As soon as he reached his own house, he found Zelan waiting outside along with the other Thee. In the past weeks Halon had started to take training from Zelan in the morning while Ash went through his katas, but the atmosphere that was coming from Zelan seemed different than normal.
“What is going on?” Ash asked as he walked up to the group.
“I just received a letter from my guild hall. The group that is coming for the challenge should be here within a few weeks, a month at best,” Zelan said furrowing his brow slightly.
“Why is that a bad thing,” Ash said slightly confused.
“That in itself is not a bad thing, but whether you win or lose I will have to head back to the guild hall,” Zelan said. “I am honestly going to miss you as my student, but it is the reason I will have to go back that has caused the current problem. It seems that the king has started to strengthen the number of soldiers at the border of the Yurin kingdom. Though it hasn’t been declared yet, it seems that the Yurin kingdom has started to increase their own forces, so soon their might be a war. If that happens, I don’t think you and your friends will be able to escape what is coming.”
“How long until war is declared do you think?” Ash asked slightly worried. He remembered the talk he and Emelia had a few months before. Once a war started, the kingdom would start scouring for anyone who was not a pure human to fill out the troops and to be used a fodder and that included Ash.
“Since right now the two kingdoms are only positioning their forces to test each other, I don’t think it will be soon. Most the time they will have a few talks and at the same time move to make sure none of the other kingdoms will move in on them if a war begins. At the earliest, it should be half a year or more, but once signs of a war are seen, the Seven Sword Guild pulls out all its people. We are a mercenary clan so if we are paid, we will fight for the heist bidder and it doesn’t work well if some of our people are on the other side to be captured.”
“I see,” Ash said, still in deep thought.
“Don’t worry lad, I am sure that it won’t cause trouble between you and your lady,” Halon said with a weak smile.
“Enough worrying, time for practice,” Zelan said, cutting through the tense calm that was hanging in the still air.
Taking his teacher’s advice, Ash started moving through his katas. While the movements didn’t erase all the thoughts from his mind, it did calm the worry that nagged at his heart. He had went through the same movements so often that they had become calming and soon the worries were carried away with the movements of his sword.
After an hour of working through the katas, Ash had finished his daily routine. Once finished, Ash and the other had to wait on Halon who was currently sparing with Zelan. Zelan had no trouble fighting against Halon who, while close to the same age, was not a high of a level, nor as well trained.
“Not bad, but you still flourish your sword too much,” Zelan said after knocking Halon’s sword from his hand. “Make smaller and tighter movements. When you move your sword like that, it is like you are televising your incoming attack.”
“Yes master Zelan,” Halon said respectively.
Once Halon had recovered his stamina, the group of four left for the labyrinth. “I thought you would be spending the day with your new wife,” Lillanis said as they past through the residential district and into the market district.
“She didn’t have time today,” Ash replied calmly. “Since the wedding was yesterday, she has to meet a lot of the nobles that had come into town from the outer cities today. She also has to send news of her marriage to the capital. I asked if she wanted me to help, but she said that it would just be boring and I should go out and stretch my muscles some.”
“Didn’t you get enough exercise last night?” Halon asked snickering.
“Halon,” Lillanis said hitting Halon a few times in that arm.
When they reached the labyrinth, they warped straight to the twenty-first floor. It was their third day fighting the shadow kin and still they hadn’t killed enough for Ash to receive an ability yet though Ash only needed to kill a few more. The main reason for the slow pace was the low limit to Lillanis’s MP and the shadow kin’s shadow whip that ignored any type of defense. No matter how fast they were, at least one person was hit in each battle requiring healing afterword.
If not for Ash, the group would have already moved onto the next floor, but since they could see his abilities, they didn’t argue when he wanted to fight until he could get everything he could from the monsters. Ash felt bad about it since the drops of the monsters in the lower levels paid more and that was the reason that Lillanis and her team fought in the labyrinth. Yet when he tried to urge them to move forward and that he would just come back to fight them alone later, they refused.
