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A Soldier's Life - 405 - The Essence Of Things (minor edit on 6-13-25)

Chapter 405: The Essence Of Things

The camp of adventurers we passed on the road to Brausis was empty as we rode by. I paused and stepped off Ginger for a moment to send out an earth pulse. I didn’t find anything that suggested they had been attacked. The fire pit still held hot coals deep under the ash, and I guessed that, even from this distance, the appearance of the dragon might have scared them off. There were no signs of a struggle, so we moved on.

Blaze’s sharp eyes poi...

Soldier 269 and 270 moved to book 5 collection from Seraphim collection

https://www.patreon.com/collection/1393506

Did the final plot edit for those two chapters this afternoon and moving them over now instead of Monday. 270 was triple the regular chapters in length so it was like editing 4 chapters today.

Tonight I have the following to work on:

Read Edit Seraphim Soldier 404

Write Seraphim Soldier 405

Continue working on World Sphere 220

A Soldier's Life - 404 - Clash of the Titans (edited 6-7-25 +100 words)

Chapter 404: Clash of the Titans

We weren’t foolish enough to wait for the creature to emerge fully, and together, we moved toward the tree line along the cliff. One of the bugbear chieftains stumbled out of the entrance. With my aether sight, I could see he was badly injured, his steel sword was snapped, and his right arm was missing. He howled in a relieved yet pained cry, thinking he had reached freedom.

“Keep running!” I barked at my companions as we reached cover behind...

A Soldier's Life - 403 - Trouble Emerges (edited 6-6-25 +150 words)

Chapter 403: Trouble Emerges

As we walked into the woods, Kyrenic followed behind me, with Blaze trailing behind him. Neptune’s tear was bright tonight, and my companions didn’t need the ambient light of wisps to see. In a soft voice, Kyrenic asked, “Fortuna’s Chosen? Isn’t that the Telhian god of luck?”

“Goddess,” Blaze said from behind. “Eryk has more luck than any one man, so we have a bet that he is actually Fortuna’s son and just hope his luck rubs off on ...

World Sphere - 57 - Lightning Quick

Chapter 57: Lightning Quick

I woke early and was anxious to increase the level of my lightning reflexes spell. Although I wanted to demolish Gareth in a spare badly, I decided to keep the new spell secret. If I openly displayed the spell, then the news would travel, and I would lose my advantage, not just against Gareth but others.

The spell enhanced my speed by 50%. The spell was a balance between the lightning sphere and the healing sphere. With the accelerated movement, you dam...

A Soldier's Life - 402 - Weight of Leadership (edited 6-5-25 +200 words)

Chapter 402: Weight of Leadership

No one looked eager to begin the cleanup. Many of the defenders had injuries that were being treated and were in shock from the intense fight. Kyrenic was starting to direct people, breaking their malaise. The mayor had fled, leaving the guard captain in charge, who had wisely completely deferred to Kyrenic’s leadership.

Blaze came trotting through the streets toward us, his bow at the ready. “Is the northern wall secured?” I asked as he app...

Town Builder - 102 - Father-Daughter Time

Chapter 102: Father-Daughter Time

When I was alone, I could finally examine my options in more detail.

This choice was a lot harder than I thought it would be after seeing what else the Divine Favor could do. Finishing a building instantly was a huge boon, but there were other possibilities as well. The one that was at the top of my list was an NPC auction token. It had to be used on a crafter NPC, but that was not a deal breaker for me. Getting another grand master player for jus...

A Soldier's Life 267 & 268 moved over from Seraphim

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It is time for another game of: AlwaysRollsAOne Needs to draw on the "Think Tank" (edited 6-2-25)

So things are happening. Eryk's aether pool is nearing 40, which means he can unlock another affinity. That also means he is close enough to imprint his displacement spell form. Furthermore, he is accumulating enough energy / lightning essence to learn a spell form for that affinity. Having all three developments occur in book 7 is probably a lot, so I will likely do 2 of the 3 (or I may throw a curveball and do something else). But it's time for energy essence spell form ideas! I'll do 3 low...

A Soldier's Life - 401 - Buggers (edited 6-2-25 +150 words)

Chapter 401: Buggers

Blaze opened a barrel and started to refill his quivers without asking. He was actually spending a few seconds to inspect each arrow before sliding them into place. He had defended enough walls to know he had time.

Kyrenic dumped our bag of heads onto the wall. He looked up, impressed. “You got one of the cursed harpies?”

“Two, actually. But Blaze didn’t want to take the time to collect the head of the other,” I said, watching the woods. Since ...

