Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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Looking at Edwin's memories, the labyrinth was at the base of a giant tree surrounded by small mountains. Around the tree, was a bustling city that was built for the sole purpose of exploring the labyrinth. The entrance looked like your typical cavern with lichens growing on the walls, moss around the floor of the entrance, and mushrooms sprouting around there too. Ten feet inside the cavern was a set of stairs that descended into the ground. A closed door was at the entrance with a glowing purple orb next to it.
Behind the door seemed like a different world from the cavern. The natural rock of the cavern disappeared leaving sand-colored brick walls, ceilings, and unnaturally clean floors. There was no dust, blood, or even footprints. Grey knew that when a monster was slain, items would drop and the monsters would disappear as quickly as the items came. It was said that the labyrinth took the energy of everything that died in the labyrinth, which was why it lured people and monsters alike inside.
The room they were in was the same. Even the hole they had fallen through had disappeared. It was as though they had appeared in the room suddenly.
Grey checked to see if he had anything useful in his system storage and saw that he didn't, so he went through Edwin's memories to learn from the man. He wanted to learn the healing techniques the people of this world used as they differed from world to world.
There weren't too many differences in this world, but the names of medicinal herbs and how they were processed and made were different. It was interesting though. Alchemists were quite common in this world and they were regarded as pharmacists as they made all sorts of medicines. They worked together with healers, or doctors, to help people.
Anyway, he wasn't much of an alchemist, but healing people was Edwin's specialty. The reason why healing magic and alchemy grew side by side was because of the limitations of healing magic. It was perfect for healing wounds or broken bones, but not enough to save people from poison or illnesses. It was a good balance, unlike some worlds where magic was an all-powerful thing that broke the limits.
After going through Edwin's memories, Micah was the first to wake up out of the others. He rubbed his light brown eyes to wake himself up.
"Doctor Edwin, where are we?" His body hurt a little when he tried to get up. Micah was a pure alchemist who did not know how to defend himself, but he seemed to be the toughest seeing that he was the second to wake up. He wanted to learn how to use the bow, but he felt like he never had the talent, so he didn't say anything. Even though Edwin could see that Micah wanted to learn how to protect himself, he didn't have the heart to force someone who was not willing or ready.
"I'm not too sure myself but we are probably somewhere deep inside the labyrinth." Grey sighed as he helped Micah sit up. It wasn't good to lay for too long, especially in this situation where he didn't know if a monster would notice them in this room. There were no doors to each room, so monsters could come by and look inside. He didn't see any in the hallway, but he was on guard with System 225 the whole time.
While Micah sat up against the wall, Grey finally stretched his limbs. Edwin's body was powerful and better suited for the sword, but his talent in healing magic and knowledge of medicine was the best on the continent. No one could tie him down and they couldn't even use violence as the man was like a one-man army.
One time, the man almost sacrificed his life because he refused to be tied down by some random country that he barely stayed in. Needless to say, the surrounding countries learned the power of this one man.
But this man was pitiful.
He became a doctor in search of a cure for his father who was dying of an unknown disease. When he finally found it in some faraway country, he got news of his father's death. From then on, he traveled the world, spreading his knowledge so that no one would die like his father.
All of his efforts were for naught when he was killed trying to protect Micah who almost got killed by Felicia's curse and carelessness.
"You rest up here Micah, I'm going to check the others to make sure they are okay," Grey said as he got up and stretched.
"I can help too!" Even though Micah said that he felt his legs go weak and he crumbled to the ground.
"You obviously need to rest and massage your legs. When you feel a bit better, you can come over and help me." He couldn't help but give Micah a pat on the head.
Grey went to the other party members and checked to see if they had broken any of their weapons or armor on the way down. Luckily, everything seemed fine. He dragged everyone up against the wall where Micah was so that they weren't in plain sight.
He also knew that Reyner Winter, 28 years old and the tank of the group, was God System. He didn't have to touch the man but he did, and he felt the familiar tingle. Reyner was a wandering knight from a fallen kingdom who was looking for his place in the world. He carried a large shield, and a mace, and wore heavy gray armor. He had short black hair, tan skin, and plum-purple eyes. His body was quite large, and his muscles were prominent due to years of training and defending. He was the strongest of the group in terms of defense, like a mighty fortress, but his attack power was a bit low. That was why he didn't mind following Andrea's group which was made up of damage dealers.
His husband in this world was a different kind of strong. It was okay though because Grey could heal and attack for him! They were the perfect combination. He hoped to travel with Reyner after this whole ordeal… He didn't know how many of his memories Reyner would get in this world, but he would definitely keep his promise and go on the hot spring vacation!
He then walked toward the entrance of the room and made sure there were no traps. After deeming the safety of the entrance, he poked his head out and looked both ways. He didn't see any monsters and he couldn't feel any presence nearby. He decided to mark the room as a safe room.
The walls of the labyrinth didn't change at all even as people got further and further down, so he couldn't guess where they were. The monsters didn't change much but their levels did. People couldn't see the exact level of the monsters, but they could see a floating crystal above a monster's head to show how much of a threat they would be. A gray crystal meant it was not a threat, yellow meant it was tolerable in strength, and lastly, red meant that the enemy was too strong for their current level.
