Malcolm Tent

Wish upon the Stars chapter 372

Finding a seat at the arena the next day was harder than expected. I  don't know why I hadn't assumed it would be packed, maybe because it had  been so sparsely populated all the other matches. People had watched  from home or just ignored most of the lead up fights, since there were  so many happening. Even last round, the top twenty, hadn't really been a  concern for most.

This one was different though. This  match was one of the ten semi-finals, and ever...

Mined Games chapter 16

I spent the rest of the day moving all of my stuff into the mining company. The place was safe as far as I could tell, with the only sentient creature I’d met being Barew, who never came above ground. Doing it this way let me clean my room out and leave without having to make a hundred trips, or walk past my dad too much.

When I’d been checking up on the test, I’d ALSO confirmed that the Blacksmith Guild had on premises dorms for students. The early entrants to the guild were trea...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 371

I had to admit that the people running this tournament were smarter  than I'd given them credit for. The next day was downtime before the  semi-finals, and to get everyone pumped they released the names. At this  point, everyone had fought enough times and there were few enough  people left that anyone who wanted to be prepared (Abel didn't) would  be. In light of that, all the matchups were trumpeted from the rooftops.

It  had only taken me a second to rea...

Greed God chapter 242

Another gdocs chapter link, because I like how it's working out. This one is posting early, but it's 2:30 AM on Thursday where I am. This one is a bit of a dive into Nick's headspace after the funeral, since a lot of people were interested in seeing more about how he handled his humanity as it develops.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KusZcRU15ZmrjsY_P...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 370

I was surprisingly pain free when I came to. Well...my body was. My  head was fuzzy, but that was to be expected with overtaxing my soul. Oh,  and the yelling. The yelling wasn't helping. "Look at him!" Screamed a  voice. "How many bones did you break? Do you even know? Now he won't  wake up even after healing. None of the rest of us were that badly hurt  in any of our matches. Is there even an ounce of forethought it your  head?"

Groaning slightly, I  ...

Mined Games chapter 15

The inside of the tent was bigger than the outside. Markedly bigger. I had no clue how the magic actually worked, but I knew exactly what kind of mana specialized in these kinds of spells. My kind. This was spatial magic, the first example of it that I’d ever seen.

It looked like some kind of great hall, stone, weirdly enough, just huge blocks of gray rock. There wasn’t really anything above us, the whole place sort of faded into darkness after about ten or fifteen feet up, and the ...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 369

My first move was to immediately trigger Moonlit Night. Danger Sense  wouldn't stop trilling in my head, but with the push a second ago it at  least dimmed. I'd need to adapt it to the situation so it would actually  work. Sensing that you were ALWAYS in danger wasn't actually a warning  of anything.

Abel,  meanwhile, stared into the fog with amusement. I'd moved out of the way  immediately, making sure he couldn't see or hear me well enough to aim.  H...

Greed God chapter 241

I'm thinking about trying to upload GG like this from now on, as long as nobody has trouble accessing it. Just to save future hassle with 18+ chapters. If anyone has problems let me know and I can switch back to regular posting.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yRmWLEpyfPSO_JofoIvVIQESM8T3qmTR6d8FWBwsihI/edit?usp=sharing

Greed God chapter 240

Hey folks, Greed God 240 was tagged as 18+ and the site gave me some trouble, so for any GG fans I went ahead and uploaded that chapter, warnings and all, to docs, with the link below. Next chapter goes up momentarily.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11IvmlDtiFMwOvU81IEuv1GKyOOGhbirRSr1GqBm7sEQ/edit?usp=sharing

Wish upon the Stars chapter 368

Today was the day. Round twelve. I got up early so I could finish my  goal of ranking up DS Mastery, and was just finishing up the last step  of that. Yesterday I'd ranked up Earthseeking to 'Song of the Soil',  which increased the range and specificity of my seeking ability by using  my Minor Singing Skill to boost it. I'd also considered using piano and  guitar, but realistically there were accessibility issues there. I  wasn't carrying around a whole piano for...

