The five flying cloths were pushing back Hera and her friends. Even after the Explorer had placed the sash that she found back in the drying rack. The elementals would zoom around the group and hit them with their tails like a whip, but the most dangerous part was when they attempted to wrap someone's head.

  When that happened, a strange gust of wind would stop those trapped from being able to pull air to their lungs. The fear of being caught by something like that led the group of adventurers to stay in a tight formation.

  "Bonnie, how many more times can you use Cold Bomb?" Leo slashed at the incoming elemental, missing it altogether.

  "I have three more casts before I run out of mana. Should I do it now?" Bonnie was unsure when was the best moment to strike.

  Her spell could help, but the monsters were too slippery. Wasting the mana on a miss would only make things more difficult.

  "Let's go to the round room. It's smaller, and it doesn't have anything. You won't hit a rack there," Alex whispered while walking back towards the door. Her eyes never leaving the flying creatures.

  Carefully, the group left the room. Blocking and defending against the elemental's assault. As they crossed the threshold, there was a slight respite in the attacks. However, that didn't last long. Before they reached the middle of the chamber, the creatures flew into the room and circled the group.

  "Bonnie, try to hit more than one," Leo said as he got into his fighting stance. His shield in one hand, blocking half his body, and the spear in the other, ready to strike.

  It was the first time he fought those types of creatures. Because of that, his [Hunt] skill would do little to help in this fight.

  As the prototype wind elementals floated around, the researcher gathered mana and aimed at the targets. The moment she recognized a pattern, one that was to happen just as the monsters tried to strike, the spell flew out of her hand. However, the flying cloths changed course and stayed away from the attack's area of effect.

  "Crap!" Bonnie cursed.

  The elementals were not only faster than the first one they fought but also smarter. If she kept throwing her spells like that, she would end up missing them all. At a quick glance, they all understood the reason. While they were prototypes, none of them was a failed version.

  "We need to distract them somehow," Alex said as she tried to slash the elemental that just flew by her head.

  "Easy for you to say. I can't grab those things," Blue kept trying to reach them as if she was swatting a fly. Just as her hand was about to close around one of the flying cloths, the monster sped up and left the Controller's range.

  Hera threw her chakram up, but one of the creatures tied itself around the handle and started pulling it away. The Explorer quickly grabbed Yarnball's string and pulled the weapon back.

  Luckily, the cloth wasn't strong enough to fight back, and the chakram was let loose. Hera pulled the cord, raising her arm. The weapon scrapped on the ground and moved behind the explorer, making a pendulum motion. Remembering the small training she had done with the chakram before coming to Brinefront, Hera split off from the group, spinning Mayra's feather through the string to gain some momentum.

  "Hera, come back!" Blue yelled.

  "I'll distract them. Bonnie, aim for when they come after me. It's fine if I get hit," Hera changed the way she was spinning, now it was directly above her almost like a helicopter rotor.

  With that, the elementals weren't able to get too close to the explorer. At the same time, they seemed to be driven to follow along. The more wind that was created by the spinning motion, the more agitated the creatures became. When they tried to attack, Hera changed the angle she spun the chakram and managed to ward them off.

  Seeing the explorer, Bonnie gathered mana for the Cold Bomb spell once again. This time, however, she waited for the absolute best moment to strike. Giving time for the elementals to be on a path she could predict.

  Just as the five pieces of cloth moved in tandem to attack, the Researcher let her spell fly.

  The Cold Bomb hit the elementals, making three of them fall to the ground. Alex jumped towards one and cut it apart with her daggers before anyone could do anything. As she did that, the two remaining monsters went for the Assassin.

  Bonnie used the Cold Bomb again, not even bothering to gather mana. She simply sent the spell as quickly as she could. Due to her quick response, both monsters were hit before they reached Alex. However, the rushed spell had a much bigger mana consumption than she expected, making her only able to use Air Fist as an attack.

  The Cold Bomb had struck all the elementals. Even the ones that didn't fall down, were now much slower as part of their bodies became stiff. Thanks to that, they became easy pickings for the group, who quickly finished them off.

  "Ok, this was more than what I was expecting. Is anyone hurt?" Leo sat on the floor, already sweating.

  "I'm ok. The part that hurt me the most was when the first one tripped me," Hera walked towards the door, making sure there weren't more monsters around.

  "I don't think they were very dangerous. Aside from asphyxiating us, they didn't do much else," Blue walked behind Hera just in case.

