Ellake

Chapter 242 - Expenditures

Nate stood outside of Ra’Paki’s home. The Elder had called it an estate, and Nate supposed with real estate at a premium on the stilt-raised wooden city, this space likely would qualify as an estate. Off to the side were rows of planters made of wood and filled with dirt. The planters housed various herbs and what looked like some root vegetables, with a few larger planters housing trees that were only as tall as Nate was. From their branches hung colourful fruit, and they gave the wooden...

Chapter 241 - Two Halves

“Pinoreth, the jewel of the Archipelago,” whispered Elder Jin’Kahn near Nate’s ear.

“You copied the design from your Sacred Trial, didn’t you?” replied Nate, his eyes glued to the shining blue and yellow city.

Before his eyes lay a city almost entirely lifted above a sheltered bay by large wooden stilts that elevated the buildings multiple metres above the water below. In the far distance he could make out lower areas where ships and boats were docked. Beneath the wo...

Chapter 240 - Trade Relations

Nate stood on the foredeck of his flying ship as it sailed slowly over the sea of trees below them. He could feel that the mana gems powering the ship were slowly being drained, the mana gathering arrays they were attached to it unable to keep up with the mana cost now that they were back in the Wild Realm. The ambient mana was simply too much, empowering the Concept of Gravity to levels that required more from the runes Nate had created. It would mean the ship couldn’t sail endlessly throu...

Chapter 239 - Gains Translated

Nate went over the last of their gains as they prepared to exit the Dungeon. Eight Challenges had resulted in nine Dungeon Rewards. Nate had come away with a number of Stat Orbs from two different rewards that he had already used to raise his Mana Absorption and Perception Stats. He had two Skill Enhancement Orbs, one Mythic and one Legendary that he could apply towards his Skills. Then there had been the Mythic Ring. He glanced at the ring again, as it had been useless in the Dungeon.

...

Chapter 238 - Survive

Nate sent a mental message to Frick as he teleported away from a screaming ball of purple flame.

“How long?!”

His words were frantic as the ball of deathflame changed directions, chasing him across the expansive dirt floor of the mine. Another three joined it, chasing Nate as he spun up a portal rune to launch them into the sky and buy him time.

“Two more minutes, Boss!”

The Deathflame Seed was casually launching off balls of Deathflame at Nat...

Chapter 237 - Seed of Eternity

Nate stood on the prow of the ship as it passed through the portal. In his senses he could feel how space contracted, squeezing them into a thin tube that only lasted a few seconds. In those few seconds he was able to sense how similar the portal was to his Spatial Anchors. In the same way his anchors could connect his spatial zone without something or somewhere in Reality, this portal was simply a doorway from one area of the Dungeon to another. That thought was enough for him to question ho...

Chapter 236 - Once More Into The Breach

Ra’Tiki looked over the gathered forces of The People. It had been decades since so many had assembled. Three teams of Igrit Riders waited upon his command. Another five teams of Jungle Hunters stood with Elder Rok’Nohn. Finally, a single team of ten Deep Guardians gathered around Elders Ra’Paki and Jin’Kahn. Then there were the supports. Cooks, cleaners and builders. Almost two hundred of The People gathered together to head to the Sacred Trial and make camp. A camp they would hold u...

Chapter 235 - Comfort and Discomfort

Nate relaxed as the water from the shower cascaded over him, washing away the salt and sweat. The blood and dirt from the battle had been removed days ago by the ocean water that they now floated on. Well, what his spatial anchor was floating on to be more specific. The Dungeon of The Shattering of Halureth was living up to its name, as the landmass they had been on was fractured in the wake of the Divine’s attacks. Nate and Kiri had ended up in the harbour, where Nate had managed to cobble...

Chapter 234 - When Concepts Collide

Nate activated Conceptual Spatial Manipulation, appearing among the ruins of what had once been the rampart of the Calikex’s Holy City. Around him the area was littered with pieces of stone, wood still licked by flames and the fading corpses of both The Eternium and the Calikex. Beyond the ruins of the wall was a crater that sparked and fizzed with the remnants of Concepts. Life flickered, plants growing in bubbling puddles of darkness where they had no right to, and just a...

Chapter 233 - Endless Tide

Nate flicked up a barrier to protect the nearest rune cannon. The spear of ice targeting the undefended rune cannon shattered on impact against the shimmering wall of mana. The remnants of the attack rained down its razor sharp remnants, cascading across his personal barrier.

“How long?” he yelled.

“Ten seconds!” replied Frick, the Familiar frantically repairing the barrier rune on yet another rune cannon.

“Deep Condense!” ordered Nate, the Sound Rune he was main...

