Rules of Biomancy: A LitRPG Healer Fantasy

Olivia cursed as she suffered the twentieth papercut of the day. Sticking the bloodied thumb in her mouth, she turned the page with her other hand and looked the next schematic over. Useless, just as expected, but she was starting to see more mentions of the older maps.

“Ma’am, just how long are you going to be doing this?” Fred asked as he sat on the other desk in the office, filling out forms and reports that she was supposed to be doing herself. “You’ve been at it all day. Isn’t it time for you to take a break and maybe sleep?”

“We can sleep when we collapse, Fred,” Olivia replied offhandedly, skimming an old report about maintaining the Dungeon Entrance that complained about the lack of proper incentives for stone masons to do their work properly. A useless complaint that nobody had likely read the entirety of, but she was noticing the fact that ‘Dungeon Entrance’ was in its plural form more times than not. It was as if the author of the report knew of more than one official way to get into the Dungeon. “How are the transfer documents for the Silver Ore? The Merchant’s Guild wanted the changes to be exact this time. We can’t have contradictory information twice in a row.”

“It’s nearly done, but I feel like some of this is supposed to be done by you,” Fred said, which was very correct. That was why she had been having him sign everything off with her signature since most people around wouldn’t accept anything else. “Do you really trust me to write down the monthly wages for everybody including me? I’m not sure I can fill out a performance report about myself without being biased.”

“The fact that you’re questioning the sanctity of those things is a sign I can trust you,” Olivia countered, swearing to herself as she noticed the brown stains on several vital maps in the next set of documents. She had been hoping this would be it, but liquid and old paper never aged well together. Even if the garbage before her had been legible thirty years ago, it certainly wasn’t now, “And, honestly… do yourself a favor and check the box that makes you eligible for promotion. You deserve it.”

“Already did, ma’am.”

“Attaboy.”

Fred might’ve said something after, but Olivia tuned it all out in favor of skimming through the next dozen documents. She was getting closer to the end of what was left in her office from the people who used to sit in her position. As it had been clear by the first two hours of this research of hers, none of them had been too adamant about following the protocol of putting vital documents into the archive, meaning that all the sensitive information could be found right within her arm’s reach.

That meant that any well-kept secrets about the Dungeon could be learned with just a bit of reading and patience. Mostly patience, since the reading material in question was usually in poor condition.

Not the oldest chunks, though. Even if they were the most ancient, it seemed that the decades-old paper had been preserved better than everything else through the thick layers of documents protecting them from the air and just about everything else.

Some of it was crossed out, had badly written notes added on, or was just entirely useless for her search, but Olivia could feel it as she got closer and closer. She was starting to reach the bottom, the very start of it all, and the contents of the reports showed off that importance as the topics became more in line with the fundamentals of the Dungeon’s architecture.

Schematics for the arch, notes from a certain Earth Mage on how to make it last, internal discussion on what would be more time efficient, and several mentions of what kind of materials would be most intimidating for visitors from outside the country. Riveting stuff, but it was the last parts that truly made Olivia’s brows rise.

‘While this is all well and good, we should be focusing on only this entrance. I know that Liss and I have been talking about using the other one for Royals only since it lets us just skip the first half of the walk down, but the placement of it is just so unlucky. We should’ve considered that it would end up in the slums the poor area, when we placed the castle at the other end of the city. I understand that it would be a great boon and that it would likely save time when our stronger fighters go down to harvest rarer materials, but the cost of maintaining two entrances instead of just one is going to be astronomical. We’ve already looked into the finances of around-the-clock guarding of the main entry, and, if we were to have the more dangerous one open as well, it would likely triple the required yearly budget. I understand that we might not yet have a full grasp on what kind of gold we have to work with, but this is not going to make anybody happy. Especially, and I know Alin will be a little angry about this but it’s the truth, with that hideous statue he wants to put in front of it.’

