Blue spent most of the weekend lifting weights. All the while, Hera did her best to keep up, but she couldn't do it. Even if their strength attribute was close to the Controllers. The Explorer watched Blue work out while trying to regain the feeling in her arms. It felt strange to feel so tired especially since her recent level up.

  Hera was sure that her stamina should be higher.

  "I guess I still need to practice," she mumbled to herself.

  After a while, Hera left her friend to work out alone, since it would still take a couple of hours for her to finish her quest, and decided to check the quest that could help her get a skill. Specifically, she got one given by the guild that asked people to care for people's weapons. It was a wide variety, going from swords to spears and even glaives and katars.

  By the end of the day, Hera had managed to get one new skill.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Skill Acquired: Weapon Maintenance - Rank 1

  Improves your ability to care and maintain your weapons.

  The more careful you are with the process, the better the results will be.

  Increased durability: 1%

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  With a smile, Hera kept working. Not only would that give her some extra experience for the skill, but having the skill itself allowed her to get a sightly better pay. She had to take a quick break to update her skill list with the guild, but it should be worth it. Following Helena's advice, once she was walking with her party, Hera would be carving her initials in some fruits and taking bites out of them.

  The next day, Hera spent trying to figure out the spell Helena had given to her. Just like the mage said, it was a buff that improved her perception of the elements. The idea was to allow the caster to see some version of the affinity with the naked eye. Helena's dream was to allow that to become an evolution to [Observe] or [Inspect] so that the System was the one telling her about the elements.

  In the explanation about the spell, which included a code version, a math version and a spell circle version of it, Helena also added some insights about how the elements felt to her. Fire was like a comet, leaving a trail of mana behind. Water felt like a river most of the time, but it could change depending on the target. Wind appeared as a fog or a cloud, and earth was grainy like sand or dirt.

  There were other elements on the list. Light, shadow, thunder, and lightning. Besides some odd ones such as gravity and rotation. However, while Helena was aware of said elements, she didn't have any way of knowing what they would feel like.

  Hera considered going to the arcanist lookout to train the ability, but it was a bit too dangerous going alone. After all, the rest of the party was busy with their own things, or they had yet to return to the MAZE.

  She looked around a few shops and found a few minor items that had elemental buffs. An orb that worked as a night lamp, a pair of heated socks, and a waterskin that kept the water inside it cold. All these items cost 450 gold. It was a lot of money, but Hera had made almost a year's worth of her previous salary in just a couple of weeks.

  It was hard to wrap her head around that. She was making so much money that felt unreal.

  Spending most of the afternoon trying to understand the spell, Hera used her Pulse to see if she could see anything helpful. Sadly, the spell only showed that the objects had denser mana than the rest of her hotel room. Thinking she might need an actual spell to perceive the mana better, Hera started to practice the light spell. It took her 40 minutes to make it work again, and another 30 to create the light with some consistency. By the end of the afternoon, completed her goal. Her spellbook giving her a notification with all the information about the spell.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Spell acquired

  Light - Rank: Beginner

  Create a small light around you. The mana cost is spent each second the spell is active. The intensity and radius of the light will affect the mana cost.

  Base Radius: 10 meters

  Base mana cost per second: 2 mana

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "I wonder if I can make that flash once again," Hera said to herself.

  Pumping all her mana into the spell, the light flashed as if someone just turned on a floodlight. Hera spent a few moments blinded by the intense luminosity. When her vision returned, she was sad that no other notifications appeared on her tablet. Dealing with spells was a bit weird. They wouldn't show as skill notifications given by the System, yet they felt more powerful than skills at times.

  "I guess I need to tweak it a bit more before it becomes a spell," she mumbled at looked at her tablet.

  The rest of the party was already at the same coffee shop that Helena had shown her. They were there to watch the coverage of Assault on the Wall.

  It had been a few days since Helena left Brinefront, and apparently she took a very quick path towards the room in question. As a matter of fact, according to Becca Swan during one of the 'episodes' of her coverage, they could have picked any room on the 25th layer. The Queeroni Wilds was picked exactly because of how quickly people could reach there from Brinefront.

