The Shansakun training grounds were about one hundred and fifty miles east of the city. The family owned a huge swath of forested land, one that was rough with hills and valleys, ravines and gullies, and had more than its fair share of monsters. Specifically, it was home to several massive colonies of giant spiders that had invaded at some point. Efforts to exterminate them had been largely unsuccessful; no matter how thorough the humans were, the spiders just kept coming back.
Short of...
2023-10-03 12:23:06 +0000 UTC
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The truth was that the obstacle course wasn’t designed for someone of Luke’s level. The first section, for example, was comprised of platforms that had obstructions hanging between them. Challengers were supposed to go around by leaping to the left or right and using the poles rising up out of the ground as walls to bounce off of. They would follow a zig-zag pattern as they went back and forth.
Luke noted that the obstructions were simple sheets of wooden hung off a rope strung up o...
2023-10-02 12:03:01 +0000 UTC
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Luke was not allowed to take the journals out of the enchanted shrine, not because Valera didn’t trust him, but because the books were old as dirt and outside of the confines of the room, they were afraid that the paper would crumble away to dust.
And probably they didn’t trust him, either. Supposedly, those journals were worth quite a bit of money. Luke wasn’t willing to press any sort of claim of ownership on his father’s writings. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t re...
2023-09-29 11:42:15 +0000 UTC
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“Lady, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you are creeping me out.”
Valera ignored Luke as she circled around him again. Off to the side, Zea looked about ready to attack the woman, and Hakiro just shifted in place, clearly uncomfortable. Luke stood in the middle of the room, still dressed in the clothes Zea had bought him that didn’t fit all that well, while Valera sized him up.
After her fifth rotation, she announced, “I can see the resemblance. You reall...
2023-09-28 12:08:30 +0000 UTC
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Fujoka Shansakun, Patriarch of the Shansakun family, was probably compensating for something. His office had a disgusting amount of decorations made from precious metals and gemstones, everything from a mask made of beaten gold with rubies for eyes on the wall to a small jade statue of something that looked like an elephant to Luke, at least if an elephant had a trunk long enough to scratch its own ass. A set of pens cast in silver sat on one side of his desk next to an ink pot made of some t...
2023-09-27 11:40:57 +0000 UTC
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It turned out Zea was an incredibly bad judge of clothing sizes. Luke’s fit, more or less. Spectacle, on the other hand, got pants that were too short by about six inches and a shirt that strained across his shoulders and chest. He put it on, twisted once, and the fabric split at the seam.
“Oops,” he said.
“How important is it that you cover up your gimp suit?” Luke asked him.
“My what? You mean the assassin’s garb? Well, it would be a bad idea to walk around t...
2023-09-26 11:39:25 +0000 UTC
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The tunnel dumped them out in a barn just outside the city. Luke wasn’t sure exactly how many miles it ran, but it must have been an enormous expenditure to dig it. He’d be the first to admit he didn’t know much about farming, but the barn looked weird to him, too. There was something like a set of stables on one wall, but with steel cages instead of wooden stalls. Maybe that was standard practice on Aros, but he kind of doubted it.
“There’s nobody here,” Spectacle said. “...
2023-09-25 11:37:41 +0000 UTC
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[Burst Step] wasn’t really supposed to be used for upwards momentum. It wouldn’t be all that effective that way, probably not enough to justify the expenditure of Luke’s stamina in a normal situation, but Luke did not think he could jump forty or fifty feet straight up on his own. Twenty feet was well within his capabilities, but he needed an extra boost for this.
“Jumping in 2, 1, now,” Luke said as he activated the skill and rocketed upwards.
Spectacle...
2023-09-22 11:41:08 +0000 UTC
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For all the shit Luke had endured since he’d been taken to Aros, nothing compared to the pain of those dozens of tentacles crushing him. It wasn’t just the pressure either; no, they had texture to them like a particularly rough and slimy piece of sandpaper. Even if Luke had been wearing his armor, he didn’t think it would stand up to this kind of punishment. His clothes were immediately shredded and the tentacles rasped across his body.
The first few seconds of contact were a seri...
2023-09-21 11:51:54 +0000 UTC
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Tension built in Luke’s neck as he stared back down the tunnel. There was something there, but he couldn’t find it. And that didn’t happen to him, not anymore. Not even Lath had been able to sneak up on him, and the inquisitor had had a skill specifically to help him be quiet and unobtrusive. Admittedly, he hadn’t used it much in his hunt for Luke and Zea.
