Wandering Agent

Machinist of Mana Chapter 53 Plans

“So, is it far?” I asked the people taking me to a second location, though I knew that you should never let them take you to a second location, fight to the death if you had to. Though it was a poor idea, I really did want to talk to these people.

“Not too far, just enough to keep others from intruding,” Sasha said, looking back at me.

“Do you mind if I ask a few questions while we walk then? Get to know each other?”

She didn't se...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 52 Deceptions

I didn't manage to get off free from my little ploy, basically everyone was furious at me, and my grandfather was promising to tell my parents, immediately after I'd lured our enemy out. Convincing him to keep quiet even that long had required a whole slew of concessions from basically everyone involved, and lots of extra guards for the whole endeavor.

There were even a few familiar faces joining us, the two Worldsingers who'd been supposed to deliver the gate that had been s...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 132 Beginnings of Chaos

Over the next few days Chien and I worked. Nobody bothered us about heating the hive as a whole, mostly because of the massive quantities of heat being blasted out of the small room we'd taken, and partially because Isha decided to keep up appearances by upping her level of 'donation' to their crystal. She was like that, and I loved her for it, always doing things we never asked for and often didn't realize we sorely needed, never complaining about it, just there, the perfect support for my a...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 51 Recruiting

The day to return home approached, and three days away I finally decided to do something about it. I strode to the Headmaster's office and knocked, slightly afraid because there was no way the adults in my life were going to let me off scott free after hiding the whole goblin threats.

I knocked on the Headmaster's door, heart beating fast.

“Enter,” I heard after a few moments.

“Good afternoon sir.”

“Ah, Percival, I wasn't exp...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 50 Prepare

It was a few more weeks of work until our next weekend off, the last one before the holidays and I was white-knuckled the whole way through. I needed to be ready before the season we had off, where I would certainly be in town and found by those damn goblins again, and I needed to be ready.

I'd considered letting the Headmaster and the powers that be know right now about the planned meeting, but there were demerits to that idea. The biggest of which was that I could kiss good...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 49 Arms

I had time, maybe not infinite time, but at least some. The goblins couldn't well go check records and with the government determined to keep things secret they were unlikely to be able to figure out exactly who I was. That wasn't a guarantee, but it was a pretty good guess. Even if they did I was still at the school, and they'd have to have a death wish to attack here.

Time was good, time meant that I could prepare. Some of what I needed to do would be a bit ad-libbed, but w...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 48 Back to School

The king seemed distraught, though I wasn't sure what to do about that. All things said he only spent a few minutes moping before he had slapped himself in the face repeatedly and risen.

“Where are my senses, this is no time for moping. There's much to do and no time at all to do it. Nobody in this room is to speak a word of what transpired here to anyone until the news is released, that is a royal decree, am I understood?”

There was quick assent, I didn'...

My Apologies

I'm quite sorry for the lack of chapters in the last few days. I've been having some personal problems on my end and been having to deal with those.

Melody book 6 up for Pre-order

Yes, you read that correctly, the final book of the first series Melody of Mana, is now up for Pre-order on Amazon! It's just below!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5QDT78J?tag=podium087-20

Machinist of Mana Chapter 47 End of an Era

I was sat in a plush waiting room, perhaps I could have left if I'd asked, but the pacing city lord before me seemed busy. The duke had instantly called for a priest when Archmage Penumbra had collapsed, and said healer was currently in another room, working on her. She herself had managed to do something to her ring in a few moments of clarity and we were currently just... waiting.

After a time the priest returned, his look solemn.

“How is she?” the high...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 46 Goblin Girl Greta

I was frozen, on a roof, completely unable to move, and rather more than a little pissed about it. This kind of thing irked, it didn't hurt physically, but honestly, I couldn't believe she'd do something like that; it was just... rude.

It was unclear just how many minutes passed as I was there, stuck and seething, but eventually there was a sound nearby, feet stepping towards me. They sounded small, as if belonging to a child, and as I listened, still a statue they came very ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 45 In-Flight Discussion

The hospital really did not want to let me go, but they had fairly limited choices on the matter. Fairly limited in this particularly case meant none at all, and while I was sure to hear about it later my escort just pushed us past.

“So... where to now?” I asked. “We could go look for clues or try to track down their movements...”

“Hm? Oh no I know where they are,” the grandmotherly figure answered. “I came to see you to see what we would be get...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 44 Auntie Penumbra

“Well, how are you today?” asked the reigning archmage of the kingdom after setting up a few barriers.

“I... you speak English?” I asked.

“Oh that's right, you're a physical. It would be obvious is you could see my aura, all of us have rather similar auras, bubbles as it were. As soon as I saw you I knew, it's just too obvious.”

I'd been told that my aura looked like metallic bubbles before, and that it was a bit odd, but nothing ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 43 Hospital Visitors

I awoke in pain, radiating outwards from my gut. The room was unfamiliar, the bed, the walls, and all around me there were curtains and people talking. As the fog cleared it was clear that I was in some kind of hospital ward, though I didn't know quite where. With a groan I tried to rise and look around more, though found it rather difficult.

Quickly a matronly woman poked her head through the curtain, looking down at me.

“Lay back down this instant young m...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 42 Carriage Robbery

The carriage rocked and swayed with the time. I of course wasn't allowed in the back with the goods, but I'd at least managed to rate a seat inside rather than outside. Maybe because the two in charge liked me, maybe because I was young, maybe just because they expected something and didn't want me in the way.

“Should I prepare for an imminent attack?” I asked, hoping to get some information.

