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

“I’m never drinking again,” Elijah muttered to himself as he lay in his bed of moss. Massaging his temples, he refused to open his eyes. He’d made that mistake once already, and even the gentle light from the glowing flowers on the ceiling was enough to send spikes through his hungover brain. Taking a deep breath, he used Soothe, but even that was only marginally effective. So, he cast Nature’s Bloom, and, at last, his roiling stomach and the pounding pain behind his eyes subsided. He took a deep breath, then sat up.

He felt gross.

And lethargic, despite his efforts at healing himself.

That was the problem with drinking high-grade liquor. It cut right through his enhanced Constitution, even resisting his healing spells. By any measure, it was a poison – just one whose effects were slightly more enjoyable than most. At least in the moment. The aftereffects were markedly less pleasant. If most people drank what he’d drunk, they would’ve had to deal with more than simple inebriation. Someone like Miguel would have died in minutes.

Smacking his dry mouth, he reached over to his Endless Canteen and took a sip – an effort to wash the disgusting taste out of his mouth. He was unsuccessful, but with every pulse of Soothe, Elijah felt a bit better. So, he dragged himself out of bed and immediately went to his shower, where he let the scalding water as well as his rejuvenating soap do its work. When he finally stepped from the bathroom, he almost felt human again.

After dressing, he headed into the kitchen, where he immediately got to work on the most important cure for his hangover – coffee. By the time he planted himself in his favorite chair on the balcony and took the first sip, most of the aftereffects of the party had faded. In their place was mingled determination and embarrassment at the night’s antics.

There was a reason that, after college, he’d mostly given up on serious drinking. Multiple reasons, in fact. The first was the simple knowledge that it wasn’t good for him. Back then, he’d used alcohol – and other inebriants – to mask the lingering issues that had cropped up from his parents’ deaths. The responsible and oft-ignored well-adjusted part of him knew that wasn’t healthy, so he’d moved on from that phase of his life.

But more importantly, drinking always brought out the worst parts of his personality. Even in the best of times, Elijah was a quirky and acquired taste. When he drank, though? He was much worse, and more than anything, embarrassment loomed large in his memories of those days.

So, it was a bit surprising that he’d gone so hard during Miguel’s coming-of-age celebration. He’d refrained from drinking too much while his nephew was still around, but the moment Miguel had wandered off – either to train or sleep – Elijah had started drinking far more heavily.

Thankfully, the rest was a blur. Hopefully, he hadn’t made too much of an ass of himself, though he didn’t much stock in that hope.

Over the next half hour, Elijah enjoyed two cups of coffee as he sat back and appreciated the early morning atmosphere of the grove. Nerthus was already up and about, working on the garden. He’d expressed to Elijah his plans to rework the grove, and while Elijah would miss the rows of bushes he’d planted in the very beginning, he’d been convinced of the potential benefits the change could bring. The same was true of the rest of the island, which would be far less cultivated, but still be structured according to Nerthus’ plan. According to the spryggent, that would hasten the process of increasing the ethereal density – which Elijah could certainly get behind. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss when he considered the planned changes.

Perhaps Nerthus would manage to retain the place’s wild aura.

In any case, Elijah couldn’t afford to add micromanagement of the grove to his list of tasks. He already had plenty on his plate as it was, so he’d decided to give Nerthus free rein when it came to the grove and the surrounding island. He trusted the spryggent, after all.

By the time Elijah had finished his coffee, the other residents of the grove were up and about, though, thankfully, no one was in the mood for socializing. That wasn’t surprising, given that, aside from Miguel, they’d all had far too much to drink. Even Nerthus had tried a sip of some sort of liquor Colt had acquired. It had not gone well, with the spyrggent immediately passing out. More distressingly, quite a few of the plants in the area had reacted to the event by quivering out of control.

Fortunately, that had only lasted a couple of minutes until Elijah had healed Nerthus – which sort of defeated the purpose of drinking, but in that situation, he thought that was a good thing.

With those memories in mind, Elijah started on his errands. The first stop was to start the process of creating lye, which only took about half an hour before he was forced to wait while the ash soaked. After that, Elijah flew to Ironshore, where he took Carmen’s advice and hired the goblin Leatherworker, Gavina. She’d actually gained a few levels since his last conversation with his sister-in-law, so Gavina was the same level as the other Leatherworker in town.

“Are you sure you want me to work with this?” Gavina asked, her voice a bit raspy due to her goblin heritage. She was short, even for her race, with huge, bat-like ears and a surprisingly dainty nose. Unlike most goblins, her complexion trended more toward blue than green. She ran her hand along the rolled-up boar hide, adding, “This is better than any material I’ve ever worked with. I might ruin it.”

“There’s a lot of leather there,” Elijah said. The boar had been enormous, after all. “I’m not saying you should waste it, but maybe you should start with armor padding. I think Carmen’s going to be coming to you in the next day or so. Use the excess for that.”

“I still don’t know…”

“And there’s enough material for a few attempts. Don’t sweat it,” Elijah said. “I believe in you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“Right. Well…that’s true. But I still believe you can do the job!” he said. “I’ve heard good things. You’re an up-and-comer.”

She sighed. “This is a lot of pressure.”

“Pressure makes diamonds.”

“Actually, it’s heat and pressure and –”

“My point is that you’ve got this,” Elijah interrupted.

“You’re not going to kill me if I fail, right?” she asked. “I mean to say – I appreciate the work. It’s a great opportunity. But there’s a chance I’ll fail, and I don’t want you to eat me if I do. Respectfully. I’d rather just not take the job. But then again, maybe refusing the commission will also get me eaten. I’m in a tight spot, I guess is what I’m saying.”

“Eat you?” Elijah asked, his jaw dropping. “I don’t eat people!”

“That’s not what I heard. Respectfully.”

“Respectfully,” he echoed, annoyed. “You heard wrong.” He shook his head. It almost felt like his hangover was coming back, even though he knew that wasn’t possible. “I swear to you – I don’t just kill people for that kind of thing. And I don’t eat people.”

“If you say so…”

After that, Elijah managed to persuade the goblin Leatherworker to take on the job, paying her far more than he probably should have. Was it a negotiation tactic, then? Or was she truly frightened? Elijah had no idea, but if it meant being done with the uncomfortable conversation, he had no issues with throwing money at the problem.

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In any case, he’d managed to accomplish the first goal. He knew the next step was going to be even more uncomfortable. Still, it had to be done, so he returned to the Imperium and let Gwenivere and John know that he wasn’t going to be able to help their people anytime soon. He’d already said as much, but he wanted there to be no confusion about his priorities going forward. Surprisingly, though they were obviously disappointed, they took the news well enough.

So, once all of that was finished, Elijah headed for the next item on his to-do list. He needed to get stronger, and there was only one way to accomplish that goal. He had access to a tower – and it just so happened that there was no one inside at the moment, so it was time he used it.

With that in mind, he headed into the Keledge Tower.

Fortunately, he was intimately aware of the tower’s ins and outs, and given that he didn’t care about his grade, the run was both brutal and efficient. He killed everything, soaking in the experience as he slaughtered his way through the tower. The tower still scaled to his level, so the enemies inside were powerful enough to give him a challenging fight. However, he knew precisely how to attack each level, so he had few issues with finishing it in only a few days.

And though the combination of escalating experience requirements and the decreasing rewards for running a tower multiple times minimized his gains, Elijah still managed to reach his goal. Level ninety.

Which gave him a new ability: