Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

When Ethan woke up from his nap, it was fully dark.

He lay on his plush bed, staring up at the beams that held up the cabin's roof.

That was a good nap, he thought. Ethan felt fresh and rested, and while he knew he could probably sleep another half hour or so, he felt good enough to get going. Taking a few seconds to stretch, he hopped off the bed and as he scratched the back of his neck, he eyed his clothes, then looked down.

"It's gonna be a messy day," he thought, eyeing his bare feet. "So I might as well spare them."

Moving past the little stool that held his clothes, he stretched his hands above his head, yawning as he headed toward the door while the bronze scales covered his skin. He wished he had coffee or a bite to eat, but he'd figure that on the way.

Stepping out in the cold, quiet spring evening, he activated his new heart. A pulse of searing heat spread out of his chest and down his limbs, and Ethan couldn't help but wiggle his shoulders as the heat flooded his muscles and skin. Ethan closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth, and over the next few seconds, the heat receded and cooled off, though the powerful flow of mana coursing through his spirit didn't.

"Feels great," he thought as he brought up his Arcanums and began moving things around. Then, frowning, he eyed a particular spell he hadn't slotted just yet.

I gotta find a spot for [Crystalbed Bloom]. No reason not to get one or two free primagems here and there, he mumbled as he eyed his various spellforms. After looking through them for a moment, his eyes reverted back to the scales. They really were the best candidates for potential crystalline growth.

"But I'm not letting these things grow everywhere," he mumbled. Closing his eyes, he channeled his mana into the scales, sensing the modifier tugging at the flow, but when it tried to grow the dormant crystalline primagems all over his scales, Ethan clamped down on it and forced the transformative effect to only target his shoulders and upper arm.

Mana flowed up his chest, concentrating along his scales, and bit by bit, like cracking a finger, things broke out of his scales. When the mana flow died down, Ethan glanced down and noted the sharp, jagged crystalline growths that reflected the starry sky. There weren't that many of them, and they only spread over his shoulder and upper arm, but he still sighed.

"I look like bedazzled lizard," he grumbled as he pulled up his Arcanums and gave his loadout and stat boosts one final look.

Prime Arcanum of the Juggernaut

Spells: [Gout of Flames], [Arc of Force], [Detect Life]

Spellforms: [Breath Gland]

Prime forms: [Lance of the Juggernaut, Horns of the Juggernaut, Wand of the Juggernaut]

Echo: [Overloading Fireball]

Traits: [Universal Tongue, Enduring Brawler, Child of Flames, The Vanguard, Harvester's Flames, Enhancer Specialist, Founder's Bounty]

Lesser Titles: [Arcanum of the Fire Elemental, Arcanum of Forms]

Tier: 2

Spell Capacity: 3/3

Echo slots: 1/1

Spellform Capacity (I): 1/2

Form Bonus (II)[20%]:

[Lance of the Juggernaut: +20% to Might, +20% to Mana],

[Horns of the Juggernaut: +20% to Toughness, +20% to Spirit],

[Breath Gland: +20% to Mana, +20% to Spirit]

Mana Regeneration (I)

Essence: 201

Arcanum of the Fire Elemental

Spells: [Wall of Fire], [Elemental Crown] of [Homing][Overloading Fireballs], [Sunshard],

Spellforms: [Scorching][Crystal Blooming][Scales of the Bronze Dragon], [Emberborn Heart]

Tier: 3

Spell Capacity (III): 6/6

Spellform Capacity (III): 2/3

Form Bonus (III)[30%]:

[Scales of the Bronze Dragon: 30% to Spirit +30% to Toughness]

[Emberborn Heart: +30% to Mana, +30% to Spirit],

Mana Regeneration (III)

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Arcanum of Forms

Spells: [Acid Orb], [Whisper], [Heal], [Electrified][Crystal Dart]

Spellforms: [Extending][Claws of the Ossyrath Dragon], [Draconic Skeleton], [Draconic Wings]

Tier: 3

Spell Capacity (III): 6/6

Spellform Capacity (III): 3/4

Form Bonus (III)[30%]:

[Claws of the Ossyrath Dragon: +30% to Spirit, +30% to Toughness]

[Draconic Skeleton: +30% to Might, +30% to Toughness],

[Draconic Wings: +30% to Spirit]

Mana Regeneration (III)

I didn't think I would have said this anytime soon, but it looks like I got room for some more spellforms. And I am sitting on a tier-2 spell token, Ethan thought. He considered it for a moment, then he shrugged. "Alright. I'll crack it once I'm done with the politics. Might be time to get something for the eyes. Some way to counter stealthy opponents."

Ignoring the stats for a moment, Ethan eyed his unassigned four points then gave every stat one point each. With all the changing and tweaking over with, he finally let himself see the final numbers, and his mouth dropped.

He hadn't looked at them for a minute, but between Enhancer Specialist's 5% on top of every spellform bonus, Vanguard's multiplier to Toughness-affecting spellforms and its 20%, and with the Draconic Set's bonus of a whopping 20 point per stats, Ethan's stats had blown up.

