I was about to touch the device to my face again as there was a loud pounding on the front door.
"Fuckin, hell!" I exclaimed, barely keeping my hand from jabbing the sharp needle into my eye.I put the device down as I stomped towards the door, "This better be fucking good," I yelled loud enough for my visitor to hear. When I wrenched the door open, Martin was standing there."Martin, what the hell, did you not see the do not disturb sign? You almost made me poke my eye out.""Sorry, I wouldn't disturb you if it wasn't important.""Well, spit it out, I was kind of in the middle of something," I said, gesturing to my eye."Wha... no, I'll ask you about that later. This is about the visitors from a few weeks ago. I drove past the area on my patrol and decided to check and make sure the bodies were eaten. That's when I found this," he said, walking to the quad with something wrapped in a tarp.It looked like a body, "Is itAfter finishing my tattoo, I rode quickly to Biloxi, arriving late in the day. The activity in the streets was quieting down as people left to go home for the night. Still, it felt like I was being watched.I glanced around, not seeing anyone watching me. The feeling lingered as I made my way to the Bazaar. I was about a block away when three men stepped out from an alley. Bella gave out a low hiss.I turned my head, seeing the path behind me blocked by three more men."You see that boys? His pet threatened us."I turned towards the man who was talking, recognizing the voice instantly. It was the same guard that had tried to break into my room.All six started approaching me."You sure you want your ass beat again?" I said, looking at the guard.He smiled cruelly, "you ain't got no friends or tricks to save you this time, boy."Oh, how wrong he was. While I could probably take these six with little effort, I was
She explained how they worked and gave me the four control rings.Now, I needed to figure out a way to leave the Bazaar without dealing with those idiots outside. After visiting another merchant I picked up a single-use invisibility ring. It would only last five minutes but that should be plenty for me to avoid the guards and the Psion. While it cost me five hundred credits I deemed it an acceptable expense.As for the Psion, I wasn't familiar enough with the man's abilities and didn't trust that he wouldn't involve himself while I was in the middle of battle.I knew the man could freeze me in place, even if only temporarily. This could be deadly if I was mid-fight. I also knew the man was cautious and clever. If it wasn't for Martin finding the homunculus we may never have been aware that the man was still alive until he descended on Arman.He would have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. A dangerous individual like that shouldn't be left
Fiona floated through Biloxi, invisible to everyone. She remembered the guard's face and she was searching for him. It was more difficult than she realized to find one guard in this large city. After randomly searching around the Bazaar and near the outskirts of the city, she came up empty.She was also keeping an eye out for anything odd, too bad she found most of what the humans of Paul's world did, odd.She needed a different approach, her current one wasn't panning out. She decided to head back toward the city entrance. Eventually, she found what she was looking for. She followed the group of guards, throughout their entire patrol. It seemed at least one of them was aware something was following them as they kept scanning the area nervously. She felt bad for the man, it wasn't her goal to frighten them.She pulled farther back as to not trigger whatever ability the man was using. It was a long six hours, following the group of guards around before they returned to a building with
Frederick hissed in annoyance, the situation in the town called Biluxi had shifted rapidly. A large group of enchantment guild members had stepped out from the portal. Before Frederick could stop his men one group had attacked the envoy. That had not ended well for the local group. He had been forced to gather up his men and evacuate the town as quickly as possible. The guilds were far worse than the kingdom when it came to protecting their assets.That left him with a problem. He could try and find a temporary place to hold up until he was sure he knew all of this Paul's skills or just attack. Having forty remaining men he decided on the latter.***I stood at the top of the wall, watching the large group of men approach in the distance. A few of the town guards left to report to Constable Jenning. The secret was out and worried townsfolk had gathered. Some had weapons but most did not. It was like they thought it was a normal day from before the System.I could only shake my head in
Michael dismounted his horse as it came to a stop. The trip from New York to Chicago had taken over a month. The horses were mostly spent, as were his team.Their first stop had been two days prior, at the forward relay station, or what was left of it. There were obvious signs of a large fight that took place, in and around the communication tower. Whoever had attacked had taken any bodies that had been left behind by their people. The corpses of the Black Dragon sect members had been left to rot.Michael knew it had been people that had attacked the building. There were clear signs of weapon damage to the bodies. The rest he was able to determine through a skill of his called recall. It allowed him to sort of render a hazy image of what the deceased saw in the last hour of their life.The skill wasn't perfect, each passing day left the image slightly worse off. After a month he could only tell that the attackers had been human, details like faces were a blur. It was a good thing they
Since strength and brute force didn't seem to work, I decided to try something else.My first thought was to try and carve runes into the gem to disrupt the magical enchantment. Similar to what I did when I created my impromptu explosives using the slave collars. It may have actually worked... if I could scratch the damn gem. Nothing I tried was leaving so much as a tiny scratch.I could paint the designs on but the ink ran and bled across the surface, causing it to be useless. I sighed in defeat, nothing I was capable of would solve this issue. I had one more idea but I needed to go back to Biloxi to talk with someone in the Bazaar.This whole back and forth business was getting exhausting.Before I could head out back for Bella a bright light streaked out of the sky toward me. I was so startled by the unexpected encounter that I failed to react. That was probably for the best. The light came to a stop a few feet from me, floating in the air motionless.An alien voice spoke from the
It had taken two days for Fiona to recover from her imprisonment. She said it wasn't like when she had resided in my mind. It was just an endless void that seemed to tear at her very nature, where time seemed endless. Her short time trapped had felt like a thousand years to her.She had left after that, saying she needed to do something and would be back in a few weeks. I tried to stop her but she refused to listen. I wished her good luck and let her know I would be here if she needed me. Making sure to show her that I trusted her. In reality, I wanted to scream and rage because she was going away and I wouldn't be there to protect her.I knew I couldn't keep her locked up for her own safety but I should still have gone with her. I knew she needed the time to cope with what had happened. I would be ready when she returned.That reminded me, I still hadn't looked at the skills I unlocked for my new level.[Mana Boost: Boost mana recharge by 50% and mana pool by 10% for 10 min. Cost 150
Martin left to procure the items I needed the next morning. By the time he returned I should be back at one hundred percent. Fiona in the meantime was scouting the surrounding for more dungeons.If Martin agreed to join us my first goal was to hit the Grove dungeon. I think with the three of us we could take the boss, especially if I created a fire element weapon for Martin. I didn't know what kind of weapons he was skilled with so that would need to wait a bit.As I was alone I decided to walk around the building and plan the layout for where I was going to add the mithril reinforcement.As I walked around the front I noticed one man watching me from down the street. Curious to see what he wanted I waved and started to walk over. He turned and walked around a corner.'Hmm, one of the Constable's people? She must be wondering what I am up to.'Ever since I had been selling those enchanted weapons to the townsfolk she had increased her scrutiny towards me. I ignored the man as I saw hi
Was the person in the mirror really Henry and not an international supermodel?Henry could not help but wonder.However, Mia's reaction told Henry that it was not an illusion.Mia's mouth was wide open as she walked to Henry's side in shock. She looked at him in the mirror and was amazed."Oh my God, Henry, I never realized that you're so handsome! Gosh, you look so good."As Mia spoke, she couldn't help but touch Henry's firm chest."Oh my God, these firm pecs are worth dying for…"Henry looked at Mia, who was acting like a pervert. He shook his head helplessly and slapped her hand away."Alright, now that I've changed my clothes, let's hurry to the banquet before we go late. I'm not known for attending any events late." Hearing this, Mia finally came back to her senses. "Ah, yes. We have to hurry over. With such a handsome companion by my side, I'd like to see if those little b*tches will still show off in front of me," Mia proudly said as she pulled Henry's arm.After that, they q
Martin strode down the hall of the capitol building with a worried smile on his face. He was a bit greyer now but he still oozed charm and confidence. Time had been kind to him.The city had become a booming metropolis in the ten years since Paul returned, after his year and a half of being missing. Martin knew something had happened because one day a bunch of massive flying ships had come from nowhere and obliterated the ships that had been harassing the city non-stop for over six months. They had quickly taken care of Lord Vik’t and his remaining forces, the man managing to flee back to his homeworld before the Guild caught him.When Paul had returned, he had returned a quiet man. You could see the loss in his eyes. But the man pushed on and his businesses flourished, producing the Earth’s mightiest warships and most advanced runic items. Then five years after Paul returned, he took a fleet of ten of his capital ships and vanished for another year.When he returned again, the ships
As soon as the pirates realized the Guild ships were approaching the island, they broke off the fighting and retreated toward the edge of town to dig in. They weren’t stupid enough to attack the Guild but it seemed they wanted to ensure there wasn’t an accidental incident.One of the Guild ships docked and the Captain stepped off to greet the three of us. I had been carried over by Barcos and Em’ah on the same chair she plopped me in the night before. My legs were looking less like mashed potatoes now and instead looked like mushed putty. It was hard to ignore the sensation of the bones moving around within my shattered legs but I was managing.“Captain Paul, I hope this wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to hold off your enemy. I can assure you, we will leave for safer shores immediately if it was.”I ignored the man’s condescending snark before replying. “You have the agreement from the Director?”“I do,” he smiled. “Do you wish to review it?”I nodded and he produced a stack of documents
