《Phantasmal Party》 Prologue: The Impediment Eduard Fergusson sat in his room, looking at a pointed shard of clear crystal held in his hand. The shard had a pentagonal base with two centimeter long edges, and was twenty centimeters long, tapering to a sharp point at its tip. Excitement battled with trepidation inside him as he looked at the all-important, and yet completely useless piece of crystal. It was a case if imposed Catch-22. Shards originated in the Labyrinth, and couldn''t be found anywhere else, and the guards belonging to the Five Families would bar you from entering the Labyrinth without at least one Sliced Shard. And, of course, you could only trade Shards in either the Bazaar or the Auction House, which were located inside the Labyrinth. The only exceptions were a group of Shards commonly "The Impediment". These Shards could be traded freely, and when Sliced would give a person one of five completely useless Skills. The deal was that you Sliced a useless Skillshard, and got access to the Labyrinth. And since most people could only maintain two direct Slices, and since the Impediment skills were nearly impossible to level, you''d be stuck with having only one useful Shard. It was a lousy deal, and led to a lot of dead would-be Labyrinth delvers, but it was the only way to gain access without patronage from the Five. Impatient at his own indecision, Eduard placed his left hand palm down on the table in front of him, and held the pointed Shard in his right. "Here we go", he said to the empty room, and brought the point of the Shard down on the back of his hand. There was a moment of pain in his left hand as the Shard pierced his skin, and then it was gone and the Shard slit down smoothly into Eduard''s aura, vanishing from the material plane and leaving only its pentagonal base on the back of his hand. As soon as the last millimeter of the shard was gone, a blue system message square appeared in front of Ed''s eyes.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
New skill gained: Phantasmal Worker.
As soon as Ed read the message, the message disappeared, only to be replaced by a new one.
Phantasmal Worker Tier 0 Level 1 0/100 essence Creates a construct made of pure mana to serve the user. The construct can carry out simple tasks and will take up to ten points of damage before being dispelled. The construct cannot attack or use any weapons. Mana cost: 10 Duration: until dispelled
This was it. One of the five Impediment skills, Phantasmal Worker could be used to carry items for the caster, dig a hole, or even throw itself in front of an attacker to soak some damage. But with no offensive capabilities, the skill had no way to gain essence, and therefore would be impossible to level without using extremely expensive free essence. With his useless Skillshard Sliced into his aura, Ed picked up his quarterstaff and left his motel room. The man at the registration counter barely even looked up from his magazine when he came downstairs, and Ed was equally untalkative on his way out into the streets of New Minos. New Minos, the city built around the only known entrance to the Labyrinth, sprawled in front of Eduard in all its paradoxical glory. Men and women clad in leather, scale or even plate armor drove the newest model of cars. An alchemist was selling health and mana potions from a shabby booth next to a huge outlet for a chain of pharmacies. Cops in blue uniforms and armed with tasers patrolled in pairs with armored Five Family guardsmen carrying hand arbalests. Everywhere you looked the products of 21st century technology mixed with the fantastical loot taken from the Labyrinth. Eduard, however, was blind to the wonder around him as he single-mindedly walked towards the largest building in the city. The entrance to the Labyrinth. Chapter 1 - The Bazaar There were six guards standing at the entrance to the Labyrinth. One armsman from each of the Five Families, and one soldier from UNLOA, the United Nations Labyrinth Oversight Army. Each one of the guards was wearing the uniform of their respective employer, but even without those uniforms, the allegiance of each was plain to see. The UNLOA soldier, one of only two plain humans among the guards, was wearing her dress uniform, shoes and cap shined to the point where they could be used as mirrors. A Belgian Five-seveN, the standard issue sidearm for UNLOA was holstered at her belt, and she was aiming a Kirlian-Bj?rnson scanner at anyone entering the Labyrinth. The only other human guard was, naturally, the armsman from the House of Adam. He was at least 180 centimeters tall, and his wide shoulders seemed even wider covered by a severe white tabard over heavy plate armor. He was leaning on a huge shield with the symbol of his house, a stylized "HoA", a large mace hanging from his belt. Like the other Armsmen, he had no need of a K-B scanner. Instead, he had a Sliced Aura Vision Shard, and could see at least the number of Shards Sliced by anyone who approached the entrance, if not their type and tier. The representative from T? Bwystfilod was a large, imposing markhor-kin. Standing even taller than the House of Adam paladin, the huge screw shaped horns on her head would probably scrape the ceiling of most modern homes. She was wearing a plain leather jerkin in the brown and green of House Bwystfil, a huge warhammer that looked far too heavy for even an Olympic weightlifter to handle resting on the wall behind her. Domus Tenebris, true to their name, sent what appeared to be nothing more than a shadow to guard the entrance. Ever shifting and fading into the background, "vaguely humanoid" was the only description that could be applied to whoever, or whatever, was there. An old gnome clad in red robes was obviously a member of The Brotherhood of Hermes. The golden embroidery on his robes could have been the runic script of a majestic enchantment, or a recipe for blackberry pie in an ancient language nobody outside the Brotherhood could read. Dwarfed next to the other guards, the Hermetic was easy to underestimate. A mistake most people only get to do once.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Last but not least, the Bj?rnson guard was a tall, handsome elf clad in an exoskeleton made of bronze. Copper gears whirred noisily whenever he moved, and he was looking at the world through the blue crystal lenses of his clunky looking helmet. He was holding a weapon that might have started its life as a crossbow, but it was impossible to know for sure beneath the gears, tubes and crystals covering it.
Approaching the entrance for the first time, Eduard felt the weight of five pairs of eyes and one magitech scanner falling on him. A second later, and it was obvious that the guards could see that he was Sliced. Getting a sneer from the paladin and gnome, Ed entered floor zero of the Labyrinth, home to the great bazaar. It was impossible to accurately gauge the size of the bazaar. The main hall (or cave, flying island, forest clearing, or one of dozens of other options, depending on the day of the week, alignment of stars, or just the whim of whatever unseen entity created the Labyrinth) of the bazaar was hundreds of meters wide, and an ever changing number of kilometers long. And that was not counting the offshoots. Thousands of stalls covered the floor of the bazaar. Some selling clothing, armor and weapons for any era. Others selling food made from exotic plants and monsters found in the Labyrinth (Try our famous chimera kebab! Best eaten with a side of behemoth tzaziki!), potions from the best (or worst) alchemists, and Shards of any type. It was the last which drew Ed''s eyes the most. Danger and combat lurked in every corner of the Labyrinth, beyond the safety of the bazaar, and having a combat skill Sliced would make his survival a lot more likely. Unfortunately, the last of his money was spent on buying Phantasmal Worker. Even that useless Shard cost him the sum of five years of saving. With a last, regretful look at a proudly presented Greater Bulwark Shard, which would let a man armed with any melee weapon parry all attacks aimed at him for a period of ten seconds, Ed turned his gaze towards an Escheresque array of stairways, slides and corridors taking up the center of the cavern. The entrance to the Labyrinth proper. Chapter 2 - Into the Labyrinth Nobody knows who or what designed the stairway to the Labyrinth, but it was clear that whoever it was did not feel constrained by human concepts such as "geometry". Doors floated in the air, oriented in directions that gravity shouldn''t have allowed. Walkways and stairs connected seemingly random doors, leading from nothing to nowhere. And the people walking on those walkways oriented sideways or upside down, varied from obvious newcomers wearing jeans and t-shirts to grizzled veterans in exotic armors, most of whom have long since abandoned the plain human race in their search for the means to delve deeper. As a newcomer himself, and without any combat applicable Shards, Ed turned towards the ground level stairway marked clearly "Floor 1". It was an unwritten rule among the delvers that no adventuring party would accept a member without at least one proven excursion into the Labyrinth. An untested party member could spell doom for the whole party if they froze at the wrong time, and so a newcomer had to prove themselves by entering the Labyrinth solo and surviving to tell the tale. The stairway Ed was approaching seemed like it was going nowhere. Rising two meters into the air and then stopping without even connecting to anywhere. However, as soon as Ed set his first foot down on the first stair, a walkway leading to a previously unseen (or not existing) door sprang into existence and connected to the stairway. Standing in front of the door, Ed took a deep breath, and opened the door into the first floor of the Labyrinth.
