Eating with Betty the Blacksmith was nice. Hera never once felt uncomfortable around the woman. And while the food was simple, a beef stew with some bread on the side, it was tasty.

  Hera did try to get more information about the forest, in hopes of progressing the quest. Sadly, Betty only seemed to know things about the town. Most of her answers about the forest end up going back to the same patter ending with, "I don't go out much, my bad."

  Despite Betty having a more natural reaction to everything, it was clear the woman was also part of the simulation. Hera's [Observe] confirmed that.

  When they finished eating, Betty took Hera outside and pointed to the house next to them.

  "If you get tired, you can sleep over there. It is an old house that no one uses, but it has everything you need. A bed, a bathroom, a table, and a chair. Oh, and before I forget, here are a pouch and a waterskin. You are going to need those if you are going to walk around here."

  Hera thanked the blacksmith and went inside the house. She wasn’t going to sleep yet, but she really needed to use the restroom. It was a simple wooden cabin with one bed that covered the right wall's length and a wooden table in the middle. There was a secondary door with the letters W.C. engraved on it. No windows, and no lock on the entrance door.

  Hera tossed the pouch and her weapons on the table and rushed to the bathroom. When she opened the door, she almost forgot she needed to go. Despite being in a wooden cabin, the bathroom was nothing like the rest of the house.

  Ceramic tiles covered the floor and walls. She could see a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and even toilet paper and a shower behind a glass door. In addition, there was a green towel with her name engraved on it.

  It gave off a completely different feeling from the rest of the homestead. By all accounts, it was a bathroom she could use in the outside world, a fancy one at that. Before doing what she needed to do, Hera picked a square of toilet paper and tried to leave the bathroom with it. The second it passed through the threshold of the door, the toilet paper dissolved in her hand. Obviously, while the MAZE was being nice, it wouldn't let her use this to cheat on the test.

  A few minutes later, Hera walked out of the house, ready to explore this strange forest. She thanked Betty once again for the weapons and left the tiny village towards the southeast. According to the blacksmith, that was the best place to find the slimy, slithery monsters.

  Two hours went by, and Hera only saw the same tree pattern over and over again. Sure, it would take almost 50 meters for things to start repeating, but that went by surprisingly fast when she moved. If it weren't for her [Mapping] skill, she would have no way of knowing where she was.

  Betty had said that the monsters lived southeast of the town, but she never mentioned the distance. Hera looked at the shadows of the trees, realizing now that they were in the same position ever since she got here. Not just in this specific area, but in the test itself. The light in the sky was the same too, even though Hera couldn't see the sun from her position.

  After spending a few hours walking around, this place had lost its charm. Sure, it was still beautiful, but there were many problems with the area. The repetitiveness, the sound that didn't match what was going on around her. The more Hera looked around, the more she found things to nitpick about.

  "Look, that branch there. It's completely different from the others. Instead of some natural jagged shape, it's almost like a curved line. And why is it bent to the side? There is no wind to do that," she said to herself.

  Hera had embraced the idea of talking to herself. Not only did it help her organize her own thoughts, but it was also a nice change from the constant wind and bird sounds she kept hearing in a loop.

  With her tablet in hand, she opened the map once again to make sure she wasn't deviating from her path. If the creek followed a straight line south, she would be meeting it soon.

  "Maybe Peaches took a stroll, and we will end up meeting down here. Peaches was the one... Person?... Creature? Let's go with NPC. The one NPC who seemed more natural. Betty had a lot of expressions, but what she could say was limited. Peaches, on the other hand, was very lifelike, at least for a talking green apple. I swear that is the only reason I wanted to talk to him again. Not because he is cute," Hera said.

  Distracted by her thoughts, she failed to notice a yellow puddle in front of her. Hera slipped on the yellow liquid, making her do a one-legged split on top of the puddle.

  "Ewww, please tell me this is not pee," Hera groaned after seeing the color of the liquid.

