TWO HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN: When Wishing Was Having VIII
Edited (minor, epub updated): July 10, 2026
Alden met up with Ignacio in between his storytelling class and Engaging With the Unexpected, then again later in the afternoon. Around seven thirty that evening, the Meister found him for a third time. He approached while Alden and Lexi were on their way back to the dorm with groceries.
“Can we again?” he asked. “I’m afraid I’m worse every time.”
“Of course we can!” Alden said brightly, passing Ignacio the large bag of oranges he’d just bought. “And, you know, it’s a two-man magic. Maybe I’m the reason it’s taking longer during our practices than it did in gym.”
He was one hundred percent the reason.
“I could be in a slightly different headspace that’s affecting my skill, which would have effects on your skill. The lack of adrenaline could be having an impact. Just don’t worry about it. We’re both doing fine.”
“We’re doing fine,” Ignacio replied with a nod. “Okay. Your apartment?”
Alden looked at Lexi.
“I don’t mind,” said Lexi. “You’ve been knocking out your skill in just a few minutes each time. It’s not an imposition.”
So Ignacio followed them home. They left Lexi in the kitchen, and Alden went to take a seat at the end of the hallway below Sunny the polar bear. He held one of Ignacio’s throwing knives preserved at his side while Ignacio stood down the hall and across the living area from him, trying to call Alden toward a raised hand.
After a couple of minutes, Ignacio closed his eyes to concentrate.
The Meister was doing better than he had this morning. He only thought he wasn’t because Alden was being less helpful about aligning himself with the call every time they practiced.
Alden’s plan seemed to be working. They should be able to get to the point where he didn’t have to help out with his free authority at all.
I’ll wean him off easy mode within a few more attempts, if I’m right. We’ll be able to do it without me doing more than being a good Bearer.
Alden wouldn’t mind practicing his free authority this way more. It was a little like taking over a miscast spell would be, he thought, and he had a bunch of questions about whether he could do the same under different conditions that weren’t heavily centered on him like this process was.
There have to be techniques for this kind of thing and risks to messing it up. It must be easier with some types of magic than others. Are there situations where wizards have to do correction like this regularly, or is it more common to let bad spells fail and start over?
He had many exciting possibilities to wonder about. But he didn’t want to experiment on a clueless classmate who was trying to master his own powers. So he’d get Ignacio through this and go bother Stuart for those other answers.
“I have a theory that this might go better if you think of me the same way you think of the knife,” he said after feeling Ignacio’s recall skill make another demand of reality that didn’t quite reach him. “I don’t know if you picture your Meister blades as tools, friends, parts of yourself, or what. But if you could manage to think you had the same relationship to me whenever I’m holding one for you, that might make a difference.”
Ignacio cracked one eye open. <<I can’t think of you that way. I’ll figure something out.>>
“Okay. Take your time.”
Alden didn’t want to insist on his own point of view when it came to how the magic was happening. Now that he was trying to teach someone, the limitations of being a wizard giving advice to an Avowed were more obvious than they ever had been. He didn’t want to muddle Ignacio’s conception of how his recall worked.
Assuming I know how he should perform his magic better than him just because I have a different sense would be too arrogant. He has a unique perspective, too. He can uncover things I might not. Saying “Maybe this?” and then letting him find his own origami is probably more helpful.
Alden wanted to be a good teacher. And he had self-improvement he could focus on with his own skill if Ignacio didn’t need his words. Part of what made this work was The Bearer of All Burdens staying open to the will of his entruster.
He was in a good frame of mind for it. Ignacio trusting him with the knife this morning, knowing the Meister was someone who was training himself for more than a future of wealth and spectacle, their teamwork coming together in such a surprising way to create Earth’s first Meister/Rabbit recall combo—Alden was proud to be part of this project.
He tried to maintain that attitude and keep his entruster’s needs in mind.
If he can call me while I’m holding his knife, he has more control. It’s teaching him how to recall his weapon with more control when I’m not involved. That could save his life or someone else’s one day. This isn’t an unimportant burden just because I’m holding it in a safe, cozy apartment.
He heard Lexi putting away groceries and Haoyu in his room, talking to his mom on a call. The hall smelled like their bubblebath soap.
When he stopped noticing those details and Ignacio’s magic brushed closer than the last couple of attempts had, it finally seemed like the right moment to assert himself, lining up with his entruster’s skill a little more.
Come on.
He felt his body leave the floor, following a pull toward Ignacio’s hand.
We’re going super slow this time, he thought, opening his eyes. He was still in his seated position, about six inches off the floor, gradually rising higher as he moved down the hall. It was a magic made by two skills together, but as in the gym this morning, Alden’s was the one being rapidly exhausted.
It’s really interesting. I’m holding this knife that he has the right to call. Part of truly preserving it correctly must be preserving the bond he has with it. So he calls, and I willingly bridge it for him…and this is the effect.
The bathroom door opened as he passed. A damp Lute with a towel around his waist stood there. Alden was floating high enough now that their eyes were almost level.
