“You need… to craft 10 [Epic] grade equipment… and the shadows will all take them?”
Juliet sat in front of Julian, her eyes slightly trembling from everything she had just heard. And while she couldn’t believe what she just heard, Julian seemed to be completely calm, as if the weight of what he had just revealed wasn’t heavy at all—it was. It was very heavy.
2024-10-31 16:49:14 +0000 UTC View Post
[It makes sense, Cyrus has dealt with hundreds of Players. You probably checked all the boxes.]
“Yes. He did say the weapons disappearing every time was what gave it away. Do you think Juliet knows too?”
[There’s a high chance she does, Julian.]
A few hours after Julian’s meeting with SwordJunkieNo.1Fan, he was back in their temporary lodgin...
2024-10-30 16:40:09 +0000 UTC View PostIt was just a feeling.
It wouldn’t be necessarily true.
At the very least, at least it shouldn’t be.
But there was this feeling dancing around Julian that the [Master of Shadows] quest might actually just absorb this weapon. He knew it was improbable, but if there was even a percent chance of it happening, he wouldn’t risk it.
“Sword… Junk...
2024-10-29 12:10:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Hey, don’t worry about Ellie—she’ll be fine with Talia. I… I think.”
“Hm.”
Julian and Cyrus were currently floating in the air. Gently, of course, as floating more than 40km/h is actually illegal in Topside’s residential and commercial areas. Be that as it may, however, Cyrus was completely stunned—no, shocked at how Julian was actually able to follow...
2024-10-27 16:50:34 +0000 UTC View Post“Commission… a sword?”
Julian has been crafting his entire life, tolling away without end inside his forge. His only reward was his own desire, happiness, and obsession. And yet he had never truly ever heard those words being uttered to him before—’commission a sword’— not even once.
He wasn’t sure how to respond. But the small smile creeping onto his f...
2024-10-25 19:32:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Julian…? Julian… Julian!”
“Hm?” Julian woke up as he felt himself being shaken up.
“You fell asleep on the chair?” Ellie’s voice softened now that he was awake. “Why didn’t you sleep in the bed?”
Julian’s head tilted slightly at her question. “We’re… not together anymore.”
“What…” Ellie paused in disbel...
2024-10-24 15:50:32 +0000 UTC View Post[We’re here.]
“Hm.”
Julian snapped out of whatever stupor he was having as MEGAN’s voice whispered in his mind. From the colorful neons of the Sky Net and some parts of The Below, the place where the taxi parked was completely devoid of any of that.
The taxi parked next to the tunnel, it was old—incredibly so. MEGAN told him that it was once used fo...
2024-10-22 12:58:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Hm…”
Julian was once again standing beside a sleeping Ellie, listening to the gentle rhythm of her breaths. He tried not to move, heck, he almost even didn’t breathe himself as he was afraid to disturb the fragile peace she was finally able to embrace in her dreams.
The faint hum of the Sky Net crept through the windows, but here, with Ellie, everythi...
2024-10-22 08:59:04 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re… awake?”
“I… woke up an hour ago. I told MEGAN not to tell you, so don’t blame her,” Ellie’s voice was still a little hoarse, but Julian could hear her moving already. Every faint sound—her footsteps, the rustling of her hospital gown—gave him a strange comfort.
Relief completely washed over Julian’s throat, which almost locked up when h...
2024-10-20 09:00:36 +0000 UTC View Post[You have found the Hidden Quest: The Bridge.]
“My dudes, it still keeps saying that.”
Dyrroth’s voice cut through the silence, casual as ever, but no one paid him much attention. Talia’s eyes swept the chamber, her frustration barely contained as she studied the markings on the wall.
“Stop talking and start hustling....
2024-10-19 12:07:21 +0000 UTC View Post"Let’s just get this over with."
Julian’s words were a whisper, but they still echoed throughout the dark cold chamber—the echoes did not last long, however, as it was soon drowned by the twisting noise of the metal surrounding them.
Julian tightened his shield on his arm, raising it and his short sword at the same time—both, faintly reflecting the Livi...
2024-10-18 17:32:02 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s warm...”
Julian wasn’t expecting the dungeon to be warm, but as soon as he stepped inside the entrance that looked like it had swallowed all of them whole, it felt like a warm breath whiffed over his entire body.
“...And this is burnt,” Julian crouched down, touching the familiar texture of ash—but it wasn’t from the dungeon’s floors whi...
2024-10-17 16:23:26 +0000 UTC View Post"In exchange for our labor, we'll trade the khopesh for several items in your inventory."
“Julian…?” Juliet was taken aback.
"O... Oh?" And she wasn’t the only one, Bran seemed even more confused. His eyes flickered to the glowing [Epic] khopesh they had just made, still radiating with power on the table. His mind raced, realizing how rare and valuable ...
2024-10-16 10:46:52 +0000 UTC View Post
You think you know your place in the world—your role, your path? But what if everything you thought you knew... changes? What if the rules that defined your entire life suddenly don’t apply?
That’s what happened to me. I w...
2024-10-11 16:54:31 +0000 UTC View Post“...It’s gone.”
“Juliet… I…”
“It’s gone, Julian!” Juliet’s voice trembled as she stood by the wrecked stall, her hands gripping the sides of the workbench. “Our sword! Our… our baby! We… we poured our hearts in it and I just… I lost it!”
“Uhm…” Julian stood in front of her, silent for a moment. He knew where the sword went—his quest, the...
2024-10-10 18:30:04 +0000 UTC View Post[We’re near.]
“Okay…” Julian stood outside a café, tapping his cane lightly against the sidewalk. The warm breeze of the evening brushed against his face, but he didn’t care about the weather—everything just felt cold to him.
[We’re here, Julian. I made sure to pick the nearest café from the hospital.] MEGAN’s voice echoed in his mind, steady and calm...
2024-10-09 10:57:54 +0000 UTC View Post“Where… to next?”
Julian felt the cool wind brush against his face; his hand, clinging to the side of the building. His fingers dug into the concrete like it was soft clay, making him look like a dead leaf desperately swinging on a branch.
[Julian, reach to your left. There’s a solid ledge there. It’ll hold your weight.]
“Okay.” Without hesitation,...
2024-10-07 15:11:46 +0000 UTC View Post
“How long…”
Julian stood by the forge, not in his usual spot, but on the other side of the anvil.
“How long has it been?” For a moment, he was back in his childhood, standing next to his father. The smell of burning coals and molten metal filled his nose, the heat of the forge licking at his skin. He didn’t know anything back then, but he learned in time what ...
2024-10-06 07:47:43 +0000 UTC View Post[The pitiful Master of Shadows has decided to give you a second chance at life, Julian Winters. But for two lives to be dug from the grave, many will suffer…
…that is the punishment that has been imposed upon you for failing the penalty.]
Julian stared blankly at the message floating in front of him. The messages that would usually just enter hi...
2024-10-05 08:05:45 +0000 UTC View Post[Warning: If you die during the penalty… your real body back on your own planet also dies with you, Julian Winters.]
"My real body… will also die?”
Julian stood there, not really knowing how to process what he was feeling right now. He was so confident before—but that was before he knew his real body was also going to die as well.
“And… it knows I...
2024-10-04 09:18:37 +0000 UTC View Post[Choose.]
The word floated in front of Julian, cold, almost commanding.
“Choose…?” He glanced between the two sceneries surrounding him—one of Ellie, and the other, of himself standing at a forge, hammering away at a glowing sword.
But why was this even a choice? He and Ellie have already separated, there was… nothing for him on the other...
2024-10-03 17:32:31 +0000 UTC View Post“This… is going to be fun.”
As his whisper escaped his lips, a thrill surged through—pulsing straight into Julian’s veins, causing a grin to stretch on his face.
“He…hehehe…” His heart raced as the blood dripped from his sword, a euphoric haze completely clouding his thoughts.
“He… he killed Dirk!?”
“Isn’t Dirk level 12?!”
And wh...
2024-10-03 08:24:29 +0000 UTC View Post"Wake him up!"
The soldier’s voice cut through the stillness like a blade.
How could he wake Marcus when he wasn’t even in Artemia anymore? He was back on Earth, most likely doing whatever it is he was doing.
"We should let him rest,” one of the twins, Edward, tried to intervene. “He just came back from a hunt and hasn’t slept for three days straight." 2024-10-02 14:29:27 +0000 UTC View Post
“I’ve never seen a Newbie with this much money, Newbie!” Marcus exclaimed, tossing a large pouch of coins in the air and catching it with a grin.
“...Can I have that back?” Julian watched from where he sat, leaning back against the wall, his expression slightly worried that Marcus might not return his coins. He hadn’t expected to make so much just from sharpening a few s...
2024-10-02 07:08:05 +0000 UTC View Post"So… traveling costs money."
Julian stood at the edge of the town, gazing down the long road that stretched into the horizon. He had made up his mind to leave Archon so that he could spend time inside a smithy again, but now, a problem presented itself—he had no money. It only hit him now that he gave all of his coins away. They were gone, along with the weapons that had been a...
2024-10-01 08:28:19 +0000 UTC View Post“We…”
Julian stood frozen, staring at the monstrous Daemon in front of him. It towered over him, its four massive legs supporting a body as large as a bus. Its grotesque form was even more horrifying now that he could see it in full.
Although Julian was ignorant with many things that had to deal with appearances or sight–he knew. He knew that the thing in front of hi...
2024-09-30 11:11:48 +0000 UTC View Post“Go away, shoo! Guards, call the guards!”
“Please! We just want to ask one question! One question, and we’ll leave!”
The shouts of the nurses echoed through the hospital hallway, the clattering of feet accompanying their cries as they chased away a crowd of disguised reporters. News had broken about the Daemon attack, and rumors had spread about a mysterious blin...
2024-09-30 09:46:21 +0000 UTC View Post[Julian, people are coming! You need to hide—there's an alley nearby on your right.]
“...Okay,” Julian’s breath quickened as the sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the street. MEGAN's voice buzzed urgently in his mind.
Julian turned his head in the direction MEGAN pointed out. His heightened senses locked onto the narrow alley just a few meters away, he started tappi...
2024-09-30 09:32:11 +0000 UTC View Post[Duck!]
Julian dropped low just as the Daemon’s massive claw swiped through the air where his head had been moments before. The force of the blow sent a gust of wind whipping past his ears, and a thrill shot through him, electrifying his senses. He could feel the beast’s weight towering above him, its grotesque presence looming like a dark cloud, but instead of fear, something else st...
2024-09-30 09:29:44 +0000 UTC View Post"MEGAN, are you sure I need this mask?"
Julian's voice was muffled by the fabric on his, his words barely audible over the bustle of the streets around him. After resting for a few hours, he made his way through the narrow, crowded paths of The Below, tapping his cane rhythmically against the cracked and uneven ground. The city around him felt more alive than Sky Net in ways he hadn't yet...
2024-09-29 08:20:51 +0000 UTC View Post