Meera stepped out of Nelees' mirror with a heavy heart. The soldiers were still encamped there. After the undead army rushed out of the woods, double the number of soldiers were on guard. Some soldiers were patrolling along the forest's edge, while others inspected the bodies that littered the clearing between the wall and the forest.
She quickly changed her armor's coloring and shape so no one would suspect her as one of the ones who had taken the queen through the portal earlier. As it turned out, she worried for nothing, as the soldiers were busy.
She walked down the main road, looked at the closed city gates, and wondered if the Wardens would be coming back to collect their things. But she couldn't wait that long, and she had said all the goodbyes she could in one day.
She walked down the main road out of the city and took the road leading south. She didn't really know what direction was south but there was a sign on a wooden post that read Kantos, so she figured that was the correct way. She followed the road for some time before bringing out Onyx.
He appeared while neighing loudly. "Seemed like I had been trapped in there forever."
"Nice to see you too, Onyx."
What'd I miss?" He asked, excited.
"Oh, not a lot," she replied. "I'll tell you on the way."
"Where are we headed?"
"Drurith, the biggest city in all the worlds."
"I can't wait to see what that's like…wait, do I have to stay hidden again because of my deathly self."
"Afraid so, buddy, but don't worry. I'll bring you out as often as I can. This past week was a blitz."
"Wait, did you say a week? I've been sleeping for a week."
"Yes...sorry."
"What was so important that you had to keep me locked up?"
Meera snorted and told him of her adventures with people who started out as strangers and some even enemies and became her allies and close friends. She didn't go into many details as that would take too long, and she had just said goodbye to them, not knowing if she would ever see them again. Besides, she had a whole bunch of notifications waiting for her.
"Literally, so much happened, and you died a few dozen times, which means I died a few dozen times, and you didn't even tell me!" Onyx cried.
Meera chuckled. "Yes, sorry. I'll be sure to tell you the next time we're about to die. You know, bring you out for a final goodbye."
"You know that's not entirely comforting."
Meera laughed. They talked for a little bit more. She was dead tired, more mentally than physically. She wanted to stop, take a breather, and recover her stats, but she had to keep moving. Besides, it wasn't like she would be able to sleep after all she'd been through.
Another good thing about having a sentient ghost horse was that she didn't need to take the reins as they traveled. She brought up her notifications, and she was sure she had a ton of them to go through, even if she would miss out on the amusing reactions of the travelers as they saw her riding on Onyx.
*ding!*
[You have killed 19 Undead Soldiers – Level 186 – Level 201.]
*ding!*
[Your party has killed Shadowsteel Overlord - Level 452. You have gained partial experience. For killing an opponent a hundred and fifty levels higher than your own, you have gained bonus experience.]
*ding!*
[Your party has killed Immortal Necromancer - Level 459. You have gained partial experience. For killing an opponent a hundred and fifty levels higher than your own, you have gained bonus experience.]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. The Shadow Image has gained 47 levels and reached Level 344. You have been awarded 121 stat points]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Chakram of Echoes effect activated. Upon reaching Level 300, 310, 320, 330 & Level 340 in your main class, you have earned five more Chakrams.]
Meera's eyes widened, as she had never gotten this many chakrams at the same time. Five chakrams appeared on her arm, bringing her total to twenty-six—eighteen regular and eight level 2 chakrams.
I'm definitely going to make more level 2 chakrams.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror's Affinity has gained 31 levels and reached Level 242. All of your mirror-based attacks will get a 246% boost.]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Armor of Mirrors has gained 12 levels and reached Level 124]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Vampiric Chains has gained 6 levels and reached Level 100]
*ding!*
[Skill Evolution. Vampiric Chains evolves to Nightstalker Bindings. Nightstalker Bindings – Type: Active. You can shoot three chains at once to ensnare multiple targets simultaneously, draining vitality from each one and providing a significant boost to your Health. The chains have also grown twice as strong, making them harder to break.]
