Jim's PoV

Something was shaking Jim awake. Groaning, he said "Just give me five more minutes."

Seconds away from getting back to sleep he was shaken again.

"Just give me a few more minutes! I'll totally get up!"

Then Jim froze. He was still in his hotel room. There shouldn't be anyone shaking him. Finally he opened his eyes and found to no surprise at all that there was no one but him in his hotel room.

Shifting his right eye over to the game world seemed to be getting ingrained as a habit. His right eye was now looking at an overly large wolf pup that was nudging him. Jim muttered "At least the armored boots held up this time."

It had been two days since he played with his puppies so he figured he could spare them a couple minutes. Replaying that last thought he realized he called them "his puppies."

Even though they were not people he had no doubt that these creatures were real. He wondered what their brain activity would look like. Jim had yet to look at information concerning non-humans yet.

How hard would it be to find their creature ID number? Mentally he put it on his to do list, it was getting too full. This time Jim closed both eyes in the 'real' world and was soon fully in his room at Forrest's place.

He was about to take his gauntlets off to pet the pups, but it took him a couple seconds to realize he wasn't the only one in the room. Looking slowly at the left wall he saw a familiar pretty face. Well, not so pretty now.

One of the pups had their jaws around her throat and she seemed to have a good gash on her shoulder. It was only then did he notice that his helmet was off. Taking his gauntlets off he felt around his neck and looked down at three small pin pricks of blood.

Damned karma, why was he always right? On the bright side it looked like it turned out to be a great idea taking all of those Greater Sources. He laughed as he saw two knives next to his pillow that had broken blades.

***

Assassin's PoV

Scarlet felt like a fool. How could she have underestimated her foe so badly? She was blessed beyond all others with three ranks of Sharpen Blade. It was a magical ability that was highly coveted by people of her trade, and she had three ranks in it.

On the first rank of Sharpen Blade, a dagger could cut through hardened leather like it was cloth. On the second rank it sheared through chain mail like it was made of string twine. Finally on the third rank it could pierce heavy plate armor like it wasn't there. Which is why those who knew her, ally and enemy alike, feared her. If she could reach them, she could kill them.

A solid strike from her daggers empowered by her skill made most armor look like paper, which was nothing compared to what it did to their insides. The massive man and his dogs were all level one. Level one! She had the first rank of Sense as well. Most people would feel lucky just having one skill, but she had four!

A talent such as herself would make most people quake in their boots if they only knew. But she was too overconfident. In hindsight it was obvious. When she used the sense spell the information provided was only "Warrior: Level 1."

Every other time it would give her a breakdown of their stats. Most people didn't even know these numbers existed. The only time she had seen information omitted from Sense was when someone was greater than five levels ahead of her.

The guy looked like a monster but he was only level one. How was she to know her daggers would be so ineffective? Spinning the impressive new dagger in her hand she reflected on what happened since meeting this new mysterious foe.

Scarlet remembered seeing the man for the first time in the jet black armor. Upon first seeing him a shiver of fear went down her spine but that fear was quickly suppressed. When she saw the information from Sense, the fear felt irrational. And that made her greed flair up. He would make the perfect target! A level one with all that expensive gear on? He was ripe for the pickings.

She was on a scouting mission to see if there was any mischief she could make. At that time the towns folk thought that she was part of the Merchant Circle from Jacksburg, a port town not too far away.

The real Merchant Circle members were to arrive in a couple days. The plan was to cause a bit of mischief beforehand and then disappear only to have the Merchant Circle pick up the blame. Locally most people just called this place "the village," but when abroad it was referred to as King's End.

If the people of King's End happened to have retaliated in kind against the Merchant Circle, then Jacksburg would probably send a force up these mountains. Jacksburg was one of three major city-states that occupied the region.

Recently there had been an unsteady peace between the trio, because if one attacked the other, the last city-state that did not attack would take the board. But the people of her city were tired of waiting so they sent people like her to make that situation happen.

If Jacksburg was taking care of a fire in their backyard, it was possible to make a bigger piece on the board commit. Or at least that was the line she was sold when assigned to this task. Which was why she was in this dinky town in the first place.

After reading that the man was only level one in that insanely expensive armor, she thought she had her mark. Not only would it accomplish her mission, but she would make a good bit of gil to boot. The problem? Right when she was working her charms, he flat out called her an assassin!

