Hera, Blue, and King Rutigan walked through the tunnel for fifteen minutes before seeing a path to the right.

"This path leads to a locked dungeon, but we have no idea how to unlock it. The voice of the mountain tells us that a key is required, but no one has ever found such a key," Rutigan explained.

Hera and Blue stared at each other. They were supposed to defeat the sky ruler to get a key for a dungeon that would allow them to unlock the room. Hera assumed the dungeon was on the mountain somewhere, but now this could be it.

Another ten minutes went by with the group staying in the central tunnel when they finally arrived at a massive 5-meter tall doorway with the symbol of a wolf and a dragon staring at each other on top.

"This leads to the Kobold Field!" Hera gasped.

"What is that?" Rutigan turned to her.

"It's another room. That's where we came from," Hera explained.

"I see… I must confess, although the idea of rooms is not new to me, the concept still escapes me."

"It's… Kind of like each room is a dungeon, but there is no time limit, and the monsters and people inside don't vanish as they die. They are also connected, so going through this one can lead you to another room, and another and so on."

As Hera spoke to the king, Blue walked over to the doorway and put her hand in the frame, "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Hera turned around quickly.

"I had some hopes that we could cross it already, but it's really locked," Blue sighed.

Hera put one hand on her friend's shoulder, "We are going to go back, don't worry."

"I'm sorry for interrupting this moment, but may I ask you one question about these rooms?" Rutigan walked closer to Hera.

"Sure."

"How can you know where the doorway leads to? Or do you just go in blind?"

"When they are open the system… sorry, I mean the voice of the mountain will tell you about the room you are going. The symbol above the doorway will also tell a little about the place," Hera explained.

"The surrounding area will also be similar. Like, if we are in a cave, this will lead to another cave or a place where you could leave a cave. If it's in the middle of a forest, you will show up near some groups of trees, at least," Blue added.

Hera stared at her friend for a moment, just now realizing that all the rooms she went through were connected in some way, "Holy crap, you're right! That's an amazing thing to notice, Blue!"

"I didn't notice. We learned that in class, don't you remember?"

"Really? I don't remember that."

"I guess I wasn't the only one zoning out at times," Blue chuckled.

Seeing that her friend felt better, Hera walked over to the doorway and placed her hand on the frame, trying to activate it.

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

Doorway locked

To unlock the doorway, follow these steps.

- Retrieve the key from the strongest monster in the room.

- ???????????

- ???????????

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

"Well, at least it tells us what we have to do. But I understand what you mean, King Rutigan. Only one monster comes to mind when we say the strongest in the room," Hera sighed.

"Precisely, and please. You can call me Rutigan. There is no need to add king to it. Anyway, the earlier generations lost some people who were searching for a way to leave. After it became clear that chasing this string of hope was too dangerous, the king at the time blocked off this path," Rutigan turned around, "Now then, shall we return?"

Hera and Blue nodded, and the trio made the journey back to the palace. After crossing the tunnel that headed to the locked dungeon. Blue spoke up, "What else do you want to talk about? You mentioned something about the future."

"I suppose there is no need for us to wait to begin this discussion. Let me ask you this. How different do you feel that our society is from yours?" Rutigan asked.

"Oh… Very. Like, there are so many differences that I don't know where to begin," Blue replied.

"Exactly. In order to join your world, I must first understand what changes would be needed. I've asked you about your culture, habits, and technology, but I've gathered no information about more mundane things. For one, I understand you use gold to acquire different items, but who is responsible for deciding how much gold something would be worth? And gold can purchase what type of item? Also, where do you get food? Do you have a specific street like we do, or are the storages more spread out? Do you have a limitation on how much produce one could take home, or your supplies are vast enough not to worry about that?"

"Ok, one thing at a time. We have several stores in our cities where you can buy food. We call them supermarkets. The price of something is decided by whoever is selling it. There is a thing called market value that I think it's an unspoken agreement about the pricing of items, but I have no idea how that works," Blue replied.

"Going a bit deeper in that whole thing. You can set the price of something by considering how much it costs to make. Like, let's say you are making a sword, there is the price of the ore, the fuel for the forge, your tools, and then you also add how much your experience is worth. Then you decide the price," Hera added.

"Oh.. that seems very… overpriced. Wouldn't that mean you can get new tools with every sale?" Rutigan had a confused expression.

"No, you don't put the full value of the tools in each product. It's more like a piece of it," Hera and Blue explained what they could about the most basic notions of human society.

It quickly became clear that the gaps in knowledge were much wider than all of them initially thought. For one, Rutigan couldn't understand how humans put a price on basic things like food, water, and housing. It was one thing to ask someone to pay for a cake or some pastries, but raw and uncooked food should be available to everyone in his mind. Despite agreeing with him, Hera and Blue focused on the subject. If the situation devolved into a rant about the unfairness of capitalism, not only things wouldn't progress, but the king could have some issues when dealing with human society.

They spent the entire dinner discussing those basic notions, from electronic money to democracy and education. Even after five hours, Hera felt they had only scratched the surface. What they knew was very limited, and they were far from being trained to explain these types of things. There should be someone working with the guild that could do a better job than them. However, Hera was worried that they could take advantage of Rutigan and the dwarves. The last thing she wanted was to open Pandora's box when leaving the room.

She knew it was a hopeless dream. Letting humans come to this room was the same as sending conquerors to indigenous tribes. And history had told her how things would end up. Thinking about that from a different angle, the dwarves wouldn't be so helpless. Naka alone should be able to hold off many explorers on her own, and the rest of the guard would give the humans who roamed the first layers a run for their money. Silah was the weakest of the group, with the majority being over level 30. Not to mention they had an excellent defensive position. If Ogryn and his mages changed the tunnel a bit, it would be almost impossible for anyone to invade this room. Then again, this all could just be Hera, being a pessimist. Humanity wasn't at war with anyone aside from themselves. As far as she knew, all races native to the MAZE lived in harmony, even if some were more detached than others.

When the dinner was about to end, Fethy arrived, saying she had an emergency to discuss with the king. No one believed that line, and the moment the dwarf saw Hera and Blue wearing the clothes she sent, the 'emergency' was completely forgotten. She admired the tall figures of the humans and made some notes about places where she could improve the designs. Blue took advantage of the opportunity and asked about shoes. Hera also mentioned the knee-high boots and made Fethy even more excited with the idea.

The next morning, it was back to training for the humans. Hera asked the team and found that Ganek, the second-highest level member of the group, was also a hunter. She shared everything that she had in her catalogue about the Sky Ruler's Spawn, hoping his pinpoint weak spots could add to her own.

To everyone's surprise, Naka suggested they should fight the griffons the following day. According to her, since they only had Hera and Blue's experience to go on, most of their strategies were purely theoretical. They had no clue what would happen when the griffons saw the dwarves or if there would be any odd behaviors coming from the monsters.

As weird as the suggestion was, no one seemed to be against it. The dwarves all trusted Naka enough to believe in her decision. Hera couldn't help but think that there was something out of place with the captain's suggestion. But since it ultimately helped her goals, the explorer said nothing. The team ironed out a few details and trained during the rest of the day, focusing on two different formations. One would be a way to attack, with Hera and Blue in front while the rest concentrated on defense, and another to retreat, with the dwarves in the middle and the humans on the flanks fighting off any griffon that went in their direction.

They all gathered in the guardhouse early the next morning. Before heading inside the dungeon, they had one more strategy meeting to remind everyone what their jobs would be. Lija would be in front of the other two mages. Since her spells were more defensive, she was the one who needed a clearer view of the battlefield. Totrak and Pyrrick would stay behind her, focusing on buffing the humans and debuffing the monsters.

Leryn would also be with them, but he was supposed to stay between Lija and the other two mages. A healer should be in the back, but he shouldn't be too vulnerable to sneak attacks from behind. After the casters, Ganek and Sevaris would take the flanks, with Naka spearheading the group. If they could actually attack the griffons, they would have some people focused on archery or other forms of long-range combat, but since it was a group made only to protect the mages, it was better to have melee combatants.

Hera and Blue were supposed to focus on killing the monsters, and they were the ones who would call all the shots. Where the group would go and which creature to focus on, it was all up to them. However, if the situation became dire, Naka could call for a retreat. That would be the only type of order she would give. Aside from that, the leadership was entirely in the Human's hands. If the sheep attacked the group, Naka and the other guards could finish them off. The last thing they would need was to be caught in the middle of various monsters at once.

Silah would accompany them, but unlike the rest, she would stay outside the dungeon. She was there only to provide on-site repairs and support. Naka agreed that having someone repair their gear and understand how to make armor and weapons to fight against the griffons was a good idea. Still, before putting her in a dangerous situation, the captain wanted to confirm they weren't biting more than they could chew.

After making sure everyone understood the plan, the group headed towards the dungeon.