There were more notifications.
I wasn’t itching to check them.
It was hard to celebrate when Hellion was seriously broken.
I shut off all of my powers and examined my half ripper arm. I could still move it like a regular arm, but there was a lack of a spark to the crimson and edgy thing. Like the spirit in...
2025-05-17 02:53:22 +0000 UTC
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“Don’t eat all of it, Sabretooth!” I shouted as I dimmed Hellion’s power without the half ripper going inactive just yet. “I need to check his body!”
To my relief, Sabretooth listened and stopped consuming the flesh of the elf corpse.
Without Vitality, it would’ve been easy for her to consume t...
2025-05-16 23:42:52 +0000 UTC
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A blast of lightning and thunder escaped my body as my blood ran even hotter and my heart beat harder. If you took me out of those four participants, there were enough for one or all three to be part of Magnus’s party.
Sabretooth let out a loud and hearty roar, picking up the pace with a sudden lunge forward. Her claw...
2025-05-16 23:41:13 +0000 UTC
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My battle with Elric Auraguard became one of attrition while learning each other’s patterns, which mostly involved him learning me. The situation flipped when he predicted my maneuvers and applied blocks that were on beat with the violent song I was following.
That forced me out of Barbaric Musician Grace and slowed m...
2025-04-25 19:20:15 +0000 UTC
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I made it rain all the remaining oil canisters from my storage ring, which forced Elric and Taver to hesitate. The anger and hate I saw through their open visors should’ve bothered me. Instead, it motivated me to keep going.
In for a copper, in for a gold.
“I’m going to crap down your neck when we take your ...
2025-04-25 19:19:28 +0000 UTC
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I teleported into an adjacent room close to the wreckage area that held the imperial Portal. From here, I wouldn’t know what they were doing or who they were.
I didn’t want to spy on them directly and risked them seeing me in return through the viewing window. I had no idea if it was two-way or not, and I’d forgot...
2025-04-25 19:18:35 +0000 UTC
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By the fifth hour, the stress of the unknown got to me.
I made a compromise that I didn’t think I would. Even though I knew I had to use everything that was available to me to survive, it hurt me to do this one thing that felt wrong.
“Thank you for sacrificing your Vitality to me,” I said to the demon, as I ...
2025-04-25 19:17:18 +0000 UTC
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The javelin went awry after taking a magnetic push from behind. Instead of flying straight and true as I’d imagined, it flipped end-over-end and smacked the Mole Lord broadly in the face.
The Portal Boss let out an undignified shout and swiped at its snout, which had come out a little crooked in the exchange, but not ...
2025-04-25 19:16:33 +0000 UTC
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A lone mole worker sniffed and scratched around for something tasty to eat. It was in one of the old tunnels that had been long explored for years.
Still, the lone mole worker returned to this place because it once ate a tasty monkey creature that tried to use a pointy metal thing that was too long for the tunnels. That...
2025-04-25 19:15:30 +0000 UTC
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There was no such thing as an independent adventurer in the Supreme Sovereign Empire. Not among humans, nor the other Ranker folks.
The empire regulated everything from the top down, and the only freedom to be had was in the guilds. Even then, that freedom was placed under strict procedures, so it really wasn’t anythi...
2025-04-25 19:14:25 +0000 UTC
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There it was.
I could see her going all out this time, like a wintery wraith aiming to bury me cold under the ice.
Ruthless. Harsh. Beautiful.
Thankfully, my visor hid my face in an impenetrable shadow. Or she would’ve seen my smile as we clashed like the mighty magic warriors we used to fantasize about wh...
2025-04-18 23:08:52 +0000 UTC
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When Seraphina reached Rank 1, and I was still stuck at Rank 0 three months after hitting 99% Epiphany, the problems cropped up more fiercely. The ones who’d rubbed elbows with me as much as possible started to test me with small remarks.
I used to brush them all off when I should’ve recognized them as signs of the ...
2025-04-18 23:06:26 +0000 UTC
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I woke up with a gasp. Rainbow oil covered the rooftop edge around me, the spot under me remaining dry. Dozens of imps perched to my left and right, some of them squawking in surprise at my sudden awakening.
My hands were empty, the codex gone, and with it the bookish and bland Primordial, Senior Codex.
Looking up...
2025-04-18 23:04:10 +0000 UTC
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By round fifty, I was grasping what made Path Energy trickier to manage than Vitality or Aether, even if Path Energy was stronger overall.
Because Path Energy could do a lot of things, it wasn’t inherently good at anything other than what my Path called for. And even with that, I was certain Path Energy was far more i...
2025-04-18 23:02:32 +0000 UTC
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Instincts kicked in, and I lunged to my left while pivoting slightly, my right arm raising to meet the Primordial’s training sword. The maneuver should force the bookish senior’s attack to glance off my half ripper arm while I was positioned to disarm him of his weapon.
His training sword touched my artificial forea...
