The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

Yana pointed down at the outside wall. “Your team will lower you down. You’ll Melt the damaged rock away, drop a new block in place from your Void Band using Mend Tool to hold it in place, and then use Melt again to seal the seams, locking it in place.”

This portion of the wall sat on a cliff, making the drop to the ground outside one hundred fifty feet. Ruwen’s stomach clenched, and he backed away from the edge. But he couldn’t move that far because the battlement itself was only ten feet across.

Yana glanced at Ruwen and smiled. “There’s an Air Mage at the bottom watching for fallers, so make sure you scream nice and loud to get his attention. He’ll slow you enough to make the impact survivable, especially if you land in the pine trees. There’s a Surgeon with him to heal the damage, assuming you survive.”

Ruwen couldn’t tell if Yana was joking or not. “Fallers?”

“We’re on a deadline, so we need to take risks. Word of advice, though. Don’t let the Air Mage bring you back up. Just run around to the gate and ride a rope back up. The Mages like to see how sick they can make you when returning you up here. By the time the Nausea debuff fades, you could have just walked.”

That reminded Ruwen of the sled pilots in the terium mine near Deepwell. What was it with Air Mages, speed, and making people sick? He controlled his breathing and cursed himself for offering to help. He still couldn’t tell if Yana was having fun with him about the falling.

Yana pointed at a group of three Workers heading toward them. “Here comes your team now. A good group. They lost their Band, and I’m glad I don’t have to reassign them now.”

“What happened to their Band?”

“After the third fall, I took mercy and reassigned him to carry timber. Some people just aren’t made for heights.”

Ruwen swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

Yana put her arm out. “Everyone’s eyes are on you, Overlord. Leaders are symbols, and like all symbols they’re most effective when seen.”

Ruwen grabbed her arm. “I can’t decide if you’re helping me or trying to kill me.”

Yana laughed, winked, and then left to talk to the approaching team.

Ruwen refreshed his buffs, making sure his Warlord Banner ones mostly centered on giving him the best chance of surviving a fall. He picked enhanced healing, improved Armor Class, Regen rate boost, attribute increase, and extra experience.

As Yana spoke to Ruwen’s new team, he glanced across the battlements to see what his future held. Fifty feet away, another team worked. One watched the knot and anchor that held the Band from plunging to his death. The second watched the rope and kept others from tripping on it or accidentally damaging it. The last leaned out over the edge and presumably rose and lowered the insane Void Band user that dangled above, if not certain death, at least an incredibly painful fall.

Ruwen put his Overseer Cowl back on, using the hood to conceal the fear he couldn’t hide. He worried his cloak would get in the way, but couldn’t risk storing it up on the battlements because its protection from location magic only reached fifty feet, and he had the Dark Portal in his Inventory. Since he didn’t know if the cloak still worked in his Inventory, he had no choice but to wear it.

Blood red armor with a long cloak, hanging from the tallest portion of the city wall, made Ruwen unmistakable to anyone who saw him. He was now fairly sure Yana had done this on purpose.

Rami, your wings manipulate your gravity field, right.

Yes, I don’t need air or to flap my wings to fly.

How much weight can you lift?

That’s a good question. Should I crawl out and see if I can lift you?

Everyone is staring at me right now, and while I’m not trying to hide you, I don’t want to advertise you either.

Are you worried about plummeting over a hundred feet and impaling yourself on an ancient pine tree?

Thanks for the over specific visual.

Rami laughed. If you were naked, there is a small chance this fall might kill you. Like if you landed on your head and snapped your neck or some other type of critical damage. But with your armor on, you won’t die. Your Armor Class is just too high with all your buffs. Your impact will cause suffering and intense pain, but you’ll survive.

Just suffering and intense pain, that is good to know. Thanks.

But testing my limits is a good idea. I’ll put it on my list.

Your list?

Yeah, I’ve started a list for you. Some of my queries have returned and I have some ideas for Essence recipes. I want to see if I figured out some spell patterns.

Well that actually sounds fun.

Hopefully you survive the next few days.

Your confidence is overwhelming.

What can I say, I’m a student of history. And I know enough of yours to guess this will all go sideways.

Okay, no more pep talks.

Rami laughed again.

Ruwen thought about adding points into the level six Worker spell Steady. With one point he could walk safely on anything twelve inches wide. With five points in the spell, he could walk on a tightrope. The other option was the level eight Worker spell Tumble. For every point in that spell, it protected him from an additional twenty feet. So if he maxed it out, even a hundred foot fall wouldn’t harm him.

But Ruwen’s current problem had him dangling over a hundred feet in the air, so Tumble wouldn’t help, and Steady wouldn’t help him on the wall either. For now, he decided to just trust that his team wouldn’t drop him, and that if he did fall, Rami’s calculations were correct.

Yana finished speaking with the three Workers and sprinted down the battlements. Evidently, she had invested points in Steady. The Workers approached Ruwen and bowed.

“None of that,” Ruwen said,