An isekai but I’m trying my best to make the MC a reasonable person, not a goody two shoes or a bastard.

As days passed by Ema is excited and sad that she will no longer will work as a part-time in the company. Also at the same time Ema still struggle to find friends online that she can trust. Mostly that she can see online is having an experience that they willingly share online. There are a lot of photos being shared nude by the people around the internet. "Hm, what happen to humans these days. They have gone mad and sharing nude photos of themselves." said Ema disappointingly while scrolling down the website for more posts to check randomly on her account. But suddenly she got hold again of the account of Daniel. Daniel's account is having a lot of pictures of him during his travel all over the world. Ema have spent most of her time on Daniel's account and checking every posts that Daniel shared.

"Hm, Daniel is quiet an adventurous type of guy and also the girl that she will be spending the rest of his life with is so lucky." said Ema dreamily upon looking at the smiling face of Daniel. Ema have downloaded some of the photos of Daniel for personal purposes on her laptop. The crush that Ema have for Daniel is currently growing as she seeks more information online about Daniel. "Ema, are you ready for having vacation before you go off to college?" said Amelia as she walk pass the bedroom door to sit beside Ema. "Hey! Daniel's photo? Really? Having that big crush on him??" said Amelia as she pressure the feelings of Ema. "Mama, I am ready and excited to have vacation with you and papa. Hm, mama stop joking around about the photo of Daniel. Isn't it obvious that I really like him. It's nice that I have a copy of the photo so even if without an internet at least I can still see his face." said Ema lovingly at the last photo that she downloaded.

"Hahaha, Ema darling. Oh! You are cheeks are like cherry when you blush like that. Now ... now... hm maybe I'll share your little crush to Daniel. Eh? What you think?"said Amelia to her daughter teasingly. "NOOO! Mama, don't ever share with him about having a crush on him! That's ridiculous!" said Ema defensively to her mother. Her mother smile at her daughter that she's looking at a child rather than a grown up young girl. She misses her daughter to be childish sometimes. Each time that was not spent with her daughter due to her business have passed already. It is already too late that she have the time but this time her daughter will go to college soon.

"Okay, Ema you can count on me to keep your secret. I hope you enjoy your life at college. Also bear in mind to choose your decisions wisely." Amelia told her daughter the advice that she usually get when Amelia was going to college in her past. "Yes, mama I will be keeping all that you have thought me. I really do hope that I will be as successful as you are." said Ema in an endearing way to her mother. As she go to her mama to give a hug that was worth the while of being spent with her mother.

"So going back to the vacation, Ema you must pack light things only since the vacation will be aan out of town preferably with beautiful sunset on. So have you pictured out what it will be like?" said Amelia to her daughter that still have a bear hug on her. Amelia smiled lovingly to her daughter that will soon experience her own struggles that will come to her life. "Oh by the way before I forget. Ema, this is something I get for you. This is a journal where you can write your thoughts on it and by time it will be a start to see you life unfold." said Amelia to her daughter as she held out the journal to her daughter.

"Thanks for this mama, I will surely love to write down whatever happen to me and at the same time have a look at the times that I treasured most. By the way so the vacation that we will have soon is on the beach then, eh? But I bet it is far away. Hm?" said Ema testing her mother to spill some info for the upcoming vacation. " Hahaha, Ema my dear. You will surely love the place as this is a parting gift in a way for you from us. Hope your father have not overdo it. He surely put his thoughts to this family vacation that we will soon have." said Amelia to her daughter giving her some space to think and as she went for the bedroom door to leave.

"Ema , again just pack lightly. I mean it and don't bother to pack so much things. Just enjoy and have a light package with you. Will you?" ask Amelia in a concern tone to her daughter as she knows her daughter that loves to pack everything. It's like getting the entire closet on vacation! Which was totally bizarre, Amelia smile to her thoughts as she left Ema's bedroom. As her mother left the room, Ema was left alone thinking what is the possible things to bring. She get a piece of paper to write down the necessities and the outfits on mind to bring with. 

So Ema have make a list for what to bring for a vacation possibly a beach that was on her mind:
1. Swimsuit
Perhaps one of the most essential things to pack for beach vacation as Ema been searching for at least five sets.  

2. Swim Cover Up 
Also, when packing for beach holiday, you will need of course a swimsuit cover as Ema is checking every swim cover up she have for her five sets of swim wear that she set aside.  Ema is thinking to herself and considering the possible scenery that she might went into. "This is perfect for wearing down to the beach, but you might prefer a sarong as you can also use this to cover your shoulders or legs if your visiting anywhere that has temples or monasteries." said Ema as she chose some decent cover up and some few are sexy.

3. Shorts
"I will bring 2 to 3 comfortable pairs of shorts for wearing down to the beach or walking around town." said Ema in an excited tone as she pictured out what she will do.

4. Tank Tops 
"Hm, maybe I will only need around 3 tops which I can mix and match with my shorts." thinks Ema to herself.

5. Dresses 
" Hm, I think my parents will have an evening night so I will prefer wearing dresses over shorts, I will just bring 1-2 casual sun dresses." comment Ema to herself and picturing out the past formal dinner that she have with her parents.

6. Pants and Jacket
"Hm, If the nights will get cold, I will bring a pair of pants to keep warm and I may also need to bring a light jacket in case it gets a bit cool or windy at night.  A rain jacket may also be worth while if we are going somewhere that often has down pours, particularly during wet season.  Maybe 3 in 1 jackets are perfect as they keep me warm and protect myself from the rain too." said Ema to herself while considering her options.

7. Underwear!
"Hm! Duh! I will bring 2 bras and a pair of knickers for each day. So maybe for a week (7 days) , It comes around 14 pairs .... hahaha just in case I'll bring an extra..." said Ema jokingly to herself.

8. Next will be my footwear....
Flip Flops --- my time at the beach or by the pool..
Sandals  --- for walking around town, shopping or going out for dinner.
Water Shoes  --- At some beach destinations there can be a lot of rocks and coral on the beaches so a pair of slip on mesh beach shoes can be useful items to pack to protect my feet. 

9. Beach Essentials... (Wants)
Beach Hat  --- A big sun hat of course to protect my skin from burning.
Beach Towel  --- Maybe one with microfibres that is lightweight and dries fast. Another reason I like it is that the sand won't stick on it.
Sunglasses  --- it's a must to see through the sun... heat is so coming over...
Water Bottle  --- we all know the devastating consequences plastic bottles have on the environment, so make sure you bring along a refillable water bottle.  I like to have one that won't leak and has a clasp on it so I can attach it my day bag.

10. Bags! .. Hehehe... I literally need it to store my things...
Beach Bag --- to put all my Beach Essentials items in it.
Packing Cubes --- to put all my Underwear in it so it will still be organize.
Toiletry Bag --- to keep all my toiletries in

11. Toiletries ... Hm... I need to keep it simple..
Sunscreen --- a good quality sunscreen to protect my face and body is one of the vital things needed for beach vacation.
Make Up --- personal choice but I will bring whatever I might need for a night out with my parents..
Moisturizing Cream --- some moisturizing cream for my face, eyes and body, the sun and sea tend to make the skin dry.
A Razor -- for my unwanted hair...
Shampoo and Conditioner --- A small travel size, enough for one week is plenty.
Body Wash  --- i prefer to bring my own although I find some free items to one of our recent location...
Toothpaste and Toothbrush --- Duh! Brush my teeth after meals and before going to bed...
Hair Brush and Hair Ties -- for my messy bun to be control...
Deodorant --- It can get very hot in the sun, so I won't want to forget this one!

12. Electronics
Mobile Phone --- mobile phone so I can keep in touch with social media. Especially stalking my Daniel!
Camera --- take plenty of photographs for my memories. 
Memory cards --- one for the camera and one for as a backup!
Travel Adapter --- may need to bring a plug adaptor
Headphones --- listening to music or streaming movies on my phone whilst lying by the pool or whilst traveling
Chargers / Power Bank  --- various chargers I need to keep my tech gear charged and I bring a charger to keep all of my electronics fully charged throughout my trip

Looking at the lists that Ema made for herself, she is satisfied that she will definitely have a good time. As far as Ema is concern this is the minimalist that she can get to pack her things for vacation as she smiled and getting on with the things on the list to be ready.

The Life as we know it. People have shared stories throughout. It might not be perfect for some but still it is life worth living for. Some people have a perfect life but are they happy?

He heard the distant shakings of the cave and knew they were fending off the snake.
The opening and size of the cave was very small and in comparison to the characteristics of the snake, its moves were more straight forward since it was always in a line and couldn't coil to change its move set. But the power behind each strike from the beast was still very powerful.
THey wre most likely using their all to dodge the attacks, but the unconscious body of Tomahawk would become a hindrance and his rate of death would quicken from the sudden movement as the poison would course through his veins and would kill him, a slow but painful death.
He quickened his pace, the color usually given when his lightweight activates was usually a white hue, but each step and each spur of power gradually transitioned the state of the power given, using the foundation qi, his speed had almost quadrupled an he reached the tunnel in matter of minutes.
There, he saw the large cobra passing through, striking at any opportunity to deal with Fire Axe, who was holding Tomahawk, Ju Dun was using rocks to try to fend it off.
The moment he saw the snake, he knew he had to move in. With all his power to boost his speed with his technique, he gain almost quintuple! A large dust cloud of gravel and pebbles kicked along the way as he rampantly dashed towards the snake with his speed, the snake noticed the child behind, trying to make a sneak attack, a small hiss was heard that resembled a chuckle, it was as if it was like a taunt. 'As if this kid can pierce through my scales!'
But that moment became a disaster to the cobra, he used his final step to dash forward at an angle not directly heading to the snake and began carving his way forward, using his speed as the force behind the blade.
His Berat blade could be used to kill even Saint blood beasts with appropriate techniques and power. Using all his might on the sword, the power was enough to inflict damage, but without a technique behind his crude strike, the damage was greatly reduced and a large gash appeared on the right.
The snake lifted his head in surprise and pain, to think the kid behind him could actually do something. Awhile back, he was hiding behind the rest!
At that point, Fire Axe was already in distance to recall his Soul Weapon, but with the lack of soul energy, it was practically like a beginner wielding a multiplier of some sort but the initial amount wouldn't be much at all.
He was able to fend off the Nightmare Cobra with the time they spent lovingly with one another and was on the verge of being bitten with the slightest misstep. But Bai Li's appearance allowed the snake to start turning towards over, the wound on the snake had recovered but the scales were pale white, newly recovered scales that weren't hardened yet.
He striked at the same position, using the same movement of the Sky Splitter, but without the soul energy behind it, it allowed the same infliction of pain towards the creature.
The snake closed his eyes in agony as it squirmed in pain, its main body overlapping itself. It was on the verge of death and only one more strike was needed. But a tantrum from the beast caused many destruction of the terrain, stalactites began appearing everywhere as it knocked its huge body against the cave walls. Stalactites began falling overhead and the feeling of being impaled by such large spikes were in none of their to-do lists.
Fire Axe and Ju DUn began retreating outside the cave.
"Come! Let's go before it recovers!"
Fire Axe signaled Bai Li to come with them so they could escape and get as far as possible. The recovery would definitely take more than two days and maybe it would be a safe amount on the run against the large beast.
But a savage beast who did not have a conscious was of endless pursuit, if he did not do anything here, it would definitely come once more, fully aware of their strengths and charged ahead.
"I'm not finished!"
Bai Li used his recovered energy, the foundation qi made it possible for the rapid recovery, since most of your pores open to absorb soul energy at night to replenish. He felt rejuvenated even after spending all that energy to rush here and even do vital attacks to allow its openings.
He had no experiences with using swords and have not learned a modified or ordinary Art of Swords,  he rapidly infused his energy upon his blade.
The crackling in the air as he charged forward made it seem as the fabled legends of heroes entering a dragon's cave and calling upon all their might to strike their body was a miraculous sight.
The sword felt as if it were on the verge of breaking, a common type where the material could not handle the soul energy, unlike soul weapons, and breaks immediately without skilled usage of soul energy, An Overload was usually what the phenomenon called as it was like a one hit wonder, nobody would even use such with their powerful weapons so it was widely discouraged and taught in most cirriculums that an overload was a bad idea. The sword produced many shattering effects as it began cracking at its stem, from the hilt.
He had about 5 seconds before the cracks appeared all over the blade and cause it to break, but that was all he needed.
His energy recovery was like a rapid generator as he used some of his recovered drops to speed up once more. The foundation qi was a miraculous talent in the eyes of Bai Li, the natural ability to increase power and increase recovery was absurd and was an absolute treasure!
He used his final dash once more and jumped forward, cramping his legs as the jump was forced by Bai Li's strong will to defeat the raging beast. The jump caused large amounts of pain as he gritted his teeth, bringing down all his might to deal the blow.
It struck right through the middle of the snake's forhead as it was in a coil, using its tail to destory the area, bringing it down.
Bai Li appeared on the travel distance of his jump as he fell, straight on his stomach and sprawled on the floor. The snake stood motionless as if nothing ever happened, staring in the abyss, its body appeared in stasis before falling apart in half, the split was grotesque as strings of poisonous blood caused the substance to appear awry as the tissues of flesh disconnect as well.
The Absolute Beings of the refugee escaping from the Dark Star Beasts were key inventors of contraptions of the Soul Realm, one being the Soul Chip, which was embedded in all parents and could be passed down to other generations. The Soul Chip allowed one to analyze a soul of any kind and it would appear in a cryptic runic language that nobody can understand but the Absolute Being, a Naz'yrga species deemed as the Wiseman, who appeared to be a translucent brain, had died four thousand years ago and showed patterns of encrypting the message and was able to identify any of the soul variant and its power. The language appeared to be from an ancient powerful beings of unknown origin. The only evidence shown of their existence was a ruin made with slick black material and only one item remained intact. A super computer with unknown characters as keys. Humans had tried to duplicate such but failed miserably, even with the Wiseman's help, only the Soul Chip was made with only 5% of its capabilities. If one wasn't in the history course, one would find it rather interesting that nobody knew of the origin of such technology and contraption.
But what appeared to be strange was the words naturally unscrambling within his mind, characters and letters merged to become one, mixing strangely similar to that of the words of the journal. It read.
-======================================
You have slain the rampaging Nightmare Cobra
Meat Level is of the Saint Blood
You have gained a Beast Soul Armor Hybrid-Type
Nightmare's Cowl
-=====================================
As those words appeared within his mind, he blanked out.
Forcefully using all his energy, as well as his recovering portion as well, forcing his technique to change in a middle of casting, caused him great fatigued. He let his mind drifted as he silently fell in a deep trance of slumber. His body immediately fell to the ground and was unconscious indefinitely.

The Galaxy is only a small drop amongst the vast universe with many undiscovered oddities that can not be described. Humanity has accomplished many achievements to further their understanding of the universe though miniscule. But what lays beyond those of our knowledge is just the frontier of all things. Follow the journey of a young man with a mystified past as he ventures into the frontier as many others had as well.

-
5 Chapters a minimum per week depending on my mentality.
5+ Chapters a Week.
50 Spirit Stones =  Bonus Chapter
100 Spirit Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
200 Spirit Stones = 1 Extra Chapter per Week
300 Spirit Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
400 Spirit Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
500 Spirit Stones = 1 Extra Chapter per Week

The 200 and 500 Spirit Stones are a one time thing. If we somehow surpass it, I don't know. Probably just a bonus chapter.

