Third chapter today, make sure you didn't skip the previous two.
Elara leaned back into the bath, letting warm water fully envelop her skin. Her eyes closed, ushering in blessed darkness, and the kinks in her muscles slowly unwound. She could have done that herself earlier, manually forcing her body out of its tense state, but she had needed to be alert - and it was easy for the mind to follow the body’s lead. It was tense, and so she was. If it hadn’t been, she mig...
2022-12-10 22:25:46 +0000 UTC
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Second chapter posted today, make sure you didn't skip the previous.
I let out a hiss, flexing my coils. The Coreless had been making noises at each other for a while now, sounds flowing back and forth in a seemingly never ending torrent, a flurry of emotions running through their [Little Guardian’s Totem]s.
We had shoved ourselves into the rickety tower-nest, filling its rooms with far too many bodies. For a little while, my disciples ...
2022-12-10 22:24:33 +0000 UTC
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First chapter today, at least two more being posted in the following minute or so. I also did some minor editing on the previous chapter. Feel free to skim/read it if you want to see what changed. If you don't want to, the gist of the edits was just that Valera could sense bits of the life force that Paradox had been gathering through [Life Hunter], and that is helping her be less worried about his currently undead state.
“We need to get these people inside,” Valera...
2022-12-10 22:23:22 +0000 UTC
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It didn’t take nearly as long to reach the tower-nest where most of the disciples waited than it had to go the other direction; this time, I knew where I was going.
Also, my newest Coreless walked much faster than I could slither.
That may have been the biggest difference.
Whatever the reason, my crowd of Coreless soon came upon the rickety tower-nest; I heard their mutterings as we approached and, even if I didn’t know what they were saying, I could make a gu...
2022-11-29 02:18:43 +0000 UTC
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I stood triumphantly on wobbling legs, basking in my greatness - and, at the same time, I laid atop the Coreless giant’s flesh, my fangs pushing deep inside him. The Coreless shuddered, one hand raising up to slap at my snake-self with scale-shattering force, but the rest of what I had accomplished was enough to stop him.
Even if only barely.
His former allies, turned undead one and all, held him down with a ceaseless determination that few could match, ignor...
2022-11-22 04:56:02 +0000 UTC
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Run. Just do it. It’s better than dying; it’s better than becoming undying, the thrall of some Skies-damned monster, Eli told himself. Someone has to get away. Someone has to warn everyone about what’s happening here. It might as well be you. You can sprint until your body eats itself whole. You’re the best choice for getting a message out. You can live. Just go. Go. Go. G...
2022-11-16 07:06:29 +0000 UTC
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After a moment of confusion, I tried to stand again.
In some ways, I had been prepared for this. With [Little Guardian’s Totem], I had already been able to ride along the perspectives of my Coreless, able to see through their eyes and hear through their ears. It meant that I wasn’t taken off guard by the change in perspective; it meant that it felt natural to me, even if it was anything but. I didn’t feel odd seeing through a Coreless...
2022-11-10 05:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Eli staggered, the shakiness in his legs less from fatigue - his mana-enhancement meant that he wouldn’t feel that, not without the situation turning significantly worse than it already was - and more from, well, fear.
There was a lot of that right now.
A whole lot of it.
Even ignoring the persistent fear that a tiny Ascended monster would slither its way out of the ground and decide to take a bite, Eli was faced with a more immediate fear - the once-hu...
2022-11-09 02:52:22 +0000 UTC
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Horik had always been a giant, or at least as close to it as anyone ever got. His mother’d always said that, by the time he was a toddler, she’d worried that he’d accidentally tear her hand off every time he'd grabbed it - and even if that was a joke, it was still true that he’d always been bigger than normal people.
Stronger. Better. After his mana enhancements took their natural course - pushing towards even greater strength, as Horik had always known they would - H...
2022-10-31 02:48:50 +0000 UTC
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Eli’s fingers tightened around his spear, each one flexing in quick succession. A nervous tic, but it was hard not to be nervous. Eli hadn’t dealt with anything like this before. His time guarding the mines before today had been easy; threaten a lazy prisoner here, beat back an encroaching monster there, and that was about it. And as dangerous as monsters could be, Eli had never felt truly afraid while working in the mines. His armor’s Wind Barrier was enough to keep...
2022-10-25 06:05:36 +0000 UTC
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The newest stream of life force warmed my scales, pushing back the bitter cold of death just a little further. I did my best to ignore that, focusing on what I knew would come next.
