Chapter 400: A Better Offer (400 chaps :3 )

Kael stared at the two options floating before him.

[ACCEPT]

[DECLINE]

He kept his hands at his sides. Receiving a blessing from something powerful enough to draw an announcement from the Tower should have been exciting. Instead, he found himself wondering what the offer would cost.

Recent experience had made him suspicious of anything that offered power without mentioning a price.

He focused on the notification, and the interface expanded.

[DIVINE PATRONAGE OFFER]

The One Who Walks With Silence has observed your performance.

Your ability to move beyond perception, suppress your presence, infiltrate hostile territory, and eliminate a protected target without confirmed detection has drawn their interest.

Your methods demonstrate exceptional compatibility with their domain.

The One Who Walks With Silence offers you the opportunity to walk beneath their shadow.

[PROPOSED CLASS CHANGE]

Current Path: Martial Artist

Proposed Path: Shadow Assassin

"A class change?" Kael leaned closer to the window, though that did nothing to make the words more informative. Before he could investigate further, another section appeared.

[WARNING]

Accepting this Class Change will fundamentally restructure your current progression.

Your existing Internal Energy pathways will be dismantled and restored to conventional Mana Channels.

Your body will regain access to Mana.

Martial pathways incompatible with the Shadow Assassin Class may be lost, altered, or rendered unusable.

Runic compatibility will be significantly reduced.

Continued Rune usage may become impossible.

Kael read the warning twice, paying particular attention to the part about dismantling his internal energy pathways.

"I’m not doing that," he muttered.

He had expected an ability or some improvement to his stealth. Instead, the proposed blessing would tear apart what he had spent years building and replace it with a Class he knew almost nothing about.

He scrolled farther anyway.

[SHADOW ASSASSIN]

A hidden combat Class specializing in concealment, assassination, positional superiority, and shadow manipulation.

Primary Resource: Mana

Primary Attributes: Dexterity / Intelligence

Core Focus:

Presence SuppressionShadow ManipulationAmbush DamageTarget IsolationSilent MovementShort-Range Spatial Movement

Kael could see the appeal. The Class offered almost everything someone might want for the mission he had just completed, along with several abilities that would have made entering and leaving the palace much easier.

The problem was what accepting it might do to everything else.

Nine Yang, the Demon Fist, and the Wonderlusting Demons movement art all belonged to a path he was still learning to use properly. His Runes, Anchor, the gauntlets, and his Malachor equipment worked alongside that training. He had spent months discovering how to make those things cooperate.

Now something had watched the result and offered to replace the foundations.

Kael looked down at his hands.

"The Runes are why I managed any of that in the first place."

Darkness had concealed his form while Presence kept people from recognizing that something was there. Their maximum synergy had reduced the cost enough for him to maintain both through most of the infiltration. Without them, he would never have reached the king’s bedside unnoticed.

Losing access to Runes because someone admired his use of them seemed particularly stupid.

He returned to the warning about his internal energy pathways. Even without the rest, that would have been enough to make him refuse.

Still, he gave the decision one final consideration. Rejecting a divine being carelessly sounded like a good way to acquire another Ulsal, and the first had already caused enough trouble.

The costs remained just as unacceptable after he thought about them.

Kael selected [DECLINE].

The interface disappeared. For several seconds, nothing replaced it, leaving him standing among the trees with the former prisoners moving quietly nearby.

He tipped his head toward the night sky.

"I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to keep the path I have."

A notification appeared immediately.

[The One Who Walks With Silence is displeased.]

Kael’s hand stopped halfway to his side.

"Oh, come on. I said I appreciated it."

The wording was far too familiar. He stared through a gap in the canopy, half expecting the stars to arrange themselves into something threatening.

Nothing happened, which gave him time to explain.

"I spent months developing my internal energy and learning those martial arts. The Runes are part of almost everything I do. I can’t throw all of that away to start over with a Class I’ve only just heard of."

The window remained unchanged.

Kael rubbed the back of his neck. "I’m also trying very hard not to offend you. That ought to count for something."

The Tower chimed.

[The One Who Walks With Silence acknowledges your reasoning.]

His shoulders loosened. Before he could decide whether saying anything else would improve matters, a second notification appeared beneath it.

[The One Who Walks With Silence has granted you a minor gift.]

Kael stared at the word gift. He had been hoping to leave the conversation without making an enemy. Apparently, the negotiation had gone better than expected.

[ABILITY ACQUIRED]

[Shadow Step]

Classification: Divine Minor Ability [Minor Authority]

Resource Cost: None

Source: The One Who Walks With Silence

[PASSIVE EFFECT: SHADOW REFUGE]

Once per day, when the user would suffer a lethal strike, Shadow Step may automatically activate.

For a brief moment, the user’s body transitions into shadow, allowing the lethal attack to pass through without causing fatal damage.

Activation occurs automatically when applicable.

Cooldown: 24 Hours

"That is your idea of minor?" Kael asked.

His eyes returned to the description. Something that could automatically save him from a lethal strike deserved considerably more enthusiasm than the notification seemed to expect.

The interface expanded again before he finished reading.

[ACTIVE EFFECT: SHADOW STEP]

Once per day, while standing within a shadow, the user may instantly travel to another visible shadow within line of sight.

The destination must be clearly perceived by the user.

No Mana, Internal Energy, or other resource is consumed.

Cooldown: Shared with Shadow Refuge.

Kael’s attention settled on the final line.

The two effects shared a cooldown. Using Shadow Step to travel would leave him without its protection against a lethal strike for twenty-four hours. If Shadow Refuge activated first, he would lose the movement option until the ability recovered.

