by Trey Myr
Tired from the fight, Ed sat down to resting for a bit, and ended up recovering enough mana to summon his Phantasmal Worker before he felt well enough to continue. Adding another horn to his bag, Ed moved on accompanied by his trusty meat shield.
◆◆◆
It was several hours later that Ed came upon a tunnel leading into one of the hills. He managed to kill two more rabbits on the way, but had to make a large detour to avoid several groups of two or more rabbits, which he knew were too chancy to fight.
It was a well-established fact that caves, tunnels and burrows in the Labyrinth often lead to lairs of bosses, which in turn were the best sources for treasure and Shards, as well as the pathways to the next level.
Ed had a Phantasmal Worker with him, and decided to wait until he had the mana to summon another before entering the tunnel. Half an hour later, he took a flashlight mounted on a head strap from his bag, turned it on, and ordered the Worker to precede him into the tunnel.
The tunnel wasn't long, and five minutes later Ed found himself in a circular room, about ten meters from side to side, with a ceiling barely high enough to let him walk upright. Rabbit furs were strewn haphazardly on the floor, and a small fire burned in the center, its smoke curling up into an opening in the roof. The stench of rotting food came from piles of garbage that were shoved near the far edge of the room, mingling with the stench of unwashed bodies, indicating that while the room may have once been a burrow for the horned rabbits, it was long since taken over by something else.
The new residents of the room were a couple of short, green humanoids. They were about a meter high, completely bold, and sported large, sail-like ears and sharp, protruding tusks. The unmistakable goblins jumped up from their place in front of the fire, and ran towards Ed as soon as he walked in. Ed sent his Phantasmal Worker to block the way of one of the goblins, and used his quarterstaff to block a clumsy blow from the crude club the second was wielding. Delivering a quick blow with the other end of the quarterstaff between the goblin’s legs revealed that this was most definitely a male of its species, and a second hard blow to his head put a swift end to his high pitched screech. The first goblin, meanwhile, has managed to deal enough damage to dispel the Phantasmal Worker and charged shrieking at Ed. Ed, who was still recovering from hitting the other goblin, couldn't bring his quarterstaff up fast enough to block, and took a painful hit on his hip from the goblin's club. Kicking the small humanoid away before it could strike again, Ed quickly followed up with a strike at the goblin's chest, driving the air out of its lungs and staggering it. One on one, the goblin's small stature and short weapon gave Ed a huge reach advantage, and the goblin soon joined its fellow in death.
After summoning his Phantasmal Worker again, just in case something else came into the burrow and attacked him, Ed set about to search the room. The very first thing he found, hidden behind a hanging fur, was a simple wooden door. The unremarkable door, which wouldn't have rated a second glance in most locations, was completely out of place in what used to be a rabbit burrow, and Ed was almost certain it was the way to the next level of the Labyrinth. Ed had absolutely no intention of searching in the piles of garbage, but the goblins themselves might have something worth taking. The monsters weren't wearing any armor, and their clubs were barely more than fallen branches. The first goblin he searched had nothing on it other than a necklace made of various teeth, but on the second, Ed hit the jackpot.
Even before Ed got to the body, he could see a glint of reflected light from the goblin's chest. Smiling excitedly, Ed grabbed hold of the crystal pentagon embedded in the monster, and pulled it out.
Colored the same green as the goblin it came out of, this Shard was twice as large as the one Ed got his Phantasmal Worker from, and as soon as it was completely out of the corpse, a blue window appeared in front of him.
Goblin
Tier 0
Level 1
0/500 essence
These small, green humanoids are the weakest of the goblinoid races.
While nimble and quick, goblins are fairly stupid and lacking in strength.
+1 agility
Raceshards were probably the rarest type of Shards found in the Labyrinth, and prized by almost all delvers. When Sliced, the Raceshard will transform a person into a different race, giving boosts in stats. And while becoming a goblin seemed like a huge price to pay for a very small boost, Raceshards increased in power when leveled, giving more stat boosts, and eventually even enabling the user to evolve into a stronger race.
Finding a Raceshard this early in the Labyrinth was a huge stroke of luck, and Ed was tempted to Slice it immediately. However, Slicing the Shard now would mean that Ed would be unable to Slice any Shards until it reached its maximum level, leaving him lacking in any combat skills, and therefore in a very dangerous situation.
Ed was still considering the issue of Slicing his new Shard when he heard a large thump, and he raised his head just in time to see his Phantasmal Worker stumbling back and crashing into him. A second later, the Worker vanished, and Ed could see an old, grizzled horned rabbit, with a broken off horn staring at him in confusion.
