Magic_Smithing

Ch: 113.8

Tabitha’s Point of View:

What was this feeling in my chest? Was it doubt; or fear of what was about to happen next?

No, Master taught me there was no place for doubt during a battle. A warrior always needed a healthy sense of fear; not all battles were glorious after all, and whenever a person stopped fearing death, it usually meant they were soon to be embraced by it. But doubt? Never.

Maybe I was worrying about Aaliyah? I had just enough time to look o...

Ch: 113.7

Damn, there were a lot of goblins below us. Of course, there weren't as many as the group that came to attack the village, but every goblin below me was at least a hobgoblin, most of whom were horned hobs. The level difference between the two groups was night and day.

And the arch goblin….

Looking to my right, I see Tabitha struggling to hold back her killing intent. She was focusing on the arch goblin in the center of the group, and if she let out even a sliver of her intent, I...

Ch: 113.6

“They’re in range again,” I slowly open my eyes and inform Tabitha.

"Alright," Tabitha nods thoughtfully. “What are we looking at?”

“Well, there’s more than a hundred,” I inform her, trying hard not to let my nervousness show.

“How many exactly?” Tabitha either didn’t notice the twinge in my voice, or she was being considerate and chose not to bring it up. Either way, I’m thankful.

“A hundred and forty-seven.” Just saying the number is enoug...

Ch: 113.5

Run; I have to run faster!

“Aaliyah.”

If we slow down, they’ll catch up to us!

“Hey, Aaliyah?”

The goblins chasing after us were nothing like the group the village had to deal with, and now there were only two of us!

“Stop!” A hand reaches out, grasping my shoulder with enough force to pull me off my feet. Skidding to a stop, I reach for my hammer, only to come face to face with an annoyed-looking Tabitha who's sweating from all our running.

�...

Ch: 113.4

The toads were, in fact, not happy to see me again.

I wasn’t expecting the warmest of welcomes, but I definitely didn’t expect to be swarmed as soon as I entered the valley. They must have been on high alert after I stole their buddy. That, or they just assumed I would return.

I could barely find time to drop my captive off at the edge of the mud pit before I had to Flash Step away to avoid the first wave of oncoming water missiles directed at me by the smaller females. Indivi...

Ch: 113.3

“Buurrrrrrr- eeeppppppp!” I watch the toad croak threateningly up at Tabitha.

“Huh, I thought you would grab a bigger one," Tabitha remakes at the angry toad in my hands.

“You told me to grab one of the smaller ones,” I remind her with a hint of frustration.

“Yeah, but I didn’t say grab the smallest one possible,” Tabitha tries to poke the toad in between its beady eyes. The toad doesn’t take kindly to Tabitha’s attempt and tries to bite her gauntleted fi...

Ch: 113.2

“Anything dangerous I should be made aware of?” Tabitha asks me as we run through the forest.

“Not that I could pick up. Nothing in the area up ahead had any significant amount of mana. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything there,” I remind her.

“Glad to see you’re not letting your guard down anymore,” Tabitha smiles in approval at me.

“Not if I can help it,” I lightly joke back.

The two of us were running quite fast, but even then, we could ...

Ch: 113.1

Breath in.

Breath out.

With each breath, I draw in more mana from my surroundings, pushing my mana network to its limits. I feel like a balloon about to pop, but progress is never easy.

I hold the extra mana within me for thirty seconds before channeling it into my right hand with part of my own mana pool. Then, slamming my hand down against the large log I’m meditating on, I release all the stored mana in one quick burst. Pushing so much mana into the long-dead branch tea...

Ch: 112.5

Why do I always end up in these kinds of situations? Is my luck truly that bad? These are the thoughts buzzing around my head as I use Flash Step to dodge an arrow that nearly stuck my unprotected neck. I was going to have to focus on the archer first.

Currently, I was facing down six of the seven hobgoblins Tabitha left to me. Two goblins were rushing me from the front, two from my left and one from the right. The sixth hob was also to my right, but it stayed a ways back, taking potsho...

Ch: 112.4

Tabitha and I walk in silence with our heads on a swivel, each step taking us deeper into the Endless Forest. We had been walking for hours and had progressed less than I thought we would.

To the naked eye, everything looked the same with large trees as far as the eye could see, but Sense Mana revealed an entirely different world to me.

