"Where do you want this box of books?" Hera was holding a cardboard box filled to the brim with journals and books .

  "Put it in the basement. I'll organize the library later," Hera nodded at Helena's reply and headed downstairs.

  It had been five days since Helena figured out she could use mana stones to keep using magic. During that time, the two had talked to the Guild about their options. It quickly became clear that Helena could basically walk all over them with little to no pushback.

  She was one of the few people who were called to the assault on the wall by name. Because of that, the Guild felt responsible for what happened to her. She also had a unique condition, and all parties involved really wanted to discover a cure. After all, parasites that stopped you from using magic were one of the most terrifying things anyone had ever seen.

  After some negotiation, Helena managed to get several perks. First, they would supply her with a few mana stones. A couple of small ones that she could carry around, five large ones that would be installed inside her house, and a mana crystal. Those were mana stones that could recover mana by themselves. That crystal would essentially function as the fuel for all the other stones.

  Since Hera would be working with Helena, they would get the house on the first layer. It was the best place for a mana starved mage, and the Explorer was still in her early days inside the MAZE. If they wanted to move, they could do so once every 30 days. However, they would need to cover the deposit and the moving expenses. The actual rent was going to be paid by the Guild.

  Helena was also going to keep her salary as a clerk as if she were on a permanent vacation. Her pay wouldn't increase since she was also getting her rent paid. Even so, it was more than enough money for her to have a good life in the first layer.

  They would also set up a system where people could recharge Helena's mana stones as a training mechanism. Doing that was a good way of increasing the maximum mana, so there would be a constant mana supply. It was a workaround to allow the Mage to spend large amounts of mana on her research.

  After getting all that set up, Hera and Helena had discussed their plans. They would stay in another city in Brinefront called Hazelpond. It was a village built above a large body of water, closer to a doorway to the 2nd layer. Half of the city was on the river leading out of the cave, while the other half was on a hill to the north.

  The buildings there were more modern, and the residential area was at the back of the town, away from the water. It took them just a few minutes to decide to stay there until Hera felt ready to live on the 3rd layer. The next room, in the second layer, barely had enough houses for those who lived there, and there were no plans to expand the living area. Not to mention that it was a crafter city. According to Helena, places like that tended to be too loud and uncomfortable to live.

  To accommodate the mana stones and Helena's temporary laboratory, the Guild gave them a moderately big house. It was two stories tall, with purple walls and round windows. The laboratory would be in the basement, while the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, and one storage room would make up the ground floor.

  There were four more rooms after a flight of stairs. They could use them as guest rooms or have more people living there. The Guild made it clear that it was completely up to them. Even if they rented to other people, it wouldn't change the arrangement they had.

  Helena suggested asking Hera's friends, but the Explorer said that she wanted to finish setting up everything before talking to them. She also felt like having her friends move in would be imposing too much on Helena since she was already going to be living in the house.

  Hera finished placing the last book box in the basement and stretched. While the Guild helped bring Helena's belongings, the movers didn't help organize things. They just put everything inside the house and left. Having a higher strength attribute than Helena, the Explorer ended up being responsible for most of the heavy lifting.

  Hera went to the kitchen to get some water and saw her new roommate. A question popping into her mind, "Lena. Can I ask you something about the attack?"

  The Mage stared at her for a moment, "Sure. I'm not sure if I can answer, though. Parts of it are a bit... harder to talk about."

  "No problem. If you don't want to, you don't have to answer," Hera paused for a moment, "Can what happened to you happen to someone else?"

  Helena stared at the notebook in her hand and took a deep breath before closing, "Maybe. I know that the Wendigo that hit me is dead, and its body was burned. But I guess that having another monster eat the right things and create more parasites is a possibility. This is why they are so interested in my case, I suppose. They want to have a cure before anyone else gets affected," she looked at a box on her desk, "Oh, and by the way. Here's your poison mana stone. They did some tests and confirmed that it is parasite free."

  Hera walked towards it and picked up the now white stone. It lost its color if it didn't have any mana. The more she put in, the more the stone would turn to purple," That's good. The whole idea of having people charge your mana stones will work, then. Do you know when they will send them?"

  Helena shook her head, "No clue. But it should be in the next couple of days. And they will be making the connection to the Guild branch here. That way, people don't need to be coming here to do that," Helena placed a pile of books on the ground and started to sort them, "By the way. Did you managed to get in touch with your friends?"

