Chapter 40
“The ring is created with Soul Power,” Overlord said. “Harmony is the key to making your super portal work while passing through the earth, but you can’t keep the harmonies coherent after a certain distance. That is where Spirit comes in.”
Overlord pointed at the projected ring and eight equidistant points glowed around the circumference. “If you place Scarecrow Aspect clones around the circumference you can use them to manage the harmonies.”
Ruwen f...
2025-05-17 07:21:30 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 39
“What do you intend to place there?” Lir asked.
“I was thinking the poison gas, ash plume, and shock wave,” Ruwen responded.
“Historical models suggest plume generation will continue for approximately five months.”
“Seriously? How can I speed that up?”
“Remove a significant portion of the magma chamber.”
Predicting Ruwen’s next question, Lir continued. “Twenty percent of the volume should suffice.”
“Thirty percen...
2025-05-17 07:20:02 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
It has taken all week, but I think I’m past whatever issues have been slowing my writing down. I really got bogged down and restarted chapters three times because I had gone off the rails. The remaining portion of the current quest is going to go much faster.
My wife is out of town and despite my attempts to get her to take the two little ones with her, she declined. I need to put more points in Charisma I guess. Anyway, solo parenting is exhausting and all I can think about...
2025-05-10 06:29:03 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 38
Everything inside the sphere of Fortune’s Discovery inverted, causing the leprechauns to turn translucent and the wispy dragons to materialize. The dragons glided through the ethereal leprechauns and targeted the golden energy revealed by the alchemical spell. The thin tendrils of black smoke connecting Ruwen to the harvesting dragons pulsed, and golden light streaked toward him. The light collected around his Void Band before disappearing.
The dragons struck...
2025-05-10 06:27:48 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 37
The leprechauns recovered quickly from the explosion and arrayed themselves at the volcano’s base. Each stood on a green clover, which floated on the lava. This group either had better defensive skills than the last attackers or were more powerful. They held knives, twisted staves, flutes carved from bone, and a disturbing harps made from small ribs. Ruwen really hoped those bones had come from animals and not people.
The ground shook again and the volcano convulsed. ...
2025-05-10 06:26:17 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 36
Ruwen continued to channel Harmony through his Sacral chakra, focusing on the emotions that radiated from the leprechauns like heat from fire: greed and possession. As he approached the volcano fifteen green figures materialized in his awareness, their forms outlined by their own emotions.
They’d strung invisible threads between trees, creating webs of Creation Realm magic. The strands emitted a sickly green light and formed what Ruwen guessed was an intricate alert s...
2025-05-10 06:24:55 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
This week was basically a repeat of last week. I’m still not writing as many chapters as I need to, and the longer it takes me to get going, the worse it will be in late June and early July when I need to have the book finished. When I get behind like that, it is hard on the family so I need to avoid it
I also realized I don’t have a cover yet and I need to get on that. July will be here before we know it. I’m hesitant about getting the cover started because what I’d p...
2025-05-03 07:30:07 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 35
Ting!
You have completed the quest…
Name: Path of the Harmonic
Description: The Verses bow to your music, Harmonic. Dissonance transformed into harmony—peace into conflict—a sacred duty resonates within the symphony of existence, balanced between sound and silence. Commitment a bow—insight an arrow—purpose a crescendo of strength.
Step:
2025-05-03 07:27:20 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 34
Ruwen considered for a few seconds and then strode over to the large concave dish. He placed a hand on it and tried to detect anything out of the ordinary. He dropped his hand and frowned.
“Why?” Ruwen asked.
“Why what?” Overlord replied.
Ruwen pointed at the dish. “Why did this appear now? Purgatory has only existed for a short time so it’s possible this capability was always here, but the incorporation of the Zealot’s angel formations a...
2025-05-03 07:25:53 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 33
Minimized Notifications blinked in the bottom of Ruwen’s vision, and his quest interface had flared brighter letting him know a quest had updated. He assumed those all related to banishing the last of the five leprechauns. Maybe its treasure had been in that tree.
Ruwen felt bad for destroying such a magnificent tree and used his Architect Role to reconstruct it.
Glancing around for loot, Ruwen froze when he heard the cursing. Since he couldn’t understand the ...
2025-05-03 07:24:22 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
Unfortunately, my writing productivity didn’t improve in the second half of the week. April is almost over which really only gives me a couple of months to finish book 12. July is already packed so that only leaves May and June.
