章 2: Trickster
Chapter 2: Trickster
After exiting the underground dungeon, John's face turned grim because he saw a spiral staircase, not an exit.
He clicked his tongue despondently and began to walk unsteadily upstairs while carrying Eve on his back.
Two minutes later, when he reached the surface, he found himself in a mansion garden. An underground staircase had led him directly to this strange garden filled with ornamental trees and plants.
Looking around, he noticed it was already a dark, gloomy night with three blood-red moons hanging in the sky, illuminating the night.
Yes, three damned red moons!
They instilled an ominous feeling in his heart.
'Is it because of the unknown?' he asked himself.
These strange bloody moons made the three-story mansion before him look more like a haunted building. He glanced around and then stealthily headed for the gate.
But as he took the second step, an angry voice from afar caused him to stiffen up.
"Where are you hiding, Eve?!"
John tensed up upon hearing James scream and grew anxious.
At that moment, he also noticed a dozen guards in silver armor standing like hawks near the entrance gate, which made him gloomy.
'First, I need to know where the hell I am.'
He took a deep breath and headed towards the nearest ornamental tree, making no unnecessary noise. Once he arrived near the tree, he opened the game interface with his thoughts and focused on it.
Soon, he saw three icons in the left corner of his vision.
'Quest Icon, Status Icon, and Skill Icon.'
When he saw these icons, he felt a familiar sensation.
'These icons look more like the ones in Mystic Worlds Game... It was a Virtual game that I played for more than three years and completed five out of seven world maps.'
'But I never heard of any Arcane Era in the 'Mystic Worlds' game, though... Maybe an updated version? No, the status screen looks slightly different than in Mystic Worlds. Did some psychopath from this magical world kidnap me and put me in this body as his test subject?' He couldn't help but feel anxious.
'Heck! I need to find a way to do a full-body check-up.' But he knew it was nothing but a fantasy thought at that moment. Where would he find advanced scanners in a medieval world?
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and focused on the status screen.
After that, he directed his attention to the class area and soon noticed the blue interface begin to change.
...
[Available classes for the User: Swordsman Apprentice (300 Exp), Thief (380 Exp), Warrior Apprentice (340 Exp), Apprentice (120 Exp), Cook (140 Exp), Dancer (100 Exp), Teacher (150 Exp), Archer (450 Exp), Assassin (400 Exp), Deceiver (250 Exp), Trickster (275 Exp), ... Apprentice Fire Mage (750 Exp), Apprentice Darkness Mage (1000 Exp), etc.,]
...
'Experience points? Do I need to spend Experience points to buy a Class? In the Mystic Worlds game, we must do different difficult quests and hunt normal and mutant boss monsters to get these class gems to upgrade one's rank. Moreover, luck plays a crucial role in the game.' Unfortunately, he only saw the 'Charisma' option instead of luck.
'Charisma should be related to one's ability to impress others through looks. Who wants that?'
He furrowed his brows and turned his attention to the Subclass option.
Immediately, he frowned upon seeing the same information in the Sub-class section.
Afterward, he placed the unconscious Eve next to the tree and deeply breathed.
'If it weren't for the unusual feeling in my heart, I would have left her somewhere and run away myself.' Indeed, although Eve was Charles's biological mother, John didn't feel any attachment. To him, she was nothing more than a stranger.
'Well, it's better to save her than leave her behind. After all, she did save me a while ago and even showed her impressive illusion magic abilities.'
He thought inwardly, shifted his attention to the right side of the interface, and checked the time.
'I only have 19 minutes to save her,' he thought.
He then tried to conceal his footsteps and stepped towards the nearby compound wall.
At the same time, he checked his body and tried to get used to it.
'This body needs a lot of training. If not, I might make mistakes when moving and get caught by the enemy,' he muttered. Just as he did, a blue notification appeared before his face.
[Thief Skill: Stealth Learned! 20 experience points obtained!]
'What the heck?!' John flinched at the sudden notification and noticed his body suddenly turning darker. Simultaneously, he felt some improvement in his stealth ability and was amazed!
