Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Content

Hey Everyone,

So, we got to the end of the story! Quest Academy: Legacies has been submitted to the publisher.

I wanted to first thank all of you for the amazing support throughout the process, and for the participation and messages in last week's poll. I was not expecting such an overwhelming one sided result, and can only thank you for helping me dispel the imposter syndrome.

When the Editor comes back to me on the book, I'll be able to start putting in changes. I've already addressed a lot of the issues that were brought up on Patreon over the last few months, so thanks for those!

I'm going to be taking a bit of time off to clear my head and relax a bit, but I should be back writing chapters in a couple of weeks. Need to brainstorm and ideate where Book 5 starts and how it progresses. Just like last time, I'm going to start a little side-story to explore some ideas. Then I'll throw it in the bin and get back to Quest Academy :)

Really curious to see what you all think. The book will come down from Patreon when we're coming up to official release, so you'll have a few months of it.

I'll be posting some more updates over the next week or so, changing the tiers for Patreon and sorting out the discord. I'll also share some social links so you can see me more in the wild. :)

All the best, and thanks for being a part of the journey with me! Wouldn't be here without you all.

Brian



Comments

Nate

wahoo he finally made his first Off the bat Mythic item no evolution necessary. So happy.

Nate

and we have subspace, i was hoping this would come in somewhere.

Michael Foreman

Congrats!!! Mondays won’t be quite as good for a month or so without this to look forward to!!

Nate

"I made you with minimal levels of caffeine and supervision". Upgrade is so going to beat his ass for this hahaha. I'm kinda sad she wasn't there for his first mythic item but it is what it is.

Dlandis

This is just what I needed today to help pass my pneumonia recovery time... Lack of coffee is the absolute worst.

Nate

Page 7 of chapter 88 it says ""it wasn't a void appearing in front of him at a size that" was it suppose to say "it was a void appearing in front of him at a size that"

AJ

Gods your my favourite author

ELITE_TK

Is it Chistmas already? THANKS!

Nate

ok now i kind of want a book about Luke and the dragoons hahaha their story would be awesome to read. i love their dungeon set up.

Thomas Todd

Thanks for the chapters! Great finish there, the first Mythic grade is suitably mythic! Can't wait for more

Elli

Congrats on the finish! Yay!

Nate

i can honestly say this was an awesome final set of chapters, the dungeon was awesome to read, jackal is a beast of a machine lol I cant wait for Upgrade and Quest to lose their shit over it!!!!!!

Don

These chapters are a perfect end to a great book and an exciting introduction to the future books.

Nate

I love Petro so much, his one liners have been funny, especially how he summed up bastion in Sals outburst "Bastion.......their the bad guys" hahaha or his pep talks "I'm making this up as I go along, so bear with me.""Just pretend that it was all incredibly sage advice."

Tylor Mills

Fell in love with these books and I can't put them down! I'm sad to see this one finished but super excited to read what comes next. I wanted to say you are doing a great job and im glad the vast majority of people here agree that you can just keep doing your thing, as per the last poll. I've torn through all 5 books in the past 2 weeks and it is a series i will come back to everytime a new one drops. Thanks for making such a cool series!

Deko

Wait, how did you get your hands on a fifth book already?!

Deko

Great ending, can't wait to see it on KU. Of course, now I'll just sit on my hands to keep from typing 'What's next?!' a thousand times a day. Cheers and go have a well deserved drink!

Deko

Don't you dare tempt Brian, we don't want to end up with a Rothfuss situation! :D

Samantha K.

I loved it! Thank you very much. Enjoy your break and I look forward to the next one.

Robert jacobs

Chapter 96 page 9 fabi says the gauntlet has Subsumed but Sal told her it has assimilation on page 3 of chapter 96 following his dad’s advice to hide it. Did he tell her the truth off screen.

Robert jacobs

Also what an amazing finish to a wonderful book. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Alteron

Thanks for a great book, I'm looking forward to the edited book and the start of the fifth.

crazyray

Gosh, what a fun read. Thats what i call action. Not 3 chapters dissecting 5 seconds of combat.

John Curtis

The highlights of Monday's not sure what I am going to do for the next couple weeks you are off, but enjoy it and come back refreshed. I so can't wait to see what he made for Upgrade and her reaction to what he built.

tragicmadman

Love jackal but with arsenal will we be seeing hulker version to tank for him and other versions to do other jobs as needed could make it so much more op not that he is weak

Rielgesh

Absolutely loved the chapters, and Jackal is amazing! Can't wait to see more reactions to him in the future!

keoki

Congrats on book 4, finished off nicely. Can't wait for book 5 chapters, maybe will get a set for Christmas.

Heather Herren

Wonderful chapters!! Can’t wait for Upgrades reactions!!

Ron Blondeau

Wow! What a great ending to book 4 (Legacies). Possible confrontation with the Hunters Bureau in the person of Robert? So many possible outcomes from the impact of Sal's creations on the war with demons, the guilds, the academy, and his friends. This was a much needed book as it filled out a lot of baclground information regarding Sal's parents and the politics of the guilds and hunter's bureau. This coming of age/ maturity adventure, combined with innovative world building continues to be the best story I have read in a long time.

Chris Hoopes

Great ending. Thanks so much for the hard work. Enjoy your time off.

Robert Sartin

Wow! What a finish! Can't wait for the next book!

