riverfate

Wild Era, Ch 21: Poison Wraiths

Twenty poison wraiths poured out of the forest and toward the soulfire barrier on the road.

Kelin didn’t wait for them to get any closer before he started casting.

Two soul arrows formed in his hand and struck the wraiths a hundred feet away. Two more followed as he worked on thinning the pack.

Soul arrows were the best on these things, for efficiency. Soulfire bolts would w...

Wild Era, Ch 20: Dungeon Plot

As the adventurers gathered around, Kelin laid out what he knew about the dungeon.

“The Hesen should have a city or some type of encampment deeper into the forest,” he said, indicating the path along the road. “I was planning to head there slowly and clear everything along the way.”

“You're only Level 40,” Serai said, looking at him thoughtfully. “How did you take care...

Wild Era, Ch 19: Sarathian Assassin

As the adventurers closed in on his location, Kelin decided on the simplest course of action.

He targeted the Sarathian assassin and a soul arrow appeared in his hand.

“Hold on there,” he called mildly as he let his camouflage fade and walked out onto the road. His staff tapped on the ground beside his boots.

The adventurers were almost to his position and when they saw a ...

Wild Era, Ch 18: Ruins of Empire

The trees pulsed with mana as Kelin walked deeper into the forest, searching for more enemies and signs of the Hesen encampment. 

Now that he’d started killing things, he could feel the mood of the dungeon shifting. It felt more dangerous. 

Dungeons existed to challenge trial takers and it was targeting him now. The monsters would be pushed toward him soon, first in grou...

Kickstarter, Book 1 Endsheet Art

EL Geron just finished this piece of Sam and Jeric fighting the Basalt Gnome Warlord in Battlefield Reclaimer.

This piece is going to be printed inside the back cover of the special Kickstarter editions.

It's also here for you as an art bonus!

The Digital Art Pack for the Kickstarter will go out soon, maybe in the next couple of days, and it will include this, the map, and a...

Wild Era, Ch 17: Shieldrun Forest

Welcome to the Shieldrun Forest Chaos Remnant.

The notification rang in Kelin’s mind as he passed through the barrier. 

Open blue sky, rolling plains, and a vast forest stretched out before him. In the distance, mountains rose to meet the horizon, their peaks covered by twisting streams of mist and clouds.

The entrance had been at the base of a tree, bu...

Wild Era, Ch 16: First Dungeon

Kelin spent a little longer getting the dungeon information from Sandren, and then he did as he had promised and let her register the basics of his inheritance, which really just meant entering it as information on his guild record.

He only included his current classes, as well as the basic abilities that he'd used during the combat assessment, but he didn't include anything about Soul Ar...

Wild Era, Ch 15: Guild Benefits

The two guards at the door saw Kelin running forward. They should have recognized him, but instead they drew their swords as they readied themselves to meet him.

Kelin didn’t care why they were blocking the entrance. He borrowed earth essence from Gaius and the mana shield around him flared with yellow runes as he slammed into them. 

The hit was so hard that they crashed thro...

Wild Era, Ch 14: Inheritance

When Kelin woke up, it was barely dawn and Yao and Naomi were still asleep.

He renewed the Soulfire Sigil again, as he had awoken to do each time it dissipated throughout the night, and then he began to plan.

The basics for the future were straightforward, including how he planned to start teaching Yao and Naomi now that they’d agreed to be his apprentices. 

They could ...

Wild Era, Ch 13: Yao and Naomi

Yao’s Perspective

In a plain room in one of the Blade and Shield’s inns, Yao was feeling anxious and furious as he looked across the table at Naomi.

She had two black eyes and half of her face was mottled black and purple to match. A chain of other bruises showed on her arms where she’d tried to defend herself.

He was in even worse shape.

His right arm and...

Wild Era, Ch 12: Guild Badge

“Congratulations,” the captain said slowly as she looked at Kelin and the disappearing hydra. “I really didn’t think you would manage that.

“You’re the first person I’ve seen kill that thing who was below Level 80...and they were in a team. Usually it takes someone at the First Evolution to do it alone, sometimes even Level 125. That hydra is not easy.”

The captain s...

Wild Era, Ch 11: Guild Assessment (Double)

The first monster appeared at the end of the hall where the formation’s focus was location.

It was a Level 10 Water Rat.

They were oversized rodents that often spawned near the river and only needed a relatively low mana density to form. They had sharp claws and relatively high agility for their level, but it was nothing special.

Kelin flicked a small version of Soulfire Bol...

Wild Era, Ch 10: Highmist

The road to the city was only a few miles long. 

Walking it now blended with the memories of Kelin’s younger self, but there was a sense of freedom that hadn’t been there before.

It was a new life, the wind was blowing, and the road was open. 

As he walked along, he put together what his younger self knew of this world and the greater picture that he’d known in...

Wild Era, Ch 9: Leaving the Mine

As Kelin ascended through the tunnel, he collected the hides from the braggans that he’d left behind until his spatial storage couldn’t hold anymore.

Once it was full, he pulled the backpack out, sorted its contents so the mana crystals and other useful things stayed inside his storage, and then stuffed it full of more rolled up braggan hides and a handful of cores.

The cooked l...

Wild Era, Ch 8: Everlasting Flame (Double)

Farther down the mine, he encountered another group of monsters, which was a pack of braggans again. 

They were a bit stronger than the ones above and there were six of them, ranging from Levels 33 to 38. 

