Edge woke up early the next morning, filled with the rising excitement that comes with hunting big game.
After saying hello to Riller and Jumo, who were debating the merits of various prey, he ate breakfast, grabbed his pack, and then stepped through the front door to greet the rising sun. The crew wasn’t heading into the field for another few hours, but he had a couple of errands to run before they left town.
Edge waved to Trapper and Blue, who were conducting combat drills in ...
2025-01-21 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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After stopping by the public green for a quick post-shopping workout, Edge jogged back to the lodge.
He was glad to see Blue playing in the yard. It meant that Sasha was back from a hunt that had taken her most of the afternoon to complete. He hadn’t really expected it to work, but he had successfully bribed the manager of the Silver Spoon a few hours prior. As a result, Edge had a table reserved at the second-fanciest restaurant in town, and he was hoping that Sasha would be amiable ...
2025-01-20 18:00:12 +0000 UTC
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The instant that Nick saw the flares, he knew that the party was living on borrowed time. They had a few minutes at most before airships began converging on Team Earth’s position like a swarm of hornets descending upon a chunk of bloody meat.
“Shit.” Shaun said what everyone was thinking. “This is bad. What are we going to do?”
“Start climbing as fast as you can,” Sophia told Veronica, who was manning the controls. “We need to get as close to the roof as possible w...
2025-01-20 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Edge brought the blade of his polearm up, just in time to block the spear that was sailing for his chest.
With a hearty thwack, the shafts of both weapons collided, shoving the spearhead away from his flesh with inches to spare. He quickstepped to avoid a foot that was trying to hook around his ankle, then returned his stance to a neutral position.
Jumo let out a booming laugh—pleased that Edge had countered the move. “Nice one, brother! I thought I had you with that ...
2025-01-17 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The rest of the day proved uneventful despite a few close calls. Several airships made low passes overhead, but none of them had spotted Team Earth or landed to survey the island on foot. Nick wasn’t sure if the pirates lacked the manpower to search each isle individually or if the party had just been lucky, but he was grateful either way.
When night fell, they began the next segment of their journey. They climbed for hours, passing by three massive flying islands before landing on th...
2025-01-17 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Trapper stepped through the door of City Hall with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She stopped to chat with Emily—the mayor’s aide who was working at the reception desk—then made her way down the long hallway behind it. She nodded to a pair of deputies who were stationed in the building, then climbed the stairs leading to the second story.
The peacekeepers raised a hand in greeting, but didn’t bother to ask her business. Dialla was expecting her, and after watching...
2025-01-16 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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After the party finished updating their map, everyone settled down to wait until night fell.
Team Earth passed the time in various ways: training, talking, and napping on and off. It was strange to have so much downtime after their experiences crossing Blackmist Bog and basement of Darkstone Tower, where the clock was an enemy and they had to keep moving to stay ahead of a series of escalating threats.
Eventually, the light began to dim, and the shadows grew long with the end of d...
2025-01-15 18:00:16 +0000 UTC
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When Edge reentered the nymph’s core, the white forest had changed during his absence. The trees looked distinctly less healthy and had lost half their leaves. However, he was pleased to note that the corruption wasn’t nearly as pronounced as the other times he had stolen multiple skills from the same opponent.
Stage-two beasts must be able to withstand some of the damage Extraction causes. I wonder if that means I can steal three skills from the same creature before it dies. I...
2025-01-14 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Before Edge willed Extraction to activate, there was something else that he needed to do first. During the fight, he had spotted the stage-one nymph he’d injured hiding in a tree. He was worried that it would attack him while he was busy stealing a skill. Time moved slowly inside a core, but entering one still left him vulnerable for a critical second.
He cast Entangle at maximum range, on the far side of the tree where the beast was hiding. As he was hoping, it ...
2025-01-13 18:00:15 +0000 UTC
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By the time that Nick was done writing, it was an hour or so before noon. He took his turn standing watch, letting Sophia get some well-deserved sleep. Since there wasn’t much to look at beside the ground directly below the island, he took the opportunity to peruse his profile, considering the gains he had made since starting his month of training.
