The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

“What the… thanks, Oracle…” I muttered and she went red as she realized what she’d just done.

“Sorry, Jax! I didn’t think…” She whispered to me.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Thanks for coming for me,” I said, smiling up at her gently. I’d felt her drop everything and speed straight to me when I’d lost my temper.

“Anytime,” she whispered back, leaning down to kiss my cheek before taking off, flying to inspect the bag the matriarch had been rooting in.

Bane was there almost as quickly as Oracle, and he dug in, pulling a few variously colored potions out, dropping them aside and moving on as Oracle directed. It took hardly any time before he pulled out a deep crimson one and jumped to his feet.

He was at my side quickly, popping the cork out and raising it to my lips carefully so that I could take a drink. It felt a bit weird having someone else literally giving me a drink, but considering the heavy cut on my right arm, and the broken wrist on my left, it was the best and quickest solution.

“Thank you, Bane,” I said after I’d finished it, and Oracle called him back to the bag, indicating a mana potion she’d spotted.

“This one next, Bane. It’s a weak one, but it’ll be enough to start with.” I felt the healing potion spreading out and starting to work, my arms tingling at first, before the bones in my left started shifting, and I hissed in pain.

The potion must have been a greater healing potion or something similar because it had me feeling great in under a minute, bones fixed, blood regenerated, and wounds almost all closed.

Bane had held the second potion for me again, and I soon confirmed it was a weak one, unfortunately, as it only restored twenty mana and barely boosted my regeneration in that area at all.

It was enough, though.

I quickly assessed the people that were standing around. Mainly the things they needed were a hot meal, a bath, and a metric fuckton of booze. They all had minor wounds, and one guy had nearly shredded the skin on his arms trying to get free to help in the fight. I resolved to watch him, as anyone that determined was either going to be an asset or a nightmare.

“Does anyone have an urgent need for healing?” I asked, and received a chorus of head shakes, noting the concerned looks Bane, Flux, and Cheena were giving the little Mer they’d freed.

“Flux, in a few minutes I’ll be able to use that water spell and channel it long enough to be useful. For now, though, there’s still that last group of goblins...”

“Where are the green skinned little bastards?” one of Decin’s men growled, reaching down and pulling a short sword free from a goblin corpse. The rest of the crew immediately armed themselves and clamored to join in the fight.

“There were only a handful, hiding in a room they’d barricaded at the end of the corridor…” Cheena said, and in seconds, the room was mostly empty. Almost the entire crew had gone running and limping, determined to cleanse the area of the goblin infestation. The only people left in the room now were Decin’s partner, who I learned was called Hanau, the four Mer, Oracle, myself, and an older woman who’d started examining the dust-covered figures embedded in the wall, while totally ignoring me.

I looked between her and Hanau with a raised eyebrow, and Hanau laughed briefly.

“You’ll soon find that while I love the battle of wits in trade, I have no interest in physical violence, Lord Jax, and Riana there loves to learn. She’s our chief engineer, mainly because she’s always digging into something she shouldn’t, or she’d still have a job in the city…”

“That ship’d be lucky to get anywhere by winter, if not for my fixes, Hanau; don’t think I didn’t hear you.” Riana replied, shooting Hanau a glare that could have frozen a lake solid in summer.

“Why did you ask if there was a problem with you and Decin coming as a package?” I asked Hanau quickly, trying not to smile as I guessed I was seeing two friends giving each other grief to relax.

“Well, Lord Barabarattas issued a declaration that cross-race relationships were an abomination, and I wanted to see where you stood on it.”

“I don’t give a shit who you’re boinking,” I said honestly, “All I care about is if you’re loyal and trustworthy. Where you’re sticking whatever is up to you.”

“It’s true…Jax doesn’t care about that kind of thing; besides, he likes me!” Oracle said, bouncing up and down on my shoulder and damn near giving me a concussion with her impressive chest.

“I wonder why…” Hanau said with an open smile.

“Oh, it’s because I went through his brain, I found out what he likes, and…”

“I think Hanau was being sarcastic, Oracle…” I said, cutting her off and getting a laugh from the tall elf.

“It is! It’s a relic!” came a shout from the corner, and we all looked over to find that Riana had climbed atop a pile of rubble to examine one the dust-covered figures more closely. Our conversation effectively derailed, we gathered around Riana as she finished wiping a section clean of dust and the funk of centuries.

Revealed under her hand was a diamond set into an ornate pattern in the middle of the figure’s chest.

I blinked, recognizing a sight I’d not expected to see here, and Oracle took off with a flutter of wings. She landed on the figure’s chest and grabbed onto the diamond, her hand sinking into the stone effortlessly. When she pulled it back, my mana dipped by ten points.

“They’re intact!” she cried, meeting my eyes with a huge smile on her face. I looked from her to the stone, remembering similar designs I’d seen strewn about the Tower. I frowned, then blinked, my eyes going wide as I studied the row of figures. There were ten