TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN: It's All Heroes or Aliens
Last Edited: May 15, 2026
******
By the middle of the second full week of term, Alden had settled in enough to start thinking of his schedule of classes and self-assigned practice hours as his routine until something big came up.
He expected that big something to be Stuart’s affixation and everything that would follow it. The looming event crossed his mind a dozen times or more a day, but he was trying to cultivate equanimity about it. He’d filled his time with spell practice, skill practice, and learning everything else he could think of that might help them on Goldbush. He was doing as much as he knew how to do. Stuart would take the next step, and Alden would be there, as he’d promised.
Equanimity is hard, though, he thought as he listened while Instructor Ash pointed out everything wrong with Judah Blake’s movement through traffic during the superhero’s famous capture of an unregistered high-rank speedster.
Watching the speedster made Alden think of how difficult it had been to get a shield in front of an inconveniently sensible Winston Heelfeather during a duel they’d had in Combat I yesterday. Struggling against Winston reminded him that a couple of the animals on the list of native species he’d been learning for Goldbush used speed to escape predators or catch prey. Some of those animals would demonize toward even more rapidity. Rapid demons made him wonder if he and Stuart could handle that kind of problem, which made him think about Stuart’s affixation. And from there, he started worrying that Ro-den or Stuart’s family were stressing him out right now and weakening him when he needed to be at his strongest.
I focus on my job. It’s all fine.
His job at the moment was simple enough—watching Instructor Ash knock on the smart board with a ring to emphasize his criticism of his fellow Avowed. “Look at the idiotic way Judah chose to land on the hood of this van. Half of you could have done it better. Torsten Klein must lose a week of his lifespan every time someone calls something like this a display of athleticism. During one of your upcoming course days, I’ll make sure to include a moving obstacle the same size as this van, traveling at the same speed. If any of you splatter yourself across it like an insect that met it by accident, your team might not run again this quarter.”
Some people laughed. Others paled.
Today’s class was Alden’s eighth with Instructor Ash, if he counted last Friday’s coursing day despite it having been a total failure. The lesson wasn’t on how much Judah Blake sucked at handling himself in traffic, despite the instructor spending longer on this video clip than on most of the others he’d shown. They were talking about approaches to grabbing on to objects, or other Avowed, in motion. Alden assumed it was a sign that courses with moving obstacles were coming up sooner rather than later.
That’s exciting…if we actually get to run.
Ash hadn’t said anything as rude as he had on the first day with that remark about Alden being the weakest member of the weakest team in class. But the man definitely wasn’t in the running for most likable teacher on campus.
“This one shows a hero most of you won’t be familiar with,” he was saying as he pulled up another video. This time it was of a teenager riding a bicycle along a wall that ran along the edge of a flat roof. “He’s been working for decades, but he hasn’t ever been considered very interesting by the media. I selected it because the hero’s about to snatch this champion of poor judgment from the air as he falls past the sixth floor window. He saves the fool, and the bicycle, with no harm to either. How would you do the same with your powers? Include the bicycle. We’ll pretend it was something actually worth saving.”
Hands went up more slowly than they would have for other instructors, but they did go up. Alden doodled a bicycle on his tablet while he worked out an answer of his own. He knew how the rescue in question had gone down in real life because it was one of Howl Hawk’s, and even if it wasn’t globally well-known, it was cool enough that it still got replays in Chicago during interviews with him. It had happened before Alden was born. Howl Hawk had burst through the window and shaped pillars of wind to save the falling teenager. The hero had hit the concrete first and caught the guy and his bicycle while smiling, like it was easy.
That shouldn’t have been easy for him if it was a surprise. Maybe it wasn’t surprising? He could have seen the guy goofing off on the roof and been heading up to talk to him. I don’t think I’ve ever heard details. Howl Hawk has kind of transitioned away from smiling since then.
Alden did have some ideas about how he’d like to save a falling person himself.
If I preserved someone who was falling off a building, then took them to a safe location and dropped them there instead that would be neat.
He didn’t want to answer that way, though, since he’d have to get into details like whether or not the person falling needed to shout, “I entrust myself to you!”
While he was trying to come up with another way to do it, he saw Vandy’s hand go up. That was a normal sight, but it stole more than its usual share of his attention now. During the past couple of classes, he’d gotten the impression that Vandy was being disproportionately ignored. He was trying to figure out if he was right about that strange conclusion or not.
Ash should really call on her for this one, he thought as he watched the instructor nod at a second year Meister whose team sat near the front. Vandy’s a Sky Shaper. One day she’ll be able to do the rescue the same way Howl Hawk did. Maybe she could even pull it off right now.
And Vandy hadn’t been called on to speak today. Alden had been called on two of the three times he’d raised his own hand. He still braced himself for whatever was going to come out of the instructor’s mouth when he did it, but so far he’d gone largely unscathed.
To his relief, most of their classroom lessons with Ash had been educational.
They watched other superhumans move over and through obstacles—often superheroes at work, but also coursing teams at the high school and university levels. And they talked about the specifics of what talents those people were using and whether or not there were better ways for Avowed with those abilities to approach the type of challenge being shown. Watching footage and then talking about it reminded Alden of how Marion had structured the first Engaging with the Unexpected class, but the similarities ended there.
Ash, almost always drinking a coffee that he added multiple sugar packets to as the lesson progressed, wasn’t interested in hearing his students debate each other. And he didn’t care to examine the mindsets and emotional struggles of superheroes or superhero hopefuls. He only cared about how well they had used their magic and their bodies. And some other factors that Alden hadn’t quite managed to figure out.
If I understood what he looks for in other superhumans, maybe we’d be able to work it into our strategy for this week.
The instructor kept calling on people other than Vandy.
Why? He was definitely picking her more last week. Wouldn’t most teachers have called on her by now since she’s a great student and she puts her hand up every time?
Am I reading too much into it?
“That’s all,” Ash said abruptly after showing them the finale of the Howl Hawk video. “We’re done for the day.”
He wasn’t one of those instructors who tied a bow on the end of his lessons. And he didn’t do the ubiquitous, “Does anyone have any questions?” thing. He just quit and took off the minute class ended, usually before his students had a chance to start standing up from their desks.
“Strategies are due tomorrow,” Ash said as the smart board turned off.
A few hands shot toward the ceiling. They were much faster than they had been a minute ago.
“You already know everything you need to,” the instructor said, looking at the hands like they were a fence he was going to need to jump before he could escape. “Strategy evaluation day will be the same as last week.”
I hope it’s not exactly the same, thought Alden, slipping his tablet and stylus into his bag.
The desk to his front right creaked as Mehdi leaned forward in it, his hand waving like he had an urgent question. He wasn’t even the most zealous. That title went to another Agility Brute whose name Alden hadn’t yet learned. She was an S-rank with the same talent package Febri had. Alden thought she was either a first year in her third quarter or a second year in her first. He did know she was on an all-Brute team that had suffered the same fate as his own last week, which might have been why she practically fell out of her seat and threw an arm in front of Ash like she would die if he didn’t answer her question.
He met her eyes for a second. It was long enough that she took it as an invitation.
