Jake seriously questioned the validity of what Gudrun had just done. No, not how the magic worked or if the strategy was good, but how the hell she had even pulled it off. The massive sand mound she had summoned had to cost a shitload of mana, and what’s more, the sand was still running down its sides like water, making it borderline impossible to climb. That had to have a constant mana upkeep, right?
Yet, upon scanning her, it looked like she had barely touched her own mana pool.
...
2023-09-05 11:01:22 +0000 UTC
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One opponent remained between Jake and the title of Champion, but as expected, it wouldn’t be easy.
”Your final opponent before you become a Champion is definitely a gatekeeper,” the Battlemaster said, looking Jake in the eye. “I can’t tell you if she is the strongest opponent you will have faced in the Colosseum so far, but she is definitely the most consistently powerful one.”
Jake was a bit confused by the phrasing, as the Battlemaster elaborated.
“Alright, ...
2023-09-04 10:57:14 +0000 UTC
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The nine elders of the Willowood tribe. They used to look so scary to Meira… even her own grandfather always had a frightening aura about him. One of absolute power that commanded respect. They were all C-grades, and Meira remembered thinking their power and position were utterly unattainable for someone like her.
But now, sitting across a table from these nine, Meira felt no fear or apprehension. She no longer saw nine unapproachable existences. Instead, she saw nine aging men and wo...
2023-09-01 10:28:05 +0000 UTC
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Meira thought it was overdoing it… but Izil and Irin had both insisted this was necessary. Even Viridia had come by to insist that if Meira really wanted to break out of her shell and completely throw away all the burdens of who she had once been, she had to embrace her new identity fully. Teacher hadn’t seemed to care either way but had simply said:
“What you choose to do has nothing to do with me. You are now my Chosen, that is true, but I have no intent on limiting what you do,...
2023-08-31 09:47:33 +0000 UTC
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Pietra looked through the newly arrived shipment as she picked out the best silk from what was left. Most of it had already been taken by the other seamstresses, and Pietra felt lucky that at least some had been left behind she could work with.
If not, it would be hard to ever save up and buy their freedom, not to mention pay the monthly dues.
Putting all she could get in her spatial bag, she paid at the exit of the warehouse before heading home for the day. Renting a spatial bag ...
2023-08-30 11:01:21 +0000 UTC
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”When you say that you didn’t cut the feed off… what exactly do you mean? Did the system interfere directly, or was it something else?” Vilastromoz asked. If it was the first, then he would have many more questions, but if it was the latter… well, he would still have a lot of questions.
”Certain… concessions had to be made in order to gather all the images I wanted. When the system assists in extracting an image and downgrading it to F-grade, the targeted entity will have ...
2023-08-29 10:57:46 +0000 UTC
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Transmutation for Jake had always been a bit out of the ordinary compared to other alchemists, especially after he began to play around with all that Origin stuff. But one had to remember that the precursor to all that was Jake experimenting with combining transmutation and his arcane affinity.
There had been a lot of trial and error on his transmutation journey as a level 0, and throughout it all, he had leaned on the experience he had from Touch of the Malefic Viper. A skill he also d...
2023-08-28 10:56:50 +0000 UTC
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Jake had expected his rematch with the Benevolent Monk to be during a promotion match or at least another highlighted event, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. After watching the very-much-not Benevolent Monk fight, Jake did his last match as a Warlord before his promotion the week after, and when he signed up for the promotion match, he was naturally once more met with another anomaly… just not the one he had expected.
”Look, by now, we both know this is all a setup, alrigh...
2023-08-25 10:49:34 +0000 UTC
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Outside Nevermore, in the Order of the Malefic Viper, the old mansion that the Chosen of the Malefic Viper used to live in looked much the same as before he went to the World Wonder. Despite not really having permission, Meira and the others kept using the place for all of their meetups, and Meira lived there full-time. It was simply the best meeting spot, even if the majority of the library was locked off to them.
This wasn’t because Meira didn’t have her own place now… it was mo...
2023-08-24 10:23:45 +0000 UTC
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”Oi! That was bullshit out there, pure bullshit, I tell you! How can you even call that a proper fight, huh?” the annoying dwarf yelled at Jake, who was just trying to enjoy his sandwich in peace.
”You’re just mad because you lost,” Jake muttered.
”Damn straight I am! What was that shit out there? You aren’t a bloody mage, so why do you use magic like that? You didn’t even give me a chance to do anything! Do you have any idea how much time I spent on making this st...
