MAZE - The Endless Quest

Hera and Helena decided to split up. The mage would fly on Nimbus, who had a [Royal Quest] to allow for him to be a bit farther away from the Empress without causing problems. Riding along Helena was Yu Yuwei, her yellow flower dress looking like a streak of sunlight across the sky.

Just below them, Livy was taking Hera and Qing Yulan. In reality, the Leviathan was more than capable of taking everyone just by herself, but Yulan vehemently refused to let Yuwei travel in the cold water like that. Apparently, the younger Orc had some health issues, and whenever it got too cold, she would get sick. So, she would be taken to a different family estate during winter to escape the cold weather. In addition, the possibility of sea monsters made Yulan protest so much that they decided to go with the original plan of splitting up.

But that didn’t mean they were far away from each other. Nimbus was moving just a few meters above Livy, who dashed through the water unimpeded. Even some of the nearby monsters would rush away when seeing the Leviathan approach.

Hera herself was having a blast, she didn’t get that many chances of being carried by Livy and there was something special about feeling the waves splash on her legs as the Leviathan cut across the ocean. The water was a bit cold, despite the afternoon sun and the warm temperature of the place. Then again, that was pretty common for the ocean. Hera realized she was only expecting something different because of Neptara. Around the triton capital things felt warmer, and more comfortable.

Yulan, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be having such a good time. Her clothes were drenched, and she was starting to shiver due to the cold. To Hera, that was a bit odd, after all, in the stories, cultivators wouldn’t be affected by the elements like that.

‘Livy, let me know if this makes it harder for you to swim. I’ll ask Nimbus to slow down if that’s the case,’ the Empress said in the Leviathan’s mind before tapping Yulan and casting a Fire Elemental armor on not just her, but also herself and Livy, just for the hell of it. She had more than enough mana to keep that for a few hours, and it would make them warm during the entire time. Something that, ever since she became an Ophidianite, wasn’t as easy as it used to be. Having her blood being colder than that of a human’s was a weird feeling, one that she only realized in situations like this. Hera was hot all the time, and having a chance to get close to the water felt amazing.

If it wasn’t for Yulan, she wouldn’t have even used that spell on herself. But touching someone with that specific magic armor, without one similar, would end up hurting. They continued traveling for a few minutes, only then the Orc woman stopped shivering and realized what was going on. The flames surrounding her body startled her at first, but then brought something else. Yulan started to meditate while watching the fire, and quickly, the mana around her body stabilized.

Hera only noticed that because of her affinity to mana. Without it, that difference would’ve sneaked past her. Out of curiosity, she triggered [Observe].

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Qing Yulan - Level 24 - Wind Affinity

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Qing Yulan - Level 25 - Wind Affinity

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Qing Yulan - Level 26 - Wind Affinity

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Hera raised one eyebrow, seeing someone level up in real time like that was strange. Even by her standards. After stopping at level 26, Yulan continued meditating for a few more minutes before turning around.

“I thank you for your guidance, master Hera.”

The Empress smiled, “There is no need to thank me. This was not my intention, only a happy accident. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you right now? I head some mentions of various stages, but Helena and I classify our power in a different way.”

“I am still in the Core Formation realm. But thanks to your display of power, I was able to move from the 3rd step to the 6th step. Usually, one takes years to move a single step. But thanks to your insight on the nature of the world, I was able to improve much faster,” Yulan tried to bow to Hera, but it was hard to do something like that while riding Livy.

“I’m happy to help. By the way, any ideas where Helena and I would be in the classification?”

Yulan stared at Hera for a moment, “It is hard to tell, master Hera. The cultivation realms are, Foundation, Spirit Refinement, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Void Projection, Heavenly Ascension, Immortal Soul, Divine Manifestation, Eternal Void, and Celestial Sovereign. Each of them is made up of 10 steps. It is said that once you go beyond the 10th step of the Celestial Sovereign Realm, you ascend, becoming one with the stars, and gaining the ability to create your own domain. But it’s been eons since no one was even able to go past the Divine Manifestation Realm. People tend to… Hit a wall, for the lack of a better term. A barrier that, no matter how many resources are utilized, cannot be broken. But to answer your question. I don’t know. It is very hard to gauge the realm of someone stronger than you. The best thing I can say is that your power feels similar to one of the elders of my sect. He is in the 2nd step of the Heavenly Ascension Realm. But saying you are close is just a guess. Trying to say that for certain would be the same as looking towards the ocean and saying there is more water to the east or to the north.”

Hera nodded, if she understood that correctly, those cultivation realms were actually breaks that happened every 10 levels. So the Heavenly Ascension Realm should be from levels 51 to 60. Which meant that Yulan’s guess was close to reality. Hera should be at the 7th step of the Heavenly Ascension Realm, since she was level 57. The odd part was the mention of the Divine Manifestation Realm. That meant no one was able to go past level 80 for some reason. As far as the Empress knew, there wasn’t a barrier or something stopping people from leveling up beyond that. Maybe it was something related to the dungeon?

