MAZE - The Endless Quest

“Hera… what exactly are you trying to do here? Because it looks like you are trying to poison everyone, but also make sure they are not poisoned?” Lodi scratched the back of her head.

“No, that’s not right, this is more like a mist. You want to make poison mist? But why are you adding things related to a storm?” Fritz tried to understand what he was seeing.

Hera kept the original idea of the skill to some degree. Using the layout of the palace where her court would say, she created a garden around it that formed a spell circle. One that she had been working with Daskka for a while. Pool of Styx was great, but it was a way to punch down. If the Empress was going to face the Soldiers of Strength, she needed something to help her when facing enemies stronger than her. The flower beds worked as the lines of the spell circle. Ponds, lakes, a pool, the training grounds, a small field to play sports, and even a race track all around the palace, along with a river that marked the outer ring of the spell circle. That was the limit of the palace itself.

The central structure was much more complicated, and that’s where Hera put the bulk of the spell. Everything on the grader was just supposed to be containing the magic and supporting its effects while the actual commands were placed along the roof of everyone’s rooms.

“Isn’t this going to be a nightmare for them to walk around? I mean, look at all those hallways. To get to one room to the next, you need to come all the way from here to here,” Nina gestured to two of the towers in the blueprint.

“Actually, this is just the view from the top. The roof is genuinely a mess, but the actual structure inside is like this,” Hera tapped on a button to hide the roof tiles and the internal structure of the palace came into view. Unlike the winding paths of the roof that would snake around themselves, forming the runes and symbols of the spell, this was extremely simple. The entire thing was shaped like a dodecagon, a polygon with 12 sides that looked mostly circular from above. And it was also split into three floors. Most bedrooms were on the first or second floor, but a couple, like Vulcan’s, were placed on the ground floor at their request.

In the center was a large hall with some couches and seats for the court to have any meetings they might need, then four stairs, one on each cardinal direction, going up. On the first floor, they connected to the stairs leading to the second floor seamlessly, being about half the width of the one before. Each floor looked a narrower than the previous one, however only the mezzanine was affected by the change. All rooms, with one exception, had the same size. The room that was bigger was Livy’s on the second floor. She took over two sides of the dodecagon since she was the only court member that towered over everyone else. Her sea serpent form also wouldn’t be comfortable in a regular room.

Hera was really worried about how the rest of the court would react because of that, but no one complained about anything. Everyone understood why Livy needed more space, and it was hard to argue against it. Aside from bedrooms the palace also had a library, game room with pool, darts, various board games, a kitchen and a dining room, a ballroom, a throne room, mostly created due to the insistence of the court, a few offices, a library, and various rooms for people to either rest, have meetings or just hang out. Everything was completely furnished, and everyone had decorated their own room. But they also knew that those details were not necessarily going to be there in the final project. Especially with the games and electronics, Hera had no clue if those things would be able to be a part of the skill or not, but it was fun to build the place.

“Ok… But can you go back to the roof for a moment? I’m trying to understand what the hell are you trying to do,” Talpa asked. As soon as Hera returned to the roof view, the wolf kobold pointed at a particular rune, “Here. What the fuck is this? You are converting storm into mist instead of just going directly to mist and then pass it through this element sigil. But you forgot to say which element. If you don’t, it just makes random bullshit.”

“You are thinking about that spell, right?” Tara almost jumped up when she realized what Hera was trying to do, “The one that buffs you?”

Hera nodded, “Yeah. Elemental Poison Storm. It has a synergy with my Ophidianite Poison skill. With the skill at lower ranks, I take less damage from the rain, but now, at rank 6, being in the area of the spell also gives me a buff. It’s just a 5% buff, but maybe if the focus is using that to make me stronger, then it will be a bigger increase. I still wanted to keep the option of picking who would be affected by the spell, so I can use without worrying about hurting my friends. And the random element part is to trigger afflictions. I focused a lot on that early on and some of my skills make that even stronger. It feels like a waste to just leave those skills there. Also, it doesn’t matter how strong someone is, if I make them start sneezing in the middle of a fight, it will be easier to deal with them.”

Kelp nodded, “That’s fair, but why are you mentioning sneezing, in particular?”

“Oh, that’s just the most common effect that got triggered during the tests. I’m not sure if that has to do with the mixture of mist and various elements, or if there are a lot of elements that can make you sneeze,” Hera explained.

“So, this mess works?” Lodi gasped.

Hera nodded, “It does, but like you said, it’s a mess. So making the spell circle takes like half an hour. You had mentioned that the skill was supposed to save spells, and I thought this could be a good exercise. And if it didn’t work to give them a place to stay, at least I still had something for it.”

