Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

My eyes snapped open and I instinctively reached out for the Yo Staff. Of course, my hands found nothing, bunching into a fist instead. Strange noises had awoken me and put me immediately on edge, so I quietly made my way to the front door. It was still early morning, the sun barely risen. I could sense Naea sleeping in one of the rafters somewhere with some pillows and a blanket.

So, it was odd to hear people talking.

My hearing was on a completely different scale than before the System arrived. With my evolution to Grade 1, the change was all the more pronounced. It wasn’t like I could hear everything for miles around, but I could feel the vibrations in the air. Focusing on those, the words became as clear as though they were next to me.

“It looks like the park that used to be here before everything moved,” a male voice said casually, not aiming for stealth in the slightest. Any muffling stopped the second I left Home Base, moving closer to the barrier. Concentrating, I could hear multiple sets of feet. Four or five, but one of them was a loud bastard in some kind of armour.

“Where do you think we’ll find Jason? I thought dungeons were all caves and stuff…” A woman’s voice this time. I frowned, working through my memories to try and work out what was going on. Everything from before my evolution felt grainy, like outdated movie reel. They were looking for someone in the dungeon? Well, there was only me and Naea. Unless you counted-

Ah.

“Hopefully somewhere safe. Why are there no monsters, do you think?” Third voice. Another guy. They all sounded around my age, maybe a little younger even. I remained inside the barrier for now as they were approaching and I was curious more than anything. I had the answer to their question, I was pretty sure.

Jason’s buried in the woods somewhere. I knew where, but it wasn’t anything special. Actually, it was a pretty shallow grave with no embalming or care taken beyond simple burial. At least I hadn’t taken anything from the guy’s body. He was even buried with his sword. I shrugged to myself. Nothing I can do about it now.

“Maybe he killed them all!” The first voice suggested hopefully. Very hopefully. This Jason guy had bitten off way more than he could chew coming in here and got himself killed against the first enemy he ran into. By now, the group was vaguely visible through the scattered tree cover. Five which I could see.

They weren’t walking directly towards me, but fairly close. They would definitely interact with the barrier to Home Base at their current angle. I scanned them, raising an eyebrow at the information. All between levels 24 and 29? Not bad at all. My ten levels above them were equivalent to hundreds of grade 0 level ups, but these guys were basically a group of superheroes compared to “average humans” from before the Shift.

None of them noticed themselves being analysed, so they couldn’t be too good. At the front of their group was the tallest man of the bunch. He had one hand on the pommel of a sword, currently in a scabbard and another swinging merrily at his side. He was the one wearing armour, and honestly he looked pretty cool. There was a lion’s face etched into his breastplate which spoke to my inner child.

Close behind were two guys and a girl, with one boy at the back. I guessed them all to be about eighteen or nineteen, but the one at the back had features puberty had yet to fully iron out. A few pimples and a terribly thin beard/moustache combo. He did himself no favours walking with the slouch he did, but I focused on him specifically because of his clothing. He looked straight out of an old animated movie about a wizard’s intern.

Red robes, a blue hat with stars and a wonderfully intact staff. Unlike my fallen friend, Yo Staff, his was alive and well. Looking over their equipment, it was all nicely made and high quality. The System had given them some items like my belt and trousers, then. Where they didn’t have new magical clothing, they wore standard clothes for their age.

The girl had a cloak over her head, covering most of her body. Where it moved, I spotted the leggings and top of a runner, along with some nice trainers. The two guys on either side of her were talking about who would win in a fight, Aaron or Batman. Aaron was the one saying he could beat Batman, casually twirling a chain around as he emoted. With the black leather jacket and blue jeans combination, he could have stepped out of a 1970s car garage to sing a song and it would have seemed natural.

The other guy looked like a classic fantasy elf, without the pointed ears, down to the longbow he held. Long blonde hair randomly fell into the quiver at his back and he had a look of pure disgust on his face. I silently agreed with him and decided he was my favourite, after the sorcerer’s apprentice at the back. I picked up that his name was Luke.

“Tom, you agree with me, right? I could definitely beat Batman in a fight.” Aaron turned to the one trailing behind and tried to get him on side. “Honestly, you could! We all could!” It took all of my restraint not to jump out of the barrier to correct him right here. The caped crusader would be able to knock me silly, let alone these guys. Thankfully, Tom was on my side.

“No, we’d all get demolished. The guy can beat the justice league in like… every universe.” I nodded. Everyone else seems to be in consensus too, as they all told Aaron to shut up. “We’re here to look for Harry’s brother, Aaron. Stop messing around.”

