In the end, there were no assassination attempts made through the night. When the announcement came, Erani, who was the last one on watch, woke everyone up so we could read it.
CONQUEROR’S TOURNEY OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Thank you to all participants so far. As of the writing of this announcement, a total of ninety-one i...
2024-04-06 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe man who’d just been threatening my life knelt on the ground before the woman whose life I’d saved.
“Lady Magdalene Peersguard,” he said. “W-what can I do for you today, on this fine morning?”
I turned to her. “So that’s why you didn’t want to tell me your name.”
“You’ve been found out, I see...
2024-04-04 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostEntismo glanced around the ruined town.
Oh, no, this has gone terribly wrong.
That Demon had gone on a horrible killing spree, ending in the deaths of at least a dozen Humans now. It’d run off into the alleyways right afterward, so Entismo couldn’t even find it anymore!
And the Goblins…Ugh, that plan had totally ...
2024-03-28 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostXhag’duul hid in an alleyway in a dark, dangerous city. He could feel the Spell that’d summoned him forcing him to return to his prison now that the immediate danger was over. That Human that’d been chasing him had lost him, and for a little while afterward, Xhag’duul had been able to retain control of his body. He’d made it all the wa...
2024-03-24 12:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostI stared at the man wearing Dark Plate, who looked at me with an equally cautious stance.
For once, I completely understood what Erani had always talked about regarding me looking like I was straight out of a monster manual. The darkness emanating from the man’s helmet hid his face from my view, the way his voice echoed out of the steel ...
2024-03-20 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe massive bald guy stared down at me with a furious expression, ready to attack me. So he thought I was an iron titan, huh? Add him to the list, I supposed.
But then, this guy was different from the others. Namely, he wasn’t pissing his pants with fear. He actually wanted to talk. Well, he wanted to kick the shit out of me, it...
2024-03-17 00:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostI did eventually find the woman in armor. As the crowd thinned out and I retraced my steps, I spotted her standing on a dune, staring out into the distance. Once again, there were a few people milling about and gazing up at her, but I supposed it would make sense, considering she looked quite dramatic looking out over the horizon like that, like...
2024-03-13 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostIt took about ten minutes to get three crystals for each of us. Not much time at all—we just needed to walk a little bit out from the walls, get up onto the highest dune, spot some crystals from there, and split up to grab them.
That said, while we did only need ten minutes to get all of our crystals, the announcement detailing the chall...
2024-03-08 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWe didn’t anticipate grabbing up enough crystals to complete the challenge to be difficult at all.
I finished explaining to Erani and we woke up Sylvie and Ainash still with a good few minutes to spare before the challenge was technically assigned, meaning not a single person would be out there to compete with.
Sylvie was, of cours...
2024-03-03 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostI ended up getting a crash course on the current knowledge surrounding Ray of Frost. This was the Spell Erani had originally planned on taking at Level 10, so she had quite a few thoughts on the Upgrade choice.
“Now, Quindrex’s second Sorcerer build, which was centered around crowd control, took Piercing Ray and used it alongside Explo...
2024-02-28 13:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostSitting upright in the bed we’d rented, I sat and meditated. I had 3 Stat Points and a Spell Upgrade waiting to be assigned, plus the more general improvement of a Soft Cap increase, meaning I could train most of my Spells up one more Rank basically for free.
Once ten minutes had passed sitting idle in the room, I opened up the Upgrade f...
2024-02-27 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn the few moments that passed before the wave of monsters got to us—this one being the largest by far, consisting of the hundreds that had starting coming for us from off in the horizon back when the battle started—I dug into my pocket and drew out a small round stone.
It was my Curse Spell Crystal, the one I’d need to Upgrade my tw...
2024-02-23 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAs I backed away from the charging Sand Stompers, I took distinct notice of the fact that the person in plate armor didn’t take effort to retreat, themself. Instead, once the Sand Stompers got close enough, they stood fast and held their ground. Another thing I took notice of was how their hands were completely empty. And, I realized, they did...
2024-02-19 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostIn the distance, I spotted a couple Sand Stompers wandering the dunes.
Perfect. Monster territory. Let’s go that way.
Quite simply, I’d have rather dealt with some monsters that could kill me than more adventurers. I’d forgotten how infuriating dealing with people in a competitive environment like this could be. At lea...
2024-02-15 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostErani, Sylvie, Ainash, and I stood outside the city walls, gazing out into the desert. Our job was to find and retrieve one desert crystal of each primary color they appeared in—red, yellow, and blue. And, of course, each of us needed to accomplish that task, meaning we’d actually need four of each of those colors—one for each of us. So, w...
