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Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 68 (Patreon)

Published:
2026-02-25 08:35:54
Imported:
2026-06

Comments

K

Now this is something to get upset over. Not being as real as literal concepts? Pfft. Concepts smoncepts, I'll bend those over my knee later, however, the ideas of people have died and it's all my fault! So many thoughts that believed they were real like I do were snuffed out and taken back to the shape of all things. It must be my fault!.... John, you literally couldn't have done better. You're going to need your 🦊 to sort you out.

OccasionalNewb

I do like this, quite a lot, but am I tje only one who sees John now as a different character from the John of early chapters. Because supposedly he survived 5 years on his own, and now he's nearly having a nervous breakdown because two civilians (whom he did his best to protect) and an acquaintance of his died (Which he had to have known there was a very good chance of). It just doesn't add up to me, survival on your own, more than anything else takes guts, and also hardens you emotionally, and John has not been showing that at all. The only way this amount of softness should be shown is if John was a fresh arrival. Right now John honestly, rather than seeming to struggle with the burden of the situation seems to just be ready to fold the moment things get tough. I honestly cant even see John having been able to survive on his own anymore. I have never met or heard of such a righteous man who was also so spineless, the two are anathema. TLDR: I think you do a great job with characterization, but I feel that John's in particular is failing.

Kieran Hosty

There's a bit of critique on John's writing ATM and honestly fair, but I think it's that his mental wall between him and the village is breaking down a bit, letting the empathy he'd have suppressed until now come in force. Yuki continues to be as much a troll as a bff though, that's just perfection.

Wolf_Senpai
>>204169763

I mean, it does make sense. Those 5 years were not by choice, he was starved for connection, hunted, and shunned. When all you CAN do is what you HAVE to things are horribly simple... Everyone was a hostile. Hard to think of a bunch of monsters who only ever attack you as "people" when you cant communicate with them. Then he made friends, he found a way to interact, not everyone was an enemy anymore... He got a taste of.. well not quite the normalcy that was stripped from him but close enough to matter. Losing that so shortly after finally finding a little bit of peace would be absolutely devastating. Adding even further to that, existential crisis ontop of existential crisis... No matter how jaded you get there will always be something that could knock you flat. "Hey, you can be lobotomized with a touch, your soul enslaved for eternity with a whisper, OH and you are partly responsible for the deaths of two innocent people and someone you almost considered a friend died horribly because a nogitsune with an army of body snatching, soul tormenting, eldritch spiders... wants you as their brainwashed pet." is uh... thats a bit much for anyone to take. A traumatized civilian even more so. "and now he's nearly having a nervous breakdown because two civilians (whom he did his best to protect) and an acquaintance of his died (Which he had to have known there was a very good chance of)." Survivors guilt has killed countless of our armed forces well after they got home. Regardless of the fact they did their best. As for the acquaintance, knowing and 'knowing' are two different things. He hadn't previously lost anyone because there was no one TO lose. Doesn't fully 'click' until it unfortunately happens.

OccasionalNewb
>>204255709

Yeah, I'm honestly thinking, that one way the author could go is that maybe Yuki using her aura so liberally it could be what's causing John so many issues because the moment he tries to get back into his survival mindset (which is a good thing considering the situation) she slaps him with a *you are safe* aura and it pushes him right out of it.

rj

2 things, 1: Keep up the good work Steel! I can't remember the last time I actually binge read anything fiction based. So good on you for keeping me so locked into the story! 2: Is Yuki's constant interference with her Presence exactly healthy for John's physical mental state? Talking purely on the chemical level. John's body is at a constant high level of dopamine and norepinephrine "survival mode" to the point where his body should be used to it only to have it be reduced by some nonphysical factor. Unlike taking a prescription anti-anxiety pill which lowers those levels by inhibiting production one way or another "Presence" seems to counteract the brains normal chemical processes almost immediately when Yuki needs it to be?

Pizza

Side note... would like to see the peasant boy that got offered to be his servant in past chapters actually get remembered nd became his servant, get a normal person POV of all the gruop' shenanigans would be good!