Avoid witches. El-Prime told me to avoid witches. How the fuck do I know who’s a witch or warlock?
Morph liked his name. It set him apart from the other clones. In fact, he believed it put him a rung above Elvis on the clone ladder. El-Prime had killed the persona, but now that he had Empowered Clone II and absorbed the Shard of Arcane Smithing, Morph was sure Elvis or a new it...
2025-07-17 18:15:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe vessel had departed from Iskander with three unlisted passengers: the Elder Wyrmkin, her familiar, and Shae’heed. Then, Lukas’s arrival brought their numbers to four. Neither the captain nor his crew questioned it when they disembarked with another man whom they hadn’t met before. He appeared older, had short bristly hair, and walked with a hunch. His pallid skin, bright eyes, and man...
2025-07-15 19:28:29 +0000 UTC View PostLukas sat cross-legged in his quarters and attempted to block everything. The sounds of the crew went first, their hollering, footsteps, and grunts as they carried heavy equipment past him. The vessel’s creaking and rocking went next. It wasn’t long before nothing but Lukas’s breathing and the steady beating of his heart remained. After taking a moment to focus, he cast the most basic ver...
2025-07-11 20:14:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe Shadowsteel coil hummed as Lukas channeled a gentle stream of electricity through it. The pieces of scrap iron he had ‘borrowed’ from the ship engineer’s waste bin wobbled, inching toward it. He couldn’t help but grin. It wasn’t ideal, but functional. Lukas now had the means to make an electromagnet. A magnetized shield was an excellent defense against non-magical attacks, metal-t...
2025-07-11 10:51:58 +0000 UTC View PostReaching the docks was no easy feat. Lukas and his companion clone had no pursuers. However, the parties after them knew to have blockades and watches near the port. It was the more probable and safer exit from Iskander, after all. Land transports were fewer, easier to track, and even easier to catch. Meanwhile, there were far more vessels coming into and leaving Iskander every day. One could e...
2025-07-09 21:44:53 +0000 UTC View PostThunderstorm’s Eye: Tier 1| Rank 1
Spellweaver: Tier 1 | Rank 4
Shadow Clone: Tier 2 | Rank 4
Shade’s Mantle
Shadow Steel
Steel Weave
Altered Metal Mass: Tier 2 | Rank...
2025-07-08 13:34:18 +0000 UTC View PostSpell Sniper’s Focus
The focus’s runework assists with the accuracy and range of spells fired through it, reading the wearer’s intent to marginally adjust the angle of launched spells. The focus’s gems also absorb and store ambient magic and are capable of storing as much magic as an average tier-two practitioner. The arm guard is also alchemically treated to provide addition...
Lukas had put a lot of thought into the essences for the shard upgrading ritual. The Essence of Cumulus was a perfect fit. Meteorology had never interested Lukas. However, he often put himself to bed with random documentaries.
“Cumulonimbus clouds, also known as thunderheads, are vertical clouds that can produce severe weather conditions. They are the final stage of developmen...
2025-07-05 21:08:15 +0000 UTC View PostLukas dispelled the three clones. Their weapons and tools sat neatly piled on the broom cupboard’s shelf. When resummoning, he started with high mass and a steel weave but also channeled lightning through his body. He wove the energy into the standard Haste spell, attempting to create a body enhancement spell that stimulated the muscles and nerves.
You have unlocked a new ...
2025-07-05 15:52:54 +0000 UTC View PostLukas paid little attention to the auction. He sat back and humored Mister Grey whenever he spoke, mostly commenting on the passing lots. It wasn’t just the central attractions that were up for auction, but also parts of the display between them. The essences occasionally grabbed Lukas’s attention. Many featured magic or rare elements and concepts that Lukas would’ve loved to add to his c...
2025-07-04 22:26:44 +0000 UTC View Post“Why am I not surprised?” The expedition leader from the Pearl Hunt. He approached Lukas and Mister Grey as they studied the mask closely, loudly discussing its history and design. The Aquila guild’s emblem sat stitched across his left breast.
“The prodigy of the Shadow Seekers mixing with the Rat King?” One of his companions asked. “It’s a match made in heaven....
2025-07-03 16:58:50 +0000 UTC View PostI apologize for the slowdown of posts this past week or so.
June was kind of hell for me. I went through the breakdown of an 11 year relationship with a 7 month old in the middle of it. The soon to be an ex(and former beta reader/dev editor) was being a pain with visitation and contact with our daughter since she currently has custody. It was really fucking with my mental health and making i...
The ride to City Hall was short, but they ended up spending twice as long waiting in the queue of carriages. Mister Grey nattered on, mainly talking about nothing. He commented on the city, neighborhoods, and passing people. Despite everything that had passed and was going on, he seemed excited. The heavy carriage shook whenever he moved, just about holding up under the incredible weight.
Spellweaver: Tier 1 | Rank 4
Shadow Clone: Tier 2 | Rank 3
Shade’s Mantle
Shadow Steel
Steel Weave
Altered Metal Mass: Tier 2 | Rank 2
The days leading up to the auction went i...
2025-06-26 16:54:52 +0000 UTC View PostMemories of Earth had faded during Lukas’s sixty-odd years on the Realm of Greater Beings. Core memories remained, but the people in them had blurred. Names, roles, and emotions lingered, but faces and voices had left long ago.
Now, as his experiences of the Realm of Greater Beings slowly left him, everything from his first twenty years came rushing back. It was a bittersweet expe...
