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Chapter 743: The Past Weaving into New paths
🕑 Added 2023-12-20 21:20:05 +0000 UTCAlex remembered more of his conversation with the ancient chancellor of Generasi.
“So…” he’d said. “The Mark obstructs my thoughts when I’m learning and casting spells, so I need to pay a lot more attention to every single detail of every spell I learn. That’s the ‘necessity’ part you were talking about: the part that creates discoveries. The more comfortable I am with every detail of my spells, the higher my chances are of casting them without a disaster happening. Most wizards don’t have to do that, so I’ve got a necessity that others don’t.”
“Keep going.” Baelin had run his hand through his beard braids, watching Alex intently.
“And…” The Thameish wizard had continued thinking his way toward a conclusion. “Because I have to focus on details since it’s so hard for me to learn new spells, I’ve modified a bunch of the ones I’ve already learned. Like forceball: I made it stronger by pouring more mana into it. I’m guessing most wizards don’t bother with that either?”
“They do not,” the ancient wizard had said. “Time and energy spent modifying a spell like forceball can be more efficiently spent learning a more powerful spell that accomplishes the same purpose, but to greater effect once your skill and mana have both grown enough to master it. Your modifications to forceball are impressive in a sense, but do not represent an improvement or a revolutionary change to wizardry. You did make forceball better in every way: but to strengthen it, you have to use more mana when casting the spell. For most wizards, such a use of extra mana would be considered a waste; they could instead channel that mana into a more powerful, effective spell. That’s the case for most wizards.”
“But not for me,” Alex had said. “You know, back in first year Professor Jules said that alchemy wasn’t as popular as other disciplines of wizardry because other disciplines accomplish what alchemy can without all the expensive ingredients, equipment and careful training you need to be an alchemist. Just an example off the top of my head, it’s a lot easier and more efficient to learn spells of body enhancement rather than bothering to make potions of body enhancement.”
“And wizards value power and efficiency,” Baelin had agreed.
“Power and efficiency.” Alex said to himself, pacing back-and-forth in front of the celestial fox and Bubbles. They watched him curiously. “The other Marks, exemplify power, and efficiency. The Champion increases strength, speed and toughness, while giving one all the previous battle skills of past Champions. The Sage increases the power of spells and gives one an enormous mana pool. The Saint grants a direct connection to Uldar’s divine power. And the Chosen is given lesser versions of all three of the other Marks’ gifts.”
Like Baelin, Alex ran his hand along his scraggly beard while thinking, making a mental note that he needed a shave. “They’re straightforward, powerful, efficient, and perfect for killing Ravener-spawn. That's all there is to it, right? they make fighting monsters easy…wait…”
Frowning, he shook his head. “Something’s wrong here…I'm still missing something. Fighting Ravener-spawn…easy…easy…easy…”
Repeating the word reminded him of more of his conversation with Baelin.
“But I can’t take the easy way, so I had to come up with all these strategies and techniques to help me learn and cast spells while contending with the Mark.” He’d said at the time. “So…then I get into summoning magic, which this power helps me out with. Suddenly, a big part of the magic circuit’s taken care of for me, which means I don’t have to struggle with as much of the spell array as I normally would. So then—when I apply all the strategies I had to come up with—I end up learning the spell faster than someone who didn’t have to bother with learning all the nitty gritty details of magic circuits and spell arrays!”
A grin had broken out on Baelin’s goat-like face. “And this is why I enjoy having you as a student, Alex. And yes, that is what my theory is. You have had to focus so much of your efforts on how to learn spellcraft in the face of adversity, that you are far more equipped for the learning process than the average wizard. A good example…hmmm…have you ever met someone who is blind, Alex?”
The young man had shaken his head. “No, I haven’t.”
“I have many times,” Baelin had said. “We humanoids are visual creatures: normally we process the world through our eyes. Our ears, nose, taste and sense of touch are all secondary to the information that our eyes grant us. If say Thundar were to describe Sir Sean Swift to you, he could likely speak of his height, the thinness of his build, the paleness of his skin, and the grey in his hair. If he did not mention how the man sounded, then you might not think anything of it, despite the fact that he left out an entire sense in describing him. If he described the man’s scent, you might think your friend a little strange for noticing such things…unless of course Sir Swift had a strong aversion to bathing.”
“Well, Thundar’s got a really sharp nose.” Alex had tapped the side of his nose. “Because he’s a minotaur. Now if Isolde started telling me how Sir Swift smelled, then I might start asking questions. But…I think I get what you’re saying. We focus so much on sight…but what happens when we have to rely entirely on another sense to get most of our information about the world?”
