Hera woke up late. For the first time in a while, she had an excellent night of sleep, so much so that she didn't notice when Blue left. At least her roommate sent her a text letting her know that she would be in Alex's room.

  It was after 11 in the morning and the Explorer Hera was already feeling a bit hungry. Getting up, she left the room and headed towards where her friends were. Apparently, Bonnie, Leo, and Mark had already left for their errands.

  After meeting Alex and Blue, the trio grabbed a bite to eat and some supplies for the day. Hera checked her tablet to see if Helena had replied to the text she had sent to her the night before, but there was no reply, which was expected.

  There was a decent chance that she would take some time to recover. Since Helena got hit by a creature more than 60 levels above her, it was nothing short of a miracle that she was alive. Seeing that there was nothing she could do but wait, Hera left the city, heading towards the woods.

  Alex assumed the teacher's role and started to explain what she had learned in her role quest. Every movement they made had the potential of giving away their position. They could not only create noise but change the smell of the area, or the temperature, or a myriad of things that a monster could use to discover her. The assassin made it clear that she was far from being a master at hiding, and for now, her focus was on not making too much noise, since it was the easiest first step.

  The Assassin talked about a few of the tests of her role quest. While hiding from wolves, she had to cover herself in mud to avoid their sense of smell. One of the tips she got from other people with the same role was to avoid scented soaps and look for things that helped make their scent as neutral as possible.

  According to her, the best way to hide from something was to understand what senses their target would use to perceive the surrounding area.

  Being an Assassin felt similar to being a Hunter. At least that was the impression that Hera was having. Although all roles would benefit from having knowledge of their target. Alex kept explaining the different hiding strategies, from covering oneself with mud to using spells that made the wind blow past you. However, most of them were unnecessary at the moment.

  The frogs used their sight to locate their targets. Their sense of smell and hearing wasn't that advanced. After all, there was no need for that when their sight range was almost 360 degrees. For the day, they had to focus on not being seen and killing the monsters in one attack. Alex explained that the frog's weak spot would be at the base of the skull, on the edge of the eyes. The skeleton was thinner at the neck and hollow in the eye sockets.

  Using the eye approach, they would need to sink their weapons deep to make a one-hit kill, but if they went for the neck, they needed a good strike to disable the creatures.

  They agreed to attack only groups with three frogs so everyone could improve the skill. And even got a cleaver for Blue. It didn't take long for them to find the first group. Hera and Alex were already familiar with the process, but this was a new thing for the Controller. They had to explain the concept and give her a few trial runs where she tried to sneak up on them before feeling confident enough to do the same with the frogs.

  The first few attempts were less than successful. Blue ended up making too much noise, either by moving too quickly or not paying attention to her surroundings. The first army of frogs found them before even Alex got close.

  In the second, Hera and Alex managed to kill their respective frogs, but Blue ended up tripping on a tree root and falling on top of her target. Once they started to get tired, they would stop and harvest the frogs to send them to Mondy in order to make some money.

  By the end of the day, Hera felt she had improved slightly, and Blue could hide from the frogs with some consistency by staying in the narrow blind spot they had. Back in the city, the Explorer also looked into ways of speeding up this process. According to a few articles, the best way was to hide from creatures that were good at perceiving threats.

  The harder it is to hide from a creature, the better would be the result. Another option would be to hide from a person, and the power difference also applied. As a matter of fact, there was a weekly meeting of people with high perception who offered their services for training the [Hide] skill.

  In the end, the group agreed to try that method the next day, but they wouldn't get outside help. Instead, they would, basically play a version of hide and seek where the seeker stayed in one place while the hiders attempted to reach them. It was good for both hiding and finding things that were hidden, so it would be a nice two for one deal.

  At night they met up with Mark and Bonnie, who were delighted to talk about what they had done that day. Bonnie was really excited about the research she was doing. She couldn't say much about it, aside from being something about items that had links to certain places. While Mark told them how it was in the workshop. It was a lot of effort, but he enjoyed the work, feeling satisfied to create something with his bare hands.

