Hera walked along the path that crested over the cave entrance. It was already dark, and if it weren't for the moonlight, she wouldn't be able to see a thing. Looking at the sky, the Explorer couldn't believe that she was inside a room. The stars were so bright and clear. Even the Milky Way was there, plain to see.

  The only time Hera saw the sky so full of stars was when she went camping by a mountain during a field trip. Part of her wanted to keep going and look for the pangolins right now. However, she knew that it was a bad idea. The moonlight wasn't enough to give her a clear view of the area. In other words, going now would be incredibly reckless.

  She looked for a wider area on the path, a place big enough to set up her tent and the tools to form a temporary campsite. It was a set of twelve small spikes that she could place in the ground. If anything crossed the boundary, a loud noise would ring inside the perimeter.

  That and the monster repellent fire should be enough to keep her safe during the night. Not that she would be able to sleep very soundly. It was one thing to fight monsters during the day and go back to the city at night. Sleeping in the middle of the wild was very different.

  Hera grabbed the air mattress that came with a mana powered pump. It had enough charge for a single use. Then it would need to be charged again, but at least she wouldn't need to tire herself inflating her bed. Starting the process, it took her less than thirty minutes to have her small campsite ready. The only thing missing was to light up the fire.

  She opened the pack and realized that she would also need some wood to keep the fire going. The only thing that came with the package was a set of six green lighters. According to the instructions she had to set the repellent on fire, as if she was lighting a piece of incense. By itself, it would burn for 1 hour.

  Beyond that, each 100 grams of wood that were added to the fire would add one extra hour to the effect. This could reach a maximum duration of 12 hours. If it went past that, the manufacturer couldn't guarantee the repellent would continue working.

  "I really should have read the instructions earlier," Hera sighed.

  She looked back at the path. It wasn't as if she needed a lot of wood, but getting near the forest could be a risk. Looking through her belongings, Hera tried to find something that could work as a substitute. The only thing that could potentially burn were the rations that she got.

  "Crap, it's either that or sleeping without the repellent," Hera got up, "Screw it. Let me light it, so nothing comes close to the camp, and then I'll go grab more wood."

  Hera placed one of the green lighter disks on the ground towards the edge of the cliff and lit it. A green flame formed on top of it, and a thin trail of smoke emerged from the disk. Hera waited for a moment, expecting something else to happen, but everything stayed the same. It was almost like she had lit a candle.

  With a shrug, she headed back into the woods with the flashlight in her hand. When the moonlight stopped helping, she activated her Pulse spell before walking forward. There seemed to be nothing around, but she wasn't sure how much she could trust the spell right now. The panther never showed up in the mana ring.

  She avoided going deep into the forest and looked for broken branches or easy to grab pieces of wood. Instead of carrying it all at once, Hera made a small pile a few meters away from the trees. It would take longer, but it was safer than having a bunch of twigs in her hand if something charged at her.

  There was no way to weigh the amount of wood she had, but after grabbing a few loose branches, Hera couldn't find any more on the ground. Holding her handaxe, she looked for a tree with low enough arms that she could cut it without having to climb. She had to go a bit deeper into the woods. On the edge of the forest, the trees had tall branches, and she wasn't too keen on taking down an entire tree just for a bonfire. When she finally found one low enough, she started cutting the branch.

  Hera was halfway through when Yarnball started to vibrate. She touched the relic, "Why are you..." realizing that it was the Danger Sense triggering, Hera activated her Pulse and managed to see something flying towards the back of her head.

  Ducking, she turned around and looked for her assailant, but there was nothing there. She activated her Pulse once more. The mana wave that came out of her only hit the trees and foliage. There was no creature there. Or was there?

  At the edge of her spell, there was an odd formation in the tree. She knew that the trunks were never perfectly cylindrical. They all had their wounds and bumps. Yet, there was a shape that didn't seem to fit the trees behind her.

  It was almost like a set of claws of a creature that was hugging the tree. Hera flashed her light in that direction to make sure she wasn't going crazy. The claw-like formation had the exact same color as the trees, even following the pattern on the trunk. Still, that was bothering Hera. If the panther were strong enough to hide its name, making an illusion to match the area wouldn't be impossible.

  Then again, if that really were the monster, it would be better to strike first, 'And since you showed me your ranged attack, allow me to reply in kind,' Hera thought as she prepared a fire arrow.

