Early in the next morning, Hera was already with the villagers once again at the flower field. She tried to talk to them during the trip, but all she got was the same repetitive answers. Even Betty seemed to have less to say here.

  "At least everything is going smoothly," Hera mumbled.

  Hayden was the only one who was not present. After a long night of struggle, the hunter was resting. Hera understood that this was part of the simulation, but it was still odd since the rest of the villagers could stay the whole night outside without a problem. Which also made her be in high alert. After all, this could end up being a protection mission.

  Most of the morning was spent going back and forth between the village and the flower field. Hera and Betty took turns carrying the dirt while Frank dug around the flowers, and Florence planted them back in the town. According to them, the few flowers Hera left around the fence were already dying. Her attempt was enough for just a single night. They would need a much larger ring in order to make it a proper defense. In addition, Florence also wanted to make a small flower garden at the center of the homestead.

  Hera wasn't in the mood for doing some landscaping. After all, she still had many quests to complete. But since no one seemed to mind the girl's request, she went along with it.

  It took almost all morning to finish transporting the plants. Or what Hera was assuming to be morning. The sun was still static here, ever since it stopped being night, the light returned to that near noon state.

  With everything done, Hera talked to Florence to complete her quest, having found a place where she could go flower picking anytime she wanted. It seemed good enough for the mission. However, the girl said that since this was a defense measure, she couldn't use those. She also said that she wanted a few with more colors to make everything pretty.

  Somewhat annoyed by the request, Hera focused on farmer Frank for the day. He lost his rake by the creek, meaning that all that was needed to find it would be a stroll by the water. That way, she might even be able to find some clues about the place with flowers.

  Leaving the town, Hera took a few fruits that Betty had given her the previous night. She would have enough for dinner, but nothing for tomorrow. Making a mental note to look for any fruits or berries, Hera walked towards the creek to search for the rake Frank had lost.

  Almost one hour later, Hera arrived at the place she met Peaches. She quickly found the tall rock where the green apple was, but no one was sitting on it today. Peaches was the closest thing to a normal person she found here. For some reason, it was easier to talk to him than to the villagers. Maybe because he was an apple, and that gave Hera the feeling of talking with a stuffed animal.

  She searched the area for any markings or traces to find the path the little apple took. After a few minutes without any results, Hera gave up and started to follow the brook back to its source. According to the quest, the rake was near the water spring.

  Following the stream, Hera was glad that this time she could see her surroundings changing. Or at least, she could see those changes around the stream. The forest still had the same repetitive pattern over and over again. Rocks became larger, and the flow of water stronger. Some areas now looked like an actual river, deep and wide and even some leaves were being carried by the current.

  That one detail made Hera frown. From what she had seen so far, the leaves of the trees wouldn't ever fall down. The forest was perfect, unnaturally so, and this kind of trail shouldn't exist.

  It took Hera almost two hours to reach the end of the creek. Which was on top of a small pillar of rocks. The water from the spring created a small waterfall, which would end up in a somewhat large lake before flowing down. All in all, it looked like a real life version of a desk spring. Completely out of place and not something that should exist naturally.

  However, that was something Hera had to get used to. The MAZE was a wild place, things that seemed unnatural should be her new normal.

  The spring itself was more what she expected. It looked like a small puddle with a moss-filled rock on top of it. But the water was flowing from under the rock, making the puddle overflow and spill towards the incline. This entire thing was over 50 meters wide, making this a nice place for her to rest.

  While standing on top of that stone pillar, for the first time since she came here, Hera saw a different type of forest. The trees surrounding this place had a less vibrant color, but they would move slightly as if being swayed by the wind. The soft sound of the water flowing, with the trees rustling noise, gave a peaceful feel to this place.

  Hera sat near the small pond. She knew she had a quest to complete, but it felt wrong to not enjoy the scenery a bit. This was one of the reasons she wanted to be an explorer. She wanted to find places like this. Beautiful and amazing places that seemed to be painted, although this particular spot probably was a painting someone made.

  She spent half an hour sitting on the grass, relaxing by the creek. Meditating for a while, Hera couldn't help but wonder what other places she would find as an explorer. It was nice to start with something like this, but it wasn’t enough. Ever since she read stories about cities in the sky and mountains that would pierce the clouds, Hera dreamed about going to those places.

