Chapter Five: An Assassin's tale, and rewards galore!

Jihan lied on his bed in the inn, playing with his status window at this ungodly hour of night.

He had never slept in Synchronize before, only bothering to enter taverns to get information and complete quests.

[You have three unused rewards:

Low grade treasure chest (C)

First Clear reward (S)

Bloody Book (S)]

Jihan selected all three items, using them simultaneously.

[You have obtained 'Stone key' x1, 'Book of Chaos' (Z), 'Blood manipulation', 'Blood explosion', 'Blood field' (S).]

Jihan practically drooled at the rewards on screen, floating on cloud nine as he carefully reviewed each item.

The stone key was one half of the key needed much later on, but that would be at least half a year from then.

The blood skills were finally in his hands, and Jihan couldn't help but get excited at the prospect of their usage in the upcoming days.

But this book... 'Z grade'?

Jihan had never heard of a Z grade item, nor did he remember where he got the 'Low grade treasure chest'. Such an abnormality, was it a one of a kind item, or was this book bugged?

[Book of Chaos (Z):

Damage: 0

Passive: ???

Skill: ???

Description: ספר בעל עוצמה אינסופית, מנצל את השפה של הדרקונים העתיקים בדרכים בלתי נתפסות. מסוכן מאוד, לא בטוח, ואסור להכניס אותו למשחק עדיין בסיכון של גרימת באגים שוברי משחק.]

Jihan put the book back in his inventory, unsure of how to even read the book's description. But one thing was certain, this book was not supposed to be in the game.

And that meant it was either very powerful, or very buggy. Regardless, Jihan could always research the book's strange nature later.

Jihan still had yet to advance the quest he received earlier, and there was no better time to do it than now.

[Quest 'Assassin's Tale':

Listen to Zeref's story 0/1]

"Zeref, why don't you tell me about your past?" Jihan propped himself up on the bedframe, glancing over at the man who was pretending to be asleep across the room.

"Why do you... as you wish, founder." His blue eyes shone in the dark, emotions running through his mind.

"I was abandoned by my family when I was a boy, barely even ten years old. I begged the locals for food, insisting that even water would be enough. But they looked at me as if I was trash, as if I should have just died." Zeref's eyes flared with rage before his gaze returned to the floor.

"Even as I starved, not even one of them tried to help. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I racked my brain, there was just not a reason."

"There was no reason to hate me. Or so I thought. That was until three years later, I learned about the truth behind my parents 'abandonment'." His breathing grew unsteady, but quickly returned to normal.

Jihan stayed silent, listening intently to the story as it was told.

"My father was a runaway aristocrat from the south, and my mother was a prostitute. When My father's men found him, they threatened to set the entire town up in flames if he did not return, and if anyone in the town supported me they too would die."

"So I waited for five more years, living like a dog who was below even dirt and finally left that town. I had already become a killer by then, and was no longer afraid of the bastards who took my parents from me."

"But when I made it to the estate my father came from, all documents I could find had the same reports with the same stories."

Zeref stopped, hesitating before continuing.

"They tortured them both for weeks on end before killing them, not a single damn reason behind it! All they had as reasoning was that my father loved a 'whore'. It was bullshit!"

His fist smashed into the headboard, shattering it along with the pillar behind it. Killing intent exploded from his eyes, which were fixated on his own hands.

"I razed the entire estate, found every single person behind it, and I tortured them. I traded my humanity for revenge... and I got it. I killed them all."

The assassin's eyes had a look of regret and grief within them, yet also a spark of something Jihan couldn't quite understand.

"I wasted two thirds of my life tracking people down and killing them. I had already chosen my path, and so I continued down it."

"But..."

Zeref stopped, his eyes widening at once.

Jihan frowned, speaking in a quieter voice than usual.

"...You regret going down this path."

"I have no right to. The blood on my hands is already far too dark, and my soul is far too tainted to repent."

Zeref's true emotions were nothing like Jihan had imagined from the past, a remorseful killer that was born from revenge.

Jihan stood up, extending a hand to the assassin in a similar fashion as 'Alexander' did to him.

"Follow me, and become my shadow. You will not have to kill people anymore, only monsters. You can of course, refuse." Jihan waited, looking intently at the assassin still sitting on the bed.

Minutes passed in silence, and Jihan was about to return his offer.

"You aren't the founder at all, are you?" He said without much emotion, getting up from the bed.

"I accept your offer. With one condition."

"And that is?" Jihan raised an eyebrow.

"Achieve your goals without fail, so that your shadow can be equally as strong."

Zeref shook his hand with a renewed smirk, his blue eyes shining through the blonde bangs that hung over his face. Both men smiled, fire ablaze in their eyes that would motivate them for years to come.

Jihan had obtained a powerful ally, and one that he could entrust his life to.

Not only that, Jihan felt as though he gained a friend that day in the form of Zeref, the assassin that no longer wished to kill.

...

And so two weeks passed. Jihan spent much of his day trying to decipher the book he had obtained from the treasure chest, and spent the remainder of his time leveling up or clearing dungeons.

Zeref went back to the Blackbird Inn, and managed it flawlessly while secretly following a new master.

A master that he believed would show him the change he wanted in this world.

...

The old man wiped the sweat off his brow, setting the final piece of armor on the table beside his forge.

"That beginner... two weeks? Had I lost my mind?"

He had hardly slept, forging the man's armor for almost 12 hours a day consecutively.

"Yo, old man."

Jihan waved at the blacksmith, seeing both the armor on the table and his tired eyes.

Jihan placed a second bag of gold on the table, picking up the armor with a curious gaze.

['Leather Hood (A+)- Reinforced',

'Leather Vest (A+)- Reinforced',

'Leather Gloves (A+)- Reinforced',

'Leather Boots (A+)- Reinforced' have been added to your inventory.]

"Incredible..." Jihan was beyond impressed. Cold steel was valuable and rare, but at most he had expected B grade gear. A+ grade was master level craftsmanship, and this old man had made such armor in two weeks?

"What is your name, old man?" Jihan looked at him with a mix of awe and confusion.

"Khan, my name is Khan." He spoke proudly, and Jihan was reminded of another great blacksmith named Khan.

"Then, Khan. Please take care of yourself, and rest well." Jihan set a third bag of gold on the table, walking away immediately before Khan could protest.

'Don't die, old man.' He swore as he walked off in the distance, wearing his new armor with a smile on his face.