Things had started off well for Guardsman Delmin, all things considered. The forest shadow Amak had led him to the Protagonist, and the meeting place was in the center of the city with countless bystanders surrounding them. Delmin couldn’t begin to guess what type of person the settlement owner was, but he at least liked to think she wouldn’t kill him in front of this many people.
He hoped.
He even entertained the idea that perhaps this was all some giant misunderstanding. The...
2023-05-18 07:25:21 +0000 UTC
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Nadja woke up the next morning lighter than she’d felt in ages. There were a number of reasons for that, but one of the most obvious was that she’d awoken in a bed. Not just any bed, in fact, but the kind of bed she hadn’t known existed until the night before. The kind of bed she imagined that kings and gods probably slept on.
In fairness, it was not exactly where she’d expected to end the night. The fact that Verin hadn’t been lying about her “vacation home” in t...
2023-05-15 11:55:37 +0000 UTC
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Had she been asked only a few short weeks ago, Nadja would have confidently said there wasn’t much that could shock her at this point. With the year she’d had, abnormal was pretty much just par for the course. Kicked out of her home city. Relocated to a dark wasteland. Scouted by a dryad to run a bar. Trained to fight a hulking forest shadow.
It was, then, rather impressive that she’d been proven wrong on at least three separate occasions recently.
The first? Apparently she ...
2023-05-11 11:54:59 +0000 UTC
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“I will confess, I may have been somewhat overeager in selecting my attire.” Verin glanced down towards her pair of blindingly white pants with a hint of a scowl. Or at least, her pants had been blindingly white. Streaks of brown dirt intermingled with a few dashes of green, the surrounding forest seeming intent on granting her a level of natural camouflage. “Had I perhaps thought more carefully, I would have chosen something with a self-cleaning enchantment; however, I’m afr...
2023-05-08 11:44:10 +0000 UTC
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In a single instant, two balls of mana sprung into existence, floating in the center of the room. Both were easily recognizable, the first the roaring red of fire mana, the second, the much calmer blue of water mana.
“A question,” Xander’Callis chimed. “Certainly you are aware of composite mana types by now. But what exact type do we get if we combine both fire and water?” At his words, the two balls of mana started to drift towards one another. Right before they were about to...
2023-05-04 11:59:05 +0000 UTC
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Despite the fact that Dark Magic was class aligned, jumping two levels wasn’t something I could do over the course of a day. While that might have been the case in the Novice rank, I was finally hitting the point where levels were starting to get hard to come by.
Still, over the next two weeks, I saw growth in all of my spell classes and in all of my Initiate spells. All of them — even my lesser used spells — eventually hit level 10, netting me a host of augments. It was ...
2023-05-01 10:17:19 +0000 UTC
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Giant monsters weren’t particularly novel to me by this point. In fact, given how many of them I’d already fought, one could be forgiven for thinking I would be largely inured to their presence. As I craned my head up at the massive figure in the boss chamber, however, all I could think was one thing.
Man, that thing is huge.
Unfortunately, a quick check with God’s Eye proved that it had the health to match, too.
Level 23 Warforged Titan: ...
2023-04-27 12:37:35 +0000 UTC
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“Congratulations. You pass.” The gray-haired dungeon delving instructor stood against the reflective metallic walls of the dungeon, delivering her verdict with not even a fraction of the excitement it deserved.
But that was fine. Whatever excitement she lacked, the five of us more than made up for. Standing about the burnt and bubbling metallic sludge that had moments ago been a dungeon sub-boss, we let out a collective cheer. Both Nella and Alara went one step farther, butting up a...
2023-04-24 03:07:35 +0000 UTC
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Author Note: Reminder that I'm on admin week now (week of June 18th)! No chaps next Monday or Thursday, and then we resume.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite its somewhat rocky beginnings, the second semester continued to advance largely without a hitch. Much to the delight of my mining instructor Merve, the earth variant of Gloves of the Arcanist -- Miner’s Mitts -- continued to score me the occasional gem, and I liked to think that her stance on me was sof...
2023-04-13 11:17:07 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note: Reminder that I'm taking an admin week after next chapter (the week of June 18th).
~~~~~~
“I’m sure that’s not concern or pity I’m seeing in your eyes, girl.” Standing tall at the far end of the clearing, the ex-commander of the forest deftly tossed his spear from hand to hand. His voice held firm despite the many infirmities of his body. “Because I’ll be dead and buried before I need either of those from someone who s...
