Nilsimus

Chapter 193: Bloodbath

Leif awaited the inevitable arrival of his enemy in the clearing of swords, sensing the uncomfortable prickling against his aura as it grew closer and closer. A family of birds roosting in a nearby tree panicked as the overbearing scent of blood washed through the forest, only to fall to the ground, dead seconds after taking ...

Chapter 192: Sacrifice 

Chapter Prescript: 

Sorry for the delay. I ended up revising both this chapter and the end of book 2 quite substantially. We're almost at the end, final stretch.

Enjoy!

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There were several ways one might react to having the connection to their family threatened. Shock was ...

Chapter 191: Fractured 

Kurt held the canal grate open as the last of their skulking party ducked through, exiting the city without alerting the authorities. They had lost little time in gathering the few members of Luriem’s seedy underbelly that both met the power threshold, and owed him favours or debts. 

An hour after the ...

Chapter 190: Hunting Party

Norman had been having a bad month. The quadriad and the many preparations that needed to be completed prior to its commencement were a pain, though necessary. While Fracture boasted several powerful members and branches all across the vast territories of Merkys, they were far from the only power. For one of their own to hold...

Chapter 189: Lives

“What's wrong with us?” Maline said with a glint in her eyes. “Oh darling, if you knew how much money was being thrown around you wouldn’t ask that question. Besides, the boy was living on borrowed time, he had a handful of weeks remaining as best before his body gaze out and my toxins finished him off. If anything, i...

Chapter 188: Breakout

Chapter Prescript: 

Sorry for the break. Busy week, all good now. Let the story commence!

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The streets leading up to the western canal were silent, absent of all life except for the occasional scurrying rodent or half-drunk vagrant lying in shadowed alleys. Leif could sense t...

Chapter 187: Knife Fight

The streets emptied the further Lucia fled from the mercantile district. Those that remained on the darkening roads gave her a wide berth or otherwise ignored her completely. She darted into side alleys, backtracking and obfuscating her path as best she could. The longer the shadows grew the more effective [Fade] becam...

Chapter 186: Threat

The air warped as a haymaker from a fist the size of Leif’s torso ripped over his head. The giant, rust-red furred ape screeched as it followed up with its other fist, only for the blow to be deflected as Leif raised two golden forearms to guide the strike aside. The ape, expecting to have connected with the second blow, st...

Chapter 185: Company 

Lucia waited until none of the sell-swords were around the campfire before she stepped into line, an empty bowl in one hand and the other resting against the hilt of her wooden sword. It took a handful of minutes to reach the two men who were cooking and serving the refugees. 

“Ah, you must be the girl...

Chapter 184: Outlaws

The increasingly crimson light of season’s cracked face bathed the old stone fortress in an ominous ambiance, the mostly crumbled fortifications were still blanketed with the evening's rainfall, and the old and abandoned structure shimmered as if soaked in the blood of an ancient battle. An owl watched Leif from the peak of...

Chapter 183: War-Torn

Melton fought down the urge to cough as dust and ash fell from the roof, the scent of smoke like the twisting of a knife into his lungs. One of his eyes was matted shut with blood, and the foot long splinter sticking out of his right shin made walking impossible. The barn he was taking refuge within shook, and the frightened ...

Chapter 182: A Little Joy

Author Note:

I wasn't happy with chapter 181, so I more or less rewrote it. The contents of the chapter aren't too different from what was there before, but the overall quality of the chapter is much higher.

Anyway, enjoy 182!

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“You should pick the eye power. I thin...

Chapter 181: Interlude: House Vin 

The ascent leading up to the palace in Varan city was Flavia’s favourite place in the entire lakeside settlement. It was lined with beautiful arrays of multicoloured flowers, artfully sculpted statues painted in lavash golds and silvers, and the multitude of endlessly flowing fountains added a bubbling ambiance to the walk ...

Chapter 180: Northbound

“Should you have killed him?” Lucia asked, glancing over her shoulder as she and Leif walked between the sandy hills and arid shrublands that lined the western coast. “He might have been lying.”

“He wasn’t. I could tell.” Leif replied, stabbing a driftwood staff into the side of the dune as he s...

Chapter 179: Interlude: The Boy Who Fell From The Sky

Bam trotted through the field of fully grown grain and considered that it was unfair that she wasn’t allowed to eat all of it. It grew so quickly, and nobody would notice if she nibbled on a couple, or several hundred juicy heads. It was truly outrageous, one of life’s great injustices. She walked along the dirt path towa...