“What in the alien shit? No. You’re not…!”
He waved a hand under Alden’s butt like he expected to find an invisible pedestal between it and the floor.
“I told you,” said Alden. “Bear witness to my new power.”
“I mean, I know you told me!” Lute whipped his head around to see Ignacio. “But you’ve got a Meister making you fly.”
“I do. Ignacio, meet Lute. Lute, meet Ignacio. He’s focusing really hard right now to improve his control over recall speed, so he probably can’t answer just yet.”
“Meisters can’t do this,” said Lute, laughing and kicking at the air below Alden.
He’d been in a great mood all afternoon. Alden was assuming the catharsis of portraying Growlia Smellra and Jess Riding Hood as he had was overshadowing the awkward and concerned looks several members of the audience had worn after he finished the story. Alden had wondered if the version he’d heard Lute practicing might be toned down for the official performance, but Lute hadn’t held back.
“Rabbits can’t do this either,” Lute said, following Alden down the hall.
“I’m not a normal Rabbit, I’m Cottontail.”
Lexi leaned out of the kitchen to see them. “You did it again,” he said.
“We have.”
Because giving Ignacio as much time to feel his control as possible was one of their goals, Alden didn’t warn him when they were out of time. He just let his skill be exhausted and put his feet down to catch himself as the knife flew away from him into Ignacio’s hand.
“That was good practice for me,” he said, as Ignacio finally opened his eyes and grinned. “You?”
“It helps! I’m sorry it uses your skill so fast.”
“That’s no big deal. We’ll just wash dishes the boring way tonight.”
“You use your skill on dishes?”
“Dishes, soup-seeking, flight toward Meisters,” said Lute. “He’s on a roll since becoming an Avowed. Don’t go with him to a swimming pool, though, unless you’re into suddenly being at the bottom of the deep end every five seconds. It’s like a sadistic teleportation experience.”
“You got spa treatments afterward!” Alden looked at Ignacio. “He got spa treatments.”
******
******
Ignacio lingered to talk to them while they ate dinner. He and Lexi were getting along well, and by the time Alden had finished his sandwich, one more Rabbit Recall attempt before bed had become the plan for the night.
While Alden was in the shower, Jeffy somehow found his way over to play games with Haoyu and Lute. Those three were sitting in front of the television with controllers in their hands while Lexi and Ignacio talked about being Meisters. Kon appeared a little later, fresh from a date with Everly. Alden didn’t know if he’d been invited over by one of the others or if he’d just swung by on his own.
“Almost the whole team,” Kon said, helping himself to some of the popcorn Haoyu had made, then plopping down onto the floor at the base of Alden’s armchair. “Mehdi’s gone to New Sybaris with Heloísa and Astrid. I think Sanjay and Rebecca might be down there, too. There’s that huge street party to celebrate the reopened section.”
“I wanted to go to that.” Haoyu’s game avatar finally managed to blow up a pelican-head. Lute kept taking them all out before anyone else could. “To the Brutal Ring Brawl they’re going to do in front of the shipwreck building. But then everyone else was making being lazy here look more fun.”
Kon tapped Alden’s shin with the back of one hand. “What are you watching on your tablet? Is it better than the game?”
“I was doing research for my independent study, but it’s taken a side turn, and now I’m watching Avowed go-bag prep videos.”
“What kind?” Kon asked. “The people who are spending their life savings on Wright-made grenades? Or the ones who are making little Earth-themed crafts to give as presents to every Artonan they meet?”
“Those aren’t the only two types,” said Haoyu.
“There are also the people who try to fit an entire apartment into a suitcase,” said Lute. “Like with inflatable furniture that all starts out the size of a pill and portable toilets. And the bizarre-gadget collectors. You know, ‘Here is my thing that turns sawdust into buckets because I’ll need buckets for my other thing that fills buckets from any body of water three paces to my left.’”
“I’m collecting supplies for an underwater bag.” Jeffy looked around the room as he said that, and his avatar died.
“Rabbits probably have good suggestions for daily life on the Triplanets,” said Haoyu. “But I think overpacking is a hobby for some Avowed. And go-bag videos really appeal to followers who are into all the different kinds of summoning drama. If you need a grenade to survive, one will probably be provided. If one isn’t provided when you needed it, your summoner is stupid or unconcerned about your safety, and there are going to be so many problems other than whatever you hoped to blow up that you don’t make it back home anyway.”
Two pelican-heads lined themselves up perfectly for him to get a double kill.
“Arrange to have the best versions of the stuff that you know you’ll use, but don’t get stressed out trying to take one of every single tool that’s ever existed,” Haoyu continued. “Unless it’s fun for you to do that sort of prepping. That’s what I think. My parents keep it pretty simple—some gear they’ve used for years, clothes. Mom spends more time on the little bag she packs before each trip than the big one. It holds her tea, her entertainment slice, a couple of things from me and my dad…”
<<My grandparents think you should carry spices.>>
“Spices?” asked Alden.
