Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 121: A New HellTimeless AssassinC121: A New Hell
Chapter 121: A New Hell
(Rodova Military Academy – The Physical Training Class)
The early morning air was crisp, but it did little to keep Leo from noticing Professor Marvin's piercing gaze drilling into him.
As he stretched, shaking off the lingering haze of sleep, he couldn't help but feel like today's session was going to be a nightmare.
He, Su Yang, and Mu Shen already trained under a regimen far more brutal than the rest of the class, but for some reason, Marvin still didn't look remotely impressed this particular morning.
"Boys, the way Marvin's looking at us today, I'm definitely not getting any good vibes.
He's already got us carrying 80-kilo vests while the rest of the class barely manages 40.
But I think he's ready to bump us up to 100 today—" Mu Shen said, as he shifted uneasily.
"I, for one, don't mind the weight increase. After the second genetic awakening shot, my body feels stronger than ever, and I'm itching to push it even more—" Su Yang added with a cocky smirk, as Mu Shen shot him a glare, clearly unimpressed.
At the start of the academic year, all three of them had been neck and neck in strength and endurance.
But slowly—inevitably—Leo and Su Yang had begun pulling ahead.
And Mu Shen hated it.
"Show-off." He mouthed silently before the clock struck 5:30 AM and Marvin's voice cut through the murmur of the class.
"It seems I've been going too easy on you kids the past few days, so it's time to increase your burden today!" Marvin declared, as a groan of protest rippled through the students.
"50-kilogram vests for the rest of the class.
Mu Shen—100 kilograms." Marvin said, as Mu Shen's eyes widened in disbelief, as he instinctively pointed towards himself.
"Why only me? What did I do?! Why do Skyshard and Yang get a pass?" He complained as Marvin's reply was instant.
"Of course they don't get a pass! Skyshard, Yang—120 kilograms." Marvin boldly declared, as Leo almost tripped in his path.
Going from 80 to 120 kilos in a single day was a massive leap—borderline reckless.
And yet, with no room for complaints, he and Su Yang were forced to wear the extra weight regardless.
"Today's drill will be—"
1. Run a lap in under 40 seconds.
2. Fall to the floor and complete:
50 pushups
50 sit-ups
50 burpees
50 squats
3. Run another lap and repeat.
You will complete 50 such laps.
And for every lap you fail to finish in under 40 seconds, you will run 2 penalty laps at the end." Marvin declared, as the reaction to this hellish drill was instant.
A collective outroar erupted across the training grounds, with students voicing their concerns audibly.
"What happened, Professor? Did your wife leave you last night? Is that why you're in a demonic mood today?"
"Did you just find out you're impotent? Is that why you're taking your rage out on us?"
"Professor, if you want to kill us, just snap our necks and spare us the suffering. Please don't exhaust us to our deaths"
"Okay, which one of you idiots pranked the professor? Filled his dorm with shit bombs or something? Because if that's the reason we're getting punished, I swear to god, I'm beating your ass after this."
The blame game began as students grumbled and speculated, trying to figure out what had triggered Marvin's apparent descent into pure sadism.
But no amount of complaining changed a thing, as Professor Marvin remained unmoved.
And in the end—
The training session began exactly how Marvin wanted it to.
—----------
(2 hours later)
2 hours later, Leo laid exhausted on the floor, unable to complete the 50 laps, as his body hit its limit on 42.
"I can't— I can't professor, 120 Kg is too much…. It's just too much!" Leo complained, while being sprawled on the floor, as Marvin grinned in satisfaction.
"Failure to complete the drill, means you start all over again tomorrow Skyshard, with an extra 16 lap penalty for the 8 you missed today!" Marvin said ruthlessly, as Leo violently coughed and puked his guts out, much to the sadistic joy of Marvin.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one suffering, as Su Yang could also only complete 45 laps, and was in the same boat as him in the end.
—----------
Although Leo and Su Yang were already battered from the grueling morning training, dragging their sore bodies through the day, they had no idea that the worst was yet to come.
As exhausted as they were, they at least expected the Practical Combat Class to follow its usual structure.
But today—Professor Hen had other plans.
If Professor Marvin was a demon instructor, then today, Hen was the Demon's father.
"Skyshard, Yang."
Hen's voice cut through the noise of the training grounds, drawing their attention immediately.
Standing beside him were two warriors—men who radiated undeniable experience and aura of dominance that made it clear they weren't students.
"This is Su Fan and Lu Juan."
Hen gestured toward the two figures, his tone laced with something almost cruel.
"They passed out from this institute two years ago and are now part of an adventurer guild."
A brief pause.
"They will be your opponents today."
The announcement landed like a hammer.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he sized up Su Fan, while Su Yang kept his gaze locked on Lu Juan.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were wildly outmatched, as although the duo were not aware that Su Fan and Lu Juan were the Circuit Team captain and vice captain a couple years ago, the sheer aura they radiated made it clear that they were no regular fighters.
"Try not to embarrass yourselves too much, boys–" Hen said at the end, as just ten minutes later,
BAM!
Leo barely managed to keep himself standing as Su Fan's fist crashed into his ribs, sending a jolt of pain coursing through his body.
His vision blurred.
But before he could even process the impact—
CRACK!
A sharp knee slammed into his gut, knocking the wind right out of him.
Leo staggered backward, barely catching himself before he hit the ground.
Meanwhile—
Su Yang wasn't faring any better.
Lu Juan moved like a ghost—fast, merciless, and precise.
Every strike landed with surgical accuracy, exploiting every tiny gap in Su Yang's defenses.
A kick to the ribs.
A punch to the jaw.
A swift elbow strike to the temple.
And just like that—
Su Yang's knees buckled.
His vision spun, his breaths ragged, and his body screamed for mercy.
But neither Leo nor Su Yang got even a moment to recover.
Their opponents didn't let up.
Every time they tried to attack, they were countered.
Every time they tried to defend, they were broken through.
Every time they tried to breathe, they were hit even harder.
It was a systematic dismantling.
Their bodies hit the ground.
Again.
And again.
And again.
By the time Hen finally called the end of the practice session for the day—
Both Leo and Su Yang were barely even standing, their faces swollen and their bodies bruised.
"Rest well tonight…. From tomorrow onwards you will face a rotation of opponents, none weaker than these two—" Hen declared, as at that moment, the duo finally realized that their lives were about to become hell going forward.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 122: UnbrokenTimeless AssassinC122: Unbroken
Chapter 122: Unbroken
(Rodova Military Academy – Leo's Dorm Room)
That night, as Leo finally collapsed onto the floor of his dorm, he truly felt it.
The sheer difficulty of trying to focus when his entire body was on fire.
The soreness from Professor Marvin's morning torture session, combined with the absolute beating he had endured under Major Hen's merciless matchmaking, had left his muscles in ruins and his bones aching with every breath.
Meditation, something he had always done without fail, was absolute hell tonight, as every time he tried to settle his breathing, his body screamed at him to stop.
If not for [Monarch's Indifference] keeping him from fixating on the pain, and [Faster Regeneration] working overtime to heal his battered body, he doubted he would've lasted even a few minutes before losing focus.
But despite the struggle, he pushed through.
And by the time his six-hour meditation session finally ended—his body was nearly fully healed, feeling rejuvenated enough to endure another round of punishment.
But his mind?
It was completely shot.
After the day's grueling activities and six hours of focused meditation, it wasn't Leo's body that gave out first—it was his mind.
Lightheaded and cramping, his thoughts rebelled against the idea of training any further, as if demanding that he stop, that he rest.
His mind knew that, as per ritual, the last hour and a half of his day was reserved for refining [Absolute Vision]—pushing it toward (Perfect) grade.
But tonight—
Even as he sat down, skill scroll in hand, forcing himself to focus—
His mind fought back.
Every part of him was exhausted.
His thoughts moved sluggishly, his mana control was erratic, and his ability to process information felt like it had been buried beneath layers of fog.
For the first time since arriving at Rodova—Leo genuinely questioned if this level of training was sustainable.
Because tonight, it wasn't his willpower that was giving up on him.
It was his body.
"Am I really supposed to go through this hell every single day?"
The thought crept in before he could stop it.
