CH6: Preparation 

***

CH6: Preparation

[Life Path Selected! Assassin!]

[Mission: Accept and complete a paid Contract.]

[Reward: Complete Unlocking of User Interface during Second Awakening.]

[Time Limit: 15th Birthday, day of Second Awakening.]

[Failure: Complete Sealing of User Interface, consequence of which is Host's death.]

[Good luck. Interface will now shut down for host to prepare. Happy hunting.]

[Interface Shutting Down...]

The messages in my vision disappeared.

I won't lie to you, it took me a while to come to terms with everything that happened.

Out of all the Life Paths I saw, 'Assassin' wasn't what I was expecting.

I felt a strong sense of aversion that a former soldier in my past life would have to become an Assassin in this one.

It didn't sit right with me.

To make matters worse, it seemed that if I didn't become an assassin, I would die.

There was an expiration date on my life and the only thing I could do to lengthen the date was to be bloodied.

I remembered what one of my Taskforce 47 mates used to say.

'If life throws you grape seeds, build a vineyard; if it throws you bricks, build a castle.'

He said this was the mentality that got him going everyday with all the shitty work we did.

Long story short, I just have to make the best of what I've got.

This life wants me to become an Assassin, I will become its apex predator.

Speaking of my first life, when I thought about it, being an Assassin wasn't all that different from some of the work I did.

Taskforce 47 took on some wetwork missions.

We were ordered to eliminate High-Value Targets (HVTs) from time to time as part of our mandate.

This is no different from being an Assassin when I looked at it from a different perspective. The goal might be different, but the action and method remains the same.

Perhaps being an Assassin might be no different from the work I did for the most part of my military career.

If that's the case, I just had to come at it the same way I did every mission we were given.

Body... Mind... Environment.

-

Body.

I had to train my body.

In this world where I had no special or innate abilities, turning my body into a weapon was the only way I'd survive.

Fortunately, I'm younger than I was when I first received military training. I had time to hone my body into a weapon far superior to what I had in my previous life.

I was told I was a good fighter in my previous life, my only limiter was that I didn't begin honing my body early enough. Well, now I have the chance to change that.

Unfortunately, many of the training methods I know were too harsh to train with the young underdeveloped body of a seven-year old.

I needed a more basic foundational method to use to set the mould of body I wanted. It's a good thing I've seen how lifelong martial artist train their young during my taskforce days.

A few basic training templates already went through my head, along with their pros and cons.

I would return to them later.

-

Mind.

Having a strong weapon wasn't enough to make a warrior. The warrior also had to develop their minds. They had to be knowledgeable and wash away their ignorance of the world.

This was the thing which truly set apart strong martial artists from the greatest of them.

I needed to gather intel on my current situation. I needed to know about the world I now lived in. I needed to know its history.

Loki mentioned every person had a special ability... a Pangea. If I'm going to be a successful assassin, I needed to understand how they worked, what were their strengths... and weaknesses.

I needed to learn about the settlements, the power structure, the norms, traditions, the ways of the world. I needed to know how to navigate the endless cesspool I'd no doubt be drawn into as an Assassin.

Also, my only problem weren't the humans.

This world had beasts. Lots of them.

And many who were as strong as humans.

I needed to understand them too.

How to spot them, how to kill them, how to use them.

Yes, use them.

The value of beast don't have to lie in their deaths. There were so many ways to use them and other humans to achieve my aim. I was only limited by my imagination.

Something I hope I still carried into this world.

-

Finally, we have... Environment.

This is similar to Mind, however, it differed because this dealt more with application of what I know.

For an Assassin, Environment is key.

I needed to know how to use the terrain around me to my advantage.

Many difficult tasks can be achieved by understanding the environment I find myself.

Oh, environment doesn't just refer to nature; am I in a woodland, desert or ocean. No, it's more than that.

Human societies are a sort of environment.

In every society (environment), the way of life (terrain) changes.

I need to know how I can use that to my advantage.

**

I had a lot to do and many challenges to overcome before I can even begin to walk my life path.

However, in the wise words of an old master who sheltered me in my time in the East in my past life, 'Life puts obstacles in our way to test our drive for success; never lose sight of your goals and ambitions, prepare yourself in every way you can, increase your knowledge and experience so that you can make the best of that most-coveted opportunity when it occurs.'

So, for now, I decided not to think about being an Assassin. I decided to prepare and lay my foundation of the future.

That said, there were some things I needed to do and have.

Fortunately, the chances I needed presented themselves quite nicely.

**

The next day after my awakening, the town doctor arrived for a check-up.

Apparently, it was a routine exercise in this world.

This allowed parents... and the authorities, to know about their child's potential.

It allowed the system to know who to cater to and who not to bother with.

The check-up test was simple.

I just needed to stand in a circle of strange symbols he drew on the floor.

I was particularly interested in the circle.

I remembered wondering if I could draw my own circle without mana. It seemed unlikely at the time.

Anyway, the doctor looked at me with pity before pulling Asta away to speak with her in private.

