Warrion wasn’t sure what the hell to do with the White Lolabell, so he accessed his Items panel and placed the nice-smelling flower inside. He opted against harvesting more, as he didn’t think he’d really have any use for their effects. Instead, he carefully pulled at the stem of a flower that looked like some kind of alien lily. Each of its ribbon-like petals was tipped with a long red thorn that glistened with moisture. Careful not to accidentally prick himself, Warrion wiggled the flower out of the ground in its entirety on his first attempt and triggered Inspect to see what he’d found.
Burning Twindleroot
Type: Reagent
Item Score: 9
Rarity: Common
Burning Twindleroot is known for its pungent odor and poisonous thorns. Victims of a Burning Twindleroot’s poison experience a burning sensation with varying levels of intensity depending on the depth of penetration. If extracted carefully, the Burning Twindleroot’s poison can be used by a variety of Classes and Professions.
Warrion nearly broke Stealth with an excited whoop at finding one of the plants he’d been looking for. Considering the vast array of alien plant life in the forest, he knew the odds of finding a specific plant that he’d never even heard of were slim. Lucky!
The Herbalist continued picking his way through the forest, harvesting as he went. More often than not, he failed. He bagged a few more Burning Twindleroots, and demolished several other plants to the point that triggering Inspect on them did nothing at all. He did find one other interesting herb though, and this time, his excitement broke Stealth.
“Woohoo!”
Jungjem Bush
Type: Reagent
Item Score: 5
Rarity: Common
The Jungjem Bush originated on the dead planet, Jul’Juran. Inhabited by a species of catatonic Trolls, the leaves of the Jungjem Bush were often smoked recreationally.
If the leaves of this Jungjem Bush are dried, burned, and its smoke inhaled, the user may experience all or none of the following effects:
Mildly Catatonic State
Hallucinations
Increased Appetite
Increased Libido
Increased Relaxation
+1/second to Mana Regeneration
-5 Dexterity
Decreased Libido
Decreased Motivation
Decreased Ambition
Decreased Coordination
Warrion found magic weed! He couldn’t wait until the leaves were dry enough to give it a try. He was sure Garath would be happy to hear about it, too. Before The Culling, the Assassin hadn’t been sure whether his odd neighbor smoked or not, but his apartment had reeked of weed when he’d gone over with Sarah, Mark, and Sharon.
He’d never really known Garath before they grouped up to survive The Culling, though. Knowing what he did about the guy now, Warrion wondered why he’d never fostered a relationship with... with…
Warrion thought so hard that his brain hurt. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember Garath’s given name. They’d been neighbors for at least two years before The Culling, but try as he might Warrion just couldn’t remember. It was never too late to start a friendship, though, Warrion figured. Maybe the two of them could bond over a fat bowl of Jungjem leaves in a couple weeks.
With his Stealth Ability active once again, the gangly Assassin continued through the forest. He picked up a handful more of the Burning Twindleroots and a veritable fortune of other strange plants, some with seemingly useless qualities while others seemed almost too awesome to be allowed. One by one, he placed every flower, weed, and herb into his Items panel as he worked his way south through the heavy underbrush.
A flash of light and the sound of voices pulled Warrion’s focus away from his new Profession. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought the voices belonged to children.
Warrion crept through the forest, and after a few careful steps, the voices became louder. A few steps more and he was able to distinguish a word or two over the rustling breeze.
Closer. The voices of two children chatting and laughing became more easily distinguishable, even familiar. Warrion was nearing the west edge of the forest when his eyes finally found what his ears had been leading him to.
The young Elementalist, Daisy, and one of the young red-headed boys that belonged to Gary were standing between the strange new forest and a mostly-destroyed brick wall that had presumably once been the side of a building.
Warrion watched as Daisy conjured a dense storm cloud that rained a maelstrom of pointed ice shards that shattered against the brick wall. She jumped over a fern-like plant to her left, rolling to break her fall. The little girl built a ball of blue flame that spun wildly between her outstretched hands, then released it. To Warrion’s profound surprise, the blue flame-orb turned like a curveball and slammed into the wall, exploding with tendrils of flame on impact. Daisy and Brandon both whooped with excitement at her success.
“See?” Daisy told the boy, hands on her hips. “Totally possible.”
“Wow, Daisy!” the boy said in disbelief. “You’re amazing!”
Daisy blushed, tucked a lock of blond curls behind her ear, and kicked bashfully at the dirt. “It’s nothing, really. I’m just showing you that just because your Skill Tree says that you can’t do something, it doesn’t really mean that you can’t. You just have to figure out how to do it yourself.”
Warrion dropped Stealth and appeared as if from nowhere at the forest’s edge then started walking toward the unaware youths.
Daisy spotted Warrion and immediately pooled her Mana into another Blast!, but recognition spread across her features just in time. Daisy cancelled her cast, allowing the Mana to flow back to her center. A too-large crow landed on the boy’s shoulder and together, Daisy, the boy, and the crow looked at Warrion expectantly.
“Does Gary know you guys are out here?” Warrion asked. “I know this is technically a safe zone, but…”
“Gary isn’t my dad, and neither are you,” Daisy stated defensively.
“Whoa there, kiddo. I’ve got less interest in being your dad than you may think,” Warrion said, chuckling. “I was just wondering what two kids were doing alone out here. And Gary is his dad.” Warrion pointed at Brandon. “So, what’re you two up to?”
“We were making rings, then Brandon said he didn’t believe me when I told him I can change my spells, so I was showing him, and then you got here,” Daisy said, all in one breath.
“Please don’t tell my dad you saw us out here,” Brandon pleaded.
Warrion was quiet for a moment, scratching at his chin as he ran a playback of Daisy’s word vomit through his mind. “Rings?”
“I unlocked my first Profession,” Brandon told him proudly. The large crow on his shoulder cawed loudly in apparent agreement. “It’s called Jeweler and I can make rings and amulets and some other cool stuff, but without gems or metal bands I can only make Rank 1 items.”
“Wait,” Warrion said flat-faced. “You can make items? Do they have Attribute bonuses or anything?”
“They sure do,” Brandon confirmed. Seeing Warrion’s growing excitement, the young red-headed boy took on a sly expression. “I’ll make one for you if you promise not to tell my dad you saw me out here.”
Gary had access to the World Map, and likely always kept an eye on the whereabouts of his boys anyways, so Warrion readily agreed.
“Okay, hang on.” Brandon’s eyes went vacant as he looked through the rings he could currently craft. “Which Attribute do you want me to add to your ring?”
“Dexterity,” Warrion said immediately. “How much can you add? What are you even making these rings out of if you don’t have metal or gems?”
“Carved wood,” Brandon said, his eyes returning to focus. “I can make a ring with plus ten Dexterity. I could make one with twenty if I had Mana Crystals to push it to Rank 2, but I don’t know where to get any.”
Warrion perked up at that. “I have Mana Crystals. How many do you need? I’
ve been wondering what these things were for.”
Brandon dropped the cylindrical piece of wood in his hands and looked open-mouthed at Warrion. “Where did you get them?” he asked urgently, almost desperately.
“We picked up a bunch from killing creatures at the Alderwood Mall dungeon a couple days ago,” Warrion explained.
Brandon slumped so deeply that his crow , Dave, nearly fell off his shoulder. “My dad’ll never let me go to a dungeon…”
“I could go get more Mana Crystals for you!” Daisy offered excitedly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Daisy. I went with Garath, Athios, and Sharon and we had a pretty hard time of it with all four of us,” Warrion told her seriously, then turned back to the boy. “Brandon, how many Mana Crystals do you need to bump a ring to Rank 2?”
“Only two,” Brandon said hopefully.
“I’ll tell you what,” Warrion offered. “If you make me two Rank 2 rings, I’ll give you an extra ten Mana Crystals to play with.”
The boy looked up with unconcealed glee. “Would you really? Deal!”
