Dungeon of Assassins [LitRPG Through the Eyes of the NPCs]

Selvara looked around, expecting a bolt of lightning to come out of the ceiling and shatter the crystal. But nothing happened.

<Satisfied? Then let's start the increase now. First of all, Dungeon Master to 5. Wow. So many choices at once... Wait a minute! At least for the highest class there should be trait points included!>

"Dungeon hearts have no physical attributes. You only have intelligence, willpower and charisma. Charisma starts at ten and stays there except for rewards from the World Voice. The only stats that can be increased are therefore intelligence and willpower. Your points are automatically distributed evenly between them. The starting value for both is normally twelve. Golgarath probably didn't trust Dungeon Hearts to distribute this responsibly themselves."

The crystal lit up in shimmering shades of red. <Twelve?!? That would make me as stupid as a goblin. That can't be right. I would realize that! Let me have a look at my character sheet.>

He was silent for a moment. Then the play of colors calmed down again.

<Everything is fine. We can carry on.>

"Hey, wait a minute, what are your stats?"

The dungeon heart engraved the values slowly and carefully into the wall. He was not at all satisfied with his handwriting. In front of his students at the blackboard, he would have been ashamed of such a shaky scrawl on the floor.

Name: Malvorik
Race: Dungeon Heart
Character class: Dungeon Master (Level 5)

Strength: -
Dexterity: -
Intelligence: 20
Willpower: 16
Constitution: -
Charisma: 12

"Intelligence 20? The normal maximum for mortal races? Is today Llurd's day?"

<That fits all right. These are the traits I last had as a person. At my age, I had already lost a lot of my physical attributes. They were all under ten. But the mental ones... Well, I mentioned that I was a lecturer in magic theory and dungeon lore. Intelligence and Willpower are my old stats, plus two each from the new increases. Charisma has remained the same.>

Selvara shook her head and rolled her eyes. "A dungeon with the mind of a scholar. That will be exciting. Well then, can I still be of service to your erudition with my humble mind?"

<Intelligence is not the same as education. Your practical knowledge of dungeons is certainly superior to my purely theoretical knowledge in many respects. Let's test that right away: let's start with special skills. Is there a way for a Dungeon Master to visualize his thoughts? Something I can use to show you my status screen? Or blueprints for the dungeon?>

"You can only learn one feat per level. Don't you want to spend that on something more important?"

<What could be more important than working better with you?>

The fairy blinked and was silent for a while. She wiped something glittering out of one eye with her finger. She replied in a completely matter-of-fact tone, but smiled: "Take the Mirror of Thought. Should be available by now."

Malvorik selected the feat and realized that he had not selected one at the first level. Then he studied the details of its use. One wall of the heart room was completely covered with a mirror in which he displayed his status screen with a long list of feats.

<How are you supposed to see through that? That's over fifty feats.>

Selvara really blossomed now that her knowledge was finally needed: "Some are mutually exclusive. Especially the dungeon classifications. These are packages that give you a few thematically matching monsters. Or with which all your monsters get certain abilities. You can either become a chimera dungeon or an undead dungeon. Not an undead chimera dungeon. Once you choose one from this group, the others are locked."

Malvorik looked through the list. Elemental Affinity gave all his creatures special abilities and a high resistance to one of the five elements. Chimerology gave him the ability to mix the natural characteristics of creatures and even transfer magical abilities from one monster to another. Ruler of the Undead allowed him to raise all enemies that had fallen in his dungeon as undead. Other classifications let him create certain types of monsters in his dungeon that were otherwise difficult to obtain: slimes, crystal creatures, elementals, golems or constructs. The list was long, but he had been interested in chimerology since his training. Except that it wasn't taught at any academy. Like the creation of the undead, chimerology was considered the domain of mad black magicians.

So the choice was clear to him. He concentrated on the relevant line and chose the special skill. He could hardly wait to perform his enhancements as a magician. He knew his way around here. He invested the last 500 XP to raise Mage to level 5.

Before he could call up the selection menu, he was distracted by a flash of light in the heart room. He shifted his focus of attention to the side of the room where a golden light had just flashed. Was he going to get any more visits from dungeon fairies?

