《Assassin Gamer [HIATUS]》 Chapter 00 --------------- Chapter 00: Fall into the Abyss --------------- In a dark room illuminated by LED lights that came from a computer, a youth who had just graduated from secondary school was busy clicking the mouse and keyboard. What was displayed on the screen of the desktop was a person wearing an assassin getup battling with a gigantic creature. The creature was the most famous mythical monster that even a 5 year-old knew of it. It was a dragon. The person on the screen was battling this mythical monster by throwing daggers, whipping chains and releasing chakra balls. When the injuries become worse, he would release a bluish aura that could heal his body. When the dragon summoned its minions, the assassin would summon two clones two help him repel the annoying mobs. Quite a lot of time had passed since the battle first started and the health of the dragon had almost been depleted by the assassin. The amount of HP potion in the assassin¡¯s inventory had almost been used-up too. The youth who was controlling the assassin was sweating heavily in anticipation of the death of the dragon. ¡°Just a little bit more, and I¡¯ll be the first one to beat this supposedly unbeatable dungeon alone,¡± muttered the youth. On the hot bar displayed on the screen, the cool down for a certain skill had almost finished. The assassin needed to buy some time before the skill would be able to be used so he dodged any fatal attack from the dragon and when the cool down had finished, the youth click the shortcut button of the skill. The assassin¡¯s weapons started glowing and he stabbed them into the ground. Immediately after, a huge circle formation appeared with the assassin at the centre. Its size was enough to envelope the body of the dragon. The dragon sensed that something dangerous was about to happen and tried to flee but there was a barrier at the edges of the formation that blocked its way. When the formation completed, numerous dark fireballs descended randomly on the surrounding inside the formation. The dragon with the large body had no way the dodge them and had to face the brunt of the attack. The youth facing the screen just smiled coldly while watching the dragon¡¯s HP fall until it was no more. After the last ball of chakra hit the ground, the formation slowly disappeared. ¡°Finally! Now, my name would be the first one to be listed on the Hall of Fame for soloing this hellish dungeon and I¡¯ll get a set legendary equipment from the system,¡± screamed the youth excitedly. The youth grabbed a pack of air with free potato chips inside it and gulped down a bottle of carbon dioxide mixed with other substances after eating the chips. The youth then controlled his assassin character to the Gift Claimer NPC inside the game and claimed his reward. He was showered with praises and admiration by everyone when he was on his way there since the system had announced his achievement. Of course, there were some people that were jealous of it too.
BeatX: Dude, ftw! How did you solo it!? Vox: Congrats man. I wish I could do what you did. Eternal Hater: Tch. Showoff. Bet he can¡¯t even beat me in the battleground. Newb Gamerz : Free stuff plox.
After the youth received his reward, he was very ecstatic. He even called his friends who weren¡¯t online to brag about it. Those people, being his friends, said what a friend would say to him. ¡°Asshole! Gimme those equips or I¡¯ll fucking hack your account.¡± ¡°I see. Legend eq huh? Well, thanks for tellin me. I¡¯ll be using it later." The youth regretted his action a bit but he knew that his friends didn¡¯t really mean what they said. It was actually the usual interaction between them. They would usually play together and if one of them wanted to borrow something in-game, they¡¯d give them without any questions. Of course, if someone didn¡¯t give those items back, the consequences in real life would be worse than just banning the game character because of scamming. After he finished testing out his new equipments which have the highest bonus and best extra skill in the game, he was going to log out when suddenly he received a private message from an unknown person.
13th GOD: Hey, were you the one who cleared that unbeatable dungeon?
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The youth had never seen the name displayed so he thought that it was just someone who wanted to congratulate him for his achievement. He replied that he was the one to clear it. What shocked the youth was that instead of congratulating him or giving a hate message, the unknown player told him something interesting.
13th GOD: If you think that dungeon is hard enough, then you should go to the bottom of the Dregs Canyon. There¡¯s something otherworldly there.
Right after saying that, the player logged out. The youth wanted to rest for a bit after spending a whole six hours to clear the Chaos Dragon¡¯s Dungeon which had been labeled as unbeatable, but because of his curiosity, he decided to at least take a look what was there. ¡°As far as I know, nobody could even go down the canyon. How am I supposed to reach the bottom?¡± pondered the youth. When the youth¡¯s character reached the canyon, he looked around to find something to get to the bottom of the canyon. After searching around the area, all he found was just mobs that were common around there. Without any help, the character cannot proceed to go down the dark abyss safely. ¡°Maybe I should just jump. But I could die and I¡¯ll lose my new eq. Oh right, there¡¯s a new item in the Item Mall that could protect items after death. Let¡¯s buy it.¡± The youth clicked on the button with a picture of a trolley on it and the interface for the item mall was shown. He clicked the ¡®New¡¯ button and the item that he wanted was on the first tab of the screen. He bought 20 of them to protect each of his equipments and the potions inside his inventory. ¡°Now that everything¡¯s protected, let¡¯s jump.¡± The youth¡¯s character moved forward and the youth click the spacebar button to jump into the canyon. The youth expected that his character would die because jumping from a high place would kill a character immediately but even after a while, his character still did not die and was in mid air for a long time. He had high hopes that a secret dungeon was at the bottom of the canyon and he would be able to challenge it. Unfortunately, when he almost arrived at the bottom, a large gaping mouth appeared on the screen. Its looks were extremely grotesque. It had countless teeth that went back inside the mouth. Greenish slimy substances covered the teeth and the black miasma that kept coming out of the substances showed that it was poisonous. The youth was shocked and excited when he saw the mouth. He tried to imaging the size and appearance of this creature and decided that it was probably shaped as a worm. Though his character would die, he had managed to find a secret dungeon here so he would prepare the next time he would come here. When the character had been swallowed whole by the mouth, the screen went pitch dark. Even the UI disappeared. The youth was worried that something happened to his character. He first thought that it might be a blackout but his CPU was still running so it meant that the game was still running. The probability of the game freezing was there too so he tried to open the task manager by clicking the corresponding buttons but nothing happened. He decided that the problem was related with the CPU so he clicked the restart button. When he clicked the button, he felt that his hand was shocked by the electric current and immediately pulled it back. This made him really frustrated but there was nothing he could do other than switching off the computer forcefully. Before he could push the button, the speakers made a growling sound. He thought that the game had started back but to his dismay, the creature that he saw earlier was coming out from the screen. The youth was frightened and wanted to run away but it was too late. The mouth had swallowed him whole just like it did on his in-game character. When the youth woke up, he was in a white space with 4 other people still laying down around him. --------------- Published a third story even though my first and second haven''t been finished yet. Well, whatever. I kinda lost the motivation to continue the other 2. Maybe I''ll do it when I''m bored with this one. Anyway, this''ll be my first litRPG(is this the right term?) so I hope you''ll enjoy it. Chapter 01 --------------- Chapter 01: Meet your Taker --------------- Inside a white space, 5 bodies could be seen sprawled randomly. These people¡¯s clothing was varied from one person to another. One was wearing metal armor while another was wearing a blue robe. A girl wearing a priest vestment was lying next to another girl wearing extremely sensual attire. The last person was a youth clad in black clothing with only the upper part of his head was seen. After quite a long time had passed, these people woke up one by one. The first one to wake up was a man wearing the blue robe. When waking up, he was startled at first but kept his cool afterwards. The next person to wake up was a girl wearing the priest vestment followed by the girl next to her with an alluring body. The last one to wake up was a large man wearing the metal armor. ¡°Where are we?¡± questioned the large man. The people there said nothing to answer the man. The kept looking at each other but no one said a thing. The curious ones kept looking around the space to find something that could give a clue on their situation but nothing was found. At one part of the space, a youth clad in black was sitting on the ground while using his hand to support his head. He looked at the people there and then turned his gaze to an empty spot. Though it seemed like he wasn¡¯t doing anything, he was actually thinking about what had actually happened. ¡®I was pretty sure that I was in my room earlier, but right now I¡¯m in this weird place. My clothes, for some reason, had turned into the legendary equipment that I had just received inside the game. Even the weapons are here,¡¯ thought the youth. The youth looked back at the other people and saw that they too were wearing something that could only be seen in games or TV shows. From the looks of it, there was a warrior with a huge build, a proud mage, a priest and the last person was probably a dancer. ¡°One tank class, two DPS, and two support. If we¡¯re in a game, this setup is pretty balanced,¡± silently muttered the youth. Just as he was about to continue his thinking, a crack suddenly appeared above the white space. From a small one, it spread until it was shaped as an ellipse. When the two ends met, the space inside it shattered and a blurry silhouette came out from it. The shape of the silhouette was certainly humanoid but the features were concealed behind the blur. Its size alone was over 50 meters tall. Everyone in the space was agape when seeing the silhouette¡¯s sudden appearance. After the silhouette examined the surrounding, it started speaking. ¡°Humans who had been summoned. You have been chosen to live in another world. As you can see, you have been given the abilities of your character of the game that you¡¯ve been playing. Each one of the character had been picked from different games so your abilities are totally different. This means that there would be no merit in discussing about character building once you enter the new world. You will learn how to survive in this world and the strongest of you lot would be chosen as my, the 13th God, Champion for the upcoming war. That is all from me, adieu.¡± After it had finished speaking, it immediately entered back into the hole that appeared and the space regained its original looks without any damage. Five magic circles appeared inside the space and signs with ¡®Exit¡¯ written on it was placed near the magic circles. The five people there were still dumbfounded and still hadn¡¯t moved even a little bit. These people surely would have a lot of questions that they wanted to ask to the silhouette called 13th God but since everything happened so quickly, nobody got a chance to do anything. They don¡¯t know what to do next but they hesitated to ask each other since no one here really knows who the other people are. The silence was interrupted when a ¡®ting¡¯ sound was heard in the people¡¯s head and a screen with the same UI as the game they played appeared in front of them. The youth in black who saw the UI of the game he played was initially shocked but he remembered a lot of Web Novels that he had read had elements like this so he examined them. The others did the same thing too. ¡°Status, inventory, skills, HP and MP bar¡­ except anything related to Item Mall and settings, it seems like everything¡¯s still the same. No changes at all.¡±
Name: NerazClass: Darklight Assassin
Level: 90Age: 18
HP: 56,433 (+1,689,275)MP: 222,222 (+1,829,537)
STR:2,094 (+9,647)AGI: 2,234 (+14,875)
INT: 1,318 (+8,574)VIT: 1318 (+6,837)
Skill NameDescription
Rapid CutPenetrates and swiftly slashes enemies in a sudden attack.
