C_Mantis

Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Head Sect Elder Winter Hornet looked around the gathering of leaders and met Defiant Comet’s eyes. The woman was glittering with released mana in a wasteful display. For her, it was nothing unusual, but her nod back spoke of understanding.

Smooth Bow and Dual Spear sat together and quietly chatted with their heads pressed together. Their sects were an annoying alliance that always voted together.

They were the fools trying to reform their sects and f...

PoA The Concept of Death 9

PoA The Concept of Death 9

Melinda found this siege far worse than the first one she had been a part of. The Queendom was in a rush, made apparent by their willingness to just throw bodies at the city walls in an effort to take them down.

To make matters worse, they were laying siege to the city that Matt had chosen to harass. His ceaseless attacks were a constant worry to her team. They were on opposite sides, but no one wanted to kill or be killed by their friends. 2021-12-22 20:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 105

Authors note.  

I will be taking a multi day break at the end of this month for my birthday, so I will not be posting on Monday, December 27th, Friday, December 31st, and Monday, January 3rd. Instead, I'll be treating that as both the end of the arc break and my own break.

Chapter 105

Emmanuel looked around his office while lost in thought.

He had cracked thousands of healing skills, to no effect, before he s...

Chapter 104

Last chapter of the arc 10k+ words. Thought to slip it into two but I like it as is. All that's left is the end of book Emperor POV.

Chapter 104

Albert was in his command center reviewing the information stream routing through Juni’s AI when he felt the world tremble. No one else seemed to notice, but he was sensitive to his father's comings and goings. That experience had honed his skill in detecting the fluctuations created by higher Tiered beings when ri...

Chapter 103

No Melinda chapter this Wednesdays cause i don't want anything spoiled. Next Wednesday we should be finishing up.

Chapter 103

Matt had once again just finished leading his troops to attack a portion of the Queendom’s defensive fortifications. Scores of soldiers were surrounding the second of the two cities under siege. The other city was receiving constant reinforcements, and he got news that a new skill was being used on the quickly falling walls.

As...

Chapter 102

Chapter 77 had a slight retcon because I'm stupid and didn't account for Matt being able to put [Cracked Breach] in his core spirit for a 30% discount. Easiest way to fix this was to make the skill not be able to be lowered in cost any more. Here is the passage that was changed. Sorry about this.

The second most expensive item was the Tier 20 skill, [Cracked Breach]. The Cracked effect drastically reduced the minimum cost for the skill, making it possible for someone even of Tier 6 to u...

Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Matt wasn't doing what he expected when he took over the Kingdom's military affairs.

He had expected to lead troops into battle without any other real considerations. He was wrong.

So, so wrong.

He was trying to figure out the logistics of moving a million people spread throughout squads of ten thousand. Without the ability to spend Kingdom level points, he could not provide for so many people, and he just didn't have the personal points to spend...

Chapter 100

Author notes: Chapter 100, well over half a million words. What a wild ride this year has been. Thank all of you so, so, so much. I really couldn’t have come this far without all of your support.

Speaking of which, I will be taking a three day break at the end of this month for my birthday, so I will not be posting on Monday, December 27th, Friday, December 31st, and Monday, January 3rd. Instead, I'll be treating that as both a late end of the arc break and my own break.

Chapter...

PoA The Concept of Death 8

Remember the melinda chapters are a bit back. Old link here.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/58025804

PoA The Concept of Death 8

Melinda called out commands and retreated as her simulated team pulled back.

This team was heavily stacked with mages, and only the plant mage had any ability to tie down the attacking ogres. Even then, it was a losing proposition. [Root] was a ...

Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Matt spent the evening with his team, casually watching movies and dining in. He wanted to cook, but the others wouldn't hear of it, and ordered a spread of dishes before they even reached their room.

On their way back, they picked up Aster from a groggy Alyssa, who only opened the door long enough for them to enter before she shuffled into her bathroom and into the running shower.

Aster was happy to see him, but was still mostly out of it. So when they...

Chapter 98

Slight shoutout to a fellow author who has helped me a lot when I first got started.

The Menocht Loop by caerulex just went to Kindle and Audible after being an RR hit. Its also been edited to reflect caerulex's improved writing chops which shines through. I assume a lot of you have read it already during its tenure on RR but for those that haven’t here’s my blurb.  If you enjoy time loop stories and or necromancers (decemancer) I think you’d enjoy this one. It’s a uniq...

Chapter 97

Authors Note. This will be the last week of no Melinda chapters. In two weeks will with finish both Matt and Melinda's arcs (hopefully at the same time). I intend for this arc to be done my 105 at the latest.

Chapter 97

The city was bustling when they filtered in. It was a long walk to their rooms through the massive city, and they couldn’t help but notice the divided populace during their trip.

The rightmost half of the city, the side where the Kingd...

Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Their remaining troops gathered together, and a debriefing was conducted by the still wounded Olivia. Matt listened in while he acted as a mana battery for the healers, who were hard at work getting the survivors combat-ready.

They had moved into the small fort, and she was permanently stuck on her flying device, as her legs would need to be regrown before she could walk. For now, while under the anti-flying formation, she was carried on a stretcher. That still didn’t...

Chapter 95

Chapter 95

The action immediately picked up when the auction officially ended. Matt was pretty sure that the Prince and Princess didn't stick around long enough for the smaller side auctions to end or the banquet. They quickly flew out of the bubble and started getting things ready.

Team bucket didn't linger either, but they didn't exactly rush out the door. Once they finished their meal, they left at their own pace.

None of them thought that the fighting would st...

Chapter 94

Yes there was no chapter Wednesday, I mentioned it on the last Melinda chapter but yes that was intentional. I should have reiterated it in Monday, my bad. I'm still trying to edit book 1 with the time I usually write Melinda chapters.

