Zea entered the Harbor and scanned the place. Aldrick was nowhere in sight, of course, because that would have been too easy. She still couldn’t believe he’d just casually suggested moving in together like that, as if they hadn’t just met a few days ago and knew practically nothing about ea...
2023-02-22 15:33:08 +0000 UTC View Post“So you know how you always wanted to take a vacation?” Nym asked.
“No?”
“Well, you did. I definitely heard you say it.”
“I don’t think I did,” Ciana said. “Is this about that guy who showed up, the rude one?”
“Yeah, kind of. Listen, you should… n...
2023-02-22 15:18:33 +0000 UTC View PostAfter his first go with Black Burrow Stout the other night, Luke had declined to participate in the end-of-the-night celebration. He’d scarfed down half his winnings in food, much to the amusement of the other fighters, and then left to find a place to sleep. The last thing he wanted was to spe...
2023-02-21 15:17:29 +0000 UTC View PostIn a way, Nym almost felt cheated. He’d been working on this for months now, getting lessons from an archmage no less. He’d been so sure he was close, that he had nearly accomplished his goal. And then Ferro had shown up, turned all his progress on its head, and shown him how wrong he’d bee...
2023-02-21 15:01:29 +0000 UTC View PostLuke walked behind Tantoro as they followed Fatty out of the back room. The previous fight had gone on even longer than anticipated, which didn’t seem to surprise any of the other fighters, but now it was finally his turn. He was about to step foot into the ring with a seven-foot tall naked, ha...
2023-02-20 15:36:10 +0000 UTC View PostNym knew he needed to check back in with Analia and Cern. If nothing else, Cern should have an assortment of potions, elixirs, tinctures, tonics, salves, and God only knew what else ready, which meant he needed Nym’s help transporting it and preparing it to be sold. Analia… might not want to ...
2023-02-20 15:24:28 +0000 UTC View PostLuke followed Zea into the fight club, which he’d learned was named the Bloody Harbor on account of how close it was to the docks and how often it was frequented by sailors. It was practically empty early in the day, but he’d been told it would be filled to the rafters in the evening. That wa...
2023-02-19 13:04:36 +0000 UTC View PostLuke scrubbed at his beard with his hands and tried to hold onto his temper. Fucking System had to know this, but had never bothered to mention it to him. It wasn’t like Luke had been shy about his leveling plans, but not once had that rat bastard ever so much as hinted that too many levels cou...
2023-02-18 14:07:36 +0000 UTC View PostLuke groaned and rolled over in bed. His head wasn’t exactly pounding, but the sunlight stabbing at his eyelids was not welcome. He pulled the blanket over his head and tried to go back to sleep, but now that he was awake, his bladder was demanding attention. “God damn it,” Luke muttered, k...
2023-02-17 15:41:56 +0000 UTC View PostIt took Nym two hours of searching after he teleported to Karu before he finally found the Earth Shapers. They were almost a hundred miles away, literally out in the middle of nowhere, excavating a chunk of forest around a base camp made of familiar looking buildings. He’d seen the like many ti...
2023-02-17 15:30:40 +0000 UTC View Post[Twitch Reflexes] was Luke’s new best friend. One moment, Zammin was standing in front of him, maybe five feet away, the next, the diminutive fighter was a foot in front of him with his fist driving into Luke’s outer thigh. And the only reason it was just his thigh taking the...
2023-02-16 16:39:59 +0000 UTC View Post“Fox, do you have a minute?” Nym said to the ring on his finger.
[What now? Don’t tell me you’re giving up already? I’m not going to help you clean this up. It’s your job.]
“No. I found the source and took care of it. The scarabs should die off on their own now ...
2023-02-16 16:30:27 +0000 UTC View PostZea handled the bargaining. Luke, on her orders, just stayed back and kept his mouth shut. The pawnbroker squinted at him a few times, but didn’t say anything about it. When it was all said and done, he stashed the bundle away and dropped nine silver coins into Zea’s hand. She handed over thr...
2023-02-15 16:42:08 +0000 UTC View PostNym stared at Naera silently while he waited for her to put together her answer. It took her a while before she finally started speaking. “I can only present a theory based on reverse engineering the techniques and principles used here.”
“That’s fine,” he told her. “I’d like t...
2023-02-15 16:17:51 +0000 UTC View PostWith his weapons issue sorted, kind of, Luke started working on securing passage on a ship. That turned out to be decidedly more difficult. He made his way through the city until he reached the docks, then started asking around for ships willing to take on passengers. Most of the dockhands and sa...
