Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

The bright blue lights of the second layer came into view right as Ethan finished assigned the three points he had available. He'd been tempted to dump them all in Toughness for the fights to come, but between the fact that he was soon going to get a prime form to boost his Toughness and the fact that all his other stats were falling behind, he opted to give the three non-Toughness stats one point each. To make things fair and whatnot.

But next ones are for Toughness.

With that done, he gave his stats one last peek before he exited the tunnel.

Level 33

Might: 17 (14)

Toughness: 23

Spirit: 14

Mana: 15 (14)

Seeing that he was getting a whole 4 extra points from spellform bonus alone, Ethan smile excitedly. This was with barely a couple of forms. Once he had a bunch more under his belt, how high would it be?

Well. One way to figure that out, he thought. Ethan slowly climbed down, and this time he was careful but by the time he landed back near the spot where he'd crisped up the lizardlings, he couldn't help but notice the change in the air.

The biome seemed to be a lot livelier than it had been a couple of hours ago.

Roars were quick to reach his ears. Flashes of light occasionally flared up from under the mushroom canopy, overpowering the blue lights of the fungal caps, and occasionally, he could make out some movement in the sparser areas deeper into the cave. Though he was a bit far to see the details.

Ethan hurried toward the tree line. He had to take cover before he was noticed.

Dodging the still muddy spots that had been soaked by the monitor's water jets, Ethan quickly made his way to the cover though he noticed that water monitors he had killed were mostly gone. Only splatters of blood, shredded scales, and chunks of viscera littered the space and from how the remains were spread out, the dead lizards had been fought over pretty aggressively before they'd been devoured.

Creeping through the brush, Ethan's claws were out and ready as he prowled deeper. Eyes wide open and flitting about, he searched for the slightest movement while his ears tried to pick up nearby sounds. The acrid scent of smoke stood out against the earthy and musty smells of the underground forest, and considering he the water monitors and toads didn't use fire, Ethan had a pretty good idea of the culprits.

Probably the lizardlings and whatever they wanted to summon… or maybe other people. But my money's on the murderous little shits.

His musings were soon interrupted as he nearby hissing caught his attention, and after a mild adjustment to his trajectory, Ethan found his first target. Another water monitor.

It had barely taken three minutes since he'd came down the tunnel.

Ethan crouched and took in the surroundings for a moment before focusing back on the reptile. It was chewing through a piece of something, and from the red, glistening gashes along its back and from its partially missing tail, it looked like it had just gotten out of a pretty big fight, which would make his dagger testing a lot easier.

It was also only level 31.

After making sure once more that nothing else was nearby, Ethan gripped the dagger with his left hand while he kept his claws manifested on the right, fireball ready to shoot. Slowly and carefully, he moved around the reptile and its meal until he was behind it, then he stepped forward and out of cover.

First test: quick stab then use everything I've got to kill it. See if the timing of the stab matters.

Ethan made it halfway through when the reptile lifted its head and flicked the air with its forked tongue. A yellow slitted eye landed on him, but before it could react, he rushed forward, unwilling to give it the chance to call for reinforcement. Thankfully, that hadn't been its first instinct. Instead, a blue glow emanated from the back of its throat and a beat later, the lizard shot a jet of pressurized water at him.

Ethan sidestepped the attack easily enough and close the remaining distance, having been expecting it, and stabbed into the monitor's neck as it tried to bite him. The dagger sunk into its throat with a soft crunch, piercing through the thick scales.

It barely did any damage, but Ethan didn't care much for that. The dagger was never supposed to be his main weapon anyway, so before the monitor could retaliate, Ethan jumped away, pulled the dagger out as he created some distance between him and the creature. A trickle of blood seeped out of the gash he had left into the creature's throat, joining the many other wounds it was sporting.

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The damage was really unremarkable, but that didn't put a damper on the smile that stretched across his lips. Because a couple of seconds after he had pulled the dagger out, the wound was glowing blue.

The monitor's jaws snapped at him, hissing in annoyance while Ethan watched the magic sticking to the wound he'd inflicted. The light stuck to it, moving along with the monitor as it backed away from, leaving a surreal and ethereal after-image as it followed the beast.

It was like it had been magically marked and so, Ethan felt comfortable moving on to the next phase of the plan.

