Death Awoken

by Kajack

  Honestly, I wanted to ask the old man to provide me with some kind of technique to help me kill people silently or something cool like that, but then the old man would know who I was, the cursed kid, and would blow my cover.

  ◆◆◆

  It has been almost one month since I turned five years old. I have been pondering... and I can't figure out any kind of stealth, dark, or time warping skill. Unless I attack them directly, I can not kill anyone. After all now that I’m an assassin, it wouldn’t do any good if people watched me killing everyone.

  I can't tell Ye Qing that I’m now a professional killer, hahaha, I bet he would be scared of me. He is already scared enough, now that I'm a Mortal Realm, 6th rank. I leveled up yesterday. This Death Tempering technique is killing me though, it hurts so much.

  “Ye Qing can you bring me some weapons? I just need to find something... suitable for my future growth, and to my liking.” I had to ask Ye Qing for some weapons, the weapon shop didn't even want to sell me a cheap trash weapon. I had the urge to kill and erase the whole shop. So, I used Death End on the manager... he only had one more year to live anyway. He got really scared, and kept telling me that I needed to lift the curse, screaming like a little child. Poor old man... What curse? I only told him the truth.

  “Kid, weapons are dangerous.” My face scrunched up as I looked at Ye Qing angrily. “Alright, don't look at me with that face, I will go I will go.” Ye Qing went to the weapon shop before they closed.

  I smiled while watching Ye Qing running out of the execution ground. Since I became a Mortal Realm, 6th rank, I can now beat Ye Qing in a fight. For some reason, I feel like he is going easy on me though. After all, now I have nine hundred jin of strength, my foundation skills are in the flawless stage, and they provide me an extra amount of seven hundred jin. In body cultivation, our realms are identical. My foundation skills are superior to his. Well, eventually I will find out the true skills of Ye Qing, I thought as I pondered happily about what weapon Ye Qing might get for me.

  “There you go, your weapons. I bought the most simple and basic weapons: maze, staff, sword, blade, axe, bow, shield, lance... They are the lowest level and cheapest mortal weapons.” Ye Qing brought about twelve weapons total.

  “Thanks.” I grabbed them and went to my room. I needed to confirm what happened last time with the weapon the old man from the assassins guild gave me.

  I tried to use the sword, the result: turned to dust, the Death Core did the same thing as last time.

  Staff...

  Shield...

  Lance...

  Bow...

  Blade...

  Everything turned to dust. The only thing remaining was a few arrows that were with the bow. Sigh, what I am going to do with these arrows. I grabbed one of them, I kept thinking about why the weapons turned into dust.

  Four hours later.

  Shit, I can’t figure out anything right now, I'm not an expert in weapons! I was so pissed off, without thinking I threw the arrow at the wall. God damn it!

  Ding!

  Congratulations on learning Passive Skill: Throwing Weapon.'

  Throwing Weapon Lvl 1 / 100 (0/1000): Increase each level 1% Strength, Speed. Useable only with small weapons.

  !!! I learned a skill and it’s a passive one! Cool! So the arrow alone counts as a weapon. Why? I rushed and grabbed a few more arrows. Indeed the moment I throw them, the Death Core didn't say anymore about it. However I don't understand, I also tried to throw knives before, when I was thinking about the hidden weapons. Right! The arrowhead! It can be used as a weapon and be thrown because it’s small. Useful for a sneak attack. For the time being, I need to collect a few more arrows and practice my accuracy. Later I’ll try to find out about even more small things that I can throw.

  An idea popped up in my head. Good, good, good! Ha-ha, I can infuse death into the arrowhead with the grade of my poison, anyone under Qi Refining stage... as long as I cut them and break the skin, they will die.

  “Soon, I will be able to get more XP and level up faster! Time to train!”

  Chapter 21

  Assassination

  I took me almost one month to properly aim at an objective throwing arrows. Seriously, even with the power of my soul, to coordinate the arrow through a moving target, and combine that with my own body movement is quite hard. The sad thing is I didn't get an accuracy skill or something to help me out, but I finally managed to do it well, and my Throwing Weapon skill also leveled-up to five.

  These days, I have been looking inside the aspects of the Bronze rank badge. There are too many missions, the good thing about it is that the System could also help me sort the badge information. Therefore I only need to ask for what I need. In this case, my focus is an elder from the Yan family, he often goes to the brothel here in the Skyfall City at night. As for why I chose this mission, this elder is an important character in the Yan family, but what's more important is that he manages several shops in the city, that create a good income. He's a VIP client in the brothel, I bet he sleeps with more than one girl.

  I was watching the sky, the sun was barely visible... in a few minutes night will come. I had everything ready, the arrowheads in my inventory and one in each hand. Time to move.

  I jumped over the wall from the execution ground and moved in the direction where the brothel was located. Lucky for me with my soul strength, that could sense and detect in a one hundred-meter-radius, it was quite easy moving at night avoiding the few people that were on the streets.

  I was a bit awkward at first, I thought there would be fewer people on the streets this late, I had to change my hiding spot many times, change directions, or hide in a shadow for a few minutes.

