《The book of forever》Chapter 6: Waking up from a perfect fantasy, was it inevitable?
Advertisement
The war from the luddites, scared of the change; The war of the commons, wanting great change. The common man stuck in between, or two… Are the elves and humans the same, conflict. I watch as the world goes on, peacefulness; yet on the borders of my perception, I can see only red and flashing steel. I look over our maps, our history, was this war inevitable as tears? Like two sides of a coin, rebels spread quick, as if oil and water, not to mix. A two front war is what I see ahead, yet at the moment it but simmers slow. Only a few outlying gunshots sound, yet more sound every coming night’s day. I see the signs, we’ve seen the signs, yet not; yet not one dares to stop the struggle pains, yet not one tries to pacify, instead… Instead they choose to drink and harvest wealth, instead they are blinded by long calm lives.
A war hasn’t happened for a while, far more slow to act yet quick to simmer, we have reached an unsteady peace throughout. A war hasn’t happened for a while, but it’s inevitable that blood flows, thicker than water and more hesitant, no one wants to shoot the first shot. Can I pacify the rebels, concede? Concede power built over my lifetime? What should I do, I am at an impasse. Pacify the commons and change too much, pacify the old ones, regress, retract. There seems to be no way to keep moving.
“We can only prepare for the war, cold; it has not yet boiled over for us. Either pacification would hasten, either pacification would weaken. We cannot move back, only fast forwards; our fragile peace but a short night's dream, a dream, intoxicated fantasy…”
Advertisement
- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial43 Chapters
An 'Ordinary' Adventure
A series of unfortunate events lead to the self-proclaimed ordinary guy, Knight Yuudai, to be imprisoned in another world. He, and a young girl he was imprisoned with, must escape together. They will travel across the demon-infested Dragon Lands to reach the exiled races, who were born from the Elder Dragon. Along the way he must fight the parasites that are the demons. His journey will make him bear witness to the horrors and wonders this world has to offer, while desperately searching for the last bit of familiarity that resides at the floating world tree. A very big thanks to Roseowo who took the time to make me this amazing cover art. You can find Rose's Instagram on the top left of the cover and her very own story over on Scribble Hub here - https://www.scribblehub.com/series/97501/the-necromancer-system/ Please go check it out! -------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR EXPANDED UNIVERSE: Ever wanted a place to find cool new stories, or to discuss a few different stories with the authors themselves? Well, well, well. This should be what you are looking for.The AEU is a new author discord group focusing on 5 main stories as of now. However, more will join in the future. The current stories in the AEU are as follows:This one - An 'Ordinary' Adventure.Nameless' - The precipice of power - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/34498/the-precipice-of-powerSum's - The prophecy of An Ancient Bloodline - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31165/the-prophecy-of-an-ancient-bloodlineKraze's - The Last Flame - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/32059/the-last-flamePrimate's - Divine - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35456/divineInterested are you? I hope you are Here's the link - https://discord.gg/jk7hbv4
8 214 - In Serial39 Chapters
The Continuing Stories of Jo
Jo died. Met Life. Then wasn't dead. It's kind of an immortal type thing, where she can travel through space, time and reality. Oh and many of the stories revolve around her not being her but her in another life but not in a reincarnation way. Make sense? Good. ENJOY!
