《A Raven's Craving • Namgi [✔️]》17
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It was Tuesday, the night before the Halloween Party and the same day Yoongi's wings are expected to come in. Yoongi was in unbelievable pain, and he had nobody there to help him. He was alone that whole day- nobody had came to visit. Namjoon and Jimin weren't allowed to come and visit him after that Friday. Headmaster Sol had found out about it and scolded the three- but they didn't care. They had fun. That was all that had mattered.
Yoongi flipped around in the bed, trying to relax and get comfortable. He couldn't, though. No matter how many times he flipped or squirmed, it never worked. He just wanted to at least sleep for half an hour, that's all. But, of course, he wouldn't be able to do that. It was impossible at this point- the pain increased by the minute. He couldn't focus one bit apart from the pain in his back- and that was taking it's toll. He sighed, and continued to flip and squirm around during the night.
--
The following morning, students were buzzing with excitement except for a select few. One of those students being Namjoon. He was worrying for Yoongi- he had no idea when the wings were gonna come in. He wanted to go and visit the boy, he really did, but he wasn't allowed. He sat at his table, looking down uneasily at his food. Jimin was sat down next to him, communicating to his fellow classmates. Laughter, disagreements, everyone was having them.
"Namjoon? Hey, are you okay?"
Namjoon looked up and towards the voice. Jimin was looking at him with worry and something that seemed like curiosity. Namjoon shrugged, looking away from Jimin and towards his food. He felt real nervous.
"...Yoongi is supposed to grow in his wings today, and I don't know when."
"...Well that's not that bad... right? Can't we go and see him after they grow?" Jimin asked, not fully understanding the situation. Namjoon sent a harsh glare towards him.
"No, Jimin! It's bad, he's gonna feel a lot of pain for at least a week and Headmaster Sol may not even let us see him during then!"
Jimin looked away, embarrassed. Namjoon sighed, looking back towards his plate of food before beginning to eat. Students around them chattered along during breakfast. Of course, many of them spared glances towards Namjoon, feeling his negative energy spread around like a wildfire. Nobody dared to go near him during the day.
As the day went on, Namjoon became more and more nervous. He never knew what was going to happen, and he spent most of his time in his room, anticipating the worse. He didn't get an ounce of rest throughout the day and was kept worrying the whole time. He tried to take his focus off of Yoongi, he really tried, but the boy lingered in his mind the whole day.
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Dinner came around, a few hours before the coming party, and Namjoon was tense. Everyone around him could tell, and it was awkwardly silent around him. He was impatient, worried, threatening. He knew that if anyone were to hurt Yoongi during this, he'd hurt them. Ooh he'd hurt them. He wouldn't take anything from anyone.
Someone at his table spoke. "So.. uh, Namjoon... how's Yoongi doing..?"
Namjoon stopped eating, looking back up at them with a harsh stare. They smiled nervously, diverting eye contact. Namjoon hummed.
"I don't think that's any of your business, is it now?"
Another student spoke. "Oh my gosh, man, we're all curious! Why don't you tell us something? We are friends, aren't we?"
"I wouldn't consider any of you, apart from Jimin, a friend," Namjoon spat. They stared at Namjoon, wide-eyed. Another student began to speak.
"Namjoon... after all of these years-" He was cut off quickly.
Namjoon sent a harsh glare. "Do you think I care about how many years we've spent together? News flash, I don't! Now stop pestering me, goodness."
Everyone was quiet at the table again, too nervous to speak. Students from nearby tables were whispering to their friends, and it wasn't long until Namjoon's words spread around the Commons like a wildfire. Jimin wasn't there at the moment, he said he was busy with work that had overflowed, but he promised to be there soon. Namjoon could pray enough that Jimin would get there quicker.
Namjoon looked towards the entrance of the Commons with slanted eyes, looking for any sign of Jimin's arrival. Minutes ticked by, and he never came. Eventually, dinner had ended and everyone left to go get ready for the party. Namjoon watched as everyone headed out, smiling and talking to their peers. After everyone cleared out, he left and made his way to the medical wing.
Before he could even get to the entrance of the Commons, a horrible, loud and middle-pitched scream sounded throughout the building. Students around him stopped, looking around in confusion and fear. Namjoon, though, knew exactly where that came from. His feet then began to carry him quickly down the halls. As he sprint, he pushed students out of the way, confusing them and making them mad. He could care less, though.
