Hera was engulfed by the wool, and when the spell finally stopped, she was flung to the ground, tumbling along with Nimbus. Looking up, she could see that there was a notification in front of her, but she was too dizzy to read it properly.
"Capri, what the hell?" Laika asked as she tried to get up but she kept falling back to the ground.
"I will admit, I wasn't expecting things to go like this," Capri tried to get up, but he was also stumbling.
"Did it work, at least?" Hera asked with her eyes closed, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Capri smirked, "It sure did. I'm in first place."
"Crap, how about you, Hera? I still can't read things," Laika opened her helmet and was now rubbing her eyes, trying to compose herself.
"Don't know yet. I'll let you know when the world stops spinning," Hera replied, still with her eyes closed. She was grabbing the ground as if it would help. Nimbus was by her side in her griffon form, and one of his front legs reached out to touch the Empress' hand. Both of them understood how part of their dizziness should come from the spell and not just how much they spun.
They all waited to get their bearings, and Kelpi finished the race during that time, "Can you guys get out of the middle of the road? I was slow, but the rest can come at high speeds.
"Right, sorry," Hera tried to get up, but she had to lean on Nimbus, who was also having some trouble moving. Still, after a few moments, they were now in a rest area with the doorframe in the back. Hera was able to read the notification, even if things were still wobbly.
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You finished in 3rd place.
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"Crap. I'm 3rd. You beat me, Laika," Hera sighed. The race was fun, but it wasn't something she was looking forward to doing again. Especially if the guides knew her tricks. She was sure the second time would be much harder to win. From the group that ended up getting delayed. Peaches finished first, being fifth overall. He was controlling a humanoid turtle statue riding a motorcycle, and he was clearly annoyed by something.
"Are you ok?" Hera asked.
"Not really. I was hoping for a race, not for everyone to start trying to kill each other. What is the point of running if it's like that?" Peaches scoffed still inside the turtle.
"Sorry. I honestly didn't think I could beat you guys without going on the offensive," Hera gave him an awkward smile.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not blaming you. But people only got offensive spells here while I focused on the race aspect of it all. I still beat them, though," Peaches shrugged, but it was clear that he was upset.
After a few more minutes, the rest of the guides finished the race, with Johnny coming in last while Talpa and Jackie just appeared from the doorframe. The two of them had their statues destroyed and were considered out of the race. Nina still had a missing arm, and all the other statues looked as if they were hanging by a thread. Cracks spread around the entire structure. Hera was sure that if a strong breeze hit them, they would all turn to dust.
"You weren't kidding. People really went after each other," Hera glanced at Peaches.
"Yeah. We usually can't fight against each other in any way. Even martial arts competitions or things like that are very limited for us. Here we can let loose a bit more," Peaches shook his head.
"I see… Do you guys have that much pent-up rage against one another?"
"It's nothing like that, kid. We just don't have that many opportunities to push ourselves against others. At most, we can play video games or do things like comparing scores in bowling. For us, anything that requires us to actually fight against each other gets 'baby proofed.'"
"Baby proofed?" Hera asked.
"It's like everything is padded. If we were about to get hurt, a barrier will protect us, or we will be teleported out of harm's way. I get that the system is overcompensating for the times a few of us got hurt, but it still is very annoying. If it wasn't for that, I could be a part of a proper race. We don't have that many options to race on a level playing field. If we do it back home, everyone can just teleport to the finish line or have some weird custom vehicle, so it's hard to make it work. I've tried setting up a more simple race track, but no one understood the spirit, and it became a huge mess," Peaches explained.
"I see, that sucks. When I try this again, I won't attack anyone. We can try a straight-up race. After all, you already know my tricks," Hera tried to comfort him.
"Oh? Are you doing this again? I thought you were on a strict time limit to complete the challenges," Peaches turned to her.
"I have to, don't I? I mean, I got third place, so I didn't beat the challenge," Hera had a confused expression.
"What do you mean? You have already completed this challenge. Although, if you so desire, I am more than willing to start a new race. I shall defend my winning position with all my strength," Capri approached.
"I've completed this one? Really?" Hera smiled.
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"You have. To complete the challenge you had to be in the first five to finish the race. Others might have to be in the top 3," Laika got closer and sat beside Hera, already out of her statue
"That can vary if they are an explorer. It will depend on how many guides will participate in the race, but you don't have to worry about that," Kelpi added. All the guides had left their statues and mounts and were now close to her.
"I see. That's great! But maybe in the future, I might try this again. It was fun, even if Laika cheated," Hera smiled.
"Excuse me?! When did I cheat?" Laika scoffed.
"In the end. You flew in the no-fly zone," Hera replied.
"That wasn't a cheat. This is an obstacle course, and I got a spell that makes a road under me. It's not my fault no one else had that idea," Laika crossed her arms.
"It still was cheap. You completely ignored one of the obstacles because of it," Hera huffed.
"So? Are you telling me that those who jumped around the first set of barriers didn't do the same? Besides, you were the one who figured out that we could actually run in the loops."
"You guys jumped. We just ran through," Hera rolled her eyes.
