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Chapter 282 - Slumber Party
🕑 Added 2021-07-23 13:00:08 +0000 UTCHera and the girls kept talking through most of the night. While they discussed more details about Boothudurn, Silah also asked a bunch of different questions about things in the human world. During the time that Hera talked to her family, the dwarf kept watching videos to learn more about society and talking to the others. Still, instead of clarifying her doubts, all the technology and odd things only increased her curiosity. Bonnie was enjoying that, she loved to explain how things worked, and the two of them seemed to get along pretty well.
Blue was already drinking for a while to celebrate their return. She downed an entire can of beer and stood up, "Guys, Guys. Look at this," she made a motion like she was holding a ball with both her hands and started to make one of her cloud spells. While preparing that, Blue turned to Hera, "Do the thing. The one that you do when you and Silah are going to bone."
"Blue!" Hera gasped. Silah instantly got red after hearing that. Still, Hera tapped the floor, and a green barrier covered the room. This was a spell that she learned from Ogryn. A way to soundproof an area so she could have private conversations. When she asked him about that spell, it was to lessen the risks of calling a guide in a room, but the magic ended up being more helpful to allow Silah and her to have some more privacy.
Blue continued to make the cloud and sent it up to the ceiling, "Now, someone toss a spell there. Any spell."
"Blue, that's a bad idea. We are going to sleep here later," Hera said.
"It's fine. Don't even worry about it," Blue increased the size of the cloud that now covered the entire ceiling.
"Lena, do you have any mana stones with you?" Hera asked.
"I do. They are not very full, but I can manage something. Why?" Helena had already taken a shower here. She still didn't look all that well, but it was a step in the right direction. That dirty and unkempt appearance went away after a good shower, making the mage regain some of her usual poise.
"Then, can you throw some weak shadow spell in that cloud? I think that's the one that is going to make less of a mess."
Helena squinted at Hera, but did what she asked. It was an odd request, but the two were clearly trying to show something. Creating a small shadow on her hand, she sent it towards the cloud on the ceiling. Blue's blank cloud absorbed the spell and started to change. At first, it looked just like a heavy cloud, something that would create a lot of rain, but it kept turning darker and darker until it became a sheet of darkness covering the entire ceiling.
"What is that?" Bonnie asked.
"That's my legacy. It's called Stormcloud," Blue replied.
"You got a legacy?" Alex gasped.
"Yep. It was the key we needed to open the room. Well, part of the key at least."
"I don't feel that bad about sending you guys there anymore," Alex replied.
"You shouldn't feel bad at all. It wasn't your fault," Hera said.
"It was a little bit your fault. But I'm not angry," Blue dropped the spell and snuggled with Alex, "We got a lot of things there, some pretty good rewards, a mount, and even got power leveled to level 18."
"You guys are level 18!?" Alex gasped.
"Yep. We were 16 when we fought the Sky Ruler, and then we found a brand new dungeon. When someone beats a dungeon for the first time ever, they get a level up as a reward. I also got this tarot card, but it's going to be a while until it becomes useable," Hera pulled up the Frame of the True Reversed Three of Stars. At first, the card was just a transparent sheet with a small line around the edges. Now there were a couple of extra lines that started to form some type of drawing on its bottom. However, inside those areas, there was still nothing, just a transparent sheet of energy, "Also, I have this," Hera picked the Shadow Flame Shard and passed it to Helena, "I wanted to give you this. It's a material that says it leaks, mana. Maybe it can be used to make something that regenerates mana until you can use your own again."
"Oh, so you want to do gifts now? Ok," Blue got up and walked to the bedroom where her bag was.
"You got us souvenirs?" Bonnie asked.
"I didn't. I mean, I was thinking about other stuff, and getting you guys gifts never crossed my mind. The shard was just because of Lena's mana issues," Hera replied just as Blue came back with a couple of bags.
"Here, here," the controller passed the bags along.
