For all our might, there was no way we could defeat the Demon Moon. That thing was a peak A-Grade, and from the beam it was shooting down at us it looked like it was trying very hard to blow up our entire planet.
We needed help. If I could bring Seraphyne back, maybe she could help, but something like this would be strong even for her. If I had months to prepare, maybe I could work out a ...
2025-09-29 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostI scanned the floating woman and didn't like what I saw.
Pale Moonlight Scholar (Level 575)
Almost as soon as I examined her, the System spat out a quest.
New Quest Available: Slay the Pale Moonlight Scholar and the Demon Moon.
A hostile void corrupted has entered System space in violation of standard operating procedures. Automa...
2025-09-27 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostMyrina and I defeated the Void City Eater after about half an hour of fighting. We ended up taking it down fairly quickly compared to the last few, partially because of how much hacking and slicing Myrina did, and partially because I was getting good at figuring out where these things kept their vitals.
Despite their level and immense size, these things weren't too tough unless you were a...
2025-09-26 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostSlaying the Void City Eater went about the same as before, though without Sharky to help I ended up breathing a lot of fire on its insides until it finally dropped out of the sky. With it slain, a few waves of magical projectiles took out the rest of the monsters on the wall. Toward the end of the battle, I saw Frank and his adventurers coming up the road after clearing out the previous town, a...
2025-09-24 16:02:37 +0000 UTC View PostI reluctantly left Bridget with Mimiko once again, then left to meet up with Frank. He was already prepared to leave, and he had a dozen of his best adventurers alongside him. They were all C-Grades, but high-ranking ones.
I wasn't sure how they'd fare against the C-Grade Sages of Camlaan, but these adventurers were fighters while the Sages were not, so the difference in grade might not b...
2025-09-22 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostI relayed my message to Sakura and her father, Nakano. I would be meeting with them soon.
I used the teleportation array we'd placed near their base earlier to make my way close to them, then raced as fast as I could to their city.
Their walls were impressive and well built. They were probably thicker than the walls of Crownhill, in all honesty. However, they completely lacked any m...
2025-09-20 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostFor a few minutes I warred between staying at Bridget's side and rushing out to help my city. Thankfully, Mimiko caught up with us not long after, so Bridget wouldn't be alone.
"They might need your help," Bridget said.
I nodded. "Mimiko, stay with her. I'm going to kill whatever's making that racket. I'll be back as soon as I can."
I left the clinic and found the sun was grow...
2025-09-19 15:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostSeraphyne pulled my arm back, which Jade responded to by pulling my other arm in her direction. Pretty soon, I was being yanked in both directions.
My mind was filled by a long-suppressed memory of Myrina fighting another girl over a stuffed animal they both wanted to play with when we were young. She'd pulled one way, and the other girl had pulled the other. Pretty soon, that stuffed ani...
2025-09-17 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostAs I feared, a battle was about to erupt on the bridge. I'd hoped to get a few more words out before Seraphyne saw Jade, but I hadn't realized it was possible to use the ship's teleportation system within the ship like that.
I tried to repeat her feat but failed, so I resorted to using Shadowrealm Stride. Even at that speed, I barely arrived in time to avert disaster.
Both of them h...
2025-09-15 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post"Uh... you wouldn't happen to be able to control that one like you do Sharky?" Mimiko asked me hopefully.
She saw the enormous Void Leviathan as clearly as I did.
"That isn't Sharky. We need to get Jade back on board and get out of here. This ship can go to warp. We can outrun the thing, but she can't!"
I rushed toward Jade to take her aboard the ship, but the Void Leviathan w...
2025-09-13 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post"So, let's drop the people off and be on our way. This is a good world. In a thousand years, I expect to find a prosperous society here. I may even drop others off in the same place," the Goddess in Jade said, still gazing down on the planet that had once been a void monster.
"Shouldn't we scout the place for them? A single powerful C-Grade monster near their colony site could wipe them o...
2025-09-12 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe teahouse was completely empty when we left, though the city streets were still crowded.
"We'll fly out. I'll take you on my flying sword," the Goddess in Jade offered.
"Doesn't the city give out fines for flying here or something?"
She smiled. "Not to me."
She pulled out a wide, flat sword with enough room to stand on it like a surfboard. It seemed like a very precarious way ...
2025-09-10 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostWe were quickly led past the crowd and up the stairs. Most of the crowd seemed to suddenly vanish before I could so much as look at them. Those who had spoken up against me were doing their best to dent the floorboards with their foreheads.
"This foolish one shall break both his arms to atone for offending the great master!" shouted one of the people who'd moments ago offered to help the ...
2025-09-08 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostOh hell no.
I slammed the lid shut, and a wave of irritation ran through me. Just when I thought luck was smiling on me and my bloodline had led me to a lucky find, I wound up face to face with whatever this was.
I turned my thoughts inward and tried to figure out where this sudden rush of anger was coming from. I realized I'd already started to think of this ship and everythi...
2025-09-06 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe ship was remarkable on the inside. On a short walk, I discovered a replicator room, though maybe better called a replicator nexus. It resembled the Architect microwave-shaped unit I had installed in my kitchen, but this one was much larger.
I couldn’t be sure without activating it, but I suspected it could manufacture components the size of a horse. I would have bet its main purpose wa...
Nakano returned with Sakura and me to Crownhill. I had hoped to be the one to show him around, since I thought he'd be impressed, but Sakura seemed even more eager. In the end, I just tagged along while she led the tour.
"This is the old office! You remember the place, right? Well, we turned it into a shelter and expanded from there." Sakura waved at the area around the obelisk. The court...
2025-09-03 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post"Hell yeah, go get him, Sharky!" I let out a whoop of joy as the spell I'd been gathering dissipated. There was no need for it now. I'd never seen anyone survive once Sharky had them in his jaws. Maverik the Despoiler had come to the wrong planet.
The army of voidlings Sharky brought was just as valuable as his own arrival. The zombie army had us massively outnumbered, and though Sharky's...
2025-09-01 15:00:22 +0000 UTC View PostI put away my notifications for reaching the peak of B-Grade for the moment. I would check out what the System had in mind for me when this crisis was over. The first thing I did was send a mental command to Sharky to return, followed by a verbal command to Reluna. She was out of range for the System's party interface, but not for good old-fashioned radio signals.
I gathered from Reluna t...
2025-08-30 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostI checked in on Nakano and was glad to see he was all right. He'd torn off a table leg and was wielding it like a club. A few of the other guests were wielding chairs and tables, but most of them were cowering in terror.
Many of the undead attacking were only D-Grade or lower, so it was strange to see C-Grade partygoers cowering in fear of them. But then I remembered how popular experienc...
2025-08-29 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostMy encounter with Walter was alarming. I needed to speak with Nakano about it as soon as I could. I arranged for a meeting the next chance I could and ended up seeing him for brunch.
"It's probably just intimidation. Walter's corporation managed to foresee our food problems ahead of time and buy most of the boats in the harbor, meaning he has a vested interest in keeping the price of food...
2025-08-27 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostI spent several days following the same pattern. First, I worked on the walls. When people showed up, I put them to work hauling debris and shoring up the outer defenses. If they helped, I shared food with them and anyone else in their home.
A few bad apples and nastier groups tried to cause trouble. As I’d noticed back in Crownhill, the apocalypse warped some people’s perspectives. T...
2025-08-25 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostBill helped me a bit longer. He brought up other people a few more times, and I realized pretty quickly what he was hinting at. He wasn't the only person living in the outskirts of the habitable region with an empty belly and nothing else to eat.
"Would it be possible to make one of these golems that can go underwater? There are some big sea creatures in the bay these days. I see the corp...
2025-08-23 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostI cleaned myself up in the shower. Sakura would join me in a bit once she got our living quarters for the next few days organized. I thought things were fine as they were, but after living in a castle with a bunch of women, I had learned no furniture layout was ever good enough.
I walked up and down the halls of the headquarters of Nakano's faction. I didn't like walking out my door and n...
2025-08-22 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostWhile waiting for Nakano to get his faction in order, I built something that had been on my mind for a long time. I’d redesigned it mentally several times during my little vacation to Onibushi, and now that I was back in my workshop, it was finally time to bring the best version to life.
For years, I’d been puzzling over how to build power armor suitable for a spellcaster. Outfitting ...
2025-08-20 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostI waited for Takano to return, this time with Sakura’s father walking behind him. Nakano stood a bit taller than his father, though that might just have been the weight of age.
“Promise kept. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some important people to talk to.” Takano nudged his son’s shoulder and nodded in my direction.
Sakura’s father, Nakano, stood blinking in the middl...
2025-08-18 15:00:30 +0000 UTC View PostTakano’s sitting room had a carefully curated look to it, as though it was meant to appear both elegant and ancient. Several swords and other medieval weapons hung on the wall, each already out of its scabbard and on display. Unfortunately, the effect was lost on me. In the course of making weapons, I’d learned how to spot a good one.
All the swords, maces, and other trinkets on the w...
2025-08-16 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostI knocked so as not to interrupt the father and daughter reunion too suddenly, but I opened the door right after.
“I don’t know how much time we have until the Rokubi Family A-Grade shows up. We should get out of here, Sakura.” I flashed Sakura a warm smile and placed a hand on her arm. It was a gesture that suggested more than a professional relationship. If Sakura’s father were ...
2025-08-15 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostSakura had to be in the primary manor, but unlike the others, the actual wards and defenses would make this one far harder to break into. Many of their wards even extended into the shadowrealm to protect against extradimensional attacks.
I could no doubt bypass them eventually, but that would take hours or days. If Sakura hadn’t been caught yet, she would be by then.
But if there ...
2025-08-13 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostKogai really didn’t want to join us for our little trip, but we were pretty sure our odds of getting through the front doors would go up quite a bit by dragging him along, so we did so.
“Just so you know, I plan to drink the whole time. And you’re paying for it. That’s my price for playing tour guide,” Kogai said.
“Yeah, sure. Help yourself to this stuff. I think it’s ...
2025-08-11 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostI waited to see if anyone else would challenge me after my display of power, but the crowd was silent. A-Grades didn’t grow on trees, but one of them could have been watching the match in the same way I’d been.
When no such hidden powerhouse appeared, I realized I was overthinking things. I stepped off the arena and joined Sakura, who was wolfing down some of Bridget’s healing biscu...
2025-08-09 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post