C_Mantis
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Chapter 341
🕑 Added 2024-07-05 18:59:01 +0000 UTCFYI I'm going to be going to dragon con this year so I'll be taking one day off (Sep 2nd).
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This is our typical ALT POV prologue that we have every start of a new book. This is still PoA and well be back to Matt next chapter.
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Chapter 341
Kai sighed as his view changed from the brief stint of sunlight back to the monotonous stone of the tunnel. As he shifted in the very comfortable train seat he contrasted it with the uncomfortable lobby chair he had been sitting in almost a month ago with a snorting laugh.
Contrary to the consistent low level excitement he felt now, he had been filled with trepidation.
He had thought it was his moment, his big break, his time to shatter the shackles of mediocrity. He had just needed to perform well in his interview and everything could be his.
Looking back it was almost funny how much he had invested into something he hadn’t even signed up for himself.
His mentor, Professor Jhall, had suggested he apply to the Young Architects Great Redesign thanks to his Masters final project and how he incorporated the newest structural materials to come out of the War Department. While it was the first in its field he knew others were already copying his designs and that any pause would see his ideas overtaken. He had felt it was a bad idea and declined.
Looking back he could now see that Jhall hadn’t taken it well, but Kai had figured the subject was closed after the application date passed by with only a few more pleas for him to change his mind.
Or so he thought until he was called down to the dean's office, who profusely congratulated him for his passing the preliminaries and bringing attention to their small university.
Kai had been stunned until he saw the smug face of Professor Jahll, who simply hung back and smiled. It didn’t take a genius to understand what had happened, and Kai had been too shocked to do anything but nod along at the time and afterward he had felt far too awkward at the thought of disappointing everyone by mentioning the misunderstanding.
Everyone else in the program were the children of established architects, who had connections and illustrious careers even before they graduated, helping their parents on much more important projects.
Then, there was Kai, the only child of a single mother who had worked two jobs to send him to secondary school, taking a place among the twelve slots.
It was a great honor, but he had also taken the slot of someone more worthy and he couldn’t help but worry about underhanded schemes such as claiming he had stolen someone else's work or the like. It was unlikely, but even the accusation would ruin his career and prevent him from working in the field.
He had never encountered it himself, but he had heard rumors of such things happening to anyone without a sufficient background who tried to break into the upper echelons of academia.
It was almost funny to think about how far he had gotten into his own head but with the advantage of retrospective Kai knew he had just been covering for his own self doubt and wanting to assign any bad things to a perceived boogeyman. Not that such things didn’t happen, he was sure they did but the Young Architects was hardly the place for such underhanded tactics to go unnoticed. A dozen newspapers reported on each stage of the event and any such drama would be endlessly speculated on and taint the eventual winners’ careers irreparably.
And he had done well. His third round submission, a redesign of the Belfor Bridge that had been destroyed in the war with Tiefland, had actually been accepted and approved for construction which Kai had never expected.
He had been in school for so long and his first real build was going to be a bridge that was the lifeblood of the country.
That win also secured him a spot in the finals. The top three.
The final task was to redesign the Capitol building, which had reached its hundredth year standing and was slated for renovations. When the Democratic Republic of Noricum had been established, the Founders declared that every hundred years the youth of Noricum should be given the opportunity to direct their country and keep the old and stodgy from stagnating the country.
Part of that was that all elected leaders over fourty years old had to step down after their latest appointment and that all major governmental buildings should be redesigned as a symbolic rebirth of the country.
It was a noble aspiration and Kai was incredibly proud that he could have even a small part in the second such rebirth.
To that end, he had put everything he had into the project.
He had been a nervous wreck as he presented his design, doubly so when he realized that three of the five architects on the committee were part of the established upper echelon architects.
Bradin Tru was a bit of a legend as his mother had designed the tunnel system through the Palatine mountain range, opening up the gentler coast of the continent to Noricum and her allies just twenty years ago. Untold riches were pulled out of the untamed wilderness, which had made the country one of the wealthiest in the world.
Next to him was Hallie Adam, whose grandfather had designed the interchanging dual lock system of the Tunja canal which had almost entirely eliminated water loss of the pinnacle lake and her family was elevated to the highest rungs of society thanks to the wealth the rebuild brought them.
Finally, there was Yagat Gall, who was the oldest architect there and without a doubt the most notable thanks to her design of the Ballar Wall, which had been the main reason Noricum had been able to resist the invasion from the Tiefland communists in the south five years ago.
The other two, while not part of the upper echelon per se, had deep connections to them via their working at their firms in the past and they collectively overawed Kai.
With his notoriety at an all time high, Kai had finished his Masters and started looking for jobs, even though the places he had interned at politely declined his applications.
Believing that the entrenched architect families were trying to strike back at him for competing by preventing him from getting an architect job Kai slipped through the security doors at a firm he had interned at to go to find one of his direct bosses who had seemed to like him while he was an intern, Jeremiah.
Without even bothering to say hello, Kai burst into the office and asked. “Why was my application rejected out of hand?”
Even thinking about the memory caused Kai to blush but the train was dim which prevented anyone from seeing the darkening of his cheeks.
Jeremiah had at least rolled with the sudden interruption and was a straight shooter.
It was just that Kai didn’t get the answer he expected. “Kid, after your success at the Young Architects competition, no one expects you to stay here. This is a third rate city existing only thanks to the old dried up steel mine. We don’t have a ton of growth opportunities here. The city isn’t growing so fast that someone with your skills can stick around in a company and move up. Everyone expects you to take a job at one of the top five. Anyone who even gets into the preliminaries of the Young Architects does. Someone like you who got to the top three? Our firm isn’t going to waste a month onboarding you for you to just leave when they give you an offer we can never match.”
He and Jeremiah talked a bit more, but the shock and anger had at least given way to understanding and his mentor had been proven correct.
He placed second in the competition. His design was flawed, but he had done well enough that news outlets started running biopsies about his life's story as a sort of zero to hero story. Amusingly enough none of them had even bothered to ask for an interview but then that wasn’t the point of the articles.
The day after the results were announced, his life changed in a far more measurable way.
Dozens of first rate architect firms in the three largest cities reached out to him offering jobs with yearly salaries higher than his mother had made in the last decade. There were even promises of guaranteed promotions and raises built into the contracts which meant even with the higher cost of living in the cities he would still be well into the upper brackets of earning potential.
If only one had come in, Kai would have jumped on it and thanked his ancestors for their accumulated luck but with dozens of them, he was so numb to it all that he was able to look through them without getting overwhelmed.
None of those offers were the ones that caught his attention.
The coastal cities were long since established with little room to grow his skills unless he wanted to design highrises or suburban homes for the rest of his life. If he wanted to push himself he needed to look to the center of the continent where Noricum was trying to push back the aggressive wildlife. It was dangerous but the thought of being at the forefront of such exploration and settlement sounded… enticing.
From the reports that make headline news there would be dozens of challenges for a young architect to overcome. From creating buildings for living in a dozen different conditions, to diverting rivers, or repairing the walls of Gates Rest. It would push him in ways he hadn’t known he had wanted until he was presented with the opportunity.