Grey knew that Andrea's party, except for Reyner and Genji, was not on high levels because the monsters on the fifth floor were yellow in color. At most, they were going to keep training on floors 1-20 without thoughts of going further. If the monsters were red even for Grey, he knew they were on the lower floors from 35 to 40. If they were yellow, it would be above floor 25 but less than floor 35. And if they were grey, it would be close to floors 1-20. This was how he was going to judge it. It was better than moving around blindly…
Honestly, these were just guesses. He had no idea what level the monsters were on the lower floors. He also had a very vague idea of how the crystal worked. He could only hope they were tolerable for him.
There was a level system in this world. Everyone could access a status window to see their level, their skills, titles, etc. It was like a typical video game-type world. The only thing they didn't have were item boxes. People needed a special skill to see other statuses, and some had abilities that hid their statuses from these types of people.
Edwin had the ability to hide his status. He could even alter it if needed.
After making sure it was safe, Grey walked back to Micah who was finally able to stand up. Micah was looking through his bag to make sure nothing broke. He had a lot of medicine and herbs in his bag, so the fall could have damaged them.
Luckily though, everything was intact. It made him, the alchemist, happy that his potions were still usable. He didn't have a lot, so he knew he had to ration them out. A lot of his potions were antidotes for poisons and paralysis. These were the most common ailments that monsters gave in this labyrinth.
Strangely enough, the two healers of the group were the first ones up. It made Grey wonder what level the others were. Edwin and Micah had been traveling around the world, so Grey's level was decently high. Micah got his experience points (or exp) from being in a party with Edwin, so it was also decently high. He had no combat abilities though, so his stats were only good for running away and keeping him alive if hit.
Parties could share exp. The person who killed a monster gets all of the exp, and those in the party would get half.
Edwin was on level 48 while Micah was on level 29. The original didn't ask what level the other members were on, but he probably should have.
As Micah and Edwin sorted out their belongings, Andrea and Reyner were the next to wake up. Andrea felt sore and weak, while Reyner seemed okay.
"Where are we?" Andrea mumbled to himself as he looked around. He saw that Edwin and Micah were alive and well, and that made him sigh in relief. If the healers of the group were healthy, so was the rest of the party.
Andrea was also a sword user but his two-handed sword was much bigger than Edwin's one-handed. He used one hand to swing it around, but Grey knew just how heavy that sword was. It was almost as tall as Micah!
"I don't know, I haven't seen any monsters to judge what levels we are at…" Grey answered the man, "How are you feeling? Do you need me to heal you?" He asked this for the sake of courtesy even though he knew that Andrea was fine.
"I'm alright, thank you though," Andrea replied as he tried to get up but slid back down the wall. He decided to massage his legs before getting up.
Andrea was a young man, 18 years old. He had just left home a year ago and that was when they decided that he should train as the generation's new Hero. He had brown hair and gold eyes, signifying his status as a Hero. Only heroes had that eye color. All in all, the young man was still developing.
Reyner was looking over at Grey but didn't say a word. He was a quiet man outside of battle.
Seeing that Reyner didn't say anything, Grey spoke up first, "Are you alright? Is there anything I can help you with?"
He shook his head and stood up. His defense was pretty high, so it wasn't difficult for him to stand up after waking up. He was feeling a bit sore though, so he stretched. He stuck to himself.
He wasn't very vocal when he joined Andrea's group either. He felt that his duty as a knight was to help the Hero who was still young and ignorant. After meeting Edwin and falling down this hole, he had a series of memories that flooded out like a gate. He was still trying to process them. Seeing Edwin's face, he couldn't help but feel attached to the man who reminded him of the lovers in his past lives. Was Edwin really that man? Then again, his lover looked different in every world, so he couldn't know for sure unless he interacted with the man more.
Grey left Reyner and Andrea alone and went back to help Micah who was sorting out their food and rationing them. He tried his best to ration the food to last a month with 2 weeks of provisions. It would lower their strength by a bit, but it would at least keep them alive until they found an exit.
One by one, the other members of Andrea's group woke up.
The next person to wake up was a 19-year-old woman who used twin daggers as her weapons. Her name was Lamine, and she had blonde hair and green eyes. She was from a Baron's household who raised warriors for their kingdom of origin. Her movements were like those of an assassin. She preferred to do her bidding in the dark or to stab behind one's back. It was just her fighting style. Lamine was the other quiet member of the group. She and Reyner got along because they didn't talk much. She didn't have a lot to say and her friends would probably be shocked to hear how simple her thoughts were. She liked to think about eating and sleeping. Lamine joined Andrea's group because she thought the Hero was interesting. She wasn't romantically interested in him but she thought it was funny to see Andrea struggle with his childhood friend, Felicia, who brought trouble to him constantly.
