Nobody knows who or what designed the stairway to the Labyrinth, but it was clear that whoever it was did not feel constrained by human concepts such as "geometry". Doors floated in the air, oriented in directions that gravity shouldn't have allowed. Walkways and stairs connected seemingly random doors, leading from nothing to nowhere. And the people walking on those walkways oriented sideways or upside down, varied from obvious newcomers wearing jeans and t-shirts to grizzled veterans in exotic armors, most of whom have long since abandoned the plain human race in their search for the means to delve deeper.

As a newcomer himself, and without any combat applicable Shards, Ed turned towards the ground level stairway marked clearly "Floor 1". It was an unwritten rule among the delvers that no adventuring party would accept a member without at least one proven excursion into the Labyrinth. An untested party member could spell doom for the whole party if they froze at the wrong time, and so a newcomer had to prove themselves by entering the Labyrinth solo and surviving to tell the tale.

The stairway Ed was approaching seemed like it was going nowhere. Rising two meters into the air and then stopping without even connecting to anywhere. However, as soon as Ed set his first foot down on the first stair, a walkway leading to a previously unseen (or not existing) door sprang into existence and connected to the stairway. Standing in front of the door, Ed took a deep breath, and opened the door into the first floor of the Labyrinth.

The true size of the Labyrinth is one of the mysteries of its existence. It is impossible to tell if the Labyrinth even has something as trivial as size. It is entirely possible that each of the different floors is unlimited in size. It is just as likely that the size is limited, but the Labyrinth changes constantly to create new zones and new challenges. It is even possible that the Labyrinth is limited in size, and as rigid as any human construction, but still large enough that even the first floor has yet to be charted in its entirety.

Whatever the truth was, it's an undeniable fact that each time a person or group entered the Labyrinth, they would find themselves in a random part of whatever floor they have entered, and it was impossible to know in advance what one would find when they passed through the doors. The terrain would vary from the ruins of cities ancient beyond human understanding, to caverns deep under unknown mountains, to every imaginable (and some unimaginable) location. The one constant was the door back to the stairway, and at least one door deeper into the Labyrinth.

It was, therefore, no surprise to Ed when he found himself on a grassy hill overlooking a dense forest. Twin suns, one a normal looking yellow and the other a bright pink burned bright in the sky, lending a strange hue to the green grass below and the darker green of the treetops. The happy sounds of singing birds could be heard from above, and the wind brought the sweet smell of flowers to Ed's nose. There was precious little time to enjoy the beautiful view, however, since Ed's arrival did not at all fail to raise the attention of the grassland's denizens, and brown furry shapes, about the size of medium dogs stopped grazing on the grass, and raised their horned heads to stare at the invader, and one of them, the closest to Ed's entrance, started loping towards him.

"It's about time I caught a lucky break," Ed muttered when he saw the horned rabbits, and quickly activated his one, mostly useless, skill. A strange feeling, as if something he never knew he had was being drained from him, spread through his body, as a small orb of blue light coalesced in front of him, taking a total of ten seconds to form into a vaguely humanoid shape, devoid of any distinguishing features. "Block the charge of any horned rabbit that attacks me," ordered Ed, as he took his quarterstaff from behind his back and prepared to fight the first of the horned rabbits.

Ranging in size from that of a large cat to a small horse, and characterized by the single unicorn-like horn on their heads, horned rabbits are largely considered among the least dangerous monsters in the Labyrinth. That is not to say that they weren't dangerous. A leaping rabbit could drive its horn through most types of unenchanted light and medium armor, and their uncanny aim was enough to bring down their share of would-be Labyrinth delvers.

The rabbit now charging towards Ed was typical of the breed. Brown furred and droopy eared, it could easily be mistaken for a Cashmere Lop, if it wasn't for its sharp horn and the fact that it was easily the size of a St. Bernard. As instructed, Ed's Phantasmal Worker moved to place itself between the charging rabbit and Ed, and took the brunt of its momentum, stopping the rabbit in mid-leap before dissolving into nothingness due to the damage taken from the piercing horn.

