Mato
Mato approached the stone circle Ali had crafted in the center of the library atrium, his eyes following the majestic sweep of the Elder Tree soaring upward and vanishing into the darkness far above. The voices of his friends sitting nearby washed over him. Politics, planning, and talking. He could hardly even follow the threads of their discussion or the details of their debating. He gazed up at the tree, taking some measure of solace in the sheer solidit...
2024-07-23 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali sat quietly, listening to Ryn’s account of the state of the town, and by her telling, the situation was dire. Food prices had skyrocketed as the crops failed, and the farmers had fled into the city with reports of a horrible plague on all living things and terrifying monsters creeping around in the dark.
“You guys are still wanted for questioning in connection with the deaths of the Town Watch,” Ryn said, her mouth drawn into a disa...
2024-07-21 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
The mood upon the glowing, golden barrier disk grew increasingly quieter and more somber as Ali flew them northward, tracing the burnished silver ribbon of the Myrin River by the dying embers of the setting sun. Ali shivered and huddled a little closer to Lira, a vain attempt to shield herself from the biting chill of the wind, and cast yet another worried glance at Malika and Mato. They sat together, as far as they could get from everyone else on the crowded b...
2024-07-18 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
“Can you tell us what happened to you?” Ali asked, glancing at Lira who somehow managed to make sitting on a rough chunk of bone-encrusted rock in the dark and dusty forgotten library look effortlessly elegant, sipping on the tea Mato had brewed.
She sighed, “It’s… embarrassing.”
“It’s ok if you’d rather not.”
“No, it’s better that you know, for I have a favor to ask of you after,...
2024-07-16 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Mato
Mato roused himself quietly and sat up. Without a lit campfire nearby or the benefits of their tents and sleeping bags, the library was chilly and dark, and the hard, cold stone he had slept on had left him with a few aches and what felt like a new bruise on his hip.
He stretched, hearing his spine pop several times before he got to his feet and glanced around. Everyone was still sleeping, but he knew that they would soon wake, and they would proba...
2024-07-14 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A/N: One more bonus chapter this week. Again, there will still be a chapter on Sunday at the usual time.
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Aliandra
Ali snapped awake, bumping her head painfully on the wall of bone beside her as she tried to shake off the recurrent nightmare. Malika and Calen had been hunting her for what seemed like days, and when she finally reached the safety of the library, she had run into Mato’s snarling angry bear. She had fled, and Ryn was...
2024-07-13 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Dryads are a reclusive species that defy easy categorization. Distantly related to other sylvan species, they appear to be incredibly long-lived hybrids between the Fae and specific species of trees, exhibiting attributes of both. This leads to such variations as oak-, maple- or pine-dryads. A typical Dryad has a green or brown complexion and can gain energy directly from light or mana. Many will have bark, flowers, or leaves for hair or as part of their skin.
All Dryads es...
2024-07-11 14:00:40 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I hope you're all having a fantastic day!
Note: I will be out of town from Wed through Sun, but I don't anticipate any interruptions in release schedule. I'm headed for a dance competition in Palm Desert, CA - near Death Valley. Today it registered a temperature of 122F / 50C. Plz send well wishes to the hotel AC!
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Aliandra
The diminutive Fae lay on the cold stone floor of the once-grand library – now a millen...
2024-07-09 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Bonus chapter today. The regular chapter will still drop at the usual time.
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Malika
“Hi, Weldin,” Malika called out as she strode confidently into the elegantly dressed Gnome’s store area, knowing she was going to make his day.
“Malika! How are you, my dear?” he declared, greeting her with an enormous smile. The flirting was an act, obviously, but she knew he had to play the part of buttering her up because she...
2024-07-08 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Shattered ice and blizzard's roar, Will mark the end of this fierce war, For in my hand, the winter’s key, Unlocks the path to victory. - M
Shattered ice and blizzard's roar,
Will mark the end of this fierce war,
For in my hand, the winter’s key,
Unlocks the path to victory.
- Mok’freja. Troll Ice Mage, Ambassador of Telim Gor.
