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

gave me very specific rules for your training. Relax, Jax, we will do half an hour cool down and stretches, then sleep.”

“You’re a fucking legend, mate,” I whispered, moving to lean against the railing, while Oracle summoned a spring of clean water to fountain up and bubble over next to Bane. He dipped his face into the water, drawing in long lungful’s until it dissipated.

He slowly straightened up again, shaking the water off, and bowed to Oracle.

“Thank you, Oracle,” he said simply, and she replied with a sunny smile, landing lightly on the railing next to me. She reached out and slowly stroked my back and neck, the tips of her nails caressing my skin in a way that made the hairs rise and caused me to shudder. She grinned at me, and I snorted, shaking my head at the sight of her.

She’d conjured up a grey low-cut top that barely held her in, and yoga pants that were surely sprayed on, they were that sheer.

I was too exhausted to really appreciate the view, but I remembered the way the sailors had looked at her ass as she bent over to check on me after training, and I laughed again.

There was going to be a lot of studious remembering going on in the crews bunks tonight over that image, I had no doubt.

I staggered over to Bane, and we worked through the cooldown, ending with a series of stretches and lunges that made my back pop, but I felt better immediately.

I didn’t bother going down into the hold and finding a space. I’d refused the offer from Decin and Hanau of taking their cabin, and I’d insisted I’d just sort somewhere out. Now, I couldn’t be bothered to try, and instead put my bedroll on the floor and laid down right where I was.

Bane put his gear down nearby, and a few minutes later, I noticed Lydia join us, a little hesitant at first, but when we included her in the conversation, she relaxed.

I finally got my evening meal, and as soon as I finished it, I was asleep, not even noticing when a sailor came to collect the bowls.

Chapter Nineteen

I coughed, forcing gummy eyes open, and frowned. The room before me was lit by flames that danced and spun in bowls of polished bronze. The reflectors positioned behind the pools sent the blazing light out to fill the small room, and I shifted, my body subtly wrong as I sat up.

“Mana Wight…” I whispered to myself, the reality of my situation slowly filtering through the cloudy exhaustion that filled my mind.

I looked around, finding that the room was empty of supplicants, but fully stocked with all the various armor and weapons it should have. I leaned forward, staggering when I put my right foot down, only to find the muscles wasted and atrophied. I grabbed the side of the sarcophagus, my grip slipping as I staggered again.

I looked at my body in shock. As always, I was naked when I arrived in a summoning hall, but instead of the powerful form I usually inhabited, this body was…weak.

I looked like a victim of a famine. I lifted my fingers and curled them slowly, feeling the muscles and tendons creak and pop.

I stared in shock, looking down at my body, seeing the bright blue current of mana flowing along channels usually hidden by skin, skin that seemed paper thin now.

I was still staring when a crash sounded from outside, the doorway at the end of the hall shaking, and a cloud of dust billowing through the cracks. I flinched and almost fell before I got ahold of myself, closing my eyes. When nothing happened after a few seconds, I drew in as deep a breath as I could manage, and reached out with my senses, pulling at the mana I expected to find in the air all around me.

My eyes shot open in shock when I found nothing; no mana at all.

I blinked, trying to understand what had happened, when a second crash echoed down to me, and I growled in frustration.

Clearly, something was going on, and I’d better go find out what it was.

I walked around the room slowly, stretching my arms and legs as I went, gathering up armor first. It was over a thousand years old, but whatever magic kept this body intact and ready, had preserved it as well. The leather jerkin felt soft and supple as I pulled it on: the thicker areas that would usually have supported the armor I’d wear over this, would have to make do as my only protection.

I just didn’t have the strength to carry more, not if I wanted to use a weapon, but I had an advantage I’d never managed to make use of before, if I could reach somewhere with mana…

I picked up the matched pair of Mage Gauntlets and pulled them on.

The interwoven links of steel and quicksilver that covered the gauntlets were inert, rather than humming with power as they should be, but unlike every other time I’d had access to these…I now knew how to use spells.

“Jax?” a faint voice called, and I spun around, almost falling over. There was nobody nearby, but… “Jax, can you hear me?”

“Oracle?” I whispered, and I felt something change as the sense of her grew stronger.

“Jax! Where are you?” She asked me, and I shrugged. Realizing she couldn’t see me; I spoke up a second later.

“I don’t know, I’m in a Mana Wight body, somewhere without mana, as near as I can tell. How can you reach me?”

“I’m bonded to you, Jax. I can’t sense much, just that you were pulled from your body. Lydia and Bane thought you were under attack; the entire ship is at battle stations…”

“Dammit, no, I’m all right, Oracle. Just relax and be ready to heal me, okay? Usually these dreams only end when I die, and I’ll have a lot of wounds usually. Better to not let anyone