MAZE - The Endless Quest

Hera arrived at the guild early on the next day. The punishment had been tiresome, but it was something she was used to. This time, however, she didn't do it alone. If it was her old job, not only she would need to clean up all the shelves by herself, but she also set up the displays to boost sales.

Lucky her life was different now. Looking at the time, it was too late to try to train before class. Still, she stopped by the training room, hoping to find one of her friends.

Leo and Blue were already there practicing with the dummies.

"Hey, Hera!" Blue called out.

Hera greeted them and sat on a bench behind the two. Blue and Leo seemed to train in their usual styles. Leo with his spear and Blue with her grappling. Looking at the two, Hera couldn't help but wonder when would they be learning an actual combat style. The training seemed to be helping her get used to her stats. However, since they had yet to fight a real opponent, she had no way to know how effective it would be in real life. She wanted to believe it would be useful, but then again, at some point, she also believed geometry would be useful in her day-to-day life.

"Yer already here? Good. Stay here. Today's class will be in the back room. Ah' will grab the rest of ye and be right back."

Out of nowhere, Mr. Grayson seemed to appear near the three recruits. Hera almost jumped in her seat. She was just thinking about how the class could be better, and the teacher was working hard to help them. She should be more grateful.

About ten minutes later, the teacher walked in with the rest of the recruits. Hera followed him, accompanied by Leo and Blue.

The group was lead toward the big open space in the back of the room. Hera could see the same markings on the edge of this space, as the markings in the small arenas they fought the dummies. In reality, this large space should be an arena. A really big arena.

"Today, ye will learn one of the skills that will save yer life. [Hide]. "

Hera wasn't expecting to learn a skill like that. Not today, at least. Some other recruits seemed to be surprised in the same way.

"Mr. Greyson. It's cool that we are learning a new skill and all. But is that one really a lifesaver? Sure it works if you are weak, but I don't run from a fight." Carlos said.

He was one of the men who always sat near Anaya. Hera couldn't help but frown at his question. How can someone be so cocky? They are a bunch of level 2s, basically, everything inside the MAZE was stronger than them.

"Is that so, laddie? Ye won't back down no matter what?" Mr. Greyson replied in an unusually calm manner.

"Yeah, I'm not a coward. If something wants to fight me, I'll fight it."

The teacher kept his cold expression. That surprised many of the recruits. They expected the teacher to lash out and call him in for a fight. Mark kept moving his head back and forth between Mr. Greyson and Carlos, making sure his eyes were not deceiving him.

"Ah'm gonna ask ye again, laddie. Are ye sure you won't back down from a fight no matter what, or who yer facing?"

The teacher made an obviously long pause after who, trying to make sure the recruit understood what he was saying.

"I... I don't know."

Carlos lowered his head. Cleary embarrassed for being confronted in this way.

"That's exactly the point. Ye never know what ye may find in the MAZE. What if ye find a monster too strong for you? Or ye are hunting easily scared prey. A skill that helps ye hide will be just as useful as the skills ye all learned this week."

Mark glared at Carlos.

"Why I'm the only one who gets crap from the teacher?" he mumbled.

Hera heard his comment, and she had to agree. This interaction was simply weird. Since when was the teacher someone so level-headed?

"To get this skill, first Ah'm gonna send ye all a map. It will give ye yer position and tell where ye need to go. Ye all must do that without being seen by me."

Mr. Greyson pressed a few keys on his tablet and all the recruits received the map. Looking at it, Hera realized it looked like the arena they were in. However, there were walls and windows spread around on the map.

"Now, go to yer starting positions." said the teacher.

On her map, a red dot showed up near the top edge of the arena. The recruits hesitated for a second before moving towards the markers on the map. Where were they supposed to hide? There was nothing there.

Hera reached her position and kept looking around for some answer. She noticed a few recruits around her. Including Bonnie, a bit to her left, and Anaya right beside her.

"What's the matter? Didn't get any tips for this one?" Anaya said with a smile.

"Tips? No, nothing more than what Mr. Greyson just told us. Do you have any idea how are we supposed to hide?"

Hera replied, still confused about the training.

"If you don't know, how can little old me have any idea? Why didn't you get a hint this time? Trouble in paradise?"

Anaya's tone hadn't changed, but something in the way she spoke made Hera remember highschool.

"I don't get what you're saying. What paradise?"

Anaya looked at Hera with pity in her eyes.

"Such a shame, even when you've been found out, you still pretend nothing happened. And here I was thinking we could be friends."

