Lily leaned back on the sofa, a picture of nonchalant confidence. "Things like the Awakening Stone are usually guarded very strictly, it's true. However, with my 'face'," she said, tapping her cheek with a grin, "if I ask for him to have one chance to re-test, I’m quite sure the mayor will agree to it."
"Then… then I'll have to trouble you, Lily," Simon said, his voice filled with immense gratitude.
"We're fam...
2025-06-11 10:06:11 +0000 UTC View Post"Why are you hiding from me… Big Nephew?" the mysterious green-haired woman said, her voice laced with amusement.
"Sis Lily? Why are you here?" Ethan looked with a helpless, almost panicked expression at the person before him—his aunt, Lily.
He never called her "Aunt Lily"—she was only two years older than him and absolutely hated how it made her sound ancient. "Sis Lily" had become their awkward, but accepted, compromise.
Folks...
2025-06-11 09:55:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe Ice Serpent's head was smashed askew by Marcus's relentless punches. But even a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone this sinister and insidious serpent. With a final, desperate hiss, it opened its mouth wide, and a breath of frigid, concentrated air came spitting out from its mouth. That breath of icy Aura was extremely cold. After it was sprayed out, it even caused the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees, frost forming on the nearb...
2025-06-11 09:41:22 +0000 UTC View PostSeraphina sighed, a thoughtful look on her face. "Indeed, our training speed, when placed in the context of the entire city of New Veridia, is considered to be at the absolute top of the list. Probably only that Iris Thorne can be compared with us. Speaking of which, there has been no news of her during this period of time; I don't know what rank she has managed to train to by now."
Ethan...
2025-06-11 09:38:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe potent medicinal power of the Astra Vine coursed through every inch of Ethan's DNA. A warm, invigorating current flowed through his every Aura Channel, making him feel exceptionally comfortable, as if his entire being was being renewed. Even though it was a hot summer day, this internal feeling was a bit too intense, and his head was soon covered in beads of sweat from the sheer concentration of energy.
Very quickly, the vast...
2025-06-11 09:33:31 +0000 UTC View Post"Holy moly," Ethan, as Wildvine, muttered to himself, his plant-like eyes wide. "There's such a long section of this thing embedded in the ground; no wonder we couldn't even begin to move it."
When he had traveled underground, he saw that below the giant rock from before, there was still a section at least a meter long that was "growing" deep into the earth, as if the rock itself were some kind of colossal, petrified plant. And at this moment, in the pitch-black ...
2025-06-11 09:26:36 +0000 UTC View Post"Aah!!!" Seraphina's surprised shriek echoed through the clearing.
"Alright, Seraphina, stop shouting," Ethan's synthesized voice as Upgrade emanated from her own armor. "My audio receptors were almost deafened by your scream!"
Seraphina had just been startled by Upgrade rushing over and merging with her. When she came to her senses, she found that she hadn't suffered any harm, and her armor now felt strang...
2025-06-11 09:23:11 +0000 UTC View PostEthan, as XLR8, focused his high-speed spinning attack relentlessly on Hardman's back. The screech of his bone-claws against the hardened skin was deafening. He actually managed to cut several shallow but bleeding wounds into his opponent's tough body. Hardman, seeing his vaunted defense finally being broken, grew a bit flustered, and his counter-attacks began to get messy and desperate. Ethan seized this opportunity, stopped his spinning assault in an instant, and exp...
2025-06-11 09:17:09 +0000 UTC View Post"Azure Light Slash!"
"Air-Rending Slash!"
The two metal-type opponents immediately unleashed their psionic skills on Marcus, their saber and sword glowing with destructive energy, looking to secure a quick, overwhelming victory.
"Shattering Fist!"
Marcus's two hands flashed with light as he, in a surprising display of power, released a psionic skill from both fists simultaneously. The price of doing this, he knew, was a thirty percent ...
2025-06-11 09:11:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe arena announcer's voice boomed over the crowd. "Next up, let us welcome back to the ring the undefeated newcomer, Kid Hacker, and his challenger, the prickly veteran, Porcupine, for what is sure to be a wonderful and pointedly vicious duel!"
Ethan turned to his friends. "It's finally my turn again. Porcupine? Isn’t that the same guy who was competing just now, the one who skewered that wolf-guy?"
Seraphina nodded, her eyes focu...
2025-06-11 09:08:32 +0000 UTC View PostWhy didn't Ethan, Marcus, and Seraphina show up for the final school assessment? Naturally, it was because they now looked down on those few beginner-grade potions being offered as prizes. They were now at a point in their training where they disdained to use such low-level resources for themselves. Rather than waste the opportunity on their own, already rapid, progress, they felt it was better to give the other students who ...