  Watching the two so happy about what they were doing made Hera realize that she was missing something. As much as it was fun to fight, it wasn't the same as when she found the cherry tree during her trial. She still wanted to get her new role skill, but after that, Hera was considering exploring the room for a while. Maybe someone wanted to come with her, but even if she had to go alone, it was something she wanted to do.

  During the next day, Hera, Blue, and Alex spent time in the woods trying the new training method. They took turns hiding and trying to find each other. Each match was split into two parts. First, the tracker would stay 10 minutes trying to find the other two as they were hidden in a specific area of the forest. After that, the tracker would stay in one place while the ones hiding had to reach them.

  Hiding from Blue wasn't much of a challenge. Only after she started to use her static buff, she managed to catch Hera before she tapped on her. Alex was still way too quiet to be seen by her.

  Alex was able to catch both Hera and Blue without much trouble. She could notice where the two were hiding before they even left the trees. Hera, on the other hand, had some trouble to hide as well she should. She wasn't that aware of what her body was doing all the time. More than one time, she ended rustling some bushes or stepping on a loose branch.

  After a while, she started to get the hang of it. She needed to do more than simply try to be sneaky. It was about trying to move with the environment. The concept was much more straightforward than actually doing it. There were too many variables to consider. If she paid too much attention to where Alex was, it was easy to forget about her surroundings. If she was focused on the environment, it was easy to lose track of Alex.

  At one point, Blue suggested that they work together to reach the assassin, but that would defeat the purpose of the training, so they let go of the idea for the moment.

  When Blue and Alex were the ones hiding, Hera would try to catch hints of where they've been to find their tracks. She wasn't finding a good way to do that. Her pulse spell was useful, but it required some luck to hit one of them at the right time. She kept trying to figure out how they were moving around and tested to see if there was more to the tracks. There was no smell. Although some branches and footprints here and there, Hera wasn't a tracker, and she could only tell the directions of a few of the markings.

  On her third turn to be the tracker, Hera remembered Helena's spell. The one that would allow her to see the affinities of the target. Since Blue was using her electricity buff most of the time, and Alex had the wind sash, it was possible that she would find some trace of their mana.

  By the end of the day, Hera was able to feel some distortion in the area where her friends stopped. She even managed to distinguish the signals from both of them. Alex's mana was calm, and it blended with the environment very well. It was very hard to feel, like looking for an out-of-place shimmer in the air in the middle of a desert. Blue made the mana more violent. It flowed oddly, making angled turns that left behind a strange, invisible trail.

  As Hera watched Blue's mana in one of the last times she was the tracker. The violent mana started to shift, and little by little, the mana shifted, turning into clouds. It looked like heavy thunderclouds with some small flashes inside them. Even with the grandiose look, it was hard to notice the mana. The cloud was smaller than a grape. If Hera wasn't looking at it when it formed, she would've missed it.

  She was distracted, looking at the clouds, when both Alex and Blue took advantage of the situation and tapped Hera on the shoulder. She jumped away, spooked by the touch.

  Blue laughed, "You can't say you were not expecting that."

  Hera shrugged, "Not both of you at once."

  "What happened? You seemed so close to being able to catch both of us," Alex asked.

  Hera didn't answer. She was looking at the notification that had just appeared in front of her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Spell acquired

  Affinity Sight

  Allows the user to understand the elemental affinities of the target. The more mana used on the spell, the more sensitive the sight will be.

  Base mana cost: 50 per minute

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She didn't expect to be able to get this spell today. After the assault on the wall, it became hard to think about being Helena's assistant. She had been avoiding trying to do anything to help the mage since it was too easy to let her mind shift to something bad. However, now she had somehow managed to get the very spell that Helena wanted so much to complete.

  It just sucked that Hera was a conceptual caster and couldn't properly teach her friend the spell.

  "Hera?" Alex was staring at her friend.

  "Sorry, I was reading the spell I got. It's something Helena gave me, so I can't talk about it. But it can help us a lot," Hera rubbed her eyes and opened a big smile.

