TWO HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR: When Wishing Was Having V
Edited (minor, epub updated): June 25, 2026
******
Kon wondered if the guys knew how much attention they were suddenly getting from the other members of the class. Once the island started to fall, he couldn’t resist taking a glance around the room. People who had, in his opinion, been way too uninterested in his team’s debut on the floor were suddenly stopping their preparations and their conversations to look.
And Ash, who’d been watching without much of an expression on his face the whole time, had finally lifted his brows.
Interest. Those are the raised eyebrows of an interested person.
Kon had positioned himself near a corner of the exterior barrier where he had a good view of the island, the girls’ pincushion alley, and their teacher.
You see that, everybody? The so-called weakest team is the only one that did anything new with the floating island!
It was the descending island now, coming down faster and faster. Ignacio’s throwing knife was close to punching all the way through, judging by the glowing orange spot on the bottom of the obstacle. The System didn’t hand out weak Meister weapons for sure. They’d considered the possibility that the knife would carve through the whole thing like butter. Ignacio had said he’d try to recall it more slowly in case that helped, but he also claimed not to be particularly good at slowing down his recalls.
And that was one of several problems they’d imagined.
Alden did most of the imagining. He really seemed to be on a roll coming up with theories for how the gym will act while it’s faking an uncommon Adjuster spell.
But none of the bad things are happening after all! Except for the other team catching up, this is amazing.
The island was low enough. Mehdi was jumping. Then Lexi. Alden. Ignacio was a moment behind, cancelling his Leading Knife skill at the same time as his feet hit the island. He was climbing up the peak to call his weapon again. He wanted to bring it up through the channel it had already cut in the obstacle.
That’s Ignacio with both Meister knives in hand. All teammates are where they belong. Now, the island goes back up to its set location…we think.
And yes!
It had already started to rise. Kon bit back another shout. His hopes were on the way up with it.
Don’t jump, Tuyet. Stay down.
But she sprang up at the last moment, scrambling to get purchase on the island’s surface without touching any of his teammates so that her move to ride along with them couldn’t possibly be counted as an attack. Whether Vandy had issued an order or Tuyet had decided to leap on her own, there was no trace of the surprise that had been on her face a moment earlier. Her eyes were fixed on Ignacio, leaving little doubt about who she deemed the biggest danger.
I don’t understand how she turns from such a nervous person into a stone cold threat as soon as combat starts. She wasn’t at all like this during regular phys ed when we were going to Paragon.
Kon didn’t have time to dwell on her. The island was on its way—fast, but not so fast that they were all going to get thrown off. They’d been braced for that chance. Alden had mused that once Ignacio’s knives stopped pulling on it, it might inch back to its home location or snap back like a rubber band that had been stretched.
That was why Lexi had plunged Writher into the island and grabbed Alden to anchor them both.
No, none of them have any idea how cool they look, Kon decided. They don’t have time to notice that there are people down here pointing.
And they couldn’t hear the comments that Kon could.
They’re busy. They’re running through this right. I told Lexi we’d practice stuff in this class that we couldn’t in others! This counts! Apex. We could really win our first run. I’ve got to help them pull it off.
The monkey bars started out white directly above the island, and then turned red about two-thirds of the way to the finish line. There was a rule about teams touching a minimum number of bars before one of their members could cross the finish, to keep those with certain powers from just skipping over the whole thing. But worrying about minimums wouldn’t be something that concerned their team. Haoyu had crossed almost the whole set of bars. He’d wait a rung or two from the finish line, delaying just a second to take in what was going on and decide whether staying on the course to help out or finishing his run was the right call.
Kon was wondering that, too.
Do we let Tuyet try to push for the finish? With Ignacio in play, we could kill a different player instead, but I think…
“Crossing!” said Haoyu, swinging himself onto the platform that marked the finish.
Okay! That’s what we’re doing then. “Kill Tuyet if you can do it without dying, L—”
Writher flashed.
“YES!!! YES, THAT’S HOW WE DO IT!”
Kon liked to think his brother had moved in response to his orders. Even if he’d only gotten one syllable of the name out.
******
******
“Holy…” Alden jumped for the monkey bars from the highest peak of the island. “Holy Writher—that’s what! I couldn’t even see that, Lexi!”
Lexi was right in front of him, Ignacio right behind. Mehdi was out in front of all of them, pulling ahead and swinging toward the finish.
“That was fast!” Haoyu was calling from where he waited for them at the end. “You got her neck, Lexi?!”
“Face,” said Ignacio.
Alden didn’t look down. He’d just seen Tuyet, stiff-suited, sliding headfirst off the edge of the island. The girls’ team had burst into shouts and instructions as they tried to recover. He didn’t need to check again.
Get to the end. Just get to the end. My island idea worked. We’re almost there.
Haoyu was his entruster, and he’d just entrusted the jacket Alden wore. The idea was now that Haoyu was done running, he’d keep an eye on threats to Alden specifically while Kon and Jeffy paid more attention to what the other team was doing. Alden and Ignacio were supposed to be last over the finish. As close together as possible.
Tuyet will have to go back to the beginning since she died. I don’t know if she can get through the alley without injuries on her own, but I know she can’t attack us from down there. She’ll have to make it back up here.
A ceiling separated the first and second floors. She couldn’t throw a dart between levels.
They moved forward. But, when Mehdi was on the red rungs, several from the end, Kon’s urgent voice sounded in their ears: “Heloìsa! Flying sandbag! Coming at you now!”
“Don’t stop to look!” Lexi shouted at Mehdi. “Cross! Earn us another attack so we can deal with her!”
Alden didn’t stop, but he did look down in time to see Heloísa tagging the island with a foot to satisfy the requirement that they not completely skip any obstacle. Then the ten-kilo sandbag she was gripping the handle of suddenly changed directions and shot up toward Mehdi.
Instead of listening to Lexi, Mehdi swung back and forth like a pendulum, his legs almost touching the bars in front of him then going all the way back toward the bar it looked like Maricel might be aiming Heloísa’s sandbag at.
Heloísa yelped as the sandbag jerked her sideways unexpectedly. Maricel had shied away from the risk of hitting Mehdi at the last second, but then she hurled her teammate directly into the bars in front of Lexi instead. Heloísa had the strength to catch a bar and hold on, but she grunted and opted not to use what must have been an injured right arm as she swung toward the next.
Mehdi crossed the finish.
“Get Helo—!” Kon’s instruction this time was just part of a riot of noise they all made as another attack became available and their clean finish came under threat.
Lexi’s “ME!” rang the clearest, and Writher moved the fastest. But after an astonishing run so far, this time he wasn’t quite as accurate with the whip. Or Heloísa wasn’t moving exactly like he’d thought she was going to.
She’d swung one more time than expected, Alden thought, though in that frantic second it was hard to follow. Maybe she’d been preparing herself for a couple of big final swings to aim for the end instead of going for the next bar. But Writher, which should have sliced at something critical for life or motion, caught her around the left knee.
It would have been a decent place to hit someone if they were running. Not so much on monkey bars. Heloísa cried out, but she reacted quickly.
She reversed course to take advantage of the few seconds she was allowed for retaliation.
Alden, clinging to a bar a few meters behind Lexi, winced. He had a front row view of a Strength Brute slamming feet first into Lexi’s face and chest and then launching off of him like he was a wall she hoped to destroy instead of a person.
He’s dead.
The System was translating Ignacio’s swearing.
Lexi fell. And then abruptly stopped falling.
“Ignacio…” said Alden.
<<So close. Then disaster—!>>
“Ignacio! It’s not over. We need to help him!”
Writher had caught its Meister. Lexi looked completely stiff-suited, but his hand was wrapped in his own whip, near the handle, and the end of it was hooked around the bar he’d just fallen from.
“Let me first!” Ignacio said as he realized what was happening.
Alden made room for him to pass and then followed quickly to look down at Lexi. I said we should help him, but this isn’t the easiest thing to help with.
“Pull yourself up. Pull up with your mind,” Ignacio was saying. He was probably attempting to sound calm, but he wasn’t quite there.
Haoyu was calling advice in a similar tone from the finish.
“I’m trying!” Lexi squawked. “I’m obviously trying!”
He’s squawking. That’s bad. Writher plus a frazzled Lexi means…
As if it was agreeing with him, the weapon started to glow dully. That wasn’t usually how it looked when it was being a friendly whip.
He’s going to burn or cut through the bar.
“Actually, I know what to do!” said Alden, injecting as much false confidence into his voice as possible. “It’s going to be easy. Just relax, Lexi! Think of something you like. Kon, kittens, rainbows…pizza and meditation…fluffy rugs…. Ignacio, try to guard us from whatever attack comes next.”
Heloísa was already heaving herself over the finish.
Damn.
Alden got his left forearm lined up under Writher’s bar and preserved his jacket. It stiffened around him. “Up! Now, make Writher drag you up! There’s absolutely no way you can fall.”
That was a lie. If Lexi just cut or melted straight through the bar without wiggling Writher around, they were fine now. Alden’s shielded arm would catch it. But Writher had too many options beyond sullen burning. It could even phase through things. If Lexi was really out of sorts and it really went haywire, nobody here was stopping it.
“We’ve got this,” he insisted. “Just do it.”
Lexi was looking up at him, body stiff from whatever his injuries were, expression furious.
Is he giving up?
Lexi yelled and shot up toward the monkey bars. It was almost as uncontrolled as Alden had feared, even if it was in the right direction. And the only thing the Meister had less control of than his whip was his body, since the suit wouldn’t let him move. Alden had to drop preservation on the jacket immediately and switch to trying to grab onto a high-speed roommate. He thought he did more good than bad when it came to helping Ignacio stop and hold Lexi.
The System informed him that he should have a broken pinky and a sprained wrist, and the cuff around that wrist stiffened his hand up a little as he let go of his teammates and took care of re-securing his own grip on the bars while Ignacio held the weight of a glowering, red-faced Lexi in one arm.
We got him! He’s alive! We can…
“Can we actually cross like this?” Alden asked, as the reality of the situation wiped away his relief and excitement.
“He’s still conscious. He can be entruster?” Ignacio suggested, jostling Lexi as if to show him off.
Alden nodded and switched over from Haoyu. “Lexi—”
“I entrust you with my sweater,” Lexi said. Like he wished he wasn’t conscious.
“What’s with that attitude, man? You’ve been MVPing your way through this whole thing. Let me and Ignacio look good for a few seconds.”
“Fine. Stick your foot between my body and my sweater so that you can hold me with your legs and keep both of your hands on the bars. I’ll call out incoming. We’ve got to go.”
******
******
They recovered from that fall. They’re so close to the finish, thought Kon, pressing a hand to his mouth to keep himself from giving useless advice while he watched his three teammates crossing the final stretch. They were way up near the transparent part of the gym’s ceiling. The morning clouds drifting above them were such a peaceful backdrop for a scene that had Kon’s stomach tying itself in knots.
Alden had shoved his right foot between Lexi’s back and the preserved sweater. He’d bent that leg and had his other foot helping to hold Lexi in place below him for good measure. Lexi, whose arms and legs had been frozen in an odd position by the suit even before the sweater-foot carry began, looked memorable.
Kon was sure he was going to laugh at the expression on his brother’s face when he rewatched this later, but right now, he could see problems headed toward them. Tuyet, limping but not so injured she couldn’t snipe, was almost through the traffic tunnel. She was going to make it back up to the second level of the course soon. Everly had just started to cross the monkey bars. Jupiter and Maricel were standing on the floating island, shaping a large tangle of ivy and what looked like a metric ton of sand.
And they have an attack available. Heloísa made it over. Will it be the Shapers who do it? Or are they waiting for Tuyet to arrive to make it a sure thing?
Only one of them was allowed to take a shot. Kon wanted to run up into the bleachers and listen to whatever Vandy was saying to them.
Alden, Ignacio, and Lexi knew what the situation was, but what could they do other than hope that whichever girl came after them missed?
They must be so tense.
“Throw me over,” Lexi grunted. “We’re close enough for you to make it.”
“Yeah?” Alden said.
They both sound all right, thought Kon. Good. Apex. Out of this universe. That’s so impressive of them.
“Ignacio,” said Kon, surprised to find he could sound all right, too, “take out whoever you want to take out the second Lexi is over.”
“Yes,” said Ignacio.
“Here you go,” said Alden.
Kon’s brother flew toward the finish.
