Zenith Academy 2: A LitRPG/Cultivation Adventure, page 1
Contents
Thank You!
PREVIOUSLY ON ZENITH ACADEMY
Zaklara the Treklion
The Joy of Drawing
Going Shopping!
Formations and Skills
The Line-up
Shit has Hitteth the Fan
Nergal
What Now?
A Debt repaid
Gearing up!
Second Dungeon Floor Part 1
Second Dungeon Floor Part 2
I come bearing gifts!
Coming Together
There’s More to the Pen than meets the Eye
Pleased to meet you!
Class is in session Part 1
Class is in session Part 2
Chambers
A Summons
Team Building
Breaking the Bank
Running a Game
Forging Alliances
Into the City
Finally Seeing the World
What to do Next
Building a Party
Storm the Keep
This is no Game
The Realities of War
Surviving by Margins
This is How We Win
Falling Back
The Aftermath
Learn about the LitRPG Community
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Copyright © 2022 by Cassius Lange
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or literary publication.
Publisher’s note:
This is a work of fiction. All names, places, characters, and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, events or locations, is completely coincidental.
Trade paperback ISBN
Amazon KINDLE
1st Edition – 2022
Thank You!
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PREVIOUSLY ON ZENITH ACADEMY
I am James Wright, or JD to everyone but my mom. Just a few weeks ago I received a visit from the ravishing but terrifying Salina, a mistress at a magical academy. What happened next was pretty much every comic book weeb’s wet dream—um, taken to a fantastical world full of exotic and alien peoples, gifted magical powers, and set onto the path of the warrior. I was immediately pushed into a life-or-death situation, befriended some fascinating people, and hot ladies, and bonded with a pen-blade, a magical sword powered by mana and my imagination.
I met Mabel first, a young moon elf haunted by her past and heritage. Then Chloe, a scrappy but beautiful college student from the wrong side of the tracks. Her and I bonded immediately, well with being the only human students in the academy, it was inevitable. But Zenith was only one school in a tower full of academies, which meant we were truly strangers in a strange land. I met the mistresses, those specializing in martial arts, magical spells, cultivation, beast transformations, and the crafting of magical items.
I realized not long after arriving that I had in truth been conscripted to fight in a desperate, multi-world war against the beast threat.
Mabel and Chloe quickly joined me to form a party and we dove into the dungeon for some much-needed experience. We discovered that the beasts and monsters there could easily kill a normal man with a single blow. The beast threat was real. But the tower granted us a ‘game-like’ system of statistics and control, giving us the boost we needed to fight, survive, and cultivate strength.
Mabel’s past haunted us, in the form of old “frenemies” who insisted on taking her back to where she “belonged.” Evidently some races had not learned that enslavement and dominion over other peoples was a bad thing. Unfortunately for them, I decided that Mabel’s place was now with Chloe and me, as a free elf. Yes, that decision wasn’t taken well, but I refused to back down, thus making enemies out of all the elven students. Luckily, I met an old man from Earth in the bazaar. It turns out he had been there for decades and was just looking for a simple act of kindness. Gaining his friendship unlocked extensive pools of wisdom and resources, and with his help, our party grew and was able to hold its own.
That all ended as we managed to clear the dungeon’s first floor. A message filled the silence in the moments after our win. What did it say? Impending doom and catastrophe were headed our way, in the form of a colossal behemoth, and a murderous beast wave.
Zaklara the Treklion
“I thank you all for taking the time out of your…incredibly busy schedules to join me today,” Headmistress Scarlet said as she sat in her oversized chair. Truthfully, it was more of a throne. Okay, technically both.
She sounded bored and irritable.
We sat in the auditorium, the stuffy nobility filling the first floor, while the rest of us—the unwashed rabble and booger-picking commoners, filled the balconies.
“Now, before we begin today’s lessons, I want to address a rumor that has been trickling its way through the academy. You know the one—where a certain group is responsible for this incoming beast wave.”
Scarlet rubbed her neck, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and exhaled forcefully. Then she pulled her large, wide-brimmed hat off her head and tossed it into the air. I watched as it floated around her in large circles.
“Does anyone brave wish to share their opinions on this rumor out loud…for all to hear, before I set the record straight?” she asked, her voice sharp. “In other words, does anyone wish to showcase a bit of bravery? I’ve heard a lot of ‘Scarlet allowed this’ and ‘Scarlet was responsible for that’ flittering round the hallways. So many voices and so many opinions. Well, I’m here now, little birds, chirp away. Ask me directly.”
A few people in the crowd coughed or cleared their throats as the headmistress ran her fingers through her hair, the dark locks glimmering with mana.
