"Zero percent," Dave reported happily.
"Just in time, too. We've got maybe thirty minutes before we start seeing monsters from the other Dungeons show up," Mike added.
"Let's head up to the Freedom and maneuver over to the next one. We can take a couple of hours to grab some sleep, a hot meal, maybe even a shower before we drop down on the next one," Bob said.
"Which one are we headed toward next?" Amanda asked.
Bob pulled up the screen from his armband ...
2023-07-06 00:20:43 +0000 UTC
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Lara and Gualla were looking somewhat dazed as Bob finished explaining the basics of the System.
Laura was still half-buried in Monroe, both of them napping away the day.
"So the thing to keep in mind is that I don't know everything, and like everyone else, I do have my own bias," Bob smiled. "I personally think you should both choose magic. While I can't make any promises regarding paths as the System knows best, I can tell you that if you use an...
2023-07-05 01:10:27 +0000 UTC
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This chapter was a HUGE writer's block for me. I know I went through over 10,000 words before I ended up here. A huge shout out to Enleed, who helped me get through a lot of it.
"Is that Meluben?" Lara asked quietly as she pointed at the ruins, barely visible through the jungle.
"It is," Bob replied. "I know it looks rough, but with a few levels, the right skills, and a pile of mana crystals, it'll be better than new."
"Everyone is still...
2023-07-03 22:48:06 +0000 UTC
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Quest Complete!
Meluben has been overrun by monsters! The rituals that prevent the volcano above the city from erupting are in danger of failing!
Kill the monsters, 10,000/10,000
Locate the Temples, 10/10
Seal the Ritual Chambers 10/10
Defeat the Elite Monsters that are drawn to the Rituals 10/10
You have received 160 energy crystals.
2023-06-29 02:52:50 +0000 UTC
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"Our world is infested with these beasts?" Gualla asked, aghast at the idea.
"Overrun would probably be a better way to describe it," Bob replied.
"And we're not actually in our world?" Gualla continued.
"Nope, you're in a Dungeon, which is a special type of pocket dimension," Bob frowned. "Sort of like my inventory space, but much more complicated, of course, much larger."
"What happens now?" Gualla asked.
"Well, there are eighty-three other Dungeons that ...
2023-06-28 00:44:31 +0000 UTC
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No excuses, I just sucked this past week.
Url, and the Urlinad, are from a campaign I wrote over twenty years ago. I was running a 3e game (3.5 hadn't been released yet) in Tampa, and I was interested in building a world where herbivores were the dominant species. It was an interesting experiment, and I spent a couple of months building the world and fleshing it out. This arc was going to just use it as a pit stop before we got to the good stuff, but I jus...
2023-06-27 00:27:57 +0000 UTC
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Bailli smiled as she heard Bob reassure the person closest to them. She'd determined early on that Bob was a good man if badly damaged. She'd already heard about his heroics against the tide, but it wasn't until he'd returned with a bunch of kids in tow that she'd truly come to appreciate just how good of an adventurer he was.
Being an adventurer wasn't just about killing monsters, it was about inspiring the people around you to work together to become better adventurers as ...
2023-06-21 23:58:39 +0000 UTC
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They were within eight feet of the walls when the attack began.
Monsters rushed through the jagged opening in the wall while others poured over the wall itself. There were two different types, one was a quadrupedal creature covered in foot-long quills that promised pain, while the two-foot-long stinger on its tail and the horn on its head offered death. It was twelve feet long and six feet at the shoulders. Moving with an almost feline grace, these were the monsters th...
2023-06-21 00:29:28 +0000 UTC
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My twin cracked a bit. Turns out she can really only handle Mom for about two and a half weeks. I actually feel a little vindicated, you know? I've been shouldering the load for almost four years. So, despite my best intentions, I've been spending almost all of my time with my twin, in order to mitigate the Mom. I take her to the airport Wednesday morning. In the mean time, we're finally getting to the real start of the 4th book.
"...
2023-06-19 21:29:23 +0000 UTC
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Still feeling good. No reason I can't get a chapter a day done. Hopefully more, but I'll take one a day for now.
Bob had spent quite a bit of time thinking about not only the differences between pre-integration Earth and Thayland but also the results of integration.
More specifically, he'd been thinking about the Freedom.
Aleksander Ivanovich Vasiliev had spent less than a thousand Mana Crystals to construct his ship, while the Fr...
2023-06-14 20:48:17 +0000 UTC
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My back feels so much better. I was able to sit down for an hour at a time today before I needed to get up and move around. I didn't need to lay down at all. Happy happy Jahx.
"He really does seem like a nice boy, but it sounds like he's carrying quite a bit of baggage, yeah?" Veronica said.
"Yes, mum, I know," Jessica sighed. "I don't know if we'll ever move beyond friends, but I do know that if I stick with him, I'll end up tier twenty or somet...
2023-06-13 23:58:26 +0000 UTC
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I hate the fact that I keep having to say I'm sorry, but I'm sorry. Having my twin here was supposed to ease things up on me, and physically it sort of did. Unfortunately, I had allowed myself to forget that my twin and my mother argue constantly, which meant I've been spending far too much time playing referee.
Bob hadn't held the portal open for the entire day.
He'd held it open for two days, before telling everyone to be patient as he disap...
2023-06-12 17:35:45 +0000 UTC
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Getting better, slowly but surely. Managed a thousand words a day the past two days, and a bit over five hundred so far today. Going for another thousand, maybe more.
Bob rubbed his temples. He was having an unexpected conversation on the bridge of the Freedom.
"I'm not what anyone would call 'socially adept,'" Bob began. "But even I know that when someone says 'anytime' it doesn't actually mean that you're welco...
2023-06-04 18:40:52 +0000 UTC
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This chapter was written in fifteen to twenty minute bursts over the past couple of weeks. Luckily my twin has arrived, and while I did need her help to get out of the car (eight hour round trip to get her), I didn't have to do anything Mom-related today. I'm hoping to be on the mend, and able to sit down and write for longer.
"Well, isn't this cozy," Veronica said as she climbed up onto a stool.
The cabin had been resized twice, once when the crew had...
2023-06-02 02:53:09 +0000 UTC
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Sorry for the delay folks. I've had this half written for a couple of days, but I made a few mistakes and wound up out of commission. On a positive note, I built raised garden beds for my mother, which should help keep her active and occupied this summer. The three tons of cement blocks I had to lug from the driveway and into former coral tweaked my back. Bad Jahx, you are not a young man anymore.
Not for the first time, Bob considered that being b...
2023-05-13 05:45:33 +0000 UTC
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"Such bullshit," Mike grumbled. "It took us how many months to find a planet that wasn't covered by a tentacle monster or a frozen wasteland?"
"To be fair, I'm pretty sure there is more than just one person jumping from universe to universe," Dave offered.
"Well, we definitely don't have enough crystals to compete in his auction," Amanda sighed.
"Anyone who does is taking a real risk," Bob added. "He snapped some photographs from a distance. He doesn't know what tier the wor...
2023-05-10 10:49:46 +0000 UTC
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This one fought me and I'm still not completely happy with it. I think I rewrote the first thousand words half a dozen times. But great is the enemy of good, or in this case, good is the enemy of ok, so I'm going to send it out into the world so I can move on.
"I think that cost is a little high," Bob mused. "People need a gallon of water a day, right? So figure for half again that to be safe, means we only need a million and a half gall...
2023-05-03 01:05:56 +0000 UTC
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My apologies to my Indian readers. I'm aware that Dharavi has improved significantly over recent years, however in this alternate universe, the integration caused so much damage that things are actually worse now than they were in the early 2000's.
Bob had grown up in the poorest places in Watts. He was intimately familiar with poverty. He'd spent his entire childhood hungry, dirty, and alone.
Dharavi was still a shock. The people here were...
2023-04-28 23:13:05 +0000 UTC
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"Well, the good news is that Alex is going to score us some upgrades," Jack reported. "DARPA has a few racks of decommissioned servers that are significantly more robust than what we currently have, and he'll have our upgraded armbands ready for us before we leave."
"Not to be a doubting Thomas, but do we really want computers from DARPA?" Jessica asked. "Aren't they likely to be loaded with controls and backdoors and such?"
"Probably," Jack shrugged. "It's unlikely we'll ever be ...
2023-04-25 21:32:52 +0000 UTC
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Alex tried to stand still as Bob began casting the ritual that would bring them up to the freaking spaceship they had in orbit.
It was really hard. He was bouncing on his heels and twisting his hands.
"Jack said it's called the Freedom, right?" He asked.
"It is," Bob agreed.
"I can't believe you've been exploring other dimensions," Alex said. "That's just so awesome, I mean sure, space is mostly empty, or more accurately almost total...
2023-04-24 22:20:21 +0000 UTC
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"It looks like Bob is having a good time with his friends in Hawaii," Taylor reported, presenting her tablet.