The rabbit, expecting to fell its target and drop on it, was confused by the Worker's disappearance, and stood motionless of a couple of seconds after dropping back to the ground. Ed, on the other hand, was expecting precisely this, and didn't waste any time before smashing his quarterstaff on the rabbit's head, stunning it for long enough to take out a long dagger, and quickly drive it into the back of the rabbit's neck, killing it instantly.

"Guess those years of training with Master Pierre were worth it," panted Ed, more from the adrenaline than from any actual exertion. "It looks like the other rabbits scattered when I killed this one. Good thing too, since I don't think I can summon the Worker again right now."

Removing his knife from the dead rabbit, Ed proceeded to slice off the horn and place it in his bag. Horned rabbits were fairly common, and the horn wouldn't be worth a lot, but it could be used as an ingredient in several low level potions, and the alchemists in the bazaar would pay enough for it to be worth taking. It was a pity Ed had neither the skills nor the Skills to butcher the rabbit properly. Horned rabbit meat was one of the staples of New Minos inns, and would bring in a little more coin that could be saved towards getting a decent Skillshard.

"Come to think of it, how long would it take for my mana to regenerate enough to resummons the Phantasmal Worker?" Ed asked himself after he was finished with the horn. "Status!"

Any Shard, no matter what it primary purpose was, gave the person who Sliced it the ability to view their status, a compilation of their physical and mental abilities, along with the Shards they have Sliced, and at Ed's command, a blue window appeared in front of him.

Eduard Fergusson

Race

Human

Class

None

Shards

1/2

Strength

6

Dexterity

7

Wisdom

4

Constitution

7

Agility

8

Intelligence

6

HP

20/20

Mana

7/16

HP regen

0.7/hour

Mana regen

6/hour

Shard

Level

Essence

Phantasmal Worker

1

0/100

"Half an hour before I can resummons the Phantasmal Worker, and then 100 minutes for the next. I'll be here all week if I wait for mana after each battle."

Having spent the past several years training and preparing to enter the Labyrinth, Ed was familiar with the common tactics suited to fight most of the low leveled monsters, including the horned rabbits. It would be more difficult to fight them without a decoy to take their initial leap attack, but barring a truly stupid mistake or bout of bad luck, he should be able to defeat them.

Having sheathed his dagger and picked up his quarterstaff, Ed picked a direction, and went in search of more monsters, and the way to the next level of the Labyrinth.

It didn't take long to find another horned rabbit, but the same could not be said about the fight itself. The open grasslands let Ed see the rabbit long before it was close enough to leap, and he set himself to wait, watching for the telltale bunching of the rabbit's back that always came before the leap. Moving swiftly to the left while bringing his quarterstaff up to divert the rabbit, Ed avoided the attack, but found that the rabbit was too quick to be caught in his follow up attack. The second leap was just as easy to avoid, and this time Ed managed a glancing blow to the rabbit's back leg, a blow which didn't seem to bother the rabbit even a little. The dance of leap, avoid and retaliate continued for long minutes, until eventually the rabbit started to slow down, though it was impossible to tell if it was because of the few hits Ed managed to land, or just plain exhaustion. Whatever the reason, the rabbit was slowing, and a couple of leaps later Ed finally managed to solidly hit it on its head, stunning him, and he managed to end the fight in much the same way he ended the first one.

Tired for the fight, Ed sat down to resting for a bit, and ended up recovering enough mana to summon his Phantasmal Worker before he felt well enough to continue. Adding another horn to his bag, Ed moved on accompanied by his trusty meat shield.

It was several hours later that Ed came upon a tunnel leading into one of the hills. He managed to kill two more rabbits on the way, but had to make a large detour to avoid several groups of two or more rabbits, which he knew were too chancy to fight.

It was a well-established fact that caves, tunnels and burrows in the Labyrinth often lead to lairs of bosses, which in turn were the best sources for treasure and Shards, as well as the pathways to the next level.

