It turned out that Cinthia's chat was completely clueless as to what was happening, but Hatred wished Sofia good luck either way and Death sent one of his usual random faces. Sorrow was not present for some reason, leading Sofia to think she might be looking after Ihuarah at the moment.
Led by Beryl, Sofia and Astelia entered Beligenus’ office in the highest tower of the academy. The headmaster was already there, behind his ...
2024-01-05 17:02:16 +0000 UTC
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After the disturbing events with the Leviathan tear, Sofia’s ‘vacations’ at the academy finally felt like actual rest. With no pressing issues remaining, she could slowly keep helping the students progress while working on her own skills at a leisurely pace.
The first thing she did was to finally read the entirety of what she had access to of the Academy’s library then of the Empire’s public great royal library. It only took her a few minutes to go through even the bigger tome...
2024-01-04 17:01:31 +0000 UTC
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Sofia did her best to forget the horrendous image of what she had become, and focused on VPPV instead. She could see her health go down steadily now, and she could feel Pareth attacking her.
The second the progress reached 100%, Pareth killed her.
The rune brought Sofia back to life. As usual, her first reflex was to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. Bony finger on her face held her eyelids tightly shut.
“It’s still there, isn’t it?”
There was no answer, but s...
2024-01-03 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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[Tri-Venatoserine Proteasic Acid] : Also known as the bloodhunter serum, this poison kills by intense and fast-acting blood clotting. Most effective when injected near the heart.
Safety ranking: weird water
Weird water?
This isn’t going to do anything to someone with no blood, right? So it’s like drinking weird water…
Sofia uncorked the vial and drank the whole thing like water under the watchful eyes of Elizabeth.
2024-01-02 16:59:56 +0000 UTC
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After going through the poisoning attempts of a few more students, it was the empress's turn, and Sofia was not really looking forward to it.
"We meet again," the woman said, a polite smile on her face.
"Yes, how unexpected. Are you here to help with the poisoning? There are a lot of people waiting, as you can see," Sofia answered, trying not to sound too cold or frightened.
"Of course, yes. I am always willing to help a teacher. I just happened to hear about this stunt of y...
2024-01-01 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Author's note:
Hey! I'm taking the next week off for the holidays (Even if realistically I'll spend most of the time editing the first book for the amazon release...) So to offset that a bit I made today's chapter a bit longer than usual ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა
I tried to end on a cliff that isn't toooo painful...
It's crazy to think I've been doing this for a full year already. Isn't it fitting to end the first year on chapter 365? Here's to another good year of SSS incomin...
2023-12-22 16:59:06 +0000 UTC
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Bookie did not have the same qualms Pareth had about following orders, but he was also not nearly as proficient with bladed weapons, leaving Sofia with a slit throat that didn’t bleed.
That’s… A bit uncomfortable. Aaaaand it’s healed. Simple clean cuts really don’t last long if the two sides of the skin can touch again. Health hasn’t gone back up but the skin still fixed itself.
Trying and failing to speak indicated that on the inside, her throat was still mes...
2023-12-21 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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“Yes, sorry… I’ll explain later. It’s nothing,” Sofia reassured Saria.
I’m probably just getting paranoidaranoïd, Scripture is getting under my skin; there’s no way he would have spent years running an orphanage pretending to be the unremarkable director Jeffrey… It’s a rather common name too… I just… Yeah…
“So, yer gonna tell me how the end of yer trial went?” Jennifer asked.
...
2023-12-20 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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“To start with the reason this even happened… The attack back then was the first time this world suffered a serious invasion by the Phageid, since then it has happened once more, around five hundred years ago. And it will surely happen again, relatively soon. Optimistically, we might have about forty years,” Jennifer explained seriously, completely losing her accent.
“So they attack every five hundred years?” Saria asked.
Does it have anything to do with the ‘True ...
2023-12-19 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“... so I grabbed the key and kept it on me because it seemed important. That’s about all that happened while I was still a prisoner,” Sofia recounted.
“Then Armand rushed things and rescued you early,” Jen continued, nodding along.
“Precisely,” Sofia confirmed, “In fact, it was Fox who snuck into the palace and got rid of the guards in front of my door. He broke the barrier, stomped in, grabbed me and broke a catalyst. Next thing I knew, we were in the forest behi...
