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Chapter 340 - Chasing a legacy
🕑 Added 2021-11-01 13:01:03 +0000 UTCNinleyn and Helena had left the table, leaving the tablet behind with the four holographic paper sheets there. Hera and Bonnie were staring at the pictures for a few minutes, trying to organize their thoughts before speaking them out loud.
All those possible powers seemed interesting to Hera, even if they didn't have much information about what each would do. Having the out-of-focus sword that allowed someone to be as effective as a mage in large-scale battles should also mean that you would be extremely powerful when fighting alone. Befriending monsters could be absurdly powerful, especially if something in the legacy allowed her to take at least a monster along with her to another room. She could even picture how strong she would be if she tamed the giant snake from the Wailing Valley. That was all theoretical, of course, but the possibilities excited her.
The wind legacy could also be interesting, although Hera felt like she would be stepping on both Blue's and Alex's toes. Blue had stormcloud that occasionally had some wind effects associated with it, and Alex seemed to be focusing her spells all in the wind attribute. Even if it was a 'pure' legacy, as Ninleyn mentioned, Hera wasn't all that excited by the legacy itself. The only part of that one that perked her up was the comparison to Undine.
Lastly, there was the Astral Witch. It was a hard one to consider, the name was too ambiguous, and the paintings didn't help to show any of the legacy possible abilities. Even in the versions where the Astral Witch was fighting something, there weren't any tells about what she was actually doing.
"Do you have a favorite already?" Hera turned to Bonnie.
"Kind of, I'm between the Hidden Wind and the Astral Witch. The first one would be a waste on me. I'm focusing on magic. Why would I want to use something that focuses on weapons and the 'monster tamer'? I don't know. I do like animals, but I'm not sure how I feel about using them to fight. Although, I imagine that if you can tame a Wendigo, you would eventually be the strongest explorer in the MAZE," Bonnie replied.
"Oh, that's right. I didn't even think about that," Hera turned back to the picture.
"How about you?" Bonnie asked.
"I was thinking about the Astral Witch too or the tamer. The witch seems fun, and I do like constellations. If they are connected like the name suggests, it might be something interesting."
"That one makes sense, but I didn't expect you to be interested in the tamer."
"Well, I kept thinking about Leo. He and Tiger worked very well together, and having a pe would mean I always have someone to watch my back. Besides, the first vase shows three different creatures, so maybe I can be like a one-woman army," Hera explained.
"That would be really fun, but I guess you should get some buffs if you really want to work like that," Bonnie suggested.
"Yeah, but the Astral Witch is still my first choice," Hera nodded.
"Mine to…"
They stared at each other for a moment while the tension rose in the room. In a flash, both Hera and Bonnie shifted on their seats, putting out one hand closed in a fist towards each other.
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" both spoke at the same time. Hera picked rock, but Bonnie chose paper, making her the winner of the match.
"Ah crap," Hera slumped on her chair.
"Sorry, if you really want, we can still swap," Bonnie scratched the back of her head.
"Nah, it's ok. You won fair and square. Besides, let's face it. Those leads might end up being dead ends," Hera explained.
"Do you really think that, or are you just saying that to feel better?" Bonnie smiled.
"A bit of both. But having a bunch of monsters following me around would be pretty cool," Hera smiled back.
They talked a bit more, discussing the ideas and possibilities that each legacy could hold. Ninleyn and Helena came back when they noticed how Hera and Bonnie were talking more casually and didn't seem to be in deep thought anymore.
"So, have you decided?" Ninleyn asked.
"We have. I'll be taking the tamer lead and Bonnie the one for the Astral Witch," Hera replied.
"I see. I suspected one of you would take on the task Helena relinquished. But I must say, I'm surprised about your decision Hera. I didn't peg you as a tamer," Ninleyn was looking into Hera's eyes.
"Well, I do like animals, but I can't tell why, aside from the Astral Witch, none of the options seemed all that interesting," Hera explained.
"Ah… I see. I supposed that is an issue that can happen as well. We should consider what type of legacy we would pick in a situation like that. If you want, I can give you one of the other loose leads we have, but they are just rumors. We can't even be sure it is connected to one of the Court of Heroes," Ninleyn pulled out his tablet, looking for the files about all the random information the order has about possible connections to the Court of Heroes.
"That's ok. I'll stay with this one if, when I find it, I have the chance to choose. I'll think if I really want that legacy or not. If it is allowed, I even have a friend who would love getting something like this."
"Well… I'm not one to say what's allowed or not, but giving away a legacy is no small thing. I'm sure you understand that most people spend their entire lives without even personally knowing someone who has one. And you, well, you two already had a personal experience with three different legacies."
"I know, and I know that getting a lead doesn't mean that we will find the legacy. I know that Shane spent five years searching for hers, and that was only because she was very lucky," Hera nodded.
"Indeed. I'm glad that you understand that. Even if the lead we have about the tamer is the most promising one among them, it still doesn't mean that it will be easy to find," Ninleyn kept searching for something on his tablet and stopped after finding the files, "Well, now. Who will leave first so I can talk about your lead?"
"Do we have to leave? I mean, I'm going to share everything I find with Hera and Lena either way," Bonnie asked.
"Same. I never considered doing this on my own," Hera added.
