Shirtaloon

Early chapter unlock for iron rank

Because there was an error in scheduling, the free chapters have caught up to iron rank as of the latest chapter. As this is not something I wanted to happen, I've decided to to release the final chapters for iron rank before the December break early.

The free release schedule is now on break, as of the latest chapter, while Patrons of all tiers still have two chapters coming next week. I've decided to send iron rank on break now and unlock those chapters immediately, which I did just b...

Chapter 575: Quite a Lot of System Windows

Carlos sat on a pew, head in his hands. He felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder.

“You aren’t expected to be perfect, Carlos.”

“I hurt a man I was there to help because I was pushing him to help me kill, whatever I might have told him. And myself. What kind of a priest does that make me?”

“A human one. The power you wield might have changed you, Carlos, but you are still a mortal man. It’s not unforgivable to be selfish or to make mistakes. What you have to do ...

Chapter 574: Lest He Become a Monster Himself

“You’re saying the god of Purity is pulling a Wizard of Oz?” Jason asked. He was reclined in a cloud chair while Carlos sat facing him on a cloud stool.

“I don’t know what that means,” Carlos said.

“It means there’s no actual god and it’s just some bloke in a booth.”

“No, Jason; it’s not some person in a booth.”

“It would be tricky running an entire branch of a religion on hand puppets and doing a funny voice,” Jason acknowledged. “Who's...

Chapter 573: Faith is Soul Deep

“Everyone out,” Arabelle said, ushering the team from Jason’s room as Carlos approached the cloud bed.

“Good to see you,” Jason told him.

“I heard it was Princess Liara’s idea to call me in,” Carlos told him. “That was good thinking. I’ve been aware of the Order of Redeeming Light’s methods for a while, and those of us in my specialty field have always had some questions. When the Church of Purity was still in good standing, we never had a chance to explore t...

Chapter 572: I've Told You Everything

“I’m about to ask you to do something,” Dawn said. “Before I do, I’m going to need some of you to leave. Clive, Taika and Travis. Rufus, Farrah and Gary. You can’t be here for this and I need you to not ask why.”

Clive looked at Dawn for only a moment before nodding, grabbing Travis by the sleeve and leading him from the room. Farrah and Dawn shared a look, Farrah reluctant but finally nodding as well, following the others from the terrace.

“What do you think that�...

Finalised December break schedule.

As I've previously announced, I'll be taking some time off and here is the final schedule for break times. There will be a few differences to previous large breaks I've taken and I'll be going over them here.

• This break will not be scattered across tiers. All chapters at all levels will pause and resume at the same time, with the exception of the free-release chapters. The free schedule will have an extra week of break because it will include the break patrons either did have or, ...
  2021-11-23 02:38:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 571: I Love a Hypocrite

Belinda’s escape from the Order of the Redeeming Light’s stronghold, leaving a dock full of ruined submarines in her wake, was not made alone. Her companion was neither the one she hoped for nor intended, but she knew full well that no plan went perfectly.

The need for improvisation had started back when she found Gibson Amouz. Ideally, she would have extricated him to avoid his becoming collateral damage or a hostage when the Adventure Society breached the stronghold. After finding...

Chapter 570: The Person in My Care

There was no one in the small lounge area when the bomb went off and it did nothing more than smash up and knock around some furniture. The goal was neither harm nor damage but to trigger the alarm and sow some chaos. People were quick to scramble but they were running everywhere, knowing they should be reacting but uncertain as to how or what was even happening. This allowed Belinda to move without being remarked upon while she waited for the two leaders to do her work for her. It wasn't lon...

Chapter 569: We're Adventurers

“Clear,” Shade signalled Belinda. She was wary of using her aura senses to check for order members as it wasn't in character, so Shade was serving as lookout. The tunnels of the stronghold were dug right out of the mountain and carved smooth. Wall sconces provided light from glow stones but they were dimmed down to a deep gloom. The sconces regulated light in the complex, mimicking the daylight patterns outside. It was an approach common to underground spaces designed for long-term habita...

Chapter 568: The Awakening of Mr Asano

Under the sense-suppressing hood, Melody shouldn’t have been able to sense anything. Even the oppressive aura pervading the strange cloud building had been cut off once the hood was yanked back over her head. So when that aura punched through the hood, stronger than ever, it was a startling experience, being the only thing she could sense.

