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Swift - Wind

Hand axe

Attribute scaling:

Agility: 3.64[2.15(4.3) + 1.49] Dexterity: 3.39 [1.9(3.8) + 1.49]

Strength: 1.49 Luck: 1.49

Intelligence: 1.49 Charisma: 1.49

Weapon Skill:

Swift Blade:

The weapon can be covered in a layer of wind mana to increase the damage dealt by the next 10 attacks.

Cost: 400 mana

Familiarity: 20%

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Brute - Earth

Hand axe

Attribute scaling:

Strength: 2.09 [0.6(1.1) + 1.49] Dexterity: 2.09 [0.6(1.1) + 1.49]

Agility: 2.09 [0.6(1.1) + 1.49] Luck: 1.49

Intelligence: 1.49 Charisma: 1.49

Weapon Skill:

Smash

By using the blunt of this weapon, you can deal increased damage to objects and structures.

Familiarity: 20%

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Beam - Light

Hand axe

Attribute scaling:

Intelligence: 3.09 [1.6(3.2) + 1.49] Charisma: 2.94[1.45(2.9) + 1.49]

Strength: 2.89[1.4(2.8) + 1.49] Dexterity: 2.48 [1.35(2.7) + 1.49]

Agility: 2.7 [1.25(2.5) + 1.49] Luck: 1.49

Weapon skill:

Light Beam:

You can summon a beam of light from the tip of this weapon. This beam will damage and burn your enemies.

Mana cost: 600 mana

Familiarity: 20%

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"OK, so we have Swift, Brute, Beam, Executioner, and Lurize. Aside from Lurize, everyone else takes just 8k mana. So in total, I would need…. 42 thousand mana to summon everyone," Hera double-checked her court to make sure everything would work.

"Yeah, yeah. It's the fifth time I hear that roll call. You almost blabbed that same list to the clerk in the shop. Seriously, why didn't you just ask for a mana crystal that can have like a hundred thousand mana and get this over with? You got one that was what? just a bit over what you needed?" Alex rolled her eyes. She could understand how Hera was excited about this, but it was just too much at some point. The explorer barely talked about anything else in the two days since she got the legacy.

"Lena keeps telling me that's a bad idea. A lot of mages end up hurting their growth because they use mana crystals all the time. According to her, using spells that cost more than your maximum mana makes you lose some of the control you have over your own magic. And the one I got has 45 thousand mana in it," Hera explained.

"OK, OK. I get it. But… Do you think you can do anything about your naming sense? I mean, Swift, Brute, and Beam are awful," as Alex spoke, Hera felt Daskka agreeing with the assassin.

"This was just for testing anyway. I really don't think I'll use most of these. I mean, Beam is kind of fun, and it helped me understand the scaling of the weapons that I should look for, but still. I don't think any of these will stay in my court long term," Hera looked over the list one more time.

"Really? Not even Lurize? I figured you would want to stay with that one forever, since it was thanks to it that you got the legacy."

"I considered that, and honestly, if it wasn't poison, I probably would keep it. But not being able to use the type of mana that I use the most is a problem. And if I want to use the Naga poison in the spell, it gets even more complicated when Lurize is out. I think poison is going to be one of the elements that I'll use myself," Hera spoke without looking away from the notification in front of her.

Daskka nodded, agreeing with that assessment. When Lurize was out, it became difficult for the snake to talk with the explorer through their shared poison link. Alex understood why she was doing that, and she had to admit that losing her own ability to use wind could be a big problem.

"Anyway, do you have any idea where that dungeon's entrance is? You know, the one that Kirouhebi told us about. That jungle hunting thing," Alex asked.

"So, according to what he showed us on the map, it should be… A couple hours north of the city, maybe. He said that it wasn't too far and that people would usually come and go there every day."

"Do you know how to get there? Should we stop by the guild?"

Hera pulled up her tablet and did a quick search. There was some information about that specific dungeon on the Guild website and in some of the maps that were open to the public. Ever since the guild removed their restrictions to become an explorer, they also increased the amount of information they were willing to give out for free. You still had to buy compendiums and other detailed pieces of information from the guild, but you no longer had to pay for things like the location of dungeons, general ideas of the monsters inside the room, and any other relevant but not too detailed piece of information. It took Hera just a couple of minutes to find the details about the location and what to expect inside the dungeon.

Just like Kirouhebi said, this dungeon should be a great place for her to test her new abilities. The basic information that she found was that you will be chasing after a specific creature through the jungle in this dungeon. While doing that, you would be running through a thick area of the jungle and be attacked by other monsters that weren't trying to catch your prey. While using her court, she could have multiple eyes spread around an area and she would be able to understand how much control she had over her blades when they were far away or when there was something between them.

