Hera watched as Helena and Mr. Greyson got ready to fight. Out of curiosity, Hera tried using [Inspect] on the mage.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Helena - Human - Mage - 32 years - Level 18

  A mage who decided to come back to Earth after staying inside the MAZE for a long time.

  Friendly and outgoing, she does her best to help others.

  Can't cook.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera couldn't help but be impressed. It was exactly the same information that she already knew, but summarized in a way that was hard to argue against. However, what she didn't expect was the mage's reaction. Helena let out a sigh and dropped from her fighting stance, which included mostly pointing a staff towards Mr. Greyson, and turned to face the recruits.

  "I'm assuming your instructor has not explained to you one thing about the Inspect skill. Once you get to a certain degree of understanding or just general sensitivity, you can tell when someone is using that kind of skill on you. Even if you don't, it is not hard to find explorers who have skills or items that can tell them when someone is using [Inspect] on them," Helena pointed to a ring on one of her fingers.

  "It's also generally seen as a very rude thing to do, even if everybody does it. And while I do appreciate the fact that you are already starting to get used to your skills, please keep that in mind when you're trying to inspect someone." Helena paused, but before she turned back to Mr. Greyson she added, "And keep in mind that I'm not saying this because there's one specific person who tried to inspect me. I'm saying this because there are a lot of you who just did."

  A few of the recruits nodded vigorously, admitting that they were the ones who tried to use [Inspect] on Helena. And Hera was among them, of course.

  Without anything else to delay them, the two seasoned explorers could start their fight. When Helena gave a confirming nod to Mr. Greyson, he tapped something on his tablet before tossing it to the side. There was a loud booming voice in the arena that started a countdown from five. The moment it reached zero, it said, 'Round 1, Fight' in the voice of a famous announcer for a fighting game.

  The moment that happened, Helena waved her hands towards Mr. Greyson. The recruits saw that thin shadow rushing across the area. Their teacher tried to dodge, but the spell followed him. Seeing that he couldn't really escape, Calvin simply stopped running and let the magic strike him. After all, it was the same spell that Helena had used on the recruits. He already knew what to expect.

  Despite knowing that Mr. Greyson was a powerful warrior, the recruits had expected the fight to be over then and there. They had just experienced firsthand what Helena's magic could do, and it was too much for any of them to even imagine how to fight while being affected by it. Yet, Helena wasn't acting as if the fight was won.

  She pivoted to the side, running along the arena, and gestured with her staff, which looked to be a gnarled branch made out of black stone, towards Mr. Greyson. From the tip of her weapon, a large spear of darkness appeared and went flying at the warrior at high speed.

  From the moment that Mr. Greyson was struck by the first spell, he stopped moving completely. Just holding his sword in the same position as if he was unable to do anything else. Some might even think that the man had given up on the fight the moment he was hit by the spell. But this was far from the truth.

  The spear of shadows continued to fly through the air, bridging the gap between Helena and Calvin in less than a second. But just as the man was about to be hit, he shifted his sword, turning sideways and blocking the spell.

  The recruits gasped when seeing the display of skill, because that was the only way they could explain what just happened. Mr. Greyson's combat senses were so refined that he was able to notice an incoming attack even if all of his other senses had been sealed away. He continued to stay there, holding his sword in the same position as if waiting for the next attack.

  Helena clicked her tongue and shifted to move in the opposite direction, knowing that if Calvin was able to trace the trajectory of her spell back, he would be able to have a sense of her location. She fired off another spell. This time, a trail of darkness quickly rushed along the ground towards the teacher.

  Once the shadows made contact with Mr. Greyson's shadows, dozens of tiny dark hands appeared and all started grabbing the warrior as if trying to hold him in place. However, that wasn't enough as even with all of those dark limbs trying to pin him down, the instructor effortlessly took a single step towards Helena.

  Almost immediately, the mage pivoted and changed directions again, but the warrior continued walking, following her as if he could see her without any problems. Even so, he was still moving very slowly, proving that the spell to remove his senses was still working.

  Helena fired off another spell. This time it created two trails of shadows on the ground, moving on an arc, going almost for a pincer maneuver towards Mr. Greyson. The man didn't wait for the spell to reach him. With a quick dash, he approached the mage and swung his sword. The recruits gasped, thinking that the movement was too quick. In a matter of milliseconds, their teacher had closed a distance of at least ten meters. And now his sword was quickly coming down directly on top of Helena.

