Robert Vlaho

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 73 - The Interview

Although it hadn’t been outside the realm of possibility, it had been far outside Freddy’s expectations to find himself sitting beside Jacob Santorio, the son of the owner of the Santorio Training Center and the Santorio Hub.

Despite his own intimidating size, he looked damn tiny next to the towering figure that was Jacob. The man must have been almost seven feet tall, and the sheer mass of muscle covering his body, dare he say, put even Mark Afronte to shame. On top of that, the ma...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 72 - Undeath

Freddy stood beside Sophia, frowning at the tiny blob of flesh on the ground. At first glance, the chunk of meat looked no different than any other captured life spark, with its vague squirming and pinkish hue. But not only was it not the same thing, it was something that, theoretically, shouldn’t even exist.

“You’re sure that your talent isn’t illegal?” he asked the woman, his gaze burning a hole into the back of her skull as she sweated.

“I… Well… It wasn’t eva...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 71 - Auction

Mark found himself walking in a dark forest, a muted moon barely illuminating his path. He had no recollection of this place, at first, at least. But as his steps moved him forward, past the trees and low, scattered brush, he eventually smelled a note that tickled the far back of his mind. It was a swampy, unpleasant smell.

He had been here before. In a distant time, where things were complicated but simpler. A time when he had been innocent.

As the image of the trees overlapped w...

[update] I believe it's time for me to be acknowledge it

No beating around the bush or stalling.

I have an anxiety disorder.

There is no chapter today. That's because I didn't finish it. I've had a particularly nasty episode these past few days, and it's reached a point where I believe it's time for me to be more clear with myself and my audience.

I'm generally rather terrified about sharing stuff in regard to my health, especially mental since I am always afraid of encountering backlash or being called out for whatever rando...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 70 - Ungodly Nemesis

Freddy stared at the woman, feeling more tired than ever before in his life. “We are already immortal,” he reminded her.

“No—” she said, correcting herself. “I’m not talking about that kind of immortality.”

His brain was too sluggish to catch on to what the woman was trying to say, and before he realized what she meant, she raised her hand and manifested a life spark—

But it wasn’t pink. It was a ghoulish, flickering grey.

His eyes instantly shot wi...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 69 - Conflict

In the pure darkness of the night, Sophia tumbled to the ground, thrown back by the forceful blow. The flashlight that fell out of her hands clattered to the nearby soil and landed in a way that illuminated the crumpled form of the injured woman, part of the light falling on the crusted, bloody, torn armor covering Freddy’s body.

He watched her bleeding nose rapidly reconstruct itself as she burned another spark, all while doing his best to restrain himself from forcing her to use ano...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 68 - Bloodshed is Always By Your Side

The trip down the cliff wasn’t smooth. After slamming into the incline, Freddy landed on his rucksack and spun, sliding down the rest of the short hill as the baggage on his back prevented him from rolling, eventually grinding to a halt behind a large boulder obscuring him from the gorels just ahead.

Thanks to his durability and thick armor, he didn’t suffer any significant injuries, but his jacket was slightly damaged by the scraping, and it had heated up considerably from the fric...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 67 - New Ally

Theodore walked into the room, walking past Phillip and Rachel.

“Hey, Theo!” Jacob greeted him. “Did you hear from that guy yet?” the man asked just as Phillip walked out of the room, cradling his bleeding head. The doors closed.

He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. He hadn’t heard anything from Liam yet because… well… the two of them weren’t really friends. But frankly, even with that…

“I haven’t heard anything from him,” he said, shrugging. But...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 66 - Life Sparks

Phillip made his way out of the Santorio Hub, sighing deeply. He jostled his rough fingers through his neatly combed hair as he made his way back.

He wasn’t having the best day of his life. The entirety of last week had been awful, actually.

Just a few minutes ago, he had finished an errand that should have by no means been his responsibility. Not only did he feel terrible for ruining that woman’s day, but he had lost several hours looking for her.

“That man is truly o...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 65 - Tracking Progress

The fact that it was nighttime made things rather difficult for Freddy. He was supposed to form a new ability that day, but if it was nighttime, there was no way he could afford to use something experimental in life-or-death situations.

Thankfully, he had a solution on hand.

Taking a turn down a path he usually avoided, he started his journey. He was passed by a group of three people wearing the shiniest equipment he had seen in a while. They thoroughly ignored him, and judging by...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 64 - A Suitable Weapon

Freddy stared at the sickly woman sprawled out on the ground before his feet. “Uhhh…” he muttered, mind uncomprehending.

