PathOfPen

Chapter 74 – Gabe

The state of his latest host shocked Percy. On one hand, he’d spent way too long searching for a body, so he had no choice but to compromise. This person’s condition was much worse than he’d like. However, as broken as it was, this was still one of the strongest souls any of his clones had come across.

‘Probably a sentient. Also, a higher grade than usual.’

Knowing that a good first impression was half the battle, he wasn’t in a hurry to reach out. Instead, he...

Chapter 73 – House Tantalus

Entering his room, Percy gobbled up his Honey Roll swiftly, before taking a quick shower. Only after he was done with today’s chores did he allow himself to sink into his bed, finally taking the letter out of its envelope.

‘Huh, talk about going all out.’ he chuckled.

The penmanship was immaculate, and the light indigo paper smelled of lavender. His cousin had clearly poured a lot of effort into this.

‘Dear Percy,

2024-11-02 06:33:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 111 – Slaughter

Percy had come a long way since joining the Alchemists’ Guild. He’d learned a lot and honed many of his spells over the years, though if there were two things he’d gained the most experience in... well… it would be brewing elixirs and killing wasps.

The latter was precisely the skill he was currently exercising, to survive the onslaught of Starry Workers rushing him like a torrential river amidst a downpour. Most of them were headed to their doom of course...

Chapter 110 – Devourer

The crow remained silent, staring at the young man as if he had lost his mind.

“Please buddy… Can you do this for me?”

Micky looked back and forth between Percy and the carcass a few times, seemingly pondering the request. Eventually, he begrudgingly hopped towards the bug, resigned to his fate. Pushing a mandible open with his talon, he crouched inside the gaping maw, disappearing into the dead knight’s horrid throat.

Letting his familiar do his thing, the young man...

Chapter 72 – Unexpected visitor

…DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.

Tossing the empty gland aside, Percy picked the next one, carving a small incision into the soft tissue before squeezing it over the vial. A few seconds later, he threw another one to the pile – which contained hundreds by now – before moving on.

Gone were the days when he and Micky spent all their time hunting together on the Spire. Over the past several months, Percy had focused on his alchemical endeavours, leaving the crow alone to tend to its own need...

Chapter 71 – Crystallization

A vein throbbed on Percy’s forehead, his skin already a deep crimson colour. His eyes were shut, to shield them from the annoying streams of sweat pouring down his face.

His body shook, his muscles having already been locked in their current position for over an hour. A palm was placed on top of the other, both squeezing hard on a glowing sphere with all their strength. Two sets of bright lines pulsed underneath his flesh. The cyan ones were static, drawing orderly curves on his body,...

Chapter 109 – Regal intent

The knight’s mandibles opened wide, preparing to chomp the pesky human in half. Reading his adversary’s intentions via Soul Vision, the young man was ready to crouch beneath the monster at a moment’s notice, clenching the half-formed sickle tightly in his fist.

Yet just as they were about to clash, something strange happened. The beast’s body suddenly relaxed, its expression easing.

‘Now what?!’

At first, Percy thought it was an act. A ruse to get him to...

Chapter 108 – Starry Knight

With a violent snap of its mandibles, the knight tore nearly halfway through the clone’s torso, before slamming him against the wall. Nesha stepped back, seemingly about to run away, when Percy stopped her.

“DON’T!” he yelled, not leaving room for debate.

Putting aside whether they could outrun the creature, they couldn’t risk diving back into the sea of bugs behind them. The knight could easily set the whole colony off!

No, there was only one way out, and it was <...

Chapter 70 – Second year in the Guild

More time passed as Percy worked hard on all fronts, improving both his hunting efficiency and his brewing yield. A month after his first fight against a Starry Soldier, he could already reliably kill around 10 of them per day. The difference was rather modest, but he welcomed the opportunity to hone his combat skills once more.

Before, his efficiency had plateaued as he could already slay the workers near instantly, and his profits had been capped by his travelling speed. Now, he final...

Chapter 69 – Starry Soldiers

As soon as Percy overcame the shock of seeing a wasp as large as he was, he thought he’d have an easy time slaying the overgrown bug. Its slick black carapace still glittered with colours like its smaller cousins, but the soldier was large enough that its camouflage was essentially useless.

