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Tentative Cover for HCP6

Hello,

How are you all? I read your feedback, but I thought it would be nice to show you how it would look with a background.

What do you think now?

HC:Pacifist | Ch. 325 - Demise

This was Zin’s fourth attempt at killing Jaw-Long in the game. Whenever Zin returned with a new legendary piece of equipment or an unbeatable combo, his old teacher revealed something even better and wiped the floor with him.

That was going to change today. He’d been training hard for months and was fully clad in legendary gear. Additionally, according to his network of plant spies, Jaw-Long was attacked every week by a cat thief who stole a piece of his equipment. If Zin could some...

HC:Pacifist | Ch. 324 - A Dream

Roth stood at a crossroads. He could feel the potential of having this race under his rulership, but he had no idea about what he should do with it, especially the Molian military. Just the thought of sending the Molians to war sickened him. It went against everything he believed. On the other hand, was he going to tell them not to defend themselves if they were attacked? They weren’t that strong anyway. There were many high-leveled players who could come here and wipe them out if they so w...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 79 - Bushcraft 2.0

As Jack approached the bush crafter’s shack, the NPC lifted his head, a warm, welcoming smile spreading across his weathered face. “Oh? A guest?”

"Hello, Mr. Erwind. My name is Jack, and I'm a bushcrafter too."

"Welcome, fellow bushcrafter. What brings you to this beautiful lake? Here to take in the view?"

"Actually," Jack replied, "I was hoping to learn some things from you. I’ve heard that you’re a very experienced bushcrafter."

Erwind waved his hand, dismi...

Draft for Cover of HCP6

Hi, everyone!

The artist just delivered the drawing I asked him to do of Roth to add to the cover of book 6 of Hidden Class: Pacifist.

I'll still add the background, but how do we feel about the illustration so far? Do we like it? Do you have any suggestions on things that the artist should tweak?

INDEX for An Alien Bet & The Invasion of the Lake Puppets

Available for pre-order on Amazon. Click here.

Humans, beware! A new player has come to town and made New Lisbon its puppet show.

When the waters of Lake Grassum mysteriously turn fresh and flood overnight, Constable Joey's life is turned upside down. Joey's investigation into the bizarre flood uncovers more questions than answers.

What seems like a natural anomaly quickly r...

Alien Bet & Invasion of the Lake Puppets | Ch. 2 - The Switch

The dawn became increasingly brighter, hurting Geoffrey’s eyes. Since he'd gone to the lake, he’d been suffering from a persistent migraine.

As his locomotive neared one of the town’s entry terminals, he searched the compartment conveniently built into his seat’s arms, carefully selected the red flag from the bunch, and waved it out of the window while blowing the train whistle.

The switchmen crew noted the intended destination and swiftly switched the railways so Geoffrey...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 78 - Red Lake

When Jack’s eyes fell on Red Lake, he immediately understood why it was called that. The water was so still it mirrored the crimson mountains beyond, painting the lake in hues of scarlet. But even though the waters were tranquil, its shores were anything but peaceful. Players clashed with dinosaurs all around, the sounds of battle echoing across the water.

Jack was drawn to a nearby skirmish just ten meters away. About twenty players were locked in combat with four large dinosaurs, ab...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 318 - Lin’s Mission

Lin woke up, stretching his muscles and loosening them from the tips of his fingers to the tip of his tail. He looked around but didn’t find Roth. He wasn’t back yet. At first, he didn’t care that his pet was gone. Cats were self-sufficient. He didn’t need anything or anyone, just a soft bed. However, now that a few hours had passed, he was starting to miss the human. Roth’s funny antics and nonsensical decisions added a pop of color to his life and kept him entertained in the dulle...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 323 - 2nd Life

Roth woke up in the graveyard. There was no ceiling above him, only twinkling stars in the night sky. He’d been transported back to the surface. It took him a few moments to recover from the shock of being butchered without being able to do anything about it. He’d felt each slash of Zin’s knives and could still feel the blades cutting through him.

The pain was so vivid. He could even feel the blood dripping down his arms. 

