Hera and the girls kept talking through most of the night. While they discussed more details about Boothudurn, Silah also asked a bunch of different questions about things in the human world. During the ti that Hera talked to her family, the dwarf kept watching videos to learn more about society and talking to the others. Still, instead of clarifying her doubts, all the technology and odd things only increased her curiosity. Bonnie was enjoying that, she loved to explain how things worked, and the two of them seed to get along pretty well.
Blue was already drinking for a while to celebrate their return. She downed an entire can of beer and stood up, "Guys, Guys. Look at this," she made a motion like she was holding a ball with both her hands and started to make one of her cloud spells. While preparing that, Blue turned to Hera, "Do the thing. The one that you do when you and Silah are going to bone."
"Blue!" Hera gasped. Silah instantly got red after hearing that. Still, Hera tapped the floor, and a green barrier covered the room. This was a spell that she learned from Ogryn. A way to soundproof an area so she could have private conversations. When she asked him about that spell, it was to lessen the risks of calling a guide in a room, but the magic ended up being more helpful to allow Silah and her to have so more privacy.
Blue continued to make the cloud and sent it up to the ceiling, "Now, soone toss a spell there. Any spell."
"Blue, that's a bad idea. We are going to sleep here later," Hera said.
"It's fine. Don't even worry about it," Blue increased the size of the cloud that now covered the entire ceiling.
"Lena, do you have any mana stones with you?" Hera asked.
"I do. They are not very full, but I can manage sothing. Why?" Helena had already taken a shower here. She still didn't look all that well, but it was a step in the right direction. That dirty and unkempt appearance went away after a good shower, making the mage regain so of her usual poise.
"Then, can you throw so weak shadow spell in that cloud? I think that's the one that is going to make less of a ss."
Helena squinted at Hera, but did what she asked. It was an odd request, but the two were clearly trying to show sothing. Creating a small shadow on her hand, she sent it towards the cloud on the ceiling. Blue's blank cloud absorbed the spell and started to change. At first, it looked just like a heavy cloud, sothing that would create a lot of rain, but it kept turning darker and darker until it beca a sheet of darkness covering the entire ceiling.
"What is that?" Bonnie asked.
"That's my legacy. It's called Stormcloud," Blue replied.
"You got a legacy?" Alex gasped.
"Yep. It was the key we needed to open the room. Well, part of the key at least."
"I don't feel that bad about sending you guys there anymore," Alex replied.
"You shouldn't feel bad at all. It wasn't your fault," Hera said.
"It was a little bit your fault. But I'm not angry," Blue dropped the spell and snuggled with Alex, "We got a lot of things there, so pretty good rewards, a mount, and even got power leveled to level 18."
"You guys are level 18!?" Alex gasped.
"Yep. We were 16 when we fought the Sky Ruler, and then we found a brand new dungeon. When soone beats a dungeon for the first ti ever, they get a level up as a reward. I also got this tarot card, but it's going to be a while until it becos useable," Hera pulled up the Fra of the True Reversed Three of Stars. At first, the card was just a transparent sheet with a small line around the edges. Now there were a couple of extra lines that started to form so type of drawing on its bottom. However, inside those areas, there was still nothing, just a transparent sheet of energy, "Also, I have this," Hera picked the Shadow Fla Shard and passed it to Helena, "I wanted to give you this. It's a material that says it leaks, mana. Maybe it can be used to make sothing that regenerates mana until you can use your own again."
"Oh, so you want to do gifts now? Ok," Blue got up and walked to the bedroom where her bag was.
"You got us souvenirs?" Bonnie asked.
"I didn't. I an, I was thinking about other stuff, and getting you guys gifts never crossed my mind. The shard was just because of Lena's mana issues," Hera replied just as Blue ca back with a couple of bags.
"Here, here," the controller passed the bags along.
Alex got a pair of Cloud Wool bracelets dyed black. It had a minor enchantnt that could muffle so of the sounds she made when moving. The design itself was simple, just a bracelet that could cover most of her wrist while keeping the mobility and a puffy ring around the ends. For Bonnie, Blue got a book from the mages explaining the basics of magic and how they could create spells out of runes. Lastly, Helena got a long-tailed black velvet dress. It was one of the designs that Fethy created after Blue and Hera showed so of the pictures they had on their tablets. It was a stunning dress with so tal chains decorating the body and framing the breasts, and a long cut on the side of the skirt.
Despite all of them being wildly different, everyone was thrilled with the gifts. They thanked Blue and continued talking throughout the night. When morning ca, Blue was already packed and ready to leave. To avoid getting stuck in a room because of the three doorway rule, people had to wait 24 hours after crossing the first doorway. This was considered the safe window, although no one had figured out if the ti could be lower. One thing was for sure. Waiting just for midnight wouldn't solve the problem in most situations.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Hera and Silah were sleeping on the balcony, and they didn't wake up even when Blue left the hotel room. The controller sent everyone a text letting them know where she was going. They had already discussed her plans during the previous night, but she still gave them a reminder.
This slumber party was sothing Hera really needed. She was just hanging out with her friends and talking, but she noticed a few behaviors that would get old very quickly. Alex would offer to grab food, drinks, and anything she needed. She was acting like a butler, and she got sad and even angry when Hera or Blue refused. Helena, on the other hand, seed a bit overprotective. She went as far as scolding Hera for using a knife to open a bag. Bonnie was going through sothing different. She was drinking way too much. They got a couple of six-packs and three bottles of wine. In the end, everyone drank one beer and one glass of wine. Bonnie went off and finished another bottle all by herself. There was also the problem with her taking free shots at everyone aside from Silah for no apparent reason. Hera could only hope that their behavior was just temporary and things would return to normal soon.