A Soldier's Life - 400 - I Invited the Neighbors Over (edited 5-31-25 +100 words)

Chapter 400: I Invited The Neighbors Over

“Last arrow,” Blaze muttered bitterly. Blaze aimed and released and cursed a second later, “Dragon shit.”

We watched the wisp as it fluttered in circles high above before drifting away from us. It had been a good night: eight will-o'-the-wisps and two gremlins yielding five lesser aether pool essences, three lesser energy essences, and two lesser dexterity essences. There was a thick cloud cover, and the wisps were flying higher to...

A Soldier's Life - 399 - Grandstanding (minor edits 5-31-25)

Chapter 399: Grandstanding

As we moved to a clearing to give Blaze a line of sight, I skewered a gremlin hiding in a rotten log with the Heartseeker and another hiding in a shallow pit beneath a carpet of moss. I used the spear to trigger their simple traps before I harvested them. My earth speak made the hunt completely unfair to the small goblinoids. Both yielded minor dexterity essences, which I handed to Blaze. “I already have two for Lesna and Evie,” I explained, and he took th...

World Sphere - 56 - Finally!

Chapter 56: Finally!

The week was miserable for everyone. Cold, heavy rain fell non-stop from the 2nd to the 5th day. Having so many days of continuous rain on the floating island was more than unusual; none of the instructors could remember it raining for so long. That didn’t stop the instructors from continuing to hold classes outside.

I also got a workout using my cleanliness spell to clear areas of flooding in the barracks as the leaks were being repaired. Callem even left f...

World Sphere - 55 - Floor Plans

Chapter 55: Floor Plans

Was this some kind of joke? A Bricio? Why would Loriel send a member of Bricio family? The Bricio family was everything that was wrong with Skyholme. Power-hungry, manipulative, and willing to exploit others to achieve their goals.

“I am sorry, Isla, but I think I was hoping for…” I started to say, as I searched for the words to avoid sounding like an ass. I also didn’t want to make an enemy either.

The young architect looked at the people aro...

World Sphere - 54 - Gareth's Folly

Chapter 54: Gareth’s Folly

It was late evening when we walked back to into Hen’s Hollow. When I got back to my room, dinner was over, and I found Gareth lamenting on his bed. He bemoaned, “Oh Storme, I wish you hadn’t left today. I did something stupid. So, very stupid.”

I touched my friend and looked for wounds with my healing spell—nothing. I sat on my bed across from him, waiting for him to elaborate. 

“So, what happened to you today? Can it be remedied...

World Sphere - 53 - The Shiny Platinum

Chapter 53: The Shiny Platinum

We followed Bylura closely. The wolf girl’s ears constantly twitched, demonstrating her alertness as she tried to track everything happening around us. When Callem spoke to me, her ears stilled as she focused on our conversation, “Storme, are you sure you want your building near the skyship docks? Your restaurant may not get a lot of traffic from locals. The upper city near the road to the mountain dungeon or in the eastern part of the city where the D...

A Soldier's Life - 398 - Wishful Wisping

Chapter 398: Wishful Wisping

Kyrenic led us across the city to the artificer. As we walked through the town, everyone seemed to know the foreign knight and greeted him by name or with a smile. I checked, and the aetheric haze aura surrounded him. My curiosity finally won out. “What is your aura, prince?”

Kyrenic missed a step as he walked beside me. “Did Lesna tell you?” he guessed.

“She did,” I confirmed. He didn’t need to know that I could also see it without...

Town Builder - 101 - God's Revival

Chapter 101: God’s Revival

The fate of the other hard-wired players weighed on me. I was only worried that they might decide to raid the Duchy and kill my NPCs, but it still wasn’t fair to them to have an insurmountable mountain to climb to freedom. Some of the hard-wired players had been clever in streaming their gameplay and starting charity accounts for viewers to fund their surgeries to restore their bodies.

Unfortunately, there were only so many eyes to go around, and the...

Soldier 265 and 266 moved to Book 5 Collection from Seraphim Collection

https://www.patreon.com/collection/1393506?view=expanded

I'm going to edit two chapters of Book 5 this morning before heading to a family BBQ for Memorial Day. Tonight, I will finish the Town Builder chapter I started yesterday. For fans of Town Builder, there will be three more chapters of the story in June before it goes on hiatus while I work on editing World Sphere Book 2 and Soldier Boo...

A Soldier's Life - 397 - Brausis (edited 5-25-25 +100 words)

Chapter 397: Brausis

With the elemental confused, I swung off of Ginger and slapped her rump, “Run!” My other hand was already raising an aether potion to my lips.

Blaze’s riding horse had dashed ahead, and he was trying to regain control of the spooked gelding. The earth elemental continued to gaze at where its arm should have been. The humanoid shape of shifting earth towered over me, easily exceeding nine feet in height. The scent of freshly dug earth lingered in the air....

Town Builder - 100- Thieving Bastards

Chapter 100: Thieving Bastards

It didn’t take me long to come to a decision. “I will not resist if you let my companions go.”

The elementalkin's hands were engulfed in blue flames, dancing up his arms. He seemed to be deferring to the human woman. She glanced over at my companions, who were ready to fight. “They can go. You pull something and the next time we kill you, we will not be so generous.” A sinister smile formed on her Asian features. “You understand this is o...

A Soldier's Life - 396 - Fork In The Road (edits on 5-25-25 +200 words)

Chapter 396: Fork In The Road

I found I had copied a dozen books that referenced dungeon purges in Godok, and the news was not good. I had only briefly recalled what a dungeon purge was during my time flipping through the Archives. These occurrences were extremely rare and usually signaled future trouble, usually with a mass exodus of other creatures from the Endless Dark.

It was common for a dungeon to expel its residents into the Endless Dark, but allowing them passage directly ...

World Sphere - 219 -

Chapter 219:

I pushed the Maelstrom to return as quickly as possible to Skyholme. Partially, I wanted to impress our passengers, but also because we had been gone for three days. Wynna and Callem were wooing the five dark elves from the Quartz Creators Guild on the trip, and I thought to drop them off at the Black Spire first, since the Duskhunters frequently visited. Seeing other dark elves should make them feel at home. After a day or two to acclimate to Skyholme, they would ...

A Soldier's Life - 395 - A Purge

Chapter 395: A Purge

Kyrenic spun his long sword, loosening his wrist. Although the hilt was unadorned, the glossy silver blade immediately indicated that it was a dungeon-forged artifact. He freed his shield from his saddle, and it was clearly an artifact as well by the silvery runes on the inside, albeit not dungeon forged. The shield was flat black, with a white bull painted on the front. “Will you fight with a shield?” He asked, turning to me.

“No, not today,” I replie...

A Soldier's Life - 394 - Heart of the Storm (edit 5-21-25 +250 words)

Chapter 394: Heart Of The Storm

Evie had been excited to finally get some serious lessons with her new blades, and I had been hoping to see what a Queen’s Champion was capable of. However, this was not meant to be today, as the crew raced across the deck. The blue sky quickly darkened into blackness, and cheap glowstones appeared in sconces on the deck. The minimal light and shadows gave it an even more sinister look. The captain and first mate were arguing in their native language, w...

A Soldier's Life - 393 - The Shadow Belt

Chapter 393: The Shadow Belt

We were four days from our second layover in the port city of Delpsa in the Kingdom of Gorgiphia. The days melded together, and I was shocked how fast Evie was not only learning Elvish but also her fluency in Telhian was rapidly growing. Granted, she spent most of her day talking to Benito, Blaze, and Lesna in Telhian and being corrected. Unfortunately for her, all three spoke with a commoner’s slang and accent. I rarely spoke to Evie in English anymore, a...

Soldier - Book 7 Mid Book POV

75% done with chapter 393, but taking a twenty-minute break.

These polls are only open to Seraphim subs because you are the only ones who understand the choices!

I know we just started book 7, but chapters tend to fly by. So, know that you all, as a group, get to decide from whose perspective we will have the mid-book transition. Below are your choices. Note: this does affect the story!! You don't pick something, and it might never happen.

Soldier 263 and 264 moved to book 5 collection from Seraphim

Moved it today because I am driving a lot tomorrow. Soldier Seraphim Cahpter 393 is coming tonight. Just passed halfway point

https://www.patreon.com/collection/1393506

Just updated 392 with +1400 words, second half of the chapter. Writing 393 now....

Quick Link to chapter:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/129167389

A Soldier's Life - 392 - Compounding Interest (finished second half of chapter 5-17-25)

Chapter 392: Compounding Interest

The great thing about dungeon artifacts in general is that you are not required to have a specific affinity to use them. The artifact itself converts the raw aether into the required affinity for the spell form. Artificers can do the same thing with manmade artifacts, but can never approach the conversion efficiency of a dungeon artifact, making dungeon artifacts much more desirable.

Some ancient dungeon artifacts studied in the book lacked this c...