Isekai Magus: A LitRPG Progression Saga

by Han Yang

  “Wait, salvage them? What good does a bone do for us?” I asked.

  “Well, it depends. The teeth would make great tools, makeshift weapons, and maybe jewelry. The regular bones are good for building. The value is certainly not worthless, and they’re ripe for collection,” Asha replied.

  “Interesting. How about the golden treasure or piles of armor,” I asked, shimming into armored pants.

  He eyed me as if I were a loon.

  “Ah, the bones were the prize?” I asked, answering my own question.

  “His flesh is worth the most, but we only have… most of a day left to gather from it, assuming you want to risk it and push to the end even if you can claim him sooner,” Asha said.

  “Nope… but I do want to farm matogators and stomp villages of brownies,” I replied, adding a laugh.

  “Excellent idea, Damien. Get what we can, pick him up, and then wreak havoc on the inhabitants,” Tarla said joyfully. “The big lug should pay for himself in a day.”

  “One can hope, if he becomes a problem, I’ll turn him to dust. Hopefully, he is more agile as a skeleton,” I said, finishing putting on my boots. I turned to my lovely red head, her cheeks were still rosy from our fun. “Help me with the chest plate, please and thank you.”

  “I swear, you’d be lost without me,” Tarla said, stretching on her tippy toes to kiss my nose.

  I smirked, half tempted to kick Asha out and toss her onto the bed. Alas, duty called.

  Fully geared and ready for a grueling endeavor, I set out with Asha. We trotted for the corpse, taking a direct line. A few minutes through the jungle, we passed a jenix carrying a rat proudly.

  I need to do some minion upgrading and tweak my remaining army soon. One thing at a time.

  Even if I did gain the cyclops, he would make life exceeding difficult except for zones I wanted to war in. I simply had to adjust, picking obscure areas to start and having the cyclops crawl or hide until we were ready to fight.

  His battle prowess would be nigh unstoppable except for other giants and a lot of magic. If we had to retreat from a growing reactionary force, then so be it. I needed an army if we were going to fight an Arax invasion.

  My thoughts tumbled in my mind until I arrived at a gory mess; my minions and even the dwarves were using tools meant for trees on the cyclops.

  Finding a nearby spot that remained relatively clean, I plopped a seat.

  “Do you mind if I try to raise my cultivation?” Delsy asked.

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure if it will help. I don’t mind after I connect. The day is young, my stomach is full, and I shall be at this for a while.”

  She sat down, waiting for me.

  “Death brings life, Zorta fuels champions. Death brings life, Zorta fuels champions. Death brings life, Zorta fuels champions,” I chanted, finding my zen.

  I reached out of my body, finding the orb. I knew if I chose to drop this orb it would become small. Right now, you could stick an elephant or two in it.

  “Leaves me alones,” the orb said.

  I broke my concentration with a gasp, eyes flaring wide in shock.

  “Whoa! The orb talked to me,” I said.

  Delsy had no answer but did say, “It instantly rejected me.”

  Interesting.

  I found my calm, repeating my chant.

  When I reached out to the orb, the cyclops allowed the connection. “Spares me.”

  Instead of talking, I focused on my domination spell, the one I had used when the ram broke my fingers.

  Anger flooded my being while I maintained my grip on my core. I felt the power flowing through me, and with a surge of energy, I released.

  A wave of black magic burst forth, coating the area. I felt the spell crash into the orb, wrapping it with a dominating presence.

  “You will obey!” I shouted in a primal rage.

  “Spares me,” the cyclops said, his voice becoming a whimper.

  We argued for hours until I received a popup.

  Consume Zorta

  You have selected to Consume 812.88 Zorta. (Consume) - (Drop)

  I selected, taking a break.

  A fire crackled from nearby, warming the area. Hours turned out to be an understatement. The sun was already setting. Tarla rushed over with some meat on a stick and a big pitcher of water.

  The body of the cyclops had completely changed. I recognized I wasn’t a doctor, or even pretend to be one. But biology told me that they removed the organs for some reason. I couldn’t help it my curiosity got the best of me.

