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

For the first time, Garath considered allowing Daisy a tryout. He may have better control over himself in his natural form with the presence of Tarzan dormant in his mind, but the ever-present lust for greater power showed its face again. Its face wanted to learn Spell Design.

Garath didn't think Daisy would actually make the team, even if she were allowed to try out. he could even cock-block her from being on the team if she were to score high enough to make it. But could he really endanger this little girl just to, well hopefully, learn a powerful non-Class Skill? He hated himself for it, but Garath's answer to that question was yes.

"Alright," Garath said. "I was planning to do the Molten Glacier Peak dungeon with our most experienced group first to get a lay of the land. We’ll have you do your tryout with myself, Athios, Auto, and Maimon. I want to see the Rabbi heal in a PvE situation before locking him in on that second healer spot."

Daisy's eyes widened as she realized what Garath was saying. Athios looked at the Necrologist questioningly. Garath shrugged in response.

"You'll have to follow some rules."

"I will!" Daisy agreed readily.

"And listen to directions."

"I will follow directions! Obviously. It's part of our grade," Daisy said.

"And stay close to Athios."

"Okay!"

"Alright. But you have to teach me Spell Design after tryouts. Deal?" Garath asked.

"Deal!" Daisy shouted, then buried herself excitedly into a hug with Athios.

Athios looked at Garath over Daisy's shoulder. If she hadn't been upset with him before, she definitely was now. The Dimensionalist didn't say a word. She didn't have to. The look on her face said it all.

Chapter Sixteen – The Not-So-Selfless Atlas

The group that had gathered with Garath around the fire slowly dispersed for the night in small groups until only Lorena, Duran, and Atlas remained with the Necrologist near the smoldering coals. It was getting late, and Garath knew it would be polite to offer the visitors a place to stay for the night, but after the whole experience with Leviathan he found it hard to trust the strangers. He told them as much, briefly recounting the experience with the murderous youth. He excluded the facts that Leviathan had been another Necrologist and also that she’d been a seventeen-year-old, of course. Lorena and Duran agreed that a mutual trust would have to be earned, and they departed for the evening, promising to meet Garath at Molten Glacier Peak around noon the next day for Lorena’s tryout. Atlas remained, watching with Garath as the two white owls slowly faded from view into the night sky heading north.

“I have a bit of a confession,” Atlas said when the two of them were alone.

Garath tensed, ready to will his demons into existence at a thought. He looked at the Mage Smith with an intense expression. Atlas noticed the Necrologist’s reaction and spoke quickly.

“No, no, you’ve got the wrong idea. It isn’t that kind of confession,” he said with hands raised and waving. “I just… I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Garath looked suspiciously at the ostentatious man. “Where have you been staying?”

“With some...friends,” Atlas said slowly. “We made it through The Culling together in Jake’s basement. Real doomsday prepper, Jake. You know, I think it’s funny. He had all the guns and food he’d need to survive a zombie apocalypse, then we got Dragons. Fucking nobody prepared for a Dragon apocalypse.”

Garath laughed at that.

“Anyway, we had a bit of a falling out last night. Which brings me to my confession,” Atlas said. He looked at Garath with those intense blue eyes, reading the Necrologist’s reaction before continuing. “I don’t really care about the Dungeon.”

Garath was confused. “Then what are you doing here, really?”

“The reason for my falling out with Jake and his family was their reluctance… that’s not the right word, their unwillingness to get out of that fucking basement. We’d had the argument a few times, Jake and I, about the fact that we couldn’t just spend the rest of our lives there. I couldn’t take it anymore. We are now living in the coolest magical world I could have ever imagined, apocalypse or no, and he was content to just waste away in the basement. Anyway, I saw your thread in the Community forum about being a beacon for the rest of humanity to rebuild and all that, and thought to myself, ‘self, that sounds like way more fun than this fucking basement’. And here I am.”

“Let me get this straight,” Garath said, smirking at the lunacy of what he’d just heard. “You left the place that kept you safe through The Culling, and you want to join my team to head into one of the most dangerous places on this apocalyptic earth because you were bored?”

Atlas scrunched up his face. “When you put it that way it sounds kind of dumb.”

“But?”

“But yes,” Atlas conceded. “More or less.”

Garath laughed, a low huffing at first but it turned quickly into an uncontrollable fit. Garath covered his mouth, wiping the tears from his eyes when he was done. Atlas stood up and grabbed another chunk of dry wood to throw on the dying fire.

“Atlas,” Garath said. “What made you pick Mage Smith? When I saw that option, it was an immediate ‘nope’ for me. There were a few crafting Classes I noticed, but the Mage Smith description mentioned that you can only make things for yourself. It seemed to me like the most limited Class option, hands down.”

Atlas looked at Garath, standing in the light of the growing fire and cocked his head to one side. “What’s the first thing you need in every video game ever?” he asked.

Garath thought about it. If he had to pick one thing that all games had in common, it was gear upgrades. When he looked at it that way, choosing a Class that could make its own upgrades wasn’t a terrible option. “Alright, good point. So what does all that fancy