Published at 2nd of February 2026 6:54 am

Chapter 1465: To Become a Spy

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More than forty years ago, when Adam was first recruited into the Twilight Brotherhood, he wasn’t given proper training.

After all, he was already a versatile spellcaster and combatant by then. But more importantly, he had already been admitted into Saratoga Castle.

So it was naturally quite difficult to provide him with the teachings of the Brotherhood while he lived and studied in one of the four Great Pillars of the Acadian Empire.

And due to his strong backing, his career trajectory within the secret order was vastly different from that of others.

But now... things were different.

He was different.

Kenny was but a novice, a Mana Foundation Magus, who didn’t know how to cast spells or how to properly fight. In the Brotherhood’s eyes, he was a valuable piece of ore, waiting to be forged into the perfect blade.

And thus began Kenny’s training to become a spy.

"You must remember this, boy."

An elderly man at the Mana Liquefaction Rank walked slowly around Kenny, who sat rigidly on a chair inside a dimly lit room.

"You are not a killer. You are a preventive tool," he continued. "You are a spy first. Assassination is a last resort, not a goal. If your work is noticed, if you are noticed, then something has gone wrong. Survival, discretion, and accuracy matter more than courage."

He stopped, retrieved a bowl filled with highly potent wax, and held it out.

"Now," he said. "Apply it to your eyes."

"B-but—" Kenny nervously began.

But he was coldly interrupted.

"Never forget this," the old man said. "We are men who walk forever in the shadows so that others may live in the light. We are nameless. We are faceless. The world will never know our deeds, nor remember our faces, for we are one with the darkness!"

He paused, then spat coldly, "Now apply the wax to your eyes."

"H-how long?" Kenny stuttered.

"As long as it needs to be."

And so... Kenny sealed his eyes shut with wax.

He became blind once again.

But little did the trainer realise, very few knew darkness and misery better than the boy sitting before him. For he had lived in the darkness for many, many years.

He was cradled by it, he was molded by it, he was detested by it, and he was loved by it.

The sands of time fell without pause.

Spring turned to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and spring came once again.

One year later, the wax was removed, and Kenny emerged from the darkness... a different man.

"This is the first phase of your training," said a handsome, middle-aged man to the dusk-skinned youth.

The pair sat at a public square in Trade Ward, surrounded by a bustling crowd.

"...Where’s the old man?" Kenny asked, surprised.

He was expecting to see the elderly Magus who had trained him in the darkness, but he was met by a completely different person.

"Which old man?" asked the Magus with a knowing smile.

Kenny’s lips twitched. "Never mind."

He then thought of something and quickly said, "What about Baron Veyne? And the girls that—"

"Observation and awareness," the man interrupted him, pretending not to hear what Kenny had just said. "The purpose of this training is to learn to see without being seen."

Kenny couldn’t help but frown. "What about spells? When can I learn to—"

The man cut him off once again, "You will sit in this square until sunset. I will visit you in the evening, and you will list a hundred faces you’ve seen."

He rose to his feet and smiled. "Of course, you can’t note anything down. You must depend entirely on your memory."

"A hundred faces I’ve seen?!" Kenny blurted out. "Are you serious—"

The man turned around and walked away, leaving behind his parting words. "The punishment for failure is not something you’d want to know."

Of course, Kenny failed that day.

The punishment for that was... quite interesting. He was made to dip in an ice-cold bath and then made to fight an Acolyte while blindfolded.

He failed the next day, and the next, and the day after that. It was only twenty-three days later that he succeeded, remembering a hundred faces from memory alone, then sketching every one of them afterward.

Phase one of the training continued. He was made to observe a single shop for a week and report peak hours, regular customers, and guard presence. Naturally, he had to remember all the faces he’d seen, and then list them down when the day ended.

Needless to say, failure was not tolerated.

The training progressed further. He was then made to follow a marked individual for one street only, then disengage and report the target’s direction and pace to his trainer. This continued for another month.

The purpose of the first phase of his training was to read crowds and body language, identify surveillance and counter-surveillance, memorize routines, routes, and habits, and most importantly... learn when not to follow.

Kenny was evaluated on the basis of whether he could gather useful information without being remembered.

Six months after the first phase of the training began, he had passed all parameters and emerged with flying colors.

And thus began the second phase of his training.

It had been one and a half years since he joined the Brotherhood.

He met a different trainer this time, and once again asked, "Sir, what about the Baron—"

The Mana Liquefaction Magus cut him off.

"I will teach you the basics of movement and concealment," the man said with a stoic look on his face. "By the time your training ends, you will have learned how to blend into all sorts of environments naturally."

Kenny gritted his teeth, showcasing the annoyance and anger of a hot-blooded teenager.

"You have a problem with me, boy?" the man asked coldly.

Kenny’s brown eyes flashed with grievance. In the end, he lowered his head and muttered in defeat, "No, sir..."

"Good." The man nodded. "Trade Ward, Forge Ward, and Scholar Ward. Cross all three districts in a day without anyone seeing, greeting, or questioning you."

He paused, his lips forming an amused smirk. "You must travel through the main streets. And you can’t traverse the rooftops."

"Without anyone seeing me?!" Kenny blurted out. "How can I even do something so—"

"Don’t care." The man cut him off. "Punishment for failure... heh, you should know better by now."

Kenny gritted his teeth in frustration. He then harrumphed and turned around, making his way through the Trade Ward.

But only a few steps later...

"Oh, if it isn’t Kenny! Come, child, help me carry these grocery bags home. My back is giving out." An elderly woman saw him and happily called out.

Kenny couldn’t help but curse inwardly:

Dragonshit!

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