Chapter 68

Ugh.. I hate it when stories become 'I went to a technologically stunted planet and made it just like earth'. Whats the point of writing a fantasy story at all if that's what you're gonna do? I mean its not like the protagonists in those stories are some world changing geniuses, they just know stuff that nobody else does. They aren't special, they aren't clever. But they sure do think highly of themselves for regurgitating a bunch of ideas that are not their own.

Chopper

I buy that magic nullifies a lot of damage but don't forget Rain almost died from falling so physics is still real in this story. It is not so much that i want to see an entire industrial revolution, but I do believe any person from earth would effect some changes in technology in a world that purely relies on magic. Just look at how people are suffering from the cold because they need magic heaters. A boiler and some pipes can heat a whole building.

Chris

you vote for how good you think the chapter was

Ole Halvorsen

Someone like Hargrave prepared in full plate would be able to resist typical man portable infantry rifles yes (well provided they mostly weren't able to find a weaker spot on his armor, but lets assume they can't reasonably do so)..... but there still stuff like grenades (rifle or rocket propelled) and typical man portable mortars for him to worry about, and some of those can punch holes in light to moderate tanks even with poor angle of attack, so its not going to be the shut out you're thinking it will be. I did bring up grenades for a reason you know. The thing worth pointing out is we already know that in story guys like Hargave are fairly rare. There is only 1 of him in his power lvl for dozens of miles around. In the capital there might be a few dozen like him and other moderate to big sized cities maybe 2-10 at his lvl. Below them a relative handful of others are perhaps high Silver lvl, and then the vast overwhelming majority is faaar below that (bronze-ish plate). Hargrave, and those literal handful of others near his lvl, are what amounts to the MAD/WMD type weapons for that medevial-ish society/planet. So things like guns and simple craft made grenades would still be hellishly effective on normals, Bronze, and probably most Silver ranks too while still at least somewhat dangerous for Gold and very much worth pursuing at some point for Rain if nothing else as a back up weapon. Without more information on how good the filtering Tallheart is doing its hard to say how good it is. Yes the magic lets him skip a bunch of steps and work that is otherwise required, which is impressive, but what matters most here I think is quality of the steel. It could be better (atomic lvl impurity removal) or it could be worse (remember he is going by 'feel' and/or counting on his magic to tell him what is 'pure' or not, he doesn't actually understand much about metallurgy or even know what a atom is most likely). Lets say its better for sake of argument....how common are guys with smithing skills like Tallheart? Again, going by what we see in story smiths with his skills are rare. There might only be a few in an entire country. A poorer nation might not even have 1 or if they do access is restricted for purposes of national security (basically they're forced to work for the King and his trusted friends only). Their production capacity will be highly limited at best and likely only the few wealthy, powerful, or fantastically lucky will have access to products they produce. Meanwhile something like pre made plate AR500, or even AR1000, can be bought online for surprisingly decent prices that most can afford. Also its worth pointing out that material quality control is only part of why modern steels are so much better than what they could do in Medevial times. The tempering they can achieve now is so much better it'd be unreal to a smith from that time period. Tallheart and smiths like him will have magic to help them there too.....but again how much is it helping? A big part of the reason we can get such great tempers now is because we understand what is happening on a micro and nano level to the metal and have learned to adjust and control the heat and materials to the best effect. Tallheart and others like him won't have that understanding....they'll be going by feel essentially.

tibbish

Whats with the voting thing on every post?

Jared McClure

Lets see if I have this right, I think this is how the map looks around Fel Sadanis. North over the mountains is the DKE, East is sparsly populated with unclaimed areas and other free cities further away. North east is more of the unclaimed area but also connects onto the DKE North West to West is more DKE even has a Road connecting to Fel Sardins. West to South West is the badlands, with a bit more DKE but also the Empire of Adamant behind it. Not sure what is south, badlands then Empire?

payforthat

Ameliah says that teleportation requires a lot of specific skills to attain it. I highly doubt Rain can skip all that and just be given the ability to teleport via auras. Now MUCH further down the line, Rain understanding how the platforms work and duplicating them? Different story. Definitely possible. Or at least someone in Rain's circle.

Ziggy

I think most of us thought rank shift was extremely imminent with the foreshadowing of the kin. But now Rain is going to build a house for Tallheart. So either that rank shift is going to stop outside of Fel Sedanis, or it's going to hit where they're building Tallheart's house and Fel Sedanis. If option A: Then they can still use the house Rain is working on. If option B: Either Tallheart isn't going to be around to worry about the house anymore, or they're going to have to probably ditch it. Which would be the worst lol. I'm thinking option A is going to happen. Rank shift happens, but it doesn't hit Fel Sedanis/Tallheart's new home. Even if Tallheart did die from the death flags he's parading around, they could still use the house if they're not worried about monsters spawning inside and around the house.