Though they had only been together for a short time, Ash already considered the three close friends and he hoped they felt the same.
Almost as soon as they entered the floor, a shadow kin attacked. Not expecting the sudden attack, Halon was hit hard in the side by the shadow kin’s whip sending him crashing to the ground. Ash quickly jumped forward hitting the shadow kin in the arm cutting it off and dealing critical damage, but not killing it. Jacob also flashed forward, but since he didn’t have a chance to activate his own shadow skills the shadow kin targeted him and sent an attack toward him. Jacob was fast but the shadow whip was able to move like a living snake and wrapped back on itself hitting Jacob on the right leg, sending him tumbling.
Jacob had a lot lower HP than Halon so while the hit was weak, it was still dangerous if he took a few more attacks. Thankfully Lillanis acted quickly and used her magic to first heal Jacob then Halon. At the same time that Jacob was sent flying through the air, Ash hit the shadow kin in the back, but the shadow kin had moved at the last instant and Ash’s blade only sunk lightly into the shadow kin’s side.
After receiving two of Ash’s attacks the Shadow kin ignored the two warriors who were currently recuperating and turned its attention to him. The shadow whip that shot out at him was fast, but to Ash it was still easy to dodge. While Ash dodged the attacks from the shadow kin, Halon had recovered enough from the initial attack to come in front the left at the distracted creature while Jacob attacked from the back and within seconds the monster fell like the ones before it.
“Little monster got us good,” Halon said breathing hard as he still grabbed the side where he was hit. “Didn’t expect one of the little buggers to be waiting on us.”
“It’s not the first time a monster got the drop on us. I am sure it won’t be the last either,” Jacob said as he tested his weight on his previously injured ankle.
“That wouldn’t happen if you guys paid more attention when we entered the labyrinth,” Lillanis said in a scolding manner.
“Yes mam,” Halon said while trying holding back a smile.
Since they had been surprised during the attack Lillanis had to use her magic four times to completely heal Halon and Jacob already expending a quarter of her MP. Ash had suggested that she use MP recovery items but Lillanis refused. She said that it was the way they made sure not to push too far too fast. It seemed that as long as they made enough each day to pay for their living expenses, they didn’t want to push themselves. Hearing this, Ash didn’t know what to say as it was in gross contrast with how he fought. More than once, Ash had pushed himself so hard that it had become dangerous for him.
The next shadow kin was much easier to fight than the one before. As they had practiced, Ash and Halon moved at the same time, but thanks to Ash’s advanced speed, he would reach the monster first while Halon drew its attacks. Halon still got struck and required healing, but thanks to his high defense and skill, he was able to limit the damage done so that Lillanis didn’t have to use much MP on him after the fight.
After two strikes from Ash and one from Jacob the shadow kin died while Halon only received two attacks. As soon as the monster died, Halon recovered the dropped items while Ash absorbed
the monster.
“Tring.”
[You have reached 100% absorption on the shadow kin. Abilities available: Shadow Whip.]
“Tring.”
[You have been randomly awarded the ability Shadow Whip.]
[Shadow Whip: cost 20MP, 5SP- attack with a whip made out of pure shadow that will follow the enemy wherever they try to run. Level 1-0%.]
“What did you get?” Halon asked when he saw Ash’s smile.
“I got its shadow whip ability,” Ash said happily.
“That is a good one,” Jacob said slightly envious. “I would kill for a skill like that.”
“Why don’t you just create one?” Ash asked.
“Hummm…I might try, but it’s much harder to create a skill than you would think.”
“Yea and even if he did he would be forced to teach it to other guild members,” Halon said.
“What do you mean? I thought that personally learned skills were controlled by the person who created them.”