  The area was close to the ocean, meaning the trees would be too wet to burn. She could use fire without having to worry about a wildfire. As the spell went flying towards the formation, she held her breath, watching the arrow impact the odd protrusion on the trees. To her surprise, the claw-like shape moved, and something fell behind the trunk.

  Hera rushed towards it, with her axe in one hand and the flashlight in the other. The creature was purple, with the same pattern as the trees, and it was as big as a pig. When the light hit its face, Hera saw that it could move its eyes individually. Not only that, but its legs were now changing shade and pattern. Instead of the deep purple bark, they were turning violet, just like the leaves on the ground.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Giant Chameleon (Illusion Affinity)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera froze for a moment. It wasn't the panther. Did it really leave? Or was it still lurking around? She looked to the sides, trying to find the monster that had chased her.

  With its prey distracted, the chameleon attacked with its tongue once more, hitting Hera's stomach and pulling her towards it. The Explorer tumbled forward, using her free hand to fight back the pull of the monster.

  "What is with you lot trying to eat me!" Hera yelled as her axe came down on the monster's tongue.

  The impact cut the creature, freeing Hera while it recoiled from the pain. She jumped towards it and gave a few more strikes on the monster's head, killing the chameleon.

  "What? That's it?" Hera stared at the corpse, "I was expecting more."

  She finished cutting the branch that she needed and dragged the dead chameleon to the place where she left all her twigs. Since she was already there, she could get some meat for dinner. That way, she could save up on rations.

  However, carrying the entire body was a bit much. She cut some fatty bits and stuck them onto a smaller twig. Leaving the corpse there, Hera headed back to her camp with what she hoped to be enough wood for the bonfire.

  As she got closer, she saw that the repellent was still burning, and nothing had been disturbed, "Well. Either it works, or nothing came close."

  She crossed the perimeter set up by the stakes, and a loud, high-pitched noise started to ring. "Crap, I forgot about that," she hurriedly placed the wood near her bed and went towards the stakes. Taking one of them out made the noise only grow louder.

  Moving to the area where she had left the package, Hera reading through the instructions. The noise was making it hard to understand what was written. A few moments later, she rushed outside the perimeter, and the noise stopped as she crossed the threshold.

  Now she could read the instructions. The stakes would make a loud noise to alert the people inside it and confuse any monster entering the area. If a stake were taken out, the noise would increase. To deactivate it, she had to pump some mana inside the one stake and then do the same to the stake on the opposite side in less than a minute. Taking a deep breath, she rushed inside the perimeter once more and deactivated the stakes.

  Once there was silence, Hera set up the bonfire, hoping it would last ten hours, and placed the stakes once more, trying to activate them, but the small light that showed they were on never blinked. Reading the instructions once more, she realized that a two-hour cooldown period was required for the stakes to be used again.

  With a sigh, Hera prepared her food and stayed up practicing the Mana Reinforcement while waiting for the stakes to be ready for use again.

  As morning came, the sunrise woke Hera up. The green fire was still burning, and the stakes were all in place. During the night, she got closer to completing the Mana Reinforcement spell, but there was still a long way to go.

  The Explorer got up and put away all her camping gear. The airbed would take some time, but after she took all the air out, it was about the size of a deodorant can. She already knew how to deactivate the spikes, and according to the instructions, to put out the monster repellent fire, all she needed to do was hit it with her mana. The fire would react with human energy and be snuffed out.

  She raised one hand, pointing at the bonfire, and sent a fire arrow towards it. The spell impacted the logs, and the green flames started to move more violently until it spews out red and yellow embers towards the sky.

  "I never expected that fighting fire with fire would make a firework," even the waves that repeatedly crashed against the entrance of the cave seemed to be silent after that phrase, "Fine, Mark is better at making jokes than me. I won't try to be funny again. Are you happy?" Hera huffed before walking up towards the rocky plateau.

  It took her another fifteen minutes of waking up before the path became less steep, and another twenty before she could see the plateau. The ground opened to the side, going a long way until reaching the stone surrounding the cave.

  "Could there be a dungeon around here?" Hera looked around, trying to see anything that could be an entrance, but to no avail. What she did notice were the several creatures that were roaming around. They had thick, long legs and thinner arms, a face that reminded Hera of a hairless possum. They varied in size, from small ones about the size of a cat to a massive one walking in the distance, about the size of a horse.

