Meera sat and watched as the brothers once again fell into their rhythm of breaking down camp. Seeing them work so silently when they would not stop bickering the night before was amazing. Well, mostly, Meera had to sleep wet as she didn't have a change of clothes. Thankfully, the morning brought with it the sunlight and the dissipating of the rain clouds.
Mornings here on Rhione were just as magical as the nights. Seeing how the camp was in a bit of a clearing, she could see the other two major moons or planets or worlds—as the locals called them. Beyond them, a little faded in the sun's light was the planet Mirithia and circling it was its rings or the Great Dragon Aetheron.
Seeing the ring soured her mood. How could anyone in their right mind look at those rings and picture a dragon? They resembled the chakram on her wrist more closely than a dragon unless dragons looked like sharp rings here. Mythology definitely worked in special ways.
But after some thinking, she had arrived at one conclusion. She needed to gain more skills and get stronger in order to help Neel. She couldn't show up at Level 2 and think things would turn out much the same as they would on Earth. Everything was about levels and classes here. Thinking of classes, she brought hers out.
[Name: Meera Singh]
[Age: 24]
[Species: Unnatural Human]
[Class: Image Stealer – Level 2]
[Class Ability: Reflection – Level 1]
Stats
[Health: 120]
[Stamina: 90]
[Mana: 110]
Attributes (3 Free Stat Points)
[Constitution: 12]
[Power: 9]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Endurance: 9]
[Focus: 11]
[Agility: 10]
[Perception: 11]
Skills
[Ambush Tactics – Level 1]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
[Unlocked]
General Skills
[Identify – Level 1]
[Mirror Affinity – Level 2]
[Climbing – Level 1]
It was nice to see that Ambush Tactics had joined the skill list and Climbing was there. But her main focus was on the three unspent stat points. She didn't know what she should spend it on, aside from one stat that was significantly lower than the other two—Endurance.
If she remembered right, Endurance was what governed stamina. She almost put a point in it, but then there were two people here who knew how this system worked, so why not ask them for pointers?
"Hey, Silas," she called, because one, he was closer and two, because he was less likely to make fun of her for asking stupid questions.
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"Coming." He finished packing up his things and headed her way. "What can I help you with?"
"I was about to allocate my free stat points, but I thought I could use some advice."
"Of course," he smiled. "I would say put a point in Endurance. To be frank, your stamina is sorely lacking."
"I was thinking the same thing," Meera said.
"As for your other points. You can put them wherever you want at this point because it's hard for us to predict what skills you will get, thanks to your ability. But having said that, a point in Agility cannot hurt. People undersell this attribute but being able to move faster than your enemies will save your life in more ways than one. The last point, I will leave to your discretion."
Meera nodded. "Thanks. You must have really thought about this, huh?"
"Well…" Silas scratched the back of his head.
"This is his part-time passion," Cossus called. "Min-maxing stats to get the most juice out of his skills. Trust me, he bores me to death with the details."
Meera snorted. "Thank you, Silas."
"You're most welcome." With that, he went to the monkey's corpse and checked on its bindings.
She took his advice and put the first point in Endurance, which also increased her stamina by ten points. She decided to check that out later to see if it had made a noticeable difference. Then the second point went into Agility, bringing it up to eleven.
This only left her with the last point. At first, she almost put it into Power, seeing how it was her lowest stat, but she paused, remembering a comment from Cossus about her Perception being bad, which made her stop.
But then, if I don't have enough Power, I won't be able to hit as hard. She looked down at the chakram. This was a mythical weapon that sliced the monkey in half, which was seven levels higher than her. Looking around her surroundings, she decided to go with Perception.
It was better to know who was coming for her and react quickly than not know and take a bad hit and die. With all her points allocated, she stood and thanked the sunlight once more for drying up her clothes. Cossus was cooking something on the vat above the fire, which smelled heavenly. She was about to make her way to eat, only to realize she didn't have any toothbrush.
I really should have thought of these things before coming through.
----------------------------------------
"Run!" Silas shouted.
Meera did her best to put her newly gotten speed and stamina to the test. She ran as fast as she could. Her lungs were wolfing down air as she sifted through the trees, trying her best not to trip and break her neck. She didn't dare to look behind as the chittering got closer. She pushed everything she had to her legs and picked up speed. She didn't think she had gone any faster than this in her life, but she was sure the monkeys were faster.
