Chapter 737 - Above my paygrade (Patreon)

##### Author's Note #####

Hey everyone!
I promissed I would deliver the 'missing' chapter from last week untill today. This is still the plan, but it will depend on how much I can write during the afternoon. I'm already feeling much better, but the meds I'm taking are still going to last a few more days. The problem is that the antibiotics are making me dizzy and that makes it harder to write.
If I can't post it today, it will come out tomorrow. And if anyone misses that chapter because you are no longer a patreon, hit me up on discord. I'll send you a pdf of the missing chapter since they are part of what you already paid for this month.
Again, thank you all for the understanding and the continuous support. This past weeks we had A LOT of new patreons come in and it feels really good to know I'm doing something right. Now I just have to figure out what that is lol.
######################

"... Then, in the desert. I took one of the vials of Naga essence, and one of my Naga skills reached rank 6. The scales. Because of the legendary bracelet that was a relic from the Naga, plus the rank 6 Naga skill, I got the notification about the option to 'Ascend' as it was called. For the record, I think that was just one of those cases where the system was trying to make it more interesting with the name of the quest. I don't really believe that one species is better than the other. I mean, we all have our pros and cons," Hera finished her story after around 2 hours and a lot of questions from the leaders of the species.

"So the actual requirement was a rank 6 skill of that species and the legendary relic? Would any skill and legendary item would do? As long as both are from the same species?" Elara asked.

"That is my best assumption. Again, I am not entirely sure how it was created, and the being I talk to about my new body doesn't have the answers either. All they know is that they are the first of their kind."

"Right, and they work like a Herald from a legacy, correct?" Grimclaw asked.

"Yes, but it's only about my body. I can't ask about skills unrelated to being an Ophidianite. Or about things that wouldn't have a direct effect because of my species. Well, I mean, I can ask. They just can't answer."

"Very well. I think we all need some time to process that. I know I do. Can we take a break?" Nereus asked.

"That is a good idea. I could use a drink, " Thrain got up, signaling the start for everyone to leave the meeting.

Typhera waited for the lights to be completely out before turning to Hera and Rutigan, "I think things went well."

"I wasn't expecting to be in the spotlight," Hera replied.

"I think you did great. I just hope King Thrain isn't upset," Rutigan sighed.

"I'm sure he is fine. Thrain is not as temperamental as he made himself to be," Typhera waved her wing as they walked out of the room. This place was located close to her castle. Although calling it a castle was a bit of a stretch. Her home was in a spire at the very top. The lower floors had offices and other places where the officials would help her govern her people and the kingdom. This meeting room was on a spire connected to that larger one, still far enough away to avoid any trouble but not too far to make it a hassle to come here.

Helena and Alex got up and started walking with the group, and the assassin got a bit closer to Hera, "Hey… Is it OK if I sit out when you return? I'll still be in the city if that's ok, but this is just… kind of too much for me."

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. You can do what you want. I wasn't expecting this to be this intense," Hera replied with a smile. A part of her wanted to be able to just leave with her friend. This whole thing was a lot. Still, she turned to the mage, "You can go too, Lena. I don't want you to feel like you have to be here."

"I think I have to stay. After all, you wouldn't be here feeling uncomfortable and exposing your life to a bunch of people if it wasn't for me. I made you buy that raffle to gain a level up," Helena replied with a smile, but the underlying guilt was still there.

Hera just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you are an awful person for making my dream come true, helping me grow as an explorer, and being with me through the most dangerous moments of my life. Most of which were caused by me, by the way. But you really are the worst, Lena," she paused but still refused to look towards the mage as they walked, "And if you think I'm serious and not being sarcastic, I'm throwing you from the bridge."

"That is a murder threat in front of a Queen and a King, you know," Typhera chuckled. She wasn't far enough not to overhear the conversation.

"Not murder. Lena can teleport a decent distance, and I'm pretty sure she has some spells to stop her from falling."

