Apology + Necessary Reading. Oof.

Hey ya'll quick note in case you're reading the title of this post and thinking there might not be a chapter uploaded today, don't worry about that. I'll be working on formatting it through Patreon's pain in the arse client as you're seeing this, so it should be up shortly.

Aight, it's past my bedtime, so I'll make this quick and straight to the point. I kinda screwed up a lil with the last chapter (chapter 12). I was over-exerting myself a little to get it up by the time I promised and was in a bit of a fugue state by the time I was finishing "refurnishing" it so to speak. It seemed fine enough at the time, but coming back to it days later I feel like it wasn't up to the quality of work I try to put out for you guys, and to a much lesser extent I feel that way about Chapter 11 too.

I'm definitely going to put some more polish on those chapters for RR release, but in the long term I don't intend for my Patreon to be where I upload my drafts, I'd like to have something closer to a finished product for you guys so I really gotta apologize about that.

That said, I really appreciate the positive feedback I been getting on those chapters so maybe that's just me ^^

Now, uh... here's the part I really gotta apologize for. I got some chapter 12 retcons. And worse... Chapter 13's gonna make less sense without them >.<!

Yeah, really sorry about this. But sense I've found myself here, I figure I'll do two different approaches for two different type of persons. If you're the type of person who just wants the information fast so you can move on and read the next chappie, I'll summarize the changes at the very bottom of this doc.

But if you want something closer to an immersive experience (barring actually rereading the chapter), most of the changes take place in a solid ~1k section of the story, so I'll post that below. Quick note before tho, I changed the [Sepsis] affliction definition for plot reasons. It's now:

WARNING

You have been inflicted with the Sepsis debuff. So long as you have open wounds, HP will bleed 5% every thirty seconds for 2 minute—

WARNING

Your Lifeforce is broken. Sepsis cannot be combated with Vitality. So long as you have open wounds, HP will bleed 10% every thirty seconds until death.

Just a small clarity change for plot reasons. Aight, anyway, here's the section in question, starting from when he kills the boss:

***

The pub was burning up in flames. Lionheart was nothing but ash and bones, the gear and weapons he'd worn collapsing in a pile besides his remains.

Guildmaster Lionheart [Lvl 17] has been slain!

+100 Points!

+5,000 Essence!

Quest: [Lionheart’s Madness] Complete!

Evil has been vanquished! Guild Master Lionheart’s maddened ritual of sacrifice has been ruined and those afflicted with his deathly mark have reawakened! The High Council awards your sense of Justice!

5,000 Essence Crystals have been awarded!

Alex hardly took note as the notifications blipped by or the essence settled into his soul. He just watched with his blank look on his face where the boss’s core was sliced in two—lifeless.

No…

He knew he wasn’t just imagining it now—that mischievous glint his blade had, but it no longer has that sharp edge to it, nor that underlying sense of sadness. She was… satisfied, oddly peaceful. As if she’d just had the most filling meal of her short life. And the Boss’s core that should’ve been there was dull and drained of all its aura.

She can do no wrong, she can do no wrong, she can do no wrong, she…

Alex repeated it like a mantra as he restrained himself from continuing what Lionheart had started and snapping her in two. It was only when he began to lose that battle that he realized his sepsis debuff was still ticking down.

[Health: 41%]

He let loose a long exhale as a support beam crashed down beside him. Then he pulled the iron sword and all the other loot into his inventory as he got up. All things considered, he was in no shape to be crying over spilt cores. 

Quickly, he pulled his knife from his inventory and heated it by the collapsing pub’s fires. He had no way of stopping the Sepsis affliction at this moment so he’d really been hoping it would go away with the boss’s death, but he did at least have a way to stop its bleed effect. He grimaced as he lifted the hot knife to his skin, then froze.

He suddenly spotted another prize in the boss’s ashes, one he could’ve sworn hadn’t been there before.

[Holy Gauze]

Gauze enchanted by a Divine being to stop prevent blood loss from wounds and seal Death-aspected afflictions.

Alex’s grimace deepened into a scowl as the item instantly wrapped itself around his wounds, but he equipped it regardless. He’d have been stupid not to, cauterization would’ve worked well enough, but the scarring would’ve been permanent.

Still, he didn’t take it lightly. A Constellation had broken the system’s rules to give him this, and he wasn’t mistaken on what it really was. Being a one of their playthings was bad enough, but if this was a sign of support it would’ve come with an overpowered skill and an enchanted weapon. Alas, it was just life-support, and it was no more a gift than it was bait on the hook.

The only thing worse than being a constellation's plaything was being one of their pawns.

It still didn’t make sense how they’d found him so quick. Looking back they’d joined the fight too early for it to have been his trait, and they shouldn’t have access to his information this early outside of boss fights.

But there was only so much enlightenment to be gained from wondering so Alex simply let out a sigh and stood up.

[Sepsis] has been sealed. Bleed effect has been halted.

He’d never willingly cut a gamble so close as he had this one. Not one he’d simply walked away from, at least. And yet, he was alive. 

So alive. In those final moments, when sepsis had been slow-crawling towards his heart, he’d felt the most alive than he had in ages. His heart still echoed that riveting beat even now.

He walked slowly through the torn up and still burning pub, careful not to put too much stress on his injuries. He held his blade gingerly in both hands and his gaze lingered there for an instant.

Consuming the core's aura like that...

He could only assume that what had occurred in that moment was the phenomena known as ‘Lylith’s bond’. It had a more scientific name but that was the one he’d known it by. It was when a blade’s trait synergized with a skill beyond what could logically be expected. He’d only witnessed it a few times in his life, but when Lys had shattered from his [Energy Pierce]… he was certain that was what had occurred. But it was extremely rare and he’d never heard of it occurring with an uncommon blade. 

On the other hand, [Sever] wasn’t anything too special at all. It was an uncommon skill—which was always a privilege to luck into for someone who’d been at his level at the time—but it was essentially just [Cut] with the added bonus of being more effective on undead. He couldn’t say why. He hadn’t ever needed to, and he was realizing that was true about a lot of things now. He had a lifetime’s worth of trivia from the thing’s he’d experienced, but he never felt the need to ponder the question. And now that things weren’t adding up it was really starting to grate.

He looked at his blade.

Examine.

[Undeaths Bane (Uncommon, F Grade)]

Status: Disrepair

He sighed as he made the wise decision to move his death blade to his inventory as well, lest she crumble in his hands. She’d started looking less like a blade and more like ice that was beginning to crack and split.

Soul Link has been damaged. HP cannot be restored.

***

Aight, now for those of you who want the deets nice and quick, here's the run down:

1. The Sepsis Debuff no longer stops after the boss's death. Yikes.
2. Rather than rewards for the fight being "etc etc" (oops, don't know how I missed that) they now are stated to have been on Lionheart's person, though aren't yet revealed.
3. There is one reward that's revealed:

[Holy Gauze]

Gauze enchanted by a Divine being to stop prevent blood loss from wounds and seal Death-aspected afflictions.

This is revealed to have been gifted by a constellation who was watching the fight, and Alex is very suspicious as to why he'd being kept alive by a constellation, not chalking it up to good faith and kindness. Regardless, it stops the Sepsis debuff for him.
4. Alex suspects that what occurred to allow his sword to "eat" the boss's core was a phonemona call Lylith's Bond, which is when a weapon's trait synergizes with a skill beyond how much it logically should

5. His swords now kinda broken but that's probably not that shocking, just more overtly stated.

***

These are all the retcons in this chapter and the rest of the changes I'd be making for RR are clarity/quality changes, but again I really gotta apologize about this. I'll do my best to make sure I'm releasing stuff I'm more satisfied with in the future. I been doing a lot of flat out rewriting lately so it may take me a lil to get ahead of the game, but hopefully these next few be comin out with a bit more polish.

In recompense, here's three floof pics. From Top to bottom, we got "Sinister Sophi" "Sock-box Sophi" and "Peek"