Met the “girl” through tinder. Immediately tried to move the conversation to Snapchat, which I obliged. Kept asking me to send photos/videos of my face and me masturbating and saying weird sexual stuff. Luckily I never included my face AND my sexual acts, but never the less they still slammed me with the request to make me pay. They found me FB page and my LinkedIn. Luckily my LinkedIn is weak and has like 3 people that follow me and something I never use. And FB is my only social media I own.
I just blocked them on Snapchat and deactivated my FB page, LinkedIn and Snapchat. I didn’t know these things existed! I honestly just figured it was some prostitute not an extortion ring. I was just bored and thought it’d be fun to sext with a stranger. Anyways, 3 days now, still haven’t had anyone I know ask why they got naked photos of me. I’m honestly impressed how elaborate this set up was. And if my acquaintances do end up getting photos of me, so be it. None of them have my face in a video stroking it.
Honestly just ignore and lay low (go off grid) if you get hit. I don’t think it’s to their advantage to follow through unless you’re like a senator or some VIP. If they leak, they just risk their operation getting caught, and since I immediately blocked and deleted everything they probably know I’m serious about not paying up. It’s scary, but have confidence in yourself and never put face and genital in same photo/video.

The current new decay system is unpredictable, and removes major incentives to optimize builds.
For years now, both colonials and wardens have spent a large amount of time optimizing anything they build with decay mechanics in mind. Indeed, it even put further pressure on us to optimize and innovate, so that our designs would be more efficient, more compact, and easier to maintain. It was even typically considered even more important than the initial cost of construction.
This rewarded innovation and careful design considerations significantly. Design poorly? Suffer high consumption with low effectiveness. Design well? Enjoy low consumption with high effectiveness. The system was harsh, but fair.
The new decay system destroys this entirely. It creates almost completely arbitrary rules, and leaves the vast majority of control of decay out of the players hands. Design well? It doesn’t matter, any number of factors (other players, server performance, region size) can make the consumption skyrocket for no reason. Design poorly? If you’re lucky you’ll be blessed with a good modifier regardless.
Furthermore, the new system breaks immersion entirely. You need to consider the arbitrary Voronoi map that is subregion zones. Completely arbitrary design considerations are rewarded. Build a base split among 2 or 3 region zones? Enjoy lower modifiers. Or even worse, build everything in one zone, and put supply tunnels in another, gaming the system.
Some of these problems could probably be fixed with a few band-aid patches. But even if there was total transparency, the unpredictability and total chaos this system introduces is inherently unsound. There is a reason virtually no game with decay mechanics bases the decay on server performance, something that is almost always out of the players’ control.
I applaud the developers for the vast majority of this update. Even more so, I applaud the developers for how incredibly well they nailed the building system in the game with the Entrenched update. While others complained about builder QoL, I have always truly believed that there was no other game with such an interesting & rewarding field of study. I have also truly been impressed by the foresight of certain choices. Either by luck or by choice, the developers made an incredible building system. I implore the developers to recognize the points I make here, and make a change to revert the decay system to a harsh, but proportional, predictable, and engineerable system, similar to the one we had before. Else, I fear that the golden age of FH engineering will be behind us.

I’m moving to a gaming laptop and want to use shaders.
What Minecraft do I need to buy from Xbox on my laptop? (There’s like 3 options)
Can I just install optifine after?
How do I install shaders?

Hello, I'm an owner of a small whitelisted family server and some family members don't have a pc, or prefer playing console, so I was thinking of installing Geyser. However, sometimes things said in chat by some of my family members get kind of edgy and I want to maintain sole control of how moderation is handled as server owner to as much extent is possible, as I know the context of what is appropriate given who is online at the time in a way Mojang/Microsoft lacks, as well as maintain privacy on what happens on my server.
To that end, I have set enforce-secure-profile to false on my server config, and installed Freedomchat plugin to prevent Java chat reports server wide, having watched Azistral's videos to understand Java chat reporting on a technical level. However I have no clue on how the more extensive moderating/filtering and punishments work on bedrock edition. I guess I likely have no control over what features are implemented on Bedrock edition clientside, and someone could get their bedrock account banned when discussing more adult themes or being unlucky with buggy automated systems.
However, my main question is, to what extent is chat monitored or punishment actionable for Java accounts, on a geyser server with bedrock players joining? What are my options for maintaining as much moderation control and privacy as possible?

Hi guys! Hope you can help :)
I bought a Nikon D3200 DSLR waaay back in 2012. I've still been using it and have started to look into upgrading to mirrorless.
I had a quick check on MPB and my whole kit is priced at around £336 for a trade in (providing I gave them everything listed). I'm unsure what would be best to switch to though. I mainly take photos at gigs and low lit places, or in the daytime it's usually street and architecture if I'm on holiday or out somewhere. It's more a hobby so I wouldn't be looking for much higher than £650. I'd be using the money from selling my kit to offset the price a little. I'm totally looking at second hand from MPB too, as new ones are a bit too much over what I'd be looking at.
My current Nikon kit is:
Nikon D3200 DSLR body
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm 1.8G
Nikon AF-S DX 18-70mm 3.5-4.5G
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 55-200mm 4-5.6G (this is currently broken and Im in the midst of getting it fixed if keeping)
Tamron SP AF 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Nikon Fit
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
I also have a Canon kit (smaller than the above) That I'd be selling.
I'm currently looking at the Nikon Z50 (£564) and the Nikon Z30 (£609) but any cheaper options are welcome too!
I'd love to hear if anyone has any advice on anything regarding what might be best to get. I'd love a camera upgrade and the Z50 looks pretty good, but I'm unsure if/how useable my F mount lenses will be? I have seen some converters range over £150, so is there any cheaper options about? I dont have too much in the way of requirement, as it looks like anything will be a huge upgrade for me. Articulating screens are nice, but I've survived this long without one!

