ericdontigney

Unintended Cultivator Vol. 9: Chapter 39 – Distant Observation

Sen observed the Twisted Blade Sect compound from a distance. Not that the distance meant much to him. For anything less precise than formation work, scanning the compound from a mile away was as good as looking at it up-close. The compound had proven smaller than he’d expected, even if it was many times larger than his own. It was about the size of a moderately-sized town. That had given him pause at first. Several days of studying the sect buildings and the movement of the sect members wh...

Mage Gladiator: Chapters 1-3

I'm particularly tired today and not particularly happy with how the next chapter of Unintended Cultivator is turning out. So, I'm gonna call it a night and try again in the morning. But I don't want to leave you with nothing to read. This is one of my back-back-back burner projects that I open up and write a couple paragraphs on every month or so. Let me know what you think. ~Eric

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Her imperial majesty, Ariana Jade Margaret Celeste, nodded to her guards and c...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 38 – First Blow

Cao Kai-Ming found herself sitting by the fire and not sleeping, again. It wasn’t so much that she needed sleep, but she liked to sleep. It made her feel sharp and that was important. Even a little mental lag could mean the difference between life and death, and life and death had been on her mind a lot. There was every indication that the sect meant to go to war. Oh, there hadn’t been any official word, yet, but she knew the signs. She’d seen them before. The sect was calling people ba...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 37 – Parting Instructions

A mildly amused Sen trailed in Sua Xing Xing’s wake as she led him through the town. She was giving him detailed explanations of everything that was currently underway. Most of the repair in the town was complete, although he did see some sect members finishing things up here and there. Some seemed happy enough to do it, while others wore annoyed expressions, but everyone worked diligently. Sen was tempted to stop and correct those with less-than-enthusiastic attitudes but restrained himsel...

Update: House-sitting Done

Okay, the great house-sitting adventure has come to a close. While the grill was nice, I'm glad to be back in my tiny little cramped apartment. Home is home, after all, no matter how shoebox-sized it might be.

Chapters should start appearing with substantially more regularity from here on out. A fact that I'm sure you'll all appreciate since we're coming up on the sect smiting part of the story. Honestly, though, having a bit of a semi-break did give me a chance to think out some what'...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 36 – Lightning Iris Blade

The interior of the blacksmith’s shop was hot. That was, no doubt, an effect of the forge that took up most of the space, even if it was hidden from view. Sen idly looked at the weapons and shields that shared space on the walls with the more mundane tools of farming, but idle interest was all that it was. While he suspected that most of those tools of violence were well-made, they were ultimately meant for mortal hands. Having recently tested and broken a jian meant for core cultivators, S...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 35 – Spider’s Lair

Sen stepped into the building he’d named the Spider’s Lair in a moment of poor decision-making. The name had stuck, mostly due to Glimmer of Night’s immediate approval. The building itself was set in a mostly unused corner of the compound. It was also one of a handful of buildings that were off-limits to virtually everyone because Sen didn’t want Glimmer of Night to reflexively kill some foolish qi-gathering cultivator with more curiosity than sense. The existence of the building came...

Unscheduled Interruption

So, I'm house-sitting this week. It's not all bad. There's a grill here, and I love grilled food. That being said, it's not fantastic for writing. I'm trying to write on a laptop while sitting at a kitchen table or on a couch. It's messing with the my writing rhythm. The kitchen table isn't ideal because it's just not that comfortable. The table is a little too high, which isn't a problem at first, but my arms and shoulders get tired and tight after a while. The chairs at the table are a litt...

Isekai Terry TOD: Chapter 21 – Drumstick

While the first part of the trip through the forest has been like some kind of awful nightmare that just refused to release its grip and let him wake, things changed after the foliasaur. His recognition that the world, or some douchey power related to it, wasn’t going to just let him go meant that he had to acclimate. And not the half-ass acclimation that he had been doing to skate by until he could find some escape hatch. There was no escape hatch. Not that he had any intenti...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 34 – Musings

That boy takes too much on his shoulders, thought Ma Caihong. Not that it was entirely a bad thing. She shifted her gaze to the darling little girl who was playing with that flock of birds that followed her around everywhere. The cultivator in her had wanted to study that thing with the birds. It was odd. She could feel that the child was doing something, but it wasn’t a technique as she understood it. In the end, though, she’d let it go. She had no intention of turning ...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 33 – People Are Confusing

It took three days before Sen was satisfied that they’d collected enough beast cores. Rather, it would have taken them a handful of hours to collect what he thought he’d need for the assault on the Twisted Blade Sect. He wanted to make sure that they’d have enough to help fend off a dedicated assault on the Academy compound while he was gone. That had eaten up most of the rest of their time. He didn’t think an attack would come while he was away this time. There was going to be too mu...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 32 – Body Testing

