ravnicrasol

Gamma Protocol (050)

[050]

Where the fuck had Vesp found this guy?

That was the most prevalent thought running through Bear’s mind as she raised her guard to block the next incoming attack. The guy’s fist hit squarely against her shoulder, and it stung. It was a mix of startling and annoying, Bear kept looking for any signs of augs on him, but every scanner in the coliseum came back blank.

Her gaze flickered at chat. They were going wild. A quick-poll put...

Gamma Protocol (049)

[049]

“I really don’t like this.” I commented, looking down at a metal staff with an acrylic green clump screwed on top. There was a tiny button half-way down the staff that made an LED inside the clump to light up.

“Too late to back out of the fight.” Isia commented, throwing brush-strokes against my skin as if trying to cut down some elusive creature.

“Not the fight… this, the…” I waved the staff around. “It just feels a little too over...

Alchimia Rex (147)

[147] [Road](Dia)

The dense canopy of trees loomed overhead, their gnarled branches intertwined in a twisted embrace that shut out the last vestiges of daylight. The forest floor beneath was a mottled patchwork of dark loam and decaying leaves, the air thick with the earthy scent of damp wood and the faint stench of rot. It was as if someone had taken her fond memories of the forest in Astunes and twisted it into something perverse.

There was a wrongness to the ...

Gamma Protocol (048)

[048]

“Wait, this public spar, it’s… a good thing?” I frowned as we hopped on to the car, the device set on speaker so that Isia could listen in as well. She could’ve just as easily set up a virtu call with Vesper directly, but had insisted on the ‘analog experience’.

“Her audience is a thousand times larger than ours.” She answered. “Just showing up on her stream and getting name-dropped will probably double our subscriber count before the str...

⚠ Changing Subscriptions & YTD Update ⚠

Moving forward all subscriptions will be made cheaper.

This is the TLDR:

• Tip Jar

  • 2$ / Month -> 0$ / Month (AKA: the tier will be deleted)

• Bronze

  • 5$ / Month -> 3$ / Month

• Silver

  • 10$ / Month -> 6$ / Month

• Gold

  • 15$ / Month -> 9$ / Month

• Platinum

  • 25$ / Month -> 15$ Month

• 2024-08-23 14:03:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Gamma Protocol (047)

[047]

“Here’s your cut from today’s session,” Vesper said, handing me a small pouch. “I included a basic communicator.”

I glanced inside, face immediately turning into a grimace. “This… is a phone.” Not just any phone either, the sort made out of cheap plastic and that used number-pads rather than a touch-screen. “How can this even send messages?” To my understanding, internet access required the sort of encryption that was only possible th...

Alchimia Rex (146)

[146] [Human Factor]

“Look who finally shows up! What took you so long, Throag?”

“Once you grow stronger, perhaps you’ll find out what it means to help the clan.”

Rick immediately ignored the maidens as they snarled and postured and needled. Instead, he turned his attention over the other humans present. They’d been gathered at the center of the clearing, stripped naked save their shoes, most showed minor cuts and bruises, minor injuries all over...

Gamma Protocol (046)

[046]

Quinn’s leaned forward, mechanical arm perfectly applying the final layer of paint against Axel’s skin. The newest recruit and biological freak let out a little chuckle, but it was easy to tell his mind was elsewhere.

“Give it a minute to dry, and we’re ready,” Quinn said, the weather gear hissed, cool air brushing down their back. 

“Isia said you identified as ‘they’.” Axel broke the silence, eyes fixed on the crowbar.

“...

Gamma Protocol (045)

[045]

I realized I was awake a few minutes after I’d opened my eyes. I’d been staring at the ceiling for a while, quietly marveling at how far away it was from my face. Why, I could sit up on the bed without needing to worry about my head banging against anything. And it got even better when I got up and went to shower. A hot shower at the turn of a knob, I let myself marinate under the heat and steam, entirely uncaring for whether I was late for anything. I didn’...

Gamma Protocol (044)

[044]

As soon as the system conked out, I realized I had a problem… well, several problems.

Concerns for the system’s health aside (what counted as ‘healthy’ for an entity that created text pop-ups?), my preoccupation had turned towards how everything about my body now felt entirely alien and wrong.

Breathing, for example.

