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@I_love_magic You gotta consider that when a single strong Awakened can walk by and completely decimate their entire operation, things aren't so simple. They're dealing with technology the world has never seen before, which is going to draw attention once it gets out. Plus, though technology is a definite step up, in this world personal power is always going to trump that (up until awakened crafters get to a high enough level at least). Awakened are just too ridiculous. So I'd say it's sensible for Rain to take these accolades and use them to delve. After all... it's the title of the story.

Kahandran

I mean..... his modern knowledge is something i'm sure he should use more of, as knowledge is power, and he needs to be powerful in all ways possible if he wants to keep safe as many people as possible. I mean, taking up the leader mantle, focusing on building machines and even GUNS, like he mentioned magi-tech..... Personal power can be many things, so i hope he does not forget that and focus only on his own Auras and what not! He can not be everywhere at the same time!! Plus, he should really try and take his time, as he could make great things with his great memory thanks to clarity in one year....... their delve could be a hundred times easier with modern equipment. I really hope they will not just jump head first into the "depths" but prepare for a LONG time first.

I_love_magic

AT LAST! He stop being pussy idiot

reji

Getting closer!

Atli

This a very well executed character progression

Pretentious Slime

Thank you!

Andrew

Really enjoyed this chapter. Excited for possible level-up when Rain goes deep. I liked Rain coming to grips with the morality of a very different world. The wrong choice but the only one is a great way to put it.

Looks like it is time for Rain to veer too far into hard-ass mode. He really doesn't do anything by halves.

Monadologist

Don't you know? She got summoned to another dimension by a bunch of gremlin cultists? I thought that was general knowledge. 💭

JC

I guess this is a decent place to take the break necessary when stopping as a patreon supporter.

Ninetails

I truly hope not.

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

At the end of their journey, they went to the guild. It's highly likely they took a job in one guild, to go to the one in Fel Sedanis. How would it look if 3 bronzeplates showed up without the silver they left with? The higher leveled guilder died but you guys made it fine? Uhh... They probably had to take jobs and seem innocuous sometimes to prevent any suspicion or keep themselves in good standing with the guild. Besides the whole "Hegar being a simp creep" about Ameliah when they were traveling together.

Ziggy

Was it ever mentioned how long Amelia had been traveling with the Crimson Swords? If it was more than one night, I wonder why they did not kill her in her sleep and take her accolades. Adventurers die on the road all the time. It would be as easy as pie to come up with a story about how a high-level monster attacked while Ameliah was on watch duty and she almost managed to kill it before the rest of them woke up and finished it off, but alas, not before Ameliah died.

Is rain gonna be immune to fire >:)

Sand Bear

Unless certain accolades are more rare, or even simply don't exist. Fire damage (in other settings, at least) is the most common to both be used and resisted. If a dungeon is forming around natural features (using the ice as an example) volcano dungeons should be fairly common comparatively. I cant think of many natural places that I would consider light themed to a massive extent that would result in an accolade of that magnitude. It could literally not even exist, which might be why the artifact was needed.

Rain will eventually become a soul wizard and he will just tear the plates from (living) wicked men with his mind like a Jedi Guru Master.

Chopper

I don't think that term means what you think it means.

Chopper

Hm. Possible #Bug_Report. Now that we know 1000 damage resist accolades are a thing. Goldplate nobles should have them, generally speaking. And when the members of the DKE attacked Lightbreaker... None of them brought 10 along to match the damage limit of the area? This seems like a common sense thing. Going to face down the legendary, light focused mage. Gonna need to equip the 10k worth of resistance to light damage to make it child's play. We can kinda excuse the air mage not coming prepared, thinking she wasn't going to fight. Just transport. Also she might not be as powerful or well connected. But Bowcraig (I think)? He had the funds to use a one-time piece of history to give himself 10k light resist. He seemed to have been around long enough to just have that in accolades. An easy fix would be having him think about how he never bothered to get those specific accolades and they wouldn't lend him any. Which isn't quite good enough. However. If you put in he was looking for an excuse to use that artifact for temporary light resistance, as well as it enabling him to use his other accolades on top to match Lightbreaker's power? It still seems like a bad choice, but much more plausible.

Ziggy

Good guys don't stick around murderers and rapists for the money. He might not have enjoyed the rape and killing as much as the other 2 but he seemed just fine with getting the loot and had to have participated to get paid in plates like that. The other 2 were definitely not the type to just pay someone off.

tibbish

Wanted Brovose to be a good guy.

