Author's note:

So here we go another chapter as promised. I hope you like it

****

The walls of the city is it's pride. They symbolise the strength and power of the lord so each tend to keep his in good shape. Otherwise he wasn't a lord for long.

The king of Oradin tried his best, but even he couldn't oversee everything. From the outside all the walls seemed in perfect condition, but on the inside there was one place like a rotten tooth that was not maintained. It belonged to the slums.

There resided all the humanity's (and other visiting races’) thrash. Those who were poor lived in those run down houses and orphans ran in the streets with empty stomachs. At night the predators awoke. All the city' s greatest evil masterminds collected their information on how to take over the world there, murderers went out to hunt, gladiator rings were opened and evil occultists gave their sermons. As you can see it wasn't one of the best places to find yourself in but not everyone had the brains to figure that out.

Ace was walking down some alley, his breathing heavy. At the end of his path was a crumbling wall. A few large rocks had rolled out and were lying around. He chose the one with a flat top and sat down to rest. His stamina bar was flashing red and his stomach was loudly announcing its hunger, only his willpower kept him from collapsing. He took the bun and water out of his bag and consumed it in seconds. Meeting death and running for hours could make one really hungry. His biggest wish now was to lie down and sleep forever and maybe a bit more but he had learnt from his previous mistakes - this place was never calm.

As expected there could be heard footsteps of someone coming his way. Ace took a deep breath and waited for someone to emerge. And waited... And waited... His patience couldn't take it anymore and he himself went to meet the intruder who was in a bend of a different street (if you dare to call them that) than he had come from. It was a man not a year younger than a hundred years limping forward with a stick. Yet Ace's instincts screamed for him to run as far as possible and just as fast.

But the body didn't comply. It was barely keeping him up and threatened to give way if Ace even thought about moving anywhere.

"It's rare to see such a young one in these parts. What brought you here?" greeted the old man in a steady voice that belonged to someone much younger.

"Uhm.. I'm... lost?" answered or more like asked Ace, unsure of what answer was right. His tongue itched to say he came here by killing many people and proving his worth so now he can leave the city with an easy heart but... That old man might have looked ancient but his eyes were extremely sharp and voice full of power. There was no way he really was as senile as he looked.

"You know it's dangerous to sleep in a tiger's den?"

"It's rarely do or die. Sometimes you can pick a third option and pretend you're not there, and for some reason most people go along with that fantasy"

"So you expected the monsters to ignore the presence of a fly and talk things out with each other?"

"Yep. They have a lot to talk tonight anyway."

"And why would you say that?" asked the old man with a raised eyebrow. (It was hardly noticeable with all the wrinkles, but it's the thought that counts!)

"Well, I heard rumours that tonight one dark magician found his untimely death" was the given answer with an innocent expression.

"I see... I was wondering why his most prized pouch was hanging from your belt."

"It's his?!" a wide eyed expression with a mouth making an o "I would have never guessed it had such a tragic past! I should protect it better than the previous owner then!"

"Good idea" nodded the man in agreement and both of them burst out laughing. Neither had believed the other for a second and kept the act just for the sake of it. "You've got a refreshing mind, kid. Want to come over?"

"Do you have a spare bed? Or simply a futon? I think even a clean piece of wood would suffice!" came an immediate reply.

The old man chuckled while nodding and turned back the way he had come from.

***

After an hour of walking, stumbling and entering wrong houses they had finally reached... a run down house, just like every other.

"You sure this one‘s really yours? I wouldn't like the repeat of the previous one" muttered Ace in exhaustion.

"I always had doubts about that woman but I never could have guessed she was a witch!" came the man’s reply as he entered. Ace followed slowly.

"Every woman is a witch if they wake up to see an intruder rummaging through her clothes especially if he's an old man followed by a 'kid'" he didn’t forget to put air quotes on the word kid no matter how tired he felt.

"How was I supposed to know it was her closet! There's a spare room there in my place!"

"Well, the first hint that it wasn't your home could have been a lovely girl sleeping in the bed..."

"Maybe I picked her up at the party? I'm old and don't remember everything!"

"..." Ace didn't feel like even attempting a reply to that.

Then the man found his spare room and Ace fell into a bed made of rags without any second thoughts. His body shut down the moment a 'bed' appeared in his sight.