Michelle Ray

Thank you for so many wonderful chapters! A wonderful conclusion to another book. I really enjoyed that you didn't skip the break and we got to see so much more of the Quest universe. The world building and character development has been amazing. Looking forward to reading along for the next book. Enjoy your much deserved break.

BaguaBrady

Fun ending and fitting he ends on a crafting victory. Quick question, I thought silver was only effective against the weaker demons, did I remember that incorrectly? Seemed strange to me it's the primary material in officer level uniforms if that is true

Robert Smart

Love this book. I feel like it has similar pacing to the other books but a more optimistic outlook. Still don’t buy a lot of divinity and sals interactions. Sal just seemed to swing a lot in how he was thinking about her.

Dawn Zeleznik

Great ending. I really enjoyed Sal’s growth in this book. Maybe it’s just me, I’m constantly surprised people keep mentioning Divinity as a love interest. This has been bothering me for many weeks now. Sal acknowledged from book 1 she’s a wonderful girl and they have a friendship he wouldn’t want to risk. I also don’t think it strange he would be put off by her constantly trying to guide him, that’s more a parent’s job, even if she can see the future.

Charles Gillentine

This is marvelous. This is the type of dungeon crawling he needs!!! Support and good reinforcement. I love it.

PrimordialJay

You handled the progression in this book really well. I loved it. I'm glad that you didn't rush him back to school. This was much needed.

Aaron edison

Fan-fucking-tastic

C

Really good, but I deeply want to know what upgrades presents are.

LadyLark

The best friendships are also the best relationships. I find. So that’s why Divinity is seen as a love interest. IMO. I also like Divinity’s flaws cause it will be fun to see the direction she goes in the future.

LadyLark

Absolutely hilarious. Essence Burrito has to be the name of it from now on and all body manipulators have to have their own version. Just to see them driven around on a coat rack. In the far future.😂😂😂

gideon ferrier

Do we get chapters next Monday or is it a few weeks off for stuff like breaks and revisions?

Nate

NEW COVER IDEA: Sal, Petro, Sophia and Luke in the dungeon watching Jackal destroy a demon. Or Sal holding his arm up showing Blight Jackal in the workshop. Loved this book from page one. Have a great break and looking forward to book 5 🙂

Hakalakala

I think chapter 88 might be my favorite of all time. Just the way his dad acted at the end had my laughing so hard. What a way to end the book. Absolutely perfect and cannot wait for the next one

Hakalakala

I want dawg to get with upgrade lol. Fabi seems great, Hannah is all but ignored now, and divinity is friend zoned cause future. Like the robots movie. UPGRADE, UPGRADE, UPGRADE!!! LOL

Tim Walloch

Great book! Thanks for the chapters.

Lumpenhans

I was afraid the end of the book would be very rushed, but it was a good rounded ending. Thanks for the book and the hard work, enjoy the down time. Looking forward to book 5

Benjamin Hartmann

Yeah really good ending. Now get ready to take over the world Sal. Really liked how the utility mythic turned out 😏🙈. Can’t wait to see Upgrade’s reaction! And I feel with this thing portals are doable. Going to the Dragoons makes also so much sense, will be great see the first meeting with a squad of them. The Sunday dungeon strolls with Jackal will definitely be fun 😂. Really well done and your work ethic is amazing!

C

I agree with you; I wouldn't want to start a relationship with someone who is always trying to manipulate me, even if it was for my own good and for the "best possible future." Divinity is a great friend who cares about people... But she will also not tell you the whole truth, push you in certain directions for futures she thinks are best, and reacts to possible futures as if they already happened. Not that she does that all the time or even tries to, but she does. I'm Pro Fabi personally.

Zeletavska

Book 1 Sal Divinity had crazy chemistry and that has never left my mind. Also this series has third-person limited narration, meaning we don't really know what Divinity saw when Sal called her just a friend while under a lie detector. Fabi is immediately too perfect of a pair with Sal, which makes me hesitant to get invested in them being endgame. It was trivial to get us to root for Divinity over Hannah. Fabi poses a much greater challenge, and greater challenge means greater payoff.

Heather Herren

Can I ask a question? The arsenal.. the superhero suite had access to the arsenal also.. are the weapons still in it or do they disappear?

michael pigott

Simultaneous deployment and/or man-made augmentations would also be awesome. Imagine prowler mode Jackal but with back mounted guns of some kind

michael pigott

Amazing book, Hope you enjoy the break, you earned it. The world is so much bigger going into book 5 and I can't wait for the asshole classmates to start getting wrecked now that Sal is embracing his own strength.

Dawn Zeleznik

LadyLark, I get what you’re saying about friends, but sometimes they need to just stay friends. Lots of relationships can be ruined by trying to add too much to it.

Ron Blondeau

In chapter 91, general Luke made the following comment, "No Commander by the look of it.", "They're fighting each other, which makes things a little easier on us." This makes me wonder about the structure of the demon realm. There is the big dragon, commanders, and something that might be managing the commanders. Would going into the portals shed some light on this?

Cedric 'Driky' Chatelain

My god, I just subscribed two days ago and I already finished the book that’s not out yet… The sad time start again😭😭 Awesome 📕 by the way!! Totally loved how Sal is growing and showing some independence. The Silverson stuff will probably give birth to some nice things! Can’t wait for a complete arsenal set with official art :wink: :wink:

Dr. Chaos

Anyone else having trouble opening Chapter 96?

