Technically we have started book 4 with Friday's chapter! Thanks so much as ever for the support and kind words.
Book 4 is already entirely written, so I'm just editing that a little, but otherwise starting writing book 5 now. So 5 chapters a week will continue! I'll try and get images uploaded a bit more frequently. Though maybe I should ...
2023-12-02 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe changes to Nassau were some of the most amazing things Mason had ever seen in his life. The temple, the fountain, and especially the overall changes from the natural 'theme'. But frankly, all he wanted at the moment was to get laid.
There'd been no time just for him and his girls since getting back from the orc towers. Of course he'd h...
2023-12-01 15:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt had never felt anger. It understood it, of course, there were very few things it did not understand. But what humans called emotion was not and never had been part of its functions, for good or ill.
Subsystem interference in the great experiment had brought it new understanding. More precise understanding. 2023-12-01 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Kiaan, son of Kiaan, stopped when he reached desert. He drank his system-generated water—a regenerating flask he'd chosen as part of his Scout class levels, easily refilled with a small amount of system points. He glanced at his Wayfinder power, which showed his zig zagging line of travel from Nassau heading South. And then he sighed.
In...
2023-11-30 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason gawked along with everyone else when he stepped out of the chief's hall. The settlement was almost entirely transformed.
First of all, there were trees inside the walls. Quite a lot of them. They came in different shapes and sizes, but all seemed tastefully and pleasantly placed in different places around the settlement. Mason knew a...
2023-11-29 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a long walk to Rebecca's room. All kinds of Nassau citizens either stared or wanted to talk or at least needed Mason to smile or nod or give them something.
Damnit people, he thought, you say you don't want Blake, then expect me to act exactly like Blake.
He did his best to smile, ...
2023-11-28 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post[Title earned: Deus ex magicka. Recover from a fatal injury using magic. +2 vitality.]
[Hidden Class feature discovered: Mental Partition. The psion dominates all minds. Including his own. Passive power.]
Blake groaned and opened his eyes, staring into the flickering light of a lamp flame.
"Oh thank the gods, you're alive. Drin...
2023-11-27 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostBlake’s Dreamwalking attempt was a bust. He’d lost all track of time in the underground world, and assumed it was nowhere near nighttime. He was tired almost randomly and never quite sure if he should sleep, a bit like suffering from perpetual jetlag. But since he was on his own and with very little to do, eventually he just closed his eyes ...
2023-11-24 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostBlake and Ilya returned to the orc ‘pub’ that night. Then one by one orc warriors were brought in as if to drink or eat in the tavern, and one by one Blake sat them down in a back corner, and asked them his questions.
"What are your parents' names? Tell me your greatest fear. Tell me what you want if you could have anything."
The...
2023-11-23 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason spent most of the run back to Nassau pouring over his patron options. He tried to figure out the most efficient choices with the points he had, leaving at least a little left for Blake, or a rainy day.
The Temple of Gaia seemed the first most logical choice just based on cost. It seemed to suggest it produced a wide array of herbs, p...
2023-11-22 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason eventually set the naked Rosa outside the pool, gave her a little water, then let her lay down to sleep. They would need to leave soon to make it back to Nassau before dark, but he couldn’t help but feel a dose of masculine pride having literally banged her unconscious. Maybe best to let her rest a little.
“The pool effects your ...
2023-11-21 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMason activated Blessing of Gaia as soon as he hit the water. It practically hummed from his body in the nymph's pool, like it was amplified and finally whole. He supposed it likely was. He emerged and closed his eyes in pleasure at the feel of the tepid, running water cleaning his body.
"Oh that feels good on my legs and back," Rosa said ...
2023-11-20 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIlya crept back into Blake’s secret hideaway in the morning.
"Some of the rebel chiefs have agreed to meet with you. But..." she twisted her hands nervously. "They may want a display of your magic. To prove you are not of the towers, or a spy for Lord Gromsh."
"Capital." Blake yawned and stretched, smiling when he saw his mana was ...
2023-11-17 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostMason waited with Streak outside the open gate, distracted suddenly from his purpose of solving the settlement's problems. His distraction's name was Rosa.
About the time he'd started pacing, wondering what in the name of God could be taking her so long, Rosa emerged. She wore shorts that probably were the right size for everything except ...
2023-11-16 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMason found Seul-ki working in her little garden at the back of the hall. He realized as he walked outside that he'd probably never actually once spoken to her alone. She heard him open the sliding glass door and stood, smiling politely as she took off her gloves.
