The world was a strange place. If Jia had been asked at any point in her life how likely it would be for her to one day have a private audience with the Queen of her country, she would have said that it was a stupid question. Orphan girls who made their living by lurking in the gutters and stealing forgotten or unsupervised scraps did not meet with royalty. Even after meeting Seong Eunae, becom...
2022-03-14 18:27:49 +0000 UTC View Post“First, I believe introductions are in order.”
Queen Seong Eunhee’s demeanor was unexpectedly casual as she addressed the gathering of Jia, Eui, Rika, and Kaede.
“As I am sure you know, I am Queen Seong Eunhee, matriarch of the Seong clan, which is the elected representative of Goryeon Council of High Nobility. The others here are my daughters, though to avoid confusion I’...
2022-03-11 19:33:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Absolutely not! No daughters of mine are meeting the ancestors-blessed Queen looking like that!”
Jia pouted as An Chunhei tutted and fussed over her kimono, inspecting it with the discerning eye of a professional seamstress. She tried to suppress the fuzzy warmth she felt at being referred to as Chunhei’s daughter as she defended her choice of attire.
“What’s wro...
2022-03-09 20:03:23 +0000 UTC View PostJia was still reeling a bit after her joint meditation experience with Rika. Eui had rushed off to explain things to her mother and Rika was discussing something with Hayakawa while Narae continued her practice, but Jia was just...processing. Just like when she had first discovered joint cultivation with Eui by accident, a part of Rika had been left behind. That part was giving her a lot of con...
2022-03-07 19:53:16 +0000 UTC View Post
It's been a while since I posted any new art related stuff. I've still been doing commissions monthly, but due to some practical necessities, I haven't been doing polls on them. The reason I haven't posted anything is because of some unfortunate delays that have pushed many of my commissions with Tsuu back by a bit. In the meantime, I'm working with @milygreenephie to put together a new batch o...
2022-03-04 20:42:35 +0000 UTC View PostYoshika sat in a circle with Rika, joining hands as they had during their experiment with the Melody of the Dreaming Moon. She’d never attempted joint meditation with more than two people before, so they had done a lot of preparation in order to ensure that things would go as smoothly as possible. First, they had agreed that since Rika’s personality would likely be somewhat overwhelmed by Y...
2022-03-04 19:49:42 +0000 UTC View PostOver the course of the next few days, the An and Lee families settled in together in their large estate. True to Chunhei’s words, the place really was easily large enough for three families. Even with six people occupying three bedrooms—Narae had opted to stay with her mother rather than get a room to herself—the place felt a bit empty. In order to rectify that, Jia filled one of the larg...
2022-03-02 20:56:46 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the tearful reunion, Jia felt a little bit out of place among the An family. The sun had long since set, and the trays of refreshments emptied. After a while, things had settled down again, and a somewhat awkward silence descended on the gathering. Eui’s parents were still wary and suspicious of Jia—with Chunhei in particular barely hiding her disdain. Nevertheless, they were clearly ...
2022-02-28 18:57:53 +0000 UTC View PostAn Chunhei could hardly believe her eyes. Her first reaction was to reject the reality in front of her. That couldn’t possibly be her daughter—Eui was dead, Eui wasn’t a mage, and Eui had her father’s dark brown eyes. Yet, as Chunhei stared into those crimson orbs—wide as saucers and quickly dilating with unbridled panic—she knew it could only be her daughter. The set of her shoulde...
2022-02-25 19:59:18 +0000 UTC View PostAn Chunhei was fretting and fussing over every little detail of the surprisingly spacious sitting room of her home. She made sure that the decorative curtains were set just right—blocking the glare of the setting sun, while still presenting a pleasing view of the colorful hues that it cast over the courtyard. She carefully arranged a tray of appetizers around a tea-set—all kept at the perfe...
2022-02-23 20:35:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe capital city of Songdo was even bigger than Jia had imagined it to be. The walls seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon, and Jia couldn’t help but gawk at the enormously high towers. They’d been impressive enough in the distance, but up close they seemed to reach impossibly into the sky. Constructions like that had to be impossible without magic being involved somehow—as befitted t...
2022-02-21 19:08:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of the journey to the capital went by quickly—almost too quickly. After Narae and Ja Yun had awakened, there were too many things to do and not enough time. It had been a scramble to teach them everything necessary to get them started on the path of unified cultivation. Ja Yun had been nearly hysterical about losing most of her cultivation, but Jia could still sense the esse...
2022-02-18 21:00:26 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a thorough scrubbing and a change of clothes, Lee Narae was presentable once more, and Jia was able to admire the unique awakening her little sister had undergone. Rather than a mage’s aura, Narae had developed the same sort of proto-domain that Jia had seen on other unified cultivators, with mana flowing freely between her aura and her body. The range of her aura was small, but impress...
2022-02-16 21:31:45 +0000 UTC View PostSomething felt different, but Yoshika couldn’t quite place her finger on it. The experiment with the Melody of the Dreaming Moon had been mostly successful, but the end of the dream had left her very confused. She remembered the conversation she’d had with Rika, but it felt bizarre. When her spirit halves had pounced on her, she had split into two different selves—representations of her c...
2022-02-14 19:11:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe white cat spirit paced on top of the tea table, casually knocking over empty cups, bowls, and other objects that Yoshika was certain hadn’t been there a moment ago—they disappeared before hitting the ground. It would have been almost comical if not for the rather tense atmosphere. Yoshika and Rika had taken a seat on the vacant couch while the agitated cat spirit kept them waiting. The ...
