The Second Betrayal: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 2)

by A F Kay

  Sift warned Ruwen to eat a light dinner since Sift’s next training session would incorporate a roll with the fall. After dinner, they practiced this for only half an hour. Ruwen struggled with the transition from falling to rolling. Sift remained patient and didn’t laugh at Ruwen’s clumsiness.

  The next hour, Sift showed Ruwen what to do when someone grabbed his arm, or his shoulder, or tried to shove him, or a dozen other moves meant to intimidate. By the end of the hour, while not as fluid or quick as Sift, Ruwen could stop the unwelcome contact.

  The last hour, Sift demonstrated how to turn all the locks and throws they’d just practiced on the attacker. By the end of practice, all of Ruwen’s joints ached from being put under so much constant pressure.

  Ruwen rubbed his shoulder. “This reminds me of the wheel you showed me earlier. It is just a constant cycle of attacks and counters one flowing into the other.”

  “You will see the same pattern in everything you learn. What Step Masters have really mastered is balance.”

  Sift put his fist out, and Ruwen placed his palm on top.

  “Thank you, Sisen,” Ruwen said.

  Sift nodded. “Good job today. You caught on quickly tonight and made good progress. There might be hope for you yet. I’m taking a shower and then heading to bed. You should do the same.”

  Ruwen nodded. As Sift left for the showers, Ruwen stared at his palms and the brand there. It had made a significant difference. He opened his notifications and was shocked to see he’d added another four levels to Unarmed Combat. He stared at the last notification.

  Shing!

  You have advanced a skill!

  Skill: Unarmed Combat

  Level: 10

  Effect: Increase unarmed damage by 5.00%. Increase chance to deflect or dodge a blow by 5.00%.

  Ruwen had made incredible progress today. He knew advancements would slow down the higher the level he reached, but it felt great to have a combat skill at level ten. The next time, he needed to focus some training on his staff as well. He had probably been too skewed this time. As he’d just learned, balance was the key in all things.

  He piled all his dirty clothes in the bin outside their room and then showered. By the time he made it back to the room, Sift was already snoring. Ruwen laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, wide awake. He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep. After ten minutes, he gave up and decided to allocate his spells.

  Ruwen studied all the choices for the next half hour, but he just couldn’t decide what to take. There were even some Worker spells that he could see a use for. He knew that having six unallocated spells was foolish, but leveling was going to take longer and longer as the experience required increased, and he didn’t want to waste his choices. Big D had mentioned they would be discussing the strengths of each Class on this camping trip. He would wait and see what the experienced Workers had to say. Waiting for another couple of days shouldn’t kill him.

  He still had three hours until they needed to leave. Ruwen pulled the Falcon Gloves of Training disk out of his Void Band and turned it in his hands. Setting the disk on his chest, he removed the book Five-Minute Fare to Die For from his Inventory. He had been rewarded this book when he’d completed the quest with the wall of scales. That had been the first time he’d met Blapy, too.

  Ruwen opened the book and scanned the table of contents. The contents were broken up into four main chapters: Contact, Injected, Inhaled, and Ingested. In each chapter, there were the following topics: Poison, Antidote, Recreational, and Healing.

  His small Health pool made healing a priority. Things had worked out on level four with the SPOTs, but it would have been less stressful if he could have ingested something to counteract the damage he’d been taking. Creating some healing items in the alchemy lab would be a good use of his remaining three hours.

  Ruwen returned the book to his Inventory, and taking a deep breath picked up the disk. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure this disk would work with Alchemy, but since it involved his hands, he figured it would. The worst part would be enduring that terrible burning sensation, and it might be for nothing.

  Ruwen opened his Skills tab and focused on Alchemy. He wanted to limit the amount of time the branding took. Taking another two deep breaths, he pressed the disk between his palms.

  A terrible heat erupted between his hands. A notification pulsed at the bottom of his vision, but instead of opening it and then choosing a skill, Ruwen just picked Alchemy from his open Skills tab. The pain and the notification both disappeared.

