PathOfPen

Chapter 94 – Affinity fusion

It had been two weeks since Percy and Nesha settled on the name of their product, and progress had been steady.

Nesha had already reached out to the Asclepius House and hired the Agent. She’d also narrowed down the potential customers to three, having promised to finalize her decision and send the letters by tomorrow at the latest.

Meanwhile, Percy had focused on brewing. Granted, he’d initially lacked the contribution points to purchase the sheer volume of materials necessary...

Chapter 93 – Aurora Dew

‘How the hell did he manage this less than three years after joining the Guild?’ Nesha couldn’t help but wonder.

Countless experienced alchemists had failed to improve the elixirs after tens of millennia, yet here Percy came – one lone Red-born boy – revolutionizing the field in no time. Obviously, there was some secret behind his success, though Nesha knew better than to ask. It wasn’t her job to snoop around Percy’s business. She had her own end of the deal...

Chapter 92 – Negotiations

Nesha remained holed up in her house for a couple hours, much to the crowd’s dismay. She did walk out eventually, casually strolling towards the building next door, yawning along the way. Everyone but Percy quickly masked the frustration in their expressions, unwilling to risk pissing her off.

As eager as Percy was to approach her, he decided to blend with the others at first, waiting patiently for the opportune moment. Nesha finally opened the gambling den, letting her customers insi...

Feedback to improve the story moving forward

Hey guys! First of all, thank you all for reading my story and supporting me on Patreon. It means a lot!

The past few weeks have been amazing - receiving so much love and support for the book was a dream come true. But also intense, because it was the first time I ever got feedback on it, and it came from hundreds of people at once :)

That said, I do want to improve as an author and elevate this book further. I've received all sorts of feedback so far, but there are ...

Chapter 91 – Deal

In the end, Percy shook his mentor’s hand, the weight of their agreement settling between them.

Twenty years were just a touch more than he needed to reach Yellow. It wasn’t that much in the grand scheme of things, but he hoped his clones would bring back some additional advantages in that time. While the deadline added a tinge of pressure on his shoulders, he understood the enormity of Orin’s concession.

Wanting to show his gratitude for everything the old alchemist had don...

Chapter 90 – Compromise

The blueish-green concoction stopped boiling, giving Percy a moment of reprieve.

PHEW

But he couldn’t relax for long. The mixture was currently unstable, so delaying could easily cause the yield to suffer. Moving quickly, he grabbed a pinch of ground leaves he’d prepared earlier, tossing the colourful dust in the cauldron. Next, he turned up the temperature much higher than before, stirring it again.

“The rainbow grass seems to work!” Orin exclaimed as he watched it ...

Chapter 89 – Condensing crystals

“Neat!”

Strictly speaking, Synchronization was only classified as ‘Refined’, like Circulation. However, this was still impressive in many ways. Generally, the Status avoided registering an upgrade within the same class, unless the spell in question was a qualitative improvement over its predecessor.

‘Though I hope it’s compatible with the Dance.’

Of course, Percy didn’t know how to get his hands on the final step of the technique. The only clue Micky...

Chapter 88 – Synchronization

SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH…

The soldier stabbed repeatedly with its stinger, trying to poke holes into Percy’s brain. Though the latter didn’t have much difficulty dodging.

‘I can’t believe I even missed the scent of their acid…’ he thought, sniffing the acrid odour, unbothered by the slight burning sensation in his nostrils.

Ok… perhaps he needed to get out of the lab more. Brewing nonstop was clearly driving him insane.

In any case, Percy ha...

Chapter 87 – Advancement

Percy tried – and failed – to get some more sleep following his clone’s return. His insomnia was largely a symptom of his stress. He couldn’t help but glance around the room every few seconds, fully expecting to see Metatron standing there, smirking at him.

Only when the sun rose did Percy finally shake off his rampant paranoia. Of course, logic had told him hours ago he’d most likely be alright, but it wasn’t until the warm rays snuck past the curtains, gently caressing his...

Chapter 86 – BUMP

The moment Percy was dragged out of Gabe’s body, and before he had the chance to pick up much speed, something strange happened.

BUMP

‘What the hell was that? Did I hit something, or did something else collide with me?’

It was weird because the only things he had ever interacted with in this disembodied state had been other souls. Plus, it had always been him running into them – if not intentionally then at least knowingly. Though he didn’t think much of i...

Chapter 85 – Gabe’s gamble

Gabe’s palms burned as the white sphere expanded between them. The dark blob rapidly took shape right below the duo, putting pressure on them to fuse their mana faster.

Naturally, they’d already abandoned all caution, willingly accepting the painful cost of the technique. Their eyeballs felt like they were melting in their sockets, the entire front side of their body peeling.

‘We need to time this right.’ Gabe said. ‘We’ll only get one shot.’ 2024-10-19 06:35:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 84 – Persistence

The sickening sound of their skull cracking never came. Gabe thought it might have already happened – too fast for them to register – but Percy had experienced enough deaths to be confident this wasn’t it.

Still, they held their breath, remaining motionless under the surface of the dark swamp, unsure whether the challenge had stopped in time, or whether the golem had simply lost track of them. It was most likely the former, but neither of the two was feeling brave enough to check....

Chapter 83 – Moment of truth

“Cube. Start the ‘gauntlet’ challenge. Green level. User ID: 004527945512.”

“Authorization granted. Starting ‘gauntlet’ challenge, Green level. The user has already cleared wave 5. Do you wish to resume at wave 6? WARNING: Wave 6 contains a far more powerful opponent.”

‘Are you ready for this?’ Gabe asked his guest.

Another month had passed since they first cleared the last wave, breaking Percy’s record for the longest-liv...

Chapter 82 – Fifth wave

‘Any progress with that book?’ Percy asked.

Another week had passed since their narrow victory against the fourth wave, though they had yet to challenge the fifth one.

Acknowledging their inadequacy, they hadn’t been in a hurry to move on, taking their time to get stronger, as they fought against the same opponent again and again. Challenging a previously beaten wave didn’t reward any credits, but it was still good practice, letting them hone both their magic...

Chapter 81 – Gabe’s second affinity

Percy figured he’d been in the Vault for about a week, though keeping track of time was always difficult outside Remior.

It had only taken him a few days to clear enough mana channels to fill up his host’s second core. Piling onto the good news, the event had also gone down surprisingly smoothly.

Sure, an elemental affinity wasn’t the flashiest one to have, but it was definitely more useful than pure mana. Also, activating the core did strengthen Gabe’s soul, causing the b...

Chapter 80 – Preparations

“Evaluating request…”

‘Are you sure there is no other way?’ Gabe asked.

‘Hey, don’t complain! Tattoos might hide the core from Mana Sense, but people would still be able to see it through your skin. And you obviously can’t wear a shirt either due to your wings.’ Percy replied.

Before they could begin filling up Gabe’s second core, they needed to ensure it was concealed. Based on what Percy had come to learn abo...

Chapter 79 – Natural selection

‘Experiments? What could gods possibly gain from us mortals?’ Percy raised an eyebrow.

‘Lots of things, actually.’ Gabe shrugged. ‘The most obvious benefit is getting more people to ascend to godhood, expanding their ranks.’

While the chances of any one child reaching divinity were laughably miniscule, it was ultimately a numbers game. Especially for immortal beings who could keep pumping out kids for millennia on end.

‘But t...