I signed my name on the dotted line and then the two copies of the agreement. They were countersigned by a representative of the US Government. They were taking full control of the Fanged Fox Guild to be operated as a department under the Executive Branch of the US Government.
With the full weight of the US Government behind the negotiations they went quite quickly. I didn’t want to create a drawn-out fight, and they wanted to resolve things quickly as well.
The corporation and ...
2025-10-08 23:00:01 +0000 UTC
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"It endangers us all!" Safan shouted.
"I agree! Why are we shouting?!" Baldeenk yelled back.
They both became quiet and glared at Lanner Thunderdust.
"Gnome Lanner Thunderdust. We don't let gnomes just leave," Baldeenk declared.
"But cart gnomes go missing. Just mark me as missing," Lanner stated.
All the gnomes either sighed or put their heads down into their hands at that statement.
"We would know. And in going with this human, you are likely to survive. ...
2025-10-08 20:01:34 +0000 UTC
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I looked over their list carefully. Options one and two were incredibly valuable. The outside world did not know what method these gnomes used to settle in the dungeon. They also understood its value, since they had ranked its offers. I hadn't done that, just given them an overall list.
The sheer value of being able to settle in the dungeon would see a new civilization form. The dungeon civilization. Or the dungeon would react and destroy whoever used those techniques.
But the val...
2025-10-08 20:01:06 +0000 UTC
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"Most of our records date back 2,000 years when the Eternal Emperor rose and formed the Eldarin Empire. Before that, with the High Vostner civilization, most of the records were fragmented, lost, or destroyed. While there have been efforts to piece together ancient history, it has been a challenge."
"The Eternal Emperor rose to power as a supreme legend, as he had been over level 150."
There were worried looks at that statement, confirming that the gnomes had low levels. I talked ...
2025-10-08 20:00:44 +0000 UTC
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Baldeenk looked at the Gnomish Council of Governance and thousands of curious gnomes listening in. "It is with great pleasure that I have the honor of introducing our guest. A human adventurer from the Eldarin Continent. Top graduate from the College of Advancement, a joint institution of humans, elves, and dwarves. Justin Burnstock,"
We were in the main plaza, where three roads came together in a small park. Everything was so small, I had to be careful as I moved. While the gnomes were...
2025-10-08 20:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Everyone was quiet as I took my seat in the conference room. “I see several new faces. Well, it is time to deal with an information leak from a Vice Leader,” I said.
Patriot stood up. “I must take full responsibility for the leak. The information was shared with an associate which accidentally shared it in a bar, leaking your location to another guild. They have since been expelled from the Guild,” Patriot said. I gave him a smile and shook my head.
“That handles the pro...
2025-10-07 23:00:01 +0000 UTC
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One guard left to go get a special cart that I could lie down on.
"There is no other way?" I asked Gnomish Councilor of External Relations Baldeenk Zickleseckle.
"Unfortunately, no. It is a completely closed off series of chambers."
He explained that they had made all entry and exit points gnome-sized. I carefully laid down on the cart in the opening I had made.
Ozy was riding in his own cart right behind me. There was a slight risk he would get squished if he were on ...
2025-10-07 21:02:29 +0000 UTC
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My Danger Sense grew, not as much as when the demon had shown up, but it grew. I stood up and had Ozy remain on my shoulder pauldron. While it would have been more tactically sound to send him towards the ceiling, I didn't want to make these gnomes think I was attacking them.
While it might have been better to sit down since they were so short, that would have been too much and would be rude if they were following Eldarin Etiquette.
A few seconds later, several carts came to a sto...
2025-10-07 21:02:02 +0000 UTC
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Getting someone to help me use consumables like the last time I had done something similar would have been nice, but it was too much of a hassle to have another person in the Goblin Tunnels. They would be a prime target. I had set up my inventory slots very carefully and had to keep a count as items were consumed.
I was grinding away at the goblins. It was day 93 of doing this. It was quite boring, but I wanted to be away from the drama at the moment. I got several messages about the si...
2025-10-06 23:00:03 +0000 UTC
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There was a muffled scream from behind the wall. I woke up and made my way to it. I brought out my Reforged Beginner's Blade.
"Vibration Blade." I drove it into the dungeon wall and cut out a large section ahead of my trap.
"Ward. Light Orb." I kept my sword pointed forward in front of me. There was a struggling monster in the wall. It had clothes, but some monsters had clothing and weapons. What was interesting was that it was in a little cart that had become st...
