Ascension of the Master Assassin

Chapter 16: Blood Serpents

"Isn't this logo, the emblem for the blood serpents?!" Venn exclaimed. "Every single thing makes sense now!"

Venn's eyes widened with his mouth agape as the realisation hit him hard. 

How foolish was he to not have realised this? 

He had been running errands for the blood serpents all this time, and yet the existence of the organisation had slipped right past him under his sight. 

It was so obvious thinking back now. He should have sensed that something was amiss.

The generous and hefty rewards given to him despite just delivering a simple letter.

The strange reactions of the NPCs who immediately changed their attitudes toward him upon receiving the letters delivered to them.

All of these were clues that he would not have missed if he was to pay a little more attention to them!

He should have known that the omnipresent AI that was controlling all matters in Heaven Descent would never make such an illogical mistake of giving out such a vastly disproportionate quest to players!

If he had been more attentive, and investigated further into those NPCs, he would have discovered this mysterious organisation in the past. And in doing so, wouldn't he be able to save Rena? Venn couldn't help but thought of that this way.

As he thought so, he fell into a deep silence.

However, before his thoughts were steered towards a bad direction, Venn took a deep breath and kept his composure. 

There was no point in regretting over past events anymore. He believed the reason he was given a second chance was to right the wrongs and not waste the precious chance he had to dwell in misery again.

He might have failed back then, but he was certainly not going to fail again.

Clenching his teeth hard, he reminded himself not to make the same mistake again. Going forward, he had to be much better in this game to beat the other top rankers that were further in progress than him.

With that in mind, he began searching his memory to recall the information concerning the blood serpents. This time, making sure that all details were meticulously mulled over.

Blood serpents is a mysterious organisation shrouded in secrecy dating back to the Era of the Three emperors and Five Kings. It had strong ties to the Stormbound Empire given that it was founded there.

Rarely any other information was known about the operation and goal of the organisation. Venn was certain that no more than a handful of players had even heard of the name - 'blood serpents' before. 

Had it not been for the one interesting fact that the blood serpents was famous for, Venn wouldn't have even remembered their emblem given the total lack of their information in the game. 

Blood serpents is an assassin guild that specialises in assassinations no matter how heavily guarded and impenetrable the place is. 

Throughout the long history of Heaven Descent, the existence of an assassin guild wasn't all that uncommon at all though. There were several assassin organisations popping up in all kinds of places, across every kingdom, all with different aims and purposes, especially in times of turmoil.

However, what made blood serpents stand out amongst its competition was for the fact that they had a stupidly suicidal practice before carrying out all their assassinations. And that questionable practice involves giving their target a seven day notice that they are coming for their lives.

Who the hell generously notify their target in advance that they will kill them? What would they expect their target would do? 

Wash their neck clean so that it will be easier for their assailants to have an easier time slicing their heads off?

Venn's initial reaction when he saw the mention of the blood serpent in an old book called the 'History of Stormbound factions' was to laugh out loud at how ridiculous the practice was. 

Never once did he think that he would become their errand boy one day. The errand quests that he proudly did back then was the exact same thing he had mocked about. He ended up being the very person that went around Rosewell Kingdom, delivering notice to blood serpents' targets and in a way, telling them that they were going to die a terrible and horrible death.

It was ironic that he laughed at their practice.

Venn had spent quite a period of time back then, figuring out the purpose for blood serpents to implement such a rule, and ultimately chucking their practice as a practical joke that the developers of the game had planted. Never did he imagine that he would one day revisit the topic of blood serpents again.

Sending a letter to notify your target would just mean giving them an ample time in shoring up their defense and be on the lookout, resulting in a harder assassination attempt. 

Was it simply stupidity or just plain arrogance?

After experiencing Rena's death, Venn had a clearer understanding of life now with a second outlook. Also, when he recalled the frightened and cold expressions of the NPCs who had received the letter, he could finally understand the reasoning behind the practice now.

"Despair." Venn softly muttered under his breath with his eyes fixated to the letter. It wasn't until a notification sound disrupted his thoughts that he pulled himself out from the painful memory.

[Ding]

[Due to your knowledge of the blood serpents, details of the quest have been updated.]

[Wisdom increased by 5 points. (+5 WIS)]

[Elite quest received: You have uncovered the mysterious piece of paper with strange writing belonging to a faction called the 'Blood Serpents', a mysterious organisation that carries out assassination attempts. Being the enemy of the Rosewell Kingdom, the head knight Julius had always been active in eradicating the remnants of the past Era. Notifying the discovery to him would result in a handsome reward.]

[Quest reward: 3500 experience points and 35 Silver coins | Taking too long to complete the quest would result in failure.]

[Accept the quest? Yes /No]