  Some of the people who were going to participate even flew towards Brilansis in order to enter the MAZE through the guild and reach the Wall in time.

  When Hera arrived, everyone was already on a table near the front of the bar, where a projector was playing the Wall coverage.

  This time, a couple of presenters were talking about previous assaults. From the first wall on the 8th layer, all the way to the last one on layer 22. According to their expert, there wasn't a specific pattern for the walls. They could appear after a few layers or take some time to do so. The Layers that had Wall in the past were the 8th, the 12th, the 15th, the 18th, the 20th, and the 22nd. Making this the 7th Wall.

  There was a lot of speculation about how many there were and why they existed. One of the most accepted theories was that it was a barrier placed by the MAZE itself. They believed that it was a power check. A method for the MAZE to test if civilization was ready for what existed beyond that barrier.

  However, there were those who believed they were the remnants of an ancient civilization. The main reason for that was that the wall didn't trigger any quests. At the same time, the wall spread through all the rooms on the same layer, which made it hard to argue against being something made by the MAZE.

  Several scholars were contacted through video calls to discuss the possibilities, with a trio of reporters being a sort of moderators for the discussion. At one point, it became such a huge mess that the hosts had to cut off everyone's audio. They joked that it was too much information for the connection and proceeded to divide the group into two different segments.

  Most people ignored that, only really interested in the next part of the show. A competition among the high level explorers that were already there. Each participant would spend half an hour doing their best to damage the wall. There was a camera focused on the wall showing the damage, which could give a score depending on the damage dealt. That was all prerecorded, and the videos were edited down to just under a minute.

  Wildborn was the first contestant. The healer wailed on the wall with his battleaxe. At the end of the video, there were several gashes in the barrier. Even without knowing the structure's actual strength, the fact that he had managed to slash solid stone was incredible. The Healer's final score was 19,543 damage.

  Azure Chain came next. His name came from the chain that was wrapped around his arms. When attacking, it would split into several smaller chains with blades at the edges. His display was more flashy but less effective. While the blades twirled around and slashed a larger part of the wall, the damage seemed much more superficial. His final score was 15,512 damage.

  As the clearly upset Azure Chain walked away, Becca turned to the camera, "Now, don't think that his low score was a good measure of his power. Azure Chain has an extremely powerful skill that has a very long cooldown. In addition to another powerful skill that can reduce a target's defenses. Since the attempt to break the wall will happen soon, he couldn't afford to trigger those skills."

  The next contestant was actually a pair. They were the same two singers Hera had seen during the opening of the olympics. Bright Night and Dark Star. Each flung spell after spell towards the wall as a light and a dark orb emerged from their hands. They started to spin around each other as the singers sang.

  A mix of light and dark magic blasted the barrier again and again, each impact an echo of the previous strike. Once that attack stopped, there was a small pause, and the two sang a small verse of one of their songs. In sync with the music, the two cast an actual joint spell, creating what looked like a black hole with a ring of light around it. When it hit the wall, there was a chunk of about two meters deep that was just gone. Their score appeared as 24,001 damage.

  Everyone in the bar cheered and clapped. Becca thanked the two but said that they were not contestants for first prize, but their efforts should be recognized not only as buffers for the team but for being able to do that much damage being just level 60.

  Another mage attempted to break it. He used a mix of lightning and ice to attack. There wasn't much damage, since its attacks should be more effective on a biological enemy. Sadly he wasn't even able to beat Azure Chain's score. Which was obvious since the man was part of the support staff.

  The last entry was from Toxic Rain. The older woman walked forward with a smile and stared at the wall for a long moment. Suddenly, without anyone noticing, five arrows flew from her hands, which now held a jade bow. Several bright green veins spread around from each bolt.

  When most of what the camera was seeing was covered in the green threads, one last arrow blasted through the middle of the wall. After the dust settled, it showed a five-meter deep hole in the wall. Some of the toxic strands were still spreading from the edges of the tunnel. Her score was 45,029 damage.

