The last class choice puzzled Orion for a while. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand why he’d gotten it, since he had certainly spent enough time around witches of the Lunar Sanctum and the worship of the Moon Mother, but while for every other class, he could identify one moment that triggered it, for this, he could only assume it was a collective result. It was either that, or the place where he began the rank-up process, but that had many implications he wasn’t sure how to handle,...
2025-10-28 18:00:28 +0000 UTC
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For a moment, Nick thought he was back in Floria, witnessing a goddess walk the earth, wearing the skin of a man who had dedicated his life to her, and who would be left an almost empty shell.
Then reality asserted itself again, and he was back in Alluria, flying over the rooftops while his brother jumped after him, and Xander left them in the dust.
Things weren’t as bad as he might have feared. There was no ash cloud, the buildings appeared to be intact, and the people, though ...
2025-10-28 18:00:27 +0000 UTC
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There was pressure at the back of Orion’s mind, and he knew that if he allowed it in, he’d start the rank-up process.
After so long working tirelessly in his lab, chasing down creatures he, by all rights, should have kept far away from, it felt strange that it was finally here.
He wanted to do it, to get it over with, and at the same time, he was uneasy. What if the classes I’m offered this time aren’t as good as the last? My achievements as a tier one are remarkable, ...
2025-10-27 18:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Fire magic wasn’t a field Nick had ever taken an interest in.
He knew its potential, even beyond the sheer destruction it could cause, was enormous. It was perhaps the oldest form of elemental magic, dating back even before man’s attempts to communicate with higher powers, and that was worth a lot.
Some rituals he was familiar with would have definitely benefited from a strong connection with fire.
But it wasn’t the path he had chosen, and no matter what his father was...
2025-10-27 18:00:15 +0000 UTC
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The lots auctioned in the second block were clearly of higher quality. Even beyond the Shadow Ore, which Nick had tried to subtly examine for remnants of his father’s mana signature but hadn’t been able to get a good read on before it was taken away, the Fossilized Thousand-Year Root, Golden Dewdrop, and Heart of a Lake that were sold next easily fetched hundreds of gold coins each.
Getting my hands on any of them would be great. I could easily include them in a ritual to boost ...
2025-10-25 17:08:07 +0000 UTC
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A low hum filled the hall as a third set of wards activated, and the doors closed, sealing everyone inside. This new layer seemed more designed to cloud and muddle the senses of anyone attempting to scry into the theater rather than acting as an additional defensive barrier, but Nick wasn’t surprised.
Although the original plan to attack the auction may have been a red herring, it still posed a threat, and the Duke didn’t seem like the type to take unnecessary risks.
With thes...
2025-10-24 17:00:17 +0000 UTC
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Crystalline plates jutted from the new lizard’s shoulders and spine like knives. Veins of yellow-white streaked through the mineral, pulsing faintly with stored light mana. Its eyes were pits beneath a crown of glass, and its tongue was a rope with a spike at the tip, flexing in wait.
It hissed, the sound echoing forebodingly in the cave.
“Careful,” Asteria warned from behind him.
“It’s fine,” Orion said, and lifted his hand.
[Infinite Laser] spun together ...
2025-10-24 17:00:17 +0000 UTC
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“Well, isn’t that something?” Devon chuckled, eyeing him up and down.
Nick resisted the urge to tug at his clothes. He would have preferred wearing his usual outfit of a cloak and sturdy adventuring clothes underneath, but while it might have been acceptable for him to enter the castle that way the first time he visited during the emergency, he would be rejected at the door if he tried to walk into the auction looking so scruffy.
So he’d bit the bullet and put on a pair of...
2025-10-23 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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The ceremonies after the vote were supposed to be private, since oaths needed to be taken to make sure Antares had only the best intentions toward the Collegium before he could take his seat, but the man found the time to pop up to the balcony and tell them he’d like to see them again soon.
“They are bound to return to the Sanctum soon,” Yue’s cold voice cut in. She had quickly regained her composure and was now wearing her most unimpressed expression.
Having seen her hand...
