The dark steel dagger flashed, aiming straight for Kanos's neck.
Incredibly fast. There was barely any sound of the wind splitting. Papuyu truly moved purely without leaking any killing intent. The girl was purely an efficient killing tool.
But Kanos didn't freeze. His brain was way too used to processing fatal threats at the bottom of the abyss.
Kanos threw his body backward. The tip of Papuyu's dagger tore Kanos's linen shirt collar, only a few millimeters away from his neck skin.
Kanos didn't try to run. While keeping his balance, he dipped his left index finger into the new ink bottle in his pocket.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Three black lines were pulled quickly in the air. Kanos didn't draw a shield. He drew three serrated black steel nails.
The nails were created in a matter of milliseconds. All of them instantly shot toward Papuyu's face like bullets.
Papuyu's empty eyes widened slightly. The girl twisted her wrists fluidly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Papuyu's twin daggers deflected Kanos's three steel nails with insane accuracy. Sparks flared brightly inside the dimly lit stone alley.
The impact forced Papuyu to take two steps back. Her boots scraped against the dusty street.
Kanos took that chance to create some distance. He leaped back four meters.
While getting into a fighting stance, Kanos's brain worked hard. Something was weird.
Before, let alone dodging a professional hitman. Just seeing a low level wolf jump was enough to leave Kanos with no time to dodge.
Earlier Papuyu moved at high speed. But in Kanos's eyes, the dagger's movement looked trackable. His body responded in rhythm with his brain's commands. His leg muscles reacted without feeling heavy.
'What is my level now?' Kanos thought.
Kanos summoned his system panel without taking his eyes off Papuyu. The transparent blue screen instantly blinked in the corner of his vision.
[ NAME: KANOS ]
[ LEVEL: 38 ]
[ CLASS: ILLUSTRAMANCY ]
[ HP: 1450/1450 ]
[ MANA: 3200/3200 ]
Kanos almost coughed seeing those numbers. Level thirty eight.
He jumped dozens of tiers. A combination of killing the obsidian Goliath boss, slaughtering mutant spider monsters, destroying the knight golem, and executing Garrick whose level was way above his.
The Yomalvara system had an insane experience multiplier calculation if an adventurer could kill a threat with a massive level difference.
Kanos read his row of physical attributes.
[ STRENGTH: 75 ]
[ AGILITY: 82 ]
[ ENDURANCE: 70 ]
[ SKILLS: ART TO REALITY (TIER 3), STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS (PASSIVE), SHADOW PUPPETEER (TIER 1) ]
There was the answer. His agility attribute hit eighty two. No wonder he could dodge that deadly slash earlier. Kanos's physique was now completely on par with upper mid tier adventurers in this city.
"Instant creation magic," Papuyu's raspy voice broke the silence.
The hooded girl lowered her daggers slightly. She stared at the three black steel nails embedded in the stone wall near her.
"No wonder the Sensor Bureau put you on the red list. You break the material laws of this world."
Kanos smirked slightly. "I do not care about your material laws. Who is the Sensor Bureau?"
Papuyu didn't answer. The girl raised her daggers again.
Papuyu's body was suddenly covered in gray smoke. In the blink of an eye, her figure faded. Blending completely into the dark shadows of the alley walls.
That was the Shadow Step skill. A deadly technique belonging to the Assassin class.
The stone alley went silent again. Kanos stood alone in the middle of the street. There was zero trace of Papuyu's presence.
But Kanos didn't panic at all.
He activated Structural Analysis. The darkness around him instantly turned into a sea of neon blue lines.
Kanos's eyes scanned the entire structural grid of the walls and the ground. On the top left corner, about five meters from him, there was a human shaped blue structure sticking to the wall. It looked incredibly clear, slowly crawling down toward Kanos's back.
Kanos just stayed still. He intentionally let Papuyu get closer.
His left hand slowly reached into his cargo pocket, touching the purple crystal core belonging to the golem he killed last night.
Three meters. Two meters.
