After Sophia gave me the key to my new room in the third unit's barracks and my level one operative badge, I headed straight for the facility's library. Before leaving on my first mission I wanted to get at least an A rank dagger mastery, but ideally, I wanted S rank. I soon found the building and walked inside, it was completely deserted. Like Sophia had said, most people would rather learn from someone than try to figure out a skill from a manual.
I easily found the weapons section, as it was a good third of the place. When I found the dagger subsection I took a few minutes to identify all the books. There were 63 in total and all of them were B and C rank, a good selection.
'I should have about 8 hours each day when I'm not training, subtracting time to eat I should be able to read a good 20 of these'
Determined to get a high-level skill, I grabbed a book and got to work.
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The training over the next week wasn't much to write home about. It consisted of memorizing hand signals for silent communication, sparing, and team exercises. During sparring, I quickly got familiar with my newfound skill in wielding a dagger. But even with the skill, I was bested many times by the unit leader, the only one in my unit that could match my stats. While my skill in wielding my weapon wasn't abysmal anymore, he had far more combat experience. I often lost to moves and tricks that I had never expected. I found the training incredibly useful, as I got a bit of a hold on the strength that I had acquired in under a month. But my biggest gain happened on the seventh day of training, when after finishing the 22nd consecutive dagger technique manual, I received my second S rank skill.
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[Pinnacle Dagger Mastery]
Rank S
The dagger is a part of your body. Your attacks are swift and deadly. Once in range of an enemy, their fate is sealed. You stand a step away from transcendence.
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'Transcendence huh, add that to the list of vague things that I need to figure out'
While I was pondering the description of my new skill, I heard my name being called.
"Magnus, the commander wants you"
I put the book I was holding back on the shelf and headed towards Sophia's office. When I walked in she began speaking.
"You seem to be putting an effort into training"
I shrugged.
"I never get much out of you, do I? Anyway, you leave on your first mission tomorrow. Your target is Marquess Bonet Harel, who has been leaking vital intel to Palence. There is no ascenders above rank three in his castle, so you should encounter zero resistance. Though expect a strong protective ward on his person"
She then handed me a folder filled with papers.
"This file contains a detailed floor plan of the castle, among other useful information, study it. Your gear has already been delivered to your room. Esenburo is five days north by fast horse, you leave tomorrow morning. Dismissed"
I saluted Sophia and walked out of her office.
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I left the capital early the next morning equipped with the Special Forces' signature black leather amour. As I couldn't bring books with me on a mission, I wanted to get this over quickly. So instead of taking a horse, I decided to run all the way to my destination. With my high essence recovery speed, I could cut my travel time in half. So I activated my speed-boosting skills and sprinted down the Royal Avenue.
As I predicted, I arrived at Esenburo during the late afternoon on the third day since my departure. Esenburo was a medium-sized town, a bit smaller than Sapianas Cognities. It was currently filled with activity, as it was part of the main supply route to the border.
I waited until night fell to activate [Camouflage] and flip myself over the walls and into the city. I used [Sky Steps] to control my fall onto the roof of a nearby building and started to make my way towards the castle. Once there I identified the guards on the walls to see if any of them would detect me. Confirming that they were all rank two I jumped over the wall and landed in the west courtyard of the castle. I spotted an unlocked servant's entrance and made my way inside the castle.
The Marquess' room was on the fifth floor. I deftly made my way through the many halls and staircases that I had memorized from the floor plans and soon arrived at my target's sleeping chamber. Two guards stood in front of the door, already starting to nod off. I conjured a shadow dagger in each hand and stabbed both guards. Marquess Bonet Harel lay comfortably in his bed. As I approached I pulled out a trinket in the shape of a shield and activated it with a bit of essence, it would block the alarm signal that the ward would send out when I broke it. I raised a shadow dagger in my right hand and activated [Assassinate]. After checking that he was dead I headed towards one of the nearby windows to escape. But I hadn't gone three steps when a voice sounded out behind me.
"I can't let you leave after you killed our informant, now can I?"
I quickly spun around to see a devilishly handsome man in a crimson cloak holding a short sword, I quickly identified him, reconjured my shadow daggers, and activated all my internal essence skills.
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[Clint Paleoak]
Rank 4 - Mortal
-skill is being blocked by an outside force, more information can not be retrieved
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He smirked at my actions and dashed towards me, swinging his sword at my neck. I managed to block his attack with my right hand, but his superior strength shoved me back. He didn't let up and released a series of furious blows that I only barely managed to parry with the help of my S rank dagger mastery. I needed an opening so I jumped up and used [Sky Steps] to quickly get behind him. But as if he could see behind himself, he reached his sword over his head and blocked my attack before spinning around to face me once more.
