Several hours later, Bonnie groaned and tried to move, but a sharp pain on her hand made her jolt into a fetal position.

  "Ouch!" she cried while holding her right hand.

  "If you feel your hand, you got lucky," Hera replied while taking a sip of coffee.

  The explorer was sitting on a chair by Bonnie's bed. She had her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

  "What happened?" Bonnie didn't look back, knowing her friends was staring daggers at her.

  "You got trigger-happy. You figured out how to do something with mana and overdid it. They checked the logs. Your trainer gave you several warnings about what you were doing. Why didn't you listened to it?" Hera asked with a sigh.

  "I... thought I could do it," the Researcher replied weakly.

  "Since when do you not listen to warnings. Bonnie, you don't even cross the street outside the crosswalk. Explain why you ignored the warning of a trainer while you were using magic."

  "I... I just have to use magic," Bonnie mumbled.

  "Why? Seriously, why? We just had to deal with Leo almost getting us killed because of something he had to do. He did have an explanation, even if it didn't justify what happened. So tell me why. Why are you also acting like your entire life depends on this?"

  "It was my mistake. It won't happen again," Bonnie said, clutching the sheets.

  Hera rolled her eyes. Her friend could have gotten seriously hurt just because she was too eager to do something, just like Leo. Hera understood better than anyone what it was like to be excited about something, but nothing good would happen if they pushed themselves so hard.

  "I hope it doesn't. It was a stupid mistake, and you are not stupid, are you?"

  Bonnie started to tremble, tears rushing down her face, "I'm not fucking stupid!" she replied in a weak voice.

  Seeing that she hit a nerve, Hera just brushed her friend's hair.

  "Sorry. I went too far. You just made me worried. This time I was near you, but what if I wasn't? We were alone in that ATR. You could have bled out in there," Hera said, trying to justify herself. Saying all that gave her a bad taste in her mouth. It felt too close to something Stella would do, even if it was the only thing she could think about doing.

  "I know, sorry. It's not your fault. I just... It was my mistake," Bonnie sniffled, the tears stopping.

  "I'm not going to say it wasn't, but I could have handled things differently. I saw a friend falling to the ground for the second time within two days. It freaked me out a little," Hera explained.

  "Really? What happened?" Bonnie glanced back.

  Hera explained the whole situation with Leo, avoiding going too much into details about his uncle. She would ask him to tell the Researcher himself since it was very personal.

  "Oh... sorry to make you go through that again," Bonnie finally sat up on the bed.

  "And I'm sorry for making you cry... but what happened?" Hera asked.

  Bonnie looked away with a complicated expression. Understanding she needed some space, Hera left the bed and went back to the chair.

  "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, it's ok. But I need to know if I have to be worried about you," Hera returned to a more stern expression. She didn't want to put her friend down, but the MAZE was dangerous. Traveling with someone who was unpredictable could be a problem. Leo had proved that.

  "I need money, a lot of money, and fast. I can't hunt right now, but if I have magic, I can start going with you all," Bonnie said.

  "Why? You know we can cover for you for a while. Not only that, we already have enough to pay for this week's lodging. Why such a rush?" Hera frowned.

  "It's because of my father... I need money to pay for some stuff, and having you cover for me won't be enough," the Researcher explained.

  "Oh, Bonnie, did he ever hit you?" Hera asked with more pity in her voice than she wanted.

  "It's not about that, Hera. It's an issue related to my family, and we are the ones who have to deal with that," Bonnie looked up to face the Explorer for the first time.

  With a nod, Hera added, "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. Just let me know if there ever comes a point where you need help."

  "I will. Thank you," Bonnie smiled.

  Despite her words, Hera still wanted a bit more information, "Can I at least know an estimate of how much you are going to need?"

  "Five thousand for now, then ten thousand next month. By the end of the year, I'll need almost four hundred thousand," Bonnie sighed.

  "Fuck, that's a lot," Hera gasped, but quickly smiled, "Good thing we need just a couple of weeks for you to pay the first month."

  "What?" Bonnie looked at the Explorer with a confused expression.