Instead of a portal opening, a person in a golden robe appeared out of the light, hovering half a step above the ground. His face was unrecognizable as it was covered by a golden aureole. He held his hands clasped behind his back. Selvara threw herself on the ground and bowed deeply, which irritated Malvorik.

The newcomer began to speak in a piercingly stern voice: "Gotcha! Did you think a 4 level increase in two character classes would go unnoticed? You can expect to be banned for life if you don't immediately explain exactly what cheat you're using..." he fell silent and his posture gave Malvorik the impression that he was looking around the room. "You're both NPCs. What are you doing now?"

Malvorik started to speak, but the man's hand shot forward and raised an admonishing finger. The dungeon heart felt its control over the dungeon being severed. He could no longer change anything, no longer cast spells, no longer speak. Selvara was no help either as she knelt on the ground, whimpering. He watched impassively as the gold conqueror stared into space in front of him. He kept turning his head, as Malvorik was used to doing with mages who had called up several status screens and were studying the contents. He seemed to be talking more to himself than to the two people present. "There's no dungeon planned here at all... I see... Yes, that works... That shouldn't work... There must be a rule against that..."

The admonishing finger lowered and the newcomer clasped his hand behind his back again. He thought for a moment, then straightened up even more stiffly and let his voice thunder through the room again. Still stern, but a little friendlier:

"Behold, I am Hans, sent by Steve, the god of the game's balance. Praise Him! I see you have taken advantage of the permitted rules of world law to pretend to have completed training as a mage. However, since you actually underwent this training in your previous life, I will turn a blind eye. The XP gain from dungeon expansion is intended for the initial period until a dungeon is opened. Your interpretation of the rules is not intended, but RAW is allowed. Since there is no reason to fear that there will ever be another case similar to your soul, which was rejected by the gods and yet not purified, I see no reason to intervene here. You are in a unique situation. And you certainly won't be bored, because a new era has dawned. New dungeons have appeared all over the world! New dangers and new quests! A threat will arise that only the mightiest heroes can face. Heroes who will practice and hone their skills in dungeons like yours. Take your place in the world order!"

He turned around and the light around his head shone brightly as his body became translucent. Before he disappeared, he added a casual: "Praise Steve!"

Silence descended over the room as the two took almost a minute to recover. Selvara shook her head and stood up on shaky feet:

"Has a moderator just blessed your dungeon?"

<He has at least confirmed that I have not violated world law.>

"I never thought I would actually meet a moderator.

<The last credible report of the appearance of a moderator dates from shortly before the end of the last plague. That should be about two centuries ago. I never expected to meet a Moderator who made such dark prophecies. The bit about the new age sounded worrying. Dangers and quests. That inevitably attracts revenants.>

"The beginning of a new plague. And we're supposed to train the revenants?"

<He didn't say that. Heroes. The dungeons are supposed to serve as training grounds for the heroes. Maybe we have a little time. Enough to level up locals enough that we don't need the revenants at all. Now that we have access to the status screens, there's nothing we can't learn.>

"Except coming back from the dead."

Malvorik hesitated. When he answered, his thoughts sounded very thoughtful: <A cleric of at least level 18 could also resurrect our dead. But there hasn't been such a high-level cleric since the last plague. Clerics don't go out into the wilderness to hunt monsters. They stay in their temples and lead the faithful. Hardly any of them rise above level six. Whereby...>

"What are you thinking?"

<Maybe we can find and train a healer.>

"Healers are lousy fighters. From what I've learned, they're only effective in a group. However, a group with a good healer is much more dangerous. Hence dungeon rule number 17: kill the healers first."

<Then we look for a whole group and train them.>

"One step at a time. Let's take care of your increases first and then we'll expand the dungeon. You can't just build empty rooms and expect that the first homeless person won't march through and take your crystal."

<I thought my soul crystal was immovable now?>

"Only as long as you are alive. If you are smashed to pieces or killed in a ritual, the crystal becomes mobile. You must know about the many soul crystals in magical artifacts. They are said to be very popular, especially at the tip of wands."

