King Gerald looked out over the splendid ballroom before him. Handsome men and beautiful women decked out in the most fashionable finery money could buy. Bright colors that flickered between shades as one looked, puffy shoulders that were dwarfed only by the wearers’ even more voluminous hats and skirts, enchanted corsets that shrunk waists to rather infeasi...
2025-10-12 02:43:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe shimmering wall of text appeared before Tiberius. His status was now a familiar sight after all the time they’d spent in this world. Yet its contents had changed drastically.
The first thing he noticed was his new class. Emperor. A single, simple word. Yet one that carried the weight of an entire empire behind it.
He wanted to investigate the cl...
2025-10-10 01:02:33 +0000 UTC View PostThe Legion made a little less progress than Tiberius would have preferred before making camp. It meant that they would likely need to push harder the next day, possibly even to the point that their last fortifications wouldn’t be finalized until the sun had set. But it was an acceptable tradeoff. The newfound speed at which his men could erect...
2025-10-08 03:08:32 +0000 UTC View PostMarcus pumped his legs to the absolute limits as he sprinted toward the cloud of dust on the horizon. Based on the few brief questions he’d asked on his way out of Hausten, it seemed that the Legion had only recently mustered their forces to march on Novara’s capital. Still, given the speed that their marching skills allowed them to travel at, even a sma...
2025-10-05 02:46:26 +0000 UTC View PostDevin Redcliffe stood atop the tallest guard tower in Corwyn Pass, a letter in hand. The icy winds that hissed about the mountain peaks bit at his skin like a nest of angry vipers, seeking out any patches of skin that had been foolishly left exposed to their attacks. Yet at this point, the wind’s assault hardly phased him anymore. After so long stationed in...
2025-10-03 02:06:20 +0000 UTC View PostA crumbling throne room hung within the inky black void, its pure white marble a beacon that shone amidst its infinite darkness. Within were arrayed a circle of seats arrayed around a central brazier, each in various states of disrepair. Most were recognizable, and some even bore some resemblance to their former glory. Yet the same could not be said of the bare and plain spa...
2025-10-01 02:47:31 +0000 UTC View PostTiberius looked out over the assembled troops as they cheered, their eyes filled with fire. The fireworks overhead shook the air with each thunderous detonation, coloring the sky in fiery hues.
The System had caught him off guard with its offer of a new class. But considering what he hoped to achieve, refusing it would have been foolish. Even if it meant that...
2025-09-28 02:35:34 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey to the mustering grounds was not a long one. They were located a little ways from the city, right by a small monster nest that apparently needed extermination. Of course, such a task would have been trivial for the men already present, but they waited before acting to expedite their brethren’s travels.
Quintus took on a deep breath of the...
2025-09-26 02:28:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe Legion had been busy in Hausten. That much was abundantly clear as Quintus and his men spotted the city from afar. Its walls had grown to twice the height that they had been before and bore an assortment of features that would make them quite unpleasant to breach. Tiny pinpricks of gold and red meandered across their tops as men patrolled b...
2025-09-24 03:29:38 +0000 UTC View PostTiberius had just finished signing off on the last of the Legion's wages when a knock came at the door. He set down his pen and called out.
“Enter.”
The door creaked open. The armored form of Gaius stepped through, the officer’s helmet tucked under one arm. He saluted. “Legatus Tiberius, sir! You wanted to see me?”
Tiberius handed the wag...
2025-09-21 01:29:54 +0000 UTC View PostAgainst all expectations, Marcus was still mostly sober by the time Gaius's messenger found him. But more importantly, he felt rejuvenated. A few hours of eating, drinking, and basking in the goodwill of an appreciative crowd had left him feeling as fresh as a new rose. And between the crowds he drew and the constant stream of Legionnaires rotating through, t...
2025-09-19 03:09:31 +0000 UTC View Post/// oops a few hour late, but next one should be on time
Tiberius watched as his second in command set a heavy bag atop his desk. The pouch clinked satisfyingly as it came to rest, the sound leaving no question as to its contents. Gold. And plenty of it.
Marcus stepped forward and set a second bag next to the first as Gaius saluted. "There are th...
2025-09-17 14:20:03 +0000 UTC View PostQuintus darted around the practice yard, his feet a blur across the hard-packed dirt below. His body pivoted and twisted with the fluidity of a dancer as his twin blades lashed out at the ring of practice dummies arrayed in a circle around him. Each strike sliced through their thick wooden bodies as though they were made of paper.
His bout in the...
2025-09-14 03:31:28 +0000 UTC View PostAfter what felt like an hours-long interrogation consisting of far too many follow-up questions, Grand Mage Claude finally disappeared from the former baron’s study as though he’d never even been in the first place. The sudden departure made Tiberius wonder whether he’d reappear just as suddenly with one last question or matter to discuss, heedless of ...
2025-09-12 01:59:10 +0000 UTC View PostAfter having relieved themselves of the baroness and her daughter, the Legionnaires made much better time on their return march. Marcus was honestly a little astonished to see how much the pair had been holding them back in terms of speed. Even the weight of all the gold they were bringing back wasn’t nearly enough to slow the Roman soldiers. The only issue ...
2025-09-10 03:48:39 +0000 UTC View Post[Congratulations! You have placed 87th on the time trial leaderboard for solo challenges under level 5. Please see a class stone for additional details.]
Quintus frowned. The message made no sense. He was the first one to have attempted a solo challenge in this arena. How were there eighty-six others ahead of him?
He waved...
2025-09-07 03:27:32 +0000 UTC View PostQuintus shifted his grip on the gladius in his hand as he stood. He was unable to move his right leg more than a few inches at a time or put much weight on it. Three enemies still stood before him, two of them almost entirely unhurt. The thraex’s body still lay unmoving in the sand nearby, the hole in its chest apparently enough to have taken it out of t...
2025-09-05 04:11:28 +0000 UTC View PostIt took only a few quick conversations for Quintus to work his way into the research teams and training schedule at the Colosseum. After all, there was no one to countermand his orders. Although that wasn’t the only reason they were followed. The Legionnaires in charge of managing the place were eager to have their Primus Pilus volunteer to help...
2025-09-03 02:57:41 +0000 UTC View PostQuintus recruited two other veteran legionnaires to assist with leveling the six auxiliaries before him. Together, the Legionnaires herded them through the forest in search of monsters and whatever wild game they could find.
Their hunt had taken them further south than most patrols. He’d initially intended to level the men on shadow panthers, bu...
2025-08-31 02:31:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe duke’s eyes bored into Marcus for a long time, seeming to evaluate whether or not to toss the bard into the hall right then and there. It wasn’t entirely unexpected. He had just proposed that the man commit treason against Novara. Even if the king was a lazy and gluttonous fop who would drive the country to ruin, knowing that and ac...
2025-08-29 03:22:50 +0000 UTC View PostTiberius blinked. It took all of his effort to keep his face impassive at the Grand Mage’s sudden declaration. He half expected the eccentric old man to burst out into laughter or announce that he’d been joking about joining the Legion. But the sparkle of unabashed excitement in his eyes made it clear that this was no prank.
Yet before Tibe...
2025-08-27 03:10:03 +0000 UTC View PostMarcus’s steps echoed through the halls of the duke’s estate, bouncing off the paintings and suits of armor that lined its walls. The sound seemed all too loud in the otherwise quiet atmosphere. Though he didn’t feel too bad about the noise. Not when Gaius’s armor made five times the racket.
Charles, the duke’s chamberlain, glanced back at th...
2025-08-24 03:22:14 +0000 UTC View PostQuintus stared at the endless swirls of letters and numbers that filled his vision. The unending waterfall of characters had long since lost any meaning. Yet he felt that if he closed his eyes, he would still see them there, dancing as if to taunt him.
He rubbed at his face tiredly. Nightmares of paperwork and endless inventory reports had comprised the...
2025-08-22 02:47:04 +0000 UTC View PostTiberius tensed as the old mage appeared next to him. The sheer speed of the man had to be the result of some sort of spell. At least, that’s what he hoped. The alternative was that this mage’s level was so high that he could almost instantly move through multiple ranks of Legionnaires without so much as breaking a sweat.
Neither option w...
2025-08-20 02:25:11 +0000 UTC View PostMarcus itched at the mask pressed against his face. It was an angular thing made of metal and vaguely shaped like a human face, but with square eyes and a more pointy chin. Its corners pressed into particularly sensitive spots around his eyes, and the lack of breathability left his forehead dripping with sweat. That, along with the Legionnaire's helmet a...
2025-08-17 03:50:59 +0000 UTC View PostDuke Mark of Redcliffe was having a hell of a week.
He ran his fingers through what remained of his hair one more time as he read through another stack of reports. Absentmindedly, he shook his hand behind him. Another few strands of hair fell to the floor. He had managed to go nearly sixty years without going completely bald, no matter how much his wife begged...
2025-08-15 11:37:11 +0000 UTC View PostMarcus quietly rolled out of bed, careful not to wake its other occupant. That was easier said than done considering that freeing himself required him to move her sprawled leg and arm.
He crept around the edge of the bed as softly as he could manage, finding his clothes and slipping them on. As he got dressed, he took in the slender figure that lay part...
2025-08-13 02:49:41 +0000 UTC View PostTiberius leaned back in his seat, his stomach as full as the plate before him was empty. Around the table before him sat a collection of Hausten's most influential merchants, their own food still mostly intact. The men and women wore an array of finery and what were certain to be rare and expensive accessories about their persons, ones that Tiberius himself cou...
2025-08-10 05:00:21 +0000 UTC View Post“Wait!”
Marcus called up to the gatesmen with a cheery wave and a flash of his brightly-colored cloak. He slung his lute from his back to his front to more clearly convey his profession. After all, no one denied entry to a bard. Not when letting him in could mean an hour or so of entertainment around the barracks and guardhouses.
<... 2025-08-08 03:56:43 +0000 UTC View PostThe dragon followed the column of Legionnaires, returning half a dozen times throughout the day. Often it brought with it other items such as additional massive tree trunks or boulders that were subsequently “presented” to the Legion—or rather, dropped directly in their path with all the enthusiasm of a child showing off a new toy.
They did...
2025-08-06 03:48:08 +0000 UTC View Post