At the risk of being punched in the head by her daughter again, she reached up and pulled off the hood. She immediately noticed the massive light s...

Chapter 567: Ridiculous New Soul Power

Liara’s marriage had never been one of great passion. A political arrangement made when she and Baseph were young, their relationship had nonetheless grown over the decades. Friends and often lovers, their true shared love was their children, now grown. Only one of their children was local, having followed his father into the administration of the Amouz family interests. The others were further afield, having followed their mother into the adventuring life.

“Did you let Joseph know ...

Chapter 566: Something Drastic

Slipping Belinda into the ranks of the Order of Redeeming Light had been almost startlingly easy. The order had not anticipated the Adventure Society sending a response to the mining complex so quickly and their teams had been caught by surprise. A number of the teams had scattered after coming out of the wrong side of skirmishes, sacrificing the pure converted to cover their escape.

Jason and his team had encountered a pair of such order members early in their descent into the facility...

Chapter 565: A Significantly Different Paradigm

Jason’s team all looked to him with grim expressions.

“Maybe we don’t have to be so drastic,” Neil suggested. “Instead of trying to portal all the way out, Jason opens one a couple of tunnels away and we leave nothing but an empty room for the enemy.”

“Is that viable, Jason?” Humphrey asked.

“Maybe,” he said. “If I force it. I can sense that the portal won’t want to open.”

“Won’t want to?” Humphrey asked.

“You’ve got a teleport...

Chapter 564: Enough to Kill You With Power to Spare

What was called a safe room was actually several rooms, set out like a dormitory. There was a communal room into which the entrance opened, with metal tables and chairs in uniform rows, all affixed to the floor. It reminded Jason of a prison, or at least what prisons looked like in movies and television.

As only the administrative centres on the upper levels employed normal-rankers, the safe rooms in the deeper levels were designed for essence users only. This simplified the logistics a...

Chapter 563: Keep it Light

The team was only one tunnel segment away from Baseph Rimaros, but that segment was filled with water.

“It should be fine,” Clive said. “It’ll drain into the hole we came up through.”

As Clive went to work on bringing down the next barrier wall, Jason reached out through Shade to contact Baseph. Baseph was still hunched against the wall when a new voice emerged from his shadowy companion, Shade.

“Lord Rimaros,” the voice said. “We’ll have you out of there s...

Chapter 562: Saving the Day With the Power of Quips

That the two gold-rankers sent to the underwater facility had been available was a stroke of good fortune. Claud Ferringhaas was an expert manipulator of water and stone, with his earth, water, shovel and verdant essences. He was an agricultural expert and only part-time adventurer, although his combat abilities were in no way lacking.

Amos Pensinata was pure adventurer, with the might, vast, deep and leviathan essences. He had spent the bulk of the monster surge handling the ocean mons...

Chapter 561: Nostalgia

When the two gold-rankers racing to the underwater mining facility arrived at the submarine dock, they found the surface of the water sealed with a magical barrier, shimmering red with shifting yellow runes. The barrier was only from a bronze-rank ritual so they easily forced their way through. The barrier repaired itself immediately, with the water that came through with them pooling on top of its horizontal surface.

Leaping from the barrier onto the docks, they found it full of people...

Chapter 560: A Power That You've Overlooked

Jason and Melody faced one another in the magically sealed section of tunnel, both standing lightly on the water.

“You know, then,” she said.

“There’s a guy who’s pretty keen to catch you up.”

“You’re helping someone catch your friend’s mother?”

“Nah, we told him to stick it up his quoit. We'll try and bring you in for our own reasons. Alive, even though we were told to gank you.”

“That’s your general way of doing things, from what I u...

Chapter 559: Family Issues

Clive tossed a pinch of powdered lesser monster core against the wall, briefly causing runes to light up as the powder fell on them.

“I was right,” he said. “There are hidden enchantments placed at regular intervals along all these tunnels.”

“What do they do?” Humphrey asked.

“More precisely, what do they do to us?” Neil asked.

“Nothing, at the moment,” Clive said. “These enchantments are completely inactive, which is why our magic senses didn’t...

Chapter 558: Just Some Administrator

Unsurprisingly, the Purity worshippers had no shortage of powers that could cleanse Jason’s afflictions. Those afflictions were unusually tenacious and inflicted harm as they were removed, but it was not an insurmountable task. This was especially true given that the Order of Redeeming Light seemed to have an excellent grasp of his capabilities. Jason considered this information to have most likely come from the Builder when he made a deal to have them assassinate him.