Many thanks to silentscarlettt for the cover

If you wish to support my writing, I will have a ko-fi set up for donations.
http://ko-fi.com/beyondbad

my name is Tessa Davidson... a student at SkyFantasia Academy... I plan in my future to become a great scientist or maybe a mage if I'm lucky, it's hard to pass in the exams but it'll be easy if you listen to the teachers carefully, everything they say is a clue to an answer... and every answer is a key to move forward to the future... hahaha that's what my parents say after they finished studying here.... I still don't get it though

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"hey Tes!" Corey shouted making me stop writing... "what is it?" I asked wanting to just keep writing "it's time to pass the journal, oh god... don't tell me you fell in love with the journal already!!! I haven't even confessed my love to you yet...." Corey said... Corey is very flirty, I get it that it's part of his ego, but still... why practice the lines on me? I passed my journal to our teacher so Corey would stop saying that I was in love with the journal... "you happy?" he hugged me as for response... he stopped hugging me and wrote something in his..... journal.....
...
...
...
"why are you aloud to write in your journal and I can't?!" I asked... "because you know I'll love you more than a silly object ♥" he said said smirking.... ugh...

"listen up class, today we have a very important thing to discuss... we'll be going to travel in the past... were magic and some creatures had never existed yet..." she explained more... and I couldn't believe if she was saying the truth 

 "are you all ready...?" she asked... Corey looked at me, he wants to know my answer... I stepped back, when my teacher noticed she told me to go outside with the rest of the students who stepped back, Corey followed me... I didn't know if he wanted to step back, but he followed me anyways... since we didn't get to do that class it technically mean it's lunchtime already... Corey's mood brightened and we ate lunch together with lily, lily was his little sister... smart and innocent... lily's dream is to become the ruler of earth...

"you guys wanna go ride one of the dragons?" Corey said... lily agreed while I refuse... I texted Leon to give him a sign
---------
Tessa: good luck!
Leon:????
------------
even if I refuse, I followed them to go to Leon... Leon seemed confuse on why the three of us went to him, but when he realized why where there, he was about flee and run for it, Corey grabbed him by the shoulder before Leon could've ran "one more time for my sister Leon" Leon didn't want to turn into a dragon and give the two a joyride, but he managed to agree and gave them a ride... I went to the balcony to see them go.. and looked at the view.... 'i wonder how life could've been if magic and spells didn't exist....' i mumbled

A high school with all types of students....

Kiara Hoffman's POV
After I was being approached by Boss, as he liked for me to call him that, he took me to his secret place. You know, one of those places that no one knows but it was in front of you all the time. Yup, Boss brought me to the lab that was a few blocks away from the boxing arena. It was in Zurich, mind you, the place that I have been sitting since I worked at the travel agency.
 "So, you wanted to kill Charles Debrun. May I ask you why?" He asked as he was arching his eyebrow at me. I scoffed at him as I was crossing my hands in front of my chest.
 "He's my enemy," I said simply. I mean, his father was the enemy of mine so naturally, he was the natural enemy of me
 "Interesting. Do you know why he became your enemy?" He asked again.
 "Does it matter?" I asked as I was putting my hands on the hips. He laughed before he shook his head.
 "As I ask you before, why he is your enemy? Does he kill you, parents?" He asked. I shook my head.
 "Took your virtue?" He asked. I blushed at the blunt question but I shook my head.
 "Took something precious of you then, your research, your reputation, your property?" He asked as I shook my head.
 "None of the things that you asked me. But it is only natural that his father was the enemy of my father. Hence, I will treat him as such. My enemy that is," I said as I was looking at Boss. He was staring at me before he chuckled as he shook his head.
 "Ah, youngsters. So much energy but not so much on the intelligence," he said as I turned sharply at him. I narrowed my eyes at him. My blood was boiling.
 "Listen here, mister—"
 "Did your father told you why Charles' father was being his enemy?" He asked. I blinked a few times. Ever since I met my father, he never told anything about why.
 Why he hated Albert Debrun so much? Why I must take revenge on Charles?
I shook my head as Boss nodded at me.
 "Thought as much," he said before he took something from the shelves. I don't know there was a shelf near the lab.
 "Do you know about this?" He asked me. I shook my head as I don't have any idea or clue about the journal that he held in his hand.
 "This is Albert's journal. Well, a copy. Maybe you should take a look when you were home," he said as he was handing the journal at me. I took it as I was looking at the worn leather and weariness of the journal.
 "How do you know this is his father's journal?" I asked him as he was smiling at me.
 "Easy, because I am his colleague as well as your father's. You will learn everything inside when you read it. Oh, one thing, read it until the end," he said before he shoved me out of the lab as I was looking at the journal. It was not a too light or too heavy read. It was okay to read.
 I shrugged before I went out of the street and took the public transport to my apartment. I lived alone as no one cared enough to know about me. I took a bath as I went to eat some light dinner of yesterday's leftover. Then I went to put it all away and focused myself on this journal of my news reading.
 "Well, it doesn't hurt to read it," I said as I opened the first page and I looked at the cursive handwriting.

Dear Charles,
If you are reading this journal, it means that I am dead and the last defense for the serum has been killed. It was your godfather, the man that raised you. He was my best friend, he and I went back when we were only a toddler. But I have regarded him as my brother.
 The reason why I asked him to raise you was to conceal you from the truth. You have no idea how much it broke my heart to leave you. I know that you never know your mother as she was my wife and colleague in this mission of ours.
 Danial Clarke made sure that we will be working more than we should. I told him to stop but he was obsessed with teleportation. And when I discovered that he has used on his wife of our serum, it broke my heart that she was unable to walk again. More devastatingly, she was with a child. His child to be exact.
 I never knew his child for that matter but know this, do not contact Danial Clarke or his association, including his daughter. You will secure this journal as his goons will search for it. Trust no one, even though it was the woman that you love. Look what happened to Danial's wife.
 You are in Zurich, the capital of finance and banking. I know you will do the right choice to invest in those routes as they will never out. Build your empire and maybe, just maybe you will find justice for our demise.
Forever your loving father,
Albert Debrun.

I never knew that my father was being cruel to my mother. I thought they were in love with each other as my mother said in her letter. Maybe that's why she tried to protect me as she ran away from my father.
 But fate was cruel as I was to be told by my father to use my power for evil, to do his bidding. Now that he was gone, I only know the truth behind everything that I did in my past. A tear was sliding my cheek as I don't recall I ever cried. Even when I read my mother's letter. It was nothing until now.
 Until I know the truth. 
And so, I wept like a baby and I think I might have to forget this vengeance after all. He killed my mother and I have turned that anger into someone innocent. Someone like Charles. I have a new determination in my body as I will be doing some justice for my mother. 
 And some apologies to a certain someone.
In came the morning, I was at the travel agency again as I went to work. I was happy as I was crying all night that I know my eyes most likely be bloodshot. I sighed as I was rubbing my eyes before I saw someone was standing in front of me.
 Charles Debrun.
Was he here to demand justice for his father? Was he here to tell me that he will demand me to go to jail as I will be willing to do so, knowing how much my father has broken his family. I sighed as I went to greet him.
 "Mr. Debrun, was it?" I started the conversation as he was looking at the ground before lifting his hazel eyes to me. I drew a sharp breath as my heart was beating wildly in my heart.
 "We need to talk," he stated. I smiled at him before I looked around. There was no one but it was hardly the rush hour yet.
 "You mean, right now?" I asked him as he nodded. I looked at my watch as it was 9 AM. I should check-in and maybe asked him to talk with me tonight, maybe go out to dinner, my treat of course. It was the least I can do to him.
 "I'm working right now. Perhaps if you are not too busy for dinner tonight—"
 "I can't. I have to go to Denmark after this," he said as my heart was tugging at him. I was the one that booked his flight. Why should I make it today?
 "If it pleases you, I can change your flight to tomorrow night, if you like," I said as I was trying to buy some time with him. Maybe I wanted to make sure that I apologize to him correctly before we developed our relationship, perhaps friendship.
 I highly doubted it.
I can see that he was thinking about something before his jaws clenched. I was hoping that he would say yes as my heart was beating so hard I hoped that he would not hear it.
 "Very well, tonight then and a change of schedule. Perhaps I needed as much," he said as he was smiling at me. I never knew that he would smile at me. I was his father's enemy daughter, the killer of his family.
 He should not be smiling at me, at all.
 "Well, see you then. At 8?" I asked him as he nodded. I nodded before I was about to get inside the room, Charles stopped me from going inside as he held my hand on the door handle.
 "Will I pick you up at your house?" He asked, whispered into my ear before I turned to look at him. His face was mere inches from me as my breath mingled with his.
 "You don't know where I live," I said as he smirked at me. My heart was beating faster as he was looking at me with his hooded eyes.
 "That's why I was asking you," he said before I nodded at him. Our lips were barely touched before he stepped back as I wrote my address on a piece of paper.
 "Here," I said as I handed it to him. He took it as he touched my fingers. The heat lingered even after he retreated his hand.
 "I see you tonight, Kiara," he said my name as he was turning away from me and walked away. I released the breath that I don't even know I was holding before I went inside the house with a flushed face and night to look forward to.

