Meera awoke to Zona reading her book and thankfully not having any arrows in her eye or throat. Losing her eye was particularly bad because of the pain, but it didn't affect her vision much.

She stood, dusted herself off, and walked to the scary Warden. Her white hair and especially her red eyes added to her frightening factor. Not to mention that despite those two things and her clothes, which were also primarily white, she had blended herself into the treeline and shrubs.

Does she have a camouflage skill?

"Should we go again?" Meera asked.

Zona raised a hand and continued reading. Meera remembered what she had said last time about attacking when the opponent was distracted. Meera recalled her level 2 chakrams that were lying about and waited for a minute while Zona kept reading.

She did say to take advantage of the situation.

Meera shrugged and launched both chakrams at the Archer Warden. Zona casually jumped ten feet into the air and waltzed over the chakrams while still reading her book. Meera switched the trajectory of her chakrams and sent them after her foe.

This time, she swayed away from the chakrams while reading her book.

Meera brought her chakrams around, and before Zona could jump away, Meera extended her hand and activated Vampiric Chains. As Meera expected, Zona dodged to the right, but her chakrams were on the way.

She bent forward and easily avoided the chakrams themselves but not their Searing effect. It opened a nice long bloody line across her back. Meera had to give credit to the woman. She did not flinch or even make a sound of discomfort. But she did shut her book.

"Let me guess, your chakrams have a secret effect," Zona said.

"They do." Meera couldn't help smiling. "They can cut a few inches outside their length."

Zona nodded and drew her bow. Without saying anything, she notched an arrow. Meera waited for the arrow to fly, then used Mirror Step and got out of range. But another arrow was coming for her already.

She Stepped away to safety. Her constant avoidance of these arrows was the only thing keeping her alive, but doing so also stopped her from any offensive maneuvers. But she had to try something.

She flicked her hand, and her chakrams flew towards the archer. Zona jumped in the air, and this time, she stepped on one of them to jump even higher. This time, she launched two more arrows at Meera.

Instead of moving away, Meera moved towards her. She had killed Pallas this way, so why not her? She activated Mirror Blast, but Zona was nowhere to be found when the light went down. She had disappeared.

Meera groaned. Not again.

But she wasn't disappointed for long as three arrows struck her. One in her chest, which wasn't that deep. Her armor and her skills prevented it from reaching her heart. Her neck and face didn't have much protection, so those were the ones that killed her.

When Meera awoke, Brison stood beside her, staring down critically.

"Should I stay here for a while if you're going to keep dying so quickly?" He asked, adding insult to injury while offering Meera her hand.

"Very funny." Meera took it and pushed herself up to her feet.

"Word of advice, you better pick up your game, lass. She doesn't know the meaning of going easy."

To Meera's surprise, Zona was not reading her book but waited for Meera to return so she could kill her again.

"Thanks," Meera said to Brison. "But I think I had deduced that myself."

Brison patted her back. "I wish you luck and hope the gods grant me some as well. For I am nowhere closer to finding out how to kill the Heart."

That's not good. That was what Meera wanted to say, but instead, she stated, "I'm sure you'll find it. We still have five days left."

"Thanks.

Meera walked over to Zona once Brison left. She was inspecting her bow, but her eyes swiveled to Meera, making her stop in her tracks.

"Are you ready?" Zona asked.

"Yes, I think so."

"Are you? Really?"

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Meera was about to reply that she was, but Zona's look was reminiscent of her caretaker, Mrs. Kaur, who would ask her questions like these to trick her into another agonizing lecture. So, Meera thought about what she was missing.

Her eyes widened. "Sorry, not ready. Can you please give me a moment to see what skill I got?"

"Sure," she said nonchalantly.

"You're going to riddle me with arrows, aren't you?"

Zona snorted, but there was no humor on her face. "I might. But that is a chance you're going to have to take."

With that suspicious response, Meera activated Mirror shields around her and opened her notifications.

*ding!*

[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill, Arrow Tempest. Arrow Tempest – Type: Active. You can launch a concentrated storm of arrows, saturating a designated area with deadly projectiles. Would you like to acquire this skill?]

*ding!*

[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill of Camouflage. Camouflage – Type: Active. You can blend seamlessly into your surroundings, making it difficult for enemies to detect you. Would you like to acquire this skill?]

Meera stared at the two skills, and neither seemed fascinating to her. She didn't know how Arrow Tempest worked, but she did have a plethora of chakrams that could qualify for this skill. As for Camouflage, well, she could change the colors of her armor to match her surroundings, and she had her phantoms to confuse her enemies.

