Assassin

[Declaration!

Geomantic Power gathered here, forging a Holy Relic with supreme power.

The guardians of the Holy Relic were summoned to assemble here. Protected by this sacred land, they were to defend the connected vessel unto death.

Remember well: defeat meant failure, and failure carried punishment. Exercise utmost caution.]

In a remote park in a certain city, a flash of black light swept past. An alternate space known as a Singularity silently unfolded, attached to this world.

An alternate space identical to the outside world rapidly took shape. Parks, roads, and houses appeared one after another, but the atmosphere was dark and oppressive, and there were no living creatures. Other than that, it was no different from the outside world.

At the center of this other world, a card appeared out of thin air. It bore the image of a masked figure holding a dagger.

The card floated in the air and spun continuously as a power known as Geomantic Power poured into it. At last, a massive summoning circle appeared in midair!

"Buzz!!"

A burst of brilliant light flashed. When it faded, the card had vanished, replaced by a tall man in a black robe.

The tall man seemed rather dazed. Everything before him was so unfamiliar. A few seconds later—

"My promotion match!!"

Mo Shuying threw back his head and shouted. Just moments ago, his final promotion match to Diamond had begun. It was the deciding game after two wins and two losses. His hands trembling, he had picked Sett, and then—

Then there was no then! Most likely, he had just gained a three-minute game and become a promotion-match loser who got warned.

"What the hell is going on? Where is this?"

Still unable to understand what had happened, Mo Shuying looked around. He forced himself to calm down as he examined his surroundings, his eyes filled with vigilance.

It was too strange. Too quiet.

Imagine playing on your computer in your own room one second, then appearing somewhere even quieter than Silent Hill the next. Mo Shuying's liver was already trembling.

Scenes from all sorts of horror games and movies flashed through his mind. Mo Shuying lowered his body and warily watched his surroundings, terrified that something might suddenly leap out of the bushes.

Then, at that moment—

[Declaration!

Obey the laws of this world.

Your body shall manifest in this world.

You are an assassin who walks through the night.

You are an arbiter of humanity who bears a blade.

You are a guardian who stands watch over hope.

Rely upon the earth and receive the protection of the geomantic veins.

Protect this place. Protect the vessel being nurtured.]

A long string of ethereal voices echoed through his mind. All sorts of information flooded into his head, making Mo Shuying instantly understand what had happened to him.

It turned out he had been summoned by this world and made into a Heroic Spirit of the Assassin class. His purpose was to protect this Singularity until a certain treasure finished being nurtured.

"I became a Heroic Spirit??"

Mo Shuying touched his chest in disbelief. He could feel a card within his body constantly radiating some sort of power.

What puzzled Mo Shuying was whether he had ever accomplished anything grand enough to meet the standards of a Heroic Spirit. He was just an otaku! At most, he had helped society save energy and reduce emissions! What else could there be?

"Could it be that I'll accomplish something great in the future?"

Mo Shuying raised an eyebrow, even feeling a little smug. As an otaku, he knew about Fate, Heroic Spirits, Type-Moon, Grand classes, and the like. When he was younger, he had shouted cringey lines like "My King is Awesome!" and "Excalibur!" more than once, so he knew perfectly well how Heroic Spirits came into being.

And today, he had also become one of them, though it was a class he did not particularly like—

Assassin!

An assassin.

Among the Seven Classes, it could not be called the weakest, but it was certainly near the bottom.

Though there were no weakest classes, only weakest Heroic Spirits, in Mo Shuying's eyes, Assassins really were weak.

In every work throughout history, aside from Assassins blessed by protagonist plot armor, which one had not been bullied into becoming background fodder? Their frail bodies were ridiculous. He probably could not even beat a certain homeroom teacher.

Mo Shuying raised a hand and instinctively summoned a projection. It displayed the attributes of his Heroic Spirit body.

[Mo Shuying]

Class: Assassin

Level: 1

HP: 1111

ATK: 888

Abilities: Strength E, Endurance E, Speed C, Mana E+, Luck C

Noble Phantasm: None.

Class Skill: Presence Concealment A+

Personal Skills: None.

Mo Shuying: "..."

My god! What kind of trash stats were these? Trash among trash?

Having played games before, Mo Shuying knew these starting stats were absolute garbage. They were straight-up cannon-fodder grunt stats. He was supposed to protect this place with that?

For an existence powerful enough to summon him here as a Heroic Spirit, killing him really did not need to be this roundabout and troublesome!

"What the hell is this! This? You expect me to protect this place with these stats? They're not even as good as a one-star! Where's my Noble Phantasm? Where are my skills?!"

Mo Shuying was speechless. It would be very difficult for him to help out under these circumstances!

Just as he was feeling annoyed—

[Warning! Foreign power invasion detected.]

"What?"

Before he could understand what was happening, an intense pain suddenly spread throughout Mo Shuying's entire body!

"Hiss!! Ah!!"

In an instant, Mo Shuying was drenched in cold sweat and shaking all over. Terror filled his heart! Had that mysterious existence heard his thoughts? Was it really going to kill him outright without beating around the bush?

Fortunately, the pain came quickly and vanished just as fast. In the blink of an eye, the pain was gone. Mo Shuying's body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to move even a finger.

Just as Mo Shuying was relieved that he seemed to still be alive—

"Ding~ God-Tier System binding successful. Would the host like to activate Daily Check-in?"

"Hmm??"

Mo Shuying froze. What was going on? Had his cheat finally arrived?

"Would the host like to activate Daily Check-in?"

"Activate it!"

Mo Shuying hurriedly chose to activate it. Given the current situation, nothing could possibly get worse than this. And if it could, then let the storm rage even harder!

"Daily Check-in activated successfully. After midnight each day, the host may perform one Daily Check-in and receive a random check-in reward. Every thirty days will grant an Intermediate Check-in, and every one hundred and eighty days will grant an Advanced Check-in. The host is awarded three Advanced Check-in opportunities. Today's check-in has not been used. Check in immediately?"

"Check in immediately!!"

Mo Shuying's eyes lit up at the system's explanation! Three Advanced Check-ins! That was equivalent to three rewards that normally took one hundred and eighty days each to obtain! Check in now!

"Ding~ Host check-in successful. Personal Skill obtained: [Gathering Storm A++]."

"...Storm? Gathering Storm?"

Mo Shuying was a little stunned when he heard the check-in reward. Wasn't Gathering Storm a rune from the game he had just been playing?

With a wave of his hand, he brought up the panel. At last, a skill appeared under Personal Skills!

Gathering Storm (A++): Continuously grows stronger by absorbing the power of the surroundings.

Gains 1 Attack, 1 Ability Power, and 10 Mana every hour.

Note: 1 Attack = 5 ATK. 1 Ability Power = 5 ATK.

Looking at this clearly Magic-Modified Gathering Storm, Mo Shuying first frowned, then revealed a smile.

"This... is the foundation of my strength."