  The disk slipped out from between Ruwen’s palms, and he placed it in his Void Band. The falcon on each palm now had a steaming pot clutched in its claws. When he looked at the glove location on the person cutout in his Inventory, the name had changed to include the updated skill.

  Name: Falcon Gloves of Training (Brand – Alchemy)

  Ruwen sighed in relief. The pain had been worth it. Pushing himself off the bed, he quietly walked to the hallway. He created a portal, and moments later, he stood in front of the door to the alchemy lab. Slipping into the lab, he glanced around but didn’t see anyone, and quickly took the bench closest to the door.

  Removing Five-Minute Fare to Die For, Ruwen found the recipe he’d decided on back in his room. It was the sixth healing recipe in the Contact chapter.

  Health Sticker, Minor

  Effect: Heal 20 Health on contact.

  Effect: Heal 2 Health per second for 10 seconds.

  Ingredients: 1 1x1 absorbent fabric, 1 drop Clasper Mucus, 1 Quaking Silver Leaf, 1/4 oz Felk Heart, 1/2 cup water, 2 pinch Pyramid Ash.

  Recipe: 1) Add Pyramid Ash to water 2) Bring water to boil, reduce heat 3) Add Felk Heart and simmer until heart turns from red to grey and then remove 4) Crush Quaking Silver Leaf and add to solution 5) Boil until a paste 6) Remove from heat 7) Smear paste on one side of fabric and let cool 8) Apply Clasper Mucus to pasted side of fabric 9) Fold fabric so paste touches 10) To use, pinch folded sticker sides to force open sticker and place side with paste and Clasper Mucus against skin.

  Ruwen placed his mark against the alchemy bench and requested the material to make ten stickers. He hoped to make a hundred in the next few hours so that he could keep ten for himself.

  Ruwen put on goggles as the ingredients appeared on his bench. He focused on his clock and set the alarm for 12:30 AM. Activities like this tended to suck him in, and he knew he’d lose track of time. The last thing he wanted was to show up late to his 7:00 AM appointment with Big D.

  When his alarm went off, Ruwen had just finished his seventh batch of ten. He had hoped to leave the Alchemy lab with ten batches, but seven would have to do. He placed the seven stickers that were his share into his Void Band and quickly cycled through his Alchemy advancement notifications, pausing on the last one.

  Shing!

  You have advanced a skill!

  Skill: Alchemy

  Level: 13

  Effect: Alchemical creations gain a 6.5% increase in success and effectiveness.

  Ruwen had gained three more levels to Alchemy. The 6.5 percent increase in effectiveness mattered and would make the initial heal twenty-one Health points instead of twenty. Every little bit helped. He smiled at the brand on his palms. Aside from the horrible pain of switching, these training gloves were making a huge difference in his skill advancement.

  A few minutes later, Ruwen walked into his room carrying the clean clothes that had been left outside their door. Sift lay on his stomach, one arm hanging off his bed. Ruwen dropped Sift’s clean clothes next to his bed and shook his shoulder.

  “Wake up,” Ruwen said.

  Sift groaned and pulled a pillow over his head.

  “Hey, get up. You can go back to sleep when we get back to camp.”

  Sift moaned and sat up in bed, his face drooping and his eyes half-open.

  “Uru help you if you ever get attacked while sleeping. Waking you up is like getting a dragon to leave hibernation.”


  “Dragons get to sleep for hundreds of years. Plus, they can fly. They have a perfect life.”

  Ruwen laughed. “Well, they certainly seem to be your soul familiar.”

  Sift saw the clean clothes Ruwen had brought in and dressed, putting the rest into his Dimensional Belt. Io went into the hidden hip sheath in Sift’s clothes, and the two started talking.

  “Really? A water dragon? What did you do? I’ve only seen Azure Water Serpents in pictures,” Sift said to Io.

  Ruwen hated only being able to hear half the conversation, and it was the dull side as well. He tried to ignore Sift’s conversation and finished packing all his clothes.

  “Let’s head for the Blood Gate. You can talk to Io on the way,” Ruwen said.

  Sift nodded and followed Ruwen out.