Genji was the next person to wake up. He was from a kingdom to the far east and was traveling the world to gain experience. His skin was tanned from his journey, but he had dark eyes that looked like they were always smiling. His dark brown hair was a bit wavy, and he had a lot of it. Needless to say, when summer came, he was always sweating due to the amount of hair he had on his head. He was 24 years old and had been traveling since he was 15. His weapon of choice was a spear, but he was also proficient with a katana. He had both of those weapons on him and took care of them as if they were his own children. He joined the group because he was bored. Being with the Hero was always exciting, was what he thought. Genji was weaker than Edwin, but he saw himself as a self-proclaimed disciple when Edwin joined the group. From time to time, Edwin would give him pointers and train with him when they were resting in the labyrinth.
Lastly, there was Felicia, who was the last to wake up. Felicia had a wavy light brown bob cut with bangs and blue eyes. She looked like the typical female protagonist in otome games that were dainty, naive, and stubborn. She wore a white dress with a pink robe on top of it. She also had white-heeled, shin-high boots to go with her look. She had a 2-foot-long, pink and white wand/staff that she carried with her at all times.
She was the only one who looked like she was shopping in town instead of being in a dungeon.
Felicia complained the moment she woke up that her arms and legs were sore and that she wanted to be healed with magic. Magic power, or MP, was slow to recover, so Edwin didn't use it often.
Grey walked over to her. "Do you have any broken bones or open wounds?"
"No, my arms and legs are sore and I can't stand up properly," Felicia replied as though it was obvious that she needed to be healed. She wondered why Edwin was not healing her. If it was Andrea, he would do anything to help her, but Edwin was different.
"I see, then massage your arms and legs and stretch. That will help the soreness."
"Why can't you just use magic to help me? It would make it easier for all of us."
Grey did not want to get angry at her, so he took a deep breath and said, "I'm trying to reserve MP for when we really need it. If you aren't on the verge of dying, if you don't have any broken bones, or blood pouring out of any wounds, then I won't use healing magic."
Of course, she was offended. She wanted to complain but Andrea helped calm her down. Grey couldn't understand how people could put up with that kind of attitude…
He hated the entitled personality the most.
After that, Grey walked away and went to Micah who was preparing a book to draw the maps of each floor. He had done it before, but now, he had to make a separate page from when they fell into that hole. He put some question marks in the corner signifying he had no idea what floor they were on. As an alchemist with no combat skills, he was tasked with mapping out their location and where they had been before.
"Micah, make sure you note that this room is a safe room. We have been in here for hours but there are no signs of monsters in or around it, so it wouldn't hurt to make this our base for the floor." Grey knew just as much as everyone else that finding a safe room was a blessing in the labyrinth. There are times when parties of people have to fight for hours on end to finally find a safe room 4 floors down.
"Yes, Doctor. Also, where do you think I should have the room, to the left or the right side of the page?"
"From how we fell, we should still be on the left side. Leave a bit of space just in case." This was based on Edwin's memory and System 225's mapping skills.
Felicia complained to Andrea who was massaging her legs, "Why did we even fall down the hole anyway?"
"It was a trap. If there's a certain amount of weight on it, the floor would collapse and everyone would fall. We are lucky there were no spikes at the bottom or we would have all gotten killed…" Andrea replied ever so patiently.
"Well, it's not my fault that everyone decided to see what I was up to."
Grey looked over at her and couldn't help but think, No, but if you hadn't wandered off, this wouldn't have happened! But he didn't say that out loud and just went back to talking with Micah. He needed to get rid of that curse on her or else she would irritate him to death.
Grey took a deep breath and looked over at Andrea. "Party leader, when should we head out to check out the floor?" He felt that the longer they stayed in this room, the worse their situation would be. They would begin to feel hungry and tired and waste too many days in the safe room.
"We will leave when Felicia is feeling better."
Everyone else was already able to move and walk around. She was the only one who was still sitting on the ground. Then again she was the last one to wake up.
"I understand. I'm going to scout the areas around this room. Don't worry, I won't go too far." Grey told Micah to wait in this room for him and patted him on his head.
After that, Grey left the room. He stood in the hallway and looked around to see the general outline of the hallway. From what Grey could see, the room was located at the center of the hallway. The hallway continued to the left and the right of the room. If one ventured to the left, after some distance there was a turn to the right again. It was likewise for the right hallway from the room, there was a turn after some distance. The hallway would look like a '[' from a bird's eye view.
He didn't see any monsters so he had System 225 scan for traps. He noted their locations and decided to go left. He avoided the traps with ease and made a right at the end of the hallway. There, he saw a monster with its back turned to him.
It was a hobgoblin that carried two axes in its hands. Its skin was dark green and it had no hair on its body. It was wearing impressive metal armor on its vitals. It seemed easy to move in as the hobgoblin had no problems lugging the armor around.
Above its head, there was a yellow crystal on top of its head.
Grey knew that it was going to be hard to keep the other party members alive, especially if they went into a monster room. This monster would be red if Andrea and the others were here. Reyner and Genji could probably hold their own, but he knew the others were still young and inexperienced.
If they could keep Felicia from moving around on her own, maybe they would be able to survive.