2025-06-11 08:52:50 +0000 UTC View PostEthan gestured for Seraphina to begin. She responded instantly, launching herself forward. She executed a flying scissor kick with her left leg, using the powerful momentum to spin her body in mid-air and land a sharp, impactful kick on Ethan’s right shoulder. The force of the blow was strong, and Ethan was uncontrollably pushed back several steps, his right shoulder still aching faintly from the clean hit.
He focused with all his might, his ey...
2025-06-11 08:50:04 +0000 UTC View PostHowever, Ethan's arduous training under Mr. Gordon was not without its immediate benefits. In the afternoon, after experiencing four hours of high-intensity pressure training, when he sat down to channel Aura again, his body would transmit a distinct feeling of being "hungry and thirsty." In this state, his speed of absorbing ambient psionic energy was easily twice that of his normal rate, and he could also digest and assimilate it with incre...
2025-06-09 14:49:29 +0000 UTC View PostAt eight o'clock the next morning, the students of Class Four straggled into the Sunstone Martial Arts Gym. From the oppressive, gloomy atmosphere that hung heavy in the air, one could feel that the collective resentment was thick enough to sustain ten despair-wraiths.
Regarding this, Ethan, Marcus, and Seraphina could only offer a silent, slightly guilty apology in their hearts. Sorry, fellow students. This was kin...
2025-06-09 14:48:32 +0000 UTC View PostScott didn't know how he knew where to go; he just ran. The instincts screaming in his blood, heightened by the full moon's oppressive glow, were a confusing, terrifying cacophony. But through it all, one scent cut through the noise, a beacon in the sensory storm: Allison. It was her perfume, the faint scent of her shampoo, the unique fragrance that was just her. He'd followed the ghostly trail of Derek's car from the party because Derek had taken her home, leaving a scent t...
2025-06-09 14:39:20 +0000 UTC View PostAlex slammed the sedan to a halt in front of his mother's house, the tires screeching on the wet pavement. The quiet suburban street was dark, the only light coming from their own porch and the flickering streetlights. The rhythmic drumming of the rain had softened to a drizzle, but the air was thick with a tension that had nothing to do with the weather.
He and Stiles scrambled out of the car, their earlier party moods entirely forgotten. The house was dark, except for a faint light in...
2025-06-09 14:38:14 +0000 UTC View Post
In a quiet corner of a modern teahouse, Mr. Gordon, Ethan Atherton, Marcus Vance, and Seraphina Linley were sitting together. Mr. Gordon blew gently on the steaming tea in his cup, then drank the fragrant liquid all in one go, setting the cup down with a decisive click.
"So," he began, his gaze sharp as he looked at the three teenagers, "you're saying you want me to help you train your practical combat skills?"
Marcus, add...
2025-06-08 14:34:40 +0000 UTC View PostEthan Atherton, now cloaked and masked as "Kid Hacker," arrived at the fighter's entrance to the ring. A grim-faced staff member slid a datapad across the counter. Ethan signed the "life-and-death waiver" with his codename, the digital ink glowing ominously. Although the waiver was signed with an alias, it still held a chilling legal effect within the confines of The Gauntlet.
He said to the staff member nearby, his modulated voice betraying none of his inner tur...
2025-06-08 14:26:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe pre-dawn gloom of the Malibu workshop was a graveyard of abandoned ideas and empty wine bottles. Holographic displays, left on overnight, cast long, ghost-blue shadows across half-assembled gauntlets and scattered tools. The air was stale, thick with the scent of cold metal, expensive Merlot, and the profound funk of hopelessness. Tony Stark was slumped over a carbon-fiber workbench, his head pillowed on his arms amidst a chaotic sprawl of data-slates and printouts. He’d been at ...
2025-06-08 13:10:30 +0000 UTC View PostAt the hotel entrance, Superman scanned with his X-ray vision and easily found the penguin playing on the computer.
He landed on the balcony of room 2706 with Lois. Out of politeness, Superman knocked on the sliding glass door to get the penguin's attention inside.
"Oh? Superman's here. Finally fucking here. If he didn't come soon, I'd be suspecting his super brain was a piece of junk."
The penguin hopped off the computer desk. The dragon tooth key on its flipper shot...
