[Author Note: A few weeks ago America went into daylight savings time. Likewise, just a few days ago the same has happened in the UK. As a result the times moved around a bit, and some people might have found that chapters in the past couple weeks have been deviating from the standard 12:03pm (no...
2024-04-01 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe Examine text hovered over his Marked hand, Nicolai’s eyes skimming through it.
Shelter Glove
This glove is Imbued with a Symbiote of Shelter, and is capable of forming a barrier before the user. It is also hardy, knuckles and back plated with Infused metal. 2024-03-29 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[Author Note: Patreon used to not let me do double spaces between paragraphs but now it seems to work. Please let me know if they're not showing properly for you - for bits like this where there are lists of items, the spaces are necessary or it'll be tough to read.]
Nicolai was plea...
2024-03-27 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Author Note: There was a small mistake in the last chapter, when he was raiding the store room, where he saw some bags of Oma crystals in there. People who read it early might have seen that, I've removed it now. There were never meant to be crystals in there, the crystals he got were the three ...
2024-03-25 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘Get moving,’ Nicolai grunted, forcing himself to his feet, forcing himself to put the Demon from his mind. He left the cell and began his journey back towards the prison.
The undead in the prison, mostly patrolling Wardens, seemed unaware of what had happened. Not a one of them glanced...
2024-03-22 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai placed his right hand into the hole in the corpse’s chest. There was something slippery in there that gripped him, made him want to pull away. He ignored the sensation and spoke.
‘I, Nicolai the human, a Marked in Heaven’s Great Game, wish to enter into an agreement with Paxol...
2024-03-20 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai spent much of the next day in a daze. He performed the usual acts slowly and rote-like. Not even his brief fights with skeletons pulled him out from the fugue.
He knew it was all simulated, that he was just doing a very good job of pretending to have emotions and pretending to care....
2024-03-18 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostTwo days later, Nicolai stood once more in the tunnel before the chasm, eyeing the dim red light of what he felt sure was the heart, across the way. He tapped his Mark and grinned at what he saw.
User Interface 376 | Player #53,217
- Cultivation
> Seed P...
2024-03-15 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai’s eyes tracked the movements below, observing the battle-lines as they were drawn up. Most of the skeletons had now exited the tunnels and were forming into a generalised mass in the middle of the pit.
Coming after them were the bugs. Rivers of the chitinous beings were pouring fr...
2024-03-13 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been thinking it would be cool to upload more than just chapters here, so here's some art! All of this is in the Discord but I'm sharing it here, too, for those who aren't in the Discord.
1 & 2: The enigmatic Lizard. Who we won't meet for a while. But it'll be dope when we do.
<... 2024-03-12 13:26:39 +0000 UTC View Post‘A fire? Really? It’s not particularly cold,’ Nicolai said, watching as Harold finished dragging a clump of dry and ancient wood he’d found who-knew-where into the cell.
‘It’s a celebration,’ Harold puffed, tensing his body as he lifted the mass of rickety wood then dumped it ...
2024-03-11 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostOver the following days Nicolai continued to work at his Seed, and the numbers experienced an exponential rise, blowing all of his previous progress out of the water.
Thirty rose to fifty and rolled into sixty and pushed toward seventy. Nicolai had become obsessed with his process of huntin...
2024-03-08 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post‘Have you learned anything, anything at all that could be useful to us?’ Nicolai asked.
‘Let me think,’ said Harold, his eyes on the chunk of sky visible through the gap above, and he laughed, already infected by the mood Nicolai had thrust upon him. He looked to Nicolai. ‘One thi...
2024-03-06 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe pickaxe was heavy and cumbersome, but it would go through a skull as easily as it would knock chunks of rock out the walls. Nicolai hefted it, and stepped towards the nearest miner. He twisted his body. The heavy metal pick swam through the air and smashed through a skull. Blue light misted o...
2024-03-04 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai’s steps slowed as he stared at the giant in the chair.
The giant was alive, bones covered by flesh that was not rotten. The giant was shaped much like a human, and he wore only a loincloth. He sat there like a king on a throne.
