WebNovels

Chapter 6 - Chapter 6

In the upper region of the Kingdom of Dravelle, nestled between the mountains and veiled behind powerful glamour wards, stood the Ivory Thorn Academy.

Officially: a noble finishing school.

Secretly: a breeding ground for state-sponsored assassins trained to recognize, trap, and eliminate S.I.N operatives.

Their new semester had just begun.

And their new transfer student?

A soft-spoken pink-haired girl with big eyes, a quiet smile, and a name forged from an illusion—

"Hello. I'm Primrose Vellin. I transferred from a minor noble house in the southern provinces.

I'm good at sewing… and forgettable things."

The instructors barely gave her a glance.

The students didn't feel threatened.

But none noticed the subtle shifts when she entered a room.

The way the air paused.

The way their blades felt duller near her.

The way the security wards never registered her presence.

Because Primrose was really…

Shadow Petal.

— MISSION DIRECTIVE: Shadow Petal —

Codename: Primrose Vellin

Cover Role: Support-Class Noble

True Assignment:

Infiltrate Ivory Thorn Academy

Locate instructor responsible for "coin breaker" assassination curriculum

Identify graduates assigned anti-S.I.N contracts

Sabotage internal assassin memory-chain system

Escape unseen

Week 1 – Integration

Petal excelled quietly—never too fast, never too perfect.

She let herself be teased.

She "accidentally" dropped her books in front of bullies and thanked them with a smile when they kicked them farther.

Behind that smile, she marked them.

By the end of the first week, she'd learned:

Three instructors were former vanguard assassins.

Five students had completed "coin kill" practice missions.

And one of them—the top-ranked "prince" of the school—had a silver dagger engraved with her father's real name.

She marked him last.

Week 2 – Sabotage

Every night, Petal moved through the academy unseen.

She rewrote ward boundaries.

She swapped harmless blades for illusion-cursed ones.

She reversed a poison training class to cause mild vomiting and fake death.

Then, she entered the Mirror Library, where all "coin breaker" graduates stored their mission logs.

She left with every single file.

But before she could leave…

A masked instructor stepped into the corridor.

A former S.I.N hunter turned noble assassin breeder.

And he looked straight at her.

"So… the petal finally bloomed."

Combat: Petal vs Instructor Caltheron

He used shadow-lock daggers—designed to cancel S.I.N cloaking.

She used movement, not magic—flipping through tight corridors, drawing him away.

His blade grazed her leg—but she didn't even wince.

Because fear was turned off.

And she'd already set the trap.

With one final feint, she leapt off the balcony—only to twist midair, land on the instructor's shoulders, and press a magi-thread spool to his neck.

"This will erase your coin-killer memories. Permanently."

He struggled once.

Then silence.

And sleep.

— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —

[ Mission Success: "Thornroot Bloom" – Petal Infiltration Complete ]

Instructor Memory Chain Destroyed

Assassin Logs Retrieved: 73

Exposed Contracts Terminated: 41

New Passive Unlocked:

"Classroom Ghost" – Shadow operatives now gain +15% effectiveness infiltrating academic, institutional, or arcane learning zones

Back at HQ

Shin looked over the scrolls delivered via hidden route.

The files had been perfectly catalogued—Petal's own annotations included weak spots in the academy's walls and signs of abused children.

He placed a cup of tea beside the folder.

"Sometimes… the smallest flower hides the sharpest thorn."

Nearby, Agent M whispered softly, not knowing who sent the report:

"I hope whoever saved those students… comes back safely."

S.I.N had grown quickly.

Too quickly.

For every Shadow agent launched into dangerous infiltration ops, there was one constant threat:

If they fall, no one knows where they are.

If they break… no one knows what they revealed.

Shin stood in front of a dimly lit briefing hall. Tea in one hand, he faced the newest assembly—neither Agents nor O.S.

These were something else.

"Spies that blend into markets, nobles, orphanages, and fortresses… that's one skill."

He looked up, eyes calm, voice colder than the tea cup in his hand.

"But to protect the protectors—to rescue a Shadow when no one else knows where they are?

That requires something even rarer."

— INTRODUCING: WHISPERGUARD

Role:

Covert Rescue + Shadow Tail Support Division

Function:

Track Shadow operatives covertly without interference

Extract wounded operatives from behind enemy lines

Deflect detection by acting as local citizens, slaves, travelers, or even nobles

Intercept kill-contracts before they activate

Intervene when Shadows go missing or compromise is detected

— WHISPERGUARD TRAINING FOCUS —

Disguise-level 5 (chameleon-tier persona switching)

Field healing under magical suppression

Mana trace mimicry

Black coin shadow-link pulse tracking

Emotional nullification vs torture or hostage threats

False hostage roleplay insertion

"Living scenery" mimicry (become invisible by expectation, not magic)

Shin dropped ten coins onto the floor before the candidates.

