Tar didn’t show up. It’d been a long shot to even hope for any response from the rat that’d taken information from me and then disappeared throughout the winter, but I’d hoped for it anyways. He’d been generally friendly, and though I couldn’t trust his real intentions, I figured I could get something out of him through questioning. Instead of getting questions answered, though, I got to carry the lifeless corpses of over a dozen of my people’s dead bodies. Brutus and I both hel...
2025-05-03 04:00:05 +0000 UTC
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TJ couldn’t say for sure what it was that had changed in him to loosen up so much with the two teenagers, but he didn’t mind the change in himself. He felt more like TJ and less like the carrier of the Bloodline of Kukulkan. In 100 days, he’d have to fight against the other people with the Bloodline of Kukulkan and see what the whole competition thing was about, but for now, he could just be a somewhat crotchety old man mentor to these two kids. Watching as they both hesitated to skin c...
2025-05-02 15:48:36 +0000 UTC
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It was fortunate that there were no faces or features that I’d been personally close to, as I would have lost any semblance of calm. Each body had been… harvested, for lack of a better form of expression. The fangs were pulled from their mouths, the claws were cut from their fingers, and, most strangely and bloody of all, their frills had been cut from their heads. Every step of the desecration of the bodies had been deliberate and done with a sharp blade. The bodies, the meat was left be...
2025-05-02 04:58:58 +0000 UTC
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As he lay eyes on the creatures assembled in front of his home, TJ Appraised them.
Sobek’s Devotee, Zealot, 15
Sobek’s Devotee, Zealot, 17
Sobek’s Devotee, Disciple, 14
Sobek’s Devotee, Neophyte, 18
Sobek’s Devotee, Acolyte, 20
Seeing that none were Copper tier, the slight concern that’d filled TJ washed away with the steady rain from above. These creature...
2025-05-01 15:00:16 +0000 UTC
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BTW: On RR, if you favorite/follow/rate, you'll help push this closer to getting bonus chapters. They're already written!
“Push them uphill!”
“That’s why I’m here. It’s damned hard, and if it was so easy, I would, you fangless worm!”
“Then I’ll do it!”
As soon as the skies stayed clear, the thickfeathers’ migration south began. Fortunately, we’d had some small amount of forewarning from the Tala citizens. The large birds s...
2025-05-01 04:00:08 +0000 UTC
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All Tutorials have been completed and the Integration has been completed throughout the entire world. No longer will there be boundaries between different parts of the planet, nor between the original scopes of those tales influenced by Participants and Deities past. As Participants and other entities within the bounds of the Integrated world are granted opportunities to claim Divine Authority, the surface, atmosphere, and interior of the planet will change. Depending on multiple fact...
2025-04-30 15:00:37 +0000 UTC
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“Clear the drifts here! They’ll melt eventually, but we’re ready to work now! The snow must be moved to outside of the walls, so do not move it to another drift nearby, as if you’re found, you’ll be forced to move that entire drift as well. Your Alpha will know more details. Now move!” A Khatif Sou’Tal gave commands to a pack as they walked past. The pack’s Alpha seemed to have known what they were going to be assigned to do and began to issue orders as several of the Kha sagg...
2025-04-30 04:00:11 +0000 UTC
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TJ took a maybe unhealthy amount of enjoyment in the genuine confusion that accompanied every kindness he did for Sam and Mimi. He realized he had to do that instead of thinking more deeply about it, because if he did, he’d just get more pissed than he already was. So, he giggled like a naughty schoolboy when Mimi’s eyes flicked between him and the syrup bottle when he’d insisted she “needed at least twice as much syrup than that!” or when Sam had eaten only one and made to stand up...
2025-04-29 15:00:32 +0000 UTC
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Come here and listen, come here and learn
‘Ere you be taught ‘bout the one who spurns.
There are many who’ve learned a mite
On how to live in a world ruled by spite.
Yet the future spread out before you
Can be loved ‘thout paying suffering’s due.
Yes, come and listen, come and learn,
Let every on come take their turn.
–Common call ...
2025-04-29 04:00:22 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Bonus chapter from reaching 250 faves on RR. I think I'm gonna implement things like this for AR this week. I can't imagine that any of you will mind that, will you? ;) I'll mention it here whenever that ends up happening.
With how high his Attributes were, TJ didn’t really need to sleep. He didn’t mind giving the invitation he had to the two runaway kids, but he also didn’t know them well enough to sleep soundly when they were already in his house. He didn...
