Wayne stared at the diagram Hector had traced out on paper. Hector couldn’t tell if the chemist was impressed or confused. “Where the hell did you get these numbers from?”
Hector kept his answer vague. “I’ve read all sorts of secrets lately.”
“Iron sulfate from Tian heated to release sulfur dioxide. I get that. It’s basic chemistry. But this next part where the gas bubbles through water. You’re claiming that when the new ...
2025-09-18 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostFrom past experience, Hector understood he had to prepare people before dropping them onto Union Central. It would be especially important for Xian who might suspect they were being attacked by Arahant mental manipulation when things began popping up in their vision. Zara nodded in agreement with what he said but continued to hang on his every word. He took that as a sign that she’d heard this information from her father but never visited the world herself. The other...
2025-09-17 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time Zara returned with fresh supplies for dinner, Hector had an argument prepared.
Everyone gathered to eat a rich stew of pot roast and root vegetables in sullen silence. The meal was hearty and delicious and filling, but the mood stubbornly refused to improve. That might work in his favor, though.
“I have an idea on how we can harvest cores a lot faster.”
Zara studied him. “Does this involve unconventional methods?”
“Unconventional...
2025-09-16 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This is the second of two releases today. Be sure to read the previous chapter first.
Zara finished off the shark before Hector managed to rejoin his group after being blasted away by the shark’s domain. He’d taken no real damage from the experience, other than the bruise given to his ego. No one else was displaced by the sudden attack.
With the beast of the sea slain, Zara was dismembering it with her cables and scattering the flesh across a wide area. ...
2025-09-12 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostHector wasn’t tired, so while most of the others retired to their tents, he remained near the site of their fire. It had been built using dried maple planks imported from elsewhere, kept small, and put out immediately after the rice was cooked. Everyone seemed quite concerned about leading the orca back to their island.
Isabel sat across the fire pit from him. “You are a dreamer.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“I did not realize the source of ...
2025-09-12 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, it looked like Zara didn’t know how to respond. Then she put a few steps of distance between them. “I appreciate that you are being honest in your intentions, Hector.”
His heart dropped. “But?”
“I found your confession entirely lacking.” She crossed her arms imperiously. “Your sentiments may be complimentary to my character, but I do not feel flattered by them.”
Hector stared at her. “Would you like me to ...
2025-09-11 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe Lord General brushed Hector off when they were back on Tian, claiming he needed to settle his army. Hector settled back into the room he had been using two months earlier and waited for his benefactor to have time for him. He mentally set a time limit of one month. If he was ignored that long, he would travel back to Stronghold Gamma and forget about the whole situation.
Thrakkar claimed Zara was alive. She was a competent individual, so presumably she was br...
2025-09-10 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostLeft in the conference room by himself, Hector released a sigh. He’d been getting along with the Lord General so well since he arrived at the first household seeking Zara. Then their relationship took a sudden dive because he helped a junior office of the Jinn pick up a single item. It didn’t make sense to Hector.
The Lord General had been on edge since the incident with the new world almost killed them in transit. That no doubt contributed to this latest inc...
2025-09-09 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThey were not on the same world as the Jinn and Arahants of their deployment. The Lord General had taken the approach of ‘any port in a storm’ and placed them down on the nearest world, not following the wake of the singularity or even concerning himself with the paths of miasma veins.
There was no incursion to fight where they were. Just excitable locals who attempted to kill them with muskets and cannons, then fled on horseback when it became obvious just how outclasse...
2025-09-08 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostHector did not become friends with Miriam and Liam. As days become weeks, they began to avoid him. He didn’t mind the ostracism. Though he respected the fact that the Arahant Savants were fighting for the same cause as him, he wasn’t interested in participating in the nihilistic sarcasm they used as a coping mechanism.
Besides, he had plenty to do during his down time. He was training his aura obsessively. Doing it for shorter five minute sessions reduc...
2025-09-05 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe first world visited by their tour of the Coalition Army was a high technology one filled with autonomous drones and holographic billboards. It was losing quite handily to the monsters. There were signs that nuclear weapons had been deployed. Hector didn’t know if they had done any good, but they certainly had caused a lot of collateral damage. The land outside the blast radius of each bomb site was littered with corpses mundane and monstrous alike.
And the ...
2025-09-05 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThey had three weeks before the next tour of the Coalition Army began. Hector kept to himself for much of that time. He dove deep into the Sweaty Fire Technique. Deep enough that his energy expenditure became concerning. At least until he discovered that the Steward had approved a bottle of fortified wine a day for Hector.
His efforts were greatly extended by use of the One Minute Nap Technique, which let him skip sleep most nights. He managed to maintain t...
2025-09-04 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re talented and cunning and vicious, but you fight without proper consideration of your vulnerabilities.” The Lord General offered his observations on Hector’s performance while tearing apart a gargantuan lizard with force cables halfway to peak level ten in potency.
“I know your domain footprint isn’t large, so you need to fight close. That I understand very well from my younger days. What you do wrong is allowing yourself to be surrounded. Whet...
2025-09-04 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostColonel Quinn folded like a lawn chair when faced with the Lord General. The commander of the base essentially rolled out the red carpet for the Xian lord to do whatever he wanted. Hector didn’t judge too harshly. There was no point objecting when the power disparity was such that no one present could do a damn thing to stop an army of Xian ten thousand strong – fully two hundred of which were elites of level eight or nine.
For his part, the Lord General only cared...
2025-09-03 10:05:02 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next several days, Hector tried to get a handle on the Sweaty Fire Technique. He was bad at it. Rather than let that discourage him, Hector took his initial failures as motivation to work harder. This was a secret noble technique. There was no way in hell he wasn’t going to train it obsessively. It didn’t even matter if he couldn’t hold the final stage of it for more than thirty seconds at a time. That just meant he needed more experience wit...
2025-09-03 10:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostHector wasn’t sure what to make of the development. Theoretically, he’d recruited one of the most powerful forces in the multiverse to assist Stronghold Gamma. The only cost that had to be paid was removing one person from the Reconquest for the length of a single tour of duty with the Coalition Army.
Except Hector wanted to cultivate chaos behind the rune wall of a Stronghold.
It was a big sacrifice for the sake of a woman whose status towards Hector remained ambi...
2025-09-02 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostHector used a cable to lift a core free of the goop that until recently was a human brain. His heart was still thundering in his chest from the surprise he’d received when that door opened unexpectedly. He’d had no hint that someone was inside the manor. He would need to prioritize training his senses. Fortunately his reaction had been to attack rather than freeze.
He crept into the building and began a search. When he saw a tumbler half-full of whiskey...
2025-09-02 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostPercival took another sip of the expensive whiskey. He still didn’t like the stuff. Maybe that would change eventually. Probably not. Still, the alcohol was a boon to his energy reserves and he didn’t have to pay for it. In spite of all the benefits to be had working in service to the Lord Platinum, receiving anything for free was rare in the extreme.
He’d reached level eight just two months past, using a gold plasma elixir to push himself over the ed...
2025-09-01 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe colonel made Hector and Leah sit through a mission planning session regarding their upcoming test run. They slotted the new recruits into the mix, with the sergeant major observing that they needed to know if any of the Xian contingent could actually fight. There were fewer mechanized Jinn on this trip than usual – the reason being that few vehicles could fit the footprint of his domain at one time. They decided on a single Jinn tank, with the remainder a mix of Arahan...
2025-09-01 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLydia arrived with another member of the family council – one too young for Volithur to ever have met – and Matthias engaged in halfhearted negotiations. Everyone remained enamored of Hector’s tales of war. Eventually, Matthias stopped playing the role of merchant altogether.
“Our family used to have a martial tradition,” Lydia said. Her features were wrinkled and sagging in a sign that she was aging less gracefully even than many mundane humans. A lack...
2025-08-29 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt was halfway through the next day when his advancement happened. Hector was cultivating in his bedroom, so he didn’t have any witnesses to his awkward collapse. Other than the omnipresent System, of course. This time Hector was out cold for almost a full day from the shock of it.
