perizou

Chapter 136 - Home Cooking

Hera left her session feeling a bit better. According to the psychiatrist, the feeling of boredom she had wasn't that uncommon, especially among people who spent years inside the MAZE. For beginners, it was less common, but it also happened. Hera was someone who spent years dreaming about being an explorer. Because of that, doing anything that could be considered part of a civilian's life made her feel like she was wasting time. It wasn't something serious, but it was good that she sought hel...

Chapter 135 - Boredom

Blue and Alex were heading out of Helena's house on Hazelpond. During Hera's recovery, the two of them moved in. Bonnie could also come and share a room, but she had too much work to do in the library, and without access to Helena's laboratory, it was hard for her to do the quests that she got. Helena only said that they would try to get a house near a place closer to a main branch of the guild.

Hera watched her friends leave the house. They were going to spend the day hunting around th...

Chapter 134 - After party

After the long ceremony, Hera went back to her friends. Helena was sitting on a chair with a satisfied expression. Alex and Bonnie listened to the speech in silence, but Mark was doing something on his tablet while Blue had dozed off and was now sleeping on Alex's shoulders. Hera chuckled at the sight and woke her friend up.

"Blue, Bluuuee, time to wake up," she said in a soft voice.

"But I'm already in makeup," Blue mumbled as she awoke, "What happened? Is it starting?"

"It...

Chapter 133 - The Ceremony

"Hera, sweetie. Are you sure you want to do this?" Helena asked as they were walking towards the doorway in Brinefront that led to the outside.

"Not really. But Peter had a point. If I talk about what happened to you, maybe someone will have an idea. That's why I set up the email," Hera replied. She was still hurt, but after the treatment she received from Cameron, the high-level healer, she felt much better. Even so, the wound on her back and her right leg were still a problem. She als...

Chapter 132 - The guild thanks you for your service

"Would you like some coffee, Peter?" Helena asked.

"No thanks, this shouldn't take long," the man from the guild replied, turning his attention to Hera, who was sitting in front of him.

"I'll take one, please." Hera turned to Helena with a smile. It's been two days since she returned, but seeing her friend still calmed her heart. For a moment, Hera honestly thought she would never see anyone else again.

"Ms. Kingsley, Can I proceed?" Peter asked.

"Hera is fine," she re...

Chapter 131 - Lured to a Trap

Hera kept running through the woods. Since the panther had no intention of letting her rest, she might as well try to reach the settlement earlier. Usually, she would need some time after waking up before being able to do anything, but being woken up by an attack was more effective than a cup of black coffee. Even though she was running and there was no noise coming from behind her, Hera had a nagging feeling that the panther was right behind her. She had given up the monster letting her go. ...

Chapter 130 - The Panther

Hera was barely able to sleep. She practiced her spells while waiting two hours for the stakes to be usable again and went to sleep, only to be awoken by the alarm once more as the panther crossed the perimeter. Hera had to fight it again, but after striking the monster, it ran away again. The pattern kept repeating through the night until the first rays of the sun flooded the room.

"Stupid monster, bothering my sleep. Next time I see it. I'm sending a poison needle with all the mana in...

Chaptr 129 - Lurking

Hera finished packing her camp, even if she wasn't sure if that was a waste. Her bed was destroyed during the fight, but the mana pump was still intact. All in all, she didn't lose too much. One of her pouches was ripped, and the other had a hole, but using the sewing kit that was part of her emergency pack, she managed to salvage the less damaged one. She only stayed here for a day, but it already felt like she had enough to bring to Helena. Besides, she had a long way back.

Hera walke...

Chapter 128 - Collecting Samples

The Carbuncle was still unconscious while Hera rummage through its hoard. All the stones on the pile had double affinities, from opposites like fire and water to complementary like fire and wind. There were also several affinities unknown to Hera, such as storm, sand, night. Even some that should be minor affinities were in the mix like illusion, wave, brittle, and connect.

She made a few notes on her tablet. A few of the affinities seemed interesting or dangerous. Hera needed to unders...

Chapter 127 - Field Research

Hera took a bite of her protein bar. Just watching the pangolins was really dull. They weren't fighting or doing anything aside from walking around and collecting rocks. The behavior reminded Hera of penguins, who collected rocks to make their nests. Even when one of them would steal the stones from another pangolin, they would only snarl and growl at each other, but it didn't lead to any fights.

