Chapter 211: Until it’s done
Mercury knew he was different now than just a few minutes ago. His whole existence had been almost stripped back down to nothing. That led one to make a few realizations about themselves. His Skills were tested to their very limits. But he shoved as...
2024-08-24 10:49:33 +0000 UTC View PostAnd so we fought.
We talked to Ann, who was, understandably, rather shocked. Marie was gone, Emilia had lost a leg, and Chris didn’t have any shell to speak to us with anymore. The archmages were gone, but at the very least, the rift was closed.
Each one of us had contribution...
2024-08-19 15:43:13 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 210: Rip and Tear
The walk forward, by itself, was frankly not that special. It was just placing one foot in front of the other. His motivation for doing so, though, was bright as it ever could be.
All around him, the world crumbled and reconstituted, in a nev...
2024-08-17 13:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostI dreamt of golden waters. Of calm seas, and endless horizons. Of reaching up and grabbing the sunlight in my hands.
Of beautiful, peaceful days. Breathing deep. Sprawling underwater coral reefs.
I woke up to a notification.
[Golden Wellspring advanced to 4th Step<...
2024-08-12 16:52:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 209: Macabre Art
Three more days passed with Mercury in Stormbraver. He made more things, like a few cooking knives. He also sharpened them, and even made the handles himself out of wood. It wasn’t enough to get him a woodworking Skill yet, but hopefully learning the ba...
2024-08-09 23:15:42 +0000 UTC View PostMarie disappeared from Eden that day. She hadn’t thought it would happen to her, but that was how life often went, wasn’t it? Every danger felt so distant, so irrelevant, until it happens to you.
She’d felt about leaving Eden like this the same way she thought about car crashes. Of co...
2024-08-06 22:21:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 208: Blacksmithing Project
Mercury tilted his head at the spirit child. He was a bit wary, but given his most recent experiences, Breeze seemed harmless in comparison. Almost benevolent. “What kind of game?”
The boy put a finger to his chin, dangling his legs as...
2024-08-02 23:34:31 +0000 UTC View PostThere were a lot of thoughts running through my mind at that moment. Maybe a few more should have been dedicated to fear… but that kind of blanked away when I saw Emilia hurt.
Marie moved faster than any of us. She was decisive, and before I’d even made up my mind, she was already...
2024-07-31 02:21:59 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 207: No More Nails Surely
Finally, Mercury reached the end of his notifications, with a small string of things left.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
Somehow, despite not killing anything or anyone, he had gained levels. That… was reasonable, ...
2024-07-27 20:13:45 +0000 UTC View PostHow much blood do you think the average person sees in their life?
How many liters? Dozens, maybe? How much does a doctor see? A surgeon, stitching people back together all day everyday?
Was it enough to taint entire roads red?
Well, calling the blood I was see...
2024-07-23 22:37:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 206: Realities and other such Shenanigans
Mercury spent the whole day with Zyl. It was amazing. They went for some ice cream first, then ate it outside the city on the verge of the forest.
The farmers and mages in Stormbraver had restored a chunk of it by now. The t...
2024-07-22 01:27:19 +0000 UTC View PostWe hunted down more creatures within the city walls. One after another, sometimes many at a time, we killed more usurpers of stranger and stranger shapes and sizes. Hiveminds and swarms. Soldiers carved from stone. Creatures as tall as houses with more limbs than you could count.
But we cou...
2024-07-15 16:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 205: A Slice of Life
After coming home, Mercury ate with Zyl. He talked a bit about what happened in the fae realm, and the way he’d been treated. He talked about everyone he’d met; who he’d befriended and who seemed to dislike him.
Well, none of the fae...
2024-07-12 10:37:20 +0000 UTC View PostIn a room that was not quite a room sat two people who could not be quite called people.
The creatures wore poor mimicry of human shapes, their skins of stained glass containing layers of horror. One was filled with eyes, the other with layers of material, like a nesting doll.
...
2024-07-09 23:05:13 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 204: Home Sweet Home
Zyl’s heart beat loud enough to shake the world they found themselves in. The ground quaked a little every time it pumped blood. Comparing it to an engine wouldn’t even do it justice - it felt more like it caused tiny earthquakes with each beat. 2024-07-07 00:21:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Of course, one single evening couldn’t exactly solve all the talking we needed to do. I wasn’t unaffected by this news. It was surprising, and for a while, when Ann was already asleep, I’d wondered whether it changed how I should think of her.