  “Why the organs and not the muscle?” I asked.

  “Highest protein. Did your mother never tell you to eat your liver?” Tarla asked.

  I shook my head, talking while I ate. “As a matter of fact, she did not. Gross. I guess it makes sense in a way.”

  “Some of that will be used in spells and potions,” Nee said, sitting by the fire with her feet up.

  “Where’s Asha?” I asked.

  “He went to track the wounded matogator. He should be back any minute. We heard a big fight over there, and he expects that the wounded momma was killed. If so…” Tarla said, not finishing her sentence because I pulled her robes down for a kiss. “Yes, Damien, my dear, do that more often.”

  I snickered, kissing her again.

  “Thirty-two Zorta!” Asha proclaimed, arriving with an orb in his hand. “Oh hey, how did it go?”

  “I’m concerned I’ll fail, but I’m going right back in the second I’m done with this meal,” I said, swallowing the bit in my mouth and following it with a big gulp of water. “Oh, eight hundred plus Z for the big guy.”

  “While fantastic, I always thought it would be more for the monsters,” he said, pulling out a partially whittled stick and his carving knife. He tossed Tarla the orb. “The female matogator died not far from her nest. There’s a hundred of the angry gators on that beach and a wounded one is easy prey. Filthy cannibals.”

  “Kill thirty of those, and we end up with almost a thousand Z,” I said, accepting another stick.

  “That’s the beauty of these preserves,” Asha said.

  Nee raised a hand, and I nodded to her.

  The smug goblin said, “Nessio is planning a celebration for Seqa. I applaud the inclusion, but the scent is off.”

  “What scent is off?” I asked with a frown.

  “I don’t know, and that is what was reported to me. I would caution attending,” Nee said.

  I groaned. “This is not directed at you, but Nessio has suddenly been dealt a blow to her power. Her options are to accept it and help us grow or change the dynamic. In order to do the latter, she’d have to do something drastic. I hear your words, and Tarla will send a warning to Bell.”

  “She has been warned. We can smell danger sometimes, and hence why we flee for better smelling areas. Anyway, I didn’t smell it on her when we talked,” Nee said, not wanting to debate the potential non-issue.

  I squinted my eyes closed in frustration. Unless she acted out, there was nothing I could do by preemptively striking.

  After handing my mug back to Tarla, I folded my legs and found my Zen again. This time, I decided to dominate the area for a while before I reached out.

  The magic condensed in my form, filling to a brim as I concentrated. I swirled the spell in a ball around me, controlling the formation of the magic.

  I shot my power directly into the orb, not intending to connect to the cyclops.

  “Please stops. Please stops!” he cried out.

  I did and didn’t feel sad. Mercy was a thing, but not in this case. I pressed on, not answering with words but with magical might.

  The dominating spell zapped the color from the orb, draining the resistance in the cyclops. We fought and fought. He whined, pleaded, and begged. I never relented a smidge.

  This was my make-or-break moment on Nordan. I could become -

  “I submit,” the cyclops said, his voice filled in grief and exhaustion.

  Claim
or Consume Zorta

  Claiming Hassonia Cyclops-kin as a minion will result in you earning Nordan points. Do you wish to proceed? (YES) - (NO)

  You selected to claim: Hassonia Cyclops-kin. Consume 812.88 Zorta to summon this cyclops as a minion of the undead. This will incur 322,500 Nordan points. Do you wish to proceed? (YES) - (NO)

  “Vacate the cyclops!” I shouted, opening my eyes but not unleashing the control.

  The sun crept over the horizon, revealing a new day. The workers had shifted to removing meat from a thigh, and all the dwarves were gone, likely returned to digging.

  A shout of urgency spread among the workers. A fear washed through them of becoming food for the ghoulish hands.

  When the final goblin hobbled away with a limp, I frowned at his injury and smiled at the fact I had selected yes.

  The rising sun vanished in an instant.

