“Please vacate the premises within ten seconds. Please vacate the premises within nine seconds.”
A modulated voice greeted Yuriko as soon as she and the others exited the portal. She barely had time to blink—everyone else was as disoriented after coming through the portal. There was also a rather strange and ominous feel ar...
It took five days before Yuriko returned to Herrera City, her backpack filled with Elemental Beast cores. Five days in the Sandsea Conflux had not been the adventure she expected. Yuriko landed on the outskirts of the city, sheltered from direct sight from behind sand dunes.
The Conflux had not been that different from those s...
2024-07-24 15:30:11 +0000 UTC View PostHeron fingered the spear he was given when he asked for weapons. It was a solid construct made of flexible wood for the shaft, and tough metal for the head. It wasn’t the Empire’s collapsible spear but it was a suitable replacement. On his left arm was a buckler that was barely three inches wider than the span of his wrist, strapped tightly ...
2024-07-22 14:48:19 +0000 UTC View PostAfter seeing the Portal Gate in action and asking the guards and the attendant in charge, they found out how much it would cost to activate the gate. It turned out that the two thousand gold coins were for each individual who wanted to cross the portal.
‘How many gold coins do we have?’ Yuriko asked Gwendith through their mental conne...
2024-07-22 14:30:04 +0000 UTC View PostHerrera City didn’t have walls, not in the conventional sense. From what Yuriko read, the Prime Clan controlled twelve oases and built the city around it. Unlike Boata Port, the houses, while still blocky, were covered in whitewash or paint. There was also an abundance of trees that stuck out above most of the residences, except for their pala...
2024-07-22 14:09:14 +0000 UTC View PostPuchi!
The sand shark was split right in half, from nose to tail. Its stubby, yet powerful legs wiggled nervelessly for a couple of moments before they seized all movement. Blood would have flowed to water the sands but the flesh was cauterised. In fact, the side grew so hot that it started to smoke and burn. Underneath the corpse...
2024-07-16 16:57:34 +0000 UTC View PostHilfers Caravan started assembling early in the morning, a couple of hours before dawn. It would not depart until midday, but most of the passengers and merchants joining it were asked to arrive as early as they could. Yuriko suppressed a yawn as she and the others walked towards the east of town. She hadn’t had the chance to do anything besid...
2024-07-16 16:15:19 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, Yuriko headed to the Adventurers’ Guildhall and paid a silver coin to access the spell book library. The spell Endure Environment was a three-circle spell and required thirty nodes to cast. It was a spell that made extreme temperatures, like the desert’s, feel normal to the caster. Yuriko paid a gold coin to get a copy of the s...
2024-07-15 16:10:30 +0000 UTC View Post“What’s your name, kid?” Heron asked their guide as ‘she’ led them along the narrow alleyways for the past ten minutes. Yuriko was in the middle of the group, with Fluffington trailing behind. She had the hood of her robe over her head and pulled down enough to conceal her face. The noonday sun relegated the shadows to tiny pools at th...
2024-07-15 15:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe bunk beds had been too narrow to really have fun in so Yuriko, Gwendith, and Heron put the mattresses on the floor in between then just made do with cuddles at night. Yuriko didn’t really mind as the intimate contact was just as soothing. On the second day on the Wild Tulip, the lake’s bottom had disappeared from Yuriko’s Anima percept...
2024-07-15 14:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostWith all their luggage stored in the carriage’s compartment, Yuriko and her companions booked a ride towards the city’s docks. It was the day after her meeting with the dean of the other academy, and the chat had been pleasant and fruitful for both of them. Yuriko hadn’t spoken about everything that happened in the fight, though she did re...
2024-07-08 14:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostMore than a dozen things were listed on the pillar and Yuriko didn’t recognise any of them. She moved towards the teenage guard and asked, “What and how can I get those things listed on the steeple?”
“Huh? I don’t know,” the boy blurted out. “I only recognise the last one, En Shards. You can get those in any arcanatech ateli...
2024-07-08 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostCouncilor Carlos Varro entered the small formal meeting room in the palace’s east wing. Since only three Councilors were in attendance they did not need to use the Rising Sun Chamber reserved for the full council. His attendant trailed behind him, arms filled with binders and folders. His second attendant followed behind the first, this one wi...
2024-07-08 13:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t that simple to take two sixth-year students with her to the Tower. However much Sofia and Juliette protested that they could make their own decisions since they were already in their age of majority, their protests were overruled by the Academy’s authorities.
Juliette was stymied by her family; her mother practically cried a ...
2024-07-08 13:15:00 +0000 UTC View PostCarrying everything with her Anima, Yuriko and her companions were only able to reach Greyith Strip, a distance of about a hundred and fifty leagues as the crow flies, but considerably more if one followed the roads, by two o’clock in the afternoon. Synchronising her time sense with the mechanical clocks of this realm had taken some work, but ...
2024-07-08 13:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostCleaning up the next morning was simpler, somewhat. At six o’clock in the morning, Yuriko untangled herself from several grasping limbs and went straight to the bathroom where she filled the tub with hot, steaming water. She stepped under the shower to wash up first since she didn’t want bits and bobs floating in the tub. A rather thorough w...
2024-07-02 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostA few hours passed while Yuriko meditated. Looking into herself and finding things that she never expected had been both enlightening and annoying at the same time. The Mishala Mien…she never knew of its existence before she met her mother’s clan, and all the while she had expected it to be a separate and distinct thing, like her Animus Core...
2024-07-02 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostYuriko took the Tower Entry Token with her hands instead of her Animakinesis. It was rather clear from the way Gwendith removed the sphere from her backpack, that the token was more than a simple identification device. The way the Elemental energies swirled around it…no, it was the way the energies were forced to swirl, told her that touching ...
2024-07-02 01:15:01 +0000 UTC View PostConsciousness returned rather abruptly and Yuriko’s eyes opened, and she found herself staring at the back of Gwendith’s head. The golden curls were pressed against her cheek, and the other girl was snoring softly. She had her arms around Gwendith’s waist. There was a muscular forearm wrapped around her waist and a large hand cupping her b...
2024-07-02 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostPerhaps it was because the Chaos Yuriko had been exposed to–and absorbed–was mixed in with fragments of the Realms of Thought, Ideals, and Desires, but her sleep had been anything but quiet. She floated in the dreamscape, and it was reminiscent of the dream back home, not the odd reflection that it was here.
‘The Realm of Thought....
2024-07-01 16:27:17 +0000 UTC View PostCarlos Varro, Academic Dean of Niria Academy of Elemental Mastery, Grand Magus over the Dominion of Effervescent Flame, and Councilor Nirlith of the Bresian Republic, grumbled under his breath as he flew over the desolate and snow-covered landscape. He had been the one nearest to the call, which was more than annoying since Dean Eva Guitierrez o...
2024-06-27 16:18:36 +0000 UTC View PostChaos gushed through the tear in the fabric of reality. At least, that’s what Yuriko assumed would happen. Not that she was wrong, just that Chaos wasn’t the only thing that seeped through.
In the Myriad Planes, Chaos was everywhere. It was unlike here in the Arcadia Region, and probably the Greater World, as it was referred to in the...
2024-06-27 15:40:24 +0000 UTC View PostAs they took shelter within a shallow cave, Gwendith stared at the cloud-covered skies. Lightning danced amongst the clouds and was beset by a feeling of foreboding. Snow suddenly started falling, which quickly turned to hail.
Ptak! Ptak! Ptak!
The ice shattered against the barren rocks around the cave mouth, but most of the hail wa...
2024-06-24 13:39:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe voice sent a thrill down Yuriko’s spine. It was nearly irresistible, each layer tugging at her reason, her Anima, and her body. The urge to follow and the urge to fight intertwined within her mind, drowning her senses.
“Ahhh…”
She gasped as her Mien unleashed with her Anima, touching everyone around her. She felt a shive...
2024-06-24 13:16:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe myriad bolts slammed down on the dome, tore up the amalgam of energies then powered through the Radiant energy coating the underside. The lightning slammed into the camp and struck the temporary structures there.
It was a good thing that the troops slept in temporary buildings made out of earth rather than flimsy tents, ot...
2024-06-24 13:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostGwendith’s body was flushed with Animus as it cycled in a pattern that boosted her physique, maintained her endurance, and improved her body at the same time. Boost Physique was an old technique that she rarely used now, at least until Yuriko tweaked it to help maintain and increase her fitness levels. Heron did the same thing, but he didn’t...
2024-06-18 16:22:33 +0000 UTC View Post“How far across is the Vallavega Pass?” Gwendith muttered as the four of them trekked towards the village. There was a light covering of snow across the road and the fields, and they left footprints tracking all the way towards the Chaos Fount.
The cold air was invigorating especially because they came from a volcanic region. He...
Roland Turner vi Ishodir was nervous being inside a foreign nation, even if it was one his forces were invading. He was only at the Magus level, after all, and any Bresian elite could take him easily if he were not constantly protected. For that matter, many opponents back home wouldn’t miss any vulnerabilities should he show any.
Alth...
The campaign had already lasted more than nine weeks. Two-thirds of the Season, and most, if not all of it, was consumed by the soldiers marching across the terrain, ensuring they were warm and properly fed. And entertained.
It was the last bit that Yuriko had some trouble with, honestly. While she knew an army marched on its stomac...
The gate shimmered for a long moment before it burst into bright light. A moment later, Gwendith stepped out and immediately went to the side. Heron, Saki, the Devotee followed her out of the Hillside Burrows and into the town…village, that she couldn’t quite remember the name of.
She glanced at the sky, noticed that it was just past ...