AN: Thank you to everyone who left a review, voted on the reviews, or even just said some kind words in the comments. It all means a lot to me!
Also, this chapter's extra-long! Hope you enjoy :)
After some time, we arrived back at the wasteland proper. I’d explained to Erani what’d happened with the Dryad, but neither of us had the courage to speak with her ever since she’d broken down. I didn’t even know what I could say if I did talk to h...
2023-01-30 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Erani and I stood in front of the decapitated corpse of our prisoner, Nantuth. Next to us stood the Dryad, who had just killed him. Blood oozed from the body’s neck, saturating into the ashen ground and turning it a dark, slimy red.
I looked down at the sight, sickened. Sure, we’d killed people before – I’d killed, myself, back in the explosion at the barricade – but this man was innocent. He was cooperative. I heard Erani gasp and turn away.
“Why would you do that...
2023-01-27 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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AN: This chapter's also extra long!
I stood in front of my prisoner, a man lying on his stomach with a strip of fabric tying his arms behind his back.
“Are you ready to start talking?” I asked, looking down at him.
He rustled around, but didn’t answer. Probably checking his Health to see how much more punishment he could take. Or he was thinking about trying to escape. Or activating some communication Spell.
“If you don’t answer in ten s...
2023-01-25 13:01:01 +0000 UTC
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AN: Happy start to a new week! This chapter's extra long :)
I saw him while practicing Expedite.
We were waiting in the dead forest for the Dragon to attack the wasteland like it’d done before, so while Erani and the Dryad rested, I went ahead and worked on getting used to my new Spell. After I took it, Erani warned me that most people needed time to get used to such a massive modification of physical Stats happening in a single instant like Expedite provided, so I’...
2023-01-23 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Erani sat against a tree in the dead, gray forest. Arlan had just picked his new Spell and Talent, and was trying to get used to the sensation of boosting his Dexterity by so much using Expedite. Especially with physical Stats, people tended to need some time to acclimate to large changes like that.
With his new Talent – Exponential Reclamation, he’d said it was called – the Ghouls were much less of a problem. He’d apparently close to tripled his Mana/Minute, so he had more than...
2023-01-20 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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To begin with my choices, I decided to pick a Spell. Honestly, they all looked powerful. I almost discounted Ember Gale as not useful because it’d damage Erani and the Dryad, who both had pretty low Health, but then I remembered that Erani would actually be hit much less hard from it than I thought. With Angelic Shield, she’d be able to block the damage, and would really just be taking a hit to h...
2023-01-18 13:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Threshold reached. 1000 XP.
Your Level has increased to 15.
Due to achieving Level 15 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:
-You have gained 1 Endurance.
-You ...
2023-01-16 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I stumbled to my feet, glancing around in search of the Mountain Troll. When I got knocked back from the monster, I’d landed far away – off at the edge of the quickly-encroaching ring of Ghouls that surrounded us. I backed away from them while also trying to keep prepared for an attack from the Troll. It was standing across our little arena, and turned to face me. Its eyes had that magical sheen that told me it was still in its speed-enhanced state. Just how long would this shit last?
...
2023-01-15 01:00:53 +0000 UTC
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The beast in the cave with us lunged at me while I leapt backwards to avoid the rabid bite. As it moved forward, toward me and toward the mouth of the cavern, natural light began falling on the monster that could previously only be identified by its pair of glowing red eyes.
It had rough gray skin, and was at least twice as big as me. Its ugly, scrunched-up face with a big nose and permanent scowl looked down at me and growled as it bared its hands out, showing off the sharp claws that ...
2023-01-14 13:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Once we found the entrance to the wasteland, we decided to take a break before journeying in. The place was so infested with Ghouls, we wouldn’t be able to get a single quiet moment once we walked in there, so we backed away into the forest and found a decent spot for shelter as the night sky darkened. Since we’d already cleared out the nearby area of Ghouls while walking through the first time, we didn’t have to fight quite as many while getting ready to sleep.
So we rested, each...
