Flora stood in front of the portal. The gate displayed a green-shimmering cradle and a globe behind it. Smaller portals to the capitals of the Cradle surrounded it.

"So, I walk through the big one for the Hero's Entrance?"

"Yes, Milady."

"What happens when I enter through another gate, let's say the one to Talpica, where Evailyn's temple is, and go back and take the big one."

"You can't do a Hero's Entrance anymore and will go back to the last place you were before leaving the Cradle. You can exit the Cradle from any site you want, but you can only enter it through the teleportation circles connected to the portals or go back to your last position via the big entrance."

While Flora screwed up her courage, Bliz zipped around her. The icicle shaped elemental resembled a flash and behaved like it. She taxed Flora's nerves with her hyperactivity but looked too cute to really aggravate Flora.

Of course, the octopussy was by her side, and the turret-traps ready in her quick-access slot. The mech-suit sat in her inventory. She didn't want to chance being slowed down by a fancy piece of plastic in a magic-only region.

Although she hoped to get to an unrestricted area, she had prepared for other cases.

"Let's go!"

When Flora walked through the portal, she arrived in a room with a cradle and a woman rocking it.

"Greetings, Earthling. I'm Craidla, the overseer of the Cradle." Big busted and her hair in thick blond braids, Craidla could easily get a job at the Octoberfest.

"Nice to meet you, Craidla."

"You have the opportunity for an entrance fitting for a hero. But this chance could take you in the remotest land of the Cradle with unknown dangers lurking in the shadows." The woman pointed to a red-shimmering portal behind her. "Or you enter Talpica, the capital of the Cradle. There you can find anything an aspiring adventurer could wish for like trainers, shops, and quests."

"Thank you. I'll take the Hero's Entrance. But I'd like to ask you a few questions, now we are meeting directly. Those blue windows are so impersonal."

"I'm afraid not. I just received data packages from System and Administrator about you. They recommended I do this."

Craidla moved her hand, and Flora, Bliz, and the octopus flew headfirst into the red portal.

Flora tumbled on the grass until she came to a stop in front of a forest of legs.

"Can you believe the nerve of this woman? Or of those guys?" Flora exclaimed while getting up.

Aito beeped indignantly.

"Uhm. Welcome great hero!" a chubby blue-skinned man said. Then, he cleared his throat. "Welcome to Tsoville."

A crowd of colorful people surrounded Flora, staring at her expectantly. Some of them even carried signs: "Please Save Us!" and "Tsoville Welcomes the Hero."

Flora dusted off herself and stood straight. Looking a bit more heroic was the least she could do to alleviate their fears.

"Magic and technology are both working, Milady. I entered the local area network. We are on the continent Ib, 2000 km east of Talpica."

"We summoned you to save us from the horrible monsters. Are you up to the task?"

"Yes."

"Please, they ate our-"

"She already said yes, Mayor," a woman from the wood-race interrupted him.

Flora nodded.

"Really?"

Flora nodded again. "I'd love to help you."

The blue mayor wiped his forehead. "That went better than my colleagues reported. You Earthlings have a terrible-"

The green woman elbowed him, and he cleared his throat again. "special reputation as heroes."

"Oh, well. We come in every flavor. I can't promise anything, but I will work hard to save you."

Quest accepted: Save Tsoville from Monsters

Description: You haven't asked for details. Your bad.

Restrictions:

- You can only try this quest once

- If you leave the village the quest will fail

Time-Limit: 24 hours.

Possible Rewards: Hidden, Reputation gain with the Ib Intercity Alliance and Tsoville

Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with the Ib Intercity Alliance

Difficulty: B

The mayor led Flora with the crowd trailing behind them.

"Fifty years ago, we had an outbreak of toxic elementals. The Hall of Magic sent over a team and jailed them into an instance. They told us if we clear the dungeon once a month, we wouldn't have problems. We usually hire mercenaries for it, even though the costs had been hard on our town."

