Standing on the docks at the base of the Riceflower, Chang-li shivered in the pre-dawn air. His heavy pack hung over his shoulders, and he had another sack beside him. Joshi, on the other hand, was traveling light with a bag slung over his shoulder that looked half empty.
The barge they wou...
2025-03-04 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostAs Gambit asked if they could loot the boss first, Rick saw the body had already faded and turned into a large chest.
"Just take it all!" Rick yelled. "Give it to us later."
Gambit shrugged. "Sure!" He raced to the chest and opened it. As he took the loot, the chest faded away.
...
2025-03-03 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post"And tomorrow we're going to need that proposal for Governor Guo,” Min told Brother Stone as they neared the Brotherhood compound. It was well after nightfall. Lanterns were hung from the buildings here on Petal 64, a nice change from the multiple ruined and vacant petals they had passed throug...
2025-03-03 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostChang-li and Joshi found Master Noren in a back corner of the garden. He was upside down, resting his whole weight on the flat of his left palm, with his legs folded above his torso in a meditation posture. With his right hand, he wove an intricate pattern of at least four luxes.
His eyes w...
2025-03-01 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post"Damn it!" Rick screamed. But there was no time to react to Daniel's death. He whirled and started a Restore cast on Sam, whose health was flashing into the red. She took another big hit before the cast went off, so Rick immediately followed it up with Healing Cloud bringing her health well back ...
2025-02-28 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostChang-li stepped into the gardens for a bit of fresh air. The Brotherhood kept their grounds exceptionally well-tended, even now. Little paths meandered between hedges and shaped topiaries. He passed a pair of servants with clippers who bowed their heads and ducked out of his way.
He rounde...
2025-02-27 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostRick yelled, "Daniel, we need more DPS!"
He couldn't see the plinth where Daniel was, but the bar at the top of his interface that showed the lay energy reserves of the city wasn't going down, which had to mean Daniel didn't need to be at the plinth just then.
"Hang on!" Daniel called...
2025-02-26 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostEvening was falling across Vardin City as Joshi strode along the Crown ring, avoiding making eye contact with any passers-by. Nevertheless, they seemed to notice him, pointing and whispering as he passed. That wasn't a surprise. By now, the Morning Mist colors were recognized throughout the city,...
2025-02-25 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe start of the climb to the boss room was the worst, the flimsy staircase exposed to a drop of thousands of feet to the Martian desert below. The stairs rose up to the side of the city itself and ended at a corrugated metal landing about four feet square. To everyone's relief, a door led back i...
2025-02-24 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostNoren was alone in the training room. The floor was covered in rectangular mats, and the walls were padded. Min had said that the Brotherhood used this for wrestling matches, but it made a decent training room as well. A door at the back led to the narrow hall lined with sleeping cells where Nore...
2025-02-24 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostQuick note: I am working on some changes to A. the original fate of the Morning Mist sect and B. exactly what the Inquisitor we saw in ch 1 found from Eri - those may change slightly as I get the plot for the climax of this book worked out. None of it should be huge changes! I do know tha...
2025-02-22 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe Boss fight continued as a back-and-forth affair. Every time Gambit left to defend against another wave of birds or attack a Ley Energy Collector, the boss would start casting magical attacks. Sam shifted her position back and forth, trying to catch the boss off guard and dodge attacks, mostly...
2025-02-21 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Chang-li and Joshi crossed the temporary rope and slat bridge to Petal 38. A pair of cultivators in Morning Mist robes, both with Brotherhood rosettes on their collars, waited on the other side of the bridge. They snapped to attention as Chang-li approached, put their hands together,...
2025-02-20 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe white bear dashed across the space and reached the boss in a flurry of claws and teeth. The boss raised her upper pair of hands. She summoned a glowing shield between her and the enraged tank. Sam's attacks slammed against it, the shield flaring with bursts of light when each raking paw impac...
2025-02-19 14:00:23 +0000 UTC View PostWelcome to Book 4!
Pak Yoonji prepared herself as a chunk of earth the size of a house flew through the air at her. She raised her weapon and extended the narrow sword's thin blade an extra five feet, enhancing it with a subtle lux weave that started red and mixed in blue a...
