hcmills

Chapter 22: Progress

The next day, Rylan splurged on some fresh sheep’s cheese at the market, and brought it to his family’s home. Leahna showed up shortly after he did, and together they started on some cheesy garlic flatbread.

Their cooperation still left something to be desired, but there was an infectious giddiness in the air, and Rylan found himself smiling even as they dumped the first, lightly charred attempt out of the pan.

“Maybe we should turn it down a bit after adding the cheese,” ...

Chapter 21: A Den of Traitors

While Rylan was a little more distracted during his shift than usual, he managed to keep most of his attention on the food he was preparing. He’d written his letter and had asked one of the busboys to drop it off at Leahna’s workplace—if only to keep it away from their nosy father. He’d sown his rice, now he was just going to let the crops sprout where they may.

That didn’t stop his stomach from twisting at the thought of his sister reading his words. Rylan just hoped Artoran ...

Chapter 20: Bonding

Rylan was having a little trouble wrapping his mind around his father’s excited explanation. Apparently, in order to properly create the waveform, he would have to find the right rhythm to excite the mana at. However, that rhythm couldn’t just be a steady one. Rather, it would have to be a mix of different frequencies, as his father was demonstrating by tapping increasingly complex patterns on the table with his fingers.

“So you’ve got the slow pattern for the overall shape—th...

Chapter 19: A Path Forward

Telling the story of what had happened to him was trickier than Rylan had anticipated, due to how many things he needed to leave out.

He told his father and sister about his daring escape, about the whale and their journey to the ruined city in a bubble of air. He told them about the former pirates and the Dungeons. He even told them about Maris and the Dehumidifier, and showed them Arphin. However, he left out the part where he’d received Maris’s blessing, and the fact that Arphin ...

Chapter 18: Revelations

Hearing his father’s words, for a moment, Rylan closed his eyes. He’d actually done it. He’d found his birth family. Or part of it, at least.

He still had many questions to ask of course, and he was fighting hard not to get too emotional, to reserve his judgment for when he’d heard all the facts, but that didn’t take away from the reality that deep inside of him, a littler version of himself was bawling his eyes out.

When he reopened his eyes, the blood had drained from ...

Chapter 17: House Call

Rylan waited in the hallway just outside the little backroom—the same one Sloan had once carried him into after he’d fainted—and peered in through the thin slits in the bamboo door.

He didn’t get much time to prepare himself mentally, as barely a minute had passed when the door to the taproom opened and a girl with dark-blond hair stepped through.

Rylan held his breath as he took a moment to study her as best he could through the door.

The girl—who appeared to be a...

Chapter 16: Visitor

Gaping in wonder, Rylan reached out towards the glass, his fingers pressing up against the pane, with the little yellow spirit hanging just on the other side.

“Hi,” he breathed softly, careful not to startle it again.

[What’s going on, Boss?] Arphin asked. [Is there something there?]

Rylan did not have the wherewithal to answer, holding his breath as the little spirit seemed to extend a tendril of light, which touched the glass from the other side of his finger.

...

Chapter 15: Chef Ironbeard

With the back of his hand, Rylan absentmindedly wiped some sweat off his brow as he stirred the shellfish pilav he was heating.

Noticing that the rice was starting to stick to the bottom of his cast iron pan a little, he carefully pushed down a small lever at the front of his stove, reducing the flow of mana from the city’s grid into the firemetal top.

He only looked up when Fylsa sashayed into the kitchen, loudly announcing, “Order for table twelve: one catch of the day, one ...

Chapter 14: Reunions

Soren’s mother looked a little gaunt, like she’d lost weight in his absence, but the strength with which she clung to him as she cried her eyes out belied her age.

As Soren had been a late addition to the family, the Lady Dionne was already in her sixties, streaks of grey adorning the otherwise black hair beneath his nose, the smell oh so familiar.

“I’m sorry for making you worry, Mom,” he whispered, tearing up himself.

She shook her head, taking a moment to calm d...

Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home

From the prow of the Breezy Bargain, Soren basked in the sight of his family’s estate. The morning sunlight bathed the white plaster on the outer wall in shades of orange, made the lacquered black roof tiles on the main building gleam, and glinted off the distinctive copper fogtube that spiralled up around the tower.

He wasn’t crying. Some fog had simply chosen to condense in the corners of his eyes.

The Bargain was a triple-floater merchant vessel, propelled mainly by a pair ...

Chapter 12: Negotiations

Burtrand’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re a—”

Rylan held up a finger to his lips, glancing nervously at the various entrances to the room.

