Author Frank Morin

Ch 53 - A Different Approach to Survival

“No time to whine about my problems,” I muttered as I rose and switched jackets.

The new armored jacket felt wonderful, a solid weight that didn’t hinder my movements. It was made from heavy leather in a matte black finish with ribbed padding on the shoulders and silver buckles instead of a zipper.

Then I used my upgrade scroll. It flashed and dissolved in a burst of golden sparkles. I received a new notification.

“Mirror Cloak upgraded to epic. Improved concealment ...

Ch 52 - Falling With Style

Consciousness returned slowly, and I wished it hadn’t. The first thing I felt was pure agony. Every muscle and sinew and nerve screamed in pain as if I’d been punched into the center of a volcano. My thoughts twitched, like my brain was short circuiting.

What happened? I tried blinking open my eyes, but only one responded. It barely fluttered, but the other only speared my mind with a fresh spike of agony.

Through my one partially open eye, a big, brown shape, blurry from dist...

Ch 51 - Warning Signs Are For Suckers

"Oh no you don't," I growled and took off after it. In my inventory, Switchblade still showed as recharging with the timer of two minutes, so I ran.

With my current stats boosted, I felt like I could outrun a car. I drew deep and accelerated, flashing across the meadow, legs churning the grasses as I gave chase. I hit at least 40 miles per hour and found I hadn’t even come close to my fastest speed, so I accelerated more.

My Endurance was also boosted, so I should be able to out...

Ch 50 - Bringin' Home the Bacon

Tomas was quivering with eagerness to reunite with Jane, but as we rounded one corner, I had to stop.

“Hold the phone. I need to get one.”

A food cart parked on the side of the road was selling piles of french fries in tall woven baskets. The fries Paul had shared around during the meeting had been some of the best I’d ever eaten. It was a simple taste of home, and seeing more fries, I couldn’t resist the nostalgic urge to buy more.

“French fries?” Tomas asked as...

Ch 49 - Family Ties

It was Tomas. My brother looked more like a corpse than a living soul, although his chest was moving ever so slightly. He looked like he could die any second, and even as I looked, a shimmering, ghostly form materialized above Tomas’s bed. It condensed into a slightly blurry twin of my brother.

“Hurry. Over here,” Crystal called, but I was already moving.

Enraged, I rushed into the room, but even as I did, another entry from the dictionary popped into my mind and cold dread ...

Ch 48 - Lifebane Phantoms

Paul offered me the last donut, then activated my Explorer team chat. He promised to add the other leaders soon. He wanted me to wait to meet with them, but I declined. That new vision of Marisara was more than enough motivation to get me moving.

When I left the town hall, I strode past Sam’s tavern. It was even more crowded than before. I checked the sky to confirm the sun was just past its zenith.

Why did people look like they were planning to party all afternoon? We had hours...

Ch 47 - Confection talks

Inside the nicest wooden building in the center of town, made out of fine, finished lumber and with huge glass picture windows, we met in a conference room that could have been plucked from any corporate offices back on Earth. The long, mahogany table could seat a dozen, surrounded by comfortable captain’s chairs. A wide window provided a great view of the main street.

“Where did you get all this?” I exclaimed.

Paul, the old guy on team The Great British Baking Show, patted ...

Ch 46 - Stats Check

This is another stats chapter.

Name:                                          Lucas Altan

Race:                             &n...

Ch 45 - A Custom Makeover

I gaped. The quest had said something about winning an item from Earth, but I’d never imagined this.

“Is that a motorcycle?” Ruby asked as she too rose to examine it.

I laughed with delight. “It’s my motorcycle. Or, maybe it used to be.”

The color scheme was the same custom midnight blue of my GS1300, but as I paced around the bike, the many differences sank in.

It was like Cyrus had taken my old bike and given it a sci-fi upgrade. The bike was a bit longer...

Ch 44 - I Find the Heart of the Town

I could have endured a hug from Ruby a lot longer than she let me. Just like with Susan, I felt a primal urge to take what I wanted from her. It was my right as the strongest hunter, the one who had just helped save the pack.

Back off. This is my pack, I mean team, and I don’t work that way.

Despite the inner struggle, I still thoroughly enjoyed the hug. Way too soon, she drew back, laughing, and I couldn’t seem to see anything but her face.

Then Steve clapped m...

Ch 43 - Challenges of Leadership

I floated back, scowling at Tony, who lifted a hand in triumph while Burns shouted a wordless cry of victory. Had Tony not seen me there, or had he just not cared that he almost split me in half at the same time he helped kill Tecton?

“Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeated Tecton Earthwarden. Bonus experience gained for defeating a higher-level enemy. For beating the stage-level boss, you receive enough experience to reach your next level, as well as a new title.”

“Title...

Ch 42 - I Try My Hand at Bull Fighting

I swerved as hard as I could, swinging the tree around so hard if everyone was in physical form, many probably would have been flung clear. The move helped dodge many of the first volley of spells, but also swung the back of the tree and the hapless folks clinging there into the path of a few.

A wave of fire splashed across several people clinging to the middle of the back half of the tree, and although we were immune to physical attacks, magic carried a spiritual element that still pun...

Ch 41 - Ghosts in the Trees

“You can’t carry everyone. The weight of 22 people will crush you,” Burns objected, even though he’d just seen me rip the tree out of the ground with my bare hands and watched me throw that boulder last night.

“No, it won’t. Haven’t you considered what our strength stats mean? Stop thinking in terms of Earth bodies. That no longer applies to us.”

“We’re wasting time,” Hector warned as the rumbling from the cows grew closer.

“Don’t you at least have ...

Ch 40 - More Cow Bell

I paused next to a small stand of pine trees barely taller than Earth trees and scanned the nearby grasslands. Morning was half over and the sky was a blue so intense, it made my soul ache when I needed to look away.

The trees looked impressive, rising above the enormous sea of waist-high grasses of the central valley, crowning the only decent rise within a mile of the distant settlement. Ruby hadn’t been kidding. They’d found an excellent place for the settlement. A large, flat-top...

Ch 39 - What Happens on Arasha . . .

Blood and puss and a nasty stench as bad as melting monsters erupted from the wound and Joey fell back to the ground, convulsing as he physically died just as he’d spiritually died a moment ago.

The Spectral Mauler erupted out of the body, hissing in anger as it shot toward Burns to consume another host.

I intercepted it with Soulrend and carved it to pieces. Again, my Tesla Coil bracelet grew warm as I dealt more and more damage.

“Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeat...

Ch 38 - Tug of War Death Match

The camp erupted into bedlam as people boiled out of tents and scrambled for weapons. Magical lights flared and everyone seemed to be shouting at once, screaming about monsters or demanding information.

Burns marched off with his retinue toward the lower end of the ravine, his powerful voice booming over the din. “Meet at your rally points. Sentries, to me!”

They had set rally points. Good idea.

Jane and several of the other locals clustered to my right, nervously scanni...

Ch 37 - We Might Actually Need More Monsters

It turned out dawn took longer to arrive than I’d thought. While the sky very slowly changed from pitch black to gray, we rested and talked.

Nearly half of Burns’s group had picked the Base Camp utility spell, and their huge tents ringed the clearing next to the pond. Jane invited me, William, and Joey into her tent, set next to a large solitary boulder.

Joey pulled me aside just inside the door and gripped my hand with both of his. “Lucas, I have to thank you again. You sav...

Ch 36 - An Old Friend of Mine Can Really Throw Rocks

My emerald box flashed and disappeared, leaving behind a single item.

“Bracelet of the Tesla Coil. Epic. Absorbs energy from enemies you fight and stores it. Energy will automatically be applied to replenish health and mana. Energy is gathered in direct proportion to how much damage you deal, and will slowly bleed away at the rate of 15% per hour until you enter another combat.”

“Sweet!” I removed my scarred bracer from my left forearm and winced at how battered it looked....

Ch 35 - Spartacus

Together we sprinted for the slope down to stage 1. At first I outdistanced the others, but slowed so they could keep up. Part of me wanted to run flat out, but I hadn’t risked so much to rescue them only to leave them to die now.

I pulled out a couple zombie lanterns and handed them over. My companions took them without question, not slowing our desperate pace. William looked hopeful, while Joey kept glancing back at the raging fire his meteor spell had triggered, not able to hide hi...

Ch 34 - A Very Heated Argument

I froze. My entire body went rigid at the sight of the two prisoners lying on those planks. They were both men. One looked awake, cowering away from the carnage, while the other lay unconscious and oblivious to the danger.

Every wolf instinct that had been driving me forward for most of the night screamed for me to flee. I had to leave the hapless men to their fate and race for the safety of stage 1 while I still could. My legs twitched and I leaned toward the tantalizing shadows of the...