2023-12-18 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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“It doesn’t sound like you love her much,” Sofia said in reaction.
Jennifer turned away, taking a few steps out on the terrace, propping her sword against the handrail and leaning on it. “People grow apart. I ain’t gonna go over that, Miranda’s resting in the afterlife now,” she said while looking in the distance. Then she turned again, half-sitting on the fence, she addressed the sisters in a somewhat softer voice, “But I never knew she had kids. Not until the ceremony ...
2023-12-15 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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“We should land near the line of carriages, probably,” Saria suggested.
“Oh, yeah. It looks like they have someone checking the invitations down there… Say Saria, do you think we would survive the fall if I just closed my wings right now and we do nothing to stop it?”
“That’s a weird question to ask out of nowhere… I think we would, actually. We should be at the point where it’s hard to die from a simple fall, unless we crash on something dangerous.”
“I...
2023-12-14 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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One week after the second event, on the following weekend, Saria was helping Sofia get ready for a social outing. Lola’s family was organizing a party to celebrate her outstanding performance in the competition, and Sofia had naturally been invited. Since she could bring two guests, and Alith wasn’t interested, she was going to go with Pareth and her sister.
Saria adjusted the tightness of Sofia’s corset. “About this much should be good. How do you feel?”
“It’s much ...
2023-12-13 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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After his explanations, Saint Tartaros teleported everyone to the academy. Astelia and Sofia appeared directly in the headmaster's office in the company of Tartaros, while the students were probably sent to their dormitories. Beligenus was busy writing a book using an impractically huge feather as his pen. It took a few seconds for him to finish writing his page, and only then did he look up at the newcomers, welcomed them, and told them to sit.
Sofia did try to read what Beligenus was ...
2023-12-12 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Sofia and Astelia stood over the spot where the bone bunker was buried with the students and skeletons inside.
“Should I teleport you inside?” Astelia asked, aware that Sofia had no mana left to spare to use the graveyard again.
“No, I have a funny idea,” Sofia answered, laughing ominously.
Only about forty seconds left on the demon form… So short.
The students were waiting in the enlarged ...
2023-12-11 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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It was Sofia’s first time transforming since getting her new fused passive skill.
Oooh, this feels good.
It’s a bit of a waste of levels since Pareth could have handled the twig monsters by himself, but well.
I like this too.
As soon as Sofia’s Apostle form was complete, she flew to Astelia’s rescue. Using her Dragon scale arm, she punched one of the wooden monsters from behind. The monster was stuck in place by Astelia’s specializa...
2023-12-08 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Health : 80 980 / 80 980
Stamina : 21 047 / 21 047
Mana : 203 650 / 417 100
Sofia looked at her mana trickle down as she prepared a piercing bolt before entering. It’s really annoying that the runes lock all regeneration. As soon as I get stuck on VPPV the next goal is to fix that. Hopefully before the next trial.
Plasma kept growing and gathering over the Scepter, Sofia felt the heat on her face even throug...
2023-12-07 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Sofia dove through the rain of attacks of the small trees, she flew right past them, hitting each of them once on the way, triggering a chain of weaker explosions. Between each hit, the Bolt surrounding her scepter grew stronger, and by the time she reached the furthest tree on the other side of the long hall, the scepter hit that would have only smashed some bark before instead cut straight through the entirety of the monster’s trunk. She hit the wall of the hall feet first, and propelling...
2023-12-06 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Sofia introduced her bird squad and even got to try her new design for Eternam’s transmission ritual, which she had embedded on a bone coin with a mana battery ritual on the other side to have the birds give a live view instead of just their position.
The coin didn’t work at all, Sofia lost the connection as soon as the birds turned a few corners, still, under the watchful eyes of Astelia and the students, the three dimensional map of the entire dungeon quickly took form in Sofia’...
2023-12-05 17:02:39 +0000 UTC
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Sofia summoned a cup and filled it with blood. “Drink up, this one’s on me.”
“Thanks…”
Shaking, Astelia greedily gulped down the contents of the cup, it instantly helped sooth her nerves. Sofia lent her a hand to stand back up.
“Thank you… I… Sorry you had to see me like this.”
Sofia waved her off. “It’s nothing, Vampires do vampire things. Stress makes things worse, it looks like.”
“It does.” Astelia confirmed. “Now what do we do?...
