Hey, Fiona, I think we may have a problem,” I said as I looked at the remote viewing orb.It wasn’t quite clear as we were still a ways off from the coast and the orb wasn’t designed to see that far away. What I had noticed was a haze of dark smoke. I may have missed it if I hadn’t been watching the orb out of boredom and saw a slightly thicker clump of smoke.“What is it?” Fiona asked as she hurried into the room.“Smoke, I’m going to cloak the fortress. Can you fly ahead and get an idea of what we are flying into?”She looked worried about the possibility that the city and most likely Martin may be in trouble and nodded.It didn’t take her long to fly off and return, being much faster than the fortress.“City is mostly intact. It seems a few attacks made it through before the shield got raised. The smoke is coming from the walled-in farming area to the east. There seems to be an army camped out near the remains. They also appear to have mobile mana cannons and are occasionally firin
“You sure this will work?” Martin asked worriedly.“No,” I responded while I positioned the large cube full of runes into place below the teleportation scrambler.“You could have at least lied to me,” Martin grumbled.“And what good would that have done, hmm? Besides, the test worked fine, the only concern I have is distance. But I have a solution for that as well.”“Fair point. Can you activate it separately from the shield?”“For now, no. but if I had a few more days I could rig up a separate control for the drainer,” I replied.“That is a terrible name,” Ska said.“I'll leave the cool naming up to you and Martin,” I added, grunting as I squeezed past the massive block that took up most of the room in the small attic space.I heard Martin groan and Ska croon happily. I chuckled.“Are we ready?” I asked.Martin flicked on his little two-way radio and talked with the guards.“Everyone is in position and ready in case they attack. Ska could you join the wall guards?”“Very well, give m
It took a week but the enemy eventually pulled back all of their forces from within the forest. They couldn’t afford to leave even spotters inside the draining field. At least not if they wanted to keep them alive. Even stealth-based classes were severely limited by the teleportation scrambler as it prevented skills like what Martin told me that catkin was capable of using.The only reason Fiona was immune to this effect was due to her being spiritual. I had thought of coming up with a way to block spiritual entry but I liked having a way in again if shit hit the fan a second time. I knew it was only a matter of time until the Guild showed their face again. Now that the Guild knew we had a way to disable their main advantage they would be furiously trying to figure out how we did it. I suspected more infiltrators would be hired.Martin had agreed with my assessment and was pushing hard on the two they captured to try and turn them to our side. I still didn’t like the idea of letting t
After my conversation with Martin, which left me feeling like a stray dog kicked to the street, even though I knew Martin meant well, I thought long and hard about what he said.He was right of course, I had lost most of my drive since defeating the Black Dragon. Sure I still had the Stygian Order as a driving force but they were more a nuisance than anything else. And the Guild wasn’t something I would ever be able to defeat and that irked me.I only struck back at the Stygian Order as payback for the shit Stone pulled in Houston and way back in Chicago. And now I was going back to my old habits of retaliation by building something specifically designed to kick the Guild in the teeth in Houston. Well, not them per se but their lapdog Edward Rosewill.Eventually, I decided on a course of action. It was a hard decision to come to but I felt it was the right one. First, I would get help dealing with Houston, once we secured the city again, I would bring Ska back to Saint June, then I wa
The party lasted way too long and by the end, my nerves were fried but Fiona thanked me for sticking it out. I knew it was more about Martin than it was about me but still, I hated politics.The ship wasn’t launched that evening, much to the disappointment of everyone present. They could watch the launch in the morning after I got some sleep. Nobody could be within the compound walls while I was initiating the systems anyway, there was a slight possibility the automated defenses would determine they were hostile. It was unlikely but I didn’t want to risk it on a simple systems test.***The morning was a frantic burst of activity as the construction crew ran around making sure everything was secured. They would be aboard for the shakedown and many of them were nervous.“Boss, it looks like everything is good to go on our end,” Timothy said as he entered the command room.“Alright, tell your men to strap themselves in the flight chairs and we’ll get this show on the road.”The ship cou
“You’re certain!” Lord Vik’t hissed in annoyance.“Yes, my Lord,” Ashlam said from his kneeling position.“This should have been expected, but this was too soon. To think the man already figured out how to make a flying ship.”“Ahem,” Ashlam coughed, drawing his Lord’s attention.“Speak.”“We believe he has had this technology for some time, my Lord. But we have only recently confirmed the rumors ourselves.”“What rumors,” Lord Vik’t demanded.“Some people from Houston said he had a flying fortress made of stone. But those were dismissed as some sort of illusion. There were also these barges but they were said to only glide a few meters above the surface and moved quite slow. They also didn’t carry any weapons that we were aware of. So they were deemed unimportant.”“Unimportant,” Lord Vik’t said coldly. “Do you know how difficult it is to make an object float? No, of course, you don’t. And why didn’t that idiot in Houston relay this information to me on my visit?”“I am not sure, my
I stared with fascination and maybe a touch of horror at the destruction my weapons had wrought. My estimate had been thirty seconds to a minute to burn through the shield based on what I knew of the shields I had on the fortress and the power of the weapons. But the barrage from all sixteen mana lasers – set to continuous fire – had burned through whatever shitty defense they called a shield in less than three seconds.I had been so surprised that I didn’t get the beams turned off until most of the building facing me had been sliced through. I knew the beams had passed through the building and out the other side because I could see smoke rising from behind the taller building. Honestly, I had been more worried about overloading my weapons by using this setting more than anything else. They weren’t designed for continuous use. But the time frame had been so short that no damage occurred to the weapons.There were a few small explosions from the building and shortly after the main targ
It had been two weeks since I departed Saint June, in search of what, I wasn’t quite sure yet. Action and adventure I guess. Or maybe just the ability to see something new was what I needed.My path took me across the eastern parts of South America but I didn’t linger or stop long. There wasn’t much to speak about in the area, it had been devastated by something. War or some calamity had left the once dense jungle barren and blackened. I’m pretty sure the area I was in was the former country of Brazil but it was hard to tell. I saw the remnants of a few cities. The houses looked like they were gutted by a monumental blast but there wasn’t the telltale sign of fire or the lingering radiation of nuclear weapons.The damage was also quite old. I was able to determine this by the fact that new plants were already growing in the area of destruction. It also didn’t look like the destruction caused by those magical insects we ran across on our flight to assault the Black Dragon. Those things
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