C_Mantis
patreon
Chapter 346
🕑 Added 2024-07-22 18:59:01 +0000 UTCFYI to all patrons who use APPLE products and the APP STORE. Any NEW subscriptions made through the PATREON app will cost 30% more thanks to APPLE demanding a cut of all payments that go through them. If you don't want to pay that additional cost you can simply pay the normal price by subscribing through the Pateron website.
THIS DOES NOT AFFECT RECURRING PAYMENTS unless you cancel your subscription.
So please watch your payments and beware as this will affect all purchases made through the APP STORE.
***
FYI I'm going to be going to dragon con this year so I'll be taking one day off (Sep 2nd).
***
Chapter 346
Matt and Shadi’s conversation ended up lasting for a full six hours before Cato’s repeated reminders that he needed to mingle with other guests finally built up to the point that Matt couldn’t ignore his duties any longer, and he made his excuses before returning to the party.
By the end of the two weeks, Matt felt like he was crawling naked over poison covered spikes, and was grateful for the Emperor's official return. Let alone the time crunch it put on everyone who needed to return and prepare for the post-war open court.
As they walked into the Moore estate, Matt’s mood finally turned around as he saw two people he was more than happy to chat with.
Mara and Leon descended on them in an exuberant but quiet fashion, which immediately improved Matt’s mood.
It was good to see them again.
They might officially be his in-law’s, but they were the only parents he had left.
Sadly, the duo couldn't stay too long as they were needed to help prepare the open court.
Thankfully, as Ascenders, their participation amounted to showing up and glaring at any nobles who caught their eye.
Manny did have to go and grab Allie, who had tried to avoid the open court, but as the lady of the hour, she hadn’t been allowed to skip out on the meeting. They all thoroughly enjoyed poking fun at her for her trying to run away from a Tier 50 who had her access to her Talent.
Her whining was the only entertainment they had as the Emperor listened to complaints, issues, and self aggrandizing praise from more than half of the nobles. Most of it was completely beneath him, but it was the nobles’ right to speak in open court. That said, the act of airing an issue was usually more than enough to settle said issue between the aggrieved parties. If they couldn't figure it out on their own, that meant it was for the Emperor to get involved, and it became quickly clear why no one wanted that.
Manny was ruthless to anyone who wasted everyone's time, and even dethroned a few nobles for their audacity to bring foolish issues before the court. On the other hand, the few who brought matters of import to his attention were greatly rewarded, though that only happened twice during the entire month-long meeting.
Then it was time for accolades to be given, and Allie’s attitude finally turned around as she was heaped with medals and trophies for her efforts in the decapitation strike on the other Great Powers.
Matt didn’t miss how a number of the nobles flinched when her ability to cross entire Great Powers was implied. Whether it was a guilty conscience or general worry, Matt found it amusing how they reacted, as it contrasted with how Allie complained the entire time about how people would now be asking for her to be a taxi now that her secret was out.
Finally, the open court ended and they were pulled into the palace on Manny’s request.
In the same office they had finished The Path of Ascension in, they sat across from Manny, who looked like Matt did when he saw how much paperwork was waiting for him.
“I even have Talents for doing paperwork, but I swear I never catch up.”
Aster gestured at it. “I can freeze it for you. Then it's basically handled.”
Manny rubbed his temples. “I wish, but it would find its way back to my desk eventually. No, while I appreciate the offer, I’ll handle it. I just wanted to grab you three to reiterate something I’d never thought I’d need to say to Ascenders.”
His gaze turned more serious, but Matt thought he saw a glint of amusement lingering in them. “You don’t need to hesitate or worry about me. I know you all have questions about who is plotting against you, and how you should handle them, but I won’t check. And even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you.”
Matt’s mouth clicked shut, as that was exactly what he wanted to ask.
Manny tapped the corner of his eyes that pulsed golden for a moment. “Future sight is useful, but it can all too easily become a crutch. Even I use it sparingly, but that's still more than my Father would have found appropriate, and it's his Talent. Do what you want to do without worrying about my larger picture.” Looking directly at Matt, he added, “If a guild, corporation, or even a noble family or twenty get in your way, and you feel the best answer is to stomp them out, then stomp. Don’t worry about ruining my plans. I trust you to do what you think is best, and that is exactly what I want you to do.”
His gaze traveled to Aster, and Matt felt like he could breathe again, despite not knowing when he had stopped. “If you find a particular bloodline still bothering you, or a corporation who tries to steal one of your flavors, do what you feel is necessary. I won’t stop you, and I’ll be there to pick up the pieces if it crumbles.”
Matt felt a pulse of worry from Aster through their bond at the mention of someone trying to steal her unique flavors, and he grabbed her tail to give it a reassuring tug.
Manny’s golden eyes tracked to Liz. “And if people from inside or outside the Empire try to put pressure on you for your bloodline or your noble choices, show them exactly what you are capable of. I’m here to hold up the sky, so don’t consider bowing your head because you think it might be an issue for me. That goes for all of you.”
Manny’s serious expression vanished as he laughed. “I think this might be the first time any Tier 50 has had to remind their Ascenders to do what they want, but it’s damn refreshing. Usually I’m begging, bribing, or beating them to not cause too many issues. I trust you kids, but that's not because I think you will be perfect. It's because I believe in your core characters. You will make mistakes. You will fail. People will suffer because of the choices that you make because you aren’t perfect, but take it from someone who can see the alternatives… people will always suffer. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and try to make fewer of them next time. There is no perfect option, and remember that taking time to think and consider is itself a decision you’re making. Myself and the Royals are here to clean up messes more than anything else.”
After glancing at the stacks of paper, Manny stood and brushed his pants before looking at Matt and Liz. “You two probably need to hurry. The Republic is bringing your first planet sooner than they said. A change in chaotic space currents has let them speed up the delivery. As for you, Aster, your first planet has a little time so you can do whatever you want.”
Aster nodded and tossed a ball of flame onto Manny’s desk, shocking all of them. It failed to light any of the high-tier papers on fire, but a couple of reports did collapse into ash.
Manny cackled. “Ah, see, this is why I love Ascenders. I genuinely did not see that coming.”
His laughter was still echoing in the room as he vanished a moment later.
Aster looked sheepish as she shrugged. “I thought he’d block it if he really didn’t want them burnt. And like he said, it will make its way back to his desk.”
Matt snorted and ruffled his bond’s hair. “You going to stick with us and check our first planet, or do you have something else to do?”
“I don’t want to spoil my first planet, so I’ll wait until my planet arrives. Besides, I can use this time to put together an end of the war ice cream to celebrate. I’m thinking a variation of that almond flavor I made a few years ago.”
Matt had liked that flavor and said so as they walked through the palace to where they caught back up with their seneschal’s.
After saying their goodbyes, Aster flew off with Alice floating next to her. Their duchies were going to be placed next to each other, so they would see each other sooner than later. That just left Matt, Liz, Cato, and Isabella to go to their Horizon class cruise ships that had been docked in orbit since they completed The Path.
They played a quick game that Matt lost, so they boarded Liz’s ship while Matt’s traveled next to them as they moved to the spot where their duchy would be.
Almost two months later, they arrived at one of the closer borders. They were on the frontier border, which meant they would be the nearest planets to unclaimed chaotic space as their duchy filled in, but they were also close to the border regions of the other Great Powers, which made the upcoming transfers easier to carry out. It was just a matter of unlinking the planet from its neighbors and nudging its drift towards their location in chaotic space, which, so long as nothing went wrong, was just a matter of releasing the planets at the right time. They were still getting their fair share of border worlds, of course, but for a variety of reasons, a substantial number of their planets were arriving from afar.
Amusingly enough, Lily arrived before Soerilia thanks to the efforts of a Tier 40 who took advantage of those same currents. As the teleportation nodes were already built planetside, it was fairly easy to retie Lily and its universe into the Empire’s network, and the Tier 40 did it in just a few minutes. Once the teleportation tether was established, a tether of golden white energy pulsed through chaotic space, preventing the world from drifting off.