Looking through his offers he found seven that were related to the center of the continent but five of those companies only seemed interested in trying to capitalize on the increased settlement of the coastal side of the Palatine mountain range. It was no doubt safer but it was also more of the same he could do in any other city.
That left just two final offers and Kai spent almost an hour going over everything he could find out about the companies.
The offers were a little less grandiose, with bonuses barely breaking the hundred thousand mark which was less than half of what some of the larger firms had offered but that was more than he had ever expected to be offered. It was also more than he needed.
Thanks to his mother’s efforts he didn’t have much university debt and this was more than enough to not only pay that off but buy a house in a nicer part of town, away from the haunted mansion down the road, as well as give his mother enough savings that she could go from working two jobs to working part time if she wanted.
While he had never been bothered by the supposedly haunted house his mother talked about how odd it made her and everyone else feel when she was younger. The feeling had seemed to go away twenty or so years ago but that didn’t stop her from consistently warning him from getting too close.
Like any kid had done the exact opposite and he had seen a few things he had no explanation for.
Still starting over in a place of supposed endless opportunities seemed… freeing. It was like he could leave everything he was behind and turn into something he wanted to be instead of remaining as the poor kid who had only ever had barely enough thanks to government or neighborly assistance. That identity felt like a wet sweater that he just couldn’t shed if he remained at home.
Decision made he accepted the offer and at the insistence of Professor Jhall, he even took a first class flight to the Palatine mountain range. Having not only substantial room in his chair, but personalized service by a flight attendant attractive enough to grace the cover of a magazine was a new experience, and Kai was sure he had stuttered more than a few times when ordering his in-flight refreshments. All of that had been overshadowed by the sight of the Palatine mountain range as they came in for their landing.
Large, huge, and massive were all descriptors that might be technically correct, but they vastly undersold the majesty of the mountain range. The average peak was just over twenty thousand feet with the tallest mountain reaching a massive thirty two thousand feet, and all of them were, at least in geological time frames, new mountains that were still growing taller as the two continental plates slowly pressed together.
The Palatines were not just the source of large quantities of metals pulled from the depths of the planet bringing riches and resources to Noricum but they also cut the Susran continent in two unequal halves.
While mountaineering experts had crossed the Palatines even as early as the Founding of Noricum, they were few and the ones that returned were fewer still. It wasn’t until technology had progressed enough that helicopters and airplanes were able to reach the heights necessary to cross the mountain range that they could facilitate large scale crossings.
The first three attempts at a coastal settling, done by Noricum’s southern neighbor, had failed spectacularly as the beachheads had been overrun by beasts of uncanny strength.
While the coastline of the continent was moderate in both flora and fauna, the other side of the Palatine range might well have been another planet. The wildlife was incredibly dangerous, with academics suspecting that the isolation created by the Palatine mountain range had allowed for a brutal ecological arms race, creating more and more ferocious predators and stronger and tougher prey animals until they reached the seemingly monster-like fauna of today.
It wasn’t until Noricum had completed the tunnel that the continent truly opened up. That was just twenty years ago and it had taken almost a decade to finish creating a single well defended settlement on each side of the Palatine tunnel protecting said tunnel.
Showing his architect schooling once Kai boarded the train he had marveled at the construction necessary to facilitate the crossing. The tunnel through the Palatines was six hundred miles long and almost entirely underground. That caused the five hour train ride to be done in sealed cabins as there was just too much rock overhead to bring enough air down.
That had been one of the largest hurdles the original digging of the tunnel had faced and the few disasters had been well taught in Kai’s early years of his architect degree.
Still that was only so interesting and why he let his attention drift.
In the dim light of the cabin his across the seat neighbor flipped a lighter and a small ball of flame appeared in his hand.
Kai’s mind stuttered as he analyzed the brief instant of image that he had seen before the flame went out but he hadn’t seen a lighter.
His attention was pulled away from the man's hands to the woman next to him who backhanded his chest. That movement caused her chest to ripple in a way that made his mouth go dry. He didn’t know what it was but he had been seeing more pretty women in the last few days than he had seemingly seen in his life. As he noticed that he also noticed that the man was uncommonly attractive, clean skin, symmetrical features, and piercing eyes meant he could have graced the same covers as the woman without batting an eye.
He was sure the woman diagonal from him had her own story but Kai couldn't understand why someone who had chiseled abs even when sitting down combined with such a beautiful face would be going to such a dangerous area instead of taking an easier path through life.
He must not have been as subtle as he tried to be as he caught a smirk on the woman's face the one time he looked away from the window when their in-travel meals came. The woman after finishing her meal started eating her dessert of caramel popcorn one at a time darting her tongue out to grab each kernel at a time. It might have been innocent enough if she didn’t watch him the entire time.
Kai almost got up and ran as the teasing reached a tipping point but thankfully she ran out of popcorn and pulled out a pillow to take a nap.
Not having brought his own pillow, Kai did his best to copy her. He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep but he was awoken with a metaphorical punch to the face as daylight returned to the world.
His breath wasn’t stolen by the light however, but the sight of the forest on the other side of the Palatine that they could see below the city. The train made a few long and slow switchbacks to reach the lower elevation of the city, which gave Kai almost half an hour to gawk, but he couldn’t help it and he wasn’t alone.
It was truly like entering another world. The trees he could see were all on average at least twice the size of normal trees on the other side of the Palatines and here they seemed to stretch out forever.
When the train car unsealed, Kai got a second shock.
He felt like the air was hyperoxygenated as the first breath seemed to course through him like a shot of the first true breath he had ever breathed. The feeling faded quickly, but it was a better pick me up than any coffee he had even choked down during his studies.
He wanted more, but no matter how deep he breathed he found there was nothing extra like there had been in that first breath.
His phone pinged and directed him to where he met his guide, who took him to the Falkner Architect firm. The building itself was simple and coarse like most other buildings in Gate’s Rest, but Kai didn’t miss how well built they were. The outer walls are a full three feet thick and the outer doors made of heavy steel and no glass but a peephole. He also noticed the windows had interior shutters made from the same material and with similar sturdy construction. He had read there were attacks on the city but he still swallowed at the thought of what such sturdy defenses were meant to keep out.
The woman who greeted him was a bit of a surprise with lighter skin tone than the typical dark chestnut of most citizens of Noricum, more reminiscent of the old continent countries around Arilanding and their burnished oak skintones.
“Bree Falkner, nice to meet you.”
Proffering his hand to his new boss, Kai tried not to let his surprise show, but Bree clearly noticed. “Yes, my family came from the old continent. I emigrated shortly after the Palatine mountain range was opened up for the opportunities this offered. I even have Noricum citizenship. Any more questions about me or can we start the onboarding?”
Kai felt himself blush for what felt like the dozenth time today but pushed through it. “Sorry. I just never meant anyone from the old continent. They are so insular after the last world war and all. But it’s nice to meet you and I’m ready to start working. I have all of my credentials if you’d like to review them.”
