Ace_the_owl

Chapter 169. New Plan

Scrying crystals.

They were relics from an earlier generation of mages, back when people thought remote surveillance was worth bankrupting yourself over. The system worked by placing specific runes around whatever area you wanted to monitor. Those runes would capture what was happening and transmit it through mana waves to a network of smaller crystals, which amplified the signal and sent it to the main scrying crystal for display.

The whole setup was expensive, finicky, and not p...

Chapter 168. A Game Of Thrones

"Hah, you wanna play rough? Let's play rough."

Adom chuckled as Ragna decided playtime wasn't over.

The massive puma launched himself forward, trying to bowl Adom over with his considerable bulk. What followed was less a wrestling match and more like watching someone try to tackle a tree.

Behind them, Morgana had moved to a small drawer built into the wall that Adom hadn't noticed before. The sound of porcelain and metal told him she was preparing tea.

"Do you want sug...

Chapter 167. Reunion

Adom found himself staring directly into a pair of luminous green eyes that belonged to what was quite possibly the largest cat he'd ever seen in his life.

The midnight puma sat on the mahogany conference table like it owned not just the furniture, but the entire room, the island, and probably several neighboring kingdoms. Its black coat absorbed light in a way that made it seem less like fur and more like a hole cut in reality, except for the faint silver striping that caught the magic...

Chapter 166. Island

"Whoa!"

Adom pitched sideways on the narrow deck of the fishing boat, windmilled his arms frantically, and managed to step off the sword before he could fall off it and into the ocean. Which was probably the most dignified way to handle nearly face-planting into saltwater, but still not exactly what he'd been going for.

The sword clattered to the wooden planks beside him, looking innocent and metallic and completely untrustworthy.

"Right," he said to the empty ocean around h...

Chapter 165. Predator

Oberys had been watching the humans for the better part of an hour now, and the calculations in his head were becoming increasingly complex.

The red-haired one—supposedly called Gareth—was studying shipping manifests with the kind of focused attention that suggested genuine familiarity with logistics. Not the sort of knowledge one picked up casually. The big fellow, Marcus, sat with the perfect posture of someone trained in formal combat, his eyes constantly moving to asses...

Chapter 164. Brightleaf

Fate, it must be said, has a rather peculiar sense of timing.

It's not content to let sleeping dogs lie, or to allow good deeds to fade quietly into memory. Instead, it keeps meticulous records, filed away in some cosmic ledger, waiting for the precise moment when those records might prove most... interesting.

Adom's mother had once explained this to him during one of their quieter evenings, when the apothecary shop below had already closed and the sounds of the street of Kati had...

Chapter 163. Debt

"Where are they?!"

The shout cut through the marketplace's usual din. More voices joined it, urgent and searching, a commotion that made every merchant's hand drift toward their money pouches.

"Search every stall! Check the back rooms!"

"Sundarians! Four of them, traveling together!"

Oberys was moving before the echo faded, his reflexes faster than anyone else at the table. "Stay exactly where you are," he said quietly. "Do not move. Do not speak."

He slipped awa...

Chapter 162. Oberys

"Ah, where are my manners? Please, please, sit," Oberys said, gesturing to the chairs around his table. "Any friends of Kellan's are most welcome here."

He snapped his fingers, and a serving girl appeared as if summoned by magic. Probably was magic, actually.

"Wine for our guests," Oberys said. "The good bottle. Not the swill we serve the tourists."

The girl nodded and vanished back into the crowd.

Adom settled into his chair, noting how Oberys had positioned himself s...

Chapter 161. Traditions

The boys stepped out into the controlled chaos of the Adventurer District, and Adom began murmuring under his breath.

"Left at the fountain with the dragon motif, straight past the weapons quarter, right at the tavern with the blue door..."

"Are you reciting directions?" Sam asked.

"Memorized the layout yesterday," Adom said, not breaking stride. "Habit."

The district buzzed with activity. Job boards lined every major intersection, covered in notices that ranged from t...

Chapter 160. Silvandros

The portal spat the boys out onto a platform of white marble that had been polished smooth by thousands of years of arrivals and departures. Adom's boots hit the stone with a solid thunk that echoed off the vaulted ceiling overhead, and for a moment he just stood there, letting his eyes adjust to the light.

Because there was a lot of light.

Adom bent over with his hands on his knees.

"Portal travel," he gasped, "is an abomination against nature and I will never get used to i...

Chapter 159. Morwyn's Malice

The boys moved down the stairs without discussion, their new silk robes literally whispering against the wooden steps. The voices below had gotten louder, more irritated, and whatever was happening wasn't improving.

What they found at the bottom made Adom pause on the last step.

Master Lǐ stood behind his counter, hands flat on the jade-inlaid surface, facing three young elves in what appeared to be academy robes. His posture was perfectly correct—respectful but not servile—b...

Chapter 158. Lì Shān

"LAND HO!"

The shout cut through Adom's sleep like a blade through silk.

He stirred in his hammock, the familiar sway of the ship beneath him giving way to something different—a subtle change in the rhythm that his body registered before his mind caught up.

The air had changed too. Where before it had carried nothing but salt and open ocean, now there was something else. Something with an undertone that made the hair on his arms stand up.

Magic. Dense enough to taste...

Chapter 157. Second Mission

"Take me with you!" Bennu announced before Adom had even finished with his left shoe.

Adom paused, lace halfway through the eyelet. "No."

"But I could be very helpful," Bennu pressed, perched on the windowsill with his tail feathers spread for maximum dramatic effect. "I can fly, I'm fireproof, and I have excellent eyesight."

"Still no." Adom moved to his right shoe.

Ada burst through the door like a small tornado, still in her nightgown with her hair sticking up in ev...

