Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 261 261: Log BookTimeless AssassinC261 261: Log Book
(Black Serpents Guild Library, Section Zeta-9 – The Chrono Lock Archives)
*SWAP*
Leo flipped the page.
The ominous warning on the first page faded behind him as he turned to the next sheet, only to find the beginning of a memoir-style log.
The handwriting was elegant yet firm, the ink slightly smudged by time, as a bold heading was etched across the top of the page:
"Field Log, penned by Captain Aelric Vonn"
Beneath it, a carefully written subtitle:
Day 0: Mission Brief
"Our squad has been deployed under classified directive 47-XJ.
Our objective is to track and eliminate Subject D, a wanted war criminal who fled into a Time-Stilled World via an unstable vortex tear in the Kael Vortex region.
Entry has been authorized for seven personnel: five assassin's from the cult under my command and one high-sensitivity empath-class prisoner, who has been promised conditional freedom in exchange for guiding us to the fugitive.
The target is presumed armed, mutated, and possibly insane. We enter at 0500 hours, and expect to retrieve the body within ten days of entering, or roughly within 3 hours of time passage in reality."
---
Day 1
The moment we cross the portal threshold, I can feel the subtle change in pressure, like stepping into a sealed dome at high altitude, though there is no discomfort – only difference.
The world on the other side is caught in an eternal dusk, bathed in a strange glow between sunset and true night.
There is no true night here, nor there is day, as the darkest I've seen the environment get is about as dark as we experience just after sunset, while the lightest, is just before sunset, as the modulation is very low.
There is no wind.
Not even the gentlest rustle of a breeze.
The air here remains still and warm, unnaturally consistent, as if the entire world has no weather changes at all.
That being said, within the bounds of this pocket world, time flows normally for us, but all external communication ceases the moment we enter.
No matter what method is used, it's impossible to contact the outside world once inside, which makes it hard to call for help or evacuation in case something goes wrong.
Spells cast here seem to resonate with unnatural clarity.
On average, the squad reports an estimated 15 to 20 percent increase in spell output and clarity of control.
As casting spells in this world makes us feel stronger— and deceptively so.
The ground here is firm, gravity matches standard planetary regulation, and nothing at first glance feels hostile. But that illusion of calm is what worries me most.
---
Day 2
The squad is in good spirits. Our supply of purified mana stones is holding up. No one's drawing from the world's ambient mana yet, save for the prisoner, who lacks any personal reserves.
He has been quietly tapping into the local environment to maintain his abilities, though I have begun to observe something unusual.
He appears... strained. His eyes are bloodshot despite resting the same hours as the rest of us. His skin has grown clammy, his movements slightly delayed, as if his body is waging a silent battle against something we cannot see.
He insists he feels fine, but I know the signs of exhaustion when I see them, and this looks like something more than just fatigue.
It is as though his mind is slipping, fraying slowly with each breath of the air he draws and each trickle of mana he absorbs.
---
Day 7
Tension has set in.
The entire squad now admits a lingering unease. The shadows seem longer than they should be. There are no stars, no moon, no celestial markers in the sky, and yet we always feel watched. Our prisoner has begun to act increasingly erratic—scratching at his arms, mumbling nonsense in languages I'm certain he never knew.
He laughs at odd times, sobs when eating, and stares too long into empty spaces.
The squad wants me to sedate him, but he is still our only link to the target.
Still, I am noting a worrying trend: the longer one relies on this world's mana, the more unhinged their behavior becomes.
The effects are not sudden but rather a slow, corrosive slide into delirium. Even now, I dread what might come next.
---
Day 14
We have put him down.
It brings me no pleasure to write this, but the prisoner had to be neutralized. He attacked team member Darrin during the night shift, lunging without a weapon but with a manic ferocity that ignored all logic.
Even after Darrin severed his right arm at the elbow, he didn't scream—he laughed.
He fought like an animal, biting and clawing, his eyes wide with bliss as if possessed by something unspeakable.
After securing the camp, we disposed of the body far from our main perimeter. No one spoke during the burial. We are all shaken.
—---
Day 17
We have started to track the target on our own, and progress has stalled. However, we have discovered something more worrying.
The fauna and beasts found in this world do not behave in accordance with nature we find throughout the rest of the normal universe.
Predators ignore prey if the prey appears weak, but anything showing strength, confidence, or power draws their attention.
It is as though this realm punishes ambition.
The local plant life siphons mana slowly, draining it during sleep, as if the soil itself resents intruders.
And although the water here appears fresh and clean, those who taste it fall violently ill within hours.
We now treat even clear lakes as traps.
---
Day 20
We finally find him.
The fugitive, Subject D, is located in a sunken grove littered with bones and echoing whispers that don't match any voice in our group.
He looks... unrecognizable. Emaciated, crawling on all fours, eyes pitch black with glowing cracks tracing his veins like burning rivers beneath the skin.
He speaks, but it's as if something else is speaking through him. He claims he's been here for over a year, though the distortion of time makes that impossible to confirm. Whatever humanity was left in him is gone. His combat ability is... terrifying. He uses techniques we've never seen before, fighting like a beast but with strategy, timing, and malice.
We subdue him eventually, though it costs us two men.
---
Day 22
Our mana stones have begun to turn.
Even sealed in spatial rings or carried close to our bodies, they are now unusable. Their energy has soured, humming with a frequency that burns rather than heals. It appears that 22 days is the threshold—after which, any pure mana supply becomes corrupted simply by being in this world.
Without proper detoxification techniques, drawing from them now is suicide.
---
Day 25
The squad is no longer a squad.
Arguments erupt over nothing.
Accusations of sabotage, betrayal, and madness fly like daggers, and I cannot calm them.
They are not just paranoid—they are unraveling. I hear footsteps in the night when no one is moving, see glimmers in mirrors that don't belong to us. The world itself is whispering now, testing our sanity.
And so, on this day, I record that I am the last.
---
Day 30
I emerge.
Only eight hours have passed in the real world. Eight hours. And yet, I feel the weight of eight years.
The head of Subject D rests in my pack, but it brings me no comfort. I return home not as a hero, but as a husk. I can no longer hear silence without expecting screams.
---
Three Years Later
If you are reading this and considering taking on a mission in a time stilled world, I beg you: turn back.
If you have the luxury of choosing not to enter a Time-Stilled World, don't. But if you must, then let my experience guide your survival.
1. Carry ten times the food, water, and medicine you think you need.
2. Trust no plant, no beast, no breeze.
3. Travel only with equals squad members. Never with superiors or stronger tiered warriors, as they will draw stronger beast opponents.
4. Do not light fires in the world to cook or for light.
5. Do not believe anything that speaks to you in your own voice.
6. Never absorb local mana.
7. Treat 22 days as your hard limit with standard mana stones. 44 days with medium grade stones and 88 days with high grade stones, but never spend more than 100 days in that world.
8. Do not venture too deep inside the world, stay close to the exit, as the terrain inside shifts fast and your mind starts playing tricks on you the longer you stay within.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 262 262: A second warningTimeless AssassinC262 262: A second warning
After finishing the book, Leo didn't move for a while, as his eyes remained fixed on the final page of the memoir.
The captain's handwriting here was noticeably different, no longer looking clean or composed, but rather erratic and uneven, as each stroke reflected the lingering damage to a mind that had never fully recovered, even after three years had passed.
However, Leo did not let such petty things affect him, as his mind filtered past the hysteria, the horror, and the dramatic warnings and searched for only things that mattered.
The key takeaway for him wasn't the madness, the deaths, or the creeping paranoia described in the memoir, but rather the fact that the Captain had returned alive and successful from his mission.
Even if broken, even if shaken, Captain Aelric Vonn had completed a thirty-day expedition inside the time-stilled world and had made it back with the target's head in hand, proving that survival, though rare, was not impossible.
