Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

Placing my hand on the man’s head, I pulsed the skill twice. I focused all of my attention on uncovering the specific information I wanted, trying to control the skill. It occurred to me that I had never tried to use the skill like this and had no idea if this would work. I didn’t really care in the moment. After holding his head for a few seconds, I let him go. The man was unconscious, but he would be fine. Probably.

“Why is it that everyone starts out by attacking me?” I asked Naea as I stood, prompting her to become visible. She had been sitting on my shoulder from the moment I leapt out of the pit. “First The Ascent, and now these guys. Is it my face, do you think?”

“It’s probably definitely your face, for sure,” she agreed quickly. I shrugged and turned away. These people were irrelevant, knew nothing about me that mattered and had given me all I wanted to know. I sifted through the memories I had stolen from the would-be assassin and started heading towards…

“Londimin? That’s weirdly sinister sounding, right? Londominion. Surely someone could come up with something better than Londimin.” I complained to Naea as we walked. She in turn challenged me to come up with a town name if I was so smart. I spent some time thinking about it, telling her I’d give her an answer when I came up with the perfect name.

Leaving the group behind to lick their wounds or whatever they were going to do, we chatted as we made our way to this new city. I was hopeful the place wouldn’t be entirely combative the whole time, but I didn’t have high hopes.

Due to draining the answers, I had the directions to Londimin in my head. Naea and I weren’t too far away, so we didn’t waste any time heading in that direction. After allegedly beating up a group of their scouts, it would probably be better for me to get there as quickly as possible. If I could explain the misunderstanding, or better yet, just move on completely then there shouldn’t be any problems.

I had two issues at the moment as I saw them. First was that as a random stranger, I didn’t have much to garner respect other than overwhelming strength. Considering these people would ideally be a trading partner in the future, that wasn’t ideally. It was becoming obvious the closer we got that I actually had no idea what I was doing here. The fact that there even was a settlement so nearby was promising, far more than I expected. So, the first hurdle was making this settlement want to be allies and not enemies.

I looked back over my shoulder with a wince. Not a great start, but maybe no one liked those guys. They were quick to attack, after all…

The second problem was potentially more pressing, considering it involved the sneaking wolf behind us. I had instructed Naea not to say or do anything, and she acquiesced. For Naea, it was just a fun game of pretending the stalker wasn’t there. For my part, I had decided not to confront the creature, or person, unless they made a move or followed us much closer to the city. Instead, I would see what happened when night came.

The werewolf, or whatever it actually was, could give Naea a run for her money in the stealth department. I found myself wanting to analyse the magic I could feel going into its movements from afar, but I could wait. I judged their strength to be at around that of a level thirty Fledgling from Ascentown before they unlocked a Dao, so it wasn’t like they were a threat.

I guffawed, a donkey’s bray escaping my lips at the thought which crossed my mind. making Naea jump and give me a glare. “Sorry, just realised how far we’ve come.” Naea looked at me like I was dumb, but I didn’t bother explaining. I had pictured the Avatar of the Storm Dragon, it’s haughty expression and unbeatable strength. If I faced that same creature now, I would be able to win easily, dominating it without it nearly costing my life. My immediate next thought was the dragon’s true form biting down on me.

“Still a long way to go,” Naea said, accidentally wise as she looked in the direction of Ireland and my family. I patted her on the head and finished setting up. Our path towards Londimin would get us there within a day. Giving the range of their scouting, I doubted they were expecting many visitors, which might complicate things. It could make everything go more smoothly, too, but I doubted it. My plan was to slip into the town as a refugee or lone survivor and go from there. I reminded myself that this was just a scouting mission, really, and that if all went well I could send probably someone more willing to deal with the actual trade negotiations.

Even after travelling for a few more hours and letting night fall around us, we hadn’t seen anyone else from the city to interact with. It was just Naea, myself and the wolf who definitely still thought they were hidden. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t impressed, if nothing else, its patience was impressive. I took my time setting up the tent, intentionally showing off the fairly opulent furnishings and amenities I had available.

“So,” Naea asked after a while, “what do we do now?” She was bored, I could tell. We hadn’t seen any monsters recently, probably courtesy of the patrols from Londimin. I weighed up my choices and decided to throw a little caution into the wind. Naea, seeing my smirk and how my eyes set, didn’t wait for me to respond. I barely had time to raise my guard before Naea’s onslaught began.

With an instant and ferocious clash, we wove away from the destructible camp and somewhere we could make a mess. As far as staring engagements go, it was noticeably more aggressive on the part of my fairy friend. Putting her newest skill to good use, Naea kept me on the backfoot while drawing her blade. “Went off and got levels on a mountain without me, didn’t you?”

“Well, I thought you could use a break,” I grunted in between dodging Naea’s attacks. With the addition of the new attack Beam, she no longer had to be in close-range to do serious damage and when we had the chance and the inclination, we were practising. So, for the next while, we sparred. The world around us disappeared.

This was not just to show off in front of the wolf, though that was a small part of it. It was much more than that. Naea and I were both touched by draconic energy and the competitive streak it caused within us was powerful. She truly wanted to be stronger than me, and I could not afford to slip in my own growth or she absolutely would.

