The mage of shimmer moun.., p.1
The Mage of Shimmer Mountain: The Complete Series: A LitRPG Fantasy Box Set, page 1
Contents
The Mage of Shimmer Mountain
Chapter 1: Shimmer Mountain Ascent
Chapter 2: Quiet before the storm
Chapter 3: Soulmarked for Greatness
Chapter 4 : Alternate Methods
Chapter 5 : Soul Tempo
Chapter 6: Race for your Life
Chapter 7: Shimmer Train
Chapter 8: Complications
Chapter 9: First Prestige
Chapter 10: Homeward Bound
Chapter 11: Home Bitter Home
Chapter 12: Bittersweet Reunion
Chapter 13: Blue Lion Academy Admissions
Chapter 14: A Proper Education Begins With...
Chapter 15: Obstacle Course of Doom
Chapter 16: Mages vs Harvesters
Chapter 17: Soulburnt Magic Domain
Chapter 18: The Element of Choice
Chapter 19: Elemental Practice
Chapter 20: Complex Calculations
Chapter 21: Party Aftermath
Chapter 22: Reval City Battlements
Chapter 23: Long Journey Home
Chapter 24: Trusting the Wrong People
Chapter 25: Applying What You Learned
Chapter 26: Intense Training
Chapter 27: Culling Party
Chapter 28: Blossoming at Azad
Chapter 29: Applications of Magnesium
Chapter 30: Pressure Vessel
Chapter 31: Seeing the Truth
Chapter 32: Past, Present, and Future
Chapter 33: Four Armed Tigers
Chapter 34: Actions Have Consequences
Chapter 35: Friends No More
Chapter 36: A Skulk of Foxes
Chapter 37: Emergency Response
Chapter 38: Evading Traps
Chapter 39: The Heartbeat of the Mountain
Second Prestige
Second Prestige Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Second Prestige Chapter 2: Giant Spider Guts
Second Prestige Chapter 3: Brief Negotiations
Second Prestige Chapter 4: Problem Solver
Second Prestige Chapter 5 : Speaker for the Dead
Second Prestige Chapter 6: Family Secrets
Second Prestige Chapter 7 Cohort Introductions
Second Prestige Chapter 8: Choosing a Domain
Second Prestige Chapter 9 : Growing Pains
Second Prestige Chapter 10: Flair for the Dramatic
Second Prestige Chapter 11: The Element of Choice
Second Prestige Chapter 12: Betrayal at the Party
Second Prestige Chapter 13: Making the Right Connections
Second Prestige Chapter 14: Running His Mouth
Second Prestige Chapter 15: The Walls of Reval
Second Prestige Chapter 16: Ratting out the Competition
Second Prestige Chapter 17: Ninja Time
Second Prestige Chapter 18: A Good Run
Second Prestige Chapter 19: Wards and Other Intricacies
Second Prestige Chapter 20: The Hunt for a Hedge Mage
Second Prestige Chapter 21: Sworn Oaths
Second Prestige Chapter 22: Death and Parties
Second Prestige Chapter 23: Application of Force
Second Prestige Chapter 24: Being a Good Friend is Worth It
Second Prestige Chapter 25: Death from Above
Second Prestige Chapter 26: Cold Mana and Warm Hearts
Second Prestige Chapter 27: The Test of Friendship
Second Prestige Chapter 28: The Azad Tournament
Second Prestige Chapter 29: Revelations That Change Everything
Second Prestige Chapter 30: Date with Destiny
Second Prestige Chapter 31: The Shape of Magic
Second Prestige Chapter 32: Credible Sources and Crazy Students
Second Prestige Chapter 33: Chained Hope and Glory
Second Prestige Chapter 34: Important Conversations
Second Prestige Chapter 35: Holding Hands, Killing Monsters
Second Prestige Chapter 36: A Short Hop and a Long Fall
Second Prestige Chapter 37: A Very Angry Man
Second Prestige Chapter 38: The True History of Hedge Mages