Burtrand blinked, hesitated, then seemed to come to a decision. “All right, give me a second, then I’ll lead you somewhere we can talk.” The man then stuck his head out the door that led to behind the bar. “Eli! Would you mind closing up tonight? I need to take care of something.”

Rylan couldn’t quite make out the reply...

Chapter 11: Profession

Rylan swayed on this stool for a moment, grabbing onto the edge of the bar for support. Art hadn’t frequented the Knackered Hag since around the time Rylan had received his letter. That seemed like a very poor omen... Had something happened?

Uncomfortable heat spread across Rylan’s body as his heartbeat accelerated, but he didn’t dare pull down his dark grey cowl any further.

“Is there someone else here who might know where he lives?” he asked, making an effort to keep h...

Chapter 10: The Knackered Hag

Arphin’s white, pulsing runes lit up the red liquid coating his surface, spreading a grotesque pink light. The tip of the sharp yellow blade trembled, and it took Rylan a moment to realise his shaking hand was the culprit.

The man lying three feet from him took another gurgling breath, followed it up with a wet exhale, then grew perfectly still.

Rylan almost jumped out of his skin at the voice that suddenly spoke, seemingly from very close by.

《Proficiency requi...

Chapter 9: Bountiful

The alley exited onto a small, bustling plaza. People milled about dressed in bright textiles, and bamboo stalls covered in woven kelp in brilliant shades of blue and purple hawked a variety of wares. Just at a first glance, Rylan spotted a wide collection of trinkets, clothing, and fresh catches like crustaceans and fish in every shape and size.

The buildings lining the crowded square were all at least three stories tall and clearly constructed from limestone. However, they weren’t b...

Chapter 8: The Right Height

Breathing very slowly and steadily, Rylan pressed himself against the stone, his eyes fixed on the brightening orange glow in the distance.

About half a minute later, the source of the light finally turned the corner. It was a small flame, sputtering in the fog as it licked the inside of a lantern held by a tall man dressed in dark clothing, with a mean-looking mace at his hip. A similarly dressed woman with a harpooncaster on her back trailed after him, studying a large scroll that was...

Chapter 7: Gloamstep

Tendrils of fog curled down from the newly unveiled hole in the side of the cliff, past the rungs of the bamboo ladder, to the woven mistweed mats covering the floor of Kher’s shack.

However, the fog that slowly drifted out was surprisingly thin and immaterial. Rylan figured that was by design, because he’d spotted no good way to close the hole up behind them, and Kher was already at the top of the ladder, hoisting himself into the dark and rather low passage.

“Try and keep ...

Chapter 6: An Old Friend

Yuel and Nazyr brought Rylan to a shack that was built up against the bottom of the city’s cliffs itself.

The shacks around here were a little sturdier and bigger, with larger gardens that grew a bigger variety of plants, suggesting there was some stratification going on even outside the city’s rings. But this shack especially, was quite large.

It seemed to have been partially made out of materials scrounged together from ship parts, with whalebone ribs lining the walls and fr...

Chapter 5: The Rear Exit

Pre-Chapter note:

In case you missed the announcement: Stan has been renamed to Arphin. If you want to know why, read the post I made about it. ^^

Yuel and Nazyr were already in the kitchen when Rylan crept in.

Yuel, who was sitting on the counter, swinging his legs, let out a gasp as he grabbed onto Nazyr’s shoulder, bringing his other hand to his chest. “Look at our little boy, N...

Retcon: Stan has a new name!

Yes, I know, it can be a little uncomfortable when you've gotten used to a certain name and it gets swapped out, but that happens when you're reading ahead on an unfinished story sometimes. ^^

I received a bunch of comments regarding Stan's rather uninspired name and the clichéness of the 'main character has no naming sense' trope, and frankly, I had to agree. Stan's name is probably the one I put the least effort into of all the characters I created for this story, and I felt...

Chapter 4: Fare Thee Well

Rylan’s first stop was naturally Soren. He found his friend still snoring away in his hammock, and gently but firmly shook him awake.

“Huh, whazzah?” Soren blurted out, blinking his eyes open. “Is it my shift already?”

Rylan shook his head.

“Then let me sleep, damnit!”

“Soren, Tamina basically just told me to hide from her when we arrive,” Rylan hissed. “Lest her Contract forces her to bring me back to Thistlebloom.”

Soren stiffened in the m...

Chapter 3: Orders are Orders

It was still dark when Soren came back and shook Rylan awake for his shift.

Yawning, Rylan made his way up to the deck, where he was surprised to find Ezra behind the steering wheel.

Seeing his expression, the red-haired man chuckled and planted his prosthetic—still a work in progress—on his hip. “Did you think only Halloth could man the helm? There’s not much to it, son. It’s just spinning a wheel.”

He demonstrated by batting the wheel left and right with his go...

Chapter 2: The Letter

Rylan didn’t pull the letter out just yet. There was still a question that he hoped his friend, despite all odds, might know something about. “Soren, have you ever heard of someone having a, ehm, unknown Affinity?”

“Unknown?” Soren repeated. “Is this a hypothetical, or...?”

“No, it’s me,” Rylan admitted, a wave of embarrassment rushing through him. “I think something might’ve gone wrong during the affixation.”

Soren sat up straighter in his hammock,...

Recap + Book 2, Chapter 1: A Game of Sharks

Book 1 Recap

On the anniversary of the day he was found on the Thistlethorn estate’s doorstep, Rylan Cloudgift’s greatest wish came true: he unlocked his first Skill, thus becoming an Emerald-Grade Quinthar.

Unfortunately, this did not prove the end of his life as an indentured servant like he’d imagined. Instead—as he’d gained his Skill by throwing a knife through a busy kitchen to nail a fly to the wall—he woke up in the cooler, still wearing the deepmetal...

Additional chapters!

All right, I've made a decision.

It's high time I got off my lazy butt and started treating you guys the way you deserve. ^^

By which I mean, I'm going to start posting more chapters! :p

Specifically, I'm going to be posting on Mondays and Fridays.

Now, for the coming weeks, I'm first going to expand the chapter lead for the higher tiers a bit, back to what it used to be. That means only the Ruby tier and up will start out getting a chapter every Monday, but once I'm d...

Being a writer is weird

Yesterday, I hit a bit of a snag on a chapter. I took a little stroll to think more clearly, and while I found some answers, I still wasn't quite sure how to continue the chapter.

Then, this morning, I woke up at 3:30, and my mind was conjuring up scene after amazing scene. I spent about an hour trying to get back to sleep, only to get on my phone every five minutes or so to make notes, as my brain refused to slow back down.

If I hadn't been worried about waking my girlfriend, I p...

Read this if you're on an Apple device!

So, Apple recently ruled that Patreon subscriptions purchased through the app store are subject to the 30% cut that Apple takes on all purchases. In practice, that means if you subscribed to my Patreon through the Patreon app on an Apple device, you're paying roughly 45% more to account for that fee.

(This is only for new subscriptions since a few months, older ongoing ones are unaffected!)

For the record, my tier prices (in USD) are $1 for the Peasant tier, $2 dollars fo...

Chapter 72: Sunrise + Epilogue

Rylan leaned over the prow railing, staring down at Dreadmaw in disbelief as it dazedly started to swim off, the captain secure in its maw. A stiff swish of its tail sent it slowly floating off to the side, away from the ship, as goopy blood trickled steadily from the corner of its closed maw.

The captain’s final blow had clearly done a number on it—one of its eyes had even popped out, and was now dangling out the side of its head. However, while it seemed to be retreating, it didn�...

Chapter 71: Hanging by a Thread

Rylan frantically scanned the fog below, but couldn’t find the captain’s blue-glowing spirit.

[Boss, look over there!] Stan called out, sending along a sense of location that was below Dreadmaw. [The rope’s stuck in its suck-hole!]

Looking at where Dreadmaw was rushing away from the ship towards the other side of the ravine, Rylan indeed spotted a faint blue glow.

“Rylan, what happened?” Halloth called out, his deep voice urgent for once.

“The...

Welcome new patrons! ^^

Hello hello, and welcome! :)

It's lovely to see so many new people joining, and I really appreciate all your support.

I got a question about the release schedule recently, and just wanted to clarify: right now, I'm doing one new chapter a week, on Friday.

I'm posting a lot of backlog on Royalroad at the moment, and things are little hectic as a result, but I plan to increase the pace to two chapters a week here once the craziness there is over. ^^

That's still not exa...

Chapter 70: Dreadmaw

“Hard over to port, now!” the captain barked, prompting Halloth to spin the wheel and Yuel to reel in a rope. The portside steering fin above Rylan creaked as it extended into the fog flowing by overhead.

Suddenly, the deck heaved upwards, sending everyone stumbling as the ropes connecting it to the floater momentarily grew slack.

“Soren!” the captain called out to the prow, where Rylan’s friend was peering down over the railing. “What was that?!”

“I-I don’...