Hera and Leo reached the city gates in around half an hour. The rain frog had attempted to flee a couple of times, but it was too weakened to escape. Just as they were about to cross the gates, the guards stopped the duo.

  "What do you think you are doing?" the guards blocked the entrance using their spears.

  "We need to take him to a healer," Leo showed the frog in his arms.

  "Is that thing tamed?" one of the guard asked.

  "Not yet, I'm taming it right now."

  "No dice, you can't come in here with a wild monster," the same guard shook his head.

  "But we need to get help! We don't know how to heal him," Hera pleaded.

  "You are not getting a wild monster inside the city. There is no discussion about it. The only way it enters is as a corpse," The guard shook his head.

  Leo was pacing around, and by his expression, Hera could tell he was considering something bad.

  "Stay here. I'll run to the Guild and grab some help."

  The hunter nodded, and Hera dashed towards the center of the town. It took her less than ten minutes to reach the Guild. She arrived at the counter and asked for someone who could heal a monster. However, the clerk told her that she could post a quest for it, and any healer that was willing could help, but there were some procedures to take care of before she could post the quest.

  "Healers? OK, Thanks," Hera walked away from the desk and towards the middle of the room, " I'll pay 500 gold for a healer who can cleanse poisons and help heal a frog," she yelled.

  Leo would owe her a refund for this.

  "Miss, you can't do that. If you have a request, you need to do it through the right channels," the clerk had an exasperated tone.

  "I'll do it later. It's an emergency."

  Seeing her reaction, the clerk grabbed a tablet and asked her to place her bracelet on it. It was a way to create an emergency quest that could be filled out later. She only needed to say the reward and who she needed.

  Before even finishing the registration, two healers were waiting to take the quest. Explaining once again why she needed a healer, one of them gave up. She didn't have any healing spells that could work in a situation like that.

  The man who accepted the quest introduced himself as Runir, a Native American with a bald head. Hera thanked him as they dashed towards the front gate. Less than half an hour after leaving Leo there, she was already back with the healer.

  The hunter was in a shouting match with the guard. Hera was surprised at how much Leo seemed to care about the rain frog. Maybe he bonded with it more than she imagined. When he saw her, he stopped yelling, and allowed Runir to approach the frog.

  "He's a healer," Hera said.

  Leo held the frog in place while Runir examined it, "Thanks, Hera."

  "No need for thanks, I also expect you to pay me back what I'm paying him."

  Leo nodded, "Sure, it was what? 100 gold?"

  "500," Hera replied with a smile.

  "WHAT?" the hunter shouted and took a step back, getting an annoyed look from Runir

  "That was to get someone here fast," the Explorer shrugged.

  Leo looked at the healer, "Can't we negotiate this?"

  The man chuckled, "She already created the quest, boss. We can only negotiate the extras now."

  Leo cursed under his breath, but at the same time, he couldn't help but smile. It was a lot of money, but that only proved how much Hera trusted him. Runir kept using his spells to remove the poison and heal the rain frog. In about 15 minutes, the frog was sleeping in Leo's arms, seemingly out of danger.

  "There you go, boss man, all done," the healer turned towards Hera, "He is out of danger, and I don't think I can do anymore for him. Can we consider the quest complete?"

  Hera looked at Leo, who gave an approving nod, "Sure, let me transfer you the money. Sorry for the freakout back there."

  "No worries, we all get a bit crazy when our pets are hurt. I got five tickets at once when my dog got hurt last year. But who has time to stop for red lights when your little pupper is crying?" Runir said.

  Hera laughed, she could understand that, even if she never had pets herself. After transferring the money to the healer, and thanked him once again. Only now taking a moment to look at him.

  Runir was a tall man with a tribal pattern buzz cut, dark brown eyes, and plump lips with a small ring piercing on the side. He had beige skin that leaned towards a sepia tone. Unlike what one would expect from a healer, he wore a long sleeveless leather vest with a padded shirt underneath and heavy duty jeans with some sort of enchantment on them. He also had a necklace with an interesting pattern. It was almost like a big hourglass with two smaller ones in the middle of it.

  "Listen, you guys paid a lot of money for something this simple. I know that for us, this is like three days of work, at least. Here is my contact info, if anything else happens with the little guy, call me. When I return to the city, I'll see if I can help," Runir said.

  Leo nodded while still was cradling the frog.

  Hera smiled, "Thanks. Do you go out to hunt a lot?"

  "Yeah, I could be working in the Guild or as a healer in the city, but that is very boring. I rather be in the field, unlike most healers," Runir patted his shirt as to prove he could take some hits.

