Denizens of the Labyrinth

Sadé left him to address her own tribulation. But they spoke over it a few times to ensure he had the right idea. She had told him what to expect and what to do for it and he prepared himself mentally. Sadé had told him that the Igni sprite could burn his clothes from his body and so he had stripped down and wore only a towel that was in his room. He sat in the centre of his room, in a meditative pose and cleared his mind. When going through tier tribulation, the tribulation can affect three parts of the Seeker. The spirit, the body, and the mind. Jazmel just had to pick which tribulation items he would use for each point. Looking at the system, he looked at his stats.

Name: Jazmel

Level: 15

Species: Human

Rank: Seeker

Health: 190/220

Stamina: 225/225

Mana: 267/267

STR:23 PER:22

VIT:24 END:24

INT:23 WIL:24

AGL:22 DEX:23

Skills:

Sword sense (tier I)

Slash (tier I)

Flight of the Blue kite (tier I)

EMPTY SLOT

Title(s):

FIEND SLAYER

EMPTY SLOT

Unused Stat points: 0

675X GOLD COINS

SHADOW WRAITH

LEVEL 7

PARTY:

5/5

…

DING!

LEVEL 15 HAS BEEN REACHED

EXP REWARD!

…

TIER TRIBULATION INCOMING

…

TRIBULATION ITEMS PRESENT!

…

WILL YOU USE THEM?

…

Yes

Jazmel thought and the system hummed.

TIER TRIBULATION HAS BEGUN

…

Jazmel almost fainted from the shock. His body heaved and he felt pain from every nerve in his body. His body was aching, and he guessed this was as it begun to readjust itself for new levels and stronger abilities.

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE MIND

WHAT WILL YOU USE?

The system focused him and through clenched teeth he snarled and fought through the pain. He thought of the Byakko spirit core and immediately he felt it appear in his mind. Out of his storage and into his mind.

The core spun slowly at first and begun to pick up speed as it cracked and compressed into a much finer ball. The spinning continued and before long the compression had winked it out of sight and a small storm formed in his mind. This gradually grew and before long the storm ravaged his head and mind. The byakko stepped out of the eye of the storm, roaring its fury. A white tiger with black stripes and wings roared and tried to break out of his mind. He clamped down on it and fought it for control. It roared and rung his ears, but he held down on it and before long they connected. The byakko spirit joining his mind and tempering him. The storm clouds dispersed and the byakko retreated into the recesses of his mind. He felt them merge and his mind grew strong. Not confident, that was not the right feeling. He felt more diligent and focused on his own path, the byakko core had been an excellent choice.

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE MIND

COMPLETE

1/3

…

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE SPIRIT

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE

This again and though his body still ached with the pain of the tribulation, the byakko spirit core had allowed him to push it out of the fore focus of his mind. Next, he chose the cold fire phoenix feather. Immediately his spirit was encrusted by glaciers of frost, and he felt stiff and rigid beneath them. That was also pulled from his storage and to the appeasement of his thoughts. His body was trying to coexist with the feather, but the sheer spirit of the phoenix fought back! It did not want to be contained and so Jazmel was doing his best to make it surrender to him. He felt frostbitten, his spirit A cold chill flushed him, and the pain eased a little, it ebbed from him and though it was still there. He could admit it was a lot less than when it had first kicked in.

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE SPIRIT

COMPLETE

2/3

…

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE BODY

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE

The chill from the cold fire phoenix and the newfound focus of the byakko spirit core, allowed him to focus better on this final decision. He picked the Igni sprite and in delight he felt it squeal with joy. The system plucked it and placed it in the very centre of his body. Just below his belly button. This time though, rather than spinning, the sprite sat there and began to compress on itself. becoming so small that Jazmel could barely see it. But he could feel it and he could see it in his mind.

Then the pain jumped and wrecked him in flashes again. The Igni sprite imploded on itself, it flared in power and the Mana core within it flushed Jazmel from within all the way to the tips of his fingers. The force of the flames that rolled both over and inside his body was beyond anything he had felt before. This was worse than when the tribulation had begun, he felt like he might pass out. But he could not, he clenched his jaw and felt his teeth grind together. This tier tribulation was more painful than anything he had ever been through. He felt as if he was being flushed, the flames roiled off of him repeatedly and he felt parts of him burning away.

Suddenly he thought of Bannerman and remembered he had not looked like this when he went through his tribulation. He wondered what he had done to prepare himself.

He was pulled from those thoughts as another wave of flames washed him again. His breath whistled from him as he exhaled haphazardly. The pain was truly excruciating. After what felt like many hours, the waves ebbed away and the fire of the Igni sprite winked out.

DING!

TIER TRIBULATION OF THE BODY

COMPLETE

3/3

…

CONGRATULATIONS ON SURVIVING THE TIER TRIBULATION

EXP REWARD

…

SEEKER TIER I

EXP REWARD

…

Name: Jazmel

Level: 15

Species: Human

Rank: Seeker tier I

Health: 370/370

Stamina: 325/325

Mana: 367/367

STR:23 PER:22

VIT:24 END:24

INT:23 WIL:24

AGL:22 DEX:23

Skills:

Sword sense (tier I)

Slash (tier I)

Flight of the Blue kite (tier I)

EMPTY SLOT

Title(s):

FIEND SLAYER

EMPTY SLOT

Unused Stat points: 0

675X GOLD COINS

SHADOW WRAITH

LEVEL 7

PARTY:

5/5

All his stats had levelled up by just under five points. All were near or over twenty, this was excellent for him. He opened his eyes for the first time and the first thing he noticed was how keen his sight was.

The Mana eyes had always helped, but now his vision was even keener. He willed the Mana into his eyes and all the Mana in the room suddenly glowed brightly enough that he had to shield his eyes. He shut his Mana eyes and smiled to himself. He rose from the floor and coughed; the smell was dreadful.

He stunk.

He walked into his bathroom and ran the bath immediately; the mirror was big enough he could see everything up until his waist. He almost jumped at the sight. Black ichor riddled his body, not puddles but enough that the towel he had used to cover himself. Was damp with it. He realised it was the impurities in his body and he wondered if the Igni sprite had burned them out of him and if that was the reason behind the pain.

He had also added a great deal of muscle to his slender frame. He was not ripped, but now he had biceps, shoulders, and the semblance of six abs. he flexed a little for himself and laughed. Tiering up had been worth it.

The bath had been set, he got in and sighed as the heat, which was nothing like the tier tribulation rinsed off the ichor that clung to his body.