Luca DR

Edge of apocalypse 110

110 – Earth update

There was a device in the warehouse level of the Lair. An increasingly complex thing, made of magic and technology built according to some inscrutable blueprint, followed word for word at first, and then increasingly not anymore. It was the personal crown jewel for Samantha and a whole crew of engineers, even in its incomplete state.

The first step had been in the direction of a containment device. Yet, as weeks passed, things changed. The biggest change hap...

Edge of apocalypse 109

109 – Ill-gotten gains

Not all Usurps had been successful, nor did all the High Elves Albert did manage to usurp give him bonuses that were worth killing someone for.

[Usurp unsuccessful.]

[Usurp unsuccessful.]

[Usurp unsuccessful.]

[Usurp successful. Speedattribute +0.5. Nature affinity increased.]...

Edge of apocalypse 108

108 – Shady deal

“You have a damaged foundation.”

Kainen regarded the elf with a growing, gnawing sense of dread and desire for violence. Even more so now that the elf had uttered the last words Kainen would have ever expected him to.

“How did you know?” Kainen growled, not hiding that his hand had gone to his sword. Far away, Albert was meditating and playing with what looked like sloppy attempts at illusion magic.

He was making complex designs that fell a...

Edge of apocalypse 107

107 – Return with wounded pride

Hyvrlat’r navigated the forest with the swiftness of an expert tracker. He had been given a command, which was now his only imperative, in the brief confrontation he had with the abomination before he was allowed to escape. The command he had been given was clear: return home and make it look like the attack succeeded. Then come back and follow our orders.

And so he did. He went back to the King, and reported that the attack h...

Edge of apocalypse 106

106 – Fight against elves (2/2)

The switch from non-lethal to lethal force took Albert less than a second. The moment his mind reached the inevitable conclusion that the only way to walk out of this fight alive was to be willing to kill, the whole moral edifice that he had built around the tenet of ‘not killing’ crumbled down into nothingness.

And now, all of a sudden, there were many new strategies he could employ. Telekinesis did not need to be used sparingly, dosing the...

Edge of apocalypse 105

105 – Fight against elves (1/2)

Hyvrlat’r grinned as he sent forward an illusory copy of himself to talk to the humans. He observed them from high above, hidden by the thick foliage of the forest, camouflaged like only a Tracker could be. There was no way they knew he was actually there, and not on the ground.

“Choose, humans. Surrender now, and you will be granted a swift death. Or don’t, and die suffering.”

He studied their reactions. The young one was about to...

Edge of apocalypse 104

104 – Terrible weapons

Albert had decided to meditate a bit before sleeping the night and, before he knew it, the whole night had passed. He had meditated through it all, and surprisingly he was feeling as refreshed as if he had slept a full eight hours. Perhaps even more. It seemed that system-aided meditation was quite restorative, and it allowed him to cultivate for several hours without pause.

Level: 1/20 – XP: 972/2000 -> 1709/2000

Meditation g...

Edge of apocalypse 103

103 – Hyvrlat’r

Hyvrlat’r growled. The forest was, to him, an open book. Reading from the pages of said book, he could track the movements of the two interlopers who dared intrude upon the sacred territory of Ta’mirian.

The event had, of course, aided him and his faction immensely. He had wielded their presence like a flaming sword as the arguments heated up in the grand hall of the Sprout of the Mother Tree, where the king was forced to see the truth in the ways of Arca...

Edge of apocalypse 102

102 – Firelaser

The second day of travel happened at a much quicker pace than the first. Kainen pushed the limits of what Albert could do, testing whether the boy was able to follow him as he gradually increased his speed to superhuman levels and navigated the treacherous forest in ways impossible to a normal human.

This also answered one of Albert’s questions about travel in this strange world. Adventurers all had their own ways, tailored specifically to them, and warriors ...

Edge of apocalypse 101

101 – Completely insane

Night approached. They had made good time, but the forest was immense. The mountains looked closer than they did before, and the teleportation map confirmed that the duo indeed had covered a great amount of terrain in a day of travel, but again, the forest was immense.

As they stopped to eat supper, Albert took out his rations while Kainen prepared to make a fire.

“Handy, that inventory of yours.” The man said, nodding at Albert. “How much f...

Edge of apocalypse 100

100 – Attribute meter

Attributes

The number is a multiplier to the base body   stats, divided by type. All bonuses apply after body training and before   skills.

Strength:   1
 Speed:  1.1
 Durability:  1
 Endurance:  1
 Defense:  1

The speed attribute was the only number that was not a 1. Albert knew why, remembering the notification he received when he Usurped the sec...

Edge of apocalypse 99

99 – New bad news

Dave Cameron was the scientist leading the team tasked with unveiling the intricate mysteries of magic. He was supposed to understand the nature mana as an agent of the universe, to discern whether mana was a particle, a force, or anything in between. He was supposed to come up with a theory of it, a sort of foundation upon which to build everything that would come afterwards.

Of course, this was all wrong. The best approximation of a theory that he had was p...