She had facebook open to Bob's page, where a new picture of Bob being dragged through the water by Monroe as he went after a fish was front and center.
"It does," Elania agreed.
"We should consider ourselves fortunate that he put that up, as we can direct the many, many people who are looking for him to Hawaii," Taylor grinned.
"Given the difficulty in getting ...
2023-04-21 21:35:08 +0000 UTC
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"You need to recognize that this is a problem," Amanda said.
"Just once?" Bob asked.
"We're on vacation," Amanda repeated. "Now when you saw all those people wasting away, you had to act, we all understood and supported you. There isn't any reason for you to delve a Dungeon when you're on vacation."
"I just want to see what it's like," Bob protested. "I wasn't even going to delve it for experience, just at one level over for crysta...
2023-04-21 16:21:16 +0000 UTC
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Bob shook his head as he swept his gaze from the cerulean sea, up the pristine beach, over the treeline, finally focusing on the ruins of the resort atop the hill. "I'm surprised it hasn't been repaired or rebuilt," he murmured.
"Tourism hasn't been a priority," said the resort owner, a man named Steve. "The complete collapse of every currency and its subsequent replacement with mana crystals hasn't been kind to us. We repaired the runways, but we see two planes a mont...
2023-04-15 17:02:33 +0000 UTC
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Bob was awoken from his slumber by a massive paw tapping his nose.
With a yawn, he sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and resting his feet on the floor. He opened his eyes and looked to his left, finding himself face to face the world's most handsome kitty.
"Morning, buddy," Bob mumbled. He concentrated on the ball of emotions that represented Monroe. Hungry-play-sun.
"I've been neglecting a kitty cat, haven't I?" Bob asked as he stood an...
2023-04-14 21:03:30 +0000 UTC
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"Mr. Whitman! Mr. Whitman!"
Bob blinked and shook his head as he looked up from the man he'd just finished reincarnating.
He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been at it, but day had turned to night, and at some point the sun had risen again. Not for the first time he considered adding a clock to his interface.
There was a well dressed woman with a microphone and a camera crew standing in front of him where he would have expected his next patient to be. He...
2023-04-14 00:57:14 +0000 UTC
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"This is Bob. I need to talk to the President," Bob said when his call was connected.
Alejandro and Maria exchanged glances.
Bob had never had a sibling, but he'd seen people who were close to each other do that whole communication without words thing. Namely Dave and Amanda.
"Good morning Bob," The President said. "What do you need that can't wait until Thursday?"
"I decided that it would be better to have an abridged conversation now," Bob began. "I...
2023-04-12 22:52:48 +0000 UTC
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"Fuck," Bob muttered.
Growing up in Watts, Bob hadn't ever bought into the whole 'California Paradise' idea. It wasn't until he'd gone to UCLA and moved closer to the campus that he'd had any idea how people could ever equate those two words.
Somehow, even though he'd known that hundred foot tall monsters were going to be roaming about, he hadn't made the mental leap to understanding just how much destruction they would cause.
It appeared that no one had deemed the UCL...
2023-04-12 15:59:41 +0000 UTC
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The Freedom appeared four million miles away from Earth, exiting the portal smoothly.
"And we're back," Bob reported as he tapped the screen in front of him, raising the masts to bring all of the sensors online.
"Is it weird that I'm kind of jonesing for an In and Out shake?" Amanda asked.
"I've been dreaming about an authentic deep-dish pizza for months," Mike replied. "It's been years since I've had one, but now that heart burn is a thing of the pas...
2023-04-11 15:22:29 +0000 UTC
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"Any chance we can steal her?" Elania asked, lifting her eyes from the folder.
"I'm afraid Ms. Gupta is being drowned in accolades by her own country," Taylor replied dryly. "If she had been poor, we might have had a chance, but the truth of the matter is that India is a wonderful country in which to be wealthy, which her family was. I'm somewhat surprised that they were willing to share this with us so freely."
"I have a feeling that there are thousands of electrician...
2023-04-06 08:31:01 +0000 UTC
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The nature of the path the System had provided for him was almost insidious.
Path of the Consummate Summoner.
Path created for user Robert Whitman.
User has, since integrated into the System, devoted himself entirely to the Arcane School of Summoning. Preferring to disperse manifestations by means of the Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell, the user has proven himself dedicated to ensuring energy circulation. User has demonstrated ext...
2023-04-03 09:26:34 +0000 UTC
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