Chapter 232 - Defending the Holy City

Nate stood atop the stony hill, Kiri by his side. In the far distance, among the clouds, a faux battle between titans was waged on repeat. The colossal black dragon beat a wing and two of its flying opponents were blown away, partially shielded by a massive opalescent barrier. It was the third time Nate had seen that particular attack play out.

“Well, that decides it. It’s literally just playing on repeat. It’s weird,” Nate commented.

“Right?” replied Kiri. “This is ...

Chapter 231 - Taking Advice

Nate looked over the artwork he had painted upon the back wall of his Wizard Tower. He’d decided on the name for his house within his spatial pocket in a fit of pique. When Kiri hadn’t objected the name was settled as far as he was concerned. As for the painting, it detailed he and Kiri, floating within a free space but trapped together inside translucent geometric shapes that distorted at their outer edges. The image was meant to represent how he and Kiri were effectively trapped by Arik...

Chapter 230 - Dungeon Movie

Nate looked on as the invaders rushed towards the temple and the Calikex defended it. Reaching into his spatial zone he began unleashing a small army of Constructs, running the gamut from basic elements like Water, Earth and Fire to the more esoteric ones like Clean and Dream towards the oncoming army. All the materials were Epic and they clashed with the armoured humanoids rushing the red-striped Calikex and their temple. His Conceptual Sight of the Runic Artist revealed tha...

Chapter 229 - Willing Restrictions

Nate walked carefully through the jungle, his senses extended to catch anything approaching. After their work on bringing their Classes and Skills up to speed, it was time to venture into one of the Dungeons of this Wild Realm. It was easy to see that while they could gain levels and the like in the outside world, it was likely to be considerably slower than inside a Dungeon. Added to that, Nate had come around to Kiri’s way of thinking that they should prioritise raising their Secondary an...

Chapter 228 - Evolutionary Production

Nate got started on evolving his Mythic Skills to Divine. He had three Skills he intended to evolve that should follow the normal path he’d found so far. Conceptual Insight, Conceptual Spatial Manipulation and Conceptual Amplified Magic were all on the cusp of evolving anyway. Then there was Conceptual Spatial Authority. He’d only just evolved the Skill and it was still Mythic with a Skill Level of forty-one. He wasn’t ...

Chapter 227 - Glimpsing the Divine

Ra’Tiki ran his hands through Whitecloud’s feathers, gently stroking the Giant Igrit’s neck. The action was both to calm the bird as well as his own racing heart. They had all seen Death’s Shadow flying in the distance and heard his roar. It had been Ra’Tiki’s first time seeing the great beast, though his Father had spoken of another time, decades ago during the man's own childhood. The ancient dragon was the true ruler of the archipelago and maybe beyond. Ra’Tiki and the rest o...

Chapter 226 - Risky Choices

Nate lost track of Kiri, his farsight sphere of awareness unable to keep up with her as she used her ability to teleport. A second later, he realised why she was teleporting as he also lost track of the black blur that was the jaguar-like creature. The beast was faster than Kiri. A few seconds later, Kiri appeared on the sandy beach and started running towards Nate. The six-legged feline followed a moment later, sending up a blast of sand as it pivoted on the beach to arrest its momentum. Tha...

Chapter 225 - A Home to Claim

With his eyes and sphere of awareness roving over the tropical forest in front of him, Nate diligently stacked blocks of stone and planks of wood beside himself by cheating and using a Gravity Rune. The goal was to build a three-story house for Kiri, Frick and himself to live in for the next six months, storing the entire structure inside of a spatial pocket which he could then create a spatial anchor for, allowing entry in and out without his assistance. Of course, that was only the first st...

Chapter 224 - An Arrival Noted

A/N: There were a couple of edits/fixes applied to the last chapter already, everything else will likely be done in the Dev Edit (when I get back from the Dev Editor). In the meantime, this is the first chapter of Book 5, currently titled 'Colours of the Wild'. Enjoy!

Nate’s eyes roamed over the place between universes. The vista was just as magical and beautiful as he remembered. The only difference was this time he had the senses to truly appreciate and experience its depth. ...

Chapter 223 - To Realms Wild

A/N: This is the last Chapter of Book 4 of The Runic Artist (current title - Brushstrokes of Defiance). I hope you've all enjoyed it so far. Nate is about to take the next step on his journey and we'll continue with the first Chapter of Book 5 on Friday (normal release schedule).

Also, Daylight Savings just ended in AU so the release time may have shifted by an hour for some of you. Just letting you know! Onto the story!

Nate and Kiri frowned in confusion as they looked at the a...

