ZachSkye

Knives & Levels - Chapter 124

When Nate returned to New Nashville, the first thing he did was to square himself away in his forge. He let the others rest, processing their day's experiences to build a stronger tomorrow. For him, though, it wasn’t so simple. He’d dragged back a problem, the type of problem which sat in your mind and niggled away there until you addressed it. The Celestial Seed shell was a surprisingly light but durable material.

All the way back to Nashville, he was trying to figure out the best ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 123

Colt settled into the hot waters of the bathhouse, feeling the warmth sink into his skin and leave him with a much-needed respite after so many days in the freezing cold that had been his reality for the last couple of weeks. The layer of frost accumulated on his soul melted away in an instant. This marked difference of having time to himself and feeling his muscles actually recuperate was like a day coming after an endless night.

Every time he'd lain down to rest in the Frozen Academy,...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 122

———

You have completed the quest: Halt The Seed

Reward: Medallion Of Frozen Time

———

Colt barely had a second to blink after stepping through the portal, before a medallion appeared in his hand—it was cold to the touch, and the crystal and energy it gave off were the same as the frozen time Crystal he’d seen in the Academy itself.

It contained an insect in the middle of flight; a beetle… And it radiated smaller waves of Edicts as well. Colt tuck...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 121

Seth had no choice but to continue the expedition with the people who'd dragged him back this far. His eyes were always locked on the sky above, remembering his fugue-state-driven flight. It seemed a cruel comedy that he’d been forced to return the exact way he’d come, only this time on foot.

No, Seth didn’t have a choice. Not when Captain Blaze and his armada of flame-based soldiers, all in their weird samurai-esque attire, made it very clear that if he tried to flee or escape in...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 120

When they attacked, they did so in a fully coordinated and deadly strike. The moment Nate said, "Go," they unleashed all they had, as if heaven's fury had descended upon the seed and condemned it for challenging the divine. Colt struck first, given the edge of his Movement Edict—and the sheer weight he threw into both of his knives as they struck the shell of the seed was enough for it to shatter through a building. His golden Edict sparked as it was suddenly met with a wall of resistance. ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 119

The light began to dim, and the air grew colder as they descended the tunnel. It was like stepping into the Arctic without a coat. Colt only figured he was still alive because it had been cold above; now, this cold sank deeper, numbing his skin and making his face burn. It was as if any second his limbs and digits threatened to fall off due to the severity of the chill. 

Worse, the cold flared in odd rhythmic pulses that accompanied changes in the light around them as they walked f...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 118

The world transformed into a complex blend of colors and strands of threads of Edicts, interweaving and mingling with one another. And it was everywhere, a stunning blend of color and energy that made Colt’s eyes ache and his soul strain even as he forced himself forward through his powers. His eyes were naturally drawn to his friends.

If he didn't know the name of what they had, he wouldn't be able to flag the complex Edicts around them… But he had identified it. With that faint az...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 117

Julia's only job was ensuring everyone lived, which was a tall task to accomplish, given that so many things around them wanted the opposite. Phantoms crashed into them with a wave of spells. Every second was a blur of light and elements, filling the air with a hostile wave of death. Worse than that, as they retreated through the Academy, her Mana was rapidly bottoming out. It didn’t help that she’d been spending it to throw up barriers and let everyone recover.

The cold. She though...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 116

Utter war—there could be no other series of words to describe what Colt witnessed as he looked out the Academy window and saw the battlefield that was the Academy grounds. The whole place blazed with an overwhelming reddish-white churning blizzard. Snow and ice smashed into the window with enough force to make a loud pinging sound, making him wonder how the thin sheet of glass didn't just shatter under the abuse.

With such a whirlwind of ice and snow, it should’ve been impossible to...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 115

———

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have 12 Stat points to spend. You have gained 4 points of Dexterity and 4 points of Soul.

Thread Weaver (Intermediate) has gained a level!

Thread Weaver (Intermediate) has gained a level!

Phantom’s Gambit has gained a level!

Soul And Mind Fortitude (Advanced) has gained a level!