As if that had been the signal everyone was waiting for, the course burst into frenzied motion.
******
******
So many people acting at once. Alden could only focus on some of it.
“I entrust you with your jacket!” Lexi shouted as he crossed the finish.
“Go,” said Ignacio. “If you fall, switch to me. I’ll entrust you with something different. Hold on very tight to it.”
He whipped one of his Meister blades down toward the floating island.
At the same time, a wedge of sand rammed into the bars between them and Everly.
Alden moved forward a rung. Sand wasn’t an attack. Just a shield for Everly because they thought he’d throw the knife at her.
He moved forward another. But he threw it at someone else.
People were yelling things. Not Alden’s name. Not words he needed to hear.
A column of greenery shot up behind him. It was just a whooshing feeling at his back, and then he was swinging to the next bar under a leafy canopy. They might get two attacks now.
There would be one as an award for Heloísa’s crossing. One for retaliation if Ignacio hadn’t instantly killed whoever he’d just attacked.
“JACKET!” the call came from every member of his team except Ignacio.
As if I needed telling with all these leaves above me.
Alden held on tight, tucked his chin, preserved his jacket, and waited for Jupiter to bring her ivy down on him.
It might hit my fingers, drag at my legs. But the jacket and its hood should take a lot of the force. Enough. Maybe it will be enough.
The greenery came down, but most of it came down behind him. He heard it crashing around Ignacio. Ripping. Shaking the bars.
She went for Ignacio instead?
That’s one attack.
“Everly!” Kon called. “Alden, Ignacio, look out for Everly!”
Alden heard the warning. He couldn’t turn without dropping his protection, but he pictured Everly Kim throwing herself physically at him or at an unbalanced Ignacio. He pictured himself fighting to kick her off because she could really only do damage to his lower half when he was so well shielded by the jacket. She’d be going for his legs.
So when the bar swelled under his palms, thickened by a layer of ice that crept under his fingers, stinging and forcing his grip apart, his thoughts stalled for a beat. Ice? That’s the attack? Modification of shared obstacles doesn’t count as an attack in this class, though. Crap, it’s going to get slick.
They were so close to the finish line. A couple of swings, and he’d be there.
“Go!” Kon and Jeffy and Lexi and Mehdi and Haoyu shouted.
“Ignacio, you’re fine! Shake it off!” said Kon. “Both of you, go, go, go!”
Alden unpreserved his jacket so that he could swing himself toward the next rung. His hands landed firmly on the still-thickening layer of ice.
Then, something small whizzed past him and struck the bar beside his left hand. The ice shattered all along the bar, and suddenly he wasn’t gripping anything at all.
******
“If you fall, switch to me.”
Alden had heard that request. He’d scribbled it onto the mental, “Yes, I’ll do that,” list he had in his head during the run.
And complying with it wasn’t something he had to think about at all. As he fell, the rest of the options on the list blew apart like the shards of ice that glittered around him.
He switched to his new entruster. “Ignacio!”
Alden’s face was turned up. He could see the Meister above him, clinging to the bars with his legs and one arm. He could see his own hands, reaching for nothing as he rushed toward the ground.
Wind in his ears. Body tensed.
“Catch this!” He saw one of Ignacio’s arms whip forward, and suddenly he knew what was coming, even though his eyes couldn’t track its flight properly.
“Hold on very tight to it.”
Dangerous.
There should have been a longer discussion about this. Something beyond Alden explaining at the last minute that he wanted them to take on more active roles as entrusters and Ignacio deciding that meant Alden ought to be trusted a lot.
To prepare for someday.
Alden decided he shouldn’t preserve a friendly Meister’s bound weapon without explaining about the bowl he’d once held in Ro-den’s laboratory and how it was connected to a tree and how him grabbing onto it without the tree’s permission had potentially threatened that connection, and he didn’t want to risk damaging…
Of course, he failed to worry about all of that until after he’d already caught his entruster’s knife.
From its owner’s hand to him, like a laser beam. Ignacio had thrown it as hard as Big Snake had thrown any of those tennis balls. It would have gone through Alden’s hands and then his body if he’d failed to stop it.
There’s no way I can stop something that fast!
But he had that panicked thought too late, too, after his fingers and skill had already closed around the knife. The part of him that was turned attentively toward Ignacio had just known the moment and the point in space where blade and hand would meet.
Now what?
Ignacio must have imagined something unlikely. As a team, they’d talked so much about what crazy stunts they could do, flying around the gym attached to Kon and whatever object he was moving around with his spell impression. Alden could turn the knife and point it at Tuyet for revenge, but Ignacio had said hold on very tight. He must have meant for Alden to use preservation to enable the catch, then stop his skill immediately but still hold onto the knife physically, so Ignacio could recall his weapon.
And hopefully bring the Rabbit attached to it back up to the monkey bars.
This wild solution to the problem of his fall came to Alden all at once, shockingly fast, but not quite as fast as magic came at him from Ignacio.
Something tried to interact with Alden’s spot in reality without quite making it. Not weak, but ineffective.
It made him think of a hand shooting out toward him so hard that he could feel the movement of its passage in the air even though it had missed him.
Ignacio was attempting something just then.
Alden squeezed the knife in both hands. Further injuries to his fingers seemed inevitable. “Now!” he shouted as he unpreserved it.
Ignacio did the recall.
The blade did yank Alden upwards by his arms. Pain less than what he would have felt if this were real flared all through his upper body, from fingertips to shoulders and down farther into his torso. And then the blade just kept going, jerking itself out of his grip and zinging back to its master without Alden.
He slammed into the floor.
******
******
“Ooohhh! Too bad.”
“That was Apex, though. Good run.”
“The ice! I didn’t expect them to attack by breaking the ice. We could try something like that with…”
“Were they seriously trying to save the Rabbit with a weapon recall? Idiots.”
“It almost worked.”
“Did that really look like it worked to you?”
“I mean, if it’s all they had left to try…”
“Wham! Alien gods, I bet that guy’s glad Ash keeps the pain setting low. I bet his femurs are up in his chest cavity on the injury readout.”
“Since he’s a dead Rabbit does that make him roadkill?”
“He didn’t get killed on the road.”
“A Brute could’ve held onto the knife during the recall.”
“The girls have got the win now. No way the two left on the first year dude team pull back from this.”
“What they did with the floating island…!”
“Hey, how did he catch that in the first place? He must have way faster reflexes than I realized.”
The comments from the people in the gym around Kon washed through him, stinging more than they should have against the rawness of his own disappointment as he watched Alden lay sprawled on the floor.
It had been a good run. Stellar.
He’d greedily wanted a little more.
The other guys on his team must have felt the same. They were quiet again, all of them staring down at their fallen member.
Ignacio had managed to injure both Maricel and Jupiter with one attack toward the island. They weren’t going to die, but they weren’t moving easily. Their suits were stiffening more and more as they tried to use their elements to bring Tuyet up to join them. Blood loss and multiple wounds for each of them. Ignacio had done well thinking of how his skill could pull all those ordinary knives their team had left embedded in the obstacle back up to punish the two Shapers standing there.
It was good work from him. He should have been proud.
But now he was looking down at Alden like he’d accidentally killed him for real, instead of their plan just…not quite being enough.
“All right,” said Kon, talking to them all through the shared voice call. “It’s not looking like a win anymore, but let’s finish out the run as well as we can, and show everyone that we don’t give—”
“You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again right, Ignacio?” said Alden.
“What? You’re alive! And conscious!” Kon exclaimed. Alden wasn’t moving at all. “You’ve got to be barely alive and conscious. Can you hold onto a knife for real?”
“I’m less mobile than the average department store mannequin,” said Alden. “Ignacio…you can do it the other way.”
Other way?
Kon was drawing a blank on what that would be. Maybe Ignacio could go back down for some of their supplies, and with a rope and way more luck than they were going to have something could happen?
<<But…>> said Ignacio.
“I thought you might have tried something out just now,” said Alden. “Was I wrong?”
“No,” Ignacio said after a pause. Everly was about to pass him on the bars. Nobody was allowed to attack anybody anymore until she crossed. <<But…you noticed? Really. I thought it didn’t work.>>
What are they talking about?
Alden had fallen. He’d caught the Meister weapon mid-fall. Absolutely shockingly super of him…but then Ignacio’s recall had been too strong and yanked it back out of his hands.
Did I miss something?
“Sure,” Alden was saying. “Drop the knife on me. Don’t throw so hard. I can’t believe I stopped that last one, and I’m definitely not catching this one with a hand at all. Just drop it accurately.”
“Yes,” said Ignacio, energy returning to his voice. “I entrust you with this.”
The throwing knife glinted in the gym lights as it fell.
******
******
The knife dropped onto Alden’s stomach, and he stopped it with his skill before it could stab him or bounce off.
“Got it,” he said. “Try now.”
He felt someone else’s magic reach for him and miss.
Then reach for him and miss again.
He stared up because he’d landed with his face pointed in that direction. A piece of ice was melting on the floor next to one of his hands. He could feel the cold water.
Ignacio’s jaw was clenched.
He’s trying to call his weapon to him while my skill’s still holding it. So he must not feel totally separated from his knife when I’m bearing it? Is he trying to call both of us at the same time? Hmm…I’m not sure he knows. Is it just an idea he had?
Alden paid attention with his authority sense more than his eyes.
That feeling of something reaching for him came once more. And missed once more.
That was a worse miss than the first few times.
Alden knew because it felt fainter, like it had less to do with him.
Ignacio was getting stressed. Or doubtful.
Whatever he feels probably isn’t as clear as what I feel. He might not even understand that something is really happening.
Another miss. Even farther off.
He’s flailing.
Everly had just reached Ignacio. She was passing him.
Ignacio had a hand stuck out toward Alden, almost desperately. His next attempt to activate the recall was even harder to sense.
“Hey,” said Alden, closing his eyes so he could focus. “It’s fine if we lose.”
<<I’ll come down!>>
“No,” said Alden. “If you’re close to learning something, keep trying. It’s practice, right? For someday.”
******
******
Ignacio felt stupid.
Like he was making mistakes and wasting their last little amount of time.
Like he still had some ivy in his hair and his teeth, and like he didn’t know what he was doing as he stretched out an arm toward his teammate and used his recall.
For a split second after Alden first fell and caught his knife, he’d thought, I can just call them both!
It had seemed true, so he’d tried it. But nothing had happened.
Even if he did have a strange, muffled version of his usual sense for his knife’s location, the assumption that he could do something like this fell apart now that they were outside of that moment that had already past.
Logic and doubt ate away at it swiftly.
He did not call people. He called two specific throwing knives. And Alden’s skill made it impossible to affect things he held, so Ignacio couldn’t be sensing his knife. Maybe it was all in his head.
Alden must have seen his face and gestures and guessed that he’d tried that recall earlier, but this wasn’t really poss—
<<Hey. It’s fine if we lose,>> Alden said.
No, it’s not. After how hard we’ve all worked. “I’ll come down!”
“No,” said Alden. <<If you’re close to learning something, keep trying. It’s practice, right? For someday.>>
Ignacio stared down at him.
Maybe…just a little more. Even if it’s not a logical idea. You can’t give up on breakthrough moments. Avowed don’t always get a second chance to have exactly the same one.
His grandmother had said something like that. Ignacio didn’t know if it was true. Or if this was one.
He called his weapon again.
******
******
I almost understand why it could work. And why it doesn’t.
With his eyes closed and his thoughts turned entirely toward the magic, Alden could more clearly sense Ignacio’s power as it bypassed him.
He nearly had something earlier, but it wasn’t quite right, and now he’s lost most of what was right about it.
The only reason anything had seemed possible at all was because of how they were connected and how Alden had accepted the burden of the knife. Calling a Bearer of All Burdens couldn’t be something deliberately built into Ignacio’s ability.
But answering a call like that might be close enough to some part of mine.
At least there’s an effect…because of what I am and what his knife is to him. My entruster wants me to come. I’m okay with that. So there’s a little something going on here.
But for it to become more, our skills have to work together. He has to call me. I have to bear it. Maybe if we both do it in the right way at the right time, new magic happens.
Ignacio wasn’t quite telling the universe he wanted Alden to come to him, though. He was talking to it more about wanting a knife Alden was holding, while he also wanted Alden to keep holding that knife.
Mixed signals.
And even if I told him to call the real me…
Ignacio couldn’t properly sense Alden’s self. He wouldn’t know what Alden meant.
