M. Tress Writes

SFL 3 - Defiant Heart - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It turned out that the camp they were in was not that of a normal patrol group. It was actually four separate patrol groups that had been dispatched together to watch this stretch of the border in the wake of the Bronze Fist’s unusual activity.

Each of the groups had two of the flying longships assigned to them for transport of those that did not have flying spirit beasts to assist them.

After his report to the patrol-captain, Casey was allowed t...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 149

Without the added effect of the air being thick with mana, moving through the trapped tunnel was much easier than it had been before at the Ice Field research facility.

My Manipulate Element ability flowed forward over the floor and walls, mentally highlighting where the traps were based on the precious metal that I found under the stone tiles which were necessary for the recorded rituals.

I marked each of them as we went, having taken the lump of chalk from Jane....

SFL 3 - Defiant Heart - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Contrary to Gunnar’s expectations, the patrol-captain insisted that he speak with Casey that night, now that the healer had seen to him.

It turned out that Lucas, despite being a ‘sensible man’ was still firm in his insistence that he needed to debrief Casey. Though, from the way Gunnar was growling, Casey felt it was going to be more along the lines of an interrogation, for which he honestly couldn’t fault the man.

The only concession that...

SFL 3 - Defiant Heart - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Casey pulled himself out of his meditation to find that Vibeke had returned and the lithe spearwoman was standing by the door eyeing Casey curiously. When she saw him stir, indicating that he was returning to awareness, her smile grew, and she hurried out through the tent entrance once more.

I guess she is signaling the healer. I am glad whoever was with the troops recognized your state and did not interfere, Maude sent, and Casey had to...

SFL 3 - Defiant Heart - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

No sooner had Casey’s eyes opened than Maude’s voice echoed in his head.

There are you are, Casey. I was worried because your mind was so quiet. I assumed it was built-up exhaustion, but you didn’t even react when I tried to wake you to let you know Vibeke was back.

Without needing to move, Casey knew that Maude sat in her sheath by his right hip. She wasn’t directly touching his skin, meaning he couldn’t mentally address...

SFL 3 - Defiant Heart - Chapter 1

And now we are on to Steelforged Legacy 3: Defiant Heart!
These chapters will run like normal, up through the Friday before release with them being pulled down the Monday before release. Tentative release date is 7/16/25 right now, pending the finalization of the cover.

Enjoy!

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Previously

Not content to simply live in this new world after his abrupt departure from the previous, Casey Sullivan has traveled far and sought to learn more whi...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 148

At first glance, the rockfall looked worse than it actually was. Though the distraction of the ancient skeleton made it harder than it should have been to really look past it, to be fair.

Given the limited space that lay beyond the concealed door, the girls waited for me in the main cave for the moment while I used my Manipulate Element to assess if the corridor was fully blocked or not. 

Prodding the skull a few times with a clawed hand, I confirmed that it ...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 23 <3 <3 <3

This will be the last chapter for Lost Bloodline 3 before release day, and we'll be transitioning to Steelforged Legacy 3. Hope you are all looking forward to it! These chapter will come down 6/16 (monday) in preparation for the release on 6/20.

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Chapter 23 <3 <3 <3

With no lights in the abandoned village, the darkness of the night settled in like a heavy velvet cloak. The glimmer of the moon high above, barely more than half ...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 147

“Hmm,” Shayla mumbled thoughtfully.

She paused her light orb and brought it sailing back to us. This sent another ripple of gold through the thin veins of mineral trapped inside the walls. Her wings flapped slowly as she positioned the light orb to where it would shine directly into the mouth of the cave, and I immediately realized what she was doing.

Shayla was positioning it like the setting sun.

“I think that would count,” I laughed, catching the moth woman’s ga...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

None of them let their guards down for long as they worked. When he checked on the groups, Koda noted no one moved in less than a group of two, and he would regularly catch the others glancing towards the mountains to check for any sign of the trolls approaching.

