Titan: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 4) by Jez Cajiao (beach books .txt) 📗

Sunken City, get everyone working on making the Battleship as safe as possible, and send overtures to the researchers in both camps. Ask them to come tomorrow morning at… fuck knows, first light?” I asked, getting a subtle nod from Augustus. “Right. First light, get them to come here, and we’ll talk to them. I want to know what they know. As to the Golems…” I eyed Alistor sternly, before looking back to Romanus. “Augustus is in charge of them. I want them used to their maximum potential.” I shifted my focus to Augustus. “Use them as you see fit, but the ship is the priority. If you think that it’d be better served by having them on sentry duty and the Legion helping with construction, fine. If not, also fine. Just discuss it with the Engineers, okay? And make damn sure the Servitor is put to work immediately; you’ve no idea what those things could do…” I said, closing my eyes as the glare built in direct proportion to the pain. I knew instinctively that attempting to use magic to ‘heal’ this would be a mistake, and Oracle wasn’t talking, since she was still too busy trying to make sense of Amon’s ‘info-dump’.

“Augustus…” I whispered, my eyes still closed.

“Yes, Jax?” came the response, his voice now at my side.

“Get me somewhere I can rest, please, mate. Somewhere dark.” I was painfully aware that while I could push through this, I’d regret it later… something was very wrong.

“Yes, my lord,” he said, and I felt strong hands on either side, guiding me from the bridge.

The next few minutes passed in a blur, as every time I opened my eyes, all I could make out was a smear of bright light and colors, and pain… so much pain…

Then I was in a room, being guided to a bed, then doors were being softly closed, and the last thing I heard was a familiar voice that made me release a relieved breath, trusting fully that I was safe.

“Jax… sleep well,” Bane said.

Chapter Three

It was the change in the ambient sound that brought me back to consciousness. The steady, ever-present ‘thrummm’ of the engines; a mixture of a purring diesel engine and the warm hum of magic was the closest I could match it to, and it had changed.

Instead of the steady purr, interspersed with occasional rapid-fire bursts of the engines altering course, I had been awoken by the sound of creaking and breaking wood, of branches rubbing against the hull, and then, finally, of the engines dying away. A creaking filled the air as the ship settled slowly, weight returning to the supports.

I blinked slowly, opening my eyes cautiously and feeling that particular weird feeling you get after a migraine, where your skull is simultaneously too tight and feels like a balloon that might either pop or float away at any second, the hollow space surrounding your mind that had been filled with pain, now suddenly free.

“O…*cough*… Oracle?” I managed, feeling her close by.

“I’m here, Jax,” she said, flying into view from where she’d been hovering in the air nearby. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah… what happened?” I replied groggily. “God, it tastes like a cat shit in my mouth…”

“Well, I didn’t see a cat around, but Grizz checked on you a few minutes ago…” Bane’s voice offered from the corner.

“Well, he’s got the morals of a cat, from what I hear, but as long as he didn’t stick anything in my mouth, I’ll let that slide…” I muttered, pausing. “He didn’t… right?” I asked, feeling terror rising.

“No, he crept in like a mouse and left the same way. I think you scared the entire Legion, Jax. They’ve been tiptoeing around outside, threatening to murder anyone that disturbs you with a loud noise.”

“Crap…” I muttered, rubbing my face. “I hope they’ve not scared the crew too much. Seriously, Oracle, what happened?” I asked again.

“Amon,” she said simply. “He’s simultaneously millennia dead and oblivious to what you’re capable of. When he was alive, well, he was exceptional and seriously high-leveled; he doesn’t really have much of an accurate impression of what a living human can handle. You remember the issues you had with Spellbooks?” she reminded me, and I nodded.

“Well, Amon just gave you a whole new level of that. Think, the equivalent of ten Spellbooks or more; he’s given you a basic grounding in so many different subjects, I can’t even…” she landed on my chest and gazed down at me. “Luckily, removing the Valspar and being healed by Jenae and Mistress Nerin repaired almost all of your previous brain damage. The fact that this was a direct mental transfer of knowledge minimized the impact as well, and I was able to soothe some of that absorption. The headache should be about the worst of what you have to suffer this time.

“Interestingly, considering the spells that you used, ‘Ability’ would probably be closer to the truth of what you’ve been given. Specifically, this ability, the one that you used to free the slaves in the city, is a mixture of several spells so complex I really haven’t got a handle on them yet, let alone how you activated it instinctively and fueled it out of pure righteous fury. All I really remember is that it felt amazing,” she said, giving a little shudder as she closed her eyes, then pursed her lips in thought as they popped back open.

“I am positive that it was a solid Ability, like a capital ‘A’ ability, that you used. Much like the way that certain species can perform different feats, like the Djinn can phase their bodies into mist and back, or the way that a Warrior can use a ‘Taunt.’ Those are both Abilities; one is intrinsic to the creature, while the other is a gained, or learned, Ability. You getting this?” she asked, and I nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, I think so. Go on…”

“Well, I think this is an intrinsic Ability: something that is