Hera woke up early and left the dormitory. She was once again in the Wailing Valley after their week off. During the time they were supposed to be resting, the Countess decided to learn a few new skills. One was a simple one called [Swimming]. As the name suggested, it would just let her swim faster and for longer periods of time. Unfortunately, that was the only skill that she actually managed to learn, even if she had bought the training programs for another four. Despite that, she was still trying to learn them even out here. Those four were all mobility-based skills. One thing that Hera realized that she was lacking was the ability to move around a battlefield with ease. Lately, almost all fights she participated in were against a large number of monsters, and since her court would share her skills, if she got something that allowed her to close the distance against her target faster, all her blades would benefit from it.
The first of those skills was very basic. It was one called [Acrobatic Movement], which would help her jump around and use the terrain to her favor. The second was somewhat strange, called [Battle Dancer], and it would change how she moves in a fight to maintain a rhythm. The interesting part was that if she learned various dance styles, they could be incorporated into the skill, increasing the movements that would benefit from the skill and allowing her to have more unpredictable actions during the fights. Calling the last two skills 'mobility based' was a bit of a stretch, but it would help Hera mo move around the battlefield. The third was a skill called [Attack Pathing] that would give her the ability to understand the battle better. She would be able to see the path one attack was taking, almost like the real blow was just an afterimage. The main issue with that skill was that it required her to pay close attention to everything going on in the fight, but Hera hoped that with Armory and Scythe, it would be easier to trigger the skill.
The final skill was called [Synchronized Battle], something that Hera should have looked into a long time ago. Most people would ignore that kind of skill since it required multiple people to have it for it to be activated. However, when all those participating in the battle had it, it would allow them to easily perform group attacks and follow-up strikes, almost as if they could read each other's minds. Hera already had that ability, but she still had to focus her mind when performing more complicated combos. After a brief discussion with Daskka, the herald realized that this skill would only increase the teamwork of the court. To make things even better, the more people had that skill, the stronger it would be. This meant that for Hera, who would only need to learn it once, and all of her court would have the skill, this would already be a massive boost to her strength from the get-go.
For now, Hera, Rayna, Alex, and Lorna were all trying to learn the [Acrobatic Movement] skill by running through a makeshift obstacle course they created in the Wailing Valley. The structure varied from basic barriers and pipes that they had to move on top of to more complicated areas like spider climbs and wall runs. Everything was made to mirror the same things they would see in the training programs, but there were some more complicated obstacles that required moving pieces that they couldn't recreate here. This group was here because they were waiting for Adriel, who was bringing some supplies, including a long-range internet tower, to be installed on the Shtylla Archipelago, courtesy of the guild. After his arrival, he would help the Royal Explorers search for the next doorway. It would be the first time he would be actually helping to explore and not just taking care of the logistics side of things. The elf asked for that. According to him, just traveling back and forth got boring quickly. That's why he would take breaks from time to time.
"Are you sure you made their spider climb part correctly? Why are the two of them doing so much better than us?" Alex asked while taking a big gulp of water.
"Well… they are stockier. Maybe that gives them more arm strength?" Hera suggested. Lorna was already reaching the five-meter mark on his climb, Rayna was almost reaching six meters, while Hera and Alex couldn't pass two meters. The Countess could understand if Alex couldn't keep up with them, after all, the assassin focused on agility so her strength was lower than that of the dwarves. However, Hera knew for a fact that she had higher strength and endurance than Lorna. He was a fighter but like Alex, focused on agility and his strength was only in the mid-60s.
"Lorna, your time is up," Nimbus called. He was currently holding Hera's tablet with a timer on the screen and was also the official lifeguard of their makeshift trial. The idea wasn't just to climb it by pressing their hands and feet on opposite walls but doing so with speed. Because of that, each of them only had ten minutes to run the course, and they had to come down when the time was up. Since leaving the spider climb obstacle was complicated, Nimbus would fly up and carry them down. Daskka was also there as a back up plan. If needed, she could turn into her silver mist form to grab anyone falling. In that shape she would be very squishy, allowing her to take the role of a makeshift air mattress.
"Oh," Nimbus looked at the tablet and turned to Hera, "You have a message."
Hera took her tablet while Nimbus went to bring Lorna back to the ground. The text was very simple, sent from those in the Shtylla Archipelago. They changed the islands and had a new connection to the first one.
"Guys. We found another island! One that we can go to this time," Hera said excitedly.
"Really?" Alex and Rayna gasped.
"Yeah. It is the same one we could access before. Now we know what never changes when the island sinks. It will always have pineapples," Hera explained.
"Are you sure?" Nimbus asked as he landed with Lorna in his arms.
"Yeah. Before, it had green grass, pineapples, and oranges. Now the island has blue grass, pineapples, and coconuts. Since each island always has one constant, it can only be the pineapple."
"Ok… so can we wait like… 30 minutes before going?" Lorna asked. He was gasping for air after his attempt at the obstacle course.
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"You guys can wait here if you want. We need someone to wait for Adriel anyways," Hera replied.
Lorna just gave her a thumbs up and collapsed to the floor, clearly exhausted from their run. Rayna also decided to stay, they were working out for a long time and she didn't want to risk fighting against monsters. Even if the dungeon said that it wouldn't happen. In the end, Hera was the only one to head to the doorway, since Alex wanted to wait for Adriel and help him with everything he was bringing here.
