Enigma of Sin

Kayn had almost two months to prepare for the start of his journey as an assassin for the Black Hand Society, but he still wanted to review everything before he sneaks out of the academy for the night.

His first priority was to examine all of his gear and ensure that he selected the items he needed that were left behind by Yvaris Earthborn. As he wasn't planning on carrying around any larger weapons, such as the Akikani, he only selected accessories which boosted some aspect of his abilities.

The first item he re-examined was the item he commissioned from Rowen those few years back.

[Deceiver's Mask (Epic): Made from the hide of a Shadow Panther. Provides protection from attacks under C-class in power. Item has passive options:

Passive: Self-adheres to user's face without the need for an application device.

Passive: Reduces the amount of mana required for activation of spells related to the darkness element and its deviations by 10%.

Passive: Distorted Presence - Hides the user's presence while in darkness or shadows unless being looked at directly. If user is only glanced at while hidden, the individual will only remember the appearance of the mask. Passive is not active while unconcealed or under light.]

This item was better than most of the items he had chosen from the Villa's treasury, so he couldn't help but smile as he reminisced about it. It also brought up the thought that he still hadn't made progress in his slave collar resistance, so he put that on his list to work on during this break as well.

[Ring of Darkness (Uncommon): Made from Obsate ore, known for its dark appearance and mana conduction capabilities. Item has passive options:

Passive: Increases the effect of all spells related to the dark element by 10%]

The first thing he had found was a simple ring, but a 10% boost to darkness spells was quite good for an uncommon grade item and would help with his main plan of using the shadow element. The only other item he selected was a dark leather choker which would end up covered up by his other gear. He only selected this for its simple, but useful, enchantment.

[Choker of Change (Uncommon): Made from the hide of the Manal Chameleon. Item has passive options:

Passive: Allows the user to change their voice at will.]

Finally, it was time once again for Kayn to stare in awe at his most recent acquisitions.

[Item set: Garments of the Shadow Phoenix (Ancient): A set of equipment made from the flesh and blood of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah. Defense of items in set is proportional a living 5th stage Shadow Phoenix. Item set has passive options when worn together.

Passive: Increases resistances of the wearer to any and all spells cast with the dark element by 50% and fire element by 25%, but reduces resistances to light elemental offensive spells and debuffs by 50%.

Passive: Slightly increases the wearer's affinity towards the shadow element.

Passive: Slightly increases the wearer's affinity towards the dark element.

Passive: Increases speed of movement and all actions performed by the wearer when hidden from the light.

Passive: Wearer is able to blend into the darkness better, concealing themselves when hidden from the light and not currently engaged in interactions or combat with others.

Passive: All set items will self-repair over time and are not required to be worn for this passive to be active as the rebirth nature of the phoenix flows inside of the items.

Passive: All items will auto-adjust their fit to the current wearer.]

Kayn could only marvel at the passive skills just wearing the set alone had. The auto-fit and self-repair were just the icing on top of everything else. The only thing that he really had to limit test was the 'hidden from the light' passive. He wasn't exactly sure what that meant.

After testing it, he realized that the passive would activate with any shadow he stood in. It could be perfectly bright outside, but if he stood inside of the shadow of anything, it was like he disappeared according to Charlotte. He would only appear again once he started talking with her.

He also learned he was able to remain in 'stealth' as he called it even when interacting with inanimate objects, such as doors and windows. Honestly, this set was just plain overpowered for him, and Kayn recognized that.

As Kayn was planning on performing his missions and assassinations during the night as much as he could, he would be perpetually invisible to everyone else until he struck.

The 50% increased light elemental spell effectiveness on him was a bit unfortunate, but he figured it went along with the nature of the set and a Shadow Phoenix. Fortunately, offensive light elemental spells that were effective against the living were quite rare, so it didn't worry him much.

The last thing that this set confirmed for him, was that there were others who were able to utilize the shadow element, so he didn't have to pioneer everything and might be able to find grimoires from previous users if his luck kept up.

Now, he looked at each individual item. The best part about the items was their set bonuses, but each item still had at least one additional enchantment.

[Shadow Phoenix Half-Robe (Ancient): A half-length robe created from the feathers of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with mana from her core. Item has passive options:

Passive: Negates up to five spells of tier 7 and below regardless of the element. Each spell negated requires 24 hours before another charge is made available.

Current spell negation charges: 5/5]

This robe was a bit flowy, and Kayn like the look of it, not to mention it had a hood that he could attach to his mask in order to hide his hair. The passive was also great! He would essentially be immune to five spells, as long as they were at or below tier 7. Mages could usually only cast tier 7 spells at the 4th stage and that still required a good amount of time unless they were talented.

Only as mages progressed in core stage would they be able to cast higher tier spells quicker, so most used lower tier spells for battle unless they had the chance and time to cast something better.

Kayn had given up on labeling his own spells with tiers and the only time he even bothered with it was when he was teaching and making or finding spells usable by his students.

If he used all five charges at the same time, it would require a full five days for him to be able to negate five again, but his goal would always be to not get hit in the first place. The robe was just extra security in his mind.

[Tunic of the Shadow Phoenix (Legendary): A long sleeve, high collared tunic created from the body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. Item has passive options:

Passive: Increases wearer's resistance to stabbing, slashing, and impact attacks taken on the torso, arm, and neck areas.]

