Going to the city in the Charring Wastes was a bit of a problem in itself. For starters, they had to walk all the way to the town, which was already a 20-kilometer journey. Occasionally, some people with large-scale transport spells could also help people to cross that distance. But they couldn't find anything about it online, and the information Helena had was outdated since it's been over a year since she had come here. The good part was that another group of people was going to the city. Meaning that instead of being just a small party of five people walking through the perilous fiery wasteland, they were instead a caravan of 25 people.

Despite the safety of moving around in a group, some of the monsters in the room still tried to attack the group. They were quickly dispatched by the explorers, but even so, that didn't seem to scare any other attackers away. Because of the constant attacks, everyone decided to move a bit faster so they could reach the city sooner.

As they were traveling through the lava fields, Helena and a few other explorers who were used to the room pointed to the right. Each of them was talking to their own party while a couple of the people who already knew the room groaned with the presentation.

"And to the right, you will see one of our most famous attractions. The lava river and its denizens. The lava spirits," Helena announced with a big smile.

Looking in the direction she was pointing, Hera could see not only the lava river, a massive flow of glowing orange rock that moved as fast as the rapids, but some creatures roaming around them. Some looked like animals, tigers, wolves, hippos, seagulls, and several others. Some had monstrous shapes. Creatures with several extra limbs, multiple heads, and faceless beings with mouths in the middle of their bodies. And, the most strange ones of the bunch, the spirits without a set shape. They were almost like blobs of lava just moving around, stretching and pulling themselves to the sides.

"They are a peaceful bunch, but they are a bit territorial. You shouldn't get close to them willy nilly. Also, don't use anything related to water near them. Even grabbing a bottle to drink is a bad idea. Water is their natural enemy and that can lead to some problems," Helena explained.

"Is there anything they particularly like? Hera asked.

Well, they like fire. Things that are hot and can function as fuel. They also really like sulfur and some other gasses that can come from lava. I don't know how that helps, though," Helena shrugged.

"Do you know of anyone who made a contract with one of them?" Bonnie had her eyes glued to the spirits.

"I believe a few people in the city have contracts. There's also a Spirit Research Center here, but it's smaller than the one in the forest of dreams. Mostly because of the constraints that the city has. Space is a bit of an issue here. The city could only be built here because it's located on one of the few patches of solid ground in this room. If we try to build something else, there's a good chance it will just sink with the weight. We don't have to worry about that when we are walking, but for anything that is too big, that would be an issue. Not to mention that trying to keep one of those spirits in the middle of a city is extremely dangerous," Helena added.

"Mum, if you manage to make a contract with one of them, you can have a Titled Blade," Daskka told Hera as she walked.

Hera looked around, not wanting to discuss her legacy out loud in the middle of this group of strangers. She focused for a moment, trying to use the connection she had with her snake to send not just a feeling but actual words to formulate a question, "I know. But I need a weapon that shares the element, right?"

Daskka was surprised by how she heard her question and replied in the same way, "No. You can use any blade you already have or a new one. It doesn't have to match the element of the spirit."

"Really? What happens then? Does the blade change its element?"

"Not really. It will mix both elements together. It can be something like turning water and wind into cloud element or making something like wind and fire becoming hot wind."

"Since when is hot wind an element?" Hera scoffed.

"It isn't. But it works for the legacy. It has both elements, and it will allow you to use both of them at once. It's kind of like what Helena wants to do. She wanted to be a Ying Yang mage. It's the same thing with the titled blades. Using a spirit that doesn't match their elements will be a mix of both elements. Sometimes, the elements might have some weird synergy and create something else, even if it's not a new element but a way to work together, and that depends on how each element works. For instance: Your poison is a bit weird, mum. Poison is not supposed to be flammable, but yours is. Because of that, maybe a mix of poison and fire can be powerful. The poison will fuel the fire," Daskka continued explaining.

"I see... That's something to consider. But it's supposed to take months to get an elemental spirit on your side. So we might not be able to go after it right now," Hera looked back to the lava river. She could see the spirits roaming around and apparently living peaceful lives. At the same time, she starts to think about her legacy. Title blades seem to be a big part of her legacy, and she was beginning to wonder if not having one somehow hindered her progress. There were some specific requirements to get a titled blade, but she never actually went after them, not really. Maybe it's time to change that. Perhaps if she had a title blade during the attack, she would have been able to fight Vulmer off without killing him.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

After passing the elemental spirits, it seemed like the monster attacks stopped almost completely. There was just one last group of salamanders that thought the humans might be easy prey, but they were quickly killed by everyone. It was hard to tell if the monsters were really weak or not. After all, even the strongest of creatures in this room would have a hard time if there were 25 people flinging spells at them all at once. When they arrived in the city, Helena guided the party to her lab. It was located in one of the central Spires of the city. A place dedicated to research and development of magic. Some blacksmiths worked exclusively with materials that could only be shaped at extremely high temperatures, but that wasn't the focus of the spire.

