Chaper 514 - Parallel Worlds (Patreon)

Hera's Status

It didn't take long for Hera to find Naph. She was right by Darni and Casks' side, smiling with tears in her eyes as well. However, unlike the couple,  she was still there. The Naga hero and his lover seem to be in their own world while still hugging each other. One odd thing that Hera noticed was that Casks was carrying the heart almost as if it was a baby. Not thinking too much of it, she approached the blacksmith with the Snake Eyes gemstone in her hands.

"Hey, Naph. Do you have a minute? I wanted to ask you something."

Naph gave her a soft smile, "Hera. For you and for your friends, I have all the time in the world. That's the bare minimum I can do to thank you for what you did."

"You don't have to thank us for anything. We were more than happy to help. Either way, do you know what this is?" Hera presented the gemstones.

"Oh, Snake Eyes. Those are hard to come by. Well, at least here. It's easier to find one of those if you are near a place with a lot of snakes," Naph took the gemstones and started inspecting them, " Wow, and these are very high quality. I think Chika made them."

"She made them?" Hera had a confused expression.

"Yeah. Some snakes can create this kind of thing. It could either be the eyes or the fangs as a gem or just some scales. From what we can tell, this is kind of like a piece of condensed mana. It's very useful when you're making something. If you use something like this when you're making a piece of gear, a lot of things can happen," Naph gave several different examples of what the gems could be used for. After some time, Hera understood that the Snake Eyes gemstones were basically a binding agent. By using them, one could add more materials to a specific piece of equipment being made. However, the end result requires a lot of time to be prepared, and it  will depend very much on the skill of the crafter.

"Ok…Weird question. What do you think would happen if Daskka ate it?" Hera asked.

"Daskka is a construct, right? Like an item?" Naph asked.

"Yep."

Naph stopped to think for a moment, "I can see one of two things happening. First, nothing. She will eat the gemstones, and the gemstones will be gone, that's it. The second option would be that Daskka is going to get a buff. I've created constructs like her before, and when they ate something that it looked like they shouldn't, those were the things that happened. After a few tries, I realized that if you force them to eat, nothing will happen. Only when they ask to eat something can they potentially get a buff."

Hera nodded. It seemed like a good idea to give this to Daskka. Worst case scenario, she would lose one of the rewards, "And how hard is it to find one of these things again?"

"In here, we can see one of those every five years. Back in my hometown, we would see one every six months or something. They were usually smaller than those two, but I've also seen bigger ones. If you want my opinion. Give it to her. You are still low level enough that you should be changing your equipment every so often. Those gemstones are better used on the equipment you will keep for a long time."

Hera nodded, understanding what Naph was trying to say. She glanced back at the rest of the royal explorers and saw how all of them were getting their rewards. It seems like every single one of them was getting something interesting. There were even a few people who were already trading their rewards since they got something that wouldn't fit with their abilities. Hera walked back to Daskka and put the Snake Eyes in front of her, "They are all yours. Just… be careful."

"I will, mum, thanks," Daskka opened a big smile before unhinging her jaw to eat the gems. Hera looked away. It was too weird to see the herald doing that.

A few of the people from her party came to talk to her and ask what she got. Hera showed her earnings, and Shane was very interested in the scroll. Not in the actual effect but in the drawing itself. The others also had interesting things. Alex got a jacket that could increase her resistance to damage and make it so it was harder for anything to pin her down, while Blue got a pair of earrings that would increase the range and the speed of her spells. Apparently, that would also work with her legacy, allowing her to create the clouds faster. Among the rewards, there were a few weapons, including a spear that looked exactly like the one that Casks used, and when using [Inspect], it would confirm that it was her spear or at least a version of it.

While they were talking,  the changes that happened on Nimbus were noticed, and a few people were even complimenting him on the new look. That made the Sentinel get an ego boost, but he was quickly shut down when Bertrand bluntly said that he always thought Nimbus already had tattoos. Daskka was still eating the rocks, now going for the second one, while the first was already getting smaller inside her body. Hera couldn't understand why the snake didn't use her mist form to absorb the gemstones, but she figured Daskka knew best. Distracted by those thoughts, she didn't notice Darni approaching.

"Hera. Can I talk to you for a minute?" the Naga hero asked.

"Sure. I also wanted to ask you one thing, if you don't mind."

"Of course. Do you mind if I go first?" Darni gestured for her to follow him. They walked a bit, just enough to get away from the rest of the group.

"Not at all."

Darni nodded and looked at the Spiral mural in deep thought, "This is a dungeon, isn't it?"  Hera didn't say anything, just nodded, "Can I ask how long it's been since you saw me? Before you came here, I mean."

"Probably around 3 or 4 hours," Darni opened a big smile, and a tear came down his face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything is perfect. For you, it's been 4 hours. But I remember the last 70 years since our last goodbye. Not everything, of course, but enough to make me believe that I truly lived through that or that the system can simulate my life perfectly. This also means that, maybe. I will be able to see my child grow," Darni looked back at Casks, who was now carrying an egg instead of the heart.

