egathentale

Re-editing update 2: Electric Boogaloo

Hello Dear Readers! 

Sorry for the radio silence, but things have been... busy as of late. Even as I write this, I'm stuck in a hospital on an errand, already in my second hour of overtime, and it'll take another hour or more to get home, and recently this kind of shit's been the norm in my life instead of the exception. 

Anyhow, I'm done with the first part of the second volume, and contrary to my expectations, I had to change way less than I originally feared. That sai...

The Simulacrum - Volume 3 Extra 3: Self-defense class

The Dracis manor on Critias was huge. It was likely the largest and most luxurious abode in the entirety of Timaeus, and the fact that it was built in the middle of the picket-fenced suburbs of the city made it stick out of its neighborhood even more. In fact, with the combination of the multi-storied mansion with its two wings, the external facilities, servant quarters, and the verdant park in the back, it was nearly the size of an entire neighborhood.

Some of the facilities h...

Further editing update

Hello, Dear Readers. 

Long story short, re-editing the first volume ended up as a ginormous time-sink, far beyond even my most pessimistic predictions. The fact that my job's been killing me in the past two weeks certainly didn't help either.

Anyhow, I'm done with the first volume, and so I decided that as a form of apology for the long radio silence, I'd throw together both a PDF and an EPUB version for you guys. The EPUB is super-rudimentary, as this was the first time I tr...

Re-editing update

Hello, dear readers! 

I won't mince words here: re-editing the first two volumes in preparation for the audio book adaptation turned out to be way more time consuming than I originally imagined. Since at this rate it will be at least one more week to finish it up, even if I dedicate all of my free time to the project, I'm afraid I'll have to put the next chapter on hold for the time being, meaning it will be at least one week late, two in the worst case scenario. In other words, I ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 72 - Part 4

To deceive your opponents first you have to deceive your allies. I don't know who originally said that. Probably Sun Tzu, Churchill, or Einstein, considering ninety percent of famous quotes are attributed to those three. Either way, I wholeheartedly agreed with the notion, yet I had one caveat: if you wanted to perfectly hide your thoughts and plans from your opponent, you also had to 'deceive' yourself.

Because of this, I often considered the art of deception to be the bastard cousin o...

Grumbling update

Hello, Dear Readers.

Long story short, I completed the last part yesterday, but then we had a freak power outage while I was editing, and the file I used got corrupted. Thankfully there was a backup, so I didn't lose all my work, but I still have to write down a sizable chunk from scratch again. I will try to do so today after work, but in the worst case scenario, it might only get finished on the weekend. Sorry for that, it's not entirely in my control.

On an unrelated note, I si...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 72 - Part 3

I have a confession to make: I always thought that plate armor was heavy and cumbersome. I mean, that was what all the movies were telling me, and I have read at least one essay online talking about how knights were lumbering tanks a samurai could totally defeat with superior martial arts, so I doubt anyone could blame me for having a few preconceived notions about the topic. All of those prejudices immediately evaporated the moment I actually wore one though, as it was rather easy to move in...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 72 - Part 2

The school's library was unusually empty today. Or at the very least it felt like so, though I admit I wasn't a frequent enough visitor to properly judge it. Anyhow, the place being a little deserted was working in my favor. I followed Elly with my Far Sight into the building and waited for her to find a secluded place, which wasn't that hard this time around. My actual body was inside one of the first-floor bathroom stalls at the moment, and I was ready to Phase over at a moment's notice, wh...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 72 - Part 1

What's up with underground chambers? Or rather, why did my life have so many of them? Why did we even have this many underground facilities on a volcanic island? Was that even safe? Were we just a small earthquake away from being flooded with lava? And that's just a 'mundane' concern; what about the supernatural ones? Should I start getting worried about being invaded by the mole-people? Could mole people even live on a volcanic island in the first place? Wouldn't they get fried by the magma ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 71 - Part 3

"… and that's why our class is going to have an idol-group performance for the school festival," I explained with a fair bit of trepidation, and even though what I said didn't actually have a logical thread to follow, Mountain Girl nodded in acknowledgment like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Though again, it was her, so maybe it was my bad for expecting her to operate on the same logic as us normal folk. But then again, I had a feeling my definition of 'normal' was getting furt...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 71 - Part 2

Sometimes I wondered what the point of high school education was, or rather, how inefficient it felt at times. Sure, a lot of it was on things that should, by all intents and purposes, be common knowledge, like basic chemistry, geography, or physics. However, there was another end of the spectrum, where things like algebra and many of the artsy subjects resided. Sure, those are going to be incredibly important for someone who would continue to study mathematics, or programming, or try to beco...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 71 - Part 1

"And don't forget children: the school festival is only a month away, so we'll discuss your ideas for how the class should participate in this year's event during the next homeroom. Make sure you come up with many fun activities to choose from!"

