R. R. Quan

Chapter 152 - And So It Begins

And so, ATP comes to an end. This is the final chapter left from my backlog, and after this, there won't be anymore. I may end up writing a new story or continuing ATP further along the road, but for now, this Patreon is gonna be waste of money for anyone spending on it. 

Thanks for reading for this long, I appreciate you guys more than you can imagine.

Sincerely, R. R. Quan

**

A bellow shook Brock’s bones and he dived to the side. A quartet of paws slammed into...

Chapter 151 - A Machine's Deception

“That… what…?” Brock muttered. It made sense to him. Too much sense. Like… like everything until now had been planned out. Had been one elaborate destiny.

A grunt resounded behind him, “Come on, it’s not that scary. Aren’t you supposed to be the guy that killed two E Grades while only in F Grade? You sure?”

Shaking his head to dispel his thoughts, Brock glanced over his shoulder and at the woman standing behind him. Her arms were crossed, and a ...

Chapter 150 - Being

Brock fell through the darkness of the shadow realm in silence, the vague silhouette of a woman falling to his right. Amusement and curiosity radiated from her, but Brock paid it no notice. Instead, his mind was elsewhere.

It… it can’t have been an Error, right? Brock reached up and scratched his chin. She must have been watching my fight with Zin somehow. Is she going to use it as blackmail? Something else?

He hissed out a breath and let his eyes wandered th...

Chapter 149 - Fate

Brock sucked in a breath through his nostrils, and the sweet scent of pancakes followed. A small smile played on his lips, the first genuine one in a long time, as he gazed down at the batter slowly being cooked within the pan. When bubbles started to appear on its surface, Brock flipped the pancake and landed it in simple motion.

His smile grew.

The last time he’d had pancakes had been on the morning after he’d found his brother, James. The last time Brock had actually cooked...

Chapter 148 - Old Weaponry

Brock’s eyes darted in every direction: left, right, up, behind. And every direction was blocked off, the crowd moving in to surround him and attempt to glance at the enigmatic Brock Carter. Most of his ‘famousness’ came from rumours and details of his exploits spread by those that had actually met him, so it was their chance to confirm them.

The sky truly seemed like his only escape, and he knew he’d have to do so fast, as he could see Anastasia’s head of blonde hair peaking ...

Chapter 147 - Preparation

Two days…?

As his silence stretched on and his thoughts whirred, Brock witnessed the ritualist’s expression becoming impatient. The dim light emitted by the runes flickered once more. He breathed out and rubbed at the making of a beard. It was nothing more than messy stubble he found lacking the motivating to remove, but it helped him think.

That’s… not a lot of time to prepare…

He’d heard of what occurred within the trials. What he hadn’t hea...

Chapter 146 - A Distraction Given

The blood splatters still hadn’t been scrubbed from the concrete.

With Harry in tow, Brock ventured the streets of Adelaide, his eyes roaming the remains of destruction left in the wake of Zin Keene’s rampage. Inwardly, he found himself somewhat glad that that monster had killed him.

Toppled towers blocked off sections of the road and gouges had dotted the landscape, leaving dangerous holes behind and divots to avoid. Thankfully, it didn’t truly impair their journey...

Chapter 145 - Hope

There were a lot of things one could glean from reading someone’s aura, Brock had learned. There were the usuals that he’d known forever; levels, vague emotions, Augments, all that jazz. But through his training, he realised that that was barely scratching the surface of its potential.

Even with the newfound method people were using to obscure their auras, Silence of the Abyss made breaking past that defence effortless as Brock walked down the street and surveyed those around him. M...

Chapter 144 - Acceptance

Brock fidgeted in his lap, his sister sitting with her arms crossed opposite him, her blind eyes glaring into his soul. Tensioned suffused the air, and the sound of her foot tapping the floor was the only thing that intermixed with the noise of their breathing. Warmth heated their bodies, courtesy of the stone fireplace to Brock’s right.

Stress left the man’s back a swamp as a million possibilities passed through his mind every second. Would she ask what happened? Would she understa...

Chapter 143 - The Complexity of Emotions

Ok, so after this chapter there are 9 more before ATP has no more chapters. If you would like to read it until then, then I'll be making the final 9 chaps fall under the $2 tier. Not fair to pay 9 bucks for less than a third of its value, after all. Thanks for sticking with me for this long, I really do appreciate it.

**

3 Months Later

“Breath in and feel your aura retract along with it,” a rumbling voice resounded, akin to the booming echo of b...

