“Over nine hundred?”
“Yeah.”
“That quickly?” I ask, somewhat bewildered. Izzy has been leveling quickly for quite some time now, but since the hero joined her party – at least temporarily – it seems like it’s happening even faster. Eleonor herself passed seven hundred just the other day.
And I have no idea what to do with this information, other than that my wife is obviously telling me this for a reason, and I can feel at least some fl...
“Wait, what? You want what now?”
“I’m fairly certain you heard me the first time, but I’ll humor you. I would like you to offer me a Class, if you are amenable to it.”
I… really didn’t expect Markus to take Pearl’s advice so quickly, let alone at all. I was pretty sure I was going to have to tease him along into it like pulling threads one at a time, but here we are.
…
“Are you sure?” I ask with an i...
“Hello Eleonor, how have you been?” I ask while sending fourteen of my natural weapons darting at her.
Omorth moves to our forefront as per our usual tactics – he’s an able shielder, so letting him take the tank role just makes sense. Meanwhile, Pips begins casting a spell.
My old classmate deftly parries each of my missiles one by one, but not in time to prevent me from Blinking behind her to lash a leg toward one of Markus’ ankles. Which he blocks with a flickering blu...
2024-04-14 23:05:36 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m here, I’m here, I’m finally here!” I say, spinning in an excited circle with my arms spread wide.
Markus, following behind me, answers with a sigh. “Yes, yes, we’re here. Why in the multiverse Ebisu would send you here is beyond my understanding… there certainly doesn’t seem to be much room for profit here, at least not beyond that of the other planes… and did you feel that chill when we arrived? Is this entire damnable plane a dungeon?”&n...
She was absolutely right; a quick trip back to the Sand Sea and some advice from Nyx – or rather, her pointing at exactly what I want and me disgorging ennis from my dimensional storage – and I’m back in my throne room, waiting for Rose to finish installing a trap door system in the middle of the audience hall where I can stick this projector. I chose one large enough to project an image large enough for a good view from my throne, with the side benefit of being visible for anyone else ...
2024-04-12 23:57:36 +0000 UTC View Posthi folks! I commented about it on rr but I'll mention it here too. the new job is a bit more intensive than I'd anticipated, so my schedule here is probably going to slow down a bit, probably 1-3 chapters a week unless I really get the bug on the weekend. for perspective, t-f I'm up at 4:30am, at work at 7, and finally home around 6:30pm. that gives me ~2hrs to eat and desperately attempt to unwind. I'm basically dead until Friday night, and so far I usually pass out as soon as I'm home.
<...
He just laughs.
Well, whatever. I can always drain him later if he’s a nuisance.
…Or just because I feel like it.
“Why exactly are you here, anyway?” I ask.
The humanlike narrows his eyes. “And why the hells should I tell you?”
With a grin, I partially release both my form and aura of malevolence. “Because this is my plane, and I’ll be the one to determine if you belong here. You’ve already done enough to a...
2024-04-01 17:13:21 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you enjoy being tied down, child? Bound by rules and conventions, expectations, intertwined alliances and enmities?”
“Not particularly.”
Grandmother shrugs lightly. “Nor do I.”
I’m sitting at the same… what did Orv call it? ‘Family restaurant’? With him, Izzy, Arty, and Lamashtu. I wanted it to be relatively casual, though you wouldn’t know it from how my father-in-law is practically tied into a knot.
“Then why wo...
Sitting in peaceful silence other than the sounds of the garden’s wildlife, my guest and I simply enjoy our tea.
…
…
“I’ll admit, I don’t entirely understand. The mortals conflate the light pantheon with ‘objective good’, don’t they?” I ask.
The goddess across from me on a matching divan chuckles lightly. “A common misnomer, my junior. The pantheons have no bearing on good or evil, they simply act as clubs of like-minde...
Three days come and go so fast.
Too fast even for mortals, let alone a god.
We’d spent time with Izahne’s family, where Orv was warm and inviting and Sodaca was as surly and inhospitable as ever. But I guess that’s just normal for them.
And then we left, stopping at the Adventurer’s and Merchant’s Guilds to announce the grand reopening of the Shadowed Plane for visitation, along with an actual teleport station to simplify the process. Both were excited by the possi...
2024-03-18 03:56:29 +0000 UTC View PostShe was right.
