The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

Neska waved the two of them into the room. “Come on in, this might take a little while to explain. Some of it is going to sound very weird."

Syra brushed past Neska and nearly tripped on one of her coils on the floor before settling down onto a chair by the desk. “Hi Juni, good morning. Has the snake been keeping you in an existential terror the whole night?”

Junie scoffed at that. “Not exactly. You heard about what happened last night?”

Syra raised a brow. “Brent told me the garrison was recalling everyone on leave, and the Valos military members were swarming by Lavernius Hall.”

“They were also camped out along Cassia’s pursuit path of a guy who kept melting into a shadowy form. She gave him a damn good chase. Someone was attacked, was all I heard,” Brent chimed in.

“How do you know it was me?” Neska asked innocently.

Brent laughed. “I could smell you.”

The lamia pouted at that; she did not have bad hygiene. “And what do I smell like?”

“Incense, spices, and alchemical fumes,” he replied. She raised a brow at that. “Very witchy scents. There’s a coven of witches on the campus, and without fail, they all smell like that. It’s not a bad scent, mind you.”

“Commenting on people’s scents is…weird,” she muttered.

“Welcome to monster life,” Syra said proudly, folding her arms after taking a seat on a desk chair. “So it was you, huh?”

“Let's discuss this behind closed doors.” Neska waved at Brent, who instinctively ducked a little to get past the door frame. He wasn't quite as tall as the door, but close. He was taller than her when she was at her ‘normal’ height.

He let out a soft hum of contentment after she closed the door. “This looks cozy. I'm moving in.”

Neska gave him a suspicious look. “This is a girl's dorm. Surely, you don't see the problem with that?”

Brent smirked softly in response and then plopped down on a chair. The fabric and springs made an audible protest at his size. He crossed one leg over the other, leaning back. “Well, then, you have a lot to learn about campus. I mean, that might be more of a problem and a social etiquette for the humanoids. But, I would say most awakened people aren't exactly compatible, if you know what I mean.”

Neska raised a brow. “I would very much like to continue not to know what you mean. So, hold off on the questions until the end. Yes, I was in pursuit of someone.”

“But why?”

“Professor Serkin was gravely injured. He's holding on at the medical center,” Juni answered calmly. Both Syra and Brent gasped at the revelation.

Syra leaned in, looking aghast. “A professor was attacked on campus? How did that happen?!”

Neska gave the brief version of events, with Juni chiming in intermittently. The range of expressions on both Syra and Brent's faces ran from puzzled to outright shocked, and then back to simmering anger.

By the time the two of them finished recapping the previous night's events, Syra looked quite upset. “So this assassin popped up right in the middle of campus, almost took out one of the professors. You jumped in, chased the assailant, and then scurried back to give him an injection of anti-venom?”

“Yep. That is the long and short of it. Questions?”

“You're not a normal lamia, are you?” Brent was strangely quiet compared to his normally boisterous and bold nature. “Add up the spells, the alchemy, and rituals…I’d swear you were a bona fide witch. But that should be impossible. When we die, any class we had before expiring fades out. That was explained to us a while ago.”

“Yet, that is what the evidence suggests.” Syra folded her arms, leaning back in her chair. “This is why you're constantly deflecting. If this is the case, if you have actual witch powers, something that shouldn't be possible? If the Varadur find out, they will come after you with everything they’ve got.”

Brent grumbled softly. “They tried to attack the academy. Once. They attempted to establish Instances as frontline fortresses to use as shelter and grow more monsters. We gave them a beating so bad they lost ground on the retreat, all the way to the Asterfal mountain range. That's more or less where they're holding. For the moment. To say that this place is impossible to invade is a stretch, however.”

“Instance?”

“It’s a specialized monster. They are these orblike little horrors that take root in areas. Other monsters bring minerals, plants, or bodies for them to absorb, which affects what they grow into. Eventually, they begin to warp reality around them, creating fortified structures that sort of bend three-dimensional space. The longer they're standing, the more dangerous they become. They give the Varadur ideal grounds to increase in Tier, or places for them to…uh…”

“Breed?” Neska finished. Juni coughed softly next to her, one ear perked up. “Yes, Juni, birds and the bees. They don't sprout up from the ground.”

“Yes, that,” Brent continued. “But because they're so specialized, we think the Varadur can't produce more of these freaky things. They have a finite number of those core monsters. You also didn't address Syra's question, by the way.”

She had been dreading this moment, knowing full well that Syra, at least, needed to know the truth of her powers and overall nature. She didn't expect it to be this soon, however.

She saw Juni tilt her head silently toward her, out of the corner of her eye.

“All right. This doesn't leave the room. I don't know how long I'll be able to hide it, but once word spreads, everyone will want to know more. Including a lot of people I don't want to know about me. Brent, you're a little newer, but…”

“I want the same thing as every other Awakened. To end this fight. That means we all need to work together to make that happen,” he said, folding his hands into his uniform's pockets. “Our life circumstances should not get in the way of that goal.”

