This is an old version of this chapter.
James slept for a full eight hours, missing most of the day after the battle.
When he woke, Mina was lying next to him.
As he stirred, she rose up, left the room, and brought him a tray of food.
When did we get t...
2024-07-15 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next few minutes, James watched Ben and Alice as the former recovered at amazing speed and began to move again, and the latter moved from disbelief to ecstatic joy.
Alice let loose a fresh torrent of tears and alternated between hugging and kissing her freshly recovered boyfriend a...
2024-07-13 20:27:55 +0000 UTC View PostRosslyn’s body crackled with the fire that still blazed all around her as she thought for a moment about what Adon had just said.
The adrenaline was still flowing through her, amping her up.
It was fun being in a sort of quasi-sparring session again.
Her senses were all height...
2024-07-12 17:04:39 +0000 UTC View PostAdon felt a surge of unique power all around him as he added fire magic to his roster of abilities.
I didn’t even have to go into the darkness this time, he thought. That thought was a quiet one, almost fully drowned out by his focus on what he was doing. He was still feeling out...
2024-07-11 19:31:14 +0000 UTC View PostAs Rosslyn conveyed Adon down the halls, her mind sifted through possibilities for the future.
How quickly would Adon pick up fire magic? He seemed like an extremely talented magic user, but she had not actually seen how well he picked up new abilities yet, only heard about it. There was a ...
2024-07-11 01:01:57 +0000 UTC View PostWhat greeted James’s eyes was worse than he had expected.
Hundreds of still bodies. Many displayed an unhealthy pallor. Only the slow, shallow rise and fall of their chests showed that they were still alive.
Jesus.
Most of those he and the Healers had carried from the...
2024-07-09 03:16:42 +0000 UTC View PostJames opened his thoughtfully closed eyes, and a smile unfurled itself across his lips.
The Galts might be a weak link, he thought. I need to figure out how best to use them.
What’s the evil smile about, Master? asked Roscuro.
That made him disc...
2024-07-08 20:17:28 +0000 UTC View PostAs Rosslyn watched Goldie and Samson practice moving Mana around their bodies, Adon was still thinking about the Telekinesis ability.
He realized that he did not know if it was an Adaptation or a Skill. Rosslyn had not distinguished between those at all in any conversation with Adon that he...
2024-07-05 20:40:26 +0000 UTC View PostThanks, Goldie, Adon sent, very carefully targeting his friend alone.
Are you all right? she sent back. Flap twice for no, and I will make an excuse for us to leave.
I’m just a little tipsy, Adon replied. Going to drink some water and try...
2024-07-05 14:58:34 +0000 UTC View PostClaudius and the rest of Cyrus’s followers marched from the outskirts of the Fisher Kingdom, following behind the Fisher King himself and his army of beasts.
The King floated above all, wearing a cape that moved with the breeze, almost like a pair of wings, and looked as if it was made of...
2024-07-05 03:33:28 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1 of my series Ruthless is available starting tomorrow (7/2/24) on Amazon <https://www.amazon.com/Path-Conquest-Apocalypse-LitRPG-Ruthless/dp/1039468756> and Audi...
2024-07-01 16:02:57 +0000 UTC View Post“Welcome to the Fisher Kingdom,” James said, keeping his expression and tone of voice friendly. “I am the Fisher King, James Robard.”
The man who stood across from him seemed to relax slightly.
“Thank you for the welcome,” he said, his voice rich and deep. “My name is Cy...
2024-07-01 15:58:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Let us eat,” said the King, smiling ingratiatingly. “I hope our guests will find the meals prepared to their satisfaction. If not, our kitchen staff will bring additional options for you.”
Adon, already impressed with the variety of options that he could see in front of him, had no...
2024-07-01 15:57:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Yes, Adon,” Rosslyn said, a question in her tone. “We recorded most of our knowledge of the particular disciplines we have a grasp on in a book. I had actually been wondering about how you learned magic. Whether you were born with it, or found a book somewhere…”
She allowed her v...
2024-06-29 19:19:33 +0000 UTC View PostAs James led his small army of monsters to confront the newcomers, he saw dozens of faces, and sensed dozens more pairs of eyes, looking down at them curiously from the apartments they passed.
