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106 - It's a Research and Development Montage [Cherno]

A short time later, as she sat in the window, smoking Arrha and looking out over the docks, she found that she couldn’t call Barzai out. Looking to its system readout, the spirit’s status had gone from Fully Nourished to Exhausted - Cogniphagic Metamorphosis in Progress. Barzai became available again the next day, making itself known to Krahe just as she was cooking herself lunch while casually reading through Secrets of the Atropal. When she looked inward towards the ra...

105 - Crow and Raven Pt. 2 [Cherno]

“It's 'cause of these. Got special access to their section of the library,” she gestured to the coffee table, over which all four of Barzai’s scrolls were rolled out. “There was another text noting that one could just find eidolons that would otherwise be exceedingly rare to obtain from a spirit-calling rite.”

It was a half-lie. She had, indeed, read that the results of most spirit-calling rites were unevenly distributed, with weaker eidolons of a given class being more common...

"Carnifex Fulguris" - New Illust/Cover Art

Cover version SoonTM

274 - Facade Obscura, Metropolis Obscura Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

A/N: Partial rewrite for improved flow
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“Attempting to regain control of the two regions has been difficult work, even with the open cooperation of Rigport’s occupation government. To add onto our troubles, Eberheim has…”

Another click. Back to Eberheim, but a real photo of the city from an elevated position, likely a nearby hill. A huge cathedral stood proud in the middle of everything, spires r...

273 - Facade Obscura, Metropolis Obscura [Sturmblitz]

Later that week…

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Zefaris had reached a point of being able to use the Philosopher’s Eye for hours at a time without issue, and was certain that it wouldn’t be long before she could simply have it open continuously. And then, one day, Victor came along to one of the sect’s libraries where Zefaris had been reading through forgotten manuscripts on glyph arrays, finding that they made a surprising amount...

104 - Crow and Raven [Cherno]

There, in the depths, she found them. Atop a vast, blackened spire, something that her mind interpreted as a volcanic funnel, surrounded by fathomless astral depths, she found a gnarled tree of coral, and a pool filled with a swirling, writhing mass of formless serpents, indistinguishably blending into one another. The Wound-like Grin gaped wide upon the tree, and the affirmation that these were eidolons made itself known to her. Specifically, Grade Three Lesser Eidolons; eidolons comparable ...

272 - Hellfire Manifesto Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

A few minutes later, in a warded private meeting room, the two sat across from one another. Though Zelsys had offered him several different kinds of liquor, even a medicinal meal straight from Ozmir’s kitchen, he refused all. Since it was now time for her breakfast, she engaged in the conversation while also eating a whole brisket of dragon meat seasoned with herbs from the Leyline Well Meadow and smoked using shavings from an oak tree struck by lightning. It was served with a side of 300-y...

271 - Hellfire Manifesto [Sturmblitz]

One morning, Halxian came to Zelsys with a message from his father, asking her to visit him to discuss “an interesting affair”. This was code-speak for a truly severe and urgent problem, one that threatened global repercussions and required the direct intervention of the Newman Sect’s strongest. The mere fact he brought over a missive himself was enough to suggest great importance.

She had noticed the Estoras brat getting along surprisingly well with Victor. A part of her would’...

103 - The Rite of Dho-Hna [Cherno]

Bit by bit, she found grains of info on the influx of strange, yellow-paper talismans of abnormally high quality. It wasn’t long before she bought herself a corkboard and started working things out using it and an array of memslates and documents. By the end of the first week, she’d gotten her hands on a device that could take notes onto a memslate directly from her thoughts merely by funneling a hair-thin strand of Thauma into it.

There were multiple threads to follow, and, in her ...

102 - Case Three: The Talisman Assassin [Cherno]

"You..." he hissed. A dejected sigh. The gun went down. He waved her into his flat, and she followed. As he closed the door behind her, he continued muttering: "Of course you'd show up. It was only a matter of time. I'll have to disappoint you, I don't know shit about the incident. Just that my cousin's dead and the Hashems probably did it."

Krahe was more than familiar with people she knew personally meeting unfortunate ends. Even without the hazard factor of associating with her, abru...

101 - Payday [Cherno]

The Dream-quest Scrolls were as bulky as they were strange. Though their construction was that of wood or bamboo-slip scrolls, they were made of dark chitin and bound by ligaments. She took them with her alongside all her other books she’d decided to check out in a bag that she had brought along. Before the librarian even started checking over her choices, he said: “Due to the conditions of your Special Access to Section Thirty Eight, nothing you check out from there will be recorded, onl...

