by Trey Myr
The three were on their way to Ingrid's suite when Cathrine Bjørnson caught up to them. "And where have you been all day, young lady?"
"Out in the Labyrinth, doing my best to assist my armsmen to reach the eleventh floor, like the arms master told them to, of course. Where did you think I was?"
"You are a full-fledged member of this family now, Ingrid, and you are expected to join us in council. It is acceptable to be absent if you are in the Labyrinth, but we both know that you were in the Arctology when your Uncle Mathias called for council, and you should have attended."
"I'm sorry Mother. I was just eager to get back to the Labyrinth."
"Very well. But I will expect you to join us next time, unless you are already inside the Labyrinth when you are called."
"I will be there, Mother. Can you tell me what was decided?"
"Gillian Solomon is no longer arms master of this House. She is too irresponsible when there is actual fighting. She remains in our employ as an auxiliary armsman, but doesn't hold any authority. Mathias is taking over as arms master until we can find some to take her place."
"Well, that should make Uncle Olav happier, since he's been stuck here for the past months and will be stuck for even longer since he has the snark horn to play with."
"I wouldn't know. He dragged Mathias to their suite as soon as we were done with council and I haven't heard from them since."
"Good for Olav!" Ingrid grinned. "But if you will excuse us, Mother, we would like to arrange for dinner and rest. It's been a long day in the Labyrinth."
"Enjoy your dinner, Ingrid."
"Thank you, Mother."
Chapter 14:
Ed Ache
After the tired trio finally reached Ingrid's suite and sent down a dinner order to the kitchen, Ed finally continued the conversation that was started in the oasis.
"What experiments do you think we should make, Luce?"
"We have a free phantasm slot now, so it's time to try some more Shard merging."
Ed winced in anticipation of the headache Lucy's idea will involve. "I'm really not looking forward to more Shardshock."
"I can't say that I know what that feels like, but that first attempt got us a really big power up, and if my ideas pan out it'll give us an even bigger advantage."
"What, precisely, did you have in mind? I'm not promising I'll do it, but I'll at least listen."
"I've been thinking about two main things," the kobold answered. "First of all, I want to see if Chromatic Sorcery will combo with other Shards. It's far too big a coincidence that the first elemental Skill we tried worked, and if it can work with your Lightning Field, it solves all of our elemental damage issues."
"That does make sense," Ingrid agreed. "It'll also help a lot if we can get the bolt skills to do chromatic damage."
"Assuming I can have more than one chromatic skill. Which brings me to the next point, which is that we need to check if you rejected the fox-kin because you have the Conjure Phantasm Shard or because you both have a Manaflow Shard."
"That's a good idea," Ingrid said. "If we can get you a sorcerer class it'll easily give you the mana needed to upgrade some of your buffs."
"You're both right," Ed said reluctantly. "It's too much of a boost to not try. So what are we going to need?"
"At least two Chromatic Sorceries," Lucy started counting, "one Lightning Field, one Firebolt, one Sorcerer and two Raceshards."
"Two?" Ingrid asked.
"Yeah. If you give the phantasm a Lightning Field, Ed will reject it. We'll need two different phantasms for both ideas."
"We can spare one Raceshard though," Ed disagreed. "If we start with a race for me and a sorcerer class, I can try to Slice that first, and if it doesn't work, we can use the same phantasm for the other experiment. And if it does work, we haven't lost anything in the attempt."
"Good point. And we'll need new nymph and Cure Lesser Wounds Shards as well to start working on a new healer."
"Yeah, so we want a Raceshard for me and a nymph for the healer, for a total of two Shards. And if we end up using the nymph for the chromatic spells, we're going to need to either get a new one later or buy enough essence to Seal the two skills."
"This is really starting to eat into my available cash," Ingrid winced, "but it'll be worth it if it works. So what Raceshard are we getting for you?"
