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The Simulacrum - Chapter 104 - Part 1

"Ue-sama? Are they here yet? Are they coming? Ue-sama?"

"Easy, Ichiko. Easy. They're almost here."

"Really?"

When I nodded, the energetic fox miko stopped pestering me and returned to the nearest window overlooking the parking lot of the resort. She had been glued to it ever since I told her that Naoren was coming over for a visit, and that he would be bringing Xiao along.

"Are they really coming? Rinne can't see them," our resident highly visible ninja noted, seemingl...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 103 - Part 3

Before the guy could defend himself, his girlfriend jumped on him and put him in a choke hold.ree things: fanservice in the form of various levels of nudity (either the accidental, or the 'hidden by strategically placed steam clouds' variety), risqué and/or embarrassing shenanigans (again, featuring various levels of nudity), and party games. Oh, there was also ping-pong, but we didn't have a table, so it didn't really matter. The closest thing we had was the air hockey table, but since we a...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 103 - Part 2

"We need to find that creep!" Josh declared with his arms crossed, actively destroying the peace and quiet of the lounge.

"We must!" Ichiko agreed by mirroring his stance. "We can't let him ruin ue-sama's vacation!"

I wanted to point out that making a mountain out of a molehill like this was more likely to do that than any random peeping tom, but I sucked the words back. I repeated 'Don't get involved, Leo. Don't get involved.' in my head a couple of times and continued t...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 103 - Part 1

Sometimes, a new environment made one realize things that were, in retrospect, quite obvious. Such as that, despite already having a pair of vintage massage chairs back at the base, I never used one before this day. Granted, those weren't recliners, and a bit less sophisticated than the one I was sitting in at the moment, but considering how much my tired back and hips appreciated rollers tirelessly working under the leather covers, I felt a little silly about only just discovering their bene...

The Simulacrum - Volume 5 Extra 2: Memories in the Snow

Timaeus was a pretty big city. Not exactly a metropolis by any means, but as the capital of the island-nation of Critias, it was still a sizable settlement. As such, it naturally didn't only have the single park we most often frequented whenever heartfelt talks or considerably-less-heartfelt battles were concerned, but about half a dozen of them. Some smaller, some bigger, some situated on flat grounds, while others more on the hilly side.

It was in the early afternoon when, in one of s...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 102 - Part 4

It's confession time, once again. Before this day, I thought the reputation of hot-spring baths was overblown and inflated by media. Kind of like how anime and manga made an entire generation believe that katanas were the bestest swords that ever sworded in the history of swording, I figured that hot springs would end up similarly over-exaggerated, and soaking in one would be no different from sitting in a bathtub at home (not that I would know about that either, as I only had a shower).

The Simulacrum - Chapter 102 - Part 3

I was still lost in my thoughts when the three of us arrived at the lounge. By this point, most of the guys had already settled into their rooms and were busy exploring the resort all over again. At the back, I saw Rinne and Galatea making full use of the massage chairs, while by the sounds of it, the childhood friend couple was in the process of teaching Ichiko how to play Street Kombat. Overall, things were calm and cozy at the moment, just as expected. It was too early for hot springs epis...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 102 - Part 2

The VIP suite was, once again, a great example of how deeply Japanese tropes were entrenched into some weirdly specific parts of Critias's culture. Case in point, the room had the same kind of tatami-matted floor as the lounge did, though maybe a touch softer and less creaky. Not only that, but the main room had one of those fancy kotatsu things. It was practically just a short table with a heater under it and cloth flaps on the sides, and while these things were always set up as super-comfy,...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 102 - Part 1

"Look, ue-sama! Look! They have massage chairs over here!" Ichiko exclaimed and ran across the entire lounge, making some frankly comical noises as her bunny slippers slapped against the tatami-mat-covered floor.

"Did you say 'massage chair'?" Arnwald perked up at once and followed after the tiny miko, despite still holding his enormous luggage under his arms.

"Why don't you put the bags down first?" Morgana spoke up while accompanying him, but he only scoffed at the idea.

"...

Editing update

Hello, Dear Readers!

Sorry for the radio silence. First and foremost, I wanted to get the re-editing of Volume 3 out of my hair, so that I could proceed with the upcoming chapters without having to worry about continuity-errors. It ate up a lot of time, but it's finally done!

