Two days later, Sam and company decided to try their hand against the toughest Guardian Junction the Irondown Burrows had to offer. Yesterday, with Finn and Sphinx back in the fold, they’d taken a run at the Training Hall, presided over by a mechanical, faceless training dummy clad in heavy ste...
2021-08-12 14:39:54 +0000 UTC View PostFootsteps echoed along the corridor, but Grant was ready to put his plan into action. The fingertips of his right hand lightly brushed the metal bars of his cell. To any onlooker, he appeared to be sleeping. “Get up, Monday. You are to be taken to the inquisitor for questioning. Move away from ...
2021-08-11 13:49:58 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time Sam and Finn had put enough distance between them and the Library, they were halfway across the city and wheezing from the run. Neither were heavily invested in constitution, so tearing around city streets and back alleyways at a full-on sprint wasn’t inside their typical wheelhouse...
2021-08-10 14:34:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey from the camp to Valentine was swift, but far from comfortable. Grant's mind was spinning, trying to picture the lengths House Saturday would go to in order to extract the information. Waylon didn’t have anything to worry about; the death of the son of Heavyweight Wednesday would ca...
2021-08-09 13:12:34 +0000 UTC View PostGrant’s frustration smoldered like the fire he was sullenly staring into. Waylon had just finished preparing dinner, and was now sitting cross-legged writing in his journal. They had found a secluded spot off the main road, and Grant had attempted to burn off his anger by hauling rocks and buil...
2021-08-06 11:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostFor the next two hours, Finn gave Sam and Bill a guided tour of the dumpsters of Ardania. They hit up ten different waste bins scattered around North Waterside—the Painted Stranger, the Thundering Crow, Papaya Bear, the Willow Harbor, and half a dozen more. The food was as varied as the names; ...
2021-08-05 11:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post<That’s what I like to see> Sarge screeched in pleasure as Grant threw himself off a thick branch. <You’re receiving serious training here! Mind for the thought you put into every action, physical is obvious, armor for the falling and scraping, and… oh, you need t...
2021-08-04 11:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe eastern city gates rose up like towering sentinels, standing guard over the shining jewel of humanity, Ardania. The gates were enormous things, easily large enough to accommodate a swarm of T-rexes, and the connecting walls loomed forty-feet tall with wide ramparts. Guards wearing conical hel...
2021-08-03 14:11:26 +0000 UTC View Post“What’s wrong with him? Is he okay?” Waylon’s concerned voice seemed to come from far, far away.
“When we found him, he had passed out and was almost dead. We… can’t explain what happened to him. He didn’t appear to pick up any injuries during the completion of the course....
2021-08-03 14:08:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Hey, Grant.” Waylon called out to Grant as the young man scanned the mass of competitors lining the tables of the food tent. Fatigue overwhelmed him as he made his way over to Waylon to the point that he almost considered asking Sarge to zap him to keep his legs moving. “I didn’t think y...
2021-07-30 17:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Thirteen
A tsunami of unbridled energy came roaring out from Bill, screaming along Sam’s mana channels then tearing into his brain. It felt like magma was coursing through his veins while slivers of powdered glass had been injected directly into his skull. Sam tri...
2021-07-29 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post<Someone sliding down on your left, prepare to block a… gonna say punch?> Sarge commented idly as an utterly exhausted lady with her face pressed against the stone held onto the wall without being able to reach for the next handhold. Her eyes lit up as she saw Grant come in range, and too...
2021-07-28 14:37:20 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Twelve
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Dizzy repeated her protest weakly, speaking slowly as though explaining a simple concept to someone with a serious head injury. “Chicken Farming has nothing to do with books or paper or ink or magic.”
<... 2021-07-27 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe gear was good, but the prices would beggar him in one fell swoop for sure. A vendor was staring him down, causing Grant to sweat even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Finally his eyes landed on a white robe in the Late Spring section that caught his eye and made his wallet co...