Chapter 142 - Aftermath

A cackle resounded, and she felt it attack her mind directly. Blood dribbled from her nose.

Mio blinked. Then she blinked again. Breathing out as she stumbled forward, a limb of shadow replacing her dismembered one, she clutched her crushed ribs, quelling the flares of pain each brain caused her. Slowly, her eyes panned around the area.

Pure destruction surrounded her in every direction. Steam wafted up from the remnants of charred earth and disintegrated flora. Heat pervaded the ...

Chapter 141 - Darkness

Everything hurt. Her face, chest, limbs. They were all consumed in boundless agony. With each beat of her heart, she felt her violet blood pump out from her wounds and spurt upon the ravaged earth, soaking the soil and staining the waters. Slowly, Mio cranked her eyelids open.

The dying light stung her eyes, but she could see. It was through tear blurred sight, her vision darkening from blood loss, but she could see. The landscape around her had been utterly destroyed. Divots had been c...

Chapter 140 - The Cold Embrace

Muddied water sprayed the surroundings as Zin exploded from his position. Brock’s Dexterity was just high enough to detect his movements, and with Silence, he forced his body to lean left. The wind howled as an outstretched brushed past his neck, the raw speed rendering his skin red raw with friction.

I… can do this!

As the demon’s momentum carried him forward and his brows furrowed in shock, Brock spun on his feet and launched his...

Chapter 139 - The Final Battle

It took around 50 minutes of walking through the swamp-marsh before Brock was satisfied with his location. Glancing around, he surveyed the strange, iron-wood trees – as he’d taken to calling them – that littered the bog in every direction. Boulders peeked from beneath the waters and some were even large enough to seat oneself upon.

Like the one Brock was sitting on currently.

For the most part, the landscape looked rather destroyed, courtesy of the rampage he and Mio went o...

Chapter 138 - Too Easy

As the days passed by and Brock’s race level slowly climbed upwards, his departing kiss with Amara became further and further from his mind. Instead, his mental space was wholly consumed by practicing and theory with his aura enhancement and discovering the means of which his Techniques were fused.

Two weeks had passed by now, and Brock had long begun to feel the effects of Amara’s concoction wear off. His veins had returned to their dark colour and were once again bulging from his ...

Chapter 137 - Crossbreeding

“I hate you,” Brock called out to the form of Mio as he crested the cave mouth, webbing clinging to his bloody body and his face marred by a scowl. He had to admit, the experience of walking through a spider’s nest in the dark made him markedly less scared of spiders, but still, “I really hate you.”

Lounging in a chair formed of twisted tentacles of shadow, Mio chuckled, her eyes focused on the blue sky above and the shifting clouds that drifted through it, “That’s nice.�...

Chapter 136 - Whispers of the Void

Brock’s footfalls echoed throughout the underground cavity, the sound bouncing off the walls hidden by darkness and continuing on until the noise faded to obscurity. Taking a deep breath in as the energy emissions of the Treasure got closer and more powerful, Brock scooped the spider guts off his body with Oppressive Might, letting it slop to the floor.

He sighed and shuddered. I didn’t get all of it, but it’s better than nothing…

To his left, the...

Chapter 135 - Discovery

Brock had no idea what a Guragura was, apart from being his biggest nightmare, but what he did know… was that he wanted to cry. As he prowled forward to meet it, Lament at the ready, its furs bristled, and its mandibles chittered excitedly, eagerly awaiting his arrival. Brock felt his nerves rising with each step, and behind him, while he didn’t dare look away, he swore he heard Mio eating popcorn.

Calm down mate. It’s… it’s ok.

He took a steadying breath. Then ...

Chapter 134 - Arachnophobia

“Oh?” Mio tilted her head, clearly amused by the developments, “And why’s that?”

Brock sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as his aura retracted and the surroundings lightened, “Cause I might kill you by accident one day.”

A silence followed, before Mio scoffed.

Briefly, the man considered resuming his aura manipulation experiments, as he felt himself overcome with impatience to continue strengthening himself. Fortunately for time’s sake, a stream of bloo...

Chapter 133 - Oppressive Shells

What did she mean by kissing me…?

Sitting upon the corpse of a three headed wildcat and savouring the way its wiry fur tickled his legs through the holes in his pants, Brock sighed and took another bite of his Treasure. Flavour burst within his mouth, and energy washed down his throat, continuing directly into his bloodstream. His cells blazed with fervour, craving more.

Quickly, he finished off the rest, eager to prevent himself from losing any of the fruit’s efficac...

