Hera got up quickly, trying to wake herself up. After she ate under the cherry blossom, a lethargic feeling took over her making her want to take a nap. It wasn't an unusual feeling. She had that every time she would eat her grandma's cooking.

She walked around the tree a few times, shaking herself awake. It was a bad idea to sleep outside the village. What if she took too long to go back and has to fight the slimes again? That was the last thing she wanted right now.

Grabbing her things, Hera went back towards the village. She would take three hours or so to get back. If the slimes appeared at the same time, she would be cutting a bit close, but at least she had an idea of when it might happen.

She hurried back, looking for the markings she had made on the trees. It was better to improve her own skills, and who knows, maybe that will influence the way her [Mapping] grows. Yet, after she spent ten minutes without seeing any markings, Hera opened the map. She went too far left if she kept going in this direction she could reach the homestead, but not the water spring as she wanted.

"If I fix this, I might end up in the middle of the slimes again."

Giving up on the idea of following her own tracks, Hera used the map to guide herself through the woods. She got so used to the repetitive patter that she could tell how many steps it would take before the pattern entered the next loop.

After a couple of hours, Hera was not only getting close to the village but to the new open area she had seen. It would be a big detour if she wanted to look for it. Right now, it was close to seven again. The slimes didn't appear until almost an hour later. She had the time to search for the area.

Hera kept looking at the trees, hoping to find one that seemed strong enough to hold her. The problem was that those were all linden trees. They were sturdy at the base, but at the top, they were extremely brittle. Even if she tried to climb one of those, she would only be able to reach half the height she wanted.

Looking at the map, the open area should be northwest of the village, or at least that what it seemed. Since the mission was to let Florence know of a good place, it was understandable that it wouldn't be a place far away from the village. However, that would only be true if it was a real scenario. In this test, Hera had no idea what could reasonable.

Maybe she could use the orchard as a way to finish her quest. After all, fruits come from flowers, and that place was really colorful. Still, it felt wrong to make a kid walk three hours just to get some flowers.

Hera picked her tablet to check the map.

"That's weird."

According to it, she had passed the area she saw. Turning around, Hera went back to the path she took, paying close attention to her surroundings, looking for something different between the trees. She even stopped playing around with the rake. During the travel, she had gotten quite good at making it stand on her hand.

She had realized that it was useful to have something like that on her. After the test, she would search for a pocket staff or something to bring along when she enters the MAZE.

It was hard to focus on looking for something in this place. Hera knew she was moving and that things around her could be hidden. But after seeing the same scenery so many times, it felt like she already saw everything the area had to show.

"You know what, I still have five days, I'll deal with this tomorrow," she said to herself.

Picking the tablet to look at the map, she noticed the time. It was almost 8 p.m. Quickly confirming the direction she needed to go, Hera sprinted towards the village.

"Crap, crap, crap," she kept saying.

Since there was no dusk here, it was easy to lose track of time. That's precisely what happened to her. Hera didn't realize she had taken so long searching for the new area. A few moments after she started running, the night suddenly arrived. Just like the dawn before, it was like someone had snuffed out the sun if there was a sun here, to begin with.

Hera kept running towards the village. Unsure of when the slimes would appear. When she finally saw the wooden houses, she let out a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, she failed to notice a blue slime swinging towards her.

The slime's tentacle hit Hera's neck, making her lose her footing and fall to the ground. She managed to roll forward and get up without losing too much of her speed. Looking back, Hera saw the slime approaching for another attack. She grabbed the rake and used it as a bat, sending the creature flying towards a tree. With a satisfied smile, Hera turned around and kept running towards the town.

She managed to arrive before the slimes, who kept moving in circles around the village. Hayden was still keeping guard near the entrance, but the hunter had yet to fire a single arrow.

"Thank you for the flowers, traveler. With that, I can just keep guard instead of killing the slimes. But we still need to find what is causing this behavior."

The hunter thanked her in the usual mechanical tone.

"I'ts fline, I'll do i thwomorrows," Hera said.

She didn't realize before, but her head was spinning, the words came out garbled, and the entire world seemed to be moving too quickly, or she was moving too slowly.

"You don't look good traveler," Hayden said, approaching her, "Oh, it seems a blue slime hit you. Be careful, they let out a poison that messes with your head. It's a good thing that the poison is not dangerous by itself. One good night of sleep is all you need to be back in shape."

Hera tried to thank the hunter, but only an unrecognizable noise came out of her. She forced herself to walk towards the house she was staying, using the rake as a cane. None of the villagers tried to help her. They only stood there, waiting for her to interact with them. Hera knew that this was just a part of the test, it wasn't that they were ignoring her, but they just weren't able to do anything unless she talked to them. Still, that hurt. She imagined that no one would treat her like that after becoming an explorer, people would at least acknowledge her…

Suddenly, Hera woke up. She couldn't tell how she got inside the house, much less when she fell asleep. The memories she had about the previous night stopped right after she arrived at the village when Hayden said something about poison. Trying to gather her thoughts, Hera went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face. She still felt a bit woozy, but she couldn't find anything else wrong with her.

