Mato Mato sat uncaring on the slimy fungal creep, totally wrecked. Fighting for an extended period without mana had left him mentally drai
Mato sat uncaring on the slimy fungal creep, totally wrecked. Fighting for an extended period without mana had left him mentally drained. He took a deep breath to steady himself and looked inward to examine the end-of-battle notifications inscribed on the tree in his mind garden.
Mato opened with his most powerful combination, sacrificing life and mana to use both Bestial Combat and Brutal Restoration to power his Swipe. His claws ripped through the tough bark and heavily armored woody trunk of the plant monster towering over him, spraying wood chips into the air. Warped malice and an insatiable hunger for violence rolled out from the aberration in waves, and for the first time, he wished he did not have his plant empathy. Whatever this thi...
2025-01-23 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Ali put the finishing touches on her newest teleportation circle and watched in satisfaction as her domain mana surged through the electrum she had embedded into the stone. Her collection of circles was growing. Her memorization of the Volle locus hadn’t been quite perfect, but it was nothing that a quick trip to Professor Addlestone in the Novaspark Academy of Magic couldn’t fix. Now she had an easy way to go visit Naia.
Happy with her wor...
2025-01-21 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Thanks for those who pointed out the continuity error with Calen's scouting mission and the timing of his return to town. I've made three edits to chapters 206 and 207 to fix it. The changes are minor and don't affect the flow of events or the plot.
1) I added a little intro dialogue to the scene in 206 where Calen suggests Ali learn potions to have him mention the dungeon he scouted.
2) In 207, I removed Ali's brief mention that Calen was still on his scouting mission - in...
2025-01-19 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAli was not getting it, and it was making her tetchy. She pushed the heavy, drake-leather-bound book away and sighed, deciding that not being able to understand something written in a book was the worst kind of frustration. It didn’t matter that she was trying to study Ahn Khen martial arts from the ancient Nine Paths, hoping to find something from the ancient text that might transfer to her very much non-humanoid Abyssal Stalkers – a task that likely wasn...
2025-01-16 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Ali flew across the forest cavern, heading back toward the library, enjoying the soft glow of her mushrooms below, and the wisps and glitter dragons that had found their way up here. It had been a long day, and she was emotionally drained.
She had spent the better part of two hours with Vivian, which didn’t alleviate her feelings of guilt, but at least it gave her a much better understanding of why Theon had died during the fight.
...
2025-01-14 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Mato rested, relaxing into the weight of his branches, the soft rustle of his leaves, and the stretching of his roots deep into the earth. His awareness flowed beyond the reach of his tree, extending outward in all directions, carried by the mana of his Sanctuary Aura. Just by his mere presence, the little plants germinated and grew, aided and fed by his mana.
He liked growing plants. It was a surprising realization. He had always loved nature and ...
2025-01-12 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostDungeons kill people. Never lose sight of that fact.
- Dorin Crimsonhammer, Platinum Adventurer. Advice to novice adventurers.
Vivian rubbed her temples, trying to ease the throbbing that was trying to beat its way through her skull. She was enough of a realist to have expected someone in her program to die eventually, she had just hoped it wouldn’t be quite so soon. You couldn’t level up and e...
2025-01-09 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Bonus chapter today, seeing as it is entirely Sabri's POV.
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Knowing how to equip yourself effectively is a skill that becomes less and less optional as the monsters grow more challenging. The first place this is typically noticed is with your tank, where a poor choice of gear can cause instant death, followed shortly after by the entire group being decimated by a rampaging monster. Assuming a competent healer, the most crucial aspect of tanking is mitigating ...
2025-01-08 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThere is nothing more terrifying than a Paladin with a map and a plan.
- Bragni Doomhammer [The Hammer of Justice], Dwarven King of Dal’mohra.
“Havok take this one,” Havok declared, scrambling over the pile of rubble strewn across the half-completed flooring and offering the job slip to Mieriel. He had finally found a job on the makeshift board where he could help people – the guild had somehow unearthed a lead ...
