Asher silently crept across the second ring, trusting in the darkness of the night to keep him hidden from any prying eyes. While most of the questionable members of society strolling around this late at night stuck to the darkened alleyways and hid in the shadows, Asher went a step further.

It turned out, Distortion was the perfect skill for travelling from rooftop to rooftop.

Trusting in Secret Seeker to show him the best places to put his feet on the rickety shingles and his assassin class he'd recently equipped in order to keep his movements silent and sure-footed, Asher continued stepping from one building to another, using Distortion to easily clear the space between rooftops as he hunted. The odds of anyone actually bothering to look up were slim, and even if they did, they wouldn't spot much more than a quick blur in the dark of night.

After a few days of impatiently waiting, Kree had finally come through for him, and he was off to take a look for himself at what Kree swore was the location of a Guild safehouse. While Asher didn't think his newest employee would do anything as stupid as try to lead him into a trap, there was always the chance that the Guild had picked up on the fact that Kree was looking for them and had laid a trap for the young thief in turn. Even so, it was the only lead Asher had to go on, which meant potential trap or not, he had to check it out.

He'd actually spent some time asking around the second ring to see if he could find Rulfar and hire the bloodhound to help him track down members of the Guild, but sadly, he'd discovered that after Loratta had fallen, Rulfar had moved on to a different city in search of more work. He could only hope he'd run into the professional again some day.

Distracted by his own internal musings, Asher stumbled on a loose shingle, muttering a quiet curse as he windmilled his arms and barely managed to save himself from going tumbling over the edge of the rooftop. He quickly reached out with Distortion and snatched the falling shingle he'd dislodged before it could hit the ground and shatter, before bringing it up to his face and frowning at it.

This is a lot harder than I thought it would be…

Carefully putting the shingle back in its proper spot, Asher shook his head and tried to focus. While he was capable of switching his class out on the fly thanks to his Spatial element's passive, the benefits of his new class didn't do him any good if he was distracted. The assassin class allowed him to traverse the difficult terrain of the rooftops more easily and with less noise, but that didn't mean he could just blindly walk forward.

Frowning at his dumb mistake, Asher tried to shove his annoyance aside as he continued on. The speed at which this method of travel allowed him to traverse the city more than made up for its difficulty, and he could practically feel his skills improving as he went, trusting in Draken's map of the city that he'd Incorporated back when he was a part of the coalition.

The supposed safehouse was actually located within the inner portion of the second ring where not even the various gangs dared tread. Most of the area near the main road was heavily patrolled by the city guard, which meant trying to claim it as territory usually wasn't worth the hassle. The fact that the Assassin's Guild operated within such dangerous ground was a testament to their ability to move unseen, and Asher couldn't help but feel his blood start to churn with excitement as he neared the location Kree had indicated.

Landing atop the final building with all the grace of an only mildly drunk gorilla thanks to his class change, Asher crouched down as he finally spotted his target.

On the outside, the supposed safehouse looked like nothing more than a simple townhouse. While the second ring was largely residential areas filled primarily with housing for people living within the city and taverns for weary travelers, or the occasional market set up here and there, most of the housing he'd seen within the outer edges of the second ring hadn't looked particularly well taken care of.

This house, however, looked like it had just received a fresh coat of paint, and someone was even growing a small bed of flowers in the tiny area that could arguably be called a front yard.

That is one hell of a convincing front, Asher thought, staring at the safehouse with a critical eye. Kree gave me this exact address, and I still can't believe I'm looking at a building belonging to the Assassin's Guild.

Jumping over to a different rooftop, Asher looked at the rear of the building, finally spotting something out of the ordinary. He could practically feel Secret Seeker drawing his eyes to the large rain barrel set up behind the house, and it took him a moment to realize what the skill was trying to tell him.

It hasn't rained in days, but their barrel is still almost completely full, he finally realized, grinning as he compared it to the neighboring houses. Sure enough, the other houses on this strip all had barrels that had been drained down at least a quarter or even further. The fact that this barrel was still practically topped off proved that there was at best a single person living within the large home.

Or that the residents were most likely extremely dehydrated.

Assuming it was the former, Asher stepped down to the ground with an angled use of Distortion, happy to no longer be teetering on the shaky shingles. Pulling his cloak close around him, he crept up to the back window and peered in.

Only to find himself face to face with a rather bored-looking woman.

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Assassin - 2/3 Elements

Recalling Kree's instructions, Asher barely managed to contain his surprise at her sudden proximity as he formed a big 'O' with each of his hands and placed one on top of the other to create a large number eight. Nodding at his signal, the woman reached over and unlocked the door, motioning for him to come inside.

"That's some movement skill you've got there," she said, closing and locking the door behind him after he entered. "I could feel you watching the building, and I've never felt anyone zip around quite as quickly as you were. Some sort of teleportation skill?"

