AutonomousPen posts
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[MA] 165. Like a Phoenix Feather
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. Next one on Thursday.]The dark barrier faded over a few seconds while the dark purple frame turned to a lighter shade.For the past days, Shen wondered if the preparations were necessary—if the Rift War was actually real. When he had been in the rift, the D-ranks hadn't appeared until he destroyed the violet gravity ball. What if the gnolls kept to themselves unless invaded?When the barrier disappeared, and he saw the other side, he found he had been right...
[MA] 164. Undeterred Judgment
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 3/3 chapters this week. Next one on Tuesday.]Five hours remained until the battle started.Shen sat cross-legged before the blocked portal, deep in meditation, seeking balance amid a sea of turbulent thoughts.The fight wouldn't be easy. Shen couldn't fight against ten aura users, not alone, and he knew that. How about doing it with the help of his hundreds of thousands of troops? Was it possible then?He wasn't sure.Not even his mastered War offered him a clear solution. Ear...
[MA] 163. Win or Die Trying
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: This is the last chapter I owe you. Next chapter on Saturday.]Sheen stood on top of a metallic platform with the seven highest-ranking generals in the camp.The five men and two women were well into their late years, the strongest was only low E-rank, and two men weren't even Guardians. Yet, they were modern military officials who had earned their positions and had ample experience to make up for any failings.Their willpower was evident in how they didn't seem to mind Shen'...
[MA] 162. Mana Infusion
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/3 chapters this week. I owe you 1 late chapter. Next chapter in a few minutes.]One of the Guardians who had raised his hand previously, an elder with gray hair, plate armor, and a massive shield and mace, raised it again."Yes?" Shen prompted."You said generals will still be able to stop us, right?" the man asked."Yes. So?""What if a general goes rogue?""Report it to me," Shen replied. "I'll deal with traitor generals myself.""W...
[MA] 161. That's Why You're Here
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. I owe you 1 chapter, which will be released with Thursday's chapter for sure. I wanted to release it today, but I failed.]Shen was surprised yet again when he found Sai and his family midway through to the front desks.Madam Pihu had a small, strange smile on her face. Shen would love to get her into his aura to analyze her better. However, even without the benefits of his aura's extra senses, he was still a master of his every Concept, had the experienc...
[MA] 160. Glaring Hole
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 3/3 chapters this week. I owe you 1 chapter, which will probably be released with Tuesday's chapter.]Shen entered the blue tent with Alicia by his side. Marzia stayed outside with her retinue.The tent was more like a huge, quickly assemblable building than an actual tent. It had a small reception before a long corridor that led to multiple rooms. Non-flammable fabric and metallic wiring created a semblance of walls, Guardians defended key areas, and some rooms were soundproofed wi...
[MA] 159. How Could Anyone Say Otherwise?
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/2 chapters I owe you. I now owe you 1 chapter. Next chapter on Saturday.]Sai walked hand-to-hand with his sister with a deep frown. Shen's ultimatum felt wrong. Wrong, and twisted, and... expected, in hindsight.Shen was a xianxia cultivator in real life. Sai had read about cultivator rigidness in some stories and liked Shen's self-proclaimed honor—backed by his attitudes—in the tutorial. Yet, Sai now realized that, deep down, he had also hoped for Shen to be a bit more.....
[MA] 158. Big Mama
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/3 chapters this week. I owe you 2 chapters. Next one in a few minutes.]As expected, one of the teleporting visitors was Marzia Martino.The sixteen years old Italian was 6"1' with short reddish-brown hair and eyes of the same color—likely because of the system's changes when ranking her up or increasing her stats. She wore tight light brown pants, an equally tight white T-shirt, a black jacket, and knee-high black leather boots.Their design was a bit off compared to eve...
[MA] 157. Practical Honor
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. I owe you 2 chapters. Next one on Thursday]"Sai?" Shen said over the phone. His guard had just frozen in place after Shen's apology."Sorry," Sai said. "I... uh... Will Ananya be fine if she keeps going into your aura?""I regularly visit the commoners' military training area," Shen started. "Overall, their reaction improves slightly every time. But we haven't tested it with people who didn't fare well the first...
[MA] 156. Madam Pihu
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters I owe you. I now owe you 2 chapters. Next chapter on Tuesday.]Shen's policy on his aura was simple: he would rather no one had to feel it and would go out of his way to prevent unnecessary discomfort.However, everyone was fair game until the Rift War was over.Almost every single person in the area was there to fight, with very few exceptions. That meant they would potentially face at least ten other aura users. Getting used to his aura would be to their advantage in t...
