Denizens of the Labyrinth

Jazmel walked through the small town if it could be called that. It was small houses; shacks really. The stalls that they used were the better built things and Jazmel wondered what he could do for the people. He wondered if he should let them join the faction.

“I see your thoughts in your eyes. While I will not interfere with your decisions you cannot always help and save everyone.” Baek said and Jazmel nodded, knowing he was right. The faction needed to build its strength and that was what Jazmel was considering, but Jazmel also understood that they were still a fledgling, none of them besides Katie and Tango was a Ranker tier. Baek was a master tier, but he also refused to involve himself directly in the management of the faction. Stating they had to grow as organically as they could.

Jazmel had an idea, and he opened his system and looking at the outpost and faction members he sent two new tasks to them; the system changed them to fit the needs he was seeking and then presented them rewards also.

DING!

…

BLACK WING FACTION TASK CREATED!!

ALL FACTION MEMBERS MUST UNDERGO ONE TIER TRIBULATION!

REWARDS

TIER III RANDOM ITEM

RANKER TIER TRIBULATION SPIRIT ITEM

15 STAT POINTS

…

BLACK WING FACTION TASK ANNOUNCED!

A FACTION IS ONLY AS STRONG AS ITS MEMBERS

ALL FACTION MEMBERS MUST IMPROVE THEIR STATS AND LEVELS

REWARDS WILL VARY!

RECRUITMENT CAN ALSO BE CONSIDERED AS IMPROVEMENT

…

Jazmel watched as the system knit his thoughts together for his faction members and he noticed that Tango had also received the tasks, he scanned the screen he was seeing then nodded simply. Closing it down and continuing forward.

They didn’t speak about it and in truth there was nothing to discuss, Jazmel was doing what should be done and as the leader of the faction it was his duty to ensure his members continued to grow stronger. Himself included and he was aiming for ranker, but now he was going to focus on it while he continued to try and recruit more members.

They left the small village and having walked no more than a few hundred yards; they were engulfed into the wilderness again; thankfully, the snow had let up and now they found themselves in a vale of enormous proportions. Jazmel ’s keen sight allowed him to see how far the vale extended and even then; it expanded past his field of vision too.

The vale was covered in tall grass and the brisk chilly wind made the tall grass strands dance beneath its trumpet. The billowing wind wasn’t as cold as the shoreline, but it was brisk still; Jazmel had not stopped moving his Mana around his body and so he did not suffer as much, but he could still feel the cold. The vale had no trees and so the wind buffeted them all; there was nowhere to hide from it, but Jazmel was happy to be out and in the open. It allowed him to see more, he was paying attention to feed Mana into his eyes and allow himself to see both the physical but also the Mana flow all around him. It was a sort of training, when he looked completely with Mana, his brain could not manage all the information it was receiving and after extensive use; he suffered beneath migraines. So now he was drip feeding the Mana into his eyes and only allowing himself to see a little of it and it was with this that he saw the herd in the distance.

“Look over there.” He pointed and Baek and Tango looked over to where he motioned and nodded with smiles. A herd of deer were grazing in the open, there was around one hundred of them and they were all doe besides three much larger stags.

“Those are star pronged deer; they are tier II creatures. But the system will consider them monsters technically.” Tango told him and Jazmel watched them.

They were normal sized, not bigger, or smaller than the deer Jazmel had seen outside of the labyrinth. Their coats were darkened as elm bark; a chocolate brown that Jazmel could tell was thick and glossy both at the same time. The most shocking part was that all the does had horns protruding from their foreheads. Not the array of branches like stags; but they were just blunted elongated nubs of what looked like metal. The same could be said for the stags too, their antlers were silvery in colour and sprouted off in branched prongs that Jazmel wondered what they looked like up closely. The Mana that vibrated from within and around their core was only dulled by the brilliance of the Mana in their antlers and horns.

“Why do their antlers look like that?” Jazmel asked and Tango looked at him a little surprised but then remembered his eyes; Mary had told him that she had gifted them to him.

“Star metal. That’s why they are called star pronged deer.” Tango explained and Jazmel simply accepted his words, not wanting to get any closer, the three stags were now watching them wary, not prepared to alert their herd just yet. But aware of the three men watching them intently.

“Star metal is common, it’s simply hard to get. The deer are robust and will flee if they are attacked. Star metal is usually used for armour, it’s not too different to cold iron. But it’s extremely expensive if you have to buy it.” Baek explained nodding towards the deer as they continued to graze.