Warrion laughed and opened his MENU panels, navigated to his Items panel, and retrieved twelve of the teal orbs. Surprising the Assassin, all twelve Mana Crystals came out of the hand-sized black disk as one, massive Mana Crystal.
“I’m not sure how to do this,” Warrion told him, holding the large teal orb in both hands. “But when we got them in the dungeon, they just sort of flew into our chests. So, don’t freak out, this might feel a bit weird.”
Warrion pushed the large orb into Brandon’s chest, shoving the young man back a few inches and sending Dave flapping into the air.
Would you like to give 12 Mana Crystals to Brandon?
Yes or No
Warrion chose ‘Yes’, the orb still held against the boy’s chest. When he did, the Mana Crystals sank into Brandon, causing the young man’s eyes to pop wildly with excitement.
“Omigod! Thank you!” Brandon shouted the words. “Okay, give me like five minutes and I’ll make your rings.”
Warrion laughed and patted the boy on his back. “No problem, kiddo. I’ll tell Garath about your new Profession, too. No doubt he’ll want you to make him some rings with Wisdom. I bet you’ll be able to talk him out of every Mana Crystal he’s got.”
Brandon couldn’t contain himself anymore and barreled into Warrion with a grateful hug. “Thanks, Warrion. I’ll be able to Level up my Jewelering so much!”
Warrion smiled and patted the boy on his back again uncomfortably. “No worries, my dude. While you’re working on the rings, I’m going to go pick some more flowers to work on my Herbalist Profession. I won’t be far away. If anything weird happens just shout and I’ll come back.”
Brandon and Daisy agreed to do so, and then Warrion slipped back into the forest. A few plant-plucking minutes later, Warrion heard Brandon shouting his name, echoed by caws from Dave. The Assassin headed back to find Brandon holding a small wooden ring in each upturned hand. Warrion triggered Inspect on his new rings and eagerly read over the system-provided details.
Wooden Band of Dexterity
Raiment Slot: Finger
Durability: 10/10
Item Score: 21
Quality: Average
Rarity: Common
+20 Dexterity
Created by the Jeweler, Brandon.
Pleased with the result, Warrion triggered Inspect on the second ring to find an identical item description. He happily took the rings from the boy and slipped one on each index finger. Warrion had high hopes for his self-improvement day, but upon waking early that morning he would have never guessed that he’d coincidentally bump into a kid that would effectively raise his Dexterity by 40 Points.
“Thanks man, these are awesome!” Warrion said enthusiastically. “I gotta go find G, he’s gonna be pumped.”
The Assassin immediately shifted into Crow form, a quick and reliable way to get from A to B, even if it limited his available Skills to Stealth. Before he took off, Warrion looked at the two children standing unaccompanied in a magical forest on a post-apocalyptic Earth. He wasn’t sure if he felt right about leaving them there but, like Daisy said, he wasn’t their father.
Reluctantly, Warrion opened his Friends panel and located Garath on his World Map. The Assassin was surprised to find that Garath was with both Athios and Sharon, three blocks north of the Guild Hall. Mildly offended that he hadn’t been invited to, whatever it was they were up to, he decided to go see what he was missing.
Chapter Fourteen – It’s Time to D-D-D-D-Duel!
Standing near home plate, Garath felt it was a perfect time to distribute the 10 Attribute Points he’d been sitting on. He placed every single one into Wisdom, confirmed his choice, and grinned as the feeling of improved stats washed over him. The Necrologist took advantage of the Party communication channel to go over the plan again with Sharon without the risk of being overheard, a pretty low risk considering Auto and Maimon were standing almost 130 feet away, near second base, presumably going over their own strategy a final time.
*Okay, they think you’re just going to be my healer and that’s exactly what we want. Tell me the plan one more time,* Garath said. They’d been over the plan three times on the way there, but he wanted to be sure that Sharon completely understood her role.
Sharon sighed and placated the Necrologist. *I cast Roots on the short guy and keep us both alive while you do your spells on both of them.*
Garath nodded, waiting for her to continue.
