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HS Chapter 56:

Chapter 56:

Alice waited with bated breath as she watched Titus stab several more times into the door. She was waiting for him to leave so she could run deeper into the building and finish the mission. But he didn't react. He didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken.

"Titus," she called, a little bit louder this time. But he ignored her, continuing to fight. Again, she pushed with her good foot against the floor and leveraged herself against the window, using her hands to walk ...

HS Chapter 55:

Chapter 55:

It was with a growing sense of unease that Alice kept one eye on the approaching mass of enemies as they bulldozed their way through the ever-growing swarm of ants. She realized she had miscalculated something. The rate at which the Fungus King approached was not linear. Every time it freed another of its Wartlings away from the ants, they sped up, working together under the influence of the King. They protected each other and helped get ants off of one another. Their speed ...

HS Chapter 54:

Chapter 54:

Titus looked down to his left, precisely two feet behind his ankle, where the little bastard always stayed. He was shocked to find that Tony's near-constant presence was gone. Never mind that the ant's strange stillness, lack of noise, hard chitin, and general face that could only be described as terrifying and disturbing, the little bastard had grown on Titus. It was taking to training better than any dog Titus had ever had, which considering how many he'd owned, was quite ...

HS Chapter 53:

Chapter 53:

Ants piled in from all directions, and Alice stood by Titus's side as they watched the battle. Despite Titus's wishful thinking, things weren't necessarily going as well as he had hoped.

She watched as the Fungus Wartling swiped one of its appendages across the ground, knocking countless ants out of its way. The effortlessness displayed in its motion made Alice doubt if the ants' tried and true strategy would have the normal effect here. Those who did latch on with the...

HS Chapter 52:

Chapter 52:

Titus tensed next to her, and Alice flinched as she stared at the level 45 ant Queen. She reached her hand out and grasped Titus's bicep, gently holding him back. "Titus," Alice whispered in a voice reticent to disturb the monster before them, "Mana isn't going there."

Imperceptibly, his muscles relaxed, and he turned to look at her. "What?" he whispered.

"Mana is not flowing to the Queen."

"Where is it going then?" Titus asked, his voice soft and at a lowe...

HS Chapter 51:

Chapter 51:

The ants had spread much farther out since the last time Alice and Titus encountered them. Whether they had simply stripped the area nearby bare or if it was more about time and exploration, she wasn't sure. It took nearly half an hour of marching before they got in range of the mana drain and influence again. Alice couldn't feel it at all from her mana; she could only see it.

The amulet she'd made was designed to act like a Faraday cage. However, that wasn't exact...

HS Chapter 50:

Chapter 50:

Despite Alice's worries, Titus returned relatively quickly. She had been preparing to mount a rescue mission if she couldn't find him and Tony. But Alice shouldn't have doubted him, despite the seeming inevitability that he would get lost after they split the party. She had to remind herself that this wasn't some horror movie.

He returned with several ants bound up tight, and Tony zipped around at his heels, fending off monsters. Alice couldn't see Tony's le...

HS Chapter 49:

Chapter 49:

When Titus went back to his experiments, Alice left him be. She might have been able to help, but she had too much to catch up on with her own projects. Before he was totally lost in his work, Alice had him give her all of his backup knives, and she set to inscribing them. They weren't anything fancy—just everlasting sharpness, durability, and repair. There wasn't enough space to do anything super impressive, and she hadn't had a flash of inspiration to make them do anythi...

HS Chapter 48:

Chapter 48:

Now that she was finished with her crafting project, Alice looked up and checked her surroundings. Night had fallen, and her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten dinner. She got up and stretched, working the kink out of her neck and practicing motions she had developed after long hours of sitting and working uninterrupted. She stretched and flexed her fingers.

It was weird. Normally, both hands were aching from typing, or her eyes were tired from stari...

HS Chapter 47:

Chapter 47:

It took a surprisingly long time for Alice to run out of breath, even at a full sprint. She managed to maintain it for nearly a dozen blocks, and even though her legs were burning, she could keep pumping them. However, Titus was significantly farther ahead of her as they chased the squirrel leaping from treetop to treetop.

She was no longer amazed the twelfth time it leaped the entire width of a street across the intersection to the next set of trees. As it continued t...

