"So, all I have to do is look for different monsters and use the elemental sight on them? I mean, I say all, but I know I have to do the full report. You need just skills or also habits, diet, and things like that too?" Hera was finishing putting on her gear. It was still the same set that she got when she first got into the MAZE.
While that happened just a few weeks ago, this was something she had to think about changing in the near future. Unlike clothes, armor was something that needed constant upgrades. After all, it would be her lifeline here.
"Just their affinity and the skills they use. If you stumble upon more information, it can help, but you don't have to go out of your way to figure out its mating habits or that wildlife documentary stuff," Helena was writing something in a notebook.
The Mage had her reading glasses and several books open on the living room table. She was deep in research mode, trying to study specific monsters to find some correlation to their abilities.
"Ok then, I'm going to hunt around the city, maybe try to see if I find a different crocodile or something else. See you at night," Hera turned towards the door but was stopped by Helena calling her.
"Actually, if you don't mind. I had an idea. This room is a giant cave, as you know. But near the entrance to the cave, there are some monsters that use elemental abilities. They are all part of the same species, yet each individual has a different affinity. Do you mind checking them out? I know it's far, but I'll buy the supplies and the camping gear, and your party is not going to gather for a few days, right?"
Hera checked her tablet, "Yeah, Blue should be back in four days or so. She wants a couple of days to rest after the trip. Alex is finishing a mercenary contract. There are a few more days before she can come here."
"So, what do you say, sweetie?" Helena smiled.
"Whatever you want, boss," Hera replied in her best mob thug voice.
The two left the house and stopped by a camping equipment store. Helena explained that there were several campsites through the MAZE. Most were made by people, although on rare occasions even the MAZE itself would create one.
Usually, you could leave your camping gear in those spots, and no one would mess with it. Monsters would also stay away from them since there were ways to protect the area from creatures. At least, as long as no one tried to lure a beast to the campsite.
Unfortunately, the entrance to the cave in this room didn't have any of those. Apparently, there were few reasons for anyone to go there. No one had ever found any interesting material from the monsters in the area. The added randomness of the element they would use also was a deterrent to people's interest.
"Ok, so it's better to find a place that is somewhat safe for me to get back to and focus on either attacking or running from them, right? But what is out there?" Hera turned to Helena as they looked over some tents.
Helena placed the basket with the air bedroll, the monster repellent fire, the supplies, and other things that Hera needed on the counter, "Have you ever seen a pangolin?"
"Pangolin? Those things that look like an armadillo but with longer legs? They are so cute."
"Well... I hope you don't find them cute when they charge at you," The Mage chuckled.
"No... Lena. No... I'm going to have to fight them?" Hera pouted.
"Well, yeah. I mean, you don't have to, but they are aggressive. And the ones here don't have the same cute face. It's more pointy and... thooty. Besides, you need to be ready to attack anything. There are some deadly monsters in the MAZE hidden behind cute faces," Helena asked the store clerk to get one of the quick deploy tents.
It would be the largest piece of gear that Hera carried. Taking up about half the space in her backpack. Which was already better than anything they could find back on Earth. The main benefit of that tent was the ease to be put together.
All one needed to do was fuel the tent with some mana, and the entire thing would snap into place. Unfortunately, Hera would need to drive the nails on the ground herself. The version that could do so automatically required more mana than the Explorer currently had.
"Fine, I guess. But why don't people hunt them? Even the regular pangolin scales are kind of hard. I imagine that getting one from the MAZE would make great armor."
"Well... you are not wrong. But it's very tricky to reach their territory. You need to reach the cave entrance and follow a path to the side that leads to the outside. In there, you'll reach a rocky plateau where the creatures live. The closest place where people have a foothold is about a day and a half away. Trying to get there from the ocean is possible, but there are some random whirlpools in the area that make traveling by boat somewhat dangerous," Helena explained while passing the basket to the cashier.
"Why is that place so far away from any other settlement? I mean, there are a lot of people over level 50. Couldn't someone just go there and build something?" Hera frowned, while double checking if they didn't forget anything.
"Yeah, but the terrain is difficult. After a while, the forest turns very dense, and there are very few places to make a campfire, much less an actual house. The guild could do some terraforming, but what's the point? Money? You can make ten times what the pangolins would sell for with a regular, easy to catch monster in the 3rd layer. At some point, it could have been worth it. But right now, it's just a waste of time unless you have a specific reason to go there," Helena paused and looked to the back wall, trying to see if there was anything else that could help the Explorer.