The guides nodded in agreement, but Peaches spoke up, “Kid, clear one thing up for me. Why are you still using the symbol for the Naga here?” the slime shaped like a green apple shone a small green light on top of the center of the spell, where the Naga Poison symbol was.

“Oh, because it works. I thought about changing it to the Ophidianite symbol, but… I don’t know what that symbol is. Do we even have one? I tried writing the name Ophidianite, but that didn’t work, then I tried a bunch of other things, but nothing worked.”

Peaches turned to Tara, “Did you make a sigil for the Ophidianite?”

The snake looked around and lowered her eyes, “Wa-was I supposed to?”

“I don’t know. You are the first to make a new species. Did the system told you anything?” Peaches asked.

“N-n-no. I don’t think so.”

Peaches smiled, “Well, I’m pretty sure you are the one who can make that work. Or Hera, for that matter. Symbols for specific species, monsters, or thing likes that, were created by people, not by us. The problem lies with the numbers.”

“What do you mean by numbers?” the Empress frowned.

“Oh, I know!” Lodi raised her hand, but she started speaking before anyone asked her anything, “Those symbols, sigils and runes were created and with time they spread amongst their population. Only a long time after, people started making spells or enchantments with those. Which means we don’t know if the symbol already worked from the get go, or if only after people accepted it, the System decided to accept that as their symbol. That’s why it would be better for Tara, who basically made the Ophidianites to create that rune,” everyone just stared at the pink slime girl, who lowered her hand while looking away, “Sorry for being rude.”

“That’s ok, and you are not wrong,” Peaches nodded.

“Right. Ok! I’ll work on that. Give me a minute,” Tara vanished under her hat to work.

“While we wait for her, let’s give you the skill, we can talk more about that spell later,” Fritz spoke up.

Hera nodded, and the guides got closer to Hera, asking her to up out of her hand as everyone grabbed on to it. Since they wanted to make sure the skill became part of the legacy, they also had to give her the skill in a specific way that required physical contact. Once they were ready, the guides triggered the reward, a notification appearing in front of Hera right away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skill Acquired

Mana Palace

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skill Mana Palace can be added to the Legacy: Court of Blades.

Would you like to add the skill to the Legacy?

[Yes] [No]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It worked!” Hera cheered, and the guides clapped like they had just landed a spaceship in the moon.

“Really? The Legacy accepted it?”

“Yeah,” Hera nodded as she pressed the yes button.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mana Palace -> Empress Palace

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Empress Palace

You are able to create a Palace for your court members to exist when they are inside the Legacy.

Inside the Palace, the court members cannot cast spells or use any skills. They are also able to see them through the Empress’ eyes, and communicate with her through messages sent by their tablets.

While inside the Palace, the court members are considered inside the legacy and can slowly recover from wounds. If they decide to sleep, that recovery speed is increased. In addition, the court members cannot be damaged while inside the Palace.

The Palace is able to replicate any real life object inside it by spending an equivalent amount of mana. Objects that require a connection to the outside world can only be used if the Empress is inside her private room.

The court is able to share the view of what is happening inside with the Empress as long as she is in her private room.

Food created inside the Palace will not bring any benefit aside from the flavor to the court.

The Empress is able to control the appearance and available furniture and appliances.

Mana cost: 20% of Empress Core

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That’s a high mana cost,” Hera frowned.

“How big is the hit?” Kelp asked.

“20% but of my mana core. So it’s less bad, but still. It means my mana will always be lower than it should be.”

“Can she get rid of the skill? You don’t have to waste so much for us,” Nimbus spoke up. The court was out and about during most of the conversation, but they decided not to interrupt until now.

“Don’t answer that,” Hera rolled her eyes, “It’s not a waste. And I’m not complaining, just making a statement.”

“Ok then, so now you have to trigger the skill and create the Palace. If you have the blueprint on your tablet, it should be accepted right away.”

Hera nodded and triggered the skill. She felt the mana being drained from her core, but at the same time, the core itself shifted. Something was created around it, a small circular thing. Because of the blueprint in her tablet, she realized this was the actual palace. It was being built with her own mana around her Empress Core in the center of her chest.

The process took almost 10 minutes, and the Ophidianite focused on it, completely ignoring any attempts to talk with her. Once the construction was over, she turned to the court members, “So, ready to see your new home?”

They all nodded in agreement and returned to the legacy. Even Daskka went along. She had her own room there and, being the Herald, she had access to the place just like the others. The one difference was that the snake was able to leave on her own and return to the necklace.

Hera waited for a moment, and the screen on the wall of her private room changed. Now showing a view of the Empress Palace insider her. The quest was over, and the Spirits were safe. Now it was time for a house tour.