"If you find that you have become a 'celebrity', then you are only one step away from the grave." When a hint of fanaticism appeared in Abu's eyes, his teacher Lan immediately woke him up with this sentence. "In this world, no one will like assassins. Even your employer doesn't like you either!" Lan's words are always cold, and he seldom speaks.

  Perhaps it was the teacher's words, or perhaps it was the cold wind blowing from the coniferous forest. Abu immediately calmed down and nodded. He knew that his teacher was rarely wrong, but he still looked forward to going out for an experience soon.

  Assassin is a very strange profession. However, if Abu were to choose between being an assassin and a vagrant again, Abu would still choose to be an assassin. At least in the past five years, following his teacher, he could still have a full meal. Due to the seemingly endless wars breaking out between various continents, there are vagrants like Abu everywhere.

  In the third year after Abu's father went to join the army, his hometown was occupied by the Kerzinja Empire. Almost all the people in the village died in the chaotic army, including his mother. Abu, who was ten years old, was able to escape. It had to be said that it was a miracle. And an even greater miracle was that he had been wandering on the war-torn Marraya Continent for five years without being frozen to death or starving to death. Even Abu himself admired himself a little. Abu guessed that one of the main reasons why his teacher Lan took him in and taught him skills was that Lan saw Abu's strong survival ability.

  Remembering that the teacher had said that starting to practice as an assassin at the age of fifteen was already a bit late. But fortunately, Abu was smart enough and willing to endure hardships. His progress could still satisfy the teacher.

  Abu used to think that his teacher Lan was a masked middle-aged man. After living with him for five years, Abu never knew what his teacher looked like. He thought the teacher was middle-aged because he inferred it from the teacher's voice. But when one day Lan taught Abu how to change his vocal cords and thus imitate the voices of various ages, Abu completely lost his prediction of the teacher's age.

  Once Abu asked Lan why he was always masked. Lan replied to him, "This way you don't have to know me. Because it is very likely that one day we will become enemies. At that time, you don't have to show mercy to me, and I will do my best to kill you. This is the code of assassins."

  Lan's figure is very short, and Abu seems even shorter than Lan. Abu, who is already twenty years old, is no taller than a sixteen-year-old child. Abu thought it was caused by malnutrition when he was wandering. But Lan told Abu that Abu was born to be an assassin. Even if he grew up drinking milk every day since childhood, his figure would not grow taller.

  "You don't have to care about your appearance. If one day your appearance becomes known to people, you will have lost the qualification to be an assassin." When teacher Lan was giving Abu a disguise class, this was the first sentence he said.

  This is a not very high hill. The hill is covered with ancient coniferous forests. Every day Abu conducts various trainings required by his teacher here. There are no villages within a hundred miles nearby. So every time Lan takes out different props, Abu is quite surprised. He suspects that the teacher has hidden them somewhere, but in the past five years, he has searched the whole mountain and found nothing.

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  When Abu was wandering, he had seen all kinds of people, swordsmen, knights, mages, thieves, priests, and so on. But he had never seen an assassin. Abu almost never knew that there was such a profession on the Marraya Continent. But now he understands that it's not that he hasn't seen it. It's just that at that time, even if he saw it, he wouldn't be able to recognize which one was an assassin.

  Abu spent three years learning assassin's disguise skills.

  "Many people will confuse thieves with assassins. This is not strange because these two professions do have similarities. It's just that thieves steal money while we steal people's lives. If thieves fail, they can look for the next opportunity. But if we fail, there is only death. Even if you can survive, no one will hire you again in the future." Lan's words sometimes make Abu quite sad. Sometimes, Abu thinks he is more suitable to be a thief.

  Abu learned no more than five moves of assassination attacks from Lan, and they are all quite simple straight stabs, oblique stabs, back stabs, and so on. Abu is very strange. Can such simple moves kill people? But in the past five years, even for the simplest straight stab, teacher Lan would make Abu stab more than a thousand times every day.

  Abu really couldn't understand: "Teacher, I don't deny that this straight stab can indeed cause great harm, and you have always hoped that I can increase the speed of the straight stab to be even faster. But I don't understand. Who will stand there and let you stab directly? I have seen that warriors have shields, and those terrible mages will use magic to block your advance from more than ten meters or even hundreds of meters away. How can I kill the enemy with such a simple straight stab?"

  Lan did not answer Abu's question directly but only said, "One day when you can answer this question yourself, you can leave me and go out on your own."

  Until today, five years later, Abu finally understood the principle of the straight stab, so he came to find Lan again: "I understand. Although warriors have shields and mages can attack from a distance, as assassins, they will not give them a chance to defend. If disguises and traps are done to perfection, even if the stab has already reached the enemy's body, they still haven't noticed."

  Lan nodded. Because of the mask, Abu couldn't see Lan's expression: "Very good. I originally thought that you should at least learn until the seventh year to understand this principle. So now it seems that I should let you leave this coniferous forest. Do you have any plans?"

  Abu was excited for a long time because he could go out. Then he asked enthusiastically: "Teacher, should I take on trials, accept some simple tasks, and then gradually improve my strength? Oh, by the way, teacher, what level of assassin am I now?" Abu remembered that warriors and mages all had levels. It seemed that there were classifications such as primary, intermediate, and advanced.

  "You don't need trials. Assassins have no levels." Lan's voice was still cold. "Even the highest-level assassins can fail sometimes, and the lowest-level assassins can kill god-like paladins. Remember what I once said. Assassins cannot fail, so assassins don't need trials either. Also, after you go out, I will no longer be your teacher. You must also know that my current voice is not my own voice. You haven't seen my face in the past five years, so you don't need to remember me. My name is not Lan either. There are some things you need in the cave. You are now an assassin. Live independently."

  Abu didn't fully understand Lan's meaning yet. Lan had already disappeared in front of Abu. Abu knew that Lan had used a very brilliant disguise technique. Maybe Lan was still by his side now, only turned into a dead branch. Or maybe Lan had walked away a long time in this instant. Perhaps he had already left the coniferous forest. In short, when Lan disappeared, Abu understood that it would be very difficult for him to see Lan again in the future.