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Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 22 - The Back Door

One moment, Elijah was striding across a meadow and through a big, blocky doorway, and the next, his bare foot touched down in something warm, wet, and squishy. That alone would have been bad enough – especially when it got between his toes – but what made it even worse was the horrid stench that suddenly enveloped him.

“Oh, God,” he muttered to himself as he tried not to gag.

He was markedly unsuccessful, especially when he had the chance to truly take in his surroundings...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 21 - Quartz

I didn't want to end the Royal Road week with a secondary POV chapter, so I decided to add a second one for today.  And if they get two chapters, so do you all!  Expect another one in a few minutes!  Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Waves of dense Ethera crashed against Elijah’s mind, threatening to envelop and overwhelm him, and yet, he endured, bracing himself for each impact. It was the only thing that...

Chapter 413 - Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Zeke’s feet thudded against the loamy ground as he followed Pudge through the Old Growth forest. The trees were so large and far apart that their traversal was only slightly more difficult than it had been back on the Mukti Plains. Still, the terrain was varied enough – with streams, dried riverbeds, and subtle outcroppings of rock – that it wasn’t all smooth sailing. As such, the distance between them and their quarry had only grown lengthier over the past day of pursuit.

It wa...

Extra Chapters for Path of Dragons

For those of you who don't know, the goal for Path of Dragons is to eventually expand the Patreon benefit to fifty chapters ahead of what's published on Royal Road.  We're at forty right now, so we're well on our way to getting there.  Going forward, I have two options regarding how to expand the benefit, and I wanted to get your opinions.  So, here we go.

Would you prefer it if I just added one extra chapter per week to the Patreon schedule (meaning 5 per week) until I r...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 20 - Different Paths

As the sun rose high into a cloudless winter sky, Elijah looked down on the corpse of small town Americana. A strip of a street, overgrown with weeds and other vegetation, sliced between two rows of abandoned businesses. From a distance, Elijah couldn’t identify them all, but he recognized the striped pole of a barbershop, a few signs declaring the names of the businesses, and a handful of rusting automobiles. The structures themselves were no more than two stories tall, many with glass fro...

Chapter 412 - Adontis

Towering trees stretched high into the sky, their limbs forming a dense canopy through which very little light could penetrate. Zeke had never seen the redwood forests back on Earth, but he’d seen enough pictures to understand how huge they really were. However, the trunks of the trees currently surrounding him were at least three times the size of even the most massive of redwoods, and likely far older as well.

“Legends say that there used to be a race of ents that lived here,” s...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 19 - Defining the Source

That night, Elijah went to bed a little disappointed, and for a couple of reasons. Obviously, he would’ve preferred it if Jess had joined him; her company had only hammered home just how lonely he’d been since washing ashore on his island. And while he could ignore it most of the time, the connection he’d forged with the former medical student was just electric enough to send his imagination running wild with possibilities.

The other reason for his ill attitude was the inn room it...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 18 - Norcastle

Gentle drops of Healing Rain fell upon Elijah’s head as he forced the aperture of his Mind ever wider. Ethera flooded through his Mind, cascading through his soul and into his Core. But he needed more, so he continued to pull against the ambient Ethera in an attempt to force the aperture wider; it was no use, though. There was something missing. A vitally important piece of the puzzle that he simply didn’t possess.

Still, he kept at it, steadily stretching the aperture as much as he...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 17 - Miracles

The acrid stench Elijah associated with the Voxx filled his nostrils, reminding him of past battles. The smell of human misery reminded him that something else was at play, though. So, after only a few moments of hesitation, he pushed forward, his bare feet sounding loud against the cold tiles.

“Sir? Can I help you?” came a high-pitched voice. Elijah turned to see a pretty woman with dark skin. If he’d had to guess, he would have said that she was in her mid-twenties, but long, st...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 16 - Plague

Standing before the Norcastle main gate, Sam Harvin shifted uncomfortably as he tried to adjust his armor. It was a new addition, and he still hadn’t grown accustomed to wearing it. But according to his captain, it was strong enough to stand up to Voxxian claws and teeth, so Sam was more than willing to endure a little discomfort.

