MagnusGrey

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 30: Steamy Hot Springs

Late into what Edge was calling his first week of traversing the Deep-Gill Grottos—though that timeframe was just a rough estimate under the circumstances—the hunters came across a series of caverns that were part of a sub-biome they hadn’t encountered before.

Shortly after they crossed the threshold, the air grew hotter, and the humidity began climbing by the footfall. It told him there was a sizable source of water ahead, although it didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby.

Th...

[LotMG4] Chapter 31: Base Camp

Nick smiled wide when Kenji wavered into existence, then stepped forward to clasp his hand.

“Kenji, just the man I wanted to see. I think that one is a touch too big for me and Liz to tackle alone, but I’m sure the three of us can get the job done.”

They both got a good laugh out of that. The men tightened their grasp and stayed like that for a few seconds, taking the measure of each other now that the fate of the world wasn’t hanging in the balance.

Nick had last se...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 29: Ride the Whirlwind

When Edge explained what was going on, the women moved to the other end of the cavern.

They took a seat on top of a boulder and pulled out some snacks, staring at him like they had front-row tickets to a concert. He laughed at their antics and bowed, doing his best to put on a good show. He gathered his concentration, then tried using Deluge… but nothing happened.

Ok, Heatwave. Again, nothing. He eventually realized that while the Gardener had been able to choose the do...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 28: Fear the Seasons

Edge had been counting the minutes until the Fear the Seasons finished digesting.

Obtaining an Epic skill was a pivotal moment in the career of any hunter. An event that was guaranteed to change his life in a fundamental way. He stepped into his inner world and walked over to the power that was only moments away from joining his collection.

For reasons he didn’t even pretend to understand, the digesting skill took the form of a giant egg that had been sitting in his central cham...

[LotMG4] Chapter 30: City Boss

Nick and Liz awoke before dawn. They wolfed down some dried provisions instead of preparing a proper breakfast and got ready to head out.

With both moons hanging full in the sky, it was bright enough to pick out a path along the dusty red plains, and neither of them wanted to waste a second. The duo planned to push themselves hard until they reached the lake, which should be less than a half-day away. Once they arrived at the heart of the badlands, they would meet up with everyone who w...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 27: Together at Last

The slicers didn’t have anything worth harvesting. After everyone swapped who they were hugging while savoring their battlefield reunion, the crew returned to the passage Edge and Mel had been following.

After making sure nothing hostile was headed their way, the hunters sat down to catch their breath and nurse their wounds, bubbling with excitement that despite being dropped into the depths of a deadly biome, everyone was still in one piece.

Once their cuts were bandaged and th...

[LotMG4] Chapter 29: Rebuilding Civilization

After waking up and greeting the rising sun, Nick began checking the countdown clock every few hours, waiting for the Rebuilding Civilization bonus quest to start.

The duo crossed the badlands with a spring in their step—eager to begin this crucial phase of humanity’s comeback and turbocharge their efforts to prepare for the day they came face-to-face with the cosmic horrors lurking in the depths of the Labyrinth.

Although most of his people had returned to Earth at the end of...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 26: A Post-Hypnotic Suggestion

In a walled-off section of Puppet Town’s residential quarter, the refugees who had fled from the Gilded Heights were going about their daily lives.

They were thrilled to have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies—free from the casual cruelty of sadistic criminals. Living in Puppet Town was like having a wonderful dream after enduring a terrible nightmare, although anything was better than living in a place where their existence could end at a whim in one horrific manner ...

[LotMG4] Chapter 28: The Secret War of Ants and Plants

As Nick crossed the Bladewind Badlands, he began to grasp just how much the Earth had changed while he was away.

It wasn’t just humanity, beasts, and the strange lifeforms the System had introduced to the planet. The animals and plants were changing too, undergoing rapid evolution as they integrated the new natural force known as mana into their biology. In fact, every creature he encountered seemed to be developing survival strategies that were based on magical principles.

When...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 25: Not My Choice

Unlike the rest of Edge’s skills, Manifest Chain was a picky eater.

Until now, the Unique skill had only come across one power that it wanted to devour—the gift the Gardener had presented after Warren’s spellshot purged her core of corrupted energy. Forming a parallel to the requirements for its creation, it seemed that Manifest Chain was only interested in consuming skills that were compatible with its nature.

