Week 2

The pace of the semester quickened.

In Guncasting, the drills turned brutal. Instructor Cassian Varn led a live-combat simulation in shifting terrain. Joshua thrived under pressure—his Reinforcement magic now instinctively timed with recoil, allowing him to reload mid-dodge and cast during a backward slide. Other students struggled to keep pace.

In Gunsmithing, Elra Vintock unveiled a dismantled celestial firearm—a Godflare Model-0—tasking students to recreate a single working part. Joshua chose the firing soul-core, using stardust alloy and a resonance chamber of etched obsidian. Vintock raised an eyebrow when it sparked on first test.

In Ballistics, the class dissected footage of mythic bullet trajectories from legendary wars. One particular technique—a "phase-twist ricochet"—caught Joshua's attention. He stayed after to simulate it in the augmented vault. By the end of the session, he nearly nailed it.

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +1 Relationship Bonus]

Rolled 10. Arcane Gunsmithing - Class Progress 51/100 → 61/100

Spell Learned! Mend / Shatter: A dual-purpose spell to either repair minor damage and magical wear on a firearm or intentionally fracture and disable it by focusing destructive arcane energy.

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +2 Relationship Bonus]

Rolled 5. Magical Ballistics - Class Progress 50/100 → 55/100

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +2 Relationship Bonus]

Rolled 5. Guncaster Fundamentals - Class Progress 34/100 → 39/100

-

Day 2 – Mentor Training (Body, Mind, Spirit)

On the high fields of the Last Horizon, GunSage Felgrim tested Joshua relentlessly. Body: A gauntlet of terrain shifts, pressure mines, and magical crossfire. Joshua pushed through without external buffs, relying only on breath, grit, and reinforced muscle threading.

Mind: Felgrim presented him with the "Three-Gun Dilemma"—a shifting tactical problem where choosing one bullet changes which enemies appear next. Joshua solved it by thinking backward, not forward. Felgrim simply grunted: "Good."

Spirit: A meditation fire built from aged revolver wood. Joshua was told to listen—not with ears, but through the barrel of his gun. He heard the echo of a future kill... his own. And smiled. He wasn't afraid.

Roll 1d5+1(incense)+1(day)+3(mentor)+3(Eternal Crownshadow Mediation)+1(relationship)

Rolled 10. Spirit 5 Stat Progress 9/50 → 19/50

Roll 1d7+1(gav ball)+3(mentor)+1(day)+3(Everlasting Imperial Breath)+1(relationship)

Rolled 16. Body 7 - Stat Progress 27/70 → 43/70

Roll 1d5+1(needle)+3(mentor)+1(day)+3(Throne-Void Stance)+1(relationship)

Rolled 13. Mind 5 - Stat Progress 52/50 → Mind 6 2/60

Mindis 6 now! Roll 1d6 for Stress Pool Gain!

Rolled 4. Mana 14/14

-

Day 3 – Extracurriculars (Librarians, Basement Court, Union of the Oppressed)

Librarians – Wayfinder's Compass: Joshua and his team tracked the second vault mentioned in Archivist Noctis' map. It had partially phased into a dream-realm. Joshua's shot, loaded with Dream Salt, anchored the vault long enough to retrieve a ciphered cube—possibly a key to the third site.

+1 Skill Progress Dimensional Cartographer 1(1/3): +1 Bonus to mapping and traversing different terrains in different worlds, dimensions, realms.

Basement Court: They claimed another chamber—an old steamway station submerged under a forgotten bathhouse. The team converted it into an archive-moot room. Morale surged. Rumors whispered that the Court had a new edge—"The Low Rise Ascends."

New territory Found!

Union of the Oppressed: This session, they unraveled the ethics of magical coercion in familiars. Joshua helped demonstrate a controversial binding reversal spell. A rebellious shadow-familiar willingly re-bonded to its caster after a trust trial. The moment was intimate, dangerous, and sacred.

+ 1 Skill Progress Familiar Liberation 1(1/3): Learn to communicate with bound familiars, break soul-contracts, and reforge new bonds based on consent, balance, and mutual power.

-

Day 4 – Arcane Entrepreneurship

Share ideas for business that MC can found!

The Caliburn Exchange

Type: Gun Parts & Duel Accessories Details: A refined emporium for modular weapon parts, powerful ammo, legendary stock replicas, and bonded gun spirits.

