“I’ve thought hard about it over the past few days, and it is very clear that Leo is a talented and hardworking student who is more than qualified to attend the class. I shouldn’t have pushed things so far, and I most certainly shouldn’t have involved the rest of you in it either.” the man elaborated, sounding genuinely sorry for his actions.
Suffice to say, Percy was still taken aback by the teacher’s complete 180. Though his surprise soon shifted to annoyance.
...
2025-03-09 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Galahad pushed through the crowd, making his way to the centre of the room, curious to see what the commotion was all about.
The Main Hall had always been one of the busiest places in the mansion, serving both as a lounge for everyone to mingle in, as well as the spot where they could pick their missions from. That said, things had changed a little since the advent of the war. Nowadays, the family avoided assigning non-essential missions, as Archibald was afraid of risking people’s li...
2025-03-09 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The library didn’t have any windows, so Percy had to rely on the students coming in every afternoon to keep track of time. Over the past few days, he’d skimmed through the books with very few breaks, only stopping when he estimated it was the morning before the class. Granted, he should still have a couple hours left, but he didn’t want to cut it too close.
‘It’ll probably serve me better to give myself a chance to unwind.’
Picking the pile of empty food conta...
2025-03-08 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“I’m hungry.” Micky complained for the billionth time.
“Alright. I suppose we could all use a break.” Percy sighed.
At least, they’d already crossed the river a while ago, so the place didn’t stink of rot anymore, ruining their appetite. Walking over to the nearest tree with Nesha by his side, they sat on an exposed root. Next, he opened his spatial amulet, tossing a chunk of meat to his familiar. A poor replacement for a mana core – even a Red one – but they wer...
2025-03-08 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“What are you supposed to do if lumps start forming in the concoction?” the teacher asked.
“Generally, you break them either by increasing the cauldron’s temperature or by stirring.” Percy replied, before elaborating. “Usually, heating the mixture up is preferable, as it impacts the yield less. That said, novices are advised to stir instead, since they lack the experience to gauge the correct temperature by eye.”
He was sure he’d answered correctly, but the man sho...
2025-03-07 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t until late the following night that the trio left the area.
Their injuries weren’t nearly as fatal as those of their opponents, but they were still quite serious. Micky’s wings were full of small holes, making it difficult for him to fly. And rather painful. While Nesha wasn’t in any danger of bleeding out, she couldn’t walk on her maimed leg. As for Percy, he had it the worst among the three. His whole body was swollen, his skin purple and bleeding in many ...
2025-03-07 07:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“But, if that’s the case, shouldn’t these beast gods have dominated the universe already? How can the rest of us compete with creatures that advance so fast?” the same boy from before jumped in again.
The teacher shook her head this time.
“I can see why you’d think that, but it’s not as simple. Despite the relative abundance of resources on their planet and the various techniques they’ve invented to manage their hunger, they can’t just allow everybody to advance ...
2025-03-06 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Percy swung both scythes at Rambert, hoping to trap him within their lethal embrace. The man leapt above the closing stranglehold with relative ease, before trying to land a blow of his own.
But Percy wasn’t deterred so easily. Letting go of his weapons, he used a third scythe to divert the attack. The construct still shattered in the process, unable to survive the full brunt of the Green’s fury. Yet, that was merely the start. Percy doubled down with another slash from a fourth scy...
2025-03-06 07:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Percy did his best to tune out the incessant chatter, trying to squeeze in a couple more minutes of practice with the pre-casting exercises as they waited for the teacher to arrive. Unfortunately, his efforts were doomed from the start – the gossiping students making it impossible to focus on his mana.
It was a larger room than usual too. From what he’d learned, the academy owned classrooms of various sizes, assigning them based on a course’s popularity. This one, in particular, c...
2025-03-05 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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‘Those people we interrogated weren’t kidding about Rambert. The guy is an actual monster…’ Percy thought, his scythe catching nothing but empty air again.
