The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2) Craig Kobayashi (top 5 books to read TXT) 📖

For long, panic-inducing seconds, Garath’s heart stopped beating entirely. He grew suddenly and uncontrollably dizzy. In a merging of body and Mana, Garath’s heart started beating again, sending tiny slivers of the neon orb throughout his body with each pump.

A notification appeared, visible to the Necrologist even with his eyes squeezed shut in a hate-fueled rage. Instinctively though, Garath opened his eyes to read the system notification.

His vision was a hazy vignette. Despite the too-drunk feeling of dizziness and nausea threatening to overtake him, Garath could make out the blurry forms of Athios and Sharon behind the semi-transparent words in front of him. They both looked scared and deeply concerned. He hoped for a second that nothing terrible had happened while he’d had his eyes closed, and then he passed out.

Chapter Twenty-One – A Cuddly Demon?

When Garath’s consciousness returned, his eyelids felt heavy, and he had to lay there for a time. Even with his eyes closed, Garath could tell that he was lying down, face-up in the grass outside the Guild Hall. The same place he’d been when…

Garath remembered what had led up to his sudden loss of consciousness and his mind’s eye turned frantically to inspect his Mana pool. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw only calm, sapphire energy pooled at his center. When he refilled his lungs through his nose, the familiar and welcome scent of Athios tickled his nostrils. The scent reminded his still-swimming mind of the moment he’d shared with the dark-haired beauty earlier that day, and the happy memory granted Garath the strength he needed to finally open his eyes.

Athios sat a few inches away from him, her dark eyes staring into the sky, nervously removing braids from her hair. Garath watched silently until Athios’ hair once again hung loosely around her shoulders. She leaned back and shook her head lightly before carefully separating her hair into even thirds, and then began to weave it into a braid once again. Garath watched three full iterations of her braid forming and reforming in silent appreciation of her features before the gig was up.

“About time you came back around,” came the accusatory tone of Sharon’s voice from somewhere to his right. “You had us worried.”

Garath didn’t look away from Athios. She turned quickly to check on him, dropping a half-formed braid to hang unfinished against her back. Athios flung herself onto him, wrapping both arms around his neck to cradle his head. The obvious relief that swept across her face upon seeing him conscious again had to have been the sweetest thing Garath had ever seen. He knew that Athios returned his feelings for her, but there was something honest in her expression at that moment. Garath did his best to record this memory in all of its oh-so-touching detail, then slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

“What happened?” Athios asked. “The glowy thing your eyes do started doing a strobe light, like on/off thing under your eyelids, then…” Athios didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she motioned at Garath lying on the ground.

“I was trying to unlock Spell Design, then Handsome started giving me advice,” Garath said, realizing then that he’d just taken advice from a demon without even thinking about it.

“Handsome? You took advice from a demon that takes naps in corpses after eating their hearts?” Athios asked, incredulous. “Is that how you got these new tattoos?”

“I did that,” Garath admitted, scratching at the back of his head sheepishly. “Tattoos?” He looked down and sure enough, a tangle of twisted, neon-green ribbons branched up and down the length of his arms. Garath stood up and lifted his shirt up to his chest, revealing more tattoos, all branching out from a central location on his chest. Curiously, Garath pulled the front of his jeans out a bit to inspect his parts. Thankfully, there were no neon-green tattoos on his man-bits, but they did wrap all the way down his legs.

“Probably,” Garath said. He was sure that Handsome hadn’t been trying to do anything that would hurt him. At least he was pretty sure. After Handsome evolved into a Cambionic Flayer, the system prompt said that the little winged demon would no longer be looking for opportunities to harm him. Or something like that. Then Garath remembered a prompt had appeared seconds before he passed out. “Whatever happened, I think it worked. Give me a second to read my prompts.”

Athios and Sharon stared at Garath with the exact same expression over folded arms. The look said it all. Are you seriously this stupid?

Garath noticed, but didn’t care—he was excitedly opening his notifications. There were a lot more of the informational system messages than he was expecting but, thanks to a change he’d made in his MENU settings, they appeared chronologically.

Congratulations, Garath! You have unlocked the Master Necrologist Ability, The Demon Within.

The following changes have taken place:

A Tainted Soul partition has been added to your MENU panels.

Your spells with the additional cost “Tainted Soul” now provide two stacks of Tainted Soul instead of one.

In your natural form, Tainted Soul now… Error.

Know this, Garath:

Through no fault of your own, a system error has occurred, due to the blessing placed on your natural form by the Cait Sith, Tarzan. The Necrologist Ability, The Demon Within, has been rendered ineffective.

Please remain patient while a solution is prepared.

Know this, Garath, Leader of Man:

Again, you are truly blessed. Use wisely the gifts you have been given.

Congratulations, Garath!

Your Master Necrologist Ability, The Demon Within, has been converted to a new Master Necrologist Ability, The Demon Without.

The following changes have taken place:

You are now in command of an Onikasha.

A Profile has been added to the Summoned Creatures partition of your MENU panels for your Onikasha.

Your spells with the additional cost “Tainted Soul” now provide two stacks of Tainted Soul instead of one.

In your natural form, the additional spell cost “Tainted Soul”