They reached a brick house with guards fighting against a two-meter high heap of waste.

The pile's orange glowing eyes hinted it wasn't your run of the mill trash. It even had legs, one consisting of an overflowing trashcan, the other a broken closet. Instead of an arm, a mop dripping with mucus protruded from the pile.

Name: hidden

Type: Trash Elemental

Level: 2

Rating: C

RGS: 1

One guard blocked the mop with a burning shield, as a second guard rammed a sword in his side—two more crouched behind a barricade and shot at the monster.

"The last clearing had only been two weeks ago. This spillage shouldn't happen! We don't have the money to hire another team, so we tried the hero summoning."

"I understand your situation. One moment, please," Flora said and added to her team. "Help them."

Aito and Bliz joined the guards attacking the elemental, while Flora fetched a container from her quick access slot.

She had stacked 18 turret-traps in it with the help of Lorky and advanced Tetris skills. Now, she deployed ten of them in a half-circle around the door.

The trash-pile collapsed before she finished the ten spells.

"Thank you, Mrs. Flowers," said the shield wielder. He leaned against the barricade, breathing hard.

"You can call me, Auntie Flow."

"Nice stuff," he pointed to a sitting woman, which Flora hadn't noticed before. "Do you have anything against poison?"

The woman had natural blue skin, but an unhealthy green and orange glow lay on top. A glance over the other combatants showed the same gleam, albeit to a lesser degree. None of them looked fit; all of them needed rest.

Flora's heart opened up to them. While she channeled the spell, she distributed Nutella toasts.

"I'll kill those monsters for you."

"Not only do we need you to clear the instance in the sewage, but we also have to discover the reason for the spillage. Please, please find out why the elementals are escaping from it," the mayor begged.

"What was the reason for the initial outbreak fifty years ago?"

This time the female Woodling answered. "My uncle is an alchemist with a penchant for risky experiments. One time his trashcan developed life and attacked him. Together with his neighbor, he killed the thing, but the remains flushed into the sewage. A few weeks later, the elementals appeared."

Flora wasn't used to nobody introducing themselves. But she decided on the spot if she continued playing the game, she had to adapt not only to spontaneously evolving trash but also to missing introductions. The last one would be harder, she reckoned.

A glance at their badges identified the mayor as Garfield Ling, the vice-mayor as Amara Bluthe, and the leader of the militia as Ralf Romgard.

"I'd like to speak to your uncle."

"I'm sorry. The villagers exiled him. I don't blame them, and he doesn't either."

"Two incoming," said the spotter, another water woman. She kneeled behind the barricade with her gun aimed at the entrance. The other militia picked themselves up, groaning.

Flora could only see them when Bliz fired icicles. The trap-turrets activated and tore a hole in the trash pile, hitting the second enemy behind as well. When it crawled over its fallen brother, Aito finished it off.

The villagers cheered, while the militia flopped back to the ground with Ralf flashing an upturned thumb in Flora's direction.

"Then, I would like to speak with the person who had been helping your uncle."

After Amara surveyed the crowd and couldn't spot him, she wanted to lead Flora away, but Romgard interrupted her. "The turrets! Have mercy, Amara, and fetch the old coot."

"I'm lending the turrets to you." Flora pointed at their tiny wheels. "I guess they won't be able to move in the sewage system anyway."

Of course, Flora had the mayor sign Mia's contract. You wouldn't be able to stay a nice person for 71 years if you weren't taking precautions and made your conditions clear.

Flora followed Amara.

The village was different than Earth villages. The only houses beside the brick house were wooden. Trees grew through most of them or supported the structure. In many cases, the trees formed shapes suggesting a human influence on their growth like archways or even woven walls.

The next most common habitat consisted of domes. Fire and water hemispheres stood next to each other. Flora approved that a water dome always separated the wooden houses from the fire domes.

They stopped in front of a tornadic waterspout. Amara touched the console standing close to the column like a mailbox with her badge. The water lifted from the ground, flowing in an arc.