<The best mana storage ever. Among many other possible uses. Any mage would sell his mother for something like that. I see what you mean. So, back to the special skills. I can choose five. The first was the Mirror of Thoughts. Then I would like to have Chimera building . What else would you recommend?>

"Some of the special skills are knowledge packs. You simply don't need these special skills because you already have knowledge of architecture, trap building, magic and much more thanks to the memories from your previous life. You can't get any of the other classifications with chimera building. Which reassures me, because I could hardly imagine anything worse than a dungeon full of undead or slime creatures. Well, maybe clockwork steam engine constructs. A fairy from one of those dungeons once gave a talk at our house. It's a never-ending din. Not to mention the stench of burnt coal, sulphur and hot metal."

<Is that dungeon still active? Clockwork constructs are said to be extremely powerful. Immune to many types of magic, poisons, gases and diseases. Hard to hurt with normal weapons. They themselves deal above-average damage with steam jets, powerful hammers and whirling spinning blades.>

"The dungeon lasted ten years. In the middle of an important trade route. Then revenants bred hundreds of rust rats and chased them into the dungeon. A dungeon in which practically everything was susceptible to rust magic. Behind the monsters, they stormed into the dungeon and... I'd rather not tell you the details. It was a massacre."

<Fascinating. So it was a good decision not to choose that.>

"So let's move on. One of the biggest weaknesses of dungeons is the time when they increase their crystal. There are some useful special skills for this. Above all Automatism I and II . With automatism I, cleaning, maintenance and light repairs in the dungeon happen automatically. You no longer have to concentrate on them at all. With automatism II, traps are automatically made ready again after being triggered and killed monsters are regenerated. So the most important functions continue to run unabated."

<Moment! Creating monsters costs a lot of mana. Repairs at least a little. I won't have mana for growth.>

Selvara nodded: "That's right. That can increase your growth time considerably. But you won't run out of monsters in the middle and adventurers will simply wander through an empty dungeon between triggered traps. Of course, you also get mana by killing adventurers. If you get more mana than you have to spend on new monsters, it goes much faster."

<Persuaded. I'll have both. What else? One is still missing.>

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Well, water sources allow you to build wells, rivers and water traps."

<I don't need it. There must be an underground river nearby. I remember that the sewer system ends in such a river. I'll tunnel into it at some point.>

"Maybe Esoteric trap triggers ? You can figure out mechanical traps yourself, but these are magical triggers. For example, to trigger traps when certain spells are used in a room. Or if more than a certain amount of magic is used in a room."

<How exactly do they work? I mean, practically. Do I put a spell on the trap?>

"These are cubes. About the size of a human fist. When the trigger condition is met, they emit a telekinetic effect in a certain direction. This can then activate other trigger mechanisms. Throwing levers or opening bolts."

<So they store the magical scattered radiation of certain or all spells and channel it into an artifact matrix once a predetermined amount has been reached to create a magical effect.>

The fairy shrugged, "Yeah? How that works exactly... no idea."

<Bought.>

Malvorik selected the feat and studied the instructions. There was no further information on the function. So he chose a trap trigger with the maximum adjustable absorption capacity of magical scattered radiation and created it in the middle of the heart room. Since he didn't have enough mana, only a glowing outline appeared, into which his entire mana regeneration flowed. Tests showed that he could interrupt and resume this at any time, but only as long as he didn't do anything that consumed mana. As soon as he used mana for other purposes, the world voice warned him, the mana he had used so far would disappear.

"Wait!... Too late. You created the trigger as real matter. That costs unnecessary mana. It's enough to create traps as mana constructs. They'll never leave your dungeon. Carrying it away from here and installing it later is quite cumbersome. Better just cancel it."

<That was quite intentional. I'll show you why later. Let's go through the list again.>

Selvara described further advantages and disadvantages of special skills and pointed out some options that he would only have to choose from later. They rambled on a few times while Malvorik told stories from his time at the academy and Selvara told anecdotes from the lives of famous dungeons in return. After a few hours, the esoteric trigger took shape. A marble cube decorated with inlaid bronze symbols. One side showed several concentric circles and, according to the instructions, emitted the telekinetic impulse.