It wasn’t hard, thankfully, the design being long standardized and almost automatic with the caster only needing to be able to connect the two planets' representations in chaotic space with their spirit. Matt or Liz could have managed to do it, but the Tier 40 was happy to assist and it would have been rude to say no.
Matt and Liz only intended to pop into Lily long enough to check in with Baroness Margaret Thresh, but they were pleasantly surprised to find Countess Abigail Sural waiting with the baroness in her baronial palace.
With their Tier advantage, neither he nor Liz were noticed, and with a glance, they slowed their approach from orbit to inspect the rest of the planet.
“They are celebrating you.” Liz leaned in and whispered in a way that sent a shiver down Matt’s spine.
Phoenix Liz tried to edge in, but got brushed off his shoulder by human Liz.
It was never not amusing to him how Liz treated her two main bodies as separate entities, despite them both sharing a singular mind.
Matt hadn’t mentioned it, but it was a clear fiction similar to how her parents acted around family. He found it adorable and knew any mention of being like her parents would make her self conscious.
And she wasn’t wrong. Lily was celebrating and seemed like it had been for the last few weeks, if not longer. The planet wasn’t trashed, but the remnants of a prolonged celebration was clear from the overflowing trash cans and inebriated people napping in the soft glow of the moon or under the shade of trees, depending on where on the planet they were.
If Matt had any question of what they were celebrating, it was answered by the numerous banners that proclaimed the Matthew Moore duchy, seemingly strung up between every other opening.
It made him incredibly uncomfortable, but Matt hoped this extravagance meant they had gotten the worst of the partying out of their systems.
Flying down to the not so new capital, Matt and Liz pinged Margaret that they were arriving and to please lower the wards. They could have just slipped through, but that would have been incredibly rude and stomping over Margaret’s autonomy as the reigning noble of the planet.
Neither he or Liz wanted to be the type of duke who would do that, and it would make an awful first impression for the soon to be Marchioness Sural, if her presence meant she was taking them up on their offer.
As they entered the entertaining room, Margaret and Abigail stood and bowed, but Liz waved them up before they could go through the full greetings.
“We are in private, please be at ease and forgo the formalities.” Her smile turned into a grin as she nodded to the world beyond. “We saw that the planet seems happy about the change in location.”
Margaret flushed slightly and eventually shrugged with an exacerbated sigh. “Crazy how a home grown Ascender taking their home planet into their duchy will make people go a little wild.”
Matt rubbed a hand through his hair even as both Lizzes laughed. “Ah well, nothing I can do about that. How are you settling into the new location? The connection to Fal’sal seems to work properly.”
“Well enough, I have exchanged a few messages with Baron Ren’kai but he felt it was better to wait for an in-person visit until your graces had settled in?”
There was a lilt in the last sentence that implied a question, and Matt nodded to confirm. “We’d like to use Lily as our base of operation until our actual duchy comes in, so long as you agree.”
“We would be honored, My Lord.” Margaret seemed genuine, so Matt continued.
“In addition, I’d like to set up a guild research spot somewhere.” Seeing Margaret open her mouth about to offer way too much, Matt added, ”We don’t need much. I was going to expand one of the islands in the southern hemisphere. That way, we are out of the way but can still do rift testing. This is still your world, and neither of us want to interfere with your rule.”
Margaret nodded and a small smile crept over Abigail’s face, which reminded Matt of her presence.
Liz, however, spoke first. “It is good to see you, Countess Sural. We take your presence here as your acceptance of our offer?”
Abigail turned a nod into a formal bow. “If the offer is still valid, I will gladly accept. I have already cleared the transfer with Duchess Felicity and have her provisional release and a younger cousin ready to take my throne.”
Matt clapped softly. “Wonderful. Then I—”
Before he could finish, phoenix Liz ‘accidentally’ smacked him in the face as Liz finished his sentence. “I bid you rise, Marchioness Sural. With your rise in rank, we remind you that said rank is to be used for the betterment of the Empire.”
After shooting a dirty look at phoenix Liz, who just groomed a feather as if she didn’t see him, Matt repeated the same thing, completing the ceremony.
As Marchioness Sural rose, Margaret congratulated her. “You deserve it.”
Abigail demurred. “We’ll see. It's a major step up that I will have to work to ensure I don’t waste. I stand ready to be commanded, your graces.”
Matt shrugged her comment away. “It’s not like we have any planets for you to control yet. You are free to do as you wish until then.”
“Then let me act to reign in your soon to arrive vassals. A firm hand will be needed to keep them in line until they have their own lands.”
After sharing a glance with Liz, Matt looked to Cato and Isabella, confirming the assignment.
As the formalities were handled, things settled into a more informal mood and the four of them chatted after Cato and Isabella took their leave to finish settling and preparing for the arrival of Soerilia.
It took another month and a half for Matt and Liz to feel the approach of the world, even while inside Lily’s real space. The presence of another world moving through chaotic space was like the rising tide, and anyone with enough range could sense the turbulence.
After saying their goodbyes to Margaret and Abigail, Matt and Liz ripped their way into chaotic space, with Cato and Isabella following them a moment later.
The four of them waited as a small firefly of light moved closer and closer through the corrosive energies of chaotic space.
Planets with essence became dots of light, embers, or fireflies of light in the swirling darkness that was chaotic space and were typically called a world. Most worlds were their own entire universes, but that was only because a world was created when life on a planet reached the critical mass of mana for essence to form within the core of the world. That didn’t mean only a single world could exist in a universe at a time. You could travel to another star system in real space, create a new essence planet, and therefore another spark in chaotic space. It’s just extremely unlikely that the new node would be usefully close to anything in chaotic space, and they were entirely separate entities. That was the basis of real space crossings, which were used to cross great distances of chaotic space via traveling to a nearby real space star system that was one of the rare exceptions
The term ‘world’ was generally the accepted one because, thanks to the ability to have multiple planets in a single star system, it was more appropriate to use the more generic term. But they were used so interchangeably that ‘node’ had been coming into fashion for any world that was linked into the greater whole of the eight intertwined Great Powers.
Moving a world in chaotic space didn’t change its location in its local universe, and was generally not dangerous, but mishandling by someone a high enough Tier from the outside could all too easily destroy the local star system.
Thankfully, nothing so dramatic happened with Soerilia.
Accompanying the world was a Tier 40 who, after initiating the linkage between Soerilia and Lily, turned and said, “Republican veil world, Soerilia delivered and integrated safely. Do you have any reasons to reject the delivery?”
Liz shook her head. “Delivery accepted in good condition. Thank you and we will take good care of the world.”
The Tier 40 worked his jaw, shaking his head as if arguing with himself, before looking back to the planet and saying, “If you mean that, please remember that their ancestors had good reason to want to escape the rat race. The planet's representative is aware of the truth of the realm and can act as an intermediary. I just ask you to remember you are turning their world upside down, and try to have a little empathy for that.”
With that, the Tier 40 vanished into the swirls of chaotic space and Matt took a moment to mull over what he said.
He knew the Republic had a different outlook on cultivation, and Matt tried to put himself in their shoes.
Giving a veil world to the Empire might feel like the Empire giving a world to the Federation, or to a lesser degree, the Sects. Except it would be even worse, as at least Empire civilians were aware of the greater realm, whilst these people would have no idea that they were just a small blip in the wider realm.
That was where Matt had a disconnect.
Supposedly, these peoples' ancestors had willingly chosen this, as though that was any kind of excuse for hiding the true nature of reality from their descendants.
If the Republic didn’t allow people to shove their heads in the sand, these people wouldn't be having these issues.
Still, the Tier 40’s words resonated with Manny’s.
Matt looked to Liz and saw in her face that she felt the same way.
They had been together so long, they didn’t need to speak to come to an agreement that they should tread carefully.
With a thought, Matt pulled the four of them into Soerilia’s real space, using his Intent to cloak them from any type of surveillance.
He had heard a lot of things about Republic veil worlds, but he had never seen one up close.
