OptimysticStories

Magma Dragon Rewrite Announcement:

Hello Dear Reader,

First, I would like to thank you for your continued support. A great sense of pride and satisfaction wells from the bottom of my heart, knowing someone enjoys my writing enough to pay to read my words. Once more, thank you.

Here is where people often put a but — however, there will be no butts from me. All I will offer is an explanation, because you deserve one.

Why do I wish to rewrite and why I find it necessary?

• To make a better s...

  2025-04-10 07:11:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 182 - Luckless

51st of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

The plateau stretched to Newt’s left and right, seemingly into infinity. A mere hundred feet ahead, stood the next wall, and Newt pulled himself up over the ledge before rushing towards the next wall while others hurried to do the same.

He did not know whether he had reached it first, but the pressure that slammed against him would have staggered him a mere year ago. Newt hoped that meant he was first. Ot...

Chapter 181 - Climb to Power

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt distinctly disliked being the center of attention. The establishment Dandelion had chosen was a great place to be when Dandelion won the event, and when Newt’s participation went by largely unnoticed. With Newt winning again, that was no longer the case.

Fortunately, his two elder sisters noticed his unease and sat next to him. Greenbow, whom Newt could not help but see as a matronly granite statue, ...

ER: Chapter 65 - Leveling Savant

Day 131, 11:15 AM

“Welcome to the dungeon,” we’ve got fun and games. My voice is much more normal than the words might imply as I step onto the first floor, leading Millie and Elie.

“Millie, I need to know your class, level, agility, physique, wisdom, intellect, and the number of attribute points you have available.”

The girl is a level zero mage’s apprentice, which is good. Her agility is eleven, physique twelve, wisdom ten, and ...

Chapter 180 - First World Problems

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Whenever a lull happened, Sleek came to the game of microraptor and mouse played by the Explorer’s Gate’s Newstar Blazing Salamander and the Shadow Valley’s Willow Blackeye. Fairly early on, the game had changed into microraptor and ankylosaurus, since the assassin-in-training could not breach the explorer’s defenses, then the game devolved further into a two-person comedy act for which Sleek failed to fi...

ER: Chapter 64 - Ancestral Shame

Day 127, 10:00 AM

“I’m too old to be anything other than what I am.” Of all the dumb things Harlos could have said, this is probably the dumbest. He’s barely a kid.

“My knees ache, and I have trouble walking. It would take a month to reach the dungeon. I’d probably drown in the rain. It’s not worth the bother.”

“You do know I can heal you?” Why do I have to argue about the obvious with a shrewd and intelligent man in his sixties? 2025-04-06 01:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 179 - Games People Play

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

One against two, Newt had no intention of being a gentleman. He fireburst towards the closer swordsman, Magmin Scales and Granite Crust enveloping his body. The grand sect’s core disciples scattered, their moment of confusion lasting less than a blink before their training kicked in.

Newt’s target, a red-haired, stocky youth, assumed a firm defensive stance, and slashed his sword to swat away the incomi...

Chapter 178 - Difficult Opponents

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt’s flags buried themselves into the soft, squishy ground yet again.

“This is so annoying,” Newt mouthed the words, but did not vocalize them.

He had two choices, stand in the middle of a small clearing, or head for the nearby bushes from which he could ambush any would-be attackers. He chose neither. Newt left the flags where they were, but walked around, searching for any possible treasures...

ER: Chapter 63 - Recruitment

Day 123, 6:10 AM

“Where do you think you’re going?” Edna asks, her treant army blocking my path.

“Neat creations. Did you come up with the design?” I don’t answer her question and watch her reaction.

“Archmages long dead designed the tree soldiers, now, where are you going?”

“Deephorn, to see how the residents are doing, deliver the metals we promised, and whether the inquisitors have made an outpost there, maybe check for tale...

Chapter 177 - Skill vs. Strength

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Finally, after waiting half an hour in the bushes, Newt could move again. He skulked through the jungle for a handful of minutes, carrying four flags in his hand, when he saw three flags planted in the ground, their owner nowhere to be seen.

Newt focused on his third eye, closing the two physical ones. The forest was over-saturated with spiritual energy, he knew that already, but by removing information gained thr...