“I’m talking to you, human!” Lin shouted ...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 315 - In Every Shadow

Loki studied the landscape of Sapphira from the window of the Pegasus headquarters in the city. A few floors up, a cloud of dust hid the current skirmish between the Lindstors and the Slaver Alliance. In no small part, that cloud was being kicked up by Yillian’s elephant. 

Once Loki had entered the Pegasus branch of Sapphira, the branch chief immediately yielded the best office in the facilities to the guild leader. Loki tried to take deep breaths and focus on the view of the cit...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 322 - Unsung Hero

Roth waited expectantly as the retinue of golden moles approached him. The other moles around him quieted down. One could hear a pin drop on the rocky ground, even without the enhanced hearing granted by [Mole Form]. The champion of the previous edition of the burrowthon addressed all others in the vast cavern with a voice filled with gravity and ceremony: 

“My fellow diggers. My fellow athletes. Rejoice! Today is a day of days! In all the eras of the Molympic Games, never has an...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 77 - Honeybaked Jack

Standing in line, waiting for the guards to let him out, reminded Jack of his school days when he had to stand in line every day to get lunch. Of course, back then, there was no risk of being called on by the lunch ladies to perform a party trick in front of the whole school to be served food.

As the line moved along, Jack’s mind still lingered on his stop at a nearby market on his way here. His main reason for visiting the market was to check the value the market assigned to his uniq...

Adjusting Jack?

Hello, everyone! How is your weekend going?

The time has come to go through book 1 of Hidden Class: Handyman and get it ready for publishing.

This is the last chance to make adjustments to the story, which brings me to the question: should Jack's narrative be adjusted?

Many people who start reading the story, read the first chapters and are thrown off by Jack's character. As a result, I've toned him down on the first few chapters to make him more likeable. But should I chang...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 76 - Velvety Broth

“Is this your hive?” the NPC from the entomology asked, raising his eyebrow.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the massive lidded pot. “Yes. Anything the matter with it?”

“No. Not at all. It’s just that… Well… I have never seen one like it before.”

Jack shrugged. Walking around dressed like a bush already drew too much attention. Now that he had a giant green pot strapped to his back, few were the people who didn’t stop to stare at him. Bashful him would h...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 321 - Off to the Races

A crowd of lower-level players stood at the entrance of the mines, discussing their strategy. Some looked excited about the upcoming battle, stretching their virtual muscles and tentatively slashing their weapons in the air. Others kept to themselves, slightly grossed out about the prospect of fighting giant bugs in a musty mine.

Zin ignored them and headed down deeper. There was no point in sticking around the entrance where there was so much competition. He doubted many cockroaches wo...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 320 - Cheating

Roth read the story again, looking for clues. The only thing that caught his eye was the description of the kingdom of the north, which specified that it had ‘snow-capped mountains’ and was ‘known for its fine ore, lumber, and precious stones.’

It so happened that Erynd ‘wore a ring on his finger with a beautiful ruby, the likes of which not even the queen owned.’ Wasn’t that suspicious? The providence of that ruby could have been the mines ...

Alien Bet & Invasion of the Lake Puppets | Ch. 1 - The Lake

Hello, dear readers! Welcome to the rewrite of AMBYSSUS, which will now be called An Alien Bet & the Invasion of the Lake Puppets.

I'll release one chapter a week here and on RR. I hope you like it. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the text or the story.

**********

Fabius had arrived at the promised time, punctual as always. He crouched next to Joey, making his massive body look smaller. Joey imagine...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 75 - Gaining Control

The queen bee slowly became aware of her surroundings. It was dark. A scent lingered in the air—workers nearby. These weren’t her mother’s workers, though. They smelled strangely. Who were these? Why did they smell of an unfamiliar queen? 

The last thing the young queen recalled was looking for a place to build a nest when she became trapped. After that, there was smoke, and she lost her senses. How had she been transported into this new hive? She needed to find answers and f...

Cover for Alien Bet, Take 2

Hi, everyone!

Seeing that there was 50% of you liked it and another 50% disliked it, I fiddled with the cover a little more and found a cooler background.

What do you guys think?

