Shardrunes

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 29: The Dark Vault

“Did you say ‘break me’?” Sam asked, wondering if she was making fun of his Breaker bloodline.

“Yes, it’s an Islegardian obscenity, why?” Raiko said.

“Oh, never mind. Anyway, what’ve you found?” he asked, coming to get a good look himself.

Komachi wriggled out of his armor and perched up on his shoulder like an owl ready to take flight.

“Incredible loot, the likes of which will change our lives,” Raiko said, animated with excitement...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 27: Book Work

Komachi was a lot of things, but attentive was not one of them. As she slowly came awake to the sounds of Sam swinging his big soot-stained sword through the air, Komachi realized she still had a notification pending.

She twisted about, all four paws pushing against the air as she arched her back in a deep stretch. Her dark gold fur shimmered in the light of the crackling fire, their only source of light down here.

Title Gained: Pocket Healer

2023-08-24 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 28: The Sage

Sam only made it a few steps before rocky debris began to pelt him from above. Snatching Komachi from beside him, he hurried into a sheltering overhang as larger bits of rubble rained down into the ravine.

Rather than taper off, as Sam was accustomed to, the earthquake grew in intensity. The very land seemed to scream out in wild-eyed rage, and it took him a long few moments before he realized buried deep within the groaning rock was a voice.

The voice of a creature l...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 26: Upgrade

Without access to personal stores of Fire Mana or Metal Mana, what Sam could do was somewhat limited. But thankfully, he had access to a ready supply of Fire right in front of him, and the blade itself was composed of Metal.

While not the same as having the attunements themselves, he could still manipulate them with his affinities. In some ways, having an affinity was better than an attunement.

With an affinity, Sam could mold and manipulate the associated mana as if ...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 25: Alloy of War

Multiple Skills have Leveled Up!

Your [Rally] Ability has reached (☆ Primitive III).

Your [Armor Foundation] Skill has reached (☆ Primitive III).

Your [Endure] Trait has reached (☆ Primitive II).

Your [Greatsword Foundation] Skill has reached (☆ Primitive V).

Your [Heavy Weapon Handling] Skill has reached (★☆ Uncommon III).

Naturall...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 24: Cat

Purring, Komachi listened to the crackling of the campfire, and dried her sodden fur with its soothing warmth. The [Archflame], dancing at its center, felt a little like home. Just like Hawai’i.

Ever since she had met the Sage Raiko, Komachi had learned many things. And after venturing to Islegard’s end, then to the Shardrune of Il’dran and leveling up numerous times, she learned and changed even more.

Still, some things remained strange and unfamiliar. Such as ...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 23: Assessing the Aftermath

Once the fire was roaring, Sam settled back down to enjoy some [Simple Rations] with Komachi. He spared a thought for Kale and his friends, wondering how they were holding up without any of the supplies.

Stroke of luck that I managed to keep them, he thought. Not that he would have let Darren take them, but he wouldn’t have thought anything of passing some of his stuff to Kale.

Despite his bone-weary fatigue, Sam pulled up the long list of notifications he ...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 22: Free Fallin’

Sam’s stomach did flips as gravity suddenly pulled the rug out from under him. The golem and Sam plunged through the misted depths, still fighting, forcing Sam onto the defense.

Current Heat Level: 8/100

Undeterred by the rapid change in scenery, the golem kept swinging after Sam.

Leveraging his buffed Strength, Sam swept his claymore back and forth into what blows he could even see, deflecting the worst of the damage while spinning uncontroll...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 21: Dire, Dire Death

“Sorry, Komachi,” Sam said through gritted teeth. He hadn’t even lasted a day in this new world. So much hope and potential wasted because… what? Darren thought it would be easier to manipulate the group without him?

A flicker of rage smoldered in Sam’s chest, but he didn’t stamp it out. Instead, he stoked it and directed it to strengthen him. He had to find a way to get away from this damn golem.

It was clear as glass that there was no way in hell he woul...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 20: The Lorax Speaks for the Trees

Sam wasn’t sure just how long they searched. Long enough for the sky to just begin to lighten, at the very least. But there was no trace of Matt.

Eventually, they had to face facts that regardless of whether or not Darren was telling the truth about Matt, they weren’t likely to find him. And with every hour that passed, the chances of finding him alive shrank.

So they pressed on in as best a direction as they could manage, away from where they thought the center o...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 19: On the Road Again

Darren came over and began kicking dirt and debris into the flames. “Come on, slacker. Every moment we delay is another that the spiders might come back. Besides, you want to rescue Matt, right? Well, get a move on, hero.”

The flames roared and spat angry embers, forcing Darren to step away and then hurriedly scurry farther, as if that had been his intention all along.

Sam reached out to the flames as if to soothe them like he would a frightened animal. 2023-08-20 06:55:56 +0000 UTC View Post

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 18: Grim Grifter

Darren did his best to keep his expression as blank and innocent as possible. It helped that he now had a skill that assisted him, keeping him from sweating and blustering as he normally would.