  "I think they were supposed to be part of something more, like an alarm system. The question is, is there someone to answer that alarm now?" Bonnie paced around the room, thinking about the possibilities, "Anyway, let me try one thing."

  She approached a wall and started to cycle her mana. A few moments later, Hera and Blue left the circular room to pick up the sash. When the Explorer picked the item, her friend asked.

  "Hey, what if more of those things show up every time you pick that up?"

  Hera looked at Blue with wide eyes. A sudden realization dawned on both of them. Bolting towards the circular room, they didn't even bother looking back. Only when they had reached the rest of the group did they stop and spun around, ready to face the enemies. This time, however, there was nothing following them.

  "What are you two doing?" Leo asked.

  Explaining what happened, Hera showed the sash to the group.

  "Can I take it?" Alex asked.

  "Are you sure? It doesn't seem like it will be very helpful." Bonnie looked at the sash one more time.

  Alex shook her head, "Aside from the scaling being good for me. Since it reduces the wind resistance the less resistance there is, maybe when I'm sneaking it will be really strong. Also, I need to understand wind better. That way, if I try to hide from something with a good nose I won't get caught."

  Bonnie nodded, she failed to consider all the possibilities. Since no one seemed to want the item, Alex put it around her waist, covering the edge of her pants and shirt.

  Hera looked around the room again, searching for the fallen elementals. She wanted to inspect one to understand it a bit more, but they were all gone.

  "Things in here disappear after they die, remember. But they did leave some loot," Leo raised his hand and gave a coin to Blue and one to Hera.

  They were gold coins, lighter than one might expect, with a large number 10 engraved on them.

  "Put it on your tablet," Leo smiled.

  Hera frowned, but she still did as he asked. Placing the coin on top of the tablet made it disappear. A notification appeared on the screen informing her that 10 gold had been deposited in her wallet.

  "Ok, this is really handy," she said.

  "Did they drop something else?" Blue asked.

  Alex shook her head, "Nope, that was all. I feel a bit cheated since the frogs would give way more money. But I guess if you have a ranged attacker in the group, this would be faster."

  "What will probably make us some money here will be the treasures we find, and the quest rewards," Leo said.

  While the group waited for Bonnie to finish recharging her mana, Hera went inside the room once again and activated her Pulse spell a few times. She wanted to be sure they were not missing anything. Sadly, the walls had too much mana inside them, so Hera wasn't able to tell if there was anything hidden past them. Eventually, she joined Bonnie in recovering her mana with the help of the walls of this place.

  Once everyone was ready, they went back to the entrance. Passing through the hallway where the air current pushed them away was tricky. It was one thing to fight back the wind. Let it push you without falling to the ground was very different.

  Hera suggested closing the door with the hatch again. Everyone understood her worry, for that, the group spent a few extra minutes pushing the steel door and locking it. Seeing the hatch up close, Hera noticed that the iron bar in the middle didn't function as a lock, but it would push out the secondary frame around the door. It made a perfect seal, which was the reason why they couldn’t hear the wind with the door closed.

  Moving back to the center room, they found it almost as they had left it. The only difference was that the light in front of the door they came from was now a soft green.

  "So, if this is a pentagram. That was the air room, right?" Blue asked.

  Bonni gave a node and then pointed to the door on their left, "Yeah, and that one would be earth or spirit. It depends on if this was made from looking up or down. If it were built from above, it would be akin to looking at it through a mirror."

  "And... what would be the other one?" Alex asked.

  Bonnie replied after thinking for a moment, "Either fire or water if my notes are correct."

  "I vote we go there," Leo said, without missing a beat.

  "I agree, although I'm not as excited about the idea as Leo apparently," Blue stared at the hunter. He was way too eager to choose that one door.

  They followed through the corridor that would either lead to a fire or a water room, reaching another library. The main difference was that here all the tomes had red covers. Looking around, they found no traps again, but all the books turned to dust as they touched them, just like before. In one of the tables, there was a large blueprint for a stone furnace. At the back of the room, there was a large door, but this one was made of stone instead of iron.

  They prepared themselves and opened the door. It revealed a steel passageway, with iron gratings on the floor spread around at set intervals. Not only that, but a breath of hot air came rushing out. It was almost enough to burn Leo, who opened the door. After a few moments looking inside, large flames came out of the grating, hitting the low ceiling and spreading like a backward waterfall.

