《A Smidge of Magic》Chapter 20
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The Golden Fleece was a dump. It was abundantly clear the name of the place was mere hyperbole. Ian found it reminiscent of trucker motels seated all along rural highways. Shabby cramped rooms lined open walkways with stairwells on either end.
“Perfect,” Ian said, “lots of exits, good visibility. Probably get a disease from the mattress.”
Vale ignored him and stepped into the check-in area. Mal broke off to wait outside the door. Rather than relaxing the lupine sat at attention and perked his ears, alert for any hints of danger. Those silvery-red eyes scanned the street with their keen intelligence. He’d received no instruction, but he always seemed to understand where he needed to be and what he needed to be doing.
Some things never change, no matter where you are, Ian thought as they stepped up to the counter.
“How long will you be staying?” Asked a teenage boy with pimples and questionable hygiene. “It’s fourteen til an hour and a hundred even for the night.”
“It may be one night, or it may be longer. You may place my crystal on file and charge us daily if that will be acceptable. Anything on the second floor, please,” she said, handing over her exchange crystal. The clerk ran it and handed it back. Vale took their oversized room key and her crystal from the distracted young man and departed without further conversation.
Heading up to the second floor Mal trotted along behind them, toenails clacking on the metal staircase. The adjacent hotel's entrance was easily visible through their wide bay window. Inside, the room was fairly standard for a hotel-by-the-hour. One reasonably large bed, a bathroom with a sink outside the door, an old worn-down dresser, a small table with two chairs, and even hideous shag carpet.
Ian glanced over the only thing in the room that he didn’t recognize while Vale peeked out through the thin curtains. It was a flat disc of reddish clay with a cloudy prism spinning a few inches above its surface as if suspended by a magnetic field.
“What is that?” Ian asked, nodding at the disc.
“Oh, that? It’s an I.E.” Vale explained. She walked over and pressed the single circular indentation on the disc. A faint light blossomed from the center of the stone disc as it began to spin. The light quickly became bright white and that in turn resolved into the picture of a clean-cut human man sitting behind a desk.
“...And visitors to Raxal are advised to visit Drowers Market today to take advantage of the savings on magical pets in the Mystical Menagerie. Now we’ll go to Oliver Jancor for our weekly Arena updates. Oliver?”
Vale pressed the indent again and the lights went out. “Image Exhibitor. They come in every hotel but hardly anyone one uses them because there’s an improved metal version available. It is an integral means of communication in cities like this, spreading the news and other events of importance. We don’t use them in Landorei, the druid’s feel it detracts from our way of life.”
Ian picked up the device and flipped it over in his hands a few times examining the disc before setting it back down. He was still trying to get used to the casual uses that magic had in this world. It appeared that magic had filled in many technological gaps, and was even an improvement over some areas.
Mal collapsed by the foot of the bed with a bored full-throated yawn. He’d been sniffing and pacing the room since their arrival and decided that was the safest spot to lay down.
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Vale pulled off her bow and quiver and laid them across the top of the dresser. She then released the clasp on her cloak, revealing the lithe figure hidden beneath. Ian walked to the bed and sat down making himself comfortable before looking back to Vale. It took far more effort than Ian was comfortable with not to stare. Her leather armor covered nearly every inch of her torso but still allowed her femininity to show through. Something Ian had not been expecting or prepared for.
Vale continued to try her best to acclimate to the space, even shaking her long blonde hair loose from its tie. “I hate being in other cities,” She idly admitted. “It makes me uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people and being away from the green of the forest.”
“I’ve always lived in cities,” Ian responded while clearing his throat. “I don’t know what growing up immersed in nature would be like, but I can say that your homeland is truly beautiful. And even though we just left it, I already miss it.”
The ranger moved to the foot of the bed and bent down to unhook the gear from Mal’s back. Ian caught a smile on her lips as she removed Mal’s harness. She piled the equipment up on the dresser and untied her water pouch. She drank from the pouch and passed it to Ian. She gathered up her empty pack, patted her money pouch, and strode to the door.
“I am going out to get us some mideal,” she said, opening the door, “it is unlikely, but not impossible that they will move this soon after our visit. Mal, I know you do not like it here any more than I do, but please stay alert. I will be back in a few minutes.”
Mal gave the retreating form of his companion the saddest puppy-dog eyes Ian had ever seen. But it was no good as the Ranger was already gone. When the door clicked shut Mal dropped the charade with a huff. The beast then moved to the window and wriggled his head between the sheer curtains, staring out at the street.
Ian drank some of the water himself and found a bowl for Mal in the tiny set of cabinets above the sink. Filling the bowl with water he set it down and then fell back into the bed.