The gorel corpse hanging off the rack behind his back dripped blood on the ground behind him. The sun roared up above, and the sounds of distant combat grew louder with each passing moment as more and more parties engaged, using the day as a cue to finally ambush gorels they had likely been stalking for a while already.

“Excuse me, what?” he asked, uns...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 63 - Strange Encounter

After sending his one-night stand on her way, Freddy turned around and stepped into his apartment. The small living room was illuminated by the late spring early afternoon sun, and the world was his oyster. That day, he would do something nice for himself and have some fun.

It took him roughly thirty minutes to get bored. Eventually, he stopped lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

It wasn’t like he had much to do. He had actively avoided getting any distracting hobbies, ...

[UPDATE] I am cured (jk, but I am better)

First—thank you. One of my biggest fears about the update was that I’d get people telling me I’m lazy or whatever, and I’m happy to say that not even a single person decided to be mean.

This has gone a long way in validating how I feel. I’m far more confident that I’m going in the right direction.

It’s been a night; I’ve had good sleep, woke up, listened to music, had some coffee with my friends, ate and just… didn’t think about it. I let my mind rest and just ...

[UPDATE] I haven't burned out, I swear

But I’m well on my way to getting there.

What I want this update to be, more than anything, is a confession. Not just privately to myself but to my audience because that way, I don’t get to brush it off again and hide it under the rug.

If you’re worried that this means a hiatus or a break, don’t be. In fact, I’m hoping to write more, not less, but there are some important things I need to discuss first.

Writing has been my job for just a bit over ...

[THE JESTER OF APOCALYPSE] Chapter 145 - A True Immortal Arts Practitioner

The hundred and ten holy servants stepped their way into the depths. As they made their way past one desolate cavern after another, they gradually gathered speed.

A golden-haired woman with purple eyes led the charge, marching in the front as she kept her eyes peeled for any enemy activity. Her name had been Pitria. But now, that name meant nothing to her. All she was was servitude itself, no more important than a single sword-swing by the Great God’s Holy Proginy.

She couldn’...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 62 - Impostor

In the middle of a forested realm with a suffocating, humid jungle environment, two people knelt half-naked before the eight people surrounding them. The first of the two—a short, black-haired man—held himself firmly as a figure in red robes scanned his body.

The other person, a tall woman dressed in nothing but her underwear, waited for them to finish as she kept eye contact with Rahal.

They had surrendered rather easily. That was a wise decision. Not only had they been surro...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 61 - Mysterious Circumstances

Mark gulped as he stared at the circular passage embedded into the stony ceiling.

"Fall back," Madame said in a severe tone.

Both he and Nahar obeyed without asking any questions. After a few minutes of cautious but hasty retreat away from the passage, they finally left the unnerving area.

Nahar's gaze sharpened as he glanced at Madam. "Could that passage be related to why you're looking for Freddy?" he asked.

“Mr. Afronte,” she barked, none of her usual joviality ...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 60 - Complicated Situation

"Oh God fucking damn it," Freddy whispered under his breath as he slowly shifted his naked body out of the sheets, got up, and snuck his way out of the room. He slowly cracked the door open to take another, more careful look at the woman lying in his bed.

"Yep," he confirmed. That was indeed Theodore's wife. "Fuck my life," he screamed in a whispered tone as he slowly closed the door without making a sound. His mind whirled as he tried to think of what to do in this scenario.

Shou...

[THE JESTER OF APOCALYPSE] Chapter 144 - The Next Batch

What surprised Hosolar the most wasn't the fact that they had failed but how they had failed. Two of them had undeniably died, but the third one had vanished, and another two seemed to have been erased. That child had truly peculiar means. And he knew it was the child and not some random monster due to the way they had perished; monsters weren’t capable of such trickery.

As the current highest authority within this realm, he could naturally sense the positions of anyone below him in a...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 59 - Oops

[Minor note]

Finally caught back up to ten chapters ahead :D. Hopefully, I can make that even more now that I have more time. Have fun, guys. Hope you enjoy! 

[Note end]

Not many people had survived the destruction of Camp Violet. As Mark walked right beside Nahar and Madam, he witnessed the destruction himself. According to the reports, the camp had been destroyed by some form of fire-affinity entity. None of the people who had directly seen what had attacked the camp...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 58 - Master Abuser

Freddy had focused entirely on growing Puddle of Blood. He still didn’t have Crimson Mercury and, thus, couldn’t truly use the blood affinity for anything of value.

