Meera followed Brison, Dirik, and Pallas through a shimmering door into a round clearing with trees around them. There was a faint smell of roses in the air. A light breeze flowed through the trees, making the leaves rustle. It was beautiful.
Pallas outstretched his arms. "Welcome to the training world of Pallas."
Brison just sighed. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when it's time to go back." He walked off and wrote something in his book. A wooden hut formed outside of the circle amidst two large trees. He walked in and shut the door behind him.
"Now, the fun part begins." Pallas rubbed his hands together. "I will be your instructor, the overseer of your battles, and most of all, your advisor in all things related to skills. First, what we're going to do is discuss your skills and classes."
Meera was immediately on alert. Aside from Silas and Onyx, no one else knew about her class. Only people she trusted, and she didn't trust this man.
"Don't worry, I won't have you divulge your skills in front of the other. That will just ruin the fun of your bouts." He looked to Brison's hut and shouted. "I need another soundproof hut!"
Brison said nothing, but another hut popped up beside his.
"Dirik, go wait in the hut, please."
Dirik nodded and walked off without a word.
Pallas smiled widely and pulled out a thick tome from his Belt. "Meera, let's begin. Tell me everything about your skills and class."
"And you're sure you can help me?
"I most definitely can." Again, with that manic smile.
They can kill me even without knowing my class, so what harm in telling him?
"Okay, here goes."
Meera started by telling him about her class and her class ability before moving on to her skills, which were a lot.
[Name: Meera Singh]
[Age: 24]
[Race: Unnatural Human]
[Class: Mirror Image Hunter – Level 161]
[Class Ability: Stalker – Level 26]
Stats
[Health: 1202/1220]
[Stamina: 1078/1220]
[Mana: 1138/1450]
Attributes
[Constitution: 122]
[Power: 30]
[Dexterity: 93]
[Endurance: 122]
[Focus: 145]
[Agility: 96]
[Perception: 91]
Skills
[Ambush Tactics – Level 63]
[Shroud of Shadows – Level 51]
[Vampiric Chains - Level 19]
[Mirror Step - Level 71]
[Druvis Power - Level 17]
[Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity - Level 69]
[Mirror Shield - Level 42]
[Mirror Blast - Level 65]
[Mirror Shard Barrage - Level 27]
[Vitalize - Level 65]
[Mirror Wing – Level 30]
[Petrifying Surge - Level 1]
[Inferno Storm - Level 1]
[Mistbound Illusions - Level 18]
[Mist Concealment - Level 10]
General Skills
[Identify – Level 6]
[Mirror Affinity – Level 116]
[Climbing – Level 20]
[Tree Walker - Level 15]
[Potion Making - Level 1]
[Alpha Aura - Level 22]
[Wild Instincts - Level 22]
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[Charred Body - Level 15]
[Shadow Affinity - Level 32]
[Tactician's Gaze – Level 45]
[Prismatic Distortion - Level 13]
[Absorption - Level 30]
[Haunting Presence - Level 18]
[Spectral Resilience - Level 45]
[Blood Magic – Level 1]
[Soul Bond - Onyx the Stallion – Level 18]
[Negotiation Expertise – Level 1]
[Alcohol Tolerance – Level 1]
[Eyes of a Phoenix – Level 1]
Armor
[Armor of Mirrors - Level 45]
Pallas' eyes were the size of walnuts, and his hand moved at lightning speed as he jotted everything down as fast as Meera spoke. She did leave the part about how she acquired her armor or Onyx.
"Oh, my gods, I have so many questions," he said gleefully. "And your chakrams? How did you get those divine weapons?"
Meera told him the truth but kept everything about being from Earth out, nor that she was the Champion's sister. She finished with. "In other words, even I don't know why Midiea chose me."
"In all my life and travels, I have never seen a class and a class ability like that. Sure, the gods withheld one class from you, but they more than made up for it. In essence, you can shape your class and skills however you see fit." He jumped up like a little child given their favorite treat. "This is…I would say amazing, but even that won't do it service." He gripped Meera by the shoulders, picked her up, and spun her around. "You're awesome. You're a miracle. You have a class worthy of the Champion himself. No even better than the Champion."
"P-Please put me down. I'm about to vomit."
"Oh, sorry." He set her down, and Meera immediately fell to the ground and waited for the world to stop spinning. "I'm so sorry."
"Now, can you help me?" Meera asked, getting to her feet.
"Okay, serious talk time." His face grew grave, but what he was like inside, only the gods knew. "From your skills, I can imagine what sort of journey you've been on, but I did want to know what class you want to build?"
"Something like an assassin class," Meera said.
"Hmm, then I have some bad news for you." He rubbed his chin. "Well, not entirely bad news. You have some good skills for deception, which assassins rely on, but many of your skills are geared toward a brawler. Someone meant to fight head-on, which was why you could do what you did against my brother. It's not easy to match him, you know."
