“Okay, get me in your team now,” Cowen ordered as they were eating the travel rations the team had brought with them.

Jonas was slightly confused initially by the request. Then he realized what she was asking for, remembering the mental impulses that led to the notification for help. They’d been a team for so long, it was easy to forget how the Labyrinth made it explicit.

And suddenly, a seventh name appeared in the mental panel for their team. A much different one.

Team

Professions

Health

Mind

Jonas Sims

Aetherseer (54)

355/355

440/440

Jonathan Gilbert

Layman (54)

626/626

392/392

Ira Heard

Layman (55)

913/913

468/468

Guss Fullmore

Hospitaler (54)

410/410

410/410

Laura Harvey

Smasher (54)

515/515

362/362

Alton Raby

Piercer (54)

523/523

352/352

Augusta Cowen

Imposing Knight (708)

29325/29325

13476/13476

“Good. We’re all set up.”

She looked toward mask-clad Waldo Aubert, who immediately pointed toward a direction in the forest.

“That way. The Spiral Cave is probably closer,” he said.

“Let’s start walking. We should be there tomorrow morning. That’s not one we did coming in, by the way. The Tree Circle lair is closer, but we’ve killed everything in it before getting to Othary and it might not have repopulated yet.”

She tapped on her side bag, adding “Got a list of the local lairs collated from explorer records, and we have plenty to use for you. It just won’t be in a direct line to the next Gate.”

Cowen ended up setting the pace, walking briskly across the forest undergrowth, with Ira and Jonathan taking point as well. Jonas found himself flanked by the midnight-robed blonde woman. She smiled and offered her wrist, sideways. They clasped, Jonas absorbing the summary of the woman’s Professions.

Myrl Alicia Douglas

Health: 14174/14174

Mind: 15811/15811

Endurance: 8824/8824

Aether: 30186/30186

Effective level: 753

Level 51 Indomitable Spellthrower

Level 131 Careful Opportunist

Level 74 Indomitable Spellbringer

Level 59 Imposing Spotter

Level 106 Resilient Spellwrangler

Level 122 Juggler

Level 86 Solid Aethershaper

Level 79 Aetherseer

Level 45 Aetherist

Experience: 177655/459000

Jonas also noted that the monkish enigma had drifted toward Guss and both Aubert and Foale were chatting Laura and Alton, and his suspicions rose. It seemed the team’s members got matched with their equivalent from the advanced team. His eyebrows raised and he threw an interrogative look at Mrs Douglas. She noticed the look and laughed slightly.

“I see you guessed it. That’s what you get for having high INT and FOC.”

“Same roles?”

“Augusta wants to use the time to get you up to Professional standards. Most people normally get training for a few weeks to catch on the not-so-obvious bits and get used to the way the Labyrinth changes you.”

“We had to improvise. The Professions initially confused us a lot.”

“They’re the way the Labyrinth simplifies things for you. If you haven’t noticed, that’s what it does. It distils… normal complexity into chunks of notifiers and descriptors.”

“You’ve got… weird Professions?”

“Part of getting up the way of the magical spell monger. You’re an Aetherseer. As you could see, I started with that and kept doing it. What I did is called a ‘build’, because most Professions’ levels build up to a specific point.”

She quickly added, “Switching Profession focus is doable, but you need to do it fairly early, or you’ll crimp yourself. So if you don’t want to stay Aetherist, change quickly now. With your… insane Milestone, you’ve got undreamed flexibility.”

Jonas replied, “Jonathan did that. He felt useless as a Watcher and thought of being more defensive…”

“Watcher is anything but useless. Waldo started as a Watcher and kept building it. He holds his own into a fight. But he can break a Legend’s attack, which can turn a fight from hard to piece of cake. He’s not flashy, but he’s very powerful in his way.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Augusta will probably give your friend good pointers to turn the Watcher’s base into a defensive build if he asks. Not that there’s anything wrong with two defenders in a team. It’s a very different strategy, that’s all. Good for some lair fights, less so on outdoor ones, but those fights rarely matter anyway.”

Jonas meditated for a while on the topic. The Profession system seemed complex and strange. Both Douglas’ list and the Professions from Cowen’s descriptor were more varied than he’d expected.

“I can see the magical Professions you have, but you have lots of different Professions as well?”

