A Devil walked with some Humans in a dirty, overgrown forest. The Humans were obviously unhappy to be traveling with a Demon – especially that one. They walked with a wide berth around the Devil, and he could see them constantly glaring sideways at him.
The Devil hardly cared about their hostility, though. He was much more focused on his environment. Specifically, he was focused on the mud in the ground that splashed onto his feet, the leaves and branches on the trees that th...
2022-12-24 01:00:02 +0000 UTC
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A Devil walked through the streets of a loud, bustling city. He was being escorted through, of course, by the same crowd of weapon-wielding Human guards that’d ushered him through before.
This time, though, it made a bit more sense that he’d be assigned such a massive guard. He wasn’t in the weak body he’d been in before. This time, he’d made sure to find a Projector Demon that could more efficiently transfer his power. He technically didn’t have the authority to strongarm h...
2022-12-23 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. On top of his desk was a miniature illusion of the Kingdom of Koinkar. It had all provinces, territories, borders, roads, notable monster locations, and just about any other piece of information that the Devil might’ve wanted to know. It had been meticulously put together by the squads of Diviners assigned to him, since the Humans had essentially taken over for the Diviners’ jobs.
When the Devil and King Koinkar had their discussion about ...
2022-12-23 01:00:59 +0000 UTC
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Erani and I went back to the Faerie village, taking the Dryad with us, to inform them of the job we’d completed. I didn’t mention that the Dryad was the one that did most of the work.
“Mm. Good,” the Faerie Queene said. “Feel free to stay a while. I’m sure Aankin the Stalwart is still itching for a rematch, after all.”
We were back in the palace, which was very, very slowly being repaired by a crowd of Slimes. I had no idea why the Queene would use them as c...
2022-12-22 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Where are the soldiers coming from?” Erani asked the Faerie Queene.
“Near the entrance. They’ll be here in a few minutes. We have some spies currently tailing them.”
“Oh, so the spies will be helping us in the combat?”
“Absolutely not. I hired you for help, and I’ll be getting my value on that.”
I set my jaw, trying not to say anything at that. She was technically right that we agreed to do what we could to help, but the Queene refusing to...
2022-12-21 19:04:54 +0000 UTC
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I stood in front of the newly-opened gate leading into the Faerie village, facing the diverse crowd of citizens within, staring at me. None of them attacked – at least not immediately – but they didn’t do much else, either. I wasn’t even sure if they could understand the language I was speaking. At the very least, they seemed intimidated enough by our show of power that we were safe for now.
“I’m going to speak to your Queene,” I said, and pointed to the palace. “In ther...
2022-12-21 19:03:40 +0000 UTC
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And then I was back, reawakening in my body as we walked the all-too-familiar trek to the Faerie village, an hour before I died.
“That fucking bitch!” I cursed the moment I had a mouth again.
Erani looked at me, wide-eyed. “Sorry?”
“No, not you,” I sighed. “Gods fucking damn this shit. Wouldn’t be surprised if that bitch crawled her way up from the bottom hell.”
“...That’s a lot of blasphemy you’re doing over there. Something going on? Time Loop...
2022-12-21 19:01:48 +0000 UTC
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“Your objective is to survive by any means necessary,” the Queene said. “Do not hurt non-combatants. Go.”
I immediately ducked as a knife flew over my head, right where my back would’ve been. I turned and stepped back from Aankin, my attacker, and raised my hands to cast a Spell. The Queene’s words were permission enough to fight back, so I went ahead with it.
You have cursed Level 29 Faerie Champion with Cripp...
2022-12-21 18:59:12 +0000 UTC
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I came to consciousness in the all-too-familiar black void of Time Loop. The first thing I realized was that I had died. Gods damn it. The second thing I noticed was that I had many, many more choices being presented to me than last time. Sixty choices, to be exact. After a moment’s confusion, I remembered that Time Loop could now take me up to a full hour back in time, instead of the ten-or-so minutes that I used to be able to go back.
I could already feel myself fading – it took m...
2022-12-21 18:57:27 +0000 UTC
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The Faerie village was surrounded by a strong-looking wooden palisade. It was made of thick logs and connected by rope strung of green plant fibers. Roofs of thatch poked out from the top of the walls guarding the village, and I could see floating orbs of light strewn throughout the air above, illuminating the area in a soft blue-and-purple glow.
At one side of the wall was a huge gate made of the same wide logs, with a simple turnwheel to raise and lower it. It must’ve taken an immen...
2022-12-21 18:56:10 +0000 UTC
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The walk to the Faerie village was tiring, especially when I was forced to spend all of my Stamina on Regeneration in order to keep myself alive. Despite the extra Health from the Talent, I was still net losing Health every hour – just not as dramatically. It was coming up to midnight, and my Health had dropped to 19.
As Erani helped me walk along, I also decided to go ahead and looked at my options for what was called a ‘Time Loop Upgrade’. I had the time while we walked, and wha...
2022-12-21 18:53:45 +0000 UTC
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“The poison isn’t going away,” I groaned to Erani.
Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.
Your Health is 78.
“Seventy-eight Health left,” I continued.
“Fuck…” she muttered as she approached me, crouching by my side. The wound where the Banestinger grazed me was swollen and purple. “Do you know what can stop i...
2022-12-21 18:50:13 +0000 UTC
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The Banestinger charged at us, and Erani and I leapt to the side, dodging its massive stinger. If the sword-length injector didn’t kill me, the venom surely would.
“We need to run,” Erani grabbed my arm as the massive monster turned around, recovering from its missed charge.