2023-08-23 09:50:40 +0000 UTC
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Jake was not the only one experiencing the Colosseum of Mortals or who had at least experienced it prior, for that matter. There was, of course, the Sword Saint, who was also hard at work, and as a far wiser man, had heeded the warning upon being confronted with the Benevolent Monk. He had responded by buying a good sword as well as some basic equipment, which had ended with him drawing blood early on in the fight without taking any major damage himself. This didn’t mean the fight had been ...
2023-08-22 10:47:23 +0000 UTC
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Sleeping was truly an overpowered passive ability. It was like using the Meditation skill on steroids and helped regenerate the body at a quite frankly insane pace compared to any other non-magical means. However, even if this was the case, Jake still woke up feeling like shit.
Looking at the window in the small Gladiator townhouse, he saw that it was still pitch-black outside, indicating it was still in the middle of the night. That was not overly surprising, considering he had gone to...
2023-08-21 10:41:09 +0000 UTC
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Jake barely managed to drag himself out of the arena. Nearly every one of his ribs were broken, and he had enough internal damage to kill most people. If he was not a system-changed creature, he would have been dead already.
After stumbling out of the arena, medical staff came. Sadly for Jake, they only checked if he would live, and while Jake was in a horrid condition, his life was not in danger. Seeing no other real choice, Jake bought a healing potion from one of the staff members fo...
2023-08-18 11:12:01 +0000 UTC
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The air was still as Jake closely observed the monk. His opponent had yet to even take a stance but still simply stood in a relaxed pose with his palms held against each other. Yet, even so, Jake hesitated to attack.
No openings.
It didn’t matter what Jake thought up. No matter what, his intuition told him whatever he did had a low chance of not ending with him getting a punch to the face. Jake considered dragging out the time and if that would be good or bad for him, b...
2023-08-17 10:48:29 +0000 UTC
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Jake was truly a genius. Why hadn’t he thought of using Polly earlier? It was such an obvious solution! Sure, he could also have asked Owen, but Polly had been keen on finding some way to help him for a while, and this was such a prime opportunity.
After he had gotten his clothing situation fixed through Polly – partly by cleaning it, partly by buying some new stuff - he headed straight back to a small townhouse that served as housing for Gladiators. Later on, he met back up with Ow...
2023-08-16 11:09:34 +0000 UTC
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Shopping trip time! Well, kind of. For the very first time since leaving the Tutorial, Jake wasn’t loaded and had to actually think twice before spending haphazardly. It wasn’t even sure he wanted to buy something, despite the urgings of both Polly and Owen.
Not long after the encounter with the mysterious dark elf that was totally not a teaser for a fight much later in the Challenge Dungeon, Jake and company arrived in the section of the Colosseum that dealt with selling items.
...
2023-08-15 11:05:54 +0000 UTC
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”Are you sure about this, Jake?” Owen asked with genuine worry as they walked back to the Colosseum the next day. ”You should at least go to the crafters before the match… maybe you see something you like and decide to buy it, right?”
”It’ll be fine,” Jake waved him off. ”I will go check out the crafters after.”
”But… if you lose the match, you risk getting demoted and will have a harder time rising to higher ranks. That is assuming you don’t die or lose ...
2023-08-14 10:55:42 +0000 UTC
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Jake believed he had reached his limit for his kicking-only challenge when he hit Veteran Warrior, but his newfound Fear Gaze allowed him to keep the streak going for at least a little bit longer. He had still been unsure if he could really go all the way to Gladiator, and after reaching the rank of Expert Warrior, he did meet quite a problematic opponent in his third match.
His foe was a large orc wearing armor covering his entire body. The difference between this guy and the other arm...
2023-08-11 10:57:19 +0000 UTC
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On the next day, Jake woke up a bit excited to get testing. It was still too early to head to the arena, though, so it was breakfast time first. After getting ready, he checked his menu quickly while getting out the door, seeing his objective for the day.
Current objective: Be promoted from Veteran Fighter to Expert Fighter
Current rank: Veteran Fighter (0/5)
Colosseum Points: 910
Lives remaining: 10
2023-08-10 10:57:09 +0000 UTC
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To feel old again.
It was an odd sensation that the Sword Saint would frankly have preferred to do without. When the system came, he had been reinvigorated, and as time progressed, he only ever felt himself grow stronger. Outside of the backlash from his Transcendence, that is, but those circumstances were far different. Now, to regress like this… he did not like the feeling at all. It reminded him too much of before the system.
He remembered the very first time he had difficult...
2023-08-09 10:54:24 +0000 UTC
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To kick or not to kick. That is the question.
