OverXelous

52. The Measure of a Man

“I challenge you to a duel.”

“You… what?” Alex looked up from his notebook with a dumbfounded look.

“I challenge you—”

“No, I heard you. Like a spar? What the hell do you want to fight me for? And why are you calling it a duel?” There were more questions that wanted to roll from his tongue, but he left Robert with the most immediate ones.

“A spar? No. A duel. Yes. A fight.”

Alex rubbed his forehead. “No, I don’t want to fight you. Wher...

51. The Challenge

Alex watched in both horror and fascination as Robert stepped up to fight. His mind worked in overdrive as he took in the surroundings and felt his skin crawl as more of the alien-like creatures emerged from the trees.

They wore minimal clothing, reminiscent of tribal cultures Alex had seen in videos from Earth. Their skin appeared thicker and sturdier than Robert's fleshy human exterior, almost like a dense hide. In addition to the angular features of the nose, they had ridges of protr...

50. Kind of My Thing

Alex looked up at the portal, still fascinated by the odd sense of calm he felt. Without the skin-prickling sensation that normally accompanied the Rift entrances, the swirling magic was pleasing to watch. Similar to staring at the crackling flames of a fire, the constantly moving mana was almost hypnotizing.

***

E Rank Rift

Epic Rarity

Rift Slots [296/1000]

***

He looked over his shoulder as one of the escapees shifted through the dead guards...

49. Pipe Burst

Based on Patron feedback, I'll be making an edit to the previous chapter.

This chapter is written with the assumption that Alex called the director in the previous chapter, but wasn’t able to get in touch with him. He told Sarah and Jon of his plans as a backup, in case they were able to get in touch with the director. However, at the moment, Alex is finding it hard to know who he can trust at the HA due to this entire scenario.

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48. Before the Storm

47. Beyond the Physical

Alex scratched his cheek and let out a sigh.

He forced himself to sit up, realizing once again that he’d slouched lower in the camping chair as the hours dragged by. He’d passed the hours by reviewing the most recent set of runes he’d learned from Maelis.

They were larger concepts than anything he’d learned thus far. At the spirit’s insistence, he spent time meditating on the rune’s concepts as he understood them. Maelis had stressed that there wasn’t a wrong way to ...

46. On the Trail

“All right, just be normal.” Alex waved as Scout walked out of the room and down the stairs.

He waited another ten minutes before doing the same, his magical disguise already in place as he reactivated his wards and locked the door.

Once outside, he looked around and knew he needed to get to the other side of the city before the group made it through the checkpoint line.

He looked up and made his decision.

Activating his movement skill, Alex leapt to the sequence o...

45. Gaps in the Wall

Days passed in the Safe Zone, and Alex found comfort in the rhythm of the work. Not just aiding the checkpoints, but also in his own projects.

He made great progress with the mana batteries, coming close to making his first working prototype. He had a second lesson with Maelis and, with the rune master’s help, picked out potential replacement runes for those used in the elven ritual.

“Wow, look at you!” Zach laughed as Alex approached the card. “Looking like a Philly loca...

44. Learning the Ropes

Alex’s feet shuffled on the ceramic tile of the Zone 1 Headquarters building. All of his muscles ached, and the lights overhead felt so bright, he wanted to get a pair of sunglasses and wear them for the rest of the day.

He followed the receptionist’s directions through the pre-integration government building. When he reached the briefing room, there was already a small cluster of people chatting toward the front of the large room.

The flooring was swapped to a thin carpet tex...

43. Ground Level

Bonus?

Daniel adjusted the straps on his armor. Hardened leather panels were hand-stitched into the fabric and reinforced with denim. Glancing down, he picked at a loose thread his sister had missed and shifted the dagger sheath on his belt to make it less noticeable.

The spring sun rose over the repurposed warehouses. For now, the warmth from his gear was a blessing, though in a few weeks it would be unbearable.

Really, he was just willing to look anywhere other than at t...

42. Game Plan

“What is it?” Alex asked, genuinely curious about his excitement.

“Here, look.” Scout handed him back his spatial ring, turning to breathe heavily after he did.

Alex accepted the ring and frowned as he attempted to push his consciousness into it. “I can’t really tell.”

“You’ve gotten too used to the Realm Walker’s Storage Bracer,” Warrior said.

Alex gave him a look. “Here, you try. If you can’t tell, then you have to unload it and make sure we...

