MAZE - The Endless Quest

Greyson arrived early for his class. He knew that the test would take a toll on the recruits and wanted to comfort them. What he had done was brutal. No one questioned that. However, after what happened with that kid, Greyson didn't want to take any chances.

He was deep in thought when the first recruit arrived. To his surprise, it was Mark. He greeted the man and looked at the clock. It was 6:49. Only one recruit stayed so far, but there was still time.

Greyson tried to keep himself busy. He kept looking at his tablet, confirming everything would be ready for today. At 6:53 more recruits arrived.

Anaya first, then Tiffany and Kenjiro. The three of them seemed to be fine. But Carlos, the fourth member of the group, was nowhere to be seen.

"Che, don't run away from a fight my ass," Greyson thought to himself.

A couple of minutes later, Alex, Leo, and Blue walked through the door.

Greyson tried to seem calm, but he was worried. Bonnie had gotten two evolved skills in the first days of training. She had a lot of potential. Then there was Percy. The man seemed to be very meticulous in his work. He had the makings of a great crafter. The last recruit he was worrying about was Hera. Aside from her skills, there wasn't much special about the woman. But she had a fire Greyson hadn't seen in a long time.

At 7 sharp, Bonnie walked through the door. She still looked a bit scared, but she was here. Before starting class, Greyson gave her a few moments to settle in.

"All right, I hope ye all had time to think about what ye want to do. If ye still have any questions, now is the time. The training will be different from now on," Greyson said.

Almost as a reflex, Bonnie raised her hand. The teacher gave her a nod, confirming she could ask her question.

"Mr. Greyson, sorry. I have two questions. First... are we going inside that room again?" Bonnie asked.

The whole class got silent, even their breathing seemed to stop. The idea of going there again was terrifying for most recruits.

"No, ye don't have to go there again," he said before turning to blue, "unless ye want to. In that case, I can pull some strings."

The tension in the air dissipated a little. The recruits were still on edge, but now they seemed a bit more relaxed.

"The second question... If I keep doing the training, can I drop out before the final exam?" Bonnie asked.

The question surprised Greyson. Bonnie was really smart, and to come back here she was already brave enough to go inside the MAZE. The teacher considered the question for a few moments.

"I believe ye can, yes. No rule says ye can't drop out just before the final test. But are ye sure ye want to waste a whole month doing this?" he asked, genuinely concerned. He knew that if she pushed herself too hard, it would end badly.

Bonnie nodded.

"Yes, if I'm confident by the end of the training, I'll do the final test."

"Fair enough," Greyson said with a smile.

He answered a few more questions about the test afterward and started to explain his plans for the day. A few seasoned explorers were coming over to show a few things about the roles. That way the recruits could know more about what they can do before choosing their role.

Halfway through his explanation, there was a knock on the door. He frowned and went to the door, opening it.

It was Hera. She was panting and covered in sweat.

"I'm sorry, I got home really late. My alarm didn't wake me up." Hera said after catching her breath.

"Yer lucky lassie. Today's class will be different. Go to yer seat," Greyson said with a serious face. In reality, he was quite happy. It has been a long time since he had so many recruits stick around after the test.

Mr. Greyson explained that each role got a special set of skills exclusive to the role itself. It was a way for explorers to have more specific jobs inside the MAZE. Some were simple, for instance, Healers would heal and help others recover from wounds. Some roles had more complicated functions, researchers could look for new skills, or new ways to learn a skill, they could improve equipment and even create potions or meals that would improve attributes. They were essentially scientists inside the MAZE.

That wouldn't mean the roles limited what you could do. A mage could heal, and a fighter could research new skills, but they wouldn't have the role-specific skills linked to that task.

"Mr. Greyson, in the video the guild keeps playing it said that it wasn't always like that. Why is that? Did it take long to find the skills, or it was something else?" Bonnie asked.

Hera was a bit surprised. It seemed obvious that they probably took a while to find out about the role skills. That's just how skills work. Mr. Greyson smiled before answering.

"No one ever found these skills, we created them," the teacher said, shocking the whole class.

"Before the roles, explorers would just group up asking about each other's skills. That required a long discussion to figure out where each individual would fit in a team. After all, they had to talk about most of their skills in the process. It was also difficult to keep track of it during fights."

Mr. Greyson sat in his chair.

"After a while, a few groups started to form. Each would have only explorers that were good at one specific job. The idea behind it was to share skills and training exercises to make them better at what they needed. No one knows exactly what happened. One day the system changed and each of these groups got assigned a role. Some skills they had even evolved and become part of the roles."

The teacher had barely stopped talking when Tiffany asked.

"Hang on, are you saying the system changed? It can do that?"

Mr. Greyson just nodded.

"Funny right? We all think the system was always there the way it is today. But if ye think about it, it makes sense. A long time ago we didn't have written language, yet now the system shows up as text. Computers and tablets were human creations. Today the system connects to them to share its information. It makes ye wonder how it will look like in the future, doesn't it?"

