Hardcore Leveling Warrior
Webtoon Ch 316 as of 27/04/22 ** Webtoon Ch 317 finale as of 29/04/22 ** Webtoon Ch 318 epilogue from author read 07/05/22 - Lucid Adventure, a VR RPG you play in your dreams. - The game was released 3yrs ago by the Giga company. - Now everyone plays the game that has come to dominate and influence the economy and society. - ML is HCLW, the no.1 ranked player with all max stats. He was the first player to get to max level. He’s an egotistical asshole. - ML is attacked by a female player who disarms him using a Nightmare skill, and steals all of his weapons and armour. She leaves him to die from a zombie dragon that bites off his head. After dying in the game, ML’s stats and level are reset to 1. - ML is Ethan Gong in real life. 3yrs ago he was forced to sign a contract to work for those he owed money to. ML had to work as a player in a new VR RPG called Lucid Adventure. - After losing everything in the game, ML is taken from his luxury penthouse and imprisoned in a small cell undergound to work on leveling back up again. It’s part of a hidden labour camp underneath the office building of the Miso Logistics company. - Heart Heater (HH), a NPC moneylender, black market dealer and former dragon knight. Rim is also a NPC and HH’s assistant. - Sora was saved by ML at the end of the 1st war in the game. The war was started by “Nightmare”, a red player (PK) guild that gained power through destruction. He told her to get stronger, so she trained in the mountains for the past year. - She protects ML from Rim who is punishing ML for the money he owes HH. - ML has many enemies as he was usually a bastard to other players. HH uses a dog-dragon to escape with ML, Sora and Rim after a strong enemy attacks ML. HH introduces his boss to ML, a young player called Dark. ML is told to help Dark level up. - Yopi Land, capital city of the eastern kingdom - ML needs to prove his skills to Dark. ML has a legal PK fight with a player called Scallion Head. ML wins with a special dagger. - Black Magic dungeon: ML, Sora and Dark clear all 3 floors of the dungeon. The 3rd floor boss was an archfiend demon called Lazie. After being defeated, Lazie becomes a servant spirit in a summoner’s ring that appears on Dark’s finger. - The dungeon tower is suddenly destroyed by a cyborg assassin sent from the Giga Empire. Lime appears to protect ML’s party and she defeats the assassin. She takes ML’s party to meet Yopi who had earlier bet on ML in the fight with Scallion Head. - Yopi, a player and King of Yopi Land / the eastern kingdom. Yopi is also the leader of the Eastern Alliance, the opposing power to the Giga Empire. His real name is David. - In Yopi Land, NPCs and players are treated equally. - Pooh Upooh, a NPC advisor to Yopi. She’s a zombie dark mage. She used to be a dungeon boss but her curse was broken by Yopi before he became a king. - Tac, the Commander of Yopi Land. He has the berserker skill. - Lime, a L100 slime and NPC supporter of Yopi. He helped her to level up and gave her a name. - Roy Han, CEO of the Giga group. He fell unconscious due to ill health before revealing his will. His mind is logged into the game but he hasn’t been found yet. In the game, he’s the Swordmaster player and the President? of the Giga Empire. He has Almighty / Divine skills and is the ruling god of this game world. - Dark, a black mage. Real name: Carter Han 15yo. He is very close with his grandpa, Roy Han. He can see ghosts in real life. - James Han, Roy’s 3rd son and Carter’s father. Carter doesn’t know that James isn’t his biological father. - Light, Vice President of the Giga Empire. L99 master mage. Demonic personal attribute. Real name: Lucas Han 19yo, Carter’s cousin. - Nathan Han, Lucas’ older brother. Giga Games Director. - Sua Han, older sister of Nathan and Lucas. - Sam Han, Roy’s 1st son. Father of Sua, Nathan and Lucas. In the game, he’s the Emperor of the Giga Empire. - ML’s party is given a secret quest to clear the top 20th floor of the Reef dungeon and capture the red player that shows up. - Yopi sent the secret quest to help ML’s party level up faster. - Player Eater / Bamboo Spearman the red player: he has the “Gluttony of the Strong” skill. The more players he eats, the stronger he gets. - ML’s party progressed through the floors. ML used a bug to defeat and capture Player Eater, who was later sent to prison. At the top floor, Roy the Swordmaster is there. He says he’s being chased and tells Dark to look for the answers in the game. He leaves through a portal which clears the floor for ML’s party. - Dark tries to follow Roy. As the party leader, when Dark entered the portal the whole party was teleported to Yopi Land. ML goes on the run from the guards who want to arrest ML for using a bug. If he’s caught, the quest will be made invalid. ML says to Sora and Dark to meet up in 2wks at the combat tournament. - Hidden dungeon, Cave of Atonement: it’s a dungeon that removes one’s sins. ML obtained the key to this dungeon from HH after ML defeated him in the past. ML has to fight and defeat his sins in order to remove them. With this ML removes the sin of using a bug. - Personal attributes are given randomly to players (Ch 22) - The system decides on the attribute based on the player’s real life. It’s a manifestation of their karma from their real life and their unconsciousness. (Ch 301) - Skill / stat type (70% of players): increased skills / stats - Class type (25% of players): allows an extra class but a hidden condition must be met. HCLW is this type. - Person type (5% of players): allows one to become someone or something in history or mythology. One can also create their own skills. This is an extremely rare type. - Transcendental type (?% of players): transcends the laws of the game. Little is known about this type. - Koosiam, a beastman and a black marketeer - Holla, Koosiam’s sister. She can unlock personal attributes through smell. She helps Sora and Dark to awaken their personal attributes. - Sora’s personal attribute: Class type “Taster”, with “Map of Taste” skill. The more she eats, the stronger she gets. - Dark’s personal attribute: transcendental type. His skill manipulates time. - Sora was chosen by an ego sword that ML found at the markets. The sword changes it’s stats and shape according to the owner’s personal attribute. The sword chooses it’s owner. - Combat tournament: players in teams of 3 gather at the Temple of the Combat God to register. - Preliminary round: make it through the Forest of Combat to the Land of Combat. The top 32 teams go to the next round. - An assassin that looks like ML is using a Nightmare dagger to permanently delete players who are in the tournament. ML came across the assassin and recognised the dagger’s paralysing effect as the same one used by the female player before he died. - Subjugation round: teams earn points by killing either monsters or other players. The top 16 teams with the most points after 2 days go to the next round. ML’s team allies with the Small Guilds team and the Yopi Land team. They end up facing the final boss for this round, an archfiend demon called Rigo who was imprisoned after challenging and losing to the combat god. - Most of ML’s allies are either killed or injured by Rigo. Dark casts the Rewind spell on ML which temporarily reverts ML back to when he was his strongest. ML defeats Rigo and receives many valuable items as rewards. They include a potion that instantly revives and heals everyone. ML distributes the items among his team and allies. He keeps for himself a photo of the mystery female player who left him to die. - Lucas leads one of the top Giga teams. He issues a huge bounty on ML’s team and allies for the time left in this round. All of the other teams come looking for them to steal their points and for the reward. ML splits up his team and allies to divide and conquer their enemies. - Giga sponsored the BJ player and archer, Umai to broadcast updates on ML’s location. ML confronts Umai but soon realises someone else is pretending to be Umai as he has the Nightmare dagger used by the assassin. The female player reveals herself as the fake Umai and the assassin. ML has an epic swordfight with her. Somehow she manages to escape. - The system deemed ML the winner and rewarded him with the Sword of Honour, which was his sword before he died. - ML’s past as Ethan Gong: - He became an orphan as a child when his parents died in a multi-vehicle accident. He was bullied so much at school that he decided to drop out. He became addicted to gambling and fell into debt. - ML felt his life turned around when he started playing Lucid Adventure. He considers the VR world to be his real world. - ML’s team receive a special reward for winning the subjugation round. It’s a worker production facility kit for the next round. - Seige round: players will be tested on their strategies. - Every player starts at level 1, but can still use their personal attributes. Teams have a day to build a small castle and take the enemy’s castle to win the round. It’s like a mini war. The players can kill monsters to level up. L10 is the maximum for this round. Only 8 teams will go onto the next round. - 2yrs ago when Lucid Adventure was still new: - Master Swordsman (MS) was rank no.3, ML was rank no.88 - After ML lost to MS in a spar, ML joined MS’ guild Zara. MS is vice guild master. ML continues to challenge and lose to MS. - Armes, guild master of Zara. She has a terminal illness in real life. - Constant, a healer and Zara guild member. Real name: Jin, was in debt and in the same labour camp as ML. - Zara guild defeated Tete guild and completed 70% of the quest. - An absolute quest to conquer the world was given to all players once their characters were created in the game. - The guild master obtained The Book as a mid-quest reward. To upgrade the Book, pages have to be taken from other guild masters. - Giga guild: work as game managers and players in the game. - Nightmare skill: it was a new, evil and dangerous bug that started spreading in the game 2yrs ago. Players become much stronger in just a short amount of time. - Attack on Cobalt castle: - After the Zara guild infiltrated the castle, Armes and Constant went to the cobalt gem tower that supplies magic power throughout the castle. Constant was earlier told by a player called Sad Smile to take a rock with the Nightmare bug close to the cobalt gem tower. Nightmare infected the tower and spread Nightmare to all of the Zara guild members. - Giga guild arrived to arrest the infected players. Armes realised the Nightmare bug was planted by Giga as a means to control players and the game. Giga weren’t the true creators of the game. She allowed herself to be imprisoned and gave up her page in exchange for the release of her guild members. - When ML and MS found Constant, they asked what happened. Constant’s personal attribute “Liar” has awakened. To save himself, Constant blamed it all on Nightmare which started the war. - With the loss of Armes, Constant and many of the Zara guild members left to join Giga. The Zara guild dissolved. - ML finally defeated MS who called off the search for Armes. - Sad Smile is now the lord of Cobalt castle. - In the week before the start of the seige round, ML’s party are given a quest by Pooh Upooh to retrieve an item that was stolen from her. It’s a ritual dagger made from Lazie’s horn. - The Beard Gang were hired by Sad Smile to steal it. - The Hohoian Gang: hohoians are L1 NPCs that change depending on their environment. The gang were mistreated by the bandits and rebelled. They hid the dagger. - Dark uses the dagger with Lazie and protects the hohoians when the Beard Gang attacks. ML’s party defeat the bandits and complete the quest. Pooh Upooh gives the dagger to Dark. The Hohoian Gang pledge allegiance to Dark who gives them land. - ML goes to Cobalt castle on his own. He needs to quickly increase his strength so he can use the Sword of Honour. - On the way ML meets Novelist Han who gives ML a quest to find out what’s causing the undead to appear around the castle. The reward is 500 strength stat and the Lacerate skill. - NPCs are turning into undead while they’re alive. - Giga are conducting magic experiments near the castle. - ML gets into the castle and comes across Constant who is now a Giga hitman under Nathan. Constant tells ML that Sad Smile is the loan shark boss that owns the labour camp in the real world. When Jin paid off his debt and was released from the labour camp, Jin swore revenge on the loan shark boss. - (NB: That’s why Constant was meeting with Sad Smile before the Zara guild attacked Cobalt castle. At the time Constant was being beaten up in the real world by Sad Smile. Constant was forced to do the bidding of Sad Smile.) - ML hates Constant and considers Constant to be a traitor. - After Constant leaves, Sad Smile tells ML the info needed to complete the quest once ML signs a contract. ML has to do one favour for Sad Smile in the future. - 3yrs ago Lucid Adventure was still being developed. - Roy was approached by the rumoured witch who offers something not of this world for a lot of money. She offered the world-creating toy of the gods to Roy. After making a contract with the witch, Roy’s game program was fused with the toy and the world of Lucid Adventure was created. - Zero was the NPC mediator of this game world. She was the seed and primary root of the world. She has the power to absorb and recreate the world. Zero also has the Nightmare ability. - (Later Zero was the female player who setup ML to die) - As Roy pushed ahead with the game despite Sam’s protests, Sam told James to kill Carter. James drugged Carter whose mind was in the game with Roy at the time. Roy sent the witch to save Carter. The witch possessed Carter’s body which distracted James as he was driving. James died after his vehicle drove off a cliff. (Since then Carter can see ghosts?) - Fengxian 15yo. His name is the same as his personal attribute, a hero type of the ultimate warrior with absolute strength from ancient China. He was scouted by Giga and is in the team