"Hera, are you ok?" Helena asked.

"What?" Hera snapped out of her daze.

"Are you ok, sweetie?"

"I... I think so," she replied, still staring at the screen. How was that fair? She spent years trying to become an explorer, studying, making money, participating in contests, and now, everyone would be able to join?

Hera could feel her heart beating faster and a buzzing noise in her ear. Wasn't the raffle an apology from the system? That was the only little thing that made her special, and now everyone would be just like her.

Becca was also taken aback by the statement. It took a few seconds for her to compose herself and follow it up, "I'm sorry, Mr. Ballestar, but can you repeat that. You are removing the restriction? So everyone will be able to become an explorer, even if they have bad attributes?"

"Oh, no, sorry. English is not my first language. I don't mean everyone. I meant that..." Romeo started to snap his finger while trying to find the right word, "Lessen, that was the word. I intend to lessen the attribute requirements. The ultimate goal is to allow anyone to become an explorer, but for now, that's just a dream."

"We are going to need a bit more than that," Becca smiled, "What exactly is your plan?"

Romeo smiled, "Ok, let me break it down. All the guild chapters outside the MAZE will have a waiting list. In that list, there will be the people who fell short of becoming an explorer. We'll start with an average of 11 points and no skills. Each batch of recruits will have one person from that list. I want the next classes to have that extra person already. The first group will be a test run. If everything works out, we can expand it with time."

"Why now? Why make the change now that we have a more serious situation with the wendigos?" Becca asked.

"It might seem ruthless of me, but it is precisely because of this situation. We need more eyes in the MAZE. There are places where no one goes for months, maybe even years. We can't have that anymore, not if a wendigo could be hiding there. The guild set up quests across all the rooms to patrol every nook and cranny of the MAZE. And we don't have the workforce to do that in a reasonable frequency," Romeo's eyes avoided both the camera and Becca. He spoke while staring at the ground the entire time.

"The entire point of the restriction is to avoid unnecessary deaths. Are you going back on that sentiment?" Becca was staring at Romeo with cold eyes.

Her question was on most of the viewers' minds. They knew how the MAZE could be dangerous. How could someone expect to face that if they didn't have the right attributes? Especially if someone had less than 10 points in a single stat, the debuff would be ruthless.

"No, for fu..." Romeo looked at the camera, '..dge sake, no. The plan is to add some information for the classes and restrictions for those people. Not to send them to hunt for wendigos on day one. They will have to party up with an assigned member for a while and have a sort of intensive training. I'm considering the long game. They will be in a trial period. Only after it they will be able to join patrols. Besides, we have proof that those who we rejected can be a great asset. Hera Kingsley, the fastest silver card holder, was someone that didn't have enough stats to become an explorer. Yet now, she is the first explorer to find and kill a wendigo away from the 25th layer. Not just that, even after her rejection, she participated in every single workshop, every class, every event that we offered to civilians. How many of us can say that we did that? How many of us have that same devotion? Imagine the number of people who would be dedicated to this job that we are missing because of that restriction. Our job is not safe. Every single one of us knows that. Those who come will also be aware of it, even if their attributes are not as high as some."

Hera clenched her fists. He was using her as an excuse to change the rules. Wasn’t that an even bigger slap on the face? And the events he talked about, none of them were useful, none of them gave her any hope of becoming an explorer, they were just how to be a better civilian using mana crystals and MAZE materials. He even talks like there were many. There were only three in the five years since she got her stats checked for the first time. Hera could feel tears forming in her eyes.

"So what will they do?" Becca asked.

"Whatever they want. We won't policy them that closely. The only caveat will be that before they get the clear from who is in charge of them, they can't leave the city without supervision. But after that, we can increase the number of explorers that we have. There is so much for us to find. Having people searching the rooms will allow us to see more rooms, more treasures, more skills, more legacies, just more," this time, Romeo looked into Becca's eyes.

Helena took Hera's hand, "Sweetie?"

Hera snapped her neck towards her, tears rushing through her face.

"Are you crying?" Kenny asked.

"She just changed the world, of course, she is," Cass said.

Helena got up and pulled Hera by the arm, "Come with me sweetie, Let's get some ice, or your eyes will be swollen tomorrow."

Helena didn't say a word and pulled Hera all the way to her lab, closing the door behind them. Giving the shaken explorer some water, Helena sat in front of her and said, "Talk to me."

Hera bit her lip. She was trying to calm herself, "I... just think it's not fair."

"Why?"

"Because what about me?" Hera stopped when she heard herself. This sounded incredibly selfish.

"Stop holding back and say what you want to say," Helena said with a stern expression.

