《The Errant Otherworlder Watanabe》Interlude – In which the thoughts of Rabanowicz are related.
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87th of Winter, 629
Today, as is usual these last few weeks, the company of Hans marched closer to the capital. I estimate that we should arrive there in a week or so if nothing goes wrong. That uncivilized captain may be overly harsh against his equally uncivilized men, but he is effective in terms of making them march properly at the least.
At noon, Hans ordered the men to stop and setup camp. Apparently, he wanted to “receive blessings from the local temple before going to glorious campaign against the perfidious heathens” but he most likely wanted to sample the ale of this region outside the capital – which even back in my home I heard was the best beer in the continent. There the company and I chanced upon a “heathen” from far away who wanted to convert to their faith. I couldn’t clearly see the foreigner from far-away during the procession, but word spread quickly about the man who was tasked by his lord to learn about Brassicanism.
About the foreigner, I heard that he had the darkest hair that anyone had ever seen, that his eyes were shaped differently in a way that was indescribable and that he had teeth whiter than the finest ivory. While such rumors tend to be exaggerated, especially ones which spread around camp, I was still curious but missed the opportunity as the man was escorted to the captain’s camp before I could do anything.
After the conversion ceremony for the heathen, a curious incident happened where about a dozen men, at the same time, came to me complaining about having difficulty breathing. Their skin also looked red and irritated, though other than that they didn’t seem to be at immediate mortal danger. After giving them a remedy of salt water and burning some incense to help their breathing, I heard men in the distance shout as they voiced various profane curses due to the taste of the beer they were drinking. With the help of one of the men I had just given treatment to, I found a barrel supposedly containing beer and opened it, only to smell soggy gunpowder. After a bit of detective work, we found out that fiendish Boris, who was responsible for stocking the beer today, had decided to fill the barrels he thought was empty with the beer.
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For wasting my precious time and for wasting equally precious ale, the captain made a decision that I wholly agree on: Boris personally received thirty lashings from the captain, and also had his week’s pay docked.
As there were no more interesting incidents after the righteous lashing of Boris, I spent the rest of the day as usual reading some chapbooks I bought from the merchants in the camp. Most of them turned out to be utterly lowbrow as usual. That “real” tale of the criminal was uninspiring and clearly intended to only shock the ignoramus with its audaciousness, the ballads only made me think about where they keep finding these maidens in love and the ones with “comedy” somehow managed to be cruder than the soldiers listening to them.
At least the soldiers who listened to me read these were entertained enough, and I got back all the money I had spent on these worthless papers.
The Saga of Egilhard. No matter how many times I told him that it wasn’t ready, and that I hadn’t written it yet, he told me he wanted to read whatever I had written already. I had to oblige to avoid the captain’s wrath, lest I go the way of Boris, so I followed him into the tent.
In the tent I also saw, what I presume is, the foreigner who I can’t remember the name of while writing this. I read the novel to the captain, making an impromptu ending for it so that he’d stop bothering me about it. I also carefully observed the foreigner man, who seemed to enjoy the lowbrow romance as much as the captain. I was surprised to see that the rumors about him were true from what I could make out in the dark, his hair basically blended with the lightless environment, his eyes were unlike anything I had observed before and his white teeth (actually, thinking about it now, they are probably dentures made out of metal or ivory, for it is impossible for man to have such white teeth) shined even in the dark.
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His countenance has made me remember a book that I bought a few weeks ago. I’ll have to take a look at it again to make sure if this man fits the descriptions found in that book. I can’t sleep soundly without figuring out where this suspicious character might come from.
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The Solipsist
Every novel needs a main character, and in this case, it's a young man named Jacob Bates. Jacob is your average guy who likes books, television, and long walks on the beach. One day, Jacob was diagnosed with a condition that made his body frail and weak. This drove Jacob to focus solely on his studies, ending up becoming a fairly capable guy, despite his condition. The road ahead was looking great! That's when a little scene occurred between Jacob's girlfriend and one of his male classmates. Jacob's mood was a little lower than dirt from thereon. His motivation to pursue his studies, gone. This event caused Jacob to fall into the death grip that is a job in retail. One day, while Jacob was mopping the cold floors of the grocery store he worked in, a strange blue screen appeared in front of him, notifying him that the world was going through a change. Now if this change was a good or bad thing, he didn't know. But there was one thing Jacob knew for certain. He didn't have to mop the floors anymore. Author's Note: (This is my first story, and I would be very thankful if grammatical errors were pointed out. I could also take a few suggestions in the comments if you would. This is less a planned production, and more a little project that I'm winging as it goes. I will try and be consistent with at least 2 chapters a week. Also, as I am a completely new author, the number of words per chapter may fluctuate. The minimum will be around 1000 words, while other chapters may be 2000-3000. It will hopefully only get better with time.)
