Hey folks! I was planning on posting chapter 25 today, but I haven't had the time to work on it that it needs.
A chapter will go up on Royal Road today, and I'll be posting chapter 25 here tomorrow (within the next 24-ish hours) instead.
Sorry for the delay! By next week I should be able to start a buffer-backlog so this doesn't happen again/happens rarely.
2024-05-05 16:58:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun beat down, spreading a relentless heat in one last hurrah for Summer days. Frank and his group stood in a parking lot just a few streets over from the apartments, within sight of the current city council headquarters. They were under a canopy tent, trying to avoid overheating. The blacktop of the parking lot made that a challenge, soaking in the heat and throwing it back out with interest.
Frank wiped his forehead off, looking around at the other groups. The lot was crowded, but...
2024-05-02 20:28:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe Administrator stood on the surface of the red planet, observing from a distance as the new set of Guides introduced themselves to this batch of humans. It was an occurrence she’d seen many times before, though rarely from this close. This pair was new to it, she could tell. The strain in their smiles, the exaggerated gestures; it was a clear giveaway.
At least, in the eyes of the Administrator. The humans likely couldn’t tell. Their emotions were enough to distract them from the...
2024-04-30 21:05:39 +0000 UTC View PostFrank, Mai, and Kevin walked into the mall’s lobby. Most of the lights in the building were off. Shop lights and the occasional beam of moonlight sneaking its way in from outside were the only competition against the dark of the night. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the space, bouncing off the hard surfaces and making sure that they stayed on alert. After the adrenaline spike of running through the plaza, they were still hyper aware of their surroundings.
Mai led them thr...
2024-04-29 20:57:04 +0000 UTC View PostIf you read the past few chapters before this one came out, read this notice!
For the last couple chapters, I had initially been thinking I would do a bit of a timeskip, basically just say "and a few days passed, exams to qualify for Volunteer/Vanguard activity have been figured out, now we're going to get into some more action and fighting, but here's a couple things that happened in the time between," so chapter 20 was originally in two parts: a dinnertime conversation + Aether exposu...
2024-04-27 20:43:32 +0000 UTC View PostThis chapter has been edited from it's original posting!
****
For the second time, Frank found himself sitting down with Grant and his friends for a meal. They were in Grant’s apartment today, a two-bedroom that he was sharing with Ramy. The group was gathered around a low table in the living room, spread out across a couch and several cushions for floor seating. Frank looked around in interest.
The apartment really didn’t suit either of its inhabitants.
There was ...
2024-04-24 21:56:20 +0000 UTC View PostThis had been a productive day. Establishing the Vandenilis Fabrication Team this quickly had been a challenge, but it helped that he was solely in control of the largest remaining division of the city's workers– now the Vanguard.
Anthony sifted through the day's reports. Most of the crafters hadn’t made much of use today, understandably. Their focus had been on unlocking the desired crafting Skills, and most of them had managed to do so by the end of the day. The would-be smiths ha...
2024-04-23 19:18:34 +0000 UTC View PostJason surveyed the ingredients in front of him. As usual, everything he had looked familiar, but none of it was quite right. Trying to cook on Ličio was like trying to cook in a dream. Instead of onions, he had a savory almost onion-y fruit from a tree with purple leaves. But it wasn’t just the trees that were purple; most vegetation they’d seen here was purple. All the leafy greens he tried to convince his party to eat weren’t actually green. It just felt wrong ...
2024-04-21 19:26:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Vandenilis Fabrication Team was decently sized, a collection of fifteen men and women with varying amounts of experience with different crafting disciplines. Few were more than hobbyists before, and any professionals wouldn’t necessarily be able to rely on modern tools and techniques to get the Skills. The Vanguard would eventually try to secure reliable power, but they needed to know how to work without.
There were also a few, like Kevin, hoping to pick up Skills they didn’t al...
2024-04-20 19:30:09 +0000 UTC View PostFrank lay in bed, watching light filter through the few beams of sunlight peeking in through the blinds. He’d remembered to turn off the alarm on his phone, so he’d managed to wake up peacefully for the first time in… quite a while. Even on weekends, I had stuff I needed to do.
He lay there, listening to the low sounds starting to pick up out on the street, people waking up and starting their day. Whatever that means anymore. Looting? Killing monsters an...
2024-04-18 21:02:07 +0000 UTC View PostFrank stumbled back, staring in horror. In front of him, kneeling on the ground, was the man whose arm he had just enchanted. He could still see part of the word ‘strong’ peeking out from under his hand, clutched against the bicep. He could still see it, but it was warped; where the bicep had once extended across the entire upper arm, it had temporarily overpowered the tissue connecting it at the elbow joint. The muscle had torn free, pulling itself together under the skin to lump up near...
2024-04-16 20:52:18 +0000 UTC View PostAll eyes in the room quickly turned to look at Frank. He felt a moment of rising panic in his chest as he realized why people have nightmares about public speaking.
So much for not being expected to participate. On the plus side, hopefully I can just share what I know and get it over with.
He stood, and walked to the front of the room on slightly wobbly legs. The whole time he felt eyes on him, but none so much as the piercing gaze of Anthony. As he got to the front of th...
2024-04-14 18:28:05 +0000 UTC View PostA light pit of anxiety formed in Frank's stomach as he walked, following the mayor's aide. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, so there shouldn’t be any real cause for concern, but he couldn’t help it. Perhaps he had been conditioned by years of abusive bosses, but having a sudden meeting with the local authority did set off alarm bells in his head.
