It took a couple of hours before Hera calmed down enough to explain what had happened to her dad. Renette also ended up hearing most of what Hera was saying, not because she was trying to hear it but because Hera was speaking loudly, and after she started crying, it became harder for her to focus on her surroundings. The reality was something a bit different. Because of her intense reaction, her senses went into overdrive. She could feel the mana around her, she could hear people talking on the street, and she could smell the scent of freshly baked bread from a bakery nearby. While she walked toward Eridan's house, Hera made a point of focusing her attention on everything that was going on around her, so she could avoid any problems. Now that she had stopped paying attention so much and focused on what she was feeling, something changed inside of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skill Acquired

Awareness

You are able to notice more about yourself and your surroundings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The more she talked about Silah, the more she felt the pain of the breakup. At the same time, she could feel this was the right decision. Not having to worry about the future with someone who lived for so much longer than she took a weight off her shoulders. However, because this was new, she was struggling to understand the differences between what was close and what was far away. Even worse, Hera didn't notice the notification. At some point, while she was crying, the window appeared in front of her, but she just waved it off, not caring about what it was saying at the moment.

Eridan and Renette listened intently to what she had to say. Both of them understood what it was like to lose someone close. And having had their fair share of heartbreak, they were more likely to give an answer that could help Hera. Unfortunately, there was not much they could do. Breakups were never easy, and even if you agreed that it was the right decision, it would still hurt. A couple of hours passed until Hera felt better. Or at least well enough to change the subject and try to forget about the pain for a moment. Eridan took the hint and asked about the trip and what she had seen and done. Hera excitedly shared most of her adventures, being careful not to mention the legacy since Renette was still around. Despite being Bonnie's mom, she didn't know if it was a good idea to trust her or even her dad, for that matter, with that knowledge.

She showed Daskka and talked about Kirouhebi and the moon base, which made both Eridan and Renette very interested. After some time, she was feeling better. Still far from being good, but there was an improvement. Looking at the time and the fact that Hera felt like she was intruding on something, she decided to return home. Another reason for that was that she could talk about the legacy in focus on something else that wasn't just her pain.

Not even 10 minutes later, Hera was already back home, and all their friends were there. Alex was the only one that went out. She wanted to talk to both Ogryn and Risli about her curse. Hera barely stepped inside the door when Blue came from the kitchen and stared at her before asking, "What happened?"

Bonnie and Helena were on the couch talking, but both of them looked over as the controller spoke. Hera sighed, "I'm going to answer, but I don't want any follow-up questions. I don't have the energy for it. Yes, I'm OK. Yes, that's a lie. I'm not OK, of course, I'm not. I need time to process before I can explain everything that happened, OK?" Blue sat down in one of the chairs and nodded, waiting for an answer, "Silah and I broke up. It wasn't because of the trip. That was just part of the reason. We realized that the age difference would be too much of a problem later on, and I'm not saying because she's older than me. No, I'm talking about the fact that she will live to, like, 300, and I'm gonna live to 100 if I'm lucky," Hera noticed Helena wanting to say something, but she quickly cut her off, "I don't wanna talk about it, I'm not ready. Just give me some time, and let's change the subject. What was that paperwork that I saw yesterday on the table? It seemed official. Is anyone in trouble?"

Since Hera forcibly changed the subject, the girls decided to go with the flow. Helena opened a big smile, "Well, sweetie. That's my training program."

"Your training program?"

"Yep, remember how I was trying to make the elemental modes and the elemental site and a bunch of other small spells that could really help people who were starting? I finished it this month after Bonnie came back with Renette. They helped me set up my training program and all the spells I wanted to teach as a formal deal to present to the guild."

"Oh? So that's what that envelope was? It was rather big," Hera nodded. She could see that being a lesson plan for the new explorers.

"Oh no. The Lesson plan and all spells weren't something I could send through mail. I mean, I could, but it's easier to send an email. That's just the contract that the guild sent me to sign so that they can use the spells and my ideas in the next classes as a trial run," Helena spoke with a cheeky expression.

"Really? That's amazing! What did you do? How does it work? Tell me," Hera rushed over and sat on the couch.

Helena and Bonnie started explaining the Lesson plan. Her idea was to extend the one-month training that they had to two months. Ideally the training would last much longer, but that wasn't something the guild was willing to do. The first month will go pretty much the same way, with a couple of lessons about survival to help the newbies. Then, the role test would come, which would be followed by another month of training already inside the MAZE. This part would be more in-depth about their own roles, and it will teach spells like elemental sight, the elemental motes, and other basic abilities. Things like a light spell or how to make or filter clean water. They would also increase the training for combat styles and ensure that every new recruit would have at the very least one fighting style when they are finished with the course. A real fighting style, not just the random weapon combat skill that people usually got.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

This would require some investment from the guild. Still, since Helena's plan included allowing lower-level explorers to become teachers or instructors, they shouldn't have any issues getting the required personnel. Also, for the initial versions of this training, Helena suggested that the role training should be done every two to three months, so people could do the first part of the training, get their role, spend a month getting used to it, and then finish up before becoming full-fledged explorers.

