The reception door sent Hera to what looked like a pantry. Several bags of grains and spices covered the floor, with shelves and shelves filled with produce.

  This was the point that King Gwendelan used to infiltrate the palace. Under one of the bags, there was a loose stone that lead to an underground tunnel. This was supposed to be a secret escape route the Emperor could use. The man was so paranoid that not a single one of the guards were aware of this.

  According to the intel, there would be a guard in the corridor outside the door, but he would go for a shift change in two minutes. That gave Hera a one minute window to leave the pantry. Following that, she would head towards the balcony to climb to the next floor from the outside.

  Hera pressed her ear against the door, listening to the guard's footsteps. After a few moments, she heard the noise echoing through the corridor. It was the sound of heavy metal greaves rattling against each other. The Explorer held her breath as the noise got closer and passed through the door. Vanishing on the other side of the hallway.

  When the footsteps were far enough away, Hera left the room, making sure to close the door behind her. Sneaking to the other side of the corridor, she went towards a window beside the balcony.

  As she moved, Hera focused on the surrounding sounds. Once she was passing by a door, she heard something being dragged inside the room. A clear indication that there was someone there.

  Using what she had learned in the cave room, Hera crouched down and placed her hands on the floor, spreading her weight to minimize the noise she was making. According to the map in the report, the door would lead to a storage room for undead. A place where a small group of zombie guards would be waiting for their next orders.

  After passing through it, Hera walked onto the balcony. The view was breathtaking. A massive city in beautiful red and gold tones covered the entire landscape. Even in the dark of night, the blueish green lanterns illuminate the place, giving the city a strange, mystical feel.

  Hera shook her head. This wasn't the time to be sightseeing. She walked off the balcony and grabbed onto the ledge of the building. Climbing the outer wall, she headed towards the window two floors up. The emperor was in the central room on the top floor of the palace.

  So far, Hera was mirroring what King Gwendelan did, but this was the easy part. After the second window, the number of patrols would increase drastically, both human and undead.

  Grabbing the edge of the window, Hera pulled herself up to check the next floor. Right away, she could see a pair of undead walking side by side away from the window. She waited for the patrol to be far enough away and entered the corridor, already heading to the side near a long drapery on the corner of the floor.

  Here things started to be different. King Gwendelan reached the top floor by parkouring outside the castle. He would hide among the shadows and climb until the emperor's room. Luckily for Hera, that was just one of his many plans. There were routes going from A to F in the intel, and she would take the C path. It was among the longest ones, but it was safer than the rest. She would deal with mostly undead creatures that could only rely on sight to identify threats.

  The main issue with this route was that it made her go around the palace a couple of times. After all, the servant only stairs, the ones she would be using, were placed on opposite edges of the building. On the other hand, the emperor had a private spiral staircase that was enchanted with magic. It would work like an escalator and drop him off on any floor he wished. Unfortunately, that could only be activated by the man himself.

  Hera had to continuously walk behind the pair of undead. Never moving too quickly and staying hidden most of the time. Because of their slow speed, it took her twenty minutes just to reach the first set of stairs.

  'Only two more to go,' she thought to herself as she reached the next floor.

  This time, she had to be even more careful. There were two sets of patrols on each corridor, one undead and one human. According to the intel, the undead would keep moving around. But the humans would stop on windows to inspect the outside. That was her chance. She would wait for the humans to be distracted and rush to one of the doors on the floor.

  She waited by the stairs for the first set of humans to pass, and the moment they stopped by the window, Hera rushed towards the closest door. She was trying not to make too much noise, but the door was stuck. Hera looked back at the two humans looking through the windows. She had already taken too long to open this door, and they would soon start moving again. If they did, nothing was stopping them from turning towards her. If that wasn't bad enough, there was also an undead patrol about to reach the corner of the floor.

  Hera's heart was beating fast. Maybe the door that was in front of her was actually locked and not just stuck. Not wanting to be caught, she rushed towards the next door. This one opened easily, and Hera closed it right behind her.

  Her relief was short lived. A moment after closing the door, Hera heard snoring coming from the room. She turned around and gave a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Only when she was finally able to see the rows of bed that Hera realized where she was. One floor below the emperor's chamber were the elite guard barracks, where the Emperor's strongest warriors lived.

  Hera held her breath while she thought of her next step. If she remembered correctly, the barracks had two doors, both of which would lead directly to the servants' staircase. Meaning that if she managed to go through this room without waking anyone up, she could reach the last floor, bypassing some of the patrols.

  She crouched down and started to walk on all fours. The elite guard had very sharp senses. If even one of them woke up, Hera would be in deep trouble.

  The Explorer made sure to pay attention to her surroundings and her movements. The last thing she wanted was to hit something by accident. At one point, there was a creak in one of the beds, and all the guards shifted.

  Hera held her breath, worried about making any more noise. She waited for a while, happy that none of her friends were around to see her crawling on all fours. When she felt that her movements wouldn't mess with the guards' sleep, she continued towards the door on the other side of the room. Even with all the stopping and waiting, she managed to reach the door in just fifteen minutes.

  Looking through the keyhole, Hera waited for the human patrol to pass by. She had to listen to their footsteps, and only when they stopped for her next move. It took a few moments, but finally her opportunity arrived.

  Being careful not to make any noise, she left the barracks and headed towards the emperor's floor. However, as soon as she arrived on said floor, her heart sank. There was an entire battalion of undead standing guard. They were all looking towards the stairs in the same position. The image made Hera remember the stone warriors that were found in China a long time ago.

  Hera already was expecting the monsters to attack her, but they were utterly still. She poked her head out of the stairs, ready to run away if they attacked her, but nothing happened. The undead seemed to be in stasis. Looking around, Hera searched for her next step.

  There was a door at the back of the great hall, the only door on the entire floor. That was clearly the entrance to the Emperor's chamber, but the undead were so close to each other that Hera couldn't pass through without touching them. She had watched enough movies to know that touching an unmoving creature would be a bad idea.

  She could try to climb the walls and move above the creatures, but she would have many problems traversing the hall, and going under the undead's legs felt like suicide. Her remaining option was to circle the hall through the outside, doing something similar to what King Gwendelan had done.

  Hera walked towards the closest window, away from the undead horde. There was a ledge outside. One that wasn't thick enough for her to walk, but it should be enough for her to hang by her hands.. Little by little, she moved side to side on the ledges and jumped the small gaps until she finally reached the Emperor's balcony.

  'Holy shit, I'm never doing that again,' she thought, looking at her hands. They were red, sore, and bleeding a bit. The path was very irregular, and the constant fear of falling made her even tenser. Her only comfort was the belief that if she ended up plummeting down, she wouldn't get hurt. After all, this was just a test.

  Hera entered the emperor's room, heading straight for the king-size bed. The leader of the undead army was sleeping soundly. Yet it was an odd view. The emperor wore a nightcap, socks with a point that made Hera remember a jester's shoes. The entire bed was covered in silk, and the pajamas seemed to have a similar make. It was amazing how someone could stay still on top of it. Wanting to be sure of who was in bed, Hera activated her [Observe].

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Xu Jiayi - Emperor of the Undead

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  'Ok, it's really him,' Hera thought.

  She grabbed her handaxe and kept staring at the emperor. Could she do it? This was a simulation, so the man in front of her wasn't real. Still, it was so real. It was one thing if it was a monster or someone trying to kill her. But killing someone who was just sleeping seemed wrong. Then again, the Explorer had done that before. She killed the frogs while they slept. Feeling guilty right now was hypocritical of her.

  Hera raised her weapon, ready to strike, but couldn't do it. Lowering her handaxe, she took a step away from the bed when she noticed something odd. In the middle of the bedroom, there was a figure clad in black, holding an ornate dagger decorated with two waves crashing at each other on the crossguard. Aside from the person in front of her, the rest of the world was completely frozen in place.

  "I understand. I had the same issue with that decision during my training. Was it right killing someone who never harmed me directly?"

  The assassin walked towards the bed, "Even now, as I killed someone who is truly a monster, I question my decision. You see, many years ago, I was tasked to kill the previous emperor. He was a benevolent and wise ruler, and I refused my mission. I believed that the world was a better place with him in it. An assassin should always complete a contract. Alas, I violated that rule. If I had killed my mark, his family would have perished during a coup, and this man, the old Emperor's son, would never become emperor. The blood of all the people he killed is on my hands. Killing him won't change that."

