OverXelous

54. Shadow Bind

Gravity reasserted itself as the group stepped through the Rift and into the dark forest. It stretched endlessly in every direction, ancient trees reaching upward. The occasional gap in the dense foliage showed the starlit sky and a surprisingly bright night beyond.

Olivia's passive skill [...

53. The Night

Olivia shifted in her leather chair, studying the faces around the ornate conference table. The Brussels meeting room had a mix of modern tech and classical architecture. To her, it seemed like an apt metaphor for the difference between the old world and the new System-driven world that they foun...

55. Connecting the Dots

Alex drummed his fingers against the closed leather-bound book he had sitting on his desk. Edwin had asked him to review the financial accounts after he'd woken up from 11 hours of sleep. He'd grabbed the leather notebook to take notes and scribble any additional thoughts, though he'd yet to open...

52. Sleep is a Waste of Time

Scorched and crumpled papers littered the worktable and many had spilled off onto the floor. Ritual diagrams and geometric shapes were hastily drawn around or even overtop of magical equations in Alex's increasingly messy handwriting. Winter air blew through the gaping hole in the eastern wall an...

51. Just Make It Bigger

Alex traced the final lines of the lesser spark rune in the air with his [Mana Thread] and stepped back to examine his work. The simplified design, while different, flowed a lot easier than the standard spark rune. Beside him, Evan still hunched over his own attempt and notes. Alex found it funny...

50. Lesser Spark Rune

Alex stared at the scattered papers across his workshop table. Each of them was covered in variations of ritual circles that he'd drawn over the past several days. The failed attempts kept piling up but he knew that there was something nagging at the edge of his thoughts. He'd been running [Paral...

49. Workshop

The scent of fresh paint and new tiles filled Alex's senses as he stepped into the workshop for the first time. Just upon stepping in the door at the corner of the building, the rightmost wall went straight ahead, and to the left was a door that led him into the main workspace. Warm-colored light...

48. Trust

Alex sat in his office, one half focused on practicing the motions of mana for the spark rune while the other sketched different variations of a new ritual circle design. Several piles of paper covered his desk, neatly organized and separated by wild ideas, functional concepts, and mistakes. Most...

47. Grumpy Mentor

Alex slumped deeper into the extra reading chair in his office. Several times over the last hour, he had relocated within the small space to change the environment as much as he could. Now, though, the weight of the amulet hung heavy against his chest. Valtherion floated nearby, and his usually e...

46. Spirit Item

Alex woke up slowly, his room dark from heavy curtains drawn across the windows. As consciousness returned, so did memories of the previous night.

Olivia had spent the evening with him, and her departure had felt bittersweet. She'd stayed late, making sure the System had truly healed him fr...

45. The Ritual's End

Alex’s consciousness drifted into the black space, devoid of stars, weight, and any sort of breeze. He felt that his consciousness should be close to collapse and felt an urgent need to figure out what part of his memory was missing.

The memory of combining two of his skill uses was clear...

44. The Price of Knowledge

It was impossible for Alex to tell how long he had traveled. It could have been minutes or years, though his sanity remaining intact made him lean toward a shorter time span.

There were no stars. He had no body or source of mana. There had been no time in the last three months since he’d ...

43. Weather the Storm

Alex’s fingers traced the pattern he’d drawn on the large sheet of paper in front of him. The ink had barely dried, and he thought through the process before him.

Mark and Sam talked quietly while seated on stools by the larger table to the side of the office, and Olivia paced back and ...

42. Training Wheels

Alex sat in his desk chair, leaning back and staring into the space over his hand. Several books lay open on the surface in front of him, their pages filled with a mix of runes, notes, and the occasional ritual sketch.

His eyebrows came together subconsciously as he concentrated on the thin...

41. Trial Run

The front door of the large mansion swung open to reveal Edwin. The white-haired and mustachioed butler watched the weary group as they climbed the stairs. Alex walked in first, and despite the tiredness that had settled over him in the car home, he felt excited at the prospect of pushing forward...

40. Tyrant's Challenge

The crowd’s excited chatter faded over time. Mark and Sarah played as bumpers for Alex and Olivia, helping to give them some space from the crowd. Even though the crowd had thinned by half, there were still a fair number of people keeping their distance and watching them with interest and casti...

39. Unexpected Fame

The three of them stopped and looked around when inside the large, high-ceilinged building.

Damn.

Alex was impressed. It looked more impressive than some professional sports stadiums he’d seen.

The gym floor was split into sections by temporary walls and banners. Some...

38. Power Play

"...in what appears to be the work of the first superpowered serial killer. Over the past several days, bodies have been discovered in two Northeast Safe Zones, all bearing the same gruesome signature. Victims seem to have been burned from the inside out, leaving authorities baffled and residents...

37. Extended Insight

“Okay,” Mark said as he dropped his pack on the floor of the foyer and held his hands up in the air. “As our own celebration for completing our final Rift of the Teams Event, I do hereby declare that a night out is in proper order!”

Alex scoffed but Sam was the first to speak up as ...

36. Loot Pile Party

Alex stood in the center of his living room, surveying the transformation. After coming down the stairs, eating lunch at the kitchen counter, and swiping through social media on his phone for a bit, he heard Sarah come into the house and start talking loudly with Mark in the living room.

Cu...

Big Update (Please Read!)

Hey everyone!

I’ve got a bit of an update for you all—both some good news and a slight adjustment that I want to be upfront about.

The Bad News (Kinda)

Starting next week, I’m adjusting my posting schedule back down to three chap...