[Author Note: A few weeks ago America went into daylight savings time. Likewise, just a few days ago the same has happened in the UK. As a result the times moved around a bit, and some people might have found that chapters in the past couple weeks have been deviating from the standard 12:03pm (noon) EST release schedule. Hopefully, now that the clocks have stabilized and I've rescheduled the chapters to match, the timings should be correct again. Though if you are in a place in the world wher...
2024-04-01 16:03:00 +0000 UTC
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The Examine text hovered over his Marked hand, Nicolai’s eyes skimming through it.
Shelter Glove
This glove is Imbued with a Symbiote of Shelter, and is capable of forming a barrier before the user. It is also hardy, knuckles and back plated with Infused metal.
Quiet Turtle Statue
This statue is Imbued with a Quiet Turtle Symbiote, and is an aid to Cultivation. Once activated, it draws Aura towards itself, acting as a focu...
2024-03-29 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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[Author Note: Patreon used to not let me do double spaces between paragraphs but now it seems to work. Please let me know if they're not showing properly for you - for bits like this where there are lists of items, the spaces are necessary or it'll be tough to read.]
Nicolai was pleased when, upon examining the boxes, the text that popped up gave him the information he wanted to know and not—as he’d briefly feared—some script saying “a box.”
Mossberg 50...
2024-03-27 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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[Author Note: There was a small mistake in the last chapter, when he was raiding the store room, where he saw some bags of Oma crystals in there. People who read it early might have seen that, I've removed it now. There were never meant to be crystals in there, the crystals he got were the three bags he stored in the crack.]
Nicolai could hardly believe it when after twenty minutes of breathless jogging through the dark of the tunnel he was back in his safe place, the door locked...
2024-03-25 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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‘Get moving,’ Nicolai grunted, forcing himself to his feet, forcing himself to put the Demon from his mind. He left the cell and began his journey back towards the prison.
The undead in the prison, mostly patrolling Wardens, seemed unaware of what had happened. Not a one of them glanced at him, but that was nothing new. With the band around his neck they usually ignored him unless he came close. He took the time to test this, stopping in front of a wandering Warden.
As it drew...
2024-03-22 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai placed his right hand into the hole in the corpse’s chest. There was something slippery in there that gripped him, made him want to pull away. He ignored the sensation and spoke.
‘I, Nicolai the human, a Marked in Heaven’s Great Game, wish to enter into an agreement with Paxolnaz, one bound by the Rules and my Mark.’
Golden light rose from his Mark to spiral around him and the corpse, forming a globe covered in strange markings.
‘Upon me returning its Heart...
2024-03-20 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai spent much of the next day in a daze. He performed the usual acts slowly and rote-like. Not even his brief fights with skeletons pulled him out from the fugue.
He knew it was all simulated, that he was just doing a very good job of pretending to have emotions and pretending to care. But, his simulation was increasingly effective, and it was able to have a real effect on him.
Was Harold dead, by now? Somehow, he thought not. Somewhere down in the dark he would be screaming....
2024-03-18 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Two days later, Nicolai stood once more in the tunnel before the chasm, eyeing the dim red light of what he felt sure was the heart, across the way. He tapped his Mark and grinned at what he saw.
User Interface 376 | Player #53,217
- Cultivation
> Seed Progress
Soul: 86%
Oma: 86%
Almost there. The thought gave him a dizzying rush of joy that poured through his body and plucked at his limbs, sending hi...
2024-03-15 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai’s eyes tracked the movements below, observing the battle-lines as they were drawn up. Most of the skeletons had now exited the tunnels and were forming into a generalised mass in the middle of the pit.
Coming after them were the bugs. Rivers of the chitinous beings were pouring from the tunnels and streaming towards the skeletons, where they were forming into a circular mass that surrounded the skeletons and pressed in, snapping and grabbing and crushing the skeletal miners an...
2024-03-13 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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I've been thinking it would be cool to upload more than just chapters here, so here's some art! All of this is in the Discord but I'm sharing it here, too, for those who aren't in the Discord.
1 & 2: The enigmatic Lizard. Who we won't meet for a while. But it'll be dope when we do.
3: Her interpretation of Nicolai and his Mask, pretty cool. Also the black stuff on his fingers are Symbiotes, and you can see the Mark of Heaven (though it should be bigger).
