Dear Goddess, please take your devoted son Alistair into your loving arms, Rosslyn silently prayed. Heal him. Make him strong again, so that he can lead the Kingdom and protect those who love him. Do not take him from us. He still has so much left to—
A knock came at the chapel door, and Rosslyn’s head snapped to the side.
She rose from her knees and dusted off her dress before she answered the man at the door.
“Come in,” she called gently.
Or...
2024-12-11 04:44:14 +0000 UTC
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Mina was coming down the stairs with James, Junior in one hand and little Deepam in the other. Indira trailed behind her, taking the steps slowly and carefully at Mina’s insistence.
Then it happened. There was a colossal, explosive sound from outside.
Mina’s breathing quickened. Her grip tightened on the babies, until Junior made a small noise and drew her attention to it.
“Sorry, baby,” she said quietly, relaxing a bit.
Mina forced herself to descend the stair...
2024-12-10 02:14:41 +0000 UTC
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The bear’s body shuddered violently, and its jaws clamped shut hard on Adon, testing the butterfly’s magical reinforcement of his clam shell form once again.
He felt the walls of his body bend slightly, as if the armor was about to cave in, and Adon frantically pushed more Mana into the hard shell until it stabilized. He heard crunching and grinding noises coming from all around him, but it seemed to be the bear’s teeth crushing themselves against his body.
Still, the pressu...
2024-12-07 04:55:48 +0000 UTC
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Bear’s fists clenched and unclenched for a moment, then stilled.
“You have—” He spoke a word that was not in English, which the System surprisingly did not translate. Bear seemed to realize that after a moment. He snorted, still angry but slightly amused despite himself. “You have guts, I mean to say,” he continued. “Did your—did the Spider not tell you to cooperate with me? I was under the impression that was why you had not taken a more hostile attitude to a stranger o...
2024-12-05 04:01:14 +0000 UTC
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What?
As Adon’s body threw itself headlong after the bear, his mind tried to grapple with what he’d just heard. It wasn’t in Claustrian. It was a half-remembered language from one of his previous lives. Which one, he couldn’t even put his finger on definitely.
But that didn’t matter.
I heard what I heard. Right?
In a strange, gruff yet quiet inner voice, grown rusty from disuse, a mind that could only have been the bear’s had thought: ...
2024-12-04 00:49:02 +0000 UTC
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James watched his army move out.
There were the Goblins, armed and armored like dimestore hoplites in slightly too shiny equipment that a keen observer could tell was homemade and had never seen real action. James felt slightly nervous about them. They were the most numerous component of his army besides humans. His sense was that this group had great potential to grow and develop, but he also knew all too well how easily under-leveled Goblins could be killed.
The humans were stil...
2024-12-04 00:46:01 +0000 UTC
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Brief Announcement: With the newborn baby at home and Thanksgiving this week, updates will be a bit delayed. I thank all readers in advance for your understanding.
2024-11-27 23:45:35 +0000 UTC
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No!
As Adon shouted in his own mind, he recalled one of his magical abilities that did not require his body to coordinate itself. His limbs were still stunned from the bear’s sonic attack, but mental magic only required one functioning organ, and his mind was not stunned.
His vision went dark for a fraction of a second as he connected with the place—and the statuesque figure—in the darkness that gave him access to the power of mental magic. As his vision returned to...
2024-11-24 01:36:35 +0000 UTC
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“Fuck!”
Dean Crocetti swore quietly and resisted the urge to throw something, anything, from his desk.
In the moment before he contained himself, he saw the others in the room visibly draw back.
Control yourself, man, Dean thought. Even if everyone else loses their heads, you have to keep yours.
“Yes, sir, it’s a, um, significant loss,” agreed Trey Zelig.
That’s an understatement. Two more scouts missing. It’s a very fucking si...
2024-11-22 04:38:43 +0000 UTC
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How do we get into these situations?! Adon screamed inside his own mind.
He hoped the words did not leak telepathically, but in the moment, he knew his self-control was not the best. He had no notion of how he and the two spiders could deal with the Mystic Iron Bear that had locked onto them.
Even as a part of him was freaking out, however, his body was moving almost on autopilot. He had survived so many life or death situations by now that he could only panic down t...
2024-11-21 20:37:23 +0000 UTC
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As Rosslyn strode toward the audience chamber, dressed in full royal regalia, a door opened in the hall.