2025-04-28 15:00:17 +0000 UTC
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TJ’s eyes flew open. He couldn’t see in the perfectly black bedroom, but that was ok. The blackout curtains would serve to make sure the intruders couldn’t see him either. The only question was if he wanted to open the door or wait for whoever was there to make their way to him in the bedroom. His initial reaction was to just sit in the bedroom and see what happened. After all, there was no reason for violence, was there?
The rest of him shouted down that idea. He was strong and i...
2025-04-27 15:18:47 +0000 UTC
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The opening explosion of rain quickly died down, but the storm retained its strength for the time that it should have, and TJ couldn’t help but smile as Roger watched his pool nearly overflow. His neighbor quickly agreed with TJ’s terms, oblique as they were. Sure, TJ was going to keep it raining here frequently enough that he didn’t really need to make this agreement, but he figured having some sort of a relationship with his neighbors was going to be important. After all, getting a co...
2025-04-26 15:00:17 +0000 UTC
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“The first is that we have had some small measure of success in refining material inside of dirt and stone to become metal. We have yet to acquire any amount that we could use to do anything with, but with just a couple of weeks of concerted effort, we’ve made progress.”
“Do we know anything about what the ants do under the mountain?” I asked, my mind only partially focused on what she was saying. “I know that there should be plenty of metal contained under the surface, but ...
2025-04-26 04:00:11 +0000 UTC
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After taking his time to treat the pelt, TJ walked back into his house. He looked around the ruined kitchen and felt his anger rising again. In his heart of hearts, TJ knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold onto this little piece of history throughout this apocalypse. It was obvious that people had swept through here, desperate for anything to help them to survive their Tutorial. That they’d only taken food and necessities, not destroying everything and instead leaving everything other tha...
2025-04-25 15:00:19 +0000 UTC
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“Brutus killed that other one, he and the Zaaktif are just as impressive as always!” One of the other hunters was telling the story of how the Keel had killed the wyrm, with little enough embellishment that I didn’t mind allowing them their opportunity to shine. The leathery trophies we brought back were investigated by each one of my people who came anywhere near, though they stayed clear of its mouth and claws. We weren’t sure what exactly it was that would envenom or afflict someon...
2025-04-25 04:00:16 +0000 UTC
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TJ made sure the pot was as centered as he could manage on the grill’s flames before pulling his Neophyte Skill options. He’d glanced at them right when he’d appeared outside of the Tutorial and his Systemic Audience, but now he actually looked at each one.
Shredding Bite (Copper (I)): Your fangs have ripped into Copper (I) tiered Bosses and Elites. You have proven yourself a dangerous predator, one whose mouth deals death and dismemberment with ease. This Skill will...
2025-04-24 15:00:31 +0000 UTC
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“Clamp his upper arm!”
“Our hands are too small and we don’t have anything else to use!”
I stepped in and did as Vefir’d commanded. My hands were able to encircle the majority of Brutus’s arm just below the shoulder.
“How much pressure?” I asked.
“Keep the blood from flowing but don’t break bones.” Vefir commanded, his eyes focused on the wound Brutus had sustained. After half a minute, he shook his head. “I was right, this isn’t regular ven...
2025-04-24 04:00:10 +0000 UTC
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There was obvious evidence of ransacking, and TJ fought down that sense of rage and violation. He’d done worse to every home he came across in Pine, and he’d done more than leave a front door open. Even so, he gritted his teeth as he went through the gate on the side of the house and dropped the massive mound of black, untreated hide on the porch. A puff of dust rose up as he did so, and TJ ground his teeth as he forced himself to take a calming breath, and then another.
For s...
2025-04-23 15:00:40 +0000 UTC
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I didn’t let myself get lost in the feeling of victory. There were still fifteen more of the beasts nearby, and I refused to lose a hunter after we’d already won. Whistling commands filled the air, and my people moved in every direction, making sure we weren’t swarmed by the other wyrms. Worrying that there would be several swarming since they’d heard the death throes of the creature I’d just killed, I made a command.
“Kill the trapped one. Brutus, if you need to help to hur...
2025-04-23 04:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Look at me, actually remembering to schedule stuff.
“He’s obviously taking the most valuable part!”
“And it’s his, because he either brought it from the Tutorial, or he killed it here before any of us got here. Given that this blood is all old, then it’s from the Tutorial. You think he killed it or it was given to him?”
“I… don’t know?”
“Either way, I don’t want to mess with him. So, Kylee, please be quiet.”
Kolt and his… wife, mayb...
