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I mimicked him and watched carefully.

He squeezed his chest through the thick coat surrounding his body, protecting his small stature from the frigid and icy snow below.

I also squeezed my chest, but the only thing I felt was an uncomfortable pinching sensation appearing around where I was squeezing.

I wouldn't say it hurt; It was just weird.

"Don't just squeeze your chest. Think of squeezing your heart and stopping the beating of it. You don't want to physically stop it from beating, but you want it to just slow down. About three beats per minute is where you want it,"

"Huh? That's going to kill me,"

"That's the risk. I never said it was perfect… in fact, one time, I almost killed myself while practicing it, but you said you were ready, right?" He asked with his creepily cold eyes that seemed to stare at my soul.

His eyes were almost like an owl as they rarely blinked and seemed to be always gathering information.

"*sigh*... I did indeed say that. Okay, so what's next?" I asked.

"Just lower your heartbeat for now, and it will come naturally. You won't be able to talk as most of the energy will leave your body, but once I see that you've entered the state, I'll direct you with all the teaching skills I have,"

"Yes, Sir," I replied before closing my eyes and focusing on my heartbeat.

"Good… Now breathe only in and out through your mouth. Take short breaths in, then long and deep breaths out. Push all the air out of your lungs," Simo said.

I did exactly as he directed, but it felt as if my lungs were on fire as I kept pushing out air that wasn't even there.

After only a few seconds of this, I was writhing on the ground in pain due to how much it hurt, but Simo didn't give up on me.

"Keep practicing. You won't get in a day or maybe even a week, but the progress will be apparent over time… Just keep practicing," He said.

"I didn't take you for such a nice teacher,"

"Well, I observe a lot, and some things come naturally while some don't. I guess teaching is one of my strong suits," He said, and I noticed he was very proud of himself.

I laughed a bit before continuing to practice the breathing technique, with Simo continuously watching over me.

…

The entire day had passed, and Simo decided to give in for today as I wasn't making any progress at all.

"Shit… This is harder than I thought," I muttered as you essentially had to stretch a small breath to a long one.

He didn't explain the science behind it, but I think I have it… So basically, you take in a short breath that fills your blood with just a tiny bit of oxygen, then you breathe out everything, allowing you to take in even less oxygen than before.

The less oxygen I have flowing into my blood…, the less my heartbeat will, well, beat. But, of course, this is only a hypothesis, and only the supernatural could pull this off.

"Hey, do you know what the system is?" I asked the entire camp, who was peacefully eating their dinner under the pale moonlight.

It was a frigid and windy night, so not everybody was in the best of moods… especially since we had to leave early tomorrow.

"System? Like the government?" One of the men spoke up, immediately dissolving my question as they had no idea about skills, quests, stats, and all the other things that come with the beautiful thing, such as the system.

"Ah, never mind…." I muttered.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence, but all of a sudden, something that made me want to bash my skull in for not asking earlier on popped up into my mind.

"Hey, this might sound weird, but what is the mission we're on? Is it reconnaissance?" I asked, and a few of the men squinted at me.

AWOOOOOO

But, before anybody could reply to my strange question, the howling of a few wolves came from the distance, and it was also mixed with the sound of tearing flesh.

I immediately stood up and grabbed my gun, but Simo stopped me with a signal of his hand.

He mouthed the word "wait" before listening intently to the bloody battle happening in the distance.

AWOOOOO

Another howl came rushing through the air, and a singular owl resting on the tree above us flapped away in fright.

The flapping of its wings drowned out with the sound of the howls slowly fading into the distance, which either meant the wolves had run away or they had all been slaughtered.

"He's back," Simo muttered, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

Who is back? What the hell is happening?

All of a sudden, the loud crunching of snow approached us, and despite everybody's calm demeanor, I couldn't bring myself to not put down my gun.

Arf Arf

A large, fluffy, white dog, about half the height of Simo, appeared next to him, barking and breathing with its tongue out as if it was begging for a treat.

It was covered from head to toe in fresh blood that Simo began to wipe off and then bury deep below the thick snow.

To be honest, the presence of the thing was a bit intimidating, and it's pale gray eyes that stared just like Simo sent shivers down my spine.

"This is my dog, Duke. He sends messages from Finland to us. His sense of smell is better than any other dog I know, so even when tons of snow has piled up, he'll be able to track us down, no matter where we go," Simo said while petting the dog's head.

"That thing is… ferocious," I muttered.

"Yep. He's taken down a few brown bears as well, without any of our help, so I doubt he'll die anytime soon," The soldier next to me commented.

Duke, some type of breed specialized for war, had lifted the spirits of almost everybody here… beside me.

"Come on. He's not that scary. He's only terrifying in battle, but in relaxed situations like this, he's just a good boy," Another man said, and the dog began to walk towards me, staring at me in the eyes with its own creepy gray eyes.

I was a bit hesitant at first, but eventually, I began to pet its fluffy fur, and the appeal of it lifting our spirits slowly began to invade my mind.

My shoulders felt a bit looser, and my neck felt less tense than before, so I had to give it to the dog. He really did help us in this dire situation.

But, throughout this entire time of fluffiness and wholesomeness with the dog, Simo had been reading a letter that was inside the leather bag attached to the dog's side.

"The mission has changed… Our objective of assassinating the first captain has been switched to assassinating a vice admiral. Apparently, there was an anonymous leak to Finland that he'll be traversing the border to make a deal with one of our senior officers…." Simo announced, and though I wasn't very familiar with the ranks, I knew they were important due to the unit's reaction.

"Did they check the credibility of the anonymous tipper?" One of the men asked, and Simo just shook his head from side to side.

"We should just drop this mission then. This is way too risky and most likely a trap…."

"Yeah, we should just send a complaint and request another order. I'm willing to take a pay cut for a safer mission,"

Everybody had their own opinions, but most of them came to the collective idea of requesting a change in mission.

They are already aware that it is below their rank, but if they convince Simo, then they'll most likely be able to get through with the request.

"No, we have to proceed with this mission," Simo said, and I was completely on board with him.

The one rank I was aware of that Simo spoke about was the First Captain, but also the Senior Officer, which is a very high rank.

"I agree. If the tip isn't a trap and these two people do end up meeting for an exchange in something… then it could be devastating to the war," I said, and everybody stared at me for a bit before mulling over my words.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Simo said before pulling out a green stamp in the bag attached to the wolf and stamping the letter before putting it back inside.

The wolf barked a few times before heading off into the forest.

"Shit… This is a suicide mission,"

"Well, I had a feeling we were going to die young anyway, so let's go out with a bang,"

"Let's do this, boys," Simo said, and it looked like he was slightly smiling.

He still had the cloth mask-like scarf over his nose, so it was hard to tell, but judging by his eyes and eyebrows, it looked as if he was smiling.

I never thought I'd see that.

Then, all of a sudden, the whizzing of a bullet could be heard flying past us.