  The assassin removed his mask, revealing the face of King Gwendelan. However, there were no defining features. It was just a blank face, "Yet, as much as I regret my decisions. I still believe it was what I should have done, not for the good of the world, but myself. Had I killed his father, I would be betraying what I considered just and fair. We can never know the ramifications of our actions, and it is up to us to decide what to do."

  Gwendelan walked towards Hera, stopping at her side, "This was my burden to bear, not yours. You have finished your test, and you have proven that your skills are enough to learn the role given by the System. If you believe that this man should live, or that by killing him, you will go against yourself, you are free to go."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  A door appeared behind Hera, away from the emperor.

  The explorer stared into the deep green eyes of the king. They were deep, tired, and full of sadness, "If I leave now, and what will happen to you?" Hera asked.

  "Nothing. I am but a simulation of what once was."

  "And him?" Hera pointed at the sleeping emperor.

  "Also, nothing. Everything here is part of a construct, something that was real once, but no more. Aside from you."

  "What if it wasn't? What if this was all real, and no one killed the emperor on this day? What would have happened?"

  Gwendelan shook his head, "I am unable to tell you that. This is how events unfolded. What I can say is that I believe I did the right thing, even if it cost me an eternity of anguish. To me, keeping him alive would only lead to the suffering of even more people. This was my one chance of stopping that once and for all. Yet, you must understand. This was not an act of rage. This was a calculated decision. An assassin must do its best to keep its emotions separated from the work."

  Hera let the words spoken by the king sink in. What would she do in his place? If her family, if her friends were the ones being turned into undead. Could she let a man live knowing the pain he caused? Could she kill someone without anger?

  She looked at the door. Her test was over, she could go now, but something was holding her back. Something that Gwendelan had said.

  Walking towards the emperor, Hera pretended to be in a video game. A very real and lifelike video game. She took a deep breath and raised Iris, her handaxe. With a single strike Emperor's head was detached from its body.

  Gwendelan was staring at her with a puzzled expression, "Why did you choose to kill him?"

  Hera walked towards the door behind him, "As you said, an assassin must always finish their contracts. And he is a simulation. If I'm not able to even finish this job, I wouldn't be able to finish the next one with a real target. If I were in the same situation as you, I want to believe I would save as many people as possible. My suffering for my actions would never be more important than the lives of others."

  Gwendelan smiled at Hera, "Thank you for sharing my burden. I hope that you never find yourself in a situation like this. With this, you also have completed the room. Please head towards the next reception and receive your rewards."

  Hera nodded and walked through the door, arriving in a reception with white walls. Her hands were shaking.

  "So, kid. How did it go?" Peaches asked.

  Hera felt the tears rushing down her face, "Tell me he wasn't real. Please tell me he wasn't real," she said as she fell to her knees.

  Hera cried for fifteen minutes. Now she was hugging her legs while staring at her handaxe on the ground in front of her. Peaches did its best to calm the explorer, but it was clear that the situation truly shook her.

  "Talk to me, kid. What happened? Everything inside there was a simulation."

  Hera sniffed, "I still killed him."

  "He was already dead, kid. Whatever you did there didn't change anything."

  Hera didn't take her eyes out of her handaxe, "Still, I killed a sleeping man. What does that say about me?"

  "Nothing, you just did what the System asked you to."

  "Great, so I would kill someone as long as something tells me to."

  Peaches shook his head, "Kid, listen to me. That was part of a quest, just like the ones from the Explorer's test. Everything inside here is fake."

  "I still killed someone in cold blood. I'm a monster, just like him."

  "Oh, for the System's sake, you are not a monster, kid. You killed a guy in a simulation, and now you are freaking out like you had to put down a puppy. If anything, you are too sensitive for the MAZE," Peaches huffed.

  "Maybe you're right. I shouldn't have come here. I'm not strong enough to be in the MAZE," Hera buried her face in her arms.

  Peaches jumped down from the counter and bounced towards Hera.

  "Kid, look at me," Hera kept staring at her handaxe, "Look. At. Me," Peaches insisted.

  Hera's gaze shifted towards the guide.

  "Being like this means you have a heart. You are this upset by killing a monster in a video game. That sicko would find this too boring. I'm sure of it. The fact that you fight every day and still are worried about not crossing that line is what proves your strength."

  Hera didn't reply. She just rose her head and kept staring at her handaxe.

  "Look, kid. I wish I could give you some time to figure this all out, but the timer is still going."

