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

Weylan wanted nothing more than to collapse in the shade of a building, on the patch of grass between the walls, and stay there until lunch. Before he could close his eyes, Mirabelle's excited voice drew his attention.

"Great! We have almost an hour until lunch, and I could book one of the casting rooms. Weylan! Come, let's try our new spells. We had precious little training time during the excursion. Kaelthorne did find something for you to train, didn't she?"

He nodded weakly. She was right. He should start practicing casting. He had put it off for too long; there had always been enough other things to do and… well… he wasn't entirely sure a new spell wouldn't have some horrible, surprising side effect, like burning off his skin or exploding his shadow or something.

He stood up and followed her. As they walked, he noticed her snapping her fingers, which released faint blue sparks. He made sure no one else was listening, caught up to her in a few long strides, and quietly asked, "Why are your fingers sparking?"

She paused, glanced at her hand, and shrugged. "Oh… didn't even notice. Must have left some of the dust on my fingers."

"Dust?"

Now it was her turn to look around for eavesdroppers. "I've been told the teachers don't like us taking alchemical stimulants. So, don't tell anyone."

"Don't tell anyone what exactly?"

"Some students sell an alchemical mixture called Lightning Dust. It's great! Keeps you awake no matter what. Gives you razor-sharp focus. And you have more study time, since you don't need as much sleep."

He looked at her dilated pupils. "No side effects?"

"None! That's the great part."

He shook his head reluctantly. "Mirabelle, you've been… strange. For days now. Nervous, twitchy. You forget to eat, then when you remember, you gorge yourself. You seem to have lost some weight, but not in a good way."

He paused, aghast at himself. Talking to a woman about her weight was a sure way to get slapped. Mirabelle didn't strike him, though. She looked as if he had slapped her.

"You really think so? But I feel fine!"

He shook his head again. "Sunken cheeks, dark circles under your eyes… you don't look fine. And you smell of sweat."

That was it. He had avoided mentioning her mounting smell for days now. This time, it was less fear of pain and more fear of embarrassing her.

Her eyes teared up, just as he had feared. He pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. We'll ask Darken to test this stuff. Maybe it's just a harmless side effect."

"I'd better stop using the dust for now. There's not much left anyway."

They continued to the casting room, a large chamber with enchanted walls to absorb the impact of miscast spells. An enchanted target circle could be used for accuracy tests, while also measuring a spell's strength.

He closed the door and turned to Mirabelle. "So, what are you training?"

She hesitated, then handed him a scroll. He arched an eyebrow at her obvious reluctance.

Withering Touch – Level 1 Close-Combat Spell
Touch your target to unleash a powerful unhealing effect, directly crippling the limb and causing additional effects such as exhaustion and muscle cramps.

He whistled. "Unhealing? So, that's like a reversed healing spell? Touch range… I don't know. That's not what I would have chosen. Healers should never get into melee range."

"I know. But Kaelthorne surely gave it to me for a reason. I guess there's a ranged version at level 2, and maybe a stronger one, or even an area-effect version, at level 3. It would make sense. On our last trip to the library, I found that there's a ranged projectile spell you can combine with almost any other spell and cast it at a distance."

"Any spell?" Weylan perked up.

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"Most level 1 combat spells should fit. It can probably be upgraded at journeyman tier to also use level 2 spells."

"How about healing?"

Mirabelle's mouth fell open. Then she closed it with a clap. "I didn't even think of that! I need to check the spell description in the library. Ranged healing… that would be huge!"

"Let's see how strong that spell is."

Mirabelle nodded. She concentrated, chanted the spell's verbal component, and touched the center of the target. A wave of darkening spread from the spot. Three runes next to the target lit up.

Weylan scratched his head. "Three runes out of ten. Is that good?"

"One would be sufficient for a level 1 spell. Two would mean solid mastery. Three on a first try? That would be excellent for a ranged attack spell. Touch spells are usually stronger, so I'd say… good for a first attempt. I may reach four runes after some training."

She tried a few more times until her mana dropped to half. "Enough for me. Now it's your turn."

He looked at her in surprise. "You can't have used up your mana already!"

"Of course not. I can't go below half. I need to keep a reserve in case of emergencies. Someone could get hurt and need healing."

"There's more than one healer around."

"And if every one of them would think like that, they'd all be empty in an emergency."

