Nick and Elizabeth pushed themselves hard from that point on, crossing the biome at a rapid rate.
She didn’t have nearly as much Toughness, but she was still superhuman by the standards of Old Earth—able to maintain a brisk pace for hours on end. Even when the terrain was rough and sweat was pouring down her body, Liz never complained. She only took a few breaks throughout the day and did everything she could not to slow him down.
As they journeyed, the river was their constan...
2025-06-23 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Edge crept between the towering ferns, in pursuit of the boar that would soon be his dinner.
Thanks to Penetrate Foliage, he could see the creature coming from a considerable distance while remaining hidden within the prolific vegetation. Even if the beast was perceptive enough to notice him, it was focused on Mel—who was driving it toward the rest of the crew. He was bringing up the middle and Lilly and Sasha hiding along both sides of the trail, in case the pig turned befor...
2025-06-23 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Nick expected to experience the agony of the monster’s attack slicing into his shoulder.
Instead, he felt a layer of mana solidify across the surface of his skin, shielding his flesh until the voidbear’s claws slid past. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the scarecrow’s body fall into pieces, taking the damage that was intended for him.
“Thanks, Liz!” he yelled. “Your aura is fucking awesome.”
While the totem had saved him from suffering a serious wound, he ...
2025-06-20 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Sakura flitted across the secret road of Puppet Town, Darting from one rooftop to the next so effortlessly it felt like she was floating.
She wasn’t the only hunter who traversed this hidden highway, but she was wearing a mask and using several skills to protect her anonymity, so she didn’t mind the company. She waved as one of the deputies sailed over the rooftop in front of her, then continued on her way.
Although Sakura had only been living here for a few months, the settle...
2025-06-20 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Edge followed the women away from the mountain, using Conceal every now and again to erase his tracks. The other hunters didn’t leave any sign of their passage as they crossed the forest floor. Sasha was the best tracker he knew, and Lillian was a veteran shadowkiller.
Unfortunately, Mel wasn’t nearly as stealthy, since her talents revolved around fulfilling her peacekeeping duties. She was a quick learner, and the other women had been helping her improve, but her efforts were slowi...
2025-06-19 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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After reading through the System’s description, Nick turned his attention to the monster that was blocking the path running between the mesas.
Thanks to his upgraded eyes, he could make out the details almost as clearly as using his spyglass would have been prior to his evolution. Of course, the magnification the simple device provided let him see even better, so he pulled it out now. He rubbed the stubble covering his chin while cataloguing the voidbear’s features.
His first ...
2025-06-18 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Heart hammering in her chest and adrenaline singing in her veins, Sasha followed Lilly and Mel back to where the Claws were guarding the entrance to the tunnels. After combining Silent Step with a pair of Lilly’s devices, the women were utterly quiet, nearly invisible, and shielded from magical detection.
Once the jailbirds were in sight and the crew made sure that nothing had changed during their absence, Sasha crept into position with Mel at her side, while Lillian circled around to...
2025-06-18 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Sasha crept her way across the jungle with Mel and Lilly at her side.
The rain beat a steady rhythm onto the sea of green stretching out above their heads, but thanks to Silent Step, the team crossed the verdant biome without making a sound—not even the pounding of their heartbeats could give their position away. Better still, after Sasha had advanced her skill to rank three a few days earlier, flaring it let her cover the three-woman crew without having to walk shoulder-to-shoulder.<...
2025-06-17 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Nick only needed four hours of sleep a night, thanks to his enhanced Survivor trait. Since crossing the badlands in the dark wasn’t a good idea, he devoted a fair chunk of each evening to training his skills and revising his tactics, incorporating his upgraded attributes, abilities, and gear into his playbook.
Those efforts were going relatively well, but he was having more trouble conditioning his physical attributes on the march than he’d expected. Tonight, he wanted to devise a n...
2025-06-16 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Edge popped back into his body, then looked down at his chest.
The rune was gone, and the Engraving Kit had crumbled to fine ash. He brushed it off, got dressed, and then picked up his backpack. The damned thing had grown quite heavy during his foray into the dungeon, even with his considerable Power. The bag was jampacked with equipment and valuable resources, and a fat bundle of monster parts was strapped to the back.
