Chapter 17: secret lab and systematic elimination

As the dark of night fell upon the Silver's estate a small 53 inches (1.3462 meters) tall shadow could be seen looming just out of the mansion guard's field of vision silently gliding through the hallways of the dark and quiet mansion, it gently traverses the area, constantly vigilant of it's surroundings, soundlessly dodging and weaving through everyone in it's path, hiding in a corner when necessary and walking on the ceiling or roof when a big group passes by.

Markus was being overly cautious and paranoid as even without his skills as an assassin, he was still very hard to be discovered in this time of night especially when he's wearing a dark brown button-up cardigan over a black tunic and gray trousers that almost perfectly blended with the darkness of the mansion at night.

((when all is said and done, I have to admit Executor has my thanks for giving me just the right kind of training, skills and class for something like this...it has been endlessly convenient so far...))

Markus thought thanking Executor ironically for giving him this convenient tool.

[silent assassin] one of the many sub variant classes that makes up the [assassin] class, this class is all about using the element of surprise to your advantage, with skills like [shadow step] which when activated automatically makes you move in people's blind spots giving you practical invisibility even while in the middle of a large crowd, [silent death] a passive skill that gives you a 95% chance of instantly killing enemies that are either at or bellow your current class level and both of the skills above is only listed in the "beginner" level of the class, Markus's current skill in the class is listed as "advanced" which makes it the current highest leveled class in Markus's arsenal of classes.

In "fires of Valentia" individual classes are divided into 13 different levels of mastery which are, beginner, amateur, novice, intermediate, adept, advanced, master, grandmaster, legendary, mythical, unrivaled, godly and finally transcendental.

Arriving at a secluded part of the hallway where guards don't wander as much at the other places, east of the mansion's main lobby, Although it was a dead end as there were no doors or paths leading to other places, Markus began snooping around for he believed that this being a dead end wouldn't make much sense from a design point of view considering how much he had to traverse in order to come here.

((And besides If what Zen told me is to be believed, then the sealed entrance to Ian's secret lab should be somewhere around this general area...))

Looking around, Markus's gaze came across a particularly interesting object.

There was a candle stand being suspended on the wall with a candle on top.

Unlike the other candles throughout the mansion's hallway the candle on this candle stand was unlit which was the reason why this corner of the hallway was so dark.

Using his [night vision] skill Markus took a thorough look and noticed something off about that candle stand.

The hole from which the candle stand was unlike the hole of other candle stands-

It looked more like a hole where you would attach a lever or switch rather than a stationary suspended object, this confirmed Markus's suspicions.

The candle stand was actually a lever that was used to activate some kind of mechanism in disguised.

((Judging by the design of this part of the hallway, I guest it could be a secret entrance to a hidden passage or a trapdoor of some kind...))

Even though the first response of a gamer in a situation like this is to immediately pull the lever shaped like a candle stand down to see what happens, Markus refrained himself to take some precautions just in case something happens.

((Whatever this lever is, it will no doubt activate something really loud and old so I'll have to make sure no one is around when I pull it, or else I may get caught...))

Markus took a few minutes to go check and mark the location of each guards as well as study their pattern of movement so he'll know the perfect time to pull the lever.

When he was absolutely sure nothing bad could happen only then did Markus pulled the lever.

An irritating rusted, creaking sound of two metal parts making friction between themselves rang out accompanying that was the sound of stone crumbling as a giant secret door that was just a part of the walls earlier opened right beside the lever.

((Ugh...that sound is so bad! I was right to do some makeshift soundproofing to this part of the hallway before pulling it...))

Walking to the newly opened gate, Markus took a preemptive peek in.

Behind the gates were a set of stairs leading down to what seemed to be a basement, if you thought the mansion was already dark then what's down these flights of stairs is pitch black.

((Yep, this has creepy secret dungeon written all over it...))

Noticing the cliche-ness of the situation he finds himself in, Markus smiled inwardly as his gamer side was very excited to explore his first "secret area".

""Let's head in I guess?...I've got nowhere better to go anyway right?""

Markus talked to himself, as he snapped his fingers a red bright flame like that of a flare appeared in his left hand.

Markus began his journey down the stairs.

As he walks down into the secret basement lab that supposedly belonged to Ian Silver, as he walked he noticed that the staircase was a spiral downward and not straight like he suspected.

As the light from his magical flame illuminated the surrounding Markus took the time the analyse his surroundings.

((The stairs seems to be made of some kind of extra sturdy marble, judging by the cobwebs and dust around no one probably has been down here for quite a few years))

After a few minutes of walking Markus finally saw the bottom, as the light from his fire showed a wooden floor ahead.

((Whatever this basement is, it was built with the express purpose of protecting what's down here...it took me quite a few minutes to reach the bottom, so you could say this lab is built like a modern day bunker even if the entire mansion got hit by few short ballistic missiles whatever's down here will probably be fine...no doubt about it, this is definitely the lab Zen was talking about...))

Markus was quite relieved that he found the right place.

""Now, let's see what you're hiding down here Silvers...""

Markus said intending to look through every nook and cranny for anything that could be of use to him.

Why was he doing this? The main reason is simple, to gain leverage over the Silver house.

((Whatever down here was explicitly hidden by the Silvers, in other words this place is also a kinda "vault" for the family's dark secret...and if my hypothesis is correct it will not only enable me to gain power over the house by threatening to reveal what I find here to the empire it will also give me some insight into Executor's current state...))