  Hera felt worried thinking that maybe something was going to happen with the woman even though they had been warned that the two would be wearing some bracelets to protect them during the fight. But her worry was unnecessary as a streak of darkness came out of the back of Helena's hair and shot onto the other side of the arena.

  That was too fast for even Mr. Greyson to follow up, and the moment that bolt of shadows hit the wall, Helena was instantly teleported to the point of impact. Still, the instructor's sword slammed against the ground, causing a large rumble that even the recruits on the other side of the glass could feel.

  The spell that Helena had cast was still going after the man, and when it approached, various shadowy limbs emerged from the darkness. Each of them was carrying a different weapon, all who swung at once at the teacher. Mr. Greyson blocked a few of the attacks, but others struck him, leaving red marks on something that was around him. Mr. Greyson pressed once more following Helena even though he was supposed to be unable to see anything.

  Yet another shadow was moving towards Mr. Greyson. Instead of more of those shadowy limbs or something like that, the shadow spread out and created a large spell circle underneath Mr. Greyson. It all happened in a flash, and the circle was formed before anyone could really understand what was going on. Just as that happened, a pillar of flames erupted from the shadow lines, engulfing the teacher in one fell swoop.

  The recruits gasped both in surprise and fear, as this was the first time they ever seen such a powerful attack being directed at a person. In their minds, no one could survive something like that. Yet, the teacher simply rushed out, flames enveloping his sword before pinning Helena on the wall with the blade touching the side of her neck. There was a buzzing sound and a flash of multicolored light that dispelled all the magic inside the arena. It was the signal of the end of the duel.

  "Battle over, winner Calvin Greyson." The voice that announced the start of the duel also gave the final verdict. Despite her best efforts, Helena had lost that one fight.

  The recruits started to cheer and clap, but Mr. Greyson quickly shut them all down.

  "No. Stop," he yelled with an angry expression. "This doesn't count."

  Hearing the anger in his voice, all the recruits stopped clapping and looked around, unsure what to do next.

  "Why not, Calvin?" Helena grumbled as she stepped away from his sword, towards the middle of the arena.

  "Because it didn't. Ye let me win. Ah don't know why ye think ye have to do that, lassie, but when Ah'm beating ye, Ah want to beat ye."

  "What are you talking about?" Helena let out a sigh. "I didn't let you win. I tried to win, and I lost, that's all."

  "Ye used the fire spell. I know for a fact ye can use other stuff, but ye used a fire spell to try to beat me. You know Ah have a fire resistance skill."

  Helena stared at the man for a moment before nodding. "That's true. You have fire resistance skills. I should have remembered that."

  "Don't toy with me, Lassie."

  "I'm not toying with you, Calvin," Helena replied with an angry expression. "Maybe you have forgotten this, but I am not someone who specializes in fighting. I specialize in research. The first time we fought, you had no idea what I could do, and I was pretty positive I could knock you out before you found a way to counter my spells. This time, you already knew how to do that. I honestly forgot that you had fire resistance skills. If I didn't, I would have used an ice spell or a lightning spell or something different. It was an honest mistake."

  Helena turned back to the recruits. "Keep this in mind, people. While here mistakes are supposed to happen, in the MAZE they can come with a price. In this case I could have lost my life if this were a real fight. I could have lost my life. So, do your best not to make any mistakes."

  Mr. Greyson tried to argue with Helena a bit more, but she was adamant it was an honest mistake, not something that she did on purpose. Yet it didn't seem like the teacher was going to accept that, and he insisted on having a rematch. After some protest, Helena ended up accepting just to shut him up, but only if it happened at a later date, as right now she had a lot of work to do.

  Mr. Greyson grumbled even more, turning to the recruits and saying, "Fine. Consider this yer class for the morning. Come back after lunch." Without waiting, the teacher left the training room without even waiting for anyone to follow.

  It was still 10:43, meaning that this fight and Mr. Greyson's overall mood gave the recruits a two-hour break before having to go back to class. Hera tried to keep up with Helena, but the mage quickly said her farewells and left as she still had a lot of work to do for the day.

  Instead, Hera turned around to her group of friends, Blue, Leo, Alex and Bonnie.

  "So, where do you all want to eat today?" Blue asked.

  "Maybe a sushi place? I know there's one in the street mall," Bonnie suggested.

  "Ugh, I really don't like sushi. I don't get why people insist on eating meat raw. Steak tartare is the worse offender," Blue replied.

