Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

The underground expanse was beautiful in a different way compared to the land above ground. Even when comparing it to Earth’s sights, it didn’t lose out at all, in Michael’s opinion. A huge cave stretched out from the high ground he was standing on, completely illuminated by glowing blue and green mushrooms that varied wildly in size, from hand-sized to several meters in diameter. Small tufts of grass could be seen here and there, especially near the mushrooms, but the whole thing seemed to be entirely made of rock. Huge pillars rose from the floor to the ceiling, acting as columns that kept the whole structure in its place. The air was stale and heavy, but much more bearable than Michael expected. The lack of any distinct scent contributed to this.

He stood on top of another slope that merged with the floor below. Based on the things he could see, the cave seemed to be nothing less than “huge.” The sound of running water was now much more distinct. Even from his current position, he could see the waterfall. It was far larger than the one he had seen above ground., with tree roots following its flow. He could only imagine how many creatures there were in this underground expanse.

I shouldn’t go down just yet.

He was in a favorable position, with no nearby opponents. He needed to utilize the time he had to survey the place. An idea crossed his mind.

What if I focused my mana on my eyes?

After a moment of brief hesitation, he decided to test out his theory. At the sound of his heartbeat, he felt the mana coursing through him. He tried to gather its strands and focus on them in his eyes. He immediately felt a drastic difference. Not only could he see farther, but his visual acuity had also improved. A System notification rang in his ears.

[You have made progress towards acquiring a new Skill.]

He blinked. His mind immediately went into overdrive. This was an incredibly monumental notification, presented to him no differently than all the others. Skills could be acquired without spending Skill Points. He didn’t know if this applied to all Skills, but it was a very important discovery. Even though he now got Skill Points at every level, he theorized that they would eventually stop being enough to acquire everything he wanted. This knowledge would prove its amazing usefulness then. It also meant that he should keep pondering on his magic abilities, and not feel discouraged by the lack of a Dual Casting or Fast Casting Skill among his many notifications.

Michael let out a slight chuckle before deciding to concentrate on his current task once more. He focused his efforts on trying to see anything near the water and soon succeeded. A group of three of the oversized moles he had fought before were crawling near the upper part of the flow, before the waterfall. He remembered to use Analyze.

[Mole, Level 5.]

[Mole, Level 6.]

[Mole, Level 3.]

One of the moles was even on the same Level as him. The group would be a worthy opponent if he decided to level up. Even though the idea of fighting beasts that hadn’t tried to kill him bothered him, becoming more powerful was his immediate priority. It was a pity, but he would need to be the aggressor eventually. The animals had already proven that they would do the same given the opportunity. He didn’t have time to be sentimental. His mother needed him.

Having steeled his resolve, Michael kept looking for possible foes. His attention was grabbed by two large snakes on the ground near the lower part of the underground river.

[Snake, Level 8.]

[Snake, Level 9.]

Those might be dangerous.

He narrowed his eyes. Those were too close to Level 10 for his liking. He wasn’t sure if something changed then, but he guessed that it should be the Level for the third Skill acquisition for most beings, after Levels 1 and 5. It represented a certain spike in power. Until his theory was proven wrong, he would keep acting as if it were correct. Of course, this was all considering that animals were contestants just like him. Even though he should be more than powerful enough to face those snakes because of his draconic lineage, he still felt like he should level up a bit more. A slight movement on the ceiling caught his gaze.

…Are those bats?

The Analyze Skill only confirmed his suspicions.

[Bat, Level 6.]

[Bat, Level 4.]

[Bat, Level 4.]

The System windows superimposed one another, making them unreadable, but their content was forcefully and naturally transmitted into Michael’s mind. There were almost twenty bats, all between Levels 3 and 6. The bats were also oversized, being the size of small dogs.

There’s no way I can fight so many flying enemies.

Given their levels, even one of them would prove difficult to hit with Mana Sphere. Fighting almost twenty of them was unfeasible. As Michael was about to discard the notion, he remembered something that made him stop.

Mana Wave is an area-of-effect Skill.

