Lament of the Slave

My confidence that a few extra kilos would not be a problem quickly disappeared after the first lap. With the new belt buckle, I felt heavier than ever, and running up the hill was quite a challenge, to say the least. After running four more, I almost passed out.

Mastering splits alone was the first step. Just the basics. Not something very useful in combat. The core of Deckard’s fighting style was to deliver kicks from every possible angle. Meaning I needed to be able to lift my legs above my head, do a standing split. It was no less painful whether I was standing upright or with my head at my ankle, yet I found it much more challenging to keep my balance on one leg.

Sure, I had [Perfect Equilibrium], the tail, and wings. The reason why most of the advice I got from Deckard about my balance was useless. And since it was my first time doing these almost acrobatic stunts, it took me a while to find my own way. I did. It was just harder to coordinate seven limbs instead of four.

Despite all my determination and skills supporting me, I reached my limit an hour before midnight. It came out of the blue as a bit of a shock to me. In the Esulmor woods, I was able to fight till dawn, still able to stand. Not now, though. Why? Lack of rest? The more I thought about it, the more I was leaning towards the mossbears and their healing. There must have been more to it than it seemed. Most likely along with mending my bones, it lifted my fatigue.

“That’s enough for today, girl,” Deckard declared after I’d collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

“Sorry,” I said while I was catching my breath, somewhat disappointed with myself.

“For what? You did well,” he grumbled. “Besides, I need to buy some supplies for your next training session.”

Now I felt even more guilty. “I’ll buy my own food.” It wouldn’t be that good, that was for sure. But taking it from him didn’t sit well with me.

His laugh made my ears twitch. “Food, is that all you can think about?”

“I...” I paused. Did I? The truth was I felt hungry again. Sure I have gone through rigorous training. But how much did I eat today? Or yesterday. I’ve been gorging myself after every single beating I’ve taken. “Is it normal to eat so much?”

Quite possibly, it was just another quirk of mine.

“Yes and no,” Deckard said, amusement still in his voice. “It’s normal to be hungry. You’re using more of your body’s potential, thus burning energy faster. Well, since you have no alternative source other than food, it is telling you to get it.”

Yeah, I knew how hunger worked. It just threw me off. “So you eat that often when you’re in the labyrinth too?”

“No.” He shook his head and then snickered. “Sorry, I just realized how strange this world must be to you.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was a bizarre world. Yet not as foreign as he thought. The concept of system, classes and skills he was referring to existed on Earth too, just in a different form in another place. He would most likely find it just as strange if I told him about video games.

“Anyway, why do you think seekers are willing to pay so much for food?” he asked, not inquiring further about my planet of origin.

Well, there was a taste. However, there had to be a limit to how delicious the food could be. So the quality of the ingredients? “Is it because it gives some bonuses?” I asked.

“Some.” Deckard nodded, the ‘but’ in his voice impossible to miss. “If it’s a boost you’re interested in, I recommend potions. They are stronger and cheaper. You just drink them, you don’t have to spend ten minutes eating. No. Food made from high-level beasts and monsters will give you much more energy and nutrients when digested. More and better material your body can take to repair itself. Instead of the seekers having to eat ten servings, they only need one.”

“So the meat you gave me...”

“Nothing special, hence your hunger. Cooked by a chef with a level of over two hundred, though.” He waved it off. “Skills make the difference.”

Skills? What skills? It was quite obvious he wasn’t talking about the ones I had.

A grin flashed across his face when he saw my confusion. “They are skills that allow you to digest your food more efficiently. To get more nutrients, energy, or mana from it. Depends on what you prefer. Mage types gravitate towards mana, warrior types towards energy. Suppose you’re solo like me and rely on your regeneration instead of a healer. In that case, it’s a good idea to stock up on nutrients.”

I relied on my regeneration, so..."So I should get fatter?" That’s how I understood it.

“In a sense,” he nodded. “I have [Mass]. Basic skill. It makes my body denser, packs more mass into the same space. The mass from which your regeneration can draw. The extra weight is quite useful in a fight too.”

Scanning him from head to toe, I estimated him to be around 90 kilograms. “Then how much do you weigh?”

“Three hundred and ninety-four kilos,” he said, taking my breath away.

I opened my mouth to speak, only to find I had no clue what to say. “Three hundred...almost...” I echoed in shock. Four fucking quintals.

He shrugged. “It’s not that unusual. The tanks tend to have more.”

Letting myself get slapped across the cheeks by Sage I thought about it logically. That extra weight must have been extremely useful in combat, like he said. The power his punches had to pack, the force behind his kicks was hard to imagine. Then what about Rayden? She blocked his kick. How much did she weigh?

“Is it a General Skill?” I asked, wondering if I could learn it too.

“It is,” Deckard nodded. “Likewise, skills such as [Improved Digestion] or [Enhanced Digestion].”

That was good to hear, but...

“You realized the problem you’ve got, didn’t you?” Sometimes his insight was simply infuriating. This time I was angry at myself, at my Class, and Dungreen, who forced me to choose it. Because of him, my General Skills were skills I used for combat instead of support of my Class Skills as everyone else did.

“I needed to learn Standard.” There was no other way. The skill was becoming more and more of a nuisance, taking up a precious slot among General Skills. Well, and some others...let’s just say they required further consideration.

Deckard threw his hands up. “Don’t look at me, girl.”

Yeah, the idea of him teaching me basic vocabulary was ridiculous, just like if I were to sit in the pew with the kids. That would be too embarrassing. Where to learn it, though? Library. That sounded like a good place to start. Plus, I wanted to talk to Mr. Sandoval.

I had a long way to go before I will be able to speak Standard on my own, that was for sure.

It didn’t mean I couldn’t be ready when it happened. “How do I get the skill?”

“Carry the weights all the time, and eventually, the skill will pop up,” he told me, shrugging his shoulders. “I’d ask you to do it anyway.”

Okay, I didn’t mind not taking them off. My fear caused by their resemblance to a slave collar was gone. I got over it. They were two different things. Plus, I saw the benefits of wearing them all the time. No, I wanted to argue that the weights had nothing to do with the food. Then I realized neither did the body’s density. Or was I wrong? “The weights, they don’t add to my weight, do they?” I asked to be sure.

“That would be a completely different tool. Expensive as hell, eating manna like a hungry beast. No, these just put a strain on your muscles, make you feel you weigh more while you weigh the same. It’s enough for training and skill acquisition, though,” he explained.

“Oh, okay,” I muttered, wondering for a brief moment how weights could help me gain the skill, when Deckard’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.

“Any more questions?” he asked, to which I quickly shook my head, letting the magical tools out of my mind for now. Sometimes it was better to accept things as they were.

“Good.”

When a glowing thread appeared before my eyes the next moment, it put a smile on my face. It acted like an ordinary string tied to Deckard’s finger, falling to the ground and trailing lazily through the grass into the distance. To the teleportation platform. So I assumed. He didn’t even have to prompt me to go, and I jumped to my feet. With my eyes glued to the glowing thread, I followed it. Further experiments done in collaboration with Sage proved it was just a magic thread. It wasn’t real.

A few minutes later, standing on the platform, I was glad Deckard didn’t say anything to my antics, embarrassed by it even. I acted like a little girl, but when I saw magic, I couldn’t help myself.

It may well be exhaustion.

The bright light and Traiana’s cries echoing in my mind marked the end of today’s training. When I found myself under two moons again, the noise of the city overwhelmed me. I didn’t expect Labyrinth Square to be so busy at this late hour and wasn’t prepared for it.

“I’ll take you to the barracks. You’ll get a good night’s sleep. In the meantime, I’ll find out when the Imperial Chief Healer is coming, arrange a few things, and pick you up in the morning. Good?” Deckard told me his plan. With my ears pressed to my head, I nodded.

One question popped into my mind. “Do you ever sleep?”

He laughed. “Of course. I just don’t need to so often and a few hours is plenty.”

“Come on.” He took off through the city, and I followed.

The barracks, as it turned out, operated 24/7. Deckard quickly found someone he knew to hand me over to and went to see Rayden. My thoughts were already on the bed, but I asked for a bath. If I had a chance to get free stuff, I had to take it. Plus, I found the thought of going to bed sticky with sweat and smelling so bad disgusting. I even took off my dirty clothes before I crawled under the covers in a small room with a guard on the other side of the door.

...

Morning came too early. As it always did. This time because of the noise outside the door. That really pissed me off, and I made my foul mood known with a loud growl. It didn’t help. Worse, even though the noise that woke me up was long gone, I failed to fall back to sleep. It didn’t matter so much that the sun was already well above the horizon, its rays streaming through the small window into the room. What annoyed me and made my sleep impossible were the low noises that reached inside despite the thick stone walls. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. The more I tried, the more I focused on them. It was maddening.

Much as I hated to, after a fair amount of self-persuasion, I got out of bed. Another big hurdle was to slip into sweaty clothes. They smelled more than I remembered. But the only other option was to walk around naked. And for a second, I did consider it. Sage and wings were a decent substitute for rags. In the end, however, my prudish self prevailed. It wasn’t without growling and nose wrinkling, though.

The great advantage of the domain was no need for a mirror. The downside of it was I got to see in great detail how bad I looked. My disheveled mane, the circles under my tired eyes and the dried drool on my cheek. I did my best, yet the guard at the door was startled when he saw me and asked if I was okay.

