The Conciege

(TLO) Chapter 147: A Mage Who Talks To Himself

“Do you know why not many priests ever return home?” Jim asked Seth.

They were sitting by the door to a conclave they’d just stepped out of on a brown couch long enough to seat three people. A few moments ago Seth had been within the room protected by the door listening to men he didn’t recognize ask him and a bunch of other adventurers for the reason they did the things they did.

Amongst them were two gold ranks who’d once been silver when the crime had been perpetrated...

(THOB) Chapter 148: Do You Need Help

Ezril froze then recovered in time to side step the girl’s attack. In the times he’d been fighting the Merdendi this was a first. The fact that they’d never brought children to the battlefield was one of the things that had made him doubt the realm’s reference to them as savages. No. He shook his head, strands of hair that could just as much have been white as they could have been black cutting across his view. For some unknown reason he didn’t want to believe they had begu...

(THOB) Chapter 147: Consumed To Nothingness

The sun’s decline from its apex found them arraigned a distance away from the ruined walls, infantry and cavalry alike.

Somewhere before the front lines of their group’s arrangement Baltar addressed them. His words were majestic and designed to strike hope and the glory of battle into the hearts of the men, at least Ezril thought so. The Reverend’s words were lost to him, however. Their glorious order fading away somewhere after the eight row, demanded that only the soldiers of th...

(THOB) Chapter 146: War

“Ouctun, eg’n ougnad.”

Ezril smiled at his brother’s words. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed hearing vrail. Given, there were a lot of priests around and he’d marched with them for a while. But the truth was simple; priests didn’t use their own language very often.

He turned to Olufemi and nodded. “Yes, brother. I point, you fight.”

Olufemi nodded.

The midday breeze was cold; not that he could feel it. But he had an idea of it. Winter was pok...

(TLO) Chapter 146: Locked Skill

Seth woke up with a headache so strong he could hear it.

He laid in a bed he had no idea how he’d gotten into. Around him were walls with colors he could barely make out. Unable to turn his head to survey his environment without disturbing his headache, he tried something else.

He reached out to his senses and grimaced. The action had brought him a moment of discomfort enough to deter him with its suddenness. Now that he was aware of it, he prepared himself and reached out again...

(TLO) Chapter 145: Bamboozle

The sound of an annoyed yet respectful voice flittered through the air. It made its way through the door to fill his ears with its almost nasal displeasure. It was hurried and raised high enough to deter whoever the subject of their growing discomfort was, yet was low enough that it was clear they didn’t want him hearing it.

Lucas sat behind his office desk wondering who had barged into the adventure society’s hall to see him with such a fuss. He ignored the parchment he’d been re...

(TPOR) Chapter 173: Not a Ranked Weapon

Lightning streaked through the air.

It was magical, but it seemed to follow some form of already established world principle. Zed wasn’t sure what exactly the case was. But the force it carried when it left the rune was far more significant than what he saw strike Babajide.

Babajide held up his staff and the electricity ran through it, taking most of the damage as had been the case with Eitri.

A notification flashed in front of Zed.

· Basic rune [Lightning] has appl...

(TPOR) Chapter 172: Electrocute

With the short-lived scuttle in the market at an end, people were slowly coming out of their hiding spots. Stores were opening back up tentatively, and hiding customers were beginning to scurry off to their origins.

The market was slowly developing the sound of activity, but there were no voices. Only legs shuffling along from place to place.

Shanine followed behind Ash, Chris and Oliver. She was quiet, a part of the group only by the extension of their relationship with Zed.

(TLO) Chapter 144: Runebound Baron

Jonathan kept his eyes fixed on House fifty-eight, gold eyes activated so that he missed nothing. He had heard the rumors of the veteran adventurer but allowed none of it get to him. And they were as bountiful as they were nigh mythical.

He and his father had been searching for Seth since they’d learned of what had happened to his convoy. As much as he knew his father loved his brother, he often wondered if it was guilt that continued to drive the man’s search for his son. Regardles...

August Intruder- Chapter 29 - Gluttony

[Name: Melmarc Jay Lockwood]

[Class: Faker]

[Rank: B]

[Growth Potential: Unranked]

Melmarc’s mouth was hanging open.

Unranked?

He hadn’t heard of an unranked growth potential before. Wasn’t unranked only for the class ranks? And what the hell was he going to do with Faker? How did Faker even work?

He was going to be a Gifted Pariah. Other Delvers were not going to want to work with him.

On another hand, B was a good rank. It wasn�...

