After talking with Lancel, Hera went to see the rest of the team. Vash was taking a shower and resting for a moment, but everyone else was just hanging out in the living room.

“Are you ok?” Neria asked, her voice full of worry.

“Yeah. I am.”

“Up for another dance?” Flint smirked.

Hera just ignored the comment and walked to the kitchen to get some coffee, “Do we have any sweets? Or pastries? I want a snack.”

“I think we have some bread, but not pastries. Want to order some?” Skyler suggested.

“Sure, it’s not like we are short on money,” Hera let out a small chuckle. Aside from the gauntlets, they also got more money than she knew what to do with.

Skyler tapped a few things in her tablet, “There, use the link I just sent you to pick what you want. I put it on the group chat. By the way, we all leveled up. You did too, right?” the elf turned to Hera.

“Oh right. I forgot to do that,” Hera finished putting the sugar on her drink and opened her status window. She had a round 80 points, but unlike most people, she never had to worry about deciding what to do. Increasing her attributes by 3, she read through the entire thing.

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

Hera Quetzaveth -- Role: Explorer Level: 41

Legacy: Court of Blades [Blades]

Title: Mana Touched, Wardbearer, Ophidianite Progenitor

Total Stats: 690

Strength: 115 Endurance: 115

Agility: 115 Charisma: 115

Intelligence: 115 Luck: 115

Mana: 5 932 012/5 932 012

Empress Core: 9 540 132/9 540 132

Passive Mana Regeneration: 8 008/s (14 415/s with items)

Active Mana Regeneration: 15 324/s (27 584/s with items)

Empress Core Regeneration: 8/s (14/s with items)

Remaining attribute points: 11

Skills:

Legacy:

Court Ruler, Courtship, Bestow Title, Army of One, Revocation of Nobility,

Royal Quest , Bestow Gift , Royal Seal, Venomous Arsenal, Blade Graveyard, Empress Core

Passive:

Exponential Growth (23)

Observe: Red sight 3

Treasure Map

Handaxe Combat 3, Chakram Combat 3, Glaive Combat 3, Sword Combat 3, Two-handed Sword Combat 2,

Dagger Combat 3, Scimitar combat 1, Axe combat 1, War Axe Combat 1, Knife Combat 2, Tonfa Combat 2, Rapier Combat 1

Wire Trap Style 3, Subtle Strike 4, Dorohla style 4

Battle Dancer 3, Attack Pathing 2, Synchronized Battle 3

Dodge 4, Run 4, Improved Stamina 5, Flee 2, Jump 2

Mana Recovery 5, Mana sensitivity 4 , Shaper of Mana 2 , Mana Vessel, Reinforced Mana 2

Improved Regeneration 3

Ailment Mastery 3, Poison Mastery 2, Allergy Mastery 1, Chain Mastery 1 , Regeneration Mastery 1,

Earth Mastery 1, Lightning Mastery 1 , Sound Mastery 1, Frost Mastery 1 , Lava Mastery 1 , Steel Mastery 1

Elemental Mana Mastery

Earth resistance 2, Wind resistance 2, Water resistance 2, Sturdy Body 4,

Magic Armor Proficiency 3

Nature connection 1

Silver Lining 2

Ancient language 5

Pathfinder 1, Awareness 2(+1)

Ophidianite Skills:

Ophidianite Scales 3, Ophidianite Poison 6, Ophidianite Vigor 1, Ophidianite Sight 1, Ophidianite Mana Sense 1, Ophidianite Resistance 1, Ophidianite Regeneration 1, Ophidianite Adaptation 1

Active:

All in 2

Inspect 2

Hide 4, Sneak Attack 3

Weapon Maintenance 4, Weapons Rebalance 3, Weapon break 2

Etching 4

Medical Reference 3, Identify Ailment 1

Green Thumb 2

Chain of Command 5

Poison Coating 3

Toxic Mist

Grasshopper Stab 1, Grasshopper Slash 1, Grasshopper Draw 1

Role Skills:

