Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO STUBBING AUGUST 15)

“That ability is bullshit.”

Elijah looked up to see Okar storming into the room. He was unarmed, so Elijah didn’t think he was any danger. However, that impression stood in stark contrast to his expression, telling an entirely different story. One of anger, frustration, and disbelief.

Mostly anger, though.

“You guys say ‘bullshit’ here?” Elijah wondered aloud. It only took him a moment to recognize that the translation wasn’t entirely accurate. Rather, the system had chosen the term because it was similar enough to convey the same meaning.

Okar stopped in front of him and poked his finger into Elijah’s chest. Only possible because he was seated. Otherwise, Okar would’ve had quite a lot of difficulty reaching Elijah’s torso.

“I had you,” he insisted.

“You really didn’t,” Elijah said. “Not even close, actually.”

“Bullshit.”

Elijah shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I only used…maybe a tenth of my power? Yeah. That sounds about right,” he lied. Just because he hadn’t used all of his forms didn’t mean that it correlated to the estimate he’d just made. For instance, Shape of the Scourge wouldn’t have been a great fit against someone like Okar. Neither would Shape of the Primordial Deep. Definitely not Shape of the World Serpent. The only form that would’ve been better than Spores was Shape of Embers, but Elijah wanted to keep that hidden until absolutely necessary.

“Bullshit,” Okar chirped.

“You really like that word.”

“It’s the best one to describe what you…are.”

“That hurts,” Elijah said. “Really.”

“Gah!” the half-dwarf shouted, throwing his hands into the air. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum, but that was probably because of his size. And his proportions. Also, his pudgy face.

“How old are you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I mean…no offense, but you kind of look…young.”

“That’s because I’m a halfling, idiot.”

“You didn’t answer the question. Pretty pointedly,” Elijah persisted.

“I’m old enough.”

“Still no answer.”

Okar threw his hands up. “You’re impossible!” he shouted before storming away.

It was just in time to pass Sara as she entered. She gave the halfling a curious look as they crossed paths, then asked Elijah, “What was that about?”

“Sore loser.”

“Oh. Oh! That was the guy? He’s so small!”

“I think it’s a bit of a sore spot for him,” Elijah guessed.

“Kind of cute, though. For a halfling, I mean.”

“If you say so.”

For a second, she stared after Okar. Then, she seemed to remember why she’d come. The change of expression was comically fast, and with a squeal, she threw her arms around Elijah’s shoulders. “You won!”

“Um…yeah. I said I would.”

She pushed away and held him at arm’s length. “I thought you were a goner. When he did that blade blender thing? Yeah. And then you turned into that monster, which…well, that was surprising. Not for me. Totally expected it. But for everyone else, I mean,” she recited. “And the way you popped his head? That…that was a bit gruesome.”

Elijah shrugged. “Not like I wanted to do it. Okar pushed me a little harder than expected.”

“That fungus monster is pretty gross.”

“Can’t disagree with that. I’d hate to meet a real one.”

After that, Sara gave her blow-by-blow impression of the fight. At some point, Tura arrived, though she didn’t add anything to the conversation. Not until Sara had finished, when the old drake told him that he should have kept Shape of Spores hidden a little while longer.

“It is a powerful ability. Future opponents will now be prepared for it.”

“I know,” Elijah admitted, running his hand through his hair. “If they counter it, I’ll just have to figure something else out.”

She nodded, then told him they were leaving. Not a surprising turn of events, given that Elijah’s was the last fight of the day. So, without further ado, they left the Praesidium behind and parted ways with Sara. While she went back to Ashakar and the academy, Elijah and Tura headed to the hut.

Birk was waiting for them.

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And he was ready to train.

Groaning in faux exhaustion, Elijah followed the big drake to the training ring. Once there, they went over the entire fight. Apparently, Birk had been there, and he’d seen every single mistake Elijah had made.

There were a lot of them.

And Birk seemed determined to make Elijah understand what he’d done wrong and how to fix the mistakes.

By the time they’d finished, Elijah was drenched in sweat – and a little blood from Birk’s less-than-gentle teaching methods. But rather than being annoyed at the long training session, Elijah was grateful. Learning his weaknesses and working to close those loopholes would be necessary if he wanted to win the tournament.

If nothing else, the fight against Okar had confirmed that Elijah couldn’t just skate through the tournament. He needed to continue working, and harder than ever before.

So, for the next couple of weeks, that was precisely what he did.

If he wasn’t sleeping or eating, he was training. Even Birk couldn’t keep up with the frantic pace. Physically, he was fine. And he loved training just as much as Elijah did. But he also had other demands on his time, some of which required him to leave for multiple days.

Elijah didn’t care.

He could train on his own.

Though on those days when Birk wasn’t around, Elijah focused more on using his forms and spells, incorporating them into his fighting style. It still wasn’t cohesive. It would take years before he would even consider himself proficient, and that was after he finalized his ideas.

But Elijah was okay with that. Nothing worth building ever came together quickly. It took time, and he was more than willing to devote as much of it as necessary.

It was during one of those training sessions that Elijah heard excited shouting from the edge of the circle. He glanced in that direction to see Sara, Alrhok, and Kaela cheering him on.

