Helena walked towards Hera and gave the explorer a big hug.

"Lena! It's so good to see you," Hera hugged the mage back.

"Tell me about it. It looks like we haven't seen each other in a month."

Hera was surprised by Helena's appearance. She only ever saw the mage in her clerk uniform, even when they went out for drinks. She wore a pair of tall armored black boots, black pants, and a skirt that was long on the back but short in the front. There was a long cloak on her side, falling to her knee. The mantle had a grey smoke pattern covering it. Underneath it all, there was a light grey shirt with sleeves just after her elbows. Helena also had her curly hair put up with a grey headband.

"Wow, Lena, you look amazing," Hera gasped.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself."

"Yeah, but you already saw me like this. What's new here is you all geared up."

The two of them laughed and headed towards the city. Helena knew a small coffee shop where they could get a private room. As they headed towards it, Hera couldn't help but ask.

"So why did you come back to the MAZE?"

"Well, the guild master called me to help with the wall."

Hera stopped walking with her eyes fixed on Helena.

"What?" Helena asked.

"Isn't you level too low to go there? You are just level 20, aren’t you?"

"I'm level 18, but I'm not taking part in the actual assault. I'm going there as a supporter. I'll explain to you a bit better when we get to a more private place," Helena explained.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a small little place with just a couple of tables on the outside and a small door at the side of the counter. Helena talked to the attendant, and the two were guided to the second floor of the building. There was a large central area with a few tables. On the outer ring of the floor, there was a series of closed rooms for people who wanted more privacy.

They entered one of those rooms. In there, any order they made would be delivered through a small lift in the corner of the room.

"They also have a soundproofing enchantment on the walls. So we can talk without worry," Helena explained.

The duo ordered some food and had a nice brunch together. Hera told Helena all about her adventures, from fighting frogs to finding the dungeon and learning about the legends of the city.

Helena told Hera about her work on the guild and how Greyson was acting up since there was a new instructor. The fighter acted like a kid, angry because someone else took a toy he wasn't playing. After a while, Helena talked about her plans.

"I'm going to the wall, and then I think I'm going back to my research. I spent some time with my family, and now I want to get back to my work."

"And where is that exactly?"

"It's on the 8th layer, in a room called Charring Wastes. There I still have my lab and my research waiting for me. It's a bit dangerous since the average level of the creatures is 22, but it has everything I need for my work."

Helena told Hera about the room where her lab was located. It was a vast wasteland surrounded by a chain of active volcanos. The soil was very rich, but due to the high temperature and constant rain of ash, it was nearly impossible to grow something there. Despite the problems, it was a place rich in mana. The eruptions would spew out almost every type of mana there was, and various rare materials and crystals were easily acquired in there.

"Wow, it sounds kind of awful, but useful," Hera chuckled, "But tell me, why a level 18 mage is going to the wall?"

Helena took a sip of her coffee, enjoying the taste before answering, "I have an enchantment spell that can help. You know how we can give temporary buffs to equipment, right? But usually, we are limited to one buff per piece of equipment. The spell I made lets you place two different buffs in one part of the gear. When I made the spell, I was so excited, but it didn't take long to find out that other people had similar spells. It's still rare to find people with this particular skill, and mine doesn't affect the power of the buffs. If I use that spell in a weapon, someone at a higher level can use two strong enchantments at full strength."

Hera was surprised by the concept, but as Helena told her. The spell was too complicated for her to learn right now, and she needed to be able to apply some buffs before being able to use that spell.

"Ok, now for the main part of my visit," Helena started to rummage through her bag, "Oh, don't tell Bonnie she wasn't the main part of the visit. It was the main reason as a member of the order, just not on a personal level."

Hera chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't say a word."

Helena took a small notebook from her bag, "Great, now before I give you this. Can you accept the order I just sent you?"

Hera picked her tablet and saw a notification for a new order.

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

Helena's assistant

Sweetie, this is an easier way for us to work together. I can ask for various things, and each will have their own rewards.

By accepting this order, you enter an NDA with me. You are not allowed to share any information about my research unless I give you permission to do so.

Requests

# Monster affinity

# Area affinity

# Item affinity

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

Hera read the order, but she got worried about one thing. "Lena, before I accept. Can you clarify one thing about the NDA?"

"Sure, I mean, it's not something I'm willing to remove. I told you that we mages are very paranoid with our research. If that was the question."

"No, I understand. But what is considered sharing the information about your research? Like if I find out that a monster is weak to fire, I'm not allowed to tell anyone? Or I can't even mention that I'm working for you?"

Helena gave Hera a smirk, "I'm a bit impressed. I didn't expect you to think that far ahead. So, the basics. Yes, you can tell you are working for me, and yes, you can tell if you need to do something specific for me. Even telling what you need to figure out is fine, but you can't say what's my objective. If it comes to that, say you don't know."