"You make going there sound so appealing," Hera rolled her eyes with a chuckle.
"Excuse me," the cashier interrupted the two, "Your total is 750 gold, and please refrain from holding the line. I hope you can be considerate of other customers."
Hera and Helena looked back. There was a line of five people staring at them with annoyed expressions. They quickly paid for the supplies and headed out of the store, apologizing on the way out.
"I really don't remember the last time I got so distracted while shopping," Helena laughed.
Hera shook her head, "I feel awful. I hated dealing with customers like us."
"Aww, don't be sad. We didn't do it on purpose, besides, we did apologize. Usually, people who act like that don't really care that they are bothering everyone."
They headed back to the house, grabbing some food on the way. Since Hera was going to camp for a while, she wanted to have a delicious meal first. The plan was for Hera to go near the cave entrance by boat, which would take only a bit over half a day. From there, there was a small shore that she could use to climb up towards the woods and then head to the plateau.
On her way back, Hera could check some other monsters that were in the room. Still, her main goal was to see the affinities of the pangolins, who all had unique patterns on their scales.
Once it was time for the Explorer to leave, they headed towards the docks. There were several fishing boats, as well as a couple of passenger barges that would travel back and forth to the city of Brinefront. Hera was still surprised by how many people chose to do more mundane jobs inside the MAZE. Shop clerks, cooks, janitors, and such were all a common sight.
She noticed that most of the people around here were human. However, different races were also present. Hera had seen beastmen and dwarfs already, and here, close to the next room, those sightings were more frequent even if the ratio was still very lopsided.
"Lena, can I ask you something that might sound bad?"
"As long as you are not asking me if I gained weight, sure," Helena replied.
Hera spoke in a hushed tone, " The people from different races. Like the dwarfs and the beastmen. Where do they come from?"
Helena looked to the sides and pulled Hera towards a less crowded area. Not due this being a secret, but it could be considered rude to talk about that in front of those species.
"You should have learned that in class. Did Greyson never explained?"
Hera shook her head, "Not really, he just said that they were a thing. I kind of imagined that it was only types of monsters for us to fight."
"Dammit, Calvin," Helena rubbed her eyes, "Ok, I'm going to have to send a text to your class later. Those different races are part of the MAZE, yes, but they are alive just like you and me. They can grow old, have children, create cities, and have thriving civilizations. Part of the reason our technology became so advance was due to the help of dwarven ingenuity. Unlike people outside, everyone here can level up when they reach adulthood. They still need to touch a doorway, or try to enter a dungeon, or even touch one of the invisible walls of the room, they can level up for the first time. However, the age they can do that varies depending on the species,"
The Mage pulled her tablet and did a quick search, "Yeah. It's about when their bodies reach maturity. So dwarves, for instance, can get level 2 when they turn 20, not 18. Elves need to wait until they are 35. The Harpies on the other hand, can do that at 16. Beastmen and Tritons level up at 18 like us. Those are all the species that we know of. It's possible that there are more out there, but we just haven't found them just yet. It's safe to assume that they will have similar restrictions."
"Even an invisible wall? That seems unfair. Do they have roles too?" Hera kept thinking about all the work she put into saving money to level up.
"Yeah. As long as they interact with something controlled by the MAZE they can go from level 1 to level 2. And I do understand your frustration, but we were born in a safe place. They had to deal with monsters since they were kids. Imagine what it would be like to see those giant frogs or crocodiles since you were young. Those who grew up here had dangerous lives, even if they were in a city. They have to deal with incursions, potential attacks, and of course, kids being kids and going outside the city. And the roles, yes, they have the same roles as we do. And roughly the same test." Helena explained as they got closer to the docks.
"Yeah, but I didn't see any children here. Are they all in a boarding school somewhere?" Hera asked.
Helena chuckled, "Sort of. It's been, I don't know how many decades when the guild figured out the best rooms to raise children in. Some are large, open spaces. Others are rooms that are mostly towns and dungeons with few monsters. Brinefront is not one of those. A place where frogs are big enough to swallow babies is far from being childproof."
"Right, but what happens if someone gets pregnant somewhere else? I mean, someone could have a baby here, right?" Hera asked.