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 319 - Breescar and Sandamor

Zin didn’t show up for the rest of the matches. Roth didn’t know if he should feel flattered or worried. After all, if Zin wasn’t participating in the games anymore, he probably didn’t care about being penalized by the moles by being caught PKing him. Just in case, Roth kept his back against the wall and kept calmly observing the matches and playing when called on. 

Compared with whacking against the team of mole elites, playing it out against regular moles was much more ma...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 317 - Whack!

Roth headed toward the whack-a-mole arena after an overwhelming victory in the burrowthon. As he swam through one of the gravel lanes, he thought of Zin’s shocked face and laughed. He still couldn’t believe how easy it had been. If the rest of the games went as smoothly as this, he had the Molympic Games in the bag!

The trip from the finish line of the burrowthon to the whack-a-mole arena was uneventful. He had half-expected the assassin to come after him and try to remove him as co...

Republishing AMBYSSUS

Hi, everyone!

As a writer, I've learned much from the community and your comments.

Today, I picked up one of my standalone novels, Ambyssus, and as I read it, I found that I can do many things to improve it. Some elements make the story a little cumbersome.

Therefore, I've taken it upon myself to rewrite a chapter daily. I'll also republish it with a different title. I'm considering renaming it: "Alien Shadow and the Invasion of the Water Puppets."  2024-08-04 10:30:06 +0000 UTC View Post

HCH2 Cover!

Hello, dear friends!

We've already heard back from the artist, and here is a possible cover for Hidden Class: Handyman 2. What do you think? Any suggestions?

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 316 - Let the Games Begin!

Eron was still deciding which story to give to Amelia. He had successfully helped her win undercover mole as the scripter for six consecutive months. However, the presence of another human player changed things. Tricking NPCs and tricking a talented player were two entirely different things.

After mentally reviewing each of the stories, Eron finally decided. “Here’s the story for this edition of the undercover mole.”

“Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.” The translator dron...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 74 - Tempered Clay

The only time Jack used the coiling method was when he was waiting for Amari, Horace, and Marie to return from their bug hunt. Back then, he had to come up with all sorts of techniques to create an even surface and then fire such a large pot. The process was much more straightforward in the comfort of the pottery association.

The floor was perfectly leveled, and every workstation contained a tray set on metal cylinders that could be rolled into the kilns, with large doors through which ...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 73 - Veggie Soup

“I needed this soup, Rob. Thanks.”

“The droid cooked it. Not me.” 

After having pasta for lunch and given how many hours he’d spent without eating, the bowl of vegetable soup soothed Jack’s empty stomach. He added some croutons to his bowl and offered his cousin the rest of them. 

“I tell you, I need to get a capsule soon. Playing this game is killing me."

"You're not taking enough breaks," his cousin quickly responded in a fatherly tone.

...

HC: Handyman | Ch. 72 - Success!

Jack moved his legs rapidly, trying to jump over fallen logs, around bushes, or dodge the occasional creature lunging at them. His fingers kept steadily playing Sitting Wind. Playing a slow song while running quickly required a lot of coordination, but Jack made it work. They had been chasing the queen bee through the woods for over 10 minutes; his party members needed all the stamina he could give them. 

If it had not been for Jack’s bard profession, they would have had to give ...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 314 - Preparation

Roth had already signed up for three of the four sports in the Molympic Games. There was only one left: the cockroach races.

Roth followed after Molegana, swimming through the pebbles. Now that he’d visited all four arenas, the arrangement of the coliseum was quite simple. In each cardinal direction, there was an arena. North was the burrowthon arena; west, the whack-a-mole fields; south, the undercover mole amphitheater; and finally, to the east, the cockroach race stadium.

Tha...

HC: Pacifist | Ch. 313 - Competition

Aaaaaaaahh!

Roth's second time falling down the gravel slide was no less thrilling than the first. Even his new friend Molegana shrieked loudly. 

Squeeeeeeak!

Molegana was younger than Molly, and her shriek wasn’t a sound made out of dread. She sounded like a happy child going down a water slide. 

Finally, both splashed in the lake of gravel. Roth hung on to Molegana’s fur as she swam upward, breaking through the surface. Hearin...