As they floated above the planet, all four of them spread their spiritual perceptions across the planet and Matt raised an eyebrow at what he saw.
It was only a Tier 3 world, but he hadn’t expected a population of almost a billion people. That just didn’t really happen on low Tier worlds in the Empire, but then again, that number was slightly artificial, as any planet that had been settled for close to fifty thousand years in the Empire wouldn’t have remained a Tier 3 world. It was still jarring, and took a moment for him to process it.
What was more shocking was that there was a war going on.
The very thought would be anathema on an Empire world.
Sure, there might be a fight, a brawl, two guilds coming to blows, but a genuine war? That would never be permitted among the populous like what he was seeing.
Matt stepped, and with flex of his Intent, arrived on the battlefield.
Explosions went off all around him, but his clothes weren’t even rippled as he got a good look at things. Letting his perception reach Tier 26 levels, Matt let the action slow to a crawl as he stood there and watched.
Why were they fighting?
Just on this battlefield there were 217,159 men and women— men, Matt corrected himself, as the only women he saw were noncombatant healers, fighting.
Having just fought his own way through a bloody war, Matt was no stranger to blood, guts, and gore. But why were they fighting?
Why was a Tier 0 unawakened man pushing through waves of bullets to reach the next berm alone, after most of his group of fellow soldiers had already been felled by the stream of bullets? What drove a man to do such things?
Matt wanted to reach out and stop this foolishness, but he tried to remember that as of yet he was an interloper. He didn’t know these people or why they would fight so fiercely.
As the man fell in a spray of bullets, one which hit him in the chest and shattered the plate of ceramic that covered his torso.
The plate had saved his life, but instead of laying there in the blood and boot churned mud, the soldier grit his teeth, forced his wounded arm under his body, and retrieved a grenade.
He pulled the safety out with a yank of his teeth that cracked two of them, and threw the grenade into the berm where the bullets were coming from.
The throw was almost perfect and bounced right next to the top of the berm and rolled in, even as Matt contemplated stopping the burning fuse.
He wanted to. It would be the right thing to do. Why did these people need to die? What did their petty squabbles matter in the Empire?
That thought is what stopped Matt from just stopping the war outright.
He could do it with a thought.
Unawakened mortals using mostly Tier 1 or Tier 2 materials could do nothing to stop him from ending this fight.
Matt considered it, but instead, he looked and analyzed as his mind raced.
The first thing he noticed beyond the war was the fact these people were speaking two different languages, neither of which were the standard Republican. Matt understood the idea of letting veil worlds develop on their own, but he found it hard to believe that the Republic didn’t even nudge things enough to stop such language drift.
Language was a carefully controlled thing in the Empire, as the basics of civilization was being able to communicate with each other. The Empire would have never let things drift so far out of the baseline. But as Matt inspected more and more, he was shocked to see one of the two sides wasn’t even a republic. Instead, it was some kind semi-oligarchical, semi-communal governing system that he wasn’t sure made sense.
Analyzing more of the world, he was shocked to see there were sixty three major languages spoken across eighty two countries, of which only two thirds of which had any semblance of a connection to the republic standard. The rest were a mishmash of communist, corporatocracy, feudalist, and weird mixes of all three.
Matt just didn’t understand how any Great Power would allow such things to happen inside its borders. What if someone from one of the other government types became a cultivator?
How did the Republic handle that?
How did this not split their society through endless fissures and sub groups?
As the grenade went off, Matt mentality nudged a few pieces of the shrapnel to ensure that no one died from the attack.
Not willing to let such senseless death continue any longer, Matt sent a modest million mana into his [AI] and had it hack all the various nets he found.
It took almost a full second to download and process the entire collective PlanetNet equivalent, but once his [AI] had done so, Matt had it send out orders from the countries’ respective leaders that there was a ceasefire going into effect.
The generals on both sides tried to call their leaders to confirm the orders, but Matt’s [AI] intercepted the calls and faked their leaders' agreement.
Liz appeared next to him, a spear manifested out of feathers clutched in her hand.
“I took care of the other battlefields.”
Her words were terse, but Matt fully agreed with her emotions.
“I just don't get it. Why are they fighting?”
Matt snorted as his [AI] had already processed everything and had given him a ready answer for that.
The two countries had a small dispute that escalated into an ideological war that had already cost close to a hundred thousand lives, and seriously injured eight times that number.
As Liz heard the answer, she shook her head. “This is senseless.” With a sigh she let her spear dissolve and Matt did the same with his buffs. It was just a reflex at this point even if wholly unnecessary against unawakened.
As the ceasefire spread and bullets stopped flying, Matt marked a place on the planet.
It was called the Arbitration Convention, a pseudo government, but not quite. Their stated purpose was to act as a diplomatic and political international organization, with the goal of mediating wars, disputes, and treaties as a neutral third party.
But most relevantly for him, it would be where the planetary representative was. Even though not all of the political forces on this planet were full members of the AC, it was the place where the highest percentage of the planet’s population was represented. Therefore the planetary representative would be whoever was the nominal leader, chairman, councilor, or whoever had the highest authority of the group. It was their job to represent the entire planet in the eyes of the grander Republic.
Matt wasn’t sure how much a mortal with a mortal’s lifespan could contribute to such a system. A single motion could remain in debate for longer than a mortal's entire lifespan let alone their elective tenure.
That was doubly the case when the active Councilor kept changing every handful of years. There were probably five or six people who had served as the planetary representative, all of whom were sworn and bound to secrecy.
Really, the whole thing was much too complicated by far, and wasn’t even in the service of anything worthwhile. People had a right to choose to pursue immortality, not to have some stuffy, overly old bureaucrat decide that no, they did want to make it illegal for anyone with a healing skill to come to the planet and heal people.
Councilor Samuel, the active representative, looked far too old for the job he held, but he was at least alone in his office, which made things simpler.
Matt almost teleported directly into the man's office, but not only would that be rude, he was genuinely worried that Councilor Samuel was old enough he might die from the shock. Councilor Samuel should have been informed about the transfer, but Matt didn’t want to risk it.
With as much control as he had, Matt reached out and politely knocked on the door. He watched as the man swallowed and called for them to enter.
He was actually speaking Republic standard, which Matt was grateful for, as with that, he could be sure there wasn’t any odd language misunderstandings muddling communication. His [AI] was good, but the languages it had processed had almost no relation with Republic standard in either word choice, syntax, or sentence structure.
Matt took the time as he entered the room to inspect Councilor Samuel. Older, somewhere in his late sixties, but otherwise fit and generally healthy. Someone, potentially the Republic T40, had hit the man with a healing spell or two recently. As he wasn’t even awakened, it left no trace on the man’s spirit, but some portions of the man’s biology were in notably better shape than the tissues around them, which he could only really attribute to skills..
Appearance-wise, he was like most darker skinned humans, with no non-baseline features which would have made him extraordinary, but the man had a presence to him that Matt rarely encountered in mortals. Not that he interacted with mortals too much these days, and Matt made a note that he needed to correct that immediately.
“Good day Councilor Samuel, my name is Matthew Moore, and this is my wife, Elizabeth. We are the Empire representatives who have taken ownership of Soerilia. We are Dukes, and if you don’t fully understand that context, we can go over that in a few moments, but we would ask you to call for a gathering of the world leaders. I was informed that power is within your purview.”
“Yes, sir.” the man’s heart rate spiked, “Sire? Your majesty? I… don’t want to offend you, but I don’t know how best to address you. I was given a lot of papers about your Empire, but I haven’t had the ability to read through them all. I mean no offense, sir.”
Matt cringed at the obvious fear Councilor Samuel showed at his misstep. The man must think they were monsters to be that fearful of their reaction to a minor slip up.
Liz shook her head. “We understand you're not fully up to speed with customs and courtesies. We won’t hold that against you, but we would appreciate you calling for that meeting as soon as possible. We have stopped three wars, and are trying to keep any more people from dying, but the fake messages to the generals will only hold up for so long before a real message gets through, so we need those leaders here immediately.”
