Labyrinthia: Exploring in Another World 2: Labyrinthia, #2

By Michael Ocheskey

Kevin and his party have just finished taking a rest after their encounter with Death Eater, a unique monster slime. The battle was a tough one and left the party rattled, but now they press on further into the Golden Star Labyrinth to continue their quest for answers. How are they meant to get rid of Labyrinths when they constantly respawn monsters? Why was Kevin given a Vampire-Phoenix hybrid body that was so different from all the other Travelers brought to Labyrinthia? Something strange seems to be going on and Kevin and his party are determined to find the answers, even when so many other Explorers are content to earn a living sticking to the easier areas without risking their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Siren Song Publishing
• Release date: Aug 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781950005093

Michael Ocheskey

Michael Ocheskey was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming and has a love for creativity, especially animation, music, movies, books, and tv. He loves digging into human creativity and is currently working toward starting multiple businesses that allow him to utilize that creativity. He is an author of primarily fantasy, but some sci-fi elements as well, and owns Siren Song Publishing, a newly created micropublisher for up-and-coming fantasy, sci-fi, and horror authors. His education was vast and varied. While he did not receive a Bachelor's degree in college due to multiple major changes, he is proud of the education he received. He was able to learn many topics that enhanced his writing and artistry including psychology, philosophy, foreign history and literature, music, anthropology, education courses, and many more. Ultimately, he ran out of funds and was forced to drop out of college before obtaining his Bachelor's degree. He currently works as an independent contractor, delivering for apps such as DoorDash and Instacart  to pay the bills, but is simultaneously working toward his goals and dreams of supporting himself solely through his creative endeavors as an author and entrepreneur. He is working toward establishing multiple businesses including a company that designs card and board games, an animation production studio, and Siren Song Publishing, which is currently a vanity press, meaning he is the only author it publishes, but he is hoping to expand it into a small publishing house with around a dozen authors in time.

Book preview

Bunny O’Hara

Iwoke up feeling refreshed after our couple of days off from Labyrinth exploring. It hadn’t even been a week since I’d died on Earth and been resurrected on Labyrinthia as a Labyrinth Explorer and Labyrinthia was already home. I felt more at home here than I’d ever felt on the dystopian, dying planet I’d previously called home. Not to mention, I had companions I considered family, something I’d never had on Earth.

I rose from my bed, took a quick shower, and dressed in my cheap clothing and F-grade leather armor. I’d love to get better armor, especially for the girls, but that would have to wait until we’d earned a little more money. We’d already reduced our income greatly, thanks to our shopping spree, but everything we purchased was necessary. Besides, there were bound to be ways to make more money quickly as an Explorer.

We had placed an order for a choker for Nixen with the Flaming Ruby we’d gotten from the Death Eater embedded in it. The jeweler hadn’t asked for money upfront, so we would need to pay upon completion. I wasn’t sure if 4 gold was going to be enough to purchase it, since it was a custom-made item. However, since we provided the gem, it shouldn’t cost as much as if we were buying the gem and the choker. It wouldn’t make sense for the jeweler to charge us for our own gem. Still, it was better to be safe than broke, so we’d need to earn plenty of money in the Labyrinths over the next few days while we waited for the item to be finished.

Today was the first day we were going back into the Labyrinth, and we were planning on completing the Golden Star Labyrinth since we’d only made it to the second floor previously. It didn’t sound like there was any ‘clearing’ the Labyrinth, but I wanted to check the third floor thoroughly, regardless. What I’d been told when I’d arrived on Labyrinthia as a Traveler was that the Labyrinths needed to be destroyed to keep the Fallen from destroying the universe. Still, how did we go about destroying the Labyrinths? Did we just have to kill all the monsters in the Labyrinth? That seemed wrong, since monsters were constantly being spawned to replace the ones killed. There had to be something we were missing, and I was hoping to find the answer before we moved on to District Two. I would not subject my party to difficult battles without an end in sight.

Once again, I was up before the girls. Nixen and Diana spent every night before bed chatting like schoolgirls at a sleepover. As a result, they typically slept in. I didn’t mind since we didn’t have a strict schedule to keep, and I was more than happy to see how well they got along. I could hear them moving around now, and the water had just turned on in their bathroom, so I figured I’d better make breakfast. They should be finished with the shower by the time breakfast was finished.