Travis had estimated needing book 12 at the time we will both be at the litrpg con in Denver. Leaving a buffer for editing, that’s eight, maybe nine, weeks to finish the story and I still haven’t even gotten us to the conclave yet. At this rate i...
2025-04-26 07:06:40 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 32
Ruwen heard the clicking noise first as he strode through the jungle. The emotions from this last leprechaun had been difficult to isolate. He couldn’t really tell what the emotion was, but it didn’t feel like greed.
The jungle canopy thickened overhead, blocking the sunlight and creating patches of darkness. Again, the faint sound of rhythmic clicking reached him.
The sound led Ruwen to another massive ceiba tree. It’s umbrella like crown starved the ground...
2025-04-26 07:05:31 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 31
Both were resources.
Name: Desiccated Rainbow Shard
Quantity: 7
Description: A dull, multicolored, rice-sized crystal that when exposed to a solution creates a localized rainbow.
Effect: 50% chance to level up associated skill.
Effect: 30% reduction in the solution’s failure ra...
2025-04-26 07:04:09 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 30
The leprechaun with the staff burst through the foliage twenty feet in front of Ruwen. Its eyes glowed with emerald fury as it raised its weapon. Green runes appeared across its desiccated skin.
Ruwen knew attacking the leprechaun was useless, and he’d located the treasure stash. He decided to take a few seconds and let the mage attack, curious about the leprechauns’ magic.
Green glyphs in the shape of a two-foot circle appeared in front of the leprechaun mage...
2025-04-26 07:03:00 +0000 UTC
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Hey!
I hope everyone's week is going alright. Things here are going well although I'm already behind on my chapters.
Anyway, I just wanted to send a quick note to those expecting book 11 in the mail. I finally got them all mailed today. I'm sorry it took so long. Let's blame my ADHD. This is an example of why I'd only get one chapter written a month if I didn't have a weekly deadline.
Thanks as always for supporting this story. Talk to you again Saturday morning.
Take...
2025-04-22 20:47:35 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
This week I had to backtrack a bit as I recognized what I wrote didn’t belong in this section of the story. Thankfully as the years have passed, I’ve gotten better at this, so I only lost a day or two. Still, it sucks as I was already struggling a bit with productivity.
I’m about seven chapters ahead of patreon and I realized today book 12 is already at 60k words. I’m very aware that Ruwen spent most of last book and all of this book away from the gang. That is not my ...
2025-04-19 06:49:44 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 29
The leprechauns reminded Ruwen of tiny green bugs. That association increased his anxiety level enough that he channeled level two Scrub to his hands.
Hands now glowing white with cleansing power, Ruwen placed one on top of his head and the other over his stomach. The rapid vibrations spread over his Scarecrow Aspect. The leprechauns didn’t immediately die, but the iron needles that impaled them heated rapidly from the vibrations. The leprechauns screeched as...
2025-04-19 06:48:55 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 28
Ruwen didn’t move. Harmonic Sight revealed the leprechauns’ dense harmonies hadn’t unraveled and he hadn’t received any quest updates. It meant despite their headless bodies, these leprechauns remained alive.
The dagger-wielding scout Ruwen had just beheaded vanished and reappeared behind him, the blade already in motion. His Divine reflexes and years of Bamboo Viper training activated.
In a fluid motion, Ruwen turned and shifted his hips away fro...
2025-04-19 06:47:42 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 27
Ruwen dismissed all the Notifications and activated Last Breath to decide the best way to handle these attackers. Starting with where they’d originated.
Naktos had stuck Ruwen and his friends in the Spirit Realm. Thinking back on it he hadn’t noticed anything he’d consider Creation Essence, other than maybe not physically dying. Since powers in the Destruction Realm had damned up the flow of magic energy to the Creation Realm it might explain why the Spirit Realm ...
2025-04-19 06:46:33 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
Nothing too interesting happened this week. I haven’t been quite as productive as I’d hoped, mostly because of work taking a lot of my attention and creative energy. It might be necessary to alter my schedule (getting up early to write) so I can devote my best mental state to the story.
I opened chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20 for Root.
I opened chapters 21, 22, and 23 for Harvester.
I added chapters 24, 25, and 26 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and A...
