A few moments later, she regained control of her body, Hera had just arrived in what looked like a forest, with large green trees all around her. The smell of gra.s.s and flowers, the singing of the birds, and the sunlight that would s.h.i.+ne between the trees, that gave the entire area a fairytale-like atmosphere.

Before Hera started walking, a notification appeared in front of her.

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Role test: Explorer

The green forest and its residents hide many secrets, discover most of them to complete the test.

This area is part of a simulation. The denizens of this place have limited interaction capabilities.

Current discovery progress 0%

[]?????????????

[]?????????????

[]?????????????

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Hera stared at the words. It was an excessively broad mission. There was nothing to give her a direction on how to start. What if there was something hidden under a rock she needed to find? Or if a specific tree had a specific marking that needed to be deciphered?

She let out a lengthy sigh. Hera never expected the explorer's test to be easy, but this seemed unreasonable. On the other hand, she was in the middle of a forest that came right out of the books she read when she was little. A small part of her was happy that she had the chance to explore the entire area.

Before starting to move, Hera tried to understand her surroundings a bit better. There was a constant bird chipper, but no noise from the trees. That was odd. The noise reminded her of wind and small critters moving about. But nothing was moving in the forest. No small animal was walking about, no wind rustling the branches, not even bugs zooming around.

Unsure if this weirdness was part of a room or just of the simulation, Hera started walking. She had no idea where she should go, but standing around wouldn't help. Doing her best to find any hint of the path she should take, Hera heard an unfamiliar noise.

She kept walking towards this new noise, not recognizing it at first. After a few moments, she realized it was the sound of a river. For the first time since she began the exam, Hera realized how thirsty she was and dashed towards the sound.

The trees were still the same even here, but soon the earth soil gave way to a rocky area, with a clear water creek running in the middle of it.

Hera walked close to the riverside and was about to grab some water with her hands when she stopped.

"Calm down, Hera. Remember what you learn. Every time you find a source of water, you need to check it before drinking it."

She grabbed a small rock and tossed into the river, seeing if anything would come out. She waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing came to the surface, and the stone she tossed was lying still at the bottom of the brook.

The second step was to see if any animals drank that water. Hera looked around, trying to find any markings or tracks that could show that animals came here, but to no avail.

She followed the creek, hoping she could find some sign of life near its headwaters. Her throat was dry, and she was feeling lightheaded. Still, Hera pressed on, wanting to make sure if that water was drinkable.

After hiking for a few minutes, Hera saw a larger rock sticking out of the riverbank. On top of it, there was something that looked like a giant green apple.

"Is that a real apple?" she mumbled to herself.

If it was, she could not only quench her thirst but also eat something. But it was too obvious. It felt like a trap.

Hera picked a tree branch and approached the rock. When the thing was in range, Hera poked it with the stick. It was surprisingly soft, almost as if she was poking a pillow. She gave a harder push, trying to topple it.

Suddenly a hole appeared, spinning around and closed around the tree branch. s.n.a.t.c.hing it from Hera's hand and throwing it in the river.

"What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing!"

Hera's eyes went wide in shock.

The apple was... speaking?

A pair of big blue eyes appeared above the hole. That now, Hera could see it was actually a mouth.

"So? Why the h.e.l.l are you poking me with a G.o.ddam stick?" the apple yelled in an unexpectedly deep voice.

"I'm... sorry?" Hera replied weakly.

"You better be! I was having a nice long nap, and you wake me up like that? What is the matter with you?"

"I just.. Thought you were an apple. The stick was to make sure it wasn't a trap or something like that," Hera said.

The apple opened its mouth a few times as if trying to find the words to reply.

"Why, for the system's sake, would anyone put a trap in the middle of a forest?" the green apple asked.

"Well, this is a test, right? I don't know what to expect. I'm thirsty and hungry, and you kind of looked tasty," Hera replied.

"If you are thirsty, just drink water from the river. And hungry, just eat some bark or whatever you humans eat. What do I have to do with any of that?"

The apple jumped up and down, spinning in place to face Hera more easily.

"Can I drink that water? I wasn't sure I could, so I was trying to see if any animals were drinking from it."

