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

his pet’s new ‘Pack Mentality’ passive Ability. He ultimately reasoned that having Bill running around outside his mind as often as possible would be in his best interest. Without further ado, Garath yanked the Cambionic Fel Hound back into reality. Bill looked around, confused for just a moment, but then contented himself by circling Garath protectively, sniffing at the air.

Garath broke some canned peaches out of his Items panel and snacked on the sweet syrupy fruit. While slurping down the sugar high that may or may not have ever grown on a tree, Garath pulled up his MENU panels and navigated to the Summoned Creatures Partition.

Handsome

Bill

Garath chose ‘Handsome’ with a directed thought, and its profile page appeared, much like his own Profile but without the Raiment slots for equipped items.

Handsome

Race: Demon

Class: Cambionic Flayer

Health: 510/510

Mana: 630/630

Attributes

Vitality: 51 - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.

Wisdom: 63 - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.

Regeneration: 24 - As a Cambionic Flayer, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +.81 per second; Health recovery rate by +.125 per second; and recovery from injury by +1%.

Strength: 2 - In addition to making one stronger, each point of Strength increases physical attack damage by 1% and reduces damage received from physical attacks by .25%.

Dexterity: 3 - In addition to making one more agile, each point of Dexterity improves the critical strike chance of physical attacks by +.3%; the critical strike damage of physical attacks by +3%; and improves chance to dodge by +.5%.

Skill Tree

Garath found it interesting that Handsome didn’t have a Level, or an ‘Experience to next Level’ section on his Profile. The Cambionic Flayer’s Profile was also showing no Attribute or Skill points to distribute. Garath wondered how he was supposed to power up the ugly little creature. On top of that, he wondered how Handsome’s Attributes progressed at all. They had clearly increased since Garath summoned and bound him but, because the little demon didn’t operate under any kind of Level system, Garath wasn’t sure how Handsome would gain additional points. He shrugged and opened Handsome’s Skill Tree to see if anything there could shine some light on the conundrum.

Handsome’s Skill Tree, like his own, was broken down into schools of magic. But unlike his, Handsome only had access to Death and Blood magic. He guessed that made sense. A demon having access to Demonology would be a bit odd. It was too bad that Handsome wouldn’t be able to summon demons of his own, adding another group of demons under Garath’s control, but there was nothing for it.

Garath opened the Death magic tab. But instead of an actual tree with connecting lines, this MENU partition had independent circles spaced evenly across the semi-transparent panel occupying the left third of his vision. As he read through the available Skills, it quickly became apparent that the Skills Handsome would have access to were the ones that Garath had already unlocked - with a few exceptions. The Masteries, for example, were not present. Most of the listed Skills simply listed the name of the Skill in a dull grey circle, accompanied by their corresponding cost in Skill Points, of which Handsome had none. The only exception to that was Death Bolt. That one glowed brightly within a gold circle. By mentally selecting Blight, Garath learned how he’d have to power up his Cambionic Flayer in terms of purchasing new Skills.

Would you like to purchase the Skill, Blight, for Handsome?

Yes or No

Cost: 1 Skill Point

Summoner’s available Skill Points: 22

Garath’s shoulders slumped. He’d have to use his own Skill Points to purchase any new Skills for his little demon. If it weren’t for his status as a Leader of Man granting him an additional Skill Point every Level, he wouldn’t spend a single point on the demon. But he did have a few points to spare. In truth, he’d been wondering what to do with them. He thought about putting a few points into the Masteries he’d unlocked at Level 20, especially Mastery - Pestilent, which would increase the damage of his DoT spells by 3% per Skill Point. Mastery - Pestilent was at Rank 1, granting him +20% increased damage to the DoT spells but would gain +3% with each subsequent Skill Point spent until Rank 10. After Rank 10, each point would increase the duration of his DoT spells by 1 second. Apart from the Masteries, though, he really only had to look forward to unlocking new Skills as they became available. Considering most of the new Skills he would get were likely to cost between 1 and 3 Skill Points, so he could afford to get a few new Skills for Handsome. He selected a few useful spells and made his purchase.

Purchase the Skills listed below for Handsome?

Blight, Creeping Death, Plague

Yes or No

Cost: 7

Summoner’s available Skill Points: 22

Garath sighed and chose ‘Yes’. The price was steep, but increasing Handsome’s damage and versatility was worth it. He didn’t know whether the Cambionic Flayer would benefit from his Mastery - Pestilent passive Ability, but he hoped so.

Unused Skill Points: 15

A thought occurred him. He glanced south to the mysteriously wandering smoke pillar, then pulled open his World Map and zoomed into his current location on the coast. Sure enough, right about where he would have marked the column of smoke on the map, a red icon roughly resembling a turtle was moving, very slowly, northward. He willed more information from the system to identify this new icon.

World Boss: Rum’bah

Encounter Type: Raid

Suggested Party size: 10+

Suggested Party median Level: 15

A grin slithered across Garath’s slightly demonic features, his upper lip shifting just enough to reveal his oversized incisors. Now Garath knew exactly what to do next to get stronger. He willed Handsome back into reality as well and stood to address his underlings.

“Bill, Handsome,” he said, folding his arms, “we’re going on a field trip.”

Chapter Three – I’m Not a Monster, You’re