  Feeling that she wasted enough time, Hera got up and started to search for Frank's Rake. First, she looked for any footprints or markings that could show where the farmer went. Not finding anything, she looked for places where someone could lose a rake. Behind trees, near the creek, she even went deeper into the woods. Yet, despite all her efforts, the farmer's rake was nowhere to be seen.

  "Did I miss something?" she thought to herself.

  She went back to the water spring and found that the water had stopped flowing from the waterfall. Unsure of what that meant, Hera approached the rock where the water was coming from, thinking it could have something to do with her quest.

  She carefully reached inside the small opening that was gushing out water before. Part of her knew this was a bad idea, but, at the same time, the guild wouldn't make the test deadly, would they?

  Hera had most of her forearm inside the crack when she felt something soft touching her fingertips. She tried her best to examine it by touch, but it felt almost like a beach ball. She grabbed the soft object and tried to pull it out. It was hard to do so. Not only was there no way to have a firm grasp on it, the object kept shifting because of the water that was trying to come out.

  After a few tries, Hera gave one big pull and managed to remove the object from the hole. Following the release, a stronger stream of water came out, splashing Hera's face.

  Moving away from the creek, Hera looked at her hand to figure out what was holding back the water. It was a giant green apple.

  "Peaches?" she asked.

  "Yeah, it's me," he mumbled.

  "Are you ok?"

  "I'm fine," The green apple was avoiding Hera's eyes.

  "Ok. But what were you doing there? Actually, how did you get there?" Hera asked.

  Peaches let out a lengthy sigh, "I'm a heavy sleeper."

  "What?"

  "I said that I am a heavy sleeper," Peaches snarled.

  "I heard you, but what does that have to do with being stuck there?"

  "Since when do I have to explain myself to you?" he retorted.

  "Since I got you out of there," Hera replied, annoyed with his attitude.

  "Fine... just ... put me down, please."

  Hera placed the giant apple by the creek, away from the spring.

  "Ok, here you are. Now, can you tell me what is going on?" she asked.

  "I'll tell you, just don't... don't tell anyone, ok?" Peaches looked at Hera with a pleading expression.

  "Sure, it will be our secret," she said, unsure what to expect.

  "The thing is, just before dawn, or what passes as dawn in this place, the creek has a low tide moment. It pulls the water around the puddle, and then it spills back up," Peaches explained, pointing at the rock with its head.

  "Ok, but what does that have to do with you being stuck there?"

  "If you let me finish, maybe you can find out!" he exclaimed.

  "Sorry."

  "Now. Like I was saying. I came up here last night and started floating in the water. It was nice, almost like being in a cradle, and I fell asleep. I only woke up after I was already down there. I tried to squiggle my way out, but when I was near the opening, I got stuck. And that's what happened,"

  Hera stared at Peaches for a moment. That story wasn't something she ever expected to hear without a tragic ending.

  "So... how can you breathe down there?" she asked.

  "What? Look at me. In what world do you think I have lungs? I'm a slime for system's sake."

  "Well, bugs and fish don't have lungs either. But they still need air. How can I know what you need?"

  Peaches was about to say something, but he stopped and looked down while furrowing his brow.

  "You know, I think I liked you better when you had no comebacks."

  "Well, I guess I'm growing," Hera said with a playful smile.

  "Yeah, good for you. But what are you doing here?"

  Hera explained about the quest and how she needed to find the rake, the flowerbed, the reason for the slimes to be acting up, and probably more to fully complete her test.

  "Speaking of which, you said you are a slime, right? Do you know anything about that?"

  "Are you really comparing me to those mindless blobs? We may share a species, but I'm vastly superior to them. I honestly think we should be a different species altogether. But the system decides the name, and I can't do anything about that," he complained, jumping up and down while huffing.

  "Sorry for mixing you with them Peaches, but do you know what is going on? Why are they attacking the town?" Hera asked.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "I know, but I can't tell you. That's part of the test."

  "Yeah, I kind of figured. Can I ask you something else?"

  "You just did, but sure. You just helped out of a pretty bad situation. I can answer a few questions."

  "Are you part of the simulation? I mean, you are just so lifelike, more so than the villagers. Talking to you feels... normal. And..." Hera stopped before asking about his description. She wasn't sure how he would react, knowing she tried to look at his information.

