"Nice!" Blue said.

  "Yeah, I wasn't expecting to get the transfer right away," Hera said, looking at her tablet.

  After calling the drone, they had placed the materials of eight frogs in the container. They were still far from the 50 kg that the drone could carry, but that small haul was enough to give them 357 gold. The biggest problem was getting the organs from the frogs. Not only was it hard to keep them intact during the fight, but they also were tricky to remove. Still, for just a bit over one hour of work, the pay rate was incredible.

  "Hey, am I doing the math wrong, or if we do this for two days, we can get more than a thousand gold each?" Alex asked.

  "What? No, you can't be right," Hera said.

  "Hang on," Leo said.

  He grabbed his tablet and opened the calculator. A few moments later, he looked up from the screen.

  "Oh crap, she's right. If we keep this pace, we can get almost 700 gold per day,"

  "Wow... this is really on another level," Blue said.

  Hera agreed as she stared at the drone that flew away with the latest haul. Money shouldn't be a problem anymore. She looked at the time. It was almost 5 P.M.

  "So, I have no idea at what time the sun sets in here. If it's anything close to the real world, it will set soon. So what do you guys think? We hunt more or go back?" Hera looked towards the lake. There was no sky here, but somehow, sunlight was always present. The one issue was the shadow. It always looked like the sun was shining from beyond the ocean. No matter the time, everything would always feel like it was close to sundown.

  "I say we hunt," Leo voted.

  "You know me too. I hate those things, but... well... Hunting is fun, is that too weird to say?" Alex asked.

  "Oh good. I thought I was the only one. I mean, sure we are in danger, and it's risky. But it is a thrill, right? Like skydiving," Blue said.

  "Exactly!" Alex exclaimed.

  "I can't say completely agree, but there is something beautiful about planning your attacks," Hera said.

  "Yeah, yeah, it's an art like dancing or music now can we find more frogs?" Leo grumbled.

  The group found a shallow lake where a dozen frogs rested. They decided to spread around the lake and try to kill the ones closer to the edge. Then make their way towards the big one in the center. Leo passed a dagger to Blue. That way, she could do a quick stealth kill and not the headlock mess she tried before.

  They spread out and started to move towards the frogs. Careful not to make too much noise. Hera walked close to a green frog on the edge of the lake with her [Hide] activated. The monster had its eyes closed, but as she approached, the creature got up.

  She held her breath as the frog spun around with its eyes still closed. The creature finished adjusting itself, allowing Hera to relax. When everyone was in position, they all attacked the frogs, aiming at the base of the neck. With a soft thud, the ones Alex, Hera, and Leo attack all fell to the ground. Blue, on the other hand, was not as successful.

  The frog that Blue attacked survived the first strike, trashing around as a response. Its splashing around woke up the other eight frogs. Hera and Alex rushed to the closest monster and tried to perform a secondary kill. The assassin killed her target, but Hera only wounded hers.

  Seeing the monster spin around, Hera jumped to the side, trying to stay in its blind spot. At the same time, a loud croak came from the one Blue was fighting. The sound snapped the army of frogs out of their sleepy state. They started to move around, looking for targets.

  Before the frogs could focus on someone, Blue let out a primal scream like a beast's roar. That made all the surviving frogs turn towards the controller. Hera took advantage of the opportunity to strike at the wounded frog twice with her handaxe, killing it on the second attack.

  "Aim for the backs, stab at an angle," Leo said as he jumped towards a blue frog.

  Hera tried to follow the man's lead, but she had no stabbing weapons. Changing strategies, she aimed at the joints, trying to disable the monsters. Hearing the cries of the frog being attacked by the Explorer, a green frog broke free from Blue's taunt and turned to face Hera.

  She saw the frog opening its mouth, but before it could attack. Alex appeared on top of it, shoving her dagger deep into its skull. Hera tried to thank her friend, but the assassin had already disappeared once again.

  Leo was helping Blue to stop her from being overwhelmed. He kept stabbing at the frog's back. A few strikes would leave a red circular mark on the monsters. Unsure of what it was, Blue felt the urge to hit the targets. To her surprise, when she attacked the red spots, the frogs would not only be damaged but also stagger for a moment. It was as if she were striking an exposed nerve.

  With Blue and Leo keeping the frog's attention, Alex and Hera cleaned up the rest of them in just a few minutes. The group looked back at the results of their assault. The shallow lake, filled with corpses of frogs, was now tainted red.

  "This is... gruesome," Hera frowned.

  "Yeah... I said that I enjoy fighting, but this is... a lot," Blue nodded.

