Hera walked out of her room and went looking for Shane. Her entire court was out, including the two/one new additions. Fang and Claw took only one slot from her court. It was also a bit different than Scythe, who was a single being split in two. Each of the daggers had a unique name and a unique personality. They were similar, of course, but it was like they were twins. Hera also had to give them new names. According to Daskka, she couldn't keep the same name as the original weapons because they were no longer those weapons. It was almost like they had a trademark claim to the name of the actual weapon. Fang was now Viper due to his ability to use poison, and Claw became Crimson because of her specialty in using blood to become stronger. The Empress also used one more thing when adding them to her court. She used her Royal Seal, trying to add a Naga seal to them. It was the first time she attempted to do something like that, but it was surprisingly easy for her to figure out how to add the specific seal. This meant that they got a couple of interesting skills related to the Naga.

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Viper & Crimson - Naga

Twin Daggers

Attribute Scaling:

Viper

Strength x 10, Endurance x 8, Charisma x 7, Luck x 5, Agility x 3, Intelligence x 3

Crimson:

Agility x 11, Intelligence x 9, Luck x 8, Strength x 3, Endurance x 3, Charisma x 3

Passive Skills:

Two fight as one:

When wielding both daggers, the daggers will be affected by each other's scaling. In the case where both have the scaling for a specific attribute, only the highest one will apply.

Enhanced Poison:

When using any poison-related spells or skills with Viper as the catalyst, increase the poison effect by 30%

Rending Blade:

Crimson's attacks can cause the target to receive a grievous wound, reducing any healing that it receives by 20%

Naga Born:

All skills that affect these weapons are considered Naga skills.

Active Skills:

Alluring Presence:

By activating this skill, your target will feel attracted to the daggers.

Mana Cost: 300 mana

Grasping Strike:

Viper deals a blow that binds the target temporarily. The duration of the bind depends on the strength of the target.

Mana Cost: 500 mana

Bloody Claw:

Crimson launches a long-range attack made out of blood. Depending on how much mana was spent, the attack can be performed with one, two, or three claws.

Mana Cost: 300, 600, 1 200 Mana. Distance: 50 meters

Naga Seal

Any Naga-related skills will have their effects increased by 50%.

Familiarity: 100%

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Hera had to admit, they had some amazing stats, and the fact they came from a Naga dungeon only made her like the new court members even more. It was just a shame that their overall scaling dropped by a couple points. Not to say that they were weak by any means, and the naga skills made it clear that they would be much more powerful now that they were part of her court. Still, the new blades needed some time to gather their bearings. The Empress had already introduced them all and made sure to summon them right away, not to do the same thing she did with Dao, forgetting about him and letting him rot away inside the legacy for weeks. But aside from that small greeting with Viper and Crimson telling everyone how they should address them, the daggers were quiet and would stay like that until they felt comfortable enough to join any conversation.

It didn't take long for Hera to find Shane, the explorer was around the main hall of the rest area, looking over one of the free vending machines to pick some snacks.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Shane smiled but was taken aback when she saw the entire court out, "Is everything ok? Are we going after someone?"

"Oh, no. I'm just letting them all stretch a bit. Don't worry, " Hera looked back at her 10 bodyguards, "You guys can relax. Do whatever you want, find a nice place to rest, gather some food., whatever you want. Ok?"

Nimbus and Lurize nodded, and the court started to spread out, some of them asking for a magnet so they could go farther away, but Viper and Crimson were still by Hera's side either way.

"That's nice of you. I'm a bit envious, you know. My legacy doesn't let me talk with a bunch of people. I tried, but enchanting things to speak never worked out well. And they never remember our conversations later," Shane decided on her snack and pressed the buttons that dropped a tall can of chips. She picked it up, ate one of the chips, and offered some to Hera.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

The Empress took it but frowned as she tasted the flavor, "Oh, really? Onion sour cream?"

"What? They are delicious."

"Not for a snack. Unless you are talking about onion rings."

Shane shrugged, "You just don't know how to enjoy life."

"I just have taste," Hera rolled her eyes with a chuckle, "Either way. Mind if we step inside a room real quick? I want to ask you about something personal."

Shane frowned but followed Hera along, After closing the doors, they had a quick conversation about the guides and what she wanted Shane to ask the guide. That didn't take long, and they agreed to have her talk to the guide right away. They would talk with everyone about the new reward that could lead them home, the possibility of staying around to run dungeons and test their abilities, and being around Sammy so they could go to therapy for a little while.

With that out of the way, Hera left the room and went to the center of the rest area, meeting Alex, who just left another one of the rooms with a serious expression.

"Is everything ok?" Hera asked.

"Yeah… Adriel just told me about his job," she sighed, "I'm sorry. I get why you didn't tell me, and it's not like it is a big deal, I think…."