The idea of just skipping tonight's training, closing his eyes, and giving himself a single night of rest sounded tempting.
Just this once.
Just to recover.
Just to feel like his body wasn't being shattered every damn second.
His fingers instinctively tightened around the skill scroll.
And for a split second—
He almost did it.
He almost let himself quit.
But then…
His breath steadied.
His muscles, though battered, held firm.
And deep within himself, something cold and unwavering reminded him—
"That's not who I am."
Leo was many things—reckless, insane, overconfident at times.
But a quitter?
Never.
He wasn't here to be comfortable.
He wasn't here to take breaks.
He was here to become the strongest.
And the strongest didn't get the luxury of weakness.
So, with a determined exhale, Leo shoved aside the exhaustion, forced his scattered thoughts into place, and began training.
His mana circulation was slower than usual.
His processing speed was sluggish.
But none of that mattered.
Because when it came down to it—
Leo Skyshard didn't stop.
No matter what.
—------------
(Next day, Rodova Military Academy)
The next morning, Leo received the confirmation he needed—that yesterday's hell was not a one-time thing.
Once again, Professor Marvin put him and Su Yang through torment beyond their means, exhausting them until they lay sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath, their bodies completely drained after yet another grueling session.
Once again, they had failed to meet the day's targets.
However, this time, Leo felt mentally better about it.
His body was sore, aching in places he didn't even know could ache, but he had come to understand something important—this was just the cycle now.
He knew that after a little time spent standing still, letting [Faster Regeneration] work its magic, he would heal enough to endure tomorrow's abuse.
Unlike Su Yang, who had to chug bottle after bottle of potions just to get through the rest of his academy day, Leo didn't have to rely on anything but food and time.
He simply had to eat vicariously and let his body do the rest.
Then—
At that day's Practical Combat Class, it was a couple of Army Majors who had been assigned to whoop his ass.
Unlike his previous opponents, they wielded different weapons and employed a completely different fighting style, forcing Leo to adapt in ways he hadn't needed to before.
It was a painful learning experience, but an invaluable one.
Of course, they were too strong for him to land a hit on, and his day once again ended with him beaten black and blue—but that wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was the exposure to a new kind of opponent.
What mattered was that, slowly but surely, his reflexes sharpened, his instincts honed, and his understanding of attack sequences deepened.
Through every loss, every blow, every failed strike—he was starting to form something of his own.
A fighting style that wasn't just learned moves strung together, but a fluid, adaptive, counterattack-free system that felt uniquely his.
And with each passing day—he was getting closer to mastering it.
—---------
That night, as Leo once again sat cross-legged on his dorm floor to meditate, his body aching like hell, he found an odd sense of solace in this relentless cycle of pain and growth.
On one hand, his mind rebelled against the sheer brutality of it all. The thought of enduring this level of hell for the next five months nonstop—only to then add skill move training on top of it after mastering [Absolute Vision]—felt almost impossible.
And yet—
On the other hand, something deep within his blood thrived in it.
The sharper and stronger his body became, the more intensely he could feel his instincts stirring inside him, screaming at him, guiding him—like an invisible beacon leading him in battle.
It was a strange, almost primal sensation.
At times, it felt like a whisper, an early warning system that flared before danger appeared in battle. Other times, it felt like an inexplicable hunger, an urge to push himself further, to refine his movements until they became second nature.
Leo couldn't fully grasp what it was just yet—but he knew one thing for certain.
The harder he trained, the more he unlocked something buried deep within him.
As he could feel it—the Genetic Awakening Serum's absorption improving dramatically under the pressure of his training.
As it really was just as Su Yang had told him.
The harder he pushed his body…
The faster and better the Serum Absorption became.
This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron HighlanderCharles via Supergift, Please thank him in the comments for the same.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 123: Time-SkipTimeless AssassinC123: Time-Skip
Chapter 123: Time-Skip
(Rodova Military Academy, 1.5 months later)
Leo exhaled slowly, adjusting the 175kg vest strapped to his torso. His muscles burned, but the weight no longer felt foreign, as after 1.5 months of the new hellish training regimen that he had been put under, his body had grown by leaps and bounds.
Just a month and a half ago, 120kg had felt like an unbearable load to him, however, now even under a 175 kg vest, he wasn't just enduring the weight—he was thriving under it.
Strength had never been his strong suit. He had always relied on speed, agility, and technique to win fights. But under Professor Marvin's merciless training, that weakness had been forcefully erased.
His body had changed. His endurance, power, and explosiveness had all skyrocketed, as his movements were sharper, his stamina deeper, and for the first time, he felt like he could actually overpower an opponent rather than just outmaneuver them.
And that difference was becoming evident in his daily combat bouts.
At first, sparring against Grandmaster-level opponents had been nothing short of a slaughter.
However, Now?
After 1.5 months of that hellish abuse, Leo found himself finally capable of occasionally fighting back, as the fights were no longer as one sided anymore.
Having adjusted to their speed, power and maneuvers, Leo had begun reading his opponents better, sensing the flow of their attacks before they even landed, and reacting with precision.
What used to be an automatic beatdown had evolved into something competitive.
He wasn't just dodging anymore.
He was countering.
At times, he even landed clean hits.
And when he activated [Parallel Processing] near the end of a match, he could see the momentary panic in his opponent's eyes—the slight hesitation as he moved faster than their perception could track.
It was still a draining technique.
But he was getting better at it.
Faster activation. Less mana consumption. As slowly but surely, he was on his road to improving his mastery over it.
Unfortunately, without any data on what mastery grade he was at with the skill, he couldn't physically track his progress of it, however, with him now being able to use it strategically rather than a desperate life-saving measure, his move-set now looked a lot more threatening than before.
—-----------
On the Genetic Awakening front, in the past 1.5 months, Leo received his third shot, which came and and went without the drastic changes of the first two.
No increase in height.
No sudden surge of muscle density.
But the data slate told a different story.
His mana absorption rate had increased.
His body was now circulating and utilizing mana far more efficiently.
And that was a game changer.
Meditation became more effective. Skill activation became smoother, and with him finally being able to circulate mana at unprecedented speeds with unprecedented control, his mastery over skills like [Full Counter] and [Parallel Processing] improved at a pace even he hadn't anticipated.
It wasn't an explosive leap forward.
But it was foundational.
And it was exactly what he needed, as in a virtuous cycle of improvement, once his mana circulation speed improved, so did his mastery over [Full Counter]
Being forced to use that skill every day against Grandmaster level opponents, Leo was already practising it daily, however, it wasn't until after his third shot, that he finally pushed it to (Perfect) grade, making it his first perfected skill!
Fighting against Grandmasters Leo hadn't just been practicing [Full Counter]—he had been relying on it for survival.
Every strike he reflected, every attack he turned back at his opponent, had been a step toward mastering the skill completely.
And finally—he had crossed that threshold after his third shot.
As with his mana control improving, the activation time for the skill dropped below 0.1 seconds, which meant that there was no longer a conscious thought process behind it.
Nor any deliberate activation.
[Full Counter] had become like an instinct for him, activating it as easy as curling his biceps, as he finally achieved the realm of perfection.
Now, as he saw even a flicker of an incoming attack— his body responded automatically with [Full Counter], making him an even more formidable foe to face in battle.
And in a joyous turn of events, Leo could also feel that [Absolute Vision] was also close behind.
Every night, through sheer exhaustion, Leo had pushed himself to train his perception to its absolute limits. And now? He could feel the skill sitting on the edge of perfection—just one step away from complete mastery.
As slowly but surely it was all coming together.
—----------
On the meditation front, Leo had made steady progress, refining his body's internal systems through relentless discipline.
Over the past 1.5 months, he had reached a 35% cell replacement rate.
Thirty-five percent of his red blood cells had been fully replaced with enhanced, mana-adaptive cells, significantly improving his constitution, stamina, and reaction speed.
And the difference was undeniable.
His ability to process information, react to danger, and execute techniques had become sharper than ever.
Skill activation was smoother, and his combat awareness—especially in prolonged fights—was far superior to before.