Previous
Writer's note: Short sections with updates about all kinds of people. And Vickers faces his greatest threat ever.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So the last round is a four person free for all?" James asked as he saw the tournament finale.
"Yes." Amina said. "Once you've been struck seven times you'll be locked out of the fight and you'll be immobilized and shielded until it's over. Here's what's going to happen."
"So we're really not going to talk about the centaur in the room?" James asked.
"James focus." Amina said, ignoring his quip. "You, myself, and this Raend fellow are going to team up against the Glag."
"Okay so it as A... Glag?" James asked. "Glag isn't its name."
"It's both." Amina said simply. "That's neither here nor there. We need to work together to defeat the Glag or else we'll all be defeated within the first minute of the fight."
James's eyebrows furrowed at that. He looked over at the spot where the Glag(?) was standing in the corner of the room. Once again it seemed to be staring straight ahead with its mouth agape and drooling out the slurry of stone and saliva.
"That thing?" He asked. "You sure?"
"Okay." Amina said with her hands in front of her face in a prayer position as she took a deep breath. "James, that thing is a sentient variation of an earth elemental. It's faster than it looks. It's.... well... it's not SMARTER than it looks. But it is much more clever than you're probably giving it credit for. Besides which, remember what the devices on out chests are designed to signal for?"
James looked down at the small brass and crystal device. "Yeah. Hits." He said.
She poked his forehead with a finger. "Hits that would be lethal in a real fight." She reminded him. "Which for you and me means basically anything anyone in this tournament can throw at us. Now. Tell me. What's lethal for an elemental made of stone?"
"Oh." He said once he thought of the question for a moment.
"Yeah." She said. Then she made a face and her hand moved to her stomach.
James quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching, and when he saw the one other humanoid fighter in the room, presumably Raend, was busy reading a book, he turned to Amina and moved to provide her a bit of cover.
"You okay?" He asked.
Amina took several deep breaths and steeled herself a bit. "Yes. Though morning sickness is an incredibly inaccurate term."
"Need some water or something?" He asked. Then he thought of the hit she'd taken at the end of her fight with Gorna. "Say, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Having you in this tournament."
"Not a chance." She said as she spit a bit of saliva out into the nearby spittoon. "Besides. There's no way you win against that thing with only two people."
"Seriously?" James asked. "We are talking about that guy right?" He reiterated with a thumb over his shoulder as the two of them approached Raend.
Glag continued staring passively at the rack of spears that was in front of him.
------------------------------
Vickers had just finished talking to the owner of the building that the letter had specified, the same one he had been converted in, when he heard a familiar armored gait approaching. He folded the letter from the council and put it in his back pocket, and was walking around the wagon with the silver barbed mesh that would line the rooms for Five and Driscoll when he ran into the owner of the familiar stride pattern.
"Well. Looks like we get to-" His voice trailed off as he looked at the unexpected arrival. Then he looked up higher. "You're not Atrafar." He said with a cocked eyebrow. The hand that had just put the letter away slid up his back until it was resting on his pistol. He'd had to break off and then file down the trigger guard to be able to use it again.
"No. No I'm not." The massive, grey and white muzzled, werewolf in Outer Light armor said with a cocked eyebrow of its own.
"The council sent you?" Vickers asked. "You're overseeing the conversion?"
The wolf looked down at his armor for a moment. "Looks that way." He said. "I assume that you're Chief Anthony Vickers?"
"Yeah." The SEAL answered as the large wolf began to slowly look him up and down.
After a few moments of awkward silence the newcomer spoke up again. "Night brothers are rare. You're smaller than she makes you sound." He said as he approached the wagon and casually lifted one of the silver mesh bundles with his gauntleted hand.
Vickers donned a confused expression. "Than who makes me sound?"
"My daughter." The wolf said as it carefully walked into the building with the bundle, grabbing one of the tool bags from the side of the wagon with his empty hand. "Atrafar. I'm Outer Light Commander De'Lius Dauntless. Retired. Though I've been recalled for the next few days." He said as he disappeared into the door. "Let's get to work."
Vickers tried to bite his lip, forgetting that his new facial structure didn't exactly allow that particular expression. "Fuck." He said under his breath.
He reached over to one of the remaining bundles on the wagon and tried to lift it. It took a bit of effort, and he wasn't able to one hand it like the Commander had. But eventually he got it onto his shoulder and went inside as well.
"Fuck fuck fuuuuuuck." He said as he went inside.
------------------------
Werner slowly emerged from the third and final slumber to the sight of the healing ward's ceiling.
"There she is." Said the voice of Margaret Choi. "How are you Ambassador? Are you with us?"
Werner felt the back of the bed raising a bit, putting her into a slanted seated position.
"Yeah." She said before breaking into a yawn. "How did it go?"
"Well that really depends on you." Nurse Choi said. "As far as everything on our side is concerned the procedure went off without a hitch. How do you feel?"
She thought about it for a moment. "I fell okay I guess." Then a slightly more pressing issue presented itself. "I need to pee really badly."
"Well that's good." Nurse Choi replied. "I only removed your catheter about an hour ago. So that'll be a good chance to make sure that part went well. Though I'm sure it did. Come on and stand up."
Werner did as instructed and saw the Minotaur, Shrend, standing off to the side and looking at her charts. "Healer Farstorm." She greeted him.
"Welcome back Ambassador." Shrend said with a warm smile. "Things went well. Please follow Mrs. Choi and she'll get you where you need to go."
Ten minutes later, and much more relieved, she was back in the room and undergoing tests. They ran her through a familiar gamut of motor skill, walking stability, and various cognitive tests. Nurse Choi compared the results to the records that Earth had sent over for them.
By the time they were done it was nearly night again, and Werner was hovering on the border of breaking out into tears.
"Well Ambassador." Shrend said as he and Nurse Choi looked over the results and comparisons. "I don't want to count my drakes before they hatch. But if these results mean what Mrs. Choi says they do, then I think it's been a success. I really need to work on understanding English so I can read these more easily." He joked.
"I haven't scored that well since I was in my twenties." Werner said as she fought to keep her eyes dry.
"Well hopefully it stays that way for a long time." Nurse Choi said as she placed a hand on Werner's shoulder. The other hand grabbed a towel and handed it to her. "It's okay to be happy." She whispered softly.
Werner took the advice and let herself cry for a bit. The Nurse rubbed her back a little as she slowly got herself back under control and wiped her face.
"Thank you so much." She said between sobbing bouts.
"Oh. No need for that." Shrend said. "Healing and helping people is what we do. Now let's see about getting you back to your quarters and we'll have you back tomorrow for a bit more testing."
"Okay." She said as she let the nurse help her back to her feet.
She didn't stumble, or misstep at all in the ten or so minutes it took to get back. And by the time she got there she felt like she was floating.
--------------------
"You want to do what?" King Farrick asked.
"I've been ordered to restart testing on transmittal of living specimens to Earth from Petravus your majesty." Col. Muhammed said flatly. "We've set up a pressure chamber that can handle that particular issue and help them depressurize. Plus we have reason to believe that our world has become magically saturated enough that even a Petravian citizen should be able to survive the trip. Though, obviously we'll be starting with Earth citizens."
She pressed a button and a series of windows appeared on his screen, showing videos of people performing feats of strength and speed similar to what some of the Earth people in the castle were capable of now. Some of the videos showed people performing magical spells, though they were all simply, fire and wind attacks, moving earth, summoning light. Some of them showed people accidentally dealing with the carnage that some of that resulted in. There was a news segment, with Petravian subtitles put in place for him, talking about something called an "Influencer" dying after they attempted to fly over something called the Grand Canyon.
"I had assumed as much." He said after a few minutes of watching the curious footage. No matter how many times he saw them, videos amazed him. "I take it that you intend to have the Ambassador send over a few of the people we released."
"That's the long term goal." She admitted openly. "For now we intend to start with small wildlife. Rats or something equivalent. We're not looking to risk any human, or humanoid, life just yet."
"Hmm. Fair enough." He concurred. "You might be happy to know that my healers say that Ambassador Werner has emerged from her final rejuvenation session and all signs point toward a healthy recovery."
The Colonel smiled, and for the first time King Farrick thought it might have been a genuine one.
"That's excellent news." She said. "If the therapy proves fully successful, or hell even partially, that will revolutionize the medical field on our world. Did Nurse Choi take notes?"
"Extensive ones." The King said. "As did our chief healer."
"I look forward to reading them. Whenever you're willing to send them."
The King leaned forward a bit, knowing that he was at an advantage in this exchange
"Tell me." He said as he continued watching the footage that was rapidly changing on his screen. "What kind of magical trouble are the people over there causing?"

Today was the first day in a few months (maybe 4-5 months) that my boss actually reached out to delegate a task to me. I tend to get assigned tasks from a handful of people in upper management, but lately since my project is finishing up, and my boss has a slightly different title& role, Ive been pretty lost and my workload has dropped significantly.
I'm almost 4 years into my career and haven't received really any guidance from him for the past 1.5 years, aside from when I received another job offer and he convinced me to stay by explaining his career management plan for me. I told him I was feeling lost and this was when he outlined a potential career path he sees me going.
We don't even work in the same building anymore, so I only see him once a month if that..
I read other people's posts about how they work directly with their bosses in everything, but I feel like I don't have that and it's impacting me professionally?

I searched around and did not find the answers here and on google.

1. I am wanting to make the runeword pride but worried the 'hit blinds target' will override lifetap. I was thinking maybe it wouldn't since bosses/uber bosses are immune to being blind. Scenario would be I apply lifetap on a uber boss. Then my merc procs 'blinds target' would it overide LT or no?
2. Late this season or into non-ladder I want to make Last Wish (lofty goal I know). I am seeing on traderie ethereal phase blades for trade. How are people getting those? I thought phase blades don't come as ethereal. I was told sometime ago that if you upped an eth item it would become a normal item but the next tier up. So if I upped a eth dimensional blade, would it become a non-eth phase blade?
3. Having a hard time finding which gloves I should use for my mosaic assassin during ubers. Since some properties (affixes or whatever they are called) don't transfer over to her kicks (dragon talon). On diablo famdom they list some but not all that do/do not apply. Can't afford crafted blood gloves yet. For instance I know lay on hands % to demons doesn't work with kicks. But the IAS does. Not sure which of these gloves would be the for ubers steel/gout/dracs/loh/venom. Is there a comprehensive list for what does and doesn't work with kicks/dragon talon?

These questions are a bit hard to search for. Appreciate the help from the community.