The Thaumaturgic Exchange Authority — or The T.E.A., as it was known among those daring enough to deal in spell-backed speculation — was no mere market. It was the Academy's most sacred and dangerous institution of commerce: a jurisdiction-neutral corporate district suspended in a planar fold just beyond the Department of Economancy. Here, startups weren't just born — they were forged in the crucible of arcane law, financial ambition, and metaphysical regulation. It was said that founding a business in the T.E.A. was tantamount to making a pact. Not with a devil — but with Profit itself.

Joshua passed beneath the obsidian arch of the Exchange, where the very air vibrated with contracts older than the nations of men. Marble corridors twisted around dimensional spines, leading to vaulted spaces filled with business mages, patent-bound automatons, and robed angel investors from forgotten worlds. All business ventures within the Academy needed to be registered here if you wished to keep it legal and orderly.

Image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/37084396927379043/

The Coven of Commercial Equilibrium oversaw it all — a guild of spell-lawyers, divinatory auditors, and economancers who wore robes laced with legal clauses in a hundred languages. They enforced binding oaths and economantic charters that prevented fraud, scams, and arcane-loopholes. Here, curses wore suits. Deception was illegal — and possibly fatal.

Joshua first visited the Incorporation Halls, where parchment grew on trees and contract spirits slithered across stone counters and glowing runes floated between candidates as they registered their magical startups. Students inked names into spellbooks that doubled as tax ledgers, watched over by bound legal spirits who whispered one's rights in rhyming couplets. Bureaucracy was a kind of ritual here — long, arcane, and binding. A legally sapient quill, feathered in phoenix fire, awaited him. "State your enterprise," it hissed.

"The Caliburn Exchange," Joshua replied.

"Structure?"

"Jurisdiction-neutral limited spell liability consortium."

The quill flared — delighted. With ceremonial ink drawn from the Memory of Law, he signed the Register of Arcane Enterprises. His license ignited briefly in flame before solidifying into a seal — red wax around a bullet-marked crest. A voice from the wall read it aloud:

"Henceforth recognized under the Concord of Wand & Will, Clause 88-Aether: The Caliburn Exchange is now a certified magical venture, permitted to host binding contracts, patent registered spell-tech, and engage in licensed interplanar trade within Academy-sanctioned grounds."

Paying the fee to register his business he went on his way. Next came the Chamber of Marks & Sigils, where students filed glyphs and logos like merchants filing battle standards. Joshua submitted his design: a stylized revolver cylinder nested within a magical exchange circle — each chamber etched with a different arcane school. The sigil was passed through the Mirror of Origination — a legendary object that detects imitations across time, space, and dream. It glowed blue. Unique. The registrar — a blindfolded ink spirit — murmured:

"The Caliburn Exchange is now marked. Any unauthorized duplication will trigger curse-based retaliation in accordance with Magical Trademark Article 9 — counterfeits will bleed ink until their words dissolve."

Once more he paid another fee, from there he walked to the Charter Pillars, a forest of hovering monoliths where proposed ventures were carved in radiant script. Each charter shimmered as it shifted languages hourly — Elvish to Draconic, Thieves' Cant to Dead Tongue — making transparency a trial and an art. He saw his new business there, and if someone wanted to they could invest or partner up with him in the future.

Then he passed the Pitch Chambers, Joshua watched fellow magipreneurs risk their futures in front of alumni venture capitalists, masked arcanists, and dimension-crossing backers with obsidian eyes and gold-threaded teeth. In this amphitheater of ambition, spells were valued like stocks, and ideas were torn apart or transformed into empires overnight. He had plenty of money at hand to get started and didn't want some fat cat to come and enforce some strings on him.

He heard those with viable ventures were escorted to the Sanction Vaults: reinforced chambers locked by soul-geometries and guarded by logic golems. Inside, unstable magical prototypes — enchanted vending machines, conjuration blueprints, cursed patents — were sealed, registered, and appraised. But it was the Ledger Well that whispered to Joshua most. An ancient economantic archive rumored to have been bound from the skin of a retired contract god, it swirled with light and ink, it must have been an awkward retirement, having been skinned and all. Investors leaned close, whispered their intentions — and, if lucky, the Ledger whispered back. Finally there was one other place whispered about, the founder's Lounge where the big dogs and fat cat hanged, only the best of the best where welcomed there.

