Denizens of the Labyrinth

The next morning everyone had risen surprisingly early. They were sitting in the inn, eating breakfast. Eggs, beans, and bread in abundance had been handed out, sausages too but Jazmel did not like sausages, so he stuck to the chicken legs that had been shared.

“What is on the agenda today?” Patton asked them all.

“I am going to see if the city has a bestiary, I found something interesting in the dungeon.” Bannerman said, they all looked at him and he did not continue but ate in silence.

“I am going to find an apothecary.” Katie stated next.

“I am going to resupply, but I also need to see the traders. I want to sell some stuff I got in the dungeon but also some stuff I had from before.” Patton shared.

“I am going to find the archives.” Jazmel said and they all looked at him.

“I do not know enough; I keep finding things out too late. Or I do not even consider it to know it. That could become a problem later, so I am going to try and learn as much as I can, when I can.” He explained.

“I am going with him.” Sadé said and the rest of the group tried to hide their wry smiles.

“Let’s all do what we need to do and then meet back here in the afternoon for lunch, then we can decide on our next step in the journey.” Patton said.

“Yes, remember we all have the shared plot. We need to think about how we are going to prepare for that.” They agreed and Jazmel took one last drink of his tea before getting up, he had lots to do today. Bidding them fair well, he left with Sadé in tow. First time they had been alone in a while, and he would enjoy it.

The city centre had a signpost that showed where everything is and once a Seeker was near enough a map of the public areas of the city could be impressed in their minds. It was cool, Jazmel nodded and righted himself before heading north towards the archives.

“I got a main plot.” Sadé said and Jazmel slowed down to walk beside her as she shared something with him.

“What is it?” he asked, she was quiet for a long moment before saying.

“Child of the Kitsune, I must gain five tails. Before I become a Ranker tier I.” she told

and Jazmel wondered.

“How many do you have now?” he asked her again.

“Two.”

“You got another when you tiered up?” he asked, and she nodded.

“If you tier up again, you will gain another. But that means you will still be short one tail.” He deduced and she agreed.

“After the archives, we will see if any of the stores have one. We can shop for you.” He said with a smile, and she smiled back, suddenly happy again.

“What happens if you fail to complete a plot?” he asked and she stopped, to look at him.

“Nothing, but then that is just as bad. Plots are uncommon, but they are also common. They just depend on the Seeker; would you give up the opportunity to be a better Seeker? Or Ranker? Imagine how rare the rewards could be if you did everything that a plot asked of you.” She explained to him, and he thought too, if not for plots. Would anyone strive to better themselves after they became a Ranker or a Master.

They walked on for a while, and he thought about her words and then said to her.

“I got a new plot too.” She stopped this time and turned to stand in front of him.

“Another one??” she exclaimed, looking around she pulled him to the side of the road and out of the way of passerby’s.

He now told her about the twilight crown and explained what the new plot had been. She listened to him, and confusion lined her eyes. She did not know what a monarch was either, something Sadé did not know was something that made Jazmel uneasy.

“That sounds difficult Jazmel. I do not know what a monarch is, but also finding Master tier tribulation items is also ridiculously hard. You have one, so there is that. But finding two others is going to take a lot. There is the fact that it is giving you up until Master to find these other two, so that means you have a lot more time, but it also means it is going to be a lot more dangerous.” She sounded worried and he smiled at her concern.

“Well, the system would not give me something that you and I could not overcome right? We will find out what a monarch is in the archives.” He led again, pulling her by the hand.

The archives were built like a tomb, you had to climb a flight of stairs to enter the entrance. But from the entrance, another two flights descended into a tomb sculpted in alcoves of great width and depth. Books lined the shelves from ceiling to floor, Jazmel and Sadé had not even entered yet, but Jazmel could tell the archives were far bigger than he had previously imagined.

“Welcome to the Archives of Tellum.” A scribe greeted them.

“Will you give a small donation towards the continued recording and gathering for the archives?” the scribe asked. Without a thought, Jazmel drew a handful of gold coins and handed it over. Sadé did the same, the scribe bowed deeply and then using his outstretched arm, beckoned for them to head into the archive.

