V11: Chapter 8
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Additional 2000 words commissioned by ChaosBrain
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Interlude: Eminent Void Blade: She Who Glides Between Sunbeams
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The King of Wisdom asked, and the dead answered.
For hours and hours, he asked and wrote, while officers came and went. Only the Iterants stayed through the whole ordeal, while he simply sat, gathered information, and ensured that everything was recorded. When everything was done, when he was sati...
2025-06-30 18:11:12 +0000 UTC View PostApocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 19
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Interlude: Sirena
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I awakened not beneath stone and the dim glow of crystals, but beneath blue skies surrounded by grass and flowers.
For a moment, I thought that I remained in Paradise.
But the familiar sensation of my form’s hands around my hilt convinced me otherwise.
“Saint of Swords, Sirena, I am the High Justiciar of the Wardens of the Caverns. You have been called to uphold your oath.” The words wer...
2025-06-29 02:24:13 +0000 UTC View PostApocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 18
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I had very little need for sleep or rest. If I closed my eyes for five minutes, that was enough for my brain to get the clarity that I needed from a full night with my previous night.
It would’ve been great if I had things to do with all the time that gave me. There were no games to play, no books for fun, or three-hour-long videos on topics that vaguely interest me.
That five-minute rest period just gave me the ability to work or...
2025-06-27 17:56:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 13).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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I made every effort to avoid Lady Aigen as much as possible.
Not that it was particularly difficult.
My days were spent killing monsters, consuming food, learning about the next set of monsters, and getting what rest I could. Entire swathes of time would pass where I would be left unthinking about anything besides that. The impending civil conflict back hom...
2025-06-25 16:06:08 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 7
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Interlude: Sirena
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An avalanche to destroy the army, a plague to kill those who survived, and finally the faithful to fall upon that which remains.
The King of Wisdom’s meticulousness was as overwhelming as always.
I glanced at Ilych and found her gaze meeting mine at the same time.
Rita had fired her six poisoned arrows and terrified the Demons. They saw their comrades scream in agony and pain as they were consumed by living p...
2025-06-23 15:07:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 12).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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I had idly considered the possibility that with Chloe our days would be easier.
I was proven wrong the very next day.
Wyverns were faraway cousins of dragons. As far away as an ape was to a human, according to some scholars, and some even said that they were even more different. Dragons were quadrupedal creatures with wings on their shoulders that could gro...
2025-06-22 23:02:20 +0000 UTC View PostAs a Househusband, Fiscal Responsibility is Imperative (2.1)
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Commissioned by Ichypa
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Time is like a gentle current.
Until you try to resist it because you have something important to do, then you realize that it’s a riptide that has you strapped down for the ride.
Right now, I was really feeling that fact.
Engagements typically lasted two to three years.
While I managed to overcome the initial phase and get the Namgoong to agree to the ...
2025-06-19 14:48:01 +0000 UTC View PostMy Weekly Gag Villain Job Is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 8
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Commissioned by Arksoul
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Man, it feels really good to see a plan come together.
The IHA and the Sentinels were working together and really showcasing how strong both sides were.
The Sentinels were more than capable of dealing with the regular mobs, but they needed help to deal with the converted alien weapons and tanks. The IHA had Thunderer come in to take out the projectiles and provide arti...
2025-06-17 14:50:33 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 6
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Interlude: Rita
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The container for the prototype weapon in my hand was lighter than my bow, yet somehow I felt as though it was slipping from my grasp whenever I looked away from it.
One errant knock against a wall.
A single sudden drop.
One broken vial.
That was all it took.
One vial broken could mean my death, despite all my strength, power, and ability. It did not matter that I was a champion, that I had protective...
2025-06-16 15:21:25 +0000 UTC View PostMy Weekly Gag Villain Job Is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 7
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Commissioned by Arksoul
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If there’s a special showing with a crossover, it’s usually more than an hour long.
The IHA’s failure to showcase their abilities at the initial fight made it clear that they and the Sentinels needed to work together to defeat the new, combined foe. Saturday morning cartoons might not be the end-all-be-all of storytelling, but they can follow decent comic-book story be...
2025-06-15 15:44:22 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 5
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Waiting for things to happen was something that I’ve grown used to.