  While getting up, it only took her a moment to realize that there was something wrong. The liquid had a dark yellow color, and it was viscous, it felt almost like honey. She rubbed the goo between her fingers, trying to understand what it was, when she felt a burning sensation.

  She quickly got up, shaking her hand to remove the liquid from it. That's when she realized that the thick sludge was still stuck in the puddle, making the thing look almost like a cheese pull connected to her pants.

  Using her nails, she scraped the goo from her body. The burning sensation was increasing with each passing moment. She grabbed the thick strand of the sludge going from her hand to her legs and tried to pull it out with all her strength. While doing so, she felt something hard in her palm.

  Suddenly, the goo started to move. It let go of her legs and wrapped around the hand that had just started pulling it. The sludge burned Hera's skin even more. The feeling before was comparable to being in the sun for too long, but now it was like holding out her hand above an open flame.

  Hera jerked her hand back and shook it with all she had, but the liquid seemed to grasp her even harder. She made a swinging motion, trying to make the sludge drop to the floor. As Hera thrashed her arm around, part of the goo hit the floor and splattered away. At the same time, the grip it had on her hand loosened. Realizing that, Hera whacked her hand into a tree.

  It hurt to do so, but with each strike, the sludge seemed weaker, and the pain became more tolerable.

  "Get. Off. Me," Hera yelled while hitting the goo into the tree.

  Her hand was hurting. She wasn't sure if it was by the impact against the bark or by the burning of the goo. But she couldn't stop. Each swing had to be stronger than the last, or that sludge would end up burning her hand off. After a few moments, that hard object inside her hand seemed to crack, and the goo lost all viscosity, falling to the ground as if it were nothing more than water.

  Unsure of what just happened, Hera stepped away from the liquid. The sludge dissolved into thin air, leaving only a wet spot where it landed. She looked at her hand. There were some light burns and scaring, and a few of the hairs she had on her arm were gone. Hera also had that thing inside her hand. It was a round shell with some fissures. It looked just like a hazelnut seed, but it had a bright yellow color. Staring at it, she activated her [Inspect].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Broken slime core (Simulation)

  Type: Yellow

  The core of a slime creature. It controls how the rest of the body moves. In most cases, the core stays in the center of the slime's mass, even when it changes shape. The quickest way of defeating a slime is to destroy its core.

  Yellow cores come from a highly acidic slime. All slimes break down their prey inside their bodies to absorb the nutrients. However, yellow ones can do it at an accelerated rate.

  The simulated version shares the instincts of its real counterpart. The version created by the simulation is weaker than the ones that live inside the MAZE.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera stared at the core for a moment. That thing wasn't burning her. It was trying to digest her. The thought made Hera shiver. Being melted down by gastric fluids would be nightmarish.

  "Are those the monsters Betty talked about?"

  She looked back towards the wet spot on the ground, where the sludge had dissolved.

  "They are slimy, slithery, and can easily haunt someone’s dreams. I guess it matches the description," Hera nodded to herself.

  Looking around, she scanned the area for more of those creatures. She found nothing on the ground or in the bushes. Even the trunks of the trees seemed to be empty. Only when Hera looked above, towards the leaves of the trees, that she found what she was looking for.

  Sitting on one of the twigs, lay a large green blob. It even had some jagged parts that made it look like part of the foliage. Hera slowly stepped away from it, worried that the creature would jump on her.

  Realizing that the slimes camouflaged themselves in the environment, she looked around once again. To her dismay, she found half a dozen slimes spread around the forest. Hera quickly moved backwards onto the path she took, always searching for the slimes.

  Any time she spotted one, Hera would make a small mark on her tablet. Noticing that she was close to where the creek should be, and since the slimes were liquid, she decided to go there. Maybe the water could help.

  At the same time, it could also make things worse. What if the water made them bigger and stronger? Pop culture was very undecided in that. Sometimes a slime would grow, others they would be diluted.

