Gordon McKaine ordered another basket of fries, methodically eating his way through them as he wondered what had gone wrong to make this his life. The past… day? Days? He’d honestly lost track, it was all a blur. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t stopped moving. He’d been either driving or fighting in a dungeon nonstop since this whole mad nightmare began.
Why did it take sitting down in ...
2022-01-17 16:43:00 +0000 UTC View Post[Heya! Aster here. Just a couple quick notes before we get on with it. It was requested that I create a discord for the story, so I have done so. If you're interested in joining and would like to claim the supporter role, include the secret password character * in a post the role-request channel and I'll...
2022-01-14 16:39:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi Morrison, Secret Seeker
Unassigned Levels: 0
Primary Class: Tamer
Tamer Level: 6
Subclass: None
Minions: 4/4 &nbs...
Centoo was the first to fall, the three kalvex overriding his claw defence in a rush formation and dragging him down.
Skarm leapt free and struck out on his own in retaliation, but he didn't stand a chance against them all alone.
Levi rushed to his aid, sword flashing in rapid arcs as Skarm clawed and stabbed.
They brought down the first kalvex, the others took advantage of th...
2022-01-12 18:34:58 +0000 UTC View PostThey continued chipping away at the Essence, Levi keeping it focused on himself as his minions fought the enhanced essence creatures that formed from the pieces.
He was beginning to worry, now, as the fight drew on. His mana pool was still smaller than he'd prefer, and though he'd refrained from using Beast Bite and draining his pool any more than necessary, just keeping the edge ac...
2022-01-11 17:08:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi immediately put everyone's stat points into Spirit. The centipedes were tanky enough that running out of stamina was their biggest weakness at present, Skarm was a fast attacker anyway, and Levi wanted to get his own stamina regen up ASAP.
The building mound of melted hive in the center of the chamber began to solidify into something more like a lumpy egg, about as tall as Levi's wai...
2022-01-10 16:39:57 +0000 UTC View PostHeya, Aster here! Couple things to say real quick.
First, look at that, we've reached 50 chapters! This is a benchmark the original draft never reached, and if not for all your support I doubt this one would have either. Super extra long chapter today to celebrate! I considered splitting it, but... come on, fifty chapters, that d...
2022-01-07 19:06:47 +0000 UTC View PostDestruction Dungeon: Level 2
The moment Levi stepped inside, he knew the treasure was indeed gone. There was a sense of emptiness about it, his Secret Seeker title alerting him that there was nothing to be found.
“Well, while we’re here, we may as well clear it.” It was level 2, but with the addition of Cen and Centoo, Gordon, and Flomper, Levi felt fully conf...
2022-01-06 17:26:59 +0000 UTC View PostThey returned to the car. Levi looked at the back seat, then the two eight-foot-long centipedes, Skarm, and Flomper.
"Anyone willing to ride in the trunk?" While they could technically fit in the body of the car, he wasn't sure having giant centipedes visible through the rear windshield to anyone driving past them would be wise.
Cen obligingly crawled into the trunk, coiling up with...
2022-01-05 16:14:37 +0000 UTC View Post[Note: I have performed a brief but significant retcon on Chapter 30 (the section beginning 'Congratulations' was added), and will be making a few minor continuity adjustments to accommodate. The lens will now be obtained in chapter 34 and first used in chapter 37. Other loot may be rearranged a...
2022-01-04 18:42:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe next 'room' was flat and twisty, like a maze whose walls were all tilted at 40-degree angles, providing ample opportunities for more cynomis to ambush them. Despite the territory advantage, they faced only four of the nuisance creatures in their trek, none of which did more than minimal damage as they each attacked individually. If they'd come in a swarm, they may have had some chance of ca...
2022-01-03 17:38:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe other centipede was indeed still available.
Heavily injured, but not yet deceased. They were far tankier than gremlins, able to stand up to even the dedicated flailing of the remainder of Levi's party.
He stepped in to tame it, and Cen helped hold it down for him. Gordon looked on enviously, as his cynomis squeaked in apparent rage at not being allowed to deal a death blow...
2021-12-31 16:05:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt took three tries before Gordon caught himself a burrower.
The first two attempts it slipped from his hands to escape back into the stone, netting him several more bites on his arms in the process. And it took a further twenty minutes for him to figure out how to subdue a creature that could move through stone like it was water. But he prevailed, and set his brand new level 1 into Tamer...
2021-12-30 18:44:59 +0000 UTC View PostThey reached the end of the first room without incident, stepping into a short hallway between. Levi didn’t relax, checking each inch for tripwires or pressure plates. It was clear and safe, apart from a few small sinkholes that could trip an unwary person but they were hardly worth bothering about. Unless they had to retreat through this hall at speed, the holes were more a nuisance than a t...
2021-12-29 18:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post“There’s no time to waste.” Levi pushed Gordon’s hand - and the stamina restorative he held, back. “I’m not leveling fast enough, the world isn’t leveling fast enough. We have to keep moving.”
Gordon sighed. “Look, this… obsession, it’s not healthy. You’re acting erratically, and I can partly understand it, but you have to relax or you’ll get yourself killed.”<...
2021-12-28 17:39:00 +0000 UTC View PostTheir total loot from the dungeon came to 2 mana restoratives, two of stamina, a pair of weather stones, and a hood. Levi stored the potions, a little disappointed not to be able to replenish his stock of health elixirs, but the others would still be good to have on hand. The hood wasn't traced for active effects yet, but it could be upgraded later on. And even a base material would be much stu...
