Kaizen was a bit curious after reading the description of the Keeper’s Elm, but not curious enough to immediately run off to look for a player or NPC with the profession of Druid Antiquities Specialist. This was so specific that he doubted it would be as easy to find as it would be if the condition were to find a blacksmith. At the moment, Kaizen had other priorities for the upcoming few days.

What was his next goal? Well, by the time, it was to log out and order maybe one or two pizzas. So he began to walk quietly to the gates of the labyrinth shown to him by Xisrith.

When he reached the clearing in the middle of the oak grove, he saw the wide stone doors prominently displayed in its center.

“This entire outer region already looks very peaceful, but I’m not able to disconnect here… I hope that woman really meant what she said about the labyrinth entrance hall being a safe zone…”

Kaizen moved closer to the stone doors.

Precisely in the middle of the two doors of the labyrinth was a large crystal. This crystal was shaped like a square turned 180 degrees and glittered with the strong glow of the sun.

“Is it just… I just need to touch?” Kaizen wondered and slowly brought his right hand’s fingers closer to the crystal.

When his fingertips touched the smooth surface of the crystal, he -felt as if something was pulling him. So before he could blink, Kaizen was already in another place.

This new place was strangely cramped. The ceiling was so low that Kaizen’s head was only inches away from being able to touch it, and the walls were very close together. The place looked deteriorated as if it had been a long time since it was at its peak. Many yellowish bricks covered the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, and it looked somewhat resembled old catacombs.

The initial hall was covered with torches on the wall, making it someway how visible. Looking ahead, Kaizen could see three completely dark halls, and next to them was a strange red crystal.

The chamber was so quiet that nothing could be heard except the crackling of the torch fire.

Facing the darkness of the halls, Kaizen didn’t have a good feeling about this new area, but something was calling him, urging him to venture into the labyrinth. This sudden feeling of courage was strange, he did know that it was not the best idea to explore this place yet, but just the thrill of the mystery made him fight against his own reason.

Motivated by a blind impulse, Kaizen took a torch from the wall and approached the middle hall. At that moment, he heard a sound that chilled every last vertebra in his spine.

*Ssssssss*

Followed by a rattling, this sound seemed to have come from close by; however, that could also have just been a hasty impression from the Psyker. After all, the hallways seemed long and empty enough to propagate distant sounds through echo.

“Maybe I should move forward just a little bit more…”

𝒐𝑣𝑙xt.𝔠𝑶𝑚

Even though the rattling alarmed him, Kaizen was still not intimidated.

As he stepped into the hallway, his torch lit up a little further, revealing something gray leaning on the wall.

Curious, Kaizen stretched his left arm a little further forward, holding up the torch to illuminate it.

The torch lit up the gray thing that was a meter away from Kaizen. This was a statue of a man of medium height who wore seemingly light armor and a wand in his right hand. The statue was leaning on the wall in a bodily submissive position. At first, like everyone else, Kaizen thought this was just a bizarre statue to cause fear in the players, but the expression of despair on the rock man’s face was strangely perfect, as it was a real fear face.

Soon, he remembered the sound he had heard just a minute ago. After looking at the bizarre statue, he easily came to a conclusion capable of making him drop his torch on the ground and immediately run to the initial hall of the maze.

‘I’m definitely not ready to deal with a Medusa!’ he thought as he ran.

His footsteps echoed around the place, and the moment the red crystal came within his reach, Kaizen reached out as far as he could and touched it.

Immediately, he was teleported to the outer area of the labyrinth and fell flat on his butt on the green grass in the clearing he was in before.

“Feeww! That was… creepy. There’s absolutely a Medusa in there. The realistic statue, snake noises… There’s no way it’s not a Medusa.” Kaizen said.

After he pulled himself together, he stood up, opened the system interface, and clicked on the map.

As expected, the map was indeed updated. The previously completely black regions were now unlocked for Kaizen to check out more comprehensively. That was for sure great news, as he could go back to explore the Silver Mountains and the Howling Cliff without the danger of getting lost the next few times.

“Damn, man… I was so freaked out at the thought of having to deal with a Medusa that I forgot I wanted to log out. Well, I that I’m not going back there now, best to return to Holinda first.” He said aloud, and that’s exactly what he did.

Again, he summoned Chiron, his Beast Mount, and as soon as the creature appeared, it was already agitated.

Kaizen slowly stretched his hands forward in an attempt to calm it down, but Chiron actually relented only when Kaizen pulled an apple from his inventory and gave it to the creature to eat. After this, Kaizen was allowed to ride the Beast Mount and began his return to the city.

Since Kaizen had now raised many levels and had many interesting monster drops, he felt he should take a few days off to attend to other matters. The first of these things was obviously his current mission with Zahir the dwarf, which was active. Unfortunately, no screen on the interface showed all the active missions, so Kaizen couldn’t even consider forgetting about them.

At the moment, there are only two active missions in his game.

The first was his Class quest, or at least a hint to start it, which was to search for an Advanced Shaman or Mage. The second one was the Zahir blacksmith quest.

However, Kaizen was already plotting his own goals as well.

Earlier, when he was visiting the new apartment, Jayaa said he could help him by giving some tips or support on Rise Online.

Klaus was not against tips from someone more experienced, as he was still a beginner and could not be so haughty as to refuse the help of a colleague who was willing to help him. It was just that the question of ‘support’ was still something he was thinking about.

Kaizen believed that making groups in an MMORPG often became more of a prison than a help and that it put people in a very dangerous safety zone. The proof of this was Kaizen’s own attitude towards the informal group formed by Magma. At the time, Magma and the others trusted the archer too much and became so dependent on him that they died without being able to do almost anything.

If Jayaa wanted to be his duo on some occasions and missions, Kaizen felt that he first needed to evaluate whether his colleague would help him or hinder him. After all, this game was now his job.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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