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Downloads

  • Chapter 26 (2,389 words).pdf
  • Chapter 27 (2,307 words).pdf
  • Chapter 28 (2,119 words).pdf
  • Chapter 29 (2,448 words).pdf
  • Chapter 30 (2,756 words).pdf

Missing 5 files.

Content

Hey Everyone,

Happy Monday! I managed to get through 5 chapters this week, and I'm curious to see what you'll think. There's a bit of a cliffhanger with the last chapter, just to warn you all in advance. It's nothing crazy, but it's a fun one that I needed a bit of time to think over for the next chapters. :)

It's been incredible seeing the Patreon activity with so many likes and comments on the chapters. So many people are joining and catching up with great questions. I'm a little overwhelmed by it, so apologies if I'm not quick in responding.

Anyway, I'll see you next week. I'll be off to DragonCon between the 27th and 1st September, so it'll be a reduced amount of chapters in that time. I'll try to get a few extras before leaving.

Brian

Comments

Mark Ryane

I love it, but this Everest height cliff is going to kill me all week.

Taylor

"Just a bit of a cliffhanger" he says

Lacan

I've debated back and forth about giving this feedback, but it keeps mentally nagging at me, so I'll try to be constructive here. I think that there's way too much going on in the narrative, and you have, in many ways, made Sal's ability too hand-wavy-powerful. Sal is deliberately written as having "too much" on his to-do list--but then he seems to always be forgetting the to-do list, like a hyperactive puppy with ADHD. The refrain of "oh yeah, I was supposed to do that--here let me do these sixteen other things instead" has been going on for a while now, and having him constantly succeed at everything (while all the hopes and fears and needs of the world get piled onto a 19-year-old by adults who seem to forget that fact) feels a bit shallow. At this point, I'm also not really sure what the Academy can meaningfully provide to him (which sort of defeats the purpose of the entire series' premise). If he can just point Mythcrafter + Prime at a problem and it's just solved, then what is the struggle? Where's the character development? The discussion in these chapters w/ Fabi about "needing help with the essence programming" is a bit laughable because, well, he literally made Prime without doing any of that. He doesn't even seem to be suffering from stress. Every five seconds, he's making something revolutionary but there are no downsides, and every potential issue (e.g., his abilities' effect on eyesight) gets resolved rather quickly with equipment (or situation) ex-machina. There is no villain, no clear counter, no struggle. The main antagonist of the story is literally "time management." Skill Master (now Paragon) + Perfect + Mythcrafter + Athena/Prime, feels like, well, what every venture capitalist in Silicon Valley thinks AI is going to be. Solve every problem, make everything better, no downsides, drawbacks, or potential issues. If that's the case, why should he ever go to classes? He has a packed schedule, and he's spending all weekend crafting? Where are the stakes here? Honestly, I'd love a different POV. Especially from Bastion or the demons' vantage point. They're supposed to be the big bads and are clearly coordinated, so...what's going on there? Where does Sal's ability pull its information from? Why does it even work properly if he's inexperienced?

Frilas

At the end, before the Skill-Master stuff, Sal refers to the Reactor as the better version of the Capacitor, filled with cores raided together, absorbing or generating essence. Cores don’t have that ability; only Leecher cores inherently absorb atmospheric essence, and they also don’t generate it by themselves, as explained in Book 1 with the restored epic core and in Book 3 chapter 11 with the legendary coat. I understood the Capacitor as being made from essence plates, which are plates refined out of cores with runes attached to them, like self-replenishing runes.

Justin

Just because he didn't explain that the Cores have essence replenishing runes on them or any other form he chose to take, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just that it wasn't relevant in that spot in the story.

Perversity

I just gotta say. When Cyberpunk 2077 was getting released there was all these posters from em, Form over style, function over form, style over what ever..... BLAH BLAH BLAH. People need to stop worrying about LOOKS, who cares about being a fashion model in your combat gear. Combat gear is made to do a job, not look pretty. If someone cares more about looks over function for their Mythical combat sleeve, then just nope them right off the list. Oh SORRY Blaithy-Poo.... You say I have no style.... NEXT.... I ban you permanently to the back of the line Blaithy-Poo. Idea for the Arachne-Arkwright name Rache-Wright (yeah yeah, it's a dumb name, but if you say it aloud.... Rack-Right..... It made me laugh dangit)

alan prohaska

So I don't want to be a downer because I love the series but I wish he was working on a different project it's just not exciting to have to read through a 5-8 chapter build on him making a second archright just for other people to use it. And to be honest Sals altruism is actually getting kind of annoying. Like can he make some pants first for himself as cool as his armor is he didn't even make it.

Alteron

I think Sal’s plan is strengthening Quests hand, he saw at the gala how weak a position Quest Academy had, and the things he have made are serving both his Guild and the Academy. The crafting department will/are self funded, the equipment will be generated at will. A little bit more and the Academy will not need anyone else.

Ron Blondeau

I think the crafting weekend with Fabi should be dropped and have Sal concentrate on his guild projects.

Cory Bassing

I've said it before, but now that Sal and Fabi are working on another project,they should definitely have an official corporation between his guild and her with the shared headquarters and all the work that they do together

Cory Bassing

A guild outing on the weekend to see the depot?

R. Maxwell Steele

He honestly should have just worked with the crafters who actually want to team up. Not work with Fabi who is on the outside with a foot in the door, not ever really willing to commit. That's simply bad business.

Cory Bassing

Maybe tie it in with that outing from ARC. Sal could even buy that first restaurant he looked at now that he doesn't have to pay for the depot LO.L

Brett 'Swantz' Swanson

Chapter 29, page 2, upper: "essence seemed into" should be "essence seeped into."

Brett 'Swantz' Swanson

Chapter 30, page 3, bottom: "just incase" should be "just in case."

Jack

I voted for a divinity match up, but I've changed my mind. Fabi, definitely Fabi. Skill paragon! Total fan of skill paragon

Rainy

I know this is way late after the fact but chapter 26... the delivery guys wouldn't use "onus" they'd be snarky and grumpy and say something more like "its not our job to tell you" or "we dont get paid to call every single person that gets a delivery, be a big boy and check yourself." I feel like altruism/altruistic and "onus" get used across the board when its more natural that everyone explains something differently. Same thing with "withering look".

Stryker

I'm really not a fan of Fabi, she's becoming more arrogant and selfish as the story progresses. The nicer he is today, the more people expect from him in the future. We're far past the point in a story where the main character should have grown a spine.

ren

Up to chapter 26 now and just wanted to get out some of the thoughts I’ve been having. The first few chapters were kind of difficult to get through. Well not difficult, but compared to the other books in the series. There wasn't really any hook or something to really grab my attention to make me keep reading. The last couple of chapters have been good though, and I loved the interactions with Sal and Erika. It was mentioned in a previous book about the possibility of Sal and Fabi getting married in the future, which would have been a cool setup for a romance arc, yet nothing has been done with that, and there hasn't been much interactions between the two that are more on the personal side, mostly just crafting together. It’d be cool to see more of Fabi and the possible romance arc. I also really want to see something with the Silver Sanctuary guild HQ. They have ownership of it now but it hasn't really been mentioned. I also feel like there's not much character development happening at the moment, and most of the characters are just there to help Sal with whatever he needs help with. I’d love to see more interactions between the Sal and the others that isn't just work work work. Overall though, I’m enjoying the story, but just wanted to share my thoughts. I’ve managed to read the first five books in 4 days, and I haven't been this captivated by books in a while. I could barely put the phone down to go to sleep each night.