Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Content

8 New Chapters of Quest Academy: Legions

Hey Everyone,

Eight chapters. How is this possible, Brian? Should I expect this every week? No.

This tends to happen towards the end of a book where I'm in a flow-state. It's the beauty of an impending deadline and a lot of content to still write. It always helps when the characters in the chapters are fun ones to write!

So, last week I had some concerns about the chapters. I figured out what was wrong and I needed an extra chapter in between the points to make them blend properly. Now, the execution of that will be for you all to judge, but I was happy with how it moved.

The change of pace will be a little jarring for some, but I thought it was necessary to progress the plot and advance things for Book 6. Please let me know what you think. I do read every comment left on these chapters. :)

The cliffhanger at the end of these is very mild. You've nothing to worry about, I promise. There will be more chapters next week, as the deadline is 23rd of May for submitting the story to the editing team.

Lastly, it's 2:54am in Ireland... so it's technically Monday. :)

Brian

Comments

Law

Oh my god 8 chappies you’re literally my hero

corruptbytes

8 chapters!!! let's gooooo

Deko

Whoa, thank you on a Sunday!

Ant

Tyftc. Looking forward to the end of the work day when I will have time to read them.

TJ Lombardi

Since it's now Monday, hopefully you can get some much needed rest.

Zwil

holy shit. guess i’m not going to bed! thank you sir🫡

Michael Foreman

Had to read the notification twice when I saw the number of chapters, so excited!!

SV

Well, there go my next couple of hours!

Adam Miller

Hot fuck, is it crimmis?? Tyft8c!

Mike Valentine

Whelp, looks like I'm reading them all before bed!

TDL

Thank you for the awesome Mother’s Day gift 🎁

R. Skye

Whoa. Thanks for the chapters! Kinda curious as to how you will make things blend properly. Have a good night!

Matthew Mcclory

Absolutely love the books, still hate the pdf format though. Makes it really annoying to read on mobile.

Sloth

Just made my fucking night

Dlandis

Same for me, though I grabbed the 365 suite from Microsoft. It converts them to a word document after opening; makes it so much easier for me. I would not recommend using it if you don't already have a OneDrive subscription though unless you write a lot.

Dlandis

Wondering if I need to head back for a reread of 72 or if the update was minor.

Steven Lamb

Amazing I’m on night shift and needed something to perk me up 👍

Aaron

Seriously good stuff man. Wow.

BrianJNordon

Nope, you should be all good. The problem was with a half-written 73 last week that didn't feel right. :)

Dawn Zeleznik

Ah, it’s been a bad day and this just helped. Thanks so much for the early release.

James jones

Man just what I needed great buildup

Scott Gable

And there went going to bed at a reasonable hour…but man it was such a good reason to stay up a bit longer

Chioke Nelson

Hell yeah, this is awesome!

RH

Loved these chapters. Definitely some good work with these

Naotsugu97

Ahhh, what a enjoyable binge! Thanks as always!

Cedric 'Driky' Chatelain

Those chapters were a blast! Really nice to finally see some real battle. Now please kind sir, give us the stats Sal got with the spider =P Edit: forgot to leave some hopefully constructive criticisms: - sometime I get the feeling that some transition from one scene to another can be a bit abrupt. - it would be nice having Sal reflect a bit on the effects that what happens in this chapters will have on his guild.

JoJo Nguyen

Awesome chapters tonight! Going through em once wasn't enough!

R. Skye

Just binged and enjoyed each chapter. Phenominal public debut as a Guild Master. Jez is going to have a field day processing the contribution points and requirement checkboxes between the test dungeon runs and then all this.

RnR_ RnR

I just imagine Vanessa being a straight up battle junkie. And I'm here for it

Sloth

Sal should really challenge Robert here. He should make it clear that if Shade isn’t punished, he’ll be very upset with Robert and that this will reflect on their future relationship. If Robert doesn’t understand Sal’s value and doesn’t prioritize him, he’s going to have a very bad time in the future, and I think Sal needs to do what he can to make this abundantly clear. Maybe he should knot up Shade’s weave before he gets arrested? It would be a major power move but I don’t know if he should reveal that (though Robert probably already knows about that ability?).

Sloth

He should use the regenerating material to make a replicator drone army

Sam

Absolutely LOVED those chapters. Great job, Brian. Now I need to go get my adrenaline to calm down.

Dlandis

She handles most of our administrative tasks. I love your work, Brian.