Councilor Samuel swallowed hard and Matt had a bad feeling about what he was about to say. “I don’t… have authority to call the assembly on my own, and it will be at least three days before they can. But to do that, we will need to bring in Councilor Jolene. She’s my counterpart within the Conventions, and it is her role to call the assembly, not mine. It will be somewhat difficult to persuade her, but… it will be done, ma’am. Sir. Sire? Umm… Lady?”
Matt closed his eyes and considered just pulling all of the world leaders to this AC building, but knew that was the excessive power that would see these people fearing him instead of working with them.
“Then can you initiate that and get the countries actively fighting to agree to a temporary armistice? We don’t care what reason you give, just get them to stop fighting.”
Councilor Samuel seemed like a man spared from execution as he nodded and picked up a device on his desk he used to communicate with others.
While he did that, Matt closed his eyes and counted down from ten.
This was going to be a trial, but he could at least stop the senseless deaths from continuing without making it too obvious.
That was a good start.
Comments
A B
edit suggestion: with their seneschal’s. -> with their seneschals.
Julie Smith
So the Soralia veiled world arc begains. We're still not caught up timewise with chapter 241 yet.
MehGyver
Not to nit-pick, but I wanted to point out that you're using "populous" when "populace" is actually appropriate. "Populous" is an adjective which denotes the presence of a large number of people. For example: "With 41 million people, Tokyo is currently the most populous city in the world." "Populace", on the other hand, is often used to describe a large segment of a place's population.
RedLeaf
Way late reading this chapter. Thanks for the episode!
C_Mantis
Monday/Friday 3pm EST.
nicholas rydman
When are new chapters released?
Alex
I think placing Ascender duchies in the Emperor's kingdoms is moreso to make sure the Emperor is their direct liege than anything else. Barring weird anomalies like Melinda, Ascenders are the most important military assets that a Great Power has, so it would be a serious smooth-brain move to put them under a different Royal than the Emperor. The Royals are required to be loyal to the Empire, but they aren't required to be loyal to the Emperor; all of the Royals want what's best for the Empire, but they often have different ideas about what that means, and they can and will oppose Manny politically if they feel it's necessary. Manny would be buying a lot of trouble he could avoid for free if he put an Ascender duchy in one of the other kingdoms; imagine if one of the Ascenders had their duchy in Frederic's Kingdom - that would give him a lot of political power for no reason, which could very well become an issue since Frederic's political leanings aren't consistent with Manny's.
Havokk
all Ascenders are under the Emperor himself, this is from Mantis himself. This does make a lot of sense as who but the Emperor is going to tell an Ascender to stop their antics
Anime Problem
Gan Le gets snatched for an unexpected GP road trip
Kelly Bryan
You know, I second this. Especially if they make Gan Le's life even more miserable. Thats the only time I want to see him again, with Allie and Aster pranking him until he hates life (even more as Yun Me shouldnt let him enjoy anything.)
Kelly Bryan
Good question, if they arent under their royal parents I would assume under the direct rule of the Emperor, he has control of a few different Kingdoms iirc and Lilly was one of the planets he controlled (Through the Junipers)
Burgismik
Wasn’t sure it was mentioned but who are Matt/ Liz’s, and Aster’s Duchy under?
Notanautomaton
I'm surprised that Matt and Liz went for an extended uplift of their first veil world. I would have thought that they'd be more gung-ho at first. It'll be interesting to see how they come to that decision.
Austin Byrd
And I’m fine with what happened. To me, it’s Matt and Liz making a mistake, which is what the emperor warned would happen. And MCs making mistakes and then learning from said mistakes makes for a good story. I just felt the need to call it like I see it to see if anyone agrees. All the comments I read seemed to focus on other stuff. And now I see that you don’t. (Not everyone, just yourself, which - just like M&L - should be the only person you have the right to make decisions for when it comes to your personal opinions and decisions). You’re operating the best you can with the facts you have on hand within what you assume to be is our reality. Perhaps if you found out this reality was wrong you’d feel differently. Regardless, it’s okay. We do the best we can with what we have on hand. And if it turns out some that some superior being has been lying? Then I say let the crusades begin because I think we have a god or two to hunt. Now enters a new antogonist who hates M&L with every fiber of their being for wringing their hands while his family died a week before Matt finally snaps/has an epiphany.
Austin Byrd
Where do you get off saying I think everyone believes the same as I? It’s like you’re trying to make it seem like I’m using argumentum ad populum, yet I clearly stated multiple times this is what I think personally. You however, do not get to speak for every one either? And in the process, you yourself are now attempting to justify your argument using “everyone” or in this case “not everyone”. So don’t tell me “not everyone agrees”, speak for yourself and only yourself. . Yikes I’m done speaking with you after this, you’ll just drag me down to your level of thought and beat me with experience. To your first part about “someone dying, regardless of the circumstances, being the worst possible thing”; it’s good you’re skipping it over because that’s not what I said at all. I even repeated myself like a broken record restating the point I was trying to make multiple times. Why are you going on about death being unavoidable, death is always unavoidable even with Matt’s AI crunching infinite mana and/or Manny’s future sight. You can’t stop it. That was one of the points of Manny’s advice. And is certainly true and wise. I clearly have been talking about how it is unavoidable regardless of their choices, and therefore, truth is what matters? Let me say it another way: death is unavoidable but their decision to continue driving this slave cart (for whatever justified reason of theirs) has put the still unavoidable deaths on their hands. They went from pure to dirty. Or another way: future deaths from telling the truth are outside their control but current deaths from hiding the truth are now very much their fault.. Secondly. Why do they need to be omnipotent beings in order to take away free will? Perhaps I used to the wrong word.. or perhaps you actually believe that only a God can take away someone’s free will? Are you making an argument right now that a slave has free will because they always have the choice of suicide if they don’t like their shackles? And what if the slave is unaware that they even have shackles on? Comparing our government keeping nuclear blueprints/codes from the public to the situation that M&L have found themselves in as part of your argument against my position of free will is laughable. In your warped view, I’d imagine you say well “ignorance is bliss and therefore yes these people still have free will” or something along those lines - based off the logic I just witness in your last message. And I’m continuing to use the phrase ‘free will’ now because I thought it was already clear what I meant by it, and now it certainly should be. And in relative terms they very much are gods. Here let’s try this with a new example of ethics in the same situation. M&L have deemed it moral and just to fake messages and lie to so many leaders/generals/etc on the planet and justify their manipulations because they want to stop what they consider to be pointless wars. I agree they should. However I can’t help but ask now - why even bother pretending they aren’t dictators? Why bother pretending that they are any better than the veil? They’re operating under some principle of “we’ll be dictators when we think it’s right and just, otherwise we’ll let you continue with your semblance of democracy.” And a democracy that is built on lies and a fake reality. What gives them the right? The fact that they have the power to do so. But where is their logic? It’s like they’re refusing to look a single step further ahead then “oh this is gonna make us feel bad if we have to witness parts of the planet go crazy for a few weeks or years from learning of the new reality”. And relatively speaking, they are very much Gods to their new subjects. And if our government was hiding proof of god or aliens or anything else that would be reality-altering - then yes, that group of authority that is above us (even without being as powerful as M&L) have taken away our free will. No one can make informed choices, every action becomes meaningless and each individual loses agency. Sure they can still strive for happiness, their emotions are real, but their world becomes a lie - and I’m guessing you don’t see a problem with that. You might be content to live as a fish in a bowl but I think I’d prefer the ocean where I know I belong. And no, larger predators being in the ocean do not justify you keeping fishpeople in a bowl. And I’m all for anti-hero’s and have read my fair share of MC’s that kill/cause suffering without mercy, sometimes even including innocents. But we’re 346 chapters in and while I’m not the author, what I’ve witnessed over this story is that M&L are not anti hero’s. And don’t just think they are better than the Republic, but actually are. And Matt cares a lot about mortals. And I don’t agree that him caring about mortals would push him in this direction. I think he’d go in the opposite direction. And thankfully… we even got forewarning (foreshadowing? I think ch.1 was more on the nose) that Matt agrees. Hence my issues with this moral dilemma they’ve found themselves in currently which shouldn’t be a moral dilemma and has a very clear answer.
