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Added 2024-01-21 06:00:05 +0000 UTCPlease put your tray tables up and keep your seat backs in the full, upright position.
2024-01-07
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Break
2024-02-04
Comments
Huh..I would have pointed the ship back towards the storm to make sure no kne would ever find a trace of it lol
ManguKing
2024-08-14 03:32:29 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter!
Gopard
2024-06-05 22:41:17 +0000 UTCTbh that is the Warden's angle. It makes sense for literally no one else. This trip has Warden written all over it and is the first time she's screwed the main crew so blatantly.
meowmeow
2024-02-23 16:15:51 +0000 UTCThe most frustrating thing is that it gets worse and worse with each new project or character. At this point the protagonist is not rain but ascention and the perspectives are all over the place. It reads more like a in universe spin-off when compared to the first chapters. Coupled with the release schedule of once a week it is months at times where you see neither hide nor hair of important characters and loose all connection as a reader. I legit cannot recall some characters that are suddenly the main focus of whole chapters. It really goes nowhere currently.
Tatsu
2024-02-07 15:19:07 +0000 UTCWell, im not coyote, but i also got the notification, so let me give it a try too. ^^ I dont think there was a 'this is it' moment, more like a slow transit to 'system repairman'. But if i had to point, i'd say it was the majistraal obelisk in fel sadanis that got him into manipulating the system. No idea when the 'system is dying' thing came up first, tough.
D
2024-02-03 00:19:46 +0000 UTC@laughingcoyote Hey I've been reading the comments and saw that you repeated that Rain's main goal was to fix the system, and to do that he needed to check out the maelstrom, several times. First, is Rain's goal to fix the system? Is that something the silver plate who's been on planet for a year is making his personal mission? And if it is, what does that have to do with the maelstrom? Even your quoted snippets above don't seem to paint Rain as a gung ho system repair man. Genuinely asking, I forget so much of this story weekly.
Gardor
2024-02-02 02:45:16 +0000 UTCThe hard cut from "let's talk to the bank antagonist dude" to...a week later, and nothing even tangentially related to that, made me quite miffed.
Gardor
2024-02-02 02:38:18 +0000 UTCI would like to point out that LightBreaker was able to will his Airwalk to work in the Maelstrom, Or at least close enough the system flat out refused to aid him, So there is that to consider. It seems Skills CAN be made to work if you understand them. Just my two cents before sleep
Some_Jawa
2024-01-30 11:09:54 +0000 UTCYes. I've been having the same issue.
Davis Bradford
2024-01-24 03:17:46 +0000 UTCRe-reading Chapter 262, its clear that Reece and Rain were rehashing a discussion on significance of the System Warning and why they needed to look at the Maelstrom: “I told you the system was on its last legs,” Reece said. “We don’t know that,” Rain countered, returning his attention to his surroundings. “I agree, it’s ominous, but at least five of us in Ascension were actively using skills when the warning appeared, including me. Nobody felt so much as a flicker.” “That’s because it was a warning, not a message of failure, you dolt. When it fails, you’ll know.” “Negativity and doomsaying aren’t helpful,” Rain said, giving her a pointed look. Reece thought that flying over Vigilance was more dangerous than flying over the Empire: “Truth,” Reece snapped. “The island is warded, and it moves. Maybe, maybe, I could help you track it down anyway. The best I see that going is your ship getting shot out of the sky, you getting captured, and the entire organization learning of my existence through your subsequent interrogation.”
LaughingCoyote
2024-01-23 04:01:37 +0000 UTCOk, you've convinced me. If the System Warning had been more explicit, or Reece had emphasized the problem on screen instead of being referred to in a previous discussion, then it would have made more sense to do this. I think at the end of the day Rain & co totally underestimated the danger of the flyby, which I think is fair enough. MCs are allowed to make mistakes. Also the I suspect Rain was subconsciously riffing off the success of the SR-17 Blackbird aerial reconnaissance missions in his/our world. They can just outfly/outrun any problems, right?
LaughingCoyote
2024-01-23 03:53:38 +0000 UTCYeah, but they must have had at least access to one. As you said they have to reach Gold somehow. Key word is historical, or Shu wasn't high enough in the need-to-know rank to have knowledge of that one level 50 delving.
LaughingCoyote
2024-01-23 03:50:54 +0000 UTCTbh it’s kinda annoying that the pov shifts every other chapter. I get that since this is a large cast of characters now, we can’t only see what Rain is up to and everyone else is an idle npc, but the pov shifts could be fewer imo. Also the constant time skips are annoying at times, there are chapters that end and I’m very excited to see what happens next but instead we get a pov shift or a time jump after whatever happened gets resolved. I still absolutely love the novel, these are just my personal pet peeves
Mircea Popescu
2024-01-22 09:43:30 +0000 UTC"Whether a natural fissure such as the one in Vestvall, or one created through the toil of generations such as the Great Delving, there is no easy access to the depths in the Empire’s historical bounds." -Shu // It's possible that Osar had something or some entrances into the depths might have existed in the Empire-controlled portion of the Badlands. Either way, I assume that they had maybe one secret delving just for the country's leadership originally. Fecht wants to establish his own system of control and prevent goldplates from getting strong enough to damage reality, so he limited any access to the depths beyond raising some soldiers to high-bronze and the generals to gold. He used the bronze soldiers to maximum effect through Incarnation.