Had it been Broose facing him – or any other Green, really – they would have long been reduced to pieces by now. The sheer speed by which Rambert was adapting to his fighting style was staggering. The man had already grown used to Percy’s invisible constructs, seemingly having no trouble keep...
2025-03-05 07:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The next six days went by in a flash. Percy skipped both the Geography and Affinities classes, deciding his time was better spent preparing for the next term.
Technically, it might have been a good idea to prioritize Pre-casting, as he knew nothing about the topic. However, he chose to invest more than 80% of his waking hours into Alchemy instead, for a very simple reason.
‘My most urgent goal is to be allowed into the course in the first place…’
No matter how...
2025-03-04 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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“It was you, wasn’t it? Behind all of it.” Rambert asked, though he could already guess the answer.
Travelling to Bogside town, he and his companions hadn’t really cared much about Nesha and Percy. They’d heard of them, of course, but they’d thought the two were just a front – a couple of low-born informants House Avalon had placed there. Their actual fighters had to be hiding in the swamp, right?
It was with that mindset that he’d chased Percy throug...
2025-03-04 07:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The next few hours were quite a slog. The lesson itself had been illuminating, cementing the idea in Percy’s mind that pre-casting was a valuable technique to master. Even though it wasn’t immediately applicable to his spells, he knew it was only a matter of time until he found a use for it.
Sadly, he’d also made a complete fool of himself in front of the others. His classmates ran circles around him, practicing far more advanced exercises with ease. Meanwhile, he struggled with e...
2025-03-03 07:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Grian tried rushing after Percy and Rambert, but Nesha would be damned if she allowed that to happen. Not after all the trouble they had gone through to split them up in the first place. Remaining hidden behind a tree, she moved her butterflies in front of him, blocking his path. At the same time, she crouched even lower, hoping her bandage would continue masking her core’s flares.
Drawing a large amount of mana from his sternum, Grian unleashed a barrage of daggers of his own, accura...
2025-03-03 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Aided by the map and his eagerness to begin his studies, Percy made it to the classroom early. By now, the first of the twin suns had fully emerged from its slumber, the other still bathing the sky in all sorts of vibrant hues as it slowly rose through the horizon.
The room itself wasn’t very large. It only contained twelve wooden desks, neatly arranged in four rows of three. It reminded him a little of the place where he and Nesha had had their orientation, back during their first da...
2025-03-02 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“Run. Don’t look back.” Percy whispered, letting go of Nesha’s hand.
He didn’t even glance at her as she bolted off. His eyes were still glued to their remaining enemies. Taking a deep breath, he finally pushed the mana in his channels past the point of no return, activating Synchronization. At the same time, he grabbed the invisible scythe he’d left propped up against the tree’s trunk.
Naturally, the nobles caught sight of him immediately, the motes leaking out of P...
2025-03-02 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t until most other students had left the library that Percy registered how late it was. Getting used to Felmara’s short days would take a while. Normally, his body’s internal clock would have helped a little, but his host was the kind of guy who’d literally overdosed on sleeping pills, so… no luck there.
‘I’m not even halfway done with the books…’ he groaned.
He still wanted to research his choices a little better before submitting them. Sur...
2025-03-01 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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“How long till they get here?” Percy asked, forcing himself to calm down.
While he and Nesha were expecting two enemies to arrive, they had prepared for more. Their ambush might be a great deal trickier to pull off now, but they could do it – as long as they made everything count.
‘About an hour.’ Micky said.
“Alright. Keep your eyes on them. And fly lower. Try not to be seen.”
Strictly speaking, it wouldn’t be ...
2025-03-01 07:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Percy’s eyes snapped open as the first rays of sunlight streamed into the room. He was still exhausted, but he forced himself to sit up, knowing that if he didn’t, he might end up sleeping through the entire day.
Stretching, he made his way to the window, curious to take in more of Felmara. He hadn’t had a chance to appreciate the scenery yesterday – too busy catching up on Leo’s life.
'Wow, this is quite the view.'
Leo’s room was situated high up, likel...