Chris Hoopes

You said you would be ideating and brainstorm for 5. I have a suggestion. A pallet cleanser as it were. Write side stories about what Barry, Brophy and someone else did during the break. I'd love to read like a 5 chapter story about Brophy. Especially if it's written from his perspective. I think that would be incredibly insightful. I also think doing the same from Barry' point of view could be fun. Making him deal with that Bard on his team would probably be funny. Getting to see outside Sals head could be refreshing even if it doesn't end up in a book. It's just an idea. Seriously enjoy some down time. Thanks again.

The Foolish One

Are we ever going to find out who Cynthia's daughter that was mentioned inbook 1 chapter 4 is? Especially based on what we now know about Sofia. I look forward to hearing how Barry kept bumping into Victoria all break long.

Dale Medford

Just 2 little edit deals Chapter 89 She swivelled the empty teacup in the coaster She swivelled the empty teacup on the coaster Chapter 90 not taking his eyes of Fig not taking his eyes off Fig Chapter 93 My girls all despise me for the training I keep put them through. My girls all despise me for the training I keep putting them through.

Lachlan spencer

Am I missing something or can he not just send things straight to Arkwright now get it to craft then withdraw them wherever as long as he has a network connection???????

Zeletavska

This is a great callback. To those who forgot about her, Cynthia was someone that supposedly grew up with Sophia, therefore incredibly likely to know about the Silversons.

Zeletavska

Yeah it seems incredibly powerful. I guess the only technicality that makes it so we don't know this for sure is that we've only seen Sal send stuff to the Arkwright, we haven't seen the Arkwright send stuff back. Maybe it's only Jackal that can put stuff back into the subspace?

Thomas Todd

From the sounds of it the portals can go to a few different places so I'd imagine we'd need to go through a specific portal to see more than what we've seen already

Fast Lance

Can I just say you really took the feedback on over the last week. You utilised time skips, I mean don’t get me wrong seeing Sal craft occasionally is fine. But a lot of us are more interested in the social interactions, dungeon delving. Sal growing and evolving as a person and just unexpected plot points

Sam

I really, really enjoyed this book. You've done a great job with it. There is a small part of me though that is a little sad. For three books, Sal has said that all he wants is to be a support and that he doesn't feel the need to be on the frontlines to make a difference. And now, in order to protect himself and his family, he is going to do the very things he didn't want to do. It's a little hard to let the dream go.

Sloth

Since jackal can store itself and appear anywhere it has a network connection, it’s not a stretch to assume it can do it for other things as well

dark phoenix99

This is kinda where I've wanted Sal to be the whole time. Watching him build up his guild is going to be fun. Really, it should be easy for him. Do you want amazing equipment and your own personalized customized power, sign up here!

Robert Pitchure

Feels like a really good round out for the book. my only annoyance is not seeing upgrades reaction to the drone yet.

Aidan Zimmerman

I am really looking forward to Upgrade’s reaction! Couple weeks can’t come fast enough.

JJB4345_80_815

Thank you for the story! I pulled an all nighter to finish it. I couldn't put it down.

C

Any chance we get chapter today?

BrianJNordon

Afraid not, still working through ideating and haven't been writing this week. Sorry for the wait. :)

C

Yea, that's the problem he just finished an amazing 96 chapter book. Now I need more.

C

If my exact feelings were transcribed into text it would be this. But it doesn't do the roar in my soul justice.

nin10do

Fan-fucking-tastic, i love how the series has progressed as the book is just world opening. i loved the interactions of all the characters like always im like i want it to continue longer but i think that lucky for the fans that the books have a natural flow about them and no pressure the release dates between books has been fast.

Moritz Heh

After thinking about it a bit, I have to say I really like the book overall, but I'm worried about one thing, and that's the curse of so many LitRPGs: The MC becoming a Mary Sue. Sal being a bad close-range fighter and extremely scared of confrontation (with demons, that is) helped a lot on that front, but with the combination of Perfect and the Silverson Arts, that is getting a smaller and smaller problem. So, the only real weakness he has any more is that he can't regulate himself when it comes to working on things and he's shitty about keeping in touch with his friends, and both of those things could be excellent weak points for a character, but his friends, at this point, seem to have all gotten very understanding about it and he hasn't really had many problems from pulling all of the all-nighters he has, partly because of Alex's coffee and partly because he is so great at crafting and ability weaves that he gets nigh-on infinite amounts of slack from Quest Academy. And that was even before book 4, which only made him even more of a powerhouse than he already was, meaning he'll probably get even more of a white glove treatment now than he did before, making the problem of his sleepless nights even less of one than it already was. That said, i am not the best at reading characters, so I'm honestly hoping that someone else can point out some flaw in Sal's character that I've missed to get him farther away from the dreaded land of the Mary Sues.

DasGoat622

Is Sal just abandoning guns. I was really looking forward to the pistol sniper combo. Also is he getting back any of the cool stuff he was supposed to have from the first 3 books. I get the value of Anthony (think that’s his name) keeping the sword, but Sal can learn to use it with Perfect and his essence reserves allow him to boost it pretty high. And I can’t be the only one that thought that as soon as Rochelle put the Legendary coat on we’d never see Sal use it. Is he getting that back or is there going to some excuse about it interfering with Jackal now.

