Edge woke up early the next morning, filled with the rising excitement that comes with hunting big game.
After saying hello to Riller and Jumo, who were debating the merits of various prey, he ate breakfast, grabbed his pack, and then stepped through the front door to greet the rising sun. The crew wasn’t heading into the field for another few hours, but he had a couple of errands to ru...
2025-01-21 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAfter stopping by the public green for a quick post-shopping workout, Edge jogged back to the lodge.
He was glad to see Blue playing in the yard. It meant that Sasha was back from a hunt that had taken her most of the afternoon to complete. He hadn’t really expected it to work, but he had successfully bribed the manager of the Silver Spoon a few hours prior. As a result, Edge had a tabl...
2025-01-20 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe instant that Nick saw the flares, he knew that the party was living on borrowed time. They had a few minutes at most before airships began converging on Team Earth’s position like a swarm of hornets descending upon a chunk of bloody meat.
“Shit.” Shaun said what everyone was thinking. “This is bad. What are we going to do?”
“Start climbing as fast as you can,” Soph...
2025-01-20 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostEdge brought the blade of his polearm up, just in time to block the spear that was sailing for his chest.
With a hearty thwack, the shafts of both weapons collided, shoving the spearhead away from his flesh with inches to spare. He quickstepped to avoid a foot that was trying to hook around his ankle, then returned his stance to a neutral position.
Jumo let out a booming la...
2025-01-17 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of the day proved uneventful despite a few close calls. Several airships made low passes overhead, but none of them had spotted Team Earth or landed to survey the island on foot. Nick wasn’t sure if the pirates lacked the manpower to search each isle individually or if the party had just been lucky, but he was grateful either way.
When night fell, they began the next segment of...
2025-01-17 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostTrapper stepped through the door of City Hall with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She stopped to chat with Emily—the mayor’s aide who was working at the reception desk—then made her way down the long hallway behind it. She nodded to a pair of deputies who were stationed in the building, then climbed the stairs leading to the second story.
The peacekeepers raised a han...
2025-01-16 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the party finished updating their map, everyone settled down to wait until night fell.
Team Earth passed the time in various ways: training, talking, and napping on and off. It was strange to have so much downtime after their experiences crossing Blackmist Bog and basement of Darkstone Tower, where the clock was an enemy and they had to keep moving to stay ahead of a series of escal...
2025-01-15 18:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Edge reentered the nymph’s core, the white forest had changed during his absence. The trees looked distinctly less healthy and had lost half their leaves. However, he was pleased to note that the corruption wasn’t nearly as pronounced as the other times he had stolen multiple skills from the same opponent.
Stage-two beasts must be able to withstand some of the damage Extracti...
2025-01-14 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostBefore Edge willed Extraction to activate, there was something else that he needed to do first. During the fight, he had spotted the stage-one nymph he’d injured hiding in a tree. He was worried that it would attack him while he was busy stealing a skill. Time moved slowly inside a core, but entering one still left him vulnerable for a critical second.
He cast Entangle 2025-01-13 18:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
By the time that Nick was done writing, it was an hour or so before noon. He took his turn standing watch, letting Sophia get some well-deserved sleep. Since there wasn’t much to look at beside the ground directly below the island, he took the opportunity to peruse his profile, considering the gains he had made since starting his month of training.
Contestant Profil...
2025-01-13 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWith their new and improved abilities out of the way, the party moved on to dividing the loot they had taken from the pirates’ bodies. Nick had already opened his bag and spread the gear across the deck so that everyone could decide what they wanted. While they hadn’t been able to strip the pirates of their armor, they had done well on the weapons front and had claimed a selection of other ...
2025-01-10 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostEdge watched as a layer of mana spread across the charging beast’s chest, causing the bands of living wood to thicken along that surface. That skill seems similar to Harden, but it’s specialized for the nymph’s unique biology.
That was all the time for analysis Edge was given before the heavy creature ran straight into his weapon. It was the outcome he’d been hoping for, ...
2025-01-10 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the nymph’s copy of Entangle entered Edge’s core, he was drawn inside too, where a message from his Guide was waiting.
You have Extracted the skill: Entangle (Common, Rank 1).
You already have this skill in your collection.
Its experience will be added to your existing skill. 2025-01-09 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Everyone grabbed onto the frame of the vessel as the airship continued to climb. Within a matter of minutes, the pirates’ outpost was reduced to the size of a child’s toy. Nick drank in the exhilarating sensation of soaring through the air, which melded with his relief from winning the fight to leave a fierce grin plastered on his face.
But he couldn’t afford to just sit back and en...
2025-01-08 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostBy this point, Edge’s Leap had carried him high into the air.
He was already at the level of the lowest branches, avoiding the vines reaching for his legs with plenty of room to spare. The nymphs hissed in frustration as their ploy fell apart, and he landed on the ground twenty feet away from the closest tendrils.
Before the beast in front of him could recover from its surprise, h...