  She decided to go to the creek and try to see if there were any slimes around. There was an added benefit of letting her wash her hands to remove any remnants of the slime that were there. There was not only a sticky feeling on it, but it still hurt from the acid.

  Hera activated her [Hide] skill and started walking towards the creek. Luckily, the stream was exactly where she expected. It seemed to make a straight line south. Yet, she didn't dare to start washing her hands. First, she made sure there were no creatures around before relaxing.

  The water stung her hand, but it was refreshing. Hera noticed a small stream of red leaving one of her fingers. The slime ended up hurting her more than she realized, or it happened when she bashed her hand repeatedly against the trunk. For a moment, her eyes went wide, thinking about what would happen if there were more slimes on the tree she hit.

  Hera brushed off those thoughts and finished cleaning herself. Grabbing her handaxe and chakram, she walked back toward the forest where the slimes were. It didn't take long to find the one of creatures. Now that she understood how they hid, she could focus on that. The first one she found was a green slime on the edge of some bushes. Getting ready to attack, she stopped and activated her [Inspect].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Slime (Simulation)

  Type: Green

  A sentient gelatinous goo. It hunts by trapping its prey inside its body and slowly breaking it down with its digestive juices. It is a slow creature that uses the environment in order to hunt. The green variety secrets a fluid that puts its prey to sleep while it is being eaten.

  The simulated version shares the instincts of its real counterpart. The version created by the simulation is weaker than the ones that live inside the MAZE.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Great, so each one will do something different," Hera sighed.

  She walked closer to the slime, trying to find its core. It was hard to see inside the creature. Hera had to get closer to even understand its full shape. Unable to find the core by looking at it, she remembered what the description said about it staying in the center of mass.

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  With no other option in her mind, Hera took a chance. Holding her handaxe tightly, she slashed the slime aiming at its middle.

  Almost half of the slime fell to the side, motionless. The rest of it bounced off to the side at a speed that Hera wasn't expecting. She quickly took a step back and stared at the creature. It went back to its motionless state, but Hera could have sworn it was staring at her. She moved quickly towards the slime, ready to strike it once more.

  Yet, the monster was ready for the attack. When Hera got close, the slime pulled itself back and lunged like a snake. Surprised, Hera smacked the creature to the side using the chakram. This time only a small piece of its body was severed from it.

  Stepping back, Hera circled the creature before striking again. However, she was met with the same response. It was nearly impossible to see where the slime was looking at.

  "Maybe it's not about sight," she thought.

  Without looking away from her prey, Hera searched for a rock on the ground. At that moment, she felt something wet. Before she could react, a second green slime snapped at her hand.

  Hera smashed the slime into the ground and hacked away at it, trying to hit its core.

  "That will not work a second time!" she shouted in anger.

  She kept hacking away at the slime, pulling it apart with each slash of the handaxe. The first slime started to move towards her. Hera's eyes kept darting back and forth between the slimes.

  Cutting enough of the slime off her hand, Hera pulled her arm away from it. The creature seemed to have problems with keeping its shape. It was almost like a puddle, with a moss green pebble in the middle of it. The small stone seemed to spin, pulling some of the liquid to cover itself.

  Hera quickly attacked the slime's core. It took her a few tries, but she broke it before the first slime reached her. She turned around and prepared for her attack. She charged, using her chakram as a feint. When the slime lunged at her, she stepped to the side and slashed the creature with her handaxe, cutting another good chunk of it.

  She repeated the process a few times until the slime lost the ability to maintain its form. With a cold smile, Hera stared at the creature.

  "I won," she said just before slashing the core.

  Her back was already starting to hurt. Fighting a creature that moves so close to the floor was troublesome. At least when she was behaving like this.

  "I guess I went a bit overboard," Hera mumbled, feeling dejected. Fighting against a skeletal aberration gave her less trouble than dealing with those slimes.

