The Curator

Chapter 84: New Plans

Maike made her way to the gathering hall, feeling a mix of anticipation and unease. Kael had summoned everyone to address what had happened to Thalion—and something entirely new that, as he put it, would change their lives forever. Maike was skeptical.

She couldn’t believe the story circulating among the guards. According to the official account, Thalion had suddenly gone mad, burning a group of low-level hunters to ashes.

 Yet to Maike, it didn’t add up. Thalion was i...

Chapter 83: Progress

Thalion continued to fly for an hour after the fight against Sylas before landing in a clearing to gain some power-ups. He started to roll out the big magic circle and placed all the blood vials in it to infuse the blood with extra mana. Oh, the thorn’s gonna like that, he thought in amusement.
With that done, he began to set out the plants that Zyra had prepared, which were mostly moonberries and nightshade roses. Thalion transformed into the umbral predator and started to devour the pl...

Chapter 82: The Third Stage can be Brutal

Sachiko, her husband Hioshi, and their sixteen-year-old son Hanako were running from three giant onyxscorpions, each at level 48. They teleported to the third stage of the tutorial after reaching F grade and spending their credits in the system shop. After arriving in a jungle similar to the second stage, they were immediately spotted by the creatures. At only level 25, they had no chance of fighting the massive, schoolbus-sized scorpions, whose deadly stingers were as tall as Sachiko herself...

Chapter 81: Escape

Thalion was interrupted by a lightning bolt shooting at him, and he had to dodge to the side but still got hit in the shoulder. If he had been eagly, it wouldn't have been a problem, but in his human form, he was thrown to the side, his body hurting all over. He just managed to position his sword between him and the next lightning bolt Sylas fired at him. The sword easily blocked the lightning bolt and even absorbed some of its strength. He had passed Sylas and with a look over his shoulder, ...

Chapter 80: The Blade Forged

"Good morning, Zyra. Do you still have the eight wind crystals I gave you?" Thalion greeted Zyra trying to play the nice guy.
"Yes, of course. Why are you asking?" Zyra asked, puzzled looking up from her work.
"I need them back, but only for two days. Then you can have them," Thalion lied, hoping that she wasn’t good at reading people.
"How about I give you five? I really need three," Zyra argued clearly, not liking where this conversation was going.
"I am sorry, but I have to i...

Chapter 79: Secrets Revealed

Later that night, Thalion sat in a chair with a beer in his hand and talked with the others about how the blue robes were and what had happened in the last two days. He was sure now that something was going on with Kael, Kai, Zyra, and Sylas, but the strongest danger he felt came from Kael. He told them a story about how the oceans looked now but left out how much he had hunted, and he lied about his new form. In his story, he didn't manage to find a good form, so he had to go for a shark tha...

Chapter 78: Testing Limits

Back in his room, Thalion immediately continued with his soul cultivation. The meeting was moved to breakfast the following morning, allowing him to spend the whole night on his soul cultivation. The night went by quickly as he worked on his soul without stopping for a moment. Normally, one would gain some experience from body tempering, but after his title, it was close to nothing. Thalion changed his form to the tidecaller serpent to see how his soul looked in this body, and it was not that...

Chapter 77: Tidecaller Serpent

They all shot up, passing by the reefs, where they had hunted earlier that day and in no time they were back on the boat. The boat was livelier than before as more people had returned from their hunts and relaxed on deck.
"Holy shit, that was so cool! I want to go again," Annie said, excited, the pain already forgotten. "How often have you defeated that snake?"
"Only once before, and I lost one soldier in the fight," Seraphina said. "I would have never expected to see such a powerful be...

Chapter 76: Water Beasts and Soul Cultivation

 Annie, Seraphina, and Thalion sat at a giant table with over 50 seats, while butlers brought them food and drinks as they discussed various topics.

"So, is it true that you fought three nobles simultaneously while bombarding the city?" Seraphina asked excitedly.

"Wait, you just told us that you killed a bit more slaves than us, but instead, you fought three nobles in the sky above the city and killed over four hundred?" Annie exclaimed.

"Well, I just didn’t want to t...

Chapter 75: Hidden Betrayals

Thalion arrived in his room, his body trembling as though he were back on that first night, hiding up in the trees. The eerie sensation clawed at him, leaving no doubt in his mind—the system’s voice had clearly meant Kael when it hinted at where to place the spy crystal. But why? Why would Kael, someone he trusted, plot against him? He forced himself to see the situation in a positive light: at least he now had some warning. If he could survive F-grade, the title would make him ...

