“Mom,” Tina said in an embarrassed tone.
“Susan,” Helen said while shaking her head. “She can’t stay a child forever. This is what she wants.”
Tina and Yuki continued to fight while time ticked down. More than once they would run across another group of students, but little was said between them. They found a single kobold then a group of three. The single kobold was killed quickly, but the three even had Ash feeling a little worried when Yuki was lightly struck on the arm by a crudely made spear, but he held himself back from intervening. With six kobolds killed, the small group returned to door leading to the boss’s room to find the instructor.
Ash didn’t see any other groups, but he knew that didn’t mean Yuki and Tina were first. There was a chance they might have left the labyrinth already. Looking over at the hourglass Ash noticed that a little over half the time had passed.
“Finished?” The instructor asked.
“Yes, they killed six kobolds,” Ash confirmed.
“Ok then wait outside for the others,” the instructor said after making a mark on the paper.
“Master did you see me?” Yuki asked as soon as they were outside.
“Yes you did a great job Yuki,” Ash said, patting Yuki’s head. Her tail wagged fast as she let out a light, “Hehe.”
Looking around, Ash noticed that no one else had arrived yet. He, Susan, and Helen took a seat while Yuki and Tina reenacted their fights in a playful fashion.
As time passed, one group after another appeared. The kids talked about their fights while the parents began to brag. Watching everyone Ash was reminded of end of school programs from when he was a child, except this time he was not the lone child standing in the back of the classroom.
After the hour had passed, the instructor appeared with the few groups, which from the look on their faces had not passed.
“For those of you who passed, next week you will start in the second class. I have already passed out supplies lists so make sure you have what you need before class,” the instructor said dismissing everyone.
3-10
After seeing Yuki home, Ash made his way to the eatery near the Adventurer’s Guild. It wasn’t hard to find Shina and Zelan as they sat outside on the veranda. Shina was drinking something while Zelan was leaning over talking. Every now and then Ash would see Shina’s mouth move as she shot Zelan a nasty glare.
Shina was the first to notice Ash and she quickly stood up from her seat and called out to him with a large smile. “Master.”
“You came faster than I expected,” Zelan said, picking up his pack that sat beside his chair. “Well, how did the little miss do? Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“Yuki did great. She will be moving into the next class,” Ash said proudly. “While we are talking about Yuki,” Ash added looking at Shina. “Her coming of age birthday will be in a few months. I would like to get her a gift but I don’t know what would be good.”
“That’s right, Yuki is almost an adult…I have to be careful,” Shina said, moving closer to Ash. “We were always moving from one camp to another since we left Ro Province so she didn’t have a chance to have much. I would be happy if master treated her like his own child.”
As Shina spoke, she looked up at Ash with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “If she is going to be joining the second class soon, then she will be allowed to use a personal weapon. Why don’t we find out what she prefers and get her things that can help her in the class?” Zelan added.
“That is a really good idea,” Ash said slightly surprised.
“What’s with that look?” Zelan asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Master just didn’t expect a good idea to come from someone who needs help to lace up his own boots,” Shina said with a hint of laughter in her voice.
While Shina obviously didn’t like Zelan, lately she had gotten more playful with him. She would tease him then hit him hard with her words. It reminded Ash of how a cat played with a mouse, the only difference was that the mouse in this case didn’t seem to mind.
“Are you offering to help me dress in the morning my fair lady?” Zelan asked with a large grin.
“Idiot,” Shina retorted with a slightly red face. “Who would help you?”
As they walked toward the direction of the labyrinth, Shina and Zelan continued their back and forth commentary. “You two act like an old married couple,” Ash said as they approached the labyrinth entrance making Zelan let out a hardy laugh.
“That is mean Master,” Shina said, her voice teetering between anger and sadness.
Just like the night before, the group warped to the seventh floor. Within seconds, Ash was standing on the seventh floor while looking at the door to the boss’s room. Ash started to turn to walk down the hall to find a fire lizard, but he was stopped by Zelan. “Today, let us start with a nice boss fight.”
