Chapter 7: The Labyrinth
One month has passed quickly. Since I killed the Wyvern, the only thing I've been doing is taking care of the village and leveling up by killing monsters in my spare time. I had also become accustomed to using my skills. Despite killing monsters throughout the month, I couldn't gain much experience points because the creatures I encountered were mainly goblins and occasionally a few lizardmen. As a result, I could only level up three times, and I am currently at level 43.
At level 25, thanks to my class, I gained the skill called [Portal]. This skill allows me to reach places I've been to before through a portal. It proved very helpful when transporting materials for village improvements. Additionally, I learned that skills can evolve with continued use. My mini-map skill evolved from F level to E level. Now, I could see living beings within a 50-meter radius, the terrain of a 50-meter radius, and even underground caves. This allowed me to detect creatures underground, although I hadn't explored any caves yet, so I didn't really need this skill.
Entering with some food in hand, Dagger asked, "Is the chief resting?"
I was sitting in my tent, drawing a map of the village and planning for the future. By the way, what happened to the village? We finished the living areas for lizardmen and wyverns. The lizardmen grew rapidly within a month and became capable workers. However, the wyverns couldn't surpass the size of goblins, but if they grow as big as their mothers, I can wait a bit longer. I named them Sweet and Chilli; one was very temperamental and constantly biting me since birth, while the other was sweet and affectionate. Lizardmen were stronger than goblins, so I reassigned all alpha team members except Dagger and assigned 8 lizardmen to the Alpha team. The remaining 4 lizardmen were assigned to guard the village surroundings. Since we raised them alongside goblins, they quickly got used to us and started helping with our tasks. Moreover, lizardmen consumed a lot of food, so I formed a Hunting team from the former members of the Alpha team, goblin warriors, and built a few extra storages.
"I'm working on the map of our village, what do you think?"
I called Dagger over and showed him the map.
"The map looks good, chief. You're quite talented."
"Haha, thanks, my friend."
Over the past month, my friendship with Dagger had strengthened. I wonder what the wizard kid I met in the exam zone is doing now. Will I encounter him again in this new mission? Speaking of the mission:
[1st Mission Remaining Time: 9 Hours 26 Minutes.]
I couldn't track time here, but I assumed the 1st Mission would start when the sun was directly overhead. Also, thinking about the time reminded me to make a sundial for the village after completing the mission. Despite having little leadership experience, I had adapted to it after the time passed and the events we faced. The wyvern meat was almost running out, and the crops we planted were just beginning to sprout. Thanks to the river system, we could establish fields near the village. Finally, I managed to build my desired toilet and river bath. Goblins and lizardmen didn't like using toilets and river baths, so I had my own private facilities. I know I dwelled on the toilet issue for too long, but if you had to relieve yourself in the bushes and wipe with scratchy leaves, you'd understand. By the way, while talking about the mission:
[1st Mission: The Labyrinth Of Şahmaran]
[Allowed Items: 1]
Şahmaran is a creature from Turkish mythology with a serpent's lower body and a woman's upper body. How did I learn about this? I used to spend a lot of time on social media back in our world. Anyway, I understood that we would go to some kind of labyrinth owned by this creature. I decided to take a bone from the wyvern as the item to bring along. It was small enough to throw and sturdy enough to cause damage. Before the mission started, I decided to get a good night's sleep because I didn't know if I would have a chance to sleep once the mission began.
With little time left for the mission to start, I had completed my preparations. Wearing armor made from wyvern scales would be reassuring, but no one in the village could process these materials at the moment.
[1 minute left until the mission starts]
I tried to explain the situation to the entire village, but whenever I tried to talk about systems, skills, and such, it felt like something was preventing me, and the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. So, I informed them that I might disappear suddenly at certain intervals because I needed to fight some bad guys, but I would try to return as soon as possible. They didn't fully understand what was happening, but they trusted me now, and they didn't seem to mind.
[10 seconds left until the mission starts]
"Alright, everyone, take care of things around here while I'm gone."
10
9
8
"Boss, defeat the bad guys!"
7
6
5
"Kill them, chief! The wyvern slayer boss!"
4
3
"Don't worry, everyone, I'll win."
2
1
[Teleporting to the 1st Mission Area.]
As always, a blinding light appeared, and when the light disappeared, I found myself in a small room with three other people. I looked around carefully and at the people next to me. Our surroundings were surrounded by walls that resembled concrete, quite high, and impassable. Also, the people next to me seemed unfamiliar with each other. One had blonde hair, wearing light silver armor and carrying a sword. The second one was black and a burly man, wielding a large double-sided mace and wearing heavy armor. Lastly, there was a red-haired woman with a bow, wearing light leather armor.
[The mission will start within 30 minutes.]