Selvara tried to lift it up, but stumbled after a few steps and dropped it again with a bright thud. "Sorry about that. No chance of getting it to where he needs to be."

<I had something else in mind. Watch out!> The cube dissolved into small glittering sparks, like everything else that was dissolved by the dungeon.

Selvara held her hand in front of her face: "What are you doing now? You already have the construction sketch and can create it. So why are you analyzing it again?"

The construction sketch of the trap release became visible on the mirror wall. A cube with various options for setting the triggering conditions. However, the sketch did not contain any information on how the cube itself was constructed. Next to it appeared a much more complex sketch of a marble cube with various symbols, a magic matrix under the side with the concentric symbols and a round stone made of a different material right in the middle of the cube. Malvorik also displayed the messages from the world voice that appeared.

Material analysis completed: Marble 100%
Material analysis completed: Bronze 100%
Material analysis completed: Mana stone 100%

Spell matrix analysis completed: Spell learned: Telekinetic Shockwave (Level 1)

Malvorik made a stylized grinning face appear on the mirror.

<Mana stone! I thought that the trigger must contain mana stone in order to achieve such an effect. Mana stone is the only material that can draw and store mana from the environment on its own. Right after soul crystals, it is the most sought-after resource for mages. Now I can set up a few large mana stores here and... Oh...>

"What is it?"

<Even as a mana construct, I need 100 MP for an ounce. An ounce stores just one point of mana. For a spell, I can only draw mana from a single mana store. This means that anything less than 5 MP storage capacity is completely useless. That would be just enough for a level 1 spell. I can't materialize the storage piece by piece. It will just blow up in my face. I also can't partially dissolve the trigger cube to get to the mana stone memory. As soon as I start, the whole cube dissolves immediately. Which is a shame. The trigger costs me considerably less mana than the individual parts should actually need.>

"Well, someone will probably have to increase their crystal size before they can use phenomenal cosmic powers. How unexpected."

<Sarcasm doesn't suit you.>

"To be honest, I'm quite impressed. Mana stone artifacts are very valuable. That's why adventurers are extremely reluctant to leave them behind. Sometimes they simply leave a normal sword, armor or clothing behind with a corpse. But his companions always take powerful magical artifacts with them. This means that dungeons usually only get their hands on Manastone when an entire group of high-level adventurers has been completely wiped out."

<Any more suggestions before I enter the next growth phase?>

"Well... it would be nice if you could set up my room first."

<That's right. I still wanted to do that.> Malvorik made the stone furnishings grow out of the ground.

"You should also complete your increases beforehand. It's always possible that someone will enter the dungeon while you're unconscious. Just because you're still underground doesn't mean that no one can find you. Stone worms, iron ants, earth elementals, dwarves, gray gnomes, crystallids... The list of creatures digging through the earth is pretty long. Then you certainly don't want to have to level up a few more times before you can take action."

<Let's take another look at the current status.>

Name: Malvorik
Race: Dungeon Heart

Crystal size: 2
Range: 20 steps
Manapool: 20 MP
Mana regeneration: 26 MP/ hour

Character classes:
- Dungeon Master (Level 5)
- Mage (Level 5)

Experience points: 1000

Construction sketches for traps:
- Pit trap

Design sketches for trap triggers:
- Standard trigger
- Pressure plate

Esoteric trap triggers:
- Magical activity of a certain strength
- Spells of a certain class
- Specific spell

Monster breeds:
- Lurking strangler

Feats:
- Possession
- Mirror of thoughts
- Chimera building
- Automatism I
- Automatism II
- Esoteric trap triggers

Patterns:
Mana stone, granite, marble, bronze, slate, silver

Spells:

Level 1
- Hand of the adept
- Telekinetic shockwave

<Looks good. Shall I summon my first monster now?>

"Would be a good time. Draw a circle on the ground. Put the rune for the monster you want to summon in the center. Since your shrike isn't very big, you can just do it here in the heart room. Otherwise, in the room where the monster is to be used later."