Papuyu leaped down from the wall. Her dagger aimed right at Kanos's spine.
Kanos spun around at max speed. His left hand pulled out of his pocket. Thick purple smoke instantly exploded from his palm.
"Shadow Puppeteer," Kanos whispered coldly.
He didn't bother drawing a whole wolf. Too slow. Kanos only pulled a few solid lines in the air.
The purple smoke instantly solidified. Right in front of Papuyu, a giant shadow jaw the size of a house door appeared out of nowhere. Complete with incredibly sharp black fangs.
Papuyu's eyes widened. This was way outside her info calculation.
The girl was forced to cancel her attack in mid air. She twisted her body and kicked one of those shadow fangs as a foothold to leap back.
Papuyu landed seven meters away. Her breathing hitched slightly. Her gray jacket was slightly torn at the edge because of the shadow jaw's cold aura slash.
The giant wolf jaw floated silently next to Kanos. Thick purple smoke kept billowing from it.
Kanos stared at Papuyu casually. His hand was still ready to command the giant jaw to swallow Papuyu alive.
"I will repeat my question," Kanos said. His voice sounded incredibly threatening. "Who is the Sensor Bureau? And why did they send a kid hitman to look for me?"
Papuyu adjusted her stance. Her empty eye expression didn't change, but her hand slowly sheathed one of her daggers.
The girl was good at calculating probabilities. The target in front of her was too tough to kill alone. The risk of dying was too high.
"The Sensor Bureau is the eyes and ears of the royal elites in the capital," Papuyu answered quietly. "They regulate the balance of the economy and magic. Anyone who has the ability to create metals, crystals, or artifacts out of thin air... gets executed silently."
Kanos nodded slowly. Makes sense. If someone could draw a chunk of gold from cheap ink, this city's economy would be destroyed in a matter of days. They were terrified of the Illustramancy class potential.
"How much price did they put on my head?" Kanos asked.
"Three hundred pure gold coins," Papuyu answered honestly.
Kanos gave a dry laugh. "Way too cheap. I am offended."
Kanos snapped his fingers. The giant wolf jaw next to him instantly faded into smoke and vanished.
That action made Papuyu knit her eyebrows in confusion. Why did her bounty target lower his guard in the middle of a fight?
Kanos reached into his inner shirt pocket. He pulled out a thick leather pouch. A pouch filled with gold coins from Garrick's loot.
Kanos tossed the pouch into the air and caught it again. The sound of coins jingled loudly.
"Inside here are one hundred and fifty pure gold coins," Kanos said casually. "I need a guide who knows the dirty ins and outs of this city. A guide who can make the Sensor Bureau completely unaware that their target is still alive."
Papuyu went silent. Her eyes stared at the leather pouch in Kanos's hand.
"You are a hitman. You need money. You do not care who pays as long as the number is right," Kanos walked closer slowly. He offered the gold pouch. "Take this down payment. Help me handle logistics and gather intel in Marrath without getting caught by the royal dogs."
Papuyu stared at Kanos's face intently. The girl tried to look for lies or fear in Kanos's eyes. There was absolutely none.
Slowly, Papuyu's hand reached out and took the gold pouch. She weighed it for a second.
Papuyu sheathed the rest of her daggers.
"The Sensor Bureau has a lot of tracking dogs," Papuyu said coldly. "I can make your status be considered dead in this month's report. But if they send a main division executioner unit, you are going to need a lot more than a smoke jaw to survive."
"That is my problem later," Kanos answered flatly. "You only have one job. Do not let anyone disturb me while I am drawing."
Papuyu tied the gold pouch to her waist belt. She gave a single slow nod. A very efficient business deal with zero bullshit.
"I am Papuyu," she said again, this time as an official introduction.
"Kanos."
Kanos turned around, walking back toward the inn's side door. Papuyu followed behind him in silence.
Kanos smirked slightly. One more step secured. He now had a physical meat shield named Belida, and invisible intel named Papuyu.
This city of Marrath would very soon become his brand new playing canvas.