Lillene

Chapter 832 - Damping an Echo

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Serenity went from light to darkness, then to light again. The light was dimmer the second time, more bearable. He saw all of A’Atla, both the surface and the depths, from the spire that was slowly emerging as the building that had hidden it was blasted away by overwhelming mana to the dead spot wrapped in mana-resistant stone. He somehow knew it was only mana-resistant and not mana-proof even before he saw that a little mana still leaked through it, but he a...

Chapter 831 - Plugged In

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When the moment finally came, Serenity was in a room only a little ways down the hall, watching the cameras he’d installed wherever he could get access. It meant he had a view of about half of the sphere; the other half was inside walls or through connections that were so many miles out of the way without being able to go through the connecting room that he hadn’t managed to get there and set up cameras. They were the last thing he’d done, after all.

...

Chapter 830 - Are we actually prepared this time?

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With all the effort required to set up the more open exploration of A’Atla’s powerplant, it was several days after Serenity’s own exploration was complete before he could really break away and check on how the task he was really interested in was coming along.

It wasn’t done. Serenity was fairly confident he’d know when the draining effect on A’Atla’s nexus was resolved; it ought to link up with the rest of Earth’s ley line network then...

Chapter 829 - Basilisk Extermination

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Over the next few hours, they explored the control room. That did indeed seem to be what it was, though Serenity wasn’t certain why it was here; it seemed to be entirely redundant with A’Atla’s AI managing the ship and its engine.

Samantha and Liam were excited, at least.

Eventually, Serenity and two of the soldiers went out to hunt down any remaining basilisks. As long as they weren’t in a large group, they were easy enough to deal with a...

Chapter 828 - Evidence of the Past

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They moved on, but that wasn’t the last body they saw. The area where the corridor they were following crossed another had clearly been heavily contested. Serenity saw six others in similar garb to the first dead man and one man in armor.

The armor wasn’t the same as the armor on the statues near the entrance, which was clearly at least partly ceremonial. Instead, this armor was almost aggressively plain and functional in design. It reminded Serenity o...

Chapter 827 - The Other Side

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Roberts was not with the group the next time they traveled into the tunnels. Other than him, however, everyone was ready to return two days after the fight, even the man who took the shoulder injury. Serenity learned his name was Ron Williams. That was really all he knew about the man; he was good with a rifle and that was all Serenity needed to know.

Before the retreat, they’d shot all of the basilisks they saw. This trip was to find out if they’d ki...

Chapter 826 - Anything Can Die

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Several more shouts and some gunfire were the only clues Serenity got before the others crossed back out of the stream. Ita was fine, as were two of the soldiers; of the other two, one walked with Ita’s help and the other was carried by the other two soldiers.

The basilisks definitely didn’t go down without a fight.

Blaze took a quick look at the one being carried then carefully didn’t shake his head as he turned to handle the obviously shredde...

Chapter 825 - Take Two

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Checking on the complex object Serenity and Amani designed to stop the strange leak in A’Atla’s artificial ley line nexus only took a few hours. Serenity couldn’t even tell if there was any effect from it. All he could do was have patience; it would be several more days before he expected to see results and probably at least a week before A’Atla finished.

Instead, he spent the time over the next two, almost three, days where he wasn’t showing off...

Chapter 824 - A Better Plan

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“You should take Liam with you next time. No, Samantha. Actually, why not both?” Rissa tapped her bowl with her fork. “Definitely Blaze, too, in case you get bitten again. You said there are only two functional protective shawls, right?”

Serenity nodded, confused. How did she expect him to get everyone across the manastream with only two enchanted items to protect them? Was she planning to have someone walk back and forth across it, so that one ...

Chapter 823 - Basilisks

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A fourth gaze impacted against his shield, then another. Serenity could feel as the overlapping gazes tore a hole in his shield against curses. He had to hold them here until they died or start over; if he waited, he’d only be in worse circumstances. They’d all be aware and watching the shore if he took time to recover.

Well, maybe not if he actually retreated, but that was never wise to count on. He didn’t know anything about the behavior of basili...

Chapter 822 - Ones Lost to Time

I was hoping for early, but I managed on time. I'm going to be happy with that.

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With the enchanted cloth wrapped around his shoulders, crossed over his front, and tucked into his belt, Serenity stepped forward into the fiery-looking stream of mana. The first few steps were shallow, but the level quickly rose. It was more like an upside-down stream with a steep bank than anything else; instead of the corridor dipping to hold water, the mana rose above a...

