Nathan understood the look that the pretty woman was giving him. He was slightly tired of it, but she was more circumspect than most. But what adults always seemed to forget was that as they grew more understanding of what was happening, they were slowly numbed to it. When they could spot things further out in the future, they could afford to be lax.
For children, there was so much they couldn’t understand. So their entire beings were wired to be sensitive to even the smallest c...
2018-07-09 05:55:13 +0000 UTC
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Today was a big outlining day, which means only one chapter. My schedule is going to be a bit wonky this weekend, so uploads will be weird.
But also after this week, things should be settled and I can start getting back to the days of cranking out the chapters.
In slightly related news, I'm currently looking for a new job. Mostly I need my day job for health insurance reasons, but one of my criteria for this job will be much less mandatory overtime, so my boss' mood...
2018-07-06 04:45:37 +0000 UTC
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I meant to post this last night, but I was dragged to paint. I wanted to get another, but I doubt it will come out today.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
It was like a rose bloom of Aether slowly unfolding in the sky. After it spread to its full height, the petals would wilt and fall away, spreading to the distant reaches of Zone 1. Randidly did some quick calculations and was aghast to sense how wide the Creature’s Aether would spread. Logic...
2018-07-04 15:26:23 +0000 UTC
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Ghost’s sensors were temporarily distracted by an explosion of energy. But after identifying it as an anomaly, Ghost dismissed it; the ambient energy was largely positive. It could wait until the tests had concluded.
“Begin.”
The Hunter-Seeker drone made by Baloo Erickson powered on with a cool buzzing. Then it began to move. Its legs were small, but its arms were large and each composed of two connected appendages. As Ghost engaged the drone and began to control it, h...
2018-07-03 03:16:15 +0000 UTC
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A chapter now, because I think I will miss Wednesday due to festivities. I will also begin typing up the contest after posting these! When I finish, the contest will be put as a thread in the discord server, with all the details!
Discord can be found here: https://discordapp.com/invite/ykJ5K6Z
Randidly absolutely detested enemies with great Endurance. The three...
2018-07-03 03:14:31 +0000 UTC
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With a sharpened focus, Randidly rapidly realized that the cylinder was lined with extremely dense runic engravings. So dense they were that even when Randidly walked up to the thing, he could barely distinguish the different strokes. It was so overwhelming that Randidly felt his head start to spin as he looked.
Someone who could weave Mana Engravings like this… so truly, this was the work of the Creature-
Congratulations, your Skill Mana Engraving has become Lvl 118!<...
2018-07-02 05:46:39 +0000 UTC
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Hank watched as Alana considered the land before them.
“It’s a trap,” Dozer rumbled calmly. Alana chuckled but said nothing.
Before them lay the borderlands. And not just the borderlands, but it was the borderlands that lay directly between the two Zones. The path previously uncovered was a path out of the Northwest of one Zone to the Northeast of the other. But as the surrounding area was slowly pushed back, that path was moving Southward.
At least in theory. As...
2018-07-02 05:43:35 +0000 UTC
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It hurt. It hurt more than anything had ever hurt. To compare the pain from being eaten alive in the dungeon by acid on that first day was to compare a seed to a tree. But Randidly was a very different individual than he had been in the beginning.
His eyes were cold mint, taking on a strangely blue tint, as Aether flooded through him, washing away the Skill that dictated what he could and could not do. All the while, more and more Aether poured into Indomitable Will of Yggdrasil a...
2018-07-02 05:41:01 +0000 UTC
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Tatiana stumbled when they finally stopped. Her heart was pounding. How the hell were they moving so fucking fast? At one point, Tatiana had felt the air solidify around them, as though… as though they were about to break the sound barrier. They had slowed immediately afterward, but Tatiana had a strange impression that it wasn’t because Viking couldn’t go that fast, but rather he didn’t think that she could handle it.
After he had leaped up and launched themselve...
2018-07-02 05:38:47 +0000 UTC
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To his credit, Dr. Henrik only blinked once before he answered. “Oh, Sir Hatch. I hadn’t noticed you’d arrived. I didn’t mean to say you are not valuable, only-”
“I believe what you are trying to say has been made abundantly clear,” Thaddeus said calmly. He began to walk slowly forward. “I’m curious, however. How many Raid Bosses have these new drones been able to kill consecutively?”
“None,” Henrik replied brightly, excitement still clear in his voic...