Standing at the edge of it all, Joshua understood: this wasn't just a place to sell. It was a place to declare what your magic meant to the world — and whether it could stand on its own, be bought, or change the fabric of the arcane economy. And he had just filed the name of his own venture: The Caliburn Exchange — a new name in a very old game.

The idea had been burning in the back of his mind for a while now — ever since he'd stumbled into unexpected wealth and a foothold in the Academy. He knew the pattern: most who won fortunes through luck lost them the same way — slowly, then all at once. He'd already spent plenty of his mana stones on gear.. Money well spent, sure. But he wanted more than weapons and prestige. He wanted infrastructure. Leverage. A future.

If magic was a kingdom, then the smart ones bought land. And Joshua intended to carve out a dominion of his own — one where spells were traded like stock, relics were brokered across planes, and innovation had a roof under his name. The Caliburn Exchange wasn't just a startup. It was a statement.

And as the ink dried on the license scroll, a ripple passed through the golden registry flames — marking the birth of a new arcane venture. One tied to grit, gunmetal, and the iron will of a boy who'd made the impossible shot. Now came the real work.

-

Day 5 – Forbidden Knowledge Broker

The Broker of Forbidden Knowledge resides deep within the heart of the Great Library of Magic, a place lost to time, hidden beyond the realms of mortal understanding. This library, vast and infinite, is a place not of shelves and books but of ancient knowledge etched into the very fabric of reality, where scrolls shimmer with the secrets of the multiverse and tomes breathe with the whispers of long-forgotten gods.

Joshua follows a set of cryptic instructions provided by Madame Quell—his Librarian mentor. She warned him that the Broker's lair was not a conventional place but a labyrinthine pocket of shifting realities and arcane barriers, concealed from most. It is located within the Forgotten Library, a long-abandoned annex of the Grand Library of Magic, one that houses knowledge deemed too powerful and dangerous to remain within the public domain. The entrance is hidden behind an illusory veil, surrounded by false pages that rewrite themselves, making it nearly impossible to track.

As Joshua approaches, the veil shifts like liquid light, revealing a dimly lit room filled with ancient tomes, floating relics, and enchanted sigils suspended in mid-air. The Broker's lair feels both welcoming and foreboding. The room is bathed in the glow of dark candles, the air thick with the scent of ink, dust, and an unidentifiable metallic tang.

Inside, the Broker awaits him. The figure is a presence more than a person, cloaked in shadow with an aura of cosmic energy swirling around them. Their form is constantly shifting, not fully solid, and their voice carries a hollow echo, as though it's coming from a distant reality. "Ahh, the young one who seeks more than mere trivialities. What is it that you want, boy?" their voice resonates, clear but unsettling.

Joshua has a chance to ask for a specific form of forbidden knowledge. As he mentions his interest in magic evolution, the Broker's gaze sharpens, and the room's energy seems to pulse in response. The Broker offers insight into evolving magic, a dangerous yet powerful field that has allowed certain legendary mages to transcend their mortal limitations. However, the Broker makes it clear that this knowledge will come with consequences—he will be expected to pay the price when the time comes.

Image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/4011087180659840/

Roll for what you get; 1d6

1- Very bad(+5 progress) 2- Subpar(+15 progress) 3- Okay(+25 progress) 4- Good(+50 progress) 5- Great(+75 progress) 6- Amazing(+100 progress)

Rolled 6! +100 Magic Research Progress!

New Magic Evolution Research Progress (337/1,000)

After negotiating with the Broker, Joshua receives the Forbidden Knowledge of Magic Evolution in exchange for an unnamed future sacrifice. The information is handed to him not as a book or scroll, but as a living script—a swirling mass of runes that only Joshua can perceive. It pulses with life, shifting like an organic entity, the words changing constantly, revealing new paths and possibilities.

As Joshua absorbs the information, he feels his magic stir within him, reshaping and expanding. He gains insight into a new magic evolution path that connects the legacy of the Star-Eaters, Reinforcement Magic, and the ancient forms of magical evolution that once existed in the forgotten realms. However, his mind burns as the information lodges deep within his consciousness, and he feels a strange weight settle over him—a promise made, something he would need to fulfill in the future.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

He is now one step closer to mastering a form of magic that is dangerous and volatile, but immensely powerful. However, as the evening closes, the Broker's final words echo in his mind: "Beware what you seek, child. The price of knowledge is always steep, and some doors, once opened, cannot be closed." Joshua's task is far from over, and the road ahead now stretches into a realm of uncharted power.