As soon as he and Hans had a good dozen of the trimmed beams ready, they started carrying them to the edge of the fields near the track the trolls had used last time.

“You can go check ...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 146

While we made camp that night, I went back over the information that Cariad had given me regarding this particular mission.

According to my daemon case-worker, they’d gotten a lead on this set of ruins using the fragment of… whatever it was that they had come to collect when I’d found it in an apparatus that was emitting raw mana into the air. That had raised suspicion enough that they’d basically scanned the local area for similar energy sources and found this one we were headi...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

It took only a few minutes for Samira to wake after the encounter with the spirits. Koda had no idea why some of them had gone to her instead of to Arthene, and the incarnate spirit did not volunteer any information, either.

Rather than waste time worrying about it, Koda set about sanctifying the cave and consecrating it to Thera. He didn’t want to know what sort of dark potential had been brewing there, but it had been enough that Arthene had said so...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 145

When I’d first had the idea of living off the grid and using my magic to form a house out of the ground myself, it’d felt like a brilliant choice. No more rent costs, minimal utilities, and only an up-front investment in solar panels and the like. I’d figured that I could whip together a burrow-home in a few days time and have no issues moving my stuff into it.

Oh how naive I was.

Thankfully, I found out the truth of the situation relatively quickly, which prevented some con...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

“What are the odds that there are still trolls wandering around up here?” Hans asked after they’d been walking for around an hour.

The big bull man carried his iron mattock across his chest and was fingering the wooden shaft warily while he looked back and forth, scanning the treeline they were paralleling as well as any ridges that they walked under. It was clear to Koda that, for all his training and experience over the last several weeks, the f...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 144

“Liam, I’m so happy for you!” Kassandra squealed with excitement as she threw herself at me.

I caught the excited bundle of dwarf lamia as she launched herself through the air at me in a collision course. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled the giggling woman to my chest with a smile.

As had become habit, I turned with the motion to bleed off her momentum. Despite her short height, the weight of her tail put Kassandra at somewhere around five hundred pounds which gav...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The door that Thera stood in front of was simple, unlike the ornate front door. It was made of dense wood, with iron banding that screamed ‘secure’ and ‘safe’ at the top of its lungs. The door was set in a solid log frame, and a single ring hung on one side, just above a keyhole made of black iron.

Now that Thera had focused Koda’s attention on it, rather than her own luscious frame, he could see and truly appreciate the door. It had just blen...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 143

The conversation with Cerebaton weighed on my thoughts even after the big man left. I ended up staying up late while producing more of the silver and pearl earrings turning the information over in my head.

I had previously thought that Cerebaton was the head of the branch, and thus didn’t have any superiors at the DSR that could order him around. From the way that Cariad had always talked about him with such respect, that was the impression I’d gotten at least.

Learning that h...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

In order to find a safe place to camp, the group continued further up the mountain for another mile before Samira directed them off into a copse of trees that hid a secluded campsite built under an overhang of stone. The little nook was small, and looked like it might have been an animal’s den at one point, but would handily serve their purposes. There was even a small pile of firewood tucked under the overhang out of the weather.

“Normally, this is...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 142

Shopping with the girls was an adventure and a half.

Thankfully, the fitting portion of the trip didn’t take too long. Kassandra’s family friend—the bear kin Silas that had sold me my first sword—was able to take measurements to make armor for the girls over their clothing.

Since my girls would be enchanting the equipment themselves, he’d be able to alter existing stock for the most part and have it done in a few days.

From there, we’d gone to the local branch of...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

With the falling night being so thick, Koda’s group stuck together as they followed the broad track of the trolls into the dense brush of the hillside.

The cave that Samira was leading them to was actually over the ridgeline, tucked into a small dell out of sight of the village by nearly a quarter of a mile over rough terrain, studded with boulders and clumped heather. There were small stands of thick pine trees as well that provided good cover, but w...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 141

The swirling corona of light and sound deposited me onto the carpeted floor of Shayla’s room with a soft thump that was echoed only a moment later by the impact of the woman launching herself into my arms.

