The day Jack arrived in Asshai, he stayed on the ship with Henry to negotiate his own share of the Golden Dragon's loot, and not long after sunrise, together with Jhon, they hired one of the boys who were with Salim and went to one of the city's shops to transform their riches into power. Of course, the quickest way to do this was to go to a Blood Mage to make changes. As an assassin and thief, Jack had already improved his hearing with Rafael. But unlike Jhon, who had already made many improvements with Rafael, he began to feel the incredible difference when the two exchanged blows during training on board the ship.
Jack had already recognized Jhon as one of the alchemists who worked for the Faceless Men in Valyria. And now that they were together in a new Order, the two tried to maintain a closer relationship as former members of the old organization. Jhon always asked him for directions on how to fight with daggers, he had already mastered the hidden technique that Jack provided to the Order. So Jack began training him in close combat and Jhon began teaching him what he could in alchemy.
That was why Jack was so interested in getting more alterations to strengthen himself. But the alterations of the Order of the Wise required wisdom points and time, since Rafael still didn't have any potions that would help them with the side effects of weight loss. It wasn't long before the two arrived at a place that was famous for making such improvements in Asshai and also sold some of the famous artifacts. Before spending all the wealth he had obtained by stealing magic bags with Rafael and the loot from the Golden Dragon. Jack chose the cheapest magic book in the store to be able to pay off his contract with the Order, the book was of the darkness element and he didn't pay much attention to the spell since he chose it only for its price. And only then did he go to a private room where he began to calculate how much money he had and how many alterations he would be able to make.
As Jack entered the room to make his alterations, Jhon asked the boy who was his guide to take him to a place where he could buy an artifact for a good price. Since arriving in Valyria, he had worked tirelessly for the Faceless Men and the only advantage of all this hard work was a huge amount of gold. Jhon had already undergone 3 alterations along with Omar and Zhang. His senses were all enhanced by 25%, his respiratory and cardiovascular systems were also improved and he had already started strengthening his joints and muscles for greater strength and speed, but he had to do the latter in the long term.
So with all his accumulated gold he hoped to get something good today. In the store he was looking at the details of the items while the employee next to him told him the difference between level 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 artifacts. Every artifact could cast a spell only once, the difference in levels was how long it would take before the spell was ready for use again. In addition, artifacts with additional effects such as greater range of spells, greater duration and greater damage were even more valuable. After searching for a long time, the best value for money artifact Jhon found was a pair of daggers. Both of them had no additional effects and were level 1, one had the Haste spell and the other the Wind Blade spell. Both could cast these spells once every 7 days. Since the pair was sold together, they had a better price. He also knew that their reduced price was due to the item being used for fighting instead of traditional accessories that would always be safe with no chance of breaking. But the price of 3500 gold coins was still something that even Jhon who had deep pockets from the business he did in Valyria found difficult to spend.
Since each dagger was going for 1750 coins each, it was truly a bargain to get an artifact at such a price. The average ranged from 2000 or even more for level 1 artifacts. But after negotiating a lot, he managed to reduce it to 3200. That way, he still had some money in his reserves until he could sell his alchemy items at Rafael's shop and start earning income again. Returning to the alteration shop, he waited until Jack finished his procedures and went to the tavern where everyone was staying. The rest of the day was normal for Jack, who was adapting to his new alterations. He did a general strengthening of all his physical prowess and improved his immune system to adapt to Asshai.
While he had nothing much to do, Jhon had received a secret mission from Rafael and spent a good part of the afternoon researching a certain group for a night mission. At night, the two went to their new home, the Tower of the Sages. They helped everyone settle in and prepared the place's defenses. Before it was too late, they both received a mission from Rafael: Assassinate the most famous faceless man in the entire city. Jack was surprised by the mandatory mission he received, but he calmly listened to Rafael's instructions and reasons.
"I'm sorry to include you in this mandatory mission, Jack, but our group cannot stay in the same city as them. The risk is too great after the conflict we had with them in Valyria, especially for me and Jhon. According to Jhon's research, the Stranger's temple has a small Tower with a powerful group of 4 elites in the city, and their organization is included in the so-called Trinity of Assassins. If they attack us under orders from some contract, we would have no chance of fighting back against the ambushes, and we would often have to be suspicious of those closest to us. There are only 4 faceless assassins in the group, and the strongest of them is an apprentice named Kanu. I need you to come up with a plan to kill him tonight. Here, take this. Inside is all the money I have. I gave Jhon a suggestion on how to eliminate this man named Kanu. After we take care of him, it will be easy to get rid of the others."
Jhon took the bag that Rafael passed him and created a bond with it. Inside were 1000 gold coins. He waved and left with Jack. On the way he told him the plan:
"While investigating yesterday, I already found out where they receive their contracts. The plan I discussed with Rafael involves luring Kanu to assassinate me, but when you get there, you will help me kill him. If during the contract they ask to see your face, you are the only one of us who can display a different face. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, no problem, not even the faceless men can recognize another without a proper signal between them. What do you know about this Kanu?" Jack asked.
"He is very strong and very fast, he probably has many alterations, he is an apprentice, but he has not yet mastered any spells. But he has 3 artifacts: 1 for escape, 1 for attack and another for defense. What spells do his artifacts have? I do not know that, I have already visited the place where we are going to kill him today, it is an abandoned place, I will finish the traps in half an hour, when the time is right take him there. If you do not show up in 1 hour I will consider that you failed to hire him or that something went wrong and I will leave. Do this right and we will earn 250 Order points each, in addition to dividing Kanu's spoils."
As soon as he finished, Jhon gave me the paper with the location and I set off to the location of the supposed headquarters of the Stranger's temple. I had no problem hiring the person called Kanu, and less than 20 minutes later he found me and accepted the price when he found out that he was just an apprentice, the price was even reduced to 300 coins plus the fees. As for the reason for staying by his side, I told him that my pet was tracking him and then we immediately headed in the direction of the agreed location.
All the way to the ambush site, I looked at Kanu's back several times, but I knew that the man would not fall for my blows so easily, there were some gaps, but just like me, this weakness he showed me was just a deception testing me all the way to the abandoned place. When I offered to go in and help with the assassination inside the abandoned house, he refused saying that there was no need, since my information said that the man would be alone and at most there would be his "woman" with him. After that, I followed to the back and soon saw the signs left by Jhon...
Twenty minutes later Jhon and Jack were wearing gas masks on their faces, the abandoned house was filled with poisonous smoke, on the floor a decapitated man was lying, his body had several wounds including some arrows and daggers. His legs still had green vines wrapped around them. It was Jack who dealt the final blow, but it was Jhon who caused many more injuries with his physical traps and his new spell. What made the battle more intense was the fact that the man was immune to all the toxins that now filled the house with a greenish-purple mist. It was a shame that one of Kanu's artifacts was destroyed in the process. But there were still two of them left as loot for the two of them.
They then breathed a sigh of relief, and then collected everything Kanu had, including his body. Before leaving, Jhon even set the place on fire and they changed clothes and masks. When they moved away from the place and stopped in a dark alley, they changed clothes once more, this time returning to the Order's uniforms and heading back to their new home, which they would soon realize was surrounded by enemies.
***
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Magic Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, Jan, frimorigo, Scott Robertson, Takatchi and Leery Falcon!