2025-04-18 22:59:40 +0000 UTC
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I felt my pounding heart in my throat, my blood rushing fast throughout my body, my muscles tensed for action. Path Energy crackled violently over my armored form, my left hand reaching behind me to grab the handle of my greatsword.
I reached out with Hellion in front of me to serve as a temporary threat. The edgy tips ...
2025-04-18 22:57:21 +0000 UTC
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Back in the Steel Blitz Adventurer Guild, adventurers of all sorts filled the chow hall during its busiest hours. Kel, a Rank 1 bronze adventurer, was occupying a table by himself while waiting for his party mates. One of them arrived without a tray.
“The cripple hasn’t come back from that bronze quest in the sewers...
2025-04-18 22:55:56 +0000 UTC
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The System was both cruel and gracious. How was I supposed to pick anything?
Growling a little, I rubbed my left hand over my face. I looked beyond the list of options I could scroll through in front of me. The golden light and the transformation of an entire Realm persisted in the background.
Seeing all that calm...
2025-04-11 18:39:23 +0000 UTC
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“Am I not going to get the kill?” I asked with a wheeze once one side of my lungs had rebuilt themselves into working order.
The hulking and headless body of the Fallen Slayer tilted from one side to the other. A fountain of dark blood sprayed upward from its shorn neck, with the head lost in the acid flooding the f...
2025-04-11 18:20:49 +0000 UTC
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I made my choice while walking out of my rest spot and straight into some bad weather, which was relative in this hellish Realm.
[Congrats! You’ve chosen Apex Fervor: Level 11 (Uncommon)!]
As the heavy rumbling and unwavering destruction grew louder and closer, an acid deluge fell from ...
2025-04-11 17:53:59 +0000 UTC
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“That was insane. Why did I do that?” I found a place inside one of the towering structures to get out of the acid drizzle.
With the autosaw and my surprisingly intact adventurer pack in front of me, I took a seat on some rubble to relax a little and contemplate some things.
“Why did I throw myself off a gia...
2025-04-11 17:20:26 +0000 UTC
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Path Magic activated: Relentless Surge.
Path Energy: 84% to 44%.
The sudden drop in Path Energy didn’t take away from the sudden burst of power that went off inside of me like a bomb. Everything about my body became faster, stronger, tougher, greater.
The tension was so much I didn’t think twice when I s...
2025-04-11 17:02:07 +0000 UTC
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6: Go Wild
To be honest, I only had one hard choice.
Every power was interesting, and I could fantasize about ways to use them – especially Bullish Knock Up, Stampeding Run, and Giant Slam. I could string all three into a devastating combo if I could get them all. Even Hunter’s Mark would be useful against tou...
2025-04-11 14:04:56 +0000 UTC
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Epiphanies were more mystical than the System made it seem sometimes.
Everyone’s Epiphany, especially at Rank 0, would rise at different paces, for different reasons, and for different events. However, everyone could agree that getting from 0% to 99% required some form of hard work at something, even if the rate of gr...
2025-04-04 22:24:26 +0000 UTC
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I remembered the days after I lost my hand from a bronze quest two years ago and still went to the guild, not missing a day off. I remembered how the same people who I started with as tin adventurers were looking at me with less worry and with more frustration, embarrassment, shame, and even disgust.
I remembered how th...
2025-04-04 21:16:26 +0000 UTC
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Four years ago, I was a Rank 0 copper adventurer with the honor to teach a class that would normally have a bronze instructor teaching. I ensured my stance was cool and confident, my smile open and encouraging. The fresh batch of tin adventurers were mine to mold in the same sunny classroom where I once studied and learned as...
2025-04-04 17:20:00 +0000 UTC
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Six years ago, when I still had a right hand, I was raising it eagerly to answer the question of a male bronze instructor. We were in a clean and sunny classroom setting, and the question was this: What’s the difference between Ranker folks and Ranker monsters?
Once chosen, I stood from my desk and spoke abou...
2025-04-04 14:59:06 +0000 UTC
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When I woke up, the hour was darkest before dawn, and I was due for my daily training. The only thing that slowed me was a small tightness in my chest that I’d never felt before.
Other issues cropped up as I stirred. The muscles in my torso, neck, and arms throbbed. Every motion felt stiff and slow as I swung my fraye...
2025-04-04 12:33:06 +0000 UTC
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This is the new project:
A LitRPG Action Fantasy
They laughed when he got stuck at Rank 0. Then he discovered the hidden path monsters and rankers fear most.
Arden gave everything he had to rise as a guild adventurer, pushing his warrior training and artificer talent...
2025-04-04 12:25:26 +0000 UTC
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Hey, everyone, I'm back from break!
And what a break it was. I really needed it during a time I was moving into a new apartment and getting a lot of stuff in order.
Also, during that time, I let my plot bunnies start something new, and it took a life of it's own. It's different from my usual work, but I figured it...
2025-04-04 12:17:58 +0000 UTC
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