Above the pipe, I stayed still, watching my prey with the patience of a predator. The expression on my face was tense, almost impassive, and my hand gripped the hilt of the dagger tightly, feeling the cold metal against my palm. My eyes were fixed, one on each side, as I carefully monitored the two monsters below me, alert to any movement.
My gaze was sharp, like that of a beast about to strike, absorbing every detail around me. The silence around me heightened the intensity of the moment; I was in complete concentration, ready to attack the moment the opportunity arose.
[Giant Rat - Level 11]
[Giant Rat - Level 12]
I positioned my female body above the rat resting near the wall on the left, its body motionless, seeming to sleep peacefully, while my male body took position beside the rat on the right, which, near the underground stream, was drinking calmly, oblivious to any imminent danger.
In an instant, I activated my ability, [Precise Strike]. A quick glance at the daggers Noa and Justin were holding was enough to notice something had changed. The blade, which had previously gleamed with a metallic shine, now seemed to absorb a reddish hue, as if the very light were tinged with a shade of blood.
The metallic gleam remained, but it had transformed, now radiating a subtly red aura that danced along the blade, making it appear even more threatening. Putting that thought aside, I moved both my bodies with precision. Noa and Justin acted in unison, falling upon the giant rats that were resting peacefully, unaware of what awaited them.
Their fates were sealed the moment I drove my daggers into their skulls. Neither had time to make a sound; their death was silent, brutally fast. The rat near the stream had its head submerged in the flowing water, sinking slowly until its last breath. The other, on the other hand, never woke from the deep sleep it had been in, the blade piercing its mind with lethal precision.
I calmly withdrew the daggers from their skulls, the metal lightly resonating as it came free from the bone. At that exact moment, my retina was flooded with floating screens, and I observed everything calmly, absorbing the data without hurry. Finally, with a smooth motion, I returned the daggers to their sheaths, securely strapped to my waist, while my mind continued processing everything around me.
*You killed [Giant Rat - lvl 11] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 22 TP gained*
*You killed [Giant Rat - lvl 12] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 24 TP gained*
*DING! Class: [Assassin] reached level 10 – Status points allocated*
*New skills available for Assassin class*
Looking at the stacked screens before me, I couldn’t help but let a subtle smile form at the corner of my lips. Both my female body, Noa, and my male body, Justin, had visibly excited expressions, almost as if they reflected the same emotion.
However, I quickly noticed the smile on both faces and swiftly wiped it away, like an automatic reflex. Honestly, it would have been quite strange if others saw me smiling out of nowhere, especially considering the gravity of our current situation. The environment around us was not conducive to moments of joy.
As my mind momentarily drifted from reality, diving into a whirlwind of disjointed thoughts, Oliver’s voice broke the silence, bringing me back to the present situation: “Justin! Noa!”
Both my male and female bodies turned toward Oliver, with a perfectly synchronized movement. In the dark alley, his figure appeared, adjusting the bow strapped to his body. Beside him, Ethan did the same, securing his massive sword on his back with a cautious expression.
Behind them, there were the bodies of three rats on the ground, disfigured and bloodied. The creatures were marked with deep cuts across various parts of their bodies and punctures, their precise forms indicating they had been made by Oliver’s accurate arrows.
If you’re wondering how exactly we got into this situation, just rewind a bit. When Oliver and Alice told us that the small food stash we had was probably eaten by the giant rats, we were initially clueless about what to do.
Despair spread among us until Oliver, with his characteristic calmness, tried to bring some rationality to the grim situation. He suggested, pragmatically, that we go back to the train to see if there was anything edible left.
I admit that, at that moment, we were all more inclined to believe there would be nothing there. And, as a bitter prediction, what we found when we returned to the train was a scene of complete devastation. The interior was in chaos: deep scratch marks on the walls and floor, and, worse, there was no trace of our belongings. Everything had vanished.
In the end, we decided to move forward through the tunnel, searching for a way out of that dark and suffocating place. After all, no one, not even me, seemed to find the idea of eating rats or centipedes even remotely appealing.
To be honest, I was totally on the side of those who would refuse to eat either of them, no matter the circumstances. The rat, in theory, could even be edible — after all, one survives in extreme situations with whatever is available. But, at that moment, the old saying about the appearance of food making it taste better had never made so much sense to me.
“Looks like we killed them all. Let’s move on” Oliver said in a determined tone, narrowing his gaze, focusing on the tunnel ahead of us.
I did the same as him and looked toward the path we would take, but all I could see was an impenetrable darkness. Unfortunately, my abilities didn’t come with a night vision package, which I found rather ironic.
If you asked me, I’d say something like night vision would almost be a must for a class like mine, an assassin. Honestly, I expected it to be a basic feature, a sort of standard in the “skill package” but apparently, that’s not something I have at my disposal.
