Actus

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 510

Thane could swear he could feel the weight of every single glare in the line boring into his back as he walked into the Devil’s Den. Even though Madiv had ushered him through, something about cutting past everyone who was waiting to get into the tavern felt like inviting death onto his doorstep.

Monica gave him a thumbs up as he entered. Somehow, that actually helped. Even though Thane was more than aware nobody was going to be stupid enough to try to attack him just for skipping past...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 523-524

Everyone split off immediately. Arwin, along with Olive, Anna, and Kien, headed up with Lillia to the main floor of the Devil’s Den. She then headed up the stairs to the second floor of the tavern. Lillia returned before so much as a minute had passed, the crown cradled in her hands.

“Here it is,” Lillia said as she handed Arwin the crown. “Rodrick tested it a while ago, back before he got chosen to Sunset. “The dungeon isn’t too far, but you’ll have to move fast. It’ll ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 509

Thane’s eyes snapped open and he drew in a sharp gasp, bolting upright like he’d been stung in the behind. Cold sweat coated his back and stuck his shirt to his back like it had been pasted on. He could feel his heart slamming in his chest with such intensity that his ribs creaked and groaned in their attempt to contain it.

The only thing around him was darkness. He sat on something chilly and ever-so-slightly damp. Confusion assaulted his mind. Thane swallowed, trying to find his b...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 278

Alex studied the two Soul Flames burning before him. The difference between them was almost laughable. Spark’s fire burned at just roughly the size of a baseball, small enough to fit comfortably within his palm. It crackled with a silent intensity that matched the monster represented perfectly.

And across from it was what could only be described as a monstrosity of a flame. It was nearly three times bigger than Spark’s flame, with strands of freezing blue twisting amongst the black ...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 277

“Alex!” Alyssa exclaimed as he stepped back through the portal. Her eyes darted around the shimmering red-purple smoke that twisted all around them. She had her brush held before her like a sword, ready to swing it at a moment’s notice. Wess stood by her side with his gun pointed at the air right at Alex’s head. “Is—”

“Dead,” Alex said.

“Told you,” Claire said with a wry smile. “Have a little faith in him. Alex isn’t a complete idiot. Did you get anything...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 276

Alex stepped out from the portal and into the Ancestry with his magic ready. He threw himself into a dive the moment he felt the world materialize around him, prepared to dodge an attack from the Forsaken Revenant and buy himself enough time to fight back.

But the attack never came.

He shot to his feet, only to find the looming body of the Revenant standing just inches before him. Alex leapt back, reaching out to summon his anchor, only to find that the monster hadn’t so much as...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 521-522

It was morning when Arwin’s thoughts drifted lazily back to his body.

At least, he was pretty sure it was morning. Telling the time was impossible when he was in Lillia’s room. But, judging by rested his body felt and how all the aches and pains from the previous night had been washed away, he couldn’t imagine it could be anything but the dawn of a new day.

His mind was hazy. It wasn’t uncomfortable. On the contrary, it was the relaxed haze that only arrived at the end of ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 508

Sorry! I uploaded the wrong chapter! It is now fixed!

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The crack of lightning tearing through a dark room split the din of battle. It was followed an instant later by the dying screech of a Ogreling. The huge, flabby monster collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash, smoke coiling up from its remains.  

 Michael didn’t waste time celebrating the minor victory. He gathered his magic once again, turning his attention to the remaining monsters filling ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 808

Wind sliced by Noah’s hair and stung his eyes. He squinted at the map clutched in his hands before him, trying to make it out through the whips of fog lashing him as he passed through the low-hanging clouds.

I can’t read this damned thing for shit.

It probably didn’t help that he was moving so fast that he could barely even keep his eyes open. Reading while flying was probably a somewhat inadvisable activity. But it had been so long since Noah had gotten his hands o...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 507

“What is this?” Rodrick asked.

Two looked back at the other man with weary eyes. He was so tired that he could barely think straight — but he could think just enough to realize just how dense he’d been.

It should have been obvious a long time ago. The signs were all there. But he’d stubbornly ignored every single one of them. There were all sorts of reasons he could come up with as to why, but it boiled down to just one.