against ML in the seige round. - The seige round: - ML comes up with the strategy that defeats the Giga party. - Tac destroys a Giga party’s castle on his own. - A “No Name” female player helped a Giga party win. She looks like a mix of Armes and Zero. ML wonders if she could be Armes. - Dark reaches L90 and can get a 2nd job advancement. - A character in the game consists of personal attributes and jobs. - Players can choose their jobs. Advancement becomes available when you reach a certain level. - Dark and ML visit Pooh Upooh for advice with Dark’s job choice. - Pooh Upooh’s body is kidnapped by 2 people who use Nightmare skills and weapons. One of them also has ML’s gold armoured boots from when ML was no.1 rank. Pooh Upooh managed to temporarily transfer her soul into a lab rat before the kidnappers escaped. ML, Dark and Pooh Upooh pursue the kidnappers. They enter a portal then find out the No Name player has tagged along. - Scallion Head, the player ML defeated before, was one of the kidnappers. ML makes a bet and wins. ML receives the armour items back and Scallion Head takes ML to the one who gave him those items. ML is taken to a door and opens it to find himself at Cobalt castle, where Sad Smile greets him. - ML has the gambler class and absolute luck as his personal attributes. Because of his high luck stat, ML was able to take many things from other players when he used the Bet skill (ie money, items, skills and stats). That’s why so many players hate ML as they’d all lost to him. ML also has the Lucky Coin skill. By guessing the toss, he can temporarily raise or lose various stats. The success rate is also high due to his absolute luck. - NB: Novelist Han was Sora’s master when she trained in the mountains for a year. He said she needed to be honest with herself. - Meanwhile Sora asked HH to recommend a mentor. She is referred to MS for training. MS says she needs more live combat experience. He gets her to fight the most wanted red players in the game that doubles as a bounty hunt for his guild. - The fallen guild led by Scallion Head was using Nightmare skills to regain their strength and power. - They are just some of the pawns of Nightmare (under Zero), who are waiting for Nightmare (under Zero) to return and kill the gods. - Strong players are being kidnapped and killed to extract their karma which is used to make Nightmare weapons. Ultimately Zero wants to create a weapon that can kill a god. - Yopi arrives with a team to rescue Pooh Upooh. Her body was crushed for its karma. Her soul transfers to the dead body of a witch provided by Yopi. Back in Yopi Land, they discuss the possibility of war now they know there are traitors in the Eastern Alliance. - Sad Smile reveals to ML that he has a transcendental personal attribute, Contractor. In the past, Giga stabbed Sad Smile with the Nightmare dagger. To stop his character from being deleted, Sad Smile made a contract with Giga. Since then Sad Smile has been doing the dirty work behind the scenes for Giga. - Sad Smile calls in the favour ML owes him from their contract. Giga knows that ML is working under Sad Smile in the real world. Giga ordered Sad Smile to get ML to betray and kill Dark in the tournament. If ML refuses, he will die for not fulfilling the contract. - Yopi’s quest for Dark’s best bday gift: the reward is the King’s Blessing and 10k XP. ML went to the Thorn King’s dungeon that only opens once a year. He obtained a legendary item after defeating a master elven archer. He gives the item to Dark. It’s a legendary eye that allows the user to see the trajectory of objects’ past and future. - While searching for a gift, No Name ended up at Dragon Mountain. She encountered an ancient dragon who identifies No Name as a special Nightmare entity. For some reason No Name’s mind isn’t tainted by the power of Nightmare and she can keep her human side intact. The dragon casts a spell on No Name’s heart to control her power so she doesn’t go berserk in the future. - The Hohoian Village established by Dark is finished. - Giga break the magic barrier over the village and try to destroy it. Swordmaster and Novelist Han protect the village. Emperor Sam Han arrives to fight directly with Swordmaster who has merged with Novelist Han. - Sam was put in charge by Roy to suppress Nightmare. Instead Sam has become the Nightmare itself. Sam thinks Zero is under his control, when it’s really the other way around. - When the game was still being developed, Roy asked his children to test the game. Zero approached Sam to join forces against Roy. With Zero’s help, Sam is using the power of the game world to rule over the real world. - Yopi arrives as the village is located in his kingdom and he considers Giga’s attack to be an invasion of his territory. He brought others from Yopi Land and MS’ guild to stop the invaders. - A massive army of robot soldiers from Giga arrives. Pooh Upooh summons an undead army and giant blood golems. - ML’s team were on their way to visit the village. They get caught up in the fighting when Dark protects Swordmaster against Light. - Swordmaster summons all of the other gods. They stop time and discuss how to decide who will be the next ruling god. - They agree to use the PVP round to decide. Each god, including Zero, will choose a team to support. The god of the team that wins the PVP round will be the next ruling god. - The gods do a mass teleport and send everyone back to either the Giga Empire or Yopi Land. - Zero was a god that was used as a tool to create the world that Roy envisioned. Research was needed to complete this world and in the process, Zero saw how humans corrupted the real world. - Zero decided the game world had to be destroyed for good before humans corrupted it too. - Zero and Roy each had a half-core of the world so if either of them disappeared, the game world would collapse. - Zero tried to destroy the half-core inside her but Roy cut up her body to isolate the half-core in her head. - He made it so the dreams of the players would create a new half-core to stabilise the game world. - The ancient dragon visits HH and brought No Name for HH to take in. This was an order from their mentor. - Light has a special recruitment session to find 4 strong players. These 4 new recruits then fight the other Giga team members to determine who participates in the PVP round. - ML’s party go to Yopi Land to ask for info on the PVP round. Yopi and Akira (co-founder of Yopi Land) won the combat tournament in the past. Akira blames Dark for the loss of their troops during the Giga attack on the Hohoian Village. After losing the bet with Akira, Dark leaves Yopi Land with ML and HH, never to return. Sora goes with them to a territory in the north that was given by Yopi as half payment for his debt to HH. - HH obtains a god-tier lucky draw for Dark. - Darkist’s Secret Book of Black Magic Techniques (a divine item). Darkist was the legendary creator of black magic. - The god of death chose the Ultimate Healers team. - The god of blessings chose Light’s Giga team. - The 3 gods of time and space chose the Small Guilds team. - Small Guilds team (Grass Roots guild): - Choco Bibi (ex-Zara), mage - Tempest (ex-Zara), magic weapons - Drip Soup, swordsman - Cocomori (ex-Giga), swordswoman - NB: Master Swordsman (MS), swordmaster and guild master. - PVP round: consists of 1-on-1 duels between teams that progress through a process of elimination. A new player may replace an original team member who is unable to continue due to an accident or unforeseen circumstances. - The gods agreed to let the teams consist of 4 instead of 3 players for this round. Giga either assassinated or imprisoned any players that were possible threats. This made it difficult for ML’s team to recruit a 4th member. In the end HH registers with ML’s team. - 1st match: ML’s team (a close win) vs Yopi Land team - 2nd match: Small Guilds team vs Light’s Giga team (win) - 3rd match: Ultimate Healers team (win) vs Park’s Giga team - 4th match: Timmy’s Giga team vs Guru’s Giga team (win) - No Name is on Guru’s Giga team and won the match for them. When ML sees the skills used by No Name are the same as Armes, he confronts her after the match to reveal herself. No Name doesn’t acknowledge being called Armes by ML. - Vinjure the Evil Dragon / Dragon of Darkness, master of all dragons, the king of greed, and a dragon who sees all. He’s one of the 1st dragons in this world, created as a balancing force against the gods. - As a dragon knight, HH signed a contract with the Evil Dragon to borrow its power in battle. That dragon was his mentor. - HH is in trouble with his mentor for breaking his oath. - After leaving his mentor to look for a woman, HH wasn’t allowed to use the dragon’s power without the Evil Dragon’s consent. The dragon also took HH’s eye. - HH is punished with a deadly curse from the dragon. He’s ordered to visit the dragon with ML’s team. They go to Dragon Mountain and enter the Dragon’s Gate. They meet the Evil Dragon who makes ML’s team undergo the dragon’s trial. If they don’t pass, their characters will be permanently deleted. - They are each sent to a dungeon that’s customised to make them face their karma. This was secretly set up by the witch who made the contract with Roy. Their karma is the gap between the real and the fake world. It’s a trial of contradiction to defeat the inner you that can never be defeated. - Sloth is ML’s karma. He abandoned everything in the real world and only desires the fake world. - Pride is Dark’s karma. He has faith in the power of money. He thinks with money, everything is easy and everyone can be beaten. - Ignorance is Sora’s karma. She believes everything can be achieved through hard work, regardless of the nature of the world. - They pass the trial. The Evil Dragon refers to them as the promised ones who will see the end of the game. The dragon grants them the title of “heroes / cursed warriors”. - The curse is removed from HH. They leave to prepare for the tournament. - HH gives hero-tier weapons to Dark and Sora. - Dark got a bracelet with the Curse of Darkist. It allows rapid mana recovery. Sora got the Light Sword of the 1st Grandmaster Knight. - HH gives ML the dragon pearl headpiece that was part of the armour from when ML was no.1 rank. It was only minimally restored. - 1st semifinal: Light’s Giga team vs Ultimate Healers team - Light’s Giga team: (win) - Secretary Kim, L92 spearwoman, Valkyrie personal attribute. Ranker no.43 - Secretary Park, L93 weapon master (sword specialist) personal attribute. Ranker no.49 - Demon, L90 gambler class personal attribute - 2nd semifinal: ML’s team vs Guru’s Giga team - Both teams go all out for this match. - Lila has both swordsman and chef classes. She fights with Sora. Lila uses her hidden subclass, Hell’s Kitchen Mad Chef. - Sora awakens the next level of her personal attribute. - Her ego sword evolves after consuming the Light Sword. - Dark summons powerful undead knights who were ancient heroes that fought in the age of demons. Dark promises to free Lazie if he helps until the end of the tournament. - No Name releases her purified Nightmare power. She’s not corrupted as a result of her own abilities and the dragon’s spell. No Name also awakens her personal attribute to its maximum level. Ultimately her team is defeated as she was too focused on fighting ML and thought she could win the match on her own. - The gods agree with the god of death’s proposal to hold the final match right away. They allow 4hrs for both teams to get ready. - ML, Guru and Lila have logged out. - Constant tries to prevent Sad Smile from logging out to kill ML. Nathan and his team stop Constant. - Guru and Lila are inmates of the labour camp with ML in the real world. They made a plan to escape and board a ship to China. They managed to get Dongmin Ha, the RH man of the loan shark boss on their side. The boss wakes up just as Dongmin was about to stab him. The boss kills Dongmin and goes after ML. - On the way to the port by car, ML logs back in with just minutes to spare. For going to fight Giga in the final and not killing Dark, ML is instantly executed for violating the contract with Sad Smile. His character is reset to L1 again. - Final match: ML’s team - Dark, L90 black mage, transcend. personal attribute (time spells). - Sora, L90 great swordswoman, taster class personal attribute. - HH, L99 loan shark / former dragon knight (rare class) - ML, gambler class, lucky personal attribute - Dark uses the rewind time spell on ML who reverts back to when he was no.1 rank. ML stuns Light who faints. Then the other 3 members of Light’s team are quickly defeated by ML. - Light’s arrogance led to him to underestimate ML. When Light recovers, he’s toyed with by ML who wants to punish him more. - Light is forced to awaken his Nightmare powers that are similar to Zero’s. Light destroys the entire divine arena. ML still manages to defeat Light and keep his team mates safe. - ML’s team are declared the winners of an epic match that will go down in history. Suddenly the team find themselves in a hidden zone. Swordsmaster appears and says they made it to the hidden ending. He tells Dark that he used the last of his energy to create this moment and he’ll soon die in the real world. - Swordmaster gives his last will to Dark: - Live the life you want. Don’t let anything hold you back. - Make a lot of friends. Be happy. - Swordmaster and the hidden zone vanishes. - The combat god congratulates the team on winning and gives the prize to HH. The god of death and the god of blessings had bet that Light using Nightmare would win. These gods have lost their divinity as the price for losing the bet. - The combat god prepares to punish these ex-gods and the players that used Nightmare in the tournament. Suddenly the god of death kills and devours the god of blessings. The god of death was greedy for power and swallowed a seed of Zero’s essence before the PVP round. Zero took over the god of death from the inside. - Zero has been recovering in the Abyss (the Origin). She spread her Nightmare ability like a parasite