“I would love to see armour and metal.” Jazmel said to himself more than the others, but Baek heard him and smiled.

“There are cities in the labyrinth which are completely run by guilds. One such one is Methulian; the guild city of swords. They are the best for making swords and any ranker or master with any wealth has had a weapon made there if they have been there.” Baek said and Jazmel listened as they began to head west, skirting the vale.

“How do you get to the city if you have never been. The gates are randomised after all.” Jazmel asked and Baek nodded.

“Yes the gates are randomised, the labyrinth never lets you go to somewhere you’ve been before. Unless you pick to go, but usually every few gates; it allows you to enter somewhere of a safe space or haven. Usually, to recover from your labyrinth diving. But also, to allow you to sell your wares or network. The labyrinth runs on its own system after all.” Baek explained and Jazmel nodded, since he had been in the labyrinth; every few gates had led him to a town, or a city and he was grateful to not be in the wilds of the labyrinth nonstop.

“I have always heard that you can return to a gate you have been, but how?” Jazmel asked and Tango smiled while Baek simply nodded in understanding.

“You can enter any gate you have been to already, simply place your hand on the gate before you step through, and the options will appear. Usually, seekers don’t know about this because they are focused on getting stronger and so keep moving forward. But when you reach Ranker or Master, returning to a previous gate and then pushing through it again, sometimes it will allow you to find a new gate; somewhere you have not been before and that can open a whole new route through the labyrinth.” Baek described and Jazmel nodded, seeing the sense in that.

“How many gates have you both been in?” Jazmel asked, realising he didn’t know.

“Sixty and some change?” tango said, shrugging and continuing to walk.

“Eighty-three.” Baek said and they both turned to look at him. He didn’t bother to look at them and just continued to travel alongside them.

“How strong are you? Really?” Jazmel asked, enthused and curious at the same time.

“I am not sure how to answer that.” Baek said, still looking forward.

“How many of us could beat you?” Jazmel asked and Baek smiled; finally.

“You couldn’t.” he said, and Jazmel turned to look at Tango who nodded his eyes tense.

“What do you mean?” Jazmel asked and Baek stopped to study him before answering.

“We are worlds apart. The difference between seeker tier and master tier is so large that; I cannot number the difference between us.” He stated and it hurt Jazmel a little, but the straightness of Baek’s response told him he meant it and without any disrespect.

“But could you explain it to me in some way?” Jazmel asked, Baek looked at him and his face softened a little before he responded.

“One hundred.” Baek said and then continued to walk.

“One hundred what?”

“I am one hundred times stronger than you.” He said simply and Jazmel stopped a little to try and comprehend what he said but Tango helped him keep moving.

“The gap will shrink eventually. When do you become master tier it will be different, but for now? I am one hundred times stronger than you, give or take a wound or two.” Baek said and Jazmel listened to him speak but could not fathom just how large the difference was. Baek saw him and stopped to turn and face him.

“Seeker tier is the beginning; Ranker tier is the middle and Master tier is the end. Or well it was before the Monarch tier existed. A Master is just that, a master of their ability. You have not mastered your ability and currently are a newborn in the labyrinth. I have been in the labyrinth longer than you have been born. I have lost more inside here than you have even begun to gain.” Baek said and though his words were soft, his eyes were hard, and Jazmel could tell his memories were now getting the best of him.

“I am sorry if I offended you.” Jazmel offered and Baek waved it away.

“I understand you want to get stronger, your need even. But you need to consider what it means to those around you. So, what if you are so strong nobody can defeat you, they will do worse; they will go for your loved ones. They will destroy the things you took your years and tears to build. You must grow with those you have produced. All of you; together. That is the only way you can continue to get strong, get stronger together.” Baek consoled and after that they travelled in silence for a longer time, they moved west and continued to move along the vale and then when they had travelled well past the herd.

They north ascended up out of the vale and into a valley which had rolling hills and dales that were covered in tall grass again but this time a few trees dotted the area about them.

“Why does nobody ride horses inside the labyrinth?” Jazmel asked, Tango laughed, and Baek smiled.

“Mounts are a precarious thing, of course you can gain a mount and the system will allow you to use it and ride it even through gates if you will.” Baek said and Tango nodded.

“But you cannot decide where you will be every gate.” Tango said and this time Baek inclined his head in agreement, Jazmel looked confused, so Baek explained further.