Bree waved him off before gesturing for him to follow. “You’ll need to send copies of them to the city council but we already did most of the paperwork for you. I’d love to spend a few months getting you settled in and I would for someone less capable but we are both short staffed and incredibly busy so I hope you swim because you're getting thrown into the deep end.”
Kai rubbed his hands together. “I’m ready. Toss me in.” Pausing, he added. “Um you don’t mean literally right? My swimming is more like doggy paddling. I won’t drown but um, yeah.”
Bree chuckled. “It was metaphorical more than literal, but you should take a few lessons. The rivers around here move fast, and being a strong swimmer is never a bad thing.”
Kai nodded at the information and filed it away on his list of things to do.
After an hour of paperwork Bree helped guide him through, Kai signed documents he had seen a dozen times about his responsibilities for things he designed or approved, when he was done Bree waved him to his feet.
“Let me treat you to a meal. I wish the rest of the teams could join us but we are fairly small and everyone else is out of Gate’s Rest at the moment.”
Seeing that was the second time she mentioned it, Kai asked. “What are they doing? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“It's not like it's confidential. Falkners specializes in durable construction. We work with the city to ensure the wall stays in good condition and more often we assist teams in setting up outposts in the forest or beyond. That's where everyone else is.” She gestured to the forest side of the city. “Two of us are with teams scouting for potential base locations and the other three are with new settlements and setting up their fortifications.” As if knowing what he was about to ask she added. “It's dangerous but each of those jobs pays in the hundreds of thousands.”
Kai felt his mouth water at the thought but did his best to not let his greed get the best of him. “How dangerous is it?”
“We don’t normally die if that is what you are asking. We haven’t lost anyone on a mission for five years except Erx. That idiot went off to take a piss outside the perimeter and got ripped to shreds for his idiocy.”
Kai didn’t want to disparage the dead but that seemed as ill advised as Bree implied.
The thought of death was at least dispelled by some pleasant conversation and good food, but what shocked Kai was that almost everyone he saw walking past were openly holding weapons.
Unlike the rest of the Republic, where only soldiers were allowed to have weapons, they were plentiful.
As if the world was listening to his inner monologue and wanted to make a fool of him he found out why they were so armed the hard way just as they were finishing up their dinner.
Alarms started sounding and having been informed about this in his initial paperwork that he had just signed a few hours ago, Kai remained in his seat. He expected everyone else to do the same which was what they were supposed to do but everyone, Bree included, sprung into action the moment the first alarm sounded.
A full dozen patrons moved for the windows and shut and secured the shutters while two muscular adventurer diners went to the door and took up positions with their weapons scanning the sky as a few people rushed into the restaurant.
The instant the alarm sound changed, the two adventures retreated and slammed the door shut, engaging the heavy locks with speed that seemed uncanny.
Kai was nervously worrying away at his table cloth until Bree came back to the table with a sigh. “Hell of a first day but what can you do? Best to have your first wave with me.”
One of the adventurers upon hearing it was Kai’s first beast wave sauntered over and slapped him on the back. Kai couldn’t help as his eyes were drawn to the long puckered scar that stood in stark contrast to the man's dark skin.
“We all have our first.” Tapping his scar the man added. “I wasn’t so fast during my first attack and was locked outside. I survived and got some things out of it but had to fight for my life all because I didn’t follow the rules.”
Kai felt a little queasy at the story and the man laughed seeing that and waved to the staff who were still rushing about. “Bring our Fishie a drink.”
Hearing that seemed to settle the atmosphere of the restaurant and a few people raised their own drinks to toast Kai as he choked down the shot of amber liquor.
It hit harder than anything he had ever drunk before but as the fire spread through his limbs he almost felt like he had when he took his first breath of the air of Gates Rise.
Letting the liquor do its job he sat and listened to the other patrons swap stories and the television for updates even as he tried to ignore the roars of beasts and the crack sounds of weapons being fired even as they sounded like they were right outside.
It took almost an hour for the all clear to sound and Kai hoped everything would be normal but it was anything but.
When Kai exited the shop he saw bodies everywhere. He shouldn’t have been taken aback but he was.
Most of them were of a bat-like creature with exaggerated metal teeth and silvery strands of shimmering metal hanging from the rear of their wings, but a few were human. There weren’t many, just three, but it was three more bodies than Kai had ever seen. One civilian who, for whatever reason, had been too slow to enter one of the secured buildings, and two adventurers, if their arms and armor were any indication.
People's lives being snuffed out was bad enough but they hadn’t just been killed. They had just been shredded and partly eaten if the clear bite marks in the flesh were any indication.
He didn’t know why anyone, let alone himself would sign up for this but he was regretting his decision. He wasn’t built for violence like this.
Kai turned to the side and vomited out what felt like everything he had eaten in the past year as the thoughts churned in his mind. Just as he was wiping his mouth he did so he caught a man jumping down from the top of a nearby building.
The twenty six foot drop should have shattered his legs but he seemed to step on… nothing. The air shimmered almost like the ripples of a puddle and the man’s downward momentum was halted for a moment, letting him drop the remaining ten feet without issue.
Kai almost didn’t believe what he was seeing, and even as his mind started throwing up doubts and questions, he tried to reaffirm that he knew what he had seen, but it was futile. He was a logical person and he knew that what he had thought he had seen was impossible.
People didn’t have a double jump like in some video game.
That wasn’t how the world worked.
He had seen things that make little sense but this was the first time that he had seen something that was blatantly impossible. The time he had seen a woman entering the haunted house pulling out a sword from a seemingly normal backpack could be explained by a sectioned toy sword. He didn’t know why someone would do that but it was explainable. The time he had seen someone run faster than a speeding car could be explained by his perspective being higher than the action and being far enough away that things were hard to see. Or like the time he had seen a person vanish into a dead end alleyway. That seemed impossible but he had been twelve at the time and hadn’t actually checked the alley for any kind of recessed doors or the like.
It all seemed impossible but they had reasonable, logical, mundane explanations.
Except all of that was thrown into chaos as he watched a man drop down almost thirty feet and pause mid air. Kai was vomiting and his worried mind tried to rationalize it away but there was no way to do that. He knew what he had seen but he couldn't explain it.
He tried to mention it to Bree but he was so distraught with the attack he was mostly incoherent in his ramblings.
Thankfully as part of his contract he had a room in an apartment just two blocks down from their office building. It felt a little sterile being a pre furnished apartment but it was more than enough for him and he distracted himself by putting away his clothes before crawling into the shower then bed.
When Kai woke up in the morning he had a better idea of what he needed to do.
First thing he did was get breakfast downstairs where he saw the streets were cleaned up as if nothing had happened.
Second he got Bree’s help and bought a pistol and signed up for classes on how to use it. The gun was a little expensive, and the fact he could buy one at all was still a bit of a shock, but the beginner classes were at least free.
Kai took the advice of his fellow architects who he had finally been able to meet as they prorated back into Gate’s Rest and also took a few lessons about knife fighting. They were scary and brutal, but as they pointed out that most beasts weren’t going to polite enough to just wait to be shot at range and having a knife and knowing how to use it might save his life.
He didn’t like it, but he took the lessons and then signed up for twice a month practice sessions.