Ziggy

Tibbish, I wasnt sugesting that any of the magic we have seen people use would make them immune to bullet physics. More that some people might be immune to bullet physics in the same way a main battle tank is. I get that modern materials and military weapons are impressive. I still think I would put my money on Hargreave versus infantry guns. He wears plate armour up to 10cm(4inches) thick. Of an unknown but undoubtly magical nature. He punched a wall with his bare fist, causing the stone to "shatter as if made of styrofoam". We dont know what abilitys he has. And he is a Gold Plate in a world where non-gold plate people have, -Stired molten metal and stone with there hand -Got thrown through a stone wall and survived -and has store level enchanted weapons that are described as beyond razor sharp Oh, and from what I can see Medieval steel was poor because they didnt have much controll of impurities and carbon content. Does that sound like the sort of steel you would get after using filter refining? Reading through the wiki pages on steel production. It looks like modern steel was first , developed as "cruicible steel" - a way of melting the steel so it can be purifiied effectively. Now, we use even hotter arc melting with carefully controlled addition of materials to remove the impurities in slag. Tallheart skipped straight to fully molten metal and removal of all impurities..... with a camp fire...

payforthat

You're right to think that magic would effect everything to some extent in a magical world. Magic would be as intrinsic to such a reality as the strong nuclear force. It is however reasonable to assume that Rain's new reality works close enough to his old one's (since he is able to exist there via teleportation + so far outside of magical effects reality works the same as it does on Earth) that things like blackpowder will still work the same too.

tibbish

I feel like a Teleportation Aura would fall under Utility Auras, unless there is a Defensive Aura to block teleportation then it might be under Offensive Auras (teleporting other people around as well). It really depends on how future Offensive and Defensive Auras go now that all the base damage types have been covered.

Atlas Dwarf

In a world where magic is a thing, it is reasonable to assume that magic affects everything to a certain extent. Even if Rain were to try something like that, who knows if itd have the same effect as it would in our world. Magical items exist in this story, so perhaps magical "explosives" are a thing?

Required

I think your concept of a 'physics changing field' is fine in of itself to explain the effects of magic in story where I'd disagree is you seem to be suggesting is that magic would allow the item to ---effectively--- totally ignore any and all physical effects outside the field with impunity. If magic can effect the physical world than the physical world can still have an effect on magic itself. Which would go a long way towards explaining how magic items wear out on use and are often very limited in either effect or in terms of 'mana usage/capacity'. Also its worth pointing out that modern high quality steels are often DOZENS to -HUNDREDS- of times (yes HUNDREDS) harder and/or more durable than their Medevial-ish equivalents. I used AR500 steel as an example for a reason in my previous post. I don't think you understand enough to properly appreciate just how strong and hard that stuff is and what it means to be able to shoot holes through .25in plates of it.... Maybe some god tier stuff (which we have yet to see in story....maybe the King would have it) would be outright impervious to anything based on normal physics but anything less can be worn down with repeated hits or use. And machine guns or even just assault rifles shoot hundreds of rounds per minute. Even a gold plate could probably be killed by a single magazine dump or 2. The trick of course would be hitting them and they'll likely have evasion/movement skills to make that difficult at best for a soldier or 2. A team of them would be a different story though. And no I don't seriously expect Rain to introduce those weapons, my reply was for others speculating about the sort of effect modern weapons would have, but blackpowder grenades (with lit fuses, friction or striker fuses like used on modern grenades isn't doable by him probably) are totally doable and reasonable. As are simple radios (google Foxhole Radio for a how to, you'll laugh when you see how simple it can be) with Tallheart's help.

tibbish

Magical platform, for the sake of teleportation? check. Skill that generally requires time consuming "training" to meet the requirements of, and may possibly help with the understanding of said teleportation platform?(mana sight) check. Rain wants to get said skill when he has "extra" skill points? check. Rain wanted to be a game developer before he quit college, implying he may have experience with programming? check. Experience with programming may or not be of great help with enchanting/whatevermagicworkhecandowithmanamanipulation..? check(?) :D I may be reaching here, but to me, a "teleportation aura" is reaching far further imo :P There have also been implications of him "transforming" his mana(while the mana is still "inside" of him?) when he uses different auras, implying that perhaps he can change the effects of his mana when he uses mana manipulation through auras. But then again, all "enchanting" could possibly be pretty limited in finesse, more "raw," if hes only using mana manipulation and no extra "enchanting?" skills. But maybe enchanting is fundamentally raw to begin with, making Rain perfect for enchanting. Guess we'll see.

