The group avoided talking while retreating from their attack. Hera was taking up the rear with the Omega mages. She was worried about what Alex could end up doing. She was way too aggressive when fighting the kobolds. It was clear that she wasn't in the right mood to be fighting. They moved towards the rest of the Wolves of the Night. Looking to the side, Hera could see the canine kobolds rushing towards the Dragon Kin army. They weren't able to move forward while the ballistas were still functional, but now they could attack. Several traps were already exposed, all thanks to Rose's team. Unfortunately, some kobolds ended up falling into pitfalls that were yet to be revealed. Most were just wounded and could jump out of the holes in just a moment, but a few weren't so lucky.

When Hera and her group were getting close to the Thunderfury's army, a notification appeared.

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You have completed a quest

Azura's first request

The Wolves of the Night's ability to identify traps has increased after you helped localize all the pitfall traps before too many casualties.

20% of Dragon Kin traps will be revealed for everyone.

Dragon Kin morale -300

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Rose's team wasn't the only one involved in revealing the traps. Some were found by the attacking kobolds, but they counted for the quest nonetheless. The two groups got together. Alan quickly made sure that everyone was in good shape with no significant injuries. At the same time, the Omegas thanked the group and ran off to report to their alpha. Azura came close right after they left.

"Thank you for your assistance. We were genuinely unprepared to face such a foe. Even though I still don't approve of the Omegas' creation, their value is more apparent after this, so is yours."

"We appreciate the kind words. Do you have anything else that you need help with?" Rose asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. This is not a request coming from the Thunderfury's alpha but from myself. Go to my father, Ferunir. Stay by him during the day and make sure that he doesn't take any unnecessary risks. There will come a time for our mighty chieftain to join the battle, but it is not today."

Alan nodded, "Of course, we can stay by him and help with anything. We'll keep him safe, don't worry."

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You have received a quest.

Azura's second request.

The second daughter of Ferunir tasks you to take care of her father during the first day of the war.

Protect Ferunir

Failure condition: Allowing Ferunir to be wounded by the Dragon Kin.

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Alan turned around, "Let's go, guys. He should be in the back of the army."

Everyone nodded and headed off. That would be the last quest for the day. They would basically stay as bodyguards. It was likely that nothing would happen, but the Dragon Kin could try an attack. On the first day, that was very rare, especially since they had to break through the two strongest clans in the middle of the army.

While they walked, Hera pulled Alex aside, "What the hell happened back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play with me. You know what."

"I just needed to let out some steam."

"That was much more than just steam. You told me you wouldn't do anything stupid."

"I… I'm sorry. The text messed with me more than it should have," Alex looked away.

"If you are going to let that affect you this way, I'm going to have to ask. What did he say?" Hera pressed.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"It's clearly something, and I'm already worried. Letting things fester is never a good idea. What happened?"

Alex sighed before pulling her tablet, opening the text, and passed it to Hera. She took a quick glance at the conversation. It's been a year since the previous message, and now Gerald sent a picture of him wearing a trucker hat, large chains around his neck, and baggy shorts with a girl in a bright pink tube top and a face filled with heavy makeup. It was such a stereotypical party girl that just by looking at the image made Hera smell the bubblegum lipstick. Underneath it, there was a single phrase. 'I finally found a real girl to be with.'

"Oh, please. Tell me you are not bothered by this brain-dead cantaloupe fucker being with a girl who was gullible enough to fall for his talk?" Hera gave back the tablet.

"I don't care about him. What bothered me is what he said."

"What? The real girl thing?" Alex shrugged, making Hera let out a long sight, "Alex, don't let that bother you. I mean, c'mon, you are an amazing woman."

"Am I? I never liked makeup, never dressed girly, always liked assassins and swords instead of dolls or cute animals. The girliest thing about me is my fear of frogs."

"So what? Don't start with that girls need to like pink and ribbons thing. The only person I know that actually likes pink is Quinn, and trust me, even dolls are not as girly as she is."

"It's not that. No one ever thought of me as a girl. I mean, seriously, he was my boyfriend and gave me a strap-on as a gag joke once. Even my family say that I didn't act like a little lady, whatever that means," Alex said.

"That strap-on thing says much more about him than about you, and family never knows who we are. They just toss their expectations at us and complain if we do anything outside of them."

Hera took a look at the rest of the group. They noticed that they were having a serious discussion and gave them enough space not to be in earshot. Blue saw her look and made a motion asking if everything was ok. Hera just nodded and gestured them to stay there.

"Ok then, so what are you saying? Do you think you might have the wrong body?" Hera asked.

"I don't know. Maybe everyone is right. Since I'm not a lady, I should be a guy."

"Are you listening to yourself right now? Are you really saying that you are thinking about that because of others? If you do something like that because of other people, you will end up hating yourself for it."

"I'm not. I'm just not sure what I mean," Alex said.

Hera rubbed her eyes, "Alex, sweetie…" she even stopped walking, realizing that she sounded exactly like Helena. Looking back at Alex with wide eyes, Hera said, "I never said that word. I never sounded like that. This never happened. Never. You guys already give me enough crap, saying that I'll end up like a blonde version of her."

Alex just nodded in response, trying to hide a smile.

"Anyway. I'm saying that you can't let other people's opinions dictate your life like that. If you really think that your body is… not yours, it's one thing. Doing that just to follow what other people say is another thing entirely," Hera continued.

