Stealth check successful!
The hunter has become one with the shadows.
You have spotted your prey!
Eric lost himself in the zen of movement, becoming one with his environment, just as he had during his earliest exhilarating hunts, when he first made those tunnels of Gilton city his own.
For the moment there was no sense of horrific betrayal, no flashes of terror and dismay. The mithril collar promising death should he dare weave and jerk aside...
2023-06-07 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric’s heart hammered a staccato beat as the flood of rats glared his way. Alone, without resources or access to his magic or equipment, not daring to move faster than the tiniest fraction of his normal speed… he was a dead man walking. He knew that already.
But the hell he would give up without a fight, he thought, grimacing as he tried one more time to slide a prize free of this Bronze tier restriction.
A prize covered in blood and bitter struggle. A prize perhaps more intim...
2023-06-05 04:10:01 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note. - To new readers and everyone who's joining us from KU, welcome! It's great to have you join us :) ! As you no doubt know, book 4 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. As an author, it made sense. It was the end of an arc and represented the first perilous steps of a new journey. But as a reader, I hate cliffhangers! So I thought it only fair if I provided a link and a handful of free chapters so you can rest assured that ...
2023-06-05 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Author's note: - This is a longer chapter (over 8,000 words!) to set the tone and mark the beginning of book 5. - The following few chapters will be shorter, around 2,000 words... before leveling off to 3,000+ words, around 4 chapters in (chapter 300 here.) That's my goal length. I sometimes go shorter, I often go longer.
- Thank you all so much for being patrons! I hope you continue to enjoy Eric's adventures, both bitter and sweet!
_________________________...
2023-06-02 03:34:52 +0000 UTC
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Greed trembled with fury, before finally spitting the words that Eric had been so desperate to hear. “Open the gates! Let the brats out to drain Aurelia’s pitiful grain reserves!”
In very short order the arena rang with the sounds of thousands of children, voices filled with laughter, tears, and desperate cries for parents Eric feared they would never see again.
Yet somehow they knew. Knew where to go as dozens of warmly smiling elves, elves Aurelia must have contacted via h...
2023-05-31 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric’s stomach was crawling up his throat as Greed’s malevolent grin grew impossibly wide. Wider even than his mother devouring the heart of a single paparazzi, or the head just seconds later, images his sister had tried so hard to drown out in a poppy-induced haze.
Greed’s glinting eyes held the demonic mirth of a ringmaster who had been playing them all from the start. Every awkward moment, goofball gesture, harried concession. Even the half-naked servants he had so begrudgingly...
2023-05-29 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Think it through, Eric. You want to win this game, not scatter the pieces and lose by default. We still have plenty of moves left to win this round.”
Caliban’s words. Calm. Measured. In control. The counsel of a lawyer who knew exactly how to navigate the landmine his high-strung client now found himself in. As comforting as a winged leather chair, fresh clothes, and a snifter of brandy after days of fighting for one’s life in a holding cell. A voice that was, in its own way, j...
2023-05-24 04:00:22 +0000 UTC
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“Arrogant boasting fool!” Yipped the closest gnoll. “You think you can hide behind cannons and your mother’s foul Silver aura forever? My assassins will rip out your throat! My men will swarm over your slow pathetic zombies as if they weren’t even there, before wiping out the last shreds of your pathetic alliance!”
Eric squeezed his fist. “NOT my alliance, idiot. I go where please, I kill who needs killing, and I claim their corpses for my army.”
The gnoll’s eyes...
2023-05-22 04:59:00 +0000 UTC
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Eric winked up at the remaining senators flashing hungry smiles his way, so confident they were that he was bluffing, and at the half dozen bodyguards behind them. “Your hired help didn’t sign on to be killed. You guys want to change careers, you’ll find a very sweet setup in Ashland, where all past misunderstandings are forgiven, so long as you give an oath never to deliberately cross me or mine.”
Dead silence, a cold part of Eric realizing he was being a fool. Showing an ounce...
2023-05-17 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“You’re late!” Hissed the nasty little goblin guardian before them, glaring at a coldly smiling Aurelia and Eric both.
“Go fuck yourself,” Eric said, flashing the hissing little shit his widest grin.
The creature simmered with rage.
The larger goblin next to him flashed a mirthless smile, before gesturing for Eric and Aurelia to step past the massive gold-inlaid oak-paneled doors now being opened for them.
The buzz and chatter within the chamber ground to an ...
2023-05-15 04:59:00 +0000 UTC
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“Knock knock,” Eric said, to a wide-eyed Drake wearing blue jeans, work boots and a denim jacket of all things, who’s look of surprise quickly became the brightest of smiles.
“Eric! Damn good to see you, boyscout. It’s been four months. We thought you were a goner.”
Eric noted that Drake, with his piercing blue eyes and chiseled jawline was still exuding the rugged charm of a former college linebacker that he remembered so well, but there was so much more to...
2023-05-10 04:59:00 +0000 UTC
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The pair gazed at him strangely, Reese with a furrowed brow, Tim with an actual hopeful smile.
“Shit, are you serious?” Tim asked. “I mean, I know we’re not exactly favored, but we can both throw javelins like you wouldn’t believe! You need talented warriors on your side...”
But Reese was glaring, earlier fear replaced, perhaps, by the memory of too many bitter disappointments. “Bullshit. There’s a city full of well-connected and trained guildies. Why wo...
2023-05-08 04:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric glared out at the white tier grasslands whipping by their velimobile, air rich with the scents of autumn grass and wildflowers, with only the tiniest taste of potency tingling in the air. With his friends now miles away and increasingly feeling the pressure of the confrontation to come, did Eric allow his smile to slip, and his ire to show.
“That drink you handed me two weeks ago was mickeyed. You tried to set me up with all three of them, the second I returned from Ho...
2023-05-03 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Fully clothed in his battle regalia once more in the literal blink of an eye, Eric stared at his mother for long moments, sensing the tension beneath her gaze.
It was all he could do to swallow the torrent of accusations he wanted to sling at her, focusing only on what mattered.
Because of course, he instantly understood.
“They’re ready to meet.”
His mother flashed a tight smile. “Correct.” She gazed at him for long moments, her eyes not even linge...
2023-05-01 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! First and foremost, I wanted to take a moment and let you all know how much I appreciate your patronage, helping to support my work.
I'm extremely grateful to all of you. And I hope my stories can bring at least a few hours of enjoyment into your weekly lives.
That said, I place a high priority on being upfront and open with you all, through good times and life's challenges!
I had a rough turn recently, but thanks in part to your support, I was able to get the ...
2023-04-30 03:32:59 +0000 UTC
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“Okay, get ready to give that bastard your Wind Fist, Jinni! We’re going in now!”
Jinni’s heart was hammering in her chest, her back breaking out in a cold sweat, despite the incredible surge of vitality and serenity she now felt, thanks to the pure Wind Qi swirling through all her strengthened meridians, thanks to the most wondrous, terrifying, and transformative week of her life.
To think, just days ago she had caught the eye of the Winter Queen herself. And w...
2023-04-28 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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His familiar gave a thoughtful tilt of her head while Eric continued to devour his breakfast. “You know, there is something to be said about getting your own party of loyal companions to help you clear dungeons. Safety would shoot way up, and if your hunch is right… we’d be able to train up an entire band of kickass future Bronzes to fight by your side one day.”
Eric grinned. “Wouldn’t it be great if the whole party received the same amount of points for a first-c...
2023-04-26 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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When Eric finally crossed the border to Ashland, a number of extremely pleased-looking Blue Corp representatives were waiting for him, in addition to his mother and her assistant Annika Drevyn, standing dutifully by her side. Annika flashed him an impish smile, pinning Eric with her warm brown eyes. Eric sighed when it immediately became clear that any chance of him discretely slipping into the five star inn his familiar had hyped up was virtually non existent.
And the way hi...
2023-04-24 05:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Congratulations! You have successfully cleared Pocket Realm 0XYZ324Q (Forgotten Colony) with 100% Completion rate! Bonus experience Earned!
You have overcome a Level 85 Dread Boss!
You have come to the rescue of an entire colony lost to space and time!
Runic Lore is now Rank 26!
Hell Vines is now Rank 9!
Master Adventurer is now Level 54!
All classes of Adept tier or lower are now open to ...
2023-04-21 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Fucking bullshit!” Eric roared, fearlessly glaring up at the brooding stormclouds high above, his favorite pair of utility spells assuring him comfortable gravity and eyes free of acid rain once more.
“We killed that fucking overpowered boss tier bullshit, who the fuck cares if we thought outside the box? We did it! Quest fucking complete!”
His rabbit gave his shoulder a sympathetic pat. “I think you did a good job. It’s not your fault you had to destroy th...
2023-04-19 15:59:01 +0000 UTC
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For an endless moment, Eric felt like he was being stretched impossibly thin between worlds, a heartbeat from blipping out of existence entirely, just a flickering spark lost in the vastness of cold, uncaring space.
Then he snapped back into existence with a lurch and a gasp, grateful just to be alive before feeling the crushing weight of gravity more than five-fold Earth’s norm. Gravity and the rotten egg stench that was so acute with his exquisite perception, other scents...
2023-04-17 04:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“He is an abomination. No cultivator’s oaths apply to one such as he. He must be struck down now!” hissed one of the many angry elders now glaring his way with absolute contempt, their combined killing fury enough to send even him crashing to one knee.
Yet all Eric did was smile coldly up into their killing gazes.
“If you wish to challenge me… I eagerly await further breakthroughs as I devour the Potency of my so-called betters. But if you are wise, you...
2023-04-14 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric froze upon finding himself suddenly stepping onto the gritty ocher sand of a vast, indoor arena, an oval stretching a good fifty yards at its farthest point. His did his best to ignore the apprehension he felt as he spotted near two dozen hard-eyed men on the stone seats behind his corner of the arena, all of them wearing cultivator robes of a sect he recognized all too well.
On the bright side, Eric thought, the gravity was less than 10% heavier than Earth norms, and th...
2023-04-12 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Doom Flurry!
The air rang with the sound of blood-forged steel ripping in to obsidian scales of incredible hardness. Perhaps not enough to kill, but certainly enough to send a small pack of Shadow Raptors lurching back as Eric’s eyes stinged and nostrils burned once more with the sharp acrid scents of brimstone and ammonia as his blade danced and spun through the air.
Though far from Mithril glowing with the promise of sanguine oblivion, it w...
2023-04-10 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric finally let the more recent Interface messages wash over him, still in a horrified daze at just how close he had come to losing his familiar, doing all he could not to think too closely about the haunted gazes of a pair of women who had lost absolutely everything and everyone in just a handful of seconds.
You have successfully saved versus Fatal Stroke!
Congratulations! You have survived forced cognitive evolution in your lover’s arms! Because with h...
2023-04-07 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Kit gazed at a smirking Hanz in open-mouthed horror. “What did you do, Hanz? What the hell did you just do?!?”
“Shut the fuck up and put up your wards!” Richtor roared, hesitation replaced by a merc’s furious intensity as the deafening roar and almost blinding muzzle flash of a pair of TAC-50s firing at rates only class-boosted weapons used by inhumanly fast and strong Classers were capable of, a hooting Hanz laughing like a madman as plasma bolts spilled o...
2023-04-05 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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“I don’t like it, Lucy,” said a weathered-looking man with hard gray eyes, salt and pepper bristles, and a build that would have done any professional weightlifter proud, not that long ago. “You said this here’s an orange tier? Sure as shit, I can fucking taste the hot red spice of wild magic, in the air. But I haven’t seen anything worth hunting… or any sign of wildlife at all.”
The man shook his head and spat a big wad of tobacco, effortlessly carrying what Li...
2023-04-03 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric couldn’t help but smile with fierce delight as he gazed around his glorious kill sight, savoring his growing sense of mastery over his environment, even one as foul and awful as this one. Just as importantly, he was making the absolute best of it that he could, having locked in two more skills and only getting nearly killed once when doing so.
Twice, if he counted his familiar, giving her furry head an affectionate pat, grateful they had both pulled through. Again.
“<...
2023-03-31 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Draconic loot boon or no, Eric knew he would never again judge any adventurer who hung up his sword sheath to take on a craftsman or merchant’s trade. Because there was nothing he would rather do more at that moment than gaze up at the beautiful twinkling heavens and smile, able to enjoy a warm spring night laden with the delightful scents of blossoming flowers and all of nature’s bounty as laughter and music echoed from the taverns nearby, before heading home and spending time with the p...
2023-03-29 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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You have accepted the Quest: Graviton Dreams!
Help the lost colony permanently stabilize the gravity field within Hidden Valley X01 so that they have a shot at surviving more than a single miserable year!
You have accepted the Quest: Power at All Costs!
Help the lost colony supply their ship with power for the next ?? years with one or more Greater Beast Cores!
You have fully replenished your Psion Pool! Note: Psion Po...
2023-03-27 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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