It was a virtuous cycle—the more he meditated, the stronger his body became. The stronger his body became, the easier it was to circulate mana. And the easier it was to circulate mana, the more effectively he could use his skills.
And right now, everything was starting to come together.
—---------
Beyond his flagship skills, Leo had also been working on the two new abilities he had acquired from the academy archives.
Over the past few weeks, he had diligently pushed himself to grasp their core mechanics, working through the concepts outlined in the skill scrolls.
And while he had successfully reached (Basic) Mastery for both…
However, He wasn't satisfied with just this.
The activation speed was still too slow.
In a fight against Grandmaster-level opponents, the smallest delay was enough to make a skill useless.
Which was why, despite finally reaching Basic Mastery, Leo had yet to effectively deploy these skills in actual combat.
As these skills were simply not battle-ready yet.
And that frustrated him.
But it also motivated him.
Because if there was one thing he had learned in these 1.5 months—
It was that if he kept training like an absolute maniac, he could definitely hit the Grandmaster realm by January, considering how his body was supporting his relentless hunger for growth.
This bonus chapter is sponsored by patron HighlanderCharles, please thank him in the comments for the same.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 124: Second Ghost SleepTimeless AssassinC124: Second Ghost Sleep
Chapter 124: Second Ghost Sleep
(Rodova Military Academy – Leo's Dorm Room, Midnight)
For the past one and a half months, Leo had enjoyed the rare luxury of avoiding any more Ghost Sleep episodes.
While Su Yang, Mu Shen, and the others experienced them nearly every other week, haunted by glimpses of the past, Leo had been spared—his nights undisturbed since the first time it happened.
But tonight—his luck ran out.
As tonight, instead of the expected blissful silence of sleep, his consciousness was instead dragged away by a sharp pull, as it was forcefully swallowed by the depths of his bloodline's memories.
And just like that—Ghost Sleep came for him once again.
—------------
(A burning forest – Modern times)
Once again, Leo found himself floating above a battlefield in ruins, his body weightless and incorporeal as he was made to observe an episode from the past.
The world around him was pure chaos.
Below, a dense forest burned, its towering trees reduced to blackened husks, flames licking at the edges of a clearing littered with countless corpses.
Thick, suffocating smoke coiled into the sky, carrying the stench of scorched flesh, spilled blood, and death.
And beneath him—they ran.
Eight figures, battered, broken, and desperate, sprinted across the battlefield, their movements driven by nothing but sheer survival instinct.
They tore through the burning forest, weaving through the collapsing trees and jagged underbrush, their ragged breaths merging with the crackling flames.
But they weren't alone.
Behind them—countless pursuers followed.
Blood streaked their tattered uniforms, open wounds glistening in the firelight—some fresh, others barely sealed, leaking crimson trails as they moved.
They ran at their absolute limit, muscles screaming in protest, lungs burning with every breath.
And yet—their enemies were gaining.
*Crunch*
*Gasp*
*Stumble*
Leo could feel their exhaustion.
The way their legs trembled with each step.
The suffocating burn in their lungs.
The sheer terror sinking into their bones.
But none of them stopped.
Because behind them—
Death was coming.
Leo could hear it.
The thundering footsteps crashing through the scorched earth.
The clanking of heavy armor, growing louder with every passing second.
The harsh, guttural commands barked in the distance—orders for a swift and ruthless kill.
And then—a dead end loomed ahead.
A towering wall of jagged rock blocked their only path forward.
There was no escape.
No other way around.
Nor another way through, as panic surged within the group.
Desperate, they glanced towards one another, searching for an answer. A miracle.
But there was none.
As their only choice now was to start climbing the rocky terrain and hopefully make it to the other side alive.
"Go—Go—Go!"
The first man didn't wait. He reached the base of the rock wall and immediately began to climb, his fingers scrambling for holds, legs shaking from exertion.
But it was clear—they weren't going to make it.
Leo could see it. The archers would be upon them in moments, arrows already nocked, their pursuers closing in from all directions, as if someone didn't stay behind to buy them time—
They were all going to end up dead.
Then—one of them skidded to a halt.
A tall, powerful man, broader than the others, his frame rigid despite the countless wounds bleeding through his torn armor.
Leo felt it.
The cracked ribs.
The torn muscles.
The exhaustion.
But there was no hesitation. No second-guessing.
Only resolve.
The man turned back toward his comrades, his decision already made.
"They're here for me."
His voice was steady, calm—almost resigned.
"Not you. Not the others. Just me—the Dragon. So let me be the one to stay behind and fight."
Across from him, another man—almost as tall, just as battle-worn—froze in place, his features twisting in fury.
"No." His voice was sharp, his hands clenched into fists.
"You're the Dragon! You're the hope of our people—you cannot die! Let me do this, Noah. Let me cover your retreat."
But Noah only shook his head.
"No, Noir. You're not strong enough."
His tone was firm but not unkind.
Then, with a lopsided grin, he gave a thumbs-up.
"Besides, I have my ways to survive."
It was a lie.
And Noir knew it.
"Don't."
His voice cracked.
"Don't fucking do this. We need you. We're lost without you. None of us—none of us can become the next Timeless Assassin—but you can! Your life is worth a thousand of mine."
Noah flinched—not physically, but something deeper.
Perhaps regret.
Perhaps guilt.
Perhaps the weight of knowing Noir was right.
But it didn't change the truth.
"You have to take them and go."
Noir was shaking his head, still refusing, still resisting.
"Noah, shut the fuck up—"
"GO, NOIR!"
The command wasn't a request.
It was a roar. A thunderous, desperate order that shook the very air around them, leaving no room for argument.
Leo felt the agony in Noah's chest—the pain of knowing this was goodbye.
But there was no other choice.
Noir's breathing turned ragged. Torn between loyalty and duty, brotherhood and survival.
But when Noah placed a hand on his shoulder, everything stilled.
"I have my ways to survive." Noah lied again, softer this time. "You just have to trust me."
Noir clenched his jaw.
Then—he broke.
"Alright."
With a sharp inhale, he turned on his heel, grabbed the nearest injured soldier, and shoved them forward.
"MOVE!"
The others hesitated—just for a second.
Then, one by one, they obeyed, scrambling up the rock face, escaping into the smoke-filled night.
Leo could feel it—their anger. Their silent prayers.
And as Noir disappeared into the haze, the last thing Leo saw was the tears in his eyes.
Then—
The pursuers arrived.
A dozen figures emerged from the darkness.
Their armor was black.
Not just any black—obsidian black, with a sigil carved onto their chest plates.
Leo's gaze latched onto it, burning the image into his mind.
A serpent curled around a dagger.
But he had no time to process it—
Because Noah moved.
And Leo felt everything.
The exhaustion—gone.
The hesitation—gone.
The moment the enemy appeared, Noah let go of everything but instinct.
His body exploded forward.
Faster than humanly possible.
Faster than even Leo had ever moved before.
And then—
The slaughter began.
One step. 40 meters covered.
One strike. One head rolled.
A Transcendent-level fighter stood before him, but Noah's blade carved through his throat before he could even react.
Blood sprayed.
A second enemy lunged—Noah twisted, his heel crushing their knee before driving a dagger into their heart.
A third came from behind—Noah felt it.
Ducked.
Countered.
Drove his sword through their skull.
Three dead in two seconds.
And yet—they kept coming.
A dozen became twenty.
Twenty became forty.
And Noah kept fighting.
For every enemy that fell, more appeared.
More powerful.
More skilled.
Leo felt his body slowing.
His strikes—less precise.
His dodges—less clean.
His wounds—piling up.
A gash across his ribs.
A dagger lodged in his shoulder.
A knee slamming into his sternum.
And then—
A new presence stepped forward.
And everything stopped.
The enemy soldiers backed away.
Through the thinning smoke—he appeared.
The man with the serpent sigil.
And the moment Noah saw him, Leo felt his stomach drop.
That man was different.
He didn't move like the others.
Didn't feel like the others.
His presence was suffocating.
A weight so crushing, it nearly forced the air from Noah's lungs.
A Monarch-level fighter.
Noah knew—death had come for him.
But even then—he did not falter.
He raised his blade, knowing full well that his final battle awaited him.
However, despite being confident about his own death, he charged at the enemy with a smile.
