Ike wandered over, mingling with the crowd. He didn’t want to draw the girl in the rose dress’ attention, but at the same time, he was curious what she was doing with Silver. For that matter, why’s she even in the Outpost? She should be up in the upper city, not out here on the very edge of the slums. If she wants to leave, she can just fly over the walls. Upper city immortals like her do it all the time.
The girl’s two handmaidens flanked her, as usual, looking down at...
2024-04-24 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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For the first time in several months, Ike stepped inside the wall. He made a beeline for the monster-parts-buyer. The chill of the room cooled his skin, a welcome relief from the late-summer heat.
Behind the counter, Lea startled at the sight of him. “You’re still alive?”
“You sound surprised,” Ike said, a little suspicious.
“The hell is that supposed to mean? You were gone for months. A Rank 1 doesn’t vanish for months and waltz back in, unharmed. Anyone <...
2024-04-23 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Ike woke up to the gentle light of dawn and the twitter of birdsong. He sat up, rubbing his head, and looked around. Silver snoozed on his bed in cat form, and, half-propped up in the corner, Orin snored away, one arm slung around an earthenware jug. Ike chuckled.
“He really did live up to his promise.”
He looked at Silver and Orin, then shook his head. It’d be cruel to wake them this early. Silver said he was done with me, and I agree. I learned much, but I need to see ...
2024-04-22 14:00:17 +0000 UTC
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Absorb!
The skill burst with light. Power swirled around Ike, then poured into him. Instantly, heat overwhelmed him. He took a deep breath, struggling to restrain the mana rushing through his body. It burned in his veins and struck his core with a sharp, piercing force. Ike pushed at the skill, trying to protect his core from the sharpness. His mana barely held the skill away.
Ike pulled his mana back, then slammed it into the skill all at once. The skill bounced away, hu...
2024-04-21 23:56:48 +0000 UTC
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That night, they sat around the outdoor fire, sharing Orin’s roasted redbird. Ike chewed quietly, musing on his change in situation as he ate, surrounded by two members of a Rank 3 party. A few months ago, I was a powerless slumrat barely scraping by. Now I’m a hunter, with monster kills to my name and friends far more powerful than my uncle.
He tilted his head back, watching the smoke swirl up toward the stars. Everything has changed so much, in so little time.
2024-04-20 16:29:14 +0000 UTC
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“Rise. I’ll teach you the sword skill.”
Ike squinted at Silver, then looked at the ground all around him. “Where’s the skill orb?”
“After your body adapts to the motions, then you get the orb,” Silver said sternly.
“That doesn’t make any—”
Silver’s hand blurred. His stick rapped the back of Ike’s head. “Rise.”
Rubbing the back of his head and frowning, Ike climbed to his feet. He lifted the stick Silver had tossed his way and...
2024-04-19 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Absorb!”
Light shone around Ike’s fist, but only for a moment, far shorter than the Salamander Healing orb had shone, and much, much shorter than Lightning Dash. The light poured into Ike’s arm, and a surge of mana reinforced his core, but only a small one.
He checked his skill list.
[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Nm | Rank: 1 [Salamander Slayer]]
Skills: Common: 5 | Bronze 1 | … | Rare 1 | … | Unique: 3
Comm...
2024-04-18 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Night settled slowly over the forest. Ike laid on the forest floor, buried in leaves. He watched the bone pile.
Nothing yet. The owl had yet to hunt.
Ike breathed slowly, absorbing the mana in the forest as he waited. He practiced the forearm technique whenever he had enough mana to burn. From holding it for half a heartbeat, to holding it for a second, to holding it for a few seconds, he slowly strengthened his ability to use the skill. At the same time, he refined the flows, sli...
2024-04-17 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Night fell. Spring peepers, crickets, and cicadas sang from the long grasses along the edge of the water. Fireflies blinked along the shoreline. Overhead, a bat swooped, snatching up mosquitoes and other waterbugs. A family of deer wandered up to the water to drink and graze. The mother lifted her head to check for predators every few seconds while her babies guzzled the stream.
Ike crouched in the reeds, careful to keep himself dry so his scent wouldn’t spread, and watched, waiting.<...
2024-04-16 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“Who are you? Why are you looking for me?”
“Orin sent me,” Ike said quickly.
Silver’s eyes narrowed. He flicked his wrist again, and the water’s pull grew stronger. A whirlpool opened up behind Ike. Immense force pulled him toward the whirlpool. “What does he want?”
Fuck! Orin, why? Ike clung to the stones on the bank with all his might, struggling to keep a grip on the wet, mossy stones. “I just—I have some monster parts. He suggested bringing t...