Interdimentional Villain Exchange Program -1- A Very Bad Day

​
Today…
..is a BAD day.
I knew that from the moment I woke up and found out that I overslept so much that I didn't have any hope of making it in time for combat training.
But if being late was the only bad thing that happened today I would be singing praises to all the gods above and below. But of course, it was not. Not even close. The next thing that went completely sideways was the aforementioned combat practice that I was late for. Normally it's intense, but not an unpleasant experience. If I can say so humbly, that's mostly because combat is actually one of my strong suits.
The flow of blades, the rhythm of spellcraft and swift movements of ached flesh always seemed very harmonious to me. It all accumulated in a beautiful symphony of combat that I could play better then almost any of my peers.
However, the keyword this time is “almost”.
Being second best is however a small comfort if The Best is still so much stronger than you that the only thing you can do is to struggle to at least mitigate the beating you receive. And since I annoyed the instructors by being late in the morning, of course I got assigned to be the sparring partner of Serena after the instructor she usually spared with had “something better to do”. Serena was not a particularly malicious person. At least not too much. One cannot become a top student of Mordath Villain Academy without being at least decently malicious and sadistic after all. However for some reason she seemed to respect me of all people.
OK I'll admit it. “Respect” might be a bad word to describe it. It would be more accurate to call it a “begrudging acceptance”. I'm not sure why but it's probably because, despite my relatively poor academic achievements compared to the rest of the group, I could not be crushed under her heel like an “annoying bug” during battle practice.
I was bestowed the honor of being an “average rodent” by her instead. That might not have seemed much different to me… or the rest of the students… or the instructors… or anyone else for that matter, but to her it apparently made a difference.
Enough of a difference to fight me seriously during the sparring sessions at least. And the result was all but pleasant for me. Especially considering the fact that we are at the Mordath Villain Academy, and not some third rate training facility. Here a spar ends only when the time ends. The founder of the academy was Mordath, the Onyx Lich himself after all, and for that man, no half measures were acceptable. And since he founded the academy, he would not stop halfway and do everything in his power to guarantee results. Unfortunately for me, there isn’t really that much that's beyond his power. And as a result, the next four hours of combat practice I had experienced were hell incarnate.
I fought desperately with everything I had, and after a couple of seconds, or maybe a minute if I was lucky I made a mistake, and got stabbed, beheaded, gutted, frozen, burned, or one of a thousand other ways miss prodigy chose to torture me with that round.
After suffering such fate the magical wards on the arena would activate, heal me, rejuvenate my muscles, refill my mana reserves and in a few seconds announce the beginning of the next round.
I “died” about a hundred times today already, and all I had to show for it was a cut off finger and a frostbite on her eyebrow. Some would call even that result impressive, but I preferred to call it humiliating.
How can I be satisfied with dying a hundred times for a finger and some dead skin? Give me a break. Who would be ok with that? I'm not that pathetic.
Probably.
But even still, if that was all of it I would call it a particularly unpleasant monday, and that would be it. But today was indeed, a BAD day.
Before I could even finish washing the literal buckets of my own blood from my hair, I was jumped by a bunch of guys under the showers and gotten beaten senseless for “daring to lay a hand on their love”.
Honestly… how pathetic can you be to be so obsessed with a person that doesn’t even know you exist.
I could not even protect myself properly. The guys that jumped me were a bunch of comically muscular brutes that probably eat rocks and shit out sand, while I was just a naked human mage without any magical armor, spell focus, and my head half submerged in water.
I'm only above average at fighting… I'm no Serena. I can’t do miracles.
So there I was, lying naked, half of me covered in blood, the other half beaten blue and black, with my hair still covered in shampoo and my brain spinning on its highest gears to figure out how to even get up.
And then, as if nothing happened a secretary walked into the showers and started to speak to me as if nothing was wrong.
“Oh. Here you are, boy! I was just looking for you! Come with me quickly. The Headmaster is looking for you.”
Now imagine my shock. A headmaster was looking for me. Dark Lord Mordath, the Ruler of the Underworld, the Runic Monarch, the FUCKING GODSLAYER, was looking for me.
Not just for anyone closest, not just for anyone of specific species or gender for some of his deranged experiments, but for me specifically.
What the fuck?
Why?
And you know what the worst part is? It wasn’t even time for lunch yet. And that means this day is only just beginning.
Secretary of course didn’t bother inquiring about my present condition. The academy only had four rules and none of them were broken by simply beating a student up. It was a villain academy after all. They are going to teach us, but how we live is the last of their concerns. And since no rules were broken, the secretary naturally didn’t care either.
He did at least give me enough time to get dressed before quite literally dragging me to the headmasters office, but that was a small comfort if you take into account that he most certainly did not give me an opportunity to go find a healer, or at least drink a healing potion, so my whole body was still colorful like some sort of abstract art piece with bloodstains and bruises covering most of it.
Well, at least it didn’t look like I got any of my bones broken so there is that…
And after a short, at least objectively, journey to the headmasters office we were greeted by a set of huge doors. They were enormous, made of gold and so absolutely covered in precious stones that one might think they were there to compensate for something, although none would dare to say that considering who the creator of the doors was.
As we closed in, the unimaginably heavy doors started to open on their own letting us into the spacious chamber behind.
And in there sat two people, to whom I can attribute my current missfortune. One of those people was someone that I did expect to see here, after all the onyx skeleton dressed in vibrant purple robe was none other than the headmaster himself, the other one however, left me confused.
He looked like a tall and muscular, yet slender man with ashen skin, three pairs of leathery bat-like wings on his back and two antler-like horns that extended from his forehead and regularly sparked with magical lightning. Yet despite his intimidating appearance it was not his looks that caught my attention, it was his aura.
That man was powerful.
Very powerful.
As a mage I am naturally very adept at sensing manaflow, and magical fluctuations, which allowed me to instantly recognise how strong the person in front of me was. The magical energy danced around and flawed into him as if he was a maw of some incomprehensible eldritch horror slowly devouring the very universe around him. It was almost enough to match the cyclone of mana generated by The Headmaster which up to this point remained by far the strongest magical phenomenon I had ever seen.
Terrifying.
“Here you are! We were starting to get worried that You are not going to show up at all!” said The Lich, his voice seemingly happy yet carrying a barely perceivable tinge of annoyance. “We don't have much time so i will tell you why you were called and what you are to do, and you will do it, are we clear?”
“Yes sir!” I could only answer this way. Even though I wanted to curse at the undead bastard in front of me. Even though I had a feeling I would not be happy with what I'm supposed to do, who could disobey the will of Mordath The Godslayer? Certainly not me.
“All right then. I was having a chat with my friend here, and he was bitching about how difficult it is to conquer his world for a demon…”
“Demon Lord.” Interrupted the stranger “I did not kill the entire gods damned demon realm monarchy to be called just a demon”
“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you say Sparky” Agreed the Lich and waved his hand before continuing, seemingly oblivious to a overbearing magical pressure his guest started to emit as a result of his remark “Well the point is, he thinks us undead have it easy, and i think he is full of shit, and simply cannot admit that i'm better than him.”
The Lich finished, and seemed content to remain silent as if everything has already been explained.
“I… understand my master. But how does this connect to me?” I said. More than a little confused.
However instead of the lich, it was the demon in the room that answered with a sneering tone.
“Isn’t it obvious boy? The old sack of bones over here said i'm over exaggerating the difficulty of my goals, and to prove it he offered to send one of his students to complete three tasks I attempted, and failed to achieve”
Hearing that my mind went blank. How in hell am I supposed to achieve something that even this monster of a person failed to accomplish? Is this some sort of devilish joke I'm too human to understand?
“Well then what will you do?” Asked the headmaster, apparently unconcerned by my shocked expression. “Do you accept this task, keep in mind that I would be very disappointed in you if you choose to refuse…”
And that was it. Ever since we were kidnapped by that old fuck, and forced to “learn proper villainy” under him we were made to understand that disappointing Him meant death, and not a quick one at that. So since he said what he did I did not really have a choice in the matter.
“Ok i'll do it” I said, my tone expressing exactly how willing i truly was to undertake this task “When do i start? I had to take my things and…”
“No. I don't think that will be necessary.” Said the demon handing me a piece of crumpled up parchment “And you will be starting immediatly”.
Just as he finished his sentence a phantom hand suddenly gripped me by the shoulder and started dragging me towards a portal that suddenly opened on a nearby wall. I yelped in surprise and only had a time to glance hatefully at the two figures still standing in the room before I fell through the runic circle comprising the portal.
I did not have time to ask any questions, but when I was still traveling through the dimensional corridor of the portal spell I got some time to reorganize my thoughts and realized something unusual about what was said in the office.
There is no Demon Lord.
The demon realm monarchy is a bunch of subjects that serve under Mordath for milenia now. And most importantly why would the thrice cursed lich make fun of the demon for his inability to conquer a world that was already conquered by him instead of killing him for disobedience?
It just didn’t make any sense. Unless…
But just as I was about to finish this train of thought I was thrown out by the rapidly shrinking portal door and was stunned by what I saw. In front of me, in the great expanse of the beautifully azure sky there were tens, maybe even hundreds of floating islands of different shapes and sizes, each one floating on its own, or in some kind of bizarre archipelago of floating stones.
At that point I knew my inference was true. I was no longer in my world. I was in fact so stunned by the realization, that I failed to notice an even more important fact of significantly more pressing nature. It was only when I finally noticed that the wind was only getting faster, and all the floating islands around me seemed to be rapidly moving upwards did I finally catch on to the fact that this damn demon didn’t even bother to open the portal on the ground.
So there i was.
Mentally exhausted, brutally beaten up, and now rapidly falling into oblivion in a universe that I don't even belong to, with a set of three impossible tasks to complete…
I believe that taking all of it into consideration I can say that without a shadow of a doubt, Today…
…Is a BAD day.
Next

You're Invited to The Cookout!
We're a group of homies, who have become a family. We help each other reach goals, crack a lot of jokes and reference Fast & Furious movies along the way.
No goal is too small, no goal is too big, no runway is too long. We are now actively recruiting all skill levels from newbies to hardcore players to WoW Refugees who aspire to be great players!
If you're a quiet/shy person who just wants an organized and lively FC to hang out in, you are welcome too!
Photos of our FC: The Cookout on Lodestone
For our members, we provide:

