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The only intact cell near the site of the explosion was the one Serenity had noticed with the semi-functional runic shield. It didn’t even have much rubble inside it, even though the adjoining cells had their entrances partially buried. It looked like what little was in the cell had rolled in after the explosi...
2022-08-14 22:59:58 +0000 UTC
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Light flew back and forth between the two combatants while Serenity hid in the shadows. He could vaguely tell that they weren’t simply throwing spells at each other; there were tricks in the magic as well. He could have figured out what they were if he spent the time, but it didn’t seem worth it when it would de...
2022-08-13 22:46:08 +0000 UTC
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“If you prefer, your student can fight me.” A man stepped out of the cell behind the four dressed in burgundy. He looked similar, except that his robes were white with reddish trim the same shade as the others’ robes. “But I doubt you want that.”
He grinned and his robes started to glow with magic, wh...
2022-08-12 23:05:28 +0000 UTC
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“Who’s Gaia?” Tirmanak’s question made Serenity realize he’d said everything out loud. It wasn’t really much of a surprise; he often thought better when he spoke.
“Earth.” Serenity didn’t see any reason not to tell Tirmanak; in fact, the information might be useful. This was apparently at l...
2022-08-11 22:55:07 +0000 UTC
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Serenity opened his mouth and started to ask, but remembered that Tirmanak was the one asking the questions before anything came out of his mouth. He wanted to ask about the records; it was clear Djen had them. Tirmanak knew that; surely he’d ask?
“What church is it?” Tirmanak picked a completely differe...
2022-08-10 23:07:14 +0000 UTC
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Tirmanak hadn’t just brought a flyer. He’d brought an enclosed flyer that hid its occupants. It also had the capacity to fly quite a bit higher than most flyers, as Tirmanak had demonstrated almost immediately.
Tirmanak didn’t explain why he had the far more expensive item, but Serenity was confident it...
2022-08-09 23:11:10 +0000 UTC
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I added a paragraph near the end of last chapter; I'd originally slated it for here but it fit there better. It's more of a reminder than anything:
While he was thinking about it, the Voice notified him that it had stopped the teleportation of a student out of the Tutorial and sent her to the second stage instead. She wasn’t anywhere nea...
2022-08-08 23:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The Guildmaster smiled. It almost seemed predatory, but perhaps Serenity was simply reading too much into it from Margrethe’s experience. “Your help. If I help you with your quest, you’ll work on a Guild quest that I think you’re suited for.”
Serenity could see a couple of different hooks in there...
2022-08-07 23:07:37 +0000 UTC
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The wards reported an unknown person. The link with the enchantment on the House doors, which was one of the very few intact enchantments Serenity had found in Zenith, said that there was an authorized entry at that time. Serenity had Andarit follow him as they entered the doors.
Ben looked up from his book w...
2022-08-06 23:10:42 +0000 UTC
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Tirmanak Oathbinder, Hand and Guildmaster of Order’s Guild on Ranar, Tier Six Sword of the Path, watched out the window as his last remaining Hand left the Guildhouse for Asihanya. Something was very wrong there; so far, it didn’t look like it was something against the rules of Order’s Voice, but he still nee...
2022-08-05 23:05:50 +0000 UTC
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Freeing the eight people was, in fact, as easy as breaking the tokens. They weren’t fragile until the person who owned them deliberately intended to break them, at which point they shattered into powder with only a little force.
It was clearly by design, and that irritated Serenity because it showed how much t...
2022-08-04 23:00:41 +0000 UTC
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“Are any of you healers?” Serenity stared at the terrified group of slaves. None of them seemed to react. “Anyone? How about medical training? I don’t think I hurt them too badly, but they’re not up yet.”
Serenity waved a hand towards the two men who attacked him. He knew that if he were one of the...
2022-08-03 23:05:31 +0000 UTC
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The second time, the salesman was back sooner. This time, he brought a set of folders instead of people. “We have eight,” he stated. “Five male, three female, including that one. How many do you want?”
Andarit frowned. “Go over their skills with me, but if they meet the general criteria, I can make e...
2022-08-02 22:57:14 +0000 UTC
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Sorry for the release delay today - my computer decided to lock up when I went to upload the chapter, which led to a reboot, and my computer's reboot is ... let's just say that it's slow. The computer's been showing its age for about three or four years now, but it keeps working so I've kept not paying for a replacement. One of these days it'll ...
2022-08-01 23:08:04 +0000 UTC
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There was no talking as they climbed into the flyer and flew back to the Lowpeak house. Andarit started to say something, but her father asked her to wait.
Serenity tried to relax, but that just made the lingering pain more obvious. It was strange; his body didn’t seem badly hurt, but his head, hands, a...
2022-07-31 23:03:55 +0000 UTC
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“Yeah.” Serenity glanced back at the wall; the runes still glowed brightly with the mana they were leaking. “Why wouldn’t I be seeing them? They’re right there.”
“No one outside the family has ever noticed them before. At least, not that I’ve heard. Plus, I didn’t know the enchantment used r...
2022-07-30 22:49:22 +0000 UTC
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There were two weeks left of Tutorials, more or less. The Voice hadn’t given an exact time; Rissa expected that it didn’t want to. Then another week or two of waiting for people to show up at Serenity Settlement before Rissa could follow Serenity. It was better than the time after the Tutorial, when all she kne...
2022-07-29 23:05:56 +0000 UTC
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The Court fancy fighting robes were the simplest item there. The next simplest was for Court-aligned nobles. They were still robes, but they ended at the knee rather than the ankle. Below the knee, they often had ruffles or lace; one even had ruffles starting at the waist and ending at the knee. The entir...
2022-07-28 22:53:43 +0000 UTC
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“Obviously foreign?” Serenity’s first thought was to make it look like the modern body armor he’d styled it after on Earth. It wasn’t as good as his scales, really, since it took on some of the properties of what it looked like, but it would definitely be foreign.
Wait, why couldn’t he make it lo...
2022-07-27 22:53:48 +0000 UTC
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Kalo smiled broadly. “No point in hiding it now. You shouldn’t have shared the Quest notice that said you were helping the Voice if you didn’t want to admit affiliation with Order’s Guild. I’ve helped a few Guild troubleshooters over the years; there’s no need to fear me letting your secret out. That...
2022-07-26 22:49:58 +0000 UTC
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The Duke simply grinned. “Thank you for the warm welcome. Go find a chair and join us; I think you’ll find this interesting and informative.”
Serenity noticed that the chair the daughter brought back matched the one he was sitting in; they’d clearly come from the same room.
“Andarit, this is ...
2022-07-25 22:50:31 +0000 UTC
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It was a long walk back to the Duke’s residence, long enough that Serenity was surprised the Duke hadn’t chosen to use some form of transportation. Serenity assumed the nobleman liked to walk, and he wasn’t at all unhappy about it either. It gave him a chance to get an idea of the city he was in.
He...
2022-07-24 22:46:32 +0000 UTC
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That explained the question, at least. Serenity shrugged again; he didn’t see any reason not to. If this customer was someone Djen was close to, it might even help with looking into him. Even if the customer was only a random customer, it would give Serneity a reason to stick around. “Sure, why not?”
2022-07-23 22:46:19 +0000 UTC
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Djen watched the low-Noble walk into his “Hiring Hall”. The man didn’t seem to know where he was going. That was exactly why Djen had acquired the large property near the edge of the market area; people who didn’t know where they were going were the easiest to fleece.
Djen grinned internally but put on...
2022-07-22 23:16:17 +0000 UTC
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The stranger knelt down next to Serenity and opened up his backpack. Serenity had to force himself not to react. He’d expected it, yet he felt enraged that this stranger was going through his still without his permission. He might even take something!
Serenity watched as best he could, trying not to move and...
2022-07-21 22:53:15 +0000 UTC
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Several days later, while he was getting ready for bed, the Voice spoke to Serenity.
[The anomalous mark that will send you to Zon has been placed on your staff]
The Voice was checking at the end of every day, to see if they’d succeeded or not and it seemed like they had. They’d b...
2022-07-20 23:00:21 +0000 UTC
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“... types of Lord. The one you’re probably the most familiar with is the involved Lord. The involved Lord knows what’s going on and works with people to deal with things. This structure works well for Cities and Kingdoms where the Lord may or may not be the most powerful individual; instead, it is the work of m...
2022-07-19 23:01:09 +0000 UTC
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Note: This is one of the chapters where the Language warning comes into play. Genitalia are mentioned. Fortunately, the Gore warning doesn't apply...
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Serenity tapped on the door to Honoria’s hut. While she had a room in the Instructors’ dorm, she preferred to live in the same building she used for crafti...
2022-07-18 23:12:14 +0000 UTC
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Taxation was even more annoying. He didn’t know what to set it to, so he simply set it to the lowest possible tax level that was available. When he did, he noticed that his personal Etherium number appeared in the Planetary management system instead of his own, but he could still draw on it. He supposed it was te...
2022-07-17 23:00:26 +0000 UTC
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This takes us to 50 chapters ahead! Yay!
I'm going to celebrate by ... uh ... starting to increase my backlog ahead of "I finished this chapter late last night". I mean, I'm almost done with tomorrow's chapter! I may well get Monday's done tonight too!
Enjoy!
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Revivify didn’t fix Rube’s arms; it didn’t h...
2022-07-16 22:56:31 +0000 UTC
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