Michael son of Jacob

Looks great, but please don't do a "She's still alive!" thing with Lilly. I couldn't stand that, it would just be cheap emotional anguish for Tallheart, and I wouldn't be able to read past that.

Luke Scheffe

I am glad you didn't go the route where Brovos turned out to not be a plate hunter for an easy emotional anguish angle. While I am sure this will be hard to deal with for Rain at least he knows the man was basically a serial killer.

A K

They could have been Plate hunter hunters. All the power of being a plate hunter, but you get to be morally righteous and immune to the repercussions of killing people, just like Halgrave, Volcano, and Rain. That's just a bit of nit-picking though. Would be absolutely perfect if the title of 'Custodian' was ret-conned to allow Rain to officially function in the capacity he showed this chapter, instead of being an empty platitude plate. Overall great chapter nonetheless. Actually...wait a tick, just read it again and it looks like being a custodian does let him adjudicate criminal matters. Must have missed that the first time I read through.

Starless

This was the best chapter in awhile. Well done!

Logrus

Oooooooh shit. Dozers bringing order to the chaos in his soul

Compendium

Thank you for the chapter, this has been the first one in a very long time that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Happy to see Rain finally growing up

Andrei

Purity, and order being a given. Wonder if the little voice in his head exclaiming [King] is going to have as much influence. Also, bit disappointed that he didn't do it himself. Dropping that shit on your friends is not okay. Should have refrigerated him, cold choices colder consequences.

Compendium

Thanks for the wonderful chapter! I love the way you are handling Rain's character growth! Can't wait to see what You decide to do next in the story.

Bakerdea

so he was going for a pve raid roster on a full pvp server ... couldn't have ended well.

Thenais

That was fucking hardcore

Alexander Dupree

I wonder about his dozer add on. It makes him a cleaning freak? Thought more on the line that he would do some soul cleaning, not a merging. x)) Merry Xmass :))

D

Nice! Some character development. Notice the decisiveness, initiative, leadership? Phenomenal. How much you wanna bet he regresses within 10 chapters.

jdouglas

Now we are talking! Thanks 😊

kyle

"Mercy is a luxury of the strong" that is the most important line in this chapter.

Adam Roundfield

Approaching the titular Delve. Kek "titular"

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

Nice catch. I missed that implication.

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

For some people ideals are worth dying for and morals are only truly tested in life or death situations, I wouldn't say that is a character flaw. Seems to me you just want rain to fall in line with your thinking.

Thank you for the chapter. :) This is a bit late but... Merry Christmas !

Maximilien Muys-Vasovic

Heavy chapter, done very well. This was so necessary. I'm also glad that Rain acknowledges that he's weak and needs to get stronger. I think if he didn't ask Tallheart about taking him to the depths Tallheart would have left. He can't do the dirty job all the time. All the accolades also explain how they beat Ameliah. Can't wait for the expedition to the depths, I wonder how they can get there ? Also I'm expecting Val to follow them

CentaureHeart

+1

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

I always find it annoying when the protagonist cares so much about the life and well-being of psychopaths who are actively trying to kill them and everyone they care about. Seems to often be paired up with "humans (or at least humanoids) are special", topped off with disregard for the "sanctity of life" for Sapient non-humanoids because they don't "qualify" or something. Couldn't rewatch Inuyasha, Hercules( with Kevin Sorbo), and some others that I'd watched when younger, because of such irrationality.

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

I'm guessing the author already has most of them planned out. Probably a few left as nebulous to fill possible plot holes and/or as McGuffins I guess.

tibbish

Finally the story is moving, last few chapters have been refreshing. Too much chit chat, and minor details where you could skip most of the story and still feel like you haven't missed much. Love the story it's just a little slow.

KingHonolulu

Thanks for the chapter. Finally accepted that he's in a different world, and started putting aside superficial sentimentalist "morals" that are nonsensical in a true life or death situation. People aren't genuinely reasonable even in our World, expecting it from others in that one is idealistic to the point of delusion. But Rain's finally adapting, hopefully he won't backslide. On a far more positive note, sooo many Accolades, some with rather potent effects. That should be all kinds of fun. Thanks again for the chapter.