2023-04-10 04:10:25 +0000 UTC
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Cal would freely admit that she would jump at any chance to level up her Stealth and strengthen her class skills. Especially when it came to her class-granted invisibility skill, there was very little that she wouldn’t do to power it up.
As such, when a literal god had offered to help her with just that, of course she went along with it. Not that she really had much of a choice in the first place -- Hexaura seemed pretty intent on teaching her something -- but even so, she co...
2023-04-06 04:55:15 +0000 UTC
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Author note: Next Admin Week will be the week of June 19th!
~~~~~~~
“The first ten levels of learning any spells school are simply about acclimating your mana core to a new mana type. No more, no less. The next ten levels are where you learn some minor level of control -- spells which allow you to vary the amount of mana you use to achieve stronger or weaker effects -- as well as work your spells into your daily routines so they become second na...
2023-04-03 06:22:08 +0000 UTC
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“Okay, if you all have your bearings, we’re going to start moving forward.” Shouting out to us, the instructor completely ignored the armored man’s original question. “I’ve already said everything I needed to say in class, but we’ll run through it one last time for anyone who needs a refresher. Walk and talk.” She motioned the five adventurers forward, their rogue taking the lead, and soon thereafter, we all slowly followed them down the hallway.
“As much as some of yo...
2023-03-30 16:30:20 +0000 UTC
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Sweat poured from my brow as I hacked into the stone wall for what seemed like the billionth time. Since hitting the first Endurance threshold, it was fairly rare for most things to cause me to work up a sweat. Spending an hour straight smashing a pickaxe into a wall happened to be one of those things, however.
Strength Training has reached level 3!
Huh. At least now that I have the skill, I can apparently grab levels in it without having to hit the g...
2023-03-27 06:45:44 +0000 UTC
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“Can someone remind me how I ended up here?” Unlike the last time I’d gotten drunk off of Emer’Thalis moonshine, I hadn’t done it in the bar, which meant none of the bar’s building bonuses applied. In this case, that meant I was woefully, abysmally hungover.
That only made me question what I was doing even more so as I scanned the room, taking in the obsidian walls that surrounded me.
My words were met with a lighthearted chuckle from a well-mustached, scissors-wieldin...
2023-03-23 14:11:43 +0000 UTC
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Under different circumstances, the sheer stupefaction Emin was displaying would have been funny. Unfortunately, it was significantly less so while I was standing there completely nude with Emin still pointedly staring at me, mouth open.
Did I seriously forget to lock the door? Wait, not the point right now!
“Emin! Out!” I sank back into the water, the resulting waves helping to obscure me, though not nearly to the extent that I wanted.
For his part, Emin seemed ...
2023-03-20 11:40:27 +0000 UTC
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A few days later, I found myself walking through one familiar spooky, dark-veined forest.
It was good to be back. In all honesty, it had been far longer than it should have been. I’d been meaning to visit Emer’Thalis at some point between semesters, but between my mini-coma and my training for my visit to the archmage, I’d just never found the time.
On the flip side, the extended hiatus had built up something of an energizing anticipatory tension. Last I’d been here, Tuk h...
2023-03-16 05:41:55 +0000 UTC
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Hi hello, all! We're back!
I had a lovely hiatus, and it was sorely needed. Feeling much more refreshed and energized than I was a month back, and I want to thank everyone for letting me take a breather!
Three quick notes:
First off, book two released today on Amazon! If you'd like to grab a copy for yourself, you can find it here.
Much more importantly, though, releas...
2023-03-13 08:55:07 +0000 UTC
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Books! Everywhere the eye could see lay shelves and shelves of books, some thick leather-bound tomes, others thin enough to be mistaken for magazines. At last I’d managed to find time to hit up the academy’s library, if only after sufficient prodding from both Suds and Advisor Flithus.
It was without a doubt the largest repository of knowledge I’d come across since I’d become a Protagonist, on par with your standard university library, and as I stepped further into the room, I w...
2023-03-13 08:41:04 +0000 UTC
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How did I get myself roped into this? As I stood in the bounds of one of the raised dueling areas, I questioned myself for the umpteenth time. Even now I was beating myself up for not being the voice of reason here, but it seemed like neither Nella nor Alara were willing to back down on this.
