Terry frowned down the tunnel where he thought he might be hearing some scuttling noises. Then again, it could just be his imagination. Giant cockroaches were probably going to be haunting his subconscious and nightmares for a while. They were just so goddamned creepy. No, he thought. They’re creepy when they’re normal-sized. They’re appalling when they get this big. He glanced over at the still sleeping Kelima and decided to give her another minute while he c...
2025-11-03 05:03:37 +0000 UTC
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Yes, the publication day for Volume 7 of Unintended Cultivator is almost upon us. It's dropping on Amazon and Audible (fingers crossed) in about 9 days on November 11.
For anyone who wants to preorder a copy of the ebook, you can do that here.
For anyone who wants to preorder a copy of the audiobook, you can do that 2025-11-02 17:39:08 +0000 UTC
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Okay, volume 7 of Unintended Cultivator is going to drop on Amazon in about nine or ten days, which means that its ARC time for the higher tiers. This is usually where I write some filler content to make sure that the link doesn't show up in a preview screen. Behold the filler! All hail the filler! Remember that you too are mortal or, as the Romans say it, "Mememto mori."
Okay, that should do it.
You can grab your advanced reader copy of Volume 7 via bookfunnel 2025-11-02 17:29:35 +0000 UTC
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“Oh, my gods, these things are so gross!” shouted Kelima.
“Less chatting and more killing!” bellowed Terry, as he punted a cockroach the size of a great dane into a nearby wall.
Watching the vile thing explode into a gooey mass of shattered chitin was almost enough to make him gag. Yeah, whatever he might have said to Kelima, she was absolutely right. These things were disgusting. Fucking dungeon insect swarm trope, he cursed internally. He lifted a hand and sent ...
2025-11-02 17:23:24 +0000 UTC
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Sen gave his master a wry smile and said, “The last time we did this, you made me go out looking for the things I needed.”
Master Feng broke out in a very amused smile.
“So, I did, and with good reasons. You shouldn’t expect things to be easy.”
“You didn’t even use most of the things I got.”
“Of course, I didn’t. Those things weren’t for those swords. They were for the swords we’re about to make.”
“You were planning this far ahead?” ...
2025-10-31 23:22:14 +0000 UTC
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“Here,” said Master Feng, handing Sen two items.
One of the items was the original manual for The Celestial Form body cultivation method. The other was a plain scroll with, Sen assumed, the translation he’d asked Master Feng to make. It had almost felt like cheating to ask the elder cultivator do that for him. However, having someone who knew the ancient and forgotten dialect translate it seemed far safer than trying to do it himself. No matter how much faster or better he learned...
2025-10-31 15:22:49 +0000 UTC
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I know it's a common refrain lately, but a massive weather front moved in and kicked off a migraine yesterday morning that still hasn't gone away. I took several doses of my migraine prescription. So, the migraine is better enough that I can stumble my way through writing, but I'm less objective than usual about the quality. If it sucks, I apologize and will revise it when my brain is working better. I'm going do my best to knock out another chapter this afternoon...maybe after another lo...
2025-10-30 14:21:06 +0000 UTC
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Standing up and stowing the canteen in his pack next to a once again napping Dusk, Terry stretched, rolled his neck, and yawned.
“Okay,” he said, “let’s go fight a boss goblin.”
“Did you really just yawn?”
“Yeah. Why? I’m already bored with this whole dungeon excursion. I just want to get it over with so we can get the special rocks.”
“I don’t feel like you’re taking this seriously enough.”
“I just punched that solid stone wall like ...
2025-10-29 00:48:57 +0000 UTC
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Zhou Yinuo stared at the wall. That was all there was to do in the room where those damnable soldiers had put her. They had ordered the castle servants to empty out everything else. The only dignity her guards had allowed her was the chair she was sitting in. She wanted to seethe, but every time she started to work up to it, a voice from her memory punctured her righteous indignation.
“Yinuo,” said her aunt, her matronly face kind but stern, “you are a noble. Not only that, you ar...
2025-10-28 22:19:27 +0000 UTC
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A migraine swooped in and knocked me on my ass yesterday, but fear not! Here is the chapter I would have posted yesterday. Another will be forthcoming later today. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
The nobles exchanged brief looks before the handsome, older man directed a look of pure disdain at the others. With a scoff, he addressed them.
“I can’t believe that you are the peers I’ve been deemed worthy to stand with. I’ll go first, Lord Lu....