I lost some Might because of the change to the claws… but holy crap is my Toughness and Spirit through the roof now. I guess that change's part of it, considering the Ossyrath's claws are boosting Toughness and Spirit. And so did upgrading the spellform bonus on the new Arcanum. And now the mana heart is also boost Spirit on top of Mana, Ethan thought as he stared at the stats.

Level 74 (II)

Might: 81 (38)

Toughness: 203 (62)

Spirit: 130 (38)

Mana: 90 (38)

Unassigned: 0

Extending a scaled hand, Ethan called for the [Scorching]'s flames and nearly blinded himself at the bonfire that sprung out of his hand and forearm.

"Shit," he cursed, blinking the glare away as he pulled back the flames. Turning his hand about, he nodded. "It's fine, I guess. I lost around ten or so points in Might, but I nearly tripled Spirit. And considering the Toughness and my weight, I bet I could still hit pretty damn hard."

Extinguishing the flames, Ethan stole another glance at the crystalline ridges on his shoulders and sighed. He hoped they'd be worth it. He would see how long it'd take them to create something useful.

Ethan snapped his wings open and was about to jump when he blinked, relaxing his posture as he scratched his chin. "Wait… I can just walk," he said as he looked past his cabin. With a shrug, he began strolling toward the meeting room, enjoying the quiet evening while he browsed the pylon's interface.

The council will need to settle on a faction name, too, he mused. Maybe they'll manage to do it today.

With Amanda, Ethan planned on heading to Wyldrock to bring whomever it was they nominated to the high council. Amanda should have sent them a message already to prepare them. But as he eyed the Reconnaissance module and saw the rifts that had appeared near Wyldrock, he wondered if it wouldn't be better to take the council members from New Dawn so they'd have their meeting there.

That way, he could drop them off, introduce them, then head to one of the rifts and get to work.

Speaking of work… The Union and the Brotherhood. I have nothing on the latter, but I still have two captive from the former. I could escort them to their home and say hi, Ethan hummed, then nodded to himself. This would be the first matter to bring up, he decided. If things were about to get spicy, it might be good to have the council weigh in.

The street was pretty quiet as Ethan entered the business district. Most people seemed to be asleep, though Ethan encountered a few here and there. Some seemed to be on patrol, and Ethan noticed one group coming into the city with something large being dragged behind.

"Hey. Ready to go?"

Ethan turned to find Amanda standing behind him. She was wearing a clean pair of dark trousers, a clean white shirt on top, and a vest that matched her pants.

He raised a brow at her. "How'd you know I was here?"

She smiled. "I had someone watch your cabin for when you'd come out. I finished prioritizing the pylon's upgrade and decided to take a shower and a rest in the meantime," she said with a shrug.

Ethan stared at her for a second then decided to just move on. "Fair enough. What did you decide? And Thanks for the soap, by the way."

"You're welcome. As for the upgrades… I'm leaning toward the Defensive module and Taxation first. Then Reconnaissance or Communication. And finally, Construction. And I know we said it might be worth giving the choice to the high council… but I think we're still in a state of emergency, so that might be a bad call."

Ethan listened intently, nodding along. "You think they'll vote on the Communication module first."

"Yes. But Communication won't save us if the Union or the Brotherhood come at us. Defense is the highest priority. We'll need spells and primagems to bring all those who can fight up to level, and we need a way to encourage and empower them, that's where Taxation and the contribution system comes in. We'll need to trade between Wyldrock and New Dawn and any other new settlement we take in. Communication could help us find allies and others who'd join if we help them, but we need to be stable first. We need to be able to defend ourselves without you around to hold our hands. And I want you to be in rifts, leveling and collecting fragments. I want us to make the most of Founder's Bounty. It's an early advantage, one of many, and we need to be efficient with them."

She does raise some good points, Ethan thought as he nodded along. When she was done, he spoke. "I agree. And I do want to head to the rifts. But what about the Union and the Brotherhood? They will be back. And I don't see that many people capable of holding them off," Ethan said, brows furrowed as he looked around at the quiet street.

Amanda straightened her back and gave him a confident smile. "I'll take care of it. Or at least, I'll stall. Introduce me to Wyldrock's people, give me the authority, and I will handle it. The prisoners have seen what you can do, right? And so had the weasly mage. I can work with that. It might tempt them to try and rush us, but that won't matter in the long run. The sooner you get into rifts, the better off we'd be. Just… don't take too long in the rifts. Just in case."

Ethan liked the sound of that. With a couple of taps in the pylon's interface, he gave her the permissions to the upgrade module. "Good. Do it. Get us out of this state of emergency. And you can handle the negotiations, but listen to what the council has to say. You have permissions," he said. Then looking her in the eyes for a moment, he added. "I'm trusting you," he simply said.

Amanda looked stunned for a second, then she nodded decisively, eyes set. "I won't disappoint."

In the next few minutes, the members of the high council showed up. First was Audrey, who was complaining about the lack of soap, and so was Gerald, Amanda herself, and two people Ethan didn't know. Ember appeared as well, and while she wasn't on the council, she wanted to come along. She quietly hopped on his shoulders then dangled her legs down his horns as she yawned.

"Alright," he said with a clap as he looked around at them, a smile on his lips. "Let's get going, shall we? We got one big day ahead of us."