"Where do you want this box of books?" Hera asked.

"Put in in the basement. I'll organize the library later," Hera nodded at Helena's reply and headed downstairs.

It had been five days since Helena figured out she could use mana stones to keep using magic. The two had talked to the guild about the possibilities. Helena could basically walk all over the guild at the moment. She was one of the few people who were called to the assault on the wall by name. Because of that, the guild felt responsible for what happened to her. She also had a unique condition, and the guild was invested in figuring out a cure.

After some negotiation, Helena managed to get several perks. First, they would supply her with a few mana stones. A couple of small ones that she could carry around and five large ones that would be installed inside her house. Since Hera would be working with Helena, they would get the house in the first layer. If they needed to go to another layer, they could move after 30 days, but they would need to pay 1 month's worth of rent plus the moving expenses.

Helena would still receive monthly payments, although it would be lessened since she was already getting the house rent-free. They would also set up a system where people could recharge Helena's mana stones as a training mechanism. Doing that was a good way of increasing the maximum mana so there would be a constant mana supply.

Hera and Helena had discussed their plans. They would stay in another city in Brinefront called Hazelpond. It was a village built above a large body of water. The buildings there were more modern, and the residential area was to the back of the town, away from the waters. The two would stay there until Hera was strong enough to go to the third layer. The next room, in the second layer, barely had enough houses for those who lived there and there were no plans to expanding the living area.

To accommodate the mana stones and Helena's temporary laboratory, the guild gave them a moderately big house. It was two stories tall, with purple walls and round windows. The laboratory would be in the basement while the kitchen, bathrooms, living room and one storage room would make up the ground floor. There were four more rooms after a flight of stairs. They could use them as guest rooms or have more people living there. Helena suggested asking Hera's friends, but the explorer said that she wanted to finish setting up everything before talking to them. She also felt like having her friends move in would be imposing too much on Helena since she was already going to be living in the house.

Hera finished placing the last book box in the basement and stretched, feeling her back hurt a bit, "Lena. Can I ask you something about the attack?"

Helena stared at her for a moment, "Sure. I'm not sure if I can answer, though. Parts of it are a bit... harder to talk about."

"No problem. If you don't want to, you don't have to answer. But can what happened to you happen with someone else?"

Helena stared at the notebook in her hand for a moment, "Maybe. I know that the wendigo that hit me is dead, and its body was burned. But I guess that having another monster eat the right things and create more parasites is a possibility. I guess this is why they are so interested in my case. They want to have a cure before anyone else gets affected," She looked at a box on her desk, "Oh, and by the way. Here your poison mana stone. They did some tests and confirmed that this is parasite free."

Hera walked towards it and picked up the now white stone," That's good. The whole idea of having people charging your mana stones will work, then. Do you know when they will send them?"

Helena shook her head, "No clue. But It should be in the next couple of days," Helena placed a pile of books on the ground and started to sort them, "By the way. Did you managed to get in touch with your friends?"

Hera nodded, "Yeah, Blue is on vacation. She is having a blast in Brazil. Bonnie is still in Brinefront researching a bunch of things. Mark is also there, but he is learning how to be a better crafter. Leo went to the next layer. And his training seems to be going well. Alex joined a party as a freelancer. She paired up with a healer we met a few times, and they are doing dungeons or just odd works. I told them that they should consider coming here, but Bonnie and Mark need a specific place to work."

Helena nodded, and the two finished unpacking what the guild had sent. A big part of Helena's laboratory was sent here, although a few equipment pieces were still on the 8th layer. They were too big or too delicate to survive the journey. Still, most of her books and notes were all here. A couple of members of the order were in charge of packaging everything in the lab, and the guild took care of the delivery.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It took the two a couple of hours to finish setting everything up. By the end of it, it was already dinner time. They headed out to eat something. Hera suggested a small restaurant with a simple menu, but Helena shook her head.

"Sweetie, the guild is paying us. We might as well go for a little celebration," Helena said before heading towards a restaurant with an oceanside view.

The establishment was called 'The Golden Carp.' It was a place famous for its seafood and lavish design. The furniture was simple and elegant, but the dishes were all made in a way that they looked more like jewels than food. The secret was a finely grounded gem powder that was used to coat the dishes.

Hera looked through the menu and was floored by the prices. The cheapest dish was over 200 gold, "Lena, shouldn't we go somewhere else? The prices are a bit steep."