Groaning, I opened my eyes. All I saw was darkness. I tried turning my head or moving but it seemed like I was pinned in place.I fought down the urge to panic as I evaluated my condition. My arms were still broken, the sharp stabbing pain when I tried to move them told me as much. I could breathe though so my organs had healed after the beating I had taken. That was something at least.Seeing as I was in no immediate danger of dying, I checked my skills. My blood ran cold as I saw what remained of my abilities.[Rejuvenate][Multicast][Eye of the Storm][Aura of Rage][Calcifying Strike]Frostwave][Orb of Darkness][Energy Lance][Overcharge][Tempest Ball]That was the sum total of all the skills I now had. They had stripped me of every ability I had stolen from them along with every ability my second class gave me by default, making it impossible to recover skills by stealing them from others.I let out a morbid little chuckle as I lay there. Tears of frustration leaked from the
Those two words seemed to freeze everyone in place, but it wasn’t magic that caused it, it was fear. My body was frozen along with everyone else but my eyes rose into the air, tracking two creatures as they forced the magical fog away from the entire area with some ability.It was hard to tell by their alien physiology but I got the distinct impression they were looking directly at me. The initial fear was subsiding and people were starting to move again until the larger of the two squid-like creatures cast a spell. I managed to get off an Identify before the spell hit.[Ulq | Void Hunter/Maw of the Void | 47/41][Xiph | Psy Commando/Maw of the Void | 45/42]My body shook as I realized they were here for me but not a single person or even the entire pirate armada currently assembled here would be able to kill these two creatures.I felt the spell wash over the area and everyone was frozen again but a halo of golden light burst into existence above my head, washing away the spell’s eff
The meager fleet of ships I was now in charge of, rose from the dock and slowly spiraled into the air to get above the mist. The chaotic coloration of the mana storm was visible in the distance even through the mist. That meant the enemy was almost upon the island.The Retribution was the first ship to breach the thick covering and it was no surprise to see the enemy ships had spread out in a crescent shape to surround the island. Enemy fast attack craft zipped toward our location and I double-checked that everything was working as it should. I had also turned the mana accumulator back on.I sometimes wished I had been able to fit multiple layers of shielding on the ship. But my experiments in that regard had not gotten anywhere. Shields that close together acted like soap bubbles. Either they popped completely or merged together, but it didn’t increase the strength of the shield when they did. The only way to prevent this was to have separate bubble shields that only covered a certai
After weeks of sitting around, the Retribution finally got to fly again.Knowing we were leaving, the harbor was a beehive of activity. Cobbled together crews were drilling aboard the other captured pirate ships. The people knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when another enemy would appear.As soon as Khikall got us away from the docks and any possible collision, I engaged the cloak. It was far more effective now that I could enable and disable the automatic recharging system. The massive disruption of mana we used to leave in our wake was now a tiny trail.I hadn’t had time to figure out a way to smooth our passing completely but this would have to do. I also had Em’ah watching for trails from a crudely assembled periscope. Now she didn’t need to be on the deck to use her Mana Sense skill.Speaking of skills… I had picked up a few from the last fight. I also managed to finally hit level twenty in my Maw of the Void class. I stuck two of my stats in Strength, one in Endura
I watched as the workers placed the last armor panel in position and began to weld it into place. It had taken a few weeks to repair the damages from our fight but the Retribution was looking almost new.The replaced sections were clearly visible by the heat transfer in the titanium. I could easily fix that when I turned the thermal defenses on. It should make everything a uniform color. Paint would work too, I suppose, but why cover up the beauty of the metal.It was a good thing the ship was complete, over the last few days, we had been getting reports from the Guild merchant ships that were stopping to trade, and they weren’t good.Large fleets of pirate ships spotted raiding islands. The Capital of the Avulian Protectorate was sacked and all of the leadership missing. The remaining fleets of the Protectorate were attacking any ship that wasn’t theirs or the Guild's. Cities burning due to the slaves I helped free, it was madness and it was spreading.Already I could hear concerned
Captain Grulaine hissed in annoyance as his second in command handed him his “orders”. His second flinched back and hurried out of the room. If he hadn’t, Grulaine may have cut him down in a fit of pique. It galled Grulaine to be under the thumb of another. He had gotten rid of his father for that very same reason. And now thanks to a series of unfortunate events, he found himself beholden to the damn pirate king Black Gar’s lap dog.How was he to know the repair yard where he went was controlled by that snake. If he had he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to the loan to effect repairs to his cannons and ship. Repairs that had taken far longer than necessary, and left Grulaine on the sidelines as the entire protectorate seemed to be crumbling around him. An opportunity-rich environment he wasn’t able to take advantage of.But that wasn’t the most galling part. He found that his repairs were delayed on purpose so Gar could tighten his stranglehold on the local pirates. By the time Grulai