Ron Blondeau

Absolutely amazing chapters Brian! Riveting action, and that cliff hanging statement by Vanessa regading Shade. Can't wait for that outcome. I can see Sal incorporating some type of barrier against psinonic attacks in the Mythic guild armour.

Heather Herren

Best chapters yet! Sal seems to have a knack of making connections. He saw right through the bull, was willing to help anyways, and walked away looking like a hero even after being called a coward. Pretty cool!!

Tanstaafl

Outstanding, this set is great, please keep up the work. Hope to see his net stats after all this.

Max

Chapter 74 and 75 Maybe change the name of the street if it is not very important for you. „Exchequer“ is very difficult word for a non-native speaker like me and stops my reading flow.

Uncle Snoo

Finally some real action!

Ali Sha

Came here just to say this was the BEST line. rotfl

Tanstaafl

It is incredible that you are targeting book 5 for the editing table on the day that book 4 is finally released on Amazon ... you are indeed a HERO IMO!

jumbosauce

Man, if you think you can’t write action, just remind yourself of these comments. Awesome work, Mr. Norton. You can indeed write action scenes. I particularly liked how the whole scene integrated the guild politics and world-building too. Really, really good stuff!

Benjamin Hartmann

Amazing, did not expect that, but well it’s you 🙈💪. Will read the chapters. And maybe it’s just good planning on your side 😉.

James coe

I find that Exchange is often used to replace exchequer if that helps. Know a business that used that option

Dawn Zeleznik

I thought the red eye thing was funny. I supposed she did it to herself since she’s a body manipulator.

James coe

All the chapters were great thanks, maybe some thoughts going forward would be that Sal should reduce the self doubt a bit. He has now shown that he can deal with commander classes so should have the confidence to be in a fight. It seems almost like he's got a bit of imposter syndrome despite constantly showing he is quite capable even if it's a quick mental health scene to address it. Do note this is a very minor point that doesn't bring down the quality of work your making more just thought for going forward.

Max

Nice twist at the end of chapter 77. A good introduction into the capability of the character. I enjoyed that.

Charles Gillentine

This is my favorite by far. Sal as an equal.

Kiwi

Wholly crap what an awesome surprise, thanks Brian. My whole night just changed course lol I’ll order take out now instead of cooking hahaha

Mark Ryane

Next week can't come soon enough.

DasGoat622

https://images.app.goo.gl/HaN7FCHzBNHTEMdc6

Dramaru

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eg42msXdqE06ObUYRNoD7z0ixxsgzBZC/view?usp=drivesdk Epub version of the files 👀 Also thanks for the chapters. Super stoked 🙌🏼

The Foolish One

Very interested to see the total stat's Sal gained during these chapters.

wendy woolley

Those chapters were amazing. But now I can't wait till next week

nin10do

Woah Brian are you a monster talk about fast we all love what you do

Thomas Todd

Thanks for the chapters! Loved these, finally seeing Sal wreck some Commanders

Kiwi

Next week's aftermath is going to be amazing. I can't wait.

Kiwi

There is going to be some raised voices I'm sure 😂

Jonathan Campbell

Wow, that was amazing! Although I'm a bit surprised that Vanessa or Villa didn't just use a part of the spider to impale Shade, or cut his throat.

Robert Crews

Ok now we have movement to build offof. Great chapters now to clean up the details

Pickled Rick

These were an epic set of chapters and just the kind of action that we were waiting to see. I also want you to know that as a reader if Shade was unfortunately a casualty of the commander demon and didn't leave the tunnels I won't tell anyone. My only complaint is I would have loved to see the girls take down the spider demon but the jump cuts between chapter were much more fluid this week so it was a definite improvement. Can't believe we are near the end of Book 5 already the wait for Book 6 will be murder.

Kazys Dylys

Great chapters. Very nicely done. Was pleasantly surprised to get them early in the morning, definitely made my day.

Felix

I love the crafting, but nothing beats some destruction to contrast all the creation...

Ira White

Chapters are amazing. I want more. I can't wait for Quest to try and justify why Sal needs to be kept in a box to the guilds after a showing like this. It'll be fun next week for sure. I'm still kind of torn on Shade making it out of this alive. Personally I think he would have mad good spider food but this will be a good time for Robert to find out a out Jackle which is gonna to cause him to shit himself.