<Wait, what exactly is this rune supposed to look like?>

"Just concentrate on getting a Lurking Shrike to appear there. Golgoroth doesn't expect dungeon hearts to have artistic skills."

In one corner of the heart room, a circle formed in the floor and the stone simply disappeared, leaving a ring behind. Malvorik focused on it and a menu with a single selection point appeared. Not a difficult choice. A rune appeared. From the right angle, the lines resembled a stylized figure with long arms.

"Good, now you have two options. You can either channel mana directly into the rune and make your monster appear, or you can create a monster heart first." She looked up at the crystal expectantly.

<Monster heart... Do you mean these coins with the stylized image of the monster on one side and the name of the dungeon and its symbol on the other side?>

"You've seen this before too?"

<Monster coins have been found frequently. According to the adventurers' reports, they appear in addition to the usual loot when particularly sneaky or powerful monsters have been killed. However, powerful in the sense of maneuvers and tactics. Less in connection with the direct strength of the monsters. The coins are rare and very valuable among collectors. There are many rumors and theories about them. Some superstitious adventurers claim that leaving such coins behind brings good luck. Taking them with you, on the other hand, enrages the dungeon. I couldn't draw any clear conclusions from the reports.>

"Well then, I can now reveal the secret. Monster hearts contain the monster's memories and personality. Monsters with such a heart coin gain experience over time and level up without costing the dungeon anything. Over time, they can even reach a higher level than the dungeon, but this is risky as they then also gain free will and can break out or refuse to work. It is therefore recommended that you only give heart coins to monsters that are at least two levels below the dungeon maximum. There is also a risk that they will develop phobias from being killed again and again. If one is repeatedly killed with fire, it could develop a fear of fire or something similar."

Malvorik thought for a while, then decided: <I don't like the idea of disposable monsters. Maybe spiders or rats or something, but real monsters should have the opportunity to learn. Does that make them more intelligent? A few extra conversation partners wouldn't be bad. Not that I wouldn't appreciate your company.>

"That doesn't work. Monsters don't get smarter or more talkative that way. At higher levels, you usually get a few monsters that are intelligent enough for conversation. I'm assuming goblins or kobolds aren't what you had in mind."

<Clearly not. Nothing against the small peoples, but education is not one of their primary characteristics.>

After a few explanations, Malvorik began to create a monster heart. His mana pool emptied completely, and a shadow fell over his vision. As Selvara had warned him, the 50 MP cost more than doubled his maximum supply. Like a crystal augmentation, it knocked him unconscious for a while. Less than two hours later, he was back and a silver coin lay in the center of the spawn circle. One side showed the rune of his only monster so far. The other side was smooth.

<Hm... I should probably think of a name for the dungeon. How about: Malvorik's Vault of Deadly Wonders?>

"Maybe we'll think about it together for a while. You should also decide on the structure and theme of your dungeon first and then choose a suitable name."

<Sounds sensible.>

Malvorik agreed and then channeled mana into the rune on the ground. In return, shadows formed in the circle, which bubbled up briefly and then left behind a humanoid figure with short white fur. The Lurking Shrike carefully stroked the ground with his hand. His fur took on the same grey color. Then it rose on its short legs, waddled over to the entrance of the room and crouched down beside it. Its small eyes stood out of its head on volcano-shaped cones and peered independently in different directions.

Selvara swallowed. It wasn't exactly the prettiest of monsters. At least it didn't have a slimy surface or tentacles. She feigned enthusiasm: "Your first monster! Yeah!"

<There must be something wrong. That only cost me just under five points of mana. Creating a living creature, especially a final boss, can't require that little magical energy.>

"That's fine. You don't actually create them. The mana summons the monster from the domain of Golgoroth. The god of dungeons and monsters probably needs a lot more magic to create them."

<Nice of him. I'm still not impressed. It looks like a long-armed monkey. At least it can change its skin color.>

"That's strange. I've never heard of shrikes being able to do that. Besides, they usually have short, dark fur. I should actually know the characteristics of the beginner monsters very well."

