I spread my wings, trying to catch myself as I fell, but they weren't responding correctly. Or perhaps it was the air that wasn't responding correctly; I was having to fight to breathe. Despite taking deep, rapid breaths, I felt like I was suffocating, and my skin and lungs were burning. Was there no oxygen down here? What was there instead?
... 2021-12-29 06:38:20 +0000 UTC View PostCluma scrambled up a smooth, vertical tree trunk as easily as if it was a ladder, vanishing into the canopy above. There was some rustling, followed by a brief rain of snakes.
Large Grass Snake, level 1 (Dead)
Despite the 'large' label, they were half a metre long at most, slow moving, and didn't look at all threatening. The...
2021-12-28 06:22:55 +0000 UTC View PostI spread my wings and took off from the street with a powerful flap, shooting ten metres into the air before my upward momentum petered out. Another, lesser, flap propelled me forward, my extended wings allowing me to glide until I came to a gentle landing on my targeted rooftop. Long gone were the days where every flap of my wings sent me caree...
2021-12-27 06:24:28 +0000 UTC View Post"Hey, it's time to wake up," I said, giving Cluma a gentle shake. "I need to get you back home."
"Mreow?" she moaned as she stretched widely, punching me in the face in the process.
"...I think I preferred you when you were sleeping," I complained.
Cluma blinked a few times while her brain rebooted, before bolting upright, head...
2021-12-24 05:39:05 +0000 UTC View PostWith Christmas activities, chapter releases are slipping a little later than normal, but I’m not planning on missing any. If they get too delayed, I’ll start scheduling them.
I struggled uselessly against my silk bonds, doing my best to roll out of the way of a particularly industrious beetle that seemed utterly deter...
2021-12-23 06:56:26 +0000 UTC View PostI hadn't won that fight, but at least I'd got a good crop of skills from it. Nevertheless, I felt I should concentrate more on winning than skills. I needed to beat a hundred of those demons to afford the single experience potion, never mind everything else I wanted to buy, while I'd have all my skills maxed in a few dozen fights at the rate thi...
2021-12-22 06:48:48 +0000 UTC View PostAfter breaking my personal best speed record for teleporting—earning both a skill and class level in the process, and hence raising my opinion of snakes by a good few notches—I made my way to the bar to pick up Cluma. Our village had ramped up production of spirits over the past season, and while they weren't exactly widespread, the guild wa...
2021-12-21 06:35:39 +0000 UTC View PostCold nullification advanced to level 25
"Is that all you've got?" I taunted the demon I was fighting, something called a daemonium grando. A giant, horizontally slitted eye, set in the centre of a floating ball of blue flesh, surrounded by a ring of tentacles each with a mouth at the end. The mouths spat frozen air filled with ten...
2021-12-20 06:07:03 +0000 UTC View PostI apologise profusely for the chapter title, but somehow, once I’d written it as a bad joke, I couldn’t bring myself to change it. >.>
There was paperwork. Of course there would be paperwork involved in switching our primary guild branch. Why did I expect anything different? Why did the delv...
2021-12-17 06:01:14 +0000 UTC View PostI know I said 2 chapters a week for the rest of December, but I spent less time getting the e-books out than expected, so we're back up to 3.
I teleported to the second floor, the shrine still in the middle of a small patch of clean stone in the larger area of scorched and barren rock. The staircase down was completely un...
2021-12-16 06:17:04 +0000 UTC View Post"Good day, Katie. How may I help you?" politely greeted the storekeeper of the weapons shop as I walked in.
This place was the best evidence I'd found that this town was not anything like, at least, the carnes multiformis settlement. The weapons store in their town sold nothing that I could use, all of it being designed for creatures with ...
2021-12-15 06:27:50 +0000 UTC View PostPuberty had made it obvious, but even now, I knew my thought processes were still slightly off. I may have the memories of another life, but they were being processed by a child's brain. Despite all my claims, I wasn't mentally in my forties. I simply had forty-something years of memories, which was not at all the same thing. To put it politely,...
2021-12-14 05:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostEvolution conditions met: Sword proficiency ranks up to sword mastery
Swords may come in many different styles, but the general idea of getting a long bit of metal and sharpening one or both sides is about as ubiquitous as weapons can get. There's a reason why they're so popular; they work. In fact, they work well enough that you were abl...
Here's volume 2 of fetch quest, covering chapters 39 to 71. Contains only typo fixes compared to the individual chapters.
2021-12-08 09:11:40 +0000 UTC View PostHere are the collected e-books for unbound soul parts 1-5.
Parts 3/4/5 are minimally different from what's here/on royal road. Parts 1 and 2 have some structual changes compared to royal road, mostly to rewrite everything to be from Peter's POV and to shift other characters to side stories.
2021-12-08 09:07:33 +0000 UTC View PostThis epilogue is a short one, so I've thrown in the part 6 prologue too. Remember there's no chapter posts next week.
High up on a mountainside, above the Emerald Caverns, the area's tundra was interrupted by a region of unnaturally smooth stone. A completely flat, semicircular area was set in front of a ...
2021-12-05 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the final regular chapter of volume 5. There's just a small epilogue to come tomorrow before it's done.
I teleported back to the ark entrance, still lost in my thoughts. Erryn had admitted that she didn't understand people, but I had to admit I was just as clueless as she was. Starting from the day I was born, whe...
2021-12-04 06:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapters 132, 139 and 141 have been tweaked to correct a continuity error in Cluma's hair colour. Camus was the one with black hair, while Cluma was a dark orange. She now gets her black hair as part of her race evolution instead. Not a hugely important difference, but worth pointing out to avoid confusion when she complains about Peter... 2021-12-03 06:17:47 +0000 UTC View Post
My biggest concern was Cluma or Krana walking into a room containing something they weren't allowed to see and getting stuck. Would I have to blinker them to get them out?
Cluma immediately relieved me of part of that concern by declining to search by herself, sticking with me instead. Given that she had no idea where we were or what we we...
2021-12-02 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post"That's not a plushy," I pointed out, glad that Krana was bound by the Law to not act anything like a stereotypical dragon and, for example, eat Cluma for her pure audacity.
Cluma blinked and looked more closely at what she was holding. "Oh," she said, eventually. She had [Inspection], after all, so she should at least be able to see his n...
2021-12-01 05:58:08 +0000 UTC View PostI came running out of Cluma's room, only to find her trying to shove Camus away as he fussed over her. "You're sure there was no damage or discomfort?" he insisted.
"Of course there was discomfort!" exclaimed Cluma. "Did you miss the bit where I said it feels like being buried alive? At least it doesn't feel like I'm on fire anymo...
2021-11-30 06:07:01 +0000 UTC View PostFetch Quest Part 1 has finished its prison term on kindle unlimited, which means the return of the e-book here. :)
It covers chapters 1-38 and the first four side stories. There's only minor edits compared to the previous version.
2021-11-29 10:03:14 +0000 UTC View PostRelease schedule for December is going to be front-loaded with unbound soul, to ensure patreon completes volume 5 before RR completes volume 4. Next week will have 6 unbound soul chapters, starting on Tuesday, then I’ll be taking a week's break to prep the next unbound soul and fetch quest e-books, and then the rest ... 2021-11-26 06:28:51 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the final chapter of fetch quest volume 2. (And the e-book afterword, which I don’t normally post on patreon, but might as well this time since I’ve written it already.)
Release schedule for December is going to be front-loaded with unbound soul, to ensure patreon completes volume 5 before RR complete... 2021-11-25 06:23:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Katie lightly leapt over another one of the pulsating, orange vines, once again noting the direction in which the mana flowed. How strange, she thought. It was obviously a single giant organism, rather than something like her own swarm that was made of countless individuals, but whatever was it doing with that much mana?
She continued her ...
2021-11-24 06:15:06 +0000 UTC View Postding
For your research into the nature of mana, [Researcher] awards 2 soul points.
That didn't come as a surprise. I'd made some rather interesting discoveries today, after all. And, kneeling on the floor in the institute's lobby, being stared at by the passers-by, with Cluma standing guard in front of me to ensure I d...
2021-11-23 06:10:02 +0000 UTC View Post"I'm still not convinced this was a good idea," complained the white-haired, yellow-eyed young woman as she hopped over another thick vine, her way lit by a burning black torch she was carrying. "I know I said you should take that class, but I wasn't being serious."
The vine behind her started darkening as she passed.
"I know, but I ...
2021-11-22 06:24:00 +0000 UTC View Postding
Skill [Mana Sight] advanced to level 9
Without managing any further words, Cluma lost consciousness. Her mana circulatory system was going haywire, but it didn't look damaged. In fact, it looked better than new. That was where the good news ended, though. She was still breathing, thank goodness, but it came in dis...
2021-11-19 06:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the final regular chapter of volume 2. Next week will be a trio of what-if side stories.
Evolution conditions met: Void tolerance ranks up to void resistance
Sight is one of the most common senses, which also makes it a popular target. Saying that, normally people would simply turn the lights out, and not m...
Wow. That's a lot to unpack. Starting from the fact the demons didn't immediately attack me, middling on the fact they have some sort of monetary system and ending with the fact they know who I am, along with my respawn ability.
"You were betting on me coming back?"
"Nah, on your chances against our pet hydra. I bet it would kill you...
2021-11-17 06:41:14 +0000 UTC View Post