As if he were going to die, he chose to die fighting like a hero, rather than a coward running.
—-------
Leo felt everything that followed vividly.
The battle that followed was a blur of speed, desperation, and inevitable doom.
Noah fought like a beast.
But the man—the one with the serpent sigil—was something beyond, as he toyed with Noah, like Hen toyed with Leo during sparring.
Slowly, but surely, Noah's movements became slower.
His wounds bled deeper.
And finally—
A blade pierced his chest.
Leo felt it.
The cold steel driving through his ribs.
The blood filling his lungs.
His vision blurring….
As finally, Noah collapsed to his knees, his last breath escaping his lungs.
"I'll get you back in the next life…. Black Serpent—" He said, before closing his eyes forever, as Leo felt his consciousness being pulled back.
—------------
Leo's eyes snapped open, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps as his chest ached, his lungs burned, and his body trembled—as if it had been him who had just died, not Noah.
As if it had been his body that had been pierced, his strength that had bled away into the dirt.
And yet—he was alive.
But this time—
He had seen something important.
And this time—
He had a name.
A name he knew all too well.
The Black Serpents!
"Black Serpents…" Leo murmured after waking up, the name clinging to his thoughts like a lingering shadow.
"Isn't that the organization I'm supposed to join after graduating from Rodova?" he muttered, clutching his head as he tried his best to steady his breathing.
His heart was still hammering in his chest, the remnants of the horrifying dream refusing to fade.
However, with [Monarch's Indifference] working over-time, he soon got his grip back, as he started to break-down his dream, trying to extract everything of value that he could from it.
"Noah toyed with those Transcendent level opponents facing him—" Leo recalled, as his mind replayed the fight sequences that he had just observed.
"At the same tier, Noah was undoubtedly faster, stronger and sharper than his opponents, making it impossible to take him down, unless hundreds of them ganged up on him—" Leo analyzed, as he suddenly realised just how strong Noah really was.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 125: Mistrust And DavidTimeless AssassinC125: Mistrust And David
Chapter 125: Mistrust And David
"Black Serpents…" Leo murmured after waking up, the name clinging to his thoughts like a lingering shadow.
"Isn't that the organization I'm supposed to join after graduating from Rodova?" he muttered, clutching his head as he tried his best to steady his breathing.
His heart was still hammering in his chest, the remnants of the horrifying dream refusing to fade.
However, with [Monarch's Indifference] working over-time, he soon got his grip back, as he started to break-down his dream, trying to extract everything of value that he could from it.
"Noah toyed with those Transcendent level opponents facing him—" Leo recalled, as his mind replayed the fight sequences that he had just observed.
"At the same tier, Noah was undoubtedly faster, stronger and sharper than his opponents, making it impossible to take him down, unless hundreds of them ganged up on him—" Leo analyzed, as he suddenly realised just how strong Noah really was.
However, no matter how strong he was within his own tier… the gap between realms was an insurmountable wall, even for him.
Against a Monarch, he had been reduced to nothing more than a child struggling to land a single blow.
As that cold, merciless man from the Black Serpents Guild hadn't just defeated him—he had dismantled him, piece by piece.
Leo exhaled, the memory seared into his mind.
It was common knowledge in this world that fighting an opponent a tier higher than oneself was nothing short of suicide.
However, Leo had always assumed this was more of a cautionary guideline—a general wisdom rather than an unbreakable rule.
But he had been wrong.
Dead wrong.
Because if a man as monstrously talented as Noah couldn't even land a scratch on an opponent one tier above him…
Then it wasn't just difficult.
It was truly impossible.
—---------
After his ghost sleep episode, Leo grew even more wary of everyone and everything around him, including Muiyan Faye, as he did not like the idea of having to join an organisation that was most likely involved with the murder of his bloodline.
That dream reinforced his desire to keep some things hidden from Faye, in-case someday she did betray him, as Leo stopped feeling completely comfortable around her.
Instead, he felt even more motivated to grow stronger and reach higher tiers of strength, as in the end, his own strength was going to be the only thing that never betrayed him in his hour of need.
—-------------
(Next Day, Rodova Military Academy, Professor David's Class)
Leo was caught off guard when, instead of being unceremoniously thrown out of David's lecture as he had fully expected, he was allowed to stay.
Even more surprisingly, Su Yang was also permitted to sit in.
It was an anomaly— since David never let them attend his class.
And yet, today, in an unexpected turn of events, he seemed to be in an oddly good mood.
A slow, deliberate smirk tugged at the professor's lips as he stepped to the center of the lecture hall, hands clasped behind his back.
The room was tense.
No one dared to fidget. No one whispered. No one even breathed too loudly.
Because every student in this room had suffered through one of David's infamous temper tantrums before.
And no one—absolutely no one—wanted to be the one who triggered it today.
Today was the last lecture before the mid-semester assessments, and David had done the unthinkable—he had invited Su Yang and Leo to sit in on the session.
Not out of generosity.
Not because he had suddenly developed a sense of fairness.
But because he wanted to watch.
To see the exact moment despair settled into their eyes.
To witness their realization of just how truly doomed they were.
His gaze swept across the hall, lingering just long enough on each student to ensure they felt the weight of his presence.
Then, with a voice as smooth as polished steel, he began.
"The mid-semester paper for Basics of Magic Theory will be a written test worth 80 marks," he announced, his tone void of sympathy, but laced with undeniable amusement.
At first, the students remained silent. Then, a few murmurs spread through the room—until David raised a single finger, silencing them instantly.
"Let me break it down for you."
He turned toward the board and, with a flick of his wrist, a glowing script appeared in the air.
5 questions worth 7 marks each.
6 questions worth 4 marks each.
7 questions worth 3 marks each.
A few students squinted at the distribution. Some quickly tried to do the math in their heads, while others waited for the inevitable catch.
David chuckled, a dry, condescending sound. "If you're wondering why there's no question worth 1, 2, or 5 marks—allow me to explain."
He turned back to face the class, his grin widening.
"You see, I do not believe in 'partial correctness.' Either you know the answer, or you don't. Either you are competent, or you are not." His voice dripped with amusement. "Therefore, my grading system will be absolute."
A wave of dread rippled through the students.
"If your answer is fully correct, you get the full marks assigned to the question," David continued, pausing for dramatic effect. "If your answer is partially correct—or, heaven forbid, incorrect—then you get absolutely nothing."
Dead silence.
Then, a single groan from somewhere in the back.
David's grin sharpened. "Yes, yes. I know. It's a tragedy, truly. But this is reality. There are no participation trophies in my classroom. There is no amount of daddy's money that can help buy you grace marks, but you're free to try—"
A few students clenched their fists, others glanced at their notes as if cramming last-minute would save them from this academic slaughter.
Leo, watching from the side, exchanged a glance with Su Yang, who simply clutched his head in depression.
Su Yang had visibly lost all hope at this moment, however, as if the exams grading structure was not bad enough already, things got even worse for them, as David wasn't finished just yet.
"To pass," David continued, "one must score at least 50 marks. Anything below that, and you fail the mid-semester exams—losing a substantial portion of your final grade."
A low murmur of panic spread through the class, but David merely clasped his hands behind his back, clearly enjoying the tension in the air.
"Now," he said, leaning slightly forward, his voice dipping into something almost conspiratorial.
"I don't expect all of you to pass. In fact—" his smirk widened, "—I'd be shocked if even half of you do."
He said, as he locked eyes specifically with Leo, as a ripple of resentment passed through the students, but none dared to challenge him.
Because they knew.
They knew that David wasn't just posturing.
That he meant every word coming out of his mouth.
And that when the test papers finally arrived at his desk—he would actually enjoy every single failure, for he was precisely such a sadistic bastard at his core.
"You will have two hours to attempt my test tomorrow, after which every extra minute taken will result in marks deduction.
So go ahead and give it your best—" He said, as he chuckled diabolically, before turning to write today's lecture topic on the board.
