"Tara… do you mind telling me why we are in a desert?" Hera had a hand up, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"I would also like to know. The last time I was in a place wasn't pleasant," Lurize huffed and crossed his arms.
"Really? Why is that?" Livy turned to the Royal Tutor.
"I kept sinking," Lurize replied without looking at her.
"Sinking?" Livy jumped around a couple of times, but the place seemed solid enough, "I'm heavier, but that is not happening with me."
"The problem wasn't my weight. But that sand kept getting inside of me."
"Oh… Yeah... That sounds unpleasant," Livy nodded.
"Tara, I apologize, but I won't be out during this. If you need me, someone else will have to convey my words," Lurize returned to his weapon form.
"No worries. And sorry for bringing you here," Tara turned to Hera, "So. The tests. There are a few, so I will explain them as we go. First is a marathon of sorts. All you need to do is run. I'll be running by your sides following your exact movement to see who deals better with several different environments. This also includes climbing and swimming."
"And I supposed I can't have Nimbus in his mount form helping me, right?" Hera looked back to the Sentinel, who replied with a smirk.
Tara nodded, "Right. Actually. During this, you won't have any skills. They are not gone, just locked during these trials," the ancestor gestured to herself, "This body has the exact same stats as you do. Including mana and mana regeneration. The amount of muscle, weight, and conditions of your organs. Everything is exactly the same."
"Except you don't have legs," Hera chuckled.
"Well... You don't have a tail, so we are even," Tara huffed with a smile.
"Yeah, we are. So what are we doing? Just running?"
"Pretty much," Tara snapped her fingers, and a large green arrow appeared in the sky, pointing forward, "Just follow the arrow. I will be running, too, following your exact movements. Or their equivalent for a Naga."
"And then we see who is better at which part?"
"Yep, so we can know what part of the species we could use to make a better body," Tara smiled but quickly opened her eyes wide, "Crap! I forgot one super important thing!"
"Soooo… Do you remember the big problem with this? About you not being able to leave the MAZE?"
Hera nodded, "Yeah. I do. There was also a thing about moving through doorways in the first layer, right?"
"Yep. And are you ok with this? If you are not, you can still back out. At any point, actually. Even if we are in the middle of a trial, you can say, 'Nope. Changed my mind.' The point of no return is when you are going to the crystal-cocoon thing."
"I appreciate that, but I don't actually have a choice. The guild is after me, and if I, Hera as a human, shows up alive somewhere, my friends will get in trouble. So, even if you are giving me the option to give up. The rest of the world isn't," Hera gave a sad smile.
"Can you tell me why that happens? Like why the species born in the MAZE can't leave?"
Tara looked around, "Well. There is no notification stopping me, so I think I can…" she stopped, looking to the side, "Ok, I can't go into details. But basically, it is because Earth doesn't have ambient mana."
"Really?" Hera frowned.
"Yeah. Non-human species need mana to survive. Kind of like people need air. And not the mana you use for spells or make it yourself. That is a more… condensed version. To survive, you need that version that is like air."
"And the MAZE doesn't let us leave because it never sends us to a place where we would die right away?" Hera asked.
"Couldn't we make like space suits or something?" Nimbus suggested.
"Not really. You see, ambient mana changes when you see or use it. There is something called a 'Quantum Particle' that changes when it is observed. It's the same thing. Any time ambient mana is interacted with, it changes. But this change is permanent. It doesn't matter if it's a spell, a skill, an item, or whatever. That's why even a space suit wouldn't work. If you try to compress ambient mana into a canister, it will change. And if you just wave an open container and close it, there wouldn't be enough to last even a second. Any moment when ambient mana changes, the MAZE replenishes that instantly. Don't ask me how it does that. I don't really know."
Hera nodded, "Don't worry, you already told me more than I expected. And I'm not sure I can even share that without revealing more than I should," she sighed, "Well, whatever. Let's start the race. Daskka, want to count us down?"
"Sure!" Daskka rushed forward and raised her tail, waving it with some mist in the shape of a scarf hanging from the tip.
"Nimbus, Livy. Feel free to join, but don't interrupt," Hera looked back before getting into position to start was a 100-meter dash. Tara was in the same position but using part of the tail as the impulse that would give her some momentum.
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"Ready! Set!" Daskka looked at both racers and brought down her tail, "Go!"
Hera and Tara started running across the desert. Everything was flat and filled with sand as far as the eyes could see. However, directly in front of them, towards the direction the arrow in the sky was pointing, there were some dunes 1 kilometer ahead. The Empress moved as quickly as she could, feeling the strain in her body with her lack of skills. Moments like that made her really appreciate all the help she got from the system.
Despite the Empress' best efforts, she was losing the first leg of the race. Tara was easily moving through the sand. On the other hand, Hera's feet were always buried in sand, making her use more force to raise a leg than she should. The difference wasn't that big, but it was noticeable. Nimbus and Livy were also having their own competition on the side, with the rest of the court firing some spells at them, forcing the two to dodge. Hera wasn't looking at them, but she could feel how much fun they were having. After a bit over two minutes, Tara arrived at the base of the dunes and stopped completely. In a way, it looked like she was frozen in place.
"Tara?" Hera called from the back.
"Don't worry. I'm ok. Just keep running."
