Wild era 2 a litrpg prog.., p.1
Wild Era 2: A LitRPG Progression Epic, page 1
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2025 by David North.
High Peak Publishing.
Cover illustration by Paris Ioannou.
Typography by Inorai.
Contents
Copyright
The Story So Far
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Epilogue
Thank You For Reading!
Kelin's Status Sheet
Books by David North
The Story So Far
From Book 1: The Archmage of Souls Reborn
For 5,000 years, the Wild Era of humanity has reigned supreme, where strength and magic are the source of everything.
Kelin Wildfire, once called the Lord of Wildfire and the Archmage of Souls, was mysteriously killed on a battlefield of the Chaos War.
Nevertheless, his soul lived on in the cycle of reincarnation, his memories frozen in time.
Until today.
Now he is twenty years old, an orphan living on a lawless planet in the human domain where he is barely able to scrape by.
He takes up a job as a miner, searching for rare mana crystals in the depths of a mountain, but treachery from local thugs triggers a mana explosion that nearly kills him and that threatens to turn the area into a dungeon.
A pulse of mana strikes him on the edge of death, awakening memories of his past life when he was something more.
Half dead and without any mana, but with the memories of an Archmage, he decides to rise again.
This is the Wild Era.
Where the Lord of Wildfire will reign supreme.
***
A Brief Summary of Events
At the beginning of Book 1, Kelin Wildfire has been reborn in a new life.
In the past, he was at Level 699, known as the Archmage of Souls and Lord of Wildfire. His new self is only Level 9.
In order to survive, he forms a soul bond with a young earth elemental, Gaius, who becomes his ally, and together they level up some in the mine and then head back to Highmist, the main city nearby.
Kelin rescues his two young friends, Yao and Naomi, from the hands of the Wind Hunters, and promises to take care of them.
On the way, he makes some new enemies among the Wind Hunters and the people behind them.
He also joins the Stars Alliance, which is the adventurers' guild, and is marked as an up-and-coming young prodigy.
He establishes the guild in town as his home and sets off to level up as quickly as possible.
He quickly masters Wildfire, his old Legendary spell, and uses it to gain an advantage in this life. Levels come swiftly and he begins to establish a new power base.
He doesn't know who killed him in the past, so he is cautious about giving out too much information about himself and especially of showing off Wildfire, since it is a distinctive spell.
He also makes some friends with a few other adventurers, Maro, Galin, and Serai, after he encounters them in a dungeon that has been tampered with and rescues them.
The neighboring empire of Sarathia has been sending assassins into Celadon and adding high-level cores into dungeons, apparently to create chaos and political trouble.
The hand behind the Wind Hunters, Baron Verasun, notices Kelin's rise and sends an assassin after him, which he barely manages to survive, and also sends a team that nearly kills his allies in a dungeon.
Kelin goes to their rescue, where he manages to protect the three of them from Orest Nellen, the sub-boss of the Wind Hunters, and Verasun's youngest daughter, Isla Crest, who has been sent to run the dungeon.
When another powerful enemy arrives, Kelin nearly dies, but his ally at the guild, Captain Sandren, arrives at the last minute in time to save him.
The others return to Highmist to rest and Book 1 ends as Kelin begins the dungeon run solo. He intends to gain as much as he can from it and to continue his rise to power in this life.
Book 2 begins as the monsters in the dungeon approach.
***
For more recaps of the story in earlier books or to reach out to me, you can follow the link below to my Discord server.
https://discord.gg/HH2KZPxH5a
There is a "recap" channel for each book there.
There is also a general channel for discussion of the latest events, frequently asked questions, and some art for the books. We even have Aster Fall emojis.
Remember to be careful of spoilers and to only look at the channel for a book if you want a summary of what happened. The channels are labeled to help.
For Patreons who are following the early release chapters of the next book, there are additional discussion channels, more art, and other features.
You can find the Patreon link here: https://www.patreon.com/riverfate.
Enjoy!
~David North
Chapter 1
Rising Mist
Undead rushed toward Kelin from the forest.
He’d ticked the dungeon off, and now it was sending everything it had to kill him.
He was near the beginning, so the monster hordes hadn’t built up to massive numbers yet, but there were still about thirty in this group.
All around, there was a green forest filled with a dark mist of necrotic energy that turned it ethereal and ghostly, providing a fitting background for what was charging toward him.
Some of the oversized wolves that were native to this dungeon were still alive and joined the rush, but most of them were undead now, casualties of the monster cores the Sarathians had tossed in here.