Who knew you could get a Profession just from lying through your teeth?

“I want Matt to be alive more than anybody else,” he lied.

His greatest fear was that Matt was not only alive, but pissed. The man might be too soft-hearted at times, but he was absolutel...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 17: Arachnophobia

A beautiful horned demon knelt over Sam in his dreams, eyes aglow with bleeding blue fire and skin marked all over by luminous sigils.

“The Shatterblade,” she whispered with Raiko’s refined voice. “Did it survive? Did you?”

He struggled to respond, trapped somewhere between being asleep and awake.

Until a raucous noise from the waking world pulled him out.

“I don’t want to die!” Lisa cried. The Mage screamed as she clawed at the dirt while ...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 16: One Bad Apple

Even Sam had to admit that his plan wasn’t anything special. But it seemed like people needed something to do. Some sort of plan, even if it wasn’t stellar.

And so, he laid out something so simple, any of them should be able to follow it without any issue.

“Firstly,” Sam continued, “we’re going to need a watch rotation. Three people for a few hours each. They’ll be responsible for keeping the fire burning, and to make sure nothing comes up on us unaware....

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 15: Fireside chat II

Naturally, the talk soon turned toward their stats, and what everybody should do with their allotment.

Sam was still digesting the information about affinities. It felt odd that he had an affinity for Fire mana, but not for Void mana. Considering that, as far as he understood, he couldn’t create Fire mana. Ever.

Or any other mana, for that matter.

So how in the hell was he ever going to be able to use his Fire affinity? An affinity that he co...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 14: Fireside Chat

Nobody in Sam’s group understood the danger they were in, let alone appeared to remember the countdown to the ogre’s rampage. They bantered and talked over the grilled lizard meat as if this was just a camping trip without bothering to keep their voices down.

No one but Sam, Kylie and Kale were keeping watch on their surroundings. Chris and Kai looked around sometimes, but that wasn’t the same thing as being vigilant.

Just a little while ago, monsters attacked t...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 13: Prometheus

Having fought for who knows how long, nearly dying, then the whole strangeness with that nexus place and finally fighting again had Sam realizing just how much he was running on fumes.

He was already hungry by the time they went to the beach, and every other crazy adrenaline-filled event since then hadn’t given him the opportunity to appreciate just how hungry he was.

At the mere mention of food, Komachi’s stomach grumbled right by his ear, as she was perched on h...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 12: First Blood

While everybody else was still picking themselves up off the floor, Sam rushed forward to meet the large lizard. Though he could handle the [Dull Claymore] similarly to how he could have a much smaller and lighter longsword, it was still unwieldy due to its sheer size.

Sam held the blade across the back of his shoulder in a modified Wrath Guard. He stomped down on one foot as the lizard rushed at him, twisted about, and brought the claymore down with all of his might in a s...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 11: Reunited

“That’s awesome,” Sam said, staring at the ogre in the distance. It was enormous. A creature the size of a building, and yet it seemed so still that you could have missed it if not for the system or whatever it was.

“You might want to put on some armor, yeah?” Kale prompted, tapping his own chainmail and padded shirt.

Sam paused and looked at the state of himself. He was wearing simple cotton-spun clothes, gloves, and simple boots. Better than his board shor...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 10: Initialized

Sweating, Sam shifted the coffers to be in front of Komachi so she could choose without having to move at all. “Twenty seconds, Komachi!”

The cat looked up at him with her deep emerald-green eyes, made a grumble in the back of her throat, and gently batted at the nearest coffer out of idle feline curiosity.

Sam wasn’t even sure why he was stressing about this, but the ticking of the timer grew so loud he could hardly hear his own thoughts.

It was nerve-wra...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 9: Partner in Crime

Something dawned on him. “Wait,” he said, staring at his cat. “You said you didn’t get Nomad for an option…. So that means you can pick a Job too?”

Komachi nodded. “Yis.”

“You are the best cat.”

His cat hopped onto the shelf, sifting through the boxes. “I need one for… well, either I’m going to be a Mage or a Cleric.”

“I’m going to go on an adventure with my cat,” Sam said, both in disbelief and amazement. “Who ...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 8: Get Equipped

Quest Updated: Initialization in the Nexus

Objectives completed: 1/3

Select starting Job (Complete)

Select starting equipment (Incomplete)

Select starting Legend (Incomplete)

You have limited time remaining to complete this Quest.

Time remaining: 14min 25s

“Little less than a quarter of an hour to choo...

[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 7: Initialization

[Fighter] Unlocked.

You gain the following:

[Armor Foundation]

(Fighter Skill) (F-Class)

(☆ Primitive I)

With your nascent understanding of armor types, you can not only identify various types of armor, but also move in them without great encumbrance. Though most of your experience with armor has been hand-me-downs and Earth-style fencing protection, yo...