“If we didn’t get to run the course at all last week, does that mean we get a guaranteed run this week?” she blurted.
“Yeah!” said Jeffy from his seat beside Alden before their instructor could speak. “I bet that’s how it works!”
Alden turned to shoot a quelling look at the Aqua Brute and caught Lexi and Kon both doing the same.
“That’s not going to be how it works,” Ash said, ripping open the fourth sugar packet of the hour and sprinkling it into a cup of coffee that had to be nearly empty. “It works like I explained already. If your strategies are approved, you can run. If not, you’ll try again.”
“Oh,” said Jeffy.
The girl who’d asked the question made a much sadder noise.
Ash exhaled. “Seven Avowed combining their talents should be able to come up with ideas worth the floor. The last time I taught this class, every team ran at least once before the quarter ended. Goodbye.”
He exited the room before anyone else.
“We got a goodbye today!” Heloísa said, tossing her ponytail as she stood. “He’s warming up to us.”
“He doesn’t get warmer than this,” the only third year in the class told her, striding for the door. “Not in my experience. Good luck, newbies.”
“Here we go. Up, my teammates! On your feet. Meeting outside now.” Kon sprang out of his desk and started clapping Jeffy on the shoulder encouragingly.
“Now?” asked Ignacio.
“Now. Just for a second. Come on.”
“I have a class to get to,” said Lexi.
“A second.”
They were huddled up outside on the small lawn in front of the MPE building a minute later. Alden could see students streaming past on the walkway a few steps behind Kon, who stood across their group from him.
“So, you all heard what Instructor Ash just said. That man is absolutely willing to never let us on the floor if he doesn’t like our strategies. What are we going to do about it?”
Kon had his usual energy in his voice. Alden was paying more attention to his moods now, even though the two of them hadn’t said much of anything to each other about Kon’s future on the Sdyelis Branch or what Esh-erdi might have told him about it. They never seemed to end up alone together. Alden suspected that was somewhat intentional on Kon’s part, but Kon had also welcomed him onto this team, ensuring they’d see each other every single weekday, so he didn’t think it was anything to worry about.
“He said every team got to last time,” said Jeffy. His mohawk had been ombré blue instead of a solid shade since break.
“He said ‘at least once.’ And it wasn’t even a promise! I don’t want to be on the gym floor once for this class. I want to run courses with you guys every week.”
“We all want that, Kon,” said Lexi. “But we don’t know what he’s looking for.”
Alden had heard that other Coursing instructors divided the time evenly among the teams. Ash preferred his own approach. In class tomorrow, each of the seven teams would turn in brief descriptions or video of strategies they wanted to use to overcome the two obstacles they’d been told in advance would be a part of Friday’s course. It was the only homework they had.
Tomorrow, and every Thursday to come this term, the instructor would sit at his desk and evaluate those strategies while more clips he’d put together played at the front of the room. For the first half hour, students were allowed to quietly talk or text back and forth with their teammates. If something they saw on the videos or some flash of inspiration made them want to submit a different strategy, they could during that time. But for the last half of class, they had to wait for the instructor’s judgement.
Last Thursday, at the very end of the period, Alden had wondered if it was taking so long because Ash was writing a lot of comments on everyone’s strategies. Then, thirty seconds before class ended, the names of the five teams that were approved to run the following day had appeared on the board, and Ash had swept out of the classroom without explaining why their team and the all-Brute one had been denied.
His written commentary on their efforts was only four words long: “This is not enough.”
Alden had been more furious about that throwaway line than anything else. Getting nothing more than that back after they’d taken the time to meet as a team and work out ideas together made him want to find Rahul on the uni campus, borrow the Wright’s weapon, and launch Ash toward the nearest wall with it.
While the five chosen teams ran, they had sat on the bleachers or stood around near the barriers, only occasionally watching the action because they were busy trying to put together last-minute revised strategies. Ash said he’d consider edits up until the final run, but every time they’d sent Ignacio to deliver their new plans—operating on Kon’s assurances that Ash liked Ignacio during Superlatives club meetings—they’d gotten a shake of the head.
“I could have beaten some of those teams he let run last week,” Mehdi declared.
“By yourself?” asked Haoyu.
“Maybe I was the problem last week.” Kon sighed. “I really wanted to use my skill like we did when we flew across the gym on the dog crate, so we kept trying to make me a part of one of the strategies. Let’s not list me in a major role for this week.”
“You were going to get us to the top of the floating island, though,” said Alden. The floating island obstacle was what it sounded like. It floated, so there was no way to climb it. They had to jump or fly up to it. Their current plan involved Ignacio’s knives and Kon’s ability to send those knives back to a previous location.
“It’s too impractical. Maybe that’s what makes it, ‘Not enough,’” said Kon.
Lexi scowled at the reminder. He’d appreciated getting Ash’s four-word response to last week’s work almost as much as Alden had.
“Let’s come up with something different to submit for the island,” Kon said. “Can you guys get together for a practice today? We’ll brainstorm. Try some things.”
They all agreed quickly.
Kon clapped his hands together. “How soon can we do it?”
“This was my only class today,” said Alden. “So whenever the rest of you want—”
<<How did you end up with only one class on Wednesdays?>> asked Ignacio.
“Technically, I do have a meeting with an independent study mentor every Wednesday, too, but half the time we’re just going to exchange emails instead.”
Last week, an advisor had called to ask what was up with his schedule. Alden had argued with her stubbornly and shamelessly until she gave in and agreed he could keep the classes he’d selected and add no others. Promising he could test out of a math class that he was definitely not able to test out of at present, and hinting that he needed his electives to be now and about aliens for important Rabbit reasons, had earned him a free pass until next quarter.
A couple of months from now, he might end up trying to cram an entire math course into his brain with the help of Olorn-art’h’s earring, but why worry about it before then?
“I’ll send you my basic schedule so that you have it,” he said to Kon. “We should have already done that since you’re our organizer guy.”
“I prefer Captain Kon to ‘organizer guy.’”
After they all went their separate ways, Alden sent Kon his class list. With the optional study halls removed, it looked like he wasn’t doing too much:
Monday
8:00 AM -10:00 AM — Accelerated Combat I (A/B Fitness) - meet at track
10:30 AM -11:30 AM — Coursing I — MPE 108
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM — Accelerated Combat I — MPE Gymnasium
10:30 AM -11:30 AM — Coursing I — MPE 108
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM — Meet with faculty mentor for Advanced Independent Study of Other Worlds
10:30 AM -11:30 AM — Coursing I — MPE 108
Thursday
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM — Accelerated Combat I — MPE Gymnasium
10:30 AM -11:30 AM — Coursing I — MPE 108
Friday
5:00 AM - 7:00 AM — Coursing I (runs) — MPE Gymnasium
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM — Storytelling in Artonan — Pacific Welcome House
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM — Engaging with the Unexpected II — Forthright 1207
The Friday situation was going to be a little rough, but he was done by noon four days a week. At least on paper. In practice, he was dedicating that time to spells and everything else he was doing that Celena North didn’t offer classes for.