Left alone with his thoughts homesickness, guilt, grief, anger, confusion the list went on and on. Each emotion crept in until his mind became a tangled mess. He focused on the sounds of the city as they came through the poorly insulated walls. The hustle of traffic, the hundred muddled conversations, and a whistling breeze through the narrow alleys were all too familiar. The city noise was, for once, serving as a poor distraction.
He sat back up deciding that worrying about it wouldn’t change anything. It was time to get to work. He rolled off the bed and pulled a chair up to the window. Pulling the curtains apart slightly he sat down next to his fur-covered stakeout partner.
As the minutes ticked by Ian began playing a game in his head, the same way he always did on stakeouts with Anders. He made up a story about who the passersby were and what they were doing. A group of gnomes, for instance. They were going to a business meeting to show off an invention to potential investors. A trio of elves was attempting to solve an ancient riddle to unearth a long-forgotten treasure. And a hefty, green orc was off to plunder the local villages on the outskirts of Raxal, simply to test his, thus far, unsurpassed strength.
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The sound of a key sliding into a lock pulled Ian’s attention away from the window. He and Mal turned their heads in unison to see Vale returning with the food she had promised. Immediately the scent of cooked meat struck Ian’s nose. The smell caused his stomach to rumble in anticipation.
“Anything of interest?” Vale asked as she set a box of sweet-smelling meat down onto the table, followed by her no longer empty pack.
“Not as far as I could tell,” Ian said over his stomach growl.
She pulled out more items than could have possibly fit in the pack: a loaf of bread, several cream-colored cloth bags, corked bottles, and a mesh sack of Teralass fruits. She got out a set of bowls and some wooden utensils from the cabinet and set them on the table.
“I expected as much. Let’s eat,” she said pulling the strings from around the cloth bags. The first contained a rice-like grain, only it was deep pink and, still steaming. The second held chips of either dried or fried vegetables in various colors. The last released a foul stench and held something dark-green and homogenous, similar to a wad of steamed spinach.
Vale reached behind her and with an impressive flourish drew a long, curved blade. Faster than Ian’s eye could follow, she sliced the bread and sheathed the blade in one fluid motion. She filled up her bowl with a few spoonfuls of rice, the green mush, and a small slice of bread. She slid a second bowl of rice over to Ian and indicated the meat on the table for him.
“I did not know what you would like, so I got you and Mal grilled bogkin,” she said as she passed him a pronged utensil.
Ian picked up the utensil and examined it. In Landorei he’d eaten finger food, or with a spoon so this was new. Two thick wooden chopsticks meeting at a hinge on the top. Broad metal fork tines were molded onto the ends of each stick at the bottom and created a spoon-like divot when pressed together. He spooned out a healthy portion of the dark, finely chopped meat onto his rice and figured out how to use the odd instrument. I’m not asking what it’s called, I’m just naming this one myself. It’s a fork-stick and I love it already. He bit into the bogkin.
The smell of the meat was appetizing, but the taste was exquisite. It was akin to eating tiny nuggets of filet mignon marinated in a heavenly concoction of spices and sauce. He couldn’t suppress a groan of satisfaction as the meat practically melted on his tongue.
“Alright, this,” He spoke between mouthfuls, “is incredible. What’s in this?”
“Aside from the bogkin? The dish traditionally has lotus honey, dwarven red wine, peppers, and a salty sauce that it absorbs for a few days before cooking.” Vale said from the window. She’d taken her meal over there to keep an eye on the hotel.
Mal stared silently at Ian from his seated position next to the table. Even sitting, his nose was higher than the bowls on the table and he could have easily reached it, but he minded his manners. Ian found an empty bowl and put a heaping spoonful of meat into it for Mal. He took another look at the hulking wolf and upended the container of bogkin into the dish filling it to the top. With a glance at Vale to see that she had no objections and he placed the bowl in front of Mal. It didn’t last long, disappearing without a trace in a few bites. Ian uncorked one of the bottles, which gave a carbonated hiss, and picked up his bowl heading back to the window.
Ian stole a few thoughtful glances at Vale. She had changed since their initial encounter. Her cold and suspicious demeanor replaced by genuine interest and sympathy. The way she’d smiled at him and her light-hearted teasing when they’d picked out his new outfit. It made him feel relaxed, comfortable around her, made him feel like he had gained a true friend.
“Thank you,” Ian broke the silence, his voice quiet, “and I’m... sorry for all this trouble.”
It wasn’t that he was a prideful man or that the words were hard to come by. It was the reality of this place. He had to accept that he might never get to see his home again. And while she was doing her best, he was a stranger in a strange land and out of his depth.
The longer he sat there and listened to the familiar yet wrong sounds of the city, the harder it was to fight off his despair. And here she was a total stranger who was kind enough to help him, despite the risk, and he’d been nothing but trouble for her. He couldn’t adequately express how grateful he was to her, but the words were a start.