  "I can't say I disagree with her about the steak. But sushi could work," Leo nodded.

  "Even if you don't like it, Blue, they have some other things." Alex leaned on the grappler's shoulder, "Yakisoba, ramen, and some karaage."

  "That's fried chicken for those who don't understand it." Bonnie gave Blue a side eye.

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  "I know what karaage is," Blue huffed before letting out a sigh, "Okay, fine."

  They spent some time walking around before going to the actual sushi store. Everybody enjoyed themselves as much as they could without having to worry about finishing up soon. Not to mention no one was truly hungry. However, even if they had eaten somewhat recently, they knew batter than to face the rest of the day with an empty stomach.

  Just as they were leaving the restaurant, after their meal, Blue was convinced of trying some actual sushi. A simple nigiri, a piece of salmon on top of rice. And her reaction made it clear that the woman really did not enjoy raw fish.

  "Can you please stop doing that?" Bonnie groaned as they were walking back to the guild.

  Just outside the sushi place, Blue had bought a lollipop and was now using it to brush her tongue.

  "I'll stop it when that awful taste gets out of my mouth."

  "You really don't need to be this dramatic," Bonnie rolled her eyes. "If you don't like it, you don't like it. At least be a woman about it."

  "I don't like it. I said it. You all were the ones who insisted on making me try."

  "You have the palate of a child. Also stop acting crazy," Bonnie groaned.

  "Act like what? Someone who doesn't like fish and is trying to get a better taste on her tongue? Oh, excuse me. At least I don't have my tongue out like a dog in heat."

  "Screw you," Bonnie yelped.

  Walking behind the pair together with Hera and Leo, Alex frowned, "Since when did they started to hate each other?"

  "I wouldn't call it hate, but it started yesterday. After we started running, they were having fun, but then Bonnie made a snarky joke. Blue tried to one up her, and well, it's like this ever since," Hera replied and glanced back to the pair, "I don't think they're doing it to be mean to each other, but I'm a bit worried.

  "Do you think they're going to learn how to work together, or is this one of those cases where people who just don't mesh well together?" Alex added.

  "I mean, I don't know. Right now we are kind of forced to be together, but there's nothing stopping us from going our separate ways when we get to the MAZE. So maybe they'll just do that. Go off on their own," Leo said while looking into the distance.

  "Great," Alex rolled her eyes, "Do you think Mom and Dad are going to let us decide who gets us in the divorce?" she joked.

  "Wait, who's the dad?" Hera asked, and that was the one phrase that made the pair in front of them stop arguing to look around.

  "Wait, are you telling me I don't look like a woman?" Blue turned around.

  "Or are you saying that I act like a man?" Bonnie crossed her arms.

  "... No, I wasn't saying any of that," Alex took a step back, but Blue and Bonnie were still pressing her about that.

  The long-haired brunette eventually started running, followed by the fighting pair, while Leo and Hera just continued to stroll along towards the guild.

  No one wanted to be late for more than one reason. First, the obvious of not making Mr. Greyson angry. But second, during their lunch, Bonnie and Blue made a bet with each other. Whoever got the least amount of points on today's challenge would need to pay for everyone's meal tomorrow. And while Blue promised not to be mean, Bonnie was talking about going to a fancy place nearby that had singular dishes costing over 100 gold.

  The moment they got into the guild, Mr. Greyson quickly explained what they would be doing today. The last two training sessions were about attacking, but now they would have to learn how to defend. He had set up an arena for each of them.

  In that arena, there were some target rings floating around that would fire bolts of magic for the recruits to experience. People would need to learn how to use shields and to evade those attacks However, he also made it clear the focus was defense, not evasion. Not for this exercise at least.

  It was all very simple, and the instructor even explained how the progression would go from the start unlike what he did the previous lessons. First, only a single ring would appear and fire, then there would be two, and then three. The rings would stay in the same position but would target different parts of their bodies.

  After that, they would need to deal with rings that kept disappearing and reappearing before they fired. There would be a slight delay between the ring appearing and a bolt being fired. However, he didn't say anything about the challenge of the day. Despite that, when hearing what they were going to do, Blue opened a big smile and was almost jumping in place of happiness because of how giddy she was.

  "Why are you so cheerful?" Bonnie frowned.

  Blue just smirked and said, "Because you're paying our lunch tomorrow."

  Bonnie frowned but then realized what Blue was saying. There was no way she could beat Blue today.

