Miss! Miss! Miss!

‘Thank god, he didn’t learn aiming instantly.’ Travis breathed out a sigh of relief after seeing Andel missing nearly all his throws. He was already in despair after seeing how easily Andel learned the correct posture to throw darts.

“It's alright. You can practice it every day to perfection.” Travis said with renewed confidence. Patting Andel’s shoulder twice, he walked away as if running away from something.

‘Weird!’ Andel gave his retreating back a sidelong glance before continuing the throws.

One hour later, Andel received a new notification.

You have acquired Stiffness Immunity.

‘Couldn’t it be something like Miss Immunity or something!?’ Andel was a little disappointed. He expected something which could dramatically increase his aim would appear. However, the world didn’t revolve around him, so how can his wish become a reality?

‘Might as well see what this thing is about.’ Putting down the dart on his trembling hand, he wiped his face clean while reading more about the newly acquired immunity.

Stiffness Immunity Lv 1

The muscles and tendons become flexible, providing a reflex bonus. You are also 0.5% resistant to stiffness type control abilities.

Reflex Bonus +0.5%

‘Vague, also another Reflex bonus?’ Andel thought, with close-knitted brows. His fingers drummed on the table randomly while he concentrated on the description of the ability. His system lacked Speed or Agility attributes. In its place, there was Reflex.

Though with a higher Reflex, he became more adept at dodging and performing martial arts moves. His reaction time also improved to the point that a normal person’s actions would be like a movie in slow motion to him. But, did it make faster, though?

When he researched this topic, the result showed that reflexes did have some relationship with running speed. Reaction time, running speed, brain processing, all these things were possible because of a higher reflex.

Putting aside the Reflex bonus, the abilities’ explanation was too vague for him to understand. He couldn’t get what a 0.5% resistance represented with a control type skill. Was it the time he gets controlled or the overall chance of gaining a complete immunity to that? Even after thinking for half an hour, he still was unable to come up with a definitive answer.

He gave up thinking any further and let nature take its course. If he ever encounters stiffness type control abilities, then he can know what this immunity does.

…

Contrary to what he had thought, the assassin corps wasn’t as tight and mysterious. The facility didn’t have a grim atmosphere or a brutal teacher. No one’s getting hurt regularly. Well, that’s only Andel’s thinking anyway.

He didn’t know that due to his identity, he was able to skip through the brutal assassination course. The five years of brutal training include body training, mind and emotion tempering, loyalty assessment. They even get trained to endure extreme physical pain in case an enemy manages to capture them and try to find answers from their mouth.

All these horrendous things didn’t happen with Andel just because he had the official recommendation of his grandfather. Despite what Andel had planned, neither his father nor his grandfather would ever allow him to be a fullfledged assassin. They could have trained him at the main house too. But, they didn’t do that to protect Andel.

As for what they were protecting him from, that’s something even they themselves weren't clear at this point.

When they realized a major privacy breach in the assassination corps and the agents were getting exposed, how could the two men sit still? Lucas Seras, the father of Andel Seras, volunteered himself to be the one to investigate the case.

Not knowing this, Andel got a surprise when he suddenly received a task to accompany Lilia for a casual stroll across the market.

“Eh, We are allowed to go to the market too?” Asked Andel in surprise.

“Yes.” Lilia nodded curtly with a mild face. She wore a tracksuit, which looked pretty on her. The dress displayed all her curves. It made her look more attractive than she already was. The only blemish on the otherwise sporty vibe was her cold and detached face.

‘Somehow, it makes her look even more attractive.’ Andel thought casually. By now, he had already gotten a rough grasp on everyone’s personality. Lilia was beautiful but had bipolar tendencies. One moment she was happy and friendly, then suddenly she would become cold and detached. The speed at which she had mood swings would leave one in shock.

Andel had a hard time getting used to it.

“By the way, where are we going?” Seeing that they were heading in a different direction than usual, Andel asked in confusion. Usually, they should have gone through the common hall to the dojo. Andel thought that was the only entrance to this place.

“This is a second entrance. We can’t go in and out of the dojo after 6 PM. That would blow the cover in case someone gets interested.” Lilia calmly explained. Andel noticed her change in attitude towards him but didn’t comment on it. He didn’t have a habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth.

“Can I know why we have this base here?” Andel wondered this ever since he knew of the existence of the assassin corps. Although Warren was a big town, the Seras family wasn’t a small family, to begin with. Since that’s so, there wasn’t any need to deliberately have an assassin base here.

Lilia didn’t answer his question immediately. Instead, she gave Andel a sidelong glance. Just as Andel was about to apologize, thinking that he had touched upon a sensitive topic, she opened her mouth.

“There are a few reasons but the most important one is to guard the family.” Lilia had a grimace when he said that. Andel did wonder why she had such a face but didn’t ask it. “You may think against whom we are protecting the family, right?”

Seeing Andel’s nod, she continued. “A big family, like our Seras, didn’t become big just by walking in the path of righteousness. As we rose to prominence, we made enemies from all sides. There are a few to whom the family couldn’t deal with legally. That’s where we come in.”

“I understand.” Finally, the truth came to light. After realizing the meaning of his chosen path, a bitter smile surfaced on his face. “Does that mean you have killed innocent people too?”

Lilia didn’t answer him, nor did she stop. However, her silence gave all the answers Andel needed. Andel wasn’t a self-righteous kid. He was an adult who knew the way the world worked. Before joining the assassins, he had already prepped himself mentally.

“Wow, I didn’t know this bathroom also had a staircase like this!” Andel mumbled after being amazed.

“This staircase leads to an abandoned workshop.” Lilia’s curt replies were really getting on Andel’s nerves. However, it actually sat well with his current persona. After they came out of the abandoned storehouse, Lilia said, “Meet me here in two hours. I have something important to do now. See you around.”

After saying this, Lilia ran away somewhere, leaving Andel in the dust.