The Ascender's Legacy [A CHAOTIC STORM LITRPG]

Andrew watched Ayisha as she stepped down from the ring, a smug smile playing on her lips. It was a rare thing to see her smile, as she mostly kept to herself, but it seemed she was coming out of her shell a bit.

She had participated in their game, showcasing abilities she had always been so adamant about keeping to herself. Even though she had only used her bloodline affinity and innate skills, Andrew had to admit to himself that she was much stronger than he had expected her to be. The fact that she had overpowered Scarlett so thoroughly attested to her power.

Daruk and Aodhán, however, were disappointed with her performance, whispering amongst themselves about the possible counters they could employ against the skills she had displayed.

I should be with them. Andrew thought to himself, feeling a weak urge to bound over towards them and curse someone out, but the urge soon flickered and died. He wasn't that person anymore. He had changed. Perhaps, just like his father said, he had matured. He had taken multiple steps towards aligning himself with his affinity, and this was the price.

He didn't regret it, though, not really. After he had been released from the holding chamber two weeks ago, he had gone home to share the {Mycelium Network} skill with his family, and the results had been just as beautiful.

His father had gathered nearly every family member below tier 50 within their courtyard, and together, they had all connected to Jorgumien—the spirit tree they had carved their mansion from. Altogether, there were about twenty of them, and with Jorgumien's roots encompassing the entire estate, the experience had been truly insightful.

Andrew hadn't gained any new seals, but he had gained more insight and understanding into his affinity. Connecting to a single spirit tree was a vastly different experience compared to an entire forest. It wasn't quite as rewarding, but it was far from disappointing.

After that, he had spent the rest of the break training while his parents dealt with the uproar of news his advancement had caused. Working directly with Deandre and Fortuna, he had honed his control to a knife point. Fortuna, most especially, had taken a deep interest in this matter, helping him through the influx of new sensations and feelings that he had been experiencing.

It has taken him a while to get used to his new thought process and emotions. More than ever before, he was connected to nature, and that had changed so many things about him, some of which he was still discovering.

Bringing his mind back to the present, he congratulated Ayisha and even gave Scarlett some advice based on what he had noticed during the duel. It was obvious that Scarlett had refrained from showing off all her skills either, but Andrew didn't think she would have won regardless.

After that, he moved to stand beside Aodhán and Daruk, who were still whispering to each other. When they saw him, Aodhán drew him closer and said. "You're next, big man. How are you feeling?"

"A little excited," Andrew admitted with a small smile. "It has been a while since I participated in a duel that wasn't against someone 100 tiers above me."

Daruk chuckled. "Just go easy on her. She looks like she's about to have a panic attack."

They all turned to look at Gwendolyn, who was pacing on the other side of the ring while Lupin and Yurin tried to calm her down. "It's just a game," Yurin said, exasperated. "Why are you getting so worked up about it?"

Andrew chuckled and shook his head. This duel against Gwendolyn was, well, it shouldn't even be considered a duel, because even before his power-up, Andrew was certain he would have won. How much more now?

Still, Andrew expected that Gwendolyn had grown just as he had and might just surprise him just like Lupin did. In fact, he hoped for it. With each passing second, his blood boiled with excitement and anticipation.

Shortly after, Gwendolyn walked over to him and said. "I'm ready, but I want the water-themed ring. I need an advantage to not completely embarrass myself."

"Are you okay with that?" Aodhán asked.

"I am." Andrew nodded.

Aodhán and Ayisha walked over to the control panel to switch the theme, and a moment later, the concrete floor of the dueling ring vanished, replaced by a shallow pool almost 2 feet in height.

Andrew climbed into the ring confidently, grimacing when the water lapped against his shins. This was a big disadvantage for him. Coupled with the dense amount of water essence swirling around him, Andrew had to do a quick scan of his status screen to find the best skills to combat the limitations this theme provided.

The moment his mind began searching for a solution, though, an idea sprang into his mind, courtesy of his Nascent Sage title, which granted him a library's worth of knowledge on the plants he had connected to using the {Mycelium Network}.

There was hundreds of information on each plant arranged like scrolls on the shelves of his mind. Some of them were as clear as day, signaling that he had a clear understanding of these plants, while others were vague, their information hazy and unclear.

Over the past two weeks, Andrew had come to realize that the Nascent Sage title was one of the best things he had gained from the whole power-up saga, as it tied into two of his most important skills: {Create Plants} and {Create Seed}.

