TWO HUNDRED NINETY-ONE: When Wishing Was Having II
Next Chapter:
April 26 (approximate)
Note:
I put a "break" where I might have broken this one if I made it into two chapters. That's not really a recommendation, just a convenient marker for anyone who does prefer to read longer ones in two doses. I think it reads well all together.
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291
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Waiting for Instructor Ash’s verdict about who should be allowed to run tomorrow was anxious business. Halfway through the hour, their team chat screen was mostly just Haoyu using one random word at a time to react to the videos playing at the front of the room.
At least one of us is getting something from it.
At the moment, without anyone explaining what was good or bad about the way the Avowed in the clips were moving through the cities where they worked, Alden didn’t feel like he was learning from them. He’d stopped trying to take notes on what he saw a few minutes ago and switched to reviewing his own footage from this morning.
This morning’s class was like two hours of proof for why hiring a personal trainer was a good choice, he thought, watching himself move. Correct form when using his trait, knowing exactly where jumps were going to land him, carving away wasted motion. He was far from perfect, but it was starting to come together in a way he could see.
I should use my sand scatters to trick a few people this term. Get everyone used to me throwing it down when I want to make bigger or faster moves, and then just not activate my trait. It’ll be fun to pull it off against Reinhard.
Kind of useless against demons, though.
That made him less excited about it.
He was really happy to see himself moving so well. A few weeks ago, he knew he couldn’t have put up such a good fight in the duels against Rex and Jeffy. He was trying not to stay miffed about Rex suggesting that he had now taken Alden’s measure and found it lacking to such an extent that there was no need to measure again.
That was a good duel, though.
He watched it again.
It was better than I thought it was in the moment even.
Of course Rex wouldn’t value the same things he did. Alden had a list of goals he was working on, and nobody else needed to be impressed by them or even notice that he was doing them. But he thought treating his shield more like something that should be protected, with its usefulness as a tool taking more of a backseat, was part of the reason he’d been moving better through everything. Including in the duel against the Strength Brute.
It’s really too easy to not care about whatever I’m preserving in a class setting. I know it’s a skill for keeping things safe, but I was getting slack about it without realizing. He watched himself try to get out of the way of a strike he definitely would have thrown something in front of last term…and succeed. That was good for me. If this was something more serious, trying to buy time for Stuart to pull my ass out of the fire…
He ran through an assortment of things he might be protecting in such a situation—a bomb, a supply of critically important something or others, an enchantment, someone’s severed foot.
Being the Bearer of All Burdens isn’t simple. If I’m protecting stuff, I’m never working with the same weapon or the same set of considerations. When I’m stronger than the place we’re going to, I’ll have more options.
That was the problem, though, wasn’t it? No matter what sort of training he did, he wasn’t going to be as strong as Stuart before Stuart was ready to go off and make his Intensity 99.9 debut.
He watched his duel with Rex one last time.
This is good. But it’s a long way from good enough. I want to bear burdens, not be one to my partner.
Maricel hadn’t even wanted to duel him.
He glanced over at her. She sat on the other side of Vandy, leaning forward in her seat, knuckles pressed against her mouth while she watched the video at the front of the room…or possibly her interface, like Alden was doing. She was focused, whatever it was.
He pulled up footage of her duels from the last class. She’d had five. All against other S-ranks. All starting with a technique that was hard for most people to deal with.
Yeah, lifting the entire floor of the dirt dueling block up and dropping it to create a dirt storm in a bottle is pretty advantageous for her. The visibility was so bad that the System provided overlays of the bodies moving through the cloud of falling earth instead of relying on the drones. Maricel obviously couldn’t see what was happening either. Once all the dirt was clogging the air, she was basically sweeping the whole block in front of her with force and taking out her blinded opponents that way.
She hadn’t won them all easily.
Vandy had nearly gotten a draw, and Alden thought she’d be able to the next time Maricel tried the dirt storm thing. Vandy tended to lose the first time she saw something difficult and unexpected from another powerful member of the class, but she’d have a solution for it when they dueled again if a solution was possible.
And Tuyet destroyed her. I guess they must have agreed to go all-out. The outcome was so predictable that way, though. Why bother?
They stood facing each other. Maricel started to lift her hands. Tuyet lifted her hand faster to throw a dart because Tuyet had a ton of Speed and Maricel didn’t. Maricel took a dart dead center between the eyes.
That was Tuyet’s finishing move for most people these days, not her starting move. She got better practice if duels lasted longer than a second, too.
Alden glanced at Maricel again. What the heck? Why’d you two bother to do it that way? If fighting me wasn’t a good use of your dueling time, that wasn’t either.
Well, maybe she’s trying to inspire herself to get faster by facing faster people.
The dirt storm method. Couldn’t I have held out for a while against that? Even without something boring like a dome shield.
He went back to studying himself and his own flaws, but he could feel the minutes of the class ticking closer to the end. People were starting to shift and whisper. Heads kept turning toward Instructor Ash, who looked disengaged sitting at the teacher’s desk with his arms crossed. His eyes were moving, so he was watching things or reading on his interface.
Hopefully not our strategy with that expression.
Alden found himself bouncing his leg and spinning his stylus.
It’ll be great to run with a team. More practice with partners. People will need preserving on runs. Objects will. Attackers I’ve never fought before will come at us, and with the pressure of not wanting to let an entruster down being a little more than usual, maybe I’ll figure some stuff out.
The list of chosen teams went up at the very last minute, like last time.
Unfortunately…it was exactly like last time.
Alden’s disappointment was huge, but he could barely hear himself think over the square-headed guy who was probably Rex’s brother Ram shouting, “That’s not right!”
The same teams that hadn’t gotten to run last week weren’t getting to go this week either.
And Ash was already out in the hall.
More importantly, Kon was running out into the hall, chasing their instructor. By silent mutual impulse, every member of their team jumped out of their desks and went after him.
They found Kon hitting his knees by the lockers, shaking his fist at the ceiling.
“Whhyyyy???”
“Ah…Kon?” said Ignacio.
“This was still fluttering in the air!” Kon hissed, showing them his fist. “It was fluttering, and I caught it before it hit the floor.”
“Are you going to punch Ignacio?” Jeffy asked. “You shouldn’t.”
Kon’s fist opened, and a paper packet that had once held sugar fell out. “Do you all see this?!”
“Wow,” said Haoyu. “He ran so fast his trash was still in the air when you got out here? Do teachers do that?”
“Kon, don’t be too dramatic about this,” said Lexi, making a soothing gesture with one hand even though he sounded angry himself. “It’s not fair, but we don’t have to make a scene.”
“Are teachers allowed to run from students that hard outside of gym? It doesn’t seem right.” Haoyu picked up the packet and sniffed it like that was going to tell them something about why they were being repeatedly snubbed.
“I went over the strategies—down to where I put the commas in our explanations—fifty times last night. You guys, I swear I wrote them up really well. They were good. We have valid plans. We had Lexi and Writher to bust up the pincushion alley! They were going to destroy that one better than any other team.”
Lexi looked concerned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not sure I could do that better than any other team.”
“YOU COULD!”
“Kon…we’ll talk to him tomorrow during runs and try to come up with something he approves of. Remember, he says he’ll put people in if he likes something they think of at the last minute.”
“What if he’s just randomly picking the teams while he sits there relaxing at his desk?” Kon said. “What if it’s all meaningless?”
Vandy was coming down the hall now. Her teammates, smiling and excited about what they’d be doing tomorrow, were following. Vandy, though, was shaking her head at Kon with mild disapproval. “I’m sure Instructor Ash doesn’t randomly decide these things. And you can’t chase him. What will he think of you?”
Kon gave her a look so icy Everly should have applauded.
“What were your strategies?” Vandy asked. “They must not have been ideal. Maybe I could give you advice about revisions?”
“I was going to help with floating islands,” Alden offered, hoping to add his voice to the calming ones. “We’ve practiced for it. We had a really valuable practice together even without the gym, didn’t we, guys?”
“It would have been more valuable if we were getting to run tomorrow,” said Mehdi.
Everyone on the girls’ team was looking at Alden like they were trying to see where he was hiding his ability to fly. Except for Heloísa, who suddenly beamed.
“Were you going to throw them all?” she asked in a whisper loud enough to be heard down the hall. “That’s how I wanted to do it, but Vandy said we couldn’t list that as our strategy because it was stupid.”
“I…I didn’t say it was stupid…” Vandy was now turning that judgmental gaze on Alden. “But it isn’t safe. Maybe if you just threw Haoyu.”
“What good is it to just throw Haoyu, though?” Alden asked. “Your team has multiple people who can float things around, so you have really practical solutions for that obstacle. Of course our strategy for it can’t be as…sleek…as yours.”
“We included video for Ash proving Alden could manage it and everything,” said Kon. He hadn’t bothered to get up from the floor. “Maybe it’s me. Ash doesn’t seem to hate me when I’m practicing my own thing in Superlatives, but he’s prejudiced against me in Coursing.”
“Against you?” The question came from Probably Ram. The all-Brute team had just come out of the classroom, dragging their feet and looking surly. “Yeah, I’ve heard your magic is something weird, but you’re not even the one he made a point of calling out on the first day.”
Did some people have a meeting and decide to look down on me extra hard today or what?
One of the girls on the Brute team elbowed the guy hard enough to send him a step sideways. He looked at her then back at Alden.
“I’m just saying I’d have lost my shit like a Wright on the run if your team got to go this week and ours didn’t.” He spoke in an apologetic tone even though there was no apology within miles of that statement. “We’ve put together a serious contender here. We’re going for interschool championships. Your team is like, a mixed bag of friends team. Which is fine for you guys. Whatever. But for us…the rumors about Ash hating Brutes might be true.”