2021-12-27 16:58:59 +0000 UTC View Post[Happy Christmas everyone! Hope you have a great holiday weekend!]
The boss reappeared, reaching up to stab its claws into Levi’s back while he turned. Gordon called out an alarm just a moment too late, swinging his sword around in an arc. Levi twisted and jumped on the gremlin boss before it could flee again, his shortsword flying from his hand as he tackled it to t...
2021-12-24 18:48:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe boss room was arrayed in tiers, like wide descending steps that circled the room completely like a stadium, both down toward where the boss waited and upward toward the distant pitted ceiling, crudely carved of the same black stone as the rest of the dungeon. Levi saw dozens of gremlins standing around the upper circle, all grinning down at the newcomers with pointy-tooth grins.
Below...
2021-12-23 17:25:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi slid into the water with a small splash, then hit the bottom hard enough his stamina dropped by more than half.
Uninjured, he squinted into the dark stinging liquid in search of the way forward he knew must be hidden there. As he’d guessed, the corrosive content was low enough that it didn’t outpace his regen. His health flicked down, then back up, then down and back up in a stea...
2021-12-22 17:44:04 +0000 UTC View Post"I think there's a way to get across." Gordon pointed. "If we go along the edge on the right, see? The ledge is thicker there."
"I wouldn't trust it." Levi frowned at the ledge. It looked wide enough for a gremlin moving carefully, but nothing bigger. It would be precarious even then.
Gremlin Two didn’t wait, but ran toward the ledge as if to prove to the world that he was the bra...
2021-12-21 17:09:00 +0000 UTC View PostThey drove another hour before Levi found a dungeon near enough the road for his ping to reach.
“This way,” Levi pointed, and Gordon pulled off the highway. It took a few false starts where roads headed the wrong direction before they pulled off at a parking lot behind a warehouse and got out.
Fifteen minutes later, they finally located it.
Destruction Dungeon: Lev...
2021-12-20 18:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi sighed happily as he stepped out of the portal and back into the real world, Skarm and Two coming after him, eying one another with obvious unresolved tension, Gordon bringing up the rear.
"That was good. We got you into the game, got Skarm back—" he patted his gremlin on the head, and Skarm patted him back. "And I’m finally level 5!”
"You know this changes everything," G...
2021-12-20 15:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostHeya! Aster here. Just a quick heads up: there will be a VIP poll posted in the next few minutes to determine the choices made after this chapter, and tomorrow's chapter will be delayed until Monday so I can collect the results and integrate them into the story. That means that chapters 35 and 36 will both be posted on Monday. Thanks for your patience! On with the story.
... 2021-12-16 18:08:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi stared down the goblin mage, his pulse speeding up in anticipation. It stood a bit taller than Levi’s waist, hunched and pale green. It wore a draped black robe that covered one shoulder like a toga, tied with a crude rope across its chest, and carried a twisted black staff that it leaned on with both hands. It grinned nastily when it saw them enter, and its eyes began glowing sickly ora...
2021-12-15 16:28:28 +0000 UTC View PostDestruction Dungeon: Level 1
Gordon walked around the patch of shimmering air, frowning. He waved a hand through it, making its label appear hovering in midair.
"This is weird," he said, for the hundredth time.
Levi grinned. "Yep."
"This is weird," Gordon repeated.
"Yep."
Gordon looked at Gremlin Two, then at the hovering dungeon ent...
2021-12-14 18:07:00 +0000 UTC View PostGordon answered on the first ring. “Levi! What’s going on, are you alright? Irene is going crazy with worry.”
“I’m in New York state, any chance you can hire an uber to pick me up? My account has been locked. I can pay you back.”
“Stay where you are, I’ll come get you. Where in New York?”
Levi resisted the temptation to hang up, to run away again. He had no i...
2021-12-13 16:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe loot the spider skunk guarded proved far better than Levi had dared to hope. A mana and stamina restorative elixir, nothing to complain about but unexceptional, but then there was another dungeon token, and a second power stone.
Levi couldn't help but feel excitement thrilling through him at the sight. It was normal to get one token or none from a beginner dungeon like this, but power...
2021-12-10 16:57:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi and Gremlin Two jumped free of the boss before it hit the ground, then grinned at each other in triumph. Two didn't seem inclined to believe their victory, poking the corpse with his spear and jumping back a few times before he was willing to accept it.
“We did it.” Levi stood leaning on his half splintered spear, chest heaving for air. He couldn’t believe a fight against overg...
2021-12-09 16:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostLevi ran past Gremlin Two’s hiding place, the dire turkey boss hot on his heels. He dove into the half-demolished pile of fallen trees and crawled through the tunnel he’d prepared.
The dire turkey flew around the 'fortress', pecking at it with increased ire. It completed two full circles of the pile before deciding that it was safe. Branches shook and twigs snapped beneath its weight ...
2021-12-08 17:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostThanks to the turkey boss's anger, Levi had a large pile of fresh wood to work with. The lack of proper tools was irritating, to say the least, but even without a power stone the manablades retained their edge long after a mundane steel blade would have dulled beyond the point of uselessness.
Levi cleared out enough space in the center of the pile for Gremlin Two to join him, then a path ...
2021-12-07 17:25:59 +0000 UTC View Post