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Hera Kingsley -- Role: Explorer Level: 6

Stats:

Strength: 23 Endurance: 23

Agility: 23 Charisma: 23

Intelligence: 23 Luck: 23

Mana: 511/511

Remaining attribute points: 0

Skills:

Passive:

Exponential Growth

Observe

Treasure Map

Handaxe Combat, Chakram Combat, Wire Trap Style

Dodge, Run, Improved Stamina

Mana Recovery

Active:

All in

Inspect

Hide

Local Guide

Weapon Maintenance

Etching

Role Skills:

Explorer's Assassinate

Explorer's Map

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Before leaving the dungeon, Hera increased her attributes. She gained 7 bonus attribute points, plus the 7 she got from her level up and the 1 left from the previous level made her total a whooping 15 attribute points to spend. That allowed her to increase all her stats by 3 points. It could have been more, but the [Exponential Growth] cost increased to 5 points when her attributes reached the 20 mark. Now she was one point behind Alex's agility.

"I guess that's why they say 'A jack of all trades is a master of none,'" Hera sighed.

"You know that's not the full saying, right?" Runir said.

"It's not?"

"No, the full saying is 'a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one,' It was originally a compliment," Runir explained.

"Really? I never heard that last part."

"Me neither," Bonnie appeared behind Hera, who jumped to the side in response.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Hey, don't blame me for spacing out. We are in a dungeon. You should be ready for anything."

"We just beat this. Nothing is going on here."

"You never know," Bonnie shrugged.

They left the dungeon and ran it one more time, facing another sprite amalgamation. After completing it for the 5th time of the day, they were tired and decided to head back to town. Tom kept trying to make the group excited about going to the labyrinth, talking about the rewards and treasure inside, but nothing sounded worth the trouble. Sure there were some possible accessories and weapons if they found a gilded chest, but the odds of seeing one were abysmal, much less to get some of the rarer items. When putting on the scale that they had to deal with traps that could kill them, gas chambers, falling rocks, and paths that could crumble under their weight, the group agreed that they would only attempt it after getting much stronger and more experienced, to Tom's dismay.

During the next week, the group kept doing repeated runs in the underground forest, but they only faced the Sprite Amalgamation and the Light of the Forest. That showed how rare the third boss really was. Their time was always improving, and by the end of the 6th day, it only took 80 minutes to kill the boss and return. Thanks to Bonnie, who kept track of the Traveling Stove's schedule, they could optimize their time and do 6 runs each day without getting too tired on the way back as they did in the first few days.

On average, they made 1 800 gold each day of work, and the disparity with the salary outside the MAZE became even more evident. Hera considered that this was all due to the high risk of their work, but the people working the mines could make at least 2 000 gold every day working about the same amount of time. If they found something rarer or a large ore vein, their earning would skyrocket. This was just the 2nd layer, and the difference was already this big. Suddenly that armor priced at billions seemed less exorbitant even if it wasn't something she ever intended to buy.

After the weekend, they decided to take a three-day break. Most of them were still excited about fighting, but Bonnie and Runir wanted to take some time to look up a few things. Hera enjoyed the day off. She still had to figure out the fear spell and the module that Helena had given her. She spent most of the first day inside an ATR trying to learn the spells taking advantage of the mana's less erratic behavior inside the training rooms.

Looking carefully at the spells and how the energy behaved in each of them, trying to find some hint, some glimpse into how the mana shifted from one element to another, was much more complicated than Hera expected. She could see how the mana came out of her body when she attempted to form a new spell or use her mana reinforcement. Still, when using a spell such as a fire arrow or something that had a specific type of mana already embedded into it, she found that there was no transition, no moment when the energy would shift from one state to another. It felt like the mana was already going out as its required element.

In order to understand the module spell that Helena gave her, Hera had to improve her understanding of mana itself. How it moved around the air, how it reacted to an external force. How it could change from one element to another effortlessly. By following the mana around her, almost in a meditative state, Hera started to notice not just the magic she was using but also the magic that surrounded her trainer. Unlike what she felt inside herself, the mana around the trainer moved harmoniously with the rest of its body. She kept trying to mirror her own magic with what she felt coming from her trainer, but the task proved to be exceedingly difficult. Making her mana follow her commands by itself seemed like making a river change its course by asking it nicely. Hera could tell that there was a fundamental gap in her knowledge, but what was it?

There was a buzzing noise informing Hera that her time inside the ATR had run out. She opened her eyes with a sigh and was met with a notification

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Skill Acquired: Mana Sense

Mana Sense:

Allows you to feel the mana in your surroundings more easily.

