“I’m grateful to you all and to you especially, Ethan. I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you. But after seeing how things are going, I don’t think I’m cut out for what’s to come. I’d prefer to make myself useful to those who can’t defend themselves. Or to those young people over there. But I don’t think I’ve got what it takes to push ahead like you do. So I’m taking a step back. I hope you’ll all…forgive me.”
Gerald stood straight, chin held up, and as ...
2025-01-02 20:00:57 +0000 UTC
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Henry’s eyes shot open as he felt Maurice’s nudge, and he tuned into his Octominds. Instantly, he became aware of what the subminds had seen and noted.
In the schooling floor, two Octominds had been watching the small crowd of children still hanging around Stormsong as she displayed her control over the nimbus of water under her. Now that he had to suffer through Arisia’s training, Henry gained a new appreciation for the dolphin’s control over mana and as she floated aroun...
2025-01-02 20:00:19 +0000 UTC
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AN: We're back! Hope you got to enjoy the holidays, and I wish you all a happy new year! Hope you kick some ass this year.
Did you manage to stay late? I was out by 10.30pm.
In any case, I managed to finish the editing of book 1 for Undersea ( at least enough to send the draft), and I only got a week or so left before I head back home from spending time with the fam. The goal's to increase the output this year, so we'll see how that goes.
(I guess going to the gym would be n...
2025-01-01 18:47:37 +0000 UTC
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AN: We're back! Hope you got to enjoy the holidays, and I wish you all a happy new year! Hope you kick some ass this year.
Did you manage to stay late? I was out by 10.30pm.
In any case, I managed to finish the editing of book 1 for Undersea ( at least enough to send the draft), and I only got a week or so left before I head back home from spending time with the fam. The goal's to increase the output this year, so we'll see how that goes.
(I guess going to the gym would be ...
2025-01-01 18:47:25 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I'm off! Next chapter's on the 1st. I'll be working and resting a bit. I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and thank you so much for supporting me.
You all rock.
-----------------------
“[That sounds... Like a giant pain in the fur],” growled Ember as both of them stared out into the agitated cave. The loud roar had finally begun to abate, but no sooner than it did, the call was picked up by the frenzied water monitors. Their screeching was sharp...
2024-12-20 20:24:49 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I'm off! Next chapter's on the 1st. I'll be working and resting a bit. I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and thank you so much for supporting me.
You all rock.
-----------------------
Henry stared at the woman, and after considering it for a second, he summoned a visual illusion to emote for him. After all, expressions were an important part of communication, and a kraken’s features didn’t lend themselves well to such.
“The System? I don...
2024-12-20 20:24:36 +0000 UTC
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A/N: One of the dev edits on the todo list is to have a vision for the prime wand activation! I have to go back and add Ethan’s, but here it is for now. This would happen as the “body upgrade” is ongoing.
— Ethan’s POV —
As the magic poured into his body, burning, crushing and tempering him, Ethan’s mind was whisked away. The pain faded into the background and for a moment, there was nothing. Then Ethan opened his eyes, and he was someone else. Or at least...
2024-12-19 19:45:33 +0000 UTC
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After a few minutes of climbing where Arisia swore every oath Henry had put Zerathstra through and then a couple to really emphasize that she couldn’t use or spread what she learned against him in any way, the two arrived in the stadium-like space he’d visited only a day prior, where he’d learned that this would be where the tournaments would be held.
Arisia took a sharp right toward a little set of stands that looked oddly like consoles. Henry eyed her for a second,...
2024-12-19 19:45:19 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hey all! Thank you as always for your support. Hope you like this week's chapter and don't forget, I'm off next week ( to recharge some batteries and finish Undersea B1's editing)
Peace!
--------
Ethan paced while the tier-3 list of spells floated in front of him.
Wings, or weight?
On one hand, he had just been thinking and hoping for a spell to fix the weight issue so he wouldn’t get tossed around by monsters or powerful spells just like Sava...
2024-12-18 19:25:42 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hey all! Thank you as always for your support. Hope you like this week's chapter and don't forget, I'm off next week ( to recharge some batteries and finish Undersea B1's editing)
Peace!
--------
After months of dreading his first encounter with humans, Henry was glad to see it had gone well. Sure, it had looked a bit dicey early on, considering his first meeting with two warriors, Zamir and Semea, and he would have probably moved on and never discovered this place...
2024-12-18 19:25:28 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Have a great weekend everyone!
