Hey all. First color rough from my amazing artist. A few things need to be tweaked like the color of the rings and maybe give her a more menacing face. But what do you all think?
2023-11-01 10:40:44 +0000 UTC View PostPrincess Lunalah leafed through the status report within her private office while her assistant Ling Wei looked on. The latest financial reports from Xiang Xian province had been compiled and while the numbers scrolling across her Qi-tablet were plain enough to understand, none of them made sense to her.
“Production has fallen by 37 percent?” She looked to Ling Wei who had compiled the report briefing. “What is the explanation?”
Ling Wei smiled. “Your majesty will no dou...
2023-10-30 00:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostMaster Hei Dong was beside himself with disbelief.
She’d admitted it.
But how?
Why?
Fia continued to weep as a dark fear crept inside Hei Dong’s soul, questioning both his instincts and his daughter’s integrity. He wanted to reject the thought immediately. But had she done it? Had Fia actually lied?
No, he couldn’t believe it.
She couldn’t be capable of something like this.
“Fia,” he called to her, but she was too grief stricken to respo...
2023-10-26 02:35:31 +0000 UTC View PostI entered the utter darkness of that space within spaces, my view to the outside world began shrinking to but a pinpoint within my mind’s eye. I could just barely make out the details within it as it shrunk. Kelsey was still yelling at me in slow motion and the black tar that was I’xol’ukz was still slowly taking solid form. I had bought more time by entering the spirit realm, but I had to make the most of it.
Moving swiftly, I sought out the Struggler within my Second Soul.
Master Hei Dong entered the Imperial court building with his wife Rhi Dong and Fia by his side. A small crowd had gathered in the public viewing area, an anomaly of sorts for such a low-profile matter, but he supposed the inclusion of a Grand Sage in the proceedings would bring all kinds of onlookers.
Rhi Dong looked concerned at their presence, but he steered her clear of them as they entered the defendant’s area.
“Pay them no mind,” Hei Dong said. “They are here to see t...
2023-10-20 02:10:18 +0000 UTC View PostMaster Hei Dong strolled atop the Sky Port with impatience in his heart. The structure was fixed atop the tallest structure of the Imperial City, a large landing platform that could accommodate hundreds of skiffs at a time.
He glanced up frequently at the night sky, looking for the one skiff he was eager to see arrive. The Bloodmoon shone with its sickly red glow, but Hei Dong was more interested in the small pyramid like shape that hung in the sky just below it.
The Imperial Tran...
2023-10-15 12:08:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe stench of rot and decay hit me like a wall as we descended through the bunker.
I took the lead with Jim and a small squad of soldiers following close behind. Further back was Kelsey and Lieutenant Harris, along with the platoon that would form the mop-up crew. The place was in total darkness, lit only by the small headlamps each one of us wore. People hadn’t lived in the bunker for weeks and it showed. Disheveled quarters. Clothes and supplies strew haphazardly across the halls. T...
2023-10-12 02:06:39 +0000 UTC View PostHey all!
Okay its really time for me to get the next cover out. Alot more story has come out since i last polled you guys on what to put on this books cover so I'm going to ask again.
What do you think will look cool? I'm still torn between quite a few ideas so I'm still not sure at the moment.
To maybe help a little, here is the blurb I have so far for book 2...
A world destroyed. An axe to grind. And a path to infinite power. Welcome to my reality. 2023-10-11 01:30:11 +0000 UTC View Post
I wanted to get out into the wild right away, but I had burned way too much Frenzy for that. Plus, although I had finally had my breakthrough to use my spiritual techniques, I was still headed into a battle with a largely unknown foe.
Or perhaps a battle within a largely unknown territory was more accurate.
Jim had said the second base was hundreds of miles away by tunnel and it would take time to get there and as well as back. I could be in for a long haul. A dungeon crawl, more ...
2023-10-07 22:43:22 +0000 UTC View PostI didn’t know the strength of the cultivator I now faced.
Or if she even was a cultivator anymore.
Like Hong Feng, Hin Wu had transformed with the power of Dark Frenzy and by all accounts, she seemed several tiers above where he had been on the ‘beasting out’ scale. The [Odds were Again me] for sure and I welcomed the surge of Frenzy that came with it.
I could sense the Dark Frenzy in her growing stronger. I backed up slowly as Hin Wu began circling us, perhaps still s...
