Micah frowned at the map stretched out across the table he’d set up in his shack. Since the battle in Crypt of Rot, Trevor and him had curtailed their movements. Micah still hunted monsters, preferably the larger and more dangerous creatures that prowled about the deep forests out past Westmarch where he’d hidden another teleportation site.
In between expeditions, he’d had more spare time than expected. Most of Micah’s effort was spent productively, tracking hi...
2020-11-06 01:43:55 +0000 UTC
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The cocoons of light dissolved within thirty seconds of each other, drawing a sigh of relief from Micah as Telivern’s majestic and snowy white form unfolded itself, almost glowing in the dim cavern.
He didn’t want to admit to himself how worried he had been that the evolution might have changed things. After all, a slightly different skill set or experience profile before the deer began its transformation might have ended up with Telivern assuming a different personality, name...
2020-11-03 00:45:24 +0000 UTC
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Micah rolled his eyes. Killing the son of a baron wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had, but if these two men insisted on dying there wasn’t much he could do but oblige them. He opened his mouth to shout for the Luoca, but the axe wielding man beat him to the punch.
“Still Air,” Ari shouted the words as he ran toward Micah and Trevor. A crystal the size of Micah’s thumbnail flared with a dirty grey light and mana gripped the area around him.
“...
2020-10-29 23:52:40 +0000 UTC
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Trevor walked up to where Micah was sitting next to the two balls of light and energy, itching at the straps of his new armor. Micah closed the Folio as his brother approached, shifting his back slightly to try and find a more comfortable position against the slightly sloped wall of the cavern.
“How are you enjoying the spoils of your victory?” He asked his brother, taking note of the slightly annoyed expression that Trevor flashed him.
“Don’t be like that,” Micah ...
2020-10-26 23:51:22 +0000 UTC
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Trevor crouched Next to Micah just inside the door to the boss room. The chamber was almost unnaturally large given the cave they’d journeyed through. Micah could barely make out the ceiling, but the far end was flat out too far to spot anything given the dim lighting.
The chamber was modeled after a graveyard. Tombstones jutted up out of dark soil as far as Micah could see. Periodically, the partially obscured shapes of zombies shambled through the dark and mi...
2020-10-22 23:44:50 +0000 UTC
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“This is supposed to be a level twenty five dungeon,” Trevor shook his head as the Luoca’s wing slashed through a large bear zombie, shearing off a massive chunk of rotting flesh. “Micah, you could at least pretend that this is some sort of challenge.”
A trio of skeletons launched arrows made of bone from massive longbows. Micah didn’t even look as they shattered against his wind shield. The panther landed on one of them, seemingly materializing fr...
2020-10-19 23:08:48 +0000 UTC
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Words of terrible power fell from Micah’s tongue. A wave of his palm distributed a spray of green fire from the gash he’d made with a sacrificial dagger. The burning drops of blood landed on the various reagents spread around the circle, wreathing them in unearthly flames.
The deer and panther watched on with quiet indifference. Occasionally the oversized cat would bat at the stag without response, but Micah didn’t have time for their antics.
His attention ...
2020-10-15 23:27:58 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure about this Micah,” Trevor licked his lips as he glanced nervously at his brother from inside the half constructed ritual circle. “I know I asked for you to hurry the ritual up, but uh, you seem to be checking that book of yours an awful lot.”
Micah looked up from the Folio, leaving his finger on a passage about the influence of the confluence of weather conditions and altitude on the ritual. A frown flashed across his face.
“I would prefer at le...
2020-10-13 00:18:35 +0000 UTC
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Micah’s spear passed through the dryad as the tiny humanoid lunged toward him, letting the wood of the haft slip through its body like it was a mirage. He winced under the wet rag draped across his mouth as the monster giggled, letting out a puff of red pollen from the flowers wreathing its head as it reached toward him with a thorn covered claw.
He kicked out with his right foot, exploding into motion with every point of his enhanced body and agility. The dryad squeaked, ...
2020-10-09 01:09:56 +0000 UTC
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“Have another slice of ham Trevor,” Micah’s mother slid the slab of pink meat onto his brother’s plate. “We haven’t had a chance to all get together and celebrate your achievements with the Lancers yet.”
“I’m glad at least one of my sons cares about his future,” she continued, putting another chunk of meat onto Trevor’s plate. “A guild is a respectable profession, and I heard from Lisa-Mae that you just completed some sort of m...
