Kelsey re-entered the spiritual realm and immediately began looking for Max’s Flame.
She had to retreat to the safety of Venja’s Barrier for the tenth time already.
The last interaction she’d had with Max was hours ago now and she wasn’t able to detect his Flame since. They’d been interrupted by the sudden appearance of I’xol’ukz as well some pesky demons in the ‘rea...
2024-05-11 21:49:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Kelsey waded through the sea of demons, cutting them down with swift chops of her axe.
Her Flame was a Frenzy-brewing furnace, triggered by the root of her Dao. Demon after demon she killed, each one adding to her [Bloodlust]. It wasn’t her objective to merely wait out the demon horde as she normally did when she cultivated.
Tonight, she was trying to thin it complete...
2024-05-10 05:03:52 +0000 UTC View PostKelsey sat on the edge of the barrier, watching and waiting.
The sun was still hanging low in the sky, a few hours yet until night fall.
She reread Max’s letter and mentally went through the gymnastics of calculating the exact date and time on Earth. She didn’t know how the day and night cycles of Earth and the planet Max was on lined up, but hopefully there would be some overla...
2024-05-06 04:25:51 +0000 UTC View Post
I centered myself as I stood within the middle of the training grounds.
It was close to noon now and I’d been training since dawn.
High above me, three targets were placed atop the pillars in the courtyard.
I cycled my Frenzy and with a burst of speed, leapt into the air with [Lightning Walk]. My foot pushed off the air with a sharp snap of thunder, propelling m...
2024-05-02 01:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Yo Max,
How are you, bro? I hope you’re doing better than us because things have pretty much gone to shit back here since you left.
Those bird sisters have done a total number on us. They broke up the neighborhood with some stupid new law that prevents Non-Terrans from living in the Native Housing District. Fia kind of...
2024-04-28 11:47:53 +0000 UTC View Post
The next day I got up to start training early.
I began with some martial forms and calisthenics in my room before breakfast. I still had a lot on my mind, but the physical exertion worked as a welcome distraction to it all. I was still pondering what I had experienced with that entity within the crystal. What was it even? Some kind of combined spirit? A shattered soul of a pl...
2024-04-24 20:31:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Blue Rose continued to give me the cold shoulder in the mess hall, but I couldn’t care. I had a major experiment to conduct and I needed a clear head to be prepared. After dinner, I headed down to the barrier to meet up with Chief Yora and Master Eiji.
In my head I went over all the things I wanted to accomplish.
I needed to first see the limit it would take for me to...
2024-04-21 10:14:10 +0000 UTC View Post
The morning assembly was packed full of all ranks and robes.
It was time for another two-week rotation—newborn brown robes joining us after surviving their gauntlet across the desert while a platoon of Legionnaires returned from the Hell Worlds and another took their place.
As I rushed to take my spot within the ranks of the Black Robes, I spotted Blue Rose and...
2024-04-18 15:46:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Princess Lunalah squinted at the report on her Qi tablet.
Demonic activity had increased significantly over the last two months in Jurin province. Or so the heading of the report said at least. Lunalah scrolled through several pages of text she had inclination nor intention of reading.
“Summarize this report,” Lunalah said shifting her eyes to Ling Wei who was seate...
2024-04-15 03:05:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you really think it was him?”
Kelsey sat within the darkness of her own mind as Venja asked her the question.
She still wasn’t sure herself.
But she couldn’t deny what she’d sensed.
Or what she’d heard.
“It sounded just like Max,” she said. “Felt like Max.”
The towering woman shrugged her shoulders. “You seem as con...
2024-04-11 20:09:37 +0000 UTC View Post
A friend found this floating around and sent it to me lol
2024-04-07 18:29:27 +0000 UTC View PostMy mind raced as I stood under interrogation by the most powerful cultivator I’d ever seen. I could kick myself for even getting caught, to be honest, but that was the price I had to pay for needing to find Kelsey in the spiritual realm, I supposed.
I still wasn’t sure what had happened, or if she was even alright.
Her Flame seemed to get stronger o9nce second, but then it simpl...
2024-04-07 11:39:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Kelsey cycled her Frenzy as she waited patiently in the darkness of her own mind.
Across from her, Venja crouched to bring herself to eye level.
“Anything yet?” Kelsey asked.
“The moon has only just risen an hour ago,” Venja said. “Have patience, Kelsey. It will show.”
All day Kelsey had been preparing for this.
She’s practiced her axe fo...
2024-03-31 00:17:31 +0000 UTC View Post
It didn’t take long to figure out that what had happened had been anything but normal.
As soon as we got back to the prison, Yora split us into groups based on our reactions to the horde. More than half of us were lumped together into what she dubbed the unaffected; people who had listened and had turned away from the horde immediately, resulting in no negative reaction at ...
2024-03-24 12:36:34 +0000 UTC View Post
I stumbled down the stairs half-dressed and half-drunk out of my mind.
I wondered if maybe there was little more than just alcohol in that hooch to have me still under its effects hours later. I cycled my Frenzy to purify my system, slowly ridding myself of the toxins.
I bumped into Blue Rose and Tu’lok on the way down.
They returned my half-drunk stare with ble...
2024-03-21 02:43:01 +0000 UTC View PostTu’lok was the first to greet me when the crowd disbursed.
The grey skinned giant patted me heartily on the back with a toothy grin. “You’ve impressed the hell out of all of us Phalanx hopefuls. Where did you learn to wield a Glaive like that?”
