PreCursive

Chapter 134 - Mithril Ascension

From what Grey told me, we only had days before the main host of the Uprising would reach Silvercrest. We needed to get our individual projects finished by the time they reached us, or they would just get harder. For Grey, Azarus and me, we might be able to draft and forge my new arm using Azarus’s mobile forge while traveling in a carriage. But we sure as hell wouldn’t be able to perform the surgery to graft it to my body and soul.

With Honoka and Sylvia, I was told they w...

Potential Addition to the Patreon

So, I've been thinking lately about what more I could do for you guys. I'm considering starting a short story collection set in Vereden. These short stories would be from different PoV's from Nate, and would run for the length of a month before finishing and moving onto another one. I'm thinking there would be one or two updates to the currently running short story every week. I'm thinking these chapters would likely be a bit shorter than my regular, but I'm not sure until I get to work on it...

Chapter 133 - Connection

Sylvia and Honoka were already in the dining tent when Grey and I arrived. Rather than eating though, they were bent over pouring over some pages of parchment of their own. They looked up at our entrance, with Honoka rolling the parchment up and setting it to the side. I wasn’t able to see much on it before it was put away, but what I did see didn’t make much sense to me. The runic designs had been odd, almost flowing in circular waves compared to the angular rays I was used to. The bares...

Chapter 132 - Drafting

Grey was true to his word, leading Azarus and I to his tent so we could get to work. On the way, I happened to see Renauld hanging out with a group of Sculpted soldiers, regaling them with a story of some kind around a morning campfire. It must have been a good one, as the soldiers were laughing. Renauld saw our group as we passed them, and shot me a wink. I smiled back and shook my head.

Once we had reached Grey’s much larger than mine tent, he dragged out a bundle of writing materia...

Chapter 131 - Arming Rites

“Excuse me?” Grey blinked rapidly, setting down his breakfast spoon. “Would you…care to repeat that, Nathan?”

It was morning the day after the failed ritual to regrow my arm, and my closest companions had gathered to break their fasts. I was pretty happy about that for two reasons. The first was because I had skipped dinner last night, as I tried to think how I was going to fix my problem. The other was because everyone I needed to talk to was in the tent we had met up in.

Chapter 130 - Preception

Honoka lifted a hand into the sky. In her open palm, a small bird made of fire manifested, looking around curiously. Honoka leaned in to whisper at it for a moment, before launching the Avian construct into the sky. The flaming bird chirped at her once, before zooming away.

Towards the Uprising camp.

Meanwhile, I was sitting on the ground not far from her, leaning against the wall of the Gyreite Church. I don’t mind saying that I felt like absolute shit right about now.

A ...

Chapter 129 - Renewal Rejected

Our wagon train pulled up to the small encampment outside the gates of Silvercrest. There were two Sculpted members on guard duty, one made of stone and the other made of iron, both male in shape. They had been watching us for a while as we crossed the desert plain towards them, but straightened up when we finally stopped. Beyond the two guards, I saw a number of other Sculpted soldiers milling about and watching us in curiosity as well.

All of them reacted in shock though, when Woodric...

Chapter 128 - Golden Gift

It had been three days now since our wagon train had left Sancthaven, and according to Grey, we were making good time. Our destination was a good-sized mining town in the mountainous equatorial region of the continent named Silvercrest. From what the Agent had told us, there were elements of the Uprising waiting there to receive the former hostages that we were escorting.

Speaking of, they were doing all right so far. Sure, there were complaints about the bumpy nature of the ride, but n...

Discord Launch

In case you haven't noticed yet, I've launched a Discord for my work that I'm calling PreCursive's Pavillion. I don't have much experience with Discord in general, but I think I've set up the Patreon integration correctly.

If you connect your Patreon and Discord accounts, you should be automatically in the server. If you haven't yet, it's not too difficult. The option to do so is in the settings tab on Patreon. If you have problems with that, you can just join the server manually from t...

Chapter 127 - Burn-Out

After exiting the cellar where I had gotten a history lesson from an old Elf, Grey and I walked in silence for a while. Fade had raced on ahead in the direction of the town, leaving us behind. I guess he wanted to get back to the fire and whatever scraps everyone had left and could beg for.

I didn’t blame him. I was kinda hungry myself.