He stalked down the hall, bristling to himself.
“Please tell me he smells like farts or goat sweat or something, Jupiter,” said Alden.
She looked pleasantly surprised. “He smells like he ate onions for breakfast.”
“Good.”
“You eat a lot of garlic.”
Alden felt his face heat.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Jupiter. “I like alliums.”
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I think I’d rather tell a story about a frog who doesn’t start out as a prince.
Others must have lived in that same pool in the forest. Maybe one was enjoying a good life, knowing almost nothing but frog stuff, and then his whole world changed because the princess dropped that golden ball into the water.
One day you’re kicking around in the pond, and then this alien mystery falls right past your nose. It’s a color you’ve never seen before, a warm glow in the cool dark. You can tell it’s not a frog thing, but there’s something wonderful about it anyway.
Makes you feel.
Makes you dream.
I don’t know…does that sound like the start of a funny story?
It doesn’t seem right to make fun of a frog like that one. I don’t want to. I like that frog.
Forget it, I guess. I’ll go back to the one where the royalty gets punished for trying to kill people.
Maybe the witch was actually trying to fix the prince with temporary froggification? Like a therapist?
Yenu-pezth! But immoral.
To Do:
* Commit to the funny version. Memorize.
*Buy a dry erase board or something cooler than that for visual? Lute’s making a puppet already.
*Learn a few more words that could mean “odious” in Artonan.
That’s enough for right now.
There’s something real, though. About that ball falling into the pond. It’s just a toy to the cursed prince, but to the frog?
Magic.
******
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Alden’s cedar-scented practice candle was going to need replacing soon, but it was waiting for him now on the center of his desk, blackened wick still willing to burn.
His team had agreed they would each spend as much of their afternoon as they could working on alternative Coursing strategies so that they could flood their instructor with options tomorrow morning. Alden had been doing just that for hours, until he finally needed to shut his laptop and hide the growing list of bad ideas from himself.
He’d pulled the candle forward from its place on the back of the desk a couple of minutes ago. The lighting of wicks, or promise sticks, had become a simple thing. But he was giving the matter more in-depth consideration than usual.
He wanted to learn to light the candle with an abbreviation of the normal series of finger flicks.
Setting things on fire by pointing at them would be cool, but that might be too abbreviated…. What if it worked, though? A wizard has to try these things, doesn’t he?
He imagined himself casting the spell properly, trying to focus his authority like he would if this were a normal attempt, but without any of the usual gestures. When it seemed like something might be possible, maybe, he pointed a finger at the wick.
“Burn,” he said in Artonan.
It did feel like he’d tried to cast, but the effect was nothing.
All right. So that doesn’t work like that. Is there a remnant of the command left to find? Like when Stuart and I built the keda bean spell.
He closed his eyes and tried to listen for it.
Daharsee. My own voice but distorted. A reflection of me. It makes sense that it must be here, but it also makes sense that it would be almost impossible to detect for something like this.
The spell hadn’t succeeded. And it was a tiny, tiny spell in the first place.
Finding a needle in a haystack wouldn’t be this hard. This is more like listening for the echo of a sneeze at a rock concert.
He opened his eyes. It had been worth a try to satisfy his curiosity. And he was in no hurry to go back to the list of strategies. They’d been getting more and more absurd.
Suggesting that his team could take out Jupiter, steal all her plant material, and then build a functional ladder out of it in the middle of the run levels of absurd.
He hoped the other guys were having more luck, because he really should switch to rehearsing his story for Warin-doyis’s class soon. He had to present it tomorrow.
He’d be going with a version that was supposed to make the audience laugh. It stuck close to the original through the middle, but at the beginning, the witch told the prince why he was being cursed—for stabbing a klerm that had gotten lost and ended up in his room. And then, for doing the same thing to the klerm prince, the princess was cursed, too.
The pair of klerm royals started whining to each other about it so loudly that they woke another princess, who grabbed a knife and headed downstairs to take care of the odious racket.
Alden was thinking of having the witch sigh and crack her knuckles in the final line as she imagined the number of curses she’d have to cast before these people learned their lesson. But he was still trying to figure out what the equivalent of a “Let’s get down to business” knuckle-cracking would be for Artonan audiences.
Telling a story that made sense to two species was part of the challenge.
I feel bad about not working more on the one where the golden ball gives an ordinary creature dreams about magic and other worlds. I liked that frog.
He wanted to say things about that. But it was harder to get right, and he had to be practical.
Can’t pull an all-nighter tonight when the story I’ve already got is good.
And I imagine the class would rather hear the funny one, anyway. The other doesn’t even have an ending. I’m not sure it has a point that’ll make sense to anyone but me.
That version of the frog is like…my daharsee story. I’ll just let it exist in my head.
He drummed his fingers on the desk and stared up at the underside of his bed.
I should put some more lights under here. Or tape up a poster or something. It’s not as cozy as it could be, especially when the blackout curtains are shut like this. Since I’m not dying or being banished from Earth in the next few months, it won’t be wasted effort.
Connie had sent a message last week asking if she could put string lights in his old bedroom. Then, once she’d gotten to the store, she’d started sending him pictures of every single item she was thinking of purchasing, like she thought he had important opinions about the color of wastebaskets. He wasn’t sure if she’d been having an unusually indecisive moment, or if he’d said or done something to make her think it was necessary to involve him specifically in this one aspect of home decorating.
He’d called her and teased her about it a little, insisting that the old wastebasket he’d melted one side of was a very important part of his life and should be kept on display so that her fiancé’s nieces could really appreciate it when they visited.
So much new, he thought. Just…new thing, new thing, new thing. One after another.
I wonder how much I missed in intake because I was a freaked-out insomniac. And how much of the new high school experience got washed away by the attack on Matadero. And how many little new things get devoured and forgotten every day because of the big ones.
He’d bought a bunch of furniture and special bedding. He owned rugs and a white noise machine. A gym membership. That was all fancy grown-up stuff. Some part of him remembered to be excited about it for a few seconds every other week, and then it was scenery again.
He was sure if he’d paid to furnish his own place during a calmer period of his life, he’d still be getting daily thrills just from sitting on the sofa in their living room.
I bought a whole sofa. And it’s a nice sofa. I looked at the price, and then ignored the price, and I bought it. And my three Avowed friends sit on it with me. We have a system for washing dishes together and a guitar.
It’s so much. It would be enough to be excited about for at least a year. If nothing else had happened.
He let his fingers fall flat on the desk and drummed them that way so that he could hear the tapping of his rings against the surface.
Having too many new things in your pond has consequences. Even if a lot of the things themselves are good.
He straightened up in his chair and refocused on the candle. This spell was a short one anyway. Six quick motions was how Gwen-lor had taught it.
I’ll start by halving it, he decided. Turn six motions into three, but be more insistent with my authority than usual.
Hey, candle. Remember all the times I’ve lit you? We’re going to do it again.
He drew two fingers slowly down in squiggles, used all ten to make the motion that Instructor Gwen-lor had told the children was called ‘the felling of a small tree’, and then, taken by a sudden whim and caught up in the realization that it was working this time, he changed the final motion.
He was talking. The universe was listening. Abundance—the potential for all—was here.
So he snapped his fingers.
A bunch of sparks flew off the wick the instant before the candle lit, which wasn’t how it usually happened.
“Oh!” Excited, Alden pulled the candle right to the edge of his desk and turned it around slowly, looking at every inch of it to see if anything else different had happened. It was burning like normal now.
His first abbreviation had taken the same amount of time as the regular spell, perhaps even more since he’d been going slow on purpose. That didn’t dim his delight at all. He was so pleased he took a picture without bothering to question what he was going to do with a random candle picture.
Sparky Snappy Lighter. My own special version of the spell. I wonder if it’ll still spark when I get better at it. Could I make that happen on purpose? More sparks? Can Stuart make candles do this?
He blew it out and did it a dozen more times before he made himself go back to doing his homework. He managed to reduce the number of gestures to two, and he increased his speed. Getting to the instant snap-to-light effect he was now imagining was just going to take a little longer.
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break
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In the bottom of that pond, the frog kicked away the mud that the ball had fallen into. He burrowed under it and lifted it. It was very heavy, but he kept going because he wanted to see it shine again as brightly as it had when it was near the surface.
“Does anyone see this?” he kept shouting as he went. “Does anyone see this wonderful round thing I’ve found? I’m kicking and kicking! Won’t someone celebrate the golden ball and help me with it?”
He shouted down into the pond.
He shouted up toward the surface.
He waited and waited for a reply.
******
******
“Alden!” said Rahul. “It’s good to hear from you. Your text said you wanted advice about Instructor Ash’s Coursing class?”
“I do,” said Alden. “But you didn’t have to call me right away if you’re in the middle of something.”
Rahul was with a group of at least eight people who Alden was guessing were also university students, loading what might literally be a ton of equipment into carts at the Apex Wright shop.
“It’s fine,” said Rahul. “I’ve already picked out what I need for our project. We’re building a vending machine for this place’s annual competition. Hopefully it’ll be launching purchases into your hands one day when you shop here. No guarantees about your purchases staying in one piece.”
“Fill it with temper spheres,” said Alden. “They’re pretty hard to break.”
Rahul looked interested. “Good idea.”
Despite his attempt to be polite, Alden was glad Rahul had answered now instead of waiting until the end of his shopping trip.
