Somewhere in the western plains of the Holy Black Dragon Empire.

"Now tell me, Robert, should we go to the Elven empire or the Bloodhaven empire?" A man in a black cloak appeared out of thin air.

Robert stood in ragged clothes admiring the grassy meadows. A grey taichi was strapped to his left.

"How long have we travelled?" He asked in an indifferent tone.

"Approximately 30,000 kilometres," Oliver said indifferently.

"And it has only been a month," Robert sighed, "Which one will be the nearest?"

"Elven is 50,000 kilometres away while Bloodhaven is 35,000 kilometres away."

"Why do they have to be so far apart?!"

"Relax, one more month, and we will arrive there. However, we will be visiting the barren expanse before that."

"You mean the Holy Trinity Barren expanse? Why are we going there?"

"Because the security over there is relatively lax so it can serve for training purposes too."

"Wait! We are going to illegally barge into other countries?!"

"Wasn't it obvious? Sometimes I doubt that you are Lawrence's son. He never cared about rules and laws."

'Father how bad is your reputation?' Robert could only sigh to himself.

"Hmm?" Oliver turned his head.

"What is it?"

"There is a goblin nearby," Oliver looked at Robert, "You are going to kill it. It will serve as practice."

"Eh? But-" Robert said, "Nevermind, I will do it. Even if I refuse you will find some way to make me do it, right?"

"Yes," Oliver clapped his hand, "Let's run till there, I will give you a lecture on goblins on the way."

Oliver pointed towards a bunch of trees some hundred metres away, "It is over there."

Robert began running without a second thought. He waved his hands and gathered mana in his body. Oliver, however, flew beside him without making a sound just like a ghost.

"Goblins are short humanoid creatures with green skin, pointed ears and yellow eyes. They have a very low intelligence level: barely enough for them to use primitive tools, weapons and such techniques. They are weaker than humans however, they move in large hoards thus posing a danger to a normal human."

Robert continued running. He was quietly assimilating the information that Oliver was giving him.

"But that is not why Heralds are advised not to battle them. It is because of their abnormal breeding powers that often mutations take place and a goblin with higher attributes is born usually of Neomage level- You can understand the fate of a herald who meets such a goblin."

"What rank is mine?" Robert finally spoke.

"Not telling. You should learn to judge the level of your opponent by looking at them. Ah yes, after you kill it, you can leave the corpse, they have no useful products except for the bones."

Robert reached the patch of trees. He bent low and slowly made his way through. He carefully avoided twigs and tree leaves by jumping on the roots or the clear ground. His ears were open to notice the slightest disturbances in the air while he often sniffed to find the smell of blood or such. His breathing was calm yet, his heart beat fast. He was on the edge.

He suddenly caught the sound of some weird grumbling. He turned and made his way to the source. His nose caught the whiff of blood. He moved quickly and steadily. Soon enough he reached a clearing, he hid in a bush. He saw a little green goblin a few metres away from him in the clearing. He was naked except for the ragged loincloth. That goblin looked like a malnutritioned child with an abnormally big nose. He was holding a small dagger and stabbing it in a corpse. When Robert looked carefully, he saw that this corpse belonged to an old woman. Her clothes were similar to that of a peasant. These clothes were, however, drenched in blood. Multiple stab wounds had destroyed her body. She was nothing more than a mutilated carcass.

"You know what," Oliver's voice whispered in his ear, "There is a little boy behind that tree trunk, he is too afraid to move and has hidden there. I guess the woman was her mother, and they came here to collect woods or so but met this goblin. The woman held back the goblin unarmed and met her end while buying her son enough time to run."

He paused and asked, "Tell me what will you do?"

Robert said, "Let my actions tell you."

With that, Robert slithered out of the bush like a snake. He swiftly drew his sword and served the goblin's arm.

"GEWKGEWKGEWK!" The goblin screamed in a weird way. Green blood spewed out of his wounds. Without a second thought, Robert served its other arm. The goblin rolled around in pain, spoiling the ground with green blood. Robert waited for the goblin to bleed and die. He heard a rustling of leaves from behind a tree nearby. The child must have been alarmed by the cries.

After a few minutes of screaming the goblin died.

"If I were you I would have done is quickly and neatly. You see this is the power of emotions- your anger clouded your judgement."

"It is an open environment, right?"

"Yes."

"His screaming must have attracted his fellowmen, I am aiming for them thus, I didn't kill him at once."

"Good judgement. But you know your own strength, right?"

