Micky walked around a large boulder, leading Percy to the others. The sky was a bright azure colour, indicating that it was daytime on the rest of Remior, though Acton and his guards were sleeping right now.
The group wasn’t that far from where Micky stood, but they had to get pretty close to see them through the dense cloud of water globules. Percy’s eyes first landed on the Green-born, widening in disgust as he saw his friend’s tormentor in the flesh. That said, the boy looked q...
2025-04-23 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The domain sapped the strength from his muscles, as Micky felt the stone walls closing in on him. It was over. The only way out was through the Holy Child. Suffice to say, taking on a Blue just wasn’t realistic. In fact, Micky found it difficult to even move an inch right now…
‘How?! Just how did he find me?!’
He’d truly thought he’d lost him. He was sure he’d done everything right, yet the kid had still caught up, somehow.
“You look confused.” the...
2025-04-23 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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‘There. That’s got to be him.’ Percy thought, diving into the only healthy soul in his vicinity that didn’t push him away.
Sneaking into Micky’s body was a vastly different experience to what he was used to. The bird’s injuries had healed a long time ago, so his usual strategy of slipping his soul wisp into the cracks wouldn’t cut it.
Luckily, his familiar’s soul seemed to welcome him with open wings, shrinking slightly into its body to make space. Still, ...
2025-04-22 06:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Micky felt his hunger return with a vengeance.
Rapidly consuming his stamina, he kept both instances of his boosting art active at all times. Most prominent was a set of glowing amber lines branching out of his heart, reaching every corner of his body. A second set spread from his abdomen, swirling like green gales of wind, lighting his feathers up.
‘I wish I’d finished tempering the new channels…’
Had he done that, he could have relied more on his second co...
2025-04-22 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The best part about Percy’s growing yield was that it didn’t just increase his output. It also stretched their profit margins, since he started each session with the same number of ingredients regardless of his yield, but he ended up with a greater dosage of the final product if his yield was higher. In other words, their operating costs remained constant, but their revenue continued to climb.
Earlier, the magic potions hadn’t been worth his time. The ingredients had cost about 60...
2025-04-21 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Normally, Percy would have just ignored the notification. It wasn’t the first spell he’d upgraded, nor would it be the last. Plus, he had plenty of things on his plate right now. Whether it was the potion’s backlash, Elaine’s fight, or his familiar getting chased by a Blue, everything took precedence. Still, his heart skipped a beat upon reading the spell’s tier.
‘Masterful?! Just like that?!’
Suffice to say, he hadn’t expected to reach that level at this ...
2025-04-21 06:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The moment the scaling principle finally registered, Percy’s stepwise yield instantly jumped by ten percentage points. On top of that, his daily gains picked up – at least for the first couple of days – bringing him back to 75% by the end of the week.
That was certainly impressive in and of itself, but the improvements went deeper than just his yield. Literally.
‘Wow… I can see twice as deep into the concoction now!’
Percy watched a lump twistin...
2025-04-20 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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A few minutes earlier
The Green twisted his body into the space between the two scythes, narrowly evading the spinning blades. Still, the last-second manoeuvre left him in an awkward orientation, forcing him to eat several throwing stars right to his soul. He landed on the grass with a muted thud, spasming in pain.
As much as Percy wanted to follow up with a finisher, the guy’s teammate had already launched a few wind blades at him, each cutting shrilly through ...
2025-04-20 06:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Batch after batch, hour after hour, day after day, Percy continued to brew inside his room, rapidly consuming his enormous stash of green mushrooms. By now, a rich herbal aroma permeated the inn – maybe the entire neighbourhood – all day long.
Luckily, nobody had bothered him about it. It wasn’t an unpleasant scent – mostly the minty odour of the life mana, since that was the ingredient he used in the bulk of his brews. On top of that, he’d made sure the innkeeper was the kind...
2025-04-19 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Forcing her racing heartbeat to calm down, she scanned the battlefield with Mana Sense, observing her opponents carefully. Whenever they attacked, she dodged with minimal movement, doing her best to conserve her mana. At the same time, she took one deep breath after another, slowly refilling her core.
‘How does he make his own spells so much faster than mine?’ she wondered, thinking back to the water mage’s arrows.
The only silver lining about this messy battle was ...