• Active players online 24 hours, 7 days a week in-game and/or discord.
• Daily Tier 2 Buffs
• FREE MAPS for weekly FC-hosted map parties
• Large house stylishly furnished and glitched to perfection (Mist, Ward 1, Plot 15)
  • Check it out! House Tour - Video Tour (Youtube)
• SAVAGE RAIDS: Optimizations, Parsing and alt job fun runs. Get coaching on how to get started in Savage & Ultimate raiding.
• EXTREME TRIALS: Mount Farming and Clear Assistance with our vets
• Many more members who are level 90 Omnicrafters with pentamelds available for help!
• Fully optimized Discord channel for shenanigans and event planning and dank memes.
• Pop up events like SB Mount Farms, Glam Contests, BLU raids, party games, F&F Movie Nights and more.
• Make friends with many members who are involved in ALL kinds of content: Raiding, Roulettes, Housing, RP, PVP, Blue Mage, Parsing, Gambling, Glamour & Gpose, Chocobo Racing, Mahjong, Fishing, etc.
• FREE RARE loot exclusively found from our maxed out Submarines

​
Just a few of our accomplishments include:

• Full FC clear of Eureka Orthos - Level 99 Boss
• 25 FAM members with at least 1 Ultimate Raid Clear (9 Double Legends, 6 Triple Legends, 4 Quad Legends, 2 Penta Legends) - TOP DSR TEA
• 28 members with a P8S Clear on content (and counting) - The Cookout on FFLogs
• 11 members ranked in the Top 100 (World) in fflogs
• 16 members ranked in the Top 10 (Diabolos) in fflogs
• Full FC Blind Alliance Raids - 6.3 Euphrosyne 6.1 Aglaia
• Official FC Book Club & Game Club that meets biweekly
• FC-Sponsored month long Festival with events like No-Flight Racing, Hide & Seek, Human Darts, PvP and more!
  • Prizes included housing renovations, art commissions, G-Fuel, map glams, custom discord emojis & stickers
• FC-Sponsored Gpose contest with prizes valued at $100 and 20 million gil
• Full FC Party clears of current Endwalker Extreme Trials - Endsinger FC Party
• 40 members with a P4S clear on-content
• Full FC Party clears for Coils of Bahamut and Alexander (Savage) on BLU synced
• Pico Park clears for team bonding - https://youtu.be/DIlndgSC2ZY
• Home to a handful of active Twitch Streamers
  • https://twitch.tv/lifeforger https://www.twitch.tv/bicepforehead https://twitch.tv/knightcv https://www.twitch.tv/scline https://www.twitch.tv/felicityryan https://www.twitch.tv/domypls

​
Contact any of our officers or click on our FC house placard to apply and include your discord name in your application:
Mist Ward 1, Plot 15

• Graceful Frost (picthebear#3388)
• Khenbish Mahjong (Poprop#1744)
• Kiba Mac (soejimac#0404)
• Karella Vremaix (Knight#9159)
• Brews Susingway (Gj'ala Brews#8745)

The unfortunate happened. I took out my Wolfwood revoltech of the box. Then heard a tick sound, looked down, and saw his hand on the table.
Ideas on how to get this out?
hand

How Many safe hands do you think he’s seen? Gotta be close to top on roshar

Previous / First
Writer's note: Short sections with updates about all kinds of people. And Vickers faces his greatest threat ever.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So the last round is a four person free for all?" James asked as he saw the tournament finale.
"Yes." Amina said. "Once you've been struck seven times you'll be locked out of the fight and you'll be immobilized and shielded until it's over. Here's what's going to happen."
"So we're really not going to talk about the centaur in the room?" James asked.
"James focus." Amina said, ignoring his quip. "You, myself, and this Raend fellow are going to team up against the Glag."
"Okay so it as A... Glag?" James asked. "Glag isn't its name."
"It's both." Amina said simply. "That's neither here nor there. We need to work together to defeat the Glag or else we'll all be defeated within the first minute of the fight."
James's eyebrows furrowed at that. He looked over at the spot where the Glag(?) was standing in the corner of the room. Once again it seemed to be staring straight ahead with its mouth agape and drooling out the slurry of stone and saliva.
"That thing?" He asked. "You sure?"
"Okay." Amina said with her hands in front of her face in a prayer position as she took a deep breath. "James, that thing is a sentient variation of an earth elemental. It's faster than it looks. It's.... well... it's not SMARTER than it looks. But it is much more clever than you're probably giving it credit for. Besides which, remember what the devices on out chests are designed to signal for?"
James looked down at the small brass and crystal device. "Yeah. Hits." He said.
She poked his forehead with a finger. "Hits that would be lethal in a real fight." She reminded him. "Which for you and me means basically anything anyone in this tournament can throw at us. Now. Tell me. What's lethal for an elemental made of stone?"
"Oh." He said once he thought of the question for a moment.
"Yeah." She said. Then she made a face and her hand moved to her stomach.
James quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching, and when he saw the one other humanoid fighter in the room, presumably Raend, was busy reading a book, he turned to Amina and moved to provide her a bit of cover.
"You okay?" He asked.
Amina took several deep breaths and steeled herself a bit. "Yes. Though morning sickness is an incredibly inaccurate term."
"Need some water or something?" He asked. Then he thought of the hit she'd taken at the end of her fight with Gorna. "Say, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Having you in this tournament."
"Not a chance." She said as she spit a bit of saliva out into the nearby spittoon. "Besides. There's no way you win against that thing with only two people."
"Seriously?" James asked. "We are talking about that guy right?" He reiterated with a thumb over his shoulder as the two of them approached Raend.
Glag continued staring passively at the rack of spears that was in front of him.
------------------------------
Vickers had just finished talking to the owner of the building that the letter had specified, the same one he had been converted in, when he heard a familiar armored gait approaching. He folded the letter from the council and put it in his back pocket, and was walking around the wagon with the silver barbed mesh that would line the rooms for Five and Driscoll when he ran into the owner of the familiar stride pattern.
"Well. Looks like we get to-" His voice trailed off as he looked at the unexpected arrival. Then he looked up higher. "You're not Atrafar." He said with a cocked eyebrow. The hand that had just put the letter away slid up his back until it was resting on his pistol. He'd had to break off and then file down the trigger guard to be able to use it again.
"No. No I'm not." The massive, grey and white muzzled, werewolf in Outer Light armor said with a cocked eyebrow of its own.
"The council sent you?" Vickers asked. "You're overseeing the conversion?"
The wolf looked down at his armor for a moment. "Looks that way." He said. "I assume that you're Chief Anthony Vickers?"
"Yeah." The SEAL answered as the large wolf began to slowly look him up and down.
After a few moments of awkward silence the newcomer spoke up again. "Night brothers are rare. You're smaller than she makes you sound." He said as he approached the wagon and casually lifted one of the silver mesh bundles with his gauntleted hand.
Vickers donned a confused expression. "Than who makes me sound?"
"My daughter." The wolf said as it carefully walked into the building with the bundle, grabbing one of the tool bags from the side of the wagon with his empty hand. "Atrafar. I'm Outer Light Commander De'Lius Dauntless. Retired. Though I've been recalled for the next few days." He said as he disappeared into the door. "Let's get to work."
Vickers tried to bite his lip, forgetting that his new facial structure didn't exactly allow that particular expression. "Fuck." He said under his breath.
He reached over to one of the remaining bundles on the wagon and tried to lift it. It took a bit of effort, and he wasn't able to one hand it like the Commander had. But eventually he got it onto his shoulder and went inside as well.
"Fuck fuck fuuuuuuck." He said as he went inside.
------------------------
Werner slowly emerged from the third and final slumber to the sight of the healing ward's ceiling.
"There she is." Said the voice of Margaret Choi. "How are you Ambassador? Are you with us?"
Werner felt the back of the bed raising a bit, putting her into a slanted seated position.
"Yeah." She said before breaking into a yawn. "How did it go?"
"Well that really depends on you." Nurse Choi said. "As far as everything on our side is concerned the procedure went off without a hitch. How do you feel?"
She thought about it for a moment. "I fell okay I guess." Then a slightly more pressing issue presented itself. "I need to pee really badly."
"Well that's good." Nurse Choi replied. "I only removed your catheter about an hour ago. So that'll be a good chance to make sure that part went well. Though I'm sure it did. Come on and stand up."
Werner did as instructed and saw the Minotaur, Shrend, standing off to the side and looking at her charts. "Healer Farstorm." She greeted him.
"Welcome back Ambassador." Shrend said with a warm smile. "Things went well. Please follow Mrs. Choi and she'll get you where you need to go."
Ten minutes later, and much more relieved, she was back in the room and undergoing tests. They ran her through a familiar gamut of motor skill, walking stability, and various cognitive tests. Nurse Choi compared the results to the records that Earth had sent over for them.
By the time they were done it was nearly night again, and Werner was hovering on the border of breaking out into tears.
"Well Ambassador." Shrend said as he and Nurse Choi looked over the results and comparisons. "I don't want to count my drakes before they hatch. But if these results mean what Mrs. Choi says they do, then I think it's been a success. I really need to work on understanding English so I can read these more easily." He joked.
"I haven't scored that well since I was in my twenties." Werner said as she fought to keep her eyes dry.
"Well hopefully it stays that way for a long time." Nurse Choi said as she placed a hand on Werner's shoulder. The other hand grabbed a towel and handed it to her. "It's okay to be happy." She whispered softly.
Werner took the advice and let herself cry for a bit. The Nurse rubbed her back a little as she slowly got herself back under control and wiped her face.
"Thank you so much." She said between sobbing bouts.
"Oh. No need for that." Shrend said. "Healing and helping people is what we do. Now let's see about getting you back to your quarters and we'll have you back tomorrow for a bit more testing."
"Okay." She said as she let the nurse help her back to her feet.
She didn't stumble, or misstep at all in the ten or so minutes it took to get back. And by the time she got there she felt like she was floating.
--------------------
"You want to do what?" King Farrick asked.
"I've been ordered to restart testing on transmittal of living specimens to Earth from Petravus your majesty." Col. Muhammed said flatly. "We've set up a pressure chamber that can handle that particular issue and help them depressurize. Plus we have reason to believe that our world has become magically saturated enough that even a Petravian citizen should be able to survive the trip. Though, obviously we'll be starting with Earth citizens."
She pressed a button and a series of windows appeared on his screen, showing videos of people performing feats of strength and speed similar to what some of the Earth people in the castle were capable of now. Some of the videos showed people performing magical spells, though they were all simply, fire and wind attacks, moving earth, summoning light. Some of them showed people accidentally dealing with the carnage that some of that resulted in. There was a news segment, with Petravian subtitles put in place for him, talking about something called an "Influencer" dying after they attempted to fly over something called the Grand Canyon.
"I had assumed as much." He said after a few minutes of watching the curious footage. No matter how many times he saw them, videos amazed him. "I take it that you intend to have the Ambassador send over a few of the people we released."
"That's the long term goal." She admitted openly. "For now we intend to start with small wildlife. Rats or something equivalent. We're not looking to risk any human, or humanoid, life just yet."
"Hmm. Fair enough." He concurred. "You might be happy to know that my healers say that Ambassador Werner has emerged from her final rejuvenation session and all signs point toward a healthy recovery."
The Colonel smiled, and for the first time King Farrick thought it might have been a genuine one.
"That's excellent news." She said. "If the therapy proves fully successful, or hell even partially, that will revolutionize the medical field on our world. Did Nurse Choi take notes?"
"Extensive ones." The King said. "As did our chief healer."
"I look forward to reading them. Whenever you're willing to send them."
The King leaned forward a bit, knowing that he was at an advantage in this exchange
"Tell me." He said as he continued watching the footage that was rapidly changing on his screen. "What kind of magical trouble are the people over there causing?"

We’ve been together for over a year and have lived together for over 10 months. I moved in with him due to a freak situation and it’s been great.
Some relevant context:
Until recently, my bf refused to wash any kind of produce. I would separately rinse the produce I was going to eat. This continued until he got sick, had a routine colonoscopy, and his doctor noticed a GI infection. He told him to start washing his produce, and he finally agreed it was a good idea.
A few weeks later, my BF took our steak leftovers out of the fridge and onto the counter in a Tupperware. About 4-5 hours later he went to heat it up. I thought about his GI issue and said something, esp because I was also going to eat that meat. I said “hey, just so you know, that’s a potential food safety issue.” He was confused, and I explained that meat shouldn’t be left at room temperature for >2 hrs. Did I think it was going to kill us? No. I ended it with saying that it’s probably fine but in general it’s better to not leave meat at room temperature for more than 2 hrs. He mentioned that his cookbooks suggest letting meat get to room temperature before reheating them, but moved on.
After dinner, I did the dishes. The sink was fully of dirty dishes that had mayo/oil on them. I saw that he had put the clean InstaPot lid on top of the dirty dishes. IMO, that creates another thing for me to clean. I think it makes more sense just to put the InstaPot on a towel (bc it gets wet with steam) on the counter instead of in the dirty sink.
So, I asked “does the InstaPot lid need to be washed?” and he said no. I started to say “oh okay. If you don’t mind, in the future—“ and he cut me off by saying “oh great, here comes another dressing down.” I stopped talking & became upset because he always accuses me of dressing him down. I don’t mean to be motherly/domineering. I just wanted to ask him to not put it in the sink because then I have to wash it when mayonnaise gets all over it. We ended up having a massive argument about this and he said that the right thing to do in both situations was for me to say nothing at all. I don’t think I was demeaning in how I said it.
I feel that his solution is rude and unfair. If I live in the house too, why am I not allowed to have an opinion on something that affects both of us? Why can’t I suggest a different way of doing things if I believe it makes more sense? Even if we disagree, by asking I can find out his rationale for his method of doing things and then maybe I will agree and then the issue is solved. I don’t think it’s fair that I have to just shut up and do things in what I perceive to be an inferior way because the mere suggestion that his method could be improved upon constitutes a “dressing down.” I think the solution is that he should be less sensitive to perceived criticism. That argument was never resolved and we sort of agreed to disagree, which doesn’t solve the issue of our communication.
Cut to now: We were expecting a maintenance man but didn’t know when. I slept in yesterday as it was Sunday. I awoke to the sound of knocking at our door and ringing the doorbell. It was 9:30 AM and I was naked in bed so I called my bf (he was on balcony). I said “I just woke up to knocking on the door. Please don’t let them in because I’m naked.” He didn’t really respond but I heard him let in the worker. I like to be clothed/look presentable if we have other people in the apt, so I threw clothes on and began brushing my teeth/washing my face. I knew the worker would eventually be coming into the master bath to fix something in the shower, so I was hustling. Before I could finish washing my face, my bf asked if they could come look at the shower. I asked for a couple mins. Finally, I left the bathroom and had to awkwardly say hi to the guy while still looking a mess because I hadn’t had time to brush my hair. I ended up going into the one room where I knew the maintenance worker wouldn’t go, which was the other bathroom. I sat in the tub for like 20 mins until he left. When I left, my bf goes “oh no, you had to hide in the bathroom!” I was pretty annoyed but decided I didn’t want to have WWIII that early in the morning and let it go.
This recent issue is still unresolved and I want to address it. I would like to ask him to check with me before letting someone in our apartment. How do I say that without dressing him down?
Am I the problem here? How can I effectively communicate my concerns/preferences to him without coming across as dressing him down?
TLDR: My bf accuses me of dressing him down every time I ask him to do something differently. I want to ask him to ask me before letting people in our apartment in a way that he doesn’t perceive as being dressed down, but I don’t know how to do that.

TW: Suicide (attempt)
Yesterday I had a dream, I was in your house. You weren't there, but your parents were. I hugged your mom, we joked and acted like old acquaintances, and I greeted your stepdad, as if everything were great, and for a moment I felt free of all this hate and fear that has followed me around these last 5 years. But then I woke up, and try as I might, I just couldn't make myself forget it.
I couldn't forget the feeling of your stepdad's hand slapping me across the face, or his leg as he kicked me in the ribs. I couldn't forget your mother, angrily screaming at me, blaming me for her husband's outburst. All because I spoke up against their blatant homophobia... You know I couldn't let it go, not with how much my uncles mean to me, not with how vile I find all that, not with me being bi myself.
We didn't break up because of that night alone. I get that, we had way too many problems and we just weren't good for eachother. But you had all your other friends, and all I had was you. So when we broke up I never felt so alone. I had never been that alone.
I'm not proud of what I did that day. But I'm certain I had to. I was too drunk. I can still feel the rope around my neck. The disatisfaction I felt when the branch broke, and my determination to jump in front of moving traffic. I remember slipping and falling asleep right there on the dirt. Waking up to ants and rainwater crawling on my skin. I never cried that much in my life. I haven't really cried since. But I remember feeling oddly alive. Actually alive.
It's been six year, and when I woke up from that dream I woke up to my new girlfriend. I love her, and I fully intend to spend my life with her. It's funny I think you'd like her if you two met. I don't hold it against you anymore. I was bitter back then, angry. But that guy died right then, on that rope tied to a dead twig. I almost wish we could be friends. But I get it I hurt you too. It's been six years. I hope you can forgive me.
I wish I could forget it, for myself, but I still hate your family.

HOW TO MONITOR SOMEONE’S PHONE CALLS USING SPY APPLICATIONS

• HOW TO USE KIDSGUARD PRO TO MONITOR SOMEONE’S PHONE CALL

You can use Hijack hackers monitor your target’s incoming and outgoing calls. It works by recording their phone conversation and uploading it on its website for you to listen to or download after a few minutes.[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
To start the process, you need to visit its official website to register after which you will have to choose a subscription plan of your interest, install it, and set up the app on the target’s device. Once you have completed the set-up, listening to your target’s phone conversation becomes easy.
Any time the target receives or makes a phone call, Hijack hackers instantly starts recording the call. 5-10 minutes after the call ends, it will upload the complete and clear call recording of your target on the Hijack hackers online portal where you can listen to the conversation at any time by tapping on the audio option. And you can also download the call.
Impressively, it does not leave you wondering who the person your target is talking to is as it will provide the name and phone number of the other person behind every recording. It also provides other information like the date and time of the call, the duration of the call, and the type (incoming or outgoing) of the call.

