Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Sitting down against the tunnel wall with his eyes closed, Ethan tried meditating.

He didn't know if it would help counter the onsetting mana-exhaustion or not, but it was a good way to pass the time. After doing breath exercises for a few minutes, his mind drifted to his current spells.

Is [Claws] ready for another upgrade soon? Is [Small Fireball] or [Extended Enhancement]?

Ethan tried to visualize potential upgrades as he thought of what he had done with the spells, but even after close to ten minutes of trying, no notification came through, and no upgrade was offered.

Outside, the underground forest continued boiling with activity, calling out to him.

Ethan was around twenty minutes into his break and was re-tying his boots when his brows furrowed. He looked up, worried, and slowly scanned his surroundings. The tunnel was the same as it had always been. A long, dug-out and smoothed passageway that stretched to his left and right, lit up by a network of glowing moss and mushrooms not unlike the forests above or below. But other than that, it was empty. Not really quiet, as roars, screeches, and the occasional bangs were still reaching his ears from the deeper forest.

But something was off.

Scanning the darker spots, Ethan readied himself to summon the claws. He didn't feel like he was alone. He felt watched. And the more he thought he was being watched, the more confident he became.

Something's here.

Ethan got up as his eyes scanned the darkness, looking for movement in the shadows. Was this something new?

With every second that went by, he began doubting himself. Was he being paranoid?

Just then, he heard a soft, barely audible crunch of a shoe grinding against dust.

Ethan summoned and ignited his claws, ready to drown the tunnel in fire.

"If you understand me, show yourself. Now."

Nothing.

Ethan extended his arms in both directions. He was about to fill the tunnel with fire when something moved in the corner of his eyes.

"Sorry. Hi. There will be no need for that," said a feminine voice as a pair of thin, translucent wings unfurled to reveal a woman in charcoal trousers and a bloodied white dress-shirt with her arms up, palms facing outward. She wore dark-rimmed glasses and her dyed-blond hair was tied back in a bun, accentuating her sharp features. Ethan's eyes were drawn to the dagger set on her hip, which made him touch his own to make sure it hadn't been stolen without him noticing.

He hadn't been the only one who'd gone with the greedy option.

Ethan eyed the large, insectile wings. They wouldn't have been out of place atop a giant moth or butterfly, though they were a bit translucent. Plus, something about them made his gaze slide away, which might explain why he hadn't noticed the camouflage.

Dangerous, he thought. That odd magical effect, coupled with her quasi-invisibility, made this person into a worrisome opponent to have. Especially when one didn't know she was around.

The woman gave an apologetic smile, and even though the expression did reach her blue eyes, it only put Ethan more on edge. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you. You're Ethan, right?"

[Human (I) - Level 31]

That was a bit alarming. That she knew his name. Ethan stared back at the woman, not dismissing his claws. "I might be. Who's asking?"

He wasn't worried about being overtly polite toward someone who'd just been caught snooping on him, and nothing she could say would change his mind. If he hadn't threatened to turn the tunnels into an oven, she might have said nothing. What had her plan been? Stab him in the back or something?

Clearly enough, she knew his name. Either she spoke to the others, or she'd been creeping on him and or on them for a minute.

"My name's Amanda Daniels, and I came in person to apologize for what some of the people of my camp had been up to. I had been busy scouting ahead so I hadn't been aware that things had devolved to such a degree. I got back in the last few hours and heard what had happened. From the healer. Barry. So I had to come in person and apologize."

Ethan kept quiet, thought the glare he was giving her must have been pretty intense considering the nervous look she gave the exit. It was barely for an instant, but Amanda didn't act on it. Instead, she held clasped her hands together, her expression growing sober.

"My absence is no excuse. I created that camp so that those who couldn't face the dangers could be safe, but it ended up being abused. It was an oversight of mine, to not have left more capable people in charge. And for not having rooted out the rotten apples before they could take over. I sincerely apologize, and I wanted to also thank you for taking care of such… problematic figures early on."

Ethan eyed the woman for a moment. As much as she gave him the creep earlier, it did really look like she felt some genuine remorse, so he gave her a nod. "Fine. But you should be apologizing to those who those two had wronged. In case you haven't already."

The relieved smile came back on the woman's face."Of course. I have already done so with your friends above, and with the survivors of the camp," she quickly said. Then, holding her hand behind her back, she continued. "If there had been more people like yourself, it wouldn't have gotten as bad. Which is why I also came with an offer."

Ethan gave her an arched brow, and as he waited for her to get on with it, he didn't miss how shiny her eyes seemed to be getting at the prospect of her offer. The remorse and the air of apology seemed to melt away as she glanced around at the empty tunnel before sighing. "I miss chairs. It's barely been a couple of days, but somehow it feels like weeks."

In his mind, a small umpire-like individual was blowing his whistle, red in the face while waving an equally red flag, and for a moment, Ethan wondered how much did she really regret what had come to pass. He still believe it had affected her, at least a tiny bit. But it most certainly wasn't slowing her down.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Ethan watched the woman as she shook her head for a moment before crossing her arms and leaning against a flat portion of the wall. "Before I make my offer, I'd like to tell you a bit about where I'm coming from. In my unfortunate absence from the camp, I was scouting and looking for more allies. Finding easy targets and killing them for levels—just like you. Because it's clear that the dynamics of our world are about to change, and personal strength will be… much more important. Still, not everyone can do what you're doing, so my goal was to create a safe spot for those unable to brave the new dangers, and I hadn't expected it to quickly be turned into a misguided and frankly stupid operation to collect some extra fragments. I will make sure such a thing would not happen again because I still think we need people. We need each other. At the end of the day, we stand a better chance of surviving all of this if we pool our strengths."