  Everyone in the bar was speechless at the demonstration. No one expected the hunter to do that much damage. There was a small award ceremony where Toxic Rain received a prize from Becca, but she also became the first name in the official guild merch. The screen showed t-shirts, jackets, bags, and other goodies with a stylized version of the explorers' names who participated in the contest.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  The one with Dark Star and Bright Night was actually the same style that the duo used for their presentations, which explained why they participated in the test. Toxic Rain's was hilarious even if it looked nice.

  The font used and the green pastel colors were what you would expect of a shop called Grandma's's Little Bakery or something. But the rest of the colors of the shirt and jackets followed the deep green of her attack, with accents on the same jade of her bow.

  "Now, dear viewers, I'm incredibly excited to let you all know that we are going to have a very special interview, the strongest explorer in the entire world. Insomniac."

  There was a loud cheer in the bar. Every explorer knew who that man was, the highest level person on the planet, the man that hunt dragons as a pastime.

  "How high do you think his level is?" one of the patrons asked.

  "I'm guessing 89. There is no way he's past that," the woman beside him replied.

  "Is it true he made a chasm with a swing of his sword?" a man asked behind Hera.

  "Where did you hear that? The dude is a superhero, not a natural disaster," someone replied.

  While watching the show, Hera was using a knife to carve her name on some bread. Suddenly a notification popped up.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Skill acquired

  Etching (Rank 1)

  Improves your ability to create engravings. By using specific tools and materials, the etching can create various effects on the targets.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera was surprised when she saw the notification. Looking back at the piece of bread she gasped, "This was an amazing tip!"

  Yet, no one heard her. Everyone was just staring at the screen as Insomniac appeared.

  He had long black hair, but it was clear the fighter's last haircut was a long time ago. A stubble covered his tanned chin, and he had big dark bags under his eyes. Yet, the man was massive. Each arm was like a tree trunk. He wore dark leather armor with a tattered cloak that fluttered behind him. The man also had one of those neck pillow on his waist for some reason.

  "First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to the interview. I understand you are a very busy man," Becca said with a smile and gestured to a chair.

  "It's no problem. I had a some time to kill here, anyway," Insomniac had a deep and raspy voice of someone who just woke up.

  "For the first question, and please only answer it if you feel comfortable sharing that information, what level are you?"

  The man tilted his head to the side, "Why would that be a problem? That information is available in the Guild. Right now, I'm level 93."

  Loud gasps came from people at the bar.

  "That is impressive. I believe the closest person to you is still level 88," Becca said.

  "89 as of yesterday. She leveled up here."

  "Oh good. That can help with the Wall break. But let's get back to you. What is your secret? Do you have a particular farming spot or some trick to it?"

  "If it were a farming spot, I wouldn't share while I'm using it. But it is actually a skill from my Legacy," Insomniac said.

  Becca gave the man a warm smile, "Could you tell us more about that skill?"

  "Because of my Legacy, I can't sleep like a normal person. To rest, I need to be fighting. It's kind of like sleepwalking."

  "I see, so your famous grumpiness is just you being tired? I'm so sorry for that. It must be tough to deal with it," Becca gave him a sympathetic smile.

  The man replied with a soft smile, "Thank you. And I apologize for that grumpiness, it is not intentional. I even got an item to help offset that for a few minutes," he patted the neck pillow, "But to be in my best condition for the operation, I had to stay awake for a few days."

  "Could you elaborate?"

  "Just a bit. One of my skills gets stronger the longer I spend without going to sleep. Because of the Legacy, I can stay longer than a regular person without sleeping."

  "And how long has been since you had a night of 'rest'?" Becca asked, with a worried expression.

  "Today... 13 days. No, "the man turned to the side, as if he was looking at his skills. However, Hera noticed that his eyes were not as static as they should, "In 10 minutes it will be 14 days. I've tested that before, and that is how I can be at peak condition."

  "And how long have you been with that Legacy?" Becca continued the questions without missing a beat.

  "It's been... 12 years now."

  "Did you have trouble getting used to those abilities?"