He had a Skill that could hit multiple targets. It hadn’t been the first thing on his mind, given that it was one of his most recent acquisitions, but now that it had surfaced, it changed his way of looking at the situation entirely. With enough preparation, he could alternate between Mana Wave and Mana Shield quickly enough to succeed. The prospect of felling almost twenty enemies around his Level was too good to be discarded. For his own growth, he considered the possibility seriously. He made a decision.

I’ll fight.

There was no room for hesitation. He would defeat – no, he would kill them. It was time to put his skills to the test. Michael looked at his next targets, mentally calculating the distance between him and them. Could his Mana Wave Skill fly that far? His testing hadn’t included the Skill’s range. It was an oversight. He cursed inwardly. He couldn’t simply fire one off right here, at the risk of scaring away his targets or drawing all the animals to his location. He made a decision in an instant.

In order to get closer to the bats, he would have to leave his advantageous position and explore the forest of stone and mushrooms below, which likely contained more enemies. It was possible that by the time he found a proper spot to attack the bats, they would have already moved. Even worse, it was possible that they would try to ambush him as he fought below.

What if he fired a Mana Sphere to draw their attention? There was the risk of attracting more enemies than he planned to or simply scaring them off, but he couldn’t think of any other effective way. He needed to stay on high ground to have a fighting chance. He decided on this course of action. He looked around him, trying to find enemies that would be capable of quickly getting to him if the Mana Sphere attracted them, but thankfully found nothing but snakes and moles. He could deal with those.

He grabbed his wand and moved it in a circle.

“Mana Sphere.”

He created the Sphere and shot it toward the bats. That was when his brow furrowed in confusion. Wasn’t that Mana Sphere a bit too big? The amount of consumed mana had been only marginally higher than before, so why did there seem to be such a difference in output? At a speed much faster than he had anticipated, the Mana Sphere flew to the bats… And seared through five of them in one fell swoop.

The bats started flying haphazardly, going toward him as if they were out for his blood, which they probably were. Michael grinned. Once he judged that the bats had gotten close enough, he used his wand to draw a horizontal line.

“…Mana Wave.”

A half-moon made of blue energy flew from the space in front of him. The bats attempted to avoid it, but he repeated his actions twice over, flooding the air with a total of three Waves. Only a few stragglers were left in the wake of their destruction, and they were promptly silenced by one last Wave. In less than a minute, Michael had slain twenty System-mutated bats, with absolutely no challenge whatsoever, leveling up twice in the process, which surprised him slightly.

This is beyond my expectations.

This drastic change was likely borne out of his Dragonheart. Not only did it improve his mana-gathering skills, but also his spellcasting abilities. It had empowered his Skills accordingly. Perhaps it worked as if he had gotten a buff in his Intelligence Stat. He wasn’t certain, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He knew when to rejoice.

This was good news. Maybe he shouldn’t hesitate to face the snake duo, especially now that he had leveled up and confirmed his prowess. It should be near-impossible for the snakes to get through his current Mana Shield, although he would need to lower it to attack. The inability to use two of his Skills at the same time continued to hinder him. He had confirmed that it was at least possible to make progress toward learning a Skill without spending Skill Points or waiting for specific Levels. He didn’t know if he would have to spend a Skill Point anyway, or if Skills could be fully learned without spending them, but either way, it meant that he had no reason not to train his dual casting. He had enough mana remaining that allowed him to do this.

Just like before, Michael tried moving his mana in two different directions at the same time. He failed more than just a few times in a row, but he didn’t let that discourage him from continuing to try. He would succeed, eventually. If he couldn’t, he would be a waste of the Dragon blood flowing within him. How could he say he had a Dragonheart when being unable to even dual cast?

Finally, he descended from the slope, truly entering the mushroom forest. His plan was simple. He would go to the place where the snakes were while dealing with everything that got in his way. The newfound power he had discovered when fighting the bats served as a great source of confidence, but Michael didn’t let that muddle his mind or make him arrogant. He wouldn’t find any joy in killing other beings, and becoming stronger was merely a means to an end. So long as he remembered those tenets, he would be fine.

Probably.