Brin was fairly certain he could take a level 30 [Warrior] without too much trouble just based off raw stats, but he wasn’t sure what a [Knight] could do and Hedrek kept his status locked down tight. The biggest issue was the armor. It wasn’t raw steel like Brin’s; Hedrek had real armor. Though it was plain in design, it practically thrummed with magical energy. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to break through it, and he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his Bog Standard spear the way th...
2025-01-10 18:35:33 +0000 UTC
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Made some edits: Most noticeably, I erased the extra [Hunter], since one of them died in the duel. Meredydd is now the name of the [Armsman].
###
Brin couldn't help but feel like he was at a disadvantage here; he'd sort of implied that the training he would put them through was better than whatever the [Knights] regularly did, but he had no idea what that was. Worse, he also had no equipment and no prep time.
Logically, something like aerobics and isometric exercises would work...
2025-01-08 18:20:13 +0000 UTC
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“I'll let you all grow acquainted,” Galan said. Then he and Lyssa were gone, and Brin was alone with a group of young men who were all various degrees of hostile.
Was that really all the introduction Galan was going to give him? Announce that he was the Second and then take off? Brin didn’t even know what a Second was. Did that mean he was the Second in command? From the way the other [Knight], who [Inspect] called Hedrek, was glaring at him, he thought that was probably the...
2025-01-03 22:12:54 +0000 UTC
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The trip to Prinnash was mostly peaceful and uneventful, even compared to the last couple months he’d spent in Blackcliff. Without a workshop or even enough space to get a good workout, he’d been forced to concentrate solely on his illusions. He spent most of his days sitting on the deck watching the movement of the ocean while threads and split minds worked on his magic, often summoning different shapes and colors inside his and Sion's cabin when it was empty.
He worked on his batt...
2025-01-01 18:00:12 +0000 UTC
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When Cid opened his orders, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The day he’d been dreaming of for years had finally arrived: He was to be promoted to Prime of a new Lance, but when he read the names of those serving under him, all thoughts of celebration fled in favor of disappointment and dread.
His second was to be his best friend Hedrek, a fellow [Knight]. And while Hedrek had many of the qualities he would wish for in a Second, the problem remained that Hedrek was the one person in t...
2024-12-28 03:17:10 +0000 UTC
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Marksi would like you and all your loved ones a very wonderful Christmas.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to write a chapter for today. I still plan on having one ready for Friday, and we'll continue next week like normal.
2024-12-25 18:05:30 +0000 UTC
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"Of course, I will be coming with you," Sion said promptly when Brin delivered the news that he’d be leaving Blackcliff.
"Are you sure? I can't pull you away from your family duties," said Brin.
"Yes, I'm sure. Now, it's your serve."
Brin had been surprised to learn that the Wogan mansion had a tennis court. Not because he didn't think the mansion was big enough, but because he'd sort of forgotten about leisure activities altogether.
He thought of the game as tennis ...
2024-12-20 21:20:52 +0000 UTC
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I fixed enough typos that I think it's worth sending the notification and email again.
###
They were still on the way to where Lurilan had spotted a Mud Slider when noon drew near, meaning it was nearly time for their call with Lumina.
Brin and Hogg had a brief discussion about whether or not to include Lurilan, and decided that they might as well. Anything that they couldn't discuss around Lurilan, they really shouldn't speak of out loud at all, especially not over a long-...
2024-12-18 18:25:25 +0000 UTC
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Brin decided he needed some fresh air, but when he tried the door it wouldn’t budge, no doubt due to a careful application of hard light in the locking mechanism.
“You’re not running away from this,” said Hogg.
“Who’s running away?” Brin asked. “I just want to stretch my legs, get some fresh air, and then we’ll be right back to this super interesting training you dredged up from the bottom of the lowest hell.”
“You might think you need some time to reco...
2024-12-13 22:32:01 +0000 UTC
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Hogg and Brin took their time getting home. The city was chaotic, with rows of soldiers stomping down the streets and scattering the rioters who spread throughout the city to escape them. Brin might’ve moved quicker alone, but Hogg couldn’t go invisible anymore and there was no reason to take any unnecessary risks, so they went the long way around the press gangs that Brin spotted with his Invisible Eyes.
The most exciting part of the journey, honestly, was watching the Wogan estate...