Contestant Profile: Nicholas ‘Nick’ Henry.
Level: 23.
Tie...
2025-01-13 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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With their new and improved abilities out of the way, the party moved on to dividing the loot they had taken from the pirates’ bodies. Nick had already opened his bag and spread the gear across the deck so that everyone could decide what they wanted. While they hadn’t been able to strip the pirates of their armor, they had done well on the weapons front and had claimed a selection of other items along the way.
They had the sword from the first pirate Nick had ambushed in the watchto...
2025-01-10 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Edge watched as a layer of mana spread across the charging beast’s chest, causing the bands of living wood to thicken along that surface. That skill seems similar to Harden, but it’s specialized for the nymph’s unique biology.
That was all the time for analysis Edge was given before the heavy creature ran straight into his weapon. It was the outcome he’d been hoping for, with one significant twist. Instead of impaling itself on the naginata, the nymph’s skill-bolstere...
2025-01-10 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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When the nymph’s copy of Entangle entered Edge’s core, he was drawn inside too, where a message from his Guide was waiting.
You have Extracted the skill: Entangle (Common, Rank 1).
You already have this skill in your collection.
Its experience will be added to your existing skill.
A few seconds later, both the stolen version of Entangle and...
2025-01-09 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Everyone grabbed onto the frame of the vessel as the airship continued to climb. Within a matter of minutes, the pirates’ outpost was reduced to the size of a child’s toy. Nick drank in the exhilarating sensation of soaring through the air, which melded with his relief from winning the fight to leave a fierce grin plastered on his face.
But he couldn’t afford to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Although Team Earth had survived their first battle against other people and escaped o...
2025-01-08 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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By this point, Edge’s Leap had carried him high into the air.
He was already at the level of the lowest branches, avoiding the vines reaching for his legs with plenty of room to spare. The nymphs hissed in frustration as their ploy fell apart, and he landed on the ground twenty feet away from the closest tendrils.
Before the beast in front of him could recover from its surprise, he Shadow Stepped and circled around to its blind spot with his naginata poised...
2025-01-07 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The dual-wielder’s body toppled onto the archer, momentarily taking her out of the fight. The woman swore and pushed the corpse to one side. The instant that it was out of his line of fire, Shaun’s arrow plunged into the hollow of her throat, adding a second body to lie beside the first.
The mage and the whip-wielder turned and ran when they realized they were losing the fight, sprinting through the entrance of the warehouse. The golden-furred pirate cursed and tried to follow them,...
2025-01-06 18:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Edge wove his way through the towering crimson ferns, keeping one eye on the shadow-strewn ground and the other on the purple canopy stretching out above his head.
He couldn’t afford to ignore either elevation. The beasts he was stalking were infamous for ambushing people from the branches as well as lurking below the soil, making the treetops just as dangerous as the forest floor.
Today, he was hunting alone, pursuing prey that was likely to have a duplicate of the skill he was...
2025-01-06 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Nick’s party would have died within the first minute of combat if it wasn’t for the month of intensive training they had just undergone. Their opponents were skilled, used to fighting as a team, and had plenty of experience facing other weapon-wielders.
On the other side of the scales, Team Earth had come armed with a plan. They had caught the buccaneers with their pants down and had killed the rest of the pirates within a matter of minutes. Despite the golden-furred warrior’s bra...
2025-01-03 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Now that he had toured his core, Edge was ready to continue with his day. He was planning to head into the field tomorrow on a solo run, hunting for more skills to help rank up Regeneration.
Before he left town, there were a few things that he wanted to take care of. First and foremost was using one of the Skill-Merger Tokens he’d received for completing the quest to kill the garax.
Thanks to the crew’s battles with a colossal predator, a behemoth beast, and a swarm of monster...
2025-01-03 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Setna huddled between the ferns as death prowled the sky above. She peered through the sprawling fronds, praying that the foliage was thick enough to shield her from the monsters that had been stalking her for days.
Her heart hammered in her chest as a flock of feathered serpents flew past her hiding spot—tongues darting out to taste her scent on the breeze. She froze every muscle in her body, not daring to breathe as the deadly creatures soared over her head.
