egathentale

Further update

Hey, Dear Readers.

Small change of plans. I just got my CoVid shot today, because  everyone in healthcare has to get one by government mandate, even if one has already recovered once, and I'm having a pretty intense immune reaction to it, with my arm hurting like a female dog and a small fever that is actually slowly getting higher over time. As such, I'm going to sleep now instead of writing, but I'm almost done with the first part of the next chapter, so unless I will be complete...

Minor update and long-term plans

Hello, dear readers. I don't want to repeat myself all the time, so here's the short of it: things are better than before but still far from great, I'm working of Saturday but get a day off tomorrow in exchange, and I plan to put together a two-part release before the end of the week.

Aside of that, there have been something on my mind as of late. With volume three, we are roughly at the halfway point of the story (well, more like one-third, but I plan to tighten up the pacing, so word-...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 66 - Part 2

"This place is sooo amazing! It's exactly what I expected from ue-sama!" Ichiko exclaimed as she spun around on one of the bar stools.

"Indeed," Rinne agreed with a sagely nod, and after poking the noodles in front of her a few times with a metal spork I have never seen before, she let out an impatient grunt before adding, "The facilities are great, the beds are comfortable, the food is adequate, and as for the sy… sycop… What is the word?"

"I think Rinne-san wanted to say 'mi...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 66 - Part 1

I let out a pent up breath the moment we arrived back in my room. Snowy was in the living room, but the extra range I recently gained barely allowed me to Phase here. Time was of the essence, so once I got my bearings, I unceremoniously handed the wrapped up sword in my hand to the tiny miko who came along for the ride.

"Hold on to this for a moment, and don't come down unless I call you."

"Do I have to?" Ichiko whined in a low voice as she looked at the blade she held in both han...

Small update

Hello Dear Readers. 

Just a small update: my old keyboard died in the most spectacular way ever, frying all the USB hubs on my motherboard in the process. Thankfully I could fix the latter by resetting the BIOS (luckily the hardware wasn't damaged, and my MoBo has an easy to access CMOS battery) , it still left me without a keyboard. I decided to buy a fancy, glowy mechanical one as a replacement, and it should arrive in the mail today. I tried to write a bit on my phone in the mea...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 65 - Part 3

"And presto," I whispered under my breath as I appeared inside the secret underground base, completely out of sight. It wasn't for secrecy, but part of a small experiment; it appeared that along with my Phantom Limbs growing both in numbers and, more importantly, range, the radius of the area around my marks where I could Phase to also increased. It wasn't anything dramatic, only about five meters at most, but it was still an improvement.

"Woooo! We really are back!" a certain diminutiv...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 65 - Part 2

"I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect lunch to turn out as well it did," I noted as I closed the door of my room behind me. "Good job."

"I just tried my best to replicate the taste I remembered," Elly replied in a modest manner while already sitting on the edge of my bed, but the smug little smirk at the corners of her lips told me she was quite proud of herself, so I figured some more praising was in order.

" You did really well. Even Ichiko thought it was good, and she is nativ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 65 - Part 1

"You have two of them now?" came the incredulous question from Judy over the phone.

"Yeah," I responded as I shifted on the bed. I called her right after I got out of the shower, and at the moment I was already back in my room with the customary wet towel on my head.

"And that happened after you slept for the first time in two months," she continued, and I almost nodded by reflex before I caught myself.

"Or at the very least I was unconscious," I said, eliciting an ambivalen...

The Simulacrum - Volume 3 - Prologue

"Leo?"

It happened in an instant. One moment, I was languishing in a kind of euphoric state of unconsciousness, and then BAM! All of a sudden, everything hurt. It only lasted for a second before it faded into a kind of 'background noise', yet in that short moment my parched mouth opened wide to suck in a panicked gasp. My torso also rose from the bed, without any conscious agreement from my higher brain function, only for me to almost fall over when my senses were assaulted by an unholy...

Update

Hello, Dear Readers!

First off, yes, I'm still alive. Things are finally calming down a bit, and I just weathered a cold and finally feeling fine again. Anyhow, I've started working on the next volume; the prologue is ready, but I'm planning to release it here along with the first chapter, so I'm holding onto it for the time being. 

Also, there are going to be some small changes in the future. First off, starting with the third volume, I think I will try to cut back on the ac...