DasGoat622

The biggest flaw I see for him is stated above. He finds too many ways to reduce his own effectiveness by giving away all his gear. Awesome sword gave it away. Legendary coat made specifically for him gave it away. Gun made as his primary means to fight demons, talked himself into dismantling it with no replacement. Awesome armor set abandoned after one test, never improved. Made a dungeon killing probably skynet precursor. Afraid to go into dungeons. He’s made 5 dungeon clearing items 4 of which he never really used and the last he has to hide because it’s too powerful. He needs Upgrade or Doc Ameye to give him the airline safety mask speech. Always put your mask on first. He needs to learn that he can’t be the best support for everyone else until he supports himself.

Zeletavska

I hope he doesn't abandon guns. Personally, I hope Gun-Fu comes in as part of his endgame fighting style. That and we've had too much shooting progression and martial training setup for this next book to be about strictly drone combat. I'm not too invested in Arbiter's Judgement. Sal wasn't really a big participant in its crafting process, and it's something I'd trade to secure a healer for his guild. It's really only the mobility aspect of AJ that Sal is missing now anyway.

DasGoat622

I’m not particularly invested in the coat as much of the concept of him constantly trading away his power. Jackal beats AJ in almost every way. It just seems like every advantage he manages to create he abandons. If you add up all his tech before the end of the first semester he would have been unstoppable Epic Armor uniform (admittedly not made by him) the octopus sword that added more armor and has perfect counter on it for close encounters and the Scarlet Visor Revolver combo for ranged attack. Couple all that with Perfect and he was already a badass. Yet we’re at the end of the next book and he’s gain no confidence in his ability to handle demons.

Nate

Same and Quests too. I’m also looking forward to seeing more of Nero especially now that he can’t get into Sal’s mind.

Robert Crews

After my fourth re read I Developed a need to ask a question. In a uniform if you put a core or a item into your. Pocket would your equipment gain an attribute or charge or. Anything?

Nate

So now that Sal can make blight cores, if he uses it on the imprinting machine does that take away the risk of what happened at the Gala?

C

It's cannon in my mind that the coat belongs to Rochelle. And let's not forget sal is not a fighter he's a support, that's what he wants to be. He lifts everyone around him up not just himself, so I have no issue with him constantly giving away his stuff. Also I doubt he will give up guns, but he does need to know what to do when people or monsters get close. I'm betting monsters will not he his only enemies next book.

C

Any word on when we can expect some chapters? I am desperate.

Sloth

How would it help with the imprinting machine? Assimilate (the blight core equivalent I forget the name) doesn’t seem like it would help with the imprinting process?

Sloth

Well, this is a progression fantasy, and this is book 4 now. The whole point of progression fantasy is basically to take an average person and turn them into a Mary sue, or at least close enough to that. If you’re worried about Sal not having any challenges going forward, I would stop worrying because there’s that whole ‘demons still infest most of the world’ thing going on and I reckon Sal would still have a bit of trouble clearing them out on his own. As for character flaws specifically… as he grows in power he will have to deal with the moral issues of wielding power, which is a bit cliche for a progression fantasy but is only one of the ways the author could have the story develop. A heavier focus on improving his interpersonal relationships is another direction, for example, and I’m sure there are many more I could find if I spent more than a minute thinking about it.

Nate

I was more thinking along the lines of the strength of the core in terms of essence output, not attributes. But I see your logic too, it would be wasteful.

Kevin Squalls

Jonesin for fresh content!

Jason Reynolds

I see him making a sleeve for his right arm that will pull out the gun and sniper rifle like his latest armor did on its first run, but with it mythic, would it make the gun adn sniper rifle mythic?

Tyler Carley

I’m new here, love the series but is there a document with all the chapters or a post with all the chapters in one place? Or do you have to download each separately since the book 4 chapters started releasing? Honestly just happy to be here but don’t want to make more work for myself if there is a master post somewhere!!

C

You alright, mate? You've been radio silent for a bit now.

Zeletavska

He chats regularly in the Discord server. But if you meant no chapters, we're in between books right now.

C

I wasn't this time, just haven't heard from him. But I do want chapters. We will always be in between books until he posts more.

Zeletavska

If you access the Membership tab on PC (I'm told the app doesn't have it) there is a link to join the server.

Rick

Fully agree, well except with the coat for Roche. It was made with her in mind but as it was so expensive he wanted to get it back. IMHO the coat should stay with her. The other things i agree. Well mosty the sword is also kinda perfect where it is with the synergy. I am more annoyed that he doesn't replace it. Hell he made a freaking set from some trash items that sold for over 7 million... In what? Half a day? He makes or comissions cool prototypes. And then instead of just customizing them a little and get a better fitting version for himself. Which wouldn't take nearly as long as working prototype. MC just seems to be going for major Wins but only once... Why not win the same fashion a few more times for an easy gain of power.

