Soderberg

Lifeweaver: Chapter 27

In that brief moment's respite, Luke threw his available attribute points from the level up into Vitality, bringing it up to 14. Things were bleak. Health and resilience would be more helpful than a little more mana. The skill point would have to wait.

Six true to life knights in full plated armor and closed helms, showing neither eyes nor mouths, stormed out into the clearing atop their mounts. As soon as they cleared the tree line, they lowered the lances they carried and continued, s...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 26

The things bounding out of the forest weren't wolves, at least not only wolves. Whoever created these monstrosities combined parts from humans with parts from wolves. One ran straight at them, a male torso with an animal's hind legs, but arms reaching. Its head was that of a wolf, except for two human eyes staring.

Inspected: Monster. Flesh Howler. Level 9.

It leapt at them, and Mateo's spear slammed into it, killing the beast in an instant. More broke from the sh...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 25

The monster built from bits and pieces of humans reached for Luke, who'd thrown up Threads of Mana to block. One thread cut into the Flesh Golem’s mana channels as it struck, parting the arm in two. The other two Threads of Mana, much to his surprise, held solid enough to act as a shield as the golem stumbled, its arm torn to pieces. Still, it kept coming, pushing Luke back into the wall as it forced its way forward.

Then Colt was up.

"Finally regenerated enough mana," he growle...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 24

Ray pushed Penny back with a firm hand. "I don't know if it's real or not, but it doesn't matter. It's not part of our world. Let's just find this Shepherd, kill him, and get out of here."

He then turned to Luke and grinned. "Aaaaaaaah, fresh meat!"

"You have to stop doing that," Luke said.

"Oh, come on," Ray complained. "It was a little funny."

"I see no humor in this terrible place," Mateo said, stepping out in front of the group. "Let us delve deeper into the belly ...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 23

Colt, who had been trying to lift the skeletons off Luke, stood right next to him, hacking at the enemies with his sword. It didn't do much of anything against them, steel scraping against bone. Several of them swarmed him, throwing themselves at his arms to keep him from attacking. He let out a dissatisfied grunt, and his shield and sword disappeared. Rather than using the ineffective weapon, Colt grabbed a skeleton by the neck, ignoring its teeth. He pulled and twisted until a loud snap sou...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 22

He made his way past the benches toward the front of the church, stepping across the floor with more of those golden letters hacked into the stone itself. Images of men and women were painted upon the stone, lifelike, but twisted. They wore nice clothes in the paintings and a lot of jewelry and riches. Each of them was on their backs, staring up at the church ceiling, pious smiles on their faces. But the people in the paintings did not have eyes, just dark holes painted in their stead.

...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 21

The zombies moaned and shuffled toward the open iron gate, and Mateo met them without hesitation, his spear piercing through the air again and again, striking the monsters in the chest or the head. Both were killing blows, unlike what they had learned in movies growing up. Colt placed himself by the gate and held the undead back while Mateo flanked him, striking from the side.

Ray didn't reach past the hulking Vanguard with his shorter weapons. Instead, he walked up to the fence and lea...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 20

Luke looked out across the crowd after shouting for more members to join the party of six required. Perhaps six wasn't a must, but going in without as much power as they could muster was a fool's errand, and Luke was no fool. The mention of a profession in the interface intrigued him. Behind that simple word was another path toward strength and power. He just knew it. Knew it and needed it. His chosen class, Lifeweaver, held immense potential but left a lot to be desired in its current form. ...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 19

Everyone stopped and held their breaths as the portal groaned, and some of that warm pinkish hue returned, but nothing happened for a long moment, and Luke glanced at the countdown timer in his interface.

"There are still 15 minutes remaining on the item," he said.

"That is some ominous crap," Ray said, pushing the undead mage’s head away before standing up.

Luke watched it roll over a few times and then come to a stop, eye sockets staring up at him. "So you were the one w...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 18

The mage type undead emerging from the gateway stood almost half again as tall as the normal skeletons and zombies. They wore tattered robes in dark grey colors, and ominous, deep purple particles swirled in the air over their heads before coalescing into an even darker, shimmering orb. Before Luke even made it to the tank, a ray of magic, born from that orb, shot out and reached its destination in an instant. From his terrible vantage point, Luke couldn’t see who’d been hit, but figured ...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 17

Gunshots from the rifle cracked through the air, and the crowd ducked on instinct, cowering. Blue barriers shimmered into existence in front of two of the tanks, standing on either side of Kirk. The bullets dinged off the protective barriers and fell useless to the ground, but the cop with the rifle didn't stop firing, not until a red line appeared at his throat and blood gushed out as someone hidden tore through his jugular, flesh yawning open.

"Stop!" Kirk's voice rang through the air...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 16

The orb wasn't far from the bar, and as they walked, more and more Integrated joined in, streaming toward them from all directions. People shouted their defiance against the executive order, against the state, and against the federal government.

People were pissed. Luke fell back a little, not wanting to stay in the front. He was a healer, after all, and he needed to keep his class in consideration. If people were injured, he'd heal them. But it was not his job to march at the front and...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 15

Acrid, dark smoke welled up from the hood of one of the involved cars, a white little Toyota with its front crushed and the whole of its side dented. A red Ford lay on its side near the railing, its wheels spinning, and a gray pickup with the motor still running stood between them, much of it torn apart.

A few people were scattered around the vehicles, waving their arms about, or with phones pressed to their ears, screaming into them. Luke drew in a deep breath and ran to the tipped ove...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 14

Luke had never been much of a runner. His somewhat thin frame and above-average height might give some the impression otherwise, but before he was even out of the city, he was huffing and puffing, feeling a side stitch coming on and cursing his decision to leave home in jeans and a hoodie. But he wasn't a quitter. No one could accuse him of that. Despite it all, he ran down the street, turned, and continued.

Each time he passed groups of people, he sensed their injuries and illnesses. B...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 13

To be fair, the meeting that followed turned out to be more of a conversation than an interrogation. Luke explained the Tutorial Dungeon, what they faced in there: classes, levels, items, and everything else he could think of. Nothing about what they’d been up to was secret, and it’d be common knowledge soon enough, anyway, so he saw no harm in sharing. Also, that burger bought a lot of goodwill.

”If not for the information we’ve received from other cities, this all would have s...

Lifeweaver: Chapter 12

Luke was being offered active skills when reaching level 5. About time! While the vast majority of people were making their way over to the gateway after the Groll Champion succumbed, Luke sat on the grass to check out the skills, weighing his options.

System Message: New skills available.

The Healer's Moment [Active. Mana Cost: Moderate]: A mere moment can cut through the chasm between life and death.

The Healer's Staff [Active. Man...