"It's kind of like maternity leave. When someone finds out that they are expecting, they receive a list of rooms they can go to, and the guild even pays for the transport if they don't have the money. While there, the parents get assigned jobs and a place to live. Of course, that is only if they want to stay in the MAZE. If they are from the outside, they can go back and have their child there. However, if they have a child inside the MAZE, the kid can't go outside until they reach level 2," Helena waved to someone in a ship that was getting closer to the docks.
"Why is that?" Hera asked.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"The MAZE won't allow anyone at level 1 to go through a doorway. You need to level up first. Don't ask me why," Helena shrugged.
Hera kept thinking about what it would be like growing up inside the MAZE. Could that change the type of skills she got?
Not long after, Helena introduced the captain of the ship to her assistant. She had already set up where Hera would need to be dropped off. The crew was part of a class that had graduated from the training half a year ago. Most of them knew Helena as a helpful clerk and were more than willing to give her a hand. They discussed the best place for Hera to disembark, and when they reached an agreement, Helena paid the travel fee.
They still had to wait a couple of hours since the boat was unloading its cargo and getting supplies. It was a fishing boat, and it needed to replace some nets that were damaged. Talking to the sailors, Hera tried to figure out why someone would become a fisherman inside the MAZE.
"We get 5,000 gold a month doing this job. It's much less dangerous than fishing outside, and we can stay with our families on the weekend. Why would we need anything more? Or even better, why would we risk our lives fighting monsters if we can live comfortably like this?"
Hera never thought like that. To her, anyone inside the MAZE would be trying to get stronger and get to the deeper layers. However, considering the amount of clerks and people here, it made sense that not all answered the call of adventure. They kept talking until the ship had been restocked with all it needed. With everything ready, the Mage turned to her assistant
"Ok, sweetie, you are all set up. Be careful out there. If you get into a tight spot, don't be afraid to run away. Your safety is more important," Helena gave Hera a long hug.
"Thanks, Lena. Don't worry. I'll be back soon with what you need."
Hera boarded the ship and looked towards the entrance of the giant cave. It was nice having someone care so much about her as Helena did, but right now the only thought in her mind was how the sky would look inside a room.
She started her trip trying to talk with the sailors, but they were already busy shortly after leaving the docks. With little else to do, she looked for a quiet spot and kept trying to figure out the Mana Reinforcement. She used the chakram as a test subject since it had a higher affinity to mana before the enchantment. Thinking that it could help her understand the spell better.
The Explorer placed both her hands on the weapon, trying to make her mana cycle not only through her body but to the blade as well. Feeling the spirit mana in the chakram, little by little, she pushed her mana into it. The problem now was making the mana stay there. After she stopped cycling her mana, what was left in her weapon just dispersed. According to Helena, to use the spell, the magic had to stay inside the chakram. Hera picked her tablet and looked at the digital version of her spellbook that she had made.
--------------------------------
Mana Reinforcement
This spell can strengthen the item in which it is applied. It works by imbuing the object with mana and using it to increase the desired propriety.
The item can gain an attack or resistance to the desired element by coating it in different mana types. The quantity and quality(?) of the mana will affect the power of the effect.
The mana in the item is more solid than usual, forming a crystal-like structure around it. When another element is added, the design remains the same, but it changes both color and edges.
With dark mana, the crystal becomes cloudy, and its shine disappears. Some thin black strings appear from the edges and change depending on the target of the reinforcement.
For defense/durability, they form small springs around the object.
For attack/sharpness, they form either omni directional spikes, or they all gather in a single point, forming a large needle.
For poison
For fire
For water
--------------------------------
Those descriptions all came from examples that Helena had shown her. It took them a while to go through everything, but it was good practice for the Mage to use magic
Since there was a lot she wasn't sure about, the Explorer had created a pattern that she could fill out as she discovered more information. If it took too long or she became stuck, Helena would help her some more. However, according to the Mage, Hera should try to understand magic as much as possible without help. Since she was a conceptual caster, she needed to understand things herself and not lean on other people's experiences.
Hera agreed that it was good not to rely only on help to figure things out. But at the moment, the problem was how to make the mana inside the chakram turn into that diamond shape pattern.
Letting out a long sigh, the Explorer looked away. Staring at the same thing for long periods was exhausting. Not to mention that once the entire thing unraveled, all the mana present on the weapon would vanish.
While distracted, she saw a couple of crewmen walking around with the nets they had bought in Hazelpond. They would use it to catch the fish and shrimp that lived in the water. Remembering the size once they were unloading, she couldn't help but be in awe. It was kind of amazing how something so small that could be carried by a single person could become so large when it was full.
