The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2)

by Craig Kobayashi

  For all intents and purposes, Tarzan is now considered your Summoned Creature.

  Tarzan has become a creature of pure light. Her body is insubstantial, and is therefore immune to harm from physical attacks.

  Tarzan has been blessed with a powerful and unique Skill Tree.

  Tarzan will now earn Experience Points equal to those of her Summoner for slaying creatures and completing quests.

  *Note: Because Tarzan was not a Tamed, Bound, Summoned, Charmed, or Enslaved Creature, she may or may not choose to follow your commands. Additionally, Tarzan will have access to her own Skill Tree and may distribute Skill Points and Attribute Points as she sees fit. She may also allow you to do this for her. You may now Summon and Dismiss Tarzan instantly.

  **Additional Note: Now insubstantial, Tarzan will no longer be able to communicate with you through a shared mental connection.

  The following bonuses have been applied to Tarzan based on your performance in completing the Quest: Water for the Egg:

  Tarzan's base Wisdom Attribute has been adjusted to 52 (base: 7; + 45 for water quality: Superb) at Level 1.

  Tarzan has received 3 Skill Points for completing all objectives of the quest.

  Garath didn't know what to think, but he sure as hell didn't feel 'truly blessed'. Instead of potentially gaining a unique Class, perhaps one that didn't come with the extra cost of becoming a murderous, power-hungry sociopath, he got… well, Garath wasn't sure he got anything at all. He guessed it was neat that he could Summon and Dismiss Tarzan now, but he could already do that with nothing more than a can of wet cat food and a shooing motion, respectively.

  He gained a new Creature to join his little posse, great, but she may or may not even follow his commands. If he knew Tarzan, she would always choose not to. Maybe if he gave her suggestions or bribed her, but never if he commanded her. Now that she was an insubstantial creature made up of pure light, what would he even bribe her with? Garath sighed dramatically and looked at the all new, Cait Sith version of Tarzan.

  The luminescent form floating in front of Garath was vaguely feline, with triangular ears and thin whiskers on an otherwise featureless face. White mist composed her legs and tail. Insubstantial, but feline nonetheless. He watched with reluctant appreciation as Tarzan explored the most basic functions of her new body. At first, she jumped from place to place through the air, seeming to gain traction on open nothingness before leaping again. After a few graceful bounds, Tarzan's movements smoothed out until she simply floated along with a glistening white trail of Celestial mist following behind her. Garath accessed his MENU panels and navigated to the Summoned Creatures partition to get a look at the stats of his former pet.

  Tarzan

  Race: Cait Sith

  Class: Celestial Beast

  Age: 13

  Level: 1

  Health: 90/90

  Base: 90

  Defense Rating: 0

  Mana: 520/520

  Base: 70

  Experience to next Level: 0/1,000

  Attributes

  Vitality: 9 - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.

  Wisdom: 52 - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.

  Regeneration: 20 - As a Cait Sith, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +1 per second; Health recovery rate by +.5 per second; and recovery from injury by +3%.

  Strength: 0 - In addition to making one stronger, each point of Strength increases physical attack damage by 1% and reduces damage received from physical attacks by .25%.

  Dexterity: 20 - In addition to making one more agile, each point of Dexterity improves the critical strike chance of physical attacks by +.3%; the critical strike damage of physical attacks by +3%; and improves chance to dodge by +.5%.

  Skill Tree

  Unused Skill Points: 3

  "You ate my Wisp," he accused, crossing his arms sternly as Tarzan floated up to his eye level.

  Tarzan did a little twirl in response and then continued happily bouncing off open air around the grumpy Necrologist. Garath wasn’t that upset with her. Tarzan had always been a creature of instinct. How could he hold it against her when all she did was exactly what a cat would do? If anything, Garath was upset with himself for not seeing it coming in time to stop her.

  Hoping that something in her ‘powerful and unique’ Skill Tree would make him feel better about the whole situation, Garath willed open his MENU panels and navigated to the Summoned Creatures partition. Tarzan’s name now appeared just below the options for Bill, Handsome, and the Golems. After choosing Tarzan, he was able to see her Character page and below that a glowing option that read ‘Skill Tree’. Garath opened it to see that, even before spending her three free Skill Points, the Cait Sith already had access to two Skills. Garath read the details with an expression of wonder.

  Ray of Light

  Active

  Cost: 7 Mana (.1x Base Mana)

  30-Meter Range

  1 second cast

  No cooldown

  Effect: Send a beam of light at your target, dealing 21 (Celestial) damage (.4x Wisdom Attribute). Pierces enemies. Blinds enemies in a 45° cone that spreads for 20 meters, reducing visual perception by 40%.

  Cait Sith's Grace

  Active

  Cost: 70 Mana (1x Base Mana)

  3-Meter Range

  Instant cast

  2-week cooldown

  Effect: If cast on a recently slain target (3 minutes from time of death), restores 1 Health Point. If cast on a living target, grants Cait Sith's Blessing, a permanent alteration that varies based on the target's chosen Class.

  *Note: During the cooldown period, Tarzan must remain entirely dormant to recover from the mental and physical demands of casting Cait Sith’s Grace.