  "How long do I have?"

  "A bit over twenty minutes. The problem is that I can only clear any questions you have about the skills during that time."

  "There is no notification about the quest," Hera replied.

  "Yeah, because I'm holding it back. Can I let it go through? You got the skill, and your relic will get an upgrade because of what you did in the last room."

  "Can I refuse the skill?" Hera asked.

  "Kid, think very carefully about this. Are you telling me you want to give up all that you done here? Even if you say yes, it won't erase the past hours. Do you really want to get out of here feeling like crap and without any new skills?"

  Hera hugged her legs even tighter, shoving her face into her knees. She couldn't help but worry that something bad would happen with one of her friends, and she would be powerless to help again, "No. I need the skill."

  "Okay, good. I honestly don't even know if I could not give you the skill," Peaches said.

  "Then why did you ask?" Hera mumbled.

  "Because I'm worried about you. I wasn't expecting you to take this so hard."

  "Me neither. She was right. I'm just a plain girl who knows nothing about the world."

  Peaches stared at Hera," Who said that?"

  "My mom."

  "Your mom?! I knew some humans could be harsh, but what kind of bitch would say that to their child? I know monsters that treat their spawn better," Peaches looked at Hera with a worried expression, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend your mother,"

  Hera smiled, "It's fine. You're not wrong."

  "Is that a smile? Are you able to smile again?"

  "It was involuntary. It doesn't mean that I'm okay with what I did," Hera's face quickly became sad again.

  Peaches nodded, "That is ok, kid. You don't have to be fine with that. You just can't let it eat you from the inside."

  "I'll try," Hera said, cleaning the tears from her face, "Can you wait for me to use the bathroom?"

  "Sure, kid."

  Hera got up and headed to the rest area. Peaches noticed that the explorer made a point of not bringing her weapon.

  She splashed water on her face a few times. Her eyes were still red and swollen. Hera wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about what happened. Although maybe Alex and Bonnie would like to know the origins of the role.

  Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the sleeping Emperor and her handaxe heading towards his throat. Hera went to the room on the side and drank some water to calm herself down. Yet, the guilt still remained. She needed to distract herself somehow. Maybe she could go hunting when she got back.

  The idea made Hera kick herself. In order to stop thinking about the fact she killed someone, she wanted to go and kill other things. That was really not a good path to follow.

  Moving back to the reception, she found Peaches standing beside her, handaxe, "I'm ready."

  "Ok, kid. Firsts things first. Pick up your weapon. It wasn't the blade that gave you bad memories."

  Hera stared at Iris for a moment. She knew Peaches was right, but still, just looking at the handaxe made everything much more real. After a few moments, she picked it up and placed it on her belt. She couldn't keep fighting with her chakram alone.

  "Very good, kid. Now for the skill."

  A notification appeared in front of Hera.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  You have completed the Explorer's quest - Assassin Skill.

  By completing the bonus room, your relic will receive an upgrade.

  Rewards:

  Explorer's Assassinate Skill

  Relic Upgrade

  Hide skill upgraded

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Explorer's Assassinate

  Role Skill

  Increases your ability to move undetected and the strength of attacks when your target is unaware of your presence. Some spells and skills also gain benefits from this effect.

  If you get discovered before attacking your target, you will suffer a penalty to your damage.

  Hide effectiveness increase: + 15%

  Bonus damage when hidden: + 15%

  Penalty to damage when discovered: - 35%

  Penalty duration: 300 seconds

  Skills and spells related to the Assassin role can be affected or changed by this skill.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Peaches explained to her what the skill would do. If Hera's target was unaware of her presence, the damage would be increased. But if her target discovered her, she would deal less damage to it for five minutes. That would only affect the target she attacked, so if other creatures saw her but Hera didn't attack them, the debuff won't trigger if they see her.

  It was basically what Alex told her. But it was nice to have someone to clear any doubts.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Skills affected:

  Dodge, Run, Improved Stamina, Hide, Inspect, Observe

  Spells affected:

  Pulse

  Spell Discovered:

  Poison Spray -> Poison Needle

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hide - Rank 3

  Improves your ability to erase your presence and blend with your surroundings.

  The more your appearance harmonizes with the place you are in, the more effective this skill becomes.

  Requirements: Not being in the line of sight of your target/ hiding place.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Wow, that is a lot," Hera read through the list of things that were affected by the role.