Today’s atrocity was eggs a la charcoal and sausage desastre, with just a hint of edible. Seriously, we needed to learn to cook or find someone for the party who could. I was just finishing plating all three portions, when the girls’ door opened and Nixen and Diana emerged in their armor, looking more like models pretending to be Explorers than actual Explorers, but their appearances were very deceiving. While they lacked experience, their stats and skills were excellent. All they needed was to get used to fighting and using their skills, since Diana was a Traveler who’d been locked up in a room her whole life and Nixen was a Merchant, they didn’t have enough combat experience. That was something I would be working to fix today.

I chuckled slightly as Nixen’s nostrils flared and Diana said, That smells... appetizing.

We choked down our breakfast in solemn silence and once our intestinal torture was over, we headed toward the Explorers’ Union to speak with Lilith, my exclusive Union representative. She’d been assigned to me and all my party members due to my unique species as well as my job. I had wanted an invincible body when I was sent to Labyrinthia and was given a body as close to that as possible. I was a Vampire-Phoenix hybrid. That, in and of itself, was fine. The issue was that many would see me not as a Traveler, but as a monster, if they found out my species since there were both Vampire and Phoenix monsters in the Labyrinths. Also, my job was Leader, which was a rarity. The last person to hold the job had died at least sixty years before I arrived.

We arrived at the Union offices to find Lilith waiting for us out front.

You’re finally here! She nearly screamed, I’ve been waiting for you for days.

Wait, I asked, puzzled. You’ve been waiting outside the Union building for days?

Of course not, Kevin. But I have had to wait out here for an hour every morning in case you arrived. If you didn’t show up, I was supposed to go about my regular duties and assist you if you showed up later in the day.

Diana was skeptical of Lilith’s declaration.

Why would you have to do that?

Lilith seemed a little exhausted as she answered.

I just do what the higher-ups say. After you came in with the unique monster bounty, I reported it to my bosses, as is common for unique monster bounties. When I finished my report, they looked over your information and noticed you, Kevin, didn’t have a last name. At first, they thought it was a clerical error on my part, but when I explained you didn’t know your last name, along with the circumstances of your childhood that you explained to me, they told me I had to speak to you as soon as possible and gave me instructions to wait for you here every morning until I finally met you.

Lilith hung her head and rubbed her temples in mild frustration.

You see, I didn’t know this, but you cannot be allowed to continue exploring with only a first name. It is fine as long as you are in District One, but you must have a full name for legal documents once you move on to other districts. They don’t care too much about it in District One since we are the district for beginners and many end up dying before they progress to further districts, but you become a full-fledged citizen when you move on to District Two or if you survive in District One for a year, so you need to have a last name for the citizenship application. I know it’s troubling, but I will need you to come up with a last name, and once you have, we will need to update your circuit.

It made sense. This wasn’t a dystopian planet, so law and order were still prominent here. As such, they must have kept a citizenship registry. I’m not sure how I felt about Travelers not being considered citizens until they’d either reached District Two or survived in District One for a year, but I guess they just had so many Explorers dying that keeping track of Travelers who died within a week or two was difficult.

Okay. How about Elemenopi?

Elemenopi? Lilith asked with unadulterated confusion.

Yeah! That way, I can name my first kid Jay. Middle name Kevin. Then he could be Jay K. Elemenopi.

Diana smacked me upside the head. Take this seriously, idiot!

The scene was almost identical to when Rose smacked Ryan. They were the twin children of April O’Brien and we’d met them a few days ago when using her services as a Chest Cracker. I couldn’t help bursting out laughing when I recalled that scene which was still fresh in my memory as my first impression of April’s family.

I was rubbing my head, even though it didn’t hurt, as I told Lilith, Do I have to come up with a name now? I’d like to take time to think about it.

No, you don’t. Honestly, I’m not sure why the Union higher-ups were so insistent that I wait for you here since it wasn’t that urgent. I think you defeating a unique monster only two days after arriving had something to do with it. They are expecting great things from you, and I don’t think they expect you to stay in District One for long, so they wanted me to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

That made sense. Honestly, I didn’t plan to stay in District One for long. I was hoping to have found a full party and moved on to District Two within two or three months.

Okay, I’ll think about it and let you know what I want my last name to be later. We just came to let you know what our plans were for today. We’ll be going back into the Golden Star Labyrinth to test out all the new skills we acquired after defeating the Death Eater. We also want to try to reach and explore floor three today, since we met the Death Eater on floor two and didn’t go any further once that fight was over.

Lilith nodded in understanding, before adding as an afterthought, I am almost finished with the potions you asked me to complete. They should be ready by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. I’ve been getting about a quarter of the potions done each night once I got off work, so I should finish the rest tonight. If not, I’ll work on them during my break tomorrow, and they will definitely be done by tomorrow afternoon.