"We want something with good intelligence and wisdom bonuses, and maybe a magic affinity," Lucy mused. "Not a kobold though. You don't need the elemental bonuses that badly, and something more generic would probably be more effective for you."
"What about jinn?" Ed asked. "They're more physically oriented at the low tiers, but some of the rankup options are very good for magic based roles."
"I don't know," Lucy answered. "Won't you be bound by the Seal of Sulayman?"
"You've got a point. Being unable to lie would be a major pain. Scratch jinn of the list then."
"Sidhe could work," Ingrid suggested. "Intelligence and wisdom bonuses at the start, then either more of the same or direct bonuses to magical ability depending on the path you choose."
"You just want a pretty boy faerie in your bed," Lucy grinned and threw a pillow at the hobgoblin.
"Guilty as charged," Ingrid caught the pillow and chucked it back at Lucy. "But my reasons are still valid."
"I don't think fey is good." Ed shook his head at both his lovers' antics and the idea. "The iron allergy is going to be an issue, especially in this House."
"We don't actually use that much iron. Granddad doesn't like its esthetics, and he says that copper is a better magic conductor anyway. But you're right about the feys' iron allergy. It'll be a problem in the Labyrinth."
"Fox-kin is still an option," Lucy said. "If you get a sorcerer class with it, it opens up kitsune which should work really well."
"But if I can't get a second class, I'm probably stuck with grey, which splits the stats to intelligence and agility. Or with Raijū, since I have summoner. But those aren't that good for a support class anyway."
"You could always go with elf. High elf is out as a rankup option since I'd like you to keep your emotions, but Ljósálfr is a good option."
"Still intent on getting a faerie type into bed, Ing?"
"I have impeccable taste Luce. Current company excluded."
A knock at the door interrupted the conversation, and Ed opened the door to let a maid roll a cart covered in appetizingly smelling plates into the room. When all of the plates were ordered on a large tray and the maid left the room, Ingrid started to uncover the plates, revealing a plate of dahu stew and another of roasted potatoes. A large loaf of fresh bread and a carafe of coffee completed the meal.
"So we are agreed that we'll go for a fox-kin if Ed can Slice a phantasmal Shard, or an elf if he can't?" Lucy asked while taking a large serving of the mythological goat stew.
"Yeah, I think those are our best options," Ed agreed while pouring coffee for all three of them.
"Good. I'll go to the quartermaster after we finish dinner and get the Shards."
After dinner was done and Ingrid came back from the quartermaster, she and Lucy sat down on the beanbags to watch Ed experiment with the phantasms.
He started by summoning a new Phantasmal Worker, and Slicing the Fox-kin Shard Ingrid brought into it. As usual, the phantasm vanished when the Shard was sliced, and Ed quickly summoned it again. The Sorcerer Shard was next, and again he resummoned the phantasm after it vanished.
"Let's see if this works," Ed said and changed the fox-kin sorcerer into a phantasmal Shard. He placed the Shard on his chest and pressed it in, but the slight sting he felt when the point pressed into his skin heralded the message he already half expected to get.
You are attempting to Slice two Shards of the same type.
"That's a bust," he released the phantasmal Shard and it turned back into a fox-kin. "Guess you'll be getting your faerie boy after all, Ing."
"Yeah, but we should at least wait until you ca
n Slice it without getting in Breach."
"Shouldn't be too long before my stoneskin is maxed."
"We really should make it our priority though," Ingrid said. "We need the barrier ranked up, and the Lightning Field won't hurt too."
"Probably. I need max mana more than I need regen now, so the syphon will have to wait."
"Let's try the chromatics then. That will probably be the biggest boost we can get right now."
Ed nodded his assent, and took one of the Chromatic Sorcery Shards Ingrid brought.
"Wait!" Lucy reached up to stop him before he could Slice the Shard. "Start with the Lightning Field. We don't know if the order matters and you already have that one."