TaxmanBD

So, overall I really enjoyed book 4. I especially like the ending segment where Sal's personal power enters a new phase and then he has a real-talk conversation with his parents about how his personal problems are going to be entering a new phase as well. It took three whole books for him to get through his first semester so I was concerned that the story would start to feel stale. Now it really feels like the story has entered a new phase. But while I'm immensely pleased that Sal has finally embraced the power of automation, it honestly feels strange that Arkwright is such a big deal. The only standout parts of the machine are MythOS and the evolutionary dungeon core, but the OS was written entirely by the legendary visor and the core was entirely Ameye's design. I get that it wouldn't be quite as impressive without the Mythcrafter essence, but surely Doc Ameye would have figured out a way to manufacture Legendcrafter-equivalents and place them in every major city right? I get that he's reclusive and self-serving, but these things are literally money-printers. Ameye even said himself that the Arkwright would be useful in dealing with the orders he receives. So why didn't he just make his own version? It also seems strange that Ameye doesn't know about the method for Blightcore synthesis given that his dungeon core AIs are much more powerful than Sal's, but I'm assuming that he actually does know and Rob is keeping him silent somehow. I also have to admit that I groaned out loud a couple of times when two of my most hated tropes showed up. The first one...Sal's parents turning out to be super cool OP badasses the whole time. I understand that somehow his parents needed to stay relevant to the long-term narrative, but doing it this way has resulted in some really odd stuff. Sal's parents basically admit to intentionally stunting his growth and hoping that he'd never reach his full potential. I know that they were scared of something happening to him and that they had his best interests at heart, but they still decided to mentally/emotionally cripple their son on purpose. I get that Sal is supposed to be very understanding and loving of his parents, but in my opinion he gets over it way too quickly for a teenage boy. I have to wonder if it's a case of Sal just having absolute faith in his parents due to his sheltered childhood. And speaking of his childhood... Come on, man. Retroactively making Fabi into Sal's childhood friend? Right away, Sal likes this girl more than any of the friends that we as the audience have spent 2-3 books getting to know. Her and Sal were basically finishing each others' sentences from the first night they reunited. Frankly, Fabi literally feels like she was designed in a lab by a team of scientists to be the most bland and boring love interest on the planet. Not to mention that Sal is single-handedly responsible for turning her from a cripple into a god on the very first night they met which makes their power dynamic fucked up beyond belief. Literally any other girl in the entirety of the series would have been a more interesting pairing. Sal's romantic entanglements have been written with a lot more nuance than this in previous books, so it was extremely jarring to read what feels like a low-effort cop-out in the middle of what is otherwise a thoughtfully written story. That being said, I'm withholding final judgment because I have a sneaking suspicion that someone else will end up being the true love interest in the end, and it's because of what happened with Divinity in this book. Divinity has said that she has never seen a future where she ends up with anyone, but the only way that makes sense is if Divinity herself is the cause. Divinity clearly has a tendency to become fixated on certain outcomes and yet also is prone to making bad interpretations of visions that relate to her personally. My guess is that she has seen futures where she does enter a relationship, but then that relationship has its ups and downs like all relationships do, and the idea of being hurt by someone she's truly close to scares her away. So my theory is that Divinity manipulated events to make sure Sal and Fabi got together so she could prevent Sal from developing feelings for her, but now her "grand plan" is out of whack so it's all up in the air now. Ultimately she's probably the strongest contender for being Sal's true love interest, especially because she's got a Hinata-esque self-sacrificial streak going. She was even willing to abandon their relationship as friends as long as he was happy...which again speaks to my matchmaker theory. Personally I'd prefer if he dated Erika since we've already got two books where their relationship plays a central role, but I'm a sucker for slow burn enemies-to-lovers stories so what do I know? What's important for Sal is that he ends up with someone who respects him as an individual and not just for his crafting abilities, and I don't think Fabi is it.

Sam

Doc Ameye used I think 8 Commander Cores to power the imprint machine. I think those are probably stronger than the blight core.

Sam

Sophia didn't grow up with the Silversons, did she? She grew up in Barrier and then joined the Silversons, I thought. But yeah, we've never heard anything about Tabitha.

Sam

I get that, but sometimes Upgrade's insistence on him doing things like an average crafter irritates me.

B.J. Smith

This is the first time I've ever subscribed to someone's Patreon. I did so primarily to read Book 4. Thank you for writing such a great series! Since I tore through it in two days, I figured you might appreciate a small review. It started out small, but kind of kept going, so I'll try posting it in pieces. Overall I enjoyed reading it. I wanted more of Sal working towards the Myth Guild, his inventions, his friends, and fighting demons. And you gave me a good deal of that. The friends and family parts always seemed well done to me in past books, but I felt like this book needed more balancing. Less Fabi, more Divinity and Barry, less parents martial arts and drinking, and more parents talking about the guild, his inventions, and helping him with his future. There were some story changes that I didn't like. The parents being past heroes and focusing on martial arts I could have done without. Them supporting him over the break with his inventions and creating a guild were what I wanted the most from this book.

