“No time to whine about my problems,” I muttered as I rose and switched jackets.
The new armored jacket felt wonderful, a solid weight that didn’t hinder my movements. It was made from heavy leather in a matte black finish with ribbed padding on the shoulders and silver buckles instea...
2024-10-16 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostConsciousness returned slowly, and I wished it hadn’t. The first thing I felt was pure agony. Every muscle and sinew and nerve screamed in pain as if I’d been punched into the center of a volcano. My thoughts twitched, like my brain was short circuiting.
What happened? I tried blinking ...
2024-10-15 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post"Oh no you don't," I growled and took off after it. In my inventory, Switchblade still showed as recharging with the timer of two minutes, so I ran.
With my current stats boosted, I felt like I could outrun a car. I drew deep and accelerated, flashing across the meadow, legs churning the gr...
2024-10-15 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostTomas was quivering with eagerness to reunite with Jane, but as we rounded one corner, I had to stop.
“Hold the phone. I need to get one.”
A food cart parked on the side of the road was selling piles of french fries in tall woven baskets. The fries Paul had shared around during th...
2024-10-14 22:33:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt was Tomas. My brother looked more like a corpse than a living soul, although his chest was moving ever so slightly. He looked like he could die any second, and even as I looked, a shimmering, ghostly form materialized above Tomas’s bed. It condensed into a slightly blurry twin of my brother....
2024-10-14 22:30:07 +0000 UTC View PostPaul offered me the last donut, then activated my Explorer team chat. He promised to add the other leaders soon. He wanted me to wait to meet with them, but I declined. That new vision of Marisara was more than enough motivation to get me moving.
When I left the town hall, I strode past Sam...
2024-10-14 22:29:16 +0000 UTC View PostInside the nicest wooden building in the center of town, made out of fine, finished lumber and with huge glass picture windows, we met in a conference room that could have been plucked from any corporate offices back on Earth. The long, mahogany table could seat a dozen, surrounded by comfortable...
2024-10-14 22:28:22 +0000 UTC View PostThis is another stats chapter.
Name: ...
2024-10-14 22:24:39 +0000 UTC View PostI gaped. The quest had said something about winning an item from Earth, but I’d never imagined this.
“Is that a motorcycle?” Ruby asked as she too rose to examine it.
I laughed with delight. “It’s my motorcycle. Or, maybe it used to be.”
The color scheme was the same...
2024-10-10 19:32:40 +0000 UTC View PostI could have endured a hug from Ruby a lot longer than she let me. Just like with Susan, I felt a primal urge to take what I wanted from her. It was my right as the strongest hunter, the one who had just helped save the pack.
Back off. This is my pack, I mean team, and I don’t work th...
2024-10-10 19:31:02 +0000 UTC View PostI floated back, scowling at Tony, who lifted a hand in triumph while Burns shouted a wordless cry of victory. Had Tony not seen me there, or had he just not cared that he almost split me in half at the same time he helped kill Tecton?
“Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeated Tecton Eart...
2024-10-10 19:26:38 +0000 UTC View PostI swerved as hard as I could, swinging the tree around so hard if everyone was in physical form, many probably would have been flung clear. The move helped dodge many of the first volley of spells, but also swung the back of the tree and the hapless folks clinging there into the path of a few. 2024-10-10 19:25:16 +0000 UTC View Post
“You can’t carry everyone. The weight of 22 people will crush you,” Burns objected, even though he’d just seen me rip the tree out of the ground with my bare hands and watched me throw that boulder last night.
“No, it won’t. Haven’t you considered what our strength stats mean?...
2024-10-10 19:22:14 +0000 UTC View PostI paused next to a small stand of pine trees barely taller than Earth trees and scanned the nearby grasslands. Morning was half over and the sky was a blue so intense, it made my soul ache when I needed to look away.
The trees looked impressive, rising above the enormous sea of waist-high g...
2024-10-10 19:20:58 +0000 UTC View PostBlood and puss and a nasty stench as bad as melting monsters erupted from the wound and Joey fell back to the ground, convulsing as he physically died just as he’d spiritually died a moment ago.
The Spectral Mauler erupted out of the body, hissing in anger as it shot toward Burns to consu...
2024-10-10 19:18:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe camp erupted into bedlam as people boiled out of tents and scrambled for weapons. Magical lights flared and everyone seemed to be shouting at once, screaming about monsters or demanding information.