Second Prestige Chapter 39: Sentinel Business
Second Prestige Chapter 40: Drug Runner
Second Prestige Chapter 41: In the Shadow of Shimmer Mountain
Second Prestige Chapter 42: Earthquake
Second Prestige Chapter 43: The Beginning of the End
The Third Prestige
Third Prestige Chapter 1: Nox on Rocks
Third Prestige Chapter 2: A Nox on Both Your Houses
Third Prestige Chapter 3: The Nox that Mocks
Third Prestige Chapter 4: Nox my Problem
Third Prestige Chapter 5: Outfox the Nox
Third Prestige Chapter 6: Nox, Nox Joke
Third Prestige Chapter 7: Don’t Nox it until you have tried it
Third Prestige Chapter 8: Nox your Business
Third Prestige Chapter 9: Thinking Outside the Nox
Third Prestige Chapter 10: Nox a Betrayal
Third Prestige Chapter 11: Nox a Small Improvement
Third Prestige Chapter 12: Pandora’s Nox
Third Prestige Chapter 13: Nox Alone Anymore
Third Prestige Chapter 14: Raining Cats and Nox
Third Prestige Chapter 15: Nox Behaving
Third Prestige Chapter 16: Nox Your Business
Third Prestige Chapter 17: Clever as a Nox
Third Prestige Chapter 18: Nox Expected
Third Prestige Chapter 19: Nox Reliable
Third Prestige Chapter 20: Nox Injured
Third Prestige Chapter 21: Nox a Problem
Third Prestige Chapter 22: No More Fun
Third Prestige Chapter 23: Fire in the Hole
Third Prestige Chapter 24: Misplaced Sabotage
Third Prestige Chapter 25: Plum Cake Security
Third Prestige Chapter 26: A Plan Comes Together
Third Prestige Chapter 27: Negotiating with the Prisoner
Third Prestige Chapter 28: Unfortunate Revelations
Third Prestige Chapter 29: Escape from Deva Base
Third Prestige Chapter 30: Caught in the Act
Fourth Prestige Chapter 1: The New Wolf Pack
Fourth Prestige Chapter 2: Ambush Hunting
Fourth Prestige Chapter 3: Hierarchy Negotiations
Fourth Prestige Chapter 4: Ravens and Wolves
Fourth Prestige Chapter 5: Showing Teeth
Fourth Prestige Chapter 6: Hearty Meals
Fourth Prestige Chapter 7: Leap of Faith
Fourth Prestige Chapter 8: Dire Ribbons
Fourth Prestige Chapter 9: Blood Speckled Shoes
Fourth Prestige Chapter 10: Mounted Maneuvers
Fourth Prestige Chapter 11: New Domain
Fourth Prestige Chapter 12: Ravenous Hunters
Fourth Prestige Chapter 13: Scale vs Fur
Fourth Prestige Chapter 14: River of Blood
Fourth Prestige Chapter 15: Blood Among the Leaves
Fourth Prestige Chapter 16: Dao of the Greater Thrip
Fourth Prestige Chapter 17: Impactful Fights
Fourth Prestige Chapter 18: Deadly Politics
Fourth Prestige Chapter 19: A Deadly Encounter
Fourth Prestige Chapter 20: More Death and Destruction
Fourth Prestige Chapter 21: Friends and Enemies
Fourth Prestige Chapter 22: Polite Company
Fourth Prestige Chapter 23: Spiritual Awakening
Fourth Prestige Chapter 24: Acomarian Iconography
Fourth Prestige Chapter 25: A Surprising Survival
Fourth Prestige Chapter 26: A Death in the Family
Fourth Prestige Chapter 27: Preparations and Perpetrators
Fourth Prestige Chapter 28: Negotiating from a Position of Weakness
Fourth Prestige Chapter 29: Revelations and Runes
Fourth Prestige Chapter 30: Sweep the Legs
Fourth Prestige Chapter 31: Pyrrhic Victory
Fourth Prestige Chapter 32: Freedom from Consequences
Fourth Prestige Chapter 33: Arms and Armor
Fourth Prestige Chapter 34: A Proper bit of Fun
Fourth Prestige Chapter 35: Say Yes to Drugs
Fourth Prestige Chapter 36: One Plat or Three?