Nina Speicher

That was the best way to spend my Monday lunch break ever! Great chapters!! I guess that Sal just passed the Battle Zone module 😁

Zwil

If Vanessa/Mica take it down then Sal doesn’t get to subsume an ability.. we haven’t seen it yet but it was hinted that jackal got subsume to activate

nin10do

Gratz on new post of chapter I love the fact that everyone everyone wanted some action and I didn’t see any glaring gaps in the story except for the interaction between Sal and the staff you touched on a topic and then it gone with nothing in between apart from that I love the invasion and jackals maiden voyage into invasion and the details

Adriano Longo

saw just shot up in desirability by all the top guildies

Batman nova

outstanding work

Dennis Özel

god dam cant wait for the next weeks chapters now

Bettafish

Vanessa outing the statutory rape thing alongside the debt abuse to the people she did after THAT performance going to be some fun consequences for the delivers even after Shade gets let off. Also interested to see how Feirce gets treated after this, particularly with Villa possibly having a ground floor entry to Sal's rise

BrianJNordon

Just to be clear in relation to Vanessa, she rejected the advances of someone and was punished for it in her career. If her backstory included sexual assault to that level, Shade would have been killed a very long time ago... and he most certainly wouldn't have been in enough pieces to get arrested.

Abdulmohsen

Why would Sal need the warding devise Petro made him wear? Doesn't the Tempest Warden, his hat, have the warded attribute that protects from psionics attacks? Chapter 61.

Dutch Palmer

The following needs to come later in the chapter: His plans of running Dungeons had been put on hold by the influx of messages that pinged relentlessly on the screen... This makes it seem like Sal isn't trying to do a dungeon. Change it to "His plans of running Dungeons after today had been put on hold..." You should pull the waiting in line bit to the start of the chapter and then have Sal's tablet go off with all of the bad news. The end result of it all (which should be emphasized) is that Sal is more committed than ever to do a dungeon... despite the wait. I recommend starting the chapter with: He took a few paces forward before stopping... And having his tablet blow up after: Sal smiled awkwardly at the Hunters that took the guys place in the queue, but they didn't look like they were in the mood to chat. He was happy enough to leave it at that, and turned back to face the Dungeon... After that, have Sal dig out his tablet to see all the bad news.

Sunita Caton

What a way to start the day! Love , Love , Loved it!

Tim Walloch

Great chapters! Thanks.

BrianJNordon

Will re-work that part. Thanks for highlighting. That was the initial part of 73 I had written, that became Chapter 74 when I added in a new chapter between last weeks and this weeks chapters. I clearly forgot to tighten it up to match the rest of the context.

Max

Just a thought but maybe Sal needs a different phone/device for his guildmaster tasks. He is known for ignoring his phone for days. Just imagine if he misses all requests for assistance in an emergency for a couple of days while he is working on a build. It was lucky he checked the notification in after a few seconds this time.

R. Skye

I am not sure exactly why but when Vanessa says "You were very Guild Master-esque just now, just so you know." in chapter 80 I had to go back and read through to find what exactly was guildmaster-esque vs Sal just being Sal. I think she is trying to compliment Sal on how he handled himself through the event, but the "just now" implies the immediate interaction when lookong for context. Not sure I am explaining myself just right. It may just be me being pedantic in interpreting the phrase. I have read through this chapter three times now and each time I felt I missed the context of that compliment.

Chris Hoopes

Great chapters. Awesome work. I love the use of so many characters. Seeing Diva in action is fantastic. I really though Brophy was gonna show up and this was a much better... more stable... less complicated way of doing the same thing. I love it. I think Seth needs some TLC though. The go to description seems to be, exhausted and low energy. I'd love to see that get fixed. Anyway. Thanks for all the dedication and work.

BrianJNordon

That is because of how his clones work. When they're active and out working, his main body is super drained. It's more like foreshadowing for when Sal learns that context. :)

BrianJNordon

It was in response to Sal wanting to be very clear that Vanessa had nothing to do with the Heroes being killed outside of the den. Him giving her a very firm understanding of his boundaries, and asking her directly rather than just worrying about it. That's what she determined to be very Guild Master-esque. :)

Roy

Thanks for the chapters. Love how you were able to incorporate so many characters into the battle without relying on multiple POVs and keep the story flowing trough the fights. I was going to skip this months subscription but am glad I caved within a week😅

Orod

Great chapters! Love seeing Sal grow in combat. Still love his crafting but he is becoming a great combat hero. I have always seen comments in the first set of books about Sal being a coward but in reality he was just a sheltered kid. Took a bit but he got there. A true coward wouldn't have made it this far in my opinion

Grakyn

I seriously thought when Commanders were dropping and Vanessa showed up that it was Gallant at first. It mentions him as one of the missing students at the start. There has to be more to that piece of the story, he can't just be missing and then get evacuated with the other students, can he?

