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Chapter 486 - Reunion
🕑 Added 2022-07-16 13:01:02 +0000 UTCHera's Status
During dinner, Hera did her best to catch up with her friends, but she started with what was going on with the MAZE since it was the subject at hand. During the past couple of months, the guild started investing heavily in security. There were checkpoints at entrances of any rooms that were already susceptible to a rampage. To make things worse, some of the human guards we're discriminating against other races. There were people who believed that the centaurs were linked to the terrorists and treated all the other races poorly because of it. As a result of that, a few of the most extremist groups amongst dwarves, elves, and beastmen were starting to side with the terrorist or the centaurs.
Someone leaked a video of the attack on Dzviery, and the centaur's voice was edited into it. It was the heaviest line that she said during the combat, 'You will bleed to atone for your sins.' Everyone was interpreting this differently. Some said this was referring to the collective you, meaning everyone who lived in the maze, while others said the scream was directed at humans since the attack was on a city with no history with the other races. Humans built and developed Dzviery with almost no influence of any other race, and that should be considered as part of the centaur's reason. Another theory was that the centaur was just a monster and not part of an actual race, but that raised the question of where the line was drawn. What should people consider a monster and a race? Was it the ability to talk, or was there some other requirement? And if not, shouldn't the dwarves, elves, beastmen, triton, and children of the sky be also considered monsters? Humans were the only race that could exit the MAZE. Maybe everything else was just that. Monsters.
No one in the party liked that notion. In fact, they were even on the side of anyone who could talk to them and have empathy was a person. It didn't matter if they had 2, 4, 8, or 100 legs. Then again, what the centaur did was unforgivable, and Hera agreed that if they all thought like that, trying to solve the situation could end in something much worse. She didn't like to say those things, but if she knew someone was trying to commit genocide, the world might have been better without them.
The next topic ended up going back to Nimbus. There were a couple more questions about how the titled blade worked. He was still out and about, and they bombarded him with questions. It became clear that if he used the weapons, he would also benefit from the scaling. Also, he could only be affected by Herra's passive skills. He couldn't use things like her sneak attack even with the [Army of One] skill. His mana regeneration, and mana in general, was also a topic for conversation. Nimbus explained that he would benefit from the [Shaper of Mana], [Reinforced Mana], and [Mana Recovery] skills, but those things would be based on his own mana, not Hera's. For instance, Hera could recover 83 points of mana per second when she was concentrating. But Nimbus could only recover 16 points per second. This meant that if they started from 0, both would recover their entire mana pools at the same time.
There were a few other minor issues. The blade couldn't receive any role skill or skills that Hera received from the system directly like her [All in] or her [Naga Poison]. When they reached the topic of engravings, Daskka explained that, yes, Hera could make an engraving on the weapon, but it would be something permanent. So it was better to wait until she was more proficient with those kinds of things. Hera also confirmed that Nimbus could go from his weapon shape directly to his griffon shape or to being unsummoned. This would help a lot when they traveled in areas where he couldn't have his humanoid shape. As a final note, Daskka explained that if Hera wanted to be able to give mana to her titled blades, she would require a skill, but that would only be possible in the future. She was still 'paying' for her loan when she got the [Army of One] skill. They also confirmed that if Nimbus were to eat something, it would slightly increase his mana regeneration and that he had to be in a certain radius of the Empress. For now, they weren't able to test the limits of that since even with Hera being in the opposite corner of the house, the Sentinel would still be inside the required range.
With that out of the way, Hera started asking about what her friends had been doing during the past months. She ended up too concerned with herself to know what was happening in their lives and it was time to change that. Helena and Bonnie ended up finishing the elemental mote spell to the point where it was good enough to be sold. That was also true for the elemental sight spell. First, Helena wanted to sell a single version that would allow anyone to swap the elements as they wanted, but after some insistence from Bonnie, they changed strategies. Despite everything, the researcher saw this spell as a huge business opportunity, and if she could manage to sell enough, she might be able to give a good life to her mother again. In the end, they compromised in selling a few variations for various spells and letting people request specific elements so they could create them and send them their way. However, the spell itself wasn't all that complex. Anyone who had a decent understanding of how a spell actually worked would be able to reverse engineer it and change the mote to another element.
Funny enough, that ended up being a blessing in disguise. The people who realized that the spell was this open were happy to buy one or two extra copies as a gesture of appreciation. They would even be able to reach out to offer a version of the elemental mote with an element that they had yet to publish. These kinds of things were already happening with a few test cases, and having people offering their services like that caused some problems for the duo, but eventually, they agreed to a solution. When people did that, they would analyze the spell to ensure there weren't any issues and then offer either to pay for their work or a percentage of profit for a few months.
Some who created motes of rarer or more sought-after elements would go for the percentage, while those making more niche spells would gladly take the commission payment. Because of that setup, it would be harder for people to sell 'off brand' copies of that spell. Every time someone registers a new spell on the guild, a patent will be attached to it. Since Bonnie was thorough in her registration, their patent was for the elemental mode spell itself, not each individual version. They even created a company to control all that. It was called 'Coven of Witches', and they had ideas of continuing to develop new spells and more in the future. Depending on how much they earned, they might even start an actual research center and hire people to work for them, even if the two were the type who wanted to make all their discoveries themselves.
