Jacob and Vyrrak walk in a restricted part of the Academy, with guards every other step.
The walls here are bare and the torches burn blue.
Vyrrak’s steps are heavy and his tail sways in short irritated arcs.
“Jacob,” Vyrrak says. “I do not think you understand what you just did.”
Jacob keeps walking and keeps his hands in his pockets.
“What happens if they make the trap too strong,” Vyrrak asks. “If Vorgath builds an Adamantite level array,...
2025-12-21 21:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Since I wasn't feeling well, consider this a catch-up chapter. The next comes out following the usual schedule which is at 9PM UTC of the 21st (today in most of the planet). That's roughly 14 hours from now if my math isn't wrong. That's the usual time you should expect the chapter at.
Professor Kharzun turns fully toward the defaced seal. He smiles as if the sight genuinely pleases him.
“King Baalrek. The Mad King,” he says. “He is the most useless ...
2025-12-21 07:01:32 +0000 UTC
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Nothing special, just feeling under the weather today as well. I had a brief fever yesterday night. I’ll take it easy today and come back tomorrow.
2025-12-20 10:12:49 +0000 UTC
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Feeling a bit under the weather today. I’ll see if I can recoup today’s chapter with a double update tomorrow.
Nothing serious, btw. Just some tiredness and brain fog.
2025-12-19 08:57:46 +0000 UTC
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Jacob and Vyrrak walk side by side through the upper corridors of the Academy.
This part of the building feels older.
It is, actually, older.
It’s one of the building where mostly last year courses are held. Where the fifth-years are refining their last Skills before adventuring out in the world.
Some Knights decide to graduate early since their talent can’t keep up with how the courses escalate in difficulty. In fact, that’s pretty much the majority of peo...
2025-12-18 12:02:42 +0000 UTC
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Jacob follows Guinevere in silence to her house.
The “house” is one of the small Academy units near the outer wall. The doorframe forces him to duck. The ceiling is low and the corridor is narrow.
He notices it at once. It is a very small house. The whole place feels like student housing with a better table. There is a single bedroom on one side, a tiny kitchen corner on the other, and a shelf with a few worn books.
He wonders why it is so small if they are royalty...
2025-12-17 13:26:11 +0000 UTC
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I think we're officially 25 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad now. The last chapter on RoyalRoad is 161 and this is 186. 186-161, as Google told me, is 25. Finally! So happy about this. And there'll be what, 28? 29 chapters ahead by the time it's the 19th in whatever timezone you're reading this? pats himself on the back I'm happy I'm finally delivering the actual advertised number of chapters. It's ironic, I know. But let a man be happy. Also, this might not be a double chapter, b...
2025-12-16 09:57:12 +0000 UTC
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Vyrrak folds his arms over his chest.
“This is a plot from Father,” Vyrrak says. “He is obsessed with the idea that I must become a Breaker. He pushes it every time he breathes. I refuse. My true essence is that of a Dagger, Syrraxia. I’ve told you not to meddle.”
Syrraxia’s eyes narrow and Guinevere stiffens.
Jacob waits a beat for King Baalrek’s voice to start explaining something about Breakers and Daggers. His mind reaches for that dry commentary that...
2025-12-15 10:24:22 +0000 UTC
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So far, Vyrrak’s emotions have been less intense than one might expect, given that he has been effectively forced to attend a Class he clearly despises.
Yet, the moment this woman, Guinevere—his wife—entered the classroom, everything changes.
Vyrrak walks up to her in disbelief. I can see a plethora of emotions among which confusion and surprise are among the most evident; yet, above all, there’s a loving gaze that is hard to describe.
“Guinevere, what ...
2025-12-14 04:22:14 +0000 UTC
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Vyrrak’s large Dragonkin frame shakes with visible anger as he walks toward his next Class. Rivulets of smoke come out of his nostril—something shameful and impolite for a Dragonkin.
“Why am I being dragged into this every other day?” he mutters to himself.
The reason he’s so mad is that he’s heading toward Professor Caradoc’s Class—well, to be precise, Vice Principal Caradoc’s Class, Fire Manipulation 201.
Everyone else has been ...
2025-12-13 04:29:48 +0000 UTC
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I'm back from my vacation. It was quite relaxing, honestly. As a reminder, RoyalRoad is still on break until the 19th and there's going to be one chapter a day or more until then. After, business as usual: daily uploads.
