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Chapter 42 - Hidden Monsters (I)

It was a lovely day--

Birds were chirping, sun was burning, the smell of tea was sweet and inviting... but my heart would not calm. It beat like a drum at a rock concert, and this became the first day I desperately missed being a pharma salesman. Even if not legal, if I started feeling this way, I could always pop a color or two and feel better within minutes.

Now?

It's anxiety city, and I'm taking a scenic route apparently.

It's been about 13 hours since I inspected t...

Chapter 41 - Betting & Competing (VI)

"Ha ha, Sect Master; I can barely keep up with those two..." I tried to squirm my way out of being given more disciples.

I'd already planned on just asking for some resources from Daoist Mu and forgoing a new disciple. Honestly? I can barely keep up with the two I have. Even with the massive windfall of bets that, at most, buys me a year (if that). I could take in more disciples, but despite the monthly quests, I decided against it as just having more numbers...

Chapter 40 - Betting & Competing (V)

"... you've hidden well, Elder Lu."

Yeah, I'm Bond in his prime--oh, shut up...

I was already annoyed with this scrooges, and now that guy also decided to do his thing. Haah, at least I still have Dai Xiu on my side--yeah, I just jinxed the shit out of that, didn't I?

If there's one good thing, though, it's that Long Tao didn't reveal a high cultivation--just the first stage. His beating of the tall boy wouldn't really rouse any suspicion; at that level, strength between ki...

Chapter 39 - Betting & Competing (IV)

Long Tao barely stopped himself from yawning as he heard his name being called out. He'd paid some attention at the start, but all of these kids were... well, kids. They didn't know how to fight, they didn't know any special martial arts, and only a few of them were even, technically speaking, cultivators.

Thus, he grew bored and meditated on what the 'Antechamber' was. He presumed it was likely a holy cultivation site, or perhaps a unique array that forcibly inserted Qi into o...

Chapter 38 - Betting & Competing (III)

Kids streamed into various rows and columns, lining up according to their numbers.

There were honestly so many of them, at least a few hundred, a number distinctly larger than the totality of the last batch. It wasn't all that unsurprising; if Elder Qin somehow managed to 'sneak in' Dai Xiu, there was no doubt other Elders were doing the exact same thing.

So long as the kid's strength wasn't something too outrageous, who would really care?

Anyway, the festivities started w...

Chapter 37 - Betting & Competing (II)

"Hoh? Elder Yao, did you break through?"

"I've had a bit of luck recently."

"Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Ha ha, many thanks, fellow Daoists! But it's a small matter; us old folk breaking through is nothing compared to seeing the young shine."

"You must be confident in your Disciples if you're steering a conversation from yourself onto them."

"Ha ha ha."

So, a lot of chatter went sort of like that; the humble brags, fake humility, annoying laughter, ...

Chapter 36 - Betting & Competing (I)

The excitement is palpable; so much so, in fact, that even I am beginning to be swayed a bit.

I quickly quell that crap down, however, and continue the descent.

As we emerge from the mountain and toward the flattened areas, I notice hundreds upon hundreds of souls converge to the specific area--the central battle arena where all public competitions were held. It was the largest, the safest, and the one with the greatest number of seats.

I was actually a bit worried since I d...

Chapter 35 - Days Mundane (II)

I must admit, I never expected days within the world of cultivation to be so... mundane. Once I handed the method to Dai Xiu, and mostly finished the barebones construction of their home, things just... settled down. Inordinately so.

Long Tao never asked me for the cloaking art again; he did stop cultivating and started hanging around the girl a lot, guiding her quite... earnestly. I don't know what that old monster has planned, but maybe he warmed up to the place? Yeah, right....

Chapter 34 - Days Mundane (I)

Master didn't lie!

That was Dai Xiu's first thought as her eyes sprung open, her entire body faintly aglow with hazy mist of vanishing Qi. She felt her entire body churn with energy the likes of which she never experienced, even when she originally cultivated.

She felt capable of anything--though was still smart enough to know it was just a feeling. Clenching her fingers into a fist, her eyes shimmered with wonder; the art she was cultivating... she couldn't explain it, ...