Work at least was a distraction as the attack opened up opportunities for the Falkners firm and it allowed Kai to get his first opportunity to do some real architect work. It was under the purview of one of the other, more senior, junior architects, Lor’tu who needed the break after his last scouting mission, but it was still real work that he got to take the lead on.
As he had later learned the attack hadn’t just been done by the bat-like creatures, but there had been a number of boar-like creatures with some sort of parasitic plant-like creature fused onto its back who attacked the walls at the same time. The vine’s had given the boars the ability to scale the walls by driving into the micro cracks of the concrete, which threatened the stability of a large portion of the wall if left unrepaired.
It was Kai and Lor’tu’s jobs to plan the repair and a countermeasure to ensure that the same method of attack wouldn’t work again. Being so near the walls made Kai deeply uncomfortable, but after the first days he spent working on site he learned to deal with it.
Not ignore it, the danger was an ever present, niggling thought in the back of his mind but anything can become mundane given enough time and exposure.
Over the next month Kai even started to feel at home at Gate’s Rest. Even the semi-frequent beast attacks became something he dealt with just by making sure he didn’t go too far from the safe areas of shops and homes which kept their front doors unlocked so long as someone was home and awake.
On the other side of the Palatine mountain range the slogan 'safety takes teamwork to work’ would have sounded corny but here it was a real and palpable creed to live by.
What shocked him more than even the beast waves was that he was even able to send his mother enough money that she didn’t need to work for at least a year for less than a month's wages thanks to the large bonus he earned from the city for designing the method to stop the boar things from being able to scale the walls again. The danger was phenomenal on this side of the Palatine mountain range but the pay was correspondingly high.
Kai didn’t really understand why, but the bodies of the beasts were valuable and people bought them any time they were available for exorbitant fees. He better understood the ingredients that were pulled out of the forest being valuable, rare plants were said to be useful in pharmaceuticals, but the sums made no sense. He had seen a single lightly fluorescent flower sell for over a million, and that was far from the most expensive thing that moved through the city.
By the end of his second month he actually started liking living in Gate’s Rest.
It was dangerous, but exhilarating in its own way.
It would have been perfect if not for the oddities.
They seemed like they were everywhere.
A regular at his breakfast dinner who one week before had been missing his arm suddenly had it back. Yet, when Kai asked him about it, he simply played dumb. Kai could see in his eyes that he was blowing Kai off but it wasn’t like he could shake the truth out of the man no matter how much he wanted to. He was an architect and the man was an adventurer who could probably break Kai over his knee without breaking a sweat.
Then just a day later a woman climbed out of the solid concrete street, brushed herself off, and went about her business without giving a second look to anyone who watched on the street. Kai knew he wasn’t seeing things because even his table neighbor had seen it but none of them could explain it as anything but a hoax.
Except Kai knew it wasn’t a hoax. He had seen the designs as Bree was the one to design that street after it had been destroyed in a beast attack a few years ago. There was no secret tunnel for her to climb through. It was six feet of compacted stone with a foot of reinforced concrete poured on top. The only gaps in the thing were the expansion joints and they were far too small for a grown woman to climb out of.
It was impossible but he had seen it with his own two eyes.
What he didn’t understand was how others just shrugged it off as non important to their lives.
That was only possible until the evening of his two month mark in Gate’s Rest. Just as the sun was setting in a gorgeous spray of reds and yellows while the twin moons hung large and illuminated the evening in a cool white light, Kai felt the world tremble from his second floor balcony.
Having been near some of the stronger beasts, Kai had experienced something similar so he was aware enough to keep control of his initial panic. Being around them gave one a sense of visceral fear that seemed to weigh on one like a blanket but with a firm enough will it was possible to push through it.
The feeling that pressed down on him was like that except not at all. It was only similar in the same way that a spark was similar to the sun at high noon. They might both be ‘fire’ but they were on two different impossible to compare scales.
It took everything Kai had, but he looked up, and there, he saw it, saw him.
A man with paler skin and hair than anyone Kai had ever seen stood miles above the air like some foreign deity with a sphere so dark floating behind him that it seemed like a black hole. Even through his rising panic Kai knew that was impossible, a black hole of that size would destroy this entire star system. Secondly, there seemed to be blinding white light leaking from the edges of the black hole like a solar eclipse, which wasn’t how black holes worked.
It was impossible, but there it was hanging in the sky.
Kai’s eyes couldn’t help but go to the man in question, trying to find some information in a futile method of trying to piece together his and everyone else's fate, but the man was far enough away that he couldn’t read his expression. Kai could however read the man's body language, which radiated anger or maybe irritation even as he stood there miles above the ground.
Screams rippled out from the city and Kai was almost sure he heard the roars of beasts whimpering in pain from beyond the city walls.
The pressure grew strong enough that Kai couldn’t move even a finger and silence took over the night. Kai instinctively knew it all came from this man. How was a mystery, but he knew it with every fiber of his being, even as fear turned into raw unadulterated terror.
He wanted to join those who had been screaming a few moments ago but he could hardly breathe, let alone scream.
He was sure they were about to die.
That belief was reinforced as a fractal of blue light traced itself outward from the man's feet where they seemed to stand on nothingness itself and grew in both size and complexity until it stretched over the horizon farther than should have been possible for any light show.
Kai was sure this couldn't be real, but he had no other explanations for what he was seeing and feeling.
A voice echoed into his ears like there was someone next to him speaking the words, even though that was impossible.
“People of Soerilia, hear me and listen.”