The title didn't give him the knowledge he didn't already have, but it created a library-like space within his mind that ordered the information and made it readily accessible. He scoured his mental library, searching for a mundane, predatory plant that thrived in shallow waters, and just as Aodhán began the countdown, he found one—the Waterfang Latchvine.

This plant had serrated, tooth-like blue leaves that formed a circular jaw near the water's surface. These "fangs" weren't just for show—they snapped shut with startling speed at the slightest vibration, trapping small fish, amphibians, or careless insects.

Beneath the surface, its body consisted of long, rope-like vines that floated just below the water, anchoring themselves to nearby rocks, trees, or the muddy substrate below. Each vine was lined with barbed hooks, which made them perfect for a theme such as this.

Recalling its composition and properties, Andrew channeled energy into {Create Seed}, and the moment Aodhán shouted, "Fight!", he activated the skill and waved his right hand, scattering a dozen blue seeds into the water—just a second before Gwendolyn attacked, raising a powerful surge of water from the pool and twisting it into a massive serpentine form that crashed down on him with deadly force.

Reacting instantly, Andrew conjured a canopy of fibrous wooden vines for protection. He poured nearly a dozen strands of energized willpower into {Accelerate Growth}, then did the same with {Mycelium Network}, grinning as tendrils of mental energy shot from his mind into the shallow waters, linking him to the rapidly expanding mesh of roots and vines below.

The watery serpent struck his hastily built barrier, and the branches crumbled, cracking under the pressure of the torrent. But Andrew had already bought himself the time he needed. Now, he was ready.

Three more serpentine torrents surged forward to replace the first, but Andrew simply raised a hand, and a towering wall of Latchvines exploded upwards, their dense blue surfaces absorbing the impact with far greater ease than the earlier defenses.

The violent collision of water and vines sent both combatants reeling, but Andrew seized the moment. Vines coiled around him, lifting him out of the water until he hovered eight feet above the surface. Each strand obeyed his every thought—some even acting before he could issue a command, as {Mycelium Network } worked in overdrive to synchronize them seamlessly.

In response, Gwendolyn thrust her hands toward the water, yanking half a dozen high-pressure whips from the surface and spinning them into a vortex of razor-sharp blades. She lashed out, slicing through the surge of Latchvines rushing toward her.

The vortex carved through the vines with ease, even obliterating some completely—but for every vine she destroyed, two more sprouted in its place. No surprises there. That was Andrew's MO after all.

The vines twisted together, braiding themselves into arrow-tipped tentacles that closed in by the dozens. Gwendolyn fought with everything she had, fully aware she couldn't possibly win this fight, but determined to give it her best regardless.

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Spinning to avoid a stab in the gut, Gwendolyn tripled the speed of her vortex, pouring every ounce of willpower she could spare into the skill. The blades spun faster, sharper, deadlier—but what she failed to realize was that, just like nature, Andrew wasn't a fast killer.

No, he crept, growing over time until he became overwhelming. Inevitable. Inexorable.

A vine broke through the spinning vortex to snag her ankles, but a quick activation of {Water Blade} slashed it to pieces. However, before she could so much as blink, another vine slipped through. Then another. And another. And another…

Desperate, she clapped her hands together and activated {Torrential Burst}, creating an explosion of high-pressure water that erupted from within her, shredding every vine in its path. However, the explosion also destabilized the spinning vortex of watery death she was floating in, and the second it wavered, she fell.

She barely had time to glance at the pool below before she saw them—hundreds of arrow-tipped vines spearing out of the water like a goddamn minefield.

There was nowhere to land. There was no—

"Fuck!" Gwendolyn shouted in frustration and annoyance as she hastily wove several tendrils of water beneath her to hold her up. The vines, however, followed, stabbing into each tendril until they burst apart, sending her plummeting yet again.

She twisted midair, narrowly dodging another barrage of arrow-tipped vines, and immediately activated {Maelstrom Fury}, unleashing a swirling vortex of water that should have torn through the entire deathtrap of vegetation in the pool.

But it never got the chance.

The skill had barely begun to take shape before it was violently shredded by hundreds of Latchvines, their barbed tips lunging straight for her.

Eyes widening in shock and fear, Gwendolyn only had a millisecond to react. With no other choice, she activated her strongest technique, {Leviathan's Roar}—draining nearly all the water from the pool to summon a colossal serpent of liquid fury around herself.