Edge of apocalypse 98

98 – All talk

[Kainen Robertson Druimer. Level 32 (damaged foundation) Guild Master. While his true power level is unknown, what you can glimpse with Appraisal is enough to not classify him as a threat to your life – at least for the purpose of what you want to do next.]

Albert dismissed Bullet Time and simply stared at Kainen, the guild master, who in turn stared at him with a complex expression on his face. One moment he was frowning, the next – when the...

Edge of apocalypse 97

97 – Kainen

Albert returned to the city, wasting no time and teleporting directly to the guild. He actually did take a small detour and stopped once to meditate on top of a tree because, frankly, he needed to clear his head. His encounter and fight with the elves had not been without consequence for his mental landscape.

Then, with 653 XP in his status, feeling a bit better than before but still quite shaken and pissed off, he made his way towards the adventurer’s guild.

Edge of apocalypse 96

96 – Arcane Equilibrium

Albert struggled. Even with all his skills, even with teleportation, it was hard to defend against the barrage of magic and the constant attacks of the crossbow elf. He didn’t dare activate the full power of Bullet Time, because he wasn’t sure he could end the fight before the skill went into cooldown.

Even then, the sole fact that with 5-fold time dilation he still struggled against the elves, meant that their power was much higher than he previous...

Edge of apocalypse 95

95 – Hunters in the green

A voice boomed in the crowded hall of the guild.

“Someone is preying on us adventurers, and on all magic users.” The guild master announced. He was a tall, proud man with white hair and beard, and he carried himself tall despite his age. “We cannot tolerate this. We need to fight back. And we will! Believe me, we will! But for now, I ask you.” He paused, looking at the rapt faces staring back at him. “No, it is with a heavy heart that I need...

Edge of apocalypse 94

94 – A good person

Albert reached the thin, but sturdy walls of the city right as the last vestiges of daylight died, gaining entry in the nick of time before the gates were closed for the night, after which he would have had to actually talk to the guards to gain entry.

He had gotten rid of his military gear before approaching, putting it into his inventory. Not that his normal clothes blended in any peaceful way with what folks wore around town, but the guards didn’t seem ...

Edge of apocalypse 93

93 – Huge power spike, eventually

[Meditation increases magic.]

New Skill!

[No   affinity] Meditation 1

· Meditating   increases mana regeneration by 100%

The status message broke Albert’s concentration and forced him out of the meditation session. Nothing too bad, he was at full mana and the meditation had helped soothe his nerves.

“Interesting…” He muttered.

He didn’t feel like g...

Edge of apocalypse 92

92 – Lair Work

Samantha Cromwell stood at the top of a rock outcropping at the edge of the dried-up basin where the battle with the Stone Dragon was fought. At the bottom of the dry lake, many small shapes of people worked with heavy machinery to lift the last of the remains of the dragon to be transported to Site A for study. A thin layer of smog hung in the air, hot and dry and without any hint of wind. One day, she thought, one day she would finally be able to distill mana into c...

Edge of apocalypse 91

91 – Welcome Party

Albert turned around, fast as lightning. All the battles he had fought, all the skills he had acquired, everything he had experienced allowed him to react to a new threat before he was even aware of it. His right hand shot upwards, intercepting an arrow flying at his head. He clutched it, looked at it and snapped it in half, throwing it to the side while he scanned the foliage nearby.

The huntress who had shot the arrow at him jumped out of the bushes, looki...

Edge of apocalypse 90

90 – Into Darkness

The void had called. Albert answered its call. The descent down into the abyss was slow at first, but Albert kept picking up speed, looking back at the island that grew distant and small above his head. Gravity, generated by either a quirk of magic or a mass unseen and undetected, pulled him under.

Before long the last points of reference to gauge his speed were gone, leaving nothing to be seen. Only the deafening sound of rushing air remained, that put pres...

Edge of apocalypse 89

89 – Grave Decisions

The view from the mountaintop was breathtaking. A land, wild and untamed, stretched on for kilometers, washed by the rain and lit by the storm extended all around like a fractal ring, ending into the nothingness below. The far away peaks, scattered and low compared to the central mountain, glittered when their barren rock was hit by the light of the roaring sky.

It was there, surrounded by the majestic beauty of magical nature, battered by the rain and the...

Edge of apocalypse 88

88 – Summit

The clock was already ticking while Albert stared at the hole in the wall.

Before punching a wall to death, however, there was another thing he wanted to try. Namely, his short-range teleportation. Within five meters, the skill description said, and in strict line of sight. There was nothing stopping him from crossing to the other side once the hole was big enough to see, right?

Wrong. The… Potential exploit was quickly proved to be non-functional. If Alber...

Edge of apocalypse 87

87 – Reach Beyond

[Mana]: 109FU + 53/hour -> 109FU + 54/hour

“Usurp.”

[Usurp successful! Increased void and psionic affinity.]

“And with this kill,” Albert proclaimed. “The quest is complete.”

He waited a few seconds for the prompt to appear. “Right?”

Quest: Daily Challenge – Single Ski...