Comments
nolan saylor
Thanks Mantis :) Interesting at how he internalizes that he is worthless. That he took the spot, and took it from someone more worthy. It has been studied irl. That he worries about being accused of theft is sad. It is realistic enough as well. As extra unfortunateness his financial situation means that even beyond the accusation following him he might not be able to afford to contest it. Assuming his system is anything like Earths. Wow, stepping down after forty years of age. That does seem a little young. I think roughly half their lifespan, and a large part of that spent in schooling. Though I guess this only happens every 100 years. Just sucks to suck if you are 41 when the purging happens. Maybe there is a gap in most political structures then, people knowing they'd only get 10 years in office so they just don't get into politics. Not sure about rebuilding the building so often either. Lots of costs. Maybe needing to have a new capital city as well, as taking down the building would probably take a year as well, and you can't just not have an entire government as every government building is renovated, maybe with exceptions for young buildings. -The construction crews of that time may get a corresponding boost as they have more guaranteed jobs. I am curious how much people are celebrities, and how much they are just celebrities in their chosen field. I feel that is how it is on earth. -He doesn't know the other two, despite them likely being some other notable figures, they just aren't related to architects and so he doesn't care. It is curious how competence in their field gave them wealth, seemingly not a direct payment but some bonus from the designs working. I like that he burst in. It feels ridiculous but it was needed for him. And the answer wasn't people being terrible. There is definite humor in the media not actually caring about the truth of his life, just the publicity of his story. Mildly jealous at the idea of reverse job hunting. He does seem to have the mentality of pushing through the veil. I just am curious if he would count, as he isn't seeking more physical adventure. -He does seem to get close to pushing though. Ah, debt. Why must it make sense you're everywhere. beasts of uncanny strength... I wonder how much is a beast of normal strength. And if they are just used to beasts being aggressive. -Or is it not truly rift monsters, just more along the lines of if you go into the jungle animals are there and may attack. like hippos. Or how if you live way up north Polar bears hunt around for food... and you're made of food. I really am curious about how evolution is studied. How much of academia is faked as the fossil records would just spontaneously exist for some species. Wow, that is a long underground train ride. I hate the idea of getting trapped in there. I recall the Dresden Files had a bit about how people trick themselves into believing things are normal even if they see otherwise. Or overtime they believe that even if they saw something so clearly supernatural they would delude themselves into thinking it was an idle day dream, as otherwise it would be impossible. I like that quote and feel it is relevant. Ah yes, cultivation making people more attractive. -in PoA it really is logical for everyone to look attractive in a movie. It isn't Hollywood not wanting to cast less attractive people. Veils have/had world wars is an interesting piece of trivia. Makes Manny's distaste for them much more reasonable. Even beyond his love of free will or letting people die by lack of healing and cultivation, letting millions of people just die in wars is weird. Even if it's the mindset that they would die in a few decades anyway is just really weird to accept. An immortal has little understanding of a mortal. -How many immortals start a colony and just watch as their great grandchildren just kill each other, uncaring. Janet criticizes the Path, but denies any wrongdoing for this. I want Erx to be a patreon character, someone they wrote just to die. Or maybe going off to take a piss alone was a cover for someone breaking through the veil? Is it just a feeling or is it a mana drink. How much of the world is hidden. Though there is also a chance that it's not known, maybe just part of fresh drinks. Would an adventurer or guard be awakened by killing a wold animal with a gun? Gaslighting. I guess nothing can be perfectly hidden, and they can't just say that it's magic. The big reveal...
Julie Smith
One more thing: I remember Janet wanting to see what the Empire is doing and see if they're telling the truth or not. I bet you a dollar to a doughnut she has spies here.
Julie Smith
Re-reading the chapter, I admire the way you incorporated all the background info about the world, enough for us to know it is a veiled world within the Republic. It wasn't a boring info dump, but background from the perspective of Kai, who seems to be a young innocent. The arrival of Matt at the end seals the deal this is part of his reward.
Preston
I was re-reading this chapter after the latest. Noticed this line: "This is a third rate city existing only thanks to the old dried up steel mine." Generally we don't mine steel. It's made in a furnace with carbon and iron ore. Given the scifi world you've built, I suppose you could pass it off as steel exists naturally on these worlds, but it does look odd by our reality's standards. If you change "mine" to "mill" it'd make more sense.
Jeff091
hi, thanks for the story typo weren’t going to polite enough +be weren’t going to be polite enough
Lorevi Q
"blinding white light leaking from the edges of the black hole like a solar eclipse, which wasn’t how black holes worked." Uhh that's kinda exactly how black holes work? The crap being dragged into it at high speeds forms a very bright rim around it
Infinite Ark
Obviously Matt is kinda pissed about the rift breaks and whatnot, but wouldn’t such a cold open to cultivation, especially so aggressively, be counter productive to a smooth integration into the empire. Especially considering everyone is awakened in the empire and has no choice but to confront the consequences of not cultivating.
Arvid
Probably rift breaks. Any system that accepts deaths from rift breaks is one that I think Matt would hate due to his personal history.
Arvid
I was also looking forward to the fallout from those papers.
Xarow
Later I thought about this world’s first introduction out of the veil. What if Matt arrived on a huge floating island!! His isn’t built yet but I had fun with the mental imagery.
Evernap
Flex tape. Talisman based that helps seal rifts stonger to help prevent rift breaks.
Kelly Bryan
Refers to the Republic practice of creating low tier worlds that have little to no knowledge of cultivation so that elements of their society can live outside of the influence of cultivation. It should be noted that after a veil world is created citizens born there are not allowed a choice to learn of cultivation unless they are persistent about chasing down the limited anomalies they see. Further they still have rifts and rift breaks so they require secret guardians that do know of cultivation to protect them.
Kelly Bryan
Did you miss the part where a person climbed out of the solid concrete? What about when the dude jumped off a multiple story building and then double jumped to kill his momentum and not smash the pavement? This is not the start to a secret society. Further we as readers KNOW the veil is a foolish endeavor. In my opinion veil worlds are not the best option to start a group of secret societie. If he was within a meter of any of those monsters killed he could awaken. Matt mentions children too young to really be awakened were at Ventillyria because of that. The veil world system is untenable dunno what well organized secret society system you were expecting.
Daniel
Ah, thanks. I couldn't remember the right word.
T
Oh that is hmmm We don’t know the Tier of the planet the elevator buttons on the T48 capital needed ca10000 years from t0 to t5 so a 100 year rebuild is likely more of a keep normal people employed kinda thing
T
The fresh air he describes when first going beyond the mountain range is essence in the air wich you could use to cultivate but without knowing what you are doing the first steps would be almost impossible and even when you accomplish that every other cultivator could feel that so not the best option to start a group of secret societie
T
Most likely a veil world of the republic were you are kept in the dark the haunted house with a world of possibilities is the way to cultivation
Daniel
This is a T0 World or people kept in the dark as an experiment that likely became Matt's Ducal Planet?
ACX
Would It rank up to 51 or directly to 100? In any case it would likely require an enormous amount of tier 50s
ACX
Putting them in that position would make them go total war. It would likely end the Federation, but It would also kill a ton of people among the other GP
Erik Halberg
Mantis was commenting about how Realms can tier up due to having enough T50 people/planets/items present within them, so something along those lines seems like something Matt would totally do before they hop ship up to the T100 realm
SqrlyGrly
7. They should completely block the feds from any benefits of Matt's mana. No raising planets or anything else. Give every other GP a t50 and t49, and she will fade to irrelevancy. The concern with not wiping her out is because of the balance. So just shift it around her.
Kelly Bryan
I like this idea because if Matt tanked the bond egg market it would only be beneficial, rift drop bond eggs are eggs indefinitely until fed some essence from their bond so its not like you have a problem there plus any Aurora Fox will spiritually be an Alexander. Aster is in a very real way the Matriarch of an entire race. So make some Aurora fox 'children' of Aster's! All the bloodlines suddenly being available would decrease Nobles from buying and grooming bonds leaving only the sociopaths, that is way easier to manage. Ooh and the Monster Collective would definitely be interested when Titan offers them that info.
Kelly Bryan
I really like this chapter for a lot of reasons, but I was just wondering if a T0 person could have an inspiration and if they would even know what was happening on a veil world. I just thought with his awareness that for whatever reason what if Kai was not T0? Maybe his school teaches a weird meditation method that happens to cultivate ambient essence? The whole veil system is the worst kind of hypocrisy anyway so why not?
Kelly Bryan
I will admit that on first read through that pop corn thing sounded like something Aster would do but there is only two people in the compartment with him and it seems like a guy messing with a veiled citizen and getting smacked by his partner who then proceeds to tease this guy sitting across from them. Just some Empire adventurers being moved in to help support the expansion effort. Maybe Matt's new guild members? Kai is going to be hired to build Matt's new building?