B.J. Smith

Stuff I didn't care for: 1. Too little Divinity for most of the book. Not because you have to force her in there, but because she's supposed to be Sal's bestfriend, he would have been in contact with her more I feel. You really notice it when he's doing a bunch of stuff and his parents or Fabi are the only ones he reaches out to. She also could help him with his items and guild in the same way that she helped with their training. Her coming over was nice, but the parents taking over the scene and it being about martial arts again was not what I wanted. They could have just talked and discussed school or hero stuff, maybe even plan to do a dungeon after hearing about Sal doing several already. 2. Fabi was brought in a little too strong. I liked her, but she just seemed like a Divinity replacement in a lot of ways, without it really being earned. You also did this with Hannah and Divinity, but that felt natural with classes bringing them together. Fabi and Sal's parents being best friends but they (Sal and Fabi) didn't know each other beforehand? That didn't make sense. You made the relationship of Petro and Mr. Maccles too close for Sal and Fabi to not know each other prior to the Gala. 3. Sal's parents being heroes. Being super fighters. Maybe instead of heroes, they were part of a cult/militia (Silversons) and escaped. That would be fine. But combining that with the Hunter Bureau ranks and prior relationship with Prestige and Robert, seemed made up. (Retcon) I skipped the parts were Petro was teaching Sal martial arts. Sal is a crafter, Petro gave up being a hero/fighter to be an Auctioneer. Instead of keeping them in their role (Supportive Parents), you decided to give them another role (Hero/Dungeon Mentors) too to avoid having to create a new Mentor character. I would have preferred a family friend (Luke?) or Upgrade or someone else taking on the role of being a mentor to him for hero stuff, and the parents being more on the sidelines. This would get rid of a ton of the book though. Kind of too late to change this. The feeling betrayed by his parents lying to him and all of their talks about their history dragged on. 4. Too many lets sit around and have a drink moments. While it happens, it seemed like a way to be doing something while the parents gave a history info dump or talked about how Sal was right to be upset. 5. Silver being some special metal that melted demons, but no ones knows about it. 6. Not really a fan of Sal learning martial arts from his parents. He could use the Perfect weave while in combat class and pick up a few things, but honestly I would prefer for him to focus on him keeping enemies at a distance and creating equipment to handle situations.

B.J. Smith

Recommended Changes: 1. At the Gala, you had everyone announcing Sal was the Mythcrafter, and also announcing that he was the Skillmaster changing the weaves. I think it would make the story better if you went through and tried to put some effort into keeping his secrets, and those around him trying to help him keep those secrets. You kind of announced to everyone at the Gala that Sal was Myth as well as the one who could change Skill weaves. Instead, have him keep those secrets and maybe have Fabi find out by accident. That seems like what you planned to do anyway, since after announcing he was Myth and the Skill person, you then later on in the story talk about how he has to keep it a secret. 2. MythOS felt fake with it's creation. Instead of some self taught operating system kernel that his visor helped him write out on paper and then copy over. It would have been better to have used his operating system on his tablet or workbench and then used the Visor and Mythcrafter to help alter the coding to become what the project needed. That would have felt more realistic with his abilities and how Mythcrafter works. He then could ask Fabi/Ameye for help with adjusting it further, maybe automate the research and item sythensizing, or getting rid of those annoying popups. 3. Arsenal, the first Mythic was extremely cool, but some things threw me off. Why would he think it's a good idea to have a giant drone stuck to his shoulder? Instead maybe have it be a glove invention and dock invention that he was working on separately, that Mythcrafter suggested he put together. Also, he seems capable enough to make something a little more sleek and put together even as a first draft product. You kind of wrote it like he was making this huge and unwieldy glove, arm, and shoulder drone thing, that just magically became sleek after he used Mythcrafter. It would have been nice to have him trying to work towards that goal somewhat before it just magically did it on it's own. 4. Sal's Gates: At the Gala you had Prestige open Sal's gates for him. There didn't really seem a point or reason for it in the moment besides wanting to give him more gates/power bc her son had offered previously. I would change it to where Sal needed to do something to help Fabi, but he wasn't strong enough, so after getting Sal's permission, Prestige then split his gates. 5. Essence Programming. It seems like the Runes and Essence Programming stuff is contradictory and confused. Maybe it's supposed to be like Arcane Ascension? Where Runes hold tons of Essence Programming information inside of them, but getting into the details of essence programming usually causes problems since it's so involved when brought into real world situations. I would make sure to have this ironed out and explained a little better. How do they work together and affect each other? Do you have to have a core to store the Essence Programming information? How are the commands stored in the item if not drawn on like runes? Right now it seems like Essence Programming is just a programming language for gear, and Runes are completely separate. 6. Fabi almost exploding in the implant machine and then everything being calm and normal afterwards seemed off. I would first, make the situation less of a world ending event, and make it a hidden problem that they have to work together to contain. Most of the audience can't see what's wrong, but they can tell by their actions that something isn't right. Even them sitting around afterwards and getting a chance to talk about how to handle things differently didn't feel real. Instead, a confusing mess where people demanded answers immediately after Fabi was out and different people tried to put forth their version of events would have been more believable and could have landed with the same (fake) explanation being given. You also could still have it as a damper on the skill implants, since things went wrong and need more power than they are able to safely provide, while still toning things down with the whole everything is exploding situation. 7. Sal starts to create a dagger as his first project and gets an error. Once the error was resolved, what happened to the dagger? 8. The gala was too focused on the Fabi skill implant and it going wrong. Sal had been cooped up in his workshop for weeks, this was a chance for him to see and catchup with his friends. He would have been more excited about that, and him, Barry, and Divinity would have clicked more. Fabi kind of stole the show, and the Barry meeting with the deception hero didn't really showcase their friendship and catching up. Divinity was a ghost.

