WilburWoods

Chapter 4 - Using the Genie

Logan stared at the crystal. Then he looked at the door. The frantic, animalistic screeches were muffled but still distinct and blood curling behind it. Tentatively, possessed by remarkable foolishness, Logan took his weight off the door and watched it eyes and mouth wide open.

The creatures struck at it in quick succession.

Thud. Thud.

Nothing happened. The door, identical to the one they had busted through, held for some reason. Logan looked at the dim rock he was...

Chapter 3 - Numa

Logan found himself floating in nothingness. It was dark, he was weightless and blind, but he could hear two voices talking.

“Would you look at that?” The other voice said, high pitched, excited, and somehow… electrical.

“What in Six Hells is it?” the other one said, it was a lower tone, but fast and also electrical.

“Some device. Pretty advanced for Humans,” The first one said.

“Well shut it off. There’s rules.”

“I can’t.”

“What...

Chapter 77 - Language Barrier

Max really, really wanted to look at all his cool new upgrades. But there was a glaring problem. A literal glaring problem. Every few seconds the enemy gave Max a scathing glance. Maverick sent off a very distinct, very urgent wish through their bond to smack the fool in the back of his head every time it happened.

“Keep walking,” Max said and shoved his prisoner forward.

The lizard grunted and spat.

“It seems he doesn’t like you,” Maverick said cheerfully. That ma...

Chapter 2 - Enter New Reality

[3 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes]

When Logan woke up he was on the roof of the better one of the two hotels his father owned. This is where Logan threw a big party for Freya when she turned twenty. A beautiful patio with a swimming pool and a bar with a fancy young girl in a tuxedo shirt. Janice was her name, if memory served. A sycophant to the bone. Logan never tipped her.

His bleary eyes started to find focus under the sun as he found a pair of sunglasses waiting f...

Chapter 76 - Payoff

The lizards came at Max weapons raised, roaring in fear and anger. They were brave admittedly, but apart from one guy with a sling, they were all melee based fighters. And all too slow for Max.

Max weaved around them using [Tether] while Maverick spun in the air and blasted at the enemy. Whenever one of the lizards got too close, Max used a repelling [Tether] to push them back. One of them fell and Max received an experience drop.

The others forme...

Chapter 1 - Logan Specter

Logan Specter was painting an exquisite landscape. While he was no peerless master, he knew this one was going to be good. How could it not, with a view as breathtaking as was behind the easel. It was a case of the raw ingredients being too high quality for complete failure.

[7 days, 8 hours, 22 minutes]

The timer was distracting Logan from his work. He couldn’t wait for the seven days to be over. As far as he was concerned, he was just killing time until humani...

Announcement! More things!

I have been hunkering down and working on my second story for a few weeks now. Tentatively called Duality of Genius. It's a bit different from Cosmic Games, but I think in many good ways. Here's what I have for you.

-LitRPG (OF COURSE)
- Crafting / Adventuring
-Base building ( I really liked Max interacting with Joshua's settlement and wanted to expand on that)
- Complex, flawed characters. I am really trying my best here to make interesting characters for you guys.

- Th...

Chapter 75 - End of the Line

Max didn’t bother to hide himself. It would eventually be impossible anyway. His Stamina was running low, as despite his high levels of Cultivation, the fatigue was getting to him. But he knew the lizards were more tired. They had seen Max and their slow but steady march had turned into a scuffed, stumbling jog. They were at the end of their rope.

Empowered by this, Max chugged down a [Stamina Potion] and took to a jog himself.

“I want to capture one,” Max s...

Chapter 74 - Hunting Footsteps

The other entrance upwards was close to the abandoned base of the lizards. Max doubted the enemy [Trapper] had had time to set anything nasty up, but he still went for a balanced approach of speed and care. Fact of the matter was that Max didn’t know much at the moment. The enemy could be making a beeline towards their home base, or they could be catching their breath on the upper floor.

But there was only one way to get more information. And that way was going forwar...

Chapter 73 - Reunions

Max made his way into a small room behind a stone door. With a grunt he pushed aside the door and there on a pile of rock slabs for a table, his friend waited.

“Took you long enough!” The weapon chimed. “You look like a swarm of cats pissed on you.”

Max chuckled softly. “Nice to see you too, Mav.”