"Maybe."

***

Goowok. That's the name he prefers to be called as. This prodigious goblin was only three months old yet, he had already taken over its clan with its abnormal cunningness and intelligence. He had recently learned how to use mana. With sheer strength, he had subdued eight goblin hoards and created an army of a hundred goblins. Currently, he was sitting on a palanquin made of wood and animal skin, lazily eating fruits. Four stronger goblins were holding up the palanquin. A hundred goblins marched behind. They had broken pitchforks, swords and axes are their weapons. Some were even wearing crudely made leather clothes and carrying bows. These were the relatively smarter goblins. In the centre of this green army were fifteen women being dragged in ropes. These village girls were stripped of their clothing. Numerous bruises, cuts and bite marks were visible on their frail bodies. There had been other women too but, they had died because of the constant abuse. Their bodies served no other purpose except for being food for the goblins.

Goblins were, after all, a humanoid race. They had a similar anatomy to that of humans thus, they kidnapped human girls for they found them more pleasurable than their own kin.

Tears rolled down their listless eyes. Even breathing hurt. The wounds had dried up, but when the moon rose tonight, they would only suffer more. They were being dragged in ropes. The humiliation of being treated like cattle had already shaken their mind and sanity. They would never again be the same. This was the fate of someone living in a village ambushed by goblins.

"GEWK GAWK GEWK!" a faint scream stopped Goowok's thoughts becoming the king of this world. He ordered the goblins to halt. He turned his head in the direction of a distant patch of trees. The meadows were very placid to being with, a loud sound could be easily heard across these plains.

Goowok suspected that one of his goblin soldiers had ventured into those woods while they were passing by it. That goblin had met an unexpected enemy and was going to be killed very soon. Normally Goowok won't bother about another goblin's life, but it was afraid that this goblin would cause humans to gang up against him. Yes, the one who slew this goblin would tell other humans about his army! Wait, his army would be discovered! Now he would be hunted, his army was not large enough to battle against a lot of humans, albeit an ambush in the middle of the night was a totally different story.

Suspicion haunts a guilty mind. Streams of thoughts flowed in his brain. It was, first and foremost, a goblin. Such creatures had absolutely no self-control. Anger and fear clouded the goblin's already low reason. Paranoia eventually surfaced.

'That thing must be killed' He decided. With his roar, the entire army turned around and marched towards the patch of trees.

***

Goowok's palanquin arrived shortly afterwards the army. The women were dragged there last and were tied to trees at the periphery of the patch while the goblins looked around. Goowok stood up and examined his surroundings. This patch of trees was quite big, something around a hundred metres in width and length. His yellow eyes shined as he noticed an abnormality. The number of goblins was fewer than he had known, or was is because they had spread out? Goowok's trusted forty was still by his side hence, he did not worry.

*Whizz*

A goblin's head fell down. Goowok turned to see that ten of his goblins were dead already. Their lifeless bodies fell down in the puddle of greenish-yellow blood as their served heads rolled.

'Who is it!?' Goowok was starting to panic.

*Swoosh*

Goowok turned to see a dark shadow disappear in the trees as another fifteen of his goblins dropped dead. The only sound that could be heard was of gushing out of blood from the bodies of dead goblins. However, he felt slight fluctuations in the surrounding mana.

*Crunch*

Someone stepped on a dry leaf. That sound was the spark that set ablaze the fright amongst goblins. The goblins screamed as they rushed in all directions. Goowok was their leader and seeing his 'army' disassemble like this made him furious.

Goowok gathered mana in his body. He shouted that no one should leave in goblin language. A few listened. The air whistled as the mana attacks blasted the heads of those who tried to get away. Seeing this the other goblins who tried to flee stopped in their tracks. Goowok ordered all of them to assemble. They did as he said. Goowok tried to boost the morale of these dimwits by saying that the enemy is weak, so he does not attack head on.

*Swish*

Another five goblins died. However, this time the culprit was standing right there. A boy in ragged clothes, wearing a pair of worn-out slippers and holding up a sharp taichi sword in his hands. He would have been mistaken for a beggar if not for his clean face and his sword.

Goowok realized that he was someone with near equal power. It had been some time since Goowok had fought. Goowok smiled like a madman, his eyes glowing with insanity and a want to kill. 'So he was the one who killed my kinsmen? You puny human, I will rip out your gust and bathe in your blood.' He ordered his underling to not interfere.