The mana around us was increasing at a visible rate, and as the ambient mana grew denser, it was easier for me to see where it was coming from. Al...

Ch: 112.3

Is this good enough? If I put this there. “And that there,” I mumble to myself. Circling the pile of branches in front of me me, I can’t seem to make up my mind if I did a good enough job hiding my feathers or not.

“Are you done yet; we’re losing daylight?” Tabitha asks, standing slightly behind me with her hands on her hips, judging me with her eyes and radiating impatience.

“What do you think?” I turn away from my work and ask the frowning woman for her honest op...

Ch: 112.2

The veil of darkness cast over the forest was slowly lifting.

One by one, I watch as the glow of the dragonflies drifting through the trees slowly putter out and disappear completely. In a few minutes, the forest would return to how I knew it, meaning it was time to wake Tabitha up, which was arguably the most dangerous part of my job.

With the light increasing, I could better see Tabitha asleep on my tarp, and I didn’t miss how her hand was resting on the pommel of her sword. E...

Ch: 112.1

“Five more minutes, Mom,” I grumble when I feel Mother trying to shake me awake. She should know how tired I am after forging all day yesterday. My arms, back, head, everything hurts; all I’m asking for is a little more time to rest. Is that too much to ask for?

“I am not your mother,” a cold voice whispers next to me.

My eyes snap open, and I bolt upright. My tired muscles complain about the sudden movement, but I have bigger problems at the moment. I accidentally confu...

Ch: 111.5

I was falling, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I had won, and the corpse of the giant bird falling with me was proof of that. Besides, I had time before either of us hit the ground; we were hundreds of feet up in the air, after all.

I watched below me as the last remaining bits of the bird’s soul left its body. And once the leading soul was gone, the experience once cradling the soul started to dissipate into the surroundings.

For a brief second, I hesitate to activate So...

Ch: 111.4

How the hell am I going to do this? I mean, I highly doubt I can just walk over to the colorful chicken and bonk it over the head.

There was almost zero chance I would be able to sneak up on it. The bird had an almost 180-degree view of its surroundings from its nest, and there wasn't a single branch close to it that I could stand on. So no matter how I thought about it, I would need to use Air Walk to get close to it unless I wanted to scale the tree like a cliff face and leave myself ...

Ch: 111.3

Tabitha and I waited three hours for the dino-rhino to wake up, the two of us having stood guard over the beast until it started to show signs of waking up.

Once we saw that it was starting to come around, we grabbed our gear and hid in one of the tallest trees surrounding the clearing, making sure we chose one downwind from the beast. There was no way we were going to repeat the same mistake twice.

“Finally,” Tabitha remarked as we watched the massive beast struggle to its fe...

Ch: 111.2

“What do we do?” I hastily ask Tabitha.

Tabitha gives me a reproaching look. “That is up to you. Remember I said this was your challenge to overcome. You need to decide; do you fight, or do we flee?” Tabitha grins sadistically, appearing to be enjoying the situation we were in. “Better decide quickly,” she reminds me, pointing her unsheathed sword in the direction the noise was coming from.

I stared wide-eyed at the woman in armor; she was doing this now!?

The ru...

Ch: 111.1

“This is it,” I reach out and try to touch the invisible barrier that separated the Endless Forest from its magic-dense region counterpart. There wasn't a physical barrier there, so my hand effortlessly passed through it, but I could immediately feel the difference in mana density on the other side.

Standing right outside the magic-dense region, I’d say the ambient mana was already 2.4-2.6 times higher than usual, while on the other side, I'd estimate it to be around 3.3 if what I...

Ch: 110.3

Tabitha and I stopped in the middle of a large clearing, an oddity considering how deep in the forest we were.

All around me, ferns and other bushes had grown to cover what used to be barren soil. Tree saplings dotted the edge of the clearing, slowly encroaching in on the open space. Inevitably, the trees would once again take over, and any passing hunter wouldn’t be able to tell there was a clearing here in the first place.

Only those like myself, who knew what once stood here ...

Ch: 110.2

Like a specter, I moved through the shadows. I made sure to use Air Walk to cover my tracks and make as little noise as possible. As a result, no one could see me as I skulked through the village.

I didn’t have long before the sun rose over the village, and it came to life; I needed to be gone by then.

When I reach the edge of the village proper, I drop my skills and release the breath that I was holding. All I had left was to pass the fields, enter the forest, and I was in the ...