• HOW TO USE KEYLOGGER TO MONITOR WIFE OR HUSBANDS MESSAGES

Keylogger records all the keystrokes made by the target user. This includes text messages they type, their social media chats, their browser searches, usernames, and passwords of their social media accounts. This means with keylogging you can monitor messages sent by your target. The software helps you stay anonymous because it operates in a stealth mode on the target device. To get started, download and install the right keylogging software into your system.
The spy apps find all the keystrokes made by the target user for you and arrange them in an organized manner. They are sorted based on the app where they were made.[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Hi! I am Darius. If you saw some of Travis's Posts you should know about me. This is my second post!
If You wish to see Travis's Posts then go here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. Part 7, Part 8.
If you haven't seen my previous post, go here: Part 1.
Me and Bryson trekked through the forest, searching for any vantage point to look for Travis. I tried finding his scent but for some reason... There is this... "Presence" in the air. My sense of smell was practically useless.
Bryson and I found a large tree in the distance, it took us a couple minutes to reach it and we decided it would be better for Bryson to climb it since he was much lighter than me.
Bryson climbed about halfway when we both saw a giant bird getting closer to Bryson.
"Damn it, Darius! You need to distract that thing or something"! Bryson said pulling out a pair of binoculars he snagged in the Watch Tower.
I concentrated and thrust myself off the ground to an astounding height. I managed to slightly grab the giant bird's foot and drag it down with me. As we crashed to the ground, the bird's feathers suddenly became extremely spiky and sharp.
I struggled to attack the bird as every time I managed to get close, It would slice me with its feathers. More and more cuts littered my body and I was about to collapse when I heard a loud gunshot.
Bryson had taken out his rifle and shot the bird in the back of its head while it was distracted. The force of him shooting had made him slip and he started falling out of the tree. I grabbed onto the tree and used my claws to scale the tree as fast as I could and managed to catch Bryson mid-air.
I climbed back down the hill and set Bryson down.
"Did you see anything out of the ordinary"? I asked.
"Not really, though. I did see smoke in the distance. Maybe Travis made some fire we could use to find him"? Bryson suggested.
"Alright Lets GO"! I said, quickly grabbing Bryson and dashing towards the direction of the smoke.
​
Eventually we found the campfire but we were both greeted with 3 dead people, destroyed beyond recognition. I immediately thought that these were the remains of the Soldiers as well as Travis because someone called "Ok_Shoulder" Had informed me of such. I took a closer look and realized there should be 4 bodies, not 3. There was no military gear anywhere either. Me and Bryson looked around and we found a blood trail. Fearing the worst, we followed it.
We were led to a clearing and I saw Yellowstone Volcano. Me and Bryson were shocked to see the Pilgrim throwing a body into the Caldera. I thought this was Travis and out of blind rage, I roared and charged at the Pilgrim, my claws outstretched for his throat.
He teleported out of the way and appeared behind me. I stopped and dodged a slice of his long dirty fingernails as a giant smile grew on his face. I lunged and grabbed the Pilgrim, sending him to the ground with tremendous force. The pilgrim laughed.
"You're a feisty one aren't you? You won't last too long". The pilgrim sneered.
He teleported on my back and went to thrust his dagger-like nails into my throat when I heard a familiar gunshot. A bullet slammed into the pilgrim, sending him to the ground.
Bryson ran up to help me but we were both slammed back to the treeline by the pilgrim. He had one hand on each of our necks and held us tightly. I saw his black teeth show with his maniac-like grin. I knee'd the Pilgrim and he was blasted upwards from the force. I grabbed him and then slammed him deep into the ground and repeatedly slammed my fists into him. He teleported out of the situation and was now in the middle of the Caldera. I went to attack him but Bryson grabbed my arm.
"Darius, That wasn't Travis. The body was wearing boots. Travis only has his old sneakers. Didn't you find it odd that the other dead people weren't wearing military gear? We need to go find him and the Soldiers. We can't kill this thing alone". Bryson said, convincing me to stop attacking.
I looked back one last time to see some kind of tendril erupt from the Caldera, reaching towards the Pilgrim. I shuddered and grabbed Bryson. I asked where we should look when I thought I saw movement in a clearing not too far from here. I rushed towards the direction I saw something and eventually entered the clearing.
Travis and the Soldiers looked shocked as me and Bryson entered the clearing.
A couple of them went to speak but I cut them off.
"The pilgrim is at Yellowstone Volcano. We need to stop it NOW". I boomed.
"What is it doing at Yellowstone volcano"?! One of them asked.
I glanced at Travis and saw he was deep in thought.
"What if it's doing some kind of ritual"? He asked.
A couple of the Soldiers went pale.
"Well, what are we waiting for"?! Bryson said.
I quickly grabbed everyone and with effort, I ran towards Yellowstone Volcano as fast as I could.
"Bryson-" Travis went to say but Bryson cut him off.
"Look, Travis, We can talk about this later ok? I made a mistake. And now we need to go stop this THING". He said.
"But what if some of us don't make it out alive-" Travis asked but was cut off again.
"Nobody is going to die, I promise". He stated.
We were close to Yellowstone Volcano when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
I stopped to see a group of wendigo emerge from the shadows.
"Shit". One of the soldiers said.
Bryson took out his gun and fired at the wendigo but they were able to hide behind the nearby trees. Travis took out a Desert Eagle and fired a shot into one of the wendigo's skull, sending it crashing to the ground as it pierced the bony exterior.
I charged at one of the Wendigo's only to be swarmed and I felt immense pain around my body. I could smell their breath. It smelt like rotting corpses.
Travis ran over and thrust one of the wendigo off of me to my surprise and I watched as the wendigo lunged at him. I couldn't help him and I closed my eyes, only to hear the familiar sound of a gunshot.
I quickly dealt with the other wendigo by slamming it into the ground, killing it. As the other wendigo ran off, I went to eat one of the dead ones but I realized we needed to go stop the Pilgrim and stopped myself.
We got back on track and reached Yellowstone Volcano.
As we reached the Caldera, we saw the pilgrim levitating in the middle of Yellowstone Volcano as small tendrils of lava slowly erupted from below.
The soldiers took aim and shot the pilgrim with the odd rifles. As the bullets got closer to the pilgrim, lava tendrils shielded the pilgrim and reduced the bullets to ash.
"What do we do"?! Travis asked frantically.
"We need to distract-" Bryson went to say but was cut off as I felt a deep hatred towards the Pilgrim for tormenting us all for this long. I lunged at the Pilgrim with tremendous force. I got close and reached out to grab the Pilgrim when the tendrils attacked and sent me back towards the Soldiers. I felt a searing pain in my arm and chest. The tendrils had burnt me.
"Darius are you ok"?! Travis said, rushing over to help me.
"I will be fine, Travis". I winced.
"I've been meaning to ask, How did you find me"? He asked.
"Someone told me where you were. I think they were called..."Ok Shoulder". I said.
"Oh, Figures. He told me you found Bryson". Travis said.
"Guys, focus on the situation at hand". Bryson said, grabbing one of the Soldiers rifles.
I tended to my wounds as the solders fired rounds at the Pilgrim to no avail. I heard a scream and then a tendril slammed into the ground nearby, blasting all of us with an intense heat.
"FALL BACK"! A soldier yelled and led us back through the forest.
I was faster but I allowed him to take the lead. I looked up to see some helicopters. A surge of fear washed over me. This situation was getting out of control, how are we supposed to escape facility 14 if we are doing their dirty work and being heavily monitored.
As we reached the motel, I glanced at Travis and something was wrong. He had this odd expression on his face. As he watched a helicopter land, I saw him grit his teeth. I wanted to say something but I was led inside the motel. I walked into the motel and listened to the soldiers bicker and complain.
"Honestly, how did these guys become soldiers". I thought to myself.
I can hear a battle raging outside as Travis walks in. He sat down at the table the soldiers were at and I quickly typed this post before joining them.
I'll keep in touch!
P.S. Travis seems a bit sad, any ideas on how to cheer him up?