Burns marched off with his retinue toward the lower end of the ravine, his powerful voic...
2024-10-10 19:15:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt turned out dawn took longer to arrive than I’d thought. While the sky very slowly changed from pitch black to gray, we rested and talked.
Nearly half of Burns’s group had picked the Base Camp utility spell, and their huge tents ringed the clearing next to the pond. Jane invited me, W...
2024-10-10 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostMy emerald box flashed and disappeared, leaving behind a single item.
“Bracelet of the Tesla Coil. Epic. Absorbs energy from enemies you fight and stores it. Energy will automatically be applied to replenish health and mana. Energy is gathered in direct proportion to how much damage you d...
2024-10-10 18:58:16 +0000 UTC View PostTogether we sprinted for the slope down to stage 1. At first I outdistanced the others, but slowed so they could keep up. Part of me wanted to run flat out, but I hadn’t risked so much to rescue them only to leave them to die now.
I pulled out a couple zombie lanterns and handed them over...
2024-10-10 18:51:36 +0000 UTC View PostI froze. My entire body went rigid at the sight of the two prisoners lying on those planks. They were both men. One looked awake, cowering away from the carnage, while the other lay unconscious and oblivious to the danger.
Every wolf instinct that had been driving me forward for most of the...
2024-10-10 18:50:33 +0000 UTC View PostWithin minutes, I realized I was an idiot.
Wolf howls started behind me. First one, then several more. Behind them and echoing above all the others came a deeper howl that set all the hairs down my spine standing on edge.
The howls weren’t words exactly, but I perfectly understood t...
2024-10-10 18:47:40 +0000 UTC View Post“You have successfully Harvested Lycanthropic Transformation from Waterlogged Werewolf.”
I didn’t even read what spell I got. As soon as I saw that Harvest was successful, I triggered the spell. It thundered through me with far more power than any spell I’d ever tried before, includ...
2024-10-10 18:46:43 +0000 UTC View PostI woke up with a groan, and memories snapped back, making me twitch with remembered pain. Zombies! And they had shot me with a blast that felt like a Taser on steroids.
Blinking my eyes open, I sat up, staring around wildly. My heart fell into my boots. I was sitting on a rough wooden plank...
2024-10-10 18:45:43 +0000 UTC View PostPanting with adrenaline and fear and shuddering from a fresh wave of pain, I fell back to the grass, groaning.
“I’m alive,” I wheezed, raising one hand in a weak salute.
Had I just crippled myself? I couldn’t lie there and wait for the next monster to eat me.
“Congratu...
2024-10-10 18:44:48 +0000 UTC View PostI decided to scout ahead of the main group to help clear my thoughts and some surprisingly conflicting emotions. I actually loved being in a larger company. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being around other people until I’d found Ruby and Steve, and the feeling was compounded now that we...
2024-10-10 18:43:51 +0000 UTC View PostStats chapter.
Will you share your thoughts on whether I'm sharing too many stats and information, too little, or just the right amount?
Name: Lucas Altan
Race: Tier-1 Human
Level: 2
Life Points ...
2024-10-10 18:41:44 +0000 UTC View PostSilence slowly descended over the valley as we stood among the corpses. I felt an overwhelming sense of victory and lifted my sword to shout.
Tony beat me to it by about a quarter of a second. His shout drowned out mine and all eyes turned to him as he laughed and threw his hands out wide. ...
2024-10-10 18:39:19 +0000 UTC View PostI angled away from Tony and Ruby, heading into the field on a circular course to approach the cows from the north flank. Tony and Ruby continued along the fringes of the trees. Ruby barely seemed to notice I had left. Her entire focus was on Tony.
I squashed a flash of annoyance. She was on...
2024-10-10 18:38:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe humanoid cows were at least 300 yards away, tiny in the distance. Without my enhanced perception, they would have looked like formless lumps. Now I could see them clearly, but they were apparently too far for Identify to kick in.
“We could slip around them,” Ruby suggested, gesturin...
2024-10-10 18:36:56 +0000 UTC View PostWe found our quarry within minutes. Thankfully he was not being hunted by any monsters, but just walking between some huge trees.
He was a tall, rugged-looking guy in his 30s probably, with black hair and a clean-shaven face. He was wearing a really nice leather aviator’s jacket and a pai...
2024-10-10 18:35:55 +0000 UTC View Post