2020-10-06 02:51:13 +0000 UTC
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Micah dove, pushing the maneuverability of the flight enchantment inscribed in the gold and electrum necklace pressed tight around his neck. It burned hot, struggling to accommodate the mana keeping him aloft.
A cliff eagle soared past his head, its claws barely missing the back of Micah’s neck, wind buffeting him to the side from its passage. He rolled in the air, a flick of pressure from his mind spurring the motion as he thrust upward with his spea...
2020-10-02 00:23:26 +0000 UTC
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Micah sat just inside the entrance to the cave, enjoying the afternoon light as it
poured into the opening. He flipped another page in the Ageless Folio, frowning slightly. He’d never bothered with using a ritual to improve his affinity before. There always was a reason to avoid them. While he was in the Capital, his time wasn’t his own and the Royal Knights would’ve punished him for trying. In the last timeline, there hadn’t been time....
2020-09-29 02:44:21 +0000 UTC
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Micah’s eyes never left the goat. With Trevor’s help he’d led the animal out into the deep deep forest, where the trees began to give way to foothills. Right now, it was tired to a tree, eating grass casually while Micah and Trevor felt vaguely foolish. It didn’t help that the stag sat in the glade right behind them, judging them in between mouthfuls of its own grass.
Trevor shifted next to him. They’d made sure to build a blind with the he...
2020-09-24 15:45:59 +0000 UTC
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“I think I love her Micah,” Trevor’s eyes were misty as Micah’s spear knocked his aside with a clatter of wood on wood.
The stag snorted, expressing Micah’s sentiments perfectly.
Micah noticed the distracted man shifting onto his back leg, distracted and off balance. His leg lashed out, catching his brother behind his knee and sweeping the man’s legs out from under him. Trevor tried to reset his feet, but Micah’s enhanced body attribute overw...
2020-09-22 00:45:02 +0000 UTC
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Micah whirled under the rubbery brown tentacle that whipped over his head, narrowly avoiding the serrated spikes of bone embedded in its tip. In a previous life, Will had found out the hard way that those spikes were actually teeth. Each of the palm sized flippers of the bog horror could dig into and rip fist sized gobs of flesh from a target before bringing them back to the barrel sized gaping void filled with gastric juices that served as the monster’s body.
2020-09-17 23:54:15 +0000 UTC
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Micah made a note of the sun’s position, scratching the data hastily into the Folio. Whispering under his breath, he flipped to a page detailing his observations from a previous timeline on the current astrological conditions.
The stag snorted. Most of the grey had left its fur when Micah enchanted Trevor’s greaves and bracers, but there were still some hints. Stiffness in its gait, a slight discoloration around its eyes, nothing definitive but enough ...
2020-09-15 02:03:42 +0000 UTC
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“Why are we shoe shopping?” Trevor grumbled. He was trying his best to look inconspicuous in the upscale armor boutique, but despite his efforts, Trevor looked nervous and out of place.
“I need something that matches the new bracers we bought you,” Micah replied absently as he tested the leather on a knee high boot. Metal plates were stitched into the soft calfskin that extended up past the ankle, turning it more a piece of armor than just simple ...
2020-09-11 00:36:04 +0000 UTC
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Micah tried not to fixate on the six nightwasps whirring toward him. His spear was planted, butt first, in the soft forest soil. It comforted him to have the weapon within arms reach, but against six enemies it was little more than a talisman. He might be able to bat one out of the air and stab another before they reached him, but ultimately, a swarm of small mobile monsters was the bane of an unsupported spearman.
“Shit they’re fast!” Trevor shouted...
2020-09-07 23:29:01 +0000 UTC
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“Micah, Micah!” Esther’s voice pulled him from the book he was reading. Sighing, Micah closed the Ageless Folio. His parents insisted that Trevor and him spend their nights at home. He still slept four to five hours a night, but the rest of his time was spent working his way through the portion of the Royal Library that he’d managed to smuggle out in the Folio.
The door to his bedroom slammed open and Esther ran in, her hair a mess and her eyes ali...
2020-09-04 03:02:44 +0000 UTC
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“No,” Micah shook his head looking at the slate covered in crude chalk drawings in his brother’s hands. “The mana transference is all wrong. You need to focus the diagram on gathering and releasing a burst of wind before you implement the sharpening. Right now, this version of air knife sharpens nothing before releasing a puff of diffuse wind.”
“It just doesn’t make sense Micah,” Trevor slumped against the wall of the cave in f...
