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The three cultivators eyed each other, the radioactive wind blowing between them.
Arc had long overcome her need for sight once she had crossed the Fifth Coil. Her eyes had turned to metal inside their sockets, but she had gained a truer kind of sight. Her mind saw everything in a three-hundred sixty degree radius around herself. It could penetrate most objects, walls, illusi...
2024-09-09 07:50:30 +0000 UTC View Post
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I took as much from Lady Zyanya as I gave her.
Draining lifeforce through Seidr came to me much more easily than healing wounds. The latter required direction and a sacrifice on my part, while the former was like drinking from a pond of honey. I simply had to pace myself to avoid draining my partner dry without letting her notice.
I was unwilling to train this skill on ...
2024-09-07 07:36:07 +0000 UTC View Post
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The racers gathered to watch the devastation in fearful silence.
Mel and Hardy had stepped out of their vehicles, while Holster, Bucket, and a few other of Orient’s passengers climbed down from the spirit-train. Yuan canceled Gun Demon Incarnation to avoid wasting his qi. The thought of them turning on each other hardly crossed anyone’s mind, even Coyote’s. There was nothing left to fi...
2024-09-06 07:38:04 +0000 UTC View Post
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Yuan shed his skin.
His first Gun Demon Incarnation transformation took days of cycling to complete; his second finished in seconds. His arms and head turned into weapons and the thrusters on his back propelled him forward with greater velocity than ever before. He outpaced the racer brothers in a mighty sonic boom that blew dust and ashes in all directions
The wor...
2024-09-05 07:48:44 +0000 UTC View Post
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The brothers’ fireball would soon reach critical mass.
It had already accumulated enough qi to become a bright star illuminating the road. It was only a matter of time before its speed and size became unmanageable to the siblings. Yuan had no idea if their Dyad-powered projectile would successfully break through Chemzard’s sutra protections, and he was in no hurry to find out. &nbs...
2024-09-04 08:29:03 +0000 UTC View Post
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A battle theme to get you hyped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ2alndqSn0&list=PL7VGEh9tBZE7uh8VzsH_lX0NGuZ-qbXbF&index=8
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A qi-powered beam of crimson light blazed from the Eiffel Tower and hit the ghost ship.
The ray pierced the floating ...
2024-09-03 06:47:40 +0000 UTC View Post
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A/N: I'm on my way to leave Atlanta/Dragoncon tomorrow and take a plane back to Europe; as such next chapter should be posted back at the 'usual' hours.
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Orient sped up like a bullet fired from a gun.
Yuan had already seen the immense velocities that she could achieve before, but his friend usually built-up momentum before reaching it. Necessity...
2024-09-02 02:43:51 +0000 UTC View Post
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A/N: heya, sending this from Atlanta's Dragoncon (hence the odd hours; my roomate caught covid so praying I won't show symptoms either).
I remind you that I'll be stubbing this story's first volume (roughly chapter 3 to 24) tomorrow as per KU's publishing rules, so if you are a Dracolich rank Patron, this is your last chance to download the PDF ebook there: 2024-08-31 02:38:38 +0000 UTC View Post
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A hundred qi-powered engines hummed in anticipation.
The residents of Battletown gathered atop its walls to acclaim and cheer on the competitors. Green flying eye-drones spread across the entire length of the History Road highway, recording and displaying everything on countless screens inside the city.
The great bridge linking Battletown to the rest of the wast...
2024-08-30 02:03:42 +0000 UTC View Post
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NOTICE: Hi guys, I'll be at Dragoncon (in Atlanta) until September 2; as such, update hours will be a bit irregular compared to my usual European-based hours; posting that chapter 'early' to keep you updated.
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Yuan’s mind was lost in a maelstrom of gunshots and violence.
His bullet-core continued to cycle on its own, for beyond the agony lay a wastelan...
2024-08-29 03:18:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Previous Chapter
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Yuan threw himself into his training after his encounter with LaChair.
Both his and Bucket’s attempts at gathering information or approaching their fellow contestants yielded little results so far: Orient was nowhere near the fastest vehicle in the competition, and few competitors appeared interested in an alliance besides Mel and Hardy. Rampant paranoia and the fact Yuan openly challenged the Khan’...
2024-08-28 08:01:20 +0000 UTC View Post
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Jared LaChair’s clinic was unlike what Yuan had expected from a Flesh Mansion Sect cultivator.
Instead of a chapel of flesh built from the backs and spines of harvested slaves, it was a mere office located in one of Battletown’s poorest districts far away from the slave market. Glowing bars set into the ceiling nearly blinded Yuan with harsh light when he walked inside wh...
2024-08-27 07:58:51 +0000 UTC View Post
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Yuan had only spent a day in Battletown, and he already hated it.
While the city was made of steel, suffering and exploitation were its true foundations. Yuan guessed he should have expected a place centered around a yearly death game and the slave trade to cater to all of humanity’s vices. The streets sprawled with taverns, inns, bars, restaurants, brothels, drug ...
2024-08-26 07:36:16 +0000 UTC View Post
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I woke up alive.
My body felt both fresh and sluggish at the same time. My skin was smooth like a fresh fruit and my flesh was brand new. The Nightlords had stripped my old, burned remains from my skeleton and draped me in a new shell of life.
My senses were sharper than knives. The smell of incense filled my nostrils and raised me from my slumber. I rested on a bed of white flowers wi...
2024-08-24 07:58:31 +0000 UTC View Post
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“Who the fuck are you?” Slash asked.
Yuan’s bullet-core burned in his skull. The power of the Gun which sustained his life magnified his righteous fury, fanning the flames of his anger until they transformed into a blaze of rage. It took Yuan all of his willpower to not wave a Recoil Blast Barrier around his hand and shoot Slash down in front of the entire racer assembly. <...
2024-08-23 06:45:34 +0000 UTC View Post
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A patrol intercepted them halfway on their way to Battletown.
The sight of three SUVs with twice as many power cruisers driving after them to intercept the spirit-train brought back a few terrible memories of Slash’s band slaughtering his own, even though he knew he had grown strong enough to defend himself. He watched them approaching from the locomotive’s window, with O...
2024-08-22 07:48:18 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone!
This is with a great emotion that I'm announcing the release of The Perfect Run game's public demo!
Writing this from the Gamescom event, it's been years since I first wrote this story and nearly eight months since the amazing developers at Lanterns Studio started working on this game; none of this would have been possible without them. They've done an amazing job, and I'm super hyped to finally show you all the characters I've once put to paper now in 3D.
Thank y...
2024-08-21 11:10:49 +0000 UTC View Post
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Mopping up the remaining plastic men hardly warranted any effort on Yuan’s part. By the time he returned to the spirit-train, Bucket and the others had destroyed most of the vehicles and melted down the few enemies that managed to board. They only suffered two dead passengers and three wounded; a vanishingly small number of casualties considering the scale of the raid they’d just faced..
Such ...
2024-08-21 06:55:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello everyone!
It's been a while since Apocalypse Tamer concluded last year, but I've been hard at work on that front in the background. I've a few good news to share with you.
First of all, Aethon has released a series bundle of all audiobooks on Audible, narrated by Jack Voraces! You can get the full series of Basil's menagerie with a click!
Some Battle music to go along with this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ2alndqSn0&list=PL7VGEh9tBZE7uh8VzsH_lX0NGuZ-qbXbF&index=8
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Yuan leapfrogged his way to the trashemoth and left a trainwreck of devastati...
2024-08-20 08:00:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Previous Chapter
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Engraving an innate technique turned out to be a very literal experience.
The Third Coil’s changes had been automatic so far, natural. Yuan hardly had to think about them. The mere act of cycling replaced his human flesh with qi-forged steel.
Learning an innate technique meant directing that transformation. Arc had him write sutras onto his nervous circuits first, an a...
2024-08-19 08:17:25 +0000 UTC View Post
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It said something about Mother that the prospect of transferring a girl’s soul into a monster’s body aroused her intellectual curiosity.
“Quite the brilliant plan, my son,” she congratulated me while casting a spell on her divinatory pool. The purple water’s surface rippled, with indistinct mirages forming on it. “Very bold. Tell me, how do you intend to bind those...
2024-08-17 08:31:39 +0000 UTC View Post
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They left the station by sundown.
An army of cats sang a symphony on their way out. Yuan would have expected this to result in a terrible cacophony, but their caretaker spirit had drilled them to musical perfection. They all purred and meowed in unison. As for Mordiggian and the few passengers who elected to become his future meal, they simply waved them off.
“Goodbye, goodby...
2024-08-16 08:32:45 +0000 UTC View Post
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The group ended up staying one more day at the station, during which the spirit-train changed quite a bit.
Orient incorporated ten more wagons into herself, doubling her length and greatly expanding her facilities. Yuan partly contributed to their restoration by practicing Item Materialization. Though his intuitive understanding of firearms was of limited use when repairing ...
2024-08-15 08:37:50 +0000 UTC View Post
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Mordiggian proved to be a very different teacher than Arc.
Arc’s training sessions had gotten Yuan used to practical exercises and the occasional attempts to make him figure out technique intricacies on his own; learn how to learn, in her own words. Mordiggian instead preferred detailed and in-depth explanations while happily answering Yuan’s questions in a clear and conc...
2024-08-14 08:29:52 +0000 UTC View Post
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Yuan finished his tea in silence.
He still struggled to comprehend the full severity of their situation. Yuan was a courier at heart. His existence for the last few years revolved around traveling and delivering packages. He never signed on for a high-level cultivator conflict over a Lost Age relic capable of laying waste to civilization.
He felt a sense of respon...
2024-08-13 08:41:16 +0000 UTC View Post
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Yuan and Mordiggian discussed the apocalypse over a cup of spirit-leaf tea.
Though he had seen cultivators partake in the practice in the past, Yuan had never been allowed to participate himself. Qi-charged nutrients were too rare and precious to be wasted on Scraps.
Now that he could test it, Yuan found himself supremely unimpressed. The beverage tasted terribly bitter and...
2024-08-12 08:50:03 +0000 UTC View Post
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I couldn’t breathe through the First Emperor’s mask.
Cold obsidian stone pressed on my cheeks and jaw, sucking out the air out of my lungs and the warmth of my sunlight blood. Colder hands removed my clothes from my flaccid, pallid blue skin. I could hardly feel them.
“Do you know what godhood is, Iztac?” Iztacoatl asked me, her voice a pale mist slither...
2024-08-10 08:12:10 +0000 UTC View Post
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Among the thousand Paths, none were as reviled as the Sky-Biter’s.
When the Spiral Dancer awakened mankind to the secrets and wonders of cultivation, she showed them all the Way; but not all Paths were as kind as her own. Some were paved with pain and blood.
Few of the people who had witnessed the Unmaking lingered among the living, but their tales of terror survived to this d...
2024-08-09 08:05:12 +0000 UTC View Post
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Greenery surrounded the station, its emerald grass glittering under the sunlight.
Yuan struggled to believe in his own eyes. Unlike Bucket and the other spotters, who all used binoculars to observe the place from afar from the wagon’s roof, his new eyes let him see far into the distance without assistance.
The train station looked quite similar to the one Yuan ...
2024-08-08 08:01:52 +0000 UTC View Post
