《Just a Bystander》[STATUS UPDATE]
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Hello dear readers,
I know this isn't the update I promised for 18 April, but I've got some news to share.
The 4-week hiatus has helped me take a bit of a breather, but work is still taking up a fair bit of my time, and it looks like the next year or so is set to be increasingly busy. Together with the new responsibilities in my personal life, it means I won't be able to keep up with the update schedule I've had so far.
This story (which has been the biggest writing project of my life) is something that is really precious to me, and I want to assure you all that I don't intend to abandon it. I've thought long and hard about how to continue writing sustainably while still honouring my other commitments, and I've decided that this twice-a-week, almost episodic nature of my updates is not the best way forward.
I'm going to be shifting to a once-a-month update schedule, with much lengthier chapters so that the pacing and development is more even. I'm sure many of you have noticed that the narrative tends to get bogged down quite a bit in some story beats, and that's largely due to my initial choice to post in short excerpts. I'm hoping that this change will be good for me as a writer, and also present a better reading experience.
I haven't been able to make as much progress as I had hoped in my 4-week break, so I have to ask for everyone's patience as the earliest update will only be at the end of May. Thereafter, I'll be aiming to put my updates on the last week of each month.
I understand that some might be disappointed with this development, and I'm truly sorry. I hope you'll still enjoy the story as it unfolds in the months ahead.
If you'd like to get in touch, do join the Discord channel or feel free to drop me a DM via RoyalRoad.
Yours,
Aefraga
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- In Serial75 Chapters
Fantasy World Epsilon 30-10
New Dive Assignment: 0B5 Personnel: Citizen of Gamma G-037-072 Jonathan Kelly World Designation: Epsilon H-037-072-030-010 Classification: Pre-industrial Exotic World, significant outliers in biosphere including atypical flora and fauna. Quarantine protocol in effect pending more data and acclimation testing. Further anomalies include populations of morphologically distinct humanoids, and aberrations in otherwise normative physics laws. Causal chain appears provisionally stable. For the purposes of delaying onset of collapse as well as above mentioned factors, only one subject is cleared to Dive. Initial mandates shall proceed with scouting and surveillance. Further details are classified. Warning: All other qualifying personnel are currently dispatched. Refusal will result in deployment delays and possible unsupervised causal decay. Do you wish to accept this assignment? Note to Readers: This is not MC isolated in a new world. This is new world joins the multiverse. What I'm tentatively coining Subverted Isekai (Formerly I used 'reversed' but, as pointed out, that would be fantasy MC goes to the modern world. Hey, there's idea! Not this book though.). There is plenty of scientific and philosophical stuff; I know that can be a turn off for some. It has a strong bearing on the story, but is mainly covered in the 'Comments & Calculations' section (optional reading of course). If you are looking for an extreme suspension of natural laws with no technical considerations, you will not find it here. Formatting Notes: Audio chatter from characters that are not currently in the scene I format in "inverted commas and italics". Given the layered nature of modern communication, I thought this distinction was best denoted visually in my prose. Critique is welcome. Language Notes Jon is a South African ex-pat. As such he will use some Afrikaans colloquialisms plus a dash of Japanese. Most importantly he says “Ja” meaning “Yes”. Pronounced with a J sound like “yo” and an A sound like “bar”. As in: “Yo, let’s go to the strip bar.” “Ja.” And not the Rastafarian /jya/. Other words: Nee - /niya/ : no Juffrou - /yif-row/ : Miss Lekker - /lacker/ : nice, good, delicious Nooit - /noit/: never The rest is mostly swear words. Indisputably the most useful words in any language and simultaneously holding the least innate meaning. Fok - “fork” without the “r”: fuck Bliksem - /Bluksim/: darn, damn. Also common noun meaning damn person or thing. Donner - “Dorner” without the “r”: originally meaning thunder, can also mean darn or damn. It is often used as a verb meaning: ‘to hit hard’ Kak - /kuck/: shit Voetsek - /foot-sack/: go away
8 297 - In Serial11 Chapters
Rise of an Undead in a Fantasy World
