Archmage Abomination

Chapter 31: The Archmage Experiments

The basement stairs descended into darkness.

Arthur placed his hand on the rough stone wall as he moved downward, feeling the temperature drop with each step. The air grew cooler and damper. Musty. The smell of earth and old stone filled his nostrils. Behind him, Tao's lighter footsteps followed, the boy moving carefull...

Chapter 30: The Archmage and the Village Children

The morning light arrived not with the gentle caress of a climate-controlled sunrise simulation in the Symphonic Spire, but with a harsh, unfiltered beam of photons that cut through the gap in the wooden shutters and struck Arthur directly in the eyes.

He groaned, rolling over on the wooden sleeping platform that posses...

Chapter 29: The Dao of Convenient Morality

Mo Lin sat in the chair opposite the Sect Master and organized his thoughts carefully before speaking. This was not a casual conversation. This was a formal report that could potentially affect the future of the sect.

"I arrived in Rising Stone Town two days ago and located the foreign cultivator named Arthur Ferrell wi...

Chapter 28: The Incident

The Ten Thousand Rivers Sect occupied the eastern approach to the Jade Serpent Mountains like a city built specifically for war and cultivation.

The main compound stretched across three separate peaks connected by suspended stone bridges that hummed with formation arrays. Each bridge could support a hundred armored cul...

Announcement!

Hey everyone,

A quick note: Archmage Among Immortals is now live on Royal Road!

I'd greatly appreciate it if you would take a second to follow, rate, or simply go visit me (click the page) at RR as well. Reviews would be awesome since you all got early access to this story. And the more attention my work receive...

Chapter 27: Falling Leaf Village

The journey to Falling Leaf Village took five days.

Arthur had initially estimated four days based on Tao's description of the distance, but Merchant Hua's slower pace stretched the travel time. The merchant carried significantly more weight than either Arthur or Tao. His pack contained trade goods, samples, account led...

Chapter 26: Goodbye

"Actually," Arthur said. "There is one additional thing you could provide. If it's not too much trouble."

Yuan Feng's expression brightened immediately. "Of course, Senior. Name it."

"Cultivation manuals.”

Yuan Feng's expression became complicated. Not hostile. Just uncertain. He was clearly thinking throu...

Chapter 25: You Can Talk?!

Arthur found himself smiling back. The gesture felt natural. Easy. He had not smiled genuinely at another person in years. The Symphonic Spire had not encouraged such displays. Emotional connections were inefficient. Distracting. But looking at Tao's tear-streaked, beaming face, Arthur could not find it in himself to care abo...

Chapter 24: The Boy's Goodbye

"Your offers are generous,” Arthur spoke carefully, keeping his tone respectful. “Both sects clearly provide valuable resources for cultivation development. I appreciate the time you have taken to present these opportunities."

He paused, letting that acknowledgment settle. Then continued.

"However, I must decl...

Chapter 23: Guest Elder Status: A Trap?

Arthur stood in his room and looked at the woman who had just materialized from the shadows. His mind was already working through threat assessments, escape routes, and the uncomfortable reality that he had two Nascent Soul cultivators in a space roughly fifteen feet by twelve feet.

The woman smiled. The expression was ...

Chapter 22: An Offer?

A/N

Chapter 21 came out a few mins ago in case you missed it!

Arthur’s Dissonance climbed from 98 to approximately 104 points. Minimal cost. He shaped the technique carefully, creating a precise disruption rather than a destructive blast. This was surgical work, not combat appli...

Chapter 21: Nascent Soul Elder

Arthur kept his face carefully blank. The young man in his chair had just stated that Arthur was not a Nascent Soul cultivator. The assessment was correct. Arthur was an Archmage operating in a world with completely different power structures. But the observation also meant this person could read energy signatures with far mo...

Chapter 20: Aftermath

Author Note

Sorry for the delay, had some real life stuff I needed to sort out, we're back!

Arthur made it back to the Jade Phoenix Inn through sheer stubbornness. His legs wanted to stop working. His vision kept blurring at the edges. His Cadence was still screaming warnings abou...

Chapter 19: Archmage VS Ancestor Shaman

As the massive face opened its mouth for what looked like some overpowered life-ending technique, Arthur reached for Prismatic Harmonic. Standard Synchronization. His Cadence aligned with the perception-and-illusion frequency. But Arthur was not using Prismatic to create false images or alter appearance. He was using it for i...

Chapter 18: Angry Archmage

Arthur's Dissonance was at approximately 450 points. He had 150 points of capacity remaining before he hit his damaged threshold. That was enough for one serious fight if he managed it carefully.