'Now that I've used an external essence skill, guards will most likely be here in a few minutes. I need to finish this quickly'
I jumped back to gain some distance and launched a few wind bolts at him. He seemed startled, but managed to doge three of them, the 4th pierced his right leg. At this, he glanced at me in anger and completely disappeared.
'A stealth skill, and one much better than mine'
I strained my senses to their utmost and tried to detect him. After a few seconds, I felt something to my right and quickly moved away. But I was too slow, as a deep cut appeared on my shoulder.
'If I want the beat this guy, I need to try something risky'
I once more stood still and focused my senses. I soon felt movement to the front and left of me. But instead of moving away, I moved towards it. I felt a sharp pain as my left shoulder was run through. But knowing where his sword was meant I could attack him. I dismissed the dagger in my left hand and grabbed his wrist, pulling his sword deeper into my shoulder. In his surprise, he faltered for a second and didn't pull his sword back. I took this chance to stab him in the chest. When his stealth faded I made sure he was dead. As I let go of him, he fell to the ground. I caught my breath and activated [Camouflage] before picking it up and jumping out a window.
'I'll pull the sword out once I'm out of the city, the guards will be here soon'
I once more jumped over the roofs of buildings and made my way back to the road. I hid behind a large outcropping of rock and prepared to treat my wound.
'This is gonna hurt, but with my regeneration skill it should close up soon'
I grabbed the hilt of the blood-soaked sword and yanked it out of my body. I had to stifle a scream as it was the second most painful thing I'd ever experienced. I quickly bandaged both of the wounds on my shoulders and took a moment to regain my essence. As I did I inspected my attacker. But besides the sword and his clothes he had no other possessions on him.
'I suppose I'll lug him back and see if Sophia knows anything'
After my essence had recharged and I had a light meal, I rapped the corpse in a blanket and slung it over my right shoulder.
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With my injuries and new burden, it took me a little over three days to get back to Dragon's Perch. It was early morning when I reached the city, and the sun was about to peak over the horizon. I activated [Camouflage] before entering as I didn't want to draw attention with my blood-soaked clothes and strange bundle. I walked through the city and made my way to Sophia's office. When I reached it I knocked on the door.
"Come in"
I opened the door and stepped inside.
"Ah, Magnus, word of your succe- what happened to you"
I tossed the bundle onto the floor and Clint's corpse rolled out.
"This guy almost killed me"
"Wha- the crimson assassin!?"
"Give me a full report"
I gave Sophia a detailed explanation of my infiltration, assassination, and fight with the rank 4 ascender.
"If he wasn't so arrogant and didn't reveal himself, I probably would have died"
Sophia sighed.
"I apologize, it was a miscalculation on my part. My intel told me that the crimson assassin was by the border. You will be receiving additional rewards, and then more on top of that for actually killing him"
"So you know who this guy is?'
"Yes, he's quite infamous. We don't know his real name, but he's a top-notch assassin from Palence who has been slaughtering any operatives that try and cross the border. We only have a few people capable of seeing through his high-rank stealth spell, and their all occupied. But that aside, how are your injuries?"
"Nothing too serious, should heal up in a few days. Don't worry about it"
"I'm your commanding officer, it's my job to worry about you. Now get yourself to the infirmary"
Slightly startled by her words, I saluted and walked off. As I did, I didn't hear what she whispered under her breath.
"What the hell, getting in a fight with a rank 4 assassin doesn't shake his cool, but that does?"
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I had to stay in the infirmary for two days before the doctors let me leave. They were all surprised at how fast my injuries healed and kept asking me questions about it. When I was finally released, Sophia called me into her office to issue my mission rewards. She had a strange expression on her face when I walked in.
"On top of the original 30 gold reward for completing the mission, you will be given another 300 gold. Additional, you will be promoted to a level two operative"
She handed me a large sack of gold and a new badge, when she did she let out a small sigh.
"I still can't believe it, you ran the previous promotion record into the ground"
"Previous record?"
"Yes, 4 months, it took me 4 months to be promoted"
At this, I stayed silent and nodded my head.
"But anyway, as a level two not only does your pay go up, you now have the authorization to make arrests. Don't let the power go to your head though. Make sure to show up for training tomorrow. The war is going to start soon, which means we're moving to the forward base"
'So it's starting huh, I wonder what Sophia's gonna put me up to next?'