Sodaca dragged me off to a side room surrounded by shelves covered with gadgets whose purposes I couldn’t guess, then promptly retrieved a ring from one. After putting it on, a floating square appeared in front of her, and after swiping around on it for a moment a book appeared in her hand.
“This one,” she’d said while flipping it open, then skimming to a specific section. “The god that made our cities at least a few thousand years ago had Spellspeech. T...
So that took way too long to explain… but at least the look on Orv’s face has gone from bafflement to amazement to bland acceptance.
“I’d offer for you to stay here for the night, but I’m guessing you won’t considering your own home is literally a couple doorways away,” I say.
“Well,” he starts, and then looks at his daughter. “Do you want me to stay?”
Izahne looks thoughtful for a moment and then replies, “No, it’s ok daddy. I’ll be fine here. I...
2024-03-16 04:49:29 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a moment of arguing, I convince my father-in-law to at least come inside and sit down. I take my usual place in our sitting area, Artemis to my side and the others wherever they feel like as always. Izzy sits next to her father on one of the sofas and leans her head against him, radiating feelings of comfort…
And safety.
…
I’m still not used to being around mortals my own height. He’s one of the first I’ve seen, I think, although Omorth was pretty tall as wel...
2024-03-16 02:37:59 +0000 UTC View PostAnd just like that, we’re back on the street, walking to… I don’t know where.
I’m not sure what I expected, and I definitely don’t know what she expected, but from the look on Izzy’s face… it wasn’t that.
I put a hand on her shoulder, and she almost reflexively shrugs it off… and then stops walking.
“What now?” I quietly ask.
Pearl slaps my hand away and pulls my wife into a hug. Out of the corner of my eye I see Artemis tilt her head...
Even a few minutes after getting out of the metal tube contraption, I’m still woozy.
I can only imagine how it’d be for a mortal.
…
“Are you alright?” Izzy asks, stopping and giving me a concerned look.
“I… think so?” I reply. “Dizzy. Why is everyone else fine?”
She furrows her brow. “You didn’t resist the… oh gods, you did. You absolutely did.”
“Resist what?”
“The seats and harnesses are inlaid with stabilization run...
2024-03-15 06:39:27 +0000 UTC View PostWell, it’s finally the big day!
What big day? The day we open the proverbial doors of the Shadowed Plane to humans!
…Or, mortals. They’re not all human. Actually, a lot of them aren’t…
But that’s fine. I don’t really care.
I still couldn’t find Mimir, and nobody wanted to give or sell me a teleporter…
So I just made my own, around a week ago, and then spent until a couple of days ago recovering.
I really need to figure out how to do this w...
2024-03-15 03:08:57 +0000 UTC View Post“EIGHT! EIGHT FUCKING TIMES!”
I stomp hard enough to crack the hallway’s stone floor.
Arty puts a hand on my shoulder, and I fiercely turn to her before catching myself.
And I sigh. “Sorry. It’s just so gods-damned annoying.”
What is? Dipshit.
He keeps coming back. I still have no idea how his soul was freed from that trap gizmo, or how he escaped the falling trap, or being sawed in half, crushed, roasted, frozen into a block of ice, reduced to dust...
2024-03-12 06:37:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Huh. Yeah, you weren’t kidding.”
Artemis doesn’t have a single language Skill. I’d have thought that wouldn’t matter considering mortals who aren’t ascendants can speak without issue despite not having the Skills… although now that I think of it, as soon as they have an ascendant contract, the language Skills show up…
She does have Language Comprehension (Universal), which would explain why she can understand what other people say… but that’s reall...
I can’t say I’m that surprised that Artemis doesn’t actually bother organizing her people at all – after all, I get the impression that they gathered around her and not the other way around. Plus, her thinking seems to be pretty strongly tilted in favor of might makes right, much like the people of her plane.
Good thing she doesn’t want to test me right now… she’s probably stronger than me.
Well, whatever.
With the help of the others, I’ve already got a fu...
“So, uhhh.”
…
“Any way we could maybe… speed this up a bit?”
I’ve been following Rose for the past few days as it’s been adding the plane’s land to the dungeon. It seems like a pretty slow process… as far as I can tell from what it’s told me, we’re around maybe 12% done.
It’s only a matter of time, but that time is more than I’m willing to wait right here.
