“Has the author’s heart exploded yet?”

No. Not yet, or else you wouldn’t be hearing from me now.

“So what the heck happened to the author this time, to make such a long absence?”

“Where is the LitRPG?”

There isn’t any in this story. Originally, LitRPG was simply mis-tagged in the genre descriptions. This has been corrected and removed. Thanks go to Insignificant for pointing that out.

“Wha?”

This pretty much sums up a lot of the questions concerning Chapter 9, where the events unfold in town while the characters are down in the mine. It’s an awful lot which happens all at once, and it’s confusing as heck for some folks…

It’s supposed to be!

Bandits showed up in town. The town’s little ole granny asked them to leave. They assaulted her, and she yelled for help from her “Mother” – The Goddess of Life. Life sent her a child of Death (Life and Death work very closely together in this world), and he dealt with the majority of the problem. Granny did, however, lose her temper a bit more than recommended, and dealt with one unfortunate fellow all on her own – turning him into an eternal teaching dummy for new healers to operate and learn on…

It’s a chaotic scene. It goes by fast, and it leaves one blinking several times wondering what just unfolded. That’s all as intended, and things should get dissected and explained better for the reader when Tomas and Red return back to town. War is, by nature, a chaotic and confusing thing. The scene is *intended* to represent that sudden burst of chaos and confusing.

From all the “Wha??” comments, I personally feel that it’s doing exactly what I wanted it to do.

“So why the hell is a high priestess of the Gods in such a little town?”

Why the hell not? She *was* retired and simply enjoying growing old before she lost her temper. Is there some other little town which would be more peaceful and relaxing for an old priestess to settle down in and let the years slowly wash over her?

“Why did you skip the sex scenes though?”

For two main reasons:

I feel that the reader’s imagination can probably do a better job at providing for those than my writing skills can. There’s a whole shitload of “sex” in the story already. If all I wrote was one intensive sex scene after another, all I’d have is erotica and no real story. It’s not what I’m wanting to write.

“So why the hell is there so much sex in the story anyway? Aren’t these women all just sluts?”

No, I don’t personally think so. There’s one guy, blessed (or cursed by your perspective) with an eternally stiff prick, and he has four different women hanging around him intimately . None are going to go anywhere, and they realize the others aren’t going anywhere either. A lot of their actions are either competitive by nature, or fueled by jealousy or competitiveness. Sex is an activity which takes up a good portion of Tomas’s daily time, and I’ve been trying to faithfully convey that to the readers.

“So isn’t this just some form of wish fulfillment?”

Two responses to this type of question:

First – Not for me. I’m an old fogey with heart problems, stuck on sucky ass medications, and very little personal sex drive anymore. If I’d written this when I was a teenager, it may’ve been wish fulfillment for me, but as it is now, it’s more just the story which I’m wanting to tell. It’s a supernatural world, and these are some of the problems which I see going along with some of the generic tropes which are so common in a lot of writings nowadays. Harems are competitive by nature (in my opinion). An eternal erection is as much a curse as it would be some sort of blessing. Being deathless, or a self-healer, isn’t is world-altering as most folks seem to imagine it would be. (Flames can’t die. Victoria promptly kicked her ass anyway, and enjoyed the exercise. Tomas heals; he was just laugh-bait for the rich, altered boys whose strength, speed, and skill made him just a beating post on his first day at the warrior’s field…)

For me, it’s not a story of wish fulfillment. It’s simply the story I feel like telling this time around. Don’t like that? Then don’t damn read it.

Second – What the hell would it matter if it was wish fulfillment? Is there something wrong with that? Aren’t a lot of stories a case of “man, I’d do this if only…” Does that premise make them inherently bad or something? There’s not a damn thing wrong with an author writing a “wish fulfillment story.” Anyone who thinks otherwise is basically just an idiot, in my opinion, and they shouldn’t read other people’s stuff. They should just sit and write their own, and fulfill their own wishes.

“Why did they wait in the cold room, and not in one of the warmer passages?”

Several little reasons:

It was close.

It had a single door they could secure and was large enough to sustain oxygen for a while.

There had been no signs of the beetles in the freezer, so they were hoping the cold would help deter them away.

And most importantly: when evil flesh eating insects are swarming to devour you, you leap for the first safe spot, no matter where that is. Can you be certain they wouldn’t have been caught and devoured by trying to outrun them to somewhere else?

“And unless there is literal magic involved, I refuse to believe that he didn't comprehend anything of what they were saying to him, because they were so pretty, especially if he remembers his previous life, where he was a 70 year old man.”

Why do folks write trite like this? At which point do you suddenly grow old enough that you no longer get confused by unfamiliar circumstances? As a guy nearing the end of my life, I can assure you that I still end up just as confused and bewildered by something unexpected, as I did when I was a young man.

In every reincarnation/summoning/reborn story I’ve ever read, there’s always some comment about, “This doesn’t make sense because so and so is too old to react in such a manner…” WTH?? At what point do humans grow so old and so knowledgeable, that they suddenly no longer get confused or misunderstand things? My 79-year old mother can’t understand why the phone won’t change her T.V. channels… She sure as hell would get confused walking into a building and finding two youngsters tied up naked from the rafters.

Age alone doesn’t change the basic human condition.

“So she's going to honor an oath to be his slave for life that she made while she was drugged out of her mind? And this MC who's lived 54 out of his 70 or so total years of life as a modern Earthing is just going to accept her enslavement to him as okay? And he's even going to rename her, like actual property? That seems extremely contrived and really out of place in this otherwise well grounded story

And why is she playing the slave even without him technically technically up his end of the bargain? Her servant didn't get to escape back home, and is instead being treated as his property because she's belongs to Jewel and Jewel belongs to him. That's a self-nullifying deal since the terms of her oath to him stipulates that Red should go home.

And why would she offer herself to him to save her servant when the servant's entire purpose is to be her slave/subordinate, and she was raised from birth to believe this?

Why would she keep to the idea of being his slave if she was a pampered noble over something as abstract as honor? I feel like it'd require something like magical compulsion or something for this turn of events to be believable.

And a lot of things here to respond to…

Yes, he renamed her. If you reread the chapter, Red talked him into the renaming for her and Jewel, as a way to help her lady accept her promise and come to terms with it. As for him not keeping up his part of the bargain, he did: Tomas set Red free and let her leave unharmed. She simply didn’t go anywhere, as she stayed with her Lady, since Jewel was freed as well. For Red, her home is wherever her lady is. (And it’d be hard to argue that returning to the school, where they were living and trying to get back to before their kidnapping, wouldn’t be considered their current “home”.)

As to the WHY behind Jewel’s actions, it was basically because of her love for Red. They grew up together. They’re friends as well as mistress/servant. Jewel had already lost a lot of her extended family to the bandits, and she wasn’t stupid enough to think there was any way they’d keep Red and let her go. She was already captured and in a hopeless situation. Honestly, she felt she had nothing to lose by offering to obey and not fight, and it was the only thing she had left (in her mind) to offer in an attempt to save her servant from the same hell which she was going through.

And why does the concept of a noble embracing honor seem so odd to you? Her family are descended from knights. Honor and loyalty are a keystone of their beliefs. Why would rank/status and honor be an impossible combination. Me personally, I can’t understand the thought process which leads to, “Why would she … over something as abstract as honor?”

Honor can be a core motivator for people, regardless of how much (or little) money or status they might have.

“Why is jewels day after reds day if Jewel is the master of red, and supposedly the lead concubine / best waifu / first among equals? Shouldn't Jewelsday come right after Hisday?”

Basically from his time getting to know them. Jewel was sick, while he traveled and spent time with Red first; ergo Red got the honor of a day before Jewel.

“Is the cover of the book the Kromlau Bridge in Germany ?”

Yes. It is. J

“I’ve quite enjoyed your story so far, with my only bad opinion so far being Tomas’ shopping spree.

That, I did not like. Solely because you only litterally had him packing slutty clothes, really. I don’t really mind it per se, but would it have hurt him to also choose normal clothes? Like a normal sundress or sweater? The reasoning for him ‘not caring anymore regarding whether they like it or not’ feels a bit shallow for that, if he thought they might look good in it, what stopped him from grapping ‘semi-normal’ clothes again?

Are Jewel and Red also semi-immortal like Flames is? Given she got her immortality due to the bloodbond, does Jewel get anything similar from the oathbond? Or is that not formal enough? Because the way I see it, late-game it would then just be him and Flames, no? Or could Rich people cheat death for thousands of years too? (Not saying Tom would live that long, but yeah)”

Several things to respond to here again:

Jewel and Red have their own bloodbond, which ties them together much like Flames and Tomas. (Not exactly the same, as their bond was formed by their parents and not themselves, but they’ve had their whole lives to grow and strengthen it.)

Jewel only has a bond of honor with Tomas, with Red actually not having any true commitment to him, outside her oath to serve Jewel. Jewel’s honor requires her to “obey and serve” him, and since Jewel is striving to be the best that she can be, Red does the same.

The philosophy is, “A servant’s actions reflect upon their master.” Jewel wants to honor her oath; if Red “rebelled” against Tomas’s desires, it’d be a very poor reflection of her Lady’s wishes.

Jewel isn’t semi-immortal as Flames now is, but her magic keeps her eternally young. (It’s also why some of the oldest teachers look the most youthful.) Barring any unforeseen incidents, she should stay young and live a life much longer than that of a normal person.

As for the shopping spree, it was as much a case of, “I’ll grab crap no woman would ever actually like, then I’ll never have to do this again,” as much as it was a case of, “this’ll look sexy on them, let’s use it to ogle them mercilessly.” Unfortunately, being rich and restricted to the full constriction and annoyance of the clothes normally required for one of her status, made Jewel laugh and happily embrace the loose, free style.

Ask any woman you like: Would you prefer hose, girdle, corset, dress, top, heels, gloves, hat, and all; or would you prefer a cheerleader’s miniskirt and tank top, with no underwear? Even IF they say they’d prefer the elaborate layers, ask them which they’d prefer while at a tropical environment, or in the midst of a blazing hot summer...

Tomas never actually expected the girls to ONLY wear what he bought. He was just trying to prove he was incompetent at choosing women’s fashions... He never thought they’d actually embrace the outfits and enjoy them. ;D

“And the most important question: When are we getting new chapters?”

In just a few more days, barring any more unforeseen issues in life. Things are settled back down, my mother is back home (and my thoughts aren’t spent worrying about her every next breath quite as much as they were before), and I’m starting to settle back into my normal routines. Of course, I *do* still have several health issues which complicate things (arthritis being one of the worst with the cold months which we’re currently moving through here), so delays are always a possibility at this time of year. I should be putting chapters back up regularly by the start of the new week, at the latest, but I won’t swear to anything. Life happens. ;D