Hera spent the first twenty minutes of the test running straight ahead to look for something unique, but she couldn't find a single thing that stood out in the middle of what she was now calling the Weapon Graveyard. Not to say that there weren't any unique pieces of gear here. She found a lance that was two times taller than she was, a handaxe that had a blade longer than its handle, a black sword with golden edges that made it seem like it was glowing hit by the light. She wrote down what each of those weapons had written on them, but it wasn't any languages she understood. Flashy and unique armaments weren't the only thing she could find. Other weapons seemed more simple. Plain metal swords and axes, spears and lances, daggers, and two-handed axes were sticking out from the grout everywhere. The variation seemed endless.

Some of the weapons Hera found looked modern to make this even more confusing. She saw a couple of daggers with rubber handles, and some markings seemed too much like a machine pattern to be made in an ancient setting.

"Maybe this place is not showing actual weapons that the Blademaster used. Maybe this is just like a representation of it," Hera said to the air but received a positive response from Daskka. It seemed like the snake agreed with her idea, "Can you even understand the difference between old and new weapons?"

Hearing that, Daskka huffed and started floating away, looking around to find something that could help.

Another twenty minutes went by, but Hera got nowhere. She tried saying that all the weapons could be used by the Blademaster, using magic and saying find anything. Knowing that her time was almost over, Hera decided to focus on getting the most amount of information she could before getting kicked out of the test. She started writing down every inscription, even if she didn't know if it was from a specific language. If she could find out what that meant, it could be some sort of clue to what she had to do. Maybe in this sea of weapons, there was something in plain English or something in the old language of the beastmen, but she wasn't able to find anything like that. Even Daskka couldn't find anything before the time was up, and both of them froze. A bright light covered their eyes, and they were transported back to the Waperath Temple.

Hera glanced at Daskka for a moment and sighed, "Thanks for the help, but I think this is not going to be that easy."

Daskka felt her owner's frustration and wrapped herself around her neck, rubbing Hera's cheek with her face.

Less than a minute went by and Hera was still staring at the dagger in the bottom of the crate when her tablet vibrated. She pulled it up and saw a message from Alex asking her if she was ready to leave. Hera sighed and started to think. She would need to go back to the city and then come back here, that should easily take another week or so, and that was considering she got another ride with Lecter. Silah would be pissed with that, but she wasn't about to let a legacy slip through her fingers. The bright side was that no one seemed to know how to get here. So as long as they didn't tell anyone, it should be hard for people to find this place. In the end, Hera replied to the message, saying that yes, she was ready to leave, but she would need to come back here soon.

She started setting up the boxes of weapons the same way they were before, with the one where the dagger was, in the second crate from the bottom. After placing the third box, Kirouhebi appeared behind her and helped the explorer fix the rest of the setup.

"Come, I'll guide you to the exit. Also, don't feel discouraged. Whatever the test is, all challengers fail even after several attempts," the dragon said as they started walking through the temple.

"Thanks. I could have used some help to find this place," Hera sighed.

"All you had to do was ask."

"You said you couldn't tell me where the Blademaster was!"

"Yes, but I never said you couldn't ask about how to get to other places," Kirouhebi replied with a chuckle.

Hera stopped walking altogether and just stared at the dragon, not believing what she had just heard. Even Daskka was staring daggers at them.

"If you stay there, I'll leave you behind."

Hera shook her head and just kept walking for a while. About five minutes passed before she asked, "Is Alex going to be OK?"

Kirouhebi nodded, "I believe so. I left her alone near the map room as a test, and I couldn't sense her getting back inside to see the painting. When I returned, she was walking away from that place. However, she was still close to the room. I believe she might be struggling a bit, but we continued to talk about other subjects for the next hour after that. It was a bit of a shame, really."

"A shame?"

"Oh… forgive me. It's been a long time since I've toyed with that curse. It seems like I'm not as accustomed to dealing with that as I used to be. If more people are coming back here, I should practice that again."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Hera asked.

"It has the potential to be. However, even when people would constantly come here, only a very small number of people are called by the painting."

"How many?"

"Something around one in ten thousand."

"Oh… yeah, maybe that can be less of a problem. Do you want us to tell people about how to get here?" Hera looked to the side. There was a room that seemed almost like an old arcade.

"I would not be opposed to you two telling people about the heart of the forest and the riddle in there. Telling them how to come here directly feels a bit… cheap. I know how some people in this day and age are not very respectful of this kind of place. I would rather that only those who can truly appreciate this place would come. Alas, the choice is yours, and I understand that my wishes won't last forever."

"We can at least help keep that for now. Besides, there is even a chance that we die before reaching the city," Hera sighed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That is entirely up to you."

"I'm not saying that we are going to keel over and die," Hera rolled her eyes.

"I never said that. However, you do have a choice about where to return. Turn left here," Kirouhebi continued to walk, the four legs were in the ground, but their head was still taller than Hera.

"What do you mean?"

"I can send you back to where you came from or to a place close to the city."

"Really? Can you send us anywhere in the room?"

"No, only to three locations. The small shrine you saw in the heart of the forest. A small area near the Waperath Kingdom and where you came from. In your case, since that is the shrine, the options are somewhat reduced," Kirouhebi smiled at Hera.

"Oh… and do we have to be in a certain place to come here?" Hera asked.

