It was all Rafe could do to avoid the cold flames. They burned, but the one time he'd let one near enough to feel it he'd felt how he expected a frost bitten person did. That was to say not great.
Studying the energy, it did not look at all like any mana he knew. It was a completely different energy resource mined from essence. He did not know all it did, but perhaps demons had a special hidden stat that worked with this resource.
One thing he imagined it did was siphon off an opp...
2025-04-21 15:59:36 +0000 UTC
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Rafe saw the hammer descending toward him and evaded it at the last possible moment using one of his new skills. He went to thrust but a blast of explosion mana had him turning to Parry an attack from Adrian.
The dwarf's main stat turned out to be dexterity, which he applied in very interesting ways. For example, with the head of his hammer stuck in the ground, he pushed himself along the haft and used the head an a pivot so the butt of it attacked Rafe's exposed back b...
2025-04-21 15:48:46 +0000 UTC
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There was relatively less fanfare on the second landing. By the third. Rafe was sure the numbers of possible contestants was getting smaller. That probably meant less and less people made it past.
The shadow only flickered through two thousand odd people on the fourth floor, and one of them was someone he knew. He had been dreading it. The first of the people he knew, Adrian.
He'd recognise the cocky smirk anywhere. It wasn't Adrian he got to fight though. He fought so...
2025-04-15 13:18:50 +0000 UTC
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Rafael Kingsley organised his belongings as he had before. He needed to keep moving now that he'd had a rest. First though, to equip the new portable wardrobe.
He felt it as a new thread was added to his soul realm. He also watched it a bit, but the thread disappeared past the darkness covered edges. It was one of those things his low level barred him from. Well that did not matter. He mentally tried to call for the new armour he'd been promised. Nothing happened.
Then he remember...
2025-04-15 13:12:57 +0000 UTC
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It might have been a mistake in the end. Breaking the cage was straightforward. It was the pain that came after which caused him a bit of regret. The ability had been locked away by essence, like a blood clot.
He didn't know what the system planned, but it did not seem like any of its plans involved ever letting the locked skill free. So then what about his racial ability that had been on the verge of mutating but froze in the process? It was an E rank ability, and he was still F ...
2025-04-15 13:07:33 +0000 UTC
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He flew through the air. The beam of death shot forward below him. The heat radiating from it was enough to melt his skin from his bones. Even worse was the beast lifting its head slowly so it could torch him where he flew. Rafe was scared. He saw everything in slow motion.
Death was not a big deal in the end. It was just a shame he was going to be wasting Devila's sacrifice. He felt resentful, Rafael did. His skin started bubbling as he fell and as the beam rose to meet him.
In a...
2025-04-11 14:28:02 +0000 UTC
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Devila spun through the air like a mannequin. The only difference was her very human screeching. Rafe was there before she could land though, grabbing her out of the sky and helping her down gently.
She was looking at him, but she did not see him.
Shit!
Just like that, Rafe had lost the last member of his team. She was not dead. She was in shock as bad as, if not worse than Quinsia’s.
And thinking of Quinsia, he turned to where he'd last seen her...
2025-04-09 15:53:12 +0000 UTC
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Her level has been adjusted based on the groups composition. Commencing random adjustment.
The Keeper will be at level ten. Good luck.
Side quest received.
Objective: Defeat the Keeper of Eternity.
Rewards: Quest points, Credits, F-ranked soul bound growth armour.
Room objective: Escape the with your life.
Hidden objective: Help as many members of y...
2025-04-09 14:33:46 +0000 UTC
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Devila unleashed a talisman he hadn't yet seen. It flew through the air, shaped like a paper crane. It flew extremely fast compared to normal paper. The beast that was diving at Rafe with its mouth open at almost one hundred degrees froze amid a burst of an ice wall.
A few more beasts collided with the wall and fell down the cliff.
More beasts fell from above like rain as Devila once more showcased her legendary prowess. She really was strong enough to consider herself an heiress ...
2025-04-09 14:28:48 +0000 UTC
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Rafe froze when Devila's question finally registered. His eyes widened a little but he was quick to bounce back.
“I have an upgraded version of appraisal,” he lied.
“You hesitated,” Devila said. “I wonder why?”
Her voice was teasing, a little friendly even. Maybe flirtatious? Rafe was sure he wasn't just trying to find clues were there were none.
“It's fine anyway,” she continued. “You can keep your secrets all you want.”
<...
