hcmills

Chapter 22: Progress

The next day, Rylan splurged on some fresh sheep’s cheese at the market, and brought it to his family’s home. Leahna showed up shortly after he did, and together they started on some cheesy garlic flatbread.

Their cooperation still left something to be desired, but there was an infectious giddiness in the air, and R...

Chapter 21: A Den of Traitors

While Rylan was a little more distracted during his shift than usual, he managed to keep most of his attention on the food he was preparing. He’d written his letter and had asked one of the busboys to drop it off at Leahna’s workplace—if only to keep it away from their nosy father. He’d sown his rice, now he was just ...

Chapter 20: Bonding

Rylan was having a little trouble wrapping his mind around his father’s excited explanation. Apparently, in order to properly create the waveform, he would have to find the right rhythm to excite the mana at. However, that rhythm couldn’t just be a steady one. Rather, it would have to be a mix of different frequencies, as...

Chapter 19: A Path Forward

Telling the story of what had happened to him was trickier than Rylan had anticipated, due to how many things he needed to leave out.

He told his father and sister about his daring escape, about the whale and their journey to the ruined city in a bubble of air. He told them about the former pirates and the Dungeons. He ...

Chapter 18: Revelations

Hearing his father’s words, for a moment, Rylan closed his eyes. He’d actually done it. He’d found his birth family. Or part of it, at least.

He still had many questions to ask of course, and he was fighting hard not to get too emotional, to reserve his judgment for when he’d heard all the facts, but that didn�...

Chapter 17: House Call

Rylan waited in the hallway just outside the little backroom—the same one Sloan had once carried him into after he’d fainted—and peered in through the thin slits in the bamboo door.

He didn’t get much time to prepare himself mentally, as barely a minute had passed when the door to the taproom opened and a girl w...

Chapter 16: Visitor

Gaping in wonder, Rylan reached out towards the glass, his fingers pressing up against the pane, with the little yellow spirit hanging just on the other side.

“Hi,” he breathed softly, careful not to startle it again.

[What’s going on, Boss?] Arphin asked. [Is there something there?]

Rylan did not have...

Chapter 15: Chef Ironbeard

With the back of his hand, Rylan absentmindedly wiped some sweat off his brow as he stirred the shellfish pilav he was heating.

Noticing that the rice was starting to stick to the bottom of his cast iron pan a little, he carefully pushed down a small lever at the front of his stove, reducing the flow of mana from the ci...

Chapter 14: Reunions

Soren’s mother looked a little gaunt, like she’d lost weight in his absence, but the strength with which she clung to him as she cried her eyes out belied her age.

As Soren had been a late addition to the family, the Lady Dionne was already in her sixties, streaks of grey adorning the otherwise black hair beneath hi...

Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home

From the prow of the Breezy Bargain, Soren basked in the sight of his family’s estate. The morning sunlight bathed the white plaster on the outer wall in shades of orange, made the lacquered black roof tiles on the main building gleam, and glinted off the distinctive copper fogtube that spiralled up around the tower.

...

Chapter 12: Negotiations

Burtrand’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re a—”

Rylan held up a finger to his lips, glancing nervously at the various entrances to the room.

Burtrand blinked, hesitated, then seemed to come to a decision. “All right, give me a second, then I’ll lead you somewhere we can talk.” The man then stuck his hea...

Chapter 11: Profession

Rylan swayed on this stool for a moment, grabbing onto the edge of the bar for support. Art hadn’t frequented the Knackered Hag since around the time Rylan had received his letter. That seemed like a very poor omen... Had something happened?

Uncomfortable heat spread across Rylan’s body as his heartbeat accelerated,...

Chapter 10: The Knackered Hag

Arphin’s white, pulsing runes lit up the red liquid coating his surface, spreading a grotesque pink light. The tip of the sharp yellow blade trembled, and it took Rylan a moment to realise his shaking hand was the culprit.

The man lying three feet from him took another gurgling breath, followed it up with a wet exhale...

Chapter 9: Bountiful

The alley exited onto a small, bustling plaza. People milled about dressed in bright textiles, and bamboo stalls covered in woven kelp in brilliant shades of blue and purple hawked a variety of wares. Just at a first glance, Rylan spotted a wide collection of trinkets, clothing, and fresh catches like crustaceans and fish in ...

Chapter 8: The Right Height

Breathing very slowly and steadily, Rylan pressed himself against the stone, his eyes fixed on the brightening orange glow in the distance.

About half a minute later, the source of the light finally turned the corner. It was a small flame, sputtering in the fog as it licked the inside of a lantern held by a tall man dre...

Chapter 7: Gloamstep

Tendrils of fog curled down from the newly unveiled hole in the side of the cliff, past the rungs of the bamboo ladder, to the woven mistweed mats covering the floor of Kher’s shack.