ER: Chapter 62 - Leaving the Mansion

Day 106, 11:50 AM

I start yet another loop, fifty-third, I believe, by quickly reaching level six of the mage class. Thanks to plentiful experience, I can cast and maintain six active spells at the same time. That should be the level up condition which stopped Edna from reaching level six.

Level seven is tougher, reaching perfect mastery over three spells, but thanks to weeks of trying, I’m close. The skills I got for exhausting over half my mana with a s...

Chapter 176 - Flags

49th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt had taken Dandelion’s advice for what it was - a roundabout confession that he would throw future matches against Fiery Glory, and that he should not bet on him. That and the odds of Dandelion winning the next event had gone down from one to ten to one to five, so Newt bet a third of his winnings on his own sect, a third on Tidebreaker Abyss, and stashed the rest.

He wondered what the shameless grand...

Chapter 175 - Aggressive Negotiations

47th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt watched round after brutal round until the only ones left were the Sword Abode and Dandelion. A female announcer listed the victors amongst second-realmers, listing them in order, while Sleek and Northstar continued narrating the third-realmers’ competition. Newt kept watching the event, catching that the Explorer’s Gate had taken forty-seventh place in that category.

During the next wave, the gran...

ER: Chapter 61 - The Lab

Day 119, 7:30 PM

My two weeks passed quickly. An hour a day, usually around meals, went on teaching the girls new spells. The rest of the time I spent on searching for secret compartments and wasting mana to improve my capacity.

The most exciting discovery was the secret room beneath the library, a place where I plan to spend several redos, not counting the time I will take to study Hadriuse’s grimoires, which I don’t plan on revealing to Edna until I reach the point where I c...

Chapter 174 - Failure

47th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

“I’m spent, Newt,” Flare’s voice came from the other side of the fort. It was just the two of them, two gates destroyed and over a minute left until the end of the current wave.

“Go into the jungle and try to find something that will help us. I’ll go fix the breached walls.”

After filling the breaches, Newt waited in a lane without a pit trap, which killed an attacking monster every roun...

Chapter 173 - Overwhelmed

47th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

“The eighth round is about to start with only seventy-two teams remaining, two of which are independent cultivators.” Northstar interrupted Sleek’s heated cheers for the Billowing Sands’ final cultivator.

The woman fought desperately against the four remaining nanuqsauruses. One snapped its jaws at her while the remaining three beasts slaughtered the illusory villagers. The carnage would have been h...

ER: Chapter 60 - Path of Life

Day 106, 7:30 AM 

An invisible force pulls a carp the size of my forearm from the pond and places it atop the paralyzed tarantula we caught along the way. Edna sings a wordless song of two trees which have merged as they grew next to each other, the other scene is more graphic, and once more reminds me of Manny, the joys we have shared, and everything I have lost.

The song is different from the previous time when Edna merged two spiders. I suppress the vivid ...

Chapter 172 - Killer Pace

47th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

The wall gave one loud crack before Newt arrived at the scene. The nanuqsaurus had a bloody face and a pair of legs sticking out of its jaw as it bashed its head once more against the reinforced palisade.

The blow landed, then Newt’s glaive sliced the spirit beast’s throat and it toppled to the ground, disappearing as it did, along with Skillhorn’s remains. With two more minutes before the start of the next wave, Newt headed...

ER: Chapter 59 - Class Progress

Day 106, 4:10 AM

Hundreds of drums beat in the darkness. The sound of rain battering at the roof and gushing through the drains is reassuring and intimately familiar after the years I’ve spent in this room. My chest feels tight, air entering my lungs with difficulty.

I’m alive, the thought comes unbidden, and I recall crawling through the mud, worming my way forward.

“Inquisitors!” I shout sitting up.

Lucy jumps back, startled. Sh...

Chapter 171 - Fortress Warfare

47th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt appeared on a flimsy wooden wall fifteen feet above ground, his eyes at the level of the jungle’s canopy. The surrounding greenery was dense, with a path heading straight from his location into the depths of the rainforest.

“Welcome to my realm.” A squeaky male voice sounded from the heavens to explain the trial. “I have been asked to create a realm which would challenge and help the younger generation improve...