2025-04-09 14:24:43 +0000 UTC
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There had not been a trap where Quin was. Rafe was sure of that at least. There had not been any mana he could sense, so where had the flamethrower come from. Rafe reached her a second after it hit, and he could only watch in horror as the flames caught.
She started to scream and tear at her clothes. Rafe suddenly found himself freezing.
“Let me through!” Devila shouted, and suddenly she was there helping Quin out of her clothes.
Rafe looked away. He frowned toward the d...
2025-04-09 14:18:48 +0000 UTC
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You will have one minute. You can start on the count of three,” the voice spoke again.
An hour glass appeared at the opposite end of the room through the open door. That wasn't all Rafe saw when he looked through the door though.
“3.”
The three of them, bar Rafe, moved forward to begin running.
“2.”
“Wait!” Rafe said but he was probably too late.
“1.”
They moved without any hesitation. Rafe wi...
2025-04-09 14:15:04 +0000 UTC
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“Wait! What the actual fuck?!” Andragoth stepped out of her mom persona, too shocked to care.
“It can't be that rare to see people from Essence Deserts, the way you guys throw the word around,” Rafe said reasonably.
Both Quin and Andragoth were looking at him with wide eyes. In the end, Andragoth sat back and looked at him with a thoughtful frown.
Quin wasn't looking at him anymore. She had been shocked in the beginning, but the shock had quickly morphed into disappo...
2025-04-09 14:08:49 +0000 UTC
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Rafe could only groan when he woke up to a legendary body ache. He tried to force himself up. That's when his belly started to rumble and his chest begun to burn.
“I'd get away from him now, Quinsia,” Andragoth’s voice came from some place very far away.
He heard Quinsia agree and start to shuffle away but he paid her little to no mind. He bent over the bed he was on and relieved his bowels of the…blood. There was nothing in his mouth - in his belly - except blood.
...
2025-04-09 14:05:57 +0000 UTC
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Rafe studied the magic circle that appeared, happy to get more practice for his mana sight. With his increased perception to the internal operations of magical constructs, he saw a lot more than he perhaps should have.
Contract magic’s biggest component was pure mana. It was a different pure from the enchantress' jade coloured arcane magic. This one was white. But there were other energy signatures he saw there too. He suspected one was soul magic, although he'd never seen that before...
2025-04-09 14:01:32 +0000 UTC
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Rafe reeled in shock. He'd given away too much information. He was quick to school his features into neutrality though.
“I watched the fights,” he said with a shrug. “You were using too much mana for a person around our level, I figured you were almost out.”
He turned towards the others, trying to feign nonchalance. He kept her in the range of his racial ability though. Just to make sure there was nothing to worry about there. She kept shooting skeptical glances toward his...
2025-04-09 13:56:45 +0000 UTC
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They ended up on a barren piece of land. The clouds were few and scattered, and the violet expanse of space was visible. It reminded Rafe a lot of the demon continent on Aeon.
“A devastated world,” Aska commented.
“There are plants that can grow even on planets devastated by their stars,” Quinsia said. “It is possible to make food and the like here.”
Maybe it was, but for the longest distance there was only the dark soil. They were on a plateau interspersed with ...
2025-04-09 13:53:03 +0000 UTC
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The description of the skill didn't change much, as far as Rafe could see. He only had the new feature that allowed him to hurl pieces of his aura, now in a more controlled fashion. It was already a maxed out rare skill, at least by most people's standards, so he should have been able to control it.
The beasts hadn't been deterred when he'd suddenly started yelling and writhing. They had backed off a bit, but once the process was settled they came back in to feast. Too bloody bad for th...
2025-03-29 15:13:24 +0000 UTC
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Rafe decided there were many approaches to this when he began his experiments. First of all, aura was a representation of the spirit. It was a way to tell people your story without opening your mouth.
And some people’s stories were scary. They were full of violence. Full of echoes of their techniques, of their mental strain and emotions. They were packed with echoes of their skills. Echoes of their statistics.
Therefore Rafe could tell how strong a person was by reading th...
2025-03-29 14:44:32 +0000 UTC
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He ignored the level up notifications when he reached the safe room. It was marked safe room according to his map ability, and he guessed it was because he did not have to fight or take any challenges in this particular room. All in all, it should have taken him about two days of subjective time to complete the first floor. He needed a bit of rest before he chose his next floor.
He didn't know what he was going to choose but his current choice was ‘not red’. Certainly nothing earth ...