[Detection] saved Luke’s life. It drew his eyes to a streak in the darkness, something there and gone in ...
2023-09-20 11:23:52 +0000 UTC
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Here's the promised audiobook sample for those who love listening to stories. I've noted this in a few chapters today, but have another reminder as well:
The God Machine: Book 1 is up for preorder for audiobook/ebook/KU and will go live in 2 weeks, but you can buy the paperback copy today if you'd like. More importantly, you should now be able to leave ratings and review...
2023-09-19 12:26:26 +0000 UTC
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So Podium sent me this, which I think is insanely cool (and have spent way too long staring at). This version is a video,but I've got a gif version too that I shared on discord, but which I don't seem to be able to attach here. I'll also be posting the audio sample for those of you who love audiobooks and would like to hear the first chapter or so.
2023-09-19 12:22:39 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note: The God Machine: Book 1 is up for preorder for audiobook/ebook/KU and will go live in 2 weeks, but you can buy the paperback copy today if you'd like. More importantly, you should now be able to leave ratings and reviews, and I would be extremely grateful i...
2023-09-19 12:18:46 +0000 UTC
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The east gate, the monster gate, opened first. The thing that slithered out looked like the result of a jellyfish, a grizzly bear, and a python having an ecstasy-fueled orgy in a pool full of green jello. It was huge, probably twenty feet long from the tip of its snout down to the tentacle-laden tip of its tail. Its skin was a mottled blue and green pattern and hung loose on its frame, so loose in fact that great folds of it hung draped off its shoulders. It walked on six legs, each one with ...
2023-09-18 11:40:14 +0000 UTC
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With a muttered warning about using some other entrances occasionally, the cheese shop owner let Luke and Zea through his cellar access to the arena. Zea smiled and promised they would, but if everything went well, they’d never be back after tonight anyway. The shopkeeper gave them a grumpy scowl in response. Luke just kept his mouth shut and took the lead down the tunnel.
If there was anything he didn’t like about this plan, it was leaving his weapon behind. He could and had fought...
2023-09-15 11:54:04 +0000 UTC
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The sword was a garbage weapon. Sure, it could cut through stuff, but that was the only thing it did better than the mace. When using one, Luke had to worry about things like the angle of impact or dulling the edge, plus it was so light and flimsy he was afraid it would just snap in half if he hit something too hard.
It was fine for the show, but he couldn’t imagine trying to actually fight someone strong with it. Rationally, he knew it was the fact that rank 1 [Sword Mastery]...
2023-09-14 12:30:14 +0000 UTC
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Gotayi let Luke and Zea into the office, which was lit by a pair of candles set into holders on the wall. It was in most other respects a plain, normal office except for what was obviously a safe tall enough for Luke to climb into sitting in one corner. The metal wasn’t normal steel either, but some sort of pale, lustrous blue thing that caught the reflected light of the candles to make it dazzle.
Gotayi saw Luke looking at it and said, “Gets annoying after a while, actually. Sure i...
2023-09-13 11:44:37 +0000 UTC
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The shop was full of display cases, each one showing off various cheeses. There were familiar shades of white, yellow, orange, sometime solid or with holes, and then there were more exotic colors like green and red. A wedge of something like looked like a purple brick took center stage on the counter the shopkeeper stood behind.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Luke asked. “I don’t smell anything but… well, cheese.”
“This is the place our new friend told us to go to...
2023-09-12 11:47:12 +0000 UTC
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System was a constant source of frustration. For all the information he provided, it was always like pulling teeth to get something helpful. He could confirm the concentration of monsters nearby and point in its direction, but wouldn’t say the name of the business or give actual directions useful for navigating the city. And Luke knew System could have told them exactly which streets to take to get there, but no, the best he got was a distance and a direction when he wanted GPS map...
2023-09-11 12:23:29 +0000 UTC
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“Healers are all profiteers and swindlers,” Zea announced as soon as they left the clinic.
“I think we’ll probably be fine,” Luke told her. “It was only twenty gold.”
“‘Only!’ I could have lived in comfort for a year on twenty gold.”
“And now you’ll live with the ability to use both your arms.”
Zea scowled up at him, but Luke just smiled back. They’d managed to reach Heishin just as the sun was setting and had been directed towards a reput...
2023-09-08 11:53:04 +0000 UTC
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Luke didn’t exactly rush back to the village, but he didn’t wait for the soldiers to get organized either. As soon as the captain assured him that no more blood hunters would be spewing out of the carrier, Luke left the farmhouse behind. The entire battle had only taken ten or fifteen minutes, including travel time, but that was plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong.