  Hera was having a lot of trouble blocking the attacks. The shield she ended up getting was a bit too big for her. She thought that the bigger the better but apparently her assumption was wrong. Eventually, even Blue gave the advice for her to change shields and she walked back towards where Mr. Greyson had left all the various shields. "What do we choose?"

  Unfortunately, Hera couldn't find anything smaller than the one she was already using. All the shields left were tower shields, the very big ones. But nothing smaller than her torso.

  "Are you trying to change yours?" Leo walked behind her as he was going to the cooler to refuel his water bottle. "If you want, I can swap with you. I realize that I am using one that's too small for me. I keep getting hits because the shield is not covering a part of me that I think it is."

  Hera raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to change with me? I mean considering your name..."

  Leo just gave her a blank stare. "Do you want to do the swap or not? If not just keep talking because I have no problems going back and figuring this out on my own."

  "No no I'll take it, I'll take it. I'm not going to say anything about that," Hera quickly corrected herself before her chance at changing shields was gone.

  When she returned back to her arena things felt much better. After a couple of minutes, she heard Mr. Greyson letting out a resounding laugh.

  "Do ye want me to paint the view on yer shield, Leonidas?"

  Hera held back from laughing. After all, Leo was kind enough to give her exactly the shield she needed while having to deal with that kind of thing. But she couldn't help smiling. It was a funny coincidence to say the least.

  The challenge was to defend against the bolt while the target rings would be sniping around them. The more projectiles you could block before getting hit, the higher the score. Even if Blue was a grappler, this was well within her wheelhouse.

  Just as everyone was expecting, the end result had Blue completing the challenge by an overwhelming margin. She got 1,500 points while the goal was just 1,000. But she wasn't the only one to complete it. Both Leo and Carlos also managed to beat the challenge. While Hera herself ended up 100 points shy of the target thousand.

  "Now, since Ah forgot to give ye the energy bar yesterday, Ah'll be nice today. Those who fail the challenge won't need to run. Instead, ye'll be cleaning up the weapons in storage. Some of them are too dirty, and we need to make sure the training gear is at least serviceable." Mr. Greyson took the recruits who failed the test to a room in the back and showed the countless boxes they would have to go through.

  Most of the recruits gasped and shuddered with horror as they saw how many weapons they would need to go through. But to Hera, that felt like nothing. It was roughly the same amount of boxes she had to go through on one of her Monday shifts back at the bookstore. This would be even easier since she had some help instead of having to do it all by herself.

  Instead of the three hours they spent the previous day, the group only needed 20 minutes to finish the work. And when they were leaving, they also received an energy bar from the night receptionist. Hera was somewhat sad that it wasn't Helena, but the mage arrived early in the morning. It wasn't fair of her to spend the entire day working at the guild.

  The following day, no one arrived late, and no one was too tired to do anything. Which also meant that Mr. Greyson didn't give the recruits breakfast. Instead, he asked everybody to move to one of the private training rooms once again. They all took the elevator, went to the basement floor and entered a training room that was much, much bigger than any of the other rooms they viewed. It should be roughly 200 meters wide. And it was completely open and empty.

  Mr. Greyson tapped a few things on his tablet, and everybody received the notification.

  "Ah just sent ye a link. Click it and ye open a map. This is a map of this particular training room. Go to the area that is marked as yer starting position."

  The instructor didn't elaborate, so the recruits just shrugged and did what he asked. Then, Mr. Greyson walked to the very center of the room and continued talking.

  "Right now, Ah'm going to teach ye one of the biggest and most important skills ye'll ever learn. One thing that can save your life multiple times when ye're inside the MAZE. The skill simply called Hide."

  "Why would we need to hide?" Carlos asked with an offended tone.

  "For many reasons, laddie. Ye might come face to face with a monster that ye can't handle. There's maybe a dungeon that has a specific creature that cannot be killed. Or maybe ye just stepped on foot of the wrong explorer. Life inside the MAZE is not about just adventure and leveling up. It's about survival. And this is one of the most fundamental skills to survive."

  "Shouldn't we learn how to make a fire or something? That's also very survival-like," Mark spoke up.

  Everyone expected the teacher to roll his eyes at the question, since most often than not when Mark spoke that's what happened. Instead, Mr. Greyson just nodded.

