“You going to stare at that thing for the rest of the day?” Master criticizes me while I’m sitting on one of the stone benches.
“I can’t believe I did it.” I mumble over the weapon.
“So, I’ve heard five times now.” I can hear him rolling his eyes behind me. “Are you going to finish it today or wait until you’re allowed to come back?”
I spring to my feet. “Yeah, I should probably finish it.”
I move over to the anvil and gently plac...
2020-07-02 07:05:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Side by side, Master Del and I make our way towards the village headman’s house. I have a sense of déjà vu while we make our way over to the village meeting.
If anything, this walk is even more nerve-wracking a second time. We weren’t aware of the dangers we would be facing back then. Now the whole village needs to be warned about the dangers we encountered.
I wish we could skip through time, so we could move directly into our forging tomorrow but I doubt ...
2020-06-30 07:14:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Morning master!” I call out to the prone form of Del. He’s already laying on his favorite bench as I enter his clearing.
He opens his eyes and looks surprised to see me.
“What’s with that look? Not happy to see me?” I send a challenging look down at master.
“Yeah, I’m actually pretty surprised to see you. I figured your mother would’ve tortured you for at least three days before I saw you again.” A series of flashbacks from last night cause the blood to ...
2020-06-26 05:53:49 +0000 UTC View Post
“Left.” I hear Ronald’s voice behind me.
I turn slightly to my left and lead our formation through the forest. Master is a few steps behind me off to my left while Ronald is matching his pace to my right.
“Right.” I shift our direction again with Ronald’s advice.
Normally our positions would be switched but I’m the only one who can spot the Chameleon Spiders. Their ability to change their color and hide their presence is a dangerous combo. I ...
2020-06-23 07:07:11 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s just a soda can, Stanley. Waiving it around like a lunatic only makes everyone think you shouldn’t drink anymore soda.” This was just another day after school in the science club.
“It’s not the soda can that maters! It’s the metal that it’s made of that’s the cool part.” Stanley practically radiates excitement.
I wish I can change the expression on my past-self’s face but this is only a memory. If only I could talk to Stanley one more time. I coul...
2020-06-19 05:49:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Through the trees we march, trying to maintain a tight formation in the dark forest.
In our silence, the wind conducts a foreboding tune with the trees acting as the grandest of symphonies.
My hands are too clammy. Wiping my sweaty palms against my shirt proves a fruitless effort. The tight grip I have on my axe insures they’ll just become sweaty again in a few moments.
For a fleeting instant, I miss our time marching here.
Today is the day we atta...
2020-06-16 00:17:37 +0000 UTC View Post
“We make camp here tonight!” Camden shouts from atop his Jelen.
“Why are we stopping so early?” I whisper to my left. Father doesn’t look tired either and he’s carrying both of our gear.
“Look around, sweety.” Father moves to a flat spot up against a large tree and sets our luggage down.
Looking around, I can’t spot a reason why we’re stopping. The hunters around us are starting to prepare their own campsites.
Wait! Where’...
2020-06-11 16:19:29 +0000 UTC View Post
“Master?!”
“Master?!”
“Master Del?!” Entering Del’s clearing, I’m surprised that Del isn’t on his favorite bench.
“Stop your hollering, I’m coming out!” His voice echoes out of his hut.
A few seconds later, Master Del appears in his doorway sporting some metal armor. I recognize the armor as the same pieces I saw when I first cleaned Del’s house. I had no idea the armor was meant for his personal use.
<... 2020-06-04 19:29:21 +0000 UTC View Post
“Once you mentioned the horde, I figured you would call me in.” Del’s response to Camden doesn’t reach my ears.
How does he know my level? Did Sandra say something to him? But she hasn’t seen me in over four years.
“I still need to thank you. I know how much you loathe talking to people, it was surprising to me when I heard you took on an apprentice. Despite your quirkiness, you’re the strongest person in the village. We need your help against the ...
2020-06-02 02:27:52 +0000 UTC View Post
“You sure you don’t want me to push the cart back to my hut?” Shaking my head not only shows my reluctance to relinquish the cart to Del but has the bonus effect of removing the sweat dripping across my face. Master Del pushed the cart out of the mine and up the quarry’s ramp, the least I can do is push it back to the forge.
We usually only go mining twice a month. Leaving the rest of the time to the forest, allowing it time to reclaim the path bet...
2020-05-29 09:52:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Why did mother insist that I scrub the floor? Our floors are made of stone, just because there was a little grime from the night before doesn’t mean I should have had to get on my hands and knees to scrub my bedroom floor.
Using Double Step combined with my status points, I’ll reach Del’s clearing in only a few minutes. The day I’m most excited to work and I get held up cleaning by mother. I shouldn’t complain. I ...
2020-05-25 06:59:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Looking up at the night sky, I’m awed at the beauty of the heavens. There is no light pollution in this world, and the moons are just bright enough for my eyes to work in the middle of the night.
Rubbing my hand across the boulder I’m sitting on; I remember the first time I distributed my status points. It was on this rock I overcame my first challenge with my stats. Well, next to it, I also remember falling off the boulder and Richard laughing at me.
I came...
2020-05-21 20:25:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Authors notes:
This is a full Aaliyah chapter. The beginning is the same as the beginning of Ch:22 but turns into its own story. If you skipped the Ch: 22.5 you should at least go back and read the new ending.
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Why am I back here again? I thought I was over these goblin dreams. Stretching my arms out, I look around the familiar goblin infested clearing.
Maybe it’s because I just raised my stats, but the realization that this is all dream c...
2020-05-19 04:35:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Authors notes:
I added the Measurement skill into Aaliyah’s Status Page in Ch:21.
This is my first patron post. With all the comments about Ch: 22 not flowing correctly, I decided to split Ch:22 into two distinct chapters. Ch: 22.5 will be Emily’s point of view, expanding the world and Ch:23 will be a full Aaliyah chapter.
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Emily Pitz point of view.
“Why does there have to be so much fog every morning?” Scanning the oppo...
2020-05-19 04:34:39 +0000 UTC View Post
In case you’re looking for the chapters from before I started posting on Patron, visit here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31474/magic-smithing
2020-05-19 04:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post