[Trousers of the Shadow Phoenix (Legendary): A semi-tight pair of pants created from the body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. Item has passive options:

Passive: Increases wearer's resistance to stabbing, slashing, and impact attacks taken on the legs.]

The tunic and pants were similar, but the increased resistance on top of the natural defensive capabilities of the items were a major boon to Kayn. Anyone that hoped to stab, slash, or smash his body parts underneath these two items would need to at least be a skilled magic warrior with a minimum of a 5th stage core.

[Patrol Gloves of the Shadow Phoenix (Ancient): A pair of gloves created from body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. Item has passive and active options:

Passive: Reduces sounds made by the wearer when using their hands.

Passive: Increases wearer's resistance to stabbing, slashing, and impact attacks taken on the hands.

Active (Darkness Impact): Infuses the wearer's fist with a concentrated amount of darkness element for a short period. Usable once every 24 hours. Warning: Will corrode wearer's hands if they do not have an aptitude and high affinity for the darkness element.]

The gloves were sleek and tight fitting, much to Kayn's liking. They reminded him of the gloves a certain blood analyst serial killer wore when he would hunt. They even came with an active skill which he wouldn't have any troubles using!

[Vambraces of the Shadow Phoenix (Ancient)(Pair): A set of two vambraces created from body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. If warn separately, only natural defensive ability will be active. Items have passive and active options when worn with one on each arm:

Passive: Greatly increases resistance to slashing attacks directed at the forearm.

Active (Shadow Retreat): Will create a shield of shadow around the wearer and teleport them a short distance to a nearby shadow. Activated by placing vambraces together and infusing them with the darkness element. Teleport range and shield strength will increase proportional to the wearer's affinity for the dark element. Effects will be further enhanced if infused with shadow elemental mana.]

From the looks of it to Kayn, the nature of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, was to hide and remain in the shadows, attack, and then escape swiftly if there was no hope to win. Honestly, it was perfect for assassin work. If Kayn failed to assassinate or get the upper hand on a stronger target, his best option would be escape.

[Boots of the Shadow Phoenix (Legendary): A pair of boots created from the body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. Items have passive options when worn as a pair:

Passive: Reduces sounds made by the wearer when using their feet.

Sustained Active (I Am the One Who Stalks): Silences all actions made by the wearer for time proportional to the wearer's affinity for the darkness element. Available once every 24 hours.]

The name of the active skill made Kayn cringe a little bit, but it was a great skill regardless. He could also keep it active for several hours at a time before his mana ran out. If he was generous, he figured that he would be able to keep it active for at least 2 full hours while using other spells before his mana was too low to risk keeping it active.

[Sash of Shadow (Legendary): A sash worn around the waist, created from the body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core and inscribed with a spatial array. Item has passive options:

Passive (Spatial Storage): Able to store anything non-living up to a space allowance of 4 cubic meters.]

Kayn was surprised as this description was the first one to vary in how it worked from what the parchment said that he was provided. Units of measurement in this world were confusing and mostly related one thing to another, so while the original parchment stated a size of "four storage boxes", Kayn's own Analyze skill showed it in meters.

One of the best features that Kayn discovered about this skill was that it was based on his knowledge and interpretations of things, so if he thought in meters or feet or whatever unit of measurement he wanted, that's what it would show.

[Throwing Knife Bandolier of the Shadow Phoenix (Legendary): A bandolier used to hold a maximum of 10 throwing knives. Created from the body of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, and enchanted with her core. If used to hold the Shadow Points, active options are available:

Active (Recall): Due to the connection and materials used to create them, when the Bandolier is equipped with the Shadow Points, the wearer my activate Recall to teleport back any thrown daggers within a 25-meter radius. This ability only works with the Shadow Point throwing daggers.]

[Shadow Point (Legendary): A throwing dagger created from the bones of the Shadow Phoenix, Zillah, enchanted and infused with her core. Item has passive options:

Passive: Dagger is difficult to detect when thrown from the darkness.

Passive (Penetration): Dagger is able to penetrate even the densest of materials. Any material hit below epic grade will be pierced as long as darkness or shadow is infused into the dagger when thrown.]

There was a total of 10 daggers and each had a small loop in the back as well, so Kayn was of the thought to attach Mana Threads to them and control them this way. Though, he still wasn't sure if he would actually use them as he didn't really need to.

The sun set early tonight as winter had begun, so Kayn got Lara situated inside the Wanderer's Villa, equipped all of his items, removed anything belonging to the academy and left his home in the cover of night.

He had left behind all of his communication crystals, and anything else that could identify him. He was confident in escaping if he was caught due to the Shadow Retreat skill, but he still didn't want to risk dropping something that could potentially lead back to him or those he cared about.

Kayn was ready. He had been preparing for practically the last two months. He was nervous, but at the same time excited. Teaching about the healing arts was fun and he enjoyed it, but he realized how much a lack of excitement in his life caused him to yearn for battle. Maybe he really was a battle maniac?

Kayn smirked at this thought as he placed his mask on his face and pulled up the hood to hide his hair which was now pulled up. Everything was ready as Kayn stepped into the shadows. Little to his knowledge, his pupils became slits, just like his mother's pupils used to. The rings around his eyes maintained their circular state though.

He truly now had the appearance of a predator stalking its prey in the night.