"You don't look impressed?" Zona asked.

"I got Arrow Tempest and Camouflage," Meera said.

"Pick Camouflage," she said without missing a beat.

"But I already have something similar to that skill," Meera replied and showed her how her armor worked. She even showed Zona her Mirror Phantoms skill.

"Doesn't matter. Pick the Camouflage skill," the Warden said.

"But—"

"You know what your problem is, Meera?"

I guess you're about to tell me.

"You told Pallas that you wanted to build your skills to be more like an assassin, yet you pick the flashiest skills—something a trained assassin would never do. Assassins work by hiding in the shadows and slicing off their opponent's throats when the time is right. You attack your foes head-on, thus making your task difficult. Take our fight, for example, you are facing an experienced and stronger archer. Instead of running into the forest where you would have cover and obstacles to save yourself, you're standing out in the open, trying to face me head-on. I'm not one of your earlier opponents. You cannot face me as you fought them. I do not and will not fight fairly, especially in the open. Out of all the Wardens, I'm the one that is the closest to an assassin."

That perked up Meera's ears. "So, what should I do?"

"Pick Camouflage."

"No, not that, I meant as a whole."

"Fight dirty. All the time. That blast you did could easily be diversion enough to run and hide. Those chains you threw at me would have a much better chance of catching your foes if you launched them from the shadows. You have two affinities—Mirror and Shadow. Use them both. Hide in the shadows and strike with your mirrors. As for your armor, that would take too long as you manually changed parts of your armor's colors. Camouflage will do that for you without much thought. Pick Camouflage, and let's begin."

*ding!*

[You have acquired the skill Camouflage – Level 1]

"I'll give you a head start," Zona said. "Go run to the trees and…"

Meera never let her finish and had already teleported to the trees. She activated Camouflage and was not prepared for the results. With Shroud of Shadows, she became totally invisible to everyone and only saw a faint outline of herself. But with this, she hardly saw herself, but she was barely indifferent from the tree's bark.

She could still see herself, but it was surreal. She couldn't wait to try this skill some more like Zona had said.

There was a twang of the bow, and an arrow ripped through her throat. The last thing Meera saw before she died was Zona appearing out of the tree and shaking her head in disapproval.

This time, Brison just had a look of utter disappointment. "I know I shouldn't say this, but I've been keeping count, and you've died the most out of everyone by a large margin."

"You're right. You shouldn't have said that." Meera was miffed, but her fear of the silent archer had only risen. She stood and nodded to Brison. "Thanks for bringing me back."

"Just doing my job." He nodded and walked off to a hut that was not there before, meaning he had decided to make this peak his personal base.

Meera would be lying if that didn't hurt her ego by a large margin. She didn't leave the forest and waved to Zona. "Let's begin."

This time, Meera activated Shroud of Shadows and ran deep into the forest, but as she ran, she threw out her tiny mirrors, ensuring she had enough teleportation points. From what she saw with her Mirror Eagle Perceptivity skill, Zona had not moved from the spot and was still inspecting her bow.

Meera ran some more, and when she couldn't see the archer, she climbed up a tree and waited. She pulled off her level 2 chakrams, waited, and listened. She cursed Lexa for that ear-deafening thunder, or she could use her gem and know where the Archer Warden was coming from.

She was hidden enough to know that her Shroud would keep her entirely invisible, so she kept it up.

Twang!

Meera ducked instinctively, and it was a good thing, too, as an arrow flew overhead, hitting the leaves overhead. They fell on her but didn't do much otherwise.

Her branch swayed a little. Meera's eyes widened.

Zona had appeared behind her with an arrow pointed at her head. "Reveal yourself."

Meera desperately looked for a mirror, she had left a few on the ground. But they were all covered with the leaves from earlier. She could jump down but wouldn't be fast enough to outrun her arrow.

"I won't ask again."

Meera sighed and shut off Shroud of Shadows. "How did you know I was here?"

"Your footprints on the ground ended at this tree," she replied.

Meera squeezed her eyes shut. Today is just not my day.

"Now, it makes me think how you've survived all this time on luck alone," Zona said.

"How did you even see my footprints in all this darkness?" Meera asked.

"You see my eyes. They see in pitch black as it were the brightest of day."

Meera turned to her fully with a big frown. "You mean you don't have Albinism?"

"What is that?"

"It's a disease…"

"I don't have any disease. I was born on the ice islands of Ealisto. My people, the Daori, all have these superior eyes to hunt on the ice and the hair and skin to blend in better. Take that into account next time." She pulled back on her bowstring.

Meera sighed. "One more death…"

"One more lesson."