270 - A Friendly Exchange of Techniques Between Two Young Masters Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

The Fog Ogre looked about ready to fall apart by the time Halxian was done mere seconds later, and then, the explosions came. In rapid sequence, the congealed pseudo-matter of the glorified target dummy was torn to shreds and scattered all about the ring, still burning until Halxian willed the flame to go out.

His back hurt like hell. This was nothing new, he knew it would be like this.

He felt something flying at him, and instinctively caught it, finding it to be a small bottle o...

269 - A Friendly Exchange of Techniques Between Two Young Masters [Sturmblitz]

They moved into the Phantasmagoria Ring, the machinery whirring to life as the setting they had entered beforehand took form. A great ring of metal and tubes rose up to enclose the whole arena, spinning in place, hovering above inverted Ankhezian hovercraft repulsors. Silver threads of Fog swirled up from below and into the arena from the metal ring, spiraling into a tall, humanoid shape in the center.

The Fog Ogre, as it had come to be called over the past months, was the largest prese...

268 - A Friendly Spar Between Two Young Masters [Sturmblitz]

“...It appears that the Artat Sect Elder wishes to dispel any possibility of hostility and establish friendly relations,” Ozmir explained, himself still reading the letter. He looked up, seeing Zelsys approaching.

“Far be it for me to pry, Elder, but did you not come to blows and break through their Hundred Hands Sword Union Formation during your visit?”

“So I did.”

“Then it seems that, despite my expectations, the Artat Sect yet holds to the ideals of Lord Bra...

100 - Secrets of the Atropal [Cherno]

Later in the day, she went to the Temple of Records. They let her in without asking any questions, with the librarian stating: “The High Grafter has made arrangements in your stead. You have access to Sections One through Sixteen, as well as special access to Section Thirty-eight. Temporary supernormal access may be requested, though it may not be granted. Our public title archive includes a comprehensive inventory of all documents within the first thirty sections.”

Unlike the Centr...

99 - Searching for Case Three [Cherno]

“Your turn, tell me your boons,” Krahe prompted. “Just the effects, no need to list the names.”

“Surely, you have more than one boon.”

“Of course, but I suspect you have already figured them out. My other boons grant me a Kenoma Pocket, play havoc with appraisal magic, and facilitate my unique abilities pertaining to harnessing anathema and tolerating Isotope,” Krahe said, purposely leaving out most of the actual details and completely leaving out Chernobog’s Mys...

267 - A Thorn to a Root Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

She stayed for some time after, to keep up appearances, and when she left, she took a swig straight from the poison gourd just to really drive it in… And because the sap was starting to feel a great deal more like strong alcohol than a poison.

As for Reimund, he was well aware that had been thrown from the pan into the fire. Whatever machinations were at play, both from Newman and the Root Branch, flew far above his head… And yet he was sat in the middle caught in the crossfire. The...

266 - A Thorn to a Root [Sturmblitz]

While his second-in-command contacted the Root Branch, Archibald penned a polite letter of first contact, folded it up, and sent the paper bird on its way to the old city of Willowdale. Hopefully the sect grounds were still in the same place.

Archibald’s poor liver wouldn’t get much rest any time soon, as he realized when one of his core disciples requested additional resources to attempt developing a facsimile of the semi-autonomous spinning cutters which Newman had used.

___...

98 - Level 15 [Cherno]

A/N: Minor edit to the end of the chapter.
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It was as she read the book, the Xaugeth Encyclopedia Vol. 1, Edition of 5201, that she realized that Ronin had to have been one of the Herculeans which were listed as one of the civilized races of Xaugeth. Great big beetle-men, they were, who molted repeatedly as part of their life cycle, growing stronger and smarter with each molt, while each subsequent molt g...

97 - Sign of the Raven [Cherno]

“Well, I don’t know what you plan to do from here on out, but once I wake up I’ll probably get breakfast at a market and try to do some investigative work, see if I can dig up something on Hashem’s so-called Benefactors. Or… Find some other excuse to play with this new toy. Can’t very well bring it into a serious fight without sharpening it on a handful of bottomfeeders first. Wonder how I would source a Fourth-order voidkey… Do the churches not provide for their own?”

�...

96 - Calbian Molting Tonic [Cherno]

“For these,” Firminus held up the yellow painkillers, “Swallow one pill every eight hours. For acute pain, chew two pills instead. They strain the liver somewhat, though you needn’t worry unless you eat them like candy.”

