Douglas Miller

MiP B2 Chapter 2: Feelings

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"So, in short, the most stuck-up bully of my life i...

Explanation of gold tier post dates and notifications

I've had a number of people on gold tier comment with confusion about the dates of chapter posts, and about how notifications of new chapters are working. So, here's an explanation for anyone who might still be confused but hasn't asked:

Each chapter is posted first for platinum tier and higher. Gold tier gains access later. The date shown on a chapter post is when it was posted for plati...

MiP B2 Chapter 1: Catching Up

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Carlos lounged comfortably on one of the mayor's fancy sofas. At...

MiP Chapter 57: Loose Ends

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Lorvan hesitated, looking back and forth between the subdued but still dangerous ...

MiP delayed one day

Chapter 57 is close to done, but not close enough to satisfactorily finish it today. I will finish it tomorrow morning. I'm sorry for the delay.

This delay is partially due to an interruption in my adderall supply that made it difficult for me to write as much as I planned to last week. I have adderall again now, however, and I'm confident I will catch up and get ahead so this delay will ...

MiP Chapter 56: Power Failures

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The greatest threat seemed dealt with for now, busy with his aerial...

MiP Chapter 55: Storm

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Carlos straightened in shock. [Purple? How?... Oh! I guess my bond ...

MiP Chapter 54: Discoveries

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"Ok, I admit it, a keyword to siphon mana off of someone else's spe...

MiP Chapter 53: Coming Together

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Stelras jumped in startlement. "What the- Who said that?"

[I ...

MiP Chapter 52: Leveling

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Carlos frowned as he turned his attention to the ambient mana. Now ...

MiP Chapter 51: Royal Disappointment

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Silence filled the room in the wake of Lorvan's announcement. Ressa...

MiP Chapter 50: Searching

Esmorana soared through the sky above Dramos, exulting in the exhilarating feelings of speed and freedom. Up here, she was in her element, supreme over nearly all who might try to challenge her. She could go nearly anywhere she wished, at speeds even the fastest runners would envy, and she could sense and counter the approach of nearly any attack or foe long before they might actually reach her...

MiP Chapter 49: Investigation

Carlos felt groggy. It was hard to think. Maybe he should just go back to sleep. Yeah, that would be nice. He'd feel better when he was properly rested. Something seemed vaguely off, though. It was hard to pin down the specifics, but the niggling sense of wrongness in the back of his mind was being very persistent, and wouldn't let him relax back into sleep. After several frustrating minutes, C...

MiP Chapter 48: Ruminations

Carlos blinked in surprise at the last notification from his introspector. What the hell was "synergy unification"? And if it's based on levels and happens at level fifteen, why didn't he get alerted about it passing 50% at level eight? Just as he thought that question, the listing of his number of synergy links flashed in his mental awareness, and he nodded to himself. He'd only just now finis...

MiP Chapter 47: Upgrade

Ressara's gaze roamed over the six people who were checking in at the bar. If not for their attention-diverting wards, she might have thought they were a somewhat larger than average but otherwise normal adventuring party. They all had armor and various sheathed weapons that looked well used, and four of them bore large and well packed backpacks with buckles designed for easy and quick release ...

MiP Chapter 46: Calm

Amber absently followed Carlos, barely noticing the gentle winding of their path or the obstacles they weaved around. She trusted Lorvan and Ordens to keep them safe, and Carlos to choose a path their force bubbles would fit through, while she focused on puzzling out what was bothering her about Lorvan's explanation of mana wellsprings. Draining such a small but incredibly potent source of mana...

MiP Chapter 45: Thoughts

Carlos lay in bed awake that night, too absorbed in his thoughts to sleep. Why had that dungeon with the swarms been so incredibly hostile, so dramatically different in attitude from Purple? It was considerably more powerful, and not at all starved for mana with how rarely anyone extorted a wish from it - and it definitely regarded wishes as extorted under threat - but that alone would...

MiP Chapter 44: Core

Carlos stepped around the corner, Amber by his side, and stopped as the core came into sight. It looked almost nothing like the only other dungeon core he'd seen. It glowed, it hovered in place, it looked solid and hard, and that was about all the commonalities with Purple that it had. Amber gasped as she saw it, pausing alongside Carlos to take it in.

Where Purple was a crisp clean cryst...

