Pressure, a transformative force capable of allowing people or materials to reach unimaginable heights.
Who after all, would look at a worthless lump of coal, and imagine it being turned into a diamond, or that some urchin, who spent their days begging on the streets, would one day become the king of an entire country.
It’s madness, but one that’s undeniably a part of our reality, the thing is… for some odd reason, so many seem to forget that just because something is true that doesn’t mean it applies to everything or everyone.
The same pressure that made a diamond, can leave nothing but dust in its wake, the same challenges, which made a king, can more often than not, leave nothing behind, but shallow graves.
Not everything, everyone, is made of the same stuff, or capable of being crushed into something new.
Some will do nothing, but burst into flames once the weight pushes down on them, given for whatever reason they’re just not quite able to handle the heat.
That doesn’t make them inherently worse though, just unsuited to the conditions they’ve found themselves in.
Coal, for example, will never create rain, no matter how much it’s crushed or how “ideal” the conditions are, just like water will never become a diamond.
Does that mean water, the thing which has given life to so many is less than coal?
No, people, materials, are just different, and have their own requirements to even have the chance of reaching their full potential.
A concept that at least for materials, is something so many have a deep understanding of, but when it comes to people?
For some reason so many seem to forget that one shoe truly doesn’t fit all, and that there’s no way to inherently know what will actually break a person, or instead lead them to their greatest self.
There’s only the wheels of fate endlessly turning, as we stumble along, and play out a story that’s already written.
One that could be our greatest tale or a day away from our worst.
Hanging over our heads though, objectively, there’s a path that could lead to greatness, but in life, there’s only so much room for the winners.
There is only one first place, and certainly no perfect society, or way to turn everyone into their best self… trust me, gods have tried, and the closet even they have gotten are simulations of reality.
People forced to live in fake worlds, until they manage to become the best version of themselves, and then?
They get snatched away from everything they’ve ever known or loved, which isn’t even going into some of the horrors God have allowed, or rather subjected people to in the endless grind to make them better…
The unfortunate truth is that success can only exist at the cost of others.
Now, what is the moral of this story?
Could it be taking comfort in the knowledge that your mediocre life is allowing someone else to live their best life, maybe it’s the idea that all it would take for your life to improve, is to be a bit more selfish, to take just a little more, to put yourself first or maybe simply the idea that it’s okay to be coal, it’s okay to be water… When no one actually needs to be the absolute best version of themselves.
In the end, all one really needs is to be happy, but take my words how you will, I know you will anyway, regardless of what I write.
The words of whom some call a god, but far more of them know him as that annoying asshole
____________________________________________
The sky splits, and a massive dark black rectangular cut the size of a dozen football stadiums, fills the otherwise deep blue sky.
An event, which captures the complete attention of every living thing on Hesto, well at least if they’re sentient, and have access to a scrying orb.
All drawn towards this display of void magic, a power that can consume entire worlds, and one which has no business being on this side of the cosmos, causing every mind to wonder what exactly is on the other side?
A fleet of ships pass through it, they’re smooth, sleek, and covered in engravings.
Appearing frozen in place after the teleportation, like a picture, before disappearing in an instant, almost as if they were imagined.
Seconds later the void shudders, cracks of thunder burst as something massive squeezes its way through the cut.
A massive floating fortress, it’s the size of a small city, formed of dark grey stone, which blooms outward into a sphere on the bottom, and the top half is made up of castle walls that are absolutely covered in weapons.
Massive cannons, turrets, and made all the larger by the tiny dots of people patrolling next to them, while the weapons slowly rotate, momentarily locking onto to targets, before moving on.
The Salazar, along with the Nelka are both stunned by its appearance, wondering who these strangers are, and what they could possibly want, but then their weapons begin to fire.
Beams of energy slam into the Nelka offensive, cutting through their defenses like they’re not even there, and sending them reeling in panic.
Small dots, swarms of people then burst from behind the walls, looking like a swarm of bugs, before they smash into the panicking Nelka.
Salazar all around Hesto cheer, well the common soldiers do, while Osmond, along with the other revolutionaries have a very different reaction.
They know all too well, no one ever does anything for free, and that this aid could ultimately come at a higher price tag than even what the Nelka were after.