  "At least we are quick. It's better than if we were making them suffer," Leo walked towards a green frog carcass in front of him.

  "I guess..." Hera said.

  They harvested as much as they could from the frogs. By the end of it, the sun was setting in the east. For the first time, they could actually see it. As long as someone was willing to climb a tree to get an unimpeded view.

  "Oh, Leo, what was that red mark?" Blue asked.

  "It's part of my role. I got a skill during the test. After I get some understanding of the monster, my attacks have a chance of exposing some weak points. I imagined it would take some time to trigger it, but cutting the monster up seems to increase my knowledge of it."

  "That is pretty cool, but I think that Alex appearing on top of the frogs is more badass," Hera said.

  "Oh, please, I have a skill that strengthens my attacks if my target is unaware of my presence. What about you? Going in mano a mano without even a skill to help you. That takes balls, girl," Alex said.

  Hera blushed and looked away. She wasn't that brave. Was she?

  "Yeah, you are all great. I guess my taunt is not worth mentioning," Blue pouted.

  "Don't say that your taunt is the core of the entire strategy. We couldn't take groups this big without you," Alex gave a thumbs up.

  "Yeah, I mean, you can hold back five frogs on your own. If two swarm one of us, we have to run away," Hera agreed.

  "It's pretty obvious we can't do this without you, Ms. Controller, or are you just fishing for some compliments?" Leo teased.

  Before Blue's reply, the group heard a loud squeak sound. Hera and Alex looked around, searching for the noise. Leo got up and grabbed his spear. After a second squeak, he approached the pond.

  Stepping in carefully, he scanned the area. In the middle of the lake, there was a frog smaller than those they were just fighting. It was also very round, almost like a watermelon with legs. The frog opened its mouth and let out another loud squeak sound, staring at the approaching man.

  "Hey guys, check it out. It looks like a squeaky toy," Leo said, pointing at the frog.

  Hera and the other got up to see it. The frog was mostly gray, with a few white spots on it. Its eyes had a brass-like color with a single dark line in the middle of them. It kept doing its squeak, seemingly having some difficulty to remain standing.

  "Oh, it's so cute. What's your name, little one?" Blue said as she approached the frog.

  "Blue, that's not a good idea, maybe you should..."

  Before Hera finished talking, the small frog dashed towards the controller at an incredible speed, headbutting the woman in the stomach. Blue tumbled back, and the creature slid across the lake while it repositioned itself.

  "What the fuck is that?" Blue asked while jumping back up.

  "Even the small ones are awful," Alex groaned.

  "Blue, get up! We need to fight that thing," Leo shouted.

  Hearing that, Hera activated her [Observe].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Giant Rain Frog (Procyon gallaris)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "This one is weird, it has a secondary name," Hera shouted while flanking the creature.

  The frog dashed once again. However, Blue was quick enough to block it. Even so, the impact was too strong, making her fall backward while the frog landed a few meters behind her. The controller got up once again and retreated, keeping her back faced towards a tree. The frog shifted its eyes towards Leo and Alex, who were closest to it.

  It tackled Leo, making the man spin around and fall face first into the water. Seeing that her plan of making the frog hit the tree had failed, Blue dashed towards the creature to stop it from attacking anyone.

  The frog wasn't fast enough, and Blue dove and grabbed its hind legs. The creature thrashed around, trying to free itself from the controller's grasp.

  "Hera, swing!" Blue yelled, seeing the explorer get close.

  Without wasting time, Hera approached the frog and got in a batting position, while Blue spun around, still holding the creature. The Explorer swung Iris and split the top half of the frog in half, falling back with the impact.

  "Is everyone ok?" Blue asked, still holding half of frog.

  "I'm bit bruised, but I'm fine. Why did it have to hit my right shoulder again?" Leo moaned.

  "So you remember not to rush in by yourself again," Alex barked.

  "I think you hurt me more than the frog," Hera told Blue while getting up.

  "Sorry, this thing is just annoying," the Controller replied and went after the rest of the frog.

  "Yeah, what is that?" Alex asked.

  Quickly activating her [Inspect], Hera took a better look at the creature. Not sure if she would gain any information about it.

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  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Giant Rain Frog

  Type: Procyon gallaris

  A rare breed of a giant frog that only is born out of 10 million eggs. A proficient digger that can't jump as most frogs do. However, its legs can propel the frog forward at high speeds. Its high-pitched squeak, it's a singular battle cry. After some time, the squeak has the ability to harm those that hear it, disorienting them.

