After my quick peek, I ducked back into the tunnel to employ my brilliant strategy number three. My plan? Hide in the darkest corner of the cave that I could, and activate [SHADOW STEPS] to become nearly undetectable. Its effectiveness was greatly boosted while still and further when in darkness. With both, I would be near invisible to anyone without an absurdly good [PERCEPTION] trait.
Traits were something all beings in the world of Gehenna possessed. The basic nine that everyone started with were [STRENGTH], [CONSTITUTION], [FORTITUDE], [AGILITY], [DEXTERITY], [RECOVERY], [PERCEPTION], [INTELECT], and [ARCANE]. These were the tier zero traits, and like all traits that come after, could be empowered through leveling, up to ten.
The higher the tier of a trait, the more effective it was. Traits were unlocked and leveled through intensive use, such as running often eventually giving traits like [SWIFTNESS] and [ENDURANCE], as well as leveling them. So with just [AGILITY] 1, you might have a steady running pace of 6 miles like any average human from Earth. Factor in [AGILITY] 10 and [SWIFTNESS] 10, and a casual jogging pace might be a breezy 20 miles per hour.
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After being plucked from whatever comfy spot I would have had six feet under, I worked in the field of murder for so long that most of my skills were far above the average man, or even knight. All of my basic skills were level ten except for arcane which was still level one (I don’t want to talk about it). Adding to that, I had most of the tier one skills, most of even those being at their maximum.
Amongst my repertoire, I had a good few tier-twos, and even three tier-three traits.
[SHADOW STEPS] was a tier three trait, and had made my job significantly easier. On multiple occasions, I simply waited in a target’s room, and once they had gone to bed, promptly slashed their neck and stabbed their heart. Easy peasy. I did have to sneak an ax into a into a target’s bedchamber once because he had the [IRON SKIN] trait and a knife wasn’t going to cut it (*badum tish*).
Having decided on a sufficient corner, I fitted myself to the wall as best as I could and began my wait. It turned out that I didn’t have long to wait though, as twenty minutes later, someone ran into the exiting section of the passage. She appeared to be an emerald-colored dragonborn, wearing almost mirror-like silver platemail, and she seemed in a foul mood. It dawned on me a moment later: She could polymorph- and had, as well. I wasn’t certain how long she had been able to do that, but I did know that if she saw me I was dead.
Invidia, the Viridescent Envy of the East, was not someone you crossed and lived to tell about it.