2025-01-07 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“We’re all alive, so that’s good,” Malika said, and Ali paused for a moment, calming herself down. She had lost almost all her minions to the firestorm, and she had been terrified of losing her friends too. It may have only been a single-group threat level, but it was scary how much damage it put out, even with the considerable money and time they had invested in getting the best fire resistance gear and potions.
“What do we know?...
2025-01-05 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostNothing burns hotter than Dragonfire.
- Artur Dragonsworn [The Rule of Law], Human King of Dal’mohra
He stood in the strangely pristine archway squinting out at the enormous chamber beyond, constantly scanning the threats arrayed before them while trying to keep a lid on the nerves that threatened to bubble over from within. He had witnessed the Cleaving strike that almost took Malika’s life, but he hadn’t been aware of just ...
2025-01-02 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Happy New Year!
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Cut hard, cut fast, cut to the bone.
- Kir’mogan, Troll Champion of Aman Rak.
“That seemed fast,” Malika said, as Ali began deconstructing the twin Living Flames in the Landing.
“I think that’s mostly because you and Calen leveled up a lot,” Ali answered, shifting uncomfortably in the oppressive heat. It had indeed been the fastest they...
2024-12-31 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIt was late in the third age when a talented young theologian named Amaryllis Wright first proposed the controversial idea that the gods were simply a class evolution. As a part-time scholar of class development, she had noticed that past the third-tier class advancement, the mechanism of reputation becomes progressively more common as a core path to increased power, and so she proposed that perhaps after the somewhat mythical fourth tier, people might naturally advance to godhood.
Wisdom, wisdom, and more wisdom!
Your primary defense against mental assault is to build up your wisdom. However, by its very nature, mind magic is a subtle art. You must be aware of a mental attack to bring the bulk of your defenses to bear – without awareness, you are as vulnerable as a newborn baby. It is much like an Assassin, striking from the shadows to gain the critical damage from Ambush and it is how I’ve learned to apply my skills effectively to those substantially h...
A/N: For those who celebrate, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season!
Breakfast was tasty but eaten quickly; everyone was eager to get to town and take care of various errands and chores. Ali packed a few arcane magic books in her ring, just in case she needed to adjust something on the fly. She had just discovered a potential solution to her teleportation problem, and she was eager to experiment with it from the guild. The solution had come...
2024-12-24 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Clarence was being surprisingly cooperative for a change. Normally the willful, obstinate book would make her chase him down if she wanted a chance to study from him – or he would have his own inscrutable ideas for which pages she needed to see. Today, however, he rested relatively docilely upon the table and allowed her to turn the pages without too much ‘helping’.
Ali still had several hours to go, waiting for the Emberforge Mines to in...
2024-12-22 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
“Umm…” Ali took a deep breath, looking at Ryn and the novices, struggling to figure out where to even begin. Battle still raged behind the barrier wall, but the corruption had dissolved under the tenacious attack of Mato’s aura. She felt much better, but her face and clothes were still covered with her slowly drying blood. I must look frightful. I definitely need a bath – or at least a Cleanse circle.
A ripple went through Ma...
2024-12-19 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe classical human literature on cosmology holds that there are nine distinct realms. These include The Realm of Divine Intent, colloquially known as ‘heaven’. This is supposedly the home of those major gods who have the best interests of the mortal races at heart, and the origin of Celestials. Then there is the Realm of Infernal Anguish, or ‘hell’, where the ‘evil’ gods reside and the spawning place of demons. There are also the Spirit Realm, the Realm of Nature, and so fort...
2024-12-17 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
This fight sucks. Every time he finally figured out where the boss was, and got to it, the stupid snake simply disappeared, forcing him to spend most of his time charging around like an idiot, growling at shadows and illusions. He couldn’t tank any of the demons either – even on the few occasions when his Challenging Roar overcame the curse, it was only for a few moments. The curse was always on and continually taunting the monsters away from him.
...
2024-12-15 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
“Ten percent!” Aiden shouted.
“Stupid Goblin!” Havok yelled, smashing the Storm Shaman in the face with his glowing Holy Shield.
