Miles(cont.)
Somehow, against his better judgment, he found his feet taking him in a direction toward the Walls. Gavin had talked him into it while Louis tried to talk him out of it. The devil and angel were sitting on his shoulder and the devil won out.
To be fair to Louis, his mind was made up well before the two tried to convince him.
Ever since Gavin brought it up a week ago, it had been all he could think about. The possibility of seeing the ma...
2025-02-06 22:07:19 +0000 UTC
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Miles
"Wouldn't be that bad", his ass.
Miles remembered his first introduction to the city, and everyone kept saying the Winter, 'Wouldn't be that bad.' All of them were liars.
It was that bad. He couldn't see how anyone could admit otherwise, yet multiple people had. The giant furs helped, but it still wasn't enough to ward away the cold for long.
Being out in it for as long as he was didn't help matters, but there was ...
2025-02-05 22:06:03 +0000 UTC
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"You wouldn't think they were awesome if you had to fight them." Hal threw out.
Austin scoffed, "What do you mean? I'm the embodiment of their natural weakness." To illustrate his point, his skin began to glow and the snow around his feet began to steam and melt.
Gabriel, on one of the rare times he took his eyes off his present, shot down that idea, "That's assuming what we know about Vampires is true. Just because our folklore says they're weak to the sun doesn't mean they actua...
2025-02-04 21:48:11 +0000 UTC
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Chris
"Don't you dare bring that in here!" Abigail's cry sounded from atop the Castle walls as I trudged toward the gate.
Shrugging sheepishly, I adjusted course to right under where the Castle stood, only a few hundred feet below on the lower side of the cliff. Abigail had plans to involve this side of the cliff in the future, but they remained just that. Plans.
We didn't have a way of traversing the vertical gap right now nor was it a high priorit...
2025-02-03 22:28:08 +0000 UTC
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Abigail
It was wonderful to be home again. The trip was slightly larger than first anticipated but it was well worth the extra time. The sheer number of people who advanced was not to be understated.
Nearly everyone with the Water Affinity was able to form Mana Cores. Only a few didn't, but various reasons were behind their choice.
Sadly, some failed to forge one but others made a conscious choice not to, instead focusing on improving their Law with...
2025-01-31 21:35:46 +0000 UTC
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Chris
It was over. Blissfully over. I wasn't sure how long it had been, or how many days had passed, but it was done. The mana rushing in, around, and throughout my body had finally settled into something 'normal.'
The new normal of everything was wildly different from what used to be the case, but my mana was finished arcing out erratic spurts or massive waves causing pain.
The meld between my mana channels and circulatory system was ...
2025-01-30 21:34:24 +0000 UTC
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Austin
"Ah, home sweet home!" Austin voiced in relief when Frostheim came into view. He was getting sick of the carts and the... structured traveling. He liked going at whatever pace he wanted and being able to venture off when he found something interesting.
He still did that, but traveling with a group felt like a tether pulling him down.
Austin didn't like being tethered.
He hadn't before, but now it felt even worse. Doing his...
2025-01-29 22:03:53 +0000 UTC
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In an area far away from human habitation, where Winter reigned and the light of the Sun hadn't blessed the land in weeks, a disturbance was taking place. Eternal darkness blanketed the area for a week and would continue to do so for weeks more, but that wasn't what caused such a change.
A storm nearly a mile wide was responsible for such a shift.
The already formidable winter winds carried snow and ice alike as it spiraled around a dome of ice at the storm's center. If one were t...
2025-01-28 21:51:10 +0000 UTC
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Extra Chapter!
~~
Chris
I'd read Abigail's precious books enough to know the difference between one grade to the next was more than the percentages signified. A Perfect Ignition was so much more than a few percentage points than a Full Ignition.
A Mana Heart was more than only a mana pool. It linked the physical aspects of my body to my magical aspects. A melding of both flesh and blood along with arcane. The percentages only ...
2025-01-27 23:48:49 +0000 UTC
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Igniting a Mana Heart is a process that demands extreme precision and effort of Will. It is not for the faint of heart and can even be deadly in some instances. I write this not to dissuade you from doing it, but to inform you of the possible outcomes.
To achieve even a partial ignition is to be celebrated. Most would be glad to make it to that point. A partial ignition is far from the best outcome, but leagues ahead of the worst that can happen.
Similar to h...