  Black magic enveloped the island in a terrifying way. The ghouls were in the growing storm. Not hands reached up, but ghoulish beings surfed clouds in the skies.

  A crack split the air and the thunderous boom that followed shook my very being.

  My reaper flew from the skies, coasting down to me on a faceless Pegasus. When he landed, I marveled at the creature trapped into servitude.

  “Impressive friend you ride,” I said.

  “Death has many names and forms. It welcomes all… eventually. When summoning something so large, you must retreat further, your one and only warning,” the reaper replied.

  He shooed us back, and as one, we ran to give the area space.

  I knew we had crossed a safe distance because when we entered the jungle again, the clouds of flying ghouls descended. Like a swarm of insects, they tore at the corpse, feasting on the flesh.

  Their initial dive rotated with the ghouls circling the body for a second pass. The area we vacated they zoomed through, even extinguishing the fire.

  I shuddered at the sight and delightfully giggled in anticipation at the same time. The rollercoaster of emotion resulted in the ride at the perfect stop.

  The reaper vanished without saying goodbye, the swarm of ghouls traveling with him. The dark magic faded, parting to reveal the morning sun casting its gentle rays onto a glorious skeleton.

  “We are so going to kill everything on this island,” I said in excitement.

  CHAPTER 53

  Kalo Island

  “Are you feeling better now?” Tarla asked from my desk.

  She had managed reports or something to do with paperwork while I slept. Her long braid rested over her shoulder, and she smiled loving at me. The woman completed me in ways I never knew, even singing me to sleep after an exhausting day.

  I had occupied Sprinkles the first chance I could. And yes, I suppressed the whiny cyclops’ memories and then renamed him.

  The big problems with being a big skeleton? Even the slightest of teeters and you crashed down. I managed not to break anything, but after being awake for over a day, I had tossed in the towel for a mid-morning nap.

  “Absolutely, right after you shed those robes and -”

  “Can’t and not because I don’t want to. I do love having a handsome lover seeking me at all hours,” Tarla said, puckering her lips. “I love you for you. You do know that, right?”

  “Of course, and I think we make a good couple. Now, what has you declining my awesome finger wave? It must be serious,” I teased.

  “It's the taxes you implemented. I have a dozen requests that need processing and oversight. Most requests are to use various sorts of tools and materials we purchased for the group. They… This sucks,” she said, waving the paperwork at me.

  “Ah, my fiery redhead. Consider yourself off tax duty. Let this rotation of tools go. We can afford to let the workers use them for free. We’ll replace them soon,” I said in an attempt to persuade her.

  “You have a point. The hunting teams have been dragging back hundreds of small animals every few hours. We’re sitting on enough Z to get you to necromancer five,” Tarla said.

  I snapped my fingers, checking my upgrades. Sure enough, I saw necromancer five as an option.

  Necromancer Level 4 -} Necromancer Level 5 = 4,972.113 Zorta. (YES) or (NO)

  “Right, the donations to the reaper. Interesting. Hmm… Where’s Asha?” I asked.

  “Not sure, and even though I want to throw in the towel, I’m going to finish these requests. And then yes, from now on, if we buy surplus of anything, it goes up for sale at costs. We can start a market, probably needed to do that earlier,” Tarla grunted in determination.

  “I take it Bell hid our stash?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Caitlyn holds them in a treasury in the church,” Tarla replied. “If the church falls, then yup, they’re up for grabs.”

  “Thanks for the hard work. I’m off to earn some Z,” I said.

  I donned a simple robe, grabbed my stew bowl, and kissed some lovely freckles before exiting the tent. The goblins I had summoned never went home. They continued to clear the jungle, cook, and manage the base camp.

  They certainly had a mess to clean up. A pile of matogators were stacked taller than my tent not far from a pile of small animals.

  Asha whittled a flute, smiling at my arrival. “Sprinkles worked tirelessly. Check out the portal,” he said, inclining his head in the portal’s direction. I saw 12 on the counter and gasped. “Remember when you told him to gather lumber. I witnessed a massive oak shrink when it contacted the portal. It had a nest of something alive. We lost enough minions to compensate but still.”