  "We managed to get a deal with a merchant. We can get around 1,200 gold every two days if we hunt for eight hours. That's just me, Blue, Leo and Alex. If we add a mage to the mix, and another one butchering the frogs, we can make even more,"

  Hera explained the deal and what they were doing to Bonnie. She talked about Mondy and how much they got from the guild, as well as the frogs they faced.

  "You got a crappy deal. Do you know that? The profit margin is too broad of a term. He can give you absurd fees for the drone and the tax, and you can't do much about it," Bonnie seemed very confident in her words.

  "Maybe, but it's not like we have other choices. No one else made an offer. Not that we searched for a better one, and it's not a binding deal. I can just stop using his drones and leave it at that. Leo is doing his quests, and he needs to get in that group," Hera explained.

  "I guess you are right and Hera... Thanks. I'm sorry for worrying you."

  "Don't be, just don't do it again. We are already in a place filled with monsters and things that can kill us. I don't want to add yourself to the mix," Hera said.

  The two waited for a while before Cassandra discharged Bonnie. She had to do a few tests and gave a stern lecture about the dangers of using magic. The damage to her hand was worse than the rest, because of that she should come back in the next day so Cassandra could improve the healing time. With everything done, they left the guild.

  It was already evening, and just a few stores were still open.

  "How long was I out?" Bonnie asked.

  "A few hours, it's almost 10. We are stopping by a restaurant to get some takeout," Hera replied.

  Hera looked at her tablet. There was a text from Helena saying that Blue was an attractive candidate for the order, but the order might not give what the controller wants. She also sent a file with some information about the Mana affinity that she already had. It wasn't much, but it might help Hera.

  Grabbing dinner for all her friends, Hera and Bonnie went back to the hotel. The explorer had asked them all to meet her in her room.

  The group gathered and talked about their day. Leo had completed four quests, two of them this afternoon. It was mostly some low paying side gigs, but the group he wanted to join had no restrictions on what quests you completed.

  Blue and Alex spent most of the day nursing their hangover and watching TV in their room. While they had familiar options, about half of all shows were only available inside the MAZE. Including remakes of famous fantasy movies with actual elves and dwarves.

  Hera told them about the legends and the place she thought the last one could be in the woods. She also talked about what happened to Bonnie, who added that she was in debt, and that was why she needed to rush.

  "We know what Leo wants to do. But I think we need to talk about our plans. Bonnie and Leo got a time-sensitive problem that leads them to make a mistake. I believe that if we talk about what we want and what we need, we can figure out a way to help everybody," Hera said.

  "That is a good point. If someone has a goal that will make them mess up as I did, it can be a problem," Leo agreed.

  "It makes sense, and since you brought it up. You should start, Hera," Blue said.

  They all stared at the explorer. Fidgeting a bit, Hera cleaned her throat and took a large gulp of her drink.

  "I have no idea what I want. My only goal was to become an Explorer. Now... Well, I'm a bit lost."

  Bonnie stared at her before speaking, "Well, I can relate. Before I was aware of my family's, debt I just wanted to use magic. I never considered what comes next."

  "Really? You didn't have a plan?" Blue snickered.

  "No, I did not."

  The two started a staring contest, making the whole room tense.

  "Anyway, you know my goal. Hera and Bonnie told us theirs. What about you two?" Leo asked.

  "Well, I want to help my mom. We have a comfortable life, but there are many bad diseases that run in my family. My grandmother had Alzheimer's and even went blind and deaf before dying. She also had diabetes and a bunch of other stuff. My mom is fine for now, but I'm worried about the future. I want to make enough money to support her and to be able to heal anything she might get. My goal is a long-term one, so I don't need to rush," Alex explained.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Aw man, now I feel kind of bad. The three of you have some real goals, and even if Hera is still figuring it out, she just got her dream. Mine sounds silly now,"

  Blue said.

  "C'mon Blue, we all talked about what we want," Alex said.

  "Exactly, or are you afraid of saying? I imagine it must be something stupid, like eating the biggest pie in the MAZE," Bonnie taunted.

