LiseEclaire

Leveling up the World (Chapter 684)

You sure you don’t want me to join you, boss? Lux asked.

“Bringing a bladebow on the first day of class might send the wrong message,” Dallion replied. Even so, he tucked the Nox dagger in his boot. Some habits were impossible to kick. “You’ll be fine here, Ruby?”

The shardfly didn’t reply.

“You can chat with bowl and shield. I’m sure they’d like it.”

Sure. The insect replied, but gloom and disappointment kept emanating from him....

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 08)

“I didn’t kill my father!” Celsius shouted in H-Sec’s interview room.

It had been half an hour since the rune carriages had flown myself, Celsius, and his girlfriend to their main office and still he kept sticking to his story. Given the delicate nature of the case, there wasn’t much even H-Sec could outright do due to the nature of Kode’s family NDA situation. Ellcron’s lawyers had made sure to tangle everything with so much legalese that they had proxy involvement with n...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 683)

It had been a while since Dallion had visited the novice administration building in the Learning Hall corridor. The staff seemed rather amused by his new appearance, Dealing Dallion with no choice but to smile and endure being treated as an infant.

“Here you are,” the assistant patted him on the head as she brought a sheet of paper. “Just fill that in. Cheska should be able to help you, but if there’s anything you can’t answer, let me know.”

Dallion found the attitude ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 682)

The exam room was in a different part of the novice section. It was rather large, mixing elements of an awakened training room, an auditorium, and a small arena. Knee-length walls separated four sections of the floor, marking the trial zones.

“Take the top row,” Palag pointed at a set of seats. “Dal, you go down to zone one.”

Dallion swallowed. He could feel a tightness in his chest.

It’s just a silly trial! He kept repeating to himself. He hadn’t felt s...

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 7)

Finding a human charm addict in a slum of uncharted was a lot more difficult than it sounded. If it were an undercover agent, a tourist, or even a newcomer there wouldn’t be anything easier. Regardless of the amount of bribe money at their disposal, it always left a bitter aftertaste. Plus, there was no telling when it would abruptly come to an end. Charm addicts, on the other hand, were a guaranteed source of income so the locals tended to protect them.

A few more talks with Summer i...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 681)

“You couldn’t make it?” The dwarf arched his brows.

It was a difficult decision to make, but Dallion decided he couldn’t risk putting something of the sort in the hands of others. There was no definite proof that the weapon was meant for Aspan, which was why Dallion placed an echo within the item. Up to now, he had avoided the practice, but unusual times required unusual solutions.

“Couldn’t defeat the last guardian,” Dallion said. “I’ve still a thing or two to l...

Uncharted Water (Chapter 6)

There were many ways of catching a suspect. H-Sec could get anyone’s information in minutes, then suck all the gargoyles in the city to fetch them. There were a few issues with that. Despite being the prime suspect, Celsius remained just a suspect. Dragging him to H-Sec was a matter of order; plunging the city into chaos—not so much.

The instant our conversation at Ellcron was over I knew we had to part ways. The detectives were good, but they remained human. Even after years of int...

Uncharted Water (Chapter 5)

I’d never seen the faces of my parents. Back when I was a child, we didn’t have faces. We didn’t have a single form, either, floating through the ocean like threads in fabric. I suspect they never appreciated the idea of mimicking humans, so they left. The only thing they left me was the memory of warmth, calm, and a few kind words.

“Some influence you were.” I tapped on the jar containing the memory crystal and lay down on my bed. Usually I’d relax, losing my form, letting ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 680)

DAGGER Level 3 has been cleared!

Continue on to fulfill the DAGGER’s destiny!

A gate emerged, marking the path to the next section.

Good one, Dallion thought.

Winning a duel against a corpse wasn’t something he’d brag about, but the achievement points were more than welcome, as was increasing his magic to nine. A bit more luck and he’d be able to reach the coveted magic ten in this very artifact. That was su...

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 4)

Getting picked up by H-Sec or any of the local authorities was common in my part of the slums. Being driven back, though, would be remembered for years. I asked Clayton to drop me off at the watermark, and thankfully he did.

“I’ll fetch you tomorrow when we get an authorization for the visit,” he told me.

