He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Eight - Rules of an Assassin

Rule Number One - You are not a person, you are a weapon

The metallic click of a key turning in a lock, brought the inhabitants to attention. They listened intently as the door to their dungeon creaked wide open. They heard the footfalls of two men, one much heavier of foot than the other, his pace sluggish as each foot fell to the stone floor without grace. The other had the light, crisp pattern attributed to a man confident about his merchandise.

"I am sure we may be able to accommodate your circumstances," the man familiar to inhabitants was saying, as he led the other. "Our weapons are the finest and most well honed, after all." The larger man said nothing, struggling to keep his breath as he followed through these dark halls. They stopped before a barred cell.

Rules Number Two - Emotion is For the Weak

"This is One," the merchant was advising him. "He is our most swift weapon and has a small talent with ice, though he never uses it." The round man, who wore the finest cut garments available in the city stared at the cold youth in the cell. He simply stood there, unmoving, his face expressionless and his eyes without any apparent feeling, as if they were unseeing black gemstones. They flickered in response to the appraisal once, before not a single additional thought revealed. The merchant laughed. "Ah, I do believe that One has just calculated the best way to kill you." The fat Lord stepped back and wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. "Shall we continue?"

Rule Number Three - A Weapon Knows No Gender.

"This is a woman?" The Lord declared. The female known as Two glanced up as she lounged on the cell bed, seductively, her ample chest pushed invitingly forward and her rounded hips obvious as she posed.

"Two is a weapon, not a woman," the merchant advised him. "Just as a blade does not care about the gender of whom it pierces, the corpse does not care about the gender of the one that killed it."

"Still, she would be better suited to a man's bed than a cell," muttered the man, insistently. She could most definitely walk amongst the most stunning of courtesans and not look out of place amongst them.

"I would warn you from your temptation," the merchant told him. "She would slice your throat in your sleep, if she even deems you worthy to touch her."

Rule Number Four - Failure means Death

"Wait, we just passed a cell," the Lord pointed out.

The merchant gave him a small polite smile. "That cell is empty."

Rule Number Five - The Shadows are Your Friend

"This is Four," the merchant gestured at the cell, but there apparently was no one within it. "Four, show yourself." A thin man appeared suddenly from the shadows, his face coated in dirt from the cell floor. He gazed only at his feet, away from the dim light of the torch and refused to meet the eyes of either the merchant or the fat purchaser. The merchant tsked. "You may go." The man blended back into the dark as if he had never been there in the first place. "Despite appearances, he is very competent in his work. His victims never catch him in wait and never make a sound as they part from this world." The fat man gulped audibly.

Rule Number Six - The Client is God

There was no one in the fifth cell nor sixth, though it was due to the latter being on a mission that he was not in residence. The fifth however could be found elsewhere.

In the seventh cell, there were two individuals, a young man and a boy. The man was sitting against the back of the cell with his legs sprawled across the thin cot, while balanced in his lap was a boy. The man was a large being. His neck was thick, his arms coated in ropey muscle, his chest could shadow three average mage apprentices. He also had height, if the length of his legs were anything to go by. His skin was an ashen brown in tone, could have once been a rich, dark colour if not for the lack of light.