Helena smiled, "You are not wrong. Jumping here wouldn't hurt. Probably. But I'll stop feeling guilty, thanks. Still, I'm here with you."

"I'm sorry for butting in, but if one of your friends is not going to be here as your delegation, it might be good to have a replacement. Although this group is somewhat laid back, appearances do matter. If you show up without people behind you, what you say will carry less weight to some," Typhera was looking back at Hera and still walking along the group, even if most of the harpy in the room would fly when moving around. The Queen was trying to be polite and move together with the rest, "I can offer some of my guards to join you, for appearance's sake.

'Lurize, Nimbus, Livy, would you be ok staying behind me? You know you can't talk and have to stay quiet,' Hera asked her court.

'I would be happy to help,' Nimbus said.

'Me too,' Lurize seemed somewhat excited. Then again, this was just the kind of thing he liked. After getting to civilization, he started to watch shows about royal politics and other types of power struggle.

'Honestly… That is boring. I wouldn't mind staying outside with a tablet doing my own thing. If you need it, just let me know, and I'll search for something for you. Then I can just watch some videos or play some games,' Livy suggested.

"That's a good idea. But it might be offensive to them," Hera replied out loud, knowing that Typhera would be listening, "Livy is suggesting that she be outside with a tablet. That way, she can search for information if we need it."

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Everyone does something like that. I had one of my tech gals doing the same in the back. She didn't have to do anything, but she was ready for it. I just don't get why you are asking me about this. I told you and King Rutigan to do that… didn't I?"

"No…" Hera replied.

"No, I'm sorry, Queen Typhera, but you didn't mention anything like that," Rutigan tilted his head.

"Shit… sorry. I must have forgotten. I'll have someone bring earpieces for you. Do you need someone to search for things?"

Rutigan turned to Hera, "May I ask Livy to do that? Since she will be doing it for you already?"

'Livy?' Hera asked.

'Sure. I'll just need someone to give me a sign of when to pay attention.'

'I can do that,' Lurize added.

"She can do it. She just needs a way to know when and what to search for."

"The earpiece we use can translate your thoughts into text using a spell. So if you need to, King Rutigan, just think about your request, and it should show up on Livy's tablet," Typhera continued.

"That would be lovely," Rutigan smiled.

They continued walking and headed to a dining room for lunch. When they returned, Nimbus, Lurize, and Helena were behind Hera while Alex went to explore the Aerie. There were a few flying classes that she could take here, and that would help her move around with her skills better in the air. Everyone in the meeting had a few extra questions for Hera, including Rutigan and Typhera, despite them being more knowledgeable about her new species than the others. However, this part of the meeting only lasted about half an hour. Then, they changed to another topic, discussing the guild's current movements and what they could do in response. All the while, the Ophidianite just listened. Livy ended up participating more in the meeting than the Empress herself since Rutigan asked her about some topics a few times to chime in during the conversation.

During most of the following week, Hera had that same routine. She would just sit in the meeting and watch as everyone kept discussing their plans and reports about various issues going on around the MAZE. Around 4 days into the meeting, the Ophidianite was called again, but this time about her role in the prison break. They called everyone on the team, even if Becca and Freya only sent their recorded testimonies. In the end, this was just to see if anyone had discovered more about what the guild was doing. Unfortunately, there was nothing new for the leader of the species. Even if Hera and Rutigan became aware of what actually was going on. According to their findings and the testimony of the elf who went through the procedure in prison, the guild was trying to force someone to bind to a spirit and use it as a mana battery to increase their powers. Their idea was to both have one spirit-bound subject diluting the spirit mana for a platoon and have several people bound to several spirits, all funneling the mana to a single person, giving them a tremendous boost. According to the spy network, the guild had no success with that so far, but they weren't entirely sure how close that project was to being completed. To make things worse, there has been an increase in disappearances lately. It was only around 20%, but if that increase was related to kidnappings, it meant that the guild had tens of thousands of subjects currently being experimented on. The cherry on top of this was that they had no concrete leads about where those experiments could be happening. The only one was the prison they had already rescued people from.