Pickled Rick

That and also there is just the logical fact that how can the commander and chief allow one of his regiments to just kill 50% of all the recruits to weed out the weak. Even being weak they could still kill a few leechers before being killed.

Pickled Rick

Scary thought that the demons have found a way to counter the future seers without them noticing though. In the previous attack they were obscuring futures with only negative outcomes to sow discord but now they were able to rewrite everyone's future to appear business as usual which is somehow much scarier. Did Divinity really have no idea or was she just so against using her own powers that she didn't realise what was about to happen?

Pickled Rick

I was with Sal I thought his mother had healed enough that she was taking to the battlefield. It needed to be someone who was a well known monster on the battlefield that hasn't been seen for a while and Prestige's bully would have fit that bill.

Wallaby Vonwise

Bravo, I liked the pacing, I thought the pacing and the switch up from the crafting and ability talk was refreshing and fulfilling. Stuck to a couple scenes and saw them through to the end within the 8 chapters. Very good chappies, ty

Rishain

best batch of chapters in the whole series

C

Dang, those were some good chapters.

Ira White

Divinity probably saw what was coming and decided that it was for the best to let it happen. She would have seen that he was as safe as he could be with Val, Villa, and Chatfield there to keep an eye on him. With benefits of Sal showing off to the big timers and them now wanting things from him. It was worth the gamble.

Lisa Johnson

So good! I love the how the story twists and turns. Your stories are so much fun to read!

Dennis Biancanello

I enjoyed it. In looking back the only thing i dont really recall reading was any real flow on sal's parents outing their history to him. Everything flows well otherwise i think with a suprising pace on occasion. Your chapters dont seem huge based on word count but they cover a lot in a short period none the less.

Anders

Fantastic chapters! Really puts the whole world ending apocalypse vibe into perspective. Truly appreciate the 8 chapters and am looking forward to the next batch. Of note, here are some minor edit suggestions: Chp 73: Pg 4, though instead of thought where Upgrade is speaking. Pg 4, them instead of him where Sal is watching the girls work. Reads: ‘but he was just sitting around and watching him.’ Pg 5, fully instead of full. Chp 75: Pg 5, tighten instead of tight. Chp 76: Pg 4, sizzled instead of sizzed. Chp 80: Pg 2, remove one the ‘over’s: ‘She glanced over over her shoulder…’ Pg 4, include ‘the’: ‘Chatfield followed her out of tunnel…’

Aidan Zimmerman

Thanks for the chapters, can't wait to see reactions from Upgrade, Question and Fabi. Also can't wait to see if his guild improves from the barrier breach. Can't wait for next Monday to roll around already.

Jim Swift

So it sounds like next week's chapters will be the final chapters in Book 5? . Not that it's important to the flow of the story, but it's a bit of a puzzle to see the scale of the Guilds. There are some references that suggest that Guilds have hundreds of members (owning tall towers, etc), but the size of the Guilds does not come across in the description of the serious intrusion trying to free the Dragon. BTW, is someone going to solve the Dragon problem by sticking some pins into the paper model of the Dragon that Fabi made?

Gecko

question in the sentence saying that the war spider was that overall commander, who is one pointing this out and who is saying good instincts? as it could be read either way.( now in proper English)

Janet Beane

Wow! That was a high speed run. So glad that you didn't cut us off in the middle of it. I especially liked the ending of chapter 74.

Marco

Omg so good. But it's never enough. I just want more and more lol

Nicolas

Thank you so much for the chapters!!!

nin10do

Will Sal get the regenerative and pyonic ability from the spider commander from jackal

nin10do

Is Barry and Divinity having a secret relationship as they seem closer than on book one, the are bit regarding Sal where divinity has told Barry and the after party?

dark phoenix99

Found the doom society bit in 73 interesting. For some reason I thought all of them were precogs or psionics. If they're just a think tank, they have way too much power. Really liked the battle. Cool seeing the equipment in action. Imagine what'll happen when he has pants! Vanessa is scary. Can't wait for the talk with Enigma. Hopefully we'll get breakdown of Upgrade's power path through the device. I want to see the device in action. Overall in terms of story, The Alchemy machine feels like a let down. The building chapters were really cool, but you drug out the appraisal, and they're still barely figuring out how to use it. It feels wheel spinning. It's all set up and no payoff so far. We've gotten more interesting stuff out of the cool suit someone built for sal, and anything Sal's done. Sal's made amazing things, but they're almost too amazing. They're world changing but the world changes slowly. So its a lot of tell, not show. Although, at this point I am waiting for a random call from Divinity at some point, "Sal, why is the future a post scarcity utopia?

