TL;DR:
Chapter 882 marks the end of book 11. Chapters will continue to come out as normal until the end of the month.
I built up a chapter buffer over the December break and they proved extrem...
2024-03-18 22:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe residents of Jason’s soul realm were sitting on the long deck of a treehouse. Furniture was set out in a long row for them to watch the swirling kaleidoscope of unmade reality beyond the tree city’s boundary.
“Once this is done, I can finally move to the next stage,” Carlos said.
“We’re sitting here, watching a universe take shape,” Melody told him. “Maybe you should just let yourself indulge in this extremely rare experience and let go of your other concerns f...
2024-03-18 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe World-Phoenix and the Reaper walked down the road leading into the caldera valley. The whole mountain range was a melange of geographical quirks that, individually, would be highly irregular. While not as high as the peaks framing it, it was odd to have a valley so far above sea level. An expansive caldera valley was also unusual, but far from unheard of. Jason had family on his mother’s side who lived in such an area.
Along with the valley having its own temperate microclimate, t...
2024-03-15 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe World-Phoenix and the Reaper had been walking down an empty road for two years. No fights, no obstacles. No objective to fight over. The pair walked in silence along the unchanging and seemingly endless road. Two years almost without pause, except for one moment where the World-Phoenix stopped.
“What is it?” the Reaper asked, also stopping.
“I miss food.”
“That is because of your vessel.”
“Knowing the reason does not obviate the circumstance.”
The great astral beings stood in the middle of the massive road while the nameless ones formed an army of monsters around them.
“It is over,” the Reaper said. “Asano chose the scenario poorly. He prioritised mortal growth over completing the greater objective and failed. It is time to leave his soul and these vessels behind.”
“No,” the World-Phoenix said. “Asano somehow started to restore the throne even while fighting here. There is more to this.”
“The bat...
2024-03-11 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIn a luxury van moving through the streets of Manhattan, Rufus sat up front, next to the driver, while five Asano clan scions were in the back. These weren’t the strongest or most promising essence users but the ones most suited to future leadership. They were seen to have the most potential for the increasing amounts of administrative and diplomatic work the clan was faced with.
Emi’s inclusion had surprised no one, but three of the five being from outside the Asano family had been...
2024-03-08 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe famous towers of Vitesse looked like living skyscrapers. With flowering vines covering the walls and plants dangling from the balconies, they were the reason Vitesse was called the City of Flowers. Not only were they beautiful but the magical flowers filled the air with sweet aromas.
On a high balcony of a tower belonging to the Geller family, Sophie was leaning into Humphrey as they sat together of a couch.
“You’re leaving?” he asked.
“It’s not just like that,...
2024-03-06 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostOn the podium of a Remore Academy lecture hall, Belinda pointed at the floating hologram of a partially complete ritual diagram.
“Unless you are lost or getting expelled at the end of the semester,” she said in a magically amplified voice, “you will all recognise this. The Hagstrom Cycle is one of the most common bases for bronze and silver-tier rituals. It is reliable, it is efficient, and — if enacted properly — will keep a ritual running for years given proper maintenance. ...
2024-03-04 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostJason stepped out of a monster’s shadow, his blade already flickering through the air. All around him, a sea of monsters were slowing down and dying under the effects of his afflictions. It didn’t put much of a dent in their overall numbers as, like Jason, they would just respawn. He was satisfied, though, to be forcing those respawns instead of struggling just to stay alive.
That feeling of power came to an end when the World-Phoenix arrived. Her superhero landing sent out a ring o...
2024-03-01 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe astral spaces belonging to the Asano clan were attached to Earth while also being separate, like an artificial limb. They operated by their own rules, especially regarding magic. Inside the cities that were the heart of each astral space, both physics and magic were stable, balanced and reliable. Beyond the towering walls, stability and reliability were harder to come by. The further one went from the walls, the stronger and less predictable things became.
Biomes could shift across ...
2024-02-28 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostRufus, Erika and her husband Ian were walking together towards the administration centre of the Asano Clan’s French domain. Incongruous amongst the buildings of Saint-Étienne, the towering pagoda was too tall and too Asian to do anything but stand out. It was still off in the distance, the trio having decided to walk in the pleasant summer evening.
“I’m just saying that we need to loosen the reins before she throws them off,” Ian said. “She’s nineteen years old, Eri. An adu...
2024-02-26 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostApologies for the missing file. Please enjoy.
2024-02-24 06:24:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe war was not going well for the vampires. On the ground they were dangerous and powerful, overwhelming any conventional forces not fielded by the magic factions. Their leadership, however, had been sleeping for centuries, if not millennia. These gold-rank vampire lords were personally powerful, but lacked any understanding of the contemporary world. With only a handful of exceptions, they had also proven slow to learn.
The integration of magic and technology had accelerated in the la...
2024-02-23 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“…can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Zara continued, as she had been doing since Greenstone.
“You would have insisted on participating,” Sophie said. “We couldn’t allow that.”
“I may only be a temporary member of this team,” Zara said, “but—”
“It’s been two years,” Belinda said. “You can stop telling people you’re a temporary member every single time.”
“And part of being in the team is adhering to your role,” Neil said, loo...
2024-02-21 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostJason’s martial art, The Way of the Reaper, was unlike anything from Earth. Anything realistic, at least; there were plenty of sketchy ninja movies from the eighties with a similar feel. More than just a martial art, it was a full training system for a magical assassin. It incorporated combat skills, acrobatics, stealth, and traversal techniques from climbing to parkour.
The training system had methods for incorporating essence abilities. These were focused around assassination-friend...
2024-02-19 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostGreenstone was divided into two sections. The smaller portion of the city, although still large, was an artificial island. It was the domain of the nobility, adventurers, and those with the wealth and influence to keep such company. In a stunning failure of imagination, the artificial island had been named ‘The Island.’
