The swamp reeked of decay as Percy and Nesha dragged their feet through the murky waters. Each step sucked their boots deeper into the mud, almost like the bog itself was trying to pull them under.
Had this been a year ago, they might have been attacked by an oversized crocodile or python by now. Luckily – or perhaps unluckily – the local wildlife had really taken a hit during Micky’s reign of terror. Whatever animals had survived to this day had done so by learning to keep their ...
2024-12-18 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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A few minutes earlier
Micky flew in a wide arc around the pale man, trying to figure out how to attack him. Using the annoying trick Percy had taught him, he made his heart beat faster, and his body glow yellow. He was a lot stronger like this!
Micky had really wanted to slap Percy when he first showed him how to do it, as it always made him really hungry afterwards. But Micky forgave Percy, as the trick allowed him to get even more food, so it was a good thing. T...
2024-12-18 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Following the guard’s explanation, the next couple of weeks passed by in a blur.
Luckily, the man didn’t dwell much on the totem’s strange state. As it turned out, it was a lot more reasonable to assume there was something wrong with the relays supplying the structure with mana, than to guess Enki was possessed by an alien ghost. Who’d have thought?
The guard was then kind enough to escort the blind kid to the local alchemists’ association, even going as far as to hold h...
2024-12-17 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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As it turned out, the people Percy had previously faced weren’t exactly the best the Yellow grade had to offer. Neither the guy he had killed in the hunting grounds, nor the bandits seemed to hold a candle to the nobles from House Tantalus.
One of them had the earth affinity, but he used it much more skilfully than that other guy. Rather than wasting a ton of mana to form long stone javelins, he instead concentrated it into smaller projectiles like knives and needles. Percy initially ...
2024-12-17 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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A soothing feeling massaged Percy’s mind as the totem’s gentle radiance seeped into his host’s head.
Over the next few minutes, he sensed something sprout, almost like a new window opening in his mind, waiting to be peered through. This would have probably felt bizarre if he hadn’t had access to something similar for most of his life already.
‘It’s actually happening! It’s like a brand-new Status taking shape in my head!’
Yet, his celebration was cut...
2024-12-16 07:01:04 +0000 UTC
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“Percy… seat… all day…” Micky said.
“Sit.” Nesha corrected him.
“Sit.”
Bored as she had been over the last couple of weeks, the girl had volunteered to teach Micky how to speak. By now, the crow’s vocabulary had expanded greatly. Even his ability to vocalize much of it had grown shockingly well. The bird still struggled to form complete sentences, but he was learning faster than a human toddler would.
“Yeah, Percy is sitting all day, brewing e...
2024-12-16 07:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Another month passed since the activation of Enki’s second core, and Percy hadn’t stopped working on the regeneration pills in that time.
Now that the boy was free from the arduous task of clearing his channels, Percy had asked him to pay attention to what he was doing. After all, observing a trained alchemist at work with one’s own body was a unique learning opportunity. Enki would benefit a lot from feeling the mana flowing through his channels, getting used to the visual cues i...
2024-12-15 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Swinging with as much strength as he could muster, Percy cut through the vine. At first, the blade slid right through the black growth, slicing it apart like butter. However, this was the thickest one he’d encountered by far. Consequently, the edge kept slowing down, before ultimately coming to a halt about halfway through its width.
“Shit…” Percy pulled, trying to pry the sword out of the tendril, ducking in the meantime to dodge its erratic lashes.
“Pull again!” Seng...
2024-12-15 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Crafting a bandage for Enki hadn’t been too difficult. The concealment rune didn’t have any special requirement – it worked with pretty much any material that contained some mana.
Visiting the town’s marketplace, they only had to beg a few hunters and gatherers for some scraps of mana-rich ingredients, until they collected enough fibres for Percy to do his thing. Between his Weaving trait and his growing skill with runecrafting, sewing the enchantment on a long piece of parchmen...
2024-12-14 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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As it so happened, the two sides weren’t evenly matched at all. Their numerical advantage aside, the villagers seemed to completely outclass the raiders in both skill and the quality of their weapons. Hell, even if their numbers were reversed, Percy was confident ‘his’ people wouldn’t have struggled much.
