Hera woke up late the next day. Blue, Alex, and Bonnie were already in the ATRs, according to the text on her phone. Apparently, the researcher had dragged them there early in the morning. Feeling her stomach rumble, Hera left the inn looking for a nice place to have breakfast.

Because of the time, a few places had started serving brunch. Hera chose a nice little restaurant with a view of the bay. She still had yet to check the skills she could buy from the Order. While she waited for her meal, Hera opened the website went for the marketplace to purchase skills.

Even having only 50 contribution points to spend, there were many choices. There were things like fishing, foraging, meditating, and weaving. Hera scrolled through the skills. They all were a basic rank and didn't seem to do much. For instance, the fishing one wouldn't teach you to fish. It would just increase your ability to catch fish. It wasn't like a movie where you got the compendium and could say 'I know kung fu.'

Some skills gave a glimpse of what they could become in the future. Meditating could become a skill that cleared your mind in any situation. Others were the starting points of more advanced skills. For instance, mining could lead to metallurgy and blacksmithing.

As Hera read through the list, one caught her eye. The skill was called etching, and it could later on become runic enchantment. That could let her change and improve the attributes of her weapons and gear. This was the skill that interested Hera the most so far. Before choosing, she gave another look at the list of skills.

Among them, there was another called weapon maintenance. Thinking about how she had already got some supplies to care for her weapons, Hera opened the description.

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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%

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Under the description, there was a line saying that as the rank increased, other effects would also be applied. Things like increased sharpness and handle. Hera also remembered that during the training, Mr. Greyson told the class that weapons that were well taken care of could even facilitate the leveling of skills.

Hera wanted to get both skills, but she only had contribution points for a single one. Even though etching could be interesting, she had no idea how to increase the skill. If she got the weapon maintenance, it would have a more practical effect.

She bought that skill, and it showed a message asking her to get the compendium at the guild. After finishing her meal, Hera went to pick up her new skill.

The compendium would only tell her the easiest way to get a skill. In this case, it was to take a few quests from blacksmiths. If she wanted to do it by herself, it could take some time. Another suggestion was to care for the weapons of other people in her party. Considering she never saw Leo or Alex doing any type of maintenance on their weapons, this could work. She also got the information on a few basic techniques that she could perform to clean and polish the gear.

Leaving the guild, Hera went towards the port area. She was looking for a ship that was going to the end of the room. It took her a while to find a vessel with that destination. Most ships were going to a village halfway through the cave. However, she finally found one that would go to the edge of the room.

They were willing to take her along for the ride for 50 gold, 20 if she helped around the ship. But it would be a two-day journey since it took almost a full day just to reach the exit of the cave. Hera thanked them and left. There was much to do around here before staying two days in the water. She also had some new information. There was another village in this layer.

Going back to the guild, Hera stopped by a weapons store and bought a couple of supplies for the new techniques she got in the compendium.

In the guild, she asked if there was a place she could use for taking care of weapons. The clerk at the front desk pointed her towards the second floor, where some tables were available for multi-purpose use. Hera spent the rest of the morning taking care of her chakram. After making the dent a few days back, she noticed that the area around it seemed to be cleaner in a way. Using a cleaning product called 'rust and grime B gone', she scrubbed the weapon with a sponge. Little by little, the dark layer of dirt was removed from the chakram.

Mayura's Feather had an opaque dark grey color, but after cleaning, Hera could see that the blade could become shining like Iris. Still, it would be something that she couldn’t do in a single day. Since this was the first time she tried it, Hera avoided scrubbing too hard, afraid of damaging the blade. The small details would also be a problem. Unlike her handaxe that was a flat piece of metal, the chakram had some crevices and patterns that made cleaning it much harder.

After some time, Hera got a text. Her friends asked if she wanted to eat lunch with them or if she was already in a boat. Hera wasn't particularly hungry since she just had brunch, but since she would train with them later, it was better if they were together.

The day went by with the four women training in an ATR, Blue and Alex were doing something similar to what Hera did, circling the mana in their bodies to unlock the stat. Hera and Bonnie kept swapping notes about the spells they had. Hera could use her pulse a few times before having to recover her mana. If she did nothing, it would take 1 minute to recover a single point of mana, but if she circled the mana in her body, she could recover 4 points per minute. The problem was that she needed to focus on moving the energy in her body, so it wasn't something she could do and stay alert at the same time.

As the day went by, Hera asked Bonnie if she had made a decision. The Order could help the researcher a great deal but Hera had made it clear that she would share the spellbook's contents even if the woman didn't join.

Bonnie was interested, but she wanted to know some things that Hera couldn't answer. She sent a text to Helena, who just asked for them to wait. She would talk to Bonnie soon about everything.

Blue and Alex made some progress with their mana, but not enough to unlock it. Bonnie and Hera didn't get any significant breakthrough, but they felt that using their spells was more natural. Hera also took some time to improve her mana circling ability if she could use it while fighting or moving around, she could use her pulse spell more often.