  Yet, the most incredible thing about them was the scales covering each of their bodies. Each of them had a unique color and pattern. The closest to Hera had orange scales with green stripes. Despite the beauty of their look, they had simpler designs compared with the larger ones.

  The horse sized one had such a tapestry on its scales that Hera thought she was staring at a kaleidoscope. She activated her [Observe], but the big one was too far for it to work.

  "I really need to figure out a way to increase the range," Hera mumbled before turning her attention to the orange one close to her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Prism Pangolin (Earth-Grass Affinity)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "What the hell does that mean?" Hera gasped. It was the first time she ever heard of something with double affinity. Getting her tablet ready, she activated her [Hide] and started to observe the behavior of the creatures.

  Hours went by, and Hera took a bite of her protein bar. Watching the pangolins was boring, really boring. They weren't fighting or doing anything aside from walking around and collecting rocks. The behavior reminded Hera of penguins, who collected rocks to make their nests. Even when one of them would steal stones from another pangolin, they would only snarl and growl at each other, but it didn't lead to any fights.

  "Maybe I should fight one of them. At least to figure out what kind of skill they can use. Although... it seems a bit mean just to attack them."

  Looking at one of the rock piles, Hera decided to check why those specific stones were so attractive to the pangolins. She found one nest close by and tried to look at the stones. On a first glance, they didn't seem to be any different from rubble.

  She waited for the monster to leave, looking for a new rock before heading to the pile. Inspecting the stones, Hera realized why the beasts picked those specific pieces of rubble. Each of them had a small gemstone embedded inside. In this group, there were only blue, red, and green gems. The same colors that the Prism Pangolin which was gathering them had on its scales.

  "Maybe this is their food or something," Hera mumbled before activating her [Inspect] in one of the green gems. After seeing the result, she used her Affinity Sight spell to see if it would help.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Mana Residue Stone (Nature Affinity)

  A piece of rock present in mana rich environments. The exposure to magic created a small deposit of elemental mana inside it. The mana can be used as nourishment for creatures or to power spells. However, the process will consume the stone.

  Mana points: 15

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  'Wow, this barely has any mana. It would take a lot of those even to cast a spell. Maybe that's why they need a lot. And it's not like they have other choices. Not all animals eat their kind. But this rock, I wonder if all the rocks give the same amount of mana, or if they have a weird element.'

  Among the rocks, she found more nature, fire, and water affinities, and they all had slight variations in the amount of mana they had. While Hera was analyzing the rest of the pile, the pangolin returned and started growling at her.

  "Wow, calm there, buddy. I didn't take any. They are all here," Hera stepped away from the pile, but the monster kept snarling at her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Prism Pangolin (Fire - Nature Affinity)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The beast charged at her. Its scales glowed brighter as small embers raised from its body. Hera jumped to the side, avoiding the pangolin's charge. The monster stopped after passing through her. It turned to the side and spun its tail. Large green thorns were appearing on it, forming a mace. Hera raised her handaxe, trying to block the attack.

  It was better than getting hit head-on, but the thorns still managed to go through her defense, stabbing her arm. Yet the impact was much weaker than what she expected. She pictured that a creature like that would be stronger, but the panther she faced the previous day was much more powerful. One lunge was enough to push her half a meter back, yet this attack barely disturbed her footing.

  Her armor blocked some of the damage, but she felt something warm covering her arm. She looked at the wound and noticed a small stream of blood running down her arm. The pangolin attempted to headbutt her as the explorer was distracted, but Hera spun around, avoiding the tackle.

  "Look, this is your last chance. Your stones are all there. Stop this, and we both go our separate ways," Hera was staring down the pangolin.

  The monster rushed towards her once more, the thorns on its tail growing even larger. Hera gritted her teeth and sidestepped, grabbing the base of the pangolin's tail. She pulled it back with all her might, making the monster fall ass first in the ground.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Taking advantage of the sitting position the creature was in, Hera swung her handaxe straight at the creature's neck. The attack wasn't enough to decapitate the pangolin, but she felt the spine breaking with her blade. The only thing that survived the impact was the armored back of the creature.

  "Sorry," Hera said while looking at the monster.

  She took one of its scales. They were gorgeous, and it felt wrong to leave the body there. Using her [Inspect], she realized that she might need more than just one scale.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Prism Scale (Fire Affinity)

  The scale of a Prism Pangolin. It works as a storage for the elemental mana accumulated by the creature.