2024-04-15 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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With Cara and Orin’s help, Ike carried the monster parts back to the shop and exchanged them for gold. The monster gave fewer gold than the Salamander, but he’d expected that. Walking away with thirty gold in his pockets, he mused over everything he’d learned.
He’d cleaned up the little mantises with Cara, and from that, he’d confirmed that the mana he absorbed directly from killing monsters helped to expand his core, just a little. However, compared to the big mantis, the ext...
2024-04-14 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The mantis swung. Its claws hurtled toward Ike’s neck from either side.
“Now!” Ike shouted. He dropped to the ground and shut his eyes.
A bright flash filled the room, so bright his eyelids turned pink. The mantis shrieked. Its claws slammed home, but not into Ike. They buried deep into the wooden support behind where he’d been standing.
“You can cut a sapling, but not a whole tree, huh?” Ike taunted it from the left. Soundlessly, he paced behind it.
The ma...
2024-04-13 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Grumpy, Ike looked up. “What now?”
An old lady smiled down at him. Cara tilted her head, grinning a little. “Orin managed to recruit you for this one, huh? After ending up with Joseph’s crew…it’s like you seek out the worst jobs.”
“Ha…haha,” Ike said sarcastically.
She sat beside him. The wooden stair groaned under her weight. “I’m only joking. It’s just how it is for low-Rank hunters. We all did our fair share of suffering at the start of our caree...
2024-04-12 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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As he walked, Ike looked at his arms. The axe swing had only had his own strength behind it, not any mana-enhancement. The Lightning Grasp skill enhanced his hand speed, but not his arm strength.
I can’t remain in this state, using Lightning Dash and Grasp, but not enhancing my whole body. I need to spread my Unique skill. Strengthen my entire body.
With every step, little spurts of mana rushed into him. Ike looked down. His foot crushed the little mantises, and mana bu...
2024-04-11 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Back in the outpost, Ike finally dared to stop. He stood, wiping his mouth, and looked behind him. The road back to the slum stood empty, save a few stray hunters.
He let out a sigh of relief. They hadn’t chased him. He was safe.
What was I thinking, mouthing off to that girl? He put a hand to his heart, feeling it race even now. Had he gone temporarily insane? An upper city young madame, and he’d…
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. With a la...
2024-04-10 15:00:46 +0000 UTC
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A shrill scream cut through the silence. The bandits whirled, taken by surprise. Wraiths rushed toward them. Black robes whirled as they closed in on Ike and the bandits.
The instant the bandits turned away, Ike activated Lightning Dash with every scrap of mana he had left. He leaped over the bandits and sprinted off. Over his shoulder, he shouted, “Enjoy the wraiths!”
Rob’s face twisted in anger. “Get him!” he shouted.
The other bandits’ bodies glowed as they ac...
2024-04-09 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Ike sped along the wall. The dark forms chased silently after him. He ran faster, the Salamander’s tail banging against his back. Without any visible exertion of effort, they followed. The forms drifted on a wind only they could feel, one that blew them closer and closer to Ike.
The nearest one lifted a limp, pale arm and reached toward Ike. Its arm split into fingers, but not as a hand would. It looked like someone had taken a mushroom stalk and cut it into four. Four evenly-sized ex...
2024-04-08 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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At daybreak, Ike headed out. He flashed his badge at the gate, and the guards didn’t look twice. Following the path from the day before, he found his way back to the Salamander’s pit. Sandra’s axe sat beside the body where he’d left it. Hefting the axe, Ike chopped another segment off the Salamander’s body and strapped it to him.
Two trips. Three. His pockets grew heavier, and the Salamander’s body grew smaller. On his fourth trip out to retrieve the Salamander’s tail, a r...
2024-04-08 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I've changed the title from "With Lightning Speed" to "Skill Hunter." Sorry for the inconvenience! The next few chapters will be tagged with both, but future chapters will only be tagged Skill Hunter. Thank you for your patience!
Heat under Ike’s rear woke him. He startled, patting around at the ground around him, only to singe his hands as well. Ike jumped to his feet, only for his feet to slip in the loose sand. He fell back against the cliff wall, his ribs jostling in his ches...
2024-04-06 16:43:39 +0000 UTC
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The skill orb that had rolled out of the Salamander’s mouth burst with light. A pulse of mana travelled up his arm and into his core, reinforcing it. His whole body tingled, pins and needles bursting out.
Rare Skill Obtained: Salamander Healing
[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Burn | Rank: 1 [Salamander Slayer]]
Skills: Common: 3 | Rare 1 | … | Unique: 2
Common: Sprinter Lvl 5 | Distance Runner Lvl 8 | Razor ...