4. A Teste...
2024-03-12 13:26:39 +0000 UTC
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‘A fire? Really? It’s not particularly cold,’ Nicolai said, watching as Harold finished dragging a clump of dry and ancient wood he’d found who-knew-where into the cell.
‘It’s a celebration,’ Harold puffed, tensing his body as he lifted the mass of rickety wood then dumped it in the middle of the cell. He grinned at Nicolai. ‘You’re finally joining me in here. Now, let’s see about this…’ His tongue poked out from between his lips as he settled beside the pile of ...
2024-03-11 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Over the following days Nicolai continued to work at his Seed, and the numbers experienced an exponential rise, blowing all of his previous progress out of the water.
Thirty rose to fifty and rolled into sixty and pushed toward seventy. Nicolai had become obsessed with his process of hunting bands of mining undead, and as he continued to fight them he grew ever more efficient, to the point where every ten-to-twenty minutes, on average, he would have taken out yet another group.
2024-03-08 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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‘Have you learned anything, anything at all that could be useful to us?’ Nicolai asked.
‘Let me think,’ said Harold, his eyes on the chunk of sky visible through the gap above, and he laughed, already infected by the mood Nicolai had thrust upon him. He looked to Nicolai. ‘One thing I can tell you, these undead don’t care much about security. Since they put this band on me—‘ he tugged at his band with a thumb ‘—they’ve just left me be. If I don’t stick with a min...
2024-03-06 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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The pickaxe was heavy and cumbersome, but it would go through a skull as easily as it would knock chunks of rock out the walls. Nicolai hefted it, and stepped towards the nearest miner. He twisted his body. The heavy metal pick swam through the air and smashed through a skull. Blue light misted out and hovered, confused, before darting away.
The other skeletons all turned to stare at Nicolai. Then they turned away from the wall and came for him.
Nicolai grinned as he moved to meet...
2024-03-04 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai’s steps slowed as he stared at the giant in the chair.
The giant was alive, bones covered by flesh that was not rotten. The giant was shaped much like a human, and he wore only a loincloth. He sat there like a king on a throne.
‘Titan,’ said the zombie. ‘We need you to make a band.’
‘For whom?’ asked the giant. It spoke in a voice of brooding thunder, rumbling in the dark.
‘This Cultivator.’ The zombie gestured to Nicolai.
The giant look...
2024-03-01 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Standing outside the cell, Nicolai checked his map and took the time to mark the tunnel he’d entered from, and the prison cell with Forgotten in. He moved off, continuing in the direction he’d been going.
After a time he saw a dark opening in the wall on his side. Not a cell. Stairs. Nicolai squeezed in through the gap, down the stone stairs as they twisted and turned, and emerged on the ground floor where he headed across the tunnel to the far side, went forwards a bit as it curved...
2024-02-28 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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[Author note: Welcome to the start of Prison Arc! I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys think of what's to come...]
The next day found Nicolai stood just outside crypt for the first time in a while. The radio host had said that the Chosen were increasingly active, their numbers growing day by day, and after being chased by them the day before, he was wary of a follow up encounter. If he kept going out there whilst they had guns and drones in their hands, he would get in...
2024-02-26 17:03:08 +0000 UTC
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‘Come!’ Nicolai repeated to the man on the ground.
The man stared at him, then threw a glance behind and saw the drone. He scrambled to his feet and came after Nicolai who ducked into the room.
Inside, Nicolai opened the hidden room and pressed into the tunnel, rushing through it, hearing the man following after him. The idea of having an enemy behind him made the back of his neck prickle and he moved quickly to reach the end and open the hidden door there before the man could...
2024-02-23 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai navigated the gauntlet in his typical manner. He’d worried that the random element of it would eventually catch him out, but after going through it so many times he’d learned a number of methods to make his life easier and safer.
Ways to distract the big one alongside a method that would cause the light-throwing undead up above to start syncing up their shots, making them significantly easier to dodge. He’d even found that if something went wrong, by simply stepping out fo...
2024-02-21 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Over the next few days Nicolai settled into a routine, one which was only bearable because of Channel Two and Kleos’ stories.
Being cooped up in the room fed the darkness inside of him without giving him any method to vent it, but the voice on the radio and the music and the stories allowed him to convince himself that he was human and not a twisted, deranged monster.
When even Maxine’s voice began to grate he would flip through the channels and listen to the conversa...