The thought-light flickered.
Mana-Infused .̸̠̑/̷̧͖̮͚͐̕.̵͙̣͍̩̜͉̏/̸̩̖̐ͅ.̸̮̙̰̖̜̾̽͌̌̽͛̾͐/̸̛̗̘̼̳͕͔͕͚̈́̈̑̅̑̚.̴͉͉͌̃̊͆̈́̄͘.̶̱̔̌̓͊̚/̸̜̞͉͙͔͖̬̇͋͜.̵̘͔͇̘͇̄̓̃͜/̵̧̺̼͖̠̮̩͚̒͒̑̂̈̿̃͠ D-
2022-10-20 02:39:56 +0000 UTC
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A near-forgotten fire roared to life in Elara’s heart. Anger. Hatred. Disgust. All sparked by a single word.
Virtun.
It wasn’t the word that did it, though. She thought the word plenty. Had heard Orken’s Council say it plenty, too, back when the Seekers were making their reports. It was just a word.
Except, in this case, it was more than that. It was the ones that had ruined her city - coming here. Soon.
Elara didn’t know w...
2022-10-18 04:02:50 +0000 UTC
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Elara sighed, the heavy breath warping into something decidedly more ominous as it met her helmet’s closed face. It was hot, and more than a little sweaty, but she had already learned that people took her more seriously when the helmet was closed. Which wasn’t really surprising; a faceless armored figure was significantly more intimidating than the notably young woman inside of that armor. Plus, she could always ignore the heat, plucking at her body’s strings and rem...
2022-10-16 04:07:49 +0000 UTC
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Valera chewed on her lower lip, worrying away at its frayed edges. The Little Guardian had been gone for a while now, and she was more than a little concerned. Sure, he could take care of himself - between his ability as a seer and his increasing strength in general, Valera doubted that he would run into something that would lead to his death.
Still, she worried. Less about what would happen to him, and more about what would try to happen to him. And how he would han...
2022-10-06 06:21:39 +0000 UTC
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The first Coreless that I raised ended up being more than enough to turn the tide of battle, though I couldn’t do much more than give vague commands. Occasionally, when his mind managed to momentarily use my distraction to pull itself ever-so-slightly out of the dark that I had shoved it in, I found myself with a greater understanding of the battle; flashes of his perspective crowded the edge of my vision, something similar to when I rode the perspective of my [Little...
2022-10-05 05:56:21 +0000 UTC
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Laying in my little carved-out nook a few slithers below the Coreless, tail caught securely within my mouth, I had some time to figure things out.
I needed that time. Needed that bit of safety that it gave while I figured things out.
Another mind was poking and prodding at mine. One that had far more depth than the spore-puppets that I was used to controlling. Those were simple; easy to understand, easy to control.
My newest minion was not; unlike with my...
2022-10-04 05:43:29 +0000 UTC
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October 1 billing cycle will be paused:
For all current patrons, you will not be charged when the month rolls over. Work has been extremely busy and it has left me with no real time or energy to write recently, so you'll be able to access any additional chapters next month without charge to help make up for the gap in writing. I will be planning to post during this time period despite the pause on billing.
To sum up:
...
2022-09-28 01:14:17 +0000 UTC
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2nd chapter today, make sure you didn't skip the previous
Gained Major Title: [Reanimated].
Description: Reanimated after death and placed under the control of the one responsible, your body and mind have mutated into a facsimile of life. Death has become a source of health, and life a poison.
Species Gained: Undead
Innate Trait: [Life-Death ...
2022-09-13 17:21:59 +0000 UTC
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First chapter today, more coming after
I was a little confused by these Coreless. Not that Coreless weren’t always at least a little confusing, but I could generally make a guess at the reasons for the things they did. The ore-flesh that kept them attached to their sleep-surfaces, though, that was a different story.
Did they just want to make sure nothing could take the sleep-surfaces away without them noticing? They didn’t seem that co...
2022-09-13 17:20:35 +0000 UTC
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I stopped, tongue flicking out to taste the air, catching blood and salt and sickness. Like a wound left to fester. Exactly like that, actually. I followed the scent-taste, allowing myself to turn away from my pursuit of sound, pursuing taste instead.
Pursuing opportunity. It probably wouldn’t take long.
Luckily, they weren’t even that far apart; for a long while, I moved in the same direction as before, continuing to slither down the same large-tunnel that I had al...
