"Here we are kid," The trip had in total taken us thirty minutes - I felt nauseous after how fast we'd been going in the Shadow Realm, the only benefit from that trip was that because I didn't enter it myself the time limit didn't seem to apply, giving me 30 XP points in total - adding to my current 43 XP I now had 73 XP - 17 more and I'd become level 2 finally!
Recovering from my excitement I looked up to see the massive complex before me - it was a complex of tunnels, presumably, we were under a city somewhere because I could hear the rumble of cars on roads above me, yet which city? That was far outside my knowledge, we'd been traveling for quite a while yet I had no idea how fast we'd been going, I was certain though that we'd crossed a body of water at some point but it went by so fast I don't know whether that was the ocean or a lake... What insane speed, will I be able to do that? I looked in awe at the old man, finally seeing him in a new light than just a kidnapper who'd forced me to enter his organization.
"This way." He led me, finally letting go of my arm he walked ahead through one of the tunnels, "Remember this route, you get lost in here and if you're unlucky enough it'll be a week until a patrol finds you at most." We turned so many times I was having a hard time remembering the way which we'd come, it was honestly taxing to have to remember such a complicated route, I'm pretty sure we even did a circle once - we'd been walking for close to ten minutes when I'd been thinking the old man himself had forgotten his way we finally made our way into a clearing..
It was beautiful, amazing and utterly dazzling - who would believe underneath a city, such a marvel would exist? It was beautiful, to the west there was a waterfall falling out of a sewer pipe however clear water poured from it rather than the dirty waste you normally see, large LED lights could be seen on the ceiling for miles stretching outwards - "It's about 4,000 acres in total, it took the organization 237 years to fully excavate and build everything around you, all these trees were planted within those 200 trees which is why you can see such a forest, the first time I came here was about 60 years ago and I was as speechless as you are now.. of course back then most of the buildings here now didn't exist back then."The old man started to think of the past as he stared into the distance at a large complex of buildings which spread across the horizon.
"You'll be going there later, they're the residents of both our citizens and our Assassins - yes I said citizens, the world down here is a self-sustaining country, although we're not legally recognized by any country we have authority to operate in all countries except North Korea... for more obvious reasons that I'd like to admit," I swear for a moment the old mans cheeks blushed a bright shade of red before returning to their more pale colour, it was gone as fast as it'd came but I could've sworn I saw the change in colour.
"That's.. incredible," I said I was stumped for words - Before today I'd never have been able to imagine such a place existed in the world, but to be honest before today I was sitting in a prison cell wasting away.
I sighed thinking how much had happened in the mere few hours I'd been freed from prison, it was like a dream.
The old man finally shook himself from his own little daydream and turned back to me, "This place is the introduction point, we have about a thousand of these scattered around the edges of this little world of ours, the purpose is to allow a high vantage point so the senior members can tell the new recruits about the various facilities in this world of ours. I'll take you to registration after this but after that movement around this world will entirely be up to you. We've maintained the technology of this place at the feudal level of society in terms of transportation so all travel is done by horse to reduce noise pollution." I looked flabbergasted at him, "For an Assassin organization isn't it.. ya know? Too conscious of the environment?"
He looked at me with a peculiar gaze, "Yes.. we are I guess you could say that, but." He paused, "Nevermind, it's no use explaining it to you at your level - when you can sense it for yourself you'll understand, this matter is too complex for me to explain to you right now.."
I looked at him thoughtfully.
"Don't try and understand my words, you're too young child.. maybe a few years from now and you'll begin to comprehend the truth we elderly have.. but for now, you're far too young." With that, he smiled at me before returning his gaze to the rest of the world around us, "For now let me explain where everything is down here. To the north we have the Residential complexes, they spread far into the north - they surround the academy which is where all Assassins must spend their first year training - you're a special case so we may be able to bypass it with minimal training to your base skills... To the west, you've already seen the waterfall - through that tunnel is the black market." I stared at him doubtfully, "Don't look at me like that lad, we're an underground operation, of course, we have access to the black market! Of course, our black market is slightly more special, you can find practically any weapon and armor you want there, of course, you need to have the right amount of cash to buy them." I smiled smirking at the crestfallen look on my face, I had nothing to my name other than a few hundred dollars, but I doubted that was enough to buy the items there.
"To the east, we have the weapon pavilion, armor pavilion and mission pavilion - these three pavilions make up our main facilities where you can request for armor to be made for you from anything from bulletproof vests to high-tech ninja suits, yes that's their name - I didn't name them! You young people and your cultural influences.." The old man grumbled rather casually to himself, only pretending to be disgruntled by the naming sense of the younger generation it'd seem the old man had no original names himself.
I smirked thinking about it but quickly wiped it off my face as he glared at me - knowing he'd guessed my thoughts. "Now to the south we have the main headquarters," He turned to look to the south, in the distance was a castle-like complex - "Here the leader is equivalent to the king, we all listen to his orders like his loyal knights and soldiers. We the soldiers reside in the Castle whilst you the Soldiers live in the cities below, I have no doubt that you'll very quickly promote yourself to the level of a Knight..."
He looked at me with expectant eyes, I had no idea where his confidence came from but I felt he was right - I had the system and the powers of a Monarch to help me, I doubted everyone was insanely powerful as this old guy but the leader... he must be a true monster to be the leader of a guy like this..
Gramps turned to look at me, a glint in his eyes like he was looking at a priceless treasure, "So kid.. what's your name?" He smiled at me innocently as I stared daggers at him.
You've got to be kidding me.