Having finished his explanation, the class was awestruck. With such a basic knowledge being changed at a fundamental level, the recruits were rendered speechless.

Taking advantage of the moment, the teacher guided them back to the elevator. The class would be in one of the underground training rooms. They were more durable and private.

Arriving at the underground floor, the group was greeted by Helena, who informed them of a change in the room they had reserved. Shortly after, they arrived at the biggest room available.

Helena turned to the recruits.

"Welcome everyone, for those who don't know me, I'm Helena. The attendant in charge of your class, nice to meet you. This is probably your first time coming into one of these rooms. They are called advanced training rooms or ATR. They are very special because of a few things. First, they almost indestructible. Well, I say that, but some high-level explorers can make a mess of this place. Second, this place uses our most state-of-the-art training simulations. It can teach from basic martial arts to special skills. You can also increase or decrease the mana density inside here. Although, for now, you won't feel the difference, in the future this might come in handy."

Helena explained, keeping a tour guide persona. Hera couldn't help but find it weird. She wasn't used to seeing the woman like this.

"Wow, if this room is so amazing why were we wasting time with the dummies?" Mark said while thinking out loud.

Most recruits were thinking about the same thing.

"Watch it, laddie. Ye don't wanna start something ye can't finish," Mr. Greyson snarled.

"Now, now. Be nice Calvin," Helena intervened, "the ATRs use condensed mana to function, so using it is a bit expensive. That's why only part of the training is done here. After that, to use one of these you have to rent it. The basic ones are not too expensive, and this one.. well It's better not to think about it for now."

Before the class could ask more questions, the door opened and seven people came in. They were all wearing explorer gear and carried their weapons. A big muscular woman also carried a long sword in her hand.

"Looks like they are all here already. These are the explorers who will help us today. With all of us here, we will tell ye about the nine roles."

A couple of recruits were surprised by the number of people. They never considered the guild clerk to be a seasoned explorer.

"Well, Ah guess, Ah should start. Some of ye might already know, but Ah'm a fighter. The main skill we get is called [Fury]. With it, Ah can strengthen my attacks or give them other effects. It can also increase the power of some skills."

Greyson pressed a button on his tablet, and a golden dummy appeared in the room. He grabbed the sword from the strong woman and attacked the dummy twice. The first time it looked like a normal overhead swing. The second time, however, reddish energy swirled violently around the blade of his sword. When he struck the dummy, the whole room seemed to shake with the impact.

" [Fury] works a bit differently for each person. To me, the angrier Ah get the harder Ah hit," Greyson finished his explanation, and without a pause added, "And the first one to make a superhero joke gets smacked. Who is next?" He asked, turning to the explorers.

Helena stepped forward.

"Let me do it, it's been a while since I let off some steam." She walked towards the dummy and turned to face the recruits.

"I am a mage, the skill we get is called [Synch]. The skill makes our mana, or magical energy, merge with the element you use. Allowing you to use stronger versions of spells from your element. Magic is a bit tricky, you need to use a specific formula to use it. Each mage uses it in a different way. I, for one, find it better to picture my mana as thread while I weave it to form the spell I want. With that, I can do this."

Helena made a glowing sphere that looked like it was made of diamonds, refracting the light that passed through it.

"My [Synch] turned half of my mana into shadow mana. And If I use that in this spell."

The sphere darkened almost instantly and started to ooze out shadows. The light in the room seemed to try to run away from it. Helena then closed her hand, and the spell dissipated. Immediately after, she conjured two shadow spears above the dummy. The first seemed to be a smooth spike, the second looked like a halberd that dripped shadows from its edge. With a flick of her hand, the spike hit the dummy, vanishing after the impact. On the halberds turn, the impact created a small explosion, covering part of the room with a thin layer of dark smoke on the ground. As if someone had just poured hot water on dry ice.

"Unlike [Fury], [Synch] has one drawback. When your mana changes to a specific element, your ability to use its polar opposite gets hindered. For instance, since my element is shadow. I have a hard time using light. Undine, the Third Hero, was a fire mage. She probably had problems with using water. Some mages focus her spells in a specific element to control this change in mana. There are even a few who managed to have 'pure mana'. That means mana that is not bound by any element. But I'm already getting too much into specifics. If any of you decide to become a mage, feel free to ask me for some pointers."

Helena winked at Hera after saying that, which made the recruit smile.

Hera looked at the other explorers. So far, being a mage seemed to be the most interesting role of them all. Wondering what the other roles could do, she stared at a man with a grey beanie. He seemed to be the less imposing of the bunch. He had a necklace with what looked like a small watch as the pendant, a brown shirt that looked wrinkled and he seemed to carry a short sword on each side of his hip. Among all the explorers, he seemed to be the most carefree of the bunch. For some reason Hera couldn’t stop looking at him.