The First Follower

"What, do you mean?"

"Hold my hand, and you'll know it soon."

Sylvia was perplexed, but she still took hold of Sheila's hand without saying anything. The last thing she saw before her view went dark was Sheila smiling at her. When she 'opened' her eyes once again, the surrounding hills has turned into an endless grassland. There was no end for it as far as her view could take her. She was utterly speechless. 

"How was it?"

Sylvia looked onto her right and saw Sheila still smiling at her when she asked. Sylvia was going to ask what does she mean by that but was interrupted by Sheila before she could open her mouth.

"Oh, nevermind. The traveling is not so magical since it was so fast and your sight went dark in the process which kills the charm."

"Don't mind about it. Anyways, check your pocket. I'm sure there's something in there."

Sylvia nodded her head before slipping her hand into the pocket and caught onto a single object she didn't know she had. It was a blue card. The moment she pulled out the card out of the pocket, her view was suddenly obstructed by a wall of texts. 

『 Welcome to the Trial Tower! 』

『 Sylvia LV.1 』

『  HP: 45/45  MP: 25/25

Class: Assassin 

GOLD: 0

  —STR: 6 —INT: 4

  —AGI: 7  —VIT: 9

  —LUCK: 5   AP: 0    』

Sheila went through the system, and within seconds, she had found out Sylvia's status. So her class is an assassin, huh? Somehow, it does seem suitable for her. Her vitality is strangely high for an ordinary girl. Perhaps, because of the beating from the abuse, her body becomes stronger? Her luck is even lower than me; no wonder she suffers a lot. 

"Have you seen your status?"

Sheila asked the girl once she had done browsing through the status. The girl's body twitched in response, Sylvia was so shocked that she was like a character that lagged due to the loss of connection. If not for Sheila asking, it would have taken her a while before she could snap out of it. 

Sylvia gazes at the welcoming message before moving on to the status screen. Since she had played quite a bit of RPG at the Internet Cafe, she was not confused by the context of it. But assassin? 

When it comes to class, according to the game information, if you can't choose your class, that means everything you did up until then will be in the reference of what your class going to be. But an assassin is someone that walks through the path of death. A single step from them would result in the death of more people. They lurk in the dark and strike down when people's guard is down. That is what it means of being an assassin.

But what about her? Never in her life did she ever took the life another living being like her. But she did kill quite a ton of ants sometimes. Does that count? 

When she thought of what skill for a class like an assassin would have, a new window pops up, overlapping the status window. No one else but the person could see their window. The exception to those is Sheila since their system all origin from her, after all.

Sylvia stares at the skill window in front of her and falls deep in thoughts. Overall, she got three skill, and all of them seem to be something you would expect to see from an assassin. All the skills didn't require mana to use it, but she couldn't use it many times over since it will drain all of her stamina. It was an active skill that would consume her stamina instead of mana. But it wasn't that much a problem, all she needs was to take rest, and her stamina will be full by then.

The knowledge of how to use her skill was already deeply imprinted in her brain. Sylvia never knew that she had such skill in her mind. Actually, no one was, it was all the result of getting access to enter the Trial Tower. 

Everyone have their class, even ordinary people. Some even have some innate skill, but because they couldn't fully control it, it could only stay hidden deep in their sea of consciousness. Yes, Sheila was surprised to find out that everyone around the world actually has a class of their own. She learned it from the 'memory' of when she got the reward of rescuing Sylvia. Only when people got access to the Trial Tower from her could they see their status and use their skill freely as if it was their limb.

That was why Sheila wants to learn more about the origin behind the system. If what she thought was correct, she could potentially create an organisation made of people who have supernatural power into reality. All they need was simply access from her before they could enter and level up their skill in the Trial Tower. She could potentially make that manga about heroes and villain into reality! 

But she won't. Reality is not so easy that one might assume. What if she ended up creating a monster that has the power to end her life? If it were just her alone, that would be fine. But what if such power were used to obliterate the entire world? Sheila is no saint, but she didn't want the world to be destroyed. That's why she would only give access to those who she thought to deserve and worthy for it. Her requirement was not too strict, firstly, do not use your power against innocent civilians. Secondly, If possible, do not use your power in public. And lastly, loyalty.

Now, her requirement does sound like something one would see from a secret organisation, but that was just a coincidence. She simply took some reference from the manga and novels she had read. 

One thing she knows about Sylvia after spending some time with her was this girl treasure those that she loves. The first item she got from slaying monster is still in her inventory even though it was useless since her level is already so high. She had repeatedly told Sylvia to sell the weapon for some cheap gold, but the girl glared at her with tears in her eyes without saying anything. She obviously didn't want the girl to cry in public, so she gives in.

That means if Sheila helped her resolve her circumstance, Sylvia would definitely be grateful and unlikely to betray her. As for the first and second, it's easy to know just by the fact that she would rather commit suicide than hurting others. Sylvia fulfilled all the not-so-strict requirements that she had set up. 

"Umm..."

"You can just call me Sheila."

"Then... Um, Sheila, could you tell me how was it possible for me to see the status?"

"Oh, that's because of the card you're holding in your hands and the fact that you're in the Trial Tower."

"This card? Trial Tower?"

"Just consider the card as something special and make sure you don't lose it, not that it's possible to lose it in this place."

"As for Trial Tower, the place you're currently standing is what the system called Trial Tower. Basically, this space is like an instant dungeon that you see in the game where one could enter via some sort of door or the likes."

"I bought you here in my special way. Do you have anything else?"

"You said this is an instant dungeon? But I don't see any monster around..."

"That's because of the safety measure in place, try to browse through the card."

Sylvia nodded her head excitedly before moving all her focus onto the card in her hands. When she moves her hands away from the card, all the windows in front of her immediately vanished. Only by touching the card could she see the window again. 

Sylvia started browsing around the system in the card, and aside from the status and skill window, she also found a new window that she expects to see in a game called Quest. 

"Have you found it? Try clicking on it."

Just as Sheila told her, she immediately clicked on it, and a brand new window pops up in front of her view. And just like Ria, she got the same quest to kill the slimes. 

"Now, if you accept the quest, the monster aka slime will start to spawn all over the surrounding. There won't be any safe zone for you anymore; it's just endless battle until you finished your quest. You know what I'm saying right?"

"Yes."

"Good, then accept the quest. Don't worry; I'll be watching over you and here's some weapon for you."

Sheila said before buying two brand-new black daggers from the shop and handing it over to Sylvia. A weapon for assassin must be dagger! She wouldn't accept it if it were something else!

"A real weapon..."

Sylvia muttered to herself while gripping onto two daggers with her hands. She didn't know why, but the moment the daggers were in her hands; she started to feel a change. She tried practising in using the daggers and was surprised at how easily she could manage it; it was as if she gained another limb. 

"I..will accept the quest then."

"Mmm, go on."

『 Quest Accepted! 』

『 Monster will start to spawn in 3...2...1! 』