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The description was simple, but the possibilities were numerous. The first idea that popped into her mind was to use the skill as a radar around herself. With that, dodging spells would be much easier, or at least there was a way to see them coming and brace herself for the impact. Hera was sure that there were more options, but these were only her initial thoughts. Another thing to do was to talk to Helena about the skill. The mage should have some insight into how to use the skill effectively.

After leaving the ATR, Hera went back to her home. Bonnie had sent a text to let her know that Mark was coming by the next day. He had finished everything in the workshop and wanted to find another place as soon as possible. It felt a bit weird, but it was better to ask about his reasons in person.

When Hera walked inside the house, the sound of rocks banging against metal was coming from the basement. There was also the noise of someone moving books and tossing paper around coming from her bedroom. Knowing how Helena got when she was deep into her research, Hera wanted to make some tea and maybe a snack to bring her friend, but first, she needed a shower. Even though mana training wasn't as intense as combat training, it still was enough to make her drenched in sweat. Using mana was nothing like using a muscle, but at the same time, the concentration required to maintain the flow of it was just as intense as doing a cardio workout.

Hera opened the door to her room and saw Bonnie sitting on the floor, surrounded by several pieces of paper and notebooks. Some of the pages on the floor looked old, as if they were from a binder that spent way too much time hidden away in a closet. By the trash, there were a couple of cans of energy drinks and some candy wrappings. If it wasn't for the view of a purple swamp through the window, this scene would look like it was from a college dorm with someone cramming for finals. Bonnie even had some marker caps stuck to her hair.

"Are you ok?" Hera walked over the notebooks towards her dresser.

"Fine. Working. Close to a thing," Bonnie's voice was mechanical and emotionless. Her eyes were still glued to the pages.

Hera took a peek at the writing on the notebook by the dresser and saw an extensive chemical formula followed by graphs and odd drawings of what looked like blueprints for something. Just looking at it gave Hera a headache. She grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the shower, giving up on understanding what was going through Bonnie's head.

Blue and Alex were going to the only club in Hazelpond and would come home late, and considering the state that Bonnie and Helena were in, Hera could take advantage of the bathtub and relax for some time. After leaving her parents' house, she never had a chance to take an actual bath. It was a small pleasure that could make even the hardest of days softer. Taking one of the bath bombs she bought, Hera filled up the tub and jumped in the water.

After getting out of the bathroom, she went downstairs to prepare some tea. Bonnie and Helena probably had skipped lunch and would realize how hungry they were the moment their research stopped. While the water was heating up, Hera ordered some food for dinner using an old order to ensure that everyone had something they liked. She gave them the tea and stayed in the living room watching some movies while waiting for the food. The television wasn't enough to keep her mind from wandering back to her skills.

Now that she was outside a dungeon, she could see how the explorer's map worked in a different place. Usually, when using a map, one would have to manually input any notes and descriptions. With the skill, the information was added instantly. There were a few different filters that could show the monster's habitat, the approximate strength of each area, and other options. Hera could read through each monster's compendium and any extra information that was discovered on a side menu. Thinking objectively, this wasn't something special. Anyone could have access to the same information. The benefits were only the convenience of having it all gather automatically and the ability to search for a specific term. On a small search bar, she could, for instance, search for poison, and a list with all the things related to poison that she could find on the current map would appear. The list could vary from monsters and items to fruits, locations, and even shops. Not that she could access the store's inventory, but when searching for medicine, the location of any drugstores known by her would appear.

There was one more thing that was bothering her about the skill. The map was divided into areas. They could be towns, settlements, forests, swamps, caves, and each had its distinct names even if there were things like 'Brinefront west forest.' Following each name, on the corner of the map, there was a completion rate. Places like Hazelpond or the Frog Valley Camp were marked as 100% complete, but areas like Brinefront and even the lost sailor cave had different rates. At first, she thought that those numbers were about map completion. How much of an area she had discovered, but both Brinefront and the sailor cave had complete maps.

After half an hour trying to figure out why the rates were different, Hera gave up on finding it alone. She opened the website for the Order of Lost Court and went to the explorer's forum. After a quick search, it was evident that no post had been made on the subject, although a few mentioned the skill. Basically, the explorer's map could take advantage of any other skill or spell that gave them information about an area. Trackers could see the direction of the tracks they found, scouts could mark the location of enemies. In theory, if someone had a strong enough detection ability, the map could work as a real-time satellite picture. This was just speculative, but some were able to track movements in an area of 50 meters and have that information displayed on the map.

Hera created a post about the completion rate, asking if it could have anything to do with the treasure map skill, and put her tablet away, trying once more to focus on the television. After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. Her food had arrived. She set up the table before calling the pair of workaholics.

"Guys! Dinner is ready. Come eat while it's hot!"