AGARES, Release 9 (Patreon)

Agares, ch 66-72, ~20K words, "Previously On" below.

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I would love to be able to promise that we'll never have a publication gap like that again, but unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience make that promise. This one got away from me, and not in a good way where there were mountains of words, but in the bad way where the words were like pulling teeth. I think I'm out of that now; Release 10 already has 4K words written, and I'm certainly going to try for a weekly or at least biweekly cadence, since that's what this story will demand once it's on RoyalRoad. Which is funny, in the sense that this story is at least partly about the pressures and constraints of writing for that audience, and not that funny, in that writing the story depends on my ability to carefully bottle creative juices and manage the mental.

Previously On AGARES ...

Mulligan: I'm in another world, just like my animes!Chloris: My savior!Mulligan: A waifu, just like my animes!System: Eugh. I remember nothing but that I don't like this.Mulligan: This Rasure guy sounds like bad news, the sort of guy a Chosen One will have to defeat.Sabine: Guess I'm going to have to leave my comfy tower ...Mulligan: With explosions and fight scenes!Chloris: Wow, Medion is great, an oasis in the desert, good thing we all know how to swim, right?Mulligan: Who needs to know how to swim when you have Water Jet? There's no problem Water Jet can't solve!Demio: This is my daughter I kidnapped from the hivemind she's a part of.Piper: They're actually nice hippy types.Sabine: They are mostly technically not a cult.Mulligan: Wow, inventory powers!System: You're welcome, nerd.Mulligan: I wonder what happens if I try to put all the air around me in the inventory?System: Oh god oh shit oh no.Piper: Luckily I was here with healing powers that I definitely had before this very moment.Chloris: Wow, light-based powers!Mulligan: Time to go stitch myself to a dead god, I guess.Chloris: I made this submarine for you.Mulligan: Wow, memory-based powers!Piper: Let's get out of here before my awful father shows up.Mulligan: I sure hope he doesn't have an airship or anything.Demio: Behold, my airship! You'll never escape me, Piper! You'll never outrun Rasure's forces, Mulligan!Mulligan: But I could just kill them all, right?Demio: ...Mulligan: ... Water Jet.Piper: That was my dad.System: Alright, Book 1 finished, no sweat.Auditor: Er, you're on Rising Stars now, so the pressure is on.System: Oh, I have to keep doing this?Publication: We're going to streamline this thing, rockstar. We're gonna juice those metrics to the moon. Moon juice.System: Oh no.Mulligan: I sure wish I hadn't had a bunch of bad, awkward experiences with women.Sabine: Ovan is a port city where surely we can just charter a ship and bounce.Mulligan: Neat cathedral! I'm going to meet a god!

An actual information-dense recap:

Mulligan Mercer is an anime reviewer from Earth who gets isekaied into a fantasy world. Mulligan meets Chloris, a wood elf who has been tied to a tree as a sacrifice to renew the ancient woods, a purpose that had been planned for her since early childhood and which she is vehemently against. Mulligan awakens the power of eternism, which lets him temporarily manifest elements. They go up a mountain to a wizard's tower and meet Sabine, an ancient wizard who has been hiding there and occasionally training apprentices. She's a part of a losing war against Rasure, a demigod intent on destroying "the ephemeral", creating an eternal kingdom where nothing changes. Rasure has many forces and powers, among them the Morithon Sibyl, who can see with clarity anyone with ill intent toward Rasure, and an ability to air drop forces using crystalline meteors.

After a fight at Sabine's tower, the small party goes to Medion, an oasis town with a deep well of water at the center. There they meet Demio, a fellow wizard, and are welcomed into his home. Mulligan gains the power to put things into a subspace inventory and accidentally implodes himself, then is saved from death by Piper, Demio's daughter. Piper is a member of a kolliat, a kind of loose hive mind, and her father has kidnapped her so he can attempt to free her, which she does not want. Chloris awakens to loomwright powers, which let her manifest things out of hard light. They use these powers to build a submarine and descend down the well in Medion and stitch Mulligan to the dead god Memory, where they also fight and kill the mayor of the city.

Demio was positioned to take over from the mayor and Mulligan escapes with Piper during the confusion and crisis. The red crystal meteors start falling down and Demio's airship rises from Medion. A fight ensues, and Mulligan wins; after he has Demio helpless, he murders Demio in cold blood. They party moves on to the port city of Ovan, hoping that magic of Sabine's will cloak them from the Morithon Sibyl for long enough that they can get on a ship and sail to the island where the Morithon Sibyl is supposed to be, killing the hypercleric and removing one of Rasure's most powerful pieces.

Separately, System (Sy) has created this entire world and is shaping the story. He's an amnesiac and is doing this labor under duress. He's joined by Autopilot, a limited artificial intelligence, and Auditor (Audrey), nominally his compliance officer. After the conclusion of the Medion arc, Sy was allowed to leave his habitat and see the wider world, where he's begun to attract some attention as an up-and-comer. This includes Publication, who is eager to help capitalize on his success. System would rather focus on using Mulligan to tell a story he thinks is worthwhile.