"Good point," Ed replaced the Chromatic Sorcery, Sliced the Lightning Field into the waiting fox-kin and resummoned it. "Let's see if this works."
Ed winced when he placed the Chromatic Sorcery Shard on the patch left by the Lightning Field, already anticipating the shardshock pain, but the Shard slid smoothly into the patch, and the fox-kin vanished.
Chromatic Field
Tier 0
Level 1
0/100
Adds an elemental damage component to all attacks.
Special
Chromatic Advantage: Chromatic Field can deal fire, water, air or earth damage, and will always deal the type of damage most harmful to its targets.
+1-5 lightning damage
-5 maximum mana when active
"Nice," Lucy whistled when Ed read the new description. "This is definitely going to make our lives easier."
"I'll want to tell Mother about this," Ingrid said. "The House could really use this kind of advantage."
"I get your point," Ed answered, "but this is all but admitting that we have a way to safely test merging Shards."
"You don't honestly believe that Mother doesn't at least suspect it, right? I can't see how this helps her get to what we want to keep hidden."
"That's not the issue. I can just see all of the experiments she and your granddad will want to run. I'll want to cut off my own head by the time it's done."
"OK, yeah. I can definitely see that happening. We'll just have to tell them that it was a limited thing. It's not even actually lying, since you'll be out of workers when we finish here."
"Fine. You can tell her, but I keep the right to veto any experiments they suggest if and when I have another free worker."
"That's fair. I'll back you up on it if my family insists."
"Great, now that you two are done, can we get to trying the Firebolt? I want to see if it works," Lucy said impatiently.
"Sure. Just give me a second," Ed said and drank a mana potion to recover enough mana to resummons the fox-kin. "OK, first a Firebolt, now to resummons it, and…"
You are attempting to Slice two Shards of the same type.
"Sorry Luce. Looks like you can't have two chromatics."
"I guess it was too good to be true. Makes me glad I got greedy early on and used a tier 2 on it."
"Time to pop this thing and get us a new healer," Ingrid handed Ed another Shard, which he promptly tried to merge with the fox-kin's Raceshard, causing the phantasm to vanish and a piercing pain to hit his head.
You are suffering from Shardshock.
Mana regeneration, health regeneration and essence gains reduced to zero.
Time left: 5 hours.
It took a few minutes before Ed could even groan in pain. "Ouch. This is much worse than the last time we tried it, and I got the debuff for five hours instead of three, and it nixed my health regen too."
"Must be an hour per destroyed Shard," Lucy speculated. "And more Shards gets you a heavier debuff."
"Which means we want to keep this as low as possible if we do it again," Ingrid added. "We don't want to risk higher levels of the debuff doing permanent damage."
Ed could only groan in agreement, and it took him half an hour before he recovered enough to be able to use his skills, and he quickly summoned another phantasmal worker, which he Sliced with first a new nymph Shard and then a cure lesser wounds.
"I think I'm off to bed now," he said once they had their new healer phantasm. "The debuff should clear out before morning, and hopefully it takes the headache with it."
"Want some company?" Lucy asked with a smile.
"Not tonight dear," Ed answered with a wry smile. "I have a headache."
◆◆◆
Ed woke up feeling much better the next morning, and after eating breakfast (with a lot of coffee for the coffee zombie), the three delvers left the Arctology and headed towards the stairway.
"I do not think we should try the eighth floor today," Katya said when she caught up to them near the stairway. "We have new healer, and need to level up before pushing forward."
"Good morning to you too, Katya," Ingrid smiled at the drab. "You certainly have a point. I think the sixth will work. I've a Cleric and a Manaflow ready for it, so we can just keep going until we feel good enough to continue."
"Good to hear. Did you have good luck with 'experiments' yesterday?"
"Some. Enough that we don't have problems with elemental damage anymore."
"Are we ready to enter Labyrinth then?"
"I think we are," Ed joined in. "I'm holding off on Slicing the Luck until we have some essence in the nymph. We don't want it whisking us off to whatever it has in store for us before we can actually survive there."
