OptimysticStories

ER: Chapter 51 - Hadriuse’s Abode

Day 85, 9:00 PM

The building stretches left and right of me with no end in sight. Based on the elegant, tall windows, the ceilings are at least twenty feet tall, and everything from the pale beech window frames down to the entrance door’s blue paint appears brand new.

The jungle has long since swallowed the estate, but an invisible force stopped its advance three feet from the residence. A flower bed lies between the green wall of a jungle and the untouched mans...

Chapter 159 - The Number Games

48th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

The whole situation seemed surreal. Nine moons ago, the sect was a ruined battleground, but as Newt walked the path towards the inner elder residences, he noted that nothing had changed. The Chamber of Healing, along with all other chamber buildings, appeared the same as ever. The devastated rainforest was unmarred by the destruction and rivers of blood which had flowed through it.

Even the most observant cultivators would never ...

ER: Chapter 50 - Extermination Complete

Day 79, 10:10 AM

Floor after floor we went, clearing abominations until we reached the stairway leading to the seventy-fifth. The big, slow lugs made for easy kills, mounting them and steering them into landmines did the trick. The ones causing trouble were the more exotic creatures.

A praying mantis-octopus hybrid was a real horror show. It could change its color, hide itself from all senses as it waited for us to approach. It sported eight serrated blades sharp enough to put sca...

Chapter 158 - The Third Solstice

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

“Big brother?” Newt knew he was delirious. Dandelion gripping his arm and helping him stand straight was a figment of a dying man’s imagination.

“Our timing is quite fortunate.”

“Yes… Impossibly fortunate.” Sect Master Greenthorn dragged out the words, glaring at Dandelion, but the man ignored it.

Am I dead already?

“Honorable sect master, I have done my part, please take good care of ...

ER: Chapter 49 - Big Stick

Day 77, 12:30 PM

I hop off the smoking remains of the eighty-foot-long abomination. As advertised, Edna’s landmine ended it in an instant. The monster’s impenetrable shell worked against it, concentrating the blast and the heat on its body.

“That looks like a major design flaw.”

“What? Having all its organs, flesh, and mouth exposed to the ground from which nothing can attack it? Bashers are notoriously difficult to kill, they don’t walk into mines on their own u...

Chapter 157 - The Run

44th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt ran, fiery blasts exploding from his feet, propelling him impossibly fast. The sun had long since set, and he did not pause to admire what was possibly his last sunset ever. He flew, his feet destroying the earth and the roads. He did not care. If anyone ever pursued the matter and he still lived, he would pave the road by hand if that was what the law required.

A thousand miles. All he needed was to cover another thousand m...

Chapter 156 - Two Weeks to Death

29th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt sprinted out of the jungle, clutching his glaive. The weapon was impressive to say the least. Ever since he parted ways with Greenbow and the rest, he had relied on it to stay alive despite his reckless charge through the dinosaur-ruled jungle.

With each battle, the weapon changed, adapting to Newt’s strength and technique until it became an extension of his limbs. The sensation would have been exhilarating, if not for the...

ER: Chapter 48 - Old Habits

Day 77, 9:45 AM

My head is pounding. I should ask Edna whether she can do some aspirin magic or something. While loathe to, I open my eyes, my guts queasy.

“Hello, crazy person,” Edna greets me with excessive cheeriness. “What did I teach you about flushing all mana from your body?”

That explains the hangover. “Not to do it.”

She smacks me with a stick she found somewhere. “So, why did you do it?”

That’s an excellent question. I...

Chapter 155 - An Outdated Quest

59th of Season of Water, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

Realm spirits, old ghosts, honorable ancestors, there were many names for what was left of Coldsteel. Like Magmin, such entities lacked a sense of outside time, stuck in the loops of their own thoughts and actions for an eternity until an outsider changed the routine.

“… and so, while I did find the secret deposit I was searching for, it was guarded by an eighth realm ether scorpion. The blasted assassin struck me while I wa...

ER: Chapter 47 - Abomination Floors

Day 76, 5:20 PM

With ten attribute points to spare, I sank three of them into intellect, to round it at thirty-five, increasing my mental acuity by a third, reaching around elven times the base human intellect. My intention was to use the increase to help me reach my next level as well as to find the overlapping spells from my and Edna’s experiment. That’s when I realized a shocking truth.

The points did not make me smarter at all. Sure, I can now calculate nu...

Chapter 154 - Old Ghost

64th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

Nearly an entire moon had passed since the crash. Newt’s party carefully avoided any spirit beasts they came across, even though their realms had dropped marginally. Upper and middle fourth realm spirit beasts made up the common predators in the domain of the quetzalcoatlus. But hundreds of miles northward, the average predator realm receded to the middle and low layers of the fourth realm.