Ash couldn’t say that he hadn’t thought about fighting the boss, but after his fight with the other boss’s, he felt a slight apprehension. His HP was still comparably low since it only went up by five with each point in vitality. In truth, one stat point didn’t make a large change in a person, but a small rise in strength or agility had a much bigger effect than a small rise in HP. In a way is was both good and bad. That meant that if he was forced to fight a person twenty or thirty levels higher, he could still win, but at the same time it meant that it was more dangerous to fight stronger monsters who weren’t confined by the same rules.
For a long time, Ash had been confused as to the reason that when he got different views when he analyzed a person compared to a monster. Zelan had answered that question. Monsters strength and health were mostly controlled by what group they fell under and didn’t vary from one monster of the same kind to another. There were exceptions such as unique or named monsters, but they were not common. That was why adventurers started to band together in guilds as there were some monsters that required hundreds of high level fighters to kill, even then there were many sacrifices. It was also the same reason that the royals required monster orbs to be sold to them, so that they could keep high level knights to fight against monsters that even high level adventurers would have trouble against. Though that was only the stated reason, the truth as Zelan told it, was so that the king’s army wouldn’t become weaker than the guilds in their country. Otherwise the fragile balance of power would be destroyed.
After Ash walked through the door, Zelan and Shina kept close behind him. As the darkness in the room cleared, as found himself face to face with a lizard that looked much like the ones in the outer room though instead of black scales, its scales were bright red.
As soon as the room cleared, the lizard started to move and opened its mouth. Ash having seen the action a number of times before readied himself, but what came out surprised him. Instead of a ball of fire the lizard let out a stream of fire that seemed to follow Ash no matter where he moved. Ash continued to dodge the searing hot flame and after approximately two minutes, the flame died down and disappeared.
As soon as the flames disappeared Ash moved in close and tried to strike, but the lizard was faster and its claws flashed at Ash. Seeing the movement, he was able to get his sword in position to block the claws, but the second the claws touched the metal of the blade they flashed a deep crimson and pushed Ash back nearly five feet.
The heat from the lizard’s strike still left Ash’s face reddened. Looking down at his sword, Ash could see three small marks where the copper of the blade had been melted away as if it were nothing but a candle.
Without any way to strike from a distance without using his abilities that were denied, Ash had no choice but to close the distance with the lizard, but after seeing the damage done by just a single attack, he did so warily. This time when he neared, the lizard struck out with its tail and instead of simply blocking it, Ash dodged it and stuck at the tail. His strike landed but only a small -2 appeared. Seeing the miserably low number, Ash could only groan inwardly as he continued his a
ttack while keeping his guard up.
Ash dodged and struck, but even after a dozen attacks he had not once been able to get a hit on the soft underbelly of the lizard. After a few minutes, the lizard’s movements changed. Before, the lizard had acted more passively, responding to Ash’s movements but suddenly it moved backwards and ran for the wall and climbed it as if it was still standing on the floor. Ash could understand that it was trying to gain distance and he knew that if he allowed it to reach a place he couldn’t attack, the fight would become impossible to win.
With fear fueling his body, Ash rushed the wall placing his foot at the base where the wall met the floor and jumped up wrapping his arms around the lizard’s body. He had expected the lizard’s body to be slimy due to the sheen of its scales, but in truth it was cold, hard, slick as if he were trying to hold only a piece of polished steel.
Forcing the thoughts aside, Ash struck with his sword over and over. Ash didn’t care where he hit only that he hit. At the same time Ash was attacking, the lizard started to move more frantically and its tail lashed out, hitting ash a few times doing a total of thirty damage to his HP. Ash cursed, but held on and continued his assault. During his crazy attack, Ash struck the lizard’s right foot then the world turned upside down.
