orthoros

27 chapters

Yes, you heard that right, it's been 27 chapters since the last evolution. By far the longest time between evolutions. As I've said in the chapter post where Gary got his EX passive, I plan to speed things up a bit from now on. The fourth layer is essentially the halfway point of this saga, both in terms of storytelling, and character development. 

Depending on things turn out, we're probably gonna leave Suigoss around chapter 90-100. Although, I have a tendency to make things long...

67 - The Hunt

I was racing through the open plains of the fourth layer, making sure to give other monsters a wide berth. I could probably easily dispatch all of them, but I’d learned my lesson about getting cocky. I couldn’t help but glance at my status every once in a while, having trouble believing that I’d gotten this strong.

My new skill shot my strength to the moon, proving that EX skills deserved their rep. I looked forward to buying another one once I reached traveler tier two. If the sy...

66 - Holding The Node: Part 2

I feel only despair at having to do the system stuff in the Patreon text thingy. Oh, and also, this is chapter 10 ahead of RR. That's as far as we go with it... for now.

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I eyed the edge of the empty lake, the distance making it hard to tell just how many monsters were waiting for the next wave to start. It was unclear what the system meant by “raising the difficulty” but if I had to wager a guess, it would either b...

65 - Holding The Node: Part 1

System text is now cursive on Patreon so it's more easily distinguishable...

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I was sitting at the edge of the empty lake, the only node I discovered during my time on the fourth layer. For the past five hours, I’d observed the proceedings to see if anything had changed, but it was the same as the last time I’d been here. Nearby monsters would gather around the edge of the crater-like lakebed, and wait for the invisible sign to a...

64 - Training Montage: Part 2

Chapter NINE ahead of RR. Once again, I'm sorry for how shite the Patreon text editor is, I tried my best to make the status look at least somewhat presentable.

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I dodged to the right, barely avoiding being skewered by the antlers of a… rabbit.

The body of the rabbit was entirely too long, reminding me of a wiener dog in some ways, but the rabbit had some seriously powerful back legs that warranted the extra length. It kept ...

63 - Training Montage: Part 1

The eighth chapter ahead of RR.

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I stood at the edge of the island, looking down at the sprawling scenery of the fourth layer. It truly was quite beautiful with its undisturbed nature. All I’d known in my past life was the cement jungle, never leaving the big city I grew up in. I’d seen places like this before, but only as pictures on the internet. These pictures always fascinated me, and I often told myself...

62 - Determination

I snapped back to my body after the memory ended, once more seeing the mural that had been provided with context. And what a context it was!

The ancient civilization, Asphons, as they came to call themselves, had been laid to ruin by themselves. The people that had been transformed to look like monsters suddenly turned into actual monsters for seemingly no reason, razing their cities to the ground and killing everyone that hadn’t turned. Almost like a zombie apocalypse.

Well, it...

61 - The Third Fragment

Falmus stumbled into the room, putting the barricades back into place behind him. After ensuring everything was as it should be, he collapsed against the wall, exhausted. His breath came rapidly as explosions and screaming could be heard through the closed and covered windows.

“Here, take this,” a hand appeared before him, holding a glass of water that he gratefully took. “How does it look outside?”

“I think you can tell from the screaming,” Falmus told his good friend...

Monster suggestions

If you'd like to suggest a monster for Gary to fight at some point, you can leave a comment detailing it here. I can't guarantee that they show up soon, or at all, but if I like the idea and it fits the current layer/challenge requirements I'll implement them at some point.

I'll probably make one of these points whenever we switch to a new layer.

60 - The Ruined City

It took me almost three days due to the fact that I was taking my time, frequently stopping to observe fights, but I was finally in the shadow of the next floating island. I’d hidden in some shrubs while I was waiting for my mana reserves to top themselves up and going through my status once again. I managed to take out a good number of monsters during the journey, mostly the ones that won the fights I’d been watching. They were hurt and confident after winning, which made them easy picki...

59 - Discovering A Node

This shall henceforth be known as the seventh chapter that Patreon is able to read ahead!

I also apologize once again for the piss poor editing capabilities that Patreon offers, I simply cannot make the system stuff look any better...

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I was making my way through the forest, making sure to avoid the other monsters as best as I could. Void c...