2024-12-11 23:21:23 +0000 UTC
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After reading your comments, I think I'll need to do some editing to this and chapter 12 before they go to Royalroad. This chapter is also twice the size of a regular chapter, so I'll probably split it up for RR, maybe by giving them an extra monday update. I figured you'd want to read it all at once.
Hope you enjoy.
###
For the most part, Brin felt himself a natural Frenarian. He’d lived in this world for a couple years now. He adopted their culture, ate their food, and dr...
2024-12-06 20:15:26 +0000 UTC
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Brin got to Sion’s place early, and to his surprise he saw Jeffrey waiting out in the courtyard. He hadn’t expected the older [Bard] to show up for Zilly’s duel. Hogg hadn’t decided to come, and if he’d put a Visible Eye in place somewhere around here to watch, Brin hadn’t spotted it yet.
Jeffrey leaned against a stone fence separating the open circle where they’d have the fight from the new and thriving Spice of Heart bushes. It almost seemed like too nice of an area to h...
2024-12-04 20:11:42 +0000 UTC
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Like she’d predicted, Myra’s caravan left the same day. Brin kept an Invisible Eye on it, but from a far distance so that he wouldn’t feel like a voyeur. The caravan didn’t run into any trouble leaving the city, and he didn’t think they’d run into much trouble out in the wild. Without a dream monster mommy sending waves of monsters at her son, the caravan would probably travel safely.
The rest of them split up as well; Zilly went with Sion towards his family's mansion, Davi ...
2024-11-30 00:37:28 +0000 UTC
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“Strange folk?” asked Lurilan. “In what way?”
[Hunter] Caio had a high-pitched squeaky type voice. He hunched forward and turned his face to the side, looking another direction as he talked, and despite all of this Brin’s gut feeling matched what his [Inspect] told him, that this was an incredibly powerful and dangerous person. “You know that feeling you get when you see someone hiding when they don’t need to? It’s like that. [Warriors] from the Defense Force. Officers f...
2024-11-27 16:10:38 +0000 UTC
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"Ugh, what is with that guy? He thinks he's so high and mighty just because he earned a Rare Class?" Myra picked at the sleeve of her dress in irritation, unwinding and fixing the hem.
"I don't know, I think he's neat," said Zilly.
"Of course you do," said Myra.
Sion looked pained. “He is useful. The same dedication with which he approaches… certain topics he also applies to his role in employment.” Brin didn’t think Sion talked bad about people behind their backs as...
2024-11-24 04:35:42 +0000 UTC
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Myra raised her hand to the air, signaling the start to the fight, then quickly took two steps back.
Both Rhun and Zilly blurred into motion, launching at each other. Zilly used [Dash] which let her exit or enter combat at breakneck speed, but Rhun moved just as fast and Brin didn’t know what Skill he was using.
Rhun’s [Hide Status] was blocking his Skills, but now that Brin was seeing it in action, he might get more detail. He used [Inspect].
Charge [22] - A...
2024-11-22 02:31:19 +0000 UTC
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The next day, Brin woke with a kind of manic energy, a pressure to make progress in all the little things he’d been working on. Things were changing, people were moving, and one way or another, these slow peaceful days were coming to an end. He’d been through this in the past, but unlike before, this time he actually had a deadline. In two weeks Lumina would tell him what she had planned for him; he would either join her in the tower or go into hiding somewhere else. Two weeks to finish e...
2024-11-17 03:34:33 +0000 UTC
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Hogg started talking, and Brin used a couple Directed Threads to jot it down. For paper, he flipped the original contract around and started writing with the pen Glyn had given Hogg.
It was a little strange at first to feel his arm moving without his direct control, but when he looked up and met Glyn’s eyes it was easy to ignore it.
DT2: Error. Please return vision to the target.
Brin looked back down so that the directed threads could see what ...
2024-11-13 15:48:49 +0000 UTC
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"First, you should change," Hogg said as they re-entered the black carriage.
“Do we have time for that?”
“I already sent a runner to tell the Wogans that we’ll be late. And we made up some time with Riposto. It went a lot quicker than I expected.”
“Seriously?” Brin didn’t feel like it had been quick at all; it had been two hours of grueling negotiation, and they weren’t even done. The contract had been signed, but there were still going to be dozens of meet...