2022-08-24 05:00:43 +0000 UTC
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The large-tunnel pushed deep into the stone, a long and winding stretch that felt as if it moved for endless slithers. Wall-cracks and small-tunnels leaked black-water at its edges, keeping me carefully moving down the center, where it was safer for me to slither about. For the most part, the leaking bits of black-water formed tiny pools in the areas where the tunnel’s floor shifted downwards near the walls; it happened often enough that I doubted it was natural.
M...
2022-08-19 05:30:51 +0000 UTC
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I hissed, the sound thrumming with rage - enough that I almost dared hope that my enemy would move from my path, leaving me free to slither where I wished.
The black-water didn’t flee, even when I hissed a little harder. Even when I tried to warn it off with a gout of [Mana Fire], the blue flames licking at the black-water’s surface for a brief instant, the black-water didn’t even ripple. Didn’t even try to get away.
I...
2022-08-17 06:26:19 +0000 UTC
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I curled around a long beam of darkwood, my scale-flesh rubbing against the roughened plant-flesh that stretched across the upper section of the nest. It poked and prodded back at me, bits of its surface sloughing off from my passage, weakened by rot and neglect. The splinters floated downwards, bouncing against my disciples’ ore-flesh, all but unnoticed.
Or, it would have been, if it weren’t for the gaggle of tiny Coreless trying to climb up and reach me - and the larger...
2022-08-16 05:46:34 +0000 UTC
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Caught COVID at the start of last week and it hasn't been very fun, but it's on its way out and I'm not dead. Only a few symptoms left, and they're not too bad anymore. Hurray. Here's a chapter, short as it is. Sorry about the wait.
I twisted my length, peering about. Wide eyes stared back at me, each pair set into grimy Coreless faces. Those faces were attached to thin necks and too-small trunks; even their limbs were skeletal and weak, with nowhere near enough muscle ...
2022-08-09 06:24:12 +0000 UTC
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In recent days, ever since we had left the many-nest in search of another - because, even if I couldn’t understand the Coreless’ not-hisses, I could feel the connection to a cluster of distant [Little Guardian’s Totem]s growing closer - we had been traveling through the World Dungeon on a well-worn path. The stone was scuffed and weathered, like a giant serpent had slithered down its length, rough scales carving out a long notch in the stone to form ...
2022-07-28 05:27:16 +0000 UTC
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Valera slumped down, feeling more exhausted than the day should have warranted. She hadn’t really done anything - especially compared to some of her more recent days - but her subconscious mind seemed to disagree. Maybe it was the stress. She knew that Councilman Port was just trying to maneuver Orken into a more advantageous position - something that was necessary if they were to push for Virtun’s punishment for their delegation’s crimes - but that didn’t change o...
2022-07-22 05:56:01 +0000 UTC
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I hissed lightly as the-female-who-was-not-Needle walked, most of my attention wrapped up in continuing the plant-flesh forest’s growth. It wasn’t terribly hard. After all, I didn’t need to be inside it to keep [Verdure Parasite]’s effects going. It just helped me judge which plant-flesh needed to be grown for the best results. Without being near, I was blind - but not useless. Besides, the many-nest was a welcome distraction. I had been g...
2022-07-21 05:30:34 +0000 UTC
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The tiny Coreless’ hiss was surprisingly good. At least, when compared to the constant failures of the-female-who-was-not-Needle to communicate. I could almost hear the warning in it; like an infant warning a bad-thing from its nest - not particularly effective, but understandable.
From my place on the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s shoulder, I leaned closer, adding my hiss to her own. Now that I could actually see the threat, no longer needing to direct my disciple...
2022-07-20 04:29:13 +0000 UTC
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I hissed, letting [Verdure Parasite] strip away the flow of time from the most-recently grown bits of plant-flesh, sending them rushing towards the next waiting seeds. The ground burst forcefully, pushed aside by the suddenly-there limbs of wood and plant-flesh that ripped free from the once-dormant seeds like mana-water from a spring. Soon after, I twisted the streams of time again, shifting them in another direction. Vines in blues and golds and greens d...
2022-07-15 02:23:08 +0000 UTC
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Firstly: Chapter 235 was posted just before this, in case you missed it.
Secondly: Book 1 of The Great Core's Paradox is now live on amazon and audible!
For those of you who like The Great Core's Paradox (hopefully all of you, since you're here), I would greatly appreciate it if you left me a review on Amazon or 2022-07-13 00:54:42 +0000 UTC
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