Hera spent the entire half-hour asking about that story, getting every single detail that could help her find both the room and the people in who saved the city. At first, her primary interest was in the sorceress. After all, one of them should be the tamer who was a member of the court of Heroes. Darni and the others told her how the woman herself wasn't someone who attacked directly. Instead, she buffed her monsters and had specialized each creature to perform in a certain way. A small turtle was extremely fast and worked as the group's scout, while a giant sloth protected everyone. A deer could call roots from the ground to trap their enemies and there was a wasp that could finish most creatures off in a single strike. Even so, the Naga were still cautious about some of the information they shared about the sorceress. It seemed like there were some details that they didn't want to share. To Hera, it didn't feel like they were trying to hide something out of shame or anything, but instead, it was the same care one would have when sharing their friends' abilities with other people. There was this unspoken rule that one should never reveal what they could do to strangers and always keep some cards hidden close to their chest.
"You said that her room wasn't that far away, but what do you mean by that? Like, can I get there quickly, even following the three crossing rule?" Hera asked.
"Three crossing rule?" Asher asked.
"Yeah, we can't cross more than three doorways a day, or we risk getting stuck in a room for a random amount of time."
"Ah, yeah, I know what you are talking about, but you only risk getting stuck after crossing five doorways, not three. Besides, it's so rare for something like that to happen that it's not even worth it worrying about. When one gets stuck, it is most likely because fate has decided that you need to spend more time in that room," Asher continued.
"Yeah, no. If you got stuck in a room it is because you are a greedy bastard, and you deserve it," Rris scoffed.
"Sssshhaa, you have too little fate in the system. Nothing it does is random. Everything has a reason," Asher shook his head.
"Then do you know why people get stuck?" Hera asked.
"I can't say I do. It must be a greater power or something that the system pushes us to achieve. Maybe it is trying to show us that we are missing something important in that room, or maybe it's trying to show us a path that we never considered. Either way, if you are trying to avoid getting stuck, as long as you don't cross more than five doorways each day, everything should be fine," Asher continued.
While he talked, Hera stopped to think. Everyone knew that you could get stuck in a room after crossing three doorways in the span of 24 hours, but she never looked at the actual numbers. Maybe the odds of getting stuck on the fourth or fifth crossing were so small that they didn't even matter. She texted herself to remember to look into that and continued her questions about the tamer and those blade masters.
"Naph, you mentioned that the blade masters and the sorceress were in the same circle. What are you talking about?"
"I mean the same circle of friends. You know, like us," Naph replied.
"Yeah, but like, what is the circle? Just friends? Something more, is there a reason why that circle was formed? Maybe they have a spot where they gather or something."
"You seem very interested in that particular subject. Mind sharing why?" Darni's voice was cold for the first time, and his green eyes seemed to be gazing into Hera's soul.
"It just seems very interesting. Like, those people are very strong. I wonder if there was something I could learn from them. I'm not saying that I want to have them as teachers, although I wouldn't complain if I could, but their experiences might help me in the future," Hera tried to be honest, but she couldn't actually say that she was after their legacy.
"I see…" Darni kept staring at her for a moment before turning to the rest of the group and receiving a nod from the Naga, "Very well. I can see you are not lying. I won't go into details, but the group they are a part of is just looking out for the well-being of others. If you get strong enough and help enough people out, one day, you might receive an invitation to join them."
"How do I get that invitation? Do I need to go to a specific place?" Hera wanted to get some more information, something about where the Court of Heroes would meet, a place where they hang out, anything that could give her some solid leads.
"Don't worry. They will find you. I know it sounds ominous, but you really don't have to worry. Your deeds will spread faster than you expect. Both good and bad. Don't forget that," Darni continued.
"OK, thanks. But can you tell me more about the blade masters then? I think they fit a bit more with how I fight."
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Darni nodded and turned to Rris. The green Naga seemed more familiar with how that particular group fought. It was a bit odd, to say the least. Apparently, most of them were able to use a single type of weapon and a single element in all their spells. Only the leader was more versatile, but even so, he focused more on spells with similar elements as the rest of the group. In the end, individually, each member of the blade masters was a force to be reckoned with, but nothing that was too much out of the curve. Their real strength came when they fought as a unit. Facing them was like fighting a monster with hundreds of eyes. Each master moved in perfect sync with each other. When one of them would attack and give an opening to their enemy, another was already there to defend them and stop their adversary from attacking. If there was one master in the middle of an attack, another two were ready to follow up and they would do so in the best possible moment. It didn't matter the situation. It was almost like they all shared one mind, which made them even more terrifying.
