Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) Jez Cajiao (top ten books of all time TXT) 📖

I asked the wisp, and I felt the bone deep weariness in it, as it responded with a sigh.

“There have been attempts to destroy the Prax before. This facility is designed to protect against that. The shame I feel that we are the first to fail and fall, is enough. Please, let me rest. Soon enough, the others will recover us, and we will be returned to our rightful place in the heavens, patrolling and protecting the Empire.”

“You think that the other Prax will come for you?”

“Of course; they must be nearly here by now. I sense we have slumbered long years, and more since I was last reawakened…”

“The Empire collapsed. There is no one coming, wisp…” I started to say and I felt fury rise in the mind I dimly sensed in the distance.

“Speak not such lies! The Empire stands, and will stand forever! The Eternal Emperor protects the realms of light, and the Gods would never permit otherwise!”

“Fuck.” I said, then closed my eyes, realizing I’d sent that to the wisp as well. “Okay, I am the Scion of the Empire; do you dispute this?”

“I cannot verify your claim, not without blood and access to your mind,” the wisp said cautiously, clearly both unsure if I would allow this, and unwilling to accept my words as true.

“Then I grant you access to my mind,” I said, looking around. “And the gods know there’s enough of my goddamn blood spilled in here today already…”

“I must draw the blood…”

“Ha! Nothing’s ever easy, is it? Fine, draw the blood yourself and touch my mind; see what you find there.”

I stepped forward, getting close enough to the pool of liquid silver that my face was all that I could see, and I tried to stay still as a thin tendril lifted out and moved toward me slowly.

I tried not to imagine the liquid silver killing machines from the movies, but damn, it was hard, especially when the tendril paused in front of my eye.

I had a horrified second, thinking it was going to spear me through, when a minuscule section flashed out and rested against my temple, and I got a prompt pop up.

Do you wish to allow this Vault-locked Wisp to access your mind?

Yes/No

I selected Yes, and for a second, I felt a confused welter of images stream past my mind’s eye, many of them focusing on Oracle for some reason, and then with a tiny flare of pain, the liquid silver tendril detached from my skull and flowed back to the rest of the puddle.

I straightened and backed away slightly, noting the single ruby red drop of blood the tendril had retreated with.

I waited for long seconds, then finally spoke up when I saw Yen making a gesture to get my attention, then a frantic one upwards, that I guessed meant something along the lines of: ‘They’re coming, we have to go, my lord’.

Or it could have been ‘You’re an asshole, and you stink’, considering the way the day had gone. I waved to her and turned back to the puddle, jerking back in shock.

A mirror image of Oracle was seated on the side of the Vault in defiance of gravity, watching me.

She was also noticeably naked.

I flinched at the thought of going through all of this again and shook my head firmly.

“No,” I said. “Not that form. Pick another.”

“But…” the little wisp started to say, consternation on her tiny, beautifully familiar face.

“No!” I said firmly. “You do not mimic her, not ever. She is my partner, my love, and you might look like her, but you’re not her, okay? Please, pick another form… and include clothes!” I added hurriedly, even as a little voice in the back of my head piped up with some remarkably interesting and filthy suggestions. I drowned it out, concentrating on the fact that the world had just gone to shit, culminating with me chopping my own damn arm off. There was no need to be getting frisky thoughts, especially not right now.

The wisp paused for a long series of heartbeats, before finally changing to an entirely new form, as a six-inch tall woman with foxes’ ears and a bushy tail that flitted from side to side. She wore a perfectly fitted suit that reminded me of a combination of an old English sea captain and a librarian, the fabric a deep, rich blue, with a white shirt and sparkling silver buttons that gleamed as she stood up straight and buffed her nails on her jacket.

“Very well, Master. Is this form more to your liking?” the wisp asked, then glanced down at herself, expanding the chest noticeably. “Or I could…”

“Nope!” I cut her off hurriedly. “The original version is fine!”

“Very well,” she repeated, nonchalantly shifting back. “I have accessed your mind, Master, and I find much to be concerned about, not least the fact that my Prax has likely been boarded by now, by creatures that are inimical to sentient life. I recommend we eliminate them immediately, then begin recovery of the Prax.”

“Can we do that?” I asked her, and she nodded.

“It is possible, though it may take many years,” she said, as though that was a minor detail. “First, we must activate the mana collectors. There are two levels of collection: the standard, as a Prax under no threat rests, and the advanced, or War footing. I recommend…” she said, her voice droning on.

“And that’s enough,” I said firmly. “We don’t have the time to fuck about right now. Tell me straight: can we kill the SporeMothers and hold the Prax with the force you see here, and can the Prax be brought back to flight-capable status in any realistically short timeframe? You’ve searched my mind; you know what I’m up against.”

“Yes… it is possible to secure my Prax, and the repairs could be managed by the onboard compliment of Golems, once they were charged up. It would take several months to stabilize, followed by a few years of repairs … but…”

“Months isn’t an