TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

"Welcome back! So quick to return," Balance said. He was in his male form.

Tom breathed in the heavy air. The scent was fresh and clean, with a charged metallic feel.

If magic has a smell then this is it.

The same enormous stone columns stretched toward the cavern's roof, which was almost lost in shadow. Angelic light streamed down from large fissures in the ceiling, illuminating the thick carpet of green that was trying to claim the cavern's walls. The turquoise waterfalls cascading through the rocky jungle did not contain water, but mana.

I wonder if that's what Loo sees?

It flowed like a heavy fog rather than liquid, twisting and swirling as it tumbled into the massive lake at the base of the giant columns. Along the lake's edge were a series of smaller tidal pools, each watched over by a towering obelisk. These pools teemed with thousands of swirling motes of light; magical fireflies that zipped and danced in the air.

That was when it hit him; memories from his Level 2 visit surged forward. He remembered asking Caretaker Balance if they were a god. He remembered choosing abilities.

"As with last time, you are here in the middle of a fight," Balance said in his rich, baritone voice. "Your time is, sadly, limited. Just like last time, I will allow a few minutes for questions."

The group glanced at each other, and then Bo spoke up. "Where are all these monsters coming from? How many of the fucking things are there, and when will this stop?"

Balance shifted to the left, transforming into the beautiful woman in an evening gown. "The monsters are coming from Dungeons," she explained. "You kill the creature, it's gone for a week. However, the Dungeons respawn plus gain a level, every week. They can also level up by killing people and I am sorry to say that many of the world's Dungeons are leveling very quickly right now."

Bo opened his mouth again, but Balance raised her hand.

"While I am happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability, please remember that what you learn in here, you cannot take with you. I would suggest you spend this time asking questions about your class or abilities."

"You're saying we can never stop all these monsters, and all the killing?" Bo said, his voice rising. "Last time you told us you were gods who made this universe, and this is what we get?"

A red heat crept up Balance's neck and onto her cheek. She held up one finger. "First, and never forget this, the monster apocalypse is NOT something that the Caretakers are responsible for. In fact, we abhor this. Second, the monster waves will stop once the one hundred million population limit has been reached. In order to survive, you need to defeat the nearest Dungeon weekly, resetting its Level back to zero. This way, when it respawns as a Level 1 Dungeon, your family should have a much easier time killing them. The waves never stop, but hopefully they get much easier as you level."

There was a dead weight in Tom's stomach.

Balance raised her arm. "Again, you cannot take this knowledge with you, so I am not sure how this will help you." She deflated a little, though the flush lingered in her cheek. "Does anyone else have a question?"

"Why do I keep getting sick when I cast a spell?" Hana asked.

Balance brought her hand to her chest. "In pursuit of balance for every class build, which I see to personally, every single soul must have disadvantages to its advantages. You are on a very powerful path, Hana Robinson, so for the universe to have balance with the malady magic you wield, you unfortunately have to experience those afflictions to a degree as well. The same thing goes for Thomas. All of the pain that you ignore in battle must be paid back over time."

Tom nodded.

That sucks.

"So . . . Hana gets blowback just because she has a powerful class?" asked Bo. "If we're going for balance here, how can one class be stronger than another?"

Balance's eyes narrowed at Bo. "Obviously, I strive for balance in all things, including abilities and classes, and I work very hard to maintain it. However, what you see as a balance between two classes is not necessarily how the universe interprets it. I also attempt to balance how a person and their abilities achieve harmony within and without."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Balance shifted to the right, and into his tuxedo. "Let's use Hana as an example. Hana is a Witch Hag. At Level 2 she has four spells; two from her main class, and two from her specialization. Hana has chosen four abilities which deliver damage abilities, or are damage modifiers, so her build is not balanced. There is room for defensive spells, crowd control, buffs, debuffs, and many others that are not just damage-related. As a result of this imbalance, she experiences varying forms of spell backlash, and hence suffers from her own spells. Same story for Tom. All four of his spells are defensive abilities, so he suffers a pain tax."

Tom deflated. Choosing abilities was difficult enough, without having to consider how 'balanced' his choices were.

"Chloe has three damage spells and one crowd control. She has started to experience anxiety and headaches, but she does not have to deal with them to the extent of Hana or Tom because she has a splash of crowd control mixed in. Kate, on the other hand, is nearly perfectly balanced with a healing aura, a self-buff, a group buff, and a shapeshifting spell. Does everyone understand? Great. We are out of time."

"Can I ask you about my bear?"

"I still can't make plant matter—"

Balance raised his hand. He advised the group to confer among themselves about their upcoming skill selections, and reminded them he would be available to help when they moved to their pools.

Tom glanced at his family; each of them looked uncertain.

"All right," he said. "I'm going to see if there's some type of taunting ability, and then something else tanky. Pain or not, I'm going to try and stay defensive. Even going fully defensive, that Troll almost killed me in a single hit."