[MA] 155. Set of Laws
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N:3/3 chapters this week. I owe you 3 chapters. Next one in a few minutes.]Shen was waiting for Alicia to bring Sai when he received a system message.=Alliance-Enforced Race-Wide Set of LawsNew laws are now in vigor for your race.This is the first time your race is placed under Alliance-Enforced Race-Wide laws. Therefore, this time only, you can receive the set of laws, their intent, and a brief explanation for each rule directly on your mind. The process is similar to how Skills work.Do...
[MA] 154. How Dare You?!
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/3 chapters this week. Next one on Saturday.]Shen left Alicia four hundred yards away from a big blue tent. She kept moving despite how conflicted she felt with the new arrival.On the one hand, Sai was another partner in crime, so to say. He and Alicia were Shen's only faithful companions, and she wanted someone relatable to talk to.Talking to other people was... a chore. She had never been very good at reading people, hence how she had been robbed of everything she had. However,...
[MA] 153. Again?
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. Next one in a few minutes.]Sai's relief was quickly replaced with something his senses were screaming at him from the moment he had noticed the blur approaching. He had ignored it simply because Shen had approached so fast, and his mind had been overwhelmed with the reencounter. He immediately regretted it.Shen's words might've been light, and his smile might've been kind, but everything else around him screamed of danger.The very air Sai breath...
[MA] 152. Latest Fashion
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter [A/N: 3/3 chapters this week. Next one on Tuesday.An important note: I'll make a trip on Thursday and return the following Tuesday. That's three days' worth of chapters. I plan on keeping the schedule, but if I fail, I'll release them later. They shall not be skipped.]"I still can't believe you spent four hundred thousand AP on this," a middle-aged dark-skinned woman in gray rags said on the passenger seat. "Imagine all the good you could do to so many more ...
[MA] 151. Allow, Preserve, and Protect
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: A bit of a slow chapter, but a necessary one. Things will start to gain momentum from the next chapter onward.2/3 this week. Next one on Saturday.]"Not just any smartphone," Alicia said with a conspirational tone and approached. "An alien smartphone," she whispered."Are you sure that's wise?" he insisted, ignoring the half-assed joke.She straighted up, crossed her arms, and gave him a level look. "Look, nothing against you, but I don't like people t...
[MA] 150. She'll Live
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. We're back on track! Next one on Thursday.]Evelyn was covered in blood.Some belonged to her fallen enemies but most was hers. Her left shoulder had three bullet holes, her scalp and the right part of her face had been heavily damaged by shrapnel, her two legs were cut right below the waist, her left arm only went to the elbow, and she was using what remained of her right arm to keep her heavily burned body upright in the corner of the living room.The entire...
[MA] 149. Unfortunately Not Today
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/3 chapters this week. Next one on Saturday.]"What kind of video?" Alicia asked."I want to explain what happened to me. The world must know the Guardian System and the Alliance aren't trustworthy. The system lied to me about Valentina's rank, which goes contrary to what we were taught, and the Alliance let a strong being turn me into a puppet with no consequence whatsoever. Now there's a D-rank rift with thousands of D-ranks ready to invade. Maybe Earth was sa...
[MA] 148. Blockade
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. Next one in a few minutes.]Shen woke up lying in the backseat of an abandoned car. Alicia had found a light blanket somewhere and covered him with it.The sleep had done him good; it had helped his mind and body relax after everything he had been through. His father had been right to take sporadic naps despite theoretically not needing it.It was raining outside, the first time in forever since he had last seen the rain. So he just stood there for a while, lookin...
Correction, I'll return on July, not August
In case you read the previous post too quickly, or got it by email, the return date is July 4th, not August.Sorry!
I'll return next week, July 4th
TL;DR: Adapting to medicine + COVID made returning this month impossible. I'll return next week with 3 chapters/week. No patrons will be charged on July 1st. I'm sorry.So, here's the update on everything going on with my mental health.As most of you know, I started my treatment taking a bit of anxiety medicine, then I took 2 doses of 5mg of ADHD medicine per day (so, 10mg/day).Let me tell you about the ADHD medicine: it's magical. It's like the world was black and white before, but now it has colors. I can do most of the stu...
