When Nick awoke early the next morning, he found Rita’s eyes staring into his own. His mentor was standing at the foot of his bed with an inscrutable expression on her face. What the fuck? The sight shocked him back to full alertness within a handful of heartbeats. Was she watching...
2024-11-25 18:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostEdge had no idea what would happen next. All he knew was that he had to lead the beast away from his team before it killed them all. He ran from the decimated farmstead, with the multi-ton predator hot on his heels.
He was certain that Trapper’s crew would use the distraction to get away....
2024-11-25 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostEdge’s chains went surging out of his wrists like a pair of angry vipers. They crossed the open air in the blink of an eye and plunged into the gaping wound the behemoth had carved into the padamas’s body. Since the lizard was on the verge of death and still half paralyzed by intimida...
2024-11-22 18:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time that his stance training session with the demonic machine was over, Nick was drenched in sweat. So weary and sore that he could barely walk. Rita slipped one arm around his waist and led him out of the workshop, over to a pipe running along the outside of the building. She had him lea...
2024-11-22 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe last word of Trapper’s warning was still hanging in the air when the situation went from bad to worse in between one heartbeat and the next. Because that was when a threat appeared that made the invisible lizard stalking the party seem downright cuddly by comparison.
As it happens, in...
2024-11-21 18:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostWith a groan of tortured wood, the silo started to topple.
The tip tilted by a couple of degrees before coming to a stop again, causing Edge’s heart to jump into his throat. Come on. Fall, you stupid fucker. We can’t afford to blow this chance.
If this trap didn’t work,...
2024-11-20 18:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostDevin raised his two-handed axe in front of his face, just in time to keep his trainer’s weapon from rendering his nose concave. While the attack wouldn’t have killed him with the protective magic the axemaster had cast before their session began, getting his by Yoro’s strikes really fuckin...
2024-11-20 18:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostMana went streaming out of Trapper’s core, flowing through the ground until it reached the kill zone in the center of the farmyard.
Although Edge couldn’t see anything move, he knew that the pit traps and bolt throwers had armed themselves and were ready to trigger when the colossal liz...
2024-11-19 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostEdge took in the sight of his oversized foe, while waiting for the order to attack. He ran his gaze across the powerful predator, absorbing its presence. Its power. The aura of menace it exuded with every move that it made.
His mind sharpened during the final, fleeting moments before the be...
2024-11-18 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostRita only laughed and refused to elaborate further. It was clear by this point that his mentor was testing his resolve, so he didn’t complain or ask any questions, which earned him a nod of respect. She led Nick over to a strange machine with a screen on one side and a bunch of crystals stickin...
2024-11-18 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostBy this point, Nick was wondering if he could give his reward back to the System. Maybe trade it in for a week at the beach. The fact that Rita was completely unrepentant and staring down as his bloody nose with rapt attention, like she was committing the moment to memory so that she could treasu...
2024-11-15 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostOne adrenaline-soaked hour passed as the crew hid in the shadows, waiting for their moment to strike. Then another rolled by, followed by a third. By now, the tension was so thick that Edge could taste it in the air. Feel it on his skin, like lightning was about to strike.
Every shifting sh...
2024-11-15 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAs the sun began to set, Edge and Jumo went to join the other hunters. They were careful not to pass through the silo’s fall zone, just in case they had fucked something up.
When they arrived, they saw that the rest of the team had been busy. A massive pile of fresh produce was leaning ag...
2024-11-14 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe crew went to bed early and woke up before sunrise. Nothing vicious had come calling during the night, although Riller reported that a pack of scavengers had been sniffing around the perimeter. The man moved into the barn to get some sleep while the rest of the hunters went to work.
It w...
2024-11-13 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostNick shrugged to himself then returned the bow, trying his best to clear his mind and concentrate. He was growing increasingly nervous about what was coming, but he decided against using arctic clarity to enhance his focus. He wanted Rita to evaluate his technique at a genuine baseline, without a...
