Void spread rapidly as the infection took root within his arm and abdomen. Abilities became ineffective when David tried to restrain the spread at the infected spots. The infection didn’t spare the Energy Pathways either, devouring the remaining natural Aether stored within them at once. David grimaced and used [Blood Manipulation] on his own blood to stop the flow into his arm and to prevent the infected blood from circulating through the rest of his body. That was only the first step, as ...
2025-06-16 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Ominous energy oozed from the Black Rift as it expanded. Ripples crossed its surface before it erupted, releasing traces of Void into the surroundings.
David’s heart skipped a beat, but he reacted in time, casting [Bloodbound Bastion] to create a protective barrier before Zachariah. It shattered instantly, unable to block the traces of Void as they filled the atmosphere, yet his quick reaction managed to slow the spread. Maja seized the moment, enveloped Zachariah in twinkling sparkle...
2025-06-14 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Zachariah didn’t look like he needed help. He escaped the void-infused claws with nimble steps and fluid movements, executing swift and decisive counterattacks. However, while his physical stats clearly surpassed the norm, his attacks weren’t enough to inflict lethal damage.
David studied their movements for a while—though he could barely follow their tracks without infusing pure Blood into his eyes—before proceeding to cast and overclock [Herald’s Blessing]. He applied the Sk...
2025-06-12 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The Void within the Maelstrom stirred again. However, it only moved once the last pristine white currents of [Origin Lightning] had been dispelled.
David categorized the intel for broader application and deployed another charge of [Origin Lightning] inside the Void Sapling. At the same time, he redoubled his efforts and drained his foe’s lifeforce even faster than before. He used the natural Aether in his Energy Pathways to produce more pure Blood and overclocked [Greater Restoration]...
2025-06-10 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Shit had hit the fan.
Nothingness greeted him the moment he stepped out of the portal, and the urge to retrieve the Maelstrom overcame him. He held back and summoned both Scalemore and Serpent Fang, ignoring the Mythical Electra’s complaints as it looked at the remains of its once-majestic body.
He doubted Electra wanted to know how much of its meat he had already eaten, let alone how much more was safely stored in the spatial storage. David ignored the foreign emotions and rele...
2025-06-07 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The Echo didn’t return for a while. However, he could feel everything the Sacred Beast did, no matter how far it flew. The connection to the Echo remained firm, and he could have ordered it to return with a simple command. But David didn’t feel like doing so. He left Electra be, giving it some time to enjoy freedom and to do whatever it wanted to.
He could probably figure out what Electra was doing, yet he couldn’t be bothered and returned to replenish his used-up energies. He act...
2025-06-05 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The headache was just as bad as he'd expected from the torrent of information, but it quickly turned into something far more disgusting. His legs caved in, and he slumped to the ground, holding his head in agony as if someone’s fingers were digging through his brain.
Someone—or something—was combing through his mind, accessing his knowledge and understanding of… everything… to do something.
David closed his eyes for a moment, trying to cast [Greater Restoration], only to...
2025-06-03 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Life and…nothingness were fighting. They battled fiercely right before his eyes. Yet, from the looks of it, nothingness was not on the victorious side. If anything, it looked more like the living would emerge victorious.
Life and nothingness were fighting. They battled fiercely right before his eyes. Yet, it seemed that nothingness was on the losing side. If anything, it looked like life would emerge victorious.
But why did life prevail against the Void’s nothingness? Wa...
2025-06-01 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Zachariah didn’t stay behind for long after his broken body was restored. David remained, falling back onto his bed as grim thoughts plagued his mind.
Snippets of the fight between the Regressor and the Void Fragment resurfaced in his memory, reminding him exactly where he stood against the truly powerful beings of the Earthen Union.
David wasn’t foolish enough to believe he was the strongest, but knowing he had desperately struggled against a mere Sapling while Zachariah foug...
2025-05-30 10:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Even though David barely had the energy to move, the Void inside Zachariah had to be removed. His arm was already beyond salvation, and it wouldn’t be long before the infection spread to the rest of his shoulder. Close to half of it was already ravaged, leaving them with only one option.
“Can you do it? I’d do it myself, but it’s a bit difficult to cut off my own shoulder,” Zachariah asked calmly, beads of sweat trickling down his temples. “Carve out as much as you have to. ...
