417 Increasing ones knowledge

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Secrets of the MAZE

This is a study of the MAZE and how it classifies its secrets is a subject that many look into. As the theory goes, by learning more about the MAZE and understanding its patterns, one can use that information to infer the location of secrets even in brand new rooms.

A warning for those who desire to study this subject to increase their chances of finding rare and valuable items. This theory still is a work in progress, and no definitive pattern was found across the MAZE.

By opening this book, you will choose this subject for your role test. Your goal will be to find three MAZE patterns not present in this book.

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Hera frowned after reading the notification. Sure this was the book she was the most interested in, especially if it would help her when she was exploring the MAZE. The problem lied in the requirements to complete the test. She would have to find those patterns, and she had no idea what would be considered a pattern in the MAZE. It was very likely that there would be some examples in the book, but still, that shouldn't be something easy to figure out.

Just to be sure, she looked at the red book.

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Monster Anatomy

By studying the biology of monsters and how their bodies work, we are able to improve our combat capabilities against them. Additionally, if one would understand the similarities between different species, even never seen before monsters can have their weaknesses exposed.

By opening this book, you will choose this subject for your role test. Your goal will be to add to the information present in this book by studying similar monsters.

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"Hey, Peaches. This one is not saying how many pieces of information I have to add. Do you know?" Hera asked the guide.

"I can't tell you that. Not because I don't know, but because it depends on what you add. Each information would have a value. Worst case scenario, you might need to fill up most of the book."

"Oh…" Hera stared at the red tome in her hands for a moment. It was easily four fingers thick, "Yeah… I don't have that much time. Let's see the last one."

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Magic is life

Spells have the power to heal, help people in their daily lives and protect them from danger. However, most people overlook the spells used in our daily lives, and the fact that even they had to be discovered or invented by someone. This book focuses on finding those opportunities to help people's lives and how we can identify the need for spells.

By opening this book, you will choose this subject for your role test. Your goal will be to create a new spell that will help people in their daily lives.

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"Let me guess. When it says 'new spell,' it means that I have to make something that no one has done yet. I can't just make a new spell to flush the toilet, for instance," Hera turned to Peaches.

"Exactly. But it's not as bad as you think. If some random Joe made a spell to help him flush the toilet, but it's not something that most people know about, that would still count. Not that flushing the toilet is a spell worthy of completing the test. The goal is to find something that could help a lot of people. If it's something that is easy or that would affect a larger number of people, you might get bonus points," Peaches jumped to the couch.

Hera started thinking for a moment. It was a hard decision. All of them had different difficulty levels, but none of the books seemed easy. The most straightforward was the Monster Anatomy book. Studying monsters would help her a lot, and she might even be able to use her [Hunter's Catalog] to her advantage. But the sheer volume of things she would have to figure out in a single day was daunting. If it came to the point where she had to add things to the entire book, it would take much more than just the 24 hours she had available.

If she were to pick the Secrets of the MAZE option, which was the one she was the most interested in, there would only be three things she had to find. However, there was no way to know how hard it would be to find those three things. It could be something she finished in just a few hours, or it could take her the entire day just to find one.

Lastly, there was the Life is Magic option. By all accounts, that should be the easier one to finish. All she needed was to make a spell to help people, and since she was a conceptual mage, it shouldn't be that hard to make that spell. The issue lay in what would be considered 'a spell to help people's daily lives.' Knowing what was available was just part of the solution. She also had to think of something that would be useful. The fact that this was so specific also worried her. These tests are never easy, and that one seemed like a trap.

"What do you think? Which one should we pick?" Hera turned to Daskka.

The snake floated around all three books and landed in front of the blue tome.

"So you are saying I should stick to my gut?" Hera received a nod as a reply, "OK then. Let's try to figure this out."

With a smile, Hera picked up the book and opened it. Just as the first page came into view, words started appearing inside the blank pages. At the same time, the shelves and tables in the room were filled with scrolls, notebooks, and tomes. Each new letter on the page was equal to a new book, and only after the first page was completely filled with letters that all the books stopped appearing.

"What is all this?" Hera turned to Peaches, "Are those all about MAZE secrets?"

"Yep. Everything in the test will be related to the subject you picked."

"Am I supposed to read all this in a day?" Hera gasped.

"Not really, but you are supposed to find your answers in a day. It is possible. Just be smart about it," Peaches smiled.

"Is there like a list of all the books or something?"

"Look to the left. There is a massive book. That's the index with a list of everything that's here, a single sentence about the item and their location."