to make others do her bidding in the game world. The female player that faced no.1 ranked ML was most likely a servant of Nightmare that took on Zero’s appearance. - Zero appears and she stops the attack from the combat god. Her body and powers are fully recovered. She can also use the powers of the gods she consumed. The Ultimate Healers team were Zero’s secret agents. They use their Nightmare powers to capture 1000s of players who were match spectators. Energy from the real world is extracted from the players’ negative emotions and absorbed by Zero. Then the players are turned into servants of Nightmare. - While the combat god continues to attack Zero, she grows in strength as more players are captured. Nathan and all of the people working for the Giga Empire escape using a magic portal. - ML’s team, No Name, and the teams from Yopi Land and MS’ Small Guilds join forces to attack the Ultimate Healers team. - In the past, Yopi met the Swordmaster who asked Yopi to investigate Zero and Nightmare. - Rankers Helena (no.12) and Coma (no.9) encourage Dark to calm the crowd of players. Dark calls this an event that everyone needs to clear or else the game will end for good. His small speech turned everyone’s despair into hope. Yopi uses a magic spell from Swordmaster that extracts the energy from the players’ positive emotions. The energy is then absorbed by the combat god and the gods of time and space, strengthening them like it did with Zero. The tide has turned and Zero can sense her defeat. - An Ultimate Healer team member sacrifices themself to uncover a hidden rule in the system that was buried by Roy. This new rule now applies to everyone (except for No Name and Dark). For every dream, there must be a nightmare. Doppelgängers of the original players emerge, known as Nightmare players. The original is permanently deleted if killed by the Nightmare player. - The gods of time and space shared their divine power with Choco Bibi. His personal attribute is space. He teleports his Nightmare player elsewhere. All of the original players escape through a large scale teleportation spell cast by Choco Bibi. - The divine power put an immense strain on his body and damaged the mana veins in his eyes. Later Tempest and Drip Soup completed a difficult mission to obtain the ingredients to make special glasses for Choco Bibi. - Yopi cancelled the teleport spell on himself. He cast a final spell that summoned the power of the Swordmaster. Yopi used that power to kill the gods and Zero. His goal was to scatter the divine power of the gods and return that power to the players. Now the complete masters of this world are the players. Triggered by the end of the game world ruled by gods, Roy Han’s final will is broadcast across both worlds. - Nightmare Choco Bibi teleported all of the Nightmare players to where he was. They need someone to unify and lead them. They decide to find No Name and make her their Queen, as she’s Zero’s daughter. - The prize from the tournament was a royal seal that is the symbol of a legitimate king. Dark named his territory in the north, Dark Land and is now it’s king. After advertising for new residents, people travel from all over to settle in this new country. The Hohoians from the village in Yopi’s territory also relocated to Dark Land. After helping to establish the new nation, Sora leaves on a journey to strengthen herself. - ML was forced to log out as the gods started fighting. - His body was in a car accident with Guru and Lila. - Guru managed to run away but ML and Lila were found in the car by the loan shark boss. Guru saves ML and Lila by driving a car over the thugs holding them captive and knocking out the boss. There’s an explosion, with Guru likely to be dead. - ML and Lila try to get away but are surrounded by more of the boss’ men. They are put into barrels and dumped at sea. - 2yrs later, ML is still missing and presumed dead by many. - Dark believes ML is still alive and continues to search for ML. Dark has a new time skill, “Clock Spring of the Past” that lets him learn the past of everything that exists in the game world. - Before Lazie left, Dark was trained in combat using Lazie’s deadly Bear Hunt move. Giga constantly send assassins to kill Dark in both the game and real worlds. Dark has become an experienced fighter as a result. Dark is now no.3 in the rankings. - 17yo Dark is a 1st year student attending Lucid High School in the game. He has a group assignment to investigate the issues in Lucid Adventure. His group chose the recent Nightmarisation of monsters as their topic. His group includes Fengxian, Werewolf and a new transfer student called Chota (Min). They defeat a monster and capture it’s Nightmare core. - A demon noble under the command of the Nightmare Queen (No Name) attacks Dark and his group. Dark destroys the demon but a part of the demon survives and uses Nightmare to possess Chota. - Chota was killed by ML in the past. The demon manifests as ML through Chota from his memory of ML. - Sora returns in time to save Dark’s group and releases Chota from Nightmare. HH arrives and helps to decontaminate Chota from the Nightmare parasite. HH advises the demons have allied with Nightmare and are taking over castles to conquer the world. - Dark finds a piece of ML’s lucky coin in Chota’s eye. Dark hopes finding more pieces will lead to ML. - Sleepwalking Syndrome: it’s a condition that forces a player to fulfill in real life an agreement made in the game. - Dark accepts quests for a very high fee. He’s asked to look into what made Chang, a male K-pop idol strip naked during a comeback concert. Dark entered the idol’s past memories and saw the idol lost a PK fight. The idol was involved with Huu, a female celebrity. Her fans were influenced by Nightmare to attack Chang in the game. Dark and Sora stop the fans from attacking Huu next. From the fans, Dark finds another lucky coin piece. - Current status and land ownership of guilds: - Giga, no.1 guild with 35% of all land - Elixir Plant (Dragon of Light), no.2 guild with 25% of all land. - Anti-Giga Alliance. 5 major guilds, including Yopi and Sad Smile. 20% of all land. - Dark, united with small guilds. 9% of all land. - New Nightmare (under No Name), rapidly expanding their land. - Roy Han’s will: his CEO of Giga position will be passed on to whomever is the 1st to see the final ending of Lucid Adventure. - After Roy’s death, Sam told Carter to quit the game. Carter refused to quit and he was exiled from the luxury Han family residence to survive on his own. Helen, a Giga employee (Overseas team, Games), took in Carter and looked after him. - Carter under a false identity enrolled in a public school for the 1st time. He was the target of bullies. HH coached Dark on fighting so he could survive and grow stronger in the real world. - Fengxian was one of the strongest thugs in the school. He was fired from Giga after his team lost to ML’s team in the tournament. - Carter became skilled in trading shares to earn money. - As a potential heir, Carter was seen as a threat that had to be eliminated. Nathan ordered for Carter and Helen to be killed. - Fengxian saved Helen after he saw men attacking her in an alley. Helen told Fengxian who Carter really is and that he’d be the main target. Fengxian went to save Carter next. The thugs attacking Carter were forced to flee when the police came. - Helen was still kidnapped and probably killed by Nathan. - MS heard about Carter’s situation. They met in real life and MS found a safe place for Carter to live. Later Carter found out Helen was investigating ML’s whereabouts, the Miso company and its connection with Giga. Carter wants to crush Giga with his own strength. - The Tower of Abstinence: a new dungeon. - HH detected ML’s karma here. Dark’s school group and Sora clear the floors of the dungeon. To clear the top floor and the whole dungeon, 3 teams must compete. The others are Heriach (Hercules) and Apple from Giga under Sua, and Light’s Giga team. - Dark and Sora defeats Heriach and Apple. Dark used a new regression (time) skill and summoned an ancient dragon. Sora used Taster at maximum level. - As this dungeon involves a trial of abstinence, players are dealt damage from their desires. The dungeon guardian amplified the desires to stop Light’s attack on Dark that would destroy the dungeon. Both teams for Light and Dark failed the trial and are sent back to their territories. Chota had no desires and won the trial. He’s teleported back to Dark Land with the divine power as his reward. Dark extracts another piece of the lucky coin from the divine power. - Crosswalk of the Moon: a new dungeon. - Another place where HH detected ML’s karma. - The armies of Elixir Plant vs Giga are fighting in front of the dungeon. The Grass Roots guild make it past both armies and enter the dungeon. They clear the dungeon and obtain the divine power as the reward. - Grass Roots guild: - Master Swordsman, swordmaster - Tempest, holy shooter - Drip Soup, holy knight - Choco Bibi, time and space mage - Queen No Name sent teams to get the divine power from the Tower of Abstinence and Crosswalk of the Moon dungeons. The team sent to the Tower of Abstinence were too late. - The Nightmare players of Grass Roots arrive at the Crosswalk. They use an unstable Nightmare boss monster chimera to destroy the dungeon and kill the dungeon guardian. - The original Grass Roots have grown stronger and almost defeat the Nightmare players. Choco Bibi dropped his guard against his Nightmare player and was used as a hostage. Nightmare Choco Bibi made MS surrender, then said he wanted the divine power and a rematch in 2mths. - Akira visited Dark and asked to join Dark Land. - Akira and Yopi fought as Akira disagrees with the path Yopi is on. - A year ago, Tac died in a car accident in real life. Yopi suspects Giga was behind it and he’ll do anything to get his revenge. - Principal, Elixir Plant guild master. She has the Armistice Agreement skill, a promise skill that has a strong binding force. - She also has a skill of rules that can reestablish or recreate the existing rules of this game world. - Stone, Elixir Plant vice guild master, current no.1 rank. - Players killed by Nightmare wake up in the real world with no memory of playing the game. This problem has become widespread. Nightmare has also been able to rapidly conquer castles that are weakened due to the fighting between guilds. - The Elixir Plant guild leads the call for a truce among the guilds and to unite against Nightmare. - The Starting House: a neutral territory where the summit talk is held between the 4 top guilds. - The alliance between the guilds to subdue Nightmare will be called the Guilds’ Union. Yopi sets up Giga and Dark Land to battle for the position of union leader. HH will represent Dark Land. Xiang Yu the supreme king will fight for Giga. It’s a greater risk for HH as an NPC. He will cease to exist if he dies. - HH summons the dragon's mana. In doing so he’s also summoned the Evil Dragon who saves HH from being killed. The dragon possesses HH. Xiang Yu is authorised by Emperor Sam to use his double personal attributes. This is new technology developed from a top secret experiment by Giga to copy and overlay personal attributes. The dragon protects HH’s body and kills Xiang Yu. - The Evil Dragon warns that Nightmare will become a greater disaster than himself. A messenger for the Dragon of Light appears and says Nightmare is trying to open the door between the game world and the real world. If that happens, both worlds will collapse. - After the alliance was formed, a special quest called Great War appeared for everyone. - Hephai, this world’s only master blacksmith. She inherited the skills from her sister after she died. Hephai used to work for Giga but left to look for something more meaningful. - Sora and her ego sword (Ego) had an argument during her travels and they parted ways. Ego can now take human form. Ego has been stealing and eating weapons. Near the Starting House, Ego was being punished by Hephai after eating one of her swords and running away. Sora heard Ego’s cries and came to the rescue. The matter between Ego and Hephai is resolved. - Hephai had been given a lucky coin piece by a fortune teller and told to wait near the Starting House. Sora invites Hephai to Dark Land. Hephai gives the piece to Dark who completes the lucky coin. - Dark is suddenly taken to the Realm of Souls. He follows ML’s karma to the demon world. ML as HCLW is unconscious inside a mass of negative emotions. Dark is forced to leave before he is killed by an unknown entity. - Nightmare have persuaded almost all known named monsters to stand with Nightmare. Monsters buffed by Nightmare become very powerful. - The monster type personal attribute is new and appeared after the gods perished. Chota has the Sandbag Slime attribute. - Chota can save an opponent’s skills when he’s hit by that opponent. He can’t use skills that are above his level. He can also revive after dying. - Dark’s group go to a Hohoian mine village on the outskirts of Dark Land, where goblin minions of Nightmare have attacked. Dark tells Chota to prove himself after all of his training and defeat the goblins by himself. Chota is successful. - Strategists of the Guilds’ Union: - HH of Dark Land - Pooh Upooh of Yopi Land - Zhuge Kong Ming (Blue Dragon) of Giga - Pang Tong (Young Phoenix) of Elixir Plant - To motivate the rankers, a few rules were added by the Union to increase the sense of rivalry. The Nightmare players use their violence and desire to be acknowledged to hunt the rankers. The Nightmare players are also ranked. 1. Stone, Elixir Plant, warrior class. 2. Ham, Giga / independent, chess skill. 3. Dark, Dark Land 4. Master Swordsman, Grass Roots 5. Kang Lim, Giga, grim reaper skill. 6. Zhao Yun, Giga. (Kang Lim is her fiancé.) 7. 8. 9. Coma, Dark Land 10. Cave, independent 11. 12. Helena, Dark Land - Dark asks the Grass Roots guild to help rescue ML from beyond the boundary. Dark’s group go to the boundary and face a high level demon with several Nightmare chimeras in containers. With ranker Cave’s help, they defeat the demon and destroy the chimeras. - At Jelly Village near the boundary, Grass Roots face the 2nd demon prince. MS’ personal attribute at max level is the hero type, Admiral Yi Sun Shin. When MS sacrifices himself to save the others, his ultimate skill is awakened. He uses an ancient battle ship to defeat the demon prince who was Nightmarised. Part of the reward is the demon prince’s soul. A fragment is stolen by other agents of Nightmare. - Grass Roots teleports to Dark’s group. They use the karma from the defeated demons to create a portal to cross the boundary. - Constant killed the 3rd demon prince to obtain his karma. He found out about Dark crossing the boundary and plans to follow him. Constant knows this must be related to ML. At the boundary, another Nightmare agent steals a demonic soul fragment from Constant. - Constant’s personal attribute “Liar”: - When he says a lie, others believe it to be the truth. - He can fool magic, skills, minds and bodies with his elaborate lies. It becomes uncertain what is real and what isn’t. - The penalty for this attribute is the more it’s used, the more Constant becomes unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. Constant is slowly going crazy. - ML could be one of the keys to defeating Nightmare. - Dark is protected by the almighty god's power and isn’t affected by Nightmare. - Dark’s group and Grass Roots arrive at the demon world. - They’re asked by Lazie’s family to save Lazie who has been imprisoned by the Council of Elders. Lazie was against the demons joining Nightmare and fought the Elders but lost. - Dark, Sora, Fengxian and Choco Bibi go to the Demonic Tower to rescue Lazie. - The Elders infected Lazie with Nightmare. - Unlike players, NPCs can’t remove the taint of Nightmare. In the fight between Lazie and Dark, Lazie asks Dark to let him honourably die in battle. After Lazie’s death, Dark receives Lazie’s essence. Dark absorbs the essence and knows where ML is. - Dark’s class is upgraded to Dark Emperor. - Ham, Kang Lim, and Zhao Yun are defeated by the 1st demon prince and the heir to Master Devil. Stone accepts the quest issued by Giga and arrives to fight the demon prince. - Stone is in a coma in real life. He was chosen by the Dragon of Light and summoned to be the warrior hero that saves the world from destruction. He was given the 5 swords of the ancient warriors who fought the demons. - Stone uses all of his power to defeat the 1st demon prince. - While Stone is weakened, Nightmare players steal the reward which includes the soul of the 1st demon prince. - The Nightmare chimeras have been failed experiments so far. The ultimate chimera is a combination of the strongest monster and the strongest player to produce the strongest weapon for Nightmare. The demonic soul fragments and Nightmare use ML’s body as a vessel to become the ultimate weapon. - Giga forces are weakened after the fight with the 1st demon prince. Yopi takes this chance to break the contract with the Guilds’ Union and attack Giga’s main castle with his anti-Giga allies. - Yopi has the trading card game ability. It can handle everything that exists in the game in the form of cards. - Ultimately Sam is defeated by Yopi who used a Nightmare card. Before a sleepwalking command to Sam can be given, Yopi is stopped by Akira. - While Yopi and Akira are distracted fighting each other, Nathan arrives and defeats them both. Nathan admits to being the one behind Tac’s death, who died under the effect of the Sleepwalking Syndrome. Nathan has betrayed Giga and joined Nightmare. He completely eliminates Sam, Yopi and Akira. - The Queen leads the Nightmare forces to conquer Giga’s main castle. Nightmare have now completed 90% of the absolute quest. All that remains is to defeat the first dragons, Vinjure the Evil Dragon and Lahlou the Good Dragon / Dragon of Light. - Dark had asked HH to get Light on side. HH saved Light from Nathan’s treachery. Dark offers a deal for Light’s help in the real world to find ML. In exchange, Dark will end the game and handover the CEO position of the Giga group to Light. - Master Devil’s Castle: As Dark’s group and Grass Roots approach the castle, they’re met by the Nightmare players who want to kill their originals. Nightmare Choco Bibi teleports each Nightmare player with their original to separate areas with special barriers. Dark is faced with Nightmare versions of Light, Sua and Roy. - During Sora’s journey, she followed the Map of Taste to unlock skills and level up as she hunted and ate rare ingredients. - The last one was the Evil Dragon’s tail. She received it after withstanding the effect of dragon’s fear. - To defeat her Nightmare player, Sora finally unlocks the reward for eating the tail. Her class is upgraded to a Hero of Taste. Ego is also upgraded to the Hero’s Sword. - On Sora’s journey, Lila gave her “kitchen knife” ego sword to Sora’s ego sword to consume. Ego’s upgrade enables it to use the “kitchen knife” abilities too. - ML is using the party effect to receive XP from the Nightmare players fighting their originals and has leveled up. He refuses to follow the Queen’s orders and challenges her to a duel with all of her stats as ML’s prize of he wins. The Queen has inherited Zero’s powers. Before she kills ML, she’s stopped by masked Nathan. - MS was saved by Constant. Then MS and Constant got through a crack in the barrier and saved Choco Bibi. The barrier breaks and everyone returns to the same place. ML arrives to save the Nightmare players. Dark manages to grab onto ML and transmit their past memories together. ML recalls who he is and wakes up from Nightmare. - Nathan appears and ML falls under his control again after a drug is injected into his real body. Nathan badly injures Constant. Nathan has ML kill the Nightmare players to obtain their XP and level up quickly. - Nathan saved the loan shark boss, ML and Lila in real life. He included ML and Lila in experiments he was conducting using drugs to split the minds of players so he could control them. Then he created the Nightmare chimeras by combining players with monsters. - In the fight against ML, Constant uses the last of his power and dies. Dark uses a tracking spell on ML when a window of opportunity is created by everyone’s efforts. Dark locates where ML is in the real world. He sends the coordinates to Light who logs out. - In the real world, Lucas heads to the abandoned hospital site where ML is. - Before he died, Constant sent a message to all of his team members of the 13th squad under Nathan. They realised all of them were lied to by Nathan who used their weaknesses in real life to control them. The 13th squad arrive to support Dark and his allies. - HH sends a message to Dark that the first dragons are on their way. Choco Bibi, Vegani from the 13th squad, and Sad Smile (teleported by Vegani) combine their powers to teleport the first dragons. To buy time to setup the spell, MS sacrifices himself and fights ML on his own. Just as ML killed MS, the teleportation is successful and the first dragons, Stone and HH appear. - ML badly injures Stone. The Evil Dragon sacrifices himself to give Dark and Sora the chance to send their soul forms into ML’s mind. Nathan’s connection with ML’s mind is broken. - Nathan had already copied 99% of ML’s powers. He attacks Queen No-Name with an army of Nightmare puppets. - No Name uses Zero’s powers to defeat Nathan. - She attacks the Dragon of Light. She destroys the dragon using the power from the real world. The absolute quest is complete and the gate to the real world will open in 7hrs. - In the real world, the life energy of people logged into Lucid Adventure is being absorbed by the game world. - Through the Queen and Nightmare, Zero intends to attain her goal of wiping out humanity and start afresh as the god of a new world. - Nathan appears again and attacks No Name. He was waiting for her to complete the absolute quest so he could take over. - Nathan’s personal attribute is transcendental. It allows him to infinitely create his character. - Nathan Han is actually Nathan Pyo. The real Nathan Han was an illegitimate son of Sam Han. The 2 Nathans were in the same orphanage and the same gang in Busan together. - During a gang war, Nathan Han died but left his hair clippings for Nathan Pyo to live a new life under the Han family. - In ML’s mind, Dark and Sora see ML’s memories from the real world. The witch appears and tells them to find the real ML from his memories to wake him up and save him. - There are armed drug addicts that are protecting the abandoned hospital where ML’s body is being held captive.
Regressor instructional manual
Ch 42 as of 10/08/22 - also on Tapas ** Ch 16-19 to read (done on Tapas) ** ML is unlikeable - ML is Lee Giyeong 25yo who accepts an invitation to a game on his mobile. He’s teleported to another world as one of the potential warriors chosen to save a dying continent. Only the survivors of the tutorial will be qualified to go to the continent. - ML has the Mind’s Eye skill (heroic tier) that allows him to see the status windows and tiers of others, including monsters. His tendency is the Careful Strategist. He is cunning and manipulative. ML will do anything to survive, even if it means losing his humanity. He has low stats and low potential for growth. - Tier: Normal, Rare, Heroic, Legendary - Everyone has special classes and unique attributes / skills. - Start Point: the tutorial waiting room has weapons and resources. - The tutorial location was prepared to assist in maximising everyone’s different characteristics and to help them to grow. - After the intro is given, the protective barrier around everyone breaks down and the monsters attack. - ML teams up with Park Dukgoo (DG) who has high stamina. - ML has a spear and DG has a shield. They also have some food. Like a game, they need to level up and get stronger. - Jung Hayan 21yo, a future archmage. She has max growth potential. Her tendency is Pure Supporter. Her parents died and her 2 older sisters abandoned her. ML and DG try to save her from monsters after ML saw her status window. - Kim Hyunsung (HS) 22yo, regressor of Altanus and swordsman class (normal tier). He has the Sword Specialist skill (legendary). His stats are either legendary or heroic. His tendency is the Benevolent Arbitrator. He also has max growth potential. - HS kills the monsters to save ML, DG and Hayan. - A safe haven for over 30 survivors has been setup by HS. - He’s been looking for more survivors and recruits ML and DG for their combat skills. HS seems to recognise Hayan from his past life. - Lee Jihye 29yo, selfish and ambitious, low stats and low potential. She rules the survivor camp when HS is away. - After killing monsters with HS to level up together, ML and DG unlock their classes. ML chooses to be a mage (normal) and his intellect and magic stats increase. DG is a shield warrior. - ML uses the sexual harassment of Hayan by Seokwoo (one of Jihye’s lackeys) as an opportunity to exert his control over the camp. He’s also seen as a saviour by Hayan. Later Jihye speaks to ML privately and they agree to work together. (Ugh they kiss) - To get closer to Hayan, ML and Hayan have been learning magic together. ML saw Hayan chose mage as her class, with the Exemplary Mage skill (heroic). He knows she’s lying when she says she hasn’t chosen it yet. Hayan wants to prolong her lessons with ML so she’s lying about her ability on purpose. She likes ML and is scared he’ll abandon her. - Park Hyeyoung 27yo, Calculative Diplomat tendency. She’s one of Jihye’s lackeys and convinces ML to include her on the next hunt. - Hyeyoung bullies and scares Hayan about ML, triggering a mad and jealous obsession in Hayan towards ML. - Hyeyoung and Hayan join ML, DG and HS on the hunt. - Hyeyoung feels threatened by ML and she attracts more monsters to try and kill him. Hayan uses her magic to kill Hyeyoung. ML finds them and he uses fire magic to dispose of Hyeyoung’s body. - HS lured the monsters away from the rest of the party. - He says he found magic items in a treasure chest and gives them to ML, DG and Hayan. Magic accessories can only be activated one at a time and can’t be stacked. DG gets the iron dwarf’s steel bracelets (normal), ML takes a magic shield ring (rare), and Hayan gets the sacred healing ring (rare). HS says he considers them all to be his comrades. - Jung Jinho 29yo, leader of murderous survivors who had a different Start Point. He’s a battle mage (rare) and his tendency is Calculating (psycho) Killer. - Seokwoo left the camp using the excuse of helping ML’s hunting party. He returns with Jinho and his men. HS welcomes them to stay at the camp. He recognises Jinho as an enemy from his past life. - The tutorial’s undergound dungeon: a rare-tier survival quest. - Jinho, 2 of his men and Seokwoo join HS’ party for this quest. Jinho plans to murder them and take control of their camp. HS already told the party to treat Jinho and the others as enemies. - They enter the dungeon and monsters attack. ML holds back Hayan and DG from helping and lets one of Jinho’s men die. - ML is attacked by Seokwoo and Jinho’s 2nd man after he provoked them earlier. Jinho is angry that his plans were ruined by Seokwoo and the other man. HS fights Jinho when he tries to attack them. Hayan heals ML with her magic ring while DG knocks out Seokwoo. ML kills Seokwoo and Hayan kills Jinho’s 2nd man who ran off. HS kills Jinho. - ML receives options for a rare-tier class upgrade. ML decides to choose the alchemist after HS offers to give him a magic item: an Intro to Alchemy book (heroic-tier). - The party enter a room that has a magic circle on the floor. HS transfers some mana to the circle and it clears the tutorial dungeon. - A door on the other side of the room opens. - Lee Sanghee 33yo, vice guild master of the Blue guild. - Her class is Sacred Knight (heroic). Iron Blood is her title and skill. Ideal Mediator is her tendency. - She’s the manager of the tutorial dungeon and will oversee the rescue of the survivors still inside. - The party finally make it outside. They’re treated like VIPs and taken to a local branch of the Blue guild. It all appears luxurious but ML quickly realises it's all fake. - The party cleared the tutorial dungeon in 3mths, the fastest in history. Usually it takes about 6mths. ML can tell the Blue guild are desperate to recruit his party to revive their power and fortunes. - HS was the Blue guild master in his past life. Everyone in the guild died. This time he’s determined to save everyone. - The Continent: Holy Empire, Republic, Kingdom Union. - There are several tutorial dungeons across the continent. - Lee Seolho is a Blue Elder and administrative team leader. - In the individual interviews, ML is insulted, scorned and patronised by the Blue guild chief executives. They consider ML to be worthless and useless. He convinces his party to wait until their skills demonstration in front of the other nations and guilds. - Hayan upgrades her class to Elemental Mage (rare). She has legendary-tier magic stats. ML makes her study hard for the demo. - The skills demonstration is held in a massive stadium. Hayan is first, followed by HS, DG and ML. Hayan casts an elemental bomb that destroys the stage. HS loses his duel against a swordmaster on purpose but still shows off his good points. - DG has a test of endurance against a dungeon monster that ends in a tie. ML casts a blue flame pillar. The spectators and scouts see how close ML’s relationship is with the others, especially with Hayan. The offers to recruit them skyrocket. - Cha Heera 28yo, Mercenary Queen class (legendary-tier) - She’s the guild master of the Red Mercenaries guild, 1 of the top 3 guilds in the Holy Empire. Her tendency is Unpredictable Innovator. - One of her titles is Blood Crazed Madam. - The top 3 guilds in the Holy Empire: - Blue, Red Mercenaries and Black Swans. - Heera offers a huge contract amount but only wants ML and Hayan. ML politely declines on the basis that the 4 of them want to stick together. Heera kisses ML in front of Hayan and gives him a mana pendant (rare-tier) that will increase his mana. - ML meets the Blue executives again to renegotiate the contract. Among the extra benefits, Lee Sanghee offers an executive position for ML as the team leader of a new non-combative administrative section. Lee Seolho is outraged and uses force to threaten ML. It’s clear to ML that Seolho just wants to protect his own position and political power. ML exposes the fact that their guild master Joo Seungjoon is absent. - ML lies about his relationship with Cha Heera to use her power against the weakened Blue guild. He visits Heera and asks her to become the sponsor of his party. After some discussion, she agrees to the terms of 3% from the potion profits ML makes, and a list of promising new mages and close combat fighters. She decides on the protection method for ML’s party by giving ML the title of the Mercenary Queen’s lover. - The other survivors are gathered and Jihye is among them. - The survivors try to make HS feel guilty for abandoning them. He apologises and says it’s better to part ways. ML throws a pouch of money as compensation. He knows they’ll tear each other apart for the money. - Lindel, the City of Freedom - Garden of Terror dungeon (rare)
Swordmaster
Ch 50 as of 11/12/22 - also on Tapas - ML is Jin, the 13th and youngest child of the Runcandel family. - He had no talent for swordsmanship and was the disgrace of the clan. He was eventually expelled from the clan. - ML was talented in magic which was forbidden in the clan. - Before ML could fulfill his potential, he died in a raid. - Solderet, god of shadows. - The god appeared to ML and offered to make a contract with ML, promising spiritual power and the ability to nullify all curses to ML. - Solderet removed the 9-star Bladed Illusion curse from ML that repressed his talent for the sword. - ML returns to when he was a 1yo baby undergoing the selection ritual that foretells a child’s future. He again selects Barisada, the patriarch’s sword. This marks ML as the child who grabbed the fate of the patriarch. ML wants the era of the Runcandels to end and to make way for the era of Jin Runcandel. - Sword Castle: after the selection ritual, Runcandel children are sent here to live until they’re 10yo. - 7yo ML punishes 9yo twins Daytona and Haytona for killing an innocent bird. In ML’s past life, the twins grew up to become infamous murderers. - Cyron Runcandel, the clan patriarch. He’s a Genesis Knight, reaching the level of a demi-god at the cost of his emotions. Now he only has a blind obsession with the clan’s prosperity. - Rosa Runcandel, the Black Panther. ML’s mother - 1st Luna, a 9-star knight. She renounced her succession rights as the 1st flagbearer which disappointed Cyron. - 2nd Joshua, nominated as the next patriarch. Rosa supports him. - 3rd Runtia - 4th Dipus - 5th Ran - 6th Vigo - 7th Mary, a 6-star knight - 8th Myu - 9th Anne - 10th Yona (?) - 11th Daytona - 12th Haytona - After being reborn, ML’s contract with Solderet is still valid and ML also has curse immunity. His life will be very different this time. He will never be ignored again. - Sir Temar Runcandel, the very 1st patriarch, had the same spiritual power from Solderet. After Temar died, Solderet didn’t appear to anyone else in the Runcandel clan until ML. - Khan the 9-star guardian knight at Sword Castle reports ML’s strange power to Cyron. An assembly of knights, including some of ML’s siblings, accompany Cyron for a visit to Sword Castle. - The visit results in Cyron’s recognition and expectation of ML, who correctly answered Cyron’s questions. - ML wants to use his power, the Spirit of Barisada, for himself. - Mary, ML’s insane and battle hungry sister, gives ML a phoenix heart. She wants him to grow stronger so she can fight him. - Eating a phoenix heart will give ML fire tolerance and an increased growth rate. - The Runcandel secret library: after finding the entry, ML visits often to transcribe the secret books there. - Black Dragon Murakan lost to the 1st Runcandel patriarch and fell into a deep slumber. Murakan made a 1000yr promise with Solderet and awakened when he sensed ML’s spiritual power. - Murakan is now ML’s guardian dragon. - Spiritual release is a skill taught to ML by Murakan. With it ML can become the master of all shadows. - Temar was the greatest magic swordsman of all time. - The Zipfel clan focuses on magic. As the opposing force, they are arch enemies of the Runcandel clan. - 1000yrs ago: after Temar’s death, the Runcandel clan were forced by the Zipfel clan to make a humiliating covenant that prohibited magic. Due to that covenant, all magic abilities of the Runcandel clan were sealed and the clan could only focus on the blade. - NB: A mirror relic called the Fountain of Mana can raise your mana to 7-star just by looking at it. In ML’s past life, the Zipfels used this relic to mass produce mages. - Luna visits ML for his 9th bday and gives him a pendant to wear. She says to smash the blue gem if he’s ever in a situation he can’t handle, and she’ll find him right away. - The pendant is an item of Orgal the demonic beast king. It gives protection against magic attacks below 5-star. It increases the wearer’s magic ability and it has a summoning ability. - Gilly McRolan, ML’s nanny and a 7-star martial artist. - Runcandel nannies share the fate of the child they’re in charge of. - 10yo ML moves from Storm Castle to the main residence, the Garden of Swords. On the way the 2 escort knights leave the carriage, claiming there is an ambush. ML is suspicious and makes Gilly leave the carriage with him in case it blows up. - ML directs Gilly to find the 2 escort knights as ML suspects the “attackers” are actually his allies. The “attackers” are the Black King Mercenaries and mages from the Yuta clan in Mitel who have come to protect ML following a request from the Runcandel clan. - The 2 escort knights are surrounded. Gilly kills one and severs the arm of the other. They are fake knights and Zipfel followers. - Bouvard Gaston the “Transformer”, a dragon? who can transform perfectly. He caused havoc in ML’s past life by committing many transformation crimes. He is probably responsible for the fake knights fooling Gilly and the other Runcandel guards. - Murka, vice captain of the 3rd corps, Black King Mercenaries. - ML gets Murka and his men to escort him for the rest of the way to the transfer (teleport) gate in the Mitel kingdom. - Murakan changes into a black cat to follow ML. - Beradin Zipfel is a magic prodigy and a strong candidate for the next clan patriarch. His father is Kelliark Zipfel, the current patriarch. ML meets Beradin while waiting for the gate to activate. - Garden of Swords: only those whose achievements have contributed to the prosperity of the Runcandel clan may put down their sword here. It symbolises the dream and honour of all Runcandels. - 14yo ML is a 2-star knight and beginner class cadet. - He currently has 2-star spiritual release and 4-star mana. - Luna is also personally training ML. - Mind’s eye: a stage of enlightenment for 7-star knights and above. - 13yo Bellop Schmitz is a commoner and also a beginner cadet. - In ML’s past life, he was expelled from Runcandel and became the loyal hound of the Vermont Empire. Later Bellop killed himself. - Practice spar: ML defeats the top 10 cadets from the spar to qualify for advancement to the intermediate class early next year. - Mesa Milkano is the strongest beginner cadet after ML. - ML makes Bellop spar with him to provoke Bellop into fighting for his life. Bellop demonstrates he can already use sword aura. ML wants this spar to remind Bellop to be less kind to survive at Runcandel. ML knows Bellop lost on purpose to other cadets despite having the skills. - Luna insists on choosing ML’s first real sword from the clan’s weapons vault. She chooses Bradamante, the brother sword of Barisada. Both swords are the most adept at using spiritual energy. - Murakan says 3-star spiritual energy is the minimum needed for this sword. ML must reach 5-star to even use it as a normal sword. - After hearing about ML and Bellop, Cyron wants to test ML’s creed of walking the path of the dominator while looking after the weak. Before starting the intermediate class, 15yo ML as a 3-star knight cadet is assigned his 1st mission to lead 9 other beginner cadets. They include Bellop and some cadets who have the lowest grades in the class. - The cadets will be divided into 2 groups for a scouting mission at the southern border of the Zhan kingdom. It’s near the land of the beastmen and the territory of the White Wolf tribe. - It’s highly difficult for a 1st mission and for beginner cadets. - The goal of the mission is to search for Cember Bill, the successor of his clan in the Zhan kingdom. - Kinzelo are a terrorist organisation of “revolutionaries” who want to rule the world. They ambush the 2nd group led by Mesa and kidnap her. ML gets Bellop and his group to take the injured cadets and get backup from the Runcandel main residence. ML locates the Kinzelo base near the entry to the land of beastmen. He starts a fire to distract the terrorists and finds Mesa. - An adult warrior (about 6-star) from the White Wolf tribe suddenly arrives because of the fire and kills the terrorists. - The White Wolf tribe hate the Runcandels because Temar killed Javier the Great White Wolf who they worshipped as a god. - ML defeats the warrior after awakening his sword with spiritual energy. ML meditates to slowly release the congested energy so he doesn’t get overwhelmed and die. - Cember Bill was also at the Kinzelo base and is relieved to be saved by ML. Cember was kidnapped by Kinzelo after following someone that looked exactly like his lover who died 2yrs ago. ML thinks Bouvard Gaston is involved again. - ML successfully completes his 1st mission. - ML declines the offer from Rosa of the room reserved for the future patriarch. The room occupant receives greater support but also becomes even more of a target for the other siblings. - Zed Runcandel, 8-star knight, clan elder and Cyron’s younger brother. He’s the intermediate swordsmanship instructor. - Runcandel intermediate class: composed of 3-star to 5-star cadets. - ML knows his siblings will try to keep him in check once he starts this class. ML plans to dominate the class with his power. - ML warns the 10 other beginner cadets that are advancing with him to be careful as they’ll be seen as his faction. - Zed and the senior cadets try to intimidate the new cadets from the start. ML severs the arm of Kajin, a 5-star cadet near the twins. They let it slip that Kajin is part of their faction (on loan from Myu and Anne). - ML and the twins will partake in special training for Runcandels only. They’re each given a steel ball called a “clear rock.” - The sounds the steel ball makes differ depending on the strength used to hit it. If struck too hard, it’ll explode. - ML saves the twins from the explosion caused by Zed’s demo. - Luna is the only other child to be unharmed by the explosion. Her body was too sturdy to be hurt. - The 1st missions are assigned to the intermediate class. - Myu and Anne assign the hardest missions to ML and his faction. - Demon beast subjugation: Kill 25 orcs in the Curano territory. This mission is given to the 10 new cadets. ML gets Murakan to secretly protect them. Murakan orders the orcs to disperse to make it easier for the cadets to kill them. He detects a graveyard giant nearby and destroys it. Bouvard Gaston created the giant. - Bishkel Ibriano, head of Kinzelo. - Margiela Ibriano, Bishkel’s younger sister (in a wheelchair). - Bouvard Gaston is working with Kinzelo and the Zipfels (?) - ML is assigned a solo mission: to assassinate the toy of Talaris, the Ice Castle master. The toy refers to one of her many lovers. His name is Alkarro Chenderer, son of a Count. He’s currently staying in Mamit, the lawless zone and a sanctuary for criminals. The Chenderer family commissioned the assassination. - Alkarro is at an inn with 6 Ice Castle guards. ML combines his magic and spiritual energy to summon