Chapter 3 – A Prison or Home?

It has been two days since I arrived at the headquarters, Mila the maid delivered a new outfit, I haven’t worn new clothes my whole life. She has also been delivering three meals a day and oh my god everything here is absolutely divine, quality and quantity, I’ve been eating like a king! However, Mila is an odd person, she is very polite and quite pretty too with piercing blue eyes that contrast with her raven black hair, yet I can’t help but feel something is off about her. To pass the time I’ve been training and consolidating, some time late I hear a knock on the door, expecting Mila I’m surprised when I see Shadow, pretty dumb name if you ask me. “Umm hello, can’t say you were expected.”

Shadow just stiffly stands in from of me, after waiting a few seconds I try to break the awkwardness and offer, “I can call Mila to make some tea for us, if you’d like some tea that is.”

Shadow seems to consider me then robotically says, “follow.”

They starts walking down the hallway, watching them leave I run after them and holler “H.. Hey, wait!”

Great I’m sure I made a wonderful impression on my first teacher. Following behind them, we descend the staircase, and pass gang members who are busy going about their own business, eventually we arrive at some sort of training room as made evident by the polished wooden floors, expansive space and the weapon rack. Shadow chucks a set of black clothing to me, confused I look at him, does he want me to put this on? Preferring privacy, I awkwardly request, “Ummm, can you leave the room for a moment please, so I can get changed.”

Shadow tilts his head at me, clearly confused but obliges anyway as he leaves the room, what a strange guy, maybe he has social issues. The clothes seem to be a pair of black trousers and a loose long sleeve shirt, basically a black karate outfit yet with no belt which is unfortunate if you ask me. After donning the attire, I call Shadow in who passes me a twin pair of daggers, talking in their usual monotonous tone, “Repeat.”

They start performing a simple thrust attack repetitively, I try to follow, after a few minutes they stop showing me and instead start correcting my movement personally, ensuring my limbs and torso are all correctly positioned, every few hours Shadow shows me a new attack. At the end of the training session for the day, I practically collapse to the floor, forming a puddle of sweat, that was the most difficult thing I’ve done over my two lives! The attacks I learnt today were awkward to perform, and I’m still quite clumsy, but I’m sure they will develop into some amazing, at least I’d hope so. Overall, today felt quite fun and rewarding, especially considering how ‘amazing’ Shadow is as a conversation partner. Shadow nods satisfactorily at my efforts today saying, “sit.”

I do so, he then soundlessly sits behind me and gently places his hand on my back while pushing my mana in a certain way, not too dissimilar to consolidation, yet different somehow, after some time I awaken from my stupor and realise that Shadow is gone. Realising that I’m without supervision I decide to take advantage of that and look around a bit. Leaving the training room I hear some obnoxious laughter, following the sounds I enter what looks like a dining room with a collection of thugs much too well dressed for their occupation. They are around a table playing some card game I don’t recognise with some copper coins littered about, one of them notices me and yells out, “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“I’m just looking for something to eat,” I reply as I walk towards the table, intrigued by their game, I remark, “Oooo, this game looks interesting.”

“Pah, it’s not for kids,” the brute snarks.

Crossing my arms I sneer down at him, “Yikes, relax, someone’s got a stick up their answer.”

The whole table laughs, lightening the mood a little, one of them jokingly says, “Damn, Tom, even kids are picking you now! Hahaha.”

And that is how I ended up meet the ‘gang’ and playing the card game, ‘Burn the Witch’. We were up until midnight (late for me), the game was bloody addicting! The guys gave me a few coins to play around with, and I turned a profit likely due to my intelligence stat. First day of training and I acquainted myself with a few of the boys, I think today was incredibly productive, eventually arriving at my room I pass out from sheer exhaustion.

If I thought the first day of training was taxing, that was clearly just a prelude to what was to come, our training has been ramping up gradually, obviously trying to ease me into it. But when day one was already beyond my capabilities, even the smallest increment increase in difficulty utterly destroys me mentally and physically.

One week since I started training with Shadow, I have learnt all the basic moves, we’re now sitting across from each other in the training room after today’s practice, they has an ink bottle and a book beside them and are currently writing something on a piece of parchment with their quill. Finished, they hand me two pieces of parchment with some obscure scribblings and the book called ‘Internal Mana’ that was beside him, the pieces of parchment have a human body with lines drawn through it, and a tone of notes detailing some relevant pieces of information, Shadow’s lucky I got Mum to teach me reading. They speak monotonously, “Study these, one week break, we start training seriously from then on.”

Shadow now says more than a few words when they talk to me, I think they have warmed up to me! I quickly get up and bow, “Thanks, Shadow!”

Nodding, they suddenly vanish from sight in a black mist, well that’s new, showoff. These parchments look interesting though, I can’t wait to see what they have to offer. Leaving the training room I traverse the hallways, seeing one of the gang members I greet him with the gangster slang I picked up, “Yo Vinny, What’s good?”

Reciprocating, “Ay Fera.”

I end up in my room, plopping down on my desk chair I begin to read through the parchments, holy shit this looks complicated, I have no idea what to make of any of this. I suppose I’m supposed to study the book first, why didn’t Shadow just tell me, jerk! Well, I may as well get started, maybe I can slog through most of it in the first day.

Oh how wrong I was, the book was understandable, but barely. It took three days to properly understand about half of the book, which I reckon is incredibly impressive considering the content seemed like something a medical student would learn, well a medical student in this world. It contained knowledge on mana for warriors, it was pretty close to what I already assumed. Human bodies have mana pathways that constantly supply mana throughout the body and replenish the muscles, counter-intuitively this internal mana is what we call stamina, so every action you perform depletes some of this internal mana and will need to be replenished through rest, meditation and food, or potions if you have them handy. Depleting your internal mana (stamina emptying) will cause the warrior to weaken significantly, and probably get them killed.

Consolidation basically speeds up the flow of your internal mana pathways significantly, and as I already assumed, it repairs you muscles faster and makes you recover quicker. That’s why exercise is important, because it will damage your muscles and then allow you to repair them and strengthen them faster will consolidation, if you only perform consolidation, while you are technically increasing your stats, it’s marginal at best because your muscles are still fresh and are not being rebuilt.

Anyway, the book also gave me a few techniques on how to move my internal mana, I can only do the basic strength enhancement, so if I move my mana to my legs I will kick harder, there’s a slightly more advanced enhancement where if I weave my mana correctly in a certain part of my body it will increase my agility so I could for example run or attack faster, depending on where I direct my mana flow. It’s not too important to learn though, this is basically just preparation for learning proper skills. Skills require advanced internal mana manipulation, far more complex than what I’m doing now, that’s what the parchments are actually, combat techniques! I’m so excited, I feel like I’m progressing so quickly, this gang headquarters isn’t so bad to be honest. I even forgot about George a few times, sorry George! Moreover, the book contained my first bit of proper history.

On the origin of the Consolidation skill

Before the advent of the consolidation technique, mages reigned supreme on the continent of Ero. The mortals were mere slave chattel to the tyrannical Witch Kings as they roamed the lands, acting as gods amongst men. Rare was the accomplished warrior, and even they were weaklings in the face of the ancient arcane arts. In the year 576 BE (Before Empire) contact was established with the sand people beyond the endless sea in the far northeast, the Tairi people. Trade began in earnest, selling strange exotics martials, drugs, spices and slaves. Initially the northern Witch Kings encouraged the trade as their kingdoms received a massive boon from the influx of trade, it was a time of prosperity, even for the slaves. Yet the gods love toying with the hearts of men. By the year 540 BE something else was shipping from the sand paradise, a technique that allowed anyone to manipulate mana to an extent, the consolidation technique. A warrior caste began to arise, the northern Witch Kings immediately imposed heavy trade restrictions, some even ceased trade with the Land Beyond to prevent the techniques from flowing into their kingdoms, but the damage was done. Threatened, the Witch Kings tried to crush the warrior caste before they grew any stronger, however the backlash was far stronger than they could have ever imagined. In 523 BE, the warrior rebellion began, the bloodiest conflict in all recorded history, also known as Yutnar’s rebellion, Yutnar became the first non-mage king in all of known history up to that point. The uprisers died by the hundreds and thousands until the Witch King’s and their numerous apostles were culled. Nowadays, the remnants of the Witch Kings legacy remain in some of the noble mage families due to some Witch Kings wisely siding with the rebellion. When the conflict officially concluded in 503 BE, the concept of manifest destiny became prominent with these new warriors. The human race saw an exponential raise in power as any person could grab the power they desire if they merely tried. This naturally saw exploding birth rates, and rapid expansion as adventurer’s started assisting in culling large monster populations due to the recent establishment of the adventurer’s guild by Retor ‘The first adventurer” in 487 BE. This golden age laid the foundation for which our mighty Empire sits.