“Quit fidgeting,” said his partner, Lorelai. She was a middle-aged woman with grey-streaked, black hair, and she reminded him of nothing so much as a mi...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 15 - A New Purpose

Carmen knelt next to her forge, staring at the smoldering coals.  The apparatus was mostly enclosed, which meant that it was insanely hot, but due to her technique, Resist Fire, she barely felt it. She’d yet to truly test the resistance to its fullest extent, but she suspected that she could shove her hand into a normal fire without any detriment.

But inside her forge was no normal fire.

Instead, the forge had been carefully assembled from blocks enchanted by a true Brickla...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 15 - Skills and Evolutions

Once it was harnessed by the system, the Mist should have been a gift to the universe. With it, miraculous things are possible. I know the science behind how it works. I’ve ready all the research. And still, it often looks like magic to me. Even so, there are times when I wish we’d never tamed it.

Alistaris Kargat

Borack’s little village of insect people had grown in the years since I’d last visited. With its sto...

Announcement for Path of Dragons

I just wanted to let you all know that we got to our second set of goals, so I'm extending the Patreon benefit for Path of Dragons by 5 more chapters.  That'll put us at 40 chapters ahead of Royal Road.  That's where we're going to stick for a while (probably a month) until I think about extending it further.  The ultimate goal is 50 chapters, but that's a little ways away (I can only work so fast!).  

Anyway, the new chapters should start hitting at 10AM CST and be ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 14 - A Dead Civilization

The spiders weren’t the last threat Elijah faced as he traversed the pass, but they were the deadliest. Along the way, he ran into a couple more Voxx, which he dealt with accordingly, but he avoided any other dangers, aside from those posed by the terrain itself. On more than one occasion, he was forced to climb up or down steep cliffs or leap across gaping chasms, but in every instance, he proved up to the task.

And then, days later, he finally began his descent. It took a further co...

Chapter 411 - Out of His Element

Flanked by a pair of kobold centurions, Zeke stepped out of the tall grass. He knew that the river naga had already seen him. How could they not, when, in his colossal form, he towered so tall over the grass? And yet, he didn’t acknowledge the force arrayed before him. The naga were hundreds strong, and each one of them was armed with a harpoon. Still, he ignored them, just as Jasper had advised him to do.

He crossed the open ground, barely noticing the flattened grass as he approache...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 13 - Slugfest

Fire raced through Elijah’s body, melting his muscles from the inside out. And on instinct, he very nearly used Guardian’s Renewal.

Guardian’s Renewal: Instantly and completely regenerate. Cooldown affected by Regeneration   attribute. Current: Once Per Week

But he caught himself before he activated the ability. It had a lengthy cooldown, and so, needed to be saved for emergencies. And while he was in agony as the venom coursed through him, liquify...

Chapter 410 - Rivers and Snakes

A gentle wind swept across the landscape, sending waves across the sea of green grass. Zeke, along with Pudge, Jasper, and a handful of kobold centurions, cut through it as they made their way across the Mukti Plains. He squinted his eyes as he gazed toward the horizon, and in the distance, he saw a blurry smudge that he thought might be a tree line.

But if it was, then those trees had to be quite a bit larger than any Zeke had ever seen. He shielded his eyes with an open palm and asked...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 12 - Arachnid's Paradise

The rainstorm started only an hour after Elijah had begun his trek inland, though with the dense canopy of a temperate rainforest above, only scattered drops of precipitation made it to the ground. However, as was common to the region, humidity clouded the atmosphere, and dewy wetness clung to every leaf. Elijah was only barely affected, though; his scales weren’t as warm as his old coat of fur had been, but they were still largely impervious to the elements.

He slipped through the fo...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 14 - Back into the Bazaar

I don’t know what’s happening, but it feels important. Every time I turn around, Mira does something unbelievable, and I feel like she’s becoming less human with each passing day. I’m trying to keep up, but no matter what I do, she just keeps getting further ahead.

Patrick Ward

Exiting the Rift was anticlimactic, especially after the battles we’d endured in the Emerald Forest and the Palace. However, when we di...

Weekly Check-In (12/10/23)

Another week down, many more to go!

First things first - I want to welcome all the new members.  I know a lot of you probably came here because of the new story, but I've noticed a bit of an uptick in people commenting/liking old content as well.  So, I hope you're all enjoying my work (there's a ton of it, so it might take a little while to get through it all!).  