(Not so) Idle TheoryCrafter

He wouldn’t have much of a way to attack when unpredictable movement becomes even more so. At any time he might now their speed boost but now if they will move. Once he gets prismatic intent however...

TDMC

Side note. That is a LOT of accolades and is going to be a pain in the ass for the next chapter for the author to get them all down lol. First, we know the dead Hegar and crew were level 19-24. We also know that Anton had enough accolades to switch them out, and that killing Brovose had "dozens" of accolades pop out. So 24+ accolades minimum. Now for assumptions, we're going to assume all three had a fairly similar amount of plates. I'm going to round up to assume 30ish accolades for each at minimum. So that's 90(!) accolades Tallheart is saying Rain should take. Holy power boost, batman. Even if there were 3-4 sets of 8 of the same accolade, that still leaves like 60 accolades to decide on and write down. Assuming the repeats average at that point to 2-3 per accolade, that's 20-30 unique accolade bonuses to write down and multiply up by however many per. On the plus side, we're gonna get a LOT of accolade data the next chapter or two. And probably an update to the interface in that area. But man, that's a lot of new shit to implement for the author lol.

Ziggy

Honestly, Brovose is a pragmatic man and Anton selfish and greedy to the extreme. Remember Antons thoughts about Hegar last chapter? He would leave a sinking ship like it’s nothing. And I imagine if Ascension were plate hunters as well and offered him better teams than a deceased Hegar, Anton would join without batting an eye. I’m not that sure for Brovose, but considering that the guy was actually really smart and has a good hunch how someone like Anton views him and humans that are not himself in general I figure that revenge isn’t something that he would be keen on. Hypothetically speaking. It’s much how someone like Mahria behaves. “Are there some more accolades for my collection and oh .. how are you?”

Tycho Green

Took a while, but it’s nice to see Rain internalizing that ideals need a lot more than belief to support them. Justice and rule of law as he knows it require a whole host of things that the society he’s in just don’t have.

Dee

Okay, given that you read the same chapter I did I would like you to lay out a situation where he had time to check his status. (Remember that it wasn’t a priority, and Rain gets lost in his head; so checking his status is 2-3 pdf pages minimum.) Can’t come up with a moment where he had the time? Exactly, and that’s why he didn’t check.

Tycho Green

I personally really like the final sentence... condemned to death, not because he might be a plate hunter, but because he was proven to travel with them and was proven to turn a blind eye to their actions. That he assisted them was never in doubt and that’s enough to judge him. Also I like that everyone acknowledges the practical issue, you don’t kill two thirds of a party and let the last man go... that way lies revenge plots and tragedy.

Chymor

This chapter was amazing. Good job!

Trent Crab

Wow, your last to chapters are truly top notch, the hype, tallheart being a total badass, all around amazing. And this chapter as well

evyatar

I really doubt that this is going to cause to big of a change in Rain.

Call0013

Really hope this is a permanent shift in rains personality. It's long over due.

Chris Mantakounis

He probably had 1000 cold resist as well to survive Rain

His Dad

I'm extremely disappointed he never checked his status. It seems like such a basic thing to do, to figure out what kind of state he's in.

Critical Hit

Good chapter. I'd just like to note - in most litRPG's, this is the sort of thing that never changes for the main character. Either they're a ruthless badass that instantly deals with all threats because of course, or they're a horrible wimp that values all life in a deathworld where everything is out to get them (or somewhere in between, but rarely). Regardless, this is a piece of character development that very rarely happens, and *never* have I seen it done so well. Good job.

Konrad

I'm honestly not sure that the armor was underspecced so much as that Rain is honestly just terrible at combat, especially against another sentient.

Kapelteta

That played out interesting.

Joshua Little

So given he can apparently setup macros, why doesn't he have a pulsating speed up and down to screw with enemies? So they never know how fast they are gonna be moving?

Klever Kilvanya

Yea, i agree because when they fought rain and Amelia they didn't fight to kill, which would be the case if they were plate hunters

Boredwayfarer

Awesome chapter, Rain's armor was definitely starting to feel under specced for the current challenges. Excited to see what Tailheart makes for him next.

Guilty343

Rain asking someone else to execute him is almost worse. Rain has already decided this course of action and is determined to carry it out. Making his friend do it for him only makes him feel more guilty about it.

Ziggy

It was never hinted that the crimson swords were plate hunters. They were probably innocent.

