I Woke Up as the Villainess's Friend. I Don’t Want to Be the Next Dark Queen

We head outside the dungeon to camp in the forest and let it regenerate its creatures. We eat, I meditate for a while, we take potions (Ronan passes me a small one), and then we go back in.

On this second run, Ronan confirms he leveled up. The pup didn't, but its progress jumped from 29% to 60% toward level 8. I'm sitting at 4,590 XP out of the 22,026 I need for level 11. The experience I've gained today is absolutely insane—almost enough for a level 1 character to jump straight to 9, and Ronan must have earned even more than me.

But here's the kicker: level 11 requires 22,026 XP. A veteran soldier who's spent his entire life in the army might reach level 13 to 15 if he's good. Going from 14 to 15? That's 1,202,604 XP. Over a million... Now I understand why only nobles and soldiers have high levels—the army regularly clears dungeons, giving them consistent access to XP. But even when soldiers organize dungeon runs every few weeks, they go in massive groups to share the risk and rewards.

What Ronan and I are doing is brutal power leveling, backed by his god who made him an acolyte and by the seed that needs to quickly recover its true power as a divine beast.

And let's not forget the access to dungeons that both Vincent with his connections and the academy with its trials have given us.

As for the loot from the second chest, there was only one magic item this time, and it wasn't the third set piece we were missing, but another cloak of the snows.

"Seriously?" I mutter, disappointed.

Yesterday we got four items, this morning three, and now only one.

"We gave the dungeon core no time to recover. The longer a chest remains unfarmed, the greater its rewards, my lady. That is precisely why we obtained such abundant loot from the desert dungeon. That level had never been cleared before."

"And here we came just a few hours ago..."

"Yes, be thankful there is even one magic item. I think if we came back tomorrow, there might not be any."

"Well, at least what your friends harvest from the corpses remains the same amount."

And I imagine that is exactly why the army keeps track of when a dungeon gets cleared. Because if it is too often, it barely gives any reward. And if it is too long between clears, you risk a break and creatures escaping into the kingdom.

"Do not worry, my lady. Mary asked for our help tonight. Since we will have to sleep when we get back, that will let it rest for a day. Two if we go to the goblin village first."

We set off to return to the academy. This time we do bury Myrthaxya to hide her.

"You still feel bad about returning them to the dungeon core, don't you?" I comment to Ronan when, like the last two times, he has the trolls and other undead he's raised drop the materials right at the dungeon exit, then goes back inside with them to say goodbye and cancel his animation spells.

"Yes, my lady. But it is not like I can do anything else."

For a moment, I'm about to ask him, since it's like he's referring to something more than just Tovan not letting him take them away. However, I see he's already heading back into the dungeon after them, so I don't keep him. It's probably just me overthinking things, which I'm already realizing I like to do way too much.

Once back at the academy, the assistant professor's face is hilarious when we turn in all the mission ingredients. Her colleague goes to call Catrina.

"Already causing trouble, Bianca?" she says with a smile when, after entering the room, she sees me and approaches, ignoring the assistant professor.

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Causing trouble? This woman is getting way too familiar with me.

I decide to take advantage and see if I can get her to teach me how to use the claws.

"Just doing what I can to climb the rankings, professor."

"Well done. Wait, what's all this..." She looks at the two enormous yeti pelts on the counter and bursts out laughing. "Twice, you cleared the dungeon twice."

"No wonder my assistant called me," she continues once her laughter lets her keep talking. "I'm going to have to request to be your tutor next year." She winks at me.

Professors could choose to tutor one to three second and third-year students. I think they got benefits, both financial and prestige-wise, based on how well said student performed. Having a professor choose you was a great privilege, because there weren't enough professors for all the students. As a mage, I should be trying to win over the earth magic professor, but considering how much I love diving into combat sword in hand, Catrina would be perfect for me.

Not that I don't want to learn powerful area spells, but if I'm going to cast them while also fighting melee, I'd better do the latter really well to stay alive. Besides, the magic I'm most interested in is spirit magic, and I'm a pioneer in that. Catrina is the one who, in her Wednesday private lessons, asks me about my progress and tries to give me advice on how she would approach channeling in weapons or the body.

"Then do it, professor, and while we're at it, I'd like to ask you to teach me how to use claws. I got some pretty good ones from the yeti's first chest."

"I bet you did. There's going to be fights over you. But I saw you first, so don't even think about running off with someone else."

"Of course not, professor."

Ugh, that sounded a bit kiss-ass. But it's the truth; she's been helping me from the beginning.

"That's what I like to hear." She gives me a pat on the back that's even more brutal than anything Darius could dish out.

She stares at me and smiles appreciatively when she sees I don't flinch.

Yeah, professor, I'm raising my physical stats, I think.

Well, we've earned 45 points each. Ronan brought 70 vials. They're 200ml ones, the kind we were using and what they commissioned us for. He said the town had more, but even with the help of his three skeleton friends, he couldn't figure out how to carry them and still be able to fight—it wasn't a matter of getting giant backpacks or a cart. We filled them all just from the first village on the first dive and left them hidden in the forest until our return.

The points total 70 from the troll blood and 20 for the pair of yeti hides.

I'm getting closer to having the 300 I need for the collar. My marker is at 148 points for the ranking counter and 95 to buy.

I'm about to tell Ronan that yes, next time we're bringing a cart.

In any case, I'm satisfied since it's been a very productive day.

We arranged to meet tonight after dinner to help Mary. The children's sale is at dawn, and she, like the soldiers who'll accompany us, wants to be hidden in the area a few hours beforehand. After that, it'll be time to sleep until lunch, and then in the afternoon, I'll go with Ronan to check the goblin village and leave him there. I'll head to the Lacor barons' mansion to break off my engagement with Marco. Though I'll ask Ronan to lend me one of his mounts—the kind that, unlike horses, can gallop for hours without tiring.

Wow, undead really are nothing but advantages.

Before going to dinner, I ask the pup for one last healing lick, make another cut on myself to see if I level up healing, and spend the rest of my mana on breath control and splash.

Congratulations. Your low-level breath control spell has leveled up. It is now intermediate breath control.

Intermediate breath control: doubles the time you can hold your breath and is active for fifteen minutes.

Good, now I just need to level up splash so my earth control can level up.

I'm preparing my things for Mary's rescue mission when I hear Ronan's voice in my mind with some urgency.

My lady, they are attacking the base.

What?

I mean... I think to Ronan:

What?

Giant ants, the size of an adult dog. One of my goblin vassal soldiers warned me through the mental bond of vassalage.

Right, with his minions he has distance limitations for communication.

Let's go! Oh, shit we can't: Mary.

My lady, do not worry. Go save your people. I will take care of Mary. Besides, I promised Bob, Joe, and Tom I would avenge their deaths. And that baronet who ordered them will be there.

And what do I tell Mary?

I don't like leaving her hanging. Well, if Ronan's going, it's not like she's on her own.

I will explain that something came up or that you need to train. Do not worry, Mary will not hold it against you even if we cannot tell her the real reason.

But...

My lady, there are many of them. They've destroyed the wooden doors we used to block the cave with the crack. We are starting to take our first skeleton and zombie casualties.

I'm comiiing, I think and grab the stones.

I don't even waste time going to the supply room. Judith isn't here right now, but she already knows not to touch the stones if she sees them on the floor. Luckily, I already had a backpack ready with the claws and three small health potions from the dungeon.