Before he figured out which items he wanted to keep on his pe...
2025-06-16 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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When Nick opened his eyes, sunlight was flowing in through the crack in the stone.
The coyotes were long gone, and the air was clear. He grabbed his pack and walked outside, where Elizabeth was tending to a small cookfire. When she heard his footsteps, she looked up and smiled.
“I know it’s a poor way to thank you for saving my life, but I took the liberty of making you breakfast. Oh, and while Elizabeth is fine, my friends call me Liz. I hope that going forward, I can count y...
2025-06-13 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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2025-06-13 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Edge ignited his core and cast Warlord’s Mantle while extending Foebinder, ascending to the treetops as the monster came charging his way.
Time seemed to slow down as a ghostly red cloak materialized around his shoulders, boosting his attributes while providing a layer of defense that would sap some force from his enemy’s blows.
The hedgehippo bellowed in rage as it followed below, sending trees crashing to the ground as it tried to reach him. Its Power is off the charts, ...
2025-06-12 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Edge had followed One-Eye from the dungeon to the cavern, trusting the hunter lead the way while his reservoir refilled after their battle with the boss.
Now that he was travelling alone, the dense vegetation filling the biome made it hard to pick out a path and spot the predators prowling within the undergrowth. Fortunately, his time in the Savage Garden had provided a solution to the pressing problem—a way to turn the living maze into nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
H...
2025-06-11 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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As it happened, that metaphor was even more astute than Nick realized.
Because only a few hours later, he had his first encounter with the badland’s namesake environmental hazard—a deadly form of magical weather that lived up to its name in every conceivable sense.
While he was following the river, heading toward an extensive series of mesas in the distance, he sensed something that he had never felt before. It reminded him of the pressure in his inner ear changing. But instea...
2025-06-11 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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When Edge woke up, everyone wished each other luck as they got ready to head their separate ways.
Setna and Byron were returning to Puppet Town. After using Vengeance and shattering her core, Setna needed medical attention. Bereft of her skills and potentia-enhanced attributes, the woman would be easy prey for the beasts living in the jungle and couldn’t make the journey alone.
Once Byron had escorted her back to the settlement, the shadowkiller would assist Earl’s forces in d...
2025-06-10 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Even though he hadn’t found any challenges or chests behind the waterfall, Nick was satisfied with the hidden point of interest he’d discovered.
The mana-rich cave was a perfect place to hone his energetic senses and work on mana manipulation. On top of those amazing benefits, performing his katas in front of the falls had helped him focus, and the endless rumbling was soothing to his soul. Once he was reunited with his friends and they founded a city, he planned to return here to t...
2025-06-09 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Edge took one last look at the Gardener’s remains and the mountain of bones piled beside them, then stepped through the fog door and left the Savage Garden.
He could hear panicked screams and the clamor of combat in the distance as the monsters pouring through the dungeon’s entrance fell upon the unsuspecting jailbirds who were garrisoned outside. We need to get out of here before they find us.
With Setna, Byron, and One-Eye at his side, Edge sprinted through the jung...
2025-06-09 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“Greetings to all the beautiful people living beyond the fourth wall. My name is Jumo, and I’m the hero of this thrilling tale. My sidekick Edge is taking the day off to recover from his ordeal in the Savage Garden, so I’ll be your guide during this little trip down memory lane.
“Just to be clear, this magical interlude with yours truly is intended to be a fun way to review our story so far, especially for people who might have taken a few months off between books. Feel free to ...
2025-06-06 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Half an hour later, Nick was drawing near the falls. Soon, the roaring was so loud that it vibrated his teeth inside his jaw.
After scanning the area for anything unfriendly, he made his way over to a wide pool at the bottom of the waterfall that fed the river stretching out behind him. His smile grew wider when he spotted a narrow shelf of stone that would let him cling to the face of the cliff and peer behind the curtain of falling water.
With his high Dexterity, navigating the ...
2025-06-06 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Relieved that his encounter with the coyote had ended peacefully, Nick picked a path and resumed his journey toward the center of the Bladewind Badlands.
