“Carter, why are there protesters outside our store?” Sakura crossed her arms while Myrina and I sat in the backroom like naughty schoolchildren.
Walking home, we’d seen the angry mob already forming outside of Doomblade’s armory. What was normally a horde of customers eager to get inside was now mixed. Half were customers, and the other half were holding up signs in protest. A few were even blocking our customers from getting inside.
I thought it was a bit of an overreact...
2024-11-18 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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The next few days saw me alternating between working in the shop, working on my armor, and competing in the team bouts in the tournament. Ivanar had chosen our extras well, and I was pretty sure they could have made it through the team matches even without Myrina and me.
With Myrina and me joining them, the team matches were over before they began. Myrina kept trying to do something impressive so the crowd would come up with a new nickname for her, but the fights ended so fast she could...
2024-11-16 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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It soon became apparent why the open bracket featured team matches first. There were a lot more competitors than I’d been expecting.
The row we were in featured thirty teams just like ours, all of them waiting for their opening match. The bench we were grouped on served as a line while also giving us front-row seats to the team matches.
The stands were much fuller now than during the arena fights. Where before, there had only been a few scattered clusters of people filling up th...
2024-11-15 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Under Sakura’s skilled leadership, Doomblade’s Armory moved locations and quadrupled the size of its staff. Our new building was about the size of four of my barns, and Sakura brought in a new wave of people who put even more work into this structure than the last one.
“Look, nice and clean and in a good location! This is more where we belong.” Sakura spread her arms wide at the clean eggshell-colored walls and bright lights around us. Already, there was a lot of armor on displa...
2024-11-13 16:00:14 +0000 UTC
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After defeating Ivanar in the arena, I soon received my invitation to the open brackets of the tournament, which would begin in a few days. More information trickled out over the following days, and things became clearer.
The real winner was expected to come out of one of the great families, and for the first part of the tournament, they would have their own brackets. The open brackets would be for adventurers and students of the Dragon Lodge to enter as they pleased.
I suspected ...
2024-11-12 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Cyra, inside the Samhain Compound on the Mucaria Pocket World.
“The tournament rules are straightforward,” Cyra’s mother told the crowd of young and ambitious C-Grades of the Samhain Clan. Foremost among them was Cyra herself.
Back home, she was the matriarch of the entire Samhain Clan’s main branch. But the Mucaria pocket realm compound was owned by the branch of the clan on Glacia. Their elders were all B-Grades, and Grandma Luthrin was even stronger, so here, Kyrina w...
2024-11-11 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The arena was easy to find. The last time we toured the city together, Cyra had pointed it out to me from afar, and it was hard to miss. To me, it looked like a copy of the Colosseum in Rome but blown up to larger proportions.
It was about half the size of some of the larger modern football stadiums I’d been to but dug deeper into the ground. Fighters would be competing at least partially in a pit, but that was a necessary safety precaution when people could be throwing around powerfu...
2024-11-09 16:00:18 +0000 UTC
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I ended up spending most of the night adding security measures to the Mark One armor I was selling in the form of various curses. When I was done, I worked on a few more products to help fill the shelves and even started putting together a bit more of my Doomblade prototype armor frame.
We returned to our store to find the construction workers just finishing up renovations. As soon as they were gone, we started stocking the shelves. We set up a full row of Mark One armor as the store’...
2024-11-08 16:00:15 +0000 UTC
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We arrived on Themyscira as soon as my companions were done dressing up Gobgob. Reluna seemed sad she wouldn’t be able to go with us since Glacia and the Mucaria pocket realm were her old stomping grounds. But bringing her off-world and back would have to wait until the golem shard was defeated and this stage of the integration was completed.
At that point, C-Grades like Reluna and Cyra would be much more free in being able to come and go, especially when we proved to the System that ...
2024-11-06 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
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“Reluna, are you alright?” I asked.
“Uh... uhm...” Reluna’s mouth opened and closed several times irresponsibly.
“Sorry, I didn’t think things would get quite that explicit.”
She nodded slowly.
I’d guessed her people weren’t shy about sex, considering I hadn’t seen her wearing underwear all that often. According to Bridget, Sakura, and Myrina, she wasn’t all that shy about talking about sex either. They'd mentioned she'd said it wasn’t uncommo...
