DUE TO SAFE ZONE VIOLATION YOU HAVE BEEN TELEPORTED TO A HIGH DANGER AREA. JUDICIAL REVIEW INDICATES YOUR INVOLVEMENT WAS INVOLUNTARY. YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE POSSESSIONS OF YOUR ATTACKER.
CAUTION: YOU ARE ENTERING A NEW AREA.
DANGER LEVEL: HIGH
ATHLETICISM LEVEL: MODERATE TO LOW
REWARD LEVEL: VERY HIGH
TEMPERATURE RANGE: 70-74 F
MOB STYLE: INSECT AND GREENSKIN
TERRAIN: UNDERGROUND
SAPIENT POPULATION: NONE
CLOSEST CITY: N/A
SAFE ZONES: 5
EXIT PORTALS: 44
I most certainly did not intend to teleport away from the safe zone that day.
I had spent a month or more in the safe room. I saw people come and go. Some quite quickly.
I had decided to use the time to train my body as well as my mind. Every time the personal rooms opened to me- 12 hours in/12 hours out was the rule- I would work out. I did a combination of body weight exercises that I had never taken seriously past that one PE class where we did them as a warmup and ‘fighting’ movements using my spear.
I had not studied any martial arts. I just made X and + patterns in the air, turning- almost dancing- to an imaginary beat of attacking monsters.
I was in no way prepared for a real fight.
I had been happily reading. I had just finished copying a book the librarian had on talismans and was working through another stack. The thin sheets Carter had used for his talismans were actually used to copy images, since they were nearly see through.
He showed me how to use two or three sheets overlapped to draw the whole diagram while not actually enchanting a spell onto the page. Then you interleave the pages where they go in the book. It’s a good copying technique.
I had stocked up on shop supplies. I had unpacked my bags into my ring so it made sense to me to use one of the tokens to store those bags filled with supplies. The store even stocked very basic alchemy supplies, just ones that would make more satiation pills.
I had experimented until I could make them correctly every time.
I was set to adventure for quite a long time.
The punch came out of nowhere. One moment I was focused on herbalism, the next moment I was in a stone room staring at the notification.
At least I didn’t have the library book. I would have felt bad if I had stolen it.
I looked at the possessions of my unknown attacker. A battle axe with a double half circle head that was bigger than my wingspan and with a shaft that was taller than me before the axe part was even added.
It was technically sheathed on a back harness. The leather was warm. The idiot had been wearing it.
The metal matched my spear, mithril, and I recognized some of the runes as gravity manipulation. I managed to lift the thing just well enough to put it in my ring.
I suddenly had a lot more breathing room in the tiny chamber. I sighed.
He’d also had a medium sized pack, entirely filled with food, not even any camping gear. I put that away. The last item he’d bequeathed me was a pair of fur shorts. I would say fur tightie whities, except they weren’t white.
The girth of them matched the heft of his weapon. He was not a small man, whoever he was.
I smirked. It was worth my current predicament to think of him fighting off some huge beast without any of his stuff.
Not that I had seen his face, the blow came to the back of my head.
I dropped the fur undies and focused back on the message.
I was going to have to fight. The setting should not require climbing, jumping or other parkour moves. Athleticism had a range: Advanced, Very High, High, Active, Moderate, Minor, Low, Very Low, Sedate.
Apparently I should have better luck with loot than the area indicated. I had studied mob styles and non sapient green skins meant goblins or gremlins, except the gremlins wouldn’t be very smart. Insect was self explanatory, but at high danger they would be huge or in massive swarms.
Safe zones were nice to have, the 44 exit portals were interesting, but probably most of them led to crazy dangerous environments. All the location descriptions had wide ranges.
Feeling knowledgeable, if not prepared, I touched the wall. I don’t think I expected to see another choice room.
MAZE OF TWISTY PASSAGES ALL THE SAME
MAZE OF TWISTY PASSAGES ALL DIFFERENT
TUTORIAL CONDITIONS
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The choice was easy. Tutorial Conditions meant a task to complete before moving on. It wasn’t safe but it was orderly and if the task was to kill a hundred gremlins there would be exactly one hundred mobs in the area.
So that choice took all of two seconds and most of that was crossing the threshold. I am unsure if I should have been surprised to see yet another choice:
CULTIVATION
PATRONAGE
SYSTEM
Carter claimed he’d never met anyone who chose patronage. He didn’t even have much information besides a nearly endless list of gods and entities that was not explicitly linked with the concept of patronage.
Bob the Librarian said he thought the guys who kept trying to yeet him out of the safe zone had patronage. Why else would they emerge from the portal with excellent weapons and march straight to him as if they had a quest?
I tended to agree, especially since he’d asked me to mind the shop only moments before the attack came.
I frowned. Bob the librarian set me up. No question.
“May I have more information on this choice, please? Someone trying to remove the librarian from the entry safe zone probably owes me for the mistake their disciple just made. If that might be a mitigating factor that could be considered.”
I stood in a relaxed stance and waited. After a while I pulled out my camp stool and sat on it. I ate a satiation pill when I felt hungry.
I almost jumped when the words in front of me shifted.
WARNING! This information will result in your expulsion from the labyrinth. Your destination will be chosen randomly based on some minor alterations of current settings.