These Ingenious Male will melt your hearts with their charming and witty senses. But they have baggage from their past with them. Can their match overcome them?
First, we have Kai Virtanen who was arranged to marry the Finnish Princess, Kathleen Remes.
Then, we have our Wedding Planner, Antonio Romano, whose task was to locate the missing Princess, Christine Rovski.
Also, we have Charles Debrun who has been kidnapped by Kiara Hoffman because of his research.
Lastly, we have Katherine Remes, the Acting Queen of Finland to find a suitor by a contest that Leonardo Ricci was forced to participate in.
Can they face their past together or will they fall apart? Find out in this new series by Nikki Larousse.

Just as the appraiser predicted, his items were scheduled in the first half of the session.
The auction did not sell all the necklaces at once. Instead, they divided them and presented one each time several other lots were sold.
Angor's products were low-class storage holders. He originally estimated that each item would earn him twenty to thirty thousand crystals, but the actual bidding price went a little higher because there was competition. This was also the reason why he took the items to the auction instead of selling them to other shops.
After paying auction commission and part of the income to Sunders, Angor believed that each necklace would bring him about ten thousand crystals. Selling four meant 40,000 in total. This was a big fortune even to some of the most powerful wizards.
Despite that, when compared to the prices of other lots, forty thousand crystals was like a drop in the ocean—completely negligible.
Angor was hoping that he could use the money to buy some materials that he might use in the future, but in the end, he simply gave up because the final bid of every single item would reach at least ten thousand.
He might be able to afford one or two lots, but he was not going to stock something he couldn't use any time soon.
Sunders, on the other hand, won several spell mediums that were commonly used by wizards to cast spells easier. At the same time, such items could assist wizards to create new forms of spells. As a truth-finder wizard, most of Sunders' spells were unique. Still, the gentleman would like to constantly discover new ones.
The auction entered a brief resting session after the 100th item was sold. There would be ten minutes for them to rest. In addition to letting their customers catch some respite, the auction also meant to tell them that those who couldn't participate in the competition for the better items should leave as soon as possible.
During the "2nd session", Angor noticed that the starting bids of the items were still acceptable.
There were more interesting entities being shown here, such as otherworldly slaves.
"This creature can only speak lies…"
"This is a Finkenel. While 95% of its body resembles us humans, its internal layout is completely different…"
"Someone sent us two slaves. A Multi-Eyed Demon and a Grave Ghoul…"
Most of the slaves were extremely expensive because bringing them here required a huge amount of effort, such as transporting them across thousands of different planes. Listening to Melantha's explanation also helped Angor earn some basic insight into the countless foreign planes out there.
There was a 3rd session of the auction. Angor knew that he could do nothing more than observing it since the bids would start at seven digits minimum. These lots were only intended for high-level wizards.
Soon, Angor's Bloodrose Vein was brought up.
The bid for the simple yet generally useful material easily reached 230,000 crystals, which was 30,000 higher than the appraiser's estimated value.
Angor had to give 150,000 to Sunders as well as a percentage as the commission fee, leaving him a net profit of about 60,000 crystals.
The successful sale made him understand why so many wizards, including Sunders, considered Nightmare Realm a treasure vault. Each wizard-level monster was like a walking pile of money, and the Nightmare Realm was full of them! Too bad Angor couldn't defeat them yet.
As the auction approached its end, even though he was not the one buying, Angor still felt his heart racing in excitement when the following bids reached ten million or more.
When it was time for the last two items, Melantha took out a scroll from a safe storage and showed it to the participants.
Angor looked and did not find any energy signatures on the item, which meant it was an ordinary scroll used for recording information instead of a magic scroll.
There was only a simple line of words written in an ornamental style used in ancient times, which was exposed on the outside. There was no other decoration or binding on it.
"It's written by wizards from the old days?" Angor muttered. The texture of the scroll suggested that it existed before paper was invented.
But he denied that idea when he noticed that he could actually read the line of words.
"'Travel in Dreamland'?" he read the name aloud. "Is it like the traveling diary written by Feinwerder?"
Sunders, who had been staying quiet most of the time, gave Angor a quick answer, "Yes, that should be it."
It took Angor some time to comprehend those words, which were irrelevant to his question. "Is that the scroll that contained Nightmare Realm-related information that you mentioned before?"
Sunders nodded. "I heard that the scroll is called 'Travel In Dreamland'."
"Did ancient wizards call Nightmare Realm the 'Dreamland'?" Angor wondered.
He went through his memory, but he did not find anything that was related to such a name.
He thought his professor might be cultured enough to provide an answer, but Sunders only shook his head upon hearing Angor's next question.
"I've heard about the Fantasy Realm and Fantasy Plane. But no, I know nothing about this 'Dreamland' place."
Melantha was now speaking to everyone using her magic-enhanced voice, "Travel in Dreamland is a travel journal left by a wizard from primeval times."
The other wizards looked at each other in doubt. What was so special about someone's journal? Even the journal of an ancient wizard did not hold much value because "modern" wizards would usually do better and faster jobs traveling to other planes and realms. They did not understand why the auction decided to place the scroll so late in the queue.
Unless… the item contained some special information or that the item developed its own intellect and became alive, like how Elder of Books of Brute Cavern was born from a book.
Some of the wizards who heard about the scroll beforehand, including Sunders, remained patient and waited for Melantha's further explanation.
"Before you believe this to be another ordinary travel diary, I should tell you that according to our most trusted appraisers, the 'travel' written in the title referred to the Nightmare Realm…"
Someone immediately protested. The name of Nightmare Realm was made known to wizards several centuries ago, and only a few people managed to get there and return. How did the auction ascertain their conclusion?
The "most trusted appraisers" might not be as credible as they claimed to be.
Without minding the opposing ideas, Melantha continued, "The consignor told us that the scroll holds some secrets related to some of the core areas of Nightmare Realm, which includes but not limited to, the locations of wonderful treasures. Now, we shall begin bidding at 600,000 magic crystals. If anyone is interested, you know what to do."
This was the highest starting price seen today.
Melantha waited for a while, only to see several impolite apprentices booing at her. Then she glanced at the third level where the VIP rooms were located. Truth was, the scroll was intended for VIP guests since only a selected few among them knew how to explore elements related to the Nightmare Realm.
Yet Melantha was getting a bit uneasy when she saw no response from the VIPs either.
"Nobody heard about this 'Dreamland' before, Melantha, and the auction only gave us empty words. How do you prove to us that the scroll is really connected to Nightmare Realm?" Someone who sounded pretty old spoke from Room 011, which was right next to Sunders' room.
"That's Old Qetesh from Sleepless City. So he came as well… Just right. He once found a fortune from Nightmare Realm too."
"You mean—" Angor widened his eyes.
"Yes. He once entered Nightmare Realm and somehow escaped alive while bringing some extra items with him."
Any wizard who went into the Nightmare Realm would tell others that the place was deadly and horrific. Yet every time that there was a rumor or clue about Nightmare Realm, these wizards would go after it faster than anyone else for they knew better than anyone else that great fortune accompanied great danger.
Melantha was a little astonished to hear Qetesh's comment, but she recovered soon enough and put on her professional smile as she said, "As per our agreement with the current owner of the scroll, we cannot read the content. I apologize, Mister Qetesh, for we cannot prove that 'Dreamland' is Nightmare Realm."
"'Our most trusted appraisers', or so you said. So what exactly did they do?" Qetesh's words sounded like sarcasm this time.
"I can assure you that what I have said is the truth." Melantha frowned as she thought about the individual who refused to entrust the other item to Sky Auction. "Mister Qetesh, do you think we, Sky Auction, will ruin our hard-earned fame by presenting a fake scroll to so many customers? Please trust me. I have a reason when I said our conclusion is dependable."
When seeing Melantha using the name of Sky Auction as "insurance", Qetesh decided not to argue with her.
However, not everyone trusted Sky Auction's dignity.
"This is my first time coming here, and I don't give a damn about your credit. You better do something to convince me that I won't be buying a piece of junk, or don't waste my time."
Angor listened to the female voice that he couldn't recognize and looked at Sunders again, hoping for a hint.
"She… why did she come here?" Sunders frowned.
"Who is that, professor?"
Sunders hesitated for a bit and decided to tell his student. "That's Sennefer, a very powerful Bloodline wizard, and one of the high commanders of Moonfrost Union who are in charge of their expedition teams. She stays at the other planes most of the time."
"Sennefer? The 'Witch of Wasteland'?"
Sunders nodded to confirm.
"I see. Sennefer…" Angor repeated the witch's name, about which he heard a lot from Nausica.


