It was a testament to all the dangers Meera had been in so far that she didn't immediately piss her pants. The two shadow monsters stared down at her. Sirala moved behind her as she whimpered. Meera should have been scared but was more concerned that Nimble Ears had failed her. They were her safety measures. They were supposed to inform her of any coming dangers. Dangers like the two shadows towering over them.

"Let the girl go," Meera said. "I'm the one you want." She didn't know where those words came from as she wanted to say the opposite.

"Fine," said the Soldier, whose level Meera could not read. His response was a surprise as, one, she expected the monster to give her grief, and two, she didn't think they could talk.

"Sirala, run. I'll follow as soon as I'm able."

"O-Okay," Sirala said, hugging Meera's back. "T-Thank you."

Then the barkeeper's daughter took careful steps back. Meera didn't need to see. Nimble Ears told her everything she needed to hear. Then when she was a few feet, she broke off into a run. She expected the monsters to charge Sirala. Meera gripped her chakram and got in position to attack if they did.

"Now, come with us, Varshan," said the Soldier.

Meera frowned slightly at being called Varshan by a monster. "Sorry, not going to come that easy."

She used her most deadly combo, Primal Power and Monkey Fist, and lunged for the Soldier. But before her chakram could connect, he vanished into smoke again. Meera looked around and leaped for the second one—the Warrior- but he was also gone. As she turned around, a heavy fist laid her flat on the ground, taking a chunk of her health. Her jaw felt like it was broken or dislocated. She quickly checked once the world stopped spinning.

Then a cold hand gripped her arm, and the next thing she knew was in a dark room, with chains around her wrists, tying her to the wall, and her bag was gone. Meera quickly looked around, and she was in a stone room with a low ceiling that the Umbraclaws had to duck to stand in.

Then Meera screamed.

Beside her was a half-eaten corpse that smelled so vile that the smell alone made her gag. The most horrid part was she knew it to be Gidran, thanks to her Tracking Scent. She quickly shut it off, but it was too late. She threw up on a pile of bones.

Meera tried to back away from the bones but couldn't, with her back to the wall. The two monsters laughed, only they weren't monsters but men dressed in soldier's garbs.

Meera's eyes widened. "You're those soldiers from last night."

"You've got some powers of observation," said the Soldier.

"Well, nothing less can be expected from a Varshan spy," said his Warrior brethren.

"You're monsters?"

"That's right," said the Soldier. "Though we like to call ourselves simply Umbraclaws. My name is Haez, and this is my brother Vath, and the one you killed was our brother Dirr."

"And you're going to pay dearly for that, Varshan," said Vath, the Warrior.

"Oh, that's right," said Haez. "You see, we Umbraclaws can feast on our prey for days, prolonging their suffering, and you…you are going to be in so much pain that you will be begging for death by the end."

He came closer and closer, and Meera leaned away from him.

"Get away from me!" Meera yelled.

"Relax, sweetie. I'm only getting a taste." His finger turned shadowy at the end of which was a sharp, curved claw. With a quick flash of his finger, he ripped Meera's cheek open. She cried out, and her hand shot out to her cheek, only to be stopped by the chains.

Haez chuckled and took a whiff of her blood, and sighed contentedly. Then he licked the blood off her cheek. "This is the stuff. Never knew a Varshan to taste so sweet."

"Step aside. Let me have a taste as well."

Haez moved aside, and Vath quickly lunged for her as if to kiss her, but he sucked at her cheek. Meera almost threw up again from his rancid breath, but she held it down this time. When the monsters in human form were done having a taste of her blood, they moved for the exit.

"Enjoy your time off. We'll see you at dinner." Haez chuckled as he picked up her bag off the ground and left with his brother.

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Meera activated Vitalize immediately and sealed the cut on her cheek, hoping it didn't get infected by the monster's spit. She couldn't see or feel her cheek but knew her cheek had sealed when Vitalize stopped using her Mana.

With her initial shock wearing off, she looked around the room again. This time a little more carefully. She was disappointed as she hadn't missed much the first time. This must've been the room that they kept their 'meals' in, as the floor was littered with human bones and nothing else. There were two other chains on the opposite wall, which were empty.

She had to get out of here, but she had no way of getting her chakrams to her hands, and even if she did, she had no way of knowing if they could cut through steel chains. So, she sat there for a long time, trying to figure out how to escape these chains.

With a start, she remembered that she had killed one of them, which meant a skill awaited her. She grinned as she pulled up her notifications.