The true size of the Labyrinth is one of the mysteries of its existence. It is impossible to tell if the Labyrinth even has something as trivial as size. It is entirely possible that each of the different floors is unlimited in size. It is just as likely that the size is limited, but the Labyrinth changes constantly to create new zones and new challenges. It is even possible that the Labyrinth is limited in size, and as rigid as any human construction, but still large enough that even the first floor has yet to be charted in its entirety. Whatever the truth was, it''s an undeniable fact that each time a person or group entered the Labyrinth, they would find themselves in a random part of whatever floor they have entered, and it was impossible to know in advance what one would find when they passed through the doors. The terrain would vary from the ruins of cities ancient beyond human understanding, to caverns deep under unknown mountains, to every imaginable (and some unimaginable) location. The one constant was the door back to the stairway, and at least one door deeper into the Labyrinth. It was, therefore, no surprise to Ed when he found himself on a grassy hill overlooking a dense forest. Twin suns, one a normal looking yellow and the other a bright pink burned bright in the sky, lending a strange hue to the green grass below and the darker green of the treetops. The happy sounds of singing birds could be heard from above, and the wind brought the sweet smell of flowers to Ed''s nose. There was precious little time to enjoy the beautiful view, however, since Ed''s arrival did not at all fail to raise the attention of the grassland''s denizens, and brown furry shapes, about the size of medium dogs stopped grazing on the grass, and raised their horned heads to stare at the invader, and one of them, the closest to Ed''s entrance, started loping towards him. "It''s about time I caught a lucky break," Ed muttered when he saw the horned rabbits, and quickly activated his one, mostly useless, skill. A strange feeling, as if something he never knew he had was being drained from him, spread through his body, as a small orb of blue light coalesced in front of him, taking a total of ten seconds to form into a vaguely humanoid shape, devoid of any distinguishing features. "Block the charge of any horned rabbit that attacks me," ordered Ed, as he took his quarterstaff from behind his back and prepared to fight the first of the horned rabbits. Ranging in size from that of a large cat to a small horse, and characterized by the single unicorn-like horn on their heads, horned rabbits are largely considered among the least dangerous monsters in the Labyrinth. That is not to say that they weren''t dangerous. A leaping rabbit could drive its horn through most types of unenchanted light and medium armor, and their uncanny aim was enough to bring down their share of would-be Labyrinth delvers. The rabbit now charging towards Ed was typical of the breed. Brown furred and droopy eared, it could easily be mistaken for a Cashmere Lop, if it wasn''t for its sharp horn and the fact that it was easily the size of a St. Bernard. As instructed, Ed''s Phantasmal Worker moved to place itself between the charging rabbit and Ed, and took the brunt of its momentum, stopping the rabbit in mid-leap before dissolving into nothingness due to the damage taken from the piercing horn. The rabbit, expecting to fell its target and drop on it, was confused by the Worker''s disappearance, and stood motionless of a couple of seconds after dropping back to the ground. Ed, on the other hand, was expecting precisely this, and didn''t waste any time before smashing his quarterstaff on the rabbit''s head, stunning it for long enough to take out a long dagger, and quickly drive it into the back of the rabbit''s neck, killing it instantly. "Guess those years of training with Master Pierre were worth it," panted Ed, more from the adrenaline than from any actual exertion. "It looks like the other rabbits scattered when I killed this one. Good thing too, since I don''t think I can summon the Worker again right now." Removing his knife from the dead rabbit, Ed proceeded to slice off the horn and place it in his bag. Horned rabbits were fairly common, and the horn wouldn''t be worth a lot, but it could be used as an ingredient in several low level potions, and the alchemists in the bazaar would pay enough for it to be worth taking. It was a pity Ed had neither the skills nor the Skills to butcher the rabbit properly. Horned rabbit meat was one of the staples of New Minos inns, and would bring in a little more coin that could be saved towards getting a decent Skillshard. "Come to think of it, how long would it take for my mana to regenerate enough to resummons the Phantasmal Worker?" Ed asked himself after he was finished with the horn. "Status!" Any Shard, no matter what it primary purpose was, gave the person who Sliced it the ability to view their status, a compilation of their physical and mental abilities, along with the Shards they have Sliced, and at Ed''s command, a blue window appeared in front of him.
Eduard Fergusson
Race Human Class None ShardsThis text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. 1/2
Strength 6 Dexterity 7 Wisdom 4
Constitution 7 Agility 8 Intelligence 6
HP 20/20 Mana 7/16
HP regen 0.7/hour Mana regen 6/hour
Shard Level Essence
Phantasmal Worker 1 0/100
"Half an hour before I can resummons the Phantasmal Worker, and then 100 minutes for the next. I''ll be here all week if I wait for mana after each battle." Having spent the past several years training and preparing to enter the Labyrinth, Ed was familiar with the common tactics suited to fight most of the low leveled monsters, including the horned rabbits. It would be more difficult to fight them without a decoy to take their initial leap attack, but barring a truly stupid mistake or bout of bad luck, he should be able to defeat them. Having sheathed his dagger and picked up his quarterstaff, Ed picked a direction, and went in search of more monsters, and the way to the next level of the Labyrinth. It didn''t take long to find another horned rabbit, but the same could not be said about the fight itself. The open grasslands let Ed see the rabbit long before it was close enough to leap, and he set himself to wait, watching for the telltale bunching of the rabbit''s back that always came before the leap. Moving swiftly to the left while bringing his quarterstaff up to divert the rabbit, Ed avoided the attack, but found that the rabbit was too quick to be caught in his follow up attack. The second leap was just as easy to avoid, and this time Ed managed a glancing blow to the rabbit''s back leg, a blow which didn''t seem to bother the rabbit even a little. The dance of leap, avoid and retaliate continued for long minutes, until eventually the rabbit started to slow down, though it was impossible to tell if it was because of the few hits Ed managed to land, or just plain exhaustion. Whatever the reason, the rabbit was slowing, and a couple of leaps later Ed finally managed to solidly hit it on its head, stunning him, and he managed to end the fight in much the same way he ended the first one. Tired for the fight, Ed sat down to resting for a bit, and ended up recovering enough mana to summon his Phantasmal Worker before he felt well enough to continue. Adding another horn to his bag, Ed moved on accompanied by his trusty meat shield.
It was several hours later that Ed came upon a tunnel leading into one of the hills. He managed to kill two more rabbits on the way, but had to make a large detour to avoid several groups of two or more rabbits, which he knew were too chancy to fight. It was a well-established fact that caves, tunnels and burrows in the Labyrinth often lead to lairs of bosses, which in turn were the best sources for treasure and Shards, as well as the pathways to the next level. Ed had a Phantasmal Worker with him, and decided to wait until he had the mana to summon another before entering the tunnel. Half an hour later, he took a flashlight mounted on a head strap from his bag, turned it on, and ordered the Worker to precede him into the tunnel. The tunnel wasn''t long, and five minutes later Ed found himself in a circular room, about ten meters from side to side, with a ceiling barely high enough to let him walk upright. Rabbit furs were strewn haphazardly on the floor, and a small fire burned in the center, its smoke curling up into an opening in the roof. The stench of rotting food came from piles of garbage that were shoved near the far edge of the room, mingling with the stench of unwashed bodies, indicating that while the room may have once been a burrow for the horned rabbits, it was long since taken over by something else. The new residents of the room, a couple of goblins, jumped up from their place in front of the fire, and ran towards Ed as soon as he walked in. Ed sent his Phantasmal Worker to block the way of one of the goblins, and used his quarterstaff to block a clumsy blow from the crude club the second was wielding. Delivering a quick blow with the other end of the quarterstaff between the goblins legs revealed that this was most definitely a male goblin, and a second hard blow to his head put a swift end to his high pitched screech. The first goblin, meanwhile, has managed to deal enough damage to dispel the Phantasmal Worker and charged shrieking at Ed. Ed, who was still recovering from hitting the other goblin, couldn''t bring his quarterstaff up fast enough to block, and took a painful hit on his hip from the goblin''s club. Kicking the small humanoid away before it could strike again, Ed quickly followed up with a strike at the goblin''s chest, driving the air out of its lungs and staggering it. One on one, the goblin''s small stature and short weapon gave Ed a huge reach advantage, and the goblin soon joined its fellow in death. After summoning his Phantasmal Worker again, just in case something else came into the burrow and attacked him, Ed set about to search the room. The very first thing he found, hidden behind a hanging fur, was a simple wooden door. The unremarkable door, which wouldn''t have rated a second glance in most locations, was completely out of place in what used to be a rabbit burrow, and Ed was almost certain it was the way to the next level of the Labyrinth. Ed had absolutely no intention of searching in the piles of garbage, but the goblins themselves might have something worth taking. The goblins weren''t wearing any armor, and their clubs were barely more than fallen branches. The first goblin he searched had nothing on it other than a necklace made of various teeth, but on the second, Ed hit the jackpot. Even before Ed got to the body, he could see a glint of reflected light from the goblin''s chest. Smiling excitedly, Ed grabbed hold of the crystal pentagon embedded in the monster, and pulled it out. Colored the same green as the goblin it came out of, this Shard was twice as large as the one Ed got his Phantasmal Worker from, and as soon as it was completely out of the corpse, a blue window appeared in front of him.