Two had been too damn focused on the rules. ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 807

Seleth longed for home.

It had only been three days since she’d left, but a large part of her already wanted to return. Her pack hung heavy against her shoulders and her sides hurt something fierce. She blinked heavily, resisting the urge to rub at her dried eyes.

Never before had she traveled so far from Shimmerstone. Not, at least, entirely on her own. Her father had never allowed such a thing. Too dangerous, he had said. Not worth the risk. Everything she possibly could have ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 806

Far-sed watched the clouds. He kept his hands crossed behind his back, face unreadable and posture as stiff as a rod for long after no traces of the man remained upon the horizon. Far-sed may as well have been a statue.

He didn’t move, even as the woman joined him upon the battlements. She joined him in his silence. The two of them stood there, upon the wall, as the bodies of the Jagged Daggers were cleaned and pulled away from the gates below.

It was nearly five minutes before ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 519-520

NOTE TO ADVANCED TIER READERS: Please be aware there were a number of chapters uploaded during the break that were single chapters. I'm going to upload them as a large chunk soon in case you happened to miss them. But until then, if you're confused about what's going on -- check the advanced tier for single chapter posts that came out recently, those are for you.

Cheers!

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Wallace and Koyu both woke not long after Uriel had left. Arwin was still standing there, Lilli...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 506

Rodrick was a very complicated man. But making armor for him was surprisingly straightforward. Arwin didn’t even have to think for more than a few minutes before he’d determined exactly what he wanted it to do.

A man like Rodrick valued utility more than anything else. He needed something multipurpose. Armor that provided good defense, intimidation when the time called for it, and a way to quickly remove or modify it.

Giving him a huge set of bulky armor that could tank nearly...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 505

Two had always considered himself something of a rather empathetic individual… but he preferred to keep a certain degree of professional boundary whenever possible with everyone he worked with.

Eleven had been a bit of an exception. There was something about the way that she literally didn’t care about anything that stood in the path between her and the promised lands of a good night — or day — of rest that had always resonated with him.

 It was endearing. At least, e...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 805

Noah leaned back in his chair, unable to resist the urge to rock it back onto its hind legs. Far-sed sat across from him, his tanned skin slightly pale as he watched Noah with flighty eyes. He looked like he half expected Noah to tear the entire building down around them.

Far-sed had invited him into the town — with no little amount of reluctance — after Noah had wiped out the entirety of the Jagged Daggers. Something told Noah that hadn’t been out of the kindness of his heart. Fa...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 504

Arwin wiped sweat from his brow. His arms ached. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d actually gotten sore from smithing. Arwin also wasn’t entirely sure how long he’d been working.

He knew it hadn’t yet been a week. If it had, somebody from the Menagerie would have come to get him by now so he didn’t miss the deadline they’d given the Blacktongues. Even though the deadline was completely fake, he still had every plan of looting the actual vault near the day they�...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 517-518

Arwin lost himself in the song. His body moved to its own accord and the ring of Caldera against metal echoed through his mind like a distant drum. It was impossible to say for how long they’d been working, but it didn’t feel like it had been long.

He’d only managed to lead the group for a few minutes before he’d been forced to take a step back from the front. Keeping everyone synchronized and focused was an immense task — one far greater than he ever could have expected.

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 275

Alex activated his domain instantly. He blinked away from the Forsaken Revenant, re-appearing beside Claire and the others, but the monster didn’t even try to stop him. It just stood there.

Staring.

“Well,” Wess said. “That worked. Can I shoot it now?”

“Like that did much last time,” Claire muttered. Her lips thinned and she shifted from foot to foot. “Shit. This thing is a problem.”

“And it’s wasting time,” Derek added. “We’re falling behin...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 274

“Give it back,” the Revenant wheezed, its entire body twitching and jerking like a glitching game avatar. The vertical seam splitting the monster’s body undulated. Gossamer thread spilled out from the churning blue maw within it. “Give it back.”

“Don’t worry,” Derek growled, lowering his stance and tightening his grip on the axe in his hands. “I’ve got this.”

He blurred, a single step launching him forward like a missile. The berserker let out a roar as he cl...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 503

“You can’t do that,” Thane said.