Olivia read every word of the transcript, rolling her eyes at the obvious lack of professionalism. She would’ve lost her job in minutes if she ever delivered something like this to her bosses, yet these people had been able to do whatever they wanted.

Not too surprising, though, if they’re so casually mentioning the old Queen and their ace.

Moving past her personal issues with the wording, she turned the page to see the statue that had been complained about for another hundred or so words. And, honestly, she didn’t get what the big deal about it was. A set of bronze statues depicting various dog breeds. A golden shepherd, a winged farmhound, and a great-eared goaldigger. Three breeds the country was known for, with all three likewise having been used extensively during the war.

When Olivia read the inscription and realized each was meant to represent a person, she suddenly found herself understanding why the King of Serenova didn’t want to be remembered as having ears the same size as the rest of his body.

“Oh, shit,” Olivia muttered when she continued down the details of the statues, skimming through the details until she spotted the map describing the placement of the bronze creations. A map with reference points. “Oh, shit!”

“What is it?” Fred asked tiredly, pausing with the ordered forgery. “Did you fall asleep while turning the pages again?”

“No, I didn’t ever do that,” Olivia corrected, shoveling away most of the other documents she’d looked through until she found one of the reports containing several old city maps. The one she’d found here with reference points was so out of date that it would be impossible to discern where everything was when comparing it to the modern drawings, but taking one from around the time when she was a kid allowed her to cross-reference it all so much easier. “If that’s there, and this is meant to be the old tailor shop, that means… Ah, shit, why didn’t I realize this from the start?”

“Are you talking to me or should I just be ignoring you?” Fred asked, though his words were prematurely ignored by the guard captain as something much more important was in front of her. “Fine, I get it. Have fun wherever you’re going.”

“Thank you,” Olivia said, putting on her outfit as she prepared for the very late excursion into the slum. There was still an hour or two before the sun would fall, though, so she had plenty of time to work with. “Be done with the rest of the forms before I’m back, please.”

She ignored the complaints that there were over a week’s worth of forms to fill out, as she left the office and headed down the street at a brisk pace. She greeted and waved to those who recognized her, but never did she stop heading in the needed direction.

It’s been so long since I needed to be in this area.

Olivia wasn’t sure what she truly felt, as she watched the quality of the buildings degrade steadily as she took more steps down the path. She’d already needed to take a turn off the larger street, as it would’ve circled around and brought her back towards a more middle-class area. Instead, she had to take smaller ones, squeezed between buildings and hidden from the view of people who didn’t already know it was there.

Maybe that was intentional, since the placement and guiding of these newer streets had been done after the second entrance into the Dungeon was supposedly destroyed. The documents certainly said as much, several comments made about how expensive it was for the Royal Mages to do such a thing. Hundreds had been evacuated to avoid possible deaths, many hours had been spent cleaning it all out, and the area around it had been rebuilt to make it seem like there had been nothing of note there to begin with.

At least according to the documents, which, as Olivia had begun to notice in recent times, were not always consistently in line with the truth. Some white lies would pop up sometimes, some exacerbations, and then laziness started to get into the picture as well.

And she didn’t even need to start on the possible corruption, as she took the final few turns and saw a bronze statue of a big-eared dog standing in the grass.

A few other chunks of bronze could be seen in the dirt nearby, but anything major was already broken into pieces and taken by other people. Or maybe they had never been fully constructed, just as the statue before he was never meant to be. Hard to say, honestly.

Olivia didn’t dwell too long on it, as she brought out the map once again. Contrary to her expectations, the local area around here hadn’t changed too much since the original drawings were made. While the streets in the richer districts were radically different, these were nearly one-to-one. The alleys were the same, the houses had the same sizings, and the only real thing of note was the state of decay it was all in.

And, of course, the house in front of her that looked ready to fall into a pile of dust at the mildest provocation.

Checking the map again, and referencing it with the other buildings nearby, she was certain that the second entrance to the Dungeon was meant to be right before her. Right below the crumbling house, which she now realized was sitting on a slightly elevated area compared to everything else here.

