dragonheartednovels

[D'sP] Ninjas - Chapter 240

The last group of first floor farmers called themselves entrepreneurs and smirked as they left Wolf’s Rest. None of them really talked about their plans to one another, but they all had the same idea. They were already semi-rich and had connections to most merchants that visited Wolf’s Rest so the obvious answer was to lord it over less fortunate settlements.

So, one by one they trickled out to find a settlement to call their own. The idiots. Many of them didn’t even manage to mak...

[NR] Grinding Montage - Chapter 429

It took Jason two hours and change to kill that first earth elemental with just his fists. Maybe if he wasn’t capped on Toughness, it would have gone faster, but each punch was the same as the last. He hadn’t even used any fancy punching techniques. Just simple, straight punches.

Though even if his Toughness was started, that didn’t prevent it from growing in the background. In fact, that two-hour fight ended up growing all his stats. Not by much, after all, it wasn’t a tough fi...

[NR] A Rank Away From Stone - Chapter 428

A couple weeks in and Jason was certain the earth elementals were cheating somehow. They would pop up right on the edge of the wasteland he dare not view. Sure, it was more likely that since they don’t actually see and instead used tremorsense it didn’t affect them. Whatever it was though, it felt like cheating.

That was over, though. Jason just needed to get off of the sheer cliff and he would be into a new area. Well, mostly new.

Instead of a swamp it was more of a half scru...

[D'sP] Buying Packets To Advance - Chapter 239

In fact, as Doyle considers the available points, he realizes he could probably just divide everything by 100 and have an easier time doing the mental math. Not that it was hard, but seeing that sprout swarms take 1 from 301 is a lot easier to parse than 100 from 30,100. It also puts the various types of myconids into better perspective. One troop guard is equal to two myconids, four lesser myconids, and six sprout swarms.

Though breaking it down like this makes Doyle groan to himself. ...

[NR] More Of What Shouldn't Exist - Chapter 427

Of course, Jason didn’t stop when he managed to lose the earth elementals. While they aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, they do have the ability to earth glide. So not seeing them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Though admittedly, most of the time they just use the ability to get as deep underground as possible and then zone out. Mindless immortals don’t tend to be the most active of beings.

Even just an overly extended lifespan tends to cause people to take things slow...

[NR] Ripping It Out - Chapter 426

Jason pulled his Energy out of the area around the wound and wrenched his arm away from the earth elemental, not bothering with trying to pull the spike out. Without the reinforcement of his Energy, the flesh parts with deceptive ease and globs of ooze-like blood flies as Jason tanks the pain while jumping away.

What is left behind on Jason’s arm is a gaping wound, except the System didn’t have as much control over things as normal. Instead of flesh, it looks like a mix of the void ...

[Closed] Collecting Short Story Prompts for October 2022

Once again I'm here to ask all of you for short story prompts! I'll take the more popular ones as decided by the number of hearts (or that I particularly like) in the comments and make a poll at the start of the month. The winner will be made into a short story of a thousand or so words.

Not many rules on what you can suggest at the moment. That will mostly be figured out as we go. Besides that, the short story will come out before the end of the next month.

Rules for prompts:

[Archived Short Story] Unexpected Summoner

Dartl Eldgold sighed as the nearby magitechs set up the magitechnics. He was currently on-call to be summoned. This would normally be something someone from Heaven’s Host would cry tears of joy over.

The chance to venture into the mortal realms and assist those pure enough to summon one such as him is a great honor. That is unless you happen to gain the attention of a trickster God, Dartl thinks it was a spider based deity, and said God “Blesses” you. Then you find yourself in all...

[D'sP] Intent On A Mushroom Forest - Chapter 238

Happy with his creation, Doyle creates a ton of the pseudo sand inside an empty room. Well, it looks like a room. Viewed from the outside and it showed a different appearance. The walls on the inside all seemed to fit together perfectly, but outside each wall had a bit sticking over the edge of the others.

Since sandstone is in theory a simple enough sediment, Doyle planned to try the simplest method he could think of. Those walls are all put together in such a way that you can’t shri...

[D'sP] Lots Of Space To Build With - Chapter 237

Doyle considers the volume of space he has to work with, because at this point that really is how he can look at it. No need to do anything fancy or try too hard to fit in awkward shapes. Just the ninth floor shows how much he can warp things. From a sphere, into a kilometer long tunnel that is five by four in size.

Though all things considered, he didn’t really use all that much space. Even taking into account leaving room for farms, he had plenty of space left over. In fact, he coul...