After all, the motes of light slowly falling from the mushrooms above couldn’t possibly conceal the man-sized creature, nor could they obscure the dense Yellow shape thrumming within Percy’s Ma...

Announcement for free members - $5 and $10 tiers now available

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for reading the book and following me. Today, I finally got around to cleaning the patreon page a bit, and I've added the lower tiers that I should have honestly had from the very beginning.

Now, there are three tiers available:

• Red-born (8 chapters ahead of RR for $5)

• Orange-born (20 chapters ahead of RR for $10)

• Yellow-born (40 chapters ahead of...

  2024-10-30 15:58:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 107 – Hell

Countless legs poked Percy from all sides, pushing him around like a boat amidst a sea of insects. They came in all sizes, from the rod-like limbs of the soldiers pinning him to the ground, bruising his body with each heavy step, to the stick-like legs of the drones crawling all over his skin. Their soft, frequent taps were as intrusive as they were unnerving.

The young man had to lean on both knees and one elbow, desperately trying to resist the weight of the wasps above, doing his bes...

Chapter 106 – Unsettling

Percy removed his robes, carefully folding them before placing them on the ground.

‘Man, I’m so going to miss the self-cleaning enchantment…’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t risk being seen wearing his Guild attire outside. Doing so would only needlessly increase the risk of people connecting him to the elixirs. The same went for his old clothes. He was better off masquerading as a commoner, to avoid bringing his House trouble. That was why he’d broug...

Chapter 68 – Alchemist

Percy stirred the concoction at a modest, yet steady pace. A few bubbles began to form, but not too many. Instead of panicking, he continued going as he had, only carefully adjusting the temperature slightly with his free hand.

A few seconds later, the foam died down, the mixture settling into a transparent gel at the bottom of the cauldron. Carefully pouring the substance onto a membrane over a vial’s mouth, he watched it distilled into a clear liquid. The droplets made crisp sounds,...

Chapter 67 – Vent

It took Percy several more hours to cure the rest of the villagers. Not all of them advanced like the girl, but many did. Especially the older ones or those with the most poison accumulated in their cores.

By now, Percy was in a lot of pain, his host’s soul already beginning to crumble. He had to keep shifting his soul mana around the dying vessel to hold it together just a little longer. Despite the pain, a content grin tugged at his lips. He hadn't known these people for long, and h...

Chapter 105 – Escape

‘She’s taking forever…’ Percy tapped his foot.

Standing at the base of the Fungal Spire, he was waiting for Nesha to arrive. The two hours she’d mentioned were nothing more than the time until she closed the gambling den for the night. Despite the urgency of the situation, she couldn’t just drop everything and run away abruptly, as that would raise more than a couple eyebrows.

‘At least the guards didn’t search me on the way here.’

Ev...

Chapter 104 – Smooth sailing no more

Percy was on the way back from Orin’s place, when he saw an unusual group of people heading towards him.

‘What’s going on?’ he raised an eyebrow, stopping in his tracks.

None of them wore the Guild’s robes – they were outsiders. Of course, that alone wouldn’t have shocked him. Lots of merchants passed by every day. What left him speechless was that he recognized the insignia on their clothes. It definitely wasn’t one he often saw on the streets. Depic...

Chapter 66 – Hemarakah

Having been around for nearly two weeks, #13 was Percy’s longest-lived clone so far – at least in terms of time inside a body. Of course, he still fell a little short compared to his predecessor’s trip on Huehue, but most of that guy’s days had been spent shopping for a host, so they hardly counted.

Either way, Percy confirmed once more that his clones were inherently unstable. No matter how peacefully he possessed their bodies or how much soul mana he invested, they wouldn’t ...

Chapter 65 – Aftermath

Beasts tended to heal fast. Between drinking half the healing potion and consuming a fresh Yellow core, Micky was alright by morning. Percy on the other hand… Not so much.

‘I suppose I’m in better shape than the other guy…’ he consoled himself, looking at the half-eaten corpse of his enemy.

At least, he wasn’t dead or in chains. Percy had never been more grateful for the desolation on the lower levels than he was in that moment. His wounds had stopped ble...

Chapter 103 – House Talos

“Lord Bronn, the bastards have taken over the iron mine!” the boy reported.