Edge had been fantasizing about upgrading the chain of oblivion ...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 24: Edge and Mel

When Edge pulled up his Guide, he saw that he had gained another cycle too.

You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle up your core. Your new cycle is: 21.

You have 5 attribute points awaiting allocation.

Before he pondered how he wanted to spend his points, he decided to take rank-three Harden for a quick test drive. First, he activated the skill and had the scales cover his right fist, watching the interlocking diamo...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 23: Alone No More

Spirits lifted by their reunion, Edge and Mel started exploring the other tunnels leading from the colossal cavern.

They were looking for the hunters’ markings she had been following before being caught in the mycanoids’ trap. He hadn’t left them, so the arrows should lead them to another member of their crew sooner or later.

The duo came across an arrow on the wall a few hours later, exploring each passage in turn until they found one Mel recognized. After walking for anoth...

[LotMG4] Chapter 27: A Bond Unlike Any Other

The duo decided to finish their third round of hide and seek before discussing the matter further.

It wound up taking longer than the other two rounds combined. Nick and Liz were smart people and after incorporating everything they’d learned so far, they were ready to take their use of Blend into the Background to the next level.

Of course, on top of their trait-boosted stealth showdown, they were playing another game entirely—trying to outmaneuver the other person by predicti...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 22: Deputy in Danger

Edge awoke sometime later, surrounded by black walls that were slick with moisture and the ever-present musk of mushrooms filling the air.

After making sure nothing nasty was lurking nearby, he dropped Conceal, made himself breakfast, and rose to his feet. He checked in with Gauge Depth to reassure himself that he was making progress, then resumed his journey. He did his best not to ruminate as he continued crossing the Deep-Gill Grottos, although he was worried about Trapper’s team a...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 21: Touring the Town

Sakura pulled up her hood and adjusted her mask, then hopped down from the rooftops and onto the street below.

Today, she was conducting an independent evaluation of the town’s attempts to revamp its various industries, improving the quantity and quality of the equipment its residents had access to. These efforts were being supplemented with subsidies from City Hall—along with some generous donations from the settlements’ commercial and crafting associations.

Once she toured...

[LotMG4] Chapter 26: Blend into the Background

By the time Nick made it back to the cave, Liz’s was back to her old self—or her new self, in this case.

She was still in a great mood, but the flirtatious sensuality saturating every saunter and syllable was gone. He let go of Arctic Clarity, which he had summoned just to be safe, then started cooking the milestone-celebration feast he had promised.

From the way Elizabeth was smiling, she remembered him sprinting out of the cave in response to her advances, but she didn’t s...

[LotMG4] Chapter 25: Free from Gravity’s Embrace

Now that Nick understood just how powerful Psi could be. That it could let it someone read his thoughts and emotions as clearly as the text in his menus—let alone invade his subconscious and influencing the inner workings of his mind—the idea of running into an opponent that used psychic attacks was fucking terrifying.

If he was being honest with himself, the prospect encountering another person from Team Earth who specialized in Psi scared him almost as bad. He didn’t want to eve...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 20: A Rarified Blade

Edge switched off his other skills and activated Conceal, observing the entrance to the tunnel until he was certain the beasts weren’t headed his way.

Then he sat down on a boulder started pulling shards out of his skin, watching as Regeneration stitched his flesh back together and his garax-leather armor finished repairing itself. The mycanoids’ crystal blasts were coated with some manner of poison, but Purge worked on it just as well as the other fungal pathogens he’d been expos...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 19: Delving the Depths

Edge would never have been able to navigate the Deep-Gill Grottos if it wasn’t for the explosive growth he had experienced over the last few weeks.

The endless network of tunnels and caverns formed a three-dimensional maze that was superimposed over the labyrinth created by the biome’s endless forest of fungi and resident predators. To continue pressing forward, he had to climb and swing his way across countless variations of difficult terrain, using a combination of Leap, Shadow St...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 18: Purge Fungal Toxin

Edge wound up killing the mycanoids before he could Extract any skills, but he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care in that moment. After getting up close and personal with the creatures’ chainsaws, he was happy to have won the fight without losing a limb.

Oh well. I’m sure there are more of them down here. Their bodies are so unusual that I doubt most of their skills would work for me anyway.

Only a few minutes later, Edge discovered that he hadn’t escaped uns...

