Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Beyond the purple mushroom forest that stretched in front of him, Ethan could make out similar caves similar to this one. It was like a network of caves connected by wide tunnels, not unlike the one which led up to the castle and the camp. How far this network stretched, Ethan had no clue. Technically, he hadn't even put foot into the forest. Not after seeing that mystic toad one-shot a level 22 toad.

He needed something weaker to cut his teeth on. And he needed to work on his skills.

Waiting to make sure was far enough that he wouldn't stumble upon it, Ethan hid behind a boulder and worked on his flames. It didn't take too long for the toad to head back into the forest and, unfortunately for Ethan, it knew enough to harvest the fallen toad's fragments before taking its leave.

No easy meal for me. Oh well.

In the meantime, he did some training. This time, he tried concentrating the flames around his claws. He wondered if he could heat them up enough so they could slice through anything; but if that was a possibility, it might take a moment. After around half an hour of practice, he was able to focus the flames to stay within half an inch of his Claws, but whenever he pushed for more fire or tried to condense it further, he'd lose control and the flames would burst out.

Well. Good enough for now. Time to find something to hunt.

Creeping away from his safety boulder, Ethan slowly made his way closer to the treeline—or in this case, mushroom-treeline—and decided to carefully and slowly edge his way around, staying near the walls.

His focus, for now, was finding things he could kill for fragments and experience. He needed levels for the side quest and stats, and he needed more mana in his wand. Anything else could wait.

Within a minute of stepping into the mushroom forest, Ethan found a decent target. A thinner, nearly imperceptible tunnel was hidden behind a few bushes and a few artificially placed dead branches, which was exactly what had attracted his attention.

Just beyond them, barely visible, was a lizardling.

[Lizardling - Level 15]

Ethan was almost sure that tunnel would lead to a camp of lizardlings, and between them and laser-shooting toads, he'd rather level through the aggressive little nutjobs. Although clearly, these were a lot stronger than the ones he'd seen above. Or maybe it was just this one?

Only one way to find out.

Glancing around to make sure no other enemies were around, Ethan made his way to the small tunnel in a crouch. When he saw the lizardling suddenly shoot up, he summoned both claws and surged forward.

The lizardling pointed the spear at him and braced, a toothy leer on its face. "A prey throwing itself to me? You will—"

"Shut it."

When Ethan was in range, the lizardling thrust its spear out, but Ethan had been waiting for that. He knocked the spear aside and clawed at the lizardling's face, but the reptile-looking humanoid nimbly jumped back and hissed at him.

"Strong prey. Your fragments will do well in my spear."

Ethan paused as he eyed the creature. This one seemed wordy compared to the others. Maybe they're not all bad? Should he have tried to talk to it first? The ones above had not been innocent, but on the off-chance that these were different, maybe he should have tried a more diplomatic approach.

Plus, these ones would know the area more. They might have a lead on the tutorial's exit.

Worth a shot. Got nothing to lose.

Ethan backed up and raised a palm. "Wait. I want to negotiate an exchange."

The lizardling's eyes widened before they narrowed once more. It bared its teeth and hissed. "We do not negotiate with inferior fleshthings like you," it spat. "You will pay for this insult. We will leave your corpse to rot! WE WILL NOT EVEN—"

Well. I tried, he thought as he lunged forward, cutting off the racist weirdo as it braced once more. Negotiations had fallen through and there was no need to stretch this encounter more than needed.

Before Ethan could reach the lizardling, it stabbed forward, even though it was still out of range. And in that fraction of a second, as he saw the spear move, he recalled it was still an Arcanum.

Arcanums could do crazy things.

Ethan threw himself to the side, hitting the tunnel wall, while a ghostly lance shot out of the spear and almost skewered him.

The lizardling pulled back its spear and readied another thrust as Ethan straightened up. He couldn't rush in a straight line. He couldn't keep dodging either.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Just as the lizardling said something, Ethan had an idea. He grinned, baring his teeth as well, then, as he drew back his arm, he increased its flames.

Light surged behind as his flames roared, casting his shadow over the alarmed lizardling which pointed the spear tip away from Ethan, switching its hold and using the shaft to defend itself from the incoming projectile.

Gotcha.

With the lizardling on the defensive, Ethan rushed forward once more and got to his opponent before it managed to aim the spear head back at him. He punched up, palm out and caught the lizardling in its stomach. It grunted in pain, but Ethan wasn't done.

Now that he was all up in its space, he wasn't letting it breath. Whenever it tried to angle its spear back at him, a flaming claw would cut into its scaly flesh. It defended its vitals well, but with every second that went on, the flames, claws, and heat wore it down. Every few seconds, he would score more and more hits until finally, he saw an opening and kicked the lizardling's leg from under it, right as it was shifting its weight and as it stumbled, Ethan's racked his talons across its throat, tearing out its windpipe and sprayed its smoking blood on the cave wall.

But not before it manage to let a strident call.

The lizardling fell to its knees, its spear finally clattering to the ground as it stared up at him, eyes wide, while behind, the tunnel began filling with more strident calls.

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 15]

You have reached Level 13. 1 stat point awarded.

Arcanum of the Fire Elemental: 9 fragments collected.

Ethan picked up the fragment and ran back out. He couldn't deal with a whole camp of high-level lizardlings. But he could come back in a few moments when the alarm would pass.

He carefully made his way back to his boulder, right outside of the mushroom forest, and took a quick look at the upgrades he had available.

Nothing. I've got 12 fragments. Tier-2 costs a 100, spellform bonus costs 20, and spell capacity cost 15, though I don't need that one right now.

Next, Ethan eyed his stats and tried to decide where he should assign his new free point. He was intending on putting this one in Might, though as he studied the rest of them, he paused on Spirit.

"What is it that you do exactly…hmm?"

Might was putting more strength into his strikes, and while he wanted to start benefiting from his spellform bonus, the sharp claws were making it easy to delay the need for strength. Toughness he was pretty clear on, as well as Mana, which left Spirit.

But he had a theory. And it would cost one point to confirm.

Activating [Claws] in a single hand, Ethan spent a few seconds studying it. He examined the flames, the length of the claws, every small change. He decreased the flames, then pushed them further out, paying attention to the intensity of the change as well as how easy it was.

With this, he could test the effect of Spirit. On both the potency of his spell and his control over them, because… those were the only couple of things he thought Spirit could affect.

Then, he put the stat point into Spirit and waited for the wave of energy to wash over and into him.

The next side quest has five stat points. By then I'll put some more in Might. Only a matter of time.

Behind him, the lively forest continued to be filled with calls and croaks, as the wildlife kept doing its things.

Moment of truth, he thought once the process was over.

Ethan activated his claws, and began comparing their performance to what he'd just tested. With every step, his grin grew wider.

The claws were definitely thicker and longer. By 10%, at most, but the difference was there. The fires licked higher as well. It didn't affect his control, but he could now push the intensity of the flames higher.

So that's what you do, huh?

Spirit increase the intensity of his spells and his control over them. And the difference was stark, considering he'd just upped it from two points in Spirit to three.

It was important as well, in the end. And if he wanted to reach his highest potential, he was going to need some more of it.

Ethan smiled, staring up at the mushroom trees and at the monsters hiding within them. He could picture it. Having the power to burn and slice everything in his path. Everything that tried to lay chains on him. Force him into choices he didn't want to make.

Soon, he was going to burn and cut through all of it.

A shiver ran through his body, and Ethan tensed, looking around. It felt as if the surrounding air had trembled for a second, but as he looked around, he saw nothing move.

Was he imagining it?

Ethan shook the feeling out and turned his attention back to the results of his small experiment. "With Toughness being this high, it's time to focus on the others a bit."

He had to admit. He was looking forward to it.

Stepping out from behind his boulder, Ethan made his way back to the lizardling's tunnel, careful as always. When he got there, he found two watchers waiting behind their camouflaged entrance.

Ethan drew his lips in a line and tsked. They just had to go and make things more complicated.

But that's not stopping me, he thought. He kept advancing.