"How did you find me?" Jack asked, as he disentangled himself from Alex's hug.
Normally, he would be absolutely fine with an extended hug from a handsome, brilliant man, but Alex was sort of a kid brother, and also, completely straight.
"Dude, you know that the bracers have cellular functionality, right? If ...
2024-10-13 21:54:35 +0000 UTC View PostThere were a great many things that Bob loved about magic. It was a source of endless fascination, half science and half art, especially when it came to ritual magic.
That was not to say that he particularly enjoyed the aches and pains that came from sitting still for hours while casting a systemless fivefold ritu...
2024-10-08 02:18:32 +0000 UTC View PostI'm back.
So, for the past few months, I've been unwell. If you really want the whole story, keep reading, or just scroll to the bottom for the one line TLDR.
Many years ago (about 18 or so), I was working on a shipping dock for a LTL freight carrier. It was the middle of July, and it was about 105 deg...
2024-10-08 02:16:14 +0000 UTC View PostBob knocked on the door frame to Kharvic's office, drawing the man's attention.
Kharvic stood up from behind his desk and motioned for Bob to take the seat across from him.
"Please, have a seat," Kharvic said, retaking his own.
Bob sat down and looked across the desk expectantly.
Kharvic tapped his des...
2024-07-24 07:52:41 +0000 UTC View PostJessica looked at the vertical gardens thoughtfully.
The Lovar had made the best use of the space they had available, with what amounted to curtains that lowered from the ceiling, emitting UV light from both sides. The curtains were being raised now as the garden was leaving its 'day' cycle.&nbs...
2024-07-16 06:02:43 +0000 UTC View PostBob was a fan of beef. Hell, he liked dairy products in general. Milk, cheese, yogurt, steak, roast, ribs, burgers, he'd even had tongue before, and it was pretty damn good.
He was not, he told himself, going to change his mind about the joys of moo, regardless of the horrors in front of him.
"It's lik...
2024-06-25 00:36:11 +0000 UTC View PostBob looked around the now empty room, giving his ritual diagram a final inspection.
The two Lovar who had been left to watch over them, Mishkal and Thorumm, had helped them remove the remains of the shelving. Well, they'd mostly directed them to a smaller cargo bay where the team cou...
2024-06-04 00:28:50 +0000 UTC View PostSystem Notice: User has attempted to create a Dimensional Portal in a restricted area.
Checking for authorization.
'Robert Whitman,' User identification code 40816G1407N3210ISS3PM1IO unauthorized.
User has not attempted the t...
2024-05-28 00:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostBob frowned as he followed Kharvic into the infirmary. There were hundreds of people, mostly Lovar but with a smattering of Shallihs laying or sitting on cots, mostly suffering in silence.
"I'll need to be in the center of the room and uninterrupted," Bob began.&nb...
2024-05-21 00:04:29 +0000 UTC View PostKharvic had looked startled when they'd engaged their Return to the Beginning blessings, but Bob had no desire to crawl through doors and stoop through hallways, which they would have had to, given that the ceilings outside of the cargo bay where they had arrived were ten feet tall, give or take a few inche...
2024-05-06 23:37:04 +0000 UTC View PostFeeling well enough to write. Finally finished this chapter.
Kharvic stared at the massive figures that had appeared.
One of them had spoken Lovar, shouted, really, and had the form of a Lovar, albeit the ashen wings weren't normal, although it might have been pa...
2024-04-09 00:48:30 +0000 UTC View PostBob stood on the hull of his Summoner's Retreat, his friends beside him, watching as the massive colony ship drew closer at what was now a glacial pace.
An hour earlier, a set of doors on the colony ship's hull had slid apart, revealing what was likely a docking bay of some sort. It wasn't large enou...
2024-04-02 00:47:39 +0000 UTC View PostBob stood up carefully, stretching slowly as he did so, his eyes focused on the eldritch glow of the ritual pattern covering the hull of the ship. With his mana sight active, he could see the energies that reached the hull, only to be reflected away, although a small portion of the energy that struck the shield was abso...
2024-03-26 00:56:36 +0000 UTC View PostLilalyaslywain let out a quiet hiss of frustration as she felt her mana flow out of her body and into the spellform that would heal Captain Kharvic, her tail swishing in frustration.
She should have checked on him when she'd seen that he was on the list of those injured. None of the Lovar were really capa...
2024-03-19 01:23:11 +0000 UTC View PostKharvic grimaced, gingerly touching his side. He could feel the wetness as blood soaked through the bandage, and then his uniform.
Luckily, the uniform was a dark crimson in color, and his console hid all but his upper chest from view, unless someone were to actually lean over the console.
Refocusing his eye...
2024-03-12 00:09:23 +0000 UTC View PostBob didn't bother to towel off, instead wiping the water out of his eyes as he tapped out a message on his wristband.