“It’s easy getting into tier-three, but beyond, the requirements for Professions become difficult to achieve, and you end up having to do side Professions. It’s mostly a matter of finding the right mix for where you want to end up.”

“You have… nine Professions? Cowen has ten. I suppose there’s a reason?”

“Modern Professionals use a build guide. That’s a profession, small-p. Experts with class lists, making build paths to get you where you want to be. I can recommend some when we’re at Gatepost. But most of us, we bumbled our way along. I’ve been plying the Labyrinth since 1801, the year after it opened, and Cowen had been there from day one or so. I was assigned to Augusta’s team in 1805 by the Royal Labyrinth Company. We’ve stayed together since, even when they broke up the Company three years ago after that scandal.”

“Which scandal?” Jonas asked.

“You didn’t hear about it? It made the broadsheets for over a month. Basically, the usual corruption and graft when you have very lucrative endeavours, and the wrong persons ending up in charge of them. When they started short-changing the army, that’s when stuff got beyond the acceptable. The king’s first son – her Highness’ father – managed to get out relatively clean from the mess, but the royal monopoly granted on Labyrinth affairs got broken up.”

“You keep referring to her Highness…” Jonas prompted.

“Her Royal Highness, heir to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, Calculating Tactician Charlotte of Wales. Despite her relatively lower tier, she’s basically the Crown in the Labyrinth.”

At that moment, Cowen interrupted, “First local ahead.”

Green Small Ape

Level 122

Health: 1021

Mind: 340

Endurance: 961

Aether: 0

Despite being normal, the creature with an emerald fur had vital statistics close to one of their usual elites from Othary. Jonas realized that Cowen had not been kidding when she said Othary was under-levelled and Markandon an entirely different place. It would not be too dangerous on its own, but in groups, those apes would have been a great peril for the team.

Cowen’s sword flashed out once, then twice and Jonas got a notification.

Green Small Ape: 728XP/6 contributors = 66XP

The amount of experience was very small, but Jonas guessed it was due to the higher tier from Cowen, like when Ira had been the only one with a tier-two. He turned to ask Douglas.

“Yes. Basically, each Profession counts as a share. You’ve got two, she’s got ten. So she grabs nearly half of the experience and your team splits the rest. Plus, your team’s level average is very high compared to the critter. But then, the goal isn’t to get you to tier-three, it’s to go as fast as possible through the lairs. Experience is a tiny plus. Don’t expect to get lots of levels until we arrive at Gatepost.”

Green Young Ape × 2

Level 126 veteran

Health: 2054

Mind: 678

Endurance: 1938

Aether: 0

Green Young Ape × 2: 3038XP/6 contributors = 138XP

Cowen had simply smashed her fist into one ape, slashed the other, then dispatched them with a Lightning Grasp and another sword slash.

“That’s… insane. Everybody always said high-tier Professionals are like demi-gods from legend, but that’s a different thing to see it for yourself,” Ira said, watching the Imposing Knight slaughter the two veterans.

Jonas was impressed as well.

“How would that work on… a normal person?”

“Like you think. She’d kill any non-Professional in one strike,” Douglas replied. “The States have developed mobile armours that can withstand lesser Professionals, but at level 700, she can demolish one if it’s not supported.”

“I remember the fight with that Frenchman in London…”

“Different. He was a tier-seven. One of the biggest Professionals from France, a right-hand man of the Tyrant himself. But he wasn’t wearing his best equipment, to avoid notice. And he had only minimal backup. So… we killed him. But his objective was to tie us, and prevent interference with their agents against the Gate.”

She frowned.

“You said you killed him. Did you?...”

“Resurrect him after? Yes, in the London Tower. There’s a special Professional quarter there, reinforced structures made from Labyrinth materials, trained guards with hand cannons and high-tier interrogators. We keep the two we caught in Lingering Death between 10 and 60%.”

“You keep them in what?”

“We kill them every two days, to make sure they stay weakened enough not to escape.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Well, they’re French. They didn’t want it, they could simply have remained on the continent.”

Jonas couldn’t find a reply to that. Besides, he agreed with a bit, on principle. But being repeatedly killed and brought back to life felt a bit too much like the Adjustment process. Just less painful.

“So… where were we?” Douglas prompted after a short while.

“Professions… Royal Company…” Jonas replied.

