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Chapter 723 - The Cube

As Zeke sailed toward the cube, he searched for any potential entrance.  They were out there, though no one else – at least people to which he could speak – had been capable of telling him where.  So, after investigating each of the moons, it came down to an in-person search. 

Not that he minded.  Not really, at least.  The thrill of adventure had grabbed hold of him, and he couldn’t deny that he felt like a real explorer.  Quite a change from his nor...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 50 - The Importance of Preparation

Most people were under the impression that, if someone wanted to be a sniper, the most important skill to possess was being a good shot.  While being able to hit what you were aiming to hit was necessary, Gun held a different opinion.  To him, the most important trait was patience. 

He’d never been on a mission where completion didn’t hinge on it. 

Once, he’d spent two days lying in a field as fire ants ate at his legs, creeping forward a couple of feet a...

Chapter 722 - Remnants of a Lost Age

Zeke stood at the head of the Mercury as he stared off into the distance.  The Shattered Belt was, in a word, beautiful.  Thousands of asteroids, each one composed of different materials, floated in space.  Some were connected by strands of rainbow light that bound their fates, but others were freestanding, surrounded by atmospheres of potent mana.  There was Will there, too – that ephemeral force that defined various otherworldly characteristics – but it was neither t...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 49 - Pyramid

Elijah awoke to the sounds of a breaking camp, so he quickly extricated himself from the furry blankets and crawled his way to the tent’s entrance.  After pushing the flap back, he was surprised to see that the sun had already begun to rise.  More interestingly, the hill goblins had clearly been up for a few hours, as the signs of the previous night’s fire were completely gone and many of the tents had already been taken down. 

The goblins themselves went about their ...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 48 - Supporting the War Effort

“You did it?” asked Sadie, pushing her food across her plate.  It wasn’t that she hadn’t enjoyed the salad.  Rather, she was a little distracted by upcoming events.  Now that she’d advanced her body cultivation to the third stage – with no small degree of effort and quite a lot of help from Nerthus and Biggle, not to mention Elijah’s soap – she was ready to focus on what really mattered. 

Carmen set what was left of her sandwich down and answered, “...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 47 - The Other Side

Elijah chose not to let the war elf live.

Not because he wasn’t forthcoming with information.  He answered each question, but every answer served to seal his fate.  Still, Elijah tried to make his death as quick as possible, even if there was some part of him that wanted nothing more than to slow things down and make him suffer.

That was a deserving fate for Hak Tar.

In the end, he bled out in seconds, his throat severed down to the bone.  Elijah had meant t...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 46 - Hunter

Hak Tar gripped the haft of his spear, looking forward to slaughtering the powerful beast.  The animal was strong.  Otherwise, it would have been entirely disabled by the camp’s defenses.  Without a Wardwright – a Sorcerer meant to empower magical fortifications – the boundary was only mildly effective.  However, with one of the Wardwrights funneling ethera into it, the ring surround the camp was debilitating to any intruder.

Over the eons of their devotion to ...

Chapter 721 - Fairy Tales

“I hate sitting still,” Zeke admitted, sitting on the bed and running his hand through his hair.  They’d been in the Shattered Hold for a week, at least by his count, and the novelty had begun to wear off.  It was much like going on vacation, except that instead of going home, he was waiting to go off to war. 

He glanced toward Talia, who lay on the bed, her head propped on one arm.  She was the only reason he’d found the situation bearable at all.  As m...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 45 - The Engines of War

Thick columns of black smoke reached for the sky as the city burned in the distance.  Even from miles away, Elijah could smell the acrid stench.  He could even taste it.  Using Eyes of the Eagle, he studied the destroyed settlement.  It was no small village, and if he’d had to guess, it had once held upwards of ten or fifteen thousand people. 

Not anymore.

Elijah glanced toward the depression only a few hundred yards from the outskirts of the city and fo...

Chapter 720 - Ants

For once, Zeke’s arrival was unheralded.  There were no great monsters to fight, no new tortures to experience, and only a few passing glances following him.  The people in the Shattered Hold had seen it all before – or so they thought – and the arrival of one ship out of millions was nothing special. 

And surprisingly, it left him a little frustrated.  Or tense, at the very least.  Clinging to his arm, Talia noticed.  “Relax,” she said in an even...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 44 - Symbiotic

Oscar was content.

