c3: Start with a Badge, All Content Depends on Editing
Since the System had already arranged Lu Xiao's identity and entry point, only one obstacle remained how to overcome the language barrier and complete his introduction to Mario Auditore.
For several tense moments, Lu Xiao stood bewildered, watching Mario speak with rolling-tongued Italian inflection. Not a single word made sense.
As the leader of the Italian Assassin Brotherhood, Mario's intuition was sharp. He noticed Lu Xiao's blank expression and the subtle tension in his stance.
In response, Mario gradually slowed his speech and began switching between several languages, trying to find a bridge of understanding.
After transitioning through Latin, French, and rudimentary Greek, Mario finally said in accented English: "Can... you speak English?"
Though Mario's English was coarse and heavily accented comparable to the broken speech heard in Assassin's Creed (2016) when historical figures communicated through the Animus Lu Xiao's eyes immediately lit up. He nodded eagerly. "Yes. I can speak a little English."
While Lu Xiao's spoken English wasn't particularly strong, he was a university graduate after all. Years of passive study, albeit without a real-world environment to practice, gave him just enough grounding. And with Mario's limited fluency, the two managed to communicate using broken English, gestures, and patient repetition.
Mario began his cautious inquiry about Lu Xiao's origins and especially about the pendant hanging around his neck.
It was time for Lu Xiao to deploy the silver tongue he had honed through years of corporate white lies and workplace improvisation.
With an earnest face, Lu Xiao fabricated a backstory: he claimed to hail from an ancient and distant eastern nation Great Ming. According to his tale, he was a descendant of an Assassin lineage long hidden in the East. After his family was destroyed by a corrupt official aligned with the Templar Order, he fled overseas to master the arts of the Brotherhood and someday return for vengeance.
The timeline of Assassin's Creed II places the story in the late 15th to early 16th century—at the heart of the Italian Renaissance. Lu Xiao's knowledge of Chinese dynastic history was shaky, but he recalled that this period fell somewhere in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, a time before the Manchu conquest and relatively peaceful.
This lent his tale some plausibility.
In truth, during the 15th century, Italian knowledge of the East was mostly limited to fragmented accounts, such as those of Marco Polo. This made it even easier for Lu Xiao's exotic narrative to seem credible.
Mario, listening intently, appeared to grow increasingly convinced. The Assassin insignia Lu Xiao wore only strengthened the claim. The idea of a distant branch of the Brotherhood operating in China didn't seem far-fetched, especially considering what the Assassin's Creed universe had established.
Indeed, as seen in the Assassin's Creed movie, the Brotherhood spanned continents, with cells embedded in nearly every society. The film even revealed that the modern-day Brotherhood operated globally, tracking Templar activity with ancient and futuristic technology alike.
Historically, the Brotherhood and the Order of Templars tracing their roots to the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients as established in Assassin's Creed: Origins—had evolved and spread over thousands of years.
The philosophy and influence of both orders had seeped into the farthest reaches of the globe. In Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, for instance, Shao Jun, a female Assassin from the Ming Dynasty, fled to Italy seeking assistance from the European Assassins after her cell was nearly annihilated.
Although that particular story took place decades after Lu Xiao's current timeline, it lent legitimacy to the idea of a Chinese Assassin fleeing westward for help.
...
Mario, torn between suspicion and cautious trust, ultimately allowed Lu Xiao to remain in Monteriggioni under his watchful eye. He would observe the young outsider himself and assess his intentions.
Lu Xiao, of course, had no objections.
To gain access to the knowledge and intelligence of the Brotherhood—particularly any clues to the Pieces of Eden he needed to integrate into their ranks and earn their trust.
Besides, at present, Lu Xiao's only asset was the "Clairvoyance" skill granted by his beginner gift pack. He possessed no martial prowess, no hidden blades, no training.
The System had dropped vague hints that this world was merely the first of many. Lu Xiao would likely be forced to traverse countless dangerous realities. Without growing stronger, he wouldn't survive long.
While the System never explicitly stated the cost of failure, Lu Xiao's years of binge-reading web novels told him all he needed to know failure would be catastrophic, perhaps even fatal.
To survive, he needed training.
And the Brotherhood led by the grizzled one-eyed Mario Auditore was now his only lifeline.
Monteriggioni, a fortified village nestled in the rolling hills of the Tuscany region, stood as the Auditore family's ancestral stronghold. Encircled by high stone walls and defensive towers, the town housed fewer than a thousand people, a quiet stronghold compared to the bustling power centers of Italy's fragmented city-states.
