I opened my eyes after selecting the only class I could’ve.
[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve gained the class [Bookwyrm]!]
No levels in it. Drat. Resetting my class didn’t seem to bring stored experience over. I wanted the almost 900 stat points per level!
My improved senses made me the ultimate sneak. I could tell what Iona and Auri were doing in the living room. Skye was studying in her room, and Varuna had ...
2022-10-17 12:44:12 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone!
I first want to thank everyone for all of their support. It's hard to believe that two years have already passed by! This wouldn't be possible without all of you.
Book 8 has just released! At over 200k words, it's my fattest book yet! Now, Amazon is a bit of a black box in how it works, but the all mighty algorithm dictates what books do well, and what books it decides to ignore. One of the factors it strongly considers is ratings, and how well rated a b...
2022-10-14 12:28:42 +0000 UTC View PostIona woke up to a punch in the face.
It was a mostly harmless punch, the fist having no direction or intent behind it. The Valkyrie opened her eyes, but stayed lying down, grabbing Elaine’s fist as it flailed again.
She was having another nightmare. One of the hazards of sharing a bed with Elaine. She was whimpering, her face twisted in anguish and longing.
Iona wrapped her arms around Elaine, and the woman immediately calmed down. She shifted in her sleep, putting her hea...
2022-10-14 12:28:26 +0000 UTC View PostHey all!
I haven't been pleased with my old artist for some time now. The pieces he's delivered have felt more and more like he's been phoning it in. So, I went hunting for a new artist.
Out of the 9 contracted, 7 have delivered so far, and the WIP's from the remaining two I'm unsure will be a winner. Without further ado, here are the 7 contestant's submissions:
The entire gallery:
https://imgu...
First stop: The library. I was going to be laid up, potentially for weeks, and I wanted to have some light reading. What Marcelle had said about the Exterreri Empire was interesting, and I wanted to get some reading done on the subject. I didn’t want to be trying to work while I was convalescing, and the topic was interesting.
Ok, fine.
Everything was interesting to read about, if done well.
Second was home, where I’d previously bought a few pounds of p...
2022-10-12 12:43:09 +0000 UTC View PostAN: I can't math. Book 8 will be finished on Patreon and released on Amazon on October 14th.
FOR ONCE it'll be the same day on both. Unless Amazon can't handle a preorder properly. Hopefully it works...
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I skipped back, happy as could be. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, I was a graduate once over, and my biomancy plans had gotten thoroughly analyzed by a panel of experts.
“Elaine! ...
2022-10-10 14:17:40 +0000 UTC View PostI froze at Marcelle’s question, like a deer in the headlights.
Honestly a pretty stupid reflex, and not one I could exactly biomancy out.
“No - noooooo?” Even as I said it, I knew my protest sounded weak. “I’m only 25 years old!”
Marcelle snorted.
“Age has nothing to do with mortality, although congratulations on seizing it so young. And you’ve been at the School for a few years to boot! That is one heck of an accomplishment, you should feel pr...
2022-10-07 12:26:22 +0000 UTC View PostI wrinkled my nose as I knocked on Marcelle’s door.
“Please wait, I’m with a student.” She answered from the closed door.
Welp. Nothing to do but wait. There was no sense in a last second review of everything, I’d done it three times already and I was more liable to trip myself up and make a mistake at this stage, than find a true error.
I’d gone shopping for the items we needed for Fenrir’s ‘case’ ahead of time, and I’d underestimated magic.
People...
2022-10-05 19:53:34 +0000 UTC View PostAN: Sorry for the delay, IRL conspired to keep me away from my desktop until now.
Also, I've gotten some feedback on minor anatomical errors made last chapter. I thought I'd researched the hell out of it, but I made some minor mistakes. They're going to be corrected for the official release, but *practically* speaking they make no difference.
Doing a double release today, which officially gets Patreon to +25 chapters! Normal release on Friday.
Meh, while we're doing a mini anno...
2022-10-05 19:53:25 +0000 UTC View PostInternal changes to my skin were a different story. The skin had quite a few layers, and the epidermis was the main layer people saw.
The dermis was a different question, and something I could play with.
For Iona, I elected for tightly packed hexagonal shaped ankylosaurus plates. She’d lose a little bit of flexibility, in exchange for practically having a second layer of armor. It was the only major modification I was making to her body, outside of the norm.
I spe...
2022-10-03 12:44:13 +0000 UTC View PostFor the life of me, I couldn’t work out a way to practically harden the nerves against electrical shock. Fundamentally, a weak enough shock playing over my nerves looked exactly like a normal transmission, making various muscles contract or relax. Nerves were simple. They received a signal, they passed the signal along. I worked out a few designs that would analyze the length and intensity of signals, then throw them out. Technically, it would work.
It would also mur...
2022-10-03 12:44:07 +0000 UTC View PostHey all!
First off - I'm super sorry about last month! I only got the one picture incentive out. I had planned on this chapter being part of last month's incentives, but Flora got sick and I lost track of when the month rolled over. For some reason, I had it mapped out that I had the entire week - AKA until Sunday, today - to do it, but the month ACTUALLY ended on Friday.
WHOOPS!
There's no excuse on my end. I should have planned things better and gotten thin...
Hey all!
Just the quick end of month announcements!
First! Book 8 is available for preorder! 20% off when you preorder it! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGQK6LGT
At over 200k words, it's a chonker! Estimated release October 17th - the same day you all get the last chapter of book 8 on Patreon! I put it as the 21st to give myself some extra time if something goes wrong.
Second, triple chapter rel...
2022-09-29 03:33:44 +0000 UTC View PostThis is only the first incentive - I still need to write the second one! Still, hope this will tide you all over for now.
I'm also looking into a dozen other artists to start drawing the incentive artwork. The one I've been using started off strong, but I feel like he's been phoning it in more and more.
Link! https://imgur.com/rRObjTT
A few hours of mindless library work, and a quick dinner with Auri, Iona, and Fenrir, and I was back in my mini office, continuing to work on my skeleton design.
I’d picked up the crumpled paper and brought it to Auri for disposal.
“Brrrpt!”
She liked my new project.
I was happy with my design, but something was nagging at me. I leaned back at my picture, trying to work out what was bothering me about it.
Eventually I flipped open the Medical M...
2022-09-23 13:49:51 +0000 UTC View PostAN: Two chapters! Keep in mind both of these chapters were originally one, so if it feels like it's flowing a bit oddly... sorry!
===========================
I knocked on Marcelle’s closed door and waited.
“Please wait.” Her voice came from the office.
Blah. Waiting… at least there wasn’t one of the dreaded lines.
It was a shame Artemis and the rest had to leave. At the same time, they had their own lives. While they were currently living in ...
2022-09-23 13:49:39 +0000 UTC View Post“Artemis! I missed you!” I broke my hug, looking up at her ever-present grin.
“You missed me? Elaine, how many times have I told you to work on your aim?”
I rolled my eyes and punched her arm.
“Where’s Julius?” I asked, frowning.
I got tapped on my shoulder.
“Right here. Some of us don’t make a huge spectacle - oooof.” Julius was interrupted as I tackle-hugged him around his waist, not caring about decorum or anything.
“You’...
2022-09-21 01:51:40 +0000 UTC View PostI barely got a breather after the kid left. I needed to restore my mana after the latest session, but I hadn’t gotten the chance.
“Hello!” A jackalkin entered almost as soon as I reentered my tent. “I was wondering if you could give me eyes in the back of my head?”
I gave him a skeptical look, but on the surface, his request wasn’t too unreasonable or unmanageable.
“Let’s have a long discussion about that.” I settled back into my chair. “I need to recharg...
2022-09-19 12:39:45 +0000 UTC View PostI had to decline a few requests. They just weren’t possible or practical for me to do, or they’d cause serious harm to the patient. Giving someone the ability to eat grass. Give someone wings - that was a full-body set of modifications, on top of large, heavy structures. Extra arms required so much work and arcanite I couldn’t even begin the attempt. Replacing lungs with gills would just flat-out kill the person asking for them. Someone asked me to remove their refractory period, and wh...
2022-09-16 14:29:42 +0000 UTC View PostAmam left with his mom after she paid me what she thought was fair. It was far too little, and far too much at the same time. I didn’t think she could afford the number of coins she was trying to shove into my hands, and it simply wasn’t what the biomancy operation was worth. I accepted about a quarter of what she wanted to give me, reminding her that it was cheap biomancy, and called it a day. I poked my head out after them to make sure Auri gave him a cookie for being so brave....
2022-09-16 14:29:38 +0000 UTC View PostHey all!
A series of quick minor announcements!
1) Two chapters today! Originally they were one MEGA chapter, but at almost 6k words, and my desire to get patreon to +25 chapters means I split it up, and I'm double posting them. Hurray! This will occur a few more times as I wrap up posting book 8 on patreon.
2) Speaking of - book 8 is COMPLETE in my backlog! The chapters will slowly be trickling out as usual, and October 17th is the tentative release date. I wish I could ann...
2022-09-16 14:29:34 +0000 UTC View PostFor the fourth time, I cursed the organizers of the School’s Fair.
I understood needing to sign up for a slot. I was fine with being told where to go, and what dimensions I needed to work in. Charging a nominal rent for the supplies I wanted to use was only natural. It couldn’t work otherwise, not with the hectic two weeks of controlled chaos that was the School’s fair as the island slowed down.
But I needed to make my own enchantments? Really? Not a single person had ever r...
2022-09-14 13:33:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Close your eyes!” Iona announced.
“Brrrpt!” Auri was making sure my eyes were closed.
I dutifully closed them, but what was the fun if I didn’t try to use my other senses to figure out what was going on?
We were inside, the Island having wandered into a blizzard. It was winter in the northern hemisphere, and I wasn’t terribly social. A small party, just me, Iona, and our companions, in the suite’s living room, was all I wanted.
The room was warm...
2022-09-12 14:35:12 +0000 UTC View Post[*brrrrrrrring!* Exam time! We did leave when the earlier alarm went off, right? RIGHT?]
I spared a thought to curse all the past-me’s who set the snarky alarms as I sprinted across the campus.
Of course I had set alarms to remind myself when I needed to leave for class.
Of course I had carefully timed everythin...
2022-09-09 12:57:17 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone!
Time for the monthly announcements!
First! The week of the 26th is my admin week... but it's unlikely to be a regular admin week!
Second! I've been writing some insane chapters to the climax of book 8, and they're frankly a little on the "WTF" size. I just finished an 8k long chapter, for example! Narratively, it needs to be that long, but it's unfortunately long in some respects. Like, anyone trying to read it needs to read it all in one sitting, ...
2022-09-08 20:09:48 +0000 UTC View PostA fine film of sweat coated me as I readjusted my robes.
“We should not have done that.” I told Iona.
She gave me one of her roguish grins, slipping her hand into mine, entwining her fingers with mine. She squeezed me, and I squeezed her back.
“But we did!”
I rolled my eyes and pulled her away from the changing room.
“Hang on!” Iona leaned back, snagging an outfit. “I liked this one!”
I rolled my eyes again, but waited a moment.
“Oka...
2022-09-07 12:46:46 +0000 UTC View PostAN: This chapter is a bit shorter and experimental. Supposed to try and show a bit of a timeskip as well! If it doesn't hit the mark, just remember we're returning to the regularly scheduled MC next chapter!
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It was a dark and stormy night. The tempest raged outside, thunder rattling the blinds as Fenrir gripped another shot glass of cheap whisky with his mouth, tipping it back. The liquor trickled down ...
2022-09-05 13:24:35 +0000 UTC View PostI woke up far before any of my alarms went up, my eyes flying open as I bolted upright. Giddiness bubbled up inside of me.
I had a girlfriend!
I HAD A GIRLFRIEND!
“Auri! Auri! Pssst, Auri!”
Auri poked her head out of her nest, and loudly scolded me.
“Brrpt! BRPT!!!!!” She complained, then stuck her head back under her wing.
“Brrrrrrrrrrrrrpt… BRPT! Brrrrrrrrrrrrpt… BRPT!” She pretended to ‘snore’, not fooling anyone.
The message wa...
2022-09-02 12:29:18 +0000 UTC View Post