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It’s amazing how much can change over the course of a couple of days, friends can turn into enemies, while lovers become little more than strangers, and entire factions bloom from what was once a united force… Time is a force capable of changing just about anything, and in this case has given rise to three new groups.
There is of course the rebels, Carter’s group, the yeah let’s kill the undead who just kicked our asses two times, yet we want to give it another go for some reason crowd.
The just comply group, which shockingly enough doesn’t really have a leader, and is more people just looking out for themselves.
Well to be fair to them, they expect help to arrive at some point, and aren’t at all expecting to truly spend years in prison.
Then there’s the third group, the ME group, less a group, and more a hierarchy determined by power.
Unsurprisingly, it’s also the most dangerous group by far, and led by Olivia.
The woman Carter convinced a significant amount of people to give all of their mana to for a couple of days.
A decision some would say went poorly, particularly with mana becoming the life blood of the prison, and how Olivia used it to empower herself.
Pouring thousands of mana into enchantments she gained from a handy little book, and turned herself into a force that frankly doesn’t even look human anymore.
She’s covered from head to toe in brown stone, and every inch of her body is filled with glowing runes that pulse with mana.
Power though begets more power, allowing her, and the others to tax the rest of the prisoners.
Really, allowing them to do pretty much anything they want to, if they don’t go far enough to trigger the undead, which leads to the offenders being taken away, and never being seen again.
Things aren’t so bad though, food is flowing, shelters are being exchanged for a bit of mana, and for the most part people are just going about their days.
In fact not having to worry about monsters, well minus the undead has been a nice break for a lot of prisoners, and in some way a return to normal.
Something that almost seems to offend Carter, the way people are just acting like everything is alright while surrounded by death, while being caged by monsters.
The stone spear crushes beneath his grip “Another failure” but at least I finally have the spell.
Tier One Earth Manipulation – The earth shaped by your will.
Not much of a spell, but the first step in allowing him to push for more, and exactly what will allow him to start working towards his freedom.
____________________________________________
“It’s done, the offensive against your home world has been crushed, and the Nelka have been forced into a fortified location, all that awaits is your champion for the final confrontation.” “Excellent, I will contact her right away, and hopefully this will all be over soon.” Aurisa then taps a ring, and after a moment passes Sarah appears floating in the air.
“It’s time.” Sarah turns towards Aurisa, before tilting her head back, and fourth, before muttering “It should be fine.” She then looks at Aurisa, and the orc “One battle.” The Orc tenses upon seeing Sarah “Of course we have a portal ready for you if you will just head this way.” Sarah disappears in a flash, while Aurisa stares at the portal, and can’t help, but imagine all of the horrors, which have been committed against her people, yet for some reason the bad things in life somehow always have a way of being worse.
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Blood, I’m drowning in blood, trapped in a red sea as hands slowly drag me under, their eyes filling the depths, like rocks on a mountain side.
Their glowing eyes, blues, greens, browns, and so many other colors, staring up at me, yet their faces are little more than smooth blank slates.
The faces of everyone who has died because of my choices, because of my class… It’s all my fault.
There’s thousands of them, and they’re dragging each other down just at the chance to be the one who drowns me.
Above the blood, a miner is floating, her pickaxe, an inch away from my flailing hands, just barely out of reach, and even her face is blank.
None of their faces, not Vander’s, Lin’s, that dumb kids, the countless dead people… or any of the undead I’ve created or met truly sticking with me at all, and pressure begins to squeeze onto my chest, before I wake up with a gasp.
My body is covered in sweat, it feels like someone is stabbing into my stomach, but unfortunately there’s no blade in me.
That would be easier to deal with, instead it’s just my feelings, my worthlessness, after all what else would you call not even remembering the faces of those you’re responsible for killing?
I stumble into the bathroom, the mana light, a faint blue light flickering on, but the faucet doesn’t have an ounce of water.
Just a helpful little indicator showing the water levels are empty.
“Right, they’re dead too, two more dead because of me, and all they experienced in life was taking care of my bathwater.”
I want to scream, in my mind I even do, and my voice reaches octaves I’ve never even come close to bringing into reality, but after a few minutes?
Everyone fades to silence.
“It never ends does it?” I find myself just blanky staring into the mirror, and a stranger stares back at me.
“Who even am I, a coward, someone struggling to survive? When did it all go so wrong?”