2025-04-19 06:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Percy walked into the warehouse for the third time in the past couple of weeks, his steps hurried and his breath short. Once again, there was nobody here besides Nesha and Elaine.
“Why did you bring me here? Did something go wrong?” he asked, fearing the worst.
His last two visits had been to grant his companions their new cores. This time, he had no idea what to expect. Nesha had met him the night before, saying they needed his help with something, but she’d refused to elab...
2025-04-18 06:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Elaine swallowed hard as the Greens approached. Common affinities or not, these people were from the Divine Root. Even with Circulation, taking on three of them wouldn’t be easy. Still, it wasn’t herself she was worried about…
‘Will he be alright?’ she stole a glance at her cousin.
She knew he’d beaten Greens before, but always one at a time and with ample preparations. Plus, she’d never seen it in person. The last time she watched Percy fight; he b...
2025-04-18 06:00:19 +0000 UTC
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Checking up on his familiar, Percy waited fifteen minutes – or around five hours from the crow’s perspective – for him to start hunting again with Acton.
Strictly speaking, Micky’s help would only be indispensable when it was Elaine’s turn to receive her core. Percy was confident he could heal Nesha on his own. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra mana on the side, just in case.
Rolling up a strip of cloth, he handed it over to her, asking her to bite down on it....
2025-04-17 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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‘Percy! They’re here!’ Micky yelled through the cord.
Startled, Percy nearly messed up the rune he was carving on his scythe. It had already been a few hours since he and Nesha woke up, and he’d decided to take advantage of that to reforge his weapons too.
“Wait, you mean you can see them approaching? From the west side?” he asked out loud, for Nesha’s benefit.
Micky sent a mental nod back, causing him to raise an eyebrow. This was strange
2025-04-17 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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‘Only Refined? What a scam…’
Percy would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little surprised. His Status had registered the Phantomscale Regalia as a Masterful spell, and the runework that had gone into his new cauldron was more than a couple steps beyond that.
Then again, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. His armour involved a few additional things, outside of its enchantments.
In any case, Percy wasn’t an expert in spell classification, but he was confid...
2025-04-16 06:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Percy’s hands shook as he tried to mould his mana into the correct shape. This was already his third attempt, but the construct crumbled into powder about half-way through, the fine dust spilling between his trembling fingers.
“Come on… not again!” he groaned, nearly slamming his fist on the table.
Nesha placed her hand on his wrist, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“This isn’t helping. You need to calm down.”
He looked at her in a daze for a couple seconds, l...
2025-04-16 06:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Carving the final stroke into the enchantment, Percy scanned the whole thing once more, verifying he hadn’t made a mistake. Well… not a visible one, at least…
‘It’s good, I think.’
The heat rune he’d just drawn was affixed with a whopping five control runes. That was more than the enchantments on his old cauldron had, allowing him to adjust the temperature of his brews with even greater precision. That was the plan, anyway.
But he still had to check th...
2025-04-15 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Acton picked a branch off the ground, sniffing the broken end a couple of times before tossing it aside. The scent was there, but it was faint. More so than usual.
“Gone again…” he muttered, a grimace marring his face.
There was no doubt his target had spent some time here. But Acton was a few days late. The trail was already rather obscure, vaguely pointing south. A direction most inconvenient…
“Pack your stuff. We’re leaving for Goldenfie...
2025-04-15 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Good news first?” Nesha tentatively asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty.
“It seems to be the off-season.”
Percy had been able to tell due to the size of the floating globules. Their very existence was unique to the Valley, brought about by the different flow of time on either side of the Decree’s boundaries.
The rainwater falling into the Valley from above was tens of times slower, relatively speaking. Meanwhile, any pools of water inside the Valley tended to...
2025-04-14 06:01:02 +0000 UTC
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It took them an entire week to reach the next town. The good news was that bandits never bothered them anymore, probably thanks to Elaine being in the group. Nothing like a Green to ward lowlifes off. Then again, Micky might have preferred to have a snack or two step forward of their own volition…
Either way, it had been a fruitful few days, despite the detour. Percy gradually filled his jar up with powder, one gemstone at a time. He now had more than enough to reforge his armour – ...
