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

After giving a brief explanation of what to expect inside the dungeon, Auto led Sharon, Lorena, Duran, and NickCarter back through the portal. Garath didn’t think the group would have much trouble making it through the dungeon, but he still worried. He knew the group currently taking on Molten Glacier Peak would have an advantage over the first group. They were led by a terrific tank that had just finished his first run of MGP and knew exactly what was coming.

On top of that, Lorena and Duran were both already over Level 30 and would likely out-damage even the Necrologist himself. Still, he hoped Auto and Sharon would be able to keep everything under control in there. If there was anything Garath hated, it was being sidelined.

Having not taken a look at the Profile partition of his MENU panels in a while, Garath figured it was a good time to see how his stats were looking after Leveling up a few times and getting his hands on some gear upgrades.

Garath

Race: Human

Class: Necrologist

Level: 26

Age: 29

Health: 1,310/1,310

(base: 840)

Defense Rating: 1,290

Mana: 2,620/2,620

(base: 840)

Exp to next Level: 22,140/100,000

Attributes

Vitality: 131 (items:+35) - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.

Wisdom: 262 (items: +125) - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.

Regeneration: 65 (items: +19) - As a Necrologist, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +1.11 per second; Health recovery rate by +.25 per second; and recovery from injury by +2%.

Strength: 8 - 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: 10 - 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%.

Unused Attribute Points: 0

Unused skill points: 13

Overall, Garath was happy with the way his stats were looking, though it was clear from a glance that his build was anything but balanced. He was still tempted to add points to Strength, but he knew that was just silly. Unless he had to increase his Strength in order to equip an item with a Strength requirement, it would stay where it was indefinitely.

While he waited on the rock plateau with the others, Garath scrolled through his combat log to tally up the damage dealt in the first run of MGP. It was a giant pain in the ass. He wished there was a mod to do the math for him, but there wasn’t. So slowly, meticulously, Garath added up each line of damage dealt. When he finally came up with the completed numbers, Garath screwed up his face in confusion.

“Athios,” he said. “Will you double check my math on our dungeon run? I just used my combat log to add up all the damage numbers for each person. But this can’t be right.”

Athios agreed and her eyes went vacant as she began to count. Long minutes later, the Dimensionalist’s eyes came back into focus. She looked almost as perplexed as Garath had felt upon seeing the final numbers.

“Archmage indeed,” Athios said, looking down with an impressed expression at the girl to her left.

“What?” Daisy asked. “Did I win?”

“Yeah, you did!” Athios said, still looking like she didn’t believe it herself.

“What?” Garath asked incredulously. “No she didn’t.”

“She did, unless you count the damage your demons did as yours,” Athios countered.

“I beat Garath?” Daisy nearly shouted the words, then looked up and pointed at Garath. “Ha!”

“Well, of course I counted the damage my demons did as my damage. Why wouldn’t I? They are my Summoned Creatures,” Garath huffed. “Still, Daisy, I’ve got to say I’m impressed. You even beat Auto in damage output and he had a huge head start on us.”

“And I followed directions!” Daisy said, excitement growing on her face. “Does that mean I made the team?”

Garath was silent for a moment as he tried to decide how to answer. Athios gave him a look that suggested it may be worth considering. Garath knew the Elementalist Class was a typical glass-cannon though, and reasoned that Lorena would easily surpass Daisy’s damage output. He couldn’t be sure that would be the case, but considering the Level gap between the two and the fact that Daisy had almost none of her Raiment slots filled, apart from the two rings Brandon had made for her, it was a pretty solid bet.

“No,” Garath told her. “There are still a lot of tryouts, but you did do really well. Seriously, I was impressed. I’ll announce the final team tomorrow, so you're going to have to wait and see.”

Garath knew he was just postponing the inevitable, and that eventually he'd have to tell Daisy that she wouldn't be allowed to be on the Dungeon team, but he decided it would be best to wait until after the girl taught him how she had unlocked her non-Class Skills. Archmage Garath has a nice ring to it.

There was another surprise in the final results of Garath's dungeon run. Handsome had outperformed both Bill and the Golem by a landslide in terms of damage output. Where the Dreadreaver had done 4,156 damage throughout the entire instance, and Bill had pumped out 2,877, Handsome boasted an impressive 7,402. All of them together paled in comparison to Daisy's 21,995, but when added to Garath's personal number of 16,320, Garath and pals still came in first place. What twisted world wouldn't count the Summoned Creatures under the summoner?

In less than an hour, Auto led the second group out of the portal. He looked tired, which made sense to Garath considering Auto’s just-kill-them-all-at-once method. Garath decided he’d give Raust a second tryout and let the Chimerist rest up for the third group.

During the one-hour wait before another group would be allowed in, Auto and Garath went over the second group's performance. The damage numbers were generally unimpressive, Auto reported. With a hushed voice,