‘Thump’
One of my shades is in the hallway, they’re just dropping off some materialized materials, before getting straight back to the endless grind.
I wonder where they get their dedication from, if they’re truly a part of me?
“Or maybe, they just didn’t end up with the parts of me that are so damn good at making excuses. At avoiding what actually needs to be done.”
‘Sigh’
Well, step one, figure out the water situation, and step two I still really don’t know.
“And maybe that’s part of the problem, yet it feels like I’m trapped in a circle.” Able to see what’s wrong, but not quite willing to actually take that next step.
Failure?
Of being worthless, pointless, insignificant… to put everything on the line, and for it to have been for nothing?
To be something better, and no longer have any excuses for not doing what’s right?
I have nothing to really lose, yet for some odd reason something is still holding me back.
“Why?”
Strangely, the mirror doesn’t answer my question, and in the end all I do is focus on that first step, with the second squirming away at the back of my mind.
____________________________________________
Get your food here, free basic food here, but trade is open for better stuff or even items, in exchange for mana.
Signs have been placed across the city, and they all point to a little counter built outside of the arcane walls, and behind the counter sits a single undead.
A draugr in a black suit awaiting customers who in a word are hesitant, but the pounds of rice just sitting on the counter are a temptation few of the hungry can resist for long.
Especially, after the first brave soul walked away, without being murdered, granted they basically just grabbed the bag, and ran, but all it takes is one.
“What you got?” The human is shifty, their body constantly moving, and their fingers tapping on the counter.
Bartholomew The Second, meanwhile stares them down, but they don’t flee like the other fools.
“Food, five pounds of rice free once per day, any other materials or food starting off at twenty mana per pound, and any other items will be a case by case bases.” Their hands, their grimy little hands grab ahold of the single bag of rice on the counter.
“And where exactly are you getting this food?” A foolish question, which of course is answered with nothing, but a blank stare, for a moment the two stare at each other, until the human breaks.
“I’ll take a pound of beef.” Bartholomew waves towards an orb ingrained into the counter, and the human hesitantly touches it.
A small stream of grey mana quickly leaves their body, and then a ghost carrying a wooden platter exits from the city, before placing it down on the table.
The human studies the meat, but to their surprise it just comes back as tier zero beef, and with a shrug they wander off with their food.
A short while later though they’re back along with a steady stream of other humans, and they have mana to spend.
____________________________________________
Spell circles surround Veronica, Tides, Issec, and a few of the other undead leadership.
As materials, and mana are poured into slots by the surrounding mages, the collective power running through the room creates a haze of flowing mana, dancing through the air.
Slowly their bodies begin to glow, pulse as energy compresses their body, and the sound of their bones cracking echoes out of the chamber.
Once the sounds stop, and the mana fades though, rare grade beings emerge.
Their bodies are the same, yet refined, the draugr’s skin is smoother, and the way they hold their body is fuller, while the skeletons bones are not only smoother, they gleam under the light.
The ghosts on the other hand, are just denser, so dense that they no longer look like incorporeal beings at all.
Power radiates from all five of them, each of them looks at each other before heading their separate ways surely to test their new power, and find out exactly what they’re now capable of.
____________________________________________
The world is grey, dark clouds fill the air while ash rains from the sky like rain, and yet, the smell of blood somehow overpowers everything else.
There are rivers of blood, torn apart bodies, thrown across the fields, and rotting underneath the sun.
The bodies of lizards, of Salazar, the young, the old, the farmers who worked just on the other side of the hill.
Hundreds of thousands of bodies stacked together like a mound of garbage, an entire city emptied of all life, and thrown in front of the shield that dares to still stand.
An entire city emptied of life just to make a statement posted on a little sign in front of it all.
Come out, and fight or stay hiding in your hole staring at the fate awaiting you.
Sarah tenses upon seeing all the dead, with the dead children perhaps having the largest impact, but in the end, the deaths of the innocent always have an impact, particularly when it’s so clear they died in such a brutal manner, and were entirely helpless.
“This way.” An Orc indicates toward a hill covered in battle scars, the remains of explosions, and shallow pools of acid dotting the land.
Sarah’s feet are steady, and firm as she walks forward, it’s not the first time she has seen such a battlefield, and it definitely won’t be the last.
If anything it makes all of this so much easier, after all it’s easy to kill those who deserve it.