Quickly raising his quarterstaff, Ed attacked the rabbit, and found that a hornless rabbit, while still able to deliver a solid hit, was far less of a danger than the other rabbits he fought.
It was only after the rabbit was dead that Ed remembered his Raceshard, and turned to look for it.
The Shard, however, was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 2:
The Drunken Pug
Ed spent the next half an hour looking for the missing Shard, but eventually had to give up when he heard what had to be the rest of the goblin tribe on their way back. Cursing the fickleness that gave him a good drop and then immediately took it away, he passed through the door, and back into the cacophony of the bazaar.
Ed found himself on an upside down walkway, the bazaar in all its glory hanging above his head, and the distant sky below him. The walkway continued for twenty meters, before ending in front of another door, likely one leading deeper into the Labyrinth. On his left, a stairway rose up towards the ground, and Ed quickly started going up, a feeling of vertigo gripping him as up suddenly became down, and he was suddenly moving downwards towards the ground, the upside down walkway stretching above him.
Moving away from the stairway, Ed started looking for an alchemist who might buy some of his loot. Between the horns from the four rabbits he managed to kill, and the goblin's tooth necklace, Ed estimated that he'd be able to afford a new low tier Skillshard. Quickly locating a booth advertising potions and salves, Ed went over, approaching the young looking gnome manning (or perhaps gnoming) the booth.
"Congratulations on your first successful Labyrinth delve", called out the gnome as soon as Ed stopped in front of his booth, "and welcome to Albert's Apothecary. How can I be of service?"
"Is it that obvious?" asked Ed, scratching his head self-consciously.
"You don't look nearly experienced enough to be a professional Solo, and very few newcomers try more than one solo delve. Too much danger and too little to gain."
"Makes sense, I guess. Anyway, I've got some things to sell. Rabbit horns and a gob necklace."
"Let's see them then. Always a market for sharpness salves."
Taking the horns and necklace out of his bag, Ed placed them on the booth in front of him, when a spot of color on his left hand caught his eye. The crystal pentagon from his Phantasmal Worker Shard, which was previously completely clear, was now colored a light green along one of its sides.
Shards came in just about any color imaginable, and would normally become more and more opaque as they gain essence, but as far as Ed was aware, they never changed their color. You could, sometimes, Slice one Shard into another, and in that case you'd see a pentagon in the color of the imbedded Shard inside the pentagon from the host Shard, but that was the only case Ed knew about when a Shard could gain a new color.
"…don't have
any Butchery related Shard, so I'm not going to be able to give you the full hey! Are you even listening to me?" The raised voice of the gnome finally managed to nudge Ed's mind away from his Shard.
"I'm sorry. I got distracted there for a minute. What were you saying?"
"Stress finally catch up to you? Don't worry about it. Happens to a lot of people after the first time. I said that the horns you have there are chipped, since you don't have any Butchery Skill, so I'm only going to be able to give you six credits for the lot of them. Would have been 8 if they were in better condition. I'll add ten for the necklace. Decent essence in it."
"That's good. I figured I wouldn't be getting full price on the horns. You've got a deal."
The gnome handed Ed a silver ten credit coin, and six coppers. "Good luck in the Labyrinth. Come again if you have any ingredients to sell, or are looking for any alchemical product."
"Thank you." Ed pocketed the coins and waved goodbye to the gnome on his way towards the exit from the Labyrinth.
Credits, of which Ed now had sixteen of, were the only legal tender inside the Labyrinth. Coined and enchanted by a bank controlled jointly by the Five Families, credits couldn't be forged, and couldn't even be touched by anyone who hasn't Sliced at least one Shard. The amount in Ed's pocket wasn't much, but would be enough to buy one or two low tier Shards. Ed originally planned to buy an Crushing Blow Skillshard, which would let him spend mana to increase the damage from blunt weapons, and enable him to damage creatures immune to normal weapons, such as the slimes that were often found in the lower levels of the Labyrinth. However, he really wanted to understand what happened to his Phantasmal Worker Shard before his did anything else.
Barely even noticing the changed guard on the exit, Ed hurried back to his motel room, and brought up his status.
Eduard Fergusson
Race
Human
Class
None
Shards
1/2
Strength
6
Dexterity
7
Wisdom
4
Constitution
7
Agility
8
Intelligence
6
HP
16/20
Mana
2/16
HP regen
0.7/hour
Mana regen
6/hour
Shard
Level
Essence
Conjure Phantasm
0
0/100
"What the hell is Conjure Phantasm?" Ed muttered to himself. "I've never even heard of it, not to mention a Shard changing its name."
Concentrating on the Shard in question caused its one information window to pop up and replace the status screen.