2025-03-29 13:48:59 +0000 UTC
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Stamina: 290
Strength: 29
Agility: 60
Coordination: 48
Endurance: 30
Wisdom: 23
Mana: 230
Off: 6. Def: 5. Dens: 5.
Rafe tried out his new map ability as he traversed the island like room. It was an island standing in the middle of an...
2025-03-29 11:26:29 +0000 UTC
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“Look at him,” Sam said, sounding awestruck. “His eye is gleaming.”
“It is, isn't it?” Noid said in a similarly awestruck voice.
“Ha!” Liam said, looking at the smug enchantress with true respect.
She did not say anything. She instead watched as her plans came into fruition. Sometimes the enchantress forgot how clever she could be. She forgot that she had grown up in a tiny and secluded village, but had somehow grown to become one of the most influential peop...
2025-03-27 13:51:45 +0000 UTC
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Nine hours was a long time, it turned out. It wasn't even five hours later when the portal opened up again.
‘Ding’!
The system called for his attention in its usual way.
You have defeated ‘Sand Monarch’ level 55.
And he had completed all his objectives with perfect scores. Except the very first of course, but it had only been an alternative anyway.
The monarch had ambushed him while he fought another of the speci...
2025-03-26 13:09:53 +0000 UTC
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…
Health: 12…87/210
Stamina: 8/270
Rafe watched his health slowly tick up from the red. He had been so close to death, and while he was still in the trial he needed to think about the future.
“With this warrior's trance skill controlling me, I need to plan before I enter the fight. Otherwise thinking mid-battle is almost never an option. I need to be more careful, damnit! What's the use of all this...
2025-03-26 09:55:54 +0000 UTC
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‘Ding’ You have entered the Enchantress's Tower.
He stood in what he would have expected to be the entryway of a Victorian mansion, old and dilapidated and abandoned looking of course. Complete with coatings of dust and visible cobwebs.
There were three doors on a wall directly in front of the great stone door he'd entered through. He'd been surprised to find opening the door an easy endeavor. The three doors ahead were the same ...
2025-03-26 09:09:34 +0000 UTC
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Rafe considered not doing what Noid had told him. He wanted to spite Enith. It was his future he'd be playing with if he did that though, so he decided to follow his master's instructions for now.
He opened a class selection window that had appeared with the quest.
Class Options:
Warrior (+2 str/ agi/ end) per level. (+2 def/ off) per level (adjustable).
Archer (+1 per, +1 str/ agi/ end...
2025-03-26 08:59:36 +0000 UTC
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The enchantress joined her fellows after her less-than-auspicious meeting with the boy. She kept her sigh inward, keeping her disappointment off her face.
“Was that necessary, Enith?” Sendriel asked.
The others were looking everywhere but at her, but she could tell they were listening.
Enith shrugged. “While his impression of me is not ideal, it could prove apt motivation. There is no need to despair.”
“What if he decides not to help just to spi...
2025-03-24 16:30:07 +0000 UTC
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A blue screen popped up in front of the now-shivering enchantress. She looked at the disappearing motes of what would have been the Demon God's body. She fell on her ass.
“This is so much worse than she said,” the enchantress sighed.
She grabbed the pulsating entity that was the mantle of authority. Rafe expected something to happen. Nothing did. She sighed again.
“I'll need to find my way to you, then.”
She looked up at a set of stairs that had not been there ...
2025-03-24 06:19:26 +0000 UTC
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Sendriel of the Sands sat waiting for him in a space built to look like the expanse of space. Stars twinkled in the distance. Near her, a planet burst to life, growing greener even as Rafe looked at it. Then it dissipated, a very life-like illusion undone.
“Birth and rebirth are worlds apart, I'm afraid,” the red-haired woman in front of him said to no one in particular.
“Okay?” he said with a frown.
Could she be unaware he was here? She seemed to be deep in a trance...
2025-03-23 15:35:03 +0000 UTC
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“Remember what we told you, Rafe, dear.”
“Yeah. Get the storage skill from good old Granderel. Then get the oldest and weakest looking one from the phoenix?”
“Yeah, listen to us on that point. You'll never guess its function and you might even disparage it normally.”
“Okay…” he said. “Then get the bloody eye of the bloody enchantress. I'd feel bad doing it though, she already lost that eye once.”
“Oh, come off it boy,” one of them said.
...
2025-03-23 15:33:02 +0000 UTC
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