“I must say, I do miss being carried,” Maverick said. “You get to shoot more stuff, if you use a humanoid slave to move you around.”

“Since when am I a ...

Chapter 72 - Counter-Attack

Running across the wall, jumping from [Tether] to [Tether] was tiring, even with the venom debuff already gone. This little stunt had cost him a [Greater Mana Regeneration Potion], [Mana Potion] and [Minor Stamina Potion].

Looking down, Max decided it was all worth it. A great swarm, like a skittering black sea, churned below him. One screw-up with a [Tether] would mean a horrible, horr...

Chapter 71 - Damn bugs

It was very, very dark down in the third level of the dungeon. While Max’s eyes had acclimated to darkness right now, he felt uneasy. This was the first time he was without his buddy. It only now became clear to him how much he had relied on Maverick. Not that it had been a bad thing to do so, but now he needed to engage with reality in different terms.

With much more care and precision. I can’t just be happy-go-lucky and shoot everything.

Max gripped a sharp rock in ...

Chapter 70 - Separation

The shock wave from the explosion threw Max back a few yards. He lost over 200 Health from that, bringing him to uncomfortably low in the red bar department. Before he had finished sliding on the stone floor, Slassekhsnas was upon him, wrestling him down and hissing profanities at him.

Max knew he was short on time. He cast [Alter Gravity] on his foe and kicked her off him. She attacked again, but Max used [Tether] to slide away. Only to hit another tra...

I'm a little late

You guys are awesome, patient gracious. and thats why I can share this secret.

I'm stuffed up on my schedule and today's chapter will be late. I will put it down at night. in mb 3-5 hours.

SORRY!

Chapter 69 - Night-Raid

After some sleep, during which Maverick had Cultivated, Max got up. No new levels were gained, but that was to be expected. Durum had told them brute-forcing Cultivation levels would slow down. Max wondered about the dwarves he had left behind. Did they understand? Would Durum?

Maverick reminded him with a cocktail of emotions through their bond, that what really mattered was his survival, and by extension his species. All of this other stuff like politics with some old dwarves was deco...

Chapter 68 - Restock

Maverick chuckled. Then the chuckle escalated into a laughter that soon grew into maniacal.

Max was too wide-eyed and shocked to even tell him to shut up. He was just breathing. Heavily. The musty air of the dark ruins felt fresh as after a spring rain. He was… alive?

Why?

“How..? What..?”

“Hehheh,” Maverick chuckled out the last of his laughter. Max could almost imagine him wiping tears of joy from his eyes, if he had any. “How did you like my new party tr...

Chapter 67 - He Awakens II

It didn’t take long to get the general idea where the enemy had their camp. It was near an intersection a few hundred yards away from the spot the initial conflict had happened. Max could feel Maverick’s nervous energy through their bond. Max was nervous too, but it was the good kind of nervous. He couldn’t wait to bring the tension to resolution and win.

Now, he couldn’t attack the enemy’s camp guns a-blazing. Even though many of the enemy had died, there were still plenty le...

Chapter 66 - Skirmish

Max ran back to the dwarves. He was halfway explaining to Torguk that they need to fall back when the arrows started flying. Giant harpoons with fletchings made of giant feathers shot out of the darkness, making the people they hit fly. One struck Max on the side and it pushed him back on the floor for two yards. Over 100 Health lost.

“RUN!” Max yelled and got up and turned tail. Only the aide could understand him, but maybe that was enough. Every fiber of Max’s instincts was tell...

Chapter 65 - First Contact

Max slept well in the darkness, all things considered. It was a curious thing, and Max wasn’t sure why. The fear and anxiety was there. Maybe it was the advancement to Amethyst, it was definitely noticeable. But there was more to it.

Yes, he was nervous about finally facing the enemy. But it wasn’t fear of death or pain. It really wasn’t. He had been tempered in that. With the Siren and the Stranger especially. Once you have a brush with death a few times, your perspective changes...

Chapter 64 - Second Expedition

The expedition was larger and much better prepared than the last one Max had been a part of. Sixty dwarves, most of them warriors, but with a few support crew members sprinkled in. They were nervous as they descended. Max couldn’t blame them. The enemy had killed over a hundred of them last time, and those had been more experienced, higher level warriors than they were.