  The species can grow up to 2 meters tall. A fully grown Giant Rain Frog can break down reinforced iron walls with a tackle.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Ok, it's a good thing we got this one while it was young," Alex said.

  "Yeah, If a 2 meters tall can break down an iron wall, I guess a 1 meter tall can break us without a problem," Hera said, thinking about what would happen if that one frog was bigger.

  "But why did we get that much information?" Blue frowned.

  "It's a rare monster. Don't you remember what Mr. Greyson told us? If we find something that is really hard to come by, the System already gives us some information. Kind of like a reward for finding something hard to come by," Hera explained.

  Leo was moving closer to the frogs, "We can finish the rest and call the drone, but that one we should take to the guild."

  "I agree, we might get some good money with it," Blue agreed.

  "Oh, yeah. That too," Leo mumbled.

  "What did you think we could do?" Hera asked.

  "Well... maybe they have a quest for it. I could cross one out if that were the case," Leo answered.

  "That's a good Idea since this thing is probably rare or dangerous if left alone. But let's focus, we need to finish those frogs. The sun is already setting. Alex, do you think you can help us? Just do the legs, pretend it's chicken," Hera asked.

  "I can try, but no promises," the assassin mumbled.

  "That's fine. Just do what you can. No one is trying to force you, ok?" Blue said.

  "I know, but I did nothing in that last fight. I feel like I owe something," Alex replied.

  "You don't, but thanks for trying," Leo said.

  The group finished butchering the twelve frogs they had killed before, focusing more on the legs and eyes since it was the easier parts to harvest. When they only had two frogs to go, Hera called the drone. The time it took for it to get there was enough for them to finish the work.

  The drone left ten minutes before sunset. They would have just enough time to run back to the road before it got completely dark. When night came, they realized that they wouldn't be left completely in the dark. There were various metal discs buried along that road. Each disc created spheres of light when night came, illuminating the area like street lights.

  Half an hour later, they arrived in the city. Hera wanted to eat, but they needed to check with the guild first. In addition, Alex said they needed to take a shower before doing anything else. Looking at her clothes, Hera had to agree. A bath was an excellent idea.

  Stopping by the guild, Leo found a quest that asked to deliver the body of a giant rain frog. The quest reward was 150 gold, which he split between the party, and a compendium about the frog. Since his skill made him stronger, the more he knew about the target, they all agreed that he should be using it.

  They went back to their hotel and took a shower before getting ready to see the city's nightlife.

  Hera sat in her room, looking at the dent in her chakram. She needed to see how to get it fixed. And since things like that were bound to happen, it might be a good idea to learn proper care of her weapons instead of paying for someone to do this all the time.

  It was still 7 P.M. but Hera didn't know if the stores would be open this late. Hera went online and looked for some information. The guild tablet had access to a secondary browser that only explorers could use. There she could find almost anything she wanted about the MAZE, although some information was behind paywalls. Which felt much more like Earth than anything she had seen so far.

  Just like the Internet outside the MAZE, she could access a map of the town and see information about various stores. Including their opening and closing times. Luckily, most of them only closed after 8 P.M., and some stayed open until 10. To her surprise, there were even a few 24 hours gear shops.

  As she searched the map for stores that could sell supplies for taking care of her weapons, a text came through her tablet. Alex had just finished her shower, and she was ready to go.

  "Blue, Alex is done. Let's go," Hera said.

  "Awww man, I'm so comfy. This bed feels like heaven," Blue grumbled.

  "Ok, stay there. I'm going to eat," Hera said, walking towards the door.

  Blue jumped up and followed the Explorer. Food was not something that she would ever pass on. A few minutes later, they met Leo and Alex in the hotel reception. Before going to look for a place to eat, Hera wanted to stop by the Taaffeite district to fix up her gear before the stores closed.

  Most shops were still open, and the streets were bustling. The town that reminded Hera of the suburbs during the day now looked like a proper metropolis. Various explorers were walking around haggling prices and selling materials. It was a bit odd to her, since they could just sell to the guild, but apparently, selling directly to merchants could have some benefits.

  They walked around looking for a weapon shop that wasn't too busy. Some seemed interesting, but as they got close, the long line at the door turned them away. Eventually, they reached a store with a sign that read 'Mr. Smith'.

  Inside, there was a long corridor with various weapons and armors in display at the sides. The only piece of furniture was the steel counter, with several dents and scratches, in the back of the room. Behind it, there was a man with his back turned to the door who seemed to be working on something.

  "Hi, there!" Blue called.

  The man jumped up and slammed his hands on the counter.