The wolf dipped his muzzle calmly, pressing his claws together in a composed state. “From what I know of you so far, you're all right. I also know that things are going to change around here, and probably not for the better. I'll keep this under wraps.”

"I vouch for him. Because I'll hydro blast his pelt off of him if he spills details," Syra growled.

"Works for me," he agreed. "Okay, go ahead."

Neska smoothed her frazzled feathers. She thought of what she would say and how absurd it would sound. The truth was stranger than fiction. She took a measured breath.

“I have a witch class. Either a holdover from my prior life, or something specific with the way I was awakened by my witch, and what she used to make it happen. I don't know all the details. I do know that my witch was highly secretive and was on the run from the Varadur forces. Some of my powers show synergy with my monster evolutions.”

Brent’s muzzle gaped for a second. “That…should not be possible.”

Juni let out a resigned squeak. “It is. Which is why it's important to sell the angle of ‘weird lamia.’” Neska scowled at her, but she ignored it. “I doubt we can hide it forever. But the Varadur and whoever controls them want her dead or captured. I am not letting that happen, not after what we've been through.”

Syra twirled her hair anxiously. “I am guessing there is more to this?”

“Yes. For your own safety, we have to be careful. We’ll reveal as much as we can. But the Varadur are looking for me. And they might already know I'm here.”

“So, Cassia is a…super snake?” Brent wore a faint smile on his muzzle as he spoke.

“I've got powers I’m still exploring. But, I guess, yes. I am a…super snake, as you said.”

“Super enough to track an assassin?”

“Yes.” She gave them a brief rundown of her powers, and how her abilities were highly unusual.

Then she summed up her goals. “I need to find the assassin, instead of being able to wake up Serkin. He knows things, either about the professor or me. I also have a lead on who he might be working with."

“Shouldn’t this fall upon the campus garrison?” Syra asked, looking nonplussed. “I think you find this nonstop danger a thrilling experience.”

“No comment,” Neska replied flatly. “I have a place to start. I absorbed whatever toxin he was using on the professor. I couldn’t figure out what it was from that sample alone. I’d need more of it, one of his daggers, or maybe where I could find an alchemist bench he could work on in seclusion. The toxin he used was potent.”

“You…drew out the toxin? Venom goes out, not in,” Syra said, looking perplexed. “Do you think you can outdo the garrison’s finest investigators?”

“I won’t sit idle. I’ve been meaning to test out what I’ve learned with my skills.”

She pointed to the drawing board and sketched out a few things. “The first thing we need to do is find one of his daggers. I can analyze the toxin using alchemy, figure out what he used, because the toxin on those is not the same one used on the professor.”

“How’s that help?”

“Because he’s using specialized poisons. Rare components, you don’t get these things off the shelf. If we deduce that he wants to leave no trace, he makes them himself. Almost all assassins do.”

“She’s got a point. You want no traceability,” Brent said with a wag of his hand. “What else?”

“If I can get a hold of one of his daggers, I might be able to use a ritual trace on it, find out where it has been.”

She traced out a schematic for a two-point ritual. “Simple diagnostic ritual. Two points of inflection, plus the focal. This is considered the gold standard, easy to do. The more personal an item, the better.”

She turned to the board. "There was something else. He mentioned something about being an Acolyte of the Chained Serpent. Does that sound familiar?"

"Sounds cultish," Syra mused. "Sounds distinctly bad for us. There are still humanoid groups that form these dark pacts, thinking it'll protect them from the Varadur. They don't."

"I got nada. But, going by theme, maybe it's a reference to the Divines. Specifically, Ouroboros," Brent suggested. "When I'm not skirting trouble, I do read. All scouts should, to know the terrain and the history of a place. It's worth checking out at the library. Odd that he'd give up the name."

"It...wasn't easy," she deflected. Easy, meaning getting his Title from grappling with him. Add that to my list of investigations, Vivi.

I was feeling left out. But yes I would surmise that there is a history to follow.

"So, we have three avenues of discovery," Syra summed up. "Two of which are dead ends. No toxin samples, no daggers, no items from this guy. None that we wouldn't have to steal from the garrison, and they're actively investigating."

"He had help. One of the stable griffins picked him up on the escape, which suggests he had help still present. Even so, he's long gone from here," Neska added. "Four avenues, technically. But we can't really leave campus unless on assignment. Which means we only have one avenue: research on this group."

Brent scratched the back of his neck. “So if I told you that I picked up a souvenir, would you be mad at me?”

Her eyes widened. “Where? When?”

“I found one of his daggers thrown errantly and picked it up. I was going to hand it to the guard, but then I saw he'd thrown tons of the things. Figured they wouldn't need one.”