Sen brought his jian down in a casual swing and lopped off the stone boar’s head. His foot lashed out to connect with body of another. The spirit beast seemed to cave in around his foot, bones snapping and cracking under the pressure, before it was launched toward Falling Leaf. She didn’t even look, choosing instead to take a short step to the side and lash out with those deadly shadow claws she wielded. The claws sheared through the stone hide of the beast and spilled its internal organs...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 31 – Not Sharing Secrets

While he hadn’t expected it, Bahn Huizhong surprised Sen by saying that he would consider Sen’s offer to join the sect. It was a few days later that Sen found himself at the gate of the compound saying goodbye to the man and Li Yi Nuo.

“Here,” said Sen, holding out a box.

Bahn Huizhong took the box and, after a nod from Sen, opened it.

“What is that?” asked Li Yi Nuo leaning in to get a closer look. “Is that a beast core?”

“It used to be,” said Sen....

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 30 – No Bet

Sen took a deep breath as he stared out into the wilds beyond the edges of his sect compound. He’d take up station on the wall that would be the second line of defense if the place ever came under attack. The first line of defense was a series of formations that he and Uncle Kho had been developing, on and off, for the better part of a year. Sen didn’t like working that way, but there simply hadn’t been enough hours in the day. Plus, he didn’t want the details leaking. A few people th...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 29 – That’s Not Necessary

Sen felt Fu Ruolan’s unhappy gaze trying to bore a hole into the back of his skull. Given that he was working on poisons that were, he was pretty sure, three times as dangerous as the ones he used to kill Tong Guanting, the scrutiny wasn’t appreciated. Still, he persevered until he had sealed the absurdly dangerous concoction into several vials. It was all he could do. Letting his focus lapse would have been an almost instant death sentence. He also couldn’t stop the work without riskin...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 28 – Plans and Promises

Sen’s first reaction was to say yes, emphatically. What better help could there be with destroying a sect than a nascent soul cultivator who hated sects? That notion was immediately followed by an intense desire to say no. Sen had made this problem. He should solve it. It wasn’t Uncle Kho’s responsibility to fix things for him, even if the man was willing, eager even. He didn’t imagine that destroying another sect would help Uncle Kho. If that could help him, it woul...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 27 – Old Wounds

“So, where were you while all of that was happening?” Sen asked.

Uncle Kho looked up from the scroll he was reading. They were waiting for Auntie Caihong to finish up with Li Hua. Sen was confident that the woman would be fine, so it was mostly just waiting around. Uncle Kho had joined him in waiting, although he had pulled out one of his endless scroll to read. Sen honestly didn’t know how the man could pick things up and put them down and still get anything out of it. If Sen did...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 26 – Wrath, Part 2

Sen simply watched with an impassive expression, even as the rage roared inside of him. He would kill these people. There most certainly would not be a duel. But there would be suffering. Wu Xiao Dan seemed to be having an apoplectic fit. Sen was a little surprised that the man didn’t start frothing at the mouth. While Wu Xiao Dan tired to find the ability to speak, Bahn Huizhong walked over to Sen.

“Are you about to suggest that I let these people go?” asked Sen.

“No,” ...

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 25 – Wrath, Part 1

Sen tapped the top of the table in his office pensively. He’d spent more than a few idle minutes wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake passing off some of the things on his list to Sua Xing Xing. He’d doubted the decision so much that he’d gone so far as to hide and peek in on her working over the course of a few weeks. That had ended with him feeling both stupid and vaguely dirty. Not only had she not been slacking off or behaving toward the mortals in a way he woul...

Memorial Day Migraine

So, after I posted yesterday's chapter in the morning, I went about my day. Then, I got a migraine. That isn't unusual enough to warrant a post by itself. What was unusual was that it came out of nowhere. I usually have a feel for when they're coming or get a little warning. Not this time. And it was hand's down the worst migraine I've had in years. I'm talking turn off all the lights, cover my head with a pillow, force myself to drink water so I have some in my stomach for the next time I th...

Audiobook for Volume Two Is Live

Exciting news! The Volume Two audiobook is officially live over on Audible!

You can find it here

Unintended Cultivator V9: Chapter 24 – Want One?

Sua Xing Xing did her best to stay composed as she left the Patriarch’s office. It was a struggle. Her hands were shaking and her heart refused to stop pounding. A year. She had stayed here for a year, more than a year, and grown increasingly despondent. It hadn’t all been terrible. She hadn’t been abused by anyone. No one had asked her to do anything she found remotely objectionable. She had even been allowed to join the sect when Lu Sen had finally given up on the fantasy that he coul...