“Later, Alex!” Ian called after him. “That ritual was cool; you’ll have to do it again next time!”
He smiled and waved in response. “Yeah, sure- if you supply the Mana Stone!”
“I was worried you were going to just sit at that table all day and play with your books,” John said to Alex.
Alex leaned forward to look past Olivia at the older man.
The three walked on the driveway toward their vehicles, preparing to leave the Voss Estate.
“I think th...
2024-10-29 02:01:51 +0000 UTC
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EDIT (11/15/2024): I added a few hundred words here, mainly in the latter half of the chapter. I wanted to adjust a bit of how Alex interacted with people based on his current Willpower and also to have Olivia give a bit more information about how Stat Points work from Classes and how they are NOT tied to levels.
It was also important to me to tease more information about how she and others are getting information from these sources in the Guild.
2024-10-29 01:59:28 +0000 UTC
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Alex’s hand flailed around his nightstand. The incessant tone managed to pull him from his sleep through sheer annoyance.
He found his phone and blindly pressed the screen until the noise stopped.
Thank god. Ugh.
“…llo…nyone there…”
Huh?
Alex sat up in his bed.
When he looked at his phone, realization dawned on him.
Fuck.
He cleared his throat and picked up his phone, which had an active call in progress. R...
2024-10-29 01:57:54 +0000 UTC
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Alex scrambled to his feet, making incomprehensible noises as he fought down the desire to attack the odd beast that had appeared.
While he knew to expect something to show up, he wasn’t quite prepared for it to be this… ugly.
He looked over the back of his couch to see the floating, eel-like creature in the same position it had been in before his totally manly and dignified reaction.
Jesus, what are you?
Alex’s fascination grew as he looked at ...
2024-10-29 01:57:03 +0000 UTC
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The following two days passed in a blur as Alex fought wolves for his Personal Quest.
After earning his new [Empowered Step] skill, he learned several things about how the System worked.
When Alex first met John Riley, the older man mentioned that skills were “learned or earned.”
Learning, in that case, Alex realized, must refer to discovery through experimentation or being taught directly. Alex was confident that if he were to try, he would be able to walk someone throu...
2024-10-26 04:31:43 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure you’ve got to head out?”
“Ahh, yeah. I really need to restock, and I think it’s time for me to head to another Rift. The boars are too easy, and I want to check out the rewards from other Personal Quests.” Alex waved and smiled at the group he’d been camping with for the last four days.
While they’d largely done separate fighting and grouping during the day, Alex found himself enjoying their company each evening. The group had a good dynamic with lots...
2024-10-26 04:30:22 +0000 UTC
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Tossing his phone onto the bed, Alex let out a calming sigh.
He had just finished speaking with Mr. Henderson to let him know that he wouldn’t be coming to work next week due to a family emergency.
No idea if this is the right choice or not, but I can’t imagine going back to work after stepping into this world.
After spending hours the day before with a small group of people, practicing magic and fighting as if it were a fantasy story, it seemed utterly insane t...
2024-10-26 04:27:52 +0000 UTC
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Alex drove slowly down the fully paved driveway that seemed to go on for miles.
These people have to be loaded. Do they own, like, the whole mountain or something?
He’d entered a private road that turned out to be the driveway a while ago, passing through an opened metal gate that marked it as private property.
The switchbacks and fog slowed him down.
Alex was used to the city and the stress of traffic, but this was a different kind of stress.
Most of ...
2024-10-26 04:26:56 +0000 UTC
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Sipping on his coffee, Alex leaned back into his couch.
Sarah had stayed for a bit longer the night before, but she could tell Alex was exhausted, and as soon as she left, he fell asleep on top of his covers.
He’d slept fitfully. Thoughts of monsters chasing him through the forest, unable to be seen through the thick underbrush, had him tossing and turning. And more than once, as he’d rolled over, he’d been woken from his sleep as his sore muscles protested. Surprisingly tho...
2024-10-26 04:26:18 +0000 UTC
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Mark tapped his foot and stared at his phone. He idly scrolled through the Nexus Hub home page, watching his cold breath puff out in clouds of smoke as he did.
Why’s that so entertaining?
Mark chuckled and made a large cloud with warm breath.
The door next to him opened, and he pushed his phone back into his pocket when he realized it was Sarah.
“Oh, oh- hey! Sarah, wait up.”
Sarah looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Ambushing me? Real...
2024-10-26 04:24:17 +0000 UTC
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Alex got into his door, locked it, and leaned back against the wooden frame, much like the last time he returned from a Rift.
His state, though, was much different from the last time. Last Friday, he returned home in a state of panic and was injured after a scuffle with the lowliest of monsters. This time, he was calm, relatively uninjured, and fully clothed.
He gazed down at the wand in his hand. During the drive home, he'd kept it in his lap, absently tracing the etched runes wi...
2024-10-26 04:19:44 +0000 UTC
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Alex made his way through the forest; each subsequent boar fight was smoother than the last.
I’m just lucky that they aren’t together in groups.
While moving between locations, Alex allowed his mana to regenerate. Each time it got close to capping out, he’d practice infusing mana through his hands. The use of the skill made it easy to move the mana within his body. After a few tests, he found that he was able to pull the mana back toward his Core if he didn’t push...
2024-10-26 04:17:57 +0000 UTC
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Gravity reasserted itself on Alex’s body, causing his hair and clothes to fall back down.
His forward momentum continued at the same walking pace he’d had when approaching the Rift from the other side.