Required

well I don't find it? nvm found it

Ole Halvorsen

Check the latest chapters on royalroad - there's a calculator there that covers all the skill trees Rain has. It's extremely comprehensive.

Rheklr

Tibbish. The way I think of it, everything used or affected by awakened people and there skills has an physics changing energy field attached to them. So an arrow. Might have +50% damage field from the craftsman, +20% temporary buff from the bows magic and +100% from the archer. Meaning it will break physics in a way to do more damage than its speed, mass and sharpness would allow. The bow and the archer probably did some physics breaking when firing it too - so it could be traveling at unnatural speed on top. The same sort of thing will happen with amour and even people. The amour Rain wears is probably made from near idealised "Dark Steel", then has a legendary craftsman buff field added. Last we have the enchants, increasing Durability 13X and Hardness by X4. How would that be effected by modern bullet? no idea it stopped running on normal physics at "Dark steel" If a sword made and swung by an un-awakened person can go through such amour, then we might have a place to start estimating the effect of a bullet. But, you can't use a sword swung with someone adding "strength" and "+damage" energy fields to judge what the bullet might do. Gun's and the like probably would be useful in this world at lower levels. However gold plates are basically all Superman. I don't think Rain is planning on introducing any of that(Thankfully). Reinforced concrete, basic maths and indoor plumbing, maybe.

payforthat

It would definitely be some high level shit with crazy prereqs. It should. Long range AOE teleportation is too powerful to just give away to anyone who can unlock tier {very high} in the utility aura skill tree.

Garrett

Have made a mana calculator for talents/builds if you want to see https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TUdqIX9Qe8XQwksMKCmy1pBqk2lazEO_T1J2jv3HXyI/edit?usp=sharing I don't know if you can go in and change the numbers or I need to change some settings Did wright the comment in Norwegian, I'm such a derp.

Ole Halvorsen

I've seen a few comments on the pace of the story, and I agree that not a lot of time passes in any chapter. Travelling and training are the most (in-world) time consuming chapters and even then we have shenanigans that slows things down. But, if you binge read it (like you would after the story is done) the pace is actually decent. The biggest thing that could be cut for pace is the theorycrafting, but that's super fun so we don't want that. Cut out the interactions and characters won't feel as well-rounded. I know it's excruciating to wait when we only get two chapters a week, but short of a faster release pace there's nothing for it. Though it's not great when you read about something (e.g. prismatic intent) and you know it'll take months at the least for Rain to reach it.

Rheklr

Garrett - great idea. That sounds like at least a rank 5 skill or higher though just for Embed Aura, and even higher for the teleportation. I imagine Precision and Acuity maxed would be minimum prerequisites for a Teleportation aura.

Rheklr

If a teleportation aura does exist it would probably require an aura metamagic skill called something like [Embed Aura] which would let him embed an aura into an object for a while. Rain would embed an object with, lets call it [Warp Zone], and then later when he used the aura actively the imbued object would automatically trigger to act as a receiving platform.

Garrett

Maybe he could get a short range teleport. Think an aura that gives him an idea of everyting going on around him and then letting him teleport to anywhere within the range of the aura in an instant. Or hell, let detection be the sensing part of it and the aura is literally just a teleport to anywhere within the aura range. Sounds like t6 or t7 utility auras though so we won't see it for a very long time if it exists at all

L Pedersen

Pretty sure only monsters with literal blue text for their name will let you raise your lvl cap. As for the pace of the story, I think it should be obvious to anyone who had read this far that this is not a fast pace action adrenaline junkie story. Not that we won't get glimpses of that but they'll probably be few and far inbetween. We just got 2 chapters that totalled 39 pages between then and that only represented one day within the continuity of the story. Honestly I'd be happy if Rain finds a lvl 25+ blue before chapter 100 but at the pace we're going at I'm starting to think that's a forlorn hope. But I'm fine with the pace, it only bothers me when get get PoVs that are so out of the story that they won't matter for god knows how long. I liked this PoV because one, it was Ameliah and she's probably second favorite character after Rain and two, it had Rain for the first part of it and then we got some really nice worldbuilding and setup for the future, probably the more soonish future than the other PoV we had a recently. But maybe I'm wrong and we'll see horse, merchant and (Stint/Stent/Stunt whatever the name was) pretty soon as they come riding into town heralding a big Adamant army invading from the badlands. Who knows? Either way I'm enjoying the story imensely and I'll take whatever I'm getting. Won't stop me from wishing for more than a 20 minute snapshot of Rains day after waiting a week for the chapter :P

L Pedersen

🔥

Tycho Green

the flow of events is getting a bit slow in these last 3 or 4 chapters

Man, what this story needs is a good ol' fashioned goblin smashin. If you know what I mean. I wanna see Rain walk on up to a little goblin village and just explode that thing into a deadly winter wonderland instantly.