These factors m...

Chapter 557: We Are Fighting Monsters

Jason returned to the submarine dock, again emerging from Shade’s body, behind the high stack of crates. He immediately strode out from behind the stack, the opposite of hiding as his aura flooded out. Its oppressive presence masked the appearance of the portal that rose behind him, still hidden by the crates. Four Purity worshippers and twice that number of the pure converted immediately turned to look as he stepped out boldly to march in their direction.

The enemy didn’t immediate...

Chapter 556: Coming in Hot

A mining complex lay not just deep beneath the surface but even below the sea floor itself. A sprawling network of facilities linked by a tangled web of tunnels contained a process that went from mining rare ores to refining them and finally transporting them to Rimaros and other cities throughout the Sea of Storms.

The submarine docking station was the only part of the complex not buried under the sea floor and had space for several extremely large vessels. Currently one such vessel wa...

Back on track and holiday season break dates

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for the cavalcade of well-wishes I have received. The response to 'you're not getting chapters next week' being so unanimously supportive has been astounding and gratifying. You are all amazing, thank you.

Chapters will resume on the normal schedule this week.

I had a very relaxing week. I got to put everything off and spend my time finally getting to do some reading, instead of writing. I also took some time to win over my mum...

Burning out

TL;DR:

• I'm taking next week off due to exhaustion.
• I'm taking all of December off. There will be no new content in December.
• Payments will be paused during December, meaning that existing patrons will retain access to all content but existing patrons will NOT be charged for the month of December.
• I know I did this after teasing the next chapter quite cruelly. Sorry about that.

The extremely long version:

The accumulatio...

Chapter 555: Infiltrating the Stronghold

After sensing Vidal’s approach, Jason had tamped down the aura of the cloud house to hide its nature as a spirit domain. Unlike with the people of Earth, anyone from Pallimustus with aura senses would immediately recognise the similarity to the aura of a temple. Jason couldn’t hide that from someone with powerful senses, such as Liara, but with a freshly minted silver, like Vidal, it was viable.

Even so, Vidal obviously sensed something unusual from the way he looked around the plac...

Chapter 554: A Little Damage

Sophie and Humphrey sat in cloud chairs facing one another, leaning forward with her hands held in his.

“You know he’s going to come back,” Humphrey said. “We have some decisions to make. We always intended to go looking for your mother once we hit silver rank. Of course, Clive’s little dam investigation turned out to be a bit more involved than we thought, then Jason…”

He gave her a reassuring smile.

“I’ve already discussed the search for your mother with ...

Chapter 553: A Matter of Values

Belinda repeatedly thwapped at Sophie’s head with a softcover notebook as Sophie fended her off with her arms. As Sophie shifted in her seat under the attacks, the puppy napping in her lap made a grumbling sound.

“What were you thinking, running off by yourself into some trap?” Belinda scolded as she dropped into a cloud chair and jabbed the notebook in Jason’s direction. “This guy was the one who had to bring you back. This guy! Have you learned nothing from the mistakes he k...

Chapter 552: Criteria

A portal power at Jason’s current rank of silver four had a base range of two-thousand and four-hundred kilometres, which was true for every portal or long-range teleport ability. Jason was able to eke out some extra range because of the various effects connecting him to the astral, although it was relatively marginal and he hadn’t tested just how far he could push the limit. It wasn’t a match for a true portal specialist but was close to the upper end of what celestines could accomplis...

Chapter 551: Sloppy Mistake

Liara was flooded with a strange sensation the moment she stepped fully inside Jason Asano's cloud house. There was a sense of oppression to it which only heightened as the open wall closed behind her, sealing her in. The aura pervading the place wasn't exactly stronger than Jason's own, but it felt somehow richer and deeper. It was as if she were extending her senses into a body of water, discovering mysterious depths and untold dangers she was previously oblivious to.

While the sensat...

Chapter 550: Preferred Option

Watching the skimmer from a hidden position in the jungle canopy, Sophie observed the eight men riding in it. Stealth was not her forte, but scouting was a key role for her so she was at least adequate at hiding her aura. With the inexpert auras of the men she watching, it was more than enough.

She knew hired thugs when she saw them. Their gear, like the thugs themselves, was silver-rank but taken from the bottom of the barrel. The only decent piece of equipment they had was their land ...