ThePudding

Discord Server and Plans

As of now I have a Discord server, if you want to chat about the story.

The invite link is here: Discord

I haven’t added special perks for Patreon members yet, but...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Outsiders

TASTKA POV

“Who could have built a bridge like this?”

Eyssa’s question hung in the air, despite the hissing drum of the rain around us all. It was an echo of what we were all thinking,...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 55

Chapter 55: A Bridge Too Far

TASTKA POV

The rain started shortly after dawn.

This wasn’t a surprise. Our travel gear had hoods and wide cloths to cover our packs and bodies, as we’d already heard from some of...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Isolation

ADMINISTRATOR POV

I felt a little bad for Tastka as I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. It hadn’t really occurred to me that she’d had these visions since childhood, and normal dreams...

Neophyte Progress Poll: Tastka

We've been flipping between Tastka and the Admin for quite a while now. Starting at about Chapter 60, I have more leeway with my story plans and can absolutely start to adjust how frequently this comes up.

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 53

Chapter 53: A Foggy Mind

TASTKA POV

When I opened my eyes, I heard faint noise around me. It sounded like talking, but… distant and garbled. My vision was blurry, and I had to blink several times to clear it up, slow...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 52

Chapter 52: A Thousand Deaths

ADMINISTRATOR POV

I sat up abruptly, hand going to my chest. It wasn’t normal for me to feel disoriented when awakening in the Sanctuary, but the way Tastka had fallen unconscious must h...

Patreon Changes, Plans, Serials

So as the paying members have noticed, I’ve increased your chapters to 7 ahead of public release. I’d hoped to squeeze it up to 8, but this past week has been a bit brutal for writing. Probably sometime this weekend it’ll go to 8. Still plan...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Wild Lands

TASTKA POV

I never learned precisely how to tell direction in any way other than the sun and sometimes, the stars. By the river, the tree canopy didn’t have full coverage, but it still obscured...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Uncaring God

ADMINISTRATOR POV

I sat up, the recliner folding into a simple but plush chair once more. This time I had none of the confusion of the previous awakening. That had been a strange and singular e...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Why Do We Roam?

TASTKA POV

At dawn, we continued. The marsh cover was still too thick to know the exact time of day, but between the seven of us, we had a pretty good idea of when the sky should start to br...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Orpheus Gambit

ADMINISTRATOR POV

Something felt different when I opened my eyes this time. It wasn’t a headache, exactly, but some kind of distant throbbing at the back of my mind. This body didn’t ...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Twilight Feeders

TASTKA POV

I awoke to the sharp jab of a spear butt against my side. I dug in my claws reflexively so I wouldn’t fall from the branch. My eyes snapped open, blinking a few times. Clearly,...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Diamon

ADMINISTRATOR POV

I snapped awake and blinked at the barren ceiling.

Tastka’s watch would happen shortly, but that’s all relative. With the time dilation in place, that still gave me at lea...

Neophyte World Builder Extra: Current Cultures (Paid only)

Since the Administrator is focusing on a single group of Calen Elves, the actual cultural progression of other communities isn’t in the narrative. So let’s talk about the status of the rest of civilization! This is far from complete but should...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 45

Chapter 45: The Pale Marsh

TASTKA POV

This place brought back a lot of memories.

We weren’t as high up as back then, but this was where the three of us – me, Fisk, and Eyssa – had snuck off to find that bus...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Conditionals

ADMINISTRATOR POV

Seated at my desk, I contemplated the world spread before me on my monitors. I wasn’t staring with the same intensity as before… distracted as I was by a mixture of excite...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 43

Chapter 43: The Day the World Changed

TASTKA POV

There was another me.

I’d felt this for a while now. Ever since the first night I went to sleep with my [Essence Host] class. The strange class that claimed I wo...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Numbers

ADMINISTRATOR POV

This could be a problem.

I rolled out of bed with a nervous flick of my tail and took a deep breath. I’d been so proud of my emergent system that tried to work out how best...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Provisional

On the third try, I managed to tie my hair back. The wild tumble of my mane was usually just fine the way it was, but I often tied it back to keep it out of the way when trying to do something more delicate. In this c...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 40

Chapter 40: A Problem of Numbers

I settled in at my new work desk. Of late, I had been trying to track so many things in the interface that my vision had become cluttered. I’d managed to find in the Sanctuary purchase list a way to set up ...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 39

Chapter 39: To Push Beyond

My mat was getting uncomfortable again. Lifting it up and shaking it, I saw a number of the tiny tree hairs tumble away from it – clumps of pale, curling fibers that were now dry and brittle. It was definitely no...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 38

Chapter 38: A Dangerous Question

Orpheus paused, then looked at me carefully. After what seemed like several seconds of thought – but was probably only an instant – she nodded to my chair.

“Why don’t you have a seat?” she sug...

Upcoming Changes and a Poll (Paid only)

Well, things have been going pretty well lately, so here’s the status on what’s going down.

To avoid burnout, I’ll probably scale back the chapter releases on Neophyte World Builder. That said, I will be INCREASING the chapter readahea...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Visitation

I opened my eyes to see the featureless ceiling of my tiny bedroom in the Sanctuary. I lay there for a few moments, just processing the day’s events from the viewpoint of a small child. Seeing things from that perspe...

Neophyte World Builder: World Shape Reference

This is basically pulled right from my notes, with a little cleanup for ease of reading. If any of it is confusing I can clarify it with edits, and hopefully make it easier to understand the structure.

The universe and the world are basicall...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Tastka

The gentle but relentless jabs at my shoulder finally dragged me awake.

The long, relaxing yawn couldn’t be stopped, but while I drew that deep inhale, I rolled off the cushion in the corner that I called my own. I...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Min/Max

For a long while, I just considered the notification and what it might mean. I rubbed the bridge of my nose again and then sighed, realizing that I still knew nothing about that system.

The words conveyed meaning…...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Level Up

I let time continue at an accelerated pace for a while. It wasn’t as fast as before – only weeks going by per hour of my time – but compared to how quickly I’d been running things earlier, that was practically a ...

Neophyte World Builder: Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Elf Lore

I’d hoped for more generation than what I was getting, but I wasn’t really sure what was normal. Maybe what I was seeing was considered a lot, and it would just take eons to pay off my debt. My quick mental math told...