  Finally I reached my destination, it was harder than I had expected. I will have to train more to become proficient. Now I need to find a place to hide and monitor the brothel. I located a quiet place fifty meters away, where I could easily monitor the brothel entrance.

  From afar looking towards the brothel's direction, there were two men talking to each other.

  “Brother Yan, this time the bill is on me. You helped out a lot this time. If it wasn't for you, I would have ended up getting kicked out,” a middle-aged man said. This man was a ball-shaped, short man, with a long nose and a round head.

  The man who was about to speak was tall, with a sturdy constitution, each step he took was firm, filled with pride and confidence. I grinned, this is the man who will die today.

  “Don't worry at all Brother Song! You know I'm quite wealthy, how could I allow you to pay? These days I have been controlling myself, perhaps tonight I will get ten women, hahaha! Are you sure you want to pay the bill?”

  “This is… Okay, well at least let me pay for your first woman!”

  Shit! If this man doesn't leave the brothel until tomorrow morning I won't have a chance at all. I will fail my first assassination attempt... how lame!

  “System Inspect them.”

  Normal Human. Mortal Realm, 5th rank.

  Normal Human. Mortal Realm, 7th rank.

  They were both approaching the brothel, soon they will be spotted by the girls at the entrance and be crowded by them.

  Who cares, I don't plan to lose my first attempt and three hours of waiting for a small piece of a meatball... blame your bad luck gentlemen—for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I used Death Infusion on both arrowheads I had, in each of my hands at that moment I could see the arrows turning to a pure black. I waited for the right moment...

  NOW!

  SHHHHH!!!!!

  Two arrowheads were thrown, at my max speed, I took another two arrowheads from my inventory and started to use Death Infusion on them in case I failed at killing them with the first throws. I could see the Yan Elder had stopped walking,

  “I have a bad fee… ” before he could finish the sentence, an arrowhead passed straight through his head. Both men fell to the ground. They died without noticing a thing.

  Ding!


  Congratulations on killing Mortal Realm, 5th rank. +50 XP.

  Congratulations on killing Mortal Realm, 7th rank. +70 XP.

  Death Core +1.

  Death Core +1.

  Found a death aura. Wish to absorb it?

  “Yes.”

  Death Points +76.

  I moved a little bit closer, I can only absorb something in my inventory by touching it or by being ten meters away at the most.

  I searched the bodies with my soul, found and recalled the two arrowheads, I also placed some items in my inventory: one book, some gold coins, and some silver, geez they were so damn poor... I guess they didn't bring their valuables with them, time to go.

  Swiftly moving through the shadows I disappeared. After some time I was back to my room. Indeed having a high level soul helps with assassination, though I need to understand how other people are training their soul, if someone has the same level of soul as me I could be discovered.

  I couldn't wait to check out the book, maybe it's worth something... or at least has something in it I can learn to advance.

  I could read on the cover, “Bestiary Mortal Edition,” what the hell is this? Don't tell me this Elder Yan was a veterinarian or something.

  Ding!

  Do you wish to absorb the book content?'

  What?! Absorb the book... Won't I become brain dead? This book is at least five hundred hundred pages.

  “System, you can absorb the contents of the book?”

  Replying to the host, it’s the purpose of the database, if the System doesn't absorb the book it is impossible for the database to be filled.'

  “So all this time... you could have gotten better knowledge from just absorbing books?”

  Yes.

  “The knowledge in the database is also available in my mind?”

  Yes. The knowledge the System absorbs is stored in the host soul. The System is also stored in the host’s soul.'

  “Fuck! I wasted almost one whole year to learn how to properly talk! I could have just absorbed a damn language book.”

  Yes.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  Chapter 22

  Chaos

  “Okay, absorb the book then.” The book disappeared.

  Processing...

  Congratulations, unlocked trait Mortal Monster Hunter.

  Mortal Monster Hunter: +25% damage to any Normal, Wild beast. Everything is known about Normal, Wild Beast.

  I was left speechless, all of this from only scanning a book?! Fuck where the hell is the library! Hahaha this is the best thing that’s happened to me, I can kill any normal and wild beast with poison or just with a proper punch! Now I can show off, I only need a finger to kill them!

  “System! If I can get a book regarding the beasts with a higher level than me, will my trait evolve?”

  Replying to the host: Yes.

  Hmmm, the only downside of this is that the book disappeared. Perhaps my teacher has more books.

  I moved to my bed and sat cross-legged: I pondered my options and the things I needed to do.

  I need to keep training before I'm six years old, by that time we will travel to Imperial city. I can easily reach Mortal Ream, 7th rank by then. It will be a little bit harder to reach the Origin stage in my foundation's skill without spending XP, but I better save my XP for now. I need to try to level up my Throwing Weapon skill after all, it’s a really good boost for assassination.

  With that much training I’ll have to do, I won't have much time left. Luckily at night I can leave the house to keep my assassinations going, the only thing that troubles me is that in less than one year one hundred people will die in the city. It might arouse suspicion...

