Trapped as an NPC in a Dating Sim-Chapter 78: Artifact: Eye of Insight!

"Anyway, thank you for the offer, but we aren’t interested. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a trial to complete."

Soren excused himself respectfully and left, taking all his team members with him.

Only Darius and his five teammates remained, faces dark.

"Lord Darius, he is so disrespectful to you. Who the heck does he think he is?"

A tall, slim figure draped in black cloth whispered while idly playing with a blade.

From his attire, it was clear he was an Assassin. A real one who had blood on his hands, judging by the thick murderous aura he emitted.

"Do you want me to..."

"No need. And don’t talk like that here. This place is heavily monitored by the Professors. They won’t like students fighting with each other."

Before the assassin could say anything more, Darius stopped him and turned around.

"If they don’t want to play, then it is their choice. Let’s go and finish this trial instead. I don’t want anyone reaching the camp before our team this time."

He gave the order before choosing a path and leading his team into the forest.

It seemed he was unconcerned about Soren’s refusal and didn’t take it to heart.

’Soren, huh. A mere commoner with no background dares to cut me off? Don’t let me catch you alone.’

Inwardly, though, he was as dark as his subordinate, or even more so.

---

*Roar!*

Whiteleaf Forest, although indeed white, was only so at its center.

Its periphery was still a dense jungle of towering trees and lurking monsters.

Only these monsters were anything but ordinary.

---

[Name: Shadowfang Wolf]

[Race: Beast]

[Level: 25]

[Rank: E]

[HP: 1,250 / 1,250]

[Special Trait: Shadowstep – Moves with extreme agility through shadows, increasing evasion and allowing sudden, precise attacks from unexpected angles.]

---

*Swish!*

But no matter how powerful these monsters seemed, they were still low-level.

With a single arrow from Soren, one of the wolves collapsed, the projectile piercing straight through its crimson eye and into its brain.

Not a single growl escaped its jaws.

And Soren hadn’t even used any skill yet.

In fact, the same went for Aurelia and Evan, as the three of them had already wiped out an entire pack of Shadowfang Wolves, each one falling to a single spell or a single strike.

"This should be the last one."

Soren lowered his C-rank bow, speaking softly, a faint glint of amusement in his eyes.

Currently, if anyone looked closely at his right eye, they might notice the faint shimmer of a contact lens.

---

[Artifact: Eye of Insight]

[Rank: D (Upgradeable)]

[Effect: Has a chance to reveal hidden information about creatures, objects, and magic when looked at. Can occasionally detect weak points, magical traces, or contract marks.]

[Note: Effectiveness improves as the artifact is upgraded.]

---

’It is quite effective. It even showed the special trait of that wolf.’

Soren thought, feeling that it wasn’t a waste to use 50 Harem Points to purchase this artifact.

By this time, Soren, of course, had already opened up the Eros Treasury, the new shop feature.

For a moment, he was afraid that it would be filled with all kinds of weird, perverted stuff.

And he was indeed right, but there was some good stuff too, like this contact lens that could reveal hidden information besides the normal one.

In the game Lover’s Labyrinth, there were indeed such artifacts and skills available. Most were class-specific.

For example, Isolde could see more information about an item or material since she was a Craftsman-class, and so on.

Sometimes, even the ’Voice of the World’ gave such information about the Boss Monster to the hunters inside the dungeon.

But such things were rare after all.

Not to mention the artifact he had, although D-rank, was an upgradable one with unique effects.

Unlike others, it worked on creatures, objects, and magic.

Although it said "it has a chance to reveal hidden information," Soren didn’t feel that such a probability was a problem for him.

---

[Equipment: Moonshadow Bow]

[Origin: Forged by a Dark Elf artisan known for crafting weapons suited for silent hunting.]

[Rank: C]

[Durability: 53/100]

[Effect: Grants +12% attack speed and a +5% chance to deal critical damage from behind. Perfect for stealth attacks.]

[Note: The effect of the bow will be greatly compromised due to the low durability.]

---

For example, now he could see more about the bow he was using than before.

’Hmm... so that crack has lowered the efficiency of my bow? No wonder I felt the damage wasn’t scaling up with my level.’

Soren thought about giving it to Isolde for repair after reaching the camp. She should have come this time.

Although the bow might make him bleed a bit due to its high rank, he didn’t have another option currently.

Well, not until he crossed level 50 and was able to enter the C-rank dungeon.

There was a nice dungeon that he knew of, which had the bow he needed that he remembered from the game.

"Heh... so weak? It seems this trial is really quite easy. Aren’t we already ahead of everyone?"

Just as Soren was musing over things, Sylvia spoke from the side, seeing the corpses of huge wolves lying around.

Although they looked fierce, the Shadowfang Wolves lay scattered and lifeless, each felled by a single sword strike, a single spell, or a single arrow.

Unlike others, she was just a spectator throughout this trial, which made her quite bored. She didn’t even need to use healing or buff spells on them yet.

So, she amused herself with her useless commentary.

"Weak? Little girl, that was a level 25 monster. How can it be weak? Do you think other students will be able to kill them like this?"

Soren rolled his eyes at Sylvia while lowering his bow, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

Just like he said, they were weak only because he was now above level 30. But for other students who were only around level 20 or so, it was a big deal.

Not to mention, these wolves were quite stealthy and perfect assassins in such a dense and dark forest.

It was just their luck that Soren’s passive, Keen Sight, caught them easily.

"Yeah, if I had met them while still at level 20, it would have been a tough fight."

Evan nodded lightly from the side. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"We might have to ask Aria to summon her golem and make a defensive circle to hold off the wolves," Aurelia commented lightly while the team slowly began to walk forward.

"But with my Elderwood Sentinel, we should still be able to take care of them easily," Aria added from the side.

This was the cue they followed as they walked toward the camp.

Since the monsters they encountered were very weak for them, they instead discussed what they would have done if their levels were lower and brainstormed different scenarios.

It was also the method taught to them by Professor Kael in his lectures.

It was called running virtual simulations.

The basic idea was not to get smug about the win but to observe, analyze, and plan for potential threats.

After all, while hunters could learn from experience, they could also die from it.

If thinking ahead could save them, there was no reason not to do it.

"But Aria, you wouldn’t have been able to summon those Elderwood Sentinels without reaching level 25 at all."

Sylvia suddenly commented with a sly smile, making Aria a bit embarrassed.

"Y-Yeah, you are right. T-Then, maybe Soren could shoot them while hiding behind my Golems? But with the uneven ground, it might be hard to get a clear shot."

She proposed, when Soren abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"Soren?"

Aria was a bit confused and thought maybe she had said something wrong, but Soren put his finger to his lips.

"Shh... there is someone in front," he whispered lightly, his eyes narrowing as he activated his passive, Keen Sight, scanning ahead with a solemn expression.