The Laughing Swordsman

The guy walked into the room, a plate in each hand. On each plate was a fluffy piece of bread that some would consider to be cake.

Apollo lifted his head up to look at them.

"Ohhh, what is that?"

The guy smiled smugly.

"I found a way to make this fluffed up bread despite the lack of tools we have."

He walked over and set the plates on a table in the room.

Speaking of, the room was quite spacious. There was a set of curtains and a balcony past them. There was also a door that led to a personal washroom.

Everything within the room was luxurious, including the clothes.

The flooring was marble and the walls were made of stone. As for the clothing, they were casual, but expensive suits.

The guy had cut a small piece of cake and brought it over to Apollo.

"Hey, sorry about what happened before. My name is Ned, what is yours?"

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, my name is Apollo! What are you sorry for?"

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"Do you not remember?"

Apollo blinked a few times.

"Remember what?"

Ned sucked in a sharp breath.

"Oh dear, I think your memory is messed up."

Apollo giggled.

"Haha, my memory is fine!"

Ned shook his head.

"We were practicing our magic. Erin doesn't have good control over spellcasting, so we were doing it at the outskirts of the village. However, you were also there and we ended up hitting you."

Apollo furrowed his brows.

"Hmm... I don't remember that! You must be joking!"

The corner of Ned's lip twitched.

"Haha... whatever. Do you want to try this?"

Apollo's eyes lit up.

"Oh, yes!"

Ned held the bread just above Apollo's face. It had the soft smell of a pastry. Like the noodles, the scent was too alluring for Apollo.

His head darted up to bite down on it.

"OW!"

Apollo ended up biting Ned's fingers in his excitement.

While Apollo was enjoying the food, Ned shook his fingers.

Ned chuckled bitterly.

"I guess we deserve at least this much retribution."

Apollo swallowed the cake and looked curiously at Ned.

"Retribution?"

Ned waved his hands dismissively.

"Nothing, nothing."

Apollo nodded.

Alyx continued feeding Apollo while the group talked.

Erin looked at Ned.

"So... how do I control magic?"

Ned scratched the back of his head.

"I don't know. It comes naturally to me."

Erin furrowed her brows.

"Mm... I feel stupid."

Alyx patted Erin with one hand.

"Don't worry about it. Your magic is so much more violent. Naturally, it is not easy to control."

Alyx let out a sigh.

"At least you can reliably cast your spells."

Ned chuckled.

"Well, that's hypocritical of you to say. Of course you have a harder time casting with those kinds of spells."

Alyx smiled bitterly but did not say anything.

Apollo yawned.

"Mmm... I wish I had magic talent, that sounds so cool!"

Ned shook his head.

"Ah, well apparently magic talent is super rare. Don't feel too bad about it."

Apollo pouted.

"Ok..."

Once Apollo had finished the noodles, his body heated up. The feeling of his body returned and he sat up.

Alyx was startled.

"Eh? You can sit up? I thought you were unable to move."

Apollo scratched the side of his head.

"Ah, I wasn't. I can move now though!"

Apollo enthusiastically flailed his arms around.

Erin giggled.

"He's telling the truth."

Alyx looked at Erin with confusion but did not harp on the subject.

Ned rubbed his chin.

"Say, is that wooden sword important to you? You were holding onto it even when you were out like a light."

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"Well, I practiced with it a lot! I think that is why."

Ned let out an impressed hum.

"That sounds cool! Could you show us?"

Alyx glared at Ned.

"He is still injured! Are you really asking him to exert himself further?"

Ned put his hands up.

"Oh, sorry! That's my bad."

Apollo giggled.

"I am fine, I can show you!"

Alyx furrowed her brows.

"Are you sure?"

Apollo nodded.

"Yeah!"

As Apollo tried to sit up, Alyx pushed him back down. Then, she sighed.

"Let me just check something."

Apollo looked at Alyx curiously but did not resist.

On Apollo's body were countless bandages. Alyx peeled a few layers of these bandages off.

Once the last layer was peeled off, a layer of charred skin fell off Apollo's chest. The skin on him looked delicate, like it had never been harmed before.

Alyx was shocked.

"You... How did you heal already?"

