Chapter 2: Trickster
After exiting the underground dungeon, John's complexion turned ugly. Because what he saw was not an exit but a circular staircase.
'Damn it; are there no lifts in this world?' He clicked his tongue in depression and began to walk on the steps in an unsteady manner while holding the real body owner's mother on his back.
After two minutes, he finally arrived at the surface and noticed that he was in some mansion garden. The underground staircase directly led him to this strange garden filled with ornamental trees and plants.
He checked the surroundings and noticed it was already a dark, gloomy night. Three scarlet moons were hung up in the sky, illuminating the night with blood-red color.
Yes, three damn scarlet moons!
Those three moons gave an ominous feeling to his heart.
'Was it because of the unknown?' He questioned himself.
Because of those strange blood moons, the three-storied mansion in front of him also looked more like a haunted building. He glanced at his surroundings and then stealthily walked towards the compound gate. But as he took the second step, he heard a raging voice from afar.
"WHERE ARE YOU HIDING, EVE?!" John's body went stiff for a moment as he heard James's shouting and grew anxious inside. He then noticed that tens of silver armored guards guarded the entrance like hawks and became gloomy.
'First, I need to know where the hell I am.' He took a deep breath to calm his mind and then moved towards the nearby ornament tree. He didn't make any unnecessary noise and soon shifted his attention towards the interface. He saw three icons around the left corner of his eyes.
'Quest Icon, Status Icon, and skill Icon.' He felt familiar when seeing those icons and soon widened his eyes.
'These icons look more like the 'Mystic Worlds' game!' His heart thumped harder.
'But I never heard of any Arcane Era in the 'Mystic Worlds' game... Moreover, the status screen itself looked different from the Mystic Worlds. Did some psycho dude from this magic world kidnap me to become a test subject?' He shuddered at that thought.
'Damn it! I need to search for a way to do a full-body check-up.' He clicked his tongue in annoyance and then focused on the Status screen.
Following that, he concentrated his attention on the Class area and noticed the interface started to change.
...
[Available Classes for Host: Apprentice Swordsman (300 Exp), Thief (380 Exp), Apprentice Warrior (340 Exp), Learner (120 Exp), Cook (140 Exp) Dancer (100), Teacher (150 Exp) Archer (450 Exp), Killer (400 Exp), Deceiver (250 Exp), Trickster (275 Exp),... Apprentice Fire Mage (750 Exp), Apprentice Darkness Mage (1000 Exp), etc.,]
...
'Exp? Do I have to spend Exp to buy the Class?' He shook his head and shifted his attention towards the Sub-Class option. But soon, he wryly smiled as he saw that the same information appeared on the Sub-Class area. After letting out a heavy sigh, he placed the unconscious Eve Nightwind near the tree trunk and breathed heavily.
'Tsk, this mother sure is heavy. If not for the unusual feeling in my heart, I would have dumped her somewhere and escaped on my own.' He inhaled deeply and then noticed the timer.
'There are only 19 minutes to save her.' He smiled wryly and stealthily crept towards the compound wall.
[Thief's Skill: Stealth learned!
20 Experience points obtained.]
'What the hell?!' John got deeply startled as he noticed his figure began to turn darker and soon came to a conclusion.
'It seems I can earn experience points just by using my previous life skills.'
He then checked the surroundings and soon noticed a shadow was moving in his direction.
'Is he a security guard?' He furrowed his brows and silently crouched near the ornamental plants. Because of his black dress, the security guard didn't notice his presence at all!
John then focused his attention on the security guard and widened his eyes in a second as he saw another notification.
[Thief's skill: Dark Vision learned!
20 Experience points obtained.]
'Damn! I'm starting to love this game system. Although I can perceive the darkness due to my previous life experience, still the notification gives me more confidence.' He curled his lips upward and studied the security guard, who was walking in his direction.
Unlike the security guards in blue uniforms, this guy wore black clothes. He held a dagger in his waist and appeared like an average guy. He looked around 30 years old and had a pale face due to the dark red night.
'This skill seemed to be enchanted my vision a little!' John smiled. Although he felt thrilled inside, he didn't like the situation.
A few seconds later, the security guard stopped near him and muttered out loud while opening his pant zippers.
"Nasty jerks. They dare to play tricks behind Master James. If he found out that we are all slacking off, he will definitely punish us."
"Is that so?" The security guard suddenly heard a chilling voice from behind and turned around in surprise.
But before he could mutter or shriek, a soft hand appeared from behind and covered his mouth.
Simultaneously, another hand wrapped around his neck and tightened it like a snake.
