The labyrinth - Part 2

I honestly dislike the mornings of a delve. Not only because I am doing a delve which is always quite dangerous. But because of one little thing, I get woken up by my clock. If I wake up before my timer goes off I don't mind it as much when it starts to ring. However when you get woken up by the ringing, then you get shocked awake. It just starts the day in a bad way. I usually get more tired on delves when I don't wake up before my timer goes off. It could be self-sabotage and such but it just happens. There is however one thing still different from those usual bad mornings with waking up with the timer. It seems I had forgotten to close the pop-up about gaining points from yesterday. It is good to see that those screens don't close even when you fall asleep. Also, a good reminder that I still have to invest 27 points in my stats. I mumble close out loud in an attempt to get rid of the screen for a bit. However, the pop-up doesn't close, even after I waited a few seconds. I grumble a bit about the thought that the screen isn't gone yet. It is however good to know that not all of those windows close when you say close. I do however have to wonder now how I can get it closed. Since I don't want to walk around with that in my vision as an idea pops into my head. "Accept" I ultimately say as the pop-up finally closes.

Before I even come outside my room I notice that the apartment is quiet. Considering the time I set for my alarm to go off it must be around 8 am already. It doesn't make it too much of a surprise that the entire apartment is quiet. Eleanor and Liam should be in school already at this point. If they aren't I would be more than disappointed in them. But knowing them they would be in school, I am honestly worrying about nothing right now. But my mind wandering off together with the pop-up I wanted away caused me not to put off the ringing. I quickly try to grab my phone, but I miss it a few times before I manage to grab it. As I click it open to put off the alarm I can't help but be glared at by my phone screen. I do manage to stop the alarm from going off but I can't really look at the screen yet. Which is quite a hassle since I need to know when I need to get going to the portal. I look over to my clock radio since I really need to know the time and the light that comes of from it isn't too bright. I immediately notice that I wasted ten minutes already. I quickly open my blinds so my eyes can get used to the bright light. Because I still need to check where exactly this portal is. I need to know when I should go to get on the portal on time. And since I hate coming late. With the blinds open my eyes easily start to adjust enough to check my phone where I need to be.

The location of the portal is for me easy to get to. But there are some issues with it. It seems to be located in a metro station. Which is easy enough for delvers to get to. And since it is an F ranked portal I can wear normal clothes to it. F ranked portals tend to be mostly running around searching for stuff. The monsters inside those portals don't get considered as monsters even. Yes, they can damage you and all, but they are mostly harmless. The traps inside F ranked portals tend to do more damage than the monsters inside them. They are also the lowest priority to stop from spilling. Which would be a surprise for anyone who isn't familiar with the delving system. F rank portals can spill like any other portal. They are just not that dangerous if they spill. And if they spill which also rarely happens it is usually solved within a couple of hours. People have gotten stuck inside them, however. And just like any other portal, we have to assume that the people who get stuck there are dead. However, people only tend to get stuck inside F ranked portals when the environment is a maze or a labyrinth. It even became standard to have a rope and a piece of chalk or charcoal with you when you enter those types of portals.

I quickly get out of my room to see what I could make for myself to eat for breakfast. From what I saw we had left yesterday I should be able to make a sandwich with some jam. I will probably finish the jar though. I walk up to the list on the kitchen board to see if it is already on the list. It seems to not be on the list yet so I add it to it. The jam is pretty good so I will have to make to get more of it. It is also a pretty easy breakfast for me to make when I have to go delving. Since it doesn't weight too much on the stomach while you have to run. But considering what happened yesterday, I might get some more points for running though. But that reminds me, I still have to check out those stats. If I am able to invest these points in things I have to be smart about it. I don't have to worry about my stats me here. "Open stats" I say as I take another bite from the sandwich, it probably is barely audible. Okay you would be able to hear it, however I doubt it was actually understandable. I don't see any difference at first but after a couple of seconds I notice something did change. There was now an extra line between the amount of mana used and my actual stats. I have to be smart about how I actually spent these 27 points.

Stats:

Health: 50/50 Current Status: Perfect health

Mana: 10/10

Points left to spent: 27

Strength: 4 Intelligence: 7

Agility: 4 Stamina: 4

Mana level: 2

Okay, all my stats are miserable, to say the least. So I need to try to invest in everything a bit. Something that might be handy to invest in for someone like me is stamina. Since I do need to run quite a bit. I don't want to get nearly trapped inside a portal again because I had to stop running. So putting in stamina might be wise.

However so with my new ability, I might need some more intelligence to understand abilities more quicker. It would be seen as safe to invest in that, also having more intelligence could never hurt.

However, even if I did understand my ability better this way. I do remember that my mana or something else was too low. So even if I was able to understand my ability better it wouldn't matter because I could still barely use it. Good to see that if I increase my mana level in general that my amount of mana increases too.

I however don't like how my mana is now higher than my health points. I honestly dislike this, it is worrying how it still seems like one good could take me out. Could I improve that? I click on my health to invest one point into it. And it does seem to work as I take another bite of my sandwich. It seems like one point invested in health would go for an increase of five health. I only end up investing four points into it since I still need to invest in some other stats.

I still have some points to invest. Which I again need to invest wisely. I do want to invest some points in agility. I don't need to get a lot more agile for a labyrinth type portal. However maybe if I try my best enough today. I will only invest two points into that right now.

I will put my last points into strength points. I am not the best into close combat but having a bit more force might not be too bad for someone like me. I would love to invest some more things into everything. But I did use all my points so nothing left to invest.

