We have some tense chapters ahead. Remember, this is not a tornado that will rip your house apart. This is a well-maintained rollercoaster that passed all of the safety inspections with flying colors. It might be scary, but you will walk away from this ride.
Thank you for the numerous offers to “pay for the story right now.” It is so gratifying.
The Inheritance will be available as an ebook pretty soon. Meanwhile, we would really appreciate you spreading the word and recommending this serial to your friends and other readers you know. Thanks again for suggesting the Royal Road a means to reach a wider audience, but unfortunately The Inheritance probably isn’t LitRPG enough to fit there.
There was no way down.
I had scanned the darkness three times. It was a bottomless pit. No route below, no ledges we could drop down to, no escape. The only path out was the same way we came. Through the passage and back into the lake dragon’s cavern.
I gave it about five minutes after the last of the noises faded, and then Bear and I snuck forward to the mouth of the tunnel. We made it just in time to see the lake dragon pull the bug’s corpse under the water. It would be busy for a while. As long as we avoided the shore, we should be safe.
I searched the perimeter of the cave, staying as far from the lake as I could. There were no other tunnels, but there was a path up, along a ledge that climbed fifty feet above the cavern floor. We took it and picked our way onto a natural stone bridge. It brought us across the cavern to a dark fissure in the opposite wall, barely three feet wide. We squeezed through it, and it spat us out into a wide tunnel.
Ahead the passageway gave way to a large natural arch, and through it I could see more ledges and passages, a warren of tunnels, some dark, some marked by bioluminescence. Unlike the banks of the river, studded with jagged rocks, the floor of the tunnel was relatively flat, with ridges of hard stone breaking through here and there like ribs of some buried giant skeleton. Fossilized roots braided through solid rock between the stone ribs. The air smelled sour and acrid.
Next to me, Bear took a few steps to the side and sniffed something. I focused on it. Stalker poop.
“No,” I whispered and tugged the leash.
She came back and looked at me with slight disapproval. Sniffing strange poop was what dogs did, and I was clearly preventing her from fulfilling her duty.
I could see the other signs now: the faint trail leading to the fissure, more feces, stains from urine on the rocks. These tunnels were stalker hunting grounds. They came through here and took the bridge down to the water below, and because the banks of the river was hard to get to, some of them made their way to the lake to drink. The lake dragon nabbed them like a crocodile ambushing wildebeests.
This wasn’t just a cave stuffed with random monsters. This was an ecosystem. The lake dragon was an apex predator; the giant bug was probably a rank below, and the stalkers were mid-tier. There must be prey species somewhere in these tunnels. There was certainly enough vegetation to support small herbivores.
What were the breaches? Nobody could definitively answer that question, and there was a lot of debate about whether they had been artificially made by the invaders or if our enemy somehow plucked a section of existing reality and wedged it between our worlds.
I could see the pale stains on the rocks, where stone had been bleached by generations of stalkers urinating on it. None of this environment looked new. This was an established bionetwork that developed over years, possibly centuries. All of this had to have belonged somewhere, to a different world.
This was the longest I had ever been in a breach and the furthest I had gone into one. Assault teams spent days, sometimes weeks in the breaches, but my normal MO was to get in, find the resources, and get out. I had no idea if all breaches were like this, but if they were, what would happen to this place when the anchor was destroyed? Did this environment disintegrate, or did it simply return to its place of origin?
I almost felt something, a memory or a trace of knowledge, just outside my reach. A kind of amorphous feeling, like trying to remember a dream. I nearly understood it, but it slipped from my grasp and was gone.
Officially there were thirty-two times when a breach collapsed while people were still inside. Sixty percent of those were considered fatal events – nobody made it out. In the rest of the cases, some people were jettisoned back to the point of the gate’s origin. A large percentage of those survivors showed brain damage with retrograde amnesia. Some had to relearn basic skills like writing and holding a spoon.
Sooner or later, Cold Chaos would put another assault team into this breach. I had to get out before they shattered the anchor.
Bear growled softly.
I flexed. Four shapes were closing in on us, sneaking through the gloom. My talent grasped them, and knowledge came flooding in. The re-nah. Fast, deadly, able to regurgitate acidic bile that would burn exposed skin on contact. Pack hunters, cautious alone, brazen in large numbers. The strongest of the group would attack first, drawing attention, while the rest would flank the prey. Their hearts, on the right side, were possible to reach with a long narrow blade, but the best target was at the base of their throat, just under their chin. A small organ that functioned like a secondary motor cortex. It made them fast and helped them coordinate their movements when they swarmed, and when damaged or destroyed, it induced partial paralysis.
A memory unfurled. A clearing in a deep alien jungle, stalkers streaming from the caves in the mountain side, forming a massive horde. Eyes glowing, fangs bared, two males fighting, each trying to rip out the other’s throat…
I reached down and released Bear’s leash.
Around us the cave was perfectly silent, except for the faint sound of water dripping somewhere out of sight. The bracer on my wrist flowed into my hand, its metal familiar by now, slightly textured and comfortable, like a favorite kitchen knife I had used for years. I focused on the blade. Long, flat, an inch and a half wide. As much damage as possible in a single thrust. The organ would be hard to hit on a moving target. Still better than a heart, though.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
There were no thoughts anymore. I just stood still and waited.