-

Day 6 – Familiar Bonding

Objective: Spend quality time strengthening the bond with your familiar and training together. Joshua and his familiar (Vesperrex) need to be in sync not only to overcome threats but to grow stronger as a team. This day is about growth, training, and combat bonding.

Morning: Training with Vesperrex. Go over combat drills, agility training, and some new maneuvers that could prove useful for future challenges. These might include combo strikes or tactical retreats where Vesperrex provides a distraction while Joshua makes the final shot.

Afternoon: Recovery Session. Rest and recuperate while spending time together in a peaceful environment. Let Vesperrex relax, play, or meditate alongside Joshua. This helps to deepen the bond and restores both physical and magical energy.

Evening: Sparring Session. Work on your reaction time, accuracy, and magical synergy with Vesperrex. Practice coordinating spells with familiar abilities, such as using magic to shield Vesperrex during battle or timing strikes with perfect precision.

+1 Familiar Bond Progress - Vesperrex Bond: 1(1/3)

-

Day 7 – Rest & Meditate

Morning: Rest and Recovery. Joshua will spend time recuperating in his Master's tower at another relaxing environment to rid himself of lingering stress and exhaustion. This will help reset his mind and body for the challenges ahead.

Current -3/14

Stress Recovery: 1d5+1 Tower Bonus+1 Day Bonus+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship

Rolled 9. New 6/14

Afternoon: Meditate on his Path of Ruined Thrones. Meditate on the power that awaits him as he claims his legacy. This include focusing on strengthening his connection to the Ruined Thrones and its power.

Current Circle(Level) 1 - 5/100

Level Progress: 1d7(cultivation rank) +3 Technique(Ruined Thrones)+1 Tower Bonus+1 Day Bonus+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship

Rolled 16. New Circle(Level) 1 - 21/100

Evening: Magic. Joshua will focus on developing new magical abilities or refining the ones he already possesses. This could involve focusing on his Reinforcement Magic, researching deeper into his First Legacy, or even experimenting with his powers to push the boundaries of what he's already capable of.

Current Reinforcement Magic Early 1-✩: 49/1,000

Magic(Affinity) Progress 1d4(Magic)+2 Bracer +1 Day Bonus +1 Tower+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship

Rolled 11. New Reinforcement Magic Early 1-✩: 60/1,000

-

Month 2, Week 3!

Dorm Raids Prep

Joshua's badge pulsed softly as he stepped into the main car of the Redhook Linehouse. The overhead lamps hissed with arcane steam, casting shadows over gear-strewn tables and tactical scribblings.

The crew was already gathered. Hella was oiling her dual pistols with slow, reverent strokes. Erin crouched in the corner, whispering to a pouch that breathed in and out—filled with biting smoke and tiny spectral plants. Marrow hovered a floating schematic of the Azure Keep dorm, lines etched in ghostlight ink as she traced out patrol paths and magical pressure traps.

Flickwick leaned against the window frame, file in one hand, dagger in the other, casually sharpening her grin. Brandon strummed a dissonant chord on his stormguitar, tuning his battle-spells into alignment. Catalina stood behind him, arms crossed, translating magical signatures from the Azure Keep's ward glyphs. Virelle ran diagnostics on a decoy badge. Even Virelle was etching a transposition rune onto a pebble with the care of a master craftsman.

Jack rolled up his sleeves and stepped to the center table. "We're not just raiding," he said, tapping the glowing dorm schematic. "We're reclaiming dignity." Redhook had a reputation—wild, scattered, unlucky. And the Azure Keep? Smug Bronze-rank duelists with perfect hair, perfect scores, and an even more perfect hatred of anything beneath them.

"Target: Dorm Azure Keep," Marrow said, flicking his fingers. "Current rank: Bronze-tier.

"Which means if we screw this up," Velka grinned, "we don't just fail — we crash, burn, and get publicly mocked for the next three semesters."

"Hence the plan," Jack said, pulling a scroll from his coat. "A blend of misdirection, mimicry, and maximum disrespect." He laid it out.

Phase One: We will capture Tavian Albright, one of Azure's more panicked, fussy residents. And Marrow will impersonate him. Once inside he will plant false evidence that their rival Dorm is preparing a big assault.

Phase Two: Team 1 will launch a fake assault on them, leading them on a merry chase.