Fourth Prestige Chapter 37: Run for Your Life
Fourth Prestige Chapter 38: Consequences of Gambling
Fourth Prestige Chapter 39: Risks for Fun and Entertainment
Fourth Prestige Chapter 40: Body of Work
Fourth Prestige Chapter 41: Red Spice
Fourth Prestige Chapter 42: Best Laid Plans
The Fifth Prestige
Fifth Prestige Chapter 1: Last Life
Fifth Prestige Chapter 2 : Final Choice
Fifth Prestige Chapter 3 : Pick One and Stick With It
Fifth Prestige Chapter 4 : Golden Rice
Fifth Prestige Chapter 5 : Some Promises are Forever
Fifth Prestige Chapter 6: The Silver Knight
Fifth Prestige Chapter 7: Learning from Failure
Fifth Prestige Chapter 8: The Many Uses for Life Force
Fifth Prestige Chapter 9: Better Living Through Pain
Fifth Prestige Chapter 10: It All Comes Crumbling Down
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Fifth Prestige Chapter 12: Planning the Heist
Fifth Prestige Chapter 13: Setting Things in Motion
Fifth Prestige Chapter 14: I love it when a plan comes together
Fifth Prestige Chapter 15: The Best Laid Plans...
Fifth Prestige Chapter 16: ... Oft go Awry
Fifth Prestige Chapter 17: The Heist Part I
Fifth Prestige Chapter 18: The Heist Part II
Fifth Prestige Chapter 19: The Heist Part III
Fifth Prestige Chapter 20: Mana Core Madness
Fifth Prestige Chapter 21: The Ersatz
Final Prestige Chapter 1 : Ersatz Hugo
Final Prestige Chapter 2: An Unquenchable Thirst
Final Prestige Chapter 3: Rehabilitated Mage
Final Prestige Chapter 4: Back to School
Final Prestige Chapter 5: Identity Crisis
Final Prestige Chapter 6: Stripping for Science
Final Prestige Chapter 7: Growing Wealth
Final Prestige Chapter 8: Rolling Hills of Fortune
Final Prestige Chapter 9: First Steps into the Wider World
Final Prestige Chapter 10: Forgotten Possibilities
Final Prestige Chapter 11: An All New Mage
Final Prestige Chapter 12: Apex Predator
Final Prestige Chapter 13: Automatons
Final Prestige Chapter 14: A Royal Visit
Final Prestige Chapter 15: Reasonable Men
Final Prestige Chapter 16: The Raven’s Death
Final Prestige Chapter 17: Makhanda Mischief
Final Prestige Chapter 18: First Flight
Final Prestige Chapter 19: Terror in the Trees
Final Prestige Chapter 20: This Means War
Final Prestige Chapter 21: Impenetrable Armor
Final Prestige Chapter 22: Reification
Final Prestige Chapter 23: Invocation
Final Prestige Chapter 24: Benediction
Final Prestige Chapter 25: Getting the Gang Back Together
Final Prestige Chapter 26: The Right Incentives
Final Prestige Chapter 27: The Mother’s Blessing
Final Prestige Chapter 28: Thinking with Portals
Final Prestige Chapter 29: Copious Amounts of Blood
Final Prestige Chapter 30: Golems in Reval
Final Prestige Chapter 31: The Right Accessories
Final Prestige Chapter 32: Home Again
Final Prestige Chapter 33: Getting a Handle on Things
Final Prestige Chapter 34: The Proper Motivation
Final Prestige Chapter 35: Talking to the Authorities
Final Prestige Chapter 36: Information Gathering
Final Prestige Chapter 37: Death and Taxes
Final Prestige Chapter 38: Street Smarts
Final Prestige Chapter 39: Service Industry
Final Prestige Chapter 40: It Begins
Final Prestige Chapter 41: Bombastic Entrance
Final Prestige Chapter 42: Sacrifices Must Be Made
Final Prestige Chapter 43: For the Greater Good
Final Prestige Chapter 44: The Grand Ritual of Shimmer Mountain
Final Prestige Chapter 45: The Next Step
Final Prestige Chapter 46: Final Choice
Final Prestige Chapter 47: Leaving Home
Copyright © 2023 Adam Sampson
All rights reserved.
The Mage of Shimmer Mountain
The First Prestige
by Adam Sampson
Chapter 1: Shimmer Mountain Ascent
Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.
Hugo had been sure he could easily make the hike, but the mountain had convinced him otherwise by the end of the second day. At this point he wished he could leave the procession and go back home. The only thing that stopped him is that he knew he wouldn't survive the return trip alone. He had to stay with the group.