  Hera nodded, "Yeah, Blue is on vacation. She is having a blast in Brazil. Bonnie is still in Brinefront researching a bunch of things. Mark is also there, but he is learning how to be a better crafter. Leo went to the next layer. His training seems to be going well. Alex joined a party as a freelancer. She paired up with a healer we met a few times, and they are doing dungeons or just odd works. I told them that they should consider coming here, but Bonnie and Mark need a specific place to work."

  "I can't say much for Mark, but Bonnie could work here. Since the Guild is supporting my research, we have access to a pretty substantial database. Even if we still need to pay for skills and such." Helena nodded, and the two finished unpacking what the Guild had sent.

  A big part of the Mage's laboratory was sent here, although a few equipment pieces were still on the 8th layer. They were too big or too delicate to survive the journey. Still, most of her books and notes were all here. A couple of members of the order were in charge of packaging everything in the lab, and the Guild took care of the delivery.

  It took the two a couple of hours to finish setting everything up. By the end of it, it was already dinnertime. Instead of making something, they headed out to eat. Hera suggested a small restaurant with a simple menu, but Helena shook her head.

  "Sweetie, the Guild is paying us. We might as well go for a little celebration," Helena said before heading towards a restaurant with an ocean side view.

  The establishment was called 'The Golden Carp.' It was a place famous for its seafood and lavish design. The furniture was simple and elegant, but the dishes were all made in a way that they looked more like jewels than food. Apparently, their secret was finely grounded gem powder that was used to coat the dishes.

  Hera looked through the menu and was floored by the prices. The cheapest dish was over 200 gold, "Lena, shouldn't we go somewhere else? The prices are a bit steep."

  "Don't worry about it, sweetie. The Guild gave me a lot of extra money as an apology, and the amount I get every month is based on the income of someone in the 8th layer. Besides, these dishes would be very expensive if we were in another layer. The gems they use come from the room directly connected to this town. Some monsters have those gems on their backs, and they actually are pretty nutritious."

  Hera was still weirded out by the prices, so she picked a dish in the lower range. It was supposed to be a basic pan-seared halibut with lemon caper sauce. Yet the dish came on a glistening golden plate and the fish had a metallic red and green color. The entire setup reflected so much light that Hera felt like she needed sunglasses to look at it.

  "This is a bit too much," Helena said, looking at her plate of salmon shining in silver and pink in a way that was even more gaudy than Hera's food, "Give me a moment."

  Helena's eyes suddenly became coated in a black veil, and the light reflected from both plates diminished.

  "Lena, was that a good idea?" Hera asked.

  "Well, we only have half an hour before I have to cast it again, and the mana stone that I have on me only has half a charge now. But we are celebrating, it is worth it. Besides, I need to practice using magic like this. As long as you help me charge it later, we are fine."

  Hera smiled, "Sure, it's my job, after all. And it helps me to increase my maximum mana, right?"

  "Exactly, it's a win-win situation."

  The two enjoyed their dinner. Eventually, Helena had to use her magic to reduce the light coming from their plates one more time, which emptied out the mana stone the Mage had on her. Hera was surprised by the amount of mana that simple spell spent.

  The mana stone on Helena's earring could store 5,000 points of mana. There was still another earring with the same amount of storage. The Mage herself bought those accessories since the stones that the Guild supplied were much larger and less elegant.

  Helena had explained that mana stones had all shapes and forms, and each stone also had a grade of sorts. The higher the quality, the more mana it could hold. The size also would influence the capacity. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the stone, the more mana it could contain.

  Yet some high-grade stones could be smaller and more appropriate for accessories. Some people could also shape a mana stone without making it lose capacity. However, since the process was extremely difficult, it was hard to find someone to do that.

  Going back to their home, Hera received a text from Mark. He was telling her how the clay they got from the dungeon had sold at the auction and that he would send her cut. The clay was an item requested by a quest, but Mark wanted to check for how much it would sell through other means first.

  He found out that each block of clay could be sold at a starting price of 2,200 gold, even more if he placed it in an auction house. The group agreed to sell some of the clay they got, but Blue still held on to one of the bricks. They got 2,000 gold each for selling the 5 bricks. It was the same as doing the quest, but they got an extra clay block for their trouble.