Alex got a pair of Cloud Wool bracelets dyed black. It had a minor enchantment that could muffle some of the sounds she made when moving. The design itself was simple, just a bracelet that could cover most of her wrist while keeping the mobility and a puffy ring around the ends. For Bonnie, Blue got a book from the mages explaining the basics of magic and how they could create spells out of runes. Lastly, Helena got a long-tailed black velvet dress. It was one of the designs that Fethy created after Blue and Hera showed some of the pictures they had on their tablets. It was a stunning dress with some metal chains decorating the body and framing the breasts, and a long cut on the side of the skirt.
Despite all of them being wildly different, everyone was thrilled with the gifts. They thanked Blue and continued talking throughout the night. When morning came, Blue was already packed and ready to leave. To avoid getting stuck in a room because of the three doorway rule, people had to wait 24 hours after crossing the first doorway. This was considered the safe window, although no one had figured out if the time could be lower. One thing was for sure. Waiting just for midnight wouldn't solve the problem in most situations.
Hera and Silah were sleeping on the balcony, and they didn't wake up even when Blue left the hotel room. The controller sent everyone a text letting them know where she was going. They had already discussed her plans during the previous night, but she still gave them a reminder.
This slumber party was something Hera really needed. She was just hanging out with her friends and talking, but she noticed a few behaviors that would get old very quickly. Alex would offer to grab food, drinks, and anything she needed. She was acting like a butler, and she got sad and even angry when Hera or Blue refused. Helena, on the other hand, seemed a bit overprotective. She went as far as scolding Hera for using a knife to open a bag. Bonnie was going through something different. She was drinking way too much. They got a couple of six-packs and three bottles of wine. In the end, everyone drank one beer and one glass of wine. Bonnie went off and finished another bottle all by herself. There was also the problem with her taking free shots at everyone aside from Silah for no apparent reason. Hera could only hope that their behavior was just temporary and things would return to normal soon.
After waking up with a bit of a hangover, Hera used an accelerated recovery spell to stop feeling sick. Risli used this one to help people with broken arms or those who came down with a cold. It triggered a sort of overdrive in their metabolism and allowed the patients to recover faster. If she put her mind to it, the shaman could fix a broken arm in just a few days. However, on Hera's level, not only she couldn't target specific areas of the body, but the effects were also much weaker. Taking care of headaches, hangovers or cramps was basically her limit when it came down to internal injuries. Superficial ones were easier, but it was better for paper cuts or the treatment of wounds and not for first aid.
Hera saw Blue's message and sent her a reply telling her to be safe and that they would see each other soon. Then, she took a hot shower. It was nice to have a bathtub in Boothudurn, but the pressure from an actual shower was very different. After getting out of the bathroom, Silah was already up and making something to eat.
"Hey, how was sleeping outside for the first time?" Hera asked.
"It was nice, but I didn't expect the sun would be so annoying," Silah was looking at a bag of bread on the counter, with an odd expression, "Is this… soft glass?"
Hera chuckled, "No. It's called plastic, and well, it is a bit like soft glass, I guess," she squished the transparent bag, "See?"
"Wow, this is awesome! I need to show this to my… Never mind," Silah just kept staring at the bread with a sad expression.
"What's wrong?"
"I… was thinking about my family. It's kind of hard to think that they are not around."
"I can imagine. But we should be going back there today with the ambassador."
Silah smiled, "Yeah. Sorry. I know this is weird. I mean, you just came out here and you're already going back."
"Don't worry. The room is open, and I can come here at any moment. Besides, I don't want you to feel bad about this, and when you have internet set up there, you can talk to them or me if I'm not around," Hera hugged her girlfriend.
"So you won't be going home right away like Blue?"
"You know how my family is… complicated. I rather stay with you until you are ok with me leaving for a few days before going to see them."
Silah gave Hera a kiss, "Thank you. It means a lot to me."
"You mean a lot to me," Hera hugged her tighter.
"Awww, you two are adorable," Helena said as she came out of the room. In the end, Silah and Hera took the balcony, and the rest of the girls all slept in the bedroom together.