"Bending Metal Using Magic"
He wrote, and as if his lecture so far was not depressing enough, he doubled down on it by saying, "By the way, this lecture is also counted for your mid semester exam tomorrow…. There may be a seven marker in here–"
To depress the class even more.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 126: A plan to cheatTimeless AssassinC126: A plan to cheat
(Rodova Military Academy – Academy Mess Hall, One Day Before the Mid-Term Exam)
The cafeteria was unusually quiet, but not for lack of people.
Every table was filled. Every seat was occupied.
And yet, despite the crowded space, the usual boisterous chatter and reckless laughter were gone.
Instead, what remained was an oppressive, suffocating silence—punctuated only by the occasional groan of despair or the frantic scribbling of last-minute notes.
The entire cafeteria felt like a funeral home.
And for good reason.
Tomorrow was Professor David's mid-semester exam.
And no one was ready for it.
"Fifty marks out of eighty," someone muttered at the next table, their voice hollow with disbelief. "Fifty. With zero partial marking. How the hell is that fair?"
"It's not," another voice snapped back. "It's literally just him being a petty bastard. We all know it."
"I heard David actually laughed while setting this paper," a girl whispered, horrified. "Like—full-blown villain laughter."
"You mean like this?" another student rasped before letting out a low, maniacal chuckle, only for a spoon to hit his face instantly.
"Read the damn notes instead of making jokes, you idiot! We're all dying here!" Someone from across the hall complained, as he did not seem amused at all for the disturbance.
At another table, a guy sat hunched over his notebook, muttering equations like a prayer.
At yet another, a girl had her head buried in her arms, groaning, "I should've enrolled into the Clarence Military Academy instead. Why did I pick Rodova? Why?!"
The entire room reeked of stress, desperation, and stamina potion abuse.
And then, from the center of it all—
BANG!
A loud slam echoed through the cafeteria as Su Yang snapped his textbook shut with so much force that even Leo flinched momentarily.
"Why am I even trying?!" Su Yang demanded, his voice filled with pure, unfiltered despair.
His eyes, bloodshot from stress, darted toward Leo.
"There is no hope for us, Skyshard," he declared. "No future. No light at the end of this hellish tunnel."
Leo raised an eyebrow, speedily chewing his food.
"...So you're saying you're going to fail?" Mu Shen interjected at that moment, as Su Yang turned to face him.
"I have already failed!" Su Yang shot back, jabbing a finger into his chest.
"Don't you understand, Shen? We're dead men walking. Me and Skyshard…. Even if we get the answers right, David will mark them as wrong– Our failure is assured" Su Yang declared, as Leo let out a small hum of amusement.
"Bold of you to assume I'm failing too." Leo retorted, as Su Yang scoffed so hard it was almost insulting.
"Oh, please," he waved a hand dismissively. "Let's not kid ourselves. You, my brother, are going down with me."
Leo smirked, shaking his head slightly.
"I'll take you down with me next year too," Su Yang added darkly, leaning in, his voice almost conspiratorial now.
"If we both fail again, I say we burn this damn academy to the ground." Su Yang proposed, as Leo nearly choked on his food, not from panic, but from laughter.
*Cackle–*
"No, no, hear me out," Su Yang whispered dramatically.
"It wouldn't even be that hard. We start small. A little explosion in the library. Some mild arson in the administration building. Then, when the chaos is at its peak, we slip out—unnoticed, free men once more." Su Yang proposed, as he seemed to have planned that more than having studied for the exam.
"Sure–" Leo said, rolling his eyes, as although he agreed with Su Yang on the surface, internally, his mind was somewhere else entirely.
—-----
(Rodova Military Academy – Leo's Dorm Room)
Later that night, Leo sat cross-legged on the floor, his breathing slow and steady as he meditated.
But for once—his mind wasn't focused on the meditation itself, as it was instead focused on cheating.
David's exam format was brutal. The strict grading system made passing nearly impossible. But if there was one thing Leo had learned in this world, it was that there was always a loophole.
And Leo had found one.
Jim Choo.
The smartest student in the class, who David apparently adored.
Choo came from a poor economic background and had made it to Rodova on scholarship.
But unfortunately he was only a 'Grandmaster' level talent, with not a very bright future.
It was common knowledge that Choo was good at studies, and that he tried extra-hard to please David in his class, which was why Leo believed that if anyone was going to pass this nightmare of a test, it was him.
And with [Absolute Vision] nearing perfection, Leo could trace every single movement of Jim's pencil strokes in real-time.
He wouldn't even have to see the answers directly.
He just needed to mimic the way Jim's hand moved, and he could copy every answer, without ever looking up from his own question paper, and without anyone being any wiser!
It was a solution that he had thought of, in a spur of a moment enlightenment in today's class.
As with David finally allowing him to sit in class, Leo realized that he could perfectly mimic Jim Choo's note making, if he used [Absolute Vision].
This was an absolute blessing for him, as he was the only individual in class being in a unique position to use his skills this way, as although the entire class had learnt perception skills, only his and Su Yang's, [Absolute Vision] was advanced enough to precisely track something like pencil strokes in real time.
The key factor in making this work was the fact that his cycle speed for [Absolute Vision] was just under 0.2 seconds— which was fast enough to keep up with real-time movements.
If it was at (Basic) mastery, and took over a second to cycle, then Leo would not be able to trace his writing, as he would miss connecting strokes between letters, and would never have a full trace.
While lower-tier vision techniques simply wouldn't work, as
[Peripheral Vision] → Only detected movement and couldn't trace.
While [Full Vision] → Couldn't capture the finer hand motions needed for precise copying.
Only Absolute Vision had the required precision.
But even with this advantage—Leo wasn't an idiot.
If he copied everything word-for-word, David would catch him immediately when checking his answer sheet, so instead—Leo knew that he needed to be smart about it.
His plan:
1)Answer what he actually knew on his own.
2)Trace Jim's movements only for the hardest questions.
3) Paraphrase the answers slightly to avoid suspicion.
It was risky for sure.
But so was failing.
And Leo had no intention of failing if he could pass.
—----
(Rodova Military Academy – Exam Hall, The Next Morning)
The atmosphere within the exam hall the next morning was pure oppression.
Students shuffled on their seats, while looking pale-faced, sleep-deprived, and dead inside.
Some clutched their notes like lifelines, flipping through them even as they walked.
Others simply sat at their desks, staring at the front of the room like prisoners waiting for execution.
Su Yang slumped into his seat beside Leo.
"Leo," he whispered gravely.
"Yeah?"
"I've accepted my fate."
Leo tilted his head. "...Good for you, they say acceptance is the first step to moving on."
"Yes," Su Yang nodded solemnly.
"I've decided to imbue the virtues of a monk within me." He said, as Leo rolled his eyes.
Then—
The doors slammed shut.
And a familiar presence walked in.
Professor David.
His expression was calm. His steps, leisurely.
And yet—his mere presence alone made the entire room tighten with fear.
As he strolled to the front of the hall, he set the test papers down on the desk with a loud thud before surveying the room like a predator eyeing its prey.
Then, after a pause, he smiled.
"Shall we begin?"
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 127: Catch Me If You CanTimeless AssassinChapter 127: Catch Me If You Can(Rodova Military Academy – Exam Hall, Mid-Term Examination Begins)
The moment David uttered those dreaded words—"Shall we begin?"—a suffocating tension settled over the exam hall like a thick fog.
Students hunched over their desks, gripping their pens with white-knuckled intensity, as if bracing for battle.
The rustle of test papers being distributed was the only sound breaking the oppressive silence, followed by the slow, hesitant flipping of pages and the sharp scratches of pens desperately attempting to conquer the impossible.
Then—the first groans of despair were heard. Soft, barely restrained sounds from students who had flipped to the first page and already knew they were doomed.
And it was at this point that Leo finally received his exam sheet and turned it over.
His eyes sweeping across the questions, scanning for familiar topics.
And, just as he expected—David wasn't pulling any punches with this one.
—-------
Question 1: Explain the fundamental principles behind mana convergence and dispersion during high-density spellcasting. (7 marks)
Question 2: In what scenarios does metal-bending magic become less effective, and how can a mage compensate for these inefficiencies? (4 marks)
Question 3: Calculate the mana consumption required to sustain a mid-tier defensive barrier for 3 minutes if the caster's peak mana capacity is 2200 units and his core operates at 62% efficiency. (3 marks)
—--------
Leo nearly clicked his tongue in annoyance when he read the paper.