After going back to the archipelago, Hera met with the rest of the Royal Explorers, and they all moved quickly through the path heading to the 'new' island. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see there. The island was much smaller than the one where the dungeon was located, and it didn't have any dungeons or anything of the sort, but two more connected paths would lead to another two different islands. Hera told everyone to split off, but they should call the other team if something happened. She could even have Nimbus cross to the other island in a desperate situation with her on his back.
Going to the island to the east of the room, the group that Hera was leading quickly realized there was something in this place. Not because of the blue grass or the oranges, but because in the middle of this island there were some ruins by a lake. Whatever the ruins were, it was something ancient and almost completely destroyed. Part of the structure was tipped to the side, showing part of what should have been a wall. She could see a small frame of what could be a doorway near the ground, but it almost looked like the building had been swallowed by the island. Another weird thing was the number of barnacles and other algae covering the rocks.
"This… this is made out of the same rock the island was made of," Bralac said after cleaning a part of the structure that was completely green, like a dirty fish tank.
"And the way it fell to the side… could this have fallen into the island and created the lake?" Bertrand asked.
Hera looked over the lake, it wasn't particularly big, but considering the size of the island, it was taking up a considerable amount of space. It was maybe 10 meters wide and 8 meters long, and the building would stop just at the edge of it.
"I mean… It does make sense, but why would people build this? Or was it an accident? Maybe they were attacked, but then there would be some markings on the walls, but I can't see any. A spell that went wrong could make this, but it's not like we can confirm that one," Hera was thinking out loud as she started doing when with the Royal Explorers. This wasn't something she came up with, but something they asked for since they were struggling to understand the thought process they should have when looking for something.
"Could it be something from the lake?" Chiton started walking closer to the lake, but when his foot hit the ledge, he felt it sinking and jumped back, "What the!? That thing is still falling!"
"What?" Hera asked before carefully approaching the edge of the lake. She noticed that the grass around it was mostly gone, and she could see parts of the hexagonal pattern that formed the entire island. When she touched one of the pillars that were touching the lake it sunk ever so slightly, "Wow. Careful everyone. I think this part of the island is unstable. Tell everyone not to get too close to the lake."
"How can we figure out what happened here?" Bralac asked while still staring at the ruins, "If this is made from the same mineral that the island is made of, shouldn't it be near impossible to break like that?"
"Not necessarily. We didn't try to mine this rock, so it might behave like anything else. Just because the room can move it doesn't mean it's protected by the system," Hera replied and glanced at Yarnball. She tried using the relic to find the pattern for the island they wanted, but she couldn't get an answer even when using all her mana for it. Asking it about what happened here should also have the same result. However, there was one thing she could try, as long as she was alone, "I don't know what we can do to figure out who or what created these ruins. But I have a way that might work."
"What is it?" Chiton turned to Hera.
"Well… it's a bit complicated. As an explorer, and I mean the role explorer, we get a relic. You guys know about Yarnball, correct?" Hera looked around and got a few nods as a reply, "Well. Aside from the question that I can ask with mana and the string, it has one special function that I can't talk about."
"Why?" Bralac frowned.
"Ask the system," Hera shrugged, "It's not that I don't want to talk about it. But as part of it, if I tell, or show, that to anyone, I lose that function. It really sucks, but it can potentially give us some answers."
"Potentially? So you can't be sure it will work?" Hayath asked.
"I can't. It's tricky, convoluted, and a mess to use, but when it works. It's amazing."
"Ok… so can we help you in some way while you use that?" Chiton asked. Ever since they went to the dungeon together, he felt he was closer to the Countess and didn't want to lose that.
"Actually, you can. I already bought an item that would help me with this, but you guys can stay close to the path to this island and not let anyone get closer to me. And, I'm very serious about this. Do not try to come to see what I'm doing. If anyone sees it I lose the ability to do what I'm going to do," Hera had a serious expression. She already had everything she needed to call a guide without worrying about anyone seeing her, but it was better to make it clear so no one would try anything.
"Ok, we can do that. How long do you need?" Chiton smiled and already started pushing people back to the path leading to the other island.
"Probably around 10 minutes. It doesn't take that long, and it might end up not helping at all, but who knows," Hera replied as the rest of the Royal Explorers moved away. She trusted that none of them would try to come to see what she was doing, and she hoped that Blue wasn't going to come closer. Here, she couldn't make a stone box to call a guide like she used to, and she knew how curious her friend was about her source of information.
Still, she could worry about that later. For now, she already had something to help her out. Taking a small black cube from her bag, Hera sat down on the ground and placed the object in front of her. She tapped the faces of the cube, one at a time, and it started glowing slightly. Then, the object changed, turning into just the wireframe outline of itself, and started to grow until it was covering Hera, who was sitting down, and an area about 2 meters wide. Hera could still see the outside, but to anyone else, this was now a black cube that would not only stop anyone from seeing what was inside but also stopped anyone from passing through the barrier from the outside. This was one item that most people would only use when they were trapped and had to wait for rescue. This item was called Safety Cube, and by activating it, a barrier would form in the shape and color of the cube. Most people would go for red, pink, or white cubes to make it easier for others to spot them, but Hera only cared about the privacy aspect of it. As the final bit of preparation, she activated her soundproof bubble. Now that she was hidden from the outside world, and they wouldn't be able to enter this place unless she deactivated the Safety Cube, she was ready to call this room's guide.