2024-02-19 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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‘I understand,’ said Kleos after some time, and Nicolai relaxed. Slightly. The head’s words held a similar air as Nicolai’s own, picked with care, mulled over and spoken slowly. ‘I appreciate the apology. I am… glad that you feel better.’
Nicolai couldn’t help but notice that none of these words offered forgiveness, merely recognition that an apology had been made. For a time, Kleos was silent, but Nicolai saw it was thinking, words brewing.
‘Do you wish to speak...
2024-02-16 17:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai sat hunched in the uncomfortable chair, illuminated by the orange glow of the torch, and stared down at his latest completed Soul Trap as shadows crawled over the walls around him. Moving with false calm he picked up an Oma crystal and placed it over the siphoning rune.
Nothing happened, except that the shadows surged and twisted. He felt cooped up, constrained and stuck. He’d never done well when unable to move and act. The injury to his arm prevented him doing what he wanted...
2024-02-14 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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‘Yolnet, the Beast, was born to a poor family and had little prospects,’ Kleos continued, Nicolai sitting and listening quietly to the story. ‘But even so, he yearned to be a Cultivator. He diligently practised at clearing his Nodes, working to reach the Foundation stage. Alas, it was not easy. It is never easy. Hard work can only go so far, and without the necessary resources he made little progress.
‘All the while, he saw the sons and daughters of the richer families power thr...
2024-02-12 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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A second gunshot rang out, washing over him. Nicolai, crouched in the dark of the tunnel, recognised it as a high-calibre early-modern round, probably from a rifle. A relatively modern drone and an old gun, present somehow in this fresh world.
Interesting. He hadn’t been surprised to hear the gunshots. The drones movements and the simple fact of its existence had immediately triggered his wariness.
A surveillance drone was a good support for a sniper, and if someone had...
2024-02-09 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Nicolai, quietly observing the furniture from above, and considering what he ought to do, heard an exasperated noise. ‘Marked! Marked! Where are you?’ The skeleton emerged from the darkness, peering around, then gave a little jump when it saw the furniture lying in ambush. ‘What are you lot doing here?’
The chair scraped its leg on the stone.
‘Well, he’s not here! You probably scared him off!’
The furniture did not look convinced. The torch hopped off and jumpe...
2024-02-07 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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‘I’m called Nicolai,’ he said to the skeleton. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Maric,’ said the skeleton. It closed its book with a thump. ‘It’s been a long time since I met someone sane in here. I imagine you’re looking for a book.’
And you’ll have to keep on waiting. Nicolai smiled. ‘That’s right. Perhaps you could help me find it?’
‘Perhaps I could. If you agree to help me do something in return.’
That sounded like it wanted to make...
2024-02-05 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Standing at the start of the library, Nicolai peered about. Straight ahead of him was a wide space, splitting the room into two sets of shelves, all lined up in rows, half to the left, half to the right. Of those he could see, each shelf was filled with books.
There were signs placed on the edges of the shelves, and as he looked at these signs his mark pulsed and they resolved into understandable English and numerals. The space was wide enough to contain several desks and padded leather...
2024-02-04 17:04:01 +0000 UTC
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[Double post today ^_^ next one goes up in a minute. Also, another reminder that from today, I switch to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule. That means next chapter is up tomorrow, then the 7th, then the 9th. The time of day will be the same so 12:03pm EST.]
In the morning Nicolai found himself unable to properly perform his typical routine, as it was necessary to move his arm as little as possible. He removed the bandages and saw the wound was n...
2024-02-04 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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‘Is there any way to practise shaping without using Oma?’ he asked from the ground, his voice moving through the room.
‘Of course, we call them shaping exercises,’ returned Kleos’ voice. ‘However, first you have to try to activate a given Imbued or Symbiote at least a few times, to see how it feels when the effect is generated. Once you understand roughly what it will be like and what is required from you, you can then try to remember that feeling, create a shadow of it in y...
2024-02-03 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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After performing his standard checks, he returned to his upstairs area, checked it too, locked and padded the door, took Kleos out of its jar just in case the head had anything of pressing importance to say—it didn’t—then he placed the archer’s arm aside, stripped as much of his armour as he could, started a fire, removed his tourniquet and flexed his now deadened, numbed arm to get the blood moving through it, putting pressure around the wound with his fingers to stop as much blood a...
2024-02-02 17:03:01 +0000 UTC
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