However, the fog that slowly drifted out was surprisingly thin and immaterial. Rylan figured that was by design, because he’d spotted ...

Chapter 6: An Old Friend

Yuel and Nazyr brought Rylan to a shack that was built up against the bottom of the city’s cliffs itself.

The shacks around here were a little sturdier and bigger, with larger gardens that grew a bigger variety of plants, suggesting there was some stratification going on even outside the city’s rings. But this shack...

Chapter 5: The Rear Exit

Pre-Chapter note:

In case you missed the announcement: Stan has been renamed to Arphin. If you want to know why, read the post I made about it. ^^

Yuel and Nazyr were already in the kitchen when Rylan crept in.

Yuel, w...

Retcon: Stan has a new name!

Yes, I know, it can be a little uncomfortable when you've gotten used to a certain name and it gets swapped out, but that happens when you're reading ahead on an unfinished story sometimes. ^^

I received a bunch of comments regarding Stan's rather uninspired name and the clichéness of the 'main character has no naming ...

Chapter 4: Fare Thee Well

Rylan’s first stop was naturally Soren. He found his friend still snoring away in his hammock, and gently but firmly shook him awake.

“Huh, whazzah?” Soren blurted out, blinking his eyes open. “Is it my shift already?”

Rylan shook his head.

“Then let me sleep, damnit!”

“Soren, Tamina ba...

Chapter 3: Orders are Orders

It was still dark when Soren came back and shook Rylan awake for his shift.

Yawning, Rylan made his way up to the deck, where he was surprised to find Ezra behind the steering wheel.

Seeing his expression, the red-haired man chuckled and planted his prosthetic—still a work in progress—on his hip. “Did you th...

Chapter 2: The Letter

Rylan didn’t pull the letter out just yet. There was still a question that he hoped his friend, despite all odds, might know something about. “Soren, have you ever heard of someone having a, ehm, unknown Affinity?”

“Unknown?” Soren repeated. “Is this a hypothetical, or...?”

“No, it’s me,” Rylan...

Recap + Book 2, Chapter 1: A Game of Sharks

Book 1 Recap

On the anniversary of the day he was found on the Thistlethorn estate’s doorstep, Rylan Cloudgift’s greatest wish came true: he unlocked his first Skill, thus becoming an Emerald-Grade Quinthar.

Unfortunately, this did not prove the end of his life as an indentured servant like he’d imagined. ...

Additional chapters!

All right, I've made a decision.

It's high time I got off my lazy butt and started treating you guys the way you deserve. ^^

By which I mean, I'm going to start posting more chapters! :p

Specifically, I'm going to be posting on Mondays and Fridays.

Now, for the coming weeks, I'm first going to expand t...

Being a writer is weird

Yesterday, I hit a bit of a snag on a chapter. I took a little stroll to think more clearly, and while I found some answers, I still wasn't quite sure how to continue the chapter.

Then, this morning, I woke up at 3:30, and my mind was conjuring up scene after amazing scene. I spent about an hour trying to get back to sl...

Read this if you're on an Apple device!

So, Apple recently ruled that Patreon subscriptions purchased through the app store are subject to the 30% cut that Apple takes on all purchases. In practice, that means if you subscribed to my Patreon through the Patreon app on an Apple device, you're paying roughly 45% more to account for that fee.

(This is o...

Chapter 72: Sunrise + Epilogue

Rylan leaned over the prow railing, staring down at Dreadmaw in disbelief as it dazedly started to swim off, the captain secure in its maw. A stiff swish of its tail sent it slowly floating off to the side, away from the ship, as goopy blood trickled steadily from the corner of its closed maw.

The captain’s final blow...

Chapter 71: Hanging by a Thread

Rylan frantically scanned the fog below, but couldn’t find the captain’s blue-glowing spirit.

[Boss, look over there!] Stan called out, sending along a sense of location that was below Dreadmaw. [The rope’s stuck in its suck-hole!]

Looking at where Dreadmaw was rushing away from the ship toward...

Welcome new patrons! ^^

Hello hello, and welcome! :)

It's lovely to see so many new people joining, and I really appreciate all your support.

I got a question about the release schedule recently, and just wanted to clarify: right now, I'm doing one new chapter a week, on Friday.

I'm posting a lot of backlog on Royalroad at the mom...

Chapter 70: Dreadmaw

“Hard over to port, now!” the captain barked, prompting Halloth to spin the wheel and Yuel to reel in a rope. The portside steering fin above Rylan creaked as it extended into the fog flowing by overhead.

Suddenly, the deck heaved upwards, sending everyone stumbling as the ropes connecting it to the floater momentar...