My combat training turned out to be quite different from what I had in mind. I was expecting to learn some cool moves finally, how to land a punch right, or a kick, for that matter. Instead, Deckard was teaching me how to dance. Or, as he called it, the basics of footwork.

What a bummer, huh?

But little did I know how hard it was going to be.

To keep my mind on holding my body correctly and taking steps in the right way simultaneously required considerable concentration and coordination. Sure, for the most part, it was I and I alone who made it more difficult for myself. I really was a dolt when it came to classical dance.

And since I was aware of that I put a serious effort into it in an attempt to move on to some more exciting techniques as soon as possible. 

The depressing thing about it all was that I didn’t seem to be making much progress. Well, I did. A few skills leveled up. It just didn’t show in my movements. I was still a klutz.

 

• [Perfect Equilibrium] reaches lvl 20
• [Perfect Equilibrium] reaches lvl 21

…

• [Dancer’s Stride] reaches lvl 5
• [Dancer’s Stride] reaches lvl 6

…

• [Spatial Domain] reaches lvl 22

 

And, of course, as my body digested lunch, the corresponding skills grew with that.

• [Behemoth] reaches lvl 5

…

• [None to Squander] reaches lvl 3
• [None to Squander] reaches lvl 4

Yeah, and more dancing.

• [Dancer’s Stride] reaches lvl 7

Nice to see my skills grow. If only they were the skills I was counting on in combat. However, for them to level up, I would need to actually learn to fight. Or fight for real. 

Frankly, I couldn’t shake the feeling that fighting horned rabbits would give me more than the steps Deckard was teaching me. An annoying feeling I couldn’t get rid of. Well, what could I say? My instincts were craving some real action. 

I knew better, though.

If the flower didn’t have proper roots to lean on, it never bloomed either. Worse, it was prone to disease and pests, and if it grew outside, lousy weather could destroy it.

I needed proper roots, like the moss in my hair, and that was what Deckard was teaching me.

Yet, even though I was aware of the importance of dance steps, it was the prowling through the grass in search of my prey after the lesson ended that got my blood pumping. There was only one hitch.

Exciting as it was, it weighed on my mind. Killing rabbits gave me no pleasure, yet I found the hunt thrilling. Striking a fatal blow made me feel disgusted with myself, but at the same time, successfully hunting down prey filled my chest with satisfaction.

Pride, too.

And it was this pride that made me want to show Deckard my best, no playing with my prey or practicing my skills, just a smooth hunt, a clean kill. One blow to the back of the horned rabbit’s neck, that’s it. That was my plan. Too bold? Nah, I managed to do so yesterday and without the help of my beast presence. It shouldn’t be that hard to do again, right?

A few minutes later, with the prey in front of me and Deckard somewhere around observing, I shifted into a second-tier beast, fully focused on my target. Prowling as close as the beast’s carelessness allowed me, I dashed ahead the moment the horned rabbit’s ears twitched. The best way to hunt them was not to give them a chance to rush me, a hard-learned lesson.

The beast let out a defiant squeak-roar while trying to face me. It was too late, though. I was already halfway through the jump, landing on the rabbit’s back less than a breath later. Not a move that I had yet fully mastered. Luck played a big part in it, and well, it seemed to be on my side now.

One blow under its skull between the horns and the beast collapsed to the ground beneath me. In my books, a job well done. 

• You have defeated [Horned Rabbit: lvl 39]

“Don’t know how to feel about that, do you?” remarked Deckard when he walked up to me, observing me instead of my prey. Not the praise I expected, but I saw where his question came from. I might have carried myself and had a satisfied smile plastered on my face, yet I couldn’t hide the disgust in my eyes.

“Any advice?” I didn’t ask about the fight, and he knew.

“Don’t let the slaying of beasts and monsters bother you too much. It leads to hesitation, and that can cost you your life.” Deckard walked over to the corpse of the horned rabbit and shoved it with his foot. “They won’t hesitate to kill you, remember that.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” he asked back. “It’s hard to tell from a fight you showed me, but I know what shortcoming people like you suffer from the most, overconfidence. You’re sure a beast like this one can’t kill you, that your skills will keep you alive no matter what. Bullshit! If it comes to that, you can choke on a nut.”

