When Hera came back, she still wanted to train, however using the moves from the Wire Trap style inside the house was a recipe for disaster. Seeing that, Helena gave the explorer the information on another spell. It was something called Mana Reinforcement. That was the base for most elemental buffs that could be applied to weapons and armor.

The mage did her best to explain how to use it, but since Hera used the conceptual approach to magic, she couldn't give the explorer a good example. Hera thanked her for the spell and went back to the ATR when the time for her reservation got close. Hera kept working with her trainer, doing her best to memorize the forms used in the Wire Trap style. One specific attack was giving her a lot of trouble. She had to swing the chakram sideways and let it go. The idea was to either hit the target or make the chakram wrap around the target's side.

After a few hours, Hera felt like she was going nowhere. Her weapon would never wrap around the dummy. It would either hit it or just try to spin but flop around on the other side. She asked the trainer to show her the fire arrow once more. That was the one spell she had yet to figure out. Taking some time to study magic seemed like a good way to rest her body.

Hera tried using her Elemental Sight to understand the spell better. The mana was much less violent than she expected. Instead of several explosions like she imagined. She saw the magic pulling the air around it like someone was gathering leaves.

Before the arrow formed, a small ball of fire mana appeared in front of the trainer's hand. Then, in a flash, the fire changed its shape and propelled itself forward, pushing the flaming leaves back. The movement made Hera remember of fireworks launching or how bottle rockets took off.

She tried to replicate it a few times, getting closer to the desired result with each attempt. However, the mana in front of her behaved differently. Instead of a peaceful gathering, it was a violent grouping. The magic seemed to pull everything around towards it, devouring all that got close. When she tried to release it, the mana would consume itself so quickly that it couldn't gather more fuel to keep going.

Hera kept practicing both the spell and the combat style. At the end of the day, she managed to unlock the skill and add the spell to her spellbook.

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

Wire Trap Style - Beginner

A fighting style that focuses on using a chain with a weight attached to the end of it to hit and trap your target.

The skill allows you to use moves from that style using muscle memory. However, attacks performed with the aid of the skill won't increase the mastery of the style.

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

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

Fire Arrow

Rank: Beginner

Creates a flaming arrow made of mana and sends it to the target.

Base mana cost: 25 mana

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

As she left the ATR, she got a text from Ronan letting her know that her weapon was ready and that the shop would stay open for a couple more hours. She looked at the time, it was late afternoon, but she still had time to pick up her improved weapon. She quickly headed towards the doorway. Getting a new weapon made her excited, especially now that she knew the Wire Trap style. In less than twenty minutes, she was back in the forge talking to Clayton.

"Welcome back. Glad you could make it today. Ronan was a bit anxious to see your reaction to the result."

"I'm excited too. It's the first time I'm getting equipment enchanted," Hera smiled at the man.

"Really? I couldn't tell. You seemed very sure of what you wanted," Clayton said.

"I got some help from a friend. If I were going to decide here, I probably would have stayed the entire day thinking."

Clayton chuckled, "Fair enough. Let me go get Ronan."

Hera heard some noise coming from the back. Something heavy seemed to have hit the ground, followed by a few grunts and Ronan leaving the backroom while shaking his hand and carrying a box under his arm.

"Sorry about that, an armor that I was working on toppled. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Here."

The crafter placed the box on the counter and opened it towards Hera. Inside it, her chakram was placed on top of a red velvet pillow. The weapon still had the same shape, with the handle in the middle and the three sets of blades going out, making the wing-like pattern. But now, instead of the dark grey color, it had a lighter tone. The handle was now the darkest part of the weapon. Going towards the wings, the blade changed to a light spectral green shade. It was a color similar to the ghosts that Hera has seen in the Arcanist Lookout. She activated her [Inspect] to see if there were any changes in the attributes.

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

Mayura's Spirit (Chakram)

Rarity: Uncommon

A chakram enchanted by a crafter's apprentice. Crafted from the feathers of a dusk peacock. Due to the technique used on its conception, the feather changed the color of the iron instead of strengthening it. However, when imbued with a spirit essence, the feathers converted to the related element.

Attribute scaling:

Agility x 1.06

Intelligence x1.03

Type of damage:

35% Spirit

65% Physical

Additional effect:

Any other elemental effect applied to the weapon will also increase the spirit damage.

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

Hera kept reading the description, thinking about the possibilities. If she managed to get that mana reinforcement, it could increase the elemental damage even more. Although, she wasn't sure if raw mana would count as another element. She knew about the ant burrow, a place where the monsters would have a high physical defense. There was no doubt in her mind that many other creatures like that existed inside the MAZE.

Ronan kept looking at the explorer. He was trying to read her expression. As she frowned, he began to feel even more restless, "Look, I apologize if this wasn't what you were looking for. I did my best, I really did."

"Ronan," Clayton said, trying to silence his grandson.

"I'm not trying to make excuses here, Pops. This was the best I could do. Enchantments are hard, and I know I'm still missing some practice. I'm sure that if you made it, you could turn the chakram into a rare one. Still, a job is a job, and we can't afford not to be paid," Ronan kept going.

Hera was a bit surprised by how defensive the crafter was. This was fantastic work. Why would anyone complain about these results?