And that, Leo realized, was the most valuable piece of information buried in the entire journal.
He didn't care for dramatics.
He didn't need tales of suffering to scare him straight.
What he needed were probabilities, boundaries and thresholds of dangers found inside the world, and the memoir had given him exactly that.
It provided him with a clear timeline.
An outlined limit on mana stone corruption.
A firsthand account of what to avoid, how fast the descent into madness occurred, and what signs to look out for.
It wasn't much.
But it was enough to show him that this mission, despite its dangers, could be done.
And if the reward for success was the Black Serpents' full treasury access, then it was a risk worth taking.
That being said—
there were far too many things he still didn't understand.
Why was circulating the world's mana so dangerous, even though it felt empowering at first?
Why did absorbing ambient mana trigger such a slow but irreversible descent into insanity?
Why did even the best mana stones turn corrupted, no matter how they were stored?
And more importantly, how was it that thirty days inside had only equated to eight hours in the real world?
Leo frowned slightly as he looked back down at the sealed memoir, the final words of the captain etched like scars into the parchment.
They had told him the 'what'—
but not the 'why.'
And if he was going to step into a world where logic twisted and time bent, then understanding the mechanics of such a world was not optional.
*Slide*
*Step*
Leo rose from his seat without a word, returning to the same shelf he picked the first book from, as he now scanned the titles more carefully.
After a moment, his fingers landed on a slimmer, far less formal-looking volume, its cover scrawled with an almost lazy confidence.
"I went inside a Time-Stilled World to meditate for 30 days. Here's what I found."
The handwriting was rougher, the ink newer, and the cover lacked the severity of the last book, but Leo wasn't looking for emotion—
he was looking for insight.
If the first account had shown him the warning signs, then perhaps this one would give him the science.
The patterns.
The answers.
Some more knowledge on what to expect and what were the dangers, as Leo sat down to read it at once.
—------------
Author's Note :
My name is Varn Elric. I am a Master-Tier assassin under the Black Serpents Guild, and this journal serves both as a record of my experience of meditating in a time stilled world.
In two days' time, a Green-Coded team mission is set to begin at the guild, and although I want in, as I am only a master tier warrior I am not qualified to participate.
The mission requires one to be a Grandmaster or higher realm assassin to take part, and I am still one wall away from a breakthrough.
So I've decided to make a gamble.
With the approval of my senior, I have decided to enter a Time-Stilled World, planning to spend exactly thirty days within, equivalent to eight hours in real-time.
I intend to use this pocket of temporal dilation to push myself through the barrier and attain Grandmaster status so that I can participate in the mission on time.
Also, my senior has even promised a payment of 50,000 MP if I return alive with a detailed written log.
And so, this is my record.
---
Page 1: On Entry and the Nature of Mana
The moment I arrive, I know I've made the right call—at least for now. The mana in this world is thick, far denser than what we breathe or cycle in the outside universe. Every breath feels charged. Every movement glides smoother.
Meditating here is like bathing in a liquid current of raw energy. My thoughts align quicker, and the absorption rate of ambient mana has jumped nearly 30 to 40% above my previous record in standard environments.
To use a crude analogy: it's like powering a fire lantern with a low-grade mana stone in the real world, versus lighting it with a high-grade core here. The difference is undeniable.
I feel powerful. I feel clear. I feel like I can tear through the walls in my path.
---
Page 2: The Cost Beneath the Surface
But power comes with a cost.
The mana here is strong, yes. But it is not clean. There's something stale about it, something that makes each cycle feel slightly heavier than the last. With every hour, I sense a stickiness clinging to my mana circuits, like residue that refuses to flush.
Meditating here feels like injecting a stimulant. The surge is immediate, the progress visible, but there's damage lurking beneath.
I feel like the elasticity of my mana pathways to expand and contract in response to varying loads is suffering.
The more I meditate, the more I feel the rigidity setting in. The smooth inner lining of my circuits now feels rougher, grainier, like stone rubbed raw by sand.
I'm pushing forward. But I know I'm paying a price.
---
Page 3: Day 7 - Breaking Point
It's been seven days. And I don't know how much more I can take.
When I close my eyes now, I hear voices—sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming. I try to focus, but the silence is no longer silent. It pulses. It stabs. It writhes.
Meditation, once my refuge, now feels like a battlefield. I am close—so close to a breakthrough—but every time I enter trance, I see things I shouldn't. Feel things that gnaw at the edge of reason.
This place doesn't want me to succeed. It wants me to break.
---
Page 4: Breakthrough and the Price of Power
I did it.
I broke through.
But it nearly killed me.
Not ten minutes after I crossed the wall into Grandmaster-tier, I was attacked by three beasts that seemed to materialize from nowhere. It's as if this world itself marks you the moment you evolve.
The fight left me bloodied and bruised. I won, but I lost something, too.
My mana circuits—they're not the same. Their flexibility is gone. The rigidity is now permanent. When I attempt to cycle mana at the new tier's full capacity, my walls swell and resist, and sharp pain rips through my body.
If I push harder, they will rupture. I know it.
So yes, I am stronger. But I am also broken.
My potential has been capped. My future compromised.
---
Conclusion
Let this record be my final warning.
Do not attempt to meditate inside a Time-Stilled World unless you are prepared to sacrifice your long-term future for short-term gain.
Yes, you may rise in power. Yes, you may return a tier higher.
But the price is not just pain. It is permanent disability.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 263 263: Making Up His MindTimeless AssassinChapter 263 263: Making Up His MindAfter finishing the second book, Leo leaned back slightly in his chair, his gaze still fixed on the final page that now lay open before him.
Unlike the haunting memoir of Captain Vonn, this one did not end in madness or massacre, but it still painted a bleak picture.
Varn Elric had survived.
That was the first thing Leo acknowledged, the most important takeaway of all. The man had gone in, broken through, fought beasts, suffered injuries, and returned with his mind and journal intact.
His potential was permanently capped, yes— but even then, he had endured.
And that, Leo reasoned, was something to be admired.
As he reflected deeper, Leo's thoughts lingered on the irreversible damage to Varn's mana circuits.
The elasticity of his mana pathways, once capable of expanding and adapting to sudden fluctuations in flow, had become rigid and inflexible after meditating inside the world.
Tainted mana, though rich and empowering at first, had deposited layers of residue into the inner linings of his channels, corroding them silently over time.
It seemed to Leo as though, the mana of a time-stilled world acted like a silent killer that destroyed one's potential over time, as although he did not view this as a deal breaker, he still did note this with grave seriousness.
After all, Varn had been meditating in the tainted ambient mana for weeks.
If Leo relied only on his own purified sources and circulated sparingly, then perhaps he could reap the rewards without suffering the fallout.
But speculation wasn't enough.
He needed more.
The two books he had read so far had given him field perspectives, the human side of it all. But now, Leo sought technical precision— he wanted charts, records, and scientific data that could tell him more about a Time-Stilled world from an objective point of view.
He wanted theories. He wanted warnings to look out for, and most of all, he wanted confirmation that the anomaly he was entering had been survived by others before him.
Hence, without waiting further, he stood again and returned to the archives, his mind now focused solely on cross-referencing.
He scanned the book titles placed on the shelf with cold efficiency, overlooking the emotional memoirs this time in favor of indexed reports, bounty records, and internal guild documents with informative titles.
In the end, he selected titles such as 'Known Effects Of Time Stilled Worlds', 'How time distortion works in Time Stilled worlds' , 'What is tainted mana and how it affects one's body?'.
As he picked up everything he found useful and began reading at once.
For the next fourteen hours, Leo did not leave the archive.
No breaks. No distractions. No wasted motion.
Just him, the rustle of paper, and the steady blink of his eyes as line after line of forbidden knowledge filled the gaps in his understanding.
