Godspawn Ascendant [LitRPG, Epic Progression Fantasy]

I knew I'd have to endure a significant crash back to reality once I stopped cycling a consistent supply of essence through my body, especially with the mass of streams I continued to send to the wound in my leg. But I couldn't think about that now.

There were still just over a dozen monsters to deal with, and everyone in Elite Group #1 looked as if they'd fall over at any second. The two tall boys in my group, Dratha and Hilgar, stood back to back, working together as they sliced at oncoming monsters, Dratha with his axe and Hilgar with his simple longsword. But their motions seemed to slow with every strike, and the evident weariness on their faces seemed to extend through their entire bodies as their shoulders began to droop forward.

Cinthara had a thick gash sliced across her forehead that dirtied the white-blond locks falling over her eyes. But that didn't stop her. A slight purple hue shimmered around her form, similar to the glow I had seen surrounding her when she'd fought the dragon in the cavern. Her eyes glowed as she thrust her rapier this way and that, focusing on the two monsters that towered in front of her but still keeping a careful watch on the smaller one prowling toward her from behind like a hungry lion.

Patricia shot quick shots from her wooden crossbow, expertly throwing spells at the monsters in between every crossbow shot. In her case, Patricia's small build offered her an advantage. Her speed and agility were impressive as she slid under monsters before they could grab at her with their tails or claws, and her shots (both from her crossbow and her spells) hit the majority of the time.

Reese fought similarly to Patricia but with a short bow and speedy, silver-colored arrows that whistled through the air with every shot. And every once in a while, she'd tuck her bow under one of her long arms and conjure her own spells. Reese's spells took longer to cast than it took Patricia to cast hers. However, once Reese successfully conjured a spell, the flash of yellow light that flew from her fingertips proved more than effective. Every time a beam exploded from her fingers, it hit with perfect accuracy in the face of each monster she aimed at–every single time.

Is there something about Reese's spell that achieves 100% accuracy every time it is cast? I wondered. Or has she just honed her Skills really well?

A triumphant cry from Gareth as he sliced through the thick neck of his furry scorpion mutation opponent shook me out of my reverie. I watched in awe as the furry scorpion's head fell to the floor from that one fluid motion of Gareth's sword. The other two monsters he'd been hounded by already lay at his feet in lifeless heaps. He turned toward my other comrades and barreled into the continued fray to aid whoever he could.

Gareth's active intention to provide assistance reminded me that I should do the same. Though I'd only been standing there and catching my breath for mere seconds, the rest of the Scout Supports who made up Elite Group #1 looked as if they'd fall over at any second.

I breathed in deeply through my nose, simultaneously reaching for Reese's yellow light spell with my mind. My natural ability to read and understand the essence that came from her spell allowed me to know that her Skill fell within the parameters that my Skill required me to follow when stealing and duplicating a spell.

"Tier 6 spell," I whispered to myself as the warmth of essence streams spilled into my Soul as I took a copy of Reese's Skill for my own use.

Within half a second, I knew how to use it, and without hesitation, pointed all five of the fingers on my right hand and shot them toward the lion-like creature poised to strike Cinthara from behind.

My aim was perfect. Or, the spell's own accuracy was perfect. I couldn't tell yet. The five beams of light, one from each fingertip, streaked through the air and hit the large lion squarely in the jaw, knocking off a fist-sized patch of fur and skin from its face just an inch or two below its left eye.

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The lion threw its head back and howled, snarling its sharp teeth. It then shot its eyes back and forth in search of the attacker. I ran to the other side of the rift, successfully avoiding the monster's gaze. I had just over two minutes left in my cooldown for the Skill Snare, thanks to the ring that halved my cooldown time–the ring I'd bought in Edrona that I still kept on my right hand at all times. I couldn't cast the stolen spell until the cooldown ran out, or steal another spell, but, in the meantime, there was something else I could try.

TIER 5 SKILL:

ECHO SNARE

-THIS SKILL ALLOWS THE USER TO LEAVE AN ECHO OF THE ESSENCE USED TO

DUPLICATE AND CAST ANOTHER USER'S SPELL FOR 10 SECONDS. IF A

SEPARATE SPELL FROM A TIER 5 OR LOWER USER IS CAST IN THE RANGE OF

THIS ECHO, A WEAKER DUPLICATE OF THE NEW SPELL IS IMMEDIATELY MADE

AVAILABLE TO THE OWNER OF THE ECHO SNARE.

I recalled the description of my new Skill in my head, having read over it quite a few times once I'd received it to make sure I knew exactly what it entailed. And at Tier 7, my Echo Snare Skill had reached Level 2, allowing me to use it on a Tier 7 or lower spell with a trap that would last 20 seconds instead of 10. I hadn't even found a chance to use the new Skill at its first level yet, let alone Level 2.

My fingers trembled, and I could feel a sharp tingling running all over my skin from the anticipation. I wanted to just… cast the Echo Snare, but a lingering doubt floated within my mind.

"Dex? Are you there?"

I had hoped that, when entering this rift, my internal AI companion would return, just like he had when Cinthara and I had unlocked that first cavern.

I tried to mentally call out to him one more time, "Codex?"

Nothing. I had suspected it would be a long shot to have Codex return while in this rift. Though I'd hoped that maybe the appearance of these giant cracks in the surface, these rifts, had something to do with the Lord Solomon caverns that had been popping up at the same time. If Codex's reactivation was any indication of whether or not Lord Solomon was connected to these rifts, then it seemed they, in fact, didn't have anything to do with him.

When I'd received my first Skill, the Skill Snare–what I used to steal and duplicate spells–Dex had been there to help me learn its ways and cast it effectively the first time. Unfortunately, it looked like I had to figure out this Echo Snare on my own.

Casting it was easy enough. My Skills, once I received them, became just as much a part of me as the inner workings of my brain or my heart. It was using them in the most efficient, effective ways possible that could prove a little tricky without Codex. And those were the moments where Dex came in useful, if not the most useful, out of everything else he could do.

Having already recalled all of the essence streams still straggling along from my duplicating and casting Reese's spell, I was ready to go. The Echo Snare Skill required the recycled essence from using my Skill Snare. Luckily, I'd gotten very good at recalling the streams I used, thanks to my training with Nic.

With just a thought, the casting of the Echo Snare flowed from my fingertips. Waves of iridescent blue wiggled through the space and landed in the designated spot I'd directed the trap, directly in front of Patricia and surrounding the area she directed the spells.

It seemed that no one else could see the shimmering Echo Snare hovering in front of Patricia and stretching about five feet on either side of her. If they did, no one reacted to it. Patricia especially would have at least flinched at the sight of a strange, barrier-like spell suddenly appearing just inches from her nose.

Maybe the invisibility of my Echo Snare had something to do with my ability to use essence in ways others couldn't. While other spells could be seen, like the spells I stole and duplicated from others, perhaps a spell that I had to literally sculpt while using essence streams as the medium acted differently to the eyes of those who couldn't see the streams like I could.

I dodged a wandering snake tail that suddenly flicked my way. I narrowly escaped a pummeling to my face from the abnormally wide, scale-covered body. I inhaled a sharp breath as I landed back on my feet, aiming my weapon toward the monster. But the snake didn't even notice it had almost hit me; its diamond-shaped eyes glared down at Cinthara as she shouted in its face and threw her blade down on its underbelly over and over again.

Cinthara's pretty face looked haggard. The lids of her eyes drooped similarly to the way her arms trembled, threatening to give out from exhaustion.

I moved to jump in and assist, but a glimmer of gold flashing over the surface of the Echo Snare captured my attention. It had caught something–a spell. Patricia had cast something through the snare.