Let's hope this is the right castle .

With a near invisible and intangible cat as a scout, John easily reached the staircase. The good thing was that in such a building, no one would ever take the stairs, even to go down a single floor, it was the kind of clientele they had.

Climbing stairs for 20 floors wasn't something John was used to do. All the way up he thanked Gaia in his head for Gamer's Body, without it he would have dropped half way and wouldn't be able to use his legs for days.

The staircase had no security cameras and he had been able to blind the ones in the hallway long enough to get there with Darkness infused Magic Projectiles, just like he was able to create Lightning ones that didn't do any damage but had a 100% chance to stun, he could do the same with Darkness and get some that would blind without doing any damage.

He was now in front of the door at the 20th floor and needed a keycard to go further.

"Good job so far, kiddo. You're still alive, that's that. But what now? Another Clone?" asked Katia. The Clone had disappeared earlier and she was curious to see how often he could do this. This young mage was really intriguing her.

The door looked like the one giving to the outside, with one exception. This wasn't an emergency exit, there wouldn't be any alarm connected to it and a card was only needed to go up, not down...

John simply used Move on the handle by looking through the small window.

"Yeah, that's cheating!" pouted The black cat. She was impressed that he went so far and so fast without getting caught. And giggled silently in anticipation.

Soon after a long walk upstairs John arrived to the last door. And this one was not like the others. It was entirely made of metal and there was no way to see the other side of it. He needed line of sight to summon a Clone or use move and such a door would almost certainly have an alarm in case it was **** open, it was the amount of security they had for the penthouse of this hotel. John looked down to see the cat litteraly rolling on the floor laughing.

"Fuck! You knew about this and said nothing!" he cursed.

"Ohhh but I didn't want to underestimate you. You did so well so far. I thought you would figure something out for this one too," she replied playfully. The situation was strange. His guide had very strict orders on what to do and not to do, but ensuring his success wasn't one of them.

"Can you scout for me? You said it was your job. Is there any staff member in the three floors under this one?" he asked.

"You got me on a technicality. That is actually my job, damnit did you have to listen to what I say?" she said, her fun finished. She took a few strides and jumped through a wall, disappearing for a few minutes. John just waited there, he had no way to get through this door without raising hell.

Soon the black cat came back, walking in the staircase through a solid wall.

"So?"

"Two cleaning ladies on 29th and 27th. An assistant manager checking a room to see if it ready to be rented again on 28th, room 2823. What did you need that for?" she asked.

"The assistant manager, it's a man?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Perfect!"

John jumped in the staircase, getting down at record speed. Once on the 28th floor he clipped the charm on his chest, keeping his whole combat gear on. The result was making him look like a business man in a suit, trench coat and trilby hat.

He walked at a quick pace, looking for the room number, finally he found it.

Without waiting for the man to leave the room, he simply knocked on the door. Soon enough it opened. A middle aged balding man in a uniform opened, a cream colored jacket and black pants with a white shirt and red tie.

"No one is living here right now, you must have knocked on the wrong..." he tried to explain. John's hand darted forward and crushed one of the pollen bombs just in front of his face.

Blinded by the cloud and dazed by the burst of yellow dust, the employee stumbled backwards, coughing and taking deep breaths. In a few seconds, he fell on his ass and as soon as his head touched the ground he was snoring.

"I guess she really made them special for this mission. Without the respirator I would probably have fallen to it myself. Sorry dude, but I need your help," he said to the **** man.

He looted the man's pockets, finding a pass that should open any door in the hotel. The poor guy only had 37$ and a ton of credit cards in his wallet, John didn't feel like taking any of it. This man was not an enemy, just a way to reach his goal. He sat the man against a wall, in full view of the door and tied his hands in his back with some fabric he ripped off some sheets. He only needed the outer layers of his uniform, but to be sure he wouldn't call for help too soon, he removed his underwear too and gaged him with one of his socks.

The knots on his hands were loose enough that he would be able to get free with some efforts. John cut the cable of the rooms phone before leaving.

He went back to the staircase and prepared to enter Vanessa's room.

First a Shadow Clone, then he removed the charm and put it on the Clone, like he expected having the charm directly on the Clone would remove the jet black color and make it look normal. He cycled it until he had someone skinny with tight clothes and made the Clone put on the uniform.

He used him to open the door and to go up to the penthouse. One last door on the small place where both elevator and staircase met, in front of the entrance of the luxurious apartment. The real John was standing out of sight of the door while his cleverly disguised double ringed the bell.

"Room service!" he shouted, making sure to be heard. It took a few seconds before someone reached the door.

"We didn't order anything!" replied a rough voice, not Vanessa and probably not her mother.

"I have an urgent letter for Mrs Hawthorne. Express delivery!" he replied.

John saw the door open through the eyes of his double and was presented with a tall woman well-dressed in a suit, with dark-dyed red hair and deep, hideously deep scars by her left eye and on her chin. Greater scar tissue, as if from burns, started from just above the bottom of her neck and expanded across all the skin she left visible in her business suit. The hand tucked away by the folding of her arms, he now realized, was not gloved, but made from some kind of black plastic or steel.

"Where is the lett..." started the woman. She was not able to finish, but not for the same reason than the man before. As the arm of his Clone holding the bomb advanced, she slammed it hard with her prosthetic arm and kicked the bomb he dropped out of the room with her foot while slamming the door shut with her other hand.

John managed to prevent the door from closing, using both his Clone and Move to stop it. Time for stealth was over, John made his Clone push the door open while he charged forward, his mana shield up.

Just before reaching the door he saw her get a silenced pistol out and an instantly later his Clone was vanishing, having just received a full clip of bullets in its head and chest.

It would have been wise to retreat, but John knew something from thousands of hours playing video games, he had an opening before she reloaded, he rushed forward, diving in the room and standing up in a fighting stance.

Ophelia Waterstone
Level 16 Soldier
<Hawthorne Estate>
HP: 410/410

The cat forgot to mention that the servant with them was actually a bodyguard. She was a normal human, but a highly trained one. The main problem wouldn't be to take her out though, but to do so without killing her. He had a suspicion that a **** happening in the room the Hawthornes rented would put him in more trouble than he already was.