Goblin Tier0 Level1 0/100 essence These small, green humanoids are the weakest of the goblinoid races. While nimble and quick, goblins are fairly stupid and lacking in strength. +1 agility
Raceshards were probably the rarest type of Shards found in the Labyrinth, and prized by almost all delvers. When Sliced, the Raceshard will transform a person into a different race, giving boosts in stats. And while becoming a goblin seemed like a huge price to pay for a very small boost, Raceshards increased in power when leveled, giving more stat boosts, and eventually even enabling the user to Slice extra shards. Finding a Raceshard this early in the Labyrinth was a huge stroke of luck, and Ed was tempted to Slice it immediately. However, Slicing the Shard now would mean that Ed would be unable to Slice any Shards until it leveled enough, leaving him in a very dangerous situation. Ed was still considering the issue of Slicing his new Shard when he heard a large thump, and he raised his head just in time to see his Phantasmal Worker stumbling back and crashing into him. A second later, the Worker vanished, and Ed could see an old, grizzled horned rabbit, with a broken off horn staring at him in confusion. Quickly raising his quarterstaff, Ed attacked the rabbit, and found that a hornless rabbit, while still able to deliver a solid hit, was far less of a danger than the other rabbits he fought. It was only after the rabbit was dead that Ed remembered his Raceshard, and turned to look for it. The Shard, however, was nowhere to be found. Chapter 3 - Shopping Ed spent the next half an hour looking for the missing Shard, but eventually had to give up when he heard what had to be the rest of the goblin tribe on their way back. Cursing the fickleness that gave him a good drop and then immediately took it away, he passed through the door, and back into the cacophony of the bazaar. Ed found himself on an upside down walkway, the bazaar in all its glory hanging above his head, and the distant sky below him. The walkway continued for twenty meters, before ending in front of another door, likely one leading deeper into the Labyrinth. On his left, a stairway rose up towards the ground, and Ed quickly started going up, a feeling of vertigo gripping him as up suddenly became down, and he was suddenly moving downwards towards the ground, the upside down walkway stretching above him. Moving away from the stairway, Ed started looking for an alchemist who might buy some of his loot. Between the horns from the four rabbits he managed to kill, and the goblin''s tooth necklace, Ed estimated that he''d be able to afford a new Skillshard. Quickly locating a booth advertising potions and salves, Ed went over, approaching the young looking gnome manning (or perhaps gnoming) the booth. "Congratulations on your first successful Labyrinth delve", called out the Gnome as soon as Ed stopped in front of his booth, "and welcome to Albert''s Apothecary. How can I be of service?" "Is it that obvious?" asked Ed, scratching his head self-consciously. "You don''t look nearly experienced enough to be a professional Solo, and very few newcomers try more than one solo delve. Too much danger and too little to gain." "Makes sense, I guess. Anyway, I''ve got some things to sell. Rabbit horns and a gob necklace." "Let''s see them then. Always a market for sharpness salves." Taking the horns and necklace out of his bag, Ed placed them on the booth in front of him, when a spot of color on his left hand caught his eye. The crystal pentagon from his Phantasmal Worker Shard, which was previously completely clear, was now colored a light green along one of its sides. Shards came in just about any color imaginable, and would normally become more and more opaque as they gain essence, but as far as Ed was aware, Shards never changed their color. You could, sometimes, Slice one Shard into another, and in that case you''d see a pentagon in the color of the imbedded Shard inside the pentagon from the host Shard, but that was the only case Ed knew about when a Shard could gain a new color. "¡­don''t have any butchery related Shard, so I''m not going to be able to give you the full hey! Are you even listening to me?" The raised voice of the gnome finally managed to nudge Ed''s mind away from his Shard. "I''m sorry. I got distracted there for a minute. What were you saying?" "Stress finally catch up to you? Don''t worry about it. Happens to a lot of people after the first time. I said that the horns you have there are chipped, since you don''t have any butchery Skill, so I''m only going to be able to give you six credits for the lot of them. Would have been 8 if they were in better condition. I''ll add ten for the necklace. Decent essence in it." "That''s good. I figured I wouldn''t be getting full price on the horns. You''ve got a deal." The gnome handed Ed a silver ten credit coin, and six coppers. "Good luck in the Labyrinth. Come again if you have any ingredients to sell, or are looking for any alchemical product." "Thank you." Ed pocketed the coins and waved goodbye to the gnome on his way towards the exit from the Labyrinth. Credits, of which Ed now had sixteen of, were the only legal tender inside the Labyrinth. Coined and enchanted by a bank controlled jointly by the Five Families, credits couldn''t be forged, and couldn''t even be touched by anyone who hasn''t Sliced at least one Shard. The amount in Ed''s pocket wasn''t much, but would be enough to buy one or two low tier Shards. Ed originally planned to buy an Impact Skillshard, which would let him spend mana to increase the damage from blunt weapons, and enable him to damage creatures immune to normal weapons, such as the slimes that were often found in the lower levels of the Labyrinth. However, he really wanted to understand what happened to his Phantasmal Worker Shard before his did anything else. Barely even noticing the changed guard on the exit, Ed hurried back to his motel room, and brought up his status.
Eduard Fergusson
Race Human Class None Shards 1/2
Strength 6 Dexterity 7 Wisdom 4
Constitution 7 Agility 8Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Intelligence 6
HP 16/20 Mana 2/16
HP regen 0.7/hour Mana regen 6/hour
Shard Level Essence
Conjure Phantasm 1 0/100
"What the hell is Conjure Phantasm?" Ed muttered to himself. "I''ve never even heard of it, not to mention a Shard changing its name." Concentrating on the Shard in question caused its one information window to pop up and replace the status screen.
Conjure Phantasm Tier 0 Level 1 0/100 essence Creates constructs made of pure mana to serve the user. One construct can be created per skill level. Available phantasms Phantasmal Worker Creates a construct that can carry out simple tasks and will take up to ten points of damage before being dispelled. The construct cannot attack or use any weapons. Mana cost: 10 Duration: until dispelled Phantasmal Goblin Creates a simple goblin that can fight and carry out simple tasks. The goblin has no weapons skills. Slice more Shards to give the goblin more abilities. Mana cost: 10 Duration: until dispelled
The information window faded away long before Ed came out of his shock. It was obvious now that the goblin Raceshard must have accidently been Sliced into his phantasmal worker when the broken horned rabbit caused it to smash into Ed. The problem was the Ed has never heard even a rumor that something like this was possible. Impediment Shards were supposed to be almost completely useless and impossible to level, but if the goblin summons by his new skill could fight, then the Shard could gain essence. But the real import of the change was that it created a summoned entity that can power up from using Shards. And if those Shards work the same as they normally do, the goblin could gain essence and level up itself. Summoning Skills were notoriously limited by the fact that almost all of them remain static, and a summoned entity useful in one level of the Labyrinth would be nothing more than fodder five levels later. Ed quickly decided that he''s going to have to test how the phantasmal goblin works. See precisely what Slicing a Shard into the goblin would do, and then test it in the Labyrinth to see if it could gain essence. He didn''t have the mana to summon his goblin yet, so he opened up his laptop and entered the Labyrinth wiki page, trying to decide what Shards would be best to test on his new goblin. He''ll probably have to postpone getting his Impact Shard, but if the phantasmal goblin worked out, it will definitely be worth it. Two hours and a trip to the bazaar later, Ed summoned his goblin for the first time. The now familiar feeling of mana draining out of him was followed by the formation of a larger than usual blue orb. The color of the orb swiftly changed to green, and took the form of a meter and a quarter tall goblin wearing nothing but a loincloth. A quick mental command brought up a status screen for the goblin.
Phantasmal Goblin
Race Goblin Class None Shards 1/2
Strength 3 Dexterity 5 Wisdom 2
Constitution 2 Agility 4 Intelligence 1
HP 7 Mana 4
HP regen 0.2/hour Mana regen 1/hour
Shard Level Essence
Goblin 1 0/500
"Fairly decent for a tier 0 summon," muttered Ed thoughtfully. "Let''s see what happens when I add this." Ed opened his bag and took out the Shard he bought earlier in the bazaar. Colored a silvery gray, its size was somewhere in the middle between the Phantasmal Worker Shard and the Goblin Shard. Ed placed the Shard''s point on the goblin''s chest, and pushed it in. The Shard slid easily into the goblin, and as soon as it was fully Sliced, Shard and Goblin both vanished. "Damn it. I was hoping to see its status, but it''ll be two and a half hours before I can summon it again. Let''s see if the skill changed though."
Conjure Phantasm Tier 0 Level 1 0/100 essence Creates constructs made of pure mana to serve the user. One construct can be created per skill level. Available phantasms Phantasmal Worker Creates a construct that can carry out simple tasks and will take up to ten points of damage before being dispelled. The construct cannot attack or use any weapons. Mana cost: 10 Duration: until dispelled Phantasmal Goblin Spearman Creates a goblin spearman that can fight and carry out simple tasks. Slice more Shards to give the goblin more abilities. Mana cost: 15 Duration: until dispelled
"Looks like it worked, but it''s starting to get late. I''m going to have to wait until tomorrow to see it in action." Chapter 4 - The Drunken Pug
Phantasmal Goblin Spearman
Race Goblin Class Spearman Shards 2/2
Strength 3 Dexterity 5 Wisdom 2
Constitution 2 Agility 4 Intelligence 1
HP 7 Mana 4
HP regen 0.2/hour Mana regen 1/hour
Shard Level Essence
Goblin 1 0/500
SpearmanThe tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. 1 0/300
As Ed had expected, there wasn''t any difference in the goblin''s status from Slicing the spearman Shard. At its first level, spearman, like most weaponry Classshards, gave basic competency with the weapon. The next couple of levels would give stat bonuses, and the fourth would give a Shard slot, both of which would make the goblin much more useful than it was. The main difference from Slicing the spearman Shard wasn''t apparent in the goblin''s status, but on the goblin itself. Where previously the goblin was conjured with nothing but a loincloth, it was holding a spear. "Better than I expected." Ed told the unresponsive goblin. "I really don''t have the credits to buy you a spear right now." Ed dismissed the goblin with a wave of his hand, regaining the mana used to summon it, picked up his gear, and left the motel, heading towards the Labyrinth.