2025-04-14 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Percy listened to Nesha as she briefed him in on her progress. It was great that they’d managed to get the Radiant Lord on board without a hitch, though that wasn’t enough to wipe the frown off his face.
“What’s wrong? You don’t look very happy.” Nesha asked, noticing something.
“Micky contacted me a couple hours ago. They’ve entered the Valley…”
Her eyes widened.
“Immediately? Without even stopping to rest?”
He sighed.
“Micky was ...
2025-04-13 06:01:03 +0000 UTC
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“What are you even doing?” Elaine asked after Percy nearly stumbled on a pebble.
He shrugged.
“If this works, I’ll never have to condense another crystal in my life.”
It was still dark, the trio walking towards the next town, the crow flying nearby. But Percy didn’t pay much attention to where he stepped, busy with something more important. He held a small teal rod in his hand. It looked like his scythe’s shaft, but it was only the length of his finger. And he ...
2025-04-13 06:00:19 +0000 UTC
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‘Another failure.’ Nesha grimaced.
Emptying the excess mana from her channels, she plopped back onto the floor, her chest heaving up and down.
On top of spending her nights to establish the supply lines they needed for their plan, she made sure to carve a few hours per day for Circulation. Yet, no matter how much effort she poured into it, the pattern for the space affinity remained a mystery.
The mana channels she’d cleared as a child were alright. They ...
2025-04-12 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Countless footfalls broke the oppressive silence of the night, as dozens of men marched through the fields. They moved as quietly as they could, but there was only so much such a large group could do to mask their presence.
Most of them were doomed to die tonight, though they didn’t seem to care about that, continuing their journey as if it was any other day. Only their leader had his brow creased, various thoughts swirling within his tired mind. Every now and then, he glanced at the ...
2025-04-12 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Percy felt much better come morning, even though he didn’t get as much sleep as he would’ve liked. His headache hadn’t subsided completely just yet – he’d likely have to put everything he’d learned on Felmara into practice before he could knock the last kinks off. That said, he’d improved enough to resume working.
Before diving back into alchemy, he did spend some time sending out a new clone though. Taking advantage of his bloodline was always among his highest priorities...
2025-04-11 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“So… that four-armed boy in the vision… you’re saying that was me?” Micky asked once everything had calmed down.
Percy nodded. Evidently, his familiar hadn’t truly regained his memories just yet. Not in any complete sense, at least. He’d merely experienced those scenes as an outside observer – much like Percy had. Still, the crow’s time with his old family had inevitably sparked several questions.
Percy proceeded to recount his experience on Huehue, to h...
2025-04-11 06:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Percy stared at the hut in stunned silence for a few seconds, partly because he hadn’t decided what to say to the woman just yet, and partly because he found her words interesting.
So, this little hut, standing stubbornly against the eroding march of time, had been the home of a titan once…
Maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised about something this minor though. After all, he’d come face to face with living gods and breathing titans before. He’d even bargained with them, or...
2025-04-10 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“Percy! Are you ok?!” Nesha’s distraught voice was the first thing he caught.
Prying his eyes open, he found himself back at the lakeside, resting on the same spot as before. Both girls were by his side, holding him in place. Probably to stop him from hurting himself. The patch he lay on was now covered in more mud than grass, likely thanks to all his thrashing. His clothes were stuck to his back, caked in a layer of dirt and sweat.
He nodded at his companions to ca...
2025-04-10 06:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The half-moon shone dimly over Twilight City, bathing the park in its soft radiance. It illuminated the faces of the two people sitting side by side on an old bench, discussing something quietly.
At some point, one of them – a bearded man with glowing eyes – carefully handed the woman something. There wasn’t anyone else nearby, but he still made a conscious effort to hide the object in his sleeve for as long as possible before passing it over.
It was a small black cube, stru...
2025-04-09 06:01:01 +0000 UTC
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‘I can’t control my body. No… Micky’s body.’ Percy realized.
It wasn’t that strange. This was probably a fixed memory – nothing like the clones he was used to creating. Everything Micky was experiencing right now had already happened a long time ago. Giving up resistance, Percy allowed his body to move as it wanted to, focusing on gathering as much information as possible instead of fighting it.
Obviously, this had to be Hueh...
2025-04-09 06:00:02 +0000 UTC
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