  ***Additional note: If the target of Cait Sith’s Grace is a living Necrologist, the form containing the soul of the Necrologist will be made immune from the effects of Tainted Soul. All other forms will remain unchanged.

  There it was. Garath may benefit from his gift after all. That is, if he could persuade Tarzan to use the spell on him. As if she had known what he was thinking, the wisp of a cat floated slowly to his eye level again, and then nodded slightly. The faint glow around her brightened, and then her insubstantial form entered that of the bewildered Necrologist.

  It felt like he was suddenly bathed in soothing warm water as he began to glow as well. And then it was done. The Tarzan Garath had always known, and now the Tarzan that was a Cait Sith were both gone, and yet still there. He felt her within his mind, occupying the same place that the egg had when it was still an egg, the tiny white ball at the base of his skull. Another system prompt appeared in his vision and he read it curiously.

  Know this, Garath: You have been granted the Cait Sith’s Blessing.

  Your Human form is now, and will be forever more an exception to the Tainted Soul cost of your Skills and Abilities.

  The Tainted Soul effects already on your Human form not been altered.

  Garath didn’t know what to think, after all he did for the egg. The new creature somewhat under his control would be absent, banished to the confines of his mind for the two-week cooldown period. The whole situation that had him excited to the point of sleeplessness was over, and he couldn't help feeling cheated.

  He did feel grateful to Tarzan for unquestioningly using the powerful spell on him, without even being asked or bribed. Somehow, he could tell she knew he appreciated the sacrifice she’d made for him. His human form may still be tainted but, with the presence of pure light within his mind, Garath felt more in control of himself than he had since he was first soiled with the taints of Necrologist magic.

  He felt whole.

  Chapter Twelve – Joyous Reunion… ish

  Garath sat facing the ocean with the July sun high overhead as he drafted an open invitation to try out for his Dungeon team on the Community forums. He wasn’t sure if it would yield any results, but it seemed negligent to only loo
k for talent within the little community of BoTH. His goal was to assemble the strongest group possible before heading south to take on the Tower of Vy’thishrak, not just the strongest group possible from the members of BoTH. He read over his thread a final time, posted it and closed the MENU panels impeding his vision.

  Garath’s eyes went wide. The strangest-looking creature he had ever seen was only a few feet away, flying directly at his face, coming in hot.

  Garath ducked and covered his face with his arms, but the contact Garath was expecting never came. He opened his eyes in confusion, looking to see where the creature had gone, then felt something land on the top of his head. The Necrologist shook it off, arms flailing in every direction, looking for all the world like someone with bats in their hair. A second later, Garath got himself together and the flying mutant landed on the moss-covered log beside him.

  The abomination of nature looking up at him was only about the size of a toaster oven. The pudgy creature had wings, but if Garath hadn't just seen it flying, he wouldn't have believed it could. Its head was covered in thick brown fur and a small, triangular yellow beak poked out between two black eyes. Its body was covered in the same fur, but black and brown feathers erupted out of the hair at seemingly random locations. The fat, furry bird-creature cocked its head at him questioningly. Shortly after, Garath received and accepted a Party invitation, and everything made a whole heap more sense.

  You have joined Auto’s Party.

  *The fuck are you looking at?* asked a very familiar voice inside Garath’s mind.

  Garath erupted into laughter. "Well that depends," he said between chortles, "on whether you're just being a dick, or if you legitimately need help identifying this perversion of nature that you've created."

  The little creature puffed up its chest and spread its silly, fur covered wings expansively. *I'm calling this one the 'sbearow',* Auto told his friend proudly.

  "Sparrow-bear?" asked Garath.

  *So you are more than just a pretty face. Speaking of, your face always been so pretty?* Auto asked, likely in reference to the glowing eyes and oversized incisors.

  Garath smiled toothily and gestured to his whole body. "This kind of pretty doesn't just happen without divine intervention, homie."

  He thought about what he’d said for a second and realized that his slightly demonic features had kind of 'just happened'. Could the apocalypse be classified as divine intervention?

  Garath looked up into the cloudless sky, but there was no sign of the other three members of Auto's group.

  "Where your boys at?" Garath asked the sbearow. "And, for fuck’s sake, will you please get out of that form? It's ridiculous and I don’t want to look at it anymore.”

  *This form,* said Auto, puffing up his fluffy chest again, *is why I made it here before them. I get the plus fifty percent aerial movement speed of a sparrow AND the plus fifty percent stam, endurance, and strength of a bear. They had to stop and rest.*

  "I'm not talking to you until you take a less ridiculous form," Garath said with one eyebrow raised and his arms folded across his chest.

  The sbearow shimmered and elongated. When Garath saw his old friend in the flesh for the first time, he wasn't surprised in the slightest.