Truly the work of countless hours.

With conviction, she opened the small gate that gave her entry to the lot. In contrast to everything else around here, it had a patch of grass around it, one that might’ve been tall and wild but didn’t have any trash in it. A surprise, a weird one, but not something Olivia spent too long considering. She had a goal, and her heart was firm in that aspect.

Right until she took a step forward towards the house and felt her breath catch in her throat.

Panic.

It came into her mind instantly, as she realized what she was doing. So many hours had been wasted trying to find some stupid entrance, something she had been ordered to ignore, and now she was here in some dangerous place alone and without any assistance if something was to go wrong. What was she thinking? She needed to turn around, get back to the office, and just forget this ever happened. It was for the best.

…

No, it isn’t.

Olivia blinked as that feeling of panic and desperation to leave continued to strengthen with the next step. It almost felt genuine at the start, as if she had suddenly gotten a change of heart, but the feeling of fear wasn’t like the one she normally felt when scared. This was too… synthetic, like it wasn’t her thoughts that started the downward spiral.

“Magical wards,” she muttered, annoyed that she couldn’t see them as the Royal Mages could. She could feel the waves of fear being forced into her, could the feel hairs on her arms rise every few seconds, but she couldn’t see the source of the annoyance.

It explained why there was no trash around the crumbling building, at least. Anybody who decided to step towards it would suddenly find themselves having every possible reason to run away. If not for her time spent training under the banner of the royal guards, Olivia was sure she would already be halfway back to the office.

This strength wouldn’t be done by amateurs either.

A criminal organization of some sort? Olivia didn’t reject the idea as she stepped closer and closer to the front door of the rotting house. It would require that they had quite the number of connections inside the administrative departments, enough that some of the top-level guards and mages would obey them, but that requirement seemed more and more doable by the second. Any other alternatives didn’t make sense when put next to what she was seeing.

Reaching for the door handle, which she realized wasn’t as rusted as every other piece of metal exposed to the outside air, Olivia tried to open the door. It was locked, sadly, but she was more than happy to try out other methods.

Namely kicking it open.

Before she could raise her leg and brace for the tried and true routine, however, she heard steps from the side. Going back on both feet, she turned and saw a man walk towards her out of the tall grass. Where he’d appeared from, she couldn’t say, but Olivia was focused on his appearance more than anything else.

She thought of herself as a rather tall woman, equalling most of her men in height and even going above a few. The taller folk she knew were about half a head above her, but that was to be expected.

The man approaching her, however? Easily two heads taller. Maybe three if he didn’t slouch as much.

“This is private property, sweetheart, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” a gruff voice left the giant of a man. Olivia was distinctively reminded of Aleksi when she saw the stature and the age. They had to be in their late sixties when going by the wrinkles on their face, yet their body could easily rival the strongest youth around. And that axe on their back… “You hearing me?”

“I’m Olivia Blackwell, Head Dungeon Guard on official business,” she replied firmly, doing her best to sound professional. Though she was confident in her abilities, she knew she wouldn’t be able to take on the giant herself. Maybe get a hit in, but, if they chose to attack, she could do very little. “Are you the owner of this property?”

“No, but I’m the person making sure wanderers don’t decide to set up camp here,” the giant said, waving her goodbye. “Off you go now, kid. Unless you’ve got an official warrant signed by whoever can issue them, step off the private property.”

His tone changed at the end, going from condescending to giving her a very firm warning. Giants had so little patience, though Olivia didn’t care too much about that fact. Excusing herself, she turned around and left the property behind, closing the gate and heading back towards her office in the middle of the city.

Did she see what was inside the house? No, but that hardly mattered.

A beast of a man had been protecting it, meaning somebody didn’t want others to see what was there. And, since that spot was supposed to harbor the past dungeon entrance, it took no guesses to figure out what was there.

Now came the question of how she was going to use this information.