B.J. Smith

Stuff I liked: 1. The Arkwright and MythOS were really cool. I'm not sure about how it connects with Arsenal subspace, I don't think that was explained well, but the idea and upgrade path was cool to read. Also, there was a missing module that they talked about several times, but did it ever get built? I think Sal would have prioritized that since it was just some parts that wouldn't have been hard to make. The dimensions and moving it should be a later consideration and not such a big factor. He could always figure out a feather/strength, or a warping it situation to move it if he ever gets to that point. That being said, Sal went about things in a very disorganized and uncaring way considering he spent so much time and effort to create it and then had so much help to finish it. I feel like he would have set himself goals for materials to collect and synthesize and then set a certain number of different weapons and gear to create a stockpile. Instead, it felt like it was considered too OP and so Sal kept ignoring it for reasons or using it just for research. Would have liked to have seen more basic stuff built with it, even before it was upgraded. 2. Luke/Dragoons and the dungeons that weren't part of the Hunter's Bureau were cool. The birds weren't bad, but seemed like they were a new thing just made up. Maybe explain how they came to be, with them being an experimentation or some sort of ability that created them and now they're self sustaining. Luke being an old family friend worked well, and him trying to recruit Sal without really knowing anything besides he's Petro's son. 3. Sal entering the Dungeon at the end with Arsenal was great. Seeing what it could do and how it had a hidden space it was attached to gave Sal a big power increase. Sal wondering if it was really his own power, or just the skill and gear doing everything for him was well done as well. The only thing that brought it down was his parents being pro dungeon runners. 4. Guild approval and setting things up was interesting. Him getting approval for the depot from the Hunter's Bureau, didn't really explain how he was going to pay for everything or when things would go into effect. More of the details on that would have been nice. Also, it would have been great if he got his friends more involved after he got permission and funding. Like invite Blathnaid over to show her the storefront she could be using. Sal and Fabi checking out and talking about their visions for a successful guild also would have been a nice moment, instead of so much of it just being his parents. (Maybe you could have this book be about getting his parents approval and discussing it with them, and then in the next book have him actually working out the details with Fabi) 5. I liked Doc Ameye. Upgrade seemed like a bully to him somewhat, but you also showed him as a rude and uncaring genius. MythOS was similar to what he has with Vulcan, but Ameye is focused on industrial level stuff to operate independantly, whereas MythOS creations are designed to be used and worn by heroes. I get the distinction. Ameye isn't lacking funds, and his resources are focused on different goals, so it's not the same thing or competing. 6. I liked Fabi wearing the one piece jumpsuit to debug it.

B.J. Smith

What I would like more of: 1. Sal designing, creating, and selling bulk weapons and gear. Sal and friend (Divinity/Barry/Blathnaid/Upgrade/Gallant/Fabi/Parents) designing items, and then going to dungeons to test them out. Even small and basic stuff would have been cool and help push Sal into gradual confidence with dealing with demons. Create a basic dagger, sword, shield, helm, armored shirt, and then produce it in bulk. Figure out what materials he needs and buy it from Maccles Materials or do some dungeons. Sal sold his daggers for a bunch of money. Show him selling more and different stuff, maybe bulk deals, and his bank account going up. He has to pay hundreds of thousands for property, show how he gets it. 2. Sal wants to create a Guild. What's his Vision? Who does he have picked out for certain roles, and can we see him reaching out and asking for their input. What would Fabi want from the Guild? Show Sal getting worked up about it and then working towards doing the paperwork and designing the Guild and its operations. This is where his parents could have really shined, with hesitating to approve of his creating a guild, but then going full blast on helping him as soon as they find out it's what he really wants and why. 3. Sal going from the scared of demons first year, to the guy who is dragging his friends to dungeons to collect materials. Bringing his friends would have been better than the parents stuff, but maybe you plan on doing this in the next book already. 4. Using MythOS to do more research and automate creating basic stuff. You seemed to focus on him picking something random and how it messed up, but he could have kept it simple and gotten some great items. The payoff for creating the Arkwright machine seems artificially small so far, hopefully you ramp things up in the next books. 5. Pretty sure you're teasing Fabi as the love interest, where it's going to really be Divinity in the end. I think that's good, but you're laying the Fabi stuff on a little too thick. The moment where Divinity said she didn't want herself to get in the way of the great things Sal accomplishes was a great moment. I see her intentionally trying to put the greater good above herself, and downplaying her own needs and wants. It's done well, I just hope you deliver on it in the future. Going any other way will probably make people upset.

B.J. Smith

Probably a step in the right direction, but not there yet in terms of power output. I think having the implant machines tied into the power infrastructure of the Quest Academy would be a better solution. Also, they'll probably have to lower their expectations on what skill levels and quality they can implant until they have a much more robust power supply system.

B.J. Smith

I agree about him giving away everything good he makes. Even the stuff other people make for him. I'm a little conflicted about him not even wearing the suit that Upgrade and Blathnaid made for him, but only for sentimental reasons. Like another person said, if he gets a healer in his guild in exchange, I feel that it's worth it. In the long run, I see him creating something like his uniform or underarmor that turns into his armor and weapons on command like the weird onesie jumpsuit he made with arkwright. That way, all of the stuff he actually made so far and gave away, he can instantly create and use himself with his 'Dominion' power. Definitely OP if he can materialize any weapons and armor, even high quality ones.

B.J. Smith

Im definitely against him becoming a martial arts expert. Picking up a few moves in combat class while the Perfect weave is on is one thing, but his parents teaching him over christmas break is probably my least favorite part of the story. I get the Mary Sue point. I would like to see him stick with guns and drones, with some automated counters in his gear for surprise or close up attacks.

B.J. Smith

The long term goal seems to be to focus on the Dominion ability, where all of these cool things he made and gave away, he can just instantly materialize and use himself. That's my prediction.

B.J. Smith

The character interactions are definitely one of the best points of his writing. Very natural and smooth flow to the conversations and interactions for the most part.