He spotted the young canine twice throughout the day, watching him with hungry eyes. He didn’t run into the rest of the pack, although he heard them yipping in the distance. The beasts didn’t seem to be stalking him, so he assumed they were just keeping an eye on his progress as he passed through their territory.
Hoping to ma...
2025-06-04 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Nick felt a flash of disorientation when the demon hit the dirt and then shattered into fading fragments of light.
His thoughts sharpened as his energetic core expanded then compacted within his chest, letting him know that he’d leveled after winning the fight. That’s a lot more intense than leveling as a Kineticist, thanks to those extra attribute points.
He took a shuddering sigh, retrieved his sword, then sat down in the soil, absently noticing that the black ring ...
2025-06-02 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Hey everybody, we made it to the end of another exciting adventure. I hope that you had fun watching Edge survive in the depths of the Savage Garden. The war with the Crimson Claws is coming to a head, with the future of Puppet Town hanging in the balance, and we're about to dial the intensity up all the way to 11.
As usual, I'm taking a few days off to get caught up on editing. The recap will be released on Friday, and chapter 1 of book 3 will come out the following Monday. No scheduli...
2025-05-30 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Dialla let out a long sigh, closing her eyes for just a moment while leaning back in her chair.
She was bone-weary after working for days with next to no sleep, but she didn’t have time to rest. Not with Crimson Claws threatening the settlement and the expedition besieged by an army of jailbirds—not to mention her failure to conquer the Savage Garden and claim the core manufactory.
Dialla had several hunters with scrying or drone skills watching for enemy movement, but she was...
2025-05-30 17:02:01 +0000 UTC
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The instant Edge snapped back into his own skin, he sprang into motion with the point of his polearm leading the way.
The Gardener’s body was falling apart, but it wasn’t dead yet. The woman’s spirit had vanished when he was ejected from her core, and he wanted to make sure his team got credit for the kill, so he lashed out with his naginata before her body stopped breathing.
He carved the creature’s head free from its torso, then collapsed from exhaustion, savoring the th...
2025-05-30 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Nick spent the next twenty minutes staring at the demon standing in the center of the ring.
Meanwhile, he got ready to rumble, stretching out while devising a core strategy and some contingencies for various situations. He thought about spending his free points but eventually decided to hold off for now.
If I need to, I can assign them mid-battle. My attributes are high enough that the sensations won’t be overwhelming. After making sure nothing dangerous was lurking nea...
2025-05-30 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The living links flew from Edge’s wrists, closing the distance in a clinking rush.
To his astonishment, the Gardener laughed as she welcomed their advance, flinging her arms wide and inviting the chains of oblivion inside. They plunged into her core half a heartbeat before his mind followed suit.
When Edge stepped into the creature’s central chamber, his jaw dropped in astonishment. In a day filled with extraordinary occurrences, this was the most shocking event of them all.
2025-05-29 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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To vent a little frustration from his failed experiments, Nick reached down, picked up a rock the size of his head, and threw it as hard as he could.
The toss felt effortless after almost doubling his Strength in one day, and the stone went streaking across the grove before slamming into a trunk with a hearty thwack.
The distance caught him by surprise, driving home the realization that he was now over twice as strong as the mightiest man who had ever lived prior to the S...
2025-05-28 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Edge and Foebinder fought to keep the creature confined while One-Eye and Byron got in a few parting shots. By now, the remnants of the monster’s armor had fallen away, revealing more of its skeletal figure and patches of mummified flesh.
The Gardener screamed as it bucked and writhed, flinging Edge from one side to the other as he dug his heels into the dirt to give the black chain leverage to pull.
All his potions had faded away except the Power potion he’d quaffed last. But...
2025-05-28 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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When the Gardener realized its Heatwave had been dispelled by Elemental Blade, it screamed in frustration.
The creature hurled its claymore in a vicious arc, bisecting an unlucky monster in the process. One-Eye and Byron hit it with a barrage of missiles, and Edge added his chakram to the mix, infusing the weapon with icy mana between throws.
“If you have any elemental attacks other than wind,” he said. “Use them now. We need to prevent the Gardener’s mana from dominating ...
2025-05-27 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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