*And then you’ll give the signal and I Floral Bomb the Preacher,* Sharon finished. *Did I miss anything?*
Garath exhaled dramatically. *Yes, you did. What do you do before the Floral Bomb spamming?*
*Spam is a meat-product, young man, not a verb,* Sharon croaked. *Oh, that’s right. I do Herbal Outbreak to slow the Preacher’s cast speed, then Floral Bomb.*
*Exactly!* Garath cheered. *And spamming just means to cast the same spell repeatedly at the same target. It’s a gamer thing.*
Sharon looked suspicious, but then Sharon always looked suspicious. Garath felt confident enough that she understood her role, though he only gave her the details that would be important to her.
The basic plan was simple, often referred to as a late-game target swap. Garath would make it appear as if Auto was his target, leading the healer to watch the Chimerist’s Health more than his own. With the damage-over-time spells active on both of them though, Maimon’s Health would be slowly draining throughout the fight. When it got low enough, Garath would give the signal and, together, he and Sharon would both pump out as much burst damage as they could muster in an attempt to take out the healer before he realized what they were doing. It didn’t always work, certainly not against seasoned PvP healers, but Garath had a pretty good feeling that the late-game target swap would do the trick in this case.
Garath realized that Sharon had probably never been in a fight in her life, let alone a two-on-two system-sanctioned duel to the death featuring magic and Skills. Not that he had either, to be fair. But PvP had always been Garath’s true love in gaming, and he’d spent hours reading about two-on-two strategy and even more time putting that into practice. Even if it was only from behind the keyboard, Garath was confident that his experience would lead them to victory.
“You girls ready?” Auto shouted from second base.
“Almost,” Garath replied over one shoulder. “Give me two seconds.” He turned back to Sharon, switching back to their Party communication channel. *Any last questions?*
*Just one,* Sharon said, folding her arms over her chest. *How in tarnation did I let you talk me into this?*
*You know exactly how in tarnation I talked you into this,* he told her with a toothy grin. *The same way I talk you into anything. I just keep asking until you say yes. Let’s do this.*
Sharon looked at him dubiously, but nodded. Garath felt butterflies growing in his stomach as the message appeared before him to confirm the terms o
f the duel.
Maimon has challenged you to a system-sanctioned duel.
You now have the option to Accept, Decline, or Alter Duel Parameters.
Duel Parameters
Team size: two
Item Restrictions: no consumable items
Form Restrictions: no flying forms
Victory Condition: death of opponents
*Note: ‘death’ does not occur in a system-sanctioned duel. Any party killed during the duel will be restored to their condition at the start of the duel.
Garath chose ‘Accept’ and another window opened to inform him that the duel would begin as soon as all participants accepted the terms. A check mark appeared next to each of their names as they agreed. Shortly after, both prompts disappeared, and a semi-transparent timer began counting down from 10 in the center of his vision.
9. . .
8. . .
*Let’s both go House Cat as soon as it starts,* Garath said.
6. . .
*But won’t we take more damage?* Sharon asked, concerned.
4. . .
*Well, yeah. But have you ever tried to catch a cat that’s hellbent on not being caught?* Garath asked with a grin. *Split up. I’ll go right, you go left.*
Sharon huffed so hard that her cough drop fell out of her mouth.
2. . .
1. . .
*If he goes after you, just run and I’ll try to slow him down until you can get your Roots off. If he goes after me, make sure to keep me within range to heal,* Garath spat the last second instruction as the timer hit zero.
Garath and Sharon immediately shifted into their House Cat forms and tore off in opposite directions. The fluffy white Necrologist sprinted toward third base while Sharon high-tailed it to first in her plain looking, grey tabby form. Auto triggered a BeastScape transformation off the bat as well, shifting and swelling into some kind of fucked up mutant bear-human hybrid. Garath guessed the form would be classified as ‘Large’ by the system and it was absolutely vicious looking. Garath triggered Inspect on his old friend, hoping to gain more information about this current bastardization of nature he was wearing.
The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2) Page 14