  I kept thinking over all of the things I needed to do in my training—I had to include buying books or stealing them.

  ◆◆◆

  Ye Bai noticed nothing while he sat there thinking. There was another man looking in the direction where Ye Bai was, deeply pondering about his issues. If Ye Bai was here, he would recognize that this man was Ye Qing, but this time his eyes were fully red and had a wicked and sinister smile on his face.

  “Not bad little kid, jijijii, the assassination was a bit rushed but not bad thinking jijiiji.”

  Ye Qing disappeared without a trace, clearly with this kind of speed, it was clear he couldn't just be at the peak of Mortal Realm. This speed didn’t belong to that realm.

  ◆◆◆

  Suddenly I felt my Bronze Rose badge tremble. I checked and saw that the mission I had selected was clear. I got my status updated and my ranking update. Hahaha... how lame. I'm at the bottom, oh well, with the XP gained from my upcoming assassinations this will change soon.

  Code Name: Eternal Rest, Bronze Rose rank: Bottom, Completed Missions: 1, Contribution: 7.

  ◆◆◆

  At the Yan Clan, the Yan Clan Head was yelling and cursing nonstop. There were ten elders in the clan, and one had been killed. The unfortunate thing wasn’t that their elders weren’t strong: their elders were with some kind of special knowledge and ability, but it was that the Yan Clan elder that was killed was a key character inside the clan. He had a gift for business. He was not physically strong in the clan, but he made a lot of profit for the clan, thus had a high position. This was one of the main points compared to other clans, they thought they were superior to the Su Clan due to their skilled business practices.

  “Damn, now the Su Clan will laugh at us! For so many years we were superior, thanks to the business,” The head of the Su Clan roared. His voice was so loud that many of the elders became frightened.

  “The Head is not going to go insane right?” thought one of the observing clan members, as the Head clan member continued his rant.

  ◆◆◆

  At the Su Clan, a young man was rushing towards something through the crowd.

  “Let me pass, move. Patriarch! Patriarch!”

  “Who dares to disturb me!!!!!!!!”

  Plop!

  The young man running fell to the floor.

  “Patriarch! Patriarch! Someone has killed the Yan elder, all the business under the Yan clan will be in disorder!”

  This news dumbfounded the Su Clan Head. Someone dared to kill the Yan Elder? His smile grew bigger... he laughed.

  “Pass on my orders, dissolve the engagement between my granddaughter and that Yan Clan bastard. Hire local thugs to harass the Yan Clan business. Let’s put some pressure on the Yan Clan business and crush these bastards.”

  ◆◆◆

  Ye Bai didn't know the chaos he had created from killing a single man. Even if he did know he probably wouldn't care at all.

  The next morning thugs harassed the Yan Clan’s small business, many of their usual customers didn't want trouble, so they went to other places. While the Su Clan was getting an increasing amount of customers, they also prepared offers and the best treatment they could give to the clients, to assure that the next day and so on they would come again. When midday came, the Su Clan announced that the engagement between the Young Miss from the Su Clan and the Young Master from the Yan Clan was invalid and was dissolved. The Su Clan gave no face to the Yan Clan. Around the city, many people were unsafe. If these two major clans were to go to war with each other it would greatly affect the city.

  Ye Bai was training his regular routine as he did everyday. He didn't care at all about the city or its troubles; it was not his business, and nothing about it helped him to be any stronger.

  Four months later the Yan Clan and the Su Clan heads created a big commotion, they went to fight each other in the middle of the city. Their direct elders also engaged in combat, they didn't give a fuck anymore. Before the fight was too big and there were more casualties, the City Lord had to interfere, they had already taken over a few buildings, to calm down the situation.

  The reason why both heads started the fight was because in the past three months a calamity had fallen on both clans. The Yan Clan lost thirty distinguished members and also four elders
while the Su Clan lost forty distinguished members and five elders. They didn't understand how the other party was able to kill them. Since the first incident, they tightened their guards and doubled the security measures, no matter how hard they tried they couldn't find or see the killer. This was a dangerous situation for both clans, the title of “the major clan”in the city was trembling. The moment one of the heads died, that clan was done for.

  They were so focused on fighting, that during the battle they didn't notice a little kid one hundred meters away with a big smile, observing them like they were fools.

  “Indeed, fools... sneak attacking in the middle of the battle is so great! They didn't even know how they died. Feels so refreshing, hahaha! Thanks for the XP.” I mocked them from the distance

  Chapter 23

  A Favor

  In two-month’s time, we will leave the Skyfall City. During these last months, with so much killing around, I have already broken through Mortal Realm, 7th rank, right now I'm halfway to the 8th rank. I didn't expect the people I killed, to have so much death aura, no wonder people wanted them dead. Last night I killed a woman from the brothel, it was difficult but I had to do it, I also had to kill the client who she was having sex with. Poor man, well he got the best death he could wish for, killed while having sex with a slut, hahaha! What surprised me was that the aura of death I got from the woman was over one hundred and fifty points. She has taken over one hundred and fifty lives; I suppose all of them were while having sex with her customers from the brothel.