David wasn't playing around. These weren't just theory questions—they were designed to be absolute nightmares.
Even if someone knew the concepts, they still had to execute them perfectly to receive any marks, which made this paper very tough to pass, especially for students like him who had not attended most of his lectures and had to rely on external books to supplement their knowledge of the subject.
However, despite how bad the paper looked, Leo identified at least 3 questions on the entire paper that he was confident of answering on his own, totalling 13 marks, which he began answering first—
But just fifteen minutes in, when he reached the truly brutal questions—the ones where a single misstep meant zero marks, and he lacked full confidence in his answers—he didn't hesitate.
Without a flicker of hesitation, he activated [Absolute Vision], seamlessly shifting into his enhanced perception.
And then, the real game began.
—---------
Jim Choo sat two rows ahead, already furiously writing, completely in his element.
Leo didn't need to see his paper.
He just needed his hands.
With Absolute Vision cycling at 0.2 seconds, Leo effortlessly traced Jim's pencil movements, mirroring every stroke down to the most minute details.
His pen glided over the paper in sync—an echo of Jim's work, but with subtle modifications Leo made on the fly to avoid detection.
And for the first half an hour?
Everything was going perfectly.
Then—
David moved.
Leo felt it before he saw it.
A subtle shift in the air. The quiet footsteps padding against the polished floor.
Maybe David found it suspicious that he was writing non-stop?
However, Leo did not glance over to look at him…. Instead he relied on [Absolute Vision] to track his movement, as he felt the entire hall turn even more oppressive as if it had literally shrunk.
As David passed beside students, they visibly tensed, their hands trembling ever so slightly as they avoided eye contact with the professor's looming figure.
Leo, however, didn't stop writing.
Didn't pause. Didn't hesitate.
Because the key to cheating wasn't just being smart—it was acting like you weren't cheating at all.
He kept his body loose. His breathing even. His gaze firmly locked onto his paper, never once flickering toward Jim Choo, or anyone else for that matter.
And yet—
David stopped right beside him, peering deeply into his paper, as he tried to apply extra psychological pressure on Leo.
He was looking for any chits, any materials Leo might be using to cheat.
However, despite the Professor being beside him, Leo kept writing, as minutes started to tick by.
Initially, Leo thought that David would start to move-on after standing beside him for a couple minutes. However, David, ever the sadistic overseer, lingered there for far too long—longer than he had for anyone else, as he read every answer that Leo wrote, every stroke of pen that he made.
David's eyes flicked between Leo's handwriting and his face, clearly searching for something. A tell. A crack. Any sign of guilt.
However, Leo gave him nothing.
'You can stand there all day, old man, you still won't catch me lacking.' Leo thought, as his hand remained steady and his movements controlled.
"I see you're confident in your answers Skyshard…. You're writing awfully lot for someone who has not attended many lectures," David mused, as he tried to break Leo's rhythm, however, it did not work.
With [Monarch's Indifference] active, Leo's focus was absolute.
He did not feel panicked, nor did his character break, as without missing a beat, he replied to David as if his words meant nothing to him.
"It's not a difficult subject in the first place, professor…. I understood everything I needed to from the books at the library—-
I guess, I didn't need to attend your lectures afterall" Leo replied cockily, as David's face soured.
Naturally, David wasn't amused with Leo's answer, however, there was nothing he could do about it for now, and hence after what felt like an eternity, David let out a soft hum and walked away.
Causing Leo's lips to curve up in the smallest of smirks.
'Checkmate, asshole.' Leo thought, as he continued to write at full speed.
—----------
For the next one hour the test stretched on.
Minutes blurred together as Leo continued his flawless execution, carefully balancing real answers with disguised copied ones.
He paraphrased just enough, changed the structure just slightly, never once allowing an exact replica of Jim Choo's work to appear on his paper.
As by the time the final five minutes were announced, Leo found himself already done with his answers, as he reviewed his sheet once again.
For now— everything looked perfect.
No suspicious patterns. No questionable word-for-word plagiarism.
No obvious errors. As Leo seemed to have done a fine job copying.
And it was at that moment that David walked to the front of the class, checking the clock.
"All pens down." he announced, as a collective sigh of relief—mixed with dread—swept through the hall.
Some students were visibly happy to get the test behind them, while the others were disappointed in having failed.
Leo, belonging to the first group, leaned back with a smile, stretching his fingers.
While Su Yang, belonging to the second, clutched his head in despair as David collected his paper by snatching it from under his elbow.
"You haven't even written half the sheet Yang…. What happened? Did not study enough?" David mocked as he walked on, before arriving on Leo's desk, whose paper he collected without making any snarky comments.
However, for the briefest moments as he collected Leo's paper, David paused to observe his answer sheet.
And at that moment, Leo definitely felt it.
The unspoken suspicion.
A silent challenge.
But, Leo just smiled to himself, knowing there was no way he could be caught.
'Nice try, Professor. But good luck proving I cheated' Leo thought, as no matter how much David doubted him—
He wasn't catching him today.
Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 128: David's AngerTimeless AssassinC128: David's Anger
(Rodova Military Academy – Faculty Staff Room, Professor David's Cabin)
The faculty staff room was eerily silent, save for the occasional scratch of quills against parchment and the low hum of the enchanted lamps overhead.
At this late hour, most of the other professors had either finished their classwork preparation or abandoned the effort entirely, leaving their work for another day.
But Professor David?
He thrived in moments like these.
There was something cathartic about grading exams, about holding the futures of his students in his hands, about determining who would pass and who would suffer that gave him a sadistic joy.
It was his own little version of judgment day.
And he enjoyed it.
Which was why, even though the clock was approaching midnight, he continued to grade the papers, relishing every mark that he deducted from the papers of the privileged big lineage students.
*SCRATCH*
With a practiced flick of his wrist, he flipped open the next paper—a Du family student's miserable attempt at passing his mid-semester exam.
48 marks.
David's lips curled into a smirk as he reached the final question.
If he were feeling merciful, he could find a way to award three extra marks for effort—perhaps in Question 3, where the student's answer, while technically wrong, at least showed the right train of thought.
However.
David wasn't feeling merciful today, not towards the big family students at the least.
'Failing builds character—'
He mused, as with a single stroke of red ink, he marked the paper with a cruel 48/80, before scrawling a short, dispassionate comment:
"You almost made it. Try harder next time."
And with that, he tossed the paper onto the 'Failures' pile, with absolute satisfaction plastered all over his face.
"On-to the next!" He declared, as he pulled the next paper from the stack, which just happened to be Su Yang's paper.
"Oh? It's my birthday come early—" David said, reading the name on the paper, as his previous smirk widened into a full-fledged grin as he flipped it open.
"Oh? That's wrong…. That's wrong…. That's ridiculously wrong….. that's a poem…." David said out-loud, as he filled Su Yang's paper with streaks of red and snarky comments.
He had already expected that this was going to be fun based on Su Yang's reaction while writing the answer sheet, however, he did not think it was going to be THIS fun.
Final score - 9/80.
For a moment, David just stared at the paper, before letting out a slow, deliberate chuckle.
Su Yang had been so catastrophically bad that it almost amused him.
The answers were horrifyingly wrong, riddled with contradictions, random guesses, and at one point—what looked like an attempt at poetry rather than an explanation of mana circulation.
"Oh I'm definitely bringing this paper to class tomorrow…. To show the whole world that the battle genius Su Yang, is actually an idiot at studies!
What did he say to me on day one? Beware of your life outside these academy walls?
Know your place?
Well, I'll make sure his reputation as a stupid student in theory subjects becomes a topic that's discussed more than his battle prowess within the social circles" David said, as he tossed Su Yang's paper to a special pile, which he reserved for humiliating students.
He could already picture it:
The opening to tomorrow's class when he said—
"Class, behold! The worst attempt at an exam I have ever graded! Ladies and gentlemen, Su Yang has achieved the impossible—he has become the first student in the history of Rodova to not even cross single digits in the mid term exams!"
As it was sure to be a delightful lecture.