Drip. Drip.
Almost there. They were crouching along the walls, measuring the distance, shifting forward, paw over paw. One large male, two smaller ones, and a female hugging the left wall.
Drip.
The large male charged. He tore out of the gloom like a cannonball, jaws gaping. There was no time to think. I just reacted. My sword slid into the soft tissue of his neck. The male crashed, its momentum carrying him forward despite his locked limbs. Somehow I dodged, and then Bear was on him. The stalker was twice her weight and almost twice her size, but his legs no longer worked. She ripped into his throat, tearing at the wound I’d made.
The remaining males lunged, one from the left, the other from the right. The right one came high, snarling and loud, while the one on the left silently aimed for my legs. I sliced from right to left, turning as I cut. The sword caught the right stalker across the muzzle, carving a bright gash. The stalker recoiled, but I kept going, cutting as I twisted. The blade caught the stalker on the left, slicing through his flesh. There was almost no resistance. The left stalker yelped and scuttled back on three legs, its front left leg severed clean.
Bear ripped into the left stalker. The right one pivoted and charged toward her. I sprinted, slicing like my life depended on it. The right stalker’s head slid off its shoulders.
Bear and the other stalker were a clump of fur and teeth, rolling on the ground. I flexed, willing the moment to stretch out like a rubber band. It did. The frantic whirlwind of bodies slowed, and I narrowed my sword into a spike, and drove down into the base of the stalker’s neck. It went limp.
Time snapped back. A terrible weight smashed into my back. My knees buckled. Scalding teeth sank into my right shoulder.
Pain tore through me, turning into an ice-cold rage.
I turned the sword into a dagger, bent my elbow, and stabbed the blade straight into the female stalker’s face. She dropped off me, backing away to the fissure. I chased her, blood running down my arm. She made it all the way through the gap before I caught her. She spun to face me and bared her teeth, her nose wet with blood. I bore down on her and kicked as hard as I could. My foot connected with her head. She stumbled back and slid off the stone bridge. For a moment she hung on, digging her claws into the bare rock, but her talons slipped, and she plunged into the river below.
Bear. Shit.
I spun around and sprinted back into the tunnel. The three stalker bodies lay unmoving. Bear sat in the middle. Her shoulder was bloody, and there was a long streak of red across her right side. She panted, her eyes bright, her mouth opened in a happy canine smile, like she just ran around through the surf on some beach and was now waiting for a treat.
She saw me, grabbed the smallest stalker by the paw, and tried to drag it toward me. Hi, I’m Bear and these are my dead stalker friends. Look how fancy.
I dug into my pocket, fished some jerky out, and offered it to her. She took it from my fingers, dropped it to the ground, went back to the stalker, bit it some more, came back, and ate the jerky.
“Good girl, Bear. Best girl.”
We were both bleeding, but we were still alive. Four stalkers! We took down four…
I should be dead. And Bear should’ve been dead with me. It took the assault team a bucket of bullets to stop eight stalkers, and Bear and I killed four. A creature the size of a Great Dane had jumped on my back, and I stayed upright. It should’ve knocked me off my feet.
It wasn’t just the weird hallucination and the unusual precision of my talent. I was changing. Physically changing.
The thought pierced me like a jolt of high-voltage current. The hair on the back of my neck rose.
The year after the divorce had twisted me. I used to like flying. In my head, flying was married to vacation, because flights of my childhood took me to the beach and amusement parks. Suddenly I was terrified to board a plane. The fear was so debilitating, I couldn’t even talk while boarding. I became obsessed with traffic, avoiding driving whenever I could. I developed a fixation on my health that bloomed into hypochondria.
I ended up in therapy, where we got to the root of the problem. I had realized that Roger was truly, completely gone and if something happened to me, the kids would be alone. I was desperately trying to exert control over my environment, and when I failed, my body locked up and refused to respond. It took years to get over it, and the hypochondria was the hardest to defeat. Every time I thought I’d finally broken free, it would come back with a vengeance over some minor thing like a new mole or some weird pain in my arm.
In a way, becoming an assessor was the best thing for me. Facing death every week didn’t leave room for anxiety. I was too busy surviving.
In this moment, it was like all those years of therapy, exercise, and rewiring my brain’s responses never happened. Was I dying? Was that glowing thing eating at me like cancer? No doctor would be able to get it out of me. There was no treatment for whatever the fuck it was. What if I wasn’t human anymore? What if I got back to the gate and it wouldn’t let me exit back to Earth?
The grip of anxiety crushed me. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move, I just stood there, desperately cataloging everything happening in my body. My breathing, my aches and pains, the strange electric prickling feeling in my fingers. I could hear my own heartbeat. It was fast and so loud…
A cold nose nudged my hand.
I still couldn’t move.
Bear pushed her muzzle into my fingers, bumping me. I felt her fur slide against my hand.
Bump. Bump.
I exhaled slowly. The air escaped out of me, as if it had been trapped in my lungs. I swallowed, crouched, and hugged Bear. Gradually the sound of my heart receded.
Yes, I was changing. No, I had no control over it and I didn’t know what I would become at the end of this process. But I was getting stronger. There were four stalker corpses on this cave floor. I made that happen.