  "Ye're not wrong. But ye're also thinking about the MAZE in the wrong way. The MAZE is not just a land of untainted wild without any civilization. Ye're going to find countless cities in the MAZE. Campsites everywhere. Kiosks, vending machines, all sorts of basic necessities pretty much everywhere. Ye're only going to need to learn how to make a bonfire if ye want to, and even then it's much easier to do that kind of thing with magic than ye might imagine,"

  The teacher snapped his fingers and a small flame appeared above his hand, "Ah mean, just grab a bunch of wood and fire a fireball at it. Ye don't even need to worry about the wood being wet or something. Yer spells are going to take care of it. But if we have time, I could give ye all a few tips on that kind of survival," he dropped the spell, the fire vanishing just as quickly as it first appeared.

  "Right now, Ah need to make sure ye don't die by being killed by a strange monster or something like that. Hide is also one of the most basic skills for the assassin role. A lot of abilities that come from being an assassin revolve around being hidden or attacking from hiding. Now, it shouldn't take that long."

  The teacher tapped a few things on his tablet, and from the ground, various walls emerged almost as if they were made out of sand and then turned solid. Just as that happened, the maps on everybody's tablets was updated. It no longer just showed an empty space, but it followed the same walls, windows, and other obstacles that were created by the sand. The barriers didn't go all the way to the ceiling, as they only went up 3 meters or so, removing the claustrophobic feeling of a set up like this.

  "The way for ye to get this skill is simple. Ye need to reach the goal marked on yer map without being seen by me. If Ah notice ye, Ah'll tap yer position in my tablet, and yer tablet will buzz. If that happens, you need to go back to yer starting point before continuing. Ah am currently in the very center of the labyrinth, and everybody is going to have to go to the opposite side where they are currently at. It's a good thing that Ah'm much higher level than all of ye because it's going to make this easier for ye all to get the skill. The walls are already in place, so ye can start. Ah'll be roaming around this labyrinth, make sure not to be seen."

  Hera looked around before starting. She was close to Tiffany and Carlos, but now that the walls had risen, she had no idea where they were. Instead, she focused on her own attempt. The whole point of this was not to just get to the other side, get to the goal that was marked on the map, but to successfully pass by Mr. Greyson without being seen. Only then would someone get the skill.

  A few seconds after they started, there was a loud noise ringing out from beyond the wall. "Kenji, Ah see ye. Back to the start. You too, Tiffany." Mr. Greyson quickly caught two of the recruits.

  Hera continued moving through the various corridors, always making sure to look around every corner so the teacher wouldn't find her. However, after making another turn and facing left, she tilted her head to see if the teacher was there. Before she even finished moving her head there was a buzzing coming from her tablet.

  "Hera, quick tip. If ye're peeking around the corner, don't show the top of yer head first. Especially if ye're a blond surrounded by gray walls. Blue that goes double for ye. Yer hair is going to attract way too much attention, ye need to keep that in mind."

  "Yes, sir!" Blue shouted.

  A buzzing sound followed her voice, "Ah heard ye. And Ah can tell where ye are just with that," Mr. Greyson's said in a clear chuckle.

  "C'mon!" Pamella gasped before walking back to the starting point.

  They continued that exercise for most of the morning. Little by little, people started getting the skill, and when they did, Mr. Greyson told them to cover a specific area of the labyrinth. Having more people searching for those who were trying to hide would only speed up the process of acquiring the skill.

  With about one hour before they were done, only three people had yet to get the [Hide] skill. One of them was Hera, who was crouched near one of the lower walls, holding her breath so the teacher wouldn't notice her.

  She could tell the man was on the other side as his heavy footsteps gave his position away. Likely something that he was doing on purpose just to help people know about his whereabouts. Once the teacher passed by, Hera moved very slowly in the opposite direction which was very close to her goal.

  Suddenly, a notification appeared in front of her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Skill Acquired

  Hide:

  Improves your ability to erase your presence and blend with your surroundings.

  The more your appearance harmonizes with the place you are in, the more effective this skill becomes.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Right after that, she saw Kenji walking across the intersection. She tried to wave at the man wanting to test the skill. Yet, he didn't seem to notice her, proving that the [Hide] skill was in full effect.

  Hera smiled, happy that she managed to acquire the skill, but there was a part of her that couldn't help but be sad. This ability was the exact thing that she always felt was happening to her before she became an explorer.

  There was a bittersweet flavor to it, but even then she didn't let herself be bothered by that. After all, this was just the first week of the rest of her life. It would take some time for those bad feelings to go away.

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