Helena's laboratory was a sight to behold. She had a three-story tall room with a massive contraption in the middle. It had a mana crystal in the center of the room and several mechanical arms around it with different lenses on each of them. The idea was that she could use those lenses to identify the type of elements that were inside the crystal. Apparently, this was much more complicated than finding out a creature's element or a spell. Since it required the person who was looking to see through the refraction created by the crystal.

"Are you going to bring this entire thing back?" Blue walked towards the crystal. The thing was easily five-meters tall.

"The lenses and maybe the mechanical arms, yes, but the crystal is gonna stay here. It's part of the laboratory. Not to mention that it's completely obsolete for what I'm doing now," Helena explained as she got close to one of the bookcases and started to look over the tomes.

"OK, and how exactly are we supposed to help you? Just pick everything and shove it in a box?" Hera asked.

"No, no, no. You don't just pick this stuff and shove it in a box. We need to classify them properly," Helena had a large smile on her face.

"Do you want to separate them by theme, elements, or spell configuration?" Bonnie jumped into work. She started going through books and making some piles based on some specific organization type that eluded everyone else.

"I don't know how much I can help you. I mean, I'm really out of my depth," Blue sighed.

"Same," Alex nodded.

"Honestly, me too. I know a little bit about spells, but just looking at the name of these books, I don't even know what they were talking about. I mean, look at this, 'From iron to water: A theoretical application of the paradoxical remedial alteration.' The fuck is this?" Hera gasped.

"Oh, that is a good read. It's about a theorem that allows us to change matter into something completely different. However, there are still some issues that no one can figure out, even if the theory is technically correct," Helena nodded.

"Lena, that's fine and all, but this is 3 thousand pages long. I'm pretty sure that this book can do more damage than some of the weapons we used when we just started in the MAZE," the tome was massive, and Hera had to use both hands to hold it.

"That's not even the worst one. This one is 5 lines just for the title, and I honestly don't know what half those words mean," Blue was looking at another book that was a bit smaller, but it still had over 2 thousand pages.

"If you guys don't want to help this part, that's fine. You can stay in the city and do whatever you want. We'll call you if we need anything. But I really wanted your guy's help to dismantle this machine and carry some of the boxes when we are done," Helena didn't stop going through her books while talking.

"That we can do," Alex nodded.

"Yeah. And while you're doing this, do you guys mind if we do some dungeons?" Hera asked.

"As long as you don't go too far from the city. The dungeons outside are a bit more complicated, and it will be better if we are all together," Helena looked up from the book.

"I don't have a problem with that. The one I want to do is here in the city," Hera explained while she took a look at another book. She was trying to find a single tome that didn't have an overly complicated name, but it looked like that was a fool's errand.

"What is it called?" Blue turned to Hera.

"The fall of Bonpei."

"Pompeii? Like the city that was destroyed by a volcano?" Alex asked.

"It sounds the same, but it's not. It's Bonpei. B O N P E I. But the contents of the dungeon are somewhat similar. From what I gather, it's a battle. A fight between two armies. On one side are humans, well, humanoids; on the other, there is a civilization of fire people living inside a volcano. They are almost elemental spirits but not quite. Apparently when the fire people are attacking it's like an eruption. In the dungeon, we can choose sides. Either we work as a saboteur for the humans or generals for the fire people," Hera explained.

"Oh, so you want to be the saboteur? That seems fun," Blue nodded.

"No. I want to be the general," when Hera spoke, even Bonnie and Helena stopped what they were doing to look at her.

There was a long moment of silence before Alex stepped in, "Why? We all know how you struggle to fight against people inside a dungeon. Why do you want to fight them now? What changed?"

"Nothing. That's the problem. Even after what I did, I still feel conflicted about killing people inside dungeons. Someone told me that I have to change after what I did, and I feel like this is a good way to start," Hera picked a random book and pretended to read just to avoid eye contact.

"I don't think you have to change. You just have to deal with what happened," Blue suggested.

"That's the problem. I can't deal with what happens if I don't change, and that's the whole point. If I stay the way I am, I'm gonna end up suffering a lot or just losing my mind. More than I already am. So, instead of letting this drive me crazy. I'm going to change so this kind of thing still affects me but not to the same point where it's affecting me now."

"That's…. A surprisingly level-headed idea," Bonnie nodded.

"Are you serious?" Alex snapped at the researcher.

"Yes. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but the concept makes sense. If someone is afraid of spiders, one of the ways to solve that is through exposure therapy. It's the same principle."

"Also, changing this is not on the table. I'm just asking if you guys want to come along," Hera explained.

Alex stared daggers at the explorer, but there was nothing she could do to change her mind. It was clear when she looked into Hera's eyes. The assassin let out a long sigh and gave in. Blue, on the other hand, was excited from the moment that she talked about the dungeon. It's been a long time since they faced large armies or monsters that were more or less human-sized and the controller was itching to use her martial arts in combat.