There are only three minor "retcons", and they are as follows:

- I changed things around to clarify that Sebastian never learned that Leo was playing Bel, to keep things consistent.

- I streamline...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 101 - Part 3

In my humble opinion, winter was the prettiest season, with the caveat of 'so long as it's viewed from the other side of a pane of glass'. In this case, said window was on the side of the coach carrying us to our destination, and I had to say, the wintertime countryside of Critias was about as scenic as it could get. On the road, we passed by forests slumbering under a thick blanket of snow, a bridge crossing a frozen river, quaint villages with the holiday decorations and lights sti...

Volume 5 Extra 1: An End-of-the-year-winter-solstice-related-religious-holiday Carol

The cynic in me always thought that Christmas was just a tad overblown. Whether one approached it from a religious, traditional, or commercial perspective, the holiday season felt like it was constantly brow-beating me with one 'message' after another. Be it about saviors and salvations, families and cheers, or just being incessantly pestered to buy gifts, holiday paraphernalia, or just straight-up impulse purchases since pretty much the middle of November, by the time Christmas Eve rolled ar...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 101 - Part 2

The Abyss had its own aesthetics, at least as far as I could be bothered to observe it during my short visits. It was a combination of gothic architecture, with an overabundance of pointed arches, even pointier towers, flying buttresses, and stained glass crammed everywhere they could fit them, and a kind of grim utilitarianism. The town buildings around the big castle were also following the same design principles, though obviously with less extravagance and flair than the home of the local ...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 101 - Part 1

There was something magical about a warm cup of tea in the middle of a snowy winter night, with the only sound in the room coming from the spoon slowly stirring my drink as I gazed out the window. Three in the morning was always my customary 'thinking time', when I could submerse myself into my own thoughts for a while. There wasn't much else to do, and since everyone was fast asleep, I didn't feel the pressure to use Far Sight, meaning I could focus on the here and now without any disruption...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 100 - Part 3

The living room had been early silent for close to a minute while I patiently waited for Roland to digest everything I'd just explained to him. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling just a touch apprehensive, considering the man's expression was getting steadily darker over time, but this was a bridge I had to cross sooner or later, so I figured it was best to rip off the proverbial band aid in one go instead of drawing it out any further.

Before long, Mr. Griffon let out a thoughtful...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 100 - Part 2

Arriving home late in the afternoon, I unceremoniously plopped down onto my usual comfy chair and let out a long, content sigh. While training with Dominance wasn't too taxing, either mentally or physically, the sensation of all the tension trickling out of my body afterward still felt strangely satisfying. The fact that there was no urgent threat or grand plan to take care of also helped, as while our upcoming trip was technically for the sake of research, at this point, it was an o...

Minor health update

Here's a PSA for you: when you have a sinus-infection that causes you to be woozy, don't listen to what your boss tells you and climb up a ladder to decorate a big-ass Christmas tree.

I... have no idea how applicable that is to you guys, but in any case, don't do it, or you'll end up like me, falling over along with the ladder and landing like a sack of potatoes. Not fun.

Thankfully nothing's broken, only a few bruises and continued sinusitis making my life difficult, but I just w...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 100 - Part 1

"Can we get started already? I'm starting to feel stupid."

"Ki-hi-hi! Don't worry, boss! Nobody's going to laugh at you!" my personal mad scientist tried to placate me, but I couldn't say it had much of an effect.

"We request further patience, grandmaster. There are calibrations to be done. None of us wants to repeat this experiment more than once today."

Galatea was reasonably more successful, and after an obligatory sigh, I shifted on my chair and patiently waited for them...

The Simulacrum - Volume 5 - Prologue

My first holiday season (at least as far as I could remember) was over way faster than I expected. Between all the work that came with forming a brand new supernatural power bloc by combining two previously warring factions, two girlfriends' worth of Christmas dates and family dinners, and a whole-ass tournament to doggedly ignore, my days were pretty damn hectic. Thankfully, everything worked out decently smoothly, including the formation of the Draconic Federation, a monumental task that I ...

Minor update and question

Hello, dear readers.

Long story short, I'm still sick, which put a halt on the re-editing process (the fact that the mess-up with the dates in volume four was worse than I originally thought didn't help either). However, it's been a while since I last uploaded here, so I wanted to ask your opinion on what to do. Should I just knuckle down on the editing and make the re-edited volumes into PDF/EPUB as before, should I throw together another extra chapter (it's been a while since the last...