Eventually, I had decided that… it shou...
2024-07-01 14:16:47 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 203: Twisted World
The shattered space did not last for very long. Moments passed, until everything around Mercury blurred in that familiar way, though the patchwork of locations he was moving through this time made it a much more colourful experience. Bright flashes of l...
2024-06-28 22:54:58 +0000 UTC View PostLearning to sew was honestly rather fun. There was quite a bit of practice involved, though, and seeing Reya try to teach me was amusing.
Since she couldn’t exactly tell me what to do, there was a lot of gesturing involved, and keeping my eyes on both her and what I was actu...
2024-06-26 01:22:52 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 202: The Simplicity of Struggle
Gritting his teeth hard, Mercury saw blood pour from his stump. It hurt. It hurt like hell.
But he didn’t make a damn peep.
Mercury stood on the fluffy ground, red lifeblood pouring out from the wound, as his Skills k...
2024-06-22 00:58:35 +0000 UTC View PostBefore we headed into the city, we took some time to look over everything we had. Without a doubt, we would need to do some looting here. Food was beginning to become a priority, and I would really like to restock my set of spare shirts.
Armor was less of a priority, since between [Go...
2024-06-18 23:14:17 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 201: Rewards and Danger
The treasure hunt was far from over, and Mercury had already received two great boons. And he would wager that he was far from finishing the hunt.
Knowing that, Mercury took the short moment to gather himself, the forest around him bein...
2024-06-15 21:54:46 +0000 UTC View PostSomehow, someway, we lived in the frontier.
Calling it difficult wouldn’t be right. It wasn’t just difficult, it was harrowing. We had to adjust, every moment, be ready to fight. Being high-strung wasn’t enough.
There were nights I woke up to yelling. There was no time to get re...
2024-06-10 19:18:46 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 200: Treasure
When Mercury finally stepped outside, the area of the treasure hunt was easy to see. The floor beneath him shimmered a soft green, indicating a safe zone. Outside, there was a yellow-golden zone indicating the area for the hunt. And then there was a red zone...
2024-06-07 21:36:28 +0000 UTC View PostNow, among my many stupid decisions, this one does stand out. Because, quite frankly, being out in the frontier is generally a poor choice. It has monsters, after all, and usurpers.
On the other hand, could I justify remaining in cities? When the wards were down, and I was bei...
2024-06-03 15:20:09 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 199: Proving Oneself
With a ring of a bell, the school year began. Mercury found himself in a classroom, surrounded by desks. They fit poorly, and the chairs were uncomfortable. His friend, the one he was meant to ground, sat next to another kid. A loudmouth, class-clown ...
2024-06-01 23:54:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe battles never seemed to end.
Day after day, shift after shift, time after time. Monsters would swarm the walls, and every time they came, we’d be sent out there.
I swung my spear, dozens, hundreds, tens of thousands of times each day. I swung my spear until my hands bled. ...
2024-05-28 00:14:42 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 198: Trials
Before the challenge there was the baptism to go through. This would happen in the same order that the courts were allowed in, which meant the ruler of Skye went first.
The fae made from fluffy clouds and frozen bolts of lightning descended the sta...
2024-05-25 00:39:25 +0000 UTC View PostI took a long, deep breath to compose myself when Ivan was gone.
The fact he’d made it to Eden… was certainly something. It did not make me like Sarah very much. But it could also be a good thing. I was glad he didn’t get roped into anything bad, though. Not that I should have w...
2024-05-20 19:38:08 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 197: The Faerie Courts
Walking into the large ballroom, Mercury was rather unsurprised to see it having changed. Rather than a stairway to the second story, it was shaped more like an amphitheatre. There was a single stairwell, seemingly able to rotate, placed in the cent...
2024-05-18 19:19:58 +0000 UTC View PostA week passed like that. We fought on the walls, and in front of them, holding back the tides of monsters with the other Reflectors, before hiding back within the city. Reya was spending every drop of Divinity she could spare on patching people back together.
The hole in my chest heal...
2024-05-13 16:03:30 +0000 UTC View Post