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Chapter 100 - Underhanded Opportunities
Xalvoloth experienced waves of pleasure as he watched the twenty Ritualists, with the assistance of Demon Lord Sag’thoz, activate the summoning ritual. Xalvoloth’s own blood was used to trace the link, seeking the mortal in the Material Realm. The wait was interminable but finally, after hours of waiting, the Flames of Greed activated. The target had been found and the connection established.Everything was going perfectly and soon the mortal ...
Chapter 99 - Something Final
Nate stared as Aisling guided everyone except for Kiri out of his room. Luc had started muttering about smuggling operations after declaring that they were going to be rich. Nate had every intention of seeing what his mentor had in mind in terms of making gold and mana off of his Skills. But that was going to be a talk for after the competition. There was still one match left to fight and in its own way, it was more difficult than his fight versu...
Chapter 98 - Victors and Spoils
A/N: There have been a lot more cliffs lately than intended. It was caused by me forgetting to add an entire scene and when I went back and inserted it it shifted every chapter forward by around 1000 words. So here is a double chapter so you don't all spend the weekend waiting to find out what happened. Enjoy.“It has been a good match, but now it’s over,” Nate called across to Null as the arena continued to rumble, the barrier around th...
Chapter 97 - Any Vector
Nate stared, mouth agape, as Kiri burst into flames. The heat she was giving off could be felt even from where he stood next to Null. If his own visage was one of shock, then Null’s was one of excitement as Kiri launched herself like a fireball across the arena. Her speed may not have rivalled that of Flash’s, but the fact that she didn’t seem to be slowing down at all as she launched herself into Coralie’s Frozen Domain was something no ...
Chapter 96 - So Derivative
Nate stood around with Null and Coralie, waiting for Kiri to return. The top four were being granted a short reprieve as the losers bracket was being fought out. Britt, Flash, Ameera and Karim battled it out to determine the fifth through eighth positions. He knew he should pay attention but he was more focused on Null who approached him to join him at the arena barrier. Luc took that moment to pat him on the shoulder and wish him luck with a win...
Chapter 95 - Sixty Forty
Nate watched as Brittany strode towards him, shaking the ground of the arena with each footfall from her mana constructed armour. As she raised her hammer he braced himself for the impact, prepared to use True Teleportationat a moment's notice if it looked like his barrier was unable to withstand the force of the strike. Watching in morbid fascination, he witnessed the hammer's descent, the mana encasing the weapon shimmering both in his ...
Chapter 94 - Blood and Armour
Kiri danced over the sand, circling Myles ‘Flash’ Lebas. Their daggers clashed in flashes of steel, every slash made by her opponent cutting off angles of attack as he left floating nigh invisible echoes of his movements. She wasn’t going all out. Not yet. She’d learned her lesson from their initial exchange that even with their tier difference, he wasn’t to be underestimated. The cut on her arm had finally healed but the loss of soul e...
Chapter 93 - Top Eight
Nate sat at the table, trying to process what he was hearing.“What do you mean they got away?” he asked.“They had an exit strategy planned. For all we know we missed them by seconds,” replied Luc, waving something that could’ve been a chicken drumstick in his direction. “I think they might’ve even been beyond the gates before Frick told us what you’d seen.”“I thought you had a detection skill though?” He said, pressuring his...
Chapter 92 - Fated Doubt
Nate stood on the sidelines of the arena, leaning his forehead against the barrier covering it as he watched Kiri’s top-sixteen match. If she won this match she would be sponsored by the Guild to attend the Royal University. Everything else after that was just a little extra topping on your dessert. It made it better, but it wasn’t truly necessary.Kiri’s opponent was actually giving her a small amount of challenge this time. He hadn’t exp...
Chapter 91 - Deep Freeze
Now that Kiri’s match was over, Nate took a moment to look over the advancements he’d made from his battle with Gregory.Amplified Magic 17 > 19Empowered Runic Artistry 27 > 28Runic Creation 30 > 31Imbue Intent 31 > 32Awareness of the Runic Artist 29 > 30They weren’t huge, but he was inching forward with many of his Skills. Amplified Magicwas approaching its first evolution and he was looking forward to that. But those were thoughts for late...