From Mario's heavily accented English, Lu Xiao pieced together the geopolitical landscape he wasn't in a unified Italy, because such a nation didn't exist in this era. The term "Italy" was more a geographical label than a political identity.
In this summer of 1474, the entire Apennine Peninsula was fragmented. Major cities operated as independent entities republics, duchies, or feudal holdings embroiled in shifting alliances and open conflict.
Tuscany, where Monteriggioni was situated, was particularly volatile. The powerful Medici-controlled Republic of Florence clashed frequently with its long-time rival, the Republic of Siena. Monteriggioni lay precisely between the two, placing it in a precarious political position. Mario, though noble and loyal to the Brotherhood, often had to maneuver between rival factions to ensure the safety of his people and preserve the Auditore legacy.
As Mario explained this tangled landscape, Lu Xiao quietly noted it aligned with what he remembered from Assassin's Creed II, where the Medici family, especially Lorenzo de' Medici, played a key role in the political upheaval leading up to the Pazzi Conspiracy.
Lu Xiao had arrived more than a year before the official events of the game began in 1476, giving him time to grow if he used it well.
Though he wore the Brotherhood's insignia and told a convincing story, Mario remained cautious. After all, in both the Assassin's Creed movie and games, Brotherhood leaders were portrayed as meticulous and strategic traits Mario embodied well.
He personally led Lu Xiao into a stone-arched guest room on the first floor of the Auditore estate and offered a firm, if guarded, smile.
"Lu, you can stay here for now. I will test your basic skills soon and arrange a training schedule."
Mario's tone was both welcoming and scrutinizing. "Please understand—trust must be earned. You'll need to pass the Brotherhood's trials and prove yourself through action."
Lu Xiao nodded solemnly. "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Auditore."
Mario chuckled, the hearty resonance of a seasoned warrior. He clapped a heavy, calloused hand on Lu Xiao's shoulder.
"Just call me Mario. And be prepared my training is not easy. I take no shortcuts, especially not for someone bearing the Assassin's seal."
As he turned to leave, he paused at the door.
"And Lu learn Tuscan and Latin. Fast."
Mario's face was stern. "Few in Italy speak English. To survive, and to read Brotherhood records, you'll need both."
Tuscan, the dialect spoken in Florence and surrounding areas, was on the verge of becoming the literary and political standard across the region. Thanks to poets like Dante and Petrarch, whose influence still echoed across Europe, it would soon form the basis for modern Italian.
Latin, meanwhile, remained the lingua franca of Europe. Despite the rise of vernacular languages during the Renaissance, Latin was still dominant in formal writing, philosophical texts, and cross-regional communication within groups like the Assassins and Templars.
...
To read Brotherhood dispatches and access intelligence on the Pieces of Eden, Lu Xiao had to master both languages.
Fortunately, under Mario's arrangement, he was assigned a multilingual mentor from the Brotherhood's local chapter an older Assassin who had once studied at a monastery before joining the cause.
Many European languages French, Spanish, and Italian stemmed from Latin. With consistent study and instruction, Lu Xiao began to notice familiar roots and patterns between Tuscan and Latin.
Language study occupied his evenings.
His days, however, were wholly consumed by training.
Mario's earlier warning had not been an exaggeration. Training under the Auditore patriarch was relentless rigorous physical conditioning, tactical movement drills, terrain navigation, and most importantly, foundational combat.
Once Lu Xiao completed his physical assessment and basic strengthening regime, Mario tailored a specialized training plan.
One morning, Mario led him out to the stone-paved training ground behind the manor.
"Lu, as you can see," Mario said, unsheathing his personal longsword a hefty blade etched with subtle Assassin symbolism along the fuller. "I am not the silent killer type. I don't creep across rooftops. That was always more Giovanni's style."
In the Assassin's Creed movie, the Brotherhood's operatives showcased a variety of combat skills—from Aguilar's acrobatic parkour and wrist blade executions to Maria's twin blade finesse. Mario, however, was a brawler more knight than shadow.
"What I'll teach you is how to survive a frontal fight. Once you're ready, I'll write a letter to my brother. He's better suited to teaching the ways of true assassination."
Mario gestured to the nearby weapon rack. "Now choose."
Lu Xiao scanned the rack, finally picking up a pair of short swords lighter, more versatile weapons that felt slightly more manageable in his unfamiliar hands.
Mario grinned like a predator.
"Good. Now come!"
With that shout, Mario raised his blade into a defensive stance. "Attack me! Don't hold back. I'll fix your footwork and kill your bad habits before they get you killed."
Lu Xiao swallowed hard.
This was no simulation. No tutorial mission.
This was the Brotherhood and the first real step toward becoming one of them.
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