“Deckard, I realized that yesterday, I did. I messed up pretty badly, became overconfident, as you said. The rabbit got me pretty good.”

“Then it was a priceless lesson that you should burn into your memory. And before you start telling me you already have, believe me, it’s not that easy. Or I should say, it’s easy to forget in the heat of battle. Believe it or not, it happens to me now and then to this day.”

“O-okay.” What could I say? He caught me off guard by admitting to that. 

“As for the other side of the coin. Be careful you don’t start enjoying the killing too much. Yes, I’m aware of your beast side and that it won’t be easy for you, but you have to deal with it. I’ve seen enough people driven by their bloodlust to kill others.”

“Too late.” There was already human blood on my hands.

“You defended yourself, that’s all. Or am I wrong, and you enjoyed it?”

Lowering my ears, I shook my head. “I loathe myself for it.”

“Well, don’t. They had it coming,” he assured me and paused. “Just, if you find it hard to handle, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t hesitate and ask! You got that?!”

“Yeah, I got it, thanks.” It was a heartfelt thank you, it really was. Having someone in my life again that I could rely on if needed was incredibly comforting.

“Now, to your fight,” he said, raising his eyes from the beast’s corpse to me. Under his stare, I straightened up in anticipation of what he would say. Should I be worried? My hunt couldn’t have gone any better, though.

“Well done. You’ve outgrown the first floor. That’s all I have to say about your...it wasn’t even a fight, just a kill.”

“What do you mean?”

“That this floor has nothing more to offer you. Just a bit of a challenge, if any, and that’s woefully inadequate for your growth.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Deckard laughed. “I’m not a mind mage to know that...but yes. Time for you to move deeper into the Labyrinth.”

“So, tomorrow...”

“Why wait till tomorrow? We still have plenty of time.”

A glance at the system clock told me I still had over two hours until my lesson with Aspen. It was a time I intended to use to earn a few coins, take a bath and maybe do some laundry. However, the prospect of looking into the next floor of Fallens Cry was far more enticing.

“Is there some magical tool to help us find the platform?” I no longer wanted to look like a fool for not knowing the basics. Searching for the small black slab covered with runes that would lead me to the second floor, in the tall grass of the vast meadows, could have taken me weeks. If there could have been a much simpler solution than relying on luck, why not ask?

“There are, but not the kind you think. Those tools allow you to see a large part of the labyrinth without moving from your spot. One such is a Surveyor. It’s launched high into the air and allows you to see the ground from above.”

“Like a drone?”

“A what?”

Realizing my mistake, I waved him off. “My world, forget it.”

“Whatever. Anyway, not a very useful tool in dense forests. There’s a Pathfinder for that job, and then there are many others, some for more specific work.”

“And what tool are we using?” I was quite looking forward to seeing another magical tool in action.

“None,” Deckard said flatly, shattering my elation. “There’s no need. It’s not that hard to navigate on floors like this one. The platform should be that way.” 

Looking in the direction he was gesturing, I wondered what the trick was, since I couldn’t see anything. “How do you know?” His perception range couldn't have been so great that it covered the entire floor, or could it?

“It’s the little things, especially the orientation of the columns and stone blocks in the labyrinth. The runes on them can tell you which direction to look. Come on. I’ll show you.”

Rune lines turned out to be like the moss or lichen on the trees that grew on the north side of the trunks. Here it was the orientation of the square blocks and columns, along with the runes lines carved a little more densely on one side.

As with everything in the Labyrinth, this method was less and less useful the lower the seeker was. Why? Simply because it was harder to find these blocks, and when you did find one, the rune lines on them didn’t give away the platform’s location as readily.

Of course, there was no way of knowing the way back, and if the seeker was truly lost, he had no choice but to wander the floor or continue his or her search of the deeper floor.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? I got a leaflet at the City Hall, information about Fallens Cry and what to bring, but there was no mention of this.”

“Nobody uses it. You can get up to floor thirty with this method if you are good. Then it’s practically useless.”

“So why tell me?”

He gave me a bemused look. “You asked.”