His mentor for the independent study had seemed really excited he was so passionate about her subject last week. He hoped that enthusiasm would translate to approval for the study he had proposed in his email to her this morning—Considerations for Humans Traveling to Worlds Corrupted By Survivable Levels of Chaos. He was studying that anyway, and he thought it would be satisfying to formalize some of it and get credit for it.
It’s all heroes or aliens. Good job, me.
Somewhere way back in his past, a younger version of himself would have been childishly delighted by a schedule like this one.
“Hey, Victor, you excellent orange dude,” he said as he strolled into his apartment and was greeted by the cat. “You want to come and help me study?”
Victor followed him back to his room, and Alden shut the door behind them. He slipped his leaf out from under the auriad on his arm and placed the end of it in a glass of water he’d left on the desk. Then he requested his books and growing supply of tools from System storage, enjoying the way the ingredient pouch felt in his hands.
Setting up the soundproof tent Stuart had given him involved dropping it on the floor and reaching out to gently tap the opening symbol with his authority. It sprang to life, becoming an opaque green half-dome that Alden thought would expand into a sphere if he could somehow open it in midair. It didn’t quite fit in his room, but when it encountered anything remotely heavy it just stopped expanding in that direction. He could enter or leave it through a panel on one side.
Finally, he took his learning cushion off his loft bed, where it now stayed most of the time. Victor had demonstrated destructive impulses toward the fake cushion and could never be allowed unsupervised access to the real one. Supervised access was fine, though. Alden took cushion, cat, magical supplies, earring, two cat toys, and an ordinary battery-powered lamp into the tent and sealed them all in together.
It was cozy to kneel on his cushion, petting his cat, and settling in for what he knew would be a long study session.
He started differently these days than he had before, selecting the nyip pod and a few other items from his ingredient pouch, spreading them out in front of him, and then closing his eyes. He pictured himself reaching toward someone else nearby whose location he wasn’t sure of. That wasn’t really what he was doing, but thinking that way made it easier to expand his sense of the space around him more evenly. Just a couple of arm lengths in every direction, he reached and then withdrew to his usual, quiet spot with a fresh awareness of the reality around him.
The objects that surrounded him—cushion, tent, clothes, more—couldn’t be identified as what they were except for the fact that he already knew. But they could be easily identified as something different from his own body, the nyip pod, and Victor.
He waited a while for the cat to stop brushing by him, so that he was sure he couldn’t tell through his sense of touch where his pet was. Then, he focused a little harder.
He’s in front of me now.
To my left.
In front of me again.
To my right.
How far?
He thought about that last question for as long as he needed to even though this learning partner had a tendency to ruin things by making himself vocally or physically obvious if Alden was slow.
If I reach my right hand out, down a little and back a little…my elbow will still be slightly bent when my hand touches the cat. That’s correct.
He did it, and his hand encountered soft fur exactly where he expected it to be.
“Good kitty,” he said, smiling and opening his eyes. “You feel like life.”
Victor pressed his head into Alden’s fingers and offered a rumbling purr.
******
******
Late that afternoon, Alden found himself in the same park down in F where the Christmas market had been held. He stood on the grass near a bandstand that was unoccupied except for the occasional curious kid peering through the decorative railing. His hands were wrapped around the heel and grass-stained toe of the object he’d been entrusted with—a shoe— and his eyes were on the nonagon floating up in the air to his left. It was higher than anyone on their team could jump under normal conditions.
He could hear five of his teammates discussing what he was about to do while Haoyu stood inside his own preserved sneaker, balancing his weight there and eyeing the nonagon, too. His face was pure eagerness despite being smeared with dirt from previous attempts.
“I’m not sure the shoes are working as well for us as T-shirt lifts were,” said Alden. “And I’m concerned about breaking everyone else’s ankles or something if we try this same trick with them. But you’re my entruster, so whenever you’re ready…”
Talking to the side of Haoyu’s leg was an unusual experience, especially while Alden held him so easily that it didn’t really feel like he was holding someone.
“Count to three, and throw me!”
“Double-handed, underhanded toss on three,” Alden confirmed, bending his knees. “I’ll try not to send you flipping this time, but no promises. One…two…THREE!”
He heaved the shoe upwards. Balancing during the toss and maneuvering once he was in the air was Haoyu’s job. Alden tried to throw the shoe in a way that didn’t make that impossible. Sending it up like he wanted it to travel in a clean, spin-free arc then land on the nonagon was the move they were going for.
Haoyu sailed into the sky with a whoop.
Jeffy yelled his approval.
“Too much!” Ignacio called.
Definitely too much! Alden pressed his finger to the appropriate symbol on the driving ring, and sent the nonagon down and forward at an angle, trying to intercept his falling roommate. It didn’t so much catch Haoyu as give him something to bounce off of. He hit the ground in a roll, and leaped back up, clapping his hands and laughing. “Yes! Again! Alden, what if you hold me, jump, and then throw me at the top of your jump?”
“I’m not even aiming you correctly as it is!” Alden looked over his shoulder at the rest of them. “I think this could be good on runs when we’re out of other options, but I don’t know about making it one of our strategies for this Friday. What do you all think?”
“Can I fly?” Ignacio asked.
“I could land better than Haoyu,” Mehdi said.
“If by better you mean ‘in more pieces,’” said Lexi.
“I can roll out of a fall that high fine. Do you want me to prove it to you?”
“No.”
“I’m sending you footage from my last duel to prove it to you.”
Ignacio was zipping up his jacket and heading over toward Alden. “I’ll do this.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You do my jacket and throw?”
“Sure. This is good practice for me. But for the team?” He looked questioningly at Kon.
Kon looked from him to the nonagon and back. “Are we all fine to practice for at least another hour?”
Heads nodded.
“Apex! Let’s see if Alden can get better at throwing humans around!”
Comments (208)
Chapter dropped!
I picked it up. It was good!
For those of us to which it is relevant... Happy April Fools Day!
I went over to the Soup Discord. There are at least four Sleycas (Sleycæ?) over there now...
i think you need to look again at the user list, theres well over 200 Sleycæ. even I'm apparently Sleyca, so its bot/mod causing some april 1 chaos.
It occurs to us that when chapter releases are "approximate" like this, and one chooses to wait on standby rather than sleeping or shifting focus to another task, it's useful to have something to reread in the meantime. Something familiar enough that it can be comfortably set aside when the notification comes in. Of course, many of us rely on Super Supportive itself for this purpose, since we all love it so much. It's an old, dear friend that's become a close companion to so many of us. Still, there are times when one would prefer a change of pace , or perhaps would find switching between different points in the story to be a burden. In such cases, it can be valuable to have another familiar friend to return to, something we love to reread to keep us company when times are hard. In other words, A Proxy Mate. 😉 What are your favorite go-to rereads? Ours are The Expanse, Project Hail Mary, and Robin Hobbs' Elderling Saga. Share your own below! General Content Advisory Link for the authors of this comment: https://glowfic.com/users/2759
Zenith of Sorcery apparently graced me with 2 new chapters, so I am momentarily content.
The approximate keeps going...
Are we being taught something through this?
One evil professor vanquished. Has another appeared so soon?
Maybe Alden needs to wave a scary stick at him...
