"How are you feeling?" Hera asked.

"I feel greeeaat," Alex had a goofy smile on her face.

"Damn, they gave you some good stuff," Blue chuckled.

"Only the besh for explores," Alex replied.

"Wow, that is really strong. I wonder if that's a spell. Imagine if I can use it in a monster," Runir said.

"You can check with the healers later. The important part is that she's fine," Hera turned towards Alex, "I'm really sorry for all this."

Alex stared at Hera, frowning and shaking her head. Moving her hand sloppily, she tried to slap Hera.

"No! You did nothi.. nothin.. nothing wong. I was justloooowww," Alex started giggling.

Hera chuckled, "Sure. Just rest for now, ok?” Alex wasn’t in the state to discuss what happened.

Alex nodded and shuffled in the bed, falling asleep once more.

"Why did they call us if she was this woozy?" Blue asked.

"Possibly to ease our worries. I'm sure the staff noticed our distress. We are in luck that there no one else needed immediate assistance," Tom replied.

They had to agree that it was a possibility. All of them kept asking about Alex every time they saw one of the clerks. It reached a point where a couple of the workers replied before they even asked.

The group left the guild to walk around the town. Alex still needed a few hours before being able to move, and if they stayed in the guild, it was likely that they would have been kicked out.

They had no idea what to do. Hunting was out of the question, and going to a store seemed wrong, even after knowing that Alex was fine. They've ended up walking aimlessly for some time before heading to Runir's and Tom's room in the hotel. Hera and Blue could go back to Hazelpond, but they didn't want to leave Alex alone here, even if the rest of the group was around. In the end, they spent a few hours talking about the MAZE, their lives, and how much had changed since they became explorers.

When Alex was finally better, they took her back to their house. Before leaving the room, Alex insisted that they all checked the rewards they got from the quest. Picking her tablet, Hera looked at the pending notification. It was amazing how the guild had created something that was able to store the system's notifications, even if their version didn’t pop in front of them like the system actually did.

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You have completed the Dungeon Quest inside the Underground Forest.

By destroying the errant elemental sprites, you have restored the balance inside the forest.

Rewards: 7 000 gold,

Elemental Accessory Select

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They could choose between all the elements that were present inside the forest: fire, water, wind, earth, grass, light, lightning, psychic, ground, and ice. After some deliberation, Blue decided to get the earth accessory, Alex wind, Runir grass, and Hera psychic. She hoped to be able to inflict the same kind of headache she had on her enemies. Tom didn't get the Accessory, but he did get 4 000 gold for the first time he completed the dungeon this week. Unlike what everyone expected, the accessories weren't earrings or necklaces. But small decorations that they could easily attach to weapons.

For Hera, it was like a cellphone strap. Purple string wrapping around a silver oval ring. The string's color matched Hera's handaxe, and that left little doubt on where she should place it.

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Minor Psychic Weapon Accessory

This accessory increases your damage by adding Psychic damage to your attacks. When the Psychic damage reaches the target's threshold, an ailment might be applied.

Psychic damage: +5% of total damage.

Ailment probability: 2%

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Hera was surprised with the stats. She expected that it would be a split, just like when she upgraded her Chakram, but in the end, it was a direct increase with no penalty. The idea of giving an ailment was also interesting, although the vagueness of it made her worry. Since it didn't say that it was a headache, maybe it could trigger something else. If a monster became confused or frenzied, it could become something problematic. Still, it was a 2% chance after crossing the threshold, whatever that meant.

In comparison, Hera's accessory had a low damage increase, but she wasn't alone in that. The wind and grass version had the same high value, going to a 10% increase in damage, but no special effects. Blue's earth accessory had a 5% increase in damage and a 10% increase in the weapon’s weight, which could be a problem at some point, but Blue seemed really excited with the idea.

After confirming all the rewards, they also decided that Blue should get the pants. Alex didn't want to use an item that could increase her temperature. Part of her assassin training was about using the environment to blend in and having the same temperature as her surroundings was a part of it. Runir was worried about the color. Just like Alex, he didn't want something that would make him a target. If the pants stayed white, it would be easy to see him during a fight. Tom refused since his armor had a scaling that fit his attributes more, and Hera's armor was a one piece. If she were going to change, she would need to change everything. By elimination, Blue was the one who could use the pants.

The last option would be to sell it, but according to Tom, it was rare to get some items from bosses, especially the ones with extra abilities. They agreed that Blue was the one who should have it since it would increase the party’s strength. After putting some of her lightning mana in the trouser, it changed to a vibrant blue color, just a few shades darker than its new owner's hair.

The group spent most of its day waiting for Alex, and now they agreed that it was time to rest. They were all mentally exhausted. While Alex was still recovering, they decided to hunt around Hazelpond. The Carpon Caverns was more profitable, but staying in a well-ventilated place was much more comfortable.

During the next days, Hera kept focusing on her mana regeneration, as well as testing what ailment her accessory could trigger. The problem was figuring out if they became afflicted. Just like her poison, she had no way of telling if a creature was affected or not. She kept using [Observe], again and again, trying to see if there were any changes. It was late afternoon on the second day when she was facing another monster on her own to test her accessory.