  "Oh, I thought it was the hide level up. I was surprised by the new text, although it could have been because of my role," Alex said.

  "Wait, your hide is already rank 2?" Blue gasped.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Yeah, it leveled up when I finished my role quest."

  "That explains a lot, actually. I figured you had a talent for hiding," Hera looked at Alex, the woman always seemed to be good at showing up without anyone noticing it.

  "Well, I can't say I do, but I did have fun in my test," Alex gave an odd smile to Hera.

  Seeing the sun setting, the trio went back to the city. None of them was willing to deal with the giant toads. They spent the next day doing the same drill, although they hunted a few frogs to get some money for the week. Eating out every day was starting to make a dent in their savings.

  Eventually, they decided to go back to the city and continue their efforts. The change in pace clearly proved to be a good idea as by the end of the day, Hera managed to level up her [Hide] skill to rank 2

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hide (Rank 2):

  Improves your ability to erase your presence and blend with your surroundings.

  The more your appearance harmonizes with the place you are in, the more effective this skill becomes.

  Reduces the noise caused by your movement while interacting with yourself.

  Requirements: Not being in the line of sight of your target/ hiding place.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  At the same time, a notification appeared in front of Hera.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Quest Triggered:

  Explorer's quest - Assassin Skill

  You have acquired abilities that mirror that of an Assassin. You may attempt the assassin role test to unlock Assassin related skills.

  To begin the quest, head to a doorway, and the option to travel to the test area will appear.

  Restriction: Quest must be completed within 24 hours of arriving in the test area.

  If another role quest is triggered before you start the Assassin Skill test, you forfeit this attempt.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera read the notification a few times. The test would be in a different area, probably something similar to what the explorer's test was. What worried her was the restriction. She would only have one day to finish something that took Alex close to a week to do. Not only that, but she also needed to figure out a day where everyone would be okay without her.

  Before anything, Hera asked Alex about the noise reduction. The assassin explained that it meant that her clothes would make less noise. Not by magic, but she would move instinctively in a way to minimize the noise.

  Finishing the day of training, they went back to the city. As they were having dinner in a local restaurant, Hera received a text from Helena.

  'Hello, sweetie. Thank you for worrying about me. I'm almost fine. I think.

  There were some weird results with the tests they did here in the hospital, so I'll be here for a while longer.

  I'm sorry for not setting up Blue's admission with the order before everything happened. I'll get on it as soon as I can have a moment.

  I hope the MAZE is treating you well.

  And I hope we can see each other soon.'

  Hera felt tears rushing down her cheeks midway through the text. Helena was well enough to be using her phone and even worrying about Blue. This time it wasn't someone else telling her that Helena was fine. It came directly from her friend. Cleaning her tears, Hera sent a reply.

  'Lena, don't worry about Blue. Take care of yourself, and if you need anything, please let me know.

  Things are going well here. I managed to hunt a giant toad on my own, and I can attempt the assassin role test too.

  Also, I figured out the spell you gave me. I just did it, but I'll start to catalog the monsters that I see around here starting tomorrow.

  I hope the tests don't come back with anything bad.

  And I'm really happy you are safe.'

  The rest of the group was asking Hera for information, but she only told them about the message once she had sent a reply.

  "That's great, Hera! Are you going to start your assistant job?" Blue opened a big smile.

  "I think so. But I'll wait for Helena to get out of the hospital before asking about the jobs she wants," Hera smiled as she finished her cupcake.

  "Oh, but do you have something to do right now, or are you just waiting?" Alex asked for the check. Today it was only the three of them having dinner together. Mark was dealing with a big order, and Bonnie was knee-deep in books.

  "Well, I want to get the Assassin role, and that is going to take a full day. I want to explore around the room too. Not to find anything specific, just to see what's out there. Then again, neither of those have a deadline. I checked, and the role thing doesn't have an expiration date to start."

  "So, tomorrow, do you want to keep going with the training?" Blue asked. Her eyes were deep, and Hera had noticed the woman rubbing her eyes during most of the meal.

