The sound of sticks clashing with each other resounded under the bright sky. The warrior-type students were fighting humanoid dolls, naturally, Viers was among them.

An overhead attack was launched on Viers’s head, he blocked it while grunting because of the heavy force and was brought down to his knees. The doll followed with a kick, Viers had a taste of it during a past sparring session, it made Viers vomited his lunch.

“Arte — Rapid Water Steps!”

His legs were filled with energy, water was swirling on his legs. He jumped to the side to dodge the kick, the doll’s kick only hit the air. When his feet landed on the ground, a splash was made despite it was dry earth. He dashed closer to close the gap between them while twisting his body, Viers intended to counter-attack as swiftly as possible.

“Arte — Water Slash!”

Out of nowhere, the stick in his hand left a trail of streaming water behind as he swinging it. With the power and speed of his attack increased, Viers successfully landed a big gash on the doll’s body. The earth doll was different from before, it had the hardness of a regular level 0 Path-seeker defensive Arte.

Creating a water blade enveloping an object or weapon as the user attacked, this was the original way of using Water Slash. When Viers killed the monster fish babies, he was in the water, therefore he managed to create a blade of water to kill them despite not holding a sword. The Viers with tier 2 affinity cannot do this in a place without a sufficient amount of water.

After landing a clean hit, the doll had stopped moving. Viers was breathing heavily, he had been sparring for an hour.

Good, I used only half the strength on both Artes but they still showed higher quality performance, less Victa consumed too. This is the benefit of higher affinity. Talent… the world really is never fair.

By the way, having to speak the Arte name was really embarrassing but the people of this world think it was natural… I have to polish my technique further.

For those who didn’t master their Arte yet, they usually spoke the Arte name before invoking the technique. The reason was that speaking the name made their technique came out smoother and easier. Viers believed it because he felt it himself. Nakala and Teldo said it was mostly just mental image, about familiarity.

Naturally, shouting the Arte name also meant telling the enemies what the user meant to do. It was a flaw, but the benefit outweighs the loss. If one was familiar enough with the Arte, had a high degree of control, the Path-seeker could invoke their Arte without shouting their name thus erasing such defect.

While Viers was thinking and catching his breath, he saw his classmates gave him a bad look. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could pick up some of their whispers.

“He doesn’t even look sad.”

“Yeah, he just doing his own thing like nothing happened. What a cruel person.”

“Did you know? Max went to Terry’s house and apologized to his parents because he couldn't save him. Max said it was all his fault.”

Viers didn’t flinch, he felt their reaction was normal. It was himself that was not normal, but he didn’t care about what others think about him.

This morning, Nakala told the class about Terry’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. Nakala seemed sad then said some kind words. She taught some short lessons before ending the class, nobody was in the mood for a lecture. They then went sparring, moving one’s body and hitting something was perfect for letting out Viers’s frustrations and stress.

Nakala and the others didn’t blame me, at least not openly but it seems I will be treated as a pariah from now on. Well, so be it. It was bound to happen, I’m already prepared for such an outcome.

…These magical tumors and the life decreasing thing must be the cult’s way of ensuring the members' loyalty to them. I must pretend I’m still oblivious to them, I doubt normal Path-seeker could find out about it.

There’s no bad effect from the tumors yet, but it felt sickening… maybe my healing factor will heal me from that? Worth a try, but not now, they may check it later.

Viers decided to end his sparring session here, he wanted to go to a place. After receiving permission from Teldo, he left. He saw Paina training with the other mage-types, she still seemed down. Farley was training with him, the face that she wore last night was nowhere to be found. Like Paina, she also seemed genuinely saddened by Terry’s death.

I wonder which face is the real her.

Viers went to the guild’s library, he saw the guild was busy and bustling with activity on his way there. The boar incursion from the south was getting more and more fierce. Around two months ago, only about twenty or so boars were roaming to Luxore direction.

Despite being killed by adventurers, the boars would return in a few weeks. The adventurers that fought them confirmed that after each wave, the boars were slowly increasing in numbers. The guild spread this information to the other adventurers, and since Viers was an adventurer of the lowest ranking, he too was informed.

What is the cult doing with those boars? In the future, it may become difficult to go outside of town. And what are the strong people in the town doing? Are they going to sit on their asses until the last minute like in the stories? Lazy bums!

