Buttopia posts
Posts: 306
Files: 9
Health Update
Had a kidney stone put me in the hospital early Friday. I'm out now, had it removed, I'm starting to feel more alive, and I may have a chapter up tonight, but I should be back to normal tomorrow either way.
Chapter 158: Socketing Sciences
Chapter 157“So I imagine you want to talk about that thing inside your chest there?” Karlinovo said the moment everyone had left the room. He hadn’t moved from his chair.“Amongst a lot of other things, yes. Has it really been you that whole time since my soul separation?” I asked. I fully believed it had been...
Chapter 157: Dungeons & Daves
Chapter 156John disappeared to the kitchen briefly while we waited for Corey’s return, reappearing moments later, somehow balancing a dozen trays of different snacks. I wondered how much of that he could do before his class and levels had come into play. Either way, it was impressive, and his continued smile anytime ...
Chapter 156: The Myth, The Man, The Karlinovo
Chapter 155Even as I boarded the bus, the small thread of energy persisted to the dungeon. It felt nearly the same as the one connecting me to the cores. Would it actually stay attached when we returned home? If it did, that meant we would need to keep greater tabs on this dungeon somehow.I didn’t like the idea of sp...
Chapter 155: An Orchestra for Outsiders
Chapter 154“Just head straight, they should be at the end of this tunnel, pretty sure there are a lot of other penguins in there too, no idea why,” I said as we headed further down the ice cave toward the central chamber. I moved to take the lead since my control over the dungeon was likely to make it easier for me...
Chapter 154: Penguins, Penguins, Penguins
Chapter 153“So what’s the new emergency that has you all fired up? I was hoping for a few more days of downtime,” Timon said, as he took his usual driver’s seat at the front of the bus. I waited until everyone was on board and the doors were safely sealed before I was willing to say anything further.“Get the ...
Book 3: Intelligent Design - Chapter 153: Arrival of an Old Friend
Chapter 152Following our victory on the tenth floor, we had spent several days letting some of the stress bleed away. While there were always more threats out there, my biggest goals from the moment the orc invasion had started were complete. Both my family and Earth were as safe as I could make them in the here and no...
Chapter 152: Dave, Emperor of Earth
Chapter 151“Well then. I believe that makes it official. U-1.9392912^10e37 Earth-107I2T112 officially is under the control of the Empire of Dave. You are now accorded all standard faction rights as a ruler of a universe. And if I can say so, good job on that last spectacle you did. That should make some of the smalle...
Chapter 151: Circuit Completed
Chapter 150The strength of the shields I put around each of the Pachydresti in view was far more than anything I had ever been capable of before. I was almost taken aback at just how much mana I had infused each of these shields with. My pool had gone from nearly full to less than a tenth left nearly instantly. I reall...
Chapter 150: A Fight of Desperation
Chapter 149“No,” I said, having no intention of exiting the fight. I had enough mana to heal myself, as long as I could get the spear out quickly enough. A timer appeared in my vision, surprising me at thirty seconds. I guessed that meant it hadn’t hit anything overly vital, so extreme blood loss was my main issu...
Chapter 149: The Battle Begins
Chapter 148As the timer appeared, I tried to channel some shields to get us ready, but my flows didn’t seem to be responding. Was that just normal until the timer countdown finished? I wasn’t sure. I went to open my mouth and ask, and realized I couldn’t move either. So instead, I pulled up my soul chat to test t...
Chapter 148: Thirty Seconds
Chapter 147“Alright, listen up, ya heard Pryte’s spiel, now ya get my advice fer the floor,” Mel said, floating his way over the top of the table.“Do we have to?” Connie asked jokingly.“Yes. We’re gonna go over the way this floor works. I kinda skipped some of the more specific details, figured I’d get ...
Chapter 147: Contingency Plans
Chapter 146I was surprised to wake up on my own the next day, figuring Mel would get everyone up early for some last-minute orders. There was no sign of the man we were calling Santa in my dreams last night, but I had a feeling we’d know if anything happened to him. I had no tangible proof of that, of course, but it ...
Chapter 146: The Day Before Death
Chapter 145“So just how did you meet Mel anyway? I thought the man had retired. I was shocked when he reached out to me,” the dragon said as we sat down in the dining room. He had shrunk his form to the size of Trolke now. He still had to take one of the bigger seats the giant had made for himself and any other vis...
