Honour Rae

SOMD Ch35: A Tough Choice

Alice regretted sending her dragons away almost from the moment they disappeared out the door. Never in her life had she felt so instantly alone. It took all her willpower not to call them back.

Perhaps she was fooling herself and had been more defenseless when she had been a simple General Laborer – though at the moment it didn’t feel that way. More importantly, when she was a low class, she had been careful not to put herself in a position of danger.

She felt ar...

SOMD Ch34: Spying

At Alice’s command, Iggy flowed out of the store and into the open air behind.

Leaving Alice behind while she was that close to danger felt unnatural to his very being. If not for the fact Prim was giving him the evil eye, he would have turned on his tail and watched over Alice from a hidden position – one close enough where he could attack anyone who dared to threaten her.

Alice did not have to know about it. In fact, if she didn’t, she would be doubly protected because if ...

B5 Ch3: About Blood Moon Hive...

Arthur and the rest of his retinue headed out the barn to the back area which was not visible from the street. He was torn between amusement and exasperation.

Honestly, Horatio could simply project an image of his card out to everyone so they could read it and understand what this supposed great power was within a few seconds.

But the amused part noted how Horatio kept glancing at Soledad over and over. His friend wanted to impress the girl.

Too bad for him, Soledad seemed t...

B5 Ch2: Cardomancy

Outside of himself, Arthur was aware of people talking, quick shushes, and the occasional playful squeal of a new-hatched dragon. He had forgotten out loud and shrill the first few weeks after coming out of the shell.

He put all of that aside and did not allow his concentration to waver from the cards.

 

New Body Enhancement Skill: Focus Under Pressure

Due to your card’s bonus traits, you automatically start this skill at level 5.

...

2024-05-22 05:46:16 +0000 UTC View Post

SOMD Ch33: Fly!

At first, Alice barely registered the alarms. The high wind that always came off the harbor slowed down among the trees of the forest before it hit the village itself. It sounded like sharp whistles. 

She only truly took note when her customers stopped one by one and started looking around with anxious expressions. Then she caught the bare hint of a whistle. 

"What is that?" she asked. "One of the ships out to port?" 

She had just finished her business with th...

B5 Ch 1: Card Rules Are For Other People

Note: Woo! Time to start book 5? Are you excited? I am!  As usual with these, there's a bit o' recapping because normal readers have to wait months between book releases. I tried to keep it at a minimum, though.

The pain lodged at the base of Arthur’s skull was threatening to bloom outward into a truly massive headache. He didn’t care. Let it come.

Narrowing his eyes, he focused on the three cards that sat on the table in front of him. ...

SOMD Ch32: Old Fashioned Yard Sale

Note: Expect more chapters of this story!

Alice quickly learned that in order to truly communicate with one of her sub-aspects, like Fixie, it was best to go through one of the main dragons. She could, of course, bark out basic instructions to Spark – but anything more complicated needed to be filtered through Iggy.

Now she was running into the same problem with Fixie.

The little dragon was a repairing menace and would spend every moment she was awa...

B4 Ch54 - Card Smith (Book 4 Epilogue)

Note: That's right! It's the close of book 4, but as my talented (and lovely, I'm sure) patrons, it doesn't matter much to you because the start of book 5 is next week. :D

For non-patrons, book 4 will be coming out in ebook and audio August 20th. We're so ahead here.

****

They did not dally on the stairwell back to the pavilion. The shaking from outside—the incalculably distant sound of roars and whistles, all the more terrifying because they could hear th...

B4 Ch53: Core Challenge

Arthur found himself in a cozy living space, complete with a fireplace, cushioned seating, and even a writing desk in the corner. There were no windows, but a single oak door stood dominating the room with large writing over the top that read:

One challenger may enter.

There were several lines of smaller writing underneath that he couldn't quite read from a distance.

Marion, Cressida, Horatio, and the little Silver dragon, who'd ha...

B4 Ch52: Meet The Mythic Crew

Desperately, Arthur activated his mental shields along with his area of effect to try to help his friends. To the side, he saw Cressida try to do the same with her mana shield, but the moment it went up it was snuffed out like a candle flame. Her power was Rare.

Beside him, Brixaby roared in frustration and pain. The mental shields were barely holding up. They felt as thin as eggshells, and it would take only the lightest additional pressure to crush them.

We need to head back to ...

B4 Ch51: Warp Zone

"No," Arthur said.

Everyone turned to star at him, puzzled. Well, everyone but Marion who was gazing at his dragon with a look of utter defeat on his face.

"No," Arthur said again, stepping forward to place a hand on Marion's shoulder. "Remember, we're in the Dark Heart. Rules can be changed here."

"Arthur..." Cressida started, but then trailed off. She looked like she didn't know what else to say, as if she hardly dared to hope.

"Stand up, Marion," Arthur said. "This ...

B4 Ch50: Hatching

“I’m sad that the bandits had to die,” Joy said, as Arthur and the others went around harvesting the remains. They had to wait a few minutes as the ground around what was left of the corpses was too hot to step on even with shoes.

“I’m not,” Brixaby muttered.

“Nor am I.” Sams flexed his neck to nudge Horatio who pretended to bat him away.

Cressida knew exactly what to say to soothe her dragon. “On the other hand, now our territory is no longer ...

B4 Ch49: Intruders!

Arthur got to the top of the stairwell and looked out. A handful of rough looking men and women all surrounded the edges of the pavilion, staring back at him.

However, none had stepped on the slate rock platform that was under the roof. It likely had to do with shield – almost completely translucent except for a soup bubble haze – that wavered right on the edges. Arthur hadn’t noticed it before. Then again, he hadn’t had strangers practically on the doorway to his t...

B4 Ch48: Egg-Cellent Rewards

When Arthur arrived back at the pavilion, he immediately recognized it. Not because it had been weeks, possibly months since he had last seen this room, but because the underground floor of the pavilion had massively changed.

It was deeper with the ceiling now at least two stories high. The kitchen had been expanded to include grilling stations and long countertops, while the area that had been filled with multiple bunk beds had now been reduced to five. Most drastically, the stairway t...

B4 Ch47: Life In The Past 3/3

Note: These last few long chapters have all been leading up to this... 

A few days later, Arthur found himself in the unique opportunity to be a civilian executive assistant to the general.

Thanks to other jobs before, he had a keyboard touch typing skill which would be useless outside the dark heart, but allowed him, along with his Acting skill, to blend in.

The whole underground base now had a grim air around it. There were more and more...

B4 Ch46: Life In The Past (2/3)

The next day, he woke up as another older man, but one who volunteered in the medical unit as a nurse.

In between leveling up his First Aid and Basic Nursing skills, making people comfortable and treating basic injuries, he spotted something that was all too familiar.

“Heal—“ He caught himself just before he called for a healer. “Doctor!” he said sharply, instead, to get the nearby woman’s attention.

She was the leader here but was more overworked th...

B4 Ch45: Life In The Past 1/3

Note: This chapter ended up over 10k. Too much for me to edit tonight! So it's coming out in three parts. One tonight, and two tomorrow. :)

Arthur blurted out his next words before he gave any thought to them. "Why hasn't anyone harvested this scourgeling?"

The man with the curly hair gave him a baffled look. "Uh, harvest for what?" His gaze landed on the nearest scourgeling in the water thanks. "You don't intend to... eat this, do you?"

In answer...

B4 Ch44: Combat Challenge

Brixaby and the rest of his retinue emerged into the clear open air, very, very far away from the ground.

Brixaby gave a squawk of surprise that he would later insist was merely an exclamation and certainly not a yelp like a new hatchling. Quickly buzzing his wings, he situated himself upright in the air. Sams and Joy, both being larger with a greater wingspan, took longer. 

Unfortunately, when the dark heart had taken them to the challenge, Cressida and Horatio had been stan...

B4 Ch43: Utility Challenge

The next thing Arthur knew, he was surrounded by complete chaos. He blinked and found himself standing outside, taking in a lungful of fresh air scented with pine and the cold sharpness of snow. Then, suddenly, he was jostled from behind. To keep his balance, Arthur reached out and caught himself on another person, but they were unsteady, too and the two of them stumbled into another. Somehow, Arthur and the man managed to keep their feet, but it was a close thing.

He was staggering for...

B4 Ch42: Claimed Territory

They made the decision to trek over the hills on foot because Joy and Sams were both subtly grimacing and stretching out their wings when they thought no one was looking. Back winging was an unnatural position for most dragons and doing so for a long time while descending down the pit had threatened to strain muscles.

Not every dragon can be a purple, Arthur thought with a hidden smile.

But also, they didn’t want to overfly any possible reward. After hearing how Cressid...