“Be ready, but we're not expecting one,” answered Walter. �...

Machinist Chapter 41 Worldsingers

As the carriage rolled up to the docks I saw the docks, and they were empty. That was odd, the docks never shut down, not for anything, not for anyone. Suddenly I began to wonder exactly what I'd gotten into. The only people around were the guards, and while there weren't many, they all looked like they meant business.

I quickly dismounted with a few of the others who'd been sent in as backup. While I was the only youth in the group there were a few more locals coming in to h...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 40 Preparation

I had a couple of weeks until my field trip, but during that time my teachers seemed driven to make sure that I was going to be up to speed. Which with the extra lessons that the Headmaster had foisted upon us meant that I was firmly to the grindstone. Basically I worked all day until I fell into bed heavily at the end of the day.

It was in the evening as I lay there that I realized that this too was a test. Our Headmaster had twice seen me take a leading place in some incide...

Machinist Chapter 39 Extra Classes

With an upward twist I caught the incoming blade, trying, and failing to toss it from my opponent's hand with a turn of the wrist, but succeeding in making him hop back. The buckler strapped to my arm might have been small, but it was perfect for what I was doing, quick to move, quick to strike, and not cumbersome in the slightest.

“You think you can win?” the other boy asked with a scoff.

“Who said anything about winning? You're the last group in the a...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 38 Emergency Measures

Mr. Ignus was as good as his word, and when I got hold of a paper the next morning I found within it that there was in fact a headline about an attempted kidnapping. Rather than saying what I knew it was however there was simply a confirmation that the assailant was unknown, seemingly a physical magic user, and should be regarded with extreme caution. There were also some notes about searches for the individual in question and the increased security in Exion as a whole.

This ...

Machinist Chapter 37 The Inquirer

My next couple of hours were rather hectic. I began by writing letters, writing letters was easy and could get people who would believe me to do so. Perhaps the local police would not, perhaps they'd insist that I'd been seeing things, or that there were no monsters in the sewers. Honestly I didn't know and it didn't matter, because there were, and I knew at the very least my grandfather wouldn't turn his back on me. He knew how serious monsters were, he'd seen a goblin, albeit a very differe...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 36 Return to the Surface

I looked to Lucas for only a second, enough to register that he was still breathing.

“You're no normal goblin,” I said, hoping to provoke something.

“You know us? Very interesting, Father will definitely want you,” he returned before lunging.

That first move was enough. From that alone I could tell that he was slower than myself, stronger perhaps, but slower, and untrained. My blade shone as I ducked his attempt to grab me, slicing up...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 35 Enemy

I'd never thought I'd see another rock show in this life, and to a point I was correct. The Starchasers as they styled themselves weren't really a rock band, but rather an group of skilled bards. Musically however it was something akin, almost folk-rock or like the pagan-rock bands that had existed in my previous world. A refreshing change from much of the music my family liked, which was much more... staid.

However, even if I wasn't quite sure where to place their style thei...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 34 Prepare to Party

Weeks passed, and I began to settle into my school life. There were holes in my knowledge, big ones. I knew about a lot of the philosophy, and art, and technology of the day, but about history I was woefully unprepared. Not the things ones normally found in books, but the little bits here and there hidden in the common knowledge. After all I spent most of my time with people who didn't care or my grandfather who didn't know.

This meant that while I was doing well in some thin...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 33 The Past

“Boring,” complained my 'assistant' for about the fifth time.

“I didn't try to hide that it was going to be boring did I?” I asked.

Lucas frowned at me. “If you could just tell me what you're looking for then it would probably help.”

“Things that stand out, things that are odd,” I informed him again.

“Percival, that's all of history; well, all that's written about at least. If something doesn't stand out, if...

Technical difficulties

Will be trying to get more chapters out this week, but hard drive died last night/this morning.

Machinist of Mana Chapter 32 Cores

Before I knew it the first week of classes had passed. Overall things weren't too bad, some of the science was weird, or downright wrong, but for the most part we covered a smattering of general topics that you might expect for middle or high school students and several forms of combat. There was a lot of overlap with things I'd learned in my previous life, and those subjects I breezed through, boring as it might be algebra didn't really change between one world and another.

There wer...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 31 Punishment

There were times for reflection and times for action and this was most certainly one of the latter.  The Headmaster had caught me off guard too many times today, taken the initiative too much, and losing it now would do me even worse than it had.

He'd chosen the place, the time, the weapon, and to fight.  He was ready when I was not.  I also had no doubts that the shortsword I was now holding was something he preferred as opposed to my favorite of a longer more...

Explanation

Some of you might have seen that I've been releasing quite a lot of Elevation chapters recently.  It's not that I'm ignoring Machinist, I've just been way behind and needed to finish up part 2.

More chapters of both coming soon!

Machinist of Mana Chapter 30 A Dish Best Served

Time to strategize was minimal, and so we had to hurry.  There were so many factors, so many methods by which we could move forward, and I needed to consider carefully between them before acting.  Acting rashly here would only hurt us, only make things worse, or prove the annoying point that our Headmaster was making.

We could probably cause a ruckus if we worked together, maybe even getting a hit or two on the teacher, but that would be counterproductive.  Mor...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 29 Mind Games

“Everybody up!” came the cry on our first day of actual classes.  “Headmaster has called an assembly of the students in half an hour.  That means get in your uniforms and be ready for full inspection in fifteen minutes.”

I of course had no context for what 'full inspection' meant, but a wild guess told me that I needed my uniform properly on and hair combed, so I began to do just that as I rubbed sleep from my eyes.  The speaker had been our resident se...