Even after the violence of the previous day and night, the citizens were interested in watching th...
2024-06-29 03:16:25 +0000 UTC View PostAdon focused his mind on how his body was supposed to look, and after a moment’s thought, he returned to his previous post-Evolution coloration.
There you are! sent Goldie in an obvious tone of relief.
So cool, thought Samson.
For a few seconds, as he th...
2024-06-26 17:57:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe procession of volunteer medics marched almost silently through the night.
The mood that had settled over the group was solemn. Despite the best efforts of the Healers, hundreds of the unconscious soldiers had yet to wake up. The number of those who remained in a serious condition—thou...
2024-06-26 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostAdon, Goldie, and Samson exchanged some more news.
The other children, while far from Samson’s level of proficiency in Claustrian, were learning the language rapidly. Goldie credited the fact that Samson was helping her reinforce the terms she taught his younger siblings—which was all o...
2024-06-24 22:47:40 +0000 UTC View PostZhang Chāo rose from an uneasy sleep.
He had been a light sleeper even in earlier days. Now, with the weight of all responsibility for his homeland squarely on his shoulders, his body carried more tension than it ever had before.
He slid a pair of slippers onto his feet and padded li...
2024-06-24 16:01:32 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: There will be a Prologue that comes before this in the actual book (and on Royal Road).
James looked down on the aftermath of battle.
He could see it all from up there, his cloak fluttering in the breeze.
I could get used to flying like this...
2024-06-21 19:48:38 +0000 UTC View PostRosslyn raised a hand, trying to slow the conversation slightly while she processed each separate piece of what her father had said.
I have mystic beast blood. That is why I can manipulate Mana. I suppose that is true for every other magic-using human, or at least that is the theory. 2024-06-21 16:39:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Rosslyn barely kept pace with her father as he strode briskly through the palace halls.
She made the struggle to do it, however, despite the sensation of weakness running through her whole body.
Every so often, she would see servants poking their heads out from rooms where they were d...
2024-06-19 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“You see, Adon, we encountered your friend—” The King stopped speaking, suddenly.
There was a loud racket from somewhere around the floor level. A noise of something thumping against thin metal.
Adon, King Alistair, and Rosslyn all turned their heads at once.
Adon! 2024-06-18 02:24:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Goldie’s heart soared as she heard her firstborn child’s voice.
Mama, the tiny voice said once more.
It was a little, weak, but clearly male voice.
A small one, she thought, but clearly smart. He already knows his mama.
She felt proud of him ...
2024-06-16 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Sir, we may have a problem!” The voice of Cyrus Berberian’s lieutenant, Christopher Smith, reached his ears.
Cyrus listened with calm equanimity, even though he felt certain that he knew to whom he should attribute this complaint without needing to hear the details.
He turned, ...
2024-06-15 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostGood morning—er, I mean hello, sir—Your Majesty!
Adon stumbled over the realizations that it might not be morning anymore and that the intimidating figure he was speaking to was probably the King.
Fortunately, the man he was speaking to did not seem to mind.
“It i...
2024-06-15 02:59:46 +0000 UTC View PostStanding in the upstairs hallway, Mina spoke almost at the same time as Alice, talking from within one of the small rooms.
“So, is this over?” Mina asked.
“Why didn’t I get a notification for the other one?” Alice asked. “The System said I killed Sister Odd and Sister Wyrd...
2024-06-14 17:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostA new day dawned, and Adon felt a surge of energy through his whole body.
Part of it was the light hitting him more directly. The outside wall of his chrysalis had grown more transparent, so that he could see the outside world as if through a slightly fogged window.
The quality of the...
2024-06-13 14:51:09 +0000 UTC View PostJames looked around and found himself in what appeared to be an isolated desert town.
Some of the houses were ruined, much like the buildings he had seen when he first returned to Earth. But these buildings were completely different than the ones James was used to in Central Florida. As if ...
2024-06-12 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAdon watched in horror as his incarnation and the other lead creatures in the horde of beasts engaged the horned humanoids.
Although “engaged” would have been a misleading term to apply.
The fight was a bloody, one-sided slaughter. Adon’s past self mindlessly tore into those ene...
2024-06-11 21:16:21 +0000 UTC View Post