“Those letters?” Kiki the female assassin cocked her head up towards the direction that Beast was pointing in. After a short glance at them, she shook her head. “Nope, I can’t make out what they say.”

The assassin then shot Beast a curious glance. “Why? Can you?”

Seeing no point in hiding it from her, Beast nodded. “It is telling us to leave this place. Not just here too, they are all over the place like they are warning us of something. It doesn’t make sense though, how could a dungeon that had been explored so many times by different players have such a thing and yet not have any news regarding it?”

Beast reached out to touch the etchings with his fingers, deep in thought.

“You would think we would have heard something bad regarding the Fort by now.”

If he had been with Lortan, he would never have tried to do something like this. Kiki on the other hand was another story. Though they had barely just met even with the somewhat brief history they had, Beast felt like there was a common understanding between them – a dislike for Lortan – that allowed him to feel at ease in her company. At the very least based on that understanding, he presumed that Kiki would not suddenly turn and kill him on the spot like Lortan would have. Beast eyed the girl who was also doing some thinking of her own. Short stature, bright smile, bubbly personality, it was as though she had never changed, though he knew that was not the case. To stalk someone for days took a certain degree of patience and endurance that Beast was not even sure he had.

Speaking of which, her assassin profession interested him. Beast had heard of thieves being a common job in games, the typical fragile speedster that also had the ability to set and disarm traps but not of the assassin, at least not here in Ages Online. The mechanics surrounding the thief’s version of stealth was different and definitely could not be used to remain undetected for days. Therefore, it would only be logical if it was a second job transformation or a hidden profession like his. The former was struck out because of the need to be at least a level hundred before the prerequisite to job change kicked in.

“So… uhh.” He wanted to ask something but it was a pretty sensitive topic he was going to touch on, like weight or age. “What level are you?”

“30. Yours?”

The answer shocked him, not because of the frankness the girl had answered with, but the answer itself. How could the person before him be even lower level than he was? If she was only level 30, just how much damage could she output to instantly down a level 50 warrior? Shaking his head to regain back his senses, Beast replied. “37.”

Kiki gave an unreadable expression. Then, she burst out laughing. “I seriously thought you were higher leveled than 37.”

“Speak for yourself.” Beast on the other hand did not look as amused.

“Touche. Anyway, I don’t think we will find out anything if we simply just stay around here. There might be more clues deeper in.” Kiki pointed down the hallway. Noticing Beast’s questioning stare she hurriedly added on. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

And she sure could handle herself. For the next few days of hunting within the Fortress of Lanos, the duo worked between themselves to take down groups of monsters much higher level than theirs. Beast would first attract the attention of the hobgoblin elites while Kiki would stealth around them and instant-kill the hobgoblin mage that would normally accompany the group. Then, she would come back to help Beast flank the elites. Beast could see now why she could not survive alone despite saying she could handle herself.

The assassin’s stealth had a significant cool down that would prove to be Kiki’s undoing unless she had someone else to take the attention of the other mobs besides the one she was bursting down. What seems to be a one hit kill of hers was also actually a combo sequence consisting of a backstab, a knockdown followed by a stab in a vital point for extreme damage.

On Kiki’s side, she had some trouble adapting to Beast’s haphazard fighting style at first, but soon grown used to it. The roles were set as such; she was the damage dealer, and Beast was the tanker and healer. After clearing a certain amount of monsters, they would then stop for a rest where Beast would break out his antelope meat stash and they start talking over a small campfire. Unfamiliarity gave way to practice and soon, the two of them became a well-oiled goblin killing machine that made short work of any monster group they came across.

Just like this, Beast leveled a total of four times and Kiki leveled seven. Iron body and Throwing managed to increase by a level while Bare-handed Mastery was on the cusp of becoming intermediate.

One day, while they were resting in one of the many decrepit rooms in the Fort, Kiki was unable to rein back her curiosity anymore.

“So,” She asked. “Are you really a monk? Your fighting style and equipment do seem to suggest you are one.”

Beast who was heating up the meat by the fire shook his head.

“I am a historian.” Explaining what a Lore Keeper was would take too much time. Historian is a much more apt description. If he had been monitoring the girl’s expression instead of focusing on the fire though, he would have seen her jaws drop.

“Really?” Kiki exclaimed in disbelief. “Today’s not April Fools right? I always thought you are a fighting profession…”

Fighting profession or not, Beast was not even sure what his own job was. He only shrugged. “I guess that is how I can read those symbols.”

The stunned girl dumbly nodded.