Well, I did, didn’t I?

 

***

 

Under Deckard’s guidance, it took less than half an hour to find the platform. Frankly, it was pretty anticlimactic, with no joy or sense of satisfaction in it for me. The teleportation platform didn’t look any different, either. So the little bit of excitement I still had from the trip to the second floor had faded entirely. Sure, it would be a waste of time if I were to spend hours at best searching. Only if I found it on my own days later it would be all the more rewarding.

Well, it was what it was.

Instead of a mix of thrill and anxiety, I just felt tension. Why the fuss? I was moving on, taking a step further, after all. What will the second floor be like? How much stronger will the beasts be in it? There were a lot of questions going through my mind as I stepped onto the black platform covered with engraved, runic lines.

The labyrinth sign lighting up and offering me the option of moving to the second floor only added to my jitters.

“Ready?” Deckard asked.

Was I?

No, but there was no taking a step back. Not when I was already here.

Having learned from this morning’s incident, I raised my mental defenses and nodded. Less than a breath later, the rune lines beneath my feet glowed with white light, and I bid farewell to the first floor.

To my relief, Traiana’s cry didn’t affect me any more than usual and faded from my mind rather quickly. With that put behind me, I did find some enthusiasm and curiosity in me, and eager to see what new the second floor had to offer, I looked around.

What a letdown. It turned out to look just the same as the floor we came from.

“Check your mark. Do you see [Floor 0] among your options there, the one for the platform up on the square?”

I looked and checked. The option was there. His request gave me pause, though. 

“Does it happen? I mean, the seeker not getting the option for the floor?” Some kind of bug?

“Here and there. Simply step off and on the platform if that happens to you. Just remember to check every time you enter a new floor.”

Shit, there were so many things to look out for! Being a seeker wasn’t easy at all, but I was getting there.

Now, looking around, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we hadn’t moved at all. In front of me were the same meadows and rolling hills overgrown with grass under a sunless artificial sky supported by black columns. 

Well, it was the grass in which I found a subtle difference in the end. No, it wasn’t a differently shaped rock. What caught my attention was the greater diversity of the grass. I saw a minimum of four different species in my domain and something that formed a small ear. No flowers, though. What a bummer. 

Oh, and there were a bunch of bug species crawling around.

All right, this was a different floor, just... “I was expecting something much different,” I voiced my thoughts.

“I can see that. You won’t be happy to hear that the other floors aren’t that different either.”

“Really?”

“It’s just minor changes with each floor.”

“So, no caverns crawling with spiders and undead?”

“That’s more of a dungeon thing, apart from the undead. For that, you would need a necromancer or lich, and as far as I know, there hasn’t been one in Sahal for hundreds of years.”

“Outlawed, like mind mages?

“You have the right idea.”

I gave the second floor another look and pulled the leaflet I had from City Hall out of my ring’s storage. As I remembered, Fallens Cry’s first floor horned rabbits were supposed to be in the 30-45lvl range, and the recommended level for a solo seeker was 75. Checking the leaflet, this was indeed the case. However, there was no mention of any other floors. Perhaps there was a second part to this, like page two or something? Needless to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if they expect most people to give up, so they didn’t bother putting out a leaflet for the more advanced seekers.

“How strong beasts should I expect?” I asked, looking up from the leaflet.

Deckard scowled at the sight of the paper in my hands. “Don’t let the numbers fool you. They’re not everything.”

He didn’t have to tell me that. “So, how strong are the beasts here?”

“Someone’s eager,” he remarked, amused. “Still only horned rabbits, let’s say two levels stronger.”

“Are you shitting me? Same beasts, and only two levels stronger?”

“What did I tell you about overconfidence and that numbers don’t matter that much?”

Biting my lips, I swallowed more curses and, disappointed all over again, I just grumbled. Actually, this whole trip turned out to be one big disappointment. The first time I visited Fallens Cry, I almost kicked the bucket. At that time, the second floor seemed like something unattainable, a great milestone there in the distance. The reality turned out to be completely different.

“Labyrinths are not dungeons. They were built to prepare us for...you know, some ancient war. Though dangerous, their primary purpose is to train us, not kill us. Step by step to make us into warriors who will be able to face whatever awaits us. 