“Hera! Look there. To the left,” Helena shouted through their communicators. They had yet to need to use that during the travels, and when riding Nimbus they were mostly useless due to the sound of the wind, but the message still came through.

In the distance, emerging from a thick layer of fog, was a massive island made out of the most pure blue ice any of them had ever seen. Calling it an island was a disservice, it was closer to a full blow palace. The seemingly jagged peaks would connect and spread, forming magnificent towers that raised up as if defying the heavens themselves. All around the island were shards of ice protecting it from invaders, yet there were small gaps that allowed for the wildlife to thrive, monsters that looked like tiny seals, polar bears with blue fur, and large monkey like beings walked around those small crevasses. Yet, despite the size of that landmass, the water didn’t seem any more cold than it was supposed to be.

They started to move around the island, watching as how ice shards would shoot out from the water at anything that tried to approach through. Be it a sea monster, a bird-like creature or just some random derbies carried by the water. Yet, the monsters of the island moved through, unmolested by the ice itself. Once Nimbus and Livy reached the opposite side of the landmass, they found a massive cave like structure, so big that any of the ships from the Moonlit Harbor could go inside, except for the Ghost Carp. However, that vessel would only have problems because of the sail, everything else should still fit inside.

“Master Hera. If we really are going there, can I ask you to use this spell on Lady Yu?” Yulan asked.

“Of course,” Hera nodded and looked up, ‘Nimbus, can you hear me?’

‘I can, -press’ the Sentinel’s voice was choppy. He wasn’t in the normal range, but he was still close enough to communicate. It was like talking through a bad walkie talkie.

‘Can you use the Fire Elemental armor on Yuwei and Lena? I’ll take over once we land,’ the Empress asked.

‘Sorry. Wha-,‘ Nimbus replied.

‘I said, can you use the Fire Elemental armor on Yuwei and Lena?’ Hera tried again.

‘I can’t -stand -ou’ the Sentinel tried his best, but the connection wasn’t good.

“For fuck’s,” Hera grumbled before touching the communicator around her neck, “Lena. Can you ask Nimbus to put a Fire Elemental armor on you, Yuwei, and himself? I’ll take over when we land.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Want me to handle that? I have a similar thing.”

“Sure, but if you feel you can’t handle it, tag Nimbus in. If you are using light, maybe it won’t be enough to deal with the cold.”

“Got it,” a moment later, the Sentinel, as well as the two riders, Helena and Yu Yuwei, were covered in a bright light. Becoming a pair of flares in the sky.

‘There goes any chance of not attracting attention,’ Livy shook her head as they started to turn towards the opening.

There were no ice shards in that area, but that didn’t stop the Empress from sending the snakes from her bracelet through the water to make sure there were no traps. Only once that proved to be the case did the group advanced. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the island, a powerful wave of cold hit everyone’s bodies. Even Hera, with the Fire Elemental Armor, started to shiver. She glanced up, trying to see if Nimbus and Helena were ok, but the two just sped up, reaching the ice shore in just a couple of seconds. Livy went right after her, but it still took her around two minutes to get there.

The moment Hera arrived, she saw that Yu Yuwei wasn’t looking great. She was trembling, and her fingers were quickly turning blue, even if her skin was supposed to be green.

“Lena, change with me. Let me use the fire armor,” the Ophidianite did just that, but there wasn’t much difference, Yuwei was still shivering and looking worse by the second.

“We need to leave this place!” Yulan cried.

“No! I need to find my mom,” Yuwei protested.

Hera and Helena exchanged a look. As cruel as it sounded, this was likely related to the hard mode. A dungeon wouldn’t have this kind of interaction otherwise.

“I have an idea. Vulcan, come out!” Hera quickly called.

Forge appeared, in his full titled form, “Hera, what do you need?”

“You have a pouch, right? A marsupial pouch, I mean. And you can make fire in your stomach. Can Yuwei fit in there? In the pouch.”

Vulcan nodded, removing his apron, “Yeah, she can. It will be tight, but she can.”

“Ok then. Make sure to keep her warm,” Hera turned to Yuwei, “You are going to stay whit him, and we will try to find your mom, but the moment we confirm this is too much for you we are leaving.”

Despite everything, Hera couldn’t bring herself to, essentially, torture the girl just to find the hard mode.

Yuwei nodded and climbed into Forge’s pouch. Vulcan igniting his internal furnace to heat up even more. Yuwei’s complexion seemed to improve, but she still required Hera’s Fire Elemental armor not to freeze to death.

“Let’s move,” Helena said.

“Nimbus, you are free to move around, see if you can find anything ahead while we move,” Hera turned back to the path before pulling Ariadne from her waist and asking another question. The cooldown of that skill was over and she might as well confirm one thing. Pumping 20 million mana by using some of the stones on her along with her mana, she asked, “Is the way to get to the hard mode of this dungeon on this island?”

The screen flickered with one single word, ‘Yes.’