BrianJNordon

I immediately feel defensive when I see someone using the 'show' vs. 'tell' advice. I've come to realise that I write by instinct, and what feels right to me. I could tell you that it's a tool for narrative pacing, where I need to move things along, or I could point at the already enormous wordcount and make excuses that it would take forever if I was to show everything rather than telling. The simple answer is that I'm doing this all by instinct. I'm writing the story in the way that feels right to me, and some of the elements in the story have a slower payoff than others. Right now, Sal is able to make these incredible devices, but he's not invested the time in understanding how to use them. He's never going to be more of a Growth expert than Anders, nor will he understand Alchemy better than Alex. Showing their proficiency with the machine isn't designed to make Sal look inferior, but rather to elevate their capability and give them their own space within the story. Sal isn't going to be handholding every revenue source as a Guild Master, but rather trusting good people. Dragging out the Appraisal is only going to feel that way because you had to wait a few weeks in between. Readers will fly through those chapters all at once, and I made the decision, narratively, that Sal's recovery was more important than an Appraisal. He trusted his father for the report, and wasn't reckless in using his injured eyes. Thanks for the input, and I'm glad you liked the battle.

BrianJNordon

Anders... how did you escape Alex? I was pretty sure he'd have you chained to the Elixir Machine! :) (Thanks for the corrections)

M

"She handles most of our administrative tasks." is one of the greatest lines from the whole series. Even so thank you for three extra chapters, waiting a week mid battle would have been brutal.

Fast Lance

Excellent pacing and solid work, as much as I enjoy the crafting chapters. I also like to see fruits of all his labour

Lisa Johnson

Chapter 78 Eclipse notes that Shade and Villa are missing. But you had shade leave earlier in the chapter after he saw Vanessa. So is just Villa that took off probably after Vanessa.

Fast Lance

Food for thought Brian, Sal has spent a lot of time building some insanely cool mythic grade products. We’ve only really got a glimpse of what two of them can, mainly Jackal and the machine he left back at home. As a reader I’d really like to see more of the benefits of his tools as well as more dungeon diving. Also this is gonna be hard to do, but a POV chapter from the demons perspective would be insanely cool. Because to me they don’t seem like a threat anymore. But clearly there’s more going on then we the readers realise

Andrew Tobin

Really thought you were going to delve more into the parallels between Sal having the skills to put other supers out of work, what with him replacing all of Coach's skills. Yes, Coach gets a cut, but what about all the other supers with similar skills? It seems to run in the family, so Coach's cousins kids. There's parallels there with how people feel about robotics, automation and AI and the future of humanity. That said, there's also a moment where Sal can now go "I was concerned about this, and then I saw the enemy, and if this gives us better tools, and frees up more time for people to face that, then..." gives a good parallel to freeing up people to solve new problems. If you're optimistic. I'm not. I'm kind of glad I'm getting old enough my job prooooobably will be around until I retire. It does feel kind of wild that it goes from Sal's apartment to a full on fight, and it would be good to have a few more beats in line, with Sal psyching himself up for the dungeon, giving himself more confidence, preparing... and then the rugpull. The waiting in line is good, the getting aggravated by the other guy is better. Three things I think were raised and then .... a) the clone guy, I know he was relieved later on, and I wondered if that was because Mica was kicking ass, or because he dismissed his clones and he got energy back... but I would have thought more would be said about his clones being out there fighting - Chatfield overhearing and ordering them back, or the team spotting them here and there on their way out to the spider. No mention from Chatfield about the other students being sent back? Or if there was, I would have thought Gallant would have been fighting tooth and nail against it, or have hung around. Unless he did and just isn't in these chapters. Or has gone missing. Or... No "all accounted for"? Maybe there was and I missed it. I kind of thought Sal would let loose a big ball of lightning like he did in the dungeon into the Spider's hive. It'd be good to have a reason he couldn't - like not knowing who else was in there. Unless the lightning strikes he did were meant to be his ball. But it'd be good to know why he didn't do that, since he did it so recently. And man, can I get Vanessa's number? I'm surprised she didn't "hey babe" him to annoy everyone. Yikes, I'm glad she's on our team. He definitely has to make her presents.

