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EdgeCases

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Chapter 34 - A Mother's Intuition

As it turned out, the decision to not cry for a third time was a stupid one. Misa decided to give herself a pass. Her mother was holding her again, sobbing into her shoulder, and as much as she hat...

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Chapter 33 - Past Pains

Misa hadn't actually spawned very far away, and it took only a minute or so of walking for her to reach the walls of her village. She felt her heart tightening as she approached — there were guar...

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Chapter 32 - Aberrant

Derivan would have frowned, if he could have. The eyelights in his armor dimmed to show his worry.

Helping Misa was, of course, easier said than done. None of them had any idea how they could...

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Chapter 31 - Trigger

The Aberrant seemed to regain any confidence it had lost. It swept itself in a dancing circle, creating a blast of arcane energy that knocked back every one of the delvers that were lunging at it; ...

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Chapter 30 - Unstoppable Force, Immovable Misa

As a general rule, almost all skills had some sort of range limit, even if that range limit wasn't stated. A fireball's range depended on its strength; the further it traveled, the more the fire or...

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Chapter 29 - It's just floating there. Menacingly.

Misa frowned as she looked at the screen. There was something bothering her, and it wasn't the strangely menacing orb, floating in the middle of the room — which in and of itself was rat...

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Chapter 28 - Researchers

It was technically Vex that noticed it.

The scrying screens displayed the delve team going through and mapping out the dungeon. Each screen showed them from a slightly different angle, keepin...

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Chapter 27 - Dungeons

It was decided that Jerome would be sent back to the Guild, along with the sleeping members of his party. The Guildmaster would personally debrief them later, once the paladin and his team had a li...

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Chapter 26 - Fear

Histre hung in the air, vibrating with fear and paranoia and anger.

Derivan wasn't sure how he knew. Physical Empathy, likely, though he couldn't begin to guess at how he could read the body ...

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Chapter 25 - Plans, Plans

Sev was surprised the plan was going as well as it was.

Always plan for things to go wrong — that was his motto, though he couldn't remember when he'd decided on it, or why. He preferred hi...

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Chapter 24 - Interlude - Jerome

To think they had the gall to tell him they wanted to meet him alone.

He'd already been kind! He'd offered them a thousand gold in exchange for some information on ...

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Chapter 23 - Planning with Max, Clerk Extraordinaire

"So!" Max clapped her hands together. "Let's get planning, shall we?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sev said. "How long have you been — what? Why are you level 81? What kind of class is [Adve...

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Chapter 22 - A Path Forward

The four of them tried to speak for a while, but it didn't take long for them to lapse into silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Vex was still trembling slightly, clearly upset, and so without...

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Chapter 21 - Confrontation

"Uh," Sev said. He glanced at the rest of the team, and they all seemed equally stumped. Except for Misa, but the expression she was wearing was her 'punch this problem until it goes away' expressi...

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Chapter 20 - Conclusions

"Your truth spells were fooled," Derivan interrupted Tarilex. The lizardkin stopped mid-sentence, turning his gaze to the armor and staring for a long, uncomfortable moment.

"Explain," he sai...

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Chapter 19 - Negotiations

Vex had told them the next morning that it likely wouldn't take long for them to be summoned — Elyra, he said, tended to try to throw money at problems instead of actually resolving them. The neg...

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Chapter 18 - Truths

The Guildmaster was only mildly surprised to hear of the abundant mana concentration, and the way the deviation had rapidly swung right towards the end; if anything, the most surprising part for he...

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Chapter 17 - Trust

"...what do you mean?" Sev asked after a moment. He seemed wary.

"How are dungeons ranked, normally?" Derivan cocked his head to the side, helmet clanking against his shoulder plate. "I am af...

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Chapter 16 - Dammit, Jerome

"Where the hell did everyone come from?" Misa said, looking around in slight bewilderment. "There weren't this many adventurers around when we left."

"Word got out, I'm guessing," Sev agreed,...

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Chapter 15 - Ecosystem

Derivan finished off the last of the polishing with a bit of a flourish. The others were working through the massive array of food that Sev had purchased, with Misa absolutely demolishing everythin...

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Chapter 14 - Break

It took a while to get away, for the priests wanted to question them on what happened. A nervous Misa had to fend them off and explain that even trying to talk about it was dangerous, and explainin...

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Chapter 13 - Tales of a Different God

"I need eight healing potions and five mana potions," Sev said. He hadn't even looked up at the vendor yet, his eyes too busy flicking over the wares they had available — surprisingly high-qualit...

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Chapter 12 - Of Dungeons and Priests

"It was a castle," Derivan began. He remembered that much. "A place of cold stone and dark skies. I did not know it at the time, but it is what I now know you call an open dungeon — the kind with...

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Chapter 11 - Bonding

Derivan could, as it turned out, absorb spells from spell scrolls just as a wizard could. He'd made an attempt to study the actual contents of the scroll, but most of what it was describin...

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Chapter 10 - Magic and Understanding

Derivan and Vex had both retreated to Vex's room. It was a mess, still, but the lizard cleared out a space on the floor for the armor to sit. Comfort wasn't a strict necessity for him, Derivan assu...

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Chapter 9 - Who Even Invented These Stats?

"A slime stat doesn't make any fucking sense!" Misa groaned, throwing up her hands with exasperation. It was, if Derivan was counting correctly, about the fourth time she had made the declaration. ...

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Chapter 8 - Answers. Also, More Questions.

"A dungeon formed?" the clerk asked incredulously. "Dungeons don't just form without warning. Our scouts would've noticed!"

"Max," Sev said, rubbing his temples tiredly. "You're my f...

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Chapter 7 - A Complete Disregard for Fate

The party was quiet and downtrodden, even as they began their journey back towards the Guild. They had reported the formation of the dungeon, of course. That was a necessary procedure, and it helpe...

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Chapter 6 - Chains

Derivan caught and strangled the flare of panic as his Skill failed. What did that tell him?

There were only a few possibilities. One, somehow, the Overseer still had access to its skills, an...

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Chapter 5 - Skill Abuse

Derivan knew what he needed to do.

The rest of the party had already expended everything they had. Sev had exhausted most of his mana trying to keep them all alive. Vex had similarly spent mo...

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