Meera walked on the tree branch as if she were on the ground. She had levelled Tree Walker up to Level 10. This skill was levelling up faster than even Climbing, which was at Level 11. The combination of these two had given her enough confidence to walk on the branches upright and hop from tree to tree like a—she hated to admit it—a monkey.
She walked to the edge of the branch and jumped off to catch the next branch, and swung herself around to plant her feet firmly on the branch. The only thing missing was the vines, or she would have been swinging in the trees like Tarzan.
She dusted her hands and ran for the branch lower than the one she was on. It was a difficult jump, but she executed it as she knew she would. The branch creaked from her weight, but it held. A few jumps, and she was back on the ground.
Silas didn’t even turn as she moved the ladle around in the vat, which prepared their food.
“Oh, you’re back,” he said.
“Yes, did all the tree hopping you asked for and circled around to ensure we’re good and alone?”
Now, he smiled. “Well, brother, it looks like you’ll have someone helping you when scouting.”
Cossus didn’t even listen, as he was snoring away.
Silas just shook his head. “Come, eat.”
Meera thanked him as she took her bowl and had her lunch. They ate in silence until Silas kicked his brother awake, and then they bickered about who was adopted and who was found in a ditch. Just the basic sibling banter, which, given their history of Silas being sold to the guild, they never got to do in their younger years. Then Cossus fell back down to nap.
“How’s Eagle Eye going?” Silas asked.
Not good. That was what Meera wanted to say, but she said. “Not too bad. I feel like I’m getting the hang of it.”
Silas nodded and slurped a spoonful of his stew. “See, this is where we hit the disadvantage of your ability. You can steal any skill, but you’re not necessarily prepared for it. As Cossus said, two more skills before this prepare you to take this one on. You didn’t get the advantage of having prepared yourself, but regardless, we’ll make the best of it. I think I have a way of getting you up to speed with Eagle Eye.”
“You do?” Cossus asked, somehow getting up at the right time. “How?”
Silas smiled knowingly. “It’s the same way you got used to it.”
“Target practice.”
After lunch, the pots and pans were washed and squared away. Silas called her over, and she practically skipped over to him.
“So, what do I do? Am I going to learn to shoot from a bow and arrow as well?” It was hard for Meera to contain her excitement.
“Truth be told, you don’t have the strength stat to even pull back the string on my bow,” Silas said, almost ruining her mood. “No, we’ll be using another weapon suited for you.” He gestured to the gleaming circles on her wrists.
She had used these as throwing weapons to kill a bunch of monkeys before, so why not make it her primary form of throwing weapon? After all, that was what a Chakram was.
He pointed to a tree to their left. “Now, see that leaf sticking out on the tree trunk.”
“I do.”
“Hit it with your chakram. But do it without activating Eagle Eye first.”
She nodded and looked at the tree, which stood more than ten feet away. She got into position and launched the chakram like a frisbee. Safe to say that the chakram hit the tree but not the tree that Silas had pointed to, but more like the third tree to its left, which of course, Cossus found hilarious.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
She raised a hand to retrieve the chakram, but Silas lowered her hand. “Leave that for reference and use your other one.”
She took the other chakram off and took aim, but before she threw it, Silas said, “Activate Eagle Eye.”
Meera gulped.
“And when you do, I want you to focus on that tree and on that leaf alone,” he added. “Nothing else should matter. You hear me. Eyes on that leaf alone. Let the rest of the world fall away.”
She nodded and activated Eagle Eye. Once again, her vision became clear and zoomed in a hundred times. The colours that were muted before became sharp. She had tried to get a handle on the zoom before but not with much luck, and this time was shaping up to be the same.
“Focus on the leaf, Meera,” Silas said from behind her. “And only the leaf.”
She had to move her eyes a little, which was not a fun experience, but she found the leaf and focused on it. At first, her entire vision was the green of the leaf, as if she had zoomed in on it too much, but she willed herself to pull back, and after a few tense seconds, it worked. Her vision pulled back to the point where she could see the leaf fully. She pulled back some more, where she was comfortable enough to throw her chakram at it.
She took a deep breath and threw her death frisbee at the leaf. It flew straight and true. A moment later, the chakram wedged itself in the tree trunk, right above the leaf.
Meera let out a shout in excitement and jumped up. “That was so close. I almost did it!”
Eagle Eye did its thing where it hit her with vertigo, but not as much as before. She almost shut it off but decided to keep it on a little longer. She turned around and focused on Silas, and her vision zoomed out till it was about the same as her normal vision.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Eagle Eye has reached Level 2]
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Meera said.
“Good,” Silas said. “Now, let’s bump everything up a notch. I want you to climb trees, find a target ten feet away, activate your Eagle Eye, and shoot. Once you’ve built some confidence and more levels, I want you to start doing that on that run.”
“Okay.” Meera waved and ran off to find a new tree, all the while keeping her Eagle Eye active. It’s high time I stop playing things safe. My journey with them will end soon, and I need to get as strong as possible, for Neel’s sake.
----------------------------------------
Meera jumped from tree to tree, throwing her chakram at random branches and trees. Her aim was drastically getting better with each throw. Eagle Eye was a boon to any archer. She knew why Cossus never missed. With eyes like these, it was almost impossible to miss.
That’s not all they helped with. They let her see almost as well as day at night, though it never truly got dark here, thanks to Mirithia.
She aimed at the next branch and let her chakram fly. It zipped through the air, creating a whooshing sound, and cut the branch in half, which tumbled to the ground. Meera recalled it and ran for her next target. She even punched tree trunks with her chakrams, using the power of Monkey Fist. The trees were thicker here, so she had no trouble leaving behind big gashes while still leaving the tree intact.
She heard the notification bells go off but didn’t look at them yet, deciding to get to them when she returned to camp. She practiced some more throws and punches while jumping from tree to tree. To the point, she realized that she had come quite far from camp. She would have been worried about finding her way back, but luckily, she had left enough marks on the trees to know which way to go.
She decided it was time to make her way back when her stomach grumbled. She took a sip from her waterskin, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blue flower about thirty feet away. She had never tried to hit anything that far away.
She zoomed in a little with her Eagle Eyes, making sure that blue furry flower was her only focus, got in position, and threw her chakram at it. Her chakram was on the right path, and just as it looked like she was about to hit it, the flower disappeared. Her chakram impaled itself in the branch the flower was on.
Meera frowned, zoomed in further, and gasped when a Nightcrawler Monkey was poking at her chakram.
Shit! She instinctively called her chakram back. The monkey was definitely surprised at the shiny flying disc, and then he did what all monkeys did when they found something they wanted—he began hollering and squealing, which alerted his friends.
After two days of peace, the monkeys had found them again…all thanks to her.
She saw the trees shake and leaves rustle as the monkeys’ brethren heard its call. Many joined him on his branch, and others popped their heads down to look straight at her. There must’ve been three dozen or more.
The worst part was she had to deactivate her Eagle Eyes, or she was going to run out of stamina, and she had a feeling she would need it. But before deactivating them, she launched both her chakrams simultaneously with her right hand. She didn’t trust herself to throw well enough to hit anything with her left.
Her first chakram ended up beheading two monkeys and leaving a bloody gash in the third’s neck. The second chakram only managed to kill one monkey before embedding itself in the subsequent branch.
More notification bells went off, and she knew her class ability had been activated. The monkeys began hollering, and she ran, recalling her chakrams as she ran and shut off Eagle Eye. The world went dark—not totally dark—but compared to Eagle Eye, it might as well have.
She didn’t need to turn around to see the monkeys chasing her.
Why am I the bait again?