  "And you used [Observe] on me, and it didn't show the simulation tag. Is that what you were going to say?"

  Hera went pale. She didn't want to offend him, and according to Helena, inspecting someone was really rude. Maybe [Observe] would be just as bad. Still, she decided to be honest,

  "Yeah. Sorry, I tried to be sneaky not to bother you."

  "I can tell when someone is doing that to me. It's a skill that is a bit hard to get, but it is worth it. Anyway, try to be more careful in the future, ok? Some people might not take it as kindly as I did. And to answer your question. I'm not like the villagers. You can consider me the supervisor of the test. I'm here to make sure no kind of cheating happens," Peaches explained.

  "Oh, got it. I guess that's why you can't help me. Sorry to bother you, I'm just feeling a bit frustrated."

  "Why do you say that?" Peaches tilted his body to the side.

  "Well... Yesterday I got here, and a few hours later, I already got three quests and 20% of my test done. By the end of it, I had 30%, and one of them was done. I just thought that today would be the same. I would get another quick 20% and end the day with 60. But I didn't get anything done so far. I just wanted to do a short mission and feel good about myself. Prove that I can do this."

  "Kid, things hardly ever come easy for anyone. It takes hard work, and you can't just give up because of a bad day," Peaches said.

  "I know, or at least I should know that. There are just some voices gnawing at the back of my head. Saying I'm not good enough. Spending this long alone with my thoughts makes it hard to tune them out. It makes it feel like all the practice I had when I was little ended up being a waste of time," Hera admitted. This was part of the reason why she started talking to herself.

  "What did you do to practice?" Peaches asked after moving around, trying to get a bit cozier near the creek.

  "Well, I was never good at sports or any martial arts. But I spent my time reading about exploration and how explorers used to navigate through the jungle. I even got lost on purpose in a national park near my home and tried to make my way back once. My dad grounded me for six months after that," Hera chuckled, "but that was just a kid playing pretend. Once I got rejected by the guild, I kind of had to forget all that."

  "It was a nice plan. Knowing how to find yourself is a handy skill."

  "Yeah, too bad, it was just a kid messing around," Hera said, hugging her legs.

  "You still haven't got it," Peaches said, letting out a long sigh.

  "Got what?" Hera asked.

  "This ain't pretend anymore, kid. It's the real deal. All that playing pretend was not just playing. It was you getting ready."

  Hera stared at Peaches, letting his words sink in. The useless things she forced herself to forget. How to find herself, how to mark a route, the patterns she could look for, everything that her mother judged her for learning, all the things that her previous bosses said amounted to nothing. Now, everything was relevant, everything could be useful.

  "So, kid. What would the young Hera do to find something in the forest?" Peaches asked.

  Hera thought for a moment. She spent so much time forcing those experiences away from her mind that it felt weird to search for them.

  "She would... look around the area for any tracks first," she said.

  "And then?"

  "Then... if there was nothing. She would change her point of view. Look for a different perspective, but since she was a bit too literal. She would climb the tallest tree she could find," Hera said as she started to look around.

  "So? What are you waiting for, that is the tallest tree around. Get to climbing," Peaches said, pointing to a tree behind Hera.

  "No, that is a bad one. The branches are too thin. I need something more sturdy," Hera remembered all the tree climbing she did. All the times she fell, all the lessons learned by playing around, "Like that one!"

  Hera got up and dashed towards a tree on the other side of the water spring, going down the stone pillar. She had a smile on her face, remembering all the fun she had while exploring the parks when she was little.

  As she ran, Peaches just stared at her before mumbling with a smile, "I guess the new batch is not so bad."

  Hera had reached the highest point on the tree or, at least, the highest that could stand her weight. The forest differed from what she expected from this angle. The area surrounding the water spring had many types of trees, from pine to chestnut, and even the large oak she had climbed. It was almost like someone tried to make this place a greenhouse for trees.

  From her vantage point, Hera could see a vast expanse. Even from this point of view, she could see the repetitiveness of the place. Scanning the area, she noticed one spot where the pattern changed. Balancing herself in the tree, she quickly made a note on her map to explore it later.