“The answer is that you pay more attention to that sense,” Baelin had said. “Without sight to distract one from sound, all of one’s attention is focused upon what they hear. Aspects of voice, melody, and other bits of sound suddenly become far more obvious when one mostly has information of that nature to sift through. It is the same with you, you pay attention to aspects of spellcraft that most do not focus on because they do not have to.”
“Whereas without the Mark, all that time I spent learning how to learn, would’ve probably been spent memorising more spells,” Alex had said. “And on the other hand, the Mark cuts way down on the time I need to learn literally anything else…”
“…and thus you have the time to focus on aspects of spellcraft that most other wizards do not. Thus, you have developed a skill and method of learning spells that—while labour intensive at first—lets you efficiently learn magic once you have mastered it.”
“And, and!” Alex had said, growing more excited. “The more control I gave over to the power when I was casting Summon Small Water Elemental, the more I stopped overcompensating when I didn’t need to! ‘Cuz I exert too much control in order to counteract the Mark.”
“Indeed. So, in situations where the Mark is not a factor, you can release some control, thus removing wasted effort and upping your efficiency,” Baelin finished. “It is not simply the power that helped you learn this spell so quickly, Alex. It is the combination of this power’s aid, your hard work, and attention to aspects of spellcraft most take for granted, that afforded this breakthrough. You have a very interesting path ahead of you.”
“So the main reason why these spells are so easy now, is because I no longer have to overcompensate for the Fool,” Alex said out loud. “I needed to develop an excessive amount of control over creating a spell array to compensate for the Mark…out of necessity…”
He felt close to something. Very close.
Another conversation came back to him.
Not with Baelin, but a more recent one, with Professor Val’Rok.
“When one studies history, especially the history of technological or magical development,” the lizard wizard began. “It can be tempting to see it as a linear pattern of discovery that eventually culminates in modern knowledge. Millennia ago, mortals used sticks and stones to hunt beasts for meat. Then one day, someone develops bronze, which spreads, and soon, everyone is using bronze. We had no boats, then one day someone invents a boat, the knowledge spreads, then everyone has boats.”
He’d continued.
“Well, the thing about discovery is that it’s not linear. It appears so when looking back, but it’s not. Take boats for instance. It’s likely that boats weren’t invented by one person and then spread, it’s more likely that boats were invented all across the world—completely separately—by different cultures. Someone from every civilization near water probably looked at the sea at some point and said, “huh, how do I cross that?”
“So different people tried to solve the same problem and came up with similar answers, but only the most popular answers got recorded in textbooks?” Alex had asked.
“Precisely!” Val’Rok had clapped. “For simplicity’s sake, you see, that’s not really taught in first or second year, and only touched upon in fourth year. Students need to learn the foundations of modern wizardry before they begin exploring similar, often half-finished methods that were condemned to the graveyard of history.”
“And those mana manipulation techniques…” Alex had squinted at Uldar’s notes. “You think they’re similar to some of our modern techniques, but approach problems slightly differently?”
“Exactly,” the professor had said. “At least that’s my theory from just a cursory examination: most of the symbols in this method seem to have been invented by the alchemist who crafted it, so I can’t be one hundred percent certain. But that’s what it looks like to me. The problem with techniques like these is that they use a slightly different methodology to accomplish similar goals, but modern alchemy is built on the methods that we already know well. Therefore, most advanced mana manipulation techniques would be largely incompatible with an old, dead-end theory such as this.”
Alex pursed his lips in thought. “So, when Uldar was making the Ravener, he ran into limits; alchemy had only advanced so far in his time. To compensate for that, he invented entirely new branches of alchemy—fusing it with divinity—and created processes that wouldn't be discovered by other alchemists for thousands of years. So Uldar wasn’t only a thinker: he was a leader, a problem solver, basically an innovator.”
The young wizard thought back to his years at the church school. “He also valued knowledge: he called for his church to set up schools all over Thameland and had his priests teach the population how to read and write, do arithmetic, learn history, and other things. He clearly valued knowledge both for himself, and for his people.”
Alex could feel it. He could feel the answer, right on the tip of his brain.
“The other Marks are all straightforward,” the Thameish wizard said. “Or are they…and even if they are, what would Uldar—a god, who values knowledge, discovery, and problem-solving—want from his General?”
As he spoke, he remembered something else.
A memory from long ago.
Something Baelin had said in the Art of the Wizard in Combat; before his class’ first test to determine who would qualify for COMB-1000.