On the other side of the hill rests camps of orcs surrounding a ship that has a stone wall raised around it, and is manned by Nelka patrolling the wall.
Watching the orcs, but daring not to challenge them, and then Sarah is walking towards the wall.
At first the Orc moves to stop her, but the waves of blood lust radiating off of her body quickly makes them reevaluate that choice.
If anyone knows, not to get in the way of someone with murder on their mind, it’s certainly an orc.
Alone, Sarah walks towards the Nelka, breaching the no man’s land without breaking stride, and at first the Nelka don’t even react, but then they see her.
At first, a few arrows simply fly towards her, not even really aimed at her, and more a message of piss of, but when she doesn’t even flinch or slow down… she’s taken a little more seriously, more arrows fly, but they simply fall to the floor, after hitting an invisible wall of mana surrounding her, and then there’s a crack.
A massive arrow the size of a car appears in an instant, it’s made of some shiny metal, absolutely covered in runes, and power is radiating from it.
A few inches, that’s how far the arrow manages to make it, before it entirely disintegrates, and the Nelka are stunned.
Siege arrows aren’t things people can just brush past, hell city shields don’t even just flat out disintegrate them!
Alarms begin to ring, mages start firing off spells, lightning bolts, giant balls of fire, and even acid rain, but none of the magic even comes close to touching Sarah.
Leading them to trying something new, a device is rolled forward, a cannon the size of a bus, and it unleashes a massive beam of red energy, which at least gets a reaction.
Sarah lifts her hand, the beam splits around her, and she keeps walking forward, without breaking stride.
More alarm bells begin to ring, flares shoot into the sky, as more of the Nelka man the battlements, and get ready for the end, they knew was coming once the first orc hit the ground, but this elf?
Is an unexpected sight.
Salvatore drops from the battlement, and begins walking towards her “Well hello elf, I take it you’re the one the cowards somehow convinced to fight their battle. An elf leading a company of orcs the universe truly is a strange place. Mercenaries thoug-” Sarah merely tilts her head at him, before she appears in front of him, her fist slams into chest, and sends him crashing through the wall.
A cloud of dust forms, as pieces of the wall crumple, as the Nelka stand frozen, waiting to see if their king is even still alive.
Sarah, though like an unstoppable machine, just keeps walking forward, as green light begins to grow around her body, and Salvatore bursts from the dust.
A massive green metal hammer is gripped in both of his hands, and his body is covered by pitch black platemail.
Each swing of the hammer sends forth a gust of wind akin to the gust of a hurricane, sending dirt, and stones flying, but each swing misses Sarah by the narrowest of margins.
A blur of strikes pass in an instant, before Salvatore backs off, but when he does, Sarah is once again right in front of him, her foot slamming into one his knees.
‘Snap’
Salvatore’s knee completely crumples, the metal digging into his body, and the bottom half of his leg is just left swinging, all of the connection to his body lost.
He grunts, before another foot slams into his stomach, and sends him spiraling through the air, before he crashes to the floor.
Silence reigns throughout the battlefield, Nelka watching with baited breaths, while Sarah stands over him.
Salvatore tries to get back on his feet, when a foot once again finds its way to his stomach, air quickly drains from his chest, and then a boot is pressed to the back of his head.
‘Crunch’
His head bursts like a watermelon dropped from a three story apartment building.
A spray of red sinks into the dirt floor, as Sarah turns to the rest of the Nelka, hiding in their walls.
‘Sigh’
She takes a deep breath, before a drop of emerald green grows in the middle of her palm.
She stares at it for a moment, before letting it drift towards the hole in the wall while she slowly walks away.
A blue shield bursts up, but the orb just floats through, and a few moments later, there’s a pop.
Green flames fill the shield blocking everything on the other side of it from sight, and when it clears, everything is gone.
Ash slowly drifts to the ground, and all of the Nelka their ship, everything is simply reduced to dust, and Sarah disappears into a blur of green mana.
____________________________________________
Aurisa awaits with baited breath, and is pacing around her ship for what feels like hours, when they finally emerge.
Sarah appears first, and she looks the same, completely spotless, but has perhaps a distant look in her eyes.
The Orc, dressed in a suit though, who follows shortly after looks unsettled, and his eyes are locked on to Sarah, like he’s watching the movements of a dangerous wild animal.