Even though Alex found himself in a forest once again, it was clearly different in a number of ways from the park that he’d just left.
Alex looked at his surroundings and dismissed the blue window that appeared in his vision before he took the time to read it. He continu...
2024-10-26 04:05:26 +0000 UTC
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Alex closed his car door and quickly turned the vehicle on to warm it up. After getting access to the Adventurer’s Guild App the night before, he had barely been able to sleep. He was so excited and overwhelmed with the amount of information that was suddenly available to him. Not only that, be he had a goal now, something more to do than just spend all day using his [Mana Shaping] skill.
Determined to try and get the Mana Stone he needed that day, Alex had done research on what it to...
2024-10-26 04:01:46 +0000 UTC
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Alex shivered in the chilly night air. Not for the first time, he wondered if this was a mistake.
I’m sure I’ve seen this in a horror movie somewhere.
Alex waited near a park bench, and paced to keep warm. The lights of the park allowing him to look back and forth for anyone who was heading in his direction.
He was surprised that it had only been a few days since he registered for The Adventurers Guild. For some reason, he’d expected it to take a week or two f...
2024-10-26 03:52:55 +0000 UTC
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“… the people are calling for justice. This comes after the events that transpired here last night when a Rift opened on the top of a parking deck. The fight that ensued, between two people who are now being referred to as ‘Awakened,’ caused the death of a family of three in the adjoining apartment building.”
The reporter on the TV spoke animatedly, gesturing behind her toward the large screen in the studio, which showed a picture of the parking deck with obvious damage and sc...
2024-10-26 03:49:12 +0000 UTC
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Come on, just a little more.
The edges of the mana blob wavered. Alex pushed past the slight throb behind his eyes, doing his best to maintain total concentration on his attempt at a cube. It would be easier if he could actually see the mana he was moving over his hand, but instead, he was left to just “feel around” and direct it as best he could with his own mental images.
I wonder if there is a mana sight skill or something.
He finished messing with t...
2024-10-26 03:45:20 +0000 UTC
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After a few minutes of messing around with the mana in his Core, Alex decided to stop and see if he could get some outside advice. He glanced at his mana pool in the floating blue window before dismissing it.
47/60
Leaning forward, he rolled his desk chair closer to the edge of his desk, where his cracked phone lay.
If he stuck with the analogy of mana being water in a pool, then what he’d been doing so far felt like the equivalent of a toddler splashing around in...
2024-10-26 03:44:10 +0000 UTC
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Alex threw the lock closed and leaned his head back against the door. He wanted to slide down to the floor and just sit there, but his nerves were too wound up to stop moving.
Ashley saw me when I was coming up the stairs. She could clearly tell something was wrong.
He glanced down at himself and almost laughed at the sight his neighbor must have seen.
Who wouldn't be able to tell something was wrong? I look like I just got mauled by an animal, rolled in the dir...
2024-10-26 03:38:34 +0000 UTC
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"What the fu…"
The screen shimmered in front of Alex. The pain in his stomach began to fade, and he pushed himself up from all fours into a seated position on the grass.
"Trait manifested," he muttered, reading the words again from the screen. "Primordial Will?"
What does that even mean? Is this real? Did I hit my head or something?
He reached out a hand to touch the screen. The tingling feeling returned as his fingers approached where the screen should be, ...
2024-10-26 02:56:55 +0000 UTC
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Unprepared as gravity reasserted itself, Alex's knees buckled as his feet hit the ground. He stumbled forward and just barely caught himself. Sweet, clean air filled his lungs. It was nothing like Hoboken's usual mix of city smells.
What the actual fuck did I just do?
His already racing heart threatened to burst from his chest as he took in the drastically changed scenery. He clutched the tie tighter, pressing it against his sternum. Tall grass swayed around his legs whil...
2024-10-26 02:45:28 +0000 UTC
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Bang!
Alex jolted to attention, throwing his headphones onto his desk. Startled, he looked up, trying to gauge the source of the loud noise.
He spotted a group of coworkers leaving the office together. Through the glass, it was easy to see them laughing as they made their way to the elevator. The office door had a habit of slamming if someone didn’t guide it closed.
Getting his racing heart back under control, Alex glanced at the clock in the corn...
2024-10-26 02:41:06 +0000 UTC
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Alex stared at his computer screen. Its glow illuminated his tired face in the half-lit office. Most lights were off, except for the small corner that he worked in. The shared working space was close to the kitchen, which often left him with easy access to the coffee pot.
With only one headphone in, he could hear the sounds of the cleaning crew vacuuming and emptying trash cans in one of the adjoining office spaces.
"This really needs to pop more. Why do only half of these assets ...
2024-10-26 02:38:17 +0000 UTC
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Alex's alarm went off. As he rolled over to grab his phone from the nightstand, he accidentally knocked his headphones to the floor.
Fuck.
His hand flailed around, trying to find the button to snooze his phone.
Mmm, five more minutes.
Groaning, Alex squinted against the sunlight coming through his curtains before rolling over and pulling his covers up over his head.
After a couple more snoozes, Alex realized he'd have to drive and be late if he ...
2024-10-26 02:26:48 +0000 UTC
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This is the first post on my Author Patreon Page! Wooo!
As of starting this, I'm about one week out from beginning to post public chapters of Spell Weaver on Royal Road. The entire first book as been finished and put in front of at least one person by this point as well, which is really exciting.
The gameplan will be to create a few different tiers to give readers the option to support the story and read ahead of the public releases. As the story grows and th...
2024-10-08 18:34:45 +0000 UTC
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