On the last day of the meetings, when Hera had already accepted that she was here just for show and was feeling much more relaxed, Thora threw a wrench on her plans, "We've been talking for a few days already, but I fear one of our newest members didn't have a chance to speak. So, Hera, what say you?"

"Me?" the Empress nearly jumped in her chair when she was called, "I appreciate the worry, but I don't think I have anything to contribute."

"No, no. Chieftain Thora is right. We have been neglecting your opinion. Please, tell us what you think," Elara smiled.

"I… don't know."

"C'mon, you must have an opinion about something here," Nereus tried to hype her up.

Hera took a deep breath, "Honestly. I do. But it's not something good, or useful, for that matter."

"Still. Tell us. You have that right," Typhera tried to support the Ophidianite.

"Ok…. And please, don't take this the wrong way. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't understand what I am doing here."

There was a pause, "What do you mean?" Thrain asked.

"I mean… You've been discussing where to send supplies and deploy troops. Battle plans, spy networks, infrastructure problems, political issues with the guild and ambassadors. I have nothing to do with any of that. I don't rule a kingdom. I don't have anywhere near enough power to deal with anything like that. So, yeah. I don't understand why I am a part of this. We are not on the same level. You are all generals, and I'm a soldier. Maybe a lieutenant at best."

They all looked at Hera for a moment, and Grimclaw was the one to break the silence, "You are not wrong. But I do believe you have value. Why don't you tell us what you can do to help? If you need, we can give you some time."

"No need, I've been thinking about this the entire week. So, first things first. Deakoshara. It's a room that is protected by doors that even the system recognizes as being impenetrable. I already know that it is impossible to replicate that, but I also know that I can open and close those doors. Maybe I can explore that room and make it safe to send people in the worst-case scenario. Another thing, I don't know if the members of the rescue team talked about it, but I have a legacy that lets me 'create people' out of weapons. And those people I create have their own personalities, intelligence, wants, skills, attributes, and spells. So I'm like a one-woman team. If anyone needs someone to go somewhere without attracting attention or an operation that needs a stealthy way to increase in numbers, you can call me. If it's a small thing, I'm game. Need to break more people out of a lab. I'll be there. If you want to deliver a sensitive document or an item, I can handle that. But this? This whole preparing for war thing is out of my league. The only thing I know that is even close to this is real-time strategy games. And I used to play on medium while getting my ass kicked more than I would like!"

Elara nodded, "That was an oversight on our part. My apologies. The last time we had a new species joining us, they were already established. They had their rules and history. We never met a species that was just starting, and I agree that we gave you a treatment that didn't fit with the size of your species."

"But we still need to know the Ophidianites' opinion on various topics. Leaving you out of it would be against our principles," Nereus had his arms crossed while looking down in deep thought.

"May I make a suggestion then? When the Children of the Sky joined, we were offered the option of attaching ourselves to someone else. Saying that we were under another's umbrella, so to speak," Typhera said while glancing at Hera.

Elara frowned, "I remember that your predecessor was also extremely offended by the suggestion."

"Yes, but that happened because we felt we had already proved our independence. That suggestion felt like an attempt to control us, even when we were more than capable of flying on our own, so to speak. In Hera's case, her civilization is not yet ready to participate in something on this scale. So, the idea of being under someone might not be an offense, only an understanding of her situation."

"And who are you suggesting for her to follow? You?" Thora squinted at Typhera.

"I was actually going to suggest King Rutigan. And their relationship seems to be on very amicable terms."

Rutigan turned to Hera, "If you trust me enough for it. I am willing to watch out for both our people. Well, future people in your case."

"I am. I trust you, King Rutigan," Hera smiled, " But I want to add. I want to help the people who were kidnapped. And anything to do with the spirits the guild captured, I want to join. If I'm around the right level for it. Also, if you need me for a covert mission, just let me know. I may be the first Ophidianite, but I have no intention of just hiding while the MAZE is, in essence, being attacked by humans."