Wizardly Dude

[EOE] (195) 3.60. Anybody Home?

Alka had done her best to find the dungeon entrance while the two of them spoke with the neilans, but she hadn’t had any luck. Each fragment was twelve miles wide at its largest point, meaning there was a lot of ground to cover. Even knowing that the dungeons tended to be within a few miles of the center didn’t help all that much when the person looking didn’t have any sort of method of detecting them.

Rather than burn Shia’s divine boon, the group decided to camp out o...

[TEA] (64) 2.15. A Battle of Hunters

That is one hairy man, Asher thought as he took in the horrifying visage waiting for him within the building the assassin he’d been tailing had run into. Standing nearly seven feet tall despite the fact he was hunched over was what Asher could only think of as a werewolf in the furry flesh. Grey and white fur covered the man from head to toe, thankfully thick enough to allow the man to maintain his dignity, as his clothes were all lying on the ground in tatters. While he had taken ...

[EOE] (194) 3.59. Redacted

Come morning, Vin and Shia sat down with a rather unhappy Naib and grilled him on the specifics regarding his people’s ritual. Vin certainly didn’t have any plans to shunt all their monsters off to another fragment to deal with, but he still wanted to see if there was any chance of learning how to make a miniaturized version of their impressive barrier, or if Naib couldn’t teach them how to make a ritual that ran indefinitely somehow.

Unfortunately, both proved to be off the table...

[TEA] (63) 2.14. Big Bad Wolf

Leonard’s stomach let out a deep, gurgling growl, the noise practically echoing through his empty office as it disrupted his concentration. It had been nearly three hours since his last meal, which meant some sort of hearty snack was long overdue.

Sighing, he threw down the dossier on his next target that he’d grabbed from one of the information brokers. He briefly contemplated calling it a night and heading home to the nice juicy steak he’d had marinating for the last couple of h...

[EOE] (193) 3.58. Executioner of Edregon

“Vin? What’s wrong?”

Vin glanced up at Shia’s concerned face, realizing he’d walked all the way back to their temporary campsite without even noticing. She and Alka must have realized by now that there weren’t any monsters out and about, as they’d were both standing around the fire, giving him concerned looks.

Shaking his head, Vin sighed, wondering where to even begin.

“What was the scream for?” Alka asked, her sword still unsheathed and at the ready despi...

[TEA] (62) 2.13. A Friendly Chat

Asher kept his mental trigger-finger on his skills, prepared to slip into the astral in the event that the woman surprised him with another deadly skill. But to his surprise, she slowly raised her hands above her head, staring at him with fear-filled eyes as she quickly nodded.

Huh… Kinda thought members of the dreaded Assassin’s Guild would be a bit more… I don’t know, resistant?

“Do you know where I can find Eight?” he led with, deciding to start with the mo...

[EOE] (192) 3.57. Not Our Problem

Vin just sat there, staring at the nervous man who was still largely huddled in a ball across the room from him. It was certainly one of the stranger conversations he’d ever had, but the fact that it probably wasn’t even in the top three said a lot about his time on Edregon so far.

“I’m sorry. What was that about solving death? Actually, before that, I feel like we kinda skipped some of the more basic questions I had for you. Like for instance, what’s your name?”

“I ...

[EOE] (191) 3.56. Probable Cause

It took a few minutes for Vin to explain what he’d felt with Tremorsense to his companions, but once they got a better picture of what they were dealing with, they decided to strike the plan of pretending to destroy the ritual projecting the barrier. Alka’s annoyance seemed to soften a bit when she realized it was sheer terror that was preventing the denizens of this fragment from meeting with them rather than any sort of stubbornness, and she agreed that a more delicate ...

[TEA] (61) 2.12. Not The Safest House After All

Asher silently crept across the second ring, trusting in the darkness of the night to keep him hidden from any prying eyes. While most of the questionable members of society strolling around this late at night stuck to the darkened alleyways and hid in the shadows, Asher went a step further.