Out of the corner of her eye, the Princess saw a male figure begin to move through the open door—then freeze as the person laid eyes on her. Then the head that had stuck out almost immediately pulled back into the doorway.
Rosslyn did not need to turn her head to recognize that it was Frederick she had seen. At this point, she knew his body language well enough to identify hi...
2024-11-18 20:07:59 +0000 UTC
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A pair of claws parted a thin layer of branches, and a gleaming set of yellow-green eyes stared out of the jungle foliage.
A different, forest biome unfolded before Wind Whisper’s eyes, but the scout knew he could not safely step into it. He felt an intense pressure just ahead of him, harsh enough to make his fur stand on end.
Truly, I can get no closer than this?
The scout knew instinctively just where to stop moving to fall short of entering the aura he sensed b...
2024-11-18 19:56:52 +0000 UTC
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Goldie pointed out a gap area in the nearly invisible outer barrier of Goldie’s deadly silken zone of death.
Then Adon and Goldie followed Samson’s lead as he walked down what Adon quickly recognized was a gently down-sloping hill.
Oh, of course it’s this way, Adon thought. How did I not notice that we were uphill before? Maybe it’s because I usually fly everywhere…
Since he was still in his elf-like form and had temporarily retracted his wings, A...
2024-11-16 17:07:22 +0000 UTC
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As Adon stared at his brother’s enlarged exoskeleton, no longer glowing, now slightly gray, cracks began to form in the carapace.
Oh, of course, this whole thing is going to fall off, Adon thought. It really is a lot like my chrysalis Evolution.
The space between the cracks began to widen, and Adon could see the first glimpses of the flesh underneath. He saw a centimeter’s width of hard exoskeleton that glistened moistly.
Then he heard a voice that pull...
2024-11-14 01:41:45 +0000 UTC
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After completing their business in the throne room, Zhang Chāo and Han Jianguo left the hub of Zhang Chāo’s authority and walked out toward the street entrance of the building.
Zhang Chāo’s bodyguards kept a respectful distance from their leader as he moved. Fresh from his kill in the throne room, they seemed to recognize by their slight physical separation from the Heavenly King that he did not truly need protection. It had not been Zhang Chāo’s intention to make his guards f...
2024-11-14 01:21:59 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note: I'm not sure where to stick this (and the interlude chapter that will follow it) in the narrative of Volume 4. It follows directly up on the events in the Prologue. Interested in opinions as to where this should end up going (or if I should move the whole Prologue, plus this stuff, to the end of the book).
Zhang Chāo stalked back toward the throne room, his footsteps restless, his bodyguards sensing his inner tension and giving him breathing room.
...
2024-11-11 18:00:12 +0000 UTC
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There’s nothing I can do, Adon thought. All right…
He looked glumly at Samson, who continued to emanate pretty lights as he changed—the little spider’s body was clearly but very slowly growing larger as his Evolution proceeded—and Adon wondered what else he could do to pass the time, since Goldie had refused any help.
Then he thought about the Adaptation he most wanted to master, and the way he would spend the next hour or so was obvious.
Adon beg...
2024-11-11 18:00:11 +0000 UTC
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James blinked, and then his eyes and nose were full of Mina’s long, dark hair.
She had thrown herself into his arms. He instinctively bent and clutched her to him. She smelled like home.
“I was starting to worry about you,” she whispered into his ear. “I stopped asking Carol about how you were doing—reminded myself that you’ll always be okay. But I still worry.” She sounded slightly embarrassed.
“I was worried, too,” James whispered, burying h...
2024-11-08 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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As the fox turned to run away from her, Goldie only had a split-second before she understood what was happening.
She immediately sprang into motion to follow the creature. Her Mana ball only needed another couple of seconds.
The fox was far faster than her, but in its haste and near blindness, it charged headfirst into a tree.
It bounced and stumbled backward as Goldie closed the distance. The fox turned back to look at her, seemed to decide it had no option but to fight, sw...
2024-11-08 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“Oh, Mina’s fine,” Carol said, her voice coming from the air around James. “She finished her fights and made it back to the entrance. She’s just resting now. Um, well done in clearing the final level of expert mode of the Dungeon!”
“Thanks,” James said. His eyes scanned the Leaderboard as he spoke.
His name was at the very top, of course.
James Robard… 108,000
Below it, the Leaderboard grew more interesting.
Mina Robard...
