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2024-10-29 19:42:56I rode Bella along the edge of the desert. The transition between zones left enough solid ground that we could traverse it with ease. It wasn't the most direct route but that was ok.
The trip back to the now useless boat dock, that Martin and the others used on our first visit, took a few extra hours.I spotted a few dust plumes in the distance from sand devourers. They kept well clear of the transition zone, although, one shadowed me for a bit before it headed off into the desert.The boat ramp looked odd, jutting into the sand. Bella had no issue climbing up the surface, her claws clicking on the old concrete.When we got to the end of the ramp she stopped. She made some clicking noises as she searched about."What is it, girl?" I asked, producing my staff and looking around as well.Fiona appeared next to me, "something feels off.""Yeah, Bella feels it too."I hopped off of Bella to give her free reign to fi
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Mana System In The Apocalypse Banshee
[True Banshee | Level XX]I was having a hard time tracking the two as they kept fading from view and reforming. I decided to activate another use of my talisman.It helped a bit, allowing me to see their forms a bit better when they faded from view. The Banshee managed to knock Fiona off to the side and sped towards me. My throat locked up in terror but my muscles still responded as I swung my staff at the creature.As soon as my staff came into contact with its wispy outline it let out a cry so powerful my muscles turned to jello and I collapsed on the ground. It shrieked like that the entire time it flew back into the city.Fiona rushed over, "are you ok?""Uhh...," was all I could get out, my muscles not yet responding.I was incapacitated for a good five minutes. Fiona floated around nervously the entire time. If those husks had returned I would be dead since she had no way to harm them and Bella had run off into the swamp.
Mana System In The Apocalypse Aiming Locals
After I got the required oaths from the rest of the people in the bar, the Constable showed me to an office area where I could work. Her attitude toward me was still chilly but I didn't care.I looked at the assorted weapons before me. It was a motley collection consisting of a few swords that were probably older than my father, a couple of hunting bows with an assortment of arrows, and one war hammer that looked like a cheap knock-off. I sighed.I wasn't even sure if most of the items could hold up to the magic. Ranged weapons would be ideal to deal with this creature but the arrowheads were the cutout hunting style ones, leaving little material for adding the inscription. The shafts of the arrows weren't much better. Most were a carbon, or carbon composite. Good for strength, but any modifications from carving into them would weaken the shafts.That left the aluminum ones. There were about a dozen of those. I would have to be very careful carving the run
Mana System In The Apocalypse The Effects
The other six managed to fight off the effects enough not to run. When the two archers finally were able to move again they fired off their shots. Each one struck the creature sending it into fits of rage. Mist started to form around it as it picked up speed and barreled towards the group.It dodged the next round of arrows as it swiped its sword at one of the unfortunate archers.The man flinched in terror, about to be run through when Fiona blocked the blade. The man had enough time to take a step back and breath a sigh of relief when his leg shattered. He screamed as he fell to the ground. The mist washing over him before I could get there to save him. When the mist retreated the man was frozen solid."Don't touch the mist!" I yelled.Even with my Elemental Defense buff, the man had stood no chance.Fiona kept clashing with the creature as we backed away. The mist eventually faded as the spell ended. It was finally time for the melee f
Mana System In The Apocalypse Moving In
It took the people of Arman a few days before a sense of normality returned. As normal as life could be after the world ended. Martin came by my shop on the second day. He came to tell me they figured out what happened.When they were doing a census they came across a woman named Gran's house. That wasn't her real name but everyone just called her Gran, short for grandma. Her husk had to be dispatched as it was roaming the house. That was when they discovered the magic circle. It was an open secret that the woman dabbled in the dark arts, long before the system came into being, and she had chosen a class called Spirit Binder. They weren't sure what she had been trying to bind but they figured she accidentally called up the Banshee instead.As for where the Banshee came from, local legends spoke of a woman that had been wronged by her husband. The woman murdered her entire family and burned herself alive in the plantation house as a result. They say her soul was cur
Mana System In The Apocalypse Protecting Town
I looked up as the bell above the door dinged, Martin walked in with a smile and wave, Fiona following behind."Hey, Paul, how's it going.""Oh, I'm doing well. What brings you by?""We figured out the conundrum with the shelters."My interest perked up at this, "oh yeah?" I asked, looking at Fiona.She nodded, "Yea, turns out not all of the shelters were safe. All the ones that were, I couldn't step foot near.""Yep, turns out the builder of those always consecrated the ground with holy water. He was a very superstitious man from what I remember, he died a few years before the System.""Well, I guess you learn something new every day. Good to know consecrated ground can keep out spirits. I wonder why it didn't work in the graves though.""I had a theory on that," Martin added, "I figure it has to do with how long ago it was done or the fact that corpses break the protection. It would explain the fact that the C
Mana System In The Apocalypse Back On Hunt
It took over a day of crisscrossing the muddy terrain to locate our first dungeon. I don't know what was worse, the swamp creatures that we had to fight off or the damn bugs. Nothing we came across was over level ten, making them easy to dispatch.The worst was the swamp creeper. Not because it was hard to fight but because it took over an hour to fight to its actual body, the mass of vine-like appendages keeping it safe. Fire would have been my preferred method to dispatch the plant-based creature but the area was so wet it wouldn't burn. That left hacking it to pieces.At one point Fiona tried to just go in and stab it but she learned her skill had limitations. She couldn't turn physical while anything bisected her form. Since the creature was a mass of writhing plant matter, it made it impossible for her to get anywhere near the body.My staff also wasn't ideal in this situation. Sure I had the sharp spikes on each end but they could only tear into the
Mana System In The Apocalypse Real fighter
I nodded to Fiona and started spinning my staff, imbued with fire. Eye of the Storm filled the large room, turning it into an inferno. This turned out to be a mistake as black smoke started to fill the air. I started coughing and had to end my spell and rush back outside.I had to cleanse the poison produced from the burning plant matter as well as heal the damage the smoke had done. Fiona came out a few minutes later."You stirred up a hornet's nest in there, everything is going crazy."I could hear shrieking coming from the dungeon, black smoke still poured out from the entrance. I watched kill notifications pour in as the smoke and fire killed off the monsters inside. It took twenty minutes for the smoke to clear before I could reenter. The first room was just filled with glowing black coals.If the monsters had dropped any loot it was destroyed by the fire. The next two rooms were much of the same, it wasn't until I entered the fourth room tha
Mana System In The Apocalypse Beaten like a pulp
It misjudged the weight of my weapon and it cut a gash along its shoulder. It shook off the electrical damage and hissed, a red glow suffusing its body. The speed of its strikes increased, surprising me a little. Enough so that I took two strikes to my shield before I retaliated with Flurry.I pulled my bloody staff from the corpse as a dozen more projectiles came flying in. Spears were mixed with rocks from slings. Three more impacts jarred my shield taking it down another hundred points. It only had a few points left so I decided to cast Area of Denial and Blink step, running at the group of kobolds.I wasn't expecting to run into a green barrier. The magical shield rippled violently at my impact, shattering. It was enough to stop me dead in my tracks though. I looked for the caster that conjured the barrier, finding him in the back."Fiona, deal with the mage, I'll deal with the rest."I didn't wait for a response as I started to cut my way thr
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- Mana System In The Apocalypse
Fight For Affection
Was the person in the mirror really Henry and not an international supermodel?Henry could not help but wonder.However, Mia's reaction told Henry that it was not an illusion.Mia's mouth was wide open as she walked to Henry's side in shock. She looked at him in the mirror and was amazed."Oh my God, Henry, I never realized that you're so handsome! Gosh, you look so good."As Mia spoke, she couldn't help but touch Henry's firm chest."Oh my God, these firm pecs are worth dying for…"Henry looked at Mia, who was acting like a pervert. He shook his head helplessly and slapped her hand away."Alright, now that I've changed my clothes, let's hurry to the banquet before we go late. I'm not known for attending any events late." Hearing this, Mia finally came back to her senses. "Ah, yes. We have to hurry over. With such a handsome companion by my side, I'd like to see if those little b*tches will still show off in front of me," Mia proudly said as she pulled Henry's arm.After that, they q
- Mana System In The Apocalypse
Epilogue
Martin strode down the hall of the capitol building with a worried smile on his face. He was a bit greyer now but he still oozed charm and confidence. Time had been kind to him.The city had become a booming metropolis in the ten years since Paul returned, after his year and a half of being missing. Martin knew something had happened because one day a bunch of massive flying ships had come from nowhere and obliterated the ships that had been harassing the city non-stop for over six months. They had quickly taken care of Lord Vik’t and his remaining forces, the man managing to flee back to his homeworld before the Guild caught him.When Paul had returned, he had returned a quiet man. You could see the loss in his eyes. But the man pushed on and his businesses flourished, producing the Earth’s mightiest warships and most advanced runic items. Then five years after Paul returned, he took a fleet of ten of his capital ships and vanished for another year.When he returned again, the ships
- Mana System In The Apocalypse
The devil you know
As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”I nodded and he produced a stack of documents
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A Valuable Lesson
Groaning, I opened my eyes. All I saw was darkness. I tried turning my head or moving but it seemed like I was pinned in place.I fought down the urge to panic as I evaluated my condition. My arms were still broken, the sharp stabbing pain when I tried to move them told me as much. I could breathe though so my organs had healed after the beating I had taken. That was something at least.Seeing as I was in no immediate danger of dying, I checked my skills. My blood ran cold as I saw what remained of my abilities.[Rejuvenate][Multicast][Eye of the Storm][Aura of Rage][Calcifying Strike]Frostwave][Orb of Darkness][Energy Lance][Overcharge][Tempest Ball]That was the sum total of all the skills I now had. They had stripped me of every ability I had stolen from them along with every ability my second class gave me by default, making it impossible to recover skills by stealing them from others.I let out a morbid little chuckle as I lay there. Tears of frustration leaked from the
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Unexpected arrival
Those two words seemed to freeze everyone in place, but it wasn’t magic that caused it, it was fear. My body was frozen along with everyone else but my eyes rose into the air, tracking two creatures as they forced the magical fog away from the entire area with some ability.It was hard to tell by their alien physiology but I got the distinct impression they were looking directly at me. The initial fear was subsiding and people were starting to move again until the larger of the two squid-like creatures cast a spell. I managed to get off an Identify before the spell hit.[Ulq | Void Hunter/Maw of the Void | 47/41][Xiph | Psy Commando/Maw of the Void | 45/42]My body shook as I realized they were here for me but not a single person or even the entire pirate armada currently assembled here would be able to kill these two creatures.I felt the spell wash over the area and everyone was frozen again but a halo of golden light burst into existence above my head, washing away the spell’s eff
- Mana System In The Apocalypse
Beachhead
The meager fleet of ships I was now in charge of, rose from the dock and slowly spiraled into the air to get above the mist. The chaotic coloration of the mana storm was visible in the distance even through the mist. That meant the enemy was almost upon the island.The Retribution was the first ship to breach the thick covering and it was no surprise to see the enemy ships had spread out in a crescent shape to surround the island. Enemy fast attack craft zipped toward our location and I double-checked that everything was working as it should. I had also turned the mana accumulator back on.I sometimes wished I had been able to fit multiple layers of shielding on the ship. But my experiments in that regard had not gotten anywhere. Shields that close together acted like soap bubbles. Either they popped completely or merged together, but it didn’t increase the strength of the shield when they did. The only way to prevent this was to have separate bubble shields that only covered a certai
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The Storm
After weeks of sitting around, the Retribution finally got to fly again.Knowing we were leaving, the harbor was a beehive of activity. Cobbled together crews were drilling aboard the other captured pirate ships. The people knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when another enemy would appear.As soon as Khikall got us away from the docks and any possible collision, I engaged the cloak. It was far more effective now that I could enable and disable the automatic recharging system. The massive disruption of mana we used to leave in our wake was now a tiny trail.I hadn’t had time to figure out a way to smooth our passing completely but this would have to do. I also had Em’ah watching for trails from a crudely assembled periscope. Now she didn’t need to be on the deck to use her Mana Sense skill.Speaking of skills… I had picked up a few from the last fight. I also managed to finally hit level twenty in my Maw of the Void class. I stuck two of my stats in Strength, one in Endura
- Mana System In The Apocalypse
Troubled water
I watched as the workers placed the last armor panel in position and began to weld it into place. It had taken a few weeks to repair the damages from our fight but the Retribution was looking almost new.The replaced sections were clearly visible by the heat transfer in the titanium. I could easily fix that when I turned the thermal defenses on. It should make everything a uniform color. Paint would work too, I suppose, but why cover up the beauty of the metal.It was a good thing the ship was complete, over the last few days, we had been getting reports from the Guild merchant ships that were stopping to trade, and they weren’t good.Large fleets of pirate ships spotted raiding islands. The Capital of the Avulian Protectorate was sacked and all of the leadership missing. The remaining fleets of the Protectorate were attacking any ship that wasn’t theirs or the Guild's. Cities burning due to the slaves I helped free, it was madness and it was spreading.Already I could hear concerned
- Mana System In The Apocalypse
Turncoat
Captain Grulaine hissed in annoyance as his second in command handed him his “orders”. His second flinched back and hurried out of the room. If he hadn’t, Grulaine may have cut him down in a fit of pique. It galled Grulaine to be under the thumb of another. He had gotten rid of his father for that very same reason. And now thanks to a series of unfortunate events, he found himself beholden to the damn pirate king Black Gar’s lap dog.How was he to know the repair yard where he went was controlled by that snake. If he had he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the loan to effect repairs to his cannons and ship. Repairs that had taken far longer than necessary, and left Grulaine on the sidelines as the entire protectorate seemed to be crumbling around him. An opportunity-rich environment he wasn’t able to take advantage of.But that wasn’t the most galling part. He found that his repairs were delayed on purpose so Gar could tighten his stranglehold on the local pirates. By the time Grulai