Have you ever wondered what would happen if an undead being that doesn't know what it is like to be alive got free will? What would that undead creature do? How would they think? How would they view the world around them? Would they see life as futile and conquer the world, making it a lifeless danger zone to all living beings? Well, none of that matters, because that's not happening. Our main character is your average gamer from the modern world, yada yada yada... gets transported to a fantasy world through obscure means, blah blah blah... you know how this works. What separates him from the masses, however, are his views on ethics, and world politics. ... Oh, and the fact that he doesn't need to breathe. Message From Author! Accept?: Yes No This is only my second novel, so keep that in mind. I will try to keep the quality of the story to an acceptable level. This means something that I, myself would read. The quantity, however, may put some people off. Adding onto the whole "villainous lead" thing, I will make sure to have the character develop into that perfect little villain over time, instead of starting him out as a bloodthirsty murder-hobo. Of course, there will still be a lot of murdering and he may be a hobo for some of it, but it will mostly not be out of malice in the very early chapters. Last but not least, I have decided there will not be a defined release schedule for this, as I have lost interest in forcing myself to upload x amount of times a week. I will upload whenever I get a good idea, and take my time. That is, if I even feel like writing in the first place. Instead of taking breaks from this novel to do my own thing, I will take breaks from my daily life to post on here. Also, I'm lazy. Thanks for reading, and if you're alright with everything above, feel free to give it a read, and without further ado, have a good one! - Your Author P.S.: I will have little to no romance in the story, as I can't bring myself to writing it, so you don't have to worry about harems.
8 133 - In Serial8 Chapters
Son of Heaven
"Shed your moral integrity and sever your connections; for the True Dragon is not restricted by human constructs." "Do not mindlessly destroy; for a dragon leads and conquers their enemies with decisiveness and wisdom." "A pack of seasoned warriors that is led by a sheep is inferior to a herd of sheep led by a competent dragon." "One laceration can separate the heavens, one thrust can cause the mountains to tremble, and one mistake can mean the death of all." ... Son of Heaven is a tale that revolves around Zhuge Sai, a young man who is predominately driven by his thirst for knowledge and inexplicable origins. He, who values victory over his moral compass.
8 68 - In Serial8 Chapters
Monstrous Path
This story is both dark and lighthearted, it will have a lot of deaths and gore scenes but not just for the sake of being edgy or something like that. Every being comes from someone’s life — a womb, an egg, the world, a God, and from itself. Then what about me? I came from a container, so what does that make me? Am I still a being? “I do not know — I want to understand — why?” This was my driving force to live when I opened my eyes, I had no need for food, I only needed to satiate my curiosity. But as I learned early on, life was not as simple as it seemed. Note: The Characters in this world would always have a reason for living, and the world moves not just because of the MC. This would also have a lot of tearjerking scenes (or so I would hope) Culture, Race, Government, and Language can and will be different and though some Races like Elves and Dwarves are present, please do not think that they are the same as every other.
8 59 - In Serial28 Chapters
bleeding love
THIS STORY IS FINISHED!!! Catherine is being sold - to a vampire. She thinks they're cruel, viscous beings incapable of loving anyone. When she finds out the one she loves, Han's, has been killed by his own Vampire employer, she vows she'll get away from the prison. Vampires just keep humans as pets to feed on and to mess with their heads - or that's what she thinks. Is it possible there's more to her vampire employer, Damien, then she thought?
8 75 - In Serial15 Chapters
Muna Miracle
Do you believe in Miracles? In 1980, a memorable moment in sports was during the XII Winter Olympics. Cold war tensions were high and the U.S Olympic hockey team found themselves against the indomitable Soviet Army Hockey team. The announcer, Al Michael posed a question that would forever be fixed in the minds of every man, woman, and child that ever wished for hope. That year, Soviets went home that year with the Olympic cup, soon followed by a nuclear warhead and the question would remain unanswered for many hundreds of years. Of course, a little ray of moonlight might change a few things.
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