Atlas Rising a LitRPG gaming adventure by Blake Severson (top 10 books of all time .txt) 📗

on a raised root and he tripped backward, landing heavily on his back after falling a few feet to the ground.

The tree groaned and creaked as the flames quickly engulfed all of it. Its limbs and root flailed wildly, and a stray root smacked Atlas hard across the ribs. His breath exploded from him as the pain seared across his side. A flaming bundle of roots descended toward his face, and he mustered the effort to roll clear from the creature.

You dealt 80 damage to Elder Ent with Basic Firestarter. (Critical Weakness)

Elder Ent dealt 48 damage to you with Death Flail.

Elder Ent lost 15 health from Ignition.

Elder Ent lost 15 health from Ignition.

Elder Ent died.

You gained 95 experience.

The large tree crashed to the ground, its body still smoldering from the flame. He approached a small section that wasn’t on fire and gathered the loot from the monster. It was disappointing to see there wasn’t any Sap of an Ent, but not unexpected. They dropped something else of interest.

You found the following items:

Tea Leaves of the Tranquil x 8.

Nurturing Bark x 12.

Both registered as crafting items. He was sure the leaves would be useful to someone with the cooking skill while he’d probably get the chance to use the bark himself with Woodworking. The area around the clearing was quiet. Trees swayed in the light breeze and birds chattered. It was an odd feeling after the fight that just took place.

Guess I need to go find some more living trees. Have to grind out this Sap of an Ent. Hopefully I can improve my dismount next time.

Atlas looked around, trying to figure out his destination, and consulted his map. The best choice was to circle the current area and gradually push farther outward. Shifting to cat form, he ran to the edge of the clearing and stopped.

A large vine wound around one tree nearby and drew his attention. The vine looked normal at first glance. What caught his attention was the shine. Light seemed to shimmer off of the surface like it was made of metal. Small grooves that looked like a short coating of bark covered the surface. Remembering his other quest item, he approached it. A quick inspection identified the item. Living Ironwood Root.

This is the root? It looks like a vine? Atlas noticed the root extended up into the tree canopy. The bottom part of it certainly went into the ground as he would expect from a root, but usually they didn’t climb that high. Tracing the path of the root with his eyes, he discovered it wove through the entire canopy.

This thing must make this tree impossible to move!

Atlas shifted back to his Wood Elf form and walked to the root. He pulled his woodcutting hatchet from his bag and swung. The axe reverberated in his hang as the vibrations crawled up his arm. When the feeling returned, he looked to the spot he struck. A tiny piece was missing, but it barley did any damage.

Not knowing what else to do, Atlas started swinging as fast as he could. The axe rebounded with every strike, and he kept adjusting his grip to stop as much of the vibration as possible. After what felt like an eternity, the axe sunk in deep on one of his swings. An inspection of the area showed the inner core of the root was soft like normal wood. It had taken him almost an hour to chop through the external layer of the vine.

With some light at the end of the tunnel, he continued his assault on the root. It only took a handful more strikes until the axe bit through the entire core. As the final soft portion of the root died, the entire thing shriveled and shrunk into itself. It unwound from the canopy and constricted until only a compact bundle of the roots remained. The item registered as Ironwood Root.

He placed the root in his bag and continued with his original plan. Now that he knew what the Ironwood Roots looked like, he could hunt for those in his trek for the Ent sap.

A grueling three hours later and another seven dead Ents and he finally found the Sap of an Ent. At that point he’d only found one additional root, so it took him another hour and a half to find and cut down the last root.

You gained 665 experience.

You found the following items:

Tea Leaves of the Tranquil x 48.

Nurturing Bark x 65.

Sap of an Ent.

Ironwood Root x 2.

Finally done with the endless grinding, he dashed back to the city. The quests were all ready to turn in, and he was itching to see what the staff turned out to be. His game clock was running short and he wouldn’t have enough time to test out the new weapon, but he should be able to get it repaired.

He barely took the time to shift back to Wood Elf form as he rushed back into the city. The streets were packed with players and NPCs alike, but he ignored all of them as he made a beeline directly for the Jewelcrafting shop. When he entered, the master waved at him.

“Welcome back, Atlas. You here to do some crafting?”

“Not really. I’m here to complete the quest to repair the staff. Do you have any Measure of Silver Shavings for sale?”

“I think I do. Here, take a look,” he said as the shop menu popped up in Atlas’ view.

The menu popped up and Atlas confirmed he did in fact have the shavings. The price of them wasn’t very attractive, but he also didn’t plan on taking up Mining any time soon. Figuring it’d be worth the investment, he bought all 28 the Jewelcrafting master had for 3 silver each.

Giddy with excitement, he handed over the staff. The Jewelcrafter looked at it with reverence as he carried it to a nearby workbench and laid it down. Without prompting, Atlas laid down the Elemental Flame and five Measure of Silver Shavings.

The master jeweler