I smiled at the compliment. “An old dude named Iron Pot Wong. A semi-celebrity where I’m from. He was a simple soldier, though a...
2024-03-18 00:03:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe post Bloodmoon, pre-dawn sky was streaked with orange and red as I approached the courtyard with axe and glaive in hand. Sounds of the gathering crowd could be heard already, echoing off the stone walls of Du Grok Bhong as the air filled with excitement.
Chief Yora had come through with nearly everything I had asked for.
One match.
But with a full audience.
I’d see...
2024-03-13 21:53:11 +0000 UTC View PostMe, myself and I sat around the spiritual campfire that was my Frenzied Flame.
I was inside my own head, on the virtual lakeside beach made from my own imagination.
The Struggler was on one side of the campfire, the Demon on the other.
I’d long since quit on trying to combine the two and instead focused on the various texts I had consumed from the library, still seeking the ...
2024-03-06 22:41:43 +0000 UTC View PostKelsey grimaced as the three cultivators encircled her, wielding spears and Jianblades.
She’d already felt the bite from two of them.
Her robes were riddled with slashes, but the attacks hadn’t been strong enough to do much against her Frenzy hardened skin.
Still, it pissed her off that they’d even managed to hit her at all.
It was a grim reminder that for...
2024-03-03 22:55:55 +0000 UTC View PostHot desert wind pressed against my face as I fell towards the beast.
I engaged [Steel Skin] and [Steel Core] while summoning [Mark of the Giant], my muscles swelling as I double handed my Phalanx Glaive to deliver a lightning-charged cleave to the monster’s snout.
The Jolup was still focused on the screaming Tributes behind me, its vision perhaps unable to see the man-sized figure...
2024-02-29 00:50:13 +0000 UTC View PostMy Dearest Tribute,
First, well done for making the correct decision in rejecting my false offer of ease through the Academy. It was a test…and one that you have passed. It was always my intent to send the strongest and bravest of what our fair planet has to offer, and you, my dear Tribute, have once again proven your worth to me.
Rest assured, however, that ...
2024-02-25 21:58:32 +0000 UTC View PostKelsey gave Lee the longest and sweetest kiss the morning she headed off into the wild. It was still dark out, just before sunrise when she had left, but now over seven hours later, the sun was bearing down on her with the heat of the afternoon.
Sweat drenched clothes chaffed her skin under the strain of the enormous pack on her back. How Max managed to carry a wagon load of goods each ti...
2024-02-22 02:51:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Blue Rose wore a stupid smile on her face the entire time Tu’lok led us from the courtyard to the library and alchemy lab just outside the main prison. She obviously enjoyed my self-deprecation, especially in front of a prick of a young master like Jei Su Long seemed to be.
“Hey, Tu’lok,” I said. “What’s the deal with our commander, do you know him?”
“Mo...
2024-02-18 13:49:00 +0000 UTC View PostI sat in the darkness with my two best friends.
Blue Struggler me and my alter ego, Mr. Demon.
Neither of them were receptive to my attempts at mediation to combine their souls.
Within the spiritual confines of my own mind, I tried everything within my mental powers to merge the two halves of my spirit, but to no avail. I was missing something clearly. Knowledge perhaps. I tra...
2024-02-15 02:52:31 +0000 UTC View PostMaster Hei Dong released a tired sigh as he watched Gui Zu embrace Yu Li at the entrance to the courtyard. In all his years never would he have imagined for such a thing to take place in his very home.
Yet here they were at sundown, Gui Zu a former outer disciple and Yu Li a simple, native Terran girl residing within his estate within the imperial city.
They meant next to nothing to...
2024-02-12 01:15:18 +0000 UTC View PostPart of me wanted to do absolutely nothing.
Screw that bitch and her karma.
And screw Ho Chin as well.
They could both die out here for all I cared.
Or so the demon was telling me.
The Struggler, however, knew there would be days like this. Days w...
2024-02-08 02:13:04 +0000 UTC View Post
I dumped my last wheelbarrow full of pig shit into the field while the bastard Ho Chin looked on with a laugh. He’d been designated as supervisor for the day, but he’d spent most of it doing nothing but hurl insults at Blue Rose and I as we did all the work.
“This would go a lot faster if you helped, asshole!” I shouted at him as Blue Rose dumped her own wheelbarrow f...
2024-02-05 01:42:11 +0000 UTC View PostDear Fia,
Hi! It’s me! Max! I’m writing to you now! I tried to write to you before but I was really tired and ended up just passing out. So I’m trying again. I know it’s been a few weeks but I’ve been really busy. There have been many curve balls thrown my way.
The first one came when I ended up killing some pervert dude on the way here. They busted m...
2024-02-01 07:56:11 +0000 UTC View PostI awoke to a horrific scream.
Shooting upright in my cot, I immediately reached for my axe. I stopped short when I realized the scream had come from Chu Ren who was now kneeling beside Su Ren’s cot along with Lo Ren. When I rose to see what was going on, I immediately froze once I stood over them.
Su Ren was deathly pale and unmoving.
Chu Ren looked up at me with tears in hi...
2024-01-29 01:44:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe familiar howls of demons and monsters filled the night as the Bloodmoon finally emerged. It looked bigger than our moon on Earth, at least twice the size and I wondered if the Dark Frenzy it produced would be just as magnified.
I looked to Su Ren and her boys.
They had been crying non-stop for the last few minutes, but now they knelt together, offering prayers in silence. I gave...
2024-01-25 03:25:54 +0000 UTC View Post