WarbyPicus

Chapter 25- A Straight Answer to a Simple Question

It was always about suitability. It had been when he first picked his rope dart, it was when he learned Thunderous Palm, and Brother Fu’s kindness in picking Advent of Spring as his cultivation art would never be forgotten. It too was the most suitable possible art for him.

He might not h...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 24- Long Range Acupuncture

Darts, as manufactured by the Ancient Crane Monastery, tended to come in two varieties. One was a sort of talisman that exploded after use. They were made with the cheapest possible materials and still managed to be outside the budgets of most Level Nines. The cultivation art for people that used...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 23- Building an Arsenal

“I need a ranged weapon, Sister Li, so I thought I would come to you.”

“How ranged?”

Tian blinked. “I don’t think I understand, Senior Sister.”

“How much range do you need? A few yards? A few miles?” Sister Li spun her hand, clearly wanting Tian to get on with ...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 22- It’s A Web, Not a Chain

Hong handled the loot. Tian, having been carefully coached by his brothers, kept a receipt of what was submitted. He also kept the cursed dagger. He would turn it in if he was asked, but until then, it was extremely useful. Between the dagger and his refined body, he was cultivating faster now th...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 21- “Glorious” Victory

Tian had gotten very used to seamlessly switching between his combat arts. Everything below the Heavenly Person level may be the arts of ants, but at least they were nimble, uncomplicated ants. He kept moving to the side of the… whatever it was, letting Light Body Heavy Hands move him like a dr...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 20- Each Unique Suffering Life

The two were quiet for the rest of the day. They were used to monastic life, and while the brothers and sisters had certainly never taken a vow of silence, they did spend an awful lot of time meditating. The two juniors had picked up on the habit. Tian was grateful for the quiet. His head was thr...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 19- Burning Wild

The Thunderous Palm flowed out, striking for the face, then sweeping for the ribs. Iron Breaking fists smashed the palms away and continued towards Tian’s face. Slaps turned to deflections, wrapping around the incoming fists and diverting their strength. Then both sides withdrew and reset. ...

I said I was commissioning better art

And I did! Check out this beauty! It's going to be the cover for Vol. 2, unless I work out something different with a publisher. We shall see.

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 18- Into The Wind

The dagger was the best thing they found. To their immense frustration, the Gu Masters weren’t actually poor. They were quite rich. It’s just that their wealth was in their curse-insects and the things needed to cultivate curse-insects. There was some debate about whether to incinerate all of...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 17- A Child Carrying Gold In The Market

There are few joys more pure than that of a child opening boxes. That balance of mystery and enticement- it’s a present, it’s going to be something good, but what is it? What could it be? Then they open the box and WOW! Look at this! Amazing! Next box please!

Tian and Hong had an entire...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 16- An Adventure Needs Buried Treasure

Tian had found the body of the sister who had been looking out for Hong Liren. She was surrounded by three long, many legged gu which looked like they were stuck between being a furry caterpillar and a centipede. She hadn’t died with an intact corpse. The woman had been holding a heavy saber, h...

Sky Pride Chapter 15- The Calculations of Heavenly People

Tian didn’t breathe. Digging the deepest hole he could was more important than breathing. He could hold his breath for twenty or thirty minutes. Not as good as his brothers with a turtle breathing technique, but it would be enough for now. His rope dart couldn’t shift much dirt as it looped a...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 14- Pest Control

Gu- an insect that is cultivated to be a living curse. Venomous, poisonous, filled with toxic yin qi and curse magic. Gu Cultivators came in two sorts- the very fragile, who were frequently sickly and emaciated from all the dreadful things they had to do to cultivate their pets/spells/companions,...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 13- Men Die for Gold

Tian lost track of the bigger fight quickly. He had his own little monsters to take care of. The anti-gu powder was meant to be sprinkled on a small insect that burrowed into a wound. It wouldn’t hold the beetle for long. That left the too-long worm. It also left his rope dart far too close to ...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 12- Birds Die For Food…

Worrying what exactly happened when he got hit with that cursed tooth didn’t produce much results. Tian was sure it was some kind of yin yang cycle based on his experience in the bird’s belly and everything he had been taught in the Temple. Why it worked was still a mystery, as was what exact...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 11- The Demon Called Money

“I have trained as a herb boy. I have worked as a hospital orderly for a few months, learned a bit of diagnostic medicine, some basic medical theory, and as much first aid as I could in the time allowed. I have manuals on these subjects that I read very, very carefully.”

“Why are you ...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 10- Life and Death and Somewhere In Between

Tian whipped his rope dart around in a blur, snapping it forward like a fifteen foot pike and aimed for an eye cluster. The demon flattened itself on the ground, then leaped forward like a frog. Its claws spread out like a hunting cat, hind legs curled up to gut whatever it landed on. Tian shifte...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 9- What Makes A Cultivator?

They struck camp a little before sunrise. The wounded sister (whose name was Zhou, Tian learned) really was up and moving. She didn’t explain herself, and Tian didn’t ask. She decided it was safer to run towards the battle with the squad than to try and run back to base alone. Maybe she was r...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 8- A Long Night Brings Many Dreams

Tian thought the sect-issue tents were very strange looking. The little lean-tos and nests he built with Grandpa were more or less circles or rectangles. These were more like three sided pyramids, if a pyramid had one side longer than the other two. You could sleep lying flat along the long side ...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 7- A Medic In The Field

The expedition was large enough that most minor wasteland hazards simply avoided them. Tian would normally welcome that, but now his skin felt like it was on too tight. The protective suit stifled him. Especially the face covering- the soft fabric hadn’t been a problem before, but today somethi...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 6- The Long Patrol

The Mission Hall was understanding, once they understood that Tian wasn’t trying to get out of doing missions generally, just ones with a particular senior brother. Naturally, the Mission Hall couldn’t keep track of all the endless friendships and rivalries between the Outer Court members, bu...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 5 Refusing The Toast

Tian slept in, ate a filling breakfast of soy milk and steamed buns, then realized he was jammed. He wanted to get better tea, but the only places he could think of where you could get ‘better’ than what you already had were the warehouses and the crafters. Quartermaster Wu was finishing her ...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 4- Nothing Personal

It happened when Tian was busy slicing open a sect sister’s belly. Some kind of foul insect was gnawing its way in through her guts, and the only way to rip it out was to widen the hole, pour in a generic anti-gu medication, pray that the gu wasn’t well cultivated, and yank it out before it t...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 3- The Line Between Necessary and Good

Tian confirmed the mission at the Mission Hall. Combat Patrol, with an expected duration of two days. Everyone going would be in the outer court, but it would be a double-strength squad, led by a senior brother. As usual, most of the people on the squad would be level nine, and, Tian suspected, w...

Sky Pride Vol. 2 Chapter 2- Purity is in the Mind of the Beholder

[April Fools! Here's the real chapter. Thank you all so much for your support. I hope you got a laugh from the short- the idea popped into my head and I had an almost compulsive need to write it down. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.]

Tian’s earliest memories were of rot a...

Tax Evasion In The Fantasy World

[AUTHOR NOTE- Despite the incredible success of Sky Pride, the outpouring of support, the research, the sheer amount of skull sweat, and a record breaking sprint to reach the front page of Rising Stars, I have lost all faith in the project. I haven't gotten so much as a hint from the Nobe...