191
Added 2022-02-20 06:01:01 +0000 UTCI thought this came out pretty well. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
PNG files are for after the chapter.
Reminder that next week is a break week. The next chapter is scheduled for March 6.
Comments
Diviner skills really make me curious right now. Divining locations of lairs. Having a geomancer to just tunnel and find them. Than having some debuf classers that focus on plague.poison and stealth. Toxin.rot.blight.acid.bleed While having some buffers as well. Ascension is going to be a beast one day. The silver group that save Amelia from the caves... They could just find lairs.camp and poison the whole area.
evyatar
2022-03-01 21:16:53 +0000 UTCSo i have a question. Did the deconstructed the vault the nature mage was caged in and salvaged the metal? The same with the other vault with the noble old lady in the last city. Because that's quality metal in high mass. The size was no joke
evyatar
2022-03-01 21:01:11 +0000 UTCOkay, first of all, Ameliah with her current equipment has a pretty massive max damage potential. Even higher if Tallheart could make some Grand Force Adamant. More range and mobility than Rain, he'd get smoked, especially without Prismatic Intent. And crafting is not feasible for True Jack, that's true. It and Uncertain Saviour need bonus stats to do well, but so does basically every monolith. With bonus stats (which don't need to be equal before silver) you can do quite well as a True Jack and definitely reach silver. Then again, even without a team, reaching silver is probably just a matter of farming 50-100 grand tel and paying a reliable silver team to take you into the depths. Theoretically you could do that by hunting slimes for a decade, you just need Purify or Attract. And while a legendary jack might not be as good as a bronze crafter, they do have more skill points to concentrate into whatever crafting tree they need. Probably Metalwork, Runes, maybe some Alchemy and Artificing for Rings. It would take the right mats and a bit of time, but they could at least make T1 stat rings (Arcane Gold basically). It really depends on whether those same rings are available from the bank crafters for the right price. The fact that Ameliah never got any implies thst they are either not available (which seems unlikely for bronze stuff), so overpriced that she could never afford them or not available as custom orders for stat rings that give equal stats. Although just six different +30 stat rings would have worked for her. With Empowered Rings at rank 10, that's +60 to all, which would give her 319.8 in all stats. Ten rings of '+5 to all' would give her effectively +100 to all stats or 423.8 after her class bonus. It's not amazing, but you can work with that. Definitely enough to spank the Crimson Swords. My point is that in absence of any bonus stat gear for sale beyond the +10 trash rings, a legendary jack could sit down and make their own shit. Although I refuse to believe that you can't buy this stuff in Xiugaaraa. But Ameliah never returned to Xiugaaraa as far as we know, she just traveled around either aimlessly or hunting Lerith, doing quests here and there. She never did any serious tel grinding, never worked towards properly gearing up. She just went through the motions doing bronze quests. She's not a munchkin like Rain (or us) and had no desire to settle down for one or two years to focus on crafting or accumulating wealth for gear. But her class is great when properly utilized. She'll never be the greatest mage or warrior or crafter. But she can be the best and most flexible hybrid allrounder.
Cirvante
2022-02-26 23:59:23 +0000 UTCI mean I'm using the base assumption Tallheart is around to give badass equipment on both ends. Otherwise a true jack is weak as hell. Only like an effective 164 in each stat at level 31 and skills at 10 across the board? Even compared to bronzeplates, that's weak. A silverplate true jack without equipment vs any equal level silverplate without equipment would frequently end in the jack's defeat. In spite of the higher rarity. And if we compare Rain with equipment vs. Ameliah with equipment, Rain will come out ahead in most circumstances. Eh. True jacks as crafters are.. pretty impotent, generally. Like first, the skills have a huge gap between the two. Even a common, bronzeplate crafter has their noncombat skills 50% more effective, so effectively level 15 skills. A silverplate? That 50% should get upgraded to at least 100% (and assumedly to 200%), so any specialized tree has the skills effectively at level 30. Three times more effective than Ameliah. Now if we say a true jack goes crafting in bronze, they're pretty boned. They can't swap skills out yet. So either they have to go full craft, or half-ass it, or ignore it. Then we hit silver, being able to swap out definitely helps. But it still takes years of dedication to learn a craft. And if our true jack is alone and has no crafter to already make her the shit she's trying to make, she has to learn it solo. Whereas if there is a crafter to teach her, that person is already far better at crafting and she doesn't need to try to make an inferior product. And assumedly Ameliah never even attempted to craft anything in her years partly because of this. She was ignorant of a lot, but even she knew the value of stat rings combined with her ability to pick up crafting skills.