That's nice. It wasn't great, but Meera could see this could come in handy in fights with multiple opponents. Plus, it made them harder to break, which was good too as lately, her foes had gotten crazy strong, and they snapped them in seconds.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Step has gained 11 levels and reached Level 114]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirrorstrike Vision has gained 13 levels and reached Level 121]
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Tower Shield has gained 9 levels and reached 117]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Blast has gained 5 levels and reached 113]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Vitalize has gained 11 levels and reached Level 120]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Wing has gained 14 levels and reached Level 121]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Shadow Coating has gained 8 levels and reached Level 82]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Phantom has gained 6 levels and reached Level 64]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Concealment has gained 3 levels and reached Level 45]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Death Mark has gained 19 levels and reached Level 70]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Inferno Storm has gained 14 levels and reached Level 56]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Heaven's Wrath has gained 17 levels and reached Level 33]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Spectral Dominion has gained 23 levels and reached Level 24]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Shadow Affinity has gained 14 and reached Level 101. All of your shadow-based attacks will get a 104% boost.]
*ding!*
[Effect Upgraded. Shadow Affinity will provide a boost of 3% for every level henceforth.]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Ambush Tactics has gained 10 levels and reached Level 109]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Identify has gained 8 levels and reached Level 17]
*ding!*
[Effect Upgraded. Identify will now provide additional information on weapons and enchanted items.]
She remembered Pallas telling her about this. When Identify reached level 10, it would inform her about what sort of weapon it was—strength or Dexterity. She paused her notifications and focused on one of her regular chakrams.
[Chakram of Echoes – Dexterity Weapon]
Meera made a mental note to try this out on more weapons.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Wild Instincts has gained 4 levels and reached Level 61]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Spectral Resilience has gained 7 levels and reached Level 112]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Iron Skin has gained 9 levels and reached Level 85]
With the skill upgrades completed. Next was all the skills she had stolen. It started off with a whole bunch of skills she had stolen from the undead. She discarded them all. They all contained practically useless skills that rotted her teeth but gave her the ability to inflict plagues or decay. There was a nice one that inflicted a blinding curse on her target but was unleashed upon everyone in her immediate vicinity. If she was fighting with friends, it was less than ideal.
After what took forever, she finally arrived at the set of skills she had been waiting for—the skills she had stolen from the Immortal Necromancer.
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill of Undying Legions. Undying Legions – Type: Passive. You can raise corpses to form an army of the undead to overwhelm and destroy your enemies. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill Corpse Explosion. Corpse Explosion – Type: Active. You can detonate the deceased or corpses nearby, causing them to explode with devastating force. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
Meera felt bile rising at the back of her throat when she finished reading the second skill. Not even giving the deceased a final moment of rest was just inhumane. Only a monster such as Doromar would have skills like these.
She had seen enough of the first skill that she didn't want that. She had Spectral Dominion, and though it used a lot of Mana, it was still enough for her. After all, she had taken out Erenyx with it, so it would be good enough for others.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Hoarder has gained 3 levels and reached Level 29]
She was a bit sad that she didn't earn a class evolution at level 300. I guess Pallas was right in the end. No one truly knows when they get a class or skill evolution.
Having said that, she had a lot of things to look forward to, mainly her stat points. She had a total of 162 stat points, including 21 from before that she never got to distribute as she was busy running away from the undead army.
She had many points to play with, so she did an even spread of ten points into everything at first, only to realize she had a lot of points left. So, she put ten more points into everything aside from Power. With only thirty points remaining, she put them into Constitution, Dexterity, and Focus to top up everything.
With that, she brought up all her stats and skills.