2023-10-02 02:14:37 +0000 UTC View PostI ran with the speed of [Frenzied Lightning], tearing up the autumn countryside.
I had barely slept at all—anxiety and uncertainty keeping me awake all night. I prayed that Fia would be waiting for me by the lakeside as normal, nothing amiss, but doubt was gnawing at my soul. The urge to know with certainty that she was alright spurred me on as I ran through rusted brown thickets and forest lined with bare trees. Minutes later, I crested a final rise to get a view of the lake, but she...
2023-09-30 10:51:18 +0000 UTC View PostI trusted Hin Wu about as far as I could throw her, although I guessed these days that idiom didn’t make much sense anymore. Still, it was a much-preferred option to accept the drink and hear her out, rather than risk facing her without a working [Soul Shield] technique.
We entered a small tavern on the edge of the market district and found a secluded table towards the back. As Hin Wu sat, she pulled on the hairline of her gray bob, revealing it to be a wig, her vibrant red hair spill...
2023-09-26 00:28:04 +0000 UTC View PostOne look at the crowd outside the arena and I understood why no one from the block was coming to cheer me on. Where there were once long lines of locals and commoners, there were now queues of hovering skiffs waiting patiently to discharge their passengers at the front of the arena valet style.
Inside the prep area was no different, with cultivators arriving with whole teams of attendants and support personnel, from people carrying their weapons and armor, to beauticians and tailors ten...
2023-09-22 08:00:56 +0000 UTC View PostA light flurry of snow wafted across the rippling surface of the lake.
I maintained my form, Phalanx Glaive resting solidly upon my right shoulder with my axe held low in my left hand. My breath frosted in the frigid morning air, a slow exhale as to not make a sound. It was not to mask my presence however, but rather to not cloud my hearing to detect someone else’s.
I sensed the attack before I even saw it.
Three jian blades stabbing the air.
I shifted and p...
2023-09-20 00:12:16 +0000 UTC View PostI couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Or who I was seeing was perhaps more accurate.
“Threja?”
She chuckled as she folded her arms across her massive chest. “Somewhat, I suppose.”
I was even more confused. She certainly looked like Threja, or what I could remember of her anyway. Close to nine feet tall, packed full of muscle with unkempt white hair that spilled down her face—a face that was aged and worn yet still beautiful in a way.
“I can...
2023-09-16 11:33:17 +0000 UTC View PostI arrived at the square to find the place shrouded in darkness and utter silence.
I slowed instinctively, dropping into a martial stance.
What the hell…?
My heart rate climbed as I inched forward. It was late but not that late. The place should still be buzzing with activity. People getting dinner and enjoying a drink or smoke after work. Dread crept into the forefront of my mind as I recalled my encounter with Hin Wu and Lo Feng.
Had they gotten he...
2023-09-13 22:30:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe entire outcome of the fight shifted in my mind as the reality hit.
My ace in the hole was gone.
Not only that, but if this truly was Silver Hawk, then I was facing a cultivator a tier higher than what I’d been expecting. The same level as Fia really. But thank goodness she didn’t come with Fia’s repertoire of techniques.
She couldn’t Fly, used only one jian blade instead of three and was a washed-up hag to boot.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t ...
2023-09-09 20:30:15 +0000 UTC View PostIt was my last day for training and Fia was riding me hard.
And not in the pleasurable way.
“Too slow! Try again!”
I brandished my axe with lightning, pulling out all the stops. Fia spun and twirled with her three jian blades dancing behind her back, each motion a technique in and of itself. I read the moves as fast as I could, deciphering the Xiangqi game going on between us.
I struck with a ranged lightning arc, forcing her to dodge. Anticipatin...
2023-09-04 04:30:37 +0000 UTC View PostI arrived at the Golden Spire with the Phalanx Blade slung across my shoulder and wrapped in the white sheet. Master Edrik had once again complained it was unfinished when I dropped by to pick it up, but I ensured him the polish and sharpening probably wouldn’t matter.
I was going to learn the basics, but more importantly, after learning more about the Legionnaires, their role and how the vets at the Golden Spire felt about them, I rethought my earlier decision of keeping it a secret ...
2023-08-30 19:29:06 +0000 UTC View PostMaster Hei Dong cycled his Qi as the two Fire Bird elders approached.
It was just after dawn and the unexpected visit was most untimely.