In-game, after everything’s set up, you hit the next turn button. Things get built, progress is made, and a load of things to do pop up. After you finish off the little bevy of challenges, you remember that you want something to happen, start the process of making it, and then click on the next turn. Turn after turn happens, you do a lot of small things, and everything culminates when ...
2025-06-09 16:17:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 11).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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Lady Aigen sat in a gazebo in a frozen garden but was unperturbed by the frost. Clad in furs and leather strips across her body, she sipped heated tea from a fine porcelain cup without noticing the cold.
If I were a few days younger, I would’ve wondered how.
Instead, I walked to her in a formal dress without feeling the cold myself.
Steward Matthew ...
2025-06-06 21:25:59 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 4
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Arming, clothing, and feeding 80,000 soldiers from the first round of drafts was a test of my nation’s logistical might.
On paper, we could do it, and I trusted the people who reported the numbers and came up with the plans. I did my best to vet my scholars, planners, and everyone involved in governance, while also policing them with Iterants to verify. Having a police force of shapeshifting constructs that don’t need to eat or sleep and are happy with...
2025-06-02 03:57:46 +0000 UTC View PostApocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 17
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I’ll be perfectly honest.
I thought that I’d need to destroy the Wardens, but after seeing what I was able to do with the Guardians, I decided to take a gamble.
I intended to tell their leader the truth about the afterlife, that it was ultimately at risk if we just went there, and bring them into the fold to win.
Every single body that we could get fighting for us was essential.
So, I met with their representatives u...
2025-05-30 16:23:42 +0000 UTC View PostMy Weekly Gag Villain Job Is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 6
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Commissioned by Arksoul
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Honestly, I’ve kept my antics clear of Europe for the most part, because they were really into investing in reverse-engineering technology and implementing super-science wherever they could. After the first alien invasion hit them, they really buckled down and threw money, titles, and the kitchen sink towards anyone willing to work with them.
A lot of cities were abandoned...
2025-05-29 20:58:12 +0000 UTC View PostApocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 16
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With the acquisition of Guardians of the Moon, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Finally, I had the skilled and experienced people that I needed to rule over my holdings.
Better yet, they saw it as me granting them immense favor.
They and everyone else probably thought that I’d want them as elite shocktroopers or something. It didn’t take a genius to see all their current wealth and holdings and put their true wort...
2025-05-28 21:10:22 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 3
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Some game developers called a few cosmetic and stat changes to a faction DLC and called it a day.
Not my game devs.
A modding kit was one of the first things released with the game. New factions, cheats, and everything can be downloaded to a specific folder in the game, then activated in specific sequences in the game. People can make whole voiced campaigns with their own custom factions. Multiplayer lobbies just need everyone to have the same mods, ...
2025-05-26 16:59:19 +0000 UTC View PostAs a Househusband, Awareness Is Required (1.5)
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Commissioned by Ichypa
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The trip back to the Namgoong Clan was as uneventful as trips in a world full of cultivators and demonic beasts went.
The guards stopped three demonic beast attacks.
A first-rate warrior went off to deal with bandits with a squad of second-rate warriors.
One of the villages we entered actually had some miscreants causing trouble, accidentally picked a fight, and got their sh...
2025-05-21 20:48:06 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 2
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Interlude: Khanrow
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I looked upon the carcass of the creature before me before looking to my adjutant.
“This is a young man of only six years of age?” The Merchants of the Marsh were inconsiderate of the ramifications of rediscovered technologies. Their alchemists and scholars toiled away in hidden lands and unleashed monstrous things upon the world. Enhancements passed down by the Ancients were difficult enough to accustom soldiers to, ...
2025-05-19 03:46:50 +0000 UTC View PostMy Weekly Gag Villain Job Is Pretty Fulfilling: Chapter 5
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Commissioned by Arksoul
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After engaging with the Sentinels long enough with the copies of the aliens, I made a quick getaway. While the other heroes involved in the fight took more damage than expected, I made sure that the Sentinels were able to quickly dispatch my forces. The formatting of the crossover episode went out the window when the heroes couldn’t deal with my forces, so I just did my best to ...
2025-05-15 01:54:34 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 10).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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With all my newfound strength, I believed myself ready for the challenge of slaying ogres.
