Meera woke to the rooster's crows. She yawned and noticed it was mostly dark, and Mirithia shone brightly in the sky, though the eastern sky was glowing brighter. She had fallen asleep behind the inn. She moved her neck, which was stiff—another thing she had yet to get used to.

She remembered there was a tiny well on the other side of the inn. She could wash up there. Washing up meant rinsing out her mouth and washing her face. Three days since her last bath, and she reeked.

She made her way to the settlement's well. It was only three feet wide at most, just enough that a person could throw a bucket in.

Luckily, there was no one there at this early hour. So, Meera took the bucket and tossed it in the well. She didn't realize how much strength she needed to get a full bucket out. She almost activated Primal Power but feared she might break the pulley. So, she trudged along as best as she could.

"You're up bright and early," said a woman behind Meera, making her jump and nearly drop the bucket.

Meera took a few calming breaths as she held on to the rope.

"Sorry, I should have announced myself." It was the girl who had served her the last night.

"It's okay," Meera replied. "I was just lost in thought, I guess."

Nimble Ears could have really helped now.

"I thought you had drifted off in the night," the girl said. She was about Meera's age, if not a little younger.

"I'm sorry, I never got your name last night," Meera asked.

"It's Sirala and yours?"

"Nice to meet you, Sirala. I'm Meera."

"So, how are—"

But Sirala could never finish her question as she was interrupted by a loud banging noise. Meera tilted her head to get a look around Sirala's head. It was the barkeep hammering a parchment into the wall with a nail. He had several other pieces of paper tucked under his arm.

"What is that?" Meera pondered.

"Oh, that's the posters those soldiers left with my Da last night."

"What're they about?"

"It's an award poster for information on the missing master's whereabouts. Say, are you an adventurer of sorts?"

"Of sorts."

"You should go check it out. The award money is five gold coins."

"Is that a lot?"

Sirala laughed. "Are you really a Varshan? Five gold coins are worth five hundred silver coins or a… or a lot of copper coins."

"Got it," Meera finished for her. She was strapped for cash after last night's extravagant purchase. "I'll have to take a look at that poster right after I wash up and get changed. You wouldn't have a women's bathhouse in this small settlement, would you?"

Sirala smiled. "I'll do you one better. Come. Follow me."

Meera followed the girl to her home, where she let her use their washroom. It was small and cramped, but it was leagues better than changing outside with the chance of someone peeping in on her. Not to mention, she even got to take a bath, albeit with the icy cold water of the well. Meera changed, said her thanks, and left.

She arrived at the post near the well, and now that she had a good look around, the barkeep had plastered the posters to every wall or standing structure in the settlement.

The poster had a sketch of the 'master' whose name was Gidran Carleth. It said missing in bold letters, and any who provided information about his whereabouts would be awarded five gold coins, just like Sirala had said. Meera took a poster off the wall and kept it for safekeeping. After all, she needed proof so Gidran's family wouldn't back off from the prize.

She looked about and headed for the lumberjack barracks as to who better to point out where they last saw their master.

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Meera activated Nimble Ears and Eagle Eye. Nimble Ears were more for her protection. She didn't want anyone getting the jump on her. The forest came alive to her senses. She heard the chittering of squirrels in the trees and the padding of feet as a heavy animal ran after something. She didn't know how far this animal was, but it was moving away. So, she had nothing to worry about.

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With that out of the way, she focused on her task. She was at the site where the loggers were working last. A lot of the trees had been cut, leaving only stumps behind. It saddened her to see this, but this was the cost of civilization.

The loggers said they lost him closer to the edge of the woods.

She walked through the stumps and, after some time, arrived at the edge of the logging site. That was she saw her first sign of blood. It was dried blood that had turned a dark brown. She bent down, pulled off the grass leaves, activated Tracking Scent, and took a good long sniff. It was hard at first, and she had to look around a few times, but like a bloodhound, she got the scent.

I hope this is Gidran's blood.

The scent pointed the way, and Meera followed. She took nearly five steps and found her next drip of blood. She took a whiff of that, and it was the same blood as before. This made the smell she was following stronger, so she shot off down the way it pointed. A few steps later, she found her next drops of blood. It went like this for a while until the forest grew thick around her and began to get dark, not just because of the foliage around her but also because the afternoon quickly became evening.