When Viers arrived at the library, he searched for a bit and he took a book from the shelf. It was an encyclopedia for monsters around Luxore town.

The cult matter is heavy but I didn't forget about my new ability, the Tomalica transformation. That happened after I absorbed a monster core, in other words, I can transform to said monster by absorbing its core!

Transforming to a Tomalica is useless, but what about stronger monsters? Won't it shoots my power through the roof? It has already been proven that I could use my Arte while transforming, if coupled with a monster high spec body… Oh, the things I could do with such power… Huhuhuhu.

Like my healing factor, this ability must be hidden from other people, only I can know about this. Especially from the cult! This might be my trump card against them… A pity, the bull’s core is in their hands now.

I must hunt monsters for their cores, but I can't farm those who are too strong while too weak monsters are useless. Time to do some research, there must be at least one that is suitable for me.

Viers was so engrossed in his reading that he had forgotten about the passing of time.

...Gorilla monster, python monster, crocodile mon, bear mon, panther mon, worm mon… what’s this? Hamster mon? What a zoo… topia.

Viers kept on turning the pages until he stopped at one.

Too strong, too troublesome, too rare… oh? I think this one would do nicely. Mmm, mhhm… alright then, I choose you! A pity I’m not wearing a hat that I could turn to the back.

Viers left the library after achieving his objective. While pondering about his next monster hunt, a person wearing a hooded robe blocked his path. He gave a series of hand signals to indicate his affiliation with the cult before walking to a more remote area. Viers knew the code so he went after him. After finding a suitable place in a secluded alley, he started speaking.

“I’m Wesk, we have a mission tonight. You shall be under me.” He opened his hood, a man in his twenties with black hair and black eyes came into view.

“I thought it will be in a few days?”

“Circumstances changed, follow me.”

Wesk didn’t say anything else. They went inside a house not far from the alley. Wesk went inside after unlocking the lock with a key, it was a small and ordinary house.

“This is one of our safe houses, there’s a change of clothes and a mask for you. There are also some spare weapons, you can pick whichever you want. From now on your name during missions is Jor.

What a lame code name… well, whatever.

“Jor… okay, is it going to be just us two?”

“Three, Abe is on his way, make your preparations,” Wesk said while crossing his arms and reclining on a wall.

“Roger.”

Viers do as he was told, he changed to black clothes and wore a brown robe with hood. All of the weapons were all just ordinary quality but he got no complaints, he picked an ordinary iron sword with a scabbard and fastened it on his left waist. He picked up the mask to take a detailed look at it.

A white full face mask with two short horns on the forehead region. The teeth were sharp and fang teeth on the upper and lower jaw were slightly longer than the others. The mask brows made it had a frowning expression. There were some differences but it resembled a Hannya mask in Viers’s memory.

Viers donned the full getup before examining his figure in the mirror.

In the game, this is the part where the assassin protagonist wore their iconic garb for the first time, accompanied by uplifting and epic BGM. Unfortunately, my fat body and ordinary clothes got no cool factor whatsoever… Oh well, at least the mask is quite good, I dig it.

“I’m done. Oh?” Viers talked to Wesk but he was surprised by the sound of his altered voice.

“The mask is a magic item that blocks minor investigative Arte effects like a see-through, it also changes the wearer’s voice. Take care so it doesn’t get broken even in a fight.” Wesk explained.

“…I’m here.”

A teenager a few years older than him came inside the house. He had red-brown hair and wore a green bracelet with a snake motif. He was lean and had a hard expression on his face.

“Abe, this is Jor. Jor, meet Abe. Now get ready, we are moving out soon.”

“Mm, Wesk, Jor,” He nodded to Wesk and Viers before he went to one of the empty rooms to get ready.

While waiting, Viers looked through the window. The sun almost set and the sky was colored in orange hues. He felt a bit nervous, about his first mission and of his two teammates. Wesk and Abe were stronger than him, at least they were level 1 Path-seekers. He could felt it.

Abe returned shortly, the three of them wore similar clothes, only their mask was different from each other. Viers had a white demonic mask, Abe had a green snake mask, while Wesk had a black dog mask.

“Good, I will now explain our mission. We are going to create a Ghoul.”