Max didn't sleep that night.
He lay in bed beside Tanila, staring at the ceiling, running the numbers over and over in his head. Twenty to one odds. Everything wagered. A creature that had killed gods for sixty thousand years.
You should rest.
I can't.
I know. I can't either.
... 2025-12-25 15:00:27 +0000 UTC View PostRiverhaven's guild hall dwarfed anything Arin had seen before. Even Thornbridge's impressive three-story building seemed modest compared to this sprawling complex that occupied an entire city block. Multiple wings branched off from a central atrium, each dedicated to different functions, contract management, training facilities, administrative o...
2025-12-25 15:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe alpha moved like death itself, faster than anything that size had a right to move. Francis had fought it before, died to it dozens of times, but never with Kerhi beside him.
"Left flank!" Kerhi shouted, her spiked fists already moving to intercept one of the alpha's guards.
Francis engaged the other guard, his axes finding the ga...
2025-12-25 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostFifty years passed like water through fingers.
Max stood on the balcony of his home, watching the sun set over Sunreach. The city had changed since they'd opened the portal. New buildings rose where empty lots had been. Markets that once closed at dusk now operated through the night, serving traders from a dozen different worlds. The popul...
2025-12-25 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostAnother death had come at the hands of the alpha. After three weeks of training in Tules he took the chance to see if he could kill it without dying. The answer was still no.
Francis was leaving the forge when Kerhi intercepted him. She didn't speak, just gestured for him to follow, and the intensity in her expression told him this w...
2025-12-25 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 21: UNWANTED ATTENTION
The first tool went missing three days after Liu Feng's team departed.
Wei Chen noticed during his morning inventory check. A qi calibration gauge, mid-grade quality, worth about eight spirit stones. Not the most expensive item in his workshop, but essential for precision work. He'd used it the previous...
2025-12-25 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe river road to Riverhaven was better maintained than any path Arin had traveled before. Wide enough for three wagons abreast, paved with fitted stone that had weathered centuries of traffic, and lined with mile markers that tracked their progress toward the kingdom's major river port.
Their caravan consisted of five wagons, twelve guard...
2025-12-25 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSo below is a google doc link.
Clicking it opens the doc
reading the doc gives spoilers
spoilers are at your own risk.
It's not a lot, but just a simple acknowledgement of the reasons for why Francis has slower skill gains.
2025-12-25 04:13:38 +0000 UTC
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Hey all
I've got about 2-3 more days till back home and on my PC.
My laptop and the wifi here isn't doing great. Google doc's is struggling.
I did a bunch of updates and hired someone to help me with updating changes on Patreon and RR.
I reached out to see what folder they're using as I have 3 different folders...
Over three hundred deaths now.
Francis woke to the familiar sound of the morning bell and the even more familiar sensation of phantom pain where an Ursaloth's claws had torn through his ribs. He stared at the ceiling of the barracks, letting the memory of that death settle into the growing collection he carried with him.
... 2025-12-24 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe drinks at their usual table tasted better with silver tokens in their pockets. Torvin had splurged on actual dwarven ale, Essa allowed herself a rare glass of wine, and even Kelsa seemed more relaxed than usual. They'd earned this moment.
Arin had shifted to humanoid form for the occasion. It still cost essence to maintain, still felt ...
2025-12-24 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 20: THE COMMISSION
The man waiting in Elder Shen's office wore inner sect robes.
Wei Chen noticed the difference immediately. Outer sect robes were plain gray with simple embroidery. Inner sect robes were deep blue with silver thread patterns that indicated rank, specialization, and achievement. This particular set displayed ...
2025-12-24 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThree weeks passed before Max felt ready to face Nerdok.
He spent the time preparing. Reviewing everything he knew about the gnome. Analyzing their previous conversations, looking for tells, inconsistencies, anything that might reveal what Nerdok really was. He practiced what he would say, how he would say it, what questions to ask and in ...
2025-12-24 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of the morning bell rang.
"It's earlier than usual," Michael grunted as he sat up. "What gives?"
Death two hundred and thirty-eight. Francis stared at the ceiling, feeling the phantom pain of the alpha's claws that had torn through his chest in the previous loop. He'd miscalculated again, thought he could squeeze in a fourt...
2025-12-23 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe official ceremony granting Silver rank status was surprisingly simple. Guild Master Theron presented them with new guild tokens, silver-colored instead of bronze, and updated their registration documents. No grand celebration, no announcement to the guild at large. Just professional acknowledgment that they'd met the requirements and could n...