  "Hello there! Welcome to Mr. Smith. I'm Ordy, Ordy Smith. What can I do for you?"

  The first thing Hera noticed about the man were the cat-like eyes. His face was completely human, but his hands were clawed like that of a leopard.

  "That is so cool," Blue said, staring at the man.

  "First time seeing a half cat I take," Ordy said.

  "Yeah, sorry. We just got here," Alex said, pulling Blue away from the man.

  "That's fine. It is rare to find new arrivals who don't freak out when they see me. What do you guys need today?" Ordy asked.

  "I ended up damaging my weapon. I wanted a way to take care of it myself," Hera explained.

  Seeing the damage, Ordy explained that to fix that. He would need to recast part of the weapon or grind the rest of it to make it all seamless. The small mark wouldn't be enough to break the chakram, and most weapons had worse dents than the one she showed. Meaning that, while, if she wanted, he could fix that, it would do more damage than good.

  Hera thanked the man for his honesty and agreed that she shouldn't mess with the blade since it was an aesthetic problem and not something to do with the usability. Even so, she asked for some way to take care of her weapons in the field.

  Ordy showed a small bag with two whetstones, one for grinding off chips on the edge of the blade and the other to sharpen it. There was also a jeweler's loop so she could see the small markings along the blade and few oils.

  "Even with that, you still should bring your weapons for regular maintenance. There is only so much you can do without proper equipment. Try to do it once every month or more if you hunt all the time," Ordy said.

  Hera thanked him and gave 20 gold for the kit. The group also got a butcher knife for each of them. It was better than using their weapons to get the materials. Hera paid for everything since she forgot to send everyone their money after the last haul. Before leaving the store, she rectified that mistake. Sending her friends their earnings for the day, minus the amount for the knives.

  Thanking Ordy the group left the store, looking for a place to eat. Finding a restaurant wasn't hard. Deciding what they would have was another thing entirely. After a long half hour of discussion and arguing, they finally decided on an Italian place.

  "What are you guys doing after this?" Alex asked.

  "Well... I'm going to the guild. They have a few quests that I might be able to do tonight. All within the city, I promise," Leo said.

  "Lame, you need to have more fun. I'm thinking about hitting a club. I wanna go dancing. Care to join me, Hera?" Blue asked.

  "Not really. I was never a fan of clubs. I'm thinking about going to the hotel to rest for a bit. The day took a lot out of me," Hera replied.

  "Awww, what about you, Alex? Are you letting me a weak and frail maiden go alone?" Blue pouted.

  "It's hard to think of you as being weak after seeing you put a giant frog in a headlock. But I'll go, I'm curious how a club would be in here," Alex said.

  "So eat up, try to at least drink on a full stomach," Hera said.

  "You don't have to ask me twice," Blue answered, stabbing her fork in the lasagna she ordered.

  The group finished their meals and went their separate ways. Hera went straight to the hotel. She wanted to take care of Iris and her chakram. Looking at the dent in Mayura's feather, she remembered the old beat up the sword she used on the first day of class. Her weapons would never become that poorly cared for and that was a promise.

  When Hera got to the inn's reception, she saw Bonnie sitting in a chair in the bar with her head down.

  "Bonnie? Are you okay?" Hera asked.

  "Hi, yeah, I'm fine," Bonnie replied.

  "I know that fine. What's wrong?" Hera pressed and sat by her friend's side.

  "The library..." Bonnie sniffed.

  "What happened there?"

  The girl seemed so sad. Could something terrible have happened to her?

  "It closed," Bonnie replied.

  "What? Were they having money problems? I mean, we did get the coupons. Usually, stores that are doing well don't do this thing. How did it close in a day?" Hera frowned.

  "What are you talking about? You can still go," Bonnie mumbled.

  "But you said it was closed,"

  "Yeah, for the day. They kicked me out because it was closing time. I had so much to do,"

  Hera rolled her eyes, "Really, Bonnie? You're sad because of that? Way to lean into the nerd label."

  "But I wanted to keep studying. Magic is fascinating," Bonnie replied.

  "Yeah, but you have your notes, don't you? Better yet. Teach me. I want to learn magic too. Teaching a subject to someone else always helped me in school."

  Bonnie got excited about the idea. That way, she could review her work and find gaps in her knowledge. After finishing their drinks, the two quickly went back to Hera's room.

  The researcher started to set up notes, flashcards, and slides on her tablet, getting ready to take in the role of a magic teacher. Hera used that time to send a text to Blue, asking her to sleep in Alex's room tonight since they would get home really late. Her reply was just a 'Yesssss gurrllllll,' which lead Hera to send a text to Alex asking the same thing. She didn't trust the Controller would remember replying to the message.

