WarbyPicus

Sky Pride Chapter 26- Moral Development

Senior Brother Su pressed his palms flat together, like a spearhead parallel to his heart. “AWAKEN!” He roared loud enough to make Tian stumble backwards and shake his head to clear the ringing. 

The peasants jolted from their stupor. It all got very messy. Tian didn’t know what to do with screaming, weeping adults. There were a lot of them too. Fortunately, Brother Sun did know. It started with a loud clap. “Attention!” There was a charm to his voice. Tian didn’t know ...

Sky Pride Chapter 25- Brutal Methods of the Righteous

“What if… What if…” The thoughts spun and spun in Tian’s mind. He knew he couldn’t wait forever- the time left was dripping from the veins of the hanging man in thin streams. Wang wasn’t known as the bloody cleaver for no reason. The cuts were exquisitely made, ensuring that the blood and spinal fluid would seep out at a steady, but inescapably terminal, pace. Tian thought the hanging man was likely already dead. 

So. One less person to worry about.

Was he just ...

Sky Pride Chapter 24- A Child Doing Wetwork

“You want to do more missions, but on your own?” Brother Fu put down his brush. He had just written the character for ‘knife’ and Tian found it spooky. Who goes around writing ‘knife?’ Especially when there was a small heap of discarded previous attempts. A whole pile of ‘knives.’ 

“Yes, Senior Brother. I don’t like owing merit points, and want to pay them back as soon as I can. Also,” Tian had to pause and grope for the words he was looking for “You all sca...

Sky Pride Chapter 23- Mission Demon

The tongue shot out of the water silently, grabbing his leg and yanking him down towards the stream. Tian tried to spin and attack with his rope dart, but he couldn’t get any leverage, everything was wrong and he was going into the beast’s mouth far too fast. 

Out of desperation, he slapped both hands against the ground and pushed himself vertical just in time to slam into the beast’s nose. One of his legs was still sticking forward, down the monsters throat, and he could fee...

Sky Pride Chapter 22- Silently Taking a Life

“Introductions first. You are Junior Brother Tian. We are your senior brothers Fan, Tang and Su.”

“Nice to meet you, Senior Brothers. This is my first mission, so please look out for me.” Tian bowed with his hands clasped. His seniors nodded back, laughing. 

“Naturally, naturally. Now, did you go to the mission hall to get a copy of the mission?”

“Yes, Senior Brother Fan.” San was the eldest, Tian judged, as he had done almost all the talking. A lean man...

Sky Pride Chapter 21- “You Made Us Wait, Junior Brother!”

Nobody talked about that year’s spar. At least, not where Tian could hear it. Brother Fu did start assigning him big stacks of books to read, but they were all very silly. Two months after the spar, Tian finally broke down and started asking the real questions.

“Senior Brother Fu, it says here that I should cultivate the sage within and the monarch without.”

“Mmm. Quite a famous verse, yes. An excellent teaching on how to cultivate good moral character and ethical behavior...

Sky Pride Chapter 20- The Delicate Art of Enmity

The Senior Brothers and Sisters moved faster than Tian’s eyes could follow. Swords flew, driven by the vital energy and iron will of the cultivators. Spears stabbed like lightning and smashed like thunder. Maces, brutal and efficient, staff arts capable of healing the world and saber play eager to end it. 

“The ability to cultivate runs in families. It does not, however, reach everyone in a family. It’s  normal for generations to pass between people who have the gift. Th...

Sky Pride Chapter 19- A Rock Thrower Called Hong

The procession from the Temple to the Convent followed strict rules. As soon as the sky started shading towards dawn, a mortal servant was sent out with a bell. Tian could hear it as it passed out into West Town. There was a certain cadence to it- three rings, then two, then three, then four, then three and the pattern repeated. 

He was required to bathe, and put on a clean robe, clean pants and new shoes. His long black hair was carefully folded, twisted and pinned in place with a...