Andrew Tobin

It'd be wild to be able to give Eclipse a little something for training his guild member, and helping out one of humanity's best.

Andrew Tobin

We do get a bit of an idea of the Delvers and Paradox guild by the dead, but we only really see Villa and hear some familiar names. I agree, it feels like the guilds are more like 10s of members. That being said, there's no reason for Villa to talk to people other than her captains (wait, she's the captain, so her... ) It would be good to see Shade having a deputy or two, who were putting the pressure on the others guildys to fight it out, rather than run. It also would give a few more people in the worldbuilding, the undermining/fights/scumbaggery around Sal and his family, and give some named redshirts. But, yes, I agree that it felt more like the randoms very outnumbered the guilds. That works when we're in the defensive end with Villa, but not so much by the time the guild leaders were going after the spider. It would be good to have a few more notes on where the teams are, where they're cleaning up, why they aren't going to the spider with them, etc. Or if there were a lot injured already in the evac boats, even from the guilds.

Andrew Tobin

Oh, and I hope Sal sees sword guy on his way out. Is it just me who would get a feeling of relief that a highlighted random survived? Maybe a "Nice job kid, glad you stuck around." Probably just me.

Sloth

For the first point, to be fair, anyone with similar abilities will probably still be able to use the Awaken machine, and maybe they can evolve away from Awaken? I guess it hasn’t been implied that abilities have multiple evolution paths, but maybe if they get the correct skill implant they can change their skills direction? Like how Skill Master + Skill Savant = Skill Paragon. I know Skill Master will naturally evolve into Skill Paragon, but maybe if he combined it with a different skill he could get something else, like how he combined it with all-sight to get Mythcrafter

Dawn Zeleznik

Honestly, these chapters were so great and there was so much action, I want to reread them all to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My previous post was before I read them so I’m adding this additional post to say how much I enjoyed them. It was nice to see how Sal reacted in an emergency.

John Pendt

I really liked these chapters. I think the only thing that stuck out to me as odd, and it's likely I just need to reread it cause I missed it, was I didn't fully understand how/why Villa got in the lair to help against Shade. I get she paralyzed him. I get he sacrificed a bunch of his guild so he could sneak in and get loot. But I thought he went home when venessa was showing off. I didnt really remember villa going after him. Again, it's likely I just need to go back and read slower. These were awesome chapters though. I was craving the action

John Pendt

Also I don't think I meant "venessa showing off." I think I meant getting what's hers lol

Jim Swift

Small item - in the latest batch of chapters, it looks like your dictation software treated all instances of "its" as "it's". There are more than 10 examples of things like "it's members" which should be "its members"

BrianJNordon

Hi Jim, I don't use dictation. All errors you see are written by me. I've had this problem since I was younger and my editor has learned its easier to just correct them after I submit them, rather than me overthinking it

Frilas

The chapters were just incredible and a smooth read; I finished reading before I knew it. The progression was great, moving in a clear line from chapter start to finish. I would love that for the coach chapters as well, since they feel like a mix of going from A-D-C-G-B-E, but that's just my personal take. I loved Vanessa's appearance here. I was completely convinced it would be a berserker gallant because there was no mention of him being in the student group with Chatfield, but this is way more amazing. I'm a little curious about Sal's gear, though. When Fabi mentioned the eyepatch was specifically to communicate with Jackal, I was thinking of something like data sharing between them. Until now, we only saw it one way, with Jackal using what Sal can see through the visor, but when he mentioned not being able to see through the walls, my first thought was, can't he see what Jackal sees? As for the Tempest Marshal, I thought the elixir gas was supposed to be a major part of it, but he doesn't have that yet, and that seems to not have any effect on its performance. (Also, I'm curious about the ear clip he made with the forced 1 effect mindset and high-grade material. I would not be surprised to see it become a mythic that Chatfield keeps.) That said, I'm curious if Sal is going to have a mental attack when he takes the hat off and removes Perfect, as it removes the calm effect and Perfect's emotional regulation. There was incredible character growth in those chapters, specifically the first, which was amazingly described. But once the adrenaline and effects are gone, comes the time he has to work through the negative things he just witnessed, like the deaths. I can't even begin to describe how amazing the chapters are, as it's just such an incredible development and the gear and mental stuff were just some small things I wondered about when rereading them. One of the highlights, guild-wise, was definitely getting Eclipse to train Rochelle I had been hoping for that since she appeared in book 4! :)

Alteron

Great chapters, I really enjoyed them. The recruitment of the new members could maybe have been a bit more detailed.