Eagle Eyes helped her see well enough, so she wasn't worried about the darkness, as long as it didn't get cloudy, which it tended to do on a lot of nights on this moon.

She took a deep breath to get her next heading when she heard a notification bell. She frowned and took a quick look.

*ding!*

[Congratulations. Tracking Scent has reached Level 3]

She smiled at how easy it was to level this skill. Pretty soon, she could have it high enough that she might not even need to wait for the next clue. One whiff and off she went, if that was how the skill worked.

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

Meera flinched when she heard the faraway scream, thanks to Nimble Ears. She turned her head in that direction.

"Let me go! Please!" It was a woman's voice.

Meera almost moved in that direction but paused and looked down at the blood on the ground. If I leave now, it might be hard to find this trail again.

"Help! Someone help. Please!"

Meera groaned. If I found it the first time, I could find it again. That woman sounds like she needs help urgently.

She took off in the direction of the screams. When she was close, she paused and looked up at the foliage. It was thick enough for her Tree Walker to help her navigate up on the treetops. She climbed up a tree all the while the poor girl screamed, who sounded familiar.

Once up top, Tree Walker and her dexterity did their thing, and she ran on the thick branches. Hopping from tree to tree using the branches. She was reminded of her time with Silas and Cossus when she mostly ran away from monkeys.

Thanks to Eagle Eyes, she saw the girl and what trouble she was in from far away, and it made her pause. The girl was Sirala, which was why she sounded familiar. There was a claw mark on her forehead, which bled profusely. But the worst part was what was carrying her away. It was a shadow monster.

That was the best Meera could describe it. Its body was made of black shadows, and its eyes glowed a fearsome red. It had to be about the average height of a man, but it was built stoutly with a broad chest. Other than that, there were no other features Meera could note, as it was covered in shadows.

She quickly used Identify.

[Umbraclaw Brawler – Level 54]

Meera's eyes widened at that thing's level. She had never killed anything that high-leveled, aside from the Alpha Ape, but then Silas had done most of the work. She almost decided to turn around, but Sirala's screams stopped her feet. If for nothing else, the girl had been nice enough to take Meera to a bathroom.

She took off after the Umbraclaw Brawler, keeping to the treetops and running as slowly as possible. She didn't know what kind of hearing the thing possessed. Meera hoped that Sirala's screams kept it occupied.

As she got closer, she slowed down and checked her surroundings. There was nothing like a cave or anything of the sort in sight. Nothing that looked like the creature's lair. Meera also grew suspicious that it was the same thing that had taken Gidran.

Once, she was a few trees away from the beast and Sirala. She activated Ambush Tactics as there was no way she could take this thing head-to-head. She had to assassinate it or set a trap.

Ambush Tactics gave a straightforward solution to dealing with the shadow monster—hitting it with her chakrams from up above in quick succession.

The only problem was Sirala, who was not making it easy for the monster as she thrashed around so much that Meera feared she might accidentally lop off one of the limbs.

Meera had no option, for if the monster saw, it would be over for her. She could not face the thing head-on. So, she got as close as she dared and pulled all her chakrams off her wrists. It was good that Sirala was on the other side of the Umbraclaw's head. Meera aimed at the Umbraclaw's neck and focused on it alone like Silas had taught her.

She shot the chakrams at the monster in quick succession. Each one found its mark. The monster dropped Sirala after the first hit, shrieking in pain. She recalled each chakram as soon as it hit, so she never ran out of ammunition.

The monster shrieked as it rolled around, trying to find the source of these death frisbees. But by the sixth one, he was done. Meera had severed half its neck by then. Then just as it was about to get its chakram in the neck. The thing disappeared in smoke.

Meera paused for a moment and then sighed in relief. I must've killed it.

"Meera?" Sirala was frowning at her. "Did you kill it?"

"I think so, though I am a little worried it didn't leave a corpse behind."

"Should it have?"

Meera shrugged and jumped down, landing on a knee. "It was made of shadow, so it must've just turned into a shadow. After all, who knows—"

Meera never got to finish her thought for two reasons. The first, she heard a notification bell, and the second, two more shadow monsters materialized out of the ground. Despite her terror, she Identify'd them.

[Umbraclaw Warrior – Level 59]

[Umbraclaw Soldier – Level ??]

Sirala shrieked at the sight while Meera could do nothing but stare.