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

  "You are kidding me," Bonnie gasped.

  "Any ideas? Or we give up this room?" Leo asked.

  Hera kept watching the flames. The moment it stopped, she counted the seconds until it raised again. They had thirty seconds. It could be enough to run through the hallway, but it would be close. She waited for the flames to appear again, confirming that it was a uniform pattern.

  Alex pointed towards the middle of the hall, "There seems to be a larger gap there. Do you think we could stay crouched and not get hurt?"

  "Maybe, but it would be a bit tight. Leo, for instance, might have some problems with his spear," Bonnie said.

  "Hang on a second," Blue said, getting a piece of jerky from her pocket, "Leo, hand me your spear."

  She put the jerky on the tip of the spear and held it like she were going to barbecue the meat. She waited for the fire to burst once again and stuck the beef inside it. After a few seconds, the flames receded, and the jerky was still in one piece.

  Blue tried to touch it but recoiled, shaking her hand.

  "Yeah, it's really hot, but it didn't turn into ash," the controller said.

  "So, this is a low heat flame?" Bonnie looked around the hallway.

  "I think so. I mean, it probably will still hurt if it gets us, like spilling hot soup on your lap. We can get very hurt, but it won't turn us to ash," Blue said while eating her freshly cooked jerky.

  "Hang on then," Alex walked towards one of the desks and pulled a chair, placing its legs above the grating. A few moments later, the flames rose again. When the fire stopped, the legs of the chair were still there, they were glowing with the heat, but they didn't catch on fire," I think this is much more manageable than I thought."

  The group agreed to give it a shot, setting a timer in sync with the fire. Blue went in first, crossing the entire hallway in one go. Leo and Alex were next, doing the same. When Hera was about to go, Bonnie held her arm.

  "Can I go before you? I'm not sure I'll have the guts to go if I'm alone back here."

  "Sure, not that I'm not freaking out here. Running through hot coal seems less stressful," Hera nodded.

  Bonnie gave the explorer a small smile and got ready to run. The flames were still raging inside the corridor.

  "Remember, if you can't pass the middle before we count to 14, stop in that open area and crouch," Hera gave one last advice, according to what they had noticed.

  Bonnie nodded and waited for the flames to go out. The second they did, she dashed as fast as she could. The rest of the group began counting together in a loud voice. When the Researcher was around a quarter of the way through, she tripped on one of the grates making her fall to the ground.

  Trying to scramble up, Bonnie realized that her foot was stuck in the metal plate. She pulled a couple of times and managed to free her shoes, but it was too late to run to the other side.

  Hera watched the whole thing in shock. Uncertain if she should rush in and help her friend. The problem was the safe zone. It was too small for two people. She had to trust Bonnie, or they both could get really hurt.

  Suddenly, Hera's sight was blocked by the roaring flames.

  The worst part.

  She couldn't tell if Bonnie had reached the safe zone or not.

  The Explorer counted the seconds since Bonnie disappeared behind the flames. She couldn't hear anything aside from the roaring fire. That could be a good thing, and Bonnie could be safe, but at the same time. It could mean that there was nothing left to scream.

  Hera shook her head. She had to trust her friend. Bonnie was okay.

  She had to be.

  After what felt like an eternity, the flames subsided. Hera's heart was beating fast. The first thing she saw was the worried expression of her friend on the other side. Then, she saw a golden hair attached to the head of a dark-skinned girl. She was crouched in the safe area. When the fire vanished completely, Bonnie looked around with wide eyes and smiled at her friends.

  "What are you doing? Go!" Hera yelled, waving her off with her hands.

  The researcher came out of her daze and dashed to the other side. She reached Leo's group without issue this time. The flames came up, and then it was Hera's turn.

  She was careful not to get stuck in any of the grates and still crossed the hallway with five seconds to spare.

  "You make it look so easy," Bonnie said, looking at the explorer.

  Blue snickered, "It helps if you don't trip over your own feet."

  "It was the grating, not my feet," Bonnie barked at the controller.

  Hera gave Bonnie a big hug, "I'm so glad you're safe," she couldn't imagine what it was like to be in the middle of those flames.

  Even if the Researcher didn't get hurt, it must have been terrifying.

  Bonnie hugged her friend back and replied in a weak voice, "Thanks."

  After a few moments, Blue joined the hug, breaking the accumulated tension in the room, "Of course she's fine. Do you think something will stop our little bookworm? All she has to do is think about all the books she has yet to read."