  Climbing down a branch, Hera shifted to look at the other side. She could see not only Peaches and the spring but also a few patches where the tree pattern stopped. She figured one of them should be the town and another the flowerbed. But there was still a third one, smaller than the others. Marking the rough direction on the map, Hera started to look for the rake.

  It only took her a few moments to notice something odd. At the top of a spruce, the rake was balancing on a branch. It would be one thing if it was laying in several branches at once, but the rake was being held with its metal claws in a single branch.

  "What the...?" Hera kept staring at it. How did that thing got stuck there?

  Hera looked around a bit more, just to be sure if she wasn't missing anything else. Feeling confident she wouldn't be able to find anything else here, Hera climbed down the tree.

  "Any luck?" Peaches yelled as she reached the ground.

  "Yeah, there are some places that seem interesting. And the rake is stuck in a tree here," Hera replied.

  On a tree? Well, the farmer really is something,"

  Hera stopped and stared at peaches, "Say, you didn't give me that tip on purpose, did you?"

  "I have no idea what you are talking about, kid. You are the one that said that you would climb up trees," he replied with a smile.

  Hera squinted her eyes at him. It seemed a bit too convenient that the first thing she tried after talking to him led her to the rake. At the same time, it was her idea, Peaches never said anything about climbing trees or changing the perspective.

  "Ok, but how did Frank's rake get there?" she asked.

  "Kid, c'mon. This is a test, but it is also trying to teach you things. What could those things be?"

  Hera thought for a moment, "Well... finding the flowers was related to the monster attacks. Maybe it was about having more than a single solution for a problem? Or go the extra mile, since the assaults started once they could start again. Spreading the flowers is a long-term solution. Finding the metal for Betty seems like just a way to show that monsters can drop items. This one... would be to make us look in other directions? People tend to focus on what is happening in front of them or look down, It's rare to see someone who has a habit of looking up,"

  Peaches stared at her with wide eyes, "That... Is almost completely right, damn kid, I underestimated you."

  "And I thought you were a fruit, can we call it even?" she said, moving back towards the trees.

  "Sure," the green apple slime raised the sides of his body, a motion that Hera understood was him shrugging.

  Walking towards the spruce where the rake was, Hera considered her options. The tree seemed too weak for her to climb. If she had something big to throw, she could make the rake fall.

  "Peaches, do you mind helping me a little bit?" she glanced back from below.

  "Depend on what help you need. I can't tell you anything about the test," the slime moved closer to the edge of the stone pillar to see things better.

  "That's fine. I just need something big to throw at the rake," Hera said.

  "Well, there are some big rocks around here, but they are kind of heavy. You need to pick a lighter one," Peaches replied.

  "Don't worry about it. Just come here. I want to throw a green apple at it."

  "What green... HEY! YOU WANT TO THROW ME!?" Peaches snarled at Hera.

  Hera laughed and looked at the slime, walking towards the spring.

  "I'm just kidding, you are way too cute to be treated like that," she said.

  "Cute, she says, just after pulling that crap. Being saved by you was worse than being stuck there for the rest of the week," Peaches jumped away from Hera.

  "I was just teasing, don't be so grumpy,"

  Peaches just clicked his tongue and looked away as a reply. Hera giggled and grabbed a few rocks from the creek. Her aim was terrible. It would be a miracle to get it on the first try. Yet, the first rock she threw hit the rake's shaft, making it swing for a few seconds before stopping. Hera twisted her nose.

  "That's just mean," she mumbled before throwing the next one.

  It took her almost twenty minutes to make the rake fall. During that time, one of the rocks even ricocheted onto a lower branch and hit her in the head. That made Peaches laugh loudly and tease her for a few minutes.

  With Frank's tool in hand, Hera looked at the time. It was still 3 o'clock. It seemed a waste to go back now, and she wanted to explore that area up north, where the pattern changed.

  "Say, Peaches. Do you think Farmer Frank would mind if I took a bit longer to give his rake back?" Hera asked.

  "Considering he is not really alive or has any sense of time. I don't see why he would mind," Peaches replied.

  Hera was a bit surprised by the bluntness of the reply. Sure, the villagers were not real, and the way they spoke was very stiff, but they were still so lifelike.

  "That was pretty heartless of you to say. Don't you kind of live here with them?"