Phase Three: Once Azure gives chase, Team 2 enters from the blind zone. Loot everything worth grabbing. Exit clean.

There were nods, murmurs of approval, and a few bursts of laughter. Brandon cracked his knuckles. "We're gonna make history — or a mess so beautiful it looks like history."

"We'll need distraction runes, badge jammers, at least one bribe for the cleaning staff, and a Plan C if this turns into a firefight," Ume warned.

Joshua grinned. "That's why we plan now. We strike later."

-

Menagerie Hunting Prep

That evening, Joshua found Seraphyne on the eastern overlook of the Floating Lotus Pavilion. Mist curled beneath her like a living scarf. Together, they reviewed coordinates and plans — this wasn't romance, not tonight. It was logistics. Seraphyne unrolled an ancient hide-map stitched with glowing thread. Before them hovered a conjured map of the Menagerie, its biomes twisting like a living thing: irradiated wastelands that pulsed green through lead-filtered sky; starlit jungles where gravity turned sideways; ancient ruins built for beasts that no longer obeyed scale.

The Fallout Wyrm roamed radioactive zones within the Menagerie's twisted zones — its blood rumored to calcify magic itself. The Star Colosseling, meanwhile, flickered between constellations deep in the Menagerie, only showing itself when the stars aligned. "We've chosen two targets no sane person would hunt. Not even together."

"We do, what we must do," Joshua shrugged his shoulders as they went over how to deal with them. For the wrym, it was weak during its shedding period. For the colosseling it was weak to anchoring it so they prepared astral chains.

They'd do the Fallout Wyrm first. Then, with that victory, they'd use the magic calcification of the wyrm to bolster their astral anchor chains for the Star Colosseling. One beast would become the key to hunting the other. Joshua marked the map with fresh sigils, a fang beside a falling star.

-

Weekly Progress; Month 2, Week 3!

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +1 Relationship Bonus] Rolled 8. Arcane Gunsmithing - Class Progress 61/100 → 69/100

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +2 Relationship Bonus] Rolled 10. Magical Ballistics - Class Progress 55/100 → 65/100

Roll for Class Progress[1d8(Talent) +1 Instructor Bonus + 1 Day Bonus +2 Relationship Bonus] Rolled . Guncaster Fundamentals - Class Progress 39/100 →/100

-

Roll 1d5+1(incense)+1(day)+3(mentor)+3(Eternal Crownshadow Mediation)+1(relationship) Rolled 10. Spirit 5 Stat Progress 19/50 → 29/50

Roll 1d7+1(gav ball)+3(mentor)+1(day)+3(Everlasting Imperial Breath)+1(relationship) Rolled 14. Body 7 - Stat Progress 43/70 → 57/70

Roll 1d6+1(needle)+3(mentor)+1(day)+3(Throne-Void Stance)+1(relationship) Rolled 14. Mind 6 - Stat Progress 2/60 → 16/60

-

+1 Familiar Bond Progress - Vesperrex Bond: 1(2/3)

Vesperrex Circle(Level) 1: 0/100! Level Progress: 1d7(fabled) +3 Technique(Ancestral Memories)+1 Relationship. Rolled 11. New Circle(Level) 1: 11/100

-

Current -3/14! Stress Recovery: 1d5+1 Tower Bonus+1 Day Bonus+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship. Rolled 11. New 8/14

Current Circle(Level) 1: 21/100! Level Progress: 1d7(cultivation rank) +3 Technique(Ruined Thrones)+1 Tower Bonus+1 Day Bonus+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship. Rolled 14. New Circle(Level) 1: 35/100

Current Reinforcement Magic Early 1-✩: 60/1,000!Magic(Affinity) Progress 1d4(Magic)+2 Bracer +1 Day Bonus +1 Tower+3 Mentor Bonus+1 Relationship. Rolled 11. New Reinforcement Magic Early 1-✩: 71/1,000

-

Month 2, Week 4!

Grand Library Research: Magic Evolution & Great Gunslingers

The Grand Library of Magic was not a building but a pocket dimension shaped like a living intellect—its halls shifting in silence, its staircases changing with mood, its shelves humming with unshelved wisdom. Joshua arrived early, badge glowing faintly as the door accepted his credentials. Today, he had two goals: Trace the arcane blueprints of magical evolution. Study the legacies of transcendent gunslingers.

For Magic Evolution, he followed an ethereal archivist—a floating quill with a monocle—into the Hall of MetamagicTheory, where magic was dissected like anatomy. He skimmed works on: Mana vector enhancement through familiar resonance. Cultivation plateaus and the mutation of magical paths. Forbidden evolution: Shards of Self, where mages split their identity to specialize in multiple branches simultaneously.

A scroll sealed in three locks caught his attention: "On Ruined Lineages: Magic Birthed from Failure" — it mirrored his own Path of Ruined Thrones. He copied segments into his badge-notebook.

For Great Gunslingers, Joshua crossed into a side wing—The Ballistic Epoch, where enchanted bullet casings floated in display beside spectral silhouettes of long-dead gunslingers reenacting duels on loop.

He studied the likes of: Marshal Threnody, who shot falling stars with prayers carved into gunpowder. The Spiral Regent, a cursed noble who wielded twin pistols that fed on ambition. Eliza Six-Echo, who bound a familiar into each chamber of her revolver.

Among the dusty records, he uncovered an unlisted entry: a sigiled chamber sealed in prophecy. Inside was a recording of the first gunwielder — Oren Quen. A name half-written in history and half-etched into folklore. He was called the First Shot—a title that clung more to myth than man. Reading the small fragments of information about this figure, Joshua felt that name pulled at something deep in him. Not just reverence—but recognition.

As if his path, the revolver at his side, and the weight in his spine were all chapters from a book Oren Quen had begun. Joshua left the Grand Library weighed down—but sharpened. The echoes of fallen gunslingers whispered behind him.

Current Magic Evolution Research Progress (337/1,000)! Roll 1d4(magic) +3(library)= 6. 343/1,000

Oren Quen Research Progress (0/50,000)! Roll 1d8 +3(library)= 6. 6/50,000

-

The Contract with Nytheris Location: Tower of Heaven, Deep Oblivion Vaults

The Tower of Heaven was not made for mortals to ascend—it was built as a ladder for the divine to descend. Its stones shimmered with half-remembered prayers, its spiral stairways bent gravity inwards, and its apex was said to kiss the edge of time itself. But Joshua did not climb toward the stars. He descended.

Down into the Deep Vaults—a place that predated the academy, wrapped in old starlight and warded in thirteen dialects of silence. The further he walked, the quieter the world became. Not even his badge worked here. Only thought, and breath, and fear.

He stopped before the Oblivion Prism, a massive, obsidian tetrahedron suspended in a hollow chamber by chains of dream-metal. The prism did not reflect him—it rejected reflection entirely. It absorbed meaning. And behind its impossible angles, a presence stirred. "Nytheris."

Her name was not meant for human mouths. It rippled through the air like a blade through silk. This time Joshua wasn't foolish enough to hope the binding would do the trick so he came prepared as he placed the offering in the basin before the prism: A vial of Tears of the Starbound, a coin minted from a shattered moon, and a fragment of his own dream—cut from sleep and bound in glass. The chamber shivered. She arrived.

A shimmer of shadow folded open, revealing the shape of a woman crowned in voidfire. Her cloak was stitched from void collapse. Her voice was not a sound, but a subtraction. "You call the Harbinger."

"I do," Joshua said. "I seek power... and I offer path." A moment stretched into a fracture in time.

What sort of contract will you like to make with Nytheris, Harbinger of Oblivion?

Oath - Make her aligned to him! Not the other way around.

-

Nytheris, the Harbinger of Oblivion. Wreathed in collapsing constellations, her form blurred at the edges of recognition. A crown of broken stars circled her head. Her fingers were long and too many, trailing entropy like smoke. She looked down on him—not with disdain, but curiosity. "You would force the void to kneel?" she said, voice echoing like silence in reverse.

He drew no weapon. Instead, he placed his hand on his badge—its light flickering erratically under her gravity. "You want entropy? Good. Bind yourself to me. Together, we'll bring it."

Her cosmic form reeled, but didn't retreat. "You would leash me?"

"Not leash. Fuse. My path is ruin. You are ruin."

He slammed his will into the space between them. Blood misted from his nose. The Vault groaned. "Swear it, Nytheris. Or I'll tear you into pieces and forge each into a bullet."

For a moment, she laughed. Not mockery—recognition. And then, like starlight cracking through shadow, the Oath Circle ignited around them. But it wasn't gentle. It screamed into existence.

