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Brent Stinebaker

Brent Stinebaker

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Brent Stinebaker posts

V-16 Campus (I)

I will never forget the first moment I walked past those walls. Those walls that climbed higher than the sky itself. Those walls that cast shadows so long they could drown mountains. Those wall...

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V-15 Admission (III)

The most important thing when it comes to duels of words and rhetoric is control. If you can control someone's emotions or the flow of the topic, you can win. For ultimately, it's not about a d...

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V-14 Admission (II)

To be a recruiter for Phoenix Academy is to dedicate oneself to hunting for golden needles in a grand haystack. The students are remarkable individuals. Though young of age, many of them have a...

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V-13 Admission (I)

Phoenix Academy is not the only academy on Earth. It is also not the greatest academy, despite how often I boast of its great achievements and magnificent alumni.

If you want to ...

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V-12 Academy (IV)

Hm? Oh, yes. Headmaster, I'm aware that Master-Instructor Heresine is a spy. And a spy of Aviary, no less. One of their so-called Sparrows. Long-term, deep cover. Not meant for active combat. View Post

V-11 Academy (III)

Students of the Phoenix, my job here, as headmaster, is not to get you to adapt by the time you graduate. It is not to ensure that you become Masters in ten years, five years, or whatever ridic...

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V-10 Academy (II)

It is a double-edged thing, being a non-martial. You can see this in the name itself. You are not martial, not someone capable of fighting, or at least not as capable as someone dedicated to th...

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V-9 Academy (I)

Some judge a nation by how many legends it possesses under its banner. Others by how vast its territories are. A few even use esoteric means, writing theorems to guess at mana variabilities. Bu...

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V-8 Sewer

It always starts the same way: desperation. 

Desperation for revenge, desperation for money, for a new lease on life, to break free from who you were—be that because of a ...

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V-7 Neath (II)

Shells and false semblances are one of the most illegal, but also most valuable commodities offered by the Neath. When one seeks to establish their position in life, they usually arrive at one ...

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V-6 Neath (I)

Neath is shorthand for beneath; it is also the name attributed to the greater criminal underworld of Integrated Earth. Though there are cutthroats, thieves, smugglers, and more within every maj...

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V-5 Capital

Faith is a thing of grave importance, acolytes. Faith allows us to maintain security in our great cities. Ask yourself, what do we have that most other nations don't? Why don't we suffer the in...

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V-4 Escapees

Across Integrated Earth, there are many cities that boast grand claims regarding their opulence, safety, and power. In the eastern hemisphere of the world alone, there is High Harbor, ruled by ...

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V-3 Morsel (II)

The system has a plan, and it is one of statistically maximized chaos. Never is this plan more evident than when someone gets an equipment reward from a successful quest. To put things plainly,...

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V-2 Morsel (I)

Attention, citizens. An unexpected disaster has occurred at the Yellowstone Rubix Well. Please seek immediate shelter and prepare arms. Repeat, please return to your house or nearby shelter and...

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V-1 Shatter

I don't know why so many people curse the system. If you have any knowledge of history at all, you would have noticed that the world, and all of existence for that matter, was cruel, cruel, and...

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Minor Adjustments and Free Advanced

Hello. We're moving into V5.

As we do, we will probably return to a more two 5k chapter format like the earlier volumes. They will be delivered at two points across the day. No major changes ...

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IV-36 Euthanasia (II)

"It could have worked, Veronica. You have to believe me. It could have worked. The ritual, so much of it, was going well. But, but..."

"Enough, dearest Ascendant. Let's just say ...

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IV-35 Euthanasia (I)

Euthanasia. Mercy killing. The hardest goodbye. 

It's got a lot of names, but functionally, there's gonna be a time on the battlefield where you're going to have to put your...

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IV-34 Whores

There's really no way for me to hurt you more than your life already did. I know about what you did to your brother, his family. I know it was because of jealousy. I know that you hate him, but...

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IV-33 Burden

Trust is both complicated and simple at the same time. The thing about trust is that it is an immeasurable quality. Sometimes people simply trust you. Whether it's because of foolishness, honor...

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IV-32 Anticipate (II)

Listen, kids, the easiest way to claim a high-tier Pathbearer as a prisoner is to blackmail them or to bribe them into surrendering through asymmetrical means. Trying to overpower them usually ...

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IV-31 Anticipate (I)

Inconsistency is the greatest wound a soul can sustain. Beyond just damage, beyond losing parts of your own history, there is the danger of being seeded by someone else’s Legend—for your so...

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IV-30 Decider

Animancy might just be the single most complicated art form anyone can learn. On top of being an art form, it is also a science, for it has to do with every magical lore in existence and every ...

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IV-29 Udraal (II)

"Father, why are other people so... pathetic?"

"Pathetic? What do you mean, Udraal? Expand your statement. Tell me what you're really thinking."

"We just met with ...

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IV-28 Udraal (I)

Like all learned Pathbearers, I love the divine and hate the gods. The separation is quite simple.

Divine is about the shaping of rules and the setting of one's own laws. They ar...

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IV-27 Rhetorical (II)

It is a mistake to think that social skills belong to an entirely separate category as their martial counterparts. Everything is interconnected. All skills build on each other. All skills influ...

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IV-26 Rhetorical (I)

To my esteemed adversaries at Aviary:

I have recently come across a few of your agents. Please don't blame them for being discovered. These things happen sometimes, especially wh...

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IV-25 Dark (II)

Harlock the Midnight claims to be a God of Darkness and Stealth. I would believe him if it weren't so easy for me to slip unnoticed through his domain as a shortcut between worlds.

<...

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IV-24 Dark (I)

I despise those who dub themselves god after claiming a paltry pittance of power. “God” should mean something more than just being a Pathbearer. Some argue that ascending to Legendary ascen...

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