MiP Chapter 43: Swarms

Lorvan held his right hand palm out towards Carlos, urging him to wait. "My lord, while this particular dungeon is no threat to us, I would advise that we treat it as deadly dangerous to help you learn good habits for when you eventually delve greater dungeons with lesser escorts. Will you and Amber place yourselves under my command for the duration of this delve?"

"That sounds sensible t...

MiP Chapter 42: Re-advancing

"So, we not only attacked you for something you are not doing, but we also completely missed someone else who actually was doing the exact thing we attacked you for? Souls, what a mess." Haftel grimaced, and sighed. "We knew of the young lady who confronted you, but we had no idea she was a high noble. She must have been holding back to conceal herself, but we were still lax."

Sconter bro...

MiP Chapter 41: Revelations

Carlos had barely put on his underwear when a familiar telepathic voice spoke in his mind. [Carlos! You finally respawned!]

Carlos froze in surprise for a moment, then chuckled and resumed reaching for a shirt to put on. [Hello, Purple. You've been anxious about me?]

[A little. Amber told me you would respawn, and I've seen people I killed come back again, but having my bond with yo...

MiP Chapter 40: Return

The trip back to Dramos was a blur of trees flickering past and wind rushing in her ears as Amber held her arms wrapped tightly around Lorvan's shoulders. He was holding her legs up and leaning forwards to give her better support on his back, but he had to duck and weave around trees and branches often, and despite those constant minor detours he ran faster than Amber's best straight line sprin...

MiP Chapter 39: Aftermath

Esmorana stood with her eyes closed, her eyebrows furrowed and tense with focused concentration. Her dress and long hair blew in a wind that did not touch her surroundings, and she slowly moved her hands in a circle around each other in front of her, barely aware of the physicality of the gestures she was using to aid her visualization. A continuous rumble came faintly from far away, but she pa...

MiP Chapter 38: Confrontation

Carlos leveled a glare of his own back at the sword-wielding woman who had just stormed out of the surrounding forest. "Who the hell are you?" He didn't know what protocols there were for unfriendly high nobles talking to each other, but he figured returning her lack of politeness right back at her was fair.

Her face reddened and she extended her right arm to point a sword at him. "You da...

MiP Chapter 37: Contact

"Why, exactly, should we decline this request? Just to keep our identities secret more easily, or is there a more specific reason?" Carlos stood up and started putting on his armor while he asked.

"We have no need of assistance, and Ressara in particular would be more hindrance than help." Colonel Lorvan pronounced his judgement with finality, standing perfectly straight.

"Ressara? ...

MiP Chapter 36: Preparations

[The spell gained extra mana just because you had it pushing down instead of up? That is bizarre.] Amber shook her head idly and laughed. She was sitting at the main desk of their suite this time, leaving Carlos to one of the three other chairs scattered around the suite's common room. [You keep discovering new things, yet you're not even trying to. It's fascinating. Someday y...

MiP Chapter 35: Plans

Carlos stood up and stretched before replying to Amber. "You're done already? Which spell did you pick?"

Amber raised an eyebrow as she smiled at him. "I think you should try to figure that out from sensing its mana. Don't you?"

Carlos nodded. "Good point, learning via mana sense is the goal for this exercise. You already cast it?" He turned his attention to the mana all around him....

MiP Chapter 34: Synergies

"What a dump!" Carlos stared at the... thing that was supposedly an inn in front of them. Haphazardly arranged clusters of boards covered two areas that presumably had once been windows, with dim light leaking between the boards. Scratches and overlapping graffiti covered most of the wall. Most of the drawings meant nothing in particular to him, but he spotted a crude sketch of someone...

MiP Chapter 33: Watchers

Liafra kept her smile and cheerful facade in place easily with decades of experience, hiding her internal concern. Carlos and Amber should not have drawn this kind of attention this quickly. What had gone wrong? "What kind of information are you looking for?"

The woman in the dark blue dress smiled sweetly back at her. "All of it, of course. I need to know as much as possible to properly ...

MiP Chapter 32: Relaxation

Carlos yawned, stretched his arms wide, and slowly blinked the grit out of his eyes as he sat up. He shook his head a bit to nudge along the unhurried process of waking himself up, and looked around at the room that was definitely not his own bedroom at home. The bed was very comfortable, though. He yawned again. If this was a hotel, it seemed a bit rustic, but high quality. They apparently eve...