"Now!" Cossus shouted.
Even though everything screamed at her not to, she swung around a tree and came to a stop, huffing. The monkeys dashed past her. Nothing like the sea that was chasing her yesterday but more like a small wave. A dozen at best. Arrows flew from overhead, and the monkeys fell one by one. There was one who noticed her and stopped midway through his dash and came for her.
She flung her chakram at him. That day she learned that either the monkeys were extremely stupid and jumped for shiny things, or she was really good at throwing death frisbees—that was the name she gave her chakram.
The chakram flew in an arc and sliced the monkey in half, only for it to continue and lop the head of the one behind it and imbed itself in the flank of the third, which was taken care of by an arrow from above.
The familiar dings of the kills went off in her mind, but she decided not to look at them now, and to her surprise, it worked. She decided to try something else as well. She raised her hand and called her chakram back, and she was surprised a second time in a row. Like Thor's Hammer, Meownir—she wasn't sure that was the name, but she was going with it—her chakram came zipping back to her hand.
Hey, and no sliced fingers, either. She quickly put it on and ran to join the brothers who had jumped down from the tree.
"Next time, someone else better be bait!" Meera huffed.
Cossus stifled his laughter. "I didn't think it would work this time, either. But who would have guessed you Earthians, or is it Earthanites, could be so stupid?"
The correct term would be Earthlings, but she didn't correct him and let him make a fool of himself for her pleasure.
At least Silas looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Meera, but this was the fastest way to get them to come out of hiding."
"You two have some particular hatred towards these things, or do you just like killing monkeys?"
"No hatred, nor do we like killing these things—"
"—but we do like money," Cossus finished for him. "We've got a contract for all these things. Each one we kill is worth a shiny silver coin, and the big brute is worth a gold coin. In short, we're making money hand over fist."
"There's been an infestation for some years, given that they have no natural predator in these woods," Silas explained. "So, we were contracted to curb their population."
"You're getting paid to kill all these?" Meera asked.
"Are you hard of hearing as well?" Cossus, of course. "Yes, we are."
"Seeing how I'm acting as bait, I deserve fair pay."
The Hunter scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"I will take half of all the monkeys you kill, using me as bait."
Cossus squinted his eyes. "You should be content that we're letting you tag along. Not to mention all the experience you'll get from our hard work."
"And what happens when we go our separate ways? I need some money to sustain myself."
"Seems fair—" Silas was about to speak when Cossus raised a hand.
"You will get twenty-five percent."
"Fourty-five percent," she countered.
"Thirty."
"Forty."
"Thirty-five percent. Final offer or take a hike." Cossus crossed his arms.
"Fine, but I get the bounty of those I kill myself, including those two."
"Fine."
Meera gritted her teeth and nodded, extending her hand, hoping this gesture was also widely used in these worlds.
Cossus smirked as he shook her hand but didn't let go. "I would have done it for forty."
She returned the smirk and leaned in. "And I would have done it for the experience."
Silas laughed out loud. "She got you there."
"Shut up and get their tails." He looked to Meera, clearly miffed. "You too. Get the tails of the two you downed if you want the pay."
Meera's smirk wilted off her face. Silas patted her arm. "It's easy. Come, I'll show you."
They walked to the monkey closest to them. "We only need this blue fluffy part, so we don't need to lug the whole thing around." He gripped the tail's end, held it taunt and cut it clean off with one jerk of his blade. "Now, just squeeze tightly to get all the blood out, tie the end with a rag, and toss it in your bag—Oh, you don't have a bag. You can have one of mine. Here." He held out his dagger, hilt first to her.
"It's okay." She showed him her chakram.
He smiled. "Of course."
Meera went to her kills and did what Silas had taught her. But unlike his time, she ended up spraying herself with blood, which was followed by a yelp and more laughter from Cossus. Meera gritted her teeth and ensured she didn't mess up on the second one. She had finished when they heard the screeching and the ruffling of leaves.
"Bait, looks like you're up."
"I'm going to kill him if that ends up as my nickname," she grumbled as she made a run for it.