The old man put his chin on the cane's top and studied the now sleeping youth. 'He clearly has potential and ingenuity to overcome all odds but his biggest enemy is his own innocence'. The man shook his head. 'He pretends to be an evil mastermind yet a simple corpse that could no longer do anything to him chased him all the way to the Reaper's door. How does one taint the innocence of youth, huh? I'll have to dwell on that. It would be such a waste not to use him.'

***

A revolting smell brought Ace back to the living. Still dazed from long sleep he opened his eyes and was welcomed by an unfamiliar wall. It was the colour of dust and had many cracks. Turning on the other side he saw an identical wall and some green fumes coming from the doorway. 'What the hell is that?'

Rolling out of the 'bed' he crawled to the doorway on all fours as not to inhale that monstrosity more than necessary.

"What poison are you mixing there, old man?" he asked the person's back who was sitting before the fire and stirring. The guy was wearing a robe the colour of dust and his plain cane lay beside him

"What? Oh this?" he motioned towards the sickly green contents of the pot "It's dinner!"

"N..No.. No way! I still want to live!" shouted Ace. With that said he took out two buns and finished them moments. There was still one left so there was still time to find something to do and hopefully earn food. He’d had heard it’s possible to die of hunger here. "By the way what's your name, old man?"

"Sedgart and stop calling me old! Show some respect to your elders!"

"Pff.. Anyway, my name's Ace. Thanks for giving me a place to sleep in."

"Are you already leaving?" asked Sedgart raising his head from the concoction.

"Well, I still have to decide what to do with my new life. So see..."

"What do you think about the Assassin's path?" the old man asked cutting him off while tasting his brew.

"Assassin‘s?" Ace was surprised but answered non the less "I had it in mind but the more I think about it the more overrated it seems. Half the people around here are either mages or rogues/assassins. I would be better off being a spearman or traveller, they‘re almost extinct.“

To youth's surprise the man burst out laughing, the brew flying in all directions. Ace quickly took cover and once again ignored a pop up message which he had a collection of since the encounter with the mage. 'What's so funny you old bastard?' he questioned himself while examining his answer. After some time the old man calmed down and explained.

"You've got it all wrong, kid."

"I've got a name, you know?" interrupted the aforementioned kid but the man ignored him and continued.

"Assassination is an art my friend and a very old one at that. It has honoured traditions and was even legalised in some kingdoms. Yet people nowadays seem to have forgotten all about it. For them assassin is someone who deals extremely high damage with a dagger in bursts. What a joke! True assassins are masters of deception, invisible movement, perfect positioning and instant kills. Their targets are dead in a few swift strokes to vital areas not, and I tell you NOT in a million fast random slashes!"

"You sound like every other old man, you know?" replied Ace crossing his arms.

"Who cares if I sound like an old fool, but do you believe me?" there was a strange light in the man's eyes that weren't there before.

"I believe what you said about assassins of this time but I doubt the words you used to describe the past. To kill an armoured man with a few strikes? Pretty impossible."

"Is it now?" the old man asked smiling but for some reason it made Ace uncomfortable. There was a feeling of something hidden there but his [Deception] skill was too low to decipher what. "Come with me now" said the man motioning towards the bathroom. Ace raised his eyebrows but followed.

It was a small room with only a heap of rags and a bath. The man kicked at the furthest leg and a grinding sound could be heard. 'Huh?' Before better questions could be formed a staircase going down opened up in the left corner. 'This is impressive' Ace thought but his outward appearance remained unperturbed, still unconvinced.

"Come come" hurried him Sedgart and almost ran down the stairs which didn't agree with his age at all. Ace walked down slowly recording every detail for future use. It looked like a cave more than a basement and perfectly dark one too. Not wanting to wander blindly he quietly murmured "Flare".

A flickering light appeared in front of his eyes. With a flick of fingers he sent it slightly higher and to the side. The illuminated room was a long corridor with many doors on every side but each had it's own design and size. Sadly there wasn't time to explore because the man he was supposedly following was already disappearing behind the first bend. Ace growled in annoyance but ran after a very agile old man.

After a few hours of walking in circles (or that's how it felt at least) they entered a room which was made from hard stone and filled with cages full of all kinds of monsters ranging from a group of kobalts to what looked like a miniature dragon.