“I am going to look for anything on swords, I want to understand my skills a little more. I think you should investigate finding out about kitsune.” Jazmel told Sadé, she did and then walked off to look in another shelf.

He strolled through the shelves, fingering through the books but found nothing that looked like what he was looking for. He kept looking, moving through the shelves and aisles. There were a great many books in the aisles. Jazmel had considered himself a reader before entering the labyrinth but the library in his town had been vastly different from this major city.

The scrolls had an old smell, the scent of them made Jazmel wonder if the memories of their authors held in their pages still. He kept flicking through and then he came to maybe the last aisle that held books before they became thick tomes of volumes.

There were other people in the archives, going around doing their own research but none came near to Jazmel, and he steered clear too. Then he found it, his eyes picking through the titles.

He had entered an aisle where varying sword and martial arts were theorised and discussed at length. He screened through the sword arts and found one that piqued his interest.

School of the Moon Dragon. That was an interesting enough title, he flicked through the first pages and was incredibly happy with what he saw.

The school of the moon dragon is an art form that raises its sword dutifully. Only a sword that has been swung in defence of the meek stands upright.

These words struck Jazmel, what could they mean and why did they affect him so. He continued to flick through the pages and read more.

DING!

SWORD SENSE IN AFFECT

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN THE SWORD OF THE MOON DRAGON?

He smiled and remembered the skill he could not figure out how best to use.

Yes.

DING!

SWORD OF THE MOON DRAGON LEARNED

PROFICIENCY LOW, RAISE IT!

He gripped the shelf to steady himself while images of stances and movements flooded his mind. The graceful dance of the moon dragon etched itself into his memory and he struggled to consume all its ideals.

This was an impressive skill, even though it was passive. What he had learned just now, meant that he could learn more about swords from just fighting or using. He could read more books if he found any and learn from those too.

After putting the book back, he started looking through the aisles again. He needed something on monsters, whatever he could learn would be an advantage on his meagre knowledge. Surprisingly, it was easy to find this, and Jazmel soon had his hands on a tome, thick as his arm.

Monsters inside the labyrinth. The information within was more than he could consume but it was enough that he could flick through the pages and see what it offered.

Tiers are rife within the labyrinth, from items, artefacts even to clans and guilds. But the first of its order were always the monsters of the labyrinth.

He considered that and wondered how grades and tiers worked in order with each other. But that was something he could find out later.

Monsters are stronger than Seekers of the same level by about one tier. Much like the need to level up is used to ascend the floors of the labyrinth, such is the same as the monsters too, a tier I Seeker will struggle to defeat a tier I monster on his own without any items or skills. This is not for everyone, but more so for the many.

The monsters he had faced were indeed strong, but Jazmel had fought monsters in the labyrinth and without his swords. He would no longer be here, but he also considered that he would have to get latest items as he grew too. Always levelling up, bettering his abilities inside the labyrinth.

Monsters can be consumed by those of hardy will, tier tribulations are the best time to do this. But it has been known that people have survived consuming monster cores when in dire need.

This was interesting to Jazmel; he had not known of this. He wondered what that meant for him, could he consume monster cores to strengthen himself alongside tier tribulations. This was something he would ask the group too, to see if they had heard of it before.

He wondered what Katie had used to tier up twice, he decided he would ask her when he next saw her.

Leaving the aisle, he found Sadé reading from a tome in a corner, she noticed him and looking up she smiled at him, happy with what she had found. She told him she had found the memoir of a warrior who had made it all the way to Master and had earned kitsune tails. He asked her if it gave her any direction and she deliberated about it, saying she needed more time to think about it.

“Well, I can wait for you until you finish reading that, but I have found what I was looking for.” He announced and she got up, pushing the tome back into its corner of the shelf.

“If you are done, I can leave too. We can go shopping and see if we find anything.” She offered and he nodded.

They left the archives, the smell of the pages and ink still surrounded them even now, out in the open.