Cirvante
2024-01-22 08:48:49 +0000 UTCExactly my point. There was zero intel on the issue, so it was time sensitive, but not time critical. They build the prototype in a month, then rebuild it in a short time. Making a second one with the second core would have been possible if they took a few more weeks. With this it gave a bit of an artificial feeling for how the situation developed. I mean, as i started my post: Who here didn't expect a black hawk down scenario after the last chapter?
D
2024-01-22 04:53:49 +0000 UTC"Considering people aren't running screaming on the streets and no 'doom priests' preach at the road side of the end of the world, its the lack of urgency, the 'doom and gloom'" The problem is, how would anyone outside of the Empire know? The Empire/World could be in the process of collapsing but without an internal POV for the readers and an in-world reason for Rain and the others to find out what is happening with the Maelstrom, how would anyone know? The whole point of the aerial reconnaissance was to establish this, and having to do a rescue mission now gives another Watsonian reason for Rain & co to return to Ekrustia and the Empire.
LaughingCoyote
2024-01-22 03:56:23 +0000 UTCNot having many delvings is not the same as having none - if you only had 1 of them that reached level 50 you would still be rate limited on how many golds you can produce - especially if level 50 essence monsters took longer to "respawn" then lower essence monsters.
LaughingCoyote
2024-01-22 03:05:26 +0000 UTCWell it isn’t bad if the rescue will be a chapter or two by speccing Ameliah as a teleporter and Rain going with to supply mana and find them. Anyway, Warden (Reece) wanted to know about Maelstrom so had to happen.
Conor McGroarty
2024-01-21 19:46:10 +0000 UTCCould have gone better, could have gone worse. Thanks!
Doodlyboy15
2024-01-21 19:01:53 +0000 UTCThe main goal for Rain right now is to understand and fix the System. Which that maelstorm is currently the main issue. They all received that big alarm about the system starting to fail. That is probably why they rushed this trip. They need information on the maelstorm, and to get to it they need information on Adamant Empire. > maelstrom of this size is new to Reese I am under the impression they didn't think it would be this high. They are at an altitude higher than magical flyers can go.
Brandon Steele
2024-01-21 17:30:30 +0000 UTCThe whole reason Rain is being pushed to understand the system better is to fix that Maelstorm. That is the most important task he has. So getting information on the area they will have to enter to fix it is vital. The kingdom building he is doing is just the means to achieve this goal and also to provide safety for himself and those he cares about. As far as risking the plane. I assume they thought they were high enough for the "rip" to not affect them. They were wrong which happens sometimes.
Brandon Steele
2024-01-21 17:25:24 +0000 UTCThe whole reason Rain is being pushed to understand the system better is to fix that Maelstorm. That is the most important task he has. The kingdom building he is doing is just the means. As far as risking the plane. I assume they thought they were high enough for the "rip" to not affect them. They were wrong.
Brandon Steele
2024-01-21 17:23:22 +0000 UTCIt’s not that I think this will actually go poorly in the long run or that this is a bad plot point but I really don’t think this arc needed more things going on at once. Like we already had conflict with the bank including puppeting Luna, grinding Ascension to higher levels, politics with the watch and Rain himself maybe manually cultivating to cap break in this arc. I don’t think we really needed a rescue team sub arc.
HornsOfTheseus
2024-01-21 17:04:58 +0000 UTCWe’ve lost engine one. And engine two is no longer on Fire.
Chad L.
2024-01-21 14:14:23 +0000 UTCInteresting. That conversation between Jamus and Shu was great, both explaining the rot and decadence of the Empire's ruling class and it's military doctrine. If all they have is some bronze-ranked zones and no access to the depths, then fielding a large army of bronzes and making them count would be the way to go. Osar losing their high-ranked training ground would level the playing field. Though it does beg the question of how Fecht and his Dominus (Domini?) reached gold. Maybe there is a delving and the population doesn't know about it? Surely, someone of Fecht's power with access to geomancy could dig down into the depths. That combined with the obvious propaganda of the north being rich with blues leads me to believe that the most powerful are hoarding all the power in order to maintain their control and manipulate the population into desiring more conquest.
Cirvante
2024-01-21 13:56:06 +0000 UTCGuess they will have to get them with Ameliah switching skills to a teleport specialist. They don’t have another ship and it would be risky to take so long besides. Best to teleport with Rain being a battery. Well good news is that they now know that the Maelstrom degrades reality (system stuff) unless it is protected by a person’s soul. Now the only things they don’t know yet is its diameter, whether it is expanding (which can only be seen with extended observation) and the systemless monsters (I believe they are called “demons” since they aren’t part of the “order of the System” and come from cracked reality). Well just one more thing to get Ascension’s ass in gear and become a world power to save the world from the people.