———

Colt ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 114

Colt's first reaction to seeing his friends speeding down the hill and gathering enemies was preparation. If his guess were correct, he had about 15 minutes before they would reach the Academy at the speed they were going. Behind them, the blizzard blazed forward, spiraling but outsped by them, yet still rushing forward. If they arrived in 15 minutes, he figured the blizzard might arrive in 30 to an hour.

They’d be clashing with the Phantoms already out there when they arrived. By the...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 113

Colt couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a level 40 monster that was talking and afraid of him. He didn't know what to do with this. He held it in place for a second and walked around it, considering it from a full perspective.

It was, in a way, more ‘human’ than the other monsters he had slain so far in this Academy. And more than that, the level disparity of it being at level 40 was a shock in itself. Everything else was much higher, and the difference there only heightene...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 112

Sitting in front of the frozen time crystal, Colt fell into the churning Edicts around him. This thing had the capability to change him. Of course it did. It was a relic laden with some of the most fundamental principles of the universe. Within that, he knew there were two Edicts he had personal power over:  Momentum and Movement, both of which swirled around in the crystal amongst other ancient and tremendous edicts.

The rest didn’t matter, however. Only those two.

Colt cl...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 111

The next couple of days of exploring the Academy were relatively simple. Colt fell into a rhythm, with him mostly just putting off the need for sleep, since getting any at all here was impossible.

Even though he didn't feel fear, there was a constant sense of danger. Unlike in the caves, where he could have his friends watching his back while he rested, here if he even dozed off for meditation for too long, that odd pounding noise and laughter would return.

Despite his inability t...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 110

Days bled into nights in this crimson-soaked hellscape. Sarah couldn't make heads or tails of what time it was. When they took rests, it was for sleep—God only knows how long. Just enough to get them going again, to move more.

Since there wasn’t a good way to tell if it was day or night, they had to rely on their internal clocks.

All the while, she and the rest of her friends hunted. Nick was recovering, although slowly. And their pace over the land was cautious. They didn't h...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 109

A gale of cold and ice pinned Colt against the wall. The phantom in front of him swayed forward, its feet not moving, but it advanced. It had legs, and it even had arms—one still stretched outward where that gale of wind came from. On its back was an odd billowing cloak that looked like an ancient academy uniform.

It looked more like this person was training to be a magician than a student. Colt's muscles resisted against the sheer air pressure, pressing against the wind as he tried t...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 108

Colt reached the massive, dark Academy. The outside of it was just as desolate as the hundreds of miles of frozen glacier that led it way to it. But here he was, at the blissful dark beacon that dominated this landscape. Its walls towered upward, radiating a presence that made him feel small and insignificant beneath its sprawling might. In a way, the Academy appeared a monster itself, and being near it left him with an oily feeling of wrongness on his skin.

There was a faint scent of b...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 107

After putting as much distance as he could manage between himself and the Yeti, the first thing that Colt did was find a place to rest. It was a deep cave further down on the slope, just miles from the inky black fortress of the Academy. The inside of which, like every cave in this godforsaken landscape, was positively infested with ice, snow, and gray rock.

Down here, the way the chill crept in and leeched his power was a little more reduced than further up the slope. Yet it hadn’t g...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 106

Nick huffed in the corner of the cavern. To Nate’s eyes, the man was far too pale and light-skinned. Thankfully, he had Julia next to him. A small but refined water barrier was drawn close around the two of them to help Nick regain whatever strength he could. Deep down in the cavern, it was easier for her to use her spell without the cold leeching away its power.

Without a healer, this method was the only way to give him some semblance of a chance of living.

But the crux of the ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 105

Colt kept his distance from the monstrous Yeti. 

The more he played around with this creature and struggled back and forth in the icy wasteland, the better sense he got of the vast difference between them. Though he had loaded his Soul up and now crested above 200 points in it, he still fell short against the sheer gap in power between them. His saving grace was that he could keep spamming Movement.

Compared to when he first gained the Edict and his heart felt like he might e...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 104

Julia wiped a bead of sweat while gazing at the ice sculpture of a Yeti in front of her. The blizzard raged around, taking control of the landscape. It was worse than Julia thought. Any attempt to control her water as pure water was thwarted. The water would not cooperate in this environment, as everything lent itself to being ice.

