Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO ON KINDLE SEPT. 2)

Elijah stared at the portal, still unsure of which path to take. He’d been sitting there for hours, endlessly debating each option. And he was still no closer to a definitive decision. The problem, as he’d first noted, was that each of his available options was attractive.

Might would obviously make his physical body more powerful, and he expected that to extend to his bestial forms. At best, it would be like advancing a stage in body cultivation, but without all the effort. In addition, it would make future advancements that much more impactful.

Endurance would serve a similar function, though with more focus on defense and regeneration. He could already take a hit pretty well – especially with his many advantages like the Mantle of the Chimera and Aegis of the Elements, not to mention Shape of the Thorn and its increased defenses. With all that, he was a walking tank, and one that could heal passably well. If he took the Endurance specialization, he would become nigh unkillable.

Or that was the idea.

Finally, there was the third option. Dominion. It was obviously an extension of Connection, but instead of focusing on his natural connection to the world, it fixated on his draconic heritage. Specifically, his core, which affected the power expressed by every ability he possessed.

The only reason he hadn’t already settled on the third choice was because it offered fewer attributes than the others. Might would grant him twelve additional attribute points per level, scattered evenly across strength, dexterity, and constitution. Meanwhile, Endurance would give him fourteen points, split between constitution and regeneration. By contrast, Dominion would only grant ten points, all in ethera.

Did that mean its effect was weaker?

Or was it a sign that the unquantified effect was so strong that it had to take from the attribute bonuses? There was every chance that they were all equally powerful, just in different ways. But Elijah didn’t think so. Everything else he’d experienced from the system suggested that when there were options, there were almost always ones that stood above the other choices.

But what if the attribute bonuses were a hint? Two-to-four points per level weren’t enough to sway his decision, but if those amounts were indicators of relative power, he couldn’t afford to ignore them.

Elijah sighed, tilting his head back.

He couldn’t spend weeks waiting to make a decision. The reality was that the wasps would return, and likely sooner rather than later. His massacre was not a permanent solution to that particular infestation, and he wanted to be gone before they returned.

But he couldn’t rightly step into that portal before making a decision.

His gut told him that Dominion was the right choice, and so far, his instincts had proven themselves extremely valuable when it came to matters of the system. On top of that, his core was one of the major reasons he’d separated himself from everyone else. Without it, he’d still have his incredibly potent nature attunement, but the dragon core gave him the punch he needed to overcome some truly long odds.

Anything that enhanced that effect was bound to be good.

The aspect that truly sealed his choice was the mention of spellwork, though. Outside of the Labyrinth of the Dead Gods, he’d gotten a few hints at what might be possible through sheer ethereal manipulation. And he’d long since learned that his spells existed on a spectrum, rather than a consistent level of effectiveness. Presumably, increased ability in spellwork would give him a wider range to work with.

He made his choice, picking Dominion.

Elijah let out a gasp as vast waves of ethera flowed into him, filling his core until it felt like it was going to burst. It wasn’t so different than the exercises he routinely engaged in to stretch his core, though having it forced upon him made it even more jarring. He endured it, taking deep breaths and allowing himself to feel what was going on.

His core didn’t grow.

Instead, the ethera inside the sprouting seed became thicker. Denser. If before it was like water, then it became like molasses. Elijah imagined it as sap.

And then, suddenly, it was finished.

Elijah took one deep breath after another. He could already feel the difference, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what he felt. One thing was certain, though – he was sure that he’d made the right decision.

To reassure himself of that, he took a look at his status:

Name

Elijah Hart

Level

227

Archetype

Druid

Class

Primal Lord

Specialization

Natural Dominion

Alignment

Empire of Scale (Dragon)

Strength

1161 (857)

Dexterity

1273 (899)

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Constitution

1092 (866)

Ethera

868 (778)

Regeneration

1039 (871)

Attunement

Nature

Cultivation Stage: Expert

Body

Core

Mind

Soul

Bronze

Drakyn

Garnet

Expert

The first thing Elijah noticed was that, with all his equipment and buffs, he’d surpassed four digits in all but one of his attributes. Ethera lagged significantly behind, largely because it only received six points per level as opposed to seven. It was unaffected by his buffs as well, which accounted for the significant gap. Now that he’d picked the Dominion specialization, the distance would close very quickly.

The second thing he realized was that his Connection specialization was no longer listed. Rather, it seemed to have been absorbed by the Dominion specialization, creating something new. Only after seeing that did he realize that he’d received a notification upon making his choice. He just hadn’t noticed it because of the transformation of his ethera. So, he gave it a look:

You have chosen the Dominion specialization. It has been combined with your Connection specialization to create Natural Dominion.

Synergy: S

All previous benefits will remain in effect.

He’d never heard of such a thing, but he supposed it made sense. Specialization would kind of lose its meaning if he had two. Adding them together maintained the meaning. However, Elijah was even more interested in the second-to-last line, which said that he’d achieved an S-grade synergy. If he applied the same scale to his new specialization as he’d seen with enchantments and completion grades for towers and Primal Realms, he could infer that his two specialization choices were very well suited to one another. What that meant going forward, he had no idea. But it had to be a good sign.

Finally, he saw that his previous one extra point to regeneration would remain in effect. That meant that with each level he gained from here on out, he would be awarded seven strength, seven dexterity, seven constitution, sixteen ethera, and seven regeneration. It didn’t take a mathematical genius to recognize just how out-of-control his attributes would become. Especially when he reached demi-god and evolved his Primal Lord class.

