Hera felt trapped in the illusion, but now that she saw this was just a trick, it wasn't scary at all. If anything, it was annoying. She had no intention of thinking about Stella. And to top it all off, there wasn't even any food for her to eat. Whatever was this sludge that this fake Stella had created, it was completely inedible. Not only did it smell like sulfur and week-old garbage, but when she tried to taste just a little bit of it, it turned into sand in her mouth. The rest of this illusion went on as she expected. Some talks with her parents, she became a baby, Helena showed up and gave her the crystal that she couldn't reach, and she ended up back in the warehouse. This time the numbers in the package she had to carry were different, but this was the only moment during all this illusion where she didn't feel something controlling her thoughts. While everything else was going on, something was forcing her mind to go in a specific direction or to reply in a particular way, but here, while she had to carry this box, only her body seemed to be controlled. Her mind was free to wander and follow any path that she wanted. Because of that, this part of the illusion was the best moment to come up with a plan to get out of here.

She worked for just a couple of minutes when Hera tried to call Daskka using their Naga connection. She could feel the snake and not just feel but talk to her without any issues. Any questions that she had to ask, Daskka was right there to answer, her voice coming from her neck where she should be in the real world.

"Are you inside this illusion with me?" Hera asked.

"No… I'm out..side," Daskka replied, trying to speak without the help of the legacy.

"Can you see Blue, Bonnie, and the others?"

"Yes."

"Did any of them wake up?"

"Helena, and… Bonnie."

"Did they say anything, or just talked with the Jester and passed out again?"

"Talk. Then. Sleep."

"Crap… I don't know what I can do to stop the Jester from making me fall asleep again. Do you have any spells that can protect me from that kind of magic?"

"I don't, but we might be able to do something with the legacy," Daskka replied in perfect English.

"It's so weird when you change the way you speak like that."

"If you are complaining, I can stop," Daskka huffed.

"No, no, please continue. How can the legacy help us now?"

"OK, a quick explanation. You know how you have skills that can become a part of the legacy so that other holders can use them, right?"

"Yeah. Also, we should have a few minutes before I collapse and the illusion resets. So if you need to go into details, feel free to do so," Hera realized that this could be important and didn't want to rush the explanation. After all, this wasn't dangerous, just annoying and the pain she was feeling was much more subdued now that she could control her thoughts.

"That's good. Anyway, the same goes for you. You can use skills that the previous holders had. There is kind of like a market for the skill the previous holders had that only I, the herald, can see. And, to make things worse, I can't tell you about any of the skills unless you ask. And I don't mean like, ask about skills, in general, ask about either the specific skill or something that you can do. We can come back to this later. The important part is this. To get the skill you need to buy them with a sort of legacy currency. I don't know how much you have or how much a skill is worth, but you need to spend something to get them. And to get that currency all you need to do is use the legacy. It's weird, sorry."

"Don't worry. I think I understand. It's like a skill tree in a game, but you can only see if you can buy the skill or not, and not how many skill points you have."

"Kind of. But The thing is, there's a way for you to get skills that you shouldn't be getting. Like, if the skill is too expensive for you right now, you can basically take a loan from the legacy. There is a limit on how much 'currency' you can borrow and the more you take the longer you will have to wait to be able to get more skills. But there might be something that can help us there," Daskka explained.

"OK. Do you have any suggestions? Or do I have to ask about something specific?"

"You have to ask. What kind of skill do you want?"

"Is there any way to stop me from getting magically put to sleep?"

Daskka looked through the 'list' of skills, "Not really. Also, you don't know if you're being put to sleep, if it's mind control, or something else."

"Right… is there a way to split the effects then? Like, instead of having to go through the entire illusion, each member of the court can go through a few minutes of it?"

"Hum… Yeah. There are a couple that match that idea. The first is called Long Live the Queen, well king, but I suppose it will be Long Live the Empress for you. It lets you change the target for any attack or effect that was aimed at you to one of your blades."

"Can I change the target from one of my blades to me?"

"No. This one is about protecting the center of the court. With this one, the blades can't even change the target of the effects among themselves."

"Is there any other option? That sounds good, but if each Blade has its own specialty, it will be better if we can have the blades being able to protect each other or even letting me jump in myself," Hera asked.

"There's one called the King's Burden that does the opposite. It pulls all damage and effects to you instead of the court. And… here! This one is called Army of One. It makes you and your court to be a single thing. You can activate and deactivate the skill anytime you want, but when you have it active, most attacks or effects can be directed to any of the court members or split between them in any way. The idea is that you and your court are a single being. It's like one body, and you can choose which part of the body is gonna get hit by the effect. But some attacks can't be shared. Like, if you were about to be decapitated or something like that, you can't pass the attack to someone else. Also, this just redirects the damage, not the attack itself. So the impact will still happen on who was hit. Another thing, when this skill grows, it can increase or share buffs, but at first that effect will be almost irrelevant."

