I look straight into Zibrek’s eyes and wait for her to tell me that she’s joking, that she misspoke, or that maybe she’s just gone insane.
“I need you to be my boyfriend,” she repeats.
“Zibrek, you’re great but—”
“A fake boyfriend, Jacob. What the hell are you saying? Do you think I’d actually ask you to be my boyfriend out of the blue like that?!”
“I don’t know!” I say, putting my hands up. “Could you have asked in a better way...
2025-11-10 21:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostI am currently walking by myself toward a classroom that I've never visited. I should, have probably. The thing is, it's for Runic Notation 201. When Elder Lioren signed me up for the Class, I thought I'd actually be able to learn something. I did not expect that the Grimoire would provide me such an easy way to learn things without me having to do any work.
That’s the part that keeps poking me in the ribs.
I didn’t mean to skip. I just… followed the shortest path. The Grimo...
2025-11-09 21:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe dawn is pale when Jacob Cloud walks through the forest.
The forest here is one of Ytrial’s hidden places, old and untouched.
He had to go through one portal already that King Baalrek strained to activate since he doesn’t have a body anymore.
Yet, despite being reluctant to admit it, he is trying to make up for the large waste of money he was responsible for back at the Hidden Market’s auction the day before.
What he told Jacob Cloud was that he ne...
2025-11-08 21:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe lights brighten again, signaling the second half of the auction. The amphitheater hums back to life as attendants move more crates onto the stage.
I sit forward slightly, waiting. More Skill Crystals, enchanted items and other things that I do not care about since King Baalrek revealed the magnitude of the item that had been hauled around.
The voice of the announcer blends in the background as I just keep staring at the metal case tha contains what I’m looking for.&nbs...
2025-11-07 21:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you going to bid on that?” Asterion asks quietly, his gaze fixed on the floating red Skill Crystal.
Iskara shakes her head.
“No. That man said it very well—it’s a Skill with little usage outside of its intended wielder. And I don’t use a sword or any bladed weapon. I’d need not one, but two cutting Skills of Royal Grade or near it to make the consolidation work.” She exhales softly, folding her arms. “Plus, the price is going to be obscene.”...
2025-11-06 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLancelot and I follow the guard through a corridor, I briefly take out the Platinum out of my Interspatial ring and give it to a servant when the guard tell me to.
Then, we proceed toward the VIP room.
The sapphire… whatever it’s called.
The walls are too smooth to be carved by hand—like the rock itself was reshaped by magic. At the end, the door to the VIP salon slides open with a faint hiss of runic air.
The moment I step inside, my eyes widen...
2025-11-05 21:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe night is calm, the sea flat enough that the oars barely make a sound. Our small boat drifts toward a jagged silhouette on the horizon — an island that looks more like a shard of stone than a place anyone should live on.
I sit opposite Lancelot, arms crossed, watching him fidget with his coat collar. “You’re lucky I paid those debts,” I say. “If the collectors had reached you first, you’d be rowing this boat without hands.”
He laughs nervously.
“Come...
2025-11-04 21:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe days that follow are quiet. I stay at the Valemont estate, mostly in the west wing, where the garden catches the afternoon sun. My mother insists on taking her tea there every day now—it’s the only part of the house that still feels alive.
We don’t talk much about the duel. Not the nobles, not the letter, not Valen lying bald and humiliated on the floor. She doesn’t have to. She usually just looks at me sometimes with a thin smile.
We spend the mornings walking t...
2025-11-03 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, there’s silence—then Marcel bursts out laughing, loud and theatrical.
“Oh, now that’s the spirit!” he howls, clapping once in delight. “Finally someone around here with a sense of humor! Though, I must say, I wish I’d been the one to beat you bloody first, Jacob Cloud. Would’ve been good for the family reputation.”
“Keep dreaming, baldy,” I shoot back.
The hall erupts with a mix of gasps and muffled snickers. Marcel’s grin freez...
2025-11-02 21:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostGarin turns to the apprentices. “You three, eyes open. You’ll watch and you’ll learn. No talking unless I ask.”
They line up, stiff and quiet. I glance over my shoulder and can’t help myself. “You should really pay attention,” I say. “Might be the first time you learn to do something well.”
All three of them twitch at once. One bites his lip hard. Another goes pink to the ears. The third stares at the floor, fists clenched, thinking whatever Elvish curse he’s n...
2025-11-01 21:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThey all erupt again—loud, confident laughs.
“He’ll fold,” one sneers.