2024-11-06 18:00:33 +0000 UTC
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Goldie looked down at the fox’s blood-stained smile, gathered her courage, and tried to remember every single thing she could do.
Her silk was stronger than it had ever been. Her Silk Manipulation Skill had reached a new tier of power following Evolution. Her venom remained at the highest potency she could concentrate it into. Her fangs were adapted to spray her venom now if she chose. And, of course, she had Mana.
She thought she would need all of her abilities as both a magic ...
2024-11-06 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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James looked the monster in the eye with difficulty.
Though the creature had the same yellow eyes as the Red Oni and the Blue Oni, much else about it was different. Its skin was a sickening purple of uneven shade, like the whole body was one giant bruise. Its stature was greater than the brothers’ had been, at somewhere between twelve and thirteen feet high. It had both the horns and both the tusks that the brothers had possessed, so that the combined creature had two of each, one on ...
2024-11-04 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Adon flitted through the air, flying almost effortlessly—he had allowed his wings and body to revert back to their original forms, so the flight felt relaxing.
He moved in slowly widening concentric circles around the tree where Goldie and Samson waited.
As he flew, he did not appreciate the beauty of nature as much this time as he had earlier. The butterfly’s mind was focused. He scanned the environment for living creatures larger than himself, almost fully ignoring the plant...
2024-11-04 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Oh my Goddess, I can’t believe you did that, Adon sent, almost before he knew what he was saying.
Well, of course I did, Samson replied instantly, his voice chipper. The glow of Mana faded from around his body almost immediately as he walked slowly, awkwardly back toward the mouse. Out of the heat of combat, the little spider was beginning to demonstrate the clumsiness one would expect of someone with a missing leg.
Goldie stepped forward as Samson drew closer ...
2024-11-01 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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James instantly shifted into a defensive stance, hands and short sword raised defensively, stepping to place the Red Oni between most of James’s body and the Blue Oni’s.
“I guess you understood that your brother couldn’t win,” James taunted, raising his voice to make sure the Blue Oni caught what he was saying.
“Oh, I just noticed that your monster was creeping up on my brother, and I realized that you didn’t intend to allow the fight to continue as a one on one duel...
2024-11-01 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
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As Adon and the spiders left the royal property for the first time, the air whistling all around them, there was a period of peaceful silence, while all three arthropods enjoyed the view.
For both spiders, it was their first time outside of the palace grounds, and Adon wanted to let them relish the experience of traveling beyond what they had known as the horizon.
They briskly flew over the small number of buildings that separated the palace garden from the forest, along with Wayn...
2024-10-31 03:54:43 +0000 UTC
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On the morning of the fourth day, Samson woke up.
It happened when Goldie, Adon, and Rosslyn were all present, while the little spiders were in a corner of the ceiling, relaxing in a web they had constructed together.
Goldie was standing motionless next to her son, Adon was in quiescence, and Rosslyn had stepped silently into the room, a saucer in hand.
Then the little spider twitched, and the room slowly realized that something was happening.
Adon was the first to mov...
2024-10-31 03:53:23 +0000 UTC
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James and the Green-Skinned Ogre made eye contact as the monster rose to its feet.
The creature seemed to sense there was no point in trying to run away anymore, so it directed all its attention to the human who had killed all its companions.
It still clutched the axe that it had used to attack James’s Body Double Dummy, holding onto the hefty weapon like a desperate lifeline—or like an anchor. Now that they squared off in the open field in front of the Onis’ house, it was e...
2024-10-29 20:38:32 +0000 UTC
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James walked down into the darkness, tracing his hand along the wall. He did not need to do this for balance, but he enjoyed the feel of the cool stone on his fingertips. It helped keep him grounded in the present moment, in the physical space he occupied, when his mind would rather have skipped back upstairs and across to the tunnel where Mina was fighting her struggle.
Fortunately, he soon reached the bottom, and his attention focused squarely on his own situation.
His eyes scop...
2024-10-29 20:35:04 +0000 UTC
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“Mina! Mina, please wake up! Oh my God, Mina, please tell me you’re okay! Oh my gosh, you have a baby, what the fuck is wrong with me letting you walk into this crazy fucking hard Dungeon mode without getting you to at least clear the first two modes first? Why the fuck did I even think xenomorphs were a good idea for Dungeon monsters? Who does that? I’m such a fucking asshole. What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Mina woke to the sound of Carol moaning, crying, and cursing herself ...
2024-10-26 15:07:26 +0000 UTC
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