"You can't, brother! Father will get mad!" a young boy cried out, trying desperately to stop the older one from sneaking out.
Past the window was a dark night, ashen clouds cloaking even the faint few scatterings of the moonlight.
"Let me go!" the older boy yanked himself free as th...
2025-08-30 20:33:28 +0000 UTC View PostI don't know how much impact my 'spirited' little monologue had, but even if it was just barely enough to plant a seed of doubt... I'd consider it a success. Though it's gotten much easier to navigate the sensibilities of this world, parts of me still cling to that old reality of life back on Ear...
2025-08-30 20:32:39 +0000 UTC View PostRayce ran through the steep slide and through the thick garden of trees, his forehead glistening with sweat. It was as though there were ghosts chasing him, as he never seemed to slow down until he finally reached the split in the 'path', taking a sharp right for about half a mile and coming upon...
2025-08-29 21:36:18 +0000 UTC View PostSo, what's the plan?
Ah, silly me, like I have someone to ask this question.
Well, I did ask it--to Long Tao--but he simply shrugged and left it off with, 'I trust you, Master'. Which, if true, is an extremely empowering thought; but because it's not, it's extremely frustrati...
2025-08-29 21:35:20 +0000 UTC View PostLight returned about an hour after she left, except this time she had some random horn in her arms.
... what?
Anyway, she never bothered to explain it, walking over to Long Tao who briefly inspected her, did something with his fingers which summoned a few traces of Qi that flew over t...
2025-08-28 20:34:57 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a rather pretty flower coming out of the ground, surrounded by snow. It was strange, how red it was against the white around it, making it stand out even more.
She crouched and tilted her head, examining it for a moment before suddenly shooting back up to her feet.
No! N...
2025-08-28 20:34:20 +0000 UTC View PostThey paused for a moment at my suggestion, though it was a bit of a stretch. If he was as paranoid as these two made him out to be, he wasn't coming out even if we burned down the entire castle.
However, there would be a reaction of some sorts, I imagine. Hope is...
2025-08-27 21:18:36 +0000 UTC View Post"His name is--was--A'tun Elkath," yeah, sure, whatever you say. "He was born with a rather rare Essence Core, though it wasn't spectacular by any means. Of his generation, he always lagged behind those at the very top, and as his Father was one of the Primes, the pressure was... immense."
"...
2025-08-26 21:15:49 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao came back in a rather good mood.
I'm guessing.
I can't really tell, to be honest. I'm just sort of assuming since I kind of saw how he looked when he came back from someplace in a bad mood, and since he's not like that this time, he might be in a good mood.
Any...
2025-08-26 21:15:21 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao stepped out and blended into the castle's drab gray colors, vanishing as though he were never there.
The sky above couldn't even really be seen as there was still about two thousand feet or so of the mountain, and they were directly in the haze of the clouds. As such, though the a...
2025-08-25 20:50:40 +0000 UTC View PostWho was Lilia?
Honestly, even after mingling around for about half an hour, I still got no clue. All I can say is that she's very liked, and that she was thought of as dead.
Instead, though, she came back--with two massive bear carcasses in tow. Like, honestly, if ...
2025-08-25 20:50:12 +0000 UTC View PostWas I going to give Xi Zhao the art?
Probably.
Will I any time soon?
Hell no.
Not because of him, actually. I decided to take Long Tao's words to heart and accept that I just may have an idea of what I'm doing, and thus I concluded that the art fit Xi Zhao perfect...
2025-08-24 21:52:33 +0000 UTC View Post[Congratulations, Host, on creating 'Single Severance' Sword Art]
... dammit. Do I have to surrender and admit that the system has a better naming sense than me?
No. Never
Never.
[...]
[Single Severance]
[Type: Sword Art]
[Rank: middle-Jade tear...
2025-08-23 21:46:10 +0000 UTC View PostRather than spending the night restlessly wrecking my mind with potential solution to our little 'is-it-a-vampire-problem', I chose to fiddle with the system a bit and create Xi Zhao's unique little art.
Ever since his breaking through as well as seeing him utilize Art of Surviving, I had ...
2025-08-23 21:45:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe inside of the barracks was actually much better than the somewhat rundown exterior--the central hall housed six wooden tables, each with long benches at the sides with some kind of fur as cushioning. Additionally, columns holding up the upper floor each had either a torch or a lantern lit up,...
2025-08-22 18:20:31 +0000 UTC View PostI can see it!