The way she spoke about it made it seem like a very good idea. Hera always had the feeling that her training was very much like throwing a kid in a pool to teach them how to swim. Another interesting fact was that even old explorers could apply to receive the role-specific lessons. The guild will try to gather some high-level explorers to teach. In any situation where that succeeded, even higher-level people could benefit from that kind of instruction from a veteran. Despite saying that, Neither Helena nor Bonnie seemed to think that many people would want to go back to training. As a matter of fact, among their group, there wasn't anyone who would be interested in going back to the basic training unless there was a really good reason to do so.

When the subject started to die down, Hera decided to change to something else before anyone tried asking about her break up, "By the way. What is up with your mom and my dad, Bonnie? I stopped there before coming here, and I got some weird vibes. They are not…. A thing, are they?" Hera couldn't even begin to imagine her father dating someone else. The last, and only person he dated was her least favorite person in the entire world, and just the idea of it happening again made Hera feel sick.

"You know, I had that feeling too. I asked my mom about it, and she said that they're just good friends. Like, you know when you meet someone, and you instantly click, but not in a romantic way, you're just in the same vibe, and find the same things funny, and it's like, instant best friends?" Bonnie explained.

"Not really. That never happened to me," Hera shook her head.

"Yeah, me neither. And apparently, no one that we know had that happen to them. I was kinda hoping that you would be able to relate, but I don't know. That's what they were saying. They just clicked," Bonnie shrugged.

Hera let out a sigh of relief, "Well if It's just that, that's fine. Don't take this the wrong way, Bonnie, but I really don't want another mother. My track record with those is really bad."

Bonnie nodded, "I can imagine, and I don't want another father either. The one I have is already way too much of a handful."

"OK, OK, OK, that's very..." Blue clapped her hands, trying to bring the attention to her to move away from the family drama, "Yeah, no, that all sucks, and I don't wanna talk about this anymore," she turned to Hera, "What about the Blademaster, did you find them?"

Hera smirked, "Yes, and no. It wasn't the blademasters. It was blademaster singular. And they weren't this group of mercenaries that worked with the court of heroes. They were part of the court of heroes."

"Wait, are you saying you got a court legacy?" Bonnie gasped.

"Yep. It's called the Court of Blades. I don't think I have to say it, but just like with Blue's, don't mention this to anyone. Not even your mom, not even Silah. The only people who know about this so far are the people in this room, Alex, and Kirouhebi, that giant dragon that lived in the temple," Hera stared at everyone with a stern expression.

"Yeah, it's one thing if we have one legacy among us, but now that we have two. That might bring some unwanted attention," Helena had a worried expression.

"I know that's why I'm acting like I don't have a legacy unless I'm in a dungeon with Alex. Then again, I think I can kinda trick most people," Hera looked to the side, "Lurize."

When she said the name, she summoned the zweihander, which appeared in the air floating around, "I can go into the details later, but basically, the legacy lets me summon weapon constructs to fight with me. But I don't have to control them. I just have to give them an order. For instance," Hera looked back at the kitchen and saw one plastic cup with a handle, "Lurize, can you bring me that cup?"

The sword slowly floated toward the kitchen, gently turned upside down, and used the handle to pick up the cup and float it back to Hera.

"And you didn't have to focus while doing that? Like you just told it to do it and shifted your attention to some other thing? You don't have to make it move, spin, and anything?" Bonnie asked with wide eyes.

"Exactly. It even inherited my fighting styles as long as I have something that matches the type of weapon. But since it's called the court of blades, I can only do that with weapons that actually have a cutting edge. Things like staff, clubs, and even hammers are out of my wheelhouse," Hera continued.

"Can you do that with more than just one? Since it's a court," Blue asked.

Both Helena and Bonnie stared at Blue with horrified expressions. The researcher was the one who broke the silence, "Are you nuts? Doing that with one weapon is already more than enough for it to be a legacy. And you're asking if she can do it with more? Of course not? Right?" When Bonnie finished speaking, she stared back at Hera with a confused look on her face.

Hera smiled, "Brute, Beam, Executioner, Swift, Daskka."

All of her 5 blades plus the snake that was the court's adviser appeared around her. Daskka could still be summoned through her necklace, but calling her from the legacy now felt more fun, "And I can call more in the future."

"And you keep saying that I'm the cheater," Blue scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Well, yeah. I can't have my blades absorbing spells to use later. Besides, calling them takes all my mana. I've been using a mana crystal to call them so I can still use mana. Oh, and When I call them, I lose the ability to use their elements. Like Lurize uses poison, so I can't use poison mana when he's out. Another thing, Daskka is the herald. I asked her about it, and it seems like the legacy recognizes that I am close to her and allowed her to be the herald so I would be more comfortable," This was a half-truth. It wasn't Daskka who told her all this but Peaches after she asked the guide about it, "She's even starting to learn how to speak on her own, but I'm the only one who can hear it."

Blue kept staring at Hera for a few moments, "That's it. I need to see that in action. Let's go," she got up from the chair.

"Go where?" Hera asked.

"To our dungeon. Some people figured out the hard mode, and we have to try it."

"Really? I'm down, but we should wait for Alex. And I have to recharge the mana stone if I want to have the full team again," Hera, wasn't about to roam through the streets with her entire court out in the open. That was a surefire way to let people figure out that she had a legacy.

"Fine, but if we are not doing it today, we are doing it tomorrow."