NSLICE-00P picked up the rat monsters, intending to put them into the monster hangar, but there was a problem. They could barely move with their exhaustion, and NSLICE-00P wasn’t sure if she could physically reach into the hangar. So she picked them up in her arms and started walking until they had recovered enough to move themselves.
They took a moment to recover their breath and then spoke again.
“Boss-queen, please hurry! The treacherous man-thing is plotting somethin...
2022-12-07 20:05:51 +0000 UTC
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The rat monster was panting for breath. Every ounce of his body ached. Blood dripped from a scratch across his face.
His opponent had some bites and scratches, but was overall no worse for wear.
The cat pounced at him once more.
He grit his teeth and willed his legs to move, barely diving out of the way. He felt searing heat on his back as the cat’s claw grazed him. His mana reserves were running low at this point, the Dash skill wasn’t available ...
2022-12-06 20:04:18 +0000 UTC
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Cassius was resting in his base of operations when there was a rhythmic knock on the door. He quickly put away the mugs and organized the chairs, then stood up straight as he opened the door.
A hooded and cloaked figure walked inside the building. They reached into their pocket and pulled out a small, metal insignia. Cassius did the same and both insignia flashed lightly.
The figure nodded and then spoke.
“Is everything ready?”
Cassius nodded.
...
2022-12-05 17:43:13 +0000 UTC
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NSLICE-00P arrived at the target area after a bit of leveling for the rat subordinates.
It was a swamp.
A damp, wet, swamp with murky, muddy, smelly water up to an adult man’s thighs. Which meant noticeably higher on the shorter teenage girl cyborg.
NSLICE-00P scanned the area and confirmed no signs of intelligent, humanoid life within her sensor range.
As such, the risk of detection was minimal. And she was entering a combat zone, where keeping capabilit...
2022-12-04 20:36:21 +0000 UTC
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Monster hunting? Hah! Monster hunting means monsters going hunting, not the other way around. Let me tell you: there's no one stupider than a rookie monster hunter! Sure, sounds good in theory, right? Go out, take on some big animal, and get rich overnight. They get it in their head that killing a few slimes in the outskirts of towns makes them some sort of expert. Well if it were that easy, everyone would do it!
What all those stupid young lads with delusions of grandeur d...
2022-12-03 20:44:20 +0000 UTC
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“Hostiles detected, engaging near-termination protocols.”
A jolt of lighting fired out of the strange man-thing and struck a group of goblins lying in ambush. Rattingtale grimaced but his loyal subjects showed no such hesitation. They leapt from the monster hangar and rushed forward, sinking their fangs into the immobilized monsters.
Rattingtale reluctantly joined them, closing his eyes as he bit down. He trembled as the cold rain drenched his fur, as well.
2022-12-02 19:30:10 +0000 UTC
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[Level up! Your Dungeon level is now 32!]
The man led NSLICE-00P to the wooden part of town. In particular, this section seemed built entirely haphazardly. There were no neat rows of pristine stone structures, laid out along straight, perpendicular roads. The buildings here looked like someone had just tossed a lumber pile together and left it there. And said piles of lumber were tossed randomly into the air and left wherever they happened ...
2022-12-01 18:38:30 +0000 UTC
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NSLICE-00P went ahead and summoned a pack of five monster rats, and a group of three spiderlings, one for each of her subordinates. She then went ahead and briefed them, largely repeating the same mission parameters she was currently following before deploying the bunch.
She wasn’t entirely certain she had briefed them correctly. The only units NSLICE-00P had commanded before were autonomous warbots that networked with her directly. She was fairly certain that experi...
2022-11-28 16:33:24 +0000 UTC
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Rattingtale rubbed his paws together as five monster rats lay on their backs. He went around, pinning them to the ground one by one.
Of course, they had acknowledged his rightful authority as the Great-High King of all the land, as is only good and proper.
And now…now Rattingtale had begun to gather a faction. It took quite a bit longer than he had anticipated and he had to revise his plans over and over…but now things were finally coming together. With these...
2022-11-27 15:00:31 +0000 UTC
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[You have leveled up! Dungeon level is now 31!]
The next morning NSLICE-00P escorted Ateia and Taog to the fortress at the center of the town. She remained outside while Ateia and Taog made their way to the Exploratores HQ. After a short amount of time, the pair exited the castle and made their way to her.
Ateia couldn’t help but grin even before she arrived.
“Seero, we did it! We’re going to be Exploratores!”
“Congrat...