Well hello, hello March 31st...
Hello friends! Any of you who use my timeline may have noticed that recently the link broke because the hosting service was being a jerk. If you’re wondering where it went, or are interested in using a timeline to help keep events straight in your memory, here’s the new link! https://TerrestrialBiped.github.io/Super-Supportive-Timeline/patreon-latest.html
Thank you, Terrestrial Biped. I appreciate your work.
Pls no april fools
Oh no I hadn’t considered that. Incoming chapter from the perspective of a klerm lol
Another 12-14 hours... Approximately.
I'll bet the over =)
Prediction 1: Goldbush has a semi-conscious chaos monster that abducts knight initiates to turn them into more semi-conscious chaos monsters. Alden and and Stu get captured as well. Ro'den knew this would happen, intelligent chaos monsters ultimately wiping out the Artonans. Prediction 2: Alden starts with having semi-permanent entrusted objects that he wears to use for stopping bullets, taking on falls, physical hits, spells. Maybe a uniform.
Prediction 3: Lute and Emilijia sneak onto the coursing track, "chain up" and beat it on a whim. Emilijia asks to try the other half of the chains, so they hang out in the common room of the boys' apartment for a while. Haoyu invites Emilijia to make friends with the vacuum... but does not tell her about the Bromelias prank, so Lute does not get to (attempt to) act cool and mature about it. Later, slug-Lute slides on a banana peel as a means of locomotion.
So how long till Alden ranks up?
Either at the next affixation, or during the time spent on goldbush. More likely the second, because he'll probably fall slightly short even if he manages to get his skill to the high teen levels before the coming affixation. Rank is a more or less meaningless concept for Alden anyway if you're curious, the maths is based on an old comment from Sleyca that says a level 35-40 B rank could have more authority than a brand new A rank, except that their authority would be split across many different talents, causing them to lose in a clash of powers. In Alden's case, that authority will be bound mostly into BoaB, making him look similar to a level 1 A rank. If he gets to a level in the high teens before his affixation roughly doubling the size of his skill, it will end up in the low level 30 range, or possibly the high 20s due to each level being more of an authority increase than the previous (due to it being a percentage increase. compound interest maths applies). At some point in the 35-40 range, he'll cross the threshold of being equivalent to an A rank from a skill based class like shaper or rabbit
I feel like the story is progressing so rapidly. That we are missing things, things I would like to have seen. The last several chapters have been like this. Examples: Alden's reception with Reinhard and Winston after they found out he was in coursing. What did they say to him about it or how was he welcomed the next class with them. What is a general idea of what his other classes are like. I wanted to see what his new "language" class was like, who is in it, how do they get along, and how did the relationship with the grad student teacher change. I know these are both from the last chapter change and you might address some in the future, but you may not and it feels skipped. I wanted to see Alden's conversation with Jeremy, the one about Boe. You said Alden planned to call him the day after his call with Boe from the siblinghold. (That is a little wordy in a weird way but the best I could do) I feel like we are missing the important, little things.
I have to disagree, not everything has to happen on-screen even if the morsels are delicious. In particular things like how Reinhard and Winston react? meh, that's just schadenfreude and mostly for us readers as Alden seems to have moved past them. I am a little curious about the other classes but I trust Sleyca to only provide such content when it really fleshes out the world, gives a much needed clue/foreshadowing or some other literary reason. At some point, I have to assume that class is class and I personally have sat through enough language learning to know it's not particularly compelling unless it's the scence for something else happening. I do sincerly hope the call with Jermey sheds some light upon Boe's troubles but I suspect that we won't learn more about those until Alden can form a contract.
Any approximate second now, surely.
It's probably going to be at least 20 hours before it drops.
Incidentally I was today years old when I learned that a shrike is a kind of particularly carnivorous songbird and that's probably what Ignacio was going for. I assumed it meant shrike like the synonym for dragon because I have seen that occasionally in fantasy books, which would be kinda random but not the oddest choice of alter ego name ever. But no, it does make more sense he named himself after the songbird famous for stabbing its prey on sharp branches Vlad-the-Impaler style. I think. I'm a little traumatized by the pictures. It's not that different from a sea gull dropping a clam on rock to break it except somehow it is since they hunt more obviously vertebrate critters like mice, lizards, and smaller birds. And do they really occasionally lure smaller songbirds to their doom by mimicking their calls? That's like something out of a horror movie. Dude that is a metal moniker. Also with this chapter brings the total count of bird-themed superheroes (well supers, Ignacio's in training) to three. EDIT: Correction, 4 if we count Skiff's buddy who was mentioned way back.
Shrike, Howl Hawk, Skiff’s buddy Sebastian with the hoopoe costume, and Colibri. Took me a minute to remember Colibri means hummingbird.
Kon - “Hey other teams! What did your write in your strategy documents? We’re trying to figure out what we are missing!”
‘I advise you to be more inspiring.’
"By the middle of the second full week of term" Is anyone else as excited as I am about the many time jumps we've been getting in recent chapters? Whole weeks are going by without any commentary! For so long it has felt like Alden has been fighting his way through life day by day, but now life is starting to move normally again. I think the therapy and friendship has really done wonders for his mental/emotional state. But this is also great as a reader because some of the future events that I've been looking forward to reading might be written sooner than expected.
I'm honestly a little worried about the number of time skips. I like the story progressing, but I dont want to loose the interpersonal dynamics and moments with all the characters. I understand a dialing back as the previous section of the story was about Alden settling in, finding space for himself, and choosing. Ultimately I'm going to trust Sleyca and what she wants to write and show us.
At some point during this school quarter, I want Rahul to get the text, "Hurry to the gym, bring large cannon. I have Ash preserved."
I bet they don’t have a plan approved until it has multiple contingencies for each obstacle.
Perhaps Ash's name is actually a spoiler of things to come. Alden will learn what to do in class, perform amazingly, gain his attention, and helpful instruction. At that point Alden with be politely devastating again, saying something far more eloquent than "if i didn't need your instruction before, i dont need it now", absolutely roasting him by exposing his bare luminous heart turning him to ash.
or maybe he wants his students to be the very best, like no one ever was. to catch villains is their real test, to train powers is their cause. they will travel across the land, searching far and wide. it's CNH to understand, the power that's inside
Sleyca is doing a great job of making me hate Snape. I mean Ash. Even so, I hated Klein. I loved Joe. Sleyca has successfully psyched me out multiple times by adding surprising, convincing layers to characters. C’mon Sleyca, make me hate Ash & then convince me he’s much more reasonable & relatable than he seems right now. I love a good twist.
Or continue making him so wildly unlikable we unify the reader base for generations! Team Pitchforks vs Team Redemption. Find out next time on SleycaBallZ (I do think there is room for nuance for Ash, but I’m very skeptical. And it has been very fun having almost everyone universally not like this man lmao)
I wonder if Ash's criteria is to look interesting for the audience. Maybe the shoe throw for tossing people would qualify.
But the idea of using "Ignacio’s knives and Kon’s ability to send those knives back to a previous location." should have done the trick in that case.