"Ok, ok. Let's not fight. We all had fun here," Nimbus was back in his humanoid form and pulled Hera back as she was pretending to get heated up.
"Fine, fine. Either way. What do you want as a reward? An item to help you have drinkable water all the time, or something to help the next challenge?" Laika asked.
"Can't I ask for help with skills again?" Hera knew she was being greedy, but if she could get more help from the guides like that, it would be worth much more than just some items.
"You can ask, but we can't help you. The skill thing was just because you managed to complete the other challenge almost perfectly. You might have completed this challenge, but you are still in 3rd place. So the rewards have to match that," Nina explained as she was stretching her arm. It looked like she was still feeling the effects of having lost one arm as a statue.
"Ok… It was worth a shot," Hera shrugged and then started to think, "Do you guys think the help for the next challenge will make that much of a difference?" she liked the idea of not having to worry about water anywhere. If she ended up in a desert or something, wasting her own mana to make water might not be the best call. Especially since water made out of your own mana would only do so much. If she got lost in a place without any water whatsoever, making her own with magic was only a temporary solution. After a few days, maybe a week if she was lucky, it wouldn't be enough to hydrate herself. The reason for that was that 'magic water' was pure water. There were no minerals or other particles inside it. Not to mention that it was made out of mana, so drinking it would do more to help recover a portion of the mana she spent to create it than to solve her thirst.
"Honestly. I think you can deal with the challenge just fine. Some people in your group might have some trouble, but the item could only help one of you," Talpa replied.
"Really? How so?" Hera asked.
"Well, you showed your bracelet, the one the guild gave you, and how you changed its appearance. If you can do that.." Jackie started, but suddenly two giant hands of water grabbed her and flung the raccoon to the stone doorframe, making her fly past it and disappear.
"What the hell?!" Hera gasped and called her court.
"Don't worry, kid. That's the guide responsible for this room. Jackie crossed a line, and he had to quickly remind her of the rules. Unlike some of the interactions we have, the system is not stopping us from telling you something about the challenges," Peaches explained but started moving towards the stone door.
"Oh… is she ok, though?" Hera looked towards the stone doorframe.
"She will be fine. They will just chew her ass out," Kelpi shrugged, "What reward do you want then?"
"I'll take the water item. I think it's a good call for emergencies," Hera trusted what the guides were saying, especially since Jackie even got punished for it. Besides, they had a large group. She didn't have to be the one to look out for everyone all the time.
"Very well. Here is your prize, for third place," Capri smirked as he passed Hera a thick disk. It was a portable cup, very similar to the bottle she had, but the top lid seemed to be made out of a mana crystal. It had a smaller cap on the lid that could be pulled to the side to open. She used her [Inspect] to confirm what it did.
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Bottled Creak
This item, which is a foldable cup, contains an entire creek inside. You can unfold the cup to drink from it and open the smaller cap to create water inside it. If the cap is opened without the cup attached, it will create water directly under the opening. The lid can be removed for cleaning, but if both parts of the cup are too far apart, the cup will appear back on the lid. The water is perfect for consumption.
By drinking a full liter of this water, you can remove any symptoms of dehydration.
Amount of water available: 50 liters / 50 liters
Refill 10 liters of water per hour.
Once a day, if the water runs out, it will refill 10 liters in 10 minutes, but for the next five hours, the amount it can refill per hour will be halved.
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"Ok, this is really good. I don't think we could even drink 10 liters of water per hour," Hera smiled.
"Hey bro, I think that is better than you think. Try giving water to Nimbus or Daskka," Johnny was looking at the item with a curious expression.
"Ok…" Hera passed the cup to Daskka since she was closer to her and opened the cap.
Daskka stared at Johnny for a moment and then started drinking. It took her a few sips before the snake gasped, "What the… Is that recovering my mana?"
"Wait, what?" Hera gasped.
Daskka took a couple more sips, "Yeah. It is! It's like a potion. Well, a very low-tier potion, but still."
"How much mana are you recovering?" Hera was staring at the cup, thinking if that had something to do with her title.
"About 50 points per sip. But then again, my sips are very small," Daskka looked at Nimbus, "Someone with a big mouth might be able to get more out of it."
Nimbus squinted at her, but gave in and took a large gulp, "Oh… 333 points of mana. That's a considerable amount."
Hera looked at the cup, "And between the two of you, you guys drank… about 50 milliliters. So that means the full 50 liters should let you recover 333 thousand mana!"
"I'm not so sure about that," Johnny interrupted, "I remember when the other dude with your legacy showed up. Even if his blades tried to eat or drink, they couldn't eat as much as they wanted. That part was very life-like for them. He also had something like this that they used to recover mana, but it didn't work for him. It's a shame, but that should be the same for you, dude. Another thing. I think each of your partners recovers mana in different amounts. Like Nimbus here. He might take less since Daskka uses mist. It's closer to water, you know."
"I see…" Hera looked back at the cup and took a sip herself. Unfortunately, she didn't recover her mana, but it was still delicious. She stayed there for a few more minutes talking with the guides until she decided that the rest of the party should be waiting for her and headed out of the challenge. This was the third one she completed, now there were only four left, and the day was still young.