lightning that makes the inn collapse. The guards survive but Alkarro is killed. - Syris Endorma, 15yo daughter of the Ice Castle master. - She’s also the captain of the Ice Castle’s 7 Swords. - Everyone returns safely from their missions. - ML challenges Kajin to a duel after ML overhears him being disrespectful. ML demonstrates he’s a 5-star knight now and defeats Kajin. ML can use magic, aura and spiritual energy. - Only Temar, Cyron and Luna became 5-star knights when they were 15yo. - Rosa cancels the Collon Ruins mission prepared for ML by Anne and Myu. It’s in the Peyton kingdom which is Zipfel territory and is too dangerous for a 15yo. ML insists on taking the mission. Kajin, Mayl Hass and Rima Hass are senior cadets and lackeys of Anne and Myu. They join ML on this mission. ML puts them to sleep by drugging their food. - The mission objective is to steal 4 relics. - ML discovers the Zipfels are using forbidden magic to experiment with humans to create living golems. The warehouse guards transform into living golems. ML defeats them after destroying their cores. ML gathers the relics in the warehouse and returns home, another mission successfully completed. - As promised, Ran and Vigo each give a sword to ML. - Cyron and ML speak privately. With Cyron as the only Genesis Knight of the current era, the influence of the Runcandel clan will greatly decline after Cyron is gone. ML says he’ll leave the clan if the next patriarch is incompetent. ML intends to surpass the clan and Cyron no matter what. - The Runcandel clan is holding a 4-day banquet (the first in 7yrs), to celebrate ML’s achievements. In ML’s past life, he was never allowed to attend or be seen at these banquets. - 5 x Zipfel members suddenly arrive as uninvited guests. - Andrei Zipfel, 2nd-in-command of the Zipfel clan. - Cyron provokes Andrei’s bad temper to make the Zipfels leave. - The banquet is “a party of fateful meetings” where tensions between guests is inevitable. Runcandel banquets allow duels in the family arena. - Syris Endorma is a 4-star knight. She challenges ML to a duel when he refuses to tell her why he was in Mamit. - Syris inherited the myriad iceblades skill from her family. She uses her secret avalanche technique. ML surprises her with his own secret storm blade technique to win the duel but almost kills her. Syris accepts her loss for now. - Beradin Zipfel 18yo is now a 6-star mage. - He crashes the banquet to meet ML on the 2nd day. - Bouvard Gaston has an obsessive, unrequited love for Luna. - ML is insulted by Bouvard (6-star) who approached ML with a gift for Luna and expressed hopes of marrying her. ML forces Bouvard to a duel using their fists. ML easily beats up Bouvard. - Bishkel Ibriano (8-star) is made to step in by his sister. - From Luna's training, ML almost achieves the heart sword and manages to cut Bishkel’s neck before ML faints and his sword breaks. After 2 days, ML wakes up. His impressive achievement despite losing the duel was the main discussion topic for the rest of the banquet. - ML is summoned by Cyron. They meet in the mausoleum. There is no grave for Temar the 1st patriarch at the Garden of Swords. Because of the 1000yo pact between the Runcandels and the Zipfels, the Runcandel bloodline was cursed. All Runcandels after Temar were born with bodies that couldn’t use magic. - ML admits to hearing Solderet’s voice before. - He decides to leave and see the world. ML looks forward to being free to grow his strength however he wants. - Cyron gives ML 5yrs to return with his reply to either be acknowledged or acknowledge the family. Cyron implies he wants ML to investigate everything about spiritual energy. ML departs with Gilly and Murakan. Cyron hopes ML will be the one to finally free their family from the pact. - ML is now a provisional flagbearer. To be recognised as a true, official flagbearer of the Runcandel family, ML must head out into the world and build his reputation and honour through his martial prowess. He will receive no support from the family. - ML can’t reveal his true identity. - ML and Gilly are provided with fake IDs by the Runcandel clan. - ML goes to the Zhan kingdom first to see Cember Bill and asks for money. Cember gives a generous amount to ML. - ML and co. teleport to the Arkin kingdom (Zipfel territory). - Arkin is a member of the Lutero Magic Federation managed by the Zipfel clan. About 80% of active dragons are on the Zipfel side. Several of the Zipfels have formed contracts with these dragons. - There are many unregistered mages and mercenaries in Arkin. They’re all criminals and puppets of Tessing, an underworld organisation that controls Arkin on behalf of the Zipfels. ML wants to take down Tessing by infiltrating their undergound auctions first. - Jet is an Arkin informant, human trafficker and 5-star martial artist who scammed ML in his past life. This time ML will use Jet as their Arkin guide. Jet is beaten up by Murakan after Jet tries to drug ML and co. when they first meet. ML gets Jet to take them to an underground auction house. - Salka, fake boss and front man of Tessing - Spiderhands Alluh, the real boss of Tessing and a 7-star martial artist. He’s rumoured to be connected with the Runcandels. - ML suspects the one who cursed ML is also connected to Alluh. - The most likely person backing Alluh is Joshua Runcandel. - At the auction house, ML buys a magic book by Tzenmi after Murakan recommended it. ML also buys a magic book by Schugiel Hister. In ML’s past life, his master was from the Hister clan that fell 100s of years ago. - ML pretends to be Beradin Zipfel to meet Alluh. ML accuses Alluh of selling stolen magic books without permission from the Zipfels. ML asks to see the customer lists and account books. ML and co. are taken to Alluh’s office / storage room. - Alluh leaves to verify ML is really Beradin. Meanwhile ML and co. ransack and loot the room then leave. - Mewlta’s Rune: a ring artifact given to the 1st Bement Emperor by his demon lover. It blocks all attacks below 7-star. - ML admits he’s not Beradin to Jet. ML tells Jet to take the slave lists of kidnapped Bement citizens and flee to the Bement Empire. There Jet must act as a whistleblower on the Tessing slave auctions to protect himself and his son. Alluh returns and gathers all of the Tessing members to hunt down ML. - To instigate the collapse of Tessing, ML uses magic to widely spread the evidence that exposes Tessing’s weaknesses. - Along with the slave lists taken by Jet, ML shared the lists of Arkin nobles bribed by Tessing to turn a blind eye to their crimes; and the transaction ledgers for stolen magic texts that were not reported to the Zipfels. - ML was waiting to be found and he gets Murakan to take care of the Tessing members so ML can fight Alluh alone. - ML reveals he is a magic swordsman for the first time (?) and easily defeats Alluh. Tessing are completely destroyed. - The Zipfels and Bement are credited with eliminating Tessing thanks to Jet following ML’s instructions. - Tikan is an independent city on a small island. - Alicia Badger, leader of Tikan’s garrison. - Noble Sword Cashmere, a swordmaster and leader of 7 Colours, an info guild. - Julia, 5yo daughter of Alicia and Cashmere. She’s contracted to Azmill the god of sight. She can see the future but can’t interfere with it. Her guardian dragon Latree has been missing for a year. - ML agrees to help look for Julia’s dragon. - Quikantel the silver dragon and guardian dragon of Oltah, god of time. She’s an ex-girlfriend of Murakan. - Enya, Quikantel’s contractor. - Vuletta the wind dragon and guardian dragon of Andre, the vice head of the Zipfels. She took Latree a year ago.
Return Of The Legendary Spear Knight
Ch 77 as of 17/01/23 - also on Tapas ** a bit confusing with complicated overlapping storylines and so many characters - The Igrant continent: - Avalon Empire - Swallow Empire and Thran principality - Huvalt the Holy Empire - ML is Joshua Sanders, Grand Duke, knight and legendary aura spearmaster. At the end of the civil war in the Avalon Empire, he’s betrayed by his best friend and master, Emperor Caesar von Briton. He dies in a magical explosion while grasping his spear, Lukia. - ML makes a contract with Lukia and returns to the past. - ML returns to when he was a 9.5yo stableboy. - His mother is Lucia, a commoner maid who was impregnated by Duke Aiden von Agnus. ML is the Duke’s illegitimate son who pretends to be mute. - Vanessa von Agnus, older sister of the current Emperor Marcus von Briton. She was forced to marry Duke Agnus in an arranged political marriage (so the imperial family could keep an eye on him). She hates the Duke as all he cares about is the Agnus duchy. - Duke Agnus is an aura swordmaster known as 1 of the 9 Stars, the strongest on the continent. There are 5 swordmasters in the Avalon Empire. The Emperor is one of them. - The rule of the Agnus duchy is to prove yourself through your own skills. - Babel von Agnus 14yo, the family heir. He’s considered a prodigy for being the youngest mana user on the continent. He means everything to his mother, Vanessa. - In ML’s past life, he discovered a mana cultivation technique that doesn’t rely on gathering mana internally. He can absorb ambient mana from the environment with his whole body. He can also concentrate the mana where it’s needed. - Rolce, Lloyd and Gort: 3 soldiers of the Agnus duchy. - They constantly bully and harass ML and Lucia. - ML uses mana to knock out Gort and Lloyd. The scared Rolce reports to the Duke on what happened. While the Duke detects no mana in ML, he says ML can stay in the Agnus mansion for now. - ML’s main priority is to regain his strength from his past life. - Holy and demonic powers are being restrained inside ML by the power of his spear Lukia. - The 3 knight orders of the Agnus duchy: - The Golden Mane (1st order) - The Clover Knights (?) - The Crimson Knights (3rd order) - Sir Chiffon, Captain of the Crimson Knights and Vanessa’s lackey. He’s also a former imperial knight. - Sir Cain, youngest of the Crimson Knights. - At night ML stops Rolce, Lloyd and Gort before they kill Lucia. - ML calls out to the knight who is secretly following ML. - ML gets the knight, Sir Cain, to punish the soldiers. He quickly takes out Gort and Lloyd. ML tells Rolce to share what happened and to warn everyone to stay away from ML and Lucia. - Count Foncel Jin Rebreka, a 5th class mage and a man of great influence in the Empire. He treats everyone equally. - Iselyn Jin Rebreka 9yo, the Count’s daughter and a magic genius. - She was born with mana affinity and received the “blessing of mana.” She can feel and respond to mana without needing any guidance. In ML’s past life, she became one of the greatest mages on the continent called the Grand Ice Mage. - The 5 duchies of the Avalon Empire: - Agnus - - Tremblin - - Fonte / Pontier, a wealthy merchant family - Cheryl di Fonte 12yo is Babel’s fiancée candidate. - Count Cox Ron Vagen, vassal of the Fonte duchy. - Bavariante the Mercenary King - Marquis Crombel has wealth that is 2nd only to the Fontes. - Bavariante is reported to have secretly allied with Crombel. - The Fontes hope to secure Cheryl’s engagement with Babel. This will then secure Duke Agnus’ help if a territorial battle erupts between the Fontes and Crombels. - At the edge of the Agnus estate, there’s a secret portal to an ancient temple where ML found Lukia in his past life. This time he finds a metal rod that says it’s Lukia, the demonic god’s artifact. - Duke Agnus gets Babel to spar with ML but forbids the use of mana. Chiffon, Cain, Foncel, Iselyn, Cheryl and Cox watch the match. The Duke is forced to intervene after Babel uses mana first then ML uses mana to protect himself. Foncel confirms that ML is a mana user. Later Babel challenges ML again when they’re alone. ML shows his power with just his fists and easily beats Babel. - Acadi, the capital city of the Avalon Empire - The Imperial Academy: where noble children must study for 6yrs (from 10 to 15yo). This system lets the imperial family take the noble children as hostages and keep the noble families in check. It also provides an opportunity for the imperial family to scout for outstanding talents. - ML asked Sir Cain to gather the Agnus soldiers for a training session. To gain their respect through fear, ML shows them an overwhelming display of his power and strength with a spear. The soldiers immediately pledge their loyalty to ML. - Caesar von Briton, 4th Prince - Evergrant, future master of the magic tower - He has been Caesar’s advisor since he was a young boy. - He is currently the chief mage of the imperial palace. - Joker, Commander of the 1st imperial knights order - For ML’s C-rank mana evaluation, Caesar and Evergrant arrive at the Agnus duchy with the imperial knights. - Joker is under secret orders from Vanessa to permanently disable ML. During the test, Joker releases his B-rank sword aura. ML is forced to summon Lukia in it's true form to block the attack. - The test is concluded. ML is deemed to be a C-rank knight. ML is now officially the youngest mana user on the continent. - Duke Agnus agrees to ML’s request for Lucia to go with them when they travel to the capital and ML attends the Academy. - ML knows Duke Agnus is taking ML to avoid conflict over the successor with Vanessa, and also to keep a talent like ML close by. - Babel wants a fair competition with ML and voluntarily gives up his position as the family heir for now. (Vanessa isn’t impressed) - NB: Babel graduated early from the Academy for his talent. - Dawn Ring: created by the owner of the magic tower. - It’s an artifact that instantly equips the wearer with magic armour when the ring is infused with mana. - Duke Agnus lends this ring to ML to use as a last resort. The family crest of the user appears on the armour. - Caesar offers to expedite the process of ML becoming an imperial knight. While ML says he’ll think it over, he needs to become an imperial knight to obtain the special weapon from his past life. - Armand, the only 4th class mage in the Agnus duchy. - Viscount