B.J. Smith

I think he said in the book that he can send stuff to the Arkwright, but he can't collect the items it creates. Not yet, anyways.

B.J. Smith

This wouldn't be bad as little extras added into the Patreon but not included in the actual book. But only if it's something that helps Mr. Nordon with his writing, not as something that adds more work to his plate.

Brian

Just finished catching up. I really enjoyed book 4, and as someone who was able to binge it all in one go, I assume that most of the negative reactions you were getting from subscribers were due to slower pacing and chapter-by-chapter consumption. I think the character interactions have been improving with each book, and even though book 4 is still in rough draft form I noticed fewer information consistency issues than I did in books 1-3. I was a bit exasperated with what Sal did with Arkwright immediately after it was fixed, though. Somewhat blindly choosing research and material refinement options is mostly fine. However, it seems insanely dumb to me that the first *item* Sal had it craft was the dominion set, which was done *without* reviewing the blueprints for the set itself *or* the sets which it was a combination of. The first thing crafted absolutely should have been a test item *directly* from an unmodified schematic he had created previously, at the rare or uncommon grade. I also think there should have been an expectation that he would be reviewing then modifying or constraining the blueprints for *anything* the Arkwright researches before it’s created. I *think* i see what you were going for narratively, by having the outcome of the bad decisions ‘organically’ push him towards Jackal. But, I hope it doesn’t continue to be a pattern going forward, and the MCs choices seem more deliberate and considered.

Brian

Additional Feedback: I was searching through the discord a bit… It seems like the current understanding is that dominion has been completely shelved for Sal at the moment? If that’s the case I feel like that might need to be better expressed for the published version of book 4, because that doesn’t really make sense to me unless there are more limitations/pitfalls than were conveyed in the chapters. From reading the book 4 chapters and searching for discord comments related to dominion, my understanding of the issues with the Strategist's Dominion created are: 1. The form factor of the item when worn without dominion using one of the ‘registered’ essence sets is utterly ridiculous. (So he cant just walk around with the item and only use it when needed). 2. Sal didn’t review the specs for any of the essence sets which were ‘registered’, and at least the Ultimate Argento set was a mess. 3. None of the registered essence sets can be summoned without a significant passive drain on his essence reserves. 4. Arkwright borked the essence programming, such that dominion does even *more* essence impractical things and Sal doesn’t know enough about programming to reliably understand, adjust, debug, or update the programming. 5. (Only explicitly indicated in discord) the ‘Registered‘ essence sets were ‘baked in’ during creation and cannot be modified (except for programming, if competent) , or have new sets added. So, those issues are certainly enough reason for Sal to drop the *Strategist's Dominion* item. Though the word ‘Registered’ in the Item description 100% should change to something like ‘built-in’ for the sake of clarity. However, nothing that I recall from the chapters explains why Dominion, as an item ability would be getting sidelined. I think, with Sal’s current circumstances, an *ideal* item would be something with some combination of Dominion, Networking, and essence storage. With what we know, it should be in the realm of possibility for something like that to be created at Epic grade, with Arkwright (no pre-programming, though). Sal could then create blueprints (of anything legendary or below), have Arkwright do the prototyping to create the essence signatures, and then use the essence signatures via network, to summon the designed item with dominion, using the essence reserves. I get the sense that the essence cost even for ‘practical’ un-programmed legendary items still would not be sustainable, but I feel like for most academy things coming up he doesn’t *need* legendary stuff. It seems like things at or below Epic *could* potentially be maintained indefinitely, though. IMO being able to rapidly prototype and test things using Arkwright and a Dominion item would be perfect for where Sal is in his learning. He would be able to spend more time designing and programming, and have more field versatility. He would only need to actually create things when theyre for other people, or if its a solid well-proven, design that he wants to have permanently upgrade to legendary/Mythic. Which should result in less time and resources burned on items which ultimately end up destroyed or outgrown. IDK, for me, it feels like something that would be a logical next step, unless the story expressed an explicit rationale for *why* Sal believes any use of a dominion item would be impractical/infeasible/undesirable.

nin10do

I want Sal to throw AJ and research the hell out of it and craft it using Arkwright for use with Jackal and the cool onies with everything still in it Fabi is a prodigy in essence programming

Fortunis

Yeah. So, alot to unpack here. The Blight Jackal is fucking ridiculous. And if he doesn't use the same level of materials for the rest of his armor I'll be seriously disappointed. Speaking for myself I'd make the left sleeve exactly the same except for abilities. I'd absolutely swap out the storage space for a ranged energy weapon capable of using stored essence. Mounting some kind of plasma launcher on his bracer would be excellent. Or maybe just some protoss style energy blade even since he's going martial artist. But he absolutely needs a second Jackal drone. I absolutely love this series.

Scott

Is there a single PDF for book 4?

John Klein

In book4 did he ever appraise the upgraded visor? The new abilities were mentioned but i missed the appraisal if so

nosense

My boy Sal went through the whole book without getting any action and didn't even touch base with Hannah. Just cruel.

John Donovan

Where is the struggle for sal? Everything in book 4 is too easy. I understand some of it was rewards from previous books but overall he doesn't have to work at anything. Doc fixes his machine and improves it, fabi brings a bunch of crafting materials, the machine not only does his crafting but also does his research. More than 2/3 of this book reads like the epilogue of book 3.

Moon Shadow

id like to see him getting defence and movement as well as he has none