Chapter 450 - A guide for the doors (Patreon)

Hera pulled back the box that she had pushed aside. After removing the cloth protecting the contents, she saw a large glaive sitting on the case. The handle was mostly black, with some red leather straps wrapped around where one should hold the weapon. When reaching close to the blade, a piece of cloth was dangling from it in the same color as the straps, but it didn't look like leather. Instead, it was very similar to silk, even though it was made of an inorganic polymer. The blade itself was black on the sides and golden at the edge. It was also very large, the metal shape was at least two times the width of the shaft and almost glad when looking from above, there were also a few tiny spikes on the back of it. On the other hand of the glaive, there was a round metal sphere with a spell circle engraved on it. That would function as a catalyst that could make it easier to cast and control spells.

Another interesting part was that right under the blade, almost connecting to the wooden handle, there were three rings interconnected. Two of them were directly in the base of the metal edge, while the third one was between the other rings, holding them together. According to the crafter that sold her the weapon, if she used any kind of magic-based buffs on it, a mana blade would come out of the ring. The strength of that blade would depend on the buff, and any other effects active would also spread to it. The dangling polymer was just a way to tell how long the buff would last visually. The cloth-like material would change color and lose it with time like the charge of a cell phone.

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Glaive of the Battle Mage
Rarity: Rare

This weapon was crafted by using mana-infused wood, frostmetal, and the skin of a red salamander. It was created having mages in mind so that they could use weapons that would not only benefit from the magic they used but also enhance the spells they could cast.

Attribute Scaling:
Intelligence x 4.5   Endurance x 4.3   Strength x 3.2

Passive Skills:
Spell catalyst:
When the glaive is used to cast a spell, spell efficiency: + 20%

Mana Blade:
When a magical effect is applied to this weapon, it will generate a mana on a blade that will function as a real blade.
When casting a magical effect on this weapon, mana cost: +10%

Made for magic:
This weapon was created with magic in mind. Magic-based effects are easier to be applied to the weapon.

Familiarity: 0%
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"This is a really good weapon."

Daskka nodded, "It really is. It's a shame that it is gonna take a while for you to be able to add it to the court."

"It shouldn't be that long. I mean, the handaxes only took me a couple days," Hera replied while picking the glaive up.

"You are used to fighting with a handaxe. This is a completely new weapon. You don't even have a fighting style for it. Maybe you can make it work with something you already have, but you are even missing something like a 'glaive combat' skill. You should try to train in the guild when you have a chance," Daskka explained, "Oh, I also have a bit of bad news."

"What?" Hera was trying out a few moves carefully. This wasn't the best place for actual practice, but she had a chance to get used to the weapon.

"I'll just warn you that I didn't know this before, but your blades don't scale up with you."

"What are you talking about? They scale with my stats, right?"

"They do. But you didn't check their stats after leveling up, have you? Ever since then, the number of bonus attributes they got didn't change. Well, they changed a little bit but because of the familiarity not because of your level. Basically, when you get a new blade, they are linked to your current attributes. If your attributes change, the bonus that the blade receives won't. That's only the case for your court members, not for the titled blades," Daskka explained.

"So it incentivizes me to keep changing the members of my court? If there's a weapon that I really like, I can only try to ask someone to make another version in the future?" Hera frowned. In a way, she felt she was lucky since, unlike Ninelyn's legacy, the court didn't come with any restrictions on her life. She could still eat anything, do any magic, or whatever. The only drawback was losing the physical version of a weapon. Now, it seemed like there was another one.

"In a way, yes. But you can still keep the weapons if you give them titles. But, in your case, since all your attributes change so much, you end up getting a very big increasing power with each extra attribute point that you spend. So you might consider changing your court at every level. Or at least, every level that you got a lot of points."

"Like the one that I just had?" Hera rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Daskka nodded while looking down, "Sorry I didn't tell you before. I could have questioned the legacy when you first leveled up, but the idea didn't cross my mind. I only realized that now when you started talking about changing court members."

Hera sighed and patted Daskka's head, "Don't worry. It's OK. It kind of sucks, but it's not like I can be picky. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I'll change Executioner for my chakram since there is no way I can use that while holding the glaive."

"Do you want to do that now? I can explain how to release one of your blades."

"Not now. I want to test the engravings first. I don't know if it sounds mean, but since I'm going to remove one of the blades, I might as well see if I can make them work," Hera felt very conflicted with that. She could sense her blades, and they could talk to her in a way, but that didn't mean that they were alive. They had no emotions like Daskka.

"I understand what you're feeling. But in the end, your blades are basically robots. You don't have to feel bad about changing them the same way you won't feel bad about changing your tablet or another piece of equipment. The only thing that would be different would be a titled blade. They have personality, emotions, and they can talk to you on a more personal level. Not to mention that, like I said, they would get benefits from your level-ups," Daskka explained.

"Yeah, you said that, but I still don't know how I can give one of them a title. You said that there are some conditions and I need an ego item to do it, but I haven't found one just yet. The closest thing that I got from one was an auction that asked for 10 million gold just to be in the venue, and each bid should be at least 50 million. I don't have that kind of money. To top it all off, it was just a rumor that we could find an ego item there. I bet the auction house won't even have one," Hera crossed her arms with the glaive still in hand. The weapon's blade passed dangerously close to her face, making her realize that she really wasn't used to that kind of equipment. Nothing would happen if she made the same motion while holding one of her handaxes, "For now I'm just going to stop messing with this and move on."

"Are you go…ing to ca..ll... Bl-Bl-Blu over?" Daskka gave up on speaking and continued their conversation through their Naga connection. Asking if they were done with dungeons for the day. She couldn't do much in the Jester's dungeon, and the No Hotel seemed to be something very similar to that.