At dinner, Leo sent a text to the group, telling them that he would be back the next day. He managed to become a part of the Crimson Coalition and would talk more about that when he returned.

When morning came, Hera and her friends agreed to wait for Leo in front of the doorway. Walking up the hill, they could see the whole town once again. It didn't matter how long they have been here. The sight of the purple forest was still breathtaking. They had bought a couple of pastries and had breakfast in front of the exit, watching the groups come and go.

Hera was surprised at how many people were using the doorway. She never realized that the traffic here was so heavy. It wasn't like a busy train station or something like it, but every ten minutes or so, a group of three or four would pass by. When Leo arrived, he greeted the group and sat down beside them.

"Hey guys, missed me?" he asked.

"Not really, it was good not to have to give away my kills," Alex taunted.

"You went hunting without me? I'm hurt," Leo said, placing one hand on his chest.

"Stop being dramatic. We took a day off. Now tell us what happened. Was it easy?" Blue asked.

"Not at all, they had a battery of tests, we were split up in groups by our levels. There was an obstacle course, a capture the flag game and then a tournament. People got eliminated at each step. I got lucky with my team in the game. We had some pretty decent teamwork. In the competition, I only had to win the preliminary round, and I'll be invited, but there were prizes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places. Everyone was from level one to five in my category. I ended up getting the fourth place," he explained.

"Hey, way to go! Who won? A level five, I guess," Hera said.

"Nope, it was a level 2, and he was a monster. It didn't matter how much I tried. I could barely see him moving. His punches were faster than the frog's tongue. The weirdest part. He is a controller, but he moved like an assassin. The recruiters loved that. Not only they used that to show that levels are not as important as what you do with it, but they also got a really strong recruit. I just felt a bit bad for the healers that went there. They had to heal a set number of people, and there wasn't enough for everyone. Some of them started fighting. It got really ugly."

"Wow, why would people go that far?" Bonnie asked.

"The coalition is pretty big, and the perks are excellent. If I reach my quota of missions for them, they pay me 5 000 gold a month. Plus, the rewards of each quest. In lower layers, that is about it. But as you go deeper in the MAZE, you can find sponsored shops that give you discounts for being a member. If you go to the 8th layer, you can find their headquarters. It is in a room called... something with an X that I can't remember, but everyone knows that room by the Astral Garrison. That's the name of the city they built."

"They have a whole city?" Alex gasped.

"Yep, anyone who is a member can go there anytime they want. If not, you have to pay an entry fee, and you will be taxed on almost everything there. They, I mean, we basically control that room," Leo said.

"And the guild is ok with that?" Hera asked.

"There is not much they can do. We build the city as private property. First, we bought the land, then the resources, and the people just started gathering there. We are not stopping anyone from moving around in the room or leaving it. The city as just built in the most convenient place possible and made a lot of things much more accessible. It's kind of like the deal we have with Mondy. We are losing a lot of money, but we get much more than if we didn't have his help."

Hera stared at the hunter for a moment. The image she had of the MAZE was changing fast. She always imagined that the worst problem she would face were the monsters. But apparently, people could be just as troublesome.

"And what about your uncle?" Blue asked.

"I got a small piece of information. One of his old subordinates was there. The last time he saw my uncle, he was in the Astral Garrison heading to the next layer. So I guess that's my first step. Reach the garrison."

"Sure, that seems easy. All you have to do is level up like crazy," Alex said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, it's just a first lead, right? It doesn't mean I won't be searching for him now, but I know a place I can get more information. Probably," Leo said.

"So now what we need is to level up fast," Blue said.

"And make a lot of money. Sorry, I know it doesn't help you, Leo. But I still have to deal with my things," Bonnie said.

"It's ok, Bonnie. I understand, we all have our goals. Any ideas on where to start? I finished all those quests and didn't get a new level. Weren't they supposed to help?" Leo asked.

"I don't know, maybe its only system quests that give experience," Alex said.

"I'm not sure if it would help. But there were the ruins I found on the map. It's a bit of a long shot, but we might find something valuable there or a quest," Hera chimed in.

"Where was it again?" Bonnie asked.

Hera showed her map on the tablet. The ruins were to the west of the city, just a couple of hours away.

"I'm in. Worst-case scenario, we come back killing frogs," Blue said.

"It sounds like something to do, to be honest, I still have some trouble dealing with the frogs," Alex sighed.

"I guess it could work, but if we don't get anything, can we please farm for a few days? It would take weight out of my should to have at least the first payment at hand," Bonnie said with a worried face.

"Of course, Bonnie, we all want to help you," Hera said.

"Yeah, all jokes aside, you are our friend. We got you," Blue agreed.

"Thanks, guys," Bonnie beamed.

"Ok, then, to the ruins!" Leo announced while getting up.