“How did you manage to become an assassin?” Beast asked in turn, wanting to satisfy his own curiosity as well. That broke Kiki out of her stupor and she went into detailed recounting of her own story. It would appear that right after she was killed by Lortan back at the Argent Forest, she took a hefty penalty of five stat losses as well as her weapon. She almost broke out crying when a person claiming to be from the assassin’s guild noticed her and approached with an offer to join the guild. She was so upset at the betrayal and loss that she took the offer straight away without even thinking it over.

“I almost regret it because the training after that was hell.” Kiki winced at the memory. “Days of staying at the same position with no rest and food and being unable to log out were pure torture!”

Luckily, three days in-game is a day in real life, so she was technically stuck for a full day at most. It was nothing a medical certificate could not fix. After job changing, she had moved on to Torintu and was leveling around the area when she spotted Lortan walking past with another group of people. These were of course, days before Beast himself arrived at Torintu proper discounting the robber stint with Shadun.

“So is the guy who changed your profession a player or an NPC?” There had been rumours that some professions could be passed or taught in Agaia, so Beast wanted to confirm it.

“Trade secret.” Kiki simply said with a sly smile. Beast groaned, but did not pursue any further.

After talking for a while more, they both bid their goodbyes and logged out.

……………………

Sebast Koh stood outside the building, wondering if he should enter the compound. The sign indicating “The Penguin’s Dojo” hung sadly on the front gates of the infrastructure which itself was dwarfed by the many high rise buildings surrounding its vicinity. Despite its rundown look, the internet had stated it to be one of the best martial arts center around the city, so here he was.

The problem however, was deciding if he should go through with his plans. Sebast was not unfit per say, but exercise and the likes had never been his forte. Besides wondering why some people love to beef up, he very much never sees the point of going to the gym. In fact, Sebast did rather spend the time inside a comfortably air-conditioned game capsule than sweating while lifting weights.

However, his most recent battle with Lortan had showed him something important.

For a long time, he had kind of known that real life skills could be transferred into virtual reality in Ages Online. Camouflaging, tracking and feints worked in this manner, so it was entirely possible that martial arts could as well. When he fought Lotran, the warrior had showed a certain degree of swordsmanship that enabled him to wield his blade more powerfully and precisely, and could have actually won the battle if Kiki had not appeared in time to turn the tides. With that he had learnt one thing – if he wanted to compete in the PVP domain against players of varying backgrounds, of which there would definitely be some form of fighting skill involved, it would be best that he also learn a form of combat for the advantage.

Knocking the door of the dojo, there was a silent minute of nothing.

A lethargic voice then called out, “Come in.”

Sebast hesitated, before pushing the door open and going through.

What greeted him however was surprising to say the least. Lying down alone in the middle of an empty dojo hall playing with her aged PSP vitaX console was a pretty girl with a tied ponytail. She lazily gazed up towards Sebast and muttered.

“Yes?”

“Umm… I am looking to register at the dojo. Can I meet with the master please?”

The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. “You are meeting him.”

“You are the master?” Sebast was taken aback, never mind the fact that she had addressed herself as a ‘him’. He had expected an older man with disciplined stance and an air of ancient power, not a girl who looks barely in her twenties playing outdated games. “Please don’t play games with me.”

“I need to see the master here.” Sebast moved to look around the dojo hall.

However, he suddenly felt a sharp force pushing his feet off the ground as a counter force pressed against his back. The result was him face-planting to the ground in a second. When he got back up to his feet, Sebast came face to face with the smug look of the girl.

“Convinced now?” She asked.

Sebast painfully nodded.

The girl’s name was Naomi, and it seemed that her father was the original owner of the Penguin’s Dojo. Due to the increased popularity of virtual games and virtual learning machines, many more people decided that it was not worth the effort to go for such strenuous activities anymore. Thus, the subscription rate for the dojo had steadily dropped over the years, until it was practically empty at one point of time. So when he retired, he had handed the dojo over to the only candidate available – his daughter.

The first thing Naomi had him do was to clean the dojo of its dust. Being an official apprentice under her now, Sebast had no choice but to comply. Mopping the floor, wiping the windows and even changing the light bulbs, he could not help but inwardly wonder if the girl was simply exploiting his manpower to make up for her own laziness in maintaining the grounds.

“So when are we going to start?”

“On?” The girl asked quizzically, not even looking up from her PSP.

“The real stuff.” Sebast huffed while dragging the mop around the compound.

“This is part of it.”

