Chapter 66 – Baiting the Trap
The next day, the grounds were upgraded by the System. Getting my ship took a bit longer, but that was to be expected. I had to wait two whole days for an actual warship. Considering that it would have taken weeks even at the best System-enhanced shipyards if it was done manually, with people who had skills to improve the speed and quality of construction, that was practically a blink of the eye.
The ship was all shiny and new, but I couldn’t br...
2021-07-16 21:53:45 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 223 – Report
The doors swung open at their approach, and the black shield faded away. They didn’t know what the shield would have done, but none of them were willing to test it, so it was well worth sacrificing someone they didn’t care about to bypass it. The hallway beyond was made of dark stone, and lit with purple-flamed torches, giving the whole area an unearthly, otherworldly look. A purple mist hung, about ankle-height, across the floor, a miasma common to undead d...
2021-07-15 23:09:22 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 21 – Commission
Obviously, you couldn’t be involved (even as an observer) in the most high-profile assassination attempt in the last hundred years and not expect some of the craziness to try and follow you home. Of course, it wasn’t the Irish rebels that were her concern. They didn’t have overseas resources, afterall, being too focused on their (far more local) troubles.
The Purifiers, on the other hand, were a menace all across the globe. They had grown out of e...
2021-07-12 01:31:49 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 65 – Preparing the Field
First thing to do was making sure the properties were actually mine, according to the System. While I was at it, I decided to grab the huge empty space behind the house I wanted, too, so I could set up some actual defenses. Going through the interface in my Tablet, that was easily handled, and, for the price of just 3.8 million gp.
Once I had the properties, I needed to decide what to do with them. First thought was to have a wall, like my main...
2021-07-10 21:33:49 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 222 – Sacrifice
Contrary to Mark’s opinion, Father Jacobs decided not to use one of the annoying religious types that had tried to condemn their faith in Lord Kuronoth as the sacrifice. There had been a few who were pushier, and more vocal, than the rest. A capture ball removed the problem, provided they could throw it without being caught. And no one looked too hard when a Karen stopped showing up to cause trouble.
But some captures were ‘hotter’ than others. Ge...
2021-07-08 20:19:03 +0000 UTC
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Lewd Dungeon 22 and Into the Black 29 have been sent to Amazon. Should be live in a day or two.
Prologue – Trade Chat
(Magical World Disharmony Server, General Chat)
UsualSuspect, manoutoftime, muon, MewTwo, Avariel, Chummer, Golddigger, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, MacD, Inquisitor, OrangeQueen, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, BabyShark, Not_the_Face!, Scholar, Patriot, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, TheLichQu...
2021-07-04 00:29:57 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 64 – Culling the Pack
The alpha staggered back as he dropped his axe, hand at his throat, trying to stop the bleeding. One of his pack cried out, attempting to cast a healing spell. Unfortunately for him, he was making a production out of it, reciting the words of a prayer to some god or power that I didn’t care enough about to listen to their name.
I pointed at him, and a [Blood Bolt] flew from my fingertip, without any need for an invocation or calling out the name...
2021-07-03 01:00:32 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 221 – Necropolis
The Dark Necropolis had been restricted ever since the people of Fort Myers, Miami, and surrounding areas completed the consecrated barriers and wards. It was necessary to keep the out-of-control ritual from overflowing the entire peninsula with undead. Ironically, it was that restriction that sped up the conversion of the Necropolis from a simple site that regularly spawned mostly-mindless undead into a dungeon.
Oh, the conversion would have happened ...
2021-07-02 00:45:23 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 63 – Property Hunting
First step in finding a place to play bait for the pirates when they finally came to Earth was in choosing a neighborhood.
Obviously, since this place was going to be bait, I wanted to find a place that was going to be far enough away from heavily populated areas that a stray orbital strike didn’t accidentally kill a bunch of people. That would not look good when people eventually figured out what I did. Trying to limit collateral damage would b...
2021-06-25 14:57:24 +0000 UTC
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Prologue – Trade Chat
(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)
SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation...
2021-06-23 19:30:45 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 20 – Attack
My eyes snapped to the door, even as I rose from my chair. Quickly, I looked through the eyes of my knights. Nothing outside. The guards weren’t even reacting as though there was anything wrong. Inside, however? That was another story.