  Looking around the room, they noticed a similar carving to the one with the wind. The mage was above the door that they just come through, and a small flame came out of both her hands. The fire would grow from a small ember to a candle, then a campfire, then a huge forest fire, and finally, to a volcano above the other door, directly opposed to the one they entered through. However, the flaming mountain seemed less alive than the image in the air room.

  "So, the pattern is pretty close. My guess is that there will be some sort of creature in that room," Bonnie said after investigating the area.

  "Just like those air elemental prototypes?" Blue asked.

  Bonnie nodded, "Yeah. Something like that. I just don't know why this would be repeating. The System is a bit lazy at times."

  "I don't think so. To me, it took a lot of effort to craft a place more realistic," as Hera spoke, the rest of the group stared at her, "It's all about the story. This was an arcanist's tower. So she probably made this place to have a secure location to do some research. She split this up to make various subjects. Like different classes in college."

  Bonnie looked around, "You are right. If I think about this place as a research lab, it makes a lot of sense. Well, aside from the traps, they are a weird case."

  "How so?" Leo moved towards the volcano door.

  "It's one thing to make a trap to stop people from coming in, another to stop things inside from coming out. To stop both at once, she should've made the traps in the opposite element," Bonnie explained while following the man.

  "If the story is right, then it's not weird. She didn't know that things would come alive. The quest said so. The magic mutated with time," Alex joined, holding her daggers, ready for anything.

  "Fair point. It would also be easier to use fire in a place built to withstand it," Bonnie concluded.

  The group walked towards the door under the volcano engraving and carefully opened it. If it were just like the previous room, they would find some creature here too.

  The room was filled with various stone ovens and small furnaces. They were all made of red firebricks. Not only that, but the fire under every single one of them was lit.

  "So… What is going on here? Are the ovens going to come to life or something?" Blue asked after looking around.

  "If that is the case, we should run away. I can't take one of those," Leo stood by one of the ovens measuring its height. It was a few centimeters taller than the man.

  Hera took a step back after hearing this. If those things started moving around, she wanted to be far away from them. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a small flicker of light moving behind one of the furnaces.

  "There was something over there!" Hera announced.

  The group quickly moved back and walked carefully towards the place Hera mentioned. With Leo in front, the group jumped behind the furnace, but there was nothing there.

  Just then, Alex noticed something on the other side, "Over there."

  Rushing to the other side, the group found a small ember moving around near one of the furnaces.

  "Is that thing... alive?" Blue asked.

  Hera approached the ember that was moving around like a bug on the floor. With her [Observe], she managed to see what it actually was.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Minor Elemental Ember (Prototype)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "This is an elemental!" Hera exclaimed.

  "What?" Leo asked just before a loud noise came from the furnaces.

  The group looked back towards the noise and saw a series of large iron plates opening, followed by dozens of small embers that moved as if they were cockroaches. The flaming bugs started to cover the floor. Some of them went straight towards the flames in the oven joining the larger fire.

  Bonnie jumped into one of the stoves to be clear of the path while the rest kept stomping their feet, trying to get rid of the creatures.

  "Bonnie, use the Cold Bomb," Alex yelled as a group of the embers started to climb her legs.

  The researcher started to charge her spell, tweaking the formula so it would trade temperature for the area of effect. Hera was having some trouble keeping the embers away. Not only were they very fast, but their movement was erratic. There was also the problem that she couldn't use her weapons against it. The targets were too small. It would be like using a sword to kill a fly.

  Blue, on the other hand, was doing just fine. The controller would spin around and move backward while stomping on the bugs that got too close. After a few moments, Bonnie finished the spell and threw it into the middle of the room.

  "Watch out. It's gonna get cold!" the researcher yelled.

  The spell arrived at its destination, and the entire room was covered in a thin layer of chilly water. A single Cold Bomb snuffed out most embers, turning them into dark specks of dust. The rest of the group quickly took care the ones remaining . Although a few rushed towards the ovens and jumped into the flames. With the creatures gone, Hera could look around again. Maybe there would be a treasure here too.

  Before she started to search the room, Alex called the spearman, "Leo, what just happened? Are you ok?"

  Hera looked to the assassin, "Did something happen?"

  Leo was staring at something that the Explorer couldn't see.

  The Hunter turned around with a massive smile on his face, "I'm fine. I just leveled up."

  "Congratulations!" Hera cheered.

