They say curiosity kills the cat, but a cat has nine lives. In that case, cats can afford to be incredibly curious eight times without fear, right? Gaius, whose tiny frame was on all fours, was crawling around the inner areas of City No.78112, his eyes fixed on the opulent cathedral in the very centre. His curiosity had overwhelmed him by evening, and once that happened, Gaius didn’t really need much to convince himself to revert to his original occupation…

Well, minus the killing. Gaius touched the handle of a knife. Its grip was reassuring, but the boy had absolutely no intention of creating murder mysteries. Other than the knife, he was wearing grey trousers, a grey shirt and a full-face mask. As for his hands, they were snugly fitted in padded gloves that had grips — they were designed for climbing.

Peeking around the corner of a building, he surveyed the local area. There wasn’t anyone in the square, and after waiting for thirty seconds, he shimmed up the building and entered through the windows. The chances of getting spotted inside a building was far lower, since there were far more hiding spots. In contrast, sneaking around outside exposed one to watchers at a high vantage point, and taking the high ground meant that one could be easily spotted if they were unlucky.

There were so many other intricacies about infiltration that Gaius remembered doing in his youth of his past life, but this was the first time in his second one that he had to do it without any supernatural skills at all.

Gaius rubbed his nose. He had a feeling that this was indeed his first proper infiltration in his second life, but something seemed off. After taking a second to ponder if his memory was correct or not, he tossed it to the back of his head and placed his full concentration on navigating the hallway. He couldn’t hear any footsteps, which meant that there weren’t any prowling guards, but Cybral was very similar to Earth to begin with.

Looking around for things like cameras and sensors, Gaius continued to make his way down the hallway carefully. His target was the window on the far end, after which he would see the terrain, and then enter through around another six buildings.

All of a sudden, the boy felt a bit tired, simply by thinking about it. How did I even manage to succeed as an assassin and live to a ripe old age on Earth? The me now feels like giving up, although I know that I can do it. I’ve really grown soft…

Slipping from cover to cover — which ranged from cabinets to decorative juts of wall to form mini-archways in the middle of the hallway — Gaius finally reached the window he’d designated as the egress. It was a glass panel that could be slid open, and since the window was on the third floor, no one had apparently seen the need to lock it — which was how he gained entry to the house to begin with.

He could only hope that it would stay the same for the other houses, but even if they weren’t, he had enough duct tape and tools to solve the issue. Sliding the window open, he slid out of the house, and then froze up.

A man was walking through the road beneath him. Gaius glanced at the guard, and one of the passive Abilities of his Engines — which still worked in Cybral — kicked in.

Mind’s Eye, an Ability he’d obtained from the Engine he got from Pinnacle Kolya. Like all other passive Abilities, it was something that was constantly activated. By simply staring at the same person for a few seconds, he would be able to get a highly accurate sensing of what that person would do next. In effect, it was an upgrade to his instincts with regards to someone’s next behaviour.

It was good for fighting, shooting and playing social deduction games.

The guard below was going to leave the area the area in a few minutes, so Gaius slid back into the building and waited. The idea that he would have to do the same thing a few more times to get close to that cathedral, as well as to leave it, made him feel fatigued just by thinking about it. It wasn’t like there was really something important — it was just his curiosity at work, and Gaius was about to feel some regret for giving in to his inner cat that easily.

Pinching his own cheek, Gaius opened the window. The guard had vanished, but the prospect of continuing on in the way he did earlier was not something Gaius felt like doing anymore. The ability to fly, to turn invisible…the conveniences of Orb had really gotten to him.

Strength filled his legs as he closed the window behind him and took up position on the windowsill. From the looks of it, the guards here weren’t on high alert whatsoever. It was very possible that he didn’t need to be this cautious.

Looking around the place a few more times, Gaius touched the mask on his face, and then braced himself for a long jump. The Apex’s passive Abilities conferred an all-rounded bonus to physical ability, which was somehow brought over to Cybral through principles he didn’t and wouldn’t understand. To him, so long as they worked, that would do.

His legs coiled up like a spring under pressure, and Gaius pushed off the windowsill with all the strength he could muster. The world turned into a blur, and on instinct, his hands reached out. Agony flashed through his nerves as his fingers wrapped around the edge of the windowsill he was targeting, but he didn’t let go. Without any hesitation, Gaius began to climb up onto the rooftop, where the moon was shining down on directly.

Earlier on, he would have cast a shadow, since the moon was at an angle. Now that it was at its top, however, Gaius was confident that he could make it to his target by moving through the rooftop. Dropping to a crawl, Gaius pressed his body down low and began to move.

This should be a good night for a heart-pounding date with a significant other, but my heart is pounding for entirely different reasons. Mocking himself and his idiotic curiosity — which really needed fixing somewhere — Gaius crossed through a few more rooftops and arrived at the cathedral.

Gaius glanced at the moon, which was now beginning its long sinking journey, and wondered if anyone would notice him if he took the same route back at the wee hours of the night.

If he were to cause a disturbance here…that would actually be possible. That would carry its own risks, but again, nothing was as risky as trying to spy on a great god to begin with. Even if target great god was in Cybral.

Gaius froze as someone yawned.

It was coming from right below him, and since Gaius was on a building’s rooftop, this could only mean that the fellow below him was a guard posted at a vantage point. He’d noticed a few suspiciously open windows in the buildings that surrounded the cathedral earlier, but this was concrete proof that there were probably quite a few guards posted around the area.

Could I sneak past all of them? Gaius checked through his equipment, and then shook his head. It was impossible for him, since he didn’t expect this much security, and the boy was on the verge of turning back when alarm bells began to ring in his head.

On instinct, he slipped off the rooftop and squeezed himself on top of the window that the yawning guard was looking out of. Moments later, a nearby window opened, and a shadow flung itself up onto the rooftop. At the same time, a few more such shadows did the same thing, and after counting the fifteenth shadow, Gaius had an odd look on his face.

Why are there so many people? And more importantly, why is there a card with a smiley face hanging off their chest?