Chapter 422 - Party like a Guide (Patreon)

"But you look like an apple. How do you want people to call you?" Hera's voice was slurred, and she kept hiccuping.

"My… My name is Peaches. If you were going to say that I'm soto… somo…. Something different it should be a peach," Peaches was spinning around on the kitchen table.

"No, no. That's your name," Laika heaved from the couch, "Hey, Hera. Would it be weird if I drank water from the toilet?"

"What?" Hera and Berthellemy asked at the same time."

"I'm a dog, and movies and shows have dogs drinking from the toilet. I was curious," they could only see Laika's hand that was now being used as a sock puppet without a sock.

"I mean, I used it already today. I think you should do it next time," Hera leaned over the couch, "Hey, hey. Where is your space suit? Can you make me one too?"

Laika had her eyes closed, and she seemed ready to sleep, "I can't. We can't give you gifts like that."

"But you guys gave me food," Hera pouted.

"That is different. You can't take our food out of here. If we do items, they would be on the level of legendary equipment. Also, I do not understand why you are all acting like this. The alcohol had no effect on me. Also, who used magic to make you stay in the ceiling?"

Hera giggled, "Berth, you are the one in the ceiling."

"Ah… catch me then," Berthellemy said just as he dropped, making Hera dive to save him. However, before he reached the ground, he started floating in a bubble, "You should've seen your face."

Hera started laughing, and her noise woke Nina up, "And another thing. Talpa thinks she's just doing her own thing, but I was the one who suggested that we start to dance."

It was then that someone rang the doorbell again. Hera stood up and went to answer the door, "Hellooooo!" she opened the door but fell flat on her ass before starting to giggle.

"I have returned…. What the hell is going on here?" Capri looked at the scene. Berthellemy was floating in a bubble, Laika was sleeping on the couch, Hera was sitting in front of the door, struggling to get up. Looking at the kitchen, he could see Peaches spinning around and Nina complaining about Talpa while walking around the room. Daskka fell on top of him as she lost her grip in the mist spell holding her up, then she was dragged by gravity to fall on Hera's lap.

"Laika gave us a drink. It was good stuff," Peaches replied.

"Laika? No, no!" Capri flew towards the guide on the couch and slapped her awake with his wings, "What did you put in that drink?"

"I don't know. It was just some stuff," Laika replied without opening her eyes.

Capri sighed and flew up above Berthellemy, who was still inside his bubble. The sheep guide started to flap his wings faster and faster, making small puffs of white wool fall to the ground like snow.

"It's so pretty," Hera gasped, watching the scene, but as the small particles touched her and the guides, the effects of the drink started to vanish. In eight seconds, everyone was completely sober.

"By the system, what did you put in those drinks, Laika?" Nina asked while rubbing her eyes.

"I… I don't know. I mean, I looked it up, and there are some potato vodkas. I thought that making one out of sweet potatoes would work. And to make it grow faster, I used a few spells."

"Did you make sure to clean the potato before doing that?" Capri landed and trotted towards her.

"No… is that a problem?"

"You probably made something else grow. Or somehow you made the alcohol mix with something else that caused an increased reaction," Capri explained.

"Oh… I didn't know that could happen. Sorry," Laika scratched the back of her head while avoiding eye contact with everyone.

Hera shook her head, trying to recover her senses properly, "That's OK. We all make mistakes. But how did you know it was something about the drink, Capri?"

"I'm a brewmaster myself, and I know the usual issues one would find when they are starting," Capri puffed up his chest, "In fact. I brought something for us all," using his wings, he pulled up a casket of ale and placed it on the kitchen table.

"Oh, wow. I didn't expect that," Hera smiled as she walked towards the casket to try the drink.

"The people of Boothudurn know how to drink. I learned from the best," Capri nodded with a proud smile on his face.

The rest of the party wasn't as interesting as the early moments. Nina taught some dance moves to Laika and Hera. They played some games, watched an animated movie about space pirates, and ate a lot. In the end, Hera saw a few notifications from her friends, asking her if she was OK since it was already over 24 hours since she started the test. Yet, she didn't reply right away. Instead, she turned back to the guides.