I petted Bear, straightened, walked over to the nearest furry body, and flexed. One hundred and fifty-seven pounds. I grabbed the stalker by the front paws and lifted it off the ground. My shoulder whined in protest. I clenched my teeth against the pain.
I was holding one hundred and fifty-seven pounds of dead weight. It wasn’t resting on my back, no, I was holding it in front of me.
I wonder…
I spun around and threw the corpse. The stalker flew and landed on the cave floor. My shoulder screeched, and I grabbed at it. Okay, not the brightest moment.
The stalker corpse lay 10 feet away. I threw one hundred and fifty-seven pounds across ten feet. Two weeks ago, I’d used a forty-five-pound plate for some overhead squats at the DDC gym, because someone was hogging the Smith machine, and I had a hard time holding it steady for 10 reps.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Bear.”
Bear looked at me, padded over to the corpse I threw, and bit it.
“No worries. It’s dead. You are the best girl, Bear, you know that?”
Somewhere in the tangle of the tunnels a creature howled. We couldn’t stay here. We had to keep moving.
I pulled the antibacterial gel out, slathered some on my bleeding shoulder, popped 4 Motrins, and turned to Bear.
“Okay, girl, let’s treat your battle wounds.”
First?
Certified 🙂
Almost first! I love to read these!
So close to first! Loving this story!
This is an awesome ride!!!
Saving themselves, one monster attack at a time…
First?
Almost
I’m thinking Ada’s kids are getting a dog soon.
Yes!!
lol, love this!
+1
+1
You think so? Will Bear survive? Will she be able to return at all? Will she be able to meet up with the team sent to the breach after her? Or will she become one of those brain-damaged amnesiacs expelled from the breach after it is closed? Or will she leave with her new superpowers, complete memory, new knowledge, and the dog?
Bear will survive! No worries, the dog doesn’t die 🙂.
Thank God for moderator R!!
YAY! I can’t take it when the pets die.
doesthedogdie.com has influenced some of my choices since Old Yeller & Where the Red Fern Grows happened.
+100%
thank you for this!!!! I can Dean with all sorts of credit in my books but dogs dying is a no no!
*deal with all sorts of crazy* sigh
Thank you for a great Monday morning!
Love this and can’t wait to see where it’s going!
Thanks for the chapter! And I can only second the idea about RoyalRoad: RR isn’t just litRPG, it’s much more than that – and Inheritance would fit right in. There are already examples of similar stories that are already doing well – my favourite example being Changeling by Mecanimus. As such I recommend you go for it!
+1
Came to the comments to say this. Royal Road may have gotten its name from litrpg but there is so much more there now. I think this story would fit in really well.
Agreed, have read a bunch of stuff on RR and this fits right in.
Literally came here to say exactly that same thing. Progression fantasy doesn’t need a bunch of “little blue boxes” (much as I personally like them) and less “crunchy” works of LitRPG as this is are well accepted on RR. There are even extremely popular works with zero stats or Systems.
I feel like this would do numbers and potentially open you folks up to a whole new fanbase, especially with your new novel next year being in a similar subgenre wheelhouse.
Hard agree. The taste of This Kingdom’s RBD isekai/portal fantasy fits right in with these genres and particularly RBD lends to darker isekai which Inheritance is feeling along with the rpg lite elements. It feels like both Inheritance and This Kingdom sit in a really good blending point of these related genres. I think you can feel the influence of the media House Andrews has been consuming being given their brand of twist in these stories. Would be great for more people to discover their work through them.
I love Bear so much. Thanks for the chapter! Will definitely buy when this is available. I would really like a series from this, because this is so fun!
PS could maybe have been first, but it seemed more urgent and important to read it before commenting!
thank you!
this story will fit ROYALROAD perfectly. I sm an avid reader of this site and not many story’s there have this real feel to them .Too many of them focus on numbers at not on story and characters. creating patreon.com account and posting story’s on this site will help to resch new audiences.
Hi Yuri,
Thank you for your suggestions 🙂 . At the moment, although they have considered it, House Andrews are not comfortable with a Patreon project model, due mainly to reader accessibility. The Book Devouring Horde is international, and what might feel like a modest contribution of “a few dollars” to some is a princely sum to others.
actually many ,many authors post books on this site free with no restrictions, and have patreon accounts. people pay just to support the authors and to read new chapter a week earlier. you can check and see huge numbers of subscribers on patreon for compleatly free stories.
I live in a third world country and some dollars are a lot. Fully support andrews in patreon, with free stuff and money for chapters before realease date.
Thank you for this. The ‘mere’ $4.99 USD that some people ask for is actually twice that in my country. Would I switch my one Patreon sub that I allow myself to Ilona Andrews in a heartbeat? Maybe, but it would feel bittersweet at best.
I really dislike the Patreon model because it is like this, I can support one or maybe two people. And the reality is that ALL of Ilona Andrews books end up in my local library, so I could wait and read them there. Whereas that is not true for even big name litrpg series like ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’.