HS Chapter 46:

Chapter 46:

Alice lost herself in the shovel. She traced lines all throughout the edge, making it sharp, and then up and down the handle, increasing the strength of the wood. She wanted to replicate the return-to-hand effect that the pilum had, but she messed it up halfway through. Rather than flying back as soon as it was thrown, it simply remained stationary. Frustrated, she scratched off that part of the enchantment, rendering it inoperable. It took up a decent amount of space, and t...

HS Chapter 45:

Chapter 45:

Alice stared as Titus pulled the phone out of his pocket and placed it on the table, face up. They both were surprised to see a random number ringing. She had half expected some alarm or calendar event.

"You think it's a spam call?" Alice asked after the second ring.

Titus shrugged. "I haven't gotten any. Have you?"

"No," she shook her head. "Not even a robocall, surprisingly."

Titus looked at the phone. "It's not even my phone."

"Well, you only...

HS Chapter 44:

Chapter 44:

When Alice woke, Titus was already up and about and had breakfast ready. As she sat down in front of the plate of mostly still-warm eggs, gave him a mumbled greeting through blurry eyes.

After some quick conversation and eating, she grumbled, "I don't like waiting. I know we can't get to the ants yet, but it feels like every day, the possibility of fixing this slips further and further away. We have no idea how long the tutorial will last. And if people come back first...

HS Chapter 43:

Chapter 43:

It didn't take long for Alice and Titus to return to the store. Again, they ignored the shopkeeper, who ignored them as they pulled up the lists. Titus scrolled for a bit before he read out the name, and Alice tapped it into the search bar and pulled it up. It was just a simple hunter's spear, E-grade. It was tough, sharp enough to cut through steel, and wouldn't take damage. Simple, sturdy, effective, and balanced for throwing. It wasn't enchanted, though, and Alice had som...

HS Chapter 42:

Chapter 42:

Congratulations on your inscribing success. Enchanting has now been added to your profession’s tab.

Alice looked down at the block of metal that sat on the table before her. Thin lines were engraved throughout it, and when she fed mana into a particular part of it, it grew slightly warmer. It was a [Lesser Heat Stone of Inferior Quality]. It was frustrating that it had taken her so long to make it, not because it was difficult but be...

HS Chapter 41:

Chapter 41:

Alice skimmed through her code. There were tens of thousands of lines in the AI, but the space-finding program she had made was relatively simple. This was the first time she had looked at it since the whole debacle, and she struggled to see where it had gone wrong.

There really wasn't anything apparent, so she was hesitant to change it at all. However, she still made a few quick changes, removing some of the safeguards she'd put in to avoid getting caught. She made bo...

EV B2 Chapter 10:

"Well, shit," I said to Astrid, and they leaned back in the booth, needing a moment to think. I lifted my glass and drained it, setting it down next to the wine.

"How far did you guys get?" I asked.

She grimaced. "Twelve percent."

"We need twenty?" I confirmed.

"Same as with the gauntlet we did together." She nodded grimly.

"How about the other challenges you did when I was gone? How did they go for you." I asked.

"I'll tell you about them later," Astrid s...

HS Chapter 40:

Chapter 40:

The walk only took him a few minutes before they found what was essentially a clone of the shop they went to last. The clerk was the same unassuming, blond man-ish thing that looked to be an NPC. They didn't talk to him, though, as they just each pulled up a window of the shop's offerings and began scrolling through.

Alice started looking for something that would help her avoid the mana drain. She first filtered for anything that she could afford related to mana, using...

HS Chapter 39:

Chapter 39:

Alice sat on the bar stool, her forearms resting against the wooden countertop, doing her best to avoid the sticky spots. She ignored the glass of cranberry juice, dripping condensation onto the napkin. In front of her was an unfolded napkin with Titus's full character sheet scrawled out on it.

Name: Titus

Titles: Ancient, Primarch

Perks: Enhanced Reflexes, Relentless

Level: 19 - E 2024-11-01 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

HS Chapter 38:

Chapter 38:

The first several extra ants came back to them directly and didn't attack right away. Rather, they circled around cautiously, looking at them with their eyes and waving their antennae before scurrying back to the nest. Titus and Alice pushed onward. They saw an entrance where several soldier ants were guarding as a stream of workers passed through, carrying bits and pieces of other monsters.

"I fucking hate ants! They give me the goddamn creepy crawlies," Titus said, a...

