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

*Note: Often found in graveyards, Onikasha gain solidity and power by consuming the darkness tainting the souls of the dead. Though your Onikasha is currently an infant, incorporeal and helpless, it will follow you as it matures. Your Onikasha has imprinted on you and will see you as its parent.

**Additional Note: At a personal Level of 30, your Onikasha will be fully matured. Once fully matured, an Onikasha is capable of summoning and controlling demons of its own.

Garath was speechless. He just stood there in front of Athios and Sharon with a stupid look on his face for long seconds until, finally, Sharon slapped him across the face. The slap only inflicted a single point of damage, but the stinging sensation on his cheek brought Garath back to the here and now.

He blinked rapidly. “Sorry,” he said. “I just, I was just trying to…” Garath stopped talking and his brows drew together as he tried again to understand the prompts he’d just read. It wasn’t until he saw Sharon winding up for a second bitch slap that Garath shook himself out of his stupor and relayed the information he was puzzling over.

“So, you have an invisible demon that follows you around now too?” Sharon asked, nose wrinkled as she looked all around the Necrologist suspiciously.

“I guess so,” Garath confirmed, also looking around to see if he could catch a glimpse of this Onikasha. “I’m not sure I really understand it myself. Listen, both of you, thank you for watching over me while I was passed out or whatever. Seriously, seeing both of you when I woke up was… well, it meant a lot to me. So, thank you. I’m feeling better, but I really think I need to go lay down. I think I’m going to call it an early night.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Sharon agreed. Her deceptively youthful face was lined with concern for just a fraction of a second before she once again had the look of someone accusing Garath of some heinous crime.

“If you’re sure,” Athios said softly. “See you in the morning?”

Garath gave a noncommittal nod as he headed back to the Guild Hall. He had plans with Auto for the following morning, but the Necrologist was in no mood to explain that to Athios at the moment. He walked past chatting groups in the main hall of the old brick building, past the restrooms, and then opened the door to the room he’d been sharing with Warrion. The Necrologist hadn’t been spending his nights there lately, preferring instead to stay under the stars on his clifftop, but the quiet, safe place was just what Garath needed to process all of the information that was just dumped on him. He was glad, but not surprised, to find the room vacant. Warrion had made some mention of working on making poisons earlier that day although, Garath couldn’t be sure the Assassin wasn’t just sleeping with Stealth active. He guessed it didn’t really matter.

The Necrologist was interested in this Onikasha, and accessed his MENU panels. He navigated to the Summoned Creatures partition and opened his newest demon’s Profile.

Onikasha

Race: Demon

Level: 1

Station: infant

Soul Taints to next Level: 0/10

Health: 10/10

Mana: 10/10

Attributes

Vitality: 1 - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.

Wisdom: 1 - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.

Regeneration: 1 - As an Onikasha, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +.65 per second; Health recovery rate by +.375 per second; and recovery from injury by +3%.

Strength: 0 - 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: 0 - 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%.

At least it would only take him five spells with the additional cost of Tainted Soul to get his little baby Onikasha up to Level 2. He couldn’t wait to see what it looked like, but wasn’t sure when that would happen. Having a creature under his control that could summon and control more creatures almost sounded too good to be true, and Garath couldn’t wait to get to that point. Maybe Tarzan eating my Celestial Wisp wasn’t such an awful thing.

Garath slumped into an empty corner. His neck and back relaxed as he leaned against the joining of two walls. His thoughts drifted from the failures of his lesson with Daisy to the new Summoned Creature that was supposedly following him around, though he couldn’t see it. There was certainly a new presence occupying a small portion of his mind-space, but it was so small and weak that Garath hadn’t even felt the addition when it had happened. More tired than he felt like he should be, the Necrologist closed his eyes and knew that sleep was near.

Then, so faintly that he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just his imagination, Garath felt something tiny nuzzle into his chest. He opened his eyes briefly, but the only indication near the area he’d felt something was a small indentation on his black cloth robe, barely more than a fold in the fabric. He watched the spot on his chest with sleepy eyes until the strain of keeping them open became too much, and then he fell asleep.

Chapter Twenty-Two – Crikey, Mate!

The next morning, Garath left the Guild Hall to meet up with Auto. Once outside, Garath found that Gary’s boys already had a fire going. The smells of wood smoke and coffee paired wonderfully with the brisk early morning breeze. Unsurprisingly, Auto had yet to find his way out of the tent he shared with Maimon. Garath had spoken to Gary about setting up rooms for the group of guys from Wyoming, but the Guild Hall was nearly