Getting even more confused, Hera asked.

"I'm sorry... But can you explain to me what you are saying? I'm having a hard time understanding it."

Anaya gave Hera a look that made her feel like she had just lost her puppy.

"Poor Hera, so simple-minded."

Before she could reply, Mr. Greyson pressed another button on his tablet and the arena changed. Instead of the open area, various walls and boxes covered the place. A wall materialized between Hera and Anaya as if it was being made of sand.

Looking at the walls and then at the map, Hera imagined that now the map was correct. Or, at least, the surrounding area was correct. She could still look up and see the training room ceiling. That meant they didn't move.

"For this exercise, all of ye need to keep moving from yer position to the target on the map. Ah'll be walking around. Make sure not to be seen by me. Right now, Ah'm in the center of the labyrinth. That is just so all of ye know where I start. If I see ye, the map will buzz and ye will need to go back to yer starting point before trying again. Now Begin!"

He finished the instructions at the same time the first target appeared on the recruit's map. Hera looked at her first objective. It would be on the bottom left edge of the arena. Part of her wanted to keep talking to Anaya, to understand what the girl was talking about. But the training came first.

Hera walked out of the small room she was in. Looking around she could see Bonnie, Tiffany, and Percy. Each going in a different direction. Hera's objective was to the left. Looking at the map, she could either go in the same direction Bonnie was going or go to the left towards Percy.

Not wanting to take too long to decide, she turned left. Both directions were close enough to the middle that Mr. Greyson could be there. But staying still wasn't an option.

She walked carefully, reaching an intersection. Able to see one side of the makeshift hallway, Hera poked her head out of the corner to see if the teacher was there.

Before she could even see anything, her tablet buzzed.

"Hera, when ye try to peek on a corner try moving yer head sideways and not poking the top of yer head first. Especially if ye are a blonde surrounded by grey walls." Mr. Greyson said.

He was walking slowly, in a really nonchalant pace. He looked almost relaxed. Then he raised his voice a bit.

"That goes for ye too Blue, watch out for yer hair. It's a dead giveaway here."

"Got it! Thanks, Mr. G," Blue said, but followed it up with a yell, "Hey! You can't see me, why did my tablet buzz?"

The teacher laughed. "Ye think I only see with my eyes? Yer hearing is just as good to find someone as yer sight."

Blue groaned, which resulted in a few recruits giggling and almost getting caught.

Hera rushed back to her starting point. If she follows the path Bonnie took there is no way for the teacher to find her right now. She dashed through the passageway, but in a few moments, her tablet buzzed again. This time she had made too much noise.

Taking a deep breath and trying to learn with her mistakes, she gave it another try.

It took her five attempts to reach the first objective. This wasn't a challenge, just a way to get a skill. But it still annoyed her that it had taken so much time to do this.

After a while, Hera understood how to reach the goal. She had to be patient, if she moved too fast it would warn the teacher. And if she sprinted to reach a goal, what was the point? She would be caught anyway. They were hiding for over four hours when she finally saw the notification.

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Skill Acquired: Hide

Hide:

Improves your ability to erase your presence and blend with your surroundings.

The more your appearance harmonizes with the place you are in, the more effective this skill becomes.

Requirements: Not being in the line of sight of your target/ hiding place.

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Reading the description, Hera got excited. She crouched down and focused her mind on the skill.

[Hide]

At first, Hera thought nothing had happened. But when she looked at her hands, she noticed it was hard to focus her eyes on her body. Almost as if they didn't want to see what was there. She saw Kenjiro turning at the corner. To test it, she waved at the man. He didn't even look at her.

Hera's face turned to a sad smile.

"Maybe, I always had a skill like this." she mumbled to herself.

She kept training until the end of the class. Her skill hadn't changed, but she felt more proficient with it. She roughly knew the limits of the skill and how much she could push it.

When the class was finally over, Mr. Greyson gave the recruits a warning.

"Today ye will learn how to use a bow, try not to walk too far. Most people don't realize how much work it is to stand still during the training."

The recruits left to eat lunch, Hera was waiting for her friends to gather.

"Soooo, Hera. What is a nice place to eat around here? After all, today is Bonnie's treat."

Blue said, opening a big grin while looking at Bonnie.

"Blue, bite me."

That was the only reply Bonnie could give.

The recruits laughed and walked towards a nice restaurant. Or at least as nice as a restaurant in a strip mall could be.