Oh, we’re stopping here.
“Another subcore?” I ask.
“Yes, my ...
2024-03-11 09:19:32 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, Permanence really does what it says, huh?”
(I doubt it’d be called that if it didn’t,) Nyx quips.
I’m standing in the audience chamber I’d made from the old boss room in the forest dungeon, and unlike the nondescript and plain ruins of the rest of the tunnel system, this one room is completely intact.
Well, aside from the hidden door in the back, the one that used to lead to Rose’s sanctum. I’d discussed moving the core to the castle but we’d neve...
“So what’s with the corpse?”
“Hmm?”
“That one,” Pearl continues, poking at the desiccated remains outside the castle gates.
The remains with the plate armor, still mysteriously shiny as a mirror.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I answer. “An idiot came calling and he won’t be calling anymore.”
Izahne crouches for a closer look. “This is awfully fancy armor, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah. This was some supposed ‘True Hero’ or some...
2024-03-08 08:41:13 +0000 UTC View PostAs the glass continues ringing, the entire crowd of gods and goddesses go silent.
At the garden’s central fountain stands a humanlike in what I can tell is immaculately tailored clothing, the kind that mortals wear for business stuff. They just stand there for a moment looking important before starting to talk.
“Ladies and gentlemen… gods, goddesses… I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to attend tonight. I know, it’s been some time since we grac...
Before we’ve even turned the last corner in the hedge maze, my wife is already quietly growling. And I let her as I keep pulling us along.
…
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but they don’t look intimidating at all. They’re just some humanlike in a red dress with black lace, a parasol set to one side and a wine flute in their hand.
…And that is definitely not wine. I recognize it from that… vision or whatever I’d had years ago, of that dark pantheon gala Ast...
2024-03-05 23:45:40 +0000 UTC View Post“Is there a god of malevolence?”
Artemis and I are currently walking to the venue. It’s actually right here on Elysium, which at least simplifies the route.
Now if only they allowed teleportation… apparently they consider it a “security concern” or whatever. Like some idiot is going to teleport a behemoth in the middle of their little party.
“Could,” my wife comments.
“Huh. Actually, I guess that makes sense. It’s not like the pantheons get along....
2024-03-05 21:37:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe heavily-muscled attendant doesn’t even hesitate in opening the gate at the end of the reception hall.
And in walks an idiot.
Well, I’ll call them that. Mostly because their attire seems entirely designed for nothing but holding animal trophies and weapons…
I idly glance at Artemis and her attire basically made entirely of animal trophies…
Nah, completely different. Hers is tasteful.
As soon as I finish the thought, I feel a tinge of relief from her. 2024-03-05 03:47:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, no time like the present. And it’s not like I have to ask anyone. I can just ask him myself.
Omorth. Are you yourself? Do you remember anything?
Ah, I apparently startled him. That… might not be a great sign…
…
And then I feel confirmation from him.
Huh.
What is the last thing you remember? If you think of a specific image or thing hard enough, or just focus on it I think, I should be able to sense it.
Despite th...
I’m still not sure why Artemis dresses me up in this frilly stuff. It’s not like this will coordinate with whatever number she goes with, probably made of lots of furs stitched together. It’s just her look; and it works for her.
Meanwhile, I look like some kind of designer doll.
Whatever I guess.
She’s had me try on two dozen different ones so far, all of them carefully preserved in her dimensional storage for however many centuries. The extensive closet space in my ...
2024-03-05 00:07:31 +0000 UTC View Post“What are you trying to say?”
Yeah, I can already tell this is going to go horribly. I’ve barely said anything more than “We need to talk” and Izahne’s hackles are fully up.
Well, I guess there’s no helping some things.
“Did anyone tell you how long you were out?” I ask.
She nods. “Unconscious for eight years and four months, and then another three months recovering both on my own and with the juice you pumped through us all when you finally recover...
2024-03-04 19:34:26 +0000 UTC View Post“No.”
Abaris didn’t even let me finish before flatly rejecting my request.
Which I guess shouldn’t be that surprising, considering the terror he went through before. Apparently Mimir dragged his half-conscious body through the teleporter when he’d been mauled by thralls.
Fortunately for the other planes, the artifact specialist had frantically retuned the teleporter to reject vampires.
I’d admittedly already tried Mimir first, and I couldn’t even find...