Hey FTB here, have my eyes on a house that is on the market for £265,000. Put in my first offer 3 weeks ago at £250,000 which was promptly rejected (within hours). My second offer at £255,000 took a few days before the estate agent got back and said that the vendor is refusing to accept anything below offer price. Apparently they’ve put it up on sale a year ago and had an offer accepted at £265,000 so would not take anything less this time round. The previous sale fell through because the buyer decided to pull out last minute due to personal circumstances - I was told that there were no issues with the previous building survey (which I’ve not seen). The previous buyer did continue on with conveyancing until the end so I do believe the story to be true.
After my second offer rejection, I mentioned to the EA that I’ve reached my maximum budget. Not wanting to waste any time as I could not see my self paying the asking price, I asked that if they would gauge for me whether the seller is willing to provide me with a counteroffer and if not, I’ll walk. The house is mostly presented well but does require some work (bathroom needs redoing, radiators, paint), also I can’t calibrate the fact that the vendor is looking to achieve the same price they received last year when the housing market has declined since. Similarly presented properties nearby with bigger gardens and off-road parking was put up for less. The EA agreed with my points and said they’ll try to nudge them in the right direction, but I can’t help but thinking they’re playing games with me - I’ve had to ring up a few times to chase and each time the reply is always that they are waiting for the vendor’s response, can’t reach them, etc. Finally got a response today after more than a week and was told the same thing which is the vendor won’t take anything below offer price, back to square one.
I’m not sure what I should now - I am ready to increase my offer to £257,000 and give it another go, but something tells me they will just come back and say the same thing. The vendor has moved abroad, so I was told initially they are looking for a quick sale but that doesn’t seem to be the case now. From my understanding I’m the only person bidding on the property atm. I might be to overthinking this, but I can’t help but wonder if they are just playing tricks to get me to go up on my offer amount or are they genuinely set on the offer price and no less. How should I negotiate this going forward to avoid ending up in the same position, i.e. how do I make my next move clear and put a bit of pressure on them to come clean if they are indeed playing mental games with me? Is it just about waiting it out?
Side question, if my offer gets rejected, do I still get informed about future offers and given another chance to bid, or am I struck off the list entirely?
Apologies if this all sounds stupid, first time buying so naturally anxious with things. Just wanted to get some reassurance if what I’m experiencing now is common! Any advice appreciated!

I (19 F) have been with my boyfriend (19 M) for a year and a half. We have such a great relationship, and we are very healthy when it comes to just us. However, my boyfriend has a very controlling, overbearing family that I've lived with and continue to live with for a year and a half due to me being an out-of-state student and not being able to afford college, and his mom basically took me under her wing because I was struggling. I've had problems with his mom in the past because she is known to be emotionally immature in some aspects, and we have clashed pretty badly before, but she has changed in some ways, and things are somewhat better. Fast forward to recently, and my bf has a girl cousin with whom he has been close to since he was little. We all use to be a trio really close up until recently. We have both been feeling some type of way when it comes to my boyfriend, but it's never been as bad as now. I'm going to say how we both feel about each other and my boyfriend, which leads up to the fight. His cousin lives with his grandma, and I live with his mom and his siblings. I had a problem with her because she would be at the house every day, but not only that, she felt obligated to my bf's attention anytime we would come into the house from work or something; she would even be loud in the house and do the same things he's interested in to try and make him come out of his room to give her attention, or she would feel neglected by him. She's 22, by the way. She had a talk with him about how she misses their old relationship, basically before I came into the picture, and how close they used to be and how she misses them hanging out, which is valid to me; you miss hanging with your cousin, no biggie; but some things she said rubbed me the wrong way about how she misses their relationship before I was in the picture, but I had let that go. This situation had gotten worse from then to the point where it started affecting our relationship and we almost broke up, so I flew back home and we decided to try long distance because his cousin isn't just someone you can talk to and how do you just bring up, "Hey, you're over your aunt's house too much, you're loud and need my boyfriend's attention constantly, and you feel neglected has gotten annoying," but while I was away for a month, while I would be face timing my boyfriend, she would purposely try to get his attention away from me and even make it known that she wanted a hug from him which upset me because you only do this when I'm on the phone with him and your physically there with him, I haven’t seen him in almost a month and you're still trying to get his attention. I fly back down to help them move, as I am planning to live there again because my boyfriend said he was going to set boundaries. His mom helped me fly down to surprise him. He was happy to see me, but his cousin wasn't happy. The second day I'm there, she tries to keep making it known she doesn't like me or want me there; she refers to me as "that girl" or anything but my name, and I just keep ignoring it out of respect for my bf to not escalate the situation. She even goes up to my boyfriend and says "when is your girlfriend leaving?" which upsets him. His mom is made aware of this situation as well and just says it's the devil. So then, I am now in a separate room away from everybody eating the food that my bf just bought me, and she double takes and sees me in there and stands in the hallway. Someone asked her whose trash is on the floor, and she proceeded to say, "Idk, ask that girl in there." I hear her because she clearly wanted me to, and I close the door to avoid a situation. She then opens my door and demands, in an aggressive tone, for me to get my trash, as if I were her kid. Mind you, they are in the middle of moving, so there is trash everywhere, and the person who asked just wanted to make sure I didn't need it anymore before they threw it away. As she finishes demanding me and walks back to the hallway, I say, "You can say please," and I shut the door with no aggression. As I took my trash (the food I was eating) outside, I heard her cursing and getting mad, and she started to get really aggressive to the point where my boyfriend's family is trying to hold her back, and she's calling me out my name, saying she's going to beat my a** and to let her go so she can lay a hand on me. My boyfriend is in distress, his two little sisters are crying, and everything happened so fast and went left all because I stood up to her and finally defended myself. They calm her down, and my bf goes to talk to her and set boundaries, and she admits I didn't do anything to her. Jump ahead to the next day. We are all at the new house now, and his mom says she's not going to be coming over like she used to and how she's done with her because the cousin cursed out his mom as well. At this point, his cousin goes so far as to try and get his mom against me, saying how I don't need to be there and how I talk about my bf's mom and just really toxic things, and telling his mom she's going to get what's coming to her messing with me. All 3 of us are on the same page about not having her around until she at least apologizes or acts like an adult. Fast forward to yesterday, present time, and his mom came up to me saying how her mom and my bf's cousin are coming over for a few hours, and I am bothered but I let it go because it's just a few hours, I guess, but no instead the grandma is never to be found and the cousin ends up sleeping over. My boyfriend's mom had lied. My boyfriend's cousin doesn't feel the need to apologize, and she thinks she did nothing wrong. My bf and I don't know what to do anymore because his mom lied to us and she also likes drama, but my bf and I don't have the funds to move anywhere, and even if things go back to normal with his family, I am damaged by this situation and don't know if I could ever feel comfortable with the thought of her around or even know her intentions in the future, as she is possessive over my boyfriend and this whole situation is about him, and she thinks I am jealous of their relationship, so we have resulted in breaking up and I go back home because they are close and eventually will regain their closeness back but I know myself and I will always feel some type of way about her. My bf could live with me back home, but he says he's not ready to, plus my mom's area is boring, and I think that could be one of the reasons he's not ready. We would like some advice on what to do without the result of breaking up. (Sorry for the long post)
TL;DR: My boyfriend's cousin tried to fight me because she thinks I am jealous of their relationship and don't want them to be close.
.

Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :))
At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Previously on Leveling up the World…
Book 2 (start of the Adventure/City Arc) is available for pre-order!
 