Kurby

(1) Quest you are so effing lucky that Sal is a timid, self deprecating pushover. I’d quit Quest Academy that day if I was sent this schedule. There is no way in hell you're locking me into classes from 6am to 10pm on a Saturday! (2) DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,DON’T BE A COWARD,YESSSSSSSSSSSS! SAL DOES HAVE A PAIR!!!!! Fight like a Guild Master! (3) Huh, great job taking down a commander Sal. I didn’t think you’d be able to take one down this early. Goes to show how powerful mythic and legendary equipment is. (4) Holy shit go off Vanessa. Part of me was hoping this was Brophy but this reveal is way better. Also it is a miracle humanity has gotten this far in the war against the demons. We truly are our own worst enemy if someone this powerful can be benched because she didn’t want to sleep with the leadership of her guild. (5) Thank You Sal! Get rid of all these secrets. It’s just bringing in more red tape and slowing down progress. Besides, you suck at keeping secrets anyway. The only reason you haven’t been found out is because the people in this story have worse detective skills than Inspector gadget. There’s no way half the staff see a first year student walking around with Epic Grade equipment during the first month of school. Then find out that he blew up the skill registration booth and spends most of his time in the crafting workshops. Yet they think Blathnaid is Myth. (6) Sal is never gonna find that speedster again. Imagine him putting that weave on his leg gear and then brute force crafting mid fight while moving at superspeed. (7) Vanessa definitely deserves a bonus after everything she did in these last couple of chapters.

R. Skye

In Chapter 74... Tabitha Geier... the name rang a bell. Was this the same Tabitha from book 1. The daughter of Sophia's "childhood friend"? I put "childhood friend" in quotes because that was how Prestige was described and it turns out that not only did they grow up together but were also part of Silverson's... made me wonder how many other Silverson's left and how many have children in the Academy now. Silverson's operates on the otherside of the country... so childhood friends seems like an easy way to cover for people Sal's parents knew before they left Silverson's. Just some late night ponderings.

JoeO

Great chapters - at first I hated Quest ‘s schedule. Then I remember he’s still in his first year. I thought Chatty was supposed to be a badass? Seemed lost and constantly surprised…his confidence/experience/skills at the academy didn’t really come through in these chapters.

Justin

Yeahhhh, so this week we got a couple of chapters huh? Like EIGHT freaking chapters that were AWESOME! Quest and I would be having a conversation about scheduling, but everything else was just flex on flex on flex. Loved Sal showing that he belongs at the helm of a Guild and isn't anyone's tool. Loved Sal beating the shit out of a Commander that Villa couldn't take. And I deffinately loved Diva showing up and showing everyone else they are scrubs that need to just sit back and have a coffee while she handles the grown up stuff! Oh yeah I might even have taken a perverse pleasure in the cheep shot that kept finding their way to Shade All in all, outstanding chapters with a lot of unpacking still to do!

BrianJNordon

Gotta remember he's on babysitting duty. His main mantra is bringing people back alive, which was accomplished. Also, Vanessa totally had things under control. He would have just been in the way :)

Pickled Rick

Speedster weave + perfect + body enhancement weaves seems like a great way to make Super Captain America

Jeff Barton

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around shade being so week while leading a Tier 1 guild. The dude seems like a joke that would have been killed by now with his attitude.

Uncle Snoo

Yeah it's like he's written just to be a punching bag. I guess he somehow cheated his way to tier 1.

Bill

I don’t normally comment but this was some top notch writing. Some of the most solid material I have read that you wrote across all the books. So many different plot points and character interactions are colliding in these chapters, and you are spectacularly consistent and thoughtful. I loved Sal forgetting he killed a commander and how proud/upset Vanessa was. The commander heart thing also comes to mind you set that up forever ago

Roland D Allen

Back in ch. 54 when Sal sees his guild headquarters for first time and gets his armor. He sees drone docking and building area large enough too build a car. I thought that Fabi and Upgrade would show up with them. So are they somewhere else with the big drones. I thought that if Sal and Vanessa as advisor got the guild notice I was hoping Upgrade and Fabi would show up with the big drones. It's near the end of the book I'm thinking it's gotta be soon.

