Chapter 74
Spirit Walk
“Now that there are no more distractions, we shall begin,” Prentip began.
As he spoke, his old eyes began to glow with a faint bluish hue, a trick of the light. At least that is what most outsiders would think. Given the raging bonfire that still seemed to rage onward, albeit at a more subdued pace, there was a slight chance that the new color that Frank noticed was due to the lighting.
But Frank knew better.
Frank had seen the diverse ...
2025-02-14 18:35:33 +0000 UTC
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Good morning everyone,
This is not the message that I wanted to put out, but definitely one that needs to be noted. I have been sick this week (9-13 Feb), and thus unable to write.
That said, I am finally starting to feel better. Sorry that it is now Thursday, but I do think that my fever has finally broken.
Just wanted you all to know why the release schedule has been messed up this week.
I'm tracking that I have only produced one actual chapter for this we...
2025-02-13 11:19:31 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 314
Divining Mythical Bloodlines
“Oh yeah, by the way, mother, when you get a chance,” Gwen my daughter and someone who I seem to have underestimated as a sneaky sneak began.
Hearing her words, I can all but taste the deception in her inflection. This is the same type of deception that is playful, almost taunting. Basically, daring me, without the use of an implied threat to my own social bearing.
“Hmm?” I quip, turning my head to face her, though she k...
2025-02-11 11:48:39 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 313
Bondage, with Friends
“I’ve got you now!”
You know you might have a problem with trying to instantly understand magical concepts, when someone is barreling at you with a binding magical shackle. The kind that will instantly bind upon closing.
That’s when seeing it sparks in your mind a myriad of different combinations of thoughts and other actions.
The shackle, or maybe modified bracer now that I have a chance to look at it, is quite intricate...
2025-02-10 04:39:39 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 24
The Interrogation
“When the authorities are on to you, closing a net. The easiest way to get out for a major crime, is to be pulled in for a minor crime. They will continue their investigation, never knowing that you are right there the entire time.” -Marcon on why he started that bar fight.
“What an unusually dark shade of black your hair is,” The matron Dr. Sophilia Hylanthian commented.
Her words piercing through Arla as she walked by, trying to l...
2025-02-08 21:26:04 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 85
A Smiling Devil
(Darcy Renolds)
“They’ve been in there a long time,” Jasmine mumbled.
Hearing her, Darcy could only nod in agreement, as her own frustration began to take shape.
“So, how long have you two known this Misha?” The man in the suit who even wore shades asked.
Just being near the man, this Mr. James guy, caused an odd sort of tension to build within Darcy. While she got no overt vibes that he was hostile, there was a seeming ...
2025-02-07 11:56:23 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 312
The GYBIU Bug
“Okay, now that the easy part is over.”
The worst eight words in the English language. Just combining them all but seems to tempt fate. That, or worse is the prelude to a direct backlash of karma.
There is a certain Karma to actions, and I’m learning more and more that there is karma in words and phrases.
Things like the five-word karmic challenge, how bad can it get?
That is one example of words almost immediately h...
2025-02-05 04:31:05 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 311
Murder-Phonics 101
So, what do you do when you have a desperate plea from a enormously tall murder bot wishing to come with you to non-murder land?
Well simply put, you apparently let him join you, knowing that this might be a way for us all to learn to trust the murder bots a bit more.
That and the fact that I was offered a ton of golden karma threads by doing this, made this exchange seem worthwhile to me.
I don’t know why I suddenly liked Karmic ...
2025-02-04 04:21:13 +0000 UTC
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Interlude VII
Maddie Camello
Prestige had been bred into Maddie from a very young age. Ever since she was able to learn, she knew of the great heritage of the Camellos. How each and ever generation of Camello had produced talent after talent, knowing that each generation would eventually produce newer and better talents that would rise up from the dregs of society where they were placed and rise to the top.
What her family didn’t know, what no one down in the slums knew, w...
2025-02-03 03:13:42 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 310
Usurpers and Prayers
Buzzing.
All around me are the odd tingling sensations of energy that seem to flow into and fill me completely. Even as I seem to focus my hardest, doing work that should ultimately leave me feeling at least slightly tired, I still feel refreshed.
No, not just refreshed, but fully awake. As if I’ve been forced to drink high performance energy drinks one after another to get to this state, and still there is more.
Only a...
2025-01-31 20:34:28 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 23
The Trap
“The easiest way to avoid suspicion, play dumb. Most people cannot let others trample on their intelligence, use that. When you know people are phishing about information about you, the best way to avoid suspicion, lay low and play dumb.” – Teaching of Marcon
A strange air filled the campus.
It was the innate air of arcane power. Hard to notice at first, but palpable. Like a looming threat you knew would come, but not when it arrived.
To...
2025-01-30 18:27:50 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 84
Multiple Part Investigation
(Fifteen Minutes Ago)
(Elijah Traver)
Officer Elijah, not Eli, Traver sat in his cruiser, preparing mentally for the questions he would need to ask.
He was Elijah because Eli, the traitor, was an Ole Miss Rebel, not like his more prestigious brother, who was a True Volunteer. For that reason alone he was always called Elijah and never went by the shortened version of his name.
Which proved handy, as it often helped him...
2025-01-28 11:24:00 +0000 UTC
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Interlude XXIV
Biprism Interactive Control Tower I
Emergency Alert.
Emergency Alert, worker needing medical assistance.
A bleary-eyed Charles Rainquist made his way up through the long narrow tunnels and hidden corridors that made up the top floor of Biprism’s primary Interactive Control Tower.
“What? What is happening?” Charles called out his voice hoarse due to his just being awoken, only to have a holographic image of GAIL, the Generati...
2025-01-26 18:22:05 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 73
The Flow
Pain.
Unimaginable burning pain flooded through Frank’s mind, as sharp serrated teeth dug their way in and punctured Frank’s skin just over the sweet spot in his shoulder.
The moment those inch thick and impressively long fangs sliced their way through his muscle, bone, and any other organs that were in the way, he felt it.
White hot burning pain that seemed to corrode everything within his body pulsed through those long knife-lik...
2025-01-25 13:57:42 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 309
Bartering for Something You Didn’t Really Want, but Kinda Sorta Needed
“Well, hello,” I begin, only after speaking do I realize that I am speaking in that odd Mana Language that the Teleiotís use to speak.
I say mana language, as that is the only way my brain can kind of process the odd mana disbursing impulses that are being released and manipulated.
Honestly, their entire system of communication is fascinating. The way t...
2025-01-24 12:37:46 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 22
The Delegation
“Nothing good happens when you have a random foreign delegation appear. Nothing truly gets accomplished then. Their presence is all PR to hide the fact that the deals have already been agreed to in the back, or soon will be accomplished.” -Marcon on Foreign Delegates
Pulsing.
All night there was a strange pulsing of energy coursing through her body, warning her to awaken.
Only after a moment of sitting and mentally scanning ...
2025-01-23 11:12:16 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 83
Reboot
… system online.
System rebooting.
Those were the words that rang out in Misha’s mind.
While her psyche had been able to be aware, aware, and most importantly present during the entire metamorphosis of her body, she was only now able to slip back into her body.
Burning blood.
Worse, her mind felt like it was on fire.
Her muscles were burnt and frayed.
If anything, she felt like she had someh...
2025-01-21 11:12:20 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 308
Retrieving Lost Things
You know, you can have the gift of prophecy and foresight. You can see into parts of the future, realize where things are going to go horribly and irrevocably wrong for you.
And yet, you can still find yourself in situations like this. Situations where you go and apparently mess up royally.
Situations where you go and should have seen the writing on the wall. Seen the signs of betrayal coming, and yet, then you still have the audacity...
2025-01-20 11:07:18 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 72
Generational Talents
(Drava)
All are welcome to awakening ceremonies.
The reason why so many came to these ceremonies could change, based on the doctrine of each clan.
For Drava, one thing that was undeniable was that when you had one representative who had a tie to a great ancestral spirit, that ancestral spirit would be present. Following this logic, the more people you have related to one particular spirit type, the more powerful that ancestral spir...
2025-01-18 14:29:27 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 307
The GlitterBright Chronicles (Part II)
“But wait, it gets better,” Gwen begins, her words ringing with a hollow truth that strikes a chord deep within me.
It’s odd, seeing your child grow up and mirror you down to your own sick sense of humor, reflecting back on you as you must seem to others. Yet despite this, I can’t help but be proud.
Gweny was always the serious one of the group, well of my children. It made sense, after Rob left, Junior became dis...
2025-01-17 11:32:00 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 21
A Broken Brokerage
(Three Weeks Later)
“Eventually, you get to a point where you either commit to the con or drop bait entirely and plan your escape.” -Marcon, on choosing a simple life and settling down.
Not all fixes are equal.
That motto was readily apparent as apparently some students seemed to burn through their standard dosage of power faster than others. This was seemingly particularly true for students who had a lower baseline starting poin...
2025-01-16 04:02:34 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 82
Chasing a Future
(Misha Tulley)
Sinus pressure.
It was odd, the way Misha’s sinuses now seemed to scream at her every time she went outside. At first, she though it was allergies, but by all means and methods available her body was fine.
Actually, according to the staff, her body was beyond exceptional.
Which only begged the question, why was it that there was a perceived buildup of pain right at the front of her forehead, right where ...
2025-01-14 16:34:38 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 306
The GlitterBright Chronicles (Part I)
There are very few times in life when you can feel truly content.
These are of course times when the world slows down, and you have a moment to sit back and enjoy the moment.
Content.
Both figuratively and literally, that is the word that would best describe my state of being for the moment.
I am content in the fact that Zero and I managed to Perfectly Resurrect each and every
2025-01-12 21:54:13 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 71
Madness
Death rattle.
There was a sickening sound of tiny beads brushing together at subsonic frequencies. Frequencies so low that a non-cultivator would be unable to hear or even perceive their sound.
Yet, to Frank and indeed many of those gathered, the sound was nearly paralyzing.
It was at this moment that Frank, like many who were gathered could see the complete and utter look of madness that befell the Serpentine Queen, a matriarch so pow...
2025-01-11 14:43:09 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 305
Drinking The Kool-Aid
(Valeria)
Badump, badump, badump.
Magic.
Pure, heart pumping magic could be felt.
Magic so thick and vibrant that it almost seemed to suck the very air from your lungs while in the same room.
She had heard rumors. Read the Legrand scouting reports on her.
Which was odd, as the Legrand Empire that prided itself on its information gathering capabilities was sorely lacking.
They did know of all of th...
2025-01-10 11:06:12 +0000 UTC
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Interlude II
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the reign of the current empire, a lone stealth vessel made landfall.
Silence, even puncturing the abnormally dense atmosphere of the strange alien planet caused no sound as the ship was both silent and powerful enough to maneuver and adjust gradually to increasing atmospheric pressures and gravity.
The entire time, the lone occupant of the vessel remained quiet, with no one to talk to, no one to share his thoughts with, there wa...
2025-01-09 11:19:46 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 304
Joys of Reading
Magic swirled and swooped around both Zero and I, as we worked in tandem.
We were musicians with magic, orchestrating a complex dance of precision, grace, and movement. His steadying form, his unwavering grace lent itself to my slightly more chaotic magic in ways that I never thought possible.
These were uncharted lands.
In all, I had done each of the individual steps independently of each other.
I have healed.
2025-01-08 10:47:18 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 81
Making the Team
(Darcy Renolds)
College was amazing.
People were so nice to her. Better still, Misha and Jasmine both managed to make the team, which filled her with an odd sense of pride, seeing as they all came from the same High School.
Not that they had done anything yet, but they had earned the right to do something. That was what today was, a note that they had earned the right to be on the team.
Speaking of which, Darcy herself was working...
2025-01-07 10:37:01 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 303
Picking Up The Pieces
War.
Probably the most terrible thing we can do to not only ourselves, but the planet is war.
Right now, I am standing in front of what is actual living proof of the destruction that can be caused by war.
“Sorry, we tried to patch it up, but nothing seemed to work,” Penelope began.
“It’s okay,” I replied as I just shook my head.
It wasn’t their faults, but judging by the look of all four of my tag...
2025-01-05 15:10:24 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 70
Blood Duel
Gentle breeze.
The world was calm, at least to Frank’s mind the world seemed calm.
Outside, far, far away there were hundreds of warriors calling for blood and praying to ancient spirits of power.
Out there, the world was real, was violent.
War drums beat in chaotic rhythms that would otherwise cause one’s heart to beat chaotically and cause minor disturbances in movements.
All of that was outside, in a distant world...
2025-01-04 14:51:10 +0000 UTC
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