2025-04-12 07:23:07 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 26
Ruwen willed the Carnelian of Desire into his trembling left hand and the Soul pain dulled but didn’t disappear.
Level four Soul power sputtered into Ruwen’s body, rebuilding it. As if competing, energy from his Activated Root chakra coursed through his body like warm water, healing the damage and rebuilding his missing parts.
The Divine and Mental Domains had both remained unaffected so while Overlord, Uruziel, and Lir had all vaporized in the explosion, they...
2025-04-12 07:21:59 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 25
The carrot immediately turned a deep orange, which seeped like toxin into Ruwen’s skin. He studied the cursed magic with Harmony, both the location aspect and the skin coloring portion.
The location magic was incredibly clever. Instead of trying to bypass the vast number of concealment magics, Blapy had instead focused on the energy an item absorbed or carried because of the value others placed on it. The more valuable something was to someone, the more of this energy...
2025-04-12 07:20:40 +0000 UTC
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[Author’s Note – In what has become a habit, the next three chapters are raw and unedited. Straight from my brain. That means there are likely a lot of errors. Thanks for pointing them out…it helps.]
Chapter 24
Ruwen shifted his gaze to the gem in his hand and Analyzed it.
Target: Carnelian (Enriched)
Type: Resource – Crystal
Quality: 100% Pristine...
2025-04-12 07:19:13 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
Not much of interest happened this week. Work has taken more of my mental space this week which impacted how much I could write.
I started watching the anime “86” and have really enjoyed the first few episodes. It reignited my desire to write a powered armor story. The book “Armor” by John Steakley has lived rent free in my head since the moment I finished it. That, coupled with summers spent playing an old RPG called Gamma World (can you say Powered Assault Armor) and...
2025-04-05 07:24:36 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 23
Ruwen continued humming as they approached the riverbank, and the glow intensified before the mud fell away, revealing a circular tunnel that sloped gently downward. Orange crystals embedded in the walls provided enough light to see, and the tunnel floor remained dry despite being below the water level.
"That was easy," Overlord said suspiciously.
"Too easy," Uruziel replied.
Ruwen agreed but stepped into the tunnel anyway. The passage descended in a spiral,...
2025-04-05 07:23:31 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 22
Harmony detailed the barrier that now surrounded the geode and by extension, Ruwen. Likely the purpose of this trap was to imprison or slow crystal thieves enough so the desiccated leprechauns could show up. He had no intention of waiting for them.
Ruwen created a fist-sized ball of light which he shoved between two crystals. The faint shadows caused by Glow grew more distinct from the brighter light and he sank through a shadow that touched his foot. Even...
2025-04-05 07:22:13 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 21
Ruwen paused, expecting some type of visible change to the world, but nothing happened. He’d stop by and see Pine after finishing here and see what the old man had gotten. Ruwen’s parents should have received at least two of the faction quests, so he needed to see them as soon as possible too.
Overlord pointed at the Notification Ruwen still projected into the air. “I think that means we only get in trouble if we leave with the leprechauns’ stuff.”
Ruwen...
2025-04-05 07:21:08 +0000 UTC
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Hi!
I decided to release four chapters again this week since the cliffhanger on the third chapter was kind of hard. You’re welcome.
Writing is still going well. I do have a confession that I feel really bad about. I still haven’t managed to get the signed books mailed out. I’m sincerely sorry about that. I will really do everything in my power to get that done this week. Again, I’m sorry for the delay.
It’s already late so I’m going to keep this short. Chapters a...
2025-03-29 06:33:42 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 20
“What is it?” Overlord asked.
Ruwen read the Notification with the ominous red border out loud for everyone:
ALERT: Fate disturbance detected!
Localized luck probabilities altered.
Current Vector: Negative
Alignment Shift: 17% and increasing.
Source: Unknown.
Recommend extreme caution.
Ruwen continued with the next Notification:
WARNING: Proximity alert!
2025-03-29 06:32:29 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 19
Ruwen stood in front of his perfect crystal, as the pressure wave surged around his back. Calming harmonies poured from him but he could tell it wouldn’t be enough. With a thought he extended his Void Band, using thousands of points of Energy to force it into the stone.
Snatching the crystal along with the surrounding rock, Ruwen placed it in Inventory.
A moment later the waves passed. The only evidence something had occurred was the small rocks in the ceiling s...
2025-03-29 06:31:23 +0000 UTC
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