《Shadowlove (Lite)》Chapter 31: Hellish Meeting
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Few minutes would pass by when Yasuline and the White Reaper finally reached the spot they needed to be where the voices of grunts and murmurs would be the most clearest. Being careful, they would get to the edge of the bridge to look underneath them. A second bridge was under them that went parallel with theirs. And below them even further was a strange sight. It looked to be a small area outside form the normal bridges and pathways that it was a circular pillar that had just enough room to allow a batch of people together. Yasuline would measure the area this way seeing as there were tons of people all among themselves hold up in that strange spot. They didn't resemble the adventurers she saw down at the tavern, except for that one mage-looking individual who started the whole treasure hunt. They weren't as slim as he was, but they all bore hoods over their heads, making it harder to see what they really looked like. Thankfully, a few of them were casting some kind of lantern fire in their hands to allow themselves and Yasu to see them all.
"What's the process on...and gathering the adventurers?" One of them heard, his voice lowered down in the middle, making it harder for her to properly hear within the echoes. His voice appeared cold and calculating.
"It's going smoothly. Not unlike our first attack." Another one in a wheezing-like voice responded.
"Ha! That's only because we are actually competent, not like those foolish twins." A third added as he juggled a flame between his two hands.
I warned.... so many times to not entrust such an important task to them! Just because they are the lovers of two of our best ones means nothing skill! They were too blinded by their...!" A fourth joined in, extremely mad as his voice rumbled and was more of a screech than actually talking.
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"Tell me about it. Now if I was with one of them, I'd be set for life!"
Yasuline would stick her head out more to get a better view of the group and to hear them better than the echoes. The White Reaper would hold onto her by the collar of her top to ensure she wouldn't fall over. "They're not with the adventurers. Wonder who this group is. They seem suspicious to me. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I just know it. Does that make me a bad person for assuming that?" The White Reaper shakes his head and also leans out to spy on the group.
"Do we really have to wait down here? It reminds me of our base. I only took this stupid mission just to get some air that doesn't reek like..."
"Selfish as always. You do know what we gain by completing this mission, right?"
"What!? There are actual benefits to completing this stupid job!?
"You too? Has no one been thoroughly briefed about all of this!?"
Many of them grumbled, likely all saying no to some degree. This would get some of them to laugh and mock one another. Eventually, the playful gestures end when the one who looks to be the more responsible one holds his hand up. A flame orb would appear and fall to the ground. It would spread all over the floor and disperses as it continues to widen and fall over the ledges. It didn't seem to bother any of them, but they quieted down and looked at the person's direction.
"Alright, we have some time left, and likely knowing everything about this mission would get you all to actually take it seriously and give it your 100%.
"Before our mishap a few nights ago, we were tasked to invading the castle and replace everyone there with our own members. Mainly the guards, and eventually through natural means, we gain some numbers and soon take control of this entire land. And before anyone could realize it, we would have implants in other regions and invade the world before anyone stops us."
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The others would nod at one another, looking to be approving with this method.
"But, things didn't go according to plan, but our leader... knew exactly what to do. And now has a new way to get us back on track. So ..."
At this point, the person's tone would shift drastically. Yasuline tries to make out what the words he was saying, but could only make out the words "Enchant" from his vocal sounds.
"Uh, what's with this guy. He needs to talk normally. How else am I going to hear what he is saying! I bet the people in the back there even have as much trouble hearing what he is saying like we are."
As if to contradict her. On cue, the group would cheer loudly once the person had finished what he needed to say.
"Hell yeah! Now that sounds like the easiest job ever!" One shouted and continued to cheer.
"No one could possibly be able to predict that. They'll all be sitting ducks." Another shouted happily with such malicious intent in his tone.
Hearing them react to such important detail was annoying Yasuline. "They should repeat the plan if its so cool." She says in a huff. But the people in the cloaks would still be celebrating and have their own merry time.
"And with the Adventurers all down here looking for some fake treasure, they might just be lost and we'll have no trouble overtaking the capital too!"
"The rise of Hellfire will be glorious. And the flag of Lumines will burn nicely under our feet."
Yasuline would let out a loud gasp as she hears such sacrilege claim. And it occurred at a bad moment when the talking was just dying down.
"Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, it sounded like a woman. I should know.
"You don't know anything, but for once, you're right."
They all began to look around themselves. Some threw their fire orbs into the open air to light up more of the Labyrinth to make their search that much easier. One of them quicker summoned one and threw it up in the air. Yasu's reaction was slow, but the White Reaper was not. He would yank on her top to pull her out of the way of the orb before it could strike her in the face. "Woah!"
"Up there!" One of them shouted from below. They could hear some heavy footsteps and a few repeated footsteps, indication that some began to run down the bridge, but..
Again, the White Reaper would grab onto Yasu and pulls her out of the way. Two of the hooded beings have jumped up from the bridge below and has climbed up to them. With the fire orb still around, Yasuline could finally see the beings as close as possible. That was when she noticed the single emblem on their hoods. The flame symbol of Hellfire.
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Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153World Fusion-When A Fantasy World And Earth Combine
Earth was dying, that was painstakingly clear to the God that ruled over it. In order to save his most precious creations, he had to fuse it with another planet going through hard times, Mystova. A planet ruled by Demi humans and monsters. It started with a simple text. God said he was changing everything. He was taking Fossil fuels, gun powder, and nuclear material to prevent man from destroying his new creation.In exchange, he offered unique skills to the lucky few who took his text seriously and responded. In a new world with a level system like an RPG game, how will man adapt?Jordan Cain will navigate this new world as he seeks to find something he has never had before. He will have to overcome obstacles and fight for survival as he grows.
8 183The Book of Rune
If you like moderately well-researched semi-medieval military logistics with some fantasy twists, and also conspiracy, and exploration, and violence, and maybe a dash of road movie, hey, Ruen just might be your thing. Plot-wise, basically there's a guy who got fired by Death, a kid with pyrotechnic tendencies, and a slave general who wouldn't mind retiring but ended up on a mass suicide mission. If you were looking for a less TL;DR version, a guy who got fired by Death meets a kid with pyrotechnic tendencies, and they try to get the guy un-fired while also trying to come to terms with death together (ooohhhh, look, I'm deep). Meanwhile a slave general does something stupid and ends up being sent on a suicide mission, and he tries to wreak havoc and save lives at the same time. The threads come together, I swear. This is a rough draft of a fantasy semi-book that I've had in the back of my head for some time. I've written a variety of short stories set in the world over the past three years, and I finally kicked myself into writing the actual story. Very much a slow work in progress. Occasional violence (okay, well, maybe more than occasional), occasional foul language.
8 193Global Awakening: Awakening the New World - A LitRPG Story
This is the year of global mutation, when a sudden announcement descends that in seven days the grey mist will descend. By then the game will merge with reality and Mercury will become a whole new world full of opportunities and challenges
8 74Clean Slate
Humanity ignored the warning and the world came crashing down in a wave of purple madness. Desmond Slattery was one of the few that survived the initial destruction of the apocalypse. He watched from safety as the population mutated and turned on each other. Peaceful animals also transformed into monsters with claws and blood covered fangs. The world became fantasy. But just as they caused death, the changes kept Desmond Slattery alive. Without them he would not have made it through his first civilization ending event. If he wanted to stay alive he was going to have to get stronger. He was going to have to level up, post-apocalyptic RPG style, and there are no extra lives.
8 187It's All Start Here
Subay bayan ang buhay ni Shanine at Kian dito sa wattpad
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