2024-11-08 19:10:18 +0000 UTC
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Lumina couldn’t stay long after delivering her message, so Brin and Hogg pulled the spell down again. Brin immediately spun up some new threads to start comprehending the spell in full in case he ever needed to do the entire thing himself. One directed thread to start reading through the portions Hogg had done, another directed thread to monitor the first one and create new threads any time they failed. Then he made a conscious thread to start figuring out the words he still didn’t know. ...
2024-11-06 18:10:40 +0000 UTC
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Brin sighed in relief as his last conscious thread returned and he had his full mind back. Well, most of his mind. Two or three directed threads running Invisible Eyes didn't make a noticeable impact on his perception of time.
“Ok, I'm ready. What's up?” Brin asked.
Hogg had poured himself an iced tea and now sat down on his favorite reclining chair. He hadn't actually brought all his furniture from Hammon's Bog, but he'd bought a lot of the same things here in Blackcliff, t...
2024-11-05 00:04:42 +0000 UTC
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Brin felt his consciousness split off, and knew at once that he was the copy. He knew that wasn't really how it worked since every thread was the real him, but he couldn't help feel that he was a clone. He would do a job and then he would end. He knew he was the copy, because he couldn't control his body—that was left to the main thread. This was by design, he didn't want his other threads accidentally flinching or tripping because of something they saw through an Invisible Eye. It had actu...
2024-11-03 00:46:00 +0000 UTC
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2024-11-03 00:45:25 +0000 UTC
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The long, dark bogless days are over. Raise the Bog Standard! Brin is back.
```
Brin heard a loud rap on the door to his workshop. Bad timing, hopefully they would go away. He was making glass.
He waved his hand inside the glass oven to get a feel for the temperature before shutting the door. He still couldn't touch the molten glass without getting burned, but [Heat Resistance] was more than enough for protecting him against the heat of the oven in brief doses. The oven stil...
2024-11-01 20:42:28 +0000 UTC
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Hello, this is just a short message to let you know that I have paused Billing on the Patreon. No one's time that they've already paid for will be used during this time, so you won't be charged until I'm ready to start posting again.
I also won't have internet access for most of this time. I'll be on a cruise (I didn't spring for the wi-fi package.) I think it'll be good for me to go cold turkey for a while though.
Thanks for all your support, and I hope to have a come back swingi...
2024-10-05 15:41:35 +0000 UTC
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Galan groaned and leaned back in the armchair in his office, stretching out his hand. It had begun to cramp from so much writing, which was preposterous.
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “I’m above the fifth threshold in Dexterity, Vitality, and Strength. My hand shouldn’t cramp up even if I were to write for a week without ceasing.”
His adjunct, Lyssa, slammed down her own pen with a grunt, likely frustrated by the interruption. Of course she would’ve given voice...
2024-10-03 17:12:59 +0000 UTC
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Status screen. I'll post the Epilogue in a few minutes.
Information
Name: Brin isu Yambul
Age: 14
Race: Human
Class: Glassbound Illusionist
Level: 37
Attributes
Strength: 214
Dexterity: 155
Vitality: 187
Magic: 196
Mental Control: 224
Will: 144
Unassigned points: 8
Titles
Survivor of Travin's Bog
You survived t...
2024-10-03 17:09:05 +0000 UTC
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Pretty soon I'll need to take book 2 off of Patreon. Your link to download the full electronic version is available here:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/746edyj2zq
Edit: We hit the limit quick, so I refreshed the link. Should be good now, but leave me a comment...
2024-09-29 14:36:03 +0000 UTC
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Expelling all the water from his lungs wasn’t any easier the second time. He didn’t puke because there was nothing in his stomach, but the sensation was the same, as well as a panicked feeling like he was drowning, suffocating, sneezing, and hiccupping all at the same time.
He tried to see what was going on, but couldn’t force his eyes open until the last of the water was coughed out his lungs. He’d be sure to ask Hogg to practice using Unbreathing pills. He never wanted to go t...
2024-09-27 16:52:04 +0000 UTC
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The tunnel below was totally black, even to Brin's darkvision, and he hardly had any time to get used to breathing underwater. He really was breathing the water, and it was an intense experience. He could feel the cold liquid moving down his trachea, the way it filled his lungs making him feel heavy, how it didn't push in and out as easily as air. His body panicked; he choked and tried to cough but couldn't. He would be hyperventilating if he could, but the weight of the water forced his lung...
2024-09-25 17:33:16 +0000 UTC
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