Ch 33 - I Take a Sightseeing Death Tour

Within minutes, I realized I was an idiot.

Wolf howls started behind me. First one, then several more. Behind them and echoing above all the others came a deeper howl that set all the hairs down my spine standing on edge.

The howls weren’t words exactly, but I perfectly understood their meaning. The pack was on the hunt, and I was the target. The deeper howl came from the ultimate alpha, and I’d earned his personal ire by killing one of his lieutenants.

Worse, the pack o...

Ch 32 - Harvest of the New Moon

“You have successfully Harvested Lycanthropic Transformation from Waterlogged Werewolf.”

I didn’t even read what spell I got. As soon as I saw that Harvest was successful, I triggered the spell. It thundered through me with far more power than any spell I’d ever tried before, including Thunder Punch.

Why hadn’t I used Thunder Punch?

The thought flickered through my dazed mind as the werewolf landed on me, huge jaws rending. I lifted one hand in front of my face and...

Ch 31 - I Choose to Slap a Werewolf

I woke up with a groan, and memories snapped back, making me twitch with remembered pain. Zombies! And they had shot me with a blast that felt like a Taser on steroids.

Blinking my eyes open, I sat up, staring around wildly. My heart fell into my boots. I was sitting on a rough wooden plank, about 3 feet wide, my wrists and ankles shackled with chains to heavy bolts sunk into the thick wood.

Four men carried the plank. None of them made any move to acknowledge I was awake. None of...

Ch 30 - The Watery Grave

Panting with adrenaline and fear and shuddering from a fresh wave of pain, I fell back to the grass, groaning.

“I’m alive,” I wheezed, raising one hand in a weak salute.

Had I just crippled myself? I couldn’t lie there and wait for the next monster to eat me.

“Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeated a Mammoth Lion. Bonus experience earned for defeating an enemy more than 10 levels higher than your own.”

“More than 28,” I muttered. “Why don’t you c...

Ch 29 - Lying Down on the Job

I decided to scout ahead of the main group to help clear my thoughts and some surprisingly conflicting emotions. I actually loved being in a larger company. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being around other people until I’d found Ruby and Steve, and the feeling was compounded now that we’d met up with another team.

Except they were acting like judgmental pricks. Worse, they’d be right to urge me to stop slacking if I hadn’t gotten my unique tier-1 body upgrade. That left ...

Ch 28 - Stats Check

Stats chapter.

Will you share your thoughts on whether I'm sharing too many stats and information, too little, or just the right amount?

Name: Lucas Altan

Race:   Tier-1 Human

Level: 2

Life Points                               4         ...

Ch 27 - I Remember I Love Stickers

Silence slowly descended over the valley as we stood among the corpses. I felt an overwhelming sense of victory and lifted my sword to shout.

Tony beat me to it by about a quarter of a second. His shout drowned out mine and all eyes turned to him as he laughed and threw his hands out wide. "Well done everyone. The plan worked perfectly."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the cows I had killed.

"Would you like to harvest a spell from Soilstrider Cows?" Eva asked.

I co...

Ch 26 - Where's the Beef?

I angled away from Tony and Ruby, heading into the field on a circular course to approach the cows from the north flank. Tony and Ruby continued along the fringes of the trees. Ruby barely seemed to notice I had left. Her entire focus was on Tony.

I squashed a flash of annoyance. She was on my team, not his. Sure, he was famous, she knew him from before, and he acted with the confidence of a natural born leader. I appreciated that, but not the fact that Ruby seemed to have forgotten we ...

Ch 25 - Cow Level

The humanoid cows were at least 300 yards away, tiny in the distance. Without my enhanced perception, they would have looked like formless lumps. Now I could see them clearly, but they were apparently too far for Identify to kick in.

“We could slip around them,” Ruby suggested, gesturing toward the distant valley floor.

I shook my head. “I can’t. I need the experience.”

“The we go hunt cows,” Steve said enthusiastically. “They’re probably magical cows, so i...

Ch 24 - We Decide to Get a Plumber

We found our quarry within minutes. Thankfully he was not being hunted by any monsters, but just walking between some huge trees.

He was a tall, rugged-looking guy in his 30s probably, with black hair and a clean-shaven face. He was wearing a really nice leather aviator’s jacket and a pair of khaki shorts, but no shoes. He wasn’t carrying any visible weapons.

Identify kicked in immediately. “Steve McDonough. Baby human. Level 8. Water elements.”

Ruby shouted and rush...