2025-10-28 15:06:01 +0000 UTC
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So, rather than keeping you guys perpetually locked into a state of uncertainty about what I'm working on and when, I figured I'd try out something that might or might not become a regular staple of this page. The Weekly Update.
So, here's what's going on at the moment. A lesson I need to learn every few years is that unfinished tasks take on a kind of psychic weight in your mind. I think of them as psychic anchors. They longer they linger there, the more monumental they become in you...
2025-10-27 11:11:01 +0000 UTC
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“You are not more awesome than me,” said Kelima.
“Of course, I am. I’m unleaded.”
“I— What?”
“Unleaded is clearly superior. There’s no arguing about it.”
Kelima’s eyes narrowed, and she asked, “You’re making some reference to your old world that you know I won’t understand, aren’t you?”
“So suspicious. I would never do that.”
“You do it all the time!”
“You must be remembering wrong.”
“I’...
2025-10-27 08:05:27 +0000 UTC
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“I wasn’t going to—” Kelima started, but a stern look from Terry shut that down.
Yet, the noble girl was saved from additional chastisement by Dusk. The kitten, who had slept through the wild run through the forest, dropping into an ominous hole, being teleported, and Terry killing a bunch of goblins, finally woke up. She crawled out of Terry’s pack and onto his shoulder. Yet, the very moment she caught sight of the glint from whatever was farther down the corridor, she was of...
2025-10-27 06:03:21 +0000 UTC
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As Terry dropped through the air like a rock, something happened. It was something so horrible, so unspeakable, so frustrating that words could not contain it. The air pressure ripped his hat loose and pulled it out of reach before he could snatch it. By itself, this wasn’t a matter for concern. No, it was what happened next that made Terry want to find whoever was responsible for this hole and punch them in the throat five or six hundred times. He hadn’t dropped more than thirty feet bef...
2025-10-26 11:32:05 +0000 UTC
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So, when I'm not working hard on other things, I've been writing this a few hundred words at a time to get it out of my brain. I think there's enough here now for people to get a feel for what I'm doing. Let me know what you think...or not...lol. Nobody is waiting for this. It's not under contract. It's just a fun thing. ~Eric
***
Chapter 1
“You’re lucky to even have this job, you perpetual screwup!”
Jack Smith did his best to k...
2025-10-25 10:48:58 +0000 UTC
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The nobles remained silent for several long seconds. Their expressions weren’t quite horrified, but they were nowhere near to happy. He supposed that was to be expected. He had dashed any hope that any of them had of taking control or even mounting an attempt to reclaim their land. Nor did he think any of them truly believed that they could stand against him if he came back with a mind to shed blood. It wasn’t so much what he’d said that bothered them. He hadn’t revealed much that had...
2025-10-24 20:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The nobles, who had been shifting uncomfortably, all froze in place. Sen could actually hear their hearts start beating even faster than the already rapid pace they had when he entered the room. He wasn’t even trying to intimidate them. They’d simply worked themselves up so much that anything he did or said at this point was interpreted as a prelude to death. To be fair, it might still be if they acted foolishly. Nonetheless, he’d had reasons to spare these particular nobles. It wouldn...
2025-10-23 20:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Sen took his time getting changed into the ornate robes he’d worn when entering the city. Misty Peak called them his imperial garb. He just thought of them as not especially comfortable. Not that anything was truly uncomfortable anymore, but they didn’t move as cleanly as his usual robes. It made him worry that he might rip them if he moved too fast.
“I swear that I’m going to burn these,” he said.
“Don’t do that,” said Misty Peak from the chair where she...
2025-10-22 20:00:07 +0000 UTC
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It was a nightmare. He knew that. A man could only have the same terrible dream so many times before he recognized it for what it was. Not that it helped at all. Despite bending every last bit of his willpower on making this thing that was half memory and all nightmare, it always played out the same way. The coldly arrogant look in the man’s eyes plagued him, even though the face had become blurrier and blurrier to the point where it the mere suggestion of something vaguely human. But those...
2025-10-21 20:00:06 +0000 UTC
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So, yeah, my sleep schedule is a hot mess right now. Thanks, migraines! But, much like the spice in Frank Herbert's Dune, the chapters must flow. Even if it happens at 3:30 in the morning. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
“Forgive me, Lord Lu, but you truly must return to the city. There are many matters there that require your attention,” said Xu Xiao Dan
Sen felt an irrational urge to snap at the former patriarch. Taking a breath, he turned away from...
2025-10-21 07:45:59 +0000 UTC
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And here it is. I'm now officially caught up on UC, which means I can work on other things this weekend guilt-free! Woohoo! Enjoy! ~Eric
***
It turned out that Auntie Caihong did have a solution, mostly because Uncle Kho was always interested in reading about new things. As a nascent soul cultivator, he was far more likely to stumble across ancient and hideously fragile scrolls and manuals. The solution wasn’t simple, though. It was a multistag...
2025-10-18 09:43:36 +0000 UTC
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So, I got another migraine today. Good times, as always. The change of seasons can be hard on me sometimes. But I said there would be chapters and didn't want to leave everyone completely high and dry on that account. So, here's a chapter. I'll take a swing at writing one more and see what happens. I may finish it tonight, or it might get finished tomorrow. Either way, enjoy! ~Eric
***
“It’s a body cultivation manual meant for nascent soul cu...
2025-10-18 05:47:03 +0000 UTC
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Okay, sorry for the miss. A fresh migraine mixed with already screw sleep schedule ganged up on me and threw the universe out of balance. Here's the chapter that you should have gotten Wednesday. There will be two more chapters later today, which should get us back on track. There might be some bonus non-Unintended Cultivator content coming as well. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
Walking through the ruins of the sect was somewhat eerie for Sen. It wasn’t the...
2025-10-17 08:53:05 +0000 UTC
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Before anyone asks, yes. Yes, these recent chapters exist entirely because Falling Leaf has barely gotten any screen time in the last few volumes. Not having these little exchanges between them is one of the biggest downsides of the recent arc(s). Also, I really love writing those exchanges. So, yeah, I wrote these because they're what I would want to read if I was reading these books instead of writing them. These chapters also gave me a way to plausibly pull those soul tugs back into th...
2025-10-15 06:41:40 +0000 UTC
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I was right. If I'd try to do this all in one chapter, it would have been close to 4000 words. Anyway, here's the second part. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
“Is this when the terrifying part starts?” asked Falling Leaf. “You look happy.”
Sen rolled his eyes and said, “Not quite yet. I still need to prepare a few things.”
Glancing over to the table, he saw that it was completely empty of food. How long had he been thinking about the pro...
2025-10-13 22:28:13 +0000 UTC
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Hey, everybody. Sorry about the miss on Friday. Migraine got me. Then, when I went to write this yesterday, my brain was more tired than I thought. I got about 1000 words before I realized I was out of good words for the day. Today, I thought to myself: "Self, you gotta finish that chapter and post it." So, I tried. And then i realized that the chapter was gearing up to be like 3500-4000 words, give or take, if I wrote it the way I planned. I'm not opposed to a 2500 word chapter, but anyt...
2025-10-12 20:28:53 +0000 UTC
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As Sen flew them over the wilds, he couldn’t help but stare a little at the trees. They were different from the trees where he grew up if no less dense. Despite having seen them for a while now, he hadn’t taken the time to really study them. There were more fruit trees than he was used to seeing outside of an orchard. Some of them were even oddly bright shades of orange and yellow. It was only when Master Feng had said the orange ones were quite tasty that Sen had even thought about eatin...
2025-10-10 00:12:04 +0000 UTC
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Sen spent the next few days going through a now familiar and excruciatingly tedious routine. It mostly involved him sitting there, listening to people speak their vows to the heavens, and waiting to see if the heavens accepted. It was a task he would have joyously handed over to literally anyone else, except he couldn’t. It turned out that there were two key reasons for that, even if he didn’t fully understand those reasons. He had learned that no one else seemed aware of that telltale gl...
2025-10-09 08:24:50 +0000 UTC
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It took a bit of effort and more time than I'd like to find the groove for this one, but I think I think I got there in the end. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
The silence in the room was profound as the six nascent soul cultivators stared at each other. All of them were aware that, for people of their power, it was a ludicrously short distance. Any of them could cross it and begin the violence in less than an eye blink. Yet, no one moved. No one spoke. Becaus...
2025-10-08 08:59:02 +0000 UTC
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So, yeah, I realized that I've been working on this but not actually posting any of it here or on Royal Road. Hence, I will begin doling out the chapters as I find time to go back and give them at least a cursory copy-edit. Enjoy! ~Eric
***
Terry stared at the hole in the ground that had opened up and swallowed Kelima whole. He could only think of one way to truly express his feelings about that particular turn of events.
“Well, fuck,” ...
2025-10-07 22:07:20 +0000 UTC
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