2023-02-14 16:24:58 +0000 UTC View PostThat was too much of a coincidence for it to actually be one, but Nym had a good idea who might be behind it. That fox had to have known about this lab, and probably known that only an ascendant could get in. The infestation wasn’t a new one; he could have done something about it years ago if h...
2023-02-14 16:14:18 +0000 UTC View PostPips bounced off the far wall, all the while cackling madly. Donaley barely spared them a glance before shaking his head. “Pips, don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Nope,” Pips said, popping back up to its feet and buzzing through the air again.
Luke resolved to ignore t...
2023-02-13 18:26:30 +0000 UTC View PostNym’s brain stopped working for a second, then started working far too fast. The statue knew who he was, which meant his cover was blown, that he had exactly however many seconds before it reported back to whoever owned the place he was standing in before some ascendant found him. His options w...
2023-02-13 16:38:10 +0000 UTC View PostAs much as it pained him to spend the AP on it, Luke couldn’t help but feel that utility skills would serve him better in a human city than combat skills would. He wanted to upgrade [Mace Mastery], but seeing as he no longer had a mace, that was probably not the best route to t...
2023-02-12 16:52:50 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a good thing he didn’t need eight hours of sleep anymore. When he finally got back to sleep, he only had about two hours until sunrise. Minou and his family were all early risers, even with the night’s excitement. Not for the first time early in the morning, Luke cursed his perception ...
2023-02-12 16:52:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe chimera was fast and smart. It knew better than to just lock itself into a grapple with Luke. Maybe it would win that, but maybe not. Size didn’t mean shit in this world. It had gotten a decent measure of his speed when he’d run at it, and probably overestimated his strength based on the ...
2023-02-12 16:52:29 +0000 UTC View PostLuke took another sip of his drink and looked Minou over. The man was probably around level 10, which surprised Luke because he looked like he was in his forties. He was dressed in rough home-spun, like something the actors in old-timey movies set three hundred years ago might wear.
He was ...
2023-02-12 16:52:19 +0000 UTC View PostLuke appreciated Curt’s build notes so much more by the time that conversation was done. System only advised on a skill to accomplish a particular task once Luke brought it up, and never recommended anything on its own. They wasted close to an hour before Luke decided to walk while he talked. 2023-02-12 16:52:10 +0000 UTC View Post
System appeared out of nowhere, as always. “I am not able to speculate on the motivations of the gods or any vendettas they might have against you.”
“Don’t you give me that bullshit. This has something to do with my being an off-worlder. Tell me what you know.”
“What would...
2023-02-12 16:49:59 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh, okay. Nope. Don’t like that,” Luke said. “Can you speak out loud instead of directly into my head?”
The bird-man let out a warbling screech, followed by another telepathic message. ‘I do not think you could understand my language. And I certainly do not understand yours...
2023-02-12 16:49:23 +0000 UTC View PostLuke sat on the ground next to the shallow grave he’d dug for his brother’s remains. “I think this might really be goodbye this time,” he said. “I guess we’ll see. I might get a mile up the pass and end up turning back when I run into another one of those goliath elementals. I got to ...
2023-02-12 16:48:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Holy shit!” Luke yelped. He threw himself backwards and to the left, but the stranger just extended the lunge with another step and turned it into a sideways swing. Luke got the handle of his mace up just in time to block the attack, but it hit hard enough to push him back a step. He shoved ...
2023-02-12 16:48:26 +0000 UTC View PostLuke hit the trail at full speed and sprinted towards the battle. Some smaller elementals had already formed, but he didn’t have time to take care of them. Instead, he wove a path through and rushed headlong towards the giant elemental up the pass.
The ground shook beneath him, and he fel...
2023-02-12 16:47:38 +0000 UTC View PostIt was all Bulgrit could do not to cackle when he’d watched his boss get his face demolished by the Day Hunter. For six years he’d been serving that braggart, six years of running errands and performing chores far beneath the dignity of the Boss’s Right Hand. For six years, he’d felt Gulg...
2023-02-10 17:37:09 +0000 UTC View PostLuke hadn’t forgotten his first few fights, when everything was a higher level than him. He remembered how scared he was, but that memory was dull and faded. He’d killed a thousand monsters in the last few weeks. This was just one more fight.
At least, that’s what he thought right up ...
2023-02-10 17:36:43 +0000 UTC View Post