Vash was flying beside the carriage, moving like a hummingbird and gasping at every little thing he saw. It could be a new plant or a tree he had seen a thousand times before, but this one had slightly different leaves. Different how? According to the performer, they were more alive. Whatever that meant. After about half an hour of constant wonder at everything, the harpy landed back on the vehicle, turning to the rest of the group, "I just realized, why did no one tell me we were coming here? Didn't you know how amazing this place is?!"

The team glanced at each other, and Flint said, "You didn't ask. And you could've read the mission information we got. It was all there."

"Also, when I realized you had no idea where we were going. I decided I wasn't going to be the one to tell you," Roan said with a smirk.

"That ended up as an unspoken agreement," Hera nodded. She realized Vash was clueless about their destination as they talked in the bar. But a knowing glance from Neria made her give up the idea of telling him.

"Why would you do that?!" Vash gasped, but he jumped away to see a few monsters nearby, "Look at them! Furry Piglets! Their leather and fur can make the most amazing clothes," he turned to the left, seeing another of the monsters appear from the woods, "The fur of that one is longer! That is amazing! Oh! And that one is shorter!" He continued mentioning everything he saw for a few more minutes before returning to the group, "And why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because of this," Skyler waved her hand in Vash's general direction, "That reaction is very entertaining."

Vash rolled his eyes, "Oh, I'm glad I can entertain you all. It's not like you can do anything else! I mean, Hera has two dozen movies on her tablet. Go watch something."

"To be fair, your role is all about entertaining others," Neria smiled, her ear fins wiggling slightly.

"Well… I …. Shut up!" Vash huffed, but his anger was quickly forgotten as they passed by some singing trees. These were used to make several instruments like flutes, saxophones, and almost anything that asked you to blow on it to make a sound. Naturally, those trees grew in a shape that already created a melody as the wind passed inside it. After marveling at that, the harpy turned back to the group, "Still. I wish you told me. I didn't even check the places we could visit while we are here!"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I have a list here," Skyler opened a large smile, "From the best stores for harmonicas and small brass instruments to a shop specializing in maracas and instruments made for the Children of the Sky. I also marked a few museums showing a bit of the history of music and marked down any cover bands that might interest us while we stay here."

"We are not here to hang out. We have a job to do," Flint said bluntly.

"I know. That's why all those cover bands are playing in restaurants. A couple are part of a fair they have every weekend, too. Usually, those only happen once a month, are bigger, and there are many more people on those things. Still, because of everything that is going on, they scaled down and made it permanent," Skyler explained while looking at her tablet with all that information.

"And that's what you want to do? Go watch a show while people are dying. This is not a vacation, girlie," Flint scoffed.

Hera didn't look towards her, but she could feel the elf seething. Yet, she didn't lash out and took a deep breath.

"No, Flint. I know we are here for a job. And we will spend most of the day running the dungeon to get the materials. However, we also need to rest and eat. There is no reason to just order takeout and stay inside the hotel staring at the walls. As long as we do as many dungeon runs as possible, if we have the energy after it, we can eat in a pleasant place. The stores might be open while we are still in the city, and I'm more than willing to, " Skyler said in a tone that showed she was used to people trying to rile her up, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Pleasant place? We should be sleeping as little as possible and keep doing dungeon runs. Just because the Alliance has a backup plan doesn't mean we should let them use it. If someone were to leave the front lines, we might lose a lot more people!" Flint yelled, but this time, the entire team turned against him.

"What's the point of killing ourselves to try to complete this mission? This is not do or die. This is do or create problems," Roan shook his head.

Neria: "Also, not sleeping enough will only bring trouble. If we are tired we will take longer to finish the dungeon, make more mistakes, and get hurt. The result will be completing the dungeon fewer times. And the odds of us getting that drop reduced," Neria's tone was much warmer than Roan's or Skyler's, but she still made it clear that she didn't approve of his idea.

"Yeah. Why are you like this? Everything was ok until yesterday. Is this mission something personal?" Vash asked.

Flint groaned, "No, it's not. I don't know anyone who is sick or whoever the fuck they are going to send here to cover our asses if we fail."

Vash landed on the carriage, "Then why are you this invested? Don't get me wrong, I want to help people too, but the way you are acting makes me feel like there is something else."

"It's… Nothing. Fine, we can do it your way. How far away the dungeon is from the city?"

"It's a 30-minute walk, or likely 10 minutes if we have Nimbus doing this. Well, 15 to 20. There is a small climb, and the path is not that wide," Skyler replied.

"Probably between 10 and 15 then. Nimbus can fly and carry two of us at a time. Livy probably can just jump that entire path, but I'm not sure it would be conformable," Hera added and turned to Flint, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? This came out of left field."

Flint groaned but gave in, "It's a bad childhood memory. I lost a brother because some people didn't take a request seriously. They were always drinking in town instead of doing their job."

"Were they skipping work, or were they doing what we are going to do right now? Rest so they could be at peak condition?" Neria asked.

"I don't fucking know. They didn't complete a request, and my brother died. That's that."

"We are not going to let that happen. We will save the people in the city. And if we don't, a high-level healer will show up to fix this. Nobody dies," Skyler said resolutely.

"Yeah! Besides, depending on the size of the dungeon, we can have a second team running it while we sleep," Hera added. Everyone looked at the Empress with a confused expression, "What?"