As he sat at the edge of the meadow, his back against a lichen-covered rock, he watched his pack live their lives as dogs should.  Unconcerned about fighting giants or other monsters, they chased one another through the tall grass, barking happily all the time. 

The children were there, too, which brought a smile to his face.  In his view, no childhood could be truly complete without a dog with whom to share the joys of growing up.  As self-s...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 43 - Kalki

Enormous walls of red sandstone loomed over Elijah, though he was separated from the bulwark by an empty moat, the bottom of which was festooned with sharp stakes and mud that smelled quite suspicious.  The implication was obvious – if someone fell into the moat with an open wound, they would soon develop an infection.  With inflated attributes and the availability of healing, such an infection was unlikely to be fatal, but curing it would still take resources.

And for any p...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 42 - A Gruesome Trail

Elijah felt like he was just wasting time.

He knew that wasn’t the case.  There were quite a few demands on his time, each one clamoring incessantly for his attention.  He was no machine.  Rest was not an indulgence.  Rather, it was the only way he could ever hope to survive.  And as much as he felt guilty about each day he spent without making progress, he recognized that they were absolutely necessary.

Otherwise, the pressure would build and build unti...

Chapter 719 - Boredom

Countless asteroids hung suspended in space, each one at least half the size of Earth’s moon.  Some were much bigger, almost as large as a planet in their own right.  The only reason they weren’t considered as such was because they were free-floating, meaning they didn’t revolve around a sun or stand as part of a larger system.  Instead, they gathered in a cluster known as the Shatterbelt, its name originating from legends that it was the result of two massive planets col...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 41 - Clarification

The clash of practice swords filled the air as Sadie’s dull, wooden blade met her foe’s.  Miguel stepped backward, creating a little room between them, but Sadie pressed on.  Her practice sword had been created in perfect mimicry of Final Verdict, so it was much heavier than Miguel’s comparatively thinner weapon.  Despite that advantage, he’d so far held his own, which had initially surprised Sadie.

The practice bout had been ongoing for more than three hours, and...

Chapter 718 - Pieces on the Board

Jasper was not a general.

Yet, he stood a mile or so away from the city, watching as tens of thousands of kobolds – a horde by anyone’s measure – advanced.  They did so with characteristic discipline.  After all, they’d been raised from birth with a distinct devotion to that all-encompassing trait. 

He understood the necessity of it all.  It made sense, in a grim sort of way.  It wasn’t so long ago that they were monsters.  Many from that ge...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 40 - The Bull King

Elijah stared at the gnomish Sorcerer, barely even seeing the mushrooms still sprouting from her back.  They’d ripped right through her robes, spewing spores into the air.  If any other enemies had been around, they too would have been infected. 

But he wasn’t thinking about what he’d done.  Rather, he was more concerned with the fact that he felt almost no guilt over his actions.  He’d just killed three people.  The two men weren’t innocent, but ...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 39 - Justification

Higgins Hila hated Earth.

It was hot when it should have been cold, cold when it should have been hot, and wholly unsettled.  A great place for a budding Claybinder to ply her trade and gain levels, but that came at the price of civilization.  She’d been reduced to living in a tent, for goodness’ sake.  A tent!  If her friends back home could see her now, they would never let her hear the end of it.

Of course, she wasn’t sure she’d ever see any of them ...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 38 - Cattle

Elijah cut through the air, traveling at a speed normally reserved for fighter jets.  He caught a gust of wind that he rode to even greater altitude, then used Cloud Step.  He kicked off the bundle of cloud that manifested beneath his feet, abruptly changing directions.  Then, he did it again.  And again after that.  Five times in total, each instance sending him in a wholly different direction.

But then, the charges on his Footwraps of the Wild Revenant ran dry...

Chapter 717 - Confrontation

“Aja,” he said, turning to face the woman.  She’d once again changed her appearance, this time to emulate an elf.  However, thin vines encircled her arms and legs, and a flower lay nestled amongst her hair.  “That’s a good look for you.  Very Poison Ivy.”

She blinked in confusion, taken completely off-guard.  “What?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.  “Poison ivy?”

“It’s a thing where I’m from.  Femme fatale who u...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 37 - A Bond

“Wait, what?” asked Elijah, crossing his arms.  “Say that again?”