Chapter 33 - Vast-Body Art (IV)

I have to admit: I didn't expect this now-expectant girl to be so obedient over the past two months. Then again, she was just entering... those years, so maybe I got a bit lucky? Nonetheless, she didn't practice Qi even once despite me never explaining much of why, instead just drinking tea as prescribed and doing random chores.

However, whatever patience she had in her had long since worn thin; the radiance in her eyes was unconcealable, and the desire contained there...

Chapter 32 - Vast-Body Art (III)

Damn.

That's one thick window.

And that's a lot of information to dump on me.

So, all my points are gone, my body feels slightly lighter (likely due to extra 3% purification) and, apparently, I got a trait?

Demonic Qi Sensitivity... call me a paranoid little prick, but this feels an awful lot like foreshadowing, no? Like in those stories where main characters unlock some super specific power that seems beyond useless, yet they are literally saved by it within the nex...

Chapter 101 - To Be Deemed Worthy (I)

Chapter 101

To Be Deemed Worthy (I)

A’stul sat on the fringes of the roaring, crimson fire, his eyes glazed with the warm glow of the dancing embers. The sky above was dark and fettered with stars, and the world seemed quaint and whimsical–though he looked more an outsider than a part of it, in the end. Even if unmoving, and even if appearing calm, there was fire within him that burned even still, and it burned more scalding than ever before.

They had w...

Chapter 100 - The Will of Man

Chapter 100

The Will of Man

Within an hour after Ethan departed from the scene of the battle, the entire town–now all but razed to the ground–was swarmed by hundreds of people. Some were Awakened, curious as to what happened, most were military personnel trying to establish order and wall off the area, and some just curious passersby wondering what the fuss was about.

However, the absurdly gruesome scene left many aghast and reeling, and the news quickl...

Chapter 99 - Battle For the World (IV)

Chapter 99

Battle For the World (IV)

Ethan withdrew the sword as yet another spray of blood flew out, dousing him. He hardly cared, having already been dyed red from head to toe. Some of it got in his mouth, forcing him to spit out as he withdrew the sword back into his inventory. The dismantled body riddled with holes lay still on the ground beneath him, their surroundings obliterated–streets were ripped up, houses torn, shards of glass scattered about, and se...

Chapter 98 - Battle For the World (III)

Chapter 98

Battle For the World (III)

Zaya flew forward, crossing her blades and melding into the cascade of shadows–the small town, quickly emptied, grew dark and desolate as the crawlers began bending around the buildings and lampposts and parasols. She appeared mad and hurried, but below the surface she was calm.

She couldn’t run or hide–in part because of the countless ‘Bleed’ effects that just made her pop up like a firework in the city, and ...

Chapter 97 - Battle For the World (II)

Chapter 97

Battle For the World (II)

“Hey Beck, how’s Jonnathan?”

“Ah, he’s still sick!”

“Wow, really? How long has it been? A week?”

“Ten days, going,” a middle-aged woman gasped in exasperation. “At least his fever subsided. It’s mostly cough and throat now.”

“What did the school say?”

“What can they say? ‘Don’t send ‘im in before he becomes better’ is what I got. Shame. He was finally becomi...

Chapter 96 - Battle For the World (I)

Chapter 96

Battle for the World (I)

Ethan watched apathetically as a woman on the screen easily killed seven people. Rather than focusing on the tragedy of it like those around him, he was more focused on the woman herself–she was skilled, quick, decisive, and had a Class that complimented that. There were no wasted movements in her actions, there was no hesitation when it came to the killing blow, and she hardly showed anything when it comes to her Class beyon...

Chapter 95 - World Ablaze

Chapter 95

World Ablaze

The world was in an uproar.

Whatever little global infrastructure was left was immediately corralled into the worldwide manhunt for one person–Zaya Lowlik. A name that wouldn’t inspire even a second of thought just a day prior suddenly became the most important name in the world. While everyone besides Ethan lacked the depth of knowledge as to why her betrayal was so monumental, they knew enough to understand the magnitude of it....

Chapter 94 - Truths Unbecoming

Chapter 94

Truths Unbecoming

Ethan sat alone, in silence, pondering.

His thoughts swam through time and space, trying to figure out who it could possibly have been. He’d already spent days surfing the internet, trying to look for even the smallest of grains that would implicate someone… but there was nothing. He simply had no means of figuring out who it was that cleared the Tunnel in Australia.