Aliandra
Ali flew down the sewer tunnels, following the twisting path without paying much co...
2024-07-07 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A/N: For those in the US, happy fourth!
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Aliandra
Ali woke feeling refreshed, got up from her sleeping bag, and exited her tent into the silence of the Grove, lit by her golden mushrooms and the glowing runes on the shrine. Everyone else was still asleep, content to allow her minions to keep watch. Ordinarily, she might have spent the few hours before they woke growing her forest and cleaning up the few corpses of slimes her minions had ...
2024-07-04 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali stayed up well past dinner, experimenting with her new imprints. She hadn’t gained a level for the last fight, but she had the sense that she was quite close, now. On the other hand, her Grimoire had grown substantially – she had learned several important things from the fight at the nature affinity spawning pool and the bamboo forest they had explored before that.
Variant: Living Bamboo added to Imprint: Grass.
Variant: ...
2024-07-02 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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A/N: For those who love the stat sheets, I updated chapter 90.5 to include the descriptions of Ali and Malika's titles, Appraise, Identify, and the Granted Skills for Mato's Bear Form and Calen's Arrows of Brilliance.
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There is compelling evidence supporting the common belief that magicite used to be vastly more common than it is today, flowing from the mines and alchemy labs of the legendary city of Dal’mohra where it was once manufactured and shipped out...
2024-06-30 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Slime!
(Also, chapter Nelson, for those who play cricket)
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Aliandra
Ali stared at the wobbling mass hauling itself out of the nature-affinity spawning pool.
Toxic Spitter – Ooze – level 55 (Poison)
It was by far the largest ooze Ali had ever seen – just as vile as her Toxic Slimes – only it was almost half the size of the Forest Guardian. With heavy, m...
2024-06-27 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Lirasia
You have been infected with Undead Blight.
A debilitating infection that grows stronger every day, rotting flesh and propagating to everything it touches.
-1% to maximum health
+1 count per day
10% chance to spread Undead Blight on contact
If you die while infected, your body will be raised as a zombie
Small chance per vitality to recover from Undead Blight
Disease –...
2024-06-25 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I had a fun time with this chapter, hope you do too :)
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Aliandra
Ali trudged along with her friends as Calen led them deeper into the jungle, carefully pondering the wild, chaotic nature-affinity mana that infused everything around her. It roiled, twisted, and washed across them as they moved, dense enough to appear murky to her mana sight. Gone were all but the faintest vestiges of the light affinity mana they had encountered in th...
2024-06-23 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hope you're having a great day. Let's see what happens to our friends in the aftermath of their crazy battle.
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Kieran: Report.
Tala: It’s harder to find Adventurer Guild marks now that half of them left to join the Watch, but I have a promising lead.
Kieran: See that you make it memorable. Use your card. We want them jumping at shadows, terrified of the Silent Assassin.
Tala: I’ll see to it.
Kieran: Any progress...
2024-06-20 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hope you enjoy today's chapter - some more fun in the jungle.
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Calen
The trail that Calen led them along wound deeper and deeper into the verdant overgrowth of the jungle till he finally found the valley again. It was still densely grown with trees, but a game path ran through the middle of it, and the ridges on either side seemed entirely impassable. The massive, gnarled trunks and broad boughs weighed down by thick moss and heav...
2024-06-18 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter :)
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Seth
Seth trudged onward, his legs in excruciating pain both from the unrelenting pace set by their tormentor seated high upon his zombie horse and from the encroaching blight that was progressively eating him from within. He hadn’t found many opportunities to check – the collar’s compulsion was seldom relaxed for any reason – but when he had finally rolled up his trouser leg, he had been horrified...
2024-06-16 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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A/N: A new chapter, and I hope your Thursday is awesome!
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Eliyen Mistwood
Eliyen’s hands and mana flowed in the precise, familiar patterns of the skills she had been using daily for more than a century, tending to the shrubs and herbs in her garden – the small space of peace she had carved out amid the urban stress of Myrin’s Keep that she had come, out of necessity, to call her home. The dappled light of the late dawn sun filter...