Local Guide

Private Room, Meeting Room

Explorer's Assassinate

Explorer's Map

Hunter's Catalogue, Explorer's Hunt

Explorer's Research

Explorer's Blueprint

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

She wasn’t able to improve her skills, and that should change soon. Even if it would be just a bunch of odd skills. During the time she would be here, she also wanted to increase the types of weapons she could wield. After all, every single one of them would help her court. Maybe there was ‘all weapon combat’ skill or something like that. She would have to check in the agency database if they allowed that. Another option was to have Lurize using his [Whisper of the Ancients] skill. That could help her learn more skills related to specific weapons. And with the [Venomous Arsenal] all she needed was to see a weapon and make it, letting Lurize trigger his skill to learn more about it.

Their order arrived, and the group started eating it. It was a nice spread with some sandwiches, pastries, cake, and sweets. While having their afternoon snack, Vash came out of his room holding his tablet.

“Ok! I think I managed to figure out an excellent training program for everyone. It’s going to be tight, I’ll be helping you all learn how to dance better until we can beat all the other groups. We will train for a couple of hours every day. I think we should do that at the end of the day. And it’s better if we split the lessons. First, I’ll teach everyone and then just Hera,” Vash turned to the Empress, “You need a more focused teacher.”

Hera was looking at her tablet. Vathrik had just answered her text. Going back to the doorway wasn’t the best idea, but he could give her permission to go to the doorway leading to the 27th layer. He added that despite the place being safe, she shouldn’t cross to that room, and would be trusting that she wouldn’t go there.

“Vash, that’s ok. I’m pretty good at learning things on my own, and I can have my court practicing with me. I’ll use my private room and some videos to learn.”

“Hera… that’s not a good idea. I mean, you are the one who needs more help than any of us,” the harpy tried to push

“I know, but what is better? You spending half the time trying to make me able to move without looking like I just grew limbs, or actually helping the people who are not completely hopeless? If we want to win more of the battles, we should focus on the people who have a shot,” Hera replied.

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“Why are we going to practice? I mean, what’s the point, we get the experience as long as we participate,” Roan asked.

“Because of the reward. And most people say that the better you do in a dungeon, the more experience you get. Even if we don’t have a way to prove that. Also, if you get some dance skills, you should offset that power leveling issue,” Vash turned to the beastmen.

“Ah. That’s fair,” Roan nodded.

“And this is why I will be practicing on my own at first. When everyone else can win the dance battles, then you can teach me Vash,” Hera pressed again. She forgot to think of a reason she would be in her private room, but now, this was the best excuse she could come up with.

“I suppose…” Vash looked away.

“Are you sure about that?” Neria turned to the Empress.

“Yeah. Don’t worry,” the Ophidianite picked some of the food and headed to the door, “I’ll be going there now. If you need anything, just send me a text.”

She left before anyone could say anything else. It was better that way, and she could use the excuse of not wanting to dance in front of them. For now, Hera walked directly to the library in order to reach the doorway. It didn’t take long and Vathrik had already given the proper permission to her ID card. She had to go to one of the bottom floors. Apparently, they had discovered the doorway as they were expanding the structure. Knowing that something like that could happen made her think about how many more passages between rooms would be berried in the ground of another room. And it wasn’t like they had a way to detect them. Even to this day, no one was ever able to make a machine to locate doorways. Then again, a while back, Bonnie acquired a spyglass that could locate those passages, but it had the drawback of also revealing dungeons, and she could only utilize it once a week. However, Hera wasn’t entirely sure if that could find a buried doorway. Maybe it could only see active ones. This also meant that there was a real possibility that somewhere in the MAZE, there was a dungeon, a quest, or a challenge that would give an item similar, if not more powerful, than the spyglass. The issue was finding it.