She looked up at him from her dish. A small piece of greens, sticking out between her lips. She set her fork-sticks down, darting her tongue out to pull in the piece of fawn-leaf.
“You are lost. It is a Ranger’s duty to help those who are lost to find their way. There’s no need for thanks, Ian,” she said giving him a quick comforting smile, “but you are most welcome.” Her gaze had gone back to the window, but her smile broadened when she felt his eyes on her.
When they had finished eating Ian headed into the bathroom while Vale kept watch. Hours ticked by and the sun headed toward the horizon. Ian spent the time trying his level best to get out of his head. He was in the middle of mentally crafting a note to his Mom when Vale’s voice cut through the tangle of his thoughts.
“Hmm… isn’t that the minotaur from the law firm?” Vale asked.
“Don’t you mean mini-taur?” Ian replied, laughing at his own joke as he crossed the room.
“Yes. I’m certain. He’s far too short to be forgotten,” Vale said, ignoring Ian’s jab at the lawyour’s height.
Mal perked his ears from his spot on the floor where he’d been resting. The lupine sensing in his companion’s voice that action was near.
Ian slipped his shoes back on while Vale rearmed herself.
“Come. We need to get to our other room,” she reached over and squeezed his hand, “Let’s get you home.” She dashed out the door, Ian following right behind, trying not to trip over Mal as he raced by.
Together they made their way down to the street and into the crowd, blending in with a long line at a food vendor’s cart. They watched the entrance to see if any reinforcements might be following behind the minotaur lawyour, hiding in plain sight. It wasn’t until someone in the crowd let out a scream that Ian and Vale shifted their gaze from the door. A woman was pointing at the side of the building. Ian and Vale followed her finger trying to find the source of her distress.
Then, all hell broke loose.
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Edge Cases (Book 1 Complete!)
Rare classes and powerful skills are helpful. Too bad the system doesn't seem built to handle them. What even are all these errors? Our team of outcasts and adventurers will have to rely on their trust - and the bane of all stories, healthy communication - just to survive, let alone understand what the system is doing. Because they're quickly realizing that it's doing something; to people, to monsters, and maybe even to the gods themselves. And their goal isn't just to survive; it's to make things better. It's a good thing they're not doing it alone. --- Edge Cases is an attempt to take the LitRPG genre and the overpowered MCs trope and write a story where numbers aren't everything. Sometimes it takes trust, support, and just a touch of being very, very clever. Expect a mix of action, slice-of-life, friendship, and ominous worldbuilding. Updates M-W-F at 6pm EST. Cover art by Alovck of Artstation, and typesetting by jessessey right here on RoyalRoad.
8 228Dungeon Core Chat Room.
This is a slower-paced "experiment and dungeon building" web novel that tries to use the idea of peer-to-peer communication with Dungeon Cores instead of Dungeon to slave monster communication to break up the detailed dungeon building. Rank 1 description: (minimum met for system initialization...detailed description as follows) Each race was given a system by the gods to make up for their shortcomings and balance their place in this world. Humans: Abysmally bad at understanding and using magic unable to use more than the lowest of magic were given the "Skill System" magic in the form of premade skills with use, study, and mastery tied to experience. Elves: Intuitively understand magic and have long lives leading to vast knowledge and skill in their chosen fields. However, as a species, they have nearly zero sex drive and less than low fertility, so they were gifted the "World Tree System" with experience gained through the care of natural areas – gifting the chance of children to increase their numbers without dirty copulation. All “natural” or “wild” monsters are given an "Evolution system" designed around killing and consuming as many creatures as possible, slowly increasing strength and, at thresholds, allowing mutations to alter them multiple times. Dungeon cores are different. Unlike humans, they can see, manipulate and live off mana. Unlike Elves, they naturally crystallize after extended periods of time in high mana level areas. However, they cannot easily move or communicate and typically go insane without companionship. As a species other than the odd eccentric they are unimaginative. Brute forcing solutions without the drive to truly innovate. Thus they have been gifted with the "Dungeon Connection System" a magical version of the internet accessible by their peers that allows them to barter and sell: bait, traps, monsters, and knowledge, as well as entertain each other with “adventure streams” using exciting recorded battles and humorous reels of arrogant chumps biting off more than they can chew to often fatal effects. This is the casual story of a dungeon unluckily spawned far from potential adventurers forced to innovate beyond its peers to find its place in this world. Rank 2 Description: Justification. I've been on a dungeon core kick for months and while I love the genre – it's sparse with entries. Often the forced conflict gets repetitive and frantic solving of threats "power levels" the protagonist to god levels to progress the plot – taking away the nice steady progression fantasy I'm looking for. (Progression in this story is linked to how strong of monsters/traps/whatever he can create not his "level"...this is demonstrated by some of his newer monsters beating his older monsters not with discrete "this monster has 10 attack this one has 