“So, go out, hunt some rabbits, and we’ll see where you stand. If it comes down to it, we’ll move down a floor tomorrow.”

“Deal.” 

The second floor may not have been what I expected, not as big a milestone as it was in my mind, but it was a step forward, and it looked like I could do another one soon. Thrilling thought.

With renewed vigor coursing through my veins, I set out, bound to see what these meadows and hills had to offer. Of course, first I made sure Deckard wouldn’t leave me behind and had the Thread activated. A habit he told me to burn into my memory when I returned the magic tool to him.

It didn’t take long to find a noticeable change in my prowling through the grass. My head felt heavy. Actually, when it throbbed with pain, my initial concern was that my hangover was coming back. Yet the problem turned out to be my over-focus on my domain and the world around me through it. The rocks hidden in the grass made me take it very seriously. But now that there was a wider variety in that world, this heavy focus took a greater toll on my mind than before.

My instincts told me to ease up. I knew better. To let down my guard would be to risk a painful encounter with a rock. No, thank you.

So gritting my teeth and trying to suppress the heaviness of my mind with [Indomitable Will], I soldiered on, looking for my first prey of the second floor. Once again, finding the horned rabbit proved to be not that hard without Deckard present. After all, they were massive beasts in an otherwise empty and relatively flat landscape.

The horned rabbit was grazing in one of the meadows, unaware that a predator was approaching.

Sure, it was awkward to think of myself that way. I was no lioness, tiger, or wolf. I wasn’t even a fucking cat hunting a mouse, yet my instincts were telling me I was a predator and nothing less. Fighting with them over every little thing would be highly tiring and distracting. And so, when I was hunting, I let them have their way. Predator I was.

My prey didn’t let me get as close as I would have liked, though. Not within one jump that would put me on its furry back, and so the fight dragged on a bit. However, within minutes, it was over, and the beast lay dead at my feet.

• You have defeated [Horned Rabbit: lvl 40]

Not the most powerful beast I could find here, nor the strongest I’ve ever slain. Still, it gave me more trouble than I expected. The fact that [Dancer’s Stride] gave a bonus directly to Dexterity and not my speed may have played a role, as well as the lack of my double speed. The fact that the beast seemed to react to my movements a tad faster than what I was used to could be credited to my more burdened mind. I was the slow one. 

No, even so, I didn’t let down my guard and kept my focus. Kicking a rock in a fight would cost me a lot more.

All my faults, I know. Some brought on by the wild night I had, others by my lack of training and proficiency with my skills, yet nothing to be credited to the beast. It wasn’t faster, stronger, bigger, nor was there more smarts behind its eyes.

All in all, one big disappointment.

 

• [Indomitable Will] reaches lvl 120

• [Spatial Domain] reaches lvl 23

 

Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human/Beast

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Main Class: Deviant of Humanity

Sub Class: Slave

Level: 100

 

Constitution: 102 (39)

Strength: 60 ( 25)

Endurance: 33 (26)

Dexterity: 29 (24)

Intelligence: 23 (12)

Wisdom: 21 (11)

 

Class Skills (8/8):

Indomitable Will (Passive V): lvl 119 -> 120

Master’s Shield (Active II): lvl 19

Behemoth (Active I): lvl 3 -> 5

Wrought Hide (Passive I): lvl 1

Unbending Resilience (Passive I): lvl 1

Fierce Pounce (Active I): lvl 2 -> 3

Mantle of Magic (Active I): lvl 3

Call of Nature (Passive I): lvl 1

 

General Skills (10/10):

Eleaden Standard Language (Passive I): lvl 8 -> 9

Perfect Equilibrium (Passive II): lvl 19 -> 21

Spatial Domain (Passive II): lvl 21 -> 23

Beast (Passive III): lvl 30

Never-Dying (Passive III): lvl 40

Tail of Poison Empress (Active II): lvl 13

Heart of Magic (Passive I): lvl 9

Striving Mule (Passive I): lvl 2 -> 5

Dancer’s Stride (Passive I): lvl 3 -> 7

None to Squander (Passive I): lvl 2 -> 4