194

Flash + Triplicate Casting + Spell Recursion seems like it would neatly sidestep the range limit on a scale that could cross continents.

Starless

How do you call reinforcements? Message has a max range of one league. You'd have to use a mindcaster. And how do you detect a gold-level threat before it's right on top of you? Even Lavarro, as a top silverplate, was able to blast her way into Westbridge and bury it's Citizen beneath his own palace before he could mount any kind of defense. The Citizens can communicate through their implants and use teleport platforms and possibly translocationists to quickly reinforce each other. But they are getting spanked by the Adamant Empire. Kind of pointless to call for reinforcements when Lightbreaker comes knocking. Don't get me wrong, having a dedicated translocationist seems dead useful, but other silverplates can level entire cities or depopulate them within seconds. Power comes from being specialized and translocationists focus their entire build around one skill (Flash, I believe).

Cirvante

is translocation too overpowered for silver rank? example: incoming ~gold threat detected -> call reinforcements that can handle/kill it very fast the problem with trying to write a rational fiction is all the wannabe rational fans critize every minute detail but the actual real problem was in the fundamental assumptions all along Why are you running? - youtube out of the webnovels I have tried this is still my favourite one lol

Err

Getting magitech to get back to earth?

Pretty sure the Elemental Refinement shaping katas are internal/mental and can't be taught like weapon katas. But maybe Mahria will pick the skill up eventually. Although a multi-elemental mage like Rain, or the shy Beams Mage girl would benefit more from learning all the katas.

Cirvante

If Mariah is particularly adept at mana control, then maybe Ameliah should teach her the kata for cold mana. Pure Cold Mage using pure cold mana has got to be some next level shit.

Starless

I think it's a mix of excellent mana control, like the trainees attempting to get their spells past the opponents metal shield, and the staff specifically enchanted to conduct cold mana. And that's the only mana type Mahria uses. It's a bit strange though, we've had Halgrave mention that a gold mage wearing rings needs Dislocated Casting, yet Lavarro had that metal bracer to absorb Westbridge's magic. And she didn't seem to use Evocation Metamagic at all. I think while full plate armor is out, mages can wear some metal (as long as it's not on their fingers) and still cast spells. The metal staff being enchanted to not absorb cold mana, but to enhance it, seems like the most logical explanation. That way someone like Jamus wouldn't be able to use it and would need his own arcane-attuned staff instead.

Cirvante

I think the Cold mage's magic is deepened somewhat. Mariah was more capable of overcoming the Fist of Progress's metal interface in order to freeze the glaciers that brought it to the surface as well. Even though Silverplate Rain could throw hundreds of thousands of mana and cold damage at the problem, bronzeplate Mariah apparently stole the show on this one.

Starless

Yeah I enjoy character development as much as the next guy. But Delve is a pretty slow story as it is. If we give constant chapters to every side characters, we'll still be in Three Cliffs this time next year. Throwing in moments of characterization in the story are the way to go. Mahria got her own chapter and we've seen other bits to hint at how she's developing otherwise. She and Lyn seemed cozy before this, too. I feel like this was all telegraphed well enough without us needing it spoonfed to us any further. Only thing I'm surprised by is that her staff is made of metal. Staves and wands are typically made of wood because of how metal interferes with magic, and they generally stop being useable at a high level for various reasons such as lack of good crafters. I know Tallheart is badass, but I'm still surprised a metal staff would work well for her.

Ziggy

Mahria has revealed her class requirements for the respec accolade. Now with her Cold Mage class and her level cap of 15, she is the fourth strongest member of Ascension. Her magic has been instrumental in securing the Fist of Progress and that's what she got the staff for. Tallheart wouldn't just craft her gear for no reason. And her personality seems to have improved since she finally got her rare class after probably over a decade of being stuck at level 5. Refusing to go with Halgrave in order to stick with Ascension shows some serious loyalty. She could have just said "Bye suckers, I'm leaving with my dad to get boosted to silver, safely away from the war!"

Cirvante

Way too little and light, we have see some "grow" but they are minimum and with what the beginning was.... We have see no real shift and realisation or confrontation/serious talk with her, its reported all time because to much other problem to rush/fix And now she get another thing easely/free, a staff by tallheart? what did she do to deserve/prove it? she is not what we can call a trusted and solid member (if you compare with a lot of other), her personnality and etc have multiple problem (yes they are resolving little by little) but vs some other member of ascension its seem to much gold spoon reinforcing some of her bad behavior without a real big shift/talk showed about serious change of her

Zarik0

What do fascists usually want? Everything. It's their right, after all, their leader is the godking or their civ is the only one that isn't degenerate, don't need a specific motivation to be imperialistic with that kind of mindset

shitfug

Wasn't there some character introspection and growth when Mariah assisted in suppressing that evil Cat-snake?

Starless

Hunting down Majistraal artifacts in a cartoonishly evil way is my theory as well. Hopefully Empire Boy can shed some light on this, even though the Empire leadership couldn't even be bothered to tell the people on the Fist of Progress their mission's purpose.