Chapter 90 - Just Getting Started
With his Gravity Control rune swirling in front of him, Nate watched Gregory leap about, empowered by Archer’s Step. It wasn’t lost on him that to an extent, this rune was overkill. If he was willing to use True Teleportation he could simply steal the archers bow. The battle would be over shortly after that as Nate would be free to attack while all Gregory would be able to do is dodge and defend. Assuming the archer didn’t have a spatial st...
Chapter 89 - Runic Preparation
A/N: The previous chapter (88) was edited. The interaction between Helena and Nate was changed so that Nate didn't check her Class yet, just noting it was veiled and he didn't trust it. Any comments throw them below. On to the story!Nate didn’t really listen as Prefect Raoult prattled on, espousing the virtues of the top thirty-two and how they were the best of the Silver Badges in Etrua. He was sure that wasn’t entirely true. Some Si...
Chapter 88 - Hidden Agendas
A/N: This post was edited after posting. See next chapter if you care about what was changed.On to the story:Nate stared out of the window of his suite as he looked over his gains for the last few days.Amplified Magic 13 > 17Empowered Runic Artistry 26 > 27Runic Creation 28 > 30Imbue Intent 30 > 31Conceptual Material 28 > 29Awareness of the Runic Artist 28 > 29Runic Knowledge - Concepts 26 > 28Using his mana constantly with his Skills, especiall...
Chapter 87 - Victories Won
Nate adjusted his barrier to enclose him as the two-handed sword swung in from his right, sending him flying about five metres to the side.. His opponent had impressive movement Skills. So impressive that he suspected one of them might even have evolved to Epic. He was convinced that it was a movement skill and not just a boosting Skill based on how he could sense how little pressure she put on the ground with every step as she followed him acros...
Chapter 86 - A Problem to Nullify
Nate leaned back in the chair in his suite. It was a comfortable chair, the kind made for relaxing in after a long day. That was exactly the kind of day he’d had. A long one, if not a particularly difficult one. He’d been called up to fight two more times and both fights had been as simple as his first one. The simple fact was, his skills were more powerful and he likely had more stats than most of these Silvers with their first evolution Rar...
Chapter 85 - Magekiller
Nate immediately started erecting his barrier the moment the referee shouted ‘begin’. His opponent, Cezar, wasted no time, rushing towards him. He’d expected as much. As a swordsman fighting a mage, unless he had some sort of ranged attack he needed to close the distance. Of course, he knew he could just teleport around the arena, always keeping Cezar at the maximum distance, but that would mean revealing his teleportation skill. From a tac...
Chapter 84 - Painted Memories
Nate woke up with a pained groan. His head was killing him. Rolling over he found that he was not alone in his bed. Whoever she was, she was facedown in one of his pillows, loudly snoring, framed by her curly red hair. Looking around his suite blearily he spotted his easel nearby, a canvas sitting on it with a few lines indicating the start of a sketch.“Frick?” he called mentally, wincing as he did so.“Yes, Boss?” said his Familiar, float...
Chapter 83 - Silver Lining
Nate walked down the stairs of his inn alone. After breakfast he’d ducked over to the Guildhouse and purchased a plain metal bracer. The piece was Common tier for now, but not for long. He’d debated seeing what he could do with the Stat Sigils he’d learned, but as he wasn’t sure how well they’d perform, he’d opted to develop something he was far more intimately familiar with. Barrier runes. This Barrier rune had been designed with the...
Chapter 82 - Hope Springs
Nate looked at the pile of books on the table before him, the light through the windows already fading as the sun had begun to set. Finally, after months of wondering, he had some answers. For so long, he’d wondered why he had found so few sigils on enchanted items. The items clearly worked, but he couldn’t find all the sigils that should make them work. His own robe was a great example. It clearly should have had a number of sigils on it for...
Chapter 81 - Time for a Talk
Nate froze like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Evindal watched him placidly, the elf’s amber eyes seemingly unconcerned as he waited for Nate to respond. Nate on the other hand was anything but placid. What did Evindal want with him? Was the Platinum ranked Adventurer going to annihilate him for painting his wife naked? Or perhaps the elf just planned to remove him to release his wife from the contract that hung over her head. Tw...
