They managed to push two more Cultivation levels that day, before they both were silently laying on the floor. Neither was going to admit to the other that they couldn’t carry on of course, but they could both sense each other’s souls.
Max looked up at his upper corner. He had only 200 Stamina points left. Concentrated Cultivation seemed to drain him faster than a full day of adventure. Max wondered if pumping up his Constitution would be a good idea. If he had to suddenly protect t...
2023-06-30 16:26:31 +0000 UTC
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They woke up early to a gentle shake. A woman in her early thirties looked at Max who had been laying on the floor of the hut with curiosity. Not even in his sleep Max had let go of [The Maverick].
“Morning,” Max muttered.
“If you want to call it that,” the woman chuckled. She had a throaty, confident voice, with a hint of upper crust on it. “I can't believe you wanted to voluntarily wake at the asscrack of morning.”
“No choice,” Max said, ru...
2023-06-29 17:19:53 +0000 UTC
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After Max had looted the panthers he sat down next to the Stranger. Maverick asked him why, but Max shook his head. It was a token gesture anyway. Maverick could sense what Max felt.
What Max felt was a confusing soup of emotions. Regret? None. Grief? Absolutely not. No remorse or horror over the Stranger's death or his part in it. Max was mildly upset how little he was affected by murdering another person.
It needed to be done.
Maverick’s soul resonated in agreem...
2023-06-28 17:22:06 +0000 UTC
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The apex faction representatives of the ICBB argued. And argued. Then they had a break and Max was offered ‘human food’. He was excited at the prospect, wondering what kind of treats that might entail. When he was escorted back to his room, there was a pile of carrots and a bowl of oatmeal waiting on a table. Max let out a little laugh and sat down to eat. Not exactly the feast he had hoped for, but he wouldn’t turn down a free nutritious meal. Maverick lamented in great length not bein...
2023-06-27 18:23:31 +0000 UTC
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After coming out of the floating darkness Max was already accustomed to when being teleported by the Zoos, they fell on the floor made of some strange white material. Max got up and looked around.
He was in a corridor of some futuristic craft. Every surface was smooth and white and there was a singular tube snaking in the roof above them, pulsing with some green energy. There was a window and Max looked outside.
“Is that…” Max trailed off.
[That is the planet A...
2023-06-26 16:46:27 +0000 UTC
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The brief moment the Stranger’s complacent smile broke into an indignant snarl was savory. Max shot the panther next to the Stranger in a few well aimed shots. It died with a pained yowl and Max took distance from the Stranger enough to see the cave’s mouth. The matriarch came out and hissed. The panthers around the area all hunched their shoulder blades and started a focused prowl towards Max.
Max cast [Alter Gravity] on himself and his weapon. Then he took distanc...
2023-06-25 17:05:12 +0000 UTC
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“You!” Max exclaimed. “What is going on?”
“Oh, a long story that,” the Stranger said. “First of all I must applaud you on your deft performance in escaping me.”
“Can’t say I regret that,” Max said. “You weren’t particularly co-operative.”
“Not one of my strong suits,” the Stranger admitted. “But I learned a great deal from our previous encounter.”
“I really hope it explains what’s going on here,” Max said darkly. “I really do...
2023-06-24 17:15:00 +0000 UTC
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Max delved deeper into the forest, holding a very peculiar map. There were three types of monsters. There were the old [Tauroid] that had gained some levels, but had not undergone an evolution, making them essentially harmless, as Max could shoot them dead with a single bullet.
No, his map was the panthers. There were two kinds. The ones that were normal and the ones that had the (???) at the end of the system message. Whenever Max killed some, he went ...
2023-06-24 17:14:01 +0000 UTC
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Fortunately nothing bad happened during the time Max was to keep watch. Only good things happened in terms of his progress.
Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (lesser) to 14
+1 free attribute point
Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (lesser) to 15
+1 free attribute point
Advancement to Quartz-level Cultivator (greater) available
Max immediately went for his notifications an...
2023-06-24 17:13:01 +0000 UTC
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Max woke up to a somewhat normalized camp-life. As always he overslept as far as the community was concerned. Sleep hadn’t been all to waste, as Maverick had been active during the night. There was a red dot in Max’s vision where the system notifications were. He checked it, although he knew what it was.
Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (lesser) to 13
+1 free attribute point
Max got half up in the hammock and looked down at the camp. T...
2023-06-24 17:12:01 +0000 UTC
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A heavy, somber silence had enveloped the camp. Only the sounds of work, such as muffled grunts and one or two calls for someone to come help lift something could be heard. The cries of the wounded and of those who had lost someone had died down. Only clipped mutters could be heard. There were no words needed. There were no words to describe the loss.
Joshua was talking with Elena and making sure she had everything she needed to tend to the wounded. She was crushing something with her m...
2023-06-24 17:11:01 +0000 UTC
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The panthers were definitely different now. Max couldn’t tell if they had ever been the same at all, or if the ICCB had just changed the spawns or whatever completely.