There are many famous and imposing structures in the Labyrinth. The Spire of Wisdom, home to the Brotherhood of Hermes. The Castle Eden, where the House of Adam lived, isolated from all who have abandoned their humanity. The Arctology, where the Bj?rnsons lived, perhaps lamenting their founder''s sense of humor. The Labyrinth Exchange, where credits were coined and high powered Shards were sold to the highest bidder. Other, stranger structures hid away in the depths of the Labyrinth, populated by tribes of monsters, delvers who chose to never rise to the surface, and other, more mysterious, entities. Not nearly as imposing, but perhaps no less famous, there was the Drunken Pug. Looking like the bastard child of a medieval public house and a military basic training facility, the Pug was part long term dwelling for unaffiliated delvers, part training ground/gym, two parts rowdy pub, and one clubhouse, and most importantly, the place you went when you were looking for group. Need to find newcomers to brave the second floor with? Sveta, at the bar will hook you up. Need a tank to top up your party for a raid on the Dreadlords in the Unnumbered Halls? Put up a notice and someone will come up. Looking to scope up likely marks for some PvP action? Better get out fast. Mustafa, the bouncer, has a telepathy Shard, and a really nasty disposition towards murderers. The first thing Ed saw when he approached the Pug was the large neon sign, depicting a particularly ugly dog with a mug of beer in its paw. The second was Mustafa. Three and a half meters tall, (four if you count the topknot), skin as bronze as a Bj?rnson''s armored exoskeleton, and a mustache you could tug of war a main battle tank with, the legendary bouncer of the Drunken Pug made sure anyone who entered knew that he was there. Nodding politely (very politely) to the bouncer, Ed entered the Pug, heading straight towards the bar. Sveta, the bartender (don''t call her a barmaid. Just don''t), was standing behind the bar cleaning a ceramic mug with a hand towel and watching the moderately full common room. Not that she actually needed to clean it. She had a modern dishwashing machine in the back, and more than enough employees to man it, thank you very much. But a proper public house has an image to maintain, and a bartender endlessly cleaning a mug was as important a part of said image as the mysterious cloaked stranger in the corner. "Grog, grub or group?" asked Sveta as soon as Ed stopped in front of the bar. "Ergh¡­" said Ed, bereft of all coherent thought. He knew what to expect. Sveta was famous among anyone with even the slightest interest in the Labyrinth. As famous, perhaps, as the Founding Five themselves. There was a difference, however, between knowing someone has a tier 6 Celestial Choir Shard and actually hearing them speak. Used to the effect her voice has on people, Sveta went back to cleaning her mug, waiting patiently for the passive stun effect to pass. "Group," Ed managed to say after a couple of minutes. "Right." Said Sveta. "I don''t remember seeing you before. You new here?" "Yeah. Just finished my solo yesterday." "OK then." Sveta reached beneath the bar, taking out a short, printed form and a pen. "I need to register you, then we''ll see if you fit any waiting group. Name?" "Eduard Fergusson." "Preferred role?" "Melee. Trained in HEMA, specializing in quarterstaff." "Nice. Always a demand for decent front liners. Any useful Shards?" She asked, already starting to mark "none" before even hearing his answer." "Wait up. I''ve got a Skill. Summons a goblin with basic spear skills." "You''ve got a what?" For the first time since the conversation started, Sveta turned her full attention on Ed. "I''ve got a Skillshard. Summons a goblin with a spear. It''s fairly weak, but it can still fight." "Where''d a newbie like you get something like that?" "Lucky drop in the first floor." "Seriously lucky drop. Shards rarely drop below the third. OK. I''ve got a group for you. They''ve got a bit more experience than you, but if you aren''t lying about your training and Shards, you should be a good match. Go up the stairs to the second level, seventh room on the left, look for a Ram-kin named Kevin, he leads your new group. Tell him I sent you, and good luck." Having finished her directions, Sveta went back to cleaning her spotless mug, ignoring Ed''s continued presence with practiced ease. Appendix 1 - Shards Shards Skillshards, Classshards and Raceshards are usually referred to as Shards. Shards must be Sliced into a person''s aura before their use. Skillshards grant an active or passive skill to the user, Classshards grant a class, which bestows stat bonuses, special abilities and extra Shard slots, and Raceshards physically change the user to a humanoid creature, giving stat bonuses and special abilities. Most people can safely Slice up to 2 open shards, but some rare people are limited to one, or capable of Slicing up to 3, but a person can only have one race tree and one class tree, and will reject a second Classshard or Raceshard. Shards drop from monsters in the Labyrinth, and are extremely rare before floor 5, becoming more common the higher a delver is in the Labyrinth. Shard levels Shards of any tier have 5 levels, and will always drop at level 1. A Raceshard, Classshard or passive Skillshard will absorb essence whenever the delver is involved in killing a monster, and an active Skillshard will absorb essence whenever it is used in fighting a monster. Utility Skillshards will absorb essence when used. Impedement Shards have no known way to absorb essence other than direct application of alchemically extracted free essence. A Skillshard will require 100*level*10tier essence to reach the next level, while a Classshard will require x3 essence and a Raceshard will require x5 essence. Closed, locked and sealed Shards When a Shard reaches level 5, it will no longer absorb essence, and will no longer count against a delver''s Shard limit. If a Shard can be ranked-up and the delver has a free Shard slot, it will become Closed when it reaches level 5.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! If a Shard can be ranked-up but the delver is at their maximum number of Shards, it will become Locked instead of Closed. A Locked Shard can still be ranked-up, but will cause the delver to enter a state of breach. If a closed Shard has no possible rank-up option, it will become Sealed. Tiers and rank-ups A Shard''s tier is a measure of its overall power. The lowest tier a Shard can have is 0, and Shards of as high as tier 6 have been recorded. Classshards, Raceshards and some Skillshards can rank-up after reaching their maximum level, increasing in tier and power. For Skillshards, the rank-up process is fairly simple. If the Shard has multiple tiers, it will become Closed when maxed, and can always be ranked-up to the next tier. Notable examples of Skillshards which can be ranked up are Manaflow and Endurance. If a Skillshard is ranked-up, it will change to a level 1 Shard of the next tier, and the delver will lose all benefits of the previous tier. Classshards can be ranked-up in the same way as a Skillshard, but will retain all benefits of the lower tier. Alternatively, most Classshards can be ranked-up into sub-classes, assuming the delver can fulfill the subclass''s requirements. In this case, the original Classshard becomes Sealed, and a new Shard is spawned within the delver''s aura. Raceshards evolve when ranking up, becoming a stronger race within the same race tree when they reach tier 1, 3 or 6. The abilities granted by lower tiers are kept when the Shards ranks-up. Breach A delver''s aura is formed from their personal essence. Whenever a Shard is Sliced directly into the aura, it creates a reservoir in the aura, into which the Shard can absorb essence from combat. When a delver has too many reservoirs in their aura, the reservoirs start to interfere with the flow of essence through their aura, causing a state of breach. The more extra Shards a delver has Sliced, the higher the stage of breach they are in. There are five stages of breach currently known.
