“Hello everybody, Edge here. Before we dive headfirst into my next adventure, I decided to pop in before the fourth wall came up and remind everyone what happened in volume one. I know that it hasn’t been all that long for some of you. But not everyone will read these books back-to-back, especially as the series gets longer.
“I was hoping that some of Trapper’s crew could join us ...
2024-12-23 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe beasts’ ambush took place in the blink of an eye, offering no warning of their presence until the moment their attack began.
A pair of tooth-lined jaws were poised to close around Devin’s head. Another set of claws was lashing out, ready to gut Veronica from navel to sternum. Not to mention the set that were inches away from tearing out Nick’s throat.
If this attack had oc...
2024-12-20 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostGreetings everyone, we have officially made it to the end of volume 1. I hope that you enjoyed Edge's adventures and am thrilled to have had you along for the ride.
I am taking Thursday and Friday off to see my family and get caught up on editing. The chapter 0 recap will be on Monday, and chapter 1 of book 2 will come out on Tuesday.
Some structural changes are coming with book 2, ...
2024-12-18 18:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostBefore the final word left V’s lips, everyone began racing for cover, looking for anything that they could put between themselves and the airships prowling above.
Everything changed in that moment. The colorful vessels that had seemed so wonderfully magical only seconds ago now exuded an air of menace. Their progress across the sky felt like the jaws of a trap closing around his neck. 2024-12-18 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Setna ran her gaze across the entrance to the dungeon—every cell in her body alive with an intoxicating cocktail of danger and anticipation. Ruby and Jed, the other members of her crew, were standing watch on either side while she figured out how to break the seal barring their way forward.
As usual, Setna’s instincts had been right on the money. Her treasure-hunting senses had begun ...
2024-12-18 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, Earl and Dialla called the crew in for a private meeting. They had already heard the broad strokes from Trapper, but they wanted the other hunters to add their own observations. After the team shared the full account of their journey, including what they’d witnessed from the Titan’s Nose, the mayor used her authority to set up another town-wide meeting later that evening.<...
2024-12-17 18:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostWhen his senses unscrambled, Nick found himself standing in warm sunlight. He took a moment just to savor its proper yellow hue after his long stint underground, followed by a month of training on a planet with a lime green sun.
He stood there while his brain adjusted to the radically different color scheme, then turned his thoughts to the ordeal to come. He was ready to find out what cha...
2024-12-16 18:02:38 +0000 UTC View PostEdge wound up being the last person to arrive. He walked through the door and into a party that was in full swing. The air was filled with music, voices, and a variety of mouthwatering aromas. Someone had bought a magtech speaker, and a memory crystal that held a few thousand songs. That was a great pick. The team could enjoy the music during the party, and in general once it was over....
2024-12-16 18:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, Trapper waited until everyone finished waking up on their own. Then she had the crew gather around the big table in the common area. She let them know that she was throwing a party that evening, to celebrate Edge joining the team and Riller and Violet binding their cores.
After telling everyone to find something to bring to the festivities, she kicked the hunters out of the ...
2024-12-13 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostNow that they were done going over their abilities, the team discussed the state of their consumable items.
Nick still had one physical barrier and one energetic barrier, which he was saving for a pinch. Veronica had one web bomb left, and enough of her concentrated stamina potion to make four more doses before she ran out. On top of that, everyone still had one potion on them, bringing t...
2024-12-13 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey back to town was a study in contrast to the first half of their excursion. The crew was walking away from the borderlands, and every step they took lowered the odds of running into a stage-two beast. On top of that, thanks to the presence of the padamas, garax, and the cancerous blightlings, they hadn’t spotted a stage-one predator large enough to pose a threat.
On the way o...
2024-12-12 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostAs they walked, Jumo asked, “If we are the first people ever to lay eyes on those biomes, do you think that we can name them?”
“That’s a good point,” Trapper said. “I was so busy pondering the big picture that it never even occurred to me. Yes, Jumo. We might wind up in the history books, if we manage to survive the trip back. Since you were the one to bring it up, di...
2024-12-11 18:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the world finished putting itself back together, Nick found himself standing in a concrete room that was about thirty feet on all sides, forming a perfect cube. After spotting nothing hostile within, or anything living for that matter, he let out a sigh of long relief.
Good. The System took me to a saferoom instead of teleporting me directly to the next floor. Hopefully, it will ...
2024-12-11 18:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostWow. What a mindfuck.
While everyone absorbed the truth of Trapper’s words, they took turns peering through the spyglass—recording their observations so that they could report them to Earl, Dialla, and the rest of the settlement.
Now that he knew what he was looking at, Edge did his best to commit every detail to memory, since the information might prove vital to the to...
2024-12-10 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostAs with all things, the good and bad alike, Nick’s training was not fated to continue forever. He kept on pushing himself as hard as he could, until at last, his final day with Rita arrived. He had worked harder over the last four weeks than at any other point in his life. Now it was time to take what he had learned and continue fighting for the future of his people. Of every creature that ca...