Some records were vague. Others were scientific. A few were merely scribbled notes from scouts who had failed to complete their missions.
But Leo read it all—every scrawl, diagram, and annotation the guild had preserved.
When he finally looked up, the pieces had begun to fit together.
Apparently, there were several Time-Stilled Worlds scattered throughout the universe.
They were all unstable fragments of space-time that existed in decelerated temporal pockets, sealed from the linear flow of the larger cosmos.
They were relics of unknown origin, each functioning as a self-contained dimension where time passed at different rates, and the rules of mana interaction skewed wildly from world to world.
Some were barely a moons width long, acting as nothing more than small, manageable pockets used by criminals to hide from law enforcement.
While others were death traps— psychological mazes filled with distorted mana, irregular gravity, mutated fauna, and time perception loops so intense that victims lost track of who or what they were.
The one Leo was assigned to?
Ranked in the top three most dangerous of all known anomalies.
But even then, it wasn't considered unbeatable.
According to the compiled logs, survivors— although very few recorded— had pointed to a few constants that increased one's chance of making it out alive.
Firstly, sticking together during the initial phase was key.
The world didn't seem to attack strength directly. Instead, it probed isolation.
Solo wanderers, especially in the first few days, were often overwhelmed by hallucinations, mana poisoning, or mental corruption before their physical skills could even be put to use.
However, the longer a person remained inside, the worse the group dynamic became.
At a certain point, whether it was day fifteen, twenty, or even earlier, the very presence of others began to fray the edges of trust.
Teams that stayed together too long inevitably turned on one another, usually violently.
Hence, the most successful strategy was a hybrid one.
Stick together early on, when confusion and disorientation were highest.
Then separate before the world had a chance to exploit proximity and sow seeds of madness.
The timing of that separation, however, was entirely dependent on mental fortitude.
Strong-willed individuals, those trained to resist illusion, pressure, and sensory distortion, could last longer, think clearer, and retain their sanity well beyond the baseline.
But those who were unstable?
Those who doubted, hesitated, or harbored guilt?
They broke fast.
Some as early as Day 3.
Leo processed it all in silence, his expression unreadable.
There was fear in these texts. Dread. Stories of people who'd begged to be left behind, who'd carved runes into their own skin to "ward off whispers," who'd snapped their own necks rather than continue deeper.
But Leo read none of it with apprehension.
He did not recoil from the descriptions of madness.
He did not hesitate at the risk.
Because none of it changed the reality of what needed to be done.
He wasn't going into the Time-Stilled World because he wanted to.
He was going in because it was the only way to get the vault access he needed.
And no hallucination, no distortion, no horror masquerading as his own voice, was going to stand in the way of that.
"Hmm… I suppose I can give this mission a shot by joining Mr. Raiden's party," Leo murmured to himself, his tone contemplative as he stepped out of the library.
"But before that, I'll need to evaluate the group's competence firsthand, as the last thing I need is to end up in a team that either has a Transcendent-tier warrior drawing unnecessary danger, or one that's simply too weak to survive in a world like that."
With that, he made his way back to his apartment without delay.
After spending over sixteen hours devouring every scrap of information available on Time-Stilled Worlds, Leo had come to a firm conclusion: survival was possible within a time-stilled world with the right preparation, mental resilience, and a capable party, however, it couldn't be attempted on a whim or without proper planning.
And so, he had decided that he would indeed take the risk after planning things through.
And that he would venture into the Time-Stilled World, and take on the golden mission, hopefully, with Mr. Raiden's team— if they proved suitable, but if not, then he was prepared to form a party of his own and undertake the expedition regardless.
Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 264 264: Rising PressureTimeless AssassinC264 264: Rising Pressure
(Meanwhile, on an unknown Mu family stronghold planet, Mu Fan)
After quitting life as an instructor at the Rodova Military Academy, Mu Fan returned to the Mu Clan's fold, resuming her duties as branch family head and the infamous assassin 'White Widow'.
However, in secret, she continued to be a member of the Cult of Ascension, with her very first act after coming back home being to make a call to the twelfth elder of the Evil Cult.
She knelt before an obsidian terminal shaped like an altar, behind which was a hidden communication mechanism that only she knew how to operate.
And after coming home, it was the place she used to establish contact, as she kneeled in front of the terminal, her assassin cloak draping across the polished black floor as glowing glyphs shimmered beneath her feet when she passed her mana through it.
Soon, the screen projected no face— only a dull crimson eye that flickered in and out of focus, as though watching her through layers of smoke.
A deep voice filtered through the comm-link next, as it sounded cold, slow, and devoid of haste.
"So… he did not show any outright signs of hostility after regaining his memories?"
The voice asked, as "No, my lord," Mu Fan replied softly, bowing her head lower, her tone reverent.
"He seemed angry at first. Perhaps overwhelmed. But… showed no signs of hatred. No open rejection of what he saw.
He did not reject the false memory we have planted in his mind, and his actions since then suggest that he has accepted it as the whole truth.
I don't think he realizes that we altered his memories."
There was silence for a beat.
Then, the voice returned—low and smooth, like gravel wrapped in velvet.
"Emotion is the burden of lesser beings. Pain. Betrayal. Anger. These are expected... but irrelevant and we can't let the future dragon be tangled in such a pointless mess"
Mu Fan said nothing. She knew better than to interrupt.
"If the boy resents us for changing his truth… if he feels manipulated or violated… it is of no consequence in the grand scheme of things," the voice continued.
"Whether the cult has its claws in him… or whether he believes he has his claws in the cult—none of it matters."
Mu Fan looked up slightly, her brows knitting faintly at the statement, but she still held her tongue.
"What matters," the voice said, growing firmer, "is that he walks the path of the Dragon. The correct path. As his denial will only delay the inevitable."
There was a subtle click as something on the other end was switched—perhaps a monitor or a data scroll.
"We are not raising him to be a weapon like the fourth elder is doing to his Dragon Candidate.
We are cultivating a savior.
The next Dragon of the Cult can't be a mere soldier. He has to become the embodiment of Ascension itself, as without a leader to rally around, the Cult will soon lose its purpose and belief"
Mu Fan inhaled slowly, then bowed once more.
"I feel confident that Leo will retrieve the scroll Noah dropped," she said quietly.
"He's finding his way to get into the Black Serpents Vault and although it may take him a couple of years or more, I'm confident that eventually he will find a way in for sure." she assured, as "Good," came the response from the other end.
"I don't have as much political clout as the Fourth Elder and if I'm to make him Dragon then he needs to have contributed significantly to the Cult to the point where nobody can deny his contribution.
Only after he's named Dragon can the 12 elders pass down their secret techniques to him, transforming him from being just another Assassin to the most dangerous man in the universe.
But for that to happen, he needs to prove himself first—" The elder said, as the transmission flickered once before cutting out.
The red eye vanished, and Mu Fan remained kneeling to her spot long after the silence had returned.
She was truly ashamed that she had given Leo an altered set of memories, whereby events that took place after he blacked out and found himself in an unknown infirmary ward, never actually happened.
However, with the twelfth elder deeming such manipulation necessary, she was forced to lie to Leo with a straight face…. And at least for now, it seemed to be working.
—------------
(Meanwhile, within the Universal Government)
The Universal Government's Emergency War Room sat buried beneath several layers of reinforced alloy and mana shielding, designed to withstand planet-cracking bombs and dimensional breaches alike. But tonight, the true pressure it faced wasn't from outside, but rather from within.
Dozens of high-ranking officials, Generals, Intelligence Chiefs, Sector Overseers sat around a black circular table, each with a holographic panel projecting live data streams, encrypted channels, and intergalactic threat assessments.
The lights were dimmed, not out of preference, but necessity, as no one wanted to look another in the eye.
The last forty-five days had been the most humiliating for the Universal Army in recent history.