Translation by Magus Feryun Carel

47th edition

Written by Malikaf The Scholar in 1277 Imperial

What’s the year now? 4309 I think, wow this was written more than 3000 years ago! That read was absolutely captivating, I can’t wait to learn more about this world. With renewed vigor I resume my study, looking through one of the parchments, while my knowledge of ‘Internal Mana’ is subpar, it’s good enough to begin learning one of the techniques, I actually know what I’m looking at now. I decide to finish the night of with some consolidation, after an hour or so my skill transformed, likely due to Shadow’s new consolidation technique.

Skill [Consolidation] -> [Hashashin Cultivation]

[Hashashin Cultivation] - Wash mana over your body to improve attributes.

Huh? Weird, the explanation is exactly the same, I have noticed that this new consolidation technique is slightly more efficient compared to my old one, about 5% better, I suppose that’s pretty good.

My week break is over and the ‘real’ training starts today, I had no luck with the mana techniques, I wasn’t even able to fully understand them, not to even mention actually applying them practically. Shadow arrives by my door then escorts me to the training room, while we’re walking, I ask, “Hey Shadow, how is the [Hashashin Cultivation] skill different to the [Consolidation] skill?”

“It increases agility and dexterity at twice the speed.” They state blandly.

Stunned, my eyes bulge out of their sockets, I excitedly shout “What! That’s amazing, how on…”

Shaking their head Shadow interrupts me, a slither of emotion breaking through, “But! Strength and endurance increase at half the speed.”

My radiance dims, “Awww, I got excited over nothing, you’re such a slow talker you know.”

We arrive at the training room, I do some quick stretches, pumping myself up I speak in English, “Time to take the training wheels off.”

Shadows head tilts confusedly under his hood while looking at me, but not saying anything, that’s why I enjoy saying stupid stuff around Shadow, he doesn’t do anything. Once I’m done warming up Shadow surprises me we the new training, “Today, we spar.”

Without a moment’s notice Shadow dashed at me and was already upon me, I would like to say what happened is that ‘without thinking I instinctively block his attack’. Instead, what really happened is while I was still fumbling for my blades, Shadows dagger was already against my neck. He falls back and waits, I’m already shaking from that brief encounter, fast! Knowing Shadow well enough now, instead of saying anything I just gesture for him to attack. They oblige, once again already within reach, trying to block the thrust attack, the dagger seems to slither around my own, he hits me in the chest with the butt of the dagger, winding me, Fuck! Resetting my breathing after a quick meditation we begin again.

Falling to the ground, I curse, after around six hours I’ve been constantly trying to block a single attack, every time I’ve failed. Shadow’s attacks are too ethereal, they don’t feel real, I’ve been trying to track the blade and predict its movements but it’s just too fucking hard. Heaving hard and trying not to faint, I position myself in the combat stance, ready for the next strike. Suddenly Shadow falls out of their combat stance and shakes their head, “We’re done.”