Starless

Correction: What Fecht wants. Edit: I hate this stupid response box. Anyway. Fecht's desires, beliefs and capabilities are really the only relevant thing for understanding goals of the Adamant empire. I assume he wishes to be raised above all others, to grasp hold the reins of power in his hands, to take every piece of Majistraal tech, suck the essence out of everything he can and ascend to godhood.

Mr R

Absolutely! why Rain hasn't already wrote down the periodic table (or simplified version) and provided lessons on it yet, I have no clue! With his clarity and the handy jingles humanity the world over has been forced to learn to recall it, it shouldn't be too difficult 🤔

Alexander Johnson

I dont really like that our Tallheart made a staff specially for Mahria, i dont feel she deserve all she get at all as of now, she cause constant problems and etc and in the end she get all what she want to easely (Pavlow thing reinforcing her attitude and etc, get her staff, get her accolade for class, get tel and ressource when she is reckless), she grow yes but a lot of Ascension deserve thing way much than her in my view, i yanno, it feel injust to me (well im sure a part of it is because i dont like her character) but still... Think we miss a part of a chapter when we see a real shift of her character and big grow/realisation or a action she does who make it that she deserve thing and redeem her for all what she get so easely, when some other ascencion member seem so behind for their contribution or etc golden spoon and whining/manipulation have a limit plz, make her grow more and we see it (shift/realisation/action) in some added part of a chapter for compensate it :)

Zarik0

They want the ordnung.)

AjiTae

Has it ever been established what the Adamants actually want? Land? Resources? Religion? Access to warm water? Like...why are they fighting and dying in foreign lands?

Starless

Staavo is a tinker, not a real chemist. That's Reason and he figured out how to refine aluminium, while Tallheart figured out it's intrinsic rune. He can do the same for titanium, but it will take time he thinks they don't have.

Cirvante

Pretty sure the Karmak in Ter Karmak is a volcano. There are probably more, would explain why the dragons are all chilling on that continent.

Cirvante

Its headlight fluid. But absolutely, it was a good joke.

ZCochraine!%

Why am I not surprised that Rain did a blinker fluid prank?

Whale A

Might lead him to sensing how carbon can be turned into graphene.

ZCochraine!%

@SenescentSoul Any chance Rain would sketch out a deck plan of the ship for us to enjoy? :P Then an updated one once Tallheart learns the runes for Titanium and they rearrange the interior to their needs. You could google some images for "inspiration". :)

Pebble

wao! congrats on 1 million words total!

GrayReader

Titanium forms a hexagonal crystalline latus, unlike the other metals Tallhart works with. Might be useful in figuring out the intrinsic rune. Moreover; there should be a point where Tallheart can begin to predict the intrinsic rune of metals he has never worked with. Similar to what humanity did at the dawn of atomic chemistry. By filling in all the data about elements on the periodic table, chemist were able to predict the structure and properties of elements they didn't know existed. Tallheart and Staavo should be able to work together to achieve something similar.

Starless

You are nearly twice the word count of War and Peace. Consider that.

Adunk

amazing chapter, thanks! yeah, wondering what Halgrave really thinks,

Aaron

Congrats on reaching 1 million words, that's quite a milestone. Got to say though, I'm disappointed we didn't get to hear from the translocationist from the previous chapter. I was hoping for a PoV from him, having his mind blown by Rain's mana recharging capabilities and other ascension stuff.

Jac Onue

Just thought to myself... Are there volcanos? Because we didn't find any yet on the map at least... I bet getting deep is easy in a volcano... If you can survive the heat that is... I digressed though! The original thread of thought was what would happen if they started sieving metals from lava with smither's filters? Because... So much lava... And below that? Metallic composition for days Another thought. If rain generates heat mana at a place already saturated with heat mana like a volcano... What would happen?

evyatar

A summon? by fetch and the imperial? and he get some otherworlders (titanium tech now) but he dont get all of them all time (or one time use summon with a special ressource or tech of the magistraal) and Rain get tp in a wrong position in a error/fail of the (group?) summon

Zarik0

Should have tried to hit 420 🤣

kyle

not necessarily. titanium simply does not build up ore deposits like iron or aluminium does. so its dilluted form can be found pretty much anywhere. with those magic sieves that separate the material you want from anything else, refining titanium should be cheaper than on earth, despite lacking industrial capabilities.

Ranzbart

congratzz for the million words mark ! and thanks for the heartwarming chapter.

Thenais

I can wait for rain or anyone to get to gold. It's the point where the power scaling we know of will end and only the warden etc. will pose any danger. It's the point where authors need to asspull bigger badder foes out of nowhere and the story looses it's quality.

Enkelados

Well, shit. I bet the adamants are snatching and enslaving otherworlders and Rain just has gotten lucky...