Ziggy
2022-02-26 19:11:19 +0000 UTCfavorite chapter in a long while, not just cause of the maps. If you gotta go to bi-weekly to give us chapters like this, I'd vote for it.
Eliot Blane
2022-02-22 22:53:36 +0000 UTCMore info about the empire. Ship made of Adamant? Thats powerful. Hope Ascension can steal one. Hahaha.
Jan Alexander
2022-02-22 12:27:05 +0000 UTCI agree that rains boost is better, but for a different reason. It shouldn't be calculated 1.6*6 = 9.6, it's 1.6^6 = 16.8, similar to Rain. The reason it's worse is because she can't use all the stats at once. Rain has all of his stats boosting his mana stats, but Ameliah is split over mana and stamina stats.
Causal Chain
2022-02-22 00:26:20 +0000 UTCWell, I wouldn't go that far. First of all, the True Jack class ability is actually really good. It can save you a ton of time and skill points that you would normally have to put into unwanted prerequisites. And leveling those prerequisites often takes time and not everyone is an immortal like Fecht. The infinite respec accolade also sounds like legendary quality. Which might be relatively easy to get for a platinum soloing rank 40-50 lairs, but regular awakened will never see one. So Ameliah's silver class ability is still amazing, especially combined with her bronze ability. And while Rain may get an overall higher bonus to clarity, it comes with an insane stat imbalance. The only reason he can pull it off is with Tallheart's sick equipment. Otherwise he'd be a gibbering wreck. On the other hand, anyone can wait two years at level 5 without skills and 20 in every stat. After that they aren't restricted by spec requirements and can put their points anywhere while happily skipping prerequisites they don't like. This allows for some powerful bronze builds and before silver they should still be able to have bonus stat imbalances, allowing them to overcome their weak stats until silver. At silver they can just equip some stat rings that give equal stats to everything. And if those aren't available, they can spec into crafting and make them. Sure, they can't match a dedicated crafter, but it should be enough for some balanced arcane gold rings. And because the base stats are so low, they can really benefit from accolade synchro training. So even with infinite respec accolades being a thing, Ameliah's class is still amazing. She just lacked the munchkinry to realize it's full potential.
Cirvante
2022-02-21 17:20:03 +0000 UTCThere has to be some kind of limit to it. Like only one use per person or something. Respec and skill accolades already made True Jack a dubious class choice. This just makes it even more questionable. Like first, at bronze you can't pick a skill and have to wait a year at your cap. Then at silver you have to wait even more years at your cap before ranking up. And that'll probably happen again at gold and plat. Huge inconvenience. But then if we compare bonuses between legendaries? Rain gets +1600% stat effectiveness. Ameliah's stat bonus is +160%*6, which combined is only a +960% bonus. Way weaker in spite of being the same rarity. And unlike Rain, she can't temporarily boost one or two stats with magic/accolades/equipment or she loses that bonus. So her stats are completely inflexible and also middling. The other part of Rain's legendary is 5 specializations. In comparison, Ameliah gets what is functionally unlimited respec accolades (except once per hour) and no specializations. Meaning if someone is like Fecht and has tons/unlimited respec accolades, giving up your specializations would be for nothing. Her goldplate bonus better be spectacular or her class is a total gyp lol.
Ziggy
2022-02-21 16:34:23 +0000 UTCBy the way, Fecht loaned the imperial academy an infinite respec accolade. It has to be T5 or lower for a level 4 to equip it. I initially thought that Fecht was a legendary platinum Jack, taking Ameliah's class at silver. But with accolades like that, he doesn't even have to. All he needs is one infinite respec accolade and 15 accolades like the one Lerith stole from Ameliah and he'd be able to respec to any build and level the skills to rank 25. Which would explain why he's supposedly the best at everything. That accolade is so broken.