“That is the case for humans,” Halon spat. “But just like everywhere else, anyone who isn’t a full blood human are forced to teach anything they learn to the guild masters so that they can be passed on to those more worthy. It is a shame and one of the reasons we don’t go to a guild hall unless we are forced to.
“Really, I didn’t receive that treatment when I joined the gambler’s guild.”
“Some guilds don’t care about race but those are rare. It really depends on the guild hall master. If you went to the capital and the guild hall found that you had a unique job skill, they would force you to pass it to them.”
Since Ash had already learned all the abilities available to him from the shadow kin they decided it was time to move on to the boss room. “It is a Shadow kin prince,” Halon said as he read the plate. They had each used the plate to warp out, but none of them had read it yet. Lillanis said it was a superstition that you shouldn’t read it until it was time to fight.
“Know anything about the shadow kin prince?” Ash asked when he was Halon’s worried face.
“Yes, as you could see the shadow kin are a bread of goblin. Normally you would only find them in very deep caves. Honestly, the shadow kin I have fought against outside of the labyrinth were much stronger than the ones here, but since they are summoned creatures their levels are predetermined. Just be careful when we fight the prince. From the stories I heard, they are very dangerous monsters.”
The group of four stepped through the door at the same time and waited for the darkness to clear. When Ash first saw the shadow kin prince, he almost laughed after the worry Halon had instilled in him. It looked the same as the other shadow kin. It was slightly bigger, but not by enough that it looked different.
Ash started to say something but at that moment a shadow whip flashed past and his luck shield flashed a deep blue as eighty MP was sucked from him. Shaking his head from surprise, Ash remembered what Halon had said as he kicked off the ground and charged the prince.
Unlike the weaker shadow kin, the prince didn’t attack Halon but instead it focused on Ash. Even though he still had full HP, Ash was worried about the prince’s whip so he quickly tried to close the distance where the whip wasn’t as useful. As soon as he was close, a shadow sword appeared in the prince’s hand striking at Ash’s chest hitting him and knocking him back as fifty HP was drained from him.
Cursing, Ash pivoted his foot behind him as he stopped his backward movement but then he saw the whip curling toward him so he quickly kicked off the ground, trying to escape its wrath. The shadow kin were a pain with just their whip, but with a sword as well, it was really deadly. The only good thing was that while Ash was being attacked at full force Halon and Jacob had moved in each scoring a strike before being forced to retreat.
Seeing this, Ash once again rushed at the prince though this time he invoked fireball. Most the time, Ash wanted to save his MP for emergencies, but seeing the strength of the prince he decided not to hold anything back. As soon as the fireball hit, Ash followed it up with poison vine whip. As soon as the whip hit, Ash continued to use his abilities until the prince was staggering.
Under Ash’s continuous onslaught, the shadow kin prince was unable to do anything but at the same time Ash’s MP and SP were being depleted at an amazing pace. While Ash attacked, the other three were stunned and did nothing but watch as Ash used ability after ability.
When Ash used his own shadow whip, the prince was thrown into the labyrinth wall but it was still alive. Ash still had about half his MP, but he didn’t see the need to use it as he rushed the downed prince burying his sword deep into its chest.
“Remind me not to piss you off,” Halon said, walking up to Ash who was sitting beside the prince’s corpse breathing hard. He still had MP to spare but his SP only had 26 points left.
“An ability book,” Jacob said as he handed the book over to Ash.
[Shadow Weapon: cost 10-30MP, 5SP- create a weapon out of shadows. Cost depends on weapon created. Ignores standard defense.]
Seeing the look on Jacobs face, Ash tried not to laugh as he handed it back to him. “I think it suits you better. You are a shadow walker.”
“Are you sure?” Jacob asked but he still snatched the book quickly and absorbed it.
“I think we should head back,” Lillanis said.
“I think we could fight a bit longer,” Halon said as he took a practice swing.
“We might be able to but I don’t think it is a good idea to head to a new floor unless we are at full strength.”