Helena took a small bite of one of the cupcakes they ordered, "The information you find out about the affinities of places and items you are free to share, of course. Just don't go posting them online for free. We might be able to make some money updating some compendiums and making our own. I'll share the profits with you if it comes to that. I ask for you not to share any spells or information that I give you about my research. If you want to help your friends with some information that I gave you, ask me first. I need to be sure it's not something too sensitive. Aside from that, if you want to talk about something but have some doubts, just ask me."

The mage took another sip of her coffee and looked Hera deep into her eyes, "I trust you, Hera, I really do. If I didn't, I wouldn't even ask you to help me. But I need to be careful. Some people already tried to steal my work, and I don't want that to happen, especially now that I have you to help me."

Hera nodded, "I understand, you are just trying to be safe. I just don't want to end up breaking this by accident, or if I'm in danger and sharing something would help."

"Oh no, of course not," Helena grabbed Hera's hand, "Sweetie, if you are ever in a situation where your life in on the line. Don't worry about this. Do what you can to survive."

Hera held her friend's hand. She couldn't remember the last time she felt someone seemed to care so much, aside from her grandma. Her eyes teared up a bit, "Thanks, Lena."

"Don't you start crying now, or I'm going to cry too," Helena laughed, trying to change the subject.

"I'm not," Hera accepted the order and showed it to Helena, "Here, but shouldn't we be on the guild to do this?"

"Consider it my last task as a clerk," Helena laughed and passed the notebook to Hera, "Now, here there is a spell that I developed using my research. It is a way to get information on the primary affinity of something. It works as a buff for your inspect or observe. Not only I'll ask you for getting that information for various monsters, but sometimes I might need materials from creatures with specific affinities."

After reading through the notebook, Hera saw how to use the spell and some examples of what she should see. Before spending too much time reading the notebook, Helena cut her off and asked about the skills the explorer had bought.

Hera told her about the pulse spell she figured out, the weapon maintenance, and the etching skills that she wasn't able to get yet.

Helena made a few recommendations to get the skills quicker. For the weapon maintenance, the best way was to work as a blacksmith or in the guild as a sharpener for a while. The etching was an interesting skill. Helena got it when she wanted to become an enchanter. The trick she found was to carve a word in her food, bite the carving out, and repeat it. After she got the skill, she could use the right tools to buff her weapons and gear.

After a couple more hours talking, they left the coffee shop. Helena still had to talk with Bonnie and Blue, and then she would head towards the 5th layer to meet the group that would take her to the wall.

Hera asked her friends to come to her room in the inn so they could talk to Helena. The mage explained how the order worked, Bonnie seemed really interested, but she asked for a couple of days to think. Blue, on the other hand, was still on the fence. Only after Helena explained that she could join any other group since the order was a small organization that the controller agreed to join. Alex was still looking for a different group, and since Leo was in the Crimson Coalition, he couldn't be a part of any other orders.

After that, Hera walked Helena towards the docks. She needed to take a boat to reach her next doorway. Hera thanked Helena once again for everything she did for her.

"Sweetie, I only did what anyone would do. You don't need to thank me for it."

Hera shook her head and held Helena's hand, "You were the only one willing to help a crying girl in the middle of the rain. You saw me, Lena, I can never thank you enough for it."

"I told you not me make me cry," Helena gave Hera a big hug. They stayed like that for a few moments and let go.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Quinn sent you this," Helena picked two small bottles from her bag, "It's a cleansing cream to remove all the dirt from your face, the other one is a moisturizer. You apply it after cleaning your face. I recommend you use both before sleeping."

Hera nodded, "Will do, and do you have her number? I forgot to get when we meet."

Helena gave Hera Quinn's number, "Oh, and after Blue's application is complete, I'll send you the recruitment bonus."

"What bonus?"

"You get some contribution points. It will be something like 100 points since she level 3. When you get those points, save it for a while. There is a buff skill that might be very good for you, but you need 500 points and some knowledge on elemental magic for it. I'll send you some books later to give you a hand," Helena explained.

The ship gave a signal that was about to leave, and Helena said her goodbyes. Hera went back to the inn to talk to her friends.

Each of them had a different plan for the weekend. Bonnie wanted to talk to her mom about the pay she had to do. Alex wanted to go home and see her family. Leo intended to keep training with Tiger, Blue and Hera were the only ones who didn't have any big ideas.

They all agreed to take the weekend off and leave for the Frog Valley on Thursday. On Monday, the high-level explorers would try to break through the wall, and they didn't want to miss the transmission.

With everything already set up, Alex and Bonnie left the MAZE while Leo went towards the guild for another training session.

"So, what do we do now?" Hera asked, turning towards Blue.

"Wanna hit the gym?"