<Let me have a look at the values. Something has changed since I selected the monster. It now says Lurking Shrike Chameleon Chimera. Can change its skin color, but only every few minutes. It adapts to the local background, but does not become invisible. Too bad. Strangle attack, advanced melee skills. Short legs, slow speed. Good for ambushes. Rather unsuitable for fair close combat. I'd better think carefully about what monster I take next. What do we do now?>

"Are you at the end of your tricks yet?"

<For now. Just for now. Now I'm going to finish the mage boosts that that damn... the honorable moderator interrupted me on.>

He scrolled back to the messages he hadn't been able to read earlier.

Character class increased: Mage to level 5
Cannot increase mana capacity: Incompatible race.
Cannot increase mana regeneration: incompatible race.

Select spell from list. One spell per level...

Malvorik quickly chose from the selection of spells he had known for decades.

Spell learned: Level 1 - Stationary Zone of Darkness (Layman I)
Spell learned: Level 1 - Unstable invisibility (Layman I)
Spell learned: Level 2 - Self-transformation (Layman I)
Spell learned: Level 2 - Shock grip (Layman I)

Select feat from list. One feat per level...

Here Malvorik chose a little more slowly and went through the list again carefully. He could still learn as many spells as he wanted. He could only acquire special skills by increasing his level.

Feat learned: Artifact crafting (weapons and armor)
Feat learned: Artifact Crafting (Minor Artifacts)
Feat learned: Brew alchemical elixirs
Feat learned: Magic theory spell research

He also displayed the messages on the mirror wall. Selvara could hardly keep up with the reading:

"Wait! What's all this?"

<As a dungeon, I can expect long periods of boredom. I need opportunities to pursue my old hobbies again. I'll probably also have to adapt some spells to my life as a dungeon.>

"How exactly are you going to brew potions without hands?"

<Oops... I hadn't thought of that. Can I create hands out of stone?>

"As a Dungeon Master, you automatically have the possession ability. This allows you to take over a monster directly as if it were your own body."

<You could have mentioned that before I chose the strangler. He has terribly large and immobile hands. They're only good for gripping. Not suitable for delicate glass jars.>

"You mean so that your only defense is a single goblin?"

<Point for you.>

"And what do you want with a spell like self-transformation? According to the description here, it only works on the mage himself."

<Transformation!>

Selvara flew up excitedly and looked around cautiously. Nothing happened.

Error: Incompatible target

<Sorry. Doesn't work on dungeons. I had mainly chosen the spell for the spell workshop anyway. Extending the range from Personal to Touch increases the level of the spell by one level. Self-transform as a touch spell on others thus becomes a level 3 spell. So as soon as I have risen to mage level 6, I can use it. I can't wait to test it out. Maybe I can extend it to you as my familiar as well.>

"Shock grip? I've never heard of that spell. What does it do exactly?"

Malvorik called up the description on the mirror.

Shock grip (level 2): Attack spell. Damage type: Lightning - Elemental (Air). Range: Touch. Spell duration: 8 heartbeats. Damage: 2W6. Cost: 10 mana

<Actually, I just want to test something. The spell is the basis of all lightning-based combat spells. The spell itself is only used for research purposes due to its short range and long duration. It only works on touch and this must be maintained for the duration of the spell. Lightning also tends to strike back uncontrollably, making it easy to injure yourself. At each higher level, there is a variant that has a greater range. At level 3 it is about 3 steps. The damage increases at each level, but you can only increase the duration of the spell by practicing for a long time. At master level, I should be able to halve it.>

"Then why are you using such a useless spell? I've heard that even beginner mages can throw small fireballs."

<Fire-based spells are the simplest combat spells. Lightning is an advanced concept in itself. But I want to test one theory in particular. Either the range of spells counts from my crystal heart, in which case I can forget all touch-based spells, or my entire dungeon counts as a body. If the former is true, I have a spell that I might be able to teach a monster at some point to make it a bit stronger. But if I touch every intruder that's in my dungeon, then I can give them a run for their money.>

"I think now is the right time to start growing. I'll take a nap until then. Compared to other dungeons, you're done really quickly. I'll hardly notice you've been away."

<Well then, good night.>