There was someone else, too.

“Okar?” he muttered. The halfling stood a little behind Sara, almost as if he didn’t want to be seen.

Elijah crossed the training ground, shouting a greeting along the way. When he reached the low wall that marked the barrier, he leaned against it. “What’s up? What’re you all doing here?”

“Picnic!” Sara announced, holding up a crate. She had actually used the English word. “Did I say that right? It sounds…weird. Picnic.”

“You guys want to have a…picnic?”

Sara shrugged. “Tura said you needed a break.”

“That doesn’t sound like her.”

“She actually said, ‘Get that fool boy out of the training yard before he burns himself out.’ I just thought my version sounded nicer,” Sara said, beaming.

Elijah grinned. “It does.”

Then, he asked them to give him a few minutes to shower and change. After that, he disappeared around the back of Birk’s cabin, where he used Blessing of the Grove and some mediocre soap to scrub himself clean.

It just reminded him that he needed to take some time and make some more soap. Probably not while he was in the Empire of Scale, mostly because it felt wrong to make soap away from the grove. But when he went back, he would definitely find a way to make a batch or two.

For now, he had to make do with what he had available. Which wasn’t bad, per se. It smelled decent – like aloe, if he was honest – but it lacked the body cultivation aspect that usually left him feeling all tingly.

It would work for now, though.

After showering, Elijah chose a clean set of clothes and rejoined his friends. “So, where are we going?” he asked.

As it turned out, Sara knew of a nice meadow nearby. But getting there turned out to be a problem.

“I totally could,” Sara insisted. “But uh…I’m not supposed to go full dragon until I graduate. Not without supervision.”

“Oh.”

Elijah didn’t believe that for a second, especially when Sara’s eyes kept flicking to Okar, who, as a serpentor, had no dragon form. Still, it was an easily solved problem, because Sara had come prepared. As such, they all leaped onto a large cloud artifact and went on their way.

“So, what brings you around?” Elijah asked Okar.

“Bodyguard.”

“No you’re not,” Sara insisted. “I asked him to come.”

“Uh…why?”

She blushed.

So did Okar.

“Huh.”

Elijah left it alone after that, though he definitely wanted to tease both of them. Instead, he focused on Kaela. An easy task, all things considered. The two chatted a bit, and after about thirty minutes, the cloud descended.

The meadow in question was just as beautiful as Sara had described, and it featured a pleasantly burbling stream that cut through the center of the space. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones there.

Dozens of couples sat around the meadow. Not enough to make it crowded, but too many to make it feel intimate.

“I swear it wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Sara insisted, looking around in disappointment. . “The girl who told me said it was –”

“It’s fine,” Elijah interrupted, putting his hand on her shoulder. “It’s a very pretty meadow.”

She sighed.

“I guess we can eat.”

Then, she stomped off, looking for a clear spot. Okar followed her, his eyes darting around like he really did think he was acting as a bodyguard.

“I am so confused about that,” Elijah admitted as he watched them.

“They’ve been like this for the past couple of weeks,” Kaela said with a sigh. “She likes him. He’s been raised to think that serpentors and dragons don’t get together. And for the most part, he’s right. It’s just that your family is a bit different than most dragon clans.”

“Really? How?”

“Prosperity believes that being a dragon has very little to do with a person’s heritage,” Kaela explained. “As such, she has granted more dragon cores than a dozen other clans combined. Hundreds of them, and most have turned out to be exceptional.”

“That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.”

“It’s not. Without that practice – across the entire Empire of Scale – we would have long since ended up like so many other elder races,” she explained. “People like you have done great things for the empire. Defended it. Expanded it. Everyone knows that even if the empire survived without dragons like you, it would have long since become a small and pitiful thing. Barely worth mentioning in the grand scheme of the multi-verse.”

“Damn.”

“But there is a reason that some view people like you as lesser.”

“What’s that?” Elijah asked.

“Your children will not be natural dragons.”

“Really?” he asked. “I never really thought about it.”

“They may have draconic traits, though that is rare enough,” Kaela said. “Even then, only if you mate with a natural dragon. But some consider that a dilution of ancient bloodlines. Oh, they are happy to let you fight for us, but they consider you something like a drake. Or in some cases, only a step above serpentors. They will not consider you a true dragon.”

“Oh. I see.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out where that was going.

“And I’m guessing your parents are some of those people you’re talking about.”

She looked away. “Not overtly, but yes. They do not want me seeing you. Not like this.”

“And what do you want?” he asked. Elijah wasn’t so naïve as to believe he could ignore her parents’ influence, but he also felt confident that they could make it work, regardless of their opinions.

Part of that came from the fact that he had Kirlissa backing him up. He still wasn’t entirely certain where she stood in the hierarchy of the Empire of Scale, but he felt confident that she was near the top. That meant she could protect him from backlash from on high, though he suspected she would do very little against people he could reasonably deal with himself.

In any case, he listened intently as Kaela responded, “I am here. I love my parents, but I do not care what they think about my romantic life.”

That was all the answer Elijah needed, though as they joined a waving Sara and sat down for their picnic, he couldn’t help but wonder what the future might hold.

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