Helping Master Yu breakthrough the bottleneck of her cultivation, as odd as it sounded, was the way to trigger the hard mode. And with that, the dungeon was over. Master Yu’s friend appeared and sent everyone away in just a moment, leaving the mother and daughter to catch up on several years’ worth of stories.

It was really heartwarming to see the two of them like that. But the abrupt ending to the dungeon still felt jarring. Hera found it even stranger that the guide gave her the exact line she had to use to unlock the hard mode. It was a lot, especially considering all the questions she asked. Then again, that shouldn’t be the only way to go about it. If she made Master Yu think about penguins using a different phrase, things would reach the same result. But it was still strange to get a ‘cheat code’ like that.

Unfortunately, the rewards of the dungeon this time were not nearly as interesting. Even if they did get the same S rank gift from Master Yu, Hera only got a pill that increased her mana regeneration by 20% for a couple of hours, and Helena got one that boosted her endurance for the same duration. The money was also very small in comparison with what they got before, but hey 300 thousand was still a massive amount.

Once they reached outside, Hera and Helena decided to take a nap outside of the dungeon. Technically speaking, they had completed two runs in a single day. When the Empress woke up after being knocked out by Master Yu, it was already after lunch for the mage. And they went through all the dungeon, from the start until reaching the island and searched the place until it was late evening. Which meant they were both tired after a long day. Thankfully, they were not that tired, and only a short late afternoon nap was enough for them to continue.

“Hey, Hera, can you explain one thing to me?” Helena asked as they prepared to sleep in the bunker. Nimbus was on his griffon form to function as a pillow for the two.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Why did your court vanish when Master Yu knocked you out? I first thought that it was because you were unconscious, but you can sleep while they stay out, so what happened there?” Helena asked.

“Exactly what you said, I got knocked out. Because of that, the court vanishes. There is a big difference between passing out and going to sleep. When I sleep, I’m still in control of my body, but if I black out, then I’m not.”

“Was it always like that?” Helena frowned.

“Yeah. Why?”

Helena shook her head, “I was just thinking. I don’t remember them ever vanishing like that. It spooked me. After Master Yu kicked you, I jumped to attack her, even if it was stupid. Only after she checked to make sure she didn’t hurt you in any way that I pulled back. But she even said that she couldn’t feel any signs of mental damage, so I calmed down. Yulan and Yuwei helped a lot. I’m not going to lie.”

“Sorry for worrying you. I think Vulcan is rubbing off on me,” Hera chuckled.

“It’s fine, Sweetie. I’m glad you are ok and that I wasn’t wrong about worrying once they disappeared.”

“Even if that’s the case, I will be more careful in the future,” Hera nodded.

Helena paused, staring at her friend before bursting out laughing, “Yeah, right. As if you could be careful. Sweetie, I love you, but by the system, you are reckless.”

“Hey! I’m better lately!”

“Are you? From my point of view, you are just the same, but you are better able to handle whatever crazy situation you end up in. I mean, fighting Delta, the Soldiers of Strength, hunting Wendigos. Should I go on?”

“Fine, fine. But I can handle myself just fine,” Hera huffed.

“That’s why you are our Aspirant Hero,” Helena smirked.

The Empress let out a loud groan and turned around to sleep. A few hours later, they woke up, they slept for much longer than what they expected, but it wasn’t a full night’s rest. Even so, they woke up ready for the dungeon. Walking towards the entrance, which was a slab of rock that shifted to the side once they confirmed their entry, a notification appeared.

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

Conditions met for Spiral Hills hard mode

Choose the version of the dungeon you wish to enter

[Normal Mode] [Hard Mode]

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

Touching the hard mode button, the stone moved to the side, allowing the two to go in.

“I hope we can get some food soon. I’m kind of hungry now,” Hera said as they emerged in the Forest of Lost Souls.

“Me too, Master Yu could’ve at least given us dinner before sending us away,” Helena huffed.

The woods were very similar to they were before, a large bamboo forest with some other types of vegetation peppered around the area. From here to the road was a ten-minute walk, and they decided to do that instead of just running out. After all, this was the hard mode, the dungeon could have other types of danger. Hera tried to think what could be going on, and considering the cultivation setting, she expected some sort of attack by the Blood Demon Cult, or something along those lines.

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As they got closer and closer to the road, the pair heard a couple of voices.

“It was here, right?” the first voice asked.

“No, no. A bit more to the front. It wasn’t at the very limit of the Forest of Lost Souls. There was no doubt they came from there,” the second voice replied. They might be a bit far away, but it sounded very much like Yulan.

“Right. So…” there was a pause, and the voice yelled, now a further away, “Here?”

“I think you overshot. It’s probably around… here,” the voice that definitively came from Yulan continued.

“Ok,” the first voice said and after another pause, sounded to be much closer, “We need to be quick right?”

“We do. We are already a bit late because someone wanted to spar against half of the Azure Cloud Pavilion,” just by the tone of voice, Yulan was rolling her eyes.

“But it was fun! And they were not that strong.”