It turned out, Distortion was the perfect skill for travelling from rooftop to rooftop.

Trusting in Secret Seeker to show him the best places to put his feet on the rickety shingles and his as...

[TEA] (60) 2.11. A Bold Plan

“Asher!” Samantha gasped, flinching back as he popped into existence right beside her in the living room. Based on the hooked needles and yarn in her lap, it looked like the hunter had been in the middle of crocheting a new blanket before he’d startled her.  

“I never took you for someone who crochets,” he teased, collapsing beside her on the couch. “Always seemed like more of an ‘old person’ thing.”

“It’s more of a ‘cold person’ thing if anythi...

[EOE] (190) 3.55. The Way They Shake and Shiver

Seeing as the inhabitants of this fragment showed no sign of leaving their dwellings anytime soon, the three of them picked a spot far from all the strange plants but only a few hundred feet away from the hamlet and settled in. Vin was confident they were still close enough that most of the people should be able to see them from their windows. He could only hope that once the people realized they didn’t mean them any harm, someone would come out and speak with them.

Otherwise, Alka wa...

[TEA] (59) 2.10. Rosh’s Reincarnation

Asher spent the next hour learning all he could about Eight and the Guild from Draken before the gang leader told him he had other business he needed to attend to. He welcomed Asher to stop by again later if he wanted to continue their chat, but asked him to please set up an appointment first.

When the two of them shook hands, Asher hesitated for only a moment before activating Eternal Mark and placing a mark on Draken. The gang leader had been nothing but respectful to him up until now...

[EOE] (189) 3.54. Copy Paste

Vin watched closely as the top half of Dancing Leaf sliced through the shimmering barrier with little resistance, cutting a neat line straight down to the ground. The wall of grey energy seemed to react almost like molasses, slowly churning and flowing back together to repair the damage Shia had caused. Within seconds the cut was completely healed, and the wall appeared good as new.

Glad they wouldn’t be permanently damaging the barrier, Vin encouraged Shia to do it again. This time, ...

[EOE] (188) 3.53. Spurtopia

“You look oddly smug,” Shia said, narrowing her eyes at him as he walked out of the bedroom for breakfast. “…What did you do?”

“What, I’m not allowed to be pleased with myself or anything?” Vin shot back, not answering her question as he grabbed a plate of more standard looking sausages and helped himself to a few plump berries. Leave it to the elves to seem to have a near endless supply of bacon and sausage every morning. Honestly, he didn’t even know where they procu...

[TEA] (58) 2.9. He Is Known By Many Names…

“Asher?” Draken blinked, clearly caught off guard by his sudden appearance. The gang leader seemed to gather himself remarkably quickly however, his surprised expression quickly morphing into one of mild annoyance that drew another terrified squeak from Kree. “You couldn’t have simply waited for me to finish the business I was attending to? That was surprisingly rude of you.”

“Ah… I’m sorry about that,” Asher said, his face heating up a tad as he realized Draken was ri...

[TEA] (57) 2.8. Poke The Hornet’s Nest

“Wh-what do you mean?” Kree stammered, the hope in his eyes quickly fading as he realized he wasn’t just going to be let go like he’d hoped.

“I just marked you with one of my skills,” Asher explained, stepping back and staring down at the man still on his knees. “No matter where you hide, or how far you run, I will find you. Think of it as insurance that you’ll actually listen to what I tell you to do after I drop the barrier keeping you trapped here. Can’t ha...

[EOE] (187) 3.52. Tea with a Tree

The last time Vin had come here, there had only been a dozen elves wandering around the base of the Tree of Ancients, tending to it by pouring nature magic directly into the mana-starved roots. Now, he saw nearly three times that number of Druids moving about under the tree’s branches, tending to its many needs. Even the green mana flowing from their staffs and hands felt thicker and more potent, and Vin felt relieved at the realization that the elves were indeed slowly regaining much of th...

[TEA] (56) 2.7. New Friends!