Aura’s injuries took a while to he...

Chapter 153 - Trek

38th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

The sun was setting, the jungle growing dimmer, and Newt was the first to spot the snout as it appeared from behind the trees. Head-sized nostrils flared as Newt grabbed Emeraldstreak’s forearm. The woman opened her mouth with a frown, but Newt placed a finger to his lips and pointed towards the giant’s head as it emerged from the foliage.

Greenbow carried Aura behind them and immediately stopped at the disturbance. The trio...

ER: Chapter 46 - Exceptions

Day 71, 6:30 AM

My lids feel like they are burning as Lucy shakes me from my sleep. I struggle to crack them open, but they resist, wanting nothing more than to stay shut for another hour or two.

“Leave him be, he worked hard last night.” Edna comes to my rescue, and I’m grateful. Learning magic is surprisingly taxing, and my body demands rest. Don’t know why.

“Griff, you can skip breakfast, but then we are heading down to the next floor.”

I mumble an incoh...

Chapter 152 - Due North

38th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

Alabaster sat alone, away from prying eyes. She stared at the ruins of her once mighty sect and wept. A day had passed since the attack, and only after the twenty-odd hours did she have time to sit and gather her thoughts.

Treason. A pair of outer elders disabled defenses and alarms on the eastern side of the island, allowing the invaders to sneak in under the guise of three large ships. The demons outnumbered the elders two to ...

ER: Chapter 45 - Chores

Day 70, 8:30 PM

Since I don’t plan on fighting Edna, I pick Initial Overpower Resistance and check my new level up condition.

“Cast at least one spell of each mana affinity.” I look at Edna to confirm she heard me, but she just keeps eating her dinner.

So, consider what I’ve experienced with the marble-finder. It’s no wonder Edna seems surprisingly unintelligent for her stats. If she’s constantly scanning everything w...

Chapter 151 - The Fall

38th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

Blue skies above, jungle below, and mountains in the distance. The ruined Explorer’s Gate airship still screamed through the air at breakneck speed, but the disciples aboard no longer noticed it.

Newt estimated their ship had descended to around half a mile above the treetops. Another five minutes, and Aura and Sharpcut would abandon ship while Newt and his sisters and brother would remain aboard, trusting their defenses.

Chapter 150 - The Flight

37th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

The blue skies—were not. Instead of a deep blue, blackness welcomed Newt and his five fellow disciples as they climbed out of the cargo hold. They gasped at the sight. There was light. They could see everything just fine, but the sky had taken on the color of the night.

“Did we stumble upon a secret realm,” Aura asked.

Newt did not know. It was certainly possible for a secret realm’s sky to be black or green or pin...

ER: Chapter 44 - Overrun

Day 70, 4:05 PM

The first floor is overrun. Forget a bunch of beginner-friendly land lobsters, nearly invisible orb-weaver threads are criss-crossing the trees. Some are torn where stronger monsters passed through them, some are still standing.

I consider the scene indicating hundreds of orb-weavers, and the dungeon is unlike the one we visited before. I glance at Lucy and Gila; the girls are afraid. The situation is exactly what I didn’t want it to be, risky, d...

Chapter 149 - The Search

37th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

The problem with going up became immediately apparent. The airship left the sect’s defenses. An explosion to the left rocked them, scattering the seven cultivators like straw. Blossom, a third realm water cultivator and beast tamer, hurtled towards the open door.

“No!”

Following a single scream, she was gone. Newt’s heart stopped. A third-realmer could survive that fall, maybe even a second-realmer, but nobody knew...

ER: Chapter 43 - The Mission

Day 66, 5:45 AM

Finally, a night during which I didn’t feel bugs crawling all around me or vines reaching out towards me to check whether I was alive or dead. Initial Darkness Intuition feels like a curse most of the time, almost like my nose. I’ve gotten used to both, even so, sleeping on a bed with nothing creeping or burrowing within a foot of me felt like a small blessing.

The rain lets up, drumming quieter against the tiled roof abov...

Chapter 148 - Consequences

37th of Season of Earth, 58th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt fought with a dead man’s spear. At some point, someone had ordered the outer disciples below the third realm to retreat. Their efforts and sacrifices served nothing save to empower their enemies with their blood.

The battlefield grew less cluttered, but the damage was already done. The madmen moved in whirlwinds of blood, striking down even the majority of third-realmers with their demonic power. Pockets of resistance rem...