The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) A. Kay (best management books of all time .TXT) 📖

Spell: Short Fuse

Effect: 10% weapon damage per spell level to all enemies within 12 feet.

Spell: Untouchable

Effect: Increase Parry by 2% per spell level for 30 minutes.

Spell: Power Nap

Effect: For 30 minutes, increase Health Regeneration by 50% per spell level while out of combat.

Spell: Sucker Punch

Effect: On next strike, increase weapon damage by 50% per spell level.

Spell: Intervene

Effect: Absorb 20% of an attack aimed at target per spell level.

Spell: Air Shield

Effect: Reduce all missile damage by 5% per spell level.

Spell: Warm Welcome

Effect: Throw a magical flaming dagger that stuns the target for 1/2 a second per spell level.

Spell: Leeching Blow

Effect: For 30 minutes, heal for 5% of damage dealt per spell level.

During the camping trip, Ruwen remembered Fighters in the breakfast line arguing with the Order Class Ascendants that were planning on being Enforcers. He’d thought the Fighters were just jerks, but he could see now where some of that attitude came from. The Enforcers were valuable for their auras that helped everyone around them, but Fighters were pure mayhem. Not only that, but they were difficult to kill.

Ruwen still needed to look through the abilities and spells past level five, but it would have to wait, as everyone would be here soon. He closed his Profile and opened his eyes.

“Ah!” Ruwen shouted in surprise.

Whiskers stood next to Ruwen, and the cat’s face hovered an inch above his. The magical cat had resumed its large, guardian, form, and the cat’s huge face blocked out the sky.

Ruwen had the irrational fear Whiskers might chomp down and bite his head off. He rolled to the side and quickly stood. Whiskers lifted his head and stared at Ruwen with unblinking eyes.

“That’s disturbing, Whiskers,” Ruwen said.

Lylan appeared out of thin air next to the cat, and this time Ruwen didn’t jump in surprise, barely. That woman moved like a shadow.

“Who’s a good kitty?” Lylan asked as she reached up and scratched Whiskers under the chin. The cat purred and half-closed his eyes.

Ruwen heard the rest of the group not far behind, so he turned and strode toward the lake.

Lir? Ruwen asked.

Yes.

How many Temple Guardians do we have?

Eight functional. Four more can be repaired once adequate terium levels are reached.

That surprised Ruwen. Deepwell only had four, and there were a couple at the terium mine. He didn’t know how many were in Stone Harbor, but he doubted it was twelve. Eiru must have really been large.

Ruwen asked his next question. Are you aware of the imminent invasion?

Yes. My siblings have encountered some incursions as well.

I hope in the next few days we’ll have the resources needed to revive people. But I don’t want to wait that long to understand our situation. Can you give me some specifics about the Guardians?

Ruwen knew his mistake as soon as the question finished.

Lir began. Made from an alloy of terium and—

Stop. I’m sorry. Ruwen thought for a moment on how best to get the information he wanted while avoiding the sinkholes of Lir’s literal interpretation of everything. Let me ask a better question. How would you use the Guardians to scout this invading army?

I would reconfigure three Guardians from assault to stealth, place one underground, one above treeline, and the last, depending on cloud cover, approximately two thousand feet high. I would move them clockwise in a loose spiral outward using an equation with a radius of—

Stop. How long would it take to reconfigure three Guardians from assault to stealth?

Two minutes, six seconds, four hundred twenty-eight milliseconds.

From now on, unless I ask, seconds are all the precision I need.

Understood.

I don’t want to lose any Guardians, so they need to prioritize their safety first.

They can be set to “cautious,” which will avoid contact. It will slow the survey, however.

That’s fine. I don’t like how blind we are. Please proceed with the reconfiguration and cautious survey.

As you wish, Architect Starfield.

Ruwen stopped at the lake’s edge and peered at the far shore. It reminded him of the Bone Sculptor and the trick he’d played on them. There were still bones scattered about, and Ruwen wondered how they were going to gather them all up. But that was a problem for another day.

The others were near, their conversations preceding them, and Ruwen turned to meet everyone.

Sift held Shelly in his palm, and he lifted her to eye height. “Okay, spill it.”

Everyone had arrived and gathered in a semi-circle around Ruwen.

Ruwen pointed at Shelly. “That is no ordinary turtle.”

Sift brought Shelly back down and rubbed her shell with his thumb. “No kidding, genius, she’s the cutest turtle in the world.”

“That’s probably true, but she also likes to travel,” Ruwen said.

“Just like me,” Sift said.

Ruwen wondered if that desire to see new things was one of the reasons the turtle had chosen Sift.

“I think Shelly can change her size,” Ruwen said.

“Well, the way Lylan feeds her, she’s going to get fat,” Sift said.

Lylan winced.

Ruwen tried again. “I think in the Spirit Realm, that creature swimming below our raft just before Stone Harbor, was Shelly. And the thing that fought Tickles and gave us time to portal through the iris was also Shelly.”

Sift frowned. “Those are your secrets? They’re impossible.”

“I haven’t told you the impossible stuff yet. Rami found a description of Shelly’s kind being gigantic.” Ruwen left out the eating stars part.

Sift looked doubtful.

Ruwen pushed ahead. “And they carried people. Like some sort of turtle ship.”

Sift turned to Hamma. “I think he got scrambled when this place revived him. Are you sure he’s okay?”

Hamma looked worried as well.

“Have you had any luck talking to her?” Ruwen asked Sift.

Sift shook his head.

Ruwen bit his lip, getting worried himself. “Let's just try something. Put her down, and we’ll all give her some space. Then try telling her the two of us need to go northwest.”

Sift shrugged, sat Shelly on the ground, and then everyone backed away fifty feet. The little turtle crawled toward the shore and disappeared into the water.

Ruwen’s hopes fell. He turned to Sift. “Are you thinking at her?”

“Yes.”

Ruwen rubbed his