Sky Pride Chapter 18- The Dreadfulness of a Vine

Tian was a little disappointed to receive merely a pat on the back and an “Attaboy,” after his breakthrough. Nobody was interested in making a fuss. He got the distinct impression that his brothers would be equally impressed if he fell off a log. He sulked about that for a bit, but quickly got over it. 

Cultivation felt good. Cultivating helped Tian calm the anxiety he would feel, often for no reason that he could explain. Perhaps it was all the open spaces, or knowing...

Chapter 17- A Tree to Fill The Sky

Brother Fu kept a small courtyard in one of the back corners of the Temple. It was cozy, with raked gravel surrounded by short, wide canopied trees, a tiny pond and a bird bath. The house itself was unpainted wood, weathered by sun and rain and topped with the same black tiles every other building in the temple used. It had just two rooms, from what Tian could see. 

The main room had a small bookshelf, a little table, and a few cushions on the floor. The only decoration was a pictu...

Chapter 16- A Touch of Death

The West Town Temple had five hundred and twenty Senior Lay Brothers at the peak of the Earthly Person realm. Apparently that was the way it was organized- you were a novice until you had cultivated to the first level of the Earthly Person Realm, and then you were promoted to Lay Brother. You were a lay brother until you reached the Heavenly Person Realm and became a True Disciple. Most people just left out the word ‘Lay.’ It got redundant fast.

Tian was, of course, the Little Broth...

Weeaboo Vol. 2 Chap. 77 The Faces of Fear

Vast drums beat on the air, thundering out, rolling out, the pounding blood in ears of someone running for their life, not quite fast  enough. There must be dozens of them, a vile drumline counterpoint to the brassy tearing horns rising up from behind the walls of Wastet. Carried up by the horns was a choir, a miserable assemblage of suffering. Each note represents a separate violation and pain. Each voice a lifetime of tragedies. All brought together to sing the hymns of Ko’Ras. ...

Started changing things and realized I should have posted first-

I'm editing the tiers right now, so you may get notifications of things changing. Mostly I'm removing references to Slumrat, specifying X or Y number of chapters ahead in Sky Pride, etc. I'm also just... appreciating... how far ahead I was with my writing in Slumrat by the end. Holy Jeebus. So if you see things change, that's what's up. I'm planning on keeping the Hygienic Otaku tier for the rest of the month, but once April rolls around, I'm going to close it. Once again, I really thank you ...

Sky Pride Chapter 15 At the Foot of an Endless Mountain

The Temple was laid out in a series of long buildings. Black tiled roofs, polished wooden beams between plaster walls, long porches stretching out into graveled courtyards. A few old trees dotted the temple, offering shade and sweet smelling flowers to the nervous kids. The kids were marched into a small courtyard with a bronze bell as tall as an adult standing in it. There was a skinny old man with a long white beard leaning on a giant padded club, smiling gently at the kids. 

“...

Weeaboo Vol. 2 Chap. 76- Flattening The Suburbs of Hell

People. Or what once were people. The distinction wasn’t so clear anymore. There were soldiers there, relatively normal looking, but they were screaming. They screamed, then picked up their spears and marched to the gap and up on the wall. I couldn’t see why they were screaming, but I knew I’d find out. Whether I wanted to or not, I would find out.

Othai didn’t re-target Pomoroi. If the enemy wanted to form up in tight bunches in front of the gate, she was happy to let the artil...

Sky Pride Chapter 14 Dressing Human

[Author note- there is a joke in the second paragraph that doesn't work because Patreon won't let me adjust font sizes. Just know that Grandpa mutters a couple of those sentences in a very quiet voice.]

That night, snugly tucked into a shallow cave and roasting a brace of rabbits over the fire, Tian repeated his question. “Really, Grandpa. Why do we keep getting attacked? Even the rabbits attacked us.”

It’s an… unexpected side effect of combining the Stormborne ...