Belgianfri

Chapter 124: Seething fury.

“Welp, that was easier than expected...” I muttered in disbelief. After just a few hours of exploration and no resistance from enemies, I had found the relic I had been sent here for. The single wooden cup looked far more ordinary than I had been expecting, as if to mock the church’s current opulence. Something about the way it glistened without any light present gave it an ethereal vibe,...

Chapter 123: The chalice.

The next day, I awoke surprisingly well-rested. It was obvious the headless innkeeper took good care of his establishment. Just a shame I was one of his only customers.

I packed up my gear and headed to the ground floor of the wooden hovel, where I found a warm breakfast waiting for me. Ten minutes and a full stomach later, I bid goodbye to my gracious host, who sent me off with a gurgle ...

Chapter 122: Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

“Betraying your master without a second thought? How heartless of you, Harold. And here I was, thinking you could be trusted, relied upon. You’re really breaking my heart.”

The lazy drawl came from a man that had suddenly appeared in the ruined building I had further demolished. Shit, had I offended a stronger opponent? The man was wearing some kind of straw overcoat that covered hi...

Chapter 121: New arrival.

I shoved the creaky front door of the inn to the side, nearly pushing it out of its hinges in the process. Now that I got outside, I found myself surrounded by Harold and his cronies.

The village had turned into a ghost town upon Harold’s arrival. All of the local shops and stores had been closed, some houses had even boarded up. None of the villagers were willing to involve themselves ...

Chapter 120: Apart village.

The first thing that stood out to me as I observed my surroundings was the strange architecture that seemed prevalent in the village. It was like each building had been purposely designed to look as strange as possible, as if its creator was spiting the normal way to build houses.

Each building had some strange quirk, for example. One townhouse had an extra front door three meters up, wit...

Chapter 119: Strange settlement.

The next morning, I awoke feeling tired. The cave had been a cold environment to sleep in, even with the sleeping bag providing a lot of insulation. Thankfully, nothing had bothered Revan throughout the night, while he was standing guards at the mouth of the cave. He hadn’t been able to join me at my camp, he had simply grown to be too large to fit in the average-sized cave.

After packi...

Chapter 118: Into the between lands.

The next morning, I got out of bed a little early. I had a long journey ahead of me, one that was bound to take nearly a week on foot. Reito was in the Eastern part of Roa, while the between lands were located in the southeastern part of the country, which meant that I was headed due south.

After leaving the guild hall, I passed through the normally busy commercial district. Most shops re...

Chapter 117: Between lands.

“...”

“...”

“So... you’re telling me you already got an essence skill...?”

“That’s what I said, yes.”

Andross covered his face with his hands and let out a long sigh. After my class evolution, I had needed to share my status with the guild, as was customary. When I got to my hypothesis that [Hollow essence knight] was a class built around essence skil...

Chapter 116: Hollow essence knight.

I read the notification again and again, as if I was dreaming. Had I really done it? Was I free? Free from the endless torment... I remembered the years I had spent in the vast emptiness... The sacrifices and the... the... the what? What did I do again? I didn’t remember... Rather, it felt like I had something at the tip of my tongue, but...

As my memories seemed to vanish from my mind,...

Chapter 115: Trial of emptiness.

Warning: gore, mentions of suicide, psychological torture through sensory deprivation.

Very heavy chapter.

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Cold droplets of water fell to the floor of the dungeon, making quiet splashes as they impacted the cobbled tiles. I had to hold back a groan as I realised that I would be stuck in this damp shithole for who knew how long, since trials could take...

A basic map of the continent.

Chapter 114: Aura path chosen.

No matter how hard I tried to make sense of the system notification, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Since when did the system add ominous little comments to its notifications? Was I missing something here?

Suffice it to say, I put off my decision until I got home, where I discussed what I had been offered with my parents, who seemed just as stumped as I was. Seeing no other opt...

Chapter 113: Core evolution.

Now that the time had come for me to evolve my core, I was a little anxious, to be honest. What if I made the wrong choice and fucked up my build? Cores were an essential skill to any classer, and I had faced the fear of losing it permanently once before. Any choice I made now might be one I could come to regret in the future.

After a moment, I resigned myself to my fate. Hard choices sti...

Chapter 112: Heads or tails.

I scratched my head in contemplation. All three possible skill evolutions were powerful, which left me with some hesitation. As always, I decided to look at them separately first.

[Overloaded Triple unity sword] was a direct upgrade of my current skill, in the sense that it simply added to what was already there. More power, more difficult to dodge or block, more projectiles, that kind of...

Chapter 111: Skill evolutions.

The next morning, I made a plan of action, to tie up any loose ends. The horde of ghouls that had appeared the night before had to be related to some kind of incident. Truthfully, situations like these weren't that rare. If they were, it would've had to have been a deliberate occurrence. As a result, I couldn't be sure if the horde attacking us had been a coincidence or not. Still, it paid to b...

Chapter 110: Hiking with dad.

Over the course of the next month, I continued my training schedule, though I spent most of my time in the dungeon these days.