"Guys, I'm going to have to go soon. But can I ask you a couple of questions about this skill?"

"Oh, sure. Yesterday, you were so tired that I figured we would have time to do this later," Peaches nodded.

"OK. So we can only talk here, right? I can't see your texts outside?" Hera asked.

"That is correct, and it follows the same rule as the Local Guide skill, with an addendum. If you get a single strike, then the meeting room skill will be lost," Berthellemy ate another bite of cake.

"And you guys are here because you want. So you are not bound by the system. Does that mean you could answer other questions about a room?" Hera took a sip of her soda.

"Sort of but not really. We are still somewhat bound, and talking about things in our room is like going through an asteroid field. We need to be careful not to get hurt," Laika put her plate down to explain.

"Oh... Really? I didn't expect that. I figured you would be free, and maybe I could bribe you guys with food and gifts to get some answers," Hera smiled.

"You are free to try that. Maybe we are more willing to navigate the minefield then," Berthellemy added.

"I'll keep that in mind," Hera chuckled, "Oh, and if I'm hurt can I come here and call you guys to heal me like Capri did?"

"I'm afraid even the magnificent me is unable to come to your aid. This was an outlier. The cause of your ailment was one of us, which allowed me to use my incredible powers to heal you and my brethren," Capri flapped his wings proudly.

"Ah, OK. I guess it would be a bit cheap for me to call you guys to help me like that," Hera nodded and stopped to think if there was anything else that she was missing. Then she remembered what happened when she was trying to run away with Fitz and what she did with that guard that seemed to have better gear, "Did I… kill someone in the test?"

"C'mon, kid. I thought you were over that. That was just something made by the system. They are not even alive. It's just like a machine or your snake. Even if someone 'kills' her, she won't die. It's the same thing," Peaches sighed.

"But…"

"No buts. Dad is right. You are stressing out too much for no reason," Nina cut Hera off, but everyone stopped to stare at her, "What?"

"Dad?" Laika asked.

"No… I mean... He raised me… Us…" Nina started to fumble with a horrified expression.

"I'm just glad you are comfortable saying that in front of people. Usually, it's just when it's the two of us. Though I'm glad you stopped calling me daddy. Some shows ruined that one for me," Peaches shook his head.

"Dad!" Nina gasped.

"Yeah, you can't deny you called him that now," Hera smiled.

"But…. But… I'm leaving!" Nina stomped away but stopped in front of Hera, "Thank you for having me, and sorry for coming unannounced. If it's OK with you, can I message you in my private account?"

"You can do that? I thought you couldn't have something like a private account."

"I can. I figured it out while we were here. Can I message you?" Nina lowered her eyes, some vanilla frosting framing the red scales on the corner of her mouth.

Hera passed her a napkin and gestured to her mouth, "Of course you can. I'm more than happy to talk to you whenever I can," she looked at the other guides in the room, "That's the same for all of you. And thanks for voting for me to get the skill."

"You're welcome. I am really happy that we can talk again," Laika jumped off the bed and gave Hera a hug.

"I agree. I have no regrets in my decision," Berthellemy nodded.

Capri flew over Hera's head and stopped a few centimeters above Nina, "Indeed. You are one worthy of my presence. Never forget that."

"I won't. Thanks for the party," Hera looked around. The place was a mess, and it was a good thing that she wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up.

"Kid, it's always a pleasure. And I'm glad we can hang out more," Peaches came jumping towards Hera.

"Same. But I guess I'll have to schedule a day with you. Since you are the one who everyone would know," Hera chuckled.

"Not quite. Even among all the explorers who know me, there are just a few who I wanted to hang out with," Peaches jumped on Nina's hands. Despite the embarrassment she just went through, the Kobold carried him without missing a beat.

"I'll feel special if you say things like that," Hera smiled.

"You better. I do not appear to anyone. Only a select few are allowed to gaze into my magnanimous visage," Capri puffed his chest again.

Laika rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, it's time for us to go. You have your stuff to do, and so do we. Don't be a stranger, OK? We know that sometimes you can't come to a doorway but try to not take too long. We will miss you."

