Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

The System window appeared in front of Michael almost immediately. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at it. As expected, there were far too many Skills to choose from. Michael took a deep breath.

I miss your advice, old man.

He almost felt like he could still see Tairy standing to the side with his arms crossed, ready to answer any of Michael's questions. Michael smiled bitterly and started looking through the list. At the very least, he could still remember Tairy's key advice. It would have to be enough.

It's time I got some new Active Skills, but I also need to merge and get more Passive Skills.

It wouldn't surprise him if there were even Hybrid Skills in this selection. While it would be better for him to slowly learn more spells on his own and get Active Skills that way, there was no longer anyone to teach him. In this scenario, simply relying on the System was the most effective path to power, given his time constraints. To top it all off, he was beginning to find his current Active Skills too limited. There wasn't much he could do with them, despite the power he could put into each of them. He needed some variety.

With this in mind, Michael read the entire list before choosing any Skill. Despite the list's size, progress was quick, since his mental stats allowed him to read and understand what he was reading at superhuman speeds. Once it was finished, he went back to the top and started choosing the Skills that would be most useful. Alongside that, he started merging the Skills that could be merged, whether they were old Skills or new ones. Of course, since the fusion of Active Skills required proficiency with both Skills, most of the merging happened with the Passive Skills.

Time ticked by. Finally, Michael reached the end of his selection. The System window disappeared.

Status Window.

The new System screen unfolded in front of him.

Status Window

Name: Michael Gray

Level: 71

Race: Draconic Human (C)

Class: Newborn Caster

Job: None.

Stats

Strength: 892

Dexterity: 929

Endurance: 885

Constitution: 1708

Intelligence: 1838

Wisdom: 1903

Will: 12

Free points: 190

Skill Points: 0

Active Skills

Arcane Missile (E); Analyze (F); Mana Barrier (E); Sharp Magic Crescent (E), Whisper (F), Heal (E), Twin Casting (E), Arcane Edge (E), Fireball (E), Earth Spike (E), Shroud (F); Royal Eagle Eye (E); Mana Field (E); Earthen Restraint (E); Scorching Ray (E); Wind Blades (E), Dual Casting (C); Ice Prison (E); Flowing Torrent (E); Fire Field (E); Lightning Bolt (D).

Passive Skills

Peace of Mind (D), Haste (E), Mana Amplification (D), Strengthening (E), Magic Penetration (E); Mana Affinity (D), Keen Perception (D), Bulwark (D), Clear Spirit (D), Sharp Mind (E), Greater Manathirst (D), Greater Casting (D), Dual Mind (D), Simultaneous Flow (D), Iron Frame (D), Grit (D), Echo (D).

Hybrid Skills

Hatchling's Dragonheart (C), Astral Meditation (D), Resonance (D), Edge of Desperation (D).

Heritage

Blessing of Light: Cleansing, Illumination, Lightspeed.

Majesty

Will of Defiance.

Runes

Rune of Shadows.

Titles

Dragon's Descendant; Experienced Mage; Draconic Blessing, Mushroom Hunter, Bluestone Village's First Star, The Monster of Bluestone Village, Exterminator, Slayer of the Forgotten, Purifier, Remembrance, Sacrifice of Light and Darkness, Master of Skills.

Michael looked straight at his Skills, since his stats and Level hadn't changed. First, he'd acquired a few Active Skills that sought to bolster his arsenal a bit. Apart from Ice Prison, which was similar to Earthen Restraint, the others were offensive Skills. Both Fire Field and Flowing Torrent were meant to improve his area-of-effect capabilities, since he was limited to Magic Crescent when it came to that. On that note, he'd also managed to fuse the Skill into Sharp Magic Crescent by picking up another Active Skill, improving its base abilities considerably.

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Because my stats are so high, my AoE Skills are capable of outperforming single-target Skills considerably.

It was no exaggeration to say that against ordinary enemies, they would be more effective than several single-target Skills, even in single combat. Michael had also upgraded Eagle Eye into Royal Eagle Eye to improve his sight even further.

Lastly, he looked at the new Active Skill that he sincerely believed was now his most effective one.

Lightning Bolt.

Its rank was low due to the slow casting speed and relatively low accuracy, but no matter what, lightning was lightning. It was simply too fast for most enemies to avoid at all.

Accuracy can be improved with time, and the casting time can be made up for.

When supported by good enough Passive Skills and mastery, he had no doubt that the Skill would be fearsome. While it would have been a gamble for an ordinary individual to acquire the Skill at this point in time, Michael didn't have that worry at all. He had enough Skill Points to bet on something like this.

