A/N: I recently learned that the first paragraph preview was being used on the email to paid members. That was NOT my intention and after some investigating I figured out how to override that default on each post. Thank you to HN for clueing me in to this issue.
While I'm writing a note, I'll let everyone know I finished the first draft of the final volume (#4) of Misbegotten Memories ...
2025-10-30 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThough he doubted any Xian would be stirred to action, Hector passed a message to Zara through Wayne. Isabel left a hand-written message addressed to a senior member of her sect with him as well with the hope Zara could deliver it. Then Hector settled in to finally complete his body enhancement. His statistic in the System’s survey results had been at seven for a while now, ...
2025-10-29 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHector bought another false platinum elixir from Wayne before sitting down alone with Isabel.
She folded her hands in her lap before she began her lesson. “This is known as the Shuttle Technique. As I have said before, it is the greatest secret of my sect. The technique trains domain and aura together. The first stage of proficiency is simple. It is also no...
2025-10-28 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSix weeks. That was how long he’d been entombed within the miasma.
Three days. That was how long he remained asleep after his rescue.
Restoration patched up as much of the damage to his domain aperture as she could while he was unconscious. There were tears she could mend. There were also more esoteric injuries that she could not touch. He’d straine...
2025-10-27 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHector flew at the tank monster with as much stealth as he could manage. He didn’t want to draw its attention by converting miasma this time. No. He’d get close this time so he could tear the monster apart.
His plan, if it could be glorified with such a name, worked. He made it close enough to land atop the massive boxy dome. The solid miasma of its const...
2025-10-24 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe Users found them as they were exiting the protection of the Stronghold’s rune wall. They were a ragtag group who eyed Hector for a bit before one of them asked if he was Mister Stalwart. After a few seconds of confused blinking, he recalled that the kids he brought to Stronghold Alpha had called him that after he gained his second insight. When he indicated he was the pe...
2025-10-23 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostHe spent a large amount of the next two weeks in the dungeon. With Conrad to watch his back, Hector didn’t hesitate to push himself. The increased miasma levels let him recover energy faster than he had to spend it to tear apart monsters with cables of force.
Conrad remarked multiple times how different it was teaming up with the empowered Hector. There was always ligh...
2025-10-22 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAs the days passed, the ache in Hector’s soul reduced enough that he could function as a normal human once more. Using his aura was still impossible, so entering combat remained out of the question. There were other things he could do, though.
“How much for one of the fancy new elixirs I hear you’re making?”
Wayne rubbed his hands together with glee at the questi...
2025-10-21 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostEsther checked on him two days later. “Are you never planning to move again?”
Hector squinted up at her. “How did you get in here?”
“A perk of being the building manager.” Esther eyed his entire length. “At least you’re making it to the bathroom now. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Hector, but if you thought there was a chance somet...
2025-10-20 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostNo monsters confronted them on their descent.
They safely reached solid ground and were able to dismount Esther’s flying sword. Hector spent a few minutes straining his mental sense to figure out which direction seemed most promising. He’d continued training his sense and was at the point where he considered himself average for a Xian. That didn’t exactly give him ...
2025-10-17 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHe’d been on the edge of his goal for weeks when it finally happened. Under Hector’s will, miasma on the mental band transformed into cosmic energy, which he began pulling into his soul only to expel it back through his mind – giving the energy another opportunity to absorb on its way through. It wasn’t an official cultivation technique, but it worked better than some he’d...
2025-10-16 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next several days, they went out on several patrols. There had been a few casualties during Hector’s absence, making his return especially welcome to the troops. Beyond that, the renewed optimism brought about by the budget surplus inspired the soldiers christening his team with a sobriquet of sorts.
They were now known as the Miracle Squad. The team was compo...
2025-10-15 10:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe others accepted his apology for overreacting with good grace. They seemed to understand his explanation that he was no longer questing and therefore less eccentric in his behavior. Hector didn’t think they were particularly worried about his outburst. They were busy making arrangements with Wayne for their resources.
“I’m not eating humans,” Hector said when ...
2025-10-14 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Chapter 2 for today. This was supposed to be Monday's chapter, so the next one will drop on Tuesday instead.
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Hector swallowed and turned his gaze forward once more, using his other senses to track where the possible hostiles were. His touch sense extended only about twenty-five meters, so he was mostly paying attention to his peripheral vision and sense of hearing....
2025-10-10 10:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This is the first of two chapters today. Trying to avoid the Friday cliff.
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“Three hundred and seventy major coins is mighty impressive for boxes of fertilizer,” Fiona said. “Though you will lose twenty percent of that in taxes. Which still leaves you with… just shy of three hundred, I think. That’s enough to live comfortably for a whole year a...