2024-04-06 00:56:26 +0000 UTC
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Back into the kitchen. Levi led Amythest out behind the kitchen, into the store room, right next to the refrigerator. He pulled up a chair and helped Amythest to a sit. She slumped in the chair, exhausted.
Levi patted her on the shoulder. “Deep, slow breaths, okay? It’s okay to sleep. Lean against the cold wall and cool off.” Reaching into the freezer, he grabbed a frozen bag of vegetables and handed them to her to hug. “You should take that velvet off, if you can.”
Amyt...
2024-04-05 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Red clouded up from the Salamander’s mouth. Ike tumbled down a hot, humid tube, falling toward the Salamander’s stomach. Barely conscious, he lashed out and pressed out with all four limbs, clawing into the soft tissues of its throat. His razor was gone, vanished somewhere into the Salamander’s belly, or perhaps dropped at the bottom of the cliff. Hazy-headed, Ike struggled to place himself, struggled to remember.
Hold on. Don’t let go.
Ahead, the Salamander’s m...
2024-04-04 23:08:21 +0000 UTC
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As the others closed in on the Salamander, hopping down ring after ring to rush in, the smaller ponds trembled. One after another, they erupted, but this time, more than water flew out. Small red salamanders, about as large as kittens, burst out with the water. They slapped down onto the ground and raced after the party, hauling themselves along on stubby little legs, their long, chubby bodies slithering toward the party.
Ike hopped off the wall. The sandy earth hissed under his worn le...
2024-04-04 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Ike leaned against a wall, watching the gate. Hunters and adventurers wandered in and out, flashing their badges. He tapped his fingertips against his arm, impatient, as the faint light of dawn grew brighter and brighter.
At last, the party wandered into view, Joseph yawning and stretching, Sandra marching along with her eyes dead ahead, Tana sandwiched between them, and Ket bringing up the rear, a bounce in his step. Ike peeled off the wall and approached the other four. “Morning.”...
2024-04-03 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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As the sun set the next day, Ike headed into town, a fresh bag of bodies over his shoulder. Three silver clinked in his bag, the results of the previous afternoon’s and this morning’s hunting. In two days, he’d made up for all his years of work under his uncle’s thumb. Ike still struggled to believe it, the impossibility of how easy money came to hunters. Even Rank 0s are insanely strong. It just isn’t fair.
Lifting his hand, he activated Lightning Grasp. The skill ca...
2024-04-02 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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After selling the corpses off to a farmer and spending a night in his stables, Ike headed back toward the slums, wary of spending too long away. The danger of triggering his uncle’s suspicion was too much to risk. All the way back, he kept practicing forcing Lightning Dash through his hand, holding the skill for longer and longer, from half a second to a second, from a second to two seconds.
As he walked back into the slums, he pulled up his stat sheet.
[Name: Ike | Age:...
2024-04-01 02:48:40 +0000 UTC
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[Welcome to the System]
The panel vanished, and aside from the filth and the lightness of his body, no evidence remained that Ike had activated the System at all.
Ike’s eyes widened. He grinned. Everything could come true now. All his dreams. Becoming an adventurer. Surpassing his uncle’s rank, and leaving everything behind. Striking out on his own and building a life for himself. All within his grasp. All attainable.
“We’ve waited long enough. Priva...
2024-03-30 19:43:59 +0000 UTC
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A/N: RELATED NOTE to my pursuit of perfection: If anyone wants to be beta and get access to EVERYTHING I've written so far, lmk! This does come with a caveat: You have to have actual critical commentary that's useful to me and from a reader's perspective, aka my choosing criteria is going to be bullshit. I do appreciate brutal honesty and a vicious hand. If anyone's interested, reach out in the comments or via pm. Or if you just want to commentate on chapters in the comments, please do. Thank...
2024-03-29 02:47:47 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hello, everyone! This is my new work, the one that's taking the place of GML. I wanted to get the first chapter out to you, so that you can decide if you want to stick around for the ride. I'm not sure when it's launching on Royal Road, so spread the word if you're enjoying it. For now, I'm just going to focus on making this story as perfect as I can, and making sure I can write it for as long as I wrote MTPDDAT. This new story is a Cultivation/LitRPG novel. It might seem cultivation li...
2024-03-27 21:13:48 +0000 UTC
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Linnea clapped sarcastically. “Congrats on reaching the second floor! And it only took three hours.”
“Oh, shut it, you,” Oz murmured, too pleased to be bothered by it. He turned his hand around, admiring the gold ring around his wrist. The gold light quickly faded to black, becoming just another mark on the control tattoo. He lowered his arm and walked up to the bannister, lounging against it to look down at Linnea.
She raised her brows at him. “What?”
“Just ad...
2024-03-19 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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