Agree – especially if it is going to be a series (Hint Hint) I like litRPG but one of my hangups is the skill talent tracking that sometimes takes over the story. You are doing the same thing but SO MUCH better. Skills up = YES; Gains tools = YES Builds up knowledge = YES (Like the memory transference makes for a better story; Best side kick / ally = YES. Thank you. I enjoy your writing and I am excited about the new way you are sharing your writing talent.
Thank you….
Thanks for the chapter
BTW – there are plenty of non LitRPG stories on Royal Road – it might be a way to reach a different audience and you can remove most/all of the chapters when you are ready to publish. However I think they did have some issues with authors getting pirated to Amazon and having trouble getting the pirate version taken down
Ada and Bear, the best team the Guild can have. 😀
Bear is the best of the best!
No, Ada and Bear, you are not in Kansas anymore. 🙂
😀 It’s true!
(although before someone gets confused, no, Ada is not a guild member)
Very true. Don’t want to cause confusion with the rest of the Horde.
To be continued on Friday! Yay!
Ahhh this story is so unbelievably gripping! I couldn’t scramble to the blog fast enough when I saw the announcement on HA’s Instagram. It’s just so brilliant. I can’t wait for Elias and Ada to meet up and for him to see her new awesome skillz. Also, what the heck did the nice fancy alien lady put in Ada’s head??! So many questions. Counting down the days until Friday
She now knows (well almost recalls) the world the biome that is before her, and what happens when it ‘returns’ to where it belongs… and the fancy lady? Might be a descendent of a human that wandered in got changed by the biome to suit it.. or the culture to which she belongs assigns wardens to go in and police the breach, and try to return it back to its original place of being… mending gaps and tears in the weave of time and space and ecology, LOL. Who knows maybe those ‘lost’ humans get picked up and taken care of? Can’t send you back, but can modify you to match the environment?
This reminds me of a story I read about a million years ago, probably in Analog (although it might be Ray Bradbury). Explorer stranded on planet inimical to human life. It ends with him (of course he was male, back in the 60s) enjoying the local “veggies” and howling at the moon.
I’m thinking the being Ada met came from a culture that can biologically rewire neural pathways to transfer consciousness and physical capabilities.
*Maybe howling at multiple moons, now I think about it.
This seriously improving my Mondays!!!
First time ever I’m actually looking forward to them :D.
InBEARintance >> Garfieldness
Totally!
+1
I’m excited to buy this soon.
the descriptions are so vivid
Bear is such a good girl! Thoroughly enjoying this story, can’t wait to see what happens next!
+1!!!!
Bear is the Bestest Dog and she is happy to prove it!
🤣 “She took it from my fingers, dropped it to the ground, went back to the stalker, bit it some more, came back, and ate the jerky.”
(only someone with dogs would write that!)
Aaaugh, I want more now.
Definitely lookin forward to more
I love it, thank you!
I’d recommend The Inheritance to EVERYBODY, unfortunately I know very few people who actually read :-(. Of those I know, only a couple reads fantasy and neither of them reads in english… In my two greatest passions: reading fantasy (mostly though not exclusively) and walking/training with my dogs, I am alone. Fortunately I know there are people out there just as crazy about it as I am ;-).
I will definitely buy it as soon as it’s available and add review (glowing one!) in goodreads and storygraph (I’m currently testing it to see if I want to move there).
As always another wonderful chapter.
I will definitely be buying. Thank you for the newest installment 🥰
Excellent installment! I have been up all night grading, but I turned in my grades about 6AM and then waited up three more hours so that I could read about Ada and Bear.
Now I will go to bed with Kindle in hand— doing a re-listen of the Kate books, in Graphic Audio format this time. I still love my traditional audiobooks the best, but the GA version lets me enjoy beloved stories in a new way.
Thanks for the thousands of hours of entertainment, House Andrews, and thanks for spoiling us with a two-episodes-a-week look into The Inheritance!
thank you ✨
Loving this! Thank you ❤️
I wonder if Ada’s appearance is changing alongside her physical abilities and talent. It will be quite an unpleasant surprise if the assault team mistakes her as hostile (but that’s where Bear comes in I hope)
Now that would be really interesting 👀 I could totally see Ada catching a glimpse of herself in a puddle/lake and seeing some changes.
Bear is the best girl! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for the heads up 😊 I think I’ll save up some chapters until the roller coaster has found its way back to the station or at least hit that flat bit in the middle 😉 well, if I can stay away that long anyway 😂 but I’m going to give it a shot…
Well, at this rate of accelerated change, Ada will be able to beat London to mush if she ever meets him again.
Oooohhhh, I LOVE that thought! muahaahaa
I think holding him up with one hand while slapping both cheeks back and forth would be more satisfying and emasculating. And everyone watching will tell the tale of how London was bitch-slapped by someone he was supposed to protect. Let’s see him trying to get a job after that. (After serving the appropriate number of years in prison for his crimes, of course.)
+1000!
Ada is morphing into a warrior….
Can’t wait for FrInday to come……
Thanks for the chapter IA
So good! The best partnership ever.
I love Bear. And Ada is doing so much work as she can! Here’s to hoping she can make it home!
I haven’t played RPG for years- and I’ve always had a poor grasp of what supposed to happen next (too much to remember simultaneously) and video games make me nauseous (I’m probably the only person who misses old school 2D); But, I’ve always enjoyed this style of storytelling and this is extra special because of Bear. Who knew theBDH were a bunch of softies? lol (everyone? OK – but our group identity sounds hardcore!)