A young traveler who receives enlightenment from another civilization is on a mission to save his beloved mentor. In his journey to seek the ultimate truth, he travels extensively and along the way, he experiences some unpredictable encounters. Will he be able to save his mentor or will his path be derailed?

*****

A YEAR AGO BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE

It was an early morning of another new day as Eden woke up in her bed in her apartment.  She blinked her sleepy eyes, looking like she didn't sleep a wink even though she did peacefully since last night. She turned her head slightly to look at her bedside alarm clock and saw that it's the time as the sun rises.

At first, Eden thought that everything she had gone through before was all just a dream but then she noticed the large kitchen knife beside her pillow which she brought and slept with for safety. She sighed upon seeing it and had to accept the harsh reality that what happened last night wasn't a dream. 

She blearily sat up from her bed and stretched herself to wake up clearly.  Then she did a few routine exercises herself to be alert and active for the day since she can still hear from outside the loud noises of continued chaos breaking out, people shouting and yelling in panicked crowd riots, sirens of police and ambulances driving about, and crashes of vehicle accidents going on from outside the apartment building.

She ignored all the noisy sounds outside while she exercised then after she finished, she took the knife from her bed and walked out of her bedroom cautiously as if expecting that someone or something had broken inside while she's been sleeping.

When she checked and saw or heard nothing, she relaxed slightly and then she had a sudden thought and turned one of her light switches to check if the electricity is still running or not.  The lights turned on from her switch and she nodded at this and turned the switch off.

Then she went to make herself coffee which she decided for her breakfast.  While the pot is heating up from the gas stove, she took stock of her food, supplies, and necessities, checking to see how long she'd last if she decided to stay here for more than three days.  She found that everything would last more than about two weeks and she nodded again with satisfaction on seeing this but she's still planning to decide whether she should leave to meet up with the ones she's scheduled to meet for the coming three days or not.

Before the coffee pot whistled, Eden checked her barricade again, making sure it's secure and checked her ready travel bag and weapons and then went back to make her coffee.  She turned off the stove and the gas and then she sat down on a chair next to her desk with her journal still there on the top and she drank her coffee, letting the drink wake her up more and be more active and alert.

But before she could finish her coffee all the way, she suddenly remembered something and cursed and blamed herself for being careless and clueless, there's also not to mention cruel when she finally remembered her family.

Even though they had treated her all her life like she's garbage or made her like a black sheep in the family, she still cared and loved them, even when she left without looking back and just left them a note.

She went and grabbed for her cell phone, dialed and called her family, but every call she had tried to get through went to voicemail or an automated voice said that the person you're calling is unavailable.  Even though she's not getting any answers or replies from any of her family members, she kept on calling continuously until she gets one.

Then she felt like writing into her journal to ease her stress and calm her down and she went and used her free hand to open the book and write while her other hand is still holding the phone.

*****

JOURNAL ENTRY: 8TH DAY, 1ST MONTH JANUARY, YEAR 2XXX

It's Eden and I just woke up with what I thought that everything that had happened the last seven days was all a dream.

But seeing the cruel and harsh reality of my barricaded apartment, my prepared bag and weapons, and the ongoing continued chaotic noises from outside, I had to accept the facts deep down inside me that everything is real and this is all happening right now.

When I made myself some coffee to be more active, alert and vigilant and was about to think and plan on what to do. I had suddenly remembered my family.

I know that most of them were jerks towards me, but I do care about them and I'm sitting here right now by my desk, writing this entry and calling them at the same time.

So far I can't seem to get through to any of them.  I thought at first that the communication lines were down but it's still connecting and I believed that something might've happened to them.

I'm going to continue calling for every one of them until someone finally answers.  I pray that they're alright and by the time they answer and then realize it's me, the first thing I'll say to them is that I'm sorry I left and that I love them very much.

Even if they might hang up on me when they find out it's me, I don't care.  I still love them even if they don't love me, and I just wanted to let them know that I'm okay and that I'm still alive.

I hope and pray that they are.

*****

Eden stopped writing and kept on listening to the automated tone telling her that the caller is unavailable and then discovered that her battery on her phone ran out when she tried to dial again.  She cursed and went to charge it up, along with her portable charger too as long as the electricity is still on and running.

After setting it up and seeing that there's nothing else to do but just wait inside her apartment.  She decided to make an early lunch and eat before she went to thinking about other plans or thinking about something else to do.

After eating her luncheon, then washing the dishes in which the water is also running.  She also went to the bathroom and shower herself to feel refresh.

Then Eden came out, her hair still slightly wet and then she was staring at her makeshift handmade spears thoughtfully before she decided to try and train herself on using them to defend and fight.

In that whole day, Eden is twirling and spinning and jabbing with the two spears she made to practice and train herself to fight inside the locked apartment.  She kept on doing her self-training seriously and continuously until she became completely exhausted.  While practicing with her weapons, she even had some make-shift dummies up, by taking some extra pillows from her bedroom closets and hanged them up on tall stands, placed them in different positions and pictured them as heads when she jabbed and stabbed her knife-end spears at them with the precise aim in both conscious and subconscious moves.

Her fighting technique and prowess aren't very good or perfect but Eden had to make do with what she can do while she practiced all day long until the time passed by fast and it was night already.

Eden was surprised that time flew by so fast when she noticed that it's dark now and she stopped training, placed the spears back but left the stabbed-pillow dummies to where they are, went to shower and bathe herself again before she cooks and eats her dinner.

After doing that, finished bathing then cooking and then eating her dinner and finally ending it with washing her plates, Eden went to her bedroom and brought the same knife again with her and also bringing her journal and pen along in case that she needed to write again.

Her phone and chargers are still charging as the electricity seemed to be running a bit slow and she left them there for tomorrow while she hoped to herself that whatever and wherever her family is, they are alright and fine.

Eden sighed, still not dressed in sleepwear but in travel clothes, in case she needs to leave the apartment again and then lied down on her bed, putting her knife and journal and pen beside her pillow and then went to sleep.  She kept the bed lamp on the bedside table turned on so that she'll know when the electricity goes out.

Her eyes slowly close as she goes into a deep sleep and she's already gone into slumber after being exhausted through the whole day training herself and ignoring the ongoing chaos that is continuing outside her apartment building.