After they entered, Flora looked around curiously: a blue couch, a table, a bookcase, the usual stuff you find in a living room. The furniture was similar to what she knew from Earth, disregarding the runes adorning it.

A bit unusual was the small pond. But Flora didn't find it too extraordinaire; indoor fountains embellished houses on Earth also, more often hotels and company headquarters than homes, though.

"Uncle Don?"

"Coming!"

The water in the pond churned, and an older man appeared, standing on it.

Flora gasped but closed her mouth fast. She had heard of teleportation spells like Blink before and beamed daily. Only the suddenness and the lack of inurement had startled her.

Name: Donaldo Rivercross

Class: Water Arcanist

Level: 3 (250)

Rating: B

RGS: 3

"What do you want, lass, and why did you bring a stranger with you? Oh, my, an Earthling to boot. Never met one before."

"I can't believe you haven't heard of what is happening. The trash elementals invaded again." She explained to him the situation and Flora's desire to question him.

"Please describe in detail what happened with the first garbage monster."

"Ey, I can do better and show you."

A disc of water materialized above his hands.

On the shimmering surface, a trashcan hopped out of a wooden house, followed by a young man. His mouth moved, but no sounds came out of it. He pointed at the bin and roots entangled it, but then slime oozed out, dissolving the roots.

The picture shook and got larger. Flora guessed Don was running towards the guy who had to be Amara's uncle.

Name: Tim Bluthe

Class: Alchemist

Level: 3 (5)

Rating: C

RGS: 1

Name: Trashy

Type: Evolved corrupted Trash-Bin

Level: 1

Rating: B

RGS: 2

After a jet of liquid flew across the screen, a watery cage appeared around the trash.

The men met and talked, but the audience could hear no sound. Bluthe's face switched between excitement and worry as he gesticulated towards the bin.

Another blob of ooze destroyed the cage, and the bin was on the run again.

Don sped up the display. "We tried to catch it for a while, but to no avail. Finally, I decided to destroy it."

Acid Balls hit the can until it dissolved. Bluthe scraped the remains from the lawn. Flora saw regret in his eyes, but no anger. Both men walked toward a shimmering tube behind the house and threw the slime at it. The remains vanished.

"The shimmering thing has a connection to the sewage?"

"That is the sewage system." The natives sent strange looks to Flora.

"It's overground and invisible?"

"Yes, it would be pretty ugly to have tubes and channels all over the town. And why would you bury it and break up the root system in the earth?" Amara asked.

"Oh well, I guess it's an Earthling thing." It made sense to Flora that other elemental races didn't have the same urge to burrow as Earthlings. Flora had to remind herself she was in a video game and not visiting a different human culture. "I haven't seen you casting spells on the remains. I wonder about that. I would have analyzed it before disposal."

"Yes, we were young and stupid and regretted it when the trashies invaded; not as much as not keeping it quarantined, but a lot. The researchers from the Hall of Magic gave us an earful about it as well."

"The vice-mayor told me the village banned Bluthe. Did you get in trouble too?"

He laughed and scratched his head. "Sure, sure. They didn't exile me officially, but I left together with Tim. We searched for a few years for a method to neutralize corruption. However, I got sidetracked, and we parted ways."

"Did you make progress?"

"No, not really. Every few weeks, we investigated another lead, but it never panned out. Tim immersed himself deeper and deeper into Alchemy until he reached a point where I couldn't follow."

"Fascinating," Flora realized a trash-bin counted as a household appliance. "What was the direction of his original research?"

"Composting. He had created a solution to dissolve trash in its elemental components and had built a neat little gadget. You clamp an aerosol on the trashbin, and every time you closed the lid, it would spray the liquid over the garbage."

"Great idea!" Flora's mind churned out applications for such a handy appliance.

"It had horrible consequences." Amara seemed to feel the need to remind the enthusiastic engineer.

Flora got the hint and cleared her throat. "Yes, yes, of course. Just horrible."