2025-12-23 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe arena was louder than Max remembered.
Thousands of viewing platforms floated in the void around the central stage, each one filled with beings from across the cosmos. They cheered, roared, and howled in languages Max couldn't understand, their excitement building as the countdown to the fight began.
They had no idea what they wer...
2025-12-23 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostFour days into a new loop, and Francis had settled into the familiar pattern. Tormund was aware of the loops, accepting them with the same patience he showed when working with the metal under his hammer. Kerhi had been teaching axe work, her questions about his obsession were gentle but persistent. The Ursaloths had died to his blades dozens of ...
2025-12-22 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 19: CONTRIBUTION MILESTONE
Fifty-three contribution points.
Wei Chen looked at the tally displayed on the request board's tracking formation. Three points more than the threshold for intermediate library access. Two weeks of grinding maintenance requests, plus the yellow slip diagnostic, plus a handful of small commissions th...
2025-12-22 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostAshfall Reach was beautiful.
Max hadn't expected that. He'd imagined a world as desperate as the challenge that came from it. Barren fields, crumbling cities, a population ground down by poverty or war. The kind of desperation that might drive a peaceful god to do something insane.
Instead, he found rolling hills covered in silver-le...
2025-12-22 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey north took two full days of travel through increasingly difficult terrain. The monster nest they'd been assigned to clear was located in a rocky region where cave systems provided a perfect habitat for dangerous creatures.
Their observer was a Silver rank adventurer named Marius, a stern-faced human warrior who'd been doing gui...
2025-12-21 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of the morning bell rang.
"It's earlier than usual," Michael grunted as he sat up. "What gives?"
Death one hundred and fifty-three. Is it even worth keeping track like this?
Francis lay in his bunk, staring at the wooden beams above him. The alpha had crushed his spine this time, a quick death but not a painl...
2025-12-19 14:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe coordination trial took place in a specialized training area beneath the guild hall, a space designed specifically for testing party dynamics under pressure. Arin had shifted back to slime form for the trial, recognizing that his humanoid form was still too unstable for serious combat.
"The trial consists of three challenges," Guild Ma...
2025-12-19 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 18: THEORY VS. PRACTICE
Lin Mei was waiting for him when he arrived at the library the next morning.
She'd claimed the table Wei Chen usually used, spreading formation diagrams across its surface like she was preparing for battle. When he approached, she didn't look up from the papers.
"Your notation is wrong."
We...
2025-12-19 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostTen years changed more than Max expected.
The portal platform had grown from a simple stone disc to a proper transit hub. Buildings surrounded it now, warehouses and customs offices, inns for traveling merchants, a guardhouse staffed by trained soldiers who knew how to handle disputes between species that had never seen each other before.<...
2025-12-19 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of the morning bell rang.
"It's earlier than usual," Michael grunted as he sat up. "What gives?"
Francis lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Death one hundred and three. The alpha had gotten him again, but this time he'd taken it down with him. A small victory that still ended with his ribs being crushed, but pr...
2025-12-18 14:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostSix months passed faster than Max expected.
The portal had changed things. Not dramatically, not overnight, but steadily. Traders came and went with increasing regularity. New goods appeared in Sunreach's markets. Craftspeople learned techniques from visiting artisans. Farmers adopted methods that increased their yields. Slowly, almost imp...
2025-12-18 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostJust a quick reminder I’ll be a little afk for the next 10 days. I have my phone and my laptop but wont be glued to it like usual. My wife and I afe excited to spend some time with all of our kids
Thanks again for all the support a s I hope you enjoy your christmas time.
2025-12-18 03:37:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of the morning bell rang.
"It's earlier than usual," Michael grunted as he sat up. "What gives?"
Francis sat up, already mentally counting. Death sixty-eight. The Ursaloth alpha had caught him yesterday, its massive paw crushing his ribcage before he could activate Iron Wall. A stupid mistake, one born from overconfidence a...
2025-12-17 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER 17: QUALITY CONTROL
Word traveled fast in the Formation Hall.
Wei Chen discovered this three days after clearing the white board. He was in the library, using his newly purchased intermediate access to study qi channeling theory, when a disciple he'd never met approached his table.
"You're Wei Chen?" The disciple was yo...
2025-12-17 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey back to Thornbridge took two full days instead of the three hours it had taken to reach the caves. Arin could barely walk for more than ten minutes without losing balance, and his attempts at speech remained garbled and difficult to understand. The party had to camp overnight in the hills east of the city, giving him time to practice...
2025-12-17 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post