A smattering of students saw what was happening and gathered round to watch the impending fight, only further souring my mood and increasing my pre-fight jitters.
Ultimately, though,...
2023-02-14 03:34:49 +0000 UTC
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Hi, hello all!
If you haven't seen it yet, I posted some details and a poll about my upcoming admin break. It looks like the option with an overwhelming majority is for me to pause subscriptions and give myself a month.
First off: Thank you!
I always feel guilty taking any sort of time off, and it means a lot that folks are okay with me taking a breather. The nice comments were much ap...
2023-02-11 12:02:38 +0000 UTC
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When I was finally released from Alara’s death hug, I took a moment to examine our would-be party member more fully.
In a lot of ways, he seemed… underwhelming. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, accentuating a seemingly perpetually lazy gaze. He held himself with a slight hunch, as if anything else would be too much of an effort. Short, curly hair sprung out haphazardly from his head as if sheared down without much thought, and his light gray garb did little in the way of making h...
2023-02-11 12:02:15 +0000 UTC
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Hi all!
As a reminder, my admin week/break is coming up after chapter 20 (Monday)!
I posted a while back letting everyone know that things were picking up in my non-writing life right now, just as a sort of heads-up that I was running low on writing time. The short of it is, they laid off a bunch of people at work, and my workload has unfortunately increased a good bit as a result of there being fewer people now. (If only they'd have laid me off -- I'd be getting a severance packa...
2023-02-10 01:16:06 +0000 UTC
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I pulled to a stop as the notification came in, ending my brief running session. As it turned out, the academy was home to some pretty stellar gym facilities, complete with a track. It wasn’t something I’d ever considered, but in hindsight, of course there’d be a track -- if high schools back on Earth could manage it, then a training academy surely could as well.
While a mile wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, I imagined that a good percent of people who first got their ...
2023-02-09 08:26:27 +0000 UTC
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After all the work I’d put in to get my magic skills up to the Initiate rank, I was now the proud owner of a solid eight class points: Two from getting the advanced Mental Magic up to 10, and then another one each from light, death, life, frost, earth, and air.
While normally having that many points would have been as daunting as it would be exciting, Advisor Flithus thankfully was proving his worth in all this advisory.
“Good! So from what you’ve told me, I’ve pr...
2023-02-06 07:51:54 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note: A Patron reached out asking about the feasibility of attaching epubs to each chapter. I'll be trying to do so moving forward.
~~~~~
“Ugh, I hate this.” As we walked through the streets of the Divinity District, Emin ran a hand through his hair, only for it to come out slick with sweat. He tried to put some of that sweat to good use, rubbing at the lipstick on his cheek, but it refused to vacate its prime real estate. “How did ...
2023-02-04 08:29:56 +0000 UTC
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Hi all!
Book one has an audiobook now!
For those of you who are auditorily inclined, you can find it over here.
2023-02-02 04:11:57 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note: Reminder that my admin week starts on Monday (April 17th)! I'll be out this Monday and Thursday and then continue right after that. Happy reading!
~~~
It was something of a shock when I managed to get through the remainder of Resistance Training without getting arrested (not that Warram hadn’t threatened it once or twice).
Wildly enough, though, Warram was more than pleased with my offer for us to pair up. Consideri...
2023-02-02 03:53:29 +0000 UTC
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“First, I’d like to be honest,” Advisor Flithus hummed out. I found myself expecting him to say something about me being a Protagonist. Or maybe my Legendary skill or godly boon abilities. I wasn’t sure what level of weird he was used to with his job, but regardless, I had to be pretty high up there, didn’t I? While I hadn’t had time to grow to a super high level, I was still pretty proud of what I’d managed to earn in less than a full year.
It was some surprise, then, whe...
2023-01-30 03:59:22 +0000 UTC
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Author's note: Admin week scheduled for the week of April 17th! Happy reading all.
~~~~~~
The class erupted into muttering at the instructor’s words, and rather than waiting for the noise to die down, she spoke over it.
“Yes, yes. I don’t have much for you today. That’s because essentially all of this course is to be done in teams of five, and not all of you have those yet! At the front of the room, you’ll find forms to fill out. I...
2023-01-28 12:49:50 +0000 UTC
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