  “Darn,” I said with a grumble. “How does that work?”

  “The shrink and unshrink?” he asked, and I nodded.

  “I know with the wagons, the moment they’re on the road, they push back the area with a blue shield and expand. Not sure what happens if that blue shield hits something,” he muttered.

  “Find the time to send a note to Bell. I need to know if Sprinkles will kill himself or become trapped in Seqa. Kinda important,” I said.

  Asha nodded, carving out a hole in his wooden creation.

  I thumbed toward the dozen or so dead gators, catching his attention. “What’s the deal with the matogators?”

  “Sprinkles has been collecting them ever since he put the tree in,” Asha said. I glanced up to see the sun easily past its zenith then saw the limited gators. “Yeah, he sucks at hunting. When he was alive, Sprinkles used traps. There are dozens of them all over this island. I told him to check all the traps after he struck out for an hour.”

  “Easy fix. I’ll figure out a way to kill them after the brownies. I assume he has his club?” I asked, and Asha nodded. I stopped standing there, filling my bowl with stew. “What else?”

  “The dwarves and minions have been working on gathering soil until it becomes dirt. The goblins have been working on odd tasks. Lumpy, the foxes, and other jenix cats are on a killing spree. I had chunks of gator spread out in hunting grounds. They run to one, kill or play dead, and repeat, obviously successful,” he said as a goblin arrived with a basket full of dead animals.

  I spaced out my slurps to say, “Thoughts on Nessio?”

  He glanced around first. “What would you do if the minotaurs showed up for refuge? You let them in, and next thing you know, they’re in charge.”

  “If they brought a larger army, they would likely ask to have the holdings expanded and then move there. But we can’t. She has been so good and honest. My reading, as in fantasy readings, often tell of scornful allies betraying their friends,” I said with a sigh.

  These kinds of thoughts brought me into a funk instantly. The perfect world would be we’re all friends and singing happily. I’d have to watch her closely when I returned to Seqa.

  “If she goes away, so do the problems. At least her people aren’t thralls,” Asha said, ending the topic.

  I slurped the last of my bowl and told him, “Protect me while I occupy the big guy.”

  “Easy to do, Damien,” Asha said, watching m
e retreat into the tent.

  Arriving inside the tent, I made sure the bed was ready for a long rest. Asha entered, using a stump to guard us while whittling. Tarla continued her paperwork, never glancing up as I strode over to kiss her forehead.

  I laid down on our bed, shimmied myself into the best spot I could, and then focused.

  My mind’s eye shot up and out of my body, zooming for the beach. I found a fox stalking a brownie who had ventured away from his settlement. That wouldn’t end well for the little guy.

  I diverted my spirit, hunting for Sprinkles. I grumbled, figuring I should have flown right to him.

  Instead, I soared from minion to minion as they hunted or worked. I headed north, going to the only minion that far from camp. A tree flew in the distance, telling me the cyclops fought. When I neared, I waited to observe.

  I need a break-in period, best to do that when -

  A slender ten-foot long brown snake coiled around the two bones in Sprinkles’ forearm. Like the idiot he was, he smashed his own arm, kicked trees needlessly while he just needed to pluck the harmless snake out.

  I immediately reacted, diving into his body.

  We tumbled from my sudden control, and I used my immense size to squish the snake.

  Crack!

  I broke trees, their limbs somewhat cushioning my fall.

  The instant disorientation faded.

  Finding a balance, I sat up, patting my body. The snake didn’t die, slithering into my ribs. The body I was in didn’t have some magical point a viper could hit to kill, making it a nuisance at most.

  I decided to let the little guy go along for the ride. Hoisting myself off the jungle floor, I teetered precariously. My wobble stabilized. I had learned that over corrections, meaning forces I couldn’t halt, would become inevitable.

  I quickly glanced down, seeing the snake perched on my ribs scanning for a way back to the jungle. I snorted, the effect doing nothing beside a small head jerk. I walked for the ocean, eager to find brownies or matogators.