Some things I’m having to go back and reread because I feel like I’m missing information. But it could just be that the authors haven’t shared it with us yet.
You aren’t the only one with gaming motion sickness. It makes ‘first person’ gaming a migraine inducing nightmare. I couldn’t even play Doom and it has only gotten worse over the years.
Best dog ever!! I love Bear! And rollercoasters!
Thanks.
So, strength enhancement confirmed.
Is her assessor ability evolving? Flexing and thereby altering time perception wasn’t mentioned before.
Also the shoulder bite – seems underwhelming for a monster bite. Is she getting tougher – skin, bones etc?
So fun to speculate. 🙂
When Ada says she flexes, she is referring to activating her assessor talents. From Chapter 1:
The official term was talent activation, but to me it felt like flexing a muscle I didn’t normally use. The world turned crystal clear. The edges of the rimstone dams and contours of the flowstone waterfall came into sharp focus, as if I’d adjusted my eyes to higher resolution. The outlines of individual mineral deposits glowed slightly.
So yes, her Talent is changing and evolving.
Thank you!
I wonder, of they are still going in the right direction. Perhaps it will be explained next monday.
I would think, that those who are Talents perhaps stay in the breach when it collapses und those who are not will come out at Earth braindamaged.
Poor Ada, it must be a horrible thought to be separated from the children.
Good, that Bear was there!
The next serial instalment will be on Friday! 🙂
Thank you, that was a lovely installment!
Thank you for the wonderful part!
Wonderful! I love this serial!
First off, thanks for reassuring us that the roller coaster has been safety tested. I think we all know it, but it’s nice to see the sign. 🙂
And yes, Bear is the BESTEST girl.
+1! It’s so kind of you to offer the reassurance! We have faith, but some days are dark enough that we need that little extra light to see in the tunnel.
Loving the story! 🤗
Monday has become the best day, only because of release day, and then the long wait till Friday. I just want to grabby hands the whole thing. I re-read everything on Wednesday as a placebo. Weaponized competence? YES. I love this serial so much.
I’ve read many novels on RR that were much less LitRPG than this one so far. I think the idea that RR is only for LitRPG and xianxia started as a misconception which is starting to spiral into reality but it’s not there yet.
Change can be…hard. Necessary, scary, inevitable. Some of us learn to lean into it, some of us surf atop it, some of us run away while it is relentlessly chained to an ankle (hi I’m Change, I’m with you wherever you run to).
Ada is…magnificent.
My week is now split into two parts: Friday, yeah! An installment and only 72 hours till the next installment!!! Monday, yeah! Installment! But, also, boo! No new installment for dayyyyyyys 😭😂
I can’t wait to see when the two meet
Wow, thanks!! Great start to the week!
Q Is Bear also leveling up?
Yes is he evolving so he can EAT the BEASTS 🙂 LOL. Metal teeth for example? 🙂 Ultimately however they do change, there won’t be a return to normal for them. Normal will become a new ‘normal’ as they like to say. I just hope she can like an Inn Keeper return to human seeming… on the outside if nothing else so she can get back to her kids….
A nail bitter. Love it!
Wow, wow, wow!!!!!!! This is the BEST roller coaster I have been on in years!!! And it has a DOG!!!!!!!! HA, you spoil us….that’s why we love you! Thank you for another great chapter! 😍💕💕💕💕💕
Hoping there will be a physical book as well. PLEASE — enjoying the twisty ride
This is so much fun. I wonder how OP she will get by the end.👀
Thank you, I can’t wait for more!
Yeah go Bear. Thanks
Thank you for a great Monday. I look forward to Monday again. This is a great book. Can’t wait to see how it goes
Today I dropped my lunch bag containing my too expensive Mother’s Day brick leftovers. It was an amazing pasta with shrimp and chicken and fresh herbs. I ate all the scallops out of it yesterday. Was looking forward to it today. But I used my glass containers bc …. Avoiding plastic. So my beautiful food had to be thrown away. I tried to save it but couldn’t get beyond the risk of eating a glass shard and dying on internal bleeding.
So I threw it away and had to buy sub par food in the cafe.
Ada and Bear kicking monster butt and having mad skills cheered me up so much. Thank you. Lol
And happy belated Mother’s Day to Ilona.
Try the silicone containers. They are inert and durable.
+1 I wish I’d bought more when I first found them! They are great.
Thank you for the recommendation!
Love it so far! I think its the fact that it is no too heavy into the LitRPG genre, yet has all the necessary elements what is so appealing about it. ITs action, its story telling its the grip at your seat elements. I’ve tried LitRPG and it was not precisely my style. But the format HA is writing bridges that gap so much better for the more ‘comon’ tye readers and what a lovley introduction to those who will move into reading LitRPG from now on!
Go Bear, go! You rock!
That dog definitely knows how to solve problems with biting…
I’m loving this story.
Thank you!
This is killing me. I have no p*tience. Can’t wait until Friday!
Awesome thank you, sooo pleased Ada and Bear’s doing well 😀
must say I’m lovin’ this whole twice a week postings!
