puddles4263

Chapter 490

Not exactly sure how long until we see Rand himself, but contact with his group is about... 3 chapters off? After tonight's releases.

The kid with the orange hair from the run-in with the Dungeon Divers was leaning up against Hank’s door, snoring obnoxiously loud. Ezekiel chuckled quietly to himself as Hank clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles popped.

This was not what he wanted to come home to.

So he decided to ignore it entirely. With...

Non-Release Stuff

Hey all!

Apologies for missing Sunday's release, my g/f got sick and threw off my normal schedule for the day. I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

...unless she got me sick...

Well let's not talk about that! There are other things I wanted to cover briefly that I've been thinking about for a while.

One, I've talked to an artist, and will be getting some Randidly work done. Mostly concept sketches for characters, but I'm also getting a large painting done, which I plan...

Chapter 489

Ghost had watched the entire fight occur, grinning from ear to ear. For whatever reason, he loved to watch Hank and did it whenever possible. Perhaps it was just that he loved the data that he had received from Hank, as it always left him pleasantly surprised. Ghost did not dwell on the motivations; Dr. Karman had always recommended Ghost stay away from prying into the workings of his own code too directly.

After all, Ghost could theoretically change himself in powerful, dangerous...

Chapter 488

Hank could see that Heath was becoming incensed, and it amused him to no end. It was a good way of relieving all the stress he had from dealing with Alan earlier in the day. Although the plasma shield could defend against the piercing ability of the reinforced bullets, it was pretty simple for Hank to pepper the other man with bullets.

The first time that Hank had worked his way through his twelve bullet clip in his repeater, Heath had roared triumphantly, but Hank had calmly used...

Chapter 487

Hard to explain why, but Hank is basically the character who I always wanted to write. This was so fun to do 

When Ezekiel was finally released, Hank Howard was standing outside of the Containment Zone, staring down at his watch as if he could peer through it into the spatial pocket dimension and figure out what the gift of the bike meant.

The bike was a clear allusion to his fall from grace. Yet coming from Ghost, who had stripped him of his position ...

Chapter 486

Ezekiel pushed his glasses up his nose. The man had short, dark hair and mild green eyes. When they met, the man had stood and walked over to give Hank a handshake.

“Ezekiel Ghosthound, at your service. You probably don’t recall, but I was in Richmond when you held off the armored bears. I never got to thank you. I’m pleased I now have the chance to pay you back.”

“Ah, no worries,” Hank said, slipping back into a slow drawl. “It’s in the past now. What’s a ...

Chapter 485

Okay, these two are the last set up I wanted for the world. Now we can move back towards action.

Hank’s father, Rick, had taught Hank and Alan three things.

The first thing was that you only apologize if you mean it. This lesson came in the form of a rough shove after Hank had taken a cookie, and then blamed his brother for it. When they were caught, Hank eventually broke and apologized.

“Are you really sorry?” Rick asked. Hank had hesitated, ...

Chapter 484

“Uncle Hank!” Jane shrieked, dropping her rubber ball and throwing herself at him in a blur of blonde pigtails.

Hank’s eyes narrowed a fraction, even as he beamed at her and swept her off in his arms. After all, she moved fast. Of course, not too fast, but with enough speed that she probably had 40-50 Agility, and with enough Reaction and Perception to manage it all. The girl was fucking 9, what the hell was her school putting her through…?

“Heya weasel,” Hank sa...

Chapter 483

Hank pulled the brim of his hat lower and leaned back in his seat. Outside the train, the landscape blurred past, the Manatech launching their tiny vehicle at such speeds that distance, or at least the distance that was within the confines of the Zone, meant nothing.

Although Hank’s brother was a giant dick, he had something that Hank wanted, so Hank was unwillingly dragged from the Class C City that Hank called home, Mottles, towards one of the two Class A Cities in their ...

Chapter 482

Perhaps part of this is just a change of pace for me, but I wanted to do a bit of world building for the other zones while we are away from Rand.

Hank Howard regarded the three individuals in front of him, feeling a headache arriving with a vengeance. As an official Sheriff, and as a Tier Three citizen of their Zone, he ostensibly had the authority to settle their dispute. However, when he saw that the injured party had a probationary citizenship card, and the other two wer...

Chapter 481

Their first night passed uneventfully, as the group hurried East to the border areas, planning to start there in their exploration. Already, Randidly had experienced the strength of the monsters there during the newbie's rescue, and although it couldn’t compete with the Raid Dungeon in terms of numbers, it was about similar in individual strength.

However, like ants, monsters of this level could only threaten Randidly if they took him by surprise, and their numbers defied unders...

Chapter 480

Fewer chapters than I expected to release, but two of them are about half again as long as normal chapters. Plus I will say I was tinkering with the new POV.

I will say, for anyone who doesn't like time away from the MC, we will probably have about 5-10 chapters before we pick back up with Rand. Just a heads up, in case you want to wait and binge through them.

Randidly watched the sunset over Donnyton, his expression neutral. He had arranged for ...

Status

First nice weekend of the year, and I spent it sitting outside rather than writing... Luckily, tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and crappy, so expect 5 chapters tomorrow night.

Plus these chapters will start the next arc, and I spent a lot of my time outside thinking about what will be occurring.

Chapter 479

At first, Randidly was startled by the thought, and the strength of emotion behind it, but then he had to admit to himself, there were very few times in the past where he and Lyra were able to get along. There was some… perhaps flirting, some sexual tension and controversy, but regardless of the motivations, theirs was a history of conflict.

After giving her a few seconds to peer at him, he cleared his throat. “You are right, let’s get down to it. Lyra… you’ve worked wit...

Chapter 478

Setting the bottle down on the table, Tanya turned to regard the man who walked into her shop. The first thing she noticed about him was his feet: they were bare.

The man scratched his head awkwardly. “H-hello…. I, uh, just want my hair shorn off.”

Sighing to herself inwardly, Tanya nodded and smiled. Better be positive about it. “Of course, please have a seat. Ah…”

There, she stumbled. Very quickly, she had been told that they didn’t really have US money...

Chapter 477

Tanya swept up the shorn off hair into her dustpan, trying not to stare at the heavy iron sword the middle-aged man was buckling back around his waist. It was enough that the people living around here didn’t use electricity, and didn’t even seem to want to, but it was another thing entirely for Tanya to accept that the people here wore fucking swords.

Tanya had awakened 5 days go in the border regions of this “Zone” as they called it. From her perspective, one mom...

Status

No chapters tonight. I have a show tomorrow and spent my writing time rehearsing instead. But tomorrow will be the long awaited confrontation with Lyra, so look forward to it.

Especially those of you who have hated her since the beginning.

Chapter 476

Sydney looked tiredly down at the two bundles of paper stacked neatly on her desk. The past few days had been hectic, as a whole new area opened up for exploration, and the East End’s resources were stretched far past the breaking point in order to explore a portion of it.

Donnyton took most of the Eastern areas, but East End could basically monopolize the North, as both the Refuge and Star Crossing were too central to send troops easily, and were more concerned with their relat...

Chapter 475

Before his last task, Randidly had one other thing to accomplish. And he wanted to get this inner focus task out of the way, in case things went… downhill.

Pointing his attention inward, Randidly slid into his Soul Skill, looking down at the world. He gathered some Progenitor’s Influence floating in the air nearby, raising his total to near 8000. After a few minutes, Lucretia flew up to meet him. Very quickly, Neveah also came, shifting from her training in the mountains to us...

Chapter 474

Mrs. Hamilton looked up at the young man that walked into her field office. It was almost noon, and most of the Southern and Eastern new areas had been examined, at least in a cursory manner. From what she understood, most of it was monster-infested wilderness, so much so that the Squads above 20 were having difficulty rescuing people when they found them. Mostly, they just called for assistance from Numerals, or even the Ghosthound himself, if he was in the area.

But now that the...

Chapter 473

I bet you guys would get a kick out of how small an outline I had for these chapters epilogue-y chapters. Sometimes I just like the scenes I'm writing in, so I stay in them for a little extra.

Rose was beginning to grow worried. Listless, Ace continued to sit in the window of his study, staring out at the figures moving through the streets of the Refuge in the slow dying light. His hands were still, and his eyes were dull.

Rose hadn’t seen him this blan...

Chapter 472

After a moment of intense scrutiny, Mrs. Hamilton bowed her head. “I apologize. What I did was out of line. I took advantage of the fact you had less information than I did to intervene directly in the process of your Class Creations. The details I was given were vague, but it was clear that I would be able to exert an influence on you, one far beyond the usual clout I have in our discussions.”

Randidly remained silent, watching her.

Without needing to be pressed, Mrs. H...

Chapter 471

I'll have more tomorrow morning. I spent the day writing out and got back late. So tired. Just wanted to give a few as a teaser.

After sorting the bodies, and pouring Health Potions down the throats of the seriously injured, Drake dismissed his armor and sat for a while, surrounded by the unconscious bodies, wiping blood from his sword. He continued to wipe and polish in small circles, and it was only after he could see his reflection in the blade that he reali...

Chapter 470

Drake looked around at the surrounding 20 men and women, the cream of East End, as the smiled cockily at him.

“...You really want to fight us all at once?” Zither said, his smile long and lazy on his face.

Drake nodded solemnly, his eyes scanning the group around him. At first, he wasn’t sure what to make of the Ghosthound’s strange speech about power. When Sydney appeared to be sleeping when Drake returned, he decided to check to see how much of it was true.

E...

Chapter 469

Randidly spun around, right before he was going to crack a joke at Rose’s expense, as the only individual here worthless in combat. But before he could finish, a flash of power pulled his attention back towards the Dungeon.

There was a flash and swirl of Aether, causing his eyes to widen. Could the Creature…?

Definitely not, based on the memories we recovered, Lucretia cut in, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sign of trouble.

Memories...! Rand...

Chapter 468

Randidly swore with such passion that Astral Simon jumped to the side, moving his attention a bit farther away from the group. Thea, heedless, continued to cry next to the weird, rotten remnants of Chrysanthemum.

Simon felt somewhat cold for feeling that way, but…

“Will there be enough people to mount a rescue?” Rose wondered aloud. “We need to move fast, either way. Get people at the borders-”

“I’ve no doubt Mrs. Hamilton is moving squads as we speak.”...