Piercing ThrowCollects energy in the hands to create spinning shuriken which are thrown to the front
Stabbing FanQuickly spins on the spot to push away nearby enemies and throw 6 knives in all directions.
Near DeathNarrowly escapes death at a crucial time and recovers health. (Passive)
ClapChain Sickle which reduces enemies¡¯ defense power appears from both sides to sweep enemies to the front center.
SwerveSeveral shurikens are thrown in a paper fan shape. Thrown shurikens will fly back to the user and induce additional damage when enemies are hit.
Black ParadeA crow shoots up to the sky and rains knives down.
FadeHides into darkness for a while. When [Fade] is used, enemies won¡¯t be able to detect the user. Own attack power will be increased but the amount of damage received will also be increased.
Chain BlowDisappears after pushing nearby enemies away, and appears again in midair to strike enemies on the ground with huge slashes using Sickle Chains before landing back on the ground.
Shadow SacrificeShadows are sacrificed to reduce damage when dealt with attacks with magical damage and recovers health.
Sickle SpinJumps to the front by using the rebound from a powerful turn and spins the Chain Sickle to strike it 3 consecutive times.
Chain of Beginning, Knives of EndOverwhelmed by madness, the character throws chains at enemies in front that disrupt their movement and attacks, and jumps upwards to shoot exploding knives to the ground from midair.
Insanity of IllusionsEnters enraged state which makes use of Illusion¡¯s powers.
Abyssal BladeBlade of abyss is summoned from the ground. The blade attacks and hits enemies up into the air as it appear.
Ring SpinInstantly goes up into the air and creates Ring Chakra under the feet to attack while spinning. When the Ring Chakra touches the enemy, it gives damage and descends slowly. The moment the character lands on the ground, an attack that hits enemies up into the air is dealt.
Chakra HealConcentrates to throw Chakra that recovers HP and MP. The distance travelled by Chakra will be shorter as time passes.
CloningCreates clones. The clones will use some of the user¡¯s skills and disappear.
Abyss StrikeAbyss blades are continuously thrown at enemies. The blades give dark burns effect.
Night BurstMagically pentagram is created in front to cause explosion. Gives dark burns effect to enemies.
Plasma ExplosionRings of abyss are made into the air that hits the ground. Gives dark burns effect to enemies.
Dark FormationSticks the crook into the ground to summon many dark fireballs. Fireballs attack enemies the moment they are summoned and give damage one more time when they transcend back to the formation on the ground. A barrier would be made to trap enemies inside. Gives enemies dark burn effects.
Darklight EnhancementDarkness and Light Chakra is enhanced. Dark and Light attribute attack increases and a buff is created that enhances the physical attack (Passive)
Miracle HealingMiracle Chakra is sent to the party members. Chakra continuously heals allies for a short period of time.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Urgh, seeing this skill list would always make me sick. *Sigh* let¡¯s just quickly choose the usual ones to put at the hotkey,¡± Complained the youth now named Neraz. ¡°But still, to think that my name would be the one I used in-game. I wonder if I look like my game character or like myself. Meh, I¡¯ll just find a mirror later.¡± After he finished preparing everything, he looked around to see that there were only three people inside left including him. The other two were the mage and the priest. Looking at the magic circles, only three of them are left so the others had probably left earlier. ¡°Well, the range of skills for mages and priests are wide so of course they need to make sure that their skill set is flawless. Otherwise, they¡¯d just be wasting time and mana,¡± said Neraz. Not giving a second glance to the two people, Neraz immediately entered one of the magic circles that had not vanished yet. When he stepped onto it, his body was enveloped with a bright light and his vision became blurred. His felt dizzy and the feeling of wanting to throw up was really strong but he held it in. After a few seconds, his vision returned and the dizziness had dissipated. When he regained his vision, he realized that he was inside a forest and was being surrounded. The things surrounding him were 20 humanoid creatures with pig heads. They were holding weapons such as swords and clubs. The creatures¡¯ sizes were thrice as big as Neraz but their speed was miniscule. From Neraz¡¯s knowledge, these creatures were called orcs back in his world. ¡°I haven¡¯t even moved a step yet but I¡¯m already surrounded,¡± said Neraz. The creatures surrounding him were making snorting noises and started attacking him. ¡°Well then shall we start the game?¡± Neraz said while making a cold smile. He first sprinted to the nearest orc and initiated a roundhouse kick to its stomach. He did this because he wanted to test the defense of the opponent. If it was strong, he would use a skill and if not, well, just by using basic attacks would be enough to finish them. When his leg landed on the orc, its innards exploded and Neraz being the one who attacked had no way to dodge the disgusting substances called faeces, or better known as shit. Being covered in shit, Neraz was enraged and used a skill even though the opponents were weak. He activated [Dark Formation], the skill that he used to finish off the dragon in the dungeon, to kill the bastards. His weapon on his left hand, the crook, started glowing and he stabbed them into the ground. A large formation appeared and in an instant, the orcs were completely annihilated. Neraz looked around to see whether there were any orcs that were able to escape before the formation was completed and from his observation, there doesn¡¯t seem to be any. The orcs that were killed left nothing behind. Not even the bones. After he checked the surrounding area, Neraz used a rock to decide the direction of where to go. He threw the rock upwards and when it landed, the direction that the rock rolled to was south so Neraz decided to go that way. ¡°I¡¯ll take that those orcs earlier were mobs for tutorial. Now that I had finished it, next would be the town.¡± --------------- Damn tables. Now I understand what it feels like to make ''em. So troublesome, even with that table maker. I can''t even imagine how could people persevere before the maker was released. Anyway, no interaction between characters for now. Not even with the God. People being distrustful and all. I''ll move the plot forward first. Hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 02 --------------- Chapter 02: Losing to W3Ws --------------- While walking through the forest, Neraz kept thinking about what the so called God, the 13th God, said inside the white space. He was contemplating whether to take the words seriously or not. Being a gamer, he considered that the Champion of a God would definitely be a strong person but from what the God said, to do so, he¡¯d have to survive in this new world and he was sure that it would not be an easy job. The first problem in that was he currently had no ideas on the world that he was sent to. This made it hard for him to make any preparations on what dangers he¡¯d be facing in the future. Though he had fought some orcs earlier, he felt that since it was the first mob to appear, it was naturally one of the weakest ones. His plan to collect information in a city had to be delayed first since he had not encountered one even after walking for a three hours straight. Strangely, he was not fatigued at all even after all those walking. Normally when he go out to hang out with his friends, he¡¯d feel tired just after walking for an hour. He considered that it was thanks to his vitality status that he was able to keep on going. He was at least grateful for the 13th God giving him the abilities of his game character. ¡°That God summoned five people and one would be chosen to be his Champion. Doing so sounds interesting but¡­ I guess I¡¯ll just give up on it. Looking at the four people earlier, that huge guy seems to have the highest chance to do so. Yup, I¡¯ll concede my right to get that title. YOU HEAR ME 13TH GOD!?¡± Though he screamed that, nothing seemed to happen. ¡°Whatever. In any case, since I¡¯ve been summoned to another world, why would I bother with something like being a God¡¯s Champion? I¡¯d rather enjoy my life exploring this world. That¡¯s right, just like the games that I had played, I¡¯ll conquer every dungeons and labyrinth. I¡¯ll decorate my soon-to-be-built house with heads of boss monsters!¡± exclaimed Neraz in a spirited tone. If the resident of this world were to hear what he said, they¡¯d think that he had a few screw loose in his brains but Neraz whose aim was to beat every game that he played, it was natural for him to think so. The ignorant youth who wanted to challenge the world he knew nothing of. Actually, if the resident of the world were to see Neraz¡¯s action of annihilating the orcs, if the skill used was excluded, the fact that someone of his age could kill an orc which is famous for its high defence and vitality with a single kick would be enough for the people to doubt their sanity. They would think that they were just seeing things. After continuing his walk for a few more hours, he found what seemed to be a road. Though it was not paved or anything, he could tell that the road was frequently used by the looks of footprints. There were also signs of tires on the hardened muddy ground. When given a choice whether to go to the left or to the right, Neraz would undoubtedly choose right. Why? Because that¡¯s just how he is. And the fact that most of the things he do, he¡¯d do it with his right side of the body such as shaking hands, kicking or mas- massaging, that¡¯s it. When he continued his journey towards the direction that he picked, the sun at that time had already started to set. The sky turned purplish red and the surrounding had become darker. He was worried about what he would do if he didn¡¯t reach any town or even a village before night falls. His inventory right now only consisted of various potions and resurrecting scrolls. After walking for a long time, even if he was barely tired, he would still become hungry and thirsty. As for sleeping, he had only experienced sleeping outdoors once and that was inside a tent. Right now, he doesn¡¯t even have any food or anything resembling a tent. He¡¯d need something to warm his body in the night too. For the first time since being in the new world, he felt scared. He was not scared when he woke up in an unfamiliar place nor was he scared of fighting the orcs. The thing that he was actually scared of right now was the unknown. Human beings are naturally afraid of the things that they knew nothing of. That was why people tried to explore the secrets of the world. It was so that they would not have to be afraid of the world that they¡¯re living in. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Neraz, even though was sent to another world, he wasn¡¯t afraid because when he arrived, it was daylight and he had thought of a few thing that could be done if he were to able to collect information. He wasn¡¯t sure about the others but he was sure that some of them would definitely be scared being sent to an unknown place. The reason he was scared when the sky turned dark was because at night, his vision would be limited so it would be impossible for him to see clearly if there were anything around him. Though normal people would think that his reason was a bit childish, there was something that caused him to be like that. When he was 15, he¡¯d usually go out at night to hang out with his friends. His parents said that they were bad company but he ignored them. One day, when they were talking about games as usual, some random guy wearing all black suddenly came and thrashed their place. They saw that the guy was drunk so they beat him up. The next day, the guy came back with 10 people with him. Those people were clearly not your average Joe when it comes to beating people. He got fractured ribs and some broken bones here and there. They were pretty lucky that those people didn¡¯t bring any weapons because they would definitely die in that situation. After that, they were hospitalized for two months and needed a whole five months to recover completely. It was fine if that was all but after that, those guys would find them again and again whenever they were outside at night. Even if they were not at their usual place, they would still get attacked. Some would attack openly and some would apply a sneak attack on them. At the very least, the injuries weren¡¯t worse than the first time. When they were first beaten like that, their parents had contacted the police about the case. Though they did some investigations, they just said that the culprit was not found and the kids were at fault too for going out at night. Even though Neraz and the others were frustrated at the conclusion, they could not do anything about it. If a huge beating like that was considered unimportant to the police, why would they care about small stuff like an assault? Since then, Neraz had been scared to go out at night and he was even scared of the dark. His parents actually approved of his change and they said that he should not interact with his friends any longer since they thought that those people would only bring harm to their child. Never did they know the one who suggested beating up the drunken guy was him, which caused the following incidents to happen. The sky now had turned completely black. Fortunately, there were lights from the stars and moons. That¡¯s right, moons. Two moons, to be exact. Neraz was greatly shocked when he first saw the indescribable scene. He managed to forget his fear when he saw the large moons hanging in the sea of stars. While he was intently gazing at the sky, he did not realize that there were sounds of footsteps nearing him. If he were to realize it, he would be able to tell that at least four people were approaching him. These people wore tattered leather armour above their ragged clothes. They held a dagger in their hands and a sword was hanging on their waist. When Neraz finally realized that there were presences of other people there beside him, it was already too late as his mouth was covered by a piece of cloth. The cloth had a peculiar smell to it. There was a sweet smell but then a little bit of sourness entered his nostril. The more he smelled it, the lighter his head become. He struggled to escape and was able to repel the person who was restraining him. However, the effect of smelling the weird substance in the cloth made him lost his consciousness after a few seconds of escaping. --------------- I wonder how should MC meet the heroine. Should it be the usual boy meets girl situation or should I use the Assassin X Target setting. The former should be easier but are commonly seen while the latter would be seen if you read a story where the assassin really work as an assassin and not a hero. I''m a bit conflicted her. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. p/s: Next chapter has battles. Chapter 03 --------------- Chapter 03: New Status Effect --------------- When Neraz woke up, he was still in a dark place but this time, the only light source was the flames from the torches on the wall. When he looked around, the surrounding walls and floor were uneven and his body was restrained with a rope. His weapons were gone too. From the looks of it, the materials of the rope wasn¡¯t really high in quality. He wanted to try breaking out of it but when he saw the two people approaching him, he decided not to. The two people were equipped with poorly-made leather armour. They were armed with swords and a dagger was strapped on their waists. They had a greedy smile on their faces as they they were eyeing Neraz¡¯s equipments. ¡°Ey look at da kid¡¯s stuffs. I bet they¡¯ll sell for a lot,¡± said the guy on the right. ¡°Heh. dat dagger dat da boss took woulda cut people better than da one I ¡®ave now,¡± said the other person. ¡°I wonder how much we could get fer sellin ¡®im,¡± continued the first guy. Neraz analyzed these two people as they were talking. He was being cautious and wanted to estimate the strength of his opponents first before doing anything. Their equipments were shabby to the point that even noobs in any games wouldn¡¯t even wear them. Only beggars or perhaps ruined NPC adventurers would wear something like that. After assessing that his opponents were just small fries, he just lightly stretched hands outwards and the rope immediately snapped. This proved that his current strength was definitely above of his former body¡¯s. When the binding was released, he collected some stones around him and threw it at the two people. The two who saw the rope snapping was shocked and were unable to react to Neraz¡¯s action of throwing the stones. The stones that were thrown accurately hit the two¡¯s head and their heads exploded like popping water balloons. The blood splurted from the heads were enough to create a small pool in the cave. Neraz who doesn¡¯t feel a thing for killing orcs felt something disturbing in his heart as he killed the two people. He doesn¡¯t know why exactly killing a human being felt different than killing a humanoid creature but whatever it was, he need to get rid of it. He knew that it would only be a hindrance for him in the future. The blood doesn¡¯t really disturb him since he was used to handling them in Biology classes. After he killed the two people, he tried finding a way out. He realized that he was actually inside a cave when he was looking around. After searching for a while, he found a fork in front of him. On the right one, voices and laughter could be heard while the one on his left was silent. It was possible that the one on his left would be the way out and the one on the right would lead to the hideout of the people who abducted him. Facing this junction, he was really compelled to choose the right one because of his weird impulse and in the end, he did. As for why he did so; ¡°I¡¯m just going there to get back my weapons. That¡¯s right; those two bastards said that their boss had my dagger. It¡¯s possible that my crook is there too. I¡¯ll just go take a look first and get them back if I see them,¡± he was trying to make excuses just to satisfy his desire. Neraz slowly walked deeper into the right for and while he was at it, he activated [Fade] to hide his presence. While in this state, his attack power would be increased. This might sound powerful but to compensate for the pros, his defence would fall sharply. Thus, when in this state, he must make sure to avoid making any movements that could alert the enemy of his location since sounds of his footsteps could still be heard. When he walked further in and passed through a few bends, he found a hole in the wall. The area inside it was lit with torches and a lot of people were happily laughing and talking in loud voices. Neraz concluded that these people were probably bandits. When he looked deeper inside the area, he saw a bulky man with armours that were better looking than the others. In the person¡¯s hand was the legendary dagger that he had just obtained. The person was smiling gleefully while examining the dagger. The crook was placed on the table in front of him. When he saw the man holding the dagger, an inexplicable anger rose inside him. The weapons that he had worked hard to obtained (even if it was just clicking the mouse buttons and keyboard buttons), was being held by a person who not only kidnapped him, but was also going to sell him to who knows where. He charged into the room and activated [Clap]. Two translucent Chain Sickles appeared from his hands and when he made a clapping motion, the chain sickles followed his movement. This attack hit everyone who was in range of the sickle and forcefully moved their lifeless corpses directly in front of Neraz. By this time, his skill [Fade] had already been nullified and the people who were luckily out of range of his attack earlier were able to see their sudden attacker. Neraz, not wasting his enemies¡¯ stunned state, unleashed another skill, [Swerve], to attack more of the enemies. By using this skill, shurikens made from chakra was thrown, shaping a paper fan. A hole appeared on the bodies of the people who were hit. The ones who narrowly escaped the attack felt a bit relieved but unfortunately for them, the thrown shuriken came back like a boomerang and they were hit. Now, only 7 people were left inside the area and the boss was one of them. He who saw who the culprit was, ordered his 6 subordinates to attack. He too was prepared to attack. He was still shocked that the one they kidnapped earlier was the one who attacked and to top it off, he eliminated nearly all of his subordinates in just a few seconds. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The boss was scared, really scared. To think that he had brought a monster to his base, if he knew that it would turn out like this, he wouldn¡¯t have ordered his subordinates to kidnap the youth. He knew in his heart, that his death was approaching. Nevertheless, he won¡¯t go down without any fight. He¡¯d use any means to prolong his life. While his subordinates were killed one by one by the youth, he secretly dipped the dagger that he had just obtained into a jar of poison. The poison was said to be strong enough to kill a Lv120 warrior immediately. He had obtained it in a black market with a hefty price but he bought it so that he would be able to deal with a strong enemy whenever he meets one. He would never have thought that the poison would be used on a youth. Just when he unsheathed his sword and held the dagger with his left hand, his last subordinate had already been killed. Now the only one left inside the cave were him and the youth. Now that he looked at the youth clearly, he saw that in the black eyes of the black-haired youth, ruthlessness could be seen. Though it was not so strong, the fact that it was there showed a little bit of the youth¡¯s personality. He who had been in many battles had seen that kind of eyes in many people. They who owned those eyes won¡¯t be easy to kill. Neraz who had finished killing the subordinates of the boss eyed the one who held his dagger in his hand. The boss was eyeing him and his eyes showed fear, wariness and determination. The boss held a sword on his right hand and his legendary dagger in his left hand. His posture indicated that he was going for a charge so Neraz prepared a skill to be used. When the boss started his charge, green light surrounded his body and his speed three times faster than the small fries that he was fighting before. Though Neraz was curious as what the cause was, he didn¡¯t have much time so he immediately activated [Rapid Cut], an attack that¡¯s suitable when fighting a single enemy. He used a scimitar that he had picked up on the floor to make a high speed slash towards the boss. His speed had already surpassed the sound barrier and in the end what became of the boss was that his body was split in half. ¡°*Sigh*, it finally ended¡­ hmm? W-what the!?¡± Neraz, who thought that fight had already ended, saw something unexpected in his UI. His HP bar which colour was supposed to be red, was now green. In his mind, there was only one reason for this. ¡°Poison. And not just simple one. This is¡­. Antidote. I need an antidote!¡± He hurriedly clicked on the hotkey that he had placed antidote on. Normally, in the game, when he was poisoned, he wouldn¡¯t really make a deal about it. It¡¯s not because that he was uncertain whether he¡¯d die for real when he die here, that he was scared. The reason was; ¡°A poison that could deal 50,000 damage per second.