Arthur wasn’t sure how long he’d been fighting at this point, but it had become routine now. His domain always active to weaken his enemies and poison them, shadow manipulation for crowd control, an ether infused rain of bullets to kill his enemies, and his soul spear to deal with those durable enough to survive his onslaught.

  His healthpool was the fuel that kept him going, and his skeleton's charge the pump that never stopped flowing. The most difficult part of the siege was keeping the battlefield—his man-made crater—clear enough to manoeuvre in. He'd had to spend a considerable amount of ether every minute on a concentrated blast of purify to get rid of the corpses littering the battlefield. The remains that resisted his magic were teleported away by Wovan. The storage space she’d unlocked since evolving had been filled in seconds.

  While Arthur’s energy reserves meant he could continue this output indefinitely, his mental strength was waning. There was only so much fighting his brain could take before exhaustion set in. The only reason he was still alive after all the mistakes he’d been making was because these monsters had no way to legitimately harm him. Arthur had hit level 139 two hours ago, but level 140 just kept eluding him, and he had to reluctantly admit that these monsters just weren't cutting it anymore. 23 levels in a single day was absurd, especially so for a legendary classer like himself, but when you realised he’d had to kill over half a million monsters to get them, the results were underwhelming. Arthur sincerely doubted he’d ever get a levelling opportunity like this again. This was literally a buffet, a constant source of experience served up on a platter.

  His new flames made for deadly attacks, especially so when he managed to tap into his concept of heat, but the versatility its healing abilities provided completely dwarfed its offensive potential. That and he wasn’t sure if he was using his new concept properly. One of the downsides to being so heavy now was that he was significantly slower, even with his massive increase in strength. 683 kilograms was a lot of weight to move around. It did have benefits, though. Namely, that he didn’t go airborne every time a monster hit him anymore.

  Arthur cursed as he failed to dodge a deepstone wolf's strike, the impact knocking him back a few places. Just as he was about to retaliate, his soulbound ring pulled at his consciousness, like it had become some kind of spiritual magnet. He stumbled a step and quickly shadow-walked to the edge of the crater. The teeming mass of monsters down below turned in unison and focused on his new position. Arthur sighed. It seemed like Shylo still hadn’t given up on exhausting him.

  Rubbing his temples, Arthur tried to nurse away his headache. The spiritual pull from his ring was only growing stronger, becoming impossible to ignore. Arthur peered inside to see what was causing the problem, his eyes widening in surprise. His Secret Notebook, paired with the twin Iris held, was smoking. Reading his mind, Wovan created a portal in front of him, which he promptly walked through. Arthur appeared on the wall beside Maverick and Vira, who were engaged in a heated discussion on battle logistics.

  “Your men have rested enough,” Arthur interrupted. “Something came up that I need to deal with. I’ll be back soon.”

  He didn’t wait for a response, ignoring their looks of surprise as he allowed Wovan to teleport him to his room. Immediately, he pulled the book out of his storage ring and placed it on the bedside table. The thing had gone from smoking to outright burning now. Adrenaline washed through his system, clearing his mental fog as he considered the implications. This had never happened before? Had something gone wrong with its pair? Was Iris in danger? Had she been killed? Every scene his brain conjured was worse than the last, his imagination working against him as it created an increasingly horrifying picture of Iris’ fate. Clenching his fists, Arthur took a deep, steadying breath. He’d descended into full-blown panic far too quickly to be normal.

  I’ve been fighting for too damn long. Extended combat had a way of fraying your nerves, and sometimes you didn’t realise how badly until life hit you with a curveball. Something like your magical phone suddenly combusting into flames. Looking at his notebook with a more level head, Arthur noticed a few things. The book wasn’t burning randomly. Quite the opposite. The fire was carving runes onto the book's cover. Arthur sighed in relief. This had Iris’ fingerprints all over it.

  Two minutes later, Arthur's suspicion was confirmed when the tome started to emit the familiar magical signature of the fae princess. A miniature hologram appeared over the book, a few inches tall. It was a perfect copy of how he remembered Iris looking, or at least it would have been if not for how terrible she appeared. She had massive bags under her eyes, something he hadn’t thought was possible at their levels, and she looked like she’d lost twenty pounds of weight since he’d last seen her. The miniature Iris started talking immediately, the words leaving her mouth so fast, a pre-system human would’ve understood nothing.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I had to use this ritual to get this message to you. Carving these runes onto my tome destroyed it completely, and yours will follow in a few seconds.”

  The hologram's eyes darted around, looking more terrified than Arthur had ever seen Iris before.