On the other hand, Alex and Blue mainly were on vacation. They would work out in the guild and do some dungeons every now and then, but most of their time was spent just having fun. Even if the room was surrounded by several volcanoes, there were a lot of clubs and entertainment options for those who stayed there. That happened because of the intense work that people did in the room. It didn't take long for those responsible for the city to realize that staying in a place where you were constantly pushing the limits of your mental capacity made people go a bit crazy. The solution was to create as many options to relax and have fun as possible. From gaming arcades to fighting arenas, theaters and interactive museums, spas, and even an indoor water park that took advantage of one of the thermal waters located here.
They also discussed how they intended to go back to Bothudurn early next week, and Adriel was the one who would help them to carry everything. Hera wasn't sure how a single elf would be able to help with all the equipment, but Helena explained how he was part of a group that took care of large deliveries and would be able to help with all that. The explorer knew that Helena was inside the MAZE for much longer, and she understood better than anyone what was needed to carry her equipment. In the end, dinner was just like that, everyone talking about what was new. Hera felt like she was reminiscing with an old school friend. Not that she had any to compare.
Nimbus also participated in the meal, even if he only ate a little to show that he indeed could eat if necessary. Since he was part of Hera's court and would be around in dungeons, everyone wanted to get to know him more, so they felt more at ease with the idea of him having their backs. Despite the Empress being able to trust him completely, that wasn't the same for the rest of the party. They could understand that he was part of Hera's legacy, But trusting him enough to put their lives in his hands was different. It would take a while before everyone was comfortable with the presence of the Sentinel, and they all wanted to get to that point sooner rather than later.
For the next few days, Hera did her best to rest and distract herself with TV shows, books, and anything she could think of. After spending so much time running dungeons constantly, she realized that when she wasn't training or moving her body, she got very restless. Blue and Alex decided to stay with her so they could do a movie marathon. Bonnie and Helena had to finish up some paperwork for their new company so they could sell the spells as the 'Coven of Witches', not as individuals. Nimbus also stayed out for most of the day. It was fun to have another opinion about the movies, and Hera even called the rest of her court for the movie session, even if they were sitting at the table instead of sharing the couch.
About halfway through the day, Hera started to get a bit bored and decided to try to increase her mana regeneration. Doing so would even help Nimbus, which was exactly what she wanted. She did that while they were watching an old movie about an ogre who became a prince, and she already knew the story very well. Trying not to attract attention to herself, Hera started to focus on the mana inside her body. Slowly, she started to move the mana, making circles in her entire body. Yet, she noticed something different. For one, she could feel Nimbus sitting on the ground. The Sentinel said he was more comfortable on a hard floor than on the couch's cushion. It seemed like his wings were the problem since they wouldn't sink with the rest of his body. But the way Hera was feeling him was different. It was close to how she could feel a mana stone. A place that had mana that she could access.
'Nimbus. Can you hear me? Don't move. I want to try something with your mana. Is that ok?' she tried to talk with him directly in his mind. Usually, doing that requires an enormous amount of concentration. That's why she never did things like that in the middle of a dungeon. When she had to give some sneaky commands to anyone, she would tell Daskka, and then she would tell the others since it was easier for them to communicate.
'Of course, Empress. I'll send it to you right away,' Nimbus replied without moving.
'No. I can kind of feel your mana. I want to check if I'm able to take it. Please let me know if you are feeling anything,' Hera got a small nod in response and tried to pull mana from the Sentinel. It didn't take much, and the mana started to flow at a steady pace.
'I feel my mana leave me, which is an odd sensation. Not pleasant, but it doesn't hurt.'
'Ok, I still can feel your mana. I want to try to give it back to you,' Hera tried to push the mana back to her court member, but that didn't work. Instead, the mana escaped her and flew to the blades that were on the table, even pulling some of her own mana towards them. That redirection caused Core, who was the blade with the most costly skill, to trigger the Volcanic Ash. A large cloud of ash quickly covered the living room, causing everyone to panic. Hera helped everyone calm down, and she deactivated the skill making the black particles vanish, and luckily, nothing got dirty with what she just did.
"What the hell was that? Can your blades just spontaneously use skills?" Blue gasped.
"No, no. It wasn't that. I was… I was trying something with mana, and I kind of lost control of it," Hera scratched the back of her head.
"So you were not paying attention to the movie?" Alex sat back down on the couch.
"Sorry. I like that one, but I've already watched it so many times," Hera explained.
"That's fine. But that means Blue lost, and you are not going to like that," Alex took a sip of her drink.
"Lost? Lost what?"
"We betted if you would actually rest during this week or not. Each day was a different prize. Today's for me to pick what we watch," Alex gave a sadistic smile.
"Oh no. Please. I can't be making sudden movements," Hera understood what she meant.
"Well, you better be brave then. We are going on a journey through the best horror has to offer," Alex changed the movie in a quick motion as if she was already waiting for it to happen.
