Unseen city

When Hera regained her senses, she was facing a small forest with vibrant colors, or that was her first impression. The green leaves shined in the sunlight, flowers bloomed in a rainbow of reds, yellows, and purples and all the mixture of colors that they created. Looking to the sky, she could see the most beautiful blue spreading into infinity. Yet, the trunks of the trees were a dull brown, and the grass was almost gray with a hint of green. Even the ground had lost some of its color. It was almost as if someone removed the saturation of only parts of the room, while increasing it on others. All those who looked at this felt an odd feeling. As if there was something wrong here, something that was in the wrong place. As if two very different people were responsible for creating this place, and they never discussed anything about how they should go about this project.

Behind her was a rock, a large, moss-covered boulder with the doorway on its side, and beyond it, a hill. A single lonely hill surrounded by that forest. On top of it was a windmill. Everything around that hill differed from the rest of the room. The colors were not as vibrant, but at the same time, there was nothing muted about them. Lush greenery carpets surrender the slopes dotted with wildflowers that swayed in the wind. Deep green vines climbed over the roughs exterior of the building, obscuring the small boarded windows. Thorough the gaps of those plants, one could see hints of yellow and purple, the paint that covered the outer layer of the windmill. The entire thing wasn't that big, having only two windows beneath the massive wooden fan blades that were currently not spinning. Yet, they moved slightly as the wind pushed them, showing that despite the somewhat decrepit appearance, the gears were still working. In front of it, facing the Empress, was a slightly ajar red door, and inside, she could see what looked like old flour bags.

The strangest part of it all was that instead of it being something odd, it felt natural, like something she could end up finding back on earth. Nothing about that hill, or the windmill screamed MAZE.

"Hera, this way," Ka'mal gestured for her to follow.

"Oh, sorry. The windmill distracted me. This feels so weird for some reason."

"You don't know half of it," Emery replied, "That is the entrance of a dungeon, and inside it's just a mess. Everything is fake. Ever heard about a mimic?"

"Aren't those like, monsters disguised as treasure chests?" Vash asked.

"Sort of. They can disguise themselves as anything. Now imagine an entire dungeon that is just filled with those things. And you have to work the mill and gather enough flour to complete the quest. And if that wasn't enough…"

Hera thought for a moment and turned to Emery, "The flour can be a mimic too, right?"

"Yep, and if you take too long, the mill reveals itself as a mimic too. Oh, did I mention they are all level 69?" Emery finished.

"That sound awful," Skyler gasped.

"Yeah… but let me ask you one thing," Roan spoke up as they continued walking. There was another group of people nearby moving together, but they were still far enough away not to intrude on their conversations, "What are we supposed to do while we are here? I mean, when Hera tested things out, Vulcan could, at most, have a 10 minute conversation. Even if you manage to make it last longer, I don't see it going beyond 1 hour. And that is being generous. Are we supposed to just sit around twiddling out thumbs?"

"I was actually thinking about that. I need to confirm this, but considering your help, we should be able to put you in the power level program," Ka'mal smiled, already pulling up his tablet and sending a message to someone.

"What is that?" Neria turned to the elf.

"I can't say too much about it without first getting the approval to share that information, but we have a dungeon in this room that has no combat, and poses no significant treat. Well, unless you try to mess with them. But I'll explain things better when we get permission," Ka'mal continued.

"Oh? That can be helpful, even if our overall attributes would be lower," Roan nodded.

"Actually, it wouldn't be that much lower. We know that we get extra points when completing a dungeon for the first time, going to a new room and learning a new skill, right?" Ka'mal was still looking at his tablet, waiting for a reply to his message.

"Yeah. Did you discover another way?" Hera asked, her curiosity perking her up.

"No. Nothing like that, but we can do one thing. Tell me, during your training, how long did it take you to learn the map skill?"

"A few hours," almost everyone replied at the same time. Vash was the only exception.

"A month and a half," everyone turned to the harpy with blank stares, "What? We fly. The map skill we get is not just showing the map, we also need to know the topography and the wind currents of the area," he huffed.

"Well, that is a specialized skill. But the basic one should only take a few hours. And here is the kicker-" Ka'mal was starting to get excited, but Luthvrol interrupted him.

"There are hundreds of basic skills out there."

Ka'mal stared at the dwarf, "Dude. Really?"

"My bad. I got excited," Luthvrol scratched his cheek.

"I know, but saying that is the best part," Ka'mal huffed, "Either way, yeah. There are a lot of basic skills that are easy to learn. They are simple things like cooking, sharpening, knitting, climbing, stuff like that. Most of them would have no actual use outside what they are supposed to do, but some can help in other ways. And we worked on making training programs for a good number of them. So while you might lose the extra points for completing dungeons and going to new rooms, you can still get some extra just by getting those skills. To make things clear. This will be a way to reduce the problem, not to fix it. You would still gain a lot more attribute points if you were traveling around and running to various dungeons. When you have a chance, go travel around the lower layers. Go to as many places as you can, and run as many dungeons as you can to offset that lower bonus point count."