Hera had enough time to think about all that while trying to reach the passage to the 27th layer. The doorway was located behind what she could only describe as a quadruple airlock. A set of four heavy metal doors completely covered in protection spells. She had to go past one of those doors, wait for it to close and lock, and only then the next would start opening. Not to mention the countless offensive magic circles that covered the walls of each room between those doors. Yet, the security didn’t feel excessive. The doorway would lead to the 27th layer. A room where monsters would be from levels 90 to 95. A room where monsters that were stronger than the strongest person alive existed. If anything could come through the doorway, it would be a massacre. And anyone who could reach that doorway to invade the headquarters would be extremely powerful.

Still, Hera wasn’t that worried. Not for now, at least. Vathrik explained that the other end of the doorway was located in a cave, and directly in front of it was the next wall of the MAZE. Nothing should be able to reach the doorway unless they could break through that wall. And that shouldn’t happen, not now, and not anytime soon. The last attempt took a combined effort of hundreds of people who were at least close to the level of the room the wall was in. Trying to pass through another one in a time of war was like asking for a disaster.

When she passed through the final of the airlocks, she walked over to the doorway. On top of it, there was a symbol that looked like an eye made out of tentacles. Or an eye with spiral tentacles around it.

“That doesn’t look ominous at all,” Hera sighed and touched the doorway.

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

Would you like to be transported to:

Tunnels of the Abyss - 27th layer:

[Yes] [No]

Or press the button below for your private room:

[Enter your Private Room]

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

Just reading the name scared her and she quickly touched the private room option.

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

Would you like to enter your Private Room or access your Private Workshop?

[Private Room]

[Workshop]

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

Choosing the workshop, Hera felt the familiar feeling of being submerged in warm water wash over her body, and soon she was in her workshop. A copy of the court members she removed from her court since the last time she came here was now on display in the cases around the throne the guides made for her.

It’s been a few weeks since she had a chance to be here, and the Empress took a moment to look over everything. When she was ready, she pulled her tablet and send a message to Nina, Talpa, and Lancel. While waiting for the reply, she also talked with the others. Peaches, Capri, Veridallion, and Berthellemy were looking into her request. The idea of making a ‘pocked dimension’ for her court. A way for them not to be just in the void. They already found a few possibilities, but those were very complicated and required her getting a certain reward in a certain dungeon, or triggering a certain quest in a room that was very far away. Still, they had some leads on simpler solutions. After replying to everyone, there was a knock on her door. Outside her private workshop, she found Nina, Talpa and Lancel, but also Capri and Peaches.

“Oh. Hi!” Hera was a bit surprised, but she still opened a big smile.

“Hey, sorry about them. We said that it was a private thing, but when Lancel showed up they insisted on coming,” Nina gestured to Capri, Peaches, and Tara.

“But of course. My first explorer spends such a long time without contacting me and now refuses to see me in person? Something must be wrong!” Capri huffed, stomping his feet on the ground.

“I was worried too, kid. We only saw you coming out of the dungeon, but it seemed like something really bad had happened. Are you ok?” Peaches asked.

“I am. It’s just…” Hera sighed, “I’m embarrassed. The dungeon was about dancing and it was bad. Really bad.”

“C’mon, it can’t have been that bad,” Tara tried to cheer Hera up, but he saw how Nina, Talpa, and Lancel were looking at her, “Was it?”

“Can we show it?” Talpa turned to the Ophidianite.

“Sure, just do it in a place I can’t see. I know that people say you should watch what you do to learn from your mistakes, but I don’t think I can learn anything from that,” Hera sighed.

“I agree with that. There is no point in trying to learn something when you already know nothing. It’s better to just start from scratch,” Lancel nodded in agreement.

After seeing Hera’s ‘dance’, everyone understood why she was asking for help. The good thing was that they had a training room in this workshop that was wide enough to be used as a dance studio. And the Empress could shift the walls to be mirrors and make things even easier. It might take a while, but Hera was sure that she would be able to win at least one of the dance battles before leaving this room.