  1. A first stage breach reduces the ability of a delver''s Shards to absorb essence to 25% of the normal rate.
  2. A second stage breach reduces a delver''s mana recover to 10% of its normal rate.
  3. A third stage breach causes all bonuses from Raceshards to be lost
  4. A fourth stage breach causes all bonuses from Classshards to be lost
  5. A fifth stage breach causes the delver to lose access to all Skillshards.
It is impossible to Slice Shards when in a stage 5 breach. Phantasmal Party out on Amazon Hi everyone, Phantasmal Party is now out on Amazon, and can be found here: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07NYFC2T3 The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. There are slight changes between the final version and the one posted here, mostly to close some minor discrepancies, but nothing major. You''ll also notice that everything except the first few chapters is gone from RR, in order to make the book eligible for KU. Reviews and recommendations are very welcome, and thank you all for reading it, either here or on Amazon. Book 2 Chapter 01 - Jazz Claws Eduard Fergusson sat in the common room of the Drunken Pug, sipping from a mug of beer and looking at the stage, where the band had just finished setting up, and started to play a slow jazz tune. The singer slinked onto the stage, swaying to the music with each slow, deliberate step. She was tall and lean, her athletic form covered by a shiny black dress. Black spotted white fur covered her exposed legs, from her clawed feet and up to mid-thigh, where it met the hem of the short dress, but Ed knew it continued unbroken until it reached her shoulders, where it was once again visible on her arms and down to her clawed, yet delicate looking hands. Sharp feline teeth sparkled at the crowded common room when she smiled, drawing attention to a slightly too sharp face, large furry ears and bright, slitted green eyes. After what seemed like long minutes, but was probably no more than twenty seconds, she reached the center of the small stage, lifted the microphone from its stand, and started to sing. Her voice was almost a purr, low and throaty and intimate. Her words were anything but. ¡°Everybody wants to be a cat,¡± A spattering sound, accompanied by the flash of a small fire and the smell of burning alcohol, came from Ed¡¯s right side, where Lucy Bradshaw, Ed¡¯s party member, summoned minion and lover choked on her mead. ¡°Because a cat¡¯s the only cat, Who knows where it¡¯s at¡± Ed reached under Lucy¡¯s golden scaled wing to thump her on the back with one hand, carefully removing everything flammable from in front of her with the other. ¡°How long do you think she¡¯s been planning this?¡± Ed asked once the solar drake stopped coughing. ¡°Since before she joined us, I¡¯m betting,¡± answered Ingrid Bj?rnson, Ed¡¯s other party member, patron and lover. The hobgoblin was sitting to his left, a glass of aquavit in her left hand, her right draped across his shoulders. It had been two days since the three fought against their former party member Kevin outside of the Antarctology, the Bj?rnson family¡¯s research station-slash-fort inside the eleventh floor of the Labyrinth. The family¡¯s armsmen were still searching for the beacon that allowed Kevin and his army of undead to find the station, and Ingrid¡¯s mother, the acting head of the Bj?rnson family had kept her in meeting after meeting for most of the intervening time, forcing the group to halt their delving. It was obvious that Kevin had the backing of a major player in the Labyrinth, but Ed¡¯s group had only the undead archer¡¯s word that his patron was House Hermes, another of the Five Families that controlled access to the Labyrinth, and Cathrine Bj?rnson was leery of acting without more concrete evidence. In the end, the family decided to take a ¡®wait and see¡¯ approach, and Ingrid was released to return to her party and the Labyrinth. ¡°¡®cause everybody digs a swinging cat!¡± Yekaterina Gregorovna Petrova, newly-transformed cat-kin and Ed¡¯s final party member and lover finished her song perched on the party¡¯s table, and leaned forward to steal a kiss from each of her three companions, to the roaring applause of every other delver in the room.Applause which almost immediately became somehow muted, along with every other sound coming in from the rest of the room. ¡°Weren¡¯t you all about avoiding attention, Miss Sneaky?¡± Lucy asked with a smile. ¡°Attention from monsters in Labyrinth is not at all same as attention from adoring crowds in pub,¡± Answered the Drab in a thick Russian accent. An accent that was most definitely missing during her performance. ¡°I am Bard and cat now, and both of them are just loving applause.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t believe a word she¡¯s saying Luce,¡± Ed shook his head at Katya¡¯s antics. ¡°I had a nice long talk with babushka today. Our Katya has been like this long before she got her Bard Classshard.¡± ¡°Is rude to reveal poor kitty¡¯s secrets like this,¡± Katya pouted. ¡°How is mysterious sneaky person supposed to keep aura of mystery if people go talking to babushkas all the time?¡± The arrival of a waiter carrying the party¡¯s dinner order forced Katya to get off the table, though she chose to settle in Ingrid¡¯s lap rather than take the chair waiting for her. The bemused hobgoblin, who wasn¡¯t quite as comfortable with public displays of affection as the cat-kin, hesitantly raised a large hand to scratch behind the Drab¡¯s ears, and was rewarded for her efforts by a very loud purr. ¡°Are we all ready to get back to delving tomorrow morning?¡± Ed asked, trying to steer the conversation into a more serious direction. ¡°I¡¯m in Aura Breach from ranking up to Valkyrie,¡± Ingrid answered. ¡°I don¡¯t think I should spend our credits on free essence though. My Lancer Classshard is close enough to max that I can take the reduced gains until I get there.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°I¡¯m good to go,¡± Lucy said, and Katya just nodded her head, eyes closed as she enjoyed her headrub. ¡°Then we just need to decide what to replace the cat-kin with. I¡¯m thinking that since Katya is still going to be in a support and ranged role, we¡¯ll probably want another melee, and since we have the rogue slot filled, we¡¯ll want to go with a full melee combination this time.¡± ¡°Way ahead of you hun,¡± Ingrid smiled at him. ¡°As soon as you told us you gave the cat-kin to Katya, I went to the quartermaster to look for Shards. I¡¯ve got a snake-kin and a Swordsman for you, so we can plan for a naga once it¡¯s ready to rank up.¡± ¡°I see those demonesses left quite an impression on you,¡± Ed leaned left to kiss the smiling hobgoblin. ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining, of course. It¡¯s certainly a good plan.¡± That more or less ended the more serious part of the conversation, and the four turned to enjoying their dinner and each other¡¯s company.
Yekaterina Gregorovna Petrova
Race Cat-kin Class Daggerman Drab Shards 2/2 (9)
Strength 4 Dexterity 15 Wisdom 10
Constitution 6 Agility 11 Intelligence 6
HP 16/16 Mana 44/44
HP regen 0.6/hour Mana regen 12/hour
Shard Level Essence
Living Phantasm NA Sealed
Cat-kin (0) 5 Locked
Bard (0) Invisibility (1) 5 5 Sealed Closed
Drab (1) Manaflow (1) 5 5 Locked Closed
Daggerman (0) Sharpness (2) 5 2 Locked 5665/20000
Butcher (0) 5 Sealed
Toxin (0) 5 Locked
Trapper (1) 3 265/3000
Stealth (1) 4 900/4000
True Sight (1) 5 Locked
Haste (1) 5 Sealed
Pierce (0) 5 Sealed
Chapter 02 - Jazz Claws pt. 2 ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit, that level five Drab ability really makes it easier to talk about things,¡± Lucy said on the way back to the Arctology. With Katya now a permanent part of their party, Ingrid wanted to induce her as a Bj?rnson armsman. And with Matthias as the new arms master and taking a much more active part in managing the armsmen than his predecessor, Katya would have to be formally introduced. The sounds of the bazaar were muted around the party, as if coming from a lot further away than the scant meters separating the party from the nearest stalls. That muting was merely a side effect of Katya¡¯s ability, and anyone who wasn¡¯t included in its effect would only hear garbled gibberish instead of whatever one of the affected party members said.
Drab Tier 1 Level 5 Locked Shunning the attention treasured by most Bards, the Drab chooses instead to use their skills to avoid and misdirect the attention of others. Absolute Ventriloquism: Any sound, spell or attack the Drab makes can be made to appear as if it comes from anywhere within 10 meters/level. +2 Dexterity +2 Wisdom +1 Shard slot, useable for any passive Skillshard Private Party: The Drab chooses up to five targets, and can completely control any sound made by them. The affected targets are immune to the effects of this ability.
¡°It is definitely good ability. I will mute sounds completely when we are in Labyrinth, so we are all the sneaky, but I do not want us to be completely silent in bazaar. People will notice.¡± ¡°Good point, and I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s one I would have thought of.¡± ¡°Is why I get paid big bucks for being sneaky person,¡± Katya winked. When they got to the Arctology, Ingrid and Katya went to talk to Matthias, and Lucy dragged Ed to Ingrid¡¯s suite, where she pushed him to one of the beanbag chairs, settled down in his lap and fixed him with an intense stare. ¡°OK, spill.¡± ¡°What?¡± a confused Ed looked back at her. ¡°You¡¯ve spent the past two nights with Katya, and I want the details.¡± ¡°A gentleman doesn¡¯t kiss and tell, Luce.¡± ¡°I can always ask Katya. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be happy to tell me everything. Of course, it¡¯s Katya so there¡¯s really no telling what sort of tale she¡¯ll choose to spin.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can just imagine her embellishments,¡± Ed groaned. ¡°On second thoughts, maybe I should wait for Katya¡­¡± ¡°OK, OK,¡± Ed raised his hands in surrender before putting them around Lucy and settling down comfortably with the solar drake curled up in his lap. ¡°We were talking in the Pug¡¯s common room, and she was adamant about getting the cat-kin Shard, so we went up to go to her room¡­¡± *** Katya¡¯s room wasn¡¯t actually a part of the Drunken Pug, but was located in a separate wing that was obviously kept for the owner¡¯s family, and until he passed through the door, Ed had no idea what to expect from Katya¡¯s room.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. A large poster of Elvis Presley hang in one corner over a full sized grand piano, painted a bright white, studded with rhinestones and taking up nearly a third of the large room. Another third was taken by a large canopied bed, complete with pink curtains. An open door in the opposite wall lead to a well-used workshop containing a large stationary knife sharpening station next to a writing desk cluttered with hand written musical notes. Katya closed the door behind him and bowed dramatically. ¡°Welcome to my parlor.