  It can be used to strengthen spells of the matching element.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Helena is going to love those. Especially if I can get one with double affinity," Hera made sure to get one scale of each color from the pangolin she had just killed.

  As she turned around, she saw several other pangolins scavenging the pile of stones that belonged to the one she just killed. She still wanted to look at all the types of mana residue stone that the creature had gathered, but fighting a dozen scavengers wasn't at the top of her list. Instead, it was better to look for another pile.

  She moved away from the mayhem that had ensued and started looking for another unattended pile of stones. However, a loud growl caught her attention. The kaleidoscope pangolin had joined the brawl. With a single roar, all the other creatures stopped grabbing the stones. They were still hovering around and howling at the big one, but it didn't seem to mind. Hera took the opportunity to use her [Observe].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Carbuncle - Prism Pangolin (Elemental Affinity)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Ok, now you are just being weird. What the hell is elemental affinity? All elements?" Hera said to herself.

  Still, Carbuncle was a name that she believed she had heard before. She just wasn't sure when or where. Hera kept watching the creature move. It was clearly the tyrant ruler of the plateau. All other monsters made sure to be far away from it, but at the same time had no qualms about showing their objection to its rule.

  Hera watched Carbuncle go through the pile of stones, but it left holding only two rocks.

  "Why those two? What's so special about them?" Hera kept staring at Carbuncle. She wanted to see the pile of stones it was making.

  She followed at a distance. Luckily, as long as she didn't bother the other pangolins, they didn't seem to mind her. As she went deeper into the plateau, she noticed creatures that had even more complex patterns on their scales. There was one that even had a flower design inside each scale that looked like it was hand drawn by an artist.

  Trying not to get too distracted, Hera changed her focus back to the Carbuncle. The creature was still walking to the other side of the area, towards a pile of rubble about twice its size.

  "Holy crap, is that its pile?" Hera saw a few glimmers in the middle of the rubble. The creature placed the stones on the stack and started to move the rocks.

  One of the stones in the top fell and hit an invisible wall behind the rubble before rolling away from the pile, stopping a few meters behind Carbuncle. The creature seemed too interested in whatever it was looking for to notice the stone that had fallen. Hera activated her [Hide] and walked towards it. There had to be something special about those rocks.

  She took a while to get to the stone. Every step was taken very carefully, not to make any noise. She had seen that the pangolins had sharp hearing and would confront anyone trying to sneak close to their hoard. Reaching the rock, she crouched and picked it up, moving one foot back to start getting away. At that moment, a pair of pangolins began growling at each other in the distance. By the sound, it was a couple of the larger ones, not as big as Carbuncle, but big enough to be compared to a pony.

  Hera snapped back towards Carbuncle, worried that it might have seen her in her moment of distraction. The creature was still gleefully messing with its stones. The explorer went away from the pile of rubble and hid behind one of the large rocks on the plateau. She wanted to know why that specific rock was so interesting.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Mana Residue Stone (Light - Shadow Affinity)

  A piece of rock present in mana rich environments. The exposure to magic created a small deposit of elemental mana inside it. The mana can be used as nourishment for creatures or to power spells. However, the process will consume the stone.

  Mana points: 45

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Wasn't this supposed to be impossible? Light and shadow were opposed, right? Maybe I'm confusing things. Helena wanted to be a light-shadow mage. So that should have been possible," Hera looked back at Carbuncle, "Do all stones there have dual affinities?"

  "If I want to check, I need to knock out Carbuncle, at least. I doubt it will be very keen on letting me rummage through its stuff. I'm also not sure if I should kill it. Helena might want to come here later," Hera looked to the sky, the clouds forming various shapes just like they did outside the MAZE, "If I weren't surrounded by monsters, this would be a great place for a picnic."

  Hera looked at Carbuncle one more time. She had an idea on how to neutralize it for a while, but it was a really bad idea. She tapped on Yarnball, "You never let me down, don't start now, please."

  Hera grabbed her chakram and walked towards the monster, "Hey!"

  Carbuncle turned with an angry expression and saw a human holding one of its stones. Hera saw the monster's face distorting, its eyes turned red, large veins started to pulsate around its face, and even the teeth grew sharper as the creature rushed towards her.

  Hera jumped to the side, avoiding the initial attack, "Ok, maybe the stone was a bit much," she threw the chakram, already tied up on Yarnball, towards the monster's legs. She had to pretend that this was a rodeo of sorts.