The human guards outside the door were down. Looking through the Knight’s eyes, I could see that four were dead, with two others wounded pretty badly. One of them would need healing magic pretty quickly, or he wasn’t go...
2021-06-18 18:09:14 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 62 – Plans
Three months until the aliens started showing up, and I needed to be ready. Really, I wanted it done in two, just in case they showed up early. I didn’t know the exact time and date the aliens would show up, obviously. If they spent some time stealthily scouting before landing, and I wasn’t ready when they entered the system, that could mess up my plans to draw them in someplace where I could get them. And that just wasn’t acceptable.
Of course, there ...
2021-06-17 18:37:38 +0000 UTC
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Epilogue – Resting
“What will you do with her, Master?”
Dana was standing next to me, looking at the newest addition to my menagerie. The fearsome Tier 4 dragon had, on command, been able to tap into her magic, and transformed into a girl with blue hair. Except she looked like she was about two or three years old.
I quickly made her some clothes, and got Dana to help her dress, before the kid promptly curled up next to a fireplace and went to sleep! I would have been...
2021-06-16 20:03:11 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 19 – Royalty
In the end, it was decided that the meeting would be a formal, though ostensibly private, affair, at Buckingham Palace. Instead of going low-profile, however, they would be announcing that a new, unique piece was being added to the crown jewels. So, a formal gown fit to my undead frame, with my own crown jewels, was the outfit of the day.
When I stepped off the private jet we’d taken from Tokyo to London, there was no coach or limousine to meet me, but t...
2021-06-12 18:55:36 +0000 UTC
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Book 6 of Dark Fate is now LIVE on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0971RWMWR
Chapter 61 – Fever
Bringing my time-traveling adult daughter home with me from the State Park had had some unforeseen consequences. Oh, nothing crazy like people suddenly disappearing like in Back to the Future. Lilith had known what she was doing when she came back, and made certain to keep any nasty paradoxe...
2021-06-11 20:31:42 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 220 – Aftermath
The fight with the dragon was over. For Miguel, and the other people standing on the roof of the Adventurers’ Guild building, watching the projection that one of the guild’s scryers managed to put up in time to show the battle, that was a cause for relief. But it was also a cause for growing concern, and Miguel wasn’t the only one to think that way.
“Are you sure it is ok to leave things like this, Guildmaster?”
Miguel chuckled as he tur...
2021-06-10 19:27:39 +0000 UTC
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Gotta say, I'm really enjoying writing this story, as it is a big change of pace from my normal stuff. Hope y'all enjoy it as well!
Chapter 18 – Travel Arrangements
With the amulet complete, I then turned to making arrangements for delivering the item. The contract did not say how the amulet was to be delivered, and I was not about to simply send this thing through the mail. It was far too powerful to be allowed out in the wild.
More importantly, if some idi...
2021-06-04 20:14:46 +0000 UTC
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Prologue – Trade Chat
(Community Building and Civil Defense Chat, formerly Life in the City Chat Room)
abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, RadicalEdward, DarkLord, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, SevenNationArmy, BagOTrix, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.
BagOTrix: OK, who stirred up the dam...
2021-06-03 15:20:11 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 219 – Domination
I was not surprised by the dragon’s mobility, and the nimble way it evaded Bloodhawk’s ion cannon. That was the difference between firing a ship’s weapons at another ship, and at a living creature. Living creatures are much better at evasion than starships, and creatures with a snake-like body, like this dragon, were better at it than most creatures.
I saw the head turn towards the plane I was riding on. Oh, I could have manifested anywh...
2021-06-02 16:36:49 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 17 – Enchanted
There were four pieces of any enchantment. First, you had the materials, which would hold the enchantment, and conduct mana into it. Second, you had the symbology, which could strengthen or weaken the enchantment. Third, you had the inscriptions, which ‘programmed’ the enchantment. And finally, you had the magic, which ‘installed’ the enchantment.
I already had the first two steps done, so now I needed to work on the third step. This was actually...
2021-05-29 23:51:30 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 218 – Dragon Battle
“Target in sight.”