2025-06-25 13:25:48 +0000 UTC View PostLukas reassigned the clones. Two now exclusively followed Stefan Santana, occasionally breaking away to tail suspicious people he interacted with. One continued to watch Mister Grey. It wasn’t that Lukas considered him a suspect, but because the man had launched an investigation of his own. Anything interesting the giant of a man found could prove invaluable to him and Penelope.
T...
2025-06-22 19:25:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Lukas returned to Esther’s, Penelope wasn’t in the clinic. Instead, the vet invited him into her house, leading him to the familiar green patch with the armchair. Penelope sat with Bass in her lap, drinking tea that smelled absolutely awful. The discoloration, burns, and cuts were all gone. However, she still appeared frail and pale, like she was a chronic patient on a bad day.
...
2025-06-21 12:39:48 +0000 UTC View Post“Elder Wyrmkin pride themselves in their close relationship to their dragon ancestors. The purer their bloodline, the more draconic their magic. It defines the theme of their magic or grants them metamagic. A frost dragon’s descendant will specialize in frostfire. Toxic dragons will spawn descendants who specialize in venom magic.”
The words appeared in the journal’s page...
2025-06-18 16:49:18 +0000 UTC View Post“You guys got this?” Elvis asked his fellow clones. Shade’s Mantle no longer covered their bodies. They had shaped everything ahead of them, creating spiky obstacles for the incoming foes.
“Yes,” El-Two said through gritted teeth, the recently-made magic dagger gripped tight in his hands. The blade appeared paler as if drawing on the magic within had drained its color. “...
2025-06-17 16:35:56 +0000 UTC View PostChaos had broken out in the cavern. Bass and Elder Wyrmkin warriors fought each other while simultaneously trying to fend off and put down the mutated phaser. The clones were working to destroy or at least damage the ritual laboratory. Explosions shook the cavern as Penelope fought the Shamin somewhere out of sight. Dust and stone chips rained from above. A couple of big chunks of stone had als...
2025-06-16 07:51:09 +0000 UTC View PostSpellweaver’s description had warned Lukas to tread carefully as the consequences could potentially be disastrous. That didn’t matter now. He was specifically looking for disastrous consequences.
It was slow progress because of the dome’s brightness. They crept closer to the growing settlement, sticking to the walls and dashing between covers. All attention seemed focused on t...
2025-06-13 21:01:31 +0000 UTC View Post“What did you get?” Penelope asked when they found a quiet alcove. They kept pushing for another half hour until they were sure nothing had followed them, hoping for easy pickings. Chaos in the depths often drew attention, and the mutants were clearly far more daring.
“Essence Of Currents,” El-Two answered. He expected her to ask and had the stalker carry the essence to Luka...
2025-06-12 16:45:55 +0000 UTC View PostEssence of Magic Shaping
It didn’t bother Lukas that Penelope’s essence had come late. He didn’t see it contributing much to upgrading the Essence. Instead, he believed it was a contender for Shadow Clone’s next tier alongside the Essence of Dusk. Alternatively, he wondered whether he could slot it into an arcane focus and make the shaping of shadows easier.
Entering Penelope’s room was an entirely different experience, with his Mind Pillar awakened. Lukas’s arcane senses had developed into something significantly more potent. He sensed strands of energy connecting to everything around him. His palms itched as they begged to be grabbed, tugged, and twisted. Lukas wanted nothing more than to experiment, but he resisted.
Dire consequenc...
2025-06-11 10:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostWhen it rains, it pours.
Lukas had heard the phrase mostly in relation to bad luck or the affection of the opposite gender. He personally didn’t believe in luck and had mostly observed it in the latter instance. Whenever he was in a relationship or committed himself to someone, it was when he received the most romantic attention.
Now, it was true again, but in relation...
2025-06-11 04:11:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe speedster form didn’t look significantly different from Lukas. Its muscles were more toned, joints more flexible, and limbs ever so slightly longer. The differences were almost impossible to detect unless they stripped down to their skivies. So, when Lukas stayed in a high-mass state and presented himself as Elvis, no one seemed to be able to tell the difference.
Lukas approached Ka...
2025-06-10 11:57:16 +0000 UTC View Post“This place is so much bigger on the inside,” Lukas said, failing to keep the shock and awe out of his voice. “It’s bigger than your clinic, isn’t it?”
“I had to put a lifetime of things somewhere,” Esther replied nonchalantly. “They say you can’t take everything with you when you go. I strongly disagree.”
“Sounds like something a hoarder would say.” He fol...
2025-06-09 20:17:46 +0000 UTC View Post“This is a pretty blade,” Lukas commented, holding up Magic Elvis’s creation up to the light. It was unbelievably light and sharp despite the lack of any enchantments or alchemical treatments. The almost-black blade intrigued him the most. “I still can’t believe we made this.”
“Right,” Magic Elvis grumbled. “We.”
“I did the handle, guard, and final polish,” E...
2025-06-08 16:09:47 +0000 UTC View PostIt took Lukas some time to patch together what had happened and what was going on. He had seen Wyrmkin in the clones’ memories, but they were different from the specimens he had encountered before. The last lot looked more like birds than lizards, seemed to follow a tribal hierarchy, and were somewhat airbrained. Meanwhile, the creatures that chased down his clones and killed one were signifi...
2025-06-07 17:14:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe mishap around the Eastern City Wall market had taught Lukas his lesson. He knew not to wander too close to the region and only sent clones for deliveries and investigations to the area. It meant Lukas couldn’t freely hunt for shards and essences. It was unlikely he’d find what he wanted in the shops, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
Lukas scoured the usual ma...
2025-06-06 18:38:00 +0000 UTC View Post