Chapter 178: Splinters

Lucia’s world spun, and that was in part because Zane had dropped her onto the lilting deck of the bisected ship he had leapt onto with her slung over his shoulder. All around her were the crashes, screams and emanations of battle, the activation of skills lighting up the night, their endlessly different aspects reflecting ...

Chapter 177: Recall

Hera drew a final arrow, pulled back the string on her bow, then loosed. The projectile made of hard light flashed through the trees. Twisting between trunks as it hunted the figure with smokey wings. She felt it when the arrow landed, then she triggered one of her core skills, vanishing in a flash of white light, and appeari...

Chapter 176: Cover

The crowd parted as Leif delicately used his aura, his presence, to gently direct the milling students around him. His aura washed over those within the portal hub and its connecting hallways and chambers, suppressing those within slightly, nudging them towards calm. His honest disposition, and genuine intention to help where...

Chapter 175: Violence 

Level up! Class [Adept of Self Restoration] is now level 12!

From healing your body from damage sustained in battle, while in battle, and coming out on top you have gained a level!

+1 to [Might] +1 to [Willpower] +1 free point!

Chapter 174: Outbreak

The sudden, instantaneous feeling of having several hostile intentions lance into his awareness almost cost Leif the fight. Him hesitating to retaliate, unsure as to the identity of his assailants almost got him killed. 

Almost. 

As a spear of crackling lightning punched through his...

Chapter 173: Encroaching Mists

Lucia watched the team battle taking place in the arena with keen interest. She didn’t know any of the combatants, but one of the girls from the Pellus team was obviously a [Rogue], the way she moved and fought, darting in for quick, intense strikes with her shortsword, only to rapidly retreat, was indicative of the class.&...

Chapter 172: Unsettled

“Well, child. It seems you have come to me with a most interesting discovery.” Vevosis said, the Spire Head lounging back in his chair, the thin line of his mouth curved into a slight smile. Or was it a sneer?

Johan suddenly found his mouth dry and his heart rate accelerating. It was the effect of being i...

Chapter 171: Blood Ties

“How did you do that?” Nern inquired as the stone door opened completely, the slab rumbling to a stop with a crunch that reverberated through the floor.

“I’m not sure.” Leif said as he walked forward, clothing billowing as the sea breeze buffeted him. With every step the lines carved into the stone,...

Chapter 170: Corpse 

“W-what on earth?” Marcus gasped, picking himself up off the dusty stone floor where Leif had shoved him. A golden shield rippled around him, warding off remnant waves of heat that washed over the room. “That thing almost turned me to ash.”

The jagged remnants of crystal fell from Leif’s fingers as ...

Chapter 169: Better Times

Nikolas stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the balcony railings of the Ahle-ho palace, wondering if he could have done more to prevent the tragedy that had unfolded. Conflict between the guilds wasn’t unheard of, though violence between the prime guilds rarely happened out in the open. The Ahle-ho guilds usu...

Chapter 168: Academy Life

“There’s definitely an internal reservoir of power.” Marcus was saying as they stepped through the portal connecting the island of Dimid to Lutum. He was looking down at a sheet of paper he had rubbed a pattern into from where a large gash in the temple's structure had revealed aged and decayed arcane wiring. “...

Chapter 167: Pile of Rocks

After a handful of late arrivals trickled into the muster point and were loudly scolded by professor Goodwil and summarily shunted into different teams, the excavation expedition departed. One of the faculty who was accompanying them activated a skill that occasionally rippled invisibly across the teams, pulling their attenti...

Chapter 166: Excavation

As Leif exited the greenhouse and entered the living room he spotted Hera lying on a couch, her long blond hair cascading over the back of the expensive furniture as she leaned with her face tilted upwards, a wet cloth covering her eyes. 

“Long night?” He asked, holding the door as Lucia scooted into...

Chapter 165: Sneaking for Dummies

Chapter Prescript: 

There was no chapter on Wednesday? Why?

The answer is that there was a gas leak in my house and I needed to sort it out.

Am I safe and healthy?

Yup, its all good. Enjoy the chapter!

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Two daggers of sharpened wood cut through the air, the...

Chapter 164: Directions

Under the misty veil of the greenhouse Lucia talked, and Leif listened. She told him of her life before the fall of Pherin, what it was like watching her little brother slowly grow up alongside her. Lucia had to stop at several points in her story, and Leif only interrupted to ask guiding questions when she stalled.