Cirvante
2022-02-21 14:28:30 +0000 UTCA small nuclear reactor can melt maybe 5kg of ice a second. Equivalently, if he can heat 1000 m^3 of air by about 1 degree C per second, then he can outdo a small nuclear reactor. I think Rain can out do that, given vague memories of immolation and its range. As for a large nuclear reactor, maybe heating 1000 m^3 by 500 degree C per second would be enough. That, he might not be able to do sustainably.
Mr R
2022-02-21 09:59:53 +0000 UTCMaps!!!!!! Love it!
Horatio Hornet
2022-02-21 00:56:19 +0000 UTCBellost seems to have multiple factions/countries as well. And while the guild's main branch is in the City of Lights, that doesn't mean they control it. Probably lots of powerful noble families in that city.
Cirvante
2022-02-21 00:33:24 +0000 UTCFrom what I remember, the empire started out in the south of Ekrustia. They had a large number of cervidians who wanted independence, which prompted Fecht to issue the bounty on cervidian antlers, effectively neutering them by slaughtering their awakened. Osar lost their training ground when the Badlands rank-shifted from 20 to 10 and their reduced military power allowed the Adamants to conquer them.
Cirvante
2022-02-21 00:26:21 +0000 UTCThe adamant ship makes me think of destroyers and it got me wondering, how would rain compare to a nuclear reactor? Could he output enough heat to drive 80mw of engines if he runs winter on full blast and skin tight with the fire aura? Probably not, but maybe?
shitfug
2022-02-20 20:00:25 +0000 UTCIt can be good to fuck off into the southern island and archipelago and become a traveling Ascension searching dungeon and stuff into the island, (they have there stargazer navigator ;) And this ship is the "next" tech, steel/iron ship who can manage the ocean with all monster and shit, so its really better to go for a steel ship (Rain can "easely" go into this tech) than the shit wood and etc, and it seem the ship IS Adamant steel who is a really really good thing and precious and time consuming to have/build, so salvage is a go (atleats the material minimum but i dont see why not repair the ship totally) Way better to try to salvage it (it will be way more fast and a way way better quality and secure ship for travel) Adamant steel ship with rain and talbeart stuff into it upgrading it (mana engine? so no need sail all time to move), they can disguise it easely (just put a little wood or some shit covering the steel) And ziggy said it first, they not obligated to still have it after they have moved, the material on the ship is invaluable (adamant steel and shit) so talbear can use it to build land car with it or just sell the ship to someone? Plenty of option but to not take advantage and use this "free" good ressource is just a nono And it they want to get off and run fast its the faster to do it with this salvage who they know it work than to create one beginning with nothing
Zarik0
2022-02-20 15:39:22 +0000 UTCI also like that they call them by such casual quality terms while ALSO leaving room for the author to adjust/ change some things by calling them incomplete.
Doodlyboy15
2022-02-20 14:28:11 +0000 UTCAww is deathzone still upset about his nickname?
Doodlyboy15
2022-02-20 14:25:55 +0000 UTCMAPS. Wow those have way more detail than expected. That's helpful. Well, looks like Ascension is going to Splendor and/or Bellost. Rellagia is ruled over by select Awakened and keep their population almost entirely as dulls. They don't like other Awakened coming over to their continent, at all. Karmark sounds super interesting, but it's in the exact wrong direction and about four times the journey. The Southern Isles also seem interesting, but they're also pretty far and require going way too close to Empire territory. That just leaves Bellost and whatever's on Splendor. We already knew Bellost was one of the least shit options considering the presence of the Guild's main city, Xiugaara. But it also being one of the easiest to travel to via boat from their current location makes it a no brainer.