"Don't worry about it. Are you ok?" Hera looked Alex in her eye, only now noticing that her irises were surrounded by a golden ring. To the side of her face, where the black veins were previously located, now there were soft markings that shimmered like golden makeup.

"I am… I think. I don't know. On the one hand, this is a lot. I mean, dating me didn't do anything to help his job. Sure, he could use it to approach you, but he never actually did. Did he?" Alex asked.

"Not really. The only thing he asked was if he could get a referral to work for the dwarves. He helped Lena move her lab well, so I did that, but if I'm being honest, it wasn't a stellar review. I basically said, 'He did his job and didn't cause any problems, but I don't know him enough to say he is trustworthy. I highly doubt he would get anything better than a foot in the door with that, and I have the feeling he could've gotten that without interacting with us," Hera replied.

"Yeah, that's around what I was thinking too. Unless he was playing a really long con. Something like using me and us to gather enough goodwill to then do something, but that would go against his whole 'helping the non-human races' ideology. And if all that was a lie, and he is actually a bad guy, then…" Alex frowned.

"Then the curse would have no reason to tell us he is a spy," Hera finished her sentence.

Alex looked up at the Empress with a confused expression, "You think so?"

"Of course. Think about it. If he was a bad guy, then he would believe others were just as bad as he was. Because of that, instead of the curse trying to drive a wedge between us, it would be easier to appeal to his paranoia and make him separate from us. Sure, it wouldn't be able to do that in the Abyssal Deep, but back then, you were the only one who was really cursed. Everyone else was fine. Those conversations only happened a while after, when we were in rooms where other exits were not just likely, but known. I mean, we saw another doorway in the Obsidian Mines. The curse could've just made him run there. Even if he ended up in a random place, the curse itself would be safe from our plans."

"That's fair. But I don't think the curse ever expected this to work," Alex smiled.

"Let's face it. No one ever expected this to work. I was already thinking about the next thing we would have to do," Hera chuckled.

"Did you have any ideas?"

"None whatsoever. My only idea was not to let my dad get cursed too," Hera shook her head.

"Yeah. But you do have a point. I don't think Adriel had any bad intentions. Either way, I do need some time to process all of that," Alex stared into the distance for a few moments before snapping back to reality, "Anyway, what about you? Are you doing ok?"

"I am. Better than I expected. I hate to say this, but the second time I killed someone seems easier than the first. Or maybe it's just because this time I felt justified, you know. It wasn't a random person who was being mind controlled or whatever, but someone who actually wanted me dead," Hera sighed.

"Yeah, if we didn't stop her, Reynara would've killed us all. I'm still feeling guilty for not helping in that fight," Alex said.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about her. And you did help. Without your dagger, I wouldn't be able to give everyone that opening to kill it. I say it because, by the end, I don't think it was a person anymore."

"Who were you talking about then?"

"Kadhan."

"Oh," Alex looked down, "I completely forgot about those guys."

"Yeah. Maybe I'm not feeling as bad because they were already dead, technically. And now I can even say they were just a memory, but still. I don't like not feeling terrible about this."

"I understand," Alex nodded. The two of them just sat there, not talking with anyone and thinking about everything that led them to this.

A few minutes passed when Shane appeared. She asked the two of them to stay there and told them she was calling the rest of the team over. They needed to have a serious conversation. Soon, the entire party was in the center of the rest area, waiting for this team meeting.

"Ok, I want to talk about our future. Like, near future," Shane started speaking, "One of my rewards was related to that skill Hera and I have, and what it let me figure out was a way to go back to civilization. It should take us just a couple of days, up to a week, if we have to deal with high tide. And I don't know what that means exactly."

"High tide is when the moon's gravity interferes with the ocean and makes it…." Bonnie started explaining in a teasing tone.

"I know what high tide is. I mean that I don't know how we might have to deal with it," Shane scoffed, making the rest of the group laugh.

"So we know how to get back home?" Blue asked.

"More or less. The same way we knew how to get here," Shane looked at Hera, "But. I don't think we should rush back. We can now actually explore the places and try to get some extra things for us. I mean, if we just run a few dungeons, we'll get some good items."

"I agree. And I have to confess. I also used that thing we can use and got one piece of information. There is something at the bottom of the ravine. And Shane should be able to help us see what we are looking for down there," Hera added.

"I also want to stay here for a while and talk with Sammy. If that's ok with everyone."

The group nodded, all of them had a similar intention. In the end, they all agreed to stay here for some extra time. They all needed to deal with something, and they also wanted to search for places that might give them something good, and thanks to Hera's and Shane's questions, they already had two places to start. The bottom of the ravine and the Temple of Sands.