"I spent five years crying almost every night for being rejected, and now they say, 'Oh, we were wrong, let's let everyone be a part of it.' What the hell is that? And they use me as an excuse? And the events, they were just propaganda, the guild does jack shit for civilians, and he has the gall to call others predatory?" the more Hera spoke, the louder her and more frantic her voice became, "How is this fair? I'm not saying that everyone has to suffer just like me, but why now?"

Helena listened to Hera, trying not to seem judgmental, she gave her assistant a glass of water to help her calm down, "Hera, are you really angry because of this? Remember what your doctor said, you need to find the real cause of your feelings."

Hera stared at Helena for a while until she slumped back on the chair, "I thought I was special."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean meeting you, the raffle, finding the poison crystal, the Pangolins, even the Wendigo. I thought it was a way for the system to say that I'm important and special in some way. It was like an apology for making me wait for five years before letting me go back to my dream."

"Hera..." Helena reached towards Hera.

"No, stop. I know it's stupid. I know it's just a coincidence, and it's not like that. I know it's silly, and this is just a child's dream. Still, it was mine," Hera got up before Helena could reach her.

"Tell me this, will they do what you did? Will they find me, the Wendigo, and the items you have?" Helena asked.

"I don't know."

"Even if they do, until they get here, you will have found more things. Fought more monsters, discovered more secrets. You will be even more incredible than you already are. And it doesn't matter who gets here. I doubt one of them will be the fastest silver cardholder," Helena got up and hugged Hera.

Hera didn't reply for a while, accepting the hug but not hugging back, "Still stings that he used me to make that change."

"I'm guessing they planned that even before you got the card. The whole ceremony was to make you the poster girl for this move," Helena was stroking Hera's hairs.

"Politics sucks," Hera said.

"Politicians suck more," Helena replied.

The two stood there for a few minutes, without speaking. Hera was still angry, but her frenzy had stopped. She filled up her water once more and downed it in a single gulp.

"Better?"

"Not really, but we should go. I'm hungry," Hera replied. In reality, she just wanted to do something to forget her anger.

"Thank you. I'm starving!" Helena said as the two left the lab.

Outside, Blue and Alex were waiting for them.

"Hera, are you ok?" Blue rushed towards her.

"We saw how shaken you were by all that. How are you feeling?" Alex said.

"Oh, thanks, guys. It's just.."

"Moronic," Blue replied, cutting Hera off, "They use you as an example but don't consider all the work you put in and how everyone helped you grow. It's like they are considering you to be the average when you are clearly above it."

Hera chuckled, "Yeah, right."

"No, no, no, I'm with her this time. You are amazing, Hera. I mean, look at the pangolin you fought today. I doubt anyone would be able to find a spell in the middle of a rampage," Alex said.

"Stop joking. I'm sure anyone could have done that," Hera said as they headed towards the cafeteria.

"Think again, sweetie. Even high-level mages have trouble doing that," Helena said.

"Sorry, but everything you said to me right now will just sound like an excuse. I'm still pissed."

"Yeah, using you like that is just low," Blue said.

"Not that, I don't care if they use me. I just feel like I've been cheated. Like they stole everything that I did so far."

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Because I spent years trying to become an explorer, and now everyone will be able to? How is that fair?"

"That's.. stupid," Blue said. Hera stared at her with an angry expression, "Be mad all you want, but that is like being mad for buying something, and then it goes on sale a week later. Sure it feels terrible, but what can you do?"

"Besides, it's not like you would be able to be an explorer on day one. Your stats wouldn't reach the 11 average, right? You would have to wait for all this workout, and they open for everyone. Even then, you need to put your name on the list, and it would take a long time before they call you, I'm sure of it. Just enjoy the glory and see if you can get some perks for it," Alex said.

"I guess," Hera's reply was weak as they arrived in the cafeteria.

As they ate, she talked to Helena and her group about the idea of controlling her chakram with mana, and together they found some ideas on how she could achieve it. After that, they headed out to the training room they would use as a dormitory. Helena said her goodnights, even though the sun was just rising, and went to the room she had as a guild worker. Hera had some trouble sleeping. As much as she was trying her best to forget everything about the announcement, she still felt betrayed.

Six hours after they entered the room, a clerk came rushing in, waking them up.

"Up, up, up. You all need to get up now! Is Hera Kingsley here?"

"Yeah, she's in that top bunk... What is this?!" Cass gasped.

"Hera, did you tp the guild?" Blue asked, still half asleep.

"Of course not, what's the matter with you?" the pillow on her face muffled Hera's voice.

"Get up now!" Cass shouted, making everyone get up at once.

"What is going... on?" As Hera opened her eyes, a notification was floating in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rampage Quest

Wendigo's Assault - Hazelpond

Three Wendigos are mixed with the monsters that are attacking the city. If left unchecked, the monsters can become strong enough to destroy the entire town. Kill them to ensure the success of the Rampage's defense.

The amount of damage you inflict on the wendigos will determine your reward.

Rewards

????????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~