2024-12-09 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the crew examined the garax’s corpse, they discovered one last surprise waiting for them. Lodged into the stump of its neck was a core-seed—a magical phenomenon that occasionally appeared when a stage-three beast died.
It took the form of a pearly white sphere as big as Edge’s fists that shimmered in every color of the rainbow. It was beautiful, but that wasn’t the reason why...
2024-12-09 18:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostSophia looked up toward the ceiling of the immense cavern, where a fierce battle was taking place high above her head. Darting between enormous clusters of glowing crystals protruding from the roof of an enclosure big enough to hold a thriving metropolis were four of her frostfury wasps.
The quartet of venomous insects was engaged in a dogfight with a trio of giant birds with shimmering s...
2024-12-06 18:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Jumo asked the question, everyone looked his way—faces wearing a complex mixture of emotions that Edge had no way of sorting out in that moment.
In that instant, the events of the past weeks came to a head. It left him with one last decision to make. Did he really trust these people? And just as important, did Edge want them to be able to trust him?
When he searched his feeli...
2024-12-06 18:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostEdge returned to his body, which was still sailing through the air. He landed in front of the frost-rimed behemoth, alive with the electrifying thrill of victory.
The garax’s eyes were wide with horror. It was reeling from the shock from having its epic skill—its pride and joy and the core of its identity—ripped out of its core. Edge staggered back in a desperate attempt to open som...
2024-12-05 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostNot long after, Rita judged that Nick was ready to face Kiki in the ring again, in another pure contest of blade against blade. His heart began to race when the combat doll picked up a sword that was a mirror to his own and took her stance in front of him.
Although Nick had been sparring with her for days by this point, it was different when he didn’t have his wand to open some space, o...
2024-12-04 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostTo Edge’s surprise, the skill perched atop the crystal hillock took the form of the garax itself. This bipedal dinosaur was only twice his size, but everything else about it looked just as lethal as the original.
He had never encountered an epic skill before and didn’t know what to expect. So far, each increase in rarity had magnified the power’s energetic presence, and its ability ...
2024-12-04 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostWarren had been a bounty hunter, not a beast hunter. While his spellshots were powerful, there was no guarantee that they would be well-suited to crippling or killing the behemoth beast. Each round was irreplaceable and worth a small fortune, and Edge had been saving them for a rainy day.
Well, look at that. It’s raining now. With a whump of displaced air, the spe...
2024-12-03 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostNick was happy to compensate Kiki for her time. He just hoped that she would be willing to help him in exchange for something that he already had in his pack.
“Ok. I get it. Let me show you what I have to offer and then you can tell me what you want.” They walked over to a nearby table, then Nick opened the flap of his magic backpack and started pulling out objects from inside.
...
2024-12-02 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post(Twenty Seconds Earlier)
Sasha stood within the ruined farmstead, staring at the titanic beast towering above her. The euphoria from having their hunt go so well until now had evaporated like water falling onto a hot pan, leaving only shock and horror behind.
Not only had the garax just eaten Trapper, but for some inexplicable reason, Edge had flown down its throat ...
2024-12-02 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEveryone who was able to speak cried out as a bulge began sliding down the garax’s throat, heading toward its stomach. Edge shook off his shock as he looked up at the beast, forcing himself to process what had taken place before his eyes.
Trapper just sacrificed herself to save Riller. Even though the rest of the crew might not live five minutes past that point, it was eas...
2024-11-29 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Nick was clean and dry, Rita led him back into her house and served him lunch. Today’s alien culinary encounter turned out to be some kind of meat sandwich with sliced cheese and a tangy sauce. It was tasty, filling, and thoroughly satisfying. He ate every bite and then sucked the crumbs off his plate.
“That meat has nutrients in it that are good for building muscle and restoring...
2024-11-29 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostSasha turned off silent step and activated flame imbuement, causing fiery mana to gather along the length of her spear. Violet cast enhance beast, just as Blue charged—transforming the battle-trained beast and the woman riding it into a surging azure blur.
Jumo began dashing to build momentum and was tr...
2024-11-28 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostBefore Rita began the sequence, she demonstrated a few basic stance changes, switching up which foot was in front and what direction she was facing.
Nick realized that it was the same stance he’d been practicing last night. When performed by a master, it became something else entirely. Compared to her, his attempts looked like a drunken ogre stumbling in the dark, while Ri...
2024-11-27 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostFifteen minutes later, Trapper’s crew was drawing near the farmstead once more. The tension was rising with every step that Edge took. He forced himself to unclench his jaw and keep his breathing slow and steady.
This time, the stakes were even higher than before. The hunters were about to pick a fight with a behemoth opponent, with the prize of their lives on the line.
They kept ...
2024-11-27 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostEdge’s jaw dropped when he read the reward that was being offered. Putting aside the fact that the System was growing increasingly erratic over time, starting with the descriptions of his traits and now with this quest, this really was an incredible opportunity.
Skill merger tokens were a rare and precious resource. Each token would let Edge combine two skills of his choice, potentially...
2024-11-26 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post