Hopefully we get to see the adjuster club soon. Maybe it hadn't restarted for the new term yet, but Alden didn't go last week. Observing opal may give Alden an epiphany that will help with the remote preservation goal
I hade that same thought for the Artonan storytelling! I hope it's in the next chapter as well as the new Club
What characters do y'all want to see most in the upcoming chapters?
I'm still holding out hope that B74 will show up again. (Spoiler: it won't happen.)
Man people really hate this teacher. He just seems eccentric so far, but not even remotely as unlikeable as other "hardball" teachers who have ended up being cool people in other stories. Give it a second guys haha.
He’s been mentioned before, iirc the other teachers aren’t a fan of him either.
Can someone explain to me, please, why Alden is the tosser with his ability? Shouldn't the others be able to toss as well simply because of their higher stats? Not only considering strength, but also control of the throw. Just throw Alden up there with a rope ladder which he then preserves so everyone can easily climb up. Or is the obstacle really WAY higher then I have in my head right now?
Alden only has to throw the object that's been entrusted too him, the person on/in the object just gets thrown alongside by Alden's preservation authority. So, they could have the other kids trying to throw the weight of an entire person up more than 10 feet (I think), or they could have Alden throwing the weight of a shoe or shirt... Which is much easier.
The CNH faculty have to be aware of Ash's pedagogical style. And yet, he's still on staff. I'd like to think that he's not just a dick to his students for no reason.
I mean, he is an S... Seems like Anesidorans give that rank a lot of slack.
Nothing to do with this chapter, or even this arch really, but I can’t help but wondering how that invasive “fanfic” writer reacted to suddenly not being able to pay to invade Alden’s privacy. She was already fantasising about him being this closeted, shy hero… I doubt being locked out of searching for him with the informants network did anything other than reinforce that image.
Honestly she came into the scene and proceeded to make things worse for both Winston and Kon (by feeding Winston’s ego to get info, and feeding Kons insecurities) then just continued on her merry way off screen. Big refuses to elaborate energy
This tonal shift is hard to get used to. One minute he’s worried his life is over and not sure what his future holds, then the next it’s back to gym class…
Yeah, I have a genuine worry about Alden developing a Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at this point.
I just wanted to say, falling in love with this series has made a huge impact on my life. Everything from Alden being my age, born in the same city, getting stranded in another country (Thegund) without my parents, etc. has made him all the more relatable. But I noticed some things I didn’t have. His kindness, his openness, and his dedication to work…he became my role model throughout high school. Just this week, half of my college applications came back, and I got into my Celena North, UC Berkeley! I’m so excited to go there and do premed, now I just have to be as rich as a Rabbit to pay for college… But thank you Sleyca and Super Supportive, I genuinely think I wouldn’t have gotten this far without this wonderful story. I hope I can enjoy Super Supportive with you all into the future 🥳🥳🥳 Edit: lmk if you're a Cal/UCB alumni, I'd totally love to chat!
Congratulations and good luck! Pre-med isn’t easy, and med school only gets harder after that. Thank goodness there are limits on the hours residents can work now, you may even get to sleep more than once a week.
I wonder if Ash is doing some high level psychology mind games here...
Yes, the well-known 5D chess move of acting like an asshat. Classic long game move to bring out the best in one's students.
Soooouuuup!
My first thought that I haven't seen said yet: what if "this is not enough" literally means it should be longer? A communicative teacher might say "okay that's your plan A. But I need to see plans B-F before you get out there to show me you've really considered your options." If Ash was typically as terrible as he was with one line last chapter he would not be teaching anywhere long, no matter his rank or other qualifications. Highlighting him not calling on Vandy specifically is also interesting. I'm still expecting to dislike him, but I don't think it's as simple as "Winston but an adult with authority." Sleyca has also always given Winston and other characters like him that are shallow people or petty villains a lot of interesting internality to them when they get a enough screen time. I guess overall I'm pretty intrigued by what Ash's particular deal is.
Some of the other adults have weird tendencies, too. It's not like Klein's extremely down-to-earth policies about being consistent are bad in and of themselves. Plim's eagerness about new opportunities isn't necessarily overbearing if you are working with her rather than just being. Getting the worst/most confusing/most difficult part of a person first is certainly not the only thing to judge someone on, for sure. I imagine that Ash has a lot going on, though. He is fully in charge of the Superlatives, so he's at least important enough that he can make the A's and B's upset. His decision to ignore Vandy *does* appear to be a "decision," and not an accident. If there is a deal with Ash, I expect it to at least be rank-related. If not because he cares about it, then at least because the S's or their parents do. Calling people "weak" apropos of nothing isn't a good sign for his viewpoint.
On the plus side, at least this means Alden can get very good at power synergy with a bunch of friends even if the rest of the class is near worthless
I have to say I loved the 'tennis' class. It would have been almost ideal for what Alden originally wanted to do.
A random thought that comes to mind is this: say an unregistered who's lived a quiet and inoffensive life up until their thirties eventually decides to register and move to Anesidora for some reason, is there any criminal punishment for the years they hid their status?
I don't think so. Otherwise it would disincentivize doing so, and both Anesidora and the world in general want people to register
Question for y'all, what celestial bodies exist in the Artonan system and bonus point what planet does Thegund orbit?
I don't think we know much about the Artona 1 solar system. Thegund orbits Kimnor (an aqua and green gas giant with striations like Jupiter with multiple unnamed moons), about 1 light hour away from Artona 1. Artona 2 is in a completely different solar system, and Artona 3 is in a different dimension, much like Earth is in a different dimension.
He hasn't asked about contacts! That would be my first thing
I saw this comment yesterday and did not understand it. I just realised "contacts" is a typo. You meant "contracts". Yes. That would be high on my list of priorities in his situation, too.
Kon’s reaction of getting the one sentence feedback, and immediately assuming that his very existence is the fault, and that they shouldn’t try to use his abilities to get ahead at all is very sad, and very illustrative of how much damage a careless word from a teacher can do.
"He expected his next big something to be Stuart’s affixation and everything that might follow it. " Alden jinxing himself. He's gonna mistakenly murder Kon by tossing him or something.
Imagine going an entire quarter without doing the thing your class is about because your teacher finds you boring. --- On a different note, if the Velras didn't exist and the Palace of Unbreaking were a little less implicitly fanatical, weird, and offputting to their chainers with the ritualism they assign to the process of mass-utilizing chains in a responsible way, I bet it'd be up there with Healer for job satisfaction, especially at high ranks . It's extremely versatile, if you learn a set of chains you can find creative ways of enjoying or ignoring the downsides of it's a massive life quality boon, you can do a lot to help people (either at S with Mass Bestowal or using the specialty chains for use on behalf of others Sleyca mentioned a ways back with the Houses of Healing) in much the same ways a healer is capable of, and just by making responsible use of chains and teaching them to responsible others you're contributing to a very tangible higher cause that will do tremendous good for others in the future. Plus, your Artonan-side work is extremely safe (apart from dealing with weird and uncomfortable ritual usage of your magic). S-Chainer is close to the peak for normal support hero and rescue hero work, and if you don't want to live an exciting life there are dozens of ways to apply that or lesser ranks of the class, down to just making use of your abilities for lifestyle convenience. Unfortunately, Aulia exists, and that's everyone else's problem. Which includes you, if you affix Chainer.