It felt like seconds until Eden had woken up again to another early sunrise of a new day and she sat up suddenly from her bed, went out her room and checked on her fully charged phone and charger, and unplugged them from the sockets and brought them to her room to sit on her bed to check if she had any missed calls or replies from her family. After seeing that there were none, Eden felt like she had to accept the harsh and cruel truth that something did happen to her family and they couldn't answer.  But she still hoped that somewhere out there they're still alive.

To ease her mind off and calm her down from she was about to think of negative thoughts, she reached for her journal that she brought in her bedroom and then writes on it.

*****

JOURNAL ENTRY: 9TH DAY, 1ST MONTH JANUARY, YEAR 2XXX

It's another early morning of a new day.

But so far I haven't gotten through to my family.  I hope they're all right.

My battery ran out and the electricity that was still running is slow when I charged up my phone and my portable charger.

What I did yesterday before was that I train and practiced the whole day with my spears and put up and made up dummies as target practice.  I did it the whole day and I admit I'm not very good at it with fighting back and defending myself a little. But I will have to make do with what I can and as the saying goes, "Practice makes Perfect".

Or rather as someone else might call it - Trial and Error.

Truthfully, I have never done any fighting or defending myself ever in my whole life.  But seeing that the whole world is falling to pieces, I'll have to be brave and man-up if I'm going to be facing the new dangers that had erupted in this sudden coming apocalypse.

The dangers that are the zombies.

I can hear as I write in this journal inside my bedroom the continued sounds and noises of chaos still going on outside the building.  And I knew that the authorities, even the military itself might be trying to mobilize the situation right about now.  But hearing from inside my locked apartment of the continued chaotic sounds of crashing and panicking people, I knew that they won't be able to do much until someone from the higher-ups finally ordered an evacuation.

And that is something that I have to think of for the next day tomorrow. When I'm supposed to meet up with the guys I'm scheduled to meet for tomorrow is the appointed third day.

But I have not finally decided whether I should stay or leave.

What do I do?

Stay or Leave?

That is the most important question in my mind that I have to decide before the final and 3rd day comes for me.

I'll have to stop writing for today and try to get my mind off from this by keeping up with my self-training with my makeshift weapons.

Hopefully, I might be able to finally decide what I should do once I do something else to ease off my stress and try to relax, even while self-practicing or something.

Maybe by tomorrow, whatever my decision is might result in something that won't get me dead.

*****

Eden stopped writing and sighed as she put her journal away on the bed and then rotated her neck carefully before readying herself to train and practice again with her spear weapons.

She went out of her bedroom, leaving her journal, her knife, phone and chargers behind on the bed as she went and do to self-train again for the day.

*****

*****

I am alone.
In a Zombie Apocalypse.
I'm on a self-journey to find more survivors or trying to find a safe place.
Or I'm just living through it and surviving all by myself.
Listen to my story.
Listen or read about my survival.
It is all here in my SURVIVOR'S JOURNAL

*****

A lone survivor.
Since the beginning of the Apocalypse.
She survives through a hellish fallen world.
With nothing but her wits and a few skills that she has from her former normal life and learned throughout the apocalypse.
Listen to her tale.
Listen to what she has gone through in her survival through everything and how she managed to stay alive.
Listen or Read her SURVIVOR'S JOURNAL.

*****

"How long have you been alone?"

"Since the very beginning."

"How did you survive by yourself?"

"Nothing.  Nothing but with just my wits and a few skills and smarts that I have learned throughout everything."

"I'm surprised you're even sane and alive for so long and being alone."

"Oh, I'm not alone.  I have my journal."

*****
(Author's Note: This is a fictional story.  It is not based in real life at all.)

Chapter 09: LUNAMAYAの日誌

I began the inspection of the books on the left side shelves.

"Ohhh!!!"

I involuntarily shouted.

The ship is indeed a gold mine.

As I scanned through the first book, it would seem that the previous owner of the he ship collected a lot of magic books, and written here are books about magic.

Looks advanced from the way it was written: (MAGIC TRANSMUTATION), (MAGIC ENGINEERING), these seem a bit complicated for an average mind like mine but I should be able to decode it in a due time.

I am certain that the author was definitely from another world. As the characters used in the writing was in Japanese.

Although I am not Japanese or a Japanese Language teacher, I did study the language as a hobby (anime, manga, games and light novels you see…). Some terminologies written in Katakana are going to be hard to decode but as I had mentioned earlier, it should be possible in due time.

"It would seem that the previous captain was Japanese... Look like I am not the only one who got transmigrated to this world..."

I should start practicing basic magic. Although most of the books were advanced magic, it did have some basic magic books on it, it also had alchemy books on it too.

I have scanned through the last shelf to the left, so it was time to read the books on at the right.

There were a lot of book here but there were some books which were quite unique, they were bound by leather. When I opened one of the books, it had "Lunamaya's Journal" written on it.

"…So Lunamaya was the name of the previous Captain."

The journal seems to be well written, just like the hand writing in the magic and alchemy books.

"When my family died with the espionage hunting.... decided to go for a journey."

"Looks like my family had secretly stashed a ship they could not decipher and lead to the suspicion that they were spies from another country or were harboring spies."

It would seem that the previous owner was from a well off family, but something happened that lead to the espionage hunt and they were victims... or perhaps it could be the truth without the knowledge of the previous captain... anyway they were killed.

Since she was had escaped the fate her parents received she instead used the ship to travel around.

With a lot of sessha and degozaru in the text I should surmise that the Japanese was from a time of the olden Japan… perhaps simply a quirk of the previous captain…

"Ha?"

"It's empty." I scanned the entire journal from the same shelf, but they were all empty. Judging from the sheer numbers, she must have kept track of her journey. There must be a mechanism to read it, but as of the moment it should be beyond me...

"Well, judging that the previous captain was a practitioner of magic that must be the trick."

...Magic.

A lone male was sent to another world. 

Was he summoned as a hero he did not know. 

After all he was alone in a beach, he does not possess any cheat abilities, or powerful equipment. He has nothing  but his white t-shirt, black pants, back shoes and a ship...

Before the creation of the earth, Mankind populated the lands and live in harmony yet they decide to travel around the world. people discovered many unknown lands and thus the empires and nations rise up from Europe to Asia and Around the world. around 2,000 years ago, they travelled and saw the beautiful sites like Pantheon, Tokyo, Washington DC and etc. they wrote doctrines of those famous place even their origins however all of them are famous and deadly histories except for one land.



A land where no one will never discover, a land where no man can't set foot the isolated land but legends says that the island was a cursed, they don't know what or when the cursed happens but the rumours said that "when the world was created and the human was populating the 'Great Flood' swarm around Earth and eliminating humankind but when the 'Great Flood' vanished mankind settled and repopulate the lands however there is one man who set foot on the 'unknown island' however something creepy and mysterious on that island when he searched and discover the 'unknown'. after that he was vanished even his boat was vanished as well. anybody or the crew didn't know what happen... but only left was his journal.....


His Journal was written by himself he wrote the uniqueness and different types of lands, animals, specimens and etc. when they read it they were shocked that. When the sun was setting the 'unknown things' came out of the big, old, forgotten cave and they were revealed as a monstrous, deadliest, one of the most dangerous things as he ever seen they were described as beast in hell, when its night time but in the morning they die or going back to the cave. when the 'Author' explore the caved and discovered an 'artifact' the 'artifact' was so rare and unknown but the beasts in hell guarding the 'artifact' then his last words was....



"When you touch the 'artifact' the monsters or beats in hell will come out and ravage the lands that will across the whole earth bringing the humankind into an extinction do not touch the 'artifact' or else you will die. When you enter and lost in cave look of the symbols and 'unknown' language carved the walls if you read and understand them they will act as guides and you will be safe".



so the people got scared and tell the rest of the world that the 'Hell' was on the surface, so they tried to cover and never tell anyone about the 'unknown island' but  they tried there best to hide but none the mystery of the island was came to disaster. still everybody got scared of this event, they decided to ignored and forget the island's existence....


unfortunately things are about to change.....


there is one man who will change the destiny of mankind, a man will bring chaos of this earth.


Doom was ready to devour the living so that everything will come to an end.....

James Turner was a war veteran in his military service about 40 years in the age of 16 he was trained by his grandfather and he was served by the military in just 21 years old in the meantime he fought different countries and when he reach at age of 41 he was retired then find himself a home in Victoria the land of peace however he got up and took at fishing where people couldn't find and suddenly his years of experience on warfare. the unknown fate was waiting at his footsteps now it's time to pay the price

After ten minutes of running through the wilderness, I come to a stop. I've not detected a trace of anyone since leaving Glory City. I finally feel reassured enough to just take a deep breath and get my thoughts in order.

While it would have been easy to have Chen Linian, accept me in his group, I don't want to draw any attention to myself. I'm not overly worried about a bunch of teenagers taking notice of me. Their successful return to Glory City will cause adults to investigate the group members, and that does worry me. Plus, with the Snow Wind Family searching for me, probably, I wouldn't be able to successfully hide from them in Glory City until the group departed.

Proud of myself for avoiding a future problem, I focus on my current problem. I know Ancient Orchid City Ruins is supposed to be a six-day walk to the southeast of Glory City, but that's an enormous area to have to search.

Thinking of the Library of Heaven's Path, I get an idea. Removing a pen and a small blank journal from my interspatial ring, I sit down to write. 

'Ancient Orchid City Ruins is located ten kilometers southeast of Glory City.'

With a thought of 'Flaws', I enter the Library of Heaven's Path. Grabbing my journal reveals two flaws.

[A journal entry by Zhu Di. 2 Flaws.]
[Flaw #1; Ancient Orchid City Ruins is located further from Glory City than ten kilometers.]
[Flaw #2; Ancient Orchid City Ruins is not located southeast of Glory City.]

It takes a moment for this to sink in. Quickly crossing out the first line and writing a new line in my journal, I check it a second time for flaws.

[A journal entry by Zhu Di. 1 Flaw.]
[Flaw #1; Ancient Orchid City Ruins is located closer to Glory City than three hundred kilometers.]

So Ancient Orchid City Ruins is located east by southeast from Glory City...

This is amazing! This is OP to the tenth power!!! I have a built-in treasure finder!!! Dozens of different ideas pop into my head on how to exploit this! The next ten minutes are utterly wasted as I foolishly giggle and plot out different plans to gain power with my new treasure finder.

As much as I want to just sit down and play with this newly found exploit, I have to get back to the task at hand.

Once I calm down, I get to work writing different estimates until I've got the location down to less than ten kilometers. I can zero it in once I'm closer. Putting my journal in my belt for quick access, I start moving towards my destination.

One thing that gets overlooked in stories, is the boredom while traveling. I'm moving at a light jog and keeping Soul Suppression on as much as possible, but I still have plenty of time for my mind to wander. It's during this wandering time that I recall a bit of information on fox-bears.

In the story, Chen Linjian's group will be attacked while sleeping on their first night of travel. Not many details are given, but several members of his group will die in their sleep due to the fox-bears. I can't let that happen, they're just unsuspecting teenagers.

After a few more journal entries, and three hours of jogging, I arrive at my destination. Looking around I can pick up the tell-tale signs of a beast habitat. Prints in the mud, claw marks on tree trunks, and a faint musky odor in the air. Even with my heightened sense of smell, it's a subtle odor.

Not wanting to sit around, waiting for a bunch of teenagers to show up, I begin Operation Kaboom!

I quickly move to a tree that is near the bedding area for the fox-bears. I imbue a flawless Flame Explosion Inscription into the trunk of the tree. Similar to the inscription Nie Li used to destroy the home of the bird-brains in the Abyss Prison Realm, but much more powerful. With sunset still several hours away, I take my time in completing five more inscriptions. 

After completing the last inscription, I begin to slowly walk away. Once I'm fifty meters away, the inscriptions are triggered. A massive fireball erupts behind me, engulfing the nesting area completely. 

I always thought walking away from a huge fiery explosion in slow motion would be badass. Wrong. Totally not badass. It's loud and surprisingly hot! Not to mention completely awkward walking slowly. If not for my enhanced durability, I'm sure the back of my neck would be rocking a brand new sunburn.   

Really glad no one else is around to see this. Not my proudest moment. On the bright side, I just got another check on the bucket list. 

Taking a moment to inspect the damage, I take note of the complete destruction of all six trees I placed an inscription on. Fire seems to have ignited but doesn't seem to be spreading. This is going to draw attention, from people and beasts. 

Turning away from the flames, I run at max speed towards my destination. I have to quickly reign my speed in though, for fear of running into a tree. I've never gone all-out before, and it's amazing! I don't know how long I could keep moving at my max speed, but I'm confident I could reach Ancient Orchid City Ruins faster than I estimated. 

The problem with that, I would be making myself vulnerable to attack. I would be moving too fast to detect the presence of any lifeforms until I was right on it. There's no need to be so reckless. Running would save at least two days of travel, but I don't need that extra time. Chen Linjian's group will be leaving Glory City in two days from now. A safe and steady pace should give me three to four days alone in Ancient Orchid City Ruins before his group will arrive. Them and the Dark Guild.

I'm still not sure what to do about the Dark Guild. I know in both timelines, they were attempting to kidnap kids for ransom, but I can't remember if they were successful in the first timeline. I could attempt to kill them, but I've never killed another human being before.  

There's also the old saying, 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.' The problem with that saying is I don't know any of Dark Guild members in this kidnapping scheme! I only remember Deacon Yun Hua as being a large blonde Gold-ranked Demon Spiritualist, working at one of the Sacred Family's restaurants. If he's removed, I won't know who the Dark Guild sends to replace him, or if the Dark Guild will launch an attack for revenge.

I'll have to think of a way to foil their kidnapping attempt, without exposing my identity to the Dark Guild or the teenagers. 

Once I feel I've reached a safe distance from the burning nest, I slow down to a brisk walking speed. I'm not winded, but I don't want to take a chance of being attacked while trying to catch my breath.

Confirming that I'm heading in the right direction, I continue on my journey. 

On the evening of the fourth day of my journey, I reach my destination. Ancient Orchid City Ruins. The trip was surprisingly peaceful. Only twice was I attacked by demon beasts, and both of them were bronze rank. A simple strike to their necks ended their life. 

Looking at the ruins, I can't even imagine the size of the demon beast horde needed to overrun it. The city is massive. There must have been several million people living here.

But now, it's just ruins, severely overrun by trees and vegetation. I've not seen any of the Giant Blue Armed Apes, but I can hear them roaring and hooting around the ruins. 

Ducking into a deep shadow, I remove my journal and prepare to test a theory. Chen Linjian's group spent several days digging around the military fortress and the City Lord's Mansion, before uncovering an entrance to the treasury. 

That is an absolute waste of time for me. The city wouldn't bury a chamber to store its treasury. They would still need some way to access their items. My guess is that there is a hidden treasury entrance in the City Lord's Mansion.

I begin writing different possible locations for a treasury entrance. After fifteen minutes, I've confirmed my theory. There is a hidden treasury entrance at the bottom of the City Lord's Mansion. The entrance is controlled by an array. This should be fairly easy to find. Getting to the City Lord's Mansion unseen will not be so easy. 

Getting the general direction, I crank Soul Suppression to the max and cross over the outer wall. Giant Blue Armed Apes are not nocturnal, but neither do I have night vision. Yet. 

I'm slowly and quietly moving from shadow to shadow. I utilize buildings when it's convenient, but my main goal is to get as close to the City Lord's Mansion as I can before nightfall, unseen. There shouldn't be a single demon beast in these ruins that I can't overpower, but there are hundreds of demon beasts here. I don't know if they will scatter if I kill their alpha, or go into a murderous rage and swarm me.

I was forced to take shelter in a building at dusk. The Giant Blue Armed Apes suddenly became very loud and active. I'm not sure if this is their normal night time ritual or if something else put them on alert. Once the sun set, the noise, and activity quickly died down. Guess that was just their version of saying good-night. 

