSING THE SEEKER TRIALS DENIZEN.

Before it could move on, he remembered the black box that Mary had gifted him. He pulled it out of the satchel and the system whirred to life again.

SATCHEL OF THE MERCHANT EQUIPPED. STORAGE SPACE DOUBLED.

Doubled? He thought to himself, that was a gift.

The system flicked to storage, and it showed him that it indeed had doubled. He could now carry up to hundred and fifty different things at once inside the double pocket storage satchel. To his gladness he noticed that his items showed in another section of the status screen, and he just had to mentally pull it into sight too.

ITEMS

LONG SWORD OF THE HUNT STR+5, forged in the fires of Olympus. This sword is forged to vanquish monsters!

MANA EYES (tier I), sensitive to Mana, these eyes help the user to see Mana better. INT+2 DEX+3

WILL YOU EQUIP?

Y/N

The system was asking him. He also noticed that there was a tier mark beside the items, and he had not seen that before. He would look at that later and consider what it meant.

“Yes.” He said aloud.

His eyes twitched for a moment, and it was a little uncomfortable but then his eyes were back to normal, and he felt completely fine. In fact immediately he realised his sight had grown keener in a matter of seconds.

MANA EYES EQUIPPED

…

MANA EYES WILL GROW WITH THE USER!

STATS CHANGED

Jazmel smiled at this, his eyed did not feel any different but his eyes seemed to be keener. He could see little sparks of Mana within the gate now and he smiled at that. So, the eyes would allow him to see Mana and they would also grow with him. Interesting, he thought to himself. Before he looked at his other messages, he noticed the tier option again and the system gratified him with more information.

All things within the labyrinth are graded in tiers, this is to show the ability and value of the item. A tier I item is the first level and can be considered a beginner item.

He read this and nodded, it made sense to him, and he imagined the more items he came across, the more the system would explain to him. He looked at his other notices, system pop ups too. He noticed that his

A FRIEND REQUEST HAS BEEN SENT.

RANKER TIER II BLOODY MARY HAS OFFERED HER FRIENDSHIP. DO YOU ACCEPT?

“I do.” He said and then he remembered Circe’s and took it out from his pocket.

FRIEND REQUEST FROM CIRCE OF HOUSE OF ARTEMIS.

“Accept.” He accepted, suddenly shy again.

CONGRATULATIONS ON

GUILD MASTER OF THE HERON GUILD SENT YOU GOLD COINS X 300

Jazmel was stunned, was that a lot of money? But he did not know what that meant for him. He tore the card he got from Gideon too and the system let him know the request had been sent out and also accepted.

He realised that everything was grouped and graded in tiers. His status screen showed that he currently was in the Seeker tier, but Mary was in the Ranker tier. Each tier was grouped from 1-3 or I-III and only once you had passed through each of them could you push through. This made sense to him now, but he could always learn more when he found time, while in the labyrinth. Instead, he waited for the next notification to pop up and when it did not come, he took his first step forward.

DO YOU PLAN TO ENTER THE FIRST FLOOR?

Y/N

He accepted and the system echoed in his mind, and he was sucked through the gate into the first floor of the labyrinth.