Hera tried to widen her eyes in surprise, but her body wasn't responding. She was still carrying the box to its next destination in this endless warehouse, "That one seems great. I'll take it. How much I'm going to have to borrow from the legacy?"

"I don't know for sure. I can't see the actual numbers, but it doesn't seem to be that much. That's just the feeling I'm getting," Daskka explained and sent the feeling she was getting from the legacy to Hera. It was hard to put that feeling into words, but it was something akin to when you tried to make a jump in a game and missed by a little, but not enough to make you think it was unfair.

"OK, that seems great. Give me that," Hera replied, noticing that her arms were starting to look old and that some of her hair was losing its color.

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Skill Acquired

Army of One - Legacy

When the skill is active, you and your court will function as a single entity. Most effects that would target a specific blade can be shared or redirected to one or more specific members of your court, including yourself. Buffs cannot overlap because of this effect and they are shared with only 10% of their strength.

You can activate and deactivate this skill at will.

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It was a quick and simple description, and Hera appreciated that. The moment she got the skill and activated it, she could feel her connection to the court change. It wasn't just the shared abilities, but there was something else there. Almost like each of her blades was a strand of hair that you could feel when somebody was touching it.

"Anyone want to deal with the illusion?" Hera asked her blades, not really expecting a reply. To her surprise, Lurize sent her a message asking to be chosen for this task, "Oh. OK. I'll do my best to make this quick."

Hera tried to close her eyes, but her body wouldn't answer her again. Instead, she focused on the illusion and how Lurize was the one that should be affected by it. Everything happened much faster than she was expecting. It seems that another benefit of the legacy was that the skills she got from it would already come with some sort of instruction on how to use it. Hera could feel herself regaining control of her body little by little. She started with a blink, then made herself stop walking, followed by dropping the box and finally shaking her head. The last action snapped her out of the illusion, and she was tossed back into the circular room where her friends were sleeping. Everything is the same as she remembered. Helena and the others were sleeping in chairs while her plates were floating around her. However, Lurize was now on the ground instead of being in the air. Not wanting to leave her Blade like that, Hera picked it up and placed it on the chair, sending a message to him that she was with him.

"What? How are you up? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's wrong. Back to bed, back to sleep. Go. Now!" the Jester spoke, her voice coming from the wall between Bonnie and Alex.

Hera tried to figure out how to reach the Jester to make her stop the illusion. To do so, she used her pulse spell, trying to find any hidden passages or buttons around the area. The first attempt didn't get any results, so she decided to use even more mana to be able to notice more details. She used the pulse three more times, each spending more mana than the last one.

"What do you think you're doing? Stop being so rude and just sit and sleep. I went through all the trouble to set up this place for you, and you wake up? Just like that? How dare you? How? How? How?! You still think I was wrong? You still think I'm the villain here? I did what was right! The world is better now, and I would do it again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. You can't stop me! You are weak, rude, lazy, ugly, fat, bald, smelly, cheap, stupid!" The Jester continued with a barrage of nonsense insults that Hera simply tuned out.

After the fourth time she cast the pulse spell, Hera noticed that there was a pressure plate under the chair Alex was sitting on. A very small one that was almost imperceptible. While Hera was still thinking if she should press it or not, the rest of her party woke up.

"Ugh, I hate that," Bonnie said while rubbing her eyes.

"Same," Blue nodded.

"It wasn't that bad," Alex smiled.

Hera was very close to the assassin, and she could've sworn that the moment Alex opened her eyes, they were yellow, but now they were back to the usual brown. Deciding that it could be just some weird effect of the spell, Hera turned back to the pressure plate, "There is a thing here. Should I press it?"

"Yeah. That will open the wall, and we can finally get the Jester," Helena replied.

"That's it? Really?" Hera asked.

"In this one. Yeah. Other versions of the dungeon are a bit longer, but it's shorter since this was more psychological terror. I think that's just a rare occasion of the system being kind," Helena explained.

"OK then," Hera kneeled down by Alex's chair and pressed the pressure plate. As she did that, a part of the wall shifted, revealing the Jester behind it, hiding in the corner of a small room, facing a closed door.

This trap maker wasn't anything like any of them expected. The Jester seemed to be a teenager, maybe 16 or 17, with blond hair, long elf ears, and milky green eyes, wearing leather pants and long sleeve shirts that were extremely battered and ripped at some points. There were a lot of stains all over her clothes, and it was hard to tell where they were from. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, and she was clutching the pianist's hat as if it was the only thing that mattered in the entire world.

"What… What happened to you?" Bonnie asked.

"Don't answer that!" Helena cut them off right away, "Trust me. I'll explain to you all later, but don't ask her anything."

Hera and the others looked back at the Jester, who was now laughing maniacally. She returned to her ramblings, talking about how she did the right thing and how everything was going to get better. Without speaking another word, Helena walked inside the room and pulled a lever on the wall. A cage formed around the Jester, and the door opened.

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You have completed the Dungeon Quest

You have captured the culprit behind the murder of the pianist.

Rewards:

Dungeon Exit Pass

Dinner Party Jack-in-the-box

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