2025-01-07 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe dual-wielder’s body toppled onto the archer, momentarily taking her out of the fight. The woman swore and pushed the corpse to one side. The instant that it was out of his line of fire, Shaun’s arrow plunged into the hollow of her throat, adding a second body to lie beside the first.
The mage and the whip-wielder turned and ran when they realized they were losing the fight, sprint...
2025-01-06 18:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostEdge wove his way through the towering crimson ferns, keeping one eye on the shadow-strewn ground and the other on the purple canopy stretching out above his head.
He couldn’t afford to ignore either elevation. The beasts he was stalking were infamous for ambushing people from the branches as well as lurking below the soil, making the treetops just as dangerous as the forest floor.
<... 2025-01-06 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostNick’s party would have died within the first minute of combat if it wasn’t for the month of intensive training they had just undergone. Their opponents were skilled, used to fighting as a team, and had plenty of experience facing other weapon-wielders.
On the other side of the scales, Team Earth had come armed with a plan. They had caught the buccaneers with their pants down and had ...
2025-01-03 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostNow that he had toured his core, Edge was ready to continue with his day. He was planning to head into the field tomorrow on a solo run, hunting for more skills to help rank up Regeneration.
Before he left town, there were a few things that he wanted to take care of. First and foremost was using one of the Skill-Merger Tokens he’d received for completing the quest to kill the garax.
... 2025-01-03 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSetna huddled between the ferns as death prowled the sky above. She peered through the sprawling fronds, praying that the foliage was thick enough to shield her from the monsters that had been stalking her for days.
Her heart hammered in her chest as a flock of feathered serpents flew past her hiding spot—tongues darting out to taste her scent on the breeze. She froze every muscle in he...
2025-01-02 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe party assumed a combat formation facing the three buildings where the pirates were sleeping inside. Sophia crept forward and cracked open the first door, while Veronica took care of the second. The instant that V flashed the hand signal for “attack,” Shaun fired a pair of smoke arrows through the gaps, just like they had planned.
He barely drew the string back—just enough power ...
2025-01-01 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostEdge still had some shopping to do, but taking care of the rest of his list could wait another day or two.
He had a few hours before he was supposed to meet everyone at the Pioneer, so he walked over to the public green to get in a midday workout. He’d made excellent progress conditioning his physical attributes by using Regeneration to accelerate the process, but ...
2024-12-31 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEdge’s next stop took him to the crafters’ quarter. When he crossed into the district, the sounds and scents of industry washed over him. He sat down on a bench, stopping for a few minutes to immerse himself in the vibrant bustle of the town’s crafters at work.
The district was even busier than he remembered. In addition to their usual activities, quite a few factories were in the m...
2024-12-30 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostNick braced his weight against the line, slowly, so that he wouldn’t dislodge the grapple. When the rope was taut, he placed his feet against the wall and started to climb, pulling himself up one hand at a time. Without his pack, his body felt so light that it was effortless to make the ascent, and soon he was crouching next to V.
They hand-signaled to the people waiting below, letting ...
2024-12-30 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhen they were ready, they packed up their gear, climbed down from the cave, and walked out into the night. The party followed Veronica as quietly as they could, hoping to avoid any beasts on their way to the pirates’ base.
That two-mile hike must have taken less than an hour, but it felt like it went on forever. Each member of the team was lost in contemplation, facing the grim reality...
2024-12-27 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostWith a spring in his step, Edge started walking toward the commercial district, heading for the first stop in his impromptu shopping spree.
Change was in the air as he made his way through the settlement, as its residents came to grips with their dramatic change in circumstance. They were still grappling with the fact that they were stranded on Ord. That their old bodies were dead and gon...
2024-12-27 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostEdge slept in late the next morning. When he woke up, he stretched out in bed with his eyes closed, savoring the fact that he had nothing to do. That there were no urgent missions to complete or bloodthirsty beasts trying to devour him.
The sun was high in the sky by the time that he shed his covers and rose from the mattress. When he heard the other hunters talking in the next room, he b...
2024-12-26 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostEveryone woke up a few hours later, but Veronica still hadn’t returned.
They sat in front of the entrance of the cave, wrapping blankets around themselves for warmth, snacking on cold rations while discussing their situation. Although Nick’s device offered enough light to see, they couldn’t risk building a cookfire to eat a hot meal. The flickering flame and rising smoke would revea...
2024-12-25 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostEdge raised his fists and deepened his stance, just in time to block a punch that would have knocked him out cold if it had connected cleanly. The impact reverberated throughout his body, forcing him to take a step back to avoid losing his balance.
Melania circled around while looking for a hole in his defense to exploit, but thanks to their training sessions, she found nothing of the sor...
2024-12-24 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the dino died, the rest of its pack pulled back to feast on its remains. This time, they didn’t come charging back right away, although Nick knew that it was only a matter of time before they returned.
The good news was that the sun was going down outside the tower. Unless the pirates could see in the dark, the party would be safe from overhead observation until morning, or at leas...
2024-12-23 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post