  They stopped for a few minutes in the recreation room and grabbed some breakfast. Ruwen followed Sift’s lead and wrapped sausage with a pancake, but Ruwen used a lot less syrup.

  “You’re going to get everything sticky,” Ruwen said as they left the buffet.

  Sift stopped chewing. “Nuh ah whun.”

  Ruwen shook his head and continued toward the Blood Gate. When they reached the dead-end hallway, he removed his Portal Chalk and began drawing the gate runes. His new knowledge gave him an appreciation for the gate runes. Instead of just symbols, he now knew what they represented, and it gave each rune a significance they hadn’t had before.

  “You sure those are right?” Sift asked.

  Ruwen rechecked them all. “Yes.”

  Sift took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  Sift stepped through the stone, and Ruwen immediately followed him.

  “See, you should trust me more,” Ruwen said as he moved toward the center of the Blood Gate.

  Sift looked around at all the doors. “Maybe.”

  It took Ruwen a few seconds to find the door they’d entered from their tent. He stopped in front of it and pointed.

  “This is it,” Ruwen said.

  Sift wiped his forehead. “Ky wanted me to go first. I’ll step through, make sure everything is okay, and then come back for you.”

  Ruwen frowned. He hated that Sift had to face possible danger by himself. But Ruwen realized Sift had the skills to handle any trouble they encountered.

  “Okay. Thanks,” Ruwen said.

  Sift took two deep breaths and then stepped through the stone portal.

  Time moved about four times faster here, so Ruwen knew he needed to give Sift at least a few minutes since that was less than a minute on the other side. After almost five minutes, Ruwen grew nervous. Sift would have had over a minute on the other side by now. Why hadn’t he come back? Was he fighting?

  The thought of Sift fighting for his life all alone made Ruwen’s heart race. The longer he waited, the more convinced he became that Sift had been ambushed. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he have come back through the gate by now?

  Ruwen pulled the Falcon Gloves of Training disk out of his Inventory and pressed his palms over it. He quickly chose Staff and then put the disk away while removing the Staff of Chimes.

  His Mana bar dropped by one hundred fifty as he cast Bleed and Backstab on his staff and dagger. Not wanting to waste any more time, Ruwen closed his Void Band, gripped his staff tightly, and stepped through the stone gate. He prepared himself for the life and death battle occurring in his tent.

  The cold air felt like a slap across Ruwen’s face, and he stumbled forward on uneven ground. The pine trees surrounding him were colored grey as the Jaga Wedding Band increased the night’s ambient light by fifteen percent.

  One thing became immediately clear: he wasn’t in his tent. In fact, he wasn’t even in the campground. Had they walked through the wrong door? An endless array of trees surrounded Ruwen, and Sift was nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter 19

  Ruwen pulled the hood of his Hooded Pacifist’s Cloak of Wandering over his head, increasing all his senses by ten percent. The world brightened, and the scent of pine grew stronger. The cloak already increased his Detect Trap and Perception by the same amount and might make the difference in surviving this unfamiliar area. The early morning air numbed his ears, and the hood helped keep them warm.

  He activated Detect Temperature and slowly turned in a circle. There were some small heat signatures in the trees, but they were probably just birds or squirrels. Where was he? A sudden thought that he’d ended up on the wrong world made his heart thud loudly.

  Opening his map, Ruwen breathed a sigh of relief. Uru’s Blessing still surrounded him, so he knew he’d at least made it back to his world. But why hadn’t he exited in his tent? Ky’s story about the sharks surfaced in his memory. More than likely, the portal he’d drawn on his tent had been destroyed. Ky had said when that happened, the exit point would become erratic.

  A destroyed portal couldn’t be good. Sift must have walked into an ambush, and the ensuing fight destroyed the portal. Ruwen’s stomach turned, and his chest tightened. If something had happened to Sift, after almost losing him on the streets of Deepwell, Ruwen would never forgive himself.

  He took a few deep breaths to try and calm his emotions. He didn’t know anything for sure. The tent might have been destroyed before Sift had come back, in which case he was wandering around in the dark as well. Hopefully, that was what had happened. Even Sift’s basic interface had a map, and he should be able to make his way back to camp. For the time being, Ruwen had to focus on his own survival.