  "Bite me, bookworm," Blue barked.

  "Settle down, you two," Hera said and turned to the Researcher, " Bonnie, be nice," she glanced back at the other party in the discussion, "Blue, you can tell us. We are your friends."

  Blue crossed her arms and slumped in the chair, "Fine... I want to be the fourth Hero."

  There was a moment of silence before Bonnie bursting into laugher.

  "That is too good," she said while laughing.

  "Bonnie, stop that," Leo said, trying to hide a smile.

  "You guys suck," Blue said.

  "Sorry," Hera said, also trying to hold back her laughter, "but it's hard to picture you as a hero when you have ketchup all over your face."

  Blue pouted while cleaning her mouth with a napkin.

  "Oh, sorry, Blue. I just wasn't expecting you to be so pure. If you want to be a Hero, I'll do my best to help you," Hera tried to give a more comforting smile.

  "Sure, I'll pray for a catastrophe for you to fix too," Bonnie said.

  "I'll help you with what I can. I mean, being in the Hero's party can give me some leverage," Leo said.

  "And it's a great way to make money," Alex chimed in.

  "Thanks, but you all still suck," Blue grumble making the group start laughing again.

  Later into the night, Hera was tossing and turning in the bed. She couldn't figure out a good way to rest. Her mind was too busy.

  During the entire time after their meal, she kept thinking about her goals. Yet, nothing came to mind. All she wanted to do was explore, but that felt very surface level. She felt lost. As if something was missing. Not having an objective for the first time in 23 years felt wrong.

  Hera made a mental list of the things she wanted to do. First, find unusual and beautiful places, but that felt too vague. She would end up roaming around aimlessly.

  Learn magic was also on the list, but that was just so she could help Helena.

  Not that she didn't want to use magic, but if it weren't for the mage, she wouldn't be focused on that right now. Helping her friends was nice and all, but it wasn't something for her.

  She wanted to find her own thing, her drive, her quest in life. Something that she would be willing to work her ass off for, but it didn't matter how much she tried. Nothing came to mind.

  Realizing it was a dead-end, Hera tried to do something else to make her sleepy, the training she did in the ATR. It made her feel somewhat comfortable. She closed her eyes and started the exercise once again.

  Cycling the heat through her body, Hera started to feel like she could not just move the warmth, but reshape it. Instead of making it pass, she tried to cover herself with the energy. It was harder than she initially thought. The feeling seemed to push away from her body, like trying to press two magnets together. That gave Hera an idea. What if she tried to turn the magnet around?

  Since she had no clue how to do that, it took Hera some time to make the heat be pulled in instead of pushed out. After several tries, she finally did it. The energy came through her hands and was drawn towards her chest. The moment the heat reached her heart, Hera's body throbbed. As if a massive heartbeat echoed inside her.

  Just as quickly as the feeling arrived, it vanished, being replaced by an unusual tranquility. The air around her felt almost nostalgic, the bed softer, and the sheets warmer. Hera opened her eyes. In front of her, there was a notification.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Mana attribute unlocked

  Mana is the type of energy used in spells. By unlocking this attribute, you gain the ability to create and use spells.

  Unlike other attributes, mana can only be increased through training.

  Starting mana: 100

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera opened a big smile upon seeing the notification. She was one step closer to being able to use spells. She checked Helena's quest, confirming if she had completed it. However, she misremembered things. What she asked was not for Hera to unlock her mana stat, but for her to learn a spell.

  She looked around. Even in the dark, she could still see some furniture's outlines, but they had a colored edge to them. Instinctively, Hera understood that this was the object's mana. The color seemed to be related to the material of the object. The wooden table had a brown outline, while the one on the television had a dark tone.

  Glancing to the side, she saw Bonnie. Blue and Alex went back to the same room as they wanted to finish a movie. Surrounding the Researcher was a very thin line, filled with dancing colors. Unlike the furniture, Hera could see the aura increasing as the woman breathed in and decreasing when she exhaled.