The first sign of human civilization in almost a month! There it is, just about a hundred yards up, pressed into the side of a mountain and built atop a rather wide and broad plateau.
Those beautiful, aged, cracked walls of cinder, and those towering spires jutting beyo...
2025-08-22 18:20:00 +0000 UTC View PostRayce ran back inside the cave, his breathing ragged and quick, heart all but leaping out his chest. Snapping his fingers, the massive boulder at the entrance shook and trembled for a moment before rolling over, closing the gaping hole and turning the tunnel dark.
Yet another snap of the fi...
2025-08-21 22:00:33 +0000 UTC View PostIgnoring Light's odd (but expected, I suppose) reaction, my attention was drawn to the figure that just landed--not only because of the spectacular entrance, but also because of the clothes.
They were red.
And not, like, stained with blood red, no--but like those <...
2025-08-21 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostWe reached the base of the mountain at around 3, per my estimates. There wasn't a 'clock', as it were, in this world, but there was timekeeping, just that it wasn't particularly precise. They simply called the range between about 2 and 5 'post-midday', and... well, I kind of like it. 2025-08-20 20:37:40 +0000 UTC View Post
It could also be that I'm thinking out my ass and that it's just 'system magic'. No, really. My understanding of kinetic energies and whatnot is not good. I might even be misremembering how microwaves work, though I don't think I am. Why am I so sure? Because I developed a bit of a cance...
2025-08-19 20:35:41 +0000 UTC View PostWe left the inn right after a rather dull and dry breakfast which consisted of a lukewarm porridge with rice and a glass of water that I did not dare drink since it looked like something corpses lived in.
We were escorted with no fanfare and many, many, and I mean many eye...
2025-08-19 20:35:14 +0000 UTC View PostHuh.
That was...
Well, the lamest way to put it is: it was unexpected. So, so unexpected that I nearly just dismissed the window because I thought there'd be no extra rewards. But, instead, for this dumbass art that I created purely out of selfishness for a life I lost... I got an ext...
2025-08-18 21:18:59 +0000 UTC View PostBefore the night was over, I promised myself I'd make a rather specific art.
Okay, I need to back up a bit.
In my one year in this world, I learned many, many things, but one stood above them all: modern comforts are... dearly missed. It's not just about controlling ...
2025-08-18 21:18:23 +0000 UTC View PostIt was about ten days after Xi Zhao broke through, and once we finally dislodged ourself of a rather hilly terrain that I saw them--the mountains.
Honestly, they looked more like a wall since more than half of them were covered in a thick layer of mist and haze. Nonetheless, at the very lea...
2025-08-17 18:27:13 +0000 UTC View PostXi Zhao took about as long as Dai Xiu did to break through, and caused a relatively same phenomenon.
Swirls of Qi coalesced into a visible spectrum of misty-like colors, and they all slowly drifted closer and closer to until they burst into a pillar of colors that was quickly suffocated by ...
2025-08-17 18:26:50 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao paused, his brows furrowing into a point.
Something felt... off.
He was extremely familiar with every aspect of his own cultivation--down to the last tiny mote of Qi he absorbed. As such, he knew perfectly well how quick (or, rather, slow per his own standards) his c...
2025-08-16 21:05:12 +0000 UTC View PostIt's now been almost a year since I've come to this world.
No, seriously.
A freakin' year.
I can't believe it. Not in the slightest. Not just that I've come here, that's for sure, but that I survived all this while. And as though to celebrate the anniversary, Dai Xiu decided to ...
2025-08-15 20:10:07 +0000 UTC View PostI woke up rather well rested.
In fact, it was kind of surprising how well rested I was. Usually, I never really got a full night's rest; I don't like to brag but this stupid brain of mine doesn't really know how to 'turn off'. So, it concocts all these scenarios, puts them into a n...
2025-08-14 21:44:32 +0000 UTC View PostLong Tao dragged the man's unconscious body away from the village and to the nearby hill. Just as he tossed him on the ground, the man awoke, coughing and trying to free himself of restraints to no avail.
At the same time, Long Tao started a small fire, isolating all light and sound with a ...
2025-08-14 21:44:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe poor thing conked out within a minute of crying so loudly that my eardrums burst. Before long, she was happily snoring as I picked her up.
The 'world', if you could even call it that, around us began to rapidly dissolve, like colors smeared across the canvas by water. Within moments, we...
2025-08-13 20:54:30 +0000 UTC View Post