2022-11-26 15:06:08 +0000 UTC
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In Castra Turannia, within the main fortress stood a large, three story structure. It held two small barracks, a mess hall, a large warehouse, and a number of offices. Despite its location, no legionnaires stood guard, nor walked within its halls.
For this was the headquarters of the Exploratores.
And within the largest office, a man sat at a desk, scribbling on a scroll rolled out before him.
Magister Exploratores per Turannia Tiberius Cantius Falx heaved a sigh as he...
2022-11-25 14:40:48 +0000 UTC
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The group made their way down the hill and towards Castra Turannia, entering from one of the stone parts of the city built in Imperial fashion. The guards here stood at attention, wearing chainmail underneath their cloaks. They halted the trio and insisted on checking NSLICE-00P’s status.
The inside of the barracks was neat and pristine, soldiers sitting quietly around a table without much fuss. A clerk quickly processed the group.
“Hm, a level 26 human, was it? Are you ...
2022-11-24 14:29:07 +0000 UTC
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The history of the Legion is unique in that it is not one of constant victories. In the Age of Heroes and in civilizations outside of the Empire, we observe time and time again that defeat means death for a civilization. When all a society’s resources have been concentrated into individual champions, the loss of those champions is a loss that cannot be recovered from. The society will be left completely vulnerable, at the mercy of its enemies. It simply will not ...
2022-11-23 16:46:40 +0000 UTC
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A group of men and women gathered in a tavern in the slums of the town. The building was worn, the stone crumbling in places and reinforced with now rotting wood. The interior was little better, damp and dirty, with furniture made of splintering wood.
The men and women themselves wore worn and tattered clothing. They each had muscular and scarred bodies. And the largest one among them sat at one of the booths, drinking from a dirty mug.
Suddenly the door sl...
2022-11-22 14:45:30 +0000 UTC
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Twelve years ago…
Two individuals rode on a covered wagon, wrapped in cloaks to ward off the rain. One, an adult man. The other, a young girl.
The young girl had a frown on her face.
“I don’t like it here, Daddy.”
“Why not, Ateia?”
“It’s raining.”
He let out a chuckle at that.
“Well, that’s a valid criticism of Turannia. There's a reason no one wants to come here, after all.”
“Then why are we coming he...
2022-11-21 17:59:27 +0000 UTC
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Ateia and Taog grabbed NSLICE-00P’s hands and ran down the street, pulling her into the first empty alleyway they found. They glanced around at the street but no one had followed them. They both took deep breaths.
“Requesting Elaboration.”
They glanced at once another and sighed. Ateia frowned as she spoke.
“Seero…maybe it’s different where you’re from, but here in Turannia you can’t just use a magic box out in the open like that.”
...
2022-11-20 17:10:45 +0000 UTC
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The next morning NSLICE-00P once again performed her audio test as Ateia and Taog spoke to one another. She determined that they were not, in fact, speaking English.
Or any language of Earth recorded in her database.
To be fair, NSLICE-00P was designed as an enforcer, not a translator or historian, so her language data was limited to the major languages of the modern day. It was entirely possible they were speaking a less widespread or older language that had fallen ou...
2022-11-18 14:42:07 +0000 UTC
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NSLICE-00P analyzed the latest combat footage and the available upgrades once more. She had a great many choices available that could improve her capabilities, and unlike last time, she didn’t have a specific target to focus on. So she would have to decide for herself a criteria to judge the possibilities.
Analyzing the fight, she concluded that her organic half had stumbled upon a decent criteria. It had focused on synergizing its abilities, combining the Mana Beam ...
2022-11-17 17:29:37 +0000 UTC
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The surrounding wulver began to quiet down as the sky lit up with magic circles. They went silent completely as Solamh was bombarded with beams, unable to approach his foe again. Their ears drooped as Solamh made his final assault and crashed to the ground.
Meanwhile, Ateia and Taog watched these things with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
“Seero’s…really strong, huh?”
Taog did not respond.
He was no mage, but he was fairly certain something like what N...
2022-11-16 18:05:08 +0000 UTC
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[The skill HP Regen is now level 5!]
[The skill MP Regen is now level 6!]
NSLICE-00P quickly reformed the magic circles and opened fire once again as she started to recover. Solamh barely had a moment to process what had occurred before another beam slammed into him. He quickly kicked himself away and started dashing, beams crashing into the ground and tearing through the dirt behind him.
He wanted to leap at her once again but N...