So…I’d have to do a little more than a normal Avowed could to make this work.
Approaching Ignacio with something like an authority embrace, or trying to grab randomly at the magic he was doing without a plan, seemed risky and wrong.
But shouldn’t there be some me-ness here?
Because I’m his Bearer. And he’s my entruster. Because he’s trying to do something with me even if he doesn’t quite get what.
We’re already casting something together in a way because he trusted me with his knife.
As for the recall…a tiny bit of my voice might be in that magic, too. Even if it’s a shitty, faint reflection of me.
Daharsee.
If that’s all true, and I assert myself hard, and I hear the me-ness echo back…
Then I could insist that the reflection become truer. Try to make it match up with me like I did when I shot the keda bean with Stuart.
I think that might work.
That was probably going too far.
It’s a gym class. This would be pretty wizardy in addition to skill use.
It’s good I figured some stuff out, but I should just let this one go.
He opened his eyes again.
Ah. Ignacio looks like he really wants to figure something out, too.
******
******
******
I think I can’t get that frog out of my head because I’ve left him stuck at the beginning. Just trying and trying….
People who are trying hard like that shouldn’t be left alone in the dark.
Sometimes, that’s reality, but can’t we change reality now and then?
Can’t we give the triers what they deserve?
A lift up to a higher place. Some light.
And a happy ending.
If I just had more time before Warin-doyis’s class, I’d write one of those for that frog.
If I knew how to make his story right, I would.
******
******
******
Ignacio felt it very suddenly—an illogical sureness, like before but even stronger.
I can call them both.
I can call Alden.
Somehow, I can sense him. He’s right there.
******
******
“Whoa!” said a girl standing somewhere behind Kon. “Sweet! What kind of Meister talent is that? I didn’t know that first year could do something like that.”
“What? He’s just waving his hand around.”
“Look down.”
“What the…?”
Murmurs and questions filled the gym. Kon didn’t care about them.
“Hey…” Mehdi said uncertainly through their group call. “Uh…how is Alden floating? Is it like an attack from Maricel somehow? Or…?”
“Do you see dirt?” asked Haoyu.
“I see Alden floating.”
“Typical,” Lexi grunted.
“What’s typical about this?!” Haoyu exclaimed. “The knife is just resting on top of his stomach. It’s not moving. It’s still preserved. I’m confused. Is everyone else confused?”
“Hey, Ignacio, I don’t think you should be going slow and steady,” said Alden, as his body rose gently upwards toward the monkey bars.
Why does he sound so collected? Did he expect to float? Kon couldn’t figure out what instructions to give. We’re doing Rabbit…body recall? That was not on any of the plans. We prepped for floating island not floating Alden. I don’t know how Rabbit body recall works.
“We have no time,” Alden said a bit more firmly.
“Okay!” Ignacio shouted.
******
******
They probably think I mean no time left to finish, thought Alden as he accelerated toward Ignacio’s waiting hand.
He meant his skill was about to give out. The Bearer of All Burdens had been good and strong two seconds ago, and now it was under such immense strain that he thought his chances of making it up to the bars in this interesting new way he and his entruster had found together were fifty-fifty.
I hope one of the things I’m bearing right now is the brunt of the skill fatigue for this experiment. There’s no way Ignacio’s recall is stronger than Bearer, and if either of us gives out…
“Faster!” he warned.
He crashed into Ignacio’s hands a moment later.
He thought he might fall again, but he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. He had even fewer ways to help than Lexi had had earlier. No Writher to grab a bar for him, after all.
Ignacio was dangling by his legs, clutching Alden’s jacket. He screamed something in Alden’s face that Alden didn’t quite catch.
Not something angry.
Excitement. Instructions?
Ignacio swung and threw him.
Alden was flying again already. This time, though, he was going all the way over the finish line.
Haoyu and Lexi stopped him from falling off the platform or hitting the back barrier as he arrived.
His skill was toast. The knife he’d been preserving dropped onto the platform at his feet at around the same time that his suit granted him flexibility again, and the weapon was immediately shooting back toward Ignacio, who then let it and its partner fly toward their opponents.
One of Tuyet’s arms was whipping forward, too.
Alden took a steadying breath. His teammates, Everly, and Heloísa were cheering and shouting advice toward the people left on the course.
He could see Instructor Ash, down on the floor and across the entire length of the gym, standing so close to the barrier that Alden was surprised his nose wasn’t pressed to it.
“I think we’re technically going to lose,” he said, as Tuyet’s dart struck Ignacio.
Whether they lost or not, this morning felt like a huge win.
******
Comments (361)
"I can sense him somehow. He’s right there." That's authority sensing. Some combinatiom of Aldens outreach and Ignacious's sensitivity allowed him to sense authority. Alden could train him into a knight if he wanted too, possibly any other avowed too. I'm thinking he might train Hayou at some point? Maybe Ignaciou too. By the way, do we have any idea at all what types of development Esh-erdi could offer Hayou if he got parental permission?
Edit suggestions: typos, grammar, style, misc. Feel free to ignore. - I don’t understand how she turns from such a nervous person into a stone cold threat as soon as combat starts. -> stone-cold threat - I don’t know if she can get through the alley without injuries on her own, -> alley on her own without getting injured - They moved forward. But, when Mehdi was on the red rungs, several from the end -> But when Mehdi - Kon, kittens, rainbows…pizza and meditation…fluffy rugs…. -> [recurring typo in the last several dozen chapters: "…." = ellipsis plus an extra period; could be a problem with how your word processor converts a typed dot-dot-dot into the ellipsis symbol] - Tuyet, limping but not so injured she couldn’t snipe, was almost through traffic. -> through the traffic - but Ignacio had said hold on very tight. -> had said to hold on very tight - Since he’s a dead Rabbit does that make him roadkill?” -> Rabbit, does that - He must have way faster reaction time than I realized.” -> a way faster reaction time - “You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again right, Ignacio?” said Alden. -> again, right - the assumption that he could do something like this fell apart now that they were outside of that moment that had already past. -> had already passed - Just trying and trying…. -> [typo: ellipsis plus an extra period] - We prepped for floating island not floating Alden. -> floating island, not floating Alden - They probably think I mean no time left to finish, thought Alden as he accelerated toward Ignacio’s waiting hand. -> thought Alden, as he - hope one of the things I’m bearing right now is the brunt of the skill fatigue for this experiment. There’s no way Ignacio’s recall is stronger than Bearer, and if either of us gives out… -> [I was initially confused how S-rank Ignacio's ability could possibly be weaker than B-rank Alden's, but then I remembered that the recall is just a skill or spell impression, not something core to Ignacio's S-rank affixation. That might be worth verbalizing in the text, though.] - Standing here knowing much more about those topics than Ash did was uncomfortable. -> Standing here, knowing much more about those topics than Ash did, was uncomfortable.
That was amazing! I wish I hadn't been too busy to read it when it first came out! I love this story!
soup soon? 🥺👉👈
Magic is so cool in this series <3
Its the 15th now everywhere, thus either the approx 14th chapter drops soon or we get an update when it will. Hope for the first. When wishing was having…. And I am looking forward for Alden‘s true frog story. Correction: 2 hrs to go for e.g. Hawaii. Sorry.
Still the 14th in Hawaii
I thought the comments were severely old, then realised Patreon had added sorting. Wild. Super-dooper-doopeydy-doop, I'm here waiting for a chapter to poop Super-dooper-doopeydy-doo, I wonder if it'll be soup or Stu
But not the sorting that I want, which is oldest-first.
I am an adult capable of patience. I am an adult capable of patience. I̵ ̶a̶m̸ ̶a̷n̴ ̸a̸d̵u̵l̸t̷ ̵c̶a̸p̵a̷b̴l̷e̷ ̵o̴f̷ ̵p̶a̸t̵i̷e̷n̸c̸e̴.
Í̶̥̜̓́́͝ ̸̬̂̔̐̊̕ä̴͉͈̈́̈͝m̴̟̠͐̄̈́̿̕ ̴̖̞͇͇̹͑ä̶̦̣̘̩̈́ͅn̵̛͎̥̥̜̝͒̔ ̵̗̱̖̜̉̿͂a̷̮̝̳͇̔̎͌̐̂ͅd̴͚͑́ư̴͖ļ̶̛̭͖̆͌̽̉t̸̢̹͇͕̬͋́ ̶̥̭̮̂͌̃͠c̷̡̡̬̖̿̽̒̚͜ā̸̤̼̗̝̑̍͐͝p̶̹͓͍͓̋͌̒̾ā̶̞̠̃͋̏b̴̞̰̓ͅl̷̙̫̤̜̈́͂̉̐͒ě̶̥̼͒̅ ̵̹̑̽͊̓̒o̴̝͍͈̾f̶̨̝̲̈́͌͑ ̵͈̜̀̎̔̀̀ṕ̵̢̬̫͚͌ǎ̸͈͓̉̏̊̄ṱ̵̛̌͑į̷̫̦̙̆̈̓e̴̲͗̈́ǹ̵̟͖́̈́͋̉c̴̨͖̦̟̆ë̶̯̪̤̥́́̄
Next chapter predictions in haiku, or otherwise? Maricel can't trust Her own eyes: did Strike recall Alden from gym death?
Clasped hands raise the bar A flock of knives, frogs, wishes Follow Alden's light
I hope the next chapter focusses on my favourite character Garsy. This important character has spent too long on the sidelines. This is the perfect time to introduce him. What is Garsy doing? What does Garsy think about? What foods does Garsy like and what are his hobbies? Does Garsy have a girlfriend? What are his hopes and dreams? I hope we have a minimum 20 chapter digression into GARSYLORE before we catch up with the rather boring Aldenoverse again.
That's so sweet! All the children learning his name, both on Earth and the Artonas, bring tears to my eyes...
Writher runs a film club. So far its just her and Tuyet in it. For the first meeting, they watched a John Woo directed film starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage.
Face-off.
Future scene: Stu entrusts a bean to Alden, it gets preserved Stu launches bean + Alden like a giant bullet The combined mass contains enough force to explode a moon sized demon like a sledge hammer to a watermelon
Another demonstration of how versatile Alden's skill is. Once the secret about his skill being unlimited gets out, I can imagine a lot of people will be mad. Not necessarily at him, mind— they will say to the Artonans 'you can make skills this good, and I got one that plateaus at level seven?!'
Especially if there end up being more attacks on Anesidora. Both the idea that Anesidora could have better skills to protect themselves with and the thought that the people behind the attacks might have access to the same skills—things are gonna get tense between the Triplanets and Earth real fast, I suspect.
May 14th is baiting me like a 1920s showgirl doing the can-can
May 14th is a tease, just wait for her sister May 15th.
New soup drops tonight, call that shirumonogatari (汁物語)
Ash is searching for people grasping even a sliver of magic. This explains everything. He's a scout!
What am I missing here? “I hope one of the things I’m bearing right now is the brunt of the skill fatigue for this experiment. There’s no way Ignacio’s recall is stronger than Bearer, and if either of us gives out…” Ignacio’s skill is an S and Alden’s is a B. Shouldn’t Ignacio’s skill be stronger even though Alden’s is leveled up more. If Alden’s skill was leveled up past his rank, wouldn’t that make his rank go up? (like how a superlative’s rank goes up)
Perhaps, but Alden's skill is almost entirely bound up in Bearer, while Ignacio only as a small portion tied to the skill that recalls his knives. It might be that Alden actually has more authority to apply to this particular situation than Shrike.
So, with Ignacio dangling by his legs, reaching desperately for his weapon, I definitely started hearing the Force theme from Star Wars when Alden started floating. Unfortunately, Tuyet is a lot better at killing our erstwhile jedi than a wampa.
"Give up, Tuyet! I have the high ground!" Yeah, only the best case scenario sees Ignacio cross the finish line first: Tuyet misses (or Ignacio dodges). The other scenarios mean defeat: 1) If Tuyet kills Ignacio, but Tuyet isn't killed, her team strolls to victory while Ignacio returns to the start. 2) Mutual kill. Tuyet and Ignacio both return to the start. Except Tuyet is super-fast and can get through the initial zone with only a few nicks and bruises. Ignacio will become a pincushion. When she gets to the floating island, one of her teammates can get her up to it. Even if he gets through the first zone, Ignacio is stuck. All of his teammates are over the finish line. He has no way to get onto the island. 3) Neither managed the kill! So one of Tuyet's teammates crosses, and Tuyet tries again. And again. EDIT: I missed that Tuyet hit Ignacio in the last sentence of the chapter. So he's KIA. We'll see if his counterstrike finished Tuyet next chapter, I guess. Only 12+ hours to go...