  "Your call. I got what I needed, but I'm not going to just go do my thing if you want to keep going," Hera finished her drink.

  "Well, I don't feel like it's doing much for me. It's helping more with the repetition and letting me think more about how I move than actually hiding from something. I think I could train the same way on my own or in an ATR," Alex explained while fidgeting with the salt and pepper shakers on the table.

  "Really?" Blue asked, the Assassin just nodded in reply, "Please, let's stop then. This training is pretty boring, and I'm not sure I'm getting anything out of it."

  Blue went on to explain that she was feeling a bit too tired and wanted to take a day to rest. Not only was she going to the gym in the mornings, but she was also doing the [Hide] training. It was a lot of work for just a single person. Especially if she wasn't enjoying the skill training.

  Alex, on the other hand, wanted to look around the city a bit. She wasn't part of any groups, and now that she had some experience, she wanted to find an organization or a place for herself.

  Since everyone was doing their own thing, Hera decided to go for the Assassin test the next day. She needed to do it alone anyway. It was a good idea to take advantage of a day where everyone was busy.

  In the morning, Hera was able to call Helena so they could talk a bit. The mage was feeling restless. Apparently, the doctors had found something odd with the results and were trying to figure out what it was. The main issue was that they were leaving her in the dark.

  Hera did her best to comfort her friend, but she wasn't sure if it was effective. Part of her wanted to stay talking to Helena, but when the mage said she would do another battery of tests they had to end the call.

  Unsure of what she would face in the role test, Hera grabbed her gear, including the pocket staff that she had forgotten in her dresser. In addition, she picked a waterskin and some of the bandages from the first aid kit. Hera made sure to tell Blue and Alex where she was going and headed to the doorway.

  When she touched the portal, aside from the regular transfer notification, a second one appeared in front of her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Role quest identified.

  Do you wish to begin the [Assassin] Role test?

  [Yes] [No]

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera pressed yes, and a familiar feeling of being submerged in hot water covered her body as she froze in place. The bright light was blinding, and she had to close her eyes. A few moments later, the light dissipated, allowing the Explorer to look around.

  Hera found herself in a reception room, filled with screens on the sides and a large steel door at the back. Behind her, there was a secondary door, but that one was clearly painted on the wall.

  Before she took another step, a notification appeared front of her

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Explorer's quest - Assassin Skill

  You have acquired abilities that mirror that of an assassin. You may attempt the assassin role test to unlock the assassin related skills.

  Hide from the monsters and kill the targets in each room to complete the test. If you are caught by any of the creatures in the test, you will be sent back to the reception of the room.

  Rewards:

  Assassin role skill

  ???????????

  Failure: The quest will be lost. To attempt the test one more time, unlock the next tier of related skills.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "What? Really? So this is why people say it's even harder on later levels? I only have one chance?" Hera stopped to think for a moment. Even being that hard, it shouldn't be that difficult to get all the role skills. The System wouldn't ask her to complete a week of training in just a day. Things were likely balanced to make it possible.

  Still, why would it be harder when she got more skills?

  Before she was able to think too much, the monitors turned on with a message scrolling across the screen.

  'The test requires you to kill the targets in each room before you can move on to the next.

  You must stay hidden for the entire time.

  If you are discovered, you will be attacked and transported back to the test's starting point.'

  "Ok, so if I fail, I have to start the room again. That's on par with what Alex told me," Hera said to herself.

  "Not exactly, kid," a familiar voice came from behind her.

  Hera spun around, looking for the source of the voice. Her eyes meet a small green apple sitting on a desk.

  "Peaches!" Hera rushed to it, "How are you?"

  "I'm good, kid. A bit bored, but good. How about you?"

  "I'm ok. Some stuff happened, but things seem to be ok now."

  Peaches tilted its body, "Wanna talk about it? I can't stop the timer just to warn you."

  "Ah, no. I mean, talking won't help. A friend of mine was part of the team that broke through a wall, and things got crazy."

  Peaches nodded, "Tell me about it. Those Wendigos are scary things."