In short, he was very happy with his choice.

Now, he needed to focus on his true reason for coming to the Painted Wastes. The portal to the Broken Crown awaited. Still, he hesitated, only for a moment. He wasn’t really afraid anymore. He’d moved past that, and he actually felt a little excited at the prospect of fighting his way through the draconic Primal Realm. Not only would it give him an opportunity to progress, but he also stood a good chance of learning more about dragons.

And given that he was now one of them, that seemed incredibly important.

No – the reason he hesitated was because he felt certain that he’d forgotten something important. For the next few minutes, he searched his Arcane Loop as well as his fraying Ghoulhide Satchel, only to find that he’d barely made a dent in his supplies. He had his tent. Food. Water. He had everything he’d need.

After another few minutes, during which he wracked his brain, he decided that he was as ready as he’d ever be. So, without further ado, he took a deep breath and stepped into the portal.

Briefly, he adrift. He could only sense a tiny swirl of ethera, though in a pattern so complex that he couldn’t hope to understand it. It only lasted a second before his foot touched down on something cold and jagged.

A moment later, the sound of an explosion nearly burst his eardrums. A shockwave swept across the briefly seen landscape, and then, Elijah was tumbling across sharp rocks. He rolled to a stop after nearly half a mile, only to shake his head before raising his eyes.

And he saw nothing but chaos.

Thousands of dragons flew through the air, while thousands more slithered across the uneven terrain. Every hue was represented, from white to black to green and red. Elijah even saw a pink dragon in the distance, though it was ripped to pieces after only a second.

He couldn’t help but scramble backward when he saw the horde of dragons clash with their enemies. Wasps. Vespirans. Draconids. The scale of the battle was unlike anything Elijah had ever seen. Power flowed and ebbed, erupting into a shower of volatile energy. Miles away, an enormous red dragon – at least as big as the skeleton he’d just climbed – rammed into a spider the size of a college football stadium.

A cloud of rocks and dust – like a massive sandstorm – swept across the battlefield before slamming into Elijah. He had the wherewithal to grab hold of a particularly jagged rock protrusion, which kept him from going on another tumble.

An enormous swarm of wasps leaped from the stadium-sized spider’s back, only to swarm the red dragon. It opened its maw, from which erupted the power of a volcano. The swarm melted, turning to ash, and the giant spider reeled.

More wasps broke free of the spider’s back, then took advantage of the fact that the red dragon had already spent its ability. They attacked its wings, ripping through the comparatively thin membrane. Others came in from underneath, piercing its softer underbelly. Before long, its glistening red scales weren’t even visible beneath the swarming wasps.

Elijah’s own scales flashed, and his eyes glowed with his draconic nature.

And anger.

He couldn’t stand idly by while such a magnificent dragon fell to insects. He refused. He was already transforming when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around, throwing a mighty punch at the responsible party.

He nearly broke his hand on hard scales.

The creature before him was clearly draconic. Though it was like someone had blended a humanoid with a reptile, and came up with a centaur-like shape. Four reptilian legs. Plenty of scales. A dragon’s face. It wore a crisscrossed bandolier, and its torso – as well as arms – were so heavily muscled that Elijah wondered how it could maintain any flexibility.

“Wait,” it said in a clearly masculine voice. “I understand your anger, brother. Do not give in, for in doing so, you will only be destroyed.”

Elijah reasserted control, then glanced back at the battle. The dragon-man told the truth. Even a moment’s observation told Elijah that he couldn’t compete with that kind of power. There were clearly demi-gods out there.

“What do we do?” Elijah asked, his voice gruff with unfaded anger.

“Follow,” the dragon-man said. “I am Dolo.”

“Elijah.”

He cocked his head. “Curious name for a dragon.”

“I wasn’t always a dragon,” Elijah admitted.

“Fair enough,” Dolo stated. “Come. If you wish for battle, then battle you shall have. You just need a field more suited to your power.”

Then, he took off at a gallop. Elijah trotted to keep up. At some point, Dolo summoned a staff bearing a giant blade on either end, which he used to carve a path through the fray. Any wasp that came near him fell, split in two or completely destroyed. Elijah followed along, marveling at the dragon-man’s prowess.

Dolo wasn’t a demi-god. But he was clearly a stronger combatant than Elijah, at least so long as his bestial forms were discounted. Was it from levels? Cultivation? Or was it simply a feature of the Primal Realm? He didn’t know, and he didn’t think he’d soon discover the truth.

They went on for miles, giving Elijah a few minutes to study the environment. And he was unsurprised to see that it didn’t even remotely resemble anywhere on Earth. The ground was barren, featuring jagged rock that ranged between purples, whites, and blacks. Meanwhile, the sky was pitch black, with only a single large star providing illumination. Something was in that darkness though. Something that sent a tremble up Elijah’s spine.

He ignored it, following Dolo through the battle.

Finally, they crested a ridge, and Elijah saw tens of thousands of dragons fighting against ten times as many wasps, drachnids, and vespirans.

“You wish to fight? There is your chance, brother. Fight. Grow strong. Contribute to the cause.”

Elijah didn’t need any more prompting, and he leaped from the cliff, ready to sate his anger.