Noticing the serious situation, the security guard moved his hand towards the dagger grip area, grabbed it tightly, and unsheathed it. Although he got panicked by the sudden ambush, he didn't lose his calm.
'I'm suffocating! I need to kill this sneaky rat quickly.' He furiously mumbled and thrust his dagger towards his back.
But to his astonishment, the soft hand on his mouth moved and directly grabbed his wrist.
That hand moved like a poisonous snake and instantly gripped his dagger's hilt.
'You are dreaming! You dare to snatch my weapon?' He became furious and pressed his hand further.
If the enemy didn't tighten his neck and made him suffocate harder, he would have easily killed the sneaky rat with brute strength. But to his horror, the enemy appeared to be well prepared and more skilled at snatching weapons.
Before he could try to use another hand, the enemy had already snatched his dagger!
[Assassin's skill: Snatch learned!
200 Experience points obtained.]
'200 Exp? I didn't expect that.' John curled his lips upward and directly moved the dagger towards the security guard's chest.
With a swoosh sound, the silver dagger appeared in front of the security guard's chest and directly plunged inside.
After some twitching, the security guard's eyes turned bloody, and then his body went motionless.
[Thief's skill: Basic Dagger arts learned!
20 Experience points obtained]
[Target Eliminated! 22 Battle Exp obtained.]
Without minding the game interface's notification, John removed the dagger from the security guard's chest and silently dragged his body towards the nearby bush. Although he managed to assassinate this guy, he wasn't happy at all.
'His strength is too abnormal.' He narrowed his eyes for a moment and turned his attention to the security guard.
He hid the security guard's body in the bush and checked the timer.
'17 more minutes.' He inhaled deeply and then shifted his attention towards the Subclass option.
After skimming through the information, he fell into deep thoughts.
'I don't have enough Exp to select the 'Thief' option. Deceiver and Trickster options look good. If I didn't select any Sub-Class now, the chances of me dying here are very high. There must be many anomalies like this Security guard.'
'Damn it; time is running out. I should select the 'Trickster' option then. Maybe I can get some skills that could help me escape from this situation.' He groaned in displeasure and selected the 'Trickster' option unwillingly.
As a former assassin, he had to select some thief-related jobs.
[275 Exp deduced!]
[Trickster Sub-Class obtained!]
[1 Free Attribute Rewarded!]
[50 Skill points obtained!]
[Trickster's hand Skill obtained!]
[Clown Skill obtained!]
[Sixth Sense Skill obtained!]
'Clown? Well, that's an unusual skill.'
Shaking his head, John added one free attribute on dexterity. He felt some changes in his body movements and became surprised.
He flipped the dagger and smiled as he noticed that he could play with his hands like a real trickster.
After that, he opened the status window and checked the changes.
[Name: Charles Nightwind
Race: Human
Class: None
Sub-class: Level 1 Trickster (0/100)
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
Sub-class skills:
Trickster's hand- 20
Clown- 20
Sixth Sense- 20
Unique skills
Snatch-51
Stealth- 26
Dark Vision- 25
Basic Dagger Arts- 34]
'Are these my real skills?' John furrowed his brows as he zeroed his gaze on the unique skills area. Although he didn't regain his original body's physical strength, he could feel that he had already recovered most of his assassin skills, which made him smile subconsciously.
'What the f*ck? I learned these skills through years of training and killing, but here...' He heaved a deep sigh and shook his head.
'This is not Earth. It's a magical world.' He calmed his mind and then decided to add 25 skill points to [Stealth] and 16 skill points to [Basic Dagger Arts].
[Stealth has been upgraded and renamed as Conceal!]
[Basic Dagger Arts has been upgraded and renamed as Intermediate Dagger Arts!]
After he upgraded those two Thief skills, he sensed some information about [Conceal] and [Dagger Arts] appeared in his mind.
"Conceal." He muttered slowly and soon noticed that his whole body had disappeared into the darkness.
After a second, he dispersed the [Conceal] skill and added the remaining nine skill points to the [Sixth Sense] skill.
'Oh? Not bad...Not bad at all.' He smiled brightly and noticed some changed over his body.
The next instant, he felt that he could dodge most of the sword or dagger attacks easily now. Hiding his excitement, he looked at the interface and checked the timer.
'16 more minutes.' He nodded his head and went back to pick up Eve Nightwind. After that, he used the [Conceal] skill and moved towards the compound gate while hiding in the darkness.
Around 20 soldiers sat on the grassy entrance and appeared to be playing cards.
'It's time to escape!' John muttered under his breath and crept towards the gate like a sneaky cat!