"These are your masks. They'll never be seen. They'll never be removed. But once you wear them, you'll never exist in the eyes of this world again."

He walked the line slowly.

"Your names will be erased.

Your families will forget your face.

Your victories will never be written."

He paused by one—a former baker's daughter who once saved an Agent with only a pan and a bluff.

"But when a Shadow screams silently beneath a fortress wall—you'll be the one who hears it."

— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —

[ New Division Activated: WHISPERGUARD ]

Recruitment Class: 12 Initiates

Codename Range: "Whisper 1" to "Whisper 12"

Passive Field Effect: "Echo Tether" – Shadow operatives now gain a +15% survival chance if compromised or wounded

New Subsystem Unlocked:

Shadow Rescue Priority Queue – Missions flagged as "Lost Signal" now trigger Whisperguard route creation automatically

As Shin left the room, he tapped the side of his coin.

"Begin with Shadow 12. Her path's gone quiet."

Meanwhile: far from HQ

Shadow Petal sat in a moonlit alley, blood trailing from her side. Her mask cracked. Her vision blurred. She'd made it back to the city—but barely.

She was trying to stay awake.

Trying not to let the wound take her.

Trying not to scream.

And just before she passed out—

A gentle hand gripped her shoulder.

A calm voice whispered:

"You're safe.

Whisperguard has you."

She smiled faintly.

"Took you long enough…"

Then everything went dark.

Some believed S.I.N was a phantom.

Others said it was a trick of fear and illusion.

But those within knew the truth:

A shadow is only as strong as the silence that sustains it.

And so Shin created something beyond shadow.

A hidden lifeline.

A secret pulse.

A network within the world that moved unseen—like veins beneath the skin of civilization.

— SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE: THE BLACK VEIN NETWORK —

Designed and initialized by: Shin

Purpose: Operative survival, identity restoration, data transfer, mission pivot

Access Key: Soul-Fused Black Coin (operates only by bonded S.I.N Operatives)

— PRIMARY FEATURES OF THE BLACK VEIN —

1. Phantom Identity Engine

Creates instant, valid identities—noble, merchant, scholar, or drifter.

Includes forged documents, memory-influencing magic, and support trails.

Can even simulate lineage confirmation under blood magic.

"From nobody to noble in ten seconds." – Agent Lio

2. Safehouse Array

Over 300 hidden locations across kingdoms, ports, fortresses, and neutral zones.

Each one warded with cloaking glyphs, disguise triggers, and supply caches.

Includes healing rooms, coin-link relays, escape tunnels, food, disguises, and portable illusion chambers.

"If an agent can breathe, they can make it to a door." – Whisper 6

3. Total Field Access Nodes

Invisible sigils inscribed across cities, guard posts, and trade routes.

When activated via black coin, these provide:

Entry permits

Path-redirection illusions

Coin-sensitive bribe tokens

Distraction glyphs for five-minute windows

4. Echo Pulse Call Center – "Sanctum Bell"

A magical relay hub hidden beneath the ruined temple of Lysca.

Operated by Shadow-Touched Seers and Whisperguard clerics.

Monitors all agent signals and distress pings.

Manages backup deployments, reroutes, and stealth orders.

Also serves as the "Last Light Protocol"—a full blackout rescue if an entire team goes dark.

"No scream goes unanswered.

Not one coin falls without echo." – Sanctum Bell Motto

That Night in the HQ War Room

Shin stood before a group of senior operatives—Agent Y, Seradin, Whisper 1, and even Ashblade.

On the table before them: a pulsating obsidian map showing hundreds of hidden veins stretching across every continent like dark lightning under the earth.

"S.I.N was made for the impossible," Shin said quietly, sipping tea.

"But even impossibility must be supported."

He placed a new coin on the table. Unlike the others, this one shimmered slightly blue—like the moment just before dawn.

"This isn't for killing.

It's not for silence.

It's for surviving.

For helping us keep moving… no matter what they throw at us."

He looked to Agent Y.

"If I fall, you use this first."

— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —

[ GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE UNLOCKED: BLACK VEIN NETWORK ]

Passive Buffs Gained:

+30% Operative Survival

+20% Stealth Reroute Success

"Phantom Presence" active when near major cities

New Subsystem: Sanctum Bell – Mission Dispatch and Rescue Monitoring Center

Safehouses Registered: 314

Echo Response Level: GREEN

Meanwhile: in a dark corner of the continent

A group of ex-vanguard bounty hunters held up a black coin found on a fallen decoy agent.

They tried to activate it.

It stayed cold.

Unresponsive.

Just before one of them could toss it—

The coin burned their hands with ghostlight fire.

The whisper that followed chilled their blood:

"This coin does not belong to you."

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