Mangowo

Chapter 98: Probing, Pushing, Testing

The dim mana lamp in my room sputtered weakly. I stiffened as the first sign of its arrival appeared—a dense, grey haze that rolled in like an unwelcome fog, stealing what little warmth the room had left. The temperature plummeted. Two bright crimson orbs pierced through the gloom, followed by the glint of wickedly sharp fangs as the haze began to clear.

And what emerged was nothing short of alarming. The creature stood hulking and menacing, its sheer size rivaling that of a golem. Bl...

Chapter 97: Half-Dragon, Half-Truth

I took a deep breath, letting my thoughts gather. Seated at the edge of my bed, tea in hand, I mulled it all over. The main reason I’d dragged Viera along on this escapade was, well, rather straightforward. The need arose from my little nocturnal jaunts.

It all circled back to the notion of shifting. A phenomenon every beast-kin species experiences upon reaching a significant power breakthrough. Specifically, a red core—a truly monumental achievement. And when I say monumen...

Chapter 96: No Rest for the Moderately Unfortunate

I’d had my fair share of disasters—enough to fill a modest tragedy anthology. Time to make myself scarce before the Enforcers swooped in and found me lurking about. Shame I couldn’t use the dimensional lamina in this form, so I settled for the next best thing: my trusty technique. Distortion cloaked my form as I darted down a trouble-free street, claws sinking into the nearest wall as I scaled upward with all the grace of a particularly vexed lizard. Rooftops it was—better for avoidin...

Chapter 95: Time to Scram

Little by little, my vision clawed its way back to something resembling normal. I must’ve hit something hard when Iron’s punch had sent me sailing off the second floor like yesterday’s rubbish. By the gods, that hurt. A part of me even attempted to flap my non-existent wings in panic. It was downright humiliating, fumbling about in this inferior flesh sack—no wings, no scales, no tentacles either. I was really starting to miss those. Tentacles were vastly underr...

Chapter 94: No Room for Mistakes

You never truly appreciate the sheer absurdity of a high yellow core's strength—not even red, mind you—until you witness someone reduce the pavement to rubble just to catapult themselves onto the second floor of a building on the far side of the street. It’s all very theatrical until said someone starts hurtling toward you like a bloody cannonball. Mid-flight, he crashed below, wings flailing as though he’d forgotten how to fly. Noted for future reference. He didn’t quite manage to ...

Chapter 93: Reality

It wasn’t supposed to play out like this. And by this, I meant my current predicament. I had a lead—a solid one—on the breadcrumbs of my past. A princess from a sect in Vraal’Kor. Easy pickings, right? Well, so much for “simple.” Turns out she wasn’t just some pampered noble lounging on satin pillows. No, she belonged to the highest rung of the ruling ladder—one of the five families that ran this land. And not just any family, oh no, but the most po...

Chapter 92: New City, New Prey

Ah, Varkaigrad—a sprawling behemoth of a city that I’d scarcely imagined, let alone seen in my backwater days. From the moment I arrived, one thing tickled my curiosity like a mischievous imp. My teacher, with all her self-important wisdom, had one piece of advice she delivered with the gravity of a saint warning a sinner: steer clear of the Lower District. Apparently, it was the "bad part of town," a phrase as quaint as it was ominous. Lawlessness ran rife there, or so she said,...

Prelude 2.3

[Apologies for the delay with yesterday's chapter. Had to rework some things before crafting one final prelude. Tomorrow, we’re diving back into Jade’s POV properly! Happy reading!]

The roar of the wilds beyond the wall was faint but constant, like a distant growl that never stopped. Viera glanced up at the immense stone wall of Varkaigrad, towering sixty meters into the air and as wide as five men lying head to toe. Even with the sun rising, its imposing shadow loomed over t...

Prelude 2.2

"I still don’t believe it."

"Believe what?"

"That you weren’t on a crafter pathway."

Jade, the young white-haired drakarri, didn’t even glance up from the intricate transmutation script she was weaving. "Your disbelief changes nothing. I’ve made this abundantly clear."