[Name: Meera Singh]
[Age: 24]
[Race: Unnatural Human]
[Class: The Shadow Image – Level 344]
[Class Ability: Hoarder – Level 29]
Stats
[Health: 2580]
[Stamina: 2550]
[Mana: 2920]
Attributes
[Constitution: 258]
[Power: 60]
[Dexterity: 230]
[Endurance: 255]
[Focus: 292]
[Agility: 190]
[Perception: 175]
Skills
[Ambush Tactics – Level 109]
[Shroud of Shadows - Level 98]
[Nightstalker Bindings - Level 100]
[Mirror Step - Level 114]
[Druvis Power - Level 79]
[Mirrorstrike Vision - Level 121]
[Mirror Tower Shield - Level 117]
[Mirror Blast - Level 113]
[Mirror Shard Barrage - Level 99]
[Vitalize - Level 120]
[Mirror Wing - Level 121]
[Petrifying Surge - Level 52]
[Shadow Coating - Level 82]
[Mirror Phantom - Level 64]
[Mist Concealment - Level 45]
Shadow Skills
[Spectral Dominion – Level 24]
[Death Mark – Level 70]
[Inferno Storm – Level 56]
[Bastian's Strength – Level 55]
[Heaven's Wrath – Level 33]
General Skills
[Identify – Level 17]
[Mirror Affinity – Level 242]
[Climbing – Level 20]
[Tree Walker - Level 15]
[Potion Making - Level 1]
[Alpha Aura - Level 22]
[Wild Instincts - Level 61]
[Charred Body - Level 15]
[Shadow Affinity - Level 101]
[Tactician's Gaze – Level 85]
[Prismatic Distortion - Level 29]
[Absorption - Level 68]
[Haunting Presence - Level 24]
[Spectral Resilience - Level 112]
[Blood Magic – Level 1]
[Soul Bond - Onyx the Stallion – Level 18]
[Negotiation Expertise – Level 1]
[Alcohol Tolerance – Level 1]
[Eyes of a Phoenix – Level 27]
[Iron Skin – Level 85]
[Gladiator's Last Breath – Level 25]
Armor
[Armor of Mirrors - Level 124]
Meera smiled and couldn't help but be proud of the results of her trials. It felt like she had been fighting non-stop for days, even though it had only been a few hours at most. She needed a break.
Meera awoke from her nap, and it was dark still. She had made camp by the side of the road in the evening. Mirithia was still shining bright in the sky, so Meera figured there was still some time until morning.
She quickly washed up and had a quick meal before setting out. The roads were empty, so there was no one to gawk at Onyx as they rode on by. They reached Kantos in a few hours. The eastern sky had begun to brighten, and the stars had dimmed considerably.
The trading post was nothing more than a few big wooden buildings. Some lamps, affixed to wooden poles, burned here and there. Other than that, there weren't many people around, which was to be expected at this hour.
She found the Gateway Mirror in the middle of a big intersection. A lone guard was seated in a chair beside it. His head hung low, and he was about to fall out of his chair any second.
Meera recalled Onyx and went to the guard.
"Excuse me," she said.
The guard shook awake and jumped to his feet. "Who's sleeping? I'm not sleeping. Mind your own business," he said rapid-fire as if the lines were rehearsed.
"I didn't say you were sleeping, sir. Does this mirror lead to Drurith?" She asked.
"Yes, but what's your business there, Varshan?" He snapped.
Meera produced the king's seal, and his jaw dropped. "I'm on a secret errand for the king," she said.
That was all she needed to say, and he snapped a salute and started rattling off excuses such as bad joints and that he was just checking on his shoes. It took Meera several minutes to convince him that she wouldn't report him. He was even willing to give her a generous donation for her expedition to Gethys. Meera refused him, of course, though it was hard to refuse free money.
"Just be careful, miss," the guard said. "I was told not to let anyone go through the mirror on account of the war and stop people from coming through, which wasn't particularly difficult as no one has come through in a while."
Meera frowned. "Why hasn't anyone come through?"
He shrugged. "Don't know, miss. Hardly anyone uses this mirror anyway, as it opens up in one of the poorer districts of Drurith. Well, in any case, I wish you luck."
"Thanks."
Meera touched the mirror, and with her regular dots representing the mirrors she had touched, a new dot appeared high up on the mirror. She selected the dot, and it read—Drurith.
She breathed a deep breath. She was literally about to step into a new world. She had a lot to thank for, lots of people she had met and friends she had made…she was leaving all of them behind, and new adventures lay ahead.
Neel, please be safe wherever you are. I'm coming to bring you home.