Chapter 9: Nighttime Deliberations

Chapter 9: Nighttime Deliberations

Congratulations!

Bone Thief Defeated.

Bonus Experience Points Awarded

for Defeating a Demon Spawn of Samleos.

Level Up!

Mirror Knight has Reached Level 3.

1 New Skill Available for Selection.

Level Up!

Mirror Knight has Reached Level 4.

1 Attribute Point Awarded.

Congratulations!

Bone Thief Defeated.

Bonus Experience Points Awarded

for Defeating a Demon Spawn of Samleos.

Level Up!

Mirror Knight has Reached Level 5.

1 New Skill Available for Selection.

A barrage of system notifications flashed into existence before Jadis’ eyes the moment she thought to check her status menu. Each one demanded acknowledgement before disappearing, allowing the next to pop into existence. She blinked rapidly, shaking her head at the sudden influx of mental menu screens.

“Don’t get me wrong, D. I am thrilled to be leveling up, but I am just a tiny bit fucking exhausted at the moment. Give me a minute to breathe, will ya?” Jadis panted, hands on knees as she slowly came down from the adrenaline high of fighting the two demons. Both bodies were still wedged into the half-opened door of her commandeered hut.

Looking between her selves, she was bleeding from multiple open wounds and one of her necks was badly bruised from the attempted strangulation. Her feet were also bleeding, having been cut during her pell-mell dash through the forest and back to her base. Aches and pains were making themselves known all over her bodies. She was, frankly, a mess times two.

Taking advantage of her forethought, Jadis used the jars of water she’d collected earlier to quickly wash off her wounds, dousing them in alcohol and wrapping them up with the remaining cloth she’d scavenged. By the time she was done, the sun was dipping low in the sky, the western mountains already casting the valley in deep shadows.

Not sure of what else to do with them, Jadis pushed and dragged the bodies of the bone thieves out of her doorway and into the woods, taking them at least a hundred yards away from her hut. She kept careful watch of her surroundings as she did so, fully expecting more of the vicious creatures to come running out of the encroaching darkness. The tension of expecting another attack didn’t leave her until after she’d returned to the hut, gone back to the water source to refill her jars, and returned to the hut again, barricading the door.

Alone with herself in the dark of the completely shut off hut, Jadis sat on the floor, leaning shoulder to shoulder with her double.

“God, I wish I had a bed right now...”

“I’d settle for a blanket. Anything soft to sit on, really.”

She groused to herself, bodies aching from the fight, but a subtle glow of satisfaction was also warming her chest. She’d killed those demons. Two of them, at once. No, it hadn’t gone perfectly as planned, but her plan of catching them in a chokepoint had worked. Even better, her on-the-fly idea of using herself as bait while her other self waited in ambush had also worked. Being able to coordinate attacks against her enemies in perfect synchrony was a massive boon. She had no idea what kinds of classes were standard out in the wide world of Oros, but she was fairly certain Mirror Knight was a top tier choice. She was immensely glad she had chosen it now that it had proven its worth so many times over.

“Well, for all I know, most people get classes that turn them into unstoppable juggernauts or all-powerful wizards and I’m just fucking about with my dingy little weirdo class.”

She shook her head at the thought. “Nah. My class is the best class ever. I’m going to continue to believe that, for my own sanity, until proven otherwise.”

“Speaking of my class,” she nodded in agreement to her self-aggrandizing plan, “Should probably take a look at my level ups and all that.”

Jadis grinned, happy to see the results of her hard work so instantly displayed before her. She concentrated and her status menu appeared.

Jadis Ahlstrom

Race: Nephilim

Primary Class: Mirror Knight (5)

Secondary Class: None

Tertiary Class: None

Combined Level Rating: 5

Health: 135/210

Magic: 10/10

Attributes

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 21

Fortitude: 15

Endurance: 15

Arcane: 0

Divine: 0

Eldritch: 70

Focus: 1

Caution thrown to the metaphorical wind, Jadis confirmed her skill choices and felt a subtle shift ripple through her body. Her hands checked her bodies for any sign of change, noting no obvious differences.

Flexing one bicep, she wasn’t sure if it was more defined or not.

“Feels a little harder, maybe?” She said, uncertainty coloring her voice as she squeezed the already well-defined muscle.

“Eh, maybe, maybe not,” she tilted her head side to side. “Maybe three points isn’t all that much? It did call it a minor improvement.”

“Yeah, true.” She nodded her head. “Or, here’s a thought, it doesn't affect how my muscles look? I mean, that’d be great, actually. If I put a bunch of points into strength and end up looking like Steroid Stacy or some shit like that I’ll be kind of pissed.”

“Well, whatever the case, I know one stat that had an immediate affect and I’m using it now.”

Jadis concentrated on her menu and spent her free attribute point on vitality, bring her health pool up by another ten. A slight relief to her pains washed over her with the change. She couldn’t help but marvel at the magic of Oros, entranced by the idea that she had actually just made herself healthier with a mere thought.

Satisfied with the choices, Jadis ran a final critical eye over her main menu and skill menu.

Jadis Ahlstrom

Race: Nephilim

Primary Class: Mirror Knight (5)

Secondary Class: None

Tertiary Class: None

Combined Level Rating: 5

Health: 145/220

Magic: 10/10

Attributes

Strength: 33

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 22

Fortitude: 15

Endurance: 15

Arcane: 0

Divine: 0

Eldritch: 70

Focus: 1

Resilience: 10

Will: 5

Skills

Primary:

Mirrored Body

Knight’s Rest

Minor Strength Improvement I

Secondary:

None

Tertiary:

None

She smiled to see her progress. “Level five in only two days! Not bad in my opinion.”

“Not bad at all,” Jadis said with a yawn, both her bodies yawning and stretching at the same time in the same way. “I bet there’s a bunch of adventurers out there who would laugh at me for being such a scrub and not hitting level ten on day one, though.”

Jadis laughed at her own self-deprecation, then rubbed her empty stomach. “I’m fucking exhausted, but we should probably eat, right?”

“We?” She answered her own question with a startled blink. “The fuck am I saying?”

She had actually forgotten for a second that she had been talking to herself, not a second person. Maybe she had been doing a little too much talking to her mirror body for the past while. She didn’t want the people she hoped to eventually find to think she was a crazy person, holding conversations with her own double.

“Yeah, I’m not crazy at all...” she murmured, staring at herself from her seat on the floor while she also got up and walked over to where she’d stored the jars of food and water. She watched herself bend over, giving her a great view of her barely clothed ass.

“Not crazy in the slightest,” she said sardonically, straightening up and bringing her dinner back to herself.

The jar this time was filled with some kind of pickled root vegetable, vaguely akin to a beet but with an odd horseradish-like tang. She didn’t love the flavor, but finished the jar between her two forms anyway, drinking her fill of water.

“I really hope Knight’s Rest makes a difference,” Jadis murmured, one body laying out flat across the floor, stretching out as best she could in the small hut.

“I guess I’ll find out in the morning,” she answered, keeping watch in the dark while half of her drifted off into exhausted slumber.

A somber silence fell over the place Jadis had claimed as a home. The gentle creak of pines swaying in a mountain breeze was the lullaby that lulled her into complete unconsciousness, second set of eyes too weary to remain vigilant. As her thoughts drifted off into slumber, she wondered what adventure waited for her in the morning.