  "Yeah, we have a researcher in our group, and as much as she loves to study. I think she's enjoying our hunts. Mostly because she is using a lot of magic, but still," Hera chuckled.

  "Oh? You guys have a researcher in your party? That's rare."

  "We got close during the training. It just felt natural to join forces," The Explorer explained.

  Runir scratched his shin, "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder if that would have happened to me if I got my role skill on the first try too."

  "Did it take long for you to get it?"

  "A little, I missed the first few tries and had to work in the Guild for a few months before trying again. Luckily I figured out that the role I was aiming for wasn't for me."

  "We had a girl do the same. She changed from a fighter to something else," Hera nodded.

  The two of them talked for a little while, and Runir left, heading towards the Guild. Once the man was gone, Hera checked on Leo, who was still with the frog in his arms.

  "His breath seems to be more regular now," the hunter was looking at the frog like it was his first puppy.

  "That's good. Maybe he just needs some rest."

  Leo nodded and kept staring at the frog, stroking its back gently.

  "If you don't mind me asking. How come you are so attached to it?"

  Leo raised his head to look at Hera. The hunter's eyes seemed full of pain and starting to water. Before saying anything, he quickly wiped them on his sleeve.

  "Yeah, I guess the situation reminded me of when I was little. I had a cat, and one day I ended up giving him food that made him sick. My parents were busy with some new exhibits and couldn't get home to him to the vet. I was 13 at the time, and I had no money for a cab. There was no one I could call either. So, I ran with the cat in my arms towards a vet. But I wasn't very sure how to get there. In the end, I took too long to get there, and my cat had to be placed in the intensive care unit."

  The Hunter paused, more tears forming at the sides of his eyes. Without looking at Hera, he continued, " The worst came later. He had an allergic reaction to the medicine, and that triggered a bunch of problems. Two months later, he died. I never really got over the fact that I couldn't save him."

  Hera sat down beside the hunter and put her arms around him, "You didn't mean that to happen. I'm sure you were just trying to make your cat happy."

  "Yeah, I didn't know cats couldn't eat chocolate. I thought it was just dogs," the hunter said, touching his head with Hera's.

  "It was a kid's mistake. A dumb and deadly mistake, but still just a kid's mistake. You can't blame yourself forever."

  "I won't, just until I die," the hunter chuckled. Hera poked him with her elbow as a reply.

  The two spent a couple of hours sitting beside the city gates to give time for both Leo and the frog to recover. That attracted the stares of a few people passing by, not so much for the two sitting outside the walls but the small rain frog on the man's lap. The guards kept a close eye on the frog, worried about the monster waking up and rampaging near the entrance of the city.

  After some time, the frog started to move . It woke up and stared at Leo for a moment. Then it nuzzled in his arms once again.

  The hunter chuckled, "Hey there, Tiger," He turned to Hera, "I guess I got my pet."

  "Really?" Hera asked, looking at the frog.

  "Yeah, I just got a notification. I got the skill, and I could use it on him. It also came with a couple of other skills, I can see where he is on the map, and he can understand me better."

  Hera looked at the rain frog and activated her [Observe].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Tiger (tamed)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Did you really name him Tiger?" Hera asked.

  "Yeah, I was thinking about my old cat."

  "Still... Tiger?"

  "I was a kid, ok?" Leo shrugged

  "I'm fine with that. But you have to introduce him to Blue and Alex later."

  The hunter's eyes went wide, "Oh no."

  The two of them walked toward the gate. Showing the tamed frog to the guards, they were allowed to pass. However, Leo had to stop by the Guild to register Tiger as his pet. He also wanted to search around for a bed and some supplies for his new companion. Hera went to Guild to finish registering the quest.

  To her surprise, Runir had already marked it as completed, making the whole process very quick. Although during the entire time, the clerk was scolding her for not following the right process.

  Sometime later, the group met up for lunch, giving a chance for Leo to introduce Tiger to the rest of the team. Alex wanted the beast to be far away from her, she wasn't comfortable near frogs yet. On the flip side, Bonnie kept badgering Leo with questions about how the skill worked and what the frog could do to help.

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  "Please tell me you didn't try to kiss him. You know that those are just fairy tales, right? The frog is not going to turn into a princess," Blue teased.

  "It's a he ok. He's male," Leo rolled his yes..

  "Ok, sorry. I just never took you for the damsel in distress type, hoping the prince come to your rescue," Blue smirked before taking a sip of her soda.

  The group laughed and discussed their plans. According to the information they got for the Frog Valley, the dungeon itself could take around five hours to finish since it was a search based quest. And another four hours to travel to it. Thankfully, there was a small encampment near it to have a relatively safe place to rest. Leo also didn't want to go too far while he was still getting used to Tiger. He needed to train him before he was useful in actual combat.

  They decided to hunt as a party of four for the next few days while Leo trained his pet. Bonnie also wanted to make some money, and if the rest of the week went well, she might have enough for the first payment she had to do.

  With all that said, Hera also made it clear she wanted to be in the city by Friday to meet with Helena, and that the mage wanted to talk to Bonnie. Hearing that, Blue asked if she could speak to Helena to get some more information as she was still on the fence about joining the order.

  Before long, the week had ended with the group training in the morning, hunting frogs in the afternoon, and resting in the evening. Their speed also increased thanks to their level up and the sash Alex had.

  By Wednesday, Bonnie had gathered the 10,000 gold she needed. In addition, every night they would gather in a bar or a diner to watch Becca interviewing the high-ranking explorers learning more about each of them.

  Wildborn was a muscular man with a long wild beard connected to his hair, but he had a bald spot on top of his head. The Healer was very enthusiastic and exaggerated. Everything he did seemed over the top, but somehow it seemed natural to him. He demonstrated one of his abilities, roaring at a group that was injured from a hunt, healing their bruises almost instantly with the power of his voice.

  Toxic Rain was a weird person. She was like a caring grandmother, always asking if everyone was ok and if they needed something. She would even carry around some adhesive bandages with flower patterns and would give them to anyone who had small scrapes. If that wasn't enough, the elderly woman, in her late 60s, always had some version of butterscotch candy with her. Yet, her fighting style was to poison her enemies, and slowly chase after them. A Hunter stalking her prey constantly without ever giving them a chance to rest.

  Iron Heart wasn't just shy. He had trouble speaking with other people and always wore full steel armor, including a helmet. The armor was a bit odd since it had to be made for someone skinny. He was a Fighter that focused purely on defense, changing his fury into damage taken.

  During the interview, Becca asked why he agreed to the meeting, and the man revealed that he was a big fan of hers. He even asked for an autograph. It was a lovely moment, and the crowd watching on the diner cheered for the man. Hera could even see the people rooting for a new couple to be formed, even if no one knew how old Iron Heart actually was.

  The interview with Azure Chain was cut short when a monster attacked the camp. Luckily, no one was hurt, but they had to stop the interviews until more people arrived after that.

  Friday morning, Hera was waiting for Helena in front of the doorway, excited to see her friend.

  It was 11:15 when the mage arrived through the doorway, opening a smile when she saw Hera waiting for her, "Hello, sweetie."

  Helena walked towards Hera and gave the explorer a big hug.

  "Lena! It's so good to see you," Hera hugged the mage back.

  "Tell me about it. It looks like we haven't seen each other for a month."

  Helena's appearance surprised Hera. She only ever saw the mage in her clerk uniform, even when they went out for drinks. Yet, now she had a completely different look.

  She wore a pair of tall armored black boots, black pants, and a skirt that was long on the back but short in the front. There was a long cloak on her side, falling to her knee. The mantle had a gray smoke pattern covering it. Underneath it all, there was a light gray shirt with sleeves just after her elbows. Helena also had her curly hair put up with a gray headband.

  "Wow, Lena, you look amazing," Hera gasped.

  "Thank you. You look pretty good yourself."

  "Yeah, but you already saw me like this. What's new here is you all geared up."

  The two of them laughed and headed towards the city. Helena knew a small coffee shop where they could get a private room. As they headed towards it, Hera couldn't help but ask.

  "So why did you come back to the MAZE?"

  "Well, the Guild master called me to help with the Wall."

  Hera stopped walking with her eyes fixed on Helena.

  "What?" Hera asked, "Isn't your level too low to go there? You are just level 20, aren’t you?"

  "I'm level 18, but I'm not taking part in the actual assault. My job there is going to be as a support. I'll explain to you a bit better when we get to a more private place," Helena winked at the Explorer.

  A few minutes later, they arrived at a small place with just a couple of tables on the outside and a small door at the side of the counter. Helena talked to the attendant, and the two were guided to the second floor of the building. There was a large central area with a few tables. On the outer ring of the floor, there was a series of closed rooms for people who wanted more privacy.

  They entered one of those rooms. In there, any order they made would be delivered through a small lift in the corner, removing the need of having a server walk in.

