They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 174: Thornhaven [3]

The inn’s side exit led to a narrow alley between buildings, the kind of space that existed in every town for practical access but that most people avoided after dark.

Perfect for what I needed.

I pulled my hood lower, activated my debug vision, and started moving through the streets with deliberate casualness.

Just another traveler taking an evening walk. Nothing suspicious.

But my scan was working overtime, tracking those three signatures I’d spotted earlier.

[SURVEILLANCE_TARGETS: TRACKED]

entity_01: "rooftop / 35m_north"

entity_02: "alley_mouth / 50m_west"

entity_03: "marketplace / 60m_east"

all_targets: STATIONARY

behavior: CONTINUED_OBSERVATION

Should I confront them head-on? Or try to figure out what they want first?

I took a turn down a side street, deliberately moving in a pattern that would reveal whether they were actually following me or just watching the inn.

The first signature moved. Tracking me.

Then the second adjusted position.

The third stayed stationary but oriented toward my new location.

Yeah. They’re definitely on me.

Not just watching the inn. Watching me specifically.

Which meant they either recognized me despite the hood, or they were tracking anyone who left from that building.

Either way, I needed to know who they were and what they wanted.

I pulled up my status window while walking, checking my resources.

[STATUS]

Name: Jin Raith

Age: 17

Class: Debugger

Level: 22

EXP: 2,340/5,400

Rank: C

MC (Mana Capacity): 270/450

HP: 1,025/1,025

MP: 525/625 (+375)

Stats:

STR: 33

VIT: 32

AGI: 37

INT: 77

WIS: 45

LUK: 19

Allocation Points: 40

Forty unspent stat points.

I’d been saving them, not sure where they’d be most useful.

But if I was about to confront three unknowns, I needed to be prepared.

More mana for edits. More speed if things go south and I need to run.

I made the allocation while walking, the familiar sensation of stat increases rippling through me.

Stats:

STR: 33

VIT: 32

AGI: 54 (+17)

INT: 100 (+23)

WIS: 45

LUK: 19

Allocation Points: 0

MP: 750/750 (300 + 450)

The changes took effect immediately, my mind sharpening, processing faster, my body feeling lighter, more responsive.

That’ll do.

I closed the status window and activated a quick self-modification.

[SELF_EDIT]

target: "personal_presence"

effect: "detection_difficulty +90%"

target: "movement_speed"

effect: "AGI_boost +30%"

duration: 15_minutes

MP_cost: 85

My form blurred slightly in the shadows. My footsteps went silent.

Then I moved.

Fast.

One moment I was walking casually down the street. The next I’d closed the distance to the nearest signature—the one on the rooftop—in three seconds flat.

I appeared behind him without warning, Oathstorm already half-drawn.

The figure spun, startled—

I activated my debug vision, focusing on him directly.

[ENTITY_SCAN]

name: UNKNOWN

level: 16

class: "ASSASSIN"

threat_level: MODERATE

status: SURPRISED

affiliation: UNKNOWN

Assassin watching me specifically?

My eyes widened.

This isn’t Duke Glimor’s style... he’d send hunters or guards, not hired killers.

Someone else wants me dead?

The assassin’s hand was already moving toward his weapons, trained reflexes overriding surprise.

But I didn’t give him time to complete the draw.

target: "enemy_movement_speed"

effect: "AGI_reduction -60%"

duration: 2_minutes

MP_cost: 45

His movements slowed enough that his lightning-quick draw became merely fast.

I ducked under his reaching hand.

Three needles appeared from his other hand, thrown with professional accuracy despite the speed reduction.

I twisted, modified trajectory mid-flight.

[PROJECTILE_EDIT]

targets: "throwing_needles x3"

effect: "trajectory_deviation"

MP_cost: 15

The needles curved away from me, embedding themselves in the rooftop tiles instead of my chest.

Good thing I lowered his speed first.

The assassin’s eyes widened behind his dark mask, clearly not expecting his target to be capable of this.