Happy New Year and stuff.

Hello, Dear Readers.
I'm here to wish you a happy new year that will be, hopefully, at least not worse than the last. Stay safe, all of you, and see you around with the start of the next volume as soon as possible.

PS: I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but when I keep telling you guys how much my work sucks as of late and that I wouldn't be able to give you a new chapter for a short while, seeing someone cancel their patronage with the exit survey saying "Egathentale wasn...

Update

Okay guys, I've got some relatively bad news. 

The virus is officially in the institute (read: about 40% of the inhabitants tested positive), so things have gone off the deep end. In practice, this will mean that all off-days have been recalled, everyone is running emergency shifts, we aren't even getting Christmas and New Year's off, and most relevant to my plight, as the only soc-worker who already went through quarantine and have a negative PCR test, I now got a *whole building*...

The Simulacrum - Volume 2 Epilogue

"So he is not outside, but he's not inside either," mumbled a familiar yet heavily distorted voice a couple of parsecs past the edge of my hearing. Maybe it was precisely because he sounded like he was auto-tuned by a walrus, but it piqued my interest enough to 'wake me up', in a manner of speaking. I focused my attention on the source of the voice, and my consciousness slowly reached out towards it until I was all of a sudden inside an alien yet very familiar not-dark not-room, just in time ...

Face reveal!

I'm not really big on this whole social media stuff, but Patreon newsletters keep telling me that all the cool content creators build a loyal fan base by being very personal and and in tune and stuff, and my extensive research on MySpace told me that people who follow content creators think that the most spiffiest, gee whiz willikers thing in the world is a face-reveal! 

I don't dare to argue with the charts, so here it is! I'm such a handsome devil, aren't I? 

The Simulacrum - Chapter 64 - Part 3

"So she is like a familiar," Ammy concluded after hearing my explanation regarding how Ichiko ended up in our group, and at the end of the day I resorted to an ambivalent shrug to convey my answer.

"Something like that, I suppose."

"Interesting," she whispered, and then picked up another tea biscuit to nibble on. Incidentally, by this point it was almost noon, and everyone was sitting in a close circle around me made possible by using taking all the dining chairs from the kitchen....

The Simulacrum - Chapter 64 - Part 2

The morning of the first day of November was mild for the season, but otherwise fairly mundane considering it marked the beginning of the third month I've lived in this weird world of ours. This kind of occasion normally warranted standing by a window and looking at the dawning sun with a forlorn expression, with either a warm cup or a cuddly cat to complete the picture, but considering that I was feeling like ten pounds of agony packed into a five-pound bag, I graciously refrained from doing...

Minor update

Sorry, no chapter today. We just had a bit of an ugly plumbing situation at home with the main pipe leading from our house to the sewers getting clogged. Since we are still under quarantine (not to mention, it's the weekend), we couldn't call a professional, so we had to improvise, and I shall spare you the details. Still, the drains around the house are flowing now, and we can use the toilet again, but I hope you can understand that after all that, I wasn't exactly in the right mind-space fo...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 64 - Part 1

"Chief, you are burning up," my girlfriend told me with one hand on my forehead.

"I have already noticed, thank you," I answered with a tired grumble, though she didn't seem to mind and simply retracted her hand.

"I'll go get a cold towel then," she proposed and waited to hear my response.

"It didn't help much the last time, but I would still appreciate it."

My reply apparently pleased her, as she gave me a determined nod before she swiftly turned on her heel and walke...

The Simulacrum - Volume 2 Extra 5 - Knights the Square Table

The island of Critias had, for the longest time, been a literal goldmine. For decades, the land has been explored and exploited for valuable metals, rare earth minerals, and the occasional diamonds. However, nothing lasts forever (no, not even diamond-deposits), and while the central areas around the caldera still saw continued mining efforts, over time the island's businesses began to focus more on the blossoming tourism industry. Some of the old mining settlements managed to move on with th...

The Simulacrum - Volume 2 Extra 4 - Friendly Gestures

"My Lord, there really isn't anything wrong with the wards."

"I implore that you inspect them again, just for the sake of certainty."

The middle-aged artificer, dressed in his usual garbs consisting of a brown apron worn over a business-casual suit and an adjustable loupe strapped to his forehead, gave the owner of the room a dejected look, but at the end of the day, he returned to his task.

