Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

“What’s a trial wave?” Tom shouted, using mana to strengthen his voice and be heard over the klaxons. Stephanie held up a hand, four fingers raised and dropped one every second. When she finished, the sirens stopped. His ears were ringing but that also quickly subsided. The frustrated woman shook her head, blonde hair tumbling out of a bun as the air around them became noticeably colder.

Stephanie took a calming breath before turning to face Tom. “A trial wave is a way for the System to keep things interesting for people who don’t go into dungeons, I guess?” Stephanie was moving with confidence Tom had rarely seen her with, and anger which was definitely new. The combination was working for him in a weird way, but now was not the time. “Except we’re not even close to ready.”

“Okay, I’ll help. What’s going to happen?” Tom felt his own energy change, almost subconscious in how it shifted. He went into Dungeon-mode, and the mana in the air came under his direct control. Manasight was a basic skill almost anyone would have by the time they reached level 30, but for Tom? It was like becoming omnipresent in a small area. He could see and feel through every strand of magically made building in his vicinity.

System-given skills were like tutorials uploaded directly to the brain on a specific movement of mana. With the Dao of Magic guiding the energy within, Tom was capable of so much more than the System had taught him. It was likely possible for someone to learn this level of control without the assistance of a Dao, but it set him apart for now. He loved it.

With an all-seeing Manasight, Tom watched as Stephanie reacted to his magic. The wonder in her eyes caused his Dao to flutter like moths had appeared in his chest. That was what magic was for. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted, however. The chaos of Newtown’s response was immediately visible as his perception shifted. “You said you weren’t ready. Why?”

It took Stephanie a moment to react, and Tom felt irritation rise before stamping it down. Not everyone had seen how dangerous this world could be. Not everyone was prepared for anything and it showed. “The trial wave will spawn monsters meant to challenge the town, meaning they’ll be as strong as the strongest people here. Almost no one can fight on that level.”

Tom almost chuckled as he realised what she was saying, but managed to remain serious. He could feel a pressure upon the mana in the area, like a shadow given weight and cast across the town. Damn, he thought, that’s annoying. The attack was coming from all sides. Tom didn’t have a great answer for that, especially without knowing the town’s capabilities.He shook his head as he realised the mistake he was making. Stephanie was more useful elsewhere. “You go! I’m just going to get in your way. I’ll find some way to help, you go and organise the others.”

They may not have been ready, but Newtown was reacting as they knew how. He was able to get a sense for how many combatants they had, which was only around one in fifteen. The number surprised him, but I chalked it up to slow adoption of the System. He tsked a healthy amount as he got into position. The impending monster wave was coming from all directions, but Tom could feel a swell to the north side. He would start there.

Bursting from the city in a blast of mana that destroyed some cobblestones, Tom launched towards the trial wave and hoped it would be enough.

———————————————

“Quest complete?” Gaz asked, confusion and more than a little disappointment apparent in his voice. He and his guards had barely reached their defensive positions when the System told him the fight was already over. “What the hell is going on?”

———————————————

Oh.

Lost in thought and worry for the people of Newtown, Tom realised he may have gone a little… overboard. The fight had been more simple than he could have imagined. Between a higher level, a Dao and his panic to make sure no one got hurt, Tom had absolutely destroyed the entire so-called trial wave. His aching mana channels said it wasn’t quite without a sweat, but it wasn’t a real, desperate challenge.

Mana Bolts cast even without using his staff were enough to annihilate pretty much anything without a Dao to protect itself. The simple magical creatures fell before his might like somewhat sturdy weeds.

My might? Tom asked himself in wonder.

Surprised for a few reasons, Tom looked around the battlefield and saw the opportunity laid clear. He had spent so much time in the shadow of Grant and his crazy ability to understand the System and take from it that he had missed an important fact. The level up he had received at the tail end of the battle only made it even more clear. All of those weak monsters would have been barely worth the effort, if it wasn’t to protect people.

He was damn strong, now.

From the amount of people who didn’t rush to prepare for battle, Newtown was not a soldier’s town full of fighters. Most of the people living there did so for the sense of safety it provided. A sense of safety that would be much stronger given Tom’s strength, not even taking into account the other members of The Ascent. He had accidentally created a powerful bargaining chip.

It was time to do some politicking.

—————————————

“Enough of that, pay attention to me.” I rolled my eyes and looked away from the massive tree. There had been a burst of energy in this direction and I suspected we would find one of the four claimant monsters here. The huge fir tree was visible from miles away, so large I thought the tree itself was a forest-covered hill.