  Carbuncle jumped, moving away from the string and the blade. Unlike what Hera had seen, the creature was very agile. It had never moved like that while roaming the area. Then again, it didn't have to. No one was brave or stupid enough to challenge it. Not until Hera showed up.

  The monster opened its mouth, and a stream of fire and lightning came rushing towards the explorer. She ran to the side, staying a few centimeters ahead of the flames. Seeing a large rock on the path, Hera jumped behind it to wait out the attack. The barrage of elemental power continued for several moments until the Carbuncle finally ran out of breath.

  Hera took that chance and came out of her hiding spot, sending a fire arrow towards it. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the spell would do little to no damage, but it would be a good distraction. She went for the sideswipe once more, while the arrow hit the creature's head. This time, it caught its right leg. Hera pulled back the string to avoid wrapping it around the beast. The last thing she needed was to get her chakram stuck.

  Carbuncle rushed at her once more. Large bony protrusions appeared around its carapace. Hera rushed to the side, but she wasn't fast enough. The bones hit the back of her shoulder, creating a large gash on her back. She turned around and hit the monster's tail with her handaxe, but its scales were too strong for the blade.

  Grabbing her chakram, Hera tossed it towards the legs of the beast one more time, pulling the string as the monster skidded to the side, trying to stop its momentum. The weapon wrapped around the creature as the chakram dug deep into its thighs. When Carbuncle tried to move, Hera felt as if someone was pulling her hair. The string made by her relic was directly connected to her, and now she could feel how it was straining to hold this monster. The creature tried to jump towards Hera, but one tug was enough to make it lose balance and fall sideways to the ground.

  Hera rushed towards it and hit the side of its head using the blunt part of her handaxe. Carbuncle snarled while its front claw scratched Hera's leg. She jumped over it and started hitting its head repeatedly. After a few moments, the creature stopped moving. It didn't look dead, just unconscious.

  Hera checked if it had any response when she poked it and quickly wrapped more of the thread on its arms, making sure it wouldn't be able to move easily. Feeling a bit safer about the creature, Hera turned her attention to the pile of rubble.

  "What am I going to find here?"

  The Carbuncle was still to the side while Hera rummage through its hoard. All the stones on the pile had double affinities, from opposites like fire and water to complementary ones like fire and wind. There were also several affinities unknown to Hera, such as storm, sand, night. Even some that should be minor affinities were in the mix, like illusion, wave, brittle, and connect.

  She made a few notes on her tablet. A few of the affinities seemed interesting or dangerous. Hera needed to understand them and know how to counter-attack if she ever found a monster with one of them. Among the rocks, there were also a few scales from the Carbuncle.

  Hera grabbed the stones that she considered being the more interesting, mostly the opposite elements and the unique ones. Aside from that, she just tossed a bunch of rocks and scales into one of her pouches. Thankfully, the stones weren't very big, so Hera was able to get a handful of them.

  The Carbuncle made some noise, and Hera quickly took off her chakram from its legs, untying it before running away from the monster. As she ran by, the smaller pangolins rushed towards the pile of stones that the tyrant had made. She was about halfway through the plateau when a loud roar came from the back. The Carbuncle was back on its feet, and it was angry. Hera could hear the cries of the pangolins as they ran away from the creature.

  Hera ran towards the path, trying to leave the plateau to ensure that the monster wouldn't follow her. She ran past the pangolins, even as some attempted to grab her pouch full of rocks. She just slammed her handaxe on their back, pushing the monster away. Yet, they didn't fight back as hard as the one had fought before. It seemed like they were more vicious when protecting their piles than when trying to steal the stones.

  Not wanting to have the rocks stolen, Hera kept running towards the path that leads back to the cave. She managed to avoid the small monsters, hitting a couple of pangolins on the way. After leaving the plateau, she walked for another ten minutes before stopping. There were no monsters following her, and now she could do some inventory.

  She had twenty stones in her pouch. Most had double affinities, but three of them had a single affinity. The number of mana points in them was also very different. Unlike the 40 to 60 points of the others, each of those three had 150 points of mana on them.

  "I'm guessing it's just about the mana amount? Or do they have something else special? Let's see, they have fire, lighting, and piercing affinities. But they don't seem to be any different from the rest," Hera spent a few moments pondering what it could all mean. Unable to figure anything out, she shrugged and turned her attention to the plateau once more, "I think I should get more scales. They might be useful to put this all together."