  "They also have a soundproofing enchantment on the walls. So we can talk without worry," Helena gestured to a spell circle on the ceiling, "People tend to want to have private conversations in areas that see a lot of traffic. Hence this place."

  The duo ordered some food and had a nice brunch together. Hera told Helena all about her adventures, from fighting frogs to finding the dungeon and learning about the legends of the city.

  When it was the Mage's turn to share, she told Hera about her work on the Guild and how Greyson was acting up since there was a new instructor. Even if Calvin hated being a teacher. The fighter acted like a kid, angry because someone else took a toy he wasn't playing with. After a while, Helena talked about her plans.

  "Now, I spent some time with my family, and now I want to get back to my work. So after going to the Wall that's what I'll do."

  "And where is that exactly?"

  "It's on the 8th layer, in a room called Charring Wastes. There, I still have my lab and my research waiting for me. It's a bit dangerous since the average level of the creatures is 22, but it has everything I need for my work."

  The mage told a bit more about the room where her lab was located. It was a vast wasteland surrounded by a chain of active volcanoes. The soil was very rich, but due to the high temperature and constant rain of ash, it was nearly impossible to grow something there. Despite the problems, it was a place rich in mana. While most of the place had pure fire mana, the eruptions would spew out almost every type of mana there was. Not to mention the various rare materials and crystals were easily acquired in there.

  "Wow, it sounds kind of awful, but useful," Hera chuckled, "But tell me, why a level 18 mage is going to the Wall?"

  Helena took a sip of her coffee, enjoying the taste before answering, "I have an enchantment spell that can help. You know how we can give temporary buffs to equipment, right?"

  Hera nodded.

  "Usually, we can only give a limited number of buffs to a piece of equipment. Generally, it's an attribute-based buff, one elemental based one, and one generic one. The last one is like making a weapon be lighter, or a piece of armor more buoyant. In my case, the spell I created has something to do with weapons. I developed it during my research, and if you use the spell, you can add two elemental buffs to a weapon. They get a bit weaker, but they are still stronger than a single buff."

  "And you haven't sold it or shared it yet?" Hera asked.

  Helena smiled, "No. I haven't. Both because it's not complete, and it would interfere with my research. I really thought I was the first to create something like that, but there are a handful of people who can do something similar. It's still rare to find people with this particular skill, and mine let's other people use their buffs. If I use that spell on a weapon, someone at a higher level can use two strong enchantments at around 80% of their full strength."

  The concept surprised Hera, but unfortunately she couldn't learn it now. The spell was too complicated for her, and she needed to be able to apply some buffs before being able to use that spell.

  "Ok, now for the main part of my visit," Helena started to rummage through her bag, "Oh, don't tell Bonnie she wasn't a main part of the visit. That is going to be the main reason as a member of the order, just not on a personal level."

  Hera chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't say a word."

  Helena took a small notebook from her bag, "Great, now before I give you this. Can you accept the order I just sent you?"

  Hera picked her tablet and saw a notification for a new order, a quest given directly to her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Helena's assistant

  Sweetie, this is an easier way for us to work together. I can ask for various things, and each will have its own reward.

  By accepting this order, you enter an NDA with me. You are not allowed to share any information about my research unless I give you permission to do so.

  Requests

  - Monster affinity

  - Area affinity

  - Item affinity

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera read the order, but she got worried about one thing. "Lena, before I accept. Can you clarify one thing about the NDA?"

  "Sure, I mean, it's not something I'm willing to remove. I told you that we mages are very paranoid with our research. If that was the question."

  "No, I understand. But what is considered sharing information about your research? Like if I find out that a monster is weak to fire, I'm not allowed to tell anyone? Or I can't even mention that I'm working for you?"

  Helena gave Hera a smirk, "I'm a bit impressed. I didn't expect you to think that far ahead. So, the basics. Yes, you can tell you are working for me, and yes, you can tell if you need to do something specific for me. Even telling what you need to figure out is fine, but you can't say what's my objective. If it comes to that, say you don't know."

  Picking one of the raspberry cupcakes, Helena took a small bite before continuing, "The information you find out about the affinities of places and items you are free to share, of course. Just don't go posting them online for free. We might be able to make some money updating some compendiums and making our own. I'll share the profits with you if it comes to that."

  The Mage put her cupcake down and interlocked her fingers with her hands on the table, "What I ask is for you not to share any spells or information that I give you about my research. If you want to help your friends with some information that I gave you, ask me first. I need to be sure it's not something too sensitive. Aside from that, if you want to talk about something but have some doubts, just ask me."