That’s great! What were you thinking for a price?

"I’ve not done Alchemy for anyone else in a long time. I usually just did it for myself, and didn’t sell the products I made, since they would be used in my weapons or for my party. Since I retired, I only made potions to keep my skills from getting rusty and then sold them to Merchants at a fraction of what they were worth. I make more than enough to live comfortably as a Union employee, so if you could just reimburse me for the ingredient I had to buy, that would be enough. It was 25 silver and 40 copper for enough of the Frostfyre Herb to complete the potions. Frostfyre is a rare herb that serves as a binding agent, but since all potions need a bonding agent, you either have to use C-grade Frostfyre Herb or A-grade Holy Moly. The potion you gave me was complete as is, except it was missing the binding agent. Without a binding agent, drinking the potion would be like drinking water. The binding agent is what causes the magical properties to bond to and heal the body.

Due to how rare the herb is, it costs 20 copper for enough to create one potion.

Lilith could see the skeptical look on my face and explained, You look like you are thinking, ’20 copper isn’t expensive,’ but it actually is. Most herbs for a potion cost between 1 and 5 copper for a batch large enough to make 10 potions. Comparatively, 20 copper just for enough to make a single potion is high.

Nixen had been doing the math while Lilith explained the cost to me, and asked, Does that mean you were able to make 127 potions with the amount we gave you?

Well, I’m not done yet, but yes. I will have 127 potions by the time I’m finished. Also, they came out a higher quality than usual for using Frostfyre. Probably due to the properties of the unique monster. The potions that have been created mostly came out as High Potions, but a few came out as Full Potions. The only healing potions more powerful than a Full Potion are Mega Potion and Insta-Heal.

I gave Diana the 25 silver and 40 copper, which left me with 4 gold, 262 silver, and 100 copper to my name. We still had more money than most newbie Explorers, and we were already paid up on our rent for the next two months, so we weren’t bad off. However, we didn’t have enough to get our party good armor and if we ended up with more party members our expenses would only increase. It was definitely time to work hard toward getting paid. That meant killing lots of monsters and selling their materials for cash.

We said our goodbyes to Lilith and headed toward the Golden Star Labyrinth. Once we arrived, Alya, an employee of Nixen’s parents, was manning the stall for beginners’ weapons.

Hello, Alya! Nixen nearly screeched from excitement when she saw her friend.

Alya abandoned the stall and rushed into Nixen’s arms.

I was so scared for you, Nixen. Then your parents told me about what happened and I almost fainted. I’m glad to see you are okay, but don’t push it, okay?

I was glad to see her concern, but it annoyed me that Alya, like Nixen’s parents, seemed to have no understanding of what drove Nixen. To them, she was fine just how she was. However, Nixen wanted more and that was what they simply refused to see. At least her parents had come around to realizing this after we’d spoken to them a few days ago, but it seemed that others still saw Nixen as the bosses’ daughter and treated her like a child. I vowed that I would help her achieve her goals and break out of her shell, no matter what it took.

We walked with Alya back to the stall and Nixen then pulled out the two Large Backpacks filled with weapons and armor that we had. Nixen worked her Negotiate skill to the max, but even with that advantage we only managed to get 20 silver. Oddly enough, this is exactly the amount she stated we’d be able to get a few days ago. Her talents as a Merchant were so impressive that even when making simple guesses, she was surprisingly accurate.

With a little extra money in our party’s purse, we marched into the Golden Star Labyrinth. Once we’d reached the first floor, it became test time. Most of Nixen’s skills were currently for her Merchant job, but we would need to make sure she was able to successfully use her Foxfire skill to protect herself. Foxfire created an invisible clone that would switch places with her if she was attacked. It cost 5 mana each time she summoned her clone, but the clone would stay active until she unsummoned it or it was attacked.

I had her activate the skill as soon as we entered the Labyrinth. The only option for testing it was to let her get attacked, which was why I’d planned to let her be attacked by a Saber-toothed Bunny. As a weak monster, it wouldn’t be able to injure her even if the skill didn’t work. It wasn’t that I doubted the skill, but I was extremely cautious when it came to protecting my family.

Okay, Nixen. I want to test something alongside your Foxfire skill. Once we run into a monster, I want you to use Analyze More on it and read me what your screen says. I’m also going to use Analyze More to see if we both receive identical information. I want us to do this with at least five of each type of monster we come across in this Labyrinth to get a small sample of data.

Nixen nodded along with my suggestion, and we began moving deeper into the Labyrinth. A few minutes later, we came across a Saber-toothed Bunny corpse. It was