MAZE - The Endless Quest

Just like the internet in the real world, she could access a map of the town and see its stores" information. Luckily, most of them only closed after 8 P.M., and some stayed open until 10. To her surprise, there were even a few clubs in the city and a spa.

As she searched the map for stores that could sell supplies for taking care of her weapons, a text came through her tablet. Alex had just finished her shower, and she was ready to go.

"Blue, Alex is done. Let"s go," Hera said.

"Awww man, I"m so comfy. This bed feels like heaven," Blue grumbled.

"Ok, stay there. I"m going to eat," Hera said, walking towards the door.

Blue jumped up and followed the explorer. Food was not something that she would ever pa.s.s on. A few minutes later, they met Leo and Alex in the inn"s reception. Before going to look for a place to eat, Hera wanted to stop by the Taaffeite district. She was really worried about her chakram.

Most shops were still open, and the streets were bustling. The town that reminded Hera of the suburbs during the day now looked like a metropolis. Various explorers were walking around haggling prices and selling materials. Hera was surprised about the situation and uncomfortable for being in the middle of so many people. Blue, on the other hand, seemed to be well in her element.

They walked around, looking for a weapon shop that wasn"t too busy. Some seemed interesting, but as they got close, a long line in the door turned them away. After a few minutes, they reached a store with a sign that read "Mr. Smith".

Inside, there was a long corridor with various weapons and armors in display at the sides. The only piece of furniture was the steel counter, with several dents and scratches, in the back of the room. Behind it, there was a man with his back turned to the door. He seemed to be working on something.

"Hi, there!" Blue called.

The man jumped up and slammed his hands on the counter.

"h.e.l.lo there! Welcome to Mr. Smith. I"m Ordy, Ordy Smith. What can I do for you?"

The first thing Hera noticed about the man was the yellow crocodile-like eyes. He also had some scales spread around his arms.

"That is so cool," Blue said, staring at the man.

"First time seeing a half lamia I take," Ordy said.

"Yeah, sorry. We just got here," Alex said, pulling Blue away from the man.

"That"s fine. It is rare to find new arrivals that don"t freak out when they see me. What do you guys need today?" Ordy asked.

"I ended up damaging my weapon. I wanted a way to take care of it myself," Hera explained.

Seeing the damage, Ordy explained that to fix that. He would need to recast part of the weapon or grind the rest of it to make it all seamless. The small mark wouldn"t be enough to break the chakram, and most blades had worse dents than the one she showed.

Hera agreed that she shouldn"t mess with the blade since it was an esthetic problem and not something to do with the usability. She asked for some way to take care of her weapons in the field. He showed a small bag with two whetstones, one for grinding off chips on the edge of the blade and the other to sharpen it. There was also a jeweler"s loop so she could see the small markings along the blade and few oils.

"Even with that, you still should bring your weapons for regular maintenance. There is only so much you can do without proper equipment. Try to do it once every month or more if you hunt all the time," Ordy said.

Hera thanked him and gave the 20 gold for the kit. The group also got a butcher"s knife for each. It was better than using their weapons to get the materials. Hera paid for everything since she forgot to send everyone their money. Before leaving the store, she rectified that mistake. Sending her friends their earnings for the day, minus the amount for the knives.

Thanking Ordy the group left the store, looking for a place to eat. Finding a restaurant wasn"t hard. Deciding what they would have was another thing entirely.

Finally deciding on an Italian place, the group sat down for their meal.

"What are you guys doing after this?" Alex asked.

"Well... I"m going to the guild. They have a few quests that I might be able to do tonight. All within the city, I promise," Leo said.

"Lame, you need to have more fun. I"m thinking about hitting a club. I wanna go dancing. Care to join me, Hera?" Blue asked.

"Not really. I was never a fan of clubs. I"m thinking about going to the hotel to rest for a bit. The day took a lot out of me," Hera replied.

"Awww, what about you, Alex? Are you letting me a weak and frail maiden go alone?" Blue pouted.

"It"s hard to think of you as being weak after seeing you put a giant frog in a headlock. But I"ll go, I"m curious how a club would be in here," Alex said.

"So eat up, try to at least drink in a full stomach," Hera said.

"You don"t have to ask me twice," Blue answered, stabbing her fork in the lasagna she ordered.

The group finished their meals and went their separate ways. Hera went straight to the inn. She wanted to take care of Iris and her chakram. Looking at the dent in Mayura"s feather, she remembered the old beat up the sword she used on the first day of cla.s.s. Her weapons would never become that poorly cared for. That was a promise.

When Hera got to the inn"s reception, she saw Bonnie sitting in a chair in the bar with her head down.

"Bonnie? Are you okay?" Hera asked.

"Hi, yeah, I"m fine," Bonnie replied.

"I know that fine. What"s wrong?"

"The library..."

"What happened there?"

Hera sat down beside her friend. The girl seemed so sad. Could something terrible have happened to her?

"It closed," Bonnie replied.

"What? Were they having money problems? I mean, we did get the coupons. Usually, stores that are doing well don"t do this thing. It"s a shame. I wanted to go there this week," Hera said.

"What are you talking about? You can still go," Bonnie mumbled.