Patreon killed so many discussions with their software updates... Still, an attempt to revive some of this readerships' customs while waiting for the next chapter - what do you read? I chanced upon "Cultivators chat group" and so far (1/5 into it) enjoy its cyberpunk vibes a lot. It's as stated on the tin: cultivators adapt to modern times by opening a chat group, racing with both tractors and flying swords, shooting movies, shopping for cultivation resources via app, etc. All of this along with their seclusions, refining of pills, having tribulations and all the usual xianxia stuff. A light and humorous take on both the genre, and modern China. For example, the chapter I'm on introduces control of flying sword numbers in a congested sect's sky that works much like the Bejing car number lottery.
The latest Dungeon Crawler Carl came out on Tuesday. Part way through it now.
Shame they won't change the name to the F-city Lexibles.
Konstantly Awesome -> Konsistently Lexcellent
"A piece of ice was melting on the floor next to one of his hands. He could feel the cold water." Does Everly's ice melt faster than normal? This exchange should be happening within 30ish seconds of the ice being formed.
Maybe a small chip would melt fast on a warm floor. This little detail felt like a callback to the Submerger chapters, the last time water was Alden's enemy.
I think ash’s reaction fascinates me quite a bit. I’m not 100% sure where ash was during the runs but I thought it was implied he was kinda up in the stands. Half watching the teams going through the course. But at the end of the chapter he was described as being on the floor level, and right against the barrier. Was this dude so engrossed he ran as close to the course as physically possible lol. That’s kinda wild if he booked it when Alden knife started
'Ash had walked to the other side of the floor to observe.' (Ch. 293) I think we can assume that the course is inside a giant invisible box sitting on the gym floor. Ash is on the floor and is free to wander on the outside of the course.
One day, Sleyca will post early. It's not today, but I'm holding out on my soup for that day.
Wait until the release date AFTER Sleyca drops an early chapter. You'll be checking constantly. 'She was early last time. Maybe she'll be early this time!' (Source: I have done exactly that)
Alden has a thought (while falling) that one option he has is to redirect Ignacio's knife that he is Bearing into Tuyet. Also, at least once the opposing team try to obscure Ignacio's vision to protect a teammate. It'd be nice to see Alden's use as a sort of tactical weapon redirection node be recognised in the future.
By the time Alden affixes Bearer of Spell, I suspect he's going to be an outright menace about redirecting all kinds of thrown weapons.
From chapter 4: “The goal of a battlefield support—the goal Hannah was aiming for anyway—was to make a partner exponentially more effective than they would be without her.” Alden’s doing it!!!!!
Yessssssssssssssssssssss. Team synergy for the win!
It's been a while since I've smiled so openly at a sequence of events, but the parallel here is too good to ignore. This is indeed a season of choosing. TFTC, as always you go above and beyond!
Almost never comment, but had to say this might be my favorite chapter of the story, and that's a high bar. Fantastic job!
What. A. Chapter. Dang, I enjoyed that one. The growth in understanding and being able to pass some of that on with Ignacio was brilliant and I had been hoping for it after his reaction to Alden's earlier explanation. So good. And Lexi just not being surprised at this stage had me in stitches.
Some editorial/typo minor details: >>> Even if he did have a strange, muffled version of his usual sense for his knife’s location, the assumption that he could do something like this fell apart now that they were outside of that moment that had already past. outside of that moment that had already PAST should be outside of that moment that had already PASSED I didn't spot that till like re-read four, amazingly. I'm usually better at spotting things than that. I don't think it's been pointed out yet, either. >>> The monkey bars started out white directly above the island, and then turned red about two-thirds of the way to the finish line. Not incorrect in a technical sense, but I stumble over 'started out white' on every single re-read (there have been like 5+). I keep trying to reading it 'started out right', or something like that. I wasn't expecting color descriptions thrown at me in that spot in the text, in any case. >>> “You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again right, Ignacio?” said Alden. Missing a comma between again and right. I think it would become more clear that the comma was missing if the sentence didn't end with 'Ignacio': You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again right? vs You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again, right? vs You’re going to send the knife back to me and try again, right, Ignacio? Technically 'try again right' (with no pause between again and right) sounds like plausible (if rude) bad 'spoken' grammar. (Like: try again, but do it right, this time.) But that also means it's plausible as something a character could say, which makes the comma even more important since Alden isn't that kind of abrasive. Personally, anywhere a person would put a little pause, my heart wants to demand a comma. But I'm 95% sure it's ALSO correct on the technical merits to add one here.
In When Wishing Was Having II, Probably Ram said: "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." Maybe next chapter we can see if he suits action to the word...
I hope he does so I can figure out what the heck that means.
"We prepped for floating island not floating Alden." 😂
I'm curious what injuries Alden got when the knife was jerked out of his hands while falling.
Something with possibly hard lines being yanked out of your hands like that? I'm guessing it took some major skin with it. Maybe broke finger bones depending on HOW it was mechanically yanked out.
I'm excited about what this means for BOAB and how it will react with other people's bound skills... for Supers and Knights.
So, artonan general have dinner with alden and roomates. What are the odds that gym footage is shared? If that happens then esh and lind have to be written into obliviousness to not realize alden is aware of his own authority?
what has Alden done that shows he's aware of his authority exactly? Ignacio was able to sense that he could recall Alden with his dagger recall skill on his own, without an authority sense. Alden empowering that to make it work when it was needed wouldn't show up in a gym recording, and the occurrence isn't implausible enough to do detailed forensic investigation of in the first place. I'm sure Ignacio will be able to do it on his own with a bit of practice, although it is a very situational thing to even bother to train for
Did Alden just gave Ignacio a small dose of casting high? XD
I wish I could like this chapter twice
Ha! I just realized that in the flipping back and forth between Alden and Ignacio when we see the translation brackets for the other, ‘no’ shows as untranslated for them both because it’s a cognate between English and Spanish.
So, this is going to be a fun one to report back to Rahul! At some point, Alden has to let him know the outcome of his advice, right?
It could end up being a big problem for Alden if the strategy gets spread around and someone unwisely mentions it aloud where Ash can hear. Though it'd be funny if Ash just thought all of his students were suddenly getting interesting lately for no clear reason.
Meister weapon recall skills are probably not that uncommon. Dragging stuff along with the recall is cool but probably not that remarkable. Alden's 'look no hands Ma' move is also very cool, but unless you know about BoaB normally cutting off a Meister's affinity, it also probably does not look that remarkable. Ignacio pulls with his skill and Alden holds on with his. Cool, great teamwork, but not that groundbreaking. Only we readers and perhaps Ignacio know the wizardly authority awareness required.
It's very common, "Rather than taking a weapon recall talent like many Meisters did, Marsha had done the opposite and taken an ability that pulled her body toward the polearm." Although its a funny thought that Ignacios usage here might be ignored as not remarkable because Marsha also "transported people" with her version of recall getting off the bridge during ripples/waves.
“…Calling a Bearer of All Burdens couldn’t be something deliberately built into Ignacio’s ability. But answering a call like that might be close enough to some part of mine…” Was this ability foreshadowed in Chap286 when Alden asks Mother about a teleport favour if Stu needs him? She replies- [Of course, Alden. If Stu wants you here, here you’ll be.] Such clever writing!
Farfetched.
We haven't seen from the perspective of the school for a while, but we know they were preoccupied with LeJean poaching all their S tiers for a doomed/ dangerous level grind hothouse. Now they have a perfect example of their famous "mere" B Rabbit student helping an S tier Meister discover a novel use of his basic skill...kinda worth publicising, isn't it?
Well, from the school’s perspective, the magical event that was witnessed was an S-rank’s skill being used in a novel way. We as readers have the benefit of knowing that Alden helped, but the only people who might suspect that are Ignacio and I guess Lexi if he’s serious with his “Typical” comment. From Ignacio’s perspective, Alden just helped him think through his skill just like he did with Kon, unless Ignacio felt something specific while Alden was flying.
Re-reading this arc made me appreciate Lexi's psychological arc, despite not viewing things from his perspective at any time. There's the conversation in the kitchen about the cat, which morphs into a casual offer for tea with two of the most powerful Artonan knights to chat about Mind-Writhers. Then there's his incredulity about Alden's read on Ash's psychology, and his clear suspicion Alden's influence has pushed them down a kind of wacky path - they will succeed at coursing by treating their teacher like an Internet ad "Adjusters HATE this one weird trick". Then it works, and he kind of can't believe it. Then the course: nailing the start with Alden's backup, saving himself from a fall by listening to Alden's clear emotional manipulation - so obvious and over-the-top it isn't really manipulation at all, so again succeeding through teamwork with Alden and Ignacio. And the "typical" at the end, showing Lexi was expecting further rabbit shenanigans and wasn't surprised at all. The epic partnership that gets all the attention is Ignatio/Alden, but over the full arc there's this underlying Lexi/Alden dynamic that's really enjoyable.
He's a really good roommate.
How can they tell Alden to bear something he's already in possession off? He's wearing the jacket, he's firmly in possession of it?!?
That skill functionality change is unexplained within the story. but its happend 3 times this arc, with at 2 indications that it worked, Kon entrusted but it didnt get used, Haoyu entrusted and he used it to lock his arm around the bar, then lexi entrusted it and he used it to protect from jupiter. it was previously clearly defined in the text that this is not how his skill works. However, an explaination i thought of after i noticed it last chapter: Alden's mindset is different, he is trying to willingly give the use of himself to his entruster for whatever they want. in CH25, Alden said “Is it a control thing? If someone else has direct possession of it, another person can’t entrust it?”. So it could be that Alden's willingness to be a tool has given ownership by proxy to whoever his entrusters are. The Temper sphere example in CH255 where Alden requested Haoyu entrust something he was already holding is maybe "original skill rules" because after being told it was entrusted, he imediately dropped it which should have canceled out the skill but because he caught it THEN preserved it, so the temper sphere had a moment of no possession to satisfy the rules.
Hi, does anyone know if Ignacio’s recall is a spell impression or something else, like a part of his Skill? I always thought meister recall talents were basic spell impressions, but the description of Ignacio moving his hand to cause Alden to float this way and that in the air reminds me more of a Shaper’s gestures? Perhaps it’s more related to Bearer and Ignacio’s talent working together?
It's a skill, though probably a lower-rank one. You can tell it's a skill not a spell because it's instantaneous, with no cast gestures. I would assume that Meister recalls are generally skills because if you lose your weapon mid-fight, you need it back *immediately*, not five seconds from now. Ignacio making beckoning gestures might be a control aspect of his skill, or might be him unconsciously "leaning into it" with his whole body. I suspect the latter, since Alden didn't describe him gesturing on the first recall, and he was surprised his first recall was noticed.
So Ignacio’s original plan *was* for Alden to unpreserve the knife and hold on really tight, right?
It sounds like he instinctively thought he could grab onto Alden a little bit too. Like he’d have some degree of authority over Alden once he’d stepped foot into Ignacio’s kingdom by holding his bound knife.
Lexi, Haoyu, and Ignacio suspect Alden, but I’m guessing everyone else is just going to think Ignacio was behind everything. Lute’s probably right, everybody’s just going to think, “He’s just a B.”
I think Lexi is a little past 'suspect' at this point.
“Typical,” Lexi grunted. - This started a 3 minutes long evil cackling xD
I'm thinking that this was Lexi laughing...
I enjoyed Kon's POV. It's a shame he couldn't join in. Next time though!
Kon was actively giving instructions and managing comms; he wasn't doing the physical run but he was very much involved. I hope both Kon and Jeffy get opportunities to run soon; they're both being such good sports.
Alden's going to need to do something with his fake Avowed profile soon, I think. The faculty already thought he was close to a level-up, and that was even before Flashes and Alden's duel with Winston. Now that he's done this? Ash and their Coursing classmates might attribute it all to Ignacio, but his team and the girls—along with the rest of Alden's Talent Dev. teachers so far—will know it couldn't have been done without the both of them. Alden probably won't be able to go much longer without some sort of proof of leveling before people start getting confused.
Numbers go ding is always nice, even even if it's fake numbers. Very happy to see power progression for Lexi and Ignacio. This making people think much more about their powers would be a great development. Competitiveness where it matters. Not about winning or gaining numbers, but about learning and gaining new options.