-

The Student Market

Hidden beneath the eastern courtyard of the Academy, the Student Market was not built — it was grown. Grown from the ambitions of thousands of magical entrepreneurs, stitched into reality by pact-bound vendors, student-crafters, planar migrants, and whispering economic familiars. It shifted constantly, yet always stayed rooted in its own dimensional fold — a space between trade and temptation.

No map ever captured its layout. The corridors rethreaded themselves daily, responding to market demand and magical trends. At the entrance, a living threshold greeted each visitor — a serpentine stone dragon made of credit slips and forgotten IOUs. It smiled when it smelled fresh gold. Or desperation.

Inside, the world reshaped itself. The Student Market was not a place built by hands, but by wants. Stalls shimmered in and out of focus, woven from raw spells and unstable conjurations. The floor rippled underfoot like a woven mana tapestry, adjusting for traffic patterns only it understood. Storefronts were illusions projected from thoughts; signs flickered in ancient languages, switching tongues every few seconds to catch every eye at least once.

Orchestral spell-chatter crackled through the air — enchanted advertisements whispering directly into eardrums, promising hexes half-off, familiars that could sing in dreams, or potion kits brewed from memory foam and sleep-thought. One stall hawked dreams harvested from first-time summoners. Another sold phoenix-down cloaks — freshly plucked, still smoldering.

The sky above the lower tiers wasn't a ceiling, but a patchwork of floating stalls suspended in gravity-defiant airships and cloud-rafts. Winged merchants shouted across open thermals, conducting trade in the currents like hawks bartering over prey. One seller released a flock of contract-scrolls that chased passersby with aggressive terms and suspiciously favorable interest rates.

What would you like to buy? Top 3!

Recovery Potions(Health, Mana, Stress)

Gunmods(Silent Cylinder, Sight Lens, etc..)

Ammo(Idea)

Share ideas

-

Joshua moved through the heart of the Student Market like a hunter with a list carved into his soul.

The cobbled paths pulsed faintly underfoot, etched with sigils that hummed with trade-signed pacts and light contract bindings. Stalls floated midair or grew from the roots of summoned market trees, each attended by hawkers in mage-robes or glittering familiars trained in haggling. Smells of alchemical brews mixed with the ozone sting of discharged spellsteel. Somewhere, a gun fired—not in violence, but as punctuation to a deal struck.

He was here to gear up. Not with trinkets—but with tools of survival.

First stop: a potion stall shaped like a bubbling cauldron turned inside out. The proprietor, a potion-brewer fused with his own alchemy spirit, handed him three glass flasks:

Red Spiral(3x) – for restoring grievous wounds.(+10 HP)

Blue Whisper(3x) – for replenishing deep mana burns.(+10 MP)

Grey Vein(3x) – a rare brew that dissolved mental fatigue and stabilized magical stress fractures.(+10 SP)

"If your circuits fray," the brewer rasped, "this'll keep you from slipping into magical burnout."

Second stop: a weaponsmith's booth locked in a permanent duel with itself—half the stall existed a second ahead in time, the other half a second behind. Inside, Joshua found what he needed: Barrier Rounds (x12): Shells etched with folding shield runes—burst on impact into semi-stable ward domes. Temporary but perfect for cover, magical deflection, or creating ritual safe zones mid-fight.

"Shoot the ground, not the threat," the vendor advised. "This round doesn't kill. It protects."

Final stop: a shadowed enclave marked only by a whistling tune. The merchant wore mirrored goggles and no face beneath. He dealt in gunmods. Silent Cylinder: A smooth, shadowmetal chamber that fits into revolvers like a whisper into a prayer. When slotted, it silences the shot not just in sound but in spell-signature—making spells or bullets nearly undetectable by magical alarms or wards. "For those who speak violence quietly," the vendor murmured, sealing the deal with a nod.

Joshua's pockets were lighter — but his arsenal was sharper. He didn't just shop. He armed for what came next. For the Dorm Raid. For the Wyrm. For titian.

-

Exciting announcement!

Hi, I'll be working on a new series. Would love you guys opinion on which one you prefer to see!

1) A system apocalypse series. Follows a mc in Britain with dragon powers and heavy Arthurian inspiration. Fighting against Fey invaders. War, kingdom-building, tech-innovation.

2) A tower-climbing series. Follows a mc from US with time powers, trying to find his family who got taken away. Time-loops, trauma, family.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.