¡± He shuddered when he thought what could¡¯ve happened if he didn¡¯t have an antidote. By the time he clicked the hotkey, 25,000 HP had already been deducted from his total HP. Normally in the game that he played, even a poison of a dungeon boss would at most deal 5,000 damage per second but in this world, a random poison that a bandit used was even more potent than a dungeon boss¡¯ poison. ¡°Is it because the system is different? The God said that the five of us were chosen from different games and that the mechanics that our system works on are different. Could it be that the system of this world is different than ours too?¡± He kept thinking for a while but was not able to find any appropriate answer. Anything that he thought of was just his hypothesis for now. While thinking, he stroked the part that was slashed by the boss. He had already claimed back his weapons and he knew that it was the poison-coated dagger that inflicted the poison status effect on him. Not wanting to stay there any longer, he went straight out of the cave. He saw two guards at the entrance and he easily dealt with them. When he went outside, he realized that he had been in cave for quite a while since the sky had become bright. He went out and stretched his body. Seeing the sun high in the sky, it further strengthened his opinion on the increased of status effects in this world. In the game, there was no sleep status effect. There were only poisoned, stunned, paralyzed, frozen, stunned, burned, and cursed for the negative status effects. Though some of the effects are the same as another, it would depend on the type of attack that was used to activate the effects. ¡°Was the thing that I smelled at that time triggered one of the status effects that restricted mobility such as paralysis? But I was definitely sleeping at that time. Maybe the system was somehow bugged when I entered this world and a new status effect was added. If so, then this has opened up a lot of possibilities for me in the future,¡± seriously thought Neraz who planned on living in this world. When he walked for a few hundred meters from the cave, he was suddenly ambushed by people riding horses. Most of them looked like warriors and mages while there were a few rogues and healers seen. ¡°Though my system doesn¡¯t have the luck stats, I wonder if it is the same as having zero luck in this world. I¡¯ve been encountering troublesome things one after another the moment I stepped into this world,¡± he helplessly sighed at his situation. --------------- I wonder if I should add more dialogues. It seemed a bit boring. Oh, and tell me about your impression on the battle scene. I don''t know how to make those battles that could cover 5 chapters but if it''s this much, I guess it''s ok. Besides, rather than a battle, I thinks it''s more like a massacre. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Chapter 04 ------------- Chapter 04: Meet the Adventurers --------------- Being surrounded by the horses, all that Neraz could do at that time was counting the number of people around him and try to formulate a plan to escape. There were around 50 people in total and from their appearances; there were probably adventurers who came here to subjugate the bandits. They must have thought that he was one of the bandits since he came from their hideout. Neraz who couldn¡¯t stand the tense atmosphere any longer spoke, ¡°Just so you know, I¡¯m not a bandit. They kidnapped me and I managed to escape just now.¡± A warrior wearing black gilded armour stared intensely at Neraz. He was contemplating whether the words that Neraz said were believable or not. From his experience, youths like Neraz were sometimes kidnapped to be sold as a slave, but he couldn¡¯t just blindly believe him since he might be lying just to get away. In the end, he made a decision to just restrain Neraz first until the bandits had been subjugated. ¡°For now, let¡¯s restrain him first. We¡¯ll question him later after we¡¯re done with the bandits,¡± he gave out instructions to his comrades. Neraz was tied again for the second time in this world. He really wanted to complain to the God that brought him here for his misfortune but just kept silent since he knew that it would be futile. He allowed the person who was garbed in armour suitable for a rogue. The person was a woman with gray hair and her armour¡¯s size was the perfect for her, emphasizing her lines and curves. Her clear azure eyes were captivating if one were to directly look at them. Her pink alluring lips would make any man tremble in holding in their desire. Whether it was unfortunate or not, Neraz was actually in some way or another, a person who hated love. To be exact, he hated the relationship of a man and a woman. It was because in the past, when he was 11 year-old, he had been thoroughly rejected when he confessed his love to a girl. It would be fine if the girl just nicely said that she doesn¡¯t have any feelings for him, but she actually called her friends to come to the place where Neraz called her and after he insulted him with words like ¡®asshole¡¯ or ¡®dick¡¯, or¡­ well, it¡¯s those kind of words, her friends were the one to continue insulting him next. To add, her boyfriend that was nonexistent before came and kissed her in front of Neraz. Believe it or not, it was actually an 11 year-old who did this. Oh, and this is just an extra, but the guy who kissed the girl was found half-dead in a trash can three months after that. The blow that Neraz receive at that time was really huge to the point that he truly hated relationships between man and woman. That was why, even if he saw a beautiful woman like the rogue who tied him up, he wouldn¡¯t really feel anything special in his heart. His only thought of the woman was, ¡®Damn bitch. If only I have any information whether killing you guys would be troublesome for me or not in the future, your head would¡¯ve long since left your body.¡¯ After tying Neraz up, the woman stood opposite to where Neraz was tied to while the others went to the bandit¡¯s hideout. Incidentally the current Neraz was tied using a thick rope along with the tree behind him. Not only his torso was tied, his legs too, were unable to make any movement. Being in the uncomfortable position, he could do nothing but glare at the gray-haired woman in front of him. Neraz right now had a little bit of comprehension regarding his strength when fighting a normal human, though he doesn¡¯t really know the standards of normal in this world. The woman, as if not noticing the glare that was given by Neraz, kept watching him in an uninterested manner. Physically, she was definitely watching Neraz so as to not let him escape but Neraz could feel that she was actually thinking about something else. Her absentminded face had revealed everything to Neraz. Seeing that she wasn¡¯t really focusing on him, Neraz wanted to use that chance to break free but when the sound of the rope ripping a little bit was heard, the gray-haired woman suddenly appeared in front of him while holding a dagger right in front of his eyes. He was obviously startled to see the sudden appearance of the sharp point of the dagger right in front of him. He didn¡¯t dare to move even a bit. The woman moved to check the condition of rope and indeed she saw a part of the rope had been ripped. She then took out a small silver sack from god knows where, and took out another rope. The diameter of the rope was four inches from what Neraz saw and from that alone, he could not even think how the rope could fit in such a small bag. ¡®Could it be that it¡¯s this world¡¯s inventory system?¡¯ he thought, The woman, not minding Neraz¡¯s inquisitive eyes, tied him with that thick rope and when she completed her task, the only thing that could be seen of Neraz was only his head and feet. Though he was really furious at the woman for the moment, it had been suppressed by his curiosity. He really wanted to ask the woman about the sack but he was afraid that if the sack was something that every people would have, he asking about it would definitely cause some suspicions in the woman¡¯s heart and it¡¯d definitely lead to a trouble in the future. In the end he didn¡¯t say anything and just stood there silently. Just after around three minutes of him being tied up for the second time, the other adventurers came back with perplexed looks on their faces. Neraz knew why they made such faces but the gray-haired woman on the other hand, was quite shocked to see that the others had returned already. It had only been a few minutes since they left and they had already returned back from subjugating a gang of bandits. The warrior with the black gilded armour faced her and shook his head. ¡°We went there but the only things that we found inside were the items that had been collected by the bandits. As for the bandits themselves¡­,¡± the guy seemed to hesitate a bit before continuing. ¡°¡­ they had all been eradicated. None of them were left and some even had their body parts separated. The scene was truly¡­¡± The man did not continue his words but anybody who listened to them could imagine what the scene appeared like. When the gray-haired woman heard the man¡¯s words, she felt as if she was struck by lightning. Her world crumbled and she started having a hard time to breath. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The adventurers who were there became worried when they saw the woman¡¯s condition. Immediately, two female healers came forward and chanted some gibberish in Neraz¡¯s ears. When they finished the chant, their right hand started glowing a golden colour and they put one hand on the woman¡¯s chest and the other one covered her nose and mouth. After that, the gray-haired woman was able to breathe normally again. Neraz who saw this scene was incredibly surprised. He could guess that the magic earlier was healing magic but because of his experience in gaming and reading litRPGs, when it comes to healing magic, it would only be able to heal wounds or remove any debuffs. In some cases, healing could even be used to fight undead mobs. Never would he think that healing could help in aiding people with sudden breathing problems. It was a new discovery for him. He himself have to skills that could be used to heal, even if its effect was significantly lower than the effects of healing casted by healers or priest. Now that he had gotten this information, he really wanted to experiment with his skills, even the ones restricted for combat use only. When the woman¡¯s breathing had completely stabilized, she said, ¡°I¡¯m going to look at it,¡± and immediately ran towards the direction of the cave. The two healers followed her in case she got a sudden attack again. After the woman was out of view, the black warrior moved his sight towards the youth. He was shocked to see that the rope used to tie him became bigger since when he first left, he was sure that the rope used was smaller. However, seeing this only increased the warrior¡¯s vigilance. The usage of a sturdier rope meant that the one used earlier was unable to properly restrain the youth. From his knowledge, even he would have a hard time in breaking free if he were restrained by the first rope used. Even he would¡¯ve to take a few hours before breaking out but the youth was able to do that in only a time span of a few minutes! The warrior had seen the current situation inside the bandit¡¯s hideout and a few questions would naturally pop out inside his head. ¡®What happened?¡¯, ¡®Who did this?