Chapter 74: Dark Instincts

Thalion stepped into his room, the air thick with the lingering tension of his previous exertions. Without hesitation, he began body tempering. The process, once arduous, now felt strangely effortless. He couldn’t deny that the cursed title had its advantages, though it remained a double-edged sword. The power it granted came with an unsettling cost, but for now, it was undeniably useful.

He continued the blood empowerment ritual well into the following day, stopping only when the su...

Chapter 73: Solo Hunt

Thorwald was out hunting alone. The solitary expeditions had become necessary. His influence in Steven's base had waned somewhat, though many still revered him for having baptized them. At first, the ritual had seemed like a ploy to gain more followers, a strategic move to cement his power. But it had become something much greater.

The blessing he bestowed was transformative. Those who received it gained far more strength than anyone. Nearly everyone in Steven's base was now over Level...

Chapter 72: Chase in the Sky

Thalion was having the time of his life as he pursued a manta ray through the open sky. The creature moved with mesmerizing grace, its sleek body slicing through the air like a blade, barely twitching its fins as it glided effortlessly on the currents. At first, Thalion had planned to kill the beast, but now he was utterly captivated. He wasn’t hunting anymore—he was learning.

The manta performed one daring maneuver after another, trying desperately to lose him, but Thalion was rel...

Chapter 71: A Day of Growth

The rest of the day, Thalion focused on purifying his blood. His progress filled him with satisfaction. Killing the shapeshifters earlier had netted him around 80,000 credits and brought Eagly to Level 40, with his other forms close behind at Level 39. Still, maintaining his concentration on blood cultivation proved challenging. The sanguine thorn pulsed with hunger, its presence tugging at his focus as it yearned for the blood stored in the vials nearby.

He shifted techniques, abandon...

Chapter 70: Confrontation

Back in his room, Thalion took a look at the blood, which now hummed with power in his blood sense, but he would wait a bit before consuming it. First, he wanted to try some things out. He began by creating blood mist from the blood the sanguine thorn provided. It was actually easier than he thought, and after a few tries, he could switch the blood between liquid and mist form.

Next in his training was controlling blood rivers and moving them through the room with incredible speed, grad...

Chaper 69: Blood Control

Back in his room, he saw two large magic circles on the right side. He grabbed an information crystal that Zyra had left behind. "Hi, this is Zyra. I prepared two circles for you, just in case you need more materials to upgrade." That was great news, and Thalion began placing the vials in the center of the two circles. The circles hummed to life, and a fine mist slowly rose, enveloping the vials and the blood. He immediately sensed the blood growing stronger by the second, and the sangui...

Chapter 68: Flight Training

After the guards had recovered enough, Thalion turned into an eagle and shot into the air. He tried to stay close, circling around their position while working on his body-tempering wind's grace. He managed to enter meditation quickly and felt the wind like he was swimming through water. While flying in circles, he always tried to change the position of his wings and felt how he got faster and faster without using more energy. He circled with incredible speed while he only beat his wings slow...

Chapter 67: Gathering Shadows

Thalion entered Kael’s living room, where comfortable chairs surrounded the fire pit. Kael and Kai sat eating some grilled beast meat.
"Hey there, where are the others? How many are coming today?" Thalion greeted them.
"Only Sylas is missing, and the others are out hunting," Kael said.
"Your base has grown a lot in the last few days. How many actually live here?" Thalion asked while sitting down in one of the chairs.
"We are close to two thousand survivors," Kael said. "Good thi...

Chapter 66: Unexpected Encounter

Thalion walked through the streets. The base had grown a lot after the system shop. Kael must have invested a lot of credits. He got a message from Kael that they would be meeting this evening and maybe discussing some things and then going to hunt some beasts. Thalion would probably skip hunting in groups since it was already known that you get more experience from hunting alone, and he was more than fine alone. Of course, if someone asked him to help out, he would do so, but he mostly would...

Chapter 65: Path to Power

This sounded great. It looked like both manuals were fused into one. The description looked straightforward and would help him greatly in transforming eagly into a powerhouse. One step closer to godhood, he thought: slow but steady. All his forms would become very strong in a short time. When reaching E grade, he wanted to have every form at mythic rarity.
"One last thing: was the flight scroll too expensive to add?" Thalion asked curiously.
"This is the best option for you with your cu...

