They had returned to the inn; Jazmel flicked the owner a white gold coin and asked him to not let anyone in for a few hours. The innkeeper nodded and winked, Jazmel followed Sadé up to her room and she beckoned him in, he hesitated but she waved him in.
DING!
SYSTEM WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT
GAIDEN GAZEN HAS OVERCOME THE 100TH FLOOR!
A NEW MONARCH HAS ENTERED THE LABYRINTH!
Jazmel studied the system notice for a moment and looking at Sadé she nodded, she had seen it too.
“I wonder how long it will take us to reach that floor.” she said, Jazmel was unsure if it was for him or if she was speaking for himself, but he chose to respond still.
“I am in no rush, but I hope that we face it together.” He said and just as he said the words, he realised just how romantic they sounded. She hid her face, and he turned away not trying to meet her eyes.
“Come, I need to go through the tier tribulation, and I don’t want to do it alone.” She said and he nodded and stepped into her room.
“I didn’t even see what you bought, what did you pick for your tribulation?” he asked, quite curious, he hadn’t seen her tier up before and now he was about to see what things she had picked.
She sat in the middle of her bed and pulled three items from her ring and laid them in front of her. One of them was a gem that crackled with power; he searched the Mana in it and thunder bristled; trapped within the gem. It felt like a storm locked in a cage and he almost jumped when it fizzed against the gem again.
“That is a thunder stone, trapped within it is a pure thunderstorm. I am going to use it try and elevate my abilities.” She explained and he nodded.
“I am not sure if I told you about this, but when I did my seeker trials. There was one of us who came out first in all the trials. He came from the Kaminari clan and is said to be their greatest genius since the clan head. I met him again in the pyramid. We fought a blood witch, and he used a skill like your thunder crown.” He told her and then explained just how powerful the skill was, she seemed a little downtrodden, but he motivated her telling her ranker would open the door to greater abilities, she would be able to merge skills now.
The next item was a small figurine, a totem of a fire breathing fox or wolf. He couldn’t make it out, but he could tell that inside it was Mana that had attuned to fire, but it was purer than that. It felt like a single flame, and he realised she was attuning her mind and spirit to her two traits. She had thoroughly thought about this, and he now realised he should probably start trying to attune his own characteristics to a Mana too. But he could do that later, after all he would be focused on levelling up and trying to find other monarch tier items.
“This is a good item, both of them are. You are going to develop as a ranker tier very strongly.” He complimented and as was her way, when she was nervous; she tucked her hair behind her ear. He loved watching her do that, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
He noticed the final item, a twig; a small branch and when he picked it up he was overcome with feelings of calm and serenity. He looked at the branch, using his divine eyes that allowed him to see the Mana of things and the amount of Mana that was brimming within the branch was so powerful that he had to shield his eyes. But having seen the Mana, the feelings he had felt suddenly grew even more intense and he felt a single tear fall from his right eye.
“Are you alright?” she said, leaning up to wipe his tear and he laughed and nodded his head.
“Sorry, but the Mana in this overwhelmed me. I have never seen anything like this before, what is it?” he asked, and she nodded understanding his emotions as well.
“It is a branch of the Eldar tree, a tree that only grows in old elven woods. I think it will reinforce my body, as I am only elfin; half elf. I do not have all the attributes and that is something I think might be holding me back a little.” She explained, he was amazed how thoughtful her choices had been, he had picked things he had deemed would make him stronger but in truth, he had not considered compatibility and how that would change him in the future, but he knew now, he knew better now, and he would act accordingly.
“So here it goes!” she said and without hesitating, she began the tier tribulation. The first item she took in was the fox hound figurine, it seemed to rise up and once it had it gleamed, shining with a bright orange flame. Jazmel wondered if this is what happened to him when he was undergoing a tribulation. The figurine seemed to shine and then with a flash it disappeared into her mind, He knew it went there as it flew to the centre of her forehead and then disappeared. After a few moments, the orange flame emblazoned on her forehead and then disappeared again she had completed the mind part of the tier tribulation.
Next she pulled the thunder gem into her spirit and her back arched with thunder; she bit down and grit her teeth as her spine grew rigid with the ionic energies of the storm the gem had released. She was under duress; the thunder stone had been stronger than she had thought, and she screamed as another flash of thunder hit her spirit and arced through her body. He didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t interrupt her tier tribulation. He was unsure what would happen if he stopped it, but he knew it would be dire. She yelped a cry of pain again and he almost grabbed her, but he stopped himself and watched as her crown formed above her head, rotating, and spinning with gained speed as it drew the stray thunder strikes from her body into itself. the crown was growing in strength, he had not noticed it before but now he was studying it. he could see that it had only had three prongs in the crown before but now that it was spinning and growing in strength, another two prongs had been added. It now bore five in total; he tried to remember how many Alan had; had in his. But he couldn’t picture it again, she seemed to have the thunderstorm under control as the pain she had been showing in her face no longer shown and she now looked at peace and her crown had stopped spinning, instead it faded away after its upgrade.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Finally the last item left in her tribulation was the Eldar tree branch and it condensed into a single drop of tree sap. He watched it and all the Mana he had seen in the branch still remained. It had not lost any of its brilliance and he watched as it felt on the crown of her head. It instantly covered her, it merged with her body and touched all of her at the same time. He watched as her ears sharpened, growing about an inch at the tips, her hair grew darker; more like her mothers and it grew longer too, curled tresses of stray hair were darkened purple, and he watched as it fell down her back; she usually kept it in one long braid, but her hair had broken free from that and flowed long, reaching her hips now.