2021-07-26 14:10:29 +0000 UTC View PostCheck your Patreon email for an ebook and/or audiobook copy of a brand new book in the Divine Dungeon expanded universe centered on the origins of the Lion Kingdom! Lion's Lineage: Hunt will be live on Amazon and 2021-07-23 16:59:53 +0000 UTC View Post
“We could have spent the night at House Wednesday’s estate, you know.” Waylon pulled a warm wheatgrass shot out of his pack and downed it with a grimace. Wiping his mouth, he continued with, “The chefs would have cooked us up a tasty breakfast. As monster hunters, we usually have access t...
2021-07-23 15:49:50 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Eleven
“Everyone get to the stalls! Now!” Dizzy bellowed while barreling forward with her war maul raised high.
Sam didn’t think twice. He bolted right, running as fast as his legs would carry him and vaulting over the wooden gate that led to on...
2021-07-22 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThey walked in silence through the evening and into the night. Grant was starving but didn’t dare suggest they stop; just in case the bandits came back and he was forced to actually fight what had clearly been near-starved children. The next two days passed quickly a...
2021-07-21 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Ten
Sam woke up to the sound of gently lapping waves. A mixture of confusion and disorientation hit him in equal measures. For a lengthy moment he couldn’t remember what had happened, where he was, or how he gotten… well, wherever in the abyss here was....
2021-07-20 11:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostClean, well-fed, and rested, and with a tightly bound stack of Time in his pack, Grant took one last look at the boarded-up shops and faded signs before leaving the city behind. According to Waylon, the place used to be teeming with life, with craftsmen and shopkeepers hawking ...
2021-07-19 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt took well over an hour to get used to the changes that had swept through his body, and he ‘died’ a few times, but finally Grant was ready to re-enter society. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t accidentally smash anything.
As he walked down the hallway, the ...
2021-07-16 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt was full dark when they finished dressing and left the Irondown Burrows behind, trading heated water and comfy beds for biting mosquitoes and the gloomy shadows engulfing the Forest of Chlorophyll Chaos. Arrow was disgruntled and Dizzy seemed to be on the hangry s...
2021-07-15 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAs it turned out, Grant did not need to make it the entire way to the city. A subjugation team met them only a mile further down the road, hurrying back toward the initial site of the reports. Grant was seriously concerned to be surrounded by nearly fifty Vassals and Wielders s...
2021-07-14 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSam dismissed the sword with a thought and an effort of will, then took a quick moment to survey the battlefield.
Dizzy was busy bludgeoning one of poor unfortunate droids into the ground with her war maul, though she looked decidedly worse for the wear. She was limpin...
2021-07-13 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAs it turned out, the new-growth trees the crows had attacked from had been the herald of a deeper and more ancient forest that apparently encircled the city. The setting sun had long since been blotted out by the knot of twisted branches overhead, and the wagon creaked as it m...
2021-07-12 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThirty-one hours into their forced march, Grant’s stomach began to metaphorically scream and weep as they power-walked through the grasslands. The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky, and dark clouds roiled in the distance as the afternoon shifted toward evening.
...
2021-07-09 11:01:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, is it warded?” Dizzy was getting too impatient, which Sam explained with a single annoyed glance. The team crouched at the top of a short descending staircase which ended at a set of impressively large bronze double doors, studded with rivets. A simple lever protr...
2021-07-08 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostGrant had a smile on his face as he set off at a brisk pace. He was ‘fresh’ thanks to leveling up, so pulling the cart was his responsibility. Waylon kept throwing him strange looks as he jogged alongside Grant. “Okay, I gotta know… how are you smiling? I literally see ...
2021-07-07 11:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun was hanging high overhead and sweat was streaking down Sam’s face when they finally pushed through a swatch of bushy ferns and hanging moss. The trek through the Forest of Chlorophyll Chaos had been exactly as difficult as Sam had envisioned. The second they crossed ...
2021-07-06 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“Ha!” Grant stood victorious over a slain rabbit as he waved his sword at the hawk that had killed the oversized rabbit and been too weak to carry it off. “Get! Shoo! This is mine now!”
The bird flew away, leaving Grant his rabbit. The human took the crea...
2021-07-05 14:59:28 +0000 UTC View Post