“Better I go to your office.” Having H-Sec visit me twice in a row would get my landlord angsty to the point he might kick me out. “I have a pass now, so it’ll be f...

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 3)

In my part of the city, if someone had to be questioned, they’d be grabbed, runed, and dragged to the station of the guard where the authorities would spend hours interrogating them in less than pleasant surroundings. Here, interrogations were called witness statements and were conducted in a very different fashion.

I followed detective Nixen by the building to where a pagoda had been built. A person in a H-Sec uniform handed a glass of water to the grieving widow. I instantly recogni...

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 2)

Entering the metropolis area was like entering a bank. Only difference was that instead of walls and armed guards there was an invisible line circling the area. Cross that line and a hundred gargoyles would swoop down from the nearest buildings. If one was lucky, they’d get caught quickly without much hassle. If not… I had heard talk that a mage unit had to be called in to clean the mess. Officially, the intruder was said to have been caught with a suitcase of explosion charms. Whether th...

Uncharted Waters (Chapter 1)

Sleep and I have always had a love-hate relationship. One could almost call us ex-lovers. She’d keep tempting me to go back into her arms, and I’d pretend to ignore her. Sometimes I’d flirt with her, just enough to prove I was still alive. Sometimes I’d even give in, and instantly regret it, waking up screaming and all covered in sweat. It was a good thing that I no longer shared a place with anyone else. Even low-level scum had a breaking limit, and after a few weeks of me, most had ...

Small Surprise

Hello, all!

Due to my temporary posting reduction I've decided to post a (short) story I was working on for a contest.

Five chapters will be posted today with all a few more tomorrow.

This will not affect the Leveling Up chapter I hope to post in about 12 hours from now.

Take care and hope you enjoy something different.

Lise

Leveling up the World (Chapter 679)

Drawing runes on a soul sucker turned out to be a difficult and highly inefficient task. Dallion had to spend a lot of attention not to kill the creature outright with the tip of his harpsisword. Drawing a series of runes on the tunnel walls, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. It would have been a lot more spectacular if he could cast a spell similar to what the copyette had done. What he couldn’t achieve in skill, he made up with in quantity, drawing hundreds of heat runes eve...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 678)

Three circles of symbols merged together within another fragment of the copyette, this time causing a grid of spikes to shoot up from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. In a fraction of a second, everything in the chamber, debris included, was pinned to the top. Thankfully, there was one exception; using combat splitting, Dallion had managed to shift to the instance that was closest to the chamber entrance and leap out before being caught in the guardian’s trap.

The copyette’s...

Temporary Changes

Heya, all!

Hope you're doing well in 2023 :)

Apologies. Have been feeling tired lately (possibly still recovering from last year).

Hoping this will soon pass, but for the moment I'll be moving to a 6-day post of Leveling up and pause Dungeon and Elcy for a week or two.

I was hoping to post a short story (which I started a few days ago) but likely will delay it as well.

Take care,

Lise

Leveling up the World (Chapter 677)

It had been so long since Dallion had been hired to clear an item that it almost felt unnatural. Back then, Dallion had just become an Icepicker guild member, and it had been his job to clear sphere items as quickly as possible. Life had been nice, full of taunts, jokes, and lots of feasting. Sadly, the same period also marked the start of his involvement with the general.

“It’s an unusual item,” he said, looking at what he could only describe as a corkscrew dagger. “And you’r...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 676)

Bumping into Katka had made Dallion lose his appetite to the point that even Ruby wasn’t able to snap him out of it. The shardfly was initially pleased with the brief journey outside of the room, though seeing Dallion’s state had gone back to being moody as before.

From a logical perspective, Dallion was supposed to be pleased. It wasn’t like he had come across Alien. Considering how much the man despised him, that would have been more than a little awkward. Yet coming across anyo...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 675)

Hunger greeted Dallion when he returned to the real world. In Nerosal, or even in the wilderness, that wasn’t an issue, since he could always go find some food. Here, though, things were different. Academy rules forbade food to be kept in the personal rooms, and novices weren’t allowed to wander about the corridors during the night. After two months of hunger, though, Dallion decided to take a chance.