"Kon, kittens, rainbows…pizza and meditation…fluffy rugs…." Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens...
These are a few of my favorite things. When kon bites, when writher stings….
Tiny detail I liked: we see a moment between Ignacio and Alden twice (the "It's fine if we lose" convo). The first time it's from Alden's POV, and what Ignacio says is marked as translated. The second time, it's Ignacio's POV, and the translation markings are flipped, so Alden's lines are translated and Ignacio's aren't. Of course this is just the correct and accurate way to do it when writing different POVs, but it's such a nice and satisfying detail.
I did think for a moment on rereading that maybe that had been a system call private text message but then i saw it as you said
I think our team is now a shoe-in for future runs. No way Ash is going to not put them on the floor.
I assume he knows enough about Meister skills to know that wasn't normal!
I love how Alden worked through supporting Ignacio's skill and why he should. And how he supported Lexi to using Mindwrither to lift him self up. Awesome support teamwork multiple times through this run! Super supportive!
This was epic. I think that Alden straining his skill in such a major and new way might also push forward his affixation
Its the opposite, skill levels increases his capacity for free authority which minimise need for affixation. It is theoretically possible to level his skill bound authority so fast that he doesn't need a affix, but it would also require no wizard practice whatsoever.. and that's not happening.
I really like the super supportive and trustful vibes Alden must have been giving Ignacio at that moment, including the misunderstandings. Like, while he was doubting himself a lot about this ‘illogical’ instinct of his and whether he was sacrificing the run by following it, Alden’s just lying there, chilling with his basically dead, broken body, eyed closed, like ‘nah, man. You’re onto something. This is important. Forget about the run for a moment’, and then Alden suddenly changing tunes to ‘faster, dude. We have a race to run!!!’ when Ignacio finally succeeded.
Wait... say that again
This bonding with Ignacio over what is essentially his family motto makes me wonder if there's a chance that Alden will be getting adopted by a second high-profile Anesidoran family. :D I wonder what Ignacio's family's stance is on the Velras.
third family, the gloom is also taking care of him
It’s also funny - Ash may actually assume that Alden knows more than he actually does, since Alden was the one who said they had a plan with the floating island, and now he seems to be one of two people involved in a surprising way of tweaking the use case of a movement-themed ability
I’m on team “this is gonna set off a chain of events that blow his cover” The informant will know about this, and will know that Alden had his eyes closed, and will probably know that Ignacio suddenly felt it after Alden closed his eyes for a bit (roommates with mehdi and on the same team too right?), and will know that Alden has been in communication with Stuart and whatever implications his AI has already figured out from that From a Doylist perspective IMO it just ties in too well with the interlude where Aulia and Informant met, and in terms of plot pacing this is probably the turning point of that section of Chekov’s firing squad Then again, Sleyca has fairly often surprised me so we’ll see
Nah, this event too mundane to blow his cover. It would be too boring. People will be confused and probably grow some respect for him
Really hope that Alden's help this time doesn't make the other Avoweds become Authority Aware.
I don't think that's really a possibility here, it doesn't seem that uncommon for wizards to interact with avowed's skills. The stars had to really align for Alden to gain the sense, spending months of dedicated practice in a chaos environment at just the right strength with a dedicated partner after being modified by the priesthood of the only other species besides Artonans who are also magically aware.
Ok, so taking a look at the course right now, everyone besides Ignacio is across. Ignacio’s presumably down and doesn’t have equipment. He has to run all the way back Tuyet-Style to have a chance of getting back. ASSUMING that the course isn’t immediately over in the next chapter, the attack stats look like this: Ignacio just attacked someone, not sure who. If that doesn’t kill, they can counterattack. Tuyet already attacked Ignacio for Everly’s crossing, so I am going to guess that he’s confirmed dead with no one for the girls to counterattack. OR, Ignacio counterattacked either Everly or Jupiter’s attack from when Heloìsa crossed and thus he has one extra attack at the start of the course. Depending on how counterattacks work with timing, either Ignacio has an attack he can do some shenanigans with while Maricel and Jupiter bleed out, or he’s all alone. Either way, if he didn’t confirm kill someone when he sent Alden’s knife out, he’s got one counterattack waiting for him.
I think counterattacks have to be basically immediate, so the only attacks Ignacio would have to worry about would be from Maricel/Jupiter/Tuyet crossing.
I do love to see alduin being a little bit more 'reckless' from time to time. It feels like this and trusting stu are helping him get towards a place where he's actually doing what he wants- as much as it makes sense that he's gotta spend a lot of time carefully thinking through >we don't need alduin to get summoned into a bullet< he definitely misses out with the risk avoidance of it all
I dunno, I think Paarthurnax would be pretty happy if alduin got summoned into the path of a bullet.
I really like Aldens solution for his frog story. He solved it by changing perspectives. Alden is not only the frog in the mud. He has chosen to work for the highest calling. And he can take the role of teacher and lift up others that are alone in the mud.
This chapter was so good people arent even talking about how all the Meisters are gonna be even more interested in aldens skill beyond just smacking his preserved object with their big sticks
All the meisters: 'Alden! Please hold my big stick while I tug on it!'
I think my favorite part of this chapter was seeing Alden able to do for Ignacio what Big Snake did for him, let alone after using the breakthrough he got with Big Snake. It’s great seeing him able to pay it forward like this. I wonder if a chapter in the future will explicitly have Ignacio pay it forward to a practice partner having a breakthrough.
Did Alden strengthen the echo of himself that was part of the recall Ignacio did? Am I understanding it correctly? Why was there an echo of himself there?
To my best understanding entrustment connects the entrustee to the bearer. So by entrusting his knife to Alden Ignacio had a slight authority tether to him. Alden with a full authority sense, and training from Stuart, can tell that some of Ignacio’s recall affixation is reaching through the tether and Alden towards the knife. Because Alden also primed Ignacio to think about entrustment actively, that probably primed Ignacio to be able to feel it “kinda”. Bearer is a fundamental and existential part of Alden. So the tether is a smaller reflection of Alden himself. Bearer normally wouldn’t allow the pulse from recall to make actual contact, but Alden flexed both bearer and his free authority to essentially hack the mechanisms of Bearer and recall. Eating all the magic burden required to use the skills in a way not intended I hope that ramble made sense lol. I’m still trying to work through it a bit myself
I hope he was glowing orange while he was rising
Top notch arc Sleyca, thank you. I’m pretty sure I say this after every gym arc lol but I think I can see the care you’ve taken with almost every sentence, the foreshadowing, it’s crazy. This chapter in particular made me think about the Catch chapter for obvious reasons, but also because I think Ignacio just had a “catch” moment himself. Alden 100% helped Ignacio achieve the breakthrough, but I really hope it’s something that Ignacio alone will be able to reproduce with others. He’s also already been giving out spare knives to people, like Alden The “typical” from Lexi, as I’m sure others have pointed out, is just so perfect. My read on how the class will react, and perhaps the school, is a complete focus on Ignacio as a success story compared to the other school’s new superhero program. This is also probably a perfect chance for Ignacio to pull Alden into Superlatives for practice like they already talked about. I try not to guess at what could happen in the story because I will be wrong lol. But I end up doing it inevitably. Even when I’m completely off base, seeing where this story goes and how the ideals that are the cornerstone of the story are portrayed is one of the coolest, realest things I’ve ever read in a fantasy story. The triers shouldn’t be left in the dark.
We were told earlier by Lexi/Hayou conversation that mastering a one-off breakthrough takes weeks of practice. They were amazed that Alden managed to get his breakthrough under control as quickly as he did. I do expect Ignatio to take a while to reproduce it... and Alden to be invited to Superlatives club to help him. Which is of course more Gym time.
This was a glorious chapter, thank you! ...since i can't get it out of my head, did Alden have his leaf on him? Did it witness this moment of growth? Will it carry a taste of Ignacio's authority back to Artona I with it, and could that have any implications?
Couldn't they have just put the knife flat under Alden's back and then recall it? If he then preserves his shirt it would even be bad. Maybe, if it automatically points at him the preserved shirt would still have been enough. Though he probably falls off in that case. Maybe strap it to him or something.
The problem there is that it would almost certainly break Alden's shield immediately. Rabbit Recall exhausts Bearer quickly, but we don't have a good comparison between the two methods yet. In addition, it would require Alden to balance on the knife which he cannot do when mostly incapacitated.
Such. Good. Soup!!!
This was a really interesting chapter, the interaction between Ignacio and Alden’s skill gave me some ideas on how Stu and Alden might cooperate in the future. Imagine, Alden and Stu are standing on either side of a demon, they’re wearing matching armor designed to be similar enough to work with Stu’s skill, the demon lunges at Stu to attack him, Alden preserves his armor, Stu uses his skill to bring Alden’s armor to his own, and Bang the demon has an Alden shaped hole in it and any remnants of it’s attack is blocked by Alden’s preserved armor. That seems like a really cool combo, an indestructible projectile the size of a person that travels so fast it almost instantly reaches its destination and it doubles as a shield when it gets there. Plus if Stu is both his entruster and genuinely in danger it should significantly power up Alden’s skill.
It would work during training sessions but would it in real fights? If Stu wanted to make a hole in someone he'd just have to drill his Skill through an enemy, or ask somebody whose job is purely offensive, right? Or use some advanced tech.
Kon during this entire run is just MISSION STATUS: SICK And Ash has his nose on the window looking in going “Haha. Yes. YES!”
I think the next person to be an esshole to or about Alden in Ignacio's earshot will be in for a bad time going forward.
What a chapter. So excited for the frog story in a chap or two.
Now that's magic.
Typical. Yes, Lexi, it is typical of Alden to do something weird and enable his friends to reach new heights. Maybe you and Writher should take advantage. If nothing else, once this gets around I don't think Alden's going to have much trouble finding training partners, except amongst the most severe cases of ess-hole-itis. I do think Alden's going to need to update his fake profile soon though. He's left it at level 4 for too long now, and if he doesn't give himself a level soon, that's going to get more and more suspicious.
Getting three ranks /a year/ is a good advancement. Alden got four (as far as anybody knows) in six months. If he wants to, he can rest on his laurels and say he's just investigating stuff. Imagine getting a level is getting the key to a storage locker somewhere. Inside the locker are some books and some equipment. These things require (metaphorical) reading and training to figure out how they work individually and together. Alden got /four storage lockers full of stuff/. The faculty wouldn't be surprised if Alden keeps hauling out new knowledge and abilities - this is expected behaviour on leveling. (That being said, yeah, Alden needs to fake level in the next few months).
I think people afraid that Alden outed himself here are really missing the theme that's been hammered home for multiple chapters. There's no way they attribute this to the B rank, he could have literally said "I can sense your skill, just use it on me" and people would think "oh wow ignacios skill is so strong Alden can feel it". They will upgrade the S rank from competent to savant. I bet even the teachers like Plim and ghosten will focus on the second instance of blind catching from Alden. Supporting someone's skill use to do something so far outside it's normal scope is way outside the realm of possibility for any of them.
I think you’re right about them thinking Ignacio is a savant and him getting most of the immediate attention, but I also wanted to mention that Alden’s part in it probably can’t be ignored flat out. There have likely been hundreds if not thousands of knife meisters with this same recall skill in the history of avowed on earth. It’s probably an extremely well documented skill up to its max level. I guarantee something like this has never ever happened before with this particular skill. So, why did it happen? The only extra variable here would be Alden and his skill. So, naturally they’ll have to wonder about both the nature of preservation skills/spells, and Alden’s in particular. It probably won’t automatically make ppl think his skill is something astonishing, but it would have to be a point of interest, I think. That is, if people who care actually end up seeing it. Tack on one or two more secondary effects from BOAB and *then* people are really gonna start to have questions.
Brother Alden, your sword flying technique is impressive. All the fellow disciples will be envious. Elder Ash will surely be pleased. Now we just need more young masters getting slapped.
In a way that already happened with his last confrontation with Hazel Velra.
Has Alden outed himself here? Either about his authority sense or his knight's skill? I don't think so. At worst, his teachers and classmates probably will chalk it up to his one of a kind skill being strangely stronger than expected, but not that he can do magic like the Artonans. Honestly if Alden just straight up said "Yep, that's right. I could do that because I'm a knight" I doubt anyone would even believe him. Maybe Aulia.