"No, don't worry. I love it! It's more than I hoped for. Honestly, I thought it would just end up being a catalyst that could increase the power of my spells. Or if I was lucky, it could give some elemental damage. This was much better than I could ever hope," Hera said.

It wasn't a lie. She was genuinely impressed with the result. However, she noticed something familiar in Ronan. A desire to please and to show his worth. And if what he said was right, his grandfather was a very accomplished crafter. That meant that in the future, Ronan would be able to create amazing things. It would be nice to keep a good relationship with the two.

"Oh, thanks," Ronan was taken aback by the compliment.

"Thank you, Hera," Clayton said with a smile.

Hera discussed a few things with Ronan in order to clarify some doubts she had about the weapon. The extra spirit damage would be based on the strength of the effect applied. He explained that spirit damage was something that wouldn't leave a visible mark, but people with high sensibility could see the impact in the target's mana.

With all her doubts cleared, Hera paid the rest of the enchantment cost and headed back to Hazelpond. It was late, and Helena had already ordered some food. Heading back to the house, Hera had to wait another hour in line before crossing the doorway. By the end, she just wanted to take a shower. The Carpon Caverns were always so hot that she was sweating just by standing while waiting her turn.

Reaching the house, Hera opened the door, "Lena, I'm back. Please don't show up in another weird costume."

"Hey! My costumes are always great," the mage yelled from the kitchen, "You really should treat the one who kept the food warm for you better."

Hera chuckled, "Sorry. I just don't want that to be a pattern. The clothes were great, but I don't need to know what you do when you are alone with your computer."

Helena rolled her eyes, "Fine, can I grab the food now? I'm hungry too."

"Wait. Were you waiting for me?" Hera stopped midway to her room.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to wait for my lovely assistant," Helena walked out of the kitchen, "But I'm guessing that you want to take a shower first."

Hera was drenched. Her clothes had dried and got wet again a few times during the day, but the worst part was waiting to leave the caverns.

"Do you mind? I'll take a quick one just to clean up," Hera asked.

"Sure, I'll wait," Helena walked to the dining room.

Hera took a quick shower. She usually would spend half an hour relaxing under the hot water, but since Helena had waited for her to start eating, Hera wanted to be quick. In just over ten minutes, she was back and ready for dinner. The explorer showed off her new weapon after their meal. Helena was surprised by the result. She didn't expect the material to work so well with the spirit essence.

"So, Lena. Your turn. Tell me about your research," Hera said after she put the chakram away.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Helena asked.

"I know what you are trying to do. Figure out a way to see your secondary affinities so everyone can have an easier time using magic. But why is that?"

"Why?"

"Yeah. Why did you decide to research this?" Hera asked.

"Oh.. wow, I don't remember the last time someone asked me that. Honestly, it wasn't a grand reason like 'I wanted to help the world,' I got pissed because I spent a long time training some elements that ended up being terrible for me. When I started, I wanted to be a light and dark mage. My idea was to turn half my mana into dark and then the other half into light. The problem is, synch works differently than I thought. The skills say that when most of your mana turns to a specific element, all the mana becomes that element. I assumed that I could turn 50% of my mana pool into dark mana and then the other 50% into light mana. The issue was since I already had some other elements in the mix, like water and fire. So when my mana became close to 50% dark, it all changed to dark, and then all the time I spent working in the light spells was wasted."

"So, you don't have to change your mana completely to trigger the conversion?" Hera asked.

"Exactly, it doesn't consider your entire mana pool, just the biggest shareholder, so to speak," Helena said.

"Got it, and how do you figure out the secondary affinity?"

"Well, first, we need to have some case studies. That's why I'm asking you to find the affinities of several monsters. We can cross-reference their elements and try to figure out some patterns. My hope is that the spell I taught you will start to show more information as its rank increases. Even my version is still at the beginner level. But since you seem to have a high mana affinity, maybe you can see more using the buff."

"What do you mean, I have mana affinity?" Hera asked.

"I'm just assuming here. But some of the things you told me about your spells and how you see magic makes me think that you do not see one element but the actual raw mana working and changing. For instance, the fire arrow spell. You said it's like seeing something pull leaves towards a pile, right?" Helena explained.

Hera nodded, "Yeah, like something being gathered in a ball."

"Ok, so that is not how I see fire mana. To me is much more like an actual flame burning its surrounding area. You already were sensitive to mana even before getting the actual mana stat. I'm guessing that why you can see magic differently."

"Well, but everyone sees spells in their own way, right? It's not like fire mana is the same for everyone," Hera said.

"True, but most people get something close to the actual element. Fire would be flames, explosions, or embers. I asked around, and I got in touch with a mage who managed to synch with raw mana, and his description of spells is much closer to yours than anyone else."

Hera considered that for a moment, Helena had told her that she was able to feel mana even during the training. Even though people could control their elemental affinities to a degree, it wasn't uncommon for someone who never used any form of magic to have one or two affinities already.

"Ok, and how can I help right now?" Hera asked.

"Well, you know I won't talk about the more technical aspect of my research until you can help me with it. But for now, we need a bigger sample range. I need you to go out and start taking notes of the monsters and their affinities. If you can, try to write down the types of skills and spells they use. The more information, the better," Helena said with a smile.

"Ok, but I'll start tomorrow. I'm beat."

Helena chuckled, and the two watched a movie before going to bed. Hera was both tired and excited. It was time to actually be a mage's assistant.