"But you said it was closed,"

"Yeah, for the day. They kicked me out because it was closing time. I had so much to do,"

Hera rolled her eyes.

"Really, Bonnie? You"re sad because of that? The people who work there need to sleep, and you do too. Who was the one that said that a good night of rest before a test is the best way to improve your grades?" Hera asked.

"I did...But I wanted to keep studying. Magic is fascinating," Bonnie replied.

"Yeah, but you have your notes, don"t you? Better yet. Teach me. I want to learn magic too. Teaching a subject to someone else always helped me in school."

Bonnie got excited about the idea. That way, she could review her work and find gaps in her knowledge. The two quickly went back to Hera"s room.

The researcher started to set up notes, flashcards, and slides on her tablet, getting ready to teach. Hera used that time to send a text to Blue, asking her to sleep in Alex"s room tonight since they would get home really late. Her reply was just a "Yesssss gurrllllll," which lead Hera to send a text to Alex asking them to sleep in the same room for tonight.

Seeing that Bonnie still needed some time to prepare, Hera opened a video about weapon maintenance. Her first instinct was to sharpen the blades daily. But according to the video, that was a bad idea. If she did that, the edge would be worn out quickly. The best thing to do was to sharpen the blade only when she felt it wasn"t able to cut like it was supposed to anymore. For now, Hera just used some oil on the chakram as Ordy had recommended. That would make the metal more resistant to rust.

When Hera was halfway done with Mayura"s feather, Bonnie announced that she was ready for her presentation.

She started explaining that mana is essentially a type of fuel. Cars use gas or electricity, and houses can use solar power spells to use mana. They are all energy. Because of that, mana shares some laws of physics that energy has. First, the law of conservation of energy. It means that energy can never be created or destroyed, only transferred or changed. That"s why they can use mana crystals as batteries for electronics. They are changing mana into electricity. According to Bonnie, it is theoretically possible to do the opposite. Turn electricity into mana, but she has no clue how to do that.

Second, energy quality. Mana is in everything, from people to animals, from water to rocks. Each thing has a different form of mana, and each form can flow and transform uniquely. That"s why its easier to use certain objects to control mana. It is all about how high the quality of the mana is.

Third, energy transformation. Each type of energy can transform into another at different rates. Types and qualities of mana have their own conversion rate to other types. 10 points of fire mana can turn into 8 points of wind mana or 2 points of water mana.

The last part reminded Hera of Helena"s research. That was probably the reason people couldn"t go in the opposite direction of their mana. It was too costly to use a spell on the same level as their affinity.

Bonnie explained a simple exercise she had found to start sensing mana around her. She had to focus on the feelings outside of her body. Bonnie was very close to feeling something. She had to picture a second skin hovering just above her own. That seemed to be the best way to go for now. As the researcher spoke, Hera couldn"t help but feel like what she was describing was strangely familiar.

After the lecture, it was already 11 P.M. Bonnie quickly went to sleep. She wanted to be in the library first thing in the morning. Hera turned back to her weapons to finish what she was doing. Being a repet.i.tive movement, she tried to feel the surrounding mana, just like Bonnie explained.

Hera spent around half an hour before being too tired to stay awake. Placing Iris under her pillow, she failed to notice a small warm spot where she held her handaxe before.

When she woke up, Bonnie had already left. It wasn"t much of a surprise, but Hera wouldn"t mind if the girl had said goodbye first. She got dressed and went to Alex"s room to invite them for breakfast. Knocking on the door, Hera waited for her friend to open.

After a few minutes, Alex opened the door. She was still wearing the same clothes as she had yesterday, and she looked awful. Her hair was a mess, she had a stain on her shirt, and a strong alcohol smell came from her.

"You look like c.r.a.p," Hera said.

"I"ll take as a compliment. I feel like s.h.i.t," Alex replied.

Looking inside the room, Hera could see Blue starfishing on the bed with the head under a pillow.

"I"ll take it, you guys overdid it," Hera said.

"Noooooo, do you really think that? We are fiiiineeee," Alex said, rolling her eyes.

Hera just stared at the a.s.sa.s.sin for a moment.

"Sorry, I hate hangovers," Alex said.

"That"s fine, take the day off. I"ll talk to Leo and explain. Hopefully, the two of us can do some smaller quests," Hera said.

"f.u.c.k, Leo. I completely forgot. Tell him I"m sorry. I promise I"ll find a way to help him with all his quests."

"Ok, I"m going to eat. Feel better soon," Hera stepped towards the hallway but stopped before leaving the door, "Oh, one last thing."

She slapped the door a few times in quick succession, making a loud echoing noise as she yelled.

"Wakey Wakey, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing!"

Her two hungover friends yelled at her to stop, which only made their heads ring louder.

Leaving the room, Hera texted Leo, and the two meet in the inn"s reception. Telling the hunter about the situation, the man laughed and explained that he could take a few other quests in the city. If he worked fast, he could finish three before the end of the day. Adding to the two, he completed the day before he would be well on his way to get the 10 quests he needed.

They agreed to split up for the day. Hera was glad that the binge drinking of her companions wouldn"t harm Leo"s chances. Not that they would know about that so soon.

With the day all to herself, Hera left the inn wondering what to do.