Blondie stepped forward. "Hello, friends. I know our heads are quite confused, and none of us trust each other, but before the mission starts, it would be good to learn about each other's classes and abilities. This way, we can complete the mission more easily. We don't know what kind of dangers are here, so it's better to move as a team."
He was speaking logically, and that was the scary part. With such sweet talk, he could easily deceive people. For instance, he could learn about our abilities and weaknesses and potentially attack us. Still, the archer girl seemed to be in favor of what he said. However, the axeman disagreed. After some more talking, we decided to share only our class and one class ability. Blonde guy spoke first.
"I am a Paladin. My name is Aiden. My primary class ability is [Protection]. I can create a temporary shield for myself or my teammates, but I can't maintain it for a long time due to high mana consumption."
The expressions of the others seemed to relax a bit after Aiden's introduction.
"I am a Tank class. My name is Malik. I use heavy armor and a double-sided mace. My primary class ability is [Tough Skin]. Similar to Aiden's ability, my skill is also protection-oriented, but I can only use it on
myself. The difference is that it doesn't consume mana unless I take damage, so I can be the vanguard to counter surprise attacks without worrying about mana."
Malik's ability must have been quite reassuring for him. At least, he didn't have to worry about dying with a single attack like me.
Next, the archer girl spoke, "I am a Ranger. My name is Elara. I use a bow and arrows. My primary class ability is [High Caliber]. This skill turns my arrows into some kind of magic, allowing my shots to travel at high speed like a rifle bullet and deal heavy damage. I can only use it one or two times because it consumes a lot of mana."
Finally, it was my turn. "I am from the Strategist class."
Before I could finish my sentence, Elara interrupted, "Strategist? I've never heard of this class."
Ignoring her, I continued speaking, "My name is Daichi. My primary class ability is [Mini Map]. It allows me to detect the positions of living beings and determine the terrain within a 50-meter radius. Additionally, it doesn't consume mana while using this ability, so I can use it as much as I want."
The archer girl started speaking again, "So, it's a useless ability, not an attack or protection skill. Also, I've never heard of this class, and a skill that doesn't consume mana? Are you lying to us?"
Her words didn't really bother me, but someone needed to teach her to shut up. Just as I was about to say something, Malik intervened.
"No, if he is telling the truth, this is a great ability for our current situation."
Aiden continued Malik's sentence.
"You're right. Given the name of the mission, we are in a labyrinth. With this ability, we can see when we'll encounter monsters up to a certain distance and decide which direction to go."
The other team members seemed smarter than this foolish girl, so I was relieved. However, she didn't seem pleased with being contradicted, but she didn't drag on the topic and ended the introduction phase, deciding on the formation. Unlike the others, I didn't have any attack abilities, and information exchange was crucial for me, so I took the center. This way, I could easily direct the team and stay safe. Malik and Aiden took the front as our tanks, protecting us, and Elara took the rear, providing support with her long-range attacks. With everything settled, there was very little time left for the mission to start, and finally, the moment we were waiting for arrived.
[Mission Started]
[Primary Goal [Mandatory]: Escape from the labyrinth, reach the center of the labyrinth, and escape from there. Reward: None.]
[Secondary Goal [Optional]: Defeat the Labyrinth Boss. Reward: Random A-rank Item.]
No reward for escaping the labyrinth? So, they're probably tricking people into fighting the boss forcibly, and the boss is likely too challenging for us to defeat. The ones who sent us here probably just want us to die, just like how they made people complete tasks by killing monsters in the exam zone. If I had started the exam in a location closer to the city, maybe I would have completed the mission easily and missed out on the battle experience and skills. After the mission notification window closed, paths opened in the middle of the walls around us, and we had to choose one of the four paths.
"There's a crowded group of goblins on the path continuing straight ahead. The other paths are empty. I think it's better for us to conserve our energy, but we can try out our battle formation on weak creatures like goblins."
Aiden agreed, "You're right. Goblins are good opponents for us to get used to each other and test our battle formation."
With our established battle formation, we advanced towards the goblins. Malik attracted the attention of the goblins by hitting his chestplate, then crushed them with his mace without needing to use his ability. Aiden supported Malik by cutting down goblins with his sword. If any goblins managed to get past our two tanks, I killed them with the wyvern bone. A single blow to the head was enough to pop their heads. It wasn't a sword, but I could use the bone like a baseball bat. If goblins surrounded me too much, Elara used her long-range attacks to kill them.
After the battle, Malik came over to me.
"Your ability is truly amazing. We can see what kind of monsters we'll encounter in advance."
"Not really. If it's a creature I haven't encountered before, I can't see what type it is."
"Still, your help is invaluable to us. Thanks."
Despite his rough appearance, he seemed warm-hearted and kind. We continued walking through the labyrinth for a while, but soon, we encountered another danger.
"There's a path 35 meters ahead that turns left. Battle formation ready."
"Are they monsters like goblins that you've encountered before?"
"Yes, they're humans."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone