Holding a finger to my lips, I leaned the piece of scrap metal away from the wall, so the others could the small blue coin nested there. Maybe I was taking it too far, but in my mind, if they had location tracking, there was a solid possibility of audio as well.
I watched their reactions carefully.
Nick had broken out into a cold sweat.
This isn’t working out the way he expected. Something gave him the impression everyone would play fair. Could be his own,...
2022-03-23 22:21:20 +0000 UTC
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I considered switching to <Born Nihilist> before I put on the mask. In the end, I decided against it. <Jaded Eye> was the tool for the job here, even if maintaining anonymity was paramount. I didn’t know what I was looking for. A white panel van would be too obvious, but a delivery van, or even the black Escalade itself wouldn’t have stuck out much considering the neighborhood. I had to hope the title’s effect would be reduced somewhat, as ...
2022-03-22 02:03:19 +0000 UTC
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It was reminiscent of times long past.
Even early on, I wasn’t great at making friends, but that didn’t stop my parents from trying. There was a never-ending series of play dates in my early childhood. Said encounters eventually gravitated from meeting schoolmates at McDonald's to hours spent attempting to clear a particularly difficult game, but there was a golden period during the resurgence of DND.
For a while it was just me and the DM—Brandon Hew, the son of...
2022-03-21 02:22:33 +0000 UTC
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“Where the hell did you learn to fight like that?” Nick grabbed several cheap beers from the fridge, placed the bottle neck against the counter and then thought better of it, hunting through the drawers until he found an absurdly over-complicated bottle-opener.
“It looked like judo to me.” Jinny commented. She was leaning against the counter, close to Nick but positioned slightly away from him. He crossed easily into her personal space, handing her one. I blinked, n...
2022-03-19 00:18:53 +0000 UTC
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As the figure dropping down from the balcony came plummeting towards my face, there was a split-second to decide how I was handling this. If I could get <Probability Spiral> off in time, it would be easy enough to fuck with their landing, potentially shattering their leg from the fall.
I hesitated, drawing my hand back.
Despite the clear ambush, <Jaded Eye’s> muted reaction to the preceding series of events led me to bel...
2022-03-18 01:03:32 +0000 UTC
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Having secured Talia as a summon, I left the safety of the dungeon‘s cleared floors. I had no doubt I’d return here, but the Lithid sure as hell didn’t sound like an encounter I wanted to rush, not until everything else was handled. For the first time in a while, I found myself without a ride. Mom was dealing with something critical on the site, and calling Nick would open myself up to questions I didn’t want to answer.
Maybe it was, perhaps, an oversight to not realize t...
2022-03-16 01:38:55 +0000 UTC
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“I am not your pet, and you will not treat me as such.” The wolf growled. She was as far from me as possible, though even with her newer, smaller form the elevator didn’t allow more than a single foot of distance.
“Only a fool would treat a sentient being as a pet,” I agreed, attempting to build some semblance of rapport. I was used to uncomfortable relationships and difficult working environments, but the air between us was straight-up hostile.
“Yet you i...
2022-03-15 08:55:14 +0000 UTC
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Every time I called Audrey, it felt like tearing my own hair out, a handful at a time. Between summoning and leveling, it had become abundantly clear that any significant gain would involve varying degrees of discomfort.
But this was in another league
If I were to attempt to put it into words, imagine looking down at your finger and finding a thick cuticle. You grab it and start pulling. Not to the side, but straight up and back. The flesh splits like a dermal zipper, only inste...
2022-03-15 08:45:21 +0000 UTC
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I discovered quickly that the marketplace was inaccessible from the dungeon lobby. Somewhat awkwardly, I replaced the <Allfather’s Mask>and stepped back outside to finish my shopping.
The <Arctic Wolf’s Pelt> and teeth fetched nearly thirty-thousand Selve. Despite the provocative name for the marketplace—The Selve Standard—Kinsley’s website was pretty barebones in appearance. Some pre-modern mix of The Silk Road and ea...
2022-03-13 03:45:40 +0000 UTC
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Shortly after waking up, misplaced and confused, Nick found a system event called a Trial in the old underground Santa Fe Railroad tunnels downtown. According to him, while wandering around in a daze, he found a pair of gilded, thick doors. That was when the low-threat quest had popped. There were also mobs and loot located around the trial, and while he hadn’t gone into specifics, Nick mentioned he’d managed to sell his haul on the market for over forty thousand selve. He was assuming, ...
2022-03-12 05:59:53 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 41
I gripped the seat of my chair tightly. Nick had no idea how badly he was fucking me. This situation had gone from bad, to worse, to nigh unrecoverable in less than a minute.
It didn’t change the fact that his offer was, perhaps, the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for me.
I had my suspicions to the purpose of all of this. My own innate paranoia, my first experience with other Users, along with the Allfather’s warning all led me to believe that there ...
2022-03-11 02:54:41 +0000 UTC
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Hi folks, as mentioned in the schedule post, I'm throwing stuff in my car and about to move to the snowy wonderland of Wisconsin. Daily posting will resume either on either March 9th or the 10th, depending on how long it takes me to get settled.
Also, we're doing character drafting for side-characters in Double-Blind on the discord. Keep in mind I won't use a character for the story unless there's a good fit. But, if you're interested and a patron you get priority...
2022-03-07 04:39:39 +0000 UTC
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“Long time no… see,” I wavered.
The Nick I’d known had been relatively muscular. But this was something beyond simple post-athletic build. He was absolutely loaded with muscle, though the physique combined with his own natural looks created something of a Hollywood aesthetic. I stared at Nick in disbelief, even as <Cruel Lens> jabbered in my ear.
Riding high even with all the surrounding chaos. The system fixed his leg, like it did my ribs and ...
2022-03-07 04:08:01 +0000 UTC
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I played it up a little, nearly stumbling to the ground before I pulled myself up.
“Arthur, what the hell?” Sara shouted.
“That’s enough.” Tyler stood, furious. “Arthur, back off. You’re removed from this discussion.” Arthur swore under his breath and walked to the edge of the instance. “And you.” Tyler pointed at me. “I’ve seen someone work a room before. Don’t act like I don’t know what you’re doing.”
I held my hands up in surrender. “Ma...
2022-03-05 02:28:36 +0000 UTC
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I studied them all, struggling to keep my face emotionless.
Sara wore simple armor, not unlike my set, accented by a simple gray coverup. Short, shoulder-length blonde with a single red streak accenting her bangs. I relaxed my mind and let <Cruel Lens> take over.
Early twenties, confident, no trace of post-teenage depression. Smart. Either tested out of high-school or dropped out early. Probably worked a high-level job before this all started. She’s th...
2022-03-05 02:27:02 +0000 UTC
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Hi all,
Thanks so much for reading. There's a lot of new names and I'm trying to keep track of them all.
Just wanted to comment real quick on the state of the schedule and backlog. I'm working hard to bring us up to the twenty chapters ahead--Should be on schedule to get up to that before the end of the month. RR releases will slow down to ~5 a week soon. Patreon chapters will be daily for as long as I can manage, excluding two days next week when I'll be moving. ...
2022-03-03 03:48:06 +0000 UTC
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Five minutes. Every nerve in my body was tingling, every part of me on the verge of panic. I considered putting on <The Allfather’s Mask> more than once, but I wasn’t certain how it worked. It was something I felt safe testing, even with any of my allies. If I put on the mask, and someone saw me, would they be able to logically deduce it was still me? Or would I just fade into the backdrop, an unknown person taking my place.
Couldn’t risk it. No way in hell....
2022-03-03 03:31:11 +0000 UTC
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<Urgent Quest Received>
Quest: Ignition
Primary Objective — Prevent an outbreak of violence at the Open Forum.
Personal Objective — Remain unidentified by other Users (excluding Kinsley, Merchant).
Threat Level: (S)
EXP GAIN (S)
Time Limit: Thirty Minutes.
Reward: Continued access to contingent quests.
2022-03-02 05:18:36 +0000 UTC
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Our City Hall had always struck me as somewhat pretentious. It had the feel of an upside-down ziggurat, with layered sections extending further and further out, the odd-looking architecture held together by three massive pillars. The somewhat sprawling, style over sense layout extended to the connected park. Which was really more like half standard office park complete with anemic trees, half massive pool of water accented by modern red art balls that looked like someone had take...
2022-03-02 05:17:31 +0000 UTC
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It was a quick trip down to the lobby to warm up, and back to the fourth floor. Much of the frigid bite of the floor itself had lessened after the clear, making the after-battle clean up far less complicated than it would have been otherwise.
I only received one text on my freshly unpackaged burner.
<Mom: We’re making progress. The contract signature was giving us trouble, because of no easy way to sign, but found out thumbprint works just as well. It’s...
2022-03-01 03:15:35 +0000 UTC
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Imagine, for a moment, the feeling of a seatbelt kicking during an emergency stop. Now layer on another point of restraint, and another, constricting and growing tighter. And then by some miracle loophole of gravity, you slip free, plunging through the windshield, the shattered glass tearing and lacerating and brutalizing your body somehow a reprieve from that horrible, terrible pressure that for a moment, you believed would never stop, enjoying the second's long reprieve before ...
2022-02-27 04:25:27 +0000 UTC
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A bolt shredded through the wolf’s coat, leaving a line of red across its shoulder. A graze. Not nearly good enough. If my crossbow’s enchantment was going to have any discernible effect, I needed to start landing hits center mass. Which would be easier if the creature wasn’t so god-damned fast.
Massive, quick, probably horrifically strong.
It charged straight at me. My crossbow whirred, my senses elevating to the point where time seemed to slow down, yet...
2022-02-26 01:14:42 +0000 UTC
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I stared at the empty cage as I rose. The massive white wolf, big enough that its flesh and fur were practically bursting out of the bars, was gone. The creepy, black-silhouetted woman was still there, one tendril reaching out towards me again as the wolf was gone.
What? What the fuck? How was this adaptive? How was this fair?
It got tired of my bullshit and decided to kill me. I fought back the panic, pulling in deep breaths, mentally listing things that I knew. The fi...
2022-02-25 02:21:33 +0000 UTC
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<Would you like to form a guild?>
<Y | N>
Another complication.
I immediately hit no on the prompt.
It was impossible to be certain of how the guild screen functioned, god forbid if there was some sort of roster. If the leaderboard in the adaptive dungeon was any indication, it probably wouldn’t show my name, but there was a solid chance it would list me with question marks.
Which would look preternaturally...
2022-02-24 02:07:47 +0000 UTC
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Kinsley stared at my family, filled with sudden stage fright. Still, even after only a few hours out of the storehouse, she looked significantly less exhausted. A long awkward silence hung over the office room in the community center. She glanced at the whiteboard, still empty except for OPEN FORUM scrawled at the top.
“You’re really using a whiteboard, huh?” Kinsley asked.
“That’s what I said,” Ellison responded immediately.
“How do you two know e...
2022-02-23 21:40:20 +0000 UTC
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Estrada’s first, somewhat unhelpful, recommendation was to quietly assassinate either Rousseau or Voltaire. After some back and forth, she conceded it was probably safer to kill both. When we moved on from the idea of murdering philosophers, the conversation became much more useful.
But it had the overall effect of highlighting to me exactly how difficult my position was. Other than Daphne and—I assumed—her father, I didn’t know any of the major players or factions....
2022-02-23 02:42:08 +0000 UTC
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<Quest Received>
Quest: The Cradle of Civilization
Primary Objective — Form the Foundation of the Merchant’s Guild.
(1 of ???)
Secondary Objective — Achieve the Primary Objective before greater violence erupts.
Personal Objective — Remain unidentified by other Users.
Threat Level: ???
EXP GAIN (L)
2022-02-22 03:21:53 +0000 UTC
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I stared through the ring of the crossbow’s sight, keeping the pin trained at the center of the mess, waiting for the slightest movement, the smallest shift of paper. In the back of my head, I wondered if there was a chance Kinsley had intentionally misdirected me to the corner, so the source of the ambush could come at me from another point of attack. I dismissed the thought. It’s easy to be a good liar, incredibly difficult to convincingly act like a bad one.
“Talk ...
2022-02-21 05:03:32 +0000 UTC
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I offloaded almost everything. As tempted as I was to keep the <Tribal Gnoll Blade of the Undying,> the survivability buff only kicked in when the User was in combat. If anything, as a glass cannon-less cannon, it might be more dangerous for me to use. If it was harder to tell how hurt I was, it could easily lure me into a false sense of security to the point where an eventual tactical retreat—and the subsequent vanishing of the effect—could ea...
2022-02-20 02:42:57 +0000 UTC
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From what I could tell, it started with a sign: Water - 500 Selve.
A gloomy off-yellow light projected from a nearby streetlamp that was flickering. At least we still had power, though there was no guarantee of how long that would last.
The ground was littered with crushed gallon containers and ejected navy caps, the pavement dark with wasted water that seeped between the cracks. Not far from where I stood, a man was engaged in some sort of flailing. There was a pile ...
2022-02-19 03:28:08 +0000 UTC
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