40") Additionally, the focus on 3rd parties with their drama takes away from the reason I’m reading dungeon core novels in the first place – I'm looking for magical crafting, experimentation and kingdom building – not defence from higher and higher levelled enemies looking to steal/destroy/control the MC. This novel is kind of just me writing the story I wish I could read. I like thinking about the experimentation that can be done in fantasy settings using 'mana' as an excuse to make up rules and try to keep them internally consistent. IE once I define how a rule works, I'm going to commit to keeping it – no breaking hard truths I've given when it's convenient, even if it backs me into a corner. Hopefully, that should make the story interesting to read even if it's SOL and less action-oriented. There will be problems to solve and a clear progression in strength (of created monsters and knowledge) however due to not wanting to force conflict for the sake of conflict the general theme will be closer to slice of life with few action sequences and no overarching goal so please keep that in mind when picking this up as the genre is not for everyone. Finally, I have a clear goal of what I want from this story (not an endless romp but a series of arcs and then a conclusion that's a couple of dozen medium-sized chapters long) I want to commit to finishing it or at least bringing it to a point of rest. I hate all the engaging stories that stop with a “hiatus” indefinitely so in the event I lose motivation I'll work to end this even if the ending becomes rushed/unsatisfying just to give a sense of closure. I’m planning on including several polls in terms of direction and taking feedback heavily into account if I get enough readers (but may choose to ignore it if it deviates too far from the direction I want to take this as in feedback like: “The MC needs a cartoonishly evil arch-enemy that wants to enslave him and force the mc to pump out magic items” or “the MC needs to make a body and learn teleportation then live with humans” will get shot down without consideration.)
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8 192Dearest O'Malley
This story tells about a car's life and the way he lived in 1967. His name is O'Malley Malibu and he is a 1967 Chevrolet Malibu with a straigh six engine. He grew up with a two door Lincoln and a Chevrolet Impala and did everything with them together. Later on into the story, O'Malley is sitting up for sale in a yard of a little old lady who's husband was mean to him for a little while. He meets his new owner Gladys Kennedy who takes care of him well. She takes O'Malley to work with her and to church. But one day, a bully picks on a car for a parking space and when the bully tries to pick on O'Malley, he learns his lesson of what happens when he messes with a Chevy Malibu raised in Texas. Soon after Gladys gets too old to take care of O'Malley, she gives him to Randy and Jan, the next owners. They have O'Malley as the only car they have to drive until he met Susie, a Mercury Grand Marquis and a blue van. Then comes along Erik and Nathan, the two additions that he meets. O'Malley plays and makes Nathan smile by the time he reaches 2 years old. Leading Nathan up the road to learning, O'Malley guides his new master through a home schooling system to keep him on track. As many years went by, O'Malley soon is passed on to Nathan's care and being a planned college subject of a college sememster work of having his transmission redone. When Nathan meets his new girlfriend, Natalie, O'Malley grows a liking on her just as she is showing her photos of O'Malley that she captured on camera in 2014 and 2015. He soon finds answers for all the questions he had been always asking from finding out what happened to Impa to discovering the location of where Gonzo was to opening up to a friend back that seemed to be next to him all these years. O'Malley and his friends make videos for the internet from a pickle and white flour bath to the Elvis impersonations to honor the Elvis Presley feastival for all Elvis fans around the world. The three friends have a lot of fun together including pranking each other for kicks and laughs. Ticking back in time, O'Malley tells the audiences the memories he had back to his younger days when he and his cousins would prank each other and laugh at it now as he remembers it then. From the happy to sad stories that he experiences throughout the novel. People stop and stare at the beauty of O'Malley's sleek body all over town including taking pictures of him without his knowing. The story has yet to unwrap the secrets inside of O'Malley outside the car shows. There are hints of originality, heart, tranquility, untapped potential, undisturbed sensational zen, and undiscovered twerks that make him so amazing that people don't see nor don't pay attention to like they do in the show. O'Malley has a smooth, witty, sweet and relaxed personality. O'Malley travels down the road of memorable experiences from being in a sample teaser trailer of a movie to meeting a new love to finding another of his old friend from the 70s to meeting a life coach that would be his biggest inspiration. This is a novel that needs to be discovered for all eyes alike.
8 121Wednesday x Enid {Wenclair}
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8 383Ninjago: the Daughter of the Overlord
Aria Lord is the daughter of the Overlord. She lives her life like any other citizen of Ninjago, except for being the princess of darkness. After the defeat of her father she vowed to avenge him and take over Ninjago in his place. She started teaming up with other villains, but she didn't account for getting caught. She also didn't account for falling in love with the enemy.
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