Meera slowly turned her head to Onyx with the orange crystal in her hand. "Did you know?"
"Know what?" Onyx asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
"That this crystal can merge skills?"
The smoky horse shook his head. "It can? All I knew was that it was important and the researchers had found something here, but it was not what they were looking for. I told you not to come in here thinking it must be important to the master, and hence, he had made me the protector of this room in death." He paused and hung his head. "All in hopes that he would one day release me from this prison."
Meera sighed. She felt bad for the poor thing and wanted to pet the horse. "I'll get you out, but first, I need to figure out how to use this crystal, and even before that, I need to look at a whole bunch of notifications. Will you stand watch for me here?"
He neighed. "Not like there's anything else I can do."
Meera smiled and brought up her notifications, and by god, there were so many of them. This could take a while.
*ding!*
[You have killed 29 Cursed Wraiths – Level 68 to Level 77]
*ding!*
[Congratulation. Image Stealer has reached Level 79. You have been awarded 3 stat points]
[Congratulation. Image Stealer has reached…
Meera stopped the notifications, as she did not want to sit through what would be pages upon pages of notifications and wondered if there was some way to condense them. She brought up the first notification again, and this gave her an idea. I am not sure if this'll work, but it can't hurt to try.
She mentally gave the command to condense the notifications.
*ding!*
[Congratulation. Image Stealer has gained 12 levels and has reached Level 90. You have been awarded 36 stat points.]
Meera's eyes widened. At not just the number of levels she had gained but also that condensing the notifications had worked. She grinned as this would make going through her notifications so much easier.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Chakram of Echoes effect activated. Upon reaching Level 80 & Level 90 in your main class, you have earned two more Chakrams.]
Two more Chakrams appeared on her arms, bringing her total to ten. Pretty soon, she would run out of space on her arms if the system kept giving her chakrams like this. But that would be a good problem to have.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror Affinity has gained 8 levels and reached Level 70. All of your mirror-based attacks will get a 72% boost.]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Shadow Step has gained 18 levels and reached Level 38]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Mirror's Perceptivity has gained 16 levels and reached Level 25]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Tactician's Gaze has gained 7 levels and reached Level 23]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Vitalize has gained 8 levels and reached Level 26]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Absorption has gained 5 levels and reached Level 6]
Meera frowned at that. She wasn't sure she had used this skill. But then it was a general skill she had obtained from the Mirror Golem, which let her body naturally build resistance to magic attacks, and all those phantom strikes did qualify.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Haunting Presence has gained 8 levels and reached Level 9]
This one didn't seem like it had worked, as the wraiths seemed quite intent on ripping Meera to shreds no matter how much this skill tried to scare them away. Then again, would this even work on the dead, she wondered.
Next were the notifications about the skills she had stolen, and there were a lot of them. She stopped her notifications as she did not want to look at them yet. There might be skills she might like but not have space for. She looked at the crystal in her hand and figured there could only be one way of getting this to work. She sent some Mana through it. More cracks formed in the Failed Crystal of Darthin, but she heard a notification bell.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
*ding!*
[The Failed Crystal of Darthin has offered you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You can merge two of your skills into one. The higher level of the two skills will be maintained. Please make your selection now.]
Meera looked through her skills, and at first, she came up with a bunch of odd combinations, such as merging Primal Power with something like Monkey Fist if she still had Monkey Fist. It would have become a powerful skill, but there was no point in dwelling on what-ifs.
Next, she thought of merging Mirror Shard Barrage with Mirror Blast, but then not only would she lose an offensive skill, it would also drain her Mana to the point that she could only use that skill maybe once. She moved on from that as well.
She tried to make a good combination with the other skills, but nothing worked quite right in her mind. Disorienting Flare would never work right with Shadow Step. That could negate the effects of Shadow Step, as it needed shadows to work. Vitalize could not work with Ambush Tactics.
Then she realized she had two sight-related skills—Eagle Eye and Mirror's Perceptivity. On one occasion, she had used them in conjunction with each other. Yes, this could work splendidly.
She was almost about to merge them when she stopped. She remembered what she had said to Silas, that she would cherish this skill forever since it had come from Cossus. By doing this, she would be getting rid of the skill.
Meera groaned in frustration. Just when I had found one effective combination.
Onyx neighed. "Is something the problem?"
"Yes, there is a big problem," Meera said. "This crystal lets me merge two skills into one. But when I finally found a combination that would work. I cannot eliminate one of them because of what I promised my friend."
"Speaking from the perspective of someone who has died, I will say promises, dreams, and even words of honor matter a lot less when you are dead."
Meera stared at the ghost.
"If this new skill will help you stay alive in this cursed cave, then I suggest you do it and simply apologize when next you meet your friend."
"Are you sure you were really a horse when you were alive?"