My first visit back to the dungeon had been somewhat nostalgic, though I was disappointed to find out that the boss was just a weak tier 2 goblin, instead of the more powerful duo boss I had encountered here about a year ago. I abstained from killing the thing, si...

Chapter 109: Start of training.

“Running errands again, Arthur? I wish my son knew how to spoil his parents, sometimes…” the young butcher in front of me grumbled.

“Your son is only five years old, Garnt. Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?” I asked with mirth.

Garnt chuckled and handed me the assortment of meat he had prepared for my family. Now that little Amber had been born, my pa...

Chapter 108: Reuniting with family.

Over the next few minutes, my mother would continue to repeat a series of actions. First, she would look at me, as if to make certain that it was really me that she was hugging. Then, she would bury her face into my shoulder, before backing up to look at me again.

It seemed that, even after all this time, my mother still deeply cared for me. After she had calmed down, mom put a ‘closed�...

Chapter 107: Welcome back.

So you’ve already decided, then?” Cerion asked.

We were sitting at the small table in our living quarters, eating breakfast, when I decided to share my plans with Doran and Cerion. Both people were important to me, so I felt a little guilty, breaking the news that I would be heading back home so suddenly. Despite this, my mind was set and nothing could convince me to stay.

“I ...

Chapter 106: Reward ceremony / A new piece of equipment.

Since the award ceremony was about to begin, I headed towards the waiting area, where I encountered Emeri and Arcellus, who were in first and third place, respectively. For a moment, I wondered why the passive Monk Gaius hadn’t been awarded third place. I supposed politics could have played a role. Despite his immense power, Arcellus hadn’t managed to obtain victory in any category. As a re...

Chapter 105: Who is Reana?

“Arthur! You’re healed? I thought you were stuck in bed for another day, at least?” Cerion asked as I sat down next to him. I had to contain the small groan that threatened to escape my lips as Emeri’s holy power flared up with my movement.

“Of course I’m healed. Did you think a little holy power could keep me down for long?”

Cerion looked at me incredulously, before b...

Todays chapter moved to tomorrow.

Sorry guys, this stuff happens occasionally when I have a particularly busy week. Tomorrow and the day after will both have an upload.

Chapter 104: Skill merge

The next day, I was still stuck in bed, for the most part. My dark form was slowly chipping away at the residue of holy mana still stuck in my body. Because of Emeri’s last attack, my recovery was taking a remarkable amount of time, when taking into account that [Dark Form] was a tier 5 skill. Despite the fact that [Dark Form] wasn’t hyper focused on healing, since it also muted pain and re...

Chapter 103: End of the finale.

Emeri’s shock at seeing the gaping hole in my chest was quickly cast away as she hurriedly moved to block a sword arc I sent her way. She flinched, only barely able to block the sudden surprise attack. That proved to be enough to finally catch her off guard. While crouching low to the ground, I phased to her blind spot. I noticed her defensive skill activate, but it was too late. My sword lef...

Chapter 102: Start of the finale.

I stepped into the repaired arena with a certain calm that I hadn’t felt in quite a while. Not since before I awakened, in fact. After a moment of deliberation, I realized that this would be the first fight I actually wanted to have because I ‘wanted’ to. There wasn’t anything else to it. Until now, every fight I had been in had been for the sake of something else, be it levels, to prov...

Chapter 101: Skills decided.

Guessing that I had around 50 minutes left before the finals started, I decided to open my curse mark skill first, since [Overloaded orb] would be affected by how that skill evolved. To be safe, I decided to hold off on making any decisions until I had considered both skills' evolutionary paths.

...

[Curse mark(guide)](100%)

Tier 2 skill.

Leav...

Chapter 100: Emeri vs Arcellus

In a desperate attempt to deal with my disappearance act, Gaius erected a stone dome around himself, reinforcing it further with his earthly mana. Unfortunately, I hadn’t just turned invisible. I phased right through his barrier and pierced Gaius’ shoulder from the back with my sword, impaling him.

“H- how?” he stuttered, as the blood turned his garments red. I let out a frustrate...

Chapter 99: Start of the semi-finals.

I stared at Cerion’s unconscious body for what felt like an eternity, eyes wide in shock. Logical sense had warned me of his probable loss beforehand, but to actually see my friend lose felt like a punch to the gut. Cerion had been the first person my age that I had bonded with in what felt like forever. He was strong enough that I didn’t have to worry about him falling behind, and kind eno...

Chapter 98: Cerion versus Arcellus

I sat down next to Cerion, lowering my body tiredly, exhausted after that last match. I closed my eyes and breathed out, relieving some of the pent-up stress that the last match had left me with.

Cerion didn’t feel like leaving me to my thoughts, though.

“What the hell was that, Art?” he whispered.

I huffed, affronted. “I just got mad, is all. She knows me from somewhe...

Chapter 97: Quarter-final

Eventually, the break ended and it was my turn to enter the stadium. I hadn’t expected my entrance to be met with quite as much excitement as it was, though. As the announcer called out my name, people started cheering it. I even saw an improvised sign that spelled my name being held up by some people. Reana entered and received just as much attention, maybe even more, which made it clear tha...