“Let’s say you chose one of those deer and tamed it. Now you can ride it through the dales here and we would travel faster. But what would you do if the next gate were in the sea? Or if you stepped out of the gate and was in amongst the clouds?” Baek said and Jazmel looked up to the sky.

So, there were gates that led to places in the clouds. Jazmel shook his head and laughed at himself, he was truly unprepared for the labyrinth, and he was lucky that he was getting by.

“The clouds?” Jazmel said and both Tango and Baek nodded.

“But surely people have mounts though?” Jazmel said and Baek nodded again before speaking.

“Of course, I know a master tier who is a beast tamer. Last I saw him, he had three beasts with him. A Storm Kite, a Cloudhopper Leopard and a Shade Drake. He was looking for something to allow him to enter the depths of the seas but hadn’t found anything.” Jazmel didn’t know what any of those creatures were, but he thought about the egg, whatever was going to hatch was going to be travelling with him and he wondered would he be able to mount it.

They pushed into the dales and Jazmel climbed a small hill to see what the trees were like, fruits were growing, and he picked a few and put them in his storage and then he threw some to Tango and then offered some to Baek, he accepted and bit into his. Jazmel did the same and the rich taste of citrus and sweet scents of lime filled him with joy. It was shaped like an apple, but the colour was green and orange like a mix between an unripe mango and then a lime. He bit into it and in the centre was two seeds, oval in shape and pale green in colour.

TIER I GILLER FRUIT OBTAINED

5% VIT BUFF FOR 1 HOUR!

So, it was called a Giller fruit. He didn’t strip the tree, but once he had finished it. He stored the seeds in his ring.

“How large is your ring?” Jazmel asked Tango and he shrugged.

“Probably the size of the courtyard of the outpost. But that is my largest one, the other two are maybe a large room or hall.” Tango told him and he nodded in understanding.

“What about you?” Jazmel asked and Baek smiled and shrugged.

“I haven’t found something yet that I cannot fit in it.” Jazmel shuddered to think of the amount of wealth inside it.

“Not all my rings are that size, I split them up and carry different things in different rings, some rings even have rings stored inside them too.” Baek explained and Jazmel liked the idea of that, storing rings inside of rings was a sort of banking thing. He had sold his old ones for larger ones, but now he would buy others and begin separating his items into various categories and storing them as such.

“How much did your largest cost you?” Jazmel asked and Baek thought about it for a moment.

“Ten platinum coins.” He said and Tango whistled.

“That is insane!” Jazmel said and Baek simply shrugged, before responding.

“Think about it this way, the further you go in the labyrinth the greater the rewards, the stronger the monsters are and as such the more options you have for trade. When I was a ranker, I didn’t spend any money in restaurants and stores. I traded everything when I wanted to eat; I would hunt monsters and eat them. The parts I could not eat, I would sell or trade for other things. By the time I hit master tier, I had a wealth close to a clan or a guild.” He explained and Jazmel and Tango both listened intently.

“Did you ever start a guild?” Tango asked and Baek nodded his head, but his eyes showed a sadness behind them.

“Yes, we did quite well too. I was the guild master of the White Heron guild for a time. But then while I was away; deep in the labyrinth. My guild was attacked; decimated by jealous rivals and by the time I had returned. Our base had been destroyed and split up between the victors. I waged war against them actually, I killed three guild masters before the heralds caught up with me. Cloud toad stopped me, but when realising what happened. He released me but took my oath that I would leave the rest to him. true to his word; he imprisoned those we could gain evidence of their part in the attack. But my guild was gone, and I hadn’t the heart to retry.” Baek told them both, Jazmel listened intently and wondered what learned from this wise man’s past. The next town or city they were in, he would shop for defences to be placed around the labyrinth. In fact, he thought of something better.

Please see about the defences of the outpost, spend some of the treasury if you need to create or build defences. Reinforce the wall, but also lay traps around the outpost too. He sent an origami swan up into the sky and then watched as it darted off, Baek looked at him and he explained what he had said.

“I cannot tell where the gate is, we have been travelling in the wild for ages now.” Tango said, taking the time to sit down on a gnarled root sticking out of the ground of one of the Giller fruit trees.

“Sometimes the task of a gate is just to keep going.” Baek said simply and they got up and began moving further into the valley.

“Sure, wish I had a mount.” Tango said and Jazmel laughed, Baek even smiled.