Ash fell hard on his side and his HP was reduced by half. Though pain wracked his body, he ignored it and got to his feet and looked over to see the lizard on its back rocking back and forth as it tried to right itself. Knowing that it was a great chance, Ash rushed the lizard and struck with all his might burying his sword it its hilt in the lizard’s chest earning him a large black -213.
Falling back as pain spasms ripped through his right leg, Ash fell back, his sword snapping where the lizard had hit it earlier. “Master,” Yuki said rushing up to him. Ash tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. Looking down at his leg he noticed a small white bone sticking out while blood ran freely from the wound. Dumbfounded Ash just looked at the bone while Shina tried to stem the blood flow. Ash tried to calm her, but his words became slurred as his vision quickly grew dark.
3-11
When Ash regained consciousness, his head was resting on something soft and a nice scent filled his nose. Every few seconds something would brush through his hair. As his eyes opened he found himself looking up at a smiling Shina. “Master are you ok?” she asked her smile slightly fading to be replaced by a look of worry. Seeing the look on her face Ash felt ashamed as he knew he was the cause of it.
Ash tried to move his leg and was surprised to find that there was no pain. Sitting up he looked down to see the torn and blood stained clothing but no wound remained. “I am fine…It seems”
“Sir Zelan pushed your bone back inside your leg and poured a green liquid on the wound,” Shina said with a slight grimace.
Ash scanned the room to find Zelan sitting not far away with a thin smile. “What happened to you?” Ash asked upon seeing the number of wounds on Zelan’s face.
“Ugu…I thought he was trying to hurt master,” Shina said in an anxious voice.
“She was quite mad when you cried out as I sat the bone,” Zelan said, the smile never leaving his face. “That aside, you have a lot to learn. Next time, act quicker and think ahead. If you had done that, then you wouldn’t have had to perform such an idiotic action like jumping on a hellfire lizard’s back.”
“Yes Master,” Ash said hanging his head in shame.
“Well, you won and in the end that’s what matters. Even if it wasn’t a pretty win,” Zelan said, handing Ash a new copper sword. “Looks like your health has recovered so we better get moving. We have already wasted more than a quarter of the day while you slept.”
Hearing that he had been out more than a few hours, Ash quickly got to his feet and took the offered sword. Shina complained, but seeing that it was her Master’s wish, she didn’t push it further.
“Starting tomorrow you can bring your personal weapon and armor when we come to the labyrinth,” Zelan said with a nod of his head, as if agreeing with himself. “Also, the first half of the day we will be training on more advanced movement and swordsmanship techniques.”
Hearing the word “training,” made Ash’s face blanch. When it came to any kind of training, Zelan was like a devil and Ash didn’t look forward to seeing what would be coming. “Don’t just stand there,” Zelan said and Ash noticed that he had stopped while standing in front of the door leading to the eight floor. Before he had a chance to open the door, Shina rushed forward and opened it for him with a light “hehe.”
The next floor of the labyrinth looked like a large open cavern covered in darkness. Thanks to his passive ability Wolf Eyes, Ash could still see as if a bright moon was in the sky, but compared to the other floors, it was still many levels darker, leaving hidden shadows in the darkness. Thanks to his enhanced vision and the open terrain, Ash could see many small humanlike monsters moving around. They stood about two and a half feet high with grey and brown skin that made them look much like the rock they were mining and eating. “What are they?” Ash asked at a complete loss as to what they were.
“You can see something?” Zelan asked his voice impressed. “Describe them.”
“They are Pechs. A type of lower earth elemental. They use earth magic to attack and have skin as hard as stone. I suggest you pay attention to your feet when you fight…Good luck,” Zelan said after listening to Ash’s description of the monsters.
“Pech,” was a new term for Ash. If he had been forced to name the creature, it would have been mini golem though it looked slightly different than his image of a golem.