After the party entered the Labyrinth, Ed stopped them before they could start to head into what looked like an artificial tunnel. "Between Dr. Bjørnson catching us on the way in and the headache from the Shardshock, I forgot that my dwarf maxed out its Stoneskin during the boss fight yesterday. I want to rank it up before we continue, so the essence doesn't go to waste."
The rest of the party agreed to wait, and Ed brought up the information for the dwarf Raceshard.
Dwarf
Tier 0
Level 5
Closed
Short and stocky humanoids known for their love of battle, ale and gold.
+3 Constitution
+2 Strength
Rank up options
Hill Dwarf (tier 1)
Mountain Dwarf (tier 1)
Dvergr (tier 1)
Deep Dwarf (tier 1)
Frost Dwarf (tier 1)
The options were precisely as he expected, and he chose the option that complemented the Stonehammer class best.
Dvergr
Tier 1
Level 1
0/5000 essence
Dvergr were once maggots that formed on the body of Ymir the giant after he was killed by Odin, who transformed them into dwarves with an affinity to earth, crafting and wisdom.
Geomancy: control earth and stone in direct contact with the user. Volume and mass increase with level.
Cost: 5 mana/minute.
As soon as he confirmed the rank-up, the dwarf's ruddy skin instantly changed to a pale blue color, and its black beard turned completely white.
"Let's move on," Ingrid said as soon as the change was complete.
A quick and uneventful run through a dwarven mine later yielded an Endurance Skillshard, which the party agreed should go to the phantasmal dwarf, since its Stonehammer class reached level three and it had a free slot, and enough essence to max the nymph's Cure Lesser Wounds, and bring its Cleric class to level two.
"I think one more run should do it," Ed said when they were back in the bazaar. "Get the Cleric to level three and Slice the Manaflow, and we're good to go."
When the party re-entered the sixth floor of the Labyrinth, they found themselves in a familiar location.
"On top of clouds again," Katya grumbled. "Are you certain elemental problem was solved?"
"We should be fine," Ed answered. "I've upgraded my Lightning Field to be multi element, and it should do earth damage if we run into raijū again."
"You should be careful. This kind of thing can make girl jealous."
"We could tell you how t
o get a skill that does multi element damage, Katya." Ingrid offered.
"I will take rain check for now. I still want cat-kin, so I will have field from Ed too."
"You do realize that if you get the cat-kin, you'll have to do everything I say, right? It essentially makes you my summon."
"You did it to Ingrid and Lucy."
"Ingrid would have died if I hadn't, and Lucy is, well… Lucy."
"And they have to do what you say?"
"Yeah, we do," Ingrid answered. "We've tried it before. If he orders us something and actually means it, we get a sort of mental itch that increases until we do what he says."
"It's not that bad though," Lucy grinned. "Ed's not the sort to abuse that, and it can even be fun in the right circumstances."
"I think that's a bit TMI Luce," Ed told the grinning kobold.
"It is OK," Katya said. "I will have to consider this. Meanwhile, we should continue delve."
The party headed into the cloudscape, and before long they found a group of the now familiar raijū. With Katya to scout for the party, they easily crept into range, and a pair of Chromatic Storms sprang into being, catching four of the six wolf-like monsters. The remaining two charged at the party, but a stab from Ingrid's spear caught the first in its flank, causing it to howl in pain from the earth damage delivered by the Chromatic Field. The second raijū bit the dvergr's leg, but in return it caught the dvergr's hammer on its head, smashing it down and leaving it vulnerable to arrow, crossbow bolt and daggers, all of them covered in the same Chromatic Field.
With the entire party dealing earth element damage, the battle was over in seconds. The dwarf was the only one wounded, and the nymph healed it back almost before the raijū let go. The only member of the party who wasn't happy with the result of the battle was Katya, who spent the entire fight trying, and failing, to find something to do.