They vanish in their signature black mist, a second later I collapse to the ground, holy shit, I feel so sluggish, I feel like I’m going to die, my breathing quickens, holy shit! I’m actually fucking dying! I try to cry out, but my parched mouth doesn’t even offer a squeak. I try to circulate my mana to see if I can save myself somehow, but nothing is happening, oh wait…

Stamina: 0/50

Ok… I’m a fucking idiot, thank God no one was watching, I may actually kill myself from the self-embarrassment. I return to my room and notice that Mila has already prepared my food. Hearing me she turns around and smiles cheekily, “Tough day huh?”

I just sullenly nod, and begin devouring my food like a starved animal, well humans are technically animals, and I literally am mana starved, so maybe I really am a starved animal! Mila takes a seat across from me then places a translucent green potion on the table, she starts, “Shadow said it was about time you have your first consolidation potion, it will drastically accelerate your mana circulation speed, most effectively taken when you have little stamina, make sure you consolidate while the potion is active to get the most benefits.”

Why that cheeky devil! So that was intentional, they could’ve warned me, I bet they’re having quite the laugh right now. Smirking at the imagined picture of Shadow being alone in a dark room while laughing manically, I relax, I get a magical potion after all, how could I stay mad at them. After finishing my meal, I sit in a meditative position on the floor with the potion beside me. Regulating my breathing, I then grab the potion, pop off the cork then chug it down like juice, I feel my mana pathways begin to fill with the liquid, this shit is way stronger than mana! Circulating I eventually fall into a meditative trance as I lose track of time.

Strength increased by 1!

Endurance increased by 1!

Dexterity increased by 2!

Agility increased by 3!

Awaking from my trance I examine my body, my clothes were drenched in sweat, I feel a tangible increase in power. Gaining so many stats so suddenly is disorientating, my steps feel so light, my body looks slightly different, it has very minor muscle definition, which is absurd for a six year old. I feel great though, no I feel amazing! The best I’ve felt since arriving in this world. Suddenly Shadow appears out of nowhere, sounding a little displeased “You’re late, come!”

That high I was feeling from getting a substantial increase in strength died real quick when we returned to training. We returned to the one-sided sparring sessions, I thought I would have done better with my improved stats, but to be honest I was getting just as torn to shreds.

After a week of getting my ass whopped, I’m starting to get sick of this unproductive training, I can’t even tell if I’m improving anymore. I can’t do any self-training either because I’m too damn exhausted after every spar getting battered and bruised.

Practically stomping down the stairs Tom sees me then greets, “Yo Fera!”

I scowl at him, “What the hell do you want Tom!”

He looks at me awkwardly, chuckles to himself, then just walks of, thanking the gods of this world that Tom’s obnoxious face is no longer in my view, I enter the training room. I spot Shadow standing in the middle of room with their arms behind his back… what is this? A boss battle? Frowning I pick off two daggers from the weapon rack then immediately get into battle stance, I take in his whole figure, focusing mainly on his dagger hand, preparing myself for the slightest of movement, if there’s something I’ve learnt, it’s to use every piece of information to your advantage. Their body shifts slightly to the left, expecting him to dash to his left, he dashes to his right, catching me off guard they’re already upon me bypassing my guard and knocking me to the floor. A feint, Shadow never starts with a feint. The constant losses continue for another 30 minutes or so, I’m already starting to work up a sweat, I begin to grow frustrated. Shadow Jumps into the air and does a sideways spin, paying attention to his movement, he’ll land to my right, when he lands to my left and knocks me down, I get pissed and shout, “Fuck!”

Of course, it was my left I should’ve noticed from when he ankle tilted slightly, it was so obvious, shifting my body back to my combat stance I yell, “Again!”

Shadow’s a fair distance away, they start dashing in zigzag patterns, my eyes track their blurred form with pinpoint accuracy, there’s a shimmer, now! A second too early, I overshoot, Shadow takes advantage and knocks me to the floor before I even have a chance to react. Now my anger is palpable, ugh! I keep making stupid mistakes, my anger is making me impulsive, I’ve just got to relax my breathing, I meditate for a moment, clearing my mind completely, ok, I can do this. Resetting my stance, I gesture for Shadow to begin, their body becomes distorted and their movement wavy. My eyes track his body, waiting for a sign, for anything, the waviness shifts imperceptibly, I catch on, but hold with the patience of a hunter so I don’t overshoot like last time, wait…….. Now! My wrist shifts slightly, A loud clang resounds throughout the room.