Alright - so, that said.  This week has been pretty awesome, and for a couple of reasons.  F...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 11 - Exploration

The crystalline leaf glittered in the faint light of Elijah’s treehouse, but he was no longer fascinated by the thing’s structure. It was just an information delivery device, little different from a book, and as such, he was far more interested in the knowledge it contained. Figuring out how to use the leaves had taken Elijah a few hours, and it was only when Nerthus stepped in to explain it that he’d managed to unlock the information stored within.

Looking back, Elijah should hav...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 13 - Ambiguity

Challenging Rifts is a fool’s errand. Even with proper precautions, it is potentially lethal. And yet, across the universe, there are droves of idiots willing to risk their lives for power, glory, and, of course, monetary gain. The universe depends on these ill-fated and often desperate adventurers. Without them, the universal economy would collapse. Perhaps that would be a good thing.

Alistaris Kargat

As I hefted my s...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 10 - A Meal

The smell of smoked meats greeted Elijah before the restaurant even came into sight. His mouth watered as he remembered all the barbecue joints he’d sampled over the course of his life. His infrequent forays into vegetarianism – usually taken at the insistence of a girlfriend or his more environmentally conscious coworkers – had consistently been squandered by his love of well-cooked meat. He was a born carnivore, and no amount of social pressure could ever really change that, even if h...

Chapter 409 - The Tour

It took a couple of weeks before Zeke felt fully recovered. However, unlike some of his previous ill-advised antics, he wasn’t completely incapacitated by his latest foray into utilizing his Will. Instead, he was fully capable of tending to his followers in the tower, and in fact, he felt that if it came down to a necessary battle, he would be able to harness at least sixty percent of his power.

Eveline likened it to a doctor’s orders to take it easy rather than putting him on compl...

Path of Dragons Announcement!

So, we hit the first goal (3000 average views and 1500 followers)!  So, I added five new chapters for Path of Dragons.  But remember - if we get to 4000 average views and 2000 followers, I'll extend the benefit by another five chapters!

Which begs the question - how can you help?

Well, the story is doing really well with ratings, but what would really set it apart are reviews.  I know that's asking a lot, and I don't expect anyone to leave a review unless they feel ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 9 - Shopping Spree

In preparation for what he hoped would be a shopping spree, Elijah had kept a decent number of etherium coins out. At Ramik’s suggestion, though, he restricted himself to a few dozen copper coins and ten silver.

“You shouldn’t need more than that,” the little goblin said, checking what looked like a pocket watch he’d pulled from his vest pocket. “But if you do, you can always return to the Branch and withdraw more.”

“What’s that?” Elijah asked, curiously noddin...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 8 - A Warm Welcome

The next morning dawned crisp and cool, but Elijah was hesitant to extract himself from his warm, rabbit-fur blankets. Still, he was a creature of habit, and he had many tasks to accomplish before heading to Ironshore. So, he groaned as he threw the comfortable bedding aside and pushed himself to his feet.

Soon enough, he began his morning routine. Starting with a leftover fish stew breakfast and ending with an abbreviated version of his training regimen, it wasn’t long before Elijah ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 7 - Change is in the Air

A distinct chill laced the morning air as Elijah hefted a large boulder above his head. Judging by its size, the mass of rock was at least two-hundred pounds, and Elijah let out a loud grunt as he locked his elbows out before dropping it to the loamy ground. The moment he was free of his burden, his shoulders sagged in exhaustion. He’d been working out with that boulder for almost an hour, and it had certainly taken its toll. So, he channeled Ethera through his soul and into Touch of Nature...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 6 - Drowning

The hammer fell, sending sparks flying from the molten metal. Carmen knew it was too hot, that the result was going to be almost entirely unusable. But she didn’t much care. Indeed, all she really wanted to do was hit something – anything – really, really hard. So, she had retreated to her forge, intending to lose herself in the process of shaping metal. Instead, she’d quickly made one mistake after another until she stopped even trying to do anything worthwhile.

With a growl, s...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 5 - Diplomacy

Cold, clammy humidity hung thick in the air as autumn had begun to give way to winter’s frigid grip. Still, as Elijah raced across his island, he was largely unaffected, save for the sweat on his brow. Even so, the robes he’d sewn were ill-fitting, and as he went, he had to take great care to keep them from snagging on the dense foliage. As a result, his progress was slower than if he’d been less clothed.

Oddly enough, he almost wished he could return to the nudity of his time in ...