Nameless
“Ah… this is a little more difficult than I expected.”
I had been trying for two days, but so far, I had made almost no progress.
Shadow Blink.
“This is seriously difficult!
If I had known it would be this troublesome, I wouldn’t have bothered learning it.”
I stopped for a while and waited for my mana to recover.
Something felt strange about my body.
While practicing this skill, I could feel what was happening inside me.
The more I used my shadow power, the worse my physical condition seemed to become.
I had already tried more than two thousand times, yet there was barely any improvement.
My mana was almost completely depleted.
“Now I need to recover my mana.”
I sighed.
“Ah… my entire body hurts.
It feels like someone came here and beat me from head to toe with a stick.”
I glanced at my supplies.
“Let’s eat something.”
After checking my food, I realized that my supplies were already running low.
I needed to hunt soon.
“Otherwise, I’ll have to starve.”
I examined what remained.
“For now, I’ll finish what I have.
I’ll think about hunting afterward.”
I sat down and began eating.
After a while, I suddenly spoke.
“Noxveil, is there something you want to tell me?”
“No, My Lord.
I have nothing to tell you.”
A brief silence followed.
“You’re alone now, so I thought you might want someone to talk to.”
“Oh… so that’s what you meant.”
I stared ahead without saying anything.
Being around Noctis has changed me.
Whenever I didn’t talk to him, I felt lonely.
I had never felt this way before.
Before meeting Noctis, I had spent most of my life alone.
Sometimes, I went months without speaking to anyone.
Actually…
Nobody spoke to me in the first place.
Everyone thought I was mute.
A memory from my childhood suddenly resurfaced.
One day, while walking down the street, I saw a group of thugs attacking a girl.
I tried to stop them.
Unfortunately, they noticed me.
“Hey, you!
Come here!”
I lowered my head and slowly approached them.
One of the thugs looked me over.
“He can’t speak, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
They initially told me to leave.
But another man stopped me.
You, stay here.”
He forced me to stand there and watch everything.
I remained silent.
The girl begged them to let her go, but they ignored her.
She screamed as loudly as she could.
Yet nobody came into that alley.
Nobody helped her.
After they finished, one of the thugs walked toward me.
“If you tell the police what happened today, you’ll regret it.”
He shoved some money into my hand.
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Then they left.
I looked at the girl.
She was lying on the ground, completely motionless.
I stood there for a while.
Then I walked away without saying a word.
If I had tried to protect her, I might have ended up lying beside her.
I was too weak.
So I did nothing.
They had paid me to remain silent.
Back then, I thought that was enough.
Life was full of hardships.
But eventually, everyone experienced a little peace.
When that moment arrived, they should enjoy it as much as possible.
Without those brief moments of peace, perhaps existence itself would eventually lose its meaning.
If the girl had never left her home that day, none of it might have happened.
That was fate.
Fate cannot be changed.
It gave everyone moments when they had to face the consequences of their choices, even if those moments lasted only a short while.
That was why, whenever peace finally arrived, people should enjoy it to the fullest.
The girl could have moved to another city.
She could have started her life over.
But perhaps that possibility had never crossed her mind.
Instead, she might have believed that her life had lost all meaning.
That was how people were.
Sometimes, they couldn’t see a way forward, even when one was right in front of them.
Suddenly, I realized that I had wandered too far into my memories.
“Oh… I was talking about something else.”
I turned toward Noxveil.
“Can you see my memories?”
“Yes, My Lord.
I can see them if I wish to.”
He paused briefly before continuing.
“However, I cannot do so without your permission.
So please don’t worry.”
I nodded.
“Then let’s practice Shadow Blink again.”
I resumed my training.
Just like before.
Again and again.
Yet there was still no significant improvement.
I need to hunt today.
Otherwise, I’ll run out of food.
As I ventured deeper into the jungle, I spotted several One-Star Beasts.
“I could kill them easily.”
I observed them from a distance.
“But that would be pointless.”
An idea suddenly came to me.
I’ll fight them using Shadow Blink.
When someone’s life is in danger, they naturally push themselves beyond their limits.
I wanted to see whether fighting under pressure would help me understand the skill better.
I climbed onto a tree branch and watched the beasts below.
Then, without another thought, I activated Shadow Blink.
In the next instant, I disappeared from the branch and reappeared behind one of the beasts.
My blade struck immediately.
The beast collapsed.
I moved away and waited.
Ten seconds passed.
Then I moved again.
Everything happened almost exactly as I had imagined.
I was slightly surprised.
Why did it work so well this time?
I continued fighting.
Before long, I began to understand something.
The problem wasn’t simply that I couldn’t use Shadow Blink.
The real problem was how I was using it.
Eventually, the sun began to set.
As darkness spread across the jungle, I finally understood what I had been doing wrong.
Throughout the day, I had learned something important.
Shadow Blink worked much better during actual combat.
Instead of standing in one place and repeatedly practicing the skill, I should have been using it while fighting.
I wasted two whole days!
Instead of getting frustrated with myself, I should have been fighting beasts from the beginning.
I’ll work on the remaining problems later.
Over the past few days, I had also noticed another pattern.
Shadow Blink worked best when I used another shadow as its foundation.
During combat, I had only one thought in my mind.
I have to get behind that beast, no matter what!
And then, everything clicked.
Shadow Blink had worked better because I was using the beast’s shadow.
Every living creature had a shadow.
And when I used that shadow as the basis for Shadow Blink, the skill became much more stable.
I glanced at the beasts surrounding me.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
“So…”
I tightened my grip on my blade.
“Starting today, the real chaos begins.”
“I’m going to wipe you all out!”
### System Status
Name: Nameless
Class: Assassin [Shadow Power]
Core: 0 Stars / 1.14% Progress
Title: ————
Potential: 4 Stars
Passive Abilities:
* [Eye of Truth]
* [Shadow Blade]