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

Elijah stepped through the gate and found nothing waiting. For a moment, he was extremely confused until Dat spoke up. “Hey, bro,” he said. “We got tired of waiting out in the open, so we moved across the street.”

“Since when could you talk and not break stealth?”

“New evolution,” Dat answered. “Come on.”

With that, Elijah focused on Soul of the Wild, and his efforts were rewarded with a subtle sense of Dat’s position. It was so easy to miss – just a slight disturbance in the local ethera – that if he hadn’t known about it ahead of time, he would have ignored it altogether. But now that he knew what to look for, he leveraged his Jade Mind to the task of keeping track of the Witch Hunter.

Otherwise, he focused on crossing the street to what appeared to be a two-story restaurant. At one point, it had likely catered to the tourists visiting the temple, and it had been decorated to exemplify a similar aesthetic. However, where the temple had radiated age and elegance, the restaurant just looked like a cheap knock-off and a tourist trap. Appropriate, given that’s what it had been.

Once he’d crossed the street, Elijah stepped into the restaurant to find the others waiting on him. To pass the time, Lin Tao and Zhang Yue were playing a game of Mahjong. Meanwhile, Gideon was reading a book while Sadie polished her sword. As far as Elijah knew, the latter was unnecessary – the weapon was a high-grade item – but he knew Sadie well enough to recognize that taking care of her gear was something akin to a nervous tick. A compulsion she needed to follow, lest she grow anxious.

“Good news,” he announced when everyone looked up. “I have the Blessing of War.”

Then, he went on to explain the nature of the Shrine’s challenge. He kept the details relatively light, largely because he didn’t want to reveal the depth of his abilities to a bunch of strangers. Dat and Sadie knew what he could do, but he trusted them. The others, not so much. Perhaps they would earn his trust along the way, but for now, he intended to keep them at arm’s length.

Especially Gideon, who always looked at him with a mixture of ambition, anger, and a healthy degree of disdain. Or at least that was true when he thought Elijah wasn’t looking. When he thought he was being observed, he took on a very different and far more approachable demeanor.

Regardless, Elijah explained what he could, then asked, “So, should we move on to the next? I think it’ll be more difficult, if only because of the location.”

Indeed, the Tin Hau Temple was located on a small island in the middle of Victoria Harbor. That was where the giant squid lived, and Elijah wasn’t sure if it was even the most fearsome creature that called the harbor home. Regardless, his previous scouting expedition had established the location of the next Shrine, so they didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

“Where’s Nico?” Elijah asked.

“Out back meditating,” Dat answered.

Elijah cast his awareness into the sense afforded by Soul of the Wild, and it only took him a moment to find Nico. The man sat next to a faux-gold lion statue, his legs crossed as ethera swirled around him. It was clear that he was attempting – and failing – to cultivate. Elijah didn’t know what to make of that, except to acknowledge that other people were trying to improve as well. If he stopped even for a moment, they would catch – or even surpass – him.

And he couldn’t let that happen. Not because he had a fundamental need to be at the top, but rather because he knew precisely how enticing his grove would be to the wrong sorts of people. He needed to be among the strongest people in the world if he wanted to protect it.

Sadie offered, “I’ll go get him. We don’t have time to sit around. The Primal Realm has been open for more than a day, and each passing hour will strengthen their position.”

As she headed toward the back, Elijah realized that she was right. Dragon Tiger Mountain had been hard enough to infiltrate when the Primal Realm wasn’t open, and he suspected it would be much more difficult now. When Sadie left the room, the others started gathering their things, and as they did, Elijah finally acknowledged that he’d gained a level in the shrine, putting him at one-thirty-seven: