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

Silvea picked up the tiny scroll the glowing bee had dropped onto her and examined the seal. A simple thumbprint. The faint scent of blue wax reached her nose. It seemed authentic. She broke the seal and carefully unrolled the scroll.

Hello Silvea,

don't worry about us. We're all well and in good health. We're guests of the Were-Bee Queen.

We'll be back tomorrow.

Don't wait for Team Grey, they're back at respawn.

Team Black

"They are what?!" she exclaimed. Her voice echoed off the canyon walls, and several nearby students looked up in alarm. She crumpled the paper and shoved it into a pocket. Shaking her head, she turned back to the far more urgent matter of organizing the return of nearly sixty exhausted students from the Everdark Canyon.

Many were hurt, though so far none seriously. She moved from group to group, listening to reports, checking injuries, identifying herbs and monster parts, and trying to maintain some semblance of order as dinner was prepared.

Reports showed that most of the monsters encountered in the canyon had been within the expected difficulty range. At least, that was the case until members of Team Orange and Team Green arrived together and presented their findings.

Silvea stared at the glittering beastcore Nelra proudly held up for inspection. It pulsed faintly with residual energy.

"You fought a level nine beast… Are you stark raving mad? Last I checked, land-octopuses aren't exactly known for their speed. Why didn't you just run?"

The nature mages shifted uncomfortably, exchanging guilty looks.

"Well," one of them began, "we don't know how the fight started. It seemed Team Black was caught by surprise by the camouflaged monster. They were probably inside tentacle range before they even realized it was there."

Silvea ran her fingers over the monster hide they'd dragged up. The leathery skin shimmered and shifted, slowly changing color to match her touch. Her shoulders slumped a little.

"Probably true. Weylan didn't look like someone likely to do something idiotic like that. Much less the priestess. Unless the monster had been much cuddlier." She folded her arms. "Now, tell me everything that happened."

The mage gulped, then launched into a nervous recounting.
"Well, when we arrived, Weylan was already in close combat with the monster. There were tentacles everywhere…"

When they finished their report, Silvea pinched the bridge of her nose. "You children were supposed to learn control, not throw yourselves at high-level beasts!"

She let the words hang for a moment before sighing. The stories matched the trophies they'd brought up. The beastcore pulsing in her hand was proof enough of their reckless victory.

"Very well," she said finally. "I'll record the slaying of a level nine mimic-octopus in the logs. But don't expect praise for your recklessness. You survived because you got lucky… nothing more."

The students nodded meekly, though their pride still shone through their tired faces. Silvea could already imagine how the story would spread through the academy, how the tale of a handful of first-years taking down a level nine beast would grow wilder with each retelling.

She looked out over the campfires, where students were eating, talking, and showing off their trophies. The canyon loomed dark behind them, lit faintly by the glow of the nightbloom flowers.

Tomorrow, they would return to Wildeguard Academy. Reports would be filed, trophies submitted, and rewards and punishments handed down where needed.

But one thought stuck in her mind like a thorn: Weylan and his team were guests of the were-bee queen.

She rubbed her temple. "Gods, how am I supposed to explain that to the headmaster?"

* * *

Valen Aldrich didn't think of himself as a vengeful or even particularly evil person.

He was ambitious, sure. Proud, obviously. But not cruel.

Still, when he returned to the camp half-dead and caked in blood and tunnel grime after leading his team through a brutal engagement with an entire nest of mole beasts, he had expected, no, deserved, some recognition.

A level 7 core. From the mole-matriarch no less. Dug out from beneath her still-twitching corpse with one broken gauntlet and barely enough mana left to light a torch. His team had suffered injuries. Erik had to be carried after Alina ran out of mana. But they had succeeded. Efficiently, cleanly, and well within their assigned zone.

So when the he returned and was basically ignored because everyone was busy talking about some epic fight of Team Black, he almost dropped the core right there.

Weylan, that backwater commoner with dirt still under his nails.

Apparently, he had taken down a level 9 beast "almost single-handedly." As if.

Valen clenched his teeth. His fingers were still numb from the matriarch's final sonic shriek. He'd been the one left standing and yet he now stood… forgotten.

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He slipped away from the camp, still holding the glowing core in one hand. It pulsed with warmth. Pure lifeforce and mana, crystallized through years of subterranean evolution. Enough to enchant a second-tier weapon or fuel a major spell for weeks.

He should have felt victorious. Instead, the core felt heavy in his palm. Like a trophy from a tournament no one remembered.

Valen Aldrich didn't think of himself as a vengeful person.

But if no one was going to acknowledge his greatness willingly… then maybe it was time he started taking certain liberties. There were ways to remind the academy who truly belonged at the top.

Members of his family had been going to Wildeguard for generations. He knew all of the forgotten tricks and secrets of the older structures, where the students rarely went and the walls still whispered the secrets of the previous generations. If necessary, he would use each and every one of them to bring this upstart servant down back to the dirt where he belonged.

* * *

Professor Kaelthorne stared sternly at the group of students after Weylan and his friends had given their report. "Seriously? That's what happened?"

Weylan nodded.

Kaelthorne held his gaze, then shifted to Faya. "You claim you knew land-kraken and octopi have secondary brains in their arms?"

Faya blinked. "That's what you have a problem believing?"

"Yes. That's such a completely obscure bit of knowledge, that only a professor of sea creatures or someone who routinely reads the Monstrous Compendium for fun would know it."

Faya lowered her gaze to the floor, shifting uncomfortably as she answered. "The 'Grimorum Monstrum Aquaticum' was great bedtime reading."