“You’re the boss,” Halon said while sheathing his sword.
Stats
Notes
Name: Ash Hawkwing
Level: 13
Experience needed for next level: 3,635
Race: Human/Demon 70/30
Occupation: Novice gambler
Title: Novice Slayer
Blessings: Blessing of the reaper
HP: 905/905
MP 710/710
SP 174/174
Strength: 72 (+10) (+2) (+1) (+9) (+99)
Vitality: 75 (+3) (+103)
Agility: 49 (+9) (+5) (+67)
Stamina 71 (+5) (+98)
Spirit 26 (+10) (+35)
Intelligence: 60 (+82)
Endurance: 38 (+10) (+1) (+2) (+52)
Luck: 115 (+575) (+1)
Abilities
Passive:
Devil’s Luck: 500% bonus to luck.
Fleet foot: +10 to agility. Max
Wolf eyes: See in the dark. Level Max
Mining: Ability to use a pick to extract ore from hidden locations. Able to tell where mining locations are located. Level 2: 23%
Poison resistance: level 2-48%: 10% poison resistance.
Grave domain: Damage resistance to whole body with the exception of the head increased by 10%.
Spider senses: able to detect prey that is up to three levels higher within a 200 foot radius. Able to sense hostile intent within a 100 foot radius. Level max%.
[Fire resistance: 10% fire resistance. Level 2-13%.]
[Natural armor (small). When fighting your skin acts as a natural armor blocking 10% of physical damage. Level: max.]
[Frost resistance: 5% resistance to frost damage. Level 1-92%.]
[Yeti strength: +9 to strength. Level 4-2%.]
[Electric resistance. 5% resistance to energy attacks. Level 1-46%.]
[Water glide. When moving in water it flows naturally around you decreasing water resistance by 25%. Level max.]
[Cloak of shadows: When in a dark area cloak of shadows wraps you in shadows making it harder for you to be detected.]
Dragon sight: You can see the magical flow of items and creatures
[Reaper’s sight: people who have received the ire of the goddess will now appear with a small sickle above their head.]
[Reaper’s soul: after killing a person who has been marked by the goddess you will absorb a portion of their soul and receive any abilities they possess.]
> [Earth affinity- cost of using earth related skills will be reduced by 10% and power of earth related skills will be boosted 5%. Level 1-12%.]
[Mental resist- 5% bonus when attacked by a mental attack. Level 1-8%]
Active:
Demon Absorption: Cost 10MP: Absorb defeated enemies to obtain skills. Level 2- 94%
Bash: Cost 1SP - Slam into enemies with your body to do X10 damage. Level 2-9%
Rabbit Punch: Cost 1Sp- Using feet or hands quickly lash out with a lighting quick attack. Level 1-58%
Stab: Cost 1 SP- Thrust forward with weapon (sword, spear.) level 2-17%
Poison spit: Cost 5MP. Level 2-10%: Spit a corrosive poison that sticks to enemy doing 5 damage a second for ten seconds.
Analyze ability. Cost 5MP: Ability to see opponents name, level and skill as long as they are no more than 5 levels above you. Level max.
[Poison: cost 10MP- ability to make a small amount of toxin that paralyzes. Can be placed on weapons.]
[Sticky thread: cost 15MP- shoot out a stream of sticky thread to trap opponents.]
Stealth: Cost 20 MP. Erase your presence from enemies any movement cancels the ability.
[Fire ball: cost 10MP. Create a ball of fire and throw it at an enemy. Level 2-7%.]
[Cone of frost: Cost 15MP: send out a cone of frost freezing everything in its path. Causes 10 frost damage every second for five seconds. Level 2-46%]
[Crushing blow: cost 5SP: strike with a hard blow bypassing 50% of opponent’s defense. Level 1-96%]
[Shock armor: cost 10MP. Covers a small area with electoral energy that will stun an opponent struck with it for two seconds. Level 1-62%.]
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