Ash looked around and found that the Pechs moved around randomly from one spot to the next. Each time they stopped they would dig around the ground for a bit then move on. The Pechs didn’t look as if they moved in groups, but they still gathered together in certain areas. Ash found a Pech that was alone without any help near it before attacking. He had long ago learned the trouble with facing a new monster and didn’t want a second to appear when he was in a weak position.
With his sword in hand, Ash approached the Pech cautiously. When he was about fifteen feet away, the creature looked at him with bright emerald eyes, but didn’t attack. Ash didn’t feel any of the hostility that he did when he faced other monsters. When the Pech noticed Shina and Zelan, its attitude changed and it let out a high pitched screech that caused Ash’s ears to ring.
The Pech raised its hands and a small light started to glow. Ash knew that the creature was using magic and moved to stop it. When his sword struck the Pech it felt as if he had struck a boulder numbing his hand. Though the attack only caused a small chip in the creature’s skin, a -22 still appeared above where his sword struck. Even with the attack the Pech still didn’t stop its spell. Ash danced back, expecting to get attack when the spell finished, but instead he heard a surprised gasp from Shina and a curse from Zelan as a large pillar shot up at them from the ground. Ash quickly scanned both of them and was happy to see that they were ok before continuing his attacks.
Each strike hit a different part of the Pech, but nothing seemed to do much damage. Then by a stroke of luck, the Pech moved as he attacked and his blade struck the same place it had before and the blade sunk into the skin. When Ash pulled his sword out, a thick black liquid oozed from the wound.
The Pech had ignored Ash but as soon as it was wounded, it turned its eyes from Zelan and Shina to him. The Pech looked at its wound then the sword in Ash’s hand that had a small black stain, as if it didn’t understand what had happened. Ash wasn’t sure why the Pech was confused, but decided to use it to his advantage and pressed the attack. This time he didn’t strike randomly, but aimed at the neck of the small Pech, hitting as close as he could in the same place over and over. After the seventh hit, the grey skin of the Pech cracked and broke like a thin layer of stone exposing a large area of light pink flesh.
During the fight, the Pech attacked with abandon, not caring about Ash’s sword, but onl
y got in one hit, though that one hit did thirty damage to his HP. When its protective barrier of skin broke, it tried to move back as it began casting. Ash didn’t know what the spell was, but the small light that flowed from the Pech was stronger than it had been when it had attacked Zelan and Shina. Rushing forward, his sword flashed out. Just as his sword sunk into the Pech’s neck, it finished it’s spell and started to melt into the ground. Ash struck again, and his sword sunk in deeper this time with the Pech nearly half immersed in the ground. The Pech’s head dropped as it died.
Ash quickly absorbed the Pech’s body. After the body disappeared, Ash picked up a small stone that laid on the ground. Sugilite (average quality), was the description he got when he analyzed the stone. It was a pinkish purple stone about the size of an egg with rough edges.
“Pretty,” Shina said as she looked at the stone.
“I can see why you became a gambler,” Zelan said laughing.
“What do you mean?” Ash asked as he placed the odd stone into his bag. As the stone disappeared into his pack, Ash heard Shina sigh with disappointment.
“The normal chance for a monster to drop something is incredibly small, usually about ten percent at best. Then again most people don’t put anything into luck and if they do, it is rare. But with you, the monsters drop ninety percent of the time and even weirder is that most the drops are average or better quality. I haven’t asked you because it didn’t seem important, but I can’t contain my curiosity anymore. Just what is your total luck?”
Ash just stood and looked at Zelan as he thought about how to answer the question. Zelan had let his strange abilities go so far with only a few questions here and there, but no real probing. This was the first time he had outright pressed Ash for an answer. “It is a little over 275,” Ash said after giving it a lot of thought.
“What! Dear god’s boy! What did you do to get your luck so high?” Zelan said shouting. “Never mind, it doesn’t really matter, but it is surprising. I can’t even think of many seventy level warriors with a strength stat of over two fifty. I won’t even ask about why the Pech didn’t attack, I can guess at that one.”
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