  Hera fixed her belongings, making sure that the pouch with the rocks was in a difficult to reach area. As she shifted her bags around, something stung her back. She reached for the area and noticed the large gash that the Carbuncle had made. Instead of going after the scales, Hera decided to take a break. She needed to use her Mend spell to at least help close her wounds. Now that the adrenaline had stopped pumping, half of her body felt sore, and she still had to take a look at her arm.

  Her shoulder had a few cuts. The thorns from the first pangolin she faced had done a number on her biceps. The blood had dried up, and she needed to clean it using water. She still had a couple of bottles, but it would be better to head to the ocean to fill up her filter.

  The filter itself looked like a regular bottle, but a small mana fueled tube in the middle could turn seawater into drinkable water in just a couple of minutes. The problem was the mana cost. Hera could only fill the bottle twice before having to recharge it, and she needed a thousand mana to refill it completely. It took over one hour of constant mana cycling to restore the entire thing.

  "I think it's better if I go there to refill the bottle before sunset. But not right now," Hera kept focusing on the mend spell to fix both her arm and her back. It was hard to concentrate on the spell in a place where she couldn't see, yet she felt it working.

  After roughly one hour, Hera took a break, eating another protein bar. At the same time, she kept practicing the new way of moving her mana while adding the cycle technique to her muscle like the concept. It was an odd situation. She had one part of her mana contracting and expanding while the other gathered on her hands before traveling to her feet.

  When the two parts of the mana touched each other, Hera could feel more mana being pulled towards the center. However, she had no idea where the mana was coming from. It wasn't as if she was pulling her mana to a specific point, like the cycling required. The mana was just... appearing.

  Hera did a couple of tests to figure out how much she was recovering and if it was possible to move around while doing that. Her regeneration had increased significantly, from the 16 points per minute while cycling her mana. It jumped to 25 using the two techniques combined. However, it required too much concentration to combine them, and it made it nearly impossible to do it while moving.

  "Still, I can recharge my mana in under ten minutes. That's a big help. I need just two minutes to use the mend spell again."

  Hera waited for another half an hour while eating and practicing this new way to recover her mana. Feeling more rested and with the wound on her back not stinging so much, she went back to the plateau. She wanted to grab a few scales that had similar elements to the stones on her pouch.

  The pangolins in the entrance were smaller and had mostly primary colors. Some had one combination of shades, but nothing too complicated. It felt like the safest place to get some stones.

  Compared to the Carbuncle fight, the other ones were much easier, even with the unpredictable abilities. Some had considerably weaker breath attacks. Others could harden their scales and make their claws longer.

  Hera started the fight thinking about knocking the monsters out so she could look for loose scales, but that was taking too long, and she got hit a couple of times while fighting one of the smaller ones. Getting annoyed with the situation, Hera stopped trying to leave them alive. They were monsters, after all. She had to stop caring about killing them.

  As she walked deeper into the area, the pangolin's patterns became more complex. She managed to kill a couple of them to gather the scales, but these monsters had more unique skills. One of them even was able to lock her in place while their shadows were connected. Another could create mirror images of itself while it moved.

  After crossing most of the area, she noticed one pangolin with a single crystal scale on its forehead. Hera got closer to it, but before she was able to do anything, a familiar roar came from the side. The Carbuncle was staring at her. Its eyes becoming bloodshot as the veins bulged on its face.

  "Oh shit," Hera gasped before turning away and running back to the path.

  The Carbuncle stomped its feet on the ground, and a large rock went flying towards Hera. She heard the projectile coming towards her and dove to the side. The attack hit her arm, making her tumble to the side. She quickly got up and made sure her rocks hadn't fallen before using her light spell to make a floodlight once more and bolt towards the path that led her here.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Spell acquired

  Blinding Flash

  Rank: Beginner

  It creates an extremely bright light source to disturb the sight of those who see it. The more mana used on the spell, the stronger the light will be.

  Base mana cost: 75 mana

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera waved off the notification that popped up. She didn't have time to read it. Zigzagging through the area, she did her best to lose the Carbuncle before heading to the path. She assumed the monster wouldn't chase her too far from its hoard, since that would create another frenzy from the nearby pangolins.