Fortunately, one of the perks of getting my previous-life memories back was regaining the knowledge I previously had.

For example, lip reading.

It was an integral skill in my previous life.

Sure, I was a little rusty and it was a new language, but I was able to pick up some things.

I couldn't get the full conversation but it was enough to piece together what was discussed.

The doctor told Asta that he had to regretfully inform her that I didn't seem to have mana whatsoever. Since this was naturally impossible in the world of Arun, the doctor hypothesized that the poison plaguing my mother must have spread to me.

He mentioned that my body took in a massive amount of mana, however, all of a sudden it disappears without retaining any. In his opinion, he believed I have a broken vessel that lost mana.

Asta asked... well, begged him to think of a solution but the good doctor couldn't think of any.

He mentioned it was a shame too.

Apparently, the high mana absorption rate was a tell-tale sign of someone with complete mana affinity, if only my vessel wasn't broken, I would be a genius who had the chance to awaken an S-class Pangea in the future in my second awakening. Alas...

The doctor took his leave after telling Asta to enrol me in something that sounded like this world's version of a school.

Asta came back to me and hugged me.

"Oh poor thing. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry this world is so cruel."

She hugged me tightly. I felt my shoulder become wet.

The old woman cried.

I couldn't help my heart softening a bit.

I consoled her the best I could and got her to tell me what the doctor said.

She confirmed what I picked up from their conversation.

It was interesting that she didn't try to hide anything and told me everything plainly.

'This world really was different from my previous one.' I thought.

Unlike Asta, I wasn't worried about my no-mana situation. If anything, I was happy the situation sorted itself out.

This world was one which classed itself based on Mana and the abilities one possessed. I didn't have mana so that meant I was going to be of the lowest class.

So, I'm guessing you must be wondering why I was happy?

The answer is simple really.

Cover!

The doctor's report would give me the perfect cover.

No one would ever think a manaless person could become the apex assassin in the world.

Trust me, I know for a fact cover is important.

Most of my time abroad doing Black Ops missions with my Taskforce, our biggest worry wasn't getting caught on the job itself. No, our biggest worry was getting caught prior or after the job due to our cover identities.

Humans are presumptuous.

For example, a bouncer must be a big guy.

As long as you put someone big in front of your night club, it doesn't matter if the guy could do the job or not, most people wouldn't even try to make trouble as long as the guy was big enough. They'll presume he could manhandle them just because he was big.

If the bouncer was a small guy?

Even if he could manhandle anyone, I guarantee you there'll be some fools who would cause trouble.

Another example. No one ever thinks a boring teacher could be a spy.

Let's be honest, people underrate teachers. You'd never think that the teacher who taught you Algebra or Calculus till you fell asleep in class could be a foreign agent sent to cripple your country's defence infrastructure.

So, most of the time my taskforce chooses a cover, we often go for covers that are boring and underrated; ones which no one would ever presume was capable of the crime.

In the same way, the good doctor gave me a perfect cover.

Who would ever think a guy who doesn't have a strand of mana in him, the literal weakest person in the world, could kill anyone who has mana.

Negative presumptions provide the best cover.

Also, as a result of this bad presumption of me, I expect that I would be looked down on, bullied and lack friends.

That would be excellent!

I was a forty-plus year old man. Granted, I was in a child's body, but it didn't mean I was going to behave like one if I could help it.

Not having friends meant not having anyone disturbing me from my goal.

Having bullies meant having someone to practice my combat techniques on.

Being looked down on meant no one would take anything strange or weird I did seriously.

I was on my way to being able to do whatever I wanted.

*

Anyway, I was more interested in this school Asta and the doctor talked about.

Hopefully, I'll be able to learn how to read and understand the language.

I knew Pryford had a library, possibly with the basic knowledge I needed. I just needed to know how to read.

I desperately needed knowledge.

I may downplay the shitty position I was in, but that's only because I was still young.

I didn't have much to worry about.

I figured if my guess was accurate, following the strength- and merit-based societies of my previous world, if anyone was going to give me a hard time, it would be the children.

Adults would find it beneath them to bully me, especially if I showed 'effort' to improve myself, and also not when Asta was around.

Asta might be old, but she had an identity that made her well-respected in the town.

She was the only herbalist in town.

She made concoctions which helped treat the townsfolks. No one would want to get on her bad side.

Also, my parents were hunters.

Although they were dead, it counted for something. That was how much hunters were respected.

All this would give me a security blanket for the moment.

Fortunately, I could handle the kids with my current resources.

The status quo would change at the time of my second awakening.

After that, I can only live based on my own merit and that's when the trouble of being manaless would truly come.

So, before then, I needed to prepare myself.

I needed to awaken Loki's gift.

I needed to have a worth in the world.

(To be continued...)

[A.N: If you're enjoying the book, please leave a review, vote with power stones and golden tickets. Gifts are also very welcomed. Also, please check out my other book Soldiers of Time. Thanks.]