I think Not at all, before the run he was telling everyone that he intended to focus on the entruster part of his skill, then a situation came up where it mattered. Everyone knows that they cannot interact with whatever item he is preserving, so its never come up that his entruster should try anyway. Ignacio had a fuzzy awareness of his knife before Alden did anything to boost the connection, so its easy to assume it was just the skill doing what it was supposed to.
"Rabbit Secret Art" "The Right Tool is a Summoning Away!" [After the trial Ignacio got the wizard candy and an Orange for some reason] [somewhere in the universe a random wizard yelled "it should be me!] . Sorry I wished to be silly here^^.
This is for sure my new favorite gym chapter. That was fantastic!
The knight bond bears a shallow resemblance to the bond between the bearer and the entrusted. All the way back in the mother chapter we were told that bearer and other skills would interact together and this is exactly what we were told
I don't quite like the justification from Alden about the last scene. When Ignacio recalls his knife with Alden attached, it is not Alden carrying the burden, he is just doing the preservation. I think the explanation should lean more on "sharing" the burden with his entruster. This can also explain why Alden's skill gets exhausted quickly, since he is being less burdened and not carrying the burden himself. Alternatively, Alden could have wrapped his jacket's sleeves around the knife and preserved it instead when he was saying "Now", but that wouldn't give him the same moment of breakthrough, though it could be similar since he would still have to let Ignacio move the jacket without dropping preservation.
No the knife wouldn't move in that scenario. Otherwise when Alden was lifing X by preserving Y underneath X and lifting, he'd feel the full weight of X. Under the scenario you outline the moving object X would need to push on Y and thereby move Alden so Alden would need to feel those forces, which isn't how it works
I wonder how fast video of this run is going to circulate around the school. Not only was it just a spectacular match, but Ignacio had total protagonist vibes there—he even had a super dramatic moment with Alden as his wise, old mentor, guiding him in the ways of Rabbit Body Recall! It's a run for a "Best of Coursing" montage for sure.
I recall there being a rule about not allowing footage of others to be publicized in your video on the gym unless they allow it? Like contract enforced level restriction? It was mentioned when people were making compilations to show off there skills that they had to cut it right before impact with other people. And i feel like it was written as a rule as well. If thats the case then only gossip will exist without alden being the one to show the footage. Other students can watch it personally and give live commentary but cant share it and make it a viral hit on social media?
So if Alden borrows a piece of his entruster’s power like Stu said, does that mean a Meister’s magical weapon wielding knowledge could be shared with him while he holds their weapon? It’s part of their authority and Alden could be seen as an extension of their self/will when performing tasks they dictate.
That was how I initially interpreted it. It would explain how Alden was able to move so quickly the first time he was catching tennis balls (borrowing some of Waker's Little Snake speed) but the text doesn't support it. ---------- “If Kivb-ee had been as powerful as Father, you might have been able to shield the whole laboratory without much strain.” “I… what?” Alden leaped ahead a couple of steps so that he could spin and face Stuart. He held up his hands even though Stuart had already halted. “The strength of the entruster’s authority affects what I can do? That much?” “It does.” “How do you know that? How do I not know that?” Stuart raised an eyebrow at him. Alden raised one back. “Because I’m not usually approaching entrustment with the proper attitude.” “Entrustment isn’t a restriction that exists solely for the sake of adding to your burden. It’s magic you can do, intentionally, to forge a connection between you and another person that will increase your skill’s authority to influence reality because you’re not alone. You’re representing someone else as well. If you do it in the right way, the authority of the other person becomes a relevant factor.” – Ch. 285 ----------- You could make an argument that 'forging a connection' between people could mean 'can use some of their magic', but Stu would probably have said that if it were true. So it's probably 'Alden gets an authority boost from his entruster - Snake's authority meant that Alden's own Speed stat was bumped a bit. And Ignacio's authority helped Alden hold onto the knife as it was rising.
the amount of skill breakthroughs and creative power uses in this chapter is crazy Lexi managed to get his reflexive fast version of the mind writher working when needed, and managed to propel himself with his whip Ignacio managed to use his knives as anchor points for dragging the island spell, and used them as traps rather than his normal cloud of knives. He also managed to sense that he could call Alden, to whom he entrusted his knife (he probably has high quality authority to even feel this much) Alden managed to catch the knife, which is the first practical use of the weapon catching discovery we've seen so far. Then he caught the knife again, this time catching it with his body rather than his hands. And then of course, he empowered the connection between himself and his entruster so that the recall could work on him more easily I'm looking forward to seeing Ash interrogating them after this
I love also that each of them didn't have a perfect run, they have room to improve and made mistakes to go over and learn from.
"There’s no way Ignacio’s recall is stronger than Bearer," I love Alden's casual confidence here
Is that guy able to spy on Alden again? I’m afraid the first earthlings to learn about Alden will be that guy and Aulia
~10 months left on the info lock.
Hell yeah! Great chapter
Crazy to see Alden having a break through without the world ending. But such a fun chapter. I hope Alden can continue to see progress.
What do Alden's rings do again, besides protecting his hands? I've somehow forgotten
You actually haven’t
Guy who named himself after a bird that impales its prey on thorns, about to join Alden Thorn and mr. "my ancestors impaled enemies on tree branches". Beautiful.
The Thorn Birds.
What a chapter ! I love how finally we got some wizard stuff on earth with his class. Don't know how it will reflect with everyone but Let's go ! That was so good to have both of them try to figure out. Alden doing most of the job, since he feels the magic and the self. Ignaccio had the right idea, which helped a lot. And at the same time we still get the metaphor with the Frog. Really well done Sleyca ! Wonderful Chapter !
TFTC! Excellent but anyone that knows how skills work at the first year level will be or should be, suspicious af.
The thing is no one knows how Aldens skill function and having an entruster is really strange. You could argue that it is because of the entrustment only that this happend. You dont have to reach farther than that Aldens skill is strange.
Booo! Coulda given team rabbit the win after all that. Really good chapter
Can’t wait to see the instructor’s respect for this group go up, even if it’s just a little bit!
Thank you for the chapter! I'm loving this arc, and this chapter is so good, with really juicy payoffs. Great stuff!
brilliant writing, just brilliant - thank you!
that was a nice chapter, i hope ignacio keeps being a relevant character
Love this chapter! Worth the wait 100%! Now we neeed a Max POV for when he gets the "quiet" rabbit update.
Stuff like this is why I love grounded magic systems, particularly at low-level. What Ignacio did wasnt objectively super flashy. Maricel or vandy in the same system could get alden to "float." but by all the rules and logic of the earth system, it made absolutely zero sense. Hes a meister. Weapon recall SHOULDNT work on a person. But it did. And thanks to Alden, we know why. That didnt include my hype for Alden reaching out to help his friends with magic as stuart did too. Great chapter. Hype to see the epilog to this arc.
Konstantly Awesome has unlocked unlimited runs from here on now. This is the biggest win. (Though Ash will undoubtedly be most interested in Ignacio and not Alden) On a different note: Lexi should work on being in tune with his emotions and switching his emotional state as necessary, instead of trying to "control" Writher. Because Writher is an external weapon, Lexi sometimes makes the mistake focusing on "it" instead of focusing on himself - but Writher is just part of him! All the times we have seen Lexi succeed with Writer, is when he was barely responsive and in a deep flowstate. He was "inside" himself and focused, tense but calm. The issue with Lexi is that he is a deeply anxious person about things that are outside of his control and this anxiety is vented as anger. He needs to work on accepting things that are outside of his control. In fact, I'd say he desperately needs a good therapist in order to improve understanding of himself and learn techniques to calm himself. To get better at Writher, he needs less weapon training and more emotional training.
Alden giving him an authority assist like he did for Ignacio would probably work wonders. But Alden is really treading into dangerous territory every time he does. So it’s a bit of a gamble
I guess Ash really will let Alden practice in the S rank club. It’s good to see that idea pay off after a hundred chapters.
It will be sold initially as Alden simply being there to help Ignacio work on his new breakthrough.
How did people make comments not show by popularity, again? Mine have suddenly started to do so, and it is as annoying as everyone said :(
how are you viewing? on web, on a chapter (not just in the feeds) there is a icon at the top of the comments section of 2 vertical arrows that lets you choose top or newest. on android app, i dont see any options to choose but it was top, then suddenly "fixed" itself back to neweset for myself and others yesterday.
Bearer, Borne
Just wanna take a moment to appreciate how well the girls' team did. They didn't let the new things Alden's team was doing or losing Tuyet like they did faze them out of the run, and took the one opportunity they got with Lexi missing on Heloìsa and ran with it. I love how competent everyone is in soup. It's one of my favorite things, which is why I enjoy the gym chapters too to appreciate the thought put behind everyone's actions. And it's very closely tied with the super supportive premise: Alden requires competent people around him. He is not (unless things go very wrong, like they have sometimes) supposed to be alone. He is the multiplier like he was able to be today. He is not a lone frog trying to be, it's a knot of frogs instead.
Frog king (rat king made of frogs) is not an image I thought I'd have in my mind today
I particularly like this chapter because of the bystander insights. That’s always the part I like the most about any story, if executed well
You guys think if Alden bonded his skill with Natalie she could bake some trauma into her food Like imagine she starts filling hotdogs with moon PTSD and feeds them to some pigeons outside
Burderer
The team meeting they have after this is gonna be exciting. Bunch of fun stuff happened, and they have plenty of things they could’ve maybe changed to get the win. Hopefully this display also fully hooked Ash’s attention to get them consistent runs for at least a couple week
Had Mehdi listened to Lexi to get them an immediate attack, (instead of leg swinging distraction) might’ve let Lexi tag Heliosa mid air instead of letting her get contact with the bars. Lexi hitting the attack on Heliosa after Mehdis maneuver also would’ve probably worked. So need to have slightly better synergy there. Everything after that was honestly making the most of bad situations so good on them.
Awesome chapter!
Me when the Bearer of All Burdens bears a burden: 🤯
Also lmao, we got to see Alden the flying knife, before getting to see Alden actually cast the flying knife spell
Now Ignacio can use Alden to harvest the fruit from tall trees
Kon: He flies now???? 🤯 Lexi: He flies now.
Next he’ll tape a bunch of knives to Alden and try to get Leading Edge to work on him.
I was thinking about Alden's frog story - not the one he plans to tell, but the one he wishes he could. His headcanon, if you will. An artonan would totally pick up on it being about class mobility, right? If anything, the obvious assumption would be that he wrote it to be about Kibby. And thinking about that, I realized: it's probably kind of about Ro-den too. He also was born to the ordinary class on Thegund and presumably went through a lot when he was young trying to make the transition. It's really fun to imagine him somehow seeing Alden's storytelling and feeling feelings against his will
I didn’t think it was about class mobility at all. I thought it was clearly about avowed. They’re given magic (the ball in the well) but aren’t allowed what the wizards have ( eating at the table & sleeping in the bed vs knowing what their skills do & what chaos is). Avowed are kept in the dark well.
“Typical,” Lexi grunted. Magnifico. Beautiful. Also, as a second thought, this type of BOAB action and thought and use in gym will help the bound authority grow and so increase overall growth but maybe delay affixation a little more.
Ignacio’s recall talent likely works for other meisters with weapons other than knives. That means it’s not summoning based on the knifeness of something. There’s a connection between a meister and their mastery, and I suspect the talent is taking advantage of that in some way to do its magic. So, Alden and Ignacio both have a connection to the knife. Alden also has a connection to Ignacio. Ignacio can’t make a connection with Alden on his own. So Alden reinforced the echo of himself that was present in the entrustment on Ignacio’s end, creating a bond that was close enough to the one between Ignacio and his knives that the talent was able to work, albeit in a very inefficient way.
I wonder what’s the precise wording that mother would give for ignacio’s skill
I wonder how much time is left in class, it's been at least 1 hour of the 2-hour gym usage window, will Ash give their team another run, or are all of the slots already assigned? If they do get a run, will they still be entertaining without Alden? He was involved with everything interesting, the island fall, lexi whip control, superhuman knife catch, then becoming one with the knife, But now his skill is toast so he's sidelined if they go again. I know Alden is fine with sitting out, he said himself that jeffy and kon get to go next time, but will his absence be boring, will Ash realise that Alden is the interesting one? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Only time will tell.