<<So that you can make whatever you eat taste more like home if you want.>>
“That’s a cool idea. I can tell you from experience that if you show up at the LeafSong University Campus with nothing, most of the stuff they’ll give you is decent and easy to figure out except for the knife with the hook on it that I assume was for shaving.”
“Use hair removal potion,” said Lexi. “It’s not true that it’ll give you permanent bald spots. That’s a rumor spread by people who can’t follow directions.”
“Did you slice off any important body parts?” asked Kon.
“I used to have two noses,” said Alden. “Now I’m down to just one.”
Listening to them all talk about things they would want on trips away from Earth and the supplies their families, neighbors, and teachers had prepared was more interesting than the videos. Hypotheticals started flying. If you were getting summoned to an unknown location ten seconds from now, ten days from now, or if you were going away for ten years…what would you take? If you were going to Artona II, to the bottom of a sea, or to a Tmithan blimp that was about to crash….
“What if you were going to be on a spaceship?” asked Kon. “Not a crashing one. Just a spaceship you had to stay on for a long time.”
That secret was like a shadow in the room with them. Alden did his best to pretend he couldn’t see it while the others, unaware, gave Kon half funny and half serious answers.
Soon afterward, he and Ignacio had their final practice session of the long day. Alden told him he probably wouldn’t be able to meet up tomorrow.
“Maybe late like this,” he said. “But maybe not until Sunday.”
Ignacio thanked him and headed out.
“I feel like I deserve a field trip for my ‘Jess Riding Hood,’” said Lute after their guests were all gone. “But Esh-erdi asked you. I must be harder to take places because of my work as a Chainer.”
“I don’t think Esh-erdi thought of this trip as a reward for my story, Lute.”
“You’re going somewhere with Esh-erdi?” asked Haoyu.
“His house I think,” said Alden. “It was a quick invitation. Not a lot of details. There will be a terackerin.”
“What’s that?” asked Lexi.
“People can ride it. You should look it up.”
“I want to go to Esh-erdi’s house!” said Haoyu. “He knows me at least as well as Lute.”
“You owe us souvenirs,” said Lute.
“Lexi wants souvenirs, too,” said Haoyu.
“Lexi is fine,” said Lexi, heading toward his room. “Good night, you three.”
But he paused before he reached his door and turned back. “I didn’t say anything earlier because it was such a big day for your powers and Ignacio’s, but…I got a level-up message from the System this afternoon. It’s one of the common single level messages. A ‘choose a little something’ one, so the options aren’t anything spectacular, but I’ll probably spend all weekend staring at them and thinking. Maybe call some people for adv— ”
Haoyu crashed into him with a happy roar.
“No,” said Lexi, as his feet left the floor.
“You can’t keep your first level-up quiet! You can’t keep any level-up quiet.” Haoyu was bouncing him around.
“Congratulations,” said Lute. “I hope your Mind Writher grows longer.”
“That’s an option, but not for right now,” said Lexi. “Haoyu, why am I in the air?”
“We need to call your mom and dad!”
“I already told them. I’ll tell Kon tomorrow.”
“Let’s tell him now! We need to stay up all night picking your new talents!”
“I thought I’d at least try to sleep.”
“Social dynamic, Alden Thorn!” said Haoyu. “You can’t just stand there staring at Lexi when he tells you he leveled up! You have to pick him up like this and shake him and ask him why he didn’t tell us as soon as it happened! We could’ve all celebrated! Wanting to hide in your room after telling us is wrong.”
Lexi, Lute, and Haoyu all glanced at Alden.
I am just standing here, aren’t I?
“Congrats, Lexi!” he said quickly. “You should’ve told us earlier. You’ve been so dedicated that it’s no surprise. But this is great.”
“You don’t need to pick me up or shake me,” said Lexi, ducking so that his head didn’t hit the ceiling.
“But Haoyu said it was a social dynamic. I want to fit in.”
They paraded up and down the hall with Lexi for another minute or so. He looked pleased even while he was complaining.
******
“We’re young,” Alden said softly to Victor, who was padding around the edges of the room while he got ready for bed. “This is when we’re supposed to grow faster. A few levels a year while we’re in high school will make Lexi satisfied with his progress. So we’re all happy for him. Affixation isn’t scary.”
Stuart will make it. We’ll walk the same path. I’ll be lucky enough to have a very bad year catching up to him. And on the other side of those affixations, there will be something profound I can never lose.
He draped his sweatpants over the back of the chair.
I want what I imagine that’s like.
I even want the power, as long as I’m allowed to use it to protect what I love.
That’s wanting a lot. More than I’ve ever wanted before. Now that I’ve decided on the path of highest onus and reactivated the part of me that dreams, I’m afraid it’s getting out of hand.
If he could snap his fingers and build the perfect home, he’d have Stuart, everyone he cared about from Chicago, and all his new Anesidoran friends together under one roof. They’d celebrate Lexi’s new level, and he’d talk to some knights and Mother for advice. They’d eat meat petal. Esh-erdi or Lind-otta would offer to teach a spell, and Alden would put his learning cushion between Kibby’s and Stuart’s for the lesson.
