OptimysticStories

Chapter 45 - Strange Development

60th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Dandelion forced himself to calm down. “I assure you I am the person you are looking for and not a fraud or a face thief.

“If you are referring to me lacking the aura of the metal-attributed spiritual energy, I have reforged my cultivation and started again. Coincidentally, I even have a witness who can confirm it in this very room.” Newt nodded despite himself, and Dandelion kept talking, surprisingly calm. “If...

Chapter 44 - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

60th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

“You will regret this!” Guildmaster Barbadon shouted after Newt as he left the guild proper.

But before Newt managed five steps, he saw a familiar attractive blonde leaning against the wall. He took a moment to realize she was the woman who had managed the reception desk when he had first arrived. Newt strained his brain before recalling her name was Dolorna.

Dolorna’s face was the opposite of Newt’s focus...

Chapter 43 - Joining the Guild

60th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

“Greetings, honorable guildmaster,” Dandelion bowed, absolutely nonplussed by the accusation.

Halfway through his words and gesture, a short twig of a man entered the lobby.

“Don’t you ‘greetings’ me, you ingrate. Whose kid is this? Who are you trying to coddle now? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger ass-kisser than you.”

“Do you want another spar, Old Man?” Dandelion’s voice sudde...

Chapter 42 - Friend Like Me

 Bonus chapter for my first patrons. Advanced chapters permanently increased to 21!

60th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Blackfist guided Newt through the streets of Thunder Ridge, leading him towards the Quarter of Crafts, where most guilds established their outposts. Very quickly, Newt noticed a peculiarity.

“Hello, brother Dandelion,” greeted a passerby wearing a bright-yellow robe, his clean-sha...

Chapter 41 - Entering Thunder Ridge

60th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt wowed, staring at the massive, forty-foot-tall sandstone walls which surrounded the imperial city of Thunder Ridge. Viewed from the imperial capital, Thunder Ridge was the imperial family’s furthest outpost, a backwater town controlled by insignificant branch members.

From Newt’s perspective, it was a city of splendors. Towers dotted the thick walls, fifty yards apart and evenly spaced. Soldiers at the first re...

Chapter 40 - The Spoils

42nd of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Blue rivulets, their color as deep as an ocean, veined the ankylosaurus’s carapace. The beast’s armor was in tatters, clawed and pried opened by a powerful beast, several times larger than a velociraptor. Thin patterns of blood danced in foot-wide bubbles of water, which covered the three deepest gashes while caked blood covered the rest of the giant’s wounds.

The dinosaur itself was roughly the regular size for i...

Chapter 39 - The Forest

42nd of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt’s quick nap lasted nine hours. By the time he got up, the morning had nearly passed, noon merely half an hour away. 

The innkeeper fiddled with his hands, but steeled himself and approached Newt the moment he spotted the young man.

“Lord Cultivator, we have honored your wish and sent a man to warn the Blazing Salamander clan.” The innkeeper licked his lips and lowered his gaze. “Would you grace t...

Chapter 38 - Sidetracked

41st of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt sprinted back, spear in hand, and charged into the still-feasting allosauruses. The nearest beast raised its head in time to see its own blurry reflection in the spear’s tip before sharp steel pierced its eye. The allosaurus’s roar died before fully forming, leaving the monster’s throat as a pained gurgle.

Newt kicked its massive neck, hurling the dying dinosaur at its packmate. The three remaining allosaurus...

Chapter 37 - New Course

38th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

“What do you plan to do now?” Elder Stronggrow asked Newt. The experienced man could tell his student and rightful patriarch had no intention of staying within the clanhold.

“I have done everything in my power to assuage my guilt over Uncle Victor’s unfortunate death. I have spent a day begging forgiveness in front of his grave, ensured his wives and children would not suffer and would receive fair treatment, de...

Chapter 36 - The Third Realm

28th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt was still running towards his spear, his skin covered in Magmin Scales, as he jumped through a wall of fire. Then the world dissolved, and he was back inside the mine. He crouched beneath the ghostly twin stars in confused silence when his spear clattered to the ground next to his feet.

Newt took a deep breath, and patted himself, searching for traces of Magmin’s burning blood, but found none. What he did feel wa...