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Ed smiled and bowed in return. ¡°It definitely suits you.¡± ¡°I will take that as compliment,¡± Katya grinned, and quickly shucked off her shirt and spread her arms wide. ¡°I am ready for large Shard!¡± ¡°That¡¯s really not necessary,¡± Ed groaned, trying his best to keep his eyes aimed above Katya¡¯s chin. ¡°¡¯necessary¡¯ is just different word for ¡®boring¡¯. I am not about necessary. I am about outrageous!¡± Shaking his head at Katya¡¯s shenanigans, Ed summoned the phantasmal cat-kin and transformed it into a large grey Shard. Katya immediately grabbed the Shard and placed its tip between her breasts, then moaned theatrically as she Sliced it. Bright grey light covered the Drab¡¯s body for a few seconds, then receded to leave behind white fur marked with leopard spots. The spots were black on Katya¡¯s head, back and limbs, and shaded to a light grey on her exposed stomach and chest. Leaving her face slightly sharper than it was before the transformation, but clear of any fur. Ed had less than a second¡¯s warning before the newly transformed cat-kin pounced on him. Strong arms and legs wrapped around his shoulders and back, and a loud purr rumbled from Katya¡¯s chest, which was suddenly pressed very closely against his own. *** Lucy was still giggling from Ed¡¯s story when Katya and Ingrid finally joined them, and the conversation soon turned into more serious busyness. ¡°We should probably do a run or two at floors six or seven tomorrow,¡± Ingrid said as she was taking a couple of new Shards out of a desk drawer and handing them to Ed. ¡°The new phantasm will need some essence and a few more Shards before it¡¯s up to speed, and until then we¡¯re down a melee fighter.¡± Ed took the first Shard from Ingrid and summoned a phantasmal worker, then proceeded to Slice the snake-kin Raceshard into it. ¡°You¡¯re probably right. We¡¯ll want at least Sharpness to add to it, and probably Armored Combat, since it won¡¯t be as good at dodging as the cat-kin was.¡± Ingrid handed him a Swordsman Shard. ¡°I¡¯ve got both ready, but we¡¯ll probably want Ambidextrous first, since it¡¯ll unlock both the naga rank up and Blademaster from Swordsman.¡± ¡°So Sharpness in the bonus slot and Ambi when Swordsman is maxed?¡± Ed summoned the new phantasmal snake-kin and Sliced a second Shard into it. ¡°Yeah. Then Armored Combat, and after that we can start ranking it up.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me. I¡¯ll have a look at the rank up trees for both Shards later just to make sure.¡±
Phantasmal Snake-kin Swordsman
Race Snake-Kin Class Swordsman Shards 2/2
Strength 11 Dexterity 1 Wisdom 3
Constitution 9 Agility 2 Intelligence 3
HP 40/40 Mana 9/9
HP regen 1.2/hour Mana regen 6/hour
Shard Level Essence
Snake-kin (0) 1 0/500
Swordsman (0) 1 0/300
Chapter 03 - Woody Blues It was a well-known issue that progress in the Labyrinth slows down drastically the higher you go. Tier zero Shards will take you up to floor five. You¡¯ll want to have tier one Shards for floor five itself, and they¡¯ll be sufficient up to floor ten. Tier two will take you up to floor eighteen, or even twenty if you¡¯ve got a very good group. Tier three will be sufficient up to thirty-five, tier four will get you to forty-two, and tier five will get you up to floor fifty. So far, even tier six Shards have proven insufficient to win through floor fifty. The problem, of course, was that Essence requirements rise faster than Essence gain. A day grinding floor fifty, assuming one can survive, will net a delver ten times as much Essence, on average, as a day grinding floor five. The tier six Shards they¡¯ll be using, however, will require a hundred thousand times the Essence that tier one Shards needed. What it all comes down to is the need to grind. And with House Bj?rnson unwilling to act against Hermes, Ed and co. settled down to some serious grinding. A large clanging sound reverberated through the forest as a thirty meter tall tree raised its large metallic-grey branch and crashed it into Ingrid¡¯s raised shield. Strong as the Valkyrie was, the ironwood ent¡¯s blow staggered her, and she grunted in pain. Bolts of fire and acid flew from behind her, piercing the iron-hard bark of the ent and forcing it back enough for Ingrid to recover. Fire covered arrows and daggers joined the volley of spells, forcing the tree-like monster further back. Bright blue light covered Ingrid briefly, healing injured arm, and she charged at the ent, dismissing her shield mid-charge and cutting at its bark with a flame-covered pole-axe. The incredibly dense wood of the monster prevented the axe from cutting too deeply, but a second later a large hammer slammed into the back of the axe, driving it into the wood and announcing that the phantasmal dvergr had joined the fray. From the other side of the ent, a large Lesser Naga wielding a pair of short swords leaped forward to strike at the monster, scoring a pair of shallow hits and quickly drawing back before any kind of counterattack could be attempted. The enraged ent flailed at its tormentors, but the only one in range was Ingrid, and she was too close for it to bring its full strength to bear, and her shield blocked its attacks easily. The heavily armored monster took a lot of time to fell, but eventually the concentrated fire based attacks wore it down, and the delvers scrambled back to escape the falling tree. Ed went to the fallen ent and pulled a Stoneskin Shard from its bark, while Ingrid started hacking at it to get at its heartwood, which the House¡¯s craftsmen would surely be able to use.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°That makes forty eight of them today,¡± Lucy noted. ¡°This floor should be over soon.¡± ¡°Is good thing too,¡± Katya answered. ¡°We are ready to move on to next floor, I think. Last two runs were too easy.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that! The Labyrinth will hear you, and who knows what it¡¯ll throw at us.¡± ¡°She has a point though,¡± Ed joined, placing the Shard in his backpack. ¡°We¡¯ve been on floor twelve for the past week, and we¡¯re strong enough now to move higher.¡± It¡¯s been two weeks since the battle with Kevin in the eleventh floor. They¡¯ve made a quick run through the eighth floor to level up the new phantasm, and as soon as they got it firmly into tier one, moved on to farming floor eleven, and later floor twelve. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we aren¡¯t,¡± Lucy shook her head. ¡°I just don¡¯t think we should say things like ¡®this is too easy¡¯ out loud.¡± ¡°You are being mood killer. What do Chinese say, ¡®may you live in interesting times¡¯, yes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a curse, Katya. Interesting times are not supposed to be a good thing.¡± ¡°Bah. What do Chinese know, anyway?¡± ¡°If you two are done playing,¡± Ingrid interjected, moving towards the party with a heart shaped piece of wood in her hand, ¡°we should get going. We¡¯re still not out of this floor, and we shouldn¡¯t let our guards down.¡± Katya blew a kiss at the Hobgoblin, and slinked away deeper into the forest, fading away for sight as she activated her Invisibility Shard. ¡°Let¡¯s give the Cheshire kitty a couple of minutes head start, and then follow,¡± Ed leaned in to kiss Lucy¡¯s cheek. ¡°And I think we need to take the rest of the day and tomorrow off after we¡¯re out of this floor. We¡¯ve been going non-stop for two weeks, and I think it¡¯s starting to wear on us.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think a rest day will do us good.¡± The party turned to follow their cat-kin scout, and a few more minutes of walking brought them to what was obviously the boss for their current floor. The huge redwood ent stood at least sixty meters tall, and stood in the middle of a large clearing. It hadn¡¯t noticed the party yet, and Ed called everyone back far enough away to talk without the huge monsters hearing them. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to take a hit from that thing and remain standing,¡± Ingrid stated. ¡°And there¡¯s no way our casters can get into bolt range,¡± Ed added. ¡°Those branches will reach them easily.¡± ¡°Storms have enough range to keep us out of its reach.¡± ¡°Yeah, but we don¡¯t know how fast it can move, and Ing can¡¯t hold it away from you.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°We cheese it. Get Luce and the fox on the horses, and cast storm from above its range.¡± Ed summoned two of the winged cloud horses, and Lucy and the phantasmal fox-kin were quickly mounted and took off, settling fifty meters above the tall ent¡¯s treetop. The monster was easily big enough that the two phantasmal storms hit it without even a little overlap, and it bellowed in rage as it felt the fire damage from the chromatic spells. It didn¡¯t take long for the ent to locate its tiny tormentors, and it was only Lucy¡¯s instinctive dive that saved her from the stream of pointed acorns that suddenly sprayed in her direction. Chapter 04 - Woody Blues pt. 2 The phantasmal kitsune was less fortunate than Lucy, and the spray of acorns ripped through it. Lucy flew further away from the ent, but couldn¡¯t return to the party without revealing their location to the huge monster. ¡°Damn it!¡± Ed cursed before resummoning the kitsune. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that thing to have a ranged attack.¡± ¡°If Lucy was here, she¡¯d tell you how the Labyrinth hates it when you try to cheat,¡± Ingrid joked. ¡°Probably. At least she got out of range before it could attack her again.¡± ¡°Yeah, but we still need a way to fight this thing.¡± ¡°I think we should drop tree in hole,¡± Katya joined in. ¡°Have dwarf dig big hole, and then Lucy can lure timber over until it falls, and we can attack it from out of hole.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll still fire those acorns at us from the hole,¡± Ingrid argued. ¡°Is why you have big slab of metal strapped to arm, no?¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth a try, at least,¡± Ed decided. ¡°Can you let Lucy in on the plan, Katya? She¡¯ll need to keep the ent busy until we¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°I will let her know,¡± Katya agreed, and continued talking, though her voice wasn¡¯t reaching Ed any more. He instructed the dvergr to start digging a large hole, but to leave a thin ceiling above it, so that the ent wouldn¡¯t notice. It took half an hour for the phantasm to dig a hole large enough, and Ed could see that Lucy¡¯s mount was starting to tire towards the end. The party quickly hid away with the hole between them and the ent, and Lucy stopped circling around the monster and flew straight towards them, with the boss following behind her. The ent was faster than Ed would have expected, and he quickly realized that trying to attack it on the ground would have been even worse than he expected. The monster¡¯s speed, however, worked against it when it stepped on the thin layer of earth above the dvergr¡¯s hole, and it toppled into the trap when the ground broke beneath it. Ingrid quickly ran to the edge of the hole, and planted her shield in the ground to provide cover for the phantasmal kitsune, who cast its chromatic storm and then huddled behind the shield. Ed could hear the enraged bellows of the ent, as well as the rapid clanging sounds of its acorns hitting the shield, and as soon as Lucy landed, he joined Ingrid with a shield of his own, and Lucy¡¯s storm joined the kitsune¡¯s. The gigantic tree held on for long minutes, and the party had to move backwards when its thrashing started to crumble the edges of the hole, but eventually even the great ent succumbed to the chromatic storms, enhanced as they were by the Channeler class both of the sorcerers ranked up into, and the Empower Skillshard Lucy picked up when Channeler reached level three.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Channeler Tier 1 Level 5 Sealed Some sorcerers focus on the flow of magic through their own body and the world around them, learning to modify their spells by directly altering their flow Channel: double the mana cost of a spell to increase one of its characteristics by 50%. Decrease the cost of a spell by 25% to reduce one characteristic by 50% +1 Shard slot, useable for a magic related skill +2 intelligence +2 wisdom
Empower Tier 2 Level 3 0/30000 Increase the damage of all spells by 15% per level
¡°This was far too much effort for what we gained from this run,¡± Lucy mentioned after Ingrid finished cutting out the boss¡¯s heartwood. ¡°We could have done two runs in the time this floor took us.¡± ¡°You are one who refuses to retreat when we hit bad biome,¡± Katya answered. ¡°I was all for getting out when we saw first ent.¡± ¡°Actually, we¡¯re getting a decent haul from this run,¡± Ingrid interjected before Lucy could answer. ¡°We¡¯re low on essence gains today, but these heartwoods would get us a more than decent amount of credits back home. Granddad can use them for his machines, and they¡¯re good for some of Uncle Olav¡¯s high-end potions.¡± ¡°Either way, it¡¯s time we had out,¡± Lucy said. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted, and could really do with a day of rest at this point.¡± The door out of the Labyrinth was located in the clearing previously occupied by the boss ent, and the party actually had to walk into the tunnel dug by the monster¡¯s roots before they could reach it. The four passed eagerly through the door, expecting to find themselves on the stairway back in the bazaar. Instead, they found themselves stepping on a light grey cloudscape. To their left, tall mountains made of the darker grey of storm clouds loomed in the distance, and to their right the cloudscape rolled for kilometers, ending in a dense forest filled with strange, grey trees. Directly in front of the party, however, rose a very familiar castle, sitting behind a moat that was nothing more, nor less, then a break in the cloudscape, leaving a long and ultimately fatal drop to the ground below. The party¡¯s arrival caused a commotion among the guards manning the castle, and before long a group of knights riding winged horses left the fortress. Their leader, a tall and slender knight clad in dark grey armor and carrying a long lance with a jagged, lightning-like tip dismounted in front of the party and removed their helmet, revealing a woman with hair like a white summer cloud and light grey eyes. ¡°Your arrival is timely as ever, Sir Fergusson. My father will be delighted to hear that you have arrived to assist us.¡± Chapter 05 - Knights in White Satin For a moment, Ed found it impossible to place the woman standing in front of him. It¡¯s been less than a month since he last saw her, but it seemed that she was at least five years older than the sixteen year old girl he¡¯d last seen standing next to the king of the cloud kingdom. Even more jarring was the change between the carefree and elegantly dressed princess and the armored warrior before him. Fortunately, Katya answered just in time to cover for his gaffe. ¡°It is pleasure to see you again, Princess Nef¨¦li,¡± The drab said as she dropped into a respectful curtesy. The princess looked confused when the cat-kin started to speak, but by the end of the sentence, her eyes widened and she leaned in to look more closely. ¡°Is that you, Miss Petrova? Please forgive me for asking this, but were you not human before?¡± ¡°Is quite all right, Your Highness. I was indeed human last time we were in your kingdom.¡± ¡°Fascinating. How is it possible for a human to change into a beast-kin like this?¡± ¡°Surely you know about Shards and how they work?¡± ¡°I have heard about Shards from the delvers who passed through our lands before, but they never explained what the Shards are or how they work, and my own people have never seen one before. But this is not the time to enter this discussion. Come, friends of the cloud kingdom. The King needs to be told about your arrival.¡± The princess led the party into the castle, and directly to the king¡¯s council chamber. As a knight of the kingdom and his retinue, the party was allowed to keep their weapons with them. The king was staring intently at what looked like a map of the cloudscape, and after standing at the entrance for a few seconds, the princess coughed politely to get his attention. ¡°Is this important, Nef¨¦li?¡± asked the king without even raising his eyes. ¡°I have to find the pass the cyclopes are using to raid us. We can¡¯t afford to lose any more of the herds.¡± ¡°I know, Father. But this is important. I¡¯ve found us some help!¡± At this, the king finally looked up. If the few weeks since Ed had last seen the princess had matured her by five years, then those same weeks seem to have aged her father by ten. His face was heavily lined, and his thick grey hair was now completely white and considerably thinner. But the king¡¯s stance was still tall and proud, and his dark grey eyes sparkled with keen intelligence.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°What is this? Have you finally decided to return to us, Sir Fergusson?¡± ¡°Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I did tell you that I and my friends had responsibilities outside the Labyrinth, and that we couldn¡¯t remain here.¡± ¡°So you did, but I did not expect you to stay away for five years.¡± ¡°It hasn¡¯t been five years for us, sire. Less than a month has passed since we left your castle.¡± ¡°Be that as it may,¡± the king waved his hand to dismiss the matter, ¡°you have come to us at a most fortuitous time. My kingdom is under attack by cyclopean raiders, who come out of the Stormcloud Mountains to steal our cattle and burn our fields. I would have you assistance in finding the source of these attacks and stopping them.¡± ¡°We would be happy to assist you,¡± Ingrid joined the conversation. ¡°But please tell us, where did the mountains come from? I don¡¯t recall seeing them the last time we were here.¡± ¡°You are not from the cloudscape, so you would have no way of knowing, but the clouds are always in motion, and parts of the land that were once months of flight away can find themselves close enough to step from one to the other. The mountains appeared next to us six months ago, and the raiders started to attack us a mere week after.¡± ¡°What can we do to help?¡± ¡°As delvers, each of you is stronger than one of my own soldiers, and as a group you can achieve things that would take my whole army otherwise. The cyclopes have a base, or even a settlement, somewhere in the mountains. I want you to locate it, and if possible destroy it.¡± ¡°Which would let you keep your soldiers here to protect the rest of the kingdom,¡± Ed finished. ¡°Indeed. I should warn you though that the winds in the Stormcloud Mountains are vicious, and even our cloud horses can¡¯t fly in them. Otherwise my scouts would have located the camp months ago.¡± ¡°It shall be as you command, Your Majesty. We¡¯ll head out into the mountains on the morning.¡± The princess called for a servant to lead the party to a guest suite, and the four took turns bathing before settling down to dinner. ¡°Well, there goes our rest day,¡± Ingrid said as the party sat down in front of a generous selection of cloudscape foods. ¡°Yeah, I was kind of looking forward to a lazy day. I must say though, I did miss the unique flavor of food in the cloud kingdom,¡± Lucy said after helping herself to a large portion of roasted Raij¨±. ¡°The Raij¨± you can get in the bazaar is simply not the same.¡± ¡°Must be your dragon palate,¡± Katya looked suspiciously at a piece of grey bread. ¡°I do not find taste of lightning in my food to be at all pleasant.¡± ¡°I find that hard to believe coming from the girl who actually adds tabasco to the Pug¡¯s flying pig hot wings.¡± ¡°I will have you know that Babushka¡¯s hot wings are absolute delicacy!¡± ¡°The one time I tried eating those I almost breathed fire. And that was before I was a dragon.¡± ¡°You would not recognize good food if it bit you in tongue,¡± Katya said haughtily. ¡°But enough about food. There is one serious question that needs answer here!¡± ¡°And what question is that?¡± asked Ed, knowingly playing the straight man for Katya. The Drab set aside her almost untouched plate and pulled Ed back from the table in order to straddle him. ¡°Does this count as entrance to Mile High Club?¡± Chapter 06 - Knights in White Satin pt. 2 They left the castle early in the morning and headed towards the mountains. Ed was riding on one of the cloudhorses, with Katya and Lucy sharing the other and Ingrid riding on her own winged horse. The flight towards the mountains went peacefully, but as they got into the foothills, the winds began to intensify and before long the party found that they had to land and continue on the ground. A couple of hours into the mountains themselves, the sound of galloping hoofbeats from behind caused the party to stop and prepare for battle. The rider, an armored knight riding a cloudhorse, stopped in front of the battle ready delvers and held their hands up to indicate they were unarmed, before removing their helmet and revealing the face of Princess Nef¨¦li. ¡°Your Highness?¡± Ed asked in confusion. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming with you,¡± the princess answered. ¡°I¡¯m not sure this is a good idea.