  "Hera, how is your Role quest going?" Helena asked after they arrived at their house.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "My role quest? I think I have to turn one in," Hera picked her tablet and took a look at her quests, "Oh no, I still have to finish that one."

  "How many did you finish already?" the Mage asked.

  "Many? There is more than one?"

  "You are kidding, right? You didn't complete a single one?"

  Hera shook her head, "No, I had one to find the legends of the room, but I'm still one short."

  "Hera, did no one told you about the role quests? Between the training and the one who gave you the quest, someone must have said something."

  "No one said anything. Why? Did I do something wrong?" the Explorer had a worried expression.

  Helena let out a sigh, "Not wrong, but just a waste. You get one role quest from the Guild, and then the system starts to give you follow-up quests. The quest itself is not that hard, and you always get some interesting rewards. But the main thing is that the quest kind of teaches you how to be better at your role. For instance, mine asked to hunt a few monsters that used different elements. Another quest asked me to kill a monster that hunted by tricking its prey. It would toy with its senses, making smells and noises come from odd places. That was how I figured out my specialty. Not that the quest made me do it. But I really liked the concept," Helena explained.

  "Really? Wow, I need to do it soon then. I'm a bit lost on what to focus on. I liked the poison, but it was useless in the frog valley," Hera was staring at her role quest.

  "That happens with everyone who focuses on one thing. A fire mage will always feel useless when facing a fire monster. Don't let this one dungeon turn you off from poison. It can be very strong. Toxic Rain is living proof of that. In any case, take the next few days to finish that and get used to the monsters around this town. You won't be facing frogs near here," Helena sat on the couch with a book in her hand.

  "Ok, will do. But let me know if you need anything. I'll stay close to the city."

  Helena rolled her eyes, "Don't worry about it. Until they bring the mana stones, I'm not able to do much with my research."

  Hera nodded and opened a browser on her tablet and started searching. Since she was going to look for the legends, she might as well try to find some hints about them.

  Early the next day, the Explorer woke up ready to tackle her role quest. Specifically, she had gotten a few hints about one of the legends of the room. It was called 'The Lost Sailor,' and the best way to find it was to walk along the coast between Brinefront and Hazelpond.

  She had to look for a small cove, and inside there, she would find the information about the legend. Even after putting the name in the quest, it didn't complete it. According to some people. The system would only accept it if you had passed through a specific area or touched a specific book.

  Even if it wasn't what she wanted, Hera stumbled on a page where people were giving a step-by-step tutorial when searching. She did her best to close it quickly, but she glanced at some of the information.

  Walking from Brinefront, it would take her two days to reach the cave. If she left from Hazelpond, that time shortened to just a few hours. Instead of going blind, she wanted to get a complete map of the room before searching for it. If she could mark the places where her goal could be, it would be easier to look for the legend.

  After getting the map and marking everything, most of the coves were nearby, with the farthest one would be on the other side of the river. There was a ferry which would take people from one side of the room to the next several time a day. That was the only way to make that crossing in a timely manner. The other option would be to walk all the way back to Brinnefront and then come up here again.

  Since it was only a single cove, Hera decided to leave that option for last. She had two places to check on the same side she was already at. Not to mention both were less than a day travel's away.

  This town was much more populated than Brinefront, or at least that's what it felt like. Hazelpond was about half the size of Brinefront, but there was a direct connection to the next layer. A lot of people would stay here but actually hunt in the next room. The streets felt stuffy, and the fact that most of the town was built on walkways above the lake made going anywhere feel like a chore.

  Hera stopped by a store to get a few supplies. She would only need the necessary stuff for today, some rations, water, and a flashlight just in case.

  While looking at the forums, some people said they found the legend in a dark cave. Hera could use the light spell, but it wasn't very sustainable. Besides, there was no reason to depend so heavily on mana all the time when she was still learning the ropes of casting spells.

  Hera looked around the store as she waited in line. It had some camping gear that could be useful if she had to look for a place to sleep in the wild. The tents could help, although they would be very cumbersome. What caught Hera's attention was a set of stones that she could place in a fire to ward off monsters. It wasn't expensive, but she didn't want to go back to the house before heading out. Leaving the stones in the store, Hera paid for her supplies and walked towards the city's western exit.

  Hera noticed that there were more guards in this town. Some were human, but there were several dwarfs and a few beastmen as well. She held on to the urge to use [Observe] on them since she was already aware that most people would be offended by being openly observed.