2025-04-22 15:00:35 +0000 UTC
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I listened to the sounds of khatif rushing through the forests beyond my sight. They screeched instructions to each other to ensure that nobody was caught off guard by the slithering shadows that the wyrms became in the deeper darkness. After a couple of minutes, though, I couldn’t think about that any longer.
“Fifteen seconds and counting!” Foire shouted as he sprinted through the forest. His was the most dangerous position, and he needed to keep himself close enough to the...
2025-04-22 04:00:14 +0000 UTC
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A/N: ... Just yesterday I complained about my own forgetfulness. Then I left this page open, all prepped, and just... never scheduled it... Here you are.
TJ opened his eyes. The park he’d been in two weeks ago with his son was there. To his surprise, though it’d been night when he’d been pulled away by the System, morning was just breaking. Looking around, there were the climbing gyms, the slides, everything. However, the sand showed a different story. Clotted blood was all over, ...
2025-04-21 00:55:26 +0000 UTC
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“If they are walking through the day, even though the light is subdued, we can not be sure that they are the same type of creature.”
“Of course that's the case, Zaaktifi. But we should still approach them with the same understanding that we had before, and adjust as necessary. Fire has been proven to be something capable of harming the creatures, and we’ll continue experimenting with additional magics to see what harms them.”
“I was not stating that our method of appro...
2025-04-19 03:42:05 +0000 UTC
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The Samutelia still stands as a firm border, but the Veratocracy is pushing in through the fallen south and around the Shakran. Frankly, there is precious little that I can see as a possible action to take to prevent the Veratocracy’s spread in the south. What little I have heard from those in the north has said that the Veratocracy’s boats are moving more and more notably. The warlocks push in and the self-sufficiency of those in the Shakran has been threatened. It may be nec...
2025-04-18 04:00:18 +0000 UTC
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I walked out of the nursery, watching as a pair of Kha’Tal Khatif guided the little Kha hatchlings back to their home. As I walked away, I wondered if their parents ever came by and spoke with them. It was different for me, I supposed. With my human life in my mind, I’d placed more importance on parentage than most keelish did, but so too did Foire with Trai. That was a remnant of his grief for Treel’s death, but Sybil had also come to visit the eggs, though not nearly so frequently as ...
2025-04-17 04:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Weeks passed and Sybil laid the three eggs in the nursery. I continued my daily visits from before and doubled them, now coming morning and night. By the time Sybil had laid her eggs, though, the Kha eggs that’d been laid had already hatched and the hatchlings were relocated to a nearby building where they were taught how to speak, to fight, to work, and to hunt.
Dozens of Kha’Tal volunteered to work with the little ones, teaching them about every facet of our lives. Almost ha...
2025-04-16 04:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Look, kids. You’ve got two options. Number one is sticking around here. You see what you can do in Harandal, maybe you apprentice with a smith or something. That’s hard, because you need to pay at least 50 Dalars upfront for an apprenticeship, but if you become someone that the Overlords trust, you’ll make more than a little coin. You don’t know it here, cause you’re rolling over in your own filth, but the richest men in the city are the armorsmiths and the weaponsmiths,...
2025-04-15 04:00:07 +0000 UTC
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In a small building I’d neglected to pay any attention to, the walls and roof had been completely restored. Inside the building, a small male keelish leaned against a fireplace. A flame guttered in the hearth, and the male I didn’t recognize absentmindedly nodded as I walked in. He continued to stoke the flame and place another couple of branches in the flames. A mere moment later, he realized that I wasn’t just a visitor but was, in fact, the Zaaktif, and he stood to attention. Though ...
2025-04-12 04:00:14 +0000 UTC
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I spent the rest of the day at Sybil’s side. With all of my experience in romance coming from short flings as a human, I considered what sorts of subtle ways I could approach her, but the Keel in me scoffed, killed those thoughts before they could hatch, and walked straight up to her.
“Sybil. I’m spending the day with you.” I declared.
“Very well, Zaaktif.” She flared her frills.
“No, call me Ashlani today.” I insisted. When she looked at me with evaluating e...
2025-04-11 04:00:45 +0000 UTC
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“That was rather uncanny.” I said to the old khatif. “Why do you think that I wanted you to come here?”
“Nothing more than a faint sense that you’d want me for something.” Shraal replied while flicking his tail “If you didn’t want me, I would merely continue on my way. However, by your reaction, you would like me to do something for you. How can I serve the Voice of my goddess?”
“Design plans for a temple to Nievtala, with a Sanctum, Altar, and Divine Represe...
2025-04-10 04:00:05 +0000 UTC
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