"Oh, for the love of... Don't tell me you are here without even having the observer or inspect skills," the apple rolled its eyes.

Hera needed a moment to process that phrase. Seeing an apple talk and roll its eyes was offputting. When she gathered her thoughts, she realized. Using [Inspect] or [Observe] never even crossed her mind. She looked down, blus.h.i.+ng a bit before replying.

"I... forgot I could."

"You, forgot...." the apple shook its body like a disapproving teacher, "Kid, you need to step up your game if you wanna get through this. Otherwise, you're screwed."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you," Hera replied.

She stared at the apple creature for a while, still trying to figure out how it could be alive.

"What?" the apple asked.

"Nothing, sorry... do you have a name?" Hera asked.

"Yes, I have a name. Do you think only humans can have names?" the apple creature huffed.

"No, I didn't mean like that. You are just the first talking mons... creature I've ever seen, so I'm not sure how this all works. Can we start over? I'm Hera nice to meet you,"

She attempted to hold out her hand but changed her mind midway giving the apple a slight bow.

"Oh, that was creepy. Do you always go around bowing to people?" the creature asked.

"Well, no. But you are not actually people," Hera replied with a smile.

The apple squinted while staring at the recruit.

"Touché, maybe you are not as slow as it seemed. I'm Peaches. Nice to meet you."

"Peaches? But you look like an a..."

"I LOOK LIKE WHAT?"

Before Hera could finish the sentence, Peaches yelled towards her. Hera was taken aback, not only by the reaction but by the fact that even without a nose or eyebrows, peaches seemed to be frowning.

"Like an... an... adorable teddy bear. Calling you a fruit seems unfair," she finally said.

Peaches squinted even harder at Hera.

"You know, I don't like you. Too flattery, too absent-minded. Get lost so I can go back to my nap," the creature said while looking back towards the creek.

Hera frowned, why Peaches was so mean to her? She did nothing to deserve that.

All she did was poke him with a stick...

Wake him from his nap...

Treat him like a monster…

Said she wanted to eat him…

And called him an apple...

Realizing she was in the wrong, Hera agreed that it was better to leave him alone. The problem remained, she needed some information.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, Peaches. And I don't want to cause you any more trouble, but can you tell me what's around here?" she asked.

Letting out a lengthy sigh, Peaches turned around again.

"Around here? There is a forest, then trees, then forest, then trees, more forest over there, and more trees that way, a bunch of wood through there and more forest here. What else do you expect to find in a place like this?"

While talking, Peaches tilted his head towards various directions, Hera paid attention to where he pointed. It almost formed a compa.s.s rose. She picked her tablet and quickly made a note about it on the map, along with marking the point where he mentioned wood. It could be nothing, but it was a weird way to talk about trees.

"Thank you. I'm just going to drink some water and be on my way then," she said.

"Why are you telling me? Just do whatever you want," he grumbled.

Hera kneeled near the water and activated her [Inspect].

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Mineral Water

H20 - Polar inorganic compound

t.i.tle - Universal solvent

Water from a mineral spring.

This drinkable water is rich in calcium and magnesium.

It is considered hard water.

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There weren't any apparent problems, so Hera drank some water. It was colder than she expected, and it had a distinct flavor than the water she would buy in a store. It was more refres.h.i.+ng in a way.

Hera looked at Peaches, who was still with his eyes open, looking at the forest. She wanted to know what type of creature he was. However, remembering what happened when she used that skill on Helena, she thought it was better not to invade his privacy.

Before getting up, Hera washed her face with the water.

"Thank you for your help. I will be going now," She said, unsure if that was the right thing to do.

Peaches just looked at her before closing his eyes. Hera started walking in the direction he said there was wood. For some reason, his phrasing was bugging her. She moved closer to the first tree before looking back at the river. That giant talking green apple was there, unmoving as an old man resting by the river. Before leaving, she quickly activated her [Observe].

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Peaches

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She let out a sigh.

"Well, I guess it was too much to ask."

Turning around, she kept going in the direction of 'wood', hoping she would find some sort of clue about what to do next.

As she left, the giant talking apple opened his eyes and saw a notification.

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Target by low level [Observe]

[Disguise] in effect

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"Honestly, this new batch has no manners," Peaches mumbled.