2025-02-28 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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With steady hands, Percy distilled the turquoise gel, pouring the Aurora Dew into the vial, filling nearly a quarter of it. And this was the third one this batch. Two more rested on the desk, filled and corked.
“Man, I love these eyes so darn much!” he grinned.
Besides his stash lasting a little longer thanks to his improved yield, Percy’s new mutation had also reduced the time he needed to prepare everyone’s doses. Before Atlantis, it used to take him nearly six hours per...
2025-02-28 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Somebody knocked.
Percy lazily stood up, making his way to the door. Internally, he was a lot more anxious than he showed, of course. His heart raced at a hundred miles an hour, as did his mind. But he forced himself to walk as casually as he could, trying to appear normal.
‘Well, this lock ain’t helping.’ he frowned, taking a little longer than he’d like to figure out how he was meant to unlatch the mechanism.
If his visitor found the delay strange, he...
2025-02-27 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Orin struggled to keep a straight face as he watched his elders – wise Violet cores who had been doing this for even longer than him, fumble their way around their cauldrons. They all understood – even better than him – that deattuning the elixirs twice in a row wouldn’t give them the result they wanted.
Still, Deimos simply refused to hear it. Upon learning that Rainbow Grass was involved in the recipe, he had pressured the alchemists to incorporate it by force, hoping against ...
2025-02-27 07:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Stitching the fragmented soul up, Percy was a little worried. The shards felt dull and inactive, his host’s will absent – save for a few scattered memories he figured he could tap into if he really needed them.
At first, he thought this person had taken more damage than expected, though it soon became apparent that wasn’t the case. The pieces of his soul weren’t really in that bad a shape. A good thing too, since Percy wasn’t sure he could fix a Yellow soul with ...
2025-02-26 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The fields shone in all sorts of vibrant colours beneath the bright sunlight. It wasn’t wheat nor any other mundane crop that was planted here, however. Instead, it was a strange magical fern, glittering in a faint Red within one’s Mana Sense. Its leaves ranged from pale blues to fiery reds, to piercing yellows and exotic pinks in one’s regular vision.
And, completing the magical scenery, the rhythmic chirps of crickets added a soothing melody to this tapestry of natural beauty. I...
2025-02-26 07:00:06 +0000 UTC
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A couple of weeks ago
The group was still en route to the next town when Percy’s second experimental clone returned. In the end, he hadn’t found anything of interest in the alien horse’s world, which was a bit of a bummer.
That said, Percy and his clone had managed to keep the cord in its empowered state throughout the journey, indicating that the upgraded Secret Art indeed held the potential to revolutionize his adventures. After he practiced with it so...
2025-02-25 07:01:02 +0000 UTC
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The troll’s second attendant – the one Percy hadn’t personally fought – rushed out to tend to its leader’s injuries. Pulling a few of the verdant mushrooms out of its body, it brought them to the king’s mouth before crushing them into paste.
Percy didn’t interrupt, partly because he didn’t wish the troll king any harm, and partly because he was genuinely interested in seeing the mushrooms work. Learning from the experts would only save him a lot of head-scratching later....
2025-02-25 07:00:02 +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...
2025-02-24 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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The troll king scanned Percy from head to toe for several seconds, seemingly contemplating his words. Eventually, he appeared to have made his mind up, nodding with determination.
Accepting that he was no longer a match for the human as he was, he decided to finally let go of his pride. First, he stabbed his club into the ground, before letting go, leaving it upright. Then, he reached for his back, squeezing one of the crimson mushrooms. Percy recognized a rush of mostly f...
2025-02-24 07:00:09 +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...
2025-02-23 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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A boulder rapidly enlarged in Percy’s pupils, but he ignored it, allowing it to pass through him harmlessly. Naturally, it was just a projection, arriving seconds before the actual attack. Greater Foresight made the troll king’s telegraphed swings laughably easy to dodge, though evading them would only defeat the whole purpose of the spar.
Bracing himself, Percy then received the real club head on, the blood rolling and tumbling in his veins as he skidded on the muddy terrain. With ...
2025-02-23 07:00:03 +0000 UTC
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