Actus

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 818

Noah kept his eyes firmly on the mountains on the horizon as he directed the flying sword through the sky. The howl of the wind had faded to a distant whistle at the back of his head. It had been a day since Lee had found him.

They’d been traveling pretty much ever since, only stopping briefly to kill a few insignificant monsters that she spotted on the way. That had been just enough to stave off Noah’s weariness and need to eat. That was good, because Lee had unsurprisingly already...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 519

Wallace and Koyu both woke not long after Uriel had left. Arwin was still standing there, Lillia cradled against his chest, staring at where the enormous suit of armor had stood just a short while ago.

“Where’s the daggum armor?” Wallace asked, looking around through a deeply furrowed brow. He tugged at his thick beard. “Did we fail?”

“Fail?” Koyu asked. “Look at your Achievements, dwarf. Is the Mesh not burning a hole through your skull?”

Wallace sucked in...

Nightmare Realm Summoner is out!

Hey all! I'm hyped to announce that Nightmare Realm Summoner is finally out on Amazon & Audible!

You can check it out here!

Amazon is kinda broken right now. It's not as bad as it was last week, but I really want to be able to write this series a long time. If you've been reading & enjoying or if you haven't had a chance to check it out, now is a per...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 518

The first thing that Arwin saw when he came to was gold. It blurred before his face like a molten sea of wealth, fading in and out of view in an undulating dance. A distant headache pounded in the back of his skull to the beat of a particularly inept conductor that really needed to be fired and his mouth tasted like ash and salt.

He grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut for a long second. The world spun all around him — or perhaps he was the one that was spinning. It was a little hard to ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 531-532

“Is this meant to be an intimidation tactic?” Haley asked as Lillia sat down across from her in the back room of the Devil’s Den.

The dwarf’s two guards stood at her back — though any intimidation factor the three may have had was slightly reduced given that Haley’s head was only barely able to make it over the table. The chair wasn’t quite tall enough for her.

“Why would I need to intimidate you?” Lillia asked, interlacing her fingers and leaning on the table. �...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 817

“Wow,” Sticky breathed. The small demon’s neck craned back as she stared up at the crisscrossing rows of dim paper lanterns suspended over the street before them. They dangled from worn ropes, thin enough to be almost entirely swallowed by the night overhead.

The lanterns bobbed and danced in a faint breeze, the flames within them crackling merrily as a welcome wind coiled through the crowds milling beneath them. Merry laughter and excited conversations came from every direction a...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 284

Alex and the others continued through the Mirrorlands for around half an hour before making their return to the Ancestry. The chances of Crimson having left someone on watch for their return were a bit too high.

Fortunately, Alex stepped through the portal he had opened back open into the dank, fetid halls of the Ancestry, nobody was waiting for them. He stood in a dark hallway not too dissimilar from the one that he’d been in within the Mirrorlands.

It struck him just how much ...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 283

Alex eyes snapped open. Warped stone rose overhead, riddled with cracks and broken sections that gave way to the churning sky overhead. Coils of red and purple smoke roiled in the distance and the faint hiss of magic came from every direction around him.

His body seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. For that matter, it didn’t seem to remember how to move, either.

He laid perfectly still for several seconds. Then everything snapped back to its proper place. Alex drew in a rag...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 529-530

The dwarves were taking longer than Art had expected.

That wasn’t really too big of a problem. The mercenaries were certainly skilled, there was no doubt about that. But the Blacktongues clearly hadn’t expected an enormous amount of resistance. Compared to the teams Art had gone up against in the Proving Grounds… well, the mercenaries weren’t exactly at the same level.

The only reason the fight hadn’t ended already was because of their sheer numbers. Twelve against four ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 517

Arwin lost himself in the song. His body moved to its own accord and the ring of Caldera against metal echoed through his mind like a distant drum. It was impossible to say for how long they’d been working, but it didn’t feel like it had been long.

He’d only managed to lead the group for a few minutes before he’d been forced to take a step back from the front. Keeping everyone synchronized and focused was an immense task — one far greater than he ever could have expected.

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 816

Lee clung to Noah’s back as they tore through the sky upon his flying sword. Wind howled past them in a keening wail as the left Frostlake behind, hurtling away from the town and the frozen mountains behind it.

Noah felt a bit bad about stiffing the inn. Especially since Lee had destroyed their window upon her arrival — but there was no way he was going to sit around with a bunch of hunters hot on their tail.

Any group strong enough to force Lee to run was not one he wanted to...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 282

A loud crunch split the din as Alex’s enormous anchor slammed home into the Herdmaster. Already damaged carapace shattered beneath the weapon and it dug deep into the center of the monster in a spray of blood.

Alex slammed feet-first into the monster, landing just a foot away from his anchor, an instant later. A powerful vibration raced up his legs and rattled the bones in his body from the force of his impact.

A furious, pained scream rose up from the boss. It grabbed at Alex, ...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 815

NOTE: I made some small tweaks to the chapter to improve the meeting between Noah & Lee. Nothing huge, but I think it makes the chapter a little more fun.

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Noah’s mind reeled. It took him nearly a second to process what he was seeing before a disbelieving laugh forced its way free from him. Lee was here. He had no idea how or where she’d come from, but it didn’t matter.

“Holy shit, Lee,” Noah said as he let his magic fade away. “It’s so good to see yo...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 516

Arwin had just finished feeding Lillia’s food to the Infernal Armory when she rejoined him, Koyu, and Wallace in the smithy.

Lillia had retrieved the core from where it had been baking in her oven. She had it wrapped in a tablecloth, but Arwin felt its presence before she even had a chance to start unwrapping it.

He wasn’t the only one. Both Koyu and Wallace spun toward Lillia the moment she’d walked through the back door of the Infernal Armory, their eyes going wide and loc...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 527-528

Caldera collided with the Golden Guardian’s head with an echoing crunch. The statue crumpled in on itself. Obsidian spikes of jagged, solidified magma tore out from beneath the hammer and sheared through the crumpling gold with loud shrieks.

Arwin’s blow slammed the statue back down into the ground and embedded it a foot within the stone like a squashed bug. The entire Guardian lurched, its limbs clanging against the piles of gold as they splayed out in odd directions.

Beads o...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 814

“I’m bored,” Grim said.

“Oh, don’t you start on me now,” Moxie growled. Stones shifted beneath her feet and she pressed her hand against the wall of the cave — though perhaps calling it a cliff face might have been more accurate.

The slope was so steep that it may as well have been a sheer drop. Even a mountain goat would have struggled immensely to try and find purchase on the rock. The only thing keeping Moxie secured were the thin vines twisting around her fingers...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 515

Dinner came shortly after a bath — one which Arwin made absolutely certain not to be late for — and he joined the gathering members of the Menagerie in the bottom floor of the Devil’s Den.

The rest of the adventurers had vacated the premises for the night, and the only ones that still remained within the Den were back up in their rooms. Even though they were in the same building, Arwin wasn’t worried that any of them would accidentally stumble into their meeting.

Sound cou...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 281

“What did you do to Spark?” Claire hissed, ducking as a ball of roiling green fire slammed into the wall on the other side of their barrier, sending necrotic fire spraying down all around them, mercifully missing by just a few inches on every side.

“I made him stronger,” Alex replied.

A scream ended in a wet crunch, and a body flew across the room to crash into the side of the room with enough force to splatter it like a rotten watermelon bursting under its own weight. Ale...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 813

“These are cards,” Mordred said, waggling the deck in his hands with the patience of a seasoned teacher. “They have identical backs, but their other side is completely different. Each one is unique.”

Lee stared at him.

“They’re made out of paper,” Mordred said. “They aren’t a weapon. There’s nothing to be concerned about, I can assure you. In fact, no animals were harmed in the creation of these cards. I made them myself. Was quite the project. Took me several ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 514

Arwin and Lillia finished Rodrick’s armor before the sun had set over the Infernal Armory.

Like Arwin had expected, once the core was complete, everything else came far easier. It certainly helped that they weren’t trying to make anything overly fancy. The absolute last thing Rodrick needed was a set of armor that drew attention to itself.

The remaining Nightiron that Arwin had gathered during his dungeon run went to good use in the creation of a sleek black set of armor. It w...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 280

The hot stench of death drove into Alex’s lungs like a punch as he threw himself through the hissing Mirrorlands portal and hit the ground of the Ancestry in a roll. Wet earth squelched beneath him. A brilliant flash of light followed by the roar of magic tore through the sky, momentarily blinding him.

He pressed himself to the wall just in front of the portal, keeping himself low and behind the shadow of a craggy outcropping jutting out over the dead grass stretching out to the side....

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 812

Cold wind screamed through Ice Wretch Mountain like the ghastly howl of a scorned demon. Sleet and snow slashed through the mountain pass in thick sheets. The storm swallowed the sky itself, leaving behind nothing but a thick, stinging wall of white where the moon and stars should have been.

Countless bodies littered the pass that ran through Ice Wretch Mountain. Not a single one of them was visible. The mountains consumed all that dared die within their domain, either under the ever-pr...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 513

The echo of ringing metal rolled through the Infernal Armory. The Mesh might no longer have guided any of his strikes, but it didn’t even matter. The Nightiron was practically forging itself. Every strike of Arwin’s hammer just gave it the energy it needed to move.

It was fascinating. The flaring energy from Caldera’s head flashed through the room like miniature fireworks, and Arwin’s consciousness homed in entirely on the task at hand. All the world faded away.

Even his s...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 525 - 526

Kien’s prediction proved to be right. The sound of rolling thunder heralded Arwin’s advance through the dungeon as he rung the walls like gongs, tearing the poor skeletons from their sleep before subsequently smashing them into a thousand little pieces.

It quickly became clear that the monsters in this dungeon hadn’t been prepared for a strategy like this. Their camouflage with the walls was perfect. These things were basically ambush predators. And when the element of surprise wa...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 811

Seleth rubbed at her eyes. The cold night bit at her nose and lips. She wasn’t at all cut out for this environment, and the freezing mountain skin whipping her hair and slicing at her skin certainly wasn’t helping in the slightest.

She jabbed her hands under her armpits, teeth chattering. A new parasol bounced against her back with every new gust of wind. Ironically, that was one of the few things keeping her awake. The constant smacks were just enough to keep her eyes from flutteri...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 512

“So, what was it you were going to tell me earlier?” Lillia asked as they watched rivers of black magma slither through the lines running throughout the floor of the Infernal Armory.

“Oh, right,” Arwin said, blinking and shaking his head. “Sorry. I got caught up and forgot. I think people have started to use the whole delivery as more of a dungeon bail out service. They’re intentionally calling us in during boss fights.”

Lillia let out a small snort. “That isn’t ...

Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 511

Arwin returned to the Infernal Armory with a pile of black metal chunks clutched in his arms like a chunky, malformed baby. A very heavy one. One with a lot of sharp edges and layers of dirt caking it from where it had been embedded within the wall of a dungeon.

Okay. Not really a baby at all.

Arwin stepped through the main door, breathing out a small sigh of relief as it closed behind him with a thud. The droning roar of the crowd behind him evaporated like someone had j...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 810

The haggard man stared at Noah in horror, his lips working but failing to muster up even the faintest of noises. His eyes were so wide that his irises may as well have been peas swimming in a white soup.

 Noah tried not to be too impatient. His soul was still shifting as it adjusted to the new runes he’d just pulled into it. While they weren’t all that powerful, they were still Rank 5 runes. It was a good thing he hadn’t taken in the other runes from the Star Serpent. Even th...

Nightmare Realm Summoner - Chapter 279

Alex’s eyes snapped back open. He was mildly relieved to find that he was still slung over Claire’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The scent of blood lingered in the air to mark the signs of what must have been a fairly recent fight.

He didn’t say anything immediately, instead focusing to see if he could hear the sounds of fighting or talking. They were, after all, in the Mirrorlands. There was always a pretty high chance that something too powerful to fight had showed up and C...

Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 809

“Spare me, great Star Serpent!” There was a loud thump to Noah’s side as the haggard man threw himself to the ground and fell prostate before the enormous yellow eye peering down at the two of them. “Never has my faith wavered. I have offered up my sacrifices. I have kept to the pact. This newcomer is not of my doing. Please, spare me!”

“Weren’t you just praying to Renewal?” Noah asked, scratching at his chin. “Don’t you think you should stick to one person? You can�...