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Ethan eyed the two options at the bottom of the list and hummed.
He was very much interested in both. Considering regular wands’ traits were called unique, he assumed he could only have one active at a time so even though he was very happy with [Wand of the Lesser Fire Elemental], he wanted to see what else he could get. Then he could upgrade his current unique trait.
Though once I get the new unique trait, would ...
2024-12-13 18:46:05 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Have a great weekend everyone!
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Henry’s nap only lasted for a couple of minutes until he realized he hadn’t checked his notifications just yet. While his companions slept and while his Octominds struggled to control the unstable blob of water hovering over the pool and through the disguise, Henry, still on his back, pulled them up and read through them. He was glad to see everything was progressing well.
Shiftiness of the Trickst...
2024-12-13 18:45:44 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hey folks! Hope you're all doing well. I'm visiting family and I wanted to announce that I'm taking the week of the 23rd off (in two weeks).
I wish I could say I'm taking a break, but I'm not. I still have work on Undersea's book 1 edits, so I'm gonna just work on that and get it over with. The deadline's looming, and it's getting hard to focus on much else.
I'll remind you all next week. Thank you all as always, and I hope you enjoy today's chapters.
------------------...
2024-12-12 19:36:18 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hey folks! Hope you're all doing well. I'm visiting family and I wanted to announce that I'm taking the week of the 23rd off (in two weeks).
I wish I could say I'm taking a break, but I'm not. I still have work on Undersea's book 1 edits, so I'm gonna just work on that and get it over with. The deadline's looming, and it's getting hard to focus on much else.
I'll remind you all next week. Thank you all as always, and I hope you enjoy today's chapters.
------------------...
2024-12-12 19:35:58 +0000 UTC
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As his companions closed their eyes and tried to trigger their tiering-up process with varying success, Ethan turned to the cat. Not wanting to disturb the others, he focused on his connection to the cat elemental and tried to push his thoughts through the link they shared. Just like Ember herself did.
The first couple of tries, nothing happened. But after the third, he felt something snap in place between him and the cat. Holding on to that link, he spoke in his own mind. “[Hey. ...
2024-12-11 19:38:03 +0000 UTC
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After the agricultural platform, the trio continued the visit along with Zamir and Semea, with the latter having finally warmed up to them and struck up a conversation with Stormsong. As for Maurice, he was very much keen on going back to the farmers and botanists. Not just to sample their fruits and vegetables—though that was most certainly part of it, especially the fruits—but he was just incredibly curious about the concept of “growing” food right out of the soil.
To Henry, i...
2024-12-11 19:37:43 +0000 UTC
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A/N: As always, thank you all so much for supporting me. Enjoy the weekend :)
------------
Ethan stood quietly over the unmoving body of Savannah as the cut near her collarbone continued to pulse. A spellcore had already fallen out of it, and now, green filaments were floating out of the blue magic and to his untrained senses, they felt different. One was sickly and pale. While the second was deep and vibrant. Both twisted around themselves, growing smaller and focusing their ener...
2024-12-06 15:32:27 +0000 UTC
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A/N: As always, thank you all so much for supporting me. Enjoy the weekend :)
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The stairway leading up the giant tree was the first of many wondrous little discoveries Henry had made. It was as if a low branch had sprouted near the water surface, flattened itself, then curled around the tree all the way up and now that he was climbing the natural-looking steps in his human form, he realized how gigantic these trees really were.
Even if he’d reduce...
2024-12-06 15:32:20 +0000 UTC
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------------
EDIT: Tweaked the scene a tiny bit and removed a couple of typos. If you read through emails, read this version!
------------
Amelie’s and Liz’s bolts of magic turned to dust as the visible green ripples of Savannah’s wail reached them, and Ember’s powerful, thick jet of fire was reduced to flickering flames, much like those of a candle.
For Ethan, it felt like he’d just been subjected to a wave of sapping energy.
It was deeply unpleasant. It ...
2024-12-05 16:50:49 +0000 UTC
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Zerathstra picked up Maurice who didn’t seem to mind it at all and turned him around, intently examining the crustacean. “[They used to be common throughout the coasts of the Reach. If it’s still being called that. They were fished and hunted to extinction though. Their abilities are extremely valuable to treasure hunters and they do possess the ability to copy skills. In a tragic but ironic twist, it was their own skills that led to their extinction. Well. Their extinction from tha...
2024-12-05 16:50:40 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Happy Wednesday! Hope you all enjoyed the holidays (if you celebrate them) and thanks you all for reading and for supporting me.
Enjoy!
-------------
Ethan removed the scales from his face, but he didn’t extinguish the low-flames still dancing all over his body, nor did he dismiss the claws or the horns.
“It says human because I am,” he said as he furrowed his brows. The woman was slightly familiar, but he couldn’t recall where from. Her chee...
2024-12-04 18:38:13 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Happy Wednesday! Hope you all enjoyed the holidays (if you celebrate them) and thanks you all for reading and for supporting me.
Enjoy!
---------
What boon did Henry want?
He peered out into the sea ahead and rolled the turtle shell in his arms before he stored it once again.
Could he visit the settlement on the trees and have his safety guaranteed? It would be an amazing opportunity to learn about this world and to take a break from the Current’s re...
2024-12-04 18:38:09 +0000 UTC
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EDIT: Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this week's chapters. A small clarification about yesterday's chapter: I started implementing a small tweak last chapter and I will go back and make it clearer early in the story when I'm editing book 1. There was some secret math in the wand's bonus points that I decided to do away with. From now on, the wand has a pool of points, and those get equally divided between the forms. In the stat calculation shown yesterday, the wand had 88 points: 2...
2024-11-29 19:55:25 +0000 UTC
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Henry brought his arms under his body to help with the twitching while his mind went into overdrive. It felt a bit safer to have them under him. Less risk of them getting chopped off.
He wasn’t sure why that would be a concern for him.
Focus. This is an A-rank. What the hell do I do? And why does it think I’m human?
Henry struggled to process everything, but his Octominds didn’t let him miss any details, so he was aware the ape was picking up thoughts an...
2024-11-29 19:55:18 +0000 UTC
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Ethan grit his teeth and restlessly tapped his foot as the magic dust swirled and slowly sank into his naked body. He was facing away from the team, but he wasn’t worried about anyone peeking. The sounds of frantic battle told him all that he needed to hear.
So while he waited for the upgrade process to finish up, he assigned the stat points he had gotten from finishing the side quest, but he couldn’t enjoy the process or take too long. The fight was raging behind him. It...
2024-11-28 20:09:09 +0000 UTC
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Henry cursed. With the woman coming down from above, and the man waiting for him below, he changed direction once more and hoped he wasn’t about to find a third person waiting to get the drop on him and this time, he just swam in a direct line to his recently appointed true north: the straight path away from where they’d entered the Current.
The man realized he’d been made, so he began swimming up at an angle while the woman did the same from above. They wanted to sandwich him in,...
2024-11-28 20:09:02 +0000 UTC
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Ethan sat at the ledge of the tunnel, gazing down at the agitated mushroom-trees of the second layer after he assigned his new point to mana and checked his fragments
I’m at 405 fragments in the Elemental wand. I’m almost at 500. I have more than a 100 in the Prime wand but if I could just transfer them…
He couldn’t. He tried over and over. Tried to meditate and visualize them moving about, but nothing happened.
Oh well.
Ethan really hoped the...
2024-11-27 17:19:19 +0000 UTC
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Henry kept his mind shielded as he began planning around the second B-rank near them while his clone kept engaging with the human. Maybe whatever was watching them wasn’t another human, but he really doubted that.
More likely, the two B-ranks were a team, and while one of them agreed to be diplomatic and chat, the second was keeping an eye on them. Before he turned his attention back up to the clone above, Henry gave Maurice another request. “[Try to feel if more of them show up...
2024-11-27 17:19:12 +0000 UTC
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A/N: As always, thank you all for your support. It helps a lot, considering I'm doing this fulltime now :)
I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter. I'll pick up the pace soon (I have a lot of editing to do on my plate). But at least I got my main computer back! Can confirm that the motherboard had died.
Enjoy the weekend!
EDIT: Made a mistake that Kanashii pointed out: Ethan has no access to fireball with the scales out. Switched that to the lance and altered a couple ...
2024-11-22 17:25:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N: As always, thank you all for your support. It helps a lot, considering I'm doing this fulltime now :)
I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter. I'll pick up the pace soon (I have a lot of editing to do on my plate). But at least I got my main computer back! Can confirm that the motherboard had died.
Enjoy the weekend!
--------------------------
The trunk of the giant trees were still as thick and as imposing as Henry’s two invisible blood clones swam up, wi...
2024-11-22 17:24:54 +0000 UTC
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