The shaman was already beginning another chant, staff raised, preparing to follow up the attack that had hurt Tao. The figure...

Chapter 17: The Child Soldier

The boy appeared around a corner, his small hands were wrapped in cloth that was already stained with blood, and his gray robes were torn and dirty. His face was calm despite the obvious signs of recent combat.

Tao saw Arthur and immediately moved to stand beside him. The boy's posture suggested he intended to help with...

Chapter 16: Humans VS Beastfolk

The beastfolk moved in organized ranks. Wolf-warriors in front, shields raised, spears ready. Tiger and bear warriors behind them, carrying heavier weapons. The shamans remained at the rear, beginning their chants and drums again, maintaining the enhancement effects on the advancing army.

Commander Zhao shouted orders. ...

Chapter 15: Cadence Flush

Arthur finally made his decision.

He would not hunt beastfolk warriors through the forest. Would not seek out their shamans for combat. Would not insert himself into a war he did not understand for people he had just met.

But he would not watch civilians die either. Would not stand by while children were killed be...

Chapter 14: Moral Dilemma

Arthur stopped walking. His body went still as he extended his Attunement further, trying to get more precise information. Yuan Feng noticed immediately and stopped as well, turning to look at Arthur with a questioning expression.

The auras were getting closer. Arthur could distinguish different power levels now. Most w...

Chapter 13: Different World, Different Species

Yuan Feng slowly dropped his hands and tried to think.

Communication could take place without language. He had done it before with merchants from very distant places whose dialects were so heavy that they could be considered a separate language altogether.

He needed gestures, body language, lots of patience, and p...

Chapter 12: The Foreign Cultivator

Lord Yuan Feng descended from his office, heading down to the ground floor.

The administration building was largely empty at this hour with only a handful of clerical personnel completing mundane tasks. Yuan Feng gave each a slight nod as he passed by but didn’t stop to chat; he had somewhere to be.

Yuan Feng’...

Chapter 11: City Lord

City Lord Yuan Feng sat behind his desk and tried to focus on the grain requisition report in front of him. The numbers were not making sense. The harvest projections for the southern district showed a fifteen percent increase from last year, but the storage allocation requests were up by thirty percent. Either someone was in...

Chapter 10: The Boy Who Watched

Arthur remembered hearing several references to cultivation realms.

Qi Condensation was the first big step. Following that was Foundation Establishment, the second major realm. After that, Arthur had not heard anything specific, but the format suggested a tiered progression system. So, Arthur assumed there were probably...

Chapter 9: The Inn

The Jade Phoenix Inn, located in a prominent corner of the city, was a three-story structure made entirely of dark-colored wood with green tile roofing. In its architectural design and layout, the inn resembled the buildings depicted in historical illustrations Arthur had seen regarding the Eastern Kingdoms. However, the illu...

Chapter 8: The Locals

The sun was low now, approximately an hour from sunset. The shadows cast by the trees across the road stretched longer than they had earlier in the day. Arthur's Dissonance had dropped down to 350 points as they continued walking; slow but steady improvement. Another hour, or less, and Arthur would likely be back in the safe ...

Chapter 7: Translation Spells

Arthur followed the merchant and the boy, keeping enough distance so that he could observe the pair without appearing menacing.

Although his Dissonance was still significantly higher than it should be, not dangerous anymore, it was still too high to allow him to engage in major Resonance techniques. Currently his Disson...

Chapter 6: Tao Part II

Merchant Hua was babbling on about something. Words tumbled from the fat man's lips faster than the rain poured from the sky. “Thank you, thank you, honored immortal, this lowly merchant offers his utmost…”

The man was kneeling, panting, blood from his torn robes soaking into the dirt. His face was pale, exhausted...

Chapter 5: Tao Part I

Merchant Hua had talked for nearly an hour, and Tao didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t care about the price of silk in the capital; he didn’t care about the fat man’s daughter’s wedding, which was supposed to take place next month; he didn’t care about any of it.

Tao stared at the trees on either side of the ...

Chapter 4: The First Kill

Arthur allowed himself to connect more fully to Ember and Zephyr at the same time.

Dual Weave.

The two Harmonics were not naturally opposing, which made it easier to combine them, but using them simultaneously would increase the Dissonance cost greatly.

Arthur began by Deep Synchronizing with Ember. His cons...

Chapter 3: The Immortal Boy

Arthur's hand had already begun to move to his belt before his conscious mind had even processed the decision.

The academically-trained part of Arthur's brain was already arguing that the unknown threat level was high, that he was in an unfamiliar environment, that he was operating under diminished Cadence capacity.