After returning to the outpost, Jazmel had returned to his rooms to look over what he had gained from his latest entry into the labyrinth.
Name: Jazmel
Level: 67
Species: Tyrant*
Rank: Ranker Tier I
Class: Sword Scion
Trait: HEART OF THE SWORD (BORN TRAIT)
Tempered body; Domineering tyrant
Health: 3610/3610
Stamina: 2722/2722
Mana: 2440/2440
STR:114(+5) PER:115
VIT:117 END:114(+3)
INT:117 WIL:116
AGL:110 DEX:115
Skills:
* Cleave (tier II)
* Fall of the black raven (tier II)
* Sword Maelstrom (tier I)
* Sunder (tier I)
* Lacerate (tier I)
Title(s):
FIEND BANE (ACTIVE)
PETRIFYING GLARE OF THE DRAKE (ACTIVE)
SERPENT SLAYER
DEMON SLAYER
AWAKENER (PASSIVE)
Unused Stat points: 1
131X PLATINUM COINS
82X WHITE GOLD COINS
4X GOLD COINS
Item(s):
TIER II 2X COLD IRON ORE
TIER I 1X GREATER GRAVE IRON ORE
2/3 PIECES OF THE PLAQUE
TIER II BRANCH OF A TREE
TIER II SEED OF MIRETE
DWARVEN COIN
TIER RANK UP TOKEN
TIER III TUNIC OF TUMERIN
3X TIER I HEALTH POTIONS
5X TIER I STAMINA POTIONS
8X TIER I MANA POTIONS
10X TIER II HEALTH POTIONS
10X TIER II STAMINA POTIONS
10X TIER II MANA POTIONS
TIER II ARMOUR OF THE STEADFAST
TIER II BRUXA CORE
TIER III BREASTPLATE OF THE DRAKE
TIER III MOON LOTUS FLOWER
TIER III BOG HAG MUCUS SAC
TIER III SWAMP WITCH MIASMA POTION
PRIMORDIAL CORE SHARD
X5 TIER II ROCK SALAMANDER FANGS
X9 TIER II ROCK SALAMANDER SKIN
SKILL RUNE
TIER I MAGELLANIC MEMORY MOULD
COMPANION: NIGHT DRAGON
LEVEL 8
PARTY:
5/5
BAEK LVL 113
He looked at his skills and pondered, they were strong. Tier II was just beginning to refine the actual skill, but he just didn’t use sword maelstrom in battle, it was his weakest skill. It didn’t go with his other skills, and he was wondering how to change it. then he remembered he had the skill rune.
Skills:
* Cleave (tier II)
* Fall of the black raven (tier II)
* Sword Maelstrom (tier I)
* Sunder (tier I)
* Lacerate (tier I)
He took the skill rune and cracking it the system chimed for him.
DING!
YOU HAVE USED YOUR SKILL RUNE; WILL YOU LEARN THE SKILL?
ROAR OF THE REVENANT DRAGON?
Jazmel didn’t think the skill fit, but he was interested in the strength of it, so instead he decided to sunder sword maelstrom and add the skills together. The system read his mind, picturing what he was trying to do and leapt in to add a hand.
SUNDER SWORD MAELSTROM?
Y/N?
He agreed and he watched the two skills swirl and try to merge together. There weren’t harmony, he could feel it, they clashed and crackled as they tried to form some sort of connection. Soon the system intervened and threaded the two skills through one another.
DING!
DRAGON MOVEMENT!
LEARNED!
Jazmel smiled at that; the sword move sounded like it had been made for Daishinkan, but he knew it would be something great. He smiled a little and then an idea flitted in his mind, he sought out the tier rank up token and held it in his thoughts to see if the system would understand.
DING!
TIER RANK UP TOKEN RECOGNISED; DO YOU WISH TO USE IT ON THIS STILL?
Y/N?
Jazmel agreed and the system took the token from within his ring and shattered it over his skill. Watching the skill evolve before his eyes.
DING!
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOUR SKILL DRAGON MOVEMENT HAS BEEN TIERED UP WITH THE TIER RANK UP TOKEN
…
DRAGON MOVEMENT HAS BECOME GREAT RUMBLING DRAGON!
…
Jazmel felt at peace, which had worked out better than he had thought, and the system even agreed, it would seem.