Chapter 170 - Outstanding Results

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

A group of disciples from five different sects surrounded Dandelion, enthralled by his story.

“So there I was, in front of an army of fearsome cannibals, them staring at me, me staring at them. My jaw dropped, and I was about to utter a curse, when a tall, handsome young man, bare-chested with skin as black as ebony entered the opening.”

Dandelion’s voice and accent changed. “‘Great chieftain Eatem...

ER: Chapter 58 - The Chase

Day 105, 1:45 PM

The blinding lightning, moth dust, and the spasming urchin’s backstab started a havoc amongst the minor abominations. Three died to my spell, five more injured, all of which frenzied and tearing at each other rather than me. A centipede from hell turns around and starts feasting on the survivors, along with a giant antlion, which takes the chance and sinks its giant mandibles into an unsuspecting caterpillar-like thing.

I probably have the exact...

Chapter 169 - Odds and Bets

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt followed the corridor alone. It was a gentle slope, ever rising upwards. His heart raced, unbidden thoughts assailing him. Could it be that the previous team were mere semifinalists? Was he really heading for the twelfth match? He counted on his fingers.

Eleven done. Twelfth waiting ahead. And he had less than thirty percent of his energy, Newt hoped the tunnel would stretch out for miles, so he could recover...

Chapter 168 - Energy Efficiency

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt lost three sect-mates in the three following battles, each time finding himself forced to finish the matches personally. Spell formation scribes, in particular, presented a challenge for him, but he endured and plowed through their tricks.

After the moons he spent learning and reading, he considered himself a master tier scribe, and deconstructing the spell formations he saw laid out was within his ability, a...

ER: Chapter 57 - Battle Against Abominations

Day 101, 11:30 AM

There’s a lot of magic I was passively training during the decades-long loop. My internal clock is now precise down to seconds, and the information constantly trickles into my mind, letting me know the exact time.

Combined with the constantly active scanner and having to sing spells to cast them leaves precious little focus for me. With slight unwillingness, I spend three attribute points on wisdom. My wisdom is thirty-three, the pressure has d...

ER: Chapter 56 - Moving On

Day 86, 10:01 AM

I turn around in the service corridor once more. Instead of going to get drunk and cause a needless incident with Edna, I head back towards the library. I must look like a madman to anyone watching. Fortunately, I’m alone in the cramped space.

The plan for this loop is to finish the last batch of books. Hopefully, the grimoires are in the library; otherwise, I should start checking the building for secret chambers and compartments.

The alt...

Chapter 167 - Impossible

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt’s taunt worked. The wielder of the slender sword, probably a woman by the shape of her body, lashed out. Newt thrust his glaive towards the center of her chest, but she sidestepped. With a twist of his wrist, Newt turned the blade and slashed towards the charging silhouette while stepping back.

The woman did not block the blow as Newt had expected. Her body bent at an impossible angle, and the blade swept a...

Chapter 166 - Strategic Thinking

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt was not tall by any means, but he never considered himself short either. That changed when the black giant stepped forth to meet him. The man loomed, easily seven feet tall, maybe more, and Newt did not doubt for a moment that the one facing him was a man. He did not believe a woman could have shoulders as broad, arms as thick, or chest as packed with muscles.

He clenched his glaive tight, his eyes lingering ...

Chapter 165 - Foregone Conclusion

45th of Season of Air, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Twochains won the duel with some difficulty, meaning he was also between yellow and orange on the power rainbow. The moment the decisive blow landed, the yellow-orange man vanished, and four paths appeared in the circular room.

Newt chose the leftmost path, and a hundred feet later came up to another battle chamber, a black silhouette already waiting inside, leaning against its thick staff and doing its best to ap...

ER: Chapter 55 - Mistakes

Day 86, 10:00 AM

I rub the phantom pain out of my neck. Snapping it while Edna was having a mental breakdown was one of the worst deaths in a long while. Well, not exactly, it was no worse than cleaving my head, but the despair and madness in Edna’s screams was something I’d like to forget as soon as possible.

I turn around in the service corridor. Instead of going to the library, I head for Hadriuse’s bedroom. There I open the secret compartment by the wind...