The crocodile she was observing stopped moving and started shaking its head. It seemed to be having trouble focusing on anything. Hera activated her [Observe] once more, thankful that it didn't require any mana, only her concentration. Yet, a surprise came along.

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Petite Crocodile - level 3 - Dazed

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She smiled and tried to poison the monster, but after a couple of tries there was no change and she had to finish the fight. After killing the monster, Hera opened her status to check if anything had changed. Her level was the same. Her mana improved slightly during the past days, but what made her see the creature's condition was the [Observe] skill as she expected.

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Observe (Rank 3)

Allows the user to see the information of the target.

The rank of the skill limits the information available.

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Just like when her skill increased during class, it didn't have any changes in the description. Yet, the difference was clear as day. Now she could see the level of the creatures, but also their conditions.

"Hey Tom, why did you never told us the levels of the monsters?" Hera asked.

"For I do not know that information, brave warrior."

"What? You just have to observe. Rank 3 already tells it. Actually, it also tells the conditions. Why were you guessing what was going on?" Hera asked, confused.

"Forgive me, for my observe had yet to reach said rank. I do not find fruitful to use it repeatedly on creatures that I already know," Tom explained.

"What? Why? It's good to make sure you are not fighting something weird or to know what they can do."

"Not all of us are able to gather more information with that skill. Especially that ability to identify what manner of magic they are able to use. To some of us, using the observe skill repeatedly is just a misuse of energy," Tom shrugged.

"Yeah, man, sorry, but you are wrong. It's very useful to know what you are facing. Like in the frog valley, sometimes two monsters were exactly the same, but one of them was a lesser version. If it weren't for the observe skill, we would have no idea that one of them could do more than the other," Runir joined the conversation.

"C'mon, we don't need to know the name of every single monster. If you see a cockroach in your house, are you going to stop to see what species it is? As long as we kill it, everything is fine," Blue scoffed.

"A cockroach won't kill me. At least I hope not. And that's beside the point. We have to be safe here, and the more information we have, the better," Hera said.

"Exactly, alas, it is pointless to attempt to gather new information where there is none. Why should we waste our time using a skill that will give no result? As I recall, that is the exact definition of madness," Tom said.

Hera stared at Tom for a moment and turned to Blue, "Is he calling me mad?" she turned back to Tom, "Are you calling me mad?"

"Not at all. I'm just illustrating why I would be the mad one for doing that," Tom replied.

"Fine, but I'm telling you that it can be better. You should focus on it," Hera said, giving up on the conversation.

"Eventually, I will also have the skill in its next rank. Yet, I shall not force it to evolve. A true knight is always ready for unpredictable situations and relies not on intel about its quarry."

"I'm with Tom. When it happens, it happens. I have other things to focus on," Blue nodded in agreement.

"But it's just looking. It barely takes a second," Hera pleaded.

"Meh, I can never remember. It's better to focus on the monster, not the name," Blue replied, while Tomas nodded.

The two walked away and went back to hunting the crocodiles, leaving Hera still shellshocked.

"Is being that stubborn a requirement for being a Hero?" she asked.

"Maybe. If it is, those two are already halfway there," Runir sighed.

Feeling defeated, Hera went back to her crocodile Hunt. Aside from Runir, everyone was facing the monsters on their own. Compared to the sprites and the moles, these creatures were much more predictable. Having to focus on three different combats also helped Runir's ability to analyze the battlefield.

Hera was using her [Observe] on every monster. Sadly, the rank up did not affect the affinity sight, but it still helped her figure out what her accessory could do. It was also interesting to notice that even among the same species in the same area, the creatures could have different levels. After getting the rank 3 [Observe] only five of the crocodiles were afflicted by an effect triggered by her accessory, and among those five, only three different afflictions appeared.

First, a dazed state, where the creature wouldn't be able to focus on anything. Second, a confused state where the monster could try to attack the air or even hurt itself by slamming against the environment. Lastly, it was a hallucinating state, where the target would start attacking targets that didn't exist. Hera left one of the crocodiles in that state for quite some time, hoping that the idea of the mind controlling the body could even make some wounds start to appear on the creature. But the effect ended before anything happened.

Hera wasn't sure if those were the only effects that would trigger, but it was still good to know. The problem was just the frequency. She had to fight over twenty crocodiles to make the aliment activate. And only after she started making weak attacks that only grazed the creatures that it seemed to work.

They spent three days hunting around Hazelpond and focusing on their training. During that time, Alex also added another clause to their group handbook. No one would ever blame anyone in the group for someone getting hurt. They could only discuss what happened and see how to fix any problems, but never point fingers at each other.

After the third day, they agreed to go back to the Underground Forest. Alex wanted to pay back what the sprite had done to her, and she still had to complete her role quest. In the morning, when the three women were about to leave, Hera received a text on her tablet. As she read the contents, her expression turned grim.

"Hera? What's wrong?" Alex turned towards her.

"Bonnie just texted me. Mark is missing," Hera replied, showing the text to the others.