It's not just an Aulia problem -- there are so few offerings of chainer that she is ABLE to make the lives miserable of anyone who gets it. Compared to a merely 'rare' class like rabbit (with a whole warren of globies of various ranks in intake at a given moment), it is like getting struck by lightning to even interact with the chainer class selection (much less get a chance to actually affix chainer). I wouldn't be surprised if the Velra family tries to produce kids in roughly the right intervals to grab up any offerings of it they can. They would have to breed like rabbits to do something like that with, well... rabbit.
How to deal with Ash: A Righteous Scholarly Exit!
Getting hurled into the sky by Alden and then rescued by the nonagon mid-falling down sounds mildly terrifying and majorly thrilling - I bet those occasional curious kids peaking through the bandstand are all eyes (and maybe recording some of this to show their friends later). Curious what Alden's plan is to get himself up on that floating island - is he expecting to have ground to bounce off of after he throws his teammates up one by one?
My assumption was to preserve his shirt before getting Lexi to whip him up there maybe.
It kinda feels like Ash has the “wax on wax off” approach to teaching from the Karate kid. Like he is trying to teach by being vague, sneaky, and clever. But all his other qualities make that method worse, and put serious doubt into whether or not he isn’t just being a lazy prick
And at least the Karate Kid movies had a point about diligence and dedication. Not just being vague for the sake of it
Thanks for the chapter!
If I was in Ash’s class I would drop that course immediately lmao. I bet he has a 1/5 rating on Rate My Professor.
That's exactly what Ash wants you to do.
When are we going to see more of kibby? It feels like it's been so long since we last saw one of her videos or heard from her directly in any capacity and I miss her
She must be close enough to Artona 1 for a direct call rather than a video soon! I keep hoping anyway :)
The shoe tossing just seems like a recipe for sprained or broken ankles. Can't Alden use props in Coursing? Or do we not know Ash's rules? Seems like a board or box or something they could stand on would be a superior launcher than a single shoe. Shirts etc also seem better since they would hold the tossee around their center of mass or at least closer to it. Maybe?
I did wonder if Alden could preserve the shoe and sock together. We know he can treat stacks as 1 object. If the sock goes over the ankle it would support the ankle during the toss. He still loses entrustment when he lets go at the moment so they could still bend their ankles when they land.
Nothing says "super" like yeeting your friends.
Alden’s Fridays! Whew. That looks like a weekly mental breakdown to me. But he IS very young. And very super.
Isn't that just an 8 hour day with a long lunch break in the middle? Early morning, sure, but that's the only rough part really. Nap during lunch I guess.
Heck yeah we get some Alden acting like a superteen. I still think Alden's single greatest weapon would just be a part of gloves entrusted to him. Force application only limited by his authority, flexible, and he could practice with a standard object every time to get things like his force smooth.
I think he might still be looking for gloves since no one makes opera gloves for teenage boys YET
> learning cushion off his loft bed, where it now stayed most of the time since Victor had demonstrated destructive impulses As a cat owner, I'd recommend keeping it in the suitcase. If Victor isn't allowed to play with the cushion, he'll want it more, and he'll find a way up there while he's alone. A zipper will keep things safe; vertical distance will not.
Our Victor may not currently be capable of that vertical jump (no ladder, tubby boy).
Fun stuff, thanks! Can't wait for Aulia and/or the info gear guy to figure out or at least catch a whiff of Alden doing magic and lose their absolute MINDS.
The informant self-imposed a ban on information about Alden for long enough that Alden will be long gone into space
Redeeming ash’s character is going to be impossible at this rate, so maybe we see him fall with Winston
On the scale of the hospital Artonan person to Winston, I don’t know if Ash is closer to Winston yet, but he’s getting there.
Okay. Suddenly I realized the method behind Alden's madness: He's doing all of the spell practice and skill practice now. He knows full well that in the term starting in July he will have the opportunity to do academic work, but not skill or spell work due to his affixation.
Also, if he goes to Goldbush in the near future, this is his only chance to practice.
Surprised the chapter mentions dueling Winston again but doesnt even make it clear whether Alden won or lost, I guess he really doesnt matter anymore.
Alden doesn't actually think he should reliably beat a competent Winston.
Victor as a learning partner is the best!
Alden DID refer to Victor being his learning partner. Who is good enough to provide a moving target. Maybe cats can sense their authority? And Victor is aware of Alden's efforts in this regard?
It would be missing the point of the class, but does Ash want Team Kon to fly the course on the nonagon? Alden is a rabbit-> rabbits have money and wizard friends-> magic tools can be considered his real powers unlike his shitty rabbit avowed power If Ash wants interesting then nonagon. If Ash wants his students to grow and advance their avowed abilities then no nonagon
I dont think "interesting" would be the word, "practical" or "realistic" maybe
Maybe what they need for Ash isn’t one solution for one problem, but something that can handle multiple problems at once? Ash seems to exclude the “weakest team” and the all-Brute team. My guess is that it has to do with their composition in some way. Ash can I guess see some potential which is why he’s not letting them run but isn’t bothering to explain it either. I bet there is some further critique that Ash could give, but he’s not. What’s their team made of? Two meisters, 3 brutes, an adjuster, and Alden. I’d love to see this team become some kind of Brute/Meister yo-yo operation where Alden yeets teammates at problems and then Kon nabs them back. Just go full disruptive/mobility mode or something
After the teams run, I would expect some level of sharing what their plan was with the other teams. That might not happen for many reasons, mostly the super competitive thought that "if I help you get time on the floor then I'm indirectly hurting my own time on the floor". However, I would expect sime of the more outgoing kids to talk to the other groups and do an 'after action' type breakdown to compare all the approved runs. Granted, if the approval is more dependent on being tailored to or taking advantage of specific team compositions it might be harder to measure and recreate that in their own proposals, but they should be able to learn something.
The team needs help from their seniors. Ash has presumably taught this before. There must be 3rd years or uni students who know what Ash is looking for. Rahul is the obvious contact for that. We've even been set up for Alden asking for that. Then they can share with the brute squad. (Solidarity!)
Rahul never managed to achieve whatever Ash is looking for. He might not know what it is. You’re right, though, that one of the seniors has probably figured it out.
Alden was using paracord as his tool last term. What do you all think he will use as his primary gym tool this term?
I'm going to go with folding fan. Maybe a Japanese historical tessen with or without sharpened steel ribs.
Ash gives off the vibe of a teacher who doesn’t want to be teaching. Like, he has his favorite little pet project that does extremely well and a side hustle that performs perfectly so he isn’t worried about tenure, but he needs to be impressed to care about his students. And he might maybe probably be holding a grudge against Vandy’s grandparents? Or maybe just Vandy’s personality? Either way, he gives off the vibe of seat-heavy and unprofessional
Joe: He’s just like me fr
[His written commentary on their efforts was only four words long: “This is not enough.” ] That might as well be “You don’t get to run the course because I don’t want you to.” The complete lack of explanation for the problem(s) with Alden’s team’s plan makes me feel that there aren’t any major issues with it and that Ash just hates their team comp. This is a first year course, any half decent teacher would actually explain what in the teams’ plans needs to be improved. Ash is a horrible instructor and his class feels like it’s going to be a complete waste of Alden’s time. I didn’t think there’d be anyone worse at teaching than that Artonan instructor that quit to try to get a better job, but here we are. Also, the all brute squad getting what seems to be similar treatment makes me think that Ash wants the two teams to swap some players, but won’t actually tell them to do so.