"Is the difference really going to be that big?" Hera asked.

Luthvrol nodded, "Yeah, at level 40 it's not unusual for people to get at least bonus points, and that is just by traveling around. If you are doing dungeons and completing quests, then a person should be getting about the same amount of bonus points as the base attribute points. If not more. The higher level you are, the harder it is to level, which in turn makes it easier to accumulate those bonus points. I remember reading something about Insomniac having somewhere close to 400 bonus points at one point. And I think that was a low ball. I mean, the man spent more than a year before he managed to level up. All he had to do was to travel for around 4-5 months and he would get those points. And I'm talking just travel here, no monsters, no dungeon, no skills."

"That's… fair," Hera nodded. She tried to remember her previous level up. She had only gotten 54 points to spend, which meant around 15 bonus points. Maybe she wasn't as wordly, or well.. MAZEly as she expected. Thinking back at the time she traveled with Alex to find her legacy, she remembered how many points she got on that level up. With a frown, she mumbled, "Why is the MAZE doing that…"

"Doing what?" Neria asked.

"Pushing us to be… Nomads? No, that's not the right word, drifter… sort of, but not quite. Vagabond? Same problem with drifter," Hera struggled to find the right term.

"Explorers?" Vash suggested.

"No, it's not saying, hey go explore. It's just telling us to try everything once. Which, fine, I guess the word fits, but the sentiment is not there. It's something else. It just feels… Like the MAZE is doing this intentionally. I mean, why would it give bonus points just for being in a new room? Is that something related to the doorways? The transfer? Or just the act of moving from one place to another. If its that, then would a room that is large enough to give you a bonus point just for walking from one edge to the other?" Hera's mind was all over the place, she felt like this was something big, some big realization about the fundamental order of the world that was right in front of her face, but just out of reach.

"The nerds in the lab will love you," Emery sighed.

"Hey!" Skyler protested.

"What? I didn't say anything about you!"

"Yeah, but you are talking about nerds in a lab. I'm sure those are researchers, my people," the elf with lavender colored hair huffed.

"I mean, you are not wrong, but still. They call themselves that."

Hera completely lost track of her thoughts with that brief conversation. Whatever answer she might be close to get vanished in the wind. The groups continued walking for another hour, getting very deep inside the woods. They were also not following the main path, instead walking around some bushes and small platforms that would crumble after they passed by until suddenly the city appeared in front of them. It came without a warning, suddenly the vibrant colors of the trees vanished, brick, metal and what looked like a dark green cobblestone replaced the muted browns of the trunks. The houses were modern, yet simple, not the extravagant structures one would see in the more idyllic rooms, but they also were roomy, unlike the apartment complexes in the most populated rooms. Each of the buildings had two or three floors, which were split into separate living spaces for three groups of people. Near the central square, one could see a market, a fountain, a couple of restaurants, one of which was clearly a burger joint, a library, and a pharmacy. There was nothing too advanced, or too technological in sight. By all accounts, this place was a hidden village, nothing else. It had over a hundred of those simple three-story houses, but still, it couldn't be called an actual city.

"Oh, shit… is this silent moss?" Flint turned to Ka'mal.

"You know about it?" the elf smiled.

"Of course. All crafters who worked with anything stealth related know about this. A material found in the 26th layer. Rumors say it radiates an aura of silence," Flint replied.

"Close, but not quite," Ka'mal gestured for them to move along.

A few meters in front of them, they saw a couple of guards wearing heavy armor with a sword on their waist and a shield on their back. They were on top of the moss and when the elf that was guiding them approached, his voice vanished. Hera looked around, noticing that the rest of her team was also confused and focused on the mana. She tried to see if there was a spell or something affecting the area. Just as she did that, she felt it. A massive pillar appeared in front of her, spreading in an odd pattern around the village. Even with the shape, the Ophidianite could tell this was somewhat familiar. When Ka'mal came back, his feet made noise again as soon as he left the cobblestone path.

"Let's go," the elf gestured for the group to follow.

Seeing that, something clicked in her mind and the Empress gasped, "It can't be!"

"Don't tell me you figured this out, too," Emery huffed.

"I think I did," Hera walked forward, entering the range of the cobblestone and the odd pillar. Just as she expected, that effect didn't spread inside, she turned back to the group and said, "It's a soundproof bubble!"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you," Roan, the last to enter the range of the effect, said.

"It's a soundproof bubble. Like the one I use. But this is more natural. And bigger."

"Of course you have something like this," Emery grumbled and continued walking.

Ka'mal patted the elven woman's shoulder, "Don't be like that, Emmy. And Harmony Guardians. I'm sorry to say you can't rest just yet. My boss wants to talk with Hera and see what Vulcan can give us. Then we can talk about having you all power level."