She ended up sleeping with clothes on, and right now, they were a mess. There were still stained spots from where the slimes hit her not to talk about the smell. She would need to throw these clothes away after the test.

Leaving the house, Hera saw the rake lying on the floor. At least she wouldn't have to go all the way back to the water spring today. Talking to Frank, Hera finished the quest.

"Thank you very much. I don't know what I would do if without the rake. I went up there looking for an orchard I planted a few years ago, but I ended up forgetting where it was," the farmer said.

"Oh, I've found it. It is a beautiful place. I even got some fruit there. Which are yours, I guess? I can give them to you," Hera said.

"No need. I'm just happy that small field grew into something lasting."

Frank had a soft smile on his face. Hera tried to talk more about the orchard, but he went back to the repetitive replies.

Hera walked back to the center of the village and opened her quests. She still had to find the reason for the attacks at night and find the flower field for Florence. Thinking about what to do, she looked around the homestead, for some reason, looking at these people was annoying her. She couldn't tell why, but seeing them just standing around bugged her.

Looking back at the quests, she considered her options. Dealing with the flower field could take some time, but it could end up being something quick. Going after the slimes gave her at least a couple of hours away from them, and she would be able to let out some steam. During the last month, she realized how relaxing was hitting things.

Out of curiosity, she opened the test quest to check her progress.

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Role test: Explorer

The green forest and its residents hide many secrets, discover most of them to complete the test.

This area is part of a simulation. The denizens of this place have limited interaction capabilities.

Current discovery progress 60%

[X] Discovered Woodland

[X] Found Peaches

[X] Found the materials for Betty, the blacksmith

[X] Discovered a way to protect the village from attacks

[X] Gazed upon the ever blooming tree

[X] Retrieved farmer Frank's rake

[ ]?????????????

[ ]?????????????

Requirements achieved.

[Press to end the test]

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Hera stared at the quest for a moment. Her finger was hovering over the button on the screen. She could finish it already? Her heart started to beat faster and faster. If she finished the test right now, she could go back and become officially become an explorer. She could come back, talk to her friends, thank Helena, and start getting ready to explore the MAZE. She could also take a shower and eat some real food. Fruits were fine and all, but it didn't beat a triple cheeseburger filled with bacon.

As she was about to press it, she remembered what Omar said during the explanation of the role. He had gotten just a passing grade and got a radar as a reward. What would be the reward for a higher grade on the test? Could she get an item too? Maybe a pet or a skill? What if she could get a legacy here?

She closed the quest. It was just a passing grade, and she could look for at least two things right now. The reason for the slimes behavior and the flower field for Florence. She grabbed some fruits and got ready to leave the village. If she dealt with the slimes, she could look for the flowers even at night.

She made a quick stop at the creek to fill her waterskin and headed towards the slime den. Moving by the stream was more relaxing than through the forest. The only downside was that she needed to stop to relieve herself a couple of extra times.

"I can't believe flowing water has this effect on me, although I am drinking more water since I can refill it all the time. I just hope peaches don't show up when I'm doing this," she said to herself.

It was already uncomfortable to do this in the open, but having a talking apple around would be horrifying.

Finally, reaching the area where the slimes lived, Hera traveled even deeper in their territory. She had to fight a couple of monsters, but she did her best to avoid tiring herself. It would be a wrong move to spend all her energy early on. She needed to be focused and ready for greater threats.

Hera kept going for another hour in the slime area. During that time, she only fought about a dozen slimes. One trick that helped her a lot was using fruit as bait. If she threw a slice or a berry near them, the slimes would be too preoccupied with the food to notice her getting close. A couple of times, she even managed to strike fast enough to save the bait. That meant she could do it a few more times. After all, she didn't want to use all her food just to kill the monsters.

At the end of the hour, Hera saw the forest give way to a vast grassland. She tried to approach it, but her hand was stopped in the air as if she was pressing against a sheet of glass. This seemed to be a wall, like the ones Mr. Greyson talked about in the first week of training. The weirdest part of this wasn't just being stopped by something she couldn't see, but the wall was warm. Not enough to heat anything. It was colder than her hand, but it felt like an empty cup of coffee that was sitting out for a while.

Hera kept walking along the wall, staring at the open field before her. The grass kept going all the way to the horizon. She could probably see for a few kilometers. There wasn't any place like this in the real world. The closest to it would be the desert or the arctic, but never a grassland. Distracted by the view, she only stopped when a large rock was in her way. The boulder seemed to be pressed against the wall.

Hera walked around it, trying to understand what she was seeing. Since she got close to the wall, no slimes appeared, so this should be something different. But the grey rock looked just like that, a grey rock.

Unsure if it really was something Hera activated her [Inspect].

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Apex Slime (Simulation)

Type: Ruler

A slime that grew to abnormal size due to its feeding habits. Devouring everything in its path, even rocks, the slime developed a unique trait, turning its body into a liquid that can change densities.

It hunts by overwhelming its prey with its size and weight, or covering the prey with its viscous fluids and increasing the density until it cannot move.

Species not present inside the MAZE, created exclusively for the test.

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Hera was only able to read the name of the creature before the slime crashed down on her like a wave.