Vigo, Vanessa’s relative and lord of the Locke territory. - Ana, Vigo’s fake daughter and a wind spirit summoner. - Draxia vel Grace is known as the “god of combat.” He is Ana’s real father and master. He was there when ML was betrayed and killed in his past life. - Duke Agnus leads a group to subdue monsters in the Black Creatures’ Forest that’s in the Locke territory. - The group includes ML, Babel, Vigo, Ana and Vigo’s knights. - ML is made to go as another test of his abilities. - Genesis / Primordial Stone: - It’s a magic enhancement item that contains the power of creation. There are stones for every element but only 5 will be discovered in the future. It’s an item coveted by mages and knights as it can enhance one’s magic. The stones are actually pieces of a single original stone? - As the group set up camp, ML secretly enters the forest alone and finds a lightning Genesis Stone called Bronto after fighting several monsters. ML returns to the camp to find that it's under attack from 100s of monsters empowered by the red moon. - ML uses lightning magic with his spearmanship to kill 3 Black Ogres on his own. Duke Agnus protects ML as he collapses. ML sees a vision of the Agnus duchy burning. The adult Babel is killed by Ana and Draxia. The vision might be due to Bronto. - The knights are full of praise for ML’s battle prowess. - Back at the Agnus duchy, Vanessa invites Lucia and ML to have dinner together. Vanessa poisoned all of the food served to Lucia and ML. When Vanessa refuses to share the food, ML knows why and accuses Vanessa. Before Chiffon and ML fight, Duke Agnus arrives to stop them. (Lucia is so dumb and clueless) - Sir Cain insists on pledging an oath of loyalty to serve ML, despite knowing ML’s future path will be risky and filled with blood. - As ML and the Duke leave for the capital, Cheryl makes ML take a token with her family crest and asks him to visit her duchy. - Caesar’s recommendation for ML to join the imperial knight order is rejected by ML who wants to get in on his own merits. - At the capital, ML makes contact with the Lunar Moon info guild. He meets Zero, the Acadi branch manager. - ML promises to “find the red coin at the bottom of Lake Raulph” in exchange for keeping all of ML’s queries a secret. - ML asks for all info on Draxia. He also asks to find Count Xerath Orbis’ family heirloom. - The Orbis family were one of the few prestigious mage families in the Empire. They introduced the concept of the battle mage. - The Tera king even personally invited the Orbis family to relocate to Tera, the kingdom of magic. The imperial family were responsible for the downfall of the Orbis family (20yrs ago?). - The Night Merchant, Baron Accent Probalum. - He’s a prominent, influential figure in the underworld but his true master is Veron Shen Villas. The Baron is also the younger stepbrother of Viscount Vigo. - Veron Shen Villas, young son of a Marquis. Veron’s father is the Emperor’s most trusted military advisor. House Villas is the most influential of the 12 (major?) houses in the Empire. - ML will use a fake identity in the capital. ML’s alias is “Ashur von Frederick”, the only son of a fallen Viscount. - ML is at a restaurant with Cain when they’re greeted by Foncel and Iselyn. Then Veron and his knight arrive. ML interrupts when Veron is rude to Foncel and Iselyn. Veron orders his knight to kill ML. Instead ML punishes the B-rank knight and Veron with just his fists. ML takes Veron's family ring and says Veron needs to find ML if he wants the ring back. Later Baron Accent is sent as a substitute. - ML makes the Baron hand over his rings in exchange for giving another chance to Veron to get his family ring (also a Dawn Ring). - Among the rings ML obtains the Orbis’ family heirloom, a ring called the Elf’s Tears. ML was earlier given info about the ring from Zero of the Lunar Moon guild. - As only women can use Elf’s Tears, ML gives the ring to Lucia. A high level barrier is created to automatically protect the user from danger. It also increases one’s affinity with spirits. - The Forest of the Elves is located at the southern end of the continent. It’s a secret place of refuge and protection for all elves. - Elunbus, the Queen / King of Elves and the last high elf. - Xerath the last Orbis family head was good friends with Elunbus. - The fall of House Orbis most likely occurred as a result of their enemies trying to find out the location of the Forest of the Elves. - The magic tower is in the centre of the Igrant Continent. - Ian dun Paray, master of the magic tower. He’s the first ever 7th class mage. He’s also the head of the 7 mages. - Marcus, earth seat of the 7 mages. - Theta, storm seat of the 7 mages. - Elisha, ice seat of the 7 mages. - Jack Steropes, lightning seat of the 7 mages (and a 6th class mage) - … fire seat of the 7 mages. - … void seat of the 7 mages. - The magic tower is looking for the Genesis Stones. Someone else has already taken Magma the fire Genesis Stone. While searching for ML and Bronto, Jack Steropes kills Viscount Vigo. - The mages have also been searching for Ancelot the magic swordsman for a long time. - Veron’s knight visits ML who returns the family ring. - The knight tries to buy info about ML as Ashur from the Lunar Moon guild but the price is too high because ML is under the guild’s special surveillance. - ML asks Cain to learn swordsmanship from Duke Agnus while ML is in the Academy. Cain promises to grow stronger. - 1st day at the Academy: 10yo ML meets his 2 dorm room mates. - Agares kun Douglas, an illegitimate son of a Count. - Icarus, a commoner adopted by a childless Baron. He was known as the “divine prodigy” and genius of the era in ML’s past life. - Amaru brun Sten, 2nd yr student. - He’s the 2nd son of Count Arie brun Sten, the rapier master. - He was childhood friends with Agares until he became the heir. - Their fathers are close friends and comrades who protect the north from monsters. - Agares and Icarus are treated as outcasts by the other noble children. Amaru and his lackeys also bully them. - ML refuses to stand idly by out of fear of the repercussions. If allowed to continue, the cycle of violence at the Academy will perpetuate forever. Only cowards avoid taking action out of fear. - In class, Amaru calls all other weapons trash except for the sword. ML replies that the rapier is trash. Amaru challenges ML to a duel and they use wooden weapons. ML shocks everyone when he easily defeats Amaru with just his spearmanship. ML smashes to pieces Amaru’s sword with a single blow of his spear. Later Amaru apologises to ML who also says sorry. - ML has been training on his own to use Bronto to control the holy and demonic powers within him. Bronto’s innate power is “growth.” - Lukia says ML needs to find the people he knew in his past life and to value himself more to achieve his revenge. - The vision ML had of the Agnus duchy is from ML’s holy power. - Araxia, the Academy’s Circle: a social group formed by the children of powerful high-ranking nobles. It’s a way to form political connections for the future and to control the children of weaker nobles. - Araxia’s leaders: - Veron Shen Villas, son of a Marquis - Natasha Moon Brory, daughter of a Marquis - Gewog Dun Crombel, son of a Marquis - Simeez kun Douglas is Agares’ older half-brother. Last year Araxia was responsible for making Simeez unable to walk and forcing him to leave the Academy after he challenged them. - Agares and Icarus are beaten up by Araxia’s 3 leaders to lure ML. Veron uses his Dawn Ring to create armour around his body. - ML does the same with his Dawn Ring and reveals his true identity from the crest on his armour. Veron is knocked out and sent flying by a single blow from ML. This means the end for Araxia. - The Academy considers expelling ML to keep the peace with the Marquis families. Encouraged by Amaru, Agares and Icarus lead the majority of the Academy students who are non-members of Araxia to protest against ML’s punishment. They also call for Araxia to officially disband. - Black Wind: an elite intelligence group directly under the Emperor of Avalon. In ML’s past life, an old friend called the Assassin King was a former member of this group. - A Black Wind member delivers an imperial decree from Emperor Marcus that ML must join the imperial knight order. - Jack Steropes has followed ML’s trail to the Academy. - ML leads Jack away from the Academy grounds and they fight. With help from Lukia, ML kills Jack after a very close battle. Bronto embeds itself in Lukia after devouring Jack’s magic. - Verona vel Grace, Emperor of the Swallow Empire. - Demero vel Grace, Draxia’s father and Verona’s brother. - Yerona vel Grace, Swallow’s 3rd Princess. Verona is her father. - Prince Lucifer, husband to Swallow’s 1st Princess Throna (also Verona’s daughter). He’s 1 of the 9 Stars. - The Thran Principality is seeking independence from the Swallow Empire’s rule. Thran is situated between Swallow and Avalon. - King Anthony Duval Agreta III of Thran - Uravis the Knight of Prominence / Crimson Fire. - He absorbed Magma the fire Genesis Stone. - He will be the next King of Thran after he marries the daughter of King Anthony who died recently. - Duke Gesuhardt kon Tremblin, 1 of the top 3 swordsmen in Avalon. He became a swordmaster 20yrs ago. - Emperor Marcus wants to start a war to get rid of Verona and help Draxia become the new Emperor of the Swallow Empire. - Emperor Marcus sends Duke Tremblin and Count Arie brun Sten to provoke Verona. They kill the Swallow Empire border guards and frame Thran as the culprits. Verona and Lucifer aren’t fooled. They suspect the Avalon Empire was behind the attack. - Ian dun Paray offers the lightning seat of the 7 mages to Evergrant, who refuses to leave Caesar’s side. Evergrant left the magic tower to serve Caesar as he believes Caesar will be the next Avalon Emperor. Ian asks Evergrant to investigate who killed Jack. - Icarus wants to prove his worth to ML. To do that, ML asks Icarus to continue changing the Academy that ML leaves behind. - Duke Agnus confirms with ML that he’ll join the imperial knights. He wants ML to rise to at least the 3rd battalion. The knights of the 1st to 3rd battalions are granted a peerage by the Emperor. - ML leaves the Academy and goes to the imperial palace. - Princess Cersearin von Briton. She was born blind but has the Mind’s Eye skill. She was kind to ML in his past life. - 1st Prince Kisere von Briton. In ML’s past life, Kisere befriended then later betrayed and killed Icarus. - Bloody Battle of Bercher: one can enter the imperial knight order by stealing the position of an imperial knight they fight. If a captain or vice captain participates and loses, they only lose their responsibilities and are demoted. - ML arrives at the training grounds of the 11th and 12th battalions of the imperial knights. He issues his challenge for the bloody battle of Bercher. Viper Bison is the 12th battalion vice captain and volunteers to fight ML. He was ML’s comrade in his past life. Viper Bison concedes after ML shows his overpowering spear aura. - ML promises to make the 11th and 12th battalions the strongest in the imperial knight order within 5yrs. - Babel is summoned by Emperor Marcus who wants to see how he’s progressing. Chiffon is escorting Babel. - Marcus orders Babel to drink an elixir that increases his mana. - Duke Agnus is not Babel’s biological father. Marcus is Babel’s real father. - 5yrs later, 15yo ML is the commander / captain of the 11th and 12th battalions. After he was promoted, he was granted access to the special imperial treasury and he obtained the magic obsidian earrings he had in his past life. - ML is Baron Joshua Sanders now after earning a peerage. He's no longer part of the Agnus family and Babel is now the official heir. - The 1st Prince’s bday banquet is underway. - Cheryl 18yo is helped by ML at the banquet. The territorial war has brought her family to the verge of collapse. - Gewog 21yo and Natasha 21yo are their usual nasty selves. - ML stops Aisha Sestrophy, a dark elf, from attempting to assassinate the 1st Prince. She thinks ML is the Black Dragon (her master?) and obeys his orders. In ML’s past life, she became the Assassin Queen who helped ML. The assassination attempt failed in his past life and she was permanently injured. - Icarus 15yo graduates early from the Academy with the highest grades in history after making revolutionary changes there. - Icarus and Cain meet ML for the first time in 5yrs at the palace. - ML assigns Icarus and Cain to help the Fonte family. - ML volunteers to participate in the master battle at Reinhardt. He will represent the Avalon Empire. ML is an aura spearmaster now and he can wield the Mind’s Spear. Babel, Uravis and Theta from the magic tower will also be participating in the master battle. - Reinhardt is where the Lunar Moon guild HQ is based. - Someone called the Assassin King is trying to unify all of the assassin / info guilds. - Chrysler Jean Sebastian of Huvalt, 1 of the 9 Stars. - Christian, a Huvalt Paladin and disciple of Chrysler. He’s participating in the master battle at Reinhardt. - 5yrs ago the Huvalt Empire was preoccupied with electing their next Pope. There was a power struggle between the Huvalt Emperor and the Vatican. - The 9 Stars: (the strongest on the continent) - Duke Aiden von Agnus of Avalon - Duke Gesuhardt kon Tremblin of Avalon (?) - Emperor Marcus von Briton of Avalon (?) - Chrysler Jean Sebastian of Huvalt - Prince Lucifer of Swallow - Demero vel Grace of Swallow (?) - - Count Noah Ken Hybri, a vassal of the Tremblin duchy. - Aiden, branch manager of the Hybri mercenary guild. - ML arrives in Hybri county. He accepts a 5-star quest from the mercenary guild to earn a silver plaque (ML needs this to be allowed to participate in the master battle?). - ML joins Aiden and other mercenaries to escort a merchant group to the Rebreka county. Suddenly they’re attacked by undead monsters. Iselyn was disguised among the mercenaries. She reveals herself and freezes the undead in ice. Then Aiden wipes out the frozen