“No, you will be safe from that threat. My expectation for you today is not to destroy every threat you meet,” Baelin had said. “It is to test your judgement and basic ability to adapt. Evaluate your obstacles. Cross difficult ground at speed using magic and wit. Defeat what you should. Avoid what you can. The challenge today is not easy, but not impossible. If you cannot overcome this, then there are other courses at the university that I might recommend before trying your hand at COMB-1000 again. This course is rigorous. Its learning curve is steep. Finding that you are not ready today is better than discovering it three months from now when the challenges are far more perilous.”
The answer struck Alex like one of Claygon’s fists.
What had fuelled cultures to find a solution to how to build a boat? Need and necessity. What had forced him to learn to master the details of a spell array? Need and necessity.
Need. Necessity.
What would happen if people didn't have a need to cross the water? Would anyone have invented boats? Would he have mastered the details of spell arrays, if he hadn’t been limited by the Mark of the Fool?
“The answer is no,” he said with certainty. “Without the need to compensate, I would've been just like every other wizard. And what's the one thing I developed because of those limits?”
What had gotten him through his life when fire had taken his parents?
It was the same thing that Baelin said was the basic requirement for those in the Art of the Wizard in Combat:
Adaptability.
“Uldar adapted when alchemy wasn't developed enough for his needs…” he thought. “Maybe that's what he wanted from his General. Adaptability.”
He thought about all of the Marks, including the General’s.
“Maybe none of them are as straightforward as I once thought…” His eyes widened. “...not when it comes to reaching their full potential.”
If he was right, then the Mark of the General would help him with spellcraft and combat—in a much more interesting way than he’d anticipated.
If he was right, he was finally understanding how the Heroes were supposed to work.
Not individually, but…
Symbiotically.
###
Author's Note
Hello thirty-six cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
He's cooking! He's cooooooking! Honestly it felt wild returning to all those old conversations and tying them here. Just wild. Gives me a lot of perspective.
Cya tomorrow!
Comments
The Immortal Orange
I can't believe I called it. I know I'm late, but just resubbed last night after catching up on RR. Called what the mark would do, called the echo of his mantra. Even called the whole "the marks all encourage the heroes to improve themselves" thing. Powerful stuff - especially for someone that gets the added bonus of gratification from prediction - but for the Kindle/audible edit, you might wanna trim this down a bit. This doesn't feel like he was just missing a few key pieces to the puzzle. It feels like he had every piece, had most of them pre-arranged for him, and still couldn't figure out the picture. He feels slow and dumb here, rather than a clever man figuring out the secrets of an ancient god.
Longhaul
Agreed, at this point my mind us svreaming get on with it!
lenkite
I had dropped during the eternal search for the sanctum where the pace slowed to a crawl . Now we have copy-paste of previous chapters. I think its OK to write less and take more time than follow this painful strategy of padding.
Scott Emery
Reading the comments, I should clarify: yes, the over-reliance on re-quoting his own past writing sucks, and it seems like he is drawing this out as a form of lazy writing. That's all a given. But the central idea of how he is going to leverage other talents in order to inform his spell casting in new ways shows a lot of promise. The body language technique is a foreshadowing of the potential here: the General's Mark allowed him to retroactively understand the nuances of a spell one of his teachers performed over a year ago. So what happens when the Fae huntsman tries to stick his hand in Alex's chest? Will he comprehend it fast enough to counter it? Will he be able to reverse engineer the technique on the fly and turn it against it's owner? Just how OP is Alex going to be as the general? The potential is there, but how long until it is realized? Not to mention how will the new Mark help with utilizing the Traveler's power? Or the Divine? What kind of monster are we dealing with? If he's too OP, the last two books will boring. If he's not powerful enough, ditto. But yeah, less cut-and-paste. It feels like such a betrayal.
Scott Emery
First chapter that has actually caught my imagination in a while.
Goodie
Yes, but does this mean that the Mark gives Alex perfect recall?