Nodding to himself, Michael moved on to his Passive Skills. His Status Window looked much cleaner now that they had reduced in number a bit due to the fusions. He'd merged many Skills, including existing ones that he already had. By supplementing those with new Skill acquisitions, he had managed to continue the fusion process. Even though many of the Skills hadn't exactly improved in rank, their growth was considerable. For example, Mana Strengthening and Amplification had merged to become Mana Amplification, which held the same rank as Amplification. However, not only had the range of effects grown, but the effects themselves had also improved.

I feel like it gets harder for Skills to get a higher rank the further I go.

It made sense, now that he thought about it, for the gap between a C-ranked Skill and a D-ranked Skill to be greater than the one between F rank and E rank.

"These damn game-like mechanics," Michael muttered under his breath.

That said, some of his Passive Skills had fused to become a Skill of a higher rank, such as Danger Sense and Perception, which had become Keen Perception. Michael hovered his gaze over the two Passive Skills he considered to be his greatest additions.

Greater Manathirst and Echo.

They were simple in concept. Greater Manathirst was simply the result of fusing Manathirst and Greater Efficiency, with the sole purpose of making his spells as efficient as possible to cast. With this Skill, alongside his vast mana reserves that came from his lineage, the risk of running out of mana during a battle almost didn't exist.

Not when my Active Skills are so cheap.

Michael smiled. With this, he was even freer to spam as many Skills as he could. Even if the giant trees' defenses were able to resist his spells, all he needed to do was keep throwing even more spells at them. Even the rain could whittle down a rock over time, and his magic was no rain. With this, his odds had improved.

Finally, he looked at Echo. Its effects were quite simple, but almost monumental to someone like him. He opened its information.

[Passive Skill

Echo (D): magic is nothing but a song of mana. Some are able to manipulate this song, granting it the reverberation it needs to last.

Effects: Your spells have a 5% chance of having effects increased by 50%.]

Michael smiled at the System window. Not only was the Skill incredibly compatible with Greater Manathirst, which allowed him to cast so many more spells, but also very powerful on its own. While the 5% chance didn't seem like much, to someone like him who could Dual Cast almost endlessly, the odds could become stacked in his favor very quickly.

With a satisfied nod, he closed his Status Window and the Skill's information window. Then, he slowly stretched his body. Once he was done, he looked at the Elder Chief's Staff.

It's about time I replace you, I think.

The problem with that was that, from what he knew, Equipment only really dropped in Dungeons. Since killing the Trees was a much better use of his time, he would have to sacrifice some of his own growth for the chance of obtaining a piece of Equipment that was not only a staff or wand, but also better than the one he already owned. Michael furrowed his brow.

…Doesn't really sound productive. I should wait until the others have mapped out which Dungeon consists of what.

He'd acquired the Elder Chief's Staff from a wizard lizardman, so it stood to reason that the Equipment was related to the Bosses they dropped from. As such, it would be best to have more information at hand instead of hastily trying to dive into Dungeon after Dungeon.

Michael let out a small sigh and cast Whisper. Once the ethereal mouth of energy took shape, it spoke in Allison's voice.

"Michael? Did something happen?"

He smiled. Mom's first words were, as usual, ones of concern.

"No, not really," he replied in a soft tone. "I'll just be running all around the city from now on, so I'll Whisper to either you or one of the others to keep up with you guys' condition and progress."

Allison went silent for a few seconds.

"…At least come back to eat."

Michael's smile gained a bitter edge.

"…I might. Don't worry. Is everything alright?"

There was no need to tell her that with his stats and mana, he didn't need to eat for long periods of time.

"Yes. We're just waiting for things to calm down a bit before deciding what to do. Wait and see. People have stopped yelling in the streets, but that only makes me more anxious."

Michael's gaze softened.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen inside the Safe Zone. Just get some rest. I'll stay in contact, so you can rely on me if something does happen."

"Alright. Stay safe, son."

She sounded sad, but Michael tried not to pay it any heed. He dismissed the spell and sighed deeply.

"Okay," he said to himself. "Let's become a better lumberjack."

He jumped straight upward, quickly gaining altitude. Floating in the air with Wind Blades, he quickly located the nearest Tree and flew toward it. It had violet leaves and a brown, wooden-looking trunk. Once he arrived near it, the battle quickly began. It took less than thirty seconds for it to end. Armed with his new Skills, Michael was able to quickly overcome the enemy with little effort. With that done, he rose to the skies again to look for the next Tree.

This pattern repeated itself as the sun slowly sank under the horizon, replaced by the night sky and the stars, which could now finally shine. Once the night was at its deepest, a System notification rang out in Michael's mind.

Standing over the broken pieces of a twenty-meter-tall Tree, Michael looked at the System notifications in front of him, baffled.

[The first day after the Tutorial has ended. The new Earth has shown its fangs. Under these dark skies, you only have one another to rely on.]

[But to grow stronger, it is not enough.]

[Two months after the Tutorial's end, the barriers surrounding the Safe Zones will disappear. The Safe Zones will also disappear.]

[Survive.]