Perception increased by 1!

Skill [Dagger Mastery] lvl 1 -> [Dagger Mastery] lvl 2

[Dagger Mastery] lvl 2 - Improves proficiency with a dagger or knife and attacks are 2% faster.

“YEAH!!! WOOOooo.” I holler as I collapse to my knees, “You see that Shadow, I fucking destroyed you, woohoo!”

Shadow shakes his head, “It was impressive, you improve fast.”

I smile smugly, “You bet I do, I’m a bloody genius!”

If a smirk can make a sound, that sound just camr from Shadow, “I suppose your perception increased?”

“Yeah.”

Shadow curtly nods, “Good! That was the purpose of this training. Perception training is the most difficult physical stat to increase, you now have experience with your sight. Future perception stats will come easier now.”

Woah! Shadow is starting to talk a lot more like a normal person now, they still speak a little weirdly, but almost there, woo, you can do it!

Shadow continues, “Take a break for the day, we resume tomorrow.”

Doing his fancy ninja act, he disappears, wow, rude.

Well, I know what I’m doing, time to celebrate with some good old-fashioned gambling, not that I actually enjoy gambling, but ‘Burn the Witch’ is a really addicting game, also the gang members are kind of fun.

3 months fly like the wind, I’ve made a little progress on the skills, I’m beginning to be able to circulate the mana of one of the skills, but there’s still a long way to go before I use it. My attributes increased slightly too.

Dexterity increased by 2!

Agility increased by 1!

Slowly but surely, I’m becoming a speed demon! I hear a knock on the door, someone shouts “Delivery!”

No, not just someone, that’s George! Racing to the door, I swing the door open, and it really is him in the flesh. I jump onto him causing him to groan “Oph!”

Holding onto him for dear life so he never escapes my grasp again, I laugh evilly, “Muhaha you’re mine now.”

Ignoring my nonsense he pushes me off, rubbing his arms he remarks, “By the gods you’ve gotten strong. Bloody well almost killed me!”

I flex my biceps, and a small muscle does actually show weakly, “I’ve been working hard, Shadow has been training me.”

“That mute! I hope he doesn’t bore you to death before you see some real combat.” George jokes as he steps inside, exaggeratingly admiring my room, as if there’s supposed to be some interesting about it.

Feeling a little hurt I look at him disapprovingly and chastise him, “George! Don’t be rude, he’s actually really nice, also he talks a lot more when you get to know him.”

Clearly taken aback by my response he pauses, then apologises, “Sorry Fera, didn’t realise you guys were close.”

My brows furrow, “What do you mean you ‘didn’t realise you guys were close’, even if they weren’t my friend, you shouldn’t be so judgmental without actually knowing someone George.”

We just stand there is silence, oh great now I made it awkward. My first argument with George, well there’s a first for everything I suppose. George just decides to ignore the issue thankfully, “So what have you been up to? apart from training obviously.”

“Well,” I smirk roguishly, “I gamble now.”

“Oh,” George mirrors my smirk, “Do you now?”

And that’s how we ended up in the living room playing Burn the Witch with the gang members. Except we’re having a bit of story time right now, the whole table is enraptured as Tom is telling some ‘captivating story’.

“We were all drunk out of our minds yeah, so John right, was more fucked up than all of us combined, so he goes to the latrine, and hour later we’re all like ‘where’s John?’, we just thought he must be taking one massive shit. But we so wrong, because about another 20 minutes later he returned from the latrine, no pants and his dick dangling around, and the boys just stare at him, Vinny yelled at him ‘what the fuck are you doing’, and then John is just like ‘I dropped my pants in the latrine’…….” Suddenly Tom starts cackling like a lunatic along with the whole table “BAHAHAHA.”

George and I just glace at each other awkwardly. Ignoring the obnoxious laughter and swinging my dangling legs from the chair I engage with George, “So what have you been doing lately?”