“Oof, I missed you too, Shayla,” I laughed, cradling the large woman to my chest while her antennae playfully bopped and caressed my face.

“Missed you more,” Shayla crooned quietly, nuzzling into my neck while her large wings flared out to fold around us like ...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The news that there were at least eight more of the massive predators wandering the hills was not welcome amongst the hunters. They’d seen just how their most powerful fighters had struggled with the beasts, and knew that they still had quite a bit to do in order to reclaim their village.

A quick discussion between Koda, Cyrus, Sienna, and Arthene had the elder hunter gathering his forces together and quickly securing the village where they could befo...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 140

The next three days were a whirlwind of work, research, and planning. Between finally realizing that I’d been leaving myself to stew in such a bad environment and the idea that I could potentially show my girls more of my world, I was motivated.

Packaging the orders didn’t take nearly as long as I’d expected, since I was able to set up an assembly line of writing labels, pairing items, wrapping, packing, and sealing the boxes. Initially, I started out just summoning a bead of entr...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Koda’s entire body felt both hot and cold at the same time. His muscles pulsed and twitched while his joints crackled. All that was left of the troll’s head was a bloody crater on top of its shoulders now, a bloody crater with a carved bone club protruding from the center of it.

There was no denying that the legends Samira had told about the power of a troll-slayer were true, Koda could feel the strength surging through his body right now. While it ...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 139

Thankfully, Gloria didn’t spend too much time chewing my ear off for making her worry.

Even though it was normal for me to vanish for days at a time, my spicy Latina friend didn’t budge that I should have told someone when I left for safety sake. She’d apparently taken my visit to her family bar with Jameson in tow as a sign that I’d be returning to my old haunts.

She also revealed during the conversation—honestly it was more of a pseudo-motherly scolding—that s...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“So how ‘single’ does it need to be in order to steal the power of a troll?” Koda asked Arthene as their group snuck closer to the abandoned town while the trolls continued to scuffle with each other. “Is interrupting their fight going to prevent it from working? Since one is beating the stuffing out of the other?”

“It won’t affect it,” Arthene answered quickly. “This isn’t really a fight to the death. Those two are likely tussling...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 138

I hadn’t forgotten about the new power that I’d been given during the fracas in the ruins. I’d planned to study it more in the coming days, once the girls were back safely in Juneau. So now that I was back home, I’d start going over the power when I had time.

Tunnel to Contracted had a lot of potential, but the fact that it cost SP to use, not mana, was something that prevented me from just using it without thought. I had alerted Queen Gemma about it, and she’...

Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Since they were on a scouting mission, the group pushed hard through the afternoon to make as much ground as possible. Only when Calandra advised she needed to let the spell drop to rest did they halt to eat.

“Dried meat again, well at least it’s better than ramen,” Koda sighed, gnawing on the salted hunk of venison he’d taken from his pack. The stew that they’d made with the fresh bison had been a welcome change, but once again, they were bac...

Summoned by Monster Girls Book 1 - Now Available!

Book 1 is now live on Amazon! I hope you all enjoy the book now that it's had it's full revisions.
As always, please leave a review or rating. I appreciate your continued support on this!

For my Patreon folks, I've pulled down chapters 5-33 here because Amazon limits how much we can have out as 'samples' and the first four chapters are what I left on Royal Road.

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Life hit Liam Cosgrave hard, like it has for a lot of people. Forced to work a dead end job to make...

Summoned by Monster Girls - Chapter 137

The inclusion of Jane in the most intimate circle of affection with me changed very little in the coming days. And that was not just because of the little scholar’s size.

Though it did mean that she spent a rather large time on my lap in the carriage while we traveled back to Juneau. Initially, she’d claimed it was so Kassandra could spread her coils out more, but the girls knew better.

Jane had been self-conscious for all of an hour the morning after our passionate interlude....