Stealth User training

In Azeroth, the different mainstream classes clearly had their own distinct characteristics.

Mages had an extremely high barrier to entry and depended on talent. If your affinity for the arcane was too low or your intelligence too poor, no amount of effort would help. But once you mastered the craft, your potential was limitless. Sending a ship flying into the sky with your bare hands or freezing an entire city was entirely possible.

Classes such as Priests, Shamans, Paladins, and Druids were also powerful, but they depended too heavily on outside forces. Once those forces stopped favoring you, you became no different from a loser Warrior. So when Tyrande, Malfurion, Thrall, Tirion Fordring, and the others were badass, they were truly badass, but when they were useless, they were truly useless.

Anyone could become a Warlock, and getting stronger was easy, provided you were willing to sell your soul. Unfortunately, most Warlocks could not get a good price and instead easily ended up counting the money for the people who sold them out.

Warriors, Hunters, and Rogues had lower barriers to entry, but the downside was that without an outside blessing or an explosive surge of power, they could easily become losers. Varian had yet to receive the wolf god's blessing, so he currently belonged among the loser Warriors.

Still, Stealth User was already the easiest class for the Brotherhood to spread at present. Even the most useless class practitioner was better than someone who knew nothing, wasn't he?

Besides, the number of Stealth Users in the Brotherhood was crucial to Felix's plan.

VanCleef led Felix and a group of brothers to an open stretch of level ground.

Bare-handed, he did his best to recall every detail of the training his childhood friend, Mathias Shaw, the leader of SI:7, had given him. Then he said, "Before I teach you, I need to assess your current abilities."

He beckoned and said, "Felix, let's start with you. Now, attack me with everything you've got. Let me see exactly what level you're at."

Noticing Felix's hesitant expression, he said frankly, "It's fine. Come on. As the leader of the Defias, I swear here, with all the brothers around us as witnesses, that you may attack me however you please. Even if you kill me, you will be innocent."

The Rogues gathered around whispered among themselves, discussing it, but Felix was free of distractions now. He had already focused all his attention on VanCleef.

Without another moment's hesitation, Felix charged toward VanCleef with his longsword in hand.

VanCleef merely sighed, then easily dodged to one side, casually offering pointers as he went. "Your strength is quite good. You're just a little short on fighting technique. Besides, speed is the one thing that makes an assassin's techniques unbeatable. You're too slow, and your body isn't agile enough."

No matter how hard Felix swung his longsword, his opponent deftly dealt with each attack. After a dozen or so exchanges, Felix was dog-tired and sweating profusely all over, but VanCleef remained perfectly at ease. He made his one-sided evasions look like an elegant waltz, utterly composed and leisurely.

Although VanCleef was extremely laid-back, Felix's attacks still made no progress whatsoever. It could even be said that his opponent anticipated every attack he made.

He had barely begun an attack, his weapon still on its way, before his opponent had already dodged aside, as elusive as a ghost.

"Keep going. Harder." VanCleef shook his head. "I know you haven't used your full strength yet."

Felix pushed hard against the rough ground, using the impulse provided by its static friction to launch himself like a cannonball, faster than before, straight at VanCleef's vitals.

VanCleef smiled faintly and swiftly dodged aside. Felix attacked with all his might, without pausing for a moment. The longsword in his hand rained down like a violent storm, every stroke aimed squarely at a vital spot, yet he never managed to hurt VanCleef in the slightest.

Since VanCleef was unarmed and had shown no intention of counterattacking, Felix did not defend himself either. Instead, he devoted all his energy to attacking, merely trying to leave a mark on the leader's blue uniform.

Suddenly, VanCleef vanished before his eyes. Then he appeared beside Felix at an absurd speed, casually took the longsword from his hand, and tossed it onto the ground, where it landed with sharp clatters.

Felix froze. He realized clearly that if VanCleef had wanted to turn around and kill him, he would already have succeeded.

"This is your first lesson, brothers. As assassins, we must not use our full strength lightly. Once we do, we must be certain we can succeed."

"The first thing you need to do is learn how to protect yourselves. Only then comes how to kill."

Seeing that the man before him seemed a little dejected, VanCleef patted Felix's shoulder. "All right. Your strength and speed are actually quite good. You're just lacking a little technique."

After a brief pause, he continued, "But for Rogues and assassins, technique is what matters most."

"It's fine. Just study more. You do have talent. Assassination, combat, ambushes-you need to learn them. Making, refining, and using all kinds of poisons-you need to learn those too. You also need to learn shadow magic. That's what we assassins rely on to operate right under our enemies' noses. Stealth is the most important of these shadow spells. If you can master advanced Stealth-Wind Walk-then you'll be an excellent assassin."

"And pickpocketing, theft, and lockpicking," Felix added. "We need to learn those too."

"What? Aren't you trying to-" VanCleef was visibly surprised.

"Leader, seizing Stormwind City's tax revenue and confiscating the Royal Bank's assets are very important matters for us," Felix said. "Have you forgotten why we set out on the path of fighting Stormwind City?"

"Of course not. Because those damned nobles-our money-"

"Since these nobles can owe us money," Felix said with a mysterious smile. He had not forgotten the original meaning of the word Soviet-a council of workers' and soldiers' representatives.

"Then why can't they also fall behind on paying Stormwind City's soldiers?"

"Granted, paying the army takes priority over paying us for them. But what if we make the kingdom a little poorer, until it doesn't even have the money to pay the army? Those greedy nobles of Stormwind City would rather die clutching their money than take out their own private property to pay the soldiers."

"An army that goes unpaid for a long time will-"

"Mutiny!" Vladimir, Joseph, and VanCleef shouted in unison.