It'sATap

And I really hope this doesn’t become a “let’s raise the tech level of the locals” kind of story. That’s a lot less fun than the current exploration of magic and its impact.

Chymor

Swords get through the magic armor because they too are magic and supported by the users skills. We haven’t yet seen if these effects all cancel out for warriors of equal level or not. But so far my impression is that armor are more useful against magic than melee attacks.

Chymor

How would a teleportation aura even work? Range is too limited to be useful, and it seems that the teleportation platforms require a receiving platform. Teleportation will become important though, as during a war it's a major strategic asset, and war is definitely looming.

Rheklr

Is this a flag for a teleportation aura later on?

Yashakami

"They could cross the mountains, or head east through the unclaimed territory to strike at the northern reaches of the DKE with impunity. " Wait, what? The DKE is to the west of the city. To the east are the other holdings of the asshole guard order.

Garend

If a sword being swung fast could injure them than a bullet should too. After all even something like typical 7.62x51AP can punch holes in .25in AR500 plates and those are real strong and harder than any steel you'd find in a Medevial-ish setting. Obviously magic armor and magic smiths can improve the steel in ways a Earth steel foundry couldn't but not enough to make them impervious to mundane bullets if swords can still get through them. On top of that things like explosives have secondary effects besides spall or fragments like pressure waves that make them much more dangerous than they're portrayed in the movies. Even if a high lvl adventurer's skin/armor could effectively block most small arm bullets small explosives like grenades would still be very deadly against them. After all its hard to fight if your lungs and brains have been turned into mush by pressure wave from a nearby explosion. Grenades and bombs would probably be easier to do anyways than rifles or even muzzle loading muskets if Rain wanted to go introducing some modern weapons. You'd just need some black powder which is easy to make. Its smokeless powder that is hard (and dangerous) to make. That and primers are hard too. @Chymor: just because something is magic doesn't mean its impervious to regular old physical dmg. Fair enough if you don't want a 'raise the tech lvl' type of story but I think it'd be foolish and unrealistic if Rain didn't at least put to use SOME of modern tech. Even if only for himself to use (ie. blackpowder grenades). If nothing else adding something like flushing toilets, even only as a luxury for himself and/or Tallheart, would be a godsend over a medevial latrine or just tossing the chamber pot in the street as was common for that time period.

tibbish

It was never stated whether people count for level limits but nothing has come up that says people wouldn't count. Especially given the whole slaughter and enslave Tallheart's race thing that the Empire has going on.

Atlas Dwarf

The way I'd put it is in the form of arcs. The first arc would be Rain from the start and ends when the mine ends. That arc was full of actions and adventure and leveling. This arc by comparison has been primarily about house building and training in a more slow and less obvious fashion. Both arcs thus far have been important, but I can see how someone who was hooked by arc 1 could be bored by the arc 2.

It'sATap

Well I don't agree with you, learning more about the world the characters interactions between them gives me a lot more than some pure action. We get more politics, more character developments, more world building, they are building a house. Think this feels a lot more realistic at list with the premise the author has created. And there's not that there is no potential Problems, He has he's fight with Levarro, the issue between the Adventure guild and the other power(forgot the name), the noble, getting past lvl 25, potential war and Fel Sadis. This story is slower, it's not only about fighting monsters and lvling up. If you feel like it's been dragging I don't think it will become any better, I think this is the pace that will make sense for this story to be told the way the author wants it.

Ole Halvorsen

Man, I didn't even think of his teleport being somewhat of a cause of it. Or could it be his teleport was caused by the impending rank shift? Questions we might not ever know the answer to.