"What is this place?" asked Ace in wonder and trepidation. A caged monster is not the same as a dead one. The former tends to escape at all the wrong moments.

"This place? It's where the animals are kept before their fights. Now where was that guy I had in mind... Look here, here he is! Come my untrusting friend and tell me what you see."

"It's an.. armoured snake? Holding a trident and eyeing me as if I was lunch?!" came a hesitant answer from Ace.

"Yes yes now take this dagger and try to wound him". Ace took the weapon and carefully passing his hand through the bars, slashed with all his strength. The snake guy looked at him as if he was stupid trying to wound him through all the armour and scales with a toothpick.

"It's pointless" he agreed with the snake warriors assessment. That guy's level was at worst over one hundred and he had armour enough to make ten sets out of it.

"He he he" the old man chuckled and after a bit of fumbling with the lock opened the cage. Monster and boy looked at each other to make sure the other was seeing the same. The man entered the cage and snatched the dagger/toothpick from the boy's hand. It started to glow with a faint purplish light. Then with a quick thrust Sedgart shouted

"Heartseeker" and thrust his weapon straight to the monsters heart, piercing scales and armour like hot knife butter. The boy looked wide eyed, unbelieving that nature's laws could be so easily defied. The snake collapsed and the dagger left it's body without any resistance. The man cleaned it with a white handkerchief and looked up at the kid with cold eyes. No longer were there any humour.

"Now do you believe me, boy?"

Ace was stunned. He didn't know how to react. How could a dagger go through armour and scales as if they were butter?! What kind of skill was that?! He just nodded and the man lead him back to his house. Before leaving the kid alone he gave him something more to mull over.

"I hope I changed your opinion about assassins so think over your answer. And by the way, next time don't disrespect assassins in their faces. We're a prideful bunch."

Ace lied down on the rags and studied the ceiling. 'What's going on with me lately? Twice tonight had I thrash talked about different classes and to people who wanted to teach me non the less. Do I have death wish? Probably. But what should I do about the latest request? The old man seems very intent on making an assassin out of me and not likely to take a no for an answer. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad to become one if I could learn that skill. What the hell was it anyway? It easily passed through all armour and one hitted the mob.' Still undecided Ace logged off.

***

Kirin woke up and went to make something to eat. It was a few hours after midnight once again. While the eggs were boiling he opened his laptop to check what the real level of that snake warrior was. After a bit of searching he found a post mentioning a dungeon in the west were level 150-210 snake monsters resided. No one had finished the dungeon because those snakeman were extremely strong for their level yet gave no good loot and poor xp in comparison. 'Not too shabby' Then he closed the laptop, ate his eggs and went to sleep. Tomorrow he'll decide if he wants to take a path of a murderer.

After five-six hours he woke up and without any real decision went to play once again.

***

"You've been lying there for quite some time, boy. I already started to look where to hide the body" came a voice from someone looming over Ace's small frame.

"Old man is that you?" asked the boy yawning.

"Who else lives in this poor excuse for a house?"

"Oh yeah I forgot that no self-respecting person would do that."

"You know what that says about you?"

"Well, you see I just came here to help out an old man in his time of need, but you've been living here for only god knows how long"

"True true" the man agreed laughing. "Come now, have some breakfast" he added leaving the room.

Ace rolled out of his pretend bed and looked at the doorway. There were no green fumes coming from the main room. That was a good sign, right? Entering the room he saw the same sight as last time but the concoction this time seemed to be edible.

"Stop frowning at my stew!" said the man with a glare sitting near the fire and motioning for the youth to join him. Not having any real choice in the matter Ace sat down and allowed Sedgart to pour him a full bowl of so called stew.

Closing eyes he put the spoonful in his mouth. He let it roll around in his mouth before deciding it wasn't as bad as he had expected. With that in mind he finished his portion in no time. Excessive thinking also required energy.

"I've been thinking about your suggestion and have a few questions. Will you yourself be the teacher?" asked the kid after finishing his meal.

"Yes. What else been troubling you? Or do you fear for my age?"

"No, not at all. You've clearly showed me not to underestimate anyone no matter how innocent they look. What interests me is if you're the teacher how many other students you had? I have no fantasy to have been the first one to stumble in on your path."

