"What do you mean six months?" Meera asked.
But Asterion had fallen silent again. It was infuriating to see the man continuously staring at the blasted mirror. Meera wanted to chuck her chakram at it but doubted she would survive the reprieve.
"Asterion, please, anything you can tell me about him will aid me in my search for him," she almost begged, but the man might as well have been made of stone. She decided to try one last time. "He's the only family I've left. I have to find him, have to save him. Is there nothing that you care about?"
He shifted in his seat. "There is nothing more I can tell you, girl."
“Meera. My name is Meera.”
His expression didn't change as he continued. "As I said, the boy went towards Belacre, and that's that, and apparently became the saviour." He scoffed. "If he is the saviour, then I am the great dragon Aetheron."
"Saviour?" Meera frowned. "What's this about a saviour?"
Asterion frowned, finally. "You are getting on my nerves, girl. Get out of my sight before I reduce you to a puddle of blood on the ground. Take your questions elsewhere and leave me to my own. She is about to reveal herself any moment now."
Who is? Midiea? Meera raged on the inside. Does everyone here speak in riddles?
She glared at Asterion one last time before deciding she would not get anything else out of him. She turned toward the forest in the direction of the village of Belacre.
She slowly made her way through the curved trees. It was difficult enough to maneuver through them in the flats as they didn't exactly make walking easier through the rough terrain.
She turned, and the old man had blended into the trees so well that it was hard to tell he was even there. From here, he looked like a statue carved into the very bark of the tree. Meera looked at the mirror and wondered about what she was waiting for. Just before she turned, she decided to use Identity on Asterion.
[Ancient - ?????]
"Looks like Identify is broken too," Meera said. "Thanks, Midiea."
At the mention of Midiea's name, Asterion stirred. His eyes turned to her, and she did not like what she saw in those old eyes. Meera quickly ran off into the trees. She kept stealing glances behind to make sure the giant wasn't following to finish her off.
When she had run far enough away, and she was sure that he was not following her, she finally stopped and collapsed to the ground. It was then she realized she had the Ancient tag from the notification still up.
"Stop," she said between breaths. "By god, that's going to get annoying really fast."
When she caught her breath, she stood, brushed herself off, and started her journey again, slowly, at a regular pace. The bent trees gave way to regular straight trees with normal leaves and no spiky fruits. The lack of fruits made her stomach rumble, but she was no maniac like the old man to start eating strange thorny fruits.
She traveled some more and wished for better shoes. Her feet screamed, and she would kill for a pair of running shoes. Maybe I can buy a pair of running shoes in the next town.
As she traveled some more, the way became very monotonous. One tree blended into the next, and after hours more of walking, she needed to sleep. Her body told her to lie down and take a nap. After all, it was evening when she stepped into the mirror, which meant that it was nighttime back on Earth, and her internal clock was yelling at her to sleep.
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She sat down in a somewhat clean spot. The tree's foliage provided a good enough shade from the light bombardment of the night sky. She rested her head on the tree trunk and didn't even realize when she drifted off to sleep.
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"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Meera screamed.
She was shaken awake by a creature she could only describe as a monkey, pulling on her hair violently. She slapped at the 'monkey'. After a few hits to the head, he finally let go and scurried up the tree and hissed at Meera.
The thing had pink teeth, like it had been drinking blood, and its eyes glowed a slight shade of blue. Meera gasped and quickly patted her face and neck. There was no blood, and she relaxed a tiny bit. She shot to her feet, jumped away from the tree with the monkey, and decided to Identify it.
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 8]
Her breath quickened as the monkey was seven levels higher than her. She was not big into playing RPG games back home, but she knew one thing, that it could not be good.
Something cold brushed against her wrist, and she remembered her chakram. She pulled on it, and it slipped off with little resistance. This was the only weapon she had, so she might as well use it.
She aimed as best as possible in the low light and chucked it at the monkey. Instead of jumping away, the idiot jumped for it. The monkey caught it mid-air, and the chakram did more than Meera expected. It didn't just go through his hands but sliced the monkey in half. Its two halves fell to the ground leaking blood and gore on the ground, pooling by her feet.
*ding!*
Meera jumped at the sound and at the fact she had never killed anything before aside from the odd insect or two.
[You have killed a Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 8.]
[Congratulations. Image Stealer has reached Level 2. You have been awarded 3 stat points.]
[Congratulations. Mirror Affinity has reached Level 2. All of your mirror-based attacks will get a 4% boost]
She waited a moment with bated breath and then nearly jumped out of her skin as the chakram came flying back. She crossed her arms to protect herself. The chakram sliced through her wrist, but there was no blood. She wanted to scream, but there was no pain. She lowered her arm and realized that the sharp bangle had somehow automatically phased through her wrist to return to where it belonged.
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Then it happened again.
*ding!*
[Class Ability activated. You have stolen the general skill – Climbing. You have the ability to climb any surface with ease, whether it be trees, buildings, or rocky terrain. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
Meera stared at the text floating before her eyes before remembering that she could not earn skills in any other way. But does this mean I have to kill all opponents to gain skills…
The notification floated in the center of her vision, still awaiting an answer. After a moment, Meera said, "Yes, I'd like to acquire this skill."
[You have acquired the general skill: Climbing – Level 1]
Luckily this notification went away on its own, and she didn't have to yell at it like all the previous times. She looked at the sliced body of the Nightcrawler Monkey and felt terrible for the poor thing, but he had decided to jump for the chakram, which seemed sharper than any blade Meera had ever seen. I have to be careful around this thing.
Just as she was calming down, she heard the chittering of another monkey, followed by another from the opposite direction and then another. It seemed the whole forest had woken up. One by one, she saw pale blue eyes lighting up the foliage above. What's worse was that they were getting closer and crowded above her.
Meera used Identify right away.
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 8]
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 7]
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 5]
.
.
.
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 12]
The entirety of the treetops was filled with Nightcrawler Monkies, ranging from level 4 all the way to level 12. A gust of wind blew through the trees, chilling Meera's sweat-soaked body and sending a shiver up her spine.
Then she saw a monster of a monkey. Back home, it would have easily been qualified as some form of great ape-like a chimpanzee. His lower incisors were jutting out and upwards like a sabretooth tiger. His arms rippled with muscles, which she could see even beneath the fur and the dim light. His tail was twice as long as his body, ending in a tuft of blue fur.
[Nightcrawler Monkey – Level 20]
This one didn't chitter, he growled as he took in his prey, which was Meera. So, Meera did the best thing she knew to do in these situations. She screamed at the top of her lungs and ran for her life.