Kingdom: The Black Moon Assassin

"Should I wear this outfit?" Jun looked at the black clothes, resembling those worn by the assassins who had trained and brought them to this place.

The two young men were clad in black robes, scarves covering the lower part of their faces, and headbands shielding the upper part. Red lines gave more character to the outfit, and the red belts added to the look. They wore comfortable black boots, and swords hung on their backs.

All of this was very cool, but at that moment the two men, named Vera and Trevor, were fighting. Within minutes of their brawl, they had already trashed their cabin.

They were somewhere in the State of Qin, during the era of the Warring States.

After many conflicts, what had once been over a hundred states had been reduced to just seven, and these seven kingdoms continued to fight for supremacy in China.

In the future, this period would be known as the era of the Seven Warring States. The war lasted for five hundred years, and slowly the people became paranoid, fearing they would never see peace again.

But Jun knew that Qin would emerge victorious—at least, those memories remained in his mind. Still, he didn't care where those memories came from; he had decided to leave them all behind and focus on the future.

How did he learn what year it was?

Well, he had asked that pair of men while they were tearing apart their cabin in their fight.

It was currently the year 242. There weren't many battles at the moment, according to one of the short responses from those aggressive men who were now biting at each other like dogs.

This village was called Asura, and strangely, everyone who lived here had to request something from Asura, sharing from the roots the heritage of being part of the ninth village.

Jun, who had just been observing his surroundings after enduring more than a year of hellish training, suddenly felt a wave of emotion looking at the massive trees at the edge of his vision.

It was because he had never dreamed of finding the freedom he had longed for during his early days of confinement.

If he hadn't desired strength, it was a place he would have never seen in his life... He didn't remember anything from his previous life; the memories that came to him were all from an inexhaustible well of knowledge, not from this world.

The assassins of Asura Village were not allowed to touch the outside world nor to engage in personal economic activities, all to keep their minds untainted by greed for riches.

Jun looked at the manual left for him with his clothes, sword, and the amulet representing his title.

The only reward for becoming an assassin was the chance to stop being a slave. But for Jun, it was an opportunity to explore this world without being besieged on the first battlefield he set foot on.

He didn't plan to escape, nor to kill everyone to leave this place. Instead, he aimed to win that tournament and become the next Crescent Moon.

As Jun continued gazing at the trees, he wondered, "How many Crescent Moons are there in this place?"

He already had what was necessary to fight and defend himself, but he knew it wasn't enough until he won that tournament. This was a test of strength for him; only then would he know that few things could kill him when he stepped into the outside world filled with enemies.

Boom!

Vera and Trevor had stopped fighting almost simultaneously upon seeing that Jun had wandered far without changing his clothes.

"Stop, what do you think you're doing?"

Jun looked at the two assassins with stern eyes.

They were too alike, so Jun identified them as twins with identical appearances—brown hair, brown eyes, and a muscular build.

That was all Jun could see, as everyone's face here was covered.

"I'm just looking at the outside light."

"You're supposed to change so we can take you to the Crescent Moon." Jun felt strange seeing those assassin eyes—who knows how many people had died at the hands of these twin brothers? Then he raised his amulet.

"I've never seen that amulet in person."

Jun glanced at the twins, who were gaping at the amulet on his arm. In response, he uttered a single sentence: "I'll change in a second."

That was enough.

A place like this was extremely closed off, gloomy, and devoid of emotion.

An abnormal village where all its inhabitants were trained assassins, spending their entire lives with food and equipment obtained from others who returned after being sent outside.

An assassin clan that had survived for over a thousand years definitely had its special methods to avoid becoming entirely disconnected and to acquire everything the current era could offer.

"A perfect place to lose emotions." The expectation that it might be different was shattered as Jun slowly donned his outfit.

Starting with his pants, which were black, followed by his robe, which was also black with red flame lines.

"You might wonder why black and red."

"Well, that's because of the blood of our enemies."

"I'm Vera; that's not my real name, just a nickname from an ancient book written by a Crescent Moon." Those words came out of nowhere, snapping Jun out of his thoughts.

The twin on the right spoke as Jun adjusted his belt.

Jun turned toward Vera upon hearing those words, and his twin brother, Trevor, said, "We'll be your guides in this place. We're guardians; we kill those who try to enter as well as those who try to leave."

"No one wants to leave, except the new orphans who pass the test. That's why we're more active this year."

"And also, the male descendants of the clan kill the orphans."

"By the way, we're all men here."

In just a few minutes, both brothers had flooded Kia's mind with a lot of information.

'Do these twins have verbal diarrhea?' Such thoughts crossed Jun's mind at that moment. It wasn't just because of how they spoke; they had their eyes wide open, talking so quickly that it was hard to follow.

After staring at them for a while, Jun didn't feel the need to respond, so he looked at his sword. The sword's appearance was simple; there was nothing flashy about it.

"That's why we're so happy that an orphan defeated the clan descendants. We're orphans too, but let me give you a piece of advice—the other descendant in this village will be from the Asura clan, which gives him a reason to try and kill you," Vera said, raising his hands in excitement.

Trevor moved closer to Jun and added, "If you're wondering about the quality of your sword, it's temporary until you choose the materials a year before the Blood Ceremony."

"I'm Jun."

"I see. Nice to meet you; I'm Vera."

"I'm Trevor."

There was no doubt that Jun needed to leave here as soon as he could. He would end up becoming the same or worse than he already was if he spent more years here than he intended.