  She picked the cores. One of them was cut in two pieces, while the other had crack in the middle, but it was still a single piece. Placing both cores inside her satchel, Hera noticed a slight silver glow on the ground. It was smaller than a leaf, and it seemed thinner. Hera picked it up, and it felt like holding a piece of a plastic bag. It stuck to her hand and wrapped around her fingers. Worried that was another slime, she quickly activated her [Inspect].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Liquid metal (simulation)

  Biomineral

  A compound generated by a slime that ate many minerals. Blacksmiths use it to make lightweight equipment. It can also be used to produce electronic components due to its high conductivity.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Oh, so this is the metal Betty needs."

  Hera looked back at the forest. So far, it had a one in three chance of dropping. The odds weren't that bad.

  "Ok, let's do this. Maybe I can finish it all before nightfall," she paused and looked to the sky, "If there is night here."

  Hera's satchel was getting full. She spent the last hour hunting slimes. Aside from the green ones, she also found a few yellows and a brown that released a dizzying stench. She tried stomping them, but it only made the slime crawl up her leg, leaving her with the unfortunate task of using a blade to defeat the creatures. By the end of the hour, her back was killing her.

  She was going back towards the creek. It wasn't far, so she did that every so often, worried about going too deep inside the slime territory. The creatures seemed to reappear as soon as she left. Although that helped her get the metal, it could be a problem if she needed to go through the forest and back.

  Arriving at the creek, she washed the slime gunk off her hands and splashed her face with water. She was feeling tired, way too tired from being this early.

  "Actually, what time is it?"

  She picked her tabled and looked at the clock. Her eyes went wide. Was her tablet working? How could it be past 7 pm? She looked up. The sky was still as blue as always, without a hint of dusk. And from the open view of the creek, she could tell the sun was still high in the sky.

  Quickly getting up, she opened her map and made her way back to the city. Hayden had mentioned that the slimes were attacking the city at night. If even the village wasn't safe, what would happen to her in the middle of the forest?

  It took her two hours to get to the slime territory. Maybe if she ran part of the way back, she could shorten that time. Hera kept moving as fast as she could without wearing herself out. The last thing she needed was to be exhausted when the creatures attacked.

  After one hour of running, Hera was getting close to the village. According to her map, it would only take her around half an hour to get there if she kept going at that pace. Sadly, when she was only fifteen minutes away from the village, the sun disappeared together with all the lights in the area.

  It wasn't like the sun had set. The way the light vanished was closer to someone flipping a switch, and then it was night. The only good part of it was that there was something that looked like moonlight covering the forest, even with nothing in the sky.

  Hera looked back towards the path leading to the slimes. If they were coming, there was no way they would be here quickly. It took her a long time to get here, and the slimes were never able to match her speed.

  Thinking about why she ran, Hera felt silly and slowed down. It made no sense. The slimes are so slow that it would probably take them all night to get to the town. They still had to make all the way back too.

  That thought lingered in Hera's mind for a while. They have to go back, and she didn't see any slimes on the path towards their area. If they were coming from there, there was no way they all would die in front of the town. Even if this were a simulation, some slimes would still run away. Right?

  As if replying to Hera's questions, she heard the sound of a water balloon hitting the ground near her. She looked towards it and saw a slime on the dirt. That creature wasn't like the ones she saw. It was red, and it was giving off a soft glow, almost like it was a glow in the dark sticker. The slime jumped towards a tree, using part of its body as a vine, then it swung to another branch closer to Hera.

  After seeing the creature, Hera booked towards the town. If there was one of those around, there could be more. She wasn't sure if the slime wanted to attack her, or if it was just heading to the village, but she didn't want to stop and find out.

  While running, Hera kept looking back. The slime was getting closer, and now more of it appeared. All of them had different colors from the ones she fought earlier that day.

