Bodily tempering is considered a small feat in the face of the system. Seekers have the advantage of tier tribulations and augmentation through stats and other resources. But tempering is a small gift that the system allows only the truly hardy.
Those who can gain 100 in all their stats will undergo a tempering; a tribulation of the body which will minutely adjust their limits in term with their abilities. This should not be considered a gift, but an earnest reward from hard earned achievement.
The labyrinth system rewards its truest seekers, only those who are willing to go further than others. All should seek to adjust their limits; all should seek the undiscovered. Walk the path that is unbeaten, make it your journey to be the first.
Tempering is earned, earn the right to be tempered by the system!
Jazmel sighed and closed the book he had been reading. The small tome had barely any information on tempering and the little passage he had just read, had sounded like the writer was selling it to its readers. In truth Jazmel had not suffered in any way from the tempering. He had just wanted to know what it meant, after undergoing his tempering. He had been able to move faster, to fight harder and there was more power in his skills when he wielded them.
Jazmel was able to fight on par with tier III creatures and beasts alone; not without difficulty. But this was something that by rights of the system he should not be able to do. Tier III beasts were considered a variation of ranker tier, named versions were mutated and considered at the higher ceiling of ranker tier. Jazmel was currently only a tier I ranker, but he was able to fight on part with those that were equal to tier III.
Jazmel had only fought the beasts, monsters, and creatures of the labyrinth. Luckily, he had not had to turn his blade against other seekers, so he was unsure as to just how powerful he actually was. But after he defeated Uter, the revenant knight. With the help of his faction members, he had been rewarded with his heart and body finding harmony which strengthened him but also changed his race!
Jazmel was human, he felt it deep into his core. But he also noticed there was a change, something more substantial sat deep inside him and he felt the weight of it, the weight of the change.
He had only shared it with Sadé as Tango and Baek were out of the outpost, but that didn’t change that he was curious about it too.
It had been almost five months since the attack on the outpost, they had buried their dead. Healed their wounds and repaired the damages to the outpost. Those who had survived had grown stronger, some had even undergone tier tribulations from the rewards they gained from the system and the loot taken from the corpses they recovered from the monsters that had attacked.
After two weeks of holding up in the outpost, the retainers had been hit with a system task of discovering the domain beyond the lake, a bridge had been fashion of perma-ice and let them cross the lake to the other side where the attack force made up of supernatural beings had come from. On the other side they found a dungeon beneath a mountain and a gorge that was so deep, even Jazmel ’s eyes couldn’t perceive its end. The task went out and seekers hurried out to discover what they could and gain as many rewards as they could.
Sadé had been motivated and was one of the first to head over to the new domain. The first thing she did was go alone; well with Kazumi and when she came back she bore a satchel of monster cores from tier II and tier III that she had slain. But Jazmel could see it on her, her stats were growing rapidly, and he found himself almost curious to see how tempering would affect her, she was close to 100 in her stats, and he knew she was pushing for them, trying to catch up to him.
He thought about her here in the safety of his room where he wouldn’t be caught staring at her in a daze.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
She was beautiful, she always had been. From the first moment he had seen her he had been enamoured by her, but he hadn’t said a word. She had been a stranger, but she had stuck with him from the first floor and now after almost a year, and dozens of floors and gates. They had become a super pairing.
They hadn't really spoken about what had seemed to grow between them. their hadn't been a need, but he felt like he knew she liked him back or felt something towards him. they hadn't kissed since that time and every time he felt himself building to want to do it, he grew shy and awkward. He groaned to himself; this was too difficult. Surviving the labyrinth was hard enough, but the maze of the heart? it was impossible.
He moved over and found a better place to slouch, doing his best to not disturb Paldane who was curled up at the other end of the settee and blowing smoke through his nostrils as he napped.
Paldane had grown after consuming the moon dragon scale, his own scales were thicker, more durable and the blackened blue scales that ran along his back were deep blue; they were almost the same colour as Jazmel’s eyes and he wondered if that had anything to do with him, or the companion bond they shared.
He opened the window to let air in but also to allow an exit for Paldane if he wanted to leave. Jazmel himself, rose up and decided to find food in the dining hall.
He left the room, closing it quietly behind him and moved down the two flights to the dining room, it was early afternoon, 11 something? His body clock had been destroyed after he realised that each gate and floor was literally their own world. His perception of time had been remoulded so many times now the only way he knew what was happening was, he slept so he knew a new day started.
He sat down and ate quickly, eggs and some beef sausages that he really liked. He had never enjoyed the taste of pork growing up and the hogs he had seen in the labyrinth were all mutated and large enough to gore a man clean through. He veered away from that food tray, he poured himself some tea and drank deeply, he could smell the keen leaves of the tea bag; his senses were that peak now and he enjoyed it even more; revelling in the taste.
He had been bored, flexing his shoulders after finishing his plate. He brought it to the dirty dish trolley and emptied the scraps there. Before leaving the room, he headed down to the chamber hall and bumped into Sadé who had clearly been looking for him.
“I need to return home!” she told him, and he asked her why suddenly worried. She flashed a smile; affectionately placing a hand on his arm.
“My mother has requested an audience with me, I will not be gone long. But I need to go now, I will be fine, I am going to take Kazumi with me.” She explained and he smiled, Kazumi was almost as strong as a seeker tier. He wasn’t worried after hearing that.
“I hope everything is fine, take something from the stores as a gift from us. If you need anything else, message me.” He said; flashing her a smile, she smiled back gratefully and let her hand stay on his arm for a little while longer.
She darted off and left him, he took each step slowly and entered the chamber hall.
“Greetings faction leader.” AI said and Jazmel greeted her back.
He looked over the system screen for the faction and then when he saw nothing was wrong and everything was going well, he sighed and then decided he would enter the labyrinth alone. After all, he still needed to grow; levelling up in a group of powerful rankers was never going to be easy. Especially if they were going to have to face powerful bosses like the hydra and the knight of the revenant dragon. Though the rewards were great, the risks were equal.
“AI I am going into the labyrinth; tell Mary and Patton I will be gone for a while.” He bid her and it winked out as it disappeared to find them both.
He checked his storage ring, and his mind link showed him all that he had inside, he was running low on potions, but he needed to buy new ones anyway. He would replace them with higher tier versions and also sell his items. He pulled his swords from his ring and tucked them into his belt.
Are you coming? He sent to Paldane mentally in their mind; they communicated like this often and Paldane who could speak vocally, chose to send a burst of excitement to Jazmel as he dived from the window.
Jazmel left the tower and walked across the courtyard, when he made it to the front gates which were guarded by two of his retainers. They saluted him, fists slamming against their chests. He mirrored them and left through the open gate.
Paldane glided over him and landed next to him into a short run, he hadn't learned to fly and land gracefully yet, but he was learning. Paldane was about the size of a dog now, his back reaching Jazmel ’s thigh now.
They walked down the short walk towards the gate; the open swirling portal into the labyrinth. Jazmel sighed and then stepped through; into the unknown.