Ziggy
2022-02-20 14:16:41 +0000 UTCMaps are great any fantasy worth its salts needs a map
James Heskett
2022-02-20 14:06:01 +0000 UTCI might be misremembering but isn't the empire of adamant supposed to be on another continent as well? I thought they originated on a continent they shared with Tallheart's people and then after they'd conquered it they gained a foothold on Ekrustia and later they conquered Osar as well. Am I missing something?
L Pedersen
2022-02-20 13:48:31 +0000 UTCDone!
SenescentSoul
2022-02-20 12:40:53 +0000 UTCfixed, thanks!
SenescentSoul
2022-02-20 12:40:23 +0000 UTCReally cool chapter and I loved the maps!! :)
CentaureHeart
2022-02-20 12:05:11 +0000 UTCIt didn't break the damage limit, it was resolved by paradox over multiple ticks like Lavaros attack on Westbridge. An unstoppable attack hits an object with too much hp for it to be resolved directly -> Start paradox resolution, the attack is now both stopped and cleaved right through the ship for x damage limit ticks. When the attack had more power than the defenses the paradox is resolved and the version where it cleaved the ship in two was the outcome. That's why he's so confused over what actually happened and that the hit took so long,
Chymor
2022-02-20 11:53:49 +0000 UTCNice maps, I like. If the continent sizes and distances are anywhere close to correct and delve world is around Earth in size, then the DKE and Adamant Empire would be quite large and the towns stupidly far apart. I'm guessing that the stuff around Xiugaaraa is all jungle and almost all ranked. I'm curious what the maximum rank is and what the area rank of the city itself is. Staavo mentioned fighting in the jungle, so it should be closer to rank 10 than rank 20. And finally we know how Velika cut the ship apart. Big slash from sky to ocean floor, so definitely a skill and a big one. Based on what Fechton said, it has to be some sort of guaranteed cut, like Lavarro's Unstoppable Force. Because the sonic boom of the slash kept going on while everything seemed to stand still while the unstoppable cut met the unbreakable object, forcing the same conflict as Lavarro vs. Westbridge's city wall. Then suddenly, according to Fechton, time seemed to skip ahead, exactly like with Lavarro. The unstoppable cut had won and the result of the cut in the few seconds that time stopped happened all at once. This confirms that Lavarro's exploit to circumvent the limit wasn't the only one, but also that Velika isn't anywhere close to Lightbreaker and the platinums, who (supposedly) just throw around absurd numbers that break through the limit and leave tears in reality.
Cirvante
2022-02-20 11:46:29 +0000 UTC"in lost an instant" - lost in an instant
stubs
2022-02-20 10:39:14 +0000 UTCClouds to sea floor? So she destroyed the damage AND range limit? The 999k damage Breaker Arrows didn't even come close to this level of destruction, so Velika must have also broken the equipment strain limit before the attack even went off. We didn't even learn WTF a whale is this chapter. Though, they are apparently attracted to blood, unlike every other monster we've seen thus far. Empire boy's story is starting to seem kinda sus. I'm definitely a fan of Rain having him provide a written testimony of everything he said during the meeting. Looking for discrepancies in oral/written statements is how the special agents typically handle high-profile theft/assault cases where I work.
Starless
2022-02-20 10:02:23 +0000 UTCcould you add the maps to the files section aswell? on the epub (or at least my reader) i couldnt zoom in on them. ill do it with the pdf, but maybe there are more who want to do that
Ranzbart
2022-02-20 09:33:39 +0000 UTChttps://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/0870334336 Read the reviews
SenescentSoul
2022-02-20 09:12:39 +0000 UTCFixed, thanks!
SenescentSoul
2022-02-20 09:10:09 +0000 UTCIt would basically solve all their problems if they could fish out the ship from beneeth the waves and repair it. They have less than 500 people to worry about I think and it'll be a lot safer going through the ocean. And I'd actually like it if something goes smoothly for them. Let's go to a new continent! I'd love to see more of Ascension's growth, but maybe that's just me.
Uroš
2022-02-20 08:21:21 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter.