DING!
YOU HAVE USED A TIER RANK UP TOKEN ON A SKILL RUNE!
EXP ACCRUED!
…
Jazmel smiled at that, that was truly a reward worth having. He looked at his skills again.
Skills:
* Cleave (tier II)
* Fall of the black raven (tier II)
* Great Rumbling Dragon (tier I)
* Sunder (tier I)
* Lacerate (tier I)
He was eager to evaluate this new skill, but that could wait. There was much to do anyway, he took off his chest plate of the drake and pulled on the tunic of tumerin. Then clasped the breastplate back on, they both fit comfortably, and he felt snug and compact.
DING!
A PRIMORDIAL HAS AWOKEN!
FOR 24 HOURS THE GATES WILL BE UNAVAILABLE WHILE THE SYSTEM EXPANDS.
THE DOMAINS ARE REINTEGRATING AND REMODIFYING!
…
NEW QUESTS, NEW TASKS AND NEW PLOTS FOR ALL!
WAIT THE 24 HOURS!
Jazmel had been waiting for some notice of the primordial, as he had awoken it. but upon returning, his faction had not heard anything, even his party members had not been privy to anything. Jazmel left his room after the system wide announcement and heading down the stairwell of the tower he rushed out into the courtyard, as he did a faction notice appeared before him.
YOUR DOMAIN IS EXPANDING!
NEW FOUNDATIONS ARE BEING FORMED!!
NEW DISCOVERIES TO BE MADE!
…
Jazmel didn’t waste any time he pulled up his system and created a quest.
DING!
FACTION QUEST!
SURVEY THE SURROUNDING AREA!
MAP OUT THE EXPANDING REGION!
DISCOVER THE NEW PLACES AND THE DEPTHS!
REWARDS WILL BE GIVEN IN ADJUSTMENT TO COMPLETED TASKS.
Immediately groups formed amongst the retainers, and they began hurrying out of the gates to wander the expanding domain.
“You want to go and have a look?” Sadé said, he had felt her approaching, her new tempered body was like a sky just before the storm was coming and now he felt it every time she was near him.
“Sure, if you are up to it.” he said, he looked in his mind and saw that he had left Paldane to slumber in his room.
Hunt if you want. He sent and Paldane grumbled a sleepy response. He noticed that Sadé had asked Kazumi to go with a group of retainers who were going to hunt too, they were still quite weak. There was a large gap between the retainers who had joined later and then the people Jazmel and his friends had handpicked. Mary was working on them, she was pummelling them with training, but nothing worked like actually entering the labyrinth and they just weren’t ready for that just yet.
Sadé and Jazmel moved from within the courtyard, they left the gates and made their way across the bridge, Jazmel was running. Sprinting cost him nothing with his abundant stamina as well as his tempered body. Turned out that Sadé was functioning the same, her thundering flame body was fuelled by power, she explained that she just needed to use Mana as a fuel source, and heating her body allowed her to move how she saw fit.
They crossed the bridge and ran miles before Jazmel even had to check his breath. They were about to enter a vale in the north, a place he hadn't personally been through yet. When he heard Sadé groan, she grumbled, and he watched as she tapped things on her system screen.
“I need to talk to you.” She said and before she could continue they both felt the pressure of something hurtling through the sky. Jazmel looked up and saw something shrouded in bright yellow and white Mana shooting towards them, he drew his sword and stepped a little back; ready for whatever was coming towards them.
As the thing neared, the shrouded Mana melted away and Jazmel could see a woman flying towards him, wings from her back arced in a dive and she raised her sword as to clash with him, with all her momentum.
Spear of the skies!
She hailed as she forced her skill down on him, they clashed, and Jazmel felt his bones jar with the impact. His muscles jolted and he almost cried out from the shock. But he stood firm, he wasn’t going to fall over, especially when being attacked so close to his faction. He didn’t even know who this woman was and why she was attacking him, but it didn’t matter. He had a sword and a foe; he was in his element.
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Cleave!
He slashed across at her, nimbly she dodged; her body slipped out of the way and his skill sliced through the air missing her in the direction. She clashed at him again, using her wings to flash across the ground at him, but he met her. Their swords clashed again and again, but no ground could be earned.
Wing blade!