"We are," Hera kept hugging Silah for a moment, but it didn't take long for the dwarf to break out of her embrace. She still wasn't comfortable with public displays of affection, even if she was leagues ahead of the other dwarves.
They talked for a while, and sometime after everyone woke up, Kara sent a text to Hera, letting her know that the ambassador had arrived. They quickly headed to the guild to meet with the person who would help put Boothudurn on the map. Only Hera and Silah would be allowed in the first meeting, since it was still a more or less classified subject. However, after arriving in the private room, they had an interesting surprise. There wasn't a single ambassador, but three sitting around a table. One was a human with short brown hair, hazel eyes, and a small scar on his chin. The second was an elven woman with long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and the famous pointy ears. Lastly, there was a dwarven man, but he seemed short even by Boothudurn standards. He was also wider. His shoulders seemed more apart than what Hera was used to. That made her question if even among dwarves, there were subraces with different traits.
"Hello. You must be Silah and…." the human checked his tablet, "Hera, the one who discovered the room. Correct?"
"Yeah, it was Blue and me, but she went to see her family. We got stuck there for almost a year, and she really missed them," Hera said.
"Of course," the elven woman replied in a melodic voice, "We can understand how taxing this ordeal was for you two. Let me be the first to thank you for staying behind and helping us with this."
"There you go again. Do you have to try to one-up me at every turn?" the dwarf huffed.
"I'm not the one who tried to call dibs last time, old friend," the elf replied.
"Guys, can you please focus? I know it's been some time since something like this happened, but we got lucky enough that you two were close by," the human sighed.
"Sure. Sorry about this, Valyra and I go back a long time. We keep taking jabs at each other, but this is all in good fun. I'm Kadmek, a dwarf from Gen Faldir on the 15th layer," Kadmek smiled.
"And I'm Valyra Bihorn, an elf from the Longmane Groove on the 9th layer," the woman gave a small bow.
"And I'm Kevin, born and raised on earth. We are the team of ambassadors that will be going to…" the man checked the tablet again, "Boothu….durn? Yeah, Boothudurn. I will be representing the explorer's guild. Valyra the Union of MAZE Nations and Kadmek the Natural Resource Unit."
Silah turned to Hera, "You told me about the guild, but what are those other two?"
"I honestly have no idea," Hera replied.
"The Union of MAZE Nations or UMN is an alliance where all the countries, cities, and people from the MAZE take part. It's kind of like an overall government that connects us all. We mostly help with identification and infrastructure, but on occasion, we also share troubles and split our resources to help cities in need," Valyra explained.
“You can think of the Natural Resource Unit as a merchant guild. We catalog what every room has to offer as resources and figure out the logistics of transportation. That works both ways, so if a city needs something, we can step in," Kadmek added.
"That is most likely something that we will discuss with whoever is the authority there. But, for now, do you mind telling us about Boothudurn?" Kevin asked.
Hera looked at Silah and nodded. This all seemed to be way above her, but she would still do her best to help the dwarves.
##### Author's Note ####
Man, I miss drinking with people.
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Comments
Aldous Russell
Thanks! "Guys, Guys" should be "Guys, guys". I think "in that cloud" would be better as "at". "leaks, mana" shouldn't have a comma. "It had a minor enchantment" should be "They". I think "while keeping the mobility" might be better as "without inhibiting her mobility". I think "One thing was for sure. Waiting" should be a semi-colon, colon, em-dash or comma. "on Hera's level" should be "at". I think "not only she couldn't target" would be better as "not only could she not target". "I rather stay" should be "I'd". I think "Silah and Hera took the balcony" would be better as "had taken". I think "seemed more apart" would be better as "further". I think "if even among dwarves, there were" would be better as "if, even among dwarves, there were". I think "but this is all in good fun" would be better as "it's all in". "raised on earth" should be "Earth". I think "an alliance where all" might be better as "in which all".
