This is installation #3 of the Monthly Q&A series! Here’s your chance to ask questions about the story or to give any feedback you might have.
I'll come back to this post tomorrow and answer as best I can without spoilers.
On my end, the new schedule is working well for me. In a good spot in terms of creativity and workload—think it’ll stay for the long-term! I’ll be tra...
2024-08-01 18:47:34 +0000 UTC View PostFrom Zane's perspective, that first day was a lot of moseying around. He saw lots of different faces. They all seemed quite excited to meet him, though they started to blur together after a while.
Reina told him that some of them were fringe top Rankers. There was this tanned Australian surfer guy in a straw hat—he seemed to have a hard time wrapping his head around how Zane had g...
2024-08-01 01:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt was time to head back to Earth. Zane and friends were laden with treasure. A wealth of Weapon Souls, for one—but they’d also picked up tons of random treasures too. Blocks of quality Spirit Steel ore, golden apples, essence-rich honeys. Some Law Fruit and the like too. And with his soul fatigue waning, Zane was just about ready to upgrade his Vital Organs.
There was lots to d...
2024-07-31 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostLevel up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Essence Level 328 -> 336
The air in front of them b...
2024-07-30 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe Mages of the Scryer's Guild kept an eye on every one of the Nine Great Factions. Tracking every breakthrough made by the Dragonspire Galaxy’s most promising talents. Recording the result of every fight, updating the rankings in real-time.
The Guild also kept an eye on prospects in the Superdungeon, but they were usually too unproven to matter. They’d hardly begun their cultivation...
2024-07-29 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Wyrm came into being at the far end of the dank cavern.
It looked at first like a ghost, halfway corporeal. An enormously fat serpent-thing. Stuck between the Astral Plane and the physical, all wispy and translucent, its scales shimmering with a sickly glow. A ghastly light gleamed out of its eye-sockets. Thick bones stuck out through the mass. Ghostly pale flesh stuffed the space bet...
2024-07-28 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostDistributing rewards…
Three balls of white light floated out in front of Reina and Avery and Evan, and faded like presents unwrapping.
In front of Avery—
Eye of the White Fox (Sky [F])
The eye of the White Fox greatly enhances the wielder's powers of perception, separating true from false. It also greatly enhances...
2024-07-25 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostLan Arandor and Inquisitor Thaele stared speechless at the sky. For what felt to them like an eternity.
“Is an Ancestor attempting to break through the Void?”
Lan whirled around. His eyes were bloodshot; he looked ready to tear his hair out. “Who would be mad enough to do such a thing?! Here?!”
More elves were dropping in now, sweeping down on tufts o...
2024-07-24 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostZane's Chains crushed in. Constricting relentlessly, splitting the Monster into twitching parts, digging into the joints, cutting off limb from limb, scalding, melting through flesh and muscle alike with a hiss like an angry python.
This creature's flesh was a lot less tough than Zane's. But it was still hardened, preserved by demonic energy, a fossil cast in permafrost. When Zane's...
2024-07-23 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostZane explained what he was thinking. He got lots of nods.
“We’re right behind you,” Reina assured him.
“Mhm!” said Evan.
“You’ve got this big fella!” cheered Avery.
It was nice to see. He hadn’t done so well so far this fight. But he could feel how much belief they had in him. That had not gone at all—it warmed him to see. And that f...
2024-07-22 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This Monster is very close to being Ascendant, having fulfilled all the requirements except the Level one—but it’s not officially a half-step Ascendant!
**Also—it’s Level 399 not 499, typo!
//
A pillar of sunlight drilled through that blizzard of a domain. Drilled deep into the Monster's chest—and it hissed, flickering bac...
2024-07-21 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostSteelheart Conclave
The Barbarian Sage crushed his ale tankard in one quivering fist.
“What in the Nine Hells is this?!"
He looked like he wanted to reach through the projection and strangle the System with his bare hands.
“System, you creaky old bastard! Are you blind as well as deaf?!”
The Scouts around him winced. ...
2024-07-18 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostHours later…
It turned out Evan managed his Nascent Soul evolution.
“I did it!” he beamed.
He did a little show and tell. He sped around everywhere, a little ray of sunshine bouncing off the walls. His aura spilled over with warm happy feelings. He crashed into Zane a few times but that was okay. When Zane’s body was relaxed, not in...
2024-07-17 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostFor a while there was only grayness. Grayness spreading to the horizons of Zane's mind. He floated there, blinking at the nothing.
Then—a light.
Stormfire. Deep within. Burning with a familiar strength. The rest all seemed to fade. The flame brightened in his mind…
It was an old flame. Blue. Like back when he’d first put it together.
And slowly echoes faded i...
2024-07-16 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostSoon they came across a yellow dot on the mini-map amid a heap of fallen jumbo-sized trees. A beehive the size of a treehouse. Knocked over, leaking the treasure.
Golden Honey [Earth (A)]
The premier source of nourishment for the Golden Wasp. An essence-rich treasure.
Zane left most of it to his friends. He was getting plenty of es...
2024-07-15 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
And we're back!