Joshua Little
2022-02-20 07:22:42 +0000 UTCIf that ship got cut cleanly in half, I wonder if it would be possible for Ascension to bring it up and restore it. Perhaps with some ideas from Rain (based on his knowledge from his world) they could devise a way, and wouldn't Tallheart be able to fuse the parts back together? Probably with a liberal application of some of Rains auras? Would any of them that target other people be able to work on an object, if he focused enough, like he can change the definition of "filth" for his Cleaning aura?
Pebble
2022-02-20 07:17:20 +0000 UTCOOOOH MAPS! Cool thanks for the chapter
Alexander Dupree
2022-02-20 07:16:33 +0000 UTCWhat book did Rain regret not getting? Also, seems the most likely route Ascension and friends are going to take would be sailing up the coast (maybe stopping by a DKE port for supplies) and heading to Splendor. After that would be heading to Bellost unless Splendor happens to suffice for their needs: meaning far enough away from the war, resources for growth (monsters, dungeons, maybe some paths to the Depths), teleport platform isn’t needed but would be nice. Instead of ship all the way they could also try heading to a DKE city (by ship) to teleport to Bellost but that has its own issues (expenses being one of them in addition to political situation maybe shutting it down). Not to mention Velika would have used a DKE platform if she could without being blocked (her running all over the place fighting and avoiding Citizens is probably the reason why she took so long to make it to three cliffs even though she is by herself and faster, just shows the kind of obstacles that were in her way). Fechton Stone highlights that the various factions and forces have their own discoveries and advancements. Rellagia has that limit spiker thing, Adamant has what they have built up in their insular and unique culture (disciplined military state that focuses all resources around war and its applications), Bank has a lot of Majistraal tech (although they don’t understand them) and transport that may be based on Majistraal stuff and the Vigilant Order of Watch Keepers likely retains the largest intact repository of information about the System with various classes and skills (plus Majistraal info but even if there are important documents, they likely don’t have the cultural context and knowledge to properly use them to the best of their ability). The Guild may have some heritage info from Majistraal too but I doubt it due to their fairly loose command structure (though the central branch seems rather ordered, so as long as they weathered the initial chaos of the fall, who knows); what the Guild does have should be it’s own gathered info on classes, skills and such (though Guild members wouldn’t be as forthcoming as the Watch would be, there has to be some over the centuries who left info for posterity in central branch). Also I didn’t quite understand what Called means? Does it refer to those who are at least level 5 and get a Class? Gonna have to re read in any case. Enjoy break Edit: also, while the various factions have their own “advancements and achievements” they are still inferior to what the Majistraal built up and likely are incapable of reaching such heights due to feuding (Rellagia), hanging onto status quo (Vigilance and the Watch), having an oppressive regime and culture that doesn’t properly encourage advancements that are a “threat” (Adamant), etc. Rain is the right kind of chaos to fuck-start this world on a path to tomorrow. Though it’s a goal for the future.
Conor McGroarty
2022-02-20 06:55:06 +0000 UTCWe getting a ship?
Sadly_streets_behind
2022-02-20 06:54:06 +0000 UTCcloven in two, sinking beneath the waves. A whole battalion, in lost an instant.” *lost in an instant It's nice that they have someone to teach them about the empire. I like hims so far. The maps were a treat btw
abowden
2022-02-20 06:42:12 +0000 UTCMan I love maps. Thanks for the treat, I can now occupy my time imagining all the places they will visit to hold me over.
Thransk
2022-02-20 06:24:11 +0000 UTCGood chapter. And Maps!
ZCochraine!%
2022-02-20 06:21:07 +0000 UTCGreat chapter! I don't remember seeing those maps before, very nice. Have a good break!
Mike G.
2022-02-20 06:20:36 +0000 UTCPretty maps!
PaperMache7
2022-02-20 06:20:12 +0000 UTCOr at least not-total-shit maps.
Jump 'N Shoot Man
2022-02-20 06:16:40 +0000 UTCHoly shit, awesome maps.
Jump 'N Shoot Man
2022-02-20 06:10:15 +0000 UTCSS is gonna need that break time for all the great game releases happening late February. KOF15, Elden Ring, and the RoR2 dlc to name a few...
Loipers
2022-02-20 06:06:59 +0000 UTC