Chapter 156. Respect

The first spell erupted from Nox's fingertips before the echo of Beth's words had fully faded—a compressed lance of force aimed dead center at the boy's chest. Forty-three years of combat experience distilled into a single, perfect opening strike.

Teodorus Nox had killed his first man at seventeen with that exact spell.

The boy shifted three inches left.

Not a dodge. Not a reaction. A preemptive movement that put him exactly where he needed to be before Nox had even finish...

Chapter 155. Magi

Forty-five minutes.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The grandfather clock in the corner of the chamber had been marking time with the same methodical precision since before Adom was born. Maybe since before his grandfather was born. The thing was old enough that it probably remembered when this room had been built.

Adom could feel the stares.

The moment he'd turn to catch one of them looking, they'd suddenly find something fascinating about the tapestries hanging on t...

Chapter 154. Fyre

Magus.

The title was less about magical prowess and more about political positioning within the labyrinthine structure of the Imperial Magisterium.

While the rank certainly required demonstrated competence—specifically achieving master-level proficiency in at least one of the seven fundamental schools of magic—the real qualification was something far more nebulous and infinitely more valuable: access.

One could reasonably think of the Magisterium as an exclusive club whe...

Chapter 153. Idiot

Thum. Thum. Thum.

The hammering echoed down Craftsman's Row before Adom even rounded the corner. Three hammers working, each with its own rhythm. The sound had gotten considerably louder since his last visit six months ago.

Thum-thum. Thum. Thum-thum.

He stopped in front of the new storefront. The sign hanging above read "Kern & Filli's Forge" in carved letters filled with gold leaf. Much more impressive than the cramped shop they used to operate back in the days. This b...

Gamble King Chapter 34. The Deeper North

The cave swallowed sound.

Not metaphorically. Literally. Whatever was going on at the entrance filtered out the world beyond until even the wind became a memory. The only sounds were the crackle of their small fire, the gentle bubble of snow melting in Marcus's battered tin pot, and the soft scrape of Max's knife against wood as he worked new fletching onto his damaged arrow.

The cave itself was disappointingly ordinary. Gray stone walls that curved back into darkness, a ceiling h...

Chapter 152. Parent-Teacher Conferences

The mission was given. The die was cast. Now, the game needed players.

Adom sat behind his desk in his office, a stack of student progress reports spread before him alongside his appointment schedule. Parent conferences. Every three months, before the break periods, titular professors met with student families to discuss progress and address concerns.

But his mind wasn't on academic evaluations. It was on people.

Damus was the obvious first choice. House Lightbringer carried...

Chapter 151. Scheming Fiend

"We need to kill the emperor."

Both Adom and the Archmage were looking at Professor Kim, eyes wide, shock evident on their faces.

Kim stared back at them, completely unfazed. "What? It's true. You both know it's true."

The silence that followed was heavy. Adom's pulse picked up slightly. He glanced at the Archmage, who looked back at him with the same measured expression. Then they both turned their attention back to Kim.

The Archmage's foot began a quiet rhythm agains...

Chapter 150. Morning

Adom was tired. Bone-deep, soul-crushing tired in the way that only came from having your entire day derailed by other people's poor life choices.

This morning he'd woken up in a decent mood. He'd been looking forward to his first lecture as a professor, had prepared some genuinely interesting material, and had been planning to spend the evening at the beach with Eren and Sam for the first time in months, and introduce them to Bennu.

Simple pleasures. Normal things.

Instead,...

Gamble King Chapter 33. Nature Calls

The path wound through pine stands that grew denser with each mile, their branches heavy with snow that occasionally dumped itself on the travelers below with wet, vindictive thuds.

Max and his temporary companions had settled into the rhythm of travel, boots crunching through the packed snow, breath forming small clouds that dissipated quickly in the air.

They'd been at it for about two hours now.

"I heard Grimjaw eats people," Dan said, breaking the comfortable silence the...

Chapter 149. Interrogation

Midnight.

The evening guards made their way toward the portal platform in the loose, unhurried formation that characterized the end of a shift. They'd been on duty since sunset, and while nothing particularly exciting had happened, eight hours of standing around in armor still left its mark. A few stretched their shoulders as they walked. Others unbuckled pieces of gear that had been digging into uncomfortable spots all evening.

The midnight rotation was already emerging from the ...

Gamble King Chapter 32. The Proving Year - Part II

The hermit system was, when you really thought about it, a remarkably practical solution to an age-old problem. What do you do with people w

The hermit system was, when you really thought about it, a remarkably practical solution to an age-old problem.

What do you do with people who are too dangerous to keep around but too valuable to simply execute?

In the south, they had complicated legal systems and lengthy prison sentences. In the east, they favored public shame and exil...

Gamble King Chapter 31. The Proving Year - Part I

Cock-a-doodle-doo! The bastard rooster was at it again. Worse, he was early today. Max's eyes snapped open in the pre-dawn darkness of his m

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

The bastard rooster was at it again. Worse, he was early today.

Max's eyes snapped open in the pre-dawn darkness of his modest chambers. He lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling beams. Today was the day.

The Proving Year.

Twelve months in the wilderness, starting in a few hours. 2025-08-23 19:13:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 148. Conspiracy

"Fascinating." Adom leaned back in his chair, studying the unconscious changeling tied to the opposite seat. They'd moved to one of Valiant'

"Fascinating."

Adom leaned back in his chair, studying the unconscious changeling tied to the opposite seat. They'd moved to one of Valiant's safe houses—a nondescript building in the artisan quarter that looked like it stored pottery but actually stored people who needed to disappear for a while.

"What's fascinating?" Valiant asked. ...