“Right. Well, the old Royal Company isn’t something you need to worry about since it no longer exists. Parliament broke it up and opened the Labyrinth to the competition. Restricted one, but competition.”

“What do you mean, competition? What are you competing for?”

Douglas laughed.

“Money, what else.”

Seeing Jonas’ incredulous looks, she elaborated.

“Any noble can charter a company to ‘exploit’ the Labyrinth. You can’t legally enter the Labyrinth without being employed by a registered company. Since there’s still a lot of money to make, there’s quite a few of them around. The biggest is Laufrey’s, they operate most of the Power Crystal lairs and areas…”

She immediately interrupted herself, “Not that I recommend that one. They operate the bare minimum of levels, and you spend all your time going into empty lairs to carefully dig out Power Crystals. They use anyone, as long as you can enter the Labyrinth. You will have to join a company at one point, but I wouldn’t worry about it yet.”

“Guss’ cousin works for one.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“I think… Something called Artefact Hunting…”

“Ah yes. Zachariah’s company. A mix of tier-five and lower levels, with a few permanent lair licenses. I remember his recruitment pitch. Ambitious fellow, but we never worked together in the Royal Company; too much of a difference in levels. He fell a bit short of his grand objectives, but I hear it’s a good outfit to work for. If you care about making money first and foremost, that is.”

They switched back to the topic of Professions, with Jonas explaining what they’d deduced.

“You’re about right. Generally speaking, it’s better to level high tiers, because you get more vitals per level, faster and bigger milestones, and the XP cost is the same, no matter what tier you level at the moment. It’s just the getting there that’s complicated.”

“I thought the XP was tied to tier since it doubled when I got into tier two?”

“No. It’s just the number of Professions you have. One Profession, one thousand per level. Ten professions, ten thousand per level. And so on. So you tend to pick just the Professions you absolutely need, because once you’ve added one, you can’t remove it.”

She frowned, realizing something.

“It will be a bit easier for you. Your extra Potentials from that Adjustment thing will open up lots of Professions, at least in the early tiers. I mean, you already have every single Potential at 20 or more, which is unprecedented. There are tier-fives that still have one still at 15 or worse from their build… and then, your level speed bonus will make it very easy to pick new classes without too many penalties. I’m jealous.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you felt the Adjustment. If I could think clearly while enduring it, I’d have thought we were in Hell.”

“I know lots of people who’d trade you for it, pain and all. I’m pretty sure everyone will be interested in seeing if it can be done voluntarily.”

Jonas shuddered at the thought and quickly switched the topic.

“So, what is being a tier-six like?”

“Like tier-two, but better,” Douglas joked.

Jonas had to laugh back.

“The main thing is that it opens up more zones. We’re power-smashing you along here, but you wouldn’t last in a local lair. We can go almost anywhere in a tier-five zone without too many problems, and the rest of the Labyrinth is basically a stroll in London. When there’s no Frenchmen. So we see all the weird stuff there is.”

“Weird like the worms I’ve seen and the giant ice frogs and stuff?”

“Weirder. The deeper you go into the Labyrinth, the stranger it becomes. Take this place, for instance. It could almost be normal for Earth; some forest in the Americas maybe. Except for the slightly different versions of beasties. The moon is a moon, for instance.”

That moon mention immediately intrigued Jonas.

“I… noticed the moon. It is different here like there’s fire on it. It was already different back in Othary, but it’s different again in this zone.”

“It’s not the moon,” replied Douglas. “It’s everything. At tier-three, you usually have a moon that’s more or less normal. But then, you may have a moon that’s been broken by some colossal event. There’s a famous tier-four where you don’t have a moon at all. Instead, there’s a kind of ring of small rocks, like the moon’s broken up and ground to pieces. You can even see it in the sky during the day. Then you have multiple small moons. There’s Urgaster, where the moon is so large, it fills almost the entire sky. And it’s covered in fog, so you don’t really see the moon proper. Or Nertalun, which hasn’t got sun or moon at all. It’s an eternal black night with distant stars, and the only heat and light come from lava lakes and rivers.”

“Whoa.”

“It’s the same with the zones themselves. This looks like a normal forest. Biskanta, which is the zone we’re spending most of our time in currently, is a giant glacier. Ice everywhere, with some rocks jutting here and there. We haven’t found the surface, it’s all ice caverns, sometimes huge enough to have room for an entire town. And sometimes, you have ice, with a water river flowing in the middle, not even freezing. And that’s a pretty ordinary zone, as tier-five go.”