Eddi, Wayna, Erick, Bailli, Harv, Elli, and Jack were on Thayland, so they were a lost cause. He addressed his message to Dave, Amanda, Jessica, and Mike.
'Just received a System request. &nb...
2024-03-05 01:23:49 +0000 UTC View Post"You know, I've never really considered myself a slacker," Larry said as he pulled racks of fabric out of thin air. "But you're the sort who could give a fellow insecurities."
"I could ask Yorrick if he has a free spot if you want to start grinding," Bob offered. "While we never talked about it, I'm pretty s...
2024-02-27 01:33:16 +0000 UTC View Post"Who's the most handsome kitty in the whole world?" Bob asked as he rubbed Monroe behind the ears.
There were times when Monroe wanted to cuddle up on his lap and be the snugglebum he'd been before tiering up had rendered that situation physically impossible. In those instances, Bob would free-cast the spell to re...
2024-02-20 01:23:14 +0000 UTC View PostBob looked at his dwindling pile of mana crystals and sighed. He had enough to tier up, but if he wanted to convert the environmental systems on the Freedom to run off a bank of mana crystals that would recharge from the circuit he'd created, he would need more than what he had.
Sadly, at the peak of tier...
2024-02-13 02:07:33 +0000 UTC View PostBob wasn't entirely sure what Monroe was up to, but he was becoming suspicious.
The ball of emotions in the back of his mind that represented the super-sized floofers state of mind.
Full-happy-play.
It was the full feeling that had triggered his suspicions. It was a feeling that expre...
2024-02-07 03:29:16 +0000 UTC View PostApologies everyone. My friend Jasper came up to keep me company and soak some of the Mom aggro, but unfortunately he brought me the gift of the plague. I was knocked on my ass ~hard~. Fever spiked high enough to give me that neat time dilation effect. That went on for three days. I'm mostly b...
2023-12-25 19:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostBob rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.
He had grown better when it came to dealing with people, but he still wasn't good at it, and he certainly didn't enjoy it.
"Not to be obstinate or deliberately obtuse, but who cares?" Bob asked.
He'd been 'invited' to attend a meeting of some Unite...
2023-12-15 02:53:37 +0000 UTC View PostKellan flew through his gateway, a massive circle of braided flame, resplendent in gold, silver, platinum, red, orange, blue, and purple.
He had opened it a minute before, waiting to ensure that it was properly noticed and appreciated before he passed through it, soaring from the skies above Harbordeep to those above Lo...
2023-12-10 04:32:35 +0000 UTC View PostFriendly reminder: Jahx likes Australia. Jahx likes Australians. Jahx doesn't have any particular issues with the Australian government. My only real objection to living in Australia is that instead of a few apex predators I can easily avoid, they have hundreds of tiny things that I can't necessari...
2023-12-09 06:21:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Spear of Destiny hung above Holy Terra, poised to fulfill humanity's inevitable domination of the multiverse.
Five kilometers long, it was designed to be fully self-sufficient when at fifty percent or greater capacity.
Jamal Cooper stood on the bridge, looking out over the ship. He wore his powered armor...
2023-12-07 05:58:48 +0000 UTC View PostBob was in the zone. He could feel it.
He'd dropped his swarms of mosquitoes in favor of a pack of UtahRaptors. He wasn't facing off against tier ten monsters, so he didn't need the vicious damage.
He liked to think that he was directing his summons like a conductor guiding an orchestra, except his sympho...
2023-12-03 03:27:41 +0000 UTC View PostBob sat in the ritual circle, wrapping the two rituals into a single pattern.
He could feel the mana flowing from the mana crystals, moving through his matrix and into the pattern, loops and whorls working together to tie the two effects together.
It took less than two minutes to complete, at which point the ritua...
2023-12-02 04:40:56 +0000 UTC View PostSo, this was a big one. I thought it would be maybe half a chapter, just a blurb, but it sort of grew.
Alternate chapter title 'Yorrick's PSA'
"Do you remember where you were when you learned that the world was going to end? Maybe you didn't really believe it. How about the mome...
2023-12-01 03:17:21 +0000 UTC View PostI have a whole host of reasons for why I've been MIA, but ultimately they don't matter. I'm sorry to have failed everyone, for so long.
I'm going to be focusing on my Patreon until I have a healthy enough backlog, to the detriment of our RoyalRoad readers. I'll apologize to them onc...
2023-11-30 02:46:24 +0000 UTC View PostBob lifted another Tupperware tote from the stack and then sat down to begin casting the Spatial Expansion ritual.
He'd called Ralph's, and they'd promised to have his order filled in two days. They'd offered to deliver it, although they'd warned that it would cost a bit more, considering that what he'd o...
2023-10-05 02:09:16 +0000 UTC View Post
