"Alright. Alright. Alright."
Regis slaps both sides of his cheeks.
He bangs his head against the stone.
Donk!
"My name is Regis Shadeborn. First dagger. Top of my class. I performed the most legendary heists of my time. "
It was the dead of night.
He was preparing himself for his next job.
Though his preparation this time was rather unusual.
Donk! Donk!
"I avoided the top job on the bounty board. I double checked the job. It definitely and I mean definitely has nothing to do with those cursed objects."
Donk. Donk. Donk. His full body suit cushions his forehead as he bangs it.
"You are just making a living. You just happen to be in a dangerous line of work. You have absolutely no affinity for that whatsoever."
He slaps both cheeks.
"This is a perfectly normal job. I escort something expensive in a box. An enchanted item. A rare drop from a hunt. A master crafted sword. Any of the above. You can do this Regis. You are just a normal hired sword who just happened to be paid more because you're good at it."
He slaps both cheeks again.
"It doesn't pay nearly as much but who cares. I almost died on the last mission. Especially that giant cursed object. Did I forget? The higher the bounty, the more dangerous it is. Those cursed objects and their innocuous appearance. I'll never fall for it again."
Slap. He slams both hands against his cheeks for the last time.
It had been his pre-mission ritual since the major heist.
He had been earning a steady income from taking small bounties ever since.
The pay was meagre from what he had been making.
But it was safe. At the worst, he had to deal with some cartel thugs.
He looked up and realized he had been banging his head against the base of a statue of the goddess Herda.
His eyes wander towards the portion between the legs.
It was dark. His mana sense was inactive.
Shadow dash.
He darted away.
"Get it together. Get it together."
He effortlessly scaled up a wall, traversing the roof tops towards the Rendezvous points.
The middle streets of Kalaris, the capital and garden city of Herdial.
He followed a path through the rooftops untouched by the luminous plants.
He stopped.
Perched on a vantage point overlooking the street below.
The capital city was built on extremely uneven terrain.
At its core was rumoured to be a power source that made even the most fragile flora bloom in the harsh barren desert.
It would have been otherwise a complete folly to pick the location for a great city.
The assassin took out a stick and puffed.
He leaned back against the stone and relaxed.
"But damn. That last mission sure paid well. "
He held up his arm and pulled down his sleeve.
The scaled armour below glimmered in the moon light.
"The moonlight python eh? All the shadeborn guild used to gossip about one day being about to afford one. Those slippery buggers are difficult to kill. If you bring an army it would just slither away. The dealer told me it took about ten raids to finally skin this guy. At least twenty were bitten and die by its poison."
He ran his fingers along the smooth skin.
A living armour. He could feel it constantly gather energy from its surroundings.
It had synchronized itself to his movements.
He could jump higher, dash further, swing his sword with deadlier precision.
Its mana resonance was excellent.
His shadow clone lasts longer.
He could cast more of it.
The protection it offers.
The dealer fired a musket at the armour in front of him and it did not pierce.
The weight was minimal.
He barely felt it.
It was flexible.
As though he was wearing nothing at all.
Everything an assassin wants from his armour.
It was no wonder that every shadeborn had dreamed of wearing one.
"Sh*t. The gold I spent on it. I was sure it could have bought me an entire zeppelin. I thought about retiring with it. But where to? The capital is a mess right now. Heck, even the country sides have gone to sh*t. Better to just gear myself up as much as I can."
He took a puff. He fished a necklace out of his suit and held it up to the moonlight.
"Pity I had to use one charge of this. The tears of Herda. How many charges? Three I think. At least I got a little stat boost from consuming the charge. Spent some gold on a Gurdel elixir. The blow back from drinking potions isn't as heavy anymore. Maybe I can even guzzle down a strong one without crashing. Nah, that's only for emergencies."
He drew his sword.
A brand new one that he had bought.
Unlike his rugged old one that had gone through the whetstone dozens of times, It shone brightly in the moonlight.
"Here's where the rest of the budget went. A new sword. Same metal. The same workshop. Perhaps a different blacksmith. Got my old one from a dead mate. Can't believe how pricey it actually is."
Click. He stood up, tossing his burnt out stick to the winds.
"Time to go."
He grabs onto the vines of a pillar, dropping down to the lower levels.
He stops.
A guard patrol.
He hides in the shadows.
"Ten men? Sh*t. Since when did the patrols become this heavy."
They were well armed.
Musket and sword clad in steel armour.
"Watch out!"
The guards raised their shields.
A powder bag struck the steel, bursting into a cloud.
The guards wave their hands to fan away the powder.
When they drew their muskets, the perpetrator had already disappeared deep into the alleyway.
"At ease."
The guards uneasily lowered their shields.
"Forward."
Their captain ordered.
They continued their march.
Regis came out of the shadows.
"Not the first time I saw that. I have never cared much about what goes on in the world. But sh*t. What's going on is giving me the creeps."
He continued.
The streets were dark and empty.
A curfew was in effect.
He reaches a checkpoint.
A giant luminous vein formed a wall all by itself.
His shadeborn arts were not going to completely avoid notice.
"Got the street wrong. Damit. Now I have to cross a checkpoint."
He approached the checkpoint while staying in the shadows.
"Warded. If I dash through there, the luminous dust will light me up like a glow fish."
He takes out a trinket from his pocket.
The token of the Liforia merchant guild.
"This can get me past the guards by talking."
He clutches the token and puts it back into his pocket.
"I never fully trusted this. Even if it's true, I had so many run-ins with the guards that they might just shoot me."
He moved along the luminous vein just outside of the warding range, searching for a gap in the line.
"Rule one of being a shadeborn, never leave a trail."
His senses tingled.
He stopped abruptly in his tracks.
Wwwrrruuugggghh!
A sudden burst of wind missed him by a hair.
The torrent of dust and rubble blasted past him.
"Blast that wind plant. Why haven't we gotten rid of it?"
A guard patrol was also caught in the wind blast.
"Because the plants of the goddess Herda are sacred."
"Can't we at least put a gag on it?"
"I don't mind it being there. It keeps the crowd at bay so that we at least don't have to worry about this section of the wall."
"Besides, it does make the ladies' dresses go up when they walk past."
"Oh shut up. They are wise to that already."
"Did you suck up to the company commander for a sentry post overlooking the wind plant?"
"I certainly didn't, but I'm pretty sure you did."
A shadowy figure dashed behind them.
The assassin was past the wall.
The area around the wind plant was unwarded and unguarded at night.
He checked the street signs. His finger felt the markings on the stone.
"This is the correct district. Now to find the Liforia guild house."
He dashes along the streets.
The layout was even more confusing than in Escher.
"I haven't been to the capital in a while. Don't these people know how to build proper square gridded streets?"
He stopped at a junction.
There are two arrow sign posts pointing in opposite directions.
"The Liforia guild house is to the left. The Liforia guild house is to the right. Which bloody way is it?"
He dashed up a tower.
The uneven surface provided plenty of grabbing points.
He grabbed onto the side and surveyed the area.
"Herda's tits, all the buildings look the same."
He lands back on the street.
Fishing the Liforia token out of his pocket.
"I can't find this symbol anywhere. Go to the Yistan district, they said. The token will lead me there."
As he walked, the token he held in his hand began humming.
It reacted to a symbol on a wall. It was visible to only those with a certain level of mana sensitivity.
"A test huh? An unqualified assassin wouldn't even be able to find the rendezvous point."
He followed the trail.