The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

properly, and I guessed you’d be the best for that; besides, you can use it twice, I guess?” I said, looking at his two sets of arms dubiously.

“Thank you!” he replied, turning the book over and over reverently. I could feel the subsonics as he examined it, and I grinned at him.

“Don’t thank me yet, mate; you just got a new job. In addition to helping to train Lydia’s squad and me, from now on, you get to keep watch for others you think will be suitable. I need a cadre of assassins and stealth types.”

“I’ll see what I can do then, Jax; thank you,” Bane repeated quietly, nodding his head and stepping back to watch over the ship, making sure there was nobody nearby before he used the book.

“And for you, Lydia…” I said, handing her the second and third books.

“Heavy armor and mace usage?” she read, looking the books over. “But I don’t have any heavy armor…the mace, I’ll take happily, and thank ye so much, but…” I cut her off with a shake of my head.

“You’ve more than proved yourself to me. I know it’s not going to fit you properly; after all, regardless of what people might think, men and women are not the fucking same, but I had a full set of the heavy armor from one of the elite soldiers brought onboard. It should be belowdecks on an armor stand that was being cobbled together by one of the engineers. Go check it out, read the book, and take what you can wear comfortably from there, unless you think someone else would be better suited to be the tank for the group?”

“Tank?” she asked, only half paying attention as she looked at the books in her hands.

“The way I and Bob fight are tanks roles. We step up and take the center of the line, fighting and keeping the enemies’ attention, so that the rest of the team don’t have to. On this trip, we don’t have Bob, and I’ve seen the way you fight. Want to step up and take his place?” I asked, and the sudden grin she gave me was all the answer I needed.

“Hell, yes!” she said, and I grinned back at her.

“Glad to hear it! So why don’t you sort your squad out; Bane can watch over them while you read your own books and check out your new gear.”

“I... I will, thank ye. I don’t know what else to say, just…thank ye, Jax,” Lydia said again, shaking her head as she looked at the books.

“Like I said, you earned it. There are these books for the squad, as well,” I replied, gesturing to the books, and she nodded to me, a genuine smile brightening her face. A second later, it was gone, as she turned to find some of her squad clearly trying to listen in.

“Did I tell yer to stand around lookin’ cute, or to sort yer gear?” she growled at them. “Because there’s a shit load of gear here, and yer all fugly, so yeh’ve failed on both counts! That’s it! Bane! D’yer think ye could teach these idiots a lesson for me?”

“Happily!” Bane growled, stepping forward.

“Well, let’s have a little challenge, shall we?” Lydia snapped out, looking over the disorganized rabble as they tried to look busy. “I say they’re weak, but might have a chance of being more; what do ye say, Bane?”

“I say they’re too weak, worthless!” Bane snapped back.

“Well, then!” Lydia replied, clearly playing her part to the hilt. “I’ll bet yer the gifts that Lord Jax set aside for ’em, that you can’t break ‘em in say, an hour? I’ll leave ‘em in yer hands, and ye see what yer can do. If they’re all still standin’ when I return, they get the skill and Spellbooks Lord Jax picked out for ’em. If not, they go back to ‘im until we can find a squad that’s worthy of ’em!”

“Sounds like a deal!” Bane replied. “In fact, if they lose the books, I might see if I can persuade Lord Jax to give some to me; no need to waste them ‘eh?”

“Deal!” Lydia snapped, before glaring at her squad who stood like rabbits, heads jerking from her, to Bane, to the pile of books on a barrel by the edge of the ship’s railing, the wind ruffling the pages as they flew.

“They’ve got potential!” Barrett whispered to me, having walked over during Lydia’s performance, and I grinned at him.

“Was that your doing?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Mine and Flux’s; he spent a lot of time adventuring when he was younger, and it sounds like his team was pretty much military, through and through. He was a scout for them, much as Bane will be for us. The two of us had a chat with Lydia about leading her squad.”

“Looks like she’s the right choice for leading them,” I said quietly, and he nodded.

“She’s got the gift for it, that’s for sure.” We both glanced back over our shoulders, seeing Bane spreading the group out and ordering them into a series of kicks and punches we’d all learned this morning. Lydia glared at her squad for a while, before turning away and heading below decks, the two books I’d given her held tight.

I nodded to the group, grinning as I saw the way they all tried to do the exercises they’d been taught, while Bane separated books out as I’d directed, putting them next to each member of the group.

The funniest was Arrin, the mage support, who kept tripping and falling into the others as he desperately tried to read the titles of the pair of Spellbooks set on the deck before him.

Bane had deliberately put them down upside down, and I could feel his laughter as Arrin tried to read them.

“I’ll be claiming these books back soon, but I wanted you all to know what you were going to be losing,” Bane informed them, starting to speed up the exercises.

I