Raiko held aloft an age-worn lantern. Blue mist rolled out and gathered along the floor, obscuring the fallen bodies.
The spirits of the Professors, and many more of the faculty, gathered around the lantern in full force. It bathed the area in ghostly light.
Given power and agency to affect the material world, the spirits surged like a tide towards the Dungeon Core.
Raiko rode amongst them like a Valkyrie leading her einherjar, her blade shining with the mana th...
2024-01-12 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Nice,” Sose whispered to himself and Cluckley the house, rubbing his paws together with a snicker. “Okay, your turn.”
From unseen hands, a square bag stuffed with beans gracefully arced through the air and landed just slightly ahead of the oppa’s.
“Dang, you’re good, Cluckley!” Sose shook his head. Somehow, the house was still beating him at the Game o’ Beans. Must be on account of all the enchantments and whatever else witches did to creat...
2024-01-12 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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The warmth of Aldoverre’s potion spread into every inch of Sam’s body. Any and all pain vanished like mist in the midday sun.
He set himself into [Power Stance], switched to [Essence of Escha], and lastly used [Rolling Strikes]. He felt like a new man, fit and ready to go.
Looking at his HP, however, was more than a little unsettling. Rather than showing how much he had in his [Status] like usual, it now stated he was at ????/3,890.
That wasn’t good. He wa...
2024-01-11 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Slyrox could bingly-bang board to windows, and make spiky things,” the koblin said, pointing at them and then elsewhere to indicate what she could [Kludge] together into a semblance of defense. “But the materials gotta come from somewhere. Maybe not best brain-fruit then?”
Shrubley nodded. “Then perhaps not. I imagine Cluckley would like to keep her parts where they are.” He looked over at the house as if that faint clucking echoing from within the building mea...
2024-01-11 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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It was painfully obvious that Lenal wished she could help more. But joined with Professor Ankwell, she was exceedingly gifted at knowing who was best suited to be inhabited. She didn’t seem satisfied with a managerial role, however, but she did not complain.
Sam understood.
This was her family. Her people. And she could do little more than play matchmaker.
Perhaps that was why, against his wishes, Sam didn’t fight against the unanimous decision that he shoul...
2024-01-10 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Mistress Ceasewane’s house was following them like a lost puppy… or perhaps a chick.
“Slyrox did not expect this,” the koblin confessed flatly.
“None of us did,” Cal put in. “Though, maybe Shrubley did.”
The shrub on legs shrugged, then smiled up at the ambulatory witch hut. “You’re welcome to come along with us,” he offered in a cheery tone. “We’d be happy to have the company.”
The Countess stared at Shrubley, and then...
2024-01-10 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Across the oversized laboratory was something Sam had never seen before, and yet knew it was wrong. Perhaps not evil per se, but malicious in its intent.
It resembled a soccer ball carved out of diamond. Nearly spherical, with so many scintillating facets that it shattered the light and ground it into a fine powder.
Where its light coalesced, instead of a simple rainbow as one might expect from a prism, a monster began to materialize.
“The Dungeon Cor...
2024-01-09 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Miranda, the Countess, already knew it was too late when she found Sose asleep. She could sense that it was magically induced and could even see the difference based on which back paw was kicking every once in a while.
An unholy concoction of dread, fear, and exhaustion clouded the vampyr’s judgment. This mirror realm had been one nightmare after the other.
And now the unthinkable had occurred.
Her teacher, the legendary Witch Ceasewane, was gone.
Sh...
2024-01-09 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Matt placed his hands over Raiko’s claw wounds and began to focus. Not his usual half-assed attempt, but something that Sam had rarely seen of late on his face. True concentration.
As Matt worked, Sam watched and waited. He went to the stairs at the other end of the room and peeked up. He couldn’t see anything. But he stayed there, standing guard as it was, because he had nothing else to do.
And he needed to feel like he was doing something.
This wa...
2024-01-06 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Keep an eye on that one,” Remal said, nodding to Roger Aking. “I think he might be worth sponsoring.”
Sel looked over the edge of their lookout. “If we survive, I’ll garnish my own wages to see it done. He fights like a cornered badger.” She looked over at Remal’s expression. “Don’t give me that look. The Guild hasn’t had the extra essences or funds to sponsor anybody from their coffers for three generations now. Nobody cares about the branch offices....
2024-01-06 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Raiko acted first. Dashing forward into the charging enemy, she slashed her katana wide from one side of her body to the other. A horizontal, flaming rift splashed against the Gargoyles’ eyes.