"You can't come here from a dungeon or from inside the ziggurat in the Waperath Kingdom. The magic used in its construction causes some interference with the entrance," Kirouhebi explained.

"Really?"

"Indeed. Back in the day, some people tried to come here to escape the law. To avoid that, they created some barriers that stopped any type of teleportation from inside the structure."

"Was that something common? People teleporting, I mean."

"Not quite. A few could do something like that, but stopping it is easier than doing it. You see.." Kirouhebi continued talking about the theory behind stopping teleportation, which was simply messing up with the destination coordinates so the spells failsafe would activate.

A few minutes went by, and the two reached the temple entrance where Alex was waiting for them, sitting on the ground by the entrance.

"Hey. Did you find something?" the assassin got up.

"I did," Hera stopped, thinking about what she could say.

"What is it?"

"Apparently, the Blademaster has a legacy, and I found it," Hera considered trying something else, but she didn't want to risk it.

Alex noticed her hesitation, "And? What else? Are you afraid I'm going to try to steal it?"

"That shouldn't be the case. The test is unique in a way that it doesn't allow anyone to speak of its contents, or they would lose the chance to attempt it again. Hera here tried to challenge it once but failed."

"Hang on. How can you know about all this?" Hera asked, realizing that someone must have told Kirouhebi about the test.

"There were some people who gave up their attempts and told me about it. Alas, because of the memory clause, they could only give me small tidbits of information before forgetting everything they saw," the dragon shrugged.

"So you really found a legacy?" Alex turned to Hera, who just nodded in response, "So we are staying here for a while longer?"

"That's the plan."

"And what if you fail the test or whatever?"

"Then I guess it's your turn. Unless you want to fight me for it right now," Hera smiled.

"Nah, I'll wait to see if you mess up, but knowing you, I doubt it. It would be super mean if I tried to steal away something you spent an entire year chasing."

"You say that, but some people search for legacies for much longer before getting it. Shane only found hers after 5 years, I think," Hera chuckled.

"Yeah, but you weren't looking for a legacy. You were looking for the Blademaster."

"Which I still haven't found," Hera sighed.

"I apologize for interrupting, but that statement is not entirely true," Kirouhebi lowered their head to stay at the same level as Hera and Alex.

"How so?" Hera turned around.

"You have found his location, just not his grave."

"Oh, please don't tell me that he was buried inside the legacy," Alex gasped.

"You could say that, yes. In fact, part of the reason I hope someone passes the test soon is so that his actual tomb may be placed in the temple. It would be nice to talk to him like that," Kirouhebi had a sad smile on his face.

"It's not the same, but you can talk to the legacy," Hera suggested.

"I know, but as you said, it's not the same. It feels less personal," the dragon gazed into the distance, thoughts of his old friend flooding his mind. After a few moments, he blinked and snapped back to reality, "Forgive me. It seems I'm falling back into bad habits. Now, shall I prepare your exit? Where do you wish to be dropped off?"

Alex glanced at Hera, "The city, right?"

"Yeah, the city," Hera might love exploring, but it was one thing to brave a jungle because you wanted, another to travel through it with another destination in mind. Besides, she was almost eaten by a plant today. She had no desire to go through that again.

"Very well then. I hope to see you soon," Kirouhebi smiled, and the mana key appeared in the air again, unlocking the invisible lock and turning into the circular portal.

Hera and Alex stepped through it, and they appeared outside of the Waperath Kingdom, a few hundred meters away from the city's entrance in the middle of the jungle. If anyone was watching from the town, they wouldn't see the two humans appearing out of the circular portal. However, Hera could see the city just fine. Still, they ran out of the forest as fast as they could. Unlike how it was in the temple, it was already the middle of the night. Maybe the temple was in an eternal day, or maybe Kirouhebi was controlling it to make it brighter for everyone. Either way, they didn't want to risk staying in the jungle at this time of the day.

In less than 15 minutes, they were already back in the city. Unfortunately, the hotel they were staying in was full, so they had to pick one that wasn't designed by the triton. They ate dinner, and soon enough, both were already in bed sleeping. The day had been exhausting, and that was a good thing; otherwise, Hera wouldn't be able to sleep thinking about everything she had to do during the next day.

Hera got up at first light and rushed to the library, looking for anything that could help her translate the words she found. Krioz, the librarian, suggested an app that could help instead of having to deal with thousands of books. It was very expensive, and unless she got the subscription for it, all her translations could be used by the developer to improve the app. The problem with that was that she had no idea if the app would actually count as sharing information about the legacy. Not wanting to risk this, she started translating by hand. Doing that was another ordeal. She had to find languages that matched with the writing and then try to translate them. It took her two days to figure out one of the inscriptions. It was a longsword with a red gem in the handle with the words 'Silvanus Crash' on the blade. Another three days went by before she managed to translate another passage. This one was from a small dagger encrusted with some shell-like lobster material on the side. It read 'Obriano de Luz.'

However, that wasn't the only progress on the fifth day. After translating the dagger, a notification appeared in front of her.

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Quests Triggered

Explorer's quest – Researcher Skill

You have acquired the abilities needed for one of the roles above. You may attempt one of the quests to unlock the related role skill.

To begin the quest, head to a doorway, and the option to travel to the desired test will appear.

Restriction: Quest must be completed within 24 hours of arriving in the test area.

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