Chapter 132 - Purification

With wide eyes, Amara held the Treasure up to the light. While it wasn’t all that large, in her small hands, it looked massive. Squinting, her eyes roamed its surface, scouring every faucet and studying every aspect with the razor focus of a vulture in a cemetery. To Brock’s side, Mio snorted and crossed her arms.

“So?”

As if her voice was a slap across the face, Amara recoiled and her eyes snapped in her direction. Briefly, they flicked over to Brock, but quickly came bac...

Chapter 131 - The Fun Of Drinking

Just a disclaimer before I forget, it was around this area that I stopped going back and editing the chapters, so I apologise if some are a bit incoherent or seem like a mish-mash of ideas. There were a lot of things I was going to go back and change, but oh well...

**

“Ahhh shit.”

Steadying himself as the terrain around him began to shake and shift, Brock immediately placed the Treasure into his inventory. His flashlight panned over the area, letting him eye the slouchi...

Chapter 130 - Knee Deep In Tortoise

- Just a note that unfortunately, I've dropped the story beyond chapter 152. This Arc will still finish, and should be finished by the end of next month's sub if you really want to see it to the end. Otherwise there are about 2 months left of content after this chapter. Sorry everyone, but life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, enjoy what I have left!

**

Resting upon the creature’s tongue like it was a couch, Brock massaged his neck, “I’m… so fucked.”

Ten minutes ...

Chapter 129 - Professional Tortoise Hunters

“So, explain to me again why we’re going to visit a giant tortoise corpse?” Brock’s voice echoed through the plains, accompanied only by the sounds of the grass being rustled by wind and the calls of various monsters dormant along the countryside.

Waking up… had been a strange experience. They’d been walking for the past hour, as to not aggravate his already precarious condition, but the memory of it was still fresh in his mind. The last thing he’d remembered before the da...

Chapter 128 - Chemistry In The Works

Three days passed by, and Mio was getting worried.

With the assistance of Amara’s potions, Brock had managed to heal back almost entirely. His face and body were still dotted with pinkish scars where skin broke and bone cut, but for the most part, he was deemed well. And that was where the problem lay. His condition should have been good enough, yet he was still unconscious.

Amara had neither the teach nor abilities to monitor Brock’s vitals, although they had both confirmed t...

Chapter 127 - Biding Time

“You… know him?” Mio said, inching a little bit closer to the two.

The woman shook herself back to focus and proceeded to pour her concoction down his throat. It slid down without effort, and immediately, Mio noticed that Brock’s wounds began to knit themselves back together and that his limbs slowly bent themselves back into place. It was a slow, and seemingly agonising process, but he was healing.

She allowed herself a breath of relief as the alchemist turned to her. The...

Chapter 126 - Alchemy In The Works

Brock wasn’t confused as he travelled through darkness, being well acquainted with Mio’s teleportation power by now. Certainly, having what he believed was brain damage, and what he felt was a crushed face, didn’t help, and he vomited a mix of bile and black blood as the dark gave way to blurred colours of blue, white and green.

He could feel his consciousness slipping slowly, the blood loss becoming enough that he was feeling dizzy and nauseated to the point he could actually fee...

Chapter 125 - The Utility of Shadows

Sluggishly, Brock’s eyes glanced to the right of him. Despite his blurred vision, what he could see was clear to him. The shadow was bulging and shifting, and a protrusion was rapidly reaching up from out of it. What… the…?

In seconds, that protrusion twisted into a tentacle of black and flashed through the air, slamming into the side of the oncoming fist with enough force that it hurt Brock’s ears. The force of the impact dispelled the appendage instantaneously, but st...

Chapter 124 - Demon

“Well,” A voice resounded. Confident. Snarling. “Took me long enough.”

A chill shot straight down Brock’s spine. Each word possessed such power - such arrogance - that it seemed to violently collide against his brain, bashing it against the walls of his skull. A throbbing headache took root as his stress mounted, and the sound of footsteps behind him seemed mind-numbingly loud in his ears.

Brock strained his body against his bindings to no avail and glanced at the remain...

Chapter 123 - Sandstone

Hmmm.

It was a massive hunk of sandstone, several chunks having broken off and formed into a pile that surrounded it. A warm breeze blew through the area as Brock surveyed the monument before him, carrying with it a light dusting of sand that irritated his eyes and clung to his sweat-laden skin. He groaned in annoyance.

The area was populated by a sparse selection of yellowed boulders and the smattering of shrubbery that grew out from beneath. Small vermin chittered from ...