《Falling Stardust》She did it
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"Ash, are you passing all your remnant spirits to their descendants?" Xeik asked with a confused expression.
"Yes, that was the original plan. But I will not pass Kan over to the Carbonemys as yet. They are all too arrogant and the old man is no different. Who knows, what they will cook up should they join forces," Xasha said lightheartedly.
"The Carbonemys really are too arrogant, which would be of no consequence except they are so weak. Noting is more upsetting than an arrogant weakling," Megan giggled.
"What are you talking about? Is there not Kan Nuu or Kan Gawa? Those two are excellent candidates, and they are more powerful than every other member of the younger generation here," Blossom said in admiration.
Pssh, Kan spat in disdain, "Arrogant weaklings. I will stick with this boy until he can groom a proper cultivator worthy of my inheritance." Kan's voice came from the ruler on Xasha's back.
"I will do my best, Elder Kan," Xasha said sarcastically with a proud mage salute.
Everyone chuckled at this. Xasha and Kan would always banter like this. They had never seen the two of them hold a serious conversation.
Xasha looked north for a moment, then said, "we need to get back. It's getting late, and the celebration will start in a few hours."
"All the Fantasma we raised have evolved into beast-men of Lava sage or higher. Our work is done," said Megan.
"Their work is just beginning. Now they need to train and start families of their own to expand the population of their race," Alexi commented.
"When all the Fantasia transform, where will we get energy cores from? I mean powerful energy cores that are sages and above," Xeik asked.
Ari, Alexi, and Blossom looked at Xeik, shaking their head in disappointment.
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Xasha grabbed his shoulder. "It is a good question. We will get our Vadis from spirit Fantasma. We will also get them from other races with powerful natural abilities we find useful."
"So we will be hunting and killing those races?" Xeik asked absentmindedly like it was a casual question to ask.
"No," Xasha chuckled, "there is a war going on, there is no shortage of corpses for us to study and harvest." Xasha threw his arm over his shoulder, "how is your training?"
"I have already hit the peak of the Platinum Realm," Xeik replied proudly.
"I did not ask about your cultivation. Anyone can absorb free crystals. I do it every day. I asked about your training," Xasha corrected.
Xeik went silent.
"It has been going great. Xeik is at the top of all our classes, and we have been passing assessments steadily," Blossom interrupted.
Xasha grinned, "Damn kid, how did you go about finding such an excellent woman at your age? Making your big brother jealous." Xasha ruffled his baby brother's hair and wrestled playfully with him.
"Ow," Xasha groaned as he turned around, rubbing the back of his head. There he saw an angry Megan staring at him. "What do you have to be jealous about? Did we not meet when you were sixteen?"
"But these two grew up together. How is that the same thing?" Xasha complained.
Everyone burst out laughing. Megan huffed and turned away from Xasha in anger. She drew close to Blossom. "How is the academy? Are you learning properly there?"
"Yes, the academy is even better than it was back in Stardust City. We have way better facilities, and we get stronger much faster thanks to the new training techniques. Ash, you really are amazing."
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Xasha had created a new Stardust Academy in Ethos. There were three in total: one in Ulock, Rimton, and Leighton, respectively.
It was open to cultivators of any age. They taught everyone freely and as fast as Xasha could gather the information. He brought over the Stardust Library, he actually placed it on Jacana island in the basin that was connected to the three territories.
In there lied billions of memories stones, books, scrolls, etc. He also brought over the artificial Biomes, now covering a million miles instead of a thousand. With the new etchings he discovered and the higher Imperium concentration, the biomes were hundreds of times more powerful than before.
The difficulty of the assessment automatically grew, and the Fantasma living inside them became more powerful, far quicker. Thanks to the high concentration of Imperium, Spirit Fantasma was easily cultivated. Xasha found that if he left energy cores inside these biomes, the Imperium drawn in them will eventually come to life.
It did not matter the cultivation of the creature the Valdis belonged to. The Spirit Fantasma that forms will be a Lava sage. It also does not matter what the creature was before it died. It is not reborn, a new Fantasma is born using its remnant intent as a catalyst.
The problem with Spirit Fantasma is that, unlike Fantasma, they cannot be tamed. They are born from concentrated Imperium and are mindless creatures going off base instinct. Xasha simply used them as livestock for Valdis. And as training tools for his practitioners as they go through their assessments.
Most people had left Sutherland and the wilderness, but Xasha had people stayed back. Those people were from the Tracking Department and they were responsible for grooming some Fantasma for food and otherwise. The best tasting Fantasma were bred and left to run free in the wilderness. When they matured, they were harvested a sent to Ethos for sale.
Xasha and the others had a smile on their face. But their smiles froze and Xasha's neck snapped to the north. There, he felt an aura growing so powerful it encompassed nearly all of Ethos.
"She did it," Megan said with a bright grin.