  The mage took another sip of her coffee and looked Hera deep into her eyes, "I trust you, Hera, I really do. If I didn't, I wouldn't even ask you to help me. But I need to be careful. Some people already tried to steal my work, and I don't want that to happen, especially now that I have you to help me."

  Hera nodded, "I understand. You are just trying to be safe. I just don't want to end up breaking this by accident, or if I'm in danger and sharing something would help."

  "Oh no, of course not," Helena grabbed Hera's hand, "Sweetie, if you are ever in a situation where your life in on the line. Don't worry about this. Do what you can to survive."

  Hera held her friend's hand. She couldn't remember the last time she felt someone seemed to care so much, aside from her grandma. Her eyes teared up a bit, "Thanks, Lena."

  "Don't you start crying now, or I'm going to cry too," Helena laughed, trying to change the subject.

  "I'm not," Hera accepted the order and showed it to Helena, "Here, but shouldn't we be in the Guild to do this?"

  "Consider it my last task as a clerk," Helena laughed and passed the notebook to Hera, "Now, here is a spell that I developed using my research. It is a way to get information about the primary affinity of something. The thing is, it doesn't really tell you the information. It just shows some aspects of it. Like how you saw different colored lights when I was using magic."

  After reading through the notebook, Hera saw how to use the spell and some examples of what she should see, and what each affinity should look like. However, it became clear that this was a trailblazer effort. Even the Mage who created this had no clue what fire affinity for instance could look like consistently. Before spending too much time reading the notebook, Helena cut her off and asked about the skills the explorer had bought.

  Hera told her about the Pulse spell she figured out, the weapon maintenance, and the etching skills that she wasn't able to get yet. Hearing that, Helena made a few recommendations to get the skills quicker. For the weapon maintenance, the best way was to work as a blacksmith or in the Guild as a sharpener for a while.

  The etching was an interesting skill. Helena got it when she wanted to become an enchanter. The trick she found was to carve a word in her food, bite the carving out, and repeat it. After she got the skill, she could use the right tools to buff her weapons and gear.

  After a couple more hours talking, they left the coffee shop. Helena still had to talk with Bonnie and Blue, and then she would head towards the 5th layer to meet the group that would take her to the wall.

  Once they were ready, Hera asked her friends to come to her room in the inn so they could talk to Helena. The mage explained how the order worked, Bonnie seemed really interested, but she asked for a couple of days to think. Blue, on the other hand, was still on the fence.

  Only after Helena explained that she could join any other group since the order was a small organization that the controller agreed to join. Alex was still looking for a different group, and since Leo was in the Crimson Coalition, he couldn't be a part of any other orders.

  After that, Hera walked Helena towards the docks as she needed to take a boat to reach her next doorway.

  "Thank you again, Lena. For everything. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," The Explorer turned to her savior.

  "Sweetie, I only did what anyone would do. You don't need to thank me for it."

  Hera shook her head and held Helena's hand, "You were the only one willing to help a crying girl in the middle of the rain. You saw me, Lena, I can never thank you enough for it."

  "I told you not me make me cry," Helena gave Hera a big hug. They stayed like that for a few moments and let go.

  "Oh, I almost forgot. Quinn sent you this," Helena picked two small bottles from her bag, "It's a cleansing cream to remove all the dirt from your face. The other one is a moisturizer. You apply it after cleaning your face. I recommend you use both before sleeping."

  Hera nodded, "Will do, and do you have her number? I forgot to get when we meet."

  Helena gave Hera Quinn's number, "Oh, and after Blue's application is complete, I'll send you the recruitment bonus."

  "What bonus?"

  "You get some contribution points. It will be something like 100 points since she level 3. When you get those points, save them for a while. There is a buff skill that might be very good for you, but you need 500 points and some knowledge of elemental magic for it. I'll send you some books later to give you a hand," Helena explained.

  The ship gave a signal that was about to leave, and Helena said her goodbyes.

  Not knowing how long it would take for the boat to start moving, Hera went back to the inn to talk to her friends.

  Each of them had a different plan for the weekend. Bonnie wanted to talk to her mom about their debt, and Alex wanted to go home and see her family. Leo, on the other hand intended to keep training with Tiger. The only ones who didn't have any big ideas were Blue and Hera.

  They all agreed to take the weekend off and leave for the Frog Valley on Tuesday. On Monday, the high-level explorers would try to break through the wall, and they didn't want to miss the transmission.

  With everything already set up, Alex and Bonnie left the MAZE while Leo went towards the Guild for another training session.

  "So, what do we do now?" Hera asked, turning towards Blue.

  "Wanna hit the gym?" the Controller smiled.

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