Kelly Bryan
A strict monolithic entity in lockstep with providing better lives for those weaker. You're right there are some freedoms given up for that, like say the freedom to just punch some guy trying to rob you when he doesnt realize he is a tier below you for whatever reason. However, she doesnt make any of those points she just rages about unneeded death in The Path, a person who wants the Veil to succeed could easily recognize these problems with it and look to redress them while maintaining the veil, Janet looks at her system and says "This is perfect, The Empire are obviously villains" rather than anything else.
Darthnarciss
The hypocrisy is inherent in the system. It may have started out as stated, to give those that don't want to deal with cultivation another option. But it has become its own thing. It's showing elements of bootstrap fallacy. But in direct response to the hatred she has towards the Empire, I think a lot of it has to do with freedom. The republic, for the most part, seems to be all about freedom, freedom to quit cultivation entirely, to live free, to develop your own language to develop your own governing system, and the seemingly asinine separation of powers and abilities of various leaders to name just a few shown in this chapter. Whereas the Empire, at least on paper, is a strict monolithic single entity in lockstep.
Darthnarciss
See, what I get out of this, is further proof that the Republics stated view of the Path of Ascension, is nothing more than PR/political speak to cover up their fear/jealousy/envy of a system showing its value and working. This one veil world is having a war over essentially nothing (in the grand scheme of things) that has had deaths in the hundreds of thousands. One veil world out of how many? Extrapolate out, subtract for outliers, and I am sure you have a higher body count than the Path, and that's not even counting the deaths that the Republics version of the path faces.
Kelly Bryan
An immortal battlefield where his enemies push every rule possible while grouping up to attack his country because they didnt like all the hard work the rulers of his country did for the last 100000 years vs some practical children viciously murdering each other over a scrap of ground he could pull out of a rift over and over. Sure they are the same thing.
Andromeda Adams
Oh this should be interesting, while also being a little annoying for Matt and Liz. I look forward to it! TYFTC!
JM O'Hare
George’s point is that perhaps the soldiers on the battlefield feel similar to how Matt has felt in the past. Those bad guys on the other side deserve it, they shot my best friend! Yet Matt stops the war and fighting because he is stronger. It is indeed a little hypocritical, if he does it without any self reflection.
Andrew K
Assuming he stays at the planet until the reveal, almost certainly no more than 2 months. Given his childhood, basically a 100% chance he'll snap no later than the first time someone unawakened is at serious risk of death to a rift break. This gives the 2 month limit because Kai experienced a rift break on the first day of his new job and saw a civilian (=unawakened) dead body (presumably indicating Matt wasn't there yet), then saw Matt 2 months into his job. Depending how many other expansion areas there are worldwide with similar rift break issues and how often "semi-frequent beast attacks" implied the relevant rift break interval actually was, a matter of days or even hours could be pretty plausible. With that sort of scale on the table, the best dramatic timing would probably be some time into the assembly session that he was just told will take at least 3 days to setup (around when he's just starting to get seriously frustrated by the politicians, which probably won't take long), though there are some other solid options like getting annoyed over the session taking longer than that to setup due to something petty.
Andrew K
Mostly unrelated to the chapter (and possible I've missed or forgotten some other similar suggestion in the past), but anyone else think if feels like there should be some serious potential in a comedy-centric side story about Allie and Aster going on an antic-filled (and probably less than totally sanctioned) tour of most of all of the other great powers at some point? Virgil instability making the Federation relative unsafe could be a bit of an issue, and coming up with enough worthy material could be a bit of a planning challenge, but it seems like there's a lot of untapped potential in their character dynamic that could work really well in such a setup when blended with fleshing out rebuilding for some of the other powers.
Matt H
I'm just going to skip over the fact that you seem to think everyone agrees with your view that someone dying, regardless of the circumstances, is the WORST possible thing in the world and instead focus on your claim that Matt and Liz are somehow removing free will. Short answer: no, they're not. They are not omniscient and omnipotent beings that are invoking some aspect of fate, determinism, or pre-destination. Are they absurdly powerful compared to everyone else? Yes. Can they do practically whatever they want on this world? Yes. Are they fundamentally taking away peoples' ability to act and respond to their lives as they perceive them? No. The apparent narrowing of options in practical terms does not negate free will. For example, do you believe that you don't have free will in real life because governments prevent you from looking up schematics of nuclear weapons and buying the materials online? If I told you that there was a secret color, blurgreen, that's only perceived and enjoyed by the rich and powerful would you think you no longer have free will? If you do there's no point in having any sort of discussion because you, apparently, have an irreconcilable understanding of what free will is. But if you don't, whatever Matt and Liz do is just what people and groups with authority and power already do in real life just turned up to one hundred or, more realistically, one million.
Austin Byrd
In a single chapter Matt and Liz just became de facto dictators through their actions. And they did so while doing their best to not seem like dictators to the planets local leaders. It’s almost laughable. The leaders are irrelevant, most likely corrupt, and infinitesimally less important then the rights of every single man woman and child on that planet. They took the reins from the Republic and continued driving the cart. Slave masters. Or sorry - benevolent slave masters who mean well and are intending on releasing their captives eventually. Meanwhile this interim is simply for their own good.. The fact that they didn’t instantaneously rip the veil off means that as of this moment, Matt and Liz are guilty of withholding free will from an entire planet. The fact they have an end goal to let people eventually make their own decisions is irrelevant.
Daniel S
Um they killed his mentor and friend? One who he knew for decades if not centuries? If you did that to anyone you would see red and snap. This? This is nowhere close to that if you think it is you are delusional and don't know how emotions work. Elizabeth and him are frustrated at the senseless nature of the veil world and that's it. Neither of them are going to cleanse the world cause they are angry
Austin Byrd
Bob Bryan exactly. And now Matt and Liz are doing exactly what Manny just warned them about - being indecisive/waiting for more info is still a decision. I don’t agree with pandering to this world’s ignorance. Every second they waste is more blood directly on their hands. This is a bandaid that needs to be ripped off. Manny even advised them that there will always be suffering. So their choice is to try baby steps with the world? Some attempt at less suffering by continuing to mask the truth? What’s their formula? How do they determine how many will be saved theoretically by their machinations? How many deaths from inaction are worth their attempt to define the future? Do they honestly believe this somehow absolves them? This is why truth is the only answer in any unjust world or situation. And they can’t control that outcome, and it isn’t even their right to do so. There are no ethics down that road. It seems to me like they’re trying a tactic of “let’s mitigate the unrest to prevent more death/chaos while we slowly do this”. Yet it can never be perfect.. and by doing this, they are now far more the arbiters of fate - gods if you will - for every person down below. Matt’s exposition felt like him sticking his foot in his mouth to me. So they’re now, at least arbitrarily, choosing an undisclosed number of people to continue suffering/dying in pointless situations, because it’s justified in the name of making sure nobody panics. We can’t have old people having heart attacks and others jumping off buildings in fear of the wider universe. No that would be too much. Instead we will go slow so no one’s reality becomes too jarred too quickly. Because that’s the true crime and the biggest evil. Presenting the truth and having them be afraid of it. The shitshow we’re witnessing below? That’s nothing compared to that. Like what? And in the process of doing that, they are now continuing to take choices away from every individual on that planet just like the republic. Oh though maybe it’s different now because M&L are doing it for the correct reasons.. path to hell paved with good intentions and all that. No better than the republic - even if it’s only for a day, a week, a month, a year, a century. I think they are far more directly responsible for every iota of suffering that now occurs. Like I said it’s a bandaid that needs to be ripped off. In my opinion, they aren’t doing themselves, or their world, any favors. This idea that they’re going to let even the majority of people continue to die/suffer in pointless situations, or even just continue living their dull fake lives, whilst still ignorant of the wider universe, in order to save the people from dying/suffering/ panicking when they rip the veil off seems nonsensical to me. I hope Matt comes to his senses quickly. Waiting even an extra minute seems unethical to me. If we didn’t know from Ch.1 that he is going to eventually snap I’d even say this breaks his character. He’s better then that and an ascender to boot so even if there is a tradition of how to handle newly initiated republic worlds, I’d still believe Matt would say nah we’re doing this the right way, the only way.