He leans back in his chair while putting his hands behind his head, “It’s been pretty hectic over there, it’s like an actual war’s going on. And it’s irritating because it doesn’t look like it’s gonna end any time soon, could be years before we see peace on these streets again.”

George sighs, studying his face I notice he’s distracted, “You haven’t been in too much danger I hope.”

Cheekily smirking he answers, “Oh but it wouldn’t be any fun without danger.”

Now it’s mine turn to sigh, does he not realise how much I care about him, if something happened to him… no, I don’t want to imagine it, George can be so selfish sometimes.

But maybe I can be selfish too, “What about the orphanage, have you checked them out, you’re making sure they’re receiving money right? I can’t leave this place until Yusef approves, and he’s still over at the east side”

“Don’t worry Fera I made sure everything was sorted out before I left 4 months ago,” He shifts in his seat then considers me for a moment, continuing he says “Why do you care so much anyway? It’s not like you owe them anything. Most kids take a lot than you took and give a lot less. Also, it’s not like you were that close with anyone.”

“Well, I was close with you, still am!” I harrumph. George has changed, I wasn’t sure before but now I can tell something is off, but if he doesn’t want to talk about it though, then so be it.

The rest of the day flows by comfortably as George and I just chill out for the day, like the old days, obviously I skipped training today hehe. When it’s time for George to go I surprisingly don’t get teary, maybe it’s because the people here are nicer than I expected so I don’t feel so trapped anymore, gangsters are really just normal people except with a serious ego problem.

George is at the entrance of the building, preparing to depart, I give him a hearty hug, well as hearty a hug as someone my size can give, “Be well George, and next time you return you better have a girlfriend, you’re supposed to have one by now.”

Chuckling he responds, “Haha sure, just don’t get jealous when I return with a harem.”

My cheeks heat up, trust George to wittily escape my attempts to embarrass him.

“Well, I’m off!” He says while walking off and enthusiastically waving at me.

“Bye, George…” I quietly whisper to myself.

2 years later...

Strength increased by 3!

Endurance increased by 3!

Dexterity increased by 7!

Agility increased by 6!

Perception increased by 2!

[Dagger Mastery] lvl 2 -> [Dagger Mastery] lvl 3

[Dagger Mastery] lvl 3 - Improves proficiency with a dagger or knife and attacks are 3% faster.

The past 2 years have been rather repetitive, my attribute increases have been slower lately which I was told would happen when you cultivate stats to a certain extent. The only way to cultivate more stats is by increasing your level which apparently increases your potential, potential is like a hidden stat that decides how many stats you can cultivate.

I’ve been focusing on only one of my skill parchments as I realized just how difficult it is to learn a skill, well Shadow said that the Hashashin skills are some of the most difficult skills you can learn.

I have also been sparring with Shadow, it’s my current method of increasing stats and it’s far more efficient than just training, and more than that it improves my combat experience, and dagger mastery of course.

I sit cross legged in my room, to others I may look like I’m in relaxed mediation, but if they could see the complex transformations of mana that are occurring in my body right now, they would be horrified, suddenly my mana signature vanishes and I appear to fade, then shift to the other side of the room

Skill [Hashashin dodge] gained!

[Hashashin dodge] lvl 1 – Reduce mana signature by 99%, move in a direction at 150% of agility, makes form less distinct

Holy shit I did it! And this skill is way too fun to use, I dodge again, moving at an absurd speed, I play around with it, the more I use the skill the less distinct I become, eventually I tire out. This skill seems really powerful, if you combine that with my absurdly high agility, for people with lower perception I will look like I’m teleporting everywhere. Now, let’s take a gander at my stats.

Race: Human

Class: NONE

Level: 0

Health: 70/70

Mana: 0/0

Stamina: 45/100

Strength: 10

Endurance: 10

Vitality: 7

Dexterity: 17

Agility: 22

Perception: 9

Charisma: 10

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 9

Magic: 0

Skills: [Hashashin Cultivation] [Dagger Mastery] lvl 3 [Hashashin dodge] lvl 1

Class Enhancements: NONE

Heh, I can’t wait to show the new skill to Shadow. Jumping from my sitting position I perform a backflip then comfortably land, performing an actor’s bow, “Thank you, thank you.”

