A little late, or more like, just under the wire.  Hello, everyone!

I am back with another update on the progress of the first book… and as always, we’ll start with the current stats as of today.

Current Chapter: 14 (Interlude II)

Pages: 275

Total Word Count: 92,370

I had a bit of an epiphany writing these last two chapters, and I don’t really want to spoil everything going on in the story… so I’ll hold onto it until the next few chapters are released.

Speaking of release, I’m hoping to finish the current chapter before the end of the year, but I know I struggle to meet deadlines.  Even writing this post from start to finish was done in the span of about thirty minutes because I forgot today was the 15th.  Also regarding releases, the next set of chapters are almost fully reviewed, so I’ll probably post #4 and #5 sometime between the end of December and early January, just because these next few weeks are going to be hectic workwise and family-wise.

Regarding Chapter 3: Training Day and The Harpwings, I’ll be dropping some lore and explanations for the new concepts and characters.

TO begin, the Harpwing Team is a group of specialist soldiers hand-picked by Adam Barolo, who himself was made Captain of the squad by Knite-Siege.  The team has been assigned to watch over the growth of the tactical unit, and by Barolo’s testimony over four six-month periods, the tactical unit will either be approved by the King or abolished.

The members of Harpwing Team are well-trained soldiers with skills and knowledge that make them variably dangerous in their given fields.  The group is said to “sting quick and hard” against larger foes and groups and wear them down until they’re captured or killed, not unlike a harpwing wasp.  Each member has a specific area of expertise, so they train each tactical unit member to improve in specific ways.

Winston Harte is primarily a sniper and scout, versatile with guns, cover techniques, and medicine.  The course he oversees shows participants how to watch blind spots, dodge special kinds of attacks, and to spot and plot escape routes in a changing environment.

Russell Markus is a weapon specialist, able to fight with multiple weapons on the fly, or with a single weapon skillfully.  He doesn’t really get any sort of dialogue or training montage in the chapter, but his knowledge on foreign weapons and their composition makes him indispensable in the field when introduced to new ones or when making improvised ones.

Ursula Liane is primarily a close-range melee fighter, but her course is a straight-up one-on-one fight with limited restrictions.  Her combat prowess is second to none in the Harpwing Team, well-trained in magic, close combat and grappling, and (as we don’t see in this chapter) guns.

Lastly, Ricard Ernesto is a magic genius, marked by the Arc-mage and the Knight Commander as a candidate for a magic class promotion – as it stands, he is a simple titleless spellcaster with affinity for many elements, but the Arc-mage has recommended him for Grand Mage, a title equal in respect to the Arc-mage.  Although he seems a little odd at first, he’s a smart and kind man that is respected by many in and out of the military.

As for the training grounds, they’re generally nothing too special – a dusty, cleared space in front of the barracks on the wall good for becoming anything.  The specific training room that Vincent fights Harte in is the result of Regnah and Simon’s tireless work, and Simon’s dedication to helping improve Saruja, both internally and externally.

I’ve got more to talk about in this chapter, but I think I’ll leave it here for now, partly due to my lack of sleep recently.  Keep an eye and ear out for more stuff coming, preferably before the end of January.  I may do an off-schedule follow-up to this post to finish my thoughts, or I may just forget about it and write more things later.

For now, I hope you all look forward to the next release, post, update, or review from me!

Trying my best!

-Marcosias Isif