Reborn 1-5

by D. W. Jackson

  The first few times Ash cleared the grass the same way he had during the first battle but after four fights Ash decided it would be a great time to train himself. Ash continued to fight even though he was starting to get drowsy. He didn’t keep track of the kills not spoils he just continued to fight.

  “Tring.”

  [Your absorption level of the meir bobcat has reached 100%. Abilities amiable: Stalk (passive), pounce (active).]

  “Tring.”

  [You have received the ability Pounce Randomly.]

  Seeing the names of the skills Ash almost laughed. Trying to hold back his smile Ash checked his ability section.

  [Pounce: cost 5SP jump straight forward with great speed doing 2x normal damage.]

  As he placed the claw that the bobcat dropped in his inventory Ash let out a deep yawn. Rubbing his tired eyes Ash headed toward the boss’s room that lay at the far edge of the grass valley.

  Along the way Ash found himself stalked by one of the bobcats but didn’t pay it much attention. It attacked three times and was soon joined by a second bobcat but shortly after the two cats began to fight among themselves allowing Ash to slip away unharmed.

  As soon as Ash reached the boss’s room he warped back to the exit of the labyrinth. Looking around Ash found that the moon already hung high in the sky and the starts were out in number. Looking off in the distance Ash couldn’t even see the faintest glow from where the sun might have been.

  Ash wasn’t sure what time it was but he was sure that when he returned he would be greeted with a, none too happy Emelia. Ash let out a sigh though his face sported a smile as he walked back in the direction of the manor.

  4-10

  Ash continued to fight in the labyrinth day after day. He stayed on the twelfth floor for two days fighting until he could take down a bobcat within less than a minute of encountering it. Ash knew that he wasn’t really getting better at predicting the attacks of the bobcat only that he had fought it so many times that he understood their attack patterns but part of him hoped that it was making him stronger even if only slightly.

  After killing another forty of the bobcats Ash received the stalk ability. It was surprising more useful than he had thought it would be.

  [Stalk: when following an enemy all sounds made will be reduced by 50%.]

  After fighting the boss a meir lion Ash found himself stuck on the thirteenth floor. The dragon kin which looked like a human lizard mix occupied the floor. The dragon kin were strong but what really made them hard to fight was that they fought and moved in groups. The smallest of which Ash could find was eight.

  The first time Ash fought against the dragon kin he had done so when they were in a group of twelve. Ash had been able to win without losing too much health but his MP had been devastated thanks to his luck shield.

  After killing forty of the dragon kin Ash learned that just like the creepers the dragon kin had abilities he couldn’t learn and only one that he could.

  [Dragon Sight: You can see the magical flow of items and creatures.]

  The ability sounded simple enough but Ash could instantly see the use of such an ability. Skills and abilities that allowed a person to hide used MP and thus could be seen through. Also if anything had magical energies it could not be hidden. After walking around the tunnels Ash found another use in that he could also see farther than before.

  After greeting all the skills Ash still hadn’t made it to the boss’s room through. That was because there was a small village of dragon kin in front of it. Unlike the first ten floors once Ash came to the eleventh floor Ash had only see a handful of other adventurers.

  Monsters in a labyrinth were normally a set number but certain monsters could not only be spawned but give birth to others as well. Dragon kin were asexual so without a steady number of adventurers to keep down their population they continued to expand. The only thing that kept them from spilling out of the labyrinth was the lack of food. From what Ash had seen the dragon kin born in the labyrinth ate those that were spawned.

  Today like the previous days Ash stood just watching the dragon kin waiting for a group to leave their camp. Each day he had reduced their numbers but it was going too slow and he hadn’t even taken away half their numbers. The only good thing about all of it was that Ash was able to get two dragon kin orbs and absorb them increasing his strength and intelligence by six and his vitality by eight. He had also gained another level and put all four points into luck.

  The dragon kin had another benefit as well as Ash was starting to get used to fighting against large groups. Ash didn’t mind fighting the dragon kin but he wanted to get through today since tomorrow he would have to take a break from the labyrinth since the trial was going to start.

  As he waited a fairly large group of fifteen dragon kin left the small village and started their hunting. If everything went as it had before they would go out to find one of the spawned dragon kin to eat. It seemed a little barbaric to Ash but it was either that or starve since unlike the spawned creatures who lived off only magical energy they needed meat to survive.

  With the group gone from what Ash could see that left a little over forty adult dragon kin left. Ash couldn’t see their levels but from what he sensed they seemed to be of a higher level than those that had left.

  Once the hunting group had been gone for five minutes Ash decided that it was time to move. Using his stalk skill Ash tried to sneak up as close as he could to eh village but he was quickly spotted.

  As soon as he was noticed a number of dragon kin moved out to attack him. Ash was surprised that only six left the village to fight but he took that as his good luck.

  The dragon kin used spears and swords taken from the spawned dragon kin that they had hunted. Ash found it weird that when a monster killed a monster it didn’t disappear but stayed intact. He had given that train of thought a lot of time over the past few days but neither he nor any of the other people he met knew the answer. The only thing he had learned was that people with the occupation hunter had the same effect on monsters they killed.