“Is it done?” Sarah stares at Aurisa for a moment, almost looking through her, before nodding.
“It is, but,” Sarah takes a deep breath “For what it’s worth I’m sorry for what happened to your people.” She then disappears in a flash, while Aurisa turns towards the orc, who’s watching the flakes of Sarah’s disappear.
“Well?” The orc jolts, before shaking his head, and composing himself.
“The Nelka certainly did a lot of damage to a number of cities, were quite brutal in their occupation, but it could have been far worse, and is now completely over, with not a single Nelka remaining on Hesto.” Aurisa takes a deep breath “Well, I guess I’ll see it when I arrive, if there is nothing else it seems our business is concluded.” The Orc hesitates “Normally, I would agree, but your champion went a bit beyond our expectations, and we feel there’s still a bit owed.” Aurisa’s eyes narrow at the orc “Okay… then how would you like to settle things?” You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
The orc taps one of his feet on the ground.
“It’s a difficult thing to quantify given that if we lost even one member during the assault the cost would be significant, but this is also the job we signed up for.” They pause for a moment.
“We will help things settle for the next couple of days, and if you have a need of us, you simply have to ask.” They then wave towards the portal, and the two disappear, back to Hesto.
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Nightmares, for some reason make it so much easier to be an easier riser, when sleep is no longer this blissful escape from everything.
It forces one to get creative, to find other ways to spend one’s time, and maybe doesn’t exactly enable one to make the best of decisions… But hey getting knocked out surely has to be in a similar realm as sleeping right?
My wooden blade slams into the master swordsman or at least it looks like it’s going to, before they shift, their sword smacking me across the back of my head, and sending me spiraling to the ground as for a moment everything is lost to the void.
One of my shades then taps in, but after a couple of strikes they too are sent tumbling to the ground, and we both stare up at the skeleton who almost looks as if they’re mocking us.
We both crawl to our feet, for a moment staring down the skeleton, before in an instant we rush them, but the skeleton turns into a blur, somehow not only deflecting both of our blades, but also striking back.
In a few short breaths we are both back on the floor, panting, well I am, the shade is more just falling to goop on the floor.
Exhaustion runs through my body, while the bruises covering most of me throb in pain, but hey it’s a fun way to raise three of my attributes, and even allows me to learn a new skill along the way.
Even if at the start, all of the skeleton truly did was mercilessly tear me apart…
Regardless!
With my shades, sharing the beating, and raising those oh so sweet ability levels.
The gap is being to be closed, it’s just a shame though, how they don’t seem to share attribute growth, either that or it’s just super slow after a point.
Meaning that I actually have to do some of the work, but still with them it’s at least potentially possible for me to learn anything.
Knowledge endlessly pouring into my mind, regardless of what I’m doing, and if nothing changes at some point far off in the future they might just be teaching me new abilities, while I focus on other things.
Five of my other shades then finish meditating, before rising from the ground, drawing black blades of mana, and surrounding the blade master.
A smile grows across the skeletons face, before they shrug, and turn into a whirlwind.
Their blade sings through the air as he charges my shades, but my gaze however is drawn towards something I’ve kind of been avoiding.
Shard of The Narcissist (Core)
The shard splits, and once again I can feel it becoming something lesser, but also malleable as if the pieces can just slide back together.
Piece of Self Righteousness (Core)
Piece of Confidence (Core)
“Hmm, so what will happen if I combine them?”
Shard of Arogence (Core)
It becomes something completely different, and if I break this it will probably result in new pieces.
Oh god not another ranking system I can take any more!
Piece of Pride (Core)
Piece of Intent (Core)
Two, new pieces, but nothing that really tells me what makes them lesser… maybe they’re not lesser at all, and they’re just smaller pieces?
The piece of Intent then shatters when I try to split it again, leaving behind something rather interesting.
A floating cloud of energy that my body is practically begging me to absorb.
Wisdom +2
Intelligence +1
Souls can be broken down to increase stats or maybe just plain absorbed to do so… that’s insane.
The energy flows into me, and my mana bumps up by thirty, definitive proof that it does work, but what I’m going to do with it?
____________________________________________
“Rise, rise RISE!” Vie shouts as she stands at the tallest point of her tower, a literal foot above the water, and is floating with both of her hands raised into the air, as the first rays of the rising sun cover her body… Her undead on the other hand are entirely unimpressed with her theatrics, particularly the ones actually in the red sea.