Markus did say that he'll remove the strings the Silvers have put on him and inversely put some of his own back on them and he intends to do just that here.

Should Markus succeed here he'll be able to install himself into a position of power within the household that is potentially even more influential than the house's current head, Aidan Silver.

((Ian Silver died 3 years ago which was about half a year before infighting broke out in the organisation, he has to at least have SOME information on that stored here and even if there's nothing useful on them here then there should be at least some information on Ian's connection to Executor that I'll need in order to eliminate that connection...))

The second reason he was here was a bit more far seeing...despite being possibly Executor's most powerful pawn as the most successful product of the darkblood series, Markus was just that, a pawn so he didn't really have much knowledge of the inner workings of this international criminal organisation, even if he were to use his knowledge of the game's lore he is only limited to knowing their future actions as well as their ultimate goal, so he hoped that he could find something useful down here that could help him gain some insight into the structure of Executor, as the great general Sun Tzu once said:"know thy enemy and know thyself, thy need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If thy know thyself but not the enemy, for every victory gained thy will also suffer a defeat. If thy know neither the enemy nor thyself, thy will succumb in every battle".

Markus knew that he would one day have to confront and possibly wipe every trace of Executor off of this planet if he wanted to truly be free from them for good.

So he'll do anything and everything in order to gain an advantage and strategise in advance against them.

((To take another famous quote about the strategy of war from my past life:"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable-Dwight D. Eisenhower"))

Markus, or more specifically his Kazuki side read multiple strategy quotes and advise from famous people whenever he was playing PVP or PVE in "fires of Valentia" because despite being a game it was very much like real life with it's battle system, strategy is everything and in the world of warfare the strong prey on the weak while the cunning prey on the strong, Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

((Although I never expected to actually put it to use as a character inside of the game myself...))

Markus had a wry smile (at least inwardly).

He looked around for a bit, finding research materials and thesis statements on bookshelves, test tubes, needles and other lab equipment left all over the wooden floor but nothing like what Markus was looking for.

((The research notes on Ian's study on the Laplace factor is kinda useful but it's not exactly what's important to me right now...but I'll take them anyway...))

Markus shoved a few papers notes and books he found into the bag that he brought with him for later use.

((...you know, it's kinda surprising that I haven't encountered a ghost yet...))

Markus thought, genuinely surprised.

((Usually in "fires of Valentia" places with a dark secret or have been abandoned in a long time have a high chance of spawning ghost type enemies within them...))

Markus expected to have encountered a phantom or vengeful spirit somewhere down here so he brought a holy blessed knife that could hurt spirits as well as some holy water just to be sure, but surprisingly he hasn't encountered anything so far.

Although the prospect of meeting a ghost that has the ability to hurt you is frightening for most people, as someone who's read countless horror stories from Stephen King to HP Lovecraft and played an unhealthy amount of horror games in his past life, Markus was unfazed.

((There's three possibilities with this, either this lab has a very good anti-ghost system installed or someone's been exorcising this place regularly the third is...))

Before he could finish that thought Markus found something that caught his attention, an office desk that seemed important, so he walked towards it.

Little did Markus knew, something was watching him.

Markus look through the desk thoroughly before coming across exactly what he wanted.

Inside a secret compartment under the desk's cabinet.

There was a leather bound book that was quite heavy and dusty.

Brushing the dust off Markus saw a title written on the book that made him smile inside, although his outer face was as expressionless as ever.

[Ian Silver's journal] was what was written on the book.

((Bingo...))

Markus had found exactly what he wanted.

But he couldn't enjoy it for long as an annoying fly just happened to land on Markus.

A pale face like that of a corpse opened it's big toothy jaw to bite down on Markus from behind while he was seemingly not looking.

But before it could dig it's teeth into Markus something completely stopped it's bite as it felt a strange sensation in it's mouth.

No wait, it's a ghost! How could it feel-

"Wryyyyy!!!!"

The ghost cried out in pain as Markus had just shishkebabs it's brain through it's mouth with his blessed holy knife.

""Sorry rip off Valak, I'd love to play with you but I'm occupied right now, so go fvck off back to h*ll and bother someone else, oh and if you meet Satan tell him this message for me:"you're welcomed", he should have enough free time to entertain you""

Markus said sarcastically with his usual ruinous voice before turning the ghost into phantom pieces with his knife.

Shoving Ian's journal into his bag after making quick work of that ghost, Markus began to make a mad dash for the stairs.

But the spirits inhabiting this place was one step ahead as the wooden walls of the lab moved like a snake to block the stairs.

((...this was the third possibility, the ghost were only acting docile to lure me in to their trap...))

Markus had an audible sigh as he turned around to face the horde of phantoms, ghosts and evil spirits behind him.

""(sighs)...FVCK IT! Systematic elimination of ghost should be a good midnight exercise anyway""

Despite the situation he found himself in Markus's calmness was still as unwavering as ever, this unsettled even the ghosts that were gathering here as Markus didn't seemed scared .

Unsheathing his blessed knife and holy water, Markus began the massacre.

The purge lasted for the nearly entire night leaving Markus exhausted for the next day.

From that day on, a legend began to spread in the realm of the afterlife, the legend of the "mad crimson-eyed demon, who send countless lingering spirits to their eternal rests" terrifying all denizens of the realm of death for generations to come.

No ghost would ever dare to approach Markus after that day.