[Tried something a bit different in this chapter. While there are some details sprinkled about that’ll become relevant later, don’t let that slow down your usual pace. I’ll make sure to mention the important bits again whenever they’re needed further along.
Oh, and on the topic of updates, I’m finally getting around to setting up the Discord! Took me, what, two months of procras...
2024-12-30 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe instant I woke up, it felt like my entire body was ablaze. Not the comforting warmth of a hearth—this was the kind of burning that seared from the inside out. Something within me had ignited, cells flaring to life and ricocheting around like restless fireflies. The inferno’s epicenter was unmistakable: my core. The one thing all three of my forms had in common. My monster core.
So...
2024-12-29 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostVorak woke up, yet again, to the delightful chaos of light mana going absolutely ballistic inside him. His eyes shot open, a string of curses tumbling from his lips like water from a busted dam. Tossing his blanket aside with the grace of a pissed-off troll, he dragged himself forward, his body jolting with every surge of unruly mana.
Anyone from the Iron Pact who saw him like this would ...
2024-12-27 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Merry Christmas, everyone! Also 100th chappie! Woo! Apologies for the late chapter. life threw a wrench into the works, and I couldn't quite give this one the spit and polish it deserved. It was a tricky beast to write, as it sets the foundation for the juicy core of the story's progression system. I've been breadcrumbing little hints along the way, and now it’s finally here. N...
2024-12-26 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostName: Jade
Level: 15
Species: Wraithscale (Draconis) (IV)
Attributes:
Strength: 219
Durability: 191
Intelligence: 244
Will: 186
Mana Points (MP): 154/154
<... 2024-12-24 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe dim mana lamp in my room sputtered weakly. I stiffened as the first sign of its arrival appeared—a dense, grey haze that rolled in like an unwelcome fog, stealing what little warmth the room had left. The temperature plummeted. Two bright crimson orbs pierced through the gloom, followed by the glint of wickedly sharp fangs as the haze began to clear.
And what emerged was nothing sho...
2024-12-23 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostI took a deep breath, letting my thoughts gather. Seated at the edge of my bed, tea in hand, I mulled it all over. The main reason I’d dragged Viera along on this escapade was, well, rather straightforward. The need arose from my little nocturnal jaunts.
It all circled back to the notion of shifting. A phenomenon every beast-kin species experiences upon reaching a significant p...
2024-12-21 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostI’d had my fair share of disasters—enough to fill a modest tragedy anthology. Time to make myself scarce before the Enforcers swooped in and found me lurking about. Shame I couldn’t use the dimensional lamina in this form, so I settled for the next best thing: my trusty technique. Distortion cloaked my form as I darted down a trouble-free street, claws sinking into the nearest wall as I s...
2024-12-20 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostLittle by little, my vision clawed its way back to something resembling normal. I must’ve hit something hard when Iron’s punch had sent me sailing off the second floor like yesterday’s rubbish. By the gods, that hurt. A part of me even attempted to flap my non-existent wings in panic. It was downright humiliating, fumbling about in this inferior flesh sack—no wing...
2024-12-18 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostYou never truly appreciate the sheer absurdity of a high yellow core's strength—not even red, mind you—until you witness someone reduce the pavement to rubble just to catapult themselves onto the second floor of a building on the far side of the street. It’s all very theatrical until said someone starts hurtling toward you like a bloody cannonball. Mid-flight, he crashed below, wings flai...
2024-12-17 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t supposed to play out like this. And by this, I meant my current predicament. I had a lead—a solid one—on the breadcrumbs of my past. A princess from a sect in Vraal’Kor. Easy pickings, right? Well, so much for “simple.” Turns out she wasn’t just some pampered noble lounging on satin pillows. No, she belonged to the highest rung of the ruling l...
2024-12-16 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostAh, Varkaigrad—a sprawling behemoth of a city that I’d scarcely imagined, let alone seen in my backwater days. From the moment I arrived, one thing tickled my curiosity like a mischievous imp. My teacher, with all her self-important wisdom, had one piece of advice she delivered with the gravity of a saint warning a sinner: steer clear of the Lower District. Apparently, it was the "...
2024-12-14 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Apologies for the delay with yesterday's chapter. Had to rework some things before crafting one final prelude. Tomorrow, we’re diving back into Jade’s POV properly! Happy reading!]
The roar of the wilds beyond the wall was faint but constant, like a distant growl that never stopped. Viera glanced up at the immense stone wall of Varkaigrad, towering sixty meters into the air an...
2024-12-13 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post"I still don’t believe it."
"Believe what?"
"That you weren’t on a crafter pathway."
Jade, the young white-haired drakarri, didn’t even glance up from the intricate transmutation script she was weaving. "Your disbelief changes nothing. I’ve made this abundantly clear."
She paused, raising her hand to coalesce shadowy tendrils of dark mana that twisted and coiled ...
2024-12-11 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! Back to the grind! Diving into Volume 2 with two setup preludes before the main action kicks off. Had a nice little break—sad it's over, but oh well. Enjoy! Happy reading!]
Master Vasilisa stirred from slumber to the unwelcome rhythm of pounding, each knock hammering its way into her dream of transmutation. Her feathered wings twitched, and a vein of ind...