The larger and older part of the city showed creativity in being named ‘Old City.’ It hugged the coast where the magically fed Mistrun River created a sprawling ...
2024-02-16 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIn the wake of Jason’s departure, Team Biscuit had taken a break in Vitesse before going on an intense contract-taking spree, pushing themselves through silver-rank as fast as they could. After the monster surge and the subterranean expedition, taking ordinary contracts like normal adventurers was almost a vacation in itself.
The Messenger War was over in Yaresh, at least until some other astral king decided the region was of interest. Around the world, however, the messenger invasion...
2024-02-14 22:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe presence of avatars made sense immediately to Rufus. Someone as powerful as Velius was a danger to Earth’s fragile dimensional boundary, just as Dawn had been. Avatars allowed him and the others like him to operate on Earth not just with less power but while leaving their true selves free to be elsewhere.
Knowing that their real bodies were off doing more important work put Rufus’ mind at ease. Important cosmic figures spending this much time on Earth suggested an agenda beyond ...
2024-02-12 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMuch of Emi’s nervousness about her soon-to-be-claimed essences had faded away. She only realised after the fact that a lot of that had been thanks to the daunting but capable mentor who would be conducting the ritual. His lessons were excellent but she found him intimidating, not connecting with him the way she had with Farrah.
After Jason and Farrah left Earth, the whole family had grown strangely protective. While they were still on Earth, Emi had been trusted. Important, even, as ...
2024-02-09 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Formation interactivity is a fascinating magical specialty,” the projection of Clive said. “I very nearly pursued it myself, but there was very little material on the field where I was trained, and a surprising plethora on astral magic. Which may not be as much of a coincidence as I thought, I realised after talking to Boris. You may have met Boris by now, in which case you should try and get him to reveal some of his knowledge because—”
“Clive…” Farrah’s voice came f...
2024-02-07 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostTL;DR:
As with books 3 & 6, book 11 represents a major shift in the narrative. Like those books, there will be a series of epilogue chapters to serve as connective tissue, transitioning from what was and preparing for what will be.
As many have already surmised, those at silver-rank and above are now into those e...
2024-02-05 22:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Asano clan held two astral spaces, consisting of cities cut off from the surrounding wilderness by massive defensive walls. The cities were mostly empty, as they could hold far more people than the population living there. To avoid them feeling like ghost towns, specific sections were regulated by the Asano Clan, with shops, residences and other facilities all assigned to the occupants and proprietors, free of cost.
That was especially important when the residents were al...
2024-02-05 22:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe two kilometre stretch between the ring of standing stones and the surrounding facilities was a flat expanse of magic-blasted ground. There was no trace of the town that had once occupied the space, only red barren dirt.
The standing stones had been inert since the blast that had wiped out the town a year earlier, until the arrival of Rufus, Taika and an army of messengers. The facilities were abuzz with activity as the various groups watching the circle were deciding on a course of ...
2024-02-02 22:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostIn a section of central Australia, the landscape was flat and dry, the red dirt occasionally marked by scraggly yellow grass. There had been a town there once; a pit stop between nowhere and nowhere else. The last few residents had been evacuated when the monster surges hit and no one had bothered coming back.
Jason and Farrah had chosen the town because there was nothing worth coming back for. The buildings were falling apart, leaning like old men under the punishing sun. There had bee...
2024-01-31 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostRufus and Taika were handed dimensional bags filled with items, including recordings from Jason and Farrah. They each moved to the middle of a ritual platform and were slowly sealed inside egg-shaped conjured dimensional vessels. The brown ovoids spread from the platform up, and Rufus locked eyes with Gary until their line of sight was blocked.
Boris conducted a large-scale ritual, at the culmination of which the messengers and the two vessels all vanished. The onlookers departed, almos...
2024-01-29 22:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostOn a wide road in an otherworldly jungle, Jason and the World-Phoenix stared at each other.
“I had this whole speech planned out,” Jason said. “About how you used me, only to throw me away when something more important came up. It had this great running metaphor about how people respect their tools. But that would be for me, not for you. I may have taken the extension of your will you poked into my soul and stuck it in a person-shaped box, but that’s just my impression of you. I...
2024-01-26 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Today I'm on a live panel for TBR Con with a number of other great writers. This includes Casualfarmer (Beware of Chicken) and Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl), two of my absolute favourite authors.
The panel goes live at 6pm US eastern time and I'm definitely not only posting this now because I forgot it was happening until 4:30am on the day.
https://youtube.com/live/Gb_CZepEIQM
When Jason ended the transformation zone, bringing it back into reality, he claimed the soul forge for himself. Having done so, he had all the tools to become an astral king; the forge, the gate and the throne. With the full set completed, the clock on his mortality had started ticking.
The moment Jason had the power to become an astral king, his soul began the process of doing so. His spiritual realm was his true self now, and had been from the moment he acquired the soul forge. ...
2024-01-24 22:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post“You really are starting to look rough,” Humphrey told Jason.
“Yeah,” Sophie agreed, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “That pretty gold light coming off you is turning into rainbow smoke — including the smell.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” Jason said. “That’s why Neil is last.”
Humphrey and Sophie had come together for Jason’s round of individual farewells, in a room just off the deck where the others were gathered.
Sophie laughed while Hu...
2024-01-22 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostEverything outside of the tree city that was now the heart of Jason's soul realm was off-limits. Beyond the point where final trees stood was a sharp edge where reality came to an end. Beyond that was border, nothing could be seen but gold, silver and blue haze. There was a private mountain fortress hidden within in the haze but only Jason himself could reach it or survive there.
The realm’s remaining occupants had moved into the tree city. Jason was busy making use of his limited tim...
2024-01-19 22:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post