“Ruby,” Dallion said while drawing silence symbols on the soles of his shoes. ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 674)

For hours, Dallion kept on trying to create magic strands. He had changed the approach dozens of times, yet each time he thought he was on the verge of a breakthrough, nothing came out. Several times he tried combining it with other skills, only to find they made the task more complicated. The awakening markers were of no help, either. Ideal for symbol creation—and one might assume actual spellcrafting—they didn’t provide any clues on using natural magic.

“Give it time,” the w...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 673)

You’ll get punished if you keep stealing cups from the dining hall, Nil sighed. Remember, it’s not about skill level, but the knowledge how to use spells adequately.

Ignoring him, Dallion drew a space symbol on the side of the cup. Based on everything he knew that was supposed to make the cup larger. Instead, it just made it heavier. The logic of that anomaly evaded him. By all accounts weight was supposed to have such an effect, yet there was no denying that the c...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 672)

“Crumble how?” Dallion asked.

The building guardian had indicated nothing of the sort. Just to be on the same side, Dallion had had a brief talk with him to check. The guardian seemed as surprised as anything, although he did admit not knowing how the shardfly infestation occurred in the first place.

The walls are made of us, the shardfly replied. If all of us leave, there’ll be nothing holding the building.

An instance of Dallion made its way to the ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 671)

The adrenaline from the vortex’s absorption didn’t let Dallion have a blink of sleep all night, constantly causing him to shift between agitation and restlessness. Most of the time he spent pacing throughout the room or entering his awakening realm with the desire to practice more symbol making. The truth was that his body was itching for a fight, even if his mind was well aware there was no point in doing so. Common item guardians were no challenge, and magic opponents were beyond his re...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 7)

Confirmation came just as predicted. A new set of land probes were sent to pull out the fractal trees and investigate the cobalt deposits. I expected the people to feel relieved upon finding out, but the opposite happened. The discovery of a third-contact artifact only made them more anxious. With the mission going ahead, we were stuck in the system for weeks, at least. Given the recent fluctuations on the front, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

When the first artifact came aboar...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 8)

Red alert messages flashed on all walls throughout the ship. The war in our section of the front had taken a turn for the worse. While the Fleet had managed to make significant progress in one area, conquering thirteen star systems, the Cassandrians had responded in turn. Their gains were significantly fewer—two systems in total—but had moved far closer to us. According to my estimates, the chances of fighting entering our system had practically doubled. Things were still a long way off, ...

Leveling the World (Chapter 670)

Spark infused quills filled the air like a swarm of bees. The aethervore teleported from spot to spot, faster than the quills could reach them. However, its ability to cast spells was significantly reduced. Dallion was fully aware that it wouldn’t be easy to defeat the guardian with scholar skills alone. His main goal was to aim at the magic symbols on the walls; those targets were a lot easier to hit and, thanks to the spark, be destroyed. With each destroyed symbol, two new would emerge, ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 669)

Walking around the surrounding section of the Academy ended up being a lot more interesting than expected. Dallion almost forgot his immediate problems and concerns, as if he’d taken a brief vacation. The people, although always hurrying for somewhere, didn’t talk about politics, the internal empire conflicts, or even the war. It was as if a bubble of calm had been created, keeping the rest of the world at bay. However, even so, Dallion could escape the notion of being constantly watched....

Leveling up the World (Chapter 668)

“No! Absolutely not!” Palag said.

The fury barely raised his tone, but from the view of a ten-year-old it was the same as if he were shouting. Despite himself, Dallion suppressed the urge to get into a fight.

“Why not? You told me that I was owed a favor.” He paused for a while. “Sir.”

“Mages can’t just boost the magic of others. If it were that simple, what would be the reason for having novices?”

Dallion felt like biting his tongue. It was no secret...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 667)

Dallion and the mage ripped the air, clashing like two comets of polar opposed magnetic ore. Each side had its own method of fighting, resulting in the utter destruction of the arena around them. Dallion would use his instances and familiars to crack the Alien’s perfect defense, while the mage would cast multiple spells with large ranging effects. The issue was that while Dallion was getting more and more tired, his opponent was as energetic as he had been at the start of the fight.

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