Goowok hopped out of his Palanquin and grabbed a double-edged sword. He refilled his body with mana.

Robert, on the other hand, stood there with an expressionless face. Just when Goowok was done preparing, Robert readied his stance and made a provoking gesture towards the goblin.

The already irate Goowok lost his reason as he charged at Robert. Robert fired a mana attack on the ground causing dirt and leave to fly. To avoid his vision being blocked, Goowok jumped in the air only to see Robert rush into the cloud of dirt. 'Dumb human' he thought.

Robert, on the other hand, stopped in the dirt cloud and jumped towards the goblin, thrusting his sword. Goowok parried the attack but, was pushed back. He slid on the ground and stood up.

Robert fired a mana attack towards the Goblin. Goowok countered the attack by firing his own attack on Robert. The attacks met in mid-air and caused a blast. A foot deep crater was produced. Dust and stones flew in the air. Goowok couldn't see Robert because of the dust clouds.

A sword came flying towards Goowok. Goowok readied himself to parry.

Suddenly a mana attack followed the sword. Goowok widened his eyes and tried to dodge however another mana attack was directed to where Goowok was about to jump. Cornered, Goowok released all the mana in his body. A frail tree nearby was broken into splinters.

*Boom! Boom!*

The mana attacks blasted in mid-air because of the interference. The ground under Goowok lay bare. Leaves, pebbles and soil rained down.

A clanging sound was heard.

Goowok frantically gathered up more mana. Something came whizzing towards him. Goowok fired a mana attack in the surrounding dust.

Something soft had been squished. 'Did I hit him?' Goowok asked himself.

However, he sensed multiple things heading towards him. He frantically attacked them all with mana.

*Squish squish squish*

'What is that!?' Goowok was utterly confused. The dust cleared. Goowok was horrified to see what he had hit. Mutilated corpses of his remaining kin slid on the ground.

He was in a state of shock, 'Where is he?!'. Robert did not miss this opportunity and struck from behind. He focused all his mana. Goowok turned and his head was grabbed by Robert. At point-blank range, all of Robert's mana was released.

*Boom*

A weird crunching sound was made as the Goblin's head burst apart like a watermelon. Skull fragments, brain matter and blood splattered on the ground.

Robert eased himself. Not a single drop of blood had touched him: he was all set to be an assassin.

He looked at his palm. Apparently, entirely emptying yourself of mana produces much fatigue in the body.

"A clean job," Oliver made his usual entrance, "You are learning."

Robert sighed, "It was a pain to set up those smokescreens."

"It was a much-flawed plan. You should never count on a being's emotions, they must be kept as variables."

Robert made a poker face.

"That reminds me, an assassin should be able to wield all weapons. Now that your physical attributes have reached the base level, we will begin with weapon practice. A for your magic training, it can wait, you have already learned to accumulate less mana and become hard to detect by Heralds. So weapon training for now."

"So what are you striking off the schedule?"

"You will sleep for 2 hours only and," Oliver smiled, "We will do twice the training."

"Waaaaah," Robert thought he might become a masochist because of all thins.

"And here is your mask. An assassin's face is his biggest weakness," Oliver handed him a mask. It was a black and blue masquerade mask made of an unknown material. The substance looked like metal but had a wood-like touch to it. It covered half of his face and his eyes. It was essentially shaped like a crescent. The mask only revealed his left forehead and the area around his left cheekbone. Beautiful patterns made of silver decorated the mask and made its surface glitter. Looking at it made one feel the one was gazing at a starry sky.

"Is this a party mask?!"

"Nope, I had a friend made it and it is designed for assassins."

"Do they all wear something like this?"

"Yes, although they have a bit less glamour."

"..."

"Let's move," Oliver disappeared.

"Wait, what about that child and people captured by goblins?!"

"Huh? You can take the child and leave him at the city gate of the nearest city that is 200 km North or leave him or kill him. As for the women, ask them whether they want to live or die. They will probably choose to die and be freed from the curse of life. However, none of these concerns me, so it is entirely up to you what you choose to do. But, none of this should compromise your training: you are free to use your sleeping hour for this purpose though."

His words were light as if nothing of this matters but, how could Robert leave others so easily. He was caught in a dilemma: whether to leave these people and continue his training or compromise on his precious resting hours and carry them all to the nearest city.

Being stuck at a crossroad, he cursed his fate. What he chooses now, he will choose the same in the future under similar circumstances: to help others at the cost of his loss or to abandon them. Such was the path he chose. An Assassin's path.