"Maybe I should fight one of them. At least to figure out what kind of skill they can use. ...

Chapter 126 - Pangolins

Hera walked through the path that crested over the cave entrance. It was already dark, and if it weren't for the moonlight, she wouldn't be able to see a thing. Looking at the sky, Hera couldn't believe she was inside a room. The stars were so bright, and even the milky way was there. The only time Hera saw the sky so bright was when she went camping by a mountain during a field trip. Part of her wanted to keep going and look for the pangolins. However, she knew that it was a bad idea. The mo...

Chapter 125 - Going off the deep end

Hera started her trip trying to talk with the sailors, but they were already busy shortly after leaving the docks. With little else to do, she looked for a quiet spot and kept trying to figure out the Mana Reinforcement. She used the chakram as a test subject since it had a higher affinity to mana before the enchantment. Thinking that it could help her understand the spell better.

She placed both her hands in the weapon, trying to make her mana cycle not only through her body but to the...

Chapter 124 - Assistant Job

"So, all I have to do is to look for different monsters and use the elemental sight on them? I say all, but I know I have to do the full report. You need just skills or habits, diet and things like that too?" Hera asked as she finished getting ready to leave.

"Just their affinity and the skills they use. If you stumble upon more information, it can help, but you don't have to go out of your way to figure out its mating habits or that wildlife documentary stuff," Helena was writing somet...

New schedule anouncment!!

Hello everyone!

Late last month, I asked you all about a schedule for the releases. After seeing your preference, I took a couple of weeks to test it out if I could make those deadlines.

I didn't want to jump the gun and end up letting you guys down. Today some weeks have 3  chapters while others have 4.

Now I'm confident that I can keep that pace and deliver 4 chapters a week consistently. So mark your Calendars, set up the alarms, and tell the villagers. 

W...

Chapter 123 - Upgrades

When Hera came back, she still wanted to train, however using trying the moves from the Wire Trap style inside the house was a recipe for disaster. Seeing that, Helena gave the explorer the information on another spell. It was something called Mana Reinforcement. That was the base for most elemental buffs that could be applied to weapons and armor.

The mage did her best to explain how to use it, but since Hera used the conceptual approach to magic, she couldn't give the explorer a good ...

Chapter 122 - Improvement

Hera spent the rest of the day helping Helena set up her lab. There were still several boxes to unpack, and the mage was very particular about the organization of her equipment. She wanted to use an ATR and try to get her new combat style, but the training rooms in Hazelpond were all currently occupied. She made an appointment to spend most of the next day using a private ATR. That should be enough time to learn the skill with the help of the trainer.

At night, she went looking for a cr...

Chapter 121 - Picking the rewards

Please, good doctor
forget the water
Please don't remind me
Of my daughter
I still see
her face in horror
I still see
how it tore her

The Shanty of the Last Sailor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hera went to her rewards screen on her tablet right away to look for the compendium. She knew that she could choose the skill, but the list surprised her. It had over a dozen options, and they all seemed interesting. From basic resistances to combat techniques and even some...

Chapter 120 - The Drunken Sailor

Hera woke up early the next day. She had found the name and some hints on how to finish her role quest. The legend was called 'The Lost Sailor,' and the best way to find it was to walk through the coast between Brinefront and Hazelpond. She had to look for a small cove, and inside there, she would find the information about the legend. Even after putting the name in the quest, it didn't complete it. According to some people, the role quest required you to find the information without using th...

Chapter 119 - Moving In

"Where do you want this box of books?" Hera asked.

"Put in on the basement. I'll organize the library later," Hera nodded at Helena's reply and headed downstairs.

It’s been five days since Helena figured out she could use mana stones to keep using magic. The two had talked to the guild about the possibilities. Helena could basically walk all over the guild at the moment. She was one of the few people who were called to the assault on the wall by name. Because of that, the guild ...

Chapter 118 - Serious Talk

 Hera and Helena walked back to Hera's flat. The explorer made some coffee and set up the food on her small table.

"Here, I forgot to get milk, sorry," Hera gave a cup to Helena.

"Don't worry. I like it black." 

Hera chuckled, "Really? With all the sweetie, I thought you liked more sugary things." 

Helena smiled, "Not on my coffee. But if you have some cake, I won't say no."

"Crap, I forgot the cake," Hera sighed.

"Don't worry. You got more t...

