Chapter 502 - Past Teacher (Patreon)

Hera's Status

Hera had her eyes closed while Darni was behind her, explaining how to perform the bonding ritual, "You need to open your heart to your partner. Give them everything you are and everything you have. Feel their very soul and let them feel yours," the Naga hero explained.

"I get that part. Daskka and I are always like that," Hera replied, being able to feel the herald even while she was on a rock a few meters in front of the Empress.

"You've told me that already. But you are the one that said you were having problems," Darni calmly replied, " Let's move on to the next step then. Understand the differences between you two. Not just between your bodies, but you're very beings. How do the mana you two have differ from one another? The Spells you cast, the way you breathe, focus on those differences that go beyond the superficial."

Hera tried to do what Darni was saying, but after twenty minutes, she still couldn't see any progress. The directions were too subjective, and she couldn't feel Daskka that way, "This is getting me nowhere," Hera sighed, defeated.

"I told you that was a possibility. It's one thing for you to do that with another person, but with an item…. And as we discovered, you can't actually do this with your legacy. Despite your connection, there is still something missing to link you and Nimbus," Darni nodded.

"Yeah. Still, thank you for trying."

"Not a problem. It's not like I actually have anything else to do. I'm just a dungeon construct, so I'm happy to help."

"Hey guys, dinner is ready," Rris, the green Naga, called the two on the other side of the cave, having a conversation. Darni asked Hera not to mention anything about them being in a dungeon to the rest of the group. He wasn't sure what would be their reaction, and it was best for them to just think everything was normal.

They went around the deep cave by flying on top of Nimbus. Since Hera was alone in the dungeon, she had her entire court out and was having some lessons with a veteran legacy holder. During the past three months, she had been training the Royal Explorers. There were classes on top of classes, a few that she taught herself and others that they called people from the outside. Days when she would spend the entire night setting up her treasure hunts and escape rooms or grading tests and other activities, not to mention all the meetings she had with the council. After that, everyone took a two-week break before coming to the Wailing Valley, where they would have some actual experience in exploration. The idea was to keep everyone here or out of Boothudurn for at least three weeks. Her reasoning was that they had to get used to being away from their families and friends. She wanted to make sure that the Royal Explorers wouldn't fall prey to the same problems that Silah had when she left her home. And to make the test even harder, she removed herself from the equation one day after giving everyone their assignment. It might not be the best idea, but she wanted to see what they would do in an unexpected situation.

The dwarves weren't the only ones who learned much during the training. Hera herself discovered new ways to make camps, set traps, and several survival skills that she never realized she lacked. That wasn't all. She also managed to level up and increase the rank of several skills while training with her new team. Now all her attributes were at 80, and Nimbus also grew stronger, but only his weapon form scaled up. His humanoid form gained the same number of attribute points as she did. The Sentinel had yet to distribute them. He was struggling with the decision so much that, after confirming with the Empress if he was allowed to do so, he asked the Naga inside the dungeon for their advice on what to increase.

"The way I see it, you shouldn't worry so much about your weaker attributes. I mean, they are not actually going to help you that much," Asher, the yellow Naga, said.

"I agree. Focus on your strengths. When you get a level that you get a lot of points or when you would only be able to increase your main attribute by one, then you can think about evening things out. But luck, charisma, and intelligence are not stats that will affect too much what you do," Casks put a spoon full of soup in her mouth.

"That's right. Charisma would be interesting if you were someone vain, but since you are not, focus on your strengths. You are called the Sentinel, correct? So protect your Empress," Naph gestured to Hera, teasing her about her title.

Hera just rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Nimbus had been struggling with that decision for a couple weeks already. At first, he asked Hera to decide where his attributes should go, but she refused, saying he should do what he wanted, even if he was technically part of her.

'I still think it's weird. Aren't the titled blades supposed to scale up with me? Why didn't his attributes increase with the scaling of the weapon?' Hera asked Daskka without speaking out loud.

'Are you really complaining about that? You do know that your attributes would be like that if you weren't increasing all of them at once, right? Besides, the legacy is about blades, so of course, the weapons take priority. The titles were not something the legacy always had,' Daskka explained while trying not to reveal that the two were talking.

'Really? I figured it was.'

'Nope. The skill that merged was actually from a holder that could make golems and other constructs. He was trying to create his own legacy and was close to it but ended up getting this one instead. And before you ask, no, I don't know anything else about it. I know it sucks. I was also curious,' Daskka sighed.

"What's wrong?" Nimbus noticed the mood of the adviser and the Empress and turned to the side.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Hera smiled and let him continue his conversation with the rest of the group, while Daskka kept staring at Chika, who was on Darni's lap. Unlike what any of them was expecting, Chika didn't like Daskka. Maybe it was because she felt threatened, or some part of her understood that Daskka's existence was only possible because of her death, but Darni's companion tried to avoid the snake construct as much as she could. That saddened the herald, but she understood that they were too different to get along anyway. On the other hand, the group of Naga adored Daskka almost as much as Hera herself.

While Nimbus continued to ask the group's opinion. Darni slithered close to Hera and looked into her eyes for a moment. This was one of his enchantments that allowed two people to talk with each other without anyone else hearing the conversation, "I have a question if you don't mind."

"Ask away. You have helped me so much already. Answering a question is the bare minimum I can do for you," Hera replied.

"You said that my 'descendant' came here, right? To this… place."

"Correct. She's a friend of mine. A human, like I am," Hera explained.

"Yeah, you said that we are gone. Did you find out why?" Darni frowned.