Kelly Bryan
So, Janet looking at veil worlds with rose tinted glasses and having some trauma relating to her parents not fitting into a cultivators path are totally things I can see in her, but I really dont see how it relates to The Empire or why it makes them the ones killing off people in job lots, The Sects fit her bill... I could make The Feddies fit all of her rage moments better than I can The Empire. Also, to be clear, I love to hate her. Way to go Mantis on writing this despicable maggot brain, I might look kindly on the Republic if they werent helmed by a narcissistic frothing at the mouth mad-woman.
Austin Gillespie
This was also my impression, that it is a test. Maybe if they were other ascenders they might have gotten more direction from their seneschals, but I doubt Matt and Liz can mess this up too badly
Alex
The Empire system seems to be a direct copy of the British nobility system, so: Emperor/Empress > King/Queen > Duke/Duchess > Marquess/Marchioness > Earl/Countess > Viscount/Viscountess > Baron/Baroness. A Marchioness is three full steps above a Baron/Baroness. Something would have to be MAJORLY wrong for them to go wrangling Barons, since Barons are meant to be managed by Viscounts, who are in turned managed by Earls. Keep in mind that the number of nobles increases exponentially at the lower ranks; Barons probably outnumber Marquesses by at least thousands-to-one, with Marquesses having commensurately more political power than Barons.
Robbie
So M&L are dukes and then Abigail is a marchioness, does that make her like the next step down in nobility especially since she will be wrangling the barons?
George
his friends had to beg him to take prisoners what do you mean it's not the same 😂😂
WaterSmith
Think of it this way. If you watch a black ant and a red ant fight each other you likely think it's stupid for them to fight over a) food or b) territory right. This is kinda whats going on with Matt he dosnt get it cause it is so outside his basic understanding.
MinE
I think a huge part of Janet’s motivation is her refusal to admit her parents death was pointless. I have a feeling her parents weren’t the type to do well with the whole cultivation thing and the sunk cost fallacy probably came into effect a while ago.
Christopher
I hope some time is spent putting out fires like this on their new worlds. I’m excited to read about the development of the guild and aperology but chapters like these serve really well to remind us of the relative power an ascender has as well as the improvements there can be made by not having ignorant veil worlds; which in my opinion are more barbaric that the sect system.
Matthew Baird
War is just negotiation from a different direction.
Alex
I think the problem is that Janet’s from a veil world so she only sees the good elements of the system. It is kind of unbelievable that she chooses that as her hill to die on when she LEFT her veil world — I mean if they’re so great and cultivation is so bad then she should have stayed there and died, right?
Alex
Wars are meaningless as a rule tbh; they’re usually based on petty reasons, have absolutely horrifying consequences, and achieve things that could easily have been settled with negotiations.
Kelly Bryan
To Matt, a Tier 25 immortal who is subjectively at least 400 by this point, a war between T0 combatants probably comes off as a war between children. "Why is he fighting so hard?" for Matt there are strict surrender rules, only volunteers fight, they must be immortal, and fighting only occurs in special arenas so collateral damage is a thing of the past. How much of that do you think he is seeing here? Jason nailed it on the head, the war Matt was in was a god war to these mortals and while both are wars they are different. Oh, Edit to add, its P.P.S. not P.S.S.
Kelly Bryan
Man, how does Janet reconcile deaths due to war (and I assume famine or plague at this point goddamn) on her veil worlds? She is seriously complaining about the Path? Its at least completely voluntary unlike veil worlds. Manny should have just responded to her request for an audit with a rough estimation of preventable deaths on veil worlds. The more layers are peeled back on veil worlds the more Im disgusted with Janet's anger at the Empire, shes the worst kind of hypocrite.
Jack Dawson
From this chapter I assume that the only people who know about the wider universe are the current and former leaders of the council, a position similar to the secretary-general of the United nations. Them and whoever they've told.
Kelly Bryan
That is a solid thought Mine but Ill point out there are heavy information restrictions to lower tiers that Matt experienced first hand, he was taught about Concepts by Liz, he just thought it was a potion he required to tier up. So again, there is no benefit the veiled worlds provide that isnt also available on Lilly.
MinE
Plus this veiled war probably brings up early trauma from his vassal kingdom days and the rift breaks. P.S Especially the whole ruin break that he accelerated and felt responsible for which due to being considered an assassination attempt caused people to die and is ironically probably a good piece of evidence for the argument that the veil is a good thing. P.S.S Don't agree with the veil; they should at least reveal the first 5 tiers b/c completely veiling cultivation on a tier 3 world seems to be more using the world as a very inefficient mana farm. All the hassle of destroying any buildings before they tier up and setting up ways to escape the veil is removed.
MinE
I think its the fact that Aster is skilled enough with fire to destroy his paperwork; that is probably comparable to pinnacle elite level.
MinE
How much do the higher ups of the veil world know about the outside because its Ethically horrifying if some of them knew and either went ahead with the wars anyway or almost worst were forced to go through with it. P.S Can you imagine being the leader of a country and having to deal with a war you know is completely meaningless but having to go through it not due to any belief its justified or even personal greed but because your scared that if you don't a god will punish you for whatever.
Shmigit
While I agree with you that there should be some sort of precedent for this, I can also believe that Matt and Liz are being thrown into the deep end to let them learn as they go, and be allowed to make mistakes.
Bob Bryan
Not even remotely the same thing.
Preston
I noticed a few chapters ago that the emails had swapped from being from "Patreon" to being from "C Mantis (via Patreon)" indicating Patreon had changed up how they're sending the emails. The core address remains "bingo@patreon.com", but maybe someone about the new changes is coaching with your email account. You'd probably have to reach out to Patreon support for a solution. Maybe check your spam folders or junk blocking settings though.
Kain
Just finished re-reading and I’m gonna go with F main reasons are the tunnel that connected to the coast was created 20 years ago and the spooky (read warded) house lost its ward 20ish years ago. If it took long enough to wear through Matt’s patience there’s no way these things happened right away so at least some time, which would be noticeable to Matt, had to have passed before either of these things happened though I don’t think it would take THAT much time as it was mentioned a war ended 5 years ago so the local powers convinced Matt to let warfare continue, though probably in a very limited amount. So I’m going with F maybe into G if the politicians really delayed the first noticeable changes.
Jason Hardman
I'd say the war they just finished was primarily about a number of the incumbent powers fearing one of them suddenly getting stronger, and essentially trying to chop off the head that poked above the parapet, so they can all be equally mediocre. There were also some fundamental ideological differences mixed in, but that felt more like justification based on the core fear of becoming weak. There were definitely immortals that had the attitude you mention though, "looking forward to a good war" and such, but they weren't the trigger. Another complicating factor that makes the war look trivial in nature is the way they've gamified it somewhat. But in context, that's just the because a "true war" is truly horrendous and destructive, so they've had to apply artificial limits to themselves in order to fight without destroying what they're fighting for. It's a really interesting and complex dilemma around what do you do when you have what are effectively god level powers on all sides.
CringeWorthyStudios
I would be *so fucking happy* if that was a real thing. *So happy.*
MikeL
What was more unbelievable to Manny that Aster destroyed his paper work or that she used a fire spell?
George
and so the tyranny begins, remember how frustrated matt himself was when he was forced to stop mid battle?
MinE
I think it would be better if the Republic just taught them about tiers 1-5 and pretended thats the limit rather than totally veil cultivation; I mean tiering up to 5 without bottled concepts is hard and if they can find a way to tier up beyond that they'll probably want to explore the wider world. It mitigates the deaths due to mundane issues and still "protects" them from the truth.
