Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

With his back against the wall and the cold stone digging into his painful behind, Ethan finished admiring his still modest but hard earned status page and loaded up the upgrades he had available. In the corner of his eyes, he could see the man that had tried to kill him, but he forced his gaze away.

This was not the time for it. He still didn't feel that good about it, but having had to fight for his life against a swarm of scale-covered humanoids definitely helped put things in perspective.

Looking at the roman numeral next to the tier, I believe that's a tracker for upgrade. Which means that the Arcanum came with one spellform capacity upgrade, otherwise the number in parenthesis doesn't make any sense. I guess I'll confirm soon, considering all of these upgrades. Now, let's see what we're working with.

Lesser Arcanum

Available upgrades

Tier upgrade (Tier-1 → Tier-2): Increase the Arcanum's tier, empowering its capabilities and unlocking more upgrades - 100 fragments

Spellform Bonus (Tier-0 → Tier-1): Increase Spellform bonus from 10% to 15% - 20 fragments

Mana Regeneration (Tier-0 → Tier-1): Increase the Arcanum's mana regeneration - 15 fragments

Spell Capacity (3 → 4): Increase the Arcanum's spell capacity by one - 15 fragments

Ethan raised a brow at the list. It was much longer than he'd expected, considering he'd had only one available upgrade before the Arcanum's tier-up. The first item that attracted his attention was of course the next tier upgrade and how expensive it was. But of course, he was in no rush to get there. Hoarding fragments just so he could unlock more upgrades didn't seem efficient. Instead, it was the other many upgrades he should be getting first.

That might confirm that the Arcanums are regenerating my mana. Unless I'm mistaken that means my Mana stat is the storage, while the Arcanum is how I regenerate. It's pretty affordable as well. But so is the spellform bonus.

That left out spell capacity, but he was in no rush for that one. After all, he just had the one, right now.

I should slot that soon.

Glancing back up at the tier-up upgrade, he wondered if it would allow him more spellforms. Ethan believed that the next form would be there. But he guessed he would soon find out.

I'm going to need a lot more fragments, that's for sure.

Ethan rested his head against the wall. "Everything hurts," he mumbled. Even breathing was painful, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, every micro-movement was making him wince in pain. Inhaling through gritted teeth, and closed his eyes for a second. He wasn't going to sleep. He just needed to rest his eyes. His ears were on high alert, listening for any noise. Whether it be wind, screeches, or steps.

There were people around, clearly enough. Should he try to find them?

His brows knitted. If people were turning on each other, he'd rather keep some distance. Then again, he shouldn't lump everyone into the psycho he'd just met.

Alright. Maybe not big groups. But if someone needs help, then I should give a hand. Otherwise, I'm better off being on my own. At least for a bit until I get my legs under me.

His features relaxed, before they scrunched again with a pained groan. Also, he should try and see if Luther was in this group. Right now, he had no clue if the participant have been mixed and matched. Maybe Luther was around. Maybe some people he knew as well.

Faces he knew paraded in his mind's eye, and he stilled when a particular one lingered for a second. A flare of heat surged in his chest, and for a moment, he forgot about the pain. The he pushed the thoughts away.

No. What are the odds of him showing up here.

Pushing the unpleasant memories aside, Ethan opened his eyes and brought up his wand menu. He'd deal with social situation when he would get to them but for now, he had a modifier spell to test out. Following the quick tutorial he had seen earlier, Ethan slotted the spell and observed the couple of lines that had changed in his Arcanum's status.

At first, he tried dropping [Flaming Enhancement] on the second box. The one that said "none". But it didn't work. So he dropped it on Claws, and both in the interface and within his chest he felt something click. He brought the configuration screen up again.

Lesser Arcanum

Spells: None

Spellform: [[Flaming][Claws]]

Spell Capacity: 1/3

Spellform Capacity (I): 1/1

So when a modifier-spell is combined to a spellform, it uses a regular spell slot?

That was good to know. And as he turned his focus inward, he sense the trigger for the new spell, ready to activate.

Hopefully, it doesn't burn me.

Ethan triggered the spell and in the same manner as every other spell activation, mana rushed out of his chest, flowing down toward his clawed hands. A heartbeat later, his hands ignited with a woosh that made him shrink back.

Ethan waited for the pain to scream into his mind. A second. Two seconds.

Nothing. No pain. Well, not new pain that is. Only a comfortable heat radiating off of his claws, and dancing yellow and orange flames.

And the sensation of his soul being sucked dry.

"Ugh."

Ethan groaned and disabled the magic. It was like something had just scooped out a part of his heart and made firewood out of it. He had to breathe deep for a few seconds until the feeling lost its edge, but the verdict was clear.

[Flaming Enhancement] was writing checks his mana reserves couldn't cash.

I guess my next investment would have to be Mana Regeneration. I could hold these flames for a few seconds, but not indefinitely.

He'd have to get some more fragments before that.

Giving his mana a chance to recover, he tried again a couple of minutes later. The fire surged around his claws. Ethan turned his hands this way and that, looking for a target to test his flames on. Glanced down at a glassy-eyed lizardling near him, he touched its leg with his burning hand.

Smoke immediately began wafting off its scales, quickly telling him that while he was immune to his own fire, others wouldn't be. Just to confirm, he touched his own bicep, but only felt a comfortable heat, which made him smile for a second before he smelled burnt cloth and was forced to extinguish his hands and smother his burning sleeve.

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The flame didn't hurt his enhanced hand, but it could definitely damage his clothes. Which might become a problem. Ethan dismissed the claws as his reserves were getting dangerously low and pulled up the new side quest.

Side quest:

Reach level 10

Reward:

1 trait from a list of tailored options.