He hadn’t felt helpless in a long while, yet, toda...

~Update~

Hello everyone! Apologies for going AWOL for a while. I caught a rather nasty bug and was bedridden for a while. Could hardly think, let alone write anything remotely decent. Started feeling a bit better, so hopefully everything will be back on track. 

Again, apologies, and thank all of you for supporting me :) 

Chapter 93 - World on the Brink

Chapter 93

World on the Brink

Above Kraków, almost juxtaposed with the sun itself, an otherworldly vortex spun ominously. It hovered mainly above the Wawel Castle, casting a foreboding shadow over the Vistula River. The sky, once a canvas of serene blues, now churned with dark, swirling, ashen clouds. From the maelstrom suffused with a trace of death, monsters–creatures of nightmare and chaos–came pouring forth like a grotesque downpour, descending upon the ...

Chapter 92 - Churning Reality

Chapter 92

Churning Reality

By the time Elijah and Delilah woke up, the gory scene had long since vanished, absorbed by the strange, obsidian tiles beneath their feet. The two kids were rather sullen and dejected, a sense of shame permeating their yet-to-develop-fully hearts. Ethan, naturally, paid it no mind; it wasn’t all that strange that they’d be unable to endure the horrors, as there was neither a man nor a woman in the world who did or would.

It ...

Chapter 91 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (V)

Chapter 91

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (V)

They tore through the nether and came burning out, disfigured.

There was no longer a concentrated array of misshapen things–two-three types, rather–but an assortment of all manner of abominations unfit for life. They seem resplendent in their horror, abject in their existence, a visual manifestation of torment, of a curse evil put upon life. There was nothing melodic about them, nothing wrought with life; in ...

Chapter 90 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (IV)

Chapter 90

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (IV)

The sheer amount of notifications had Ethan scrolling through them for nearly half an hour. The most prominent ones, naturally, were the ones associated with reaching Level 30–he’d unlocked one more Core Ability, two passive abilities, a new feature, and the first Class Quest which was the hint for understanding the ‘First Law’.

In addition to those, there were rewards from clearing the third wave–name...

Chapter 89 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (III)

Chapter 89

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (III)

The third wave came three days later–and it came like a storm.

Besides the two enemies from the first two waves, there was one more grotesque thing lumbering from the darkness, its misshapen limbs forming strange symbols outside its hulking shell. From a distance, someone might mistake it for a turtle–perhaps one with some strange growths on top of its shell–but it certainly was not one; the shell was ful...

Chapter 88 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (II)

Chapter 88

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (II)

Delilah observed from the side the duo’s ‘training session’.

Rather than a training session, it looked like an old man bullying a kid and having a bit too much doing it. Elijah was forced to run, roll, fall, spit, scream, and cry for hours on end every day, only occasionally being afforded a temporary respite, but even still he never complained. If anything, he cut the breaks short and got back into it. Th...

Chapter 87 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (I)

Chapter 87

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (I)

She stepped forward–though there was a falling firmament before her, and though the sky bled creatures beyond compare, her expression remained flat. The entire world around her was falling apart, crumbling, shattered by the earthquakes that splintered the flatlands and flattened the mountains. Geysers of fire stirred and volcanic maws spat out liquid gold as rivers of molten lava hurdled together. She was tiny i...

Chapter 86 - Sacrosanct Warp

Chapter 86

Sacrosanct Warp

Ethan, Elijah, and Delilah wandered about the desert terrain of the Colorado Plateau for nearly a day and a half before they finally managed to stumble upon the spinning vortex that was hiding in the shadow of a tall rock formation. Despite being exhausted, they couldn’t even rest as Ethan hastily dug out an underground chamber with Elijah’s help and, as soon as he did, tasked Delilah with creating a Tunnel.

Though the distanc...

Chapter 85 - The World's a Stage

Chapter 85

The World’s a Stage

Ethan decided to take a week-long break.

They rushed two Tunnels and completed them within fifteen days, leaving a whole month and a half for the other two. While he didn't want to relax and risk anything, even he was getting mentally overloaded, let alone the kids. Delilah, in particular, as she needed to construct another portal here now. As her Spell Level was too low, she could only construct 1:1 portals, meaning that th...

Ethan -- artwork