(THOB) Chapter 145: Children of Truth

Nixarv studied Ezril with the scrutiny of a confused man. It was almost as though the man refused to believe his eyes. It should’ve been strange but Ezril found it mildly irksome.

“How?” Nixarv asked, his eyes fixed on Ezril’s torso.

Ezril shrugged. The how did not matter, what mattered was if the man had a solution to his problem. His scars kept growing. What had once been burnt flesh on his shoulder blades was trailing a path down his arms. Now, somehow, they had crawled...

(TPOR) Chapter 171: Fight

Zed got up from his knees.

Each blow to the head had left him with nothing but a flicker of pain. A few months back he had no doubt that each one would’ve hurt. Now, they were merely inconveniences.

Was this how the powerful felt when attacked by those weaker than them? Was this how Ivan had felt each time they’d sparred and Zed had tried to beat him?

It was like fighting with a child. Like being hit by a child.

Tired of the farce and the games, he’d allowed his ...

August Intruder - Chapter 28 - Class

When the pain subsided, it left Melmarc breathing heavily.

“What was that?”

The panic in Delano’s voice was raw. Melmarc needed to catch his breath before he answered his friend.

Fortunately for him, Ark did the answering for him.

“He just got a contaminated skill.”

There was a pause as everyone waited for Melmarc to catch his breath.

“Isn’t that right?” Ark asked.

Melmarc nodded. He hadn’t seen it yet, but he just knew that was the ...

ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE STORY GIFTED

I'll keep it brief and simple.

1. GIFTED will be submitted for release on Royal Road in the next 24 hours and there will at least two extra releases here on Patreon during the weekend (I don't think I've done it before). And I don't feel it's very fair leaving you all on a bit of a cliff for two days.

2. GIFTED was a temporary name since I didn't have one and I've really just been winging the story until now. It's upload on Royal Road will be with the name AUGUST INTRUDER, and the...

August Intruder - Chapter 27 - Support Skill

It was late when they got back to the mansion. To their surprise they were allowed to take their dinners in their rooms. In fact, they were asked to.

There was a note on the massive dinning, large enough to house all of them, that specifically asked that they take their meals in their respective rooms and not step downstairs for the rest of the night.

Considering the fact that the mansion somehow managed to serve them the same things in the same proportions, picking a plate was ea...

August Intruder - Chapter 26 - The Museum

Delano groaned. “Why are you making this scarier than it is?”

“I’m not making it scarier than it is.” Eroms took another bite of his chicken.

Then he did the unthinkable. He gave it to Melmarc.

“Hold my stick,” he said.

“What are you doing?” Delano panicked. “Get back to the back.”

Eroms ignored him. He walked up to the door, grabbed the handle and pushed it open.

Phone camera turned on and held up, Delano darted inside before Eroms co...

(THOB) Chapter 144: That'll Leave A Scar

Ezril frowned at thought of the infirmary. Fighting the Merdendi hadn’t been one of his brightest ideas. In fact, he was beginning to wonder what had gotten into him. He’d won the fight but it was too soon to be walking around in pain. For the rest of what was left of the day he avoided everyone else. He kept himself locked away in his room doing nothing worth remembering. The maids brought his meals as was their duty, but none ever knocked. They left his meals at his door and turned away...

(TLO) Chapter 143: Burst of Power

Seth teleported.

Jim stared at where the boy had been with an open mouth. What had just happened?

Seth appeared in midair, hovering behind one of the wraiths with wide feral eyes. He swung a vicious hand capitalizing on their equal shock and his wild attack connected. He slapped the wraith and it shot across the distance and crashed into a wall.

That kind of power belonged nowhere near an Iron mage. Even at the cusp of silver the boy had no right to toss a silver beast that ...

(TPOR) Chapter 170: Toy, Jester, Sex Dungeon

Babajide’s room wasn’t as wide as he had always wanted it, but being a king in a post apocalyptic world was different from being a king in a pre-apocalyptic world. In the latter you got everything there was to get. In the former, you got whatever there was to get.

But the room was wide enough with his throne-like chair and his dazzling chandelier.

People said hubris was a terrible thing that led to the downfall of men. They were right. But that didn’t keep him from enjoying ...

August Intruder - Chapter 25 - Blood

Anais had served Vlad for the past twelve years.

He had adopted her from an orphanage when she was twelve and had raised her ever since. Her only relationship to him prior to being adopted was that he’d known her parents. And all she had to go on as proof of that was his words. Nothing else.