VALORANT

Mmm love the chapter, prefer is rain kill him with his own hand (sword or shit) so it show really a cap passed And seriously mahria...................... If i was in rain position i just drop her long ago or drop her head down and never accept her in ascension to begin, she is just a BIG problem who can cause other big problem and rain have absolutely NO responsability to take care of her (he have ennof problem to solve and having accepted mahria out of pity is really to much for me (she fine alone, she have tons of accolade (aka mother) training and for sure gold (mother hoard hidden or shit) accepted her is just accept to carry her problem and all other shit she gonna cause for no real reason and we see she have problem in mentality or conscience and she dont really reflect on this and nobody have the time and energie to babysit the baby problem reform With how she is and her education she not her because she agree or want to go in the ideal of ascension she just her because she is a pussy who dont wanna come back to her daddy and want to get her reroll accolade without dad help so she parasite and selfish reason to enter ascension to suck them up

Zarik0

One of the better chapters. Rain finally progressing in the right direction. Making the best of a different world.

LEMON

Damn, that was incredible. Had to read the chapter twice.

SKele

This feels like a hard turning point for Rain. I expect a lot less Mr. Nice Guy in the future.

Thransk

I'm really glad that Rain's first moment of killing a man was a long journey between Fel Sedanis and now. It wasn't done easily or cost free. Rain was almost murdered, and then had to condemn someone that was questionably guilty in the light of day. Not to save someone immediately in danger, not because there were no other (lesser) options, and not because he'd killed any members of Ascension. Because it had to be done. It was a very hard choice and action for Rain to take. Leads to lots of tension, character growth, a solidifcation of will, all kinds of things. Great payoff and hugely satisfying.

Ziggy

can't wait for the long awaited power upgrade. Maybe he'll finally fix his soul along the way

Bloodorange17

Same question. What a huge payoff after so much buildup!

Delta

Damn. Great chapter.

Damn, this chapter hits hard. Make sense though, changing isn’t easy, nor is compromising on your ideals. I’m glad Rain didn’t just wave away all his reservations but rather acknowledged them and admitted he was unable to uphold them as he is now.

Zoe

I've been looking forward to a chapter like this for a long time. Was great!

PaperMache7

Will we get a list of all the accolades he absorbs?

Deegles

Great chapter. Have to say, this was a long time coming. It feels good for the MC to finally have the Resolve to move on. I never expected Rain to go the Murder Hobo route, but 135 chapters is a loong time for the character to still behave like he is, well, in this world. Thanks for the chapter.

Ricardo

while i did personally enjoy this chapter, i dislike the invalidation of other peoples feelings like this. A person has every right to dislike this chapter for any reason they may have, you can disagree with their reasoning, but not with their feelings, those are theirs only.

Ask

A very good chapter. Rain talking about the rule of law and the presumption of innocence while acknowledging that this is not his world and he needs to adapt is a great scene. I also loved the bit about filth and the influence of Dozer in his soul. He will hopefully find him when he goes into his soul and interfaces with the accolades. See you all next year.

Michael Hughes

Getting his bell rung woke him up.

Chris

That explains why Ameliah got bodied by a bunch of high level bronze plates. She is underpowered for her rank because of the jack of trades utility, her current build was the pve geomancer which is weak against people and they were jacked up on loads of accolades. Good thing rain didn't try to nova immolate that 1000 heat resistance would've made it a joke

crazychaza07 .

This chapter came at just the right time for me. Rain has committed to upgrading his level, his gear, and his character. He still has to hash things out with Ameliah, but I'm hoping this kicks things off.

Empty Shelf

Sad, but affable evil is still evil. I wonder if the Crimson Swords were biased off of the seven deadly sins? Pride, Greed and Sloth were all core parts of Hegar, Anton and Brovos characteristics, respectively.

wanderer117

Dark. Appropriately so. Dozer might be mucking about in Rain's soul, but he made this choice. Not in the heat of the moment, but clear headed and purposefully so. He knowingly condemned a man to death with his judgement. It was the only choice.

Ziggy

I must ask - How long has this chapter, and the previous one, been planned? This is an absolutely gargantuan amount of both character growth and power progression inside this chapter.

Frogspoison

good

His Dad

Bleak, but there wasn't another option...

Mike G.

You were the first.... To be the last... 👍

JC

Yay. 🙂

JC

first?

wanderer117