“No one? Not a single one of you? I’ve heard some real fire and passion spill out lately…that a group of students here in the academy, with my blessing, was responsible for a beast wave that will kill us all.”
She stopped and let the words sink in as she continued to comb through her hair. Her amber eyes roamed over the auditorium slowly, meeting thousands of gazes and burning her judgment into each in turn.
“Sad…” Scarlet breathed and straightened her robe. “Since you all just admitted to knowing nothing of the impending danger, let me elucidate you. Our scouts reported the awakening of something incredibly strong—a behemoth-rank beast. Its emergence triggered certain wards, and thus, the tower notified every cultivator within range. Let me repeat that. The beast awakened. It was not summoned, corralled, herded, lured, prompted, triggered, or delivered by horse and wagon. The idea that students within this academy would have the power to do so is laughable, and anyone perpetuating that rumor are equally dim for spreading it.”
Scarlet cleared her throat and sat. In the silence that followed, Salina pushed out of her chair and took over.
“The headmistress is correct. We are dealing with what is known as an Earth Tortoise. And a kingly one, at that. A massive, incredibly old, and quiet powerful beast. They are very aggressive and are so much more than their name would suggest.”
Salina watched the crowd, then quietly stroked the fur collar on her rather elegant dress.
“Honestly. This year has only just begun, but many of you act as if you are the teachers already, that you know all and have attained all the power you will ever need. I hate to be the one to…how do they say it? Rain on your parade? Yes. That is it. But you are all specks of dust in this world. Yes, you may well become powerful. But your voices should not exceed your reach. Scarlet and the other professors are here to teach you, to help you realize your potential, not babysit you and fact check your baseless, idle gossip.”
Chloe tensed next to me, the movement a reminder that I wasn’t alone. Not by far. I was seated in a massive room, surrounded by thousands of other students, and yet the two women had made me feel alone…isolated.
“The Earth Tortoise is not some gentle giant, looking to snack on tasty bits of lettuce and radishe
s. It is a monster, hundreds of feet tall and wide, made up of rippling muscle, sharp, piercing claws, a beak that can cut through solid stone, all protected by an almost impregnable shell. And scariest of all, it wants each and every one of you dead.”
“I don’t like turtles…” Mabel whispered next to me, her hand suddenly gripping my thigh tightly.
The crowd hissed and gasped, the tension hanging in an almost visible fog. Scarlet and Salina were playing their parts magnificently—one to tear them down, and the other to play on their fears.
“But it’s just one beast, right?” a student said from below. I rocked forward but couldn’t spot them, but judging from their tone, I gathered they were from the rich and privileged section. “We’ve got thousands of cultivators in this academy alone. Do like my father suggests. Empty the tower, empty the city, and surround the beast, then kill it like the varmint it is.”
“How many behemoths has your…father fought?” Scarlet asked, suddenly sitting forward. “Personally. And by that, I mean, with his own hands, not the slaves he commands to die in his stead.”
The student was quiet for a moment, then he said something those of us in the nosebleeds couldn’t hear.
“Louder…for everyone please.”
“Yes, Headmistress,” the student said, his voice now amplified. “I said my father hasn’t fought any before.”
Scarlet and Salina shared a smirk.
The mistress of finance continued, allowing Scarlet to lean back in her chair. I watched her move gingerly, slowly, as if in pain. I retraced the events in the hidden area and silently wondered if she wasn’t suffering from some aftereffect of her breakthrough.
“That’s right. Thousands of cultivators, out in open ground, surrounding their enemy. And yet most of those fighters would be young, like you, babies in their power. The weakest wouldn’t survive getting close to the behemoth, as its radiated raw mana would instantly overpower their shields and either choke them to death, burn them to ash, or freeze them solid. The rest, well they would feel the swarm before it appeared—the cries, the anger, and their shared blood rage. They would feel the rifts form and the last thing those cultivators saw, would be tens of thousands of beasts pour forth.”
“Now you’re just telling us stories. Trying to scare us. They’re just beasts. We slaughter them by the drove in the dungeons,” a student said from below.
“Yes. They are just beasts. Yes, they don’t use weapons,” Scarlet interjected, laughing quietly. “Most can’t use mana directly, but don’t fool yourself. What you face in the dungeons is scripted, the pale shadows of what those creatures used to be. We control the risk, so you can learn. But out there, beyond the tower, real, savage, and undiluted monsters wait.”
“If the Gorilla King is just a pale reflection, I’m not sure I want to meet the real thing,” I whispered, leaning into Chloe.
“Right?” she hissed back. My gaze drifted up to Skadi, as the giantess loudly cracked her knuckles.