This was the plan that Hera and Alex had. Go to that dungeon and do a couple of runs so Hera could get used to her new skills, and then they would make the long trek back home. There are two reasons why they choose to stay here for a while longer before going back. First, Hera had to get used to her legacy. If she didn't, and they ended up finding a strong monster or even getting stuck in the middle of a rampage, there was a chance that not being able to use her full range of skills could become a problem. So far, there weren't any skills that were negatively affected by the legacy, but that kind of thing happened with Blue. A couple of her skills change for the worse. Hera couldn't remember exactly what skills were, but she remembered how much the controller complained about it. Second, Hera was really excited about her legacy, and she wanted to try things out. Even Alex was interested in seeing how that would work in a fight. This could be a very big change for the group, and they were both anxious to see the possibilities that came along with this.

Despite their desire to go home, they decided to spend one day in the dungeon before returning. It was already the middle of the afternoon, and neither of them was very interested in the idea of going to the middle of the jungle at night, not to mention the unique circumstances surrounding this dungeon. All the information they found about this dungeon said that all you had to do was go in there after sundown to trigger the hard mode. But they also noted that the entrance to the dungeon was located near a nest of nocturnal predators. It was far enough away that the creatures wouldn't be attacking all the time, but there was still a significant probability of meeting one of the monsters.

Hera and Alex took the rest of the day off, exploring the town, visiting tourist attractions, and hanging out in their hotel room. Alex was very interested in curses and other similar types of magic, which made Hera worried. She was supposed to have been cursed with something that grew stronger the more she looked into it. However, it was understandable that the assassin wanted to know more about curses now that she had a curse on herself. Alex never mentioned whatever she saw or the curse that she was currently affected with during all their conversations. So, Hera decided against complaining and was cautiously optimistic about it. Before leaving the temple, she had asked Kirouhebi if warning her friends could cause any damage, and the dragon agreed that it shouldn't do anything unless her friends decided to press Alex for the details of the curse itself. Hera had already briefed everyone about the situation and told them that she would explain as much as she could when they returned but that everything was OK so far.

The next day, both woke up early for their standards and headed out for the dungeon. Just stopping for a late breakfast. According to the information they found, it shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours to do a run. This also meant they had a chance to do several runs in a single day, which was always a good thing. Leaving the city from the north gate, it took them about two hours and a half to reach the dungeon entrance. The entire path here was, relatively speaking, well developed. Most of the road was made of cobblestone, which was unusual but still very useful. There were signs and lampposts that would help people traveling at night, and there was a very large influx of people coming back and going towards the dungeon or any other areas along the way. Just at a glance, Hera was able to notice about 20 or so different parties spread out throughout the road. It's hard to say if all of them were going to the same dungeon or doing something different. Some of them seem to be carrying some sort of specialized hunting gear. Things like sound enhancers and small briefcases that one would see in movies when people were looking for monsters or things like that. Maybe they weren't going to the dungeon, and instead, they could be searching for a Wendigo in this room, which was still an existing threat.

Hera did try asking Kirouhebi about the Wendigo. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to get any new information aside from that. Yes, there was one in the room. When they arrived in front of the dungeon, they found a small campsite stop. There was a fire pit that was currently lit up, and some people seemed to be barbecuing something over it. Around this campsite there areas for tents or for seating, and a couple of outhouses. Although they looked very rustic, these camp bathrooms actually had many stones inside them to help keep the place clean and supply it with water. Hera chuckled seeing the structure of those outhouses and how they were clearly enchanted by magic. It seems that more than just making roads, one of everyone's first priorities was to find a place where they could use the bathroom comfortably. It was funny to think that this was among the least of your worries in an actual survival situation. All you had to do was make sure to be away from your main water source before relieving yourself.

Alex in Hera walked towards the dungeon entrance, a very large cave that led them down, almost like they were entering a tunnel. They nodded to a few of the other explorers in the area, watching them as they passed by. In just about two minutes or so, a notification appeared in front of the pair.

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Would you like to enter the Runaway Prey dungeon?

[Yes] [No]

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Without even hesitating, they both pressed the yes button.

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You have entered the Runaway Prey.

Dungeon Quest:

The prey you have been hunting for the past week has escaped your grasp yet again. But now, you have destroyed all its hiding spots. The prey has nowhere to run. Find it and kill it.

First completion rewards:

150 000 gold, glimmer hunter set piece.

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It's been a while since Hera walked inside a dungeon that gives a quest right away, and even more odd was that this wasn't the only notification. Beyond the quest, another window showed a picture of what they were hunting. It was a creature with the face of a weasel, and the body seemed to be of one as well; however, it was long like a snake covered in green fur. The monster also had eleven legs in total, alternating which sides they would be on. On the tip of its tail, the green faded away and in its place there was a shimmering piece of glass or some sort of translucent bone. Beneath the picture, there was a single word, Glimmer.

"I guess we are hunting a Glimmer," Alex said.

"I guess so, but why do I get the feeling the scale of this picture is very deceiving?" Hera was staring at the image. The monster was beside a few blades of grass and a rock. Looking at the picture made it seem like this creature was almost the size of a tarantula at most, but something told Hera that this wasn't exactly the size of the creature they would be hunting.

"Maybe. We have to look for it and find out," Alex shrugged as she walked out of the cave.