  Hera raised her eyebrows, "Do you know about them?"

  "A little. Not more than what you humans know. I just watched the broadcast and talked to the Queeroni guide."

  Hera stopped for a moment, "Right, you can talk to other Guides. Actually… can you talk about them? Wouldn't that break the rules?"

  "There is no rule stopping me from talking about them right now. Besides, I've only said that they exist. That was something you could figure out by yourself," Peaches raised its body in a way that could be considered a shrug.

  "Oh, so can you tell me about them? Is there one that I should try to meet?" Hera sat on a chair by the desk.

  "I can, but I won't. That's not why I'm here."

  Hera nodded, "And why are you here?"

  "To do my job. Helping explorers get their skills."

  "Oh? Really? I thought you would be only in the first test."

  Peaches stared at Hera for a moment, "That's on you, kid. You never asked if I would be in another test. And I did say we could meet again."

  Hera chuckled, "Yeah, but you were very cryptic."

  "Well, you were the one who looked like death."

  Hera nodded, remembering how hurt she was after the fight against the giant slime and how much Peaches had helped her during the test.

  After a few moments in silence, Peaches cleared its throat, "As I said before. You got something wrong in your assessment. If you get spotted, you won't go back to the beginning of the room. You will be sent back here to the beginning of the test."

  "What?" Hera's eyes went wide, " But Alex, an assassin friend of mine, said she would come back just to the previous checkpoint."

  "Yeah, that is the assassin test. For explorers, you need to do it all in one go."

  Hera frowned, "This seems unfair."

  "You already got a role, kid. Not only that, but you also got a pretty good relic. Everything past that is just you being greedy. Besides, you are just level 3. The challenges you face here will be very straightforward."

  Hera sighed, "Yeah, I guess you have a point. Any idea what I should do here?"

  Peaches nodded to the screens, and a video started to play. In the video, a shadowy humanoid figure opened the reception doors and was met with a dense jungle. The figure began to dash and hide behind trees, bushes, and vines.

  Some other creatures appeared on the screen, but Hera wasn't able to identify them. After about five minutes of the figure running through the trees, it found a larger shadow. Again, Hera was unable to figure out what it was, but the humanoid figure made a stabbing motion, and the screen went dark. After that, all the screens turned on once more. This time, however, each had different animals or monsters. There were a few pictures, a skeleton, and a description talking about their weak spots.

  "All of those things will be there?" Hera asked.

  "Not really. Just some. It's up to you to figure out what's your target," Peaches was looking around.

  "Could I just go find it and then get attacked so I can come back and figure out?"

  "You can do whatever you want, kid. But remember, you have a deadline. And we already wasted some time just talking. Not to mention the fact that you will have to go through each room again when you fail."

  "Right, this is a valid point. Let me see what the screens say," Hera nodded before turning to the surrounding information.

  There was a wide variety of creatures showing on the screens. From wolves and monkeys to salamanders and pixies. In the middle, there was even a chimera and a vampire.

  "Peaches, is this information correct? I mean for the MAZE and not just the test," Hera asked.

  "As far as I'm aware, yes. The information is correct. But the strength of whatever you find here will be scaled to your level. A few of those things can kill you before you even realize what happened if they are at their normal levels." Peaches replied.

  Hera started to type everything that she could on her tablet. Trying not to waste too much time but still get all the information she could use, even if the creature wouldn't be her target. After about ten minutes of writing, she was ready to make her first attempt.

  "Ok, then. If I pass this, will I still be able to see you?" Hera turned towards the green apple.

  "Yep, I'll be in every reception you pass through. I'm also going to be watching you through the cameras. And if you need to rest or eat something, we have a room with a bed, a bathroom, and some fruit here," Peaches made a motion to the side where a small ‘employees only’ door was.

  With a nod, Hera smiled, "Thanks again, Peaches! I'll see you soon."

  The Explorer opened the door, activating her [Hide] skill, and with her tablet in hand, started to move through the jungle. Peaches waited for the explorer to be far enough away and said in a whisper, "Sooner than you think, kid."

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