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

Sharon were already locked in combat with the Greater Ice Elemental. The Boss went down with no trouble, and the Party excitedly looked to the chests that appeared containing their prizes for completing the dungeon. Garath received three items from his chest on this run and pulled them out to take a look.

Ice Cave Cloth Shako

Raiment Slot: Head

Armor: +6

Magic Resistance: 0

Durability: 30/30

Item Score: 17

Defense Rating: 6

Type: Cloth Armor

Quality: Average

Rarity: Common

+4 Wisdom

+5 Vitality

+2 Regeneration

***Note: cloth armor will not keep you warm in the Ice Caves.

Item Requirements:

Level: 3

Ice Cave Cloth Shako

Raiment Slot: Head

Armor: +6

Magic Resistance: 0

Durability: 30/30

Item Score: 17

Defense Rating: 6

Type: Cloth Armor

Quality: Average

Rarity: Common

+4 Wisdom

+5 Vitality

+2 Regeneration

***Note: cloth armor will not keep you warm in the Ice Caves.

Item Requirements:

Level: 3

Ice Elemental Core

Type: Reagent

Quality: Immaculate

Item Score: 63

Weight: 1.36 kg

Rarity: Rare

***Note: harvested from The Rolling Deep.

Garath frowned. Not only did his chest give him two of the same item, said item wasn’t even close to being an upgrade to his Hypnotic Diadem of the Wise, that provided +15% Magic Resistance, +20 Wisdom, and +8 Regeneration. He put the two helmets in his Items panel and made a mental note to set up a room for people to put gear they didn’t need for others in Guild to pick through. An armory of sorts. He didn’t know what to make of the Ice Elemental Core, but he figured it had to be good for something. Didn’t it?

It was evening by the time the group shifted once again into their Osprey forms and took to the sky, en route back to the Guild Hall. With the wind beneath his wings, Garath played back the day’s events with a critical eye. He decided that, instead of scoring the hopefuls with a numerical value based on their performance, he was just going to give them a pass or fail for the first round of tryouts. If there ended up being more ‘passes’ than available Dungeon team spots afterward he’d figure something else out. For the day, Garath marked Athios, Sharon, and NickCarter with a ‘pass’. Then he graded Steve-oooooh, Raust, and Curly with a ‘fail’. He wrote in ‘redo tryout as healer’ next to Andrea on his roster and put a question mark next to Fergus. The beefy Brawler hadn’t done anything stupid, but he really hadn’t done anything that impressive either, so Garath decided to keep Fergus on the proverbial table for the time being.

When they neared the Guild Hall, Garath gave a quick farewell and let everyone know he would keep them apprised of the results of their tryouts over the Raid communication channel before disbanding the group. He broke off from the formation and peeled off to the east toward his clifftop and the comforting presence of his egg. The Necrologist was beyond excited to water it for the third and final time the following morning, and finally find out what would become of it.

Chapter Nine – The Archmage

Daisy kept her eyes shut and her breathing easy when the soft sounds of Athios leaving their shared sleeping quarters woke her up. The little Elementalist knew she was going with Garath and some other adults to go do fun things they would never allow her to do. Athios had told her the night before that they would probably be gone the whole day holding tryouts for the Dungeon team, which meant that Daisy had a whole day to practice for her own tryout. The young woman was determined to make the cut. She was sick of being told no and that she was too young for these things. Apart from the other people living in the Guild Hall, everyone she’d ever known was dead. Daisy didn’t have a mom or dad; she didn’t even have Gran anymore. Which meant she didn’t have anyone with the authority to dictate what she could or couldn't do.

When the door shut behind the Dimensionalist, Daisy opened her eyes. Only a bit of pale light filtered in through the east-facing window. She listened to Athios’ footsteps as they echoed softly in the hall outside the door, growing fainter until she couldn’t hear anything at all. She got out of bed and crept through the Guild Hall and out the south doors without being seen or heard by anyone. Once outside, she walked past the ten meters of cement, then entered the young forest growing from the ashes left in Rum’bah’s path.

She didn’t want to get too far from the Guild Hall. The landscape had changed drastically since it had been the city of Everett, but she needed to get far enough away that people moving in and out of the building wouldn’t see her. And so she walked, stepping around multicolored ferns and watching minute firefly-like bugs zip around the foliage. After a few minutes, Daisy took a sharp right and headed west toward the ocean. She probably hadn’t gone more than a few hundred yards, but the old school building was now completely out of sight.

The little Elementalist found a perfect place to practice. Between the strange new forest with its foreign plants and a cliff top overlooking the ocean, a part of a brick building still stood. The rest of the building must have been destroyed during The Culling, Daisy reasoned, but this wall would make a great target for her spells.

Having spent a good amount of the night before navigating her MENU panels and pretending to be asleep, Daisy was now familiar with every spell she had access to. There were more than ten, yet Blast! was the only spell she’d ever tried casting. It was a fun spell and she remembered from her fishing experience that it had more uses than simply killing monsters. She was determined to find useful ways to employ all of her spells. But before she got to the other spells, Daisy was sure that Blast! could be improved with practice.

A ball of fire only the size of a golf ball appeared between Daisy’s