Chapter 117 - Back Home

 When Hera walked into her flat, it was like coming back home after a vacation. There was a thick layer of dust in everything, and the air in the apartment was stale. Thankfully, the guild had taken care of the rent. She already paid them back when she left the MAZE. Her weapons had to stay in the guild since they couldn't allow people to walk with swords and spears in the middle of the city. The items she could have brought, but the guild had a storage available for everyone. It was a g...

Chapter 116 - Farming the Valley

The group was in front of the gate once more. There were several parties already in line and a couple of others in a rest area. Hera and her friend were off to the side, discussing what they had learned with Cassandra.

"OK, so when we are traveling, we can go through the poison fog to fight more things and get more loot. None of the lesser and basic poison creatures use any type of poison mana, and if we get hit by that sludge, we would need to cleanse ourselves anyway," Blue explained....

Chapter 115 - Veteran's Advice

“Is that… a lizard?" Blue asked.

"I'm not sure, but it seems familiar, doesn't it?" Mark said.

The small lizard had light green skin with two white stripes on its sides and a little blue diamond shape mark on its forehead.

"Wait, isn't that the lizard we saved in the beginning?" Hera asked. She was sure it was the same creature, not only that, the patter on its sides were very similar to the one on Tanika's body. The explorer activated her [Observe] to confi...

Chapter 114 - Tanika

"Holy crap! How big is that thing?" Blue asked, staring at the gigantic lizard.

"Can we use the pearls now, oh, great leader?" Bonnie stared at Leo with an angry expression.

"Scold me later, toss the things. Clear that pool," Leo yelled, grabbing one of the pearls with him.

The group threw a couple of pearls, cleansing about a third of the pool. The glows were unable to cover the creature completely, much less the pond. They would need to go around it to reach the areas that...

Chapter 113 - Dungeon Boss

Blue dashed towards the Greater Poison Snake, hitting it a couple of times before rushing to the side. The creature started chasing the controller, and the frog turned around to do the same. Seeing what was happening, Leo jumped in front of the monster, stabbing it a few times for good measure, before rushing to the opposite side that Blue ran towards. The frog jumped after Leo, who was followed by Alex and Mak, while Bonnie and Hera went after the snake.

Blue kept running through the p...

New release schedule

Hey everyone!  First of all, thank you so much for all your support. You have no idea how much that means to me. I know I sometimes sound like a broken record, but I'm still in awe by all your generosity.

I've been posting every other day, but I realize that the lack of an actual schedule can be a bit confusing, mainly to me lol. So I want to ask you guys, what days do you think it's better for me to post?

If you guys have any other suggestions, let me know! 

I'll...

Chapter 112 - Valley's end

The viper moved towards the cave, not taking its eyes out of the group. Hera was trying her best to stay completely still. The last thing she wanted was to be devoured by something like that. The creature should be thirty meters long, and its head alone was the height of a tree. Hera had seen its mouth open. If the beast wanted, it could easily swallow most of the party in one bite. 

Yet, the viper seemed just to be watching the group as it went back to the front of the cave. Oddly...

Chapter 111 - Snakes, Frogs and Lizards

The three lesser frogs jumped towards the group, Hera and Alex jumped to the side. Each of them dealt with one of the creatures. Leo was holding back the third one while Blue distracted the big one coming from the pond.

Bonnie and Mark were moving back, flinging spells and arrows towards the smaller ones. Luckily, fighting the lesser frogs was very similar to the frogs they were used to fight. They only had to be more careful with their tongues. Every time one of the creatures opened it...

Chapter 110 - What shines in the pond

Leo dashed forward, piercing a poisonous frog in its stomach. The creature fell to the ground, lifeless. A few moments later, it vanished, leaving a small pearl and a gold coin behind. 

"Hey, this is new," Blue said as she got close to the pearl.

"The drop rate in these dungeons is pretty good," Mark walked towards the coin. 

"I think they vary. The lookout wasn't that good. Although there were less monster for us to fight," Alex said.

"Less? Are you forgetti...

Chapter 109 - The Frog Valley

 "Is that the tower they told us about?" Mark asked, pointing to the tall metal structure.

"I guess so. How did we miss that?" Blue was looking at the structure.

"Maybe is because it's behind the pillar?" Leo suggested.

Hera looked at the tower. It was a three-sided solid structure, with a large satellite dish on top. These towers were spread around several rooms. They functioned as hotspots, allowing people who were far away from the city to connect their tablets to th...