Within mere minutes, over half of the invaders were dead, gutted like fish by the sharp slashes of the villagers. At least, Percy had to give credit to the survivors as they sh...
2024-12-14 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Percy felt the temperature go up rapidly, as the red glow in the distance intensified, the very water around him vibrating.
Apparently, that light he’d seen the other day was an underwater volcano – and an active one at that! From what Enki explained, his people tended to build their towns and cities in similar locations all around Atlantis, settling as close to the volcanoes as they safely could. These were their main sources of heat – and also food, as they attract...
2024-12-13 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Percy watched the strange contraption grind the materials into fine powder. They swirled through the long metallic cylinder, its interior filled with steel teeth, rotating thanks to the heat from the furnace. It was actually ingenious how the locals harnessed the movement of the hot air to accomplish tasks otherwise impossible with brute strength alone.
‘I suppose we would have figured this out too, if we spent our whole lives stuck at Red...’
As for the materials Sen...
2024-12-13 07:00:03 +0000 UTC
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‘Ea’s Gift? What’s that?’ Percy asked.
‘Are you kidding me? The thing you just made pop up right in front of our eyes!’
Thinking of something, Percy’s heart skipped a beat. But he didn’t show it. He wanted to pry some more information from his host first.
‘We call this thing a “Status”. Everyone has it where I’m from.’
‘All of them?! You mean, for free
2024-12-12 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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___
Takeo Muramasa (Percival's clone)
Mana cores:
· [Mana core 1 – Red – ???]
· [Mana core 2 – Seed – ???]
Spells:
· [Parting Gift – Crude]
2024-12-12 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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‘Spectral Art, huh?’
Evidently, involving one’s trait in their magic resulted in yet another flavour of spell. In any case, Percy was glad Weaving had more to offer than just the long-term project he was working on.
‘What did you do? I can feel my body again!’ Enki suddenly exclaimed, bringing him out of his thoughts.
It was only now that Percy remembered he had yet to link himself to his host properly. Finding a few still-open cracks, he sli...
2024-12-11 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Percy was a little bummed out by his latest venture. This was his first clone outside Remior in months, though luck hadn’t been on his side. He’d spent the entire trip looking for a suitable host, but all he’d found were crumbling souls that wouldn’t last a minute once he took over. In the end, he went with the least damaged option, though their grade left much to be desired. It was somewhere between a Red and an insect – which was a first for him.
‘Better than nothing, ...
2024-12-11 07:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Percy had chosen a Red host this time. The lower grade might be a little annoying, but this was the first soul he found today that was both sentient and in a relatively decent condition – right past the threshold where it could be possessed.
Naturally, he wasn’t planning to return to the Vault just yet – his main body was still busy finishing up the armour spell. In fact, Percy had decided to not bother with the artificial world again until all the madness surrounding the lotus di...
2024-12-10 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“Takeo… Don’t leave the village. It’s too dangerous.” Father said sternly.
But he wasn’t having it.
“This is exactly why we have to go! We can’t just wait here like cowards!”
Sengo reached for his son, but the boy shook the hand off his shoulder. Grabbing his father’s latest creation from a table, he bolted out of the room.
“Come back!” Sengo yelled, though his voice only grew more distant as the boy ran through the empty streets, his wooden san...
2024-12-10 07:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Wow, that looks like quite the spell.” Nesha pitched in.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Percy grinned.
Reaching into the mana around his arm, he willed one of its properties to shift. Without warning, the entire gauntlet vanished into thin air, causing Nesha’s eyes to widen. She opened her mouth, seemingly about to ask, though she held herself back. She knew enough about Percy’s magic by now to figure out what he’d done.
“It’s still visible through Man...
2024-12-09 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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“I look like a bandit…” Percy groaned, glancing down at his mismatched outfit.
“You stink like one too.” Nesha said, pinching her nose as she inched further away from him.
“Hey, remind me again… Who was it that took all my spare clothes?” Percy asked in a faux-offended tone.
But the girl just shrugged unapologetically.
“Woohoo, I’m dressed as a commoner.” she said flatly. “What an upgrade.”
Percy shook his head, not seeing any point in c...
2024-12-09 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Percy’s efforts to use his mana defensively dated as far back as his first month in the Alchemists’ Guild, when he developed his Glove spell.