Onyx neighed in a manner that Meera took as laughter. "Yes, I was. Don't you see my body?"
Meera snorted lightly. "Yes, I do. Thanks, Onyx."
Sorry, Silas. She focused on the crystal. I choose Eagle Eye and Mirror's Perceptivity.
The dark orange crystal began to glow with a fierce light. The crystal shook in her hand fiercely as the light became intense. Surprisingly, it was not warm to the touch. The crystal burst. Meera shrieked, and so did Onyx. In her white spot-laden vision, a notification appeared.
*ding!*
[You have acquired the skill Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity – Level 25. Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity – Type: Active. This skill is an extraordinary fusion of perception and cognition. You have attained an unparalleled level of awareness and insight, transcending the limitations of mere mortal senses.]
A slight smile played on Meera's lips. She activated the skill, and her vision ballooned to encompass the entire room. Everything became crisp, sharp, and clear as it did when she activated Eagle Eye, but now it was for her entire vision spectrum. That was not all. Now, it was seamless to zoom in on anything. Before, she had to concentrate on anything behind her, but that was not the case anymore. She simply had to focus, and her 'eyes' zoomed in on the thing in great detail. It was very effective, like having eyes on the back of her head. And she could be wrong about this, but she felt that the sharpness of her eyes and even how much she could zoom in both had been greatly enhanced.
"From how you're smiling, I guess the new skill you've attained is good?" Onyx asked.
"It's more than good," Meera replied. "It's great."
"Are you done?"
"Just about."
She brought up the notifications of the skills she had stolen. Try as she may, she couldn't condense them even though she should have been able to. So, she went through them rapid-fire, as many of them were just repetitions of what she had received before.
She had stolen five Haunting Presence, nine Shadow Step, four Phantom strikes, and two Soul Drifts. She rejected the Phantom Strikes again. Since she could not accept Soul Drift as she was still alive, its experience was added to her main class. The other two leveled up.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Shadow Step has reached Level 39]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Haunting Presence has reached Level 10]
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the skill Dreadful Wail. Dreadful Wail – Type: Active. You can emit a bone-chilling wail that terrifies and paralyzes enemies, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
Meera thought about this one. She had gone through its effect, and since she had a new open slot, she accepted the skill. She wasn't sure it would work on the wraiths, but it couldn't hurt to try.
*ding!*
[You have acquired the skill Dreadful Wail – Level 1]
*ding!*
[Class Ability Activated. You have stolen the general skill Spectral Resilience. You have a deep connection to the ethereal plane, which makes you resistant to most forms of physical damage. Would you like to acquire this skill?]
*ding!*
[You have acquired the general skill Spectral Resilience – Level 1]
The rest was more of the same, with four more Dreadful Wails and three more Spectral Resilience. It leveled up both of her skills due to the added experience from the duplicate skills.
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Dreadful Wail has gained 2 levels and reached Level 3]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Spectral Resilience has reached Level 2]
*ding!*
[Congratulations. Reflection has gained 3 levels and reached Level 17]
Next, she had thirty-six stat points to get through. She allocated the bulk of her points in Constitution, Endurance, and Fous, followed by a few in Agility and Perception. Once satisfied, she brought up her stats.
[Name: Meera Singh]
[Age: 24]
[Race: Unnatural Human]
[Class: Image Stealer – Level 90]
[Class Ability: Reflection – Level 17]
Stats
[Health: 249/630]
[Stamina: 228/690]
[Mana: 195/660]
Attributes
[Constitution: 63]
[Power: 20]
[Dexterity: 43]
[Endurance: 69]
[Focus: 66]
[Agility: 57]
[Perception: 48]
Skills
[Ambush Tactics – Level 28]
[Disorienting Flare - Level 4]
[Dreadful Wail - Level 3]
[Shadow Step - Level 39]
[Primal Power - Level 21]
[Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity - Level 25]
[Mirror Shield - Level 26]
[Mirror Blast - Level 7]
[Mirror Shard Barrage - Level 5]
[Vitalize - Level 26]
General Skills
[Identify – Level 3]
[Mirror Affinity – Level 70]
[Climbing – Level 20]
[Tree Walker - Level 15]
[Potion Making - Level 1]
[Alpha Aura - Level 1]
[Wild Instincts - Level 10]
[Charred Body - Level 3]
[Shadow Affinity - Level 1]
[Tactician's Gaze – Level 23]
[Prismatic Distortion - Level 1]
[Absorption - Level 6]
[Haunting Presence - Level 10]
[Spectral Resilience - Level 2]
"Okay, I'm done," Meera said.
"That took a while," Onyx commented.
Meera grinned. "Yes, I have this ability that makes it tedious to go through the notifications after every fight, but it's super fun, too, when I get something new. Anyways, ready to get out of here?"
"More than you will ever know."