The situation with Steel had ignited a furious flame inside of us both. I hated the fact something with more power could walk into my life and disrupt whatever it wanted, kill whoever it wanted, all with me powerless to stop it. Naea felt the same, but her thoughts were warped around protecting me, not others. I think she assumed that if she was stronger than me, she could stop me from running my bonehead into danger so often.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her she got me into danger at least as much as I did it to myself. Our sparring continued to intensify, our “friendly” spar reaching the danger levels of a true boss battle. By combining the size-changing slashes of the Chibizashi, her blinding speeds and her new ability to attack from afar, it was nearly impossible to pin Naea down. If she added invisibility to the mixture, even I couldn’t keep up.

Naea’s Dao of the Fairy Dragon was on full display, too. I had yet to find something that Dao couldn’t do, when applied in the right way with the right mindset. In my familiar’s case, her tricky Dao allowed her to pretend she was using her mana in one way, and then do something completely different. Even with my technically more powerful Dao and eyes that could see mana, it was like trying to follow the tricks of a master magician.

That isn’t to say she beat me. The main rule of this “game” was that neither of us could hold back. It would defeat the point of our posturing. Since returning from Cloudslash Peak, Naea hadn’t been able to keep up. Her own advantages from the Dao of Rivers and her higher level had been cut down as I gained achievements and levels of my own.

A thick web caught my foot, causing Naea to cackle. The globules were not even fast, she just had immaculate aim with them. Her ability to throw off the mana signature of her attacks caused my eyes to lose focus as they came in. The ability would be even more potent against other creatures, who’s mana senses were less developed than mine. I bet most things saw with magic eventually, rather than their physical sense organs.

“Please don’t cut my leg off, Naea.” My appeal landed on deaf ears, a wild look in Naea’s large eyes as she gathered more and more energy into her Beam. I burned a small portion of mana to activate Infusion, but still wasn’t strong enough to get free from Naea’s skill. The webs she created seemed to fortify their surroundings, because I should have been able to rip the whole damn forest floor away if I wanted to.

The Beam launched. I recognised my folly now, as the amputation approached. This is definitely my fault. I gave her the Fledglings and she turned them into monsters. My biggest mistake was not recognising the little demon I had been creating myself. Naea was no longer worried about causing such paltry damage as a missing leg, she’d healed worse.

Instinct flared. I didn’t want to lose my leg, but somehow, I wanted to lose the battle even less. I would happily give up my limbs if it meant not losing, even in a contest as innocent as two bonded souls bumping heads. Naea was truly upset with me for my actions on Cloudslash Peak and while we had talked about it, the resentment lingered. This was, in no uncertain terms, my punishment for that.

Still didn’t mean I was going to hold back.

Mana Bolt.

Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt.

I wasn’t actually using the skill, but overwhelming the pathway which created the skill. The System had taken my hand and given me training wheels for every ability, but it was only once those wheels were removed and I was allowed to freestyle that they became mine. Even now, I felt like I was using Tom’s ability as the violet tinted mana filled the air. I could feel Naea’s magic punching through the attacks, and it was that sensation that I focused on.

Time was becoming more and more subjective as my attributes increased. The flow of time is based upon perception and, with both of my Mental and Will attributes into the quadruple digits of effectiveness, I was more than capable of reacting to Naea’s lightning fast Beam. I gathered the energy of two dozen Mana Bolts and slammed them into each other, right where Naea’s attack would hit.

A crystal of energy formed in the air. Not an attack, but mana without direction. I could almost feel the System breathing down my neck, waiting for me to push the final piece of intent or understanding into the skill to make it something. With desperate hope and no better ideas, I simply thought of an unbreakable shield. I ignored the System prompts and slammed the new shape of mana forward to meet the incoming laser.

For half a second, my plan worked. Mana met mana, and the dense bulwark I had created held firm. Then, Naea’s attack slipped, neither ability willing to break. The attack which had been aimed for my knee instead hit me in the shin. The world exploded into white and Naea gasped out an apology. I tumbled, which was strange. I should have been-

Oh, yeah. Leg’s gone. Not the time to be a sore loser. “Well fought,” I said, my words slurring from pain and blood loss, “you win this one. Help.” My request was quiet, as my face fell into the dirt. I had not just been hit with a painful attack, the skill I had just used had drained me like nothing before. As I passed out, I saw Naea approaching with healing energy burning on her hands.

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Skill Unlocked - Mana Barrier

An adept use of mana by a promising novice, this shielding skill’s versatility makes it widely used.

I ignored the implied sass from the System. Waking up to this prompt cheered me up in spite of the pain still throbbing in my lower half. That this eureka moment of magic, a completely new ability pulled out thin air by hopes, dreams and force of will, was considering the work of a novice was jarring. Not as jarring as the itching in my lower leg, but it hurt me in a different way.

When I first interacted with the System, I had found magic. Due to the threat on my life, I had much of the wonder involved, but that was to be expected. The real issue was that I had stopped trying to experiment and push the boundaries of what I could do. I stopped looking at my mana almost the second Dao came into the picture. I didn’t think that was something to be suspicious of, but it was a habit I meant to change.

The System screens were to distract me from the general gore of my own body. I had been injured a fair amount since all of this began, but watching myself get put back together still turned my stomach. Instead, I watched Naea’s mana as it healed me, knitting the muscles, flesh and bone back together. In short order, I was wiggling my toes once more. The only real damage remaining was to my trouser leg, and that was repaired in real time due to my mana and its ability.

I groaned as I pulled myself to my knee. “Worth it,” I told Naea, patting the leg. “I got a new skill.”

“Mmm,” she nodded, “I saw. I should try to kill you more often.”