These cats were a different beast entirely.
They were larger than a tiger, their heads hanging in a relaxed hunch at the height of the men fighting the great beasts, jaws wide, ready to snap heads off necks whole. Their black sleek bodies rippled with muscle as they prowled and pounced around, arousing great panic...
2023-06-24 17:10:01 +0000 UTC
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The material boxes contained 15 [Sheets of linen cloth] and 6 [Coils of rope]. The people gathered around actually cheered when they saw those items materialize on Max. While they had been excited and happy about the tools, they were absolutely ecstatic about the materials. Max could hardly blame them.
The sheets of cloth were quite large, maybe three feet in span, and six feet in length, akin to a single-bed bedsheet. Not only was there a slew of poten...
2023-06-24 17:09:01 +0000 UTC
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Joshua gushed at Max so much it embarrassed him. Max couldn’t help but to smile, regardless. It felt good to stand up to bullies and brutes. And besides he had done the right thing. That felt good in itself.
Joshua surely had his weaknesses as a leader, as any person would, but he was earnest and wanted what was good for everyone. Max could trust Joshua to at least try to do the right thing, and that was enough for him to vote for Joshua. And to Max’s great fortune he was in a situa...
2023-06-24 17:08:01 +0000 UTC
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Max left Marie and continued taking in the camp, which was admittedly turning into a village. Max tried to prompt Maverick, but the gun was quiet. Max considered it was possible the prickly weapon could be sulking, but Max hadn’t done anything to evoke such drastic measures. The gun just seemed to go offline sometimes.
Max was just about to decide to go sit under the oak-like tree and eke out some cycling technique before Joshua found him.
“There you are,” He said and gave M...
2023-06-24 17:07:00 +0000 UTC
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It had taken Max a lot of convincing during the night to let him sleep in his hammock in the great oak-like tree. A lot of the people had insisted he gets his own room from one of the ten houses for the first night. Max had shot that ridiculous idea down. He was perfectly happy sleeping in his hammock, although after the soft beds of Durum it did take a bit getting used to.
Regardless, Max woke well rested. He noticed they had gained a level in Cultivation, bringing them up to level 9. ...
2023-06-24 17:06:02 +0000 UTC
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When Max came back to Joshua’s camp with fifty obsidian dwarves in tow and a talking gun, it was appropriate to say the little community was surprised.
“Max!” Marie exclaimed as she saw Max approach. “What is all this?”
“This is good news,” Max said, smiling at her. “It’s good to see you.”
“The dwarves are good news,” Maverick said. “But I am the great news.”
“Who said that?” Marie asked, looking around.
“It is I, The Maverick!...
2023-06-24 17:05:01 +0000 UTC
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Max and Maverick cycled for a while, obtaining level 5 in (lesser) Quartz-level Cultivation. When Max woke up in the morning, they were level 7. This of course resulted in endless boast by Maverick, a flame of passion Max realized, which could not be quelled by weary praise. Thankfully it had waned by the time Durum came to them.
The king was notably surprised by Max’s gun suddenly turning sentient. The three of them had a discussion about it. At the end of the discus...
2023-06-24 17:04:01 +0000 UTC
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A powerful sensation, like fever passed over Max’s body. It was followed by a surge of power and in the middle of his chest, he could feel some strange energy gathering. It swirled around and started pulsating like a second heart. It was a faint but consistent pulse. From the nexus of energy, Max could feel Mana spreading all over his body, filling him up like a cup. He could feel the power was spread very thin. This must have been due to him being a beginner level Cultivator. Max had an in...
2023-06-24 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Max sat on a tiny stone table eating food that had been promptly delivered after Durum had left. The king had gone over the Mana cycling technique to cultivate Max’s spirit and taught Max what to say in the trial against the High-King.
He had also gone over in scant details about the different cultivation paths Max would have to choose from.
“There will be a few paths available for a warrior such as yourself,” Durum had said and cast a glance at [The Maverick]
2023-06-24 17:02:01 +0000 UTC
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Max was sitting in the nice room he’d been using previously when King Durum entered with a small entourage at his back. The king took a look at the two assassins laying face down on the ground
“Looks like the High-King sent his regards,” Durum said dryly.
Max gave him a humorless chuckle.
“Fulgrum has told me in detail what happened in the ruins,” Durum said. “Your actions have indeed been beyond valiant.”
Max craned his neck down in a respectful bow.
...
2023-06-24 17:01:02 +0000 UTC
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As soon as their ragged expedition shuffled out of the great stone doors back to the realm of the obsidian dwarves, they were met by an entourage of thirty dwarves all armed and armored, standing in two neat groups. At the door towards the room, lay a dead dwarf in a pool of blood.
This was no welcome committee, waiting for them with open arms and smiles. All of the thirty people waiting for them wore tight expressions and dark eyes, ready for violence.
“These are the High-King...
2023-06-24 16:58:01 +0000 UTC
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