That said, the flimsy layer of cyan mana had never been particularly impressive. Back then, he hadn’t even known about Reinforcement. Not to mention, his second core had still been at Red. Consequently, the Crude spell was arguably the least impressive entry in Percy’s Status to this very day.
‘I suppose it’s time to do somet...
2024-12-08 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Oversized fireballs and blasts of pressurized water rained upon Percy one after the other, keeping him on his toes. The surrounding patches of grass had all been reduced to soggy cinders, his boots leaving dozens of prints as he danced along the soot and mud, dodging the apocalyptic storm of magic.
Had it been a single enemy, he wouldn’t have had as much trouble evading. He’d already done something similar years ago in the Guild, back when he’d been much weaker. However, the situa...
2024-12-08 07:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The clone’s memories settled in place, the events of the past few weeks rapidly flashing through Percy’s mind.
This time, he’d ended up in the body of a semi-sentient for a change! It was a weird, gnoll-like creature – some kind of ugly humanoid racoon. Not his finest moment, but that didn’t detract from the novelty of the experience in the slightest.
Suffice to say, the creature’s tribe was quite primitive – they couldn’t even communicate without grunts and growls...
2024-12-07 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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‘Percy!’
‘What is it?’ the young man asked, sensing the crow’s urgency through their bond.
Getting used to hearing actual words from Micky would take a while.
‘People…’
He sighed. They were bound to run into somebody sooner or later – it was the downside of travelling along a paved road. Especially one leading to a destination as popular as the Alchemists’ Guild. If anything, it was more surprising it had taken three days ...
2024-12-07 07:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Percy was dying to explore the strange feeling, but he had to finish all his chores first. He spent a couple days brewing ahead for himself and his companions. He also sent a new clone out – hopefully to the Vault, but he wouldn’t know that until he was back.
Only then did he finally allow himself to delve into this new project. Perhaps it would lead to a dead-end, but until he obtained the runes he wanted from the artificial world, he couldn’t start working on his next spell upgr...
2024-12-06 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“Grandpa!! Why are they taking you?” Floria cried as the members of the Divine Root placed Bronn in handcuffs, escorting him out of the building. The man could free himself of course – if he wanted – but he didn’t seem to have any intention of resisting.
The girl just couldn’t understand how things had come to this. Hadn’t her grandpa been the one who came forward with the information the gods wanted? Why was he getting punished?! Panicking, she rushed behind...
2024-12-06 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Percy wanted nothing more than to dive back into his work, having lots of urgent tasks to tend to. The looming threat of House Tantalus aside, there were only 9 more months until the lotus bloomed, and he wanted to return to his family by then.
Sadly for him, his injured channels forced him to place everything on hold for a few more days. Unable to use mana, he couldn’t condense crystals, nor cleanse his cores. Even sending out his next clone had to wait a while longer.
But that...
2024-12-05 07:01:00 +0000 UTC
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“What do you mean you can’t find anything?” Deimos’s voice boomed, the entire room shaking.
The idiot in his grip trembled as he was held by the collar, not even daring to blink as the spittle splashed all over his face.
“S-Sir, we’ve searched the settlement inside out. We’ve already interrogated all the registered alchemists too. Nobody knows anything about this Aurora Dew. Or well… at least nothing they’re willing to share.”
Deimos felt his blood freeze...
2024-12-05 07:00:05 +0000 UTC
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At first, the townsfolk stared at the ill-begotten tatters of silk in stunned silence. Over the next two minutes, Percy watched the colour drain from their faces, their eyes widening with panic. But still, nobody dared to utter a sound. It wasn’t until another minute later that somebody finally broke the oppressive stillness.
“What have you done?!” a man cried, his voice quivering.
“Those cursed life-suckers will have our heads!” another shouted.
Like a spark ignit...
2024-12-04 07:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The trio ran for hours until they felt safe enough to take a break. And even then, they only gave themselves a few minutes to catch their breath and rub some more dirt on, before resuming their journey until nightfall. Perhaps, the Green or Blue bugs could still track them down, but Percy guessed the queen wouldn’t bother sending her elites that far from the hive.
‘Do you see anything suspicious?’ he asked his familiar.
Ever since they exited the tunnel, he’d...
2024-12-04 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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