It’s somewhat a problem that the only way we know for sure the team planned to get on the island was with Alden’s assist. Maybe kon could figure a way to do it? I could be forgetting something they mentioned doing to solve that issue
I know you have a lot of work on your hands but I would really enjoy a short story for the frog and his ball.
That is definitely coming. Next chapter, probably. The chapter after if there is some gym post-mortem.
I didn't make it as far as writing it down last chapter, but it's interesting that Ignacio (the ESL student) is the one who apparently notices 'trust' is nestled directly into the word enTRUSTer. Seeing a language with fresh eyes can be incredibly valuable. All these chapters, and I didn't see it until that moment, because I just glazed over the root concept of the word in favor of the immediate meaning.
Alden’s Signature Move: Closing Eyes Lexi’s Signature Move: Internal Sigh of Total Despair
Mightn’t they have won if Ignacio didn’t take that attack? Then Tuyet wouldn’t get the retaliation window
Nevermind, I’m guessing Tuyet was initiating an attack after everly overtook Ignacio and went through
How did Gorgon get Alden a skill that matched him so well? The answer has to be: Gorgon has both magic /and training/ that can help him with exactly that kind of thing: “They came to us, we read their needs and desires, and gave them what they wanted if it was possible and fell within our very strict notions of what constituted a proper miracle. Basically, I was the village wishing well.” – Ch. 51 ------ Gorgon wanted to be a good wishing well, giving people what they actually wanted. Even if his magic is blocked (quite likely), his training and his care for his human friend made him exert himself. Alden must have been the first person in a long time (possibly the first human person ever) who gave a crap about him. Alden brought him stuff. Tried to understand him. They had their heart-to-heart talk. And Gorgon had access to a lot of system-skill information. So he gave Alden a hand.
I think it’s similar to how Neha made that schedule for Alden. She didn’t know what the people Alden was meeting with would say, but she was still able to schedule appointments to act on that information. Gorgon doesn’t necessarily need to know about the OG 300 skills for his magic to tell him what the best choice for Alden is.
Of all these words what moved me greatly Was: Next Chapter May 14 Approximately
Your beautiful poetry brought me to tears
The breadcrumb trail leads back to Alden, he's in a lot of potential trouble. -> Audio between Alden and Ignacio is reviewable -> Audio indicates he's aware early on that Ignacio's skill is trying something and missing. -> Video shows that, just before it succeeds Alden closes his eyes to concentrate -> Alden's skill is exhausted at the finish and, more importantly, he knows early on this is near happening and warns Ignacio. -> The knife is just lying on his stomach, exposed so this is all undeniably Bearer interaction, it's not embedded in something and causing it to move. As well as Ash and the other faculty, he's in danger of a teacher just sending the clip to an Artonan friend "Hey crazy interaction from this weeks gym class - how do you reckon it worked?"
Yeah, the potential trouble is real! So is the real bond that Alden and Shrike formed! And there are other things going on than just the breadcrumbs leading to Alden’s wizard-hood. He’s been achieving a lot of other skill stuff in the last semester too, what with Snake’s tennis balls and Klein’s Pause. There is an equal chance that this is going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back or another oddity that can be brushed under the rug, and it all depends on the people around Alden.
Something funny to think about for Ash - Alden's premise is that he's 6, and that worked, sure. But it's clearly not all there is to it, because think about all the other teams who get to run. They're not doing something super creative. They're just S rank. And actually, they, just like Kon's team, are being taught nothing. Ash literally isn't a teacher. He shows them videos and provides comments on the level of Youtube comments. He lets them race and, as far as we know, provides no actual feedback besides "you won" or "you lost". Genuinely his only contribution to his class is course design. I don't think he wants to be a teacher at all, I think he wants to be one of the people who sets up official Coursing events. And it's sad that the school employs him. If only Alden could get other people to recognize that (good luck), there could be a serious Righteous Scholarly Exit.
I assumed he was either a researcher or an actively working hero who just also has to teach whether he wants to or not. Not all that rare in academia, from my limited understanding...
This chapter was one heck of a banger. 12/10. No notes.
These are my notes: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! ! !!!!!! !!!!! Woah
Very fun. Can't wait to see how the class reacts to new Alden weirdness and his explaination. "Oh you know, my entrusted object kind of becomes me, magically speaking, so I figured I kind of became the object too, no biggie."
Hey, our little Alden took a magic risk! In the heat of the moment, despite his logical side saying no, he chose magic. He’s growing up so fast 🤗. This says Knight to me, more than wizard practice hidden away in his room, more than telling Stu, more than pat pat, more than having a auirad hidden in his sock. He felt Ignacio struggling, floundering, and said “hey, let me take some of that.” Well done Alden.
“Is this intensity 4,” butterfly meme.
Ooh I'm starting to suspect Ash might be a magic nut like Aulia. Obsessed with becoming a wizard like any self respecting 6yr should be. It might tie into his teaching approach. "I don't care about teaching them the basics, I want the students to have break throughs in order to deepen my understanding of magic."
“I see Alden floating.” “Typical,” Lexi grunted. Lexi has become genre savvy enough to blame any and all weird occurrences on Alden, he isnt even surprised when Alden starts flying using a Meister weapon recall.
I remember Lexi and Haoyu’s conversation about Alden’s crazy magic aptitude from their perspective. Way back when, in the interludes chapter. And of course, Lexi has just been confidence hustled by Alden into believing Alden understood his meister weapon and maybe ‘did’ something just as he is now doing with Ignacio’s. And yes, you can hear the head shake as he says typical.
Oooo I forgot Ignacio talked about being bad at doing slow recalls at the start of the chapter, but ended the chapter having to speed it up. The payoff has LAYERS
Ash seeing the island moving: huh didn’t expect that but okay Ash seeing biblically accurate Alden 30 seconds later: **full undivided attention**
And on the third fall Alden rose, seated at the right leg of Shrike. And lo, was he tossed at the feet of the gnashers of teeth who said of Him: “Typical”
My mind! It trembles!
“heres my blade alden, grasp it firmly” “ok i’ll give u a happy ending, ignacio”
Why? Why? Why? (You’re the first year fanfiction writer in universe aren’t you)
New strategy: Alden hurls Ignacio by his shirt, Ignacio recalls alden, repeat and they can basically fly! Bonus points if Alden does a superhero spinning toss midair.
Ah that would be so good- it feels like just some time doing fun cool shit with their powers would be so great for alden especially!
WRITHER
We had a lot of Writher action this section, which was your favorite?
How did Alden Roadkill Thorn "break" his pinky? Is he not wearing his rings? Or is Writher too powerfully for them? Is the gym suit ignoring their effect? Does their protection not extend to the wrists?
He is not wearing his rings, since they are extra equipment that the other team could (and likely would) object to
Alden framing himself as a benevolent princess to Ignacio's frog isn't something I saw coming but it was a good moment
I am hoping we get an explanation from Alden's perspective though. I'd like to know what exactly he did. The idea that Alden's own authority might exist as an echo in Ignacio's recall skill felt like a stretch to me, and I'd be interested to know if that's really what happened
Entrustment is magic Alden can do. Wrapping his skill around the knife makes the knife part of his *self,* Interesting to see that it works both ways so that Alden's skill also becomes part of Shrike's knife. I wonder just how similar the principles of the bonds between Alden and his entruster/burden is to the bonds between a Meister and their object. Alden being used by his entruster like he was requesting at the start of the course means he must likewise entrust himself and his skill to the one he chooses to serve, the trust Ignacio mentioned being necessary goes both ways. I highly suspect that the revelations he's had here are going to be vital for carrying and using the burden of spells properly.
Stuart’s changed Alden’s whole perspective on BOAB and the gains are immediate and apparent.
You know, Sleyca, I've gotta say... You’re already the best author I have come across in probably over a decade, but you absolutely blew this chapter out of the water. Legitimately the most enjoyable chapter of any story I've read in so long, thank you!
YESSSSS that was awesooooome I'm SO excited for Alden and Ignacio to cash in the unfathomable aura they just farmed
Am I insane or did Alden just spark some authority sense in Ignacio? "I can sense him somehow. He's right there" feels a lot like when Alden felt Kibby's "existence pat" to me.
I'd argue it's more like Alden is taking on some properties of the knife that Ignacio is already connected to. If it were that simple for humans to develop an authority sense, Alden wouldn't be the first wizard. Mother literally called him an unreplicable experiment. Just the right boon from Gorgon. Just the right amount of chaos, AND a wizard who kept reaching out to him for weeks
"how it was connected to a tree and how him grabbing onto it without the tree’s permission had potentially threatened that connection, and he didn’t want to risk damaging…" Well, how convenient that you explicitly and magically have the wielder's permission, right?
The experience with the damaged wand may have also helped with this.
This is the first chapter ive read twice in one sitting across all my webnovels so far. You wrote such an explosively delicious cocktail of teamwork, payoff of efforts, new hopes, new anticipations, new changes to the “game”. Theres so much in this chapter that i might end up reading it a third or fourth time before the next one is out. @sleyca
The tie in with the frog story **chiefs kiss** That frog was cooking
AWESOME chapter, I LOVE skill development and authority stuff. This was so cool. So, so cool.
Hell yeah, skill development chapters are the best
Super Supportive, the animation is going to be so hype
Each page break made me anxious that you were going to end the chapter early Sleyca! So glad it played out until the end. That was the best thing I've read in a while. More chapters revolving around everyone's skill growth please!!!
We love the golden balls! They are so cool!
It's lit fam
The build-up was fantastic and the payoff was amazing. But I have to admit, each almost-failure really made me think it was the actual end and that they'd done something valuable enough, and then it just kept going, and it felt amazing. You really nailed these chapters. Thanks a ton!
I think this chapter might be the first taste of Alden discovering his own version of the Primary's 'Fair Play' with his own skill. Stu and Alden have talked endlessly about how his skill centers on Sacrifice, Preservation, and Protection. Its never come up that the skill is also about working _with_ the entruster to be effective. I think this is Alden re-centering his affixation around Cooperation or Teamwork, instead of just Sacrifice. Those are still there, of course, but something like Cooperation is just so much more Alden than the previous mindset he had about his skill being for a saint or a servant. He's shown time and again that he's willing to go to rather extreme lengths for people he cares about. Sometimes in a self a sacrificing way, but _always_ cooperative. He's pretty much the very definition of a team player. I would not be surprised if as his affixation grows with him it grows more in this direction, and I'm so excited to see what that means.
Yeah which begs the question of how Gorgon knew how BOAB was the perfect skill for Alden.
I had to read this three times in a row, letting it thrum in me. That new magic Alden and his entruster figured out feels so *magical* in a way that feels profoundly wizardly: it changes what everyone who sees it thinks is possible. It seems impossible, and yet it happens, so reality is now a reality that includes that kind of possibility. And what a visual! Alden floating up attached to his preserved knife, like his entruster is Bearing him right back-! I love that suddenly the metaphorical frog is just as much Ignacio as Alden, that they're both trying and Alden realizes he doesn't have to leave himself or Ignacio behind in the dark, that together they can lift what neither of them could bear alone, that he can enable that storychange up into the light of revelation.
Alden is giving on the gift of uplifting that Stu gave him, and not just to Ignacio; Lexi was also dangling partway through a breakthrough, and Alden also helped him shift his perception to better communicate his intentions.
Team work for the dream work. And that ring set just became best gift ever. Think Nat can make skill infused dried banana chips or croutons? Food thank you seems to be the best. .
Heck yeah! Yes! Damn straight! That was epic!!
... Holy shit.
Love this chapter! Gives some insight into how skill interaction works and I believe a small preview of what happens when knights combine their authority This chapter's theme song: https://youtu.be/VmE2xl1mHfs?si=Q8rE5jOuf0-HDSbt
i liked the soup
Lute gave him a look. “Be realistic. You could be levitating a meter off the ground, weeping diamonds, and exhaling clouds of poisonous gas, and some of those privileged little rankists would still know right down to their bones that they were better than you because you’re only a B.” I hope someone disparages him after this run(he did go splat) so he can remember this conversation and laugh his head off.
Lexi's "Typical" shows he fully expects that from Alden at some point.
As hype as this chapter is, it's got me a liiiiittle stressed that someone might find out about Alden's wizardry from this, although I don't think most people would think of it. But Alden's internal monologue was going pretty in-depth into magic and his wizardness, and it has to be noted that Tuyet is heavily involved in this scene. Tuyet, who has a Sway brother that occasionally reads the thoughts of the people around her and sends her warnings if someone's sus or checks up on her if she's feeling emotional. The odds seems low of things playing out like this, but they're definitely not zero.