“Yes, Naea Darling, is there something I can help you with?” The pair of us were sitting in our own, normal-sized tree a few miles away from the huge one. We had been discussing whether the tree itself could be the Grade Two resources my quest spoke of. It gave off a vast amount of energy, mana which could be harvested no doubt. Yet, it didn’t feel like a higher Grade.

“We have to find a Dungeon! I’ll do it myself if I have to, but I’m starving, Grant.” Naea’s plea was suitably pitiful, and I did genuinely feel sorry for her. “I’m wasting away, Grant. Seriously, I need some dungeon monsters or I might actually die.”

I wasn’t entirely sure of that, given the amount of food I had seen her eat. Then again, we’d killed a few things and she had turned her nose up to all of them. The spiders had made sense to me, but given I had seen her eat some weird stuff at this point, it was becoming noticeable. Even if she didn’t need dungeon monsters to survive, they made her stronger. Still, I shrugged. “Okay, we’ll find one at some point, I’m sure, why do you bring it up now?”

Naea’s expression turned sheepish, as though she were embarrassed. “I may have been practising something. You’ll think it’s dumb…” Instead of contradicting her verbally, I simply blasted our connection with all the acceptance, love and excitement I genuinely felt. The idea that Naea was doing anything other than generally goofing around was astonishing enough. “Alright, you big softie, stop it. Bloody tickles.”

A change in the aura around Naea caused my eyebrows to raise. When was she figuring this out? I wondered, keeping my question to myself as she worked. The air began to move in patterns I could feel through my own Dao, very specifically the Tempest. There was a flow to the mana in the air, circling around Naea as she gathered energy. I opened the sluice gate of Battle Bond and saw a small smirk appear on Naea’s concentrating face.

A bundle of mana rose from her shoulders and floated above her head. “It’s called Find The Path,” she said quietly, looking at the energy. I could see patterns within the mana, giving the magic its purpose. It was beautiful. Naea coughed, her embarrassment returning. “Find the path, find the path, take me to the dungeon or face my wrath.”

I snorted in surprise more than anything but Naea still gave me a hard slap. “It’s Fairy magic! And it’s your fault because of the stupid Dragon stuff, it makes the magic more… stubborn.” I laughed again, holding my hands up in surrender.

“Sure, sure, that makes sense,” I chuckled. I could actually sense both the Dao of the Fairy Dragon and the Dao of Rivers in the spell Naea had cast. “You’re a proper little witchy fairy, aren’t you? Double double, toil and trouble.”

“Is that another spell?” Naea asked, full of innocence and curiosity. I envied how her mood could change in a heartbeat, sometimes.

“Kind of. You’ll have to read the Scottish play at some point.”

“Is that it’s name?”

“It’s a description.”

“There’s only one Scottish play?”

“There’s only one ‘The Scottish play’.”

“You’re being intentionally confusing, now.”

“Agreed, let’s move on.” The bundle of energy had floated towards the top of the massive tree. We jumped out of ours and started towards the big one. “So, there’s a dungeon up there then. All the more reason to go. Maybe that’s why the tree is so big. Do you think you could use that spell to search for more than just Dungeons or is it that specific?”

I was, of course, going to learn how to use the skill myself, but I would let it be Naea’s speciality for now. I was aware of how it made Tom feel when I replicated his Mana Bolt so quickly, and Naea’s feelings were more important than getting a new skill. For now. I was already questioning my decision when she spoke.

“Probably? I’m a Dungeon fairy so it was easy for me to hunt for that specific type of magic again. I do think I genuinely need to go into Dungeons, I’m not lying about that. The monsters are one thing, but something’s telling me that I need them for some reason.” I couldn’t help myself and I wrapped Naea into a hug. She yelped and pulled away.

“If you feel like you need to do something, that’s enough of a reason to do anything. I’m sorry for making fun, or making it harder to do that. I’m just scared for my family, so anything that helps me get to them faster is important to do.”

“I know! That’s… also why I made the spell. It was meant to be a surprise for that, but I couldn’t help myself. So, surprise.” This time when I hugged her, I didn’t let her shake free. My heart genuinely shuddered as I realised that, of course, this spell would be able to help give us a direction to them.

“Thank you,” I said with tears in my eyes. Surprised at my emotion, I let her go and strode a few steps ahead to hide my red eyes. “Let’s go see if there’s a boss up there and kill it, then we’ll do the dungeon.”