"Remember when I said that I would mirror your movements? Well, I need you to start climbing this to know what I can mirror," Tara explained.
"Oh, ok," Hera replied just as she arrived at the base of the dunes, about 20 seconds after the Naga ancestor. She looked at Tara, who just nodded and gestured to the dunes with her head. Understanding that she was supposed to continue, the Empress started climbing the sand.
Once more, Tara was able to move faster. Using her tail to climb didn't force the sand to fall down as much. On the other hand, Hera had to move fast enough to offset the constant flow of sand, and her steps had to be light enough not to disrupt even more sand and hinder her progress. However, when she arrived at the top, things changed. Hera jumped forward and followed the flow of sand, sliding across the dune. Tara tried doing the same, but the tail didn't disturb enough of the sand to allow for that movement. The difference was almost as if she was taking an escalator, while Hera used a fire poll.
There was another kilometer of dunes, and Hera won their race this time. The same was true for the forest, jungle, mountain, and snow areas. Tara was able to win races on the concrete road, the arid desert, the plains, and the ocean. In essence, in a place with obstacles, having legs was better, and on a flat surface, moving only with a tail would be faster.
As they finished this test, Hera dropped to the floor of Tara's room, taking deep breaths, "You know…. I just realized one thing…"
"What?" the ancestor asked.
"Why are we doing this? I mean, I won't have a tail to move like a Naga."
"It's more about physical endurance than actual speed. I needed to know how both bodies moved to see the best part of each."
Hera gave a thumbs up but didn't say anything. She just continued to breathe heavily. Tara offered some water and let the Empress rest for another few minutes before opening the portal for the next test.
"This is different. It is about perception. Just walk inside and look around," Tara smiled and helped Hera up.
"OK then. This seems easier," Hera shrugged as she walked inside the portal.
On the other side, the Empress found herself in a village filled with Naga. They didn't seem to notice her and were just having a normal day. Some of them were talking, others trading goods. Children played in the streets, and some warriors held weapons, carried a large boar, and celebrated. The houses were small and mostly made out of clay, with leaves weaved with the last layer of mud to make it look like a house made of scales. This village was small, and only 20 people seemed to live here. However, the Empress couldn't see anything beyond the village itself. It was like the end of a picture in a book, all completely surrounded by white.
"Where… where are we?" Hera turned to Tara.
"In a Naga village. Well, one that doesn't exist anymore. Oh, I don't mean, like, this village is somewhere in the MAZE. No, this developed into a large city, and the city still is out there, but without any Naga," Tara explained.
"I see… and all I have to do is to look around? I don't have to talk with anyone or anything like that?"
"Yep. Like I said, this is about perception. I'll walk around with you and compare what you feel and see to what I do. Everything from touch to smell. I need to see what the differences are and how they can mix. You can't interact with them, by the way. The Naga here, I mean," Tara explained.
"Ok," Hera nodded before turning to her court, "Everyone. Can you look around and call me if you find anything interesting?"
'Sure!' Crimson and Viper replied, already moving away from the group.
Tara just watched that for a moment while thinking. Hera noticed that and turned to the ancestor, "Is that ok? Should I call them back?"
"No. I mean, don't call them back, that's ok. In the end, they are not interfering, just letting you know of unique things," Tara shrugged, and they started walking around.
Hera knew this wasn't the reason for the tests, but she was too curious about how the Naga people lived to let this opportunity pass by. She walked inside one of the houses, seeing how it wasn't divided by walls. Instead, each side seemed to have its own function. The bed was a large rock elevated by smaller stones to allow firewood to be placed beneath it. The wardrobes were built into the wall of the house, and there was a small kitchen on the opposite corner. The objects here were the kinds one would expect from a tribe living outside civilization. Things made out of clay and carved from rocks rather than the mass production that Hera was used to.
Leaving this first house, she walked over to the center of the village. There was a large stone with some carvings around it, but she couldn't understand that language. The Empress half expected that, after all, the Naga wrote in a way that part of the words could only be seen with infrared light.
"Tara, can you unseal one of my skills?"
The ancestor looked at Hera, confused, "Why? They could mess up with what we are doing here."
"I just wanted to read what is written here. I'm not sure I would be able to understand, but still. Without my Observe: Red Sight, I can't read Naga writing."
"Hum… Sorry, I don't think I could help with that. It's a skill that affects the senses, and that's exactly what I'm trying to check."
Hera nodded, "That's ok," she looked around, trying to decide her next destination, when Dusa's voice reached her mind.
'Hera? I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I think I found something.'
'You are not interrupting anything. What's up?'
'I think I found the school. Or where the kids learn something. There is an old Naga talking. Well, I mean, I think it's old. He looks old. Or is it a she? I don't know, sorry!'
Hera chuckled. She didn't realize this before, but Dusa had a way of speaking that was very similar to Tara. Especially when they got frazzled, 'Don't worry. I'm going to check.'
Hera started to walk towards her diadem with Tara by her side. The ancestor was not saying anything right now, just focusing on comparing the senses between Hera and her current form. The Empress wasn't sure how long it would take to finish all the tests or even how many of them were there, but a part of her wanted to be done with this. Even if she was closer to the Naga now, there was so much going on outside this test that spending more time than needed doing this just felt wrong.