Staring at the pattern on the net gave Hera an idea. She was trying to fill the chakram with mana, but maybe she should focus on creating a structure before anything else.
Trying once more, Hera weaved her mana, making a mesh to place over her weapon. It was harder to control mana like that. Making it follow a specific pattern without overflowing seemed impossible. Yet, little by little, Hera was able to start making her mana follow her instructions.
It was a bizarre feeling, a mix between controlling strands of hair and the liquid inside her stomach. Sometimes it felt like a muscle contracting and expanding as she willed it. Others, it would seem, like saliva, always being created and moving around in response to any shifts.
This technique felt right. Hera could feel her growth, yet she was able to cover just 1/10th of her chakram with the mana net. It even spent much less mana than her previous attempts, but it was not enough. She needed more mana and a way to speed up her recovery.
The new feeling of the mana gave her a few ideas on how to increase her recovery. She could try to spread the mana and then compress it. That was the closest thing to muscle training that Hera could think of. She could also try to gather mana as if she were gathering spit, but she had no clue how to do that.
During most of the trip, Hera stayed on the deck, training her spells. A bit before sunset, they arrived at the place where she would disembark. They lowered a small boat on the left side of the ship and took the explorer to the right side of the cave, in a small area where she could reach the woods.
"Wow, Helena wasn't kidding when she said the forest gets dense. Can I even fit through there?" Hera mumbled.
"Not there. Behind it is a rock wall. You need to climb this side and go through the trees," the first mate said.
"Oh, right, Thanks," Hera looked away. Taking a closer look at the grass in front of her made it clear that it was just vegetation growing in the wall.
"No problem, and give my thanks to Helena later. Without the reference book she showed me, I would have bombed the written test."
"Will do," Hera replied as the man rowed away in the boat.
Hera climbed the small barrier and reached the forest. The purple leaves made the entire area even darker than she was expecting.
"Ok, careful now, Hera. You don't know what's around here," the Explorer stepped into the forest while talking to herself, making some noise as a few branches split under her feet, "Why didn't I ask about what kind of monster I could see here?"
She activated her [Hide] and started moving through the forest, trying to listen for anything that could be getting close. It was difficult doing so, since the noise of the waves crashing against the rocks was overpowering the rest. She activated her Pulse, but even the spell had some trouble going through all the foliage. Her range was reduced to just over half the usual. Using the [Wire Trap Style] here would also be very complicated. There were too many obstacles in her way.
Hera kept walking towards the entrance of the cave. According to Helena, she should avoid sleeping in the dense part of the woods, and a good place to sleep was on the path to the plateau. Doing her best to take advantage of the little sunlight that broke through the canopy, Hera continued moving towards the east. Even deactivating her [Hide], to increase her pace. After all, she still had a considerable amount of ground to cover.
The area wasn't far enough away from the sea to deafen the noise of the waves. Hera had to keep her eyes peeled for whatever could be around. She also kept using her Pulse spell at regular intervals to see if there was anything coming closer. Several times, she could have sworn that she saw something moving among the trees.
Part of her wanted to go after whatever it was, but she knew that there would be a better moment for that. She could see the sun starting to set, and staying in these woods at night seemed like a terrible idea. Hera still had a nagging feeling that something was watching her, but every time she looked around, all she could see was the dense woods. Activating her [Hide] once more, she rushed towards one of the trees and climbed up, trying to escape the stalking presence.
A few meters in front of her, there was a large and sturdy oak that seemed big enough to withstand her weight. She hid among the branches and began to scan the area for movement. However, it was too dark for her to see anything clearly. The lack of light wasn't the only problem. The purple hue that tinted the vegetation in the entire room made things even more difficult, as the plants blended with the shadows with no effort.
After a while, Hera noticed that something seemed to be approaching. Some leaves and bushes kept moving in ways that didn't match the direction of the wind. Yet, she wasn't able to see whatever it was.
'Maybe I should try the light spell? No, bad idea, that would give my position to everything around here,' Hera thought while reaching for her pouch, 'What if I use the flashlight?'
Hera looked toward the sun. The light was shining right behind her. As long as the angle was right, she could blend with the sunlight. Grabbing the flashlight, she pointed towards the last place she saw some movement and turned it on. There was a reflection from behind the trees, a pair of yellow eyes staring back at her.