Chapter 145: King Kong
Chapter 144“Duck!” Elicec yelled as the flames rolled over us. It was a little late, but around me, we all still managed to hit the ground, avoiding the brunt of the blast. The moment the fire passed I released my tools from storage as people started scrambling into action, following some of Elicec’s rapid comman...
Chapter 144: The Night Before Training Day
Chapter 143“So, anyone have any idea what to do about the fact the moose ate a shield mana orb?” I asked, knowing this was mostly my fault. Apparently, after not being able to figure out why the moose had a shield, Maud and John figured the best idea would be to grab a different shield mana orb and use that to remo...
Shield Mana Orb 4/7/25
Mana Orb~Shield (3)~-First Tier-Magical Shield (37)Requirements: N/AMagical Shield allows the host to encircle their body with a mana-based shield that blocks incoming magical damage. Further ranks increase the damage the shield can absorb.Physical Shield (37)Requirements: N/APhysical Shield allows the host to encircle...
Chapter 143: A Study of So Many Orbs
Chapter 142Surprisingly, I couldn’t seem to cause any sort of backlash. I suspected I might just need more opponents and more shields being damaged at the same time, and I added that to the list of things to try in full squad training the next day. I thanked the cores for their help and let them resume whatever fun t...
Chapter 142: A Study of Shields
Chapter 141The big mana orb I needed to play with was the one that had managed to make this all possible. Without the shield orb, so many simulator runs would never have worked correctly. I wasn’t even sure I’d have bonded with Corey had I never found it. The fact that they were as common as Mel claimed was still b...
Chapter 141: A Study in Skills
Chapter 140Looking at my unspent ranks, it seemed attributes and skill ranks had increased their rate of gain again at level three-hundred. That meant I had a little over fourteen thousand unspent attribute ranks and a little over twenty-five hundred skill ranks. I again questioned how I’d ever spend these attribute ...
Delay
Hey guys, I've been a bit sick the last 2 days, but I should catch everything back up this weekend. It is all written, just need to do some final read through/editing passes.
Chapter 140: Preparations
Chapter 139The moose proved the hardest part of finishing off the healing before breaking for the night. Eventually, though, it seemed to understand what we were trying to do and finally allowed Elody and me to clean it up as much as we could before Cecile offered it a few more enhanced carrots. The moose then trotted ...
The Great Script: Wraith Removers
Better Lucky than Dead“Dammit, John I told you the system wasn’t primed yet to take the ghost,” Phil said, sounding annoyed at his friend and coworker. They had been bickering like this all day, and Dan was starting to get real tired of it.“It’s fine. What’s the worst that could happen, Phil? Besides, I’m...
Chapter 139: Catch That Moose!
Chapter 138The moose stood there, staring at each of us in turn, seemingly refusing to leave after its scream. Was this some kind of strange rutting behavior? Maybe dominance challenge? What was going on? I just didn’t have a frame of reference for a moose gaining sapience. Then it focused on John and Glorp, moving i...
Chapter 110.5
Chapter 110While they trained, I worked on my own problems and the disaster that was now my mana channels. I was facing a few problems at the same time that seemed to build on each other, leading to a greater problem. I was reasonably sure that if I could find someone capable of channeling soul mana and access to the r...
Chapter 138: The Talk after the Talk
Chapter 137By the end of the meeting, we hadn’t agreed on much beyond the few things the president, Pryte, and I had already discussed. Grant would be staying with us, which wasn’t really a downside; he was another set of hands who could help Trolke with the various construction projects and add his own expertise i...
Skipping today
Will double post on Saturday most likely as well.
Chapter 137: The Council of Earth
Chapter 136“Um, is that an orc?” Laura asked as we entered the kitchen. To her credit, she didn’t freak out; she just sounded a little bit unnerved, and considering the last month, I didn’t blame her in the slightest.“Ma’am, I am Rabyn, and I have pledged my servitude to Dave. By your looks, I assume you ar...
Chapter 136: The Start of an Important Meeting
Chapter 135I was surprised at how quickly Pryte managed to get all the moving parts into place for the meeting. Rabyn, John, Glorp, and the brothers were in the kitchen getting to work on the meals while Maud had taken the kids on a hike to keep them out of trouble and hopefully distract a certain curious moose. That l...
Book 3 Announcement
So we are nearing the end of Book 2. Following the conclusion of it updates will drop to 3 times a week for 2 weeks. (They will pause entirely on RR for 2 weeks after it finishes) and after those 2 weeks they will return to the normal levels.I'd claim it's because I'm taking a vacation, but the reality is I...
