We threaded the snow-covered ruins filled with people galloping everywhere like excited electrons. Herald Stone lacked a scientist title to know if that simile was accurate. We were careful not to bump into anyone to avoid any trouble. Scratching my tusk in amusement, I observed dozens of players steal each other’s kills.
Does this really count as kill-stealing though?
It...
2024-02-06 23:07:12 +0000 UTC View PostWe were met with flashes of lights. Too bad it wasn’t paparazzi taking our pictures; players were warping into the left and right, turning the village into a disco club.
If it were me, it’d be better if our party registered later. This was like standing up before the cabin doors of the just-landed airplane were opened. Why the rush? We weren’t missing out on anything if we waited a ...
2024-02-03 10:42:57 +0000 UTC View Post“Did you guys wait long?” Megan shouted as she and Nitana trotted towards us.
“Sho-should we respond?” Paritor hesitantly asked Kezo. “It might be inappropriate to shout. We should wait for them to—”
“No, we didn’t!” I yelled, waving at Megan and Nitana.
Kezo laughed.
“No need to be so uptight among friends,” I told Paritor. And also, a reminder t...
2024-01-31 22:28:21 +0000 UTC View PostAmber Deen Leska
“Model in my underwear?” Wild thoughts raced in Amber Deen’s head. She felt herself getting dumber every second as neurons got fried from overstimulation. Deen would rather bury herself than allow anyone to peek into her thoughts at that moment. She willed herself not to look at her Guardian Angel for the shame of what it might be thinking about her...
2024-01-22 02:03:07 +0000 UTC View Post“The Big M?” Kezo asked.
Paritor’s eyes flicked from me to Kezo, and back to me.
I slightly nodded at Paritor. If he was so concerned about keeping the ashy hermit a secret, he shouldn’t strut around with his new summons. Unlikely that anyone had seen this flaming big cat and abominable scarecrow before so they’d invite attention.
I too wanted to keep Big M’s Ocadu...
2024-01-18 22:34:02 +0000 UTC View PostAmber Deen Leska
Amber Deen Leska chewed her tongue while looking at the mirror. She was permanently a strawberry now. Turning right, she observed her Guardian Angel—it didn’t have a reflection in the mirror. It bobbed in the air, peeking at her with an eye for a moment—she wondered if it was judging her—before settling back into its stupor. Deen took that to mean...
2024-01-15 11:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostI found Kezo sitting on the fluffy snow as he perused a floating screen. Three Snowy Swinelings headbutted his armored flank in vain; he must’ve disturbed the peaceful cloud-puff piglets somehow for them to attack him. The little monsters poofed into Essence and Gli when the edge of the AoE of my [Blight Cloud] reached them. At the death of their fellows, other Snowy Swinelings waddl...
2024-01-14 22:25:58 +0000 UTC View PostReo Hinode (Oberon) – Part 1
“Right-o, it is, Erind-o,” Reo said with fake enthusiasm. He gulped before leading the way.
What the fuck am I doing? he asked himself. Why was he still here instead of returning to the buffet, stuffing his face to challenge Everett’s eating record?
Reo wasn’t a coward—he could say that to himself without shame...
2024-01-11 09:50:24 +0000 UTC View Post“What you’re saying is that you think some of your kind is still alive?” I asked the Kurghal village goat, translating its bleating into words.
The goat nodded. A pair of floating cymbals above its head clanked.
It had just finished a lengthy exposition dump about what happened to it during the Great Quake. The crimson goat, only a kid back then, the goat kind, not the human k...
2024-01-08 10:30:34 +0000 UTC View Post“Don’t joke about something like that,” Reo snapped.
“You said it first,” I retorted. “Now, your joke is becoming real.”
From his voice, I could tell he was anxious. A freaking baby for panicking so fast. I should either be supportive or start to freeze into a frightened statue. But first, I want to get back at him for trying to back out from being my pawn.
“Yo...
2024-01-05 22:26:53 +0000 UTC View PostRich notes rolled in the air, reminding me of bouncy country music, the type Pops loved. Sprinkle in a medieval-like tinge, and that was [Carhoni’s Chorus]. This was the first time I heard this song, but it felt almost nostalgic. An invitation to adventure was what came to mind, to become a hero, the chosen one, the main character in the many fantasy books I read in my childhood.
Well...
2024-01-04 22:08:27 +0000 UTC View PostStreams of light whizzed upwards, blossoming into magic circles in the sky, looking like a fireworks display of sorts. Sound effects of the spells wove in with the music. That was the direction of the goat’s hut if I wasn’t mistaken.
How dare they celebrate, whatever it was, without me? Herald Stone was the mandated center of every festivity!
Should I go there and assert dom...
2024-01-02 05:51:37 +0000 UTC View PostOn the way to the auction house, I passed by Clement’s stall. I needed to stock ammunition for a possible bidding war.
Clement told me he sold all of my products. “People love the Frigid Yew Salve, my good friend,” he excitedly said. “Especially the parties without healers. When you think about it, it’s cheaper per point restored compared to regular health potions since it resto...
2024-01-02 05:50:45 +0000 UTC View Post“I have it!” I excitedly whispered. “We can make those two problematic ingredients.”
“Are you sure, dear lad?” Gula’s expression was disbelieving.
I took it out of my inventory and materialized it in the real world. Making sure my body blocked the guard’s view, I showed Gula a container the size of a large mug with a lid on. It was made of rough material, like that w...
2024-01-02 05:49:54 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you think Mum will live in our house for good?” I asked. “Or is she just there for the duration of her stay in Egret?”
“Visit me no more, lad,” came the reply.
“You’re no help.” I sighed, shaking my head. It was nice to feel my strong lower jaw weighed down by girthy tusks again. “Where can I get an answer ‘round here?”
“The souls of the dead clin...
2024-01-02 05:48:14 +0000 UTC View Post“My goodness!” Mum gasped as she gazed up at our house. Rays of the sun high above made her graying frizzled hair sparkle like a steel wool sponge.
We were on the sidewalk, right next to waist-high hedges bordering the elegantly landscaped lawn surrounding our house. Again, Jimmy stayed in the car. Nelly, Sawyer, and I exchanged pleased winks. Mum didn’t seem to be faking it. And it...
2024-01-02 05:47:26 +0000 UTC View Post“Uh… Pops…” I hesitantly said.
Mum and my sisters expectantly looked at me. This was also another mini-tradition when visiting Pop’s grave.
No idea who or how this started, but I sorely wished for a time machine to prevent this from first occurring. Each of us had to give Pops a message, tell him about what was up with our lives, our plans for the future, anything we could...
2024-01-02 05:41:09 +0000 UTC View Post“There it is,” I said from behind Mum as soon as I recognized Pops’ headstone a few rows ahead, pretending I knew the way all along.
It wasn’t easy to willfully scrub what the headstone looked like from my mind because I was the one who had it made around five or six years ago—a three-foot-tall slab of exquisite marble, obvious from its sheen compared to its neighbors, with subt...
2024-01-02 05:40:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Herald, why don’t you put that big basket away?” Sawyer popped over the shoulder of my seat. “Jimmy can’t see the right side-view mirror.”
On my lap was a nicely woven basket full of white flowers, piled so high that the top ones were level with my forehead. I couldn’t see the road, and Jimmy definitely couldn’t see the window on my side. A few leaves tickled my chin. The...
2024-01-02 05:39:15 +0000 UTC View Post[ Received: Ocadule Skill Shard: Unselfish Blighted Decay ]
“Shopping is done, my good giant sir.” I gave the mountainous Chief Nogras a salute. “Just going to line up some Blighted missions.” With enough quests to last an hour, I turned around and surveyed the horde packed in the building. “Time to get out of this sardine can.”
A huge grin stre...
2024-01-02 05:38:20 +0000 UTC View PostAnother hour and a half of leeching went by.