All current information on runes and magic will be the same or similar.
DANGER LEVEL: HIGH -> UNKNOWN
ATHLETICISM LEVEL: MODERATE TO LOW
REWARD LEVEL: VERY HIGH -> UNKNOWN
TEMPERATURE RANGE: 70-74 F
MOB STYLE: INSECT AND/OR GREENSKIN
TERRAIN: UNDERGROUND
SAPIENT POPULATION: NONE-> NONE WITHIN CAVE SYSTEM
CLOSEST CITY: N/A -> 20-100 DAYS DEPENDING ON TUNNEL EXITS
SAFE ZONES: 5 -> N/A
EXIT PORTALS: 44 -> N/A
PROCEED? YES/NO
I was intrigued. Something about the question I had asked had implications so severe that I was not allowed to remain in the labyrinth to spread the information around. My best guess was something about Patronage.
So. Continue without knowledge or go with a fully fledged isekai?
Put another way, remain in this clearly artificial situation or explore and experience a new world?
Months or years without seeing another thinking being or a completely unfamiliar culture and social pitfalls?
I must have considered the pros and cons for too long because a countdown from 100 started, moving quickly.
I hit yes. Not because I wanted to isekai into some new world. But I wanted to stay here less. If I had to rush the decision I would go with more information.
The walls blanked completely and then new writing appeared.
CULTIVATION- Drawing ambient energies into your soul to improve it. Naturally leads to strengthening and transforming your body and mind.
PATRONAGE- The ultimate aim of this labyrinth is to gather, test and develop potential Champions. Work with a powerful entity to change the world or worlds they oversee. Success brings highest rewards of any path.
SYSTEM- The newest addition to our Labyrinth. Numeric tracking of physical attributes, traits, skills and more on a so called heads up display inside your own eyes. Most intrusive. Note: system will match destination.
The counter reset, I barely noticed it set at 500 seconds instead of 100. This information was not new or surprising. Not really. It merely confirmed my conjectures.
I didn’t need the countdown timer. I was going system and I didn’t need to think about it. I had plenty of time to think while I was threatening not to go forward.
System all the way.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good cultivation novel, but I don’t want to live it. Being dependent on resources to advance sounds like torture because resources inevitably come with people. People I have to deal with.
Insanely powerful people who get offended at the drop of a hat, especially at the insolence of the lower ranked. When the one thing I know about myself for certain is I make social mistakes.
I still wasn’t sure if Carter had shown a romantic interest in me. Trust me, if the person you like is spectrum and they can’t take a hint, be blunt.
The timer paused as soon as I pressed my choice. The next room was message only.
THE MORE CHOICES YOU MAKE THE FEWER WORLDS WILL FIT YOUR CRITERIA.
The timer didn’t even start.
The next room was a control panel for the labyrinth randomizer.
(WORLD MAXIMUM) DANGER LEVEL: UNKNOWN -> VERY HIGH
(STARTING) DANGER: VERY LOW
(STARTING) ATHLETICISM LEVEL: MODERATE TO LOW-> SEDATE
(WORLD MAXIMUM) REWARD LEVEL: UNKNOWN -> ADVANCED
(STARTING) TEMPERATURE RANGE: 70-74 F-> 55-80 F
STARTING MOB STYLE: INSECT AND/OR GREENSKIN -> UNKNOWN
STARTING TERRAIN: UNDERGROUND -> URBAN
SAPIENT POPULATION: ANY/ALL
CLOSEST CITY: 20-100 DAYS-> NO DISTANCE
SAFE ZONES: 5 -> N/A
EXIT PORTALS: 44 -> N/A
PROCEED
I spent almost no time making my adjustments. I had plenty of time to read about them and discuss with Carter and Bob.
I walked through.
445 seconds remaining.
EMPIRE KINGDOM CITYSTATE
Empire. Not sure why I picked it, not quite sure the difference between city state and kingdom but empire worked and it stopped the clock.
A wall of toggles, several of which had empty dials or toggles under them.
Internal war/External war. No choice to be without war….
After nearly 200 seconds of fiddling I went with an internal war of succession from a low noble perspective, a thunderstorm of note, a political crisis, and a marriage arranged since birth. Why not?
261 seconds remaining.
Next was a large wheel on the wall with a plethora of fantasy races. I spun it once. Orc. Nope. I set it back at human and went on.
256 seconds remaining.
REINCARNATION - Reborn into the world as a baby.
TRANSMIGRATION- Take over the body and life of an adult native(predeceased).
TELEPORTATION- Current body with current gear sent to new world.
I had thought about this since I arrived. Bob loved the What if…? conversation and often roped people into some form of it.
I picked reincarnation. I will be honest, I was hoping for a prodigy infant situation where I could study to my heart’s content for years before anyone even knew I could read.
The next room was blank for a moment.
ONLY ONE POSSIBILITY EXISTS WHICH MEETS ALL OF YOU CRITERIA. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEQUEATH YOUR GEAR TO SOMEONE?
“Can you give my ring to Carter?” I stripped off my armor as I asked, leaving myself in the generic clothes I arrived in. I even broke the tokens from my pockets and put the supplies in. I did not attempt to pass a message. As soon as I stopped moving the double ring disappeared from my hand.
DONE
And then there was darkness…