So here's an 8k chapter.

Chapter 94

Much to his surprise and delight, Matt wasn't placed on cooldown after being healed. He was close, but not quite over the edge.

The good news ended there.

The very night, after they arri...

Should I shift the posting time for chapters an hour forward?

My Euro readers brought up a good point its pretty late for them and the hour difference with daylight savings time make it pretty nice for them to read right before a normal bed time. I'll offer it to y'all to shift the time by an hour.

Chapter 93

Author Note: Its daylight savings time in the US so posting times might have shifted for you. Sorry about that. Not much I can do on that one.

Chapter 93

Team Bucket cheated. Slightly.

They left the neutral city before their healing cooldown was technically over. They just walked out the front gate and flew to where they needed to go.

It was skirting the rules, if not outright breaking them. Anyone with a healing cooldown was to remain in the neut...

Chapter 92

Chapter 92

When Matt and Liz finally got out of bed, they ambled over to the shower and lost themselves for another good while, enjoying each other’s company until their rumbling stomachs finally drove them into polite society.

Things felt new and fresh as they walked to run errands and pick up Aster from her sleepover in the recovery ward. Even the most mundane things felt brighter and more vibrant. Despite Liz stopping to get a hair elixir, and furiously scratching ...

Chapter 91

Chapter 91

Prince Albert watched as his surviving defenders streamed out of the north gate once he retreated from his decoy attack on the west gate. He was glad for his helmet, as it hid his smile. The smile felt impossible to remove, but with effort, he kept it off his face to issue a few commands.

After a week and a half of brutal bloodshed and determination, the Queendom had finally taken the city. Despite the loss, things went far better than he could have ever hope...

PoA The Concept of Death 7

PoA The Concept of Death 7

Melinda spent ten awful hours purging the contaminants from their systems, but she considered herself luckier than Sam and Mathew. Their suffering lasted a full two days, where they had to get the much larger dose of depleted copper out of their systems. Neither were willing to speak of their time in quarantine, only stating that it had been rough.

They did find out that there had been a slew of changes to how the point system worked after the...

Chapter 90

Authors note. I think this is the longest chapter so far, 8237 words. Enjoy, I did writing it.

Chapter 90

Eleven hours later, as the sun was rising over the horizon, the first wall crumbled in on itself. It was the western section, the one directly opposite from Matt’s position. The light coming from the east gave him a spectacular view of the destruction. The wall now had a slope where the rubble slid down, creating a natural ramp.

M...

Chapter 89

Wednesday's chapter will be a Matt chapter. Friday's chapter will be a Melinda chapter.

Wednesday's chapter will be a Matt chapter. Friday's chapter will be a Melinda chapter.

Wednesday's chapter will be a Matt chapter. Friday's chapter will be a Melinda chapter.

Wednesday's chapter will be a Matt chapter. Friday's chapter will be a Melinda chapter.

Read the after chapte...

Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Matt flew through the air with his team; they were interspersed throughout the standard guard team.

A month after their deaths, they were pulling secret escort missions. While neither glorious nor high earning, the missions were necessary. Nearly half of the Kingdom’s resource shipments from the outlying forts were being stolen. The third city was being plucked at from all sides, and the thefts were costing the Kingdom valuable resources. The Prince had per...

Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Matt and Kelley were sitting around two pairs of gauntlets, one with a cold rune etched into the back of the hand, the other with a slowing rune.

They just sat there and stared at them together. Their half a day of testing had finally paid off.

The same mana aspect could be subtly different, which led to subtly different results. With some manipulation of the standard cold rune, they had created a rune that, when cold-based skills were cast through, cre...

Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Matt and his team were left at their wits end once the meeting was over. They didn't know what they should be doing with their free time. They couldn't even spar, in case they injured themselves. So that was out of the question for at least another week, and without the ability to go on missions, Matt felt adrift.

With little left to do, Matt offered, “I’m going to pester an enchanter I know. Does anyone want to come?”

Annie sighed. “It's too ea...

PoA The Concept of Death 6

[PREVIOUS CHAPTER: https://www.patreon.com/posts/56755630 ]

PoA The Concept of Death 6

Melinda cursed and rechecked her surroundings. They were on a cliff with a half-decent position, but it wasn't ideal.

“Move right and get into a defensive position.”

She looked over the cliff and added, “Vinny, protect our feet. Don't let them collapse the ground under us.”

Her tea...

Chapter 85

Author note. This one was a doozie. Thanks to a near full rewrite suggested by (and helped by) the beta readers this is a millions times better. This chapter would have been much more bland without their input.

Chapter 85

Matt swung his sword back and forth. Blow after blow carved through the enemies before him. As he killed one, two replaced them. He tried to escape, but his feet felt stuck in the ground.

The crab monsters slowly morphed into horses wi...

Chapter 84

Chapter 84

Matt quickly scooped up his bond and the abused bunny. It took more than a little gentle coaxing to get her to let go of the fluffy whitetail. Once he did get the bunny free, it jumped from his arms, to rush towards what it expected was freedom from its tormentor.

Instead, it jumped up and kicked his bond in the head before bounding away twice, then turning and wiggling its nose at her.

Aster flew from his arms and raced towards the disappearing bunny.<...

Chapter 83

A little Patreon character POV this chapter. Just wanted to thank everyone who sent in such cool ideas. I was able take two here and make a dope teams with shadow/darkness affinity mixing. 

Chapter 83

Ash stood panting, staring at the pool of blood the man had left behind. This was why direct combat should be avoided; ambush tactics were so much more refined. Ash’s Tier 1 talent granted [Water Manipulation] and [Darkness Manipulation] as well as changing...

We have a little art!