Ed had a Phantasmal Worker with him, and decided to wait until he had the mana to summon another before entering the tunnel. Half an hour later, he took a flashlight mounted on a head strap from his bag, turned it on, and ordered the Worker to precede him into the tunnel.

The tunnel wasn't long, and five minutes later Ed found himself in a circular room, about ten meters from side to side, with a ceiling barely high enough to let him walk upright. Rabbit furs were strewn haphazardly on the floor, and a small fire burned in the center, its smoke curling up into an opening in the roof. The stench of rotting food came from piles of garbage that were shoved near the far edge of the room, mingling with the stench of unwashed bodies, indicating that while the room may have once been a burrow for the horned rabbits, it was long since taken over by something else.

The new residents of the room, a couple of goblins, jumped up from their place in front of the fire, and ran towards Ed as soon as he walked in. Ed sent his Phantasmal Worker to block the way of one of the goblins, and used his quarterstaff to block a clumsy blow from the crude club the second was wielding. Delivering a quick blow with the other end of the quarterstaff between the goblins legs revealed that this was most definitely a male goblin, and a second hard blow to his head put a swift end to his high pitched screech. The first goblin, meanwhile, has managed to deal enough damage to dispel the Phantasmal Worker and charged shrieking at Ed. Ed, who was still recovering from hitting the other goblin, couldn't bring his quarterstaff up fast enough to block, and took a painful hit on his hip from the goblin's club. Kicking the small humanoid away before it could strike again, Ed quickly followed up with a strike at the goblin's chest, driving the air out of its lungs and staggering it. One on one, the goblin's small stature and short weapon gave Ed a huge reach advantage, and the goblin soon joined its fellow in death.

After summoning his Phantasmal Worker again, just in case something else came into the burrow and attacked him, Ed set about to search the room. The very first thing he found, hidden behind a hanging fur, was a simple wooden door. The unremarkable door, which wouldn't have rated a second glance in most locations, was completely out of place in what used to be a rabbit burrow, and Ed was almost certain it was the way to the next level of the Labyrinth. Ed had absolutely no intention of searching in the piles of garbage, but the goblins themselves might have something worth taking. The goblins weren't wearing any armor, and their clubs were barely more than fallen branches. The first goblin he searched had nothing on it other than a necklace made of various teeth, but on the second, Ed hit the jackpot.

Even before Ed got to the body, he could see a glint of reflected light from the goblin's chest. Smiling excitedly, Ed grabbed hold of the crystal pentagon embedded in the monster, and pulled it out.

Colored the same green as the goblin it came out of, this Shard was twice as large as the one Ed got his Phantasmal Worker from, and as soon as it was completely out of the corpse, a blue window appeared in front of him.

Goblin

Tier 0

Level 1

0/100 essence

These small, green humanoids are the weakest of the goblinoid races.

While nimble and quick, goblins are fairly stupid and lacking in strength.

+1 agility

Raceshards were probably the rarest type of Shards found in the Labyrinth, and prized by almost all delvers. When Sliced, the Raceshard will transform a person into a different race, giving boosts in stats. And while becoming a goblin seemed like a huge price to pay for a very small boost, Raceshards increased in power when leveled, giving more stat boosts, and eventually even enabling the user to Slice extra shards.

Finding a Raceshard this early in the Labyrinth was a huge stroke of luck, and Ed was tempted to Slice it immediately. However, Slicing the Shard now would mean that Ed would be unable to Slice any Shards until it leveled enough, leaving him in a very dangerous situation.

Ed was still considering the issue of Slicing his new Shard when he heard a large thump, and he raised his head just in time to see his Phantasmal Worker stumbling back and crashing into him. A second later, the Worker vanished, and Ed could see an old, grizzled horned rabbit, with a broken off horn staring at him in confusion.

Quickly raising his quarterstaff, Ed attacked the rabbit, and found that a hornless rabbit, while still able to deliver a solid hit, was far less of a danger than the other rabbits he fought.

It was only after the rabbit was dead that Ed remembered his Raceshard, and turned to look for it.

The Shard, however, was nowhere to be found.