Kelly Bryan
From clues in the writing about having to rebuild things to avoid tiering up (wouldnt be a big enough issue at tier one to two) also very little reference to Kai or any characters age as well as the implication that he has felt a Concept before indicates that this is at least a Tier 5 world, just makes me think even less of the veiled worlds system.
Chioke Nelson
Veil worlds?
Kelly Bryan
My impression of the poor veil implementation is that it is reflective of the Empire taking over 'recently' which in their scale of things could have been a decade ago as Matt starts doing Duke things and gets around to ripping off the stupid veil. Actually, with the new development being about 20 years old thats what Im going with, Matt implemented new growth and development funds and then there is a veil removal plan, depending on how many veil worlds he got... Maybe Janet is running an experiment on how veil worlds will react to The Empire's system and gave them a disproportionate amount of them?
Kelly Bryan
We could even be a T0 planet that is in the same physical universe as a planet connected to one of the GPs just too physically distant to be observed or travelled to for any worthwhile reason.
Kelly Bryan
To add on to what the others said it has been a long time since we had a mortals perspective. We literally went from MAL interacting with their excessively rare peers and the leaders of the GPs and now we get the exact opposite. Further, Matt got justice for ventillyria(sp?) so how will he now grow from his experiences with rift breaks and it starts with a person who sounds remarkably like his Father? Sorry this chapter didnt do it for you bud, I think it is fantastic.
Kelly Bryan
My guess is its a mix of a lot of things but my impression about the reveal is that The Empire is already here and maintaining the veil thinly and he was either forced to do it now for some reason (possibly adding to the irritation because its gotta be bad to get past his control) or that this was part of the plan and he doesnt like grand standing exactly so I imagine that it wasnt his first choice. Whatever the reason, I am so glad we got that moment, I could really use a massive poster of it on my wall.
Kelly Bryan
And his Endless work ethic?
Kelly Bryan
Tom, now that you mention it Im sure his irritation is from that and not just bleeding through from his dislike of the republic practice of veil worlds.
Elizabeth Marrelle
It’s a reference to Austria-Hungary. As during Roman Times, the region now called Austria, was a Roman Province named Noricum. Similarly, the region where Hungary is located was called Pannonia in the Roman Empire.
Jason Hardman
"I just never meant anyone from the old continent." -> "met"
MRob
Moreover it's a prologue chapter intended to set the tone. The last book was about the war. This one is maybe about culture shock and nation building.
MRob
Was Korea ever a dual monarchy? Or am I missing something?
MRob
I read this area as being intentionally subjected to rift breaks as a part of the path for folks to escape the veil.
Brian N
I think Matt’s guild should stumble into researching folding spaces. Here’s how I see it happening… Matt accidently creates a rift that seems perfectly normal at first. But his team is forced to flee the rift because they can’t keep up with the seemingly endless amounts of special attacks the monsters keep throwing at them. The individual attacks aren’t overpowered but the volume of attacks fall like rain. It becomes too much for the team. They seek help. Luna (or someone else) discovers that the monsters do not actually have endless mana. The monsters are using the rocks (found only in this rift) to store objects of power. It’s these objects of power that boost their ability to keep attacking. Matt’s guild study the rocks and find out they greatly enhance spatial geometry. In these rocks you could store vast amounts of non-living things. So, for example, Liz can store a huge lake of magma in a fist sized rock. Aster can carry around a hill of ice – ready to be reshaped on a whim. Matt, of course, can carry impossibly large mana crystals. To release the stored items, crack the stone. But it’s an all or nothing release of energy when cracking the stone. Don’t rupture the stone and nothing comes out. Crack the stone and everything spills out all at once. But with this discovery, there can be an unprecedented amount of customization of spaces. Light wants in ideal place to study illusion mana. Fill a stone (or stones) with that mana type. Build a space in a rift. Crack a stone in the new place and make illusions everywhere. These stones could help Matt’s guild build spaces that allow… • Adventurers to develop their skills to the best of their ability. • Researchers to study mana types an applications to the limits of their ability And Matt’s existing rift creation ability lets crafters acquire materials to create items at the best of their ability.
LazyF0x02
Kai's rationalization is what worries me. Is it truly a rationalization, or is it some sort of compulsion or memetic influence forcing most people to ignore the extraordinary going on? After all, the Republic is known for its powerful memetics.
Wrathwind
I know it will not happen but it would be great if the next empire ascender came from a formerly veiled world, it would just be such a great political firestorm for their T50 to deal with.
WierdWebLurker
Frankly, the Republic isn't trying all that hard. Like, seriously. Kai, a fairly normal person (aside from living close to a "haunted house"/rift) has seen a bunch of impossible things in his lifetime. Looks like he saw a person with a speed enchantment, an adventurer with a spatially expanded bag, and all the Republic's awakened individuals fighting back the rift breaks. Has he been confused by these occurrences? Sure. Do they have anything to do with his career as an architect? No, so he really hasn't investigated all that much. If this is a normal world for the Republic, then the Veil is truly a veil as opposed to a wall. If you really want to know about cultivation, feel free to draw it back. If not, enjoy your ordinary life!
ACX
I think Matt should try to make a white hole. It would be permanent improvement to the realm once he ascends and Minkalla shows that even if they don't naturally form in this realm, they can exist here. 8 tier 45 white holes,one for each great power would also solve the problem of how they are going to react to Matt and avoid the Real War that is coming.
ACX
I had the exact same question
ACX
the only thing that comes to mind is that the name is similar to Ventillyria the planet where Maven used terrorists to distract the empire forces before attacking
Kuniku778
Tbh i was hoping for a Janett pov, i want to know what those documents of hers pulls up, for, against, and neutral. Is the empire gaining a new ally, or an even more fervent foe!
DisgruntleFairy
I wonder if things are looser because of the transition in power, or if they are always that slip shot. Because if it was, surely more people figured out something weird was going on than Janet wanted to believe.
Donan The Barbarian
That assumes the version of Earth we're born on is in the same realm as the story. We could be in a tier 25 capped realm or in a higher realm with tier 75 or 100 being the current cap. Hell we could be a planet that hasn't even hit tier 1 yet in chaotic space.
Matt H
That's fair, but let's not pretend that the world of cultivation is all raindrops on roses. I don't remember the exact timeframe, but MLA would only recently be leaving their indentured servitude if not for the fact that Liz is the daughter of two Royals and they were all on The Path. If this is an example of a poorly run veiled world as opposed to a run-of-the-mill or well-functioning example how does that changes things? Exact analogies are hard to make, but I think a decent approximation of the ideal of veiled worlds and the lack of extreme power disparities would be a world where billionaires, trillion dollar corporations, countries with nuclear weapons, etc. don't exist. Would that be a "better" world? I think it's hard say as I can see arguments on either side.
Justin Smith
DRNK
James Faulkner
I’m assuming that he’s mad because the constant monster attacks that exist on that side of the mountain range are likely the result of the planetary governors letting rifts run wild and break continuously. I imagine that he sees it as negligent and irresponsible in the extreme.