"We've waited long enough," barked General Hauser, slamming his fist into the table so hard his own panel flickered. "The general populace is demanding blood. We have been silent for too long, locked in this endless hesitation while the media paints us as cowards."
No one interrupted.
His voice rose louder, veins bulging beneath his temple. "Forty-five days since the Sky-God Arena attack! Forty-five days of empty reports and hollow leads. All your so-called research and surveillance networks have led to nothing but dead ends."
He paused, eyes scanning the room.
"We look like bloody fools! I'm not sitting on my hands any longer. Give me a name. A planet. A stronghold. I'll blow it off the universal map and make headlines tomorrow. Let the universal populace know we're not doing nothing."
"Enough," said Commander Irelyn, her voice sharp enough to slice through metal. "We're not launching a retaliatory strike to 'make headlines.' Not unless we're striking the right target."
"Then where are your targets, Irelyn?" Hauser snarled. "You run Intelligence Division One. Find me a goddamn cult base!"
Irelyn didn't flinch. "We've traced thirty-seven flagged nodes. All led to dummy operations, false chatter loops, or vanished mid-transmission. Every time we close in, the trail evaporates. It's not incompetence. It's infiltration."
Her words dropped like stones.
"You're saying the Cult has… someone on the inside?" another general asked, his tone faltering.
Irelyn turned to him, her face cold. "Not someone. Many."
A silence stretched across the room— long, suffocating.
"We've begun internal sweeps," she continued, "but every department we probe reveals more red flags. The administrative branches. Judicial enforcement. Even our supply chains. Every place we look has Cult-friendly signatures embedded so deep we'd have to tear down the entire system to root them out."
A whisper of disbelief moved through the table like static.
General Korris, normally composed, leaned forward. "If what you're saying is true… then we've already lost the intelligence war."
"No," Irelyn said. "But we are fighting blind. We underestimated them. The Cult of Ascension isn't just a terrorist faction anymore. It's a parasitic ideology. It doesn't need to build new bases, it's already infecting existing ones."
"Then how do we retaliate?" asked another voice. "Who do we strike if we can't find the rot?"
That was the question.
And no one had an answer.
The projection at the center of the table shifted, revealing a list of known Cult sympathizer events— some twenty-seven planets with potential links, but none confirmed. A few had innocent populations numbering in the millions and striking any of them down would have catastrophic collateral.
"We need a scapegoat," Hauser growled. "We need to send a message."
"No," Irelyn snapped. "We need precision. Because the moment we hit the wrong target, we become the villains. And the Cult will use that to paint themselves as the resistance."
She stood, letting the weight of her next words settle.
"We cannot afford to fight this war like the last. This time is not about force. It's about finding a way to wipe them out for good."
The room sat heavy in tension.
Public pressure for retaliation was mounting fast, but in truth, the government couldn't even settle on a target— let alone strike one
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 265 265: The Sevenfold Revelation CodexTimeless AssassinChapter 265 265: The Sevenfold Revelation Codex(Leo's apartment, the outer housing ring, Twin Fang Planet)
Leo sat cross-legged at the center of his apartment, the lights dimmed and the room silent, save for the gentle rhythmic beating of his heart in his chest.
The only object before him was a thick, leather-bound meditation manual wrapped in layers of mana-sealed parchment, a copied replica of the legendary meditation guide known as the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex].
He had acquired it days ago. And yet, until now, he had delayed binding with it.
Whether due to instinct, uncertainty, or just the sheer weight of knowing the difficulty of mastering this manual, Leo had procrastinated starting on this path for a while, however, he couldn't delay it anymore.
His body had now stabilized at the Grandmaster realm and it was about time he started making his way towards becoming a Transcendent tier warrior.
Hence, with a quiet exhale, Leo brought his thumb to the edge of a dagger and let blood bead at its tip.
He then pressed it firmly onto the sigil etched into the manual's cover.
*Drip*
The moment the blood touched the surface, the manual responded.
A surge of pressure pulsed outward as the book lifted into the air on its own, its pages fluttering open as if caught in a phantom breeze.
A whirlpool of energy swirled around the room, as threads of mana began linking the manual to Leo's body, latching onto his mana pool like roots drinking from a buried spring.
And then—
The text began to appear.
Elegant script shimmered into existence on the first page, written in a firm, graceful hand that burned golden, as if freshly inked with light.
"To those who dare learn this codex," the words began. "I am Kaelith, a man who was once mortal, but is now divine."
"I created this manual not to show you young warriors how to improve your bodies, nor did I create it to help you expand your mana pool, but rather made it so that you can truly learn how to 'see' in this accursed universe.
The universe hides nothing from those who know how to ask the right questions and to master this manual you must do the same.
I climbed the ladder of power and glimpsed the true intent behind people's actions only after I became a Demi-God, but I now offer this opportunity to you as mortals, and if you do manage to walk this path with discipline, perhaps you can go further than even me."
"This is the Sevenfold Revelation Codex. It is my gift to all those who idolize me and wish to become like me. However, I must warn you, this method cannot be mastered in solitude.
Its secrets cannot be deciphered in the dark.
And only by opening your eyes and observing the universe can you learn what it truly wishes to show you—"
Leo narrowed his eyes slightly as the next set of instructions began forming beneath the preface.
---
"Begin by drawing upon your own mana pool. Do not circulate it through your entire body. Instead, guide it gently toward your eyes— not aggressively, but patiently.
Concentrate the energy there. Anchor it behind the pupils. Let your eyes become the nexus. The world you perceive must flow through this lens.
Once the mana stabilizes behind your optic nerves, do not retreat into stillness. Go outside. Walk among the living. Witness anger. Joy. Betrayal. Conviction. Observe the world and let the stimuli teach you.
Let intent become your instructor.
The first stage is simple: Recognize emotional intent by observing color. That is all. If you cannot do even this, you are trash unworthy of grasping this technique.
Progress in this codex is not measured in time. It is measured in comprehension. And comprehension is earned through experience.
For now, your task is to only observe, reflect, endure and repeat."
---
Leo stared at the glowing script for a long moment. There were no circulation charts. No posture diagrams. No breathing patterns. Nothing familiar that he was used to seeing in traditional meditation manuals.
Just one directive:
Let the world teach you.
He exhaled again, slower this time, then closed his eyes briefly as he began drawing from his internal mana pool, guiding it slowly and deliberately up toward his optic centers.
As the flow settled behind his eyes, he felt a warmth begin to build. It wasn't painful, but it surely did not feel comfortable to pool mana behind such a sensitive organ.
However, since this was what the manual required, he did it regardless.
And then, as he opened his eyes again, he half expected the world around him to have changed.
He expected to see colors he never saw before, or to see a jumbled mess of intents floating around him, however, he saw nothing of the sort.
There was nothing different about his surroundings, nor did his vision feel any sharper, as he raised his eyebrow in disappointment.
"Well that sure was anticlimactic—" he muttered to himself, before standing up and walking towards the door, as he followed the manual's instructions and decided to venture out into the world, hoping that perhaps going out would show him something that he could not find within his own apartment.
—--------
Leo walked the full length of the outer housing ring with mana still softly pulsing behind his eyes.
He observed everything.
He passed by open balconies where children of guild members laughed and fought over fruit peels.
He sat at a corner food stall and watched the merchant argue with a customer over price, but the argument revealed no hidden shade, no flare of anger given chromatic life.
He moved through crowded alleys, into silent meditative gardens, even through the bustling core plaza of the civilian sector… and still, nothing changed.
He saw no distortions, no anomalies, no hidden layers, as the world around him remained exactly the same.
Even when he focused—truly focused—on the subtle changes in people's posture, eye movement, gestures of frustration or tension… it all looked normal.
Unenhanced. Mundane.
