Allan_G

AUDIO - Chapter 102 – The Meddling Price

I missed some stuff when writing and I've updated the chapter with the following. The AUDIO file can not be updated because I physically don't have the lines available to do it in the software I use to generate chapters.

First the following is included when DUX asks him what compensation he wants.

“Share your thoughts no matter how outlandish they might seem.”

Tom felt a thrill of excitement. This was his chance. He looked Dux straight in the eye. “I ...

Chapter 102 – The Meddling Price

The world stopped moving, and the room morphed. The characteristics changed, becoming more polished and functional until it felt like he was on a viewing platform like you might find at the top of a skyscraper. There was a massive window in front of Tom which was currently completely opaque, but he knew that when she wished it otherwise, it would grow transparent. 

There was a polite throat clearing behind him, and he turned to see Dux standing there.

He was not at all surpri...

AUDIO - Chapter 101 – Hidden Titles.

Chapter 101 – Hidden Titles

Tom hovered over Corrine. She was both mortally injured and also not in any immediate danger. On earth, not even the greatest team of surgeons could have saved her, but here it was different. She had the choice of using a recovery potion or taking the risk and going back to Existentia to get a human healer to fix her. Most of the competitors here wouldn’t have that option. Healing classes were usually some of the first lost by diminishing species. But humans were part of the competition and...

Chapter 100 – Bloody Duels

AG. This is hopefully a bonus chapter but tomorrow's chapter is going to be tricky to write so that might change.

Tom found himself suspended in the in-between with the familiar message waiting for him.

You are fighting a representative of MAKROS. It has 14 confirmed incapacitations and zero kills.

He inhaled sharply as he read it. Coming in here without a GOD’s shield would have been a bad way to die.

The implications of those numbers we...

Chapter 99 – Confused Decision

Tom once more felt the flutter of excitement combined with the dread of failure. In front of him, the disk had come up with a one for the fifth time in a row.

Nine, he reminded himself. I need nine of them in a row.

That was the number he had chosen before he had spent his fate and started flipping the disk, and he wondered if this would be the duel where he finally achieved victory without a GOD’s shield and claimed sixteen points. Two more flips came up posit...

AUDIO - Chapter 98 – Trash Spells

Chapter 98 – Trash Spells

Tom did nothing for a moment and absorbed everything that had just happened. The trait stone was clutched in his hands. Everlyn had clearly stated that he could use it and had even gone as far to physically block Dimitri to give him that opportunity, but despite her assurances he had some doubts. “Should I?” he asked the older man, ignoring Everlyn for the moment. Because of her erratic behaviour, he wasn’t confident in her judgement.  Fifty years could do a lot to change a person ...

Chapter 97 – Hidden Confrontation

Who’s we? Tom screamed inside the safety of his own head. These sessions were supposed to be confidential between just the individual child and Dimitri. Under the rules, another person was not allowed.

For a few moments, he deliberately remained frozen in his seat, and he took the opportunity to study Dimitri. He was very aware of his precognition ability and he searched Danger Sense for any kind of warning, even a hint that something...

Chapter 96 – Disk Tossing

Tom was in the familiar room. Three doors faced him and while he hadn’t been actively counting, he knew this was his eleventh fight. He lowered his head slightly and while he didn’t want to be dramatic he had been humiliated in every single fight. He hated it, but there was nothing that he could do to change things. The raw ability gap between them, their superior attributes. It was unsurmountable. The degree that he was outclassed was horrifying.

He wondered if this coming duel wou...

Chapter 95 – Local Aid

AG. Sorry for the missed couple of chapters. I've got the cold that my kids had. They were washed out for between 3 days and a week. I've written the first draft of tomorrow's chapter so I'll hopefully get it out on time. Otherwise I'll publish it sometime during the weekend

They watched the first lucky, or potentially unlucky, four put on the gear and begin their flying lessons. The rest of them had been ordered to stay in the corner of the gym - so that was what they ...

No chapter today (10th of sep)

I've been sick the last couple of days... And still feeling unwell. This is the same thing that went through my whole family (I'm the last to get it). Everyone else was disabled for around five days...

I'm hopeful that I'll be post a chapter on the normal schedule on Thursday. I'll try to do a half day tomorrow and Thursday to make sure it is ready.

Sorry... Just really hard to do creative stuff when feeling like this.

Same applies to royal road

Chapter 94 – Anger Complications

Chapter 94 – Anger Complications

Another day had passed, and Tom had to force himself to spend time in his real body. It was often a struggle to watch what was happening without reacting. He was both lucky and cursed by the fact that Kang was in the picture. The larger boy seemed to have a preternatural sense of timing. Most of the time, he was normal and then only occasionally would he slip in lies to confuse Briana; but when he acted the barbs dug deep.