2024-11-04 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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My companions all had different ideas about what proficiencies I should use to upgrade Fabulous Phallus.
“You should pour your speech proficiency into it! Then maybe it’ll start talking!” Myrina suggested.
I grimaced. “That seems like the last thing I want.”
“How about your Caster proficiency? That makes you shoot a load of magic out of your wand better, right?” Sakura flashed me a coy grin.
"That sounds like it would be painful." I held a protective hand...
2024-11-02 15:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Training Quest Completed!
Your Death Defier title has been significantly improved and provides massive bonuses to leadership. Also provides bonuses for resisting non-categorized energies. It also provides bonuses to vitality.
Your Death Curse will be significantly less likely to lure in monsters in inconvenient circumstances, scaling off luck. Provides an experience bonus for monsters slain to you and your party, proportio...
2024-11-01 15:00:19 +0000 UTC
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How do people feel about Eowyn?
She's a character I came up with while doing the novel outline, but she isn't really in my series outline. I have a few open roles she could play later in the story, though. Do you guys want to see her again? As a side character? Or maybe even as a full harem member?
2024-10-30 15:02:01 +0000 UTC
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The quest wasn’t finished yet. Why? Wasn’t the Demon King the enemy I was supposed to beat? Surely he had to have been the idiot the quest mentioned. Just looking through his personal diaries, I could already think of a dozen ways he could have halted the impoverishment of his realm without resulting to dark bargains with evil gods from beyond the world.
Perhaps the System wasn’t happy with me leaving this realm in chaos following my departure? It hadn’t seemed to care about tha...
2024-10-30 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Princess Eowyn continued to disrobe as she spoke, as though she feared I wouldn’t believe her unless she showed all of herself to me.
Soon, I sat at my desk while a blushing, naked princess wrung her hands anxiously before me.
“The truth, Sir Hero, is that I’m fond of you. Not just in the way the knights are either, but in the way a woman and fond of a man.” Soon, she laid bare her feelings for me, and my heart ached at the sound of them. Her naked body was doing my groin ...
2024-10-28 15:00:12 +0000 UTC
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After the battle with the dragon and the lich, it was like a spell was broken across the land. Word spread and everyone from peasant to king knew that the tides had changed in the war against the Demon King.
High Priestess Calista clung close to my side, healing my wounds and casting spells whenever I fought. Truthfully, she’d have been more help with the knights than with me, since I could heal myself just fine. But I didn’t have the heart to order her away.
Her presence seem...
2024-10-26 15:00:09 +0000 UTC
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We stormed Molagor’s castle the following day, with most of my army behind me. With the demon general dead and the place thoroughly scouted, our victory was assured, and I wanted the men to take part in it.
Most of his guards were undead and were soon taken care of by me or Prince Eowyn, but there were a few other skinless demons on the walls. Like Molagor, they had probably once been men, but the blessings of a Chaos God had made them far stronger. But not nearly strong enough. They ...
2024-10-25 15:00:11 +0000 UTC
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We took the rest of the castle without issue, and then I sent messengers back the way we’d come to inform the others of my victory.
“I’m going scouting. Don’t follow me,” I ordered.
“B-but sir hero!” Prince Eowyn protested.
I shook my head. “We lack the manpower to secure the castle as it is. A party to escort me will just leave the place undefended. Besides, I can get in and out of danger easily if I’m alone.”
“A-alright...” Prince Eowyn’s ch...
2024-10-23 15:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Had I not antagonized the nobles, it would have taken days or weeks for this confrontation to play out. But I'd known it was coming, and my words had been designed to draw out those most eager to move against me.
I would deal with the problem in the bud, since the last thing I wanted was an opposition movement quietly growing in the shadows.
"I am Prince Eowyn, eldest son of the the greatest kingdom to grace these lands, and uncrowned heir to my father's throne, should his death b...
2024-10-21 15:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Personalized Training Quest part 9 of 10.
A Test of Temptation
The Siren Queendom has earned a substantial reward for their contributions and have requested men fitting your description. Survive 24 hours.
Suddenly, I found myself in a place considerably more pleasant than the room with the realm core. I was sitting on a large plush bed, and instead of being surrounded by monsters from the void, I was surrounded by incred...