Leaving my room, I practically glide around the building as I search for Shadow, arriving at his room I knock, no answer? That’s weird. Coming across Tom I inquire, “Yo Tom, where’s Shadow at?”

“The boss is back, they’re talking in the meeting room.” Tom says, looking quite concerned as he cartoonishly looks left and right.

Furrowing my brows I ask, “Tom what’s going on?”

He hesitantly explains, “The turf war, it ain’t looking good, already the Blues and the Wolves were having trouble fighting the Reds, and the northern gang, the Dragons, which Yusef paid off to be neutral has now decided to side with the Blues just last night, trouble is brewing Fera, we may all get conscripted soon.”

Oh no, that doesn’t bode well, I rush to the meeting room, I haven’t seen Yusef in like 2 and a half years, I’m a little nervous, arriving at the front of the meeting room, Donald stands guard, I’m pretty much friends with everyone in this building, it shouldn’t be a hassle to get in.

Requesting entrance I ask, “Donny, I need to go in.”

He scratches the back of his head then apologetically says, “Sorry hon, this meeting’s important.”

Sighing I just say, “Fine, I’ll wait.”

While waiting I’m hoping from left to right to pass the time, having a high agility makes simply moving fun, and I love it, sitting still is like cutting of my legs. Suddenly the door aggressively swings open and that ugly man that I saw all those years ago walks out with a deep frown on his face, he spots me, and his frown grows just that little bit deeper, I bow slightly then he continues on. I now know that he is the leader of the Wolves, so he’s actually a big deal.

“Let her in!” I hear Yusef say from inside, Donald just steps aside, and I carefully walk in.

Entering, I spot Yusef at the head of the table of course, there’s Synthia too, also sitting in the same spot, and that gentle faced fella who I learnt is basically just a glorified accountant, then of course there’s Shadow. I turn back to study Yusef’s face a little closer and notice that it has visibly aged with quite a few more wrinkles around his eyes, and he’s greying at the temples. Jeez things change so quickly, it feels like I was only here yesterday. Interrupting me from my thoughts, Yusef begins, “Well if it isn’t our little Fera, growing up so quickly, I can hardly recognise you.”

Indeed, I’ve completely transformed over the past two years, before I was some pudgy toddler, and short obviously, now I’m surprisingly tall, I shot up quite and am a little under 5 feet at merely 8 years old, not only that but my black hair has a healthier luscious sheen to it, the improved diet no doubt. My physique is probably what has transformed the most, my previously stout toddler body has now become lanky, with longer limbs, and my body has grown taut, with barely any excess body fat, it makes me look nimble and slippery, and it’s because I am! According to Shadow your stat distribution affects your physique, unfortunately with my 10 charisma my face is probably quite dull, I’m not actually sure because we have no mirrors here, that’s a luxury good for nobles unfortunately.

I bow slightly and respond, “Not growing up fast enough sir.”

“Bahaha, so you know of our ‘dire’ situation, well, it’s merely how it looks on paper, the true situation is much more nuanced.” He says then directs his attention to Shadow, “Shadow I need you on the field now, I can’t keep you as a hidden piece anymore, things have gone to shit out there, you will be taking Fera with you as your… initiate.”

Shadow raises from his seat, speaking with a little more bite than you’d expect from Shadow, “Yusef, she’s not ready!”

Yusef raises his arm, ceasing all argument, “She looks ready to me, and we both know how you assassins operate, the work starts young to temper out the bad seeds.”

He pauses, glancing at me then continues, “Does Fera look like a bad seed to you?”

Shadow just shakes his head, then sit back down with his arms crossed, clearly dissatisfied. Yusef pushes out a piece of paper towards Shadow, “This is your first mission, it should be easy enough, brief it to Fera yourself.”

He then shoos us away, outside I question Shadow, “So what on earth is going on!?”

He directly says what I already figured out, “You’re an assassin now.”