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Chapter 86 - Moving Foward
🕑 Added 2020-08-03 18:56:54 +0000 UTC
Blue stomped towards Ayana, trying to grab her by the collar, but her target was quick on her feet, sidestepping and moving back, almost toying with the controller.
"Now, is that a way to greet a friend?" Anaya said with a smile.
"Since when are we friends? You left us to die in the test!" Blue yelled, trying to grab Anaya once more.
Anaya kept dodging Blue while talking, "You were never going to die. At most, you would have failed the test. Besides, you are already here. So you passed even without my help."
"Help? You are the reason Bonnie had to leave. Your little stunt could have made us seriously hurt!" Alex moved towards Anaya to help Blue but was stopped by Leo.
"It's not worth it, Alex. Blue, you too, let it go."
The controller turned around to face Leo," Are you seriously telling me to forgive her?"
"Of course not, but what is done is done. All we can hope for is never to see her again."
Blue clicked her tongue, "Fine, get the hell out of our way before I strangle you," she said to Anaya.
"Oh? Is that a threat? You do know how serious the guild takes death threats, don't you? Maybe I should report this and be sure to have your license revoked. We can't have people who would harm others in here now, can we?"
Blue stared at her. Even after everything Anaya had done, she still wanted to play the victim?
"Now, I could be more lenient towards that, as long as you apologize, of course," Anaya smiled in a way that made Hera's blood boil.
"Dream on, you snake," Blue barked.
"You say like I'm asking you to do something horrible," Anaya replied, walking past the group.
"It is horrible. I rather go back to the city doing a handstand and licking the floor than apologize to you," Blue kept looking at Anaya the entire time, ready for anything she might try.
"It's a shame. Apparently, we can never work together. Janna had some interesting ideas for us. She will be very disappointed with this.”
Blue huffed and stormed off towards the city. Leo and Alex quickly followed her, but Bonnie and Hera walked more carefully, still wary of Anaya.
"Bye. I see you around the town," Anaya said as they were leaving.
The group spent some time walking in silence. Trying to break the tension, Hera asked, "Is that thing about threats real?"
"Kind of, I don't think just her word against ours would do anything. But the guild takes threats very seriously. They say it's because we have ways of actually following through with it. I mean, we are killing things all the time, and we are strong enough to do it," Alex said.
"Yeah, but there is a whole process. You need evidence, interrogations, and a complete investigation of the threats. What happened there wouldn't mean anything," Leo chimed in.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she already had part of the investigation done. That bitch looks like the type that has dirt on everyone, even its all forged," Blue mumbled.
"Don't be like that. We are all on your side. If she starts something, we can call for backup," Hera tried to cheer up the controller.
"Yeah, who would help us?" Blue replied.
"Well, for starters, we can ask the people who watched our test. You know they had cameras seeing us. That's how the organization could see our talents. We can also ask Mr. Greyson, Helena, and maybe even Tiffany to talk about her. Worst-case scenario, we can go to her school and see what people think about her. Since she's like this now, I doubt it is something new. After getting some information, we can use it to fight back and then even press Frostbite and the New Dawn corporation to cut ties with her," as Alex spoke the rest of the group stared at her with wide eyes.
"Holy crap. That was a lot," Hera said.
"Seriously, remind me never to be on your bad side," Leo said, taking a step away from the explorer.
"Yeah, how long have you been thinking about that?" Bonnie asked.
"Well... ever since the test, to be honest. It felt like we could need to have a way to deal with her. But it's just an idea. I haven't searched for anyone or anything like that," Alex explained.
"Still, that is a lot, and it's a good idea. Next time I'm looking for some help to get someone off my back, I'm coming straight to you," Hera laughed.
With a lighter tone, the group walked back to the city, arriving a few minutes before sundown. Before going to the guild, they looked for something to eat. It was early for dinner, but having power bars for lunch could hardly be considered a meal. After eating, they went to the guild wanting to buy a map of the dungeons.
Unlike the general map, they had in their tablets. They needed to buy more specific and detailed maps. The options varied, from maps with localization of resources and creatures to charts that showed the flow of mana or maps that could help with quests.
Among the ones about dungeons, they could buy three types. A basic one that just said the localization of the dungeons around the city. That would go for 200 gold. The second option was a map with all the dungeons within a 30 km radius of the town, along with some information about the common monsters and dangers inside each dungeon. There were five dungeons in total looking at this map, but it would cost 2 000 gold.
The last one was a map with all the dungeons in the room, a total of 15 dungeons, and not just the basic information on each one. The monsters, their weakness, the traps, the quest, and how to beat it, even the possible item drops. It was an extensive in-depth guide. But it would cost 20 000 gold. They also had the option of getting that guide for a single dungeon, but that would vary from 1 000 to 2 000 gold, and the value of the pack wouldn't change even if they already had some information.
"This is all too expensive. Maybe we should just ask around online," Blue suggested.
"We can, but what guarantee will we have that the information is correct? What if someone doesn't know what they are talking about or just wants to reduce the number of explorers around?" Bonnie said.
"Yeah, I don't mean to be a downer, but we shouldn't trust everything that we see online, and since this can affect our wellbeing. We should get the information from a reliable source, even if it's more expensive," Leo said.
Although the price was a bit much, the group agreed to buy the 2 000 gold map and the complete information about the frog valley. Gemma explained that the information could be downloaded for up to ten people. It would be linked to their bracelet, so even if they changed tablets at some point, they could still get the maps. Because of the steep price, most groups bought one and shared among themselves.
