Meera left the university and turned her armor back into regular clothes. It was nice to blend into the crowd. She wandered with nothing better to do. After all, for the first time, she had nothing to do.

The gala was still a few days away, and the professor needed a few days to work on creating a new crystal, if he even could. So if the Cult didn't attack her, life would be very dull for the next week. She wanted to hit something. To train. Ever since she got here, things had been mellow. After the constant battles of Gethys, this world had sorely lacked in challenging fights.

She almost thought of walking to a Gateway Mirror and trying her luck with the Glacidrak. Though she had barely escaped it last time, it could be good practice, even if she failed to kill it off completely.

But she knew she was nowhere near strong enough to vaporize the whole thing, especially since it could just melt off into the ice and recreate itself as something new. And last time, she had gotten lucky that it was Lainor who had shown up. This time, it could be someone other Cultist, and then she would have another fight on her hands.

All things considered, she just wanted to hit something and get stronger. Her growth had stagnated. She figured they would have something back at the castle where she could train. After all, they had said that Neel had excelled much faster than regular folks.

Let's go find out about that.

She headed back to the Imperial Palace and didn't take long to arrive there. The best part was that no one even recognized her. She was just another face in the crowd. That was also in part because she had changed her Tag, so one knew that she was the Reverend Lady.

She changed it back once she got close to the palace, because that was how the guards knew her, and it would raise unwanted questions. She also changed her armor back into its armor form.

The guards at the gate let her through after bowing and singing her praises for a few minutes.

It was honestly too much. She was just the Savior's sister; she could only imagine what they did for Neel, and her brother must have loved it too.

She walked through the palace, hoping to find somebody who would know where she could train. She hoped Munral would know, but would he tell her the best place to train was questionable. The princess probably would. Prince Sekaramal most definitely would, as she was sure, he was quite smitten with her. She had no genuine rapport with the other prince, Manazhar, so she had no inkling if he would help her.

In the end, she decided to speak with Vasda and see if she could help her. The woman would probably pale and figure that she would have to run it by the higher-ups before she could tell Meera the truth.

Why is it so hard to find a place to hit something in this kingdom?

She had just turned the corner when she literally ran into Prince Manazhar.

He backed up at once and bowed at the waist. "Forgive me, Reverent Lady. I did not see you there."

"It's okay," Meera said. "I'm equally at fault for not watching where I was going."

He was dressed in armor and that had seen some battles. He had a sword strapped to his waist, whose leather scabbard had many scratches and looked like it needed to be replaced.

"Are you going into battle?" Meera asked.

He chuckled. "Oh, nothing of the sort. I am headed to the Kyldar training room."

Meera couldn't help but smile. "The universe does work in strange ways. I, too, was headed to my room to ask my maid to tell me about a training room where I could refine my skills. It's been too long since I've had a real battle."

The prince's eyes lit up. "Then would you mind training with me?"

"As long as you can keep up."

"Oh, you'll find me to be quite capable," Manazhar said. He flourished a hand to his companion. "This is Leenai, she is my personal doctor. She will make sure that we're in top shape and can get back into the fight with minimal delays."

Leenai was about Meera's age, with hazel eyes and lighter skin than most people in the area. Meera almost figured she was not from the Varsha kingdom, but aside from her lighter skin tone, all her features were Varshan. The doctor was quite pretty, but then all their servants were attractive. It was almost like a requirement for the job.

[Healer – Level 198]

"Hello, doctor," Meera said. "It would be nice to have a real healer heal me, versus me having to do it myself."

The woman frowned. "Oh, does the Reverent Lady have a healing skill?"

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"Maybe."

"This way, My Ladies," Manazhar said, flourishing a hand. "We only have a few hours until nightfall, then we must exit the training room as it gets too dangerous after that."

Meera fell in step with him. "How so? What exactly is the Kyldar training room?"

"You'll see." He smiled coyly. "We'll talk about the training room later. How has our fair city been treating you?"

"Oh, quite well," Meera said. "People grovel at my feet wherever I walk. Elders drop to the ground when they notice me, kids think I have three heads, and ask me to show them some tricks. No one hardly ever uses my name. What's not to like about that?"

He winced. "I'm sorry, Reverent Lady, but you're station is so high and respected that we must honor it and you. We Varshans are known for our traditions and culture."

"That is not what I would say you're known for in the other worlds," Meera countered. "If stares could kill, I would've been dead a hundred times over by now."

He shook his head. "I admit, our history has been filled with bloodshed and bloodthirsty tyrants and conquerors. So many conquerors…If you threw a pebble at the list of Varshan emperors, there's one in three chance it would land on a conqueror. We've already conquered almost all of Ealisto, but it's not enough for my father. He won't rest until history calls him the emperor that unified all of Ealisto under Varshan rule."