"You will want to know if Blake came to my dreams," she said. Mason stood so...
2023-11-15 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBlake waited until his mana was nearly half, then entered his almost comatose state as he activated Dream Walker. He floated far above the world, not truly in sight of it—not with any concept of distance or place, merely with the knowledge that it was there. Instead it was like an invisible map covered in little light dots.
Blake could e...
2023-11-14 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIlya—as Mental Influence told Blake his helper’s name was—practically yanked his arm off as she pulled him forward. Her hands were soft(ish) but she was clearly very strong. She pulled back a colorful drape that looked like a decoration, revealing a hole in the wall.
"There are others," she whispered. "Many would not serve this orc <...
2023-11-13 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostTurned out, there was no other way into the tower. Mason climbed every wall, opened every gate, and tried every set of double doors as well as the main gate. Each one resulted in the same message.
[Error. Tower is locked with a temporary event. Please check again in 24 hours.]
"What did it say when you were inside?" he ...
2023-11-10 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe element of surprise proved exceptionally effective for Blake's mind controlled orcs. While their fellows were still staring in something like disbelief, his minions crossed the room or threw axes or knives, splattering blood and causing a chorus of wounded shrieks.
Blake just watched from the safety of his flesh shield, focusing on the...
2023-11-09 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostBlake hunched and huddled directly behind his new minion as the creature led him into the maze-like series of halls. The construction shifted back and forth from carefully dug square corridors to squalorous tunnels fit for rats.
They passed several orcs, all of whom merely grunted and didn't take so much as a second glance at Blake or his ...
2023-11-08 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post"Form a line here." Mason moved the two spearmen, Rebecca, and Phuong to the entrance of the tunnel. They had enough space between them to fight, but they could block off the tunnel and not get surrounded. "When you get tired or out of resources, back up and swap with Tomaso and Mateo."
"How many are they?" Mateo asked, obvious fear in his...
2023-11-07 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostMason was not the dangerous quickie type. He was practical, and he supposed generally serious, and not at all prone to getting himself screwed just to get...well, screwed. Or at least he used to be.
But as he pulled Rebecca along the tower wall, glancing back to see her excited, naughty smile, he was starting to see the appeal. Still, firs...
2023-11-06 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostGromsh blinked in surprise as one of his enemies entered the Grey Tower. He held his breath, waiting for the second, but the message did not come. Still—to have one at his mercy, and so soon!
The Grey Tower was under the protection of the Stoneblood Clan, their lord a competent warrior but a better politician and governor. They had...
2023-11-03 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostBlake moved with the others and pretended to know how to 'sneak'. 'Hunching' and 'creeping' were basically so foreign to Blake he wasn’t quite sure how to move forward, but he supposed one occasionally had to do what one must.
"Are we close enough?" he whispered a little later. "Can't we just...charge?"
"Not yet," Phuong answered, ...
2023-11-02 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMason and the other players marched all day and half the night without stopping. Without the civilians to slow them down, the superior overall physical strength and endurance of the players had them covering far more ground. They also weren't afraid of being found by enemies, so they used flashlights when the light diminished.
Finally they...
2023-11-01 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostGromsh dropped Farak, lord of the Red Tower to the stone tiles. The big orc choked and spasmed as he died, throat crushed in Gromsh's fist. He had always been the strongest and most stubborn of the tower lords.
"Are there any more objections." Gromsh said without the hint of a question. Then he stepped over Farak and stared at the lord’s...
2023-10-31 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBecky finally pulled Mason back to the dance floor, and looked another drink in. She was all over him with her hands, making rather big promises about the bedroom.
“I think we should get you some water, and a bed,” Mason chuckled. Haley gave him an emphatic nod.
After some protest, they got her drinking water and walking back tow...
2023-10-30 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSupper actually smelled amazing. A dozen civilians were working on a feast, mostly using new supplies brought by the Sanctuary folks in magical storage. With people from practically everywhere in the world, the cuisine knowledge covered every continent and style you could think of. Competence and opinions, however, were just as varied…
R...
2023-10-27 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe combined civilians of Nassau and Sanctuary voted for war. ‘They’d kill us too, wouldn’t they?’ seemed the prevailing attitude, and with something like apologetic and resigned agreement, they made their opinions clear. Mason rolled his eyes at the 'grand announcement'.
He still preferred just to run, but in his heart he knew it ...
2023-10-26 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post