Chapter 821 - What is this place?

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Were the bites taken before or after the person was turned to stone? It wouldn’t matter to the long-dead body, but it might matter to Serenity. There were a number of different creatures that had petrification abilities of one sort or another, but only a handful of creatures actually ate stone.

At the same time, there were a lot of creatures that would eat flesh; very few of them could petrify and Serenity couldn’t think of any that would petrify someth...

Chapter 820 - Deep Gate?

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Getting Amani back to Rissa and calmed down took a while even though Serenity and Amani took one of Ita’s portals back. Convincing her that it was fine if she didn’t accompany him the rest of the way to the Deep Gate took even longer. It was late enough that Rissa told Serenity to wait until morning.

He probably would have anyway. Well, he’d at least have waited until after dinner.

As it was, it was morning the following day when Serenity...

Chapter 819 - First Time

Sorry for the late chapter. It was very, very Wed today (and I think I got a little food poisoning too). I'm feeling mostly better now, just more tired than usual for this hour, but it did delay the chapter.

I expect tomorrow's will be late as well. 

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The night before they left, Ita showed up for dinner. Jenna’s primary nanny Diane had requested the night off; Rissa happily shared that she thought Diane was planning a date night of her own. No...

Chapter 818 - Ingredients

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Rissa, Amani, and Blaze were eating when Serenity looked up from Psyche’s only slightly ominous warning. Jenna wasn’t eating; instead, she was playing with her food.

Serenity blinked, surprised. “Blaze? I wasn’t expecting you here.”

Blaze flashed a grin at Serenity. “You should have. Can you guess why?”

Serenity shook his head.

Blaze chuckled. “Ita showed me the robes. I can recognize blood when I remove it from fabric, y...

Chapter 817 - Names

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Serenity was grateful when Rissa came in to make dinner and interrupted the awkward moment caused by his thoroughly failed attempt to distract Amani. He was even more relieved when she shot him a glare that was more amused than angry and ushered Amani away to help with the mean. Amani was happy to go.

That made it the perfect time for a phone call. He wasn’t certain what time it was in wherever in Canada Psyche was. Wherever she was, it shouldn’t be ...

Chapter 816 - Mythos

She hadn’t believed him?

Serenity figuratively shook himself. Of course she hadn’t believed him! Would he have believed someone who told him the Earth was destroyed if he hadn’t seen it? He wouldn’t have. Not without evidence. This was just as big a loss to him as that had been to Vengeance. Maybe bigger; Vengeance had already lost everything, after all. The fact that he’d also lost his vengeance since he never figured out who killed Rissa was relatively inconsequential.

Chapter 815 - Myth and History

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Blood trickled down Serenity’s arm where the salamander’s teeth had penetrated his robe and bit into his arm. It was painful, but not too bad. The only real problem was that it wasn’t healing the way he was used to.

It was just like after the summoner, but this time he knew what was going on. He was in his mana elemental disguise as Tom Cooper and that disabled his healing. He’d be fine as soon as he could shift back to his preferred form. Any of ...

Chapter 814 - Fortunately Not Teleporting Deer

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When he finished, Serenity slipped out of the rubble and back into the shape of his Crystal Hilt. For all that the dispelling knife spell was cheap, he was low on mana; that had to be because of the secondary effect he was having on the residue. It was like it pulled mana out of him.

It was easy enough to confirm. All he had to do was expand his aura and test his Affinities. Naturally, the first one he picked was Death.

Serenity felt a tearing pain ...

Chapter 813 - Into the Night Fire

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Serenity glanced back at the trident. The message and the fact that he couldn’t sense any magic about it made him feel positively paranoid. If he’d been affected by something he couldn’t see, putting it in his Rift wouldn’t hurt anything. On the other hand, if the hologram was truthful, it was just a message; that would also be safe. The only case where it would matter would be if there was something there but it hadn’t yet affected him.

On th...

Chapter 812 - Trident

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Team Two, Liam, and Mark met “Tom Cooper” at the outer camp less than an hour after Serenity’s alarm went off. He was the last one there, because he’d stopped to eat some breakfast. If he couldn’t have a good night’s sleep, he wanted to at least be fed.

There was no sign of any Night Fire on any of them, even Mike, despite the fact that he’d seen it on Mike the previous evening. Serenity hoped that was because of his work the night before. He...