Bacon Macleod

B2 Chapter 169: Commute, Finale

Crossing open fields that were gradually shifting into light woods, Kaius walked with his team. His eyes roved over the various clusters of trees that dominated the flat horizon, searching their depths for any sign of beasts that might challenge them.

While there were plenty of them about, it seemed there weren’t all that many of a large enough size to truly want to tussle with their group. Something that would no doubt change as they grew in strength. Beast bloodlines were...

B2 Chapter 168: Commute pt. 3

Blinking rapidly to clear the blinding afterimage that cut across his vision like a streak of white paint, Kaius looked back to where the corpse of the bramble ball had fallen. No longer hidden by the overwhelming brilliance of Ianmus’s working, he got a good look at the destruction his friend’s skill had wrought.

It had been burnt out utterly, scorched black and burned from the searing power of the sun. The hole in its centre was as large as his head, and growing larger ...

B2 Chapter 167: Commute pt. 2

Kaius drew his blade in a moment, smokey crystal edges catching the light. His eyes snapped to the source of the voice, seeing the lead caravan guard staring off to the right of the caravan.

What had caught the man's attention was immediately evident. Some twisted entity, more gnarled ball of flailing roots than any creature of flesh and blood. It had to be a thousand strides off, yanking itself forwards with flailing spears of bramble.

While beasts an...

B2 Chapter 166: Commute pt. 1

The next few days were a flurry of activity. Right after leaving the guild they returned to the Dusty Stables for a quick visit, getting Ianmus set up in a far smaller room on the same floor he was in. Ianmus, the lucky bastard, only had to pay three copper a night for the pleasure, thanks to both the smaller room, and he wasn’t paying to feed the equivalent of four men. 

Once Ianmus was settled, they’d returned to the common area down below. Nodding to the few other...

B2 Chapter 165: Deadacre Finale

Getting Ianmus a membership to the guild had been even easier than Kaius had thought it would be. 

When they’d entered the guild hall, he’d spotted Ro flitting around in the workers section behind the counter, directing people to and fro. Leaning on the powers of his height, he’d managed to wave her down and introduce her to his prospective team member.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to deal with Ianmus getting hazed. It seemed being chaperoned by ...

B2 Chapter 164: Deadacre pt. 9

Leaving the artificer’s shop Kaius made his way through Deadacre with Porkchop glued close to his side. It was interesting to watch how the general populace of the wider city’s reaction to them had changed now that they were not fully suited up in their armour. 

He supposed even if his travelling clothes were reinforced with thick leather, they were much closer to standard hunting gear than true protective armaments. Regardless, while plenty of people still openly st...

B2 Chapter 163: Deadacre pt. 8

Kaius let out a sigh of satisfaction, patting his stomach as he walked down the street with Porkchop at his side. He’d decided that Hensch must be a mage, because it was only by actual magic that the food could be that good.

Literally, in the case of how invigorating the morning meal had been. It had been a grand affair, of eggs, toast, seared ham, and a dozen charred vegetables he had no name for. Delicious, all in all, and would have been well worth the cost of admission ...

B2 Chapter 162: Deadacre pt. 7 

The stairs leading to the entrance to the Dusty Stables were wide things that tracked up the side of the building, shading the various pens that were set into the building at street level. 

A sign hung over their rise, showing off not just the name of the establishment and its insignia—a crisp painting of a weather-worn stable—but that also stated that all trained and bonded beasts were welcome inside. As long as they were polite, that is.

“Well, I...

B2 Chapter 161: Deadacre pt. 6

Still sitting in the silence room where he had undergone his interview, Kaius stared at the copper emblem in his hand, before looking back to Ro with a slight frown on his face.

“How does it work? I know the emblems are supposed to be representative of our identity and allow us free passage into all kingdoms who hold the Guild, but how?” he asked. The freedoms permitted by Guild membership were legendary, and he knew many were tied to the little hunk of copper he n...

B2 Chapter 160: Deadacre pt. 5

Sitting at the table with the truthstone in a room enchanted with silence, Ro—the Guild receptionist—smiled at him and waved at the other chair.

“Chop chop, we don’t have all day.” she teased.

Kaius sighed and walked over to the offered chair, Porkchop following to lay at his feet. Though, with his new size, Porkchop could still easily peer over the table's edge. Which he did, playing the part of a placid warbeast.

“So, it's reall...

B2 Chapter 159: Deadacre pt. 4

Kaius let out a low groan, bent over with his head throbbing like he’d just been smacked upside the head with a blacksmith’s hammer. As soon as the pressure of a dozen different analyse skills pressing his Mask faded, so too did the pain and discomfort.

Raw indignation flooded him, mirrored by the tempered anger that flowed across his bond, revealing his brother’s own thoughts on the welcome they had received.

Rising to his full height, Kaius took in th...

B2 Chapter 158: Deadacre pt. 3

As Kaius crossed through the gates to Deadacre, the sounds of the city washed over him. The heavy background buzz of chatter and thumping boots, the clack of carts rolling over uneven cobble, and the odd cutting bark of a laugh or crying babe. 

Overwhelming, sure, but also full of the vitality of life. Something pleasantly different after so long with little company in his surroundings.

Brown canvas tents lined the square that the gates opened to, stacke...

B2 Chapter 157: Deadacre pt. 2

Despite the sheer volume of people lining up outside of the city gates, the queue moved surprisingly quickly. It seemed that Deadacre had developed a well built mechanism for efficiently dealing with the dispossessed and weary travellers that had begun to flock to the safety of their walls.

With more than a dozen guards at the gates, they waved groups forward two at a time, quickly working through discussions while other defenders kept watch for any beasts crossing the hard p...

B2 Chapter 156: Deadacre pt. 1

The grass started to die about a league from Deadacre. First it grew pallid and limp, a few tough patches holding on desperately to life while they eked out a meagre existence in rock hard cracked dirt.

It took maybe fifteen paces before even that was gone. A stark demarcation, one that encircled the whole city. No one knew what caused it, the eerie desolation that just sat in the middle of the frontier. A perfect circle, where the ground was flat, hard, and nothing living gr...

B2 Chapter 155: Skill Testing & Arrival 

After spending the rest of the day working with Ianmus and Porkchop on Masking, Kaius had gotten better at the strange focus-intensive skill. Somewhat. It was still ruinously fatiguing to falsify his class identifier, though that had gotten a little easier as he grew more familiar with the method.

Instead, most of his gains had come from hiding just how much effort it was taking him to deceive an analysis skill. Afterall, there was no point in hiding something i...

B2 Chapter 154: Mask

Waking early the next morning with the rising sun, Kaius had set about breaking the fast of their little troupe with a hearty meal of fried potatoes and bacon. Despite everything that had happened, he could see the appeal that artisan classes held to many. In another life, being a cook might have been his calling, what with how gratified he felt when he saw the looks of appreciation on his party member’s faces as they ate their breakfast.

They set off shortly after, making ...

 B2 Chapter 153: Absorption

Kaius breathed deep, clenching his fist and concealing the new sigil that was splayed across his palm. Sitting up from his brother's side, he grasped A Father’s Gift by the hilt and lifted it up. Firelight danced across its surface, shimmering like oil across the waves of darkened metal that were impressed into the steel.

It was a strange sense, the one he had of his blade. Almost similar to his bond with Porkchop, but different in nature....

B2 Chapter 152: Emblem finale

Kaius laid his hands on the flat of the blade, feeling the cold chill of the inscribed steel. Breathing deep, he emptied his mind, allowing himself to come to a slow calm. 

In tune with his senses, he felt the world.

Chill steel, the weight of his armour pressing on the familiar softness of his travelling clothes. The sturdy support of his brother against his back, the caressing warmth of a summer’s night wind, the low crackle-pop of the fir...

B2 Chapter 151: Emblem

Kaius gasped as he chose Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite, the system's formless power slipping into the confines of his soul space. His soul shone resplendent in his mind's eye, even while his physical ones stayed open, drinking in the green fields of the plains.

With deific ease, the power that reigned above all weaved a new skill shard out of golden light. A second crystal, orbiting the fires of his soul in lockstep with his first. 

It was just...

B2 Chapter 150: Acquisitions

Kaius hooted in delight as he saw the notification that his next class skill was available for selection. It amplified the rush, the slowly retreating joy that he always felt as he proved himself the superior fighter and was rewarded for it. 

Unfortunately, he’d have to wait a little before he checked what options he had available. There were more important things to deal with first. Like the blade that was still stuck in Porkchop’s chest. A volatile construction of ...

B2 Chapter 149: Testing Gains Finale.

The irontusk taking its eyes off his brother to stare at him with wariness proved to be folly. Insistent on keeping as much of the beast's attention on him as possible, Porkchop plunged his claws into the irontusk’s shoulder, tearing a chunk out of its hide.

A loud rumbling cry echoed across the plains as it screamed in pain and frustration, whipping its head to batter his brother with its tusks, forcing Porkchop back. Unfortunately for it, his brother’s armor protected h...

B2 Chapter 148: Testing Gains Pt. 1

Kaius stood in his saddle, absorbing the shock of Porkchop’s bounding leaps by crouching slightly with every impact. 

His eyes were trained firmly on the irontusk, watching and waiting for the moment it would notice them with its dulled senses. Explosive anticipation thrummed within him, every single one of his muscles held in delicious tension. He could taste it. The blood that would soon be in the air.

Porkchop charged silently, though ...

B2 Chapter 147:

With a new companion in tow, they crossed the frontier. As they crossed the rolling, rock-studded, hills that made up the lowlands of the distant mountains, Kaius found that the terror birds had become…something of a local nuisance.

While they were rare before, whatever change had occurred during the second phase had caused them to proliferate like wildfire. Some local animal, catalysed by their awakenings, no doubt.

Regardless of the reason, they we...

B2 Chapter 146: An Explanation

Ianmus sat on a rounded stone, his hands propped on his knees as he watched the delver-scion work. Kaius, he had said his name was. After the human and his beastly companion had finished the flock, he’d offered a chance to talk.

It was hard not to feel like their short walk through the afternoon sun had been a walk to the gallows. After all, he knew too much.

No matter what Kaius had said, his strange magics and his relationship with the meles - Porkcho...