“Split up!” I shouted. “There’s two of us and one of it. It can’t follow us both!”
Aerion, of course, didn’t respond. How could she? She was still in Reaver mode, her cold rage forcing her to concentrate on one thing and one thing only—the dragon. Her mortal enemy.
And from the way she sta...
2024-03-27 17:42:13 +0000 UTC View PostCirayus bounded across the Bairan countryside with Vir perched on his shoulder while Shan traveled beside them, happy to stretch his legs. Cirayus had returned Vir’s Artifact chakram and seric katar that he now wore. For the first time in a very long time, Vir felt complete again.
“What can you tell me abou...
2024-03-27 17:38:56 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!
At long last, Book One of my epic progression fantasy Ashborn Primordial has launched on amazon in ebook, audiobook, and paperback (almost 900 pages!). Narrated by the legendary Heath Miller (He Who Fights With Monsters), I'm incredibly happy with how the audio has turned out. The paperback and eBook also ...
2024-03-26 19:01:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Look, I’m all for looting the dead, but do you have to—holy shit!”
I jerked back a step as Aerion plunged her hand into the dead warrior’s chest.
“The hell are you doing, Aerion!?”
Her fingers came away not with blood and guts, but with a small marble. In fact, her hand had gone throu...
2024-03-26 18:58:06 +0000 UTC View PostArriving at the Ash Gate, Vir found only a single, small tent. While he hadn’t expected permanent structures given the duration of his absence and the time shift of the Ashen Realm, he’d still expected to find the Gate more fortified.
Jumping off Cirayus’ shoulder, Vir approached the camp and soon learned why.
... 2024-03-26 18:50:40 +0000 UTC View Post“On second thought, no. Hell no!” I said, stepping back from the precipice’s edge.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a child,” Aerion replied, deftly easing herself down the ravine’s wall. “You’re roped up!”
“And if I fall, I’ll fall the length of the rope. Which is like… I dunno? Several hundr...
2024-03-25 17:50:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe feeling wasn’t immediate. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Maiya would have missed it entirely, if it wasn’t for her utterly miserable state. For some reason, it heightened her senses, allowing her to be more in tune with her body than she’d ever been.
Perhaps that was the delirium talk...
2024-03-25 17:47:50 +0000 UTC View Post“The Trial Guardian,” Aerion whispered. She’d nearly dropped her dagger in fright, and I didn’t blame her. How could I?
“Yeah, so,” I said. “How about we don’t fight that thing?”
Aerion nodded with vigor. “I think that would be for the best.”
“Still,” I said, forcing the wo...
2024-03-22 17:37:44 +0000 UTC View PostMy unlikely savior ended up being my mangled iron sword. Specifically, its ability—[Lightbringer]. At lower levels, it did just what it claimed to—produce light. The thing was, most light sources also tended to produce heat. Just that the heat output at F - 0 was so negligible th...
2024-03-21 16:44:13 +0000 UTC View PostAgony. Torture. Endless, unending pain.
The past months had been a waking nightmare for Maiya.
She thought she had it under control. While the pressure she’d felt upon assuming the mantle of the Blessed Chosen was unlike anything she’d experienced, Maiya was no stranger to pain.
The pain would s...
2024-03-21 16:40:44 +0000 UTC View PostVir made poor time to Garrison Atnu—he’d used his powers extensively at Samar Patag, so instead of recovering prana, he actually left the city with less than he previously had.
That state of affairs lasted all the way up until Vir encountered his first Ash Beast. Using the last fumes of his prana, he Le...
2024-03-20 19:17:58 +0000 UTC View Post“Aye, captain. Standby for emergency ballast blow,” I muttered, pretending like I was an operator onboard a real sub. Not to sound cool, but to calm my nerves. Talking to myself helped sometimes. Some might’ve called it a bad habit, but hey—if it works, it works, right?
I followed Aerion’s lead out of t...
2024-03-20 19:15:50 +0000 UTC View Post
“I must admit, the plan went off more easily than I’d hoped,” Asuman said, holding a drink as he sat in his bedchambers.
The only other occupant was a Warrior in a faceless mask.
“Greed is a powerful motivator. And a powerful blinder. Do keep that in mind,” Vir replied. He leaned against a w...
2024-03-19 19:22:37 +0000 UTC View PostOnce Aerion had finished with the modifications, she lowered the sub into the water, sealed the hatch, and took the thing out for some sea trials, leaving me to twiddle my thumbs.
Instead, I went up to the other Siege Launcher and activated the whale call. We’d cleared them out only recently, but I didn’t kno...
2024-03-19 19:20:43 +0000 UTC View PostThe kothis backed away, looking ready to lob magic at Vir.
Vir raised a hand to stop them. “Relax. I come in peace. In fact, I wish to aid you.”
His audience looked unconvinced, but Gatiman regarded Vir appraisingly.