—------------
David continued his ruthless grading spree, handing out failures like a generous god of despair, as his red ink slashed through answer sheets with no mercy.
A 12/80 here, a 23/80 there, a 42/80 to a poor student, who came so close to passing, yet was still so far, as the Failure Pile continued to grow taller.
And then—he reached it.
Leo Skyshard's paper.
As just grabbing that sheet, his smirk faded instantly, as just reading the name soured his mood.
*Crinkle*
David tightened his grip around the paper like it personally offended him, as if it were up to him, he would tear it apart without checking a single answer, but he knew that he could land into big trouble if he did that, which was why he showed restraint.
"Skyshard was writing the correct answers from what I glanced at the time…" David muttered under his breath, as he flipped the paper open with an evident frown.
"I hope he fails as miserably as Su Yang–" David prayed.
However, as he read the first few answers, his expression only darkened further.
Correct.
The first answer was flawless, frustrating David, as he flipped to the next page, skimming through the neatly written responses.
Correct.
Next.
Correct.
Again.
Correct.
His brows furrowed deeply as page after page, answer after answer, Leo's test was coming back with zero errors, causing his mood to plummet with every passing mark.
Logically, It did not make sense to him, as it seemed to be simply impossible.
David knew that Leo hadn't attended most of his lectures, yet some of the exact phrasing in his explanations—some of the precise wording he had used in class—had somehow made its way onto Leo's answer sheet.
Not from textbooks. Not from general knowledge.
But from his own lectures.
Which meant—
Leo didn't just know the material. He knew exactly how David wanted it answered.
And this surely couldn't be a coincidence.
This had to be proof that Leo Skyshard had cheated.
"It's impossible that he got such detailed lecture notes from someone… And even if he had, it's still impossible to memorize them with such precision—" David thought, flipping through the pages with increasing agitation, as frustration churned within him.
He knew Leo had cheated.
He just couldn't prove it.
And that enraged him.
For a fleeting moment, the temptation slithered into his mind—
'I could fail him regardless–'
'Just mark a few answers wrong. Who's going to stop me?'
But then—he knew exactly who would stop him.
The Ethics Board.
If Leo appealed the grading and accused him of unfair treatment, the academy would be forced to review the test objectively, and if they found that David had deliberately failed a student who had actually answered everything correctly—
His reputation, his position, his career—
It would all crumble in an instant, and David couldn't take such a risk.
*Grit*
Gritting his teeth, David forced himself to continue grading accurately, his mood deteriorating with every correct answer he was forced to acknowledge, every mark he was compelled to add.
And finally—
61/80.
Leo achieved a passing grade.
A high passing grade.
And just writing that on his sheet made David feel sick to his stomach, as he just couldn't accept passing a student who had not even attended 20% of his total lectures.
It wasn't right. It wasn't fair.
Leo had definitely cheated.
But, until he could prove it to the ethics board, it was simply not important.
*Crack*
David's grip on the pen tightened as his gaze burned holes into the answer sheet, his thoughts racing, his blood boiling, as his mind screamed for an answer that refused to present itself.
"Fucking despicable cheater… I know you cheated somehow…"
"I just don't know how."
His fingers curled so tightly around his pen that the wood snapped in half, however, despite all his frustrations, he had nothing that could tie Leo down to a crime for now.
However, David still refused to let the matter rest, as internally he began thinking of all possible ways Leo could have cheated, determined to sniff his fraud out.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 129: Betrayal and BreakthroughTimeless AssassinC129: Betrayal and Breakthrough
(The Next Day – Near the Rodova Military Academy Notice Board)
If there was anyone more devastated than David to see Leo score 61/80 in Basics of Magic Theory—
It was Su Yang.
Standing before the massive notice board, his eyes darting between his own 9/80 and Leo's 61/80, as he looked like a man who had just watched his best friend ascend to godhood while he remained a mere mortal, trapped in the cruel reality of academic failure.
His fingers trembled as he pointed at Leo's name.
Then at his own.
Then back at Leo's.
And then, with the tragic flair of a betrayed war hero, he clutched his chest as if he'd just been run through with a sword.
"Skyshard! You… you absolute traitor!" Su Yang gasped, turning on Leo with the raw betrayal of a man left to die on the battlefield.
Leo, who had been casually munching on an apple he had just picked on his way out of the mess hall, barely spared him a glance as he muttered, "Huh?"
Up until now, Leo had been lost in thought, wondering just how furious David must have been while grading his paper, completely forgetting about Su Yang's impending academic meltdown.
"You passed?!" Su Yang demanded, grabbing Leo by the shoulders as if shaking him would somehow undo the horror he had just witnessed.
"Uh. Yeah?" Leo replied, unfazed.
"YOU PASSED?!" Su Yang repeated, shaking him even harder now, as if sheer disbelief alone could rewrite reality.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "…Is that a question or are you trying to exorcise me?"
"How—?" Su Yang staggered backward, his hands gripping at the air as if searching for something—anything—to hold onto for support.
"You… you lied to me!" he accused, his voice cracking with the weight of betrayal. "I thought we were in this together! We were supposed to fail together, Skyshard!"
Leo smirked. "I don't remember signing that contract."
"You don't need a contract for brotherhood!" Su Yang roared, drawing the attention of several confused students nearby.
"I was supposed to be grieving with you today! Drowning in misery! Burning this godforsaken academy to the ground! But no—YOU had to go and be an academic genius all of a sudden!"
Leo raised an eyebrow, barely suppressing his amusement. Then, in a conspiratorial whisper, he leaned in.
"…I cheated."
Silence.
Su Yang, mid-rant, froze. His brain took a solid second to process what he had just heard.
Then, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he asked, "Did you actually?"
Leo shrugged, nonchalantly taking another bite of his apple. "Maybe."
As listening to that response, Su Yang gasped so dramatically that even the nearby students flinched.
"You son of a—"
Su Yang began, but before he could finish his sentence, Mu Shen, who had been silently enjoying the show from the sidelines, finally decided to intervene.
"Yang, buddy, you do realize your failure isn't Leo's fault, right?" Mu Shen said dryly, as Su Yang immediately whirled on him with the speed of a man personally wronged.
"EXCUSE ME?!"
Mu Shen sighed, rubbing his temples. "Maybe, just maybe, if you had spent more time studying instead of training at the combat arena, you wouldn't be in this situation today."
"Blasphemy!" Su Yang snapped, dramatically pointing a finger at Mu Shen as if condemning him in a courtroom.
"I was preparing for the inevitable failure, Shen! I was making peace with my fate! Unlike some people—" he whipped back around to glare at Leo "—who decided to go behind my back and actually pass!"
Leo took another lazy bite of his apple. "Would it make you feel better if I said I barely passed?"
Su Yang narrowed his eyes.
Then, slowly, shook his head in bitter disappointment.
"No, because you still passed. And now… I must mourn alone."
With that, Su Yang collapsed onto a nearby bench, draping himself across it like a tragic hero who had lost everything, as Leo and Mu Shen exchanged humored glances.
"Think he's gonna be okay?" Mu Shen asked, as Leo took another bite of his apple before replying smoothly, "Yeah, he'll be fine. He just needs a few hours to accept that I'm superior."
"BETRAYAL!!!"
Su Yang's anguished scream echoed through the academy grounds, causing several students to turn their heads—only for Leo and Mu Shen to burst into laughter.
In life, failing exams felt painful, however, failing exams when your best friend passed, felt even worse.
—------
(That Same Night – Leo's Dorm Room)
The quiet hum of mana filled the dimly lit room as Leo sat cross-legged on the floor, his breathing slow and controlled, his mind sharper than ever.
Fresh out of meditation, his body felt lighter, his senses heightened, as he transitioned seamlessly into his nightly routine of pushing [Absolute Vision] towards perfection.
At first, tonight felt no different from the countless nights before.
But then—
Something shifted.
It wasn't a dramatic burst of energy.
Nor was it a surge of power crashing through his veins.
It was something subtle—so subtle that Leo almost missed it.
A tiny, almost imperceptible refinement. A flicker of change that, at first, seemed insignificant.
Until he realized—
His cycle speed had dropped because of it, to just about 0.1 seconds.