After years of being alive, I’d thought I’d mastered the art of not choking on air. Apparently those skills were not ...

Alchimia Rex (145)

[145] [Counsel] (Camilla)

Camilla, leader of the Elven Grove, former Green Empress and ruler of the four continents, sat down on the simple wooden stool. There was nothing particularly impressive about the piece of furniture, oak-wood carved with rudimentary tools. The Elf Queen felt a twinge of nostalgia at the rudimentary simplicity of it, it brought back memories from before she’d become a ruler, from before thrones and silks were the norm.

Memories that we...

Gamma Protocol (043)

[043]

Number of known, categorized, and studied G-Class monsters: 104.
Number of known, categorized, and studied F-Class monsters: 412.
Number of known, categorized, and studied E-Class monsters: 1,750.
Number of known, categorized, and studied D-Class monsters: [Unknown]

I ran through the ravine, legs burning as the marauder-pack was closing in. The system was barely responsi...

Gamma Protocol (042)

[042]

Grasping the monster’s skull, I clamped my hands together with everything I had, causing its head to implode in a shower of brown debris. I heaved, breath ragged, dropping the monster’s body, watching as the creature’s clay-like body began to violently boil, turning into a foul smelling smoke.

I took a second to confirm the improvised satchel on my arm was still there, with the items I’d taken so as to not risk the shadow stealing them from me.

Gamma Protocol (041)

[041]

I stared at the fork, then at the last spot the Shadow meguca had been in. I checked the area a hundred times, with senses so fine I could spot individual grains of sand from a dozen meters off. I could smell the bugs hidden underneath the shadows of the boulder, I could hear faint gunshots beyond the horizon. And still I could not pick a single trace of the Shadow. As if she’d never been there to begin with.

If not for the fork, I might have construed it ...

Alchimia Rex (144)

[144] [Wrenches and Cogs] (Eva)

Eva stirred awake within a large tent, the setting sun peeking through the flaps. Her sleep had been light, ready to jump at the first sign of anything amiss. But tonight, much like the previous night, and the night before that, the Vampires had not tried anything.

“Lady Zagan wishes to inform we will be on the move in a few hours.” The shadows simmered softly, a Fledgling stepping forth, head bowed low. “May I be of service...

Gamma Protocol (040)

[040]

“What’s your deal anyway?” Carl, previously ‘tattoo guy’, and pilot of the hauler, asked. “First time we’ve ever hauled anyone out of NF. And you said you wanted to be back…”

I wriggled a bit on my seat, staring out the hauler’s tiny window, guessing that the pilots’ augs filled out the space with readings and details. To me, the cabin looked a lot emptier and darker than it did for them. My attention lingered on the dozens of sticker...

Gamma Protocol (039)

---

[039]

“Take care, Axel Garcia, and have a good day!” Grills waved at me, and I waved back as I stepped out into the pre-dawn lukewarm air, the black sky overhead yet to find the first hints of sunlight.

My mind was abuzz with the things I would, hopefully, do today.

After collapsing last night, and reviewing my messages this morning (and failing to contact Doctor Moreau. Again), I hatched a very rudimentary plan on how to get “beyond the ru...

Alchimia Rex (143)

[143] [Stripes](Various)

Rick opened his eyes to the night sky and let out a pained sigh that was followed by a coughing fit as pain blossomed all across his chest. He wasn’t restrained, but he could barely move. Everything burned and ached and felt as if his body was trying to tear itself from the inside.

He groaned, recognizing the symptoms of his body having been exposed to too much elemental energy. The good news was that he was conscious, meaning it had n...

Gamma Protocol (038)

[038]

The party itself went on much as it had before Bear had shown up, with people seeking to mingle and using Spike as the excuse. Though Isia had hammed up the rat’s role in the exchange, singing praises over how brave the rodent had been, and how its handsomeness had made Bear swoon. It didn’t take long for things to twist into Spike being the sole hero that had defeated Bear in single combat.

The ambiance had remained very energetic, with a lot of peopl...

Gamma Protocol (037)

[037]

“Leave the Sewer Saints.”

If the silence before had been bearable, now it turned deafening. Someone had gone so far as to cut the music, or maybe was that just me? The room certainly felt colder and more threatening as everyone began glancing at us a lot less discreetly. I could see eyes flashing with the messaging of neuralinks, conversations heard only in a digital private space.

