Luke Everhart

Chapter 149 - Keeper of Records

Nar stumbled out the hall following after the other apprentices.

Every inch of his body throbbed in tune with his exhausted heartbeat. Every step was an agony that laced up from the soles of his feet all the way to the back of his head.

After spending the entire afternoon running and doing different forms of exercises, not a single one of them had unlocked the new attribute that the master had talked about.

As night approached and dinner time finally came at around 6PM, they...

Chapter 148 - Conditioning

Nar was pushed and jostled around by the other confused apprentices as they were shouted into forming lines. Slowly and orderly, the apprentices in front of Nar retrieved something from a large box that had appeared by the door of the hall.

When it was finally Nar’s turn, he got handed four, black, plain looking strips of something.

“Snap them against your wrists and ankles, and they will attach to you and weigh you down.” the instructor explained to him. “These weights ar...

Chapter 147 - The Blades Hall

The Blades Hall looked similar to the Aura Hall. It was smaller, and instead of green circles it had several shapes in various colors painted across its floors. Above their heads, in the center of the ceiling, shone a bright red depiction of a blade instead of a gray circle.

Nar found himself alone that morning after breakfast, and somehow still feeling knocked out from the previous day.

Despite being tired, sleep had been elusive, and a pair of dark, harsh eyes had haunted his mi...

Chapter 146 - Master Of Aura

Nar jumped to his feet and looked around the dull, solid green wall of light around him in startled confusion.

Did I just…

“In your pod controls, look for the open/close door,” the master spoke again, with a hint of amusement. “It should be a simple affair.”

“I-Uh…”

He stumbled through his UI as though it was the first time he was even seeing the blasted thing, and found the controls she had mentioned, just below the on/off toggle.

Intere...

Merry Christmas!!

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and a joyful holiday season to everyone!

Thank you so much for your incredible support, feedback, comments, and advice—you are all absolutely amazing! Many edits have already been made to Book 1, and there's some already being planned for Book 2, thanks to your awesome insights!

Chapters are all scheduled and will continue coming out over the holiday period, so there’s plenty more adven...

Chapter 145 - Aura Practice

Nar tutted internally as he was separated from the others, and forced to look further and further back, until finally, he found an empty circle just two rows away from the back wall of the hall.

He took a seat within the circle, and looked over the rows of heads that spread from him, all the way to the podium.

“Good,” the master said, as the last apprentices sat down. “This room you are in is the Aura Hall. So called because it is where you will be doing the most of your aur...

Chapter 144 - There Is No Magic

“Keep going. Just sit down on the floor!”

“Wow…” Tuk breathed.

“Is this all of us?” Viy asked, taking in the sheer amount of apprentices gathered in the room already.

They had arrived at the location for their night and first proper aura class, and now found themselves within an enormous room, dark gray from wall, to floor, and to the tall ceiling stretching high above their heads, where a bright white gray circle shimmered at the very center of the ceiling. 2024-12-23 11:31:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 143 - No More Help

“What was that?”

Nar startled in his bed and opened the curtains to look out. Across from him, Mul was looking at their room’s door through bleary eyes.

Before either of them could say anything, the sound of raised voices filtered through from beyond the closed door.

“Maybe we should go check it out,” Nar said, swinging his feet over the edge.

Mul sighed. “Can’t a person just relax without anything happening?”

Together, the two of th...

Chapter 142 - Ceremony Gains

Opening his notifications, he decided to leave the Tsurmirel: Probational Apprenticeship Contract for another time, though he should really take some time to read through it and make sure there weren’t any nasty surprises in it. For now, however, his eyes zeroed in on the notification underneath it, the one titled with Conclusion of the Climb.

As he opened it, a burst of sound and bright dots of light exploded around him and he jumped in his bed.

“What t...

Chapter 141 - We Do Not Mix

It was a much quieter crowd that gathered for the evening meal back at their canteen. Whether stunned, shocked by the consequence of the aura powering their classes, or in awe of the heights that they could potentially achieve, conversations were far more subdued.

“Oh! I remember you!” a cheery voice shouted, drawing Nar’s attention. “You’re the happy guy from this morning! Tul, was it?”

“Tuk!” the ring tosser corrected, smiling at the pale chef.

“Ah! That ...

Chapter 140 - Aura 101

By the time they reached their next destination, the same auditorium they had been in that morning for the Nexus 101 lecture, Cen was still bombarding Nar with questions.

She only stopped when, from above, they laid eyes on the austere looking woman that stood on the podium below. She had a neutral expression on her face, and seemed content, for the moment, to simply stare up at the apprentices as they slowly filled up the rows of seating.

Throughout the room, rather than the loud...

Chapter 139 - Quartermaster

Nar stared at the floor in a daze. At his side, Kur was similarly quiet.

The two of them were the last on the male side of the party to go through the quartermaster, who had set up a series of straight, soundproof, muted green barriers to divide a blank room of light gray floor and walls into several cubicles.

Nar leaned back against the chair, his spine crooked, and almost at the point of falling out of it.

He didn’t have it in him to sit up straight.

Watching the o...

Chapter 138 - Affinity Assessment (Part 2)

“Right. Who wants to go next?” Lut asked, drawing their attention back to the assessment.

There was a moment of hesitation, then Tuk stepped forward. “I-I will.”

Lut nodded. “Hands on the orb then.”

Tuk licked his lips and approached the machine with a shaky exhale. The device rose up to match Tuk’s height, and when it stopped at his chest height, Tuk gulped, and placed his hands gingerly around the orb.

His double-jointed long fingers overlapped each oth...