Sheila Darrows, Anointed of Kuronoth, smiled as Cara Grehan spoke up from the gunner’s seat in the Bloodhawk’s cockpit. The elf had been cross training to serve as a gunner on the ship. She’d even unlocked a skill to use her ranger abilities with ships’ weapons!
Leaning back in her captain’s chair, Sheila looked at the screen. This wasn’t their first job for Lord Kuronoth, but it was rapidly looking ...
2021-05-27 20:12:21 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 16 – Forged
So, the first part of designing any item was picking the materials. The materials decided what kind of things you could do with the form of the final piece. The materials determined the piece’s strength, how hard it was to damage or warp. The materials determined what kind of detail you could put in.
Of course, those more functional concerns weren’t the only things to consider when making a piece. You had to consider the person you were making the piece...
2021-05-22 18:58:53 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 217 – Sea Dragon
Miguel Sanchez, Grandmaster of the American Adventurers’ Guild, frowned as he looked out towards the sea from the rooftop of the Miami guild, using every visual enhancement spell to gaze further out to sea. He’d been in a meeting just two minutes ago, when the eastern sky blazed with light. By the time he’d rushed to the rooftop along with Bethany, the current head of the Miami Guild, that light had dissipated, but the dragon was still there, hanging i...
2021-05-20 18:41:19 +0000 UTC
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Hey, guys, just letting you know, Book 1 is up on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YR8JTD
However, since I'm not putting it in KU, the chapters will be staying up here.
Chapter 15 – Studio
Finally, after two weeks of working with Phantomline to develop the prototype mass production focuses and work on refining CADs, I was back in my studio. The work had been productive, of course. I ...
2021-05-15 19:23:23 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 216 – Stirring
(Atlantic Ocean)
Deep below the ocean’s surface, the object that had been quietly growing since the world had changed shifted, rocking slowly back and forth in the darkness. The object, an egg, had weathered the centuries without the mana necessary for it to grow by sheltering in the eternal warmth of the vents at the utter depths of the abyss. There, in the Milwaukee Depth, the egg had slumbered, forgotten, as the world left it behind.
But now, ...
2021-05-13 18:23:53 +0000 UTC
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This should have come out yesterday, but I started playing Stellaris for the first time, and, well...
Chapter 14 – Demonstration
Fortunately, we were in a magic R&D lab, and all the necessary equipment was close at hand. Rigging a magic scanner to perform the same as the brain scanner for CAD calibration was easy enough. Jury-rigging the software to perform the same function as the brain scanners to set a baseline was a bit more complicated, but copyi...
2021-05-09 15:40:36 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 215 – Church
Looking at my two pets, I nodded in approval. “You two will be my sword and my hand, for when I act openly in the outside world. You will not be the only ones I call on, of course. There are adventurers who have pledged themselves to me, and mercenaries who I have enthralled. But you two, you will be the symbol that the outside world looks to.”
With a wave of my hand, their old clothing, armor, and weapons disappeared. They were well made items, but I ...
2021-05-06 21:23:46 +0000 UTC
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This took a long time to write, for some reason.
Chapter 13 – Oversight
We relocated to a testing chamber, where several devices were set up for testing. The chamber itself was built to try and contain any ‘mishaps’, but I doubted it was rated to handle an explosion the likes of which would happen if my power ran out of control. After all, the building wasn’t exactly made of adamantium.
Oesau wasn’t the only one here, either. There was...
2021-05-02 18:07:34 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 214 – Anointment
Seeing the two women make their choice, I nodded. “Good. Now, strip for me, so I can see what I’m working with. I think that, since you came to me as a pair, a matching or mirrored placement on your brands would be the most pleasing.”
“Yes, Master.” Both of them knew their place, at least, and appeared eager for their new roles. This was good. However, I would need to know more about them before I tested one of the skills I’d picked up, but...
2021-04-29 13:24:00 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 12 – Phantomline
“Ah, Frau Akagawa! It is so good to see you!”
I smiled at the man. He was Kaspar Oesau, the research chief of Phantomline’s R&D department. Headhunted from one of the universities that created the first experimental CADs after the Awakening, he was the brains behind the R&D department. Fortunately, he also had a reliable office manager, so his focus on research and prototyping did not negatively affect the division.
“Oesau-dono, I...
2021-04-25 03:59:55 +0000 UTC
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