Heralas glared down at the whimpering string bean of an Elf, hands twitching, fingers itching to wring the life out of this spoiled little pillock. That voice! By the gods, it scraped at his patience, a grating blend of a child’s tantrum and some posh berk’s hissy fit.
And what was he supposed to do with it, exactly? Was Cerith actually punishing him by foisting this whingeing waste o...
2024-11-15 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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For a good while, I prowled around the camp’s edge, cloaked in shadows, taking in every detail. A few tidbits emerged. First off, there were two separate patrol teams, alongside mages and archers stationed at predictable corners, all clearly affiliated with the cult, thanks to those peculiar masks they wore. The delvers, in contrast, were easy to spot in their less formal garb and functional ...
2024-11-14 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Notifications flashed in the corner of my vision as each of them fell, but I closed them with a thought, keeping my focus sharp on Tharen. His sword remained taut in his grip, his face still red with fury. For now, I let the technique fade, saving the stamina. But before I could speak, Tharen cut in, his voice raw with something beyond anger—fear, perhaps. “You’re… not a monster, are yo...
2024-11-13 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Ah, there’s a certain quaintness to pain, isn’t there? The way it creeps into your mind, settles in like an unwelcome guest. But here’s the rub — reach a certain threshold, and it starts to dull, droning away in the background like a distant hum.
Perhaps because one has sunk to depths of pain so abysmal, it outstretches even the gloomiest imaginings. Now, I’ve always wondered wh...
2024-11-11 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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[Quick health update: Been dealing with a recurring fever since yesterday. Won't affect the updates, though, they’ll carry on as usual, just with me feeling a bit crappier than usual, lol. Just a heads up if I fumble somewhere or if some bits of the writing aren’t as clear. Feel free to point them out! Happy reading!]
Hunting monsters down here had its gold-plated rules, top of...
2024-11-10 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The moment I jolted awake, I knew precisely what needed doing. Snatched up that scrappy little bag I’d whipped together earlier, stashed with my precious monster cores. Then I shook awake my nook-mate Badger. Poor thing seemed to sense something was off—perhaps from my frenzied movements or the tension radiating off me. I spread my Air Sense in a 20-meter ring, but all I picked up were a fe...
2024-11-08 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The options flickered up before me once more, and I didn’t dawdle a tick sifting through them. I settled on Sweeping Surge for Tail Whip—it would give it a lovely broadening and add a bit of brawn, ideal for wide, sweeping strikes that packed more disruption. As for Crush Claw, I chose Sunder Strike—a proper gem for landing a precise wallop, breaki...
2024-11-07 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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[Welp, sorry for the delay! Bit of an IRL snag. Had to go out of station, so I couldn't get any writing done. Ended up finishing this chap halfway on my mobile tho, lmao. Enjoy the chappie!]
[MISSION COMPLETE: Save the Dungeon]
[Objective Accomplished: All Rituals Eradicated.]
[Total Reward: Permanent +24 ...
2024-11-06 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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[Rewards received: +6 to all stats, +3 Skill Points, +20 Morphogen]
[Progress: ¼]
A grin split my face, but it was immediately replaced by a wince as I clutched my arms, skin scorched and burning, breaths coming out in ragged gasps.
Holy shit, maybe I'd gone a bit too far. I knew my Lightning Bolt spells were safely capped...
2024-11-04 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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With a grin that was half-mad and wholly triumphant, I took off, an oversized Creeper and some ape-brained brute tearing after me like rabid hounds. The Creeper thought itself clever, slipping on illusions to blend into the scenery like it’d vanished into thin air—but the hues had its number.
Oh, I could spot that slimy, deceitful little blur without even breaking a sweat. Stage 4, no...
2024-11-02 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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MISSION ALERT!
MISSION: Save the Dungeon!
OBJECTIVE: Those FILTHY THIEVES are DEFILING the dungeon, draining its power for their WRETCHED GAIN. Their twisted rituals are corrupting the very essence of this place. Find them. Kill them. <...
2024-11-01 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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[A tad shorter than usual (not by much, though—I just found a perfect cliffhanger, muahaha! SUFFER! Kidding! Don’t grab your pitchforks and unsub, pls!) because it was my birthday today, so time was a bit tight after work. Still managed to write, though! And with Writathon around the corner, I might start doing daily uploads next week. Might—nothing set in stone! No...
2024-10-30 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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I wasn't too far from my nook, that reluctant little corner of the forest I'd begrudgingly started to call "home." Close enough to the line of havoc the Behemoth’s rampage had carved through the forest, I'd been quietly combing the air for a creature to bring down for dinner. And that’s when I felt it—that faint, offbeat cadence of breath drifting into my senses like an unwelcome memory. ...
2024-10-29 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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It seemed like there was only one option available for Mana Manipulation’s advancement: Advanced Mana Manipulation. Practical, precise, but… not exactly mind-blowing. Then again, I didn’t need it to be flashy as long as it got the job done.
As I stood in the clearing, the difference was immediate the moment I tapped into it. I could practically visualize my core as I d...
2024-10-28 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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[Just a quick update on the schedule! Still five chapters a week, but I’m keeping the release days flexible, for the sake of my sanity, lol. So the couple of days I take off will be a bit random.
Also, I’ve been working on drawing the runes and matrices Jade will be forming in the next chapter to help make it all easier to follow. They’re fairly simple but honestly a lot of fun to s...