> “You don’t get to run the course because I don’t want you to.” Yeah, real "How do I say 'f*ck-you' without saying 'f*ck-you'" vibes here.
Buddy Toss. Pal Pitch. DeFriendIstration. Amigo High. EleMate. Just trying out names for the newest sport craze on Anisadora.
🤣
Oh Alden, I hope you hire some tutors and do math and science lessons while you can. It will help in the long term! It’s harder to catch up than to keep on top!
Yeah, this is going to bite him on the ass in the future. Probably in the future after the story is over, however.
I am saddened that the first day of Artonan storytelling was not entertaining enough for us to even get a recap. I realise its not directly within Aldens current life priorities, and strengthening his self is important, but i would love to know what that course is all about.
That just means it’ll be an even juicier treat later, when we get more than a recap! It’s been foreshadowed since shortly after the Waves arc and mentioned periodically since then, and the story is entering a slower-paced portion that should have enough breathing room for it. I bet we get a storytelling class chapter fairly soon.
god Alden is such a teenager
I cannot imagine that his mentor has any experience with "survivable levels of chaos". I think he's more likely to be referred to a psychiatrist than see this project approved.
He already has a school psychiatrist! :)
If Alden could hold entrusted objects with his authority, this throwing exercise would be much easier. That said I'm now daydreaming about the time they eventually get to run the course where Alden grabs and throws 4 of them at once and as they leave the screen a mind writher whips back down to snag alden and yank him away Balrog style. =)
Fly, you fools.
I bet Klein and Ash have completely different diets. Klein using a tracker for his macronutrients, ensuring he has optimal nutrition or close to it every day… meanwhile we saw in the Elites-response meeting, Ash took out all his veggies. And now he’s just drinking coffee and sugar hand over fist.
Fun characterization notes.
Are Patreon members only 8 chapters ahead of Royal Road now?
Yes. It tends to ebb and flow, as they are on different schedules.
Rapid demons keep coming up, don't they. First that demon hide Stu bribed Ro-den with, the one that had developed a symbiotic relationship with the wind and the impressive camouflage abilities. Now Alden's own thoughts keep trying to make connections between native Goldbush animal's penchant for speed and more extreme demon possibilities. What got those two lost newling knights on Goldbush, we wonder, we wonder...
Well spotted, I wonder if there will be a rash of disappearances from Gold bush in the lead up to Stu and Alden arriving there? And then they can have an arc on dealing with that?
I am confused on why is ability lets him throw people well. Currently, once he lets go he no longer "entrusts" the item.
He’s not holding them up himself. Instead, they’re standing on something he has entrusted and upholds, so he doesn’t bear their weight directly. Their full weight is carried by his authority, which sustains and protects what they’re standing on.
I just had this thought since Ash was criticizing other heroes that it would be crazy if he like played the whole body drainer thing and criticized Hannah and that other guy in front of Alden. That would be so fucked up but now I kind of wanna see it happen.
Aw shit I think you're right that is likely to happen
Anyone else think it might come to a righteous scholarly exit?
It would be cool to see, definitely, and Ash is a good target for such a move. But I think he’s got more going for him than seems, and it would also be interesting if there are good reasons for his behaviour.
Oh, god. I was really hoping Ash was better than he seemed. Instead he's worse. How is he worse!
is he though? Actively bad? Yes but expectations were set at rock bottom. Showing videos and criticizing without actually giving feedback is horrible and would quickly drain my will to participate.
Alden's schedule this term must look more than mildly concerning to that advisor. Last term, he took intro to other worlds; this term he's doing advanced independent (!) study of other worlds with an obliging faculty mentor. Last term, he was taking Artonan Conversation IV; this term he's taking a university seminar for masters students on Artonan Storytelling. He's got Rabbit class and B rank, and most of his actual class sessions this semster are accelerated combat or coursing gym course, both of which are known to be pressure cookers that are particularly difficult for B-ranks and classes not associated with combat. Alden's commendation and his known close association with the Artonan generals and CNH's determination to hang onto him as a student must be doing *so much work* weighting the scales here.
'Engaging with the Unexpected II' is probably the only class where Alden isn't surprising expectations by taking. I am curious to know if Alden is going to have any time this quarter to continue volunteering at the hospital past the minimum he's already done to pass the class; I suspect it would be quite useful for him if he can give himself permission to widen his focus a little.
Equanimity!
And soon Equanimity blooms Giving scent to the room You might not have noticed Ah, and so Some self control Might save the day Which is worth saving It's what our world needs now Let's find it in our hearts somehow You know Yeah, you know
TFTC!
Ash‘s rings imply that he has gotten summoned often and/or for something important. I wonder if that is still the case. Klein chose to be a teacher after losing his marketability, he *wanted* to teach. Does Ash want to? Or does he need the money?
I think it was mentioned that only a couple of Ash’s rings are actually real and the rest are just props or facsimiles. Alden likely has more functional ones than he does. The requirement for his students to be interesting feels like a major projection or ego-trip on his part since he isn’t important enough himself. I’ve certainly met people who have taken teaching or mentorship positions just so that they can criticize others and say how they would have done it better, or claim credit for teaching someone who becomes successful. I wonder if his tune would change if Esh-erdi came by to observe one of Alden’s Coursing classes.
What a worthless teacher.
I think that the team could also try getting someone with a good throwing arm to throw one of the shoes onto the Nine Edged Son (the "cookie"). Then get Kon to use his powers to get somebody (himself?) onto the cookie. This person hauls the rest of them up with rope. Kon would have to be able to mentally accept 'this is an individual shoe, but also one of /a pair/ (singular!) of shoes.'
Additional Idea: Or tie the shoes to each other by their laces. Have Febri cut the lace, then whip one shoe onto the cookie. Easy-peasy.
We’re in the middle of the second week?! By Soup standards, that’s practically a time skip! I’m surprised by Alden’s light schedule, and I was hoping we’d see more of MPE with the new students.
Sleyca does follow the habit of not covering things unless there is a reason to. Logically, Combat I likely isn't that different than the classes last term, but Coursing I and Artonan storytelling have lots of room to play (and set up an antagonist for Alden to refine his character against).
I’m glad Alden made time in his school schedule for magic practice, and I am excited for the story arcs the new schedule will lend itself to.
The problem with time is there’s never enough of it to learn everything you want to, or in this case, take all the classes you want to. Alden’s current priorities being laser focused on Stu and Goldbush seem really clear from the classes he has selected. And not selected - as the chapter points out, Alden isn’t taking math or any other “normal” classes this semester.
