Reaper Guild Headquarters

Since Asher was new to the headquarters, he decided to take a walk around while quietly gathering information.

As he casually walked through the corridors, his eyes observed every member he passed. To everyone else, he looked like a new recruit trying to familiarize himself with the headquarters.

In reality, he was carefully analyzing each assassin.

After observing them for a while, Asher came to a conclusion.

"There aren’t many people from the lower branch left."

Most of those who had once belonged to the lower branch had already died during missions or internal conflicts. Only a handful of them remained alive.

The majority of the assassins inside the headquarters were different.

They were more like soldiers than assassins.

They had already mastered their elements to the Master Rank despite not being very old. If they had truly been part of the lower branch, they should have been much older before reaching that level, considering the lower branch members were never allowed to practice any elemental magic.

This only confirmed Asher’s assumption.

"So the lower branch is merely disposable cannon fodder, while the real elite are trained from childhood."

Without changing his expression, Asher continued walking until he reached the Elemental Training Room.

As soon as he entered, he noticed a man sitting behind a desk.

The man looked up and immediately recognized him as Recruit No. 186.

Looking at Asher, he asked,

"Choosing a new element? There are four you can learn here: Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind. Which one would you like to learn? Once you decide, I’ll provide you with the study material you need to understand the basic theory."

Asher looked at the man before asking,

"What about the other elements, such as Black Magic, Spatial, Light, and Lightning?"

The man laughed before replying,

"Those are far too difficult for someone like you. They require exceptional talent to master. And Spatial Magic, especially, is extremely dangerous. If used incorrectly, it can kill its own caster. Very few people even attempt to learn it, and only truly talented individuals can master that element."

He paused before looking Asher up and down.

"And there’s no way you’d be able to master it. You look like you’re already in your thirties. Just focus on the four basic elements. If you work hard, you might reach the Master Rank in one of them after twenty years."

Asher didn’t react to the man’s words. Instead, he calmly asked,

"So there are no Spatial Mages in the headquarters?"

The man shook his head.

"There aren’t any in the headquarters. Most of the members here have only mastered the four basic elements."

He leaned back in his chair before continuing,

"Only noble houses have Spatial Mages, and even then, most of them are outsiders hired by the nobles. Very few people are born with the talent to master that element."

He snorted before adding,

"As for those Astrean freaks... they’re a different story altogether. They’re monsters when it comes to Spatial Magic."

The man waved his hand impatiently.

"Enough about that. Just pick one of the four basic elements and stop wasting my time."

Asher simply replied,

"Wind."

The man nodded before taking out a few books from a nearby shelf and placing them on the desk.

"These contain the basic theory of Wind Element. Read them first. Only after understanding the theory will you be allowed to start practicing."

Asher picked up the study material without saying anything.

After that, he returned to his assigned room.

The rest of the day passed quietly as he patiently waited for the next day to arrive.

At the same time, he shared all the information he had gathered with his other vessels.

The Next Day

Knock... Knock...

A knock echoed through Asher’s room.

Asher walked to the door and opened it to see who it was.

Standing outside was No. 46, still wearing his mask.

Asher looked at him before asking,

"What happened?"

No. 46 looked at Asher and replied,

"I hope you’ve rested enough, because today you’ll be going on your first mission."

Asher looked at No. 46 and asked,

"What type of mission is it, and when do we leave?"

No. 46 simply replied,

"Come with me. You’ll find out soon enough. You also need to meet the members who’ll be accompanying you on this mission."

After that, the two of them silently made their way toward a meeting room.

A few minutes later, they arrived.

Asher stepped inside and found that three people were already waiting.

They were Code No. 89, Code No. 98, and Code No. 110.

All of them were wearing identical masks, concealing their identities.

As soon as Asher entered alongside No. 46, the three of them shifted their gazes toward him.

After sizing Asher up for a few moments, Code No. 89 spoke first.

"So this is the newbie we got this year."

He let out a faint chuckle before continuing,

"I hope he’ll survive for a while. More importantly, I hope he’ll actually be useful during this mission."

The room fell silent after his words.

Code No. 98 simply glanced at Asher before leaning against the wall without saying anything.

Asher, on the other hand, remained completely indifferent.

All three of them were male.

No. 46 looked at Asher before turning toward the others and said,

"Don’t worry about him being a burden. At the very least, he’ll be able to survive long enough while you finish off the main target. Even if he gets captured, it won’t change anything since he doesn’t know much about the location of the headquarters anyway."

None of the others objected.

To them, Asher was nothing more than a disposable recruit.

Asher’s expression, however, remained as indifferent as ever.

He neither agreed nor disagreed.

No. 46 then looked at them and said

"The mission is straightforward."

He pointed at a route marked on the map.

"Our target is the daughter of a Viscount. She’ll be traveling to an auction later today."