2025-06-05 18:47:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe faint scent of ozone and something unplaceably alien lingered in Tony Stark’s Malibu workshop long after Alex’s swirling portal had snapped shut, leaving an unnerving silence in its wake. Tony, who had taken an involuntary step forward as if to call Alex back, now just stood there, staring at the empty space, his mind reeling. A six-inch, grey-skinned, hyper-intelligent alien frog had just eviscerated his life’s work, lectured him on heroism using some other universe’s kid as an e...
2025-06-04 15:55:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe three of them, once again cloaked in their now-familiar anonymous black robes and simple masks, located the establishment Seraphina had spoken of. The sign above the rather unassuming, slightly grimy shopfront read, in bold, unapologetic letters: The Gauntlet.
Ethan Atherton rested his chin on his hand, looking at the surprisingly public entrance with a thoughtful frown. "Can this… this kind of illicit place still be so open and aboveboard in its ...
2025-06-04 11:43:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe two behemoths, Ethan as the crimson-skinned Four Arms and Marcus with his psionically enhanced, bulging muscles, fiercely collided once more. The impact emitted a dull, resonant thud that vibrated through the arena floor. They pushed against each other, a raw contest of pure, unadulterated strength, neither giving an inch. For a moment, it was a perfect stalemate, a breathtaking display of power. Then, sure enough, Four Arms, with the inherent advantage o...
2025-06-04 11:40:33 +0000 UTC View PostEthan Atherton carefully regarded the spoils from their black market trip: two ordinary F-rank Aura Cores and five advanced-grade psionic potions. His first strategic step was to take three of the advanced potions to various other, less conspicuous psionic potion stores around New Veridia and discreetly exchange them. Through careful bartering, he managed to trade them for a total of six intermediate-grade psionic potions. If he had dared to go to his ...
2025-06-04 11:37:14 +0000 UTC View PostEthan, transformed into the blur that was XLR8, clutched Seraphina and Marcus tightly, one under each arm, and sped with frantic urgency towards the distant silhouette of New Veridia. He didn't dare to pause, not even for a moment, the imagined shouts of bandits still echoing in his mind.
Marcus, his voice slightly breathless from the sheer velocity, yelled over the rushing wind, "Ethan 2025-06-04 11:34:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Wayne stared at Ethan’s new plant-like form, a bewildered expression on his face. "Whoa. So… green!"
Wildvine’s blue central eye swiveled to glare at him. "If you don't know how to talk properly, Marcus, then perhaps it’s best to just shut up!" Ethan’s voice, as Wildvine, was a rustling, slightly wet sound.
Seraphina, ever practical, stepped between them. "Alright, you two, stop bickering. Ethan, hurry up and tell us what this new form of yours can actually do. It...
2025-06-04 11:30:20 +0000 UTC View PostSnore~ snore~
Deep within the verdant, sun-dappled wilderness forest, a lone Direwolf was blissfully sunbathing, sprawled out near the base of a large tree, fast asleep. Its snores, loud and rhythmic, echoed faintly through the clearing.
Thwack!
Suddenly, a well-aimed stone struck it sharply on the head. The Direwolf, startled violently awake, yelped and scrambled to its feet, its head snapping up. It glared balefully in the direction the stone had come from....
2025-06-04 11:27:51 +0000 UTC View PostSeraphina, ever the organized one, went through their final equipment checklist with the air of a seasoned quartermaster. "Psionic Armor, standard light combat issue, capable of resisting a full-power blow from an F-rank beast, or at least significantly mitigating the damage."
"Wearing it," Ethan and Marcus chorused, adjusting the surprisingly comfortable, form-fitting gear.
"Psionic daggers, monomolecular edge, sharp enoug...
2025-06-04 11:24:52 +0000 UTC View PostAfter they had eaten and drunk to their considerable content, a feat largely attributable to Marcus’s appetite and Ethan’s surprising Four Arms-fueled capacity, Seraphina, with a sudden glint in her eye, suggested they go shopping. Ethan, outnumbered and outmaneuvered, found he couldn't reasonably refuse and thus had to tag along, resigned to an afternoon of Browse.
On the way, laden with a few bags (mostly Seraphina’s), Ethan, ever curious about the mechanics of this new world, a...
2025-06-04 11:21:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Ready, Marcus?” Heatblast’s voice crackled with anticipation. Without waiting for an answer, Ethan thrust both flaming hands forward. A thick, incandescent pillar of fire, roaring like a contained inferno, shot directly towards Marcus. Caught off guard by the sheer intensity, Marcus instinctively crossed his arms in a desperate block. The torrent of fire only lasted for three intense seconds, but it felt like an eternity to him. When the pillar ...
2025-06-04 11:14:45 +0000 UTC View Post