There wouldn’t be chaos, if it was really perfect. I’d have so much time to just learn everything about magic and be with people I like.
Did some knights imagine the end of chaos? In a serious way, like it was an achievable goal they might live to see? The Primary was moving to take back a lost place, but how many places had to be taken back for them to really win instead of holding the error that was eating the universe at bay?
Does one more knight trying to join them make a difference at all?
I want it to.
“If only wishing really was having, right?”
He looked at his candle. He held his hands over it. The gesture that represented the felling of a small tree. A snap.
It sparked and lit.
That’s a long way from ending chaos throughout the universe. I’m not sure someone who just learned to abbreviate a kid-level spell is even allowed to fantasize about being a part of something that massive.
He let himself do it anyway.
******
******
Comments (127)
Does NASA exist in this world? If it does, Kon should apply for an internship. He will probably end up clocking more hours in space than any other human, since most avowed teleport to get off world!
'Maybe I’m the reason it’s taking longer during our practices than it did in gym.” He was one hundred percent the reason.' Ha Thank you for the chapter :D
Edit suggestions: typos, grammar, style, misc. Feel free to ignore. - We’re going super slow this time, he thought opening his eyes. -> he thought, opening - It was a magic made by two skills together, but as in the gym this morning, Alden’s was the one being rapidly exhausted. -> Alden's skill/magic - “There are also the people who try to fit an entire apartment into a suitcase,” said Lute. “Like with inflatable furniture that all starts out the size of a pill and portable toilets. -> pill, and portable toilets - or to a Tmithan blimp that was about to crash…. -> [recurring typo: ellipsis-plus-extra-period] - “His house I think,” said Alden. -> His house, I think
nb
I believe in VIV
Did you know in extreme cold, tin can spontaneously crystallize into a different, brittle, powdery form? The crystals act as seeds, catalyzing the reaction, causing the change to spread throughout whatever object is affected. The powder can rub off on clothes or hands, and if gets deposited on a different tin surface, it causes the same reaction. In the middle ages, sometimes it was called tin plague, because it would spread through a town like a disease. It affected church organ pipes. I wonder if Chaos is kind of like that? Some wizard somewhere accidentally created a degenerate allotrope of reality, and now it’s perpetuating itself, forcing the universe past some arcane activation energy into a horrible, lower energy state.
Interestingly, a similar thing can actually happen with polymorphic contamination of synthesized compounds like advanced drugs. A new polymorph can develop, which then causes catalyzed change of existing polymorphs. Over time, this can make an existing drug impossible to make. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearing_polymorph
Predictions for the upcoming chapter(s). when Alden goes to visit Eshs house the kids don't know that avowed can't use free authority and give Alden a greeting and he reflexively returns it because it reminds him of kibby.. but.. no one is sensitive enough to notice that he did it because they weren't watching, so he gets away with it. Alternately, Esh spends the whole trip using language that Alden thinks is Esh saying that he knows he is aware and will be a good knight or whatever and the whole time Alden (and us) are just freaking out before Alden just goes "fine ill reveal my authority" does a greeting at him, then esh is just shocked because it was all a giant miscommunication.
Esh and Lind felt his lonely pat at nothing from across the island, I doubt they'd miss it. They be stronk. The alt theory is funny :)
What's the bet that when Alden gets outed it's because he abbreviated his candle spell in public?
I bet that one day he says "duck it" and turns a speedster into klerm.
Hmmm, if Ignacio is flung by Alden, and then Alden is recalled by Ignacio, they’ll be the only first years we know of to have mastered flying. Not landing, mind you, just flying.
Maricel does decent work with it, doesn't she?
298 will be out tomorrow!
Thank you for the update.
Happy approximate day.
I'm approximately excited!
Before WWWH comes to a complete end: what story would people here tell if they were students in this class? Alden and Lute went with pretty Grimm stories, and that would be a good choice. What else could you use? If you choose to go with 'adapt an old and short story', you could do worse than adapting Boccaccio. Most of the stories from the Decameron are pretty short. (A lot of them are raunchy too). Maybe one of the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer? Adapting a song might be an option. This requires a singing voice (which Alden doesn't have, but some of the other students might). If I were in that class, I think I'd try adapting Leonard Cohen's Nevermind[1]. The rhyme and scan scheme would be super-hard. And since the song doesn't tell a story, as such, having it make any kind of sense would be a challenge. Anybody else have any thoughts about what story they'd tell here? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3HbrfV0hJM
The Odyssey
I really want the next chapter! I keep checking the date even though I know its not the 30th (31st for me) yet
You’re not alone. I randomly come and refresh this page too. Sigh.
Is it me or would Marsha's pull-her-to-her-weapon skill work similarly on Alden? It's kinda inverted, but I could see it working. "Here Alden. Go bear my precious meister weapon for me." Floats over.
It would be worth trying! It would certainly get Marsha more distance. Although it hasn't been revealed , the limiting factor for Marsha's recall appears now to be how far she can throw her glaive.