She sliced at him with a whip of bother wings and air Mana in the form of scythes cut through the air at him. he was dodging, that would put Sadé in danger.
Lacerate!
He met the skill and broke the Mana with his own, dominating it. the woman smiled at him, why was she smiling. He didn’t care, he fought her. When she darted into the sky, he literally jumped into the air to meet her, she was surprised by that, but since tempering his body he could bound into the air almost double his previous limit.
Spear of the skies!
She crashed into the ground, causing turf and chunks of mud to erupt from the onslaught of her skill and spray all around them.
“Stop fighting!” Sadé screamed, but Jazmel didn’t have the minutes to stop when this woman was assailing him.
Jazmel met her and felt his body covered in small wounds; her skill was trying its best to break his body down. But he wasn’t being forced back, his body was pushing through.
Great rumbling dragon!
He used his new skill; he felt his Mana form an aura of a roaring dragon around his sword and as he swung it the dragon made of Mana aura hit her. It struck her and buffeted her entire form. The Mana expanded and then condensed around her brutally.
“Stop Jazmel! She is my retainer!!” she shouted, and Jazmel stopped what he was doing immediately, holding his sword.
“Well princess, he is strong. I can see why you wanted to stay part of the faction.” The winged woman said, now that they were fine and no longer fighting. Her armour was scuffed a little, but she drank a potion and quickly healed herself.
Princess? He had heard her say that but now he was remembering her words again.
“Why is she calling you a princess?” he turned, asking Sadé. He pulled a potion from his own ring and drank it, healing the cuts and bruises.
She took this time to explain to him what had happened, he listened as she told him about her mother’s successful tier tribulation. She explained about her clan and how the system had presented them with the reward of becoming a kingdom. Her mother was a master tier now, he wondered how strong she had become. She then explained how her mum had asked her to take on a retainer as a guard for the time being and that’s when the woman stepped forward.
She wore armour and he realised that her armour was just her wings folded around and over her body. In some way, she wrapped them and in a dormant sort of form, they became armour that covered her body.
“I am Corin, guard and retainer to Princess Sadé of the moonflower kingdom.” She said with a fist over her heart. Jazmel consumed this information and listened intently.
“Will you have to leave the faction?” he asked and Sadé almost grew teary.
“No, nothing has come into play.” She explained and then studied his face, to see how he would respond.
“If she is a princess, she will not have time for trivial things.” The woman called Corin said, and Jazmel almost cursed at her and turned his head to look at her quietly.
“What tier are you? You are quite strong.” The woman called Corin smiled, and Jazmel just studied her and for a moment, considered continuing the fight.
“Ranker tier I.” he said, and she barked a laugh before punching him in the shoulder with admiration.
“I am a Ranker tier III and you fought me fair and square. Your boyfriend is strong princess.” She said and Sadé cursed aloud, and Jazmel jumped at the flagrant words that flew from her mouth.
“Mind your mouth or I will cancel your retainership this instant.” She uttered through clenched teeth.
“If it pleases you my princess, I apologise for my rhetoric. A poor joke on my side, it will not happen again.” Corin bowed and Jazmel could feel the sincerity of her words.
“Leave us.” She said, Sadé didn’t even look at her new retainer, but Corin didn’t even want to know if she meant her, she simply leapt into the sky and her wings flared and then took her up high, Jazmel couldn’t see her physically, but he could perceive her Mana in amongst the clouds.
“Jazmel.” Sadé began but he didn’t say anything, simply taking the time to walk deeper into the vale. Because what could he say, he had no power or rights to question her, and his heart ached knowing that he wished he could say something and yet he had no power to.
She looked at him pleadingly and he wondered if she was waiting for him to say something. But he didn’t and he saw the hurt in her eyes, he turned and moved forward. Heading into the vale, he wasn’t going to say anything more. He was going to do what he had always been doing, growing stronger.
DING!
YOU HAVE ENTERED AN UNDISCOVERED VALE!
…
TO MAKE CLAIM, YOU MUST DEFEAT ALL THAT REMAIN!
…
DEFEAT YOUR ENEMIES!!
The system sang through his screen, he stepped forward and the vale came alive. The first creature to rush him was a mix of rusted armour and blackened Mana within that was keeping the pieces together. It was morbid, stretched in places that made it look inhuman. It was like Jazmel who shuddered at its approach, but he met it, its dulled blade was rusted but his eyes saw the sickened Mana enchanting the blade, bewitched as it was.