Stats:

Health: 70/70 Current Status: Perfect health

Mana: 60/60

Strength: 7 Intelligence: 12

Agility: 6 Stamina: 7

Mana level: 12

Honestly, these do look a bit more favourable to me now. I however don't know whether or not these stats are considered decent now, or if they would still be seen as bad. If I had to judge from my very limited perspective. I would say my strength, agility, and stamina are still a bit too low for my liking. But I do like how my intelligence is at right now, but I will probably put some more points towards that too if I again get more points at midnight. However, I doubt that I will be able to do the same things I did yesterday. Since I don't know how long the delve will actually take. But there is another thing I don't know. Is it the amount of time I spent doing it that gives me all those points? Or is it how much effort I have to put in. Because then I might want to focus more time on training. I hope that it goes with the amount of time I spent doing the activity. Otherwise how hard will the studying stuff get?

By the time I notice how long I spent on my stats I realised I had to get going as soon as I could. I already spent about twenty minutes on just making sure my stats are alright. I still need to about twenty minutes to get at the metro station on time. That way I would have enough time to not be too much a nervous wreck when I actually walk inside the portal. I quickly grab my bag which still contains the little bags which I will probably not need a lot of today. However one thing I do need to check if I have with me today. Which is the charcoal I need for labyrinths. But as I am searching for it, I do find it but it is in quite a state. It has seems to have broken off in three pieces.

There is one thing that does bother me. Which is the location, yes I know the location is good for delvers to get to. But that good location has one major downside. There might be people stuck inside there which makes the fact that it is a labyrinth even worse. Civilians can get really scared once they walked through the portal. So scared that they wouldn't turn back to go to our world. Which means it would also be a rescue delve. Let's just say those are the worst.

I quickly start to make my way to the portal. I rather get there early than get there late. It is just for my own nerves, I know I will still be pretty scared while going in. But hopefully less scared than I usually am when walking in. But as I am walking towards the portal I do notice the one person who I know and am doing the delve with.

It is Emily Hawkins I have known her since I started doing delves. We started around the same time and thus have done quite a lot of delves together. She is around a year older than me but we are very much in different experience groups. She is also in a different ability class than mine. One I see I can that I copy at this point. She has grown quite a lot stronger as a healer over these past five years. There has been one thing that has stayed the same over these past few years. That one thing is technically two since it are her eyes. They kept on looking kindly at everyone. However, there is one thing that is constantly changing about her. And that is her hairstyle, it changes nearly every time I see her. Of course, today is actually a rare occasion since her hairstyle is still the same. Her hair is still the black messy bob it was yesterday. I do however think that it is quite odd that she joined an F ranked portal delve. The lowest rank she does is usually E rank and even that is a rare occurrence.

"Hey Emily, I saw you were going to the F ranked dungeon nearby the hospital too." I shout out as I start to run to catch up with her a bit. She turns around to stop for a bit. She looks a tad bit shocked to see me, but she does look like someone who is going to a portal delve. Once I catch up to her we start walking towards the metro again. There is one thing I have to say that is quite strange. Walking beside someone whose ability you can copy feels weird. Because copying her ability now would be awkward and it would reveal my new ability. I just find it annoying that I can't store the ability yet. It would help me a lot if I could store it. Which makes me realise something else. I forgot to check if my ability got an upgrade or if would I have gotten a pop-up for that. I forgot it because I was so lost in thought and that I was in a hurry to get there. I do hope that I am going to be able to store abilities soon.

"Oh, hey Azure I didn't know you signed up to join this portal delve. I thought you usually waited a bit between delves?" Emily asks as I catch up to her. There is always this weird feeling when I approach Emily. I always feel like she is taller than me as I am approaching her. From afar I feel as if she is at least a couple of inches taller than me. Yet every time I actually get close enough I notice that we have the same height. Right now however she doesn't look excited at all about this delve. It is as if she is forced to be here today. I am still confused about why she is even here. She was inside the same cave as Drake. That monster did kill some people in there which I assume she saw. I am still assuming that I saw the same thing up there in the temple.

"Yeah, I usually get hurt which forces me to take a break for a couple of days. But I was actually quite lucky that I didn't get hurt." I answer as we continue to walk. But I still want to ask her something. "Why are you actually at an F ranked portal? I don't remember you ever going to one before." I ask her, unable to hide the curiosity from my voice. I do hope we get to the portal on time. I need to see the portal to calm my nerves down a bit.

"Yeah, the association called me in. There has to be at least someone above F rank to make sure everyone is safe. And they would prefer that person to be at least D rank. And with what happened yesterday, they are even more worried." She starts to explain to me, her voice shakes slightly not a lot but it is audible. She also grows a tad bit quieter when she mentions what happened yesterday. But now that she mentions it, I have never done an F ranked portal with only F ranked delvers. There was always one person who was not an F rank with us. But it is kind of weird to realise that people of other ranks get called for F ranked portals too. But it was weird to think that only us F ranks got called in.

"I would've thought the association would exclude anyone from yesterday's incident. Like I chose to come here but not everyone get better by jumping into work right after." I comment I finally see the sign of the metro station. Which is where the portal is supposed to be. I know that I am here on my own free will. But from what I can see from Emily's mannerisms and by what she said I know she isn't here by choice. My being in here by choice is also because I want to test something out. Yet I am not sure whether or not that my agenda could still turn out to be a fluke. I should've checked out my ability again. But I need to find a way to copy her ability without her noticing it.

The labyrinth - Part 2

Complete

Name: Delilah Stone

Ability: Enhance

Class: Sword fighter

Date of birth: 12/09/1996

Age: 27

Nationality: American

Hair style: Purple pixie cut

Eye colour: Red eyes

Likes: Dancing, Fighting, Flowers

Dislikes: Interviews, Predictable stories, People not dancing on beat