The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

The Rod Spider Webbing was difficult to give up because it only left Ruwen one. But he hoped Fractal could reproduce the fantastic substance that stopped all Bleed effects. It had saved Sift’s life when Juva had ambushed them.

Getting rid of the iris plants and divine grass freed up eleven Energy per second, which had been a huge drain on Ruwen’s Energy. Now he just needed to get rid of those six boxes that contained the divine Class amulets.

“Okay, that’s it for now,” Ruwen said.

Blapy rolled her eyes. “Now, you two need to name your dungeon.”

Ruwen faced Fractal again. Good names were hard. “Is there anything consistent in your levels?”

Fractal bobbed back and forth in thought. “Rays.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ruwen asked.

“Move I can. Sunshine be,” Fractal said.

“He means the crystal veins that run throughout the dungeon. He uses them for light, spying, and travel.” Blapy rubbed Fractal’s head. “He is very clever.”

When Ruwen had first entered Fractal, Big D had placed a bright shaker against the crystal embedded in the wall. It had lit up the entire cavern in a crisscrossed mass of brilliant threads, as if from a hundred tiny suns. Or maybe like one sun that had splintered into a hundred pieces.

And Ruwen had given Fractal his name because the crystal creature loved the rainbows created from fractured light, which gave Ruwen an idea for a possible name.

Ruwen let variations of his idea race around his thoughts until he settled on his favorite. “What about, Shattered Sun.”

Fractal stopped moving. “Shattered Sun. Resonates with Fractal.”

Blapy tilted her head. “Not bad. Exploding stars seed the Universe with the precious metals Collectors will come here to mine. Sunshine feeds the many plants here, and as you already know, Fractal loves prismatic light. I like the name.”

Ruwen’s right wrist burned, and he looked down. The simple hexagonal prism faded away, and a new mark appeared: a deep yellow-orange sphere covered in dark rifts shone brightly as hundreds of light rays escaped the star’s destruction. It even felt hot on his wrist.

“That’s beautiful,” Ruwen said.

“Thank you,” Blapy replied.

Ruwen’s map pulsed yellow, and he opened it. The Dungeon tab located here had previously been labeled a generic: Dungeon. Now it read: Shattered Sun.

Ruwen opened the tab and looked at the summary:

Shattered Sun Tier: 38

Shattered Sun State: Fair

Dungeon Keeper Fractal State: Very Good

Blapy had only been with Fractal for a few days, but the Dungeon’s State had moved from “Abysmal” to “Fair,” and Fractal’s State had gone from “Fragile” to “Very Good.” Most shockingly, Fractal had advanced two tiers to thirty-eight.

“You’ve already leveled twice?” Ruwen asked. “I’m so proud of you!”

Fractal bobbed back and forth again, and his whole body vibrated in excitement.

Blapy jumped off her chair and pushed Ruwen away. “Yes, we’re making good progress, and Fractal needs to stay focused. We’re done with you for now.”

Ruwen closed his Dungeon view so he could see better. Fractal glowed brightly and ran in a little circle. It looked like Ruwen’s praise had really spun the crystal up.

“Talk to you soon,” Ruwen said as Blapy forced him toward the nearest crystal.

“Soon,” Fractal repeated.

And then Ruwen and Blapy entered the crystal portal.

Chapter 3

Instead of emerging from the portal into the crystal forest, Blapy had brought Ruwen to the temple entrance. Hamma, Sift, and Lylan still sat at the entrance, and Blapy said her goodbyes.

Sift’s Black Pyramid mark had turned from black to dark blue, marking him as one of Blapy’s favorites, and he spent the next five minutes talking about his favorite foods, which were mostly different kinds of pastries. Ruwen wondered if Sift would eat as much now that he’d created a Core.

Sift removed a travel book from his Dimensional Belt to show Lylan a beach he wanted to visit. Hamma opened her small prayer book and slowly turned the pages. Ruwen loved books and couldn’t resist asking about it.

“Anything interesting in there?” Ruwen asked.

Hamma closed the book and looked up. “A lot, actually.”

“I bet,” Ruwen said. “You’ve used it for a wedding, last rites, and to save our butts.”

Hamma nodded. “I know. Those prayers are powerful.”

When fighting the Mist Wraith, Talker, the four of them had almost died. Hamma had used a spell from her chapel Priestess book, called “Prayer Three,” to reverse all of Talker’s debuffs.

“How many prayers are there?” Ruwen asked.

“Ten,” Hamma said. “But the costs get harsher the higher you go. It’s hard to imagine paying the price to use some of them.”

“I’m exhausted,” Lylan said. “Is there somewhere to rest in this place?”

No one wanted to sleep deep inside the temple, so Hamma showed them some small rooms off the large main room they’d first entered. Ruwen felt restless and convinced everyone he would take the first watch. He slowly walked around the temple as the temple Guardians lapped him, the sound of their passing both comforting and unpleasant.

Ruwen had Whiskers scouting further outside the city, and Lir, the temple’s sentient caretaker, had also sent some of the temple Guardians out as well. In reality, he was pretty redundant as a guard, but it made them all feel better. Plus, he needed to figure out what Class to pick, since dying had reset his Observer Root Class, and he thought better when he moved.

The death in the temple earlier that day had been necessary to get the Architect Role, but it had come at the cost of losing twelve attribute points. The eighteen levels he’d advanced his Root Class had given him thirty-six extra attribute points, and it appeared he could move those points into other attributes if he wanted.

A new value had appeared on his Profile to keep track of them: Redistribution Points. In addition, all the ability and spell points he’d placed in the Observer branch had been refunded to him.

Ruwen studied his Profile as he wondered what to do.

General

Name: Ruwen Starfield

Race: Human

Age: 16

Role: Architect

Class: Worker

Sub Class: Not Yet Chosen

Hidden Class: Not Yet Chosen

Hidden Sub Class: Not Yet