Unlike Daruk's {Animate Construct}, where the created entity was controlled separately, Gwendolyn didn't just command the Leviathan—she was it. Situating herself within the space just between the leviathan's eyes and fangs, Gwendolyn let her aura burst out of her, bloodline and willpower intermingling as her mind fused with the construct.

The Leviathan surged upward, its sea-blue eyes locking onto Andrew like a predator eyeing its prey. But even as it rose, so did the vines. They lashed out, stabbing into its watery body, piercing deep enough to make it bleed—though all that spilled was more water.

Aware that the technique wouldn't last too long, Leviathan- Gwendolyn lunged, its massive jaws yawning open to swallow Andrew whole. He was high in the air, suspended by a nest of Waterfang Latchvines that held him aloft like a king on a throne. But she didn't care. He wouldn't be there much longer.

She closed the distance, ready to consume him—

And then the vines struck again.

Not arrow-tipped this time. No, these moved like ropes, lassoing the Leviathan's head, neck, and torso in a suffocating grip. Then, without warning, they whirred to life—spinning into bladed tendrils that threatened to shred her construct apart.

Panicked, Gwendolyn poured more willpower into the Leviathan, reinforcing it with an aura of watery death, but that didn't deter Andrew at all. When the vines failed to slice through the leviathan, they began pulling instead, dragging the massive serpent downward toward the pool, where another host of stabbing vines waited, their bladed tips glistening with malice.

{Fluidity} failed to provide an escape, and Gwendolyn groaned in frustration. Seriously, how many plants was Andrew controlling all at once? Just how much control did he possess?

Gwendolyn wasn't the only one wondering this.

From the sidelines, their friends watched in stunned silence. Daruk and Aodhán were awestruck, while the others stood frozen, horrified by the sheer number of vines Andrew was manipulating with seemingly effortless precision.

What they didn't know was that rather than Andrew's control being monstrous—although it was very excellent, he was actually controlling the vines through the {Mycelium Network}. His feet, which were hidden beneath the writhing nest of vines that held him aloft, had turned wooden, allowing him to connect to his plants both physically and mentally.

Every single vine within the pool had become an extension of him. They were a single entity, and together, they dragged the leviathan beneath the surface, stabbing through its watery form before it could even reach the pool.

Unwilling to be captured so easily, Gwendolyn burst free from the construct, rocketing skyward with everything she had, but a high-pitched scream soon escaped her lips when a bladed vine whipped past her throat, missing by a hairsbreadth.

Before she could process the near-death moment, another vine lashed across her midsection. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and she plummeted into the pool. Before she could recover, vines erupted from beneath her, ensnaring both her arms and legs until she was completely bound before raising her into the air, where she came face to face with a grinning Andrew.

"Do you surrender?" he asked calmly as if he didn't have an army of poisonous vines waiting to stab her to death if she said no.

Gwendolyn sagged in defeat. "Yes. Now let me go—your vines are constricting me."

Andrew grinned, and the ensnaring vines loosened, slithering back into the pool with a final splash. Gwendolyn exhaled sharply, shaking out her limbs as she tried to regain her balance. Cheers erupted from the audience, and Lupin chuckled as she walked over to help. "You were impressive, Gwen. Your skills have grown so beautifully."

"Tell that to my soaked dress," Gwendolyn muttered, wringing water from her sleeves with a flick of her fingers. "I gave it my best, but it felt like he was toying with me. He didn't even use his famous poisons."

"No, he didn't." Lupin chuckled again. "And—get this—he didn't use his aura either."

Gwendolyn groaned. "Lupin, you're not helping my self-confidence."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lupin laughed, holding up her hands. "But I swear you did well. There's no shame in losing to someone as powerful as Andrew Willowood. Piece of advice though—Gwen, you're a water awakened. Next time you fight someone, stay in the water. It's your domain."

As simple as that statement was, it struck something deep within Gwendolyn. A realization that, if nurtured, could set her on a path to absolute power.

***

Shortly after Andrew and Gwendolyn's duel, Aodhán and Daruk stepped into the dueling ring. Smiling, Aodhán asked. "Are you nervous?"

"Nah, I'm excited." Daruk smiled back. "This is something I've been looking forward to for a while now."

"I see. I'll give it my best then, but I expect the same in return."