Chapter 222 - Uninvited Guests

Nate stood in an open field in the middle of a forest far from any settlement or any other sapient being. The only exceptions were Kiri and Frick who stood with him. In his hand he held a processed mana gem, mirrored by Kiri next to him. The time had finally come to undergo their second evolution, and they were working under the expectation that the Lesser Divines of Galle would come to them when they did so. As planned, they had left on the third day, and Nate had spent the last three prepar...

Chapter 221 - Settling of Accounts

Nate smiled as he walked down the street of the newly named Resurgence District. It had been almost three months since the Battle of the Mythics, as the populace had come to call it. Word of Nate and Kiri’s status had spread like wildfire throughout the Capital and then beyond, no doubt helped along by Minister Morgane in her efforts to blunt some of Asmuisil’s demands. Nate had denied the once-Princess’s request to attend the negotiations where she ultimately surrendered Etrua’s sove...

Chapter 220 - Finding Death

Nate felt Bordain’s aura drink in the Divine Energy of his proclamation. Collapsing face down in the dirt, he could feel weakness permeate his body as Bordain’s Supremacy Aura suppressed his Stats. His limbs refused to answer, too fragile to even lift his fingers. Through his farsight sphere of awareness, he sensed the same thing happen across the battlefield, even as his runic array broke, each piece shattering under the force of the aura. Bordain was indiscriminate; even his own forces ...

Chapter 219 - Demonstrating Supremacy

Nate watched as Kiri, Deverell, and Britt charged the gigantic black Razorlash. Topaz’s shift had been disgusting to witness but insanely quick, and it left Nate wondering where all the extra mass came from. A problem for later, since he was focused on Amethyst, or at least, whatever Amethyst was doing. Beneath the ground, less than a metre deep, Nate could feel crystals growing in a complex formation. He could tell that the form was practised and could sense gaps within the structure. Gaps...

Chapter 218 - That Which Can be Broken

Nate listened as Morgane’s answer to Bordain’s offer washed over the palace grounds.

“We will never kneel before a regicide. You could have proven that you deserved to lead this nation and its people, despite your loathsome ideas. But you had to go and support your foul ideas with fouler actions, spending the lifeblood of our people and our family in your desperate need to be acknowledged as ‘better’. Well, I do not. I do not acknowledge you as better. I do not acknowledge you...

Chapter 217 - Family Dynamics

Nate walked through the city, surrounded by hundreds of people. Most were from the slums, divided between those wearing armour he had stolen from the Asmuisillans and those who had come to fight for their freedom in their work clothes and rags. While the Slummers made up the majority, there was a pocket from the Guild, including a team of Golds and two teams of Silvers. Finally, there was the notably larger pocket of Princess Morgane and the Nobles who supported her. Nate recognised a few of ...

Chapter 216 - Final Preparations

“Good to see you, Flash,” replied Nate, a small smile on his lips before turning to the two women. “Sorry, I don’t think I ever got your real names.”

“I’m Abigail,” answered the first, locking one of her hands in Flash’s. “But I was Celeste, and before that, in the Guild Tournament, Helena.”

“And I’m Genivieve,” replied the other. “Before that, I was Daphne, and before that Gabrielle.”

Genivieve then glanced at Kiri, “Sorry. You know, about ...

Chapter 215 - Enemies Revealed

Divine Energy poured into Nate and even as he felt himself become more in tune with Reality, the feeling was already leaving as the energy found him an unsuitable container. Splitting his mind four ways as he maintained the rune, he tried to direct the Divine Energy out of himself. The first tugged the energy, using his intent, towards the Skill he was maintaining. Conceptual Runic Mastery was, in many ways, a cornerstone of how he fought, crafted, and created art. Howev...

Chapter 214 - Two Steps Before

Kiri was playing messenger between the Smuggler’s Nest and the Guildhouse. She supposed some people in her position might have been annoyed at being relegated to such a role, but the fact was she was just happy to be keeping busy. Because every time she stopped, the thoughts started intruding. She was just thankful her ability to think about multiple things at once could be suppressed. Otherwise, even with the activities she was undertaking those rogue thoughts would be intruding. Thoughts ...

Chapter 213 - On the Precipice

Nate listened as Aisling’s voice boomed over the city, driven by some spell using wind, based on what he sensed through Conceptual Insight.

“All members of the Adventurer’s Guild are to make their way to the Guildhouse. Evelynn Allais, former Platinum member of the Adventurer’s Guild and violator of the Guild’s oaths has been slain along with her allies, Helen, Kartier, and Portos Jamison. As the remaining Platinum ranking members of the Adventurer’s Guild, ...