Anyway, we continued through the corridors, and although everyone seemed calm and relaxed on the outside, I knew that inside, they were about to burst with anxiety. Honestly, even telling them that I had a skill to detect threats didn’t make them suddenly feel completely at ease.
Sure, it might have brought some relief, but in an environment like that, where tension seemed to hang in the air, unless you had nerves of steel, it was impossible not to feel a twinge of nervousness.
Putting that aside, my senses were sharper than usual. I was using two abilities simultaneously: [Basic Enhanced Senses] and [Presence Detection]. It didn’t take me long to realize that the choices I’d made so far were indeed correct.
By combining both abilities, I can say that my senses have become something beyond human. I can detect anything around me, as long as it’s not a monster with a specific ability to nullify my capabilities. That way, it’s practically impossible to catch me off guard.
Additionally, my ability remains active in both of my bodies simultaneously, and the mana cost is reduced as if I were only using one of them. In other words, while my male body pushes forward to the front line, searching for enemies in the vanguard, my female body takes care of the rear, watching for potential threats from behind.
Of course, I didn’t information with Oliver or the others; I preferred to keep the fact that both bodies were using the same abilities synchronized, making it seem like our choice was a coincidence.
Anyway, we’d been walking for quite a while, and even so, my abilities hadn’t detected any anomalies in the next few meters. In other words, I was free to focus on the annoying windows floating in my retina, blinking incessantly. With that thought, I sighed and finally opened the stats window.
Name: [Justin Davies & Noa Davies]
Class: [Assassin – lvl 10]
Unique Skill: [Dual Existence]
Physical Constitution: 19
Class Skills: [Silent Steps (Common)] – [Precise Strike (Common)] – [Basic Enhanced Senses (Common)] – [Detect Presence (Common)] – [Identify (Common)] – [Multiracial Language (Unique)]
Profession Skills: N/A
Looking at the window that appeared suddenly before me, I couldn’t help but reflect on how fast I was evolving. Between Oliver, Alice, and Ethan, I was undoubtedly the one progressing the most. Oliver was a bit behind me at level 8, while Ethan had just reached level 6. Alice, on the other hand, was still at level 4.
I didn’t exactly know how the experience sharing system worked, but from what it seemed, the more you contributed, the more experience you gained. Considering that Alice had participated in only four battles so far, I’d say she was evolving at a surprisingly fast pace.
Although not the focus here, it’s worth mentioning something impressive: Ethan managed to survive the centipede's direct hit while holding onto its tail. According to him, his survival was due to his unique ability.
He claimed he could reallocate his stats as he wished. In other words, he could transfer points from attributes like Agility to Physical Constitution, for example.
That’s exactly what he did just before taking the centipede's strike, adjusting his points to increase his resistance. However, there’s a curious limitation: once allocated, the points can’t be reversed.
Ignoring the thoughts accumulating in my mind, I took a deep breath and redirected my attention to the status screen before me. Now, with my level reaching 10, I knew I could choose a new skill.
That was probably why a screen was flashing persistently in the top-right corner, interrupting my routine in an annoying way. With a simple thought, the screen expanded before me, displaying a list of skills, each with its characteristics and descriptions, waiting for my choice.
As with the last time, there were dozens of available skills. I scrolled down the list, and as expected, new skills kept appearing. Just like before, all of them belonged to the [Common] class. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to that.
Given how the system worked, it was reasonable to assume that, as I leveled up, skills from a broader range of classifications would start appearing. Of course, it wasn’t like I was expecting something from the [Unique] class to suddenly pop up at level 50.
Anyway, out of all the skills that appeared as options, many were, to be honest, completely useless. The few that could be considered useful, however, were skills I simply couldn’t imagine using in the long run.
As much as they had their immediate value, it didn’t make sense to take them if they didn’t seem viable for my future. My reasoning continued along these lines until, finally, a specific skill appeared. The moment I clicked on it, the information began materializing on the screen, followed by the usual confirmation question. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by nοvelfire.net
[Wild Instinct (Common)] – In combat, you connect with your instincts, enhancing your perception and agility. When an enemy is within 3 meters of you, your reflexes increase, granting +15 agility and +15 perception.
I won’t lie, this skill definitely didn’t seem like something an assassin would use. In fact, it looked more like a survival skill, one of those that keeps you alive when everything around you is falling apart. I wasn’t sure why, but that’s the impression it gave me.
Still, despite not fitting the profile of an assassin, I couldn’t deny that the skill had some frightening potential. At least at the levels I was at now. Sure, spending 65 mana to activate it made it a bit less attractive, but who said life should be easy? Where would the thrill of living be without challenges?.
Of course, whether this ability would actually be useful to someone like me, who usually prefers to operate in the shadows and strike with stealth, only time would tell.