The professor held up her hands in a gesture begging the gods for wisdom, or maybe mercy. "Have my hands shrunk and turned orange? By Cofefe, the advanced handbook about the anatomy of sea monsters is hardly common bedtime reading!"

Faya's cheeks colored. She was barely audible as she mumbled, "It has so many pretty mermaid pictures..."

Kaelthorne just stared at her.

The mind watching through the verdant hare, sitting forgotten in the corner of the professor's study, grinned silently. He had prepared Faya for this exact question. He didn't expect it to come up so early, though. More as something somebody would ask much later. It had taken some persuading to get Faya to use that embarrassing excuse, but he couldn't come up with anything better.

The professor shook her head and let the topic finally drop. "Well, back to the evaluation. Let's see: You identified a threat species, even if by stumbling into it, that's two points. You and the team you left behind were unable to locate the nest. We'll send someone to look for it. Defeating a monster nets you five more points. The rules provide for a 1.5x multiplier, but that was meant for a higher-danger monster within the threat range we expected in the Canyon, not a level nine mutant monstrosity… so I'll bump that up to fifteen points for anyone involved." She looked at Weylan. "With an extra five for the madman who stood practically on top of the monster to keep it from harming his familiar and classmates. You also procured the Gelee Royal we desperately need and built-up diplomatic relations with the hive queen for the first time in two centuries. That wasn't part of the exercise, and you were told not to pester the were-bees, but… ten points extra for everyone who entered the hive. Now get out of my sight before hearing more details of your madness gives me a stroke."

Once the door of Kaelthorne's study closed behind them, Weylan wiped sweat from his forehead. "Until the last moment I wasn't sure if she'd just expel us. Or have us whipped."

Darken grumbled. "Still not nearly enough points for an almost deadly encounter."

Ulmenglanz shrugged. "I'd actually expected to lose points for entering the hive and potentially starting a war. We also had two healers in our group, directly against our instructions. In hindsight, it would have been more responsible to let Faya stay with the harvesting group, so they could have escorted her to the other teams in case they'd needed healing. Thank the god's that wasn't necessary. And at least we didn't kill anyone inside the hive."

Faya looked at Darken. "Well, except for the glowy bee thingy you shot."

Darken held up his hands. "That was clearly self-defense! And thanks for not mentioning it."

Weylan mentally counted. "So, I'm now at seventy-one points? Give or take. I'll have to check with administration for the exact number. Still not high enough."

Mirabelle and Alina appeared from around the corner. Alina glanced at them, cursed, pulled out her money bag, and handed some coins to Mirabelle.

Mirabelle grinned. "Told you she wouldn't whip them."

Weylan winked at Alina. "And we got the most points. Should've made a bet with you."

Alina arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? My team identified two species, a monstrous mole and some kind of invisible butterfly. We took out a lot of them, including one nest with a level 7 mole-matriarch. For the matriarch we needed to get Team Mauve for assistance, but since we did everything else with our three-student team alone, each of us clocked out at thirty-two points. Not bad, eh?"

Weylan's face fell. "The same number than me? And you didn't even almost die once?"

"Not a scratch. Oh… actually… to be honest I broke a nail digging after a mole-monster that tried to escape. And Erik got a few swipes of mole claws at his feet when a mole-monster dug out of the ground right behind him. We had to carry him home."

Darken shrugged. "We just need better equipment next time. I've researched on the forum and it seems the most efficient investment is a staff that either boosts your strengths or covers one of your weaknesses. Staff can increase the power of spells of a certain element, increase casting speed or range, or reduce the mana cost for a certain kind of spells. All without costing any additional mana. I can't directly benefit from a staff since I'm not a caster, but you should really get one."

Weylan was intrigued. "What would you recommend for shadow magic?"

Darken looked at him with a mock sad expression. "Well, you've got a tiny… mana reserve. A big long staff could compensate that. Anything that saves mana while casting would help."

Faya giggled, but Mirabelle obviously missed the joke as she interjected. "Didn't you get some beastcores? A level nine one can probably be turned into an amazing artifact. But that's just one for all of you. Do you think you'll be able to decide who gets it…?"

Everyone immediately pointed at Weylan. Faya voiced what they were all thinking. "We'd never have made it without Weylan. I still can hardly believe he survived that onslaught of tentacle mouths. And I was there. I saw it."

Weylan held up his hands. "As much as I'd love to have some great artifact, we should first research what can be done with a beastcore. If it can boost healing, I'd gladly put it in a priestess's hand. So, she can fix me up after my next heroic adventure. And we also have those the smaller cores."

Nilra held up a bag. "We've got eight level-two secondary beastcores. They're too small and not powerful enough for effective enchantments, but the enchantment faculty is eager to experiment with them. Usually, only monsters of level six or higher have cores. These low-level ones practically don't exist. We've got an offer that nets us six gold coins each, if we share evenly."

After a short discussion, they decided to sell. It wasn't much if needed for buying elite armor or artifacts, but it would cover plenty of tasty treats and convenience items.

Weylan looked around the academy grounds, then his eyes lit up. "Hey, uh… I really need to study in the library. There'll be some tests in about a week and I need every point I can get. And someone mentioned we'll be adding enchantment to our lessons. I need to know what's possible."

Mirabelle clapped her hands enthusiastically. "You're right! I'll check if there's a way to either convert mana into shadow mana more efficiently or store shadow mana somehow. I also noticed I didn't understand some nuances of the new spell I'm studying. I'd better read up on that."

Weylan's face fell, but he quickly caught himself. "Sure. The more, the merrier."

Alina gave him a mocking look. "Your academic motivation has nothing to do with a certain librarian assistant?"

Weylan shrugged, not very convincingly. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He set off at a brisk pace, though not nearly quick enough to leave Mirabelle behind.