He drew the short blade from his back in a reverse grip and came at me.

I drew Oathstorm fully.

Our blades met with a sharp clang that echoed across the rooftop.

The assassin’s eyes went even wider when his blade developed a hairline crack from the impact.

Legendary weapon versus standard equipment. No contest.

But he was good.

He disengaged immediately, creating space, throwing more needles to cover his retreat while his free hand made signals—

Damn it.

The other assassins were coming.

I pressed the attack on the first one, not wanting to fight all three at once if I could avoid it.

The assassin defended desperately, his slowed speed making it impossible to properly counter.

But he was buying time, not trying to win.

The second assassin landed on the rooftop behind me, a woman, I noted from the build, similarly dressed in dark leathers.

I spun, modified the rooftop tiles beneath her feet.

[ENVIRONMENTAL_EDIT]

target: "roof_tiles"

effect: "friction_elimination"

MP_cost: 20

She slipped, lost her balance, had to catch herself before she could attack.

The third arrived from the opposite side, older, more experienced based on his movements.

Now I was surrounded.

This is bad.

The first assassin, no longer under immediate pressure from me, pulled a different weapon, a blowgun.

Poison darts?

I activated combat analysis.

Northeast corner. High ground. Force them to come at you single file.

Then moved before they could coordinate.

They came at me together.

I couldn’t fight them fairly. Not three trained assassins.

So I didn’t fight fair.

I modified everything.

The air between us became resistant, thick enough to slow projectiles.

The rooftop became treacherous, unstable footing, tiles that broke under weight.

Their weapons became heavier, subtle, but enough to throw off decades of muscle memory.

It was expensive, burning through mana fast, but it was working.

They couldn’t coordinate. Couldn’t find stable footing. Couldn’t land hits when their weapons suddenly weighed three times normal.

I pressed the advantage, Oathstorm moving in strikes that forced them to defend, to react, to stay off-balance.

The woman assassin took a cut across her arm, she hissed and fall back.

The older one tried to close in for a grapple, I modified his grip strength at the last second, his hands couldn’t maintain purchase, then I slipped free and opened a shallow cut across his ribs.

The first one, still slowed from my initial edit, couldn’t keep up with my enhanced speed, took a pommel strike to the temple that sent him stumbling.

They regrouped, breathing hard, clearly reassessing.

I stood there, Oathstorm ready, breathing controlled despite the exertion.

Then the older assassin gave a signal to them and looked at me and spoke.

"You got lucky boy."

Then he threw a smoke bomb and they ran.

Moving fast across the rooftops, disappearing into the night.

I didn’t chase.

Partly because I was smart enough not to pursue trained killers into unknown territory where they might have backup.

Mostly because I was trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Assassins. Three of them.

Someone hired them to kill me.

But who?

I sheathed Oathstorm and moved quickly off the rooftop, dropping into the alley below with a modified landing that absorbed the impact.

The street was empty, but I could hear footsteps of guards coming closer.

I pulled my hood lower and started moving back toward the inn, my mind racing.

Who would want me dead badly enough to hire professionals?

House Raith? Unlikely. I’m not important enough to warrant assassination.

Did I pissed someone off without realizing?

I reached the inn’s side entrance, checked that I wasn’t being followed, and slipped inside.

The hallway was quiet.

I reached room seven and knocked softly.

The lock clicked and the door opened.

Tessa stood there, her expression somewhere between worried and irritated.

"You were gone forty minutes."

"I got delayed."

"By what—" She stopped, her eyes going to the small cut on my cheek that I’d apparently gotten from flying roof debris. "Jin, what happened?"

I stepped inside, closed the door, locked it.

"Just tripped."

Tessa sighed and moved to her pack, pulling out a small cloth.

She dampened it with water from the washbasin and came back.

"Hold still."

She cleaned the cut on my cheek with gentle efficiency, her face very close to mine, expression focused.

Then she finished cleaning the cut and pulled back, studying my face then smiled slightly.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

No point thinking much, I just need to be more alert now.