They were standing arou...

Chapter 93 – Domains

The unpleasantly smelling biome and the slight chill in the air did nothing to calm his roiling emotions. Kang had been so confident about his ability to change Briana’s mind, and that attitude made no sense to him. Kang was going to be confusing her deliberately and making her believe an alternative reality; Tom understood the need, but it didn’t make him feel good to be part of the deception.

He summoned a construct to find Corrine and then informed her perfunctorily of their choi...

Chapter 92 – Unwelcome Advice

Corrine, Tom discovered, was in the central area, in an animated conversation with four other alien. All of them were substantially larger than her, but the largest one was only hippo-size.

She stopped mid-sentence when she caught sight of him. Concern flashed in her eyes, and she leapt to her feet. “Fuck, Tom, what the fuck happened? You look like…”

“Briana knows.” He interrupted. “She knows I’m a.” Social Silence locked his throat befo...

AUDIO - Chapter 91 – Seismic Shift

Chapter 91 – Seismic Shift

Tom’s mind interacted with the wood in his hands. The nature of the two different sections was clear to him, and he could see the paths that would let him alter both.

For almost a minute, he sat still, feeling out the exact quality of the changes that Baptiste had made. Using every aspect of the skill he could, he probed the sections and zeroed in on the underlying biological cells. It was, he discovered, exactly like what Baptiste had suggested it to be. It was the magic of the find-...

Chapter 90 – Repairing Weapons

Tom watched the other two progress through the obstacles. There were moments of grace and periods of ineptitude both. The severe contrast between those moments was eye-catching. Briana’s performance was a this way due to her being a child, while Kang’s was driven by his maniacal training. The other reincarnator had, as always, imposed handicaps on himself to challenge and develop his coordination. Tom was very aware of the other boy’s Quick Step skill. It was...

AUDIO - Chapter 90 – Repairing Weapons

Chapter 89 – Competition Progress

Tom glanced around the isolation room. He had an hour to kill now before his next lecture. Mostly, the sessions he got into with the two open competitors depended on their real-world responsibilities. Unless it specifically clashed with his dodge or obstacle course training, Tom made it to every open slot he had been offered. 

His eyes fell on the smallest war hammer intended for ten-year-olds, resting in its usual place. That was what he was here to do, but his thoughtful mood mad...

AUDIO - Chapter 89 – Competition Progress

Chapter 88 – First Duel

He had woken up early in expectation of the coming official fight, and Throm spotted him. Now he sat in the meeting room, listening to his mentor expound on the finer points of sensing precognition rituals even as he multitasked and manipulated the lightning spell on his lap. Technically, the table hid his efforts from direct line-of-sight observation, but his instructor, of course, knew what he was doing. However, he was pretending not to notice. While learning the ritual was important, the ...

AUDIO - Chapter 88 – First Duel

AUDIO - Chapter 87 – Short Term Planning

Chapter 87 – Short Term Planning

He woke up, feeling refreshed, and threw himself into the new routine. The equation around what was the optimal use of his time was unclear. Benefits for his magic practice sat at only a thirteen percent penalty, and given that there was no risk of assassins discovering him here, practicing magic here was almost better. For new spells, the kind he was just training while working toward a perfect cast, the cost was zero. Mixed abilities like hammer mastery and the earned fate skill he was chas...

Chapter 86 – Ritual Complications

“Welcome, Tom,” the centipede that was the length of three train carriages said. “My name is Throm. Corrine has briefed us, so we all know why we are here. Please, child, before we commence, is it possible for us to study the disk?”

The moment the question was raised, he found that he could feel the disk, hidden under his clothes, pressing against his chest. It hadn’t been there an instant earlier, but he also knew that the clothes he wore had not been disturbed when it had ma...

AUDIO - Chapter 86 – Ritual Complications

Chapter 85 – Evolving Lists

Corrine smirked at his claim about the GOD’s shields. “No, you really don’t understand the concept. This is a contested competition. There are subtleties you aren’t aware of. For example, the full GOD shields used here are top of the line. They’re better than average. You remember during our duel how you were removed from the battlefield a second before you died. That’s an example of how they protect you from psychological harm. Most of the standard ones force you to experience th...

AUDIO - Chapter 85 – Evolving Lists

Chapter 84 – Lightning Path

Tom slipped back into his body as his mind was mulling over what had happened, his mood thoughtful. Access to this trial changed everything. With all the new things being introduced, his life had gone from a tedious plod to being jam-packed with activities.

To his shock, he realised he was deliriously happy.

The minutiae of the way he was going to be spending his time had shifted dramatically. The only shade being cast on his mood was the question of whether the training done in t...