Look at Lexi, being all sociable. I’m proud of him. Of all these good kids.
He was so jealous of Ignacio and Alden, that System decided to send a level up his way.
>>> And on the other side of those affixations, there will be something profound I can never lose. Did anyone else wince at the immediate thought of Stu's inevitable death in combat someday after they've achieved this amazing partnership that definitely isn't 100% proof against death?
I mean it's definitely death resistant if not death proof, given that they can hold their esvulgivnas partner away from death for long enough for them to receive healing
>>> It holds her tea, her entertainment slice, a couple of things from me and my dad Am I just being dense here? I can't figure out what entertainment slice means.
If not a typo, I assume it’s like Wright, and in universe term Even if Netflix exists, it is probably not multidimensional Like a Slice of Home, a Slice of Entertainment could be favorite Books, Songs, Videos, Games, etc. that you can either carry on you Artonan Tablet, upload to an Artonan version of an entertainment system, or both 🎬
I wonder... Genetically, humans are biased creatures, hardwired around basic instincts like fight or flight (because we weren't top predators) or procreation. This is why bad news keep being produced and video games so often are about killing monsters or each other. So why is it that a species-ending threat like chaos seems too remote to humanity? One would expect Hollywood to have made a hard pivot from action movies where the villain is Russian to space operas about containing and removing chaos. And they would sell well because our species evolves slowly and the thrills from such basic fear would fill the box offices. Same about literature, ballet and any other art form. Did the Artonans withhold *so much* reality from their new resource world so that they can look cool instead of a species that failed to prevent a bunch of wizards from messing the Universe up? Did they create the Contract under false pretense by withholding this essential knowledge? If yes, *this* is their biggest crime, even beyond keeping humans ignorant about their affixations. And they seem to be committing it towards their own population, too. Also, why do Awoved who have seen and experienced chaos on the frontlines keep mum, too? Does the missing authority sense dull their perception of imminent danger? Does the Contract influence the collective subconcious of Earth to reduce the urgency so Artonans will keep their dominance? Is it the reason humans are not summoned to the worst of battlefields? It cannot *only* be Artonan PR and viewing the war on chaos like the abstract numbers of conflicts we see as remote, such as wars and famine in the Middle East, right?
Chaos is too abstract Like Lead in gasoline, or acid rain (Coke is x100 more acidic than acid rain), or micro plastics In addition, what can the average person do about Chaos, Lead in gasoline, acid rain, and micro plastics? Once the Earth transitions to an Avowed led, world wide government, you might start to see more Chaos in media Also Wizards might discourage misinformation about Chaos because of a very real magical effect that fables, myths, and stories appear to have on how magic, and Avowed, work 🎬
I feel like Alden has become a little distant from his friends lately. It's nice to see that he isn't self isolating anymore, hopefully he can be more open with them soon! They would be so happy for him, I just know it. Seeing Hayou's reaction to Lexi getting a level makes the scene I have in my head even more vivid!
Do yall think it would be cooler for Alden to get upgraded from B->A->S->1 or to just stay B forever but slowly become more powerful than other ranks? Or neither and I’m misremembering that this is something that might happen some day… Also i wish Alden would tell Lexi to ignore the level up Also weird random but i want Vandy and Alden ship and i cant figure out why whats wrong with me
The simplest and most likely theory for rank is the size of the biggest skill. For most avowed, gaining enough free authority to do a higher-ranked skill is a very late career thing due to constant smaller levels. Alden will achieve >A rank quantity bound into BOAB because its unlimited, and despite that he wants to keep his free authority for as long as possible so even if he was stuck with small skills, he would amass enough relatively quickly. In a Q&A, Sleyca's napkin number for this was that a level 40B would have more total authority than a level 1A, but because the B's are spread of multiple skills they are still B. Alden will cross that after 2 more affixations. so more than 1 year away. I guestimate he will be level 25-30 when he affixes in june. Telling Lexi to do that would be very risky for Alden's secrets, maybe i could see him telling very close friends (like Lexi) to ignore these tiny ones after his secret is fully out there. as Earth said to him.. "So far you’ve been smart enough to realize that most of what you know and could share is best kept private for a host of reasons. And some of the things you feel differently about are already widely disseminated theories. You could only add another voice of support and clarification, and it would be at the cost of drawing attention to yourself" As for Vandy+Alden, How would her "follow the rules" ideals survive in the face of our gravity-defying rabbit? His constant breaking of the Andesidoran Social Dynamics would drive her insane.
I'm actually wondering if Esh + Lind want to talk to Alden about Lute and Aulia Velra? We know both of them are interested, and they just heard Lute's "fairy tale" which apparently resulted in several 'awkward and concerned looks' - although it was probably harder for aliens to interpret than humans.
I think they might have misunderstood the story. Afterall the chains in regard to affixation will lead knights toward different ideas than anesidoran youths. And presenting such story is a major faux pas, presenting it to knighs is basicaly an attack on them. Lute, you will get an invite from executioner soon.