From the pristine lake of mana-purified water, yet another circular blast of water bolts shot out in every direction. Shields were raised, and defensive spells cast as the raid group reacted to the monster lurking down in the depths.
“Seven!” Aiden yelled again.
&nb...
2024-12-12 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe Flamecaller warlock collapsed in a sizeable, smoking heap of ruin at her feet, and Malika stepped back to take a deep breath, coughing as she inhaled a little too much of the omnipresent acrid black smoke. As they pressed deeper into the mines, threading through the endless winding tunnels and ancient excavated caverns, the Flamecaller warlock groups grew progressively stronger and more dangerous, and the last three had even included a Flamecaller spear wield...
2024-12-10 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDemons are a scourge upon the realms. I will bring down ruin upon their breeding pits and smite their lairs with holy wrath. I will destroy their endless infernal legions, down to the very last imp. Then, I will disintegrate their ashes until even the memory of their existence sifts through my talons and is lost upon the winds of time.
- Azryet, Dragon God, Harbinger of Chaos, Herald of Havoc, The Calamity.
Ali’s g...
2024-12-08 15:00:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Ali had slept well and was in a particularly good mood this morning – yesterday had been tiring, but productive. The morning sun cast long shadows from the guild building, but the air smelled fresh and there was a light breeze blowing. Outside the guild entrance, the old food cart vendor was setting up her stall and beginning to fill the street with the scent of spices and frying meat.
“Morning, Tabitha,” Mato called, waving.
...
2024-12-05 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: So, it's December! I'm sitting in a coffee shop near my house queuing up chapters to the sounds of sleigh-bells in the snow. How did that come along so fast?
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Ryn stilled the unconscious bouncing of her leg for the umpteenth time and glanced again around the silent library. Lira was resting in her tree, and Ali and the others still hadn’t returned. She sighed, glancing back down at the book on her lap. She had been overjoyed to find this...
2024-12-03 15:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Mato checked his health again, the thread of worry winding tighter around his heart. The Hellfire Wargs were only barely past level fifty; he had been confident in his ability to hold them while the others took care of the archers. But he hadn’t anticipated the intensity of the hellfire, or for them to be such tenacious fighters. He shifted sideways, careful to stay within range of the Acolytes which were his lifeline. Even with their powerful holy magic, and his o...
2024-12-01 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Something prickled in the back of Ali’s awareness, like an entirely imagined itch in the back of her mind.
What is that?
She searched around for any sign of what it might be, but, although the sensation seemed remarkably persistent, it was just as elusive. Clearly, it had nothing to do with the mines or where she was sitting, so, trusting her friends to warn her of anything dangerous, she closed her eyes a...
2024-11-28 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostSometimes you just gotta hit it more than it hits you.
- Aurin ‘Stabby’ Wizzlecrank, Assassin, Leader of the Crimson Sprockets, an all-Gnomish dungeon group operating out of Thorel Moldur.
Ali’s friends were in good spirits, chatting happily while tackling the fully respawned Emberforge Mines. Well, Mato was roaring more than he was chatting, but he looked energetic in how he took on the elementals.
He a...
2024-11-26 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Calen skirted the stagnant pond and the wisps of violet mist that seeped from its waters, scanning the decayed trunks for signs of undead. He did not have Mato’s attachment to nature, but even he felt sick at the sight of the creeping miasma and death that hung over the rotting remains of the vibrant forest he had spent so much of his youth exploring.
Fucking necromancers. He glanced backward guiltily, catching sight of Seth bringing up...
2024-11-24 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
“So, what do you all want to do?” Ali asked, hovering by the stairs as Mato shoved the heavy Adventurers Guild doors open. A delicious aroma wafted over from the food cart parked beside the guild and Ali waved at Sabri and Brena who were chatting amiably together. But her stomach tied itself into a knot when she caught sight of what they were served – roasted black and green sticks that looked suspiciously like Tunnel Weaver legs. The obvious relish with wh...
2024-11-21 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post