Hi everyone! Hope you've been staying safe and healthy
The next update has been uploaded to CoGDemos, bringing AMR 2 to version 1.92. The update is 22.5k words long, and as you might have been able to tell given where we last left off, is a combat-heavy one. This is also the update where stat-based skill checks return in full force. Up to this point in Book 2, the mage's stats and build had more to do with scene variations rather than actual skill checks (that is, choices with objectively "better"/"worse" outcomes), but I will be slowly reintroducing the latter from this point of the game onwards. The prestige system from Book 1, which was used as a general yardstick to reflect this, is absent in the current build. However, when it gets added back in later, this will be the first point in Book 2 where different save files can have different prestige scores.
As with the previous update, there's a lot of horizontal variation in this one, so much so that despite hitting the wordcount goal, I haven't been able to completely develop all the paths as of yet. In the current build I've prioritized ensuring that all the scenes which vary based off of the mage's build are fully written out. In exchange, some of the more plot-based variations (i.e. whether the mage chose to stay with the boy or leave him with someone else) are left incomplete, and those who opt for the incomplete choices will be redirected to the complete ones instead (with an Author's Note marking the redirection, as per usual).
The update ends after the chapter's climax but before its proper denouement; with the release of the next update, Chapter 9 will finally draw to a close as I complete the missing paths and bring the arc to its conclusion. I ended up underestimating how long this chapter was going to be after all, but I hope you enjoy the update all the same!