Mined Games chapter 14

Three weeks. It took me three. Weeks. A hundred plus gold per day sounded like a lot, but it really wasn’t. The condenser pushed one percent of the mana in a mana stone or crystal into me, which, while much more wasteful than regular condensation formuli when it came to the crystals, was also much faster.

But with speed comes cost. The more stones I used, the more I needed, and once I got through stones and passed the fifth circle, I had to burn my stockpile of crystals. I also ran in...

A Rumble of Frost chapter 25

February 16th 2001, British Royal Museum, 10:00 AM EDT

Once  we finished eating, Jean made some calls to some of Uncle Chuck's  friends on this side of the pond and got us access to a cabin in the  woods. It wasn't exactly a novel hiding place, but it was a damn sight  better than trying to fight the boomer twins in the middle of the city.

Arriving  at the place, we all crashed (me on the floor because the damn beds  were too flimsy f...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 367

Time. Something I'd had plenty of in the last few rounds, but not  enough of to accomplish a goal I was now planning to accomplish in just a  few days. I needed to finish my last two upgrades, then synergize DS  Mastery with Enchanting permanently to hopefully eliminate the whole  charges thing completely. It would be nice not to have to count my  attacks during combat.

But  to do that, I needed to figure out a possible synergy for Earthseeking  and Su...

Mined Games chapter 13

I stared at the emerald raptly as I rolled it through my fingers. I was in my room above the shop, having finished up my mining for the day, but I was far too wired to sleep, even exhausted and sore as I was. This was…amazing.

Despite the existence of magic, there were some hard and fast rules for blacksmithing that didn’t change. Once you made a magic item, you couldn’t add new things to it. You could fix it if it broke, but adding another magical effect was completely impossible...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 366

I was able to get a bit of sleep before my match. Not as much as  usual, but enough that I wasn't really tired or jumpy. Despite that, I  was at least a little nervous. The chances of me fighting a team member  again, even with the smaller pool to draw from, were low. For the  eleventh round I'd probably be up against a stranger, but that didn't  help as much as I'd have thought.

Whoever  this was, they had made it almost to the end of the solo rounds, whic...

Greed God chapter 239

April 16th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 12:00 AM EDT

The  cocky smirk on Hobbes face lasted for about fifteen seconds into the  fight. Fifteen seconds until the point where a massive spire of Amethyst  shot out of the ground in three parts, wrapping around his hands and  neck to create a crystalline stockade. As that happened, Barbie flicked  out a hand and a barrage of starlight flash bombed the area. By the time  our vision...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 365

Nat was grinning at me as I entered the barrier, but I ignored that  and yanked her into a tight hug. She eeped in surprise before tapping on  my back. "Ribs." She wheezed. "Breaking." I flinched and pulled back,  grabbing her by the shoulders to look her over for any injuries I hadn't  apparently just caused.

"Are  you ok?" I said frantically. Natalie just grinned at me, rubbing her  ribs slightly as she chuckled at my panic. I flushed. "I mean  like....

Mined Games chapter 11

I started with my most commonly used tactic. “Oh, don’t you remember? You told me to close down the other day. You came home really drunk and mentioned that we should take some time off to get the customers excited for our grand return.” This had about a fifty percent chance of working. My dad liked to drink when he was gambling, and while he was never hostile when drunk, he WAS extremely lazy.

Sadly he wasn’t stupid, and this had come up before. He reached into a pocket and smi...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 364

State of Grace flowed through me as I dropped to a knee, planting my  hands on the ground to trigger my usual magma limb and introduce poison  into the mix. I was about to charge forward to help, but a hand caught  my shoulder. I turned to see Abel frowning at me. "No." He said bluntly.

"What  do you mean, no? My cousin is fighting for her life here!" I tried to  shake him off, but even boosted, his Might was much higher, his hand  remained locked around me...

Greed God chapter 238

April 15th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 11:00 PM EDT

Shifting  into my draconic form was...kind of nice. I hadn't really noticed it,  but being humanoid felt kind of confining, like wearing a shirt that was  too tight and choked you a little bit. I got over it fast and it became  background noise, but the annoyance was still there, and now that I was  going I was kind of reveling in the freedom.