He’d decided to finish his Thursday with a relaxing trip to the recovery sauna, to make sure that he’d be as physically well as possible tomorrow if they did get to run. But while he’d sat there steaming, he’d started steaming mentally, too, over the strategy lists the others had shared with their team chat group. It was obvious that everyone had spent so much time on it throughout the day, and it was also obvious that doing the work had only made them all more frustrated than they had been this morning.
And more lost than ever when it came to what Ash considered worthy of floor time.
Alden should be climbing into bed now, but instead he was drinking his supper in giant smoothie form while he left North of North, messages scrolling fast in the right corner of his vision. Kon, Lexi, and Mehdi were talking about the feasibility of building a ladder during a run. They were talking about using pieces of the course itself instead of vegetation they’d stolen from a defeated Jupiter, but Alden was certain the fact that it had come to this, even for Lexi, was proof they were all going crazy.
“It’s like this,” he said to Rahul. “We have to get Ash’s permission to run during the once-weekly time slot we have for the gym. He picks which teams get to go based on strategies we submit for the two obstacles we know about in advance and then based on vibes as far as I can tell once we’re actually in the gym that day. He didn’t pick my team last week or this week, and there is enough time for every team to run if he wanted to do it that way. So two weeks back to back of not getting to even touch the floor feels like… ”
“Like he’s picking on you?”
“Well, there’s another team it’s happened to as well,” said Alden. “If another teacher did it, I’d think it was a harsh criticism of our planning. But seven of us just spent hours each coming up with different plans for those obstacles, and I think most of them are worse than what we already presented. Unless we take equipment onto the course specifically for the floating island…I could reasonably take a rope, but we can’t reasonably present that to him as our strategy.”
“You’re doing the standard competition rule where opposing teams can object to equipment that’s not on the basics list?” Rahul asked, tossing a coil of tubing onto the top of the nearest cart.
“Right,” said Alden. “So for our basics, elemental weights and piles will be there. And normal clothes are allowed over our suits. I know that rule’s usually to allow for team costumes, but we were actually going to use the clothes.”
“O-mix usually has rope.”
“O-mix?”
“The pile of random objects?”
“I didn’t know people called it that,” said Alden.
He decided to take a slightly longer route back to his dorm since finishing the monster smoothie and this call were both going to take more time. He continued on past the walkway that would lead him deeper into campus and straight toward Garden Hall, and headed instead for the street that would join up with Celena Circle. The last of the emergency housing was gone. Being able to cross the circle again and hanging out there when the weather wasn’t terrible were things he’d been looking forward to.
“I know the O-mix usually has some amount of some kind of rope,” he said. “And other teams probably aren’t going to object if we ask to carry our own. But doing that for a submitted strategy?”
“I can’t imagine most instructors being okay with it,” Rahul agreed. “A strategy relying on tools you might have on race day instead of ones you can guarantee sounds like lazy homework.”
“The thing is, the strategies we already submitted are pretty close to the best we can do with the team we have,” said Alden. “As far as we can tell, anyway. Everything else we come up with that sounds equally good is also equally dicey. Part of me hopes we’ve missed something obvious, because if not, the alternative is that Instructor Ash was just going to refuse us this week no matter how close our group came to our best answer for the obstacles. And that’s bullshit. That would mean we’ve been trying for no reason. What does he like? Do you know?”
“Just a second.” Rahul told his friends he was going to go get a temper sphere, then set off down the broad aisle. A flash from something on display stained his white shirt red as he passed it. “You know I never did get him to give me anything but the bare minimum amount of attention. I told you that. And you’ve noticed he prefers S-ranks by now, I’m sure.”
Rahul didn’t bother to lower his voice.
“Sort of… ” said Alden. “He made what sounded like a dig about me being the weakest member of the class, but then I’ve started thinking he’s actually calling on me in class more than some of the S’s. So…I don’t know what that’s about.”
“Coursing has desk classes. That’s different than being in the gym. S’s aren’t doing magic behind desks. You asked what he likes. As far as I can tell, he likes magic he hasn’t seen before, magic that can kill him, magic rings, faculty gym hours—he never misses them, and sweets. He doesn’t like boredom, things he’s already seen before in class, me, or vegetables.” Rahul shook his head. He’d reached the vending machine where Alden always bought his temper spheres. “He likes really perfect execution, too, but his standards are beyond high school level for that.”
Alden mulled over that peculiar list of likes and dislikes while he turned onto Celena Circle.
The atmosphere was right. Big, glow-in-the-dark beachballs had been scattered around. Most of them were being played with. He spotted Søren hanging out with a couple of guys he didn’t know, sharing a pizza on the grass.
“It sounds like you’re describing some kind of six-year-old. Veggies and boredom bad. Playtime and magic good. I mean, perfect execution probably isn’t something a little kid would find interesting, but everything else… ”
“I may be leaving a few important factors out. But that’s because I never cracked the code myself. I’m surprised you signed up for something with him.” Rahul collected his temper sphere from the machine. “I’m glad I didn’t scare you off….Should I have tried harder to scare you off?”
“No,” said Alden. “A bunch of my friends are doing Coursing. People I want to help out and spend time with. And I needed some more floor hours and teamwork opportunities. It just worked out.”
“Is your team planning to go official?”
“We’re really not on track to beat a bunch of other teams in the next half year and go on to bring CNH glory versus Li Jean and Naya Din. We’re just learning together. Having an established group to meet for regular practices is already fun.”
“It sounds like it. If you ever figure Ash out, let me know. Honestly, assume the six-year-old analogy is right, and try it out. I never put it that way in my head, but maybe it’ll work for you.”
“I will. Thanks, Rahul.”
He ended the call and looked ahead at the street lamps lining the central walk.
Magic he hasn’t seen before. Or that’s so good it’s dangerous to him. How often does a teacher encounter that here? It’s nonsense. My skill is technically one he hasn’t seen before, so is it just not fun enough for him or is it because—
All of the sudden, something small, cold, and slimy touched the back of his neck. He jumped forward with a yelp, slapping back there. He expected, illogically, to find a klerm had landed on him. Instead, he spun at the sound of familiar laughter and saw Natalie—way too proud of herself—waving something that looked like ice cream in a push-up tube.
“Natalie Choir, did you just smoosh some kind of frozen dessert against my neck?! You animal! Where did you come from?” He wiped off whatever it was and sniffed his hand. “Where did this come from? You didn’t make this.”
It smelled alarming. Like cherries and gasoline.
“This isn’t even edible,” he decided.
“I got you! I snuck up on you even though you’re a trained person. I should be in the hero program for my stealth.” She was holding her frozen thing up in what he was clearly supposed to recognize as a victory pose. She was dressed casually tonight. Cargo pants and a gray sweater. She had a loaded backpack. “It is edible. It’s made of a powdered root bagruoodas like. We mixed it with water like they do, but then nobody could really swallow much of it at once because of the texture. So we froze it while we listened to their drums and learned the different meanings.”
“It’s alien food from your culture club meeting. That’s why you’re on campus late.”
“You should come sometime. Why haven’t you joined yet?” She was licking the gasoline pop.
“Are you sure that’s not bad for you?”
“I can eat twice this much without digestive problems. I’m trying to learn what there is to appreciate about the flavor.” She pointed toward a small group—three guys and a girl—waiting several meters back on the sidewalk. “They all gave up even though it’s a really rare import!”
The looks they were pointing in this direction were bereft. Like I’ve stolen their core member.
“It’s good to see you,” he said. “Or not see you until after you’d attacked.”
She’d been busy through the holidays. Their paths had barely crossed since break ended. He’d talked to Emilija more since she was still keeping an eye on his social media for him.
People who are upset with you don’t press their frozen root water to your neck. Is that why she did it?
“Are you hanging out with those guys or heading back to Boomtown?” he asked.
“Home,” she said. “They’re just walking me to the bus.”
“The Nine-edge Son is back at Garden Hall. Do you want to fly instead?”
“That would be so much faster! Are you too busy?”
He had to wake up in six hours for his devastatingly early Coursing class with an instructor who might be some kind of sugar-slurping child trapped in a powerful Adjuster’s body.
“Nope,” he said. “I’ve got a little time.”
******
It was a short flight that he made longer by taking them up and up, above the drones and all the usual sky traffic toward a night sky half covered by clouds.
She told him one of the pink sledgehammers he’d sent to their apartment was in the corner of her room. She said that it was the best Christmas present she’d gotten this year. And that she’d propped it up at an angle so that Wobble Gobble could stand on it without falling over onto his origami tail.
Then she told him she’d kissed somebody on New Years, placing the words carefully on top of him and waiting. For some answer she must imagine he was wise and mature enough to have.
He stood beside her on the nonagon’s edge, and he didn’t feel wise enough for anything. He was mature enough not to remind her that she’d told him, only a month or so ago, that now was the wrong time in her own life for her to be kissing people.
I wrote you a letter saying I might never see you again, he thought. And it was very hard to write, but not the hardest to write. I’m swimming with my gold ball here, still wishing for so much. I hope for a profound bond with a knight named Stu-art’h. Something magical I’ve only heard about and don’t fully understand.
I’m not someone who will kiss people without explaining that. I’m not going to explain that to you anytime soon.
So when you tell me things like this and then wait like this, I’m just your friend who says…
“Cool! You scored a kiss? Was it a good kiss?”
“Pretty good,” she said. “It was a spur of the moment thing. Not serious.”
Every bit as casually as him. Like there hadn’t been a weird pause for him to think in.
“Was he a good-looking dude? Is there a picture on your Trime?”
“You don’t have opinions about how people look, do you? You don’t have to pretend just so we can gossip.”
He blinked. “Tragically, I was born without opinions. And I try to hide it, but due to an eyeball malfunction, people look like the System to me.”
Her eyes went wide. “I said something rude without meaning to!”
“When I’ve given you compliments in the past, I was lying.” He shook his head sadly. “You’re the same plain white mannequin as everyone else.”
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s fine,” said Alden, watching the lights of a helicopter get farther and farther away. “You put it strange, so I jumped on it. Of course I have opinions about how people look. I can judge the cuteness of all kinds of things. Puppies, plants, post drops—”
She groaned.
“If you have trouble figuring out who’s cute or not, it’s no biggie. Just ask me for help, and I’ll let you know what your acquaintances look like. Emilija is cute-cute and funny. Hadiza is hot-cute and cool.”
“Stop!” said Natalie slapping his shoulder and laughing. “I’m really sorry. Don’t start talking about specific body parts, or I’ll never get whatever you say out of my head.”
“Lexi’s arms, though,” said Alden. “Have you seen them?”
“No!”
“He works hard, and they prove it.”
He thought he’d made the feeling between them right again, so he didn’t keep going in that direction.
Instead, he told her as much as he’d told his roommates the other day. That he was training with the goal of following his wizard friend to dangerous places. That he meant to have a life like that. That he was very serious about it.
“But… ” she said.
The syllable hung there until it died.
“Will you be able to?” she finally asked. “I don’t know how strong an Avowed really has to be for…going to places like you were stuck in. They won’t take B’s for Matadero or battlegroups, will they? So maybe you can’t.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
She was frowning worriedly through the nonagon toward the glitter of the city below.
“My birthday is in March,” he said.
“That’s right.” She looked back up at him. “Isn’t Lute’s next week?”
“Yes, but Lute is taken care of. My birthday is much more important than his, and it’s in March, and I have specific cake requirements.”
“Not cake requirements. What will you do?”
“If only I knew a baker.”
“If only.” She paused. “It’s good you’re asking now, though. I’ve got so much work for the next few months. I might have gotten carried away and said yes to a few too many rich people during the hop parties.”
“I still kick ass at washing dishes. Call me if you need me for that.”
“I’ll do it.”
“And if you ever want some ingredients from the Artonas, I could be your import man.”
“Really!?” She whirled so fast, he grabbed her arm reflexively to make sure she stayed onboard the nonagon. “I’ll send you my main list right this second.”
“The list already exists?”
“Of course! Natalie’s Dream Ingredients Main List.”
“There are sublists? Why would there be sublists for something like that?”
“I’ll have money soon so it’s not like you have to buy any of it. I’ll pay!”
I hope Stuart doesn’t mind going shopping for way too many groceries.
******
******
Before bed, he snapped at the cedar candle several times. He was getting faster and faster. Watching it light up with all the sparks was just as delightful as it had been earlier.
And just as solitary.
I wish Stuart would call, he thought.
I wish Boe was ready for a real conversation.
I’d like to crush that course in gym tomorrow with the guys, and I want that somehow to make it easier for Konstantin to talk to his family.
I wish I could tell my favorite version of the frog’s story to Warin-doyis’s class tomorrow.
He wished he knew how it ended.
******
******
******
“Once,” the old story begins, “when wishing was having… ”
As if all of those characters live closer to their wishes than we do. Like knowing your heart’s desire is enough, and getting it is the natural conclusion.
It doesn’t seem to work like that for the real frog whose whole world was changed by the golden ball.
He just keeps swimming with it. Struggling upwards with the burden. Calling out. Wanting.
Waiting.
******
Comments (185)
I like his Natalie interactions even if shipping them would be pointless. Well even if he was interested in such things, she is a non combatant in a story which will one day have more of him traveling into danger, so her role is kinda automatically limited.
I thought for a second you’d called her a noncombatant in a potential shipping war, which gave me a good laugh
Someday Alden is going to get to tell someone he's a wizard by using his snappy sparky lighting spell, and he is going to look *so cool*. I love how Alden keeps coming back to the idea of daharsee, both in listening for the echoes of < himself > in the magic he casts and also recognizing what he's identifying with in stories, like the version of the frog who doesn't start out a prince. It has the effect of making the stories he's preparing for his class and the stories he's telling the universe with his magic feel like they're two sides of the same coin, part of the same conjuring into possibility out of abundance.
I believe in Sleyca
No delayed chapter announcement yet, so hopefully it’s still coming today
I reported the issue of comments being ordered by number of likes rather than newest, and patreon said they're investigating it. Hopefully a fix is in the works, because this bug completely kills discussion
You can sort with the button on the top right.
Not showing comments later than 6 days ago again
the one before you is from 5 hrs ago, at least for me
Melancholy is a hell of a drug. I can't remember if Alden is still holding back his skill power in gym. Kinda wish he would let go and show off some of that power. Maybe after affixing again.
Last I remember, he is tiring himself out before so he doesn’t get tempted to cheat. They say early on that the instructors won’t get worried about progression until 6 months in minimum, but Alden could ask the mother about updating his fake profile
I made myself a very tasty minestrone tonight. It had onions, carrots, peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, tofu, and macaroni. The first of two delicious soups tonight, I'm sure
A minestrone for your household and a macrostrone for this community of readers
Even if Alden does the funny version for class, i hope he still finishes the version where the frog gets to show everyone the golden ball. Or since its just a metaphor for him sharing his magic with the world i hope it ends the way he wishes it to.
I’m hoping for the other version to. Fingers crossed
I guess it must be common knowledge, but my first reaction after reading this chapter was to wonder if Natalie is back in her apartment thinking, “Wait, how does Alden know what the system looks like?!”
The earth system chooses to present itself to its avowed as a featureless white doll/manequin.
Also people should call him by his proper name- Ashole.
I wonder if a soon-future plot will see Stu-art-h pulling some strings to get Alden some proper coursing experience. To his point of view, this is deliberately inadequate instruction from a disinterested teacher, which plays upon an Artonan cultural taboo, and is denying a potential knight candidate training they absolutely need for development, as Alden himself thinks this chapter.
We’ve seen Esh-erdi conspiring with Stu before, maybe he will do something, since he is on earth. As a declared Stu doesn’t have any way of contacting avowed himself.
There is a lot of debate on Aldens possible love life and how rankism could be read as discrimination based on real xyz thing but then then there is actual measurable difference so it doesnt translate. I think people forget Artonans as far we have been shown do not use this system and give opurtunities more on merit than on inherent magical power (that can grow). Closest I can remember to this kind of thing is Joe mentioning Kivbee will struggle as a wizard because she is magically weak but we do not ever see someone be denied learning opurtunities based solely on their strength. I consider this another divide et impera inherent in Earths system. There are unmotivated S rankers but there are no umotivated ascenders (or whatever a person going up in rank is called). Other than that I enjoyed reading peoples comments about this chapter more than the chapter itself. This chapter is set up that is going to pay off after a while. Yet people showing so much passion for this stepping stone is endearing.
They're called Hyperboles. We know from one of the Aulia chapters that Artonans specifically don't teach humans how to tell who will get selected by the System from humanity so they aren't given pre-Selection favouritism.
I dont think Marciel is doing well. Reading about her again in chapter 93, she is a really considerate person. She hyperfocuses when she is mentally stuck on something. I worry she may lose it.
Sleyca's writing skill is evident from how we can reconstruct what's going on with her from occasional glimpses and small references.
The soup bot got my hopes up...
The soup bot has made my list. My list of mean-means.
Alden is gonna accidentally let slip that he can do magic, and Ash is suddenly gonna have a second son that can do no wrong.
If he reveals it to the humans, there is no way Aulia isn’t going to try to adopt him
AN UPCOMING OUTTAKE TWO HUNDRED NINETY-TWO: Intervention – I [Alden, could you come out here, please?] asked Lute. [Sure, no problem.] Alden put his spell book back into storage, and moved his auriad up to his bicep. He left his room and went to the living room. He was surprised. Not only was Lute there, but Haoyu Lexi, Kon, Natalie, Hadiza and Emilija were all seated, some on chairs moved from the kitchen. They were all looking intently at him. "Hey. What's up?" "Look. There's no easy way to say this." Lute looked like he was uncomfortable, but spoke anyway. "You've told us that you're going to be going off fighting chaos, and we are concerned about you." "Alden, you are a B-rank," said Kon. "One with an amazing skill, yeah, but should you really be aiming for something so dangerous?" "You've just started getting ingredients for my cooking, and you're about to throw that away!" added Natalie. Haoyu glanced at Natalie and muttered: "You're out of character, Astrid!" {to be continued...?}
Kidding aside, I could see Alden's friends doing an intervention. Or at least asking what's up with his choices. Just probably not in Ch. 292.
I had a funny thought. What if the requirement that Alden is in physical contact with the object he is entrusted with is system enforced? And the only reason he could hold on to Z was because the system was too busy to do things like this?
Why would the system artificially limit his skill in that manner? Why would Mother participate in that limiting?
If Stu and Nat are gonna start a food basket exchange, then she will be able to adapt her food to what he enjoys both from home and from earth. Some levels on that and she will also be starbound.
Trans-planetary community supported agriculture food boxes! When I signed up for a CSA box, I was like, "Oh, what do I do with this... weird root vegetable I'm not used to eating? Or with all this lettuce?" But that would delight Stu to no end!
Has anyone else pointed out that he just needs to get Candy from Natalie to bribe his teacher, that and or put Kons skill to its most destructive interesting and perhaps irresponsible uses.
One thing that keeps coming to mind for me is this question: in a sea of characters with names that have clear origins in the rest of the world, where the heck was Aulia Velra born? What linguistic and cultural tradition was that name from? I can't find one, but maybe I'm just dumb.
