I am KillerA . That’s my username .
My goal entering this game was simple . Train hard and earn money through assassination .
At first, I didn’t like showing my name . After all, having a grey name on the field so very problematic . It took 10 minutes just to re-hide one’s name . Once I killed anyone, my name would turn yellow, red, then black . Even if I hid my name, the spot where my name should’ve been would glow in the same colour as my nametag to remind surrounding players I was a murderer .
Using my excellent mind, I instantly knew how I could silently kill other people with the Assassin’s special Cloaking skill . (For more details on the skill, see Chapter 48 . )
It was obvious the players of this game had yet to realise how evil this skill could be . Thus, many of them would be swarmed by a horde of monsters and given a free ride back to the city while still confused as to what was going on . My mission is to de-Cloak and pick up the items dropped by the victim when the monsters are too busy to notice me .
It’s a tried-and-tested method to assassinate others without exposing my name or actual face . While I’d be betting on the small chance for items to drop at death, but it proved to be a rather fruitful harvest after a few more tries .
Unfortunately, it was used too many times . Some of my fellow assassins started noticing and imitating it . More and more discussion forums popped up on the forums . For some time, the reputation of the Assassin job was very low . The moment an assassin was spotted, all players would skirt far away from them . Some of the foolish copycats didn’t even know to hide their faces . In the end, their victims took pictures of their faces and their names were eventually found and added to a blacklist . As soon as anyone on that list appeared out on the field, they’d be surrounded by a mob of players .
Naturally, with my careful nature, I wouldn’t be found out . However, this method can’t work now . Since I can’t assassinate people in secret, I’ll do it out in the open .
I started targeting players who had rather nice equipment but played badly . I’d pretend to be passing by behind them, then I’d nonchalantly ambush them from behind . With my special buff, a critical hit was enough to take off over half of their HP .
Then, my name would be exposed to the other players . Thankfully, the Assassin’s outfit also came with a face mask . In my efforts in being the best nobody I could be, I had tweaked my appearance to be as average as possible . My gears were all selected according to what most people wear . Beneath that facade though, every gear I had was refined and slotted with the best cards possible for additional attack damage . Overall, once I’m buried among the crowds of the city, no one can find me .
Time passed and the benefits of having exposed my name started showing up . Players started messaging me, asking me to help them murder other players .
Of course, to ensure the requests were true, I’d be paid before I did the deed . I encountered some difficulties at first . Several of my deals came to nothing . But soon, my reputation grew and someone would always be ready to send some business my way .
In spite of all that, I must’ve forgotten to check my horoscope this morning before I left my room . It’s a day bad for assassination . That’s not to say I didn’t succeed in my mission . My success rate is very high unless I forgot to scope my target out properly and stumble upon a secretly great player . After killing another player, my name would be exposed for 10 minutes . It was a bad time to be going back to the city so I thought to just bunker down during that time . To my surprise, I bumped into someone .
“So you’re KillerA,” spoke the male healer . He looked about the same level as I was and had roughly the same gears .
“…” My one rule is that I would never kill healers unless they are overly arrogant . I’m not afraid of the Healers Alliance . They’re just too weak . It would be too boring .
I turned around, thinking to leave, but then he kept bothering me .
“You’re a professional assassin, right? Are you interested in joining a guild?”
“…” He was really stubborn, but it wasn’t over the line . I had no need to argue so much with weaklings .
“I want to start a guild for assassins . Come help me,” he said .
“…!” Was something wrong with him? A person in the weakest Job in the game actually wanted to start up a guild for assassins . It’d be more likely to turn into a guild for being killed instead .
“Don’t believe me? How about this? If I can defeat you, you’ll help me . Okay?” he pushed .
“Do you want to die?” I shot back . Was this a joke? Even with Holy Light, the chant time was long enough for me to keep interrupting him . If he wanted to defeat me, he’d have to start over in another Job .
“I’m only asking for you to help me . Well? Want to bet on it?”
“Fine . Come . ” Let’s see what he had to offer .
“Can you not move? I’ll punch you once . No magic . ”
“…okay . ” Without magic? Is he mad? With how weak healers were, I didn’t care .
“Wait . Let me get ready . Heh! Heerh!”
“…” I watched as he lowered himself into the horse stance, his palms pushing out against the air before him . Suddenly, I had an urge to get far away from him . Just what was wrong with me? Why was I fooling around with some delusional healer?
“I’m coming! Haarh!”
…
What the frick! Why am I flat out on the floor?
“As I expected, I defeated you . It was a bet . Join my guild,” the man said .
The dead can’t move or speak . All they can do was wait for a living player to save them or just return back to the city . But I can’t die without knowing what happened! I stared right at him . If I could move, I would’ve grabbed him by the collar, shook him and roared at him . What kind of healer are you?
“You even dropped some equipment . Let me see . This pair of boots is rather average . Who knew you’d actually they’d have such a high refinement? You even have two cards slotted in them . ” As I had just killed a player, my luck hit rock bottom and it was very easy to drop any items at death . He picked up the boots I dropped and turned them around in his hands . He even criticised them .