There were some skeletons mixed in too. They were the things that had killed the original wolves, so he spared a moment to analyze them all.
Mistcoat Dire Wolf. Level 76.
Rotting Dire Wolf. Level 78.
Deathrot Skeleton. Level 80.
Deathrot Skeleton. Level 79.
The living dire wolves were about ten feet long from nose to tail and four feet high at the shoulder with silver and cloudy, grey-patterned coats.
Their coloring matched the mists that should have filled this forest, but those mists were dark now, mixed with necrotic energy, and the living wolves stood out like silver beacons.
The rotting dire wolf looked like it had been torn apart and was missing chunks of its body. Its eyes blazed with dark blue light and its body was covered in a miasma of necrotic energy that made it look like a moving cloud of poison.
It was even more ferocious than the original version. Dying hadn’t slowed it down and it easily kept pace with the living ones, but it looked like it was only part of the way through the transformation.
Once it was fully infused with necrotic energy, it would become even stronger.
The Deathrot Skeletons were humanoid, but they had dark bones that were covered in a haze of the same miasma as the rotting wolf. Corrosive smoke rose up from their fingers, which were sharpened like claws.
That was the source of the poison that had killed the wolves.
Deathrot Skeletons were a difficult type to deal with. The smoke rising from them was a choking cloud that could kill most living things. Their touch was worse. Their fingers were as sharp as knives and had a paralyzing effect to boot.
Some undead contained their miasma better, but these were designed to spread it as quickly as possible. As long as just one was in the area, everything around it would slowly die and change into an undead.
By using undead cores to overseed a dungeon and encourage a dungeon break, the Sarathian Empire had broken one of the Edicts of the Path.
That was why Kelin had decided to clear this dungeon, as well as for the rewards it promised.
A cloak of Wildfire’s rainbow flames surrounded him as he studied the approaching monsters, and two Soulfire Bolts glowed as golden spheres in his hands.
His expression was calm, showing only a gleam of killing intent in his eyes.
The monsters needed to get a little closer for him to unleash the spells he’d prepared, so he glanced at the notification from the Path of Stars, reviewing the information about this dungeon.
You have entered the Rising Mist Chaos Remnant.
Average Level: 80 (76-85).
Elemental Affinities: Wood and Water.
Mana Density: Overflowing.
Relative Danger: High.
Rewards: High.
Notes: This is a natural Chaos Remnant formed from local mana flows and dense elemental essence. Due to the high monster density, a team is recommended.
Requirement: Kill 90% or more of the monsters inside.
Additional Bonus: 100% completion and kill the final boss.
Possible Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Uncommon-grade Items, Alliance Credit.
First Clear Bonus Available: This remnant has just appeared and has not yet been cleared. The first clear will provide higher rewards than normal and more unique items.
Warning: A strong undead presence has been detected. It does not belong to the original nature of this remnant. Take care in exploring it. Additional rewards will be granted for eliminating the undead threat.
Experience was getting harder to come by as he went up in levels, so anything extra from those rewards would be welcome.
He glanced at his status sheet, briefly comparing himself to his enemies.
Kelin Wildfire
Level 85.
Class: Soulfire Warden (Legendary).
Subclass: Arcane Artisan (Rare).
Age: 20.
Title: Lord of Wildfire.
Former Title: Archmage of Souls. General rank in his past life, as well as the title of Archduke and Star Rank Guild Adventurer.
Stars Alliance Rank: Low Steel (Equivalent to Level 100-125).
Current Army Rank (Reserve): Sergeant.
Attributes:
Strength: 125
Constitution: 184 (285 with the +55% bonus from his Soulfire Physique)
Agility: 116 (126 with +10 Agility from Traveler’s Boots)
Wisdom: 197
Intelligence: 664
Aura: 276
Charisma: 102
It had only been a few weeks since his memories woke up and he’d started to rebuild his power, and there was still a long way to go.
This dungeon was a lucky find, even if the circumstances of getting here had been rocky, but it didn’t matter now.
He would take care of it while he was here.
There were six regular dire wolves, fourteen undead ones, and twelve skeletons in the horde. Normally, that would have been enough to kill any adventurer at his level unless they had powerful artifacts and a class to match.
He didn’t have the first, since his cloak and staff had broken in the fight that led him here, but he did have the second, as well as 5,000 years of experience in dealing with monsters much stronger than these.
His knowledge far surpassed his current level.
As the monsters closed in, he targeted a couple of skeletons and infused the Soulfire Bolts in his hands, tripling the mana cost. Blazing streaks of golden light seared across the distance and the heads of two of the skeletons exploded into fragments.