"No, there's still one more thing I wanna do while I have the chance. Well, two things, but they are related," Hera pulled up her tablet and started answering the messages from all the guides she was talking with. There was nothing truly important among the contents, just some small talk and discussions about movies or books. If anything was out of the ordinary was the fact that Capri invited all the guides Hera knew to a group chat. Apparently, he was jealous that Hera had a girls' night with some of the guides and was now trying to set up a movie club of sorts where they could meet all together to hang out and watch something in her room. Everyone seemed to like the idea, but almost all of them badgered Capri for inviting  himself to someone else's house. When all that was done, Hera sat on the floor and prepared to call this room's guide.

"I call upon the Guide of Dzviery. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."

To fit the room's theme, a small doorway appeared in front of Hera, but it wasn't white like she was used to. Instead, it seemed to be made of a reddish clay. From it, a small creature appeared. Just like all the other guides, it was around the size of an average watermelon. They had six limbs, two arms and four legs, a large head and a small body that was covered in an exoskeleton, and a large head with a pair of mandibles. It was clear that this guide was an insect, but Hera couldn't figure out what insect.

"Hi, there! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Luna, and you are?" the guide spoke in a perky feminine voice.

"Hi, I'm Hera. The pleasure is all mine. I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but what kind of bug were you supposed to be, if any? You don't look like an ant," Hera asked, unable to let go of that detail.

"I'm a termite," Luna replied with what Hera assumed was a smile.

"Oh... A termite? … That actually makes a lot of sense. Termite colonies are usually like towers and have a lot of doors, right?" Hera nodded.

"Exactly! People keep saying that this place looked like giant ant caves that you have in some stories, but you couldn't be more wrong. Ants usually only have a few ways to exit their nest. Termites are the ones that make hundreds!" Luna nodded vigorously.

"Really? I guess it makes sense for an anthill not to have too many entrances. And it's hard not to have a bunch of holes in those termite colonies that are almost like a building."

"Exactly. You know your stuff," Luna moved her mandibles in a way that this time Hera was sure was a smile. But that begged the question, what was that other expression then?

"Not really, but I appreciate the compliment," Hera smiled.

"You know, I already like you. And I can see you have your meeting room. So unless you royally screwed up, I'm gonna give you my number after this."

Hera smiled, "Thanks! Well, that puts a bit more pressure on my questions, though."

"Don't worry. Let's start. Feel free to ask away!" Luna pointed up, and the screen on the private room turned into a 5-minute countdown.

"The questions I have in mind are not related to this room specifically. They are more about the MAZE in general, is that OK?"

"Well... sort of. I may not be able to answer your questions depending on what you're asking," Luna scratched her thorax with one of her legs.

"OK, can I get an ego item from a dungeon?" Hera wanted to get a titled blade, even if it was mostly to appease her curiosity about it. Everything about that part of her legacy seemed so strange.

"You cannot. An ego item is considered to be a unique item. Dungeons cannot give you something like that because they are, by nature, copies of something or simulations. An item like that has to be either crafted or acquired through some MAZE quest or effect that won't ever happen again. Also, that question was worth a minute. Sorry about that," Luna explained as 60 seconds were removed from the clock.

"That's OK. It's cheaper than expected," Hera stopped to consider things for a moment, "Giving me information about an eagle item would be too expensive for me, right?"

"Right. It's one of those things that you would need an absurd amount of time to get it. Like, 50 years worth of question time or something stupid like that. I never checked, but I know you don't have enough," Luna explained.

"OK. Give me a yes or no answer. Just out of curiosity, are there any dungeons that no one ever found in this room?"

"Yes. There goes another minute. Your questions are good, but they are expensive. Be careful with that," Luna advised.

Hera glanced up towards Daskka, who was on the couch, "Any ideas?" she replied with a suggestion, and Hera decided to take it, "Do you know any dungeons they can give mana constructs and weapons that have a really good synergy?" this was another possible condition for the creation of a titled blade, but neither Hera nor Daskka had any ideas how it would work.

"Hum… not really. As far as I'm aware, there is only one dungeon here that can potentially give a mana construct as a reward, and the dungeon doesn't drop any weapons," Luna explained after thinking for a moment, "You still have about two minutes left."

"I guess that's it. I was more interested in meeting you than anything," Hera explained, "Oh. Since we are going there. Do you have any advice for the No Hotel dungeon?"

Luna stopped the clock, "Do you want to spend a specific amount of time on it? I can give you two options, one that I'll just speak for about 30 seconds, and another that will make you run out of time."

"I'll take the second one. I really don't know what else to ask. I'm dealing with a lot of things lately," Hera sighed, thinking about her last few days. From getting new skills to breaking up, she had a busy week.

"OK then. The advice is simple. Most hotels will place chocolate mints under the pillows," Luna replied again with an expression that could only be described as a smile.

"That's it?" Hera tilted her head.

"Yep. Trust me, it will make sense if you go there."

"I'll keep that in mind then. Thanks!" Hera smiled.

"Thank you for calling me! I've put my number in your skill, and feel free to text me whenever. I have to go now. My real body is dealing with someone else, and I never managed to get used to splitting myself. See you soon!" Luna spoke quickly and left Hera's room in a flash.

"She… odd," Daskka said.

"A little, but It's a bit refreshing. It's the first guide that actually sounds busy. I mean, there's Peaches, but he doesn't struggle all that much," Hera replied. A few moments passed, and she sent a text to blue to come to her room. It was already late, and they would rest for the night. Tomorrow, they would be heading to the No Hotel, and Hera wanted to make some changes in her court before that.