dragonheartednovels

[SD:OA] Squirming Runes - Chapter 3

The night passes quickly and we soon find our quad squad making their way to the Salty Baron. This early they have to push through a bunch of people. Seems that even with magic, ships still like to catch the morning breeze to get out to sea.

Emrys ducks behind Gem as they cut through the crowd.

Not that Gem is being rude and shoving people. They simply are like a force of nature and people who feel them coming naturally get out of their way. Still, the four are glad they left a bi...

[D'sP] We Should Gather Faith - Chapter 445

Ace sighed and hopped down from the wall. “What happened?”

Doctor shrugged, “Why would something need to have happened?”

Ace raises an eyebrow, “People seem to do a decent job of letting me brood in peace.”

Doctor, “I’m really not here for anything. You’re literally next to the garden. Oh sure, there is a magical disease cropping up, but that’s more of a flu that managed to transmit itself through skill use. I’m here to gather some herbs to test them. 2025-05-09 11:53:36 +0000 UTC View Post

[D'sP] The Townsfolk Finally Push Deeper - Chapter 444

A few days after the 19th floor is complete, Doyle still couldn’t get over the theme that had developed. Wind. Because while he didn’t have a wind variant of his goats, he did have the wind wolves. Though this just turned his attention towards an old path benefit.

Doyle supposedly should have an easier time developing elemental variants of his monsters. Which, technically might be true? After all, his variants that weren’t just “monster gets older”, are mostly elemental.

[NR] Getting Out The Punching Bag - Chapter 701

Rosha thinks for a moment before she realizes something. “Oh! It’s like the difference between plastic surgery and the extreme practical effects makeover stuff used to dress someone up like a movie monster or what have you.”

Courtney nods, “Yeah, like that. You can keep applying layers of make-up and prosthetics past the point where a person would need to stop and recover after just getting their nose altered. Even with modern tech, surgery still needs time to recover from.

[NR] No Bravery For You - Chapter 700

First, though, Jason would check on if he was lucky. Did he not have any extraordinary meridians unlocked? Or did he roll good in this life and have some of them ready to excavate? Even a single meridian would be excellent, matching his last life.

Jason settled down once again and scanned through his body. Not much has changed, except now that the meridians are flowing? More of the body’s mystical, non-physical components stand out.

Not that you couldn’t find them before. It w...

[Closed] Deciding the Short Story Prompt for May 2025

Below are the full prompts as the poll doesn't allow the full text. In the case of ties the first option that got there wins. The short story will be finished by the end of the month.

• Future Xianxia: Archéologue find ruin of ancient super civilization, just all they say is that they can get better stuff at the market. "Heavenly body forging manual? I got something better in schools!"; "Supreme Demonic Ascension pill? it's moldy and grandma have a better recipe....

  2025-05-05 23:18:16 +0000 UTC View Post

[SD:OA] Gear and a Ship - Chapter 2

Gem points towards a store with a pair of giant hooks bracketing the door. “There! That looks cool! Let’s go and see what they sell.” June t

Gem points towards a store with a pair of giant hooks bracketing the door. “There! That looks cool! Let’s go and see what they sell.”

June tightens her grip on their shoulder. “They sell fish. Bigger fish, but fish nonetheless. We need to buy at least one piece of equipment each. In particular, we’re looking for something that...

[D'sP] Flow Between Floors - Chapter 443

{

Nineteenth floor dimensionally anchored

World Energy cap +12,700 [Constitution(127) * 100]

Nineteenth floor spending limit set to 132,600 [Previous floor’s limit(118,920) + Intelligence(114) * 120]

Monster level cap updated

Quintessence debt paid back by 5

}

Doyle pauses, it felt odd making a new floor so soon after the last. He hadn’t done so since the first few floors. Though this was more to distract himself from another realization he had ma...

[Closed] Collecting Short Story Prompts for May 2025

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:

[Short Story] The Simple Dungeon

Not all dungeons are made equal. The cores are just magic crystals with a soul shoved in them, after all. So yeah, sometimes a dungeon ends up, not slow, but direct?

While in school, Jeffrey’s teachers had stepped around the subject. It isn’t really polite. Now Jeffrey has to deal with it. The dungeon isn’t even a problem, per se.

Before Jeffrey had gotten summoned in, they had already gotten some work done. A simple hallway with a room at the end containing their core. Oh, ...

[NR] And The World Notices - Chapter 699

This brought Jason to the last two meridians. By this world’s tradition, they are a yin and yang pair of leg meridians matching to the bladder and the kidney. Since he had started with a yang meridian, that meant the last one would be a yin meridian, the kidney to leg channel.