Deckard found me in the mess hall when I was finishing my breakfast. He, unlike me, seemed utterly unaffected by this dreadful morning.

“Sleep well?” His sarcastic tone did not escape my ears. It earned him a sharp disapproving glare. “Nice to see you too, Deckard.”

“And you, girl.” He laughed and sat down across from me. “I have everything we’ll need today. As soon as you’re done, we’re going back to Fallens Cry.”

“No Training Hall even today?” I grumbled. Not that I mind. I just wanted to get back at him for his remark. Petty, I know.

“I’ve got a hungry mouth to feed, no money to spare,” he said back. There was no malice in his voice but amusement. Still, it made me clench my fists and growl in frustration. The size of my hoard was pathetic, and the chances of making money at Broken Heart were not good. I’d be surprised if Alyson wanted to see me there ever again.

“Don’t sweat it, girl,” Deckard said after a moment. “It’s my duty as your mentor to take care of you, at least until you’re able to take care of yourself, and that won’t be long.”

I lowered my eyes back to my breakfast, muttered my thanks before taking a bite. “When will the Imperial Chief Healer arrive?”

He grinned. “We have all morning, so finish this, and we’re off.”

And we were. No-one stopped us in the barracks, which struck me as odd, but I took it for what it was. I was just as glad they let me sleep and eat there. It was better not to question it.

We quickly passed through the city, and I found myself on the first floor again without shoes. My fault, though. Pride and guilt won’t let me ask Deckard for one. I was just as hesitant to buy them.

The tingle of grass between my toes as we headed for the flat hill wasn’t so bad in the end. Actually, it was kind of liberating, and it made me wish there was dew on the grass leaves. That would be cool.

What struck me as strange was that we were heading in a different direction this time, as far as I could tell. The hill, although very similar to yesterday’s, was different. There was no sign of my presence from yesterday. No pile of gnawed bones, no trodden track on which I sweated buckets.

“Did we teleport elsewhere?” I asked when I could no longer contain my curiosity. “I mean, on the first floor.”

“Oh, no one told you.” He paused but did not comment on my lack of knowledge. “This is a floor created just for the two of us.”

“So it’s kind of an instance?” I muttered, more to myself. Deckard clearly didn’t understand my gamerish gibberish, but knowing he didn’t want to know anything about Earth, I didn’t bother explaining. “So, if I get lost here...?”

“You’re on your own, girl.” He confirmed my fears. “No maps to help you. No one will come to find you. It is one of the main reasons those who dive into the depths of labyrinths are called death seekers.”

“Deekers,” I blurted out.

“Yeah, but you better not say that to seeker’s faces,” he warned me.

“Don’t worry.” I wasn’t that dumb. However, the fact that this was basically an instance explained a lot. It also made me curious. “How does it work? This floor thing?”

“As far as I know, no one has figured it out yet. There are different theories. Labyrinths create pocket dimensions. Some fools even claim it sends us to other realms. Well, since you’re here, that doesn’t sound so crazy,” he said, nodding at me.

“And the other theories?”

He shrugged. “That it is shrinking us. If true, this entire floor could be the size of my thumbnail. My take is that there’s only one floor. Shifting with time right under your feet, right in front of your eyes. If you had looked closely yesterday, you would have seen the meadows around us become hills, and hills turn into valleys.” When he saw me looking around, he added. “It’s very subtle.”

“Oh, I see,” I said, but my eyes still wandered to the surrounding meadows and hills.

He cleared his throat. “Anyway, in this theory, another seeker could be standing next to us right now, and we just can’t see or perceive them. Like when shadow users hide in their shadows. In the same way, we are unreachable to others.”

It was a strange notion. Right now, where I was standing, someone could have been fighting a horned rabbit. “Why do you think that is so?”

Deckard took his hand out of his pocket and scratched the back of his neck nervously. “When I first started and was on the busier floors, sometimes I heard their voices. It was always briefly and in specific places, but it was as if they were closer at that moment, or what separated us was weaker. Anyway, I’m not the only one, hence the theory. It could just as easily have been Traiana, or some monster or beast lurking down there playing with the minds of seekers.”

“But we’re not here to solve the mysteries of labyrinths. Give me five laps to warm up,” he said sternly. I growled yet agreed with him nonetheless. The training was the reason for our visit to this ancient structure. So, albeit somewhat reluctantly, I broke into a jog. Ditching the muscle stretching was risky, but it’s pointless when you have skills that can heal any pulled muscle in minutes. After a series of poses where I gradually got into a split, more running, and more splits, Deckard pulled out new equipment.

“How big is your spatial tool,” I asked when I saw what was in front of me.