PreCursive

Nature's Eye Roll Ch. 1 - A Druid Flaps into Town

AN: 

A surprise extra post on Sunday! This is the first chapter of a possible second project that I think I'm going to work on slowly alongside Sins. This story is meant to be far, far more lighthearted and irreverent than Sins is. Just a little something that I can write for the fun of it every once and awhile. No detailed outlines, no huge disorganized notes doc, no grand mystery or complex plot will be found here. Just a silly little story to wind down with about a Druid. <...

Chapter 78 - Cinders

“He’s a cute one, all right,” Azarus said to me later that day. We were sitting together in the back of Gren’s wagon as it rattled along down the road.

Venix had been right about the fact the caravan was all set and ready to go. By the time we’d gotten back, the last bits of the camp had been in the process of being torn down and loaded up. Venix had handed off my kill to a harried Rachel, who had handed it off to a few of her assistants. I’d stuck around only long enough to...

Chapter 77 - Fade

The monument was huge, taller than I was. Mostly rectangular with a flared and then tiered design at the top, it was resting on a set of circular stairs. It was set directly in the center of the forest clearing that I had found, bathed in the still early morning light. I stepped into the clearing in order to get a better look at it, entranced.

As I got closer to the monument, I was able to make out more details on it. It was absolutely covered in moss, but I swear that I could see a gli...

Chapter 76 - Projects

AN: 

Updated 9/15. 

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It must take a long time to regrow entire limbs, because it had been hours and nobody had come out of the ‘Ironclad’ yet. Most of the people that Sylvia had brought with her, apparently all Order ‘classers’, had been shooed out of it to mingle with the camp. It had been a good idea, actually. The former slaves of our camp seemed to appreciate the presence of people who were from what seemed t...

Chapter 75 - Reunion

“Our preparations seem a little silly, at this point,” Silvia said to me later. After the reunion in front of her war wagon, Silvia, Grey, Azarus and I had retreated to our personal section of the camp near Gren’s lead wagon. There, we pulled up a few chairs around our firepit and started a conversation.

I hadn’t failed to notice that a few people among those Silvia had brought had followed us. Among them were the Gnoll, the possible Antium, and another human. For now, they were...

Chapter 74 - Green Embrace [Vol. 3 Start]

I crouched on a tree branch, far above my target. I’d been stalking this particular one for nearly thirty minutes by now. The tracks that they’d made were obvious enough to even my neophyte tracker’s eyes. I’d only acquired the General Talent for it in the last few days, after all.

You would think taking a spear with you into the treetops would be awkward, but I was comfortable enough with the weapon by now that it wasn’t an issue. Slowly, careful not to make too much noise, I...

Interlude 6 - The Serpent [Vol. 2 End]

“What a mess,” ‘Vincenzo Stonebreaker’ said to himself, clucking his tongue and shaking his head. Following his interaction with the slave that had killed the boy, he’d checked on a few things before retreating to the highest place in town to get a better look at the situation.

That turned out to be the roof of this ridiculous manor. He didn’t think he could stay up here long, though. The fire was already spreading to this very building.

Speaking of the fire…

�...

Chapter 73 - Escape

AN:

As you can probably guess, this is the last main chapter of Vol. 2. As a side note, this is actually the longest chapter I've written. All that's left for this book is a a short interlude that acts as an epilogue, coming on Monday.

Which means that Vol. 3 is going to be starting next week!

While Volumes 1 & 2 had to do with Nate's time as a slave, I've dropped enought hints in story that you can likely guess what Vol. 3 is going to involve.

The Sculpted Uprisin...

Chapter 72 - Blood Price

With a trembling hand, I reached up to touch my collar. I found that it was only loosely hanging onto my neck. Gripping it, I slowly took the collar off of my neck to cradle it in my palms. Gazing down at it, I found I had to suppress involuntary tears. God..

We’d done it.

Right now, every slave in Addersfield had likely just noticed that their collar had come loose. I had no doubt that many were celebrating, even a little, in the midst of this chaos.

Speaking of celebrati...

Chapter 71 - Shatter

I nearly fell into a panic attack at the unexpected setback, before I remembered what else I’d brought with me. Shit, it was a long shot, but it was at least an idea.

“Bleddyn, quick,” I whispered to him urgently. “How strong are you?”

