Swish!
The boss paused for a second.
Cassien let the bullet fly straight forward, and for some reason, it didn't hit.
The leader of the bandits shoved the woman away from him, looking around as if he had sensed danger.
"Someone broke my third line of defense. Go search for them, right this second."
"Yes, boss!"
Cassien quickly ducked behind a large garbage can to his left.
He was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but he would rather fight at range against the opponent he was about to face.
"Mana."
------------------------
[Mana Updated]
Current Mana: 40 → 15
Maximum Mana: 41 → 50
Mana Recovery: 1.2 per minute
------------------------
Mana recovery every 1.2 minutes only accounted for one increase. His reserves were drastically low, but even so…
It was enough.
The thing about Cassien was that even though he couldn't awaken any elements, what he was capable of was precisely infusing mana into anything he wanted.
In his second year, he was already considered a top ten mana implementor, regarded as one of the brightest talents in that section of the awakened.
Thus, he wasn't restricted to only one pistol.
But by the time he met the protagonist of the novel, all of his weapons had already been tracked.
So right now, for the very first time, the man who had transmigrated into Cassien was experiencing firsthand how to properly infuse mana into the sharp knife now in his hand.
Yes, you heard me.
Cassien had a knife.
Those two bandits, both trainees, slammed the door wide open and rushed forward.
"You go one way, I go the other!"
"Got it!"
"Whatever you do, don't let him get into the atrium. The boss would kill us."
"You think I don't already know?! He wouldn't kill us, he'd torture us!"
"Alright, hurry up and find him."
The first-floor halls were quite large, and Cassien crouched beneath a garbage can while one of the E-Ranked bandits approached with intensity.
'Come on, come on.'
Cassien closed his eyes for a second, clenching his fist tightly.
Pour some mana out of me, hurry the fuck up!
------------------------
[New Weapon Mastery!]
[Weapon Mastery: Metal Knife]
Accuracy: E- → E+
Cuts: E+ → D
Handling: E- → D
Critical Aim: E+ → D
[Temporary Statistic Boost Due To Mana Infusion]
------------------------
'Fuck yeah, it worked.'
A light yellow glow began to radiate from the knife's silhouette as Cassien gripped it tightly.
Step. Step. Step.
The bandit was approaching. Cassien reversed the knife in his hand, exhaling before committing to his next actions.
As the bandit's legs aligned with the trash can, Cassien didn't wait.
------------------------
[Skill Unlocked]
Quick-Stab Lv. 1
------------------------
He didn't linger on any thought, and not a part of him felt hesitation.
And in that moment, a memory rushed through his mind.
A memory that had resurfaced after some time.
And that memory…
Was the memory of his first kill.
On a human.
Interesting, so this wasn't the first.
While the new skill remained active, and Cassien infused a good amount of mana into the weapon, the bandit simply didn't have enough time to react.
The way Cassien moved was calm and swift, almost as if he were an assassin.
Looking down, the man dressed in black stared at the knife buried into one of his vital spots as blood spilled from his mouth.
His consciousness began to fade, and that was when he saw Cassien…
Smiling.
He covered the bandit's eyes with his hand. "Now, you can sleep peacefully."
And just like that, the bandit fell backward onto the beautifully modern floor, now painted red.
Cassien crouched low, feeling the bandit's neck with two fingers.
"Yeah, he's definitely dead. Rest in peace, mighty soldier."
All of these kills, every last one of them, just felt too natural, which made Cassien question himself.
Is this how it feels to be a murderer? He started walking through the halls. It just feels too natural.
The trainee never even had a chance to fight. Not because they were weak, but because Cassien did something royals considered disgusting.
A sneak attack.
But a battle to the death was never meant to be fair. Cassien understood that more than anything, which was why he was so cruel and committed.
While slowly walking through the halls, he heard footsteps ahead.
Then he heard something behind him as well.
He couldn't detect exactly where the other trainee was, so he stood still, waiting patiently.
Leaves spiraled through the air around him as he caught a glimpse of a figure dressed completely in black in the distance.
But in that same instant, the person disappeared.
Cassien held the knife in his left hand and kept his right hand inside his pocket, readying his pistol for any moment.
The leaves continued to spiral. He had to do something fast, naturally so.
------------------------
[Skills]
Basic Firearm Handling Lv. 1 → 2
Quick Draw Lv. 1 → 2
Observation Lv. 2 → 5
------------------------
Nice.
Now everything felt like a walk in the park. It was clear what that bandit had been doing.
He had been spiraling leaves around Cassien to catch him off guard while approaching with the utmost caution, sword gripped tightly in his right hand.
But he didn't account for a sudden stat boost.
Which was now the reason for his death.
Boom! Boom!
The leaves fell to the ground as the bandit in front of him coughed out more blood than he expected.
"But how…"
Cassien approached him calmly, without a care in the world. "Now," he grabbed the bandit's clothes and shoved him aside, "time to kill your boss."
No royals came, no S-Ranked awakeners came, nobody came to rescue these innocent people.
But the novel explained it perfectly.
Because this world had always been disgusting and had always been filled with unresolved moral dilemmas and global conflict.
Which Cassien completely believed would never be fixed.
But right now, what needed fixing wasn't the world.
It was this joke of a school.
And that was Cassien's goal.
To defeat the final boss ahead and return to his estate with his kind little sister.