And unwelcome.
Hei Dong had summoned both Rhi and Fia to stand with him, along with Fia’s enclave of Silver Shadows. The twelve women in black stood in formation, encircling the central courtyard of the Dong Estate.
Their positioning was strategic.
If Lo Feng had come here to start trouble, they would not make it easy for him....
2023-08-27 18:29:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe Golden Spire was on the edge of the restaurant district, bordering the seedy brothels and dive bars on the bad side of town. Rough neck cultivators from unknown sects gave me long and uneasy stares as I pushed through the dingy curtains that served as a door to the place.
I was immediately hit with the pungent aroma of Qi infused herbs and cheap wine, the stench a visible haze that shrouded the already dimly lit interior. Shouts and yells stood in the place of music as a rowdy crowd...
2023-08-17 03:17:55 +0000 UTC View PostKelsey stared into the glowing orb with eyes the size of quarters.
“Holy crap, Max!” she said, grabbing it. “You did it! I see stuff!”
I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
We were in what I was now calling the town square. The courtyard under the lean-to right outside the sealed bunker doors. Most of the residents still hadn’t moved back inside, despite the domicile being cleansed. They watched us from a short distance away as Kelsey and I sat facing one ...
2023-08-06 11:04:25 +0000 UTC View Post“Chun! Bow quickly!” Xi Xha said, her head still facing the ground. “They are the Shen sisters!”
“Yeah, I know who they are,” I said with [Indifference], eyeing them as they sauntered off the skiff towards us.
I couldn’t really tell them apart, all of them wearing the same identical hairstyle. One of them seemed to take the lead ahead of the other two, however—the leader amongst them perhaps. They all looked to be in their forties, with faces that were still somewh...
2023-08-04 00:36:40 +0000 UTC View PostAn odd mixture of apprehension and exhilaration filled me as I stepped upon the skiff.
For one, it was only my second time of having the privilege to ride upon such a device, the first time being when that bastard Hong Feng was carting my ‘dead’ body out into the wild. But more than that, this would be my first time to see the very symbol of my planet’s oppression up close.
The damn giant pagoda in the sky.
I could still visualize the first time I saw them.
As a ...
2023-07-30 12:40:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun had barely touched the height of noonday by the time I reached the handler station back home. I was bathed in sweat and heaving huge lungfuls of air, but I had done it.
I had made the trek in less than half the time as normal.
I’d left right at moonset, still under the cover of darkness and had pushed myself to the limit both physically and spiritually. I maintained both [Mark of the Giant] and [Mark of the Beast] the whole time without taking a second to rest.
Whe...
2023-07-24 01:13:28 +0000 UTC View PostI burst through the hallways, pushing against the mob rushing in the opposite direction towards the bunker door. Cries and screams of panic added the general chaos of the blaring klaxon as rifle fire punctuated the air.
I headed towards the gunfire, bypassing whole flights of stairs as I pushed through level five to get to level four. I felt Kelsey more than saw her as she stayed close behind me, her fear and Frenzy mixing as one as it touched her Flame.
The crowd thinned and I be...
2023-07-20 20:26:49 +0000 UTC View PostWe stuck to the plan and despite a somewhat restless night in the undersized hospital bed, I was up with Kelsey before dawn, running her through her axe techniques. We were out in the courtyard under the tent and only a few people were up to watch us.
We went through the basic forms in tandem, me leading with my axe and she with hers. I then showed her a couple more advanced techniques and how to combine them, performing her first combo.
Kelsey had good reflexes and a good memory ...
2023-07-16 12:29:41 +0000 UTC View PostHey all,
I think i'm hitting close to the midway point for Book 2 and need to get working on its cover.
I dont have an idea in mind for it as yet, so I'm reaching out to you all for inspiration.
Anyone have any ideas or are there any scenes from book 2 that you think might make a cool cover?
Let me know!
~Rick
2023-07-13 10:45:43 +0000 UTC View PostI focused on the Frenzy running through my meridians and began applying my [Iron Skin] technique, meridian by meridian. It was a strange process, slowing down to a crawl what I normally did in an instant now.
But I was going slowly for a purpose.
I stopped just short of applying the last meridian and then shifting the sequence in my mind, applied the modified version of [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls] that I had mapped out the night before. The process was agonizing, opening two...
2023-07-12 21:05:49 +0000 UTC View Post