  With the tablet in hand, Hera went to the bathroom. She opened the file Helena had sent her and started reading about the Mana affinity. There wasn't much information on it. It mostly talked about how this affinity was very useful for detection and that was about it.

  To get it that affinity, one needed to have a natural disposition for it, and it would only manifest in a supporting role. It explained a bit of how some spells could be used to perceive the mana around the caster.

  Helena had also sent a reply to Hera, and some notes on the affinity. She heard rumors of people who have that affinity as the central part of their ability. They were easily confused with non-elemental mages. That's why no one thought they existed.

  The Mage had a theory about the use of that affinity. If the spellcaster was able to control the surrounding mana, they could even use the environment mana to cast spells. Lessening the burden they had on their own mana pool.

  Alternatively, they could have the equivalent of a universal affinity. A way to reduce any and all spell costs to a certain extent. It likely would never be as strong as a pure affinity for a single element. However, it would be the best option for a Jack of All Trades.

  Hera read the document a couple of times, trying to absorb all its information. Staring at the bathroom door, she tried to sense the mana in the other room. She saw these weird effects in magic. It made sense for her to have a Mana affinity, right?

  She spent close to an hour trying to perceive the mana in the other room but to no avail. Despite that, she still sent various texts to Helena talking about her experiences and theories about magic. Finally, feeling tired, she walked back into the room and went to bed.

  Back on Earth, Helena and Quinn were at a pub having some drinks.

  "Our little girl is growing up so fast," the Mage said with a smile on her face as she read the messages.

  "Our? I don't remember ever having kids. Nor do I want to," Quinn took a large gulp of her beer.

  "Loosen up, will you? I'm talking about Hera," Helena leaned back on the chair.

  "Oh, what about her?" Quinn asked after ordering more drinks.

  "She is asking for some really advanced information about affinities."

  "Something you weren't expecting?" Quinn raised one eyebrow. Somewhat surprised by the information.

  "Maybe. I had a hunch she might have the affinity she talked about. It was the only explanation for some of the things she could see without a skill. But I wasn't expecting her to talk about it so soon," Helena explained.

  "I see," Quinn said before eating some fries.

  "Are you not going to ask about it?" Helena bellowed.

  "Not really. I'm really happy for you and think you are all amazing for going into the MAZE. But I don't really care about all the details of it."

  Helena let out a lengthy sigh," I know, I just wanted to talk to someone about it."

  "Aren't you going to the Wall next week? You can find some people to talk about that there."

  "I guess, but I can't say too much. Even in the order, we keep some information a secret," Helena took a bite of her burger.

  "Sucks to be you. By the way, how are you going to get there?" Quinn asked.

  "I could go to another guild and take a faster route. But I think I'm leaving on Friday and going through Brinefront. I want to see if I can see how my new assistant is doing," Helena said, almost giggling.

  "It's been a while since I saw you so attached. You are not going for the teacher-student route are you?" Quinn teased.

  "Very funny, no, I'm not. But... she kind of reminds me of Avery."

  Quinn widened her eyes, "Holy crap, she really does! How could I have missed that?"

  "Beats me, but that's just another reason why that is not happening. You know how that ended," Helena said, downing her drink.

  "Yeah, but I also remember how it started. What did the doctor say during that first week? Stretch before doing anything like that again," Quinn snickered.

  "Alright, alright, let's change the subject. And even if I wanted, I couldn't do that again. I'm not that limber anymore, and I don't even remember how it was, to be honest."

  Quinn waited for Helena to start drinking again before saying, "I still have the picture if you want it."

  Helena choked on her drink and started coughing, trying to cuss at her friend. Quinn just watched the scene, laughing and fiddling with her phone to taunt the mage.

  In the MAZE, Hera and her friends kept to the same schedule for the next couple of days. Bonnie was under strict orders not to do anything too strenuous. Especially messing with magic. In the end, she just returned to the library to study more while the rest of the party continued to hunt down frogs.

  Hera couldn't believe the amount of gold she was making. Even if it was something dangerous. In just two days, she made more money than she would after an entire month of working at the bookstore.

