“We’re here, Captain. Right at the periphery of Queensland.”
Red frowned at the shorter man beside him. Even fully kitted out in power armor thrumming with electromana current, he could perfectly sense the hungry smile on the other man’s face.
“We stick to the mission, meet our objectives, and earn our bonus.” he curtly said, his entire team of power-armor covered mercs quickly nodding their understanding. “And that means no getting side-tracked or taking off your ar...
2023-10-18 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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For one precious moment, Eric’s stunned disbelief was so overwhelming that he forgot the soul pain throbbing through every inch of his flesh.
Of course that was the moment that the air took on a fierce, bone-deep chill and the light drizzle turned to a sprinkle of snow that soon became a howling maelstrom.
Eric shivered despite the fact that the sensation was now only skin deep, having somehow, by some bloody miracle he couldn’t even fathom, used the earliest skill he had ever...
2023-10-16 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“What do you mean, Baron Crevpost is unaccounted for?!?”
This from a panicked-looking officer wearing the standard steel mail lined buff coat that appeared to be de rigueur uniform for the officers of Eric’s latest batch of foes. Though the waxed mustache was new, the properly groomed officer who looked like he had just stepped out of a salon was glaring down at the young man who couldn’t have been any older than Eric, covered in sweat, grime, and terror, just a few dozen feet f...
2023-10-13 04:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Lady Valorn. Report!”
An exceedingly frazzled looking Lady Valorn turned from the abandoned ruins of the palace grounds to gaze at Eric with haunted, bloodshot eyes.
“My prince, you’re still here!”
Eric frowned, taking a quick look around the palace grounds. Ugly craters, torn shrubbery and the faint stench of blood had replaced the beautiful topiary and festive solstice atmosphere of less than an hour ago. Yet, surprisingly, he saw no sign of wounded elves or bod...
2023-10-11 04:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Eric turned to face the obvious commander of the artillery unit. “Excuse me?”
Mory flashed an anxious smile. “We all heard your offer, your exceedingly generous offer to that foolish captain and his headstrong crew. Didn’t we boys?” His voice carried loud enough for his entire shell-shocked crew to immediately nod in instant understanding.
“That’s right, Mort,” declared one gruff voice. “The chance to settle on a ripely ascending world still enjoying its first bl...
2023-10-09 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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(Note. Some mild POV shift changes here and there that I generally cover under 'Eric is now vaguely psionic, and sometimes he can pick up on other people's fears and feelings' - So we keep true to closed third person, while still occasionally seeing Eric from another's point of view.)
Eric snapped back to himself in a heartbeat as camp sirens blared, gasping for breath even as he fought not to cry out when the massive surge of potency that had earned him two instant ...
2023-10-06 03:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Through clouds of smoke smelling of charcoal and sulfur, a proud-looking man with an unmistakably regal bearing and dressed in what looked to be an ancient British artillery uniform could be seen shouting orders to several batteries of highly modified 24-pounder cannons equipped with equilibrators and recoil systems, all of them mounted on turning platforms, all of them manned by obvious human Classers and orcs whose beady, piggish eyes glimmered with unusual intelligence.
“Fourth bat...
2023-10-04 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Tier 2 Danger Sense activated!
Quickness check made! You have successfully avoided AMBUSH STRIKE!
Eric let the screaming interface messages blare through him as a bar of blinding white light passed inches over his darting head as the faint warning tingle he had long ago learned NEVER to ignore demanded that he weave and dodge as if his life depended on it, and it clearly did as the white-gold bar of killing energy effortlessly tore through the cove of trees behin...
2023-10-02 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric felt cold pin-pricks of dread racing up and down his spine, ears ringing with awful silence as he gazed at the too still form of his sister, lying sedately upon a the most plush and luxurious fairy tale bed any princess could want. He swallowed the painful lump in his throat, eyes darting to the collection of mother of pearl and jade unicorn figurines she had once taken such joy in collecting, as well as her childhood collection of plushies that she never had the heart to toss. Eric took...
2023-09-29 03:59:02 +0000 UTC
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For long moments, Eric just stared out at the vast fields and woodland groves stretching out to the ochre horizon lit up by smouldering fires from both Lilly’s and his own earlier interventions, allowing silent tears to flow down his cheeks as he heard the sweet notes of his friends and boon companions being reunited with Aurelia’s freshly minted paladins, Elonia’s sworn defenders, and the friends and siblings of the New York elites who were now delving by Eric’s side.
He smiled...
2023-09-27 03:59:00 +0000 UTC
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Lillian’s eyes lit up like crackling orbs of crimson death. Mirroring the lightning arcing and crackling with ever greater intensity between her glowing ears. So intense was the radiation that even Eric felt his flesh start to burn, sensing his mother shelter both her and Lord Caliban’s people with Winter’s Ward, yet otherwise refusing to interrupt Lillian’s monologue as she laughed in a snarling Greed’s face, never looking so beautiful, awe inspiring, or deadly than she did at that...
2023-09-25 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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“Eric, slow the fuck down! You’re going to get us killed!”
But Eric couldn’t slow down. Not when he felt so many cards of fate, both fare and foul, focus on his flesh and blood. And most especially not when he sensed a full half dozen hostile reds blaze to life from concealment, at least on his map interface, the instant his danger sense flared as they tried to take a bead on him.
“Eric!”
“Shut up, we’re hot!” He shouted as the bucolic afternoon panorama of...
2023-09-22 03:59:00 +0000 UTC
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Greed snorted. “Are you sure about this, Aurelia? We didn’t receive any System messages of anything significant, meaning that your grandkid’s got a half-assed class at best.”
Lilly refused to respond, however much she trembled with fury even hearing him trying to act like a bemused, half-concerned opponent when he wanted nothing less than their absolute enslavement, torment, and utter destruction. Like the darkest of demons in any tale.
Besides, Lilly was all too aware now...
2023-09-20 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Lillian took a deep breath and savored her first whiff of fresh spring air laden with the heady bouquet of autumn comprised of wildflowers, birch, pine, rich loamy soil, and the scents of magic both rich and wondrous as well as corrupt and foul.
She swallowed the unexpected lump in her throat as she prepared to step from between the pines here in the inner garden of the palace where she had first awakened as the familiar of a wild headstrong boy determined to blaze past his own trauma b...
2023-09-18 04:02:00 +0000 UTC
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Lilly's eyes snapped open and she began looking for a girl who was no longer there before it struck her, exactly what had happened. “Shit, that was weird. I just evolved, yet continuity of awareness was maintained, even if all the trauma suffered by the rushed level-ups feels like, well, like it happened to someone else.”
“That’s because it did,” said the calmly smiling figure dressed in pristine white cultivator’s robes with a golden pin of a snake eating its tail who was s...
2023-09-15 04:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Before Lillian could say anything more, all became soft billow white clouds and an avatar of herself looking down at her.
“Boy, I do look kind of hot with elven blood flowing through my veins, don’t I?”
The girl in question immediately opened her eyes and nodded. “I’d like to think so!”
Lilly whimpered. “Oh no. You’re the Silvery tentacle monster! In my brain?”
Lilly’s twin rolled her eyes. “You really are a drama queen. No wonder Roland broke up ...
2023-09-13 04:04:29 +0000 UTC
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“It is a pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, Lillian. Or do you still prefer BunBun?”
Lillian grinned. “Call me either. I still sort of think of myself as both at once.”
“Excellent. Before we begin, do you have any questions for me?”
Lillian stared nonplussed at the peacefully smiling figure with his gentle silver eyes, serene demeanor and ageless features decked out in nothing more than the humblest cultivator’s linen robe. Yet Lillian could barely ma...
2023-09-11 04:02:00 +0000 UTC
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Eric came to with a scream clawing at the back of his throat as his entire fortress seemed to tremble with his shout. His chest was pounding, waking up in a cold sweat. He gazed in dismay at his absolutely pulverized hammock, not to mention the gaping hole in the wall, from which he could catch sight of roaring and shouting as flashes of desperate dreams transformed to the immediate desperation of the moment.
“Eric! Help us!” Steve screamed, as a massive wolf opened a tiger sized ma...
2023-09-08 04:03:01 +0000 UTC
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How do you, Eric Silver, wish to shape this realm?
The words resonated in Eric’s skull as he felt the power of an entire world thrum through his soul. Power and potential he could shape just like he could transform the territories of Earth.
He could embrace the Path of Endless Bounty and grant this tiny territory channeling so much of this shattered world’s essence in a miracle unlike any he had ever performed before.
He knew that, just like he knew the kiss of ...
2023-09-06 00:03:57 +0000 UTC
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Perception check made! You know a TARP when you see one!
Lilly flashed a fierce smile even as she raced faster than her surviving shadow pumas for the massive tower of bones, blackened steel, and pain.
Though her smile quickly turned to a pained grimace when she detected for the first time in either of her lives what almost sounded like panic? In the voice echoing inside her head.
WARNING! EXTREME ANOMALIES DETECTED!
SYSTEM RED ALERT!
<...
2023-09-04 03:59:00 +0000 UTC
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You have successfully dodged Sniper Blaster Fire!
You have avoided Icy Barrage!
Lead revenant takes fire ball in your stead!
Perception check made!
That which you so desperately study, you finally understand!
And much to her surprise and delight, Lilly DID finally understand as she rapidly approached the lip of the caldera filled with hard-eyed goblin mercenaries who were only now beginning to flinch as they faced down...
2023-09-01 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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The sneering goblin elders on their steampunk helicopter had the gall to laugh when BunBun’s ears crackled with crimson lightning once more. Yet they were not fools, the crackling ward around them humming with added potency as the closest pair of elders readied their staves, and in that moment, BunBun understood. The ward did dip down in potency, but only for the eye-blink needed for them to unleash fresh bolts of dark flame that had nearly killed her once already. More than once, if the re...
2023-08-30 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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“We’ll be back, promise!” Lilly swore as she made her way along the massive steel cable once more, with several shadow pumas and orc revenants who had surrendered 25 foot long spears for the far more maneuverable gladius flanking her as they raced for the third steel cage. BunBun could only pray that the entire massive framework wouldn’t be surrendered to see them all fall into the crucible as the entire cauldron rang with a sudden blaring alarm.
“Fuck!” She hissed, glaring ...
2023-08-28 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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The first thing BunBun felt was heat. Irreconcilable, monstrous heat saturating the air like an oppressive blanket. It was a struggle to gaze past the brilliant red glow killing her vision. Yet squint past it and the black iron bars encasing her and several thousand revenants now under her command, she did.
Her heart began to pound as anxiety flooded her tiny veins. And the fact that she had a beating heart at all and could think as well as she ever had as a living girl just a year ago ...
2023-08-25 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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Eric savored the feel of the cooler territory air blowing against his skin as distant wolves howled but proved unable to keep up with his pace, and he wouldn’t say he was knackered, exactly. More like he was in the cardio phase of his workout after killing himself with weights and a 100 MPH max was still an excellent speed, thank you very much, and anyone who couldn’t appreciate it, or the fact that those wolves couldn’t go over 80, even with their humongous sizes, could hop off and jog...
2023-08-23 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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<A/N - Fat chapter to start the week off right! Please enjoy :) >
Fortunately, no one argued when Eric shouted, “Hold your breath and run to your right!” so with only a minimum of coughing, tearing eyes and disorientation, they sprinted past the inferno near the entrance that didn’t really bother Eric but had his teary-eyed friends wheezing, coughing and crying, Eric not hesitating to scoop up Emily when she took an accidental breath and nearly collapsed. Fortunately, a coup...
2023-08-21 03:37:45 +0000 UTC
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Finesse check made! You have successfully darted free of rift entrance!
Note! All ritual spells have been disrupted by realm transfer, regardless of extra mana infused into your constructs. No shield or gust of air aids you!
You are surrounded by thick choking smoke.
You sense no reds in the area!
You have dispelled Hell Vines!
Eric took the expedient measure of holding his breath and sprinting a good few hundred yards...
2023-08-18 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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For countless seconds, Eric was trapped in endless darkness, ears ringing with whispers of oblivion before the true nightmares began.
What greeted him when he finally manifested was even worse than he had feared, the darkness ringing with Richard’s desperate cry and the shrieks and groans of his friends.
It was a horrific moment before Eric could even act, beholding their would-be paladin’s chalk white skin, hollowed eyes giving testament to how hard he was pushing himself, ke...
2023-08-16 03:59:00 +0000 UTC
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The first thing Eric made out was a massive chamber soaring upwards like a gigantic football stadium, decorated with horrors unimaginable.
Eric clenched his fists at the sight of countless writhing souls bound to spikes upon the ground, silently shrieking as ghostly streams of energy all rushed into a central figure hovering over them all, his head no more than a skull with two perfectly preserved yellow eyes.
In its bony ethereal hands it held a bone staff trembling with ghostly ...
2023-08-14 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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“Alright, everyone present and accounted for?” Rich asked, giving Yuki a sympathetic look. “I note you have some new boots.”
She grinned, looking back at Eric. “This boy’s proving useful in all sorts of unexpected ways, fearless leader. Who knew that becoming a Necromancer King included cobbling and tailoring?”
Eric smirked. “In my defense, I just shaped some treated leather in my ES space around her feet and calves, and skin tight leather boots have been around pr...
2023-08-11 03:59:01 +0000 UTC
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