Then the cloak of rainbow flames around him surged higher, turning into a blaze of Wildfire, and he pointed at the leading wolves.
A sphere of rainbow energy that swirled with yellow and red sparks followed his gesture. It flew across the distance and exploded just ahead of the wolves’ advance.
An inferno exploded upward, washing over the leading wolves and the second rank behind them. Waves of rainbow soul energy poured through their bodies, disappearing into their souls.
For a moment, nothing happened as the wolves continued to rush forward, but Kelin felt the moment the spell sank into their souls.
It was a searing flame that blazed wherever it touched.
Wisps of rainbow smoke rose from the wolves’ fur, even as their legs bunched and drove them forward, and trails appeared between their fangs.
Still, there wasn’t much distance left and the wolves were fast enough to close it.
Their lean forms slammed into the golden barrier around Kelin, outlining the ward he’d drawn on the ground. Their teeth flashed as they scored the surface, leaving burning lines in their wake that were tainted with necrotic energy.
The ward reacted to the attack, its energy soaring as it burned away the taint. Kelin’s mana dipped from the impacts as the wolves continued to slam into it, but they weren’t hitting it hard enough to break through.
The wolves were faster than the skeletons behind them and they climbed over each other, creating a writhing pyramid of fur and fangs as they tried to savage him.
His attention was on the spell more than on them as he kept his connection to the Wildfire strong, supporting its burn, and the rainbow smoke grew stronger.
Flames began to flicker across the wolves’ bodies, especially the rotting ones where their insides were visible, and rainbow light appeared in their eyes, covering the bright blue flames of the undead.
The wall of wolves exploded into an inferno of Wildfire.
It was a massive pillar of flame that soared upward a hundred feet, completely obscuring Kelin’s ward at the base. The flames rolled outward in a ring, powered by the energy of the wolves’ souls as they burned, until it stretched two hundred feet in every direction.
The flames washed over the wolves that were farther back, as well as the skeletons, and with so many of them fueling the initial blast, the intensity was high enough that there was no more delay.
The souls of the rest of the horde ignited as the Wildfire roared over them, and then their eyes turned rainbow as well.
More explosions rocked the forest, sending pillars of rainbow flame into the sky.
Kelin kept his focus on the spell, channeling it from monster to monster, and he felt the backlash of the soul energy as it surged back toward him, carrying the same flames.
The backlash struck the wards erected around his soul, which were a labyrinth of magical diagrams and concentric circles, and Wildfire blazed through his spirit.
The energy was pure soul flame and normally it would have burned through a soul, even his, but instead it was swiftly drawn into the wards, compressed, and refined.
Wisps of pure golden light rose up from the wards and poured into his soul, healing the traces of damage from earlier in the day and strengthening it.
A notification from the Path chimed in his mind, but he pushed it aside as he focused on the last few enemies.
Within moments, everything was still, even as wisps of rainbow smoke rose from the monsters’ corpses scattered everywhere.
The pressure on his ward had disappeared.
He was surrounded by a pile of dead wolves and undead, which would make it hard to move, but the earth at his feet trembled as Gaius appeared. Slabs of earth rose with him, shifting the piles of the dead to the side like a ship’s prow breaking through the waves.
Kelin gave the elemental a nod of thanks, and looked around, scanning for more enemies. Gaius joined him, his connection to the earth resonating through their soul bond.
These had been all of the closest monsters, but far from everything that was in the dungeon.
More were coming.
He could sense another dozen that would arrive within a couple of minutes, and there were probably more beyond that.
A thought to Gaius had the elemental shift all of the bodies farther away, leaving his ward clear, and Kelin sat down inside the circle to meditate.
He wouldn’t be able to recover too much mana before they got here, but some was better than none.
The light of his Soulfire Sigil, the signature spell of his class, shone above him, reinforcing his defenses and bolstering his recovery.
A few minutes later, another wave of wolves and skeletons burst through the trees. The living wolves were similar, but the rest of the group was slightly different than the ones he’d just killed.
There were only three of the Mistcoat Dire Wolves. Each of them was injured, either by the skeletons or their undead relatives, of which there were a dozen this time.
The necrotic energy of these rotting wolves was stronger, suggesting that it wouldn’t be long until they took on a new form.
There were a handful of Deathrot Skeletons too, but there was also another type of undead, one that had a stronger aura about it, so he analyzed it.
Deathwish Skeletal Mage. Level 82.
The skeleton had a thin bone staff in one hand that glowed with dark blue energy. A faint hue of the same light surrounded it, indicating the presence of a mana shield.