He lobbed a [Small Fireball] at the reptile and waited a beat for the explosion to take place before he rushed forward. There was a loud crack as the fireball bloomed, and a shockwave of heat and dust hit him a moment alter as he closed in toward the staggering, singed monitor. It was trying to stay up on its feet as it shook its head, but the spell had hit it hard. There was no manifested scales, as far as he could tell. But considering the state he had found the monster in, it might have exhausted that ability.

Maybe it was mana-exhausted? Or maybe it was having an issue summoning its special scales like the other? It was a thought to revisit later. For now, he had a monster to put down.

The monitor blearily hissed at him, smoke rising from its scales as it tried to orient itself to face its human opponent. Before it could fully recover, Ethan swiped up, tearing into its throat with his claws before he held both arms forward and sprayed its face with a concentrated gout of scorching fire.

The death confirmation came through barely two seconds later. He got no levels, but that wasn't too surprising. It seemed like he had to seriously push himself to level at this point, and easy fights weren't netting him much. But then again, that wasn't the goal of this little experiment.

The wound is still glowing…

The hazy light was still lingering on top of the blacked and smoking scales. It flickered for a bit, and it seemed to be glowing a bit brighter now that the creature was dead. He'd have to make sure his own spells weren't interfering with the dagger's magic, but for now, he observed.

The blue light pulsed and grew smaller and brighter over the next few seconds. Ethan expected something to happen, and after reaching a certain brightness, there was a longer pulse that he even felt through his own body, and then the light dispersed. In its place there was no spellcore. No primagems either, as far as he could tell, only fragments.

Right. It's not guaranteed to form spellcores or primagems, but it looks like it's working like it should.

That was fine. And now, he knew that he didn't really have to fight with the dagger. But maybe there were other variables he could test when he would get the chance? Would multiple stabs increase the odds? Would a faster kill without disturbing the dagger's magic change things?

Ethan leaned over and collected the fragments into his Prime Arcanum before he made himself scarce. The fireball had most certainly been heard, and before anything showed up, he wanted to be in a better position to either ambush the newcomer and get the heck out.

Once he was a bit further away from the site of the fight, he crouched and watched for curious third parties as he continued his train of thoughts. A final blow might also have an improved effect, but he wasn't trying that unless it was against something small. Like the lizardlings. Trying to fight large monsters with such a small dagger was an exercise in pointlessness. He might as well try spitting on them.

Ethan exhaled and waited. A couple of minutes later, another water monitor showed up and wasted no time sinking its sharp, massive teeth into its weaker cousin.

Level 37. This must be their territory or something. There really are a lot of them.

Extending his arm to the side, he summoned the lance, a smile on his lips. He was going to have plenty of targets to work with and if the one he was staring at was generous, he'd be able to get the second form next.

After all, he was only around 70 fragments away.

***

Ethan stood panting over the monitor as the blue light he'd scored in its flank pulsed. Glancing at the other dagger stabs, he found them to be inert, which confirmed the dagger's magic only worked on the first stab.

Good to know, he thought, eyes scanning his surroundings. Any time now, more monitors would show up.

"Now come on. Come on, come on," he mumbled under his breath, urging the magic to work faster.

This one had been a bit more difficult to bring down, and it had made a ruckus which was why he was in a rush to get away. He'd already collected his fragments, putting him all the way up to 187. Not enough for the second Prime form, but he was really close.

The magic of the dagger pulsed one last time, and Ethan was ready to be disappointed, but to his surprise, a small glowing bead of dark gray hit the soft soil with a barely audible thud.

Ethan grabbed for it and was ready to retreat, but he'd taken too long.

Out of the bushes, a party of five lizardlings came out. Without a word, their archer lifted its bow and shot a ghostly arrow at him. Effortlessly, Ethan raised a hand and blew the blue, glowing projectile away with a gout of concentrated flames as the remaining lizardlings stepped into the clearing.

Ethan lowered his right hand and rolled his shoulders. He considered running and taking them out one at a time for a second, but he quickly dismissed the idea as he bared his teeth.

He wanted to fight. After all, why did he get [Enduring Brawler] and [Child of Flames]? It was so he could take these fight and come out on top and well, he was supposed to be juggernaut, was he not?

A grin spread across his lips. He will not be stopped by these nasty little lizards. He will burn through them and through everything they sent at him.

Before the lizardlings could spread out and surround him, he shot a [Small Fireball] into their midst and roared, claws at his side. After all, he still needed fragments and a target for the Harvester's dagger, and he just got delivered a whole batch of them.