//
The grass went up to Zane’s thighs. The vines were thick as his arms, the flowers as big as Evan was—Evan had trouble seeing, so he just scampered after Zane’s legs. Everything was in monstrous proportion.
The jungle came alive with a great hissing, a shrill screeching, a buzzing so loud it sent clumps of dirt jumping down t...
2024-07-14 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post—Hey folks! After mulling it over, I’ll be be trying out a 5-chapter a week schedule for the next month. Read some of y'all prefer weekend uploads, so it'll be Saturdays through Wednesdays, i.e. Sat - Sun - Mon - Tues - Wed at 6:30PM PST.
—The goal is to build a small backlog so I don’t miss chapters on scheduled days, spend more time planning the story, a...
2024-07-11 19:20:23 +0000 UTC View PostZane got one more upgrade before they moved on.
It came after—
Level up!
Essence Level 299 -> 300
Class sub-evolution unlocked!
This sub-evolution grants an evolution to the user’s Weapon Soul. At this stage, the Axe Form of the Prometheus Chains will be refurbished to suit the user.
<...
2024-07-11 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostCopied from last A/N:
Read some of your comments last chapter!
I could go to a more consistent M-F schedule, 5x/week, where it's very rare I miss a day (would only happen if I run out of backlog).
In this scenario I'd take weekends to add backlog in case of emergency + devote more time to planning and brainstorming. Chapters would come out on a much more...
2024-07-10 01:31:01 +0000 UTC View PostZane could feel a new vitality coursing through him. A new life borne on his new essence. An energy distinctly his own. Toughening him. Strengthening him wherever it went. His soul lending its traits to his body.
He had to fight to squeeze every bit of his soul through. He used Emperor’s Soul to help with the effort. But his bulk still made things a slog.
He gritted his teet...
2024-07-10 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostEach time Zane Leveled now, it was a challenge. Killing Monsters did not feel like enough anymore. Like trying to fill up a lake with buckets of water. Toward the end of it, demolishing an army barely gave him a few.
But the vat he’d just gotten was filled to the brim with the densest essence he'd ever felt.
He dove in eagerly.
It still took half an hour of chugging or...
2024-07-09 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostZane had a single wish.
He wished for destruction. Wished it with all his heart.
His powers responded.
His hammers rose overhead. Caught fire. Brightening so fast it was like seeing a time lapse—the darkness washing away, night melting to day as two suns rose high in the sky...
The heat beat down in waves. An otherworldly heat. Crackling and searing—beati...
2024-07-07 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Added to a previous chapter:
“Avery got her Fourth Evolution too—and with it came an umbrella for an upgraded Soul Weapon. This was quite baffling to all of them, including Avery, until she figured out what it did. It let her bounce Skills off easier. It could also unfold far bigger than you’d think, making a screen over them that could cloak ...
2024-07-06 01:32:28 +0000 UTC View PostWith one final smash, Zane finished off a wave.
He was a little shaky. A little woozy. Bleeding in more places he could count. But upright. And his winnings poured in.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Essence Level 279 -> 284 2024-07-05 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
First Wave Cleared!
Zane wasn't breathing very heavy at all. He did a quick scan of his body. Looked good. A little pumped, maybe. But not much damage. A little bruised. A few scrapes, but that was bound to happen. So many demons had gotten licks at him—shattered their fangs against his skin, raking claws over his chest, his back… A few broke through. He hardly ...
2024-07-04 01:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe weird thing was, the whole way here they saw no Monsters. Not one—Avery didn't even find any on the horizon. It was as though they'd all deserted.
Maybe they'd already cleared out most of the Monster armies said Evan hopefully. Or maybe they knew they couldn't take on Zane anyways—so they just left. Though that seemed unlikely to Reina.
Whatever the case, it was a pret...
2024-07-03 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostZane could tell a lot of things were clicking into place at once in her head. She blinked, blinked again.
Then she started telling him all wide-eyed. She said she was meant to be the heir apparent of some very powerful Faction—the Temple of the World Tree. The same one that made all their elixirs. It was the privilege her Signature Title granted her. Once she ‘Ascended’—that was, ...
2024-07-01 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Initially I typo’d ‘Sage Stonefist’ as Sage Stonefish
But Stonefish sounds more interesting so he’s that now
//
Heartstring of the Titan Rhinoceros [Earth (S+)]
A strip of the Titan Rhino's Heart that contains its vital essence. It can only be given willingly by a Titan Rhino to a trusted ally—and...
2024-06-29 01:30:38 +0000 UTC View PostTheir last resorts crashed all over him. Monsters firing up their Cores, firing off all the essence they could muster. A flood of demonic Skills streaming Tier 4 Laws.
The Monster Knights too. Raining strikes loaded with vicious Concepts—Melting, Corrosion, Decay. Blacking out the sky.
The insects spewed gobs of venom that merged to a waterfall hundreds of feet high—archin...
2024-06-28 01:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
quick housekeeping: editing mistake, there’s four Monster knights not five!
//
Stormfire poured down Zane's chains.
It was a color that did not exist in nature. A purple so vibrant it arrested the eye, flickering, dancing, ghostly, shockingly bright. The sort of color you might see only in the most intense lightning st...
2024-06-27 01:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post