  Pulling back on the map, Ruwen expanded the area he could see. From his current location, the camp sat two miles north-east of him. He placed a marker on it and walked down the hill. The time-to-target updated and informed him he’d make it back to camp in forty-nine minutes. Ruwen’s clock read 5:46 AM, so that gave him thirty minutes to spare before meeting Big D at 7:00 AM.

  Ruwen’s cloak-enhanced senses made it clear he moved through the trees as quietly as a drunk appah. He tried to step softly, and his Feather Boots of Grasping helped, but dead aspen branches and dry pinecones littered the ground, and it sounded like he stepped on every one of them.

  The Observer Class had many spell options to help him: Silence, Obscure, Hide, Feather Feet. And those were just the ones he had access to up through level five. The thought of wasting a spell point just to get him through two miles of the forest seemed irrational, and he knew it. He sped up, since going slower hadn’t made him much quieter.

  Ruwen stopped every few minutes and did a slow circle with Detect Temperature to make sure nothing large had discovered him. On the fourth such stop, his entire body prickled as his Keen Senses ability triggered. But the danger had come from above.

  Cursing himself for not scanning the sky, it only took a few seconds to pick out the creature circling above him. The monster glowed red from Ruwen’s Detect Temperature.

  Ruwen focused on the creature, hoping to glean some information. His Perception had increased dramatically when his Cultivation Stage had risen, and his cloak added another ten percent, bringing it up to 32.4 percent. The creature flew over Ruwen again, close enough for Ruwen to get some details.

  Name: Leopard Bat

  Level: 10-14

  Health: Unknown

  Mana: Unknown

  Energy: Unknown

  Spirit: Unknown

  Ruwen winced. He had only reached level five. Winning a fight with a creature two to three times his level would be impossible. Thankfully, the Leopard Bat flew in the sky, and Ruwen had the protection of the trees. If he remained careful and didn’t get caught in the open, he should be fine.

  The Leopard Bat, maybe because Ruwen had stopped for so long, moved further down the hill away from him. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the bat dropped down into the trees.

  Ruwen’s Detect Temperature could still see the creature. It had folded its wings tight against its body as it jumped from tree to tree. It settled down on a large branch directly above the path Ruwen had been taking.

  Seeing how ag
ilely the Leopard Bat moved in the trees, Ruwen realized he had a serious problem. Fighting something that much higher in level would certainly end with his death, and how could he outrun something that could fly? He stepped behind a tree out of sight of the monster and went through his Inventory.

  The problem remained the level difference. Wild beasts would be even more powerful since they tended to have more focused attacks, not the varied attacks humans had. This monster would surely kill him.

  He had Portal Chalk, and he thought about using it. But there were no smooth areas. Drawing gate runes on the rough bark of a tree would be suicide, and roots and branches covered the ground. He had six spell points, but the creature already knew he was near, and most of the Observer spells were to avoid detection from people, not animals.

  Maybe if he waited, the bat would go away. Ruwen waited three minutes and then eased his head around the tree. The Leopard Bat had decreased the distance between them by half. Ruwen’s heart thudded in his chest, and he quickly pulled his head back. He wouldn’t be able to wait this out.

  Why did the creature have to be so much higher in level? Higher in level…

  If Ruwen could fake the Leopard Bat into thinking Ruwen’s level was higher, he might be able to scare it away with the same logic that currently trapped Ruwen.

  Ruwen opened Fabricate and focused on the level. How high could he make it? It turned out there wasn’t an upper limit. He could make himself a level two hundred Mage if he wanted. The problem with that, though, was the further Fabricate got from the truth, the less effective it became. So if he wanted to try and fake his way past the Leopard Bat, he couldn’t get too ridiculous with his choices.

  If the creature thought he was too high a level, it should ignore him. Generally, animals didn’t have the highest intelligence, but they were superb at reading body signals. If he tried this, he would have to act the part. If he didn’t, the Leopard Bat would attack and kill him.