"What do you mean a second team? Is there someone else coming to help us? We didn't get any information about that," Neria frowned.

"What? No. I mean my court. Remember the Royal Quest skill? The one where I can give the titled blades a mission, and then they can just go do it without worrying about being close to me?"

Skyler nodded, "Yeah, you said Nimbus flew to a city in the sky or something, right? They can run dungeons by themselves?"

"Yeah. I told you that. The ship dungeon that we were using to get food. I could have them run it by themselves."

"You said you were in charge of running it alone since you had them. That it was better so you didn't have to run several times," Vash replied.

Hera nodded, "Only because if they go in a dungeon, it counts as if I was there too. So, if I tried to enter one, they were already in, and I would join. But if I don't go. They can just run it and leave."

"And they can get drops?" Flint asked.

"Yeah. They can't get any dungeon quest rewards. They can see the notification and what the dungeons ask them to do, but there will be no quest reward if I'm not there. But we are only worried about the drops that still show up. I have no clue if the drop rate is affected, but if it does, the difference is negligible. I never sent them to a dungeon and was like, 'The drops are horrible!' Well. Not more than usual. Then again, the only time I used that… let's call it feature, was when I was back in the Abyssal Deep," Hera explained.

"Can you explain a bit more about that skill? How does it work?" Neria moved closer to Hera, her blue eyes shining under the sunlight.

Hera nodded and gave them all a quick rundown of the skill. Explaining how each of the titled blades that went in a mission would receive some mana and then could move around. The imitation was just that they couldn't move to another room. And the farther away they got, the more mana they would spend. Hera also added what her titled blades had told her. That when they had the Empress mana, and they tried using a skill or a spell, that mana would be used first. She also remembered to include the cooldown of the skill. Letting them know that if she was able to send them out for a few dungeon runs, it could only be done once every other day.

Neria listened to what Hera was saying closely, and when she was done, the triton asked, "How is your mana? Not the amount, but is it just the basic version, or do you have some of it compressed?"

"Compressed?" Hera asked.

"Yeah," Neria looked around, seeing everyone's expression, "Do none of you know about compressed mana?"

They all shook their heads, but Skyler snapped her fingers, "Isn't that like a mana core? Like having a mana crystal inside of you?"

Neria nodded, "Yeah. We call it compressed mana. It's basically a skill that lets you have a mana crystal inside of you. It's not an actual crystal, but it's like the equivalent of it. I know most roles don't care much about it. And I get it. If you are fighting, it's only worth using the mana you can recover quickly. But healers tend to have this compressed mana, mana core, mana storage, whatever you want to call it. It's an emergency tool for either saving someone who got hit in a bad way or when we have to do something for a very long time."

"That sounds useful. I wonder why I never heard about it," Flint frowned, no longer upset about their previous argument.

"I hear that this kind of mana is not that helpful for crafters. Something like it is working differently. So it's like you are trying to mix two materials," Neria scratched the back of her head, "If you want, I can try to teach you how to get that skill. One warning: this reduces your natural mana growth, and the recovery rate is prolonged. Spells cast with that are also more expensive, but the skill compensates by growing a lot more than the normal mana. I thought about teaching Hera how to use it since it might greatly help her… Court?"

Hera gave an approving nod, and Flint nodded vigorously, "That's a good call. Especially considering what they are. I remember you saying they are sort of like golems. Well, all golems have a core. And they don't seem to have any."

The Empress glanced at Nimbus. It was true. He didn't have a core. And if she was able to share that skill with them, maybe the amount of time they could be in a Royal Quest would be longer. It might be a stretch to have this helping this mission but in the future…

"Daskka?" Hera called, "Do you think this can work?"

The herald looked into the distance, having a small 'conversation' with the legacy, "Yes? That can work. I mean, using that mana to give them quests. But the cost will change. I don't know how."

"Well. It's worth a shot," the Empress looked at Nimbus, then back at Neria, "Actually. When we are doing that, do you mind if I have them with us too? They can learn skills by themselves, and if they manage to get a skill like that, maybe they can actually have a core! Whatever that will do."

"You are kidding me! A core is the most important part of a golem. It's where all the magic and power comes from!" Flint gasped. His reaction was the same as if he had seen someone asking what two plus two was.

Hera smiled, "I know. But I don't know what will happen with my court. They are like golems but not actual golems. So I don't know what will happen."

"That's…. Fair," Flint frowned.

"Well, just let me know when you want to learn. I'm more than happy to teach. As long as we are not busy," Neria smiled.

"I mean... We are free now. We still have what, 2 hours before reaching the city?" Hera said.

"Two and a half, actually," Vash corrected.

"Sure. Anyone else wants to learn?" Neria looked around.

"You can do it. Someone has to keep an eye out for monsters," Flint turned around.

"I can have most of my court looking out for it. If anything were to happen, they would let me know. Actually, do you mind if the titled Blades also listen in? Since they also have mana, maybe they can make their own compression instead of just copying mine."

Neria nodded, and they all shifted to be in more comfortable positions for the lesson. Getting skills was always weird; some could become your staple. Like [Naga Poison] was Hera's for a long time. At the same time, others could barely ever see the light of day, like the [Nature Connection] that was supposed to help her grow plants. But, the more you had, the better. After all, there was no way of knowing if something could help or improve someone's power considerably unless you gave it a shot.