Ch: 110.1

Lights of different colors flickered around me, shifting, changing shape. To follow them indefinitely was impossible, and yet, I tried.

But mana wasn’t bound by the same laws other forms of energy followed. Instead, it shifted through some matter while getting briefly stuck in others; and only by forcefully trapping it, either by absorbing it into the body or a rune, could mortals hope to control it.

All around me, there were countless threads of mana, currents if you will, and ...

Ch: 109.3

Kervin’s Point of View:

Sitting in the seat of my cart, I gazed up at the wall in front of me. Of course, it wasn’t the same scale as the walls surrounding Drey and the other cities, but that didn't take away from its splendor.

The wall in front of me was still being constructed, but it had something more than those other walls did…. it was new.

I know, shocker! A new wall looked new? But that was the thing; I'd never seen one before. Sure, I’d seen new buildings mad...

Ch: 109.2

With a smile on my face, I watched as Tabitha reluctantly unclasped her shiny metal breastplate. Her fingers tightly gripped onto it, even as she offered it up to Sandra.

Sandra grunted as she tried to pry the armor out of Tabitha's hands, but only after the hesitant knight finally decided to release her death grip could Sandra finally properly get her hands on it.

Sandra’s smile mirrored my own as she brought the armor over to my workbench, where she would study it closer.

Ch: 109.1

The fire in the forge looked brighter than usual compared to the first rays of sunshine finally washing over me. The forest around the clearing was quiet, making the blazing fire sound much louder than usual.

The sun had only crested the horizon twenty minutes ago, and the world around me was still trying to shake off the shackles of night.

Letting out a long yawn, I work the bellows, supplying the fire with the much-needed oxygen it craved.

I was alone at the moment, and ho...

Ch: 108

“Good morning, Princess. I wasn’t sure if you were going to show.” Master immediately starts heckling me as I stumble into his clearing.

“Funny,” I grumble, trying to ignore the pounding in my head. The sun overhead was blinding me, making everything worse. This was the weirdest hangover ever; I didn't even feel groggy in the slightest. There was no nausea, no light sensitivity, or any of the usual symptoms of a hangover, except for having a splitting headache.

"You plan...

Ch: 107

Del-Razen’s Point of view:

It took everything I had to hold back my laughter as I poured Aaliyah another cup of my homebrew. She underestimated the alcohol I drink regularly and was now drunk without even realizing it.

I know I should’ve warned her before she tried it, but the blasted girl had been bothering me all day. I was already planning on attending the festival, yet she felt the need to interrupt my nap, to make me promise to something I already planned on doing; she de...

Cultivating Pokémon Ch: 3 New World Problems

Graveler squinted and raised her hands to block the sun from her eyes as she exited her cave. It was brighter than she remembered.

She rarely left her cave, fearful that something might happen in her absence. All three of her children were finally asleep, and the baby was still passed out from overstraining himself. However, Graveler knew she didn't have long before one of them woke up, and she needed to have gathered their food and returned by then.

So graveler left her home in s...

Ch: 106

The village seemed quieter than usual as I ran my morning laps. No one was in the fields, people weren’t clearing trees, and our budding wall was left unattended, just for today, that is. There were still a couple of hunters patrolling the edge of the village, but they were the only people I encountered on my run.

However, if you walked more than ten feet into the village, you would see that the quiet façade was only skin deep. The village was full of excitement because today was the...

Ch: 105

A warm glow radiates out of my soul and travels throughout my body. My cheeks turn crimson as I try to remember the last time I felt something like this.

“Are you ok?” Kervin gives me a concerned look that quickly turns to awkwardness as I respond with a goofy smile.

“I’m fine,” I finally say after I compose myself a bit. My cheeks are still red, but that's mainly because I'm blushing now. "I tried an experiment, and it worked out.”

“You don’t have to…,” ...

Cp: Chapter 2 A Not So Champion's Return Home

*News out of Sinnoh today, as the International Police continue to uncover more on the terrorist group known as Team Galactic. Kelly Caudry, the head of the public relations department for Sinnoh's International Police branch, had this to say: “We are still in the process of uncovering and raiding hideouts linked to the terrorist group known as Team Galactic. Though most sights uncovered have been deemed abandoned. However, we continue to stress that people remain vigilant of th...