Sebast immediately regretted his decision. With that one sentence, it became obvious that he was being exploited and the dojo was a scam. However, having paid a substantial amount of money upfront to join the dojo and thus without much choice in the matter, he did all that she told him to. At the end of the day, he slumped onto the ground exhausted.

“Hey,” Naomi came up to him with a cup of water in her hands. “Take this.”

Sebast gratefully accepted.

“Tommorrow, could you come by with a toolbox? I have an oven that needs fixing.”

Sebast almost spewed out all the water in his mouth. He only looked at her with an expression of incredulity without knowing whether to laugh or cry. After much deliberation, he could only sigh and nod helplessly in reply. As he picked himself up from the floor and move to go home, he dropped the girl a comment.

“You know, PSP is so yesterday.” He said, to which Naomi returned a bemused expression.

……………

Beast logged back in into the room where he had left, but Kiki was already there before him. He was about to greet her when she put a finger to her lips, indicating the immediate need for silence. A moment later she vanished as though she was never there. As Beast marveled at the cloaking mechanism of the assassin class, he could hear a muffled voice sound from beyond the room.

“-earch the- rea.“

Intruders.

The door had long since fell into pieces, so Beast retreated back into the shadows for concealment. Whoever the newcomers were and what they planned to do, it was best that he wait for Kiki to come back first before trying anything else. Speaking of whom, she popped back into view mere seconds later.

“They all have red names. Whoever they are, they are definitely not friendly. And it seems that they are searching for someone, probably us.”

“Seems to be Lortan’s friends.” Beast sarcastically said.

Kiki rolled her eyes as she shrugged. “Well, we need to get out of here. I can stealth, but you on the other hand…”

“I can handle myself just fine.” He grinned, echoing the girl’s earlier words.

The art of subtlety without having any opacity modifiers was much harder than it seemed but it was not like he had not done it before. Staying in the shadows and avoiding the open are basic rules to follow if he were to remain hidden. With the intruders searching all the rooms behind, there was no other choice but to move forward. The only thing that he needed would be to have Kiki to scout ahead while invisible to let him know of any incoming hostile in his blind spots. It would not bode well if he were to run into the line of sight of a local monster and alert the rest of the fort current inhabitants to his existence. Then surely, he could not keep his life even if he had a hundred Primes to spend.

Regardless, it was smooth-sailing with a few close shaves here and there. Kiki was very patient, it pretty much being a needed prerequisite for her class, and expertly led Beast one step ahead of their pursuers while avoiding the monsters along the way. At the end of it all, the both of them found themselves in the Fortress’s central chamber where a ruined throne of sorts stood at the end. The banners of the fort had long since been defaced from its chamber walls, leaving behind scrapped rags that had turned moldy and black.

The thing that remained more or less intact was the stone carving of its emblem on the ground that stood testament to its proud history. It was a depressing sight, but what was more depressing was that the both of them had reached a dead end – there were no other exits out of the room. This was where most people on their raids in the fort called it a day.

They had to turn back.

And the sound of battle behind them grew ever so closer.

Kiki eyed Beast for an indication as to what to do. Beast on the other hand had no idea at all. Going back would mean an almost direct confrontation with their pursuers and without any form of stealth skill they, or rather he, would bound to get noticed.

Then death would be quick.

Or maybe not. Out of corner of his eye, Beast noticed more of the symbols hidden behind the throne seat which would not have been exposed if the throne had not been ripped into half. At Kiki’s bewilderment, he moved in to take a closer look, revealing a new sentence that had not appeared before.

“If flight you do not take, then hide under the earthen lake.”

Archaeology has increased to Basic 6

He had not realized it but inspecting all those random messages had apparently contributed to his archaeology experience.

“What does that mean?” Kiki suddenly appeared besides him, startling Beast who did not realize he had muttered the sentence out loud.

“Well seeing how the previous messages have always been about fleeing or something, this could actually point to another way out.”

“Earthen lake… earthen lake… what a contradictory phrase.” The girl mused.

To be honest, Beast thought that the way Kiki looked when she was thinking was pretty cute. However, there was not much time left and he already had an idea of what the sentence might have meant. “If we can’t go up, then we probably need to go down. Let’s look around for a trapdoor of some sorts.”

Kiki nodded, and the both of them broke away to search the chamber. Sure enough, after a minute or two the assassin gave out a cry, “Beast, here!”

It was a rusty old trapdoor that had melded into the surrounding dust and debris. Beast had no idea how the girl actually spotted it because if she had not told him where it was, he might not even realize it was there. Regardless, he quickly lifted it up and the both of them were through without wasting another second.