Alex
This chapter really makes the veil worlds seem unjustifiable. In the past the veil worlds didn't seem like a completely terrible idea: would I want to be part of one? No. But I can see the merits of creating safe refuges for people who want nothing to do with the struggles and horrors of cultivation. As an opt-in system, it's perfectly fine and reasonable. But the sheer depth and breadth of LIES that are needed to maintain the veil worlds in the Republic, where unawakened people aren't allowed to opt out of the veil is absolutely absurd. If I were Matt and I showed up at a veil world, only to witness the unawakened being killed by monsters because they were deliberately being kept in the dark about the nature and existence of cultivation (even though MONSTERS FUCKING EXIST, since rifts apparently aren't being properly managed on the veil worlds by the very people stopping mortals from even KNOWING about cultivation) then I'd lose the entirety of my shit.
Michael M
Great chapter! Can't wait to see this from Matt's point of view. One typo: "news outlets started running biopsies" should be "biopics"
Pat Sprehe
Maybe, but it wouldn’t be a significant amount. These would only be t1 or t2 worlds at best.
James Skinner
TFTC!
hachetnif
Yeah he could be mad about that. Or he's mad about the exportation of this planet of mortals. From the cultivator presence on this world that wasn't supposed to be there because it was veiled. There's a lot of things he could be mad about. Now on to theories I believe vailed worlds actually have another purpose other than for people that don't want to cultivate to go there. I believe they siphon the mana and essence to other worlds. And that's the biggest reason that the higher-ups in the Republic Don't want to reestablish these worlds because they're getting resources from them that they don't need to share with the populace of the planet.
Ben Mitsuda
So earth is part of the republic right?
Austin G
A star rail using his endless aspect mana with travel mana to aim at metaphysical locations and shoot transports across the void without having to use lanes in a fraction of the time.
Kacoo
I've said it before these are my favourite chapters from you mantis, I'm only sad that they only happen once a book. Still love Matt chapters though.
Lidja
It just occurred to me why they have to replace all the buildings every century. The buildings all Tier up because of the ambient mana levels so for regular people to be able to open the doors they have to keep replacing them. The politicians are all Awakened and have to leave before people notice they aren’t aging.
Luciaron
I disagree. This is probably a planet that Matt and co now rule over and this character might be part of his guild in the future.
DANTE
I would immagine he is mad at the veil existing in the first place rather than having to lift it, or something related, like having the cultivators lowball in how much they can help in the expansion zone
Kazith
Keep going with the Kai perspectives, it was good and I really like the character!
hachetnif
His rewards from the war part of his duchy probably. What is he not happy about unknown but maybe he feels bad about having to put them through integration because he's simulated that. Or he might have found some corruption that was taking place on his planet from the past owners and he's angry at them
Colin Groh
Can't wait to suggest things for Matt's Guild! Pt 1: in line with Matt's history on Lilly and how many new worlds are being incorporated/adopted by both MAL and L&S, I totally think Matt's Guild should experiment with the tiering up process for planets. Reminiscent of some of his aperology work, finding maybe more expensive ways to tier up worlds or passive enhancements that could "aspect" certain worlds to give people a boost towards certain kinds of production sounds super cool. Idk if that falls afoul of the worldbuilding re: human experimentation or the standardization of opportunities for everyone getting awakened to T1, but it seems like at least some of their initial work should be aimed at qualitative changes in how their planets are administrated/budgeted, as a sort of test run of what could become even more empire-wide reforms. I'll keep thinking for Monday though I'm so pumped
EmmieCurls
That sounds really interesting… maybe he’ll join the path as a crafter if he’s still young enough
EmmieCurls
Republic
wartgalore
I think he's just mad at the way the feddies like to keep all their citizens in the dark regarding cultivation unless they discover it themselves
Elaine
good chappie
Tyler Thompson
Dissapointing chapter honestly, most of it felt like filler cause why are we gonna care about one single planet in the galaxy, and next chapter is gonna be from Matt so we won't even see this characters reaction to the wider universe
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
1FantasyFanatic
Such a great decision to start this Arc from the perspective of a newly integrated planet. This is Awesome!
Mario Morales
I'm hoping Kai ends up in the guild.
Tirinir
What is the reference here? I didn't get it
Jonathan Robichaux
It's also MLA in the train I bet, visiting in masks
Jonathan Robichaux
Can we follow this fellow around on Wednesdays? I woulda love to see the initiation process from a native POV
Maakolo
I hope this ties in with the main story. Would be fun seeing the gang meeting people from newly unVeiled worlds.
Quinton Stanley
Spinoff idea???
Frardowin
I think it is more that there are monsters running around. Those only happen after rift breaks.
Frardowin
Republic. All fedies are awakened into t1 castes: honestly, Kai seems like a perfect candidate for Matt's guild.
Syrahl
Ooh, this confused me at first, but it's very clearly a viewpoint of a Federation citizen who is stuck in front of their Veil, unawakened and (now no longer) completely oblivious to everything cultivator related. With a Matt Interrupt at the end. Tbh, I am kinda rooting for Kai to become a cultivator, he seems like he's got the mindset for it.
Keegan Moss
It’s not as hard as you think, basically you would just have it be that there’s x chance for said rift run to do the challenge mode with y chance to have y be the reward for completion, then z chance for the egg/beast to be compatible with you. The general idea being that the rift would be optimized to have a high x and y percent, so that you’re getting maybe like a 25% chance to get an egg as the possible drop, and then some low percent most likely as compatibility check, which if not passed would reroll the reward to something not an egg
Jairo Hernandez
That last line. Goosebumpies.
Violet
Interesting. I wonder why Matt's so annoyed. My /guess/ would be that he's less than pleased by the state this world was left in by the Republic (whether because of recent decay as the planet began to change hands or because of the long-term mismanagement of the planet). Or maybe he's annoyed that he has to come in here and play tyrant ("Oh, by the way, your planet is mine now. Yeah, you never had a say in this one way or another, but you can't stop me, so suck it. Also, the things not dreamed of in your philosophy? Yeah, you couldn't even dream of the /scale/ they exist at."). Or maybe he's just annoyed by the chore of going around and ripping the Veil off. And talk about ripping it off. No attempt to do things gently or gradually, just "Hi, everyone, enjoy your sudden existential crisis!"
Aaron Hardin
Yes, I had not really thought of it before this chapter, but the idea that the veil is deemed more important than people knowing what the rift breaks are, which will then cause people to actively prevent the rift breaks from occurring, shows the utter hypocrisy of the current Republic leader. We have PoVs where the current leader absolutely wants to protect the mortals and cares about them in a way, yet allows those mortals to deal with constant rift breaks instead of allowing them the knowledge on how to deal with the problem.
adam1
We didn't really get sidestory chapters in the last book, but it would be cool if they made a comeback for this book with those types of POV's.
Dylan Sutton
Yea it makes sense at the end with Matt showing up. The setting just isn't as recognizable as minkalla initially. I think this was a really good way to set up the (current) cultural norms of normal people in Matt's new Duchy. Maybe, if our brainstorming is correct you'll tell us next week.