Eventually, I turned to face my mentor, never stopping my stride.

“So…” I trailed off.

Grey turned to face me with a raised ey...

Chapter 126 - The Tragedy of Lasgach

I felt a bolt of adrenaline run down my spine.

Precursors were meant to kill the Gods?

But…

“But most of them are dead,” I said tentatively. “My understanding is that nearly all of them died in the fighting in the War in Heaven.”

“Most is not all,” The Elder said decisively. “The Gods of Order were decimated, yes, but the Gods of Chaos lost only a single member.”

I tamped down on a surge of irrational panic building up...

Chapter 125 - Elder

AN: Small retcon here. Observe doesn’t display a level for Mystic Beasts like Fade. I realized that doesn’t make sense, considering they don’t have a Status nor are they monsters to be categorized by the System.

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I froze in surprise, caught off guard. It wasn’t exactly a dire secret that I was a Precursor, but I didn’t go around shouting it from the r...

Chapter 124 - Shadowed Boughs

After informing us about how the combined forces of the Uprising were currently on the move, the Agent had left us. He was apparently going to be both leaving immediately himself in order to link up with the main host, as well as send messages to various outposts about the success of our mission. He had told Grey that he hoped to inform the various noble houses that had children and members held hostage that they were free now.

From what he had told Grey, the main host wasn’t anywhere...

Chapter 123 - Haven

Grey’s prediction turned out to be correct. It only took the Thorny Reef two more days of travel before the eastern coast of the main continent came into view. As much as I had enjoyed my time at sea, I was looking forward to a long stretch of time on land, away from any Neptaurians or giant sea spiders.

I shuddered.

Still, I didn’t see a port waiting for us. Hell, I even climbed the main mast to join a bemused Sylvia to get a better look. Nothing. All I saw was a sur...

Chapter 122 - Green Pursuit [Vol 4. Start]

AN:

Merry Christmas, guys.

There's something pleasing about a new book staring on a major holiday like this.

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I blinked, staring down at the small crossbow that Captain Isabella had shoved into my chest. I clutched it with my one remaining arm. “You’ve got to joking.”

The frazzled looking pirate Captain turned away from her far eye long ...

Chapter 121 - Horizon of War [Vol. 3 End]

AN:

To tell the truth, the ending for this book kinda snuck up on me. I wasn't expecting it to be the conclusion of the Caer Drarrow arc. But it's kind of appropriate, I feel.

This is the transition point where Vereden is done being set up. With the hostages holding back the Uprising freed, and three of it's four lynchpins ready to join the fight, I feel like it's obvious where the story goes from this point.

Open battle.

The war awaits.

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Chapter 120 - Cornered

AN:

A slightly shorter chapter, but…

Well, you’ll see why. It was just a really good point to end this one on.

Plus the next one is kinda long, lmao.

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The sight of Honoka streaking across the length of the hall broke the spirits of the Guards. Around the time she was impacting the shield blocking off Grey and the Warden’s duel, they near...

Interlude 8 - Number Seventy-Six

AN:

Particularly proud of this one. I'd been waiting a long time to present this PoV, and I'm sure some people have been as well. I was just waiting for an appropriate moment.

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Hmm

Number Seventy-Six didn’t think he had been pushed this long and this far in quite some time. He grunted, desperately using the katana’s held in his left arms to parr...

Chapter 119 - Firebird

I didn’t have time to see what I had stolen from the dead man. I could do that later, when I wasn’t in the middle of a giant battle.

I let out the breath I was holding, thumbing the activation switch on my spear. The body of the man I had killed slumped to the floor with my weapon’s retraction. Exhausted, I stood up off of the corpse to look around.

I found most of the battlefield looking back at me, having recovered from Fade’s strange attack. Both allied and enemy forces...

Chapter 118 - Armored Force

I went flying, knocked off my feet from the force of the blast. Dazed, I felt myself impact the stone of the floor several feet away from the doorway. As if from a great distance, I could hear the cacophony of battle all around me.

I blinked one eye slowly, and then the other. I felt something drip over my eye as I did so. Slowly, I reached up to wipe it away. When I did so and looked at my hand through blurred eyes, I saw red.

Oh.

Fumblingly, I reached for the small pouch I...