  Leo also managed to complete the 10 quests he needed. They decided to let him get the hunt quests by himself. In doing so, he was able to get several of the quests done in a single day. As long as he was willing to go back and forth to the Guild all the time.

  Monday morning, Bonnie called all of them to the arena in the guild to show off her first spell. She was in front of a training dummy made for practicing magic. It had a light purple glow around it, and it seemed to be made of crystals. This made it extremely resilient against magic, and the purple glow was a barrier.

  Bonnie placed two hands in front of her chest with the palms down. A few light blue particles started to form in the spell, creating a sphere. Unlike last time, the lights moved together, rotating and spinning, inside a blue web.

  Bonnie pumped some more mana into the spell and hurled it towards the dummy. The attack wasn't fast. It took a couple of seconds to reach the target, but when it did, a gust of cold air covered the area leaving the dummy covered with a thin layer of ice.

  "That is my first spell. It reduces the temperature in an area when it makes contact. According to what I found, it can slow down monsters and make some objects more brittle."

  "That is amazing, Bonnie!" Hera exclaimed.

  "Yeah, if you can hit a clumped up group, we can get rid of them really quickly," Leo agreed.

  "There is a problem, though. You take a bit of time to make that spell, and I'm guessing it can hit us too. So it's like a one and done. What if something comes at you after it?" Alex asked.

  Bonnie replied with a cocky smile, "Well, I can also do this."

  The researcher spun around and raised her arm. Instead of having the hand out like Hera saw the day Bonnie got hurt, she had one finger pointed at the target, while holding her right hand with her left.

  Before Hera could see the energy gathering, a high-pitched sound of the wind going through a small opening echoed from Bonnie's hand. In less than a second, something slammed onto the dummy's chest, shattering some of the ice in the area. On the screen, behind the target, a large 50 appeared.

  "I retract my criticism," Alex said, staring at the dummy.

  "Did you really just use two spells?" Blue had wide eyes.

  "Sure did, the first one is called Cold Bomb, and this one is Air Fist. Just a warning, Cold Bomb doesn't seem to any damage by itself, and Air Fist just give a score of 20 when I use it by itself," Bonnie skipped towards the group.

  "Still, that is impressive," Leo smiled.

  "Not really. I bought the compendium for the Air Fist. When I figured out how it worked, I toyed with it. Luckily, my Learn skill helped me fill up some gaps," Bonnie admitted.

  "No, it is really impressive, Bonnie. You took less than one week to get your mana stat, learn a spell, and create one all by yourself. Don't play this down, you are amazing!" Hera raised one hand for a high five, which the Researcher gladly took.

  "Even I have to admit that was badass," Blue said.

  "Thanks! Now, I know Leo doesn't need to complete any more hunts, but could we go on one? I want to put these spells to the test, and I also need to get some money since the compendium wasn't that cheap," Bonnie started moving towards the exit.

  "How much was it?" Alex asked as they left the training room.

  "250 gold. That's the last of the money the guild gave me," Bonnie said.

  "Ouch, that's expensive," Leo flinched.

  "Yeah, but with her help, I think we can give her a full refund after today," Alex smiled as they walked towards the exit of the guild.

  "But how do you use an equation for it? The spell I mean," Hera was hoping she could have her friend teach her that spell.

  "You need to consider the variables as the amount and type of mana you are using," Bonnie, pulling her tablet to give an example.

  "I got that part, but how can I use that type and amount of mana?"

  "You think about the values and the spell works," Bonnie said.

  "That doesn't make any sense. Thinking about an equation is not going to make me use magic," Blue cried.

  "I have to agree if I think '5 mana,' nothing happens. I can't feel the mana moving or doing anything at all," Hera said.

  "Because you need the whole spell. Like the Air Fist, it actually looks like this."

  Bonnie pulled up the spell equation on her tablet. It was a long and complicated mix of letters, numbers and symbols. It was obvious to everyone here that she was the only one who could make heads or tails of that mess. In the end, the Explorer would need something different to cast a spell.

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