[NR] Through The Arm - Chapter 425

The straight line wasn’t just a mapping error. There was in fact a line. Sure, it wasn’t actually a clean cut line like on the map, but if he had been the one drawing the map, Jason would have drawn it straight as well.

The good news is that this isn’t some strange fantasy landscape situation. Rather, the line is just the result of the earth moving from something like an earthquake or what have you. The swamp is cut off because the land next to it has suddenly risen up a good two ...

[NR] Still Covered In Ooze - Chapter 424

With the hydra worms gone, Jason still has to wait for the water to stop flowing. Though that did give him a chance to examine the place the worms popped up from. After all, surviving underground in an area where the roots are blood thirsty is quite the feat.

Jason was a bit weary over the chance of now being attacked by said roots. Once he looks into the holes though, his worries are somewhat put to rest. Just below the surface are seven severed roots which are slowly leaking a liquid ...

[D'sP] Fungal Skills - Chapter 236

Jim raises his hand, “We’ve told him enough. Ben, what do you plan to do? If you want to leave town, we can help you leave without being noticed. Not even your current minders would know.”

Ben frowns while Jeremy laughs and tells him that, “Yes, we know about those watching you and the ones watching them. We even know of a number of third parties trying to fish in troubled water. Those are mostly from other towns, though there are a couple that seem local to your settlement.”<...

[NR] Basic Ooze - Chapter 423

Jason bent to the left and lashed out with a slap. A hydra worm goes flying towards the raging water, but before it can fall in the water it does everything it can to stop itself.

Jason ignored this as he continued his move, turning it into a rotation so as to bring his foot up and over. Though this wasn’t a kick, rather he used it to fling away three of the monsters as thankfully they don’t weigh all that much.

Of course, his attacks aren’t without consequences. The worms h...

[NR] Septuple Symmetry - Chapter 422

Even in an area where the underground is basically one large environmental hazard, some creatures will find a way to survive. Though at first Jason thought it was the roots attacking him. Then the ends of the “roots” split open and revealed a nasty maw filled with needle-like teeth, all pointing back at a sharp angle.

While Jason didn’t put it past NeoRealm to have plants with teeth, it seemed quite a bit more likely these were some form of worm and going by the split mouth, they�...

[Closed] Deciding the Short Story Prompt for September 2022

Below are the full prompts as the poll doesn't allow the full text. I'm going to run the poll for five days. The short story will be finished by the end of the month and will be available to all patrons.

• Summoned by a Cat!?  As a Divine Champion answering the summons, You examine the surroundings where You have manifested. You see a rather large cauldron, shelves of magical reagents, a black cat staring at You from a workbench, more shelves containing potions, and the summoni...
  2022-09-03 07:29:12 +0000 UTC View Post

[D'sP] So They Have Been Getting Loot - Chapter 235

Ben stands up with a red face, but in the end can’t really get anything out and so collapses back into his seat. “They beat me, what do you want me to do?”

Jim rolls his eyes, “You let them beat you. Democracy is all fine and good, but your settlement doesn’t run on it. All those grayed out options? You can just take back the rights you gave out. What happened wasn’t you giving away the rights, it was you delegating the ability to make those decisions. The options being gray...

[D'sP] Lost Options - Chapter 234

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Why do these attack skills glow when I’ve seen other skills be used and not glow? Like, when Ace uses his wood magic his hands are glowing or anything.’

Ally shrugs, ‘The best people can figure out is that it is related to how the skill is being used. Each of the basic combat skills is meant to jam more power into the attack than is normal. That is why with higher skill levels, the area that glows becomes more constrained. The glow is more of a byproduc...

[NR] Rushing Waters - Chapter 421

Jason would be more worried about the raging rapids all around him, if it wasn’t for how clear the water was. Sure, irl, he wouldn’t be trusting something like that, but here he was willing to take a chance. After all, normally with something like this, the water would be all cloudy with debris and dirt. So with how clear things are after the first rush of water, there must be something keeping the dirt in place.

That, however, did not mean he was willing to try and jump over the wa...

[NR] What Is Damage? - Chapter 420

So, with this strange half-flesh, half-Energy body, Jason needed to enforce stress. This led back to the technique just taught to Lily, that of turning one’s aura upon yourself. It would not work, of course. He had already figured that out and it was easy for him to figure out why. While the aura, intent, or whatever you wanted to call it could affect the more spiritual side of things, being more than capable of fending off ghosts and elemental beings.

That only worked because they we...