She knew nothing about her parents except for the fact that they’d died in an explosion. She had questions, all of which had no answers. What caused the explosion? Why were her parents in ...

August Intruder - Chapter 24 - The Right Things The Wrong Way

Delano lay on a bed of white sheets. It was large enough for two people and it was one of three beds in the room.

Once their host who may or may not be an Alchemist had finished addressing them, they’d been ushered all up to their rooms.

Considering the size of the house, Melmarc had thought they’d each get their own rooms but Mrs. Ella had been vehemently against the idea. Apparently, they were to be the only guests the mansion would be having for the weekend so there were mo...

August Intruder - Chapter 23 - Conspiracy Theorists

They got to their destination in the very late hours of the evening, or early hours of the night.

Delano tapped Melmarc awake as Mrs. Ella instructed everyone to get down from the bus.

Melmarc woke to a violin playing in his ear with a very different tempo from the one he’d slept to. While it was still a violinist, there was just something at the heart of this one that told him it wasn’t something he was supposed to end up listening to.

He picked up his phone and checked...

(THOB) Chapter 143: Herald To The Goddess

“Yes, the scribe,” the man said as if snapping back to reality. “He’s down that way.” He pointed. “Take your first left, your third right, then go all the way to the stairs on the right.”

“Thank you.” Ezril turned to leave and caught the man reaching for something at his feet. He afforded the man his full attention and saw a cluster of unlit torches at his feet. He remembered seeing something of the fort at the entrance too but he’d ignored them because he hadn’t n...

(TLO) Chapter 142: Shroud Wraiths

Inside the building was utter chaos. Reia beasts filled it from the very entry so that Jonathan had been forced to slay the first beast on entry, cleaving it in two with a spear, the traditional weapon of house Darnesh.

While it was a mystery how the beasts had already ventured as far as the entrance but refused to go further, they kept their attention on the battle before them. The place was filled with the colorful rondo of varying affinities as the silvers they’d brought activated ...

(TPOR) Chapter 169: Problems

“Alright,” Zed stared at the empty store in front of them. “This might be a problem.”

The store wasn’t locked. The door was open and the display was still there. Everything was just gone, from the slippers made of rubber to the slippers made of leather to the old man and four people he’d basically instructed to wait.

Ronda stepped up to him. “What’s the problem?”

The market was technically empty now. It was almost as if only the four of them were here. Ther...

August Intruder - Chapter 22 - Bus Ride

“What are you watching?” Delano asked, peeking over to Melmarc’s side of the chair and trying to see his phone.

Over the past hour of the bus ride a few things had happened, most of which involved Delano falling asleep. There’d been a heated argument in the front seat between two boys that had almost come to blows. One of the teachers had been forced to change their seats to end it.

There were still chatters and conversations here and there, but nothing important.

Du...

(TLO) Chapter 141: Potential Brother

It was maddening to think the seminary had sent a child that was unable to listen. He was Seth’s handler, which implied completely that all endeavors taken must be taken with his permission. So why in the name of growing religion would the stupid seminarian go into a fissure nest without telling him.

Jim’s mind raged as he waited for the contingent from the Baron.

Three days ago there’d been an alert from the readings from the building in front of him. Considering what it wa...

(THOB) Chapter 142: The Fort

The soldier led them through the buildings, past the smithy, around the infirmary Ezril found he had no reason to visit again, behind what could only prove to be a bakery, and into the tower that held the chambers of the Lord Commander.

They were led to a door in a hallway six flights of stairs above ground level where the soldier knocked softly. A response came from behind it, and the man opened the door.

Bratvi was the first to step in, and with his entrance came an announcement...

(TPOR) Chapter 168 - Suppressing Fire

“A billion stores in this place and you pick this one?” Ronda complained.

Kid had to remind himself once more that she was not a bad person, just an often confused person when it came to her emotions in trying situations.

Another gunshot rang out, peppering one of the stores closest to the one they were currently hiding behind.

“Why do you sound like you want me out there with a bullet hole?” he asked.

“I don’t want you to have a bullet hole, Kid,” she an...

August Intruder - Chapter 21 - Road Food

After uncle Dorthna, Ark was the second person to find out about Melmarc’s status as a potential Gifted.

Melmarc told him first thing in the morning when he woke up.

There had been a bit of grumbling on his part about how Melmarc should’ve woken him up immediately it had happened. Regardless, there was nothing but joy from Ark. He was almost more excited about it than he had been when he gotten his own skills.

“So are we on our way to a Basher class?” he’d asked. 2024-01-30 05:34:10 +0000 UTC View Post