But Max wasn’t there the last time. And Max had never been stronger. High-King Durum had of course told the dwarve...

Chapter 63 - Advanced Cultivator

Max shot up from his seat, spilling the wine. “The enemy!”

Durum nodded grimly. “So what do you say, Max? There are many treasures within the ruins. Would you rather they fall into the hands of this species?”

Max tried to calm himself. The adrenaline was humming up and making it hard to think. He needed to play it cool. Durum wanted him to play into his hand and he had done a good job. But now Max needed to think what he wanted.

“Give me a minute,” Max said. “A...

Chapter 62 - Interesting Rumors

Fulgrum came after an hour, telling Max that the High-King would see him in an hour. Max had to ask how they kept time, but Fulgrum despite his open friendliness after their delve to the ruins, categorically refused to tell him. Damned dwarves. Maverick had a few choice words to say about such secrecy, but Max managed to calm him down before Fulgrum got upset.

Even after two hours of cycling with the pills, they did not get to level 13 of their current Cultivation level. Still, it wasn�...

Bonus chapter!

I promise, I deliver!

Got some writing done, so here be an extra chapter for all of you beautiful folk. 

I hope you're having an awesome weekend <3

Chapter 61 - Dwarfmind Returns

By the time the outpost crew was done, it was late at night. The whole group had been working nonstop for a good ten hours. Sawing, hacking, skinning, carrying. And at the camp the [Artisans] like the cooks and leather workers had worked with the materials.

Now they were all sitting in the cave, tired, absolutely, head-bobbingly, shoulder-slumpingly, eye-lid-droopingly tired. They were just sitting there, anyone barely saying a word to one another. Most of them were idl...

Chapter 60 - Hunting

Max tried swallowing. It didn’t feel nice. His throat was dry. And it wasn’t entirely because of the dry and dusty Dreadlands. He was looking at the giant yak grazing along idly next to a hillside. All of the [Combatants] and [Laborers] that had come with him looked at him with expressions varying from eager expectation to disbelief.

Truth was, Max wasn’t sure how this would play out. He knew he could escape the beast if he had to. But he didn’t...

Chapter 59 - Cave

Max and Maverick Cultivated throughout that night and the next morning, while the others were setting up the outpost. Intermittently, Max did idly wonder if the other thought he was being a selfish prick, but it couldn’t be helped. He only hoped they would understand. But if they didn’t, that was their problem, not Max’s. He had bigger problems.

But it wasn’t all problems. After a morning of strenuous cycling, they finally got that last level up they were inching for.

2023-07-05 16:27:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 58 - Clearing Space

They did not like the [Foulworms] all of them yelped when it shot out of its cave. Some of them even vomited when they got close to its corpse. Max still received 300 experience for killing it. He looted 212 Cosmic Coins, and found himself slightly miffed at having not received a loot box. It was likely they dropped them more often.

Max went over all his knowledge of the terrible demonic worms. He told the fighters how simple it is to fight the...

Just a little heads up!

First of all thank you to all of you who have pledged. I appreciate you immensely. I can't stress it enough. 

Now, I will be moving to a Monday - Wednesday - Friday release schedule on Royal Road. Posting daily has attacked my backlog viciously.

The good news is that the amount of extra chapters you illustrious, select few who have pledged get, grow larger. It grew from 15 to 16 extra chapters tonight, and will continue to grow to 20, 25 and potentially higher ...

Chapter 57 - Branching out

Max woke up to a nice system notification in the morning.

Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (greater) to 6

+2 free attribute point

“Damn, Maverick,” Max said as he got up. He was curled up in his hammock, sleeping on the floor of the hut he had overtaken. Max did feel slightly bad about it, but he would go back out there tomorrow. Now it would be caves for him. Well, maybe a soft bed in Durum’s estate wasn’t exactly out of the quest...

Chapter 56 - Nightfire Plans

Max talked for a long time. Longer than he intended to. He just let it all pour out. What kind of situation he was in, what he felt and what he was going to do. Joshua’s gathering started with fifteen or so people listening, but by the time Max was finished, over a hundred people sat around him still and alert, with nothing but the crackling of the fire and a few stray whispers.

He told them about Maverick and what had happened when Max had chosen his Cultivation path. Then he told th...