Ludger rubbed his temples, thinking. “So if I try this again,” he murmured, “I’ll end up turning half the coastline into a wasteland.”
He crouched again, brushing a handful of lifel...
2025-10-30 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLudger pressed his palm against the coral pillar below him, channeling mana downward as another coral pillar began to take shape beneath the waves. The process had become almost rhythmic by now—p...
2025-10-30 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostGaius let out a quiet grunt. “Wouldn’t matter much if they did. You expose one leak, and two more crawl out of the floorboards.”
Ludger leaned back in his chair, eyes half-lidded. “So...
2025-10-30 07:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe afternoon sun was already dipping west when Gaius walked down bridge toward the beach.
The rest of the group stayed back near the dunes, watching as the old mage stopped at the water’s ed...
Lucius’s tone shifted—less the polished diplomacy of a nobleman, more the clipped precision of someone who’d been collecting pieces far longer than anyone else realized.
“There’s on...
2025-10-29 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“She’s been keeping a low profile,” Viola continued. “So low that even I haven’t felt her presence since three days ago.”
Ludger frowned. “You mean she’s that close t...
2025-10-29 11:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostBy late morning, the beach had turned into a flurry of controlled chaos. Lionsguard banners fluttered near the dunes. Ludger worked a little farther inland, past the reach of the salt wind, where t...
2025-10-29 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostShe nodded, setting her fork down. “He said we could use the manor freely for as long as we needed. His staff’s orders were clear—feed us, house us, don’t ask questions.”
“That’...
2025-10-28 21:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLudger followed at a distance, staying low between dunes, using the sea breeze to cover the sound of his steps.
When they stopped for the night near a cluster of boulders off the main road, h...
2025-10-28 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun sank low, bleeding gold into the sea. The heat of the day softened into a heavy stillness as Ludger moved through the dunes, keeping to the long shadows that stretched toward the water.
... 2025-10-28 11:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostA week later later, the road turned to sand and salt.
The mountains had vanished behind the haze, replaced by the low hum of cicadas and the distant crash of waves. The air was warmer here, t...
2025-10-28 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostLudger took one more step, and the world tilted. The red haze broke all at once, leaving only pain and the weight of blood loss behind. His knees hit the ground first. Then his face met the dirt. 2025-10-27 21:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The explosion tore through the ground like a cannon blast.
Sand and rock erupted skyward, the shockwave ripping a shallow crater into the area. Debris rained down in a storm of grit.
Wh...
2025-10-27 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAaron advanced. The staff in his hands blurred — steel howling through air dense with mana. Each swing cracked the torches sideways, scattering sparks against the walls. The sound alone made Ludg...
2025-10-27 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostFor a long while, nothing happened. The cave returned to its usual silence—just the faint drip of water and the soft rasp of Gaius’s breathing. His hopes dulled again, sinking beneath exhaustio...
2025-10-27 07:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostGaius came to slowly, as though surfacing from a lake of mud.
His eyelids were heavy; his breath rasped dry against the back of his throat. Every inch of his body screamed with dull, aching pro...
Those men were fast—faster than most soldiers Ludger had ever seen—but not fast enough to lose him. He followed from a distance, keeping about five hundred meters between them. Any closer, and ...
2025-10-26 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLudger stood there for a long moment, staring at the soil beneath his boots. The faint traces of mana still clung to it, like the echo of someone’s last heartbeat.
Could he be one of th...
2025-10-26 11:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe first day passed quietly. Ludger stayed inside the empty guild hall, the creak of old wood and distant wind the only things breaking the silence. He was grateful, in a way, for his own habit of...
2025-10-26 07:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time dawn broke, Ludger’s legs felt like they were made of lead. Every step sent a dull ache through his calves and thighs, but he kept running—steady, rhythmic.
He’d pushed hims...
2025-10-25 21:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBack home, the atmosphere was quieter—but no less heavy.
Elaine sat at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a still-warm cup of tea. She’d already heard the gist of the meeting fro...
2025-10-25 17:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostTorvares leaned back in his chair, the firelight from the wall lantern catching the faint lines on his face. “Their timing is suspicious, yes,” he admitted, “but I don’t think the boy was <...
2025-10-25 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe discussion ended there.
There was no point in entertaining a deal with people tied to the Hakuen House—not when the Torvares family was both the Lionsguard’s main ally ...
When Ludger got back home, the faint scent of soap and herbs was already in the air—Elaine had clearly been preparing for this exact situation. She met him at the doorway with that calm-...
2025-10-24 21:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostAnother week slipped by before Ludger finally set his quill down.
On the desk before him sat a thick stack of papers—his manual. Every line, every smudge of ink, was the result of ...
2025-10-24 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe glaive shattered midair, splintering like glass under the force of Ludger’s compressed blast. For a heartbeat, it seemed over—until one jagged fragment, no longer than a dagger, spun out of...
2025-10-24 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEventually, Ludger crossed the final bend of the first zone and stepped into the wide, glacial expanse of the second. The air here was colder, heavier—each breath cutting like gl...
2025-10-24 06:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostA few days passed, and Ludger spent most of them thinking—really thinking—about his next steps.
He’d taken over one of the empty guild offices, turned it into a makeshift study...
2025-10-23 21:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe tension in the room slowly eased after that, but the air wasn’t so heavy anymore. Torvares leaned back in his chair, Luna relaxed a bit, and Viola, finally exhaling, leaned an elbow against t...
2025-10-23 17:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Ludger stepped through the door, the first thing he heard wasn’t words—it was chaos. Twin cries, echoing through the house like two competing alarms.
Elaine was pacing in small, anxi...
2025-10-23 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post