Mrs. Applebottom's enthusiastic reminder came at the end of her English lesson, yet all I could muster in response was a tired yawn. My reaction was something of an outlying case though, as the rest of our classmates were all pretty enthusiastic...

The Simulacrum - Volume 3 Extra 2: Time-travel, gods, pineapple pizza, and other assorted impossibilities

"You really made this place your own," I mused aloud as I entered Labcoat Guy's room. It originally used to be the kitchen of the mess hall which got turned into his workshop. Right now it was completely refurbished into a living room, with one corner hidden behind a plain wooden folding screen with the man's currently quite messy bed behind it. As for the living area, it had a couple of amenities, like a bookshelf, a desk, and a dining table, but it was generally fairly simple, with all the ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 70 - Part 3

"… and so now that elder is the acting clan head, she is now my personal ninja, and I'm technically not the head of the Kage clan, just the boss of the head of the clan. It's like having a cake, and eating it too."

Once I reached the end of my very long-winded and boring explanation of how I stood my ground and technically still refused the narrative's ploy to make me into a ninja daimyo or whatever Baldy-kun called me, the Dracis patriarch sitting by my side let out a though...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 70 - Part 2

Looking out the second-floor window, I had to admit, the cityscape of Timaeus was quite majestic. I could see the high-rise buildings of the central district, the tidy rows of houses in the residential area, and if I strained my eyes a little, I could even catch a glimpse of sunlight reflecting on the water of the docks. If I looked to the right, I could even see the foot of the mountain in the middle of the island. All in all, the view put me in a very solemn, introspective mood. For about f...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 70 - Part 1

"I tell you Dormouse; I'm not sick, just tired."

Despite my protests, my dear assistant continued hold her palm against my forehead in search of any sign of fever. The placeholders in the classroom were giving us odd looks (I liked it better when they ignored our shenanigans, but I don't think reversing their development was possible, or ethical for that matter), so I gently removed her hand from my head. I honestly didn't know what I found weirder: the fact that Judy could tell that I ...

Minor update

Hello, Dear Readers (and Steve)! 

Long story short, I had some technical difficulties since last weekend, with my PC's stock CPU cooler deciding to die on me overnight. Running a Ryzen chip on 100 degrees is not exactly healthy, so I had to express order a replacement. This was the first time I ever replaced a cooler on my own, and it was a nerve-racking experience to say the least, but now things are back in business, and my machine is a lot quieter too, so yay. 

More i...

The Simulacrum - Volume 3 Extra 1 – Call of Dungeonhammer: Finder of Paths

"All right everyone! Let's play!" Angie exclaimed with an excited grin partially hidden behind the meticulously painted cardboard folding screen in front of her.

For once, we were all gathered at Josh's house, though it was hard to recognize the place at first glance due to how much we rearranged the living room. The big couch was moved to the side, and in its place, we had the large dining table from the kitchen, with practically all the chairs in the Bernstein household arranged aroun...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 69 - Part 4

"You know," I mused a little absent-mindedly, "I originally thought that your whole obsession with the fish tank was silly, but I have to admit, watching them swim around like this is unexpectedly therapeutic."

Galatea let out an appreciative noise in response to my comment and continued to feed the fish in silence. I wasn't lying though. Watching the colorful fishes scurry around in the aquarium felt oddly calming, and it helped me take my mind off some troubling topics. Such as being ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 69 - Part 3

"… and then the Chief made Pascal take her away, and that's the end of it," Judy concluded her recounting of our encounter with 'Sahi' for my other girlfriend, and the princess seemed to be unexpectedly stumped at the moment.

