《The Dark Star Emperors》Chapter 8: The Seating Arrangement
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The three girls went to school on time. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The birds were chirping. The crickets jumped from bush to bush. The school itself looked like very nice and clean. It seemed like an average high school for Jack and Yune. But Mary thought of it as high-class. She had never seen a school like this except for the rich. She remembered her education to be small and cramped. Not fit for somebody like herself. But this school, she felt like she belonged.
Hades dropped down three book bags to the three from the sky and each one landed in the arms. Their was another note. "All your notebooks and pens are here. I did not steal them."
The book bags also had names written on them, but they looked to be scratched out.
Yune shook her head in disappointment.
Jack decided to check the bag if everything was there.
Mary took one of the pens and started to scratch out the name on her bag even further. Then, she proceeded to write her own name on it.
The three of them walked into the school together, but haven't really spoken since leaving the house. None of them felt like they needed to be friends with one another. Just that they were all allies under the situation.
"Let's meet up on the roof at lunch. Try not to attract too much attention, you two," Yune said to Jack and Mary.
"I'll try not to," Jack replied.
Mary just shrugged and walked away.
Yune, Jack, and Mary went off to their homerooms and thus began their first school day as guardians of darkness.
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The bell rang and Yune walked into her homeroom carefully carrying the backpack behind her. It was the first day of school, and she just wanted to sit by herself. She looked towards the seat in the far corner of the room next to the window. She felt a strange pull coming from that table as she became attracted towards it. Maybe, this is where I usually sit, she thought. As she was about to walk towards the seat, another kid just sat there. A look of disbelief fell on Yune. She didn't know why, but she felt that that seat belonged to her. That disbelief turned to frustration, but she calmed herself down. Yune took a good look at the kid. He looked like an average guy. Medium height. Didn't look physically impressive nor did he look skinny or fat. Just average. He had short black hair. There was nothing remarkable about him. Yet, this generic-looking guy sat in Yune's seat.
Calm down, she thought to herself, it's only a seat. I'll just sit in the middle somewhere and next time, I'll sit there. Yune took a random seat, but it didn't feel right. Her mind only wandered to that seat in the back next to the window. And so, started the classes. And every other class after, that guy would always take that seat in the back.
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The bell rang and Jack walked into her homeroom carrying a book bag casually. Her tall and athletic demeanor attracted the attention of the school boys, but she just ignored them.
Then, she looked at the seat in the back next to the window. A pull attracted her towards it, but another generic guy took the seat. Jack went up to the guy and asked, "Hey, can I sit there?"
But the guy's head seemed to be off somewhere else.
Jack uttered in disbelief, "Alright. Nevermind. No big deal. I'll just sit somewhere else." And she sat somewhere in the front. But even so, she still wanted that seat. Next time, she thought, next time I'll just be faster. But every class after, the guy seemingly always takes that seat.
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Mary strutted into the room carrying her bag haphazardly. She scouted the room and had an urge to sit in the back next to the window. Now, anybody could see what was coming, but Mary didn't. She blinked and some generic guy just appeared in that seat.
She rubbed her eyes thinking she was hallucinating, but no matter how much she rubbed, that guy was there. She rubbed her eyes 12 times before she could accept that some guy would appear and take the seat that she wanted.
She went up to the guy and gave a small cough. The guy looked at her in confusion.
"Huh?" he muttered.
"Yes, hi. That seems to be my seat your ass is on. So, please kindly get off," Mary said trying to maintain a kind smile. A brief silence entered the room.
The homeroom teacher heard her remark and she was sentenced to detention after-school. Then, he made her sit in the seat in the back two aisles away from the seat she wanted. Throughout that class, she gave a crazy and angry look at the guy, but he didn't seem to notice. The ones in between them were very disturbed. And in every class after, that guy would take the same seat that she wanted. And during every class, she would give him the same look while everybody else sweated in fear while trying to mind their own business.