"I won't. I promise. Oh, can I ask you one last thing?"

"Sure," Peaches nodded.

"I only got a text from a few of the guides I've met. Does that mean I won't ever see the others?"

"Not never, maybe we can talk them into coming here. But unless they give you their contact number, they won't come here."

"I see…" Hera felt a bit sad about it, she knew that some interactions with the guides weren't the best, but she still expected them to at least be willing to talk to her.

"Don't feel bad, Kid. Some of us are just shy," Peaches tried to cheer Hera up.

"And some guides are just dicks," Laika added.

"Laika!" Nina gasped.

"What? I'm not wrong," Laika crossed her arms.

"Still!"

Hera chuckled, "OK, I'll keep that in mind. Have a nice trip back."

"Oh, before I forget. I have to upgrade your relic," when Peaches started talking, Nina turned around again, but he jumped from her lap and back inside Hera's room. He couldn't use his authority in this corridor.

"Right. I forgot about that. Say, think you can change the loose thread skill? It doesn't fit very well with what I do."

"Sure, any suggestions? Now that you are a bit more experienced, we can talk about this kind of stuff instead of letting the system decide. Keep in mind that it has to be related to what you already have. You can't, for instance, make Yarnball turn into a shark or something," Peaches explained.

"I don't know, maybe something that can capture a monster and stop it from moving, or something that makes it so that only I can touch the thread. It's kind of hard to spin around with a chakram when I'm worried about hitting a party member. Also, the danger sense never helped that much. I have spells that are much better to warn me," Hera was staring at Yarnball.

"Sure, I think we can work with that," Peaches nodded, and the case that almost looked like a case of flossing started to glow. When it returned, it was still completely black but now had a swirling circular pattern that showed some purple and white among the small details, "You lost a bit, but it was the exchange to get what you wanted, but I think you'll like the result.

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Yarnball - Explorer's relic

An extremely resilient string that takes its strength from its owner. The string can be used to control other objects or to bind a target. The relic can also reveal the answer to a question if the right price is paid.

Passive effects:

Phantom string
The string can be attached to an object by imbuing some mana into the string. While attached, you can move the string using mana. The string is able to pass through objects and creatures depending on their strength at the user's will. If the string is currently touching a creature or object, the behavior of the string cannot be changed.
Current maximum distance: 40 Meters

Active effects:

Magic Ball
By injecting mana into Yarnball, asking a question, then shaking it. You can ask a question and receive a reply through the screen on the side of the case. The amount of mana required for each answer will vary, and if not enough mana is used, the reply won't be of much use. If the question is related to a location or something too big for the screen, the information will show in your [Treasure Map]. The accuracy of the question depends on the owner's strength.

Cooldown: 2 hours
If this effect is used to find a living creature, the cooldown is reduced to 1 hour.

Binding thread
When something touches the thread, you can activate this ability to bind that target. The stronger the target, the more charges will be spent. The duration of the bind will depend on the target's strength. You are able to put multiple binds in the same target, however, they will have diminishing effects.

10/10 charges
Recover 1 charge each hour.
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With that, the guides headed out to the corridor and then to the elevator on the other side. After they all vanished from Hera's view, she tried to leave her private room to see if it worked. However, there was an invisible wall right on the edge of her room. It seemed like the MAZE wasn't going to let her move around as she pleased.

Hera waited a moment before heading out and back to the Waperath Kingdom. She was still about an hour or so away, and Alex should be waiting for her. She quickly sent messages to everyone letting them know that she was sleeping and that's why she vanished. When she arrived in the city, Hera told her friends that she was back and that she managed to get the role, but she never triggered the hidden mission like she did before. It was a shame, but sometimes things were just like that. In reality, she wanted to say that she got more than just the researcher skill, but anything else besides that would end up making her reveal about the guides. When she arrived at the hotel, Alex asked if they were going to the temple right away, but Hera said no. Before going there, she wanted to get a bit used to the [Explorer's Research] skill, and she would need a day in the library to do so. After that, however, Hera wanted to get that legacy.