I don’t know about Velra but the name Aulia exists in Iran at least.
I’ve tried distilling some of my thoughts on Alden’s recent mental state into a cohesive message so many times. But I think the closest I can get is that I’m getting very concerned. He is way too young for the sheer amount of overwhelming things that have happened to him. These recent chapters have shown all the effort Alden has put into getting his life in order. Finding a greater purpose, supporting one of his true friends. (Who has gone through similar experiences to himself) and striving to be better. But he cannot be open about it. For fear of what it will mean for his life and futures. And that SUCKS. With the last few chapters in particular It has felt like a constant series of small blows beating against him. People looking down on him or disregarding him, Distance from Boe, Maricel, and Natalie, etc. all because he can’t really express enough truth to allow anyone to connect with him. I really hope I’m just reading into the negative bits too much. But I feel a lingering sense of dread. That if something doesn’t change for the better, Alden is gonna get beat down enough to snap. Will the frog reach the surface of the pond with glowing orb or be dragged deep into the muck below
I don't know. Alden has a lot going on, sure, but he's also really excited and positive for the things he's striving for. He has a really good group of friends who he feels he can open up to at least a little about his future. I expect he'll tell Kon a bit more as well at some point, to try and make him feel like he'll be a little less alone when he's out there. If anything, I see him feeling more confidant in sharing things and receiving support. It's still a high intensity situation, certainly, but it's getting better, and he has a very positive mindset about what he's doing.
Alden is well on his way to fulfilling his destiny as the universe's greatest smuggler. I wonder if bowls of welcome get tariffed.
Ash reminds me of my first Driving instructor The Hock He had business cards that said “Don’t Kill The Hock” I think he was retired law enforcement? He slept while we watched videos Then two young adults did the driving practice (we all had US learners permits) At one point, someone went through all his business cards and crossed out the “don’t” Surprising no one, I didn’t get my drivers license until 9 years later from a driving school specializing in “nervous “ (and neurodivergent) drivers. That instructor was the second calmest / unflappable person I have ever met 🎬
One thing I have found myself wishing in these last few chapters is that we had a clearer explanation for what makes a B a B, and an S an S. We know that it is not the quality of the authority (Alden is noted to have sturdier authority than normal thanks to Gorgon). We also know that it is not simply the amount of authority bound in the skills, as authority increases in age and presumably an old B would have had a large enough number of affixations that their total bound authority exceeds that of a newly assigned S. We can also conclude that it is not a measure of growth rate, as otherwise Alden would have been classified by now as a hyperbole given his 4x growth rate compared to his S-tier classmates. Given that it is none of these, it seems that it most likely is some sort of measure of the amount of bound authority relative to someone's level. An S tier skill in this formulation would bind more authority per level than a weaker tier skill, and a person's initial amount of authority upon skill assignment would dictate their skill level. Someone who is a B will always be a B because for each skill level they are gaining a B amount of authority, and an S will always be an S because for each skill level they are gaining an S amount of authority. Though in this picture it seems strange to me that Bearer would be a B tier skill when we know several knights who presumably had very high levels of authority upon initial affixation have taken the skill. However, my bigger question in this is the question of how someone can go up a tier, and why a B tier or below has never gone up a tier before. If someone is a B, why can they not simply hold off on affixation after capping out their first B skill, and take an S tier skill level next? Is the difference so vast that they would be at risk of loss of assignment, and is this gulf larger than that of A->S or S->hyperbole? Is this gulf unchanging regardless of how many levels someone has? I would have assumed that the more authority someone has the easier it is to make this jump, but presumably there are at least some high level Bs out there and none of them have made the jump. This would make it seem like Alden will always be a B, albeit a B who may eventually be vastly more powerful than many S tier avowed simply due to the fact that he has a gazillion more levels than they do. Does anyone have any insights on this or tidbits of knowledge from Sleyca that may have come from outside the written chapters?
I think it’s not strength or resilience of authority, but how well the universe will listen to your authority. Let’s imagine that Alden’s progress outstrips everyone. He’ll still be a B rank, because rank is based on efficiency. S-ranks do more with less; this would explain the system more thoroughly.
I really like these latest chapters, they are so poetic. I was very happy about Alden revealing his secrets to Stu, but those chapters gave me slight diabetes
A question I started wondering about. How do they actually get experienced people to work on the island? It is an increadible small population for a country. Barely a city worth of people. Is there any immigration of high skill worker? Because we know that there is quite hard to be able to leave the island for people with super powers. So I assume that it is quite hard to join an university in another country for studies. How do they get the up to date experience? Is there a lot of teachers that immigrate? Are the aliens providing teachers?
Anesidora is pretty far from everybody else on Earth. They are just a teleport away from the Artonas. And the Artonas have to be an economic powerhouse that makes all of Earth look like Burkina Faso in comparison. (High technology? Check. Huge population? Check. Magic that Earth has no answer for at all? Check.) They don't really need high-skill workers. Anesidora appears to be mostly a service-based economy. They have some light industry, but it appears to be of the 'cottage' variety, based upon Wrights doing their thing. If someone on Anesidora wants a degree from the Sorbonne, it's implied that students view lectures remotely. Need something from the rest of Terra? If it isn't time-sensitive, it gets put on a boat and shipped to you. If what you want is time-sensitive, well, Dragon Rabbit (or somebody) can get it for you.
I'm legitimely pissed about that teacher. Nobody is learning anything, even the one that run the course because they don't actually know why they got to run it. I'd have Alden block his exit next time.
The way I read it is that in the actual classes where Ash talks through all the examples, Alden (and presumably everyone else) is learning a lot. It's just the Thursday and Friday that are duds
For the record, I have full faith that Writher could bust up "Pincushion Alley" better than any other team
Remember that Nat is an S class, and so close to two years younger than Alden. There is a pretty huge difference in maturity in two years for teenagers.
Is Alden 17 now? I forget.
Oh my GOD that kissing thing broke my heart for Alden all over again. Too close to home, Sleyca! Hope everyone that has happened to in the comments gets a nice pat on the back.
I feel like I'm the only one that didn't understand that scene
Roy Mustang would be so proud of Alden’s snapping lighting technique. He even got the sparks right!
Whenever Sleyca releases a chapter about how Alden feels alone and trying to do things he likes alone is hard, it has, every time without fail, sent me into a depressing spiral! The writing is immersive and I get real deep when I read. Anyways. I was about to comment à bunch of hopeless nonsense that Alden won’t ever find people or have his greetings be answered, and instead I am going to remember that Heloìsa threw a party in canon so I can cope with how hard Alden has it even if it’s only because he’s young.
I think the thing that concerns me the most about Ash's teaching style—or not-teaching style, as it were—is that surely the Coursing class is graded, right? Is the actually coursing portion not part of their grade? Or is he just tanking the grades of students that don't interest him without ever providing feedback? Is he just giving all the students As so he doesn't have to actually do any work? Genuinely, it boggles my mind that this dude is allowed to be the sole teacher for a class; because clearly this is not the first class he's done this sort of thing with, and someone—anyone—should have stepped in at this point.
The impression I get is that there’s a teacher shortage, so a principal might rationalize tolerating Ash as it being better for 7 of 9? Coursing teams to get the extra gym practice than 0 of 9 because there’s no-one willing to teach that time slot that year. This also explains the clearly corrupt decision to allow Arjun to “evaluate” Alden in exchange for Arjun helping with classes and the useless Artonan language teacher. I admit I struggle to square a teacher shortage with CNH being one of the premier school’s on the island.
This chapter was so tense somehow 🥹 Alden not feeling belonging with his peers because they are rank elitist is so sad, but also a precursor to not getting much out of the school anymore. Either he does his second binding and people take him seriously or he walks away from Anededoria completely is where I see this going
Tension! Just like what Everly said a few chapters ago. How will the princess react to our little klerm rabbit?
Since this chapter touches a little on Alden's potential romance... I see little logically sound way for Alden to pursue a romantic relationship once he starts deepening with Stuart? (Not that I necessarily want them to start dating. It'd be cute, albeit with its own mountain of problems). It's just realistically hard to picture. We know that a "relatively shallow" authority interaction experience with Stu overwhelmed Alden to the point of laugh-crying, then anything further along that bond might far exceed what typical romance or sex could offer in intensity. While those aren't mutually exclusive, romantic partners are usually expected to understand you best. And it's hard to imagine anyone understanding Alden better than Stuart or even Boe. (Alden definitely seem the type who wants that level of understanding in a relationship.) The thing is, with the way bonding is described, it's more "immersive" than regular relationships, which risks making any future romance feel comparatively "shallow". Also his wizardry posts a dilemma: A human partner can't understand him on an existential level (his path as a human wizard is largely non-replicable) and would struggle to grasp the weight and implications of his choice to become a knight. That decision is central to who he is, and Alden seems to want a partner who is at least informed about it, if not fully understanding. But then anyone who can connect with him on that level would have to be Artonan, and would in turn lack a full understanding of his human identity and context. Then there's the bond itself. A permanent bond (with an alien guy!) which shares thoughts, burdens, feelings better than a romantic partner could would be difficult for most people to accept. Stuart would effectively be a constant third-wheel, leading to an open or polyamerous dynamic, which I can't picture Alden in? He's already asexual and dense/oblivious as a brick when it comes to romance. I just don't see it in him to do that. So I'm a little confused & intrigued about how this plays out.
It's fine. Natalie is appeal-maxing. Which gives her some strength, since that's appealing. Surely, she can therefore develop an authority sense of her own, since she's an S and that would be most appealing to Mother's favorite bunny knight.