2025-02-19 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, Chang-li seemed to be caught in between worlds. The tower fog faded away, and he was suspended in thin air, staring at the Riceflower from outside it for the second time this evening.
The tower had changed. Smoke rose all around. He could see the devastation, entir...
2025-02-18 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post"We're going down," Rick said, feeling the tingling urge in his brain that indicated what the host body was trying to tell him to do. Somewhere down below was the source of the leyline energy that flowed through these conduits. They needed to get down there and sabotage it. He could almost pictur...
2025-02-17 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostMin had no idea anymore what time it was. The night seemed to have gone on for years already. They had fended off wave after wave of lux beasts, each growing stronger. She had wondered if they would be able to hold them off, but so far, none had gotten past her barricade.
Three of the...
2025-02-17 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostLi Jiya had Xue Lan on the back foot, swinging her crescent blade weapon, with Xue Lan's responses seeming slow and reactive. Even Chang-li could have done a better job parrying. He wondered whether perhaps Xue Lan was fighting off Mai Wen's influence. Could he help? How was she keeping control? ...
2025-02-15 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the scheduling hiccup!
"Nice," Gambit said, and held up a belt with a giant gaudy belt buckle.
“What does it have?” Rick asked.
“Strength and more strength,” was the reply. “But damn, look how cool that is!”
Rick thought privat...
2025-02-14 14:24:59 +0000 UTC View Post
"How long do you think he'll take?" Li Jiya asked as they jogged on. She glanced toward the device Chang-li still held.
Chang-li grunted as he concentrated on the weave he was forming in his other hand. He was concerned for Joshi, but they didn’t have time to wait. The lux so...
2025-02-13 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe training chamber was much as Chang-li had described: a blue-tinted crystal room in which Joshi could see his face reflected, but larger than Chang-li had said, at least 20 paces on a side. Instead of merely a featureless blue crystal room, Joshi found one side occupied by a pair of featureles...
2025-02-11 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe glider packs went on easily. Daniel already had his on and went around adjusting the others. Rick wasn't sure how Daniel knew, but he had no choice but to trust either the man had the right host memories, or military training to adjust the harnesses right. It certainly felt more secure after ...
2025-02-10 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
"Do you really think Noren is lying to us?" Chang-li asked as they went. He was sure now this was the right direction. lux intensity was increasing again as they wandered deeper into the swirling storm that represented the ruin of a pyramid.
Now, the mist all around had begun t...
2025-02-10 13:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Chang-li cycled, gathering more lux into him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Joshi had summoned his gauntlet, Li Jiya, her weapon. Out of the mist leapt forms. It took a moment for Chang-li to recognize them as other humans, cultivators at that, wearing the r...
2025-02-08 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostAs Dr. Rahimi slotted the last pieces into place, the control panel filling with blinking lights and the crate of headsets began glowing from the inside. She reached in, pulled out the first of the headsets, now ringed with swirling lights, and handed it to Rick. "Here you go, one for each of you...
2025-02-07 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Chang-li turned on the others. "You heard that, didn't you? He’s the tower guardian, now.”
"I did," Joshi agreed grimly.
"Nai Hong and Eri came inside the tower. I think Nai Hong was trying to get away. Did he know his death would have this effect? His wi...
2025-02-06 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostRick was up before dawn, the sky barely beginning to lighten.. The campfire outside was long extinguished. There was no one around, but the air was filled with a delicious aroma. A thin trail of smoke curled from the chimneys of the dining wagon.
The smell of breakfast and a friendly "Morni...
2025-02-05 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostAs he stepped through the portal into the top floor of the Vardin City Tower, Changi braced himself to face a horde of ravening tower beasts. At the rate they had been exiting the tower, he expected to find several in the near vicinity. Instead, he found himself in a foggy plane. Th...
2025-02-04 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostRick was up before dawn, the sky barely beginning to lighten.. The campfire outside was long extinguished. There was no one around, but the air was filled with a delicious aroma. A thin trail of smoke curled from the chimneys of the dining wagon.
The smell of breakfast and a friendly "Morni...
2025-02-03 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post