The Ancient Genes

Somewhere in Arcane, a deserted alleyway.

With his « Stealth » skill on, Max slowly tailed the two guys in front of him. They were dressed in black along with masks which covered half of their faces .

Those two didn't appear to be Mages. The taller guy was carrying a rifle, while the shorter guy had a handbow.

Max had the confidence of taking one of them out. But the other one was his cause of worry.

He was sure he couldn't survive any hit from either the rifle or the handbow.

Besides, those guys were definitely physically stronger than him. He wished he had armor on me. He could have taken a chance then.

Now, He could only tail them hoping they would separate at some point.

..

After five minutes of tailing, the path in front of them diverge into two.

"I will report all the information to the Head Quarters." The taller guy with the rifle spoke.

The shorter guy gave him a nod before replying "Ok, then I will be joining the other guys to patrol."

And they finally separated.

Chance.

It was the time to take action. Max quietly followed the guy deeper into the area away from the other guy.

He didn't want to take any chances. If he couldn't decide it in a single strike, he would run away ASAP. It was a real life and death situation. And he was standing inside the beast's den. He was already about to do something crazy.

Max calmed his quivering hand and tightened his grip on the dagger. Sweat slid down beneath his mask. He never thought that he would take the initiative to kill someone.

It really felt odd. But it wasn't the time to waver. He steeled his resolve as his pupils shrunk and he entered a state of concentration.

It was now or never

With a distance of less than 5m from the guy, Max put his strength into his leg before breaking into a dash.

His skill deactivated due to the strong movement.

"Huh.."

Hearing the rustling sound behind his back, the guy noticed him and pulled his rifle above his waist.

'Damn it. Did I rush it?'

Seeing the muzzle of the rifle pointing towards him, He make a fatal mistake. His body tensed up which slowed him down.

He couldn't help it. That was the first time he had a gun pointed on his head.

The next thing which happened all appeared in a slow motion to Max. He could see his lips curving upwards until they touched the edges of his mask forming a strange semi circle.

His initial surprised expression turned into a sneeze at his futile efforts. He was totally looking down on Max.

His fingers slowly reached for the trigger.

'Damn it. I can't die like this, at least not with someone looking down at me. I had enough of everyone looking down at me.' he thought with mixed emotions.

Then, Max didn't even have a slightest hint of hesitation. That guy had given him enough of a reason to kill him. He would have killed him even at the risk of being shot. But he was too late. If he didn't hesitate a second earlier, he might be dead by then.

His hands finally reached the trigger.

'No, I won't die here.'

« « God's Blessing » activated, calculating the increase in stats.... »

« 25 % increase detected »

Max activated his skill and the increase of 25% in his stats was what he needed. With the 25% increase, his Agility had finally reached 20, allowing him to step into the peak realm of low level mages in terms of speed.

BANG!!

The sound of gunshot rang in the deserted alleyway as the smoke left the muzzle of the rifle.