“No,” Aerion said emphatically, backing away. We’d retreated from the edge of the goblin camp, and I was currently arguing with Aerion about something incredibly stupid.
“Look, I get your culture’s different from mine, but I swear I won’t peek. I’ll even turn around. You take off your robe and set it down. I’ll enchant it, put it back, and walk away, all witho...
2024-03-11 19:26:20 +0000 UTC View Post“We must hurry!”
Aerion grabbed my arm, pulling me up the final stairs. Lacking any ability to protest, I let him.
When Aerion warned me that every floor was unique, I thought I’d understood. Different monsters, different biomes—maybe a jungle, or perhaps volcanic mountains. And when he said we’d emerge at the bottom of a sea, I’d pictured fish and whales an...
2024-03-11 19:25:21 +0000 UTC View Post“I have to say, for a manifestation of my memory, you’re quite detailed,” Vir said, observing the armored gray demon beside him. “I only ever saw you once, and that was when I was about to die.”
The scarred and pony-tailed gray demon in segmented plate armor walked with his hands clasp...
2024-03-11 19:19:34 +0000 UTC View PostI felt terrible. Like the kind of guy who’d just sucker punched a kid after telling them they were getting ice cream.
It wasn’t like I was in the habit of lying to people. At least, not for anything big. If I’d guessed that Aerion would bend over backward after hearing about my made-up plight, I might’ve reconsidered.
I spent the next hour grilling him, and he h...
2024-03-11 19:16:47 +0000 UTC View PostFor some stupid reason, I’d expected the safe room to just… heal our wounds. Because that was what safe rooms were supposed to do. Yet again, reality crushed my gaming delusions.
We weren’t miraculously healed. I was bleeding out, and Aerion was poisoned. We’d both be dead in a few moments if I couldn’t come up with a solution.
I looked around desperately. The...
2024-03-10 18:21:26 +0000 UTC View Post“He’s insane,” Aerion muttered, staring at me with frustration and sadness. “They’re rocks! Why are you collecting rocks? This dungeon has thousands of them! How hard did you say you hit your head again?”
I could hardly blame him for feeling that. I was currently running around grabbing the [Pet Rock]s I’d lobbed at the troll, desp...
2024-03-09 17:46:51 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re an elf!” I said, staring at the platinum-blonde-haired boy’s pointy ears. Falling to just above his neck, his hair was just long enough to partially cover them, but not hide them entirely. His robe was oversized, torn, and he wore no armor. In fact, the only weapon I saw on him was his dagger.
His dirt-smeared face and overall haggard, disheveled appearance ma...
2024-03-08 19:42:43 +0000 UTC View PostAlright, slowly now. C’mon Greg, don’t fuck this up!
I inched toward the troll, which still snored away. How a being made entirely of obsidian snored, I couldn’t tell you. Just that the sounds it made could scare a xenomorph.
After much thought, I’d concluded that I couldn’t do much to prepare for this fight, other than to practice throwing. Which I d...
2024-03-07 17:14:50 +0000 UTC View PostIt’d been only a day since Cirayus arrived at the Chitran’s southernmost garrison, and he’d already witnessed all that he needed to. This one was no different than the rest, forcing Cirayus to accept that he’d been a fool for hoping otherwise.
The garrison itself was serviceable, as all garrisons near the Ash Boundary had to be. If they weren’t, they’d have fallen...
2024-03-07 17:12:44 +0000 UTC View PostI backed slowly away from the triceratops that occupied the entire tunnel. The crazy dinosaur was weird enough, but the immaculate white tuxedo it wore just made the scene even zanier.
“Ola, Greg!” the beast said in Cosmo’s upbeat voice.
“I have so many questions…” I replied, eyes glazing over.
“Ask, and I shall maybe answer!”
“Uh, for star...
2024-03-06 17:05:06 +0000 UTC View Post“The work progresses,” Balagra said, standing beside Vir. “But I have to ask—at what cost?”
Vir pursed his lips as he cast his gaze over the budding base from the ramparts of its tall walls.
A week had passed, since Vir had led his demons to the forest, and the camp was finally beginning to feel like a home. It wasn’t just the many wooden structures that had...
2024-03-06 17:02:59 +0000 UTC View PostWould you like to reclaim Initialized equipment?
I glanced at my brand new weapon.
Obsidian Bone Club [Common]
It’s the bone of a dead beast. There’s desecration, and then there’s desecration. It’s also made of obsidian. Good luck getting it to last for more than a handful...
2024-03-05 17:28:00 +0000 UTC View PostMore than a few heads perked up. Looks of confusion, excitement, and skepticism regarded Vir from all directions.
Balagra was one such, having recently arisen from his well-earned rest. Malik also regarded Vir intently, though his eyes flitted regularly from Vir to the crowd, as if he was as interested in their reactions as much as Vir’s own words.
Were this a couple ...
2024-03-05 17:26:02 +0000 UTC View PostI ran. I ran for my fucking life.
“Goddammit, Cosmo! A Golem? Are you kidding me?” My sneakers sent pebbles flying as I sprinted down the tunnel.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The Golem’s every step shook the tunnel, putting me in the middle of a neverending earthquake.
High Level Starter Dungeon? The hell was I thinking?