I think Ash is like an inverse Klein here - he represents social obstacles and prejudice that you can't get through by working hard and proving yourself. I think one of three things will happen: 1) Alden will drop Coursing entirely, and go do something more produtive instead 2) The students complain about Ash to the admin and it blows up from there 3) Alden and team find a way to convince Ash, but it's not due to improving their plan, it'll be something like bribery or modifying their plan to make it look cool (to a six year old), or something else deeply unsatisfying to Alden. Number 3) is a regrettably common thing one has to do in real life to get someone to do their job, I've learned :/
Your username is topnotch.
I don't know that Natlden might not actually be happeneing, but I do so love a good romance arc. Here is hoping the import boy finds love! TFTC
I'm not holding my breath. Our boy is just way to busy and his goal driven self doesn't even consider relationships - except for esvulgivnas with Stu, which we know is not a romantic thing. We also know that Alden had been noticing, even before he got this focussed (pre-affixing) that the hormonally fuelled interest in potential partners wasn't happening for him in the same way it was for his peers.
Oh, and I love the line, "Kon gave her a look so icy Everly should have applauded." :) Poor Vandy
Ready for a scene in the university language class.
Ash and his sugar packets has the same vibe as Manon eating her chickens to me.
The frogs with their own little lilypad kingdoms
I wonder if Ash wants Alden's team to use more magic tools in their run. A rabbit's main superpower is money after all, and with Kon on the team even single use magic tools can become reusable. The rules also allow clothes over the gym suits, and though the opposing team can object to equipment, they may not know to do so if they don't recognize the equipment as magical or it's disguised as normal clothes. I think it's only rabbits that usually get points in sympathy of magic, and Ash himself is said to wear fake rings, possibly to mislead opponents. In that case, Ash commenting on Alden's rings may have been a hint.
Ash basically telling one team and one team alone that they have to Pay to Play would get his ass fired so fast.
I think Alden should post the candle picture on Trime. Confuse his burderer followers.
“You eat a lot of garlic.” lol that's a double-edged sword Also Alden traumatizing Natalie with compliments on their classmates' looks lmao Annnd the pre-relationship energy! PS: Stuart the poor import guy haha
Stuart is going to enjoy a steady stream of Earth fruits.
If I were in Ash's class, on a team that had been snubbed twice in a row, I'd be contacting the administration to complain. I think we can assume that some of the students will be doing just that. However, this seems to be Ash's preferred style of teaching. For whatever reason, saying "We are not being treated fairly" hasn't had any effect. I'd be interested in knowing why.
idk, but in terms of effectiveness as a teacher, even people who received the shortest end of the stick from him (Rahul) consider him middle of the pack... unless he likes you, then he's amazing. So to answer your question, probably because teachers are retained based on their results, not how much effort they put in. Apparently Ash, even when you're his least favorite student gives teaching that's only middle of the road in terms of the learning you'll take away from it, rather than outright bad. (SURELY obstacle course is an exception to this right??) This tells me that a good half of the teachers suck even worse than him at teaching overall, even for the students he mostly ignores... somehow. According to Rahul. They probably suck in a less aggravating way though.
If anyone could appreciate a story that ends with the potential for more as the only reason the story was told, it would be the Artonans.
"I wrote you a letter saying I might never see you again, he thought. And it was very hard to write, but not the hardest to write. I’m swimming with my gold ball here, still wishing for so much...So when you tell me things like this and then wait like this, I’m just your friend who says…" Can someone intepret what Alden means in the Natalie scene? I can't for the life of me figure out what's trying to be conveyed except that Natalie is subtly trying to confirm if it's cool for her to try putting herself out there and date someone else even though they're "really close" for a lack of a better word? Also wow Alden's been going through it back to back these past 2 chapters, it is nice though to finally see why it's so frustrating being a B rank in the hero course because Alden seemed immune from the worst part of it so far.
Who would have thought Winston was one of the more polite and nice people who might bother him? Rex is really something else...
I think the golden ball frog variant of the story ends with the frog jumping out of the pond… and going on an adventure! We can have a whole set of talking animals the frog encounters and helps on his adventure. In the end, all these animals would unite to crown the frog a king! Or at least a prince. And so, the story will have gone full circle!
I thought that the end would be that the frog gets jacked from carrying it's golden burden and then now fully yoked, practically roided up, goes on a demon killing spree and saves the universe from chaos.
A golden ball... makes me remember a certain silver bubble from a long time ago.
You and me both, Alden. I'm also starting to miss Stu.
He might have even more difficulties with prejudice among the Artonans. Sure, with his closest friends (Like the roomies and especially Stu), he can be less guarded, but I think these problems will follow him on both worlds. Stu is great protective bulwark but he's not impenetrable to the shittyness of any and all Artonans, unfortunately, as much as he tries to be.
I feel like they'd get to run if one of the floating island solution proposed would be "we use the nonagon to fly there"
That would be fun, but it wouldn't work. The other team would refuse to allow it. That's the downside of the team competitions.
One thing I'm surprised I haven't seen Alden talk about re:Goldbush is how durable his affixation is. Both his roommates and Natalie have been surprised/doubtful that he'd be allowed to go to a chaos zone, when we know the Primary was already planning to summon him even without the wizard/BOAB stuff. For the roommates who know about his Elderly Aunt Stu, he should just be able to say "yeah so apparently wizards can feel if you have a really durable soul so I'm actually a really good fit for a chaos zone despite my rank". And while he'd have to explain Stu to Natalie he could also lie and just say Esh told him about his durability.
I took it as Alden being very durable *for his rank*. He's still a B-Rank. He'll be strong enough to go to Goldbush eventually, but that won't be for at least a couple years.
"Then she told him she’d kissed somebody on New Years, placing the words carefully on top of him and waiting. For some answer she must imagine he was wise and mature enough to have. He stood beside her on the nonagon’s edge, and he didn’t feel wise enough for anything. He was mature enough not to remind her that she’d told him, only a month or so ago, that now was the wrong time in her own life for her to be kissing people." Oof that came out of nowhere, and even knowing about the context these words summoned so many feelings and memories that lingered with a sad and powerless aftertaste. Great chapter I guess... The frog story and analogy is amazing but damn here I was feeling like Alden was doing better and finally catching a break for the next few months, and that things were looking up... Turns out it might be getting worse, he might be more torn apart and lonely than ever :( Maybe getting a sip of water after being thirsty for so long just makes the remaining thirst more unbearable
TLDR; a very long rambling comment about human magic and Artonan factors limiting Alden's personal/magical growth. I'm kind of fascinated by a particular thing in this story at the moment... The conflation of magic with being Artonan. It makes complete sense, for a whole host of reasons, but it still feels like Alden is missing something. He says Burn in Artonan, trying to light the candle. Why not say it in his own Language? The one he grew up speaking, where the meaning of Burn is that much more deeply understood and connected within his being. He takes for granted that he has to do magic in the Artonan language. He feels like he has to use the Artonan blueprints, phrases, finger movements, rituals. All of that is quite natural because it's the only blueprint he has. When he snapped his fingers to finish the casting, this felt like a huge step in the right direction to me. Making the magic his own. He obviously has a lot to learn from Artonans, considering the lack of access to other sources of magical knowledge. But magic itself is not fundamentally Artonan. Alden's magic is his. It is him. If every human has some degree of Authority, and always has done, there must have been some human wizards before in history. But for any number of possible reasons magic did not become widespread or well understood on Earth. But the potential for it was always there. The Artonans have hijacked humanity's magical potential to make the Avowed. Alden imagines magic like the golden ball and the frog, something wonderful and transformative from another world. Like it's something he got by accident, or stole, from the 'royals' (Artonans). While understandable, that is a limiting framing. Alden is very bound by Artonan framing right now, trying to be a knight. Trying to be good enough to be accepted by this other culture. To be recognised as one of them. He finds meaning in it, and something to aim for. That is so valuable for his development. But it will never be a complete reflection of all that he is or could be. To reference the motif we've already been introduced to in the story, Daharsee. A reflection that isn't quite true to the self. Alden needs to find his own path, long term. He needs to de-colonise his magic and his mind, and step out of the Artonans' shadow. This doesn't mean rejecting them, but rather being independent enough to define himself and his Authority by his own standards, not theirs. The magic is his, and until he fully internalises that it is his own Authority, his own magic that is a part of himself, he will limit his potential with it. He is not a human doing Artonan magic. He is a human doing human magic. I feel like synthesising the Artonan craft of magic with his own identity, not being bound by Artonan framing and norms, and taking full ownership of his magic will be key for his long term growth.
Your analysis is very interesting and accurate, in my opinion. The finger snapping in this chapter could be an example of making magic his own, after all that gesture being associated with a spark lighting things on fire or magic tricks in general is very human. Sorry for hijacking your comment, but I just realized it might be one reason why Alden and Stuart's current relationship and direction makes me slightly uncomfortable, despite it all. Obviously they aren't equals in terms of status in Artonan society (or even in their respective ones), but also I'm afraid that Stuart and magic/knighthood are melding together, and that positive feelings about either get mixed up until they can't be told apart. It reminds me of IRL situations where a more experienced member of some community or practice introduces another to it (love, art, religion, lgbtq etc.) and the relationship gets messy because the feelings about the initiation and relationship get mixed up. Also happens with the savior/hero trope where the rescuee falls in love with the hero
Alden is so, whats the english word, stream-lined. One thing after the other. so it is not overwhelming. He wants to have his life sorted out before even considering a relationship. Such serious guy. His soulmate is Stu , who is even more serious and who only lets himself feel joy when its his duty to entertain Alden as guest. His best friend is Boe, who is incapable of feeling joy. Where is Jeremy or maybe Esh-erdi? Someone should tell Alden to include time in his plan to have fun and experience life. Natalie is a breath of fresh air, she is so quick to accept Aldens favors lol. Unlike him accepting Stu's gifts. Im oppimistic about their future, when Alden is so strong and secure, with a deep voice, and Natalie is interplanetary chef, travelling even more than him, and they meet accidentaly at Arthonan party with Knights and he feels tingling because he finally is safe enough within himself to feel these things..