Leenai coughed. "Forgive me, my prince, but you've taken a wrong turn."

Manazhar looked around the corridor. His cheeks flushed. "Oh, yes. Thank you, Leenai."

He turned around and took the right turn, and Meera followed. It didn't take them long to arrive at their intended destination. They stood before a massive double door etched with the same dinosaur design that she had seen everywhere. She figured that this T-Rex looking dinosaur, or Druvis, was what they called Kyldar.

Manazhar laid his hand on the door, and it creaked open slowly. She figured it was some magic as he hadn't even pushed on the door. He simply touched it, and the door opened by itself, as if some mechanism had activated it, and his touch was the key.

"I'm guessing only you could open it," Meera said.

"No, anyone whose touch has been intoned with the door's magic can open it," he replied. "But you're not far off. This door only opens with the touch of my family. We don't risk allowing any other access to this room."

"There was one other, Your Highness," Leenai added.

"Oh yes, your brother was the only other person we gave access to this room."

"Of course," she said a little too sarcastically. "Can I have access to this room as well?"

The prince glanced at his healer and then back at the ground. "I'm sorry, Reverent Lady. I'm not the one who can grant you access to this particular training room. That power rests with my father. Only he can grant access to this room, for it is too dangerous. If the wrong person leaves this door open, then we can be overrun with Kyldars and other Druvises."

"You're going to have to explain that in a little more detail, prince."

"It's better that I just show you." He flourished a hand. "After you, My Lady."

Meera walked into the room and was immediately greeted with a roar that made all the hairs on her neck stand up. Thankfully, her arms were covered, or they would've had goosebumps. The roar awoke a deep terror in her body that made her want to lunge out of this room. She had faced dragons, but this was something entirely different.

"What was that?" Meera asked, wide-eyed.

"They'll come greet us soon," Manazhar said, drawing his sword. "I suggest you get your weapons ready, My Lady."

Meera was sure that this 'room' was not in the palace. The door must've been a portal that brought them to whatever this place was. There was blue sky overhead with the sun beating down on them, making it almost unbearable to stand in the sunlight. There was a slight clearing after that was a thick jungle with trees, shrubs and various plants that made it damn near impossible to see what would be coming through.

Then the ground shook, as if there was an earthquake, but not really. Something was running towards them, something big, and she had a feeling what it was. She heard the sound of plants being squished under heavy footsteps. The jungle shook as whatever it was came for them.

Meera pulled off two Level 2 chakrams from her back. "Is that a Druvis?"

Manazhar grinned as Leenai backed up into the corner.

Meera thought she would be prepared for what burst through the trees, but she was not. A dinosaur, the height of a building, dashed out of the trees, trampling all the plants under its massive, clawed feet. It definitely matched the statues of the druvis that were practically everywhere in and around the palace, but they didn't do it justice. Not nearly enough.

It had brown, leathery skin with two bulky, powerful arms, unlike the small arms of a T-rex. It was even bigger than a T-rex and had spikes across its back. The fangs in its powerful jaw were black, and a dark saliva dripped from its open mouth. Though there were some differences between a T-rex and this monster. Firstly, was its overall head shape. It was more elongated and had a sharper snout than a T-Rex, and it stood taller with longer, beefier arms. This creature was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

[Kyldar Thresher – Level 302]

Meera frowned at the Tag. All the animals she had seen before only had their name as their Tag. This was the first animal that had a type along with its name. She wondered what other types of Kyldar there were and if they would reveal themselves soon enough.

"Oh, a Thresher," the prince mused. "Not bad." He swung his sword arm around as he stretched. "I'm going to have the first go, if you don't mind."

Then he took off at a run. She noticed that his healer had her hands clenched in fists as the prince ran for the rampaging monster. Just before it looked like the Druvis was about to devour Manaazhar, he jumped high into the air, swung his sword, and brought it down on the Kyldar's head. His normally sized sword burst out as it grew in size and cleaved the ferocious animal's head in two.

The prince landed neatly as the Kyldar fell and raised dust all around it.

[Colossus Blade – Level 412]

Meera couldn't lie. She was impressed, but that didn't mean she was about to let him one-up her.

"Quite impressive," she said.

"Thank you, My Lady," Manazhar replied.

The world shook again as another one came rushing towards them. Meera grinned as she couldn't hide the fact that she was excited to show off.

She spun her chakram on her finger. "My turn."

"I'll stay ready, in case you need help, as you're a little low leveled for this place."

She snorted. "Sure thing."

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