I sat by the cave entrance, my four legs folded beneath me, happily mortaring away at the ingredients in my pestle as classical music played in my ears to add pretentiousness to the atmosphere. Wait. Was it the other way around? The pestle probably was the pounding thing, and the mortar was the bowl. Paritor and his flaming buddies fou...
2024-01-02 05:36:15 +0000 UTC View Post“Divine sausages from the windows of heaven!” I stopped my automated brewing to pump both fists in the air. [Proficient Battle Brewer] was a fulfilling reward for long hours of pounding demon tree materials into a paste, boosting both crafting and combat aspects of my Akhos Ocadule.
The first line of [Proficient Battle Brewer] jumped out at me. It rectified the colossal injus...
2024-01-02 05:31:23 +0000 UTC View Post“How fares your brewing, Herald?” Paritor said, his words barely audible over the piercing squeals of decaying armored boars getting chomped by literal fiery hounds.
“Going along nicely,” I replied, all smiles. I wasn’t sure if he heard me. The monsters were so loud.
Blighted Swine Lords were level thirty-two, only a few levels above mine. The level gap penalty wouldn’t ...
2024-01-02 05:30:27 +0000 UTC View PostHerald Stone strikes gold again! I inwardly cheered, wary not to let it show on my face. Well, I did strike something. It remained to be seen if it was gold.
Questions and conjectures spawned in my mind. I had a hunch where this was headed but kept my mouth shut. My eagerness shouldn’t be noticeable, or I’d lose the initiative of prying secrets from Melonomi. I turned to Pari...
2024-01-02 05:25:30 +0000 UTC View Post“There is a preference for crit builds,” said Paritor. “But the recent surge in player population will provide a decent consumer base for your Lesser Precision Aura.”
“People like crits over normal attacks?” I said. “Why am I not surprised?”
“I couldn’t say for sure that crit builds have the highest ceiling among DPSers,” said Kezo. “I’ve heard of Accuracy ...
2024-01-02 05:22:53 +0000 UTC View PostI ascended the tunnel to the loud cheering of the crowd. My five party mates were a crowd, weren’t they?
Besides our party, a dozen players were milling about, yelling to form teams, or trying to sell buffs or consumables to venturing parties. Several NPCs shoveled dirt, rocks, and snow away from the exit. I could count them as part of my welcoming committee, though they weren’t facin...
2024-01-02 05:21:06 +0000 UTC View PostHappy New Year, everyone!
Thank you very much for supporting my work, and for staying despite the choppy schedules and the ups and downs. My Patreon is far behind others in terms of releases, especially consistency, and I’m not the most interactive or present author, so I appreciate that you’re here despite all that. Also, you don’t pressure me or make any fuss. I know that some Pat...
2024-01-01 01:50:06 +0000 UTC View PostI came down with a bad case of flu the past couple of weeks (maybe it was COVID) and my work has piled up. I can't, in good conscience, charge you while not releasing chapters for this month. And so, I'm pausing billing for one month while I catch up on my work and pick up writing again.
If I understand how Patreon works correctly, December will be skipped, and it will start charging Janu...
2023-11-23 12:53:40 +0000 UTC View PostAmber Deen Leska
Amber Deen Leska looked at her reflection while listening to Erind talk with the sales lady outside. Though she was clothed, Deen kept the curtain drawn close, securing it with one hand in case Erind suddenly opened it. The black dress hiked up to one side, revealing more of her toned thigh. Even just a sneeze and it’d snap up again, exposing her lower ...
2023-11-04 01:58:05 +0000 UTC View PostAmber Deen Leska
Amber Deen Leska pretended to check her phone. “Erind, I think we need to go back. Your mom will arrive soon.” It wasn’t true; moments earlier Deen had told Erind they had plenty of time. But she wanted to leave and be ‘alone’ with Erind again.
Not truly alone, since they were in an airport, surrounded by people. Just that Deen wasn’t co...
2023-11-02 11:32:47 +0000 UTC View Post