2024-11-13 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostTrapper laughed at the confusion on Edge’s face—surprise that she was asking his thoughts on the matter.
“Don’t forget, as fucked up as our situation is, this is still your final exam. Normally, I’d have you set up the whole kill from start to finish, so that you can lear...
2024-11-12 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostTwo hours later, the crew was drawing near the final farmstead. This farm was in the northeast corner of the Breadbasket—all the way at the end of the road running through this section of the Ivory Plains.
After another twenty miles of rough terrain, the biome transitioned into a swampy j...
2024-11-11 18:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostTo Nick’s astonishment, what stepped past the threshold wasn’t another contestant, or a person at all for that matter. It was a magical construct. A life-sized wooden doll that looked like a marionette held up by invisible strings.
That was the best metaphor that Nick could come up with...
2024-11-11 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe hunters awoke with the rising sun and ate a second helping of harvest stew for breakfast. Then the crew spent a few minutes going over the map while planning out their next move.
Once they had picked their route, they loaded the wagon and started traveling east. With any luck, they woul...
2024-11-08 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostBy now, the musical clang of hammer striking anvil had risen to fill the air, as Rita went to work at her forge.
It was a heavy, invigorating rhythm. A song of fire and steel that seemed to capture the urgency of battle. That adrenaline-soaked state of being, where life and de...
2024-11-08 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostWhile dinner was stewing, Edge took a lap around the farm, looking for another stray monster for a different kind of meal. He didn’t find any blightlings, although he did steal two basic skills from a pair of possum-like creatures that had been scavenging from the harvest.
They weren’t ...
2024-11-07 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostNow that Trapper had outlined their plan, the crew dispersed to complete their assignments.
Edge made his way over to an auxiliary structure that had probably been used for storage. As he walked, he took in the prolific devastation surrounding him on all sides. It was hard to imagine that t...
2024-11-06 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostRita looked down at the weapon cradled between her hands, balancing the heavy blade on one palm with no appreciable difficulty.
Her expression seemed sad as she ran her fingertips along the pockmarked metal. She kept muttering to herself while palpating every inch of the sword. Rita began w...
2024-11-06 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostEdge woke up early the next morning, relieved that nothing had attacked them during the night. Everyone but Trapper was fast asleep. She had given the crew an extra two hours to rest, after tending to their stings with her cleanse skill. Although they had an important mission to ...
2024-11-05 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostJumo saw the question on Edge’s face and explained what was happening. “The gas won’t kill them, but it burns their soft tissue. They will instinctively fall back instead of forcing their way through, since they know it will disperse soon.”
“What’s the point?” he asked. “Are...
2024-11-04 18:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Don’t move.” The woman reached for a slender silver sheath attached to her belt. Half a heartbeat later, she drew her sword and struck in a single motion. The blade was back at her hip before Nick even registered the meaning of her words.
Before he could ask what had just happened, a...
2024-11-04 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Check your updates, everyone,” Violet called out. “That many kills should have let our core-wielders gain a few cycles.”
Sure enough, when Edge summoned his Guide, he had some updates waiting for him. He had forgotten that fighting as a crew distributed experience to the entire tea...
2024-11-01 17:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostAlthough Nick only had a fraction of a second to process this novel experience, he knew that his life was in danger. He reacted on instinct, understanding on a base, cellular level that he was under attack. If he had taken the time to process what was happening, the blast would have splattered hi...
2024-11-01 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Edge stopped to catch his breath, the crew began firing at the swarm, doing their best to whittle down their numbers from range.
Their attacks were more effective than he had feared, since the hunters were skilled with their weapons of choice. Their shots landed in the gaps in the mon...
2024-10-31 17:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe moment that he was back in his own skin, Edge flung the monster to the ground. He stomped down hard, frozen shell shattering beneath the heel of his boot. As he sprinted out of the grove, his chains tossed the blightling’s skill into his mouth. Then they retracted through his wrists to slum...
2024-10-30 17:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post