2024-10-19 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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My last two quests had burned away what was left of the amused curiosity I’d had earlier in my quests, leaving only grim determination. These quests were hard and getting harder, and if I wanted to make it through them all alive, I needed to stay focused and take as few risks as possible.
The first thing I did was throw down Sharky’s summoning circle. Enough time had passed since he was dispelled for me to summon him again, and I did so. He would have been nice to have in the wizard...
2024-10-18 15:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Personal Training Quest Part 5: A Test of Loyalty
Cultivators are squatting on a System-claimed world. They have modified System infrastructure for personal gain. Eliminate their modifications. Bonus rewards will be provided for cultivators slain in the process.
The new world I found myself in seemed like a war torn hellscape. The only thing that compared were the ruins of San Antonio where the Lich King and I had battled. Only this wasteland was ...
2024-10-16 15:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Personalized Training Quest Part 3 of 10: A Test of Power
Three natural dungeons have appeared in your territory. Their strength is building by the moment. Clear the dungeons before they overflow, and they will become permanent dungeons to serve your factions. Fail to clear them, and their monsters will spill forth to exterminate your people.
Natural Dungeons cleared: 0/3
Time until dungeon break: 48 hours.<...
2024-10-14 15:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Personalized Training Quest generated!
Training Quest Part 2 of 10: A Test of Leadership
Your faction has fought many battles, and will fight many more. Raise up reinforcements to bolster your ranks.
Push 20 D-Grades to C-Grade. (Progress: 7/20)
Push 200 F-Grades to D-Grade (Progress: 87/200)
I was surprised to find the next training quest involved my ...
2024-10-12 15:00:07 +0000 UTC
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I monitored the first clash on the wall. These enormous flying void bat-things came at us, each screeching this horrible sound. Looking closer, they were like dragons in miniature.
Thankfully, the barrier proved rather good at keeping them out, especially the magical turrets I’d installed. Those alone probably could have fended off the attack, but the defenders got a few shots off. Bullets were pretty effective against them, so I wasn’t too worried.
Several more waves of flier...
2024-10-11 15:00:12 +0000 UTC
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I crawled to my feet to take in the broken pile of bones. The battle was won at last, and I had a lot to show for it. When I’d decided to wipe out the naga and the undead, I hadn’t quite been planning to bite off this much of a battle. I picked up the skull to seal the soul within if anything was left of the Lich King, like I'd tried before. But the effort wasn't necessary. Both he and Dramonar were well and truly dead in both body and soul.
Congratulations, your class, Sage...
2024-10-09 15:00:11 +0000 UTC
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I live! A bit sick still, but much improved and still hoping to get a chapter done before I sleep.
This is the current cover I have in mind for book 4. The serpent woman I had up as a temporary cover was nice, but the character just didn't end up coming together in time so that cover is out and I had to get this one done in its place. I think it came out pretty good.
I have two more covers in reserve and a third in production. I have high hopes for the third and think it will be b...
2024-10-07 19:32:49 +0000 UTC
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If you're reading this, I'm still sick and slept in today. So instead of a chapter, here's some art!
I don't have any Cyra covers in the works, since she's just going to be a bigger and more muscular version of Myrina, so I had this artwork made of her for you guys. This is from book 3 when they are fighting the big bug monsters.
The artist is Ba Pham. You can check out more of her art here:
https://www....
2024-10-07 15:00:09 +0000 UTC
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The Lich King turned dragon stuck. He was faster than the flesh and blood Torchdragon we’d fought moments ago, and not just because this one was at C-Grade. There was a certain fluid decisiveness in every motion that the old dragon lacked.
“Look out!” I yelled. Not that it was easy to miss the massive looming skeletal dragon in our midst.
“It’s got a second phase!” Kyle shouted in warning.
Myrina was the fastest to react, and suddenly, I was glad she’d swiped m...
2024-10-06 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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I cast Aegis of the Void again, blocking the onrushing wave of flame and chaotic energy, but not the claw swipe that followed it up a moment later. Eyes wide, I found myself overwhelmed. If only I hadn't exhausted Living Paradox in my fight against the Lich King. If I'd kept it up my sleeve, perhaps I'd have been able to slip away. All around me, I sensed intense pressure and knew that if I tried to escape into a pocket space I'd be throwing myself into the clutches of the true Chaos God.
...
2024-10-05 15:00:19 +0000 UTC
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