Howling, the monsters crashed to the ground, scrabbling at their blinded eyes.
Their hulking forms rose, one after the other, taking little time to recover. They were already ticked off when Sam first saw them, but now their demonic features were truly contorted with fury.
...
2024-01-05 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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A horde of hulking serpentii rammed the Taamra village’s gates, straining the limits of the stout wooden bar. It wouldn’t hold for long. Taamra wasn’t built to withstand monster incursions. There wasn’t enough ambient mana to make it an issue.
The village’s walls originally served as little more than a deterrent to passing monsters and any roaming bandits. Since Remal marshaled the townsfolk, the walls were hastily fortified with anything they could get their hand...
2024-01-05 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Raiko took the lead, venturing deeper into the Aker Academy. Though close enough that Sam would still gain the stat boost from the frontal position of [Tactic: Delving].
Injured from his clash with the Void Scion, Sam got extra benefit from the added Vigor. No one knew to the extent how low his HP currently was, except from Komachi.
He would have rather hid it from her, but there was no way to do it.
His cat refused to go back to Raiko and the safety of her hat....
2024-01-04 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Shrubley stirred from the depths of a great, deep sleep. His thoughts slithered in and out of his grasp like the serpentii hunting them.
He struggled to recall what he had done. Bit by bit, Shrubley gained a greater hold of himself.
The Guidance Stone.
The Witch, Ceasewane, took him to it in the night while the others slept. Both the Guidance Stone and the Witch had tested him.
It wasn’t just three questions. And it wasn’t just three choices.
The...
2024-01-04 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Raiko knelt, directing Chompers. The mimic spit out heaps of rubble, stacking them roughly into a crescent wall. The Ninja hefted the mimic on top of it, his many paws scurrying to get over the lip.
The hasty work wasn’t quiet, but there was so much noise earlier from all the weapons and magic that it hardly compared.
The result was something of a fortification, but no ceiling and only one way out. It was better than resting out in the open, exposed on all sides. If...
2024-01-03 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The crawling sigils and symbols stopped the moment Shrubley’s hand touched the surface. With a faint whooshing sound, they were pulled toward his palm.
He could feel a tremendous amount of heat from the stone flooding into his arm. Shrubley calmed himself and focused on what the Witch had told him to do.
I offer my strength to you, he told the Stone. A gift for a gift.
Thousands upon thousands of symbols were siphoned into Shrubley...
2024-01-03 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Balanced as he was between utter destruction and salvation, Sam let out a roar of denial and let go of the created [Voidshard Blade].
Severing the Void would not only change everything, but it would stop him from being able to guide it in any way. Perhaps that was selfish, or egotistical, but this fight showed him that he had some connection to both the Void and the Shardrune of Il’dran.
Maybe he wasn’t the savior or watcher of the Shards or some such nonsense. Bu...
2024-01-02 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Shrubley was poked and prodded awake. He squinted his lamplight eyes and found the Witch’s face so close to his that her wide-brimmed witch’s hat sheltered him.
“Mistress Ceasewane?” he asked muzzily, noticing that everybody else was fast asleep.
“I think it’s time we get a-moseying along, don’t you?” The Witch said. “I can’t be having with all this cleaning up if the world’s going to be ending soon.” She looked around the cottage and at the st...
2024-01-02 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“They fucking copied me?!” Sam bellowed.
“Yes,” Lenal said urgently. “I told you they were dangerous! They will copy your every action perfectly. There is one silver lining, however.”
Sam looked over his shoulder at her and out of the corner of his eye, he saw his copy do the same thing to the empty air behind it. “Yeah?”
“While the [Plagiaras] formed, the [Ridewords] can’t do anything else, so you won’t have to worry about them....
2023-12-24 17:30:43 +0000 UTC
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Reposting this because it seems Patreon ate chapter 106 at some point and I had no idea. So here's the missing chapter! Thanks to the people who reached out to me letting me know it was missing.
Mandragoras popped up from the ground beneath the Sourcestone, investigating their new environment with great surprise and interest.
As much as those seed-like eyes could convey to Sam, anyway. He hadn’t even noticed they were there. The creatures were ...
2023-12-24 17:26:48 +0000 UTC
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Sam opened his eyes in utter darkness.
“Where the—” Sam began, his voice echoing out into the distance and rolling back on him like a tide of sound. He winced at the discomfort of it.