I wait another thirty minutes before making my way out of the building. Not gonna lie, looking around the ruins under a starless sky is really creepy. I half expect to see ghosts moving about.

Deciding to pick up the pace, totally not because of the creepy feeling, I swiftly move through the ruins. Soul Suppression removes the possibility of anything picking up my scent or presence, but any sound is still an issue. Even my light steps seem loud to my own ears, but I've avoided all detection from these damn dirty apes so far. 

As my eyes became adjusted to the darkness, I'm able to make out my destination. Taking a gamble, I pick up my speed and dash down the street leading to the City Lord's Mansion. As I'm nearing a hole in the side of the mansion, I can hear the sounds of apes hooting in the dark. 

Diving through the hole in the wall, I immediately halt and focus my ears. My mad dash undoubtedly woke several apes in the area. After a few calls amongst themselves, all is quiet again. With a smile of victory, I move deeper into the room. 

The interior of the building quickly dissolves into complete darkness. Without a torch, I'm forced to condense a ball of soul force into the palm of my hand. It doesn't fully illuminate the room but does allow me to make out anything within eight or nine feet of me. 

Exiting the room, I step out into a wide hallway. Turning right, I move deeper into the mansion. Soon, I come to an intersection. I don't feel like wandering around a spooky mansion all night. Picking up a palm-sized piece of marble, I scratch a large '1A' on the ground. Moving to each hallway entrance I scratch another number and letter combination. 

Taking out my journal, I write, 'The quickest way to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins' Treasury is going down hallway 2A from hallway 1A.'

[1 Flaw...]

My next attempt results in a flawless answer, and I'm swiftly moving down a new hallway. I mark each hallway I come to and use the Library of Heaven's Path to continuously move towards the treasury. This is such a cheat, and I love it.

An hour later, I find myself standing before a large section of bare wall in the belly of the City Lord's Mansion. The Library of Heaven's Path confirmed that there is a mechanism inside the wall. It takes me five minutes of rubbing both my hands across the wall before I'm able to locate the activation array.

The array seems to be keyed to a specific kind of soul force. The concept is brilliant really. It must be keyed to each person being granted access, and that person must weave their soul force in a particular pattern to open the treasury door. Luckily, there are several flaws in the inscription I can exploit.    

Weaving my soul force in an elaborate design through the flaws of the array, I'm rewarded with the array suddenly lighting up the wall! Stepping back, I watch as the array slowly starts to shine across the wall in a beautifully designed inscription. This array has so many uses. Once I fix the flaws, I plan to use this inscription to protect all my valuables I can't/shouldn't carry with me.

My attention is drawn from the inscription by the grating of stone sliding on stone. The opening is large enough for three to enter together. Illuminating the area with my soul force, I step through the entrance and onto a wide platform. Seeing another inscription carved into the stone of the platform, I can't help to smile as I recognize the pattern. 

Extinguishing my soul force light, I bend down and place my palm on the center of the platform. Channeling a large amount of soul force into the array, my smile stretches even wider as the array activates. 

Flames suddenly burst to life at the corners of the platform, and down the banisters of a wide staircase. As I move down the stairs, the flames seem to run down the rest of the stairs and illuminate a large room.  

Stepping off the stairs, I'm halted by the stunning sight before me. The light from the flames running around the walls of the room is further reflected by mounds and mounds of gold. The comics did not do this place justice. There are treasures everywhere! Sparkling jewels, decorative furnishings, powerful weapons and armor, stone bookcases lining the walls...

Despite the glimmer of gold, my attention zeros in on those bookcases. While there are several small boxes and trinkets on the shelves, there is no mistaking the ancient books and scrolls. Quickly moving to the nearest bookcase, I closely examine a large scroll partially opened. The wording seems to predate even the Sacred Empire, but the book looks like it would fall apart at the slightest touch. Luckily, a touch is all I need. 

Carefully placing my finger on the scroll and thinking flaws, a wide smile crosses my face as the Library of Heaven's Path gained another cultivation manual! Anything placed in the City Lord's Mansion must be valuable. If this keeps up, my smile may become permanent. Looking around, there must be nearly a thousand tomes and scrolls on the shelves.

As I'm scanning the treasury, I notice the reason for this trip. A small glowing decorative lantern placed on top of a marble pedestal. Putting the books aside, for now, I quickly make my way towards that beautifully powerful artifact. Using both hands, I gently remove the spiritual lamp from the pedestal. 

A quick check from the Library of Heaven's Path reveals just how incredible the spiritual lamp is, as well as what it contains. A normal demon spirit stone can hold a demon spirit for two to three hundred years before the spirit will dissipate. The spiritual lamp in my hands is capable of holding a demon spirit for up to two thousand years! 

After reading the materials used in making a spiritual lamp, I understand why. These lamps were not made on Tiny World. I'm not sure, but if I had to bet, my money would be Draconic Ruins Realm. Not only is the inscription on the lamp flawless, but it was forged by a true master. I won't be able to improve or even replicate the spiritual lamp. Making omething that could hold a demon spirit for seven or eight hundred years shouldn't pose too much of a problem, but thousands of years isn't likely.   

Focusing on what's truly important, I surround the spiritual lamp in with my soul force to prevent anything from going wrong. With a deep breath, I release the Shadow Devil from the lamp. Before it can even make an attempt to escape, I lock it down with my soul force. I rapidly pull the Shadow Devil into my soul realm and seal off any chance of escape. Once the integration is complete, a small shudder runs through my body.

Holding back my bubbling excitement, I store the spiritual lamp in my interspatial ring. It's time to attempt my first merger with the Shadow Devil. 

An overbearing feeling of calm indifference washes over me. It's as if my excitement just disappeared without a trace. I feel cold and determined, thinking only of completing my goals. No excitement or even an ounce of fear. 

Guess this proves that a demon spiritualist will take on the mentality of their demon spirit when merged. Putting some thought into it, the Shadow Devil might cause me a good deal of trouble. In this state of indifference, I may act against someone when my conscience would have held me back. Something I might have to be wary about. On a positive note, this will be able to replace my calming elixir, and merging with the Shadow Devil is not nearly as noticeable.

Looking at my body, I notice my eyesight is on another level. Everything is sharper and brighter. The flames around the room prevent me from testing it, but I'm willing to bet I have a form of night vision now. 

Looking over my body, I can't identify any physical change. Holding up my right arm, I focus for a moment and a meter long shadow blade silently extends from my wrist. Deadly. Taking a few steps back from the pedestal, I focus for a moment before walking forward. A step before the pedestal, I completely disappear from sight. Another step and I've moved through the pedestal and standing on the other side. With a thought, I'm visible again. This was much easier than I thought it would be.

Ending my merger, I feeling of happiness gushes back into me. My emotions are much more manageable now. 

With a clear head, I take a look at my soul realm. I notice the soul force I expended when activating the previous arrays, isn't recovering as fast as normal. A closer look at the Shadow Devil and I can see a portion of my soul force being pulled into it. 

I'm not worried about the loss of recovery speed with just the Shadow Devil. But integrating with three or four demon spirits would nearly eliminate my natural soul force recovery. With that many demon spirits, I would be forced to cultivate to recover any expended soul force. In a prolonged fight, that could be my undoing. 

Pushing those thoughts to the side, I take another look around me. It's time to dig through some treasure!

A 20 year old fan of fanfiction is transmigrated into an orphaned teen in the middle of Glory City. Follow him as he's forced to deal with hidden dangers, evil villains, and the dreaded puberty. 

This is my first novel, so expect some mistakes. I'll try to make corrections when seen. Reworked the first six chapters.

I'm doing this for my own personal pleasure. I have a family and a job that requires me to work most weekends. I hope to produce two chapters a week, provided life allows.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the stories, Tales of Demons and Gods or Library of Heaven's Path. Any resemblance of any original character is purely coincidence.

lightweight travel journal

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Going Dark

Tales of Demons, Gods, and Libraries

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