  "At first, but I already had some problems sleeping, so the difference wasn't that big initially."

  As the interview went on, Hera got distracted by other things. She wasn't as interested in the man's life story. Her focus only returned when he changed the topic. Hearing the description of a couple of his skills was wild. They sounded amazing, but since they were part of a Legacy, they couldn't be replicated.

  Things like sharing his sleepiness with his enemies. Or making a cut that stopped a creature from sleeping. He also said that he had compiled a report about how he got the Legacy and that it was a freely available resource in the guild. That made a few people leave the bar saying that they wanted to get a copy even Hera wanted to go, but instead made a note to get one later.

  After around 40 minutes, the interview came to an end, "Insomniac, thank you for your time, and I hope I wasn't too invasive with the questions."

  "Not at all, I enjoyed it."

  "I'm glad to hear it! Now, for our dear viewers. Tomorrow we will begin the assault at 3 PM. Our coverage starts at noon with all the preparation for the attack. I hope you all join me at this historic event!"

  Becca signed off, and the television went back to the music channel. Hera stayed for a while at the bar with her friends. They were enjoying their free time. Even after returning to the hotel, the Explorer wasn't sure she would be able to sleep. Watching the wall break would be something extraordinary. It would be like seeing the Legacy of the first hero.

  "I hope Helena is safe," she mumbled to herself while lying in bed.

  Early next morning, Hera had already woken up. She tried to go back to sleep, but she was too anxious to calm her mind. Giving up, she looked at the time. It was only 5:30 AM. Understanding that she wouldn't be able to sleep again, Hera carefully sat on the ground and went back to trying to figure out Helena's affinity spell.

  After a while, the noise she was making was enough to wake up Blue. Hera apologized, but the Controller had already gotten up. It was 7 AM when the duo left the hotel, grabbing some fruit to eat and heading towards the guild. Blue wanted to spend some time at an ATR. She felt like she was close to something.

  Just after they rented the rooms, Hera received a message from Bonnie saying she was on her way back. The Researcher had returned home the previous night to see her mother. Hera told her where they were so they could meet up.

  Inside the training room, the Explorer asked her trainer to show different types of spells. Sadly, she had to buy a training program for each of the spells. That was a feature that only conceptual mages used, and they were very costly. She had asked for three spells specifically. A fire arrow to see an attack spell. A bark skin buff so she could see a continuous effect. Lastly, she asked for a healing spell. Hera was curious about how it would actually work and interact with her own mana.

  Just those 3 programs on her trainer would cost her 750 gold, but at least it was a onetime fee. After confirming the purchase, Hera realized that she had just spent almost 1 000 gold in just three days like it was nothing. Previously, any large purchases had to be planned months in advance. Making a promise to herself that she would be more careful with her spending, Hera focused on understanding the mana.

  The fire arrow was weirder than she expected. The mana appeared very quickly and vanished even before the spell hit the target. She didn't see a trail or something like that, just a lingering feeling where the arrow hit. The other two spells had such different usages of mana that Hera couldn't even understand them.

  Instead, she spent most of her time focusing on the fire arrow. Hera had almost given up for the day when Blue started celebrating.

  "I got a buff!"

  "Nice! What is it?" Hera asked.

  Blue showed the effect to her friend. When she activated the buff, almost nothing changed aside from strands of her hair standing up. The spell covered her body with static electricity. Its real benefit came once she started to move. The more the Controller moved around, the more it would charge, and after she attacked, a small electrical current would pass through her target, giving a puny paralyzing effect.

  "The skill says the paralysis duration varies according to my strength. My trainer says that a person at my level will be numb for around two seconds. It seems weak, but two seconds in a fight can make a huge difference. Besides, while I'm moving around, the electricity creates a magnetic field that pushes things back, and that can give me more room to move. Here, try to hit me."

  Hera threw a punch aimed at Blue's arm. Just before she was going to hit it, she felt as if there was a plastic bag in the way. Nothing that would lower the impact. It was more of a weird feeling. Hera could understand how that buff could become stronger. It was just an inconvenience at the time, but if the effect was amplified, it could work almost like armor. Blue explained that the spell integrated with her control skill as soon as she got it.