Unfortunately, all I could do was just grit my teeth in anger .
“Join my guild . Oh, right . You can’t move now . ” The healer then stuffed an Yggdrasil Leaf into my mouth .
Yggdrasil Leaf: It can revive fallen players and restore half of their HP and MP .
I dragged myself up from the floor and downed some potions to bring my HP and MP back to full .
“What kind of healer are you?” I shouted . I brought the fantasy I had just now into reality .
“If you join my guild, I’ll tell you,” the healer said, giving me the typical tiny grin that exposed eight pearly teeth .
“…” My fists itched to punch that smile off his face . But I had been the one underestimating his strength . Now, I didn’t dare to act rashly .
“Ah, right . Here are your boots . ”
“…!” Perhaps he wasn’t as bad as I thought . What kind of player would return a killer’s dropped gear after they died?
“Ding . Player aStrangeFlower invited you to join the guild, Assassin Gods . Would you like to accept?” A system notification tab popped up before my eyes . I resisted the strong impulse to gripe about the names, but after some reconsideration, I decided to accept it . I had to uphold my reputation .
“Great . I’ve found my first guild member . I’ve got motivation to work now . ”
I opened up the Guild tab and saw there I was really the only one in the guild other than the weird Guild Leader . Was it too late to quit?
“So just what kind of healer are you?” I barked at him . Even if he dumped his points in Strength, he can’t be so powerful as to kill me with his bare hands .
“Oh, I’m one of the hidden Jobs – a Monk . I specialise in Strength . ” Healers should at least put some of their points in Intelligence, but this person just loved going against the common meta . All of his stat points went into his Strength and at the Second Job Change, he triggered a hidden Job’s quest .
“Crap…!” There was actually another person with a hidden Job after the Paladin and this person was him! Why wasn’t there a server-wide announcement?
I didn’t actually lose anything by joining the guild . At least I found another use for aStrangeFlower – he had a very widespread information network .
I just needed to mention my next target’s name and within a few hours, he could tell me where the other was . At one point, I had suspected he was a GM, but he just chuckled and kept silent .
Later on, a few more assassins joined the guild . It was only when I asked them did I realise all of them were lured in with the same lie . Slowly, the guild grew and we could accept slightly larger deals, like killing someone back until they were Level 1 .
Of course, that was the most severe punishment available in the game . Strang would also lightly interrogate and repeatedly confirm it with the client before accepting the mission . Naturally, it paid the most .
Today, Strange accepted another mission to kill someone back to Level 1 again . To my surprise, it came from the Heretic Demons . I wonder which unlucky player made an enemy of them .
When Strange briefed us about the whole situation, quite a lot of the assassins were shocked . This target was trash . He actually used Taunt to torment a low-levelled healer for hours . Even if the healer did something wrong, the target shouldn’t have used that skill to get back at the other . Was he even a man? Oh, wait . I’ve already called him trash .
I really don’t know where Strange got his information from . He knew every single move of that trash . He could accurately predict from which city the target left, which gate he used and the exact minute he did so . This dramatically sped up our plans . Even if this trash was killed so many times that he was terrified enough to teleport to other cities, we could quickly follow suit .
“Why do you guys even want to kill me?” The trash finally burst out after having been killed for n-times and was about to be killed for the n+1th time .
“Properly think about what you did,” Strange said, walking out from behind a great tree . He cracked his joints while the rest of us simultaneously retreated .
“I didn’t do anything! Who sent you? I’ll pay you double . Go kill them for me!”
“Apologies . We have a reputation to uphold . ”
“What kind of crappy reputation? Just how much were you paid? Tell me . I can afford it!”
“I wouldn’t dare to accept money from trash . Come, Xiao-A, grab him . I despise Agility-based players . ” I had fought against that nickname for a long time but I eventually gave up .
“What are you doing?”
“Punching you . ” Strange huffed out a breath at his fist and got into his stance . “Don’t worry . I’m not like you . I’ll definitely make it quick . ”
Yes…the birth of another player dying in confusion . While I was the first sacrifice, the last was not in sight yet .
To be honest, I had been pondering for a long time about why Strange’s information could act so fast . Until, one day, I finally knew why . He was very close to NPCs . Every time a player talked to an NPC, they would get a little bit closer to them . Different NPCs had different amount of Friendliness a player could collect . However, most players would never reach the level Strange was at . That’s because every time he went anywhere, he would talk to every single NPC at the place three times or more . Thus, the NPCs were all happy to chat with him and they would tell him what time a certain player we were looking for would be passing by them . Of course, the NPCs were professional enough not to disclose certain private information about our targets . They would only tell him when they had passed by them . As for how Strange extrapolated the target’s possible location from there, I think even I could’ve done that . After all, there was a level limit to most areas .
My butt hurt for days just so I could unveil this secret . Ugh .
Oh, right . The leader of the Heretic Demons got married recently . His significant other was really the healer in that video on the forums . I wonder if the Heretic Demons were interested in purchasing a package for that idiotic and irrational wizard in the video . Since they’re an old client, Strange might even give them a discount .