"There you are," Hera activated her [Observe], but whatever was watching her was too far away for the skill to trigger, "Crap, what are you?"
The two stared at each other for a few moments. Hera turned the light off, her eyes fixed on the place where the creature was. She managed to roughly see its shape as it moved once more. It seemed quadrupedal and not as long as the crocodiles. She couldn't see a tail, but she assumed that the face was the smaller part that was pointed in the direction it was headed.
Hera turned the flashlight on once more. The creature was hidden behind one of the large trees, and only one of its eyes was visible right now. Yet, she saw the beast a bit better. It seemed to be some sort of panther. The monster took a step back, revealing a bit more of its body. The massive frame wasn't just a visual trick created by its fur.
No, this being was almost naked, revealing its leathery skin. Hera was in awe of the muscular form of the monster. The small glimpse she was able to catch before the creature hid again made it almost look like it was one of those edited pictures of buff animals she could find on the internet.
The panther took a step back and disappeared into the foliage. Hera started to get worried. If there were more of those creatures around, she would have a lot of problems. She kept looking for the monster once more. Hoping to find a chance to hit it with a poison needle.
She waited for a while longer, making sure to keep her [Hide] active. The sun was already going down. If she waited too long, she would have to fight that creature in the night. But that felt like the worst outcome of this scenario.
Taking a deep breath, Hera jumped off the tree and started running towards the cave entrance. It didn't take long for her to hear something approaching. She glanced back and saw the large panther rushing towards her. Activating her [Observe] and her Elemental Sight, she tried to gather any information about the monster.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
??????? (????? Affinity)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shit!" Hera put all her strength into her legs.
Seeing that thing made every cell in Hera's body scream for her to run away. There was only one reason for a monster to have question marks with an [Observe]. It meant that it had a powerful concealing ability. Things on the first layer were not supposed to have that kind of skill.
'I hope I'm wrong, and that is the only thing it's good at,' she thought to herself.
Hera tried to move between trees, zig-zagging to confuse the beast. The noise was getting closer, but the movement seemed to help the explorer. A couple of times, she heard the growl of the monster as it attempted to bite her. If it weren't for her sidesteps, the panther would've gotten her.
She finally was able to see the end of the forest after almost twenty minutes of running and dodging. Hera pushed her body even harder, wanting to leave the forest to see her assailant.
As the trees became sparser, the beast lunged at Hera. The growl warned Hera of the attack, who managed to turn around and block its claws with her axe at the last moment. Still, the impact was enough to throw the Explorer to the ground.
She rolled away, quickly jumping back up to not be pinned by the monster. The panther was already rushing at her for the next attack. Hera deflected it once more, being pushed back by the impact. Her arms were shaking after defending.
Hera could see the monster more clearly now. It had a deep purple skin, almost like the trunks of the surrounding trees. Its head was that of a panther, but it had four sets of large, sharp teeth in place of the canines. Its body looked like that of a bull, the muscles framing its head. Blood staining its claws and fangs as if it had just finished a meal.
The beast moved towards the trees, camouflaging itself with the environment. Fighting in the woods was a bad idea. And it was already getting too dark to see. Hera used her Pulse spell again, trying to find the monster once more, but to no avail.
Even the magic wasn't able to see it. The creature seemed comfortable in the dark. Maybe she could use that.
Hera got a spell ready, focusing on her hearing. The sound of leather tightening caught her attention, coming from her right. She waited a moment, and when the panther jumped from its hiding, she activated her Light spell with all the strength she could, making the floodlight effect once more. At the same time, she dove forward to avoid the attack.
The monster fell, growling while it flailed around the spot where it landed. Hera took this opportunity and dashed towards the entrance of the cave. If she wanted to have a chance of fighting the monster, she needed to be in an open area.
Before the creature was able to see again, Hera left the forest, reaching a rocky open area. She turned around, grabbing her chakram. She already had her weapon tied to Yarnball. Getting into her stance, Hera got ready to face the panther.
The monster moved towards her but stopped before leaving the treeline. It just stared at Hera for a long moment before walking back to the dense area, without breaking eye contact.
"Was... That it?" Hera said, still looking at the place where she stopped seeing the panther.
She kept looking at the woods for several minutes, but nothing seemed to be moving. Feeling safer, she turned around and moved towards the rocky path that led up and to the right, leaving the cave of Brinefront.
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