[LotMG4] Chapter 24: Closer than his own Skin

Author's Note: I decided to change how Professions work a little to make them more exciting. Here is the relevant changes in the Codex:

"However, Professions do not have levels or grant attribute points. Instead, your profession slots will increase whenever you advance your Tier. At Tier-1, you have access to 1 Profession Slot. At Tier-2, you will gain an additional Profession Slot.

Uncommon Professions may be advanced to Rare by taking all their skills up to leve...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 17: Not a Fungi

To Edge’s astonishment, a pair of arms and legs sprouted from the mycelium, allowing the oversized mushroom to rise from the floor and start walking toward him—predatory intent clear in every move it made.

He Leapt back and conjured a fresh Warlord’s Mantle, yelping as he recovered from one hell of a jump scare.

After landing lightly on his feet, he assumed a fighting stance, trying to get a better sense of what was happening before committing to a course of action. That was...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 16: The Deep-Gill Grottos

One second, Edge was standing in the jailbirds’ storeroom, desperately trying to break through the walls. The next, he was falling.

Or perhaps he was floating, flying, swimming, or sinking—he couldn’t really tell. At the moment, he didn’t seem to have a body, which left him with no way of determining relative motion or tracking the passage of time. A chaotic blend of sensations assailed him as his essence was flung across the void, traversing those spaces between spaces that per...

[LotMG4] Chapter 23: Species Evolution

For humanity’s new geneline trait, Nick voted for something called Blend into the Background.

Blend offered a powerful form of concealment for up to one hour each day. In addition to providing optical camouflage, it helped mask body heat, and dampened sound and scent too. The trait could be switched on and off at will, although it took a few seconds reach full strength.

In its enhanced form, Blend could be used while moving, which took it from decent all the way to amazing in Ni...

[LotMG4] Chapter 22: Diverging Paths

Nick was shaking with excitement by the time he reached the end of the message.

Picking up a new geneline trait and enhancing the rest was fantastic, but those last two items were gamechangers—upgrades with the potential to dramatically increase humanity’s odds of surviving the rigors of the Labyrinth.

He wished that he had some way of conferring with his people en mass, but since he couldn’t, he had to accept that the results of these votes were largely out of his control. ...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 15: An Unexpected Twist

2 Days Later

Edge’s crew was thrilled by the results of their heist.

The mysterious disappearance of the Claws’ supplies had thrown their camp into disarray. Being deprived of vital tools and provisions was making their lives miserable, reducing the efficiency of their operation and creating gaps in their defenses. Additionally, the hunters’ efforts had dealt psychological damage, spooki...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 14: Hunters versus Claws

Trapper rounded the final bend in the tunnel network she had been following for the last six, tension-saturated hours.

When the passage opened into a large brownstone cavern, she scanned the area with Sense Vibrations, then recorded her observations of the various beasts and resources she’d spotted inside. When her report was complete, she gathered some nearby materials, then turned around and began walking back the way she had come, which marked the end of her lengthy scouting run. 2025-06-26 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

[LotMG4] Chapter 21: Charisma 101

By this point, Nick was only four or five days away from the lake in the middle of the Bladewind Badlands.

After comparing the map he was drawing in his journal to the recordings from his PDA and the landmarks he’d spotted from orbit, he was confident that he had finally wrapped his head around Earth’s expanded scale.

While his journey had been pleasant and his training sessions were bearing fruit, he was eager to meet up with his friends and the other members of Team Earth. 2025-06-25 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 13: Breaking and Entry II

Only Lilly had enough Perception to see in the dark, although Edge could make out bits and pieces of his surroundings, thanks to his recent cycles and Penetrate Foliage.

The shadowkiller took the lead while he brought up the rear, with Sasha and Lilly positioned between them. It was spooky crossing the high-threat biome in the dark, but by this point they had made the trip several times and were familiar with the terrain.

Despite a jump scare when a prowling beast made a close pas...

[Skill-Eater 3] Chapter 12: Breaking and Entry I

An hour later, Edge was almost back to the cave his crew was using a base of operations.

While he scanned his surroundings for danger, part of his mind was idly contemplating what power he wanted to replace Penetrate Mist with. He wasn’t likely to need the skill again anytime soon and there was no point keeping it in his Auxiliary Skill Slot any longer. Maybe I can find another copy of Sense Fruit. It would pare well with all the meat we’ve been eating…

His train of...