“You are Vaak, yes? A Warrior Calling with the bleeding heart. You are th...
2024-03-18 18:05:42 +0000 UTC View Post“Well? What do you think?” I asked. “Workable?”
Aerion shrugged, climbing down from one of the minisubs that had been berthed in the harbor with the pool where we’d killed the whales. With how down she’d been, I was hoping a distraction might take her mind off things.
While the red water h...
2024-03-18 18:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Wait, repeat that one?” I said, scratching numbers and letters into the dirt. Aerion looked on with profound confusion.
“It says, ‘Racial Trait: Boon of Elven Grace. Followed by ‘+10 Grace. What language is that, anyway?”
“English,” I replied. I’d inadvertently learned that Cosmo’s Gi...
2024-03-18 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostERROR: Initialization requires consent from target.
“Fuck it all to hell!” I roared, frantically bringing up my inventory. “Shit shit shit!”
“W-w-what is this?” Aerion, wide-eyed. She looked shell-shocked, but I knew better. She was looking at the blue screen that had...
2024-03-16 00:45:24 +0000 UTC View PostI grabbed Emma just as the cages came tumbling down—she barely weighed anything. As we fell, I did my best to turn so that I’d take the brunt of the impact. With Emma being as weak as she was, I didn’t know if she could sustain a three-story fall.
Turned out, neither could I.
My cuirass clanged ...
2024-03-14 20:10:23 +0000 UTC View PostVir and J...
2024-03-14 20:05:22 +0000 UTC View Post“And I call myself a Naga,” Balagra said, spitting on the ground. “I suppose my excommunication is complete if I cannot even recognize my own country!”
“To be fair, you were right,” Vir replied. “This could be anywhere.”
“Still… I thought I felt something familiar. The scent of the...
2024-03-13 17:57:21 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m not risking my life for your pet,” I said. While the words came out harsher than I’d intended, I meant what I said. “Look, I love dogs as much as anyone. Had a Lab and a Husky growing up myself. But you gotta be real, here. We’re jeopardizing our lives for her. I’m sorry. It’s just not happening....
2024-03-13 17:49:02 +0000 UTC View PostA part of me felt bad for having killed those whales. Another, far larger part, would sleep easier knowing those colossal monsters of the deep had been eradicated.
In between bursts of effort as we huffed and puffed pushing the heavy siege weapon, Aerion communicated that my concern for their wellbeing was ...
2024-03-13 17:47:51 +0000 UTC View Post“No! This is the actuator, that is the azimuth inclinator!” Aerion said, pointing to one of the half-dozen levers that controlled the horribly complicated contraption known as the Mobile Siege Launcher. Or that’s what Aerion called it, anyway.
We’d climbed up to where the ...
2024-03-12 18:20:53 +0000 UTC View PostWith our wounds healed, rocks smashed, minds refreshed, we piled into our cart, delving deeper into the network.
Before we started, I gave my lone remaining rock to Aerion, figuring his throwing arm would put the thing to better use than I could. With my adjustments, my Essence sat at a cool 49/60, leaving ...
2024-03-12 18:18:56 +0000 UTC View PostI woke up to find an exhausted Aerion leaning against the tunnel wall nearby, keeping guard. The goblins’ cart—the one that wasn’t a mangled heap of scrap—was right next to us, but strangely, I wasn’t in it. 2024-03-12 18:16:51 +0000 UTC View Post
“Friend, I feel like you could use a drink,” Cosmo said, leaning over the bartop and pouring me a whisky.
I looked around in a daze. Smooth jazz drifted out of the jukebox by the wall, and the bar was filled with patrons. “The fuck?”
The last thing I knew, I was blacking out in the cog rail, a...
2024-03-12 18:12:37 +0000 UTC View Post“They’re gaining on us!” I shouted over my shoulder. The air whipped by as we rocketed down the rail, and the wooden board that was the back of the cart kept rattling, like it was about to fall off.
The goblins, predictably, had jumped into carts and pursued.
I mentally prepared for a fight. Or ...
2024-03-12 18:11:47 +0000 UTC View PostAs Vir stepped through the Ash Gate—no longer a mere Ash Tear—his mind reeled at the implications of this profound discovery.
To his knowledge, no demon who had ever lived had managed such a feat. There simply was no Bloodline Art that allowed one to stabilize Ash Gates.
As for whether his predece...
2024-03-12 18:09:31 +0000 UTC View PostHi everyone,
Apologies for the notification spam today. Today, I launched my new isekai litRPG on RoyalRoad! As of right now, the $10 tier has 12 chapters ahead of RR, the $5 tier has 6, and the $3 has 3.
I will be adding 5 more chapters over the next day, after which it'll be 5x a week (weekdays) for one month, b...
2024-03-11 19:29:25 +0000 UTC View Post