2022-11-15 15:36:07 +0000 UTC
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NSLICE-00P began devoting all her focus towards defense. She activated her sensors to the limit, she turned all simulation processing to analyzing the wulver’s next move. She began a random movement pattern with her repulsors and created as many mana barriers as she could. Anything she could to buy time so she could calculate a response.
But there was a problem.
She needed all her AI’s capabilities to keep the damage at an acceptable level. So she could...
2022-11-14 14:46:58 +0000 UTC
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The wulver are considered as savages who kill anything that moves but this misses a great deal of nuance. Yes, the wulver are callous and bloodthirsty and should not be approached carelessly. Yes, violence occupies a disproportionately large space in their culture, and they value strength above all other virtues. However, they are, ultimately, a fully intelligent people with their own society and culture, albeit one with far different values from our own.
...
2022-11-13 16:42:51 +0000 UTC
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Honestly, the reports coming from this province are utterly disgraceful. They say these ‘wulver’ are a people who care about nothing but battle. Who understand no language but violence. Who see the whole world as either predator or prey and only trade words with the former. I knew the state of education in the provinces was atrocious but this level of ignorance is simply unacceptable. Pathetic even! Savages like what the cowardly locals describe do not tr...
2022-11-12 17:19:30 +0000 UTC
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The history of the Etleni Empire cannot be separated from the history of the Legion. Of course, that is exactly what the Imperial Doctrine has pounded into us all since our childhood, but in this case it is undeniably correct. It is no exaggeration to say that the Legion gave birth to the Empire.
To understand why this is so, we must first understand the conditions in which it was born. The Age of Heroes, as it is called by the romantics and the novelists....
2022-11-11 14:29:04 +0000 UTC
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And so Taog resumed his business and headed over to the marketplace, NSLICE-00P accompanying him. She was about to return home when he asked her to come along. Because if he knew Lar, he definitely couldn’t let the potentially murder-happy knight out of his sight.
“They’re right there, Captain!”
Taog heaved a sigh. Right on cue.
He was just finishing his shopping as Lar came stomping towards him, leading a tired-looking Captain of the Guard and a sq...
2022-11-10 19:37:56 +0000 UTC
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Turannia? By the will of the Aesdes, why would anyone want Turannia?! Let me tell you, it is the height of both vanity and stupidity that the Empire exists in Turannia. Because do you want to know what exists in Turannia? Rain. That’s it. Rain. And don’t you dare believe I’m joking. The locals themselves call it ‘The Realm of Rain.’ Think about that. This is what its people named their own home.
...
2022-11-10 15:12:53 +0000 UTC
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Eventually the trio finished their conversation, and turned in for the night. The camp ward was by no means a perfect defense, so they also set up a night watch. Ateia took the first shift, Taog the second, and NSLICE-00P the last.
NSLICE-00P set up her standby-sentry mode. She closed her human eye and activated her helmet, her robotic eye flickering on occasion as she continued to scan the area. Ateia and Taog both raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and wen...
2022-11-09 14:01:31 +0000 UTC
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[You have helped slay Wolf Dungeon Master (Level 10)!]
[Gained 4 Personal XP and 4 Dungeon XP!]
[Wolf Dungeon Master (Level 10) slain within Dungeon Field, gained 10 Dungeon XP!]
[You have achieved the feat: Dungeon Conqueror (Beast Lair)!]
[Dungeon Conqueror (Beast Lair): Unlocked by conquering the Beast Lair dungeon. Grants +1 perk points, grants +1 level in the Claw Strike ski...
2022-11-08 16:05:49 +0000 UTC
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Taog grit his teeth as a monster crashed into his shield, a boar nearly as tall as his shoulder. He let the creature push him back then pivoted to the side from the momentum. He held his sword back handed, and stabbed it into the monster’s side as he spun about. The boar squealed as it continued on.
And then Taog let out a cry. Another mangy wolf locked its jaws onto his ankle. He grunted and hacked away at the monster until it let go…only for the boar ...
2022-11-08 14:12:58 +0000 UTC
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Ateia screamed and cheered and laughed as they rose into the air, flying over the forest.
“Repeated Request: This unit requests friendly Ateia cease screaming to avoid drawing attention from potential hostiles.”
“Ah, sorry sorry! It’s just, this is really fun!”
Taog had his eyes shut, muttering and praying to himself.
“...for some people.”
***
The group landed in front of another dungeon, this time a rocky cave they couldn’t see into. ...
2022-11-07 19:09:42 +0000 UTC
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