AjiTae

Thats what i thought last chapter: -------------------------------------------------------------- From one view point i want rain to reach gold already and get out of his soul stuff. On the other hand? When they get of this continent. I feel like it would be the golden age of "delve" of Ascension. While tallheart is impressive the news will not really travel far. Hellgrave wasn't impressed enough that he starts torturing people for info, rain is silver. He will draw attention with Ascension no doubt. But not too much. The company and him could roam the planes. Delve. Have time skips. Experiment. Grow. For a time while the empire is sated in war. No 'ulterior' motives from gods(platinum pretty much...). Save the world and huge politics.before gold. -------------------------------------------------------------- And this chapter we learn the ship is going to draw attention... And the goldplate is already starting to salivate at the rings and armour? Is tallheart to pessimistic? Would Helgrave keep silence cause he is cross with the guild currently... And if the recycle the ship after they finish with it and compress the Titanium... If the city refugees won't spill too much, it should be fine really.the citizen has other concerns than a company of several silvers and two dozen bronzes? Although the ship potential to navigate on waters that are yet unexplored... For fear of course but if they can search for lairs on areas such as these??? No way would they give up the ship then... And that draws attention. A ship that survives dangerous water allows them to escape chase by other ships Anyhow: The current time where none of them is gold and drawing attention? Thats what i want to read really... Delving to different biomes. Different builds and Ascension leveling up finding lairs of levels 10-30 others getting to silver. Abilities. Tiers two and three of a lot of trees. That simple fantasy vibe. Returning from a long delve to a base of Ascension. They have a base with could bear. Maybe a musician with a class, bard style. Y'know General stuff now... And using a velocity aura anchor on a ship or their tank should work right? It would hurt the anchor itself less, and upgrade the ship... How long is the ship? With the effect of metals on magic the aura would probably be too expensive... But a wooden ship or cement ship with a steam engine to a turbine and velocity aura is certainly possible! No need for steam really... The alchemist and. Chemist can create low octane fuel right? And they still refine their methods? That will make the ship weaker and not allow them to go outside shipping lanes but it would make the ship so much faster.... That alone, and the tank carrying all the heavy stuff with some carriages lugging behind give them immense mobility. Another cool idea is because of how specialized Ascension is I would like to see a collaborative effort of several classes. Geomancer.diviner. alchemist and chemist and several more To just... Dig down, and even the deep rock, with alchemy to soften the earth up... Making elevators and just digging down to lairs. Or straight to zone ranked 50, than making a cave by human hands that monsters spawn in, a man made farming area All of these approaches are unprecedented

evyatar

He figured out aluminium, he can figure out titanium (actually rather common in the earths crust, just harder to extract... without magic, that is.)

abowden

I recall when Rain was making a list for Ascension’s name, he ended up musing about how the precursor of the Watch and Guild (Majistraal Ascenci Watch or something Latin sounding) sounded Latin and thought whether there is any relation to Romans (meaning someone from Roman times pooped here like Rain would) due to the public baths being called thermae and such. Tallheart was kinda right since Meloni was involved. Though having Halgrave around would be helpful to discourage a Citizen taking action (would at least delay them until they get reinforcements or something). With all that being said, they still need to sail up the northern coast (going past DKE territory) as sailing South to Adamant is too suicidal by comparison. They would need to stay out of sight of the coastline (at a minimum) while going up while forgoing most (if not all) chances to resupply (at least in cities and since they wouldn’t know terrain enough for any miraculous food spots like tasty and easy to kill monsters). They could take a big and uncertain risk by just saying fuck it and heading directly East to Bellost directly while ignoring the current shipping lanes shown earlier (which require going north past DKE, turning north east to that big island once reaching northern edge of continent, then south east from island of splendor to Bellost). The trip may take as little as a month or perhaps three if unexpected situations happen. Though that calculation is based off crappy maps and the speed the adamant ship reached when it had the journey core stuff and not the modifications Ascension will have to make. Looking back on Fecht, Tallheart said that Fecht seems to have a class that can do everything so either he has the platinum version of Ameliah’s class, or he just uses reusable respec accolades to shift his skills around as needed (just because he donated one to the academy doesn’t mean he doesn’t have more; after all there are 8 potential spots for a lair clear) and has a class with all around bonuses to whatever skills. Could also be the the skill load out he has is just really flexible and gives that appearance (Tallheart never having seen the guy would be hearing this from other Adamants who are pretty much a national cult and thus easily believe and spread propaganda).

Conor McGroarty

That's already been done. Ch 142: "Rain had gone through the periodic table with him a while ago, and the smith actually knew quite a few metals thanks to his skills."

Gregb

Rain should really draw up a copy of the periodic table for Tallheart at some point. It would probably be enlightening.

Garrett

Quite the progress on the ship.

jiecut

Thanks for the great chapter! Titanium! Thats expensive in our modern industrialized world, and even for awakened in a pre industrial empire, that has to be expensive.

ZCochraine!%

Aww. Doggo affection for the Tallheart. Huh. I totally forgot they didn't know about titanium. I wonder if it's the result of the Empire's methods getting results, or if Rain isn't the first person that's crossed over from Earth?

Ziggy

Woo! Congrats on blasting past a million words!

Judah Frankel

Oh no, an Error: 404 message will pop up now!

Ezio Azrael

Thanks for the chapter! 🥳

Cjack PVP