S-grade

One month passed by like a flash.

Nathan was holding an automatic rifle and shooting at the targets in the training area. He was not shooting fast but his shots were accurate. He could shoot accurately at around 100 meters with an AR with ease. This was the result of practising Ranged Combat for five hours a day for a month. Nathan would spend three of the five hours for ranged combat and an hour in the gravity chamber every day.

Now, he could hold the horse stance with the weights for at least ten minutes. The three laps around the perimeter were already easy for him in the beginning but now he could do it without breaking a sweat. His assassination skills were the best in his class but he hadn't revealed his edge yet. His classmates still thought of him as a hard-working person who can barely manage his spot in the top ten positions.

But Nathan knew that the current ranking was bound to be inaccurate as most of the kids hadn't shown their true powers yet. One could only decern so much by looking at the training and the test today would tell the truth.

The test day finally came and there were no classes for that day. Julie would call a person inside a hall individually and they would be tested there. The ones who did the test would not be allowed to come out of the hall so the others didn't know how they were going to be tested.

Nathan was pretty calm while going in. He was confident in securing a spot in the top ten so he seemed indifferent while walking in.

There were actually four people in the room. He recognized Julie and the other two guards but the man was unfamiliar to him. He had never seen the man in his one month stay in the institute.

"No need to mind me, kid. Just act like I don't exist." said the man after he noticed Nathan's gaze on him.

"We'll start with melee combat. You'll spar with him. You can use a weapon if you want to. But if you do, he'll do the same as well." said Julie as she pointed at one of the guards.

Nathan didn't say anything and look a curved dagger and a normal sword from the weapon rack. Seeing that, the guard also chose a sword.

The guard came in front of him and got into a stance.

"I've watched you for a month now, boy. You really can hide your strength, can't you? I've been curious to see how strong 'Silent Blade Nathan' is. Show me what you got kid."

Nathan squinted his eyes when he heard that but laughed lightly at the end and didn't say anything. He noticed that the guard had no intention of attacking him and was holding a defensive stance.

He crouched a little and dashed towards the guard and delivered a thrust straight towards the man's throat.

'Fast!'

This was the first time Nathan had shown his full speed in front of the guard and it was way higher than what he expected. Even though Nathan's speed was a bit unexpected, the guard still dodged sideways. His timing was perfect as he dodged the sword at the last moment. Nathan apparently expected such a reaction and he gave a horizontal slash towards the man's waist.

"No wonder they call him the silent sword. He has already learned how to mask the noise when the sword when it cuts through the air. Did he train for that? or was it learned from instincts?"

The guard didn't dodge the slash time though, he simply swung his own sword and parried the slash. Nathan also didn't let go and followed the attacks with a slice from the dagger from the other direction. The guard hadn't recovered from the parry yet so he hastily dodged but he still got a small cut on his chest.

Seeing the cut on the guard's chest, Nathan retreated and stopped fighting. The guard also stopped fighting and looked at Nathan with admiration.

"Not bad kid. Fast, decisive and to the point. I like it. You've won."

"Well, if you didn't hold back so much then I would have no chance at all."

"Ha. I even upped the standards seeing it was you. I held back even more against the other kids but they still couldn't make me move from that spot, let alone defeat me." laughed the guard.

"Alright. We'll move on to Ranged Combat next." interrupted Julie.

There was an assortment of targets on the other end of the hall and Nathan could pick any ranged weapon of choice. Nathan chose the MK 18 since he was most comfortable with that gun.

"You need to shoot all hundred targets and you will be judged by your timing, accuracy, and the number of bullets you use."

Nathan started to fire and his pace was not bad. It was average at best but his accuracy was there. He would always hit the bullseye with the gun and he finished the test in three minutes. It wasn't the best but there was nothing to fault there. After all, he had started training just a month ago.

Next, came the language test. This one was the easiest test so far because all he needed to do was write what was in the picture. He finished the test in ten minutes and then came the assassination test.

In this one month, the most important thing taught in the Assassination class was how to kill a man efficiently from behind. That was it. After all, it was still the absolute basic technique being taught.

There was a mechanical dummy in the hall and it resembled a human in shape and size.

"This is a mechanical representation of a human body. It is exactly like a human body but it can only do some basic movements. All you need to do is to demonstrate a basic assassination process." said Julie with a smile.

Nathan readied himself and he controlled his breathing. His breathing was slow and consistent but there was no noise from it. He slowly calmed down his heartbeat and concealed his presence as much as he could. He was out in the open but his aura and presence were very dim. The man unfamiliar to Nathan's eyes widened as he looked at the skinny kid in front of him.

Nathan held his dagger and walked towards the dummy's back. He kicked the dummy behind the knees and it immediately knelt down. As soon as it lost its balance, Nathan covered up the mouth and slit its throat. It was an incredibly fluid and smooth series of events. It was as if he had already done it a million times before. But Nathan didn't let go of the mouth. He still held on to it for some time and released it after a full minute.

"Perfect." exclaimed one of the guards after seeing that.

"What's your name boy?" asked the unfamiliar man.

"Nathan."

"Good. Nathan, I have a small mission for you. Would you take it?"

"Mission?" Nathan was intrigued.

"Yes. A mission. I will even reward you generously if you complete it well." said the man with a smile while Julie and the two guards were confused.

"Rewards? Let's hear it then." replied Nathan. He was fairly certain that this man was one of the big shots in Asphodel from the way Julie and the two guards treated him. With the mention of rewards form a big shot he didn't hesitate to agree.

"It's not that difficult actually. All you have to do is ................."