Turning around, he realized he was floating in what appeared to be space, but there was nothing here. No light, no stars, just… complete nothingness.
And yet, somehow, within that darkness, Sam could make out an even darker patch of nothingness. A Void.
It didn’t sp...
2023-12-24 17:18:26 +0000 UTC
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Matt moved to one of the windows to let in some light, but Sam put his hand on Matt’s arm to stop him.
Matt could clearly see as well as Sam, or at least had some understanding because when Sam shook his head, Matt didn’t argue the point.
“Let’s pick our way across the debris,” Sam said quietly.
“It smells awful,” Kai said, putting a hand over his nose.
Lenal was quiet, and for once even Komachi didn’t want to talk.
His cat didn’t e...
2023-12-24 17:18:06 +0000 UTC
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Frustration welled up in Sam, but he kept it tamped down. This wasn’t the Aker Academy’s fault, though some (not insignificant) part of himself wanted to blame them for their poor choice.
These people were professors and researchers, not fighters. An otherwise essential part of society, cut off from everybody else when the apocalypse hit.
He had to remind himself that not everybody could pick apart a battlefield like an Incarnate of War and select the best defensi...
2023-12-24 17:17:58 +0000 UTC
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Raiko readied her manatuned katana to intercept the gargoyle, but it crackled with purple lightning. Far from the quietest of elemental magics. Otherwise, that spell would be ideal for striking the gargoyle out of the air.
If she unleashed that rift of Lightning mana, it’d attract far more monsters. None of which Sam and his group knew the level of.
First Layer mana was only so strong, and hopefully that applied to the monsters that dwelled here too. As to what uppe...
2023-12-24 17:17:51 +0000 UTC
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Sam stepped aboard the Aker Academy Skyshard.
The first thing he noticed was the smell of pine trees in the air. It was oddly pleasant and serene. He could imagine carriages rumbling up to the gates ahead, letting years of students off one by one as they made their way through the wrought-iron gate.
He had one hand on his sword, just in case something jumped out. This place was not safe, no matter what Lenal might think.
There was a greasy feeling in the air. It...
2023-12-24 17:17:41 +0000 UTC
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Sam found Raiko asleep under the Sacred Tree, an encased potion bottle resting on her chest.
For a moment, it was tempting to swipe it. But if she woke up, it wouldn’t be a good look.
Not that he wanted to steal it, necessarily, but he was very curious what it was. However, he wasn’t like Komachi, who had the Seeker Legend and had an actual [Examine] skill.
What Sam had was just the basic version of the skill, which only seemed to function if he held somethi...
2023-12-24 17:17:32 +0000 UTC
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The next morning, after breakfast, Sam looked over Raiko’s armor. He whistled at what he saw. It was impressive. Very impressive.
[Sage’s Domaru Gearset]
(Medium Armor) (F-Class)
(★☆Uncommon III)
Enhancements
Physical Defense V | Magical Defense VII
Elemental Defense II | Lightning Resistance I
Rift Enfeebling Up III | Rif...
2023-12-24 17:17:20 +0000 UTC
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Gray nodded. This was not exactly an uncommon response. “I believe introductions are in order. My name is Nathaniel Gray, but most people call me Gray.” He motioned to his own Skyshard. Relagia’s buildings were easy to see from this angle, they gleamed tall and proud. “As you can see, we have homes, clean water, food, and are expanding every day. I have come to ask you to join us. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Yeah, and if we refuse?” said the young man.
2023-12-24 17:17:14 +0000 UTC
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“We are nearly upon the Skyshard, Gray.”
“Thank you, Sila,” Gray said without turning from his view atop the lookout tower at the center of his fledgling town. It afforded him a perfect view of the surrounding Tiles and best of all, it was located toward the leading edge.
From here, anybody could see what was in directly in front of their Skyshard.
“Preliminary scouting reports suggest that the Skyshard is mostly uninhabited,” Sila said, keeping her ...
2023-12-24 17:16:58 +0000 UTC
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“But you’ll… die,” Shrubley said.
The Witch gave him one of those secret little smiles. “Think so, do ye?”
Shrubley paused. “I am… not sure.”
“Good.” She rubbed her hands together briskly. “Now,” she turned to the oppa, “I think you mentioned something about a little after-dinner story. After such a large meal I expect you all will be needing some rest. Girl, go up and fetch the spare beds for our guests.”
The Countess stood u...
2023-12-24 17:00:49 +0000 UTC
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