  "Yeah, but when you spend so much time with a company that can only reply with a few pre-made phrases, it gets boring fast. To me, they are more like those animatronics things you would see in a theme park," Peaches explained.

  "Oh… yeah, with time that might happen. But how long are you here with them?" Hera asked.

  "Longer than anyone should. And that's the best answer you are getting."

  Understanding she shouldn't press the subject, Hera changed the subject.

  "Ok. Peaches, I'm going north, there is an area that seems to be different from the rest, and since I'm already here, I might as well check it out,"

  "You don't have to tell me what you are going to do. Just go do it, kid," he replied.

  "I know, but it seems rude to leave without saying goodbye. Try not to get stuck again, I can't come here every day to save you," Hera said as she walked towards the trees leading north.

  "Fair point, good luck, kid. Maybe we will see each other again before you finish the test," he said with a smile.

  "Of course, I need to say my goodbyes," she replied, entering the forest with the rake in hand.

  Traveling through the forest, Hera kept looking at her map to ensure she wasn't moving in the wrong direction. That became even more of an issue as the forest returned to that same pattern. It reached a point where she would spend more time looking at the map than at her surroundings.

  "Wait, since I have the map and I won't get lost, I can polish some old skills, can't I?" she mumbled.

  Hera walked towards a tree and near its trunk. When she was little, she used to carve some marks on the trees to make sure she wasn't moving in circles. After some time, her dad explained to her that she should avoid making those types of marks. It hurt the tree, and some could last forever.

  Hera kept digging near the roots until her fingers could feel the moisture in the ground. She smeared the dirt onto the trunk, creating a light brown mark on it. It wasn't very distinct from the rest of the tree, but she could recognize the markings if she looked at the right spot.

  Using her waterskin, Hera made the dirt a bit wetter trying to get a better color. It needed a few drops, but she turned the light brown dirt into a reddish dirty one. Using that the mark was more obvious.

  She kept walking for another hour, stopping every few minutes to mark a new tree. If she had found any types of berries or fruits, it would have been easier to make the signs, but she only had dirt and water to work with.

  At the end of the hour, Hera saw the trees changing. From the same repetitive pattern to a beautiful orchard. Just by glancing about, she could see oranges, apples, grapes, bananas, and many bushes filled with berries. Just by her side, was a strawberry bush and then a papaya tree.

  Hera was never too interested in gardening, but she knew enough to tell that this shouldn't be possible. Strawberries need a colder climate to grow, while papaya need warm conditions.

  It would be one thing if the trees were here, but only some of them had fruit. Yet, the orchard was filled with amazing looking fruit. Just by looking at the juicy red apples, Hera's mouth started to water. Before doing anything else, she inspected the trees, just to be sure. All the descriptions seemed to be fine, only talking about the tree and the type of fruit it had.

  "Might as well stock up," she said to herself.

  Using the rake, Hera started to grab various fruits. She prioritized things that she could easily take back, like apples, oranges, bananas, and avocados. She stared at the peach tree for a moment. Even though eating them could be weird, they looked delicious, and the smell was intoxicating. She quickly grabbed a few and tossed into her satchel. Scanning the area, she also saw a green apple tree, which she decided to ignore. That would be too close to a certain slime.

  After filling up her satchel, Hera picked some fruit to eat right now. Strawberries and more delicate fruits would be very troublesome to carry around. On the other hand, the watermelon and the pineapple would be too cumbersome. But she could have a quick bite around here.

  As she walked, Hera found the center of the orchard. It was a wider open area, almost like a small town square. In the center of it, there was a beautiful cherry blossom in full bloom. Before walking into the area, she activated her [Inspect].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Ever-blooming cherry blossom

  Flora - Prunus - Prunus serrulata

  As the name suggests, the ever-blooming cherry blossom, or ever-blooming sakura tree, is always blooming. The flowers grow daily and fall during the night. Only to regrow before the next morning.

  Many ever-blooming trees can be found inside the MAZE, and it is considered a sign of good luck to find one by accident.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera smiled at the notification. It was a perfect spot for an afternoon snack. She grabbed a few fruits and sat down under the cherry blossom.

  While she ate, Hera wasn't able to stop smiling. This place was beautiful, more so than any story or painting she ever saw. This is what she always wanted. To find a place where she could feel like she was in a different world and, even if just for a moment, be the only one there.

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