‘Titan,’ said the zombie. ‘We need you to...
2024-03-01 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostStanding outside the cell, Nicolai checked his map and took the time to mark the tunnel he’d entered from, and the prison cell with Forgotten in. He moved off, continuing in the direction he’d been going.
After a time he saw a dark opening in the wall on his side. Not a cell. Stairs. Ni...
2024-02-28 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Author note: Welcome to the start of Prison Arc! I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys think of what's to come...]
The next day found Nicolai stood just outside crypt for the first time in a while. The radio host had said that the Chosen were increasingly active, their num...
2024-02-26 17:03:08 +0000 UTC View Post‘Come!’ Nicolai repeated to the man on the ground.
The man stared at him, then threw a glance behind and saw the drone. He scrambled to his feet and came after Nicolai who ducked into the room.
Inside, Nicolai opened the hidden room and pressed into the tunnel, rushing through it,...
2024-02-23 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai navigated the gauntlet in his typical manner. He’d worried that the random element of it would eventually catch him out, but after going through it so many times he’d learned a number of methods to make his life easier and safer.
Ways to distract the big one alongside a method t...
2024-02-21 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next few days Nicolai settled into a routine, one which was only bearable because of Channel Two and Kleos’ stories.
Being cooped up in the room fed the darkness inside of him without giving him any method to vent it, but the voice on the radio and the music and the stories allow...
2024-02-19 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘I understand,’ said Kleos after some time, and Nicolai relaxed. Slightly. The head’s words held a similar air as Nicolai’s own, picked with care, mulled over and spoken slowly. ‘I appreciate the apology. I am… glad that you feel better.’
Nicolai couldn’t help but notice tha...
2024-02-16 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai sat hunched in the uncomfortable chair, illuminated by the orange glow of the torch, and stared down at his latest completed Soul Trap as shadows crawled over the walls around him. Moving with false calm he picked up an Oma crystal and placed it over the siphoning rune.
Nothing happ...
2024-02-14 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘Yolnet, the Beast, was born to a poor family and had little prospects,’ Kleos continued, Nicolai sitting and listening quietly to the story. ‘But even so, he yearned to be a Cultivator. He diligently practised at clearing his Nodes, working to reach the Foundation stage. Alas, it was not e...
2024-02-12 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostA second gunshot rang out, washing over him. Nicolai, crouched in the dark of the tunnel, recognised it as a high-calibre early-modern round, probably from a rifle. A relatively modern drone and an old gun, present somehow in this fresh world.
Interesting. He hadn’t been surprise...
2024-02-09 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai, quietly observing the furniture from above, and considering what he ought to do, heard an exasperated noise. ‘Marked! Marked! Where are you?’ The skeleton emerged from the darkness, peering around, then gave a little jump when it saw the furniture lying in ambush. ‘What are you lot...
2024-02-07 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘I’m called Nicolai,’ he said to the skeleton. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Maric,’ said the skeleton. It closed its book with a thump. ‘It’s been a long time since I met someone sane in here. I imagine you’re looking for a book.’
And you’ll have to keep on waiti...
2024-02-05 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostStanding at the start of the library, Nicolai peered about. Straight ahead of him was a wide space, splitting the room into two sets of shelves, all lined up in rows, half to the left, half to the right. Of those he could see, each shelf was filled with books.
There were signs placed on the...
2024-02-04 17:04:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Double post today ^_^ next one goes up in a minute. Also, another reminder that from today, I switch to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule. That means next chapter is up tomorrow, then the 7th, then the 9th. The time of day will be the same so 12:03pm EST.]
‘Is there any way to practise shaping without using Oma?’ he asked from the ground, his voice moving through the room.
‘Of course, we call them shaping exercises,’ returned Kleos’ voice. ‘However, first you have to try to activate a given Imbued or Symbiote at least a few times,...
2024-02-03 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter performing his standard checks, he returned to his upstairs area, checked it too, locked and padded the door, took Kleos out of its jar just in case the head had anything of pressing importance to say—it didn’t—then he placed the archer’s arm aside, stripped as much of his armour as...
2024-02-02 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post