Double-checking his Interface descriptions, nothing changed. Yet the Infusion felt more potent, like it could last longer or was moderately more effective. The difference was palpable to Luke, even if the Interface didn’t pick up on it.

The longer he was in this integrated world of magic, the more he felt the Interface wasn’t quite as all-knowing as it let on. Several intricacies of his class were never explained, and the full use of every piece of equipment and skill was up to him. When the Infusion was placed on himself by this powered-up wand form of Xera, he felt even faster.

This discovery pushed the wall Luke started to face a bit further. Despite having skill points, none could be spent. The Interface only informed him his remaining skills, including Roll of the Reaver, couldn’t be upgraded until he reached the next tier.

Moving on, Luke observed the changes in his odd party of four personalities. Sooty was as stuck as he was; Wayfinder remained unchanged. The experience of the ghouls all piled onto Xera, letting her reach level 8, up from level 7, in only one fight.

He smothered the pang of jealousy about to enter into his heart. Xera reaching more of her potential was good for Luke and his two other companions. He’d already met the stat steal condition, so he’d only have to get her to level ten—something he needed to accomplish as fast as possible.

Luke was caught between not rushing too fast, risking an irreversible mistake, and making sure not to go too slow. The clock in his upper vision was ominously ticking down his remaining time.

[05:59:58]

He had less than six hours to take the heart of the Spectral Lord. Otherwise, it was his heart that would be taken by this tomb.

Xera, oblivious to the gravity of their situation, bubbled over with enthusiasm. "I'm totally killing it with these upgrades! Before you know it, old Silent-But-Deadly there won't be out-ranking me! He doesn't even talk," she said, the wand's crystal tip gesturing playfully toward Whispering Edge.

"You bubbly fool, not every weapon's been blessed with speech. Whispering Edge there, it's silent as the grave, not a peep. It’s not sentient, unlike some of us, you daft wand sword," Wayfinder explained with a hint of exasperation.

“It’s Sword Wand, grumpy compass! Or Xera, why don’t you ever call anyone by their names, huh? And why can’t he talk? Don’t all weapons talk? Even a compass can talk!”

Sooty had already gotten tired of the two arguing and clicked at the two artifacts.

Luke quickly replied, “Xera, very few weapons and equipment are sentient, let alone able to speak. You and Wayfinder are unique. I doubt even on the outside I’ll find anything like the two of you anytime soon.”

Xera’s reply had a mix of emotions. “Of course I’m unique, but thanks for the confidence boost! Huh, I figured since I could talk, all swords could. Even if they don’t have the wand part. Then again, I am a special sword wand, fine. I’ll leave Mr. Silent alone. The compass is enough for both of them anyway.”

Seeing they were about to argue more, Luke threw both the compass and sword wand away momentarily. He wanted some silence to think, not caring if that was dangerous or not. Sooty was enough of a guard by herself. Bringing out his propensity to think out loud, Luke started to talk, letting Sooty look at him as he did so.

“The mirrors have monsters, and who knows what else is behind them? But so far, it only seems they shatter and let them out if I look directly at them. That’s a massive issue. This time was okay, but what if something comes out that I can’t handle?” His voice had taken a calm tone. He let his now free hands feel the stone beneath him. The cool touch was refreshing.

He looked at his friend, Sooty, and asked her, “What do you think, Sooty? How do we handle the mirrors?”

His bird buddy paused in thought. Then, an emotion was sent over the Reaver’s Link. A vague sense of: I try.

Sooty looked at the mirror right behind Luke, and for a tense moment, they waited. Before Luke could ask what she saw through the fragmented communication of Reaver’s Link, a cracking sound was heard. Sooty's attempt didn’t work either.

Luke hurriedly got off the ground and ran over to the two discarded objects. With a new mirror breaking, he ignored their complaints temporarily.

Sooty was already fighting a mass of skeletons. This mirror was wider, so groups of six were coming out together. Deciding to test out the damage difference with the optimized Infusion, Luke changed Xera back to a sword but made sure to keep Essence Bond back.

Instead, he used it on the skeletons, and Sooty immediately spread the bond with Essence Screech. The vibrations from Sooty spread out in a cone. Then, including the skeletons being let out by the shattered mirror, each one turned into bone dust. Their bones scattered across the floor, and the light in their eye sockets emptied.

Wayfinder broke the silence, his voice carrying a note of respect. "Looks like you and the wee crow have come into your own, handling those bone-rattlers like they're naught but flies. You're shaping up to be a proper Reaver, lad. Time to ponder on what that truly means—there's more to it than you've uncovered so far."

Luke mulled over Wayfinder's words. The essence of being a Reaver was still a mystery to him, a puzzle with pieces scattered across his journey. What does being a Reaver mean? Luke didn’t have much of a clue on that. He needed this class to survive and keep Sooty safe. As for the greater meaning behind his class, he’d think about it after he left the tomb.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A lot of the shocking changes Luke experienced since being plopped in front of two goblins had been intentionally bottled up by him. He was too worried about trying to survive to overly question things. Like what exactly was the Interface? Why was he given the option to be a Reaver? Where was his dad and everyone else who disappeared? They were here too, right? He dearly hoped so. Shaking his head, Luke stopped his train of thought.

None of that mattered right now. With less than six hours left, only one goal needed to be focused on. Reaching and killing the Spectral Lord. But the advice of the stone human contradicted rushing it. Xera was required to grow more for him to have a chance to come out of the tomb alive. On that note, despite the ease of the skeletons, the experience they gave was enough to bring her to level eight.