“You’ll cry when the hammer hits,” another adds.
“Better bring a handkerchief, little Human,” the third says, grinning.
Lathrasiel watches them, amusement fading into calculation.
“Fine,” he says to me. “You’ll have your show. They can stand and watch.”
I meet their eyes one by one. My voice is calm.
“Watch closely.”
I make them lay out the raw...
2025-10-31 21:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostA gigantic black spider stirs in the depth of the Boss room.
I wake fully for the first time. The core is clear. The rooms answer when I think. The shadows move when I ask.
I am not a servant anymore.
I am myself.
Finally, after a long labor, I have transcended the rules of the Dungeon.
I have gained sentient.
I am no longer a normal Intermediate Di...
2025-10-29 21:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostKing Baalrek observes the behavior of the young Infernal Princess with attention, his gaze fixed not only on her movements but on the flickers of emotion that pass across her face.
The group of Jacob Cloud, Iskara Drazhal, and the others has met the first monsters, but the creatures, just at the Advanced Platinum Rank, have been easily dispatched.
King Baalrek wishes he still had a chin to gently scratch it while he examines Jacob Cloud’s actions.
“Are you channeling through the Median Sky Vein in your brain?” Jacob repeats.
“What?”
“Am I having a stroke?” Jacob says. “Am I not pronouncing it correctly?”
“I hear it good, Boss,” Jacob's squire says.
“Professor?” Jacob turns toward Veythra again.
“Did you just say the Median Sky Vein?” Veythra trembles on the spot.
“Yeah?”
That's exactly where I'm starting the Skill Loop. Ho...
2025-10-24 07:36:16 +0000 UTC View PostWe’re almost back to +25 chapters, fellas. Let’s go. 6 to go.
Chapter 144
“You choose to waste your life for this scum?” Lirael looks at us in disgust. “For a traitor of her own race?”
“What did she do exactly?” I ask.
But I don’t care.
I’m just taking time.
Grimoire, analysis.
Lirael, the guy with the bow and the highest-ranked Elf here, is yapping about something now. I catch a few ‘t...
2025-10-21 15:14:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Lazhardrak has been killed so many times--in so many horrible ways. And his followers--dirty rats like you--have been massacred since before I was born,” the Infernal says to Levrina, who looks terrified at her own arms, feeling all her Soul Magic restrained.
“HOW?! HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHO ARE YOU?!”
“I killed one of Lazhardrak Imagos myself thrice. What pushes rats like you to follow such a loser?”
“...
2025-10-20 15:20:03 +0000 UTC View PostI almost forgot to post these three chapters.
I don't have the time to convert the markdown to rich text or whatever it's called. The bold, as I've just checked, got fucked and replaced with one asterisk. Don't know why. I also haven't had the time to proofread them because I was running a few errands today.
BUT.
They are three chapters. Let a three-chapter-day sate your thirst despite the lack of proofreading and ...
2025-10-18 13:52:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe shield falls apart, and the room goes quiet. I pull my finger back, and I shake my hand once because the Mana left a sting. Marcel stares at the broken light with a blank face, and I stand in front of him with a smile.
“So,” I say. “I win. Sit down. Can someone fetch me a razor?”
“This… this can’t be possible!” Marcel exclaims. “F—father!”
Duke Dorian looks at me with interest. The glint I saw before in his...
2025-10-17 06:07:13 +0000 UTC View PostI was traveling these days and moved in a whole different timezone. Expect chapters at odd hours as I catch up with releases. I'll post as soon as they're ready.
Kai doesn’t wait for me to grab my cloak.
He’s already out the door of the restaurant and into the rain. I nod at the owner—I’ll deal with the bill eventually—and follow. Ytrial’s courtyards are busy. Families everywhere.
Yet, the most interesting thing ...
2025-10-16 06:13:22 +0000 UTC View Post“Knights are the core, the very heart of this world. Sacrifice is the currency of a Knight’s success. The Academy’s Champions should learn, above all, that their ego always comes second, third, and perhaps even fourth when it comes to the greater good of the world.”
The Headmaster, a rather whimsical person most of the time, is lecturing us, the ten Champions—the Generation of Legends. We are in his office, a large room where two other peop...
2025-10-09 09:08:51 +0000 UTC View PostLet me know your opinions on Book 2 and what you anticipate the most about Book 3!
A tear opens in the air above the crater. The edges hold. The gap widens. Heat leaks out.