He was getting close to the bottom of the mine and these must have fought their way down past other monsters, or perhaps spawned here. 

It was a large group, ...

Wild Era, Ch 7: Chaos Remnants

When Kelin surfaced in the main tunnel, another trio of braggans was roaming nearby.

The mine had always been tempting to them and it was only more so now that the mana density had increased. Without the guards that routinely culled them, they were flooding through the area.

He dropped the backpack on the ground as he headed toward them.

By the time they came into sight, the b...

Wild Era, Ch 6: Son of Irian

Kelin cycled some mana through his body as he tested the changes from his class specialization. 

The energy flowed through his meridians differently and as he released some around him, the cavern was filled with a fiery gold light.

The specialization had hidden the most overt sign of Wildfire, which was for the best.

He looked around the cavern, but besides the rest of th...

Wild Era, Ch 5: Class Specialization

As Kelin rested, he set up a small cooking area that was little more than a circle of stones with larger ones at the edges, creating something like a bowl. 

He placed a section of tail from one of the lizards in the middle of the ring, and then he began to evenly heat all of the stones with mana to roast it. 

Monsters were dangerous, but they were a part of the life cycle....

Wild Era, Ch 4: Lord of Wildfire

“Path of Stars,” Kelin said aloud. “Access my record. How did I die?”

He waited for a response, putting all the mana he had to spare into the call.

However, as time passed there was no response from the Path.

Only silence.

His mood, which had been expectant, became irritated as he called on it again.

The Path was everywhere, and the skill updates he’d not...

Wild Era, Ch 3: Priorities

When Kelin woke up again, Gaius let him know that nothing interesting had happened while he was asleep. 

The elemental had been keeping an eye on the area as a guard, which was one of its main jobs now that the soul bond was formed. It was the only reason Kelin had been comfortable enough to let himself sleep here.

He sat up and scanned the area to make sure nothing had changed...

Aster Fall 9 Is Now Out On Amazon

High Artificer, Book 9 of Guardian of Aster Fall, is now out on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0DGW4WMN8

To celebrate and say thank you, Books 1-8 are on a 0.99 sale in the US and UK from January 29 to February 5.

Please share that with anyone interested.

This...

Wild Era, Ch 2: Repairs

Rebuilding himself took a while.

There was only so much he could do at Level 9 and with a limited mana pool, but he kept at it. With this untrained body, his speed wasn’t what it used to be, so he had to be patient and slowly guide his mana along, forming new channels and setting it on the correct path to improve.

Speed would come with time, once his meridians and affinity develo...

Wild Era, Ch 1: Mana Collapse

Author's Note: The following chapter is the beginning of Wild Era, the new series. It is in the same universe as Aster Fall, roughly 5,000 years after the end of Book 9 of Guardian of Aster Fall.

Reading it is not a spoiler.

This first chapter will be visible to all followers, so you can test it out. The following ones will be like normal for subscribers.<...

After High Artificer, What's Next?

Thank you so much for reading Guardian of Aster Fall over the last three and a half years.

It's been a wild and amazing journey.

Book 9 is the final book of the series, but as Sam said, it is time for a new era to begin.

The first book in a new series will be out this year, around early summer 2025.

It will focus on a new main character in the era of magic tha...

High Artificer: Epilogue

Sam stood among the stars as his dominion stretched across the galaxy. 

He was half in the Heart of the Void and half in the main dimension as he watched the formation of the new Path.  

It took effect immediately in the settled half of the galaxy, and in a few days it reached the far edge on the other side of the Chaos Wild. 

It was slowly expanding farthe...

High Artificer Epub

Epilogue chapters will be out over the next couple of days.

For now, here is the epub of Ch 1-40.

The epub will be available for about a week, but will come down on the 28th, before the book goes live on Amazon. (Amazon is exclusive with Kindle Unlimited.)

Individual chapters for High Artificer will disappear then too.

If you miss this or need a backup copy, feel fre...

High Artificer, Ch 40: Reforging the Path

When Sam reappeared, it was outside of his Titan Hall near Council.

A flick of his hand unmoored the dimensional placement of the realm and then he collapsed it into a point. The hall and all of the fields and mountains around it shrank until they were a tiny speck.

The entire realm floated above his hand.

It was a tiny silver-white hall with towering pillars that stood on top...

High Artificer, Ch 39: Asenya

After killing the Vos’Rekan and distributing the rewards of battle, including the promised visits to the World Core, Sam dismissed all of those who had gathered, sending them back to their homes.

Soon, only Asenya, Keros, and Winter were left, as well as his Silver Nagas, who all gathered in the hall of Silverguard. A feast of roasted meats and mead was laid out before them all, and the...

High Artificer, Ch 38: Ancient Foe

Sam and the army walked out of the portal in a flash of starlight, fading into existence between one moment and the next.

The Vos’Rekan’s system was a dark and silent zone. They had appeared on the edge of it, but they were not alone. 

The towers of Silverguard stretched out below them, shining with a thousand rays. 

The island fortress was massive, covering hund...

High Artificer, Ch 37: Titan Army

Sam stood in the Void outside of Council, assessing those who had gathered for the hunt.

There were hundreds of them.

Apparently, hunting a legendary beast beside an Astral Titan was something a lot of them wanted to do.

He’d sent out the summons to all of the High Races, as well as to all of the Sixth Evolution members of the civilized races. Then he’d sent even more out ...