"No. It's definitely me. I've been around for centuries, and I'm tailor-made for Reavers. I'm without a doubt his most valuable artifact!" Xera exclaimed with exasperation and pride, her voice escalating as she vied for the title.

"Is that so? Well, lass, I've got eons on you, I do. I've watched empires rise and fall, and our lad here has barely scratched the surface of what I can do. You're not winning this one, girl. What's a wand sword stuck in storage going to know about the world?" Wayfinder countered, his tone brimming with the confidence of age and experience.

Xera, stung by the jab, retorted with a huff, "You're a mean old... old... compass! And I told you, I'm a sword wand." Her voice was tinged with frustration and a defiant high spirit, unwilling to concede the point.

Luke quickly remembered why he threw these two away to think in peace. Still, he needed them for his idea. Luke laid out his plan by interrupting the dispute with a tone of authority. "Alright, you two, cut it out for now. I've thought of a way to deal with these mirrors."

Wayfinder's curiosity piqued, he responded promptly, "I'm listening, lad. What’s the plan?"

"Spill the beans! I'm dying to hear this." Xera's voice bubbled with her characteristic vivacity.

Luke detailed his strategy, "It's straightforward. I'll place Wayfinder next to you, Xera. He'll watch the mirror and report back."

"Do I have to? I can handle it myself. And keep that compass away from me!" Xera’s mood quickly turned to annoyance, her voice filled with a playful yet genuine reluctance.

"The wee wand sword's right. She's capable enough on her own—no need to mix unless it's called for. I'm not keen on getting too cozy with that wand sword of yours, anyhow," Wayfinder chimed in, subtly siding with Xera this time.

“It’s sword wand!” Xera started up with fiery passion again.

They keep going in circles over this, don’t they? Luke was becoming exasperated.

“Save the petty arguments. My heart doesn’t have time for your bickering. Both of you quiet before I try to finish this with Whispering Edge and Sooty alone.” Luke needed them to focus.

Both the artifacts became silent. He slowly had Xera look at the next mirror. Her voice echoed back down to Luke’s ears.

With a lilt of mischief, Xera teased, "Guess what I spy with my little eye?"

Not in the mood for games, Luke responded tersely, "Monsters. Which kind, Xera?"

"Aww, you're no fun! Alright, it's a whole bunch of siege beasts, about seventy or so, all around level 16. Tough as old boots, they are—you won't be able to knock them down in one go," Xera replied, her playful tone shifting to one of informative seriousness as she noted Luke's lack of amusement.

"Siege beasts? That's a new one on me," Luke mused, voicing his lack of familiarity with such creatures.

Wayfinder piped up with an explanation, "Aye, they're called siege beasts for a reason. In the old days, they'd be used to bash down city walls. They're hardy buggers, able to dish out a solid thump and shrug off a fair bit of punishment."

"And there’s seventy of those behind that mirror if we look? Talk about a death trap, at least for the current team." Luke continued, “Forget about that side then. What about the other side, Xera?”

“About thirty serpent humanoids, their average level is 14. Let me sword them. I’ll slice and dice them with some bam and wam before they know what hit ‘em!” Xera quickly returned to her usual vernacular.

Luke began to think. They could avoid both by looking straight ahead, but he had a feeling you couldn’t pass this area without facing a certain amount of mirrors. Even if that wasn’t the case, Xera needed to be upgraded to rare, and the only way to do that was to gain experience. Taking a slight risk, he held Xera back into a two-handed grip. He exhaled a small amount of air, quickly closing and reopening his eyes.

And he abruptly glanced at the mirror with the serpent humanoids. The mirror cracked into pieces as if his glare was deadly. Two serpent humanoids began wrenching themselves out of the frame of the now broken mirror. Sooty tackled one, having her beak act as her sword. Luke took his literal sword, Xera, and flourished on the serpentine head. The blade managed to slice halfway through. Twisting Xera out, then piercing her at the previously created sword cut, the Serpent quickly stopped moving.

Placing Essence Bond on Xera, the sword wand began to shred the monsters before him. Sooty would come in with her talons when needed, turning the mirror frame into a serpent meat grinder. Once the backlog behind the mirror became suitable, Luke backstepped for a moment.

Sooty let out her screech, and the damaging vibration had the large group slow in their rush to leave their cage behind the mirror. Luke switched Xera to her wand form, then launched an Essence Lance through her. Mentally shattering it for the AOE effect, the blizzard rained down on the serpent humanoids and made short work of the group.

As the lance did its job, the two serpents at the first rank of the group sprayed a wave of poison onto Luke. The sting was intense and only getting worse. He suppressed the urge to back off and unsheathed Whispering Edge.

Luke took down the stragglers with Whispering Edge while Xera was stuck in wand form and sheared through them. Those who had survived the double AOE tactic of Sooty and his barely hung on to life as it is. One splitting strike from Whispering Edge, and they went to Snake People heaven.

“See! What did I tell you? I did the wam with the sword and the bam with the wand. It’s super effective. Now, where’s my praise master?” Xera asked Luke.

“Take the levels. You should be ready to upgrade to rare quality, right?” Luke asked to confirm.

The Interface was done calculating, and Xera’s level began to rocket up from eight all the way to twelve, surpassing the final requirement to evolve to rare quality. Xera let out a groan of pleasure involuntarily. After the singular noise, the sword wand became silent. Xera was about to reach the minimum quality required for Luke to have a real chance at defeating the Spectral Lord, at least according to the advice of the stone human trial guardian. The runes still present around the wand expanded, and the silver blue mist completely enveloped the wand. The wand head grew in size, and the wooden shaft twisted and reformed.

Xera was about to evolve yet again.