Someone also asked if the book was ending because of King Baalrek's arc. The answer is no, it's not. It was a major plot point, but the series will go on for a while. I have a hard time saying exactly when will be the stopping...
2025-12-12 12:06:59 +0000 UTC
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Nimirea’s eyes snap open.
The red haze and cracked stone of the secret floor are gone. Instead she sees the familiar walls of the first floor of the Celestial Tower. Jacob sits a few steps away. He is just sitting up and smiling at her.
For a moment she thinks this is another illusion. Then her head throbs and her ribs ache and she decides this pain is too precise to be fake.
She pushes herself onto one elbow and she reels around to see where the Mad King went.
The t...
2025-12-11 21:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Suddenly, King Baalrek spreads large bat wings from his back with a sharp crack. They’re made of membranes of deep crimson that stretches between long, jointed bones.
Jacob takes a few steps back because of the gale of wind summoned by them. Another blast of air hits Jacob in the chest. He loses his footing and falls on his ass. Dust puffs around him.
King Baalrek laughs with a crystalline voice.
Jacob freezes.
He has heard King Baalrek laugh before. He h...
2025-12-09 21:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Some time ago, after the Auction where Jacob bought the sword
King Baalrek observes Jacob sitting on the dorm bed with his head in his hands from his soul. The new, broken sword lies across his knees. It’s just a large hilt and a little fragment of a blade.
This is the sword he just spent so much money for and it doesn’t work. King Baalrek told him it’s his personal sword, a priceless relic, but… not even the Infernal King managed to make it...
2025-12-07 21:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Jacob observes as a much larger puzzle is created in front of his eyes.
It’s a veritable palace of Madness, red and pulsating.
“You’ll have to enter this,” the Mad King says, “in order to complete it. And Madness shall catch you, Cloud. You will enter and forever lose your mind. But if you don’t I’ll first kill the girl, and then I’ll take care of your soul, dipping it into an ocean of Madness such as you could never picture even in your worst nightmare.”
2025-12-05 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“I think I’m done.”
King Baalrek says nothing at first.
The completed, now calm cube hangs in the air in perfect order. The last lines of red lightning keep humming along its edges, and the glow makes the cracks in his bones shine.
Jacob stands there with his hands in his pockets.
Nimirea stares at the finished puzzle, shaking her head.
King Baalrek tries to laugh. No sound comes out. His jaw opens and closes once. He has seen Apostles of ...
2025-12-03 21:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The air thickens when King Baalrek lifts his hand.
The same red lightning that had killed the Boss in the Ninth Floor now fills this place, recoiling from his fingers and drawing back into the ceiling, creating a dome of death around them.
Mana compresses so hard that Nimirea feels her ribs creak.
Then a Skill Crystal appears above his palm.
“Do you know what this is?”
The Skill Crystal’s appearance creates folds in space, ripples that seem to threaten to d...
2025-12-01 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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When Nimirea enters the portal, the first thing that she notices is that the red hue that fills the place is much stronger than in any other floor. It makes sense, since the connection to the Secret Room is supposed to be on this floor, but then…
Where’s the Boss?
Nimirea sees many tendrils of red lightning bursting around the room, making even her uneasy.
She sees Jacob standing thoughtlessly and, instinctively, pulls him closer.
“That can kill you. It...
2025-11-29 21:00:08 +0000 UTC
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[Welcome to the Fifth Floor of the Celestial Tower.]
Nimirea hears the words and raises an eyebrow.
This means there must be particular requirements to be fulfilled in order to go to the next floor.
[In order to open the portal for the sixth floor, you must release the five pillars in this room.]
[To release a pillar, you must gather the stones from the Elite Armored Insectoid Archers of each wave. One of the Archers has the stone. You have ten minutes to clea...
2025-11-27 21:00:13 +0000 UTC
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So, I'm officially going on vacation.
To recoup the RoyalRoad chapters, instead of stopping on both RoyalRoad and Patreon, as I had announced already in a comment, I'll continue posting on Patreon. The only difference is that instead of daily chapters, there will be a chapter every other day until December 11th.
Sadly for RoyalRoad readers, the normal daily schedule will only resume December 19th. This is because I come back to full-time writing...
2025-11-27 16:01:43 +0000 UTC
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Nimirea suddenly falls speechless to the revelation.
“Y—you what?! Why do you bring nonsense romance into this?!” She suddenly is shouting.