Kate's lips were pursed. "I just hate that you're hurting."

His daughters nodded, but they didn't try to argue.

"Damage or crowd control?" Chloe asked them.

"One of each." Amber shrugged, like it was an easy choice.

"Or maybe even crowd control and something defensive," Tom said. He turned to Amber. "Look for something to stay safe."

Amber looked like she was about to argue, but Tom held up his finger. "Find something to stay safe. No arguing."

Amber rolled her eyes, and then nodded.

Loo seemed lost in thought. "Well, I have a lot of options. You see, if my first two [Conjurer] spells are actually for the base of an ecosystem that grants buffs, then since my first spell is a type of phytoplankton and my second is a copepod, which we all know eats phytoplankton, I can assume my next spell should probably be something from the oyster family, possibly amphipods, or maybe even small jellyfish since those eat copepods, right? Or do they?" She trailed off.

Tom stared at her. "Er . . . sweetheart we really don't have the time."

Loo's shoulders drooped.

The Robinsons moved to their pools.

Tom pulled Loo aside. "I would love to talk for hours about your class, Loo. We're just out of time. I have total trust in what you're doing." He leaned closer "You're the smartest person in this place."

"Thank you, Dad." Loo hugged him.

Tom and Kate led their children toward their respective pools.

As Tom neared the water, he lost the ability to communicate with his family, leaving him alone to make his spell selections. His mind wandered as he watched the vivid motes of light dancing like playful sprites.

Will they make good choices?

Focus, idiot. You're running out of time.

Tom turned to his stone. The glowing runes cast shadows on his face. He leaned in and read the list of [Fighter Abilities] displayed before him. Some he remembered from last time, like [Probing Attack] and [Feint], and there were many new ones.

He remembered speaking to the stone.

"All right. Do you have something like taunt?"

The word [Taunt] appeared on the stone, accompanied by a brief description.

[Create an XS amount of threat to the target, causing the target to focus on you.]

Tom hesitated, wondering if he should spend more time going through the massive list. However, memories of the Troll threatening to grab the children flashed through his mind. He could not let that happen again.

"I choose [Taunt]."

The stone flickered to life, changing its display to show [Sponge Abilities].

Tom scanned the list. He hadn't selected Balance's previous suggestion of [Muscle Modification]. He wondered if that was where he should pick back up now. However, he still only had enough Iron to form a pair of gauntlets. Maybe there was a better option.

He turned toward Balance.

"Is there anything that will help me grow more armor with less Iron, or give me more access to Iron?"

The list reordered itself. Several spells were presented, covering many different variants of absorption efficiencies and material modifications. [Muscle Modification] still seemed like a good choice, and Balance had left it at the top of the list. Tom scanned through the rest of the options.

[Skin Modification Synthesis] was a buff he could activate before growing the Iron armor. This would make the armor stronger, but it didn't change the amount he needed.

There were several abilities which would allow him to modify the absorbed resources in his body, such as [Dense Alloy Modification].

All of the abilities sounded promising, but Tom continued reading the list until he landed on [Gains]; the name screamed out to the gym rat in him.

[The caster taps into arcane forces and willingly drains both hit points and mana; the extracted life force and magical energy are converted into a chosen resource.]

It seemed like the perfect solution, especially if [Bone Modification] and [Muscle Modification] required similar resources.

Is it the right choice? Balance is leaving [Muscle Modification] at the top of the list for a reason.

Tom hadn't had much down time since the apocalypse started; would he even have the opportunity to use [Gains]? However, he was four spells deep, and only had a pair of Iron gauntlets to show for it.

An image crept into his mind; Finn healing him while he sat in Loo's conjured mana stream, magically building enough Iron Ingots within his body for a full suit of plate armor. It was worth the chance.

"All right," Tom said, his voice wavering. "I choose [Gains]."

Tom was the first to finish his selections. He looked at the pools around him. Everyone else was talking to Balance simultaneously; some of them with his male form, and some with her female one.

A White man Tom had never seen before was chatting animatedly with Bo at his poolside. The stranger pointed a glowing magical camera at him.

What the fuck?

Loo appeared to be in a heated discussion with Balance. She crossed her arms defiantly and shook her head, a stubborn expression etched onto her face. Balance threw her hands up in frustration.

Tom winced, hoping Loo wasn't causing too much trouble.

Hana was nodding as she conversed with Balance and a different White man wearing glasses who resembled a pudgy corporate employee. He even wore a cheap-looking toupee. She seemed to have everything under control.

Finn was clenching his fists, and also looked to be embroiled in an intense argument with Balance. He pointed insistently at the braces on his legs, and then at the stone. Finn finally relented, huffing as he sat down at the edge of his pool.

The conversations wrapped up, and everyone prepared to enter their pools. Most of them nodded, or smiled, or gave a thumbs-up. Finn avoided their eyes.

Tom entered his pool.