2024-12-10 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostRight then, the final chapter of Volume 1 has gone live just before this post. Nearly 220k words all told. Now, before anyone sharpens their pitchforks or contemplates unsubscribing, this isn’t a hiatus announcement. I’ll simply be taking a brief breather—two or three days tops—as it’s my brother’s wedding lol. Also, I’ll be ironing out some of the finer details for Volume 2 befor...
2024-12-06 00:31:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe forest stretched endlessly, its towering trees so thick and imposing that only the faintest shafts of sunlight dared intrude, painting the world in a shadowy twilight. The air was steeped in an eerie hush.
Crack-BOOM!
Through this murky ambience, a fist wreathed in flames blazed into motion, its owner weaving deftly through hulking, wolf-like beasts. A claw swiped from ...
2024-12-06 00:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostI stood stock-still, my mind a knotted ball of threads, each one tugging at the other. Who wouldn’t be in such a state? Yet, curiously, there was no suffocating aura of danger emanating from her. Her—the red-scaled beast—loomed just behind me. Worse still, she knew. She knew I was a dragon. My pulse was a staccato drumbeat, though, as usual, my badger companion remained ...
2024-12-05 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostMy gaze landed on the crimson-scaled beast, and something deep within stirred—a sensation I couldn’t quite pin down. Yet the bitter truth loomed. Undeniable. Ominous. This creature, magnificent as it was, didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in a forge. Stage 5 or not, it was up against a gold-rank abomination.
It all felt dreadfully wrong. But the moment that scaled terror made its m...
2024-12-03 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostI hadn’t a bloody clue what was happening. Not a single one.
That gnawing unease had followed me ever since I stepped foot in this damned place. Ever since I became a dragon. Hunted. Hunting. Infiltrating. Killing. Disrupting. Every move I made, every breath I took—it all carried the same thrumming disquiet.
But here, now, wrapped up in this grotesque mess? I still couldn’t ma...
2024-12-02 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Alright, I know I said the last one would be the final, but with the direction book 2 is heading, I just had to include one more Heralas POV. Some things could only be conveyed through him. Plus, I enjoy writing him, lol.
Happy reading!]
Rituals. Bloody rituals. Heralas had once held them sacred, back when he was a naive little lamb bleating for Goddess Selene'...
2024-11-30 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs the dream ebbed away like a receding tide, one thing became abundantly clear: I had to act, and swiftly at that. A familiar warmth cocooned me, but something was off—or perhaps on. There was a weight to me now, a subtle but noticeable heft. I’d grown, and not by a trifle either.
First things first, priorities in order. I needed to check something. With a thought, my stat screen fla...
2024-11-29 00:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostWraithscale.
The illustration alone left me gobsmacked. I had braced myself for something dark and brooding—naturally, given the shadowy theme—but a silver-scaled dragon? That, I didn’t see coming. Its scales shimmered, some almost appearing distorted, as if teetering on the edge of reality, ready to slip away entirely.
The creature itself was more serpentine,...
2024-11-27 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostMy doppelgänger paused mid-stir, frowning as if I’d just failed the most rudimentary of tests. “Thought you’d have caught on by now,” she said, fixing me with a look of mild exasperation. “All those flashy attacks of yours? Echo Claw, Spectral Crunch, and now this phasing business—I figured you’d pieced it together.”
I frowned, the gears in my head grinding at her words. ...
2024-11-26 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostI gave myself a sharp pinch. A phantom jolt zipped up my arm and fizzled out.
Hmm.
Tried again.
Hmm.
“Will you stop that?”
“Just checking if I’m still alive!” I retorted, giving my other arm a good squeeze for balance.
“And for the hundredth time, you are!”
I threw my doppelganger an exasperated glare. She, as per usual, was ...
2024-11-25 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Alright, here comes the final interlude before the grand finale! I’m pretty sure this will clear up quite a few mysteries... while umm, adding a lot more. Ahem. Some of you have already pieced things together, and it’s been a blast reading all the theories, lol. Evolution’s up next, and I’m planning to wrap it all up in one gloriously beefy chapter. That said, I’ve got to head out of...
2024-11-23 00:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Welp, I was this close to tossing the first half of this chapter into the literary scrap heap. But something in me just couldn’t resist diving into the bizarre chaos of swapping senses mid-battlefield. The sheer, brain-bending overload it would cause? Too wild not to explore. Telling it outright felt like cheating; showing it, though? Now that was a beast to wrestle. Anyway, I ...
2024-11-21 00:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostClaws scraped gently against the unyielding stone, carving tiny grooves with their sharpened edges as I crept closer to the crest of a small hill. I shadowed the procession of cultists, the lot of them blissfully unaware of their tail. That Heralas fellow wasn’t bluffing—they were hell-bent on wrapping up this ritual post-haste.
Oddly enough, it seemed the system itself agreed with my...
2024-11-20 00:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post[Apologies for the missing chapter yesterday—turns out the changing seasons have been downright unsporting. Caught myself a fever(again), and just for laughs, it brought a headache along for the ride. Yesterday ended up being my break day instead of today, so feel free to take me to court lmao.
On the bright side, I’ve made this chapter a bit meatier as a token of apology. Happy readi...
2024-11-19 00:40:03 +0000 UTC View PostOh, Thalador, I thought my thundering heart might betray me right there and then, but the moment I saw the last of who I presumed to be in charge slip out through the tent flaps, I finally exhaled a sigh of relief. And just like that, I was left alone in their sanctum. Learned a fair bit, far more than I’d anticipated.
A bloody ritual to elevate someone to low-gold? By the gods, what i...