Shinra should have been fading fast, but now that the rush of battle had passed, he was feeling ok. He had gathered up the sheets from the bed and used them to rebandage himself. Basically he wadded some up against the wound, and then wrapped it tightly in place. He refused to look at the hole in his body, and knew he needed magical help. Perhaps adrenaline was still keeping him going? ‘What did you mean by Upgrade, System?’ [Quest Update: Assassin Guild Destruction] [Assassins killed: 23] [Assassins killed by Shinra: 15 [Assassins remaining in Akasooki: 14 (estimated)] [Hours Remaining: 36.5] [Experience Awarded: [Assassin Assassination: Captain Class x 3 | Lieutenant Class x 2] [Points Awarded: Captains: 2250 Lieutenants: 3000 Discovered Safe House: 1000 Infiltrated Base Undetected : 2000 Eliminated one cell without raising an alarm: 1000 Perfect Assassination x 1: 5000 Assassination without battle x 2: 5000 Assassination with battle x2: - 1000 Injured during A

“The secret to magical combat is…” the fat young man said, his mouth splitting wide in a grin. He looked like a roasted ham, glistening with fat and oils. His audience was a group of 3 well dressed ladies, and, somehow, they seemed very interested in what he had to say. “Being more powerful than everyone else!” He threw his head back in a laugh, then downed his drink. He made a rude motion to a passing waiter for another.The girls all tittered behind their gloved hands, looking both elegant and childish in the same instant.‘I guess he is someone important?’ Raisd hated the politics and intrigue of the palace, and couldn’t stand all the people constantly flouting their importance. He knew it was because he himself was so important, and he didn’t want to be. ‘The Emperor has let me hide in the background these last few years, but that is about to change. The second in line is going to get a burst of attention.’ He almost laughed at the thought. The Emperor’s successor changed

Shinra felt more powerful than ever. Creating Shadow Meld seemed to free something in his mind. Or his soul, he wasn’t sure which. ‘I wonder if this is how mages feel when they wield magic. Do they feel it on their skin? Alive with possibility?’ He could sense shadows in a way he couldn’t before. He was a part of them now, and it was closer to magic than any Zombie should be able to do. ‘Am I really a zombie if I have the system? I’ve changed so much…’Honestly, he had barely been a teenager when he acquired the System, but his sister might not recognize him now. His body was covered in muscles, well defined and lean like a boxer. He had grown taller too, and his face had the angular look of someone much older. His eyes had a depth to them that was new. He’d already understood loss and pain, but facing death and danger had forced him to mature in unexpected ways, and his eyes betrayed a hard fought wisdom.In the last 2 hours, he had gone from a young man who had dealt out

‘7 more left, probably.’ The Manor house was really big, and easy to infiltrate. The guild felt safe here, clearly, and didn’t have locks or sentries on the doors. It was too easy to slip in through the window of the receiving room and fade into the background, waiting for a target.He had acquired all new weapons, armour and gear from the 8 corpses in the town houses. He was surprised to find that almost all of them had blades that were clearly designed for throwing. Several had leather belts of knives that made it easy to pull a knife from under a jacket, or from the hip. ‘I guess killing from far away is part of the trade,’ he had thought.He’d found a tight fitting vest that looked like cloth but was cut proof, a pair of boots that felt like something a noble would wear, and a light jacket with a clever setup to hide a short sword. Everything seemed spelled for defence, and now he knew that, someday, he’d be able to understand the weaves, maybe.He picked up two high qualit

The money had started coming every week. Naori was very confused at first, after all, a mage on a horse wearing some sort of uniform just arrived at her small little hut and handed her the sack with coins in it."You must have made a mistake," she had said. The man didn't have much to tell her other than that there was no mistake, Naori was the addressee. Every week the same man came to deliver her a small sack of coins, and every week she tried to get more information from him. All she learned was that the money was coming from a mage named Wintersbane, and that he sent it from the Sheriff's headquarters.Naori was young, but she knew that this wasn't normal. After 4 weeks, she had more money than she'd ever seen before, and she cried. A lot. She wished her parents and Shinra were here too.After 6 weeks, she estimated there was enough money for them to move to a better home and not work for over a year. Without Shinra though, she didn't need a better home, so she might not have