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. The guild gave me a lot of money as an apology, and the amount I get every month is based on the income of someone in the 8th layer. Besides, these dishes would be very expensive if we were in another layer. The gems they use come from the room directly connected to this town. Some monsters have those gems on their backs, and they actually are pretty nutritious."

Hera was still weirded out by the prices, so she picked a dish in the lower range of prices. It was supposed to be a basic pan-seared halibut with lemon caper sauce. Yet the dish came in a glistening golden plate. The fish had a metallic red and green color. The entire set up reflected so much light that Hera felt like she needed sunglasses to look at it.

"This is a bit too much," Helena said, looking at her plate of salmon shining in silver and pink in a way that was even more lavish than Hera's food, "Give me a moment."

Helena's eyes suddenly became coated in a black veil, and the light reflected from both plates diminished.

"Lena, was that a good idea?" Hera asked.

"Well, we only have half an hour before I have to cast it again, and the mana stone that I have on me only has half a charge now. But we are celebrating it is worth it. As long as you help me charge it later."

Hera smiled, "Sure, it's my job, after all. And it helps me to increase my maximum mana, right?"

"Exactly, it's a win-win situation."

The two enjoyed their dinner, Helena had to use her magic to reduce the light coming from their plates one more time. That ended up being enough to the mana stone that she had on her. Hera was surprised by the amount of mana that simple spell spent. The mana stone on Helena's earring could store 5 000 points of mana. There was still another earring with the same amount of storage. Helena herself bought those accessories. The stones that the guild supplied were much larger and less elegant.

Helena had explained that mana stones had all shapes and forms, and each stone also had a grade of sorts. The higher the quality, the more mana it could hold. The size also would influence the capacity. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the stone, the more mana it could contain. Yet some high-grade stones could be smaller and more appropriate for accessories. Some people could also shape a mana stone without making it lose capacity. However, since the process was extremely difficult, it was hard to find someone to do that.

Going back to their home, Hera received a text from Mark. He was telling her how the clay they got from the guild had sold in the auction and that he would send her cut. The clay was the item the guild request for a quest, but Mark wanted to check for how much it would sell through other means first. He found out that each block of clay could be sold at a starting price of 2 200 gold even more if he placed it in an auction house. The group agreed to sell some of the clay they got, but Blue still held on to one of the bricks. They got 2 000 gold each for selling the 5 bricks. It was the same as doing the quest, but they got an extra clay block for their troubles.

"Hera, how is your role quest going?" Helena asked after they arrived at their house.

"My role quest? I think I have to turn one in," Hera picked her tablet and took a look at her quests, "Oh no, I still have to finish that one."

"How many did you finish already?"

"Many? There is more than one?"

"You are kidding, right? You didn't complete a single one?"

Hera shook her head, "No, I had one to find the legends of the room, but I'm still one short."

"Hera, did no one told you about the role quests? Between the training and the one who gave you the quest, someone must have said something."

"No one said anything. Why? Did I do something wrong?"

"Not wrong, but just a waste. You get one role quest from the guild, and then the system starts to give you follow-up quests. The quest itself is not that hard, and you always get some interesting rewards. But the main thing is that the quest kind of teaches you how to be better at your role. For instance, mine asked to hunt a few monsters that used different elements. Another quest asked me to kill a monster that hunted by tricking its prey. It would toy with its senses, making smells and noises come from odd places. That was how I figured out my specialty. Not that the quest made me do it. But I really liked the concept," Helena explained.

"Really? Wow, I need to do it soon then. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a bit lost in what to focus on. I liked the poison, but it was useless in the frog valley," Hera was staring at her role quest.

"That happens with everyone that focuses on one thing. A fire mage will always feel useless when facing a fire monster. Don't let this one dungeon turn you off from poison. It can be very strong. Toxic Rain is the living proof of that. In any case, take the next few days to finish that and get used to the monsters around this town. You won't be facing frogs near here," Helena sat on the couch with a book in her hand.

"Ok, will do. But let me know if you need anything. I'll stay close to the city."

Helena rolled her eyes, "Don't worry about it. Until they bring the mana stones, I'm not able to do much with my research."

Hera nodded and opened the browser on her tablet and started searching. Since she was going to look for the legends, she might as well try to find some hints about it.