Well, alright, it wasn’t really a question but just Jake’s default way of handling any opponent he met in the arena. He knew full well that the situation couldn’t continue forever, but for now, his stats just outmatched everyone else by quite a margin.
It quickly became apparent that most of his opponents didn’t even have 10 in all stats, much less 16 in even their lowest, like Jake. This meant Jake thoroughly beat any and all ...
2023-08-08 10:36:27 +0000 UTC
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The last time Jake slept, it was because he had utterly over-exhausted himself and was all out of mental energy. However, this time, it was a far more normal sleep. He even got in a good seven hours before he woke up – more than he had initially planned. Not having an alarm clock made it hard to plan out how much you wanted to sleep.
Oh yeah, that reminds me… the Sword Saint’s timer.
To use a special painting infused with time magic was a nice idea, but who could ha...
2023-08-07 10:45:29 +0000 UTC
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“Welcome to the Colosseum! Today, we have two New Bloods, both here to prove their worth! As they set foot on the sand soiled with the blood of their predecessors, who will come out on top!? Who will have a chance to move forward!? Perhaps... no! Not perhaps! Surely, today is the first match of a coming champion!”
The voice of the announcer echoed loudly throughout the entire arena as Jake stood behind a fenced gate leading up to the arena itself. After talking to the Battlemaster, ...
2023-08-04 10:32:05 +0000 UTC
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The Sword Saint had joked about them not wanting to see each other’s faces anymore, and while Jake wouldn’t have phrased it like that… it wasn’t that far off from how he actually felt.
Not to misunderstand. Jake liked his party. Sylphie was naturally always a joy, and Dina liked to stick by herself when possible, so she was also great. And, sure, the Fallen King could be a bit uptight, and the Sword Saint liked to take on the demeanor of an old lecturer, but things had been good...
2023-08-03 10:39:32 +0000 UTC
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It was inarguable that the main portion of Nevermore was the many floors that seemed to continue endlessly. One had to remember the primary function of the mega-dungeon was to be a great leveling spot, and the entire Leaderboards part was just a fun extra event for an extremely small portion of those who attempted the C-grade version of the World Wonder.
If Jake didn’t care about the Leaderboards, he could have entered Nevermore alone and probably done quite a few floors in fifty year...
2023-08-02 10:48:30 +0000 UTC
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On reflection, Jake’s sense of time had truly gotten warped since after the system arrived.
He had spent decades training with Sim-Jake, and while that had indeed felt like it had taken a while, it didn’t feel longer than a few weeks, tops. This was odd because the Tutorial was still clear in his mind, and if he was asked how long that had taken in comparison to that training session, he would have said the Tutorial was definitely longer.
The same was true for the Treasure Hun...
2023-08-01 10:39:23 +0000 UTC
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Meira had experienced a lot of surprising and frightening things throughout the last few years. From the fall of the Brimstone Hegemon and her becoming a slave to recently being freed and having Teacher privately teach her all the time.
Yet today was more frightening than any other. Because she was called for a private meeting by the Hall Master herself, but not with the S-grade. No, someone else had asked – or probably demanded – to meet her.
The Lord Protector. Boundless Hyd...
2023-07-31 10:51:40 +0000 UTC
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Jake and Sylphie won the race to kill two Beast Kings before Dina, the Fallen King, and Sword Saint. Their victory wasn’t by a little either but by more than two weeks, giving them plenty of time to mess around and catch up with the three others. The Unique Lifeform complained about them being faster at crossing large distances, something Jake just saw as a bad excuse.
After killing all four Beast Kings, they had expected the floor to be over, and if it wouldn’t be, then for there t...
2023-07-28 11:01:16 +0000 UTC
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Nevermore was a place where the publicly available information was far from scarce, yet there were still some unknowns.
Nobody knew exactly how many floors there even were in the C-grade version – or those who did couldn’t or wouldn’t tell – meaning for most of the individuals fighting for spots on the Leaderboards, it was just assumed they would never hit a limit. At least not a limit of floors.
The only limit they would hit was the limit of their own abilities and the 50...
2023-07-27 10:16:29 +0000 UTC
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“Okay, not gonna lie, that was kind of hilarious,” Minaga chuckled after seeing Jake pass floor forty-five so easily. “Really just tossed his weight around and got all those poor suckers to get him out of there right away. They didn’t show it, but those Starcrossed Twins were pretty damn submissive compared to how they usually are.”
“I am surprised you got those two in here for such a floor,” Vilastromoz said with genuine confusion. “Any god would do, so why have two god...
2023-07-26 10:00:22 +0000 UTC
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