"You're right at that you're not the first to awaken my interest but I can tell you're the most amusing one." The boy rolled his eyes. "Anyway, neither of them passed my preliminary test."

"What kind of test is it and why do you think I can pass it if many before didn't?" Ace asked tilting his head to the side a little. 'What could that old man have seen in me that got his approval?'

"Do you have no confidence in yourself?" asked the man in surprise. The kid didn't give off a feeling of someone who looked down on himself. 'Could I have been wrong about him all along?'

"You misunderstood me, old man. It's that you haven't seen any skills of mine and from my movements you can easily see that I had no training in any kind of fighting. So why would you - a high tear assassin, I presume - decide to choose me - a random kid on the street - to become your student? I really could have only looted the dead wizard" Ace asked, eyeing the man.

'Phew..' sighted the old man in his mind 'That little bastard almost gave me a heart attack. I'm really too old for this. It would be really nice if he actually passed the test.'

"That's a good question but a simple one. I took you in because you looked so pathetic and out of place." The kids eyes turned into slits. No one liked being called weak. Yet the man ignored the boy's glare and continued with his story

"But after bantering with you for a bit I noticed you had brains. You weren't born to be a fighter, who runs in first to die because someone else said it was a good idea, or a cleric, who are all about helping others (you had looted a dead man!). That left you good for magic or assassinating. So I decided to take a chance.

“Maybe you're the chosen one to inherit my knowledge?" shaking his head in dismay the man added "You can't imagine how scary it is to know that you'll die without a successor yet all who come are poor excuses. Imagine one of my candidates became a well known priest! Can you believe it?! A priest!' he shouted in rage.

The kid chuckled.

"That's really sad. I've got tough competition."

"So you agree to try out?" asked the man with a forced smile. His mind still on the bastard student.

"I see no other way to leave with all my body parts in tact, so yes" with that Ace stood up waiting for a challenge but the old guy didn't even move a muscle.

"The test is easy. All you have to do is kill someone and bring his corpse to my house without looting it. From that I'll decide if you qualify or not."

"I have to kill someone?!" asked Ace, disbelief and shock raising his voice.

"What did you expect?“ asked the man raising an eyebrow. “You're trying for an apprenticeship under an assassin, and they kill people if you didn’t know that. So, of course, I want to see if you're capable of taking another's life and using it for your own welfare. By the way you can take a dagger from the heap of rags near the door. It might help a bit."

The kid snatched the dagger and left without another word.

The old assassin made himself some tea and looked at the clinging door. 'What am I doing stealing the idealism and conscience of a youth?’ He forcibly turned his head away and took a sip of tea burning his own tongue. It was too late to change anything. The dice was rolled.

***

Ace activated [Hiding in Plain Sight] and walked down a random alley. 'The bastard wants me to kill a NPC. A living breathing individual exclusive to this world with no chance of revival. He knew I had no qualms about killing other players because for them death is just a minor setback, not the end of everything, so he chose this. Can I really do it?‘ Ace shook his head changing the direction of his thoughts

‘In real life I hate so many people. It's impossible to count how many times I wished I could kill my classmates or relatives while smiling brightly and nodding at whatever the hell they were talking about. It was so easy to utter those words when I had no way of making them true! I even prayed once for god to grant me the power to shut them all up forever.

‘But now that I have it, how am I supposed to rise the weapon and rob someone of their life? Everyone has dreams and goals. They work very hard to achieve them and out of nowhere I appear stealing everything for my own gain.‘ He passed an arguing couple but they didn’t seem to see or hear him. ‘So in the end it all comes down to one question: can I really throw myself away? Indulge in pointless slaughter?'

Suddenly Ace stopped in the middle of the street almost falling down over his own feet. His face turned into a malicious grin when a thought entered his mind. 'Why should he care about others' dreams? Did they care about his? Did they ever stop for a moment to look into his eyes and see the hidden message? More like a scream?

‘No. None did. Not only that but they even furthered his misery. Why should he care about such beings? Wasn't it said that there's not a person without malice in his heart? So why should he limit himself for them? What did they ever do for him? Why shouldn't he let his rage and bitterness take over and throw the moral codes drilled into him since childhood to the wind? What could possibly stop him from doing whatever the hell he wanted to?'

Soon after that a lone messengers last scream could be heard echoing away into the sunrise.