2025-10-23 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Getting any time alone with Tholm proved to be surprisingly difficult. The man always seemed distracted, either by his apprentices needing his help with their projects, by other mages passing by his floor to commission work or request help restoring ancient artifacts, or even by messages he appeared to receive nearly every hour updating him on someone's health condition.
It was an open secret that one of his old apprentices had nearly been killed a short while ago, and because Tholm was...
2025-10-22 17:00:19 +0000 UTC
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Jeers erupted. Several conversations quickly turned into arguments as three people tried to jump down from their positions and directly address the two main parties. The chamber was heading toward chaos.
Yztet raised a weathered hand and snapped his fingers, and thunder answered his call.
Pressure slammed into Orion’s chest and made his teeth chatter, even though he was far from the epicenter in the gallery. Superheated lightning streaked thin and spider-like between the chandel...
2025-10-22 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Nick waited to see if the big guy would join his fellow guards in chasing down the shadow thief, but unfortunately, this one seemed skilled at his job and ignored anything that would pull him away from his post.
Should I go back outside and enter through the window? No, it’s heavily defended, and I’m not sure I could break through its protections without being noticed. I’ll go through this one instead.
The first thing Nick did was subtly expand [Territory], weakenin...
2025-10-21 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Now that the worst seemed to be over, Orion tugged at his mother’s sleeve and was finally let go.
“What’s going to happen now?” He murmured as the crowd of Archmages whispered, moving toward the Senate building while the two contenders eyed each other but made no further hostile move.
“Now they’ll vote,” she replied. “The other contenders will probably step back and be given a chance to make a brief speech to announce it, as a courtesy, but after that, the real fig...
2025-10-21 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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For a moment, Orion feared his good luck had finally run out and that the tension would finally explode into violence.
The two robed men who blocked their path to the Senate clearly seemed to have aggressive intentions, but for some reason, they stopped a few steps back, keeping their hands to themselves.
“Have you finally lost your mind after spending so much time alone in your tower, with only your cursed apprentice for company?” One of them called out, eyeing Antares warily...
2025-10-20 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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“Haven’t you done enough damage? Any sane man would lay low for a while after stirring up that vampire nest. Now you want information about which noble to rob?” One-Ear asked, exasperated, but the fact that he was still standing there and had answered Nick’s summons meant he wasn’t as mad as he looked.
He was also alone, for once. The crossbowmen and hidden guards he’d been bringing with him the past few times they’d met were noticeably absent, which made Nick feel better ...
2025-10-20 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Life was strange. Similar to magic, using the same exact components at different times could produce very unexpected results, especially if whoever was in control lacked complete mastery of the process.
Osmod would know. He had been exiled from the Tower less than four months ago. His career had hit a dead end, and he could only find work in the ward room of the auxiliary building because Archmage Tholm took pity on him, thinking he might still have some use left before he was dis...
2025-10-19 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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“And this is the last of it,” Mr. Bloom sighed as another pouch of jingling gold coins was placed on his desk by his aide.
This past month of partnership with Nick to sell the Thunderhoof herd clearly benefited the man, as his warehouse had expanded into the next one over, and his once spartan office had become much more respectable, fitting for a man with a thriving business.
It wasn’t surprising he was so hesitant to hand over the gold, since this would be the last tranche...
2025-10-18 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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“You can’t be seriously considering this!” Naerys shouted. Without his glasses, which were sorely missed, he couldn’t get a clear sense of her power, but given her position as Antares’s only apprentice, Orion thought she had to be at least in the second tier, especially considering her brash confidence.
Prodigies enjoy privileges that ordinary people can only dream about. If she had been just a student at the Collegium, she would never have dared speak like that.
<...
2025-10-17 17:00:16 +0000 UTC
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“You must understand, the only potential buyers for this beyond House Alluria are all local noble houses. Establishments such as the Antler & Ink, for all that they wage a fierce war for high-quality monster meat, lack the cash reserves to buy out that many matriarchs," Statius said, leaning back and re-reading the piece of paper Nick had handed him with his request.
“I’ve been given strict instructions to make this a profitable trade for both of us, but I need you to help me ...
2025-10-17 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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That night, Nick would have his last session with Lasazar for the foreseeable future, which, if it was anything like what he’d just gone through, would require him to be at full strength.