3 stat points.

He was almost there. What kind of trait was he going to get?

I guess I'll see when I get to the next level. For now, I've got a stat point to assign.

Mana? He needed that one. He needed more regeneration as well, but for that he needed fragments. More Toughness? That could help with the pains he was currently experiencing. Might to start taking advantage of the bonus? The stat itself was still pretty low, so he wasn't sure of the efficiency just yet. Spirit? What did that one even do, actually?

Ethan frowned for a second, then decided he could figure that out at a later time and narrowed his options to Mana or Toughness. One was dangerously low. The second saved his life and he could use more of it right about now.

Toughness is pretty high, right now. At sevent points, I just need to rest and let it work its magic to heal me up. On the other hand, some extra mana reserves would be good. Plus, who knows? Maybe there's something out there that can snuff out my claws. If I find myself in a situation where I need to keep recasting [Claws], I'm screwed.

With that, Ethan assigned the point to Mana, then leaned back against the wall. His body was slightly less sore. The many stabs—most were superficial—still radiated pain, but they were getting better. Thankfully, he wasn't bleeding badly, as far as he could see.

Well. Not externally, at least. Though he felt like Toughness should protect him a bit from internal bleeding. If not… He'd had a good run. He doubted there were hospitals nearby anyway.

But maybe there's healing spells out there? That would be useful to have.

Ethan closed his eyes for a few more moments. Since this had started, he'd been caught in the system messages, the lizardlings, the side quests. He hadn't had a chance to think about the outside world at all.

He recalled the messages. Something about realities being found? They spoke about sub-par mana levels and tampering. Did that mean his home world has had its magic cut off?

Lots of questions he'd like the answers to. Eventually.

For now, he needed to survive.

***

A scratchy voice suddenly reached his ears and Ethan's eyes shot open. It took him a second to realize the voices were coming from down the hall, and that he'd dozed off.

Dammit. At least they're stupid enough to be loud.

He must have been out of it for a few minutes. Maybe a bit more, considering how much his aches and pain had reduced. They weren't all gone, of course. But he felt like he could stand somewhat effortlessly.

Toughness for the win.

Ethan cautiously turned and saw two lizardlings come around the corner. Levels 4 and 5.

"We should go back. Tell the chieftain."

"Shut it. We can harvest them first. Share their fragments. Then we can be chieftains."

The two slowly approached, and Ethan stayed unmoving. Tracking the two lizardlings from the corner of his barely open eyes and a few seconds, he saw one of them look at before it growled.

"More filthy humans. See if it's dead, otherwise let's drag it and put it in cage with the others" it groused as it pushed a dead lizardling over. It looked around and its yellow eyes narrowed as it carefully stepped over a corpse. "Where are the fragm—"

Ethan's claws ignited and shot forward. The two screeched with surprise as the talons sliced through the throat of the first one. Blood sizzled and smoked as it hit the wall. The second recoiled in shock, but Ethan didn't kill it. Instead, he took its legs from under it with a well-placed low kick right before he stood up. Then, aiming his claw at the lizardling's face, he asked. "Where are the humans you just spoke of? And what level is your chieftain?"

The lizardling's lip-less mouth stretched wide, baring its sharp yellow teeth. "I'll tell you. So he can break your bones and add you to the cage with the other humans. And then we'll—"

Ethan touched the lizardling's bare chest, and it screeched with pain.

"Stop wasting time and start talking."

***

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 4]

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 5]

Lesser Arcanum: 8 fragments collected.

In the end, the lizardling had spilled the details pretty quickly. It could have lied, of course, but it really did seem to trust its chieftain to be able to bring him down.

It was supposedly at Level 14, which would mean it'd be a tough fight. But not impossible. Especially if he could pick-off a few more lizardlings before getting there.

I must be close to level 10. The trait and the extra points could come in handy.

Ethan made his way down the stairs where the torch was still lit, then turned right.

The hall was empty this time around.

Light on his feet, Ethan briskly creeped down the corridor, then turned left, killed two more lizardlings for 4 fragments, then took another left and followed the torches. A minute later, he found the camp.

Not level 10 yet. But I should be able to do this…

That chieftain sounded like a good bag of levels, and clearing the rest of the camp should net him some more levels and fragments. It was sparsely populated, but the few lizardlings he could see were armed. Nothing he shouldn't be able to handle. Only the chieftain posed a threat. As long as he dispatched the others quickly, he'd be fine.

Eying the space, he guessed it used to be some sort of reception area. A wide open hall with a large fire at the center, and torn clothes or just leathers to serve as beds. Beyond the fire, he could see cages, but he couldn't make out the people that were supposed to be in them.

He would have loved to have more time to play with the fire he could now summon. Test out its limits and what not. But what if these people didn't survive the time it took him to experiment? Ethan didn't think of himself as a hero, but he wasn't going to let potentially decent people get devoured by these weirdoes.

One last thing, though.

Ethan still wanted to save up for the Unique Trait upgrade, but there was no need to be too greedy, especially when he was about to head into a big fight.

Lesser Arcanum: Mana Regeneration (Tier-0 → Tier-1):

Increase the Arcanum's mana regeneration - 15 fragments

Ethan took a few deep breaths, then applied the upgrade. When the process was over, he could distinctly sense the tingly energy permeate through his hands. He might have missed it if he hadn't been watching out for it.

With that done, he was ready.

Ethan ignited his hands and stepped into the room, heart hammering in his ears. But not from fear.

As the first lizardlings warbled out a screechy warning, Ethan chided himself as he lunged toward his first victim, a lizardling holding up a spear and a savage looking expression.

Stop grinning, you weirdo, he told himself.

He couldn't help it, though. This was too much fun.