And even when he somehow found a teenage couple locked in a heartfelt embrace, expecting a burst of joy to register in violet or gold around them, he saw nothing.
As no matter the emotion, he perceived nothing that he should have as per the manual.
'Is this manual truly what it claims to be?' Leo wondered, as he doubted if he had been sold a dupe.
Had Kaelith really mastered anything at all… or was this some philosophical drivel sold as mysticism?
The longer he walked, the more he questioned. Not just the manual— but his choice in choosing to master it.
As all the manual promised in the first place was a vague promise of revelation through observation… and that couldn't be quantified by time.
Eventually, as he crossed the final stretch of the outer ring and approached his apartment building again, he let out a slow breath, realizing that he had seen nothing useful today at all.
He perceived, no emotions painted in color, nor any flashes of intent that could reveal the secrets of the universe.
As at this point, he genuinely wondered if he'd made a mistake by choosing the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex].
However, although he momentarily panicked, he almost immediately stabilized as he understood that it was probably too early to judge the technique just yet.
Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 266 266: Meeting The TeamTimeless AssassinChapter 266 266: Meeting The Team(Twin Fang Planet — Day 3 of Codex Training)
Two days quickly passed since Leo had first bound with the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex], and not once during that span did he manage to spot even a flicker of what the manual promised.
Whether it was joy, guilt, hostility, or affection, nothing in his surroundings shimmered with color, and no layer of hidden truth revealed itself through his eyes.
Still, he did not stop.
He continued to pool mana behind his retinas from the moment he awoke until the hour he returned to bed, as for every second he was awake, he tried to comprehend the secrets of the universe.
—------
On the third day, as he stepped toward the door of his apartment to begin another long walk around the city, he paused abruptly when his foot brushed against a folded sheet of parchment resting silently on the floor.
The folded sheet bore no official seal, no insignia, only his name on the front, written in dark ink.
To- Leo Skyshard.
It said, as Leo bent down, picked it up and unfolded the letter with a calm flick of his fingers.
> "Table 33. Same café. Come five minutes before noon. – Raiden."
That was all.
Leo stared at the note for a brief moment before tucking it away into his inner sleeve.
His mana remained steadily pooled behind his eyes as he ventured out and continued with his morning walk, deciding to carry on with his day as usual until it was time for the meeting to commence.
He figured Raiden's goal was to formally introduce the team to one another, and since he had been meaning to evaluate them anyway, the timing of the invitation couldn't have been more perfect.
—----------
Exactly five minutes before noon, Leo stepped into the quiet interior of the Venom Lily Bistro, the cafe door clicking shut behind him as the familiar scent of bitter roast, oiled steel, and polished wood filled his nose.
He moved forward without pause, eyes scanning the surroundings only once before they landed on Table 33, which was tucked away in the dim back corner of the cafe, near a sound-proofed wall, where Raiden already sat with four others.
Leo didn't rush his walk, nor did he hesitate after making eye contact with the team, as he continued to walk at his own steady pace until he reached his destination.
"Agh, Skyshard! Right on time—" Raiden said, as he gestured for Leo to take a seat.
Raiden himself sat at the head of the table, fingers laced before him, posture straight as ever. His silver-streaked hair gleamed faintly under the restaurant's muted lighting, and he seemed to be wearing his usual warm smile.
To his right, lounging with one boot kicked up on the edge of her seat, was a woman with slick brown hair tied in a high tail, and a neon pink bubblegum sphere inflating from her mouth as she gave Leo a lazy once-over.
She wore a skintight black assassin suit that left very little to the imagination and even less to armor, with a thigh holster and half-zipped collar that suggested she cared more about allure than protection.
Her eyes glittered with amusement as she made eye contact with him, lips curling into a smile as she winked.
"Heyy there, Circuit Champ~" She said seductively, as Leo felt a chill run down his spine, forcing him to quickly look at the next person.
On Raiden's left sat a young man in a loose combat tunic that was easily two sizes too big for his lanky frame.
He was clearly not a killer, nor someone who looked very confident in general as he sat hunched forward with his shoulders nervously bundled.
His long scarf looked like it could double as a blanket, and he kept fidgeting with a wooden spoon between his fingers like it was a talisman.
His eyes flicked toward Leo for a moment, then away, then back again, as he clearly looked uneasy to be here.
'Who is this bum?' Leo thought as a small frown formed over his face.
Nonetheless, he moved on and checked out the last new face on the table, as sitting right next to him was a wall of a man.
The hulking brute sat with a thick mat of chest hair exposed through his unbuttoned shirt, and arms the size of tree trunks folded across his barrel-like torso.
He leaned back in his chair with a toothpick dancing between his teeth, a storm-grey beard shadowing his square jaw.
The man didn't look at Leo. He didn't need to. His presence alone was enough to declare that he noticed everything.
And finally—at the edge of the table, seated with one foot resting on the seat edge, forearm draped across his knee—was Cipher.
He offered Leo a small, familiar nod, his smile casual, but his eyes sharp as always.
As it was at this moment that Raiden rose slightly, and gestured to the chair Leo was sitting at as he addressed the team.
"Leo. Glad you came." he began, as Leo gave him a small nod in return.
"You said you wanted to evaluate the team," Raiden said plainly. "Let me save you the time."
He turned first to the red-haired woman, who was now popping her gum again with a loud crack.
"This is Patricia. Lockpicker. Tracker. Poison specialist.... And a big flirt. She can extract a buried toxin capsule from a rotting beast skull faster than most people can draw a weapon, but she'll do it while asking for your number."
Patricia gave a mock salute with two fingers, followed by a finger gun and a wink. "Charmed, darling."
Raiden shifted to the jittery boy. "Karl. A mercenary, not an assassin. Contracted for this mission only. He's our survivalist, healer and terrain expert. He's good with maps. Better with cooking food. And the only man here who won't stab you in your sleep— mostly because he doesn't have the guts to do it."
Karl offered a nervous laugh. "That's… not inaccurate."
Then, Raiden turned to the mountain of muscle chewing his toothpick.
"And that's Bob." he said reverently, as if Bob's name alone needed no more explanation.
Leo's brow twitched ever so slightly in confusion, and perhaps noticing it, Patricia leaned in as she whispered conspiratorially, "Have you ever heard of the Ghoul Nest Massacre? Yeah, that was him. Supposedly cleared out two entire cult strongholds on foot. With nothing but a fork."
Leo raised an eyebrow and Bob slowly turned his head, his eyes meeting Leo's.
"You're sittin' on my side of the table, boy…. Scoot–" he demanded, as Leo blinked once, and then shifted his chair slightly to the right, as Bob nodded in approval.
Raiden didn't comment. He simply motioned toward Leo and said, "And this is Leo Skyshard. I'm sure most of you have seen the kid fight at the circuits, but if not…. Well I can vouch for his skills.
He'll be joining us for the mission. If he decides he likes what he sees."
Then turning towards Leo, he asked, "So, Skyshard? What do you think?"
"We have Cipher who has gathered all the knowledge there is to gather on how to survive in a time-stilled world.
Myself, a veteran assassin.
Bob…. The legend.
Patricia the beauty.
Karl the cook.
And yourself if you choose to join.
I think we have a good shot of clearing the mission if you join us… so what do you say?" He asked again, as all eyes anticipatingly turned towards Leo.
Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 267 267: DemandsTimeless AssassinC267 267: Demands
(Twin Fang Planet — Venom Lily Bistro, Table 33)
Everyone expectantly looked at Leo, waiting for an answer, as he sat back slightly in his chair, his arms still resting calmly on the table while his eyes moved from one face to the next, carefully assessing the team.
He started by evaluating their power levels, as he performed an instinctive scan of their aura density, breathing rhythm, and unconscious suppression of presence.
And here, it seemed like Raiden and Cipher had done their research well.
