The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2) by Craig Kobayashi (ebook reader 7 inch TXT) 📕

all been vital to The Band's survival during the horrific event, but they'd all been standing grouped up behind the damage-dealing casters, making it hard for Garath to know who was doing what. He read them as ordered in his inbox. Curly, a Hallowed Knight that had spent all his Skill Points on the Light section of his Skill Tree. Heidelberg, a Preacher that Garath couldn't even conjure the faintest mental image of. And Andrea, a Spirit Master who asked to submit her candidacy as either a healer or damage dealer. Garath made a mental note to look further into the Spirit Master Class shortly.

As relieved as he was that some healing Classes were interested in joining the team, it came as an even bigger relief that a few of the shield-wearing or tank-type Classes had expressed interest in joining as well. It had been a mistake to do Aquawood depths without a solid tank, and they'd all barely made it out alive. Garath wouldn't make that mistake again. Raust, a Legionnaire by Class that Garath remembered having fought well during The Culling had sent him a message, as had Steve-oooooh, who Garath remembered having not fought particularly well. If memory served, the Necrologist had to repeatedly shout at the man to take his turn in the tank-rotation when they’d fought Aldrasyl.

As if summoned into existence by the mere thought of his name, the great white Dragon soared silently on massive wings over Garath, his course due east toward the mountains. Garath had seen the Ice Drake heading that way more evenings than not as the sun nestled under the ocean to the west. When asked about it, Aldrasyl told Garath that he had found the mountains east of BoTH HQ to be an adequate hunting location. Garath thought for a moment about how much fun it could be to follow along and watch the Dragon hunt. Best nature documentary ever.

Garath focused back on the task at hand, reading the last few messages and frowning. There were a handful of tanks and a handful of healers, but there were only a few damage dealers that had expressed interest.

There was a guy named NickCarter, which was apparently his actual name, no relation to the other Nick Carter. He had chosen the Huntsman Class, a ranged specialist that, after reading the description again, sounded to Garath like something in between an Assassin and a Tamer. Garath couldn’t remember seeing this NickCarter at all while fighting wave after wave of monsters during The Culling, but there had kind of been a lot going on.

Apart from Daisy, the Huntsman and the Hawkies, the only damage-dealing applicant was Fergus, a pumped-up gym rat who’d chosen the Brawler Class. The two-handed mace that had come with choosing the Strength based melee Class was devastating to the undead throughout The Culling, but Garath wasn’t sure if the big meathead could be counted on in a group setting. He just shrugged though and reminded himself that he was holding tryouts for exactly that reason. Unfortunately, at that moment AyAyRon replied to Garath’s message on behalf of his little group informing the Necrologist that they were essentially a package deal. Without having a healer or a tank among their group of five, the Hawkies were a no-go.

After making a list of the hopefuls and their respective group-combat roles, Garath planned to accompany two groups on two different little-d dungeon runs the next day. Raust would tank the first one with Curly on healing duty. He marked Fergus for one of the damage roles and then decided to bring Warrion along as the fifth and final member of the group. Even if these little-d dungeons were going to play the role of a tryout location, Garath knew they could still be deadly. Having the gangly Assassin along would make him feel much better about doing a dungeon run with an otherwise under-experienced group. While it was true that the Necrologist had fought side-by-side with everyone that had been a part of the Raid, he wasn’t sure how many of them had any experience whatsoever with a more structured, five-man dungeon.

The second group would be tanked by Steve-oooooh who, like Gary, had chosen the Armoron Class. Having almost no faith in the man’s tanking ability, Garath knew he’d have to coach the guy through the dungeon - but if the guy picked it up and followed directions well enough, he could still be an option for the Dungeon team. He marked Sharon down as the healer for this second group. Having a solid healer along would make a world of difference in covering for this group’s inexperienced tank. He marked NickCarter to fill a damage role, and was genuinely interested to see the Huntsman Class in action. To round out the second group, Garath decided to see if he could get Athios to come along. The dark-eyed Dimensionalist clearly deserved a slot on the final Dungeon team with or without a tryout, but he would love to have her around with this group just to make sure everyone came back in one piece.

He paused to consider Andrea and the Spirit Master Class, shaking his feathers to shed some water. He navigated his MENU panels to reread the Class description and found it rather interesting. Apparently, the Wisdom-based Class only had two schools of magic. Essence allowed the Spirit Master to restore Heath to herself or her allies, and Reaping gave her Skills and Abilities that called attacks and even summoned creatures from the netherworld. It sounded pretty badass to Garath and he wondered how the Spirit Master Class didn't make it to his final three when choosing his own Class. He really wished he hadn't been so stoned when the world decided to end. He looked at his notes again, then scratched Warrion's name off of group one and mentally typed in Andréa as the fifth member. He'd have the Spirit Master play a primarily damage-dealing role with instructions to assist