He shrugged. "Well, okay. Then let me try my spell. It's not an attack, but a shadow illusion." He handed her his scroll.

Shadow Twin - Level 2 shadow illusion spell

This spell lets your shadow take on your form and fight beside you. It's only irritating in sunlight, where the difference is obvious. In shadowy or dark areas, it is be a devastating distraction.

Mirabelle continued reading the exact explanation of how the spell worked, then nodded slowly. "That could make it a nightmare to fight you. But…"

He waved her off. "I know. It's still only a visual effect. Useful in a swordfight. Against monsters? Not so much. I can even imagine Aldrich getting used to shadow illusions pretty fast. I'm not looking forward to our next fight. Not only does he have a similar feat than me for feinting, he's used to it. He'll ignore the shadows and concentrate on my body movement and rhythm. I'll have to train to mix with my illusional twin. Change places and stuff."

She rubbed her chin. "You can also use shadows to block his line of sight. It doesn't matter if he knows it's an illusion, he still can't see through it… can he?"

Weylan eagerly made some warm up motions. "Let's find out!"

He drew his short sword and cast the spell. His shadow, vaguely visible on the evenly lit room's floor, lifted up and turned so dark, it was completely opaque. Then he moved. He did one of the basic sword forms he'd been taught by steward Jago for training.

His shadow twin matched his movements perfectly. But it was draining his mana rapidly. He concentrated on tuning it down a bit. The shadow got more transparent.

Then he repeated the sword form and used a portion of his concentration to vary the movement of the twin. The spell responded smoothly, clearly designed to do something like that. But the movement wasn't in Weylan's style and rhythm. It clashed. Clearly different for any trained observer.

After a while his mana ran low. He looked up at Mirabelle, who scribbled frantically in her notebook. He arched an eyebrow. She looked up and met his eyes. "Nice! I noted the things that worked and those that were clearly inhuman. The improvements were obvious. You can surely train to make the spell match your style better. That thing has potential, but you'll need to put in a lot of training."

Weylan sheathed his sword. "Yeah. That's for sure. I like the feel of the spell. It's like it's a part of my body. That doesn't make it trivial though. Feels like clapping a rhythm with one hand on a table and drawing a picture with the other."

She looked at her notes. "Can you cover yourself in shadow to make it more difficult to distinguish the real you? Right now, the main distraction is through the shadow feinting attacks. As soon as your enemy realizes its harmless, the spell will lose most of its effectiveness."

Weylan nodded thoughtfully. That was why he'd needed an observer. "True. That's another level of magic I have to control while still fighting."

But the training was already paying off.

Skill learned: Shadow Twin (Apprentice I)

Skill increased: Shadow Twin (Apprentice II)

They were already leaving, when Weylan had an idea. "Wait, let me try something."

He put down his Assassin's Knife on the floor and cast the spell again with the last remnants of his mana. The Shadow Twin appeared and he immediately let it bow down and grip for the knife. The rusty dull blade instantly turned black as the shadow touched it. It went up without problems. When he tried to swing with it, there was a noticeable resistance and his mana drained empty before he could finish the swing. The shadow disappeared and the knife dropped to the floor.

Mirabelle stared at it. "Shadows shouldn't…" Then her eyes lit up in comprehension. "Your knife is made out of umbranium? Where did you get that?"

"It was a gift I got from a peddler in my home village when I mentioned I'd leave for Mulnirsheim. It always behaved a bit strange. The blade get's sharper when in shadow and dull when in direct sunlight. When you asked about the material in class, I immediately thought it could be made from an umbranium alloy."

"Fascinating… Who would make something like that?"

He shrugged. "Knowing the people in my home, someone found a strange stone and brought it to the smithy to melt."

She shook her head. "That wouldn't work. Unless your smith is blind and works in complete darkness. With a darkflame forge fire."

"Maybe it's some relic from the Cathurian Empire. I've heard they had much more shadow mages then."

Mirabelle blinked surprised. "Where did you get such in depth information about the Empire? Even I've never heard about shadow magic during that time. Or ever before meeting you."

"I asked around at the Mage Academy in Mulnirsheim. There's a nice old professor who's fascinated by my rare kind of magic."

She shook her head. "You truly do live in interesting times, do you."

He grinned. "Always."

Both left the room and got on their way to the cafeteria.