  The area around Hazelpond was vastly different from the surroundings of Brinefront. Instead of a forest that wasn't particularly dense, Hera was now in a large swamp. The trees were bent to the side, reminding her of palm trees. She could hear the dull splash of water under her feet as she stepped in the mud

  Hera kept following the path to the west, the same direction that led to Brinefront itself. All the while, she was constantly checking her map for the location of the cove. After a couple of hours of walking, she got close to the first location. The Explorer looked to the side and saw a rock formation on the swamp's edge, making a clear division between the ocean and the land.

  A couple of hundred meters to the front, the rocks went deeper into the landmass, forming the first cave that she was looking for. Hera walked to the formation, climbing it to see what was inside the area.

  In the cove, she saw a small stone platform that would lead to a tunnel. As the waves crashed against the rocks, Hera started to get worried. She didn't see anyone talking about high tide in the room, but at the same time, no one said that she didn't have to worry about it.

  She watched for a few minutes to see if there was any difference in the waves, but they seemed to be reaching the same height all the time. Feeling more confident that she wouldn't end up drowning, Hera looked around to see a path to reach the cave. In the center of the rock formation, there was a path that led to the other side. She would need to climb down the last part, but it was the only way she could reach the cave.

  Hera turned around and dropped from the rocks. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks hiding the noise of a large four-legged creature that rushed towards her. The motion caught the corner of the Explorer's eye, and she dove to the side without thinking twice. With the sudden, unexpected movement of its prey, the monster slammed its head against the rocks. Its tail trashed around, hitting Hera's left arm. She stumbled back and looked at her assailant.

  It looked almost like a crocodile but with smoother skin, less pointy teeth, and larger limbs. In a way, it reminded Hera of a overgrown salamander. It was clear that the creature wasn't able to twist its body with ease as it moved. Hera quickly activated her Affinity Sight and [Observe].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Petite Crocodile (Mud Affinity)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera gasped, reading the name. How could that be a petite crocodile? The thing looked like it was about her size. If those were the small ones, what would a big one be?

  Before the creature got back into its attacking position, Hera threw a poison needle towards it, trying to give it as much power as she could. She had yet test it on a real monster. The spell hit the crocodile's snout, and it seemed to have no effect. In response, the beast jumped towards Hera, turning its head to the side and opening its mouth. The Explorer dodged to the side and slashed the creature's back. Before it could move again, she attacked two more times, creating gashes on its hide.

  Much like with the frogs, it was easy not to be hit as long as she stayed spinning around the creature. Going back to the frog hunting habits, Hera forgot to take into account one appendage of the beast. Suddenly, the creature slammed its tail on the Explorer's stomach, making her fall to the ground. The monster turned around and lunged towards its meal one more time. Hera gritted her teeth and slammed Iris on the creature's jaw, shutting it close with one swing.

  "Get lost!" Hera cursed as she went for another strike.

  The crocodile tried to get up, but it lost strength in its legs. Foam formed at its mouth while trying to get up once more, but to no avail. Seeing the creature that debilitated, Hera slashed the back of its head a few times, trying to put it out of its misery.

  It took Hera five swings, but she was finally able to cut through the monster's thick skin. With the monster on the ground, Hera checked her status. That one spell drained 200 of her mana. She attempted to make a concentrated dose, but it was still much more costly than she expected.

  At the same time, the strength of the poison was surprising. It took less than a minute for the crocodile to be incapable of fighting back. She wasn't sure if that was just the creature's nature that increased the poison's effectiveness or if the spell really was that strong. Hera made a mental note to look for the compendium for those crocodiles as she headed towards the path leading to the cave.

  Worried she would be attacked again, Hera activated her [Hide] while moving towards the gap in the rocks. She noticed some movement to the side, but whatever it was wasn't moving towards her.

  In just a few moments, Hera was climbing down towards the cave. The wet rocks made this seemingly small obstacle much more complicated than she would have imagined. She was having a hard time to get some footing, and her hands kept slipping from the stones. It took her about ten minutes to get down from the five-meter high rock wall. She could have jumped down, but the platform was made of uneven rocks. It wasn't worth it to risk herself like that just to move a bit quicker.

  In the last part, Hera had to drop down from her path. As she landed, a wave crashed on her legs, making the Explorer stumble to the side. She almost fell, but managed to grab onto the rocks on the sides of the cove.