But after a month of observing the party in action and seeing numerous others fighting the gorels, he was confident that he wouldn’t need it either way.

Stepping out into the passage realm by himself distinctly differed from being there with the others. Thankfully, it was day, but if anything, that made him anxio...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 57 - Motion

[AUTHOR'S NOTES] 

Apologies for the late chapter! I will deliver another one to bring things back on schedule. Holidays had me way more occupied than I expected to be. Hopefully, this won't happen again. Enjoy the chapter, another one will follow, most likely tomorrow, to bring things back up to speed.

Also, Happy New Year! Here's to a damn good 2024!

Cheers, everyone, and enjoy the chapter!

[END OF AUTHOR'S NOTES]

Ethereal mercy. It was a phenomenon that si...

Today marks precisely one year since I became an author

The 28th of December, 2020, 22:04 CEST. 

That is the precise time at which, exactly a year ago, I uploaded the first chapter of the Jester of Apocalypse to Royal Road. 

A lot has changed since then.

For the longest time, I wanted to make writing a career. Numerous times I was told that there was no way to make a living as a writer or that being an author was something reserved for those with prestigious academic achievements in language and literature and that I si...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 56 - Living Weapon

The apartment Freddy was living in was a five-to-ten-minute walk away from the hub. And given that the entire district was built around the hub and the passages within, that meant that he was a five-to-ten-minute walk away from everything.

In fact, the training center closest to where he lived was only two minutes away—all he had to do to get there was leave the building and walk down the street.

All told, added with what he earned earlier that day, he only had another ...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 55 - Pitch Black Aura

There was no time to think. Freddy stood, facing a green-striped guard, unsure of what to do. The creature was clearly after him, and not the bags, so he made the wise choice of backing away while yelling, “Devia—!” but that was all he could get out before the creature launched a bundle of slithering vines and wrapped up his body from head to toe.

The guard charged at him fearlessly, readying its claws to disembowel him.

Hydraulic Flex triggered, tightening his muscles and s...

[THE JESTER OF APOCALYPSE] Chapter 143 - Golorgs

Jeevian drank a cup of liquid. The power within made his entire body course with unimaginable might, and he couldn’t stop himself from cackling in joy. If his father could witness this crazy child turning a dragon monster into an incredibly potent elixir, he would have spat blood and resigned from his position as an elder of the Descending Heavenly Dragon sect.

After a while, the transformation of the dragon who had attacked Neave and his companions was undone. The small, humanoid for...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 54 - Pros in Action

Green, yellow, red, and black. These were the color codes used to mark the danger of areas in passage realms. This was the first time Freddy realized that this system wasn’t unique to the mining expedition.

As they stepped into the green zone that marked the starting area, he couldn’t stop looking around in wonder.

This realm had a rather unique geographical layout. Stone dominated most of the terrain, and hardy wood and low brush were right about the only thing that could bre...

[THE JESTER OF APOCALYPSE] Chapter 142 - A Small Favor

The sound of blood dripping on the stony ground was all that could be heard as the air in the room froze. The blurry image of the creature before them stood there for another few moments, and then it vanished. By the time it did, the woman was already gone.

“Fuck!” Neave yelled. “Heavens fucking damn it! I wish I had realized it's an illusion sooner! Damn, that was convincing.”

“Hahaha…” Dukean’s dad chuckled. Then, he started cackling like a lunatic. “I can’t ...

[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 53 - Preparations

Freddy sat beside the people he had made a deal with; there were only three of them there so far, with their leader sitting on the small chair and the other two seated on the couch beside himself.

The man whose strength the leader had much faith in was the quiet type, sporting a buzzcut even shorter than his own, his longsword resting in its sheath and his black synthetic carbon helm placed on the table before them. The man wore entirely black gear, not pitch black like those items he h...

[THE JESTER OF APOCALYPSE] Chapter 141 - The One They Must Slay

Jeevian didn’t consider himself a cold person. Many would deem his intentions as malicious, but he truly didn’t think there was anything evil to what he was doing. He would save a realm from destruction, so it was only natural to become the one who ruled it.

But at that moment, he had a thought that anyone would agree wasn’t particularly moral. As he looked at Xondir, Zhaore’s successor, he had the brief thought that the man’s death might have been fortunate.

Zhaore had ...