"Maybe. Maybe there's another part of this dungeon that will send you a few years in the future. Or maybe when we leave, you guys are just going to continue. Almost like a parallel world," Hera smiled. The idea was heartwarming. Maybe every dungeon just continued existing even when people weren't there, "If you don't mind me asking, how did you find out?"

"My child. I was hugging Casks, and after a while, the heart that was in her hands turned into an egg. Despite what my mother used to tell me, I know that holding hands can't make you have an egg, so I figured there was something wrong."

"How can you be sure? Maybe your mother was right," Hera teased but only got an eye roll as a reply, "Can I ask something unrelated to all this now?"

"Sure."

"Can you tell me how to get to your hometown?"

Darni stopped to think for a moment, "Honestly, no. I know that something happened with the doorway some years ago, and it was closed off. We've lost contact with the center of the Kingdom."

"Really? Can you tell me what happened, and do you know if there's another door right here? One that doesn't lead to the Forest of Dreams," Hera asked.

"I'm not familiar with the Forest of Dreams, but I know of one doorway that is to the northwest of here. That's the doorway we use to reach other Naga settlements. There was a monster who made the area surrounding the doorway collapse. It was to the southwest, in the corner of the room. One of the moles passed and caused the tunnel to be destroyed. We tried to excavate the area to reveal the doorway again, but when  We managed to open up the path, the doorway was no longer working."

"I see. That's a shame," Hera looked down.

Darni stopped for a moment, almost like he was gathering courage, "Hera, what happened with my people?"

Hera looked the Naga hero dead in the eye, " Honestly, I don't know. I never met any Nagas outside of a dungeon. And I even got a system notification that one of my rewards for a dungeon was improved because the system considers me a Naga or at least part Naga, and there was a lack of members to the race. Also, I'm not the best person to talk to about this. Shane is much more knowledgeable about your people than I am."

Darni nodded and stared into the distance, digesting that information. After a few moments, he turned back to the rest of the group, "I'll try to talk to her before you leave. Thank you for answering, and thank you for helping me grow my family."

"It was my pleasure," Hera looked back to Nimbus, who was still by Daskka just in case, and realized that the herald seemed to be turning into mist, "If you don't mind. I have to check up on my family now. My kid ate some rocks, and now I think she's getting sick."

"Is that a euphemism?" Darni tilted his head.

"I wish it was," Hera sighed.

She walked over to where Daskka was and saw how the construct was struggling to keep her shape. Nimbus had a worried expression, "Empress, I don't know what's happening. She's not answering me."

"Daskka? Can you hear me?" Hera asked.

Daskka looked up, but her body started to shake, and more mist came out. Now becoming darker and darker until it was completely black. Her form was completely lost, and now it was surrounding Hera and Nimbus. It was hard to see beyond the black mist, but not impossible. Hera felt like she was wearing very dark sunglasses.

"Daskka?! What's wrong? Talk to me!" Hera yelled.

"Don't worry, mum,"  I'm okay. And right now, I'm hiding you," Daskka replied, but her voice came out of nowhere and everywhere all at once, "And now. I'm stealing the strength of your enemies and sending it back to you," the black mist turned green.

"So you're okay? Like, those new abilities are awesome, and all but you're okay?" Hera pressed, she was worried about her friend.

"I'm great, mum! Never felt better," the mist changed colors one more time, now becoming purple, and Hera could feel a healing effect being applied on her, even if she wasn't actually hurt, "And for the grand finale," Daskka said and gathered all the mist in one place. Going for her giant mist snake form that made her be 20 meters long. However, instead of being a red mist, it became silver, and the shape was more defined. It was still clearly made out of the mist but much more solid than before. With a smile, Daskka grabbed Hera with her tail and put the Empress on her back before moving around a bit.

"Okay. I'm never saying you can't eat rocks again," Hera chuckled as she rode on the snake. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. Daskka's form wasn't made for long contact, and the mist lost the strength it required to carry her owner.

"You should leave the mount job for those who are actually made for it," Nimbus huffed.

Daskka returned to her normal form, which was much bigger now. Instead of being just a small snake that looped around Hera's neck once, she was now a scarf that would do several laps around the Empress' neck without a problem. She was looking like a fully grown snake, "Don't be like that, Nimbus. I'm not going to steal your job," Daskka smiled and got closer to him.

As a response, Nimbus flicked her forehead before pulling her body in for a hug, "Fine, but don't scare me like that again. I didn't know what was happening."

They stayed like that for a few moments, and Hera smiled, seeing both of them sharing that tender moment.

"You know that you did the same thing to us, right?" Daskka patted Nimbus with her tail.

Everyone continued talking, with Shane and the Royal Explorers talking with the Naga, not just Darni's group but the others who lived in the city. A few hours passed before they finally left the dungeon, and Hera told everyone what she had discovered about the doorways and what would be the next step in their search.