Chapter 80 - Talks & Wagers
Nate leaned forward as he watched the two teams finish up their training session. It hadn’t been as informative as he’d hoped. Rather than showing off any of their Skills, beyond their ability to wield their chosen weapons, and what he could tell was some sort of ice manipulation skill by Coralie, they’d stuck to what he thought was formation training. None of the skills shown were new to Nate or Kiri, as he’d already seen their classes. ...
Chapter 79 - The Competition
Nate listened in as Aisling began detailing what she needed from the Guild Assistant.“I need you to let the Prefects know I have returned and I need to register these two for Etrua Adventurers Guild Royal University Entry Tournament,” Aisling said as she leaned on the counter.“Excellent Stormspear. I’ll inform the Prefects as soon as we’ve handled the entrants. We’re just calling it the University Entry Tournament by the way. Now,” ...
Chapter 78 - The Divide
A/N: After much consideration I have had to go back and alter the number of Tournament participants who will be admitted to the University down from 10 to 8 so that we can have things like semi-finals (and the associated rewards). I've gone through and edited this in all the chapters (including the end of Book 1) but am yet to update the existing chapters as there are a few other edits coming through.Onto the chapter!!Nate sat astride his mou...
Chapter 77 - Everything has a Price
Kiri held onto her Alliram mounts saddle with her hand. Her only hand. The thought sent a wave of despair and anger through her body. The despair was the weaker of the two emotions she was feeling. She’d thought she would handle such an injury better but even knowing her arm wasn’t lost to her for long didn’t change how she was feeling. The anger on the other hand, burned hot and was entirely directed at herself. She’d grown cocky, still ...
Chapter 76 - Needing a Hand
Nate lay still on the floor looking over the notifications.A challenge has been defeated. You have proven you deserve a second chance.You have defeated a System Challenge.You have defeated a demon.Your achievements have been recorded.Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.Groaning, he rolled over and flicked the notifications away. Now that he could actually move, he was starting to get a picture of just how much he’d bled. There...
Chapter 75 - Four’s a Crowd
Nate looked around wildly but no matter which way he turned all he saw was darkness. The demon’s attack had carved across his eyes and even now, he could feel the lingering effects as it slowly ate away at what remained of them. It was excruciating and the only thing keeping him sane was Spatial Awareness. He could still feelthe space around him for roughly two and a half metres. The sensory load, as he sensed the tiles beneath his feet, the tr...
Chapter 74 - Three’s a Party
Trudging through the dark tunnels, Nate was thankful that they were no longer constantly being harassed by the bloody kobolds. If they had been, they likely would’ve been on the receiving end of some fresh doses of poison. The poison they’d encountered so far had been delivered directly into their bodies courtesy of the hidden mechanical traps firing bolts enchanted to pierce magical barriers. At least that was what he was assuming the enchan...
Chapter 73 - MiniFort
Nate leaned against the wall of the cave tiredly. He thought it must’ve been at least six days but it could’ve been eleven or twelve for all he knew. Keeping track of time in these ever-dark caves was impossible for him and the lack of sleep hadn’t helped. They’d been on the back foot, constantly performing a fighting retreat for the entirety of that first day in the Dungeon. The whole issue had been made worse by the plethora of mechanic...
Chapter 72 - Down in the Dirt
Nate stared down the hole as Frick continued to excavate it for them using the Powerful Earth rune currently imbued into Nate’s robe. The Familiar was already over twenty metres down and Nate was beginning to get worried that his Spatial Awarenesshad been wrong. Could a Dungeon really be found buried this deep in solid rock? Every other Dungeon they had found had space around it to access it. Even when its placement was inside a tree, it still ...
Chapter 71 - Modelling the Stars
It had been a few uninterrupted weeks on the road as they pushed towards the Plains of Saulon and he was finally enjoying, what he considered, some well deserved relaxation. He leaned back against the hardened dirt wall, closing his eyes and draping his arms over its gentle curve to rest them on the cool grass as he soaked in the warm waters of the bath he’d created. He enjoyed the juxtaposition of it, to be both hot and cold. He’d use his va...
