Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

As Naea gave a final look over her crop of Fledglings, I took a look at her character page. She hadn’t been out levelling with me for a while but as she gained more experience than myself for the same acts, it was fine for me to catch up a bit. She’d charge ahead in levels again no doubt. I had to admit, I was interested to see what a Grade Two monster would look like. Or, I guess a D-grade?

Name - “Naea” Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 55

Grade - E

Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm, Beam

Dao: Fairy Dragon (River)

Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 44)

Naea’s Dao and magic were not identical to my own, so her skills translated slightly differently. Even her character page was nothing like mine, and her attributes weren’t freely distributable. In any case, she now had a true use for Harmony of the Storm herself. Her own form of Mana Bolt more than the original Blast, she was able to shoot thin needles of piercing power. Her’s was called Beam, and she was very happy with it.

While my Blast was impressive, Naea’s skill was deadly in a much more potent way. I could liken my attack as a spear, which grew stronger, attacked for longer and shot further depending on how much mana I pushed into the skill. Naea’s activated much quicker, had a lower maximum amount but could be maintained for far more time. If my Blast was a spear, her Beam was a diamond drill.

“Now remember,” Naea said, “Don’t take damage out of order. Stand behind the defenders, they’ve been trained well.” A cheer went up from the heavier members. The Fledglings were in groups of six for now, with command given to the best leaders within each group. They were fairly balanced, with a solid defender in each, at least one good damage dealer and then either more damage or some supporting roles.

“And you, remember you can’t fight forever and without the damage dealers killing the thing, you’re screwed. Use your consumables. Valkyries, don’t die. Ever.” This time, a larger cheer went up from all of the gathered Fledglings. Each group also had a healer, or Valkyries as they were calling themselves. Naea was quietly considering herself one, too, to which I admit worked. She had brought me back from the brink before. “We jump in and get the warriors back on their feet, but we’ve got to be alive to do it.”

When I asked where the name came from, one of the Valkyries themselves spoke up. “A few of us have got some really fantasy-novel sounding abilities and one of them was something called Frigg’s Banner. Then, Oonagh mentioned Norse mythology and all the men decided on the name.” Despite the Valkyrie’s teasing, it was clearly a title worn with pride.

“We sometimes call ‘em guardian angels,” another one of the men said to a few grunts of agreement.

“Mu'aqqibat,” the spear-wielding Sanjay says with a nod. “Watcher Angels in my faith. Life, death, resurrection… I was never truly religious but now I wonder if that was a mistake.” That brought up a conversation that no one knew how to answer so I avoided it and left Naea to the blustering and mustering.

I couldn’t help but be impressed with the speed at which things were moving. We now had three teams of fighters, with another one to maintain defence. In their groups of six, they could probably do what Naea and I could, if we were limited to just Dao Pools. Our abilities were much greater than others for now, but Tom had felt close to something last time I saw him, and not just the edge of his wits.

Now, he was leading a group with a focus on magical damage. He seemed distracted but until he came and told me he had an issue, I wasn’t going to pry. Everyone had things on their mind these days, and I wasn’t looking to add more. His squad were probably the weakest overall if all of the leaders were removed, but with Tom they were a tier above the rest. Their weaknesses were shored up together and one of them even had a Dao that made skills less costly to use.

All in all, I felt like things were on the right track in Ascentown. God, the name is becoming normal to my ears now. With us being in England, or at least originally, weird names weren’t uncommon. I sighed and looked around. With shopfronts putting up names like Ascentown Apothecary and an inn called Jewel of Ascentown, it wasn’t going away. I had become used to stranger things than a weird name, so I would roll with this punch, too.

Still, businesses were technically booming, though currency was still up in the air. Most people had access to some of the standard mint gold coins, but I had also spotted a few of the draconic Xaverion mint being traded around as a higher value option. They must have entered the market from one of the other members of The Ascent. Distracted, I missed the first two squads leaving the town.

The last squad was getting ready now. Harry’s crew were easily the most reliable. I had no doubt that Harry would be able to get everyone back safe, even if their destination was problematic for me. They were going to go to Cloudslash Peak and continue exploring that area. “Good luck. It’s not impossible that something has reached the peak and begun trying to syphon some power, so be careful.” The group nodded seriously but Harry waved and took me to one side.

Awkward but clearly hopeful, he asked for a favour. “Can you help Ellie? Her magic is messing with her a bit, maybe you could talk to her? Ellie has the aspect of Poison and it’s making her poisonous. I know you said you weren’t going to help people with their problems but…”

“No,” I sighed, “it’s okay to ask and I will see what I can do. I’ve already got an idea.” The relief on Harry’s face was powerful. I reminded myself it was okay to be a hypocrite if it meant you helped people. There was no benefit to being stubborn in this situation. “Good luck out there. You’re the best judge of it on site, so you decide whether you want to clear the dungeon at the top or not.” Nodding like a soldier, Harry went and gathered his squad before heading off.

