Stargazer_hfy

Core Collapse Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Once everyone was dressed and most were convinced to acquire their system, many of the helpers from Fenard’s palace dispersed. Those that remained herded the disoriented people from Earth into the recently constructed Guild Hall, where an auditorium had been constructed for lectures, meetings, and this very situation.

As the people took seats on the benches that Tom had crafted from dungeon stone, Jessica looked around...

Core Collapse Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Tom put the finishing touches on the Adventurer’s Guild Hall late in the evening. It had been a long day of practicing his skills. He had begun early in the morning, arriving at Other Westone, the core in the southwestern stretch of Profons, to Link it onto his network using the only Command Core that had survived linking one of the villages into his network previously.

Linking Other Westone into his network had come w...

Core Collapse Chapter 32

Chanter 32

Tom adjusted his cravat nervously as the Mage King of Petosh, Arom, absorbed the dire warning that he had just provided. When Tom had given the news to Fenard, Fenard had insisted that Tom be in the call to warn the leader of the doomed nation himself. So he stood in front of the linked scry-mirror that connected him with a man a more than thousand miles away.

Tom was dressed in the same suit that he had worn to pitch th...

Core Collapse Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The warning came before the dragon, but only just.

Twenty-three people died.

But together they saved two hundred seventy-six.

The dragon flew off to the west.

Aisha saved twelve more, but lost three.

Aisha and Sir Tirns followed the dragon into the setting sun.

~~~~~~

“Are you still bothered by the bandits?” Antoine asked him.

Sevin jerked, turning to the knight. Four nights ...

Core Collapse Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Ursula Urban was old.

Jessica was a little afraid to ask how old for several reasons. Most obviously just because it was impolite. But also because she knew that the Urban family matriarch was powerful. She wouldn’t be the matriarch of she was weaker than Ubo, and Jessica had seen first hand how powerful he was. It was, apparently, a well established fact on Reus that high levels equated to slow aging.

A...

Core Collapse Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Mark and Tony had all of their horses saddled for them early in the morning. The faithful stableboys had awoken before dawn and had yet to break their fast, but were both looking forward to the fine breakfast that the cook had promised them the night before if they completed their morning tasks extra early. Neither boy had been to the capital, despite being born a days ride away, and were a little disappointed to learn that th...

Core Collapse Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Tirns was exhausted. Ever since the night that the dragon had burned down the tents of the refugee camp, or the invasion army, or whatever it had been, the poor knight surveilling them had gotten very little rest. He had been following behind the dragon, and then somehow gotten in front of it as he raced to warn the villages on the border of Welsius that they needed to evacuate.

It was dangerous, he’d much rather be at...

Core Collapse Chapter 27

Chapter 27

After the demonstration, Ubo spent a little while teaching Vella a few minor spells using the magic visualization room while the others either went to do their own thing or listened in. Tom had previously invited them to spend the night, so they kept at it until dinner.

When dinner began, the servants seated the party in the main dining room. The conversation was light, with both Grant and Ubo taking turns sharing anecdo...

Writathon participation

I'll be participating in the writathon. Core Collapse Chapter 26 is the mark of when writathon began. I'll be rapidly releasing the advanced chapters as I write new ones, so expect a small flood from me. Hopefully. We'll see how my muse cooperates.

Core Collapse Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Ubo and Vella ended up staying at Weaver Estate for some time. Jessica was just as interested in having a master Mage’s perspective on her abilities as he was in studying her Skills, so their relationship got off to a fantastic start.

Much of their work together had to wait until Emil had finished constructing his new Boom Room, a reinforced room on the first floor of the dungeon with the magic visualization ritual pai...

Core Collapse Chapter 19.1

The scene below takes place after the other events in chapter 19. For reference for those of you who don't want to figure out where that falls in the story line, it's right after the 3 adventurers died.

~~~~~

Tom stood before the World Core. After months of delving through thousands of floors, he had found it. And it was beautiful. The size of a mountain’s heart, it shone all the colors of a rainbow. It called out to him and whis...

Poll Alert: Chapter 14

Core Collapse chapter 14 has an important poll to decide Jessica's Level 30 skill! Check it out if you want a say in a decision that affects the story.

Core Collapse Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Something was bothering Rowena, Jessica was certain of it. The young Rogue was distracted. At least, when they weren’t in combat she was distracted. When she was in combat she looked like she was venting some type of complex emotion through unashamed violence.

Jessica was sometimes a little envious that her own talents didn’t run that way, but then she thought about how freaking cool it was to be able to literally me...

Core Collapse Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Ubo Urban tried to cast Candleflame. And he failed. He tried again, and he failed. He sighed, taking a sip of the tea that he had been served while waiting for the master of the house.

This new version of Candleflame was a spell so simple that a ten year old apprentice could develop it, but she was too inexperienced to teach it yet. That was one of the great problems with magic. It was relatively easy to repeat a spell t...

Core Collapse Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Tom, Jessica, Grant, Emil, and Norman arrived at Weaver estate several days later. Tom of course immediately set up a Dungeon for Alpha. It was once more partitioned, with a room that was comfortable for his minotaur minions, a large cavernous labyrinth for his Korgoath, and a third wing dedicated to spawning monsters like burrowers, rock spiders, and mindless zombies.

After greeting the staff and thanking them for their...

