《Inglorious Bastard》Prologue: Summoning of a rotten hero
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...okay, let's calmly evaluate the situation I'm in. Woke up in the morning as usual, went to highschool to try and teach the little shitheads about literature as my job description states (minus the "little shithead" part). Day passed normally, nothing to write home about. During the last lesson I felt dizzy and blacked out - probably lost consciousness from the summer heat. So far so good. It doesn't explain at all what am I doing sprawled on the floor buck naked with all of the students of the class I'm in charge of in the same peculiar situation. My my, girls these days sure develop fast, huh?
My impromptu medical inspection was cut short by a booming voice of a robust man in full plate armor.
- We welcome you, heroes!
I have a sneaking suspicion that I've just got caught up in something really troublesome.
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Minding Others' Business
In a world of magic, monsters and violence, sometimes you need strong, valiant heroes to champion your cause, to fight the good fight, and to rise up against tyranny. Sometimes you just need your favourite mop found, or want to know who your wife went home from the tavern with. Of the two kinds of jobs, Gabriel and his team would always much rather take the latter. The mercenary life is all well and good, but it's so much the better when you get to sleep in a soft, fluffy bed each night and wake up without any troublesome perforations in the morning. They might live life on the safe side, but the team is not without their merits. Their archer is a passable shot, their brawler is feisty, their leader is, well, also there, and, most importantly, they have a mind-mapper. A mind-mapper is a wielder of a rare and ancient power. With his unique understanding of the soul, and how it can be manipulated, he alone could change the course of history, influence global politics, and bring fame and fortune to himself and his allies. Unfortunately for everyone, he's just a bit of a d***. UPDATES EVERY MONDAY Discord: https://discord.gg/Jfbkthr
8 222 - In Serial20 Chapters
On the Road to Elspar (Book 1)
The year is 1329. The Huntress' War has entered its tenth year, inflaming competing nationalisms and pitting the Confederacy of Caldrein against one of the continent's superpowers, the Tenereian Union. Desperately outnumbered, the Confederacy has relied on the prowess of its famed Caldran mercenaries, with highly-trained and experienced warbands returning from foreign conflicts to the defense of their homeland, and it is on their backs that Caldrein has successfully mounted a valiant defense for a decade. But they are losing, and day by day, with all the grace of a sledgehammer, the vast Tenereian armies take one more bit of Caldran territory, one footstep at a time. Sixteen-year-old Neianne from the village of Caelon has submitted herself to Faulkren Academy, one of the centuries-old institutions established to train the next generation of Caldrein's elite soldiers of fortune, to learn the ways of wars for three years before embarking upon the defense of her country. Her dryad family once hailed from reclusive woodland communes isolated from Caldrein's complicated mainstream society, and her upbringing leaves the shy village girl unprepared to suddenly train alongside other apprentices from backgrounds as low as the dirty slums of Caldrein's cities and as high as the halls of aristocratic power. Yet the war is eroding the norms and traditions that the Caldran people have long considered part of their national mythos, and the tensions within the confederacy that have long simmered under the surface - race, class, community, identity - are slowly but surely dividing its people, and Neianne must grow and discover who she really is, even as the war that she is steadfastly training for comes to its inexorable end... On the Road to Elspar is a fantasy quest - a work of interactive fiction wherein readers get to vote on what happens next at critical junctures - that is the first entry in a story that follows Neianne of Caelon, which first began on July 20, 2016. Originally a three-part in medias res prologue to a larger story titled On the Elsparian Road, it was eventually decided that this section - which covers Neianne's three years at Faulkren Academy - become its own independent story due to length, structural, and accessibility reasons. Despite this being a reader interactive work of fiction, due to logistical and verification concerns, voting will only be counted on its thread on the forum Sufficient Velocity, where this story originally began. As such, the content here on Royal Road serves as a story-only archive. You are, of course, entirely welcome to enjoy On the Road to Elspar as a conventional work of fiction, just as you are welcome to comment, discuss, and provide critique. But if you would like to participate in the voting, then I would be honored to welcome you on Sufficient Velocity. To facilitate accessibility and to ensure the best reading experience, this story-only version of On the Road to Elspar will be updated at a periodic pace, even though further content exists, so as to not overwhelm new readers on Royal Road. If you enjoy this story, wish to binge it, and/or want to participate in voting immediately, you may of course read all additional content via the link provided above. This paragraph will be removed once the content on Royal Road catches up with what has already been posted in its original thread. Cover artwork by DreamSyndd.
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Call of Carrethen
Posting chapters of Book 2, Lord of the Flame, until it releases on Amazon. Contains spoilers for Book 1!.? For more news, check out http://stephenroark.com Now, full book available on Amazon! https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07FP7XDWY Call of Carrethen—the world’s first real Virtual Reality game. Growing up broke in The Sprawl, I knew I could never afford one. But then I won a contest and the next thing I knew, I was diving into the most incredible world living out my wildest fantasies. But now I’m being held hostage with no ability to log out, and the penalty for in-game death? My soul will be lost forever in the “electronic void.” The world has been taken over by a black knight calling himself The Ripper. I don’t know him—but he definitely knows me. He turned the entire server red and returned everyone to level 1. Everyone but me. He’s gifted me 20 levels—with one single, deadly caveat: anyone who manages to kill me gets a free ride home. I'm a marked man. In order to survive and to get back to my family, I have to level up and defeat The Ripper. But with more than half the server out to get me, that’s not going to be easy.
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Six Seals
Put on indefinite hiatus.
8 173 - In Serial29 Chapters
The Primordial Of Deaths Awakening
A Primordial of Death, one of the highest ranking gods in existence is killed by his enemies. But unknown to them, this is all part of a plan concocted by the royal family. They erase most of their sons memory and send him to a far off planet that has yet to achieve space travel. Armed with his knowledge from his time as a primordial and having been reborn alongside some of his warriors and advisors who fought and died with him, he sets about trying to regain his position. Starting with the kingdom he was born into! Now how will someone who has only ever used force to get what he wants, fare in the world of politics, assainations and flattery?
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Crystillya: Two Worlds
Many years into the future, humanity developed a special device that grants people supernatural powers. A school named “Amber Academy’’ was built in Shibuya City to teach these people how to use their abilities. Illyanna Celestine is a student at this school, along with her childhood friend, Aoi Angelite, they vowed to protect the daily lives of the students and teachers from the people who oppose the powers they hold.
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