As soon as he stepped through Jazmel knew two things. One, he was alone and two, the labyrinth was beyond his wildest thoughts and dreams.
The dungeon he had entered was a wondrous thing. the realm had opened into a valley at the foot of a mountain, it was one of the grandest designs of nature that Jazmel had ever seen. To say it was a mountain was to lessen all other mounts he had seen before. This truly was the king of them all.
Trees of all varieties grew in the valley and yet the sun still shined through the different leaves, creating a myriad of colours on the valley floor. Jazmel senses told him he was alone, his eyes scanned for Mana but felt none besides the wanton Mana that filled all living things.
He began his ascent, heading forward through the valley.
SEEKERS
THE XUANHUAN REALM IS OPEN
SEEK THE SUMMIT
FIND THE INHERITANCE!!
The system bellowed allowed and for the first time, it did not ring in Jazmel’s head. Instead, it sounded all around him as if it came from within the trees themselves. He did not worry about that but began to scout a path through the trees and into the valley towards the mountain foot.
Birds sung their songs and his senses told him that a numerous amount of them were in the trees. An orchestra of a symphony of a sort. The cacophony of their song was what alerted him first, their calls began larks of warning, and he drew before he was attacked.
A hiss from the trees and then blurred movement, it was fast, but Jazmel had learned a great deal in that Seeker gate. Matching the movement, he sliced and cut off the head of a giant serpent. Its dull and ruddy scales matched the foliage and had almost surprised him, but his eyes. His greatest gift, his eyes saw the Mana hidden and could tell the living.
DING
GIANT SERPENT X34 KILLED
EXP
He smiled and continued, it became a hunt and he continued to kill them as they attacked him without remorse. It soon became remorseless, and his storage space boomed with their unusual parts. The serpents were large, bigger than his arm in length and width and they hid in the foliage as well as the trees. Planning to ambush unsuspecting Seekers, but Jazmel’s eyes saw everything, and he was all the glad for it.
Whirlwind
He churned the forest up and great serpents of a myriad of assorted colours scales were afflicted by his skill. Mana carved them up and soon they were slithering away, trying to escape from him
Slash!
The serpents were carved up and he added them to his storage as they fell around him. They were not strong monsters at all, basic ambush monsters of the forest. But his ghostly Mana eyes showed him all their hiding places and he was better for it.
DING
100X GIANT SERPENT KILLED
34X GREAT SERPENT SKINS COLLECTED
25X GREAT SERPENT CORPSES COLLECTED
42X GREAT SERPENT FANGS COLLECTED
17X GREAT SERPENT GLANDS COLLECTED
EXP REWARD
…
TITLE EARNED!!
He had not seen this option for a while, so he flicked the system notifications and looked.
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TITLE: SERPENT SLAYER
AFTER KILLING 50 SERPENTS THE SEEKER GAINS EFFICIENCY.
15% DAMAGE AGAINST SERPENT TYPE MONSTERS
The title slot in his system window was not empty and Jazmel was glad. The system did the work and placed it. Jazmel continued through the valley floor and continued to kill the serpents that attacked him or tried to bar his way.
DING
SKILL SLASH HAS TIERED UP
SLASH TIER II
Finally! A skill of his, had tiered up. Jazmel had been waiting for this, it was not easy to tier up a skill and yet he had finally managed to. Serpents began to leave him be, maybe they smelt their death on him, or his title made them veer away from him and for that he was glad.
Moving through the valley floor the sun was glistening and lit up the sky well enough that he could see all things ahead of him. He was alone and for a moment he wondered about his friends, but he did not worry for long. Afterall they were all a lot more experienced than him and knew more about the labyrinth than him.
The trees around him grew sparse and then the sun blared down on him and without the shade of the trees he felt sweat begin to wet his brow. But he continued through the valley, still alone. Nobody he knew or did not know seemed to have entered at the same place as him. But that was not for long, he heard fighting and a laden scream. Hurrying to the area to find out what had happened. A break in the trees opened into an area free of the close-knit trees and the mossy ground was perfect soft and hid the sound of his boots.