2018-06-29 04:23:32 +0000 UTC
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The first thought Randidly had when he walked in was that the lights were too low. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem at all for him; his Perception meant his gaze focused at a speed that changes in lighting barely affected him. It would need to be pitch black for him to be blind. But the rest of the guests didn’t share his stats, and therefore there was a cluster of people right outside the elevator who were blinking uncertainty as they walked onto the top floor to see the venue....
2018-06-29 04:17:09 +0000 UTC
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Hey guys,
Apologies, but there will be no chapters tonight. Both because I waffled on how to handle this charity dinner, and also my mind was on other things.
To that point, I wanted to post a bit about stats and the System and its presence in the story. To clarify, I'm still doing what I've always been doing. But because I'm juggling more Skills and PP and Stats, I simply make more mistakes.
In addition, because there is more stuff, I tend to do it less because its a time si...
2018-06-28 03:07:29 +0000 UTC
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Randidly was awkwardly pulling at the collar of his fitted suit when he received the message from Dinesh.
Found another base. It’s a big one. About 5 times as large as the previous ones.
Randidly froze. He was sitting in the back of a car with Tatiana and Henrik. Unfortunately, Davey had to cancel to inspect Randidly’s new drones when they were given over to the administrators at the drone complex. This left them with only Henrik to guide him. Henrik was typing ...
2018-06-27 04:46:31 +0000 UTC
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Levels were strange, Randidly decided during one of his breaks in the labor of preparing these drones for launch. As he worked, he would get slowly better at something. That was simply the accumulation of experience. Accumulating experience also meant that the would receive Skill Levels.
Individually, these Skill Levels were small things, but when Randidly received two or three in both Spriggit’s Tinkering and Engineering Savvy there was a noticeable difference. The System sped ...
2018-06-27 04:43:39 +0000 UTC
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“Who is he?” Hank asked Dozer, who stood next to him with folded arms. Although the rest of the almost 100 man group were keeping together in tight formations, Dozer strode alone. So when they stopped at gates of the Refuge to face the single man standing there, Hank went to the big man for answers.
“He is strong,” Dozer said simply.
Annie stood at the front, opposite the man. “You are going to insist on doing this? Just turn that squirming maggot over to us. It’...
2018-06-25 06:07:29 +0000 UTC
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Randidly burned the body without any remorse and continued the operation. There were no more strange incidents, and they were able to cover about 70% of the shallow areas of the lake. There was likely more hidden in its depths, but this was a preventative measure only. This wasn’t meant to rid them of the problem, just buy them some time.
Hopefully, the military would get off its ass and mop up the rest, but if it didn’t they could just come back and be more heavy-handed.
<...
2018-06-25 06:05:19 +0000 UTC
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Only three tonight. I was just exhausted after the trip and didn't get nearly as much as I wanted done. But I will say that I have refocused a bit towards the text game, because I've lost it a bit while on vacation.
Plus, now I'm gonna focus more on the writing. Try and show how thankful I am for all of your support.
As the group headed South, Randidly checked in with Tatiana. To his surprise, the woman he had felt so close to recently spoke dist...
2018-06-25 06:03:19 +0000 UTC
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As a slight aside, I have also been considering the departure of the System as a chapter by chapter presence. For plot reasons, this makes a lot of sense, but I'm also somewhat annoyed with the lack of it. I have some thougts on it.
Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about it.
Well, it’s not that I don’t know of what Great Paths are… Lucretia said slowly. But… I must admit that I haven’t gained one myself. ...
2018-06-21 23:44:55 +0000 UTC
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I will admit that I am a more passive person, and I like to watch before I act. But Randidly isn't me. He is the force of natural that has survived under the thumb of the System. I'll try and keep him more on character in the future.
Randidly considered taking personal action but ultimately decided against it. He was furious that the government had allowed so many people to die right under their noses. As soon as possible, he needed to strike at the Raid Bosses...
2018-06-21 22:06:03 +0000 UTC
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Henrik wasn’t in his quarters, so Randidly left his new creation with one of Henrik’s assistants with a note. Randidly was filled with confidence in regards to this new Porpoise model that he had designed. He suspected that Henrik would miss some of the more deft usages of Randidly’s new runes, but even the more obvious side effects of his new model would undoubtedly win Randidly enough attention to begin working on more interesting applications of the runic system that Randidly h...