Hope springs eternal... But I suspect you are plumbing at a dry well. Alden's problem isn't that he's 'too traumatized/busy for romance', it's that he doesn't and probably will never feel the urges he needs to feel to behave as you wish, he's just not wired that way. As far as I can tell, he's asexual. He will never look at Natalie and think 'AWOOGA, I want some of that!' The closest thing he will ever feel to carnal urges toward her is the 'carnal' urge to devour the delicious food she cooks. If he ever does develop any kind of 'romantic' relationship with her, which you must admit gets less and less likely every chapter, any 'tingly' feelings will be entirely one sided on her part. I think he's about 10x more likely to humor such feelings from Stu than her anyway.. So if anything, that's what you should be hoping for. But I doubt we will get that either, Seems an entirely platonic to me.
People were talking about him maybe using his Triplanetary connections, accidentally or deliberately, to get Ash summoned and/or fired, but... what if there's a better way? Wouldn't it be even funnier if he used the 'what would a hyper discerning/competent 6 year old want to see' method like he's planning, and it actually worked? Maybe some advice from Stu and (especially) Kibby, his teammates younger siblings also, to guide their strategies in earning Ash's interest. If they basically always got course time from that moment on, that would be SO damn funny.
Maybe sweets from a Cook of the Moment?
This chapter is awesome! The structure! The resonance of imagery and theme! The blend of comedy, anxiety, magic, slice of life, and deep yearning... All balanced into a seamless whole. I'm like... wow! This is what writing can be like. So glad Sleyca took some extra time before to figure out how to approach it, because this is paying off so well! TFTC!!
Alden truly embodies bros before hoes Natalie: “Do you want to be my boyfriend?” Alden: “Sorry im not ready for such a big commitment.” Stuart: “Will you bond yourself to me eternally and join me on the path of highest onus, purging the universe of demons?” Alden: “Hell yeah”
Being completely asexual will do that yes, he can't actually give Natalie what she wanted at all, but he is likely quite capable of giving Stu what he wants!
TLDR; Alden is a frog with a golden ball
If Ash has such a desire for novel and S-tier things, I'm surprised he didnt jump to Elites as a teacher. He doesn't seem like someone who cares about teaching compared to many others we have seen. I'm increasingly wondering if this arc is going to conclude with Alden snapping in someway and revealing one of his fifty thousand secret cards- maybe a bit of magic like lighting a spark with nary a gesture. He has held much patience but he's still a kid and there's only so much shit you can eat before you finally have enough of things. I do hope he goes with the wonderous frog instead of goofy-silly frog story. it feels like he's sliding more and more towards it the longer he ruminates and the closer to the deadline we get
Ash probably couldn’t jump to Elites because they wouldn’t invite him. He’s not a great teacher, even if he has the proper elitist attitude.
He should use bearer to just pull a ladder out of the dirt, like he did with the water shield
I know he isn’t skill enough for it yet, but I see no reason he couldn’t preserve a ladder shaped portion of the air either.
Sadly the last time Alden had a really useless teacher it was resolved by them choosing to quit (for very dumb reasons). I suspect it's even tougher when that teacher is a scarce S rank. Maybe he'll surprise, but it would be unexpected given everything we've heard about him. Like, in this class he genuinely turned on a video, ignored everyone for the entire class, and then copy/pasted his choices from the previous week.
I am betting the 'treat him like a very discerning and knowledgeable six year old' is a good one because the only differences in his preferences are easily explained by the 'discerning and knowledgeable' part, when you think about it. I think this plan of his, properly executed, might actually work.
Will Alden ever realize he is the frog in all those versions of the story
I mean... yes? The more interesting question might be "should he realise he's actually the princes"?
Will Alden invite Stu to his birthday party in March? Kibby? Who else should we ask to the party. To enjoy the magical layers cake?
Esh-erdi and Lind-otta, pls! I bet they'd love to celebrate a human birthday... though they're probably too busy. :(
Happy spoon, soup-sought, collapsed wavefunction
idea for the guys to be allowed to run: Stu/Evul organises for Alden to import a fully grown meat petal to run the course with, Ash will have never seen this so will let them run. This won't help them win unless they are against Jupiter as she will be distracted, but hopefully the gym suits protect them from getting eaten. Afterwards Natalie can have the meat petal to practice with.
Alden will be in the zone because he has to protect the very important ingredient.
Such an interesting comparison to be made here between Plim and Ash! Both seem to love novel magic, but while Plim is the advisor for the B list, Ash doesn't even want to get out of bed for anyone without an S next to their name. Also, I'm always so routinely impressed by how Alden has such clear vision re: how he spends his gym time. It's straight up aspirational for me. It's a real maturity gap between him and many (but not all!) of his classmates. Alas, I definitely would have been on the wrong side of said gap at his age. T_T
I wonder if Alden will figure out professor Ash sometime I mean, he’s a long time professor. There has to be some method to the madness.
A few well timed spells in his face would do it.
I'm thinking just report Ash. He doesn't want to teach? That's fine, he can find another job
Right? Like, all teachers should ideally want to teach, but the ones teaching superteens how to effectively and responsibly use their powers? That's a job you REALLY don't want someone half-assing. Baffled he hasn't been fired already tbh
I mean, if anything all the looking down is actually helping him inadvertently. Alden knows he will eventually match and even surpass his S tier classmates thanks to working with Stu, so this is really helping Alden understand how the other side of the coin feels like before he grows strong. Having multiple perspectives on life should help in growing a better foundation as a knight, I imagine.
And he will grow faster and faster, am I right in understanding him. The gap between A and S is bigger than B and A, but his rate of growth is faster and faster, and, maybe, S to 1 will be faster than B to A. This B to A time is going to be the longest time. Still, it’s almost a same that the rank up is assumed to be automatic. That he can’t be a B 100, as cool as the rank up will be, the more we see the more bittersweet it is becoming to me.
The obvious solution to Ash is to use weird magical Artonian items on the course. Say they are from Stuart but have Alden enchant them. That way he gets to practice his magic too.
It is the obvious solution isn’t it? Novel magic — only human wizard. I think it won’t be that simple though? When has problem A and Answer A ever quite been as straight forward as that in this story, and there’s a lot of wonder and awe in the magic here. Depending on what he offers, will he cheapen it if he whips out a novel ‘spell impression’? It could be that. I almost hope it’s some of the novel BOAB stuff he goes for though. To show off magic for Ash when it’s such a big reveal for his closest friends … it seems like it’ll be taking too much from Alden and he’ll choose not to do it, or if he does then he’ll regret it and using his golden ticket this way, and without proper reverence — just when he’s starting to recognise that BOAB is an ethos not just a tool to be used however he wants rather than in line with that ethos. Quite waffly, does that make sense? I’m hoping Alden doesn’t regret whoever he tries to tackle Ash basically, as much as I’m looking forward to that one day ‘I am the wizard’ and everyone’s amazed moment.
That poor frog/klem has been through so much... T_T
Whosoever befriends this rabbit, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Cottontail
Crackpot prediction: Alden will commission a cupcake from Natalie for Ash. And he will put a candle in it, and spark-light it right in front of him.
Sleyca, make that happen plz.
I want to give Sleyca props for how they've depicted various shades of prejudice these last few chapters. When i think of prejudice I generally imagine super obvious hateful comments or actions. However, Alden has been facing alot of the subtle, banal prejudice lately. The kind so deeply ingrained in people they dont even realize they're doing it or even think they are doing you a favor.
I think the culturally-ingrained power dynamics need to be considered too, from both a characterization-perspective and from a sleyca-appreciation-perspective. For lower ranks, fighting up a rank is always salf-validating, in the sense that any decent performance is a win and any loss is just expected, so it potentially costs nothing socially and has a potential for gain. For upper ranks, fighting down is always a social risk, since the expectations are reversed. For some students like Vandy who care less for those dynamics, the risks are muted. For Maricel, who is now trying to base her entire rebranded identity on external perceptions of her heroism, those effects are probably increased. Getting instakilled by Tuyet may be less stressful than fighting Alden for a minute, since there is no risk to the fragile identity she is building. And Rex might not be able to consider Alden a good opponent, even if that's true, because acknowledging that idea alone would be a blow to his self-efficacy. Saying they need a "serious opponent" may have a grain of truth in it, and they might honestly believe it, but it is also a convenient excuse that saves them a lot of face.
So has Stuart been grounded and had his Alden-calling privileges revoked? Thank you so much for the Chapter. I've been trying so hard to save up for a bigger read and *really* wanting my fix!
For "legal reasons" Stu is not calling Alden, Evul is calling him via her tablet, but Stu just happens to be in control of it. The tablet does not leave the siblinghold so Stu only calls from there. For Stu to call directly he would need to agree to mentor oversight of all communication to ensure he was behaving correctly (see CH70 for the conversation about it)
If Natalie wasn't in love with him before, she will be once he start getting her every alien ingredient she wants. She'll somehow end up the best supplied cook on earth. I really enjoy their dynamic too, but also don't see a future where Alden becomes a Hn’tyon and they are together. They don't need to be either. Just wish they had a chance at least. Hopefully Alden will be able to tell his own frog story in the future to other people who might be able to gain something from it. If nothing else we have Esh who will be an instant fan.