2020-09-01 03:38:08 +0000 UTC
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“Maybe she’d be more interested if you actually applied yourself,” their mother snapped. Her eyes flicking from Micah to Trevor and back. “If you paid any attention, you’d know she’s sweet on Warrick.”
“Warrick?” Trevor asked in confusion, “the baker? Why would Anna like cragface so much? He’s boring, greasy and more than a little fat.”
“He also takes his profession seriously and has an Uncommon blessing,” she respon...
2020-08-28 03:20:57 +0000 UTC
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Micah opened his eyes the taste of jasmine tea with a hint of lemon still on the tip of his tongue. He lifted a hand up above his head, his skinny and childish wrist clearly visible in the early dawn light streaming through his parent’s window.
With a brief prayer to Mursa, he closed his eyes. Nothing. No red glow. No swirling vortex. He’d shed the unnatural taint of Elsewhere along with his old body.
Micah sighed as he swung h...
2020-08-25 02:44:36 +0000 UTC
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“Oh sit down,” her voice was pleasant and disarming, but with an undertone of command as it halted Micah’s half-rise from the chair.
A woman in her early thirties entered his vision from the side. The first thing Micah noticed was that she glowed faintly. Her shoulder-length silver hair framed pleasant if nondescript features as she carried a tray laden with an intricately painted porcelain teapot and four cups.
She was slightly taller than Micah...
2020-08-21 03:05:01 +0000 UTC
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Micah returned to the window, casting flight as he walked. At the precipice, he simply stepped out onto empty air and continued at his former pace, mimicking an ordinary stroll while he scowled down at the crowd of adventurers.
“Oh shit,” Gongo hissed, his eyes going wide. “That’s a tier IV air spell.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Flavicus asked quietly, his eyes never leaving Micah as he gripped his halberd tightly.
The o...
2020-08-18 02:04:49 +0000 UTC
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“Come down and be judged for your crimes, heretic,” the priest, a severe and skinny man, freshly shorn skull gleaming in the sunlight, shouted up at Micah, the man’s voice carried to him by the ears of a Brensen flying overhead. “We have it on good authority that you’ve engaged in dark and corrupt rituals. If you’re innocent, the truth will come out and we will cleanse your name. If you’re guilty, we will cleanse your soul.”
“It sure soun...
2020-08-14 02:10:12 +0000 UTC
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The Brensen lifted another rock to the top of the formation that housed Micah’s cave. Above him, the three Onkert that he’d summoned after his return from the Great Depths chipped the boulders into rough bricks and piled them atop each other. Already the base of a structure was beginning to take shape.
Micah sighed as he looked around the clearing. The grass was completely dead. Over the week or so since Esther had fallen ill, the aura surroundin...
2020-08-11 01:44:14 +0000 UTC
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The next morning, Micah got out of bed early to work in the shop. It was a stretch to say that he woke, given that he barely slept an hour a night, but even so, he found it refreshing to spend at least a couple hours in bed with his eyes closed going over the events of the day.
Business was sedate as usual. Few people could afford the luxury of enchanted items, but those that could were willing to pay. Shortly after sunrise, a merchant stopped in to commis...
2020-08-07 00:53:20 +0000 UTC
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The bell jangled on the door to Micah’s shop, causing him to look up from the Folio. He’d spent most of the afternoon working on the design for a pendant that would increase its bearer’s strength. An interesting combination of ritual and wood magic he’d been worrying over for the past two days without any real results.
Closing his book, Micah searched the small store for his customer. Simple wooden shelves contained some of his earlier works along ...
2020-08-04 01:59:53 +0000 UTC
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Micah opened his eyes in the cave, his body covered in mostly healed bruises and cuts that he barely remembered. Telivern lay curled against him, its fur warming and cushioning him through the long night.
“Congratulations blessed,” the voice Micah had come to associate with class selection and growth spoke from nowhere. “You’ve reached your second milestone and are eligible for a class specialty. A series of options have been presented to you based...
2020-07-30 23:27:43 +0000 UTC
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As they charged, Micah cast wind shield and flight. The last battle had showed that even if his minions were more powerful than their opponents, it wasn’t impossible for the weight of numbers to overwhelm them. Earth magic might have let him make a shield of rocks, and fire magic would let Micah ring himself in flames, but he simply didn’t have access to proper defensive magics. All he could do was fly and protect himself from arrows, forci...
2020-07-28 00:20:52 +0000 UTC
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