2023-01-13 13:01:00 +0000 UTC
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A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. This room was not his office, however. Well, he didn’t have an office at all, anymore. After his demotion, he was forced out and into the large common room where the rest of the office grunts worked. To his sides were Gargoyles and Ember Mites – the same ones that used to work for him.
“Hey, Xhag’duulinithar’obaba’iidook, you mind handing me a new ink bottle? Mine’s out,” said one of them – a tiny Ember Mite named In...
2023-01-12 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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There were six Ghouls staring us down in the dead forest. The setting sun made it harder to see, but it wasn’t totally dark yet. Their rotting flesh was peeled away to reveal tissue and bone, and their jaws hanging open to reveal a row of sharp teeth. Upon being transformed into a Ghoul, a body would go through a few modifications. Pointed teeth and long claws were some of the things that grew in.
Instantly, my mind went to work. “Dryad, move to the side and flank them when they...
2023-01-11 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Erani, the Dryad, and I walked through the dead, decolorized forest, gazing at Kingdom’s Edge in the distance. The range of mountains barely broke through the treetops, but even with the little saw, I could tell we still had a long way to go. But our goal was finally in sight.
Still, my mind was more consumed with my immediate surroundings. As we continued to walk forward, the forest changed even more dramatically. The ground was a gray, hard dirt with no grass sprouting up from it, a...
2023-01-10 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Erani, the Dryad, and I kept walking throughout the entire day, thankfully with no interruptions so far. Even though my Health had previously been at a precarious 24, with the help of Regenerate, by the time the sun set, it got all the way back up to full, at 310. Normally, it would’ve taken all of today and tomorrow to even get close to that point, so I was very much enjoying the benefits of the Talent. Wounds closing, burns fading away, it even got to the point where I felt a bit...
2023-01-09 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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AN: Hello you wonderful people! This week will be the last week of daily uploads. End of an era, I know! Unfortunately, school is starting for me after this week, and I won't be able to write at quite the rate I used to. I'll do 1/day for the next 7 days, but after that, I'll be doing 3/week. Thanks for reading!
A Devil marched through the halls of a pathetic king’s castle. He was absolutely furious – just after he reprimanded them for failing to kill ...
2023-01-08 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Ripley Tenet laid on the floor in a cold, dark room. She was broken. Shattered. After the previous thirteen hours, how could she not be? She’d been lying there for at least thirty minutes, motionless, just trying to forget everything that’d happened.
The previous day, that damned Demon had stormed into the Imperial Castle, killed Camilla and Ragavan, and strong-armed the kingdom into fighting the Underworld’s war. To set up some ambush and kill their oh-so-important fugitive.
<...
2023-01-07 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Erani walked through the greenery of a hot, humid forest. She, Arlan, and the newly-communicative Dryad had recently gotten up from their brief rest and headed off once again, eager to get further away from the destroyed barricade. She was still reeling from the Dryad’s sudden ability to speak. Or, not ‘speak’, really, but rather telepathize. To be able to communicate with a previously-unknown creature was amazing.
There was just one problem with that communication.
2023-01-06 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The voice echoed through my head. “Can you hear me?” it had said. Or, not really. It was more of a feeling. Like an abstract concept that I happened to recognize as having the same meaning as the words “can you hear me”.
“What the fuck,” I stood and looked around. When I didn’t see anything, I glanced over at Erani. “Did you hear that?”
She nodded, standing scanning the area as well. “Who was that?”
The voice spoke again. “It is me who is...
2023-01-05 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Choose one Spell to learn:
Ethereal Armor
School: Arcane, Summoning
Type: Activated
Cost: 150 Mana
—
You summon one of two sets of magical armor – Dark Plate or Light Plate. You may dismiss it at any time. It will be automatically dismissed after 60 minutes.
While wearing Dark Plate, you cannot take more than 50...
2023-01-04 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Erani helped me through the forest for about an hour before we had to take a break. I was burned, battered, burdened by notification sickness and couldn’t walk on my own, and Erani was in no shape to support my entire weight for that long, either.
Once we were a good distance away and sure we hadn’t been followed, we sat down. The moment I was no longer wrapped around Erani’s shoulder, she collapsed on the ground. I didn’t realize just how exhausted she obviously was, and felt b...