Conjure Phantasm
Tier 0
Level 1
0/100 essence
Creates constructs made of pure mana to serve the user. One construct can be created per skill level.
Available phantasms
Phantasmal Worker
Creates a construct that can carry out simple tasks and will take up to ten points of damage before being dispelled.
The construct cannot attack or use any weapons.
Mana cost: 10
Duration: until dispelled
Phantasmal Goblin
Creates a simple goblin that can fight and carry out simple tasks.
The goblin has no weapons skills.
Slice more Shards to give the goblin more abilities.
Mana cost: 10
Duration: until dispelled
The information window faded away long before Ed came out of his shock. It was obvious now that the goblin Raceshard must have accidently been Sliced into his phantasmal worker when the broken horned rabbit caused it to smash into Ed.
The problem was that Ed had never heard even a rumor that something like this was possible. Impediment Shards were supposed to be almost completely useless and impossible to level, but if the goblin summoned by his new skill could fight, then the Shard could gain essence. But the real import of the change was that it created a summoned entity that can power up from using Shards. And if those Shards work the same as they normally do, the goblin could gain essence and level up itself. Summoning Skills were notoriously limited by the fact that almost all of them remain static, and a summoned entity useful in one level of the Labyrinth would be nothing more than fodder five levels later.
Ed quickly decided that he's going to have to test how the phantasmal goblin works. See precisely what Slicing a Shard into the goblin would do, and then test it in the Labyrinth to see if it could gain essence.
He didn't have the mana to summon his goblin yet, so he opened up his laptop and entered the Labyrinth wiki page, trying to decide what Shards would be best to test on his new goblin. He'll probably have to postpone getting his Crushing Blow Shard, but if the phantasmal goblin worked out, it will definitely be worth it.
Two hours and a trip to the bazaar later, Ed summoned his goblin for the first time. The now familiar feeling of mana draining out of him was followed by the formation of a larger than usual blue orb. The color of the orb swiftly changed to green, and took the form of a meter tall goblin wearing nothing but a loincloth.
A quick mental command brought up a status screen for the goblin.
Phantasmal Goblin
Race
Goblin
Class
None
Shards
1/2
Strength
3
Dexterity
5
Wisdom
2
Constitution
2
Agility
4
Intelligence
1
HP
7
Mana
4
HP regen
0.2/hour
Mana regen
1/hour
Shard
Level
Essence
Goblin
0
0/500
"Fairly decent for a tier 0 summon," muttered Ed thoughtfully. "Let's see what happens when I add this."
Ed opened his bag and took out the Shard he bought earlier in the bazaar. Colored a silvery gray, its size was somewhere in the middle between the Phantasmal Worker Shard and the Goblin Shard. Ed placed the Shard's point on the goblin's chest, and pushed it in. The Shard slid easily into the goblin, and as soon as it was fully Sliced, Shard and Goblin both vanished.
"Damn it. I was hoping to see its status, but it'll be two and a half hours before I can summon it again. Let's see if the skill changed though."
Conjure Phantasm
Tier 0
Level 1
0/100 essence
Creates constructs made of pure mana to serve the user. One construct can be created per skill level.
Available phantasms
Phantasmal Worker
Creates a construct that can carry out simple tasks and will take up to ten points of damage before being dispelled.
The construct cannot attack or use any weapons.
Mana cost: 10
Duration: until dispelled
Phantasmal Goblin Spearman
Creates a goblin spearman that can fight and carry out simple tasks.
Slice more Shards to give the goblin more abilities.
Mana cost: 15
Duration: until dispelled
"Looks like it worked, but it's starting to get late. I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to see it in action."
◆◆◆
Phantasmal Goblin Spearman
Race
Goblin
Class
None
Shards
½
Strength
3
Dexterity
5
Wisdom
2
Constitution
&
nbsp; 2
Agility
4
Intelligence
1
HP
7
Mana
4
HP regen
0.2/hour
Mana regen
1/hour
Shard
Level
Essence
Goblin
0
0/500
Spearman
0
0/300
As Ed had expected, there wasn’t any difference in the goblin’s status from Slicing the spearman Shard. At its first level, spearman, like most weaponry Classshards, gave basic competency with the weapon. The second and fourth levels would give stat bonuses, and the third would give a Shard slot, all of which would make the goblin much more useful than it was. The main difference from Slicing the spearman Shard wasn’t apparent in the goblin’s status, but on the goblin itself. Where previously the goblin was conjured with nothing but a loincloth, it was holding a spear.
“Better than I expected.” Ed told the unresponsive goblin. “I really don’t have the credits to buy you a spear right now.”