If wishing is to be having, then Alden is going to tell Esh and he will be accepted.
Sheesh. It's taking way too long for Alden to learn how to do contract tattoos. Gotta get that done so he can share more with Bo. He really needs more support with the full understanding of who he is.
'I’ll be lucky enough to have a very bad year catching up to him.' Oh no, he sounds so comfortable with affixing again. Earth, this is probably a good time. You know... right before the Esh visit.
Something that I've been wondering for a while, if Alden takes the Knight Oaths, can the system contracts as entrusters?
Do you mean something like getting Mother to entrust something to Alden directly?
I love how much of Lexi's personality we have been seeing recently. From the "Typical" a couple chapters ago to this chapter's "No." Also, when he says, “It’s not true that it’ll give you permanent bald spots. That’s a rumor spread by people who can’t follow directions,” I bet this means that the potion will Absolutely give you bald spots if you Don't follow directions. He just doesn't think the experiences of those who don't follow their magic's directions should matter. Who fails to follow the directions? Not Lexi, that's for sure. ... I kinda want to see some close interactions between him and Vandy now, just to see what would happen.
I'm now waiting for the Kon bald spot reveal.
Thank you for the chapter! I want to know what’s in Jeffy’s go bag. And congrats to Lexi!
Jerky. Way too much jerky.
Awesome, thanks
Leonard Nemoy in a break during a interview was checking his email on his phone and chuckled. The host asked if it was something good. Nemoy replied, I just remembered when these things used to be props. ...... Dreamers remake the world all the time.
I think he may reveal that he is a wizwiz to Esh and Lind, I want to believe at least
I rejoined Patreon after a break of a couple weeks, and am really enjoying this arc. It seems content and peaceful, but drawing the bow for the next thing to happen. I wonder what will make it go off again - Maybe Esh Erdi will hear about BOAB sooner after all? Something was happening with Stu while they were not talking, and he will get a call from Enban? Stu is being punished and can't have avowed friends anymore... That would be a reason to involve Esh maybe...
Thanka for the chapter!
Alden seems to have this running thought that he has something too big for just him. One frog with a heavy golden ball all alone. One rabbit with dreams of ending chaos without anyone who could understand what that means to him besides Stu. I want Esh/Lind to inspire him a bit. I want Alden to join a community of knights that he can be welcomed into. I want this little frog to get picked up by other princes who have swam with their own treasures. Even if it’s not as neat as that, it’s a good wish.
You know, everything has gone well so far. Alden has told Stu about himself. He got rid of the tattoo. He's making progress with his skill. ...We're due for something to go horribly wrong. Aren't we?
Don't be absurd. It's all rainbows and rabbits from here on in.
Happy chapter! …And now it’s about time for some fresh trauma.
…how does Ignacio think of his knives that he can’t apply that to Alden??
“Use them to kill people” “Family weapon” “The thing that I am good at using because I am supposed to be” There’s a lot of regular ways Ignacio’s knives are hard to imagine Alden being.
TFTC!
I so so so so so badly want to see Lexi's options, Sleyca, please! I miss the actual LitRPG elements so much
I don't miss the lit rpg elements but I would like to see Lexi's options :)
Way, way back in Ch. 87, we have a Boe point of view: -------- That storm of emotion yesterday— not the second one that Boe had only witnessed instead of experiencing himself. The first one. The strange, sudden one right after they’d been reunited. So strong it broke through Peace of Mind and the relief and happiness Alden had been feeling. It wasn’t panic. Panic was shallower. Dread. /What was that?/ More importantly why was it? Boe had thought back over the whole conversation so many times in the night. The dread had come when he mentioned the fact that the System offered U-types additional assistance with their affixation. That didn’t make sense. -------- I have the feeling that Alden still feels this vicarious dread and didn't keep his feelings sufficiently hidden. 'Lexi shared some really good news with us. Why did Alden look like a goose walked over his grave?' they could think. Another oddity for the file his roommates could be keeping on him…
Why a goose in that expression? I need to know :)
Thank you for the chapter
Victor holding all of Alden’s deepest secrets
I'm a bit confused about Alden's skill exhaustion, I don't think this has been explained in-story. In the beginning when he exhausted his skill he entered a dazed state that rendered him completely useless. I'm wondering if this is not happening now because he has a bunch of free authority even when his affixed authority is spend? In this case anyone who is close to level up would be save from being "completely" exhausted, while someone who just levelled is in danger of fainting?
It's been mentioned a few times. Sophie told him that he needs to work on separating his physical senses from his magical senses, so it's a known phenomena amongst even avowed of another species. It was mentioned again when Hadiza exhausted her skill trying to make Alden's forgetful travellers bag look shiny and perfect. I forget the name of the rabbit tutor, but she said that it's common for brand new avowed. I think having authority bound into other talents is sufficient to avoid their whole existence being exhausted, so higher level avowed are naturally protected from this effect
CUUUUUTE ahhh i love thissss i need more knife friend
Slightly jarring note re: the teens going to New Sybaris. I'm old enough to remember a hotel (chain?) named Sybaris in the Chicago area, notable as the kind of place couples could go for an exotic afternoon with things they might not have at home like mirrored ceilings and likely a variety of furnishings that I'm sure I had no idea existed 40 years ago.