8 113Walking With Jesus A Daily Devotional
A daily devotional to encourage you with your daily walk with God. I pray this book helps you learn more and grow closer to God. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
8 197Apex Immortal: a LitRPG system rampage
"Across the multiverse where the contest for power is the only constant, only a handful have succeeded in reaching the ultimate heights of ascendency and gained the title Apex Immortal. Dominus is one of them, unsurpassed in overwhelming violence, feared across universes. Now, memories locked and stranded far away from everything he’d built, Dominus will face enemies that will challenge even his powers and discover that change is more difficult than destruction." I’ve been writing fiction on and off for the last decade and I’ve always wondered how a peak immortal (or an OP superhero) would single handedly conquer a world that mirrors our own in all of its complexity. As a politics nerd, this is my attempt at answering that question using Machiavelli’s “The Prince” as the primary playbook. The “monsters” are entire political systems with entrenched culture. Expect many versions of real world political systems (and cultures) to be on the hit list. The MC has to successfully institute regime and cultural change without engaging in wholesale genocide and causing the state to fail. Expect things to go wrong pretty quickly as escalating and cascading political and economic effects rapidly go out of control. Methods deployed are not for the faint hearted.
8 186So What If I'm Trash? Who Needs Cultivation?!
Qing Shan Long. They say he isn't human. An escaped experiment from some government facility, a reincarnation of a saint, a freakish superhuman. Whatever he was one thing was clear. Be it Music, Martial Arts, Science, whatever he does he excels. He was a whimsical man. A great man. A man who craving for knowledge and excitement knows no bounds, whose collection of books and personal library would even make Alexander the Great green with envy. He donated to all manners of charities and funded many projects for helping the poor and disabled. A self made man who single handedly founded one of the largest corporations in the world, Wen Qu Technologies, whose influences reach from vast fields of expertise. From objects of war such as the newest aircrafts, droids, and body armor; to life saving medicine and vaccines; to even the mundane such as video games and the fast food industry. A legendary example of determination and hard work. He was in his car being driven to a business meeting to disclose a deal that would help ensure the country could have access to clean energy and help reduce the pollution that has been plaguing his homeland for the past millenia when he was assassinated and woke up in a strange new world. How will Qing Shan deal with his new environment where the strong suppresses the weak? From the top of the world he suddenly finds himself free falling to rock bottom. Unable to cultivate, a weak body, and all but disowned by his family. (For those who read comics and watch cartoons, imagine him as being Tony Stark, Richard Reeds, Jimmy Neutron, etc level of 'Genius'. ) My own spin on some familar tropes. Another reincarnation into another world story. The MC will take over the body of someone with a trash body that can't cultivate and will be hated and neglected by his family. Pretty typical so far right? Except there won't be some amazing miracle to heal our MC, there isn't some magical grandpa to teach him some OP thing which only his trash body can use, there isn't a hidden op bloodline, and he is not from a super amazing assassin clan or genius doctor. He isn't the chosen one, he's just a guy trying his best to make something with a crap situation. First attempt at a wuxia type story! I like playing with common tropes, maybe adding a twist, to playing it straight as a classic. I have absolutely no idea where this is going to take me but please do give your input and I'll do my best so that everyone has a say in where our journey will go. I'll admit the only knowledge I have of chinese history and ancient society is from reading light novels translated to english and some old dramas, so if I make some social passe just take it as because this is another world, not exactly an AU where magic and stuff actually exist. I'm also not actually Chinese and will basically using google to help me with names and other such, if I make a mistake please let me know! (Even if you don't like the story or couldn't bare to get past chapter 1 please leave a comment so I can find out where to improve, thank you!)
8 92Beauty Perspective
A young man dying, finds out his life is a lie. After taking vengeance into his own hands, he dies. But, this is not the end. His first life has prepared him for his next. A life of adventure, pleasure and survival. Let's see if he can do better, with a cheat. ----- Would love to hear some constructive criticism. Hope some people enjoy my ideas. Enjoy
8 76Assistance [ʀ]
As two dominants struggle with the sexual part of their arranged marriage, a little assistant comes along- changing their whole dynamic.NOT A SLOW BURN- STAY MAD
8 69