“Yes, Aaron. Stop messing.” I chose that moment to make myself known. It was just too good, and they were right about to step into the barrier of Home Base. I didn’t know if they’d bounce off like a forcefield, but they clearly couldn’t see it or me. Walking straight out of thin air made my appearance all the more impressive.

Which, if I’d thought about it, might not have been the right choice.

The group immediately went into a practised battle formation. I held my hands up, waiting for them to finish. The whole thing took about seven or eight seconds before they were in their obviously tried-and-tested setup. “Who are you?” The girl half-shouted, half-screamed. I really had given them a fright. The big guy jutted out his chin and repeated her question when I didn’t immediately answer. I tilted my head casually to dodge an arrow accidentally released from Luke’s bow.

I was irked. The first living people I had seen in weeks and they were aggressive from the jump. If I wasn't at such a high level, that arrow would have killed me, accident or not. He didn’t even say sorry, he just nocked another arrow. Keeping my head slightly tilted, I blinked at the leader. “We seem to have got off on the wrong foot.” I held out my hand for a handshake.

Pain.

“Mother… FU-” I didn’t finish my words, my stamp coming first. The ground exploded and I looked at the damage as the swordsman was flung away. In a single, insanely fast motion, the guy had drawn his sword and sliced my fingers. Two of them were chopped to the bone, barely hanging on. I could recognise my misstep in spooking them with a joke, but I had clearly misjudged how on edge the group were based on their conversation. I saw five pairs of terrified eyes, with reason difficult to spot.

Apparently, we were fighting.

—————————————————————

The worst nightmares I have are the ones where I’m being chased. I get that mushy leg feeling and I never seem to get anywhere despite trying to run as fast as I can. Like slipping on a wood floor with socks, I struggle in place while the monster closes in. Since the System arrived, I’ve had this nightmare a few times, mostly about the giant rats we fought in the first dungeon.

Standing in front of the level 39 man who had just stepped out of nowhere, I had the exact same feeling. Just the same as in those dreams, my voice wouldn’t work either. A croaked whisper to stop, not do anything to upset the guy, was all I could manage. It would have been ignored even if it had been heard. I almost heard the bells of death as Harry slashed the guy with his skill.

The world shattered. Unlike the others, I had a pretty good grasp on mana and things of that nature. We had all gained Aspects from tutorial quests, but mine was special. The Aspect of Magic itself. My Mental attribute was in the fifties and I could almost hear the whisper of mana within others if I focused while they did a skill. Right now?

All I could hear was boss music.

The first phase of the fight moved in much the same way as it usually went. Harry initiated, using his taunt to enrage the enemy and keep its focus on him. Aaron threw out his chains, the skill given by the System allowing them to bind a target in unbreakable steel. Luke jumped high into the air and lazily shot an arrow at the man while Ellie got into position for a hit-and-run. Her daggers dripped with comically green poison from her Aspect.

Harry had Protection, Aaron Control, Ellie the Aspect of Poison and Luke with the real star of the show. Despite Harry’s higher levels, Luke had the most potent Aspect of us all. His arrow moved slowly but struck like a train when it collided all the same, the Aspect of Force making the attack confusingly powerful.

The only thing missing was my own Mana Bolts added in, but I couldn’t bring myself to summon them. They were intangible, couldn’t miss once a target had been chosen and at least as powerful as a magnum bullet from the old days. I had seen the guy bleed, so they would probably actually help, but the waves of energy flowing from the empty-handed man stopped me.

In most fights to now, the opening barrage was also the coup de grace. The enemy, confused by the taunt, would be hit by a meteor’s worth of damage from Luke. While reeling from that, the chains would lock the enemy up as Ellie filled it full of poison. Aimed for the weak points, my Mana Bolts would keep them stunned until another barrage arrived.

This wasn’t like most fights. A deep rumble blanketed all the mana in the area. My voice returned as Harry’s taunt activated. “No!” I shouted, too late. Why? Why would that make this thing angry on purpose? We could all see the levels, but I was the only one who felt the true danger. An invisible palm slammed me down to the ground. The others screamed as the same happened to them. The weight of the world held me to the floor and I forced my face forward to keep watching the man.

He shook his hand clean of blood and blew on the wound. He flexed his fingers with a wince and a hissing suck of breath through clenched teeth. “Ouch,” he said, the word dripping sarcasm. The bleeding had already stopped when he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. The pressure stopped and everyone got to their feet slowly, cautious beyond belief.

Like an unimpressed teacher, the man raised his eyebrows and tutted at us all. “Let’s try this one more time, shall we?”