The yellow painkillers’ label read, in an attractive, commercial font:

TABRYXA

Since 3987 AB

The second painkiller came as greenish, cloudy liquid in bronze-and-glass cartridges lined up in a wooden box, th...

265 - Archibald Branstein's Plight [Sturmblitz]

The Flying Needle Sword flew into the courtyard, and striking one of the sect building’s decorative pillars, exploded with a directed blast of lightning. The pillar broke, as did the Flying Needle, spraying fragments of both stone and metal across the load-bearing wall behind it.

Zelsys, seeing Archibald visibly struggling to stabilize the formation, shouted out that she had no ill will towards his sect and that, as much as she enjoyed it, continuing this fight was pointless. Still he...

264 - Hidden Sect Contact Attempt Gone Wrong (Gone Violent)(COURTING DEATH) [Sturmblitz]

A/N: If you haven't already, go back to 263. I rewrote the final 1/3 of the chapter.
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Eisengeist’s blood was, of course, much too intense to be stored in such a bottle. Most of what she had gotten in such bottles was made up of Tertiary Spring water, sap from a specific kind of tree, the honey of the Crescent Jungle’s bees, and several kinds of beast blood useful for alchemy. Coincidentally, all of t...

95 - Submersion and Emergence [Cherno]

She was here, now, at this place and time, anchored in reality, and yet, she wasn’t. The world revolving. Spiraling. The breath of existence collapsing and expanding like a beating heart. Aeons flowing past her, a cosmic vastness rushing through and over her, a profound nothingness begging to be given purpose, googolplexes of souls rushing out of, into, and past the world, yet spaced infinitely far apart. Spiraling. Spiraling. Spiraling. Billowing winds in a place without air. A dot in noth...

263 - Prodigal Politics [Sturmblitz]

A/N: Made an edit to the final 1/3 of this chapter for better pacing.
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As the woman sat across from Gideon, one of her braids shifted into motion, and from an ought-of-sight storage tablet it lifted a sizable growler bottle onto the table. It was a pale blue colour, constantly gave off an ice-like chill, and blood-red liquid sloshed about inside. Faintly-glowing Borean runes were carved on its surface...

262 - Once Again, Cogs in Motion [Sturmblitz]

Makhus’s manic explanation was interrupted by One-arm’s choice: “I suppose I shall take the middle one. It feels as though it will conduct my flame the best of these three.”

He turned on a heel and immediately began helping get the arm attached to the old man. Halxian saw his opportunity and finally called out the redhead: “Hey, Khestun. Are you too busy for a spar?”

“Er… Right now?”

“Sure. I can wait, if I must.”

“Just to be clear, you’re not...

94 - The Silver Key of Kadath Pt. 2 [Cherno]

This was a first; the Boon’s readout was long and complex enough that it was split into sections and even pages. Nonetheless, Krahe made sense of it, and blinking a few times to clear her sight, returned her focus to reality.

“It appears that I can both Skim and Dive, but the Boon claims that the functionality will improve significantly if I acquire a voidkey with the same capabilities.”

“That is most impressive, does it show the specific characteristics? Skim range and ho...

261 - The Pride of One's Family Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

The resources of the Krishorn Clan, the Iron Riders, and the Kargarians at large could not be understated, either. The ink of Halxian’s chest and back tattoos was fundamentally different from that on his arm, utilizing an advanced composition hybridized with the ink used for Iron Rider armor trackers. Many of the sect’s alchemical advancements could be chalked up to Makhus’s possession of the Philosopher’s Heart, and in this matter, Crovacus was glad that his gambit was paying for its...

93 - The Silver Key of Kadath [Cherno]

Only a small opening on the back of Krahe’s neck remained, Fidelia’s tendrils entering through it as she performed the final connections and quadruple-checked that everything was as it should be. She continuously chanted prayers to Zavesh while she worked. Firminus lacked both the dedication and the physical capability to speak in multiple voices at once.

Fidelia’s motions grew feverish, and at once, she retracted her tendrils and sealed the incision, connecting several interwoven...

260 - The Pride of One's Family [Sturmblitz]

A/N: My backlog is fucked. Gonna take a couple days to rebuild it. Normal posting resumes on Wednesday.
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Zelsys burned through outstanding Slayer’s Guild contracts one after the next, treating them as the amusing diversions they were for one of her caliber. She took along other guild and sect members for whom the contracts would have been too much, letting them keep the payouts on the condition that she gets firs...