“The hell do you mean, how strong am I?” He said back to me, uncaring about his volume. “Ain’t very strong right now.”

I gave up on being quiet. “I mean, how strong are you under your brand? How high a level are ...

Chapter 70 - Return

AN:

Made some minor plot changes to chapters 33, 34, and 45. Main thing is that Nate knew the name of his eighth profession sooner, instead of knowing nothing until it was unlocked.

It was still locked until he reached level 10 in the forest, though. I just thought it would be too cruel to the RR and SH crowd to blueball the reveal of even the name of the eighth profession until whats meant to be the next volume.

Also, I'd just like to remind everyone that this Patr...

Chapter 69 - Countdown to Endgame

AN:

69.

Nice.

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Gradually, the moonlight that was streaming into the room began to weaken. At the same time, the silver glow that had surrounded Grey died out as well, letting the light return to the still flickering candles. Grey didn’t move from his position at the window though, still gazing up at the full moon visible in the night sky with his hand on the window.

With Azaru’s help, I straightened up from my posi...

Chapter 68 - Fetterfall

For a moment I didn’t dare to breathe.

It had worked?

It had really, truly worked?

Trembling, I concentrated on the now no-longer enchantment blank. Slowly, I let my Aetherial Senses poke and prod the device in my hands. During my lesson on Enchantment, Grey had me test my senses on spare enchantment discs that he had. His reasoning had been that I needed to be able to tell whenever something had been successfully enchanted.

This…item. This thing in my hands was re...

Chapter 67 - Savior

It didn’t take me long to reach the side path that led to Azarus’s house. I didn’t even get stopped once on the way, even though I was far from the only person on the path. There were dwarves all around me, streaming back into town from the back clearing now that their ‘entertainment’ was over. Rather than be concerned about the senseless violence that Magnus had been inflicting on people, they seemed more interested in gossiping about Magnus’s injury.

These bastards…

Chapter 66 - Courting Death

I wasn’t sure how long exactly I worked to save Walter’s life, but it couldn’t have been long. The precision of my Aetherial sense and the ability to directly manipulate the flesh below me meant that the process was surprisingly quick, if not incredibly mentally intensive. I couldn’t allow my concentration to slip for even a moment. If it did, and I wasn’t holding the wound together through sheer mental pressure while I worked, Walter would likely bleed out and die.

I kept in ...

Chapter 65 - Life or Death

Most of us were shuffled off back into the tent after that. Two of the other slaves I didn’t know were held behind by the guards, though. The last thing I saw before the tent closed behind me were knives being given to the disturbingly eager slaves.

Once inside, we self-segregated again. Me, Bleddyn, and Walter settled into a corner, while the other three slaves spread out and began giving each other distrustful looks.

Bleddyn was the first to speak. “That sick fucker,” He g...

Penname Change

Just letting you guys know I'm going to be changing my penname. Got a little tired of people assuming Sins was a Self Insert just because both my MC and I have the word "Hart" in it.

New name is going to be PreCursive. Didn't want you guys to get confused when the change happened before tomorrow's update.

Chapter 64 - Ill-Fated Reunion

“Mr. Hart? M-Mr. Hart, can you hear me?”

Slowly, I started to drift back to consciousness, aware that someone was calling my name. They were lightly shaking my shoulders as well. For a moment, I didn’t know what was going on. I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet, and my head was throbbing. I couldn’t think straight.

As if from far away, I heard another voice. “Move, boy.” A more masculine voice said. Shortly, I began to be shaken more roughly, stirring me back to conscio...

Chapter 63 - Bad Feeling

AN:

Hey there,

I'm honestly surprised to see so many of you so quickly. All I can say is thank you for being interested enough in my work to pay for it. It's an honor.

As you've likely already guessed if you read the About page, this Patreon is going to update on the same days as RR. So MWF updates, between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM CDT. I don't intend to be going anywhere anytime soon, so I hope to be writing for you for some time.

I've said it before, but I'll reiterate i...

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Thank you for being interested in my work!

Update Schedule: MWF 12:00 - 2:00 PM CDT

SINS OF THE FOREFATHERS

| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | 2023-07-31 01:28:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 62 - Bloody Promise

I staggered down the third-floor stairs of the manor, my left arm clutched over my right. I may not have been bleeding anymore, but the burn from the cauterization Magnus gave me was still painful. I was delirious from the blood loss, and could barely see in front of me. I don’t think I was able to keep up my slave act very well as I shakily made my way down the staircase to the first floor, but I didn’t care. The only thing on my mind was getting out of the manor and back to Azarus’s h...