Chapter 35 - Battling the Python

27th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

What now? Reality had shattered Newt’s plan of pitting two monsters against each other. If he fought Magmin head on… Newt hesitated, but since it was the only way left, he considered the situation.

He was one layer weaker than Magmin, a negligible difference. As for the battle itself, Newt had a speed and maneuverability advantage, and with his ancestral spear he had reach on his side as well.

Magmin ...

Chapter 34 - Magmin Returns

27th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt spent most of his days in the mine cultivating his realm, erecting earth glyphs and digging trenches for lava to fill to create fire runes. He had soon discovered that Blackfist had arranged the runes into primitive spell formations, which enhanced the overall effect of each participating rune.

Newt doubted the development was an accident, and he was grateful for the former sect master’s attention to detail and k...

Chapter 33 - Returning Home

53th of Season of Water, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt spent nearly eight weeks guarding Blackfist. While Newt stood guard over the entrance, the former sect master shut himself in the depths of a cave and successfully reset his cultivation over the course of twenty days. Blackfist used the remainder of the time to cultivate his first realm and reach the ninth layer of the second.

Those eight weeks passed without incident, and Newt spent them watching leaves fall and...

Chapter 32 - Stealing Candy From A Baby

67th of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

After overcoming his initial aversion, Newt enjoyed the theoretical discussions with the sect master. They were eye-opening, as was the wealth of runes the man offered once they refined what it was that Newt wished to achieve with his realm and techniques.

Newt spent three days refining the lava streams flowing towards the barrier of his realm, turning the straight lines into a network of glyph-shaped channels. The de...

Chapter 31 - Charting Course

63rd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

“I apologize for acting the way I did.” Newt took a seat across the table from Blackfist. “I am confused, and I would like to ask some questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Tea?” Blackfist asked.

“No, thank you.” Newt paused and only continued speaking after the brawny man motioned him with his cup. “What do you stand to gain from investing your time in me?”

Blackfist sighed. “I have alre...

Chapter 30 - Washing Hair

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

Sect Master Blackfist handed Newt a small leather pouch he picked off a shelf. “Take these.”

Newt opened the pouch and found five grape-sized pills. “What are they?”

“First, you thank the person giving you a gift, then ask questions.” Blackfist rolled his eyes at the uncouth behavior, and Newt’s ears burned.

“Thank you. What are they?” he said with more than a hint of embarrassment.

Chapter 29 - Heretical Cultivation

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

As it turned out, Sect Master Blackfist knew a lot about cultivation and elemental theory. And his opinion could be described in a single polite sentence - the ruling elemental theory was nonsense.

Four elements theory, even with yin and yang variants which upped the number to twelve elements, was nowhere near enough to explain the world and natural phenomena. According to Blackfist, lightning was not a mix of air, fi...

Chapter 28 - Life’s Lessons

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

“I believe I told you to sleep or meditate, not to go for a walk around the city and come back,” Blackfist said instead of a greeting as Newt entered his tea parlor.

“I realized I have failed to introduce myself.” Newt gave a shallow bow. “Newstar Blazing Salamander.”

“Greetings Newstar, I am Dandelion without a surname. People call me Blackfist, but I cannot fathom the reason, it turns a steel-lik...

Chapter 27 - The Library

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt left the sect master’s tea parlor in a daze. He felt hollow and did not know what to do with himself. A master of a small sect, a peak third realm cultivator, a man with dozens of children and over twenty wives, told him he was planning to go off adventuring just like that.

Newt asked the exact same questions he asked himself. What about the family? They were mostly adults and had enough means for comfortable l...

Chapter 26 - Advice on Women

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt could not believe what he was doing, sitting in a secret room, spying at Blackfist’s back through a peephole.

“Do not get emotional about things I am about to say. I will put on an act and not mean them. Besides, my standard for women is much higher than you would believe.” Blackfist’s words did more than make Newt feel uneasy. He was afraid of what he would witness.

He could hear his heart and feel...

Chapter 25 - Meeting the Sect Master

62nd of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd cycle

Newt really had licked his fingers that night, the breaded yamaceratops filets were exquisite. He also managed to defend his chastity and the sanctity of his heavily scented rented bedroom. Dahlia proved to be a wonderful distraction, and the scandalously clad witty woman made splendid company. Newt would not have minded conversing with her again, if only she would put on some clothes over her underwear. He even enjoyed the...