2023-01-03 13:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Erani, the Dryad, and I stood at the edge of the forest, looking over the campsite that was our target. I watched the storage depot that was full of explosives, trying to find a time when the most Infernals were nearby. If I blew the whole thing up, it’d certainly damage everyone within a wide radius, but it most likely wouldn’t kill any Infernals that weren’t close by. I knew from experience just how much damage those things could sponge up.
From activating Time Loop, my Health a...
2023-01-02 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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I stood in the middle of the bloody battlefield that was the enemy’s barricade camp. It was our barrier to getting away from the wildfire that was slowly approaching, and absolutely crawling with Infernals, Human soldiers, and, most importantly, weight-triggered explosives. Those thin metal plates had been scattered from end to end of the camp, and, if I stepped on any of them, they’d explode and kill me.
Except now, they wouldn’t. I’d looted an Enchanted ring from one of the so...
2023-01-01 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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We were surrounded by armed soldiers, standing in the middle of the mine-covered camp of the enemy. Nearest to us were a handful of Infernals, looking bloodthirsty as ever, and further away were the bow-wielding Humans looking ready to get rid of me. And, of course, by our feet were the countless metal mines, ready to explode the moment our feet touched them. Our enemies somehow weren’t triggering them, something I suspected was related to the copper rings they all wore.
One of the Hu...
2022-12-31 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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AN: This chapter comes chronologically earlier in the story. In the RR chapters, it's positioned as chapter 49, so that's what I've labeled it here (other chapter numbers will be updated to reflect this). I wrote it more recently, so I'm only just able to upload it now. Please forgive the interruption in your regularly scheduled programming! We'll return to the normal chapters tomorrow :)
Riplet Tenet, member of Squad Minor of King Koinkar’s royal guard, stood in...
2022-12-30 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I awoke in the in-between place, and shivered. Well, not really shivered – still didn’t have a body in here. I knew what I was up against, now I just had to surpass it. I would come back to a raging forest fire, run from it, and arrive at the line of soldiers that were prepared to block my path.
I considered trying to go around them, but rejected the idea after a moment’s consideration. I’d seen no end to that blockade the time before, and would only be wasting precious time by ...
2022-12-29 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Erani, the Dryad and I stood at the edge of the clearing, the blockade of tents and soldiers in front of us, and fire behind. With the burning time limit creeping up on us, we didn’t have the time to see if there was a way around. And they were so well-manned that it was incredibly unlikely we’d get through undetected.
“Shit…” I muttered, glancing around to try and find some way through this. Unfortunately, this situation wasn’t like the ravine with the tree before;...
2022-12-28 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Erani and I climbed up the oldest, most brittle-looking tree I could find. This was all part of our plan to get across the wide ravine that split the earth in front of us, preventing us from escaping the forest fire that slowly encroached at our backs. We weren’t going to jump from it – even as high up as we were, we wouldn’t be able to get enough distance on a straight leap – but getting as far up the tree was still a key part of the plan.
I’d already explained the plan to Er...
2022-12-27 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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After a full night’s sleep, Erani, the Dryad, and I had all woken up. The sun had risen fully into the sky, finally casting illumination around us. Hells, it was probably already past noon. It felt like it’d been much too long since I’d last seen the sun, which was technically correct, since I’d spent an extra two hours in midnight using Time Loop the day before.
I stretched and sat up from my position lying with Erani. We’d spent the night sleeping next to each other so she c...
2022-12-26 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A Devil walked across some corpses in a big, bloody room.
You have slain Level 9 Champion Vessel.
You have slain Level 14 Champion Vessel.
You have slain Level 6 Champion Vessel.
He’d killed at ...
2022-12-25 13:01:00 +0000 UTC
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A Devil dashed through the trees of a dense, dark forest. The nighttime light made it difficult to see, but he was still able to weave through the trees and obstacles scattered throughout the hilly landscape. He sprinted through, eager to find that place Aankin kept coming back from. He was coming from the same direction each time, so if the Devil just followed that same trajectory backwards, he’d find the place.
Part of him was annoyed that this dumbass was interfering with his plans...
2022-12-24 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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