Chapter 137 - Affinity Assessment (Part 1)

After lunch, which was another feast and celebration of the marvels of the outside world, and which saw them introduced to a dish called stew with mash, bread rolls, colorful things called fruits and many more glasses of water all around, the party now found themselves seated in a much smaller room, with individual tables and chairs, and waiting for their turn on the affinity assessment, which was being conducted on a room a few doors down that same corridor.

“Kur’s party?” a shor...

Chapter 136 - Nexus 101 (Part 3)

“So, we were discussing the Infinite Nexus, which is, of course, the cube in the center of the image before you,” Professor Thim continued. “Now, when we say the Nexus is infinite, there is, in fact, an end to it. But you could walk in a straight line from one edge of one of its faces, and even after a lifetime of walking you wouldn’t have reached the opposite edge. In fact, you would not even have reached the halfway point. Or even a quarter. You would have only walked an infinitesim...

Chapter 135 - Nexus 101 (Part 2)

The professor crosses his arms behind his back and regarded his rapt audience.

“In the Nexus, we count time in eras, years, months, weeks and days,” the Professor said. “An era consists of one hundred thousand years. A year consists of fourteen months, a month of five weeks, and each week comprises seven days, named from First to Seventh. First to Fifth consist of the weekdays, and are generally considered as working days, while Sixth and Seventh are, for the most fortunate, consi...

Chapter 134 - Nexus 101 (Part 1)

The door of the lift slid closed, shutting out the sound of the nervous chatter that filled the corridor behind.

Within the lift, the eight of them squeezed together in a pensive silence. People, either crew members or faculty they didn’t know, had stormed into the canteen, ushering them to get up, put away their trays, and get them on the move to Nexus 101, whatever it was that waited them there.

“Well, does anyone want to talk about it?” Kur eventually asked, as the lift g...

Chapter 133 - Food!

A klaxon sounded and Nar bolted upwards.

His forehead exploded in pain as he hit the short ceiling above his head.

“Ah! Crystal dammit!” Kur cursed from below him, having clearly suffered the same fate.

Nar opened his curtains and found that the room was a lot brighter now.

“What’s going on?” Tuk mumbled, still half asleep and peeking his head out of his own curtains.

“I think this is the wake-up call, remember?” Kur said, standing up and massaging ...

Schedule change!

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is having/had a great Sunday!

As I mentioned on my last post, we're going into a new release schedule starting today.

Releases will now go out as follows:

Mon, Wed and Friday -> 2 chapters

Tue, Thur, Sat and Sun -> 1 chapter

According to my calculations, the new schedule should be in place until mid-January, the point where Book 1 will wrap up on the RR side of things.

I hope everyone is still enjoying the story, ...

Chapter 132 - Party Room

Nar didn’t know how long he stayed there, looking out the window, but eventually he noticed the white arrows that he was following had, at some point, started flashing with urgency. Not knowing if he was about to be in trouble for not having arrived at his room yet, he reluctantly abandoned the window and followed the path once more, back into the dark bowls of the ship.

Not long after, Nar found himself on corridor 4GV. He walked by evenly spaced closed doors, which lined the corrido...

Chapter 131 - Aetherships In The Night

The air was heavy with the clatter of metallic legs. And with the sounds of the dying.

“Help!”

“Please… No!”

The tide of spiders was unstoppable, mowing Climbers with impunity as it steadily advanced.

Around him, the faceless Climbers cried and panicked, trying to run off the bridges. There was no cohesion, there was no strategizing anymore. The battle was lost. And from beyond the enemy lines, the gates were slowly closing.

“Nar!”

Nar whipped...

Chapter 130 - Wild Maneuvers

They distracted themselves by staring at the displays overhead. Tys called them screens.

“Bah! It’s just ads. Though I suppose for you guys they look entertaining,” she said, smiling. “Just wait till you get your hands on the good stuff. I won’t spoil you, though!”

Spoil? Nar thought, confused, as their recruiter laughed to herself.

Instead, he looked back at the screen that was closest to him. He was starting to feel the tiredness creeping in on him aga...

Chapter 129 - Glimpse

Tys rushed them down the stairs at a dizzying speed, much faster than Nar thought himself capable of going at, given his current state.

He wondered if she was using her [Presence] to make them move faster.

What is [Presence] anyway? Nar wondered.

How could an attribute make him obey someone else just like that? To the point of stashing away his sword and not speaking until being granted permission to do so?

It’s real power, a voice said fro...

Chapter 128 - Invitation

Those still able bodied reacted in the same way as Nar.

Though no weapons appeared in their hands, Tun and Gad stepped forward to block the path of the massive, yellow man.

“What do you want here?” Hyz snarled at him. “Get out!”

Then she stumbled backwards.

Nar blinked.

Did he… Hit her?

He had blinked and missed it. But he could’ve sworn that he caught the last part of a backhanded slap. Casual. Lazy. Annoyed. The way a manager would si...

Chapter 127 - Healing

There were more people shouting for them to keep going, and soon enough, they reached the wall at the other end. Here, queues of Climbers were formed in front of another massive gate, as well as dozens of smaller doors around it.

“If you are critically injured, at death’s door, call here!” a voice shouted.

“Here!” Gad shouted in reply, before any of them could even react to it. “Here!”

A short, stocky man came running out of the crowd. He was bald and pinkish, ...

[Book 2 - Part 1] Chapter 126 - Rain Of Color

Part 1 - Foundations

“Coming out of that gate… We weren’t ready for it. For none of it. And sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice. In not going…” - Anonymous security contractor, thranil, ex-Climber, heading home from work, aboard the AetherLines

Excerpt from “A Treatise on Forgiveness and Freedom”

Status: Unpublished. Censored by the authority of Truth Praetor Elisa Tranevor

Notation: Level 2 Breach of The Tenets fo...