Scarlet was calling herself all kinds of a fool. She thought that she had been tossed some bait to distract her, so others could surround her to take her out. There were always other people of her trade that played for the other sides. But to her pleasant surprise she was not in an ambush. The man went on his way without a care in the world and there was no one trying to kill her.

Scarlet made a quick retreat and started gathering information, a task that she was a master of. After only a couple hours she learned that this guy had come from the cursed caves! There were only two kinds of people that came out alive from the caves. Either they were blessed with the luck of an entire village or they were more deadly than anything in there.

The only problem was that the last warrior known to have crossed through the caves and survived was over a hundred years ago. Most of the village was going on about how a lucky man made it through. With her research done she figured she shouldn't have second guessed herself. Even if he knew what she was, the man had no ties to the village. No one would care if his body showed up in the morning.

Finding out his location was as easy as pie, so she waited for the night. For two days she watched him. And in two days he barely moved an inch. A couple times she saw him flail his right hand around. Combining that with the fact that he hadn't moved, she thought it was highly probable that the man was suffering from some kind of illness.

On the third night she struck. It was the first time that both of those dogs had finally been asleep at the same time. There were three other men watching the foreign man but they would not be a problem. The little thieves would try to rob her as she exited, it was written on their faces.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Scarlet thought about killing them first, but if they were kind enough to keep quiet and then present their throats, then it was no problem at all. It would give her a chance to organize her loot before she needed to flee if they patiently waited for her. And if they ran away? It was too dark for them to identify her.

She would cut the sleeping man's throat and give him no warning. The sound of dogs barking would probably be ignored, a man screaming and dying too loud would not. Scarlet wasn't going to let those dogs alert him before her dagger met his throat. Also, there was the matter of professional pride. Level one or level ten didn't matter. Her calling as an elite assassin demanded excellence.

The window had no lock and she quickly and quietly opened it and vaulted through. Pausing, she glanced out of the window with her body flush to the wall. The three silhouettes had not noticed her entry. Sloppy. Creeping over to the bed she used her slender fingers to unlock the chin strap and put his helmet to the side. What an oddball, who slept in full armor?

Everything was still quiet. Her eyes roamed the room and window for motion as she prepared to make the strike. She paid special attention to three shadowy figures she could just make out in the window. Perhaps when the man was dead, she could use the dog's barking to lure those three in.

With an expert slash she swiped the dagger across his throat while holding his mouth closed. His eyes didn't open wide in astonishment. There was no gasp of pain. There was no brief struggle. There was no reaction at all. The strike felt... off.

Returning her eyes to the spot she slashed, she was confused when the red smile did not appear on his neck. After another couple seconds she realized that there was no wound at all. What magic was this? Scarlet glanced at the two dogs to make sure they were still asleep and then casted Sharpen Blade Lv3. Let's see him take this!

With an empowered dagger that could peirce even the toughest of armor, she brought the weapon to her target's throat once again. Nothing happened. Nothing! The man didn't even wake up!

Finally she just stood on top of the man and then placed a knee on each side of his waist. Putting the point of the dagger into his throat, she used her full body weight thrusting down at his jugular. After a few good shoves she took a look at her work. The only proof of her efforts was one small pool of blood on his neck.

She'd seen more blood while shaving! How could she get more leverage? After a second's thought, she agilely placed one foot on each side of the cross guard of the dagger while keeping her balance. If someone had peeked in at that moment, they would have seen the absurdity of a woman balancing on a dagger hilt with its point lodged in a man's neck.

Luckily the room was pitch black and her three observers at best would hear a bit of jostling around. Using the ceiling to stabilize her balance, she forcibly hammered her powerful legs into the guard of her weapon. A weapon that should be able to puncture full plate armor with only using average arm strength… and nothing happened.

Nothing happened!? Again for all her effort, only a small red dot was her reward. As she was in half disbelief the man slightly moved. Her careful balance was disrupted when her dagger blade snapped and she began falling to the floor. Gracefully, she turned the fall into a roll.

As she got up from her roll she was an inch away from reflective yellow eyes. But they were just large puppies so she ignored them. At this point if they started barking it wouldn't matter. Whatever enchantment that was on the man clearly impaired his senses. They could bark their heads off for all she cared.

Taking her other dagger out she was ready to try that trick again. She refined her strike with a powerful leap and brought all of her body weight onto the hilt of her new dagger and gracefully aimed the point towards the wizard's neck. This time the blood splotch was a little bit bigger, but her dagger broke. Again? With Sharpen Blade Lv3?