Jacob Welty
Just caught up to the releases today so I might be the best person or the worst person to comment on this but I thought the chapter worked just fine would I have loved some action and less quotes sure but in the context of reading straight through this chapter was a good call back I might have done less of the convo but I’m not a writer so I’m not gonna judge
Maurice Jenter
For some of these comments: I think that they are a bit harsch. Not that i disagree completely but the flashbacks only cover the last two chapters. Sure these were rather disappointing but it seams like they were the last recall chapters for a bit. PS: Still, it looks like we do not share the same enthusiasm for epic flashbacks with the author😅
Brandon Todd
Man lol, these comments are wild, this is meant to be a chapter that’s part of a full book, of course it feels like shit when getting it drip fed, but that’s kinda part of the process
Gareth S
The pacing and filler chapters is why I’m letting my membership lapse it’s disappointing that you pay to get 20? Extra chapters and about 15 of them are just straight filler/waffle. This is still a great story but I can’t do the daily frustration.Going back to read will wight again- I need some action!! :-D
Surgebinder
A good editor will pare down the last 2 arcs into 15-20 chapters
Orion1024
The issue is not the flashbacks. It's that the last 2 chapters were almost *only* flashbacks. The author should make the chapter longer, make sure each chapter is roughly the same amount of *new* words. If chapters are usually 1k words and you need to include 800 words of quotes from previous chapters, make this chapter 1800 words.
Anthony Sebastian
While I don't have an issue with flashback chapters, I think this would have worked just as well pared down. Too much of the previous chapters was used, when Alex could have come to the same revelation with smaller snippets of the memory. I also agree with others that I would've enjoyed the past two chapters more if they had been combined as one.
George R
Thanks for the chapter loved the call back
stardast24
No
Kendelle Trotter
Gave this a month to pile up to see if the issue was the serial format. It's not. The author is just wasting pages with filler. I've been a long time supporter but it's official. It's Dropped.
stardast24
At this point I think people are complaining just to complain.
Wanderingforworks
Hey guys you know that he’s not going to change this lazy and half-baked writing style until people start unsubscribing from his Patreon en-masse. It doesn’t matter how mad we are in the comments, he’s floating high on basically a six-figure salary. If we want to make him alter the way he send out chaps to us, unsubscribing is the first step to that.
CentaureHeart
If this chapter had been compiled with the one from yesterday I would have been fine with it. A whole chapter where he reminisces is ok with Alex breaking it down but this is too much. Even in book form just mash the two chapter together.
Julien Fellegara
Already read, didn't read again. Already knew, didn't learn anything. This chapter should not even exist bro.
Mike Stewart
I absolutely understand and to an extent agree with everyone who didn’t like the quotes. It felt like filler to me as well as I am rereading through on the breaks as well so it is right there in my mind while the moment we’re waiting for is in reach. We’re all daily readers though who are deep into the story. For someone who may pick up this series and doesn’t consume it like all of us animals do they may want a refresh come deep book 8 arcs to really drive home what is happening. Anyway you slice it I think we can all agree it’s an amazing story and can’t wait for more. On that note, if there’s a Jules safety quote chapter as suggested, where we meeting to kick the riot off?
Thex335
Thanks for the chapter. But yes, the overall point that things are going far too heavily into exposition is definitely noticeable.
Zoidberg’s Anchovies
Can we get some of the King’s investigation? Or maybe the Lu’s situation? We are loosing momentum but focusing on flash backs and over explanation. He got the weights taken off and now he can sprint. Got it! Unfortunately or fortunately you have intelligent readers who remember what was said and concepts discussed so repeat discussions and concepts are quite a disappointment.
Zachary LaCount
On the next episode of Dragon Ball Z
RandomAnkle
Yea this chapter is pretty bad it. A whole lot of fluff that was pretty much explained last chapter (which I quite enjoyed)
Jadida
Yeah I feel like this should have been part of yesterday’s chapter. I mean, for $9 a month (basically a book, or half a book a month…) and this was all recap :(
Reds
I was okay with the last chapter but now....I agree with everyone else; two chapters in a row which were heavy in flashbacks is too much. Especially when one of the revelations was pretty obvious to everyone (when it comes to spells Alex was "playing on hard mode" before so now "normal mode is easy mode" for him). The other revelation isn't that incredible either. Ideally, it would be better to show Alex realizing the General allows adaptability by an action and THEN include a flashback paired with that action. It's too early for it now.
B
Going to be honest I was so excited for this week's chapters and then I got old chapters. Now I just feel sad.
Orion1024
I didn’t say anything yesterday but 2 days in a row… I have no issue whatsoever with using whole quotes from previous books but in that case the chapter should be longer. Basically « new words count » should be the same as « all words count » in regular chapters. Reading more than half of old stuff feels kinda cheap…
RainyCats
This has the Fourth Great Ninja War vibes all over it, for anyone who had the pleasure of watching Naruto as it was released you will understand.
Decide
I bet when the Ravener dies, Alex learns that things die when they’re killed. Cue flashback, Alex standing in front of a burning ale house watching his parents burn to death. Alex in the present says, “So that’s why they never came back. People die when they’re killed.”