  The dragon kin had strong attacks but their bulky bodies made them slow and easy to dodge but still fighting six at a time made it hard to dodge every single attack. As he dodged a strike by slipping to the side, Ash struck back but his sword struck the hard scales on the dragon kin’s arm and glanced off. Three more times Ash was forced to move back before he could get a clear strike at the dragon kin’s exposed chest. While still covered in scales they were much softer than the ones on the rest of the dragon kin’s body. Ash’s strength was high enough to allow him to draw blood no matter where he hit but the durability of his sword would drop if he struck the harder scales too often. Even when striking the softer scales Ash had to get his sword repaired every two days since he had started to fight the dragon kin.

  When one of the dragon kin moved in to the left and attacked Ash blocked with his sword while kicking another dragon kin in the knee as it came up behind him.

  After another two of the dragon kin died the other members of the dragon kin village started to come out to attack. Seeing the more than thirty dragon kin coming out Ash held back a smile. Over the past few days Ash had tried out a number of tactics against the dragon kin and found out that while many skills didn’t work against them others had a great effect.

  Fireball did less than ten damage against a dragon kin but cone of frost was devastating. Not only did it almost always do critical damage to any dragon kin it touched it also slowed them down for much longer than the description of the skill indicated. As an extra bonus the scales of the dragon kin that was hit by the cone of frost were much easier to break through. The only hard part was to get as many of the dragon kin as he could in one attack.

  Ash pulled back while fending off the attacks of the remaining three dragon kin. Ash started to curse under his breath when the dragon kin started to spread out. Swinging to the side Ash continued to circle around until at least ten of the dragon kin were within his range and
then invoked cone of frost.

  As the swirling cone of ice enveloped the dragon kin Ash could see the small ice particles gathered on their scales as large purple numbers appeared above their heads. With an evil smile Ash jumped forward and struck with all his force at each dragon kin he passed. With each precise strike a dragon kin died. Before Ash could kill all thirteen dragon kin that were frozen the other dragon kin started to move in to surround him.

  Ash was so absorbed in the killing of the frozen dragon kin that he didn’t notice the movements of the others until he was nearly surrounded. As they moved in Ash used the frozen dragon in as shields against the other swords.

  Seeing no easy way to break through their ranks Ash used cone of frost four more times freezing all but a handful of the dragon kin. Ash knew that it wouldn’t last long enough for him to kill them all but it would free him up long enough to get rid of a few of them while escaping their encirclement.

  As he broke through Ash killed six of the dragon kin. With the cone of frost only working for a little over a minute Ash wasn’t given much time but before all of them had a chance to break free of its hold Ash cast cone of frost again and went on the offensive. Time and time again Ash did the same thing until all of the dragon kin lay on the ground.

  With his enemies dead Ash picked up the spoils. He didn’t really have a use for the dragon kin scale that the monsters dropped but he saw no use in letting them lay on the ground. Not to mention he never knew when he might be in the need of more gold.

  After picking up the spoils Ash moved through the makeshift village. As he passed by all that were left were the small children of the dragon kin who looked at him with fearful eyes. Seeing the look in their eyes Ash remembered that they had just watched him kill their entire tribe and his heart slightly fell.

  Ash had thought that the monsters were mindless but he should have known that if they could create a village that they had at least simple feelings. Ash tried to push the thoughts out of his mind but as he slapped the plaque next to the door and walked through his mind was in a haze. He had looked at the monsters the same way humans looked at those of the demon and beast tribe.

  Knowing that he wouldn’t find any answers to the questions that had arisen Ash waited for the darkness to clear. When it did Ash found a large dragon kin wearing a mantle and holding a staff waiting on him.

  As soon as the darkness cleared the dragon kin raised his staff and a ball of fire twice the size that Ash could use was launched at him. Jumping to the size Ash dodged the fireball but he could still feel the immense heat that the spell gave off.

  After dodging the fireball Ash cast cone of front but as the ice neared the dragon kin mage the air in front of it flashed a light blue and his spell of extinguished. Seeing that Ash knew that magic wasn’t going to work against the mage. Moving closer Ash waited until the dragon kin mage case another spell this time a bolt of lightning raced toward him and even with his speed Ash was struck in the side and tossed to the ground. Getting up Ash looked at his HP and noticed that it had been reduced by forty-two points.

  “Of all the times for my luck shield not to work,” Ash said getting to his feet and shaking off the tingling sensation that ran through his body.

  Once again Ash moved forward but this time he moved in a zigzag pattern to decrease the likelihood that he would be hit. When Ash was about twenty feet away the dragon kin mage launched another attack. A spike of earth rose from the ground right in front of Ash. Seeing it Ash smiled and jumped up and spun his body. As his feet touched the rock spear Ash activated pounce and launched himself forward.

  Once pounce was used Ash couldn’t control his movement until he landed but it allowed him to move at great speed through the air toward his target. With his sword held out in front of him Ash shot toward the dragon kin mage but the mage was already moving to the side. “Not fast enough,” Ash said as he extended his arm slashing at the Dragon kin mage and hitting it in the side.