Each member of the team, whether it was Patricia, Bob, Cipher, or Raiden himself, exuded the calm, centered weight of Grandmasters.
Their mana cores were stable. Their spirit undisturbed. While Karl, with his timid glances and soft presence, lacked that edge, hovering faintly at the Master tier.
Leo didn't mind that. Every team needed a support, and Karl didn't give off the delusion of being more than he was, which made him perfect for the role.
Next, Leo moved on to assessing the balance of the party. And, to be fair, it seemed well-constructed.
The team had two seasoned combatants in Raiden and Bob.
Cipher filled the role of the scout/ scholar with his theoretical grounding in time-stilled anomalies.
Patricia was the poison master, with specialties in infiltration, and terrain mapping.
And finally, Karl, played the role of the survivalist support who was a field medic, cook and the perfect bait for the team to sacrifice should the situation calls for it.
And as an added bonus, it seemed like the team was cohesive as a whole, as although they had not undertaken any missions together yet, nobody seemed to have too bloated of an ego that made them feel bigger than the collective unit.
'It's not a bad line-up' Leo acknowledged, as his thoughts drifted towards the personality dynamics of the group.
Bob's gruff stoicism and Patricia's flamboyant teasing were both strong flavors. But Leo didn't mind them too much.
Strong personalities meant strong minds. And strong minds were far harder to corrode in the madness of a Time-Stilled World than weak ones that bent with every shift in atmosphere.
Which was why, in a way, he preferred having team members with such unique traits.
*Sigh*
He let out a small breath, before making his mind as he said—
"I'm in," his voice even.
Raiden smiled faintly, when Leo accepted the proposal, as the entire table raised their glasses at once in cheer.
However, before anyone could toast or have a sip, Leo interrupted the celebrations as he said, "Before we move forward, I need to know how we're handling loot division, and how the party plans to stock resources,"
"If I'm putting my life on the line for this mission, I want the logistics straight."
Leo added, his tone sharpening just a touch.
Patricia let out a low whistle at his words, as she leaned back, and crossed one of her legs over the other.
"Straight to the boring part, huh? I like it." She said, rolling her eyes in disapproval, as she clearly did not enjoy the technical conversations.
*Huff–*
Bob grunted in approval but didn't speak.
While Raiden nodded, his fingers interlaced again as he prepared to lay out the structure of loot distribution.
"Of course, Let's go over everything." He said, as he put up 6 fingers.
"The total loot is worth 6.5 BILLION MP. And we are 6 members in total.
Off that 6.5 billion, Karl's share, should he survive till the end is fixed at 500 million MP. Which leaves 6 billion for the five of us," Raiden explained as he put down one finger.
"Off that 6 billion, we all get paid 1.2 billion each. Each of us having an equal split in the main loot, should we complete the mission—"
"However, myself and Cipher have first priority on anything else that we find within the time-stilled world.
So should we come across any dead bodies of criminals or find some ancient artefact in that world, Cipher and Myself shall have the first right to choose whether we want it or not and we will not be splitting that loot.
Yes, we will still compensate you fairly in the form of MP once the mission is over for any item we picked.
However, as for the item itself, we will always have priority of choice," Raiden clarified, as Leo gave him a rather evil smile.
It wasn't unfair to want priority on loot, however, to not compensate all members evenly for such items found was pushing their luck too much, as, if in the end the expedition ended in a failure and they were forced to return early with nothing but some individual items they found along the way, then the largest chunk of profit would go to Raiden and Cipher while the rest of them would be left begging for scraps.
"Interesting…. And the rest of you are okay with it?" Leo asked, as Patricia shrugged her shoulders in response, while Bob continued to ignore him like he did not even exist.
"It's not unfair when you realize that myself and Cipher are sponsoring everything from the food and mana stones we will need in that world, to hiring a cook to accompany us on this suicide mission.
It will set both of us back by 150,000 MP each, so the risk that we are taking is not minimal either.
That's money we have saved by working hard for the past 5 years.
It's not a small amount—" Cipher argued, as Leo let out a dry laugh.
To be fair, they weren't wrong, the two of them were taking all the risks here and hence it was only natural that they take a bigger share, however, Leo still wanted to tease them over it for a bit before agreeing.
"What quality of mana stones are you sponsoring? I'm sure you know that the better quality ones last longer—" Leo pointed out, as Cipher's eyes widened in surprise.
"Did you already read everything in the archives? That was fast!" He said, sounding nervous, as he tried to avoid the topic.
"I asked you a question…. Captain…. What's the grade of stones you will sponsor us with," Leo asked again, as this time a nervous Raiden was forced to answer.
"Low grade ones…. We were thinking about low grade ones" he admitted, as Leo wagged his finger in denial.
"Medium grade stones at the minimum…. The better quality stones last longer, you know it too…. And if we don't have the budget for high grade ones, we should at least buy medium grades" Leo demanded, as Patricia and Bob instantly nodded in agreement.
"The sexy man has a point here… we want better mana stones!" Patricia added.
"Don't be cheap, ya punks—" Bob said, as under the group pressure, Raiden eventually caved.
"Alright! Alright! Although it will set me back another 70,000 MP, I'll make sure to buy the medium grade ones.
Happy?" He asked, as only now did Leo nod in approval.
His plan was to secure a heap of medium grade stones from Raiden, and to then also buy some purest high grade stones for his own personal use, as part of his preparation to go into the Time-Stilled world.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 268 268: Preperation BeginsTimeless AssassinC268 268: Preperation Begins
(Twin Fang Planet, Just Outside The Venom Lily Bistro, Following The Team Meeting)
After accepting Leo's demand to supply the team with medium-grade stones, Raiden informed everyone that they would be departing for the expedition in exactly three days' time.
Before they departed, each team member also had to visit the Black Serpents Guild headquarters and sign an official contract that would confirm and bind them to all the terms they had discussed in today's meeting.
Everything from the loot splits, mission conditions, survival clauses, and resource sponsorship was going to be mentioned in the contract, leaving no room for ambiguity, so that everyone knew exactly what they were getting themselves into once the expedition began.
It was a formality, but one that ensured everyone stayed aligned once they entered the time-stilled world, as it was the most efficient way to minimize confusion, and future disputes before they even arose.
Leo didn't object. In fact, he barely nodded at all when Raiden explained the technicalities, as his mind already began drifting elsewhere.
Because even as the group stood, scattered, and drifted out of the Venom Lily Bistro with casual goodbyes and murmured parting jokes, Leo had much darker thoughts clouding his mind.
He knew very well that his alliance with this team was doomed to fail from the start.
After all, unlike the team, he wasn't participating in this expedition for the money, and was more interested in the opportunity to enter the vault.
And for that, it was inevitable that, toward the end of the expedition, he would have to betray and kill them all, ensuring he was the sole survivor and final decision-maker when the time came to claim the rewards.
As he simply had no use for a billion MP and would rather just take the chance to enter the vault, so that he could steal the scroll and quickly become the next Dragon.
'I'll separate from them early if they start losing their minds… or I'll kill the survivors at the end and take everything for myself,' Leo thought, already certain that he wasn't going to walk out of the Time-Stilled World with the same people he entered with.
Aside from Bob and Raiden, he felt confident in his ability to dispatch the others without much trouble. And as for those two— he intended to kill them too, if the world itself didn't do the job first.
Hence, while the others shared goodbyes, he simply slipped away without fanfare, making his way towards the Twin-Fang cities central commercial ring, where the best merchant shops were located.
His goal was simple, as he wanted to secure every resource necessary to survive alone inside the Time-Stilled World.
As although Raiden had promised to supply the essentials, Leo had no intention of relying on anyone but himself.
If the time came to double-cross the team early, he wanted to be fully equipped to walk the rest of the path alone and live to claim the reward and hence he made his preparations with that grim future already in mind.