Jason had specifically left these for last as they are some of the most central. That way, the last bit of excavation didn’t result in things being too out of balance. And from what he could see, this had work...

[NR] Out Of The Capsule For A While - Chapter 698

“Jason!”, Rosha shouts as she enters the clearing. “How’s the clearing been? Garden growing?”

Jason looks up from said garden. “Things are growing well enough. Though talking about the other form of cultivation, I need you two to watch the clearing for a little. I need to spend a day or two irl for a breakthrough.”

Courtney nods, “Fair enough. Can’t exactly leave the clearing empty for over a week. Do you need anything from us?”

Jason shakes his head, “...

[SD:OA] Regional Chat - Chapter 1

(SoulDive’s official Forum, Starter Town Drama Thread)

[Alert: Starter Town Drama thread has been closed! Seeing as “Drama” was in the name, we should have honestly seen this coming. Please, instead use the regional chat]

(SoulDive’s official Forum, Regional Chat)

BertVurn, DesDose, Filegreen, FeltFelt, InkyCat, JillPill, JuneSupport, JustSamuel, KarmaMaxer, KillTheKrill, May/Hem, No2Ways, Vibez420, WizardsName, Zap2to2Zap

No2Ways: Blarg, my town’s been borin...

[SoulDive: Ocean Adventure] Ocean Adventure Preface

Gem Paroxysm just spent months on the road with a trade caravan, making new friends and insulting a noble brat. Now though? They've reached the ocean and after splitting with Merchant Silverwhiskers, Gem and their three friends are ready for an

Ocean Adventure!

-----

The Sapient AI just put out their second Full Immersion Virtual Reality game called SoulDive. Unlike their first game, this one is all about fantasy. A world of the four classic elements and those oh so familiar...

[D'sP] Split Attention - Chapter 442

Once satisfied with the quantity of water, Doyle turns to Ally. ‘So, what do you think?’

Ally raises an eyebrow, ‘So, how are the monsters supposed to know when the water is coming? After all, a big danger of slot canyons is the fact they generate flash floods, not leisurely floods. The tight spaces means by the time you see the flood coming, it’s too late. If you’re lucky, you might hear it.’

Doyle tilts back and dims, ‘That would be a problem. Would be sad for a gr...

[D'sP] Flooding Floor - Chapter 441

{

Eighteenth floor dimensionally anchored

World Energy cap +12,700 [Constitution(127) * 100]

Eighteenth floor spending limit set to 118,920 [Previous floor’s limit(105,240) + Intelligence(114) * 120]

Monster level cap updated

Quintessence debt paid back by 5

}

Doyle dims at the last line, his debt should be under 30 by now. The only thing was, he couldn’t even remember what the debt did! There was a memory of all the heavier penalties being high e...

[NR] Close To A Breakthrough - Chapter 697

Jason had put up a nice split log fence. The sort of thing you see in pictures of ancient history. Though more properly, it would be called a colonial split log fence.

It was a wood intensive style of fencing, though in exchange it was simple to construct and didn’t need nails or any fasteners. Not that Jason needed an easy solution. He could have made a more modern fence.

No, he went with this design for another reason and that reason was about to make Jason get messy. See, mor...

[NR] Growing Plot - Chapter 696

The group is leaving the settlement to return to their clearing. Jason looks over at the others and after a moment of thought, frowns. “What are your levels right now?”

Rosha and Courtney glance at each other and shrug. Rosha says, “I’m level 31”, and Courtney follows up with, “I’m level 33. The healing I did on the wall counted for more as far as I can tell.”

Jason sighs, “43.”

Courtney raises an eyebrow, “Ten entire levels ahead of us? Rosha wouldn’...

[SD:FS] More Se'llium - Chapter 12

Se’llium scowled across the carriage at the head of his guard detail. Not that it would change anything. His father has spared no expense to

Se’llium scowled across the carriage at the head of his guard detail. Not that it would change anything. His father has spared no expense to hire a C rank mercenary. And part of that was they were of noble upbringing and so Se’llium had no leverage to force their way.

All he was allowed to do over the last while was gnash his teeth and ...

[D'sP] Chatter And Plans - Chapter 440

Jeremy, “So, we’ve reached the end. What now?”

Ruby shrugs, “A mining we will go?”

Jim nods, “Now that we’ve found the core, we should probably go and grab any mithril we can. Though not actually mining. We just need to do a better search. They must have a smelter and whenever that is, there might be bars.”

Jeremy shrugs, “It’s on the other side of the lake from the direction we came. While scouting, we saw some smoke over there. So yeah, either a smelter...