Core Collapse Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The party left for Torren the next day. It was a rather short trip, only about a day in the saddle before Tom was once more stabling his monsters in a temporary dungeon made using Alpha Core. Antoine rode ahead to alert the city council that their city would be getting a new dungeon.

Surprisingly, there was very little push back this time. The council had heard of the dungeons opening up in other cities and the boosts th...

Core Collapse Chapter 21

Retcon Notice: Chapter 13's dialogue between Tom and Antoine has been substantially rewritten and improved. It now contains 150% more lore!

Chapter 21

They quickly discovered a few facts about the treasure chests in Caseville dungeon. The first was that they were all empty at first. Sometimes, depending on who opened them, an item would appear inside them. It was usually an item useful to whoever opened the box.

Sevin got hi...

Core Collapse Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Tom decided to stay in Caseville until he reached level thirty, which didn’t take very long. With the experience trickling in from his new dungeons, and the significant boost that he’d gotten from the deaths of the three adventurers, he had been pushed into level twenty-nine.

Tom passed the time by communing with his network, examining the different dungeons as they did their things. He spied on a variety of adventur...

Core Collapse Chapter 19

Chapter 19

King Fenard really had to thank Emil for introducing the concepts of modern plumbing to Welsius. With the boiler and the water tank on the roof of the palace providing heat and water pressure, it was possible to enjoy a warm shower whenever he wanted. Or, alternatively, to take a hot bath on a whim, which was the activity he was engaging in at the moment. He soaked in the steamy water, imagining the soil of petty politics bein...

Core Collapse Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Vella strained her mind as she floated the pen in the air in front of her face. She’d never known before awakening her class that she could strain her mind like it was a muscle, but she definitely could. And she was supposed to, because just like a muscle straining it beyond its limits increased its power.

Finally, she could hold the effort no longer and the pen fell. She caught it, and her tutor scratched dow...

Core Collapse Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Sal waited quietly in the darkness of the dungeon for the combat to begin. No, not quietly. Silently. Her level twenty stealth completely obliterated her presence, and the undead of the lower floors of the Caseville dungeon ignored her completely, even as they wandered by her. She clutched the two short swords she’d been trained with tightly, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The moment came as Lorn is...

Core Collapse Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tom established a shallow dungeon outside the city limits of Nashak when he arrived using Alpha Core for his dungeons to remain in without alarming the populace of the city. While he was occupied with that, Antoine reluctantly performed his duties as a knight by alerting the city leadership that their Core was about to form a dungeon and no, there was nothing that they could do about it.

When Tom arrived at the city core...

Core Collapse Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Reluctantly, Tom changed his plans for his birthday.

This decision was not made lightly, but after informing King Fenard that he had once again accidentally linked into his network four cities which had previously been stable, the king was irate. While the conversation occurred through writing using a linked-pen, Tom could sense the king’s frustration through the handwriting and word choice that Fenard employed.

...

Core Collapse Chapter 14

Update: I rewrote the opening of this chapter.

Chapter 14

There were two problems that they encountered at Iota dungeon, the Core that Tom intended to claim after Theta dungeon. They had not even reached the dungeon yet when the first problem arose. Literally, they arose from the ground itself, three wraiths screaming and shaking their shackles at the party.

Rory and Sevin moved in the front to protect the others, and Tom qui...

Core Collapse Chapter 13

Major Retcon Notice: The dialogue between Tom and Antoine in this chapter has been almost completely rewritten.

Minor retcon notice: In chapter 3, Sue Weaver is now present for the financial discussion that occurs at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 13

Twang!

Tom’s crossbow bolt flew past Brutus and caught the enemy gnoll in the neck. The wound was critical, and the monster succumbed to its injuries a m...

Core Collapse Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Tirns had been riding with very few stops ever since the news of the collapse of Velund had reached Welsius. He was a Winged Knight, one of the few to ride a wyvern instead of a pegasus. Wyverns were slower over short distances, but required less rest and were therefor ideal for long range reconnaissance, which is what he was performing at the moment.

He passed over hundreds of miles of the wilds and the wastes between t...

Poll notice: Core Controller Chapter 64

Just a notice in case you only read this story on Patreon; chapter 64 on Royal Road has an important poll attached to it.  I am allowing readers to determine which of the countries of this world will be the next to suffer cascading system failure.  Be sure to visit that chapter and vote!

Core Controller Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The news that the dungeon’s evolution was responsible for the decrease in the spawn rate of water elementals, and not the actions of Tom’s party keeping the cores to themselves, took the wind out of the sails of the three locals who confronted Tom and Antoine.  While Tom’s abilities as a Controller were responsible for the change in the dungeon’s layout and behavior, the existence of the Controller Class was not...

Core Collapse Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tom announced the next morning that he wanted to stay a while at the newly minted Zeta dungeon to make certain that it adapted to the new changes well.  He was quite excited by his experimentation with biomes, and was looking forward to seeing the various resources which would be available.

Emil shared the boy’s excitement, particularly for the availability of his forested biomes.  The engineer was very exc...

Core Collapse Chapter 9

Minor retcon notice; I deleted the passage in which Jessica unlocked her new subclass in chapter 6.

Chapter 9

Jessica had always loved fireworks.  The Fourth of July was by far her favorite holiday, back home, and she had bugged her parents every year to go to the largest fireworks display that they could find.  It had been one of the few joys that hadn’t been diminished by The Diagnosis, and the year when she’d bee...