Fortunately, he only had one task to complete today before he could finally get into bed again and let sleep wash away his headache.
I wonder what he thinks of me. [Blasphemy] shields me from any real corruption, which allows me to fight more than one demon at a time, and I doubt that happe...
2025-10-16 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Orion could see the question form on the girl’s lips, the demand to know who the hell they were, before her brain caught up with her eyes, and she swallowed it back.
He wasn’t much better. There was a clear resemblance between them, though not as strong as with Antares, which couldn’t be chalked up to mere chance.
They stayed frozen like that, locked in a staring contest for several long seconds, until Asteria’s footsteps grew closer, and she saw what he was seeing too.
2025-10-16 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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[Corruption’s Bane] proved more than capable of reversing the damage caused by the Footman, and once its miasma was thoroughly cleansed, Nick was able to direct it at the demon itself.
Eerily, it emitted no cry of pain, nor did it appear to suffer at all, though it was hard to tell, given its lack of facial features and already grotesque body.
The demon kept chasing after him, with each step becoming a little slower and its strikes a bit weaker.
Compared to the exorcism Ni...
2025-10-15 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Yue and Siuth disappeared soon after, presumably to deal with the most aggressive of Ulysses’ supporters who might try to block their way. Or to prepare in case our attempt goes wrong. Who knows with the Elder?
Orion wasn’t sure how a witch’s presence could be justified here, but he trusted the old woman to know what she was doing, so he pushed it out of his mind for now.
Set led them into the main building of the Collegium, and Orion had to suppress his instinct to...
2025-10-15 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Nick watched Lasazar work silently, trying to understand how this latest revelation made him feel.
That Archmage Hone would interfere with his education directly annoyed him, but realistically, there was little he could do to make the man pay now, other than taking it out on his son and apprentices, which he wasn’t ready to do.
It doesn’t mean I will forget it. I’ve never even met the man, and it’s been made very clear that I’ll never get along with him. Not that I t...
2025-10-14 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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A tiny problem came up in Orion’s mind after hearing what they were asking him to do.
“You do know I’ve only talked to the man once, right? He didn’t strike me as the sentimental type either, so I doubt I could convince him to change his mind when he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to take on such a public role.”
He wasn’t necessarily against their plan. If this Venerable Archmage Ulysses was truly as dangerous as they believed, then it made sense to go for the nuc...
2025-10-14 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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2025-10-14 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Though Nick was tempted to grab the two thugs and parade them around the Tower to send a message, he wasn’t sure he could handle the backlash that would come from openly challenging Hone’s authority, so he left them in the dueling room with only a few parting words.
“I don’t care about whatever feud the Archmages might have, and I certainly don’t care enough about you people to hunt you down, but so help me everything that is holy, I will if I have to. Don’t make me come fin...
2025-10-13 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Only one level remained before Orion could rank up. The urgent desire to do something, anything, to earn the remaining experience was incredibly hard to ignore, but he’d just spent two days locked in his lab working on [Null Light], and he was pretty sure that if he stayed there a little longer, his mother would come looking for him and drag him out by the ears.
So, Orion organized his notes somewhat, hid the most valuable parts in his lab coat’s inner pockets, and headed to the mes...
2025-10-13 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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CONGRATULATIONS!
You have defeated [Warren H. Gardy - Lv 52]
+31.010 Exp
That’s way too little experience, but then again, I’m not killing him, and I kinda dominated the fight. Hopefully, his friend will give me a little more.
Nick noticed a sudden doubt cross Terry’s face. He might not have been the smartest mage in the Tower, not by a long shot, but even he could see it wasn’t exactly normal for a fi...
2025-10-11 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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And things had been going so well, Orion had the time to lament, before the urgency of the situation grew too great, and he prepared for what he was pretty sure would be be a suicidal fight.
That was, until the two vampires who had tried to hit on his mother were swallowed by a wave of shadows before he could fully commit, obscuring his view for a long moment, then fading away and revealing only empty space.
“I apologize for that,” Night Lord Valentine slid into the s...
2025-10-10 17:00:18 +0000 UTC
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