Chapter 2: Trickster
After exiting the underground dungeon, John's face turned grim. Because what he saw was not an exit but a spiral staircase.
'Damn it! Are there no elevators in this world?'
He clicked his tongue despondently and began to walk unsteadily up the steps, holding Eve on his back.
Two minutes later, he finally reached the surface and noticed that he was in some mansion garden. An underground staircase led him directly to this strange garden full of ornamental trees and plants.
He looked around and noticed that it was already a dark, gloomy night.
Three red moons hung in the sky, lighting the night with blood red.
Yes, three damned red moons!
These three moons instilled an ominous feeling in his heart.
'Was it because of the unknown?'
He asked himself.
These strange bloody moons also made the three-story mansion in front of him look more like a haunted building. He glanced around and then stealthily headed for the gate.
But when he took the second step, he heard an angry voice from afar.
"WHERE ARE YOU HIDING, EVE?!"
John's body tensed for a moment as he heard James scream.
He felt anxious inside.
He also noticed that dozens of guards in silver armor were guarding the entrance like hawks and darkened.
'First I need to know where the hell I am.'
He took a deep breath to calm himself and then headed for the nearest ornamental tree. He made no unnecessary noise and turned his attention to the interface.
He saw three icons in the left corner of his eyes.
'Quest Icon, Status Icon, and Skill Icon.'
He felt a familiar feeling upon seeing these icons and soon squinted his eyes.
'These icons look more like the ones in Mystic Worlds Game!'
His heart beat faster.
'But I never heard of any Arcane Era in the 'Mystic Worlds' game… Moreover, the status screen itself looked different than in Mystic Worlds. Was it possible that some psycho from this magical world kidnapped me and put me in this body as his test subject?' He shuddered at that thought.
'Heck! I need to find a way to do a full-body check-up.' He clicked his tongue in annoyance and then focused on the status screen.
After that, he focused his attention on the class area and noticed that the interface began 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?'
He raised his eyebrows and turned his attention to the Subclass option.
But soon, a wry smile appeared on his face when he saw the same information in the Sub-class section.
He then placed the unconscious Eve next to the tree trunk and panted.
'This mother is really heavy. If it weren't for the unusual feeling in my heart, I would have left her somewhere and run away myself.'
He took a deep breath and then checked the timer.
'I only have 19 minutes to save her.'
He nodded inwardly and crept further towards the nearby compound wall.
[Thief Skill: Stealth Learned!
20 experience points obtained!]
'What the heck?!'
John flinched for a moment, noticing that his figure had suddenly darkened, and soon came to a conclusion.
'I can actually recover my past life skills … Moreover, it looks like I can even earn experience points as rewards.' He was stunned inside.
He then scanned the surroundings and noticed that a human shadow was moving in his direction.
'Is he a security guard?'
He knitted his brows and silently squatted down beside the ornamental bushy-like plant.
Due to his stealth state, the guard did not notice his presence at all!
John silently focused his attention on the guard and observed his every movement.
But just after a few seconds, he widened his eyes all of a sudden.
[Thief Skill: Dark Vision Learned!
20 experience points obtained.]
'Damn! I'm starting to like this game system. Although I gained these skills due to my previous life experiences, the notification gives me more confidence.'
He curled his lips upward and looked at the guard who was walking in his direction.
Unlike the other guards, this guy was wearing black clothes.
He held a dagger on his belt and looked like an ordinary guy. He was about 30 years old and had a pale face due to the dark red night.
'This skill seemed to enchant my vision a little!'
John smiled. Although he was thrilled a little, he did not like the situation at all.
The guard stopped next to him a few seconds later and muttered something aloud as he unzipped his trousers.
"Those a**holes. They dare to make fun of Master James. If he finds out that we are all messing around, he will punish us for sure."
"Is that so?" An eerie, chilling whisper came from behind, causing him to shudder involuntarily.
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 and covered his mouth.
At the same time, another hand wrapped around his neck and tightened it like a snake.
Noticing the seriousness, the guard moved his hand to the grip of the dagger, grabbed it tightly, and drew it.
Although he panicked at the sudden ambush, he did not lose his composure!
'I'm choking! I need to kill this vile rat quickly.'
He muttered furiously and stabbed his dagger in the back.
But to his surprise, the soft hand on his lips moved and grabbed his wrist straight.
The hand then moved like a poisonous snake and grabbed the hilt of his dagger.
"You are seeking death! Do you dare to grab my weapon?"
He was furious 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.
But, to his horror, the enemy seemed to be well prepared and more adept at snatching weapons.
Before he could try to use his other hand, 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 the dagger at the guard's chest.
The silver dagger tore through the air with a whistling sound, appeared in front of the guard's chest, and plunged right inside.
After some twitching, the guard's eyes were bloodshot, and then 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 dragged his body towards the nearest bush.
Although he managed to kill this guy, he was not happy at all.
'His strength is slightly above normal.'
He narrowed his eyes for a moment and turned his attention towards the dead body.
Then he looked at the silver dagger and frowned.
When he plunged the dagger into the guard's chest, he also felt another difference.
'This dagger is also unique. I made no effort, but this silver dagger entered the enemy's chest like a very sharp knife … I had never seen such a sharp weapon in my life.'
Shaking his head, he hid the body in the bushes and checked the timer.
'17 minutes.' He took a deep breath and turned his attention to the Sub-class option.
After reviewing the information, he fell into deep thought.
'I don't have enough experience to select the Thief option.'
'But if I don't choose any Subclass now, the chances of 'me' dying here are very high. There must be many anomalies out there like this guard. Hmm, class [Trickster] might be the right choice …'
'Wait … The [Deceiver] class also looks good. But why do I get a weird feeling when I thought of choosing this Trickster class?'
Charles's face suddenly became serious.
'What does this System do? Did it influence my thinking?'
'Damn it, time is running out. Haa, I'll select the Trickster option then. Maybe I can get some skills that will help me get out of this situation.'
He groaned in displeasure and reluctantly 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.'
Shaking his head, John added one free attribute to the dexterity.
A second later, he felt some changes in his hand movements and was surprised.
He then slashed his dagger and smiled, noticing that he could play with it like a real trickster.
After that, he opened a status window and checked out 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
Agility - 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 as he focused his gaze on the unique skill area.
Although he hadn't regained the physical strength, he indeed felt that he had already recovered most of his assassin skills, making him smile subconsciously.
'Awesome! I've learned these skills over the years of training and killing, but here …'
He took a deep breath and shook his head.
'This is not Earth. This is a magical world.'
He calmed his mind and then decided to add 25 skill points to [Stealth] skill and 16 skill points 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 began to grow 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 got thrilled.
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 Nightwind.
After that, he used [Conceal] skill and moved towards the gate, hiding in the dark.
At that moment, about 20 soldiers sat near the entrance and seemed to be playing cards.
'It's time to escape!'
John muttered to himself and crept up to the gate like a sneaky cat under the shadow of darkness!
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