2025-05-28 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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William looked calmly at the writhing figure sprawled on the ground, his features void of emotion.
“How about you stop resisting? It’s not like you can do anything in your state either way,” he asked, his tail whipping toward the elf, snapping his soulbound bow with one bite.
“W-why…” the elf groaned, eyes moist as he locked gazes with William.
William stepped closer and bent down slightly, his fist driving into the man’s gut, piercing what remained of his armo...
2025-05-26 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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But that wasn’t up to him; the massive amount of work on that task belonged to Zachariah—maybe Maja, if she was up for it. With that in mind, David turned to the Portaligist and hurled a marble-sized, [Healing Link]-infused mass of Blood at her. Once the link was established with Maja, David studied her condition and cast [Greater Restoration] with a grim smile.
He focused on the parts damaged when her rift removed a fraction of the darkness that had shrouded the Void Sapling and wa...
2025-05-24 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Now that they had found a way to injure the Void Sapling, they were finally at an advantage—if they could repeat the same stunt and remove the all-devouring darkness’s protection, that is.
David narrowly dodged a deadly claw swipe, briefly turning his head toward the source of the scream. He had to take the risk to check on Maja, a dark shadow masking his face as he found her on the ground, bleeding from all orifices. While her life signal was erratic and hard to read, she was alive...
2025-05-22 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Since leaving the Nest intact wasn’t an option, David drained it entirely. It was a shame—given they could have transformed it into a relatively secure training ground—but the potential issues were too great.
Zachariah cut a good portion of the Nest Hearth out and removed the Void swirl before David devoured its lifeforce. He then stored it in a box embedded with various high-quality gemstones and unknown enchantments.
Once the Nest was dealt with, Maja reached them as well,...
2025-05-20 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Mountains fell from the sky, squashing the weaker Witherling Fiends mercilessly. There was also the occasional dense rock blasting from a golden portal, small rifts in space that twisted the Witherling Fiends’ bodies, and larger rocks blocking the monsters’ paths and attacks.
The ground around David shook violently as some of the larger rocks crashed to the ground near him, but he paid little attention to them. It wasn’t like they were aimed at him in the first place. If anything,...
2025-05-18 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Crumbs of dried blood fluttered to the ground as David’s eyes snapped open. He leaped to his feet, his eyes drifting vigilantly to Deryadus’ Arm, which rested unmoving. He felt the strength and resilience within the Relic, but there was no more vicious resistance. Something within the Relic tried to block him out even now, but David easily squashed the resistance of the remnants that had prevailed—momentarily, at least.
Should I destroy it wholly? Maybe not now. It may come in...
2025-05-16 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The marble resting in his hand was beautiful, to say the least. It had a dark-violet touch to it and released tiny, black electricity currents that traveled across its perfect, unblemished surface. But as beautiful as it was, the pressure it emitted was just as dangerous.
"That is the Beast Core?" David inquired, glancing at the Tirac Artificer with uncertainty. The Artificer, however, looked confident and excited, her vigorous nods confusing him all the more.
Maybe S...
2025-05-14 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“Are you ready?” Zachariah asked. “Or do you want to spar again?”
David was lying on his back, drenched in blood. Again. Several deep gashes covered his body, but neither he nor Zachariah paid much attention to them. They were already healing, either way.
He sat upright, ignoring his lurching stomach as some of the worse wounds tore open again, and smiled wryly at the Regressor. “No, and no. You’ve grown quite a bit—definitely more than I did in the last few months. ...
2025-05-12 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The days passed slowly. Digesting everything he had just heard was hard and time-consuming. So was making use of the newly acquired knowledge. It drained his time and pushed him from one challenge to the next, just like the creation of Sparks and the practice of Skill Runes.
But maybe David had been in dire need of those difficult, time-consuming tasks after everything he had gone through.
He did not return to the wild to seek fights with powerful monsters. ...
2025-05-10 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Interlude
The Saintess looked across the battlefield, her nose scrunched up in disgust. The acrid smell of blood, rotten flesh, and corruption struck her nostrils like a train at full speed. It occupied her senses, forcing her to cast [Purification] around her.
Only as the surrounding air regained its fresh and pure nature did her features ease up. She adjusted her robes, glancing at the unmoving bodies of the Undead and Infected ...