Chapter 64: Tempest Unleashed

Thalion made great progress with the umbral predator. His strength had skyrocketed, his flesh hummed with power, and his strength had increased by a large margin. He had injured himself to test how the self-healing had improved and if he would lose some of the darkness if he got injured.
Nothing of that kind happened. The darkness had fused with his being and couldn't be separated. As long as no one was biting flesh out of him, he would lose nothing, and the healing speed was even faster n...

Chapter 34: F Grade

Thalion was reviewing his evolution options for his human form, and they were excellent.

Elemental Shifter (Rare) grants the shapeshifter the ability to tap into the elemental powers of the creatures they transform into. This evolution allows them to infuse their attacks with elemental damage, choosing from fire, ice, or lightning based on their current form. As they master this evolution, the shapeshifter can even gain temporary resistance to t...

Chapter 24: Slaves

Thalion had spent the entire night in his human form, training to enhance his abilities. Since this was the body bonded with the Sanguine Thorn, he didn’t require any sleep. He only paused occasionally to allow his mana pool to recover or when he sensed survivors nearby; however, that only happened twice, and he wasn’t interested in ambushing them. His mind was too focused on his task.

He concentrated on two particular spells. The first was his Mana Barrier, whic...

Chapter 63: The Gathering

Thalion entered the great hall. Everything was full of survivors, and most were even higher level than him because most had spent their days only hunting and leveling, while he was consuming plants or going for a new form. There were already easily over a thousand people in the hall. He was slowly making his way forward to the podium, where Kael would speak. They had decided that only Kael, Kai, and Sylas would stand on the podium for the speech.

Immediately in front of the stage stood ...

Chapter 62: Spellcrafting Struggles

Thalion and Sylas sat on the ground in the chambers Kael had gifted him, wildly discussing the easiest way to change a spell. Thalion argued that you need to feel the flow of mana and change its flow, while Sylas argued that you need to change the skill fragments altogether, so you program the mana from the start and not while it's flowing.

"But how do you know how to change the skill itself when you don’t know how the mana needs to flow for, say, a flamethrower?" Thalion asked Sylas....

Chapter 61 Tower Assault

Thalion was up in the sky again, on his way to the next tower. He saw that the breach from Garrick's side was progressing, and Kai's team was winning decisively, while the others hadn’t made much progress at all. He dove down towards the next tower, where orcs were firing arrows with grins on their faces at the attacking men, who were running fast from side to side to dodge the arrows.

Thalion transformed into his human form a hundred meters above the orcs and fired blood thorns at th...

Chapter 60: The Offensive Starts

Kai watched Thalion diving down unnoticed by the orcs. It was always fascinating how good the man was with his sneak attacks. Soon after, one orc was sent flying from the tower, crashing on the ground. Before it could get up, one of the archers finished it off. The mages had started the bombardment of the wall so they could get closer. Kai, Annie, and Jakob were still standing back for a bit to check for elite orcs. Annie was also firing ice spells at the orcs, but they ducked behind the batt...

Chapter 59: The Fight begins

Michael was annoyed. He had worked so hard to overthrow Kael, but now a war was about to begin, and he was given a place at the frontline. It all worked so well, and the blockade came in very handy to spin his tales. He had gathered over 40 loyal followers and gained a high standing among the other survivors. Then first, this Thalion didn't die, and now they would even get help. Both things weakened his current position, but it was fine. He had played the options for the future fight against ...

Chapter 58: Arrival

Thalion arrived at Kael's base after an hour of traveling. He had used tempest shroud and feather glide to increase his movement speed. The synergy between both spells was almost perfect. He hoped that he would find a way to merge both spells into one strong one. What also helped was his passive skill electric glide, which made him even faster and lessened his stamina cost. He didn't even need to beat his wings to move with this ridiculous speed. Thalion watched the moss and flowers, which we...

Chapter 57: The Messenger

Thalion shot to the sky with incredible speed. He didn't even have to beat his wings once. It felt marvelous. He was now only two kilometers above the jungle and would soon arrive at Kael's base. The position they were in was not good. It looked like a big ring had been built around the man's fortress, with the occasional high tower in the mix. The orcs must have planned this for a very long time.
He already saw his two friends standing on one of the high towers integrated into the wall, r...