Daruk nodded, but then he hesitated and shook his head. "I can't give it my best, not when, you know…

He trailed off, but Aodhán understood what he meant. They hadn't had much time to discuss during the break, but they had managed to steal a few moments between Yue's training. Daruk had explained that his skills had become more willpower-intensive than before due to the exceedingly massive amount of willpower he now had. It was the system's way of enforcing a balance, but Aodhán wasn't sure it had worked.

At this point, Daruk's willpower rivaled that of an average Tier 35 Awakened, giving him a distinct advantage in almost any situation—after all, with enough willpower, nearly anything was possible.

This was the real reason Aodhán felt uneasy about the match. If Daruk chose to go all out, fighting him would be like trying to hold back a collapsing dam with his bare hands. It wasn't impossible, but it would be very, very hard.

Aodhán had witnessed the aftermath of Daruk's slaughter following Sunstone's retaliation—the lingering traces of willpower still crackling in the air hours later. If that was the force he was about to face, he would have to give it everything he had.

Still, Aodhán was proud of Daruk. Gone were the days when he had to be the strong one, when he was constantly worrying for Daruk's safety. Now, Daruk was strong enough to make him nervous.

But unlike Aodhán, whose false identity as an inheritor was public knowledge, Daruk was still keeping his a secret. That meant he couldn't afford to go all out—not when doing so would reveal his identity. Aodhán hated that he felt a tinge of relief at that.

Frowning, he asked. "Should I limit myself then? We can find a particular threshold that works for both of us."

"Where's the fun in that?" Daruk smirked, shaking his head. "No, let's fight like this. You give me your all, and I'll give you my best. Fighting at a disadvantage isn't new to me."

"No, it isn't," Aodhán agreed with a small smile before gesturing to Ayisha to signal they were ready.

"Yoooooo!" Yurin called out. "You guys want a theme change?"

Aodhán glanced at Daruk, who shrugged. There was no point in seeking an extra advantage. Besides, there was no storm cloud theme available—bummer. He would have loved to see that.

"Go for it," Aodhán said.

Yurin configured the control panel, and with a loud hiss, the dueling ring transformed. The solid concrete beneath their feet shifted into a circular ice rink, about twenty feet wide. Mounds of snow lined the edges, and a dense blanket of cold essence settled over them.

The temperature plummeted instantly. Frost clung to the air, and Aodhán's breath curled into visible puffs before dissipating.

Daruk spun in place and grinned. "This is nice. I think I can work with this."

"Are you guys ready?" Ayisha called out.

Aodhán gave a curt nod. "We are ready."

Daruk let out a rare smile and personalized his response. "I am ready. I've never been more ready."

Outside the ring, Lupin and Gwendolyn watched the rink with intent focus, each one having dated, or at least in Gwendolyn's case, had a fling with one of the brothers. Scarlett sat cross-legged behind them, idly munching on a bowl of potato fries, her brows furrowed in thought.

Beside her, Yurin and Andrew debated the outcome of the fight, each listing the strengths and weaknesses they believed Daruk and Aodhán had.

"Aodhán has raw offensive power," Yurin argued. "He's fast, explosive, and unpredictable. He's also an Inheritor with enough willpower to drown this entire hall in seconds."

Andrew nodded. "That's true. But Daruk's never been stingy with willpower either. If anything, he's even more reckless with it than Aodhán. He might have a shot at winning—if he doesn't run out before he finds a way to knock Aodhán out of the rink."

"I'm not sure." Yurin frowned, still not convinced. "Daruk is strong, and he seems to have grown stronger during the holidays too, but he's not as overwhelming and chaotic as Aodhán. He can be brutal, but he's more of cold logic and precision. I would vote for Aodhán because he has more willpower, but I truly can't say."

Half-hidden in the shadows of the corner, Ayisha watched Aodhán and Daruk with sharp focus as they prepared to fight.

Stepping forward, she raised her hand. "Three… two… one—fight!"

Aodhán attacked immediately, unleashing a searing beam of condensed red lightning straight at Daruk. The beam ripped through the air, tearing forward with destructive intent. But before it could land, a massive wall of jagged ice erupted from the rink—rising like a frozen barricade to block the attack.

Lightning clashed with ice in a violent explosion of raw essence, sending a deafening shockwave through the training room. Runes flared to life as the ice wall shattered into a thousand razor-sharp shards—each one twisting mid-air before rocketing toward Aodhán with deadly precision, their jagged edges gleaming with a lethal sheen of willpower.