He parried the strike, grunted a little. There was strength in those meagre arms, he pushed back and knocked the blade aside, driving his own blade in he stabbed into the breastplate. Where the heart should have been, but it didn’t even falter, it swept at him, and Jazmel backed out of the reach of it.
Cleave!
He struck his skill, obliterating the sword and its arm, the demented armour howled; a scratching sound from within the helmet. He bashed the side of the helmet and the creature shuddered.
Cleave
He smashed through the breastplate and the rusted metal burst inward, he pulled the core from within, and the creature died.
DING!
TIER II ARMOURED WRETCH KILLED!
EXP ACCRUED!
Only tier two, he wasn’t happy, but he would take the exp. But more rushed him, hundreds now an entire army. Jazmel was thrilled and met them as they crashed together and tried to rush him with their numbers.
Great rumbling dragon!
Mana welled in his skill, and he watched as the dragon’s roaring maw shrouded his sword. he swung it and decimated them. the tier II creatures broke beneath his onslaught, they were little more kindle and their metal broken and dented. They littered the vale, and he took a moment to check the system screen.
DING!
54X TIER II ARMOURED WRETCH KILLED!
+1 STR
+2 INT
He accepted it and flicked the screen away, the few that remained. Sadé darted in and made quick work of them, her flames melted the broken parts and her thunder blackened those that remained. Her sabre and short sword cut them to pieces, many of them fell before her and he watched her work. Another creature stepped into view, and he saw that it was different, stronger than the armoured wretches they had already killed.
DING!
TIER II ARMOURED SENTINEL APPROACHES!
The system told him what it was, the sentinel was as similar to the armoured wretch as it was different. The Mana was stronger, he could see it convulsing within its core and it was strong. But not greater than him, it was still only tier II but at the higher end, just below a tier III. He was surprised, it carried a longsword and there were nicks and dents within it, but it used it still.
Lacerate!
He flicked his skill from the tip of his sword, but to his surprise the creature parried and sent his skill flying off to the side. Another sentinel entered the vale, but the skittering skill hit it in the face and sent it back reeling into the bushes.
He didn’t know that they were able to parry his skills, this was the first time it had happened. He licked his lips and felt his trait settle and calm his nerves. The sentinel rushed him, but he met it. their wills behind their blades as they clashed and pushed off of each other. They parted and Jazmel couldn’t gain any footing against it.
Lacerate!
Jazmel flung the skill, and he knew the sentinel would parry. But he moved and Jazmel watched it avert, he rushed forward catching it as it was moving to the side.
Cleave!
He cut through it at the waste, and it fell apart. He stepped on its chest and crushed through it with a stamp.
DING!
TIER II ARMOURED SENTINEL KILLED!
EXP ACCRUED!
LEVEL UP!
He turned to a sound to his left and watched as the other sentinel appeared back through the undergrowth. It stepped one foot into the clearing but was bombarded with a barrage of foxfire flames and the sentinel fell to the ground. Catatonic and melting, she flamed it to the point that when the flames receded it was a lump.
They pushed in and while they were left alone, he looked up to see Corin still hovering high above them. Watching over them and not hindering them.
He stepped further into the vale and the ground rumbled beneath his feet. He didn’t know what was coming but then he remembered the Wurm, and he turned and ran back towards, Sadé. He literally sprinted. Pulling his swords back into his rings, he sprinted towards her scooped her up into his arms and ran back up the vale. She was light in his arms, and they had never been this close before, he could smell her soap on her skin. She smelt like daffodils and peonies, a scent that wobbled his mind and his heart thumped.
“What are you doing.” She said clearly shocked at his reaction.
“A Wurm!” he said as he continued to sprint, easily carrying her but running at full pelt. The ground rumbled beneath them and then burst up a few paces ahead of them. it wasn’t a Wurm, Jazmel thanked the world silently. But it was something he hadn't seen before; it was a scorpion of such a size that just one pincer would be enough to clasp and cut Jazmel in half.
“Put me down!” Sadé yelled and he let her go, she dropped from his grasp and then bounded up somersaulting over the scorpion. She flipped in the air and missed as the stinger tried to catch her in the air.
Fall of the black raven!