Unlike what Hera expected, not all blade masters used swords. In fact, only the leader used one. What they considered a blade was any weapon that had an edge. Some used Axes, two-handed swords, even glaives, daggers, or arrows. Such a variety of weapons fighting as one made them all seem even more impressive. However, it was also considerably harder to get any hints of where they should be. According to Casks, the blade masters came from a nomad society, and staying for longer than a few months in the same place was, for them, the same as being behind bars. Still, Hera had a lead to follow them if she wished to do so. The battle of Talrill in the Kamgeo Highland. If she could find any records about that, it was more than likely that she could find at least a clue about them.
Her small interrogation lasted for the remaining time until the Naga returned to the temple. This time, Chika didn't run after Darni but instead understood that he would be back soon. Interestingly enough, the snake looked at the floating rock that the Naga hero had placed again, almost as if it understood what was going on. Hera cleaned up after everyone and used some fire to 'wash' the dishes. Luckily they were all made of either rock or metal, so the flames wouldn't damage them. It was just a shame that she didn't have any extra water or soap to clean the plates properly.
After that, Chika and Hera went for a walk. They had just eaten, and that would help them digest their food. Ten minutes passed when Hera felt something moving under her feet. Chika quickly jumped from the explorer's shoulder, and the two got ready for a fight. The ground shook once more, and with a shift, a hole appeared on the ground right from under Hera. She quickly jumped back, evading the trap, and got ready to attack. These kinds of things were the same ones that the trapdoor spiders used outside the dungeon, but to her surprise, what came out of the hole wasn't an arachnid. A furry creature with large claws emerged from the opening. It had a long snout and large white eyes in a black body. The weirdest part of it all was its head. Instead of being the same color as the rest of the monster, it was green, silver, and blue, almost like a helmet made out of crystal. However, it moved naturally like skin, even being pulled when the mole started to scratch its nose.
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Valley Mole - level 17 (earth affinity)
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Seeing that, Chika jumped off of Hera and started to slither towards the monster. Before Hera could even react, the snake disappeared in a plume of smoke that trailed towards the mole. The mole got wrapped in mist, almost like it was a rope wrapping around the monster. Near the monster's neck, Chika's head appeared and bit down on the mole. A large gush of blood sprayed out from the creature, who tried to move, but the mist held it down. Seeing an opening, the snake took another bite, this time getting her fangs even deeper in the mole. After a few moments of struggle, the monster stopped moving and slumped to the ground. Chika let it go, returning to her snake form, and just as she moved away, the mole dissolved, leaving behind one large sharp claw.
Hera stared at the snake, who looked back at her expectantly. Something about how Chika was moving made Hera think about a dog who just brought a ball back and awkwardly said, "Good job?"
Chika smiled and slithered up to Hera's shoulder once more. The explorer just looked at it. At the end of the day, every dog could be a killer. That was exactly the same with snakes. Not to mention that Hera could only imagine what the real Chika would do with that skill. The idea of a snake that size being able to turn into mist was something terrifying.
They walked for some more time. Every now and then, another mole would pop out of the ground. Chika would always run towards the monsters and kill them right after they got out of the hole before her babysitter could do anything. Then, the snake would return to Hera and stare at her until she was praised for her deeds. It was like a weird version of ball throwing where the ball was actually a monster. Hera would return to the temple every hour or so to double-check the time. It seemed like it would take longer for them to leave the structure this time. No one had told her if they would be eating again after this shift, and there weren't enough supplies to make another meal. She wanted to see if anything in the dungeon could help her, maybe some old scrolls or something that could direct her to the Naga's home, but there was nothing. Just a vast expanse of nothing.
Spending so long without having to do anything was making Hera restless. Yes, she still had to take care of Chika, but the snake was a surprisingly tame creature. Ever since Darni and the others went back to the temple, the snake was much calmer than before. Maybe the exercise of fighting against monsters was helping. Also, Hera was getting some loot out of it. So far, she only managed to get a bunch of claws, but they seemed sturdy enough to be worth something. Oddly enough, nothing had dropped gold just yet. That was supposed to be the most common reward in all dungeons, yet none dropped a single piece of gold even after killing about half a dozen moles.
More time passed until the Naga finally came out of the temple. Hera was trying to teach some tricks to Chika, and so far, she had learned how to sit, or curl in this case, and was in the process of learning to play dead. Darni and the others just got close, thanking Hera again and asking if there were any problems before they all headed back to the cave where they had set up camp. For today they wouldn't continue with whatever they were doing in the temple. However, Darni seemed excited. It seemed like something else was going on before they reached the end of the day.