Chapter 117 - Duel

“Deal with the rabble,” Warden Leonard said, eyes fixed on Grey. He lifted his free hand and gestured forward with it to his forces arrayed behind and on the barricade. “I’ll deal with the Headmaster.”

“Oh, will you now,” Grey said dangerously, lifting Stellarum. He began to advance on the Warden. “We’ll just see about that, won’t we.”

Venix followed after Grey, from where he had been watching the confrontation silently. It seemed as if he had been cleaning h...

Chapter 116 - Dispassionate Contempt

So.

This was the Warden that Grey had been so wary of.

He was a tall man, dressed in form-fitting white and black robes with a pitch-black cloak draped over his shoulders. In his right hand he held an intricately carved staff made of a smoky crystal of some kind, with three splines poking from the head of it. The man himself was clean-shaven with sharp, severe features. From his scalp fell long, thin, unbound blonde hair held out his eyes by an iron circlet with a large, heptagona...

Chapter 115 - Plea

Our combined forces succeeded in pushing forward, enough that we were out of the hallway that led to the crumbling tower. That didn’t mean that the guards kept coming, even as we fought a grinding battle through the halls of the prison. I didn’t forget Grey’s estimate that there could be upwards of three hundred guards or troops currently quartered at Caer Drarrow.

I don’t know if we could fight off that many. Especially without Grey or Venix here to pick up our slack.

But...

Chapter 114 - Revenge or Right

Before I could even react, Woodrick tackled me out of the way of whatever had been waiting in the room. As the two of us sailed through the air, I twisted just enough to see what was happening.

I just barely managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

I think it was a Neptaurian—a big one.

This must be the missing Prime.

In the split second before Grey and the monster escaped my field of view, I was able to see my mentor snap his blade up in a guard position an...

Chapter 113 - Darkness and Deception

AN: Oof, these last few have been rough. Remember, I'm writing this for YOU. If you don't like some plot elements, let me know and I'll reconsider them. Feel free to leave a comment, or even message me, if you're dissatisfied with current chapters.

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The next few floors were very similar to the second one. Each of them was constructed in a similar manner, with e...

Chapter 112 - The Tower

I elbowed my way through the crowd of inmates that had gathered in front of the gate to the central tower. I reached the front just in time to watch as Sylvia knelt in front of the heavy padlock on it and take out her lockpicking kit.

Odd.

Venix was the first to notice my approach and acknowledged me with a nod which I returned. I sidled up to Grey who was watching his daughter work with crossed arms. He nodded at me as well.

“Is that really necessary?” I asked him, gest...

Chapter 111 - Storming the Gates

When I saw that the guard I’d hung had…passed, I lowered him to the floor by letting out a little bit more vine. Once he was resting soundlessly on the floor, I dismissed the vine in my hands, letting the entire skill diffuse into formless, invisible Aether.

I let out a shuddering breath once my grisly work was done. When I did so, a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. I nearly buckled standing upright, but caught myself at the last moment. I’d pushed myself too hard and fast after...

Chapter 110 - Infiltration

They couldn’t have gone far.

The plan was for the group to be traveling as stealthily as they possibly could through the prison. Along the way, they would be gradually gathering what inmates they needed to free. In fact, there had been discussion on the way here that we should be freeing as many of the inmates as we possibly could, in order to assist on the escape.

Grey had been reluctant on this possibility. He had argued that the prison had initially been constructed for a ver...

Chapter 109 - Vanishing Stone

“That…” I said slowly. “Sounds like a problem.”

Grey crossed his arms. “A mild one, I admit.”

“Are ye sayin...’” Bella said in a dangerous tone, clenching a hand on the pommel of her cutlass. “That I risked me crew comin’ to this damn island, and we can’t even reach the place?”

Grey gave her an unconcerned gaze. “Oh, do calm down. As I said, it’s only a mild setback. From what I can tell, they’ve simply stripped the opening enchantment on th...

Chapter 108 - Bound Door

For a moment, I allowed myself to sag against my upright spear in relief. I can’t exactly say that I was expecting to be fighting giant spiders today. I don’t think I’d acquitted myself too badly, though. Hell, this was the first time I’d ever fought more than one monster at a time as well.

I was knocked out of my introspection by an enormous burst of wind blowing through the cavern. I raised my head just in time to see a veritable wall of Miasma rolling my way. Damnit, the Prim...