A description some would think is nothing, but an expression it turns out though, when enough things, particularly when those things include whales, the ocean can in fact turn red with blood, and a whole lot of animals have died here.
Countless bodies are floating on the surface of the water, entire pods of whales, sharks, seals, dolphins, along with soooooo many fish, and birds.
Just floating along the red water, drawing even more predators, until they too are cut down, and left to rot.
Creating a smell, which unfortunately for Vie, she’s the only one blessed to experience, an otherworldly smell of rotting fish, and blood, something that can’t truly be described, but there’s really no way to make the bodies just disappear particularly when the animals just keep coming.
No longer just being drawn by the mana drifting into the ocean, but now by what they think is free food.
They also just keep dying though, speaking of, a new day brings a threat that just doesn’t seem to get it.
Birds, so many birds, that their wings not only block out the sun, but the flap of their wings sends out an echo akin to the sounds of a stadium.
In response a couple of hundred of archers take aim, filling the air with a swarm of arrows, before a wave of spectral warriors burst into the air after them.
Blood, and bodies rain from the sky, the birds flee, after the first clash, but they’re always more of them trying to get a bite.
The top floor or rather what will come to be known as the first floor is once again bathed in gore, before water mages start to spray away the blood, and bodies away, as the dungeon core sparkles to life.
It’s mana slowly trying to consume all of the bodies, but they’re the hesitant bites of someone whose already spent three hours at a buffet.
The desire for more food is certainly there, but there’s not really any more room, and the core seems to have no idea what to do with all of the materials its already gathered.
Despite all of these challenges over the course of the past couple of days, lots of progress has been achieved.
Sixteen deep blue pillars are evenly spaced out in a circle that’s a mile in diameter, poking out of the water, and in the middle of it all is a platform filled with thousands of undead mostly mages, although other types of undead are pretty prevalent.
The mages though are the core of the tower, their days spent meditating or feeding their mana into the pillars.
All of which are connected to the center platform, to the pedestal of the dungeon core, and slowly growing down into the abyss, but with thousands of feet separating the ocean floor from the surface they still have a long way to go.
At least, until something changes, the entire tower glows, a blue light flashes through the platform, and pillars, for a moment illuminating what seems like the entire ocean.
Quest Completed!
Claim dominion over the surrounding area, and eliminate any threats standing in your way!
(Grow core influence area by 2,000 feet)
Reward – A brave new world!
Instead of fighting it out on your planet, you instead choose to challenge the cosmos, and find a new place to call home.
Winning the opportunity of a lifetime, the completion of the base frame of your tower, and an increase of grade for all materials in your domain.
New Quest!
Claim This World – The core of this world is weak!
Typically an issue for everyone on a planet, but for you presents a rather unique opportunity… The chance to claim this entire planet as your own, but be warned weak or not it will not be relinquishing its claim easily.
Reward!
Other than control of an entire world?
Someone is a greedy one, but if you manage to defeat an entire world?
Well, what could be better than another opportunity, perhaps something, which will truly push you to your limits.
Oh yeah, do you confirm or deny this quest?
Quest Accepted!
Everything grows still, the wind stops blowing, and the waves break.
An unnatural feeling washes over Vie, and static begins to build “Hmm, that’s-”
‘Crack’
A lightning bolt slams into the tower, sending undead flying into the water as golden mana drifts through the arcane crystal.
Then… dark black, clouds begin to form in the sky, the ocean begins to stir, and the howl of the wind can be heard long before it hits the tower.
Rain pelts the tower, as the thunder rumbles, and the sound of it causes the puddles on the tower to shake.
Vie looks up at all, the full force of the natural world headed towards her at full force, and she grins “And exactly what do you think a little weather’s going to do?” In response the clouds begin to glow with all of the lightning contained within them, before erupting upon the tower.
Due to formating issues this story doesn’t quite look the way it’s supposed to 0_o and you can read an updated version on Kobo, or other platforms. https://litrpgandpolitics.wordpress.com The story is also at around chapter 60 with around 400,000 words, and will posted once per day, until it’s caught up.
Then it will either be weekly, or twice a week, with that being said, I still welcome any feedback, after all I’m still editing everything 0_0 and different perspectives can so often help one see the things we take for granted.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you have a great day!