The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1336 Haunted House

”Alright, I am finished. If you want to send a rogue through, they should be able to test my obstacle course.

I did make a map for the teachers, in case someone gets confused. But there are controls by the door, so you can just teleport lost students back to you at the end of class.” Rae explained as Karl finished the last of the runes to make her vision into permanent reality.

The exact details were obscured by the illusion spell, but some things, like the undead armies, the golems and other actual threats needed to be created separately, or they wouldnʼt react properly.

Niall appeared next to Rae and took the map from her.

”Oh, youʼre here too. Good to see you. I made a section in here just for you. You canʼt get to it without permission, or without opening the vault door. See, right there is the Inquisition training area.” Rae explained.

”And what is that?” Niall asked.

”Itʼs wonderful. Nothing but a crowded temple with one golem hidden among the illusionary occupants, so that students can hunt the traitor. I designed twenty different betrayal situations, some up to a week long, if it takes them that long.” Rae explained with immense pride.

Niall stared at her in impressed shock.

”That is above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you, Lady Rae. Teaching students how to use their skills is one thing. Teaching them how to use their brains is much more difficult.

Especially when the enemy looks like a friend.”

Rae smirked. ”Some of us understand that better than others. Sister Lotus is still mad that someone killed her pet frog”

The Inquisitor, made a ʼget on with itʼ gesture, hoping for an explanation.

”She has a skill called [If Not Friend, Why Friend Shaped?] and she used it to tame one of the invading frogs in Drodh. Unfortunately, that only makes wild beasts friendly to her, and nobody else got the memo, so one of the Myths killed it.”

Niall looked at the map of the training grounds, then smiled. ”What is the goal of the forest?”

”You can use it two ways. Either to test combat abilities, or you can set a prize in the forest and have the students hunt for it with strong monsters around. That should test their stealth skills and their navigation abilities.” Rae offered.

”And how many of the students should we expect to cry or wet themselves the first time they enter the trials?”

”Not more than half.”

Niall laughed at her estimate. If nothing else, it would make their rogues into hardened Elites and not soft school children by the time that they had to go out into the world.

Then he turned to one of the teachers, a young man in leather armour. ”Professor, would you like to test the trial grounds? Lady Rae is quite creative, and you have many self rescue skills for individual missions.

There are safety measures installed as well, but someone needs to test the layout to ensure itʼs suitable.”

Niall winked at Rae, who smiled at the teacher in a way that made his blood run cold.

He definitely got the feeling that this was not a child-friendly installation.

”Alright. You set the scenario, and I will run through a mission.” He reluctantly agreed.

Niall nodded and stepped into the training area, then stifled a laugh at what he saw. There was a floating magical screen with training missions right at the entrance, so he picked a building exploration one, and called for the teacher.

”Come in.”

The professor stepped in with his eyes closed, to keep from being blinded by the change of light, then immediately shrieked when he opened them.

His blade was in his hand, and his heart was beating hard in his chest by the time that he realized the gruesome sight in front of him was not a zombie giant, but a pair of Hill Giants impaled on spikes and used as lantern holders.

”Gods, what is wrong with you? Are you trying to scare me to death?” He demanded.

”Hey, they were here when I arrived. The mission is to find the hidden intelligence in the basement of the house. The scenario doesnʼt provide any information other than that itʼs in the basement, and that there are guard animals on duty, so approach stealthily.” Niall informed him with growing glee. Rae was quite proud of her art installation. It was a huge hit on the battlefield the first time that she had brought it out. But here in a dark forest, with the art moved back into the trees, it was even better.

What the original needed was just the right setting. Here in the dark, with the glowing stones in their eye sockets, the corpses of the Giants gave a menacing presence, enhanced by a bit of trickery from Raeʼs work, so that anyone who entered would feel the ominous aura that properly suited her training grounds.

The Rogue Class teacher quickly schooled his expression, and activated a stealth skill to move to the open door of what looked like a decrepit cabin.

But he didnʼt enter.

First, he circled the house, looking for side entrances, basement windows, and anything else that would give him a hint about what he would find inside.

The basement had a single light, not enough to illuminate the whole room, but enough that you couldnʼt move easily without risking being seen, should there be someone in the basement.

Other than that, it was mostly open, loaded with stored trinkets and junk.

That would make it harder to find what he needed, and the teacher silently cursed Rae in his mind.

But [Shadow Step] took him into a dark corner of the basement, and the search was on. The only problem was that [Track Magical Items] was leading him to a corner of the basement where there was no chance that the item might be in the piles.

Carefully, he moved across the room, and examined the wall that his skill was

leading him to.

A hidden door.

Of course, it wouldnʼt be as simple a mission as digging through piles of junk in the basement. But without a specific skill targeting magical items, he would

have had to check.

That spider and the inquisitor really knew how to mess with you.