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New cover for book 2, Core Collapse!

Core Collapse Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The party that set out from Weaver Estate the next day was the same as the one which had returned victorious from Caseville, with the exception that Silva and the Winged Knights were occupied elsewhere in the kingdom preparing for the arrival of Velundese refugees.  And, possibly, the unspoken possibility of Velundese soldiers as well.

That left Tom with Sevin, Rory, Grant, Antoine, Emil, and Jessica.  Aisha j...

Core Collapse Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tilluth touched the people of its valleys, and the earth, and the animals and the plants.  Tilluth – a wave of awareness.

Tilluth was Alpha and Alpha was Tilluth.  Alpha was thankful for Tilluth; when the time to Link had come Tilluth had sacrificed much of its own health to allow the process to proceed.  Without that sacrifice, Tom Weaver, inexperienced Controller that he was, would have destroyed his ...

Core Collapse Chapter 6

Chapter 6

While the others delved his dungeon without his direct participation, Tom was not completely idle.  There were dozens of things which consumed his time.

He was constantly checking on his network, causing the dungeons which had been mined to regrow their damaged sections and otherwise keeping apprised of their situations.

He read up on his Class.  Anaxis, the spy from Kortia who had accompanied his parent...

Core Collapse Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Little was heard from the king or the capital over the next several days.  Tom expanded the wing of his dungeon that he had filled with mindless monsters and the others delved into it.  The enemies were not especially challenging for most of them, but provided a steady trickle of experience that was enough to get them each about a level in the first day alone.

Killing zombies, burrowers, and rock spiders did n...

Core Collapse Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They were still discussing Tom’s prospective finances when Anaxis entered the room, bowed to the king, and reported the most distressing information that the king had received since he had learned that a rogue Controller had awoken in the northern reaches of his kingdom.

“Your Majesty, I have just received word from reliable sources that the capital of Velund has fallen to the blight,” Anaxis said gravely.  �...

Core Collapse Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“So, you’re a Rogue,” Jessica said once Rowena had begun to calm down after the encounter with Tom. “What’s the difference between that an a Warrior, exactly? I mean, I know what I think the difference is, but I’m not certain I really know.”

Rowena sighed. She was mostly over her outrage that Tom would forget her. Mostly. Jessica and Sue Weaver were doing an excellent job of soothing her br...

Core Collapse Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rowena was rather looking forward to seeing her betrothed again.  She had not seen Tom since they had met, but that meeting had been fateful.  Tom had used his abilities as a Controller to Evolve her Class from Child to Rogue, with an Agent subclass.  This suited her, to her mind, perfectly, and even if the arranged marriage that her uncle Fenard, the king, didn’t work out, Rowena remained grateful to Tom for...

Core Collapse Chapter 1

Author's Note: As previously noted, Book 1 of Core Controller Ends with chapter 64.  As such, I'm restarting the chapter number for book 2.

Also, because it's a new book, I spend a bit of time refreshing the reader's memory over the characters and events in book 1.  We'll get back into the action soon.

Chapter 1

When Tom returned to Weaver Estate, the first thing he did was reestablish Alpha dungeon near the pond ...

Core Controller book 1 is now live on amazon

The last few weeks have been a rush, and I'm not finished yet!  Book 1 consists of chapters 1-64; if you've been reading Patreon then you've already read everything inside of it, but I figured I'd link it here anyway.

Work begins on book 2 of the series, Core Collapse

Core Controller Chapter 64

Chapter 64

System Report: Core Network Status

Request supervisor instructions >> Request timed out

System Status: Critical failure imminent. Request supervisor intervention.

Core Network Status: (Revised estimates)

1. Network 1: Critical. Estimated time until collapse: 13 years.
2. Network 2: Subcritical. Estimated time until collapse: 87 years....
   2024-03-15 13:45:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Core Controller Chapter 63

Chapter 63

In the end, the financial issues arising from the bounty system actually working without the need for the dungeon delvers to carry a grizzly token of their endeavors somewhere to exchange the trophy for coin was resolved in a few days.  The party delayed their departure while Madame Silva dealt with the city council, the banks, and a thousand other headaches which resulted from the system … working as intended.

...

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Three weeks passed.

The Weavers arrived at Weaver Estate, and were flabbergasted at the extravagance of their new dwelling.  One of the outbuildings was designated as Norman’s new workshop.  Vella enjoyed gossiping with Jill while she wasn’t immersed in the books that Anaxis had acquired for her.  Sue Weaver made the rounds to the local community, establishing contracts to purchase the materials for ...

Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Rory held the line.

With shield in one arm and shortsword in the other, he stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers-in-arms, and he held the line against the tide of zombies.  The zombies were stronger than he was, higher leveled and without fear of pain or death.  One on one they would crush him, tear him apart and devour his entrails.

But he was not alone.

He held the line, slashing out abov...

Core Controller chapter 60

Chapter 60

Tom was released within the hour.  The misapprehension that he was Emil’s son, and that Emil was the one who was truly responsible for the changes that had been made to the city recently, was largely responsible for his release.

It was a reasonable mistake to make, as for the most part during the construction of the water tower and the roads, Emil had been calling out instructions and Tom had been following them...

Core Controller Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Rory twisted, thrust, and caught his opponent in the side with his blade.  The other lad gasped and clutched the wound, which would have cost him a kidney were they not using dull swords.  As it was, it just hurt like hell to get hit, but didn’t actually pierce the skin.  He’d know, Rory had come out the loser of exchanges like these more often than not.

His opponent recovered from the blow and backe...

Chapter 58

Chapter 58

She was no longer Basks-in-sunlight.  That was a happy memory.  Her first memory, and it had shaped her halcyon days.  Basks-in-sunlight had hunted birds and tree-cats and other things.  She had killed to eat, and for no other reason.

She was a monster because she had been spawned by a Core, but she didn’t truly understand that.  She was flesh and blood.  She hungered and thirsted.  ...

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Emil studied the diagrams patiently.  Aisha studied Emil.  Impatiently.  If he couldn’t give her what she required, then she was uncertain what she would do.  She had researched that ocular power that the king had mentioned while she was waiting for his mages to put together these documents on their woefully inadequate methods.  It would be perfect, but she had no idea whether or not her Medico sub...

Core Controller Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Tom contemplated the Caseville Core with curiosity.  It felt … happy.  He was uncertain what to think about that, except that he was relieved that it wasn’t driving him mad.  It was much higher level than he was; he was still level fifteen, the caseville core was level forty.  But he felt no urge to spawn any additional monsters, no urge to evolve the ones that he had, nor any urge to upgrade the core...

Poll Reminder: Chapter 48

As mentioned in an earlier post, Chapter 48 has a poll which will decide Tom's level 20 skill.  Be sure to vote!

Core Controller Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Lord Lubald Worth listened to the sound of children screaming and wished that he had a drink.

They were screaming in joy, not in pain or fear or anything like that, but they were still screaming and it aggravated his senses.  The boy that he’d been following today had met up with four others, and they were swimming despite the frigid temperature of the recently thawed water.

Lubald had taken to following a...

Core Controller Chapter 54

Note: Thank you to all of my new patrons who have subscribed in the last few days.  It's fantastic to have you here, and I hope that you continue to enjoy my story.

Please note that chapter 48 on Royal Road will have a poll to determine Tom's level 20 skill.  I'll post the direct link sometime late tonight after work, but the chapter itself will hit the internetz before then.

Anyway, here's the chapter.

Chapter 54<...

2024-03-12 16:19:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Tom was surprised how comfortable he felt walking through the streets of Caseville.  It was not the same level of comfort he felt while inside of a dungeon that he’d claimed, nor even while at his manor, with the comforting presence of Alpha Core nearby.  But he did not feel the exposed feelings that he had come to associate with being outside of a dungeon for an extended period of time while on his trip south fr...

Core Controller chapter 52

Chapter 52

Aisha was already drunk by the time she was shown into King Fenard’s parlor.  Fenard had been forewarned, so he was not offended, but rather prepared for her appearance with a glass of Worthmus brandy in each hand.  She took them both, drained one and nursed the other, as he coaxed her into one of the couches.

He had only scant details over what had triggered this sudden drunkenness in the previously hyper-...

Core Controller Chapter 51

Chapter 51

There were no survivors of Emil’s second ritual.  Whether only the wasp queen had been strong enough to survive the first wave, or the second wave had finished off everything else that had survived the first, nobody was certain.  The slugs remained unaffected, of course, but the truly dangerous threats of the dungeon were dead.

They found the Core Stone not much deeper in the dungeon, and Tom Linked it to h...

Poll Reminder: Chapter 43

To my fans who read this story on Patreon, this is your notice/reminder that there is presently a poll on royal road which will determine the fate of one of the side characters in this story (Lord Lubald Worth).  If you haven't seen it, go check it out and vote!

Core Controller Chapter 50

Chapter 50

King Fenard shifted the levers back and forth for a moment, then tested the water streaming out of the shower head.  Once it was comfortably hot, and no longer scalding, he discarded his robe and stepped under the cascading water, allowing it to soak through his hair and beard.

He allowed himself to relax.

He’d heard of field showers before, but that was effectively just dumping a bucket on a soldier and e...

Core Controller Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Emil’s fireball connected with the immobile mimic, and with a “fwoosh” the monster went up flames.  Inhuman screams filled the cavern as the fire rapidly consumed its body, emitting light bright enough that the others in the party shielded their eyes.

Jessica’s suspicion that the other mimics were vulnerable to fire was proving to be correct.  One in ten proved to be resistant; the column type mimics ...

Core Controller Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Antoine was on guard, but he was not especially worried for the safety of the party.  Mimics were dangerous if they got the drop on you, and they usually did due to their natural stealth and camouflage.

Unless you had mana sight, which Antoine did.  Then their internal magics which allowed them to change shape and appearance lit them up like candles in the darkness.  He’d known before even walking thro...

Core Controller Chapter 47

Chapter 47

They arrived at their destination the next day.  Rather than tunnel into it blind as they had Beta and Gamma dungeons, the party returned to the surface once Tom felt the Core growing closer, a core which Tom was already referring to as Delta.  The dungeon itself was forty years old, or at least that was when it was first noticed.  It occasionally released small parties of goblins.  Because the goblins th...