41. I'm Fast AF Boy

Working title... lol

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With Scout and Mage dismissed, Alex spent the last few hours of the night and the opening hours of dawn to charge Maelis’s amulet to nearly full. Not wanting to waste the time he’d have with his mentor, he didn’t push it to activating, instead stopping just short.

Warrior returned shortly after sunup, his armor...

40. Limitations

“Thank you, Lin. These are perfect.”

“Of course, Master Moore,” Lin said.

“I said stop doing that,” Alex said. “Edwin just says that because… well, I don’t actually know. Just call me Alex.”

Lin didn’t answer, but dipped her head forward like Edwin often did. That was where the similarities stopped, however. Lin seemed to lounge, even while standing. She was confident in herself and positioned herself in ways that showed she enjoyed her changed environm...

39. The Emergency Potato

Alex flipped to a fresh page in his notebook and continued his work. The blue ballpoint pen scribbled furiously, his handwriting slowly devolving to its earlier, pre-integration, messy state.

The Elven ritual had consumed most of his evening, and it had been a while since he’d felt so stuck with his mentor’s personality.

“No, brat. Stop doing the center like that. I’m telling you, it’s meant to look like this.” Overlapping illusions appeared in...

38. Knighting Ceremony

“All right, come on, come on. Hurry up, before he gets here,” Mark urged the group.

Alex couldn’t help but give his friend a questioning look as he entered the gym. “Before I get here?” Before Mark could respond, he paused just inside the space and looked around. “Wait, where did the gym go?”

The black, rubberized floor was still present, but almost all the weight-lifting equipment had been moved, leaving the room almost completely bare. The only things in the room n...

37. Safe Zone

Warrior reached around behind his neck, blindly feeling for the small, flat dial that controlled the collar. It was a complex piece of enchanting, and there would be very little for him to report back to the main-Alex. The dial turned to the left and right, causing his stats to rise or fall depending on the turn. That was it.

He looked up as a huge burst of air filled the workshop. Raising his arm, he squinted against the twisted pressure and waited for it to die down.

“Would yo...

36. Familiar Faces

Alex looked around calmly, observing the world through Scout’s eyes. The room was dim, sterile, and now empty.

It was made of cement on all sides, and there were metal bars at the front with a swing doorway. The sight made him want to chuckle. In this new world with stats and skills, metal bars couldn’t even hold Sam.

That’s when he remembered the collar around his neck. The tech seemed beyond normal, and it made him wonder where they’d gotten the technology. He wanted to ...

35. Power and Planning

Alex sat comfortably in his office chair, leaning into the leather with both eyes closed.

The advancement of his [Parallel Mind] had come with an unexpected bonus. The connection between all of his minds seemed to be faster and much more fluid. He currently sat, watching through Scout’s eyes as he was pulled from the back of a truck and moved to a van. It still felt a bit odd, almost like he was watching the events through a VR headset, but he was getting more used to it by the moment...

34. Limit Testing

Alex pulled his cellphone from his pocket and noted how odd it felt to hold the bit of modern metal in his hand after eight months without it. Swiping down, he pulled up the clock app and opened a stopwatch function to time the casts of his new skill.

In the privacy of his workshop, he felt comfortable delving into the intricacies of his clones and activated the skill as he started the stopwatch. At the same time, he watched his mana counter drop through the status window.

When th...

33. Leaps and Bounds

Alex grabbed the tablet Edwin had brought him with the anatomy textbook, moved around his desk, and thought about his idea. Both [Mirage] and [Parallel Mind] were at the brink of advancement, and he’d been planning ways to push the former to evolve into a clone variation skill.

Things had gone well so far. So well that Maelis was almost certain Alex would get something when the skill hit the last level. Theoretically, all he needed to do was keep pushing the skill as he had been, with...

32. Guests at the House

Edwin left the office to gather the ‘tenants’ while Alex crossed the hall and entered his room. He brushed past the large, neatly-made bed and went to his closet. Once there, he activated [Mirage] and pushed his second consciousness into it.

The mirage glanced out into the room before turning back. “Dang, this might be the last time you make me.”

Alex rolled his eyes and grabbed a large hoodie from the hanger. He changed into some more casual jeans and his trusty Converse....

31. Home Sweet Home

Welcome back, everyone! The break was well needed and the litRPG convention was a blast. It was fantastic to get to meet some other authors and narrators. It's such a welcoming and friendly community.

A quick note before we get into the story. The entire "pausing feature" with Patreon seems to work in a very strange way. So, to give everyone the delayed time that I promised, I won't be unpausing the Patreon for another two weeks. The writing and po...