"Not yet. Shane, your descendant, is looking into that, but she only found tombs. Oh, and we are being respectful. We are doing our best not to disturb the bodies and keep any belongings there. Even if we take something out to study, we give it back to the place where we took it from. People are talking about making an exhibit out of it, so that might be kind of… I don't know…." Hera looked down but quickly changed the position of her head. The spell Darni cast stopped anyone from hearing them, but they still could read their lips.

"I see. I would ask for you to keep me posted, but it's not like I would remember anyway," Darni sighed, "Back to what I wanted to ask. About this Shane, who has my legacy right now. Did she ever come here? I kept thinking about that."

"She did, but you guys were not exactly welcoming. Actually, everyone aside from me gets met with hostility. I figured it was because you see me as one of you, despite not being one," Hera continued.

"But you are one of us. Just because you have legs doesn't mean you are not a Naga," Darni replied with a big smile.

"Dude, I'm a human. I have a skill that gave me Naga Poison like you guys have, but I'm still human," Hera chuckled.

"Right. Sorry, it's just…  probably something to do with the dungeon. I see you as a Naga even if you are… Not," Darni rubbed his eyes, almost as if he was getting lightheaded.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry. Anyway, what happened when she came here?"

"Well, she ran this dungeon… I don't even know how many times already. She tried a bunch of different ways of talking to you, and now she has a more or less stable plan. When she comes here, she takes a  couple of days to warm up to you guys, then she convinces you that she has your legacy. She spends another day just waiting because you're usually upset about this being a dungeon and everything, only on the last day that you actually help her to learn some stuff. From what she told me, you helped her a lot, much more than you're helping me now, but it's a lot of work for a small benefit," Hera explained.

" I see... Have you ever come here with her? Maybe having you along as a buffer could help," Darni asked.

"Not really. This is the second time I have come here because of what happened with Chika outside. But it is an idea."

"I understand," Darni's face went a bit darker. He was really upset about Chika's future. Not because of her death necessarily, but because of the long time she spent alone in this room that wasn't even her home.

"My love?" Casks noticed Darni's expression and came around, worried about her partner.

Darni stopped the spell and turned to her, "I'm ok. Hera here was just telling me one thing about where she came from, and… well, it's not great."

Casks turned to Hera, but the explorer just shook her head, "I'm sorry. Talking about it again would be too much. I need some time before I can explain to someone else again."

"Oh.. that bad? Ok, I understand. Take all the time you need," Casks nodded and turned to Daskka, "Since they are like that, do you want to try the calming mist spell?"

Daskka nodded excitedly. Part of the necklace description talked about how the construct was able to learn spells and skills that once belonged to Darni, Chika, Casks, and Hera herself. However, it was one thing to have her learn those things on her own another to be able to take actual lessons with those involved. Not to mention that even now, Hera never managed to teach Daskka any spells or skills. Neither of them understood why that was, but it wasn't like they could ask someone about it.

After some time, Daskka managed to use her mist to calm Hera's emotions. She still wasn't upset, but when affected by the spell, she felt more clear-headed. It was clear that this could help her a lot, not just in dangerous situations, but something like that could even help her sleep. It was something she would have to try later. It was the beginning of the final day of the dungeon, and when the Naga left for the temple, they wouldn't come back unless she got lucky. So she was just enjoying everyone's company. When they were done resting, she would have to deal with those moles again.

"Hey… quick question. Is there anything that could be a threat to moles here? I'm just wondering because I saw some different monsters around," Hera asked.

"What kind of monsters?" Naph, the red Naga asked.

"Bugs. Spiders, scarabs, and some other ones that curl up in a ball."

"Spiders!?" the five Naga stood up.

"Yes, why? Is that a problem?" Hera was taken aback, and even Nimbus stepped close to her just in case.

"The drawing. It has to be a spider!" Asher turned to Darni.

"I agree. We need to go there, now!" Darni replied with a big smile as everyone started to move

"Wait, where are we going? What is going on?" Hera followed their lead, but no one said anything. Frustrated, she rushed to Darni's side and looked into his eyes so he could cast his spell. Only after the effect took hold that she asked her question, "What is this all about?"

"One of the things we came here to do was to hunt a nest of spiders. We had no idea where they were, but we found an odd drawing in a wall that required us to complete the image in order to open," Darni explained.

"But that doesn't make sense. If you guys were looking for spiders, that would be the first thing that would pop into your head."

Darni thought for a moment, "I think this has something to do with the dungeon. Maybe there are some conditions, or you have to say something in order to make us think about it."

"Then why did no one find out about this? I know for a fact that people asked about the bugs," Hera pressed.

"I'm… not sure. Maybe it's because we like you," Darni noticed the confused expression on Hera's face, " you said it yourself. We are hostile to anyone who enters here except you. Maybe unless we trust the person that talks about the bugs, we will assume it's a lie or a trap and don't mention it to them. I'm just saying what I think might be happening based on my experience. This is not something that the dungeon is telling me to say. Also,  I think you could only mention this on the last day. This is the one day when our minds are calmer and not so focused on the temple. Because we know that we are about to be done."

"If it is about trust…  maybe it's about Chika. I mean, you guys trust them to take care of Chicka while you work on the temple. So if we earn her trust, maybe we can earn yours?" Hera knew she was reaching a bit, but if she could find a way for others to trigger this hidden quest, it could help a lot.

"It's a decent enough reason. I can't say for sure if that's going to work or not since I can't actually remember what goes through my mind in other dungeons. Either way, you can try this again later. Let's focus here. If things go well. We have a spider to hunt!" Darni said as they exited the tunnel leading to Chika's nest. But instead of being in the area known as the valley of kings, where the Naga temple was located, they were now in front of a massive set of stone doors with an incomplete drawing in the middle. Hera wasn't sure what excited her the most, the idea of finding yet another new part of a dungeon, or seeing the Naga fight.