“I am quite confident you would be able to pass, even without my help. But better safe than sorry,” Rafael explained. “As I’ve said, you will be the youngest one, so you be at a disadvantage. It’s likely that you won’t be the strongest person there.”

“How strong are the applicants, usually?”

“That depends. I would say that most of the applicants could be divided into three categories. The newbies who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing, who think being an assassin is a game—”

“There’s enough of them to make a whole category?”

“You would be surprised how many people take our craft as a game. These people usually die during the second part of the exam.”

“People can during the exam?” Nathan felt himself growing anxious.

“Yes, they can, and they do.”

“But isn’t there a problem with that? Legally, I mean. Like, doesn’t that kind of count as murder when they die?”

“Actually, no. Every person has to sign a waiver beforehand. All the participants are made aware they might die, and they agree to accept the risk. Or something like that.”

“ like that?” Nathan chuckled. “I thought you would know all of this by heart.”

“I’m not really the type. I like action, not paperwork.”

“Yeah, me too,” Nathan smiled. “Wait a minute.” He pressed a hand against his chin.

“Yes?”

“You said that every participant needs to sign a legally binding document.”

“That’s right.”

“But I’m only fourteen. I can’t do that.”

“Oh, shit. You’re right,” Rafael said quietly.

Nathan’s jaw dropped. “You—no way. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about this.”

“No, I haven’t,” Rafael said calmly. “No worries, boy. All will be solved in time.”

“What option do I have but to believe you?” Nathan shrugged, his face turning calm as well.

“Enough of that.” Rafael waved his hand as if he were swatting a fly. “Back to the topic at hand. You asked about the contestants.”

“Yes. You mentioned the first group. The cannon fodder,” Nathan mocked.

“Just you be careful that you don’t end up as the leader of the cannon unit,” Rafael said, raising an eyebrow. “The second group consists of new people with realistic expectations of what’s to come. They’ve never attended before, but usually, they know an assassin or they have enough money to buy information.”

“How strong are these people, usually?”

“Hard to say, but on average they are a little weaker than you. It really depends on the individual. Besides, it’s hard to grasp how someone is. There’s never really been a specific strength coefficient or anything like that. After all, if you think about it, there’s only so much you can infer from how much someone can bench press. In the end, a smart opponent can win even when he’s physically weaker than his enemy.”

“Thank God! My friends always talk about power levels and stuff. It irks the hell out of me. There’s this show called where they give numbers to people based on how strong they are, I think. Haven’t watched it. . . but how stupid is that?”

“As I’ve said, you can’t quantify someone’s strength. It depends on many factors. That’s why no matter how much I prepare you, you can still fail the exam, or even die.”

Nathan gulped at the thought.

“But I hope that won’t happen,” Rafael said, a little more cheerfully. “The last group are the ones that have failed at least once but survived. You should be really careful around these people. Most of them know what they’re doing. If they managed to survive, it means they’re good.

Rafael paused and took out his phone. His expression turned ugly.

“What’s the matter?” Nathan asked.

“Nothing important to you. Looks like I’ll have to leave a little earlier today.”

“Is it the anti-assassination movement?”

“I wish. That would be less trouble.”

“What could—”

“Never mind. You’ll find out eventually. Where was I?” Rafael closed his eyes for a second, thinking. “There are some individuals that are really hard to categorize. You’re one of them. But these are pretty rare, so I wouldn’t really call them a group, per se.”

Nathan smiled. “Thank you, Rafael.”

“I’m here to help. No worries.”

“No,” Nathan shook his head, “I meant to thank you for speaking with me normally. I haven’t spoken with anyone intelligent for a while if I don’t count Ms. Valdez. Talking with my friends usually doesn’t really end up in an eloquent conversation, and my father hasn’t exactly been around that much lately.”

Rafael ruffled Nathan’s hair and smiled. “You’re a strange one, boy. Have I told you that before?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!” Nathan grinned. “But you still haven’t told me about the entrance exam. What does it look like?” Nathan’s voice was half anxious, half excited.

“Ah, yes! The exam itself consists of two parts—an RTD duel and sort of a battle royale.”

“Battle royale? Like the one in games?”

“How would I know?” Rafael shrugged. “I haven’t played a single game in my life, apart from poker and blackjack.”

“Never mind. How does it work?”

“The RTD duel is quite self-explanatory. There will be more details when you get there, but there isn’t really anything valuable that I can tell you now. Perhaps the only thing would be to lie low. Don’t try to stand out. If you do, you will be targeted in the second exam.”

“Yes, that makes sense. I do want to fight, but I’m not stupid.”

“Glad to hear that. Just keep that in mind and you’ll be fine. The people who pass the first part will have a day’s rest before they are thrown onto a private island for the second part. The second part is a little trickier. It isn’t just a simple ‘kill all’ scenario.”

“Occidendum owns a private island?!”

“As I’ve said, it’s a lucrative business.”

“That’s cool!”

“I guess. Anyway, once you’re on this island, you’ll have some time to disperse and hide. This is the so-called . During this time, you can’t fight with anyone else and the RTDs won’t be released.”

“You said it was a battle royale, didn’t you? Will we by fighting RTDs as well?”

“Precisely! The whole thing is more complicated than ‘kill everyone and win’. Now that I think about it, it’s more like some kind of a survival test, rather than a battle royale.” Rafael played with his beard, staring into the distance.

Nathan was already formulating several plans, so he let the silence drag on.

“Well, whatever we decide to call it, it doesn’t change what it is,” Rafael eventually continued. “And it’s just you, on a huge island for five days, trying to earn points by eliminating other contestants and RTDs.”

“Eliminating… as in killing?”

“You do what must be done,” Rafael shrugged.

Despite his eagerness, Nathan felt a growing sense of dread at the feeling of killing someone for the first time.

“Do I have any other pieces of advice?” Rafael spoke to himself, breaking Nathan out of his daydream. “Try to make friends. It will be a lot harder once you join the company, trust me. These people will be completely unbiased, so that might be good. And other than that, just be careful. Don’t do anything stupid, and try not to stand out.”

“Got it! Make friends, be careful, and don’t stand out,” Nathan replied awkwardly. “Sounds a little too simple, but I’ll try to keep it in mind.”

“That’s not all, of course. I’ve already said we’ll be spending a lot of time together. The next exam takes place in December. Today’s the 8th of August. We’ve got approximately five months to prepare you, although I doubt that much will be necessary.”

“Five months is a lot of time,” Nathan said, disappointed. “So I won’t be an assassin for five more months?”

“Sorry, boy. That’s just how it is.” Rafael placed a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “But at least you’ll get to spend more time with me. Isn’t that exciting?” Rafael smirked, and Nathan once again had a bad feeling about what he would experience in the coming months.

“If I had a tail, I’d be wiggling it right about now,” Nathan replied sarcastically. Rafael laughed.

“Glad to hear that,” he said, handing Nathan a piece of paper. “Good talking to you, boy. This is my phone number. Personal phone, so no need to worry about anything official. Just call me when you’re ready to continue training.”

“When do you propose we do that?”

“Well, I personally don’t care, but I would say we shouldn’t wait for too long. And once we start, there won’t be much time off. So keep that in mind.”

Nathan nodded.

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some errands to run. People to kill, all that good stuff,” Rafael said, heading towards the exit.

Nathan gulped. After everything he had heard, he wasn’t sure if he had made the right call. Perhaps he still wasn’t ready to be an assassin.