I found that I was wrong very quickly.
Each Northern Ogre was thrice my height and had limbs thickly knotted with muscle as wide as my whole body. They were covered in a tough fur, a thick hide beneath that fur, and finally a layer of blubber. Beneath all that was cor...
2025-05-15 01:42:25 +0000 UTC View PostV11: Chapter 1
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The Goddess of Life’s third perk line was a double-edged sword, primarily because of the fact that it was the best.
Some people in the community said that it’s unbalanced, and plenty of mods make it so that only the faction with the Goddess of Life gets the benefits.
They’re the kind of player that wants multiplayer matches to be restarted when they don’t get optimal tile yields for their first city. They have the shitty mindset that if they’r...
As a Househusband, Awareness Is Required (1.4)
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Personally, I consider every cultivator a psychopath, but it’s not their fault.
They don’t really have a choice in the matter.
Say you’re born into a sect’s main family. The only choice that you have at inheriting your family’s wealth and power is to throw yourself into training, listen to the words of your elders, and do as you’re told until everyone stronger than you dies. If you’re lacking in any way, ...
2025-05-08 01:55:26 +0000 UTC View PostV10: Epilogue
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Interlude: Celia
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Rumors and observations regarding the Goddess of Death abounded on my desk.
My agents watched her carefully, and even the budding information networks of my subordinates went to learn more of her to curry favor with me.
The information we received was grim.
Her strength and ability were without question. The Warden lands in the Academy fell to her might within a month. The few survivors who came our way described...
2025-05-05 04:30:49 +0000 UTC View PostGiant Robots? Say no more. I’m in.
Volume 2: Chapter 2
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Word count: 2500
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The most common bug variant is the ‘Ceros.’
Probably short for rhinoceros, since it was kind of like a rhinoceros beetle.
They had strong, ablative shells, limited amounts of fluid that can vaporize, and sectioned-off parts and pieces. They come out by the dozen and beetles, but with many more legs. Besides the toughness, they have plenty of firepower, too. One bio-p...
2025-05-04 02:09:08 +0000 UTC View PostAs a Househusband, Awareness is Required (1.3)
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Sponsored by Ichypa
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A battle avoided is a battle won.
While saying those words aloud would’ve gotten me killed, it was a paradigm that I subscribed to wholeheartedly. Every time that I did a favor for others that got me out of a beating was a successful mission in my book. Training my ass off so that Father didn’t consider me a waste despite being mediocre for his bloodline? That was a massive win, too. 2025-04-30 20:20:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Apocalypse Reborn: Unique Victory Conditions 2
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Commissioned by Chaosbrain
Word count: 2000
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Fate is Fortune, Fortune is Fate:
Merchants of the Marsh
Prerequisites:
Have 100,000 gold per turn
-Construct the World Wonder: The Oathkeeper
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The grand tower shines over the entirety of the world.
Some call it a miracle composed by mortals. Machine and magic...
2025-04-30 20:06:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 9).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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After just a few days of wearing only armor and fighting against innumerable monsters, I found formalwear to be an unfamiliar luxury. The softness of the fabrics against my skin, the assured beauty provided by the corset, and the secrecy allowed by makeup allowed me to gather myself. A lifetime of wielding beauty, wealth, and courtesy returned to me in an instant. All o...
2025-04-28 16:02:06 +0000 UTC View PostV10: Chapter 14
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Another Council of Kings to address the Demonic threat sounded good on paper, but from my experience in-game and in reality, I knew that it was just going to be a waste of time.
Council of Kings was automatic and didn’t take time when you played in the game. They start happening every couple of turns, and everyone can work together on a countermeasure for the current crisis. Free trade agreements that upgrade everyone’s income for a couple of turns. C...
2025-04-28 14:54:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 8).
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Commissioned by Sivantic
Word count: 2500
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One of my earliest lessons in magic was to know how to discern reality from fantasy. When skilled enough, illusionists can tamper with one’s senses; it was imperative to start training to defend against such things from an early age. Lacking strength in combat can be overcome by providing more troops or funds to the war coffer, but it was inexcusable to have a mind or...
2025-04-26 22:11:40 +0000 UTC View Post