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

Elijah drifted in the center of the cave, hovering only a few feet from the bottom. The Leviathan Bones remained, though he could feel that they were far less dense than they had been before his bout of cultivation. As for the rest of the vegetation, it had been absorbed by his efforts. Apparently, reaching the third stage of Core cultivation required quite a lot of energy, both vital and magical, and he’d taxed the cave to the extent of its capabilities. That the coralline structures of the Leviathan Bones had survived was a minor miracle, though one for which he was extremely grateful. The natural treasure had been a once-in-a-lifetime reward, and most of his reasoning for choosing it had hinged upon it being a multi-use tool, so Elijah was more than glad to see that it remained. It had been weakened, but he sensed that it would recover soon enough.

However, he wasn’t above giving it a little help, so after shifting into the Shape of the Master, he swam through the tunnel connecting the cave to the open ocean. Soon enough, he was engaged in the familiar task of repopulating the cave with local sea vegetation, including red algae, kelp, and various other plants. Even a few fish followed him back to the cave, probably curious as to his presence and attracted to the trickle of ethera leaking out of the tunnel.

Once he was done, he spent a few hours meditating as he flared Nature’s Bounty.

Some might have considered it an onerous task – akin to cleaning up after work – but Elijah found it to be both cathartic and rewarding. Feeling the surge of vitality as the transplanted marine life took hold centered him in a way nothing else really could. So, rather than feeling annoyed by the delay – after all, he still wanted to inspect his gains – he appreciated the opportunity for what it was.

Most people would never feel what he felt. Instead, they would go through life never connecting with anything, except maybe on a superficial level. He had both the responsibility and the privilege to truly bond with the natural world in a much more complete way, and he felt incredibly fortunate that he got to do so.

Still, as he floated in the center of the cave, he found his mind wandering to arguably more immediately important factors. Like the fact that, even in that short amount of time since he’d awoken, he could feel just how much stronger he was. Elijah knew his attributes hadn’t risen. He didn’t need to look at his status to know that much. However, he could feel the difference all the same.

But it did beg the question of just how much more powerful he’d become. He could easily cast his various buffs and check his status to figure out how much more potentl his spells had become, but he’d also passed to the next stage of overall cultivation, which meant that the quality of his attributes had increased. Because of his cultivation, each point in each of his attributes counted for more than they ever had before. To figure out just how much, he’d need to do some serious testing.

Which he intended to do, of course.

But first, he needed to complete his task so that the cultivation cave had every opportunity to recover, and in as short a time as possible. He didn’t know when he’d get the chance to work on his cultivation again – he had a ton of things on his to-do list, and most of those would take a significant investment of time – but when he did get around to taking the next steps, he wanted everything to be ready.

Eventually, though, he couldn’t help himself. He opened his status: