Alright, you guys are very concerned about the latest two chapters, since Carter kinda comes off as dumb. I don’t think it’s quite that bad, especially when read in book form. We got unlucky with non-release days, so the cliff hangers make two chapters of confusion feel like 4 or more. He figures it pretty quickly if you are binge reading a novel.
You have, however, convinced me to reread the section and make a few minor changes. I won’t be doing another large-scale rewrite of thi...
2023-12-09 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Going through my notifications, the level turned out to be from Caesar's death rather than Knuckles. That gave me a little hope for getting a proper answer out of Knuckles. But try as I might to nudge him, he wouldn't wake up.
Knuckles should have had quite a bit more life in him. Slicing off both his hands was a grievous injury, but for a man of his strength and vitality, it should have been survivable. The fact that he was down meant something more was going on.
Perhaps my quest...
2023-12-08 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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My first thought was that Caesar had some class or skill-based form of resurrection. But if Caesar had found a way to bring himself back to life, it had to be something a hell of a lot better than what I’d come up with. I’d brought myself back to life by increasing my stats to the point that I should have survived what killed me, and then regenerating the hard way.
The fact that I’d come back to life that way was exactly the reason I was so thorough with my kills. It should be imp...
2023-12-06 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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With the help of our trusty stone column, we reduced one of the walls to the prison to rubble. It was nice to know that if I was ever locked up, all I needed to break free was a couple friends and few thousand pounds of steel reinforced concrete pillar. We smashed straight through several cells.
Much to my surprise, the cells were still in use. I would have thought the escaped prisoners would free everyone else locked up, but apparently not.
"Ahhh!" a man screamed as we shattered ...
2023-12-04 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Apparently some of the people my allies had fought had been just as nutty as Caesar, though fortunately at a much lower level. None of those men had allowed themselves to be captured alive. In fact, those who had surrendered disproportionately considered themselves Knuckle’s followers.
That was perfect, since he was the one I really wanted to know about. It would have taken time to figure out who here was highest in his chain of command, if Terrance hadn't done the work for me already...
2023-12-03 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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"Nom nom?" Chuck asked, head tilted askance. "That's an odd one. You sure?"
I nodded. "Don't worry, you wont' miss it."
While I waited for everyone to get into position, I pulled out my car shade wire hoop and made a circle. Then, I entered the first level of Mania.
Your Mania has increased to level 1: Dissonance.
The world grows distant, and your mind fills with the allure of forbidden knowledge. The effectiveness of all Scholar of Forbidden K...
2023-12-02 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Less than an hour later, we were ready for battle. Crownhill's elite were gathered awaiting their leader. The uniforms were still mismatched, and their rows weren't quite even, but the difference from the last time I'd led them was night and day. Before, they'd been a mob of desperate survivors fighting out of desperation. Now they were conquerors who would secure peace for their families by any means necessary.
And I would be the one to lead them.
I recognized a few of them, espe...
2023-12-01 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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When the light of the teleportation finally faded, I was far from where I'd been. Elder Thalassa had shooed me away like some sort of overgrown bug. That was likely the entire point of teleporting me away.
When the spell faded, all around me were waving stalks of wheat. They were taller than any wheat would have been on Earth, each bearing a bundle of seeds on their tops nearly as thick around as a corn cob. At least she hadn't dropped me off at the bottom of an ocean.
The actual ...
2023-11-29 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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I smelled the coffee shop before I saw it. Bridget must have brewed another batch. That probably meant the conversation between Sakura and Myrina had gotten pretty intense.
When I finally got close enough to see the place, I breathed a sigh of relief. If they'd gotten into a fight, I'd be able to see the collateral damage from here. I swung open the door and Cyra followed close behind me. As soon as I appeared, Myrina shot up from her seat.
Her eyes locked onto mine like a beacon,...
2023-11-27 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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After Cyra was settled, I spent what time I had left leaving orders and establishing something along the lines of a chain of command in my district of Shadefall. I wanted the four city blocks I owned cleared and, eventually, for more workshops and warehouses to be built in it.
On my next visit, I would bring plenty of copper wire here from Earth. I'd rather people suspect the Mana Bombs and other products of Earth had been made here than all the way out on an unintegrated planet. Having...
2023-11-26 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The Amazonians feasted that entire night and would probably continue well into the morning. Sakura and Bridget joined in, but I had learned my lesson already and had no plans of repeating what happened last time I let the Amazonians get me drunk.
I waited for the right opportunity and pulled Cyra aside. Normally, she enjoyed this sort of thing, but I'd noticed ever since being granted ownership of the city she'd been tense. When I offered to help her get started, she leaped on the offer...
2023-11-25 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"Last chance to run..." The scarred Amazonian sneered as she drew her sword.
"Nah, fuck that. The Elder will have less trouble taking this place over if they're dead," one of her companions said. She unslung a bow from her back and knocked an arrow.
The third hefted her spear, remaining silent but just as ready as the others to engage in deadly combat.
Amazonian Warrior (Level 61)
Amazonian Archer (Level 59)
Amazonian Spe...
2023-11-24 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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My trebuchet and its brothers that Kyrina had me build, once armed with the right magical armaments, were surprisingly good at whittling down the walls. Apparently, this was what Kyrina had intended with all the women slinging stones at the walls. The trebuchets I'd built were able to accomplish the task much faster than several dozen Amazonian warriors.
In short order, I constructed nine more trebuchets. After Kyrina issued her edict, I was able to commandeer the aid of most of the arm...
2023-11-22 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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With Myrina dragging me out of the tent, I soon joined the others for training, food, and a bit of celebration. Though the siege was just beginning for everyone else, our part was largely done. Thanks to our recent accomplishments, we were allowed to kick back while the rest of the Samhain Clan’s warriors dug trenches and built fortifications for the camp.
Apparently, their biggest worry was being overrun by summoned monsters thrown from the city walls. That wasn't a fear without meri...
2023-11-20 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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If these two precious items had been my family’s heirlooms, I probably would have been shaking in my boots and too nervous to expend them. After all, if this didn't work, I would likely lose them both. But I'd gained both of these things through luck and happenstance. Why not roll the dice in the hope that I could turn the Artificing book of Mastery into something useful?
I placed the strange gem atop the book and waited. After a moment, a prompt appeared.
Would you like...
2023-11-19 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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By the time we made it all the way to the army, more than a few of us had arrows sticking out of our backs—with some folks looking like pincushions. Cyra resembled a porcupine instead of a pincushion, though she seemed to pay them no mind. Most of the arrowheads were merely lodged in her armor, but a few had gone all the way through and poked out of her bare shoulder. She was leaking a lot of blood.
I asked her about it when we finally came to a stop. "Uh... Cyra? Don’t you think we...
2023-11-18 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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After letting the workers flee into the city, Myrina lit the workshop behind us on fire. The old wood caught in moments, and before long the entire workshop was going up in flames.
"Mission accomplished. Time to go," Lark said.
She’d been glaring at me since our altercation. She was Myrina's mercenary and prepared to follow Myrina's orders, but she clearly thought letting the workers go was me being soft rather than pragmatic.
I was just glad that she was dedicated enough ...
2023-11-17 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Up above is the upcoming new Empress Thalia cover for book 4 of Paladin of the Sigil (the whole series will be getting new covers soon. This will replace both current ebook and audio covers.)
It's from the same artist as the one who did Amazon Apocalypse.
I'm posting it a bit early, but there were some questions about it and some of you wanted to see the work in progress. I thought I'd share and use the opportunity to give a little reminder that Paladin of the Sigil book 4 is out ...
2023-11-16 18:59:51 +0000 UTC
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There was a moment of surprised silence at first as people looked up from their benches. Rows of workers sat lined up in columns with basic tools like chisels and hammers arrayed on a long table before them. It reminded me of the goblin workshops that I had set up back home, only instead of goblins there was an array of humanoids from throughout the city.
The tools they used were merely hand tools, each meant for carving into or inscribing runes strictly through the force of one's own p...
2023-11-15 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"Cyra, can I have a moment of your time?" I asked.
Cyra looked at me with surprise, but then shrugged. She waved her warriors away and took me off to the side.
"What's the matter, Carter?"
I sucked in a breath. "We're supposed to be infiltrating the city, right?"
Cyra nodded.
"You and the other Amazons are going to stand out like a sore thumb."
Cyra grimaced. "I'm aware it won't be like the dungeon run. We'll have to get a bit creative entering the city. Bu...
2023-11-13 16:29:44 +0000 UTC
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Despite Kyrina's warning to head in early, some of the younger warriors planned on spending one last night on the town before going into battle. For once, Myrina was the wise one and wanted to go straight to bed. I was trying to talk her out of it.
She stared me up and down the moment I proposed leaving the castle with the others, pinching my cheek as she did so.
"Who are you and what did you do with the real Carter?" Myrina asked as she poked me. "Have you been replaced by an evi...
2023-11-12 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Half an hour later, the table we’d been sitting at had been smashed through the center. I stood, with my plate in my hand, eating a piece of boar and keeping a wary eye on the increasingly rowdy crowd.
I had been worried about them at first, but Sakura and Bridget fit in remarkably well with the Amazonians. And Sakura had the rare opportunity to meet one of her own kind—a fellow Oni—for the first time.
"Well well well… looks like we have a runt from a dormant bloodline..."...
2023-11-11 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Series complete!
Cover art may change. I'm working on new editions.
Hope you enjoy!
2023-11-11 15:59:46 +0000 UTC
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Bridget, Sakura, and I returned to my farmhouse early the following morning. Sharky had kept the predators at bay, but I didn't want to push our luck. The militia already had their hands full dealing with all the new people I'd brought in, so if there was an incident, they'd be understaffed manning the walls.
So we returned home. Just in time, too.
The timeline I'd given Margaret to maintain the peace hadn't been a number I’d pulled out of my ass. It was the length of time I exp...
2023-11-10 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The first apartment complex I’d visited painted a pretty grim picture of Cromwell. This was where he’d kept his lowest-value merchandise, as the second set of guards I had to kill put it.
Apparently, this was where the wives and girlfriends of men who refused to join him ended up. They had to do whatever Cromwell and his men demanded of them. And all the while, they had two decomposing bodies and numerous severed heads lining the fence across the street—presumably those of the men...
2023-11-08 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Following my victory, the people of the Settlement threw a party.
"This is a little much, isn't it?" I chuckled as someone handed me a drink. "All I did was cast one spell and use one class skill."
"One spell that laid low a terrifying mobster who wanted to take over the whole settlement!" Margaret grinned, swirling a cup of wine in her hands. By the flush in her cheeks, it looked like she'd already had several.
"You don't understand what this means to everyone, Carter. You ...
2023-11-06 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Sakura, Bridget, and I woke up early the following morning. Through great effort and an act of will on my part to give the two of them a stern ‘no’ after four levels each, I managed to get a good night’s sleep.
We woke up early, took out a few monsters, and cut a couple of the surviving ogres down to size. Their old stomping grounds were mostly empty—since my hunt. They certainly weren’t hunting down and eating people with such scarce numbers.
Good. This was rig...
2023-11-05 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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"Who is he?” I began. “Where'd he come from? I've heard a little here and there, but I want to know what you've learned."
Terrance nodded and stood. "I think I'm best suited to answer that. I've seen his file. I was actually here to interview him about a few leads back home."
He gestured in the direction of Crownhill County Prison. "He managed to talk the judge into having him locked up here in Crownhill. He had a bunch of his own cronies here already, which is probably why he...
2023-11-04 15:00:02 +0000 UTC
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After calming down and eliminating my Mania, Sharky shrank back down to his normal, ghostly shark form. Nowhere else would everyone have been relieved to see a ghostly shark hovering in the air over their heads—but after the show Sharky had put on, they were at the Shelter.
I jumped over the wall using Power Jump, while Bridget and Sakura rode up on Sharky's back. Everyone steered clear of him, and I figured he might be difficult to have around if everyone was going to get all shy aro...
2023-11-03 15:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Everybody! Shoot him!” the Raider Brute I’d just spared shouted, pointing back at me.
A row of his people raised their guns.
“Bridget… Sakura… get behind me!” I yelled.
I’d been killed by a hail of gunfire before. I had no plans of doing so again. Fortunately, these days bullets weren’t enough to put me down. Plus I had a few tricks now that I didn’t have back then.
About half of the bullets missed me, while most of the other half got caught up in ...
2023-11-01 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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