¡¯, those questions kept circulating in his mind and the only clue that he have in answering the questions, was the youth who only his head and legs could be seen after being tied up by the gray-haired woman. He needed the youth alive so that he¡¯d be able to get the answers that he needed. He stood in front of the youth and let out a strong killing intent. He first wanted to test the ability of the youth in front of him. He expected that the youth would at least last for a while. He would¡¯ve never thought that the youth would immediately faint. Neraz, even though he was able to kill the bandits mercilessly, he was still just an 18 year-old youth who had been living in a peaceful world without any serious conflict happening in his country. Furthermore, he doesn¡¯t even care about those politics and what those politicians said because in his opinion, even if he took notice of them and actually participated in those voting, what one vote would change nothing when money was passed around under the table. Imagine someone who never had never come in contact with a strong ¨C no, even one at a moderate level, killing intent, would he be able to last even for a short time in it? The answer is no. It¡¯s like someone who had been living in the Sahara at its hottest season was suddenly thrown to Antarctica during its coldest moment. He¡¯d surely break. During the time that Neraz was unconscious, the gray-haired woman came back while covering her face. From the trails of water that could be seen on her cheek, it¡¯s clear that she was crying. The sound of sobbing that occasionally left her mouth confirmed it. The warrior who saw the crying woman gently hugged her shoulders and spoke in a gentle tone. ¡°You need to be strong. Even though he became a bandit, he was definitely the one that made it possible for the attacks around the area to decrease.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to be worried. He¡¯s still your brother even if he said that he had abandoned everything. We might¡¯ve been able to save him if we came earlier but because of a certain someone¡­¡± the warrior glanced at one of his companion. That guy was a mage. He specialized in controlling fire magic. At the last place that they rested before arriving here, the mage lost control of his magic and a portion of their ration and sleeping tents were burned. So, they decided to hunt some game first before moving forward to the destination. The mage started sweating bullets when the warrior¡¯s gaze fell on him. He knew that the woman¡¯s family had a large authority, despite her weak aptitude for magic, which the power behind her coveted. If she were to say that she wanted him dead, no matter how strong he is, he would die. Even if he didn¡¯t, he¡¯d live a life that¡¯s worse than death. He¡¯d be lying if he said that he wasn¡¯t scared of the power behind her. But when the mage heard what the woman said, he felt relief in his heart. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not his fault. More importantly, I want to know who was the one who did that,¡± said the woman after she had regained her composure. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t know who that person is but that kid there might know,¡± said the warrior while pointing at Neraz. The woman looked at unconscious Neraz and seemed to be deep in thought. She might¡¯ve thought of something since her eyes were widened for a while but she probably discarded that idea because after that she shook her head. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s bring him back to the capital,¡± said the woman. ¡°Understood,¡± answered the warrior. After that, the large party mixed of different classes of adventurers went back while bringing along with them the loot from the bandit¡¯s hideout. Usually, a party like this that would go on a subjugation mission would usually come back with less people but this time, surprisingly, there was an addition of one person, and that person was Neraz. --------------- This is the last one for today. I might not post tomorrow since I needed to get a good rest. Haven''t slept for over 28h.Or maybe I should just stay longer. Meh, we''ll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Chapter 05 --------------- Chapter 05: Bitch Don¡¯t Block My Way --------------- On the side of a road, a group of people were merrily enjoying their food and drinks. A little further away from them, Neraz was lying down inside a small tent. His body was tied with the thick rope. He had already woken up from his unconsciousness but his captors didn¡¯t know that. He was waiting for the right chance to escape. He could see silhouettes of people that were guarding the tent he was in through the thin fabric of the tent. They just stood there and talked to each other.. ¡°Jeez, other people are having fun and yet here we are, guarding a prisoner,¡± said a man. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. The leader said that he¡¯s an important witness to find the guy who killed those bandits,¡± chimed in a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°Well, I just hope that they¡¯d leave some of those stuff for us,¡± sighed the man. From what Neraz heard, the leader of this party wanted to locate the culprit who annihilated the bandits. He could tell that they wanted him to tell everything he knew about what happened inside the cave. Though telling them was not a problem, he doesn¡¯t know why exactly they wanted to find the guy. ¡®What are they planning? I doubt that they wanted to thanks me for it. Then I wonder why? Now that I think of it, that woman¡¯s reaction was weird when she heard the bandits had been thoroughly killed. That kind of shock was not normal in that situation. It was like¡­ she had lost something important. Could it be that¡­,¡± Neraz kept thinking what the party was planning. ¡®No good. If it¡¯s what I think it is, there¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯ll tell them that I was the one who eradicated the bandits. I could lie but they might use some other methods to force the information out of me. There might even be ways that are unknown in my old world.¡± Feeling nervous of what might happen to him, Neraz quickly thought of a plan to escape. He slowly but forcefully broke out of the binding he was in and activated his skill [Cloning]. His hands moved by themselves to form seals and when the last one was completed, two clones of him was created and appeared directly in front of the guards outside of the tent. ¡°What the!?¡± Right before the two guards were able to do anything, their necks were cleanly sliced with the clones¡¯ chakra knives. Immediately after that, the clones disappeared without a trace. Neraz poked his head out of the tent and realized that the sun had already set. He saw a group of people at a distance that was quite away from the tent he was in. Seeing that nobody noticed what happened, he used [Fade] and sneaked out of the tent and went into the forest behind him. After running away for about a minute, [Fade] was deactivated and he sat down below a tree to take a rest. ¡°Phew. That sure was nerve wrecking. It¡¯ll take a while for them to discover the bodies so I guess I¡¯ll have some time to think of what to do next.¡± He crossed his legs and put his elbow on his thigh while his head was supported by his palms. While making a ¡°Hmm,¡± sound, he racked his brains to think of his actions next. Looking around, he saw only trees and vines surrounding him. Going back would lead him to his captors while other directions were unknown territories. ¡°When you don¡¯t know what to do, ask the rock!¡± he said and threw a rock in the air. It fell and rolled right. When his eyes followed the rolling rock, he saw something unexpected when the rock stopped rolling. A pair of feet clad in leather boots. He raised his vision a little bit and saw a slender waist. A belt was strapped there and a silver sack could be seen. Increasing his vision further, he saw two lumps of flesh, covered by leather armour and a shirt underneath it. The last thing he saw was a familiar face of a woman with gray hair. ¡°H-hey. So what are you doing here?¡± he said in a raspy voice. ¡°¡­¡± Seeing that the woman was staring at him with an expressionless face, he decided to take action immediately. When he stood up, the woman quickly unsheathed two daggers and took up a defending stance with them. Neraz wanted to escape quickly and since the direction he had chosen was behind the woman, he needed to pass her, which was actually an easy job. ¡°Bitch don¡¯t block my way!¡± Taking out his dagger which was inside his inventory, he raised it above his head as if there was significance in that action. The woman seeing him had an anxious look in her face. After that farce, Neraz activated [Rapid Cut] and his body moved forward in a neck-breaking speed. When the skill was finished, he landed 3 meters behind the woman and in his hands were a bloody dagger and a silver sack. ¡°Arrrrggghhhh!¡± the gray-haired woman released a shrill scream. Neraz looked back and saw the woman holding her severed left hand and crouching in agony. ¡°So she managed to block it with her hands huh? Her reaction speed is pretty amazing.¡± He saw a detached hand and turned to look at the woman again. After that, he immediately ran towards his chosen direction. He didn¡¯t stop even after running for an hour. If he were to look behind him, the effect of him running at full speed left traces of gouged earth and fallen small trees. His didn¡¯t really care about them as his current priority was getting away from that place. After making sure that the people won¡¯t be able to catch up to him, he slowed down and stopped to take a breather. He hadn¡¯t eaten anything since he came here and having to run away did not help in relieving his hunger. He was really hungry and his throat was dry. Looking around him, there were nothing but trees. ¡°Dammit! Is there nothing that¡¯s edible around here? I¡¯m not in the mood to hun ¨C oh yeah, the sack. I wonder if there¡¯s any food inside it.¡± Neraz took out the silver sack from his inventory. He put it there before he started running. He opened the sack and looked inside. What he saw was an endless darkness. Normally, one should ne able to see the sack¡¯s bottom if it was empty but when nothing could be seen, Neraz smiled. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So this thing is some sort of interspatial storage device huh? I wonder how it works.¡± Thinking about that, he inserted his hands inside the sack. He took out the items inside one by one in hoping to find some food. ¡°Potions, dagger, rope, potion, rope, rope, rope, hell, how many ropes does that bitch have!? *Sigh* shirt, pants, panties, bra, poison, another potion, and ooh, a water skin, and finally, food! Probably.¡± He took out a loaf of bread. Why he doubted it was food was because the harness of the bread was comparable to a rock. He tried hitting it and a dull sound ringed out. If he was not desperate on food, he¡¯d have thrown the bread at a tree already. He was confident that it would leave a mark at the tree. ¡°Ugh, for the sake of survival, I¡¯ll eat this rockbread,¡± he said and bit into the bread with vigor. When his teeth made contact with the bread, a thud sound came out and he felt pain surging through his mouth. Nevertheless, he continued biting and using a great force, he managed to penetrate the crust of the bread. ¡°Oh? The inside is unexpectedly soft,¡± he chewed the bread while making a profound expression. He took a drink after a few bites and continued eating until he finished the whole loaf. He emptied the water skin and made a satisfied expression. He looked inside the sack again and saw a few more water skins and breads. He stored any important items that he had pulled out inside the sack while leaving the useless ones behind. After that, he stored his legendary equipments inside his inventory and what left on him was the default clothing and the silver sack. ¡°It seems like I could remove even these default clothing. Well, if I can¡¯t, it¡¯d be rather troublesome,¡± he checked around a little before continuing his journey. He walked towards where it¡¯d lead him to the main road and after waling for a god two hours, he finally found it. Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t encounter any troublesome situation. He was pretty worried that another problem would rise during his walk but in the end, nothing really happened. This time, though the urge to go right was really strong, he had to move left to avoid meeting his captors again. He wasn¡¯t really sure where the road would lead him to but as long as he wouldn¡¯t meet those people again, he¡¯s fine going anywhere. He walked along the road until he saw a large wall on the horizon. He increased his pace since he wanted to see whether there was anything that resembled a city or town there. After walking for around 5km, he finally got to see the wall at a close distance. There was a closed gate there and people wearing armour guarding the gate. He wanted to go in but was worried that the guard might ask him for something to prove his identity and since he doesn¡¯t have anything like that, he doubt he¡¯d be able to pass the gate. That¡¯s why, he simply used [Fade] and sneaked passed the guards guarding the gate. Though he had flawlessly passed the gate, he doesn¡¯t have an inkling of what he¡¯s supposed to do now. Since it¡¯s already late in the night, he didn¡¯t see anyone on the street. Even if there were somebody, they¡¯re dead drunk on alcohol and asking them for direction would be pointless. Neraz walked around randomly to find some place he could stay in for at least the night. He doesn¡¯t have to worry about money since he found quite a sum of them in the silver sack. Even if he doesn¡¯t know the rate of currency in this world, he was confident that it¡¯d be enough to cover the cost to stay somewhere for a while. After walking for ten minutes, he found a building that still had its lights on. He peeked inside and saw a middle-aged man behind a counter. The man had short brown hair and his facial hair was short and neat. He wore a green tunic and black pants. His body was well-built but it¡¯s not too big. Neraz approached him and asked, ¡°Do you know where I could stay for a night?¡± The man who saw him just smiled and answered, ¡°If it¡¯s a place to stay you need, then you¡¯ve come to the right place. This inn could provide you a room to stay inn and if you add five copper coins, we¡¯ll provide you a breakfast.¡± ¡°How long could I stay for a silver coin?¡± asked Neraz. ¡°Well, a silver coin could let you stay here for five nights excluding meals.¡± ¡°Then here¡¯s a silver coin and five copper coins. I¡¯ll add the money for breakfasts on other days later if I feel like it.¡± Neraz took out the sack and pulled the coins out of it. The man¡¯s eyes flashed for a bit when he saw the sack but he kept his business smile when talking to Neraz. He took the money and then pulled out a key. ¡°Here¡¯s the key to your room. It¡¯s the 2nd one on the right upstairs. ¡°Thanks.¡± After taking the keys, Neraz went to the stairs at the left side of the counter and went up. Inserting the key inside the keyhole, he twisted it and the door opened. Inside, he saw a single bed and a window on the side. That¡¯s it. There¡¯s nothing else there. ¡°Seriously? Not even a bathroom? I guess the tenants would share a single one. I¡¯ll ask that guy later when I need them. For now, I¡¯m just going to rest. I¡¯m slightly tired physically but greatly tired mentally.¡± After he locked the doors, he went straight to the bed and immediately fell asleep. --------------- Phew. Finished this chapter at 12.00 AM (GMT+8) on the dot. I''m not sure of making another for now. I''ll be reading OSO first and if I''m in the mood, maybe I''ll continue for c6. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Chapter 06 --------------- Chapter 06: Blame the Receptionist --------------- Next to the reception area of the inn Blue Moon, there were many people having bread and soup for breakfast. On one of the table, a youth whose face was half-covered was having some trouble eating the food that was prepared to him. The youth was Neraz and the reason that he felt troubled was because the break in front of him was the same rockbread that he had eaten yesterday. He was fine eating it when there was no other choice but now that he had arrived at a place where there should be better food, he¡¯s a bit reluctant to eat it. ¡°What¡¯s wrong kid?¡± the inn owner came and asked him, seeing his troubled face. ¡°No. Nothing really, it¡¯s just that, eating this rockbread is a bit troublesome for me,¡± replied Neraz to the owner¡¯s question. The inn owner¡¯s name was Greg. He had been running the inn since his father died and handed it to him. His grandfather was the one who started the inn business and now, it had become the family business. In the area, his inn would be considered as cheap but with good services. ¡° Rockbread? Could it be that you¡¯re not used to eating normal bread?¡± asked Greg with an amazed face. ¡°Umm¡­ Well¡­ Kind of. Do you have anything else? I¡¯ll pay if it¡¯d cost more than what I had given to you,¡± Neraz looked at Greg¡¯s face with an imploring expression. Greg sighed and said to Neraz, ¡°We do have them but, let me tell you something. Do you see how the people here eat the bread?¡± Neraz looked at the people around him and said, ¡°They dipped it into the bowl of soup before eating it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. By doing that, it¡¯d soften the bread crust and you could easily eat it,¡± nodded Greg. ¡°Really?¡± asked Neraz sceptically. ¡°Sure it¡¯d soften but I don¡¯t think it¡¯d have much of an effect.¡± ¡°Now, now. Just try it first will you. Only after trying would you know whether it works or not.¡± Shrugging his shoulders, Neraz did what he was told to. He dipped a part of the sliced bread into the bowl of soup and put it inside his mouth. ¡°!? Surprisingly, it¡¯s softer than I thought. It¡¯s like the usual bread that I used to eat,¡± Neraz munched on the bread with satisfaction. ¡°It¡¯s better right? Anyway, I¡¯ll be in the back. If you have anything you need, just tell Anne.¡± Greg said and left. ¡°Okay.¡± Anne was Greg¡¯s daughter. She had brown hair like Greg but it was long and braided. Her figure can¡¯t be seen clearly since she wore loose clothing. Earlier, when Neraz was still sleeping, he heard a knock on his door so he was forced to see who it was. The person was Anne. She was told by Greg to wake him up for breakfast. Anne was the type of girl that seemed shy at first glance but was actually easy to approach once you talk to her. When dealing with a customer, she¡¯d use a polite tone and would always smile. One could say that it was because of Anne that the inn was filled with people. ¡°Hey Anne,¡± I talked to her after finishing my breakfast. ¡°What is it?¡± she asked with a smiling face. ¡°Do you know here I could get something like a job around here?¡± ¡°Hm? Could it be that you¡¯re new around here?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ yeah. I just arrived yesterday so I don¡¯t really know much about this place,¡± Neraz told her. ¡°I see. Then you might want to check out the Adventurer¡¯s guild.¡± ¡°Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡± Neraz parroted Anne. ¡°Yes, well, the guild offers miscellaneous jobs to their members. If you¡¯re able to finish it, you¡¯ll be given a reward based on what you did,¡± explained Anne. ¡°So they¡¯re like some sort of job-finder company huh?¡± ¡°Well, I guess you could put it that way,¡± wryly smiled Anne. ¡°I see. Well then. I guess I¡¯ll go give that place a visit. Mind telling me the direction?¡± ¡°Go left after exiting this inn. Then there would be a junction and you¡¯ll need to go right. You¡¯ll see a large building there and that¡¯s the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. You won¡¯t miss it, trust me.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll be back later.¡± Neraz waved at Anne and left. Following the direction that had been given to him, Neraz made his way to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Daytime in the city was really different from night time. Now that there were many people on the street, the silence that he felt last night seemed as if it was a lie. He could see merchants promoting their items and customers haggling for a lower price. He passed by an empty lot and over there, he saw children playing with each other. Some boys were playing with wooden sticks to imitate duelling knights. Girls were seen talking with each other as if they were noble ladies who were having a tea party. Occasionally, he would see tramps and beggars but there weren¡¯t many. Their worn clothes were dirty and had patches here and there. Their haggard faces showed the hardship that they had went through and their eyes were as if they had given up on life. Neraz was only able to let out a pitiful sigh as he saw them. He could help them a little bit but that was not his obligation so he ignored them. When he reached the area where Anne said the guild would be, he was really shocked to see the building. There stood a 10 metres tall building. Its height was almost double the other buildings surrounding it. There were many people entering and exiting the building. The people wore equipments that were suitable for a fight and most of them had swords or daggers on their backs or waists. There were also people wearing robes holding staves that had crystals on the tips. Neraz prepared himself mentally before entering the building. In his mind, when he entered the building, the brawny guys would glare at him because his face had never been seen before. Since he¡¯s a newbie, he thought that they¡¯d want to bully him so he needed to prepare for anything that might happen. After taking a few deep breaths and chanting ¡®I¡¯ll be okay, they won¡¯t do anything dangerous,¡¯ over 50 times in his mind, he pushed the door to the building open and took his first step inside. What greeted him were people waiting in lines and some looking at the wall where there were many papers that were probably request by people displayed there. There was no glaring or bullying at all. Feeling relieved that what he thought would happen didn¡¯t actually happen, he let out a sigh and went to a line where people were waiting their turn to use the guild¡¯s service. He made sure to line up on the line which said ¡®New Adventurers¡¯. There were not many people on the line since most adventurers here were veterans. Most of them seemed to be no older than 20.Their faces showed enthusiasm on becoming a new adventurer.It doesn¡¯t seem like women were being discriminated for being adventurers. since the ratio of men to women who was registering to become adventurers were about the same. The ones lining on the same line as Neraz, all of them had shiny brand new weapons. It was obvious that they had never been used before. When comparing them with the veterans, the difference in experience couldn¡¯t be more clearer. After a few minutes had passed,it was finally Neraz¡¯s turn. He stood in front of the counter and looked at the receptionist. Her wavy red hair was hung loose until it reached her back.She wore the guild staff uniform that all staffs wore but when she wore it, it somehow emphasized her perfect curves. She had on a business-like smile all the time when dealing with the soon-to-be adventurers, including Neraz. ¡°Welcome to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. How could I help you?¡± greeted the woman. ¡°I¡¯m here to register-¡± by this time, Neraz was reminded of something. ¡®Shit. I had totally forgotten about it. What if she asked me to show my proof of identity? Dammit. I¡¯m fucked if she does. Let¡¯s just hope that an ID isn¡¯t needed to register.¡¯ ¡°Um¡­ what¡¯s the matter? You wanted to registered as a new adventurer right?¡± the receptionist asked with a worried yet agitated expression. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°No. Nothing. It¡¯s just that I remembered something important. Anyway, can I ask you something first before registering?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ when registering as an adventurer, is there¡­ umm¡­ a¡­ a need to give a proof of identification?¡± suppressing his fear, Neraz asked the question timidly. Hearing his question, the receptionist looked amazed for a second. Then, she made a smile that she doesn¡¯t usually show when handling the adventurers in the guild. She was trying her hardest to suppress her laugh. After she had calmed down, her eyes showed a mischievous glint and she said; ¡°That¡¯s right. You need to have an ID before registering as an adventurer. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll be treated as a runaway criminal and be brought to jail,¡± she explained seriously. ¡°...¡± ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get on with the- eh? Where did he go?¡± During the explanation, the receptionist kept her eyes closed. That was why she didn¡¯t see Neraz who ran away right when he heard the word ¡®treated¡¯ because he was afraid what might happen to him. ¡®Shit, shit, fucking piece of shit. If I¡¯m treated as a criminal, there¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯ll be able to live peacefully in this world. I gotta keep a low profile for now.¡¯ In his hurry, he still controlled his speed so as not to gouge the ground like what he did in the forest. He entered and exited many alleyways and almost killed some alleycats by stepping on them. When he finally stopped, he doesn¡¯t even know at which part of the city he was in. ¡°*Pant, pant* Shit. Now I¡¯m lost. How do I get back to the inn from here?¡± he pondered while leaning on a wall. He randomly walked around the area just as he did last night but with a difference of time. The road in the area wasn¡¯t as wide as the ones that he was in before. This time, he could see a lot more people with poor clothing. That was not all. The people here, compared to the ones walking around near the guild, they were incredibly thin. They¡¯re so thin that you could see their bones. Some were sleeping on the ground and there were even people that ate shit off the ground. ¡°Oh God. Where the hell is this place? Is this even the same city that I¡¯m in?¡± He kept walking and saw a lot more poor and famished people. The houses that he saw were battered and were falling apart. He felt that if he were to give those houses a push, they would definitely be destroyed. The area was surely not maintained properly as rubbish could be seen everywhere and there was a strong rancid smell. The longer he stayed there, the more the unpleasantness of being there grew within him. He wanted to quickly get out of that area but he does not know where to go. When he turned towards a bend, he suddenly felt that danger was approaching him so he immediately leapt towards the side and when he looked at the place where he stood before, there was a throwing knife stabbed into the ground. He looked at the direction where the knife came from and saw a person covered in a dark brown clothing that was standing on a roof of a crumbling house. Though the person was clearly standing there, he felt like that he can¡¯t see him yet at the same time, he can. He was perplexed at this weird phenomena that was happening in front of him, but when he thought that this was a fantasy world, he felt that everything made sense. ¡°Who are you? What are you doing here at Midnight Cat¡¯s area?¡± said the person with an androgynous voice with a demanding tone. ¡°You¡¯re asking me who I am? Then why don¡¯t you introduce yourself first? It¡¯s impolite to ask someone else¡¯s identity without confirming yours first,¡± Neraz calmly answered the person without showing that he was actually nervous. The person was able to launch a sneak attack at him. Even though he doesn¡¯t have any detection skills like those characters that he read in novels, he was confident that someone wouldn¡¯t be able to attack him in surprise. The knife earlier was a close call. When the person heard Neraz¡¯s answer that person wanted to immediately attack Neraz but suddenly stopped. The person watched Neraz carefully and then said; ¡°You. Follow me. There¡¯s somebody that wants to meet you. After seeing you dodge my attack earlier, you wouldn¡¯t have any problem catching up with me right?¡± said the person. After hearing what the person said, Neraz laughed, ¡°Hahaha. Are you kidding me? You tried to kill me earlier and now you wanted me to follow you? What a joke. You said that a person wanted to meet me. If so, then he¡¯s the one that should come here.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± The two glared at each other for a moment. The surrounding area was silent at this time. If there were any sound made, the balance between them would be broken and something dangerous would ensue. ¡°Stop it!¡± Suddenly, a voice of an old man was heard. The person on the roof was clearly shocked after hearing the voice and as for Neraz, he increased his vigilance further. He was wondering where did the voice came from. It felt like it was transmitted directly into his mind. ¡°Twenty, return immediately.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± After the person, twenty, heard the voice, his body immediately disappeared and the only one left there was Neraz. At least, that was what Neraz himself thought. He turned around and his body bumped with someone else¡¯s. The person was taller than he was so he had to tilt his head to see the person¡¯s face. It was an old man with half bald white hair and his face was filled with wrinkles. He had a goatee and his eyes was sharp and seemed like it knew everything that there was inside the world. Seeing those eyes, Neraz instinctively felt fear. ¡±Kid. As you said, when you want to meet someone, you¡¯re the one who has to go to the person. It¡¯d be rude otherwise. Now, I¡¯ll introduce myself. My name is One. The reason that I want to meet you is because I have a feeling that you¡¯d be an interesting person. That¡¯s why, would you follow me for a while? There¡¯re a few things that I wish to talk with you.¡± Neraz was really anxious. He was wondering why would the person wanted to talk with him? There¡¯s now way that it was just because he was interesting. That was what Neraz felt. However, Neraz didn¡¯t dare reject the old man. This was because; ¡®I could die. This old man could kill me easily. he doesn¡¯t even have to use much effort to squash me like a bug.¡¯ Having feeling the pressure that the old man exuded. He could never hope to even run away from the old man. After contemplating for a while, he finally nodded to the old man¡¯s ¡®request¡¯. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go with you. But don¡¯t you even think of doing something funny.¡± that was all he could muster as a sign of protest. The old man turned around and walked. Neraz silently followed him from behind. ¡°That¡¯s right, what¡¯s your name?¡± the old man suddenly asked. Being suddenly thrusted a question, Neraz was shocked a bit. It took a while for him to answer, ¡°It¡¯s Neraz.¡± ¡°Neraz huh? Is there a meaning behind it?¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± After that, they walked until they reached a decrepit house where the old man supposedly lived in. --------------- Damn I''m sleepy. Scribble this, scribble that. I wonder if the sending isn''t satisfactory to you guys. Tbh, I felt that there''s something wrong there, but, whatever. You''ll just have to wait for the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. p/s: If you see any 1st person pronoun in the narration, tell me about it. I was alternating between this chapter and the one shot for valentine which was written in 1st person pov so there might me something mixed. Tell me if there''s any kay? Now for some sleep. Chapter 07 --------------- Chapter 07: Becoming a Student Again --------------- When they reached a downtrodden house that the old man, One, was living in, the old man invited Neraz to enter. He did so reluctantly and was watching the old man¡¯s every movement. The old man, seemingly without any worries, entered the house in measured strides. The interior of the house was no different than outside. The walls were filled with holes and the floor was in a worse state. There weren¡¯t many furniture but the ones there were clearly unusable in anyone¡¯s eyes. Neraz sat on a decaying wooden opposite of the old man. The old man, smiling, started talking. ¡°Neraz, is it? I saw what happened earlier. Your reaction to Twenty¡¯s attack was truly astounding. I hadn¡¯t seen that kind of reflex for a long time now. That¡¯s why; I¡¯m asking you to join us.¡± ¡°Join you?¡± asked Neraz. ¡°Yes. We, the Midnight Cat, are a gang that controls the slums in this city. At least, that¡¯s what we want people to think,¡± the old man said. ¡°What you want people to think? What do you mean by that?¡± asked Neraz. The old man made a smile and said, ¡°If you want to know more about it, you¡¯ll have to join us. I guarantee that you will not regret it.¡± Neraz was still hesitating as he doesn¡¯t really know what the old man was thinking. He speculated many things but he wouldn¡¯t know the answer unless he answered the old man¡¯s question. He was worried that he had been involved with something troublesome and he had no way to get away from it. ¡°Question. What¡¯s in it for me?¡± Neraz looked inside the old man¡¯s eyes and asked. ¡°Hahaha. If it¡¯s benefits you¡¯re asking for, what do you think about having information that had even been restricted to most people?¡± To Neraz, the offer was like an oasis in the middle of a desert. Being in a different world, he clearly lacked information. If he were able to gain the vital information of the world, he¡¯s confident that he could get by without much problem in the world. He remembered that because he doesn¡¯t know the affiliation of the adventurers who caught him, he wasn¡¯t able to do anything to them since they might bring future troubles for him. ¡°Well, you said information. What kind of information is there?¡± Neraz asked to delay answering the old man¡¯s proposal. ¡°Well, like I said earlier, you¡¯ll have to join it first if you want to know it,¡± the old man said. Without much choice in the matter, Neraz decided to join the Midnight Cat. He could reject the offer but the chance to obtain information was too valuable for him to reject. Besides, the old man might seem like a harmless person but from his intimidating aura that Neraz felt earlier, he knew that the guy could kill him without batting an eyelid. ¡°Then, I will accept your offer to join the Midnight Cat.¡± Neraz said with a determined face. The old man¡¯s smile widen when he heard Neraz¡¯s words. He was really interested in Neraz and his abilities. He saw that Neraz had a lot of potential and if trained properly, Neraz could even surpass himself. Throughout his life, he had never seen someone with potential as huge as Neraz. He was going to do anything to get Neraz to join him. If he can¡¯t, eliminating a potential enemy would be easy for him. Neraz was still doubtful whether he did the right thing or not, but since the words had already been spoken, there was no going back for him. He waited for the old man to say anything but the old man just smiled at him. Only after he stood up that he said something. ¡°You did the right choice. For now, you¡¯ll have to follow me. I¡¯ll send you to a place that you¡¯ll be spending for quite some time there,¡± said One. One brought Neraz out from the back door and chanted a magic spell that was in a language that Neraz couldn¡¯t understand. Then, a metallic door appeared out of nowhere. One knocked the door at different places and a clicking sound was made. He pushed the door open and entered it. He beckoned me over so I followed behind him. Neraz was greatly shocked when the door appeared. He knew that magic existed in this world but compared to the ones that he had seen, making something appear out of nowhere was on another level in his opinion. Though he doesn¡¯t know the standards of this world, he could at least guess that doing something like that was no simple feat. After passing through the door, the only thing that he could see was One¡¯s vague outline. He could see nothing around him as there was no source of light in the place. He instantly shivered seeing the darkness. His fear of darkness made him unable to move. One noticed that Neraz was acting weird. He had the ability to see in the dark so he could clearly see Neraz shaking when he turned his head. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked. ¡°N-no. It¡¯s just that¡­ I¡¯m kind of s-scared of the dark,¡± answered Neraz truthfully. One became silent when he heard that. He pondered something before saying ¡°Then, from now on, you¡¯ll have to conquer your fear. If not¡­,¡± he left his sentence hanging. He then started walking, leaving Neraz behind. Neraz wanted to turn back but when he saw that the door was gone, he knew that he had no way to get out of this dark place. He mustered his courage and chased after One. Having someone with him was better than being alone in the darkness. He caught up with One and followed him with a distance of less than one meter. Along the way, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of footsteps that echoed throughout the area. The lack of light could make one insane if left alone for a long time. The area was filled with dust, making it hard to breathe properly. Neraz and One walked for what seemed hours. When One stopped walking, Neraz looked at what was in front of them and saw a door that was the same as the one earlier. He was relieved that he would be able to get out of the dark place. His heart never stops beating fast because he feared that something would happen inside. It was fortunate that nothing did. When they went through the door, the first thing that was visible was an open space. There stood a large building surrounded by smaller buildings around it. Looking at his surroundings, Neraz could see a lot of human-shaped dolls with markings on them. There were also quite a few obstacle courses with one of them being larger than others. When he looked up, surprisingly, there was no sky but a ceiling of rocks could be seen. The place was illuminated by oil lamps around it. ¡°A-are we, perhaps, underground?¡± asked Neraz. ¡°Oh? You catch on quickly don¡¯t you?¡± One smiled and walked towards the largest building. Neraz was still in amazement while he followed One. He glanced at the buildings but saw no one inside. He wondered whether the buildings were abandoned, but looking at them being well-maintained, he figured that they were just out. Or perhaps they¡¯re just obscured by the walls. While walking, Neraz could hear nothing but footsteps hitting the hard ground. For a big place, it was eerily quiet. Sensing that something was wrong, Neraz put his guard up. Still, nothing seemed to happen even when he reached the building. ¡°Do you remember the person that attacked you earlier?¡± suddenly asked One which shocked Neraz since he was too alert. ¡°Eh? Ah¡­ the guy who attacked me? Well¡­ I didn¡¯t see his face but if I¡¯m not mistaken, you called him Twenty, right?¡± answered Neraz. ¡°Yes. When you go in, find that person. You¡¯ll be given details on what to do from then. I¡¯ll be going somewhere else for now,¡± simply said One. ¡°Are you sure? That guy tried to kill me, you know? How do I know that he won¡¯t attack me at sight?¡± Neraz expressed his worry. ¡°What? You¡¯re worried about that? This is Midnight Cat¡¯s area. Everyone here is part of the gang. If there¡¯s enemy, they¡¯d be killed even before they¡¯re even able to set foot on this ground,¡± with a sharp glint in his eyes when saying that, One left. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Neraz looked at his leaving figure and then turned to look at the building was larger than the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The interior was dark, making him confused whether there was really anyone inside. Shaking his doubts away, he opened the door and entered. Upon entering the building, Neraz inspected around and saw that the place was looked like a lounge. There were furniture arranged neatly close to each other and a few more a bit further from another. Though they don¡¯t look fancy, considering the place that he¡¯s in, that kind of thing doesn¡¯t exactly matter. During his inspection, he wanted to light one of the lamps inside when his HP bar suddenly dropped in a miniscule amount. He didn¡¯t feel any pain but he felt that there was something stuck at his waist. He didn¡¯t even see where the attack came from so he immediately became alert. He carefully looked around him to spot even the tiniest of movement. He took out his dagger from the inventory and held it up to protect his head. With his high INT, he saw that the ceiling looked a bit different at a certain spot. He went closer to get a look at it and when he does, a person clad in black charged at him. To stop the attacker, Neraz simply struck his free hand out and grab the person¡¯s neck and then slamming him on the floor. While he¡¯s in a sort of crouching position, his health dropped again and he felt his back being stabbed a few times. He wanted to use a skill to fight but in a cramped place, he might as well just demolish the building. Neraz turned around with the black-clad person in his hand and used him as a shield. The three attackers behind him stopped their attack so as to avoid injuring their comrade. Seeing this chance, he pitched the person he was holding towards the two people before activating the [Fade] skill. He did anticipate that One wouldn¡¯t simply allow him to join Midnight Cat without some sort of test, but he didn¡¯t know that it would be a surprise attack like this. If not for him thinking that it¡¯s a test, he would¡¯ve simply killed these people without thinking much. ¡®Damn it old man, at least notify me first about this thing!¡¯ he complained in his mind. When the three people realized that Neraz suddenly disappeared, they became shocked. Perhaps it was because of their upbringing as a ninja or something, they immediately became vigilant. Two people were holding kunai while another one wielded a katana. Neraz wanted to quickly find Twenty so he asked the people, ¡°Where¡¯s Twenty?¡± The person with the katana immediately jumped at the direction where Neraz was standing at when his voice resounded so he did a back handspring just like in a video he saw a few times. The person attacking seemed to be agitated as the attack missed but he took a defensive stance with the katana. Neraz wanted to quickly finish this fight so he used [Cloning] and knocked these guys unconscious. His clones took on the kunai users while he handled the katana user. He swiftly knocked the katana out of the person¡¯s hands and hit him hard enough to make him faint. When the last one lay unconscious, the lamps suddenly lighted simultaneously and mysteriously appearing from a wall was another person clad in black. Neraz somehow got a familiar feeling from this person. ¡°So earlier wasn¡¯t just a fluke after all,¡± said the person. Neraz felt like he had heard the androgynous voice and when he thought it over, he remembered that it was the voice of the person that attacked him in the slum. The voice of the person he¡¯s looking for. The voice of Twenty. He was glad that he doesn¡¯t have to search the whole place for this person. ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re Twenty right? One told me to fin-¡° *Swoosh* A knife almost stabbed him in the face but he sidestepped to avoid it. Half of the knife¡¯s blade pierced through the wall behind him. It showed the strength of the person in front of him. Although it¡¯s not much trouble for him to receive the attack, he¡¯d rather not receive it in the first place. ¡°How dare you to simply say master¡¯s name like that! Remember, he¡¯s the most important person in his place and no one is allowed to disrespect him,¡± the person harshly rebuked me. Neraz wanted to say that One himself was the one who told him to call him that, but knowing that the conversation wouldn¡¯t end if he does, he just nodded at Twenty¡¯s words. Seeing him nod, Twenty made a nod of satisfaction and proceeded to guide Neraz. Neraz took the chance to dislodge the things stuck to his body. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll explain to you how things work here,¡± Twenty said and started walking, followed by Neraz. Twenty started the explanation with, ¡°This place is the main headquarters for the Midnight Cat. People think of us as a simple gang dealing with the underworld and stuff but in actuality, the main business of Midnight Cat is assassination.¡± ¡°Assassination? Assassin? Like, hired killer?¡± asked Neraz. ¡°It¡¯s obvious what the word assassination means right? *Sigh* this is why I hate mingling with idiots. Why did master tell me to do this?¡± Twenty¡¯s complain was subtle but Neraz could clearly hear each words because of the silence. He really wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut. The two kept walking as Twenty continued with the explanation. ¡°This building here is specially made to train assassins.¡± ¡°Training assassins huh?¡± Neraz said as he looked around. ¡°Yeah. The thing is, usually, we would train an assassin from he¡¯s still a child so that when he grows up, he¡¯d be able to receive jobs already. I don¡¯t know why master suddenly took in a new guy at your age. It¡¯s the first time that this had ever happened.¡± Neraz wondered why he didn¡¯t think that training children to become assassins was a bad thing. He guessed that it was probably because of the influence of TV shows and anime that he watched. It made him think that it was perfectly normal to do so. Then went through a few hallways and passed lots of doors. Neraz could hear people talking behind the doors and sometimes, there were the sound of metal clashing against each other. There was also the sound of somebody screaming hysterically once which made him shiver as to how could someone make a voice like that. ¡°This place here would be where most people that are not considered as full-fledged assassins live in. Your place would also be here. To be exact, it¡¯s right¡­¡­¡­.here.¡± They reached a dead end and there was a door there. Twenty gave Neraz a key and immediately left after saying, ¡°Classes starts at 5 every morning. The classrooms are upstairs. Choose whichever ones that you want to join. They¡¯re mostly about weapons and techniques. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll need a class on improving physical abilities anymore. Well then, since master is the one that recruited you, I hope you don¡¯t disappoint him.¡± Neraz had a lot of questions to be answered but he wasn¡¯t given the chance to even ask them. Dejected, he entered the room given to him. The room was small but it was enough for a person to live in. There was a bed and a small drawer inside. Sitting at the bed, Neraz felt that he was actually sitting on a pile of rock. ¡°Ouch! What the? How could a bed become hard like this!?¡± he howled. Not having any choice, he forced himself to accept what was given to him and he lay on the hard bed. He didn¡¯t do much today but for some reason, he was really tired. Thinking about what to do next, he fell asleep. While he slept, his reduced HP slowly recovered. --------------- Yo! Well, sorry for the long wait. I just wasn''t in the mood to write. I don''t think the next one will some anytime soon though, but I''ll still do it. Slowly. Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading it.