The former’s features twisted into a grimace. While a powerful mage could tear a sheet of iron apart as easily as paper, it was still a valuable resource across Remior. After all, most people were at the lower grades. They relied on everyday tools made of the mundane metal. Consequently, House Talos regularly exported it, making the mine an important economic asset for their family.

“What about the...

Chapter 102 – Micky’s second core

“A bit overkill, don’t you think? I’ll forget everything after I leave anyway.” the Oblivious Agent said upon noticing Percy’s disguise.

“I’d rather not take any chances.” the latter replied, regurgitating his side of the conversation word for word.

“Fair enough.” the man nodded once he drew closer.

Then he carefully dropped the pouch on the ground like all their previous meetings.

“Why do you guys even do this?” Percy asked again.

“I ca...

Chapter 64 – Maelstrom

The spears pierced through the tree like it was made of cotton, barely giving Percy a chance to dodge.

But his trouble had just begun, as more Yellow mana gathered under his feet. Tilting his body at the last second, he narrowly escaped impalement, though not without a gnarly gash on his upper thigh.

If this had been higher up on the Spire, his opponent wouldn’t be able to manifest his earth constructs through the surface of the giant fungi. Sadly for Percy, the ground on the fi...

Chapter 63 – Emergency

This was going to be the one.

Percy had already preserved enough of the nectar through both pacification and redirection. In fact, deattunement was going great too. Just a couple more minutes and he’d finish brewing his first drops of elixir!

Suddenly, he felt the ethereal cord tense, his consciousness nearly sinking into his familiar’s. He resisted. Percy had grown somewhat better at handling the episodes after nearly a year in the Guild.

Still…

The mixture boil...

Chapter 101 – Whirlpool of Four Streams

Percy dropped the marble in the jar with the others, before pausing for a second to catch his breath.

Then, he pushed the soul mana he’d just recovered through the ethereal cord, sending it to his wasp clone to do whatever he wanted with it. As for the pure mana, he gathered some between his palms, forming another sphere in preparation for the next crystal.

‘Just one more before cleansing time.’

This was his routine now. Percy started his days by drinking two ...

Chapter 100 – Into the Spire

Percy’s adventure hit a roadblock sooner than expected.

Upon stepping inside the massive stem, the buzz in his head grew a dozen times louder, eliciting a visceral response from his host. Jolted awake from its stupor, the bug fought for control over its body. Driven purely by instinct, it quickly turned and stumbled back out, only calming once the headache subsided to a bearable level.

‘What’s going on?!’

Unwilling to retreat so easily, Percy steeled himself...

Chapter 99 – Buggy vessel

‘Everything ok?’ the main body asked.

He was holding a half-formed sickle made of teal mana in one hand. Clearly, he hadn’t remained idle, practicing the affinity fusion while waiting.

‘I will be, as soon as you get Micky off me.’ the clone replied.

A moment later the bird lifted its talon, letting the bug move about, getting a better feel of his body.

‘It’s a little on the smaller side…’ he couldn’t help bu...

Chapter 98 – Tests

Percy had several goals for this particular clone.

Though exploring the cosmos was arguably the most important tool in his arsenal – and by a huge margin – he’d decided to take a short break from that, to test other potential uses for his ability.

Naturally, the first thing he wanted to know was whether he could create local clones on Remior. He could imagine several scenarios where that would be handy – whether it was because he found an interesting body worth possessing,...

Chapter 97 – Oblivious Agent

Generally, Percy didn’t have to interact with the Agent much. His primary responsibility was to brew the elixirs. As for everything else, it was taken care of by Nesha. However, there was one task Percy couldn’t delegate to anyone else.

‘I hope this is the right spot.’

Today, he wore a full-body shroud to conceal his face and the colour of his robes. To further disguise himself, Percy stuffed a pillow under his shirt and crouched slightly, making him appear shorte...

Chapter 96 – Happy 20!!!

‘Dear Percy,

Forgive me if this is not the exact day – as I’m not sure when the letter will find you, but…

Happy 20!!!...’

Percy paused for a moment, calculating the date. With everything going on, he’d honestly forgotten about his birthday, which had actually been a couple days ago.

‘Close enough.’ he shrugged, returning to the message.

‘…I...