( The Assassin's Alliance )
As Leo reached the 'X' marked location on his local map, he found himself staring at an unassuming hut made out of a mound of clay and leaves.
Outside the hut sat an old man with a scrubby white beard and white hair that were completely covering his eyes and he seemed completely uninterested in Leo or his activities.
[ (????) Inspection Failed ]
Leo tried to inspect the old man, trying to understand his level, however, the inspection spell failed spectacularly as apparently the difference in level between himself and the old man was akin to heaven and Earth.
For a very brief moment as he tried to inspect the old man, the old man threw a glance towards Leo allowing Leo to catch a glimpse of his black eyes, however, the old man became uninterested in Leo once more after looking at him as he returned to smoking his pipe without acknowledging Leo's presence.
Unsure of how to proceed, Leo politely approached the old man and showed him his entrance token-
" Umm, I'm here for the entrance exam, can I go inside your hut?" Leo asked politely as the old man took a deep drag of the pipe he was smoking and let out all the smoke straight on Leo's face mask.
*Hufffffff*
" You're not an Assassin are you, boy?" the old man said as Leo felt alarm bells ringing in his head as he feared that his identity had been exposed.
" There is no point in lying to me, I can already see from the constriction of your pupil that my hypothesis is correct.
What I'm more interested in is how you killed the spider organization boy…..
He was much stronger than you-
Although he was a fool, he should not have succumbed to you-" the old man said as he took another puff of his pipe and awaited Leo's response.
Leo racked his brains wondering what to tell the old man, as telling someone that he resurrected from the dead did not seem like a good option.
" I caught him off-guard.
You assumed right, I'm not an assassin. But I'm here because I need this opportunity to make myself stronger" Leo said as the old man studied his eyes and verified that he was speaking the truth.
" It's a brutal profession, I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to become one.
However, since you do possess the examination token and I'm just a gatekeeper, I'll turn a blind eye to the fact that you're not supposed to be here.
Go in, pull the eagle looking statue inside the hut and it will open a hidden flight of stairs going underground.
What happens next will be up to you-" the old man said as Leo could not believe his luck at being permitted to enter.
"Thank You so much! You're a kind man" Leo said as he politely bowed before the old man and started to walk towards the hut entrance.
The old man observed his movement and shook his head back and forth as he could clearly see that Leo was walking to his own death.
"Wait-" he said as Leo paused in his tracks and turned to face the old man once more.
" You walk too loud brat…. With a step this heavy, even deaf men will make out that you're not one of us" the old man said as Leo suddenly realized his silly mistake.
[ Light Steps ] was one of the most fundamental techniques of any assassin's skill set and Leo had no idea how to walk without making a sound.
With such an obvious give away, his disguise was never going to work as he realized his own shortcoming.
" Ummm, I'm sorry to request something so absurd, but can you show me the art of moving without making a sound once? I don't want to be killed as soon as I walk into that place" Leo requested earnestly as the old man felt rage welling up inside his heart at this absurd request.
' What's the point of me showing it to you once? You speak as if you will be able to learn it by just watching it once' The old man thought to himself, however, after taking yet another drag of his pipe, he sighed and let go of his anger as he considered this demonstration as fulfilling the last wish of a dying man.
" Whatever… watch closely" the old man said as he got up from his wooden rocking chair and walked graciously towards Leo.
Although he was walking on dried leaves, Leo could not hear a single cracking sound of a leaf breaking under his feet as he walked, especially soundlessly.
" Wow-" Leo said feeling awed at the old man's technique as he could see his feet almost gliding over the leaves as he distributed the pressure of his weight over a wide area and walked almost as if he was gliding over the surface instead of pushing against it.
[ System Notification:- You have observed the skill [ Floating Steps ] and have the option to copy it to your primary skill 'Mimic'
Do you wish to copy the skill 'Floating Steps' ?
Yes
No ]
Leo pressed 'yes' as unknowingly he had learnt the skill Floating Steps instead of the common skill Light Steps which was a grade above the common skill and used by only expert assassin's.
" Oh wow old man! You're more skilled and nimble than you look-" Leo complimented as the old man scoffed at his compliment and shook his head.
He was 80% sure that once Leo walked down those stairs with a heavy footing, the leader of the Assassin Alliance, that cruel and unforgiving man would definitely interrogate and kill him and this bright and genuine personality of his would be lost forever.
However, never in his wildest dreams could the old man have imagined that Leo would actually replicate his skill by just observing it once, as just seconds after showing him that move, Leo began walking almost perfectly upon the dry leaves, mirroring his own technique.
" Impossible-" the old man muttered to himself as he recalled the time and effort it took him to learn and perfect this technique and then compared himself to Leo who learnt it almost instantaneously.
He watched as Leo entered the old mud cabin and disappeared from his view and began to suspect if he was actually a trained assassin who was hiding his real strength?
He contemplated on whether or not he should eliminate Leo as a potential threat then and there, however, there was something about the possibility of him being a monstrous talent that made this old heart of his race with anticipation.
" If only he were my disciple…." The old man murmured to himself but felt his heart clouding over as soon as he had that thought as he knew that there was no one in this world who was foolish enough to join his already dead Assassin guild which had only one member.
If Leo was truly a monstrous talent, he would undoubtedly be scouted by the alliance leader and just like all the other talents before him, he too would become a soldier under the Night guild.
" You're nothing but a foolish old man who's too kind for his own good-" the old man muttered to himself as he once again sat down at his rocking chair and picked up his pipe full of tobacco as he tried to take his mind off the affairs of the corrupted world.