“Have you gone further?”

“Obviously, or we wouldn’t have tier-six Professions. But we are all relatively early tier-six Professionals, and tier-six zones aren’t worth it yet. Just like here; you don’t have too much of a problem outdoor, but completing a lair is a lot harder or even impossible.”

“Are there higher Professionals?”

“There are dozens of tier-six. I know only something like forty people with higher tier six levels than we have, including some pretty advanced ones. Our boss leads basically one team that has completed more than a few tier six zones lairs and is set to become one of our first British tier-sevens. Sometime next year, I think. We’ve got a handful of tier seven Plaza mapped.”

“The French had that tier-seven guy. Are they so much ahead of us?”

Douglas grimaced.

“I have no idea. The higher-ups probably have spies getting them more intel.”

Jonas veered the conversation away from the topic of the enemy.

“So what are you doing in Biskanta then? Getting gear?”

“A bit of that. The creature density in lairs gives more XP than outdoor…”

“I noticed,” Jonas said.

“The other thing is that the next tier-six zone beyond Biskanta is unconnected to anything we’ve mapped, but hard to get to.”

“How?”

“It’s complicated. There’s a single Gate to a tier-six… you know how Gates work, right?”

“You need lairs. One lair per tier.”

“Well, me and Habborlain – that’s our Spectacular Physics – we’re the only ones with tier-six access in there.”

“I would have thought that your whole team would have gotten access at the same time,” mused Jonas.

“In this case, no. Biskanta has only seven lairs total, and two of them are major lairs.”

“What’s a major lair?”

“You’ve seen… Elders maximum, right? That’s the biggest type of enemy you find in a lair at low tiers. You start getting Ancients at tier-three, even if they’re relatively rare. They’re much harder than Elders, of course. But they’re pretty much doable with a few more levels and good gear. Following me so far?” she asked.

Jonas’ head bobbed in confirmation.

“Above Ancients, however, you have Legends. They’re above an Ancient the way an Ancient is… well, to an Elite. Or even Veteran, maybe.”

“Is that…”

“Doable? Yes. But not by a normal team. Unless maybe they’re high tier like eight and doing a tier-five Legend, I think?”

Douglas shrugged, then continued.

“And they don’t come back quickly. You need a couple of months usually before a Legend comes back to a lair. So the way you do a major lair with a Legend is that you get a few teams together. Four, five teams or more.”

Jonas understood now.

“But only some people get lair completion since it’s capped at six.”

“The more Professionals in the team, the less get to complete it. A twenty-five team, which is usually the size that you need to do a Legend from a tier-five lair, is lucky when two people get completion.”

“So, with two major lairs…”

“Everyone in our teams has five complete lairs, but we were the lucky ones to get a sixth. And we got ours on two different lairs.”

“So, you are waiting until everyone else gets their six lairs.”

“More or less. Once there was enough tier-six enabled across people in Biskanta, we did a temporary team and a run into the zone, to get a feeling of it. And scout the Plaza to see what Professions it offers, which are interesting ones, although one can be obtained somewhere else. But the real prize is that it has multiple Gates to unknown zones.”

“What’s it like then? That tier-six zone, I mean?”

“Hard. For example, the one we’re all enabled for and most of us got our Professions from, there are creatures between 700 and 800, and they’re a lot harder than you’d expect. The zone’s called Caernastur and it is a giant necropolis. Rows of tombs, mausoleums, caves for skeleton storage. It’s full of undead and animated dead.”

“Undead?”

“Ghouls, mostly. Vampyres as well. I’d rather fight Vampyres than Ghouls.”

Seeing the look of incomprehension, Douglas expanded, “Vampyres are nasties with multiple aspects, but they are usually very vulnerable to fire. Ghouls shrug most of my spells. I’ve fought lesser versions of those in a few other zones, but those tier-six versions are harsh. As you’d expect.”

Spectacular Physics

(tier 6)

Required: 235 WIS, 188 PRE, 116 INT

Provides:

+17 health/+13 endurance/+20 mind/+40 aether per level

+1 Milestone per 10 levels

Spectacular Physics: +15 WIS, +10 STR, +6 INT, +4 DEX, 5% team effects

Skillset: Team / Support