We are so pampered 🥰
I have always loved the free stories you publish, even if they lead to a book I need to buy.
The Inheritance is marvelous. It is fantasy, but rooted in our world with a credible reason for us to suspend disbelief and accept that this could be a possible future for us.
I hope you use this as creative relief while you are working on existing published storylines, because I am very much looking forward to all of those books.
Thank you.
Love this!
For a long time, since from the start of Covid, we have gotten used to Instalment Friday with a 6 day wait in between . Leave it to Team Andrews to making it better. A Friday instalment then Monday instalment is fantastic. A 3 day wait then a 2 day wait is so much better.
Thanks
I’m loving this series soooo much! I like that she had a very real inner freak out moment and Bear helped her through it. She also reasoned through it, too.
I love this soooooo much. Ada & Bear are the Best🥰. What is Elias going to think when he meets a new Ada?
I’m dithering now though whether I want to read any more chapters or do I want to wait until the end???? CAN I wait until the end😩? HOW long until the end?
So many questions do I have.
Monday’s are so much better with Bear! Also, I feel so spoiled with the twice a week chapters ❤️
I loved the trigger warning at the beginning (rollercoaster vs. tornado) and witnessing the harsh realities of a panic attack. I read the chapter too quickly and can’t wait for more! Thank you for all that you guys do for us – I’m so grateful for your free serials and enjoy them so much.
Wonderful, just wonderful. Will buy in final form. I just posted on my FB site to my Friends directing them to this Blog if they were interested. I hope the post garners more interest in this story. Hugs to House Andrews.
Argh! I finish reading each chapter and all my hindbrain can think is MOAR MOAR MOAR, which really sums up how good this story is at keeping me on the edge of my seat. I know that eventually we will get the whole thing and in the meantime, I am happy to go back and re-read what you have already generously given us, which helps me to learn new details and ponder where the story will go. It’s good and a worthwhile use of my time to imagine. Thank you for making Mondays something to look forward do.
I know I should be savoring these serials, but I just tear through them as soon as they’re up haha. Thank you.
This is my favorite type of ride!
Oh my, this was wonderful, so colorful, and truly I need more. Thank you 😊 and I hope you both had a good vacation.
Shout out to the artist
Yes, the artwork is gorgeous. Just looking at today’s illustration makes me happy. And this installment is one of the best yet. Of course I think the same thing pretty much anytime an installment comes out. The consistent level of excellence is seriously impressive.
LOVE LOVE LOVE! Strapped in for the ride
Thanks again House Andrews. What a world 😳 Cannot wait to see how this continues 🌸🌸🌸
Totally second (fourth? infinity-th?) Royal Road. It’s a whole melting pot of weird lovely goodness. It’s funny–I started browsing RR after House Andrews recommended Casualfarmer’s Beware of Chicken! I think Casualfarmer actually started on the site Spacebattles? (Doesn’t that sound weird, a cozy isekai on… Spacebattles? Also a great serial site, though I prefer the layout of RR for navigation.)
There’s so many voracious readers on RoyalRoad and the fanbases are loud about recommendations. Rowdy, but friendly. The Horde must horde!
Bear is the bestest and baddests 🙂
I was stalking the blog, then had to get back to work and forgot to check before my class. my intention had been to get to get indy the top 30 comments, instead over 100 comebts later. och well, of to engorge on the Monday snippet.
thank you for feeding us House Andrews
love the story so far! LOVE the artworks too!
Thank you for the wonderful addition to the story!
It’s funny I actually just made an Instagram post a few days ago about this serial blog! @nerdy.book.nurse 🥰
I am fascinated by this story. Completely different from anything I’ve read.
Saturday night I felt the need to read something… so I opened my Kindle library and started browsing for something to read. I settled on a best-selling author I’ve enjoyed in the past, and realized I had a book of his I’d never read before. Perfect!
The premise was 1 of my faves, classic fairy tale turned on its side; the characters were engaging and likable; and the writing was smooth and clean and professiinal.
But I couldn’t forget that it was a story that someone had made up. I only lasted a couple of chapters before I put the book away.
And since then, I’ve been even more in awe of HA in general and this story in particular. Theres no sense that this is a creation. You get into the story and you feel like the author is just sharing a story that actually happened. They didn’t make this up (seriously, the cheesecake stone! who comes up with this stuff?) they’re just the tellers of the story. 2 lines into the very 1st chapter and I was already in the world. It was real, this really happened, Ada is real, Bear is real, the breaches and monsters and Londons are real!
So many commenters have brushed on this fact. Even me. Comments about a middle aged woman focusing on insurance details to get through a day of work; or having a breakdown when it gets too much only to deal with it and get back to it; and of course that darn cheesecake stone (I mean really!!!) are all just hints of the delight that we the BDH take in the reality that our author-lords create. But for me it didn’t really, _truly,_ hit home how masterful HA storytelling is, until now.
So, from me to the masters, Thank you for every world you share, for every being whose story you tell, and especially, for every ounce of energy you use to bring those creations to us. I honor your work, I appreciate your skill, and I cherish the place you have in my life.
All that being said, Im buckled up, safety bar is locked, and I am soooo ready for this ride!