According to Wikipedia “ One of the first documented intellectual property laws similar to modern patent laws is thought to have been enacted in the 6th century BC in Sybaris, to protect culinary creations of chefs or bakers for a period of 1 year “ 🎬
Any bets on how many in story years and IRL years it will take for us to see Alden end chaos
Alden can’t end chaos because Lute is chaos, Kon tries to be chaos, and Jeffy forgets not to be chaos.
Thank you for the in time chapter, much appreciated. I imagine Alden is going to try out his frog prince sequel when visiting Esh by telling it to the children. It may lead to controversial discussions, kids are usually very straight forward and will not hide their opinions. It may also lead to Esh telling us another story, we e.g. did not yet hear about „the woman with the tail“.
The Woman Of Power, the Traveling Man With The Tail.
Very nice. Two level ups away from the entire group having them. Though they don’t know it lol (sneaky rabbit, level ups are for kids)
If Alden keeps helping other Avowed learn new authority tricks, Alden may be leveling up sooner than he expects Depends on how much helping Lexi used his bound, and unbound, authority 🎬
Ignacio “I made Alden come four times in a single day and he was completely spent each time” Lastnamehere
Guess the genre (two words masked): “The hall smelled like their bubblebath soap. “When he stopped noticing those details and Ignacio’s **** brushed closer than the last couple of attempts had, it finally seemed like the right moment to assert _himself,_ lining up with his entruster’s **** a little more. “_Come on._ “He felt his body leave the floor, following a pull toward Ignacio’s hand. "We’re going super slow this time, he thought opening his eyes.”
So nice to see Alden get these golden moments. It does make me wonder what plans Sleyca has for our boy though. She's resolved a significant portion of the tension that's been driving the story forward since the Waves arc. Alden's secret, his trauma, the upset around Anesidora... largely wrapping up. Where do we go from here? What becomes the next major driving point / adversary? Are we nearing the end? Speculate wildly below!
I’ve been hoping for a while that we’ll get to see more of Boe and his situation. Digging into that has been a long time coming and I’d like to see more sometime soon. Maybe it can coincide with Connie’s wedding and the Chicago visit.
Now I badly need to see someone go to a Tmithan blimp that is about to crash. How strong must the Awoved summoned there be?
Thank you so much for writing this chapter. The end is so full! <3 One part of the chapter I had to reread a couple of times was this one: “Almost the whole team,” he said, helping himself to some of the popcorn Haoyu had made, then plopping down onto the floor at the base of Alden’s armchair. I found it confusing who “he” is on the first read. I assume it’s Kon (from the previous paragraph).
Congratulations Lexi. So, so happy for you. Not to take away from Lexi but I can’t help but wonder if Kon will ‘level up’ in the next week or so. It would be so Kon to wait for his brother to achieve the level up first. I have been wondering for a while now if he has levelled and didn’t want to say anything until Lexi levelled. I always thought/hoped Kon would have levelled from the time he fixed the wizard wand as that was something special.
Can anyone remember if Kon leveled up after the sinker sender incident? I feel like he did but I can't remember who leveled except Jeffy then and Everly now
My theory is that this sort of practice could help Ignacio slowly tweak the concepts behind his Skill(s), similar to how the Primary added the concept of “fair play” to his Skill.
A lot of people seem to be assuming that him telling Esh/Lind would go really well, but I'm not so sure. As far as I'm aware, we don't know anything at all about how they'd respond to the idea of a human/Avowed gaining an authority sense. While I doubt they'd be hostile in any way, I do think it's pretty plausible that they'd respond with alarm/pity (like "oh god, it's awful this happened") instead of the sort of support Alden would prefer. And in a general narrative sense, the idea of another fully successful "confession" happening in the wake of Stuart's just seems a little off to me.
I'm going based off what we know of Esh: He's highly sympathetic to Alden, and he's a shit stirrer by nature. I'm sure he'll be horrified for what Alden got into by accident, but he's an adult. He can put aside his immediate emotional reaction. And once he's convinced that Alden genuinely wants to be a knight, I think he'll be thrilled in many ways.
So this is when he gets pulled to talk to mother and get reaffixed... ouch that will be rough.
When that happens will be either months from now or after Stu and Alden start merging their authorities.
Lexi and Writher getting the Klein-body parade around the apartment!
Alden is living in such a liminal place. It really comes through in this chapter. He feels like a spectator in his own home in many ways. Willing to belong, not quite able to. I'm hoping he finds a way to 'wish and have' a little piece more of his dream life this weekend.
Early chapter!! :)
🥳🪱🔥 CONGRATULATIONS WRITHER 🔥🪱🥳
I'm glad Writher is making friends with Shrike's knives. I wonder how it is that Ignacio thinks of his meister weapon, that he won't consider thinking of Alden like that?