  "No fair, why only you? Bonnie was the one who killed those things," Blue stomped her feet into another runaway ember.

  "I have no idea. But I'm happy. I got quite a few bonus points."

  Bonnie came down from one of the ovens, "How many?"

  "Five and three basic points," Leo replied.

  "I wonder if you leveled up because of the quests you kept doing. I mean, Mr. Greyson told us that the more quests you do, the easier is to level up," Hera said.

  "If that is the case, you owe us some quests. You only completed that much because we gave you the last kill on the frogs," Blue stopped talking for a moment, " Oh no, did you steal the experience from the frogs too?"

  "If he did, it wasn't on purpose. No one knows how much experience we get for fighting monsters. It's actually a subject of debate in the guild. Some say it is about the contribution to the damage other than the last hit gives more," Alex explained.

  As her friends kept discussing Leo's level up, Hera walked around the room. She used her Pulse spell a couple of times, but due to the high concentration of mana in the stone and bricks, it was hard to see anything with the spell. All of the sudden, a series of clangs filled the room. It looked almost like someone had just won on a slot machine.

  Hera looked to the ground, and the embers were vanishing, being replaced by small golden coins. Just doing a quick glance, the explorer could see more than 200 golden coins spread around the room.

  "I guess this is part of how we make money," Hera mumbled.

  Gathering all the coins, the group counted 237 coins. In a quick discussion, they agreed that they should get 40 each, while Bonnie should get 77 coins. She was the one who killed the most embers, and without her spell, it would take way too long to kill them all.

  Searching the room, the group also found a stove in the back of the room with a closed pot on top of it. Leo used his spear to open the lid from a safe distance, but nothing jumped out of it. Inside there was a glowing orange liquid. It looked almost like liquid fire, but it was cold.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Elemental Essence - Fire

  The condensed energy of fire. It can be used as a catalyst for the creation of fire golems. Or be used to give weapons and items temporary fire attributes.

  Depending on the item it was applied to, the effect of this essence will change.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Blue tested out it her dagger. She only used it to butcher frogs, so if it broke or something, it wouldn't be a problem. The blade changed, its edge turned into a bright orange. Reading the description, Hera saw that it was enchanted to deal a portion of its damage as fire for the next hour.

  Leo, Hera, and Alex applied the essence to their weapons. Not only the portion of the damage was higher, but the effects lasted for two hours. Her chakram was even more surprising, 25% of its damage would have the fire attribute, and the effect would last for 2 and a half hours. The feathers changed from the now less dull gray to a bright red. Hera could even see a small eye-like design in orange and yellow on the edge of it. The chakram blade now looked even more to be made from a peacock's feathers.

  After one more round of searching, the group understood that there was nothing else in here for them. They went back to the center room. Luckily, the flaming corridor seemed weaker now. Instead of 30 seconds intervals, the flames only appeared once every five minutes.

  Just like before, the center room now had one difference. The light sphere hovering in front of the fire door now had a red hue to it.

  At Leo's request, the group went towards the earth's room. The book room inside it was just like the others, and it had several drawings of small clay dolls with hollow eyes and big smiles.

  "That is cute," Hera said, looking at one of the drawings.

  "To me, that's just creepy," Leo said.

  "Why? They are just dolls, or are you scared of them too?" Blue asked.

  "I'm not scared. They just are weird," the hunter scoffed.

  "Would it be better if they had porcelain masks?" Alex asked with a playful smile.

  "That's it. Let's go through the door," Leo marched towards the closed door in the back of the room.

  "That was just mean," Hera said, laughing at the situation. It was obvious that Leo wasn't that good with scary things. That's why he didn't want to go through the spirit door.

  Unlike the others, this door didn't have any special lock. It was a simple iron door with two heavy deadbolts. Opening it, the group heard a loud crashing noise coming from the hallway.

  The corridor had several large tiles on the ground. Periodically, they would raise and smash into the ceiling in sequence, but only a row at a time. This seemed more daunting, but it was quite easy to get through. As long as the group stayed one tile behind the one that just smashed, they could pass through it without an issue.

  As they reached the circular room with the carving, Leo stopped moving, making the group push him forward.

  "Oh, no. Please, no," the hunter cried.

  Hera looked towards what the hunter was seeing. In the middle of the room, there was a small brown clay doll with hollow eyes and mouth. The doll looked at the group and opened a smile that reached all the way to the sides of its head.

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