After waking up with a bit of a hangover, Hera used an accelerated recovery spell to stop feeling sick. Risli used this one to help people with broken arms or those who ca down with a cold. It triggered a sort of overdrive in their tabolism and allowed the patients to recover faster. If she put her mind to it, the shaman could fix a broken arm in just a few days. However, on Hera's level, not only she couldn't target specific areas of the body, but the effects were also much weaker. Taking care of headaches, hangovers or cramps was basically her limit when it ca down to internal injuries. Superficial ones were easier, but it was better for paper cuts or the treatnt of wounds and not for first aid.
Hera saw Blue's ssage and sent her a reply telling her to be safe and that they would see each other soon. Then, she took a hot shower. It was nice to have a bathtub in Boothudurn, but the pressure from an actual shower was very different. After getting out of the bathroom, Silah was already up and making sothing to eat.
"Hey, how was sleeping outside for the first ti?" Hera asked.
"It was nice, but I didn't expect the sun would be so annoying," Silah was looking at a bag of bread on the counter, with an odd expression, "Is this… soft glass?"
Hera chuckled, "No. It's called plastic, and well, it is a bit like soft glass, I guess," she squished the transparent bag, "See?"
"Wow, this is aweso! I need to show this to my… Never mind," Silah just kept staring at the bread with a sad expression.
"What's wrong?"
"I… was thinking about my family. It's kind of hard to think that they are not around."
"I can imagine. But we should be going back there today with the ambassador."
Silah smiled, "Yeah. Sorry. I know this is weird. I an, you just ca out here and you're already going back."
"Don't worry. The room is open, and I can co here at any mont. Besides, I don't want you to feel bad about this, and when you have internet set up there, you can talk to them or if I'm not around," Hera hugged her girlfriend.
"So you won't be going ho right away like Blue?"
"You know how my family is… complicated. I rather stay with you until you are ok with leaving for a few days before going to see them."
Silah gave Hera a kiss, "Thank you. It ans a lot to ."
"You an a lot to ," Hera hugged her tighter.
"Awww, you two are adorable," Helena said as she ca out of the room. In the end, Silah and Hera took the balcony, and the rest of the girls all slept in the bedroom together.
"We are," Hera kept hugging Silah for a mont, but it didn't take long for the dwarf to break out of her embrace. She still wasn't comfortable with public displays of affection, even if she was leagues ahead of the other dwarves.
They talked for a while, and soti after everyone woke up, Kara sent a text to Hera, letting her know that the ambassador had arrived. They quickly headed to the guild to et with the person who would help put Boothudurn on the map. Only Hera and Silah would be allowed in the first eting, since it was still a more or less classified subject. However, after arriving in the private room, they had an interesting surprise. There wasn't a single ambassador, but three sitting around a table. One was a human with short brown hair, hazel eyes, and a small scar on his chin. The second was an elven woman with long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and the famous pointy ears. Lastly, there was a dwarven man, but he seed short even by Boothudurn standards. He was also wider. His shoulders seed more apart than what Hera was used to. That made her question if even among dwarves, there were subraces with different traits.
"Hello. You must be Silah and…." the human checked his tablet, "Hera, the one who discovered the room. Correct?"
"Yeah, it was Blue and , but she went to see her family. We got stuck there for almost a year, and she really missed them," Hera said.
"Of course," the elven woman replied in a lodic voice, "We can understand how taxing this ordeal was for you two. Let be the first to thank you for staying behind and helping us with this."
"There you go again. Do you have to try to one-up at every turn?" the dwarf huffed.
"I'm not the one who tried to call dibs last ti, old friend," the elf replied.
"Guys, can you please focus? I know it's been so ti since sothing like this happened, but we got lucky enough that you two were close by," the human sighed.
"Sure. Sorry about this, Valyra and I go back a long ti. We keep taking jabs at each other, but this is all in good fun. I'm Kadk, a dwarf from Gen Faldir on the 15th layer," Kadk smiled.
"And I'm Valyra Bihorn, an elf from the Longmane Groove on the 9th layer," the woman gave a small bow.
"And I'm Kevin, born and raised on earth. We are the team of ambassadors that will be going to…" the man checked the tablet again, "Boothu….durn? Yeah, Boothudurn. I will be representing the explorer's guild. Valyra the Union of MAZE Nations and Kadk the Natural Resource Unit."
Silah turned to Hera, "You told about the guild, but what are those other two?"
"I honestly have no idea," Hera replied.
"The Union of MAZE Nations or UMN is an alliance where all the countries, cities, and people from the MAZE take part. It's kind of like an overall governnt that connects us all. We mostly help with identification and infrastructure, but on occasion, we also share troubles and split our resources to help cities in need," Valyra explained.
“You can think of the Natural Resource Unit as a rchant guild. We catalog what every room has to offer as resources and figure out the logistics of transportation. That works both ways, so if a city needs sothing, we can step in," Kadk added.
"That is most likely sothing that we will discuss with whoever is the authority there. But, for now, do you mind telling us about Boothudurn?" Kevin asked.
Hera looked at Silah and nodded. This all seed to be way above her, but she would still do her best to help the dwarves.
Reviews
All reviews (0)