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

“Pumas aren’t pride animals mate,” Irwin told him. The zoo-keep fixed Garath with a curious look. “How many of those beauties were livin’ in one place?”

“There was a Matriarch,” Garath said. He recalled an image from the night he'd spent hunting with Aldrasyl, silently counting the cubs in his mind. “And maybe eight cubs, give or take.”

“Nine?” Irwin gasped. “Nine pumas all living together. Well I’ll be… Oh, I wish I coulda been there to see that.”

“There are more puma Lairs in the mountains,” Garath supplied helpfully. “We could take you there some time.”

“I’d like that,” Irwin said with a smile before turning his focus back to the Lair in front of them.

As they neared a potentially dangerous situation, Garath considered shifting into a more athletic form. Without knowing what type of animals populated the Lair ahead, he was not keen on going in there wearing his slow, plodding human form. In the end, the factor that decided it for Garath was a growing interest in racking up some soul-taints for his new Onikasha to feed on. He stayed in his human form and figured he could always shift into something else if the situation called for it.

Closer to the Lair, Garath picked up a new scent on the breeze. It was an acrid, almost viscous aroma that made him feel like he was sitting in a warm car with the windows up and a family of hippopotamuses in the back seat, somewhere in Florida, at noon, in July. He wondered for a second if there would be any purpose to unlocking a hippopotamus form, or if that silly creature somehow received a synergy bonus with any Class, but figured it probably didn’t. Refocusing on the potential danger ahead, Garath willed Bill and Handsome into existence behind him… and in front of Irwin.

“Blimey!” Irwin yelled, tripping over the foliage and landing on his butt. He scurried backward on all fours. “What in the dingo’s dingus…”

“Not enemies, not enemies,” Auto explained, frantically waving his hands. “Garath sometimes forgets that pulling demons out of his body without explanation tends to freak people out.”

Garath hadn’t thought about that. “Sorry. I do forget. My bad on that one, man. I suck.”

Live and learn, Garath figured. He’d try to remember that he shouldn’t do that without some kind of explanation in the future, at least not around people that hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Bill and Handsome yet. Irwin got back to his feet and raised a calming hand to his tortoise, Darwin, who had made it to the scene suspiciously quickly after Irwin had called out in shock. The uncanny speed didn't escape Garath’s notice. He figured the tortoise must have used a Skill or Ability to have covered so much distance in such a short period of time.

Garath caught another whiff of the hippo-car-in-Florida smell, stronger this time. He lifted his nose into the air and traced the scent. The Necrologist felt a hungry gaze fix on him, and froze when he made eye contact with the largest lizard he’d ever seen. He almost didn’t see it at all, motionless and nearly invisible against the backdrop of foliage, but the monster’s tongue lashed the air, tasting Garath’s scent. The hair on the back of Garath's neck rose as he held eye contact, and then he received a prompt.

Congratulations, Garath! You have unlocked the BeastScape form - Komodo Dragon.

***See the BeastScape partition of your MENU panels for additional information.

“Joanna?” Irwin asked, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Oh, Joanna! I thought we’d lost you.”

Garath and Auto stayed back as the zookeeper ran toward the enormous Komodo. Auto raised one hand, panic clear on his face.

“Irwin, don’t!” Garath tried to warn him but the zookeeper, Tamer, and lover of all animals fell to his knees before her.

Irwin raised a calming hand that glowed with white light. Joanna took a few cautious steps toward him, licked at the air suspiciously, and finally began a slow approach. Garath dismissed his demons to decrease the tension as the monster and the Tamer drew nearer to one another. Irwin's hand still held in front of him, Joanna affectionately placed her head against it and the Tamer gently stroked her scales. With a meaningful look at Darwin, Irwin dismissed the tamed tortoise from his service. Darwin shrunk noticeably, took a huge bite out of a nearby fern, and then shuffled away.

“Hang on just a sec, guys. I’m gonna do a Tame on Joanna here,” said Irwin, still on his knees, stroking the monster Garath thought they’d come to slay.

“You do you,” Auto told him before turning to look at Garath. “This reminds me of an old proverb my uncle used to tell me.”

Garath looked up flatly at him, almost sure at this point that the Chimerist just made this shit up.

“The monster within calms the beast at heart,” Auto said, nodding slowly as if he’d just spewed the most profound sentence ever.

“Auto, that one didn’t even make sense.”

“I do think something was lost in translation on that one,” Auto agreed, “but it seems fitting here. Doesn’t it?”

“Not really. I mean, almost. But, not really. No.”

The spell cast for Tame only took Irwin a handful seconds. When he finished, Joanna grew significantly. Garath wondered why that was, considering Brandon’s crow, Dave, was only slightly larger than a typical crow. Garath figured if anyone would have the answer though, it was Irwin.

Garath cleared his throat to get Irwin’s attention. “Hey Irwin, why is it that creatures get so much bigger when you tame them?”

“Oh that,” Irwin said, finally turning away from Joanna and back to his Party. “I’ve got a Skill called Beast Mastery that lets me put more than one Skill Point into it. After the 3 Skill Points it took to unlock it initially, each point increases the size and relative Strength, Stamina, and Dexterity of creatures I Tame. I’ve got four extra Points in there so far.”

Garath nodded in understanding. It sounded something like one of