She had already se...
2025-01-02 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The party assumed a combat formation facing the three buildings where the pirates were sleeping inside. Sophia crept forward and cracked open the first door, while Veronica took care of the second. The instant that V flashed the hand signal for “attack,” Shaun fired a pair of smoke arrows through the gaps, just like they had planned.
He barely drew the string back—just enough power to send the missiles sliding along the stone floor with the faintest scrape of wood against stone. T...
2025-01-01 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Edge still had some shopping to do, but taking care of the rest of his list could wait another day or two.
He had a few hours before he was supposed to meet everyone at the Pioneer, so he walked over to the public green to get in a midday workout. He’d made excellent progress conditioning his physical attributes by using Regeneration to accelerate the process, but he wasn’t finished yet.
He also wanted to practice using his weapons and skills—the ones t...
2024-12-31 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Edge’s next stop took him to the crafters’ quarter. When he crossed into the district, the sounds and scents of industry washed over him. He sat down on a bench, stopping for a few minutes to immerse himself in the vibrant bustle of the town’s crafters at work.
The district was even busier than he remembered. In addition to their usual activities, quite a few factories were in the middle of being renovated—their machines and tools swapped out to handle a new line of work.
...
2024-12-30 18:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Nick braced his weight against the line, slowly, so that he wouldn’t dislodge the grapple. When the rope was taut, he placed his feet against the wall and started to climb, pulling himself up one hand at a time. Without his pack, his body felt so light that it was effortless to make the ascent, and soon he was crouching next to V.
They hand-signaled to the people waiting below, letting the team know that they were about to make their move. Then the duo split up, heading for opposite t...
2024-12-30 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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When they were ready, they packed up their gear, climbed down from the cave, and walked out into the night. The party followed Veronica as quietly as they could, hoping to avoid any beasts on their way to the pirates’ base.
That two-mile hike must have taken less than an hour, but it felt like it went on forever. Each member of the team was lost in contemplation, facing the grim reality of what they were about to do. Preparing themselves to become killers and leave their old selves be...
2024-12-27 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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With a spring in his step, Edge started walking toward the commercial district, heading for the first stop in his impromptu shopping spree.
Change was in the air as he made his way through the settlement, as its residents came to grips with their dramatic change in circumstance. They were still grappling with the fact that they were stranded on Ord. That their old bodies were dead and gone, and this world was their home for the foreseeable future. But after Dialla’s impassioned speech...
2024-12-27 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Edge slept in late the next morning. When he woke up, he stretched out in bed with his eyes closed, savoring the fact that he had nothing to do. That there were no urgent missions to complete or bloodthirsty beasts trying to devour him.
The sun was high in the sky by the time that he shed his covers and rose from the mattress. When he heard the other hunters talking in the next room, he broke into a broad grin. He was still getting used to the idea that he was an official member of Trap...
2024-12-26 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Everyone woke up a few hours later, but Veronica still hadn’t returned.
They sat in front of the entrance of the cave, wrapping blankets around themselves for warmth, snacking on cold rations while discussing their situation. Although Nick’s device offered enough light to see, they couldn’t risk building a cookfire to eat a hot meal. The flickering flame and rising smoke would reveal their presence to the beasts outside, not to mention the pirates prowling the skies.
While S...
2024-12-25 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Edge raised his fists and deepened his stance, just in time to block a punch that would have knocked him out cold if it had connected cleanly. The impact reverberated throughout his body, forcing him to take a step back to avoid losing his balance.
Melania circled around while looking for a hole in his defense to exploit, but thanks to their training sessions, she found nothing of the sort. The redheaded guardswoman flashed a fierce grin while nodding in approval—sweat-soaked muscles ...
2024-12-24 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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When the dino died, the rest of its pack pulled back to feast on its remains. This time, they didn’t come charging back right away, although Nick knew that it was only a matter of time before they returned.
The good news was that the sun was going down outside the tower. Unless the pirates could see in the dark, the party would be safe from overhead observation until morning, or at least safer than they were right now.
The bad news was that while everyone’s night vision was be...
2024-12-23 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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