  Due to his speed Ash wasn’t able to aim great so only the very tip of his sword hit the dragon kin in the soft scales while most of the blade hit the harder scales of the dragon kin. Still with the sharpness of his blade added with his speed and attack boos it still did a great deal of damage but not enough to skill it in a single blow.

  Ash had a total of 161 SP though after his fight earlier he had used twenty of his SP up but even with that he had plenty to spare. Knowing that as soon as Ash touched the ground he used pounce again.

  Thanks to the speed of his attacks the dragon kin mage didn’t have a chance to counterattack with his magic and after seven passes it died. Laughing Ash picked up the spoils after absorbing the dragon kin mage. Ash doubted that he would fight it another forty times but he saw no reason to simply let it lay there when he could absorb it not to mention every monster absorbed raised the level of his ability even if only minutely.

  Ash was slightly disappointed that the dragon kin didn’t drop another monster orb but on the ground was a small scroll. Ash picked it up and started to put it in his inventory.

  “Tring.”

  [You have received the ability scroll for stone spear. Would you like to learn this ability?]

  Ash looked at the small window in front of him for a long time before saying “no,” out loud. It was a tempting offer, but Ash had learned that many monsters had the same or similar skills. He could learn it now or earn it on his own later as long as he found a monster that could use the ability. Instead he thought it would be better to let Yuki or Shina learn the ability so that his parties overall strength would be better.

  After waiting for his HP and MP to recover slightly Ash proceeded down to the next level. AS he walked down the steps Ash found himself in a large wooded area. Last time Ash fought in the woods was against the spiders and they were troublesome but having a change of scenery felt nice.

  Using his spider sense Ash proceeded deeper though the trees in search of the boss’s room so that he could exit outside without having to fight his way back through the dragon kin. The thought of having to warp into the dragon kin nest next time he wanted to enter he labyrinth didn’t enthuse him.

  After about five minutes in the forest Ash felt the presence of a monster. Looking around in the direction the monster should have been all Ash could see was a small flower that was covered in magical energy. The flower had a small stem and eight petals. Each petal was light purple around the edges while getting darker toward the center of the petal.

  Keeping his guard up Ash neared the flower. When he was about five feet away Ash felt something from beneath his feet and jumped back as three thick vines shot out of the ground. Seeing the black liquid dripping from the thorns of the vines Ash started to sweat as he wondered what kind of poison it might have been.

  Having missed their target, two of the vines sunk back underground while the third lashed out at Ash like a whip. Ash slipped to the side but as the vine landed it curled around forcing Ash to jump in the air to keep from being hit.

  The vine was so fast that Ash didn’t have a chance to counterattack. As he landed the vine pulled back while swaying back and forth like a snake. Once again Ash felt something below his feet and dodged to the side as the other two vines shot out then quickly retreated back underground.

  Sensing the danger Ash looked at the small purple flower that was emitting the magical energy and invoked a fireball. The fireball hit the flower in full force and Ash noticed a black -800 appear where the flower had been. With the flower dead the vine in front of Ash turned black and fell to the ground with a light thud.

  The vines themselves were a pain but the flower that hosted the magical energies was easily dealt with though without the dragon eye ability Ash would have never know that the flower was the true body of the monster.

  Walking over to where the flower had been Ash found a small petal laying on the ground and picked it up.

  [Clematis Petal (average quality): poisonous petal of a clematis flower used in alchemy.]

>   “Alchemy huh…” Ash said as he read the description. Ash had read about alchemy in the duchess’s study. It was a broad term of anyone who used monster ingredients to make potions and the like. No matter what occupation you had one could do some basic alchemy but only those with the alchemy profession could make advanced potions.

  After picking up the spoils, Ash continued through the forest doing his best to go in a straight line. Ash found three more of the flower monsters before reaching the opposite wall. Not seeing a door Ash decided to follow the wall to the right.

  After killing two more flowers, Ash came upon the door. After having to fight for over a week on the previous floor this one seemed a little weak. Ash knew that the main reason that the flower was so easy to kill was because of the dragon sight ability but it still felt wrong.

  Since it wasn’t used much, the plaque on the wall was covered by moss but after using fireball to clear it away Ash was easily able to warp outside.

  4-11

  It was only slightly after midday when Ash left the labyrinth. Ash wished that he had some way to tell time in this world. When he was in the labyrinth it was hard to tell how long he had been inside. Sometimes he didn’t exist until nearly the next morning while others he left well before nightfall. Emelia said he just had a bad internal clock but Ash was sure that most people from his world would have been in the same spot after having relied on watches for their entire life.

  Even though he had plenty of time, Ash decided to go ahead and return to the manor. He took a leisurely pace back having had little chance over the past week to enjoy himself. As he was walking past the fountain in the market district Ash saw a very familiar face talking to one of the shopkeepers.

  “Susan,” Ash called with a smile.

  “S-sir Ash how are you today?” Susan asked shyly. Seeing how she acted, Ash found it hard to believe that she had once been an adventurer.