2025-01-27 21:01:57 +0000 UTC
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Chris
"Well, I'll be damned."
Light filtered through the area below where I stood nearly horizontally from how the sun was positioned and the shadows that it made were long and distorted. Even with the waning light, I could clearly see the beasts milling about down below.
The Frozen Wasteland I was marching through had its ups and downs. Not every iceberg froze perfectly level with the one next to it causing cliffs and ravines to form even though it...
2025-01-24 22:17:13 +0000 UTC
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Vasariametz
Elsewhere, far from Earth and in the far reaches of space, sat a man covered in blood. Black and dripping with corruption was only one way to describe it, as the properties of the blood seemed to shift, never aligning with one thing solidly before deviating to the next.
The blood would kill mortals if even a drop got on them, but Vasaria sat calmly while covered in the foul liquid.
It wasn't his first time.
Border details were some...
2025-01-23 22:24:23 +0000 UTC
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Abigail
"It still feels weird with all of us leaving," Abigail said while tying the straps of her saddle bag shut. She wasn't the best rider but she could at least do it. If they went without and traveled on foot the journey would take even longer.
"This will be the first time either Chris or myself won't be here," Jon said from the horse beside her. "It feels... odd."
"We get to explore! We get to explore!" Two tiny voices cheered from behind them....
2025-01-22 21:59:06 +0000 UTC
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Chris
Brrrrrrrr.
My teeth clattered together slowly as I marched through the raging storm. It was an odd sensation to have again. After going without it for so long, I almost forgot what it felt like.
I was cold.
I hadn't felt anything close to a chill for over two years, and now I was shivering and trying to pull my fur cloak tighter. I was thankful I liked wearing the heavy thing because it was marvelous against the...
2025-01-21 21:39:07 +0000 UTC
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Sarah
A riot of noise surrounded her as she walked through the kennel. High-pitched yips of excitement from growing puppies were followed by low rumbling growls of warning from Lulu.
The horses had been rough, but they were nothing compared to the complete workload of keeping track of and an eye on the dozen scoundrels.
Lulu's litter had been... larger than expected. She expected her to stop at four or five, but she continued pushing more out until ...
2025-01-20 21:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Chris
"We can delay and see you off tomorrow. Are you sure you want to leave in this?" Abigail gestured out into the growing snowstorm.
The first snows of the year had come and gone when my arm was finishing up and the current storm dumping a layer of snow on everything was not the first. Watching more accumulate, it was making me antsy. I knew that Winter would last for multiple months but I couldn't help but want to start now.
It...
2025-01-17 22:05:40 +0000 UTC
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Dear City Lord of Frostheim,
It is my honor to write to the one who aided us when no others would and I would like to send my sincere thanks. Without your help, I'm unsure if we would have been able to do what we did.
As I understand it, we owe you a debt. I owe you a debt. If you ever have need of me or my City in the future, you need only ask and we will be there.
Your Mayor has already reached out in regards to the treasure we unearthed. As ...
2025-01-16 21:37:39 +0000 UTC
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Chris
The ensuing battle with both Dungeons was rather fun and cathartic. The upgrade waves didn't carry the same feeling that the Dungeons did. Level 95 Bosses, whose bodies were a step above the rest that their level didn't indicate, with Tier 2 Laws were a tough nut to crack.
It wasn't as effortless as mowing through the previous Eighth Floor Bosses had been.
My new stats alone made those nearly a breeze.
The monster itself was always diffe...
2025-01-15 21:21:17 +0000 UTC
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Austin
A second Sun exploded into existence on his shout and he could feel the power coursing through him. It was a high he'd never experienced before and it was enough to wash away the onset of his fatigue.
It didn't restore his spent energies, but it made him forget about the tiredness.
The rush and feeling wiped away even the smothering humidity and sticky heat they had been fighting through.
It was more than just power that r...
2025-01-14 21:21:22 +0000 UTC
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~~AN~~
The rarely seen double chapter.
Enjoy!
~~
Austin
He had gone and done it now. He'd truly fucked up.
It was something he had experienced a blessed few times. One time when he crashed his first car. Rest in peace, Betsy. He was just driving along in the rain when a split second later, he was hydroplaning off the road and into a ditch.
<...
2025-01-14 00:23:39 +0000 UTC
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Chris
My fingers flexed fully before I extended them and wiggled them all back and forth. Ashley and Abigail sat across from me in the 'Hospital' and watched me play with the new sensation.