  Auto looked almost exactly like the mental picture Garath had constructed for him over the past decade of hearing his voice while they gamed together. He was short, barely 5'5" with the slight build common in Asian gamers. His dark, almond-shaped eyes looked judgmental, but the smile on his face was genuine. The Chimerist didn't have his weapons equipped but, by the look of the armor he was wearing, Auto had been busy since The Culling. He wore a full set of matching plate armor that harshly reflected the pale morning light. The slight man looked indestructible in his full garb. Chest, legs, boots, bracers, gauntlets—all plate. Garath hid his jealousy poorly as he gave Auto a once-over.

  "You look exactly like I've always imagined you," Garath told him with a smile. “Now that I’ve seen you though, do you mind changing back to the sbearow? It’s actually less offensive to look at.”

  "That's nice man. You look like James Franco fucked Andariel from Diablo Two and they had some kind of mutant demon baby that thinks it’s a comedian," said Auto. He cracked a smile too and, manly insults aside, Garath and Auto bro-hugged with hands clasped between their chests. "Nice to finally meet you in person."

  The two old friends talked and laughed and said more mean things to each other on the edge of the cliff while they waited for the rest of Auto’s group to arrive. The Necrologist sent a message to everyone who’d been in his Raid group to let them know the campfire dinner would take place that evening right there on his cliff top. Garath invited the Chimerist into his Dungeon specialization Guild and the two of them explored a few of the Guild functions until the conversation devolved to things of a more personal matter.

  "... and it was super hard to reach. But like, it was oozing, and I couldn't just leave it like that," Auto was saying, when Athios came around the bend and into view.

  She held eye contact with each of them for a few awkward moments, then silently turned to leave.

  "Hey wait!" Garath called as he chased after her.

  "I just came to see what you had planned for the day," she said. “But I do not think this is a conversation I want to be a part of.”

  “Come meet Auto!” Garath said. He scrambled to cover for his friend’s oozing sore. “He was talking about some sushi that he left in the fridge for too long. I promise he's a good guy. And I don't think he oozes anywhere."

  Athios reluctantly followed Garath back to where Auto waited, looking sheepish.

  "Auto, Athios. Athios, Auto. He's a Chimerist," Garath told Athios excitedly. "And historically is an okay guy.”

  "Great introduction, G. Thanks. Between that and the fact that she already knows about my sore, I'm sure I made a great first impression," said Auto. He reached out a hand, and Athios apprehensively accepted it. "I’m Auto. It's nice to meet you."

  Garath internally facepalmed.

  "Sore? I thought you said it was sushi he left in the fridge,” Athios said, raising an eyebrow at the Necrologist.

  Auto actually facepalmed. "You tried to cover for me, didn't you?"

  "Nice one, Auto. Now I'm a liar and you have blistering herpes."

  "It's not herpes!" Auto defended quickly, waving hands. Garath felt a twinge of guilt for betraying him like that in front of the first pretty girl he’d probably seen in months. Maybe even longer. The Chimerist was from Wyoming. "It's from the armor!"

  Athios laughed weakly and let her arms fall to her sides. "I can't even with you two..."

  Just then, three sparrows zipped into view. One landed perched on Auto's head, casually inspecting the scene around it. The other two flew curiously up to Garath and Athios, then all three shimmered and transformed into humans. Plate armor clanked noisily as Auto toppled to the ground. The former sparrow on Auto’s head was now an impetuously smiling young man also adorned in plate armor - still atop Auto’s head. The Chimerist pushed the young man off him. One laughing, one frowning, they both got to their feet.

  "Sorry about that," the young man with the big smile said. “I’m Obawon.”

  "Of course, you are," said Garath with a fond smile. In truth, Obawon looked nothing like Garath had imagined, based only on his voice. Garath had expected the twins to be younger, perhaps in their late teen years, but Obawon was clearly in his mid-twenties. He was taller than Garath had expected too, standing around 6’3’’ with an athletic build.

  "Hey, I know that voice. Is that you, G?" said the other tall, good looking young man standing across from him.

  "Guilty!” Garath confirmed with his hands held out to his sides. “Jebawon?”

  "Yeah, friend. Did we miss anything?"

  "We were just waiting for you guys to get here," Garath told him.

  The twins were identical, but only by the medical definition. They were the same height and nearly the same wei
ght, and they both had the exact same facial features, but two identical twins have never looked so different. Obawon’s expressions and the constant twinkle in his eye gave him a very boyish appearance. In stark contrast, Jebawon had a serious demeanor that gave off an air of controlled maturity. The equipment they wore furthered the gap in their 'identical' appearance. Obawon's full set of plate armor radiated light. Jebawon, on the other hand, wore dark leathers from head to toe. Garath was surprised at how good looking the twins were. Between Garath, NickCarter, and the two dark-haired, bright-eyed twins, they had all the makings of a great boy band. They only lacked talent, which is hardly a deal breaker when it comes to boy bands.

  The other guy they brought with them, Maimon, stood quietly to the side as the old friends said hello. He was a man of average height and weight, about Garath’s age. His black hair sat in tight curls and bled into the sideburns framing his unshaven face. His eyes were nearly as dark as Athios' but lacked the oversized, almond shape that made the Dimensionalist so hard for Garath to look away from. Garath noticed the Preacher ogling the Athios. She must have noticed too, as she was obviously avoiding eye contact with the silent stranger.