A thin shimmering layer covered the sword once Dallion returned to the real world.it wasn’t the standard shimmering of an otherworlder, at least not entirely. There was a slight nuance to it, making it appear both to be part of this world, but also not.
“This what you wanted?” Dallion stood up.
Based on the intense emotions resonating from both Phoil and Raven, the answer was obvious. Even so, the black-haired noble had no desire to surrender a compliment.
“How many tries did it take you?” he asked.
“Two. Does it matter?”
“Not particularly.”
Internally, Dallion frowned. He’d learned to accept that nobles respected items, least of all.
“Alright, then. Now about your part of the deal? I need to be out before dark.”
“I’ll keep my word.” Raven pointed at the sword in a slow, dismissive fashion. That was more than enough for Phoil to pick up the weapon. Instead of heading outside, though, he went up the stairs to the private area of the building. “It’ll take me a bit to get my seal adjusted. Meet you at the door in half an hour?”
“Half an hour.” Dallion nodded. “See you there.”
This was the best deal he’d get, so there was no point in shaking the boat. He himself had something to pick up from his room.
Onda, did you get all that? Dallion asked as he went back into the corridor.
Well done, old man. One could almost near the nymph clapping. Lamer than me, but still cool.
What did I do wrong?
Nothing. Everything was perfect. The set up, the way you convinced the guardian, the selection of the material… It’s your logic that’s messed up. No, not exactly messed up, just too dependent on other things.
Hmm.
Keeping himself from running along the corridor, Dallion made his way to his room. The new feat he’d achieved filled him with more energy than was healthy. He tried getting rid of some of it by extending magic threads out of his hand—weaving them into a rope, as Katka had instructed—but that made him even more restless. Magic had a way to make its owner feel invincible, almost as if he’d drunk a bucket of energy drinks.
“Ruby, we’re heading outside.” Dallion pulled back the cluster of threads back into him, then took the aetherizer he kept hidden in a drawer with an invisibility symbol on it. “How do you feel about that?”
The shardfly stoically flew off the spot on the ceiling, taking its place on Dallion’s shoulder. For some reason, that reminded Dallion of Gleam.
Within seconds, the euphoria he had accumulated vanished without a trace. Was he capable of bringing the shardfly back? It had to be more complicated than opening a portal to the banished world. And even if it wasn’t, Dallion had no way of reaching that realm again.
“Tell me when you sense nearby illusions, okay?” Dallion said.
Okay. Ruby flocked his wings.
“And don’t get into any fights, even if I’m attacked. Got it?”
Dallion looked at his heavy gear. Considering what he would be facing, having his armadil shield and harpsisword would help. Unfortunately, he’d have to make do with his Nox dagger.
Less than a minute was necessary for Dallion to reach the main door of the building. Judging by the occasional look of disapproval he received from passing apprentices, it was safe to say that the glamor from the challenge was starting to wear off. And then there was the waiting. Every second dragged on. Unlike Dallion, Raven didn’t seem to be remotely in a hurry to get there.
Now you know what it feels like for guardians, Nil commented.
Precisely thirty minutes after he’d promised, Raven appeared, walking calmly down the corridor. Surprisingly, he wasn’t alone.
“Mage Tisaku?” Dallion asked.
The man didn’t seem at all pleased to be there. The fact that he was showed the pull Raven’s family had.
“Dallion,” the man acknowledged the other’s presence as he walked by, stopping right in front of the door. “Two hours,” he said, fingers drawing an intricate pattern faster than the human eye could see. A top level awakened would have trouble following the design. Unlike the standard spell, this was composed of a single pattern.
Purple light blended with the threads and symbols covering the door’s surface, melting them away.
“Try not to get in trouble. I don’t want to owe the White Eye favors.” The door opened.
“Yes, mage.” Dallion was the only one to answer.
Meanwhile, Raves passed by as if both of them were beneath him. The sad truth was that thanks to his father, they probably were.
From such an angle, the surroundings seemed a lot better than what Dallion had seen from the rooftop. That was to be expected; the mages had taken great care to cover all undesirable sights with illusions. If one didn’t know better, they would swear that the cluster of buildings surrounding the Learning Hall was pretty much the same as it always had been. Occasionally, there would be small signs that something was wrong—some magic symbols wouldn’t glow as bright, some streets would have a quarter of the people they were supposed to—but the illusion was close to perfect.
“Well, we’re out.” Raven looked at Dallion. “How what?”
“Now, I need to see a dwarf.”
After ten steps, Ruby mentioned that they were near an illusion. The spell was quite subtle, creating the impression that Dallion was walking along the same path. In a matter of minutes, he had reached his destination—the shop he had frequented so many times while outside.
That wasn’t remotely true. Discretely casting the spell that let him see through illusions, Dallion found that he’d reached an entirely new area. The level of the spell was beyond impressive; it had successfully created a false memory of the area and maintained it as reality, while in truth shardflies were destroying more and more of the surroundings.
A few steps from the shop, Dallion stopped. A small, quickly constructed building was in front of him. It was impossible to tell whether he’d find the same people on the inside, or the whole thing was nothing but a fake façade.
“Aren’t you going in there?” Raven asked.
“No.” Some things were better left uncertain. “I changed my mind. There’s somewhere else I need to be.”
Ignoring the noble’s comments, Dallion went back through illusion to the first place—the potion lab. The trip took slightly longer than Dallion remembered. To his surprise, the actual building was still there, mostly intact.
“You’re here to buy potions?” Raven crossed his arms. “I could have gotten you everything this third-rate place could make.”
“It’s not potions I’ve come for. Wait for me here, okay?”
The black-haired shrugged, then summoned a chair for him to sit in.
Reciting the names of the seven Moons, Dallion opened the door and stepped right in. The lab was in relatively good shape, if abandoned. Gone were the apprentices slaving away, as were most of their tools and material components.
Splitting into a dozen instances, Dallion went on. Every few seconds, he’d pause and split again, in case a flutter of shardflies came flying at him from somewhere. Thankfully, no such thing happened.
“Mage,” he said, as he approached the office of the lab’s owner. “Mage?” He entered.
The room was a lot smaller than he remembered. Seated on a rickety chair, slumped over a small old desk, was the mage. A strong stench of alcohol came filled the room, mixed in with tobacco smoke.
“Mage?”
“Mage no more,” the man said. His appearance was in worse shape than the room itself. One could only speculate how long it had taken him to reach such a wretched state, but it was more than a few weeks.
“The Academy rogued you?”
“Ha.” The man let out a sad laugh. “If they had rogued me, at least I’d have something. Now, I’m just a nobody that’s sentenced to remain here. I lost my reputation with this. All the conniving schemers that wanted to take me down had their chance. Everyone important wouldn’t speak to me, and anyone less important doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.” He pushed an empty glass across the desk.
Dallion couldn’t be sure whether he was being offered a drink or expected to fill the glass. Ultimately, he did neither.
“My apprentices left, as did all my customers.” The mage cast a spell, pulling the glass back. As he did, it filled up with murky liquid. “The archmage generously offered me temporary quarters in the apprentice wing. Me!” he tapped his chest with a finger. “To live with common apprentices.”
Would have been better than here, Dallion thought.
“Why not leave the Academy?” Dallion asked. “Temporarily.”
“No one’s leaving the Academy. Not with the war going on. The web of lies is in full effect. One province has fallen, two more are all losing ground. And the idiots in the south are still engaged in their petty squabbles.” He grabbed the glass and downed it in one go. For a moment, the stench in the room got worse. “Mages are too precious to be out in the open. Emperor’s orders. The way things are going, we’ll be ordered to fight.”
So, it’s that bad, Dallion thought.
He’d long suspected it, but this was the first time he’d gotten actual confirmation… if the words of a drunk could be believed. Looking at him, it was clear that the mage was a potion maker and an academic. He was not fit for combat. He’d probably forgotten all his combat spells decades ago, relying on the impenetrable strength of the Academy. His reputation was the most valuable thing he had, and now that was gone as well.
“They’ll be a need of potions again,” Dallion said, using his music skills to add as much joy to his words as possible.
“If the war doesn’t finish us, the blasted shardflies would!” The man tried to take another gulp from his glass, only then noticing it was empty. “You’re the hunter, aren’t you?” he asked. “Your level’s too high to be anything else.”
Here we go, Dallion prepared mentally.
“I guess I must thank you. I wanted to get you kicked out after you sealed off my room in the basement. Truth is you did me a favor. I don’t know what spell you cast on the shardflies, but they didn’t attack anyone here or try to destroy the place. They destroyed lots of buildings around me, but never mine.”
“The swarms came from here?”
“Who knows? Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. All of them appeared from the ground. The idiots thought they could stop them, and they did. The shardflies have been contained, but no one has any idea why they became active in the first place.”
“This whole place might be built on a shardfly nest…” Dallion whispered, more to himself than the mage.
Worst of all, it was all but confirmed that he had caused a stir with his arrival. An empath with nightmares of void was enough to stir any creature. No doubt it had happened subconsciously. Neither Dallion nor the creatures suspected. Even so, something had kept disturbing the shardflies, causing them to drill above ground and lash out at anything in sight.
“And the Academy has no overseer,” he added.
“Overseer.” The mage laughed. “We have enough battle constructs to destroy armies. That’s the problem, though. Everyone is too good at destroying. Those that aren’t affected don’t take the shardflies seriously, and those that are, are already considering how to use that to their political advantage. I did. I even snatched a few buildings from a few people. All of them are now holes in the ground.”
That sounded like something a mage would do. Yet, why hadn’t the Archmage intervened? Even with everyone busy covering up the situation, there was no way he wouldn’t notice by now. Unless, he too was covering up for the emperor. Such a dramatic failure could well be grounds for him to be replaced. Isolating the Learning Hall could well have been the best option from his point of view.
Dallion took out the aetherizer. He still had second thoughts about using it. Nonetheless, he linked the item to the realm and then activated it. The artifact turned purple.
Holy crap!
There had to be hundreds, if not thousands, or vortexes in the twenty miles area surrounding him; so many that he could tell when one started, and another ended, not what level they were. Suddenly, all this seemed more than a natural phenomenon.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, consider joining my patreon or check out my other stories on redditserials:
The Scuu Paradox (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Cassandrian Theory (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon (Dungeon Core Adventure Comedy)

Looking for some additional information on the existing Google Fit issue on WearOS 3 for Fossil Gen 6 watches.
Here is what I've been able to gather: - WearOS 3 changes how fitness data was handled, and an update was never made for GoogleFit to support that. - Can't install GoogleFit on Fossil Gen 6 watches, or in some cases possible, but you get a screen telling you the app is not compatible.
Unfortunately, I bought my Fossil Gen 6 for sleep-tracking purposes, and have been without that feature for quite some time. I have successfully been able to get Google Fit installed on the watch, and I believe it is paired correctly. (Heart Rate and a few other pieces of health data are moving to the Google Fit app on my phone correctly). Unfortunately, sleep information isn't moving. I read a workaround was to use Fossil's "Wellness" app, which does indeed track sleep on my watch. I've gone through the linking process a few times to have the Fossil app push data to Google Fit (particularly the sleep data). Unfortunately, it seems to duplicate steps or push all of the information I don't want, and ignore the sleep data.
Does anyone know about any workarounds for this, or what exactly is the case? There seems to be no official word from Fossil or Google on this problem. Additionally, would it be possible to just downgrade back to WearOS 2, thereby fixing all the issues in the first place?
Thanks for all the help!