2024-10-26 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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"Alright, so the first time I laid eyes on them, I just figured they were some sort of mana. You know, the usual, anything that seemed plausible. But then I noticed they were completely unaffected by any of my mana manipulation or core stabilization skills, both of which directly deal with mana. Whatever these things were, they certainly weren’t mana."
Lotte watched me, that same amused...
2024-10-25 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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[Looks like I might need to pick up the pace if I want to hit the ending I envisioned for Book 1, haha. We’ve already crossed the 150k word mark! woo-hoo! I was aiming to wrap the first volume around 180k, but now it’s looking more like 200k.
Guess I’m not great at sticking to my own plans. Let’s see how it goes, though! Also we’re finally getting into the magic and spell system...
2024-10-23 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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I needed something to carry all this lot. Leaving these precious monster cores scattered about was hardly an option. And if I’d had something useful on hand when I first stumbled upon that Noctis Bloom, I wouldn’t have dropped it like a clumsy fool. Rare as it was, a find that valuable ought to be cherished, not abandoned because some lumbering beast decided to interrupt. Tch. Annoying.
...
2024-10-22 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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First step: observe.
Their routine was painfully predictable. The elven mage would channel her spells, unleashing destruction while her two armoured warriors stood guard, ready to carve through anything that dared get close. The second mage, tucked beneath a hood, kept to the shadows, casting strange distortion spells that turned the warriors into little more than blurs of movement. Intri...
2024-10-21 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Something about the whole affair rubbed me entirely the wrong way. For starters, Lotte had let slip that the System had all but disowned humanoid species—something about a long-standing grudge against them. Every time I crossed paths with an elf, the System flagged them as thieves. But today, it went a step further: stolen gifts.
The puzzle pieces were falling into place, and the image ...
2024-10-18 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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[Well, missed a chapter earlier this week. Caught a cold and now it's escalated to a full-blown fever. I’m alright though, lol. Just wanted to give you all an update. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal tomorrow—feeling like absolute shit right now. This might’ve affected the quality of this chapter, but I still gave it my best. Feel free to point out any mistakes you spot!]
I...
2024-10-17 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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I kept my eyes peeled on the brutal mayhem ahead, creeping ever closer. The battlefield was pure bedlam. Craters gouged out by the behemoth’s rampage. Earth ripped apart where its colossal body had barreled through. Thick mist billowing where fire clashed with that serpent’s water magic. The destruction sprawled everywhere. Trees snapped like twigs, boulders reduced to rubble, and plants up...
2024-10-16 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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There was, unfortunately, a limit to how far my air sense could stretch. Used to be a meagre 15 metres—barely worth boasting about, really—but after the last upgrade, it grudgingly pushed itself to a slightly less embarrassing 20. The closer I got to something, the better the air currents whispered their secrets. So, when the ground began to quiver underfoot—not a full-blown earthquake, o...
2024-10-15 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Ah, the old mantra they drilled into our heads—“Mana is unruly,” they said, “like a blasted dog that won’t heel.” You had to crush it, bend it beneath the weight of your will, force it into submission. Without that iron grip, it would never come to heel, they claimed. So, every single one of their tedious exercises circled around the same tiresome notion: a way to make this elusive ...
2024-10-13 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Quick Dash
[Upgrade 1: Variable Sprint. Allows user to adjust dash distance. Short dashes conserve stamina; long sprints consume more but grant more dash distance. Enhances overall maneuverability by adapting sprint to tactical needs.]<...
2024-10-12 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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I had made quick work of the beast, tearing off hefty slabs of meat, barely giving myself time to chew before swallowing it down. No time for pleasantries—and by the gods, Thalador’s beard—it was exquisite. The higher the monster's rank, the finer the flavour, I was certain of it. Another bite, and even that vile black ichor gushing from its wounds was bloody sweet and dripping with flavo...
2024-10-09 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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I had to make a decision, and fast. Much as I loathed these vile creepers, was I truly about to hurl myself headlong into a death wish against a higher stage beast? Normally, not a bloody chance! I was quite content where I was, thank you very much. Plenty of monsters my own level to deal with, and they usually fell with the grace of a collapsing deckchair. Simple stuff.
At least, that’...
2024-10-08 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The view was plain as day. I could see their shadows, huddled up there like a gaggle of suspicious rats. Fiddling about with some contraption. One of them—using those absurd climbing gizmos—scaled the top and hacked away at an upper section of the blasted hole, while two others scrabbled about below like burrowing moles. There was a quick flash of white, a flicker of something settling, and...
2024-10-07 00:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Ah, this decision was a tricky one, no doubt about it. I knew the third-tier advancement was where the real magic brewed. Spectral Crunch and Echo Claw – both dazzlingly powerful. But alas, this was merely a second-tier choice, meaning whichever skill I picked now would be the first to cross into that tantalising third tier.
Of course, I’d upgrade the rest eventually, but I had to be ...
2024-10-06 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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What on earth did I expect? Truth be told, I hadn’t the foggiest.
I let instinct have its merry way as I swooped into a graceful arc, wings slicing through the air. Was it my imagination, or were the hues becoming more garish the further I spiralled down? It was …unsettling. There’s something inherently disconcerting about plunging into a dungeon’s bowels, but diving headfirst int...
2024-10-03 00:30:01 +0000 UTC
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