[Closed] Collecting Short Story Prompts for September 2022

Once again I'm here to ask all of you for short story prompts! I'll take the more popular ones as decided by the number of hearts (or that I particularly like) in the comments and make a poll at the start of the month. The winner will be made into a short story of a thousand or so words.

Not many rules on what you can suggest at the moment. That will mostly be figured out as we go. Besides that, the short story will come out before the end of the next month.

Rules for prompts:

[Archived Short Story] The Merchant's Bet

Daryl stood at attention. Daryl had been standing at attention. Daryl had been standing at attention so long that his skills [Sleep Resistance], [Pain Resistance], [Concentration], [Etiquette], and a ton of others had all leveled up multiple times. He even gained more niche skills such as [Bladder Control].

That was crazy to him. With his various resistances, he only needs a cup of water every day and when needed can go for a long while without if he drinks enough beforehand. So the fac...

[D'sP] A Small Selection Of Basic Skills - Chapter 233

There were a lot of strange skills. Some of them even seemed a little too powerful to be just a free skill, but that was only if you think about it from the perspective of being used in the right situation. Most of them were like the old roleplaying move of bracing a spear against a charge. They do a lot of damage if the enemy actually uses the charge action. Except, of course, most of the time things didn’t use the charge action.

These strange skills? Just like that, except somehow e...

[NR] Lily Learns Quickly - Chapter 419

Such a simple technique, turning one’s own power upon yourself and yet so powerful for those starting out. While the power at low levels can only pressure people. The lack of physical effect makes the technique perfect.

No actual weight or force is being placed on the body. Yet it acts like it connected you to a bunch of lightweight resistance bands or you were wearing a tight elastic bodysuit. The only question is how to teach it to Lily.

In fact, Jason didn’t technically kno...

[NR] The System's Reach - Chapter 418

Days later, Jason thinks he is through the beaver frog territory. It was a slow realization as this was a more natural area, for whatever that means, so things didn’t change all at once. Jason couldn’t help but laugh at his own reaction. Though it pointed towards an interesting twist, that irl might have forced onto NeoRealm.

Sure, most of the world has been returned to a sort of wild, sort of natural area. At least that is the lie they tell you in school. Because, of course, school...

[D'sP] Bringing Back An Old Screen - Chapter 232

Doyle turned to Ally to find an answer to his skill based problems and she sighs, ‘Do you remember how the skills that your monsters already have increase in level?’

Doyle shakes his core and Ally sighs harder, ‘I guess I did sort of sandwich the explanation in when I was explaining stampedes. Deeper floor equals higher world energy and the monsters in turn get increased skill levels. Oh, and that isn’t a system specific thing, but rather just how it works for dungeon monsters. ...

[D'sP] Clever Spot To Hide A Message - Chapter 231

Jim shivers as he remembers the DMV. Some people could go there, wait a few hours and everything would work out. That wasn’t his experience. Jim’s father and grandfather were heavily into the idea of being “off-grid” in a very toxic way. Not only was a bunch of Jim’s paperwork missing, some of the stuff he thought he had was actually forgeries meant to “throw off” the government. So yeah, the DMV was an extra big dose of pain.

As Jim thinks back on his early days, he can�...

[NR] Talking About Rabbits - Chapter 417

Though going back to the potential for a water generating organ, that was actually more tempting to Jason. After all, depending on how it works, one of those organs would be worth its weight in gold to someone making any kind of everflowing vessel. This is especially true if the organ is the same across the Mana/Qi divide as that means the organ just uses power to make water instead of a specific form of power.

So, of course, Jason turns his back on the ponds and lakes, then sets off fo...

[NR] The Lakes Are A Treasure Trove - Chapter 416

Jason glances down at his arm where a large chunk of skin was missing. Along the edges there is a blurry black mist instead of a bloody gash and within the wound instead of flesh was a black void with a few silver lines running through it. As he watches, though, the black mist begins to fade as the System tries to re-assert its own definition of reality.

As he had already separated off that nonsense, Jason didn’t resist and the mist rolled back towards the center of the wound. Behind ...

[D'sP] Sidetracked - Chapter 230

Doyle shakes his core and sighs to himself as he tries to figure out what design to go for on the tenth floor. The fifth floor was one giant space with a town in the center. Did he want his boss floors to follow a pattern, or did he want to mix it up? A tough choice, so he pulls up a list of all his available monsters and their cost.

{Kobold 50, Assassin Vine 300, Elder Assassin Vine (lv8) 750, Goat 4, Wooden Goat (lv3) 14, Grassen Goat (lv3) 25, Axebeak (lv2) 60, Windcutter Axebeak (lv...