While his brother was out trying to fix things, one night, Pamu ◮ was sleeping deeply in his dungeon cell. Snoring away, he absent slapped away at his chest at a ticklish sensation. This happened twice more before it was enough to wake him, only to find himself looking into the eyes of another man less than an arm-length away, dressed in dark clothing, with a scarf covering his face.
“Umm, can I help you?” Pamu offered.
“Why can’t I stab you?” a surprisingly high-pitched male voice responded.
“Uhh…”
“I mean, I stabbed you in your chest like five times, but you’re not dead,” he complained. “There’s not even any blood!”
“Do you—do you want to try again?” Pamu suggested, then watched the blade move at the slowest speed towards his chest. He actively fought against his Skills trying to force him to dodge, only for the tip of the blade to bounce off his bare chest.
> Ding!
>
> You have been stabbed for 49,670 HP damage.
“Ah, you’re just not doing enough damage,” Pamu replied with a confident smile.
“What do you mean not enough damage?! That was almost fifty thousand damage!”
“Yes, which is… umm, sorry, I’m not the [Mathematics] brother… uh, less than a percent of my HP. Less than, uh, half a percent.”
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The would-be assailant thought deeply, ticking at his fingers as he did the numbers, before giving up. “It’d just be a lot easier if you told me your total HP.”
“Eight million.”
The assailant coughed on his on spit. “Eight million!”
“Almost eight and a half! But, yeah, you’d need to do a lot more damage in order to actually pierce my skin. Unless, well, it built up over time.”
“I know how to stab people. I’m the Pantheon-damned second-best [Assassin] in Tarzu.”
“Oh hey! Me too. So I guess you’re actually the third-best in Tarzu now that you’ve met me. Unless, are you referring to Houi.”
The [Assassin] grit his teeth. “That’s Master Houi to you.”
“Ugh, well I kind of incapacitated her a while back and the guards killed her. So… Wait! Are you here to kill me?” Pamu grinned excitedly at being a target for an [Assassin]. (At that exact moment, many kilometers away, Amen ◐ shuddered, reminiscing about his second death).
“Well, I was. I’m now regretting my life choices.”
“Nah, man, don’t be like that. This is a perfect learning opportunity.”
“….Really?!”
“Yes! First, you should always know as an [Assassin] when you have to abandon a job. Whether because you’ve been discovered, or it wouldn’t be clean enough, or your target is unkillable. But second, you’re now stuck in a dungeon cell with the greatest [Assassin] in the Free Desert Cities. Maybe, all of The Ayres. And… I’m willing to entertain some lessons.”
The [Assassin] raised an eyebrow, but didn’t contest Pamu’s proclamations, except, “I’m not stuck in this dungeon cell.”
“And neither am I. We’re just two dudes hanging out in a cell together.”
“Ugh!” the [Assassin] cried in exasperation, before pulling his scarf down under his chin. “I am not a man!”
“Oh?” Pamu replied, channeling [Speak Romantically]. “Well I swing that way too, babe.”
At which point, the [Assassin] punched him in the nose.