Needless to say, the inside of Lord Endymonion's office was filled to the brim with ...

Update

Guess what, dear readers? I got tested for the virus, and... Drumroll please... 

*ratarataratatata-ting!*

I MIGHT be positive. They've done two quick tests, and both are inconclusive, so I will have to go into quarantine until I get a negative blood test.

What does this mean for you? Well, I'm symptom-free, which means there is nothing interfering with my writing, so you can potentially expect a couple of extra bits in the coming days. I have two side-chapters in mind a...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 63 - Part 4

This was one of those 'you could hear a pin being dropped' situations, and even after I politely announced my intentions, things refused to improve. As a matter of fact, the men in the room were staring at me with such aghast expressions I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Was it my outfit? I unconsciously glanced down, but I couldn't see anything wrong. Since all the hostilities were more or less resolved, I took off the sliced up ballistic vest and the padding I wore under my coa...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 63 - Part 3

"Quick, clear the way! Put those away already!"

"Yes sir!"

Following the bellows of the senior magi, a dozen or so men and women of various ages immediately redoubled their efforts to move the various odds and ends out of the room. The School under Blue Cherry High was as busy as an anthill, and while the middle-aged man giving instructions was dressed from head to toe like a ye olde wizard (sans the pointy hat, of course), the younger generation doing the busywork around him were...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 63 - Part 1 & 2

Part 1

"He's back!"

To my sincerest surprise, my arrival at the makeshift prison cell under the warehouse was met with excitement of all things. Well, at least from Mike. Ammy was considerably less enthusiastic. I was about to greet them, but before I could do so, I was hit by a tremendous wave of… lack of nausea. That was weird. Normally the more I teleported in a row, the worse it got, but this time there were absolutely no ill side-effects present. I couldn't hel...

Update

Couldn't stay home from work, I was called in today too, there was and is constant family drama at home, insomnia struck again... In short, my week sucked, so I couldn't write much. However, I am actually staying home on Tuesday, and I will be home alone, so I plan to just bite the bullet, turn off anything that could distract me, and spend the whole day writing, and hopefully I will have a full chapter to share on that evening. As for now, I once again ask for your patience. Cheers, and have...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 62 - Part 3

When Leonard Dunning exited the transplanar space, his eyes were still focused on the blade held in front of his face by a slightly trembling arm. The once black sword was now pure, matte white, as if covered by a fine layer of frost. The familiar purple shroud still grasped his hand like a vice, but it was of little concern at the moment.

After observing the weapon for three more seconds, Leonard Dunning's face clouded. There was a pervasive, acrid odor that stung his nostrils with eve...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 62 - Part 2

"So, in short," I mused aloud while standing under the eaves of the traditional Japanese shrine, my arms crossed and my brows refusing to unfurrow, "You originally wasn't a sword, but since you were about to die, a legendary swordsmith and a legendary priest, both of whom you just happened to know and who just happened to be in the area at the time, put you in the sword. Did I get that right?"

The young girl sitting on her knees in front of me immediately nodded with a...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 62 - Part 1

How should I describe the peculiar sensation that was currently crawling up my arm? Warm would be a good one. It was also, for lack of better words 'skittery'; as if the legs of several large centipedes were tapping at my skin as they moved around, but from the inside. Overall, it wasn't exactly painful, but still thoroughly unpleasant. Even so, my trusty sixth sense wasn't telling me I was in immediate danger, so for the time being I forcefully suppressed the anxiety slowly welling up from t...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 61 - Part 2

All right Leo, this is it. Time for a new set of priorities.

Priority number one: Find the Purple Zone restricting MacGuffin.

Priority number two: Mark one of the baddies for future use.

Priority number three: Try to learn about their goals and operations.

Priority number four: Buy some time for Papa Dracis and the butler to arrive, because pincer-maneuvers are fun.

That's about it, I suppose. Easy-peasy.

"{Is everything all right? You have been silent for ...

Yet another minor update.

First off, sorry for the delay, but I was sick since last Sunday (dry cough, joint pains, diarrhea, et cetera, but because I had no fever, my family doctor declared that it can't be serious, so I'm back to work on Monday), and thus I didn't really have the energy to write much. 

I only got better yesterday, and I managed to write a little, but then I have been busy with IRL stuff since then, so the last part probably won't be out until around the middle of next week. That said, whi...