Naea sniffled as she flittered over to my shoulder. “You’ve done an incredible job,” I told the emotional fairy. I didn’t need to say more to be effusive when our bond existed, so I sent every turbulent and grateful emotion I was feeling right down the connection. She had done this for me, I knew, and more than that, she had taken over a role that I found myself breaking under. “I got so lucky with our contract, little one.”

“Oh shush,” Naea whispered, giving me a slap. We sat together for a while. Naea had raised a complete demon of a drill sergeant to continue her regiment of creating fighters. By completely forgoing all else with her attributes, a Dao Pool of Water, which somehow became a reservoir of mana, the severe woman had a total pool able to compete with Naea’s. It was interesting how far one could go by specialising. The woman, Joanne, was already fiercely respected by what would be the next batch of fledglings. “They grow up so fast,” Naea said, wiping a genuine tear from her eye. We had scouts now, and more people were training.

Having scouts, and the ability to train more, meant that we could start really mapping out the world. We could start to spread out influence until finding my family was as simple as following directions to them. I let myself be hopeful, and allowed that hope to flow to Naea, though ultimately I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

I had eschewed the idea of becoming a leader, but became one anyway. I desperately didn’t want to run a city, yet here I was, hoping for more System options to make life easier. Purchasing power wasn’t high in Ascentown yet, and without defeating the final claimant, I couldn’t buy the System stores waiting to be unlocked. “Weird life we lead,” I commented.

“Don’t know what you mean,” said the fairy. She was mostly distracted by the web she had somehow managed to get herself stuck in during our walk. I didn’t even feel her gather mana to use the skill.

“That’s your web, how did you even do that?” Helping her free herself, I smiled. Maybe this world wasn’t so bad. “Come help me talk Ellie into becoming an alchemist, would you?”

———————————————

Alchemy, as it turns out, was quite simple. Like any cooking or baking, there was a recipe and if you followed it, you got the product. Et voila. I found it incredibly tedious, the fumes were messing with my senses and if I was being completely honest, I had no real talent at the task. Luckily, we weren’t sitting in a dank underground chamber for me. As we worked, Ellie and I spoke.

“I… think I kind of hate it,” she said after her second concoction became a thick sludge of waste product. I was about to agree and dump out my own pathetic attempt when she continued. “The monster killing, I mean. It’s scary in a way I don’t like, not just because of the monsters themselves, but what it does to me. I like it when they fall over and stop working, but afterwards I think about the effects and…”

“That’s completely fine, you know?” I realised I needed to ask. In dodging some of my own responsibilities, I had let them fall to the other members of the guild. Were they all trying to shoulder the same burden as me, in their own ways? “None of you are me and I don’t expect you to be. The world has monsters in it, and you’ll have to fight them one way or another, but that doesn’t have to be face to face.”

Over our time in the veritable dungeon beneath the Outpost’s apothecary, Ellie and I spoke more than we had since meeting. She wasn’t worried about her own family, but didn’t elaborate why. She had taken the Aspect of Poison on a whim, and feeling like she needed to use that power while not actually wanting to herself was causing some spiritual friction. Thankfully, and finally…

“I did it! Oh, and I got the skill!” After only three brews, eating a miniscule six hours of my life, the task was complete. I think I could have left after giving Ellie a mortar and pestle from the way she took to it, but I wanted to actively support the growth of Ascentown. Alongside Ellie and I was the Outposts only other alchemist, Gerry.

Gerry looked green with envy at the speed Ellie had learned the Potioncraft skill. By using mana to burn away unwanted effects in the potion, the ingredients used could be given some actual potency. Gerry had opened Ascentown Apothecary and begun to produce some real results. Under his tutelage, enforced by myself, Ellie had successfully picked up the trade.

“Did you get some experience?” I asked, trying to seem interested in at least one aspect of potion making. Ellie said that she did, and it was apparently quite a fair amount judging from her excitement. Maybe one day I would find a craft that worked for me but for now, honing myself was the only task that made me feel fulfilled. Still, I was glad that Ellie had so quickly found her outlet, though not surprised. The throughline from poisons to potions wasn’t much of a leap, to be honest.

Leaving the new apprentice with Gerry and dumping a copious amount of supplies with the two of them, I took my leave. As I did, I saw Aaron entering the Jewel of Ascentown to a raucous round of applause and shook my head. He had set up a few taverns and if he was happy doing it, then I would let him. People needed a place to have some fun that wasn’t just watching me and the Fledglings get beaten up in the training ground. So, that was Aaron, Ellie and Harry taken care of…

Where were Luke and Tom, though?