I wonder if Jeffy is strong enough to throw people like Alden does? He did go for building puncher so I think he might be able to through sheer brute strength?
His good experience as an Aqua Brute during the floods convinced him not to take building puncher route. He affixed a ship-finding spell.
Hmm, we've gone from "class where the students mostly teach each other" to "class where the teacher actively avoids giving any feedback". I'm really impressed that anyone ends up being a functional hero, honestly, the training is... questionable.
"Your comment is not enough. Try again."
His class starts at 5 AM?!?!? To wake up that early and not be able to run is rough
*googles “equanimity”
Now you need to practice using it in sentences! "Come back tomorrow, sir, if you can bear to. Come and shoot with me, if you will. There are few men whose society I can tolerate with equanimity, but I believe you may turn out to be one of them."
Huh. Being ignored by a teacher seems like the most upsetting tack Ash could pick for how to interact with Vandy - why? I feel like Ash has designed this class and his tactics in it to be his own version of the Elites program, one where there's always some people being left out to 'encourage' stress and competition; does Ash think he's setting up conditions to help his students level more rapidly? Is the uncertainty around his evaluation criteria seems likely to push students to try more extreme or unusual strategies in hopes of courting his interest.
Ash not escaping the Snape allegations
I think that saving someone who's falling is an interesting situation to consider. There's not going to be enough time to communicate any information to them. So, I think that most of the solutions that Alden has historically used won't work. There are 4 potential solutions that come to mind. 1. Non-verbal entrustment - When someone is danger a non-verbal request for assistance might be able to count as an entrustment. For example, if you reach out to grab someone's hand and they try to reach out to grab yours in response. 2. Non-directed entrustment - In a similar manner, a non-directed cry for help or assistance might also be able to count. 3. Spiritual Message- While not applicable to this situation, you could probably trigger an entrustment using a spiritual message or signal. This would probably be faster than verbally requesting it. 4. Ritual Entrustment - Alternatively, seems like a lot of wizard rituals are related to delegation of responsibility. I think that it would make sense for there to be a ritual that would allow entrustment to basically be pre-approved for a group of people. At the high end of things, I would not be surprised if this would work on the city or even planet level.
Those are what I've been thinking for awhile laid out quite succinctly. If he can expand his definition of entrustment, which should be possible, presumably planned in the first place even, with vocal entrustment being a safety rail for learning to start with, then in mere moments he becomes not a powerhouse, but significantly more able. We know now he gains more power the stronger the entruster is, so how strong will he be when an entire world entrusts itself to his care to spare it from corruption?
Love the chapter, a little sad that I cannot read about everything that happens every single class. But the jump cut to trying to throw your teammates dozens of feet into the air on top of a magic flying cookie makes it all worth it
I believe we'll get time passing with highlights from different classes. And birthdays. Stu needs to find his new stability and grow his courage, and Alden needs to become stronger.
Ash might have been working and partying with wizards and now has a drug problem which he might compensate with sugar and coffee since there is nothing else available.
Unlikely. Superheroes are all drug-tested. The kids in the program are all drug-tested. I have to assume they test the teachers too on occasion, if for no other reason than that a drug-related episode would totally blow the school's credibility.
Never would’ve thought we would see the alt version of the old Artonan Convo teacher. Checked out, seemingly competent, but still somehow a worse teacher overall than her lol
LOL Alden is quite literally learning how to be a base in cheerleading just with a superhero twist. Thanks for the chapter
I think he's overdoing it on the throw. Tossing a shoe upwards is something you don't need to put your legs into unless it's WAY too high to safely toss a person. He has to kill the impulse to move like he's hoisting an entire person.
Cool chapter! :)
I like Ash. He really encourages his students to think for themselves.
*squints* This is a joke, right?
Ash is certainly not improving my opinion of his pedagogy. The guy has to have some kind of amazing connections to be allowed this blatant favoritism, right?
Could just be a shortage of qualified instructors?
very thankful for soup
Hmm. Maybe Vandy criticized Ash to his face but outside Alden's hearing? He doesn't seem the type to take pushback well. She's a rule enforcer. If she thought Ash had broken some rule - for instance, "Instructors should give students meaningful feedback" - and said so...
Nah, Vandy’s dad faked crimes, pretending to be his own arch nemesis, for clout previously. Vandy’s so self serious partially because his reputation after being caught haunts her. And Ash is 100% the kind of asshole who would ignore a student because of her parent’s actions or reputation.
I both love Haoyu's desire to test out his semi invulnerability and dread the day consequences come due for doing so.
Consequences are for fragile, delicate strength brutes. Haoyu has no fear of consequences.
Thanks!
Thankyou!!
> Have very specific expectations > Do not communicate these expectations in any way > Punish people for not meeting the expectations Classic! Who among us has not had this teacher/boss/housemate/lover at least once?
It’s honestly made worse by the fact that he seems to know what he is doing but refuses to be actually helpful
I loved seeing Alden's talents improving, but I'm growing to dislike that teacher. Still, interesting skill he's developing. Being able to find people in the dark - and accurately! - will be an interesting skill. Especially if they practice something like blind fighting.
Team MAHJIKL is SO not getting strategies approved. Ash is the anti-Plim, no wedgie-tossing vs just being building punchers allowed. (Medhi Alden Haoyu Jeffy Ignacio Kon Lexi, so magical - did I miss anyone?)
I'm mad you thought of this before me.
What a fun chapter, thank you!
I just love that traveling by shoe is an option. I want to imagine a reverse human pyramid on a frisbee, even if it goes too spinny spin - that’s probably what Avowed acrobatics is, but even more fun
Thanks Sleyca! 🙏
My wife just started reading and she is very impressed with Sleyca’s writing style I consider her opinion important, but she does have some education to back it up (MBA, membership in 3 Bar associations, Microbiology degree from MIT, associate editor for a few cross stitch magazines, etc.) 🎬
//Ash, almost always drinking a coffee that he added multiple sugar packets to as the lesson progressed...ripping open the fourth sugar packet of the hour and sprinkling it into a cup of coffee that had to be nearly empty.// soo he's drinking coffee at the start of class but by the end its devolved into a sugary sludge?? good lord no wonder he's Like That. lol apex used as emphatic
As a coffee addict, how in the world has he not finished a single coffee? Also why is he destroying his coffee with such absurd quantities of sugar? That said, I know some tea drinkers who like 7 packets of suger per tea .... which probably doesn't qualify as tea anymore.
okay, this is really bothering me now, alden said a while ago that he was really excited to take plim's Creative Applications class in the new quarter and he seems to have completely forgotten about it? plim cant still be cleaning up sinker sender water stuff, surely? what happened to Creative Applications?
I thought of reasons why he might have reconsidered. This should be mentioned within the next few chapters.
Waking up to a Birthday Chapter, what a treat, thanks Sleyca!
Happy birthday!
“This is not enough” what a ass
Wahoo soup!!
Yay!!!
Best notification all day!
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Thanks Sleyca! I know the instructor is going to bother me so much but I hope they get to a great level and they can progress! I think it's slowly downing on me that Alden is basically training to uproot is whole life at a moment's notice.
Wa!
Soup!
Yay!
Ty4c