About May Chapters
Alright people, it looks like the medicine thought I was mocking it and decided to hit harder right after I posted the schedule. I just can't write. To make things worse, my next visit to the doctor got postponed a week to May 26th, so I won't have the advantage of extra focus (given by ADHD medicine) to write.Therefore, I'll take May as a forced vacation month. Patrons will not be charged on June 1st.The missing chapters (from the previous schedule) will be released next month one way or another.There's not much I can say. I di...
[MA] 147. Excuses
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 3/3 chapters from last week. I said there would be 2 today, but I'm still exhausted. One tomorrow or two on Thursday.]Pikun, the Superintendent of the Buffer Universe, was floating not too far from the Milky Way Galaxy.The Primordial Universe was at the very center of the Multiverse Alliance—or as close to it as physically possible. The Buffer Universe more or less surrounded the Primordial Universe, hence the name. It was, therefore, the second most "central" and protec...
May 2022 Release Schedule
(The content here is the same that I shared on Discord, except condensed and better presented. If you already read it there, no need to read it here.)I'm currently 6 chapters behind. This is how I plan on working this out this month. Also, important notice on possible release rate reduction next month.The release schedule for this month will be:This week: at least two chapters, leaving me 9 chapters behind.May 10-14 (next week): one chapter a day, for a total of 5 (normal week). There's a very small chance I add a few extra chapters her...
[MA] 146. Honorable Carnage
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: As someone commented in the previous chapter, I messed up the learning ability upgrade price.It originally wasn't meant to be subjected to the Pioneer Tutorial's discount, but I later changed my mind when setting up the economy at length. However, I didn't fix the price in my spreadsheet.After thinking about it, I realized the Pioneer Title was missing a long-term benefit. While just having the Title would be proof of becoming an elite very quickly, hence of being someone ...
[MA] 145. Subpar Weapon
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 chapters this week. We're back on track! Next one on Thursday.]Destroying a single monolith didn't restore Shen's ability to use his blocked Concepts. He was still limited, though he kept improving.As he had expected, within minutes, he further refined his movements to decrease qi expenditure and increase effectiveness. Half an hour and many, many gnolls' lives later, he reached peak efficiency.By then, Shen recovered five percent of his maximum qi every minute, ev...
[MA] 144. Devastation Quota
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 3/3 chapters from last week. Next one in a few minutes]Liya was slightly surprised at being detected by Feng Shen, but she should've seen that coming. His aura wasn't typical.She took a few moments to understand how he could naturally use his body to double his aura's power, then it dawned on her: his dragon genes.She had never seen a dragon in person before today, and the Abyssal Dragon had not revealed his domain. However, she recalled something about dragon bodies being...
[MA] 143. Ever Again
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/3 this week. Next one tomorrow (Sunday) or Tuesday.]Shen had been ready to die, but then the world changed.It didn't get brighter or darker, nothing new appeared in his field of view, and space and time weren't affected. Yet, everything was different for him.Feng Shen was himself again.He had a moment, a split second, to parse everything that happened to him. His eyes filled with tears as he rolled to the side, dodging multiple projectiles and spells while getting hit by oth...
[MA] 142. Not My Call to Make
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 1/3 this week. Next one in a few minutes.]Earth was too weak to withstand an S-rank for too long. The rift's artificially crafted space, fortunately, wasn't. The portal blinked out as an overwhelming presence descended upon the world.The Universe's Superintendent wouldn't want anyone to witness or feel them. Earth was on lockdown, and the rift had a delicate balance of power. If they merely glanced at him, things would change for better or worse for everyone involved...
[MA] 141. Despair
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: 2/4 chapters this week. Next ones on Saturday.]Liya arrived at the basement where her charge had gone crazy. She still couldn't get the system to show her what had happened there, which was why she was investigating at all.She focused on feeling the surrounding energies. She wasn't an expert energy manipulator; her approach to magic was the most cost-effective possible: she used mana to intensify her Path's hold over Reality and little else. Yet, she was still a C-rank at ...
[MA] 140. Expenditure
Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter[A/N: Sorry for the delay!I was trying not to bother you with my mental health issues, but after two delayed chapters, I think I owe you an explanation. So, here were go again.TL;DR: I messed up my routine, and it messed up everything.Long version:As you probably know, I'm undergoing ADHD treatment. It was going great until I went on a trip to my cousin's college graduation. It threw me entirely off my axis.A crucial part of the treatment involves healthy habits acquired with a prop...