“Yuwei, you still don’t underhand the politics that revolve around those bouts. They wouldn’t send the people who could pose a challenge. At least you didn’t show any of your techniques,” Yulan sighed.

“I wasn’t going to. I know that. I need to save those kinds of things for the right moment. Now let’s do it,” the person who Yulan called Yuwei clapped her hands while facing the forest. It was hard for Hera to believe it to be the same girl, since her voice was so different.

“We shall,” Yulan nodded and followed the same motion.

“Master Hera, Master Helena. I, once again, thank you for all your help. I never expected to be able to live with my mother again,” Yuwei said in a bow.

“And thank you for helping me find my own master. I will never forger your kindness. It would be an honor if you could watch us in the tournament,” Yulan added.

Helena and Hera poked their heads from a tree to the left of the two Orc women.

“You two are going to participate in a tournament?” Helena asked.

“That sounds fun. Is it the Sky Sword Meeting thing?” Hera added.

“Master Hera! Master Helena!” Yulan gasped. She looked very much the same. Still with brown eyes and long hair flowing along her back with a tiny braid forming a crown on the back of her head. But instead of the pastel tones of beige and white, she replaced them with orange and blue. Still somewhat pastel colors, but they had a glow to it, not as if they were creating light, but as if there was energy coursing through her clothes.

“See! I told you they could hear us! It was worth coming here every year,” Yuwei said with a large smile. The Orc girl was now a fully grown woman who was even more developed than Hera, Helena, or Yulan in certain areas. But her clothes still had the same soft yellow and white colors, even if they were now longer and included a scarf around her arms that seemed to float on its own.

Hera frowned, “I’m sorry to say, but we didn’t hear anything. Aside from what you just said. We don’t live here, we were just passing by.”

“Oh?” Yuwei paused as her face flashed various emotions in quick succession. First confusion, then sadness, then excitement, “So that means your were not ignoring us!”

“Of course not. We would never do that,” Helena huffed.

Hera nodded, “Yeah, we were just not here.”

“Then we can tell you all about our adventures! The tales of the Sun Flower and the Vanishing Lake!” Yuwei announced proudly.

“The who and what now?” Hera asked.

“Those are nicknames that were given to us. Yuwei is known as the Sun Flower for… Well, obvious reasons,” Yulan explained.

“And Yulan is the Vanishing Lake because she started tossing large amounts of water on people that were annoying us. People kept saying she was the spirit of a lake,” Yuwei had a large smile on her face.

“It is an unpleasant nickname, but it does give me a certain notoriety,” Yulan sighed.

“And how did you do it? Weren’t you going to learn teleportation?” Helena asked.

“Portals, not teleportation. And to do that, I simply created a static portal at the bottom of a waterfall. I just have to open it on top of someone else,” Yulan pointed to the side and a small blue circle appeared a few meters above the ground. A stream of water came flowing, rushing out of it like a damn that had just broken. She only kept that portal active for a couple of seconds before deactivating it.

“That is really impressive!” Hera gasped.

“Thank you, Master Hera!” Yulan opened a big smile, “But I’m still far from my master. I can only handle three destinations, and all of them have to be prepared beforehand. Master can do several dozen and he doesn’t need to prepare the locations. As long as he visited the place before he can return there.”

“Still, this is incredible,” Hera smiled back.

“But what are you doing here?” Yuwei turned to Helena, “Did you come for the tournament, or just passing by searching for penguins?”

Helena turned to the girl, a bit surprised that she still remembered their question about penguins, “We are just traveling. No specific destination in mind. Do you have a suggestion?”

“You could come with us to the tournament!” Yuwei jumped to answer.

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

You have found a dungeon quest.

The Sky Sword Meeting.

A tournament is being held, and the winners will receive marvelous prizes. Reach the end of the tournament.

First time rewards.

Sky Sword Meeting prize

Breakthrough talisman

+1 level

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

Hera and Helena glanced at each other, and the mage replied, “I think that’s exactly what we are going to do. If you don’t mind the company.”

“Of course not!” Yuwei smiled and turned to Yulan, “Right?”

“It will be our honor to travel with you, masters. Although, the travel itself won’t take very long,” Yulan smiled and created a blue circle in the air, large enough for any of them to pass through. On the other side was a room, one that should be a hotel, considering the simple decoration, “Shall we?”

Yuwei stepped forward, “It’s really good to have someone like Yulan. We can skip the boring parts!” she crossed the portal as if she was just stepping through a door.

“Master Hera, Master Helena. I’m afraid I’m not strong enough to keep the portal for long. Nor am I able to maintain it after I crossed,” Yulan told them, already starting to struggle with the strain.

Hera and Helena quickly passed through the portal, arriving in that simple bedroom with Yuwei. There were two small beds, a balcony and a small table. Behind them was a light orange circle before the environment shifted back to the road by the Forest of Lost Souls. Yulan quickly stepped through that portal and stopped, keeping it open. A simple talisman was placed in the wall behind her.

“Welcome to the Heaven’s Edge Summit!” Yuwei proudly announced as she opened the window, revealing the city below.