*ding!*

[You have killed an Umbraclaw Brawler – Level 54. For killing an enemy twenty levels higher than your own, you have gained bonus experience.]

*ding!*

[Congratulation. Image Stealer has reached Level 31. You have been awarded 3 stat points]

[Congratulation. Image Stealer has reached Level 32. You have been awarded 3 stat points]

*ding!*

[Congratulations. Mirror Affinity has reached Level 21. All of your mirror-based attacks will get a 23% boost]

*ding!*

[Congratulations. Ambush Tactics has reached Level 11]

*ding!*

[Congratulations. Eagle Eye has reached Level 8]

*ding!*

[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill Shadow Step. Shadow Step – Type: Active. You can instantaneously teleport short distances through shadows, allowing you to move swiftly, unpredictably, evading enemies or closing in for a surprise attack. Mana cost will depend on distance. Would you like to acquire this skill?]

Meera would have to be raving mad not to accept this skill. She figured this was how Haez and Vath got away from her when she was attacking them. This would be a deadly skill to have. As she accepted the skill, she got a familiar message putting a damper on her excitement.

[You do not have any open skill slots. Please decide which skill you would like to forgo to make room for this skill.]

Meera sighed and rolled her eyes. She hated how she could only earn ten skills at most, and she knew she couldn't have been the only one who thought so. She pulled up her skills, and her first thought was to get rid of Eyes of Your Kin, but she paused. This skill could help her spy on Neel's enemy, but the cost of it was losing her eyes, and she needed more Mana to regrow them by herself. Last time, she had gotten lucky by having a healer nearby who could regrow organs. Even then, it might have been touch and go there.

There was another skill she could give up, like Wolf Speed. If she had this teleporting skill, then she would no longer need the speed skill, but then there could be other uses for the speed skill. She chose to get rid of Eyes of Your Kin in the end.

*ding!*

[You have acquired the skill Shadow Step – Level 1]

Meera brought up her stats.

[Health: 250/250]

[Stamina: 216/330]

[Mana: 132/140]

She smiled. Now, to get out of these chains.

She didn't rightly know how this skill worked and couldn't really ask the shadow monsters. So, she pictured herself out of these chains and mentally activated Shadow Step. There was a poof of black smoke around her, and the next moment, she was standing free.

The chains rattled loudly against the stone wall, making Meera cringe. She pulled off a chakram in each hand and readied herself, but the monsters did not return. She breathed a silent sigh of relief and checked her Mana which had only gone down by a few points.

It must be because the distance was so close. I will have to figure out the distance-to-cost ratio by making longer jumps.

With that squared away for later, she made for the exit. There was a lone torch burning in the tunnel outside. She crept along the wall as silently as she could. Light came from an offshoot tunnel or a room at the end of this tunnel. There was another closer opening in the wall down the way. She didn't know if it was a room or another tunnel.

She stepped as quietly as she could. Meera got closer to the dark empty tunnel, which was, in fact, a room. She squinted and could see nothing. Even when she activated Eagle Vision, she hardly saw anything but a faint glint of something shiny as the light of the lone torch reflected off it. She feared stepping inside and knocking over something.

One part of her told her to leave it and continue moving along, but then it could be an exit. In the end, curiosity won, and she sauntered back to the torch, pulled it off, and brought it with her.

A few moments later, she stood in the opening again, and her jaw dropped. Before, she was a pile of treasures that would make even King Midas drool.

The glint she had seen earlier was from a pile of coins of all three varieties—gold, silver, copper, and a few others that seemed to have a mix of three. Off to the side was a table with a pile of jewelry—expensive-looking necklaces, bracelets, and even more expensive jewels studded in them. To her left was a bunch of swords, maces, spears, and other such weapons. Some were of high quality, while others were rather rugged looking, but they all had one thing in common. They all had gleaming blades.

The Umbraclaws must've polished these.

She walked inwards, and there were a bunch of nice-looking garments, some dresses, cloaks, and even leather armors, all put up nicely on wooden mannequins. It was like a medieval store with the nicest things. One thing caught her eye. It was a black leather belt with four small pouches hanging off it, like a utility belt. She used Identify on it.

[Lunar Hoard Belt – Capacity 150 Units]

"Now, that is a nice one you've picked," said someone from the entrance to the room, making Meera freeze up. It was Vath in his human form with the eye patch. "But you really should not have gone through our stuff."