B4 Ch41: Pre-Challenge Winnings

Looking around, Arthur’s gaze first fell on Cressida. Like him, she’d arrived standing next to her dragon and not astride. She met his gaze and said, “I think this is the first chamber.”

“Chamber?” he repeated, though immediately his mind went to the hearts and offal of the animals he’d prepared for cooking. It was messy business, but one did not get a level 50 in Butchering without dealing with inner organs.

Cressida started to answer, but ...

B4 Ch 40: Tier 3 Class

Time lost meaning to Arthur as he slowly moved through the workstations, one by one. From there, he moved to butchering and then to entrees. None of the stations were easy, and all had their individual challenges and hidden traps to avoid.

A few times more, he caught other signs of scourge rot on the food that he was working on. But also, while he was at the butchering table, he encountered new animals and fish – some that had poisonous parts to avoid.

For that, the chef gave hi...

B4 Ch39: Level 0 (2/2)

"You want my art?" Brixaby roared at the top of his lungs.

It was a pity he was currently without his stunning shout ability, but that hardly mattered. He would be perfectly happy to kill without them.

The scourgeling in front of him opened up its jaws as if to answer, but Brixaby lunged forward and ripped out the shards in its heart anyway. The fact that the thing was wearing clothes and speaking meant nothing, other than it was slightly less convenient to harves...

B4 Ch38: Level 0 (1/2)

The world revolved around Arthur. Or maybe he was the one spinning while the world remained still. Lost, disoriented, and confused, the only thing he knew for sure was that he was no longer sitting on Brixaby’s neck.

The first thing that finally came into focus was the classic scents of frying garlic and mushrooms. Then, in the next moment he found himself standing nearly nose-to-nose with a brick wall that radiated heat.

He took a step back. No, it wasn’t a wall, it was a bri...

B4 Ch37: Descend

It was that strange hour past midnight where it was so early it was late, and so late it was early. There was no hint of dawn, or even a fresh morning breeze. But sirens screamed through the city, fed in by giant card anchor horns on top of buildings. Every bell was set to ringing, too. No one could possibly sleep through this, and every living soul who was old enough to have a card in their heart was out of bed and rushing up the steep hill to the middle of the city.

Though no one – ...

B4 Ch36: Final Preparations

Note: Last chapter for the night!

The moments of silence while everyone read over Arthur’s Legendary cards felt both weighted and stretched.

Arthur felt as exposed as if he had removed all his clothes and then asked his friends to look for flaws on his body.

In a way, it was even worse than that. His deepest truths were finally exposed for all to see. These were cards from his heart – a portion of his soul laid bare. Which was why it was so monstr...

B4 Ch35: Round-Table

Arthur could barely wait to get back to the barn and tell Brixaby all that he had discovered.

He found his dragon excitedly talking to Joy. His blood red eyes were bright, and his chest was puffed out with pride. Turning, he saw Arthur and boomed out, “Arthur! Let me tell you about my grand accomplishments!”

“Oh?” Arthur came over and glanced around. It seemed that Brixaby’s metal refuse pile which he did not allow anyone to touch or even look at too closely – was bigg...

B4 Ch34: Blacksmith Artist

Brixaby

With one final ringing blow of the hammer, Brixaby finished the kite shield he was working on.

Lifting it in his claws, he bent his head close to look it over. He tried to take it in objectively, like a Master of the craft would.

It was too small for him – much too small for any dragon to use. There were a few extra dents he could not fully manage to knock out, and it still needed to be fitted with a strap suitable for human arms. The metal was well forged, ...

B4 Ch33: The Answer

“Arthur, pal…” Dannill gave Arthur a smile that managed to barely remain on this side of smug. Barely. “What you’re describing — a card that stops card disintegration? Never heard of it. I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Of course it’s possible,” Arthur said, frustrated. “Every spell, charm, or skill has its own card.”

“Well, if it was… you wouldn’t find it in a store. That’d be a Legendary level card, and you don’t find such a thing in a store.�...

B4 Ch32: Self Insight

Arthur was barely able to keep the smile off his face. “But first, I have some welcome home gifts for the both of you.”

“So, this city of yours is going to be our new home?” Horatio asked, but he and Cressida had sat up at Arthur’s words, interested.

Brixaby, who’d been half-paying attention to the human’s conversation, came over. With a flourish, he pulled out two cards from his Personal Space.

“You should be grateful that I did not eat this,” he commented...