8 145 - In Serial36 Chapters
Aftershocks
When the long-overdue Cascadia earthquake hits, Portland is not only devastated by the damage, but also abandoned by a corrupt government, isolated by broken infrastructure, and overrun by organized crime networks fighting the strict federal regulations on fossil fuels. Lacey, the captain of a high school outrigger canoe team, persuades her girlfriend Rede and the other paddlers to use their unique skill as a means of survival, acting as couriers who navigate the waterlogged ruins of the city. All goes well until a botched job leaves Lacey with no other option but to disappear in order to protect her team. Rescued from her attempted suicide by a criminal duo, Lacey reluctantly begins her new secret life among the community she once exploited. Meanwhile, Rede and the team try to move past their anguish at Lacey's apparent death, but when a mysterious newcomer sheds a new light on the circumstances, they find themselves embroiled in a plot to bring about justice. *updates every other Tuesday*
8 173 - In Serial315 Chapters
Dauntless: Origins
Snow white hair, blue eyes, pale. Devil, monster, mutt, failure.This story follows one Tyr Faeron, crown prince, heir primus and mass murderer. A wrathful, angry, and lost young man that has made it his goal to hunt down the men that killed his mother - and he is on the cusp of finishing the promise he'd made before her cairn stones so many years ago. On the surface he is duplicitous, whimsical, and base of cunning - but within the depths beyond the many masks he wears, something is waiting. Waiting for an end, the end he'd come to long for, whether it be to himself or any possible threats in his vicinity. After that long labor of vengeance is completed... Nobody knows, not even him - an arrogant and otherwise solitary individual with nothing in the way of friends - only the brothers of the blackguard who follow him through life as he pursues this mission. He was born a prince, but he'd be called a disappointment - failing to manifest the great power that he was born to before being summarily discarded by his father, a 250 year old 'primus'. That word again... Men who can shatter mountains and level cities, that's what he was supposed to be. Some call them demi-gods, all Tyr sees is a poor excuse for a parent. Time had made him bitter, cruel, and arguably psychotic - seeing only enemies wherever he looks. They'd come for him, too, one day - to wipe the slate clean and make room for another - and it's his conviction to ensure that he dies while taking as many of those rats with him. This is a story about finding acceptance, growth, and understanding - from the point of view of a cold and brutal individual who wears many masks. Of someone who was born to be the greatest emperor the eastern continent has ever seen - but he failed in that. Strong, yes, but only in the context of a man - Tyr's magic is weak. His convictions are weak. He has been made a beast of instinct by loss and a constant confronting of his own impotency in the face of his father. A mythos that stretches across planes, of magic, a pantheon of cruel gods. Of someone who's dedicated his entire mind to the art of killing a man, and none to living a normal childhood or coming to understand friendship, empathy, or compassion. The first five years of his life a mystery, a hole none have ever been willing to fill, leaving him warped and twisted. His formative years gone and what must've been most of his humanity along with it. Now 17, he is on the cusp of leaving the city he'd never been permitted to leave for what might be the first time in his life. Always searching, though he won't know what for, for some time. An episodic that follows experience and symbolism rather than a never ending series of battles - where the conflict lay in constantly searching for wholeness in lieu of great villains or heroes. This is where it all started, the origin, the tale told a million times - and yet it hadn't been, 'reality' is tricky like that. The greatest lie ever told by the tongue that speaks is that any of this was real at all.
8 248 - In Serial47 Chapters
Forced Development (What does it truly mean to live a fulfilling life?)
To get things started I would like to admit that this story does not bring much new to the table when it comes to the over-saturated Litrpg genre in terms of things like mechanics and power systems. Then what exactly am I trying to bring to the table with this work? A nice slow-paced novel about people maturing and growing older think of it as the re: zero or jobless reincarnation of Litrpgs. A story that tries to take into consideration how a worldwide system would affect the economics and culture of a world. A story that is much more character-focused than the typical heavy progression-focused novels this genre is known for. The RPG system, like any good power system, is there to actually explore the themes of the story and not just as a plot device for characters to get stronger. This is a story where we will see the growth of the Mc from being a baby to when he dies of old age. With plenty of heart-racing actions and intriguing plot developments along the way. Exploring themes like; What does it mean to improve at something and what does it mean to mature as a person? How does magic, the constant threat of monsters and people so much stronger than the average joe that they can destroy countries affect one's culture both on the micro and the macro scale? How people are affected by the culture in general? Generational trauma Nature vs Nurture Talent vs hard work What is morality, society, and people's opinions on both? What does it mean to be human and what does it mean to be alive in the context of a world with multiple sapient species vastly different from one another in basic biology? All these questions are going to be explored from multiple angles using the system as a catalyst for those discussions. So if any of does questions sound interesting to you what are you waiting for, I'm sure you are going to love this story. PS - Chapter come out every Friday at about the same time.
8 187

