Quickduckling

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 75 — This obviously had combat applications

After spending a couple of hours playing around with my new Skill, I was starting to get the hang of how to get it to work. [Imbue Enchantment] allowed me to add Mana to objects in a dormant state. This dormant state could then be activated under certain trigger conditions. This required using Authority to tie off the Mana in such a way that it held Intent on its own.

Or at least that was the simplest way to apply an enchantment. There was clearly more to it, but I couldn’t reach that...

Chapter 74 — Sunlight’s burning

While I lay on the beach regenerating Mana, my body in the process of being regrown, I checked my notifications.

[Killed Tidal Sorcerer II-10]
X2

[Killed Merfolk Fangbearer II-40]

That was about what I expected from the difficulty of the fight. The Zone was either scaling it to our level, or it decided to start off easy. I was hoping it was the former, because the latter meant the challenge could ramp up without warning.

Hells that ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 73 — Magic materials were weird

“Hey, Autumn, we have company,” I called out to them.

They stuck their head out of their hut, “Did you finish poisoning yourself?”

“You know I’m immune to poison…” I muttered, then raised my voice as I continued, “No, still working on something after this. I just received a notification about a Zone Event happening here. The beach is about to be besieged by bags of Life Energy.”

“Actually, you aren’t. Poison Mana—”

“As scintillating as thi...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 72 — Running across the waves

“Okay, this should do it,” I said, putting a block of Groveheart with a ritual inscribed on it into a pot of water.

The Lightning idea was a bust. I confirmed Lightning Mana did not in any way act as actual electricity, which didn’t make any sense to me. It behaved more like a kind of plasma that attempted to travel towards the ground through the easiest route that it could. It was more like someone’s idea of what Lightning should be instead of what it actually was.

In t...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 71 — Lightning

For Patrons: Forgot to display the Zone entering message earlier for anyone who read Chapter 69 when it came out. It’s called The Ophidian Deep.

While creating a new body for Novi, we reviewed the list of materials and selected a few I wanted to use, then bookmarked them. We ultimately decided to go with two Trivial materials and one Very Easy one.

If the Very Easy material didn’t work out, that would be fine. I was expecting a large ramp-up in difficulty af...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 70 — Winter Exploration

Weaving together a stream of Mana, I breathed Winter into the world right at the edge of the bluff. A layer of frost started growing on the ground below where the Mana was hanging. Then, looking around on the ground, I found a pebble and chucked it into the field of Winter.

The moment it touched the field, it froze in place mid-air.

“The way Novi instilled the idea of Winter in me was as a medium of control. Since control and stillness go hand in hand, this is the easiest thing ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 69 — Figure out how to cross that

As dawn’s light crested over the horizon, I finally peeled myself off the ground. Sitting upright, I rubbed my eyes and stretched.

“Feeling better?” asked Autumn, their voice tinged with concern.

I looked up to meet their eyes and saw that part of their face was still destroyed where I punched them. They were slowly regrowing the part I had caved in, but their left eye was completely non-functional at the moment.

“A little. Sorry about the…” I started, then tr...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 68 — Beneath the Autumn Canopy

The world around me fell apart as I walked on; the grainy VHS tape-style animation had given way to the same empty fields I had walked through when I first arrived. I intended to go in Autumn’s direction and hoped that through my intent, the Zone would lead me to them. Because the idea of wandering around through differently themed stories forever wasn’t on my bucket list.

A path had formed under my feet at some point, but it didn’t seem to lead anywhere except forward. Now and th...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 67 — Novilude: Baseline

With a flick of Winter, I sliced through the bubble of Mana that Lord Wei had surrounded me with and allowed my cloak to billow outwards. That would buy me an extra half second before hitting the ground, meaning I had three seconds to think about my plan of action.

That was plenty of time with the Wit I had at my disposal. It might as well have been three minutes to my past self.

I thought about throwing Sam as far to the side out of harm's way as I could manage, but a glance at...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 66 — Novilude: A Problem

The closer we got to the town hall in the centre of Fateswatch, the more people were out patrolling the streets. Nobody had thought to patrol the rooftops, though, which seemed like a glaring oversight to me. I took full advantage of that fact and ran from building to building towards the city centre.

Arriving at the edge of the building line, I peered from the roof into the courtyard around the town hall.

Around the building itself was a regiment of humans, half in full plate, ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 65 — [A Story’s Conclusion]

Sorry for the slowed chapter releases. I've spent the past few days feeling rather under the weather.

I sent a mental message to Novi, “Hey, we might need you to split your focus."

[I’m kind of in the middle of something]

For some reason, the System message read like she was whispering.

The only response I gave was the memory of Kaede’s plasma beam slamming into the Domain shield.

I felt something click inside me. A momen...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 64 — Closure

I had landed in the centre of what appeared to be a snowy wasteland that did not look anything like the forest I had left behind. In fact, t

I had landed in the centre of what appeared to be a snowy wasteland that did not look anything like the forest I had left behind. In fact, there was no forest anymore, just a solid sheet of snow that I found myself dumped into. The snow was incredibly fluffy and dry.

After taking a couple of awkward steps, I grew myself a set of snowshoes so ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 63 — The Doctor

Thirty seconds had passed. That should be enough time.

I got up to leave the room.

“Hey, Ellie,” Novi said.

“Yes, Novi?”

“I think you forgot about something,” she replied.

“And what’s that?”

“It will be better for you if you don’t know. Just… Try to be strong, okay?” she said, incredibly ominously.

“Are you trying to creep me out? Because it’s working.”

She hugged my leg, now she was really worrying me. 2025-08-12 00:56:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Afterlife 2.0 Bonus Chapter 01 — Through the Dark

“A deal is struck,” the agent of Astaris in a red patchwork suit said in that odd, hissing language.

His words reverberated through the Mana injected into my vein structure.

A flash of pain travelled through me, as something connected to me. Something vast and horrible beyond comprehension. Then that sensation went away, and whatever it was vanished. Only the knowledge that it had been horrifying remained in my mind.

I couldn’t go back on my word now. ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 62 — Interlude: Hazel’s Misadventures

Swapping this from a Bonus to a regular because of poor planning. Don't worry, there is another Bonus I'm going to put out in a minute in exchange for that fact!

I only realized I dropped the Item Ellie gave me a few minutes after I got up to try studying how to get the ritual working. But by then, I was already working on the project of figuring out how to teleport to her and couldn't back down.

I was going to join her side, even if it was the last thing I did. ...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 61 — Brawling

For a moment after Sam spoke, nobody moved. The only noise in the room was the quiet breaths being taken by the man.

I noticed Sam wasn’t actually breathing now that I was thinking about it. Technically alive, my ass.

The Inquisitor’s pleading look cracked for just a moment, revealing a smirk hidden beneath.

The world exploded into motion as Sam blurred towards him. I didn’t see the result of their clash because I was already flying towards the Priestess my...

Afterlife 2.0 Chapter 60 — Just how it is

Wow, thank you so much to all the new Patrons (And existing ones, don't think I'm ignoring you guys). It's just so many new people have join

Wow, thank you so much to all the new Patrons (And existing ones, don't think I'm ignoring you guys). It's just so many new people have joined, and I appreciate every single one of you!

Sorry for the slight delay with the chapter. I decided it would be a good idea to get some feedback on my next novel, and received 6...