“No, we can take it,” I argued. “And the amount of XP it’ll give us will definitely be enough to Level me up.”
“We can kill something else! You already used Time Loop today, we can’t ...
2022-12-21 18:46:31 +0000 UTC
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We continued walking for Kingdom’s Edge. It’d been enough time that I was pretty confident we were getting close, but I really had no way to tell. Not only were we lacking a map, but because of the forest’s constant tall thicket of trees surrounding us, we wouldn’t even be able to see the mountain range in the distance until we got close.
I was still itching to kill something by the end of the day, but I wasn’t so lucky as to find another Anacap or anything like that. No...
2022-12-21 18:44:33 +0000 UTC
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And then I was back, searching for food in the forest before I was ever shot and killed by that woman. The spot on my palm tingled where it’d been pierced. I took a deep breath, trying to think the situation through. The moment that familiar died, they teleported in, but it had been watching me for at least a few minutes beforehand, if not longer. In fact…
I glanced up as discreetly as I could. The familiar falcon stood there, looking down at me.
They were watching me right no...
2022-12-21 18:43:44 +0000 UTC
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Over the course of the next couple days, we continued on our path toward Kingdom’s Edge with surprisingly few complications. The forest was normally a relentless predator, full of monsters to constantly keep watch for, but the combination of the Nymph’s calming aura and the Demons’ clearing out of the surrounding forest meant there weren’t many aggressive things left in the woods. We’d even had occurrences of things like Wood Wraiths walking up to the Nymph and rubbing affectionatel...
2022-12-21 18:42:05 +0000 UTC
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After our rest, Erani, the Nymph and I got up and started on our way, heading to Kingdom’s Edge. It would be a long journey, but heading anywhere away from Carth would be a good development in our situation. On our way, I worked to Rank up my new Spell, Gravity Well.
Gravity Well
School: Arcane
Type: Toggle
Cost: 10 Mana/Second per Being Affected
—
While active,...
2022-12-21 18:36:18 +0000 UTC
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A Devil stood outside of a city on a bright, sunny day. Or, it wasn’t really a Devil that stood there, a false body of the Devil being projected from the Underworld. The Devil looked down at his hands and body, finding that he felt much weaker than he did in his original body, and almost… lower resolution. Like his skin wasn’t as detailed as it used to be, and his black shirt and pants didn’t have as many fibers. His eyesight was worse and his hearing was lower definition, and he coul...
2022-12-21 18:32:59 +0000 UTC
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A Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room. Long-forgotten papers were scattered across the floor, covered in so many dirty footsteps it was impossible to tell what was written on them anymore. The Devil leaned, hunched over the empty desk, chewing on one of his fingers. It had become a bad habit of his, biting down on a thumb or pinkie any time he became stressed. It had gotten so bad, in fact that he regularly bit down hard enough to accidentally draw blood. But some small wounds on a finge...
2022-12-21 18:31:50 +0000 UTC
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We ran for what felt like hours, keeping up the fastest speed we could manage for as long as we could. The Nymph we managed to save ran along with us gracefully, seeming barely tired from the gauntlet of hills to ascend and fallen logs to leap over. Its whip bounced against its thigh as it bounded through the forest with us. At first, I was impressed, but eventually, as my legs felt more and more hollow and powerless, I was just jealous of its seemingly endless Stamina.
The exhausting s...
2022-12-21 18:29:42 +0000 UTC
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And then I was back, nine minutes beforehand, walking through the forest with Erani before we’d ever heard any signs of fighting. I immediately had a decision to make. I’d Leveled to 9 during the fight beforehand, and had gotten a Spell Choice. However, in order to make changes to my Status, I’d need to meditate for about ten minutes. And, by the time ten minutes had passed, there was no doubt in my mind that the Nymphs would be killed.
However, it could still be possible to catch...
2022-12-21 18:24:57 +0000 UTC
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I charged forward into the battlefield of Nymphs and Infernals, and Erani scrambled behind a tree. She may have gotten a defensive Spell, but her Health was still abysmal. The Infernal I’d shot had already noticed me and turned to face me, and the second Infernal saw me during my charge out of the forest. I began running along the muddy riverbank to intercept me, brown sludge splashing across its red skin as it stomped along. The third Infernal turned and went to pursue the two Nymphs that ...
2022-12-21 18:23:20 +0000 UTC
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We began our journey to the Barinruth Empire. First, we would go back to the Nymphs’ river to reorient ourselves, restock our water, and enjoy a bit of a rest inside the monster-calming aura of the Nymphs’ two-way empathy. And then, we’d start the trek to Kingdom’s Edge.
“Gonna be a long walk back to the river,” I said as we hiked through the forest. “Think we should figure out Angelic Shield on the way?”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t suggest that,” she laughed ...
2022-12-21 18:20:34 +0000 UTC
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I sat and rested for a few more minutes, waiting for Erani to finish up, but she never did. It’d been much longer than I’d expected her to take at that point.
“Erani? You good?” I asked to check up on her.
“...No, not really,” she responded while keeping her eyes closed. “I can’t decide on what Spell to take.”
“Still choosing a Spell?”
“Yeah. There’s just too much to take into account, and I can’t take back my decision.”
“Well, wha...
2022-12-21 18:18:11 +0000 UTC
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AN: If you want to read the chapters before this one, they should all be up on the RoyalRoad page, at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61762/minute-mage-a-time-traveling-litrpg-progression
These chapters are completely free, and there are a lot of them! So feel free to check them out.
After the kills, my XP had risen to 2...
2022-12-21 18:17:01 +0000 UTC
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