  Having finally arrived at her destination, she took a look at the place. A thin layer of water covered almost the entire floor of the cave. Due to the low light, it became hard to walk since, mixed in the ground, there were some larger holes, and she didn't want to test how deep those areas were.

  Thankfully, her Pulse spell was able to identify those small pitfalls since there were only around 2 centimeters of water covering the stones she was walking on. Heading deeper into the cave, she noticed how seawater gathered in the middle of the tunnel, where a small stream formed as the path started to head down.

  This happened because there was a depression towards the center of the cave, possibly created by the years of constant water being tossed here. Hera continued walking, with just the soles of her boots being covered by the ocean. She chuckled to herself, thinking about how this was almost like walking on water. That thought only lasted for a few moments as the stream became too deep, and she had to move to the sides of the cave where the water was only up to her ankles.

  Hera could hear movement above ground. Heavy footsteps and some thrashing, almost like two monsters were fighting. She stopped with the sound, worried that whatever was outside could cause the cave to crumble, but the impacts didn't move a single pebble inside the area.

  Continuing forward, she walked for almost ten minutes when she arrived in a larger open area. The ground was elevated and dry, with a broken wooden boat in the middle of the room. Hera carefully walked closer to it, using her pulse once more to check for any danger. There weren't any living things around, but inside the boat, something had mana.

  Walking closer to it, she saw a journal. It looked pretty beat up. She reached towards it, but stopped herself. Before touching anything here, she wanted to be sure no traps or monsters were lurking around.

  She spent fifteen minutes investigating the room. There were only some empty bottles of something, one thing that once could have been a bedroll, but it was too degraded even for her [Observe] around. To the side of the elevated platform, there was an odd formation of rocks. With her pulse, she noticed a bit of residual mana beneath it. Hera started to move the stones carefully, worried that she could trigger a trap. Hidden in that space was a set of golden coins.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Dead Man's Gold

  A set of five golden coins with skulls engraved in the middle.

  You can keep the coins as they are or turn them into currency.

  Value: 1 000 gold

  Do you wish to turn it into currency?

  [Yes] [No]

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera considered her options for a moment. At the moment, the gold wouldn't be much. Yet, there was no guarantee that she could make the exchange later. Still, it was something that she only found because of her quest. Maybe if she kept the coins, an opportunity to use them could appear later on. After putting the coins in her pouch, she headed towards the journal. That was the last thing she could find in here. As she touched it, a notification popped up.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  You have acquired the Last Sailor's compendium.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She tried to move the notebook, but it was stuck to the boat. Hera picked her tablet and checked the compendium. The Last Sailor was a legend about how one day, a small boat appeared from beyond the sea. The ship had several dead crewmen and one survivor. According to the sailor they were attacked by a creature that looked like madness incarnated.

  He helped bury his mates and started drinking nonstop. His behavior got more and more erratic until he disappeared, never to be seen again. There were records of a weird shanty in the compendium that the sailor kept humming to himself in the last days he was seen.

  Hera grabbed her tablet and went to the quest, placing the name of the legend on the box.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  You have completed the quest Legends of Brinefront

  Reward: Low-rank skill compendium

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Quest Acquired

  Hidden treasure

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Only 3$ a month!

  Thanks for supporting my writing. And check you my other story,

  Want more? Next chapter is already available for Patreons!

  Tiers:

  $3 Explorer: Advanced chapter + Side Stories

  $5 Gold Card Explorer: Everything Above + Book 1 rewrite early access

  $10 Legacy Holder: Everything Above + create your own MAZE/ Energy Eater character

  $35 Guide: Everything Above + create your room, guide, and 4 chapter story arc

  or buy me a Ko-fi

  Join our Discord!

  Massive thanks to our amazing Patreons:

  Guide Tier: Lemon Ghost, Dr Dankness, Personssess

  Legacy Holders: Lillith Ophidia, NessaroseDyer

  Gold Card Explorers: Faeolin the Wild Elf, Jinx, laciw, Eric M, A.b, Kaouenn, Someone

  Explorers: Giuseppe, Theredescare77, Matt, Will C, Pltergeist, Nix, Frightful6_7, Cog, Maren, Tomas, Pletter, Kensyi, Daniel, ShadowedForest, Rosy, Lara, Kitzuna, Kakaae, Alex, Psyren G, Baseplate36, Scott, Tierhon, Gabriel