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Beast
A threat to the galaxy has come from another, and the Union of intelligent life will go to any length to stop it. Military Quarantine has held for hundreds of thousands of cycles. Traders, merchants, colonists, and Pirates live risky lives along the fringes as the politics from the inner systems fail to see the larger threats beyond their borders. A lone human finds himself far from home with no memories to how he arrived. A failing Trade vessel plays on a desperate gamble, while a malicious parasite searches for a suitable host. ............................................. Author's note: Beast is a story that I wrote a long, long time ago. Some of you might have read it then, back when it was posted on reddit over at r/HFY. It was my first webfiction and made in the spirit of that subreddit's "genre" of humanity being awesome. But, it is also a story that has bothered me a little bit. Just like most new writers tend to do, I made mistakes and errors that feel painful to reread. A Space Opera will be a Space Opera, but I had prose that makes present-me cringe. Still, at the same time, the story is still very much a tale I've never given up on. It was my first adventure into fiction: Beast was a crazy adventure with bodysnatching aliens, galactic war, threats from across the universe... Posting this story here is a way to try and redeem myself a bit. I won't call it a complete rewrite, because it's not, but I have wanted to go through and correct some of the major issues Beast has for a long time and put it somewhere more accessible to read (instead of as posts/comments on reddit) and I figure that now is as good a time as any. Additional corrections you might notice are welcome.
8 182From My Enemy to My Love (bxb)
* I thought it might be time for me to pull away now that he was calm, but Vincent surprised me. His long arms, slowly wrapped around me. I hadn't expected this. I hadn't expected to get warmth for warmth. I couldn't pull away now. I held him tighter. "I can't believe you," he said quietly next to my ear. "But I want to believe you. Maybe you are different." He lifted his head off my shoulder, but instead of pulling back his face got closer to mine. "Maybe you and you alone are different." He kissed me.* Vincent has always had a desire to protect his best friend from those who would take advantage of his wealth. So when his best friend starts dating someone that Vincent is convinced is only out for his money, Vincent is determined to do all he can to break them up. Chet has never seen his best friend date anyone, so when he starts dating someone and is genuinely happy, Chet wants to support him anyway he can. Especially when he finds out someone is trying to break them up. This book is intended for a mature audience. The main characters are adults. This is a male/male romance story. There will be sexual content. Names, characters, events and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Copyright 2019: All Rights Reserved
8 199Death Regulator
Humans have lived on earth unopposed and alone for thousands upon thousands of years. Finding mundane existence boring, they have created stories of magic and monsters to sooth their lucrative imagination for as long as history can remember. Arik was one of these very same humans. It wasn’t until tragedy struck his mortality that he learned just how wrong everyone truly is. Not only did he awaken from death, but he awoke with what he could only describe as super powers. The stuff of comic books. He was a deathless. Normally it would be all sunshine and rainbows, but Arik is inevitably brought face to face with others like him. Only they aren’t half as kind, and are intent on “eating” his super powers. The battle for his unlife is on. Can he make this second chance worth it?
8 309Leave Bad Enough Alone
Something has been amiss in the city’s theaters as of late. The local bards have long done a respectable job of keeping the audiences entertained, weaving high concepts with skillful performances. But lately, a new set of bards, and their illusionist cohorts, have captured the crowd’s attention. Compared to the theater’s usual fare, their work is hackneyed and poorly plotted, with unskilled acting, bad special effects, and unsatisfying resolutions. Worst of all, the audiences like their work more, and these upstarts are far more profitable than the city’s decent bards! Clearly, there must be some dark secret behind the success of these newcomers, and it’s up to the city’s true artists to find out what it is and expose the conspiracy! Or maybe the city’s bards have just become too hopelessly pretentious and derivative. It’s hard to tell. But investigate it they must! Failure is not an option! Victory, or...well, they’ll have to get day jobs or something. Original cover image generated by NightCafé.Master story list here.
8 126An Average American in A High-school Academy Anime
An American versed in narrative tropes and more than mildly acquainted with anime wakes up in a completely different bed than the one he went to bed in. Now he has to scramble to understand where he is, what's going on, and hope to God he isn't in a relationship drama. I don't expect this to be good or well-received, but I have plenty of time this quarantine, so I'll try to get a chapter of 4000-10000 words out every one or two weeks. (haha) Please let me know how it can be improved. I'm an avid reader of fiction, but I've never really fallen down a rabbit hole so hard that I can name all tropes and settings and such by heart. I'm not sure if this will be effective satire, so I preemptively apologize. Inspired by: "My Life is Not a Manga, or maybe..." by EO Tenkey and "The Simulacrum" by Eganthale. Check them out if you want probably better stories than this one.
8 146Building An Army In Another World With My Smartphone
I woke up in a strange new place and learnt that I had sacrificed my memories for a powerful gift during my transmigration to another world. I guess all I can do is to build up my army...using my smartphone.
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