¡± ¡°I am not the young girl you met the last time you¡¯ve been to our kingdom, Sir Fergusson. I am a fully trained battlemage, and it is my duty as a member of the royal family and a knight of the kingdom to protect my people.¡± Ed looked at the princess¡¯s determined gaze, and bowed in his saddle. ¡°Very well, Your Highness. But I must insist that you follow my leadership while we¡¯re out on this mission.¡± The princess took a deep breath while Ed was talking, clearly intending to argue her case further, then deflated as she heard Ed¡¯s answer. ¡°Just like that?¡± she asked in a bewildered voice. ¡°I was sure I¡¯d have to listen to a whole lecture about how princesses shouldn¡¯t be risking their lives, and then to argue about why I should still come with you.¡± ¡°We¡¯re firm believers in a person¡¯s right to decide their own path where I come from. Wouldn¡¯t dream of telling an adult woman what she should or shouldn¡¯t do.¡± ¡°Besides,¡± Katya added, ¡°Ingrid here is practically princess herself. Never let it stop her from doing the stupid things.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Ingrid cried in mock anger. ¡°You¡¯re as much a princess as I am, Miss Petrova.¡± ¡°Bupkis. Babushka is not part of stupid resolution, so I am not princess.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°And yet she can probably raise more followers than any two of the Five.¡± Katya opened her mouth to answer, but Ingrid wasn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°And your accent is slipping. ¡®Bupkis¡¯ isn¡¯t Russian.¡± Katya muttered something under her breath that Ed wasn¡¯t really sad he couldn¡¯t hear, he turned his attention back to the now even more bewildered Nef¨¦li. ¡°How can they be so¡­¡± ¡°Silly?¡± Ed supplied. ¡°Light hearted,¡± she answered. ¡°We¡¯re riding into battle against giants, and they¡¯re cracking jokes at each other?¡± ¡°Have you ever been in battle before, Your Highness?¡± Ed asked gently. ¡°Not¡­ really. I¡¯ve been training since the day you brought my Aella back, but Father never let me join when the knights engaged the various enemies and monsters.¡± ¡°And I bet he doesn¡¯t know you¡¯re here with us now, right?¡± The princess turned her eyes away in shame, refusing to answer. ¡°That¡¯s between you and your father, and not my business,¡± Ed answered eventually. ¡°But to answer your question, battle is stressful to the mind as well as the body. Humor is just one way of dealing with that stress, both before and after the fighting. There are other ways to cope, but most of them aren¡¯t things we can do on the road.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± she answered hesitantly ¡°I did see that some of the knights would often joke before battle, but I never managed to get a straight answer from any of them.¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to do this, Your Highness? This is going to be dangerous, and my abilities won¡¯t shield you the way they do my companions.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Nef¨¦li¡¯s gaze firmed up. ¡°I need to do this, for myself and my people.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Ed said and signaled to the rest of the party that it was time to continue. ¡°And¡­¡± The princess began, and Ed turned back to listen to her. ¡°Call me Nef¨¦li, please. I¡¯m not a princess out here, just a knight working with you to protect my kingdom.¡± ¡°I can do that,¡± Ed answered with a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s move on, Nef¨¦li.¡± Katya moved her horse closer to Ed¡¯s when they were back on the way. ¡°You are hopeless, Ed. That was perfect moment for ¡®as you wish¡¯.¡± ¡°Yeah, well. Excuse me, Princess.¡± Lucy, who was still riding behind Katya, giggled. ¡°You walked into that one, Katya.¡± ¡°Philistine,¡± the drab replied. ¡°Nyet kulturni.¡± ¡°On a more serious note,¡± Lucy sobered up, ¡°Are you sure this is a good idea? It¡¯s bound to get us in trouble with the king, and it looks like this place is going to be more important to us than we suspected.¡± ¡°Am I sure? No. But I¡¯d rather not get into a serious argument with her when we¡¯re in the Labyrinth and in what is obviously a Questshard mission. We¡¯re bound to bring the cyclopes down on ourselves if we do.¡± ¡°We will not be able to convince her to go back anyway,¡± Katya added. ¡°Girl is deep in rebellious princess trope, and may well have gone into mountains on her own if we decided to not let her come with us.¡± ¡°That may be,¡± Lucy countered, ¡°but most current theories are the Labyrinth dwellers are fully conscious beings. She¡¯s not just a computer program following a trope.¡± ¡°Maybe so, but Labyrinth is still built around human stories, and that one is recurrent theme in stories, and is probably important part of character.¡± Ed turned his horse away from the cat-kin and drake, letting them continue their debate in peace. Chapter 07 - Knights in White Satin pt. 3 A couple of hours later, the trail became too steep for the horses, and the party dismounted to continue on foot. Ed and Ingrid dismissed their respective mounts, and Nef¨¦li sent her own cloudhorse back to her father¡¯s castle. Their progress slowed even further due to the rough terrain, and the party members soon found themselves walking single file through the narrow trail and struggling to climb over fallen boulders and ropes strung over deep chasms. Which provided an excellent opportunity for the mountain dwellers to attack. The first indication of trouble was a thunderclap, which accompanied a bolt of lightning striking Ingrid, who was leading the party. The Valkyrie easily shrugged off the attack and started searching for the source, but a second bolt hit her before she thought to look up towards the near-vertical cliff. A pair of large yellow goats were perched on an astonishingly narrow shelf of rock over the party, and Ingrid located them just in time to see one strike the rock with its horns, which fired a third lightning bolt in her direction. ¡°Tanngrisneer!¡± she yelled at her companions, and conjured a shield made of wood and leather to block the next attack. ¡°Watch out for lightning bolts!¡± Ed¡¯s rifle was slung back over his shoulder to leave his hands free for climbing, and by the time he brought it forward and aimed, all three spell casters were already striking at the thunder goats. The beasts¡¯ thick coat of wool provided a decent amount of protection against Lucy¡¯s Firebolts and the Kitsune¡¯s Acid Bolts, but even more surprising was the fact that when Nef¨¦li fired a lightning bolt at the goats, it seemed to ignore their resistance and cause more damage than the other casters¡¯ attacks. The goats changed their tactics after that and leaped from their perch to try and gore their enemies, and were met by a very annoyed Ingrid, flanked by the phantasmal naga and dvergr. A shield bash stunned one of them long enough for the party to concentrate on its mate, and it only took a few more seconds for the combination of melee and magical attacks to defeat both goats. ¡°Tanngrisneer?¡± Ed asked curiously once the adrenaline rush started to fade. ¡°I don¡¯t remember hearing about those, and these look like normal Raij¨± goats.¡± ¡°Granddad named them after Thor¡¯s goat Tanngrisnir,¡± Ingrid answered. ¡°But when more people started entering the Labyrinth, they wanted a more standardized and less fanciful naming method, so every lightning modified beast type was just put down as Raij¨±. But he kept using the more fanciful names among friends and family, so that¡¯s the first name that comes to my mind.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Tanngrisneer is much better name,¡± Katya said and started skinning the goats. ¡°Names are important, and banality of masses is of great concern to people who make living from telling tales.¡± ¡°We just call them ¡®goats¡¯,¡± Nef¨¦li added. ¡°Just like our horses are simply horses. These ones look similar to the domesticated ones our farmers raise and that the cyclopes like to carry off on their raids. More aggressive than the ones we raise though.¡± ¡°Interesting. I never thought of it from point of view of dwellers. But it does make sense for goats to just be goats to you.¡± ¡°I was wondering, Nef¨¦li,¡± Lucy joined the conversation. ¡°How come your lightning bolts could hurt them? We¡¯ve tried lightning based attacks and they always seemed to be either useless against Raij¨± or even actively heal them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean. I was just casting mage-bolt, which is the first spell our battlemages learn. And they always work against beasts.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really interesting. It¡¯s like air is the default element here and acts like physical damage in the rest of the Labyrinth.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re really confusing me. There¡¯s no such thing as air element. The three elements are cloud, water and ice. Mage-bolt just does normal damage, just like our weapons.¡± This got Ingrid back into the conversation. ¡°Granddad is going to love this. A whole different elemental system based on water phases with lightning replacing physical? We¡¯ll lose him for at least a year when he hears about it.¡± ¡°What did I say?¡± Nef¨¦li asked in bewilderment. ¡°What are phases of water and what does it have to do with ice and cloud?¡± ¡°Never mind,¡± Ed answered firmly. ¡°We can talk about this until smoke comes out of our ears when we get back to the castle, but we need to focus on our surroundings for now. It¡¯s enough to know that Nef¨¦li¡¯s spells work on native monsters.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Ingrid said regretfully. ¡°But I¡¯ll want a long talk about this when we get back. And probably to have some of your scholars join in too, since I doubt battlemages go for deep theoretical studies.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got that right,¡± the princess agreed. ¡°We leave that to the sages.¡± With the topic of different elemental systems laid to at least a temporary rest, the party continued up the mountain. The goat attacks became more and more frequent the higher up the mountains they climbed, but it looked like there wasn¡¯t anything else living in that part of the pass, and certainly no sign of any cyclopes could be found. They made camp that evening in a small cave the phantasmal dvergr carved out of the mountain, and closed the entrance behind them to prevent anything hostile from attacking during the night. The small air holes left in the wall weren¡¯t enough for the cold breeze to enter, and the night was spent in a comfortably warm campsite. Out of courtesy towards the princess, the party members each slept in his or her own sleeping bag, though Katya did offer to teach Nef¨¦li about ¡®Other methods for the coping¡¯. An offer which was hastily declined by the suddenly red-faced battlemage.