2022-02-11 19:40:07 +0000 UTC View PostBack in the wagon, Yoshika and Rika joined Lee Jung, Narae, and Ja Yun in meditation. It was a little bit crowded, but the carriage was large enough to fit all of them. Once inside, Yoshika had put up a sound-blocking barrier spell, prompting a curious look from Rika.
“What’s this for?”
Yoshika took a seat on the floor of the wagon, her bodies side by side as she gestured for ...
2022-02-09 18:52:21 +0000 UTC View PostJa Yun readily agreed to test Rika’s new theoretical method of unifying one’s cultivation—in part because it meant that she got a reprieve from the constant sprinting. She was understandably nervous about the prospect of intentionally breaking down the foundation of her cultivation in order to awaken her other disciplines, but as a third-stage mage, the amount of essence needed would in t...
2022-02-07 20:24:31 +0000 UTC View PostAfter delivering his message, Dae saw Jia off with a promise to meet again in Songdo as soon as he was able. Joining her sisters in their wagon, Jia wasn’t sure how to feel about her newfound status as a landlord. She’d assumed that Dae had simply faked the paperwork, and the news that she actually did own a real house and that people were living in it came as a shock. She was looking forwa...
2022-02-04 19:10:33 +0000 UTC View PostHow was one supposed to react to one of the heads of a foreign state baring their soul with a completely straight face, then simply going back to her work? After saying her piece, Hayakawa had promptly ignored Jia and Eui’s presence and returned to finishing her paperwork—a clear dismissal. Jia had no idea what to do—she wanted to protest in defense of her actions, or perhaps apologize, o...
2022-02-02 23:00:29 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a little disappointing that Yoshika hadn’t managed to complete the research she was doing with Dae, but he was quick to remind her that arcane progress was a journey without end, and that any progress was something to be proud of. Yoshika took the opportunity to try out the soul-sight formation herself and found that it was a familiar experience—almost exactly as she remembered from ...
2022-01-31 16:36:18 +0000 UTC View PostJianmo sat lounging on the table, on top of the book and scrolls that Yoshika and Dae had been working on, her bare legs spilling shamelessly out of her rather revealing robes. She beamed proudly at Yoshika, enamored with herself for having managed to startle her. Yoshika hissed under her breath, glancing nervously around the room—she was alone with Dae, but it would be a problem if anyone el...
2022-01-28 20:06:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of the week passed in the blink of an eye. Despite their restricted freedom, Jia and Eui kept themselves incredibly busy between Narae’s training, magical research with Dae, and practicing divine essence control with Heian. They hardly had a moment to spare for anything else, though Jia made a point of spending quality time with her sisters and Heian. Narae got along well with Heian,...
2022-01-26 19:48:56 +0000 UTC View PostThere were two Heians. Well, there had always been two Heians, but Jia wasn’t counting the displaced greater spirit stowing away in her ring. The little Heian—her Heian—appeared to have spawned her own little fragment, behaving exactly as she would in her cat form. ‘Appeared’ being the operative word. Lee Jung wandered over, her concentration having been broken rathe...
2022-01-24 18:42:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Ancestors, Miss Jia, are you trying to start your own sect?”
Dae’s comment was directed at the crowded room full of people meditating, exercising, or studying. They’d had to move to a larger room than the quarters that Jia and Eui had been assigned to in the consulate, but a properly motivated Ja Yun had been able to argue that focusing on training would keep them all out of trou...
2022-01-21 19:43:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe hours passed surprisingly quickly as Lee Jia and Jung caught up with each other. It was a little awkward at first—neither of them was exactly as the other remembered, having both changed over the course of the seven years they’d been apart—but they soon fell into an easy back and forth. Jung gasped and worried over Jia’s stories about some of her more dangerous encounters—especial...
2022-01-19 19:44:02 +0000 UTC View PostIn the quiet hours of the early morning, before the sun had started to rise, Jia lay on her girlfriend’s lap, staring up at the ceiling as Eui idly played with her hair. It had been a day since the raid, and it was only after a busy, almost frantic day of putting out metaphorical fires as a result of her selfish and reckless actions that she’d finally found a quiet moment to process everyth...
2022-01-17 19:32:09 +0000 UTC View PostThere were a lot of advantages to being in two places at once—or more, of course. One was that if somebody saw you in one place, they naturally assumed you would not be in another—even if they knew you could be, it would often slip their mind. This was exactly the kind of advantage that Rika enjoyed as she carried on a discussion with Hayakawa about some boring diplomatic thing or ...
2022-01-14 22:30:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe vault was actually located on the first floor—though it was more like a cellar, given the sloping tunnel that led to it. True to her word, the leader of the mages directed them to a poorly hidden entranceway, which led through an underground tunnel to a pair of heavy iron doors. At a glance, Yoshika could clearly see that it had been magically reinforced somehow, and was also the origin o...
2022-01-12 18:04:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe reactions to Yoshika’s plan were mixed to say the least. Harada laughed, and expressed his absolute approval, Dae shook his head and chuckled, Ishihara didn’t care, and poor Ja Yun looked like she was going to end up with an ulcer. To summarize—Yoshika’s plan was that there was no plan. She was going to walk in the front door of the gang’s headquarters, crush anyone who opposed he...
2022-01-10 19:31:08 +0000 UTC View PostI'm taking a week off from posting chapters to rest my wrists for a bit and catch up on a few writing adjacent tasks I've fallen behind on. Next chapter will be on the 10th. See you all then. Thank you for reading! <3
2021-12-31 22:20:45 +0000 UTC View Post