"You have a point. But I still need to figure out some stuff."

"That's kind of a given, but yeah. Just focus on what you want and think, not what others say. And if anyone else tells you you are not a real girl, just remember that nothing is hotter than a woman with a dark assassin aesthetic, and you are one face mask away from it," Hera said.

"I had no idea that was your thing," Alex laughed, "Thanks, Hera. Oh my bad, I mean, thanks, Lena."

"Don't you start!" Hera rolled her eyes.

The two kept walking away from the group for a few moments before heading back. Alex wasn't exactly better, but her mind was a bit clearer. About five minutes later, they arrived at Ferunir's position. Alan said they came to stay by him just in case.

"Ha, you don't have to lie to me, my friend. I'm sure this is a request from my daughter. She can be ruthless in battle, but at the same time, she has a very soft heart," Ferunir laughed.

The group spread around and waited. It was a very dull mission. Ferunir was the one in charge of sending orders and such. He would ask for opinions on strategy every now and then, but either his plan was too perfect, or the flaw was so evident that anyone could tell him what was wrong and how to fix it. In one instance, he asked how he could break through a fortified position where the Dragon Kin had hunkered down with five platoons of archers. His plan was to push through with swordsmen, but he also had five battalions of archers, who had more range than the Dragon Kin, and two teams of mages who could easily break down their barricades at his disposal.

Every time they gave a satisfactory answer, a notification appeared, showing a minor reduction to the Dragon Kin morale. Yet, their biggest problem was making sure Ferunir stayed put. He kept trying to move to the front or to walk around the back of the army while Alan insisted that he, as the leader, had to be in the same place so the clans could find him if needed.

The hours passed as the battle continued. When the sun started to come down, all the fighting stopped at once, and the two factions headed back to their camps. Ferunir headed straight to the command tent, thanking the humans once more as the army marched back.

Alan explained that they would have about half an hour to rest when they got back to the camp. After that, the first-night quest would be available. He would be talking to the alphas once more to discuss strategy, check their numbers, and Bonnie asked to join. She wanted to learn about the tactics and how she could complete those quests in the future.

Hera and the rest headed back to their tent, refilling their water and taking a small break. They weren't particularly tired, but they had to take advantage of those little moments. The quests now would be mostly about either helping carry supplies to the different clans, taking care of their equipment, the wounded, and lifting up their spirits. Hera and Rose left towards the main armory, where about 20 kobolds worked quickly to repair the broken weapons.

"Hi there, we know how to deal with weapons. Mind if we help?" Rose asked.

"You are the humans that knew Golden Moon, correct?" a short-haired kobold with white fur asked.

"Yep, that's us."

"We appreciate all help we can get. I'm also rather curious about the different techniques that you might employ," the kobold replied.

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Quest acquired

Support from the back 1

Assist the kobolds who are repairing the equipment used by the army. The more weapons you repair, the better the results

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"I don't think we are much different in that subject, but sure," Rose smiled as the kobold led them towards a workbench. They would have to share the space, but it had all the tools they needed. They would be left alone there for a while until everyone had reached their quota, "Sit here, we can start to work. Let's focus on finishing some weapons first, then I start balancing them out."

"How does that work? I mean, it's not like you can reforge this, right? That's the only way that it should be possible to change the balance of a weapon," Hera asked.

"It's a skill that lets me move the mana to change where the weight of the weapon is. It works just like a buff, but unlike a spell, I don't use mana to do it. What the skill does is change where the mana is inside the weapon to give it a little oomph," Rose explained.

"Can you teach me later?"

"Usually you have to pay for some lessons, but since you are going to help me train it, I'll consider that your pay. It also depends a lot on how sensitive you are to mana, but that comes later. Take care of a few weapons just so I can tell if you can help with that," Rose pointed to the side.

There was a large pile between their workbench and another. Most weapons there seemed fine and just needed some sharpening. The spears and bows would be a problem since Hera never tried to fix that type of weapon. She picked a sword and started working on it while Rose did the same. The two had very different speeds. When Hera finished her first sword, Rose was already halfway through the second piece of equipment. Even so, it was comfortable doing this type of thing. Hera was already used to doing mechanical tasks from the time she worked in the bookstore, and without a boss yelling in her ear, it was even therapeutic.

She finished the fourth sword, placing it on the side when a notification popped up.

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Level Up

Current Level: 7

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"Oh," Hera gasped.

"What?" Rose asked without looking away from the spear in her hands.

"I just leveled up."

"For repairing weapons?" Rose laughed, "I guess everything we do can give us experience."

Hera chuckled and distributed her new attributes before going back to work.

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Hera Kingsley -- Role: Explorer Level: 7

Stats:

Strength: 25 Endurance: 25

Agility: 25 Charisma: 25

Intelligence: 25 Luck: 25

Mana: 642/642

Remaining attribute points: 5

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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Hera increased all her stats by 3, spending all attribute points to do so. She reached 25, which meant that it would cost more to increase all of them at once. She was trying to be positive, but the number of attribute points seemed low. She spent almost a month fighting in a dungeon every day, not to mention getting new spells, improved the rank of one, and even pretended to be a dragon, but only got 7 extra points. At least her mana was increasing at a steady pace. She closed the window and went back to the repairs. She wanted to improve her [Weapon Maintenance] skill, but only to level 3. Getting the mage role was still something she wanted to do soon.