  They went back to their training, but Hera wasn't able to get anything out of it. Soon Bonnie arrived at the guild, and the three meet up.

  "So how was everything at home?" Hera asked.

  "Weird... I figured out some things that I'm not sure I wanted to know."

  "Care to elaborate?" Blue asked after waiting a moment, Bonnie still had a faraway stare.

  Bonnie blinked and looked at the Controller with a weird expression, as if she had just realized that someone was talking to her, "Oh.. Yeah... You know the debt I told you guys?"

  "You mentioned it, yeah," Hera nodded.

  "So… basically it was a lie. Something to cover up my birth." Bonnie sighed.

  "Are you adopted or your mom cheated or something?" Blue asked, getting an elbow to the stomach from Hera.

  "Blue!" the Explorer huffed.

  "What? I'm just asking!"

  "No, no. Those were fair questions. Basically. My father is rich. Like stupid rich. He owns a power company that uses magic reactors to create electricity. Kaizer Industries."

  "Oh fuck. That's like a dystopian mega corp level company," Blue gasped.

  "Yeah," Bonnie shrugged, "Either way. My father was never the loving type. And that went double for his relationship with my mother. Basically, they never fell in love. He needed an heir to take over the company. So, he found my mom, who was down in the dumps, full of student debt, and offered a deal. She would have his child, and he would provide for her for life and set her for success as a literary agent."

  "Did he… did he offer all that just to have sex with you mom?" Blue crossed her arms.

  "What? No! it was artificial insemination," Bonnie rubbed her eyes, "According to my mom, they never touched. Anyway. Part of the deal was that I would follow what he want, and so would she. But before I came to the guild, I had a big fight with my father. All because he wanted me to be a Researcher, and I wanted to be a Mage. It culminated with him slapping me. It was the first time he ever did that."

  There was a pause and Blue placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulder, "Do you want me to go slap him back?"

  "Blue! You can't slap him," Hera protested and placed her own hand on Bonnie's free shoulder," You hold him and let Bonnie do it."

  The Researcher started to laugh, "Thank you but you don't need. My mom already did that, slapping my father I mean. Anyway, after that happend, Mom took me away. She told me to do what I wanted, and she would have my back."

  "You have a good mom," Hera smiled. Blue didn't say anything just nodded in agreement.

  "Maybe. But yeah. The whole debt thing was a way for my father to threaten my mom. It was a way of saying, 'either pay me or I'll tell your daughter how she came to be.' Which honestly, boiled down to him trying to control her. Instead, she told me everything. Apparently, for the first few years, she received a salary to take care of me. Her own daughter. I guess that makes her more a nanny than a mother."

  Hera and Blue looked at each other. The entire situation was proof that the truth was stranger than fiction.

  "But that doesn't mean she doesn't love you. I mean, she left your father because he was pushing you too far, right?" Blue said after thinking for a while.

  "I guess... anyway, can we talk about something else? I need time to figure all that out."

  "Sure… but can I ask… is that kind of thing normal for rich people?" Hera frowned, the idea of paying someone to have their kid was strange. It would be one thing for a surrogate, but someone who actually raised the kid felt all kinds of strange.

  "I mean… a bit," Bonnie titled her head, "Like not this set up. But it wasn't hard to hear about people with arranged marriages. Or marriages that revolved around business and not love. Having a kid would either be a way to solidify the relationship, or for one side to try to steal from the other. It's messed up, but at some point money makes people crazy."

  "I'm kind of surprised how down to earth you are," Hera admitted.

  "Thanks, but seriously, can we talk about something else?" the Researcher asked.

  "Sure, we can talk about how Blue figured out how to use a buff," Hera turned to the Controller who immediately cast the spell.

  "Really?" Bonnie perked up a bit. It seems like the topic of magic was the best way to distract the woman.

  They talked for a while and later were joined in by Leo and Alex, who had just returned. All gathered, the group looked for a good place to have lunch and watch the assault on the wall.

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