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When lunch came, the three met up on their way to the roof of the school. The rooftop door was locked, but Mary transformed only her arm and with her index finger, clawed off the lock with ease. They strolled right through onto the school roof. It was a wired fence on the edges of the roof, but otherwise, it was very plain.
They all sighed and sat down.
Mary looked in her bag and took out a sandwich that Hades must have made or took.
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Yune and Jack proceeded to do the same. They all took a bite. It was tuna with cheese. Nothing too special, but was a good meal for the three.
There was only the sound of chewing among the three. Below them, they heard the other students walking around and talking with each other. Boys and girls played on the fields in the back. Some sat alone on their phone or eating their lunch.
Jack wanted to break the silence between them and made a loud sigh.
"I don't know about your days, but some guy has started to irk me," Jack said trying to make conversation.
"That's strange. Some guy has been bothering me, too," Yune mentioned and then took another bite.
"Strange? A guy who I would have thought a low-born peasant stole what was mine," Mary said.
Jack nodded and said, "Seems like somebody in each of our classes is bothering us. Although, I wouldn't call the dude that I saw a bully or anything. Just... well... I don't know."
Yune kept quiet and kept eating.
Mary quickly munched on her food, and suddenly as if she remembered her manners, she grabbed a napkin and wiped away the crumbs from her face. Then, she jumped up and shouted, "Maybe, we ought to do something. I got after-school detention because of his small head!"
"Keep it down. I'm sure that - you got detention?" Yune asked.
"Yeah. This guy was sitting in where I usually sit," Mary said and the other two were surprised at her remark. They too had the same problem with their guy. Mary continued, "I don't plan on letting this go. Him and his boring-ass black hair."
Jack interrupted, "Wait. So, you're telling me that some guy was sitting in your seat. I felt the same thing. It felt like I usually sit in the back corner next to the window, but this guy who's straight-up from some generic Japanese cartoon just takes it."
"That's very peculiar. I don't think this can be a coincidence. I had the same thing happen to me. Some boring guy with black hair decided to sit where I felt most comfortable sitting. In the back corner next to the window," Yune pointed out.
"Huh? So, you're both telling me that the same guy appeared in all three of our classrooms and took the same exact seat," Mary exclaimed.
Yune rubbed her chin and pondered. "Maybe, this is the work of some kind of Night Demon."
"A Night Demon that steals a seat. That doesn't make any sense," Jack said.
Mary nodded her head in agreement with Jack.
"Well, it's unlikely that three people with the same average features would show up to take the same exact seats that we all wanted. This must be due to some dark magic. There's no other possible explanation," Mary said trying to act and sound smart.
Jack shook her head and said, "I think there are probably other explanation, but let's entertain that idea. So what if they are some kind of Night Demon. We're no longer Light Guardians. What are we supposed to do?"
Yune stood up. She took a couple of deep breaths and replied, "We might not be Light Guardians anymore, but that owl said that we were free to do as we please. And since we still have powers, even if they weren't granted by beings of light, we can still use them for good. So, let's try to do some good."
Jack smiled. "That sounds good. I don't remember much about myself, but I feel like I've done everything because I believed it was the right thing to do. And I believe we should help people. If those guys are Night Demons in disguise, we should try to stop it before it hurts an innocent bystander."
Jack took a couple of steps forward and looked up at the clear blue sky. Birds flew overhead. The sound of regular traffic going by. The gentle wind struck her face and her hair danced in the wind. It soothed her.
While Jack was preoccupied, Mary asked, "So... how do we proceed?"
Yune thought for a moment and said, "Well, first we have to confirm that they are, in fact, Night Demons."
Jack looked back down to Mary and Yune. With conviction, she said, "You're right. And I think I have an idea."
"You do? I thought you were just muscle," Mary said.
"I do. And I'm not just muscle. It will have to be done quickly. I need some paper and a pen."
Mary took out some pieces of paper and a pen for Jack. And Jack began to get to work while the other two watched in anticipation.
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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.
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