2024-06-13 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hope you're having a great day!
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Aliandra
Ali stretched and sat up, unhurriedly freeing herself from her sleeping bag, reflecting on just how much the small comforts of a good tent and warm sleeping gear had improved her quality of life.
Yesterday she had gone to bed with a throbbing headache – the result of cumulative stress and pressure of the intensely oppressive mana she had endured as they explored the l...
2024-06-11 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
“What is that?” Ali asked as they crested a hill. High above them, shrouded in the vast empty darkness was something that could only be described as an unimaginably tall pillar of yellow-white light so bright that Ali squinted and blinked against its intensity. But blocking her sight with her hand or closing her eyes did not affect the power of the vision.
It must be mana. It was the only challenging part of her Arcane Insight sk...
2024-06-09 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Happy Thursday!
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Aliandra
They pressed on through the dense overgrown jungle, and the further they went, the more oppressive the roiling chaos of wild mana became. Before experiencing this jungle, Ali would have found it hard to imagine light affinity mana being oppressive, but it was certainly the best description she could come up with. It was thick, swirling in vortices around the trees, through the branches, and dense en...
2024-06-06 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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A/N: DoK hit half a million views last week, which is an incredibly mind-blowing number to me. Thank you all for reading!
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Calen
Calen scanned the dense undergrowth, automatically keeping an eye on the jungle and the obvious threats lurking just out of sight. The air was filled with shrieks, howls, and the crash of battling monsters that percolated through the tangled trees. It had not taken more than a few minutes of hiking through ...
2024-06-04 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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A/N: The big 100 today - hope you enjoy it!
I received a suggestion from a reader for a change to the way the status sheets are displayed, and I quite liked how it looks, so I implemented it. It's a pretty minor change, with no adjustment to the actual stats or plot. This might be a bit technical, so feel free to skip it if you don't care.
In the Attributes section, the numbers will now be presented as follows:
Vitality 20 (+3)
The first number is the total v...
2024-06-02 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
The complex weave of Ali’s domain mana sparkled and rippled in her mana sight as she flew this way and that over the jumbled and shattered bone of the lowest level of the ruined library, inspecting her work. It leaked out of the ivy and jasmine growing up the walls and pillars and spilled from the many planters she had constructed to hold her mushrooms and grass.
Arcane Insight is so much stronger now. The power increase was so much ...
2024-05-30 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali coughed and waved her hand vigorously in front of her face to disperse the remnants of smoke from her recall potion. She glanced around at the familiar black marble floor with the inscribed runes of the teleportation locus slowly fading, the magical power that had transported her across kingdoms back to the Novaspark Academy receiving room dissipating into the dense stone.
Home. It was an odd thought. Myrin’s Keep was certainly n...
2024-05-28 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Naia
Naia’s membrane quivered with agitation as the creature called Aliandra touched the impenetrable wall-with-no-cracks with one of her stiff tentacles and a bright intense beam of mana burned out, searing into the stone.
What is she doing? A vibration she had never imagined thrummed through the rock, sending quivers of excitement and terror through her as her senses felt the wall giving way to this strangely familiar-seeming power...
2024-05-26 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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A/N: This was one of my favorite chapters to write. Hope you enjoy it.
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Aliandra
Ali froze, mid-cast, stunned. Did it just speak? She looked left and right, but there was nothing else in the entire cave. Just the anomalous mimic slime pretending – exceptionally well – to be a rock.
“No… kill… Plaes… please?” Ali stared at the rock. But it had clearly spoken – poorly – in broken Elvish. It was...
2024-05-23 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Calen
Calen was early for his presentation to the guild, and he sat in the auditorium trying to control his nerves as various guild members trickled in and took seats. He was fully prepared, perhaps more than he needed, but none of it impacted his anxiety. His hands were trembling, and he consciously unclenched his fingers before he crumpled his notes.
He glanced down at his notes again, studying the strategy and thoughts he’d already memorized. W...
2024-05-21 14:00:12 +0000 UTC
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