Maybe Victor was right, and they’re going to try forcing me into some kind of servitude where I’ll spend the rest of my da...
2024-04-14 18:03:37 +0000 UTC View PostI was told the characters might be hard to keep straight, with how many are introduced at once here, so I'm going to leave some notes at the end. Don't worry too much about remembering everyone right now, they'll get a bit more development later.
***************************************
“...and that was when I knew I had to get out. Rescue wasn’t coming, and if I wanted someone to help me, I had to help myself first.” The man said, taking a swig of his beer. He was a shorter ...
2024-04-11 21:06:31 +0000 UTC View PostFrank startled awake, sights and sounds disorienting him. He flailed in bed, body on high alert as he took in the unfamiliar room. There were posters on the wall for bands he didn’t know, and every flat surface was covered with the collections of its previous inhabitant. There were plush toys, a slew of unique looking dice, and rocks that must surely have had some emotional attachment, as he couldn’t see any reason they would warrant shelf space.
Gradually, his racing heart began to...
2024-04-09 19:27:29 +0000 UTC View PostFrank peered at the three books set before him. Two of them appeared to be from the same series, a recounting of the historical development of arms and armor in a distant part of history. The third appeared to be a hunting manual.
He glanced at the librarian. “So… How did you come to these choices, professor?”
Victor pushed his glasses up. “Would you believe me if I said I chose by instinct?”
Frank just stared at him a moment. “I mean, I’d be a little concerned...
2024-04-07 21:31:13 +0000 UTC View PostFrank squeezed around people as they passed by, keeping a hand on the antlers strapped to his back so he didn’t hit anyone with them. He got a few curious glances thrown his way, but everyone was too busy with their own work to really spare him any attention, and he made his way to the main desk unimpeded.
The desk was as busy as the rest of the building. There were a few people working it, helping to direct citizens, like Frank, to whatever services they were looking for. Assuming, o...
2024-04-04 21:16:46 +0000 UTC View PostFrank was, technically, in the city at this point. He was off the freeway now and had been driving down an arterial road headed closer to the center of the city. He was, at the moment, driving through a commercial zone. It was an example of the urban sprawl so endemic to America: vast swathes of parking lots attached to individual retail buildings, all situated on a road meant to shuttle a significant amount of traffic into and out of the city.
If the teleportation incident had occurred...
2024-04-03 22:41:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe bike was faster. It was hard to put a finger on how, exactly, it was faster, but it just was. Certainly, it wasn’t as fast as a car, or a motorcycle would be. It felt like he had somehow, perhaps magically, been replaced by a professional biker as he glided down the freeway.
At least, as much as he could with the frequent freeway-wide blockades of wrecked cars. Luckily, the median was generally clear, and he had no trouble getting past the empty cars.
He didn’t st...
2024-04-01 14:48:54 +0000 UTC View PostChapters a little bit shorter than normal
********
Frank had no time to react as the stags charge carried through the wall and across the small office. He watched in horror as the jagged antlers approached, knowing how easily they had taken out the wall.
This might be it.
The antlers caught him on the chest, on his armor, and grazed his shoulder, setting him bleeding. With a force like he’d been hit by a small car, he was pushed into the wall, driving the br...
2024-03-31 12:28:47 +0000 UTC View PostFrank did not, in fact, learn [Origami]. He did, however, earn a simple [Paper Folding] skill.
[Paper Folding]
You have spent a more than usual amount of focus getting just the right shape from paper.
As far as he could tell, it didn’t really do anything. In fact, Frank was beginning to question all of his Skills to some degree. [Enchanting] was the only one that really seemed to add anything beyond his own capabilities. All the others fe...
2024-03-30 12:42:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe world was no longer safe. Technology still existed, but society was fractured and gone. At least, as far as Frank could tell. He hadn’t actually been anywhere yet, but looking out the windows all he could see was wreckage on the freeway, burnt out husks of cars and those few unlucky enough to be in an accident before they could be teleported out.
He squinted, leaning closer to the window. Is there something moving down there? Are there still people?
A shape moved st...
2024-03-30 12:37:58 +0000 UTC View PostIn the few moments before contact, he realized that thinking of it as a squirrel had been a rather hasty choice on his part. He could hardly be blamed for that, given the circumstances.
It wasn’t a squirrel, but it likely had been one at some point. Probably this morning. Possibly just before noon. Maybe it had stepped out for an early lunch, and got more than it bargained for.
Is this what that message talked about with terraforming? Frank thought dimly, as th...
2024-03-30 12:37:04 +0000 UTC View PostFrank sat in his chair, still spinning from his rough landing. He stared helplessly at the screen in front of him, which moved to keep itself a fixed distance in front of his face. He stood up sharply, his chair sliding back into the wall of his cubicle.
The cubicles next to him were empty. He could still feel the warmth from Jason’s hand.
His breathing started becoming panicked. “They’re gone. Okay. Some weird flash of light took my friends. Were we friends? Jason would pro...
2024-03-30 12:30:57 +0000 UTC View PostFrank sighed, glancing at the flashing icon on his screen. The shrill ring of the call waiting for him, should he choose to accept it, blasted through his headset. He glanced down at his hands, counting his fingers while the call sat, waiting for him.
“Ten. Not dreaming, then.” He shook his head. After a year working here, he’d developed an almost Pavlovian response to the various chimes and ringtones the company used to let their servants know that, in fact, they should ...
2024-03-30 12:29:20 +0000 UTC View Post