King Baalrek flares the skull‑mark on Jacob’s face. Jacob’s skin turns solid red. The horns harden. The gold crown drops into place. The wings expand to full span. The ground splits under his weight.
King Baalrek draws breath through Jacob’s c...
2025-10-07 19:40:40 +0000 UTC View PostKing Baalrek attacks instantly.
He raises a hand, and a word older than the System tears the air. The sound splits the wetlands into trembling layers. A jagged arc of black flame erupts from Jacob’s arm—not as a Skill but as will‑wrought spell—and carves straight across Asmodeus’s scaled chest.
Asmodeus reels, snarling. He swipes a claw and hurls a wave of divine force. King Baalrek doesn’t dodge. He clenches his fist and utters another word. The wave folds in on itsel...
2025-10-04 19:53:12 +0000 UTC View PostEarlier—before we enter this trial—I pulled Iskara aside.
“I got a new Skill,” I told her. “I’ll use it to win.”
She studied me, golden eyes narrowed. “A new Skill?”
“Yes. I’ll use it when the moment comes. Trust me.”
She frowned, then nodded once. “Then I’ll wait. When I say so, I need you to transfer all your buffs to him. Can you do that?”
“Jacob, if I do that—”
“Just trust me.”...
2025-10-03 09:40:54 +0000 UTC View PostI keep silent and watch. My eyes struggle to follow the fight. Every strike comes faster than I can track, and every clash blinds me with light.
Azrakel’s body begins to change. Dark lines creep across his skin, the same as the Stone monsters we fought before. His veins pulse with black and violet fire, and his face twists with a fury that feels less his and more borrowed. The warhammer glows brighter, the plasma on it shaking with unstable power.
He presses forward, his swings ...
2025-10-01 18:52:01 +0000 UTC View PostGolden veins streak across Iskara’s arms, weaving through the bright red channels already burning under her skin. They cross in patterns that pulse with light, glowing hotter with every word of her chant. The glow spreads through her chest and legs until her whole body shines with crisscrossed lines of fire and gold.
Her aura spikes. The pressure in the wetlands multiplies, and the air feels like it is being crushed out of my lungs. She jumps in strength, rising straight into Intermed...
2025-09-30 18:29:51 +0000 UTC View PostThey were children of House Drazhal.
Their mother, Queen‑Matriarch Maelthra Drazhal, ruled the Infernal courts with iron law and older fire. Their aunt, Veythra Drazhal, taught the royal methods and burned failure out of the slow. Their father, Prince‑Consort Kaedor, spoke little and watched much.
Azrakel was firstborn. Iskara came two years later.
And from the day her veins lit, every eye followed the younger one.
*<...
2025-09-29 07:27:48 +0000 UTC View PostSilence grips the chamber. The Platinum Golem lies broken, its molten chest dimmed, its massive frame scattered across the stone. For a long breath, no one dares to speak.
Iskara is the first. Her lips curl as if the words taste foul.
“That bastard… actually did it. I thought he’d be ashes, yet he stands.”
Asterion lowers his spear, the tip scraping against the floor with a dull ring. His eyes stay fixed on Jacob, wide with disbel...
2025-09-26 06:56:07 +0000 UTC View PostA Golem made of Mithril kneels in front of a construct of pure Mana and light. One of the least known things about Rafnov's was that once he achieved complete mastery of ore manipulation, he not only was already the greatest miner to ever exist, but that he had a wide range of interests when it came to crafting.
One of them was golem-making.
"Milord," the Mithril Golem speaks with the kind of intellect one would only expect from an actual human...
2025-09-24 16:16:18 +0000 UTC View PostThere are few things that I can describe as well as the stupor I seem to be in at the moment. The fact that this legendary figure just offered me entrance like this... just because I have some mining background, feels incredible to me. Apparently, Rafnov is an even more legendary figure than King Baalrek, but that means that someone like him should have made this incredibly difficult for me. Instead, we just had a little chat, he took a liking to me, and now I'm s...
2025-09-23 07:15:25 +0000 UTC View PostRafnov is a legendary figure, Cloud. Beyond your wildest imagination. I regret to say, he's way more known than me. He belongs to the Class of people who have changed this world for good, not unlike that bastard of the Headmaster.
I keep hearing so many people talk about the Headmaster's real identity without mentioning what it is that it's slowly driving me insane. Yet, I've asked King Baalrek enough times that I know that asking again won't have any effect. 2025-09-20 18:38:55 +0000 UTC View Post