"Assassin…"
Shane lowered his head and quietly read out the class of the Heroic Spirit he'd just summoned.
"Good. It doesn't overlap with the classes I've already pulled."
That alone lifted his mood a little—his gloom over the changes in the visions easing somewhat.
Compared to the Lancer and Archer he already had, he naturally preferred pulling a different class. Not only would it broaden his options in battle, it would also prevent his abilities from becoming too redundant.
"Most importantly… it's not Caster."
The corner of Shane's mouth curved up.
He'd been holding himself back when it came to the Caster class—planning to save up and go big later, to pull a top-tier magus even deeper than Lancer, and finally fix his ridiculously awful magical talent.
If he pulled a Caster during an experiment like this, and had to resummon later, it would be a loss so painful he'd regret it forever.
"But… so this time the Heroic Spirit is him, huh."
Shane rolled the dark-gold card between his fingers, feeling a kind of satisfaction he hadn't felt in a long time.
This was the first time since Arash that he could identify a Heroic Spirit's true name so clearly, so confidently.
Because the clues from the vision weren't just hints anymore—they were practically a face-up reveal.
Victorian era. London's East End. Prostitutes… paired with an Assassin class that couldn't be more on the nose.
If he still couldn't guess it, he might as well find a rooftop and hang himself by the neck as penance.
Still—
Shane didn't rush to silently speak the name in his head.
He hadn't forgotten why he'd spent a precious "depth privilege" in the first place.
A "two-layer depth" Heroic Spirit wouldn't boost his current combat power much even if he unlocked the true name.
Far more valuable was using this chance to observe how the next few visions behaved, and to pin down the rules for how they affected reality.
"London… shouldn't be dangerous for a mage."
Standing on the scree slope, Shane took one last look around at the endless mountains of snow.
There were no traces of London's buildings. No lingering stench of fog.
"Next time a vision comes, I can try having someone cooperate—confirm the exact range it covers. That'll also help me prepare for more dangerous scenarios."
The more he thought about it, the more satisfied he was with this Assassin.
If it had been another black-lake vision—packed with immense magic and countless bizarre entities—he wouldn't have dared drag anyone else into testing it.
"All right. The main job's done—time to deal with the 'victim.'"
Shane looked down at the snow leopard at his feet, still happily eating.
The poor thing had taken a whip for no reason, and that gash was still bleeding. It really did look pitiful.
Shane hoisted the unlucky leopard up, spread his dragon wings, and flew to the nearest human town.
He even generously bought dozens of kilos of high-quality fresh meat as compensation.
Only after all that did he bring the leopard—now visibly questioning the meaning of life—back to its snowy home.
…
By the time Shane returned to Magnolia, it was barely noon.
"Just as I thought—low-depth Heroic Spirits have very short first visions."
As he pushed the door open, he calculated it in his head.
He'd made multiple trips, even took the leopard to get treated, and only two or three hours had passed in real time.
The moment he stepped into the guild hall, he spotted the familiar scarlet figure.
Erza hadn't gone home to practice her sword. Instead, she was seated at a corner table with Lisanna and Cana, chatting about something.
Shane was about to go say hello when he heard Cana's signature laugh and Lisanna's pleading voice.
"Hahaha! Lisanna, turn the cat ears back out and let me pet them! Or I won't be nice!"
"Hey—Cana, stop—! It tickles! Hahaha…"
When he got closer, he saw Cana grinning wickedly as she attacked Lisanna's ticklish spots. The little cat-girl was laughing so hard she was tearing up.
"She really never stops bullying kids…"
Shane shook his head helplessly—and then a thought struck him.
"Perfect. Time to test the new ability."
He willed it, touching the Assassin card deep in his awareness.
"Hm…"
Two pitch-black daggers appeared silently in his hands.
Then something incredible happened.
In that instant, it was as if some force erased his presence. Shane didn't turn invisible—his body was still right there—but his "existence" felt like dust in the air.
People around him simply… didn't register him.
A couple of mages walking past nearly bumped into him, only swerving at the last second by instinct—then scratching their heads in confusion, as if they couldn't understand why they'd moved.
Presence Concealment.
That was the new ability the Assassin gave him.
"Interesting."
A mischievous grin spread across Shane's face as he strolled right up to the table.
First, he maliciously fished out the liquor bottle Cana had hidden under the table and stuffed it behind a nearby potted plant.
Then he walked outside, grabbed a big handful of icy snow from a windowsill, came back up behind Cana, and aimed straight for the back of her collar—
"YAAH!!"
"Cold—!!"
Cana, mid-laugh, suddenly got a spine-freezing shock that shot straight to her scalp.
"Who was that?! Which bastard?!"
She frantically shook snow out of her clothes, whipping her head around.
But behind her—nothing. Not a single shadow.
"...Am I cursed?"
Cana shivered, completely baffled.
"Pfft…"
Shane stood nearby, fighting for his life not to laugh.
This ability wasn't great for direct combat, but for infiltration, intel gathering, or pranks?
It was absolutely god-tier.
And once Shane got going, he didn't stop.
He ran out and grabbed another handful of snow—this time targeting the red-haired girl calmly sipping tea and watching the chaos.
But—
The moment Shane crossed into about a meter behind Erza, she frowned slightly.
"Hm?"
For a split second, she sensed something—faint, but real.
Like something had slipped into her perimeter.
"She noticed?"
Shane's heart jumped, and he hesitated.
Erza didn't move right away and didn't speak, so he kept going, pushing the snow forward.
But just as the snow was about to touch the back of her neck—
Smack!
Erza's hand snapped back without warning.
"Show yourself!"
"Eh?!"
A huge force grabbed him, and Shane instantly lost the concealment.
"Shane?"
The sharp vigilance in Erza's eyes softened into confusion when she saw who she'd caught.
"Why is it you?"
She'd felt a creepy sense of someone watching her from behind and assumed some idiot was trying to ambush her in the guild hall.
"Uh…"
Shane scratched his cheek and tossed the snow away, a little embarrassed.
He'd literally just praised the ability as a god-tier prank skill, and it folded instantly against an S-rank intuition monster.
"You're way too sensitive…"
Still, he wasn't worried.
This was just because he hadn't unlocked the true name yet—the ability was limited.
Once he finished the vision experiment and officially spoke the Assassin's true name, the ability's level would jump.
Then even Erza wouldn't catch him so easily.
"This is your new ability?"
Erza glanced at the black daggers that hadn't fully disappeared yet, nodded as if filing it away, and sat back down.
She'd long since gotten used to Shane randomly gaining weird new powers.
"Yeah. That's what I went out to do," Shane admitted.
"So it was you!!"
Cana, still shaking snow from her clothes, sprang up with excitement.
She stabbed a finger at Shane, furious.
"Ha! So you're the bastard who dumped snow on me!"
"Serves you right," Shane snapped back without even a hint of guilt.
"I saw Lisanna—she was laughing so hard she was about to cry."
"That's affectionate bonding! You don't know anything!"
Cana's face turned red as she tried to justify it—but she looked guilty as hell.
"Um… I'm fine…"
Lisanna, who'd been quiet until now, covered her mouth and giggled at their bickering.
Even if she got bullied, this lively, warm feeling…
It really was nice.
~~~
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