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The next day Hera was already back at Hazelpond. It didn't feel right to stay in her flat, not when she had a big house waiting for her inside the MAZE, even if she had to take the last boat of the day leaving Brinefront.

Hera was worried about her skills. Improved stamina was rank 3, just like her hide skill that ranked up when the assassin's role quest was over. If she weren't careful, the skill would improve once more and trigger a new role quest. Stamina sounded like something that a fighter would need, but it could be what she needed for the controller role. Still, none of those sounded interesting for now. With her focus on spells and Helena's work, Hera wanted to get either the mage role or the researcher one.

Now, with the increase in the skill, she had to focus on something else before it was too late. If not, she would end up with a role that she wasn't too keen on getting. At the same time, ignoring the quest seemed counterproductive. Even if she refused the new role, she would still need to increase another skill to rank 4 before getting another role skill.

Her only skill that could trigger the mage role was mana recovery. She had confirmed that with other explorers in the order of the lost court. The easiest other options would be acquiring an elemental damage boost or resistance, and the magic sensitivity skill, which helped her notice magic around her. Other skills that could trigger the mage role quest were more complicated to get and could take years to reach rank 4.

Talking to Helena, she understood that mana recovery would increase its rank as the mastery increased. So it was something she could actively see growing. Unlike how it was with spells, Helena was able to help Hera with the skill. There was no formula or code for them. It was all about the flow of mana through their bodies. There were just two issues. First, Helena reached a barrier., her mana recovery was stuck at rank 4 for a few years already. Second, not being able to use magic at the moment made it, so she had to take everything from memory.

With Helena's guidance, Hera was able to increase her mastery by 1%. It seemed little, but considering that she could barely grasp the concepts, it was a significant improvement. Not just that, but that 1% increase was enough to make the skill rank up.

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Mana Recovery (Rank 2)

Improves your natural mana recovery. This effect increases as the mastery of the technique used to create the skill increases. The skill increases your passive mana recovery.

By activating the skill, you can recover mana at an accelerated pace. However, if the skill concentration is broken, you become unable to recover mana for 25 minutes. The amount recovered by the active effect increases significantly with the mastery of the technique.

Passive Recovery: 30 mana per minute

Active Recovery: 39 mana per minute

Mastery: 11%

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There seemed to be no change in the actual skill aside from the reduced penalty if the concentration was broken and the difference in her maximum mana. During the rampage, her mana had increased by over 100 points, now sitting at 435. Helena explained that the skill worked like that. Unlike others who just grew as they were used, the mana regeneration was something that people had to learn and figure out. It was closer to the development of fighting styles. Only after becoming more proficient with the moves and understanding how it worked, the skill would increase.

The two had the house all for themselves. But Helena didn't want to leave her research, and now that the rampage was over, she could actually focus. It was a shame that Hera had forgotten to use her elemental sight during the defense, but at the same time, she wasn't in a position to be thinking about other things.

Hera practiced the mana recovery for a few hours when Helena emerged from the basement.

”Want some tea, sweetie?”

”Sure,” Hera said as she walked towards the kitchen.

Helena placed a kettle on the stove, ”You said you wanted to ask me about something else, right? Something about a monster that you saw doing something.”

”Oh, right. This pangolin was controlling its scales with strands of mana. Do you know the name of a spell that can do that? I forgot to check the guild or the order store,” Hera replied, getting the teacups and the infuser.

”Give me more details. How did the scales move? Where did they come from? What you described is too broad,” Helena said.

Hera explained, trying to remember every detail that she could about that fight, ”... then I tried to make my mana pull the chakram. My idea was to make it move around without pulling the string. It jumped up, but I can't do it again.”

”Humm... there are a few ways. You can have an elemental manipulation spell and use another to coat the scale with that element. Telekinesis works, but it's very mana heavy. But the mana connection being as small as a strand of hair... Maybe the scales themselves were part of the spell. That is a thing. You can invoke elemental objects and control them with your mana. It takes a lot of concentration and a quick mind, but it works almost as if you have some backup, even without anyone around. Those are called elemental projections. If you search for that in the guild or a store, you should find it.”

Hera considered the possibilities. More interesting than having some sort of telekinesis, having a magic weapon following her would be incredible. Of course, a spell like that should take a lot of mana, but if she could increase her mana regeneration enough, it could work.

”By the way, how was the effect of the scales?” Helena asked after a few moments where Hera was quietly contemplating her options.

”Sorry, what?”

”The scales, sweetie? How the spells behaved going through them?”

”Oh... I didn't use it,” Hera looked away.

”Seriously? That was supposed to help with the defense!” Helena gasped.

”There was too much going on. I completely forgot about that,” Hera tried to explain herself.

”Look at this girl. She used to be so kind, now she even talks back to me,” Helena clicked her tongue.

”Sorry, Ms. Ditrro. It won't happen again,” Hera said with a serious expression.

Helena rolled her eyes, ”You are no fun, you know that?”