Tyler Babcock

The story really needs something like that. I like slice of life, but let's be honest, it's been dragging since before they left for the dungeon. Full of conversations, math and blue screen but not seldom any character advancement or action. Rain could contribute enormously if they let him use his magic. Much would change from that. Rain's character development too. I feel he needs to lose his naivety with taking life. Not wanting to do so is well and good, but when life gives you hard choices you make them and you move on, or you don't. I think the time for such an event is now, because I don't want to think of him staying in that city like this for dozens more chapters. There's a whole world out there, and this city is pretty boring in the grand scheme of things.

Rip Woodham

I bet the rumored rank shift will be the catalyst for the balance to tip in Fel Sedanis, with both the DKE and Adamant making moves. I wonder if Rain’s teleport appearance is related to the rank shift too.

Matt

No he has remember better stuff also before the system. I hope we don't go the hole industrial evolution here. It does not fit the story, and I guns would probably not do any dmg against high rankers.

Ole Halvorsen

I don't think the dungeon is that high lvl, I think the benefit would be more for ppl who has no way to get a lvl any other way. I think there will be some time before Fel sadis is going to be involved in the war. Probably Rain is going to find a blue somewhere else, prob with the team he already has + Lavarros daughter. Right now if they attack Rain would not be able to do much tbh.

Ole Halvorsen

Train sounds like a crap idea, the tracks would be open to monster attacks or whatever magical bullshit this world is full of. Planes are a big no no in any fantasy would, thar be dragons and all that. Canals are a bit hit or miss, but I think river monsters would be frisky enough to make in unreliable. Armoured cars/trucks on heavy duty roads? Viable. Get them spikes and huge engines goings and you would have mass transit even with the occasional mutant honey badger up in your business.

It'sATap

Do people/deer people count as blues? Could they ever increase level? Is that a thing I missed? Because if so, banditry would be a legit thing in a big way. That or assassinating people in their sleep.

It'sATap

A group of average silverplate mages would easily trump his mana regen collectively. But yeh, he would be a resource.

It'sATap

Yeah hoping for a siege here as well. I'm kind of worried about it as well with how many death flags Tallheart has been getting. Although there would certainly be other ways to push his level limit than accidentally getting participation credit in Tallheart's death.

Atlas Dwarf

stats only help what you have when you are in the system, so his before isekai memories can't be boosted more than they were at start of adventure

Pocket Rikimaru Thanatos

With Rain's superior clarity and ability to recall memories, I will be real disappointed if he doesn't use some Earth knowledge any high school graduate or youtube buff should know to reinvent some things. This chapter talking about the way they travel distances kept making me think about how a Train would change things.

Chris

Lol, the honey badger meme reference made me snort

ZaA

I think it is more of how much damage she could do before she can be stopped... Rain's aura damage is pretty OP but he is an AoE glass cannon, compare to Ameliah who is well rounded.

Vydashal

No shit Amelia. Of course getting a foothold on the enemies flank is a viable idea, especially when the alternative is wall of high ranking NobleHobo's. I'm really hoping this leads to a siege of the city, where Rain can really shine- recharging defensive enchantments, Purifying waste flung into the city, recharging the defenders mana. If the Watch open up their personal dungoen under the city for the most promising defenders to kill some blues, he's set. It would be awesome.

Garend

Much better now! Thanks for the chapter! :D

Jordan

Lol I cracked up at that also.

Alexander Dupree

Solid set-up chapter! It's been good to see the world expanding (now that Rain's progression is mainly soulstrain experiments) and I can't wait to see how things start changing (war, rank shift). If the Adamant Empire do invade I'm really curious to see what Autumn does. Presumably it needs the other seasons at rank 5 (or maybe 10) to unlock but I'm sure it's a must for Rain at some point. Though maybe I'm piling too much on his plate there - getting to level 25 (for specialisations and even more mana regen) and 26 (for prismatic intent) comes first! One worry about Rain is that no-one can match his mana regen, so if the Adamant Empire come through he's the perfect mana battery to enslave for a large-scale teleportation invasion.

Rheklr

So she's two categories higher in threat than Rain? which means she can probably do a million damage within seconds?

Pocket Rikimaru Thanatos

Excellent, and thanks!

ian selph

Yes

SenescentSoul

Frankly I'm exhausted. I've slept well last night so I can only assume it is built up fatigue. Good stuff. I do like seeing things from her perspective, particularly Rain's quirks. Also congrats on getting me to rewatch LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER.

Bunny Waffles

Am I voting on the chapter or how well I'm doing? 😛

VertigoMonkey

Still having schaden freude over Raine's antics vs. the antagonist in Savage Divinity. Fire lots of it. Sorry, completely unrelated. :)

M van Dongen

It was awful, now it's great 🎉. Thx 4 chappy