When he was on Earth, he always relied on dresses and the surrounding atmosphere for stealth-based missions and had a lot of experience when it came to concealing oneself in the darkness.
But when he received this notification, his body started merging with the darkness!
'My past life skills are improving... Moreover, it looks like I can even earn experience points as rewards.' He was stunned.
As he was lost in thought, he suddenly noticed a human shadow moving toward him.
'Is he a security guard?' he wondered.
He rubbed his forehead and silently squatted down beside the ornamental bushy-like plant.
Due to his upgraded stealth skill, the guard did not notice his presence!
John silently focused his attention on the guard and observed his every movement.
After a few seconds, his eyes widened. At that moment, he noticed that his eyes could see everything clearly in the darkness. It appeared more like he was using 'Night Vision' goggles to observe the surroundings!
[Thief Skill: Dark Vision Learned!]
[20 experience points obtained.]
'Damn! I'm starting to like this game system. I think I gained these skills due to my previous life experiences. Otherwise, I might've needed years of training to get them,' he thought.
He then organized his thoughts and looked at the guard walking in his direction.
Unlike the other guards, this guy wore black clothes and had no leather armor to cover his body.
He held a dagger on his belt and looked more like an ordinary guy than a trained soldier. He appeared to be around 30 years old, had a pale face due to the dark red night, and was about 175 cm tall.
'Dark Vision skill indeed enhanced my vision to a remarkable level!' John smirked inwardly.
Although a bit excited, he remained cautious and did not let his guard down.
Meanwhile, the young guard stopped beside him and muttered something aloud while unzipping his trousers.
"Those a**holes. They dare to make fun of Master James. If he finds out that we are all messing around-."
A chilling wind suddenly blew from behind, causing him to shudder involuntarily. Simultaneously, he felt someone standing behind him and got goosebumps.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The guard widened his eyes in horror and tried to turn around.
But before he could mumble or scream, a soft hand appeared from behind like a slithering snake and covered his mouth.
At the same time, another hand wrapped around his neck and tightened it like a snake. In truth, John used almost all his strength to tighten his grip!
Upon noticing that it was not some ghost but a human, the young guard calmed down and moved his hand to the dagger's grip. In a blink, he grabbed it tightly and unsheathed it.
Although utterly panicked by the earlier eerie wind, he did not lose his composure.
'I'm choking! I need to kill this vile rat quickly,' he thought.
He made a muffled noise and stabbed his dagger into the back.
Suddenly, the soft hand on his lips moved like a snake and grabbed his wrist.
The hand then moved like a poisonous snake and grabbed the hilt of his dagger.
"You-!?" Because of the earlier tight choking, he felt suffocated and couldn't utilize the opportunity to scream! Only a hoarse voice came out of his mouth, but it wasn't loud enough for his colleagues to hear.
He was furious at the enemy's action and tightened his grip.
If the enemy hadn't grabbed his neck and made him gasp for breath, he would have easily killed the sneaky rat with brute force or shouted for help from others.
But, to his horror, the enemy seemed well-prepared and more adept at snatching weapons.
Before he could blink, the enemy had already snatched his dagger!
[Assassin Skill: Snatch Learned!]
[200 experience points obtained.]
"200 Exp? I didn't expect that," John curled his lips and aimed at the guard's chest.
The silver dagger tore through the air, appeared in front of the guard's chest, and plunged inside.
John drew the dagger from the enemy's chest, covered his mouth to suppress any more muffled noises, and neatly sliced his throat.
After some twitching, the guard's eyes were bloodshot, and his body went motionless.
[Thief Skill: Basic dagger arts skill learned!]
[20 experience points obtained.]
[Target Eliminated!]
[22 experience points obtained.]
Ignoring the notification from the game interface, John retracted the silver dagger from the guard's chest and checked for any other artifacts or money. Unfortunately, he found nothing but a torn handkerchief inside his pocket.
Shaking his head, he pulled both legs, dragged the guard's body toward the nearest bush, and hid it carefully.
Although he managed to kill this guy, he was not happy.
'His strength is slightly above normal,' he narrowed his eyes and turned his attention toward the dead body.