Bear didn’t bother to pay the room any attention, her gaze lock...

Alchimia Rex (142)

[142] [Loose ends](Various)

Knight Captain Cecilia beat her wings as hard as she could, the Mikila flying away from the battlefield as fast as possible. The battlefield smoldered beneath her, screams and chaos, knights and Vampires slaughtered in equal measure. She could only cringe and fly harder.

All was lost.

The Viscount had been captured alongside the other nobles, their forces captured, dead, or soon to be dead. There was nothing she could do to save...

Gamma Protocol (036)

---

[036]

“So… where’s the party going to be at?” I asked, searching for a seatbelt and not finding any.

Vesper and Isia had come to pick me up from the motel on a fancier truck than the one I’d seen them running around in. “Fancier” in the sense that there was no rust peeking from under chipped paint, and that it had a functioning AC with equally functional windows.

“It’s a surprise.” Isia declared excitedly, then immediately tur...

Gamma Protocol (035)

[035]

“Those cuts look nasty.” Isia commented. “You sure you don’t want Angus to give you a look-over?”

+Speed: 5+
. .∟Agility: [72%] -> [79%]

Charisma: 7 -> +8

I checked the bonus notifications as I sat down next to the van, shirtless and leaning on my shoulders, sun cooking down the world around me in an ever-present wave of heat and humidity. If my new biology didn’t m...

Gamma Protocol (034)

[034]

Level 6 endurance was making itself felt today. It was a subtle thing that I hadn’t thought about until after I’d spent a good minute going at a dead sprint. At a glance nothing felt entirely out of place, my limbs operated just fine, the weight of my weapon remained the same, and yet it was as if I’d barely warmed up. It wasn’t that my movements were more efficient, but that the cost of exerting myself had been lowered.

Definitely appreciated.

Alchimia Rex (141)

[141] [Final Resort](Monica)

The air was heavy with the scent of blood and death, choked with smoke and darkness. The fight had moved them towards the food-farms around the city, but not far enough that Monica might use the spiky walls as footholds. Instead, she was limited to running on dry ground, spinning and pouncing between feints and attacks before the Strong Enemy would plunge into darkness that wasn’t there.

Monica could feel it in her shadow, the tug ...

Gamma Protocol (033)

AN: Sorry for delay, will be speeding back up now. Enjoy!

---

[033]

“When you say costume… what do you mean?” 

Though I asked the question, I got no answer out of Isia as she hurried along up flight after flight of stairs. The air was stale in the corridors of… whatever place the Sewer Rats called home (though I could guess it was probably underground). There were a great deal of empty rooms and moldy smells all ...

Gamma Protocol (032)

[032]

After the tiny little panic attack at, apparently, being targeted by a meguca, I couldn’t let Isia stall any longer and had her take me to meet their ripperdoc. We walked down the corridor and some stairs towards the Sewer Saint’s ripperdoc, my mind tumbled and screamed at the latest new quest. The shadow from the encounter with Bear wanted me dead? Why a timer? Why a week? Why did it have “(1)” in the title? What was going on!?

“Don’t worry ab...

Alchimia Rex (140)

[BOOK 1][BOOK 2 START][PREVIOUS][NEXT]

---

[140] [Cycles](Kiara)

Sinco was burning.

Again.

Kiara watched the flames and smoke; even from this far off from the city, she could taste the acrid ...

Gamma Protocol (031)

[031]

I slowly opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, in an unfamiliar room.

The jolt of panic calmed down as soon as I confirmed I was neither restrained nor in some sort of prison. Or at least, if this was a prison, then it had to be some sort of house-arrest. The room had a faint smell of stale energy drinks and sweat. There were no pictures to speak of, only posters of mostly-naked women. No windows either. The faint whirr of an AC unit could be heard comi...

Gamma Protocol (030)

[030]

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

The Bear greeted me to the massive concrete ring with a slow clap of her bandaged hands. She was tall for a meguca, sculpted arms, scars hidden under tattoos, looking like a brick-house that’d made it through a war and then assaulted by graffiti. But I focused on her face, on the broken nose and squarish jawline, and the way her eyes stared me down despite being half my current height.

“I saw your fight.” Bear smirked, the s...