2025-10-10 10:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day they made their way to the site of the auction to see what kind of reaction their fertilizer lots would get. Bustling crowds amazed at miraculous fertilizer failed to manifest. Because it was a silent auction, they couldn’t even determine what the highest offers were. At one point Mei snuck a peak at the ledger maintained by an attendant whose attentions were se...
2025-10-09 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt took them just shy of a full twenty-four hour day to cross the lake. For most of that time, their group was divided in three. Mei and Dorian kept to themselves. Isabel and the interpreter Owam sat off to the side. Which left Fiona, Hector, and Darius as an awkward triad.
Fiona would place her hand on Hector’s arm and make some inane comment. “I go back...
2025-10-08 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Yes, the dark continent,” Isabel said. “People with dark skin and also everyone in the shadow of the Ancestor.”
Hector hesitated, not sure if he was going to seem racist if he asked a question. This wasn’t Earth, though, and the prejudices were arranged more in terms of class than along lines of ethnicity. “Do the people of Bentley consider themselves to be ...
2025-10-07 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHe informed Zara of his return after cleaning up from his long walk. She decided on the spot that they would leave in two days and went to make arrangements for their trade goods with Wayne.
Wayne. Hector ground his teeth as he searched for Darius. He found the eunuch staring out a window in the third floor lounge. “We leave for Tian in two days. B...
2025-10-06 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostHaving been evicted from the meeting, Hector began to walk back to Tian Tower while restoring his energy reserves. He briefly considered using his transit sphere but rejected that as wasteful. He could walk the twenty miles from the Reconquest staging grounds to his building without issue. Or he could run the distance if he preferred.
This is going to complicate ...
2025-10-03 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostHector sat in silence, letting the unspoken accusation hang in the air. Had he betrayed the Reconquest? Hopefully they could appreciate that the individuals at Stronghold Alpha were fighting on their side and not causing problems. At the same time, he’d misled his superiors.
General Wilson smacked the table. The eight foot tall Titan shattered the wood, but just ...
2025-10-02 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Root vegetables.”
Hector stared at Zara, not sure if this was a joke at his expense. “You’re sending us to Bentley, a country ruled by an ancient non-human, to get root vegetables?”
She grinned at his confusion. “Their skill at horticulture is unmatched in the world.”
“Like… potatoes?”
“Potato, yam, cassava, carrot, turnip, groundnut…...
2025-10-01 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostHector didn’t know how to help Darius. He didn’t know if it was possible to help Darius. To outward appearances, Dorian had snapped the tail of the Prince Rupert’s Drop of spite in the heart of Darius by sharing a secret technique. An act of kindness broke his bitter friend. From a rational perspective, that made no sense. On the other hand, he knew ...
2025-09-30 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHe went on patrol the next day. Purification joined as an observer, but her assistance was not necessary. Indeed, she proved more hindrance than help with her constant questions.
“What is it you’re doing with the miasma? Seriously. I always think of the stuff as a stain on reality. Gross. Icky. Not supposed to be there. You’re doing so...
2025-09-29 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostOver a couple of days with his friends, Hector gradually returned to a normal state. He didn’t think he would ever be exactly the way he had been before, but given some time to decompress he no longer felt like he was being seduced away from mundane reality. Seeking further enlightenment didn’t seem like a worthy goal to him, no matter how beautiful or powerful the truths might ...
2025-09-26 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHe converted the entirety of the monitor lizard’s corpse. Most of the liberated cosmic energy escaped faster than he could claim it. There was so much that he didn’t mind the loss.
Indeed, it wasn’t until close to the end that he could even bring himself to think of such common matters as energy economy. He’d at first been enraptured by the expansion of his insig...
2025-09-25 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“So if you restore based on your Intellect Attribute, how do you advance?”
Coyote winced. “Well, the System does that for us. We can’t grow stronger outside of Union Central. There are some rules around advancement, but I don’t know what they are. Some stuff about souls being ready and some stuff about how informational energy works. The System does...
2025-09-24 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostHector fit nine of the youths in his transit sphere on the first trip. He took them to the bunker he had identified as safe and then insisted on providing a safety orientation for them. They did not take kindly to his concern.
The woman with the pronounced jaw placed a fist on one hip and gestured with the free hand as she explained things to him. “Listen, you’re jus...
2025-09-23 10:00:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you understand why I don’t want them here? This is my home. I don’t want the worst parts of Volithur’s memories haunting me here.”
Hector had apologized several times already, so he opted not to repeat that again. “You can’t really believe Zara was a bad memory. She took down Lydia in front of the family council and taught us how to be a porter.&n...
2025-09-22 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostRiley discovered his return when she tapped on his door.
“Hey, Riley.”
“Hector! I didn’t know you were back already.”
“Didn’t you knock on my door?”
“Oh, I always do that when I come home just in case you’re around.” Riley clasped her hands together. “Guess how many credits I have now.”
“How many?”
“You need t...
2025-09-19 10:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post