2018-06-21 22:01:56 +0000 UTC
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As Randidly departed from the Danger Zone, he realized two things. First, that being Randidly Ghosthound was truly a hassle. He could see it now, in the small ways that people had treated him, and that they had treated him when he was playacting as Neveah’s version of him. People expected things of him, and while he wore that identity he was constantly watched. More than anything else, Randidly hated being watched.
If there was something that he could only accomplish as hi...
2018-06-21 21:57:51 +0000 UTC
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A couple of quick notes. I don't know how I missed it, but this chapter was part of the batch I meant to release here with the others on monday. It also makes a lot of your reactions make more sense to me.
Second, apologies for the lack of posting for two days. Part of it is that I don't get warm weather often. The second part is that my body isn't prepared for the sun. I am a lobster person right now.
For those of you who are tired of the slow pace (shoutout to Pri...
2018-06-21 21:55:09 +0000 UTC
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Randidly frowned. “What?”
“Through your actions, you have become more than yourself, you have become a symbol,” Neveah said patiently. “You are not just a person, but you are proof of a concept; you are proof that humanity can stand up against the System. But your legend is more than that as well. Because it is every story from the lives you have touched. It is every way that you existing rippled outward, changing the course of history.
“You are upset because you...
2018-06-18 15:52:42 +0000 UTC
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“You were right,” Senator Firefly announced. “To think I doubted you. If not for you… I would never have started this city for refugees they now call the Orchard in my honor. I apologize for that. You have my gratitude.”
Randidly shrugged. He hadn’t realized that Neveah had been the one to push for this refugee camp, but it made sense. As he looked through her memories earlier, he had seen many instances of her helping people and building. She had chosen to dedicate he...
2018-06-18 15:44:04 +0000 UTC
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See, when I outline I think very little about character. But oftentimes, in scene, I'm struck by what this situation can do for a character.
Randidly caught the strange girl who leaped at him by the shoulders, steadying her. She was a slender, lovely thing, but she was only as tall as his shoulders. It was easier than even Randidly had expected to stop her dead. He recognized her too, from looking through Neveah’s memories through their connection.
This...
2018-06-18 15:38:48 +0000 UTC
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I don't know, everytime I write in an airport I get a little weird...
Tia Alexandra, before the System, was the girl who at 16 was creating plans to sleep with the 40-year-old musicians at the concerts her father took her to. By the end of the concert, her father was far too intoxicated to pay attention to her, so she would worm her way to the front of the crowd and wait.
There was a very specific way to get the attention of an older man, Tia knew. The fi...
2018-06-18 15:16:07 +0000 UTC
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You have no idea how often I panic right after I post that I misnumbered something. Ugh. 500 is too many chapters.
The problem with the truth, Randidly knew, was that once it was out, it was impossible to take back. If he were to tell her the truth, there would likely be repercussions that were difficult to predict. So at the time she asked, Randidly had simply said that yes, they were related to that man. He refused to say anything more.
They had fucking held h...
2018-06-15 04:56:55 +0000 UTC
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“I’m really sorry I haven’t had time to talk,” Tatiana said to Randidly as she moved a pot off the fire to a stone slab to cool. “I’ve been rather preoccupied with nursing the injured we received back to health.”
Randidly scratched his chin. “... no worries. That’s actually why I’m here. Recently… we discovered a group of similarly abused individuals. We brought them here, because… well, I wouldn’t know where else to turn. I have a lot of Skills… but th...
2018-06-15 04:53:35 +0000 UTC
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The first thing his roots told him was that there were several people crying in tiny cells along the back of the facility. There was a large front area that he couldn’t really get into, but beyond that, there were several smaller rooms. Two of them appeared to be laboratories. One was a gym, of all things.
In one of the laboratories, a woman was standing over a senseless young woman, seeming to stop and admire the scalpel. Randidly’s lip curled upwards.
‘Don’t you fu...
2018-06-13 04:31:18 +0000 UTC
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I have a concert tomorrow, so no chapters in the evening. But this is another weekend at airports, so hopefully I can crank some out. Everything is outlined for this arc, in more detail than I've ever done. Let me know if you notice anything different about the style because of it~
Annie actually thought that this ambassador from Zone 1 was rather cute, if misguided. There was a very… aggressive pleasure in slowly shooting the arrows until his clothes reveale...
2018-06-13 04:29:38 +0000 UTC
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