October Update

Quick update:

So, I missed last month, oops. I just scheduled the last chapter of Homegrown System, or Relic, as I may have referred to it before. It's a relief to get that off my chest—fully written and edited. I was relatively happy with how the story turned out. It did what I wanted, though it didn’t perform quite as well as I’d hoped. I probably won’t be doing a sequel, but that’s fine. I think it was pretty self-contained, and it was fun to write. It was...

HS Chapter 37:

Chapter 37:

As soon as they could, they switched to an actual car. Titus found a sleek-looking Lexus with a full tank of gas, and they wove through the streets towards the city. They circled around, wanting to get to their destination but not wanting to go through the streets still packed with the abandoned remains of early morning traffic. This was apparently a couple of time zones over from where they had been previously, making it around five in the morning when everyone disappeared....

HS Chapter 36:

Chapter 36:

Titus didn't answer Alice's question right away. Riding on the ATV, clinging to his back, she couldn't see his face. At first, she had tried to only hold on to the vehicle or his jacket, but there was a reason why that just wasn't how it worked. It was too tiring and exhausting. It was easier to lean up against him for support, and she could feel that he hadn't tensed up at the question or anything. She also knew that his emotions were not concerned but contemplative, as if ...

EV B2 Chapter 9:

With a long, drawn-out breath, I leaned back into my booth and closed my eyes, trying to make a final decision on how much I should tell Astrid. This was something I'd been wrestling with for a long time. After a handful of seconds, I opened my eyes and met hers, stunned by their brilliant color. I blinked a couple of times before finally opening my mouth.

"How much?" I said, halting, still struggling with the decision. "How much do you know? How much do you want to know?" I corrected m...

HS Chapter 35:

Chapter 35:

Alice dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the projectile of salt flying over her head. From her prone position, she pointed to the large group of salt elementals attempting to get at their transportation while Titus stood stalwartly between them and the ATV. From the tips of her fingers, a mana bolt flew, smashing apart one of the weakened elementals creeping up around Titus's left.

This had become more of a problem recently, with monsters not coming alone but in gro...

HS Chapter 34:

Chapter 34:

The salt flat flew past, and the sound of the ATV rumbling along filled the silence. Alice, though, didn't register any of that. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She had a love-hate relationship with the bundle of emotions stuck in her head that represented Titus. She absolutely hated the idea of him being able to read her mind. She knew that wasn't quite what it was because she couldn't read his mind through his emotions, but it felt invasive and made her s...

EV B2 Chapter 8:

EV B2 Chapter 8:

I took another step forward, and Astrid took yet another step back. She was only a step from the wall. She didn't recognize me when I stopped, realizing that I should. Looking up, I realized why—the place was covered in shadows. And, well, I was probably dead in her mind. So, I didn't advance any further, just unthreateningly holding my hands up and off to the side.

"Astrid," I said in a soothing voice as if I was trying to calm a frightened cat, "it's Miles." 2024-10-23 03:47:02 +0000 UTC View Post

HS Chapter 33:

Chapter 33:

Titus was racked with unreasonable nerves. He slowly took down the second tent and started packing things up. As Alice worked next to him, he tried to search for the words to say.

It was weird. She pretty much knew everything already, and there were just a few pieces he needed to put into place. But it was a secret he had kept for so long that it felt like blasphemy to say it out loud to someone who wasn't already aware. Besides, the emotions that Alice was ...

HS Chapter 32:

Chapter 32:

When Alice woke up, she was alone in the tent, with light streaming through the thin fabric. She stretched and blinked, feeling surprisingly comfortable despite having slept on hard, flat ground. She heard the soft voices of Elaine and Titus talking and the crackle of food wrappers as they prepared breakfast.

Alice put her shoes on inside the tent to keep her feet clean, then unzipped the entrance enough to climb out. She found Titus sitting off to the side while Elain...

HS Chapter 31:

Chapter 31:

Before Elaine could answer, Titus said something in a language Alice didn't recognize. She had heard him curse in it a few times, and it had a similar cadence. Alice couldn't tell if she was surprised or not when Elaine responded in kind. Clearly, it was a question, as Titus said a couple more words, and then they returned to English. Interesting. It was clearly a language they were both very comfortable in. Alice wasn't sure if Elaine had greeted Titus in English because sh...