Raphael stared for a moment before slumping. “Man, you really are quite something, huh? This was supposed to be my super secret project.”
“Ah,” Nick smiled awkwardly, “I’m sorry? It just felt like this was the direction you were going in…”
Huffing, Raphael shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I should have known you’d figure it out when I brought you in.”
I’m starting to develop a reputation, huh? I suppose that’s a consequence of my efforts....
2025-09-23 17:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe ride up to the seventy-seventh floor in the elevator felt more like a walk to the gallows than Nick would have liked.
When he was finally released onto Master Tholm’s private floor, he took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders before marching up to the man’s study.
“Come on in,” the gravely voice of his mentor greeted him before he could even knock, and he pushed the door open, only to blink in surprise.
Archmage Tholm was a known presence by now. Even muted as...
2025-09-22 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostOrion let a moment pass, quietly ignoring Vatat’akon staring him down.
As far as intimidation tactics went, it wasn’t bad. His scars and weathered skin did a lot of the heavy lifting, and the feeling of his willpower spreading through the Mana Field was impossible to ignore.
However, compared to masters of the art like Yue and Morliana, this was unimpressive.
Irritation flickered inside him at being forced to go through this again, but something told him this time was di...
2025-09-22 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostA.N. I'm glad that some people noticed the specific wording of the poll and realized it could mean the first POV was actually Elena's. Still, I decided not to do little tricks like that from now on to avoid confusion.
I hope you enjoy this double POV :D
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For many, war was a straightforward calculation. Using violence against an enemy could either result in victory and increased wealth or lead to defeat and a loss of resources.
In colloquial terms, that wasn’t to...
2025-09-21 17:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostNick wasn’t a stranger to powerful people. He’d been dealing with them almost constantly since waking up during the Class Ceremony, and things had only gotten more intense from there.
He’d seen Marthas wield the power of a Grand Exorcist against a Fae Queen. He’d seen a Goddess descend from above, however limited she might have been by the mortal flesh she inhabited. Hell, Xander, who sat next to him, was essentially a walking nuclear bomb.
However, something about the man...
2025-09-20 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostAnthony’s body shuddered briefly before light returned to his eyes, and he staggered back, squeezing his eyes shut while taking deep breaths through his nose.
Clearly, this was not the first time he had been forced to bear a possession like that. His reaction was too seasoned, and now that things were calming down, he appeared more at ease, as if he knew he had done his part.
Tomcat looked at him with a surprising amount of pity. He didn’t seem shocked by what happened either,...
2025-09-19 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post[Noether’s Lock] was the kind of spell that Orion doubted could be cast by anyone but him.
He was sure a tier four mage might be able to brute-force the issue or replicate his work with alternative methods easily, but actually casting the spell? No, that was simply impossible without Knowledge of advanced relativity.
It was a spell that fully exploited the malleability of reality in this dimension, influenced by the Mana Field, and set conditions that would otherwise be impossib...
2025-09-19 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostAsteria hadn’t been pleased to hear about his little escapade, especially that he left without telling anyone, but she’d been even less happy to learn that Zinnia seemed to have fallen into petty infighting, since a position as Yue’s official apprentice was no longer available.
“That girl! To think she would bare her fangs now, when everything is so chaotic. She must believe we still aren’t settled enough to fight back,” she grumbled, pacing around her room.
<... 2025-09-18 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostBefore going to Xander with his hat in hand, Nick decided to see for himself whether the situation was really that dire.
He didn’t think One-Ear would lie, not about something this big, but the broker had said it himself, that it wasn’t the kind of thing local gangs could organize on their own. That someone had to be pulling the strings of the entire operation.
That meant either a noble powerful enough to rival the Duke, a minister with enough influence in the Roya...
2025-09-18 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post“Aaah man, I thought I had it.”
Letting the faint glow of the delayed Torchlight fade, Orion scratched his head. It was getting late enough that he should probably start heading back to the embassy if he didn’t want his mother to tear through Valderun in search of him, but he would have liked to do so after accomplishing something.
Going home empty-handed almost felt shameful after the quick successes he’d had before.
“I guess I was too arrogant. [Delay] is a spell...
2025-09-17 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post