—--
(Twin Fang Planet, Central Commercial Ring, Merchant Sector)
Leo chose to visit the Orange Panthers merchant store to make his purchase, as it had the reputation to sell the best quality products, although slightly overpriced compared to the rest of the market.
The store interior was clean and the shopping atmosphere was silent, as apart from him there was only one other customer currently browsing items.
The soft scent of tonic herbs lingered in the air, and a group of respectful staff members bowed at him as he entered.
Before him stood rows upon rows of shelves stood neatly aligned, each displaying a different category of item— healing salves, bone binders, mana infusions, detox syrups, compressed rations, portable filters, enchanted bandages, elemental fire suppressants, and dozens of other adventurer-grade supplies.
Leo took one glance across the organized layout, noting how each row was divided not just by type but by grade, as there seemed to be a clear transition from the cheap stuff near the door to the premium wares locked behind a single mana barrier at the far end of the hall.
"Sir, how can I assist you today? Are you shopping for a particular expedition or—" A staff member politely asked, approaching him with a smile, however, Leo cut him off rather coldly.
"I'm okay," he replied without glancing at the staff. "Just looking around."
The assistant hesitated, then bowed slightly and stepped away as Leo turned his attention back to the shelves.
A basic healing potion, sealed in a small, pale blue in vial was priced at just 30 MP.
But just a row over, the intermediate version gleamed a brighter shade of blue, and was sealed in a taller glass bottle that was marked at 3,000.
Whereas finally, at the far end, under protective casing, stood three bottles of high-grade healing potions, a pure sky blue in hue, but each bottle priced at 30,000 MP.
'So the price rises exponentially with grade…' Leo realized, as he sighed and picked up all three, before also picking up 5 bottles of intermediate grade healing potions and placing them in his shopping cart.
Next, his eyes shifted next to the bone regeneration segment. The cheap ones were barely more than flavored sugar water, but the highest-grade vial, sealed with two bands and a spell-locked cork, looked promising, as he picked up one.
Two high grade stamina potions joined the pile next. Then a dozen mana regeneration potions, a series of ointments and burn treatments, a small box of bandage kits, and three vials labeled "Hemoclot" that were marketed to halt bleeding instantly through mana-pulsed application.
Then he made his way down the center aisle and reached the mana stone counter.
Most shelves were filled with low-grade, misty stones, faintly pulsing. But near the top shelf, protected beneath a silent alarm seal, sat two high-grade mana stones. They were crystal clear with a deep swirling core, priced at 50,000 MP each.
He took both.
The weight of his selections was evident as when he eventually approached the billing counter, the shopkeeper behind it looked up, bored at first, then froze as he began scanning the items one by one.
Potion after potion, stone after stone, the register tally rose higher and higher until it finally halted at 503,600 MP.
The man's fingers visibly trembled.
"S-sir," he stammered, adjusting his spectacles. "Would you prefer a private lounge while we process this? We usually don't have transactions of this scale outside of bulk orders…"
"No need," Leo replied coolly as he pulled out a cashier's cheque and slid it across the counter.
The shopkeeper examined it with both his eyes and a mana-verification crystal, and the moment it cleared, his entire demeanor changed.
"Thank you very much for your patronage, Mr. Skyshard. If there's anything else we can assist you with today—"
Leo raised a hand, then paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Do you deal in poison formulas?"
The shopkeeper blinked, then nodded quickly.
"We do. Though such matters are processed through the Poisoner's Union. Typically, we pay a signing fee based on the formula's grade, effectiveness, and ease of replication. If it's approved for market use, you receive ten percent royalty on all future sales. Do you have something you wish to submit for assessment?" He asked, as Leo pulled a folded sheet of parchment from his inner pocket and placed it on the counter, neatly pressing it down.
"Check this out. Let me know how much I'll be paid for the patent," he said as the man took the paper carefully, as if it were made of fragile glass, and slid it into a rune-inscribed case, nodding with a touch of awe.
"Of course. Please return in two days. Our alchemists will evaluate it thoroughly."
Leo gave a faint nod, turned on his heel, and stepped back out into the street without another word.
He had been spending heavily, and while his reserves could handle it for now, monetizing the poison formula could just secure him a fallback stream for the future.
It was for this reason that he decided to hand over the poison formula he received from Severus at Rodova, hoping that it would generate a passive stream of income.
'Two days? Let's see how much I can make from this formula…. As depending on how much I get, I may shop some more' He thought, as he moved to the next shop to buy some food and general resources.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 269 269: High ValueTimeless AssassinC269 269: High Value
(Two days later, Twin Fang Planet, Poisoner's Union, Internal Lab Chambers)
"How long has it been soaking?"
"Two hours exactly."
Eric adjusted his gloves with deliberate precision as he watched the lab rat twitch slightly in the glass enclosure, its movements growing sluggish, its breathing shallower.
Across from him, Master Ralvar leaned over a table cluttered with notes, jars, mana reagents, and a steaming beaker marked with Leo's submitted formula.
The test chamber was sealed. Ventilation units hummed overhead, and three insect cages had already been set aside— each one filled with collapsed bodies of beetles and flies that had stopped moving twenty minutes ago.
"Still no signs of visible reaction?"
"None. No smell. No color. No taste. We mixed it with mashed fruit paste and every subject consumed it fully."
Eric nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing with interest. "But the real brilliance of this poison is that it doesn't kill. It weakens. Quietly. Almost elegantly. Strength reduced, mana output reduced, cognitive processing lowered."
Ralvar tapped the side of the rat's enclosure with a metal stick. The rat flinched, then stumbled as if dazed.
"Down fifty percent in all parameters. Blood pressure stable, heart rate slightly low, but nothing to set off alarms unless someone does a full diagnostic. It mimics fatigue."
Eric raised an eyebrow. "So it's useless for assassination but perfect for cheating in underground fighting rings."
"Exactly."
They both turned to look at the chart projected onto the floating screen above, which showed the before and after metrics of the rat's vitals.
"The market value for this poison won't come from nobles or guilds. It'll come from gamblers. Underground circuit fighters and mob bosses looking for a way to rigg duels"
Eric exhaled with a slight laugh. "They'll pay through the nose for something like this."
"Because it's not banned— yet. And even if it does get banned, detection will be hell."
"What about manufacturing complexity and shelf life?"
Ralvar flipped open the formula page. "Easy to produce. No rare ingredients. Shelf stable for six months."
Eric smiled. "Then we put it through. Let's mark it at 10 million MP for the patent acquisition and 10 percent royalty on all future market units sold."
"Agreed," Ralvar said as he stamped the approval slip. "What's it called again?"
Eric glanced down at the form. "Doesn't have a name. But it's been submitted through the Orange Panthers branch here in Twin City. We can ask them tomorrow."
Ralvar chuckled. "Well this is quite a unique product for sure, if we can control its supply we can charge a huge premium for each bottle sold."
"Let's just hope we can get a patent for 10, because this is easily worth 30-50 million for the formulation alone."
The two poison masters exchanged one last glance before sealing the vial, the paperwork, and the approval slip into a vault-safe case.
Hopefully they could make a bank with this one.
—--------
That same evening, Leo visited the Orange Panthers branch to check on the value of his poison formula, and as soon as he walked through the now-familiar entrance, the staff who recognized him from his last purchase straightened instinctively, their gazes flicking toward the back room as someone immediately darted off to inform the manager.
Moments later, the same shopkeeper who had handled his transaction last time came rushing out with a scroll clutched tightly in hand, his eyes wide, face flushed with disbelief.
"Mr. Skyshard," he said breathlessly, holding up the scroll like a sacred artifact, "You're not going to believe this—"
Leo calmly reached out and took the scroll from him, unrolling it with a flick of his fingers, as his eyes scanned the parchment.