Erin peered at Apollo's skin.

"Oh, so it wasn't as bad as we thought it was! It was just the outer layer of his skin."

Ned frowned.

"...But you destroyed like fifteen trees. Not to mention, his chest was caved in."

Apollo giggled.

"What are you talking about? I look fine."

Ned shook his head.

"I guess."

Apollo got off the bed and went to the door.

"Let me show you how I swing my sword!"

Ned laughed.

"Alright, let me take you to the courtyard."

Apollo quickly found out he was residing inside of a palace. Within the palace was a large courtyard, which the four of them went to.

The courtyard was quite large, housing a few trees inside. There was a cobblestone pathway that led to other parts of the palace. The ground had lots of grass and flowers scattered about.

There was no roof, so snow was falling down freely. A thin layer of snow covered the ground.

Apollo excitedly got in the middle of the courtyard. He started to swing his sword around like a kid having fun in the snow. Waves of snow flew up in the air as though it was water splashing around.

Erin was amazed, Ned was smiling, and Alyx laughed bitterly.

Apollo was giggling the whole time.

At that moment, a maid ran into the courtyard.

"There you are! We need to run, right now!"

...

Author's Note:

(Just some explanations for the last chapter on privilege and how to support the author. Feel free to skip if you wish.)

WHAT IS PRIVILEGE?

Privilege is a system where you pay extra money in order to see chapters ahead of the normal release rate. However, it is a subscription that will run out at the end of the month. NOT thirty days, but the end of the calendar month.

This means it is HIGHLY recommended you buy privilege at the start of the month as opposed to the end. (Though it doesn't really matter for the first two tiers considering how cheap they are.)

This also means ONLY buy privilege if you know you can afford it for each month. Buying a privilege you can't realistically pay for, then being unable to buy it next month, means you will have to go through a long period without seeing any new releases. (Which is devastating, said from experience.)

If you wish to support the author, buying just the first tier and constantly unlocking the privilege chapters as they come out will contribute to their win-win unlocks, helping them get featured.

Privilege sometimes contains a discount on chapter purchases, meaning any chapters purchased through privilege will be discounted. This includes any chapters you purchase after the initial privilege purchase. Discounts are to encourage you to buy chapters and a price reduction for you. So long as you buy the chapters while they are considered privilege, the discount will be applied. (eg. if a two privilege chapter tier has a discount, and the author releases three chapters that you have not bought. The discount will not be applied to the first chapter, but will to the other two.)

HOW TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR?

Although reading in general, and voting with powerstones/golden tickets does help increase my popularity, (thank you to everyone that has) they do not directly monetarily support the author. 

The only way to do this is through coins (not fast passes or watching ads). The catch here is that there are bonus coins, and normal coins. Bonus coins expire eventually for you, and give no money to the author. They are used before your normal coins, so the first things you buy with coins won't give money, but still supports more than a fast pass would. (but again, just reading supports the author anyway).

Do you want to get more coins while also giving the author the most money you can?

Buy coins through Paypal. This option is readily available on the computer, and by clicking 'up to 15% more' at the top up section in your phone, you can get redirected to Paypal, however it is probably more convenient to do this on the computer. If you find it too inconvenient to buy through Paypal, that is fine. It isn't the biggest deal in the world.

If you pay through the app store, authors only get around 27% of what you paid for. However, if you go through Paypal, the author will get 42% of what you paid for, and you get more coins for personal use.

In other words, if you spend 100$ through the app store, the author gets $27, but through Paypal, they get $42. This is simply because the app store takes a massive cut from any profits.

Gifts, privilege, and unlocking chapters, all give the same amount of money relative to the coins spent. However, gifts have a little bonus on top if they are relatively large.

You will get a golden ticket that you can manually spend every 500 coins you spend on unlocking chapters and privileges. However, in gifts, every 300 coins (rounded down) will become a golden ticket. So a 500 coin gift gives one golden ticket, while a 1000 coin gift gives 3 golden tickets.

The biggest way to support an author is by buying a 5000 coin or higher gift, as this will announce the novel globally to all readers.

Remember to only spend what you are able to realistically afford in any novel!

Happy reading!