“I am sorry.  I was under the impression that you had already agreed to permit me to bond with the grove,” Nara said, clearly taken aback.  She dropped to her knees and prostrated herself.  “I apologize profusely for overstepping.”

She remained there, her body heaving with panicked breaths.  Meanwhile, Elijah just stared down at her nearly bare back, wondering what to do.&nbs...

Chapter 716 - A Taste of Normalcy

If there was one thing Zeke had learned, it was that people were, ultimately, just people.  No matter where they went, regardless of how much power they accrued, they still had the same wants, similar needs, and at the end of the day, unchanged priorities.  So, when he settled into one of the small towns within the Ways, Zeke found himself confronted by familiarity. 

Certainly, many of the people present were lesser gods affiliated with the Waymaster.  They didn’t ...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 36 - The Sin of Jealousy

“I’ll be back,” said Sadie as she clasped hands with Jari.  She glanced toward the Conclave Spires behind her.  “I’m not certain when, but…”

“You are a busy woman.  I do not expect you to waste your time on a simple visit,” he stated.  “Come when you can.  We will be waiting.  The offer will always stand.”

Sadie gave him a tight smile and a nod, but she didn’t verbalize a response.  Instead, after those two gestures, she t...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 35 - A Story of Hardship

He was a monster.

Nara could scarcely breathe.  Her heart barely beat for fear of offending him.  She wanted nothing more than to turn and flee, to leap into the ocean and swim away as fast as she could manage. 

But she could not look away.

His oddly reptilian eyes, shimmering with a sheen of white ethera, locked onto hers.  She didn’t even hear his greeting, so lost was she in his gaze.  He stepped forward, and she felt her soul shake with that si...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 34 - Newcomers

Announcement: I decided to go ahead and post the double chapter (intended for Sunday) today instead of frustrating everyone with another cliffhanger. Reminder that there will still be another double chapter tomorrow.

Dense ethera washed over Elijah as he appeared next to the ancestral tree, but the first thing he truly noticed was the change in temperature.  It wasn’t exactly warm on the island, but the climate was noticeably more comfor...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 33 - Trees

Elijah leaned back with a sigh, his breath misting in the cold morning air.  Over the past week, snow had accumulated, practically forming a cocoon around him.  And not for the first time, he missed his Cloak of the Iron Bear. 

Sure, he’d brought blankets with him to Svetogorsk, but they were mundane and unequal to the task of keeping him warm in such an environment.  How anyone chose to live there permanently was a mystery to him.  He could appreciate a crisp...

Chapter 715 - Subjective

Oberon’s domain was no longer safe.  If someone like Simeon could violate its borders, then certainly, Aja or Oda could.  Or worse yet, Shar Maelaine.  So, he’d gathered all of his people and loaded them into the tower.  In the meantime, Zeke dismissed the gates and headed to the one place where none of the other greater gods could attack him – the Ways.

When he arrived, his entire population in tow, Zeke was once again awed by the network of bridges.  How...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 32 - A Grueling Journey

Nara bent down, helping one of the children to her feet.

“You need to let us know when you’re tired, little one,” she chided.  “We can carry you.”

The little boy looked up at her, his eyes narrowed in determination as he said, “I’m strong enough.”

It broke her heart.  She’d never have come to Earth if she’d known the hardships she’d be forced to witness.  The dirty-faced child was only the latest example to test her resolve, and she knew ...

Chapter 714 - Upheaval

The repercussions of Terra’s death, which followed closely on the heels of Simeon’s demise, echoed throughout the universe.  From everything Zeke had been told, the Nexus was awash with rumors as to who would come next.  Some believed he would attack Aja.  Others, Oda.  Still others thought he’d go straight to the top and target Shar Maelaine. 

It surprised him to learn that everyone seemed to know that the enmity with the latter was a well known detail.&n...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 31 - The Ubiquity of Cats and Dogs

“What’s your plan?” asked Kurik as he settled onto a fallen log overlooking the beach.  With the sun dipping below the horizon, the sky had been cast in various hues of orange and purple, which reflected on the sea in ways to which the dwarf suspected he would never truly acclimate.

They just didn’t have sunsets like that back home.

But until he’d come to Earth, his life had been a long string of hardships predicated on his clan’s survival.  So, even if there...