Chapter 8 — Busted

A hall monitor who’d turned into a Centaur guided me and Dylan to the principal’s office. His hooves clopped noisily on the cobble stones as we followed silently.

The school’s front fountain had transformed into a fae swamp and the faculty offices were part of a huge turret in front of the school. The monitor clip-clopped to a halt at the bottom of the staircase and said, “All the way up, and the first door on your right. And you both better behave or I’m calling your parents.”

At the mention of parents, Dylan froze and stood very straight. He started marching up the stairs silently, not even complaining that our visit to the principal’s office would take up some of our afternoon free period.

I hurried after him and hissed in a whisper, “Even if you level up fast, it’s super not cool to disqualify your friends.”

Dylan kept stomping upward.

“I bet you cheat in the real Dungeon Royal game. What do you use, auto-aim? Or some codes to get—”

“I never cheat!” Dylan spun on me, his gnoll muzzle snarling. “The game’s just too hard... and... and other people just get lucky all the time. It’s not fair.”

Something clicked into place in my mind and I pointed a shaking finger at him, “The Luckstone... so that’s why you’re doing this? You get to keep the luckstone’s power if you win... you turned on your classmates all to... all to...”

“Win at Dungeon Royale? Of course,” Dylan laughed. “People who stream the game make millions. Imagine if I literally can’t lose. But you wouldn’t even know. You dumb mom and dad only give you an hour of screen time.”

“Don’t call my mom dumb!” My voice rose, but a sudden chill washed across the stairway.

“Now, now,” A husky voice whispered from ahead. “Let’s not fight... it could bias the experiment.”

A door swung open a few stairs above me, and I saw Dr. Byrd sitting comfortably behind the principal’s desk. The rest of the office had transformed into an arcane library with cobwebs and books encrusted with jewels.

Dylan snarled at me one more time before walking into the principal’s office and sitting down. I didn’t move. “You? What happened to Mister Cofax?”

Dr. Byrd smiled, “Oh I think he’s a cow somewhere on the lower levels. Bad luck for him, I’m afraid.”

“But you don’t have anything to do with the school. How can you be principal?”

“I’m the highest level entity in this dungeon,” Dr. Byrd smiled and beckoned me forward. “Now sit. I wish to talk to both of you.”

As if listening to Dr. Byrd’s orders, two chairs hopped forward from the walls, and came to a stop right in front of his desk. They weren’t as comfy as his chair looked, but I was a little worried about sitting in a chair that could move.

“Now, I’m aware of your little conflict, and in order for this experiment to be as unbiased as possible, I will not prevent you two from... facing off, shall we say?” He steepled his skeleton fingers and leaned forward.

“But that’s not fair. You gave him extra gear... he used some fairy thing in our science class!”

“I found those fairie—” Dylan began, but Dr. Byrd shook his head.

“No need to lie. Samuel makes a valid point. I will give you items of similar magic power to maintain the balance if that is your concern.” Dr Byrd spread his arms. “I’ve already effected the transformation too much... but I suppose I’m part of it too.”

“Wait,” I said, eyes wide. “You want to give me super powerful items? “

“Yes, it’ll give you a leg up similar to Dylan, and you’ll have a chance stay in the game until the late game.”

“Yo! Dr. B, Sammy is the worst, you don’t—” Dylan started, but a glance from Dr. Byrd silenced him.

Dr. Byrd reached into his robes and withdrew a plain golden ring. My wristband immediately chirped and showed me the item’s details:

“Invisibility Ring: Level 10 - Wearer becomes invisible, advantage to all block and dodge actions. Every attack has surprise attack applied.”

My mouth dropped open. With my dagger and rogue main-class I could be unstoppable. Still, something felt weird about taking a handout from Dr. Byrd especially now that he was as freaky skeleton lich. Whatever this was, it had to have a catch.

Besides, what would Maria and Luke think if I cheated like Dylan and took a over-powered item to win. “I don’t need a handout to beat Dylan.” I gave Dylan a nod and turned to meet Dr. Byrd’s eye sockets. “Are we done here, sir?”

His skull’s grin was locked, but his head tilted in confusion for a moment before he walked to the door to the stairway and held it open for me. “As you wish... this test grows more fascinating by the minute.”

I started walking toward the exit and Dylan called after me, “Ha — you’re such a moron!”

The door shut, and I hurried down the stairs toward the main hallways. I wanted to find Luke and Maria, if I was going to beat Dylan at this battle royal fairly, I’d need to start leveling up with every moment I could get.