2025-10-06 20:01:36 +0000 UTC
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Lazarus The Demon
I screamed in pain. That creature and his depths-born had seriously hurt me. Even after several months, the heat from that attack into the ground had burned away my legs. I was tempted to burst out of the ground, but I knew I would have died.
I had crawled out days after the human had left in even more pain. Half charred to death, but I refused to die. Now I lay in the dark cave screaming in pain as I slowly reshaped my body to heal myself. It wa...
2025-10-06 19:59:57 +0000 UTC
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The airship exploded as it was targeted with cannon fire. All the soldiers on board were vaporized. The airship itself was consumed in a massive annihilation explosion. I hadn’t moved from my seat on the bridge.
I chose to face the attacks head on. Foolish, maybe. But it was the ultimate power move. I countered with an annihilation sphere around myself, countering their attacks. As I flew out of the debris. I noted they hadn’t activated the city shield. That would have saved them si...
2025-10-05 23:07:04 +0000 UTC
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“How powerful,” I muttered as I focused and I used Void Beam followed by Radiant Beam. In the Southeast there had been island zones. I didn’t care that they were separated from the main Systemic Lands. Honestly it wasn’t a surprise.
What was a surprise was the fact that there were so many. Acid Shot. Force Shot. I used my offensive skills all separately one by one. The super skill points I had earned had pushed all my skills up to the highest upgrades ...
2025-10-05 23:01:06 +0000 UTC
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Level: 20
Experience: BLOCKED
Healing: 520/520
Stamina: 620/620
Mana: 840/840
Class: Tier 1, Adult Human (Blue)
Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition (+10%), Increased Learning Speed (+10%), Increased Stat Gain (+10%), Increased Physical Gain (+10%), Increased Mental Gain (+10%)
Vitality: 52 (+1)
Endurance:
2025-10-05 17:23:04 +0000 UTC
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The demon had recovered in a single move. That was complete and utter bullshit. It was low on Mana, but Ozy and I weren't much better either.
Ozy had used Alchemy to transmute the snow on the slope to some alchemical substance that was flammable. Not good for combat, but good for a trap. My runic array had ignited everything on the slope, including all ten beastkin. Unfortunately, the demon was too far back.
I rushed at it the moment the attack was unleashed. I knew the heat would...
2025-10-05 17:22:30 +0000 UTC
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Bloodnose
Before dawn, the target left its igloo. It hid its scent but wasn't a beastkin—likely a demon or elf. Firefox tasked us with eliminating it and retrieving its spatial pouch.
"The demon is still there, watching both of us," Greeneyes said.
Our biggest problem was uncertainty: neither we nor the demon knew who would win. If it had been confident, it would've attacked at night. So, we rotated guards and stayed ready to leave.
Sleeping huddling...
2025-10-05 17:22:01 +0000 UTC
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I stood on top of a mountain, looking back at the demon. It was casually pursuing me at a distance. The biggest challenge monsters faced on the surface was the lack of ambient Mana. It affected their regeneration to a much greater extent.
Also, captive monsters didn't grow cores as easily. It was something minor, but also important.
The real question was the demon's sensory range and whether I could lose it in the dungeon, though I didn't want to reveal the dungeon entrance to it ...
2025-10-05 17:21:33 +0000 UTC
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"Fireball!"
"Ward!"
I countered the only spell skill one of the beastkin knew. There were two still combat-capable beastkin left as I turned to face them. They were hesitating and afraid. It was obvious from their expressions.
I rushed at them, and they fled. I thought about pursuing, but night was near; I needed to find shelter. They would report back, which would be unfortunate, but chasing them and killing them would be difficult.
I would be at a d...
2025-10-04 22:56:34 +0000 UTC
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I had left the plaza. Thankfully, some other beastkin had left after the disaster. I didn't want to stay and see the savagery that would happen. Just thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.
I said a prayer to the System, hoping that Stormy's soul would find peace. Whoever ate her would die horribly. She had too much Mana in her flesh.
A fitting end for the beastkin savages. They had a culture, alright. A culture of insanity and cannibalism.
"Where are you going?"
2025-10-04 22:56:06 +0000 UTC
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"Your food," Whiteclaw said as he gestured at large metal crates and barrels.
"The containers are large."
"That's the way I got it."
He was clearly trying to make things difficult for me and squeeze out more of my wealth.
I pulled out the last pouches of Mana cores and set them on a nearby table.
Checking several of the crates and barrels all full of food items, I began pouring them into my spatial pouch without another container. Even if stuff got a bit mixed up...
2025-10-04 22:55:07 +0000 UTC
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Whiteclaw of the Fox Clan
"Did you pick up anything?" I asked Elder Keeneyes.
"A couple of things. I suspect he has some kind of status alternation skill on top of a concealment skill."
My eyes went slightly wide. "Oh, what makes you think so?"
"The number of skills he has compared to his level. I am getting level 20 from him. But he has multiple Tier 4 skills. And hundreds of other skills."
"Any idea of what they are?"
"No. But with spatia...
2025-10-04 22:54:37 +0000 UTC
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The corner was where I had estimated. Two zones beyond the northern most zone. Two walls and one corner were down. I purchased a bunch of bright yellow paper and tossed out millions of sheets.
They went flying in every direction. Many of them were pressed up against the wall. They began to slowly break down. But that was fine. I just wanted a reference location as I moved away from the corner.
It was freaky looking at the pieces of floating yellow paper in the air. I launched a tw...
2025-10-04 22:47:03 +0000 UTC
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I was flying East first and I had left right at dawn, so I had the Light Source up above me to work with in determining my direction. Air Burst.
The biggest risk was my altitude. Whatever the inky blackness was at the bottom of the Systemic Lands, it made me incredibly worried. I didn’t dare get close. I had spent the previous day testing how my senses reacted to the stuff at different altitudes, so I had some idea how close I was to danger. Air Burst.
The turb...
2025-10-04 22:46:33 +0000 UTC
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I was off on my own. My honor guard was off improving their skills somewhere else. I didn’t need a team for what I was doing. I was going to try to level up my weight reduction title. That meant killing at least a million, hopefully ten million, monsters while heavily encumbered.
My skills had been rearranged to be focused on Luck, since switching them out during combat had been a hassle last time. The only skill besides Luck boosting that I kept was Poison Aura. That was mor...
2025-10-03 23:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"What was all that about with Skyfall?" I asked once we returned to Whiteclaw's building.
"He is a professional troublemaker. If it weren't him, it would be someone else. He will share that wealth with his friends, and they will make sure there are no problems."
"But won't other people complain about not getting paid off?"
"Not at the rates I am paying. As for the others, they don't have the backing or support. Our society functions based on sworn allegiances. I have several...
2025-10-03 20:01:02 +0000 UTC
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"Here." Whiteclaw held out a light gray cloak, and a beastkin-shaped mask. I took the items and looked them over. "The cloak will hide your scent and status. Unless you make a fuss, no one will question it. Such items are common, and you can keep it if you want when you leave. The mask is something rarer and I expect it back before you leave."
"Does it change my appearance?"
"Yes. And creates a false status. It was made from a beastkin's soul. It will hide yours. Quite useful for ...
2025-10-03 20:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“You seem happier,” my father said. We were eating out at a local restaurant. If one could ignore that we had rented out the entire place for the evening and there were guards surrounding the building and in the kitchen watching the chefs.
While I might have relaxed a bit, I was never going to let up on my security. No matter what, I wouldn’t take any chances with my personal safety. With what I was paying to Secure Solutions, I had a small army guarding me at all times, complete ...
2025-10-02 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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"Twenty-five thousand orange cores. Five thousand up front, which should cover things on your end. The rest on delivery."
"And an additional five thousand as a high-volume fee. I know you don't plan to come back here," Whiteclaw said, pressing his advantage.
"I want information about this continent and a map. Also, any methods or skills you have so I can blend in."
"A crash course in our culture and basic skills for us beastkin. Fifty thousand cores," he said, and my eyes we...
2025-10-02 21:11:10 +0000 UTC
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The smoke wasn't as near as I had initially thought. It was much further out and much larger.
From the first mountain, it took ten days to reach the column of black smoke. On each ridge I went over, I thought I would find something, but that wasn't the case.
As I finally crossed another ridge and looked down where the black smoke was coming from, there was a large settlement in a valley. Most structures were constructed of metal. It reminded me of Undercraft, except that it appear...
2025-10-02 21:10:43 +0000 UTC
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I wore different clothing and a mask as I strolled about Halfenbrook. Right now, I was walking down the main avenue through the brothels that had been set up. Even if it was a game, the dancing in the window displays was quite provocative.
Adult entertainers were picked directly from the displays. I paused at the back of the small crowd watching the Saucy Foxes. The women appeared like me and dressed in the same manner. They even had fake mega blades and were shooting weak water skills ...
2025-10-01 23:00:01 +0000 UTC
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