We were already on our way home, halfway to Elly's place to be precise, and since Snowy decided to hang out with Josh and Angie, it left only the three of us. Needless to say, with the way the weather was as of late, the two girls were sticking really close to me...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 69 - Part 2

"I'm thinking about a collar," I told Judy just as we sat down at one of the tables in the dining hall of the school. It was only the two of us for the time being, since Josh and the rest of the gang stayed behind in the classroom to finish up their English homework. Apparently, between the four of them, including my other girlfriend, they have read about a third of Moby Dick, so the class rep was giving them a last-minute lecture on the themes and literary devices and stuff. Snowy also staye...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 69 - Part 1

"Please be careful! It's really fragile!" Labcoat Guy called out in borderline panic, though for the life of me I couldn't understand why. The Fauns carrying the large industrial machine already treated it like it was made of eggshells. At last, under the watchful ministrations of the owner of the brand new workshop our handy ram-men put together on short notice, the piece of equipment safely reached its destination in the far corner of the room.

"Wow! This place is really starting to l...

Post-shot update

Hello dear readers!

Just a little heads-up: on Friday, I got my second CoVid shot, and to say that I had an intense immune reaction to it would be an understatement. Headache, forty degrees fever, inability to sleep, the whole nine yards.
The thing is, I get most of my writing done on the weekends, and considering I was sick as a dog, I kinda didn't do that this time, so there is a statistically non-negligible chance that there is a possibility that this may or may not result in the...

The Simulacrum - Early April Fools' chapter

This Thursday had one of the most pleasant mornings I have ever experienced. I got out of my bed after a good night's rest and I... Wait, that sounded strange.

"Oh well, I must still be half asleep!" I concluded with a broad smile as I put on my clothes and walked down the stairs with a spring in my steps.

It was a beautiful morning in the neighborhood. In fact, one could even say it was a beautiful day for a neighbor. A neighborly day even! That made me wonder; who were my good n...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 68 - Part 3

How come elevator music is always so boring? I know, I know; not exactly an astoundingly meaningful question shining a ray of intellectual light through the impermeable fog enshrouding the true nature of reality or such, but that doesn't automatically make it any less valid. I mean, soft jazz wasn't exactly my favorite genre to begin with, but I was pretty sure it had better tracks than the auditory equivalent of watching paint dry. No, wait, I take that back. I would rather watch paint dry t...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 68 - Part 2

It was roughly around ten minutes before the end of the lunch break that I made my way over to the nurse's office. I wasn't exactly in a hurry, as I planned to discuss a number of things with the portly man aside from my PE-exemption, and since the said class was just about to start, I technically had a whole hour to waste.

I didn't exactly have a spring in my steps, but I still made it over to the familiar door with quite some time to spare.

Thinking back on it, this place actual...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 68 - Part 1

"The C-menu? Really?" Josh proceeded to grumble aloud by my side as we walked across the unnecessarily spacious cafeteria of the school with our shiny metal trays in hand. The place was as high-class as usual, though because of the changing season, it looked even busier than usual.

"What? It has fried cheese today. I like it," I defended my preferences, only for my friend to honest to goodness scoff at me like I just said something unexpectedly low-brow.

"Then you should have boug...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 67 - Part 3

"Moooorning guys!"

Our little group composed of my girlfriends and Snowy came to a stop when a familiar voice called out to us. When I glanced towards the source of it, for a moment I was afraid I was going to be tackled, but the energetic Celestial somehow managed to stop on a dime right in front of us. It actually took me a second longer to recognize her than usual, and not just because she was wearing our school's winter uniform.

By the way, we were all wearing those right now,...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 67 - Part 2

"That's why I told Leo that he should use his reality-warping ability to come up with a new thing everyone would want to buy," the princess remarked on my left, slightly leaning forward while sitting on the couch so that she could look Judy in the eye. "Then we would invest in it, wait for the demand to rise, and then monopolize the market. Easy money!"

"Isn't your family rich enough already?" my other girlfriend responded with a hint of exasperation while her soft fingers never stopped...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 67 - Part 1

"Oh. Welcome back," my sister greeted us without any of the reaction a guy, his girlfriend, and a fluffy fox popping into existence in the middle of the living room should have elicited. Oh well, it was just a matter of time before my sudden appearances would lose their novelty, I supposed. It didn't mean I wasn't feeling a little disappointed, but I knew it would happen sooner or later.

"Did anything happen while we were away?" I asked as the still transformed Ichiko wriggled a little ...