2024-02-11 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostSylvie did, indeed, puke all over the floor. She’d collapsed onto the hard ground the moment we arrived in the desert cave we housed our Beacon Anchor Point in, and after a few moments of groaning and moaning, she coughed up a pool of yellowish liquid full of chunks.
I took a deep breath to calm my own stomach, leaning on the cave wall. ...
2024-02-08 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Aliss left, we took Sylvie with us out of town and toward the Goblin forest. Despite Sylvie’s best efforts, we never did figure out what Aliss had been doing this whole time, but she assured us up and down that there was nothing dangerous going on and that she was fine, so we reluctantly headed out. Plus, Sylvie was starting to get sleep...
2024-02-06 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostXhag’duul stared at a Human in a damp, dark room. Streams of light were let through the open door, the silhouette of a man standing within.
“D-Demon!” he shouted.
A half dozen ideas for what to do ran through Xhag’duul’s mind, none of him he could enact. Attack and kill him. No, he was forbidden due to his summoner...
2024-02-02 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostSylvie stood in the middle of Boy’s living room, staring at Aliss. “Where in flames have you been?!”
“Who are these two?” Aliss asked, nodding to me and Erani. Neither of us were in our typical disguise, so she didn’t recognize us.
Sylvie audibly groaned, clearly annoyed that she’d have to play into our lie. “This is ...
2024-01-29 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostTeleportation using the Beacon was different from teleportation using a circle in terms of feeling. It was more ‘unstable,’ in whatever way teleportation could feel like that—I arrived slightly off-balance, disoriented, and most importantly, absolutely sick to my stomach. The moment I saw the Goblins’ forest around me, I immediately lurc...
2024-01-27 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostA Devil sat at a desk in a damp, dark room.
This room, though, was different. Its walls were made of wood—a strange substance that didn’t exist in the Underworld—and it was absurdly cluttered and messy compared to the standards of his birthplace. But, really, the Devil didn’t mind the mess. If it were cleaner, it might remind him ...
2024-01-25 14:26:19 +0000 UTC View PostErani, Ainash, and I stood in the nighttime roads with the courier, who apparently had a message from Sylvie.
“So, what is it?” I asked.
“She says,” the courier said, showing us the paper in her hand, “‘Hey, currently kinda in the middle of a financial crisis. Shit’s going down. Anyway, I can’t really afford much, so ...
2024-01-22 13:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostPike walked around the sand dunes, retrieving all of his lost weapons. In the meantime, I looked back to Ainash. “Are you okay?”
After a moment, she finally answered. “...Human beat me. Did not win.”
“You passed the test,” I said. “All you needed to do was fight well enough, and you did. S...
2024-01-19 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe “inspector”—Pike Pinesteel, victor of the third Conqueror’s Tourney, apparently—charged at Ainash, wielding the glowing daggers that’d just appeared in his hands. She instantly readopted her fighting stance, waiting for him to get within range.
But before he even got halfway to her, he planted his foot on the ground and spu...
2024-01-17 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAfter signing up for the tournament, we then went to a nearby government office that the recruiter had pointed us to. The walk there was slightly confusing, but having slightly flawed directions was better than having none at all, so we got there relatively quickly.
Inside, we were guided to an empty side-office once we told them what we w...
2024-01-15 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostStanding in the middle of the run-down city streets, the woman blinked, looking us up and down after my declaration of interest in this tournament she’d been talking about.
“You wanna know more?” she asked.
“‘Course we do,” I said, stepping forward. “We’ve been trying to find a place where we can get more information ...
2024-01-12 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostOver the rest of that afternoon and night, we traveled through the desert to Precipice, the capital city. I passively practiced Noxious Grasp the whole time as I watched the sky darken, day shifting to night once more in this timeline.
I’d spoken with Index about more in-depth details regarding this Beacon thing that I’d only just rece...
2024-01-10 09:59:43 +0000 UTC View PostAs we sat in the back of the carriage, separated from the driver up front, I heard a sudden voice.
“Hey, Arlan,” Erani said, “do you mind asking Index to help me with something?”
“Hm?” I asked. “Sure. What’s up?”
Erani paused for a moment, like she was suddenly reconsidering. She’d been silent ever since she...
2024-01-06 13:58:23 +0000 UTC View PostAnd then I was back, sitting in the back of a carriage driving peacefully through the sandy dunes.
The first thing I did was check my XP.
Currently at 1.87k/3.5k, huh? Not bad.
“Not bad at all,” Index commented, “considering you started out at basically 0 XP. At your current Level, trying to get half of your XP r...
2024-01-04 14:01:11 +0000 UTC View Post