She opened her eyes and exhaled long and slowly.
“I feel strong.” She said and he laughed, laughed at that feeling, and knowing exactly what she meant.
“Let’s go and get something to eat.” He said and offering her a hand, he pulled her up from the bed. She rose up and noticed her hair, she looked at it confused but he simply shrugged. She quickly began to braid it up into one long braid and when she was done she realised it had now reached the back of her belt. She sighed and reaching up, she began to tie it up into a bun.
“It will get in the way of a fight.” She explained and as she finished, her little fox leapt from her ring and landed at her feet, she reached down and picked it up kissing the top of its head. Jazmel didn’t think anything of it and led the way. They made their way down the steps and as they were about to ask the inn keeper to serve them, Jazmel could see a group of seekers at the front questioning him.
“We know he is staying here!” one shouted at the inn keeper who was doing his best to look unabashed, but when he noticed Jazmel he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Young master.” The inn keeper uttered, and the group turned and seeing Jazmel and Sadé, stepped forward. Jazmel didn’t move yet but with his eyes he scrutinised them and he felt his Mana trickle into the glare of the drake title. They weren’t enthralled but they stopped their approach.
There were six of them, four men and two women. One of the women stepped forward; clearly not fearful of him but wary all the same. She wore armour that looked light and agile; Jazmel could make out the wind spirits that had been etched into the armour and he wondered if that gave her a skill in use.
“We come in peace; we just want to talk.” She said.
“Talk about what?” he asked, not stepping down from the steps but blocking their approach with his body.
“Some saw what you did on the wall and how you beat that drake on your own. We would like to negotiate with you.” She said, stepping back with her arms up and palms facing Jazmel showing she meant him no harm.
“We want to see if you will join our clan.” She said.
“What clan is this?” Sadé asked over his shoulder and the women looked at her and then back at Jazmel.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Sadé. I was on the leaderboard too.” She said and Jazmel bit back a grin at the tone Sadé used.
“Yes, we saw; you have two traits!” the woman exclaimed, and Jazmel wondered how they had been watching them so intensely.
“We are a small guild that is about to upgrade to a clan, and we are trying to bring in good prospects to allow us to grow faster and stronger.” The woman explained.
It was a clever idea and Jazmel had planned to do the same himself, not to become a clan. But to recruit and allow the retainers and members to be more independent. But he had only just left the outpost, they had fought that beast tide for almost a day, but he had not known just how the others were doing, in truth he had planned to send messages to each group to see how things were going.
“We already belong to a faction.” He explained and the woman cursed silently and shook her head.
“Is it someone we know? We might be able to offer better rewards.” The woman urged and Jazmel simply waved that away and shook his head.
“I am the faction leader of the black wing faction and we both belong to it; we have other members who are also just as powerful as us.” He said, trying to garner how they would respond to that.
“The black wing faction… I haven’t heard of it, but if what you say is true. We would like to offer friendship.” She said, offering her hand. Jazmel shook it and a notice popped up.
DING!
VICE LEADER OF THE DIVINE FLAME GUILD HAS SENT YOU A FRIEND REQUEST
…
RANKER TIER I SONIA
…
WILL YOU ACCEPT?
Y/N?
He accepted; more allies were never a problem for him. She accepted and nodding she waved her goodbyes and hurried out with her men, not before paying the inn keeper some coins for the disturbance. He came over and pleaded with Jazmel in apology, he waved that away and thanked him for his apologies but asked him to bring out the dishes of the day, they would be eating and leaving after.
The inn keeper left to bring out the food and he and Sadé sat waiting. While they waited he sent an origami swan to Patton and then one to Mary to see how things were going for the group. Sadé told him she sent one to Timone and was waiting for them to see how things were going, he nodded and agreed it would be good to see how the others were doing.
He imagined that the others had made it to ranker or were near enough and close enough to do so. But he wondered how they were doing too. He sent another message, and this one was to Tango, simply telling him he had reached Ranker tier now and was still pushing deeper into the labyrinth.
After a few moments, the inn keeper and two helpers brought out assorted dishes of fish, chicken, and some other meats that Jazmel couldn’t tell what they were; he did notice the small Mana that seemed to dwindle inside the food, and he realised that they were labyrinth creatures that had been cooked.
A jug had been left on their table and he poured for both he and Sadé, he raised his glass to congratulate her tier tribulation and she waved him away quietly shushing him and looking around to see if anyone else noticed. He drank from his glass and a system notice pinged.
DING!
TIER I BUCKLEBERRY WINE CONSUMED!
PERCEPTION HAS BEEN DULLED FOR 15 SECONDS
He was shocked by the notice and then laughed with realisation; the system was telling him he was drunk! He drank another sum and the notice pinged again, but he dismissed it quickly placing the glass down he bit into the food and more notices popped up, but he dismissed them, he wanted to just enjoy the meal he was eating with Sadé.