Lachezar
3/4 of the chapter was copy paste :(
Decide
Predictions: Thursday: Random conversation about safety with Jules Friday: Something about the economy with Toraka Saturday: Ram probably said something, so maybe Alex will remember that, too. Tuesday: We’ll hear about that terrible baker again, maybe he taught Alex something Wednesday: Alex realizes that the General can “learn”. Thursday: Alex learns how to learn ???: Infinite power Future: Baelin reveals that he’s actually Uldar and that Alex is his replacement, and then Alex has another flashback to a conversation they had.
Sol
Yepp
Guessed
An all-flashbacks chapter right as something important is happening, Shonen Jump would be proud 🥲
IntrinsicallySynest
This ain't it, chief
just_a_guy
I think you’re overstating it a bit. I don’t disagree with your general point, but to say he’s outright killing the excitement is overkill. This is a speed bump, not a brick wall.
Jeremy
I'll be back next year... so I'll be able to binge read !
SherbertSheep
While I feel that calling the last two chapters lazy writing is a bit harsh I can understand how from a per chapter basis this could feel like its taking a while to wrap up. I think this could have possibly been a single chapter and maybe used summaries instead of full quotes but that would take away from the impact his full understanding of the mark would have. I’m excited to see what comes next and I hope the comments on the post don’t feel too demoralizing! We all love your series and there will always be very vocal critics about anything.
just_a_guy
I agree. This chapter could be 25% of the length without losing any substance, and I felt similar about yesterday’s as well. Since Alex still hasn’t reached the conclusion of his initial musings on the Mark of the General at this point, it seems neatest to have just made all of his reflections fit into one chapter by combining and condensing the last chapter, this chapter, and whatever musings remain in the next one.
Kettle
Especially since Alex’s catch-phrase is literally “think, adapt”.
Adunn
That revelation wasn’t nearly as momentous as I think it was supposed to be.
Fate Hydrax
Love this chap
RainyCats
This could have been done in half a chapter. We didn't need word for word quotations. "Alex thought back to his conversation with Baelin about the Mark, about how necessity drives innovations. He adapted to the marks interference by agonising over every little detail in the magic circuits for his spells. Now that he didn't need to do that, all that efficiency he has been building has a chance to show itself. He knows his magic circuits in a way no other has needed too." An actual writer than do better but just an example of how you can reference old conversations and get the message across without copy pasting two chapters of content.
Vestigo
I honestly adore the flashbacks. This has been building for so long. Hints of it shown for ages. Ya, I'm excited for what the cooking brings but it's nice to appreciate how we got there.
Rolf
Loving it.
Laura López
This technique of adding flashbacks to fill the chapter is anoying enough on anime but it felt worse on a book.
Kettle
I guess JM needed time this week to buy Christmas gifts 😂.
Together_Comic
It's frustrating because we are reading day to day, but this will all read much better as a completed book. For people who aren't binging straight through, or would have forgotten all of these conversations, it is helpful.
Evander
When the book comes out, definitely recommend combining this chapter with the previous one and opting for a summary instead of direct quotes or a mix of quotes with a short summary. As it is, it disrupts the flow.
David Deden
I love this story arc and how things are comming together... but it is a little disappointing to wait for a chapter all day, two days in a row, to basically get a highlight real from past books and very little progress on explaining a power set that will likely be able to be summarized in 3 sentences when it is all said and done. I'm sure it will be better in book format, but I'm looking forward to the story moving along. all-in-all these chapters are a highlight of the day. thanks!
Code Reed
I get the feeling this scene is supposed to have really dramatic music playing, while the screen flashes between all these conversations as he slowly pieces everything together on his cork board with red strings.
JacksAreWild
Ultimately, I understand the people who are frustrated with flashbacks and meandering chapters, but we’re reading a cohesive, well told story that’s been regularly updating for over 700 chapters. Wanting to do a little recap as they’re tying up a mystery that fundamentally alters the titular symbol of the series doesn’t really seem like that big a price to pay.
RainyCats
Having two chapters in a row just being flash backs and Alex having a single thought is kinda lame. Especially during such a momentous occasion. Come on man. You're really killing the excitement on what should be the biggest climax of the whole story.
Bunny Waffles
Look, I love this story and all, but come on. A chapter that is 90% quotes/flashbacks from earlier in the story?
Nik Z
Dude…. 80% of this chapter is literally quoting old chapters…
JYonder
Literally 3/5th of this chapter is flashback text. Two chapters of heavy flashback text seems like lazy writing.