The beast...
2024-03-04 17:18:55 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t the howls of enemy Ash Beasts that Vir noticed first. Nor was it even the blinding crack of lightning and the deafening thunder that accompanied it.
It was the prana. The sweet, sweet sensation of power flooding into him all at once was unlike anything he’d felt outside the Ash.
Vir took a great breath and flexed his entire body, feeling it ripple with the...
2024-03-04 17:17:26 +0000 UTC View PostPenalties
Forego Boons: 5,000 Cosmo Buckaroos
Arthritis: 10,000 Cosmo Buckaroos (Stackable 4x)
Insomnia: 12,500 Cosmo Buckaroos (Stackable, 3x)
High Level Starter Dungeon: 40,000 Cosmo Buckaroos (Stackable 5x)
Halved Leveling: 40,000 Cosmo Buckaroos 2024-03-03 17:39:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Just breathe, Greg. Just—oh shit! This is really happening, isn’t it?
I pinched myself. Then I remembered that pinching yourself isn’t actually a good way to check if you’re in a dream—a nightmare—or not.
...
2024-03-02 18:11:42 +0000 UTC View Post“Unstrap the weapons and armor,” Gunin shouted at Lagen. “Hurry!”
“Huh? Which ones?”
“All of them!”
Lagen whipped his head around to the chaotic cloud of ash dust that was rapidly approaching. It was followed by another, larger cloud. One that was far more orderly....
2024-02-29 17:01:53 +0000 UTC View Post“There are so many issues, I do not know where to begin,” Balagra said, staring at Vir with a mixture of confusion, fear, and hope. Malik had joined them, and was nodding in agreement.
“Then speak qu...
2024-02-28 20:39:17 +0000 UTC View Post“I must admit, your tending skills are quite impressive,” Lagen said. The trio walked beside the Ash’va that had all been tethered together. Laden with armor and weaponry, they resembled a rich merchant caravan on their way to a lucrative sale.
“Please,” Gunin replied. “Without you, we’d have perished long ago. All I did was ensure we had enough beasts of burden...
2024-02-27 17:43:09 +0000 UTC View PostIt was winter there.
Having only recently traveled to the frigid, snowy terrain, Maiya understood she was being shown a vision of Sai. Not Kartara—the capital she’d raided—but some other town. Likely either Kaiya or Ksaia, she wasn’t sure.
So cold…
Two brothers sat huddled by a wall in some slum, their shoulders touching for warmth, shivering, w...
2024-02-26 18:28:14 +0000 UTC View PostMaiya braced herself for a bloody battle. Against an enemy she knew next to nothing about, no amount of precaution would suffice. Nor would the Blessed Chosen go down easily. His assassination attempts and his show of force had proven that abundantly.
She didn’t know what powers the large man boasted, so Maiya would hold nothing back. She’d brought every orb she could con...
2024-02-22 19:26:58 +0000 UTC View Post“Hold! Hold, or by the gods, I will take your kothi head myself!” Lagen barked, dealing a vicious blow to an Ash Wolf in mid-jump. Without the prana of the Ashen Realm to protect it, Lagen’s talwar cut deep into its soft belly. Such was the force of his blow that it redirected the animal’s momentum, sending it sprawling past Gunin, who stood with shaky legs and clattering t...
2024-02-21 18:57:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe pit disappeared around Vir, darkness enveloping him as he fell.
Vir was no stranger to darkness. That wasn’t what bothered him. It was the torrent of prana assaulting him that consumed his attention.
This wasn’t Ashen Realm prana, or even Mahādi Outskirts prana. It was prana so thick, so dense, that Vir struggled under pressure he hadn’t felt in a very 2024-02-20 19:01:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Vir had seen much during his time in the Ash. He’d even visited the lost city of the gods, and had witnessed all the terrors that lurked deep within. In fact, he’d bet that aside from Cirayus and perhaps a select few other demons, there were none who had fought as many Ash Beasts nor ventured as deep as he had.
Which was why, when the writhing black mass screeched from be...
2024-02-15 17:22:47 +0000 UTC View PostInsufferable. Arrogant. Conceited.
The words repeated in Ajune’s head like a mantra as he walked the camp. He wasn’t like the others. He’d done nothing wrong. He didn’t deserve to be here.
Neel. The word echoed like a curse through his head, vibrating through his skill.
He’d ruined everything. He’d doomed them all. The Chits ...
2024-02-14 21:46:19 +0000 UTC View PostThe world flashed white. Deafening thunder struck just paces away, leaving ringing ears and a sizzling, scorched earth behind. The sky had turned nearly black, and the Ash fell almost as heavily as it did in its namesake realm. All that was missing was the overwhelming prana of that blighted realm.
“I want you two to retreat to a safe distance,” Vir said in a tone that le...
2024-02-13 18:20:19 +0000 UTC View PostThe few Malik had mentioned were a four-armed red demon Vir was unfamiliar with… And the red demon who’d tried to assassinate him during their combat exam the other day. The very same demon Vir had shut down.
“You’re sure you’re not just trying to hoist him off to me?” Vir asked, an eyebrow pointedly raised.
“You have to admit, he is quite the cap...
2024-02-12 18:11:10 +0000 UTC View Post