Jason Hardman
TYFTC! Suspect some missing text in the following line: Matt felt a pulse of worry from Asters at the mention of someone trying to steal her unique flavors, and he grabbed her tail to give it a reassuring tug. -> "Aster's bond" (maybe) or "his and Aster's bond" (feels more inclusive)
Teatime42
I've heard and watched otherwise regarding visits. Not gonna argue about the cult part.
Blake N.
Amish typically do not let those who forsake them visit. It is a cult that they trust indoctrination to win out over the world’s influence, and they treat those who don’t come back as lost forever
Blake N.
Tier 3. Maybe rift breaks are because the “in the know” people who usually delve are protesting or something
Blake N.
So I think author was trying to say that the term “world” referred to the whole solar system that has essence
Adurna
Tommy, I believe that is just normal veil protocol. Some mysteries left around and people who are interested and follow the clues can break out. I would guess on it coinciding with when the new frontier was opened.
Jeff Wells
Dealing with a largely democratic system coming from an imperial system is going to be a real struggle, for sure.
b51015
Ty 4 Chap !!! They all thoroughly enjoyed poking fun at her for her trying to run away from a Tier 50 ———> who had her access to her Talent. <——— Takes a bit of thought to make sense of that last part… Is there maybe a way to make it smoother?
Jeff Wells
The veil is off for long enough to have people with powers who kill monsters for a living, but they didn't seem higher than Tier 5, at most. My guess is somewhere D-F, leaning towards D.
Adurna
It is honestly a pretty interesting premise for another story. The local administrator integrating a new planet and trying to mot fuck over a place by too much.
Jeff Wells
Matt wasn't saying the soldiers were petty, he said the war was petty. And it probably was. I don't think he'd disagree that the war with the Great Powers was also petty, but he didn't have a choice, like the soldier doesn't really have a choice. The Empire would not have gone to war at all if the other great powers hadn't declared war and attacked. They were afraid, though, and struck out. Nothing Matt said would preclude that from being true for one or more of the current wars on this planet either.
Jason Hatter
Manny cackled. “Ah, see, this is why I love Ascenders. I genuinely did not see that coming.” I heard that in Donald Sutherland's voice.
Neil
You would think there would be a standard plan for this sort of thing, I have to imagine it’s happened many times in the past, and the Empire should have some experience on how to bring these worlds into it.
NetWon
Feel that Matt is being unnecessarily critical of the war. He literally just left a war that was seen as little more than a game to the tier 50s. Suspect a lot more people died in it too. A war for ideology seems better than a war game. Not saying a war on ideology is good, its not. Just seems a better reason than because these really powerful old people are bored.
Wumpy
The war was not about an ideology at all. While there definitely are ideological tensions, the war was about curbing a GP that was growing too powerful and on the cusp of breaking the status quo that is forcibly maintained. Basically: you getting too good? Too bad, here bomb. So not ideological war, but 'simple' powerplay. Can't blame him for thinking he is fighting a just cause in a defensive war caused by the Empire being too well off.
Lidja
Kai mentioned in the prologue that the war only ended months ago (maybe 45 months)
Jeff Wells
That's probably true, and I'd imagine such information has already been incorporated by Cato and Isabella, but there probably won't be a huge body of research unless republic worlds are uniquely difficult to integrate. Also Matt and Liz's opinions on the treatment of mortals are a little more bleeding-heart than the usual noble, and even Ascenders. I could easily see Lila or Waters just dropping a dozen or so Tier 15s on the planet and saying "I don't care what you think, you're in the Empire now." After 100 years (and probably a few million deaths) and they'd be fully integrated.
Estevam Paulo
I love how uncle Manny really is family to these three. Seeing him get to business and serious during the real war is gonna be jarring. I just envision him as this cool and chill uncle ready to help at all times. Then boom, plotting viper will show it’s ruthlessness with an ever changing array of scales to fit most threats.
Thomas Todd
It wasn't over ideological differences, the Empire was getting too powerful and the others wanted to weaken them. Just like the war that creates the MC the ideological stuff was mostly just a smoke screen to justify attacking and weakening a rival
Moonspike
@patrick he was at least an enthusiastic participant. Slaughtering thousands of people who had no ability to defend themselves from him. It was so one sided as to be the equivalent of the soldiers he looks down upon here killing children.
mason gerken
Missing the point that they don't have all the info or even the right to that info as a people were as the empire is while not transparent they are more upfront
Thomas Brusilovsky
Fun to see a “system apocalypse” from the other side
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Moonspike
Janet went to war with the empire because she views their path as a great evil that should be limited no matter the cost, the sects went to war because they believe in might makes right and the empires power is a good grindstone for them to sharpen themselves on, the federation went to war because they see themselves as the rightful rulers of everything and the empire gaining power threatens that. There is always ideology driving conflict even if you try to ignore it.
Patrick Schuldt
I like and dislike the pace of these chapters 😂 I like the worldbuilding but I want to see Mattery experiment with riiiiiifts 😊 Can't you clone yourself to write more chapters? ;-)
Patrick Schuldt
Maybe the planet tiered up and the use it for the introduction?
Tommy
Fuck it Matt! Just bulldoze the idiots that need bulldozing!
Patrick Schuldt
Well, was it? The Empire got attacked because of their population policies. I can't remember Matt ever saying it is a just war? Correct me if I'm wrong pls :)
Tommy
It’s F I reckon In the prologue there is a weird house that Kai remembers from childhood, ppl going in and not coming out etc If he’s finished college he’d be about 25ish so longer than that. His mother was scared of the house so she might have experience - so F or G is my bet
TwoMoreYears
This is going to be a really interesting arc. It’s like Matt and Liz are a system apocalypse and instead of seeing it from planets earths perspective we’re watching the system try to bring the planet into a new age. Very cool.
Jana
I bet on A. First - no one will believe them. Second - the Leaders are probably trying to sue them (which could be hilarious) Third- they’ll try to justify their own misdeeds and blame others. Fourth - they ll tell ML how things should be run. I’m not sure if Matt makes it past Stage 2 but I’ll be impressed with his patience if we reach stage 4 without him evil overlording the Planet.
Xarow
There must have been loads of veil worlds captured before over the many wars. There must be a few published studies on how to integrate them most successfully right? Recognising they will have their own unique cultures. When you are talking fairly large numbers variation starts to have repeating patterns. They should have some plan on how to crack this really.
Bob Bryan
Except that's not what happened with them at all. Matt and the rest didn't start that war at all. The republic, sects and federation did due to fears of the empire growing to fast. If they didn't fight the empire would be carved up to 3 other groups. It wasn't about ideology at all, it was survival from their end. Minus Mavis but she killed civilians and that's not the same. But kidnapping children, wiping their minds, convincing them you are their mother and savior, turning them into living experiments and weapons and then killing them at your own leasure is just a different ideology i guess
Luciaron
the war between the great powers wasn't really ideological. It was pretty much straight real politics, the empire was getting too strong and growing too fast, and their competitors wanted to slow them down. Pretty sure Matt wasn't a fan of having to fight in the war anyways, its just easy to justify as he was on the defensive side. It would be interesting how he handled the empire going on the offensive and if he could rationalize that somehow.
Jana
To be honest- I’m pretty sure Matt does think of the war they just fought as a petty war. If the Empire could have opted out and be left to their own devices, they would have gone for it. But they were attacked and weren’t given much choice as defenders. Next, there is a difference between a war involving different powers but this is kind of infighting, infighting which I’m pretty sure involves civilians. And all of that in a World that has ostensibly opted out of the cultivation rat race. It really feels kinda dumb,no?
Havokk
That may take longer as you would likely need to first introduce both the cultivation and litrpg genres into literature. Then slowly build up a base of readers to the point where you could get a webtoon created which would then hopefully increase interest enough to create an anime to bring it further into public recognition. Then try for a movie based on it to further the....................................... Wait a minute..................................................
Matt H
I think the honest answer would be living a life without the constant worry that someone who hates you (or even just having a bad day, a moment of road rage, etc.) could kill you with the snap of their fingers. Essentially, ignorance is bliss.