Hera glanced to where Peaches pointed and saw a table just big enough to accommodate the book in question. It was a black leather-bound tome that was around three times the size of a regular book. Before going there, she continued reading the volume already in her hand. This should be the key to everything. She pulled up a chair as Daskka flew to her shoulder, and they started reading.

She was expecting something dull like a research paper, but this was actually a fun read. It told stories of different people finding secrets in the MAZE and how they connected. One of the tales was even familiar to Hera. It spoke about how someone found the hidden story of the Underground Forest in the Carpon Caverns. It was hidden inside a giant mushroom in a path that made things even more complicated for those doing the dungeon. According to the book, it was rare for the MAZE to do something without reason. If there was a path that seemed needlessly long or a place inside a dungeon that was deliberately different, there was a good chance that something special could be found in that location. In a way, it was like how video games were made. If an area looked like a boss arena, there would be a boss there. If a region was out of the way and seemed to be leading to a dead end, there was something hidden there.

However, that wasn't a universal truth, according to the books. Any dungeon that was created due to a certain event had fewer chances to have that kind of secret. Only the so-called 'natural dungeons' should have that kind of pattern. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to tell if a dungeon was part of a room since the beginning or created because of an event.

About 40 pages in, the subject changed. It wasn't talking about dungeons and the repetitive patterns that one could find, but how most people would overlook obvious locations in the rooms. Caves, mountains, trees that stood out among the rest, patches of land that were completely different from its surroundings. There was such a large amount of unique areas spread around the room that people tended to just chalk them as a landmark, and that's when, in fact, each of those different regions were hiding something special. The issue with that was the requirement to trigger whatever secret they were hiding. Usually, it involved several seemingly unconnected things unless the person found out some specific information about the area. It could be an old text, a fairy tale, or even some loosely connected painting that you saw in a dungeon.

There were some examples of those kinds of secrets, but this was much more complicated, as the author said before. Even if all the parts to find a secret should be in the same room. Most of the situations described seemed to happen only because of pure luck. Someone saw something that made them think of a certain area, and they went there in the right conditions to trigger the secret. Hera was also realizing that, more often than not, looking for those secrets wasn't exactly worth it. Not from a benefits standpoint. Sure it would be amazing to find more about the room you are in, and Hera even had her [Powerful Connections] that could become stronger the more she knew about the room. But the results were hardly ever worth the trouble. People could find a specific flower that was supposed to be extinct. Gravestones from long-gone people, songs and poems left behind by lovers or bards of old. Occasionally, people could find some rare item or a spell, but that wasn't very common. And, just as it was with the odd areas in a dungeon, it wasn't a sure thing. Finding a place out of the ordinary in a room wouldn't mean that there was a secret every single time.

Hera started to notice a pattern in this. They would have a theory and explain the entire process, but in the end, there would be a line saying 'that always happens until it doesn't,' which was hardly something helpful. She took a quick glance at the rest of the book, and it seemed that there were just another 40 pages or so. Looking at the time, she spent around an hour and a half rereading all of this. She could've done this a bit faster, but she was paying attention to what she was reading. There was still time, and this was something she had to do. Hera got up and walked back to her private room to drink some water. Just like it was during all of her role tests, there was a fruit basket lying on the kitchen table.

"Are you the one who put this here?" Hera turned to Peaches.

"Well, yeah. I know you don't bring food, and we can't have you starving for this unless it's part of the test."

"Thanks, but where do you get that?"

"Some I just made with magic, but the strawberries were from Berthellemy. He has a small orchard and likes to grow them."

"Oh, really?" Hera picked a strawberry and washed it in the sink before taking a bite, "Wow, these are amazing. Tell him thanks when you see him."

"Will do, kid. But don't waste too much time here."

"I won't. I was just thirsty," Hera replied before drinking some water and heading back to the book she was reading.

To her surprise, the last 40 pages talked about something more concrete. It wasn't just a theory about how to find secrets but an in-depth explanation about how the story of the room was the most important part when searching for a secret, especially if there were natives there. By knowing what happened in the room, one would be able to look for old relics and things that might have been deemed important by the system. It wasn't simply because of archeology, but sometimes, ancient relics became items created by the MAZE that almost always had considerable power. If one would pay attention to the past it would be more likely for them to be stronger in the future. Following the hints present in the rooms history would reveal the location of something special, be it items, ancient techniques, spells, dungeons, monsters, doorways, and even legacies.

Hera nodded while reading and agreed wholeheartedly with everything that was said in those last 40 pages. She had experienced that type of thing herself with Boothudurn and the Naga people in the Wailing Valley. After finishing up that part of the book, she noticed that there were still about 20 blank pages in the back. The last page with anything written had a single sentence.

'Add or expand upon three theories on how people can find secrets in the MAZE.'