Therefore, she must convert the water to ice, as it was the only effective way to fight under these conditions. The very Edicts in the air made it nearly imp...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 103

Nate kept moving forward. Every step through the cold wasteland around him was challenging, yet each movement was vital. He had an ally on his back. He ignored the creaking of his legs and the spike of pain in his arm from the wolf bite a day before.

Those would heal as his Forge Edict remade muscle and skin, molding them tougher than before. All he had to do to succeed here was endure.

Still, leaving behind friends left a bad taste in his mouth. They weren’t strong enough, he w...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 102

The first thing Julia noticed when looking over at the massive ice wall was the thick Edicts in the air.

It was hard to pay attention to the screams and pain from her allies or the flare of light that slammed into the ice wall.

No, it was those Edicts. They were a thick pool of freezing water that washed out the air; she felt like she was drowning beneath it. Her limbs were heavy and shivering as it pulled everything beneath its tidal waves and dominated the domain as if it were a...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 101

That night was a restless one.

It was hard to find sleep in the depths of a cavern with cold pressing against his side. A chill would creep in whenever Colt thought he had found comfort in the cavern’s dark recesses. And with it came the reminder that time was passing ever forward. Second by second, they were drawing closer to their deadline. Yet, to maintain any ability to survive in this place, he needed rest and balance, with the ever-increasing knowledge that he had to grow.

Knives & Levels - Chapter 100

The horrid glacier and tundra of the Frozen Academy were a far cry from the lush, misty forests surrounding New Nashville… And this wolf was the epitome of danger, but still, they had conquered it.

And following that, the most appropriate action for the group after gathering their bearings was to assign their stats. Everyone had gotten additional levels from the quick yet frantic fight against the wolf.

For Colt, getting a total of three levels meant that he had nine stats to sp...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 99

The biggest and most immediate concern in Colt's mind was the cold. The way it pressed against his skin and seemed to leech strength was an unexpected and terrifying aspect to this dungeon. Outside it, in New Nashville, the mist merely stole warmth, but here it drained something more vital.

His reactions slowed, muscles weakening with each passing minute exposed to the frigid air. The obsidian spires of the Frozen Academy loomed far below through gaps in the swirling white, a stark cont...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 98

It didn't take long for their group to return to the dungeon, but those hours were filled with tension.

As they moved through Nashville's frozen mists, Colt couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. His eyes constantly scanned the forest around them, catching nothing but shifting shadows and swirling fog that seemed to curl toward them with purpose, almost as if sensing they were approaching its source.

"You feel it too?" Nate asked quietly, hammer ready at his side.

Colt...

Knights Apocalyptica - Chapter 221

“Your Kingdom’s first friendly competition,” Forrest said, a grin on his face as he looked across from the table at Erec. He ran a hand through his greased pompadour. "So why not? Between you and me, who can handle the liquor more? That is, once you catch up with me. I’m four cups deep… So if you drink three back to back, we can call that an even starting point. Back in Vega, in the Casinos… We consider that a courtesy. Gotta match your new friends.”

Forrest grinned as Ere...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 97

Three days can be an eternity, or pass in a blink. While waiting to enter the dungeon, Colt balanced rigorous training with essential rest, making the most of each hour.

With balance as the key, his three days followed a simple structure. 

First, he'd get coffee, then meet Julia at the gate. They greeted each morning with warm drinks and a plan to sharpen their skills.

With the mist thick in the air on the first morning of their plan, Colt greeted her, and they got read...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 96

Seth, once Denny's loyal Wind-Mancer, had traveled far from New Nashville. Too long, in fact, and through this dreaded weather and path he'd foolishly chosen. The wind in his hair, once a familiar friend in this nightmarish world, had become his enemy as he soared hundreds of feet up in the sky.

His limbs shook, and his lips were cold from the flying high above. Despite the wind magic he’d been gifted, it hadn’t come with any kind of temperature endurance. But he dared not sink down...