William Johnson
The Republic ideal probably stems from the collapse of the realm-wide empire that proceeded the current great powers, the perfect eternal empire or something like that. It seems from what little we've heard of it that the perfect empire was very tier-ist with few if any protections for low tier cultivators. Coming from that kind of background I can see how the idea of a life free of higher tier beings seemed appealing, & once you've decided to create something like the veil worlds you are forced to step back & intervene very little if at all, otherwise the whole thing collapses. I think the Republic argument would be that being in a cultivation society already strips you of all choices but two, advance or serve. From their perspective the citizens of veil worlds are free not to go in to dungeons and risk life & limb to advance their cultivation. I think we, as people who live in a world without magic, would tend to say that they're looking at a magicless world through rose colored glasses. Personally it all reminds me of pastoralism, which tends to be a hobby of those rich enough they are removed from the consequences of actual poverty. I'm not a big fan of the Republican ideal, but I can respect that they mostly seem to believe in their system and see it as in the best interest of the veil worlders.
John Balman
Damn this is going to be interesting see M&L have deal with issues from the other side of their tier then Normal....
Matt H
@Moonspike Yeah, that caught my eye as well. Despite having lived for subjective millennia already, I think MLA are too "young" and haven't spent enough time outside of war to properly see the parallels. Matt sees hundreds of thousands of mortals fighting each other as wasteful and yet MLA repeatedly wiped out entire armies over the course of a war that the higher tiers treat as a sort of game.
Zack
I don't think he sees the war he just finished as right and just. He sees his defence of innocent people as right and just. My guess is he will realize the parallels or have a conversation about it next chapter with the world leaders
austin kutz
No need to keep the rifts clear if they just destroy them as they form or hide them for selected young people to find them. I bet they have formations they can use to prevent a rift from breaking or mitigating the issues that come with one. Who cares if the moral population can't use the mana wasted anyway?
Jana
…. and after that whole ordeal with the first Veil World Matt decided to introduce the next Veil World to the Empire by writing a Book called The Path of Ascension and publishing it under a pseudonym a few years prior to the actual induction. Yes?
Kain
Yeah thinking back on it I remember some decent time passing so I added a few more loner ones, I wouldn’t bet on anything less than 25 at least lol But it feels wrong excluding them.
Havokk
so much good stuff here. Allie having to be run down by the Emperor to show up to court, Manny telling them to stop worrying and just be Ascenders and if someone doesnt like it then boohoo for them, seeing them finally get to use that cruise ship they earned, Lily partying for weeks because the local hero brought them into his Duchy, Sural joining them, Aster making a new ice cream flavor, seeing the frustration as they want to save lives but dont want to be tyrants. And most of all Aster casually tossing a flaming ball to burn the Emperors reports and Manny just having a belly laugh over it.
Frardowin
Hallmark of a dictator and tyrant.
Moonspike
It's funny to me that matt sees their war over differing ideologies as petty and pointless, but the war he was just in over differing ideologies was right and just.
C_Mantis
There are hints in the prologue that should start making sense now but happy guessing.
MikeL
Glad how worlds are moved has been shown. I have wondered how moving a world and not the rest of its solar system worked. So a world has 2 addresses the one in its own universe and one within chaotic space. Changing the 2nd one is not noticeable when on planet. I thought it would be scary if the people of Lily suddenly had no sun while it was moved.
William Johnson
Oh man I am looking forward to this so much.
Kain
Betting is open how long does he last. A. <1 year B. 1-2 years C. 3-5 years D. 6-10 years E. 11-25 years F. 26-100 years G. 101-200 years H. 201-300 years I. 301-400 years J. 401-500 years I can’t remember the timeline laid out in the opening chapter of the book and I’m not gonna go check it now just laying out some options. But we know he does break I remember that lol.
William Johnson
I'm still getting them, is it maybe your spam filter getting uppity?
Kevin M
Thank you for the chapter! I can't wait for the next one. I think Matt is going to need to count to 10 a few more times before all of this is over.
Serran
Nice chapter, and good on ML to both not do the bulldoze thing and Matt deciding to meet mortals again. I think I remember the world being Tier 4? Are the Riftbreaks maybe because it is tiering up? I get Matts Bias against people being put in charge only to not be able to accomplish anything, though I hope he gets a change in perspective when he actually goes amongst these that can still die of old age. It'll be part of the consideration that people can make their own decisions and should have a say in their government, even if they are not able to enforce that ability with power.
Leonard Klein
Yeah I got soooo exited when I read the introductory chapter for this book. I could barely wait for this.
mitchell kaiser
Ooooooo I’m loving the politics of this chapter and hope to see more! This handover of power and their shock as a planet should be really interesting to see.
C_Mantis
I didnt change anything on my end but I have no idea what Pateron does. Others seem to have gotten emails.
Teatime42
Honestly, a peoples making a permanent choice then never even permitting their descendants their own choice is one of those fucked up things that happen in fiction a lot. Probably the closest Real World example would be something like the Amish, except they specifically allow their children to go into the outer world for a few years once grown and then choose what lifestyle they want. And if they forsake their parents ways, they can still visit. The Empire freely lets it's citizenry just live life without ever tiering up after that first time, they can stay Tier 1 until they die. Living amongst similar Tier'd individuals. Not seeing much benefit to the Republic's veiled world approach that the Empire's doesn't also give.
Kasamuri
Thanks for the chapter
C_Mantis
I cant say much but the planets names are the same FYI for anyone who didnt catch that.
Clifford Solonas
is there a reason i stopped getting emails say there is an new chapter out?
Arvid
I’m guessing the rift break is coming up and the likely reason their plans for integration change.
Jinjitsu
The anti republic commenters are gonna have a riot with this one
Thomas Todd
It's potentially the same world, the snapshot we saw was in the future. So the monsters appearing could be part of the plan to integrate the planet, the rift breaks are only happening in an area that's known as dangerous so t could be a way to introduce and awaken people without just causing chaos
Bob Bryan
Yeah no, I can't agree with the republic doing any of this. If their ancestors wanted to cut themselves off, which I question in the first place, they didn't need to go that far. They could go live their lives on worlds and not tier up at all. Then their kids and so on could chose if they wanted to "enter the rat race", which isn't unless you are on the republic version of the path or not. These worlds strip people of their choices for no reason bit the selfishness of their ancestors. How many would make different choices, how many people died from diseases they didn't have to, or problems that no longer exist. This is unforgivable. Imagine if someone's mom or child died from cancer the week before and now suprise they could of cured it with a snap of their fingers. I know I would be beyond wrathful.
Aaron Hardin
This looks like a different vailed world than the one shown to open this book. Rift breaks occurring would have been one of the first things Matt noticed, so it not being mentioned here makes me think there many be many veiled worlds Matt needs to integrate and open up, as it's apparent there will be more than one.
James Getgood
Thanks for the chapter!!
Captain the Red Beard
Thank you for the chapter!!
nolan saylor
Thanks for the new chapter Mantis!!! Yeah, I wonder if Allie knows how much they enjoy her torment... and may even be doing that on purpose. Manny is a good guy and a good uncle. Lol, MAL is funny in that they need to be told to be free. ASTER USED FIRE??!!! -Ascenders really do do the impossible. -Cameron will be so proud. Kinda funky how they are actually splitting up without it being required. Our little guys are growing up so fast. I wonder what it looks like traveling through chaotic space on a planet... though that might not even be visible/noticeable for the planet. -Yeah, I want to know how it all appears. I hope individual planets still have their own traditions and celebrations...as I hope this is a yearly, or something occurrence. Probably smaller after the first thought. -Maybe changed to his birthday, ascension day- to include Liz, or maybe actually stuck to the day he brought the planet to his Duchy. I don't perfectly understand the lore on finding planets and the origin of the core... but it intrigues me. Yeah, multiple reality bit is odd. Moving a planet without moving it. Yeah, this is an interesting set up. I am eager to see how Matt/ Mantis works it. A different style of world building than we've had in the novel so far.
Asattor
Thank you for the chapter! 👀