> Offer from Poisoner's Union:
Patent Valuation: 10,000,000 MP
Royalty Agreement: 10% on all future sales, pending product launch.
Leo's eyebrow twitched slightly, the only outward sign of surprise. He hadn't expected a full ten million. He had considered the formula to be useful, yes, but he hadn't thought it would be this valuable.
However, more than him, it was the shopkeeper who looked as if he had just discovered a vault of gold.
"I—I get one percent of the signing fee as the discovery agent," the man whispered, almost in a daze. "That's a hundred thousand MP in my account, just like that… Gods above…"
Leo was about to hand the scroll back when the man suddenly straightened, eyes sparking with something more than gratitude.
"Wait, sir—don't accept this offer yet."
Leo glanced at him, mildly curious.
"You can push back," the shopkeeper insisted, his voice sharp now with urgency. "That's their initial number. They always lowball the first offer, especially when it comes from new creators who don't know the system."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "And you're telling me this because…?"
The man gave a sheepish smile. "Normally I wouldn't. I mean, the union's politics are none of my business. But this time, with how big the numbers are, my cut gets bigger the higher the final value climbs."
He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. "Push for forty million, sir. Minimum. I've worked here twenty years. I know how the higher-ups think. This formula is perfect for the underground doping market. Discreet, effective, and long-lasting. They'll pay."
Leo stared at him for a long moment before folding the scroll back and handing it back to the shopkeeper.
"Very well," he said. "You handle the negotiations. Get me forty or more, and I'll add another one percent from my share on top of whatever the union gives you."
The man blinked, stunned, before his lips curled into a slow, grateful smile.
"You won't regret it, Mr. Skyshard. I'll squeeze them until they pay a hell lot more."
Leo gave a faint nod, then turned to check out the restocked items in the store as he purchased a couple more high grade mana stones for his expedition tomorrow.
With Severus's poison formula rated so highly, he did not need to worry about money in the short term at least, regardless of what final value it fetched.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 270 270: First BreakthroughTimeless AssassinC270 270: First Breakthrough
After stepping out of the Orange Panthers store, Leo resumed his practice with the [Sevenfold Revelation Codex], continuing what had become a daily ritual of quietly funneling mana behind his eyes and walking the length of Twin Fang City without pause.
And yet, like every day prior to this one, he saw nothing of note.
He uncovered no hidden secrets of the universe, perceived no swirling aura's of emotion, and failed to pick up even the faintest hint of the revelations that the codex promised to lay bare.
His mind, tempered by [Monarch's Indifference], remained steady as always, but even so, there was a limit to how much he could pretend that this wasn't getting under his skin.
Because no matter how much mana he circulated or how long he let it settle behind his optic nerves, no matter how many faces he studied, footsteps he tracked, or interactions he witnessed, the results remained the same.
As in the end, he saw nothing.
'How the hell am I supposed to unlock hidden truths just by staring at people? Am I supposed to magically see into their soul or something?' he thought bitterly, jaw tightening as he made his way out of the merchant's district.
'Agh… fuck me. This technique is a scam.'
He cursed under his breath as he turned the corner, ready to return to his apartment and consider other methods of training, when suddenly, something caught his eye.
A flicker.
Just for a second.
In the glass pane of a shopfront he had just passed, a faint ripple of color shimmered against the reflection of his own body, a maroonish trail originating from his back.
It was gone the moment he turned to look, like a ghost slipping back into the void, but for that split second, he was certain of what he had seen.
Maroon.
A deep, simmering maroon that had appeared to pulse outward from his own silhouette.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, retracing his steps and staring at the glass again, but the color didn't return.
Still, the image lingered in his mind. And even if it had lasted for less than a breath, Leo knew better than to dismiss it entirely.
Especially since, for the first time since binding with the Codex, he had finally seen something.
And it hadn't come from the world around him.
It had come from within.
'I haven't gone insane… have I? I'm not manifesting colors just because my mind is so desperate to see them… right?' Leo wondered, his pace slowing ever so slightly as he kept glancing toward the nearest reflective surfaces…. windows, display screens, metal door panels, anything that might betray even the faintest echo of that maroon shimmer he had seen.
But the moment never repeated.
For the rest of the day, he roamed through the commercial lanes, circled the outer housing ring, even passed by the meditation gardens near the guild square, yet nowhere in his reflection, nor in the world around him, did the maroon pulse return.
—----------
It was nightfall by the time he returned to his apartment, where he immediately set about packing for the expedition scheduled for tomorrow, preferring to finish it all tonight so he could sleep without the burden of rushing through preparations come morning.
His movements were calm, precise, and nearly silent, as he folded spare robes into compression pouches, checked the tightness of his dagger straps, organized the various potions he had purchased earlier, and arranged his high-grade mana stones inside a reinforced, foam-lined case.
Everything had its place. Everything was accounted for.
And although he expected to see no change in the meditation manual laying around on the edge of his desk, as he picked it up to store away in his storage ring, he casually flipped it open, only to be shocked by what he found inside.
New text had appeared.
The pages, once blank after the last instruction, now pulsed faintly with a soft golden glow as words carved themselves across the parchment with slow, deliberate grace as if someone were writing it in real time.
> "You have seen the first glimmer."
> "Frustration. It clouded your aura in a shade only you could recognize— maroon, born from the dissonance between effort and expectation."
> "That is the nature of this path."
> "Before you seek the truth in others, you must first uncover it within yourself.
Each individual perceives emotion through a personal lens, and no two will see the same color for the same feeling."
> "Learn the spectrum of your own being."
Leo's eyes slowly narrowed as he kept reading, his back unconsciously straightening.
> "Map your moods. Observe your fluctuations.
Learn how guilt sits in your chest. How pride shifts your posture. How suspicion makes your breath pause."
> "You must see these changes not with instinct—
but with vision."
> "Only once you can track the shades of your own emotions, will you be able to pierce the veil around others."
The text slowly faded after that, as if it had never been there in the first place.
Only the gentle heat of the page beneath his fingertips remained, a subtle reminder that the Codex had indeed responded.
That it had actually acknowledged his progress.
*Tap*
Leo closed the manual gently, his expression unreadable, as he tossed it into his storage ring.
'So the maroon I saw was my frustration… and I wasn't hallucinating' He thought, as he got the confirmation he needed that he had indeed made some progress today.
He didn't know what would come next, or how long the road to mastering even the very first layer of the Sevenfold Revelation Codex would be.
But for the first time since binding with the manual… he felt like he had a tangible direction to work on.
'Observe emotions within your own body first….'
That was the first step.
—----------
The next morning arrived quickly, as Leo stirred from his light sleep and rose without a sound.
He stepped into the bathroom, washed his face, and changed swiftly into his assassin robes, the dark black fabric fitting snugly over his frame as he tightened the utility belts and concealed the inner daggers.
From the corner table, he retrieved the small black storage ring that contained all his personal supplies— mana stones, potions, maps, rations, and a few carefully chosen utility items such as ropes, torch, etc.
Looping a fine chain through the storage ring, he hung it around his neck and tucked it beneath his robes, pressing the fabric down flat so that no outline showed.
He knew better than to flaunt such an item openly, especially among fellow assassins, as hidden advantages were only useful if no one else knew you had them.
Once satisfied, he gave the apartment one final glance, then stepped out into the corridor and shut the door behind him, his footsteps quiet as ever.
With everything finally in place, he began making his way toward the docking area, where the rest of his team would probably be waiting for him to depart.
It was a 20 minute walk from his apartment, which could be cut down to 10 if he hurried, however, he did not.
Since there was no guarantee that any of them would return alive from that cursed world, Leo kept his pace unhurried and allowed himself to savor the crisp morning air for as long as it lasted, because he knew very well that once he stepped into that distorted realm, there was no guarantee on when, or if, he'd ever enjoy such a simple luxury of breathing fresh morning air ever again.
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