58 - Ruminations About Magic

My consciousness snapped back to reality, the feeling a bit disorienting due to the sudden shift in perspective. I stared up at the mural, the context I’d gotten giving a whole new meaning to it. The mysterious figure at the top must have been Silas after his transformation.

I was certainly no expert, but I was relatively certain that Silas had transformed himself into a lich. It was interesting to see something that was considered made up back on earth come alive here. My knowledge a...

57 - The First Fragment

Bit of a longer one. Also, the things I'd do to have a proper text editor on patreon. System windows are gonna look like shit on here :(

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The moon was high in the sky already, softly illuminating the lands below. The grasslands stretched as far as the eye can see, only occasionally disturbed by a patch of trees. A gently flowing river cut through nature, providing water for al...

56 - The Mysterious Tower

I emerged from the void portal into the open air, quite a bit above the floating island. My wings snapped out quickly, transforming my fall into a controlled glide. I used the opportunity to scout the island from above while checking for a good landing spot.

The island was quite a bit different than the last one. Instead of a small forest, a mountain, and a village with a research building, this one was almost completely flat. It resembled the grassy plains below, a small river snaking ...

55 - Highway to Island #2

Heyo, I had to slow down a bit these days due to job reasons and other stuff, should be back on track now though. Also, this is now officially the sixth chapter that Patreon can read ahead.

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I soared through the sky, enjoying my newfound ability to fly. Sure, it may not be proper flight, but gliding had its perks. For one, only a little input was needed for me to keep flying, and depending from where I jumped off, I could...

54 - Boredom And Wings

I got twelve new attribute points from eating the monsters in my inventory and leaving ten of them for mana and health-restoring purposes. Due to the nature of gluttony, it was a slight increase across the board, but it was still a whopping 12 points, which was the equivalent of leveling up twelve times. The two points I got from actually leveling up I put into Wisdom. I had once again been reminded that MP was my most important resource during my last fight, and the crown on it meant that I�...

53 - Bird Season!

I’d spent quite some time staring at the murals in the tower, thinking about my situation. I had always had my suspicions that the system was messing with my brain somehow, but was that really true?

Ever since coming to this world, having to deal with me being a monster and fighting to survive, I’d just gone about doing whatever I felt was necessary. I felt it was odd that I was able to adapt so easily to my new life, so I assumed that the system had fundamentally changed me and con...

52 - Bird Season?

I awoke next to the staircase and immediately felt weak. It had been pretty bad in the void, but now that I was back in my actual body, it just felt that extra bit more real. I shuddered at the odd feeling that felt like I was sick. I’d love to snuggle up in a comfortable bead, drink some chicken broth, and ride this out, but that wouldn’t help in this case.

No, the only thing that would help me return to my former glory was leveling up. That, and using and abusing gluttony. On the ...

51 - Exploring The Void: Part 2

Patreon doesn't really have a proper text editor, so doing things like the status is a bit awkward. I tried my best :(

Level                  7

Max HP              292

Max MP             822

Max VMP        ...

50 - Exploring The Void: Part 1

After experiencing the memory of the past, I felt pretty tired. My current body didn’t need a lot of sleep and the need for it became less and less the more I evolved. Maybe it was a side effect of having a high constitution stat, or maybe it was tied to what kind of monster I was. Whichever the case, I had been active for a few days now, and I needed to sleep.

By now I was relatively certain that the traces of this ancient civilization were protected by the system in some way or anot...

49 - The Second Fragment

Kaimin peered through the bars of the cell at a mutated wolf. It was about thrice the size of what he was used to and at least ten times as aggressive. It snarled at him trying to murder him just by staring him down. It rushed at the bars, slamming against them with considerable force, but the bars didn’t budge. They were made of the strongest metal known to their race, albinium.

“Shock it.”

Kaimin gave the command with practiced ease while keeping the wolf in his eyes. His ...

48 - The Floating Island

I looked up.

Far above me, casting a huge shadow was the floating island. Right now I could only see the jagged bottom that seemed to be made from a brown rock, but now that I was this close, I finally realized just how big the island actually was. It always looked smaller from far away but it probably spanned four or five kilometers across.

Judging how far up it was, was a bit trickier since that was something I never really had to do before. The size made it seem somewhat close-...