I'd  expected it to be c...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 363

I hadn't visited the location where my cousin and her guards were  living. With the tournament ongoing and my team's deal not to seek  outside help, it seemed smart to minimize contact, but I had at least  gotten an address from her in one of our conversations, so I was able to  direct Jessie to the location. Lucky the expanded space came with a  possible expanded entrance, or we'd never have fit Randall in the car.

When  we arrived at the rented house (Nat...

Mined Games chapter 12

“Ninety-nine…one hundred.” I counted aloud as I slotted the last coin into the slot next to the elevator. Stepping in, I checked the dial that appeared last time, and sure enough, aside from one and two, there was a number three. Spinning it to the proper digit, I threw the switch, and felt that familiar lurch as the elevator reached the third floor.

I stepped out slowly, excited to find out what exactly was down here. It had taken me four more days to get enough money, and it had...

A Rumble of Frost chapter 24

February 16th 2001, British Royal Museum, 3:00 AM EDT

"Shouldn't  we...I don't know. Go help with cleanup?" Said Jean uneasily as we  watched the fire crew dig out the destroyed building. We were far enough  away that the thick fog Ororo had barely been able to reconjure was  covering us completely, up on a nearby hill.

I groaned.  "No. Because A. You'd have to explain why you and Kitty knew about the  incident early enough to evac th...

Greed God chapter 237

April 15th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 10:00 PM EDT

I  hurled another shimmering wall of destructive light at yet another  hedge, and we stepped through. I turned to Scott, who looked about as  annoyed as I felt. "So." I said gruffly. "Exactly how large could he  have made this place? Because...it's been an hour. Like, if he's using  the stone, there still have to be limits right? Some kind of maximum  tolerance the space ha...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 362

Rime came through. Or rather, Frostbite did. Upon receiving the call,  our ally combed through the local information sources and got us a  location for a recent fight matching the parameters we gave her. She  wasn't able to actually locate Celine, but she told us where the elf  girl HAD been, and that would be more than enough for me. Eye of  Revelation would let me track her if I had a place to start.

Just  as she said, Callie wasn't pulling punches either...

Mined Games chapter 10

I grunted out a pained exhalation as I dropped the pickaxe, walking over to slump against the wall. I’d been using the one from the second floor, which was a sturdy steel model, rather than the iron pick that had been on the rack on the first floor.

Unscrewing a vial of stamina slop, I grimaced as I forced it down my throat, feeling my sore muscles flood with energy. They still hurt, but they were full of energy at least. It was a strange and not at all entertaining experience, but it...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 361

The next three days passed relatively quickly. While fighting on the  first day of each bracket was a pain because I had to be one of the  first in the round, and there were many more powerful opponents for me  to draw, it was also a benefit because I got the full four days off for  each round.

For  the eleventh round it would be another four days, though there would  only be one fight per day instead of two, though there would only be two  days off be...

Greed God chapter 236

April 15th 2016 New Jersey, Rosewood, 9:00 PM EDT

I  admit to being a bit distracted by Jenny's thick green booty as we  walked out the doors of the drawing room, but I was ninety percent sure I  wasn't distracted enough to miss us leaving the house and walking out  onto the grounds to wander into the rose maze. Not to mention the roses  in this maze were made of black stone, glowing with a freakish purple  light, and the a...

Wish upon the stars chapter 360

"You made me work for that one." I grunted as I slumped down on the  couch. We hadn't talked much on the drive home. "I was worried a few  times there. Your main stats are so much higher than mine. Can't believe  you could see through my Moonlit Night. Even close range."

She  shook her head. "Not see. Sight was gone. I was going off hearing. You  almost got me with that. Some kind of Stealth element I'd guess? But you  forgot that Stealth is about using Per...

Mined Games chapter 9

Mine. Smith. Condense. Three simple words, three very un-simple actions, and ones I repeated ad nauseum. I found that breaking my body down with mining before getting into the condenser actually helped me absorb the mana faster, and that I’d been doing things in the wrong order. So I made sure to do my physical work before my condensation.

I spent a week working. Learning to make items better, clearing the mine. I got in touch with Riley a few times, keeping the channels between us op...