When he came back to himself, his domain felt as good as new. As usual, his reserves were bone dry. He grabbed a meal with Darius and Riley and then went to work restoring his ...
2025-08-29 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostA shady-looking teenager with features reminiscent of a weasel delivered an entire box of uncut spirits to Hector. He exited the elevator, placed the box at Hector’s feet, gave an awkward two-finger salute to his brow, and almost ran away.
After moving to his own room, Hector opened the top of the box to find four bottles of uncut spirits inside. He opened one of the bottles and began to drink. His recent improvements in body enhancement made it more bearable than it...
2025-08-28 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostFor several seconds he could do nothing. Not even shut his eyes against the glare, which would have been a very smart thing to do. The flood of cosmic energy pouring through his domain and aura and mind apertures had entirely distracted him. It overwhelmed him utterly.
The remnants of the miasma storm were far less cohesive, fortunately.
Hector had time to return to himself before he had to fight again. He transformed a tendril of black mist into cosmic ene...
2025-08-28 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostHe returned to Stronghold Gamma in the morning, which due to the time difference caused him to arrive before dawn. That was something he would need to keep in mind for his commuting. Since he had nothing else to do, Hector climbed up to the top of the wall and stretched out his domain to take a sip of miasma.
The hateful twist of chaos bounced around his soul, trying to make contact with the walls as he opposed its existence on a fundamental level. Though he knew the q...
2025-08-27 10:05:02 +0000 UTC View PostPrince Siegfried was the first person to greet him. Not the welcome he’d hoped for.
“Hector! I need more resources!”
“Nice to see you, too, Siegfried.”
“You made guarantees when you took my inheritance from me.”
Hector had to remind himself to practice respect towards the prince. “I will continue to make good on my promises, Siegfried. I’m going to remind you that before you came here you were in hiding and working like a norma...
2025-08-27 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostHe followed Purification out of the command center. The woman observed him from the corner of her eye as she led him towards the nearest section of wall. “What is it that you’re doing with the miasma?”
“I’m not sure how you managed to spy on me,” he said. The tiny quantities of miasma he worked with shouldn’t be visible to anyone who wasn’t right next to him.
“What you do is loud.” She tapped her temple. “For me, at least. ...
2025-08-26 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostFred was scattered across a garage bay. Components were everywhere. Contemplative mechanics studied the individual pieces, making notes on their electronic tablets.
“How is the patient?”
“Hector! I can’t feel my wheels! Why can’t I feel my wheels?”
A mechanic laughed. “The ‘patient’ has a busted sense of humor. We’re ordering a replacement, but it might take a while to get it in.”
“Will I ever dance again, doc...
2025-08-26 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostDrawing the chaos in with his domain was very nearly the last thing he ever did. As far as experiments went, there weren’t many things more stupid he could have tried.
Ambient miasma, full of malignant intent, struck the moment he opened a path to the interior of his soul. Hector’s domain aperture was in the middle of the operation that performed chaotic emergence into cosmic energy. It wasn’t ready to fight for his survival.
Oblivious to what was happening...
2025-08-25 10:05:02 +0000 UTC View PostThey fought kangaroos with stingers on their tails. And wolves covered in quills. And some kind of ape that looked straight out of a cheesy eighties horror movie. Hector handled all of them without issue, though a couple of times he received a blast of miasma as the monsters decomposed. Fortunately he seemed no worse for those exposures.
Night fell and they continued onward, their path lit by flashlights that created deep and treacherous shadows. Hector rel...
2025-08-25 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThey departed at dawn. Every member of the vanguard was assigned a battle buddy as they emerged from the Stronghold. Hector’s was the tiny Orisha man, who went by Twitchy. The meaning behind the name became obvious quite soon as the man had a neurological condition that caused his hands to spasm on occasion.
“Don’t expect me to bail you out of any trouble,” Twitchy warned Hector. “I’m a scout, not a warrior. Just so happens I can avoid the miasma better than most.”
...
2025-08-22 10:05:00 +0000 UTC View Post