Chapter 406: A different option
Hera locked the door to the room and confirmed that Alex was still inside the dungeon. Now that she had an idea of where the temple could be, her first instinct was to run to the old Jungle Village right away, but she wasn't sure if that was the best option. She considered what she found a solid lead, but I was still just a guess. While coming back to the hotel, Hera kept thinking about her guide skill. Using it was an option, but if her guess wasn't right, she might end up wasting her skill. Then again, not using it right now could be a mistake. If she could get a confirmation, she would at least avoid running around after nothing. When she arrived at the hotel, Hera stopped for a moment. Ever since she got the skill, she has been too careful with it. It was fine if she wanted to save it for something important, but now that she actually had an actual question, she was second-guessing herself. Even if she just got a no as an answer, that was already more than she currently had. And if she got a yes, well, that's all for the better.
After casting her sound barrier in the entire room, Hera sat on the bed and called the guide, "I call upon the Guide of the Waperath Jungle. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."
She looked around, waiting for the guide to appear. A noise came from the wardrobe, and it opened, with a lion walking on two legs and with blue swimming trunks which had several stamps of colorful flowers. The lion's mane was shorter than Hera was used to. It was stylized as if it was the guide's golden hair. There was also a seashell necklace around his neck. He approached Hera with a large smile, "Hey, dude. Thanks for calling me to a place this tight. Mind if I flop on the bed?"
"Not at all, just try not to break it. Also, do you mind coming to this one? You look like you were just on the beach, and I don't want my friend's bed getting wet," Hera got up after the initial shock.
"Don't worry about it, dude. I'm dry as a desert here, and when I come through my door, all the sand that was on me goes away. It would be really bad if you guys got your hands on that stuff," the lion's voice was rough, but he spoke very slowly and seemed to be relaxed with the entire situation.
"Why is that?"
"You guys are too smart, man. With one grain of sand, you might figure out how to make a new doorway or some shit."
"Can that really happen?"
The guide shrugged, "I don't know, but if anyone can figure that out, are you, humans," He jumped on the bed with a smile and just kept staring at the ceiling for a moment, "Man, I need to get me one of these."
"The bed?"
"Nah, the sheets. It's like being covered by the waves of a blue sea," the guide closed his eyes and smiled.
"If you like this, you should try a bed made with cloud wool. Maybe Capri can give you one," Hera stroked the bed. It was comfortable, but the one made with cloud wool was on a completely different level. Maybe this is why she never paid much attention to the beds she was in during this trip. She had a cloud bed, making everything else just feel bland.
"Oh, little dude with wings. He's fun. A bit weird, always saying how he's amazing and stuff, but he's still cool."
"Really?" Hera turned to the guide, "I didn't expect you two to know each other. Capri's room is kind of far away."
"He and I go way back. Besides, I know everyone."
"Wait, you know all the guides?" Hera asked.
"Well. Sort of. I don't know, know everyone, but I know them. You know?"
"So… you know about them, but you don't know all of them personally?"
"That's it. Thanks, dude," the lion did some finger guns to Hera.
"No problem," Hera smiled, "By the way. What's your name?"
"It's Johnny."
"Johnny?" Hera gasped.
"Yeah, but if you think that brings bad memories, you can call me lion, surfer, or just dude," Johnny looked at Hera.
"No, it's not that. I just didn't expect it. I mean, all the other guides had… unique names," Hera scratched the back of her head.
"That's fair, dude. But there are just so many of us that names get weird," Johnny chuckled.
"Really? How many?"
"I think there are an… Oh. Sorry, dude, I can't say that one. Apparently, I already said too much. The system is nagging me to start the timer and answer what you want to know," Johnny sat up on the bed, "Mind if we start now?" Johnny pointed down to the floor, and Hera noticed how a sundial appeared. It was completely covered in light except for just a tiny bit of shadow at the top.
"So... The shadow means how much time went by?" Hera asked, just to confirm she didn't get it wrong.
"That's right, dude. When all the light is gone, your time will be up. That sundial is a vintage item. I saw my people using it a long time ago."
"Vintage? It's more like ancient," Hera chuckled. Sundials were the kind of things you would only see in very old civilizations.
"Whatever, dude. Words don't mean anything. It's cool, and that's that."
"Hang on. Words mean a lot. What if I ask you something and don't get an answer because you meant one thing and I understood another?" Hera asked.
"Don't worry, dude. Just ask me, and I'll explain better. I'll even stop the timer while that is going on. Consider it a bonus for your connections skill," Johnny shrugged.
"Oh, that skill affects the guide one too?"
"Yep, but you don't have to worry about all that. Everything is done on our end," Johnny nodded, "Now, can we start?"
"One last thing. Can I ask about anything? Like, even things that happened potentially thousands of years ago?"
"Sure, dude. Depending on how long ago it was, things will be real boring, but it's your question. You can do what you want," Johnny winked at Hera.
"OK then. To start, give me a yes or no answer. Do you know the Blademaster? Someone with that specific title, I mean."
"I know a few. You need to be more specific, dude."
"This one usually travels in a group, and people call them the blademasters. From…" Hera tried to search for the files on her tablet, but she quickly got worried that it might take too long to find the file and even longer for Johnny to read it. She just pulled up the map that was made around that era. The Blademasters should be there, "Here, from this time."
"Ah… Yeah, I think I remember them. So the answer is yes, dude."
"OK, do you know where they went?"
"Dude, are we still doing the yes or no answer thing?"
"Yeah."
"Then it's a yes."
"Telling me where would waste all my time, right?"
"Nah, dude. Even with all your time, it wouldn't be enough for that answer. They have a groove to them that not everyone has."
"What does that mean?" Hera tilted her head.
"It means what it means. Everyone has that nice flow, but that Blademaster has something extra. It's like they are a burger with secret sauce," Johnny glanced up towards Hera, "Don't get me wrong, you can have an amazing burger even without something special. Nothing beats a chili cheeseburger after all, but if you have that sauce, then things get wild."
"I get it. I'm trying to chase that sauce," Hera nodded.
"Then you are doing it wrong, dude. The sauce is not something you chase after. It's something you find it yourself, even if the ingredients are something you got from someone else. And if that doesn't work, just change the chefs. Or maybe you need to change from burger to taco, or maybe hot dogs. That can work too."
"Wait, hang on. Now you lost me. The sauce would be a legacy, or an item, or something. The chef would be what? I thought it was the way I do things, but that's more like the dish, so it would be a hot dog. I'm lost," Hera was struggling to make sense of the analogy.
"What? No, dude, that part is just about the burger. Like if you are trying to open a food truck. The thing about the flow stops at the sauce," Johnny scratched his head.
"Why are you talking about food trucks?" Hera asked.
"I don't know, dude. I was talking about burgers, and it just came out."
Hera sighed and glanced at the sundial. She still should have around 2/3 of her time remaining. It was hard to say exactly since the dial didn't have any numbers, "OK, next question. Yes or no answer. At this time, everyone mentioned a temple, but no one talked about where it was. Was there more than one temple in the room?"
"No, just one."
"Can you tell me where it is?"
Johnny shook his head, "You don't have enough time for that, dude. And it wasn't my fault."
"It's OK. Can you tell me with a yes or no if the temple is near the old jungle village?"
"No, it's not near there."
"Really? I thought I had found a clue," Hera sighed.
"What clue?"
Hera pointed at the image with the three maps overlapping, at the location where she thought there was a secondary road, "Here. I found this and figured out it should be a road to the temple."
"Oh, this? No, it just led to a waterfall that the people in the village used to go to take baths and wash clothes."
"Is the temple around here?" Hera changed to a picture of the current map and pointed to the center of the jungle."
"No."
"How about here?" Hera pointed at the top right corner, the farthest place in the room."
"Also, no."
Hera asked about five more areas covering most of the room, but the answers were all the same.
"OK, it is around here?" Hera pointed at the city and circled her finger around the entire area covering the two doorways."
"No."
"C'mon. Is that temple even in the room? Are you telling me it was destroyed or something?" Hera leaned back on the bed, tossing her tablet to the side.
"No, dude. I would've told you if that was the case in the first question about that."
"OK, so how do I get there?" Hera gasped.
"Now you're asking the good questions, but that one I can't answer. Try something different, dude. I wanna help you," Johnny smiled and looked at the sundial. There was just around a quarter of the time remaining.
Hera thought for a moment, "It is in the room, but it's not anywhere in the room, so is it inside a dungeon?"
"That was a good guess, dude, but no."
"Is it like an attached room? Like this place is a hotel room, but there is a bathroom behind that door, and that is technically another room?"
"Dude, I never thought of it like that, but yea, totally!"Johnny seemed very excited.
"OK… but is there a way to enter the temple in this room?"
"There is."
"Can you tell me how?"
"C'mon, dude, you know that I can't tell you that."
"It was worth a shot," Hera smiled.
Johnny chuckled, "OK, I'll give you that."
"Is there someplace here that shows me how to get there?"
"There is."
"Is it in the city?"
"No."
Hera looked at the map, "It's in the heart of the jungle, isn't it?" she was staring at a large tree that was located in the center of the room.
"Yeah, dude, those things are always like that."
"Can you tell me what I need to do to find it? The way to the temple, I mean."
Johnny turned to the sundial. There was just 1/10 of it left, "You know what. You are a cool one. I'll tell you what to do when you get there. But dude, do me a favor and don't mention it to anyone. Some dudes might get really pissed at me for helping you out like that. I don't want them all up in my grill."
"No one will know. I promise," Hera smiled and pulled up her tablet to write down Johnny's explanation. She thought about recording what the guides said a long time ago, but that felt like an easy way to lose one of her strikes. After writing down all the explanation and saying goodbye to Johnny, Hera planned her route to the heart of the jungle. If there weren't any big problems, it would take about two days of travel to get there, but maybe it was better to do it in 3 days. That way she would leave the village about 50 kilometers away after spending the night there. Doing so would reduce the amount of time she would be in the middle of the jungle at night. All she had to do now was talk to Alex and then to Silah. One of those conversations wasn't something she was that excited to do.
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