Jacob, however, starts shouting too.
“Romance?! Who talked about romance?! As a friend!” He screams back. “Have you lost your mind?!”
“Oh,” Nimirea now looks outraged. “Because it would be disgusting for you to even think about that?!”
Jacob is stunned.
“What?! What has that anything to ...
2025-11-26 21:00:05 +0000 UTC
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As Nimirea predicted it, Jacob is finally struggling.
He’s taking damage and risking his life.
Now, the Demonic Insectoid monsters have become Armored Demonic Insectoids and are much stronger and sturdier, roughly at Intermediate Diamond Rank, which is straining the limits of Jacob fighting abilities.
He might be fatally wounded in the next skirmish. I could let him die since he’s such a nuisance, but I would lose the Rainbow Skill....
2025-11-25 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The monsters stand packed shoulder to shoulder. Their chitin looks rough and dark like scorched bone. Their eyes glow with a dull red that never blinks. Their arms end in hooked blades that jut out like broken scythes. Their mandibles click as they breathe, and the sound fills the whole room like grinding stones. Their legs bend the wrong way, and each step lands with a hard scrape against the floor.
Nimirea watches on silently as Jacob tackles the first monster horde.
The Celesti...
2025-11-25 02:53:45 +0000 UTC
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There was a mishandling in the scheduling and Chapter 170 was posted twice. Your messages did not reach me because I hired someone to schedule my chapters across Patreon and RR and they made a mistake. I entered today to check how many chapters I'm ahead to make sure to cover the two-week vacation I'm about to take.
I'll tell them to check the comments from now on and if there were to be similar mistakes to report them/fix them immediately. Have some patience, they just started.
2025-11-24 04:02:01 +0000 UTC
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And so, two days pass just like this, with Nimirea waiting for her plan to come together.
She had come to the Academy with the only purpose of infiltrating Jacob Cloud’s group of Champions. She had wanted to get close to him by letting him play the hero and save her in order for him not to have any suspicion of who she really was. Then, as the next part of her plan, she was ready to separate him from the other Champions as the Dark Champions made their way into the Academy.
2025-11-21 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The Headmaster led me into his office, and I read the letter without a word.
“Dear Jacob,” it begins in my mother’s handwriting. “The Celestial Tower has opened, but the Crown Prince of Verdia—one of the largest Elven kingdoms—has already reserved every available spot. I managed to secure two for you, yet the Prince demanded that an Elf accompany you as a supervisor.”
I lift my eyes from the page. “This means I can’t bring my Squire.”
“Indeed,” the He...
2025-11-20 19:00:11 +0000 UTC
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“What did you just say?!” Professor Halvern becomes red like a tomato. “You dare call me a scammer?! On what basis?!”
“You’re just stealing Mana loops from students and recompiling them thanks to your Skill. Your Skill is not meant to make people improve—you use it to create a carbon copy of what every student is doing. Thanks to that, you can compile a list of flaws and sell it.”
I turn toward the students and I say, “have you noticed how he examines...
2025-11-14 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Professor Halvern watches smugly as Jacob finishes up his Runic Notation. He can tell that the kid is just a poor arrogant bastard. Clearly, there’s nothing of substance in the work that he just produced. If there was, Professor Halvern would go hide in a forest.
He’s just making a bunch of scribbles. And that’s supposed to be Runic Notation? Is this a joke?
“Look at him, pretending to be all calm.”
“He’s writing like he’s composing poetry, not...
2025-11-13 21:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"The rules of this match are pretty simple. Runic Notation consists in recording the best way to use a Skill in a standardized way. What matters is not only the knowledge of the individual regarding one Skill, but also the quality of their Runic Notation. With time, everyone develops variants of the standard Runic Notation that can be more or less effective. And since Jacob Cloud accepted a Platinum-Ranked challenge, you two shall witness two students use random Platinum Skills and t...
2025-11-12 21:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Jacob cannot believe how shameless Professor Halvern is. He doesn't know how someone could possibly be this shameless and act so high and mighty. It almost makes no sense to him.
[Grimoire Analysis: Map of the Stars — True Diamond — Four Flaws Found.]
[Map of the Stars: Use your knowledge of Vein paths from other skills to decipher which Vein paths is most convenient and effective for any given skill below Diamond Rank.]
Jacob can’t believe his eyes.
Even if he i...
2025-11-11 21:00:08 +0000 UTC
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