It was crazy. She thought about running away but her pride would not let her. Her target was laid before her vulnerable as a lamb and he wouldn't just go ahead and die for her! Scarlet felt like she was backed into a corner. Her carefully cultivated reputation would be in tatters if she couldn't execute a vulnerable sleeping wizard.

As she was in the process of doing the dagger pogo dance again, one of the wolf pups bit her. It bit her and it hurt! She felt teeth bite into her right shoulder and the teeth only stopped when they hit bone.

Toppling over she put a hand to her wound and was about to stand up when jaws clamped down around her neck. She went still. For some reason the dog didn't clamp down and end her. How could these pups be so powerful?

As she was contemplating that, the other wolf started nudging the man. And he didn't get up. The next twenty minutes she could only watch dumbfounded as the dog tried ever more impressive moves to try to wake the man up.

It started jumping on his chest. It licked his ears. It barked like crazy right in front of his face. Then it started rubbing against his face. What kind of mage was that guy? Why would someone create a magic barrier so strong that no one could wake him up?

A few minutes later the man finally got up and was oblivious to her. She would have rolled her eyes had it not been for the fact that she was about to die.

After taking a few seconds looking at her, his eyes shifted to the dog that was not currently pinning her down and said "Really? I had two mighty guard dogs and still an assassin crept in my room, took off my helmet, and managed to break not one but two daggers before you two stopped her?"

The dog that was currently holding her finally drew back its jaws, she saw both of the wolf pups laying down in front of the man whining while not meeting his eyes. That was one of the oddest things she had ever seen. Can wolves be embarrassed?

The man studied her and she didn't know what to say. It's kind of hard to put a good spin on "I was trying to kill you and wanted to steal all your stuff."

Now that she was free, her hand dropped to her belt and she grabbed a small maroon colored vial and drank it. It was a Medium Healing Potion and would make her arm good as new in only a couple seconds. If she lived, she was going to regret it. The thing cost a month's pay. The man and his pets were strong, but hopefully an opportunity to escape might present itself.

The man then started doing that weird arm flaily thing again. Scarlet coiled herself and was about to bolt for the window, then in his hand appeared the most beautiful dagger she had ever seen. She was mesmerized.

***

Jim's PoV

Ha! This was perfect bait. All assassins love daggers! Genius at work baby! The dagger he chose could do a solid bit more damage than the one she had broken, but it had a particularly useless effect attached to it.

Elven Dagger of Reflection Attack: 300 Equip: Reflects Offensive Magic Back to the Original Caster. 10 Minute Cooldown.

Each battle it would reflect the first spell casted at the user. Seems this new version instead of each battle was every 10 minutes, still useless. It was a massive upgrade compared to the broken daggers that were beside him.

Steel Dagger Attack: 63

Enchanted items like this were non-existent in the early game, so it should be an enticing prize. Would she be able to tell the blade was enchanted?

He slowly moved the dagger left and right and watched her eyes follow the weapon hungrily. It was like watching a dog look at a ball before his owner threw it. Absolutely hilarious!

In a sing-song voice, Jim asked "Do you want the daggerrrrr?"

Finally the woman's eyes snapped back to his face and she said guardedly "Maybe. What would you want for it?"

Little Jim had a couple ideas but he quashed those. "Do you know of anyone else that's trying to rob me?"

Instantly she said "Yes. Three are watching right now and there have been four others that have been spending way too much time around your house."

Jim blinked and he looked outside his window. Indeed there were three men with weapons that were slowly creeping towards the window. And they all seemed to be way too interested in what was going on. Plus they didn't seem friendly at all. Having noticed his attention, they stopped hiding and were walking towards the room while brazenly holding their weapons at the ready.

Had they been planning on ambushing assassin lady when she came out? Or were they just here to rob him? He didn't think he liked the idea of shadowy figures peeking in on him at night.

Jim tossed her the dagger and said "I got a matching pair to that dagger and a few pieces of high quality leather armor if you make my stay peaceful. Shouldn't be more than a week."

A vicious smile appeared on her face and she said "You got it wizard. And I better get my payment. I don't know what spell you used to stop me, but cross me and I'll find a way to break through your barrier."

Jim could only watch confused as the woman vaulted out of the window to chase the three men. Laying back down on the bed and pressing log out, he wondered what was going on in her head. Wizard? What kind of joke was she playing at? Women. Same in both worlds. Crazy as hell.