  Seeing that Bonnie still needed some time to prepare, Hera opened a video about weapon maintenance. Her first instinct was to sharpen the blades daily. But according to the video, that was a bad idea. If she did that, the edge would be worn out quickly. The best thing to do was to sharpen the blade only when she felt it wasn't able to cut like it was supposed to anymore. For now, Hera just used some oil on the chakram as Ordy had recommended. That would make the metal more resistant to rust.

  When Hera was halfway done with Mayura's feather, Bonnie announced that she was ready for her class. The Researcher started explaining that mana is essentially a type of fuel. Cars use gas or electricity, and houses can use solar power spells to use mana. They are all energy.

  Because of that, mana shares some laws of physics that energy has. First, the law of conservation of energy. It means that energy can never be created or destroyed, only transferred or changed. That's why they can use mana crystals as batteries for electronics. They are changing mana into electricity. According to Bonnie, it is theoretically possible to do the opposite. Turn electricity into mana, but she had no clue how to do that.

  Second, energy quality. Mana is in everything, from people to animals, from water to rocks. Each thing has a different form of mana, and each form can flow and transform uniquely. That's why it was easier to use certain objects to control mana. Wands, staves, grimoires, orbs and such all were made with a specific quality that allowed people to control mana more freely.

  Third, energy transformation. Each type of energy can transform into another at different rates. Types and qualities of mana also have their own conversion rates to other types. For instance, 10 points of fire mana can turn into 8 points of wind mana or 2 points of water mana.

  The last part reminded Hera of Helena's research. That was probably the reason people couldn't go in the opposite direction of their mana. It was too costly to use a spell opposite their elemental affinity.

  Bonnie explained a simple exercise she had found to start sensing mana around her. She had to focus on the feelings outside her body. It sounded strange, but Bonnie was very close to feeling something. She had to picture a second skin hovering just above her own. That seemed to be the best way to go for now. As the researcher spoke, Hera couldn't help but feel like what she was describing was strangely familiar.

  After the lecture, it was already 11 P.M. Bonnie quickly went to sleep. She wanted to be in the library first thing in the morning. Hera turned back to her weapons to finish what she was doing. Since it wasn't something she had to pay too much attention to, she tried to feel the surrounding mana, just like Bonnie explained. As if it were a second skin hovering just above her own.

  Hera spent about half an hour before struggling to stay awake. Placing Iris under her pillow, she was too tired to notice a small warm spot on the palm of her hand. Exactly where she kept holding on to her axe.

  When she woke up, Bonnie had already left. It wasn't much of a surprise, but Hera wouldn't mind if the girl had said goodbye first. She got dressed and went to Alex's room to invite them for breakfast. Knocking on the door, Hera waited for one of her friends to open it.

  After a few minutes, Alex opened the door. She was still wearing the same clothes as she had yesterday, and she looked awful. Her hair was a mess, she had a stain on her shirt, and a strong alcohol smell came from her.

  "You look like crap," Hera said.

  "I'll take that as a compliment. I feel like shit," Alex replied.

  Looking inside the room, Hera could see Blue star fishing on the bed with her head under a pillow.

  "I'll take it, you guys overdid it," Hera said.

  "Noooooo, do you really think that? We are fiiiineeee," Alex said, rolling her eyes.

  Hera just stared at the assassin for a moment.

  "Sorry, I hate hangovers," Alex said.

  "That's fine. Take the day off. I'll talk to Leo and explain. Hopefully, the two of us can do some smaller quests," Hera said.

  "Fuck, Leo. I completely forgot. Tell him I'm sorry. I promise I'll find a way to help him with all his quests."

  "Ok, I'm going to eat. Feel better soon," Hera stepped towards the hallway but stopped before leaving the door, "Oh, one last thing."

  Hera slapped the door a few times in quick succession, making a loud echoing noise as she yelled, "Wakey wakey, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing!"

  Her two hungover friends yelled at her to stop, which only made their heads ring louder.

  Leaving the room, Hera texted Leo, and the two met in the inn's reception. Telling the hunter about the situation, the man laughed and said it wasn't a problem. There were several quests in the city he could complete. If he worked fast, he could finish three before the end of the day. Adding to the two, he completed the day before he would be well on his way to getting the 10 quests he needed.

  They agreed to split up for the day. Hera was glad that the binge drinking of her companions wouldn't harm Leo's chances. Not that they would know that so soon.

  With the day all to herself, Hera left the inn wondering what to do.

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