Does this mean there will be no When Wishing Was Having VIV? Can we stretch this out for one more chapter?
IXXXXLC = 9
Alden really did miss his true calling as a teacher. He's great at it. I'm excited for his visit with Esh, that should be great fun. But Alden's reaction to Lexi's level-up... ouch. As much progress as he's made - and he's made such giant leaps - the trauma is still there. And that particular trauma is one he will have to revisit over and over in his life. It's hard to imagine what that must feel like, knowing that another affixation is coming, will always be coming. Happy he has Stu now - and Bo - but he needs more of a support system. I'm rooting for Esh to be the next to join that illustrious company. Supremely unlikely to occur on this visit, but maybe it will open the door for Alden to share in the future.
I also hope coming clean with Bo doesn’t end their friendship. If Esh teaches Alden how to make a contract, that might help to get Bo talking to Alden.
Thank you Sleyca. That was fun. Alden’s perspective on levelling is really going to cause a bit of distance for them.
It occurs to me that Alden is going to have to prepare for people being a lot more excited about his next level up (fake or real) than he’s probably going to be comfortable with. It’s very easy for us to suggest that he should fake a level on his false status so that people don’t notice the weirdness of his growth, but that’s going to be a very rough day for him.
Yes, that's going to be an interesting time. Of course it will be a bit easier now when he's not puking at just the thought of affixation anymore. Still not easy for him to see it as a 'good thing' but at least it helps improve at something he wants now.
Good soup
I wonder when Alden will announce a fake level up. Just to keep up appearances
I believe the plan was to do so when most of the classmates had levelled at least once? Maybe he'll come back from the Artonas with a level at some point so he can say he got wizard/knight advisement and doesn't need faculty advisement. I expect Alden will not enjoy faculty advisement sessions!
I knew the title of the story, but I hadn't quite understood it anyways, wishing is having...
I think it’ the Artonan version of “once upon a time”, based on how alden introduced his story.
Sometimes I like to reconstitute the original dialogs in other languages than English, because in the end other languages just don’t word things the same way. Ignacio actually would have said: No puedo pensar en ti de esa manera. Voy a pensar en algo. « figure out » isn’t a very Latin wording (there are no modal verbs in Romance languages.) I will think of something or I will find a solution would convey better how things would be worded in Spanish. A more litteral English translation wouldn’t use something like « figure out ». Interestingly the Spanish wording doesn’t work in French so well because the preposition en can’t be used that way, it would be à instead.
One thing that really gets me is how much latitude a translator has. Especially with poetry, where the translator has to both provide a version of the original that makes sense AND make a nod towards the rhyming / scanning. Four versions of the opening words of The Odyssey provide good examples: ---- The man, O Muse, inform, that many a way Wound with his wisdom to his wished stay; ---- That prudent Hero's wandering, Muse, rehearse, Who (Troy b'ing sack'd) coasting the Universe, ---- The man, Muse—tell me about that resourceful man, who wandered far and wide, when he'd sacked Troy's sacred citadel ---- Tell me the tale of a man, Muse, who had so many roundabout ways To wander, driven off course, after sacking Troy's hallowed keep; ---- Lots of differences, aren't there?
Alden is such a helper; I loved seeing him secretly train Ignacio every bit as much as I loved/hated seeing him freeze up over Lexi's level. And trying to get Kon as much information about his future as possible, and the underlying tension there! It does make me wonder how well Alden will really align with the guiding memory principles all of the Knight candidates have to 'pass' before officially becoming Declared. Alden's a human who respects the hell out of the rights of other humans. Lying to Stuart was driving him nuts. I think that we're going to start to see a similar tension building over all of the other truths he can't share with the other people he loves.
I think we can already start to see that tension in Alden's interactions with Ash and Luna. By all accounts he should be thrilled to get their guidance but instead he's hesitant, which is extremely out of character for the quiet rabbit.
Updates are usually after I've gone to bed. It's probably not healthy to indulge in soup this close to closing my eyes, but now that I've had good soup I kinda want to eat some actual soup. We have soup. My stomach is growling a little. Also, very happy for Ignacio learning to rabbit recall better.
Now I want soup 😞. The downside of reading this chapter at work
That felt like the culmination of an arc.
If he tells Esh'Erdi and Lind'Otta in the next chapter, it might very well have been.
Oh oh oh, new chapter for tonight
Oh oh oh, new chapter be so bright.
Thx for soup. A little sparkle in the chaos indeed
He said the thing!
Thanks for the chapter! So early!
Just wanted to say, I feel so warm to see Alden finally dreaming instead of being afraid. The feeling of foreboding is there, but l decided to ignore it because it's normal to hope for the ideal future, after all.
Why post while im at work!!!! how am i supposed to read now.
Or worse, how are you supposed to work?!
Yay! Thank you!
waow
Much Appreciated
He said the title! He said it!
To be fair, the title is also how he began his story in the previous chapter, but yeah!
No wayyyyy. Tftc
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu