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POV Bodyguard Ulrik of Frontier The guild master of the Primordial Knights enters the room with his vice guild master and the man called Talon by his side. I stand guard behind our guild master, who has Sophie Martinez by his side. It draws my attention that this pretty, black haired woman gives a s

I shut off the memory as quickly as possible, with the world around us disappearing as if someone were shutting off the lights in a huge hangar. It starts at the edge first, and then, with increasing speed, moves towards the center. There is even a distinct echo of heavy mechanical thumps through th

The party is over, and even though I didn't even consider it a place to relax and have fun, some people see it that way. Now that I am back at the guild, I have to do my Guildmaster job, as the vice guild master keeps asking for my opinion on things he could solve better on his own. Most of these th

“That sounds much better now,” I say, nodding to Ruby. She lifts her glass toward me, both of us looking out at the party as I ask, “Look, I wonder, just by the way, with no real reason behind it... Who would you say has the highest mana stat here? I'm curious about my fellow Amplificators.” The cor

I don't even have to call attendee protection services against this kidnapper of a man, and just like how Elian appeared near me, Ruby appears here as well. It is annoying, but I guess it is the right of older people to brag to younger generations by making impossible appearances like that, ones tha

POV Dame Vesta I am a Dame, and my name is Vesta. Knighted by the Grandmaster of my order, just as my mother was, and her mother before her. Our bloodline is older than the roots of the Crescent Tree itself, the very tree planted by the slave-turned-King whose glorious dynasty leads us to this day.

As is often the case, the planning and preparations took longer than expected, taking almost a week, and now only 24 hours remain before I have to join the party. Annoyingly so, I have been delivered clothes by someone who just knocked on my door and left afterwards like some annoying children from

My new tattoo is on the palm of my hand, and it is fairly simple. Just a circle with two smaller circles inside it. It is also of ever-changing color and reflects everything in the area. Since I got it, I keep poking myself, my arm, my leg, my chest, and even my forehead. A few times I tried to hold

POV Nathaniel The coating around the pill dissolves, and whatever Doc cooked up floods my body. It reaches my mana and my blood, which holds hypercondensed mana, and begins to thicken both of them. It is almost to the brink of crystallizing, and the pressure inside my body increases, forcing both to

POV Cerulean Parlor “Pick it up,” the man on the screen says, and the parlor erupts into excited shouts. Some of the people present even stand up, jumping up and down. “I TOLD YOU! I FUCKING TOLD YOU! I LOVE THAT MOTHERFUCKER!” The demon man with glasses keeps shouting and moving across the room, hi

The notification of the reward is there, simply stating that it will be given after the event concludes. I have many thoughts about the possible nature of the Mirror that I would like to delve into, but with the Wraith approaching, I decide to think of them later. Meanwhile, the Empyrean Heir is get

"Am I correct to assume the change in the system message has something to do with your lovely sword, Brich?" Fiona asks, still politely. "You can be sure of that, bitch! He might now be my true master, but I will fucking enjoy watching you bunch get a second asshole torn into you!" Calvorn stops lau

“Please sit down while we wait,” Victoria offers. At her invitation, I pull one of the chairs from a nearby table on this terrace and sit right next to her. Fiona introduces herself and her bond, and Brich introduces himself as well. As Brichant, naturally. After that, Victoria introduces her teamma

As I am about to leave the Black Tower outpost, I find one person blocking my way out of the building. That annoying catboy stands there, twitching his ears while, as always, wearing his white lab coat. After looking around to see if we are alone, he gestures for me to lift my hand. I do so, and he

Brich, who had been quietly fiddling with the ant-antenna headband on his head, lets out a snort. "She called your shirt stale pond-ice, Nathaniel," he says. I look down at my frosty-green polo. Stale pond-ice? It was the nicest thing in my closet. I think. "Fair enough," I say to Fiona, leaning bac

Following Ruby's instructions, the next day, I head to the meeting place. And that is, as always, in the upper parts of Megacity. I thought about this not that long ago, but it is like everyone powerful or important likes to have their place as high as possible. No, not on some lonely tall mountain,

“Tess, I have never been so insulted in my young life, and-” “You are twenty-four, almost twenty-five; you aren't that young anymore.” “-I can't believe you would even ask that. Of course we will kill all the kaijukakalulu.” “It's Kaiepochjiu, actually.” “Shut up, Sophie. As I said, Tess, I'm terrib

“I will go and meet with someone from Derick’s circle to make sure he gets the information. You don't have to come,” Tess says once we are both further away. Realizing she is doing this because she knows I dislike these kinds of things, I nod gratefully. “If needed, send me a ping through my mark, a

POV Talon Of course I recognize Guildmaster Gwyn. Even with the mask on, there isn't any other human who bears himself as he does. Accompanied by who I guess to be Tess Hansen, he makes his way down the stairs, approaching a group of five demons. I was one of the people ordered to gather information

With her arm locked in mine, Tess leads me toward the mansion. We are let inside after just a moment, as soon as she shows a ring on her pinkie finger. It is entirely purple, set with a bright yellow gem. The guard gives a small bow, and we step through the entrance. I notice that no one seems to be

POV Nathaniel Inscriptions are magic. I mean it, truly. Even now, I kind of don't know fully how they work. I go mostly by vibes, improvising, and constant changes to fix whatever circuit logic I just fried. My mind is durable enough for me to run some simulations and keep the structure open in my h

One day I might truly beat a severe illness that is, thank the gods, not infectious. Mana deficiency is something I have had to fight since my childhood, and most of my problems could be attributed to it. But now? With over 10,000 mana instead of the feeble whatever it was before? Yes, I should not

You have been given [Jüdrajil]. And that is all I get regarding the skill. But before I can check it out, I get another pop up. Additional personalization parameters unlocked. Four options generated for selection. You can select one of the following: Passive skill combination token Three active skil

One thing is obvious: even the system doesn't trust the fraud that is the destroyer of the Ancient Armory, and it had to ask a lunatic who happens to be the Ruler of Wrath for confirmation. I take a bite of the cheesecake and then take a sip of my drink. For a few moments, I close my eyes and breath

Instead of flying back, I just walk through the canyons. Sometimes I boost myself up when I see something akin to sidewalks, and I walk on them to get a nice view of the valley carved into stone. The rivers, greenery, unusual trees, or rock formations. This is the first time I take in the 4th Beyond

POV Cerulean Parlor The doors open as multiple figures rush in, with each one of them offering a very polite greeting before entering. "Blessings upon you, Lady Kindness, Lady Lust. It is an honor to stand before your divine presence once again." "I bow before the grace of Lady Kindness and the maje

There are currently six Champion-grade beings here on this floor. Thylarin. Hydra. Falcon. Human. Skeleton. Mage. The two I wouldn't want to meet, and one I especially want to avoid for now. I have information on every single one of them, though I have yet to find out how and when they will replenis

The hydra is just as the information stated. It has five heads, stands about the height of my Regalia, and, among other things, is taking a while to awaken fully. My fist lands down, smashing one of its heads against the floor and drawing blood. Another head of the hydra moves and bites into my arm

POV Ceruleran Parlor “10 million shards on him dying,” a mora woman in an all-white sundress says. “10 million he takes one of the Champions with him,” the man with a bear face counters. “Lady Kindness, are you not going to join our bets?” the woman with a half-spider body asks with a polite smile o

POV The Doc It has been days, almost a week, since that beautiful, messed-up specimen of a human came down to my humble abode together with that annoying group of people. Yes, the human healer is interesting. Beautiful even. A true monster that these dumbasses should be just as scared of as they are

While I watch with interest at the broken, frozen pieces of what used to be my arm, the door into the inn opens, and Jean’s babysitter healer, called Spacepup, enters. A teenager. No more needs to be said. He quickly sweeps his eyes across the room, stopping at some of the women for longer before fi

Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill! [Mana Manipulation] [Mana Manipulation - Level 0 > Mana Manipulation - Level 87] Huh, this is new. Then I get another pop-up. Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill! [Attunement] [Attunement - Level 0 > Attunement - Level 16] For a while, I sta

I pull myself back to look at her. “But why?” The little girl with golden hair shrugs. “It's been a long time since he and I were on speaking terms.” “But isn't that… I don't know… impossible? As far as I've heard, there are no new gods. They're an entirely different species, not a title or power yo

I watch as Nyssa quietly nibbles on the dried, broken pieces of what used to be bread. She even spreads some jam on it, scooping it out of a nearby crushed metal tin. All of her food is in a similar state as she pulls it from her bag. For now, though, she has laid everything out on a small square of

Nyssa shoots forth from within the flames, each heartbeat sending a pulse of kinetic energy that pushes them away from her. Almost lazily, she deflects the [Empyrean Lance] I shoot at her, and a swing of her sword cuts through the explosion I trigger from that lance. As she lands on the metal bridge

My vessel takes a step forward, and as it passes by me, I move in a blur and stab the sword I hold into its leg. Not taking my eyes off Nyssa, I send pulses of empyrean mana through it by constantly forming and breaking an [Empyrean Lance]. Now, instead of blue mana, a white and golden glow crackles

The train continues to rattle as Group 4 gathers in Sophie's favorite garden. Favorite because kindred children rarely get there, owing to the narrower hallways leading to it, where even a human has to push and squeeze through sideways. Min-Jae sits in front of me, and I am using oscillating mana at

POV Nathaniel It takes a few days, and I'm forced into some meetings too. Well, not forced, but my presence there is appreciated, and it makes things simpler. For example, I meet with the guild master of Bloodline, who's accompanied by two A ranks and Lily, who's there with that blonde... well, I do

Back out of my mental space, I form a few evil pyramids that I continue to use to train. With my remaining mental capacity, I read the description of one of my two low pristine passives. Cognitive Hyperprocessing Vector (Low Pristine) - Your cognition gains a compact internal framework vector that r

I appear on the surface of Xyphos and right away read the new temporary Floor quest, if you can even call it that. Preparations are currently underway to transition attendees back into the tutorial setting. Reassignment to your new location will be handled on an individual basis. You will be assigne

This entire planet makes me nervous. It feels like my skin is itchy and like I am not getting enough air as I breathe. But as I release the seal on the Ignition Heart and more mana floods into me, it gets better. I wonder if it is the effect of this place being cut off from the system and what it ac

POV Nathaniel As I step away from the evil something beacon thingy, I pick up Biscuit again and gently kick the black wolfy with the tip of my shoe. He gives me an angry glare, but changes his form again, back to a wolf pup with fuzzy fur and a round belly. I pick up Biscuit’s disciple as well and h

"Have it your way,” Ruby says, and she swings the hand of the body she is possessing, causing a great rift to tear open in space. From inside of it, a pair of hands pierces through, grabbing the edges of the rift and spreading it wide open so the herald of destruction can pass through. The Ruler of

There are way too many people here for me to even try spending the mental effort to take note of them all. Plus, Adrian’s words still weigh heavily on my mind. He said it all so simply, yet this is something I am sure he is entirely capable of doing. Project Sundial… I know of it only because of my

Entering the black room teleports us into a normal-looking room. There are already some other participants waiting, and yet no one fights. It is also explained by someone from Melek's team who rushes in to congratulate us for passing the second game and tells us to wait until everyone is here. A few

POV Maya Jones It's been days since I found myself in this labyrinth. One of my early thoughts was worries for Kim and the others on the surface. I hoped they weren't dumb enough to follow to try to help, and I hoped they hadn't been found by the Adjudicator and the Corporation controlling things th

We fight our way through a bloodline group, and this time it’s much more enjoyable as we don't have to wait for their minute of invulnerability. After that, the second fight is about to happen, this time not in hallways but in a huge cubic room as the Glass House shifts and opens. Before that fight

As the name hints, the second game is set in what could generously be called a Glass House. It is just a huge cube-like maze entirely made of walls of transparent glass, through which you can perfectly see the positions of the other participants. There are many hallways and many floors as well, with

“Is that fragment that rare?” I ask the vyssari guy. I already feel his name slipping from my memory, so that’s how I will be calling him. The vyssari guy continues to stand on the chair, looking at where the screen was while chewing on an aromatic wooden stick that sticks out from his mouth like a

POV Kim Min-Jae “Kevin, are you sure you know where we are going?” I ask as I barely catch up to him, breathless. It has already been what feels like days as we go through the labyrinth, avoiding traps, disassembling them, fighting monsters, or hiding from them. “I guess,” he shrugs with a smile. “Y