There’s no real risk of Alden’s wizardry coming out because of this, because it’s blatantly impossible for a human to be a wizard. However, he might get some stronger looks as to how the heck he’s only got a level 4 skill.
It should be noted that even if the girls win, they've ran this course before against others, and have chances to refine how they can best use their powers. And they still almost lost to the team running it for the first time.
This course is new this week, and ISTM they haven't run it earlier in the day.
I know that Alden is asassisting with his wizard skills here, but I'm wondering if a very similar result could be achieved if Ignacio instructed Alden how to bear his knife more specifically. Could he say "Hold this knife in such a way that I can recall it while it is still protected," and make it work? Focusing on the ownership component would help both Alden's perception and Ignacio's, but would it be enough? I wonder if Stu could use something similar to get Alden in the right space for a telekinetic pickup.
My understanding of what happened is this - Alden is thinking "I am carrying this knife with my skill, but the original holder still has a right to it" and so his skill 'relaxes' his hold on it, allowing Ignacio to recall it. But because Alden is connected to the knife, he came along with it. This is the purely Skill-based explanation. But because skill are essentially bound spells, Alden's Authority let him realise what was happening as the two skills fought over ownership of the knife, which led to Alden relaxing his hold on the knife. As others have pointed out - the big question is if anyone will question any deeper beyond 'Skills are weird. Also - I wonder if Ignacio will level off the back of this ? If so, will this make the others start to look at Alden more closely, as a way to get stronger ? The next few months are going to be fun, as we get to see what consequences occur.
Haha Ash with his face pressed against the barrier 🤭 that was such a stressful read but in such a good way; I was on the edge of my seat
Careful Alden, Marsha might go out for a new, attachable Rabbit addition to her Mutable Haft
Nah, he’d get his B cooties all over her S weapon.
Freaking Awesome
Me encanta!!
I'm interested in how the narrative of this fight plays out. Most people will attribute the shenanigans to Ignacio when in reality it'd be impossible without Alden. It'll especially be a test of Ash's character; if he believes it's all Ignacio he's basically an S-rank poser who doesn't know anything. If he knows there was more going then he's at least somewhat competent. I don't have my hopes up though.
The smart ones will probably figure out it was a weird interaction between skills, the real danger is Instructor Plim learning about this and deciding that she wants to run exhaustive tests on Alden skill.
My favorite part is how Lexi is fully blaming Alden for this
Lexi with the strong "I'm too old for this shit" vibes at 16. Imagine him at the end of uni
In a slightly different world, I could definitely see Alden becoming Ignacio's battlefield supporter. They understand each other well, and they have a great offense/defense thing going on with their abilities. And, of course, as we just saw, their powers can interact in some interesting ways with each other. In this world, though, I imagine it'll be more like Avowed Ignacio getting summoned often by Knight Alden for missions, which I think will be very exciting to see someday.
I think Alden will work with anyones BURDEN. He also has made being a support a core part of his drive for power. He realistically may be like that young female knight in his aptitude for synergizing well with others on a magical level.
Amazing chapter. I bet Ash is going to misattribute this to Ignacio and that Alden is going to play if off by honestly saying that his skill got fatigued by the maneuver. Thanks for the great chapter, as always, Sleyca <3
That was exactly my thought as well
I think freeze plus dart should count as two attacks and they only had one. If they don't win all the way, they should win by dq. But awesome chapter either way!
Alden said that modifying shared obstacles was not an attack by the rules, so freezing the bars was not an attack.
Gooooooo Alden and Ignacio! Such a huge win :)
That was NOT what i was expecting and SOOO much joy from seeing it happen! Alden just hit somebody’s 99.9 intensity radar as like a 99.8 and he’s likely shattered the whole concept of rabbits. They are meant to serve and its their POWER.
The frog jumped
If he doesnt manage to write this version of the frog story for his story class im gonna be so, so very thoroughly saddened. If he doesnt share it with the class then i could see it as his way of broaching the conversation about his unique position of avowed knighthood with esh and lind. I do hope the story gets told in some way.
TLDR; Alden is a knife (???)
The Vorpal Bunny
Freaking FANTASTIC chapter, I really like that!
I hope this eventually leads to people learning that their skills can have funky interactions with Alden and his skill, so they befriend and train with him in friendly and exciting ways that aren't simply transactional.
So cool!! TFTC!
So. Satisfying. I love when Stu helps Alden with understanding his skill, but it turns out it’s even more exciting when the less educated Earthlings discover something amazing. Together. And to see Bearer’s bearing get used more authentically.
I look forward to alden sending this gym footage to stu and stu breaking it down and integrating with Their nakama power
Completely insane, soup was electric
IM SO HYPE! I NEED TO CALM DOWN! I'M SO HYPED!!!
so much happening but i love the payoff so bad😭😭 alden’s classmates refusing to work with him bc they think he’s so below them skils-wise and his skill directly forcing a development with Ignacio’s in a way that’s doubtlessly cool af AND uniquely his
I’m honestly vibrating waiting for the next chapter I can’t wait to see how this develops/if it does (sometimes soup takes a while to cook, and needs to simmer first)
This was amazing!!!
Chapters like this are why I love gym class, and specifically obstacle courses. The teamwork, the opportunities for revelation, it's all so so good!
Absolutely. Gym Class Episodes, especially when done like this, are absolutely the most awesome stuff Sleyca writes. All the thoughtful, quiet chapters are nice, but THIS just grips you and doesn't let go.
Ignacio learned... [Trust Rise]! It's super effective!
-adds Ignacio to the Order of Rabbit friends-
Mm, the Owsla!
Had a flash forward picture of Alden in wizard robes teaching avowed about their skills. Guiding, educating, sharing the context--the how and the why behind the what of their skills
He did think he’d make a happy elementary school teacher… Am I reading that right that Ignacio was actually the frog and Alden realized that holding back from helping Ignacio with his golden ball of breaking through for Quiet Rabbit purposes made _Alden_ the classist princess?
“Typical,” Lexi grunted. “What’s typical about this?!” Haoyu exclaimed. It's not obvious to you Haoyu? Something fucking weird is happening and Alden is smack dab in the middle of it again. That's what's typical. :D
“Anesidoran social dynamic” but its “Alden Weirdness Dynamic”
The chapter was so intense whewww i'm actually sweating ! I'm so happy for Ignacio and Alden, how exciting. Thank you so much
Absolute cinema!
That was great
Do you also like the chapter before reading it! I always know it's going to be awesome :) This chapter had such a huge payoff! Thank you for the chapter!
I mean, i already like this story enough to pay a nice chunk of change to read ahead every month, of course i leave a like as soon as the chapter drops.
Today's soup was very delicious
Holy crap what a great chapter. You really outdid yourself this time Sleyca.
This run of chapters may be my favorite since Waves. I don't think I'll ever get the idea of Alden dragging his broken body through a water logged building with only the dim light of his tablet while Kibby's messages play out of my head.
Oh wow, what an incredible moment. Alden might have a hard time explaining that, but I think the growth— both for him and for Ignacio— will be well worth the trouble. I’m absolutely cackling at Lexi’s “typical”, though. He’s so dang tired of Alden pulling out impossible nonsense. Sudden flying powers? Sure, why not, this may as well happen.
Agreed
Thank you for the soup!
So that was interesting ! I wonder if Ignacio and Aiden will practice this in the future, on their own ? If ignacio has a breakthrough with his Skill, maybe talking to Aiden while practicing will lead to something ? Forming ideas about Authority Sensing ?
Seeing if they can replicate it & under what circumstances will be very interesting. It was an extreme-focus moment for them, so will it require that again, or will the understanding they just achieved be enough?
HELL, and I cannot emphasize this enough, YEAH
Pixar has nothing on Sleyca The Onion Ninjas The repeated shouts of what the fuck (My Wife is on Royal Road so I am trying not to spoil chapters) The emotional roller coaster No one is dying, no one is failing the class But I so badly want a win Back to Ignacio’s POV
This is one of the few series that captures that Haikyuu vibe. No one is at true risk, but the stakes feel so high. It feels like something just changed.
There is no way this doesn't make the entirety of the faculty stop and pay closer attention to Alden. As it is, they know he is challenging in regular gym more than they even expect. Plus there have been a couple of points where they could reasonably figure out he's been holding back. This... This is wild.
Gonna guess most of them are gonna be focused on the S-Rank and just the perceptive ones will eye the Rabbit.
Insane chapter. Very well cooked. One of my favorite in the whole series.
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Give our boys the win, I want them to be fully happy, without someone or something shading this moment !!!
They already won, man, that’s the point. Whether they take the trophy or no, they just earned being taken seriously by Ash and all their classmates, and three of them had power development moments (Ignacio and Alden, but also Lexi doing pull-ups with his whip). Each of those things is more valuable than crossing the finish line first.
So when the bar swole under his palms. I think you meant swelled? Or became swollen. Had to reread a couple of times to figure out what you meant...
Totally Normal and Quiet Rabbit strikes again
He's a totally normal quiet Rabbit. He almost even went to a bookclub before that was retconned away!
Who would make a better votary for Alden, Lexi or Ignacio?
Votary is wizard only gig i think. You need to be able to do quite a lot more magic than any non-wizard avowed can manage in the day-today of votary life i think
absolutely goddamn DELECTABLE soup right here
That was a superb action sequence.
This chapter was amazing to read
I dub that move Rabbit Recall
Rapid Rabbit Recall
Sure hope Alden didn't give ignacio authority sense. If the secret rabbit knight is creating more knights of his own lol
Bet ignacio is gonna get a banger skill option
Wooow. I love it
Omfg this was sooooo good! I can't wait to see the aftermath.
Yessir, thats how you do it. Literally shaking after reading this!
Time to read this chapter a million more times
Wow! Love the exploration of Alden's skill interacting with other skills!
Alden, the *true* trainer of Skills!
Marciel might regret blowing him off.
Man I hate the essholes more each chapter. But also, fuck that was awesome.
Yeah, not saying they should go easy on them, but considering that this is the first run for the other team while they've had multiple chances it's a bit essholish to go all out.
Haha wow that was amazing! I really wished for such a moment with ignacio but wouldn't have thought to get it so fast! They were so cool!
Thank you for the chapter! Ignacio was such a badass! Lexi was as well! He and Writher were kicking butt before... well, before Heloisa beat him to a pulp. I love team Konstantly Awesome. Bet they were interesting enough for Ash this week!
Oh, ash is hooked like crack. Hes gonna go home and design so many weirdly interactable obstacle courses for them for the rest of the term and be so disappointed at everyone else running it the boring way.
Finally, a teacher that actually sees Alden's potential and pushes him beyond his comfort zone.
More like a teacher who is blind to Alden’s potential and pushes him beyond his comfort zone
> Ignacio felt it very suddenly—an illogical sureness, like before but even stronger. > I can call them both. > I can call Alden Alden being wieldable as a meister weapon is gonna make him real popular in a certain class club.
Weaponized rabbit club, in more ways than one
Amazing!
yessss, skill progress.. now I need to see Alden do the same with all his buddies
This is the kind of skill development I was concerned we were only going to get with Stu/on Artona! It makes me narratively happy because I really like the Earth students and didn’t want to leave them entirely behind (yet) to solely train with mostly-unknown-and-Stu-doesn’t-like-em baby knights. And gym chapters could feel low stakes without development. Yay!
In fairness, Stu is more likely to get thrown in with the outsider knights than the Rapport knights. He isn't in one of the pre-made Rapport squads, and he's high-risk like the outsider knights. Still unknowns, but not people Stu dislikes. I for one would love to see Yaril from the oath ceremony again.
Thanks for the amazing chapter!
Well, has Alden giving too much away? I've got a feeling that Ash might pick up on something. Although it's possible he focuses on Ignacio instead. Thanks for the chapter!
I think Ash is getting his six year old brain excitement bombed into a whole new era right now. He probably doesn't understand shit, but he's gotten far more 'cool new magic!' mental stimulation than he bargained for with this course run.
I am devouring it, inject the soup into my veins! What a chapter!
Caused me to drop my sandwich Luckily no pastrami was harmed 🎬
To be clear, soup goes well with a pastrami sandwich. You have two hands, do it right.
WAAAAAA
Thanks for chap!
Real soup is here!
YAY SOUP