The next morning, whether it was the unknown threat of the Bents, or the lingering feeling of shame I felt from the worried look I saw in Lilly’s tan eyes, I renewed my determination to stop drinking the Astrid Tea. I knew my body couldn’t handle the repercussions of an immediate stop. Instead, I enchanted my teacup to glow at th...
2021-04-27 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostFor those of you who receive posts via email, I apologize. I accidentally clicked the wrong button and you may have received chapter 31 ahead of chapters 29 and 30. Sorry!
2021-04-27 03:12:36 +0000 UTC View PostI awoke to feel refreshed. The breakfast and morning tea, I ate without testing myself again. I had learned my lesson, for now. Even if I felt disgusted with myself for my reliance on the magical drink. The next few days were spent in between different tasks. After dinner, I’d sit with Lilly and instruct her on new subj...
2021-04-26 16:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostI erred this morning. I had dreamed last night, reliving a memory of a battle long past. Perhaps it was the message from Lady Lark breathing new life into my feelings of war with its warning. Regardless, the memory was fresh, that of burning slave soldiers alive only to see them smile as they experienced a few moments of freedo...
2021-04-25 16:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe afternoon was spent performing working with Kine on the second basement level. I erred when I constructed the staircase downward, not taking into account that I would need a flattened landing for future floors, but this was remedied by making the steps following the second basement level shorter and steeper for a quarter-turn of the to...
2021-04-24 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostMy pupils returned today, rushing in on two wagons and with frightened looks on their faces. Evidently, the giant bats from the beast wave infested the forest, and more than a hundred now roosted beneath the bridge I built. That the merchant yesterday didn’t mention the beasts lends more credit to my suspicion that he was a fence, likely with ...
2021-04-23 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA light spring rain had curtailed some of my outdoor activities for the day. Certainly, I could have mitigated it to continue, but I was feeling morose. I suspected that without the distraction afforded me by having my pupils present to tutor, I was left more time for self-examination. I also suspected that my tea was losing potency without a co...
2021-04-22 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostLet me know if you think the LITRPG elements in this chapter are too much! I wasn't sure if I got carried away.
I awoke with a start, my soul scroll flashing red above me. I peered around in the darkness of the tower, but I heard no screaming or fighting. I tested the tethers of my def...
2021-04-21 16:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, I saw Pyl off. He departed westward with more than two hundred shambling zombie beasts and promises to return for more. It was a little under a fifth of what the moat contained, so I wasn’t concerned in the least. Two hundred quickly made zombies might test a village’s defenses, but certainly no threat to any town.
I expe...
2021-04-20 19:51:21 +0000 UTC View PostI found myself too impatient to wait for them to make it down the road. Not even half an hour after they departed, I found myself standing before the beast pits. Oni, I remembered his name now because his nose had been broken, stood a few feet away, scanning the horizon. Tond was positioned on the top of the tower as a lookout. Mena was organizi...
2021-04-20 03:29:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt was three days after the [Paladin] departed in the carriage with his nobleborn captive when my assistants and their [Bandit] subordinates finished with the bodies. In that time, I had sorted the captured beasts so that all the animal types were in different pits. Unbeknownst to me, when the Giant Boar died, whatever kept the anima...
2021-04-20 03:21:50 +0000 UTC View PostI awoke at dawn, the sound of a teacup clanking onto the barrel nearby as pleasant a sound as the smell of it. The morning meal was another helping of oatmeal, plain and with no sausage this time. I carried it down with me, sipping the tea as I went, to join Walker and Lilly at the table on the first floor.
“Master,” they both greeted ...
2021-04-20 03:14:40 +0000 UTC View PostAs I stepped out onto the top of my tower, I immediately noticed Walker holding his arms high as his mana reinforced a magical shield. The shield he cast was a weaker spell, one that created a translucent blue bubble that radiated with dim light. Though, for a second-tier mage, it was a common one. The [Bandits], cowered inside it, pressing thei...
2021-04-20 03:05:24 +0000 UTC View Post“Boss! Boss! Uh, lord wizard! Boss!” the upset voice of Mena cut through my pleasant dreams.
I rose from my bed, not with panic or urgency, but alertness. I felt I’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, and seeing both Lilly and Walker sitting up with half-opened eyes confirmed it. I waved them back to sleep, and they didn’t need any ...
2021-04-20 03:00:22 +0000 UTC View PostA groggy Lilly came down shortly after I had finished the oven. Her blonde hair a tangled mess, and her hands still wiping sleep from her eyes. A large yawn announced her presence. I just waved her at the door and instructed her to fetch her brother.
While she did that, I pulled out my bag of holding and started to pull fistfuls of gems ou...
2021-04-20 02:58:57 +0000 UTC View PostI had the [Wagoneers] begin unloading my furniture and taking it upstairs. The potted flowers carried around and set at the base of my tower, to be planted later. No sense in those men sitting around. I tasked Walker and Kine and with pulling up stones and molding it into a wall at the edge of the new clearing around the tower. I would like to s...
2021-04-20 02:57:48 +0000 UTC View PostTo say I was upset was an understatement. The [Adminstrator] that led me out kept giving me fearful looks, but I ignored her. I did not want to be appointed an Alderman. What made her think she could place herself above me? Was she purposely looking down on me or simply ignorant?
Just the idea that I would be part of the political structur...
2021-04-20 02:56:32 +0000 UTC View PostI noticed that the warmth of spring had come. I couldn’t tell in the wetlands or the darkness of the forest, but on the walk towards Lark it was evident. There was still a cool mountain breeze the blew from the west, but the sun felt good on my shoulders. The path here was wide and flat enough for the wagons, thanks to the earlier spellcraft. ...
2021-04-20 02:55:43 +0000 UTC View PostWe made good time traveling towards Woodhoot. I set Walker on monster-duty, with Lilly acting as a secondary spotter. None of us wanted one of the leeches to drop on our head. Filthy things. While they walked and talked ahead of me, I followed behind to focus on expanding the previous work done to the path. Even though I felt a little worn from ...
2021-04-20 02:54:37 +0000 UTC View PostI used rubble to block the access to the third floor as we descended. It wasn’t that I didn’t want anyone else to get a chance to enjoy the view, but rather that I wanted to make sure that no monsters were able to enter when unattended. I followed Kine all the way to the first floor, mildly impressed with the cleaning they accomplished. The ...
2021-04-20 02:53:55 +0000 UTC View PostI was so eager that I half-jogged ahead of the others. What saved my life was a century-old defensive spellwork. The Nightstalker was a second-tier Giant Spider. Its brown-and-black haired body lay hidden, clinging to the wall above the doorway. It leapt at me unnoticed against the night sky, only to be struck down by a stream of lightning. An i...
2021-04-20 02:52:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, we rented a mule to carry our tents and purchased food supplies before setting out. What the city called their western gate was just a heavily barred doorway. The road to Woodhoot was more of a well-traveled path than an actual road. Barely wide enough for a small wagon. Frequently, the path itself seemed eroded away. In those ...
2021-04-20 02:52:01 +0000 UTC View PostWe emerged from between two particularly forested hills to see the City of Lark. Lark would be more accurately described as a large, poor town. A thirty-foot-tall wooden palisade surrounded the city, the tops of the timbers sharpened to points. Much like the palisade, most of the buildings in town were either made from logs, with the few nicer b...
2021-04-20 02:51:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe following day, I discovered that the City of Eisten was known for its bathhouses. I ordered Walker and Lilly to join me there for the afternoon and turned in early that evening to enjoy as much time on a decent mattress as possible before our travel the next day.
The following morning, we met the [Wagoneers] by the westernmost gates, a...
2021-04-20 02:50:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, I awoke feeling refreshed. While still lumpy compared to my own mattress, the bed felt a great deal better than the sleeping roll I used in my tent. After a quick casting of a cleaning spell, I donned a fresh robe. I chose a plain robe of sky-blue with white clouds and streaks of red lightning stitched into the fabric. This out...
2021-04-20 02:49:07 +0000 UTC View PostOn the eastern approach to the City of Eiston, the road slowly curved down a slight slope from the plains. The city itself nestled in a valley, though buildings spread out beyond its central walls like fleas from a dog. The other hills around the valley seemed covered in terraced farms, with vast orchards to the north hiding in the shadows betwe...
2021-04-20 02:47:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe morning brought with it the unpleasant noises of a busy inn. Despite being on the third floor, I clearly heard the loud chatter of talkative scribes. The aptly named Scholar’s Delight Inn was a desirable inn often filled with traveling merchants, administrators, scribes, and, of course, wizards due to the many walls lined with bookcases an...
2021-04-20 02:46:48 +0000 UTC View PostI startled awake to the sounds and smells of Nisto cooking breakfast. My back ached from having fallen asleep at my table yesterday, face pressed into a book. I furtively closed it and tucked it away. Of all the literature I own, this one was more precious to me than any others by far. I have written many tomes, from research journals to instruc...
2021-04-20 02:45:20 +0000 UTC View PostI awoke with a parched mouth and a pounding headache. I wasn’t one to drink often, rarely more than a cup or two a year and those were usually at social functions. Last night, though, I felt inspired by a false hope that I could perhaps postpone the emotional pain of losing my friend by drinking myself into oblivion.
With a groan, I sat ...
2021-04-20 02:43:57 +0000 UTC View PostSena City, the capital of the human Kingdom of Sena, has stood for close to a thousand years. A population that surpassed eight hundred thousand all lived within five concentric walled rings, each one expanding beyond the last. The first ring, called the King’s Seat, holds the greatest castle in the kingdom along with the monarch King Sena the...
2021-04-20 02:42:39 +0000 UTC View Post