'Holy shit… I'm on the cusp of a breakthrough—' Leo realized, as on the very next attempt:-
0.09.
The cycle time dropped even more, causing Leo's breath to still, as the realisation finally hit him.
He had done it.
After weeks of relentless training—of pushing his mind and body to their absolute limits, refining his mana circulation, and using the skill in countless high-pressure scenarios—[Absolute Vision] had finally reached perfection.
His heart pounded—not from excitement, but from realization.
This wasn't just the result of mechanical repetition.
This was because of real, practical usage.
All those fights against Grandmasters.
All those battles where he had relied on split-second reactions.
All those times he had used it in combat, tracking movements, predicting attacks—and even the moments he had used it while cheating yesterday.
All of it had pushed the skill past its final threshold.
Leo exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as he activated [Absolute Vision] once more—
And this time, it was different.
It didn't feel like an activation.
It didn't feel like a technique he had to consciously trigger anymore.
It was effortless.
Like flexing a muscle he had used a thousand times before.
There was no lag, no deliberate thought, no strain.
His surroundings sharpened automatically, his awareness expanding as naturally as breathing, as instinctively as blinking.
[Absolute Vision] was no longer just a skill he had to execute.
It was a part of him.
A seamless, subconscious ability—woven into his very instincts, ready to be called upon at any moment, as Leo finally seemed to have mastered 2 of the 5 skills he needed to become a Grandmaster!
"Ha—Haha"
Leo chuckled, allowing himself a moment of joy, before [Monarch's Indifference] made him stable once again, as he smiled with his eyes closed.
Mastering [Absolute Vision] meant that he could now solely focus on improving his combat skills, as the three remaining skills for him to master were all practical combat skills that could only be improved on the battlefield.
"Tomorrow onwards, I shall be on the combat training grounds whenever I'm not in class or meditating—" Leo concluded, as he resolved to craft a new schedule for himself starting tomorrow, where his skill training time could be maximized.
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Show menu Novel BinNovel Timeless Assassin Chapter 130 130: Working on a new fighting styleTimeless AssassinC130 130: Working on a new fighting style
(Rodova Military Academy – Practical Combat Grounds)
Over the next week, Leo settled into a steady rhythm, focusing entirely on building his new fighting style, as he began blending his recently acquired skills with his existing techniques, slowly crafting a style that felt both natural and effective.
Having lost all memory of his previous combat form, Leo lacked confidence when facing unfamiliar opponents, as he couldn't clearly gauge his own strengths or weaknesses.
However, the more matches he fought and the more experience he gained, the more his instincts began to resurface, as with every bout, his footing grew steadier and his confidence slowly returned.
He once again began to understand the limitations of his existing core move-set—and more importantly, the best ways to apply them practically in combat.
While he had, at one point, considered his previous skills to be borderline useless, the truth was far from it.
The truth was that techniques like [Vanish], [Mirror World], and [Shadow Bind] were far from ineffective under the right circumstances, however, they simply weren't well-suited for his current opponents.
The skills themselves weren't weak. In fact, against Grandmaster-tier beasts, or an opponent that was not proficient in spotting illusions, they could be devastating.
As he could easily use [Vanish] to slip through their guard undetected, or deploy clones through [Mirror World] to create confusion, and then capitalize with [Kill Strike] to land a finishing blow.
However, all this was only useful against instinct driven creatures with low perception, and not against Rodova students and teachers, because here in Rodova, 'Perception' was a mandatory subject and every student was trained to spot deception, which made these tricks lose their unique edge.
The value of [Mirror World] was not in the increased number of bodies that were created with him spreading his mana thin.
But rather in the fact that all his clones looked, spoke and moved exactly like him, to create an illusion of there being hundreds of him, as without that, [Mirror World] was no different from the [Multi-Clone] skill, which created completely black humanoid duplicates of an individual, which could gang up on an opponent, but did not look the same.
However, that did not diminish the value of the skills themselves—it just meant that the circuits weren't the right stage to showcase them.
As while the same skills would prove extremely useful against one type of opponent, they might not be as useful against another, which was why Leo had to upgrade his old move-set with his newly learned skills, while also finding creative ways to keep his old ones relevant.
Because when layered together and used creatively, even these "less effective" skills could create decisive openings—and in a close match, that edge could be the difference between victory and defeat.
—--------
One of the two new skills Leo had picked up was [Celestial Veil]—a much-needed defensive addition to his existing move-set, offering the kind of full-body protection he had sorely lacked until now.
At its current (Basic) mastery, the skill took just over one second to activate, and with its total duration lasting only 1.2 seconds, Leo had to time it with near-perfect precision to get any real value from it.
Ideally, he had chosen the move for spontaneous defense in combat—something he could trigger instinctively in moments of danger to block an incoming attack.
But in practice, it was still far from battle-ready.
Because not only was it nearly impossible to predict an opponent's strike a full second in advance—but the skill's mana cost was absurdly high.
At 25% of his total mana pool for a single activation, even one failed attempt would leave him heavily drained and vulnerable.
So while the skill had incredible potential, Leo knew it would take time, training, and improved mastery before it became the reactive shield he envisioned.
However, while he was still struggling with the move's activation timing, its defensive efficiency was undeniably powerful.
Capable of nullifying both physical and magical attacks—regardless of which body part was targeted—the skill's utility in real combat was unquestionable.
At its core, the technique worked by enveloping the user's entire body in a dense layer of mana, functioning almost like a layer of transparent, bulletproof glass that lasted for exactly 1.2 seconds.
During this window, any incoming strike—be it a blade, spell, or projectile—would collide against the mana veil first, where the impact was rapidly dispersed across multiple sublayers of mana that evenly distributed the force throughout the body, neutralizing damage and preventing critical injury.
As after testing it several times against even Major Hen's strongest attack, Leo realized it was practically invincible at the (Grandmaster) tier.
As none of his opponents could even scratch him with that skill active, no matter how much force they applied…. Essentially giving him absolute immunity during the skill active period.
The challenge for him now was to slowly master the move. Getting the activation time down to under 0.1 seconds at (Perfect) mastery, which would then open a whole new horizon of combat-style for him, where he could stay close and take more risks, without being afraid to take hits.
—---------
Finally, on the offensive front, [Thousand Phantom Strikes] was a move that completely changed the tempo of Leo's combat.
Unlike traditional chain-strike techniques that relied on pure speed and stamina, this skill overloaded the opponent's senses.
Every strike he threw while it was active appeared to be ten, sometimes twenty. Not only because the skill gave him a temporary burst of speed, changing the tempo from his strikes, but because the layered illusion blurred the line between reality and falsehood.
Whenever he activated the move, his figure blurred, and ghostly afterimages rippled outward with every attack.
To an untrained eye, it looked like Leo was striking from five different angles at once, and even for trained fighters, it became nearly impossible to distinguish which blade was real and which was phantom.
And that sensory overload?
It created hesitation.
Hesitation on where exactly to block?
How exactly to counter?
And that hesitation led to panic.
And panic—led to openings.
Combined with his speed and ability to reposition using [Blade Switch], [Thousand Phantom Strikes] became a nightmare to counter. It wasn't just about hitting hard—it was about creating chaos. And Leo thrived in chaos.
Against straightforward opponents, it forced them into defensive shells, overwhelmed by the barrage of seemingly endless slashes. Against more technical fighters, it messed with their timing, making counters nearly impossible.
Even Major Hen had raised an eyebrow the first time Leo used it against him—and that was when Leo knew he'd made the right choice
As although the skill was still at (Basic) mastery, the potential it held was undeniably immense.
As Leo's mana control improved, so would the fluidity and realism of his afterimages, and eventually—he'd reach a point where even Monarch-level fighters would have trouble predicting his movements.
And that was the ultimate goal.
To evolve beyond raw strength or flashy magic.
To become the kind of fighter who was unreadable. Unpredictable.
Untouchable.
And so, with [Celestial Veil] as his unbreakable shield, [Thousand Phantom Strikes] as his chaos engine, and [Absolute Vision] as his ever-present awareness—
Leo finally began to shape a fighting style that was his and his alone.
A style worthy of a Monarch-tier talent.
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