[NR] Planning For The Future - Chapter 695

The hunting party makes it back to the settlement and it is only by the grace of the Deep Wilds that they arrived with enough meat. The beast restocking along the way saved them. Though only barely.

Except Woven Birch seemed extra excited about the outcome. “This is wonderful! I think this is the first such trip in over a year to actually come back with enough.”

It took a bit of work, but the group managed to dig it out of him that the goal was more of an aspirational thing th...

[NR] Woven Birch - Chapter 694

Of course, having to stick to the shallows wasn’t the only hassle related to the hunting request. And honestly, for the trio, sticking to the shallows basically didn’t even register. At least not compared to what would be the other major hassle they were coming up on.

The hunting trip was going to be a group activity. They exit the town and have no trouble spotting said group. There are about thirty people all gathered together just to the right of the gate.

And being so close...

[SD:FS] Red Card - Chapter 11

Gem dodges back and swipes out with a wind blade. Their reaction is a little slow and as they retreat are pelted with shards of rock. Though

Gem dodges back and swipes out with a wind blade.

Their reaction is a little slow and as they retreat are pelted with shards of rock. Though it is only shards of rock as their wind blade was enough to redirect the stray shot. Still hurts though.

Gem laughs, “It’s only been a minute and I’m working my way through my wind blades! Sh...

[D'sP] The Final Push - Chapter 439

Ruby looks around, “So, I carried hard on the first lake and that’s fine. Part of the mage’s job is to clear out the hordes. But that?” And she points at the hundred plus gathering of kobolds around the lake. “We need more than just me.”

Jim frowns, “We didn’t really prepare for a horde fight. Susan, what are our chances of being able to hit and fade?”

Susan shrugs, “We’d have to clear out the traps around the lake so we aren’t restricted on the direction w...

[D'sP] No Turning Back - Chapter 438

Jim and his team stand back behind some bushes with the first lake right in front of them. There are only about sixty kobolds in a camp that is clearly meant for more. The problem was the seven odd-ones-out.

Not that the town hadn’t seen these monsters on the seventeenth floor. They had just all stayed back and retreated before the fight started. This time, though, there wasn’t a retreat. How would the odd kobolds with the belly fight?

Well, the party quickly finds that they a...

[NR] There Are References, Yes - Chapter 693

Suffice it to say, when the team rolled up to Helina’s office and offered to help with the hunting efforts, she was more than happy to have them. Not that there weren’t a sufficient number of people wanting to head out into the forest to hunt. Rather, as usual, they wanted to go into the Deep Wilds for their usual hunting, which doesn’t really bring food back to the settlement.

Helina happily sends them off to the gathering point, “Don’t forget that if the forest begins to loo...

[NR] What Does That Cover? - Chapter 692

Jason frowns, a point he hadn’t been thinking about came to mind. Every previous time he had advanced his concepts, that was immediately reflected on his status. Which means the System should already know about how he had been re-conceptualizing the title’s connection to civilization.

Well, he knows of one way to check this. Besides, he wanted to see how much he has grown since the start of the undead incursion. All it would take is a quick peek at his status to check his growth and...

[SD:FS] Green Threat, Yellow Ally - Chapter 10

Without even looking, Gem fires off a wide wind blade into the treetops. They aren’t aiming for whatever is making the noise, at least not i

Without even looking, Gem fires off a wide wind blade into the treetops. They aren’t aiming for whatever is making the noise, at least not in particular. That would have been a fool’s errand. Instead, this was a bit of tricky manipulation they had idly been practicing. 

It is simply that the intent behind the spell is to clear away...

[D'sP] Tired Of Traps - Chapter 437

Jim’s team makes their way back to the entrance portal easily enough. It is from there that things get difficult. They hadn’t been wrong about the kobolds not being able to set up new traps. What they missed is other reactions that could be taken.

The kobolds might not be sapient, but even mindless beasts can find trails, let alone the more clever sorts. So, the kobolds had found their path towards the lake and concentrated their patrols around it. This was likely why they hadn’t ...

[Closed] Deciding the Short Story Prompt for April 2025

Below are the full prompts as the poll doesn't allow the full text. In the case of ties the first option that got there wins. The short story will be finished by the end of the month.

• Simple Core, Frustrated Fae - A dungeon fae trying, and failing, to make a particularly simple-minded core into a functional and respected dungeon, and stuck doing damage control when the dungeon's actions inevitably backfire each time.

• Trench-coat Kobolds - 3 kobolds in a trench-coa...

  2025-04-03 04:55:18 +0000 UTC View Post