undead. ML obliterates another group of undead that appear. - 5yrs ago Marquis Crombel attacked the Rebreka territory and most of the residents were massacred. Foncel distracted the Crombel soldiers to help Iselyn and others escape. He’s been missing since then. Aiden asks ML to protect Iselyn. Marquis Crombel has put a large bounty on her head. - Cain and Icarus take Cheryl and Cox to the Fonte estate when they receive news that Cheryl’s father has collapsed. - At night they’re ambushed by assassins who try to kidnap Cheryl. Cain stays behind to fight the assassins while the others run away. They are met by Count Troy, House Fonte vassal (and knight?) who takes them to the Fonte estate. - Baron Arna, House Fonte vassal (and traitor?) - Icarus predicts the strategy of the Crombel force and they make plans to counter it. Icarus warns Cheryl not to trust anyone because it’s likely her father was poisoned. - There is a lich in Reb city where the Rebreka estate is. Christian secretly infiltrates the Reb castle to deal with the lich but he fails. - ML and the merchant convoy enter Reb city. ML and Aiden go to Reb castle to fight the lich. ML detects demonic energy and rushes ahead. He breaks an illusion barrier and sees Christian chained up. - ML is suddenly attacked by a death knight. ML recognises the knight as Duke Altsma the Beast King of the Swallow Empire. - After Uravis of Thran defeated Altsma, he was sent to the border to intentionally keep him away from protecting Verona. While Lucifer usurped Verona’s throne for Draxia, Demero attacked and mortally wounded Altsma. Because of his deep resentment, Altsma agreed to become a death knight under Evergrant. - Altsma accepts ML’s offer to take control of him and lend his strength to ML. Using Lukia, ML transfers control to himself. - ML carries out Christian who is unconscious from the castle and he sees Aiden who is surrounded by a large group of Huvalt paladins and clergy. The Huvalt group sensed demonic energy and think ML is a demon. - Saintess Seria from Huvalt wants to use the God’s Tear relic to check if ML is a demon or not. ML releases his divine energy and the relic shatters. Angel wings briefly appear from ML’s back that remind the Huvalt group of Michael the archangel. They’re still suspicious of ML but take Christian away to be treated after sensing demonic energy from the paladin. - Evergrant senses his connection to Duke Altsma has been cut. He has obtained a black magic spell book through Emperor Marcus. He revives Xerath Orbis’ corpse as a lich and renames it “Berber.” - Barbariant the Mercenary King, 1 of 12 superhumans. - He’s been helping Marquis Crombel in exchange for a generous share of the conquered land and assets. - Aiden is actually Axuler the Giant, the 2nd greatest mercenary. - He is participating in the Reinhardt master battle. He wants to win so he can challenge Barbariant. - Princess Sona Moon Terafos of the Tera kingdom, 4-circle mage. - Tesro and Essro Logan, twin brothers from Swallow. - Rian Geigar the Lion King of Reinhardt, 1 of the 12 superhumans. - Lillies Aphrodite the Sword Demon, Huvalt paladin (Pope faction). She’s also the Lunar Moon guild master. - There are 21 competitors in the master battle. The winner is given the right to challenge one of the 12 superhumans and 9 stars. - The winner will also be rewarded with the Hammer of Nagasin, making them the owner of Reinhardt which is a neutral city-state belonging to no nation. - ML sends Altsma to help his allies at the Fonte estate. - In the first round, ML shows off his spear skills and defeats Babylon the Steel Knight from the Hart kingdom. - Theta defeats Astello the Force Mage from Tera. - Uravis knows ML has a Genesis Stone when Magma and Bronto react to each other while ML watches Uravis fight Aiden. - After the match, ML uses his holy power to heal Aiden. - Theta is competing in the master battle to take Bronto from ML. - ML warns Theta about Evergrant’s plans to kill Ian and take over as master of the magic tower. Theta was already warned by Marcus the earth seat mage about Evergrant. Theta decides to forfeit the master battle and investigate further. - Lillies Aphrodite as the Lunar Moon guild master asks ML about the red coin that he promised 5yrs ago. The red coin is a symbol of Hermes. It’s considered a holy artifact in Huvalt. - The Emperor and Pope factions in Huvalt were fighting for control over the Lunar Moon guild. ML destroyed the God’s Tear relic and the Pope needs the red coin to replace it. - ML says the red coin is with the Avalon imperial family. - ML and Uravis meet in the final of the master battle. - Uravis surprises ML by using a special weapon: a whip sword. - As they unleash the full power of Magma and Bronto, they make a bet. The loser will give up their Genesis Stone and become the follower of the winner. With a final devastating blow, ML wins the match and the overall master battle.
Helmut: The Forsaken Child
Ch 40 as of 21/01/23 - End of Season 1, Ch 40 - Forest of Roots: - It’s a massive area covered in demonic energy. - A divine barrier stops anything demonic from leaving the Forest. - The Forest became a place of punishment and exile. Divine power is used to send criminals to the Forest to get rid of them. No one can survive here. If you manage to escape the Forest alive, your sins will be forgiven. - Helmut was born with the seed of darkness, so his existence is sin itself. He was sent to the Forest of Roots as a newborn baby. - Helmut is probably from a noble family. - Elaga the snow leopard picked up baby Helmut and cared for him. - Helmut is protected in Elaga’s territory covering the central area. - Darien Deperte the Sword Saint. - 10yo Helmut finds Darien’s hut in the Forest. Elaga gave special permission to Darien to live in his territory. - Darien helps Helmut to grow stronger so he can escape the Forest and survive in the human world. Darien trains Helmut in swordsmanship. - Vis: nature’s energy and flow - To absorb and control the energy in the atmosphere, then infuse the energy through your sword. Helmut learns how to use vis to help him suppress the seed of darkness inside him. - Demonic beasts all have a core. - When a core is consumed by a demonic beast, they grow stronger, recharge their energy, and increase their lifespan. - Naho the 2-headed snake has territory in the southern area. - A few years ago, Darien destroyed the human farm in Naho’s territory. The farm has been rebuilt since then. People sent to the Forest are captured and brought to the farm. The men are used as slave labour to maintain the farm. The women are sacrifices for Naho to consume. - Erugo the black mage is the leader of the human farm. - He created the farm in cooperation with Naho. - He needs people for his human experiments with black magic. - 14-15yo Helmut is told by Darien that it’s time for him to leave the Forest. Darien tells Helmut to never lose himself. The next morning, Darien has passed away. He left his sword for Helmut. - Elaga gives Helmut a locket made of gold that he had with him as a baby. Engraved in the locket is: “Let there be light on your path, Margret Irene.” - Before Darien died, he told Helmut to find Erugo to learn more about the weakened part of the divine barrier. - Helmut threatens Erugo for the info. Erugo alerts Naho. - Helmut strikes an eye and Naho consumes the injured head. - Elaga faces Naho and tells Helmut to escape. - Helmut reaches the Forest of Roots edge. The seed of darkness inside him reacts to the divine barrier nearby. - Igrelle the phoenix and ruler of the northern area stops him. - Helmut convinces Igrelle to let him try to be the first being to cross the barrier and make it out of the Forest. - Face Mercenary Corps - Phien, captain and a rank 2 gold medal mercenary. - Tanya, vice captain and a rank 3 silver medal mercenary. - Phien and Tanya are siblings. - Finn, a rank 4 bronze medal mercenary, finds Helmut who is unconscious after crossing the barrier. Helmut wakes up after being treated for his injuries and he pretends to have amnesia. - Helmut tests the level of his skills in a duel with Tanya. He hasn’t fully recovered and he can’t use vis yet. He’s defeated by Tanya. - Helmut is invited to stay with the squad until his memories return. He receives a rank 4 mercenary deed as his temporary ID. - The other mercenaries in the squad are rank 3 silver. - Helmut secretly trains late at night to grow stronger. - Sir Miles from the Butan Merchant Association commissions the Face and Tarik mercenary squads for a large scale convoy. - Caleb (Tarik squad) constantly bullies Finn and taunts Helmut. - The convoy is suddenly attacked by demonic beasts. The beast leader escapes after the other beasts are killed. - Helmut saves Finn from a demonic beast. His vis has returned. - That night Caleb follows Helmut who walks away from the camp on his own. Caleb attacks Helmut who slashes Caleb’s legs. The beast leader was watching and kills Caleb. - The demonic beasts attack day and night without rest. They’re only targeting the Face squad. Sir Miles and the Tarik squad make a secret deal to leave the exhausted Face squad behind as bait to distract the beasts while they flee to save themselves. - Many demonic beasts surround the Face squad. ML reveals his ability with vis and slaughters them all. ML detects another battle in the distance. Phien sends ML ahead to check if it’s the Tarik squad. - Paul the Tarik captain and Max the Tarik vice captain abandoned everyone and fled. ML faces the beast leader who absorbs the energy from the dead beasts to grow stronger. - The beast leader is still much weaker than Naho and ML kills it quickly. The Face squad arrive and discover Sir Miles survived. - Phien thanks Helmut for protecting the Face squad. Phien will be there for Helmut if he ever needs help. - Antiol the archmage was the client who commissioned Butan to transport goods from the powerful Lumen Temple (who defeated the demon king 1000yrs ago). Lumen has been gathering sacrifices and power under the guise of protection. - At a designated remote location, Sir Miles uses a magic pendant to take them to Antiol’s abode. Only a third of those who began with the convoy made it to the end. The remains of the demonic beasts are also sold to Antiol. - Helmut is noticed by Antiol who casts a soundproof barrier so they can talk privately. Antiol swears a mage’s oath to never reveal that Helmut has the seed of darkness inside. - Antiol says that the seed is like Helmut’s heart and can never be removed as it is essential in order for him to live. - Helmut parts ways with the Face squad. They upgraded his mercenary deed to rank 3 for use during his travels. - Antiol warned Helmut that the seed will one day devour him and go berserk. Helmut wants to grow even stronger so this won’t happen and his control over the seed is absolute. - Darien had slipped a letter into Helmut’s belongings. He suggests Helmut travel to Baden to attend the Greta Academy. There Helmut can learn more about being a human to help him adapt to the outside world. A man named Ethan Kudrow will help Helmut if he shows Darien’s sword to Ethan. - Black Hawk, an underworld organisation - Helmut beats up some Black Hawk thugs who tried to extort money from him. Helmut is warned by an innkeeper that the thugs will return to avenge themselves later. Helmut lures the thugs to a nearby forest and takes care of them there. His seed of darkness reacts to the murder of humans. - Paul and Max (both rank 2 mercenaries) want to join Black Hawk. To prove they’re worthy, they assigned to find and kill Helmut. - Helmut visits a mercenary guild and accepts a commission to escort a noble lady: Jenia 14yo, daughter of Marquis Cheringen. - Aleah, a mage and Jenia’s acquaintance - Jenia’s entourage stop in a forest for a break. - The spring is tainted with a sleeping potion by Paul and Max who are with a large group of Black Hawk members. Helmut and Aleah are the only ones who didn’t drink the spring water. The Black Hawk members are captured by Aleah. Helmut let Paul and Max escape. He didn’t know that imprisoning them was an option. - Ethan Kudrow is a swordsmanship instructor. - Jenia’s entourage arrive at Baden. It’s the first city that Helmut has visited. He goes to the Greta Academy and meets Ethan who realises Helmut is Darien’s student after seeing his sword. Helmut asks Ethan to keep it a secret about Helmut’s connection to Darien. - Ethan helps Helmut enrol at the Academy as a transfer student. He’s astounded at Helmut’s sword skills after seeing Helmut slice through a hardwood log with a wooden sword using vis. Helmut still needs to pass the written exam to be accepted at the Academy. - Helmut gets Aleah to tutor him after paying a small fortune. - Aleah is at the top of his class at the Academy. - ML learns quickly but has trouble with the concepts of ethics and justice. A few weeks later ML takes the written exam. - ML is scorned for being a commoner by the other examinees. - For the 1st stage of the practical exam, ML shocks the supervisor by splitting the blackwood log in half with one strike. - The 2nd stage is a 1v1 duel with 2 rounds. The examinees are evaluated on their skills, not on the final outcome of the duel. - Ethan is 1 of the 3 judges on the evaluation panel. - ML doesn’t give his opponent a chance to act at all and easily wins the 1st round. For the 2nd round, Ethan asks ML to focus on teaching instead of winning. ML spars with his opponent while pointing out areas for improvement. Ethan is reminded of Darien. - All 3 judges are impressed with ML the most. - Sian, the only elemental mage at the Academy. - Ratin is a spirit of light. - Before ML starts attending the Academy, he takes on a request from the Baden mercenary guild. He needs to investigate and eliminate the “ghost” that appeared at the Academy. - The ghost turns out to be a spirit of darkness. Sian, Aleah and ML work together to subdue and capture the spirit. - All students are treated equally at the Academy, regardless of status, family and gender.
Toudai Revengers
Barbarian Quest