Normally, he would say that Zea could handle it, but with her one arm practically useless and limiting her abi...
2023-09-07 11:42:28 +0000 UTC
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Peishan knew it was hopeless. He didn’t have a tenth of the men he needed to stop a blood hunter swarm. The carrier demons could spit out thousands of them before they exhausted their reserves. Attacking the carriers directly was a losing strategy since only the strongest fighters could even hope to damage them. Even then, it was usually faster to kill the blood hunters and starve the carrier.
He’d known they weren’t likely to stop the outbreak when he’d ordered his men to rush ...
2023-09-06 11:41:34 +0000 UTC
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It was a journey of a little over a mile. The Jigon-Sai soldiers were just slightly over half way there when the silo-shaped thing erupted out of the ground and started spewing mosquitos the size of labradors into the air. They were moving at a good clip, but they would not reach the farmhouse in time to save the injured villagers from being attacked.
Something about [Burst Step] kept it from being constantly on, but Luke could still use it every few seconds. That, comb...
2023-09-05 12:02:09 +0000 UTC
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Wood exploded into the open air in a cloud of splinters as Luke bulled his way through the wall. Behind him, the house shuddered and loose pieces of timber, weakened by the flames, collapsed onto the floor. A chunk of the roof came down right after, exactly what Luke had been afraid would happen.
It buried the writhing mass of tongue-vines, but the two soldiers also got caught up in it. One of them was completely hidden by the falling debris, but the other had managed to extra himself e...
2023-09-04 13:32:58 +0000 UTC
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“You need to stay here where I can keep an eye on you,” Peishan snapped at the demon. Or possibly just human, he supposed. There had been reports of demons attacking each other, so the man’s assault on the gargoyles didn’t conclusively prove anything, but it was one more piece of evidence in an increasingly large pile that indicated the man had been telling the truth.
The maybe-demon-maybe-human, Luke, if he’d understood the rambling foreign tongue the two had been speaking in...
2023-09-01 12:14:57 +0000 UTC
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It turned out the captain did not want to test Luke’s claim. Instead he ordered his men to assist with pushing the tongue demons into the flames while he joined the villagers fending off the gargoyles from the sky. The woman with the black sword seemed to recognize the captain, but Luke couldn’t follow their rapid-fire conversation.
“Stay close to me,” the captain said, switching back to Standard as he turned to face Luke. “You do not need to fight here; this is not your battl...
2023-08-31 12:34:43 +0000 UTC
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The soldiers moved without stop, which forced Luke and Zea to keep pace with them. That wasn’t a problem for either of them in terms of time spent jogging, but Zea’s relatively low strength and physically shorter legs made it a bit harder for her to keep up the pace they set. She persevered though, and when Luke asked if she wanted him to carry her for a bit, she turned him down.
A few hours into the run, Luke looked over at Zea and said in Thalian, “System, how far away are we?...
2023-08-30 12:35:54 +0000 UTC
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Peishan Jo had trained hard to reach level 37. He’d been lucky his talents had been recognized early. That had allowed him to secure a place in the Jigon-Sai, and he was one of the youngest soldiers ever to be promoted to unit captain. Those in charge expected great things from him, but that also put him under greater scrutiny than the other captains.
Whatever else they might say about him, nobody had ever accused Peishan of being stupid. He’d made the connection between these two f...
2023-08-29 12:04:23 +0000 UTC
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After about an hour of steady running at a light speed, Luke called for a break. He wasn’t at a hundred percent following the caravan battle and he could tell that Zea was hanging on through sheer grit. Her arm was tucked tightly against her stomach and held in place with her good hand, and he could tell each and every step sent a jolt of pain through her.
“You sure we should stop? We’re not that far away from those bandits,” Zea said.
Luke waved off her concerns. “They...
2023-08-28 12:10:15 +0000 UTC
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They found Ruca and Val sitting around a small campfire with another woman who could have been Val’s twin, except thirty pounds lighter and with a sunken, sickly visage. Her arms were covered in sores and the skin around her wrists was an angry, abraded red. Ruca was sitting on a large wooden box and the women had a section of tree trunk that looked like it was left over from the harvested firewood.
“There he is,” Ruca said. “Man of the hour right there. We would not have pulled...
2023-08-25 13:16:38 +0000 UTC
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