That was a decision he would have to make carefully.

He looked between two nearby trees. Moonlight fell through the canopy in broken patches, leaving shadows beneath the trunks and across the uneven ground. He could see several places that met the description without even turning his head.

A shadow on a rooftop could get him above a patrol. One beyond an open doorway could carry him past the people guarding it. A gap in the ground would cease to matter if he could clearly see a suitable destination on the other side.

He would not have to cross the intervening space at all.

Kael resisted the urge to try it. Spending the shared cooldown merely to confirm that teleportation was useful seemed like the sort of decision he might regret shortly afterward.

Instead, he looked upward again.

"Thank you. That’s pretty damn handy."

[The One Who Walks With Silence is pleased by your response.]

Kael laughed quietly. "You’re already easier to talk to than the other one."

Nearby, the former prisoners continued helping each other, and wrapping bandages over wounds. Nobody seemed particularly concerned about Kael speaking to the empty air.

After everything that had happened tonight, an armored man having a conversation with himself probably deserved very little attention.

He reopened the ability description and checked it carefully. There was no Class change attached, no alteration to his internal energy pathways, and no demand that he stop using Runes. Nothing in the listed terms required worship, offerings, exclusive patronage, or the completion of another mission.

That was much closer to the blessing he had expected.

It also made him suspicious again.

"Is this a bribe?" he asked. "Show me something the Shadow Assassin Class could do and hope I reconsider later?"

The system gave him no immediate answer. Kael looked from the ability description to the empty space above it.

"That sounds like a bribe."

[The One Who Walks With Silence finds your interpretation amusing.]

Kael smiled. "I’ll take that as an answer."

Whatever the intention, Shadow Step suited his current abilities far better than the proposed Class change. Darkness and Presence already let him approach unnoticed. Now he had another way to reach a difficult position or survive a mistake, without sacrificing the skills that had brought him this far.

He closed the description, and another notification appeared.

[The One Who Walks With Silence expects more from you.]

[Continue demonstrating worthy feats within their domain, and further rewards may be granted.]

Kael paused with his hand still raised.

There was the continued interest. The gift had come without a stated obligation, but the giver clearly intended to keep watching. More successful infiltration, concealment, or assassination might earn further rewards.

He considered what that could mean, then glanced toward the distant goblin city.

"At least you’re a better potential patron than the bastard who spent Causality trying to get me killed."

The notification remained where it was. Kael decided that was probably as much criticism of another divine being as the conversation needed.

"I’ll make use of the ability," he added. "Probably sooner than I’d like."

The divine interface faded, and the Tower chimed again.

This time, a larger reward panel opened before him. Kael straightened as he recognized the heading.

[PERFECT CLEAR REWARD]

Floor 12 has been completed with maximum evaluation.

Perfect Clear conditions have been fulfilled.

Additional reward grade has been increased.

[REWARD ACQUIRED]

Legendary Reward Chest

Kael went still.

He had expected the Perfect Clear to improve his reward. He would have been pleased with something Epic, particularly after collecting the brooch and receiving Shadow Step.

The word Legendary remained on the screen when he read it again.

A golden chest icon appeared in his inventory. Kael selected it immediately, bringing up the description.

[Legendary Floor Reward Chest]

Contains one reward of Legendary grade.

Possible rewards may include equipment, artifacts, skills, consumables, materials, or unique Tower resources.

Contents are determined upon opening.

His fingers flexed inside his gauntlets.

There could be almost anything inside. A weapon, another artifact, a skill, or even materials valuable enough to justify their own project. Whatever form the reward took, its grade was guaranteed.

Kael wanted to open it badly enough that he had already started reaching toward the icon when he remembered where he was.

The forest remained dark around them. Injured prisoners rested nearby while the healthier survivors prepared to move farther from the city. Somewhere behind him, a dead king lay beneath his blankets, waiting to become a problem for everyone who had escaped the palace.

This was a poor place to become distracted by a new toy.

The Tower offered him the opportunity anyway.

[Would you like to open the Legendary Floor Reward Chest now?]

[OPEN]

[STORE]

A further option appeared beneath the prompt.

[PROCEED TO FLOOR 13]

Kael looked between the choices. The chest was already his, and waiting a little longer would not change its grade. He could inspect the contents after leaving the goblin kingdom behind.

"Not yet," he said, selecting [STORE].

The chest remained in his inventory as the opening prompt closed. The next question took its place.

[Proceed to Floor 13?]

Kael looked toward the prisoners.

They had food, water, bandages, and a route away from the city. The strongest among them were helping those who could still walk, while others prepared to carry the worst of the injured. Several had already moved deeper between the trees.

He wished he could point them toward somewhere better than an unfamiliar stretch of forest. There was no settlement on his map that he could confidently send them to, and escorting them farther would mean leading an entire group through territory he knew no more about than they did.

He had given them what he could. They were free of the cells, and every person who had still been alive when he opened the doors had made it out.

Kael pressed the proceed option and disappeared.

The Floor had given him rather more than an assassination mission. An ancient Elven brooch sat in his inventory with something Legendary sealed inside it. Beside it waited a Legendary chest he could actually open, while a new divine ability had appeared among his skills.

He had even managed to refuse a Class change without making another god determined to kill him.

For an evening that had involved setting a palace dungeon on fire, the results were difficult to complain about.

"All right," Kael said. "Let’s go to the next Floor. We’ll open the box when we get there."

He touched the confirmation.

[Proceeding to Floor 13.]

Kael was still lowering his hand when the forest vanished around him.