Volume 4 Extra 7: There is no escaping the ships

"Nobody has to go to the toilet? Last chance!" The infectiously energetic young man waited for a long beat, and when none of us responded, he flashed an ear-to-ear smile. "All right then! Have fun!"

With that, he closed the door on us, and it seamlessly blended into the wood-paneled wall, to the point one would've been hard-pressed to even find the keyhole if they didn't know where to look. Now, normally I'd have probably added something snappy about how there were way too many things t...

The Simulacrum - Volume 4 Extra 6: The magic of the Ferris wheel

"The view's even better than I remembered," I mused aloud as I stared at the sunset in the distance, through the frosted window of the Ferris wheel cabin.

On my right, a seemingly infinite horizon, with the red sun hanging over it visible through the thin vein of winter clouds in the sky. On my left, the buildings of Timaeus, covered in a thick padding of snow, cast long shadows onto the busy roads. The street lamps weren't alight yet, but with the holiday lights and decorations visible...

The Simulacrum - Volume 4 Extra 5: Weird is the new normal

On this very special day, the base was even livelier than usual. It was not just that this was the first time Morgana and company were invited over, nor because the tournament going on in the background, but rather because from this day onward, it was no longer the 'secret base'. With our Knights going public, we have officially re-christened the place as the illustrious 'Ordo Draconis Main Headquarters'. Roland insisted on the 'main' part, so that later we could open branches around the worl...

The Simulacrum - Volume 4 Extra 4: Neutron Star

"Ouch! Careful!" a certain resident shounen protagonist hissed through clenched teeth, at which point his childhood friend glanced up from his bare torso with a hint of disapproval.

"Don't be a baby."

"I'm not," he whined, then shuddered as the girl swiped a cotton swab across the scrapes on his abdomen. "Is this really necessary? Can't you just do your thing and heal me?"

"I told you, it's not that simple," she retorted without looking up from her work. "If I use a healing ...

Generated Images 3: The Revengeance of the Menfolk

All right guys. To end today's stream of new posts, let's have a couple more AI generated illustrations, this time focused on the guys.

Let's start it off by a winter casual Leo. While the version on the cover art looks cool,  this slightly softer version looks nice too.

A variation on the...

The Simulacrum - Volume 4 - Epilogue

"… kidding me. This is such bullshit," I grumbled louder than usual, yet my words were still drowned out by the cheering crowd in the background.

"Hush, Chief. You are disturbing the people behind us."

"I don't think they care, but even if they do, I don't," I said with a huff. "Seriously, having one underground amphitheatre is already a stretch, but where the hell did dad-in-law find a second one? This is such contrived bullcrap…"

"Hush," my dear assistant echoed with b...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 99 - Part 3

Usually my mornings were pretty slow and quiet. I loved to take my time in the shower, grab a bite, and then greet the morning sun as it rose. Since I didn't need to sleep, this routine was what ultimately gave a sense of rhytm to my days, and missing it felt kind of uncanny. Unfortunately, this time I had no choice but to deal with it, along with a noisy living room and a pair of rambunctious girlfriends.

"We should have a full English breakfast! Beans and bacon and eggs and all!"

AI-llustrations Part 2: Do Image Generator Algorithms Dream of Electric Sheep?

As you might've noticed, I got absolutely fascinated with this AI artwork generation thing, so here's a second batch I cooked up for you guys. 

First off, with a bunch of tweaking, I managed to generate a few slightly less milfy yet still curvy Elly images for your viewing pleasure.

Dracon...

Today, I made a discovery

So, apparently AI image generation is now a thing that's readily available on the consumer level. Furthermore, NovelAI has an AI image generation function that specifically makes anime characters. Also, since I messed around with their service a few years ago, even as a free user, I had 3k generation tokens lying around from the subscription, asking me to play with it. So I did.

This was my ve...

The Simulacrum - Chapter 99 - Part 2

This is probably going to be a controversial opinion, but sex is kind of overrated.

I mean, it's not unpleasant by any means, but it wasn't the be-all-end-all of human experience it's sometimes hyped up to be. It's just an intimate, mostly exciting, mildly exhausting recreational activity. If anything, the best part of it was the cuddling in the afterglow. Of course, that always had to be followed by some awkward cleaning up, but that's just unavoidable.

"Nyhuuuh…"

The pri...