2025-05-08 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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With too much horrifying news to accept, and too many pieces of information to digest, David’s mind went blank.
The world around him turned into a blur.
When he regained full consciousness of his body and surroundings, David failed to suppress a pained groan. His eyes were wide open, staring at a wooden ceiling and a dimly lit lamp that illuminated the dark room faintly, but he did not move—even though he could.
...
2025-05-07 04:58:05 +0000 UTC
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As it turned out, Sparks were comparable to self-made energy techniques.
They were more a technique than a Skill, as they required greater precision to activate the ability sequence. However, activating the ability sequence was not instantaneous like a Skill Rune—unless trained extensively.
David was not certain about that yet, but he was confident he could activate [Healing Link] in a moment. While it was a bit slower than the instantan...
2025-05-06 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The only issue? David had no idea how other Skill Runes looked or what he was supposed to do here. In the first place, was a Spark supposed to look like a Skill Rune? It would appear odd if a Spark looked like a Skill Rune. If that had been the case, it would be called a Spark Rune—or something goofily like that.
Is the combination of Origin Essence and Blood the right call? Maybe if I could have copied [Blood Patch], but since that doesn’t seem possible… ...
2025-05-04 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Regardless of the circumstances around the Dwarven Sanctuary after the Great Horde’s attack, it was safe now—as safe as a settlement amidst the schemes of gods and the chaos of their influence could be.
Ashville’s people had settled in the Dwarven Sanctuary and adapted quickly. They greeted David with a smile as he walked past them, but there was also a note of something else in their expressions. It appeared to be respect, but David knew better.
They...
2025-05-02 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The Tirac Artificer squirmed, her eyes fixed on the ground as his question rang out.
“We were told you had no use for the corpse and decided to take it when nobody claimed it for days,” the Dwarven Blacksmith answered with a shrug, his face still red from the earlier implication.
“It seemed strange that you didn’t even bother collecting the system drops. We saw others take your things, and…” The Artificer’s scales clattered a...
2025-04-30 10:00:09 +0000 UTC
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He arrived at the Artificer’s workshop and listened in silence to the ringing of metal. His gaze drifted toward the two-story building, which looked more extravagant than the last time he’d been there, and he swallowed the last bites of the unidentifiable buns with a smile.
“Looks like it’s time to retrieve my Sacred Beast,” David muttered as he ascended the short flight of stairs to reach the metal door.
He pressed his hands fir...
2025-04-28 10:00:19 +0000 UTC
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The prehistoric Rift hadn’t changed much. Nature was still as abundant as the first time David and his friends had entered, but it was no longer untainted. Several paths leading away from the Rift had been created, making travel across the region easier.
While the paths were cobbled, they could not completely resist nature’s persistence. Moss, flowers, and various weeds worked their way through the stone, though the flourishing life around David suggested it...
2025-04-26 10:00:39 +0000 UTC
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Waiting, as it turned out, was Maja’s way of saying that the dwarves wanted to see Fortress.
“Fortress prepared a ‘gift of gratitude’ for you.” Maja smiled faintly as she added, “But I think it would be best to consider it a reward for protecting the Dwarven Sanctuary.”
David raised an eyebrow at that and nodded. He was happy to see Maja well and livelier than usual. She was not injured, appeared more relaxed, and, most impor...
2025-04-24 10:00:20 +0000 UTC
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His impression of the Pantheon was not great, yet he didn’t doubt the truth of the words written in the information scroll. Deep down, he knew it was the truth, no matter how much he wanted the information to be wrong—to be a mistake, or a sick prank.
His parents were dead. David should have expected it after everything he and others had gone through since the start of the integration. The chaos. The destruction. The deaths.
Yet, despi...
2025-04-22 10:00:39 +0000 UTC
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William jerked upright, his breath coming in ragged pants.
How am I still alive? He wondered, recalling the fleeting memories of the pain that should have killed him. Yet, he was alive and well.
No, he felt far better than just well. William jumped to his feet, his eyes widening ever so slightly as his body lifted effortlessly off the ground.
He landed with a soft squelch on the wet soil and furrowed his brows, confused about… everything around him.
Ambient ...
2025-04-20 10:00:18 +0000 UTC
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