She paused, raising her hand to coalesce shadowy tendrils of dark mana that twisted and coiled like smoke. "Check the guild records if you’re so curious. I’ve always been a dark mage."

...

Prelude 2.1

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! Back to the grind! Diving into Volume 2 with two setup preludes before the main action kicks off. Had a nice little break—sad it's over, but oh well. Enjoy! Happy reading!]

Master Vasilisa stirred from slumber to the unwelcome rhythm of pounding, each knock hammering its way into her dream of transmutation. Her feathered wings twitched, and a vein of indignation threatened to burst. It wasn’t the soothing hum of bubbling cauldrons or the crackle of a...

Announcement!

Right then, the final chapter of Volume 1 has gone live just before this post. Nearly 220k words all told. Now, before anyone sharpens their pitchforks or contemplates unsubscribing, this isn’t a hiatus announcement. I’ll simply be taking a brief breather—two or three days tops—as it’s my brother’s wedding lol. Also, I’ll be ironing out some of the finer details for Volume 2 before diving back in.

The real point of this post, however, is to extend a heartfelt thank you to ...

Chapter 91: Beginning of A New Journey

The forest stretched endlessly, its towering trees so thick and imposing that only the faintest shafts of sunlight dared intrude, painting the world in a shadowy twilight. The air was steeped in an eerie hush.

Crack-BOOM!

Through this murky ambience, a fist wreathed in flames blazed into motion, its owner weaving deftly through hulking, wolf-like beasts. A claw swiped from the right—gracefully dodged. On his face was a grin I’d never quite seen before, a rakish confid...

Chapter 90: A Little Chat

I stood stock-still, my mind a knotted ball of threads, each one tugging at the other. Who wouldn’t be in such a state? Yet, curiously, there was no suffocating aura of danger emanating from her. Her—the red-scaled beast—loomed just behind me. Worse still, she knew. She knew I was a dragon. My pulse was a staccato drumbeat, though, as usual, my badger companion remained gloriously unbothered. With a chirp and a cheerful wag of her tail, she greeted the beast as if it w...

Chapter 89: A Nightmare

My gaze landed on the crimson-scaled beast, and something deep within stirred—a sensation I couldn’t quite pin down. Yet the bitter truth loomed. Undeniable. Ominous. This creature, magnificent as it was, didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in a forge. Stage 5 or not, it was up against a gold-rank abomination.

It all felt dreadfully wrong. But the moment that scaled terror made its move, I’d vanish—straight into the fourth dimension, flying off like a thief in the night. Becaus...

Chapter 88: The Abomination

I hadn’t a bloody clue what was happening. Not a single one.

That gnawing unease had followed me ever since I stepped foot in this damned place. Ever since I became a dragon. Hunted. Hunting. Infiltrating. Killing. Disrupting. Every move I made, every breath I took—it all carried the same thrumming disquiet.

But here, now, wrapped up in this grotesque mess? I still couldn’t make sense of it.

Sure, the context was plain as day. The Elves had pranced about with their pre...

Interlude 2.6 Heralas

[Alright, I know I said the last one would be the final, but with the direction book 2 is heading, I just had to include one more Heralas POV. Some things could only be conveyed through him. Plus, I enjoy writing him, lol.

Happy reading!]

Rituals. Bloody rituals. Heralas had once held them sacred, back when he was a naive little lamb bleating for Goddess Selene's favor. Back then, every rune he carved, every incantation he whispered, was an act of reverence, a...

Chapter 87: Silver Reaper

As the dream ebbed away like a receding tide, one thing became abundantly clear: I had to act, and swiftly at that. A familiar warmth cocooned me, but something was off—or perhaps on. There was a weight to me now, a subtle but noticeable heft. I’d grown, and not by a trifle either.

First things first, priorities in order. I needed to check something. With a thought, my stat screen flared to life, and my gaze locked onto the numbers that mattered most:

• Mana Poin...

  2024-11-29 00:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post