Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6: Familial Bonds

(original chapter title: Passings)

Aaand here is where I decided my old draft for Ranthia's childhood was unworkable and began to favor the idea of doing a rewrite. Instead of ending when the group parted ways, that was early into the chapter and it instead got into an overly aggressive set of time skips with brief mentions of interesting moments.

It was dreadfully dull.

I'm fond of the dumb training exercise Pupius ran Ranthia through here. It wasn't physically taxing (note she was gated by her mana, not her stamina; her growth spurt making her sandals fit her poorly prevented anything too physical), but Ranthia was mentally spent after she was done. It was more of a game (hence why she thought it was fun) meant to train her situational awareness, something that... people tend to forget needs to be trained. Progression fantasy/LitRPG tends to be especially bad about forgetting that. No matter how many punches you throw, you're screwed if you never spot danger coming or misread a cue.

Minor admission: I was wishy-washy on how many chapters to launch with, it was one of my friends/beta readers that recommended this one. And gods and goddesses... he was right. It's so obviously the perfect capstone. Ranthia isn't magically an adult after this point (erm, not since the OG draft), but it kicks off her Adventurer arc. The first six chapters tell a story and set up for what comes next. It's perfect.

And this is why sometimes we all need friends to help us see what's right in front of our gaze.

I hope you all enjoyed the first steps into Ranthia's journey and everywhere it goes from here!