He bursted through the doors of the medical wing and went straight to Yoongi's room. Before he could enter, though, he was stopped by two other Ravens and the headmaster. One of the Ravens held him back as he resisted. These two didn't have wings. They weren't special. They weren't like Yoongi.
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"Namjoon... please leave," Headmaster Sol asked sincerely. Namjoon glared at him.
"Yoongi is in pain!"
"Seokjin is in there right now helping his structure come in, please calm down."
"I want to be with him right now!" Namjoon demanded. Another scream came from inside the room. Namjoon continued to resist against the Raven holding him. The headmaster sighed, looking away.
"You know I can't allow that-"
"DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO HURT HIM?!" Namjoon shouted. He was loud and clear. Very loud. The headmaster looked at him in shock. He never expected one of his best students to lash out at him. The other Raven glared at Namjoon before speaking.
"You should listen to your superior and headmaster," They stated before mumbling. "Filthy Crowseen..."
Namjoon pulled out of the Raven's grasp and tackled the other Raven, holding him by his neck. "What did you just say?"
Headmaster Sol pulled Namjoon off of the Raven and held him close, trying to restrain him. Namjoon was sending glares and cursing at the Raven, to which they just adverted his eyes and looked away, most likely regretful of what they said. Namjoon continued to let out strings of profanities and curses before the door to Yoongi's room opened, revealing Seokjin.
"Yoongi's requested for Namjoon to come in while his structure comes in," Seokjin simply stated before looking at Namjoon who was still being held back. The headmaster sighed, letting Namjoon go inside the room. Inside, he saw Yoongi, panting on the bed with his eyes shut closed. His shirt was off and his hair was a complete mess. Namjoon rushed over to engulf Yoongi into a soft hug. He heard Seokjin and the three other adults talking outside the room, but that was not his worry at the moment.
"Yoongi, oh my gosh you're doing so well. How are you feeling?" Namjoon said softly. He never got a response from Yoongi, but he knew that Yoongi knew he was there. He held the boy close, not letting him go. Though, it did feel weird feeling the boy's bones poke out through his wings and feel the bones under his skin move around. He didn't mind, though, it was a process.
Seokjin walked back in, a small smile on his face. "It's nice to meet you again, Namjoon." Namjoon looked back up at him, glaring.
"If Yoongi gets hurt I will not forgive you," he seethed. Seokjin just laughed, smiling widely at Namjoon.
"I know that, Namjoon. You're very protective over Yoongi, I can see that." Seokjin moved towards Yoongi before sitting down on the ledge and taking Yoongi away from Namjoon. Namjoon hated this. He hated not being able to help.
"What are you going to do to him?" Namjoon asked, raising an eyebrow. Seokjin smiled towards him before throwing the smile away and becoming serious.
"In order for him to have his bone structure for his wings come out, I need to move his back around. Like a massage, you know?" Seokjin asked. Namjoon nodded and began to watch Seokjin. He saw a faint, dark purple glow emit from Seokjin's hands and into Yoongi's back, and he panicked. "What's that?"
"It relieves Yoongi and numbs everything around the bone structure, then he can relax and let the bones come through. Sure, it'll still be painful, but it won't hurt as much as it would be without it," Seokjin explained. Namjoon let his eyes linger on Yoongi's back for a few more seconds before looking towards Yoongi's face. His eyes were still shut closed, but it seemed that he had calmed down.
Seokjin continued to massage Yoongi's back, but it had also seemed like he was forcing the bones up. Slowly, the structure was coming out of Yoongi's angel wing area. Yoongi groaned in pain, and Namjoon began to worry again.
This continued for the remainder of the night. The full structure finally came in and was out of Yoongi's back around two in the morning. Seokjin was exhausted. Yoongi could barely stay awake, but Namjoon just sat there, looking at Yoongi to make sure he'd be okay. Sure, he had looked at the build and structure of the wings, and he was in awe. He was absolutely excited to see the feathers grow on, but for now, that didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered right now was Yoongi's well-being. He didn't care if he had to stay up nights in a row and if he had to skip class, he would be there for Yoongi no matter what.
He had promised himself to always be there for him.
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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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