  "You may say that, but your role ends up affecting just some skills. A real assassin will have those benefits in everything."

  Before checking Yarnball, Hera took a look at the changes in the skills. [Dodge], [Run], and [Improved Stamina] just got a small buff. They would be 15% more effective when she was hidden. [Hide] description stayed the same, but according to Peaches, Hera would have a better instinct of how to move and remain hidden.

  [Inspect] would also give information on the target's primary sense. If it were a creature that focuses on smell, hearing, sight, or something else. As the skill got stronger, more information would be available.

  [Observe] now showed a small eye indicator when Hera was hidden. The eye could let her know if the target was alert or not, but the skill wouldn't be able to tell what Hera didn’t know. If something were just pretending to sleep or using smell or sound to track her but not showing any signs of it, the indicator would show the target as unaware.

  For the spells, Pulse would spend more mana when used while hiding, but it would be harder to be noticed by other creatures. The Poison Spray still appeared to her, but now there was a different option. If she changed the spell's shape for a concentrated smaller attack, it would be a Poison Needle.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Poison Needle

  Rank: Beginner

  Creates a piercing projectile of poisonous mana. Creatures struck by that projectile can become poisoned. However, no impact damage would be dealt. The more mana used, the stronger the poison effect.

  Range: 10 meters

  Base mana cost: 35 mana

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  What surprised Hera the most was that the Poison Spray apparently had impact damage. It was just like spraying someone with deodorant. She never considered the hit to do anything aside from poisoning.

  After all that, there was only one more thing to check.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Yarnball - Explorer's relic

  An extremely resilient string that takes its strength from its owner. It can return any objects attached to it to the user, be used as a dowsing rod, or as a threat alarm.

  Passive effects:

  Returning string

  If an object is tied to the string when thrown, the object will return to the case after reaching the maximum distance of the string.

  Current maximum distance: 10 Meters

  Danger sense

  When the object is near a monster, it pulses according to the distance of the creature. It can only detect some monsters that are hidden. The range of this effect depends on its owner's strength.

  Current range: 5 meters.

  Range while hidden: 10 meters

  Active effect:

  Dowsing rod

  By letting the string loose and pointing it down, you can ask about a location, item, or creature. The string will point towards the direction where the query is located. The accuracy of this effect depends on its owner's strength.

  Cooldown: 120 hours

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Not only she got a range buff, but she could even detect some hidden monsters. And the dowsing rod ability had a nice cooldown reduction.

  The two talked some more about both the skills and what Hera learned during the test. When the timer had only 5 minutes remaining, they agreed it was time for the explorer to leave.

  "Before I go. Can I ask you one thing, Peaches?"

  "Sure, kid. Not like you held back so far," the guide laughed.

  "If I hadn't killed the Emperor, would I get the upgrade?"

  Peaches shook his head, "No, the test was about recreating what happened. If you had walked away, you would have failed."

  "Then why give the option?"

  "I think you know why. Not everyone can stomach the idea of killing a human, even a virtual one."

  Hera nodded, "Guess I'm living proof of that, right?"

  "Not really, you finished it. Many explorers weren't able to do that. Most didn't even get the chance. They didn't feel confident enough to beat the test a second time in case they failed. To be fair, your time was better than the average, too."

  "Really? I thought more people would want the upgrade."

  "Oh, they do. Trust me. But they fear failing the test even more. I do get it. It will probably be awhile before you can get a new role skill after this."

  "Yeah, I need a skill at rank 3, not sure when I'll get it," Hera said.

  "Any idea what role you want to get next?"

  "I have some ideas, but I would rather see what I’m going to need."

  "It's rare to see someone without a plan. Just be careful, that doesn't always work out," Peaches said.

  "I will. Thanks," Hera stared at the guide for a moment before smiling at him, "It was really nice seeing you again, Peaches."

  Peaches noticed that the smile wasn't as energetic as the one she had before the last room. The test still weighed heavily on Hera's mind, "It was nice seeing you again too, Hera. I hope we can meet again."

  Hera nodded and left the reception through the last door. A notification appeared in front of her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Test Completed

  Do you wish to return to [Brinefront]

  [Yes] [No]

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera pressed yes and felt the feeling of warm water covering her. In a few moments, she was back in Brinefront.

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