I'm many years past high school and view it with a nostalgic (senile??) haze, but every time I had a speech class, I carefully wrote up an introduction and outline -- and made a verbal left turn rendering it all useless after the first paragraph, at best. Always struggled to even show up to those classes, even if I got good grades. Alden's improv version of the Frog Prince will probably do the same!
Such a delightfully melancholy chapter. I've decided that I officially hate Ash. I was already pretty sold on the idea, but this chapter has nailed it. Thanks for the chapter, Sleyca!
Natalie! Good to see her again.
I was thinking last chapter that we hadn't seen her recently. I... feel many things about how their convo and interaction just went. I think my hope is that they find a way to be... very frank and supportive friends for each other. Possibly like a very healthy and supportive version of roden and the lady who gave him the cup? But in a way that has mutual respect and genuimce care for each other and not in a way the feels like casual whatever kind of potential hookups between 2 busy people. I don't think typical romance is in the cards between them but I really REALLY like the idea of Natalie being... impressed? anchored, supported, uhh boueyed by Alden's interest and care for her, such that her feelings and long term well being is placed above his own possible immediate desires. He actually gave their potential relationship thought and decided that he wasn't in a good place to be a good partner, even if he did have to almost choke himself to get enough time to react 'well'.
I do wonder if Alden taking a picture with his phone while casting spells now means that spy tech has now spilled his wizarding secret to some humans.
I'm pretty sure Alden doesn't have a phone, he does all that with the system and I think also took that picture with the system.
Why didn’t he ask Natalie for some magic sweets to bribe ash? If she made it into the shape of a ring that would be 3 of his favorite things.
Ahaha that's perfect, I love it! You get this guy, you would get into the obstacle runs first try for sure.
The well-meaning but painful acceptance of Natalie with rank elitism hurts the most.
I dont think its rank elitism so much as well-founded concern for his safety
That was really sweet.
How long before he tries to take the nine-edged son to coursing?
I'd like to take a moment to pay my respects to the poor witch who thought it would be possible to teach nobility a lesson like that. That is a funny version of the story. May she not be stuck in a neverending loop
You should look up T.H. White's: Once and Future King. That's how Merlin trains Arthur as a kid. He turns him into different animals for a night. It actually works quite well.
I hope that Alden is brave enough to give his Frog and the Golden Ball. I don't think he actually needs the story to have an ending when telling it. Its very Artonan to have the frog call out to the universe and have the teller of the story as the audience for a response. An answer back. After all the Elder Croak tale has the audience croacking in remembrance/honor of the Elder Croak, so I think they would get it. And on the human side of things, we have stories like Peter Pan that calls out to the audience reading/listening to believe in fairies in order for Tinkerbell live to be saved. So the tale works in both culture as he has it.
This is one of those "holy shit" chapters that captures such a specific feeling in such a perfectly crafted way, I don't know how you still do it after all the pressure and the schedule of these past years but that golden ball, yo
Goooooooosebumps
"...daharsee? It means your own reflection, but it’s almost exclusively used by poets to give the idea that the reflection isn’t quite true to the self. " (From 282, because I needed the reminder) Someone's probably already quoted that by now, but I'll add to the pile.
"Can’t pull an all-nighter tonight when the story I’ve already got is good." Alden's storytelling process is fascinating, but that line did make me laugh. Get some sleep, Alden! This whole chapter was phenomenal. I will continue to contemplate it tomorrow after following my advice to Alden tonight.
I’m maybe relating this too much to my own personal experiences, but the thing about coming out— whether it’s as someone who’s queer or as someone who has impossible magic— is that once you tell one person about yourself and they respond exactly the way you wanted them to, you start to want the rest of the world to be like that. You want to be able to bring up this thing that is so important to you in casual conversation and have it not be a big deal. You want to bring it up and have it be a big deal that everyone is just as excited about it as you are. You want to not have to bring it up because everyone already knows and nobody cares. That first taste of acceptance is so addictive. Going back to the real world after you’ve had that experience is a hard adjustment.
I feel that, gimme that golden ball. Also, trying not to be a cliche but also, as Writher #1 fan, did you hear that shout of Lexi's arms
Alden whips out his auriad at ash "eat triangles jerk"
I am slightly hoping that Ash's enjoyment of novelty and Alden's ability to 'quickly' and repeatedly add novelty to his skill set in the form of new spells marry well into a slow realization/ reveal the Alden can use magic
"Wishing was having" implies instant gratification. The original is about a process that went away, literally: "In olden times when wishing still helped..." And Sleyca is showing the process in this arc.
As much as I think it would be funny to have all the royals turn into frogs, I really hope we can get a hope for the frog with the magic ball. That frog needs a hug!
This chapter is so poignant. I love the way Alden's brain is using the Klerm Prince story to process the fact that he's going to leave everything on Earth behind someday. It's beautiful and terrible in how lonely and isolated he is. I particularly liked how, every time the concerns of his pond life threatened to drag him back down, he turned his focus to that golden ball. When it finally breaks the surface, it's going to make one hell of a ripple.
Nails in the coffin for NataliexAlden lol. Like it was already in there from Shoes but yea...it's over.
How so? The narrative went very light on describing any of Alden's feelings; it only described how Alden doesn't know how to treat her. Alden didn't feel wise or mature in this moment. He didn't know what to say or how to say it. We know he considered his options, though - he imagined kissing Natalie, most likely. He feels trapped by his secrets. If the ship was dead, would Alden have agonized? Surely he would be straightforwardly happy that things didnt fall apart between them, and they can still be friends. But his feelings were way more complicated than that. He couldn't just be her friend, excited to gossip. He had to decide, and pretend. Why - I think is rather clear. I am excited to see further exploration of this relationship. It's got all sorts of crunchy feelings.
I’m glad Alden is making progress with his casting. A finger snap is the only appropriate way for a wizard to light a candle.
I wonder if this is cultural? Like, obviously a finger snap is the only appropriate way for a wizard to light a candle. And yet that's not how the Artonans made the spell. It makes me wonder if maybe Artonans can't snap their fingers? They are more tree adapted than humans and looking it up, most monkeys can't snap their fingers. Maybe Alden is the only being in the entire universe who can do this exact spell.
Oh dear. Natalie... with the high school drama level of 'can i make him jealous'? And then Alden has zero internal response to that, no interest at all. I'm cooked. I'm dead. DEAD. It's Alden X Stu and my poor Natalie will have to get with some gonk loser who isn't Alden.
I feel like AldenxStuart only really works if they're going to break up because that relationship would come with so much baggage and social mess and different relationship norms it would be insanely hard to maintain for a lifetime. I don't think that's a recipe for success when you add magical empathy on a soul-deep level to the mix. I'm not saying it wouldn't be interesting, but I'm saying that Alden and Stu shacking up and lasting the duration of the story would feel a bit fairy tale.
The way that Alden and Natalie can banter and share life updates while we feel that overwhelming trench of space that's grown between them... it's painful to read. Although at least It feels like a small portion of that gap was bridged toward the end as they find their new normal. I look forward to more of their interactions
This was a strong chapter. I have a feeling Friday will either not go well, to setup a future Friday or it Alden is going to wake up with some inspiration. I'm a little sad that the Natalie and Alden ship seems officially sunk.
Come on man… a floating raft is still a ship🥲
Edit Suggestions: I know it’s a skill for keeping things safe, but I was getting slack about it without realizing. ->I know it’s a skill for keeping things safe, but I was getting slack about it without realizing. (Remove double space) We had a really valuable practice together even without the gym, didn’t we, guys?” ->We had a really valuable practice together even without the gym, didn’t we, guys?” (remove double space)
Holy amazing chapter Sleyca, these are the chapters I think about for days
I’m really looking forward to the gang’s plan for a 6-year old novelty craving, sugar-addicted Coursing teacher with a perfectionistic streak & a penchant for death defiance.
I truly thought Alden was gonna commission a sweet by Natalie for Ash, for a moment. He could see if Ash is above bribery or not
I mean, that level of sadness from italics shouldn't be possible. Alton's so isolated from everyone except Stu and maybe Boe, isn't he?
I don't know about Alton, but Alden doesn't seem that isolated from his roomies, though he is getting more isolated from Boe for now.
Okay, well, it is night time and there's no heat on so some of this might be just physical, corporeal chills, but... beyond that... really fine chapter and work. Sleyca giving me the chills!
Really, though, maybe it's just due to the length and more soup is always welcome but I do feel like this is one of my favorite chapters in a good while. It kind of hits just right, for me. The striving, the yearning, the working, the connecting, the pondering.
I’m really looking forward to seeing Alden prove his strength as a B rank. A lot of characters have seriously inflated egos because of their rank, which isn’t surprising. They see Alden as lesser and constantly reduce him to the B rank rabbit. IRL the same phenomena happens with race, gender, etc. shout out to Alden putting up with all of their bs for so long. It’ll be seriously humbling for all of them when he surpasses them.
Hmm. Alden is on track to become a knight. The system gives knights avowed summoning rights. Not that he'd summon anyone to take a bullet for him, but there are probably lots of other, safer tasks which need doing.
Nice, a chapter with a mocktail break
It made me think of that too! 😂 Now I'm trying to remember what chapter that was, and if it was a Rabbit one with Natalie, and if there's significance to that connection 🤣
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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＼(^o^)／
I've finished the chapter now and ദ്ദി(╥ ᴗ ╥)
1 min ago is educated and informed class and skill selection
Yaaaay!
first, second* :(
Ty4c