It was the third of August 2023, and today Rob was going to kill a man. He was currently sitting in a car that he had leased a month ago and reported as stolen yesterday, watching a pizza shop. It sounded terribly cliché, but for some reason, the man controlling the operations of the local drug market used this shop to launder his money. Ezekiel, the man, was called, and he was also Rob's target for the night.
Rob had played with the idea of starting this new life without killing anybody, living peacefully until he had no other options, but ultimately he was not ready to give up valuable advancement just to pretend his moral compass was still intact.
The pizza shop's lights finally went out. Rob checked his watch, a mechanical one that would keep working even after the system descended, and it was just after 1 am. So far, everything went according to his plan.
He went over his equipment one last time. On his hip, he had a knife, one intended for hunting, that would do better than the kitchen knife he originally wanted to use. He was wearing baggy clothing, hiding his build, and both his pants and his hoodie had a plethora of pockets holding various items that might be useful.
Those included a set of lock picks, a taser, and even some syringes filled with epinephrine. That last one was a hormone that put the body in fight or flight mode, potentially allowing Rob to get away should his plan go awry. Luckily, it had medical uses, and he managed to bribe a doctor to procure him a few doses.
He had not taken a gun, as he had almost no idea how to use one. He also didn't feel the need to train with one, given that they would become obsolete quickly unless one chose very specific classes.
On the other seat was a ski mask to hide his face. He could have used any mask, of course, but the temptation had been too big; it was a classic for a reason.
Lastly, he checked his status. There had been some changes since he awoke in his apartment.
Robert Fisher
Class
Assassin (Mastery: Novice)
Perk 1 (II)
Hide your status, or display a status containing up to 4 falsified elements as long as the other persons combined magic affinities are lower than yours.
Perk 2
Read another persons status as long as their combined magic affinities are lower than yours.
Perk 3
Advance your dexterity dependant on your combined physical affinities.
Affinities
Endurance 13 (Physical)
Death 9 (Magic)
Time 4 (Magic)
Class mastery was split into 9 categories, starting with None and ending with Transcendent. Only once the last mastery was reached was it possible to evolve the class. For each level of mastery reached, it was possible to strengthen one perk, with three different upgrades available per perk. Sadly, Rob had no chance to play around there and used all of his masteries on the first perk, allowing him to mask his true status. Just one more level of mastery, however, and he would be able to disguise enough of his status that he would feel safe.
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For that reason, he was here today. He donned his mask and put on the hood of his sweater before calmly making his way over to the door. Listening closely, voices could still be heard from the inside. That was good; his target was still there, despite the pizza shop having closed a while ago.
Rob took the set of lock picks and fiddled with the door, managing to open it with shocking ease. That was something he had learned from YouTube actually, never having needed the skill the last time around, and his perk, increasing dexterity, made it ridiculously easy.
He opened the door slowly and put a piece of paper between it and the door frame when closing it, making sure he could leave quickly but the noises from outside would still be muffled.
The room he was in was dark, while light could be seen coming from under the door that led to the kitchen. Rob made his way over there, stilling his breath and listening. There was some kind of inane conversation about a football game going on, though what was said hardly mattered.
Rob counted the voices he could hear, staying at the door for about ten minutes until he was certain there were three people. That was acceptable; he had never expected to find his target alone.
He had studied the layout of the establishment beforehand which would be needed for the next step. Making his way over to the light switch, he pried it off the wall using his knife and identified the cables using a small flashlight. Then he cut the cables he had memorized in advance, and the light in the kitchen suddenly went off.
Rob strained his hearing, listening to the conversation.
“The fuck was that?”
“Seems like a blackout, you dunce.”
“Nah, look, the oven is still working; something happened to the light.”
“Well, go check it out then.”
The last sentence was spoken by Ezekiel, and Rob got in position behind the kitchen door. It soon opened, and one of Ezekiel's bodyguards came out using his phone as a flashlight. Once he was in the room, Rob sneaked up behind him and used one hand to close his mouth. His dagger was already drawn, and he swiftly cut the man's throat. All the man got out before he died was a wet gurgle, and soon Rob let him slip to the floor, his companions none the wiser.
Then Rob called out, trying to emulate the man's voice, “Oi, come here, you gotta look at this.”
The answer came from the kitchen, “What's going on there, Jeb?”
Rob stayed silent.
“Dimwit probably found a rat or something; I'll check it out, boss.”
Rob used the flashlight to illuminate the cut wires while the other bodyguard came to him. “Looks like rats ate the wires or something,” Rob said. Once the other man was close enough, Rob used the phone to blind him and quickly tried to do the same thing he did to Jeb, though this guard reacted faster, getting out a “What the fuck” and landing a punch on Rob's ribs before he too got his throat slit.
Rob lowered him to the floor while wincing; nothing was broken, but this would leave a bruise. “What's going on there? Found why the light is out?” Ezekiel called out, and Rob responded: “Looks like rats ate the wires or something.”
Then he made his way over into the kitchen and walked towards Ezekiel, though something seemed to have given him away as the man grabbed a gun that lay on the table before him. Rob jumped to the side and took cover behind an oven just as three shots rang out. The sound was incredibly loud in the closed room, and Rob's ears began ringing. Fuck, he was on a timer now; someone would have heard the sound of gunshots.
He was fairly certain that with his Endurance affinity, a single gunshot wouldn't be too bad, granted it hit nothing vital, so without giving Ezekiel time to think, he rushed out from behind his cover and sprinted towards the man. The distance was short, but Ezekiel nonetheless fired two more shots. Rob felt an impact in his abdominal region, and a coldness seemed to spread through him.
Undeterred, he closed the distance and started stabbing Ezekiel like in a frenzy. Only a minute later he stopped, breathing heavily. Wincing, he checked his shirt, and sure enough, he was gushing blood.
He took out a bandage from his pocket and roughly disinfected it with alcohol before binding it around his torso. The pain was bad, but he drew deep on his Endurance affinity, letting it drift away.
Then he stood up and left the shop on foot, walking slowly, his hood still on but the mask held inside of his hoodie.
Once he was a few streets away he heard the sound of sirens but didn't stop or turn around. Soon after he found a trash can and slipped his mask inside, before entering a subway station. There he entered the bathroom, leaving his shirt and hoodie to clog the toilet, that should make it harder to get any kind of DNA from them.
He made sure that the bandage was secure and grabbed a new shirt out of bag that he had stashed here the day before. To complete the change of his attire he slipped on glasses.
He left and got on the next subway that arrived, taking the first seat he found and collapsing in it.
The subway was nearly empty, and with the silence, the light rocking and his exhaustion Rob almost fell asleep when a voice brought him out of his stupor.
Assassin advanced to Mastery: Adept
'Enhance Perk 1' he thought and a list of options was transmitted into his brain:
Hide your status, or display a status containing up to 4 falsified elements as long as the other persons combined magic affinities are lower than yours multiplied by 1,25.
Hide your status, or display a status containing up to 6 falsified elements as long as the other persons combined magic affinities are lower than yours.
Hide your status, or display a status containing up to 4 falsified elements as long as the other persons combined magic affinities are lower than yours. Upon successful hiding of status the inquiring person receives backlash proportional to the difference in your magic affinities.
'I pick the second option', he thought and with that it was done. No matter what he did in the next months, his identity would stay save.