MaeveMcCarthy

Chapter 35

The courtyard had gone quiet except for the rasp of linen over wood.

It looked like siege engines had been through the villa's courtyard.

Gouges furrowed the flagstones; dusty rose-soot—congealed blood and pulverised quartz—filled every spider-crack. In the middle of the ruin Vespera knelt, long white braid coiled at her hip, re-wrapping a spear-haft that now wore more splints than wood. Each tug of the rawhide thong hissed lik...

Chapter 34

Lily planted her feet in the ground. 

She had shed so much blood during the previous week. 

How much stronger can Vespera be compared to her sister? 

She recognized that Vespera would be an even greater challenge, but she was now confident that she could at least spar with someone who had serious training. 

Vespera narrowed her eyes, and Lily observed the subtle shift in her posture. She rec...

I'm Back from the Holidays!

Hello darlings,

I've come back to base after a wonderful trip to South Korea.

The first chapter goes up in about seven hours, at the usual time, and there will be one chapter a day for at least this and the next week!

Enjoy!

Chapters are coming, but next week!

I've been traveling through South Korea with my mother since the 20th and I have severely underestimated how grueling it would have been on me. I thought that writing a few Patreon chapters - especially, considering I got the outlines done - would have been a piece of cake. But, lo and behold, I had a little fever while I was traveling, so my brain wasn't working properly on the plane.

I'll be settled back home the 1st of June. So, you ...

Chapter 33

Calpurnia stood with her arms crossed as she glared at Lily, and the air in the room felt stifling because of the tension that remained after the confrontation. She noticed Lily’s calm stare and asked with a sharp tone, “Why did you do that?” Lily lifted her chin before replying in a firm voice.

“I can win.”

Her unwavering response caused Calpurnia’s eyes to narrow. “Publius’s son has a Class. Even if it has been ju...

Chapter 32

Lily stood in the courtyard before noon, and her shadow stretched across the worn cobblestones beneath her. The sun had not yet reached its zenith, although the day was already bright and warm enough to make the air shimmer.

Calpurnia, who appeared to be around the same age as Lily’s Aunt Gentiliana, observed Lily with a slight smile. Her calm expression suggested that she expected Lily to unleash some reckless display of the First For...

Chapter 31

At dawn, Lily returned to the courtyard, expecting to meet Calpurnia alone.

Instead, she found the woman flanked by two girls.

The shorter of the pair, a raven-haired girl with a tilt to her chin, spoke first. “So this is the prodigy,” she said, her voice bright and mocking. “The next Pope?”

Lily’s brows drew together. The girl’s tone grated, yet what struck Lily even more was the uncanny symmetry between the two ...

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

“Do you know that not even your mother had the courage to utter the words you said in front of everyone?” Calpurnia’s voice came harshly, not kindly.

Lily stepped between two trees, finally appearing in front of the woman in a grove that marked her house. The grove lay in night‑deep shadow, and a full moon rode high above, silvering the leaves; Lily noted its chill light.

She had been invited to Calpurnia�...

Chapter 29

Septimus advanced, although he still wore his mocking smile.

What's happening? Lily couldn't understand her own body at the moment. It felt very similar to when she had first seen the dead, partially dissected rat with her Aunt Gentiliana. Now, it felt like she could… see?

It had happened with healing first, then at Aurelianus's and Livia's marriage.

Now, was it happening again?

Septimus looked like ...

Chapter 28

Adriana stood motionless before a heavy oak door. 

On it, there was the word ‘[Librarian].’ 

It was the [Librarian]’s sanctum within the Class Hall. 

A pair of brass candle holders flickered low on the stone walls, their light barely reaching the door’s carved surface. 

In the shifting glow, the ancient oak seemed to breathe, its knots forming shapes resembling letters. Adriana’s heart thud...

Chapter 27

Lily couldn’t believe her eyes. What was the fox-masked boy doing here?

“You!” she blurted, pointing an accusatory finger. Sabinus limited himself to a complacent smile and stood at ease, looking completely untroubled.

Lily’s voice shook with indignation as she repeated, “You!”

This was the rude guy who had made fun of her in the carriage.

“You know him?” Adriana asked, wearing a thin smile that hinted a...

Chapter 26

The carriage rumbled along the neglected road while loose stones rattled against the undercarriage and Lily steadied herself on the worn leather seat. Moonlight slipped through the curtained window and sketched restless bands across Adriana’s gown, and Lily wondered why they had taken such a rough route when other paths surely existed.

Adriana folded her hands in her lap and spoke in a tone so calm that Lily suspected her mother had be...

Chapter 25

Lily marched across the torch-lit courtyard while her boots struck the cobbles so loudly that every guest must have heard the echo.

She couldn't believe what had just happened—she couldn't believe her father had said nothing in her defense. Sure, he was mad, but deny that she could become a Champion?

She felt a mote of pride.

I didn't want to—I never said I couldn't.

She soon arriv...

Chapter 24

It was not the first time Lily felt unfamiliar words and knowledge appear in her mind like when she examined something with healing magic. She remembered a similar experience when Aunt Gentiliana showed her the inside of a rat, and she recalled how those strange words had taken shape again when she looked inside Ridi. The moment she could finally speak them, it was as if they had always belonged to her.