Conor McGroarty
2024-01-21 13:11:42 +0000 UTCOk, so who here didn't expect a 'black hawk down' scenario? As amusing it is to read (certainly not to partake, that's for sure ^^), i agree a bit with the other comments asking for the 'good reason' to look into 'what happened after'. Atm, it looks a lot like 'granny whant's to know how well she did' instead of 'we are in dire need of intel'. Nothing that cant be done in the upcoming chapters to underline the importance of the mission, yes, but maybe putting it 'before' would have been much better. Grannies insistence on the 'lets check' was just not... well, it didn't convince me at all and didn't leave a deep impression to even remember her reasoning. System warning i think? While it does warrant a 'lets check' mission, even a time sensitive one, was it important enough for them to send an untested ship with your chef inventor and no second ship for backup? At least not in the way it was written, honestly. The urgency was missing to much. The system message didn't instill the feel of urgency or global panic that would make you do such a rush job. If it took only a month to make a prototype, then just making a second one to trail the first in case of emergencies would have been the right call. Considering people aren't running screaming on the streets and no 'doom priests' preach at the road side of the end of the world, its the lack of urgency, the 'doom and gloom', the desperate scramble for intel about 'wtf is going on' - that makes this chapter feel like pure plot to create a 'black hawk down', instead of a immersive experience that felt 'just right'. Hope that SS can do something about the atmosphere in future chapters to make it look... better? More urgent? Needed?
D
2024-01-21 12:32:04 +0000 UTCJamus made a stylish suicide burn
Maksim Khudiakov
2024-01-21 12:17:20 +0000 UTCPatreon buggy for anyone else? Only way I could get the pdf was through the email.
Elaborate
2024-01-21 09:49:11 +0000 UTCI often think the same. Though I do somewhat agree with some objections/confusion in this case -- specifically I don't really understand Ascension's motivations behind this trip. It wasn't really mentioned much before it was just suddenly happening. I think that's part of what's resulting in some of the frustration - it wasn't set up much, leaving us instead just with the spectacle of disaster? Also while a maelstrom of this size is new to Reese, I would think that similar effects of magic breakdown would've been seen by other smaller tears in reality in the past, and she surely would've mentioned that potential problem? 🤔🤷🏼 Edit: But who knows maybe it is new and a result of the massive scale or something 🤷🏼🤷🏼
Kyle
2024-01-21 08:54:56 +0000 UTCThat hat trick tho!
Dee
2024-01-21 08:19:28 +0000 UTCConsidering this is a very obvious plot pivot, and how obviously reckless it is, im gonna wait if there's a payoff wrt more detailed or more specific information, tech, or companions they could've only gathered through this sudden development, since else this is indeed - as some others are saying - a large distraction. Though, thanks for the chapter
Jonathan de Jong
2024-01-21 08:03:46 +0000 UTCI am always amused when a serial story gives its protagonists a setback. The comments complaining about it always crack me up. If SenescentSoul has not earned your trust for writing a great story by now I am at a loss for words. Sit back and enjoy the ride, conflicts and setbacks now make future success meaningful.
Mundane
2024-01-21 07:55:54 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter.
Joshua Little
2024-01-21 07:00:37 +0000 UTCIf they lose tech to this development this story goes on the back burner. Whole mission served no real purpose besides getting them better maps to a place they don't plan on visiting any time soon anyway. And an experimental aircraft too. Nothing here seemed wise.
Kendelle Trotter
2024-01-21 06:43:15 +0000 UTCIt's not even very good scouting because all they managed to achieve was confirming what they already knew. The takeaway is "Oh wow the Empire is expanding as we expected" and they wasted an aircraft and possibly several lives to learn that.
Faruel
2024-01-21 06:35:27 +0000 UTClol gotta save the hat
Alexander Dupree
2024-01-21 06:28:37 +0000 UTCComplete agreement. From a group doing a lot of thinking this was supremely stupid. Well earned thumbs down. I see more distraction from this than payoff.
Gnossos
2024-01-21 06:27:43 +0000 UTCI feel like the story is spreading itself way too thin at the moment and trying to accomplish too many things at once, so now we are skipping around in the story and seeing what sticks.
Goof Nasty
2024-01-21 06:27:19 +0000 UTCIt does seem silly to so riskily scout when Ascension is way too week to do anything about what's going on in the Adamant Empire. But we shall see!
crusaderstar
2024-01-21 06:17:09 +0000 UTCThis whole situation seems stupid. Who takes an experimental aircraft day of travel away from any support, straight into enemy territory and approaches something well known for screwing with magic when magic is the only thing keeping it in the air? This trip seems to have accomplished nothing beyond stranding them and forcing a rescue mission while handing over their tech on a silver platter.
Faruel
2024-01-21 06:14:53 +0000 UTCI assume that the title comes from the action in the final paragraph? They’re going to have a hard time of it from here on out. And the effects of the Maelstrom are certainly ominous…
Judah Frankel
2024-01-21 06:14:20 +0000 UTC