Thanking Gemma, Hera and her friends went back to the hotel. Even though it was still early, the group felt their legs heavy. It would be nice to rest for the evening. The first thing Hera wanted to do was take a shower. This time she got in first before Blue had the chance to flood the bathroom.
After the shower, Hera lay down on the bed and turned on the TV. Her streaming service still worked inside the MAZE. Picking a show she already had watched a thousand times before, Hera opened the map on her tablet and started to read about the dungeons.
The Ant Burrow was a day's travel to the north. As the name implied, they would have to face ants, from workers to soldiers, then the queen and her guards. The place was rich in minerals, and it was classified as a small dungeon. Hera found it odd since anthills were supposed to be huge, but maybe the system tone it down to make it more manageable.
The Frog Valley was in a direct line to the south. They could reach it in around four hours. It was a place where the old habitants of Brinefront would go to worship the frogs, who were considered the guardians of the city. Aside from the types of frogs she had already seen, there were also a few different ones and a frog king. The quest was about getting rid of the poisonous frogs that were destroying the valley's balance. Glancing at the Arcanist’s Lookout, Hera found nothing new about it. Since they had completed the dungeon already, they had more information than this map.
There were two other dungeons on the map. The underwater temple was created to praise the shrimp that saved the city. The quest was about getting rid of invaders in the temple and dealing with the fungus that grew there. The last one was a new dungeon. Someone discovered it less than twenty years ago. It was called the Floating Lake, and apparently, it was on the ceiling of the cave. To reach it, they would need to go to the northwest until they found a pathway on the cavern's stone walls. Then climb all the way to the top and take the sky bridge towards the entrance. Both of these dungeons were marked as not suitable for beginners.
Hera wasn't even sure they needed that warning. Cleaning fungus off a temple should be very complicated, and they would need special gear for it. If regular mold was already dangerous, she could only imagine how magic fulled fungi could be. The floating lake seemed like too much work just to get there. They would have to climb the entire wall and then move just under the ceiling. Hera never had any problems with height, but the image of her climbing the cave walls made her shiver.
Having read all the information about the dungeons, Hera opened the browser on her tablet. She wanted more information about her Treasure map, and about the elemental essence select. Before she could get too deep into her research, Leo asked to meet her through a text. Curious about what the hunter could want, Hera quickly went to his room and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Leo's voice rang from the room.
"It's Cygnus the golden. Or it could be the person who you just asked to come here," Hera joked.
"Crap, hang on," Some noises came from the room, and a few moments later, he opened the door.
"Were you seriously not expecting me?" Hera asked.
"You didn't reply. I thought you were taking a shower," Leo had clearly got dressed in a hurry. His shirt was inside out, and his fly was open.
"My bad, but for the record, if you called me here for this, the answer is no. I don't crap where I eat," Hera said.
"What are you talking about?" Leo asked, Hera simply pointed down, showing the hunter the situation in his pants, "No, not that. Never that," he turned around and closed the zipper.
"I know that I said it first, but you don't have to be that insulted with the idea," Hera rolled her eyes, holding back a smile. It was fun to tease the hunter.
"No, I mean, you are gorgeous. I just will never think about dating you. No, wait, I mean, you are like an older sister. Not that I'm calling you old or anything. I mean, you are, but I don't mean it like that."
Hera couldn't hold back her smile anymore, "You do realize that we are all doing this on purpose, right?"
Leo let out a defeated sigh, "Yeah, honestly, Mark needs to come soon. I don't know how much more I can take."
"I'll ask the girls to tone it down. Now, why did you call me?" Hera said, giggling.
"Right, come in," Leo walked in and sat by the bed. Hera grabbed a chair in front of him, "So, remember the tournament that I was in to join the coalition?"
Hera nodded.
"Yeah, I got in third place, and they gave me a choice of skills to pick. I chose a taming skill. And I wanted to see if you can help me find one of those small squeaky frogs. I need to tame something to get the skill, and then I can have a partner for my hunts. I wanted to ask you because of your explorer item. I think it would help a lot, but I know it has a long cooldown." Leo explained.
"Oh, that's all? Sure, I'll help. To be honest, I'm having some trouble using Yarnball for that. I keep thinking that I'm going to waste it and end up never using it. We can get the girls and go look for it tomorrow."
"Actually, would you mind if it was just us? Alex might freak out if she sees that I'm getting a frog, and Bonnie has to make money. Blue... well, I'm not sure she can stay still long enough for me to do my thing."
"Ok, but that is a surprise. I didn't expect you to want to hunt with pets, Leo."
"To be honest, me neither. But when I went to check my status for the first time, it showed up a rare skill. I always thought it was useless, but maybe I was wrong."
"What skill?"
"It's called unwavering command. It can increase the attributes of my allies by 50% for a minute. But the catch is, it only works if I have the absolute trust of my partners. I tried using it with my family, even with you guys, but it never worked. Then when I read the taming skill, I realized that it might work. Among the skills related to it, there is one that increases the trust between the pet and the master. So that might work."
"Well, maybe. Just don't be sad if you can't use it right away. Do you wanna try it tomorrow?" Hera asked.
"I don't know. Let's see what everyone want's to do tomorrow first."
Hera nodded just as a text came on her tablet. Blue was asking if anyone wanted to go out for drinks. It had been a while since Hera went to a bar. Replying yes, she and Leo left to meet the rest of the group.
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