"Something like that," Asher said, careful to keep his face hidden as he took in the woman's dreary grey aura. He was surprised to find that while she had certainly killed before, she hadn't claimed nearly as many lives as he would have expected for someone with the assassin class. In fact, he was pretty sure he had killed more people than she had at this point.

Judgement - Lvl 6

Dismissing the notification, he asked the first thing on his mind. "How were you able to detect me like that?"

"Ah, new are you?" She smirked, as if her opinion of him had just dropped a few ranks. "All the safehouse guardians wear the same type of artifact. Let's us know when we're being watched. It's how we stay one step ahead of the city guard."

"Really?" he replied, his eyebrows shooting up at his luck. Draken hadn't been able to help him with his search for a defensive artifact for Samantha and Brian, but it sounded like this might be just the kind of thing he was looking for. "What kind of element gives that type of skill?"

"Beats me," the woman sighed, already looking bored again. "Anyway, what do you want? New weapon? Place to lay low for a few hours? Medical attention? I don't got all day."

Asher just stood there, looking around the largely empty house. Seeing as there was little more than a couple of books strewn about the place, it didn't really look like the woman was all that busy. As if she could read his mind, she growled.

"Better tell me what you're here for fast, or you're about to see what happens when you mess with an actual assassin," she threatened, flicking her fingers and somehow summoning a pointed dart out of seemingly nowhere.

"Information," Asher said, trying to keep his voice neutral as he turned his focus back on the antsy assassin. "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"You want information, go visit a broker," she sniffed, her dart vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. "You must be new if you don't even know that much."

"Okay, where can I find a broker then?" Asher asked, doing his best not to get annoyed. Kree had told him that the safehouses were supposed to be resources for the Guild's agents, providing them with whatever they needed to complete their various jobs.

It seemed in reality, a safehouse was only as good as the assassin manning it.

Either the woman was growing tired of him, or asking about the whereabouts of an information broker was a giveaway that he wasn't actually with the Guild, because she narrowed her eyes and took a tentative step back, glowing green darts suddenly appearing between each of her fingers.

"Who mentored you in the way of the killing arts?" she slowly asked, watching him carefully.

Well, subterfuge was worth a shot. Guess we do this the fun way!

"Technically, I suppose that would be Moxy," Asher said, grinning as the woman's eyes shot open and she launched into action.

Not wasting time talking, she flung her arms forward, hurling eight glowing darts at him almost before he could even react. It was Asher's turn to be impressed as the glowing darts moved faster than any mundane weapon could ever hope to match, and he was forced to reflexively activate Comprehend's new tier 2 ability.

The entire world slowed to a crawl as his brain sped up. The woman hung in midair, having leapt backwards the same moment she threw out her darts. Asher glanced at the confused and resigned look on her face, as though she didn't understand what was happening and didn't actually want to kill him, but knew that only one of them would be leaving this building alive and she was determined that it would be her.

The only objects that noticeably moved under Asher's new skill were the woman's darts, which continued flying through the air toward him a few inches each relative second. Seeing as everything else was about as still as a picture, the fact that the darts were still moving at all was a testament to whatever skill the woman had just attacked him with. Asher had no doubt they would blast straight through him if he did nothing, and he didn't think even his Distortion skill would allow him to move out of the way of the projectiles in time.

So these are the deadly assassins I'll be facing… Asher tried to grin, only to realize his face was just as frozen in time as the rest of the world. It seemed only his brain and his eyes remained unaffected, a fact he was grateful for, as otherwise he wouldn't have been able to take in his frozen surroundings.

Huh. I don't think my heart is even beating… Freaky.

Nearly ten seconds had passed for him at this point, and Asher could sense that his newest skill was nearly at its limit. Just before he dropped it, Asher prepared himself, focusing on his first and favorite skill. The moment the world returned to normal speed, everything happened in a split second.

The darts suddenly sped up, shooting like bullets through the space his body had occupied a mere moment ago before they blasted through the wall behind him and sent wood splintering everywhere. The woman landed on the ground once more, turning to run before smacking face first into an invisible barrier that hadn't existed when she'd first thrown her darts. Clearly caught off guard, she let out a surprised grunt as she stumbled backwards.

Directly into Asher as he popped into existence once more, returning from the astral realm and grabbing her wrist as he pressed a dagger against her throat. Just to be safe, he activated Eternal Mark as well, feeling the skill strain as it placed a fifth mark into the world.

"I wouldn't make any sudden movements if I were you," he grinned, watching the woman's eyes widen in shock as she realized he'd somehow managed to dodge all eight of her bullet-like darts.

"I have a few questions about the Guild that have been bothering me for a while now, and you're going to answer them for me."

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