Then he looked at the silver dagger and frowned.
He also felt another difference when he plunged the dagger into the guard's chest.
'This dagger is also unique. I did not put my full strength into thrusting the dagger, but it entered the enemy's chest like a very sharp... No, I had never seen such a sharp weapon in my life,' he soon shook his head.
Shifting his attention toward the game interface, he checked the timer.
'17 minutes,' he nodded inwardly and focused on the Sub-class option.
After reviewing the information, he fell into deep thought.
'I don't have enough experience to select the Thief option,' he contemplated.
'But if I don't select any Subclass now, the chances of 'me' dying here are very high. There must be many anomalies out there like this guard. Hmm, the Trickster class might be the right choice...'
'Wait... The [Deceiver] class also looks good. But why do I feel weird? Something tells me choosing this Trickster class is good.' Charles's face suddenly became serious.
'What does this System do? Did it influence my thinking?' A strange thought arose in his head.
'Damn it, time is running out. Haa, I'll stick with Trickster, then. Maybe I can get some skills to help me escape this situation,' he decided reluctantly and chose the 'Trickster' option.
As a former assassin, he had to choose a job related to the Thief Class anyway.
...
[275 Exp deducted!]
[Trickster Class obtained!]
[1 Free Attribute gained!]
[50 skill points gained!]
[Trickster skill obtained!]
[Clown skill obtained!]
[Sixth Sense skill obtained!]
'Clown? Well, that's an unusual skill,' John chuckled.
He added one free attribute to dexterity. A second later, he felt some changes in his hand movements and was surprised.
He slashed his dagger and smiled, thinking he could play with it like a trickster.
After that, he opened a status window and checked the changes.
[Name: Charles Nightwind
Race: Human
Class: None
Subclass: Trickster
Level 1 (0/150) [Rank-1]
Health points: 31/31 (healed)
Exp: 7
Attributes:-
Strength - 8
Dexterity - 10
Constitution - 10
Wisdom - 11
Charisma - 12
SP (Skill Points): 50
AP (Attribute Points): 0
Class skills:- None
Subclass Skills:-
Trickster's Hand - 20
Clown - 20
Sixth Sense - 20
Unique skills:-
Snatch - 51
Stealth - 26
Dark Vision - 25
Basic dagger arts skill - 34]
'Are these my real skills?' John furrowed his brows and focused his gaze on the unique skill area.
Even though he had not regained his physical strength, he felt he had recovered most of his assassin skills and even upgraded some.
'Awesome! I've learned these skills over the years of training and killing, but here...'
He let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
'This is not Earth. It's a magical world.'
He calmed his mind and then added 25 skill points to [Stealth] skill and 16 to [Basic dagger arts] skill.
...
[The stealth skill has been upgraded!]
[The Rank-2 [Assassin] Class's [Conceal] skill obtained!]
[Basic dagger arts skill has been upgraded!]
[The Rank-2 [Assassin] Class's [Intermediate dagger arts] skill obtained!]
After upgrading, he felt that some information about [Conceal] and [Intermediate Dagger Art] skills appeared in his mind.
'Damn! My [Assassin] skills have been improved to an unimaginable level!'
'Conceal,' he muttered to himself and soon noticed that his body grew dimmer and dimmer and soon merged into the darkness.
After a second, he dispersed the [Conceal] skill and added the remaining nine skill points to the [Sixth Sense] skill.
'Not bad... Not bad at all,' he smiled radiantly and noticed that something had changed in his body and mind.
At that moment, he felt that he could now easily dodge most of the sword attacks and felt happy inside.
Hiding his excitement, he glanced at the interface and checked the timer.
'16 more minutes.'
He nodded his head and returned to pick up Eve.
After that, he used the [Conceal] skill and moved toward the gate, hiding in the dark.
Although a dozen soldiers sat near the entrance and seemed to be playing some card game, none noticed Charles's presence due to the darkness.
'I should escape while they are distracted!' John muttered to himself and moved toward the gate like a sneaky cat in the shadow of darkness!
クリエイターの想い 
Ak02
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