As someone who has never read LitRPG and whose last video game was some time around 1982 I don’t really have any idea of the ‘conventions’ to the genre. I don’t know that I would care about how many alien bugs or new weapons Ada and Bear find if I didn’t care about Ada and Bear. I read most permutations of SF, SFF, and UF etc, but if I don’t care about the characters and then the overall plot I generally don’t care about the science or world building. Sometime I’m surprised and love the world building more than expected but its still the characters for me.
I am really enjoying this and will buy it but I keep wondering if the conventions of the genre means I won’t get same character depth. So I’m just ignoring all reference to ‘genre’ and enjoying the story and putting my faith in HA.
Love it! Thank you!
Thank you for this wonderful birthday present! Was not looking forward to a Monday birthday this year, but this made it a happy one!
Loving the story and the evolution of Ada and Bear!
Thank you for the story. I am sure I am not the only one , but reading a new part of the story is the best part of my Monday. Definitely buying this once available. Even my younger one is fascinated and she has not read any of your books before. Definitely a winner.
Ada and Bear are kicking butt! Thank you!
I keep forgetting it’s Monday AND Friday – and then the social posts pop in my feed and WOOO! More story!
Bear is amazing. Best dog!!!
Bear seems to b doing extra biting. I’m wondering what that is all about. And I’m assuming Ada was not previously able to slow down time? That is seriously powerful!
When Ada goes into a breach, how long is she gone? Are the kids old enough to stay by themselves, or is there someone who looks in on them or takes care of them? It seems like she has to go when she’s called and time to return might b unpredictable. Especially if there r usually 3 mining sites to visit.
Thank you so much!
Ada’s eldest is approx 16/17 years old 🙂. Her son is a few years younger.
If this is the longest she’s ever been in the breach and contrasts it with assault teams who sometimes spend “days”, I think it’s safe to estimate she usually stays less than 24 hours 🙂
And now she doesn’t even know if she’ll ever be able to leave…
No matter what, I hope she and Bear get to stay together.
Bears ownership is deeply concerning to me.
the children’s school may hava a care plan for children of talents on duty.
Very cool thank you
I’ve got two thoughts:
1)YES YES YES YES YES YES (yes) (yes) (yes) THANK YOU
2) I am a little afraid that Ada will make it out alive and then the government or somebody will stop her from seeing her kids because of her changes. All I want is for her to hug her kids and her dog! So long as that happens, nothing else matters. Let Ada get back to her babies!
I worry about that too. She may have to hide all her changes to avoid being the newest government project!
The BDH is much beloved to get 2 installments a week! Thank you so much!
I wonder how heavy London is and how far she can throw him…
And Bear is the best girl ever, yes she is!!!
Love this. Can’t wait for the book!
Best dog ever!!
I’m getting a distinct impression of Zork, in the best way.
I’m really enjoying these. Thank you.
I’m glad ( in a way ) that Ada is changing ‘cause when she catches up with that London bloke , well , the gloves are off and she can wipe the floor with him, with Bear adding her tuppence worth , going to love that episode. Thanks for a fab serial and as soon as the preorder comes up I’m buying.
I need this. London needs a punch or ten, and if Ada doesn’t do it, I’ll figure out a way to do it myself.
I am so invested.
Thank you, Ilona and Gordon, for delivering another riveting installment! Completely enjoyed Ada’s increasing badassery and Bear’s attitude….
Side note – have finally figured out why I so thoroughly enjoy anything House Andrews delivers – you make every word matter. There is no fluff, no padding. Every sentence either invokes a vivid mental image or an emotion or is clearly providing groundwork leading to something else. I have never wanted to skip pages or longed for any audio book chapter to be over.
Thank you again for sharing your gift with us! May it bring you as much joy to write it as it does to the Horde while devouring it.
Sending peace, health and safety to all!
Thank you for making Monday enjoyable. And Happy Mother’s Day to Ilona.
Love this so much. Thank you.
The suspense, the character’s mysterious changing, and I couldn’t exhale until the character did. I’m so glad that Bear is there to take the edge off of the intense scariness.
You know, it’s been stated several times that Guilds can’t directly hire assessors. But Ada is evolving into something else so I wonder if that’s going to create a loophole of sorts.
Also, good girl Bear! I love her
it occurred to me, with regards to the previous shipping commitments, that we could have Elias marry Ada and work pro bono. That would be a perfectly fine loophole.
So good!!!! I can’t wait to be able to buy this and read it all the way through. House Andrews, you are the most excellent of all authors! I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating that you have ruined me for all others.
And Happy Mother’s Day, Ilona!
How not to love Adaline and Bear? They are awesome survivors and hard as nails. Those are resilient girls indeed.
Wait is Adaline transforming to resemble her “mother”? As in the woman who told her “take care of your inheritance, my daughter” when she transferred to her the bright light into her forehead…
Thank you. Thank you. One of the few reasons I get on the socials anymore are these updates.
This is great. Thanks.
So good
Thank you so much for this serial!!
Happy Monday. This was pretty suspenseful to me.
Love this! I really enjoy the subtle way of leveling up. It’s a nice twist. TY TY!
Oh no are we coming to the end so soon? Oh man I am having so much fun. Though it must be tremendous work on you both. This just gets better and better. Thank you.