Ninleyn gave a long sigh, "I suppose the new generation has a different view on things. Very well, I can talk about these with everyone here. First, let me send you the files we have," Ninleyn sent everything the order had about the Astral Witch to Bonnie and everything about the tamer to Hera. He also took that chance to stop for a moment and explain how the files were organized and give them access to the order database. Since now they would be searching for their own legacy, having more information about the Court of Heroes could help, which was available to anyone who had passed the test.
That part took a bit longer than Hera expected. Bonnie was very interested in how the order had set up their information and some of the cross-references they used. It was set up by someone highly proficient in data organization, and it put even some advanced laboratories to shame. Helena, Bonnie, and Ninleyn talked about that for a time until realizing that they were off track and Hera was starting to doze off.
Ninleyn cleared his throat, "Apologies, Hera. I'm quite proud of this system we developed and might have been a bit too eager to talk about it."
"That's ok. You guys can keep talking. I'm going to make some more coffee," Hera got up and headed to the kitchen. This gave the rest of the group enough time to finish their discussion, and by the time she returned, everyone was ready to talk about the leads.
"Let me start with the Astral Witch. The report we have about her whereabouts is this report from an old dwarven kingdom. They used to keep very consistent records about everyone who passed by their kingdom. Among them, there was a single line that caught our eyes. Here is the translation of it," Ninleyn opened a file and showed it to everyone. It was a simple file. There was a picture of an old spreadsheet on one side, and on the other, the translation.
Winter solstice - 567 - half past mid sun
Elderly woman (86), grey hair, white eyes, 6 palms height. Triton
Black coat, large pointy hair with stars on the rims.
Mage level 45 - Astral Witch
Reason for visit: Passing through her destination The old city of Kharhalall
"The tamer has a better lead than this one? Really?" Bonnie asked.
"Yes. You see, we don't know where that city of Kharhalall is located, nor do we know where the Astral Witch came from. I can say for sure that the city in question is not the name of a specific room, so it must be simply a place inside one of them," Ninleyn explained.
"I looked into that for a while when I got the lead. No one knew anything about that city. I went as far as looking into the other records from that civilization, but there was no mention of Kharhalall anywhere. It was then that I realized that this would take too much legwork and get in the way of my research," Helena sighed.
"The room where we found that, as well as any other records, are all in the file that I sent you. If you need any help, just let me know and try to level up a bit. As you can see, she was level 45, so there is a risk that her destination was someplace high level," Ninleyn changed the file and turned to Hera, "Now for your lead. As I mentioned, this sounds better than the others. First, we have these."
Ninleyn showed a few pictures. Among them, there was more pottery, all showing the tamer and a house with a tower on the side. At first, Hera thought it was just a random background, but there was a unique characteristic to that tower on all pictures. Instead of being pointy, the top of the tower was shaped like a ribbon, almost like it was an art piece. Every single one of the paintings showed that house the same way, which led her to believe that this wasn't just something to make the work pretty, but an actual representation of the house. That wasn't all. There was also a couple of texts files with a lot of information on them.
"We believe that this document is just a letter and although much of their contents are not that exciting. There are a couple of points that stood out. First, we can't say if that's a letter to the tamer or from her, we see mentions of taming monsters and the use of a legacy, but the translation doesn't make it clear who those passages are referring to. Second, it talks about 'going back to our home,' our being the keyword here. It also talks about how they had plans to spend their last days together. The way this is phrased feels, to me, a lot like when people talk about retiring. However, that is not the most important thing about this letter. What really makes this special is this line here," Ninleyn pointed at a line in the text.
I can't wait for us to go back to the 12th layer, to go back to our home.
"So this means that her hometown, or at least where they lived, was on the 12th layer?" Hera asked.
"I believe it's safe to assume that, yes. Do you see why this is such a great lead? We also have some descriptions of places where the tamer could be, but either way, we can narrow the search to be just within the 12th layer."
"Well, considering that we are not even sure if we have explored all rooms in the 1st layer, I don't know how much that helps," Bonnie sighed.
"That might be true, but consider the difference between your lead and Hera's. You need to think about every room and look into every old civilization to find Kharhalall. On the other hand, if Hera finds something, but it's on the 16th layer, she can write it off as a mistake or a dead-end since it's not on the right layer," Helena nodded.
"Well, yeah, but that's assuming this letter is correct. I would still look into those leads even if they are not in the 12th layer," Bonnie shrugged.
"I will. Also, I don't expect every legacy to be in their tombs. Honestly, I think that we should be ready to find people who inherited them, or even found them years ago, and now pass them along as heirlooms," Hera was looking into the pottery to see if there was any other indication of where that house could be located.
"That is indeed true, and I would be remiss to not let you know that we are aware of one court legacy that was found and is currently being used by a high-level explorer," Ninelyn added.
"I guess we can't ask more about that person, right?" Bonnie turned to Ninelyn.
"You are free to ask. I just won't be able to provide you with answers. This is all to respect their privacy."
Bonnie sighed and waved him off, going back to focus on her lead while Hera kept going through all the files that she had about the tamer. Even if she wasn't that excited about the legacy itself, trying to uncover this type of mystery was something that she couldn't help but be excited about.