Jazmel slammed his sword into the face and mouth of the scorpion, it squealed and then tried to grab him with its pincers. He pulled Nozarashi, from his ring and blocked its right pincer and left with either sword or then used his boot to hold its head down from biting him.
He looked up just as the stinger was rearing back to catch him, Sadé leapt again, like a gymnast she launched herself through the air and whipped her the bloody sabre around her body and struck out at the end of her spin. Slicing the stinger off, putrid acid and poison drops welling up from the stingless tail. the scorpion squealed and spat pain from its frothing mouth. He slammed both blades into the ground and letting them go, drew Yoru no Tsubasa quickly from his ring.
Sunder!
While both pincers were pinned by his other swords, he raised his sword above his head with both hands and sundered the scorpion in half, cutting it from head to tail. the scorpion fell apart into two halves.
DING!
TIER II VALLEY SCORPION KILLED!
+1 DEX
+1 AGL
+1 PER
___________
Sadé watched as Jazmel easily cut through the scorpion and she and he both gained exp from it.
DING!
TIER II VALLEY SCORPION KILLED!
EXP ACCRUED!
He had lifted her into his arms and sprinted off from the valley when the ground had begun to rumble. She hadn't even heard it yet, but he was moving before she could react. She had felt small cradled in his arms, his muscles beneath his tunic and armour were like thick iron chords and he carried her like she weighed nothing.
But she hadn't been prepared for this and reacted badly, screaming for him to put her down. She was worried that Corin would read it wrong, but also she didn’t know how she felt about it either.
Ever since he had heard she was a princess, going to be a princess. He had closed himself off to her, his so normally kind eyes had become a cold ice blue and she felt naked beneath their scrutiny. She would never change on him but for some reason he had received her news badly, she hadn't planned on leaving the faction, but for some reason he seemed like he knew she would. She decided she was mad at him and didn’t want to explain her feelings to him at all.
Another scorpion appeared and she vaulted over it, landing on its back, she dodged its stinger and thrust her short sword deep into the brain of the oversized scorpion, it shuddered and just to make sure; she charged its skull with thunder and burned it from the inside out. The eyes popped and gelatinous goo foamed from its mouth.
DING!
TIER II VALLEY SCORPION KILLED!
+1 INT
+1 STR
MARAUDING FOX ACTIVATED!
TIER II POISONED SCORPION CORE LOOTED!
She smiled and leapt off the body and bounded forward towards another, she killed another three before she realised. She hadn't even called for her Mana tails, there hadn't been a need yet. Her natural form and skills had been enough in this valley. Tempering had strengthened her by a lot and her body was reacting to its new limits very well.
MARAUDING FOX ACTIVATED!
X2 HEAVY PINCERS LOOTED!
X3 SCORPION CARAPACES LOOTED!
X1 TIER II MUTATED VALLEY SCORPION CORE LOOTED!
Her title was looting for her, and she didn’t even need to pick through the bodies for anything, it helped as bodies broke down and disintegrated into system to be reused and remodelled into other creatures and beasts somewhere else.
In truth nobody knew how the labyrinth and the system created monsters, or what happened to those killed or defeated. The system turned them into dust and then they returned to the source, or so most people liked to believe. Sadé hadn't really thought about it in truth, she had assumed they returned to the system. But she didn’t know why she thought that. She would check the tomes when she returned, she thought to herself.
___________
Jazmel killed almost double the number of scorpions that rushed them, they just could not match up to his sword. he had replaced his newest one with his created one. The dwarves had made him something out of this world and he found comfort in the familial feel of its handle and hilt in his hand.
As he killed the last scorpion to attack him in the last ten minutes, he felt the ground rumble again beneath them. but this time it was much heavier, the sounder reverberated around the vale, and he knew it was bigger, something of a much sheerer size was approaching. On que bursting from the ground, a scorpion unlike the others appeared.
Its carapace was darker, it reminded him of coal in some places and the light of the sun glinted off of the thick exoskeleton that it had grown for itself, its pincers were much larger. The blade part glinted like metal and Jazmel could tell these would cut through him if gained a chance. The mouth was covered in spittle and where it dripped he saw the foam sizzle on the ground, its insides were acidic and he could see that stinger dripping, but this didn’t burn its own exoskeleton. That made him wonder what could be done with the carapace.