“Tell me you didn't touch the blade.”

He scoffed at that. “Not my first time fighting against monsters, or people whose priorities aren't aligned with the survival of humanity. I stashed it in my dorm room, wrapped it up in a bundle. If you can do something with it, by all means.”

“Whoa. We're not supposed to do rituals outside of class! Or alchemy, for that matter!” Juni's voice edged upward. “I get why we need to do this, because someone dropped the ball on campus security. But this could land us in…well, serious trouble.”

Neska shrugged. “More serious than death? Nah. Time to take some initiative–”

All eyes turned on her as her stomach growled. “I think we need to take initiative and go to breakfast before the mouse becomes a roadside snack,” Syra said with a lilting smile. “Then, we’ll do spooky magic with dangerous assassin daggers and search for cults."

“Brent, make sure she washes me down with the cup of water on demand, in the unlikely event of me being devoured,” Juni shot back.

---

The thought of breaking the rules didn't dawn on Neska until sometime during their breakfast, while they talked in low tones at a corner table. The hall was relatively empty, with students having free time to study and mingle.

Daily training was reserved for the senior-level students, who had become accustomed to the rigorous schedule. She spotted the golemoids and elementae chatting and laughing at another table. Though a few bore injuries ranging from scalded skin to bruised limbs and minor cuts and injuries held together to their bodies. She swore one golemoid had a crack in its shell affixed with liquefied rock.

“It's fascinating.”

“Huh?” Juni was mid-bite of her fruit bowl when Neska commented.

“Such diverse biology and body structure between the Varadur. This school is a sampling of what we’ll face out there, in the world. I wish I had time to study them all.”

“You are so weird, Cassia,” Juni chuckled. “We're just an academic lesson to you?”

“Well, no. Study of social structure too. Such diverse creatures, from various biomes, predators, prey, scavengers, and more, are working together. The Varadur have accomplished something unique that has not been seen in the biological kingdom.”

“They're banding together to destroy humanity,” Brent pointed out.

“But why do they cooperate? What drives them? If they succeed in eradicating humanity, then what is left for them to do or consume? Why set aside natural food webs for cooperation?”

Neska swallowed a piece of raw fish layered delicately over sticky rice, chilled to perfection. “In twenty years, has anyone asked why?”

“Why bother? We know their goal: eat us or enslave us,” Syra grumbled as she ate a portion of fish. “It's not complicated.”

“But it is. Maybe they cooperate to raise their evolutionary tiers collectively?” Brent proposed thoughtfully. “Yes, apex predators and other certain dominant species would eventually accrue enough essence to evolve, if left to their own devices. The strong get stronger, the weak get eaten. But to raise all of them steadily…maybe it's not a zero-sum equation.”

"So why are they using humanity's weapons now?" Juni asked. "This seems more like an effort of another Awakened. People with real stakes. Our survival even after the war, if we defeat the Varadur, there are a lot of ifs about what happens next. Anyway, what can this dagger help with? Can you get any useful info off it?"

“My witch did it enough times that I understand the concept. Alchemical separation and identification are somewhat easier. I need to go to town and gather supplies. If we do this in the alchemy lab in school, people might ask me questions.”

She leaned towards the center of the table, motioning them to listen in. “Brent, you have the list. I know I don't have money right now, but–”

“Let me worry about that. They give us a small stipend for various items, and we can make requisition requests from the supply depot at the garrison. You would too, I think. Maybe they didn't mention it," he suggested.

He pulled out a list of notes he'd written. For such massive paws, his penmanship was surprisingly good. “Let me see if I have a complete list for tomorrow. Purified salt, basic alchemical kit, string, one runic dagger–why a dagger?”

She held up a finger. “For blood. Taking a controlled amount. Blood is a powerful ritual ingredient. An athame is something I’d like to get, but they're…pricey. And specialized.”

“Not on my stipend. A runic dagger made of mage steel is common and cheap enough. But reliable,” he shrugged. He ran his finger down the list. “Aqueous solution, glassware of varying types, tubing…where are we doing this, anyway?”

“Our dorm?”

Syra let out a protest. “Oh, hell no. Not if you're using anything alchemical. Ritual work, sure. But with alchemical fumes and all the hazards associated? You need a dedicated place. This might be an issue.”

“Then we need to find one,” she said with determination. “Surely students have found ways to do all sorts of magical experimentation that falls within morally and legally grey zones?”

“You should consider the cisterns.”

Neska felt her spine jolt, and everyone turned to glare at Kasfew, leaning against a wall and looking smug. A few lingering embers trailed along his wings and legs. How had that bird appeared out of nowhere?

She saw tiny embers trailing through the air, leaving a wisp of smoke that rapidly faded. If she had to guess, his ability was like her molt, with near-instant movement. He pointed his finger right at her. “I heard from a little birdy that you attacked a professor. Care to address this rumor?”

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