R. Skye

I think that Vanessa was able to respond because she is outside of the Academy now as a fulltime Guild Advisor. Fabi and Upgrade may have wanted to go, but it sounded like Quest Academy was on lockdown which would have prevented them from responding. Also, I think Sal was sucked in due to proximity. It may be that the United Guild Alliance tasked other members elsewhere without disclosing Sal being roped into evac duty.

Orod

I keep thinking back on Quest. He keeps blocking Sal from growing. First he was scared of Sal's Skill Master ability. Then he barred him from using Mythcrafter. Now he doesn't want him to grow his combat potential. Even after Sal has shown to have interest and put in the work

Heather Herren

It’s was so awesome. I just decided to read it again. The question will be.. who tells his parents.. and does Sal make healer drones.. those would be soo awesome!!

R. Skye

I have been back and forth on Quest (love the character, just trying to figure out the motives)... I think it is a mix of wanting to protect Sal from the politics for as long as he can, not wanting to see Sal repeat the mistakes that he (Quest) made when he was younger, and a worry the kind of disrupting force Sal will have on what is already a tenuously balanced society that is slowly losing the war. Quest is trying to build better consistent survivability into the habits of the new heros. Sal is a wild card. He outperforms when he subverts expectations in such a mythic way that I think Quest is worried. Sal is so used to succeeding that when he fails, like truly fails and someone he cares about dies or is blamed for making things worse when something goes wrong, he does not have the grounding to process and move past it. What stops Sal on a bad day? His gear surpasses the norm. He controls archwright and the elixer machine. Every significant creation is another muscle Sal can flex. Sal can even control if someone has access to a power or not. He is in his second semester and can do this... what does Sal look like when he graduates? What about in 10 years? Right now, Sal is benevolent and aultruistic... what happens if Divinity is killed? Upgrade? We saw with Fabi that Sal, in true hero fashion threw, himself in to the pod meltdown to save her. What happens when the death occurs off screen and he had no chance to help? Quest see's potential he needs to protect. I think Quest also sees a calamity he needs to prevent. I also think Quest is starting to realize he is out of his depths with Sal as well.

Kiwi

Just ordered the hardcopy of book four wahoooo!!!!

Meghan B

Awesome chapters!!! 10 out of 10.

R. Skye

Looks like my Hard Copy of Book 4 is due in Monday. Chapters and book. Great timing.

Jim Swift

Decided to re-read all published books before Book 4 arrives, and noticed a reference to Factions, Societies and Sects in Book 1. After searching the other 4 books, I could not find any further reference to any of these. I have been reading all these books with the assumption that when a term is introduced, then the term will appear again somewhere in the series. Is this a valid assumption?

Kiwi

Doom society, dragoons faction, not sure who would come under sects.

Sam

I'm actually a little sad that they were recruited. Mica doesn't have any respect for Sal and just wanted to fight demons. She doesn't really belong in his guild, honestly.

Lorraine V

Darwin cruises are mentioned multiple times and I don't recall a description, guess the oceans are semi safe and any ocean capable vessel was packed with refugees and called a Darwin cruise ship

nin10do

When all the mask comes together with elixir project max stats and Rochelle ultimate adjustments to Sal bones and muscles etc. what will he become as he has skill master and all sight from his dad when he’s trained up to those abilities including copying his mother weave from an early age he has the body manipulation weave which he thought was only restoration with was all cause damage to his eyes when myth-crafter was created. What other abilities would he need as a hero? I may be wrong but this is how I have read the current books as I understand them or am I overthinking it

Jim Ricker

What a POST, I have read and reread these chapters several times... what a fun read. Thanks

Abhishek

Finally!!!!!!!

Nate

I find Sal's paralyzing indecision to be really frustrating, and even though it happens a lot it is still jarringly dissonant somehow.

Michael Munroe

The war spider did not have tricks of its legs, and I hope the term isn’t too vulgar, but those tricks were really up its … backside. (ass)

Whitestag

Not sure if anyone else has already commented this but in chapter 79 when the war spider unleashes its first psionic attack and Sal is unaffected, he says it is because of a bracelet his father got for him but I thought he had stopped using that and now he gets the Warded ability to protect him from psionic and influence attacks from his Guildmaster variant Hat/Cap that Fabi and Upgrade made for him.

Brett 'Swantz' Swanson

Brian, the last line of chapter 77 is one my favorites! 👍🤪