Ethan watched quietly as Amanda pushed herself off the wall and began pacing a few feet away from him, and he couldn't help but notice she was standing between him and the others.

Amanda stood with her arms behind her back and looked him in the eyes, wings swaying and reflecting the lights of the tunnel. "I'm organizing the high-level individuals so we can push our way down there," she said, nodding toward the deep underground forest. "And that's only for starters. There will be more challenges. More quests. But I don't believe this will end with this tutorial. Eventually, we will find ourselves back on Earth, and when we do, I don't want us to fall under the thumb of a better-organized faction. Whether it's from our own world or another."

Ethan didn't miss the intense look she was giving him, and he fully believed that this tutorial wasn't her end goal. Now the question was, was she looking for partners or was she looking for soldiers, because so far she hadn't said much about that, though he had a good guess from the glimmer he was seeing in her eyes.

He wasn't interested in either, but he had to get a good read from this person.

"Who's going to lead this team you're building?"

Amanda gave him a confident smile. "Everyone's voice will be heard, but someone needs to call the shots when a decision has to be made, and I have the experience with the latter."

There it is.

For a second, Ethan felt a large hand trying to wrap itself around him. To pull his strings and make him do what it desired. He didn't miss the subtext of her words, that this will be no partnership but a job.

After having gotten a taste of complete freedom, of being rewarded greatly for his own efforts, Ethan's mind bristled at the threat of having his will be overridden by anyone else. At having to put his own goals and desires aside to work on someone else's vision.

The thought alone made his soul smolder. But Ethan kept his expression and flames in check, no matter how much he wanted to ignite them. Not to attack her, of course. Just as an outlet to his agitation, and to ward away anything that tried to nudge him in any way or form. Though he did wonder, how did she intend to keep those more powerful than her in line?

If yet another Lance showed up, one powerful enough, how was she going to stop them?

Ethan nodded along, feigning interest. "And what's your plan once the tutorial is over? If we make it through, of course."

Like a manager who'd just been given a question they had prepared for, Amanda launched into a prepared response, though he didn't like how her eyes were trained on him.

She won't like it when I tell her no.

"We need to first make sure we're secure and safe, then we should get in touch with other survivors. Other groups. Find out what's happening with our government. There are so many variables we don't know just yet, but with a high-level team, we'll be equipped to deal with most challenges that pop up."

Ethan continued nodding along as he mentally recapped what Amanda wanted. A team of high-level individuals that she would lead, punch through the tutorial, then coordinate and potentially set her own little fiefdom when they're back on Earth.

"I appreciate the apology, and I appreciate the offer. But I prefer to work alone for now."

Amanda raised an eyebrow at him. Ethan thought she was about to say something, but then she nodded back. "I understand. I do hope you'll see the benefit of what I'm offering and eventually change your mind. Can we agree to keep things civil and not step on each other's toes?"

Ethan blinked for a moment, trying to digest what she was saying, then an incredulous smile began stretching across his lips. He might be reached a bit with his interpretation, but did she mean he shouldn't intervene if another 'Lance' popped up and started abusing their powers?

He decided to ask. He should at least give her the chance to explain herself before he allowed his stance toward her to change. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Amanda smiled and waved a hand away. "Nothing as bad as you're thinking. If a bastard shows up in my camp, I don't expect you to turn a blind eye. No, what I mean is if me and my people are working on something—like assaulting the monsters down there—don't just start throwing spells in our general direction without cause. Don't attack my people if they don't start trouble with yours. If they do, let me know before you cut their heads off. We're not working together, but we can at least coexist peacefully, don't you think?"

Ethan gave her a begrudging nod. That wasn't as bad as he expected. His interpretation might have been a bit too uncharitable, though he still didn't like how vague her request sounded. But this wasn't a fight he needed to pick up right now. Plus, the situation was tense enough, considering both of them still had their wands manifested.

Trust was clearly not on the table, and as impulsive as he knew he could be, Ethan didn't want to make an enemy of this person. Better to let things lay for now and go from there.

"I'll stay out of your way as long as your people stay out of mine."

He considered adding more stipulations, but he didn't want to sour the mood and ratchet up the tensions. Schemers were difficult to deal with, and even though he thought of adding a warning to leave his allies alone, he didn't want to risk painting a target on them by making it obvious he cared for them. Just in case.

Still, I'm gonna need to warn them.

Amanda straightened up and nodded, giving him a polite and lukewarm smile. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Feel free to reach out and ask for me in one of our camps if you ever change your mind or if you want to pool our strengths."

Ethan raised a brow. "Camps?"

Amanda gave him a chuckle and a wink. "A lot can be done when you've got the right people. We're already setting up a camp in the second layer, to help our best level faster. And we're still finding some isolated folk who had to face all of this by themselves. After all, there were hundreds of us thrown into this mess. Well, this group, I mean."

After a couple more exchanges, Amanda stepped past him and went back down into the deeper cave. Ethan followed her with his eyes, and couldn't help but picture her turning invisible yet again before sneaking back into the cave.

He didn't trust her. She might not be a problem right now, but she could become one.

Ethan considered going to tell the others about her right away, but he also didn't want to hold their hands too much. After mulling it over a few seconds, he decided on a compromise.

Finish up the third form, then go tell them and get some real rest. After that, I'll push deeper into the cave. See where Amanda and her people are setting up.

All of those water monitors were coming from somewhere, and it might have something to do with the main quest.