  Still, she didn't want to give it a chance to follow her onto the path. That was her only safe spot at the moment. Only after being sure that the beast had given up on her, Hera went back looking for the pangolin with the crystal scale.

  This time, Hera made sure to be on the lookout for the Carbuncle. Before even reaching the place where she saw the pangolin with a crystal scale, she had to hide from the plateau's tyrant a couple of times.

  The creature she was searching wasn't as large as the ones around the area, and it seemed much more sneaky. The first time Hera saw it, it growled in a way that lured the Carbuncle to the area. Then the monster vanished into its own shadow. After a while, Hera had to run back to the entrance to avoid the tyrant once more.

  On her fifth attempt, she managed to sneak up on the pangolin. Using her poison needle a few times, Hera hindered it enough to allow her to kill the monster. It was odd that she could never find its pile, and the creature didn't seem to care about the rocks. The fight was much easier than the other ones. Poisoning the monsters was much more effective than she expected. The pangolin didn't have any special name, and all its scales were brown with no affinity, aside from the single one on its head.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Crystal Prism Scale (Mana Affinity)

  The scale of Prism Pangolin that was crystallized due to a mutation. It can amplify a spell or a magical effect when used through the scale.

  The crystal can only sustain a certain amount of magical power before shattering.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera grabbed a few more scales and headed back to the path. It was already getting late, and she wanted to get some more water before setting up camp. Around one hour later, she was back in the spot where she camped the first night. This time, she remembered to grab some wood for the bonfire.

  The Explorer practiced her new mana technique some more and wrote down all the notes she made about the creatures before getting ready to sleep. It took her some time to charge up all her camping gear, and she would be with little to no mana while doing that.

  "I'm glad I have a safe place here, but if I'm in an area with more monsters, it might be better to keep half my mana with me just in case," Hera mumbled after getting her bed ready.

  Hours later, a loud hip-pitched beeping noise woke Hera from her slumber. As she came out of the tent, she realized what happened. The Carbuncle had trespassed the perimeter, and the beast saw her movement. It seemed somewhat disoriented, not only by the noise, but it was avoiding the flames. Hera could even see some large drops of sweat forming on its face.

  Even so, the monster dashed towards Hera, who had to dive to the side, getting not only closer to the flames but also the edge of the cliff. Fighting in this situation was very stressful. One wrong move and she could meet her end in the whirlpool infested waters.

  "Fine, take the rocks. They are there," Hera pointed at the bag with the stones by the bed.

  The monster kept staring at her while walking towards the bags. It rummaged through them and only stopped after finding the crystal scale. The Carbuncle moved it with its nose as if it were trying to make it move. When it had no response, it let out a pained cry before turning to Hera. Its face was turning a deep shade of red, together with its scales. The monster ran towards Hera, who dashed to the other side of the fire.

  The creature stopped and moved to the other side, still keeping some distance from the green flames. Hera sent two poison needles towards it, hoping that the toxin would hinder its movement.

  This was the signal for the two start a weird dance around the bonfire. Hera kept jumping from side to side while the Carbuncle attempted to get a clear shot at her. The monster got more and more impatient, sending rocks, thorns, and even using its fire breathing attack. When the flames hit the green fire, the repellent grew strongest, scaring away the monster enough to allow Hera to jump away from the edge of the cliff.

  She sent a few poison sprays towards the creature, hoping it would be enough to push it back. The Carbuncle ran towards her and struck Hera with its body. It was moving several times faster than before. Getting angry with the situation, Hera sent her chakram to its legs once more. Not to warp it. This time she wanted to hurt it. At the same time, she walked back to the green fire, not letting the monster out of her sight.

  The Carbuncle rushed at her, lowering its head. Hera waited for it to get closer and jumped to the side, hitting the monster's head with her handaxe. There was no damage since she just hit the scales, but it was enough to make the creature take a step to the side and hit the bonfire. It tumbled forward and started thrashing while walking away from the flames. Hera saw one of its back legs dangerously close to the edge and rushed towards the Carbuncle. She jumped at the last moment and hit the monster's side with both her legs, pushing it off the cliff.

  Hera looked off the precipice and saw the Carbuncle spinning in the air before falling into the water. The monster was instantly caught in one of the whirlpools and pulled into the depths. Feeling safer and with the perimeter alarm still buzzing in her ears, Hera lay down, looking at the sky.

  "This is what I get for trying to be nice."

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