"So, your advice is…"
"Lose some of your skills that aren't geared towards your affinities. The mirror element was meant for you. With how high your Mirror Affinity is, I wouldn't recommend losing any mirror skills. Conversely, I would say the same about your shadow skills. You have two of them, which Shadow Affinity is enhancing. These two affinities are the base upon which you should build all other skills. Shadow skills are great for an assassin. Our Shade friend would have plenty, and you can ask him how many assassins his warlord employs. You can even pick up shadow skills geared for deception and leave your mirror skills for attacking."
"I have Mist Concealment and Mist Illusions for deception," Meera pointed out.
"Yes, you are correct, but honestly, I'm not a big fan of how reliant Mist Illusions is on mists. If you don't have mists, you cannot create illusions. Am I right?"
"Yes, but I can create Mists."
"At the cost of revealing your presence and only in a specific area around you." He shook his head. "If you want illusions, there are other skills that don't rely on other skills. I would get rid of both, but only if you can get a powerful shadow or mirror skill."
"Does the mirror element have an illusion skill?" Meera asked.
"Hmm…" He flipped through his big journal. "Mirror, mirror, mirror. Yes, found it." His face fell. "Oh."
"What?"
"I haven't met many mages who employ the mirror element, so my knowledge is limited."
"I have," Meera said. "The less that can be said about that witch, the better."
"Okay, coming back to how we can get you to a proper assassin or close enough," he said. "You need to raise your Dexterity. Your weapons are dexterous weapons, meaning their power increases when your Dexterity increases."
"It does?" Meera felt like she had wasted all her stat points by putting them in other attributes.
Pallas sighed and shook his head. "It's your Identify, that's the problem. It's too low. Once you get it to level 10, you can tell what sort of weapon it is—Power or Dexterity. Dexterity powers your chakrams. So, put more points in that, and you'll see a tremendous difference in the damage your chakrams do."
I'm not missing that anytime soon.
"One other tip I can give, which will be most important. You don't have to accept every new skill that is offered."
Meera felt like she had stabbed her in the heart.
"You would rather have fifteen skills working in synergy with each other versus a mishmash of skills that you thought sounded awesome." He paused. "Please don't cry."
"I'm not crying," Meera replied.
"You're tearing up."
"No, I'm not." She turned away from him, blinking rapidly to make the tears go away. "It's just that it's so hard not taking these new skills."
"Oh, believe me, I know. Sometimes, I see some skills and want to change my entire class to have that skill alone. But if I kept doing that, I would be nowhere near as strong as I am today. If you take away anything from what I've said, remember this, think about what you want your class to look like at, say, level 500, and work towards that. And if you constantly change your skills for new ones, you will be at a higher level, yes, but your skills will be really low, and you wouldn't be nearly as strong as you could be if you had kept your older skills."
Meera nodded. "Thank you. I never really thought about it like that. Anything else?"
"Only that, the mirror element is one of the flashier ones, so be prepared to fight when stealth does not go your way." He rubbed his chin. "Oh, what is this, Soul Bond? I've never seen a skill like that before?"
Meera almost told him but smirked. "I'll tell you later, as I don't feel like getting spun around again."
"I promise I won't do that." He clasped his hands. "Please."
"Okay, I'll tell you, but after our training session. Now, I'm going to see what skill I got from your brother." She moved for the soundproof hut.
He laughed. "I can't wait to hear about it, and if it's his Power-enhancing skill, drop Druvis Power."
"Thanks for the advice," Meera called. She knocked on the door and told Dirik he was up. She entered the hut, and the world quieted when she shut the door.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Armor of Mirrors has reached Level 46]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Ambush Tactics has reached Level 64]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Druvis Power has gained 3 levels and reached Level 20]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity has reached Level 70]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Shard Barrage has gained 2 levels and reached Level 29]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Vitalize has gained 2 levels and reached Level 67]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Spectral Resilience has gained 5 levels and reached Level 50]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Vampiric Chains has gained 4 levels and reached Level 23]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Shadow Affinity has gained reached Level 34. All of your shadow-based attacks will get a 3% boost.]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Petrifying Surge has gained 5 levels and reached Level 6]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Identify has reached Level 7. You can now Identify people up to eighty levels higher than you.]
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the general skill Iron Skin. You have a skin that has hardened over the years to iron. It acts as a protective shell that reduces the impact of incoming physical or magical damage. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill Furious Leap. Furious Leap – Type: Active. You can leap to mighty heights and crash with immense force, creating a shockwave and damaging your enemies and surroundings in the impact zone. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
Meera had seen both the skills in action, and they were both powerful, or Melas had made them seem powerful. As Pallas had said, it was better to keep some skills that worked in synergy. Meera decided to take Iron Skin. She already had Spectral Resilience to buff her physical defense, and this would add to it and give her magical defense as well.
*ding!*
[You have acquired the general skill Iron Skin – Level 1]
She waited a few more minutes to check her skills once more, and Pallas was right; she needed synergy. There was a knock on her door, and she opened it.
"Ready to fight?" Dirik asked.
Meera smiled. "Let's go."