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, just a quick heads up about a few past changes that have been made! I occasionally add tiny changes here and there, but when I make more significant edits, I like to try and keep everyone informed. I made some additions to chapters 30 and 31 to better show how Asher and Rosh became friends during the week they spent working together, and I rewrote the last 1/3 of chapter 35 to better portray Asher's inner thoughts and drive for accepting the temp...

[EOE] (186) 3.51. On The Road Again

After a quick check in with Spur to let him know they’d probably be gone for a couple of days, Vin, Shia, and Alka took a moment to go over Vin’s map of the surrounding fragments. At this point, Vin had personally explored seventeen different fragments including the Earthers’ own, and had two more that they at the very least knew what to expect within.

“What about checking out Forpurt’s fragment?” Alka asked, pointing a finger at the hexagon Vin had marked as the capillan’...

Bonus Chapter #4: So You Wanna Be a Slayer?

Author's Note: Hey gang, it is time for yet another Edregon bonus chapter as a thank you for our RR members for reaching our fourth rating and review milestone on Royal Road! Like the prior three, his chapter contains no relevant information in regard to the main story and can be skipped without fear of missing anything. However, similar to Bonus Chapters #2 and #3, this one does take place within Edregon and may shed some additional light onto life within the E...

[EOE] (185) 3.50. Small Things Are Hard to Find

“I need to get out of here before some other crazy thing pops up and I’m asked to deal with it. Got any interest in picking a random direction and running screaming towards it?”

Shia blinked at the sudden question as she stared up at him, clearly surprised to come out of her meditation to find Vin standing above her, looking exasperated. Pushing herself to her feet with her staff, she raised an eyebrow.

“That bad, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Vin sighed, ...

[TEA] (55) 2.6. Dinner Party

Despite knowing he’d be back later than evening, kissing Samantha goodbye once more was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Thankfully, the hunter was a very early riser, so at the very least she saw him to the edge of the village.

“Remember, don’t do anything reckless,” she said, rolling her eyes at his expression. “…Overly reckless, I mean.”

“I’ll do my best,” he agreed, giving her one last hug for the road. “I’ll see you tonight!”

“You ...

[EOE] (184) 3.49. You Want Me to Put Who, Where? What?

Vin wanted nothing more than to grab his friends and take off on another crazy adventure into an unknown fragment, risking life and limb along the way. Instead, he found himself sitting at the round table within the command room once more, rubbing tired eyes as he listened to Spur and Alice argue with one another.

He promised himself as soon as all this crap was dealt with, he was taking off no matter what unexpected thing popped up next.

“She took the law into her own hands. We...

[TEA] (54) 2.5. Shard Struggle

The rest of the evening was rather uneventful compared to how it had started. Brian came back and regaled Asher with the tale of how he’d managed to track down and shoot the rabbits all on his own while the three of them feasted on his fresh bounty. From how Brian told it, he’d been as silent as the wind, creeping up on each rabbit and landing a perfect shot directly between their eyes before the poor creatures had even noticed his presence.

Based on Samantha’s frequent eye rolls ...

[TEA] (53) 2.4. Only Mostly Dead

Taking a seat at the dining table, Asher stared at the unassuming parcel. The Reaper was written on it in plain, black letters, and the parcel itself had been sealed with some sort of glue. Identify wasn’t giving him anything to go off of, which meant it was all guesswork as to where it had come from.

[Parcel] - Sealed

Who would not only think to give me such a nickname, but have the means of finding me all the way out here? He thought, tapping...

[EOE] (183) 3.48. The Roamer. He Roams.

Vin didn’t sleep easy after he finished helping Spur and Phil collect Abby. Part of him felt guilty when the guard had revealed that it had been his own actions that had sparked her realization that the rules were more like guidelines to be followed rather than ironclad bindings. Perhaps if he hadn’t barreled his way past her when she was just trying to do her job, she wouldn’t have taken it upon herself to start killing people she deemed as threats.

No, that’s ridiculous. T...