“But the…boy was right. Out there, beyond the tower, the only innate weakness these beasts share is their inability to use weapons! But that is all beside the point. We didn’t bring you together to discuss beasts in the wild or their weaknesses,” Salina said, looking right at Scarlet.
The headmistress didn’t respond, but she watched Salina, her eyes narrowed to two, amber-colored slits.
The two were still butting heads, it seemed.
“We will be working hard over the next three weeks to help with preparations, but most of you will not be ready to face even the weakest of beasts approaching Sklava City. Understand this,” Scarlet said, finally breaking the silence. “Only students who can prove themselves strong enough will join the brave cultivators charged with the city’s defenses. Those students, if they survive, will be rewarded with invaluable experience, treasure, and can begin building their own legend.”
A ripple of quiet murmurs erupted in the crowd. I looked over to Chloe, then Mabel, and finally Skadi, but strangely, we didn’t have anything to say. Not after our last dungeon diving experience that is. I turned back to watch Scarlet and struggled with the notion that she was waiting for me to say something.
And yet I, the one who kept drawing the mistresses’ attention, in the all the wrong ways I might add, remained quiet. Because this felt significant. In a word, dangerous. Even dire.
We all wanted to join in on Sklava’s defense, but it wouldn’t do us any good to fuel Scarlet’s wrath. Chloe squeezed my hand, Mabel my thigh, and Skadi’s muscular arm hooked around behind the three of us, applying so much torque and pressure to the chairs I was afraid that they would spring free from their bolts at any moment. In essence, we were all primed to get out of there to learn about how we could help.
I slapped Skadi’s hand away as she started to rub my neck.
“Listen,” I hissed.
“Oh, I’m listening alright!” she hissed back through her teeth, then pointed at her chest and mouthed, “real woman.”
Chloe looked to me, then the giantess.
“What are you two whispering about?”
I shrugged.
“When we get out of here, I want to try a new hairstyle. I am bored with this one,” Skadi said, her voice carrying far too well.
“Skadi, please keep your voice down, this is serious…” Mabel started to argue, just as the balcony railing suddenly exploded before us.
Red-lacquered splinters peppered us, as a wave of heat rolled over my face, singing my eyelashes. We turned around as one and found Mistress Salina floating before our balcony, her chain blade swinging threateningly through the air.
“Mistress, I’m sorry. We were…” I tried to apologize.
“You were yapping,” Salina snapped. “Yap-yap-yap. Out of all the students in the auditorium, it is always you lot. Be quiet! Or I will tie you up and feed you to the Leech Queen, one at a time.” She snorted and moved to turn and float away but paused. “Girls, did you have to dye your hair snow white? It is so distracting!”
“Hah! That was the point, Mistress,” Chloe said, chuckling quietly. “We’re supposed to attract attention around here, and how better than…?” For emphasis she pointed at her hair. What was already blond before now practically glowed .
Salina’s eyebrows grew closer as she stared at my girl. I didn’t like her singling us out.
“And braids on an elf? Really?” Salina scoffed. “What would her people say if they saw her like this? Certain lines shouldn’t be crossed, James.”
“JD, please, Mistress,” I said, trying to diffuse the situation. “Only my mom calls me…”
“Ahh,” Salina growled and waved me off. “I know. I never should have brought you here.”
I leaned to my right and just caught sight of Scarlet’s smirk. She still lounged on her oversized chair, one leg crossed casually over the other. It didn’t appear that she was inclined to help us out. Perhaps she shared Salina’s sentiments—about Skadi’s atrocious indoor voice, the girls’ new hair color, or my distaste for my full first name. Perhaps all of them, or none. With Scarlet you never really knew.
The hair dying episode was a spontaneous thing, but it was for a good cause. Skadi came up with the idea, but once she threw it out there, Chloe ran with it. In an attempt to show our support for our lovably naïve moon elf friend, they decided to all dye their hair snow white to match hers. It was Skadi’s idea to add the braids.
I honestly had no idea that it would be a slight to her kind, although when I found out that it offended the blood elves, I kind of bought in big time. A dark elf almost passed out in the cafeteria, confirming the notion.
Chloe came up with the hairstyle—two thin braids on the sides pulled into a large, French braid at the back. Mabel loved the look at first, but when we tried to get her to leave our room, she blanched and tried to lock herself in the closet.
Skadi carried her outside so we could go to lunch. The scandal spread quickly, but something changed within Mabel. Her fear and embarrassment passed quickly, and they were replaced with something I hadn’t expected—a fierce and unabashed determination.
The moon elf picked her head up, stuck her chest out, and actually started laughing and talking like Skadi, loud and proud. The hair was a statement, one that she could wear openly, that said she was one of us, and that she was her own elf…at least until she graduated.
