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August 3 - August 7, 2022
Progress is slow. Yet destruction can take only a moment.
our history is only there to teach us, the same as any other. To dwell upon it in pain is the prerogative of the lazy. It is the inaction of the stagnant who do not wish to grow.
Trying to live by an ideal that doesn’t come from within can destroy you, because an ideal doesn’t leave room for weakness, doubt, or a path that leads in another direction.
It’s hard to intimidate people who have not only lived under the threat of a giant, but captured one.
It was humbling to be reminded of how little I mattered after spending weeks with nobles fawning over me. It was probably good for my ego.
While on your farm, you automatically receive a 10% experience bonus from experience generated within its boundary. While on a farm that is not your own, you automatically receive a 10% experience bonus from experience generated by the farmers who are part of that farm. Experience gained through this method does not crystallize.
Holy shit, was the farmer class actually awesome?
“Why are we meeting here, then?” “Because they said this is where men and women come to profit from the death of others, and there is no more fitting place to hold such a meeting.” “Are they poets?” “Worse: Realists.”
“Your first reason was nicer.” “Half-truths always are.”
“I promise you, I won’t make any of your people do something I wouldn’t do myself.” She snorted. “The delusion of the self-employed.” “Huh?” “The risks and trials we will bear for ourselves are significantly more than what we will tolerate for others. Your words are hollow. Make me a promise that is not.”
“No man serves as hard as those who serve willingly.
It’s kind of amazing how quickly something can occur if you know the magic words: “I don’t care what it costs.”
“You showed up at the automated barns in the early hours of the morning, blackout drunk, and mumbling about how you were going to catch a Pokémon.
Oh, hell. I got white-girl wasted.
“I applaud your dedication to your scholars. If your gamble works, you will be leaving the kingdom of Radian a legacy. And I, for one, thank you for taking the risk.” “Why make the offer, then?” “It’s my job.”
“I’m proud of you.” There was a twist in my gut at his words. It was like I could hear my parents speaking through him. They were such simple words, but they hit with so much force. The right words from the right people do that to you. They can build you up or tear you down.
I’d expected to enjoy watching the regent laid low, but this didn’t make me happy. It only fed the dark ball of hate seething inside me. And feeding that hate wasn’t good. It didn’t make up for all the wrong that had happened. It only hurt you further, in a different way.
I mistakenly assumed you were harmless from our interactions and everything I had learned about you, but you’re not, are you. You’re a kind and considerate man, but only until someone angers you. Then you are as ruthless as the best of them.
Hope is the crutch of the unprepared. It’s the desperate lifesaver they cling to in an ocean of misery with no land in sight. It’s the lie they tell themselves that if something changes, they will survive the unforeseen threat drowning them. Hope isn’t about what they control. It’s about everything they don’t. Hope means fate and luck are in their corner. So they cling to it, because hope brings a measure of peace when they have no reason to be peaceful.
living without hope is exhausting. It grinds you down, forcing you to plan and think even when you know you have little-to-no chance of success. Every move you make has to be calculated. It has to be considered. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing. And it’s not peaceful.
Their display of organisation and engineering would have been awe-inspiring, except Pavatin told me he intended to add mosaics to the sewers, and when I realised I was going to pay for something so ridiculous, a lot of the awe vanished.
Being the side character is a humbling experience.
“Torvac is unimpressed until Friend Arnold has survived Torvac’s wife’s shrieking to eat more salads. That is true test of manhood.”
“Welcome to village life, Arnold. Where everyone knows everyone’s secrets and pretends they don’t.
The truth wasn’t meant to make you feel good. If it did, you were doing it wrong.
Living might end with everyone being taken from me, because that’s what happened before.
In life, there is the right thing to do, and then there’s what you’re capable of doing. Some people can jump on a grenade. Some people can’t.
Not feeling overwhelmed allows the stress not to get to you and impede your judgement, but it doesn’t stop you from being overwhelmed. Knowing this distinction is important.
I’d told the dwarves I needed to paint something on the sides for religious reasons, and they’d believed me. Seeing the words ‘ACME CORPORATION’ in big, white letters improved my mood.
I was experiencing a crisis of faith the same way I had when I discovered souls were real, shortly after being incarnated here. I decided to treat this the same way. I purposely ignored the larger ramifications and forced myself not to think about it.
Torvac is marked as one most likely to receive Champion’s mark. Torvac takes many steps to make sure this does not happen. Torvac’s wife is very firm that if Torvac becomes Champion, Torvac will eat nothing but salads. Torvac does not wish to suffer this fate.”
It’s one thing to have a plan, but putting that plan into practice is an entirely different matter,
“I’m sorry I wasn’t kinder to you when we met. I’m sorry I wasn’t more considerate. I treated you poorly.” “You’d lost your companion…You were grieving as much as I was.” “That doesn’t change the way I behaved. So, I am sorry.”