C_Mantis
Well be back to Matt chapters next chapter. This is just our prologue which are alt povs
Psykohamster
Ooooohhh…… I didn’t catch that implication. That’s good.
John Balman
So a planet coming to the empire? Or the guild?
Patrick Brennan
And he is PISSED that people are made to live as if rift breaks are a part of life
Leander
And now I really want more chapters with Kai to see just how the world changes
Elizabeth Marrelle
Democratic Republic of Noricum, eh? That nation to the south, might it be called the Federation of Pannonia? And perhaps were they both once united in the Dual Monarchy of Norica-Pannonia?
Dylan Sutton
I was so freaking confused. This is one of the world's he got as encouragement to advance to tier 35? Maybe?
Xarow
This is awesome and I am so excited to see this pan out! The culture shock and how they react is going to be immense! I would happily see more chapters like this and maybe Kai again. Great scene setting.
Xarow
Hi your world is now one of mine, so yeah.
Xarow
They are so lucky it is Matt. If the Sects took republic worlds I can only see it as being a true apocalypse. Great first chapter.
dbdlion
One problem to consider with this idea is deciding who qualifies to even potentially get a bond. There's the idea that typically the egg that drops is most compatible with whoever completes the rift. But, not everyone should have a bond, so adding in the logistics of trying to screen who should versus should not get a bond, and it turns into a bit of a nightmare.
Adam Long
Duke Matt about to tear the vail
SunStar
show of hands, who would totally read that book?
In-Game_Name
When it opened with the name Kai I thought for a second I was reading Elydes. I've been looking forward to this cause I want to see how the people of these newly awakened worlds react. I hope we gets Kai's pov again later down the line.
Tom
I know that's the case, but I can't help thinking of Matt as a vampire now. Like he lost a bet with Allie and has to pretend to be Dracula on the first 4 worlds he visits
DicedOnions
And here I was looking forward to the spinoff "The Path of Architecture" following an intrepid young architect looking to rebuild his city after a monster attack with the help of his icecream loving little sister and his partner, the daughter of the Mayor.
Corwin
The Republic doesn't tell their lower tier citizens anything about the greater universe, iirc.
BagFullOfLizards
Looks to me like Matt is visiting a world of his that got given to him from the Republic’s former territory. I think we’re about to see the veil torn down.
Keegan Moss
Well some basic things would just be a “beast” theme which isn’t required for an egg, I believe Aster was obtained from “challenge” run or whatever the term was where the rift was set on hardmode, so some way that makes that more common, and probably an egg would be needed, however, this would be a tier 1-3 rift most likely, so not a lot of rift upgrading/subsequent eggs needed for that, and you could always make it so that the egg becomes the “missing piece” and/or big modifier such that it is only added to the rift after most of the requirements have been met
Patrick Brennan
First impressions are everything. Matt is about to turn their world view on its head
John
Thanks!
Havokk
first monsters and people doing impossible things then the appearance of a blond god who has control of a black hole.... yup thats a heel of a way to wake up to the realm as it truly is. How many people are wondering just what drugs were used to cause hallucinations like this
Psykohamster
I thought the person couldn’t be Matt because they sounded too pale. Then I realized I had made an assumption that most of the people on the world were Caucasian. However, if they are mostly darker skinned, then Matt could easily be the palest person the PoV character had ever seen.
Josh Beckman
Been waiting for this
T
I would guess just blood from liz blood tree ? You don’t need the item you want from a rift ist just easier
T
It is Matt and that is a republic planet part of the payment the others made so Matt and co don’t go get their own dukedoms
Kyle Aretae
Good on ya' then for your foresight.
C_Mantis
Its our typical ALT POV prologue so yes. And the guy at the end if Matt. Blond hair blackand while hole managestation.
Bunny Waffles
This chapter seems to be told from the perspective of a dude on a Republic world. And from the looks of it Matt now owns said world.
T
Ohhhhh boy this gonna be good
Psykohamster
If this isn’t a different story, it is either taking place on a primarily mortal world in the Republic (since not everyone in the Republic gets awakened and the ones who don’t are kept ignorant of cultivators) or it is a newly discovered world in Chaotic space that is already populated. It could be a world given to the Empire by the Republic as part of one of the buyout packages. The guy at the end could be an Empire representative sent to announce the transition.
Domy
Not sure how he would seed a rift without destroying a lot of eggs. Add to the potential blowback form the monster collective, it could be reason to start another war, or at least alienate a great power.
Chioke Nelson
Wtf just happened?!
Kevin DD
Have we heard of Soerillia before? It sounds familliar
Sacchito22
Is Matt taking over a planet the Republic handed over as part of his dutchy?
Bunny Waffles
Took me a while to figure out what was going on. Checked the title several times just to make sure you weren't dropping a chapter for a new story or something. So this Republic world is about to get a crash course in how the universe actually runs.
Keegan Moss
One thing I think would be cool is since Matt will be doing a bunch of Aperology, make one that has a good chance of dropping eggs (obviously only if said egg that would “drop” isn’t compatible it doesn’t drop) because it would synergies so well with all of their goals. An “important resource” that would reduce Path” deaths, beasts/beast management as part of Aster’s and Liz’s, potential bloodline creation for Liz, and sort of a political/ influence tool for Matt to accomplish other things
Tommy
Woop we’re back. For some reason I thought it was a Monday 8th restart so this is fricking awesome! PoA chapter into the weekend Thanks for the chapter :):)
Teatime42
Ahhhh, it's one of Matt's new Worlds. Got it.
Istyatur Elestel
Matt, are you trying to get a religion based on you?
Daniel S
So one of the worlds where they hide cultivation I take it
C_Mantis
Its still PoA I promise. Just our typical prologue ALT pov.
Owen Kaz
Republic world now under the Empire, the man about to speak is Matt going by the description
Cameron C
This is quite cool. Great intro to the arc
C_Mantis
It was written before my break so it was written before that.
Thomas Brusilovsky
Republic worlders going through their very own system apocalypse lmao.
Abriel Blauer
Okay... So Matt just inherited a Republic World This is going to be one hell of a crash course in Planetary Management
James Faulkner
Oh shit, is this Matt inducting one of the Republic worlds that they won during the war?
Kyle Aretae
"Part of that was that all elected leaders over fourty years old had to step down after their latest appointment and that all major governmental buildings should be redesigned as a symbolic rebirth of the country. " Did you watch the Trump/Biden debate, and add this?
William Johnson
Ooh now this is gonna be an arc. Integrating a Republic world sounds super interesting.
Matt H
Looks like this is one of the Veiled worlds being unveiled by Matt.
James Townsend
Oh shit, we haven't had any stranger PoV of Matt in so long I forgot what he would look like to an outside observer. Is this a veil world? I'm guessing it's going to be his new duchy/part of it.
Bob Bryan
This feels like one of the republic worlds that are now under the empire's control.
Andyr98
I'm very confused this seems like a completely different story
dragon
We're back!
Trey
I feel like I can breathe again tftc!
Hedon____ism
WOOOOOO, LET'S GOOOO!
James Townsend
TFTC