  Afraid of being swarmed by the creatures, she refused to stop moving. Her eyes kept darting back and forth between her path and the slimes approaching so she wouldn't receive a surprise attack.

  As she looked back, Hera saw a light in the corner of her eye, coming from between the trees. That slight distraction was enough to make her trip on one of the roots in the ground, falling face-first in the dirt. She tried to get up quickly, but a large, shapeless creature landed on her back.

  Hera rolled to the side, trying to squash it with her weight. But that only made the slime spread around her back. She saw a few other creatures approaching, and some that had swung past her seemed to turn back.

  Not wanting to be cornered by the monsters, Hera got up and ran towards the light she had seen. At the same time, she kept hitting its back with the side of the handaxe, trying to find the slime's core.

  Soon, she arrived at a big flower field that seemed to be glowing with white light. She looked back at the slimes that were chasing her. It was hard to see them moving between the trees, even with the soft glow they gave. In the middle of that field, not only would they lose the ability to swing in the trees, but the light could help her see them coming.

  Hera rushed towards the center of the field, still trying to remove the slime on her back. However, the creature simply let her go and went back to the forest just as Hera was about to cross into the flowerbed.

  Unsure what was going on, Hera kept going towards the middle of the flower field. Reaching a point where she believed it was safe, Hera spun around, grabbing her handaxe, ready to defend herself against the slimes.

  To her surprise, the slimes weren't following her.

  She could see the shadows moving among the trees, but when they started to get close to the flower field, they changed directions. Hera stepped gingerly through the flowers. One of the possible explanations was that there was something even more dangerous around here.

  Glancing down, she looked at the flowers near her feet. They were pure white, emanating light, and each flower had the shape of a small five-point star.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Moonlight Guardian

  Flora - Shrub

  A close cousin of the Cestrum nocturnum, also known as Night-Blooming Jasmine. During the day, the flower was a greenish-white color, but at night they change to bioluminescent ivory coloration.

  Unlike the Night-Blooming Jasmine, this flower releases a scent that repels weak monsters, emulating the presence of a stronger predator.

  When ingested, its toxicity level is several times higher than that of the Night-Blooming Jasmine.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera stared at the description for a moment. "Isn't this a bit too useful?"

  She couldn't smell anything coming from the flowers. Still, that was the first time she ever heard about this plant, and she wasn't familiar with the name Night-Blooming Jasmine either.

  Hera walked toward the edge of the flowerbed, being careful not to attract any slimes. She took a couple of the flowers and tossed them deeper into the forest. This time, the slimes didn't seem to be bothered by the smell. The flowers also lost their glow the moment Hera plucked them.

  "Ok. Should I just wait here for sunrise? But what if something else shows up? And what about the town?"

  Hera stayed on the field for a few minutes, thinking about her options. It seemed safe to be in the area, but at the same time, she had no idea what else could be around. The town was also in danger. Sure, they were all part of the simulation, but could she let them get hurt? Even if they were odd, they still talked to her, asked for her help. Betty even invited her for a late lunch.

  "It doesn't matter what they are. They need my help. Besides, what if the machines take over and see that I abandoned an AI?" Hera stopped for a moment after saying those words and shook her head, "I'm spending too much time around Mark," she sighed.

  Looking at the map, Hera walked as close as she could to the town without leaving the flowerbed. By the distance, it should be a ten-minute walk. She crouched down towards the flowers and tried to scoop the dirt under them. That way, the roots would still be intact.

  It took her a couple of tries, but she eventually grabbed a piece of dirt with a considerable amount of the flowers still glowing. It broke her heart to see the mess she had just made. This was a beautiful place, and it wasn't fair to destroy it like this.

  However, she didn't have time to be sad. The village could be in danger. Holding the flower, she started to walk, her eyes darting around the area, looking for slimes. This idea was great in theory, but she had no clue if it would actually work.