  “Solana's trial has been brought forward. Lady Melania, the damn bitch, came forward with the claim that you were still alive. Staked her whole Dukedom on it. I don’t know how, or why she’s certain, but things are getting out of hand fast.”

  “Whatever you’re doing on Haadran, I want you to put it on hold. As soon as you see this message, I want you to rush to the realm gate you came through. I’ll be waiting there with some tokens that’ll get us offworld and away from this shit show.”

  Iris’ hologram took a deep breath, almost like she was debating whether or not she should say the next words. “If, for some reason, you decide to ignore this and continue with whatever insane plan you’ve come up with, or you're in a compromised position and can’t return to the realm gate in the next 82 minutes, then do whatever you can to hide. Get off-world if possible and flee deeper into the fallen realm. I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”

  Iris smiled sadly and shook her head. “Hell, why am I trying to kid myself. I know you’ll never take my advice.” The fae princess sighed wearily. “Do what you must, Art. You have 17 hours left to pull off a miracle, 17 hours until the Myopan realm's aristocracy will come for you.”

  Iris smiled, this time with the bright cheer he’d come to expect of her, though Arthur could see it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “Show them why I chose to court you, Arthur Ward.”

  With those final words of encouragement, Iris’ hologram faded away, and the Secret Notebook burned to ashes. The ritual Iris had used to warn him had used it all as fuel, hundreds of thousands of credits traded for a few seconds. Arthur stood there for a while, going over everything Iris had said.

  Lady Melania was probably the one who’d sent those assassins after him. Ripping away their mechanical parts had probably warned her. Either that, or some magic he had missed. He felt a wave of rage wash over him as he recalled everything she’d done. Iris was right. The woman was a bitch of the highest order, and a slaver to boot. She would get her just deserts. In a month or a year, he didn't know, but a time would come when the noble would pay for her crimes.

  Arthur had managed to partially accomplish what he’d come to Haadran for. He’d bested corruption and even gained a stat for it, but that wasn’t enough. A single point in Nether he'd acquired from his Soul Splinter. Was that conquering corruption, or merely borrowing power? Try as he might, Arthur hadn't been able to do anything with his Nether. He simply had too little of it to work with.

  Arthur had thought he was doing quite well—level 139 with a few days to go—but life always found a way to throw a wrench in your plans. Seventeen hours was very little time to work with, impossible even. The thought of following his girlfriend's suggestions didn't even cross his mind. Running wasn't an option. How long would he get away for? A month? A year? A decade? All of it spent looking over his back. That was no way to live.

  His second refinement was approaching, an opportunity to change his very biology to better handle Nether. 11 more levels, a tall ask when the last 50,000 monsters hadn't given him a single one. There was only one place left to go. The Silverglade Palace, home to the corrupted Avatar of Haadran.

  It had been a long time since Arthur had eaten a monster's core.

  Wovan teleported him back to the city's walls, where Maverick was preparing to go into combat once again. The giant man jumped at his sudden appearance. Vira simply looked at him and smiled. He hadn't managed to get a jump on the ancient healer yet, and he doubted he ever would.

  "That was quick," she said. "Already sorted out your problem?"

  Arthur ignored the question. "I'm going after Shylo. Do you two want to come with me or not?"

  The old healer's eyes widened in surprise. For once, she seemed to be at a loss for words.

  "You mean now, like now-now," Maverick instead answered.

  Arthur nodded. "Within the next ten minutes."

  Vira finally seemed to find her voice. "That's imp—" She stopped herself. "No, I won't say it's impossible. I have no idea what your limits are anymore, if such things even exist for you. I will, however, say that your chances are low, less than 10% even."

  "A 10% chance that I win, or a 100% chance that I die. I know what decision I have to make."

  "That bad," Vira said, her eyes filled with concern. "Is there really no other way?"

  "None that I'm willing to take. So, are you with me? A chance to finally beat your most hated foe. With you two along, my success rate surely goes up, right?"

  "I calculated that probability on the assumption that half the city went with you," Vira answered weakly. "Shylo's castle is a living fortress, and I don't mean that metaphorically. Within it, he has power almost equivalent to a Territory Lord."

  Arthur grinned. "Good thing we know some excellent ward breakers then."

  Vira sighed and shook her head in mock exhaustion. "I'm too old for these damn adventures. Let's go get those fools out of prison."

  Links to the audiobooks.

  Etherious: Originator

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  Here

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  ?Goodreads

  Patreon is available with access to 8 advanced chapters.