Must have MORE! This is so riveting. I would gladly pay to read it all, right now! Thank you for this. Fascinating premise, interesting characters, and lots of action.
As someone who’s nearly Ada’s age, I love the fact that we have an older heroine, because she feels realer to me. I also love this story, and would also welcome it as a series (as another commenter said, and I add my incredibly unsubtle suggestion to theirs).
Thank you for making this happen while working on a book series to publish! I hope this one also comes out in print.
Great grabber of a story, beautiful illustrations, I so get the attempted bribery.
If I had it all at once, very little in my life would get done until I finished, and then I would read it all over again.
Thank You.
Okay, I’m really liking this… short novella?
Anyway — “Thanks again for suggesting the Royal Road as a means to reach a wider audience, but unfortunately The Inheritance probably isn’t LitRPG enough to fit there.”
Maybe they could list it as “Light LitRPG”?
Something very much like LitRPG, but, maybe, a little lighter?
IDK… I’m just a reader.
My video game playing days are mostly over. The last system I owned was Nintendo Wii — “Whee!” is right. I bought it when I babysat my nephew (while his mom worked), and he loved playing Zelda — when he was under the age of 10. But after he discovered MineCraft, that was it for the Wii.
Can’t wait for the next Chapter!
Thank you!
BTW!
I love the little bits of “alien art” — or maybe that’s portal art, or possible breach art?
Love the vibrant neons and the river dragon is wonderful!
Kudos to the artist!
Thanks again!
So excited! Thank you.
Definitely gor my heart pumping!! Thanks for all you guys do. you are amazing!
I’ve been a huge royal road reader since 2020 and I have to politely disagree but firmly firmly about this not fitting on royal road. A high proportion of the really popular stuff is barely a touch litrpg. I also cannot be the only person who is getting bored of the ‘uber fighting man all alone, all children have been teleported to save space stories’ as well.
I agree with you about the genre being fine for RR, but I doubt this story will be long enough to gain traction. People on RR don’t want novella length stories. They also don’t want to wait long periods between books.
Loving this story
I can’t wait for this to come out in ebook
I am really really liking this story. I don’t know where its going. I hope it will
be a lot longer and I hope there is a romantic side later kinda for her with the owner
. Im liking him. You have a real talent
thank you
As usual you do not disappoint with your world building.
I so look forward to every week a new chapter coming out and when you decide to publish this, or if you have announced and I missed it, I’m in.
Thank you so much!
Whoot! Bear Rocks! No one beats Bear! Bear for President!
Thanks for the rollercoaster ride!
Thank you for this amazing twice a week adventure.
I love this woman, she is so relatable. And I want to hug sweet warrior Bear too.
We’re all looking forward to holding our own copies in our hands in the near future.
This keeps getting better and better. I love Bear.
Ada and Bear make the bestest team! Loving this story! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, I just read we cannot pay now for these great chapters. But can we then send gifts? We have great liquorice and cheese here in the Netherlands.
We can buy the book once it is published – that is the support that will do the most good 😊
Ok, I am embarrassed to ask , because the author lords are flawless, but did they intend for her to not go back for her pack?
If they haven’t written it, then we can assume yes 🙂
“AMAZING” in bright, flashing lights. I have no more words – other than ‘thank you.’
Love this!
I really, really look forward to reading these chapters. 🙂
Thank you!!
Awesome, I watched Solo Leveling after I read the first installment of this. Great story, thank you🤗
Loving the new series
Yay! Love Bear. Yes I would totally buy this right now, too. Thank you!
Joy, joy!
I just caught up on the past few months of the blog (it’s been a rough few months) and this IS AWESOME. What an amazing surprise treat to come back to. Devoured all the chapters and can’t wait for the next one. Feeling very fluffy. Thank you thank you!
I would absolutely buy it now, or buy chapter by chapter or…
Take my money! ;-))
Oh and I love the dog and that her name is Bear.
“Person of interest” comes to mind. Great series! Like your books.
So good!
I second whoever said they want to pay you for the story now. But I suppose I’ll just have to wait for it to come out and enjoy Mondays and Fridays for free in the meantime. Woe is me. 😉
Just texted my extended family with a link to the serial and a recommendation to read it. ✔️
Tried to hold out to read this till later in the week, Tuesday is as far as I got. So rewarding! Now I wish every day was Monday. Or Friday.
Thank you once again! Go Bear Go and Ada is leveling up! The Cat Overlords approve.
Love, love, love this. Please make it a series.
I can’t read the name Ada now and not think about Ada Lovelace, mother of computer programming. She ought to be made the Patron Saint of my job…
Poor Elias, he’s going in to recover the body of “the very definition of a civilian” and, instead, he’s going to find a very much alive and kick-ass warrior. I’d love to see the look on his face when they meet…
Available soon? Great!
Pimped this serial to my twenty-year-old son. Can‘t wait to hear what he thinks of it!
Thank you for the reassurance. I don’t handle scary very well, but knowing it is a planned thing with a good outcome helps.
I have read this several times. Awesome start so far. thankyou for sharing it! Sending hugs to house Andrews
Every time Bear survives a thing and gets a little braver, I cheer a little. Yay Bear!
Every chapter is better, the story keeps drawing you in.
Bearded is the best doggie