There between the trees two girls were fighting a group of spiders. Jazmel watched to see if they were able to defend themselves. One of the girls seemed skilful enough, but the other one was wounded and was not defending well. She had been poisoned, he could see the dark seeping into her wound and he knew he had to act.
Flight of the blue kite!
He sent one skill off to knock the spider off the leading girl. It whistled a shriek, an unnerving sound and its fangs skittered as it tried to get itself back on its feet.
Slash!
This time he attacked the spider trying its best to finish the wounded girl. The attack caught it from behind and the bulbous body of the spider exploded from the strike. The girl screamed and when she saw Jazmel, she held her sword up defiantly before she swooned and collapsed. He ran in and killed the last two spiders quickly, the system pinged to reward him with exp. But he did not have time to look.
“Do you have any health or antidotes on you?” He called at the girl who seemed to not be poisoned.
“I do! In my pack, let me get it out.” The girl rushed to save her friends life. Jazmel merely watched over them, sword sheathed and eyes alert, watching for more monsters.
“Thank you.” The girl said finally to him, and he turned to see her tying a bandage over her friends shoulder and trying her best to not sound too scared.
“No problem.” Jazmel said.
“You need to make a camp, while your friend heals.” Jazmel told her and she nodded.
“You are right, but I can’t move her right now.” She explained and he understood, she could not defend her and carry her.
“I will help you. I will help you find a safe place and then I will leave.” He said and she thanked him. He picked her friend up gently, surprised to find her quite light and he wondered if she truly was or if his stats were just that high now.
“Where to?” he asked.
“One moment.” She told him and then going into her storage ring she pulled a small marble out. She muttered an incantation, words that Jazmel did not know and then the marble flashed in a quick but brilliant light and then a small thing was standing in her hand.
It was a fairy, a little winged being that wore a dress made from flower petals and carried a needle thin rapier.
“Find us a safe place to rest. Please.” She asked and the fairy took off from her hand, turning into a dimmed ball of light, it fluttered and flew off.
“Follow her!” she said and ran to catch up, he ran after them and followed her lead. They followed the fairy light through the trees and almost out of the valley until it came upon a little creek bed. The ground was cobbled with stones made smooth from the creek water. The fairy had found a small hide away, barely a cave. But it was hidden by both the sound of the river and the shape of the hideaway. He laid the girl down on the ground and she whimpered slightly. The fairy landed beside her and whistled crooning notes at the girl, which seemed to alleviate. He stepped out of the hideaway and the other girl followed him.
“Thank you for your help.” She said and smiling, she tucked her hair behind her ear. She and the girl were both Black skinned, skin as black as twilight. Interestingly her hair was auburn and an innumerable amount of coils and curls. She kept it back from her face with gold threads and while they were up close, he could tell they were fine woven gold threads. The other girl seemed to have hair styled in the same way too.
“Who are you?” she asked and smiling he smiled back, offering his hand.
“Jazmel.” The shook on it.
“I am Niamh and that girl you saved is my sister Merida.” She introduced them both and Jazmel greeted her again.
“What will you do now?” he asked her, and her smile was replaced with grim thought.
“I must wait for her to heal. I cannot leave her, I wanted to level up, but she needs me.” She seemed torn and Jazmel knew it.
“There will always be other chances to level up, I cannot tell you what to do. But I can give you a health potion. Maybe it will help get her on her feet.” He pulled it from his satchel and handed it to her. The girl seemed surprised.
“Why are you helping total strangers so much?” she quizzed him.
“Life is always the main reward.” He smiled and she copied him, grinning. She took the potion from his hand and tip toed up to kiss his cheek. He backs up, caught off guard and she giggled.
“Accept!” she said and then whirled on him to head back into the hideaway with her sister. His notification popped up and she had sent him a friend request. He accepted, smiling, and shaking his head. He left them, heading back into the valley.