He hadn't planned on being here in the first place. For the last three years he had been training to be a shimmer corpsman. He should have gotten in on admissions' day. If Kristofer hadn't messed everything up, he would be a squire in the corps right now. Instead, he was trying to make his fallback work.
His back-up plan sucked.
They were on their fifth day of traveling, the fourth one after the monorail, and they still had another one to go. Hugo was in the best shape of his life, but the pace up the mountain was grueling. He was grateful that the soulmarked guides kept the beasts away, but he was sure that they had forgotten what it was like to be a normal human. They kept a grueling pace that made him genuinely worried that he would get left behind if he didn't give it his all. This was the first time he had made a trip alone, and he wished he had prepared more.
Everything was up, up, up. His legs were long past sore, now his arms and back were sore from using a walking stick to keep climbing. He longed to just sit down and rest, but he knew better than that. The guides wouldn't stop for anyone, it was his job to keep up with the group. Of the twelve hundred hopefuls, they had already lost sixteen.
Hugo hoped that some of them had made it back down the mountain to the monorail station, but he had to admit to himself that it wasn't likely. This mountain was always crawling with mana monsters, and it got worse with the mountain heartbeat. The young men and women that sat down to rest were probably killed not long after they were out of sight.
He shook his head and focused on better thoughts. The mountain scenery really was beautiful. There wasn't any greenery, but it had a kind of stark beauty. He listened to the chatter of the people around him and the ubiquitous crunch of gravel. The fresh mountain air was better than home, even on a good day. The heartbeat of the mountain was coming, and he was going to be soulmarked. Good things were coming. He would unlock a great magic domain when he was back home. He would be set up for a great career as a mage.
It would take him a while to get as powerful as the shimmer corpsmen were on their first day, but plenty of soulmarked eventually got stronger than the captain of the guard. Hugo had his sights set on surpassing the power of the man that rejected him.
He just needed to keep walking, and not get left behind. Hugo looked over to Marion to make sure he was keeping up too. Thin as a beanpole with muscles to match, Marion had every excuse to fall behind, but so far, he had kept up with the group.
Hugo had met Marion right after he had gotten off the monorail, and they had become fast friends after that. Many people made the journey to the top of the mountain with their parents or as part of a group. It was safer that way. Hugo and Marion were the exceptions, two young men on their own.
They met when both of them rushed to help a young woman who had fallen. She spurned their help and attention, but the young men soon found they had a lot in common besides helping strangers. Over the last few days they had become good friends. They were already promising to send each other pulsenotes to keep in touch after they returned home to their respective cities.
Hugo liked him a lot, but he doubted that their friendship would last. It wasn't just that they would be returning to different cities after the heartbeat, it was Marion's parents. They were strict Octarians. Not only would they hate Hugo just because he came from Reval, they would hate anyone that climbed the mountain to get soulmarked during the mountain's heartbeat. Octarians believed in doing things the old-fashioned way and repeatedly killing beasts until you got lucky and your soul got marked.
Still, the friendship was fun while it lasted. "Marion, eight degrees to your left."
Marion looked up from where he was trudging along and turned to his left, "What?"
"Up just a bit," Hugo said.
Marion smiled, "Heh, nice." They appreciated the view of a young woman with rather tight pants before she walked behind the bend and was lost in the crowd again. Both of the young men were enjoying the exposure to different cultures and different social mores.
They walked in comfortable silence for the next few hours until they got to the next way station. As silent as you could get with hundreds of people gasping for breath around you.
Hugo appreciated that Marion was willing to walk with him in the first place. Most people didn’t want to associate themselves with a stranger, let alone one with a scar on his face and brown threadbare clothes. Hugo could tell that his new friend came from money. His blue tunic with yellow trim showed that he was much better off than Hugo was.
As they sat down to dinner, Hugo turned to Marion and said, "So, you never told me. Why are you heading up the mountain for the heartbeat?"
Marion scoffed, "To get soulmarked of course. I want to be a powerful battle mage, and that starts with getting soulmarked."
"Duh. I meant why are you doing it this way? Most people from Deva aren't exactly fans, you know," Hugo said.