She had sensed the same potential ...

Chapter 23

Lavinia still remembered the first time she saw Livia.

The young woman had entered Lavinia’s home so soon after her mother’s death that it felt like a violation of every memory Fausta had left in that place.

Lavinia had just returned from playing with Lily, and she recalled striking Lily over the head with a wooden sword more strongly than usual. For once, it was Lavinia who cried instead of Lily, and she had feared losing that...

Chapter 22

Lucianus hunched over a sheaf of official papers in one corner of the carriage, the lamplight flickering off the inked seals. Across from him, Adriana sat pressed into the cushioned bench, her gaze flicking to their daughter, Lily, who sniffed at the air and frowned.

A faint smell of smoke rode the wind through the open window and made both mother and daughter curl up their nose. The father and husband, instead, seemed unbothered. <...

Chapter 21

In Her Past Life

Warm rays of light in Okinawa drenched Nirai Beach in a glaze of gold.

The tide had ebbed, leaving smooth, damp sand marked by a single set of footprints. Liliana Ember—barefoot, blonde hair cinched in a quick ponytail, cotton gi top fluttering in the breeze— strode along the waterline with purpose.

Step, pivot, knife‑hand block. Reverse punch, snap kick, low stance.

For a blissfu...

[Newly Rewritten] Death Healer, (Healing Trial Arc) Prologue - Chapter 20

First full arc of Death Healer, the Rewrite.

Chapters 75-82

Chapter 75

Monica still

Chapter 74

Monica stood between the Four Pillars and looked at the smirking Dworsul with a raised eyebrow. Dworsul, standing a few strides away, merely smirked and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"I still don't understand."

"Good," the old Dwarf replied cheekily. "Now—raise your hand."

Monica looked at the four pillars, all four quite distant from each other, and the small stone platform the legendary Blacksmith had he...

Chapter 73

Four more days passed. Monica wheezed as she came back to life, sprawled near a veritable mountain of half-finished bracers she had forged.

Dworsul examined a pair with a scrutinizing eye and nodded to himself. Moments before, Monica had collapsed after pouring the last drop of her Vitality into Fire Transmutation, smelting yet another batch of iron for the bracers. Still shaky, she pushed herself upright, brushing away the caked dust an...

Chapter 72

Monica and Dworsul both wore grim expressions as they reached a dead end: a massive cave-in blocked the tunnel they had hoped to use.

“So…” Monica murmured, trailing off as her gaze traveled across the collapsed passage. Rubble choked the corridor from floor to ceiling, forming a jagged wall of broken stone.

Dworsul said nothing at first. Instead, he stepped forward and crouched, running his callused fingers across the debris...

Chapter 71

Two days had passed. During this time, Monica had thrown herself into an unrelenting cycle of training, using Mana Sense, Meditation, and the agonizing yet invaluable Charred Masochist Skill to circulate increasingly larger amounts of Fire Mana through her body.

Bit by bit, she pushed her limits, wrestling with volatile flames that threatened to devour her from the inside. By now, Charred Masochist had soared to Level 45, and for the fir...

Chapter 70

Monica collapsed to the ground, body half-charred from the inside out by the Divine Fire Mana she had just inhaled. She summoned her Golden Flame in full force, letting its healing warmth flow through her chest and arm. Slowly—excruciatingly—she felt some relief as the fire began rebuilding the blackened tissue in her ribs and restoring the seared muscle fibers in her arm.

Yet, the ache of that terrifying process still radiated throu...

Chapter 69

Monica used Fire Transmutation to fuse together the Golden and the Obsidian Flame in front of her. Knowing that Dworsul would only be happy to see her set on fire, she just created a palm-sized globe of scorching hot flames. 

"You have Mana Sense," Dworsul said gruffly. 

It wasn't question.

Monica, keeping her eyes trained on the roiling sphere, gave a curt nod. “What about it?”

“Use it to feel the Mana ...

Chapter 68

Monica couldn’t believe her ears.

“Wait, you’re the one who forged the Spear of Dhoznil?” she said, eyes wide.

“The one and only,” Dworsul replied.

Despite the older dwarf’s refined appearance—slightly hunched shoulders, a soot-stained tunic, a beard braided in careful loops—Monica caught a razor edge of arrogance in his gaze. Pride radiated from him like a palpable force, momentarily leaving her speechless....

Chapter 67

The dwarf’s stone eyelids cracked open—literal shards of rock chipping away. He lurched forward and almost fell out of the chair. 

Monica lunged forward, steadying him before he toppled.

“Easy,” she murmured, softening her tone. “You’re in Viscera. I used something to bring you back. Just… breathe.”

Despite the initial clumsiness the Dwarf soon straightned up and looked at Monica with a deep frown.

...

Chapter 66

Ding

New Quest Received – The Four Pillars

Ding

Quest - The Four Pillars

Raise Phoenix Forge to Level 25 and the following Utility Skills to Level 50:

Hammering

Smelting

Temperature Control

Forging

Reward: <...