They were still a bit numb, and I could tell that the response time was a tad behind, but they were otherwise good as new. Somehow, the stat additions making us superhuman let us feel things like that.
An odd sensation to get used to.
Finished...
2025-01-13 21:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Miles (cont.)
Hearing the gruesome end of the story, Miles didn't feel as disgusted as he'd thought he'd be. He imagined that after hearing of the enforcement of the death penalty, he would've been more aggrieved, should've been more aggrieved, but he wasn't.
What he'd gone through, what everyone had gone through, had changed who they were, and that change was most obvious in what he was feeling now.
After hearing the story, and the actions of the m...
2025-01-10 22:10:21 +0000 UTC
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Miles
The cart shuddered as the wagon wheel fell into yet another divot on the dirt path, nearly throwing him from his seat. While the road was getting better the closer they were to arriving, it was still far from the smooth asphalt from Before.
Oh, what he wouldn't give for travel to be as easy as it used to be.
His journey would've equated to a few hours in the car rather than the months spent walking, riding, or otherwise moving along he'd exper...
2025-01-09 21:47:57 +0000 UTC
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The weeks leading up to the start of Winter were full of activity. With Stone readily available, the Outer wall was finished up rather quickly, only waiting for Gabriel and I to engrave it.
While we did that, work began on the Inner Wall.
The roundabout way we constructed the city was rather odd, but it would soon be finished. The Keep was first for defense reasons. We used it as fortifications against the Waves and in case we were attacked.
The Outer Wall was next. It took ...
2025-01-08 21:19:40 +0000 UTC
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Nick
The smell of ozone, burnt hair, and sizzling flesh assaulted his nose but he didn't shy away from it like he had in the past. When he first got his powers the smell had been overwhelming and completely debilitating, causing him to empty his stomach plenty of times.
Now, it was a mile annoyance.
If someone had told the past him that he would get used to the smell of smoldering remains, he would have thought them mad, yet they would've been right...
2025-01-07 21:10:05 +0000 UTC
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The lengthening shadows and darkening cloudless sky promised the chilly night that would soon come. Not only because of the coming season change but because of the lingering Arctic mana hanging in the area as well.
The landscape was awash with temporary marks of battle, some larger than others. One massive crater stood out over the rest, spanning tens of feet wide and deep. The newly uncovered brown semicircle clashed with the dying green everywhere else.
It wasn't alone in its fi...
2025-01-06 21:16:21 +0000 UTC
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"Come on Elliot, it won't be that bad. Quit whining!" I needled the man. He reacted to my offer exactly the way I thought he would. Seeing how my last offer hadn't been the best thing for the man's health.
"That's what you said last time and I had to charge into an army of Demons!" He sputtered, "I barely survived!"
"Ah, but you did! And you are stronger for it." I nodded sagely. The feeling he gave off was much stronger than before. The fight had done him well.
"Just becaus...
2025-01-03 21:55:27 +0000 UTC
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"Jonathan, my friend, boy is it good to see you." I greeted him and went in for a big hug.
His two little ones were weaving around our legs as they both tried to climb over the other to hug their father.
"It's good to be back." He said with a smile.
His swaray over at Fort Hope had finally come to an end and it was nice to have him back. Without him, Abigail had taken on all the duties of buying and selling what we made or excavated from the dungeon.
She was handling i...
2025-01-02 21:55:53 +0000 UTC
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The pillar of Ice slowly dissipated, breaking apart and transforming back into Ice mana as I stood and marveled at it.
It took a few moments for the pillar to fall apart after not being fed mana which wasn't surprising. Actually, it was a wonder it lasted so long without active intervention.
Even after the last flecks transformed back into Ice mana, the purest ice mana I had ever felt, the feeling it had given off was still in my mind.
There was something about...
2025-01-01 21:27:29 +0000 UTC
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While my stats were looking good and my skill choice was finalized, there was one last thing I needed to do before remaking my hammer. I had spent much of my recovery time working on the Wards and Formation lining the Outer Walls and I had gotten a few levels in my Profession.
With the addition, it pushed me over level 60 and I now had yet another skill to choose. This one was less impactful than the Legendary ones I had to choose from through my Class, but it was still something I need...
2024-12-31 21:06:05 +0000 UTC
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