2023-12-04 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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The students kept exploring the dungeon, Astelia and Sofia’s group alternating the fights against all sorts of root-infected mechanical creatures. There were a few minor injuries along the way but nothing too extreme. Watching the students’ group cohesion and tactics grow at a fast pace was very satisfying to Sofia. There was, however, one small issue. ‘Clint’, the student from Astelia’s group who had stumbled and put her students in a bad position during their first fight, was star...
2023-12-01 17:00:21 +0000 UTC
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“The sap is harmless, Topaz,” Sofia told her from her position in the back.
Nodding to Sofia, Topaz stepped up to the doors once again and resumed the cutting.
“You know these plants?” Astelia asked, curious.
“Know is a bit of a stretch, but it’s not my first time seeing them, I just never realized it was the same plant until I saw the characteristic blood-red sap,” she explained, then, whispering into Astelia’s ears, she added, “This should be the dungeon...
2023-11-30 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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It's quite dark in here, Pareth, can you glow a bit stronger for the students? Thanks.
The group of twelve observed the environment they had been teleported into. They were in a narrow corridor, with no opening to the outside in sight. Frescoes and sculpted pillars along the walls were almost completely covered by lush green vegetation. The air was a bit stale but still breathable.
"How is this place so overgrown when there isn't the slightest bit of sunlight?"
One ...
2023-11-29 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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In the courtyard of the classroom, a spark of electricity crackled in the palm of Shaily’s hand. “There!” she rejoiced.
“Nice. Good progress! The mana structure is still unstable, but the basics are there. I think you are ready to move on to the more… ‘intense’ training method I have devised if you want. I have to warn you, though, it is quite painful.”
Shaily wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand. She looked at Sofia, her unsteady gaze betr...
2023-11-28 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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“Well, sorry for worrying you like this, Sof. I honestly expected something more like a quest just like the one he gave you, and not, you know, a sudden death. I think the last thing I remember is you telling me that this wasn't a good idea. *In hindsight, you were right...”
Sofia let herself fall on her bed, sighing. “Listen, I'm not going to chastise you more. I'm not really in a position to do that considering… yeah. But, at least warn me in advance before you do something cr...
2023-11-27 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Alith followed Sofia inside, immediately her attention turned to the bone statues, “Hey, you're getting better at those,” she complimented. “Who's this one supposed to be, an unfinished product?” she asked while picking up one of them.
“Oh, that's meant to be Ihuarah. See the hole? It's just difficult to capture his appearance, especially from memory.”
“I mean, he is monochromatic, so at least you got that right… The issue is the pose, I think. Ihuarah’s not the ...
2023-11-24 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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The woman stepped onto the stage. She was elegant and sophisticated, wearing a sleek, form-fitting deep blue and silver uniform that exuded a sense of authority. Her horns were quite short compared to most other Exidians, and her fine white hair was tied in a high ponytail behind her head. Stopping a few meters away from Sofia, she bowed with an arm across her chest.
“Elizabeth Fraus,” she introduced herself, “I am honored to be of help, Teacher Vakaria.”
What do you w...
2023-11-23 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Sofia spent the next two days working on her venerable physique one drop at a time. The competition's first event ended, and the rankings would soon be published, but first, it was time for her first public class. She made her way to the backside of the amphitheater where the class would be held, and Beryl was there, waiting for her, notepad in hand.
“Good, you’re here on time,” she welcomed her.
“Yes, though I'm a bit lost, honestly. I am still unsure about how I should g...
2023-11-22 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Sofia sat down on the ground, and Pareth did the same. She brought out the rest of the necromancers’ stuff and looked through it.
“What do you guys think? The robe is beyond saving, but I guess I can take it to the clothier; he might find that interesting. The wands are also rotten, so really it's only about the books and the cursed chest.”
Wait, actually, maybe we can do something with that…
Sofia told Bookie to summon the engineer skeleton and had him brea...
2023-11-21 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Sofia brought back a lot of random stuff from Azurian’s shop, it barely made a dent in her gold reserves, so much that she was starting to wonder whether Sun might actually be annoyed at her for taking it. Not that it would have survived anyway, but still, before the deep whale destroyed everything, she had technically stolen it.
She stopped in front of the academy.
“Back already? You’ve only been gone a few hours, teacher Sonia, were my recommendations not to your liking?...
2023-11-20 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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