  After a couple of minutes, she saw one of the slimes coming towards her. Hera braced herself. If this didn't work, she would have to grab her weapons quickly to fight it. The monster approached, but before it got too close, changed directions and circled her.

  Hera let out a long sigh of relief and kept walking. She wanted to reach the town quickly. The closer she got, the more slimes appeared. When she finally left the forest and saw the wooden cabins, an arrow went flying past her head.

  She looked back and saw that the arrow stuck a slime to a tree. Less than a second later, the creature dissolved, but it didn't drop anything. In front of the town, Hayden was notching another arrow in his bow, and aiming towards another incoming slime. The second arrow flew and hit the core of the monster.

  Hera kept walking toward the city. Another ten slimes fell during that time. Hayden only needed a single arrow to kill each of them. His aim was terrifyingly accurate. Hera understood that it was probably part of the simulation, but it was still an incredible sight.

  Arriving at the homestead, Hera started burying the flowers around the fence. She wouldn't have enough to cover everything, but at least she could try to make sure that the slimes only came from a single side. It took her another ten minutes to finish a quarter of a circle around the village.

  She quickly went inside, telling Hayden about the flowers on the way.

  "Great, that means we are safe. Tomorrow, we need to finish encircling the town. Ask Florence to help you with that. But we still need to know why those slimes started attacking us like this. I'm counting on you," the hunter said, without ever stopping his arrows. By the time he finished speaking, another six slimes had fallen.

  Hera nodded and stood beside Hayden, ready to attack the incoming slimes.

  "I appreciate your help, traveler, but you must rest and recover your strength. I can deal with the slimes," he said.

  Hera looked at him, "Are you sure? Don't you need to rest?"

  "I appreciate your help, traveler, but you must rest and recover your strength. I can deal with the slimes," he repeated.

  "Okay..."

  Hera hesitantly walked into the village, worried if Hayden really didn't need any help. The villagers were all in front of their houses, the same way they were when Hera left.

  It was eerie. The town was being attacked, but they didn't seem to mind. In the same vein, it was night, but they were there as if it were the middle of the afternoon.

  Hera talked to Florence, explaining the flowers. The little girl said she could help replant some of the flowers. She just needed the wheelbarrow from farmer Frank. Talking to Frank, he agreed not only to let them use the wheelbarrow but also said that they might need more muscle. Understanding what the point of all this was, Hera went to ask Betty for help.

  Being already there, she gave the liquid metal to complete her quest.

  "Thanks for the help. That is going to all I need to make the tools. Now say, you are still helping Hayden, right? Keep the weapons until you are done. And if you find some more metal, I can even make you your own set. And as a thanks, here."

  Betty gave Hera a basked full of fruits.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Quest completed

  The blacksmith's plea

  Rewards:

  Basket of fruit

  Betty will make you a new weapon if you bring her 10 pieces of liquid metal

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "They won't last long, but at least you can eat for a couple of days."

  Hera thanked the blacksmith and talked about the flowers and the plans for the next day. Betty agreed to help, and Hera went back to the vacant cottage. She really wanted to rest. And since they would only grab the flowers in the morning, she could have a night of sleep.

  Hera sat on the bed, leaving her pants to dry, and started eating the fruits. She would need to look for food soon, but she had a meal, at least for today.

  Grabbing her tablet, she checked the missions. She found only one change among them.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Role test: Explorer

  The green forest and its residents hide many secrets, discover most of them to complete the test.

  This area is part of a simulation. The denizens of this place have limited interaction capabilities.

  Current discovery progress 30%

  [X] Discovered Woodland

  [X] Found Peaches

  [X] Discovered a way to protect the village from monsters

  [ ]?????????????

  [ ]?????????????

  [ ]?????????????

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She felt like this was too little progress for a single day, but if she maintained this pace, in 3 more days she would be done. Happy with the possible end of her role quest, Hera finished her meal and went to bed, wanting to be fully rested by morning in order to handle everything else Woodland had to throw at her.

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