Vireth stared at him.

He stared back at her.

“What?” Vireth asked, so stunned that the malice in her voice completely cracked.

“You can’t just go around claiming people,” Thane said. “That isn’t how it works.”

“Do you have the slightest idea as to what I am?” Vireth asked. “Are you dense? Esmerelda told you what I am. What we are. I know. I overheard it.”

“Well, yeah. She did.”

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 804

The rocks reminded Noah of cereal.

Not the kind of cereal that anyone ever should have been putting into their body — and that wasn’t because they were rocks. It was the colors. Nothing that vibrant was ever meant to be edible, but that logic had never stopped children.

The rocks, which were no more edible than they had been a moment ago, were green and white and blue and just about everything across the rainbow, with a few new colors tossed in just for fun.

Noah was not...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 273

The Forsaken Revenant didn’t need to be asked twice. The monster lurched forward in a blur of shadowy limbs, closing the distance between itself and Alex so fast that he barely even had an instant to register the motion.

Alex’s stomach clenched as he pulled on the Singularity Core. Even with Edict of the Shattered King, dodging the horrifying mass of darkness bearing down on him would have been difficult — but he had no plans of dodging this time around.

The massive white an...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 515 - 516

Dinner came shortly after a bath — one which Arwin made absolutely certain not to be late for — and he joined the gathering members of the Menagerie in the bottom floor of the Devil’s Den.

The rest of the adventurers had vacated the premises for the night, and the only ones that still remained within the Den were back up in their rooms. Even though they were in the same building, Arwin wasn’t worried that any of them would accidentally stumble into their meeting.

Sound cou...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 502

Thane took another step back, his mouth going dry. He normally considered himself the type of man who took calculated risks. Esmerelda had made it clear that the cursed weapon wasn’t going to take kindly to its prey getting snatched.

But Esmerelda was… well, Esmerelda. She could deal with anything. All of the Menagerie could. There was always some other path. He wasn’t just going to sit around while Vanessa got herself consumed by some evil magic axe. As long as the Menagerie were...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 803

Lorne drew in the hissing breath of a man torn abruptly from a deep, deep sleep. His eyes snapped open and his back went as straight as a rod. A dozen thoughts slithered through his head in a flurried rush. One or two of them might have even been coherent. That level of consciousness was considerably above average.

It was considerably more conscious than he had any desire to be. In Lorne’s professional opinion, it was more conscious than any organism in pursuit of a good life had any ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 802

“This action is inadvisable,” the Heart warned. “Passage through the Beyond is—”

“I didn’t ask if it was advisable,” Noah said sharply. His eyes went narrow. He didn’t need the Heart to start giving him shit now. The last thing he needed was to try and hunt around the Heart Room to figure out how to activate the Lead Researcher’s Passage. “I asked you to show me the passage. I’ll have you know that it is my god given right to kill myself doing stupid shit. I’ve...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 272

Alex took a step back. He stared up at the Forsaken Revenant through the hole in the ceiling. Never before had he been this close to it — close enough to see strands of frosty power that coiled hungrily within its eyes like the tendrils of some ancient eldritch creature.

His insides wrung. They turned over once, then shot back into place like a rubber band had snapped inside him.

Sovereign Cataclysm activated.

The world snapped back into motion. Alex jerked back, his mind ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 501

“Vanessa!” Thane exclaimed, his voice full of false cheer. “What are you doing here? I thought you were busy working!”

“Oh, you know,” Vanessa said, waving a hand dismissively before herself. “The Menagerie paid me so well that I might have gone on a bit of a bender. Got into an argument with the boss. He wanted a big cut of the money, but he didn’t do shit, so I refused. We got into a bit of a verbal pissing match and he told me to fuck myself. I’m not a solo act, so ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 801

Days flew by. Noah spent the majority of his time in Access Point 4, getting very well acquainted with the training golem. The prediction he’d given the Devourer proved to be even more accurate than he had hoped.

With the near-unbelievable resources of the Citadel, every minute he spent practicing might as well have been an hour. The golem’s analysis of Noah’s runes and fighting style paired with its ability to show him visions of previous attempts that other people had made withi...