DING!
YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND BY THE BEAST OF THE VALE!
DEFEAT THE BEAST AND EARN DOMINION OF THE VALE!!
…
TIER III ACIDIC SCORPION FOUND!
The system screen floated before him and disappeared by his will. He knew what he had to do here, even without the system’s request.
The stinger bobbed in the air and then to Jazmel ’s surprise shot a wad of sticky acid at him. it caught him by surprise, but he simply dodged, and his head veered to the side as it sailed past. He heard the tree that it hit sizzle and creak, breaking in half once the acid ate through its trunk.
Sunder!
He slashed through the air and again to his surprise. The great scorpion did the uncanny, it parried his skill with its almost metallic pincers, sparks flew where the skill and pincer met. Jazmel found himself smiling, this was going to be a worthwhile fight. He leapt forward, his tyrannical body pushing him through the air without restraint. His sword clashed again with the pincers, leaving marks but no dents.
Cleave!
Lacerate!
He slashed down and up, his sword moving in different forms as the different skills leapt from them. the first attack was blocked, but the second got through and slashed up the back of the scorpion. It squealed and jabbed with its stinger, Jazmel blocked it with the blade of his sword, flicking the acid off the blade and into the eyes of the scorpion. It squealed and he watched as it shook its body trying to dislodge the acid from its face. It raised its heavy pincers, but they couldn’t reach its face. He took this time to dark in and stab with his sword right behind the eyes, where the brain was and drag his sword up through the brain before twisting the blade and jerking it free.
DING!
YOU KILLED A TIER III ACIDIC SCORPION!
EXP ACCRUED!
+2 AGL
+2 DEX
“You are surprisingly strong, being able to defeat a tier III monster on your own is proof of that. But the ease of you doing so is a surprise.” He heard from above, peering up he could see Corin had descended from the clouds and was a few feet above him and watching intently.
Jazmel nodded at her compliment, before turning back to his kill and pulling its core from beneath its brain, he shook his hand free of the glub of brain and other sickening innards. Then he started to cut huge pieces of the carapace off and store them in his ring, he was going to sell them as soon as he could, to colin or a store.
X4 TIER III ACIDIC SCORPION CARAPACE PIECE GAINED!
the system took notice of his gains and alerted him, that was an enough. He took the stinger too, cutting it off from just beneath and storing it in his ring. As he did this the system chimed for him and he noticed the screen offering him a reward.
DING!
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE GAINED AN EXTENSION TO YOUR DOMAIN!!
…
THE VALE HAS BEEN LINKED TO YOUR OUTPOST DOMAIN AND ITS RESOURCES AND MONSTERS WILL BE YOURS TO GAIN!
…
YOUR FACTION HAS EXPANDED AND TAKEN DOMAIN OF 2 OTHER EXTENSIONS TODAY!
…
REWARDS FOR ALL FACTION MEMBERS!
* 3 UNUSED STATS POINTS!
* 1 TIER II MANA HERB
KEEP GROWING!
The system chimed and he scanned what was in front of him. but then the system jumped again, and a new screen appeared.
DING!
FACTION LEADER YOUR FACTION CONTINUES TO GROW!
YOUR DOMAIN HAS EXPANDED!
REWARD!
MONARCH TIER ITEM GAINED!
Finally! Jazmel smiled and he grabbed at the item in his mind and pulled it into his ring.
MONARCH TIER ITEM FOUND!
…
THE BREATH OF THE NORTHERN WIND, AULE! The northern wind sprite Aule the falcon.
He looked at what he had gained from the vale quickly and the system brought it all up on screen for him.
TIER III ACIDIC SCORPION CORE
X4 TIER III ACIDIC SCORPION CARAPACE PIECE
TIER I 10 YEAR MANA GINSENG, will add to your Mana points, depending on how high they are already.
MONARCH TIER BREATH OF AULE¸ a monarch tier tribulation item for the mind!
“Let’s head back.” He turned and noticed that Sadé was looking at him with a weird look, she seemed unhappy, but he didn’t know why. She simply turned on her heel and began walking back towards the outpost.
He sighed, a long exhale and then made to follow her. He did not know what to do when it concerned women, he had never been good at reading their emotions. But he didn’t want to be like that with Sadé, he cared what she thought of him.