Chapter 61 - Drained

Well, here I was. Standing in front of a door again, waiting for a noble to finish eating so I could collect his plates like he was a child. Not only that, but it was a noble that apparently wanted to see me viciously mauled to death. Great. I didn’t even have the option of eavesdropping this time. Magnus hadn’t made any noise inside his room since I’d been standing out here, much less spoken.

Whatever, I wasn’t actually up here to wait on Magnus anyway.

While I may have b...

Chapter 60 - Close Call

I didn’t quite have my ear pressed up to the door, but that wasn’t far off. Through the door, I was able to make Magnus and Orinbar’s conversation.

“-question why you even care, old man.” I heard Magnus say, derision dripping from his voice. “Do you have sympathies for the cattle? Do you feel bad for them?”

“I care nothing for the ultimate fate of a lowly slave, Magnus,” Orinbar said evenly, only a smidgeon of frustration leaking through in his ...

Chapter 59 - Infiltration

It was early enough in the morning that the green period hadn’t ended up. Once again, I left Azarus’s house not from the entrance onto the side road, but through the forest with Thorn Cloak active. Even though I was heading toward the wall again, I didn’t intend to go far outside of it. I was angling for the servant’s entrance into the manor, which was along the opposite side of the manor from Azarus’s place. There was no convenient connecting stretch of forest that...

Chapter 58 - Stealth Lessons

After my little explanation and subsequent embarrassment when seeing Silvia without her mask, we picked up on the training again. Nothing heavy or physically strenuous again, she just showed me how to use the FAT. It was kind of fun, actually. It was like playing with clay, to an extent. The mask could adhere to my face by itself, and using a small mirror you could hand adjust your facial features. Once you had reached a face you liked, you could freeze the mask into that configuration with a...

Chapter 57 - Midnight Rendezvous

With a grunt, I finished climbing the outer wall of Addersfield. Swiftly, I scaled the log at the top and dropped down to the forest floor beneath me.

After our morning talk, Grey and I had waited for Azarus to wake up before discussing our new idea with him. That idea being, I should make a nighttime trip in order to rendezvous with Silvia and ask for her assistance in learning some basic stealth and infiltration. Maybe pick up the skills for them in the process.

This wasn’t as...

Chapter 56 - Restless Experimentation

I didn’t go to sleep immediately after retreating to my room.

All the talk of families had brought all kinds of memories rushing back to me. How it had felt to lose Mom, all those years ago. The struggle to care for Dad right afterward, and how I’d had to grow up quickly. How I’d had to learn to take care of myself even after he’d recovered from his injuries, because he was too depressed to even get out of bed some days. The way I’d barely finished high school and had no hope ...

Chapter 55 - Awkward Celebration

It hadn’t taken long for Silvia and I to lead the Stag through the forest at a leisurely pace, once she’d trapped it in illusions. That had turned out to be her plan, which was obvious in hindsight. Of course an illusion ninja would solve a problem through the use of illusions. Whatever she was showing it, the beast was downright docile on the trip back and followed us like a faithful hound.

As we had been making our way back to the clearing, I’d explained our current escape plans...

Chapter 54 - Oh, Nevermind Then

“Fuck.” I said to myself, standing in the middle of a narrow forest clearing.

Turns out our suspicion had been right. Even though it hadn’t yet been a month since his last ‘hunt’, Magnus was